Mcu.NEY] TREATY OF HoLSTON 17!»1 (59 



villi'. Tennessee, in tlie summer of 17H1. With nmeh ditticulty the 

 C'lierokee were finally brought to consent to si cession of :i triaiiuular 

 section in Tennessee and North Carolina extending fioni Clinch river 

 almost to the Blue ridge, and including nearly the whole of the 

 French Broad and the lower Holston. with the sites of the present 

 Knoxville, Greenville, and Ashcx illc The whole of this area, with a 

 considerable territory adjacent, was already fully occupied by the 

 whites. Permission was also given for a road from the eastern 

 settlements to those on the Cumberland, with the free navigation of 

 Tennessee river. Prisoners on both sides were to be restored and 

 perpetual peace was guaranteed. In consideration of the lands sur- 

 rendered the Cherokee were to receive an amiuitv of one thousand 

 dollars with some extra goods and some assistance on the road to 

 civilization. A treaty was signed by forty -one principal men of the 

 tribe and was concluded July 2. 171*1. It is officially described as being 

 held ""on the bank of the Holston, near the mouth of the French 

 Broad." and is commonly spoken of as the "treaty of Holston.'' 



The Cherokee, however, were dissatisfied with the arrangement, 

 and before th(> end of the year a delegation of .six principal chiefs 

 appeared at Philadelphia, then the seat of government, without any 

 previous amiouncement of their coming, declaring that when they had 

 been summoned by Governor Blount to a conference they were not 

 aware that it was to persuade them to sell lands: that they had 

 resisted the proposition for days, and only yielded when compelled 

 by the persistent and threatening demands of the governor; that the 

 consideration was entirely too small; and that they had no faith that 

 the whites would respect the new boundary, as they were in fact 

 already settling beyond it. Finally, as the treaty had been signed, 

 they asked that these intruders be removed. As their presentation of 

 the case seemed a just one and it was desirable that they should carry 

 home with them a favoralile impression of the government's attitude 

 toward them, a supplementary article was added, increasing the 

 annuity to eight thousand rive hundred dollars. On account of renewed 

 Indian hostilities in Ohio valley and the desire of the government tt) 

 keep the good will of the Cherokee long enough to obtain their help 

 against the northern tribes, the new line was not surveyed until 17!I7.' 



As illustrating Indian custom it may be noted that one of the prin- 

 cipal signers of the original treaty was among the protesting delegates, 

 l)ut having in the meantime changed his name, it appears on the 

 supplementary paragraph as "Iskagua. or Clear Sky, formerly 

 Nenetooyah, or Bloodv Fellow.'" " As he had been one of the prin- 



1 Indian Treaties, pp. 31-38, 1.S87; Se<Tetar;- of War, report, January 5, 1798, in American State 

 Papers, i. pp. 628-631, 1832; Ramsey. Tennessee, pp. .i.>l-.i60. ls.53: Koyee, Cherokee Nation, Fifth 

 Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 158-170. with full discussion and map, 18SS. 



- Indian Treaties, pp. 37, 38. 1837. 



