84 MYTHS OF THE CHER0KP:E iETH.ASN.19 



North Carolina, where they made friendly acquaintance with the 

 Cherokee.' In ITltlt, hearing that the Cherokee desired teachers — or 

 perhaps by direct invitation of the chiefs — two missionaries visited 

 the tribe to investio-ate the matter. Another visit was made in the 

 next summer, and a council was held at Tellico agency, where, after a 

 debate in which the Indians showed considerable difference of opinion, 

 it was decided to open a mission. Permission having been obtained 

 from the government, the work was begun in April, 1801, ))y Rev. 

 Abraham Steiner and Rev. Gottlieb Byhan at the re.sidetice of David 

 Vann, a prominent mixed-blood chief, who lodged them in his own 

 house and gave them every assistance in liuilding the mission, which 

 they afterward called Spring place, where now is the village of the 

 saiue name in Murray county, northwestern Georgia. They were 

 also materially aided l)y the agent, Colonel Return J. Meigs (32). It 

 was soon seen that the Cherokee wanted civilizers for their children, 

 and not new theologies, and when they found that a school could not 

 at once be opened the great council at Ustanali sent orders to the 

 missionaries to organize a school within six months or leave the nation. 

 Through Vann's help the matter was arranged and a school was 

 opened, several sons of prominent chiefs being among the pupils. 

 Another Moravian mission was established by Reverend J. Gambold 

 at Oothcaloga, in the same county, in 1821. Both were in flourishing 

 condition when broken up, with other Cherokee missions, by the State 

 of Georgia in 183-t. The work was afterward renewed beyond the 

 Mississippi." 



In 1801 the Reverend Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister of 

 Tennessee, opened a school among the Cherokee, which continued for 

 several years until abandoned for lack of funds.' 



Notwithstanding the promise to the Cherokee in the treaty of 1798 

 that the Government would "continue the guarantee of the remain- 

 der of their country forever," measures were begun almost imme- 

 diately to procure another large cession of land and road privileges. 

 In spite of the strenuous objection of the Cherokee, who sent a 

 delegation of prominent chiefs to AVashington to protest against any 

 further sales, such pressure was brought to bear, chieflj' through the 

 efforts of the agent. Colonel Meigs, that the object of the Government 

 was accomplished, and in 1801 and 1805 three treaties were negotiated 

 at Tellico agency, by which the Cherokee were shorn of more than 

 eight thousand square miles of their remaining territor3\ 



By the first of these treaties — October 24, 1804 — a purchase was 

 made of a small tract in northeastern Georgia, known as the " Wafford 



1 N'orth Carolina Colonial Records, v, p. x, 1887. 



-Reichel, E. H., Historical Sketch of the Church and Missions of the United Brethren, pp. G.VSl; 

 Bethlehem, Pa.. 1848: Holmes, John, Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren, pp. 124, 12.i, 

 209-212: Dublin, ISIS; Thompson, A. C, Moravian Missions, p. 341; New York, 1890; De Sehvveinitz, 

 Edmund, Life of Zeisberger, pp. 394, mi. Mil; Phila., 1870. 



3 Morse, American Geography, i, i>. 577, 1819. 



