218 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
A portion of the Cherokees emigrate west.—Immediately upon the sign- 
ing of the treaty, the United States authorities, presuming upon its final 
ratification, took measures for carrying into effect the scheme of emigra- 
tion. Within a month Agent Meigs reported that over 700 Cherokees 
had already enrolled themselves for removal the ensuing fall. 
The Secretary of War entered into a contract for 60 boats, to be de- 
livered by 1st of November at points between the mouths of the Lit- 
tle Tennessee and Sequatchie Rivers, together with rifles, ammunition, 
blankets, and provisions ;' and, under the control and directions of 
Governor MeMinn, of Tennessee, the stream of emigration began to flow, 
increasing in volume until within the next year over 3,000 had emigrated 
to their pew homes, which numbers had during the year 1819 increased 
to 6,000.7 
Persecution of those favorable to emigration.—There can be no question 
that avery large portion, and probably a majority, of the Cherokee 
Nation residing east of the Mississippi had been and still continued 
bitterly opposed to the terms of the treaty of 1817. They viewed with 
jealous and aching hearts all attempts to drive them from the homes of 
their ancestors, for they could not but consider the constant and urgent 
importunities of the Federal authorities in the light of an imperative de- 
mand for the cession of more territory. They felt that they were, as a 
nation, being slowly but surely compressed within the contracting coils 
of the giant anaconda of civilization; yet they held to the vain hope 
that a spirit of justice and merey would be born of their helpless con- 
dition which would finally prevail in their favor. Their traditions fur- 
nished them no guide by which to judge of the results certain to follow 
such a conflict as that in which they were engaged. 
This difference of sentiment in the nation upon a subject so vital 
to their welfare was productive of much bitterness and violent animosi- 
ties. Those who had favored the emigration scheme and had been in- 
duced, either through personal preference or by the subsidizing influences 
of the Government agents, to favor the conclusion of the treaty, became 
the object of scorn and hatred to the remainder of the nation. They 
were made the subjects of a persecution so relentless, while they re- 
mained in the eastern country, that it was never forgotten, and whee 

‘ Letters of Shots of War to General Jackson a Colonel vena eae 9: Ist. 
2 Letter of Governor McMinn to Secretary of War, November 29, 1818, and subse- 
quent correspondence during 1819. Goyernor MeMinn’s letter of November 29, 1818, 
states that 718 families had enrolled for emigration since December 20,1817, and 146 
families had taken reservations, which made in all, including those who had already 
emigrated, about one-half of the Cherokee Nation as committed to the support of the 
policy involved in tlre treaty of 1817. 
February 17,1819,a Cherokee delegation advised the Secretary of War that, while 
Governor MeMinn’s enrollment showed the number of Cherokees who had removed or 
enrolled to go prior to November 15, 1818, to be 5,291, by their calculation the 
number did not exceed 3,500, and that they estimated the number of Cherokees re- 
maining east of the Mississippi at about 12,544. 
