THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 209 



for their kindness and friendship), with a heavy heart, wishing them success and the 

 blessing of the Great Spirit, who alone can avert the doom that would almost seem to 

 be fixed for their unfortunate race. 



At this time the most strenuous endeavors are making on the part of the Go^ern- 

 men t and the State of Georgia for the completion of an arrangement for the removal 

 of the whole of this tribe, as well as of the Choctaws and Seminoles ; and I have not 

 a doubt of tbeir final success, which seems, from all former experience, to attend 

 every project of the kind made by the Government to their red children. * — G. C. 



IROQUOIS— CHEROKEES. 



When first discovered the Cherokees were occupying the mountainous country 

 about the headwaters of the Tennessee River and portions of Georgia and South 

 Carolina, up to 1830. They form a family by themselves, supposed, however, to be 

 somewhat remotely connected with the great Iroquois family. They call themselves 

 in their language Tsaraghee. According to their traditions they came to this country 

 before the Creeks, dispossessing a people of whom there is no record. Before and 

 during the Revolution they were friendly to and aided the English. A treaty of peace 

 was made with them by which they acknowledged the sovereignty of the United 

 States November 28, 1785, and were confirmed in the possession of their lands, occu- 

 pying a considerable portion of Tennessee and parts of North Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 

 bama, and Mississippi. Commenced migrating to the trans-Mississippi country as early 

 as 1790, consequent upon the encroachments of civilization, and in 1818 3,000 more 

 emigrated. As frequent cessions of their lands had reduced their territory to less than 

 8,000 square miles in extent, and also in consequence of the hostility of the Georgians, 

 they were all removed in 1838 to their present reservation in the Indian Territory, 

 excepting about 1,000, who remained in North Carolina. At the opening of the 

 war of the rebellion they had progressed to a high degree of prosperity, but suf- 

 fered great injury from both parties ravaging their country, and also in the eman- 

 cipation of their slaves. Nearly all the Cherokees at first joined the Confederacy 

 but after the fight at Pea Ridge, 9,000, under Colonel Downing, with a majority 

 of the nation, abandoned the Southern cause and joined the Union forces ; 6,500 ad- 

 hered to the Confederacy to the end. At the time of their removal west the Chero- 

 kees numbered about 27,000. In 1867 they were reduced to 13,566, but since then 

 have increased, so that they now number about 18,000. There are about 1,700 yet in 

 North Carolina, in a prosperous condition, owning about 70,000 acres of land. 



The reservation in the Indian Territory comprises about 5,000,000 acres, only one- 

 third of it capable of cultivation, and of which they are now working some 90,000 

 acres. Their crops for 1875 aggregated 630,000 bushels corn, 70,000 bushels wheat, 

 35,000 bushels oats, 50,000 tons hay, 500,000 feet of lumber, &c. They have 63 schools, 

 attended by nearly 2,000 children, that are supported by a fund of $1,580,000 held by 

 the United States. Under their present constitution they are governed by a national 

 committee and council elected for two years. The executive, or chief, is elected for 

 four years. 



The following portraits show the effects of the civilizing influences they have been 

 living under, and also the extensive admixture of white blood among them by inter- 

 marriage. — W. H. Jackson, 1877. 



PRESENT LOCATION AND NUMBERS, 1885-1886 



Cherokees (Eastern) in North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, 

 3,000; civilized farmers. 



* Since writing the above the Government have succeeded in removing the remainder of the Cher- 

 okees beyond the Mississippi, where they have taken up their residence alongside of their old friends, 

 who emigrated several years since under Jol-lee, as I have before mentioned. In the few years past 

 the Government has also succeeded in stipulating with, and removing west of the Mississippi, nearly 

 every remnant of tribes spoken of in this and the last two letters.— G. C, 1838. 



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