|
CHEROKEE DRENNEN ROLL OF 1851CHEROKEE DRENNEN ROLL OF 1851. Transcribed and Indexed by Marybelle W. Chase. Paperback, 1994, 8 ½ in. x 11 in., Index, 389 pp.
On the night of March 29, 1835, a treaty of removal was secretly signed by over a dozen Treaty party leaders who were known as the Ridge-Boudinot faction. This treaty was signed in the home of Elias Boudinot at New Echota, Georgia. A General Council was held at Red Clay in October of that year which was attended by both the Ross and Ridge factions. John F. Schermerhorn, appointed by President Andrew Jackson, presented the treaty. When the treaty came to a vote, it was rejected by the Ross party, and also the Ridge-Boudinot party because the amount of money offered apparently did not suit either faction. After the council at Red Clay Schermerhorn announced a coming council at New Echota in December to gain signatures to a treaty of removal. Chief John Ross and John Howard Payne were arrested in December by members of the Georgia guard and placed in jail. Therefore, Ross was not present in the Nation when the fraudulent treaty of removal was signed by barely one hundred individuals. Despite the protest of Chief John Ross and the majority of the Cherokee people, the United States Senate by a single vote ratified the New Echota treaty. A deadline for the final removal of the Cherokees from the east was set for May 23, 1838 which was two years after the treaty's ratification. The Treaty of New Echota which was signed on December 29, 1835 set the stage for the removal of the Cherokees from their homeland in the east to the lands set aside for them in the west. They would then join the Old Settler or Western Cherokees who had previously moved to the new land prior to 1835. The Cherokees who removed during the years 1838-39 are known as the Emigrant Cherokees. The late emigrants of the forced removal outnumbered the Old Settler Cherokees and the Treaty party two to one, thereby constituting four-fifths of the total population of the Cherokee Nation west. There was much animosity between the three factions of Cherokees leading to unrest, division, numerous murders, and the assassinations of John Ridge, Major Ridge, and Elias Boudinot because of their signing of the Treaty of New Echota. After many disputes concerning the Cherokee lands in the west, and the problems which had ensued after the removal of the emigrant Cherokees, a treaty between the Cherokees was submitted by President Polk to the Senate on the day following its completion on August 7, 1846. The Treaty of 1846 provided for a patent to be issued for the land occupied by the Cherokees to the Cherokee Nation as a whole, and all difficulties and disputes heretofore existing among the Cherokees were to be considered "settled and adjusted." As soon as possible after the Treaty of 1846 was ratified, the leaders of the parties made arrangements for receiving the money due them by the making of census rolls. After census rolls were completed, the Treaty Party was paid first without many problems. The Old Settlers were paid second with the emigrant Cherokees being paid last. These payments were conducted by Colonel John Drennen and were made at Fort Gibson. There were 13,905 emigrant Cherokees listed on the Drennen Roll, and Colonel Drennen paid to the emigrant party a total of $1,290,801.15 which amounted to a payment of $92.83 for each emigrant Cherokee. #CH-002 |