HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: TREATY OF HOPEWELL Version 1.0, 15-Dec-2002, H-08.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Dec-2002 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Dec-2002 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Mary Cherry Doyle, Clemson, SC in Jan-1935 Dedicated To: Dr Edgar Clay Doyle FOREWORD In presenting these fragmentary facts that have come to my knowledge, it is my hope that they may prove helpful in preserv- ing the history of Oconee county for the youth of the land and all who are interested in the history of Oconee county for South Carolina. With knowledge there will follow a fuller appreciation of the great heritage that is ours. I wish to acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to Dr. J. Walter Daniel, an author- ity on Indians of the South. We are indebted to members of the Wizard of Tamassee Chapter S. C. D. A. R. and many other friends. MARY CHERRY DOYLE. January, 1935. TREATY OF HOPEWELL The year of our Lord 1935 marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Hopewell, signed at Hopewell on Keowee November 28, 1785, at the home of Gen. Andrew Pickens in the northwestern section of South Carolina. This treaty marks a turning point in the history of the Cherokees, their first treaty with the new government of the U. S. A. for peace and boundary delineations. May it be said to the everlasting credit of the Cherokees that this treaty was never broken by them. If this or similar treaty had not been signed we would not have enjoyed the peace, beauty and sustenance of this land for a century and a half. On July 6, 1785, Gen. Pickens secured from the State of South Carolina a grant of 573 acres of bounty land for the sum of 57 pounds and 6 shillings and removed to his new home on Keowee, afterwards called Seneca, as soon as his dwelling was completed. His house which was burned many years ago was located on the north side of the Blue Ridge Railroad, a little north of Cherry's Crossing. Gen. Pickens was an Indian fighter at seventeen and was commissioned to make nearly all the treaties with the Southern Indians on account of his courage and integrity. He was respected by friend and enemies alike, so it seemed fitting that his home, which was favorably located, should be chosen for the negotiations which led to the signing of this important treaty. Permit me to digress that we might have a better under- standing of the facts which led to the Treaty. During the Revolution the Cherokees, and in fact almost all of the Indians, had sided with the British and uniting with the Tories were an added menace to harass the poor, unpaid soldiers of South Carolina, who lived in constant fear of the dangers that threatened their homes. No wonder was it that between battles they hurried home to see if their loved ones were still alive. Rightly do we revere their memories for the sacrifices they made that we might enjoy a free untrammeled land. In the year 1779, Gen. Pickens fought what he himself described as the last and most desperate battle fought with the Cherokees at Tamassee. The Indians were completely subdued, but it was not until six years later that the Treaty was signed. In the intervening years Gen. Pickens fought in some, of the most important battles of the Revolution and engaged in an expedition against the Indians in Georgia as far west as the Chattahoochee river. Picture to yourself a clear autumn day, November 28, 1785, a beautiful hillside surrounded by primeval forest and at the foot a quietly flowing stream. To this spot came 1,000 Indians: Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and Chipewas, resplendent in headdresses of feathers, their bronze bodies ornamented with beads of all colors and designs, their feet encased in embroidered moccasins and over their shoulders the inevitable blanket. They arranged themselves in four camps according to their tribes. There were thirty-seven chiefs and head men from nearly as many towns. The Commissioners for the government were Gen. Andrew Pickens of South Carolina, Col Benjamin Hawkins of North Carolina, who signed the deed for North Carolina, giving Tennessee, then called Franklin, to the United States, Indian Agent Joseph Martin, representing Tennessee, and Lachlan Mclntosh of Georgia. The council lasted ten days prolonged by the protests of the commissioners from North Carolina and Georgia against the action of the government commissioners in conferring on the Indians some lands which had already been appropriated as bounty lands for state troops without the consent of the Cherokees. On the other hand the Cherokees contended that 3,000 whites were occupying unseeded lands between the Holston and French Broad rivers. In spite of their protest these intruders were allowed to remain, although the territory was not acquired by treaty until some years afterwards. One of the most noteworthy instances of that assembly was a speech, the first one to be delivered in America by a woman, Nancy Ward, the beloved war woman of the Cherokees. The principal chief of Eschota, the sacred capital of the Cherokees at the site of the present town of Franklin, N. C., after delivering an opening speech said "I have no more to say, but one of our beloved women has, who has born and raised up warriors." It might be well to say here that the war women, or Pretty Women as they were called, were powerful in the tribe. They decided the punish- ment allotted to captives and were mighty in the councils of their tribe. Nancy Ward, the great war woman of the Cherokees, was the one referred to by the chief. She is supposed to have lived on the Creek near Clayton, Georgia, which was called the War Woman. She it was who saved the life of Mrs. Bean on the Holston, her son having been burned to death. Nancy Ward was the sister of the great Alta-Kulla- Kulla, of the upper Cherokees. Mrs. Ward, after delivering a string of wampum to emphasize the importance of the occasion, this war woman of Eschota expressed her pleasure at the peace she continued: ''I have a pipe and a little tobacco to give to the Commis- sioners to smoke in friendship. I look upon you and the red people as my children. Your having determined on peace is very pleasing to me, for I have had much trouble during the late war. 1 am old but I hope to bear children who will grow up and people our nation, as we are now to be under the protection of Congress and shall have no more disturb- ance. The talk that I have given is from the young warriors I have raised in my town as well as myself. They rejoice that we have peace, and we hope that the chain of friendship will never be broken." Two strings of wampum, a pipe and some tobacco accompanied her words. At this time Anna Calhoun, a relative of South Caro- lina's famous statesman, who was a prisoner, was exchanged in accordance with article I of the treaty. All trade regulations were in the hands of the Govern- ment and all malefactors were to receive fair treatment. The Cherokees were to notify the United States of any uprisings among the tribes, and of all foreigners attempting to trade with them. They had the right to send deputies of their own choosing whenever they deemed it necessary to Congress. The boundaries were "Beginning at Duck Creek" in Tennessee, the line strikes the Cumberland river 40 miles above Nashville thence up said river to where the Kentucky trail crosses the river, thence to the mouth of Claud's Creek on Holston to Nolichucky, next striking the North Carolina line and from there to the South Carolina Indian boundary, thence to Tugaloo river to a direct line at top of Currahee Mountain and to the head waters of the South fork of the Oconee river." This treaty ceded to the whites about one-third more or less of the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, west of the Blue Ridge mountains, the counties of Oconee, Anderson, Pickens and Greenville in South Carolina, and about one- third more or less of the state of Georgia, extending in twelve miles of Atlanta. The treaty, consisting of a brief preamble and thirteen articles, was signed at Hopewell under the shade of a large red oak which lived to a great age. This remarkable tree died about thirty years ago and stood for several years thereafter as a stark reminder of its former glory, its bare limbs extending heavenward in mute appeal. The Andrew Pickens chapter, S.C. D.A.R. have erected a monument marking the spot where the Treaty Oak stood. Article XIII of the treaty reads as follows: "The hatchet shall be forever buried, and peace given by the United States and friendship reestablished between the said states on the one part, and all the Cherokees on the other, shall be uni- versal; and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace." (Copied from the Treaty of Hopewell between the United States of America and the Cherokee Indians.) This peace was never broken by the Cherokees. For this large amount of territory the Indians received plows and blankets.