The Cherokee and the Market Revolution

The Catalyst of commercialization on the conasauga river

BY ADRIAN THOMPSON

In a variety of ways, The Conasauga river was used as a conduit that transported people, animals, and goods within the northwest Georgia region leading up to and after the 1830s and 1840s. It got the name the “Slave River” because of the “great number of slaves who manned float boats along its waters”[1]. The river was important to the functioning of the sawmill and gristmills that supplied the community with “nutritious meal and flour”[2]. By the year 1879, there were many “businesses and professions” working along the river, using the commodities from sawmills and gristmills[3]. For example, there was a sawmill owned by Wiley J. Ault near Tilton who cut and cured timber to be disbursed and utilized by neighboring business such as wagon manufacturers. With the community surrounding the river becoming increasingly dependent upon timber, the popularity of logging experienced a steady incline. Industrial logging around the river peaked in the 1920s, and steam boats, as well as other kinds of river boats, would be able to come down the river when high tide would raise the water level (see image 1). However, they would only be able to come half way down the river before the river bed would become too shallow and too narrow for the boats to fit properly. The river was an access point to bring a variety of goods such as “mountain furs and peltry,” as well as “cotton, lumber, wheat, and oats,” and many of these goods would be put into larger markets in places like Rome[4]. Thus, having slaves in the region was essential to the economy and directly affected how the river was used. The Conasauga river is a life source to all who live around it. Many find sanctuary in the nature of the river. People, for years now, have used it for baptism, for recreational purposes, to fish, and generally to enjoy the wildlife and scenery (see image 2)[5].

            Seeing as how the river was valued as an access point for generations, it has an extensive history and was not property of the United States for many years. The Cherokee Nation of Indians had sovereignty over the river and the land surrounding it until the 1830s. Members of the Cherokee nation, with the help of John Ross, fought to keep the river, lands, and other waterways of northwest Georgia under Cherokee sovereignty but to no avail. By 1828, the United States government began to send men out into the mountains to survey 160-acre parcels of land to put into the 1832 Land Lottery. Through the 1832 Georgia Land Lottery, the corner of northwest Georgia would be cracked wide open for advantageous white society to enter the territory. There was already an extensive use of slavery by many Cherokees in the region before the 1832 Land Lottery that eroded the soil of the land. However, the 1832 Land Lottery acted as a catalyst to bring commercialization to the region, and with it came logging, and privatization of the land.   

            The mention of the Cherokee actually using slaves is perhaps shocking to one who is actively using the idea of the Pristine Myth to guide their understanding of Native Americans. The perpetuation of this myth must stop if the true history of the Cherokee Indians, or any Native American group, is to be understood and appreciated. The pristine myth has played a powerful role in how Native Americans are commonly viewed today. Plainly, the myth asserts that Native Americans had no real impact on the land before 1492 when Europeans arrived on the continent. William Denevan asserts “the Indian impact was neither benign nor localized and ephemeral…By 1492 Indian activity throughout the Americas had modified forest extent and composition, created and expanded grasslands, and rearranged microrelief via countless artificial earthworks”[6]. This is why discussing population is important because scholars are now speculating that the population of Native Americans before European arrival in somewhere in the millions. The myth also supports the idea that Native Americans left the natural world to grow freely without interference from harvesting, gathering, or hunting. This idea suggests that Native Americans were natural ecologists who knew exactly how to care for the forests. Soil composition is a science. Native Americans knew that by burning the underbrush, it would aid harvests. Now, modern technology and science proves that by burning underbrush, it returns essential nutrients to the soil such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and magnesium, just to name a few. Thus, the pristine myth is logically inconsistent with modern understanding of soil composition and, especially, seeing how many Native Americans adapted to the commercial habits of white society. 

It is important to be aware of the population density of a region, even if it is a rough estimate, to know the quantity of resources being utilized. It is also pertinent information to know what the cultural and societal values were of those living there to understand what resources were being used. There is considerable speculation about the population size of the Cherokee Nation. However, prominent historians in the field argue that at around the year 1800 there were anywhere from approximately eighteen-thousand to twenty-thousand Cherokees living in the Cherokee Nation[7]. The nation was also considerably condensed through a plethora of treaties with the United States. So, the amount of Cherokees living around the Conasuaga river at the time of the land lottery would be nearly impossible to accurately pinpoint. Information provided by the exhibit of the Chief Vann House states that in the 1835 census of the Cherokee Nation there were 8,964 Cherokees total living in the state of Georgia[8]. The population size is directly related to how many people were living around and actively using the resources from the rivers of northwest Georgia.

The Moravian missionaries that moved to the Vann Plantation were a religious group that came from Salem, North Carolina into the corner of northwest Georgia with the aid of James Vann. The land on which they resided is known as Spring Place[9]. In a Moravian missionary dairy entry, Anna Rosina noted that a particular group of Cherokees came to visit who lived in Oostanaula. However, the hunting season brought them to the Conasauga river, where “they had stayed for some time”[10]. Was hunting more successful on the Conasauga river? Anna Rosina never mentions it, but this information does suggest that there were Native Americans coming just to hunt on the Conasauga and using it as a commons area for all to enjoy. The Conasauga river drains a large portion of northwest Georgia. The majority of it runs along the boundary between Whitfield county and Murray county. It meets with the Coosawattee to form the Oostanaula which drains into the Coosa river. There are multiple springs and streams that break off from the Conasauga to deliver water across the region (see image 3). Of course, not just Cherokees would be using the river. Slaves and other white settlers ventured to the river to enjoy it for all it had to offer as well. So, it is evident that not just Native Americans were living within the territory at the time of the 1832 Land Lottery. There were slaves who lived on the Vann plantation, the Moravian missionaries who lived at Spring Place and, specifically, there were white men like David McNair who lived on the Conasauga in 1813[11]. There were also white men who were married to Cherokee women living within the territory, sometimes legally and sometimes illegally[12].

            The Vann Plantation has an exhaustive history that combines the stories of Cherokee, white, and slave societies. The plantation was the home of hundreds of slaves during its running years and it was the place where the Moravian missionaries settled their mission site. The purposes of these two groups living in the same area were vastly different. Slaves were meant to diligently cultivate lands so that the product of the lands would be more profitable. So, it can be said that the main reason anyone would have slaves is for profit motive, and many Native Americans in the region had slaves. The Moravians, however, were there explicitly for religious purposes. So, they were not looking to necessarily exploit the land. There were, of course, tensions between what the Cherokee and white society desired for the land. However, this points highlights that there were two distinct ways that the Cherokee interacted with the land. One interaction was based on market-value and use-value, which is where the slaves came in, and the other was a morally or ethically based interaction. Do not conflate the moral interaction with the land with religious roots. While the Cherokee were a spiritual people and there were missionaries living in Spring Place, James Vann was not a religious man himself[13]. He merely brought the Moravians to the region because he wanted the Cherokee children to be educated by them[14].

            The Moravians did engage in trade with other Cherokees in the area. They traded simple goods such as various meat stuffs, alcohol, “earthen containers,” clothing items, furs, and wax[15]. The furs referred to are ones that were taken from wolves and other “dangerous” animals, which, as this Moravian missionary stated, “a Cherokee does not do easily”[16]. This statement about the Cherokee’s hesitancy towards the unnecessary taking of life suggests that some Cherokee generally had a reserved and meticulous relationship with other living organisms that inhabited the same ecosystem as them. Generally, the Cherokee believed “land…was not a commodity as it was to white Americans”[17]. This juxtaposes what the Vann family was doing on their plantation. Slaves were essential to the business of the Vann plantation and the Vann family fortune. However, the jobs they did would easily deprive the land of soil nutrients, leading to soil exhaustion, and could erode the lands of the plantation.

            At the Vann plantation, there were a variety of jobs slaves had which would maintain the livelihood of the plantation and those residing there. Enslaved men would often be found clearing out fields so that crops could be grown. This job was brutal and laborious. They had to clear the land of “trees, stumps, and large rocks,” then plow the field until the ground was smooth enough to plant crops[18]. These crops were used to feed all who resided on the plantation and were sold for profit. Thus, there were a variety of crops grown in a rather, ecologically speaking, confined area (see image 4). They could also be found “picking pumpkins, cutting wood, fighting fires,” and helping with the “animal husbandry.” The Vann plantation would typically let their animals run free in the common area, which was usually a forested area, where the animals were not dealt with until the fall season came around when the slaves would gather and slaughter them. Meat was eaten year-round, but was the main food group eaten during the colder months due to the lack of fruit and vegetable harvests available at that time in the year[19]. Some Cherokees would argue what the Vann plantation was doing was profiteering and giving into the pressures of white society. However, a utilitarian view of nature was not uncommon. In the 1826 census, the Cherokee nation had “holdings of 1,560 slaves,” which suggests that Cherokees, on the whole, were not totally opposed to owning slaves. This effectively challenges the ideas of the pristine myth and deconstructs the sentiment that Native Americans were natural ecologists that respected every aspect of nature, including other humans. In fact, “the Cherokee underwent the most remarkable adaptation to white culture of any Native American people during this period”[20].

            Native Americans had adapted to the white society that was slowly closing in around the Cherokee nation. They had experienced a rather brutal defeat in the Revolutionary War and “realized the importance of holding onto their land”[21]. The Cherokee nation, as a whole had become increasingly dependent on the resources and trade deals that white society was willing to offer them. This is how Cherokee culture shifted from a people “thriving upon a high degree of innovation and self-sufficiency,” to a culture that looked more like what the Vann plantation was in the early 19th century[22]. The previously mentioned 1826 census found that Cherokees had 22,000 cattle, 7,600 horses, 46,000 swine, 2,500 sheep, 762 looms, 2,488 spinning wheels, 172 wagons, 2,942 plows, 10 sawmills, 31 grist mills, 62 blacksmith shops, 8 cotton gins, 18 schools, and 18 ferries on top of the hundreds of slaves[23]. The Creek War (1812) proved that the government authorities were not afraid to cede Native American land for their own gain. This, along with the statistics from the 1826 census, proves that many were willing to adjust to white society and adapt to utilitarian usage of the land most likely from a fear of losing their hold over the land. Andrew Jackson was not opposed to seeing this happen either. He, along with Georgia authorities, ignored the “Cherokee protection treaties” formed with the legal battles won in the Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832)[24].

            Some individuals within the Cherokee nation were afraid that the earth would no longer be able to grow essential crops. One Cherokee recounted a narrative to a Moravian missionary saying a poor Cherokee man said “the cultivation of grain would soon come to an end while the earth is too old to bear much fruit[,] and that fruit is dying[,] and corn will only grow in the sky.” The missionary calmed the anxiety of the Cherokee saying God “alone knows when the time will be to destroy the earth”[25]. This story suggests that the lands they resided on were continually being depleted by plantation life.

            By and large, James Vann, one of the owners of the Vann plantation, had more than the average Native American and was considered extremely wealthy by “the U.S. government, Moravian missionaries, and other Native Peoples.” He also held a considerable amount of power in the region. Many of his businesses were placed near the Old Federal Road which runs through the Cherokee nation. He was a sponsor for the placement and building of the road. He did, however, get a lot of push back from the other Cherokee chiefs in the area. Still, he “forced it through the Council,” because he knew “the road would be very advantageous to his businesses”[26]. His plantation looked typical of the time and region, but he was very aggressive with punishments towards his slaves and all those who worked for him. He is mainly remembered for his horrible temper but he is also remembered for “his statesmanship in Cherokee affairs,” and for his magnanimity towards the Moravian missionaries that resided on his property[27]. He passed this will to protect the Cherokee nation to his son, Joseph Vann, who was recorded as a delegate for the Cherokee nation on a trip to “Washington city” to discuss new treaties with John Ross in a congressional meeting[28].

Shortly after the 1832 Georgia Land Lottery, the corner of northwest Georgia was cracked wide open for families to come in and cultivate lands as well as set up businesses there. It can be argued that the Vann plantation was one of the first commercial enterprises that interceded upon the land surrounding the Conasauga river. The 1832 Land Lottery was just the fuel needed to get others involved in modern industrial enterprises that interceded upon the land following the intense decade of the 1830s and into the 20th century. Nothing could keep the lands around the Conasauga protected from white society forever. With the attention the Dahlonega Gold Rush was bringing to the area, many were beginning to wonder what else was in the mountains of north Georgia and “thousands of prospectors descended on the region”[29].

            Andrew Jackson was the president at the time of the 1832 Land Lottery and Native American removal. He worked closely with Georgia Governors George Gilmer and Wilson Lumpkin to formulate the beginnings of the 1832 Land Lottery and the Cherokee Removal Act (1830). In the hallmark case The Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Supreme court ruled that the Cherokee nation was a “"domestic dependent” nation, not a foreign one[30]. So, the courts of the United States had no authority to assist the Cherokee nation. This left the Cherokees vulnerable to the advances of the anxious white settlers wanting to claim their pieces of land within the territory. The case of Worcester v. Georgia asserted that the Cherokee nation was an individual political entity and the state had no jurisdiction over it. However, the ruling was “disregarded by the state,” which, again, gave the Cherokee nation no political autonomy leaving it vulnerable to advancements[31]. Both of these actions undoubtedly buttressed the Cherokee Removal Act (1830) signed into law by Andrew Jackson. No matter what the Cherokee nation did, they would not be left alone until they left the region for good even though they made considerable advancements of assimilating into white society.

            The only lingering question is why did the government and Georgians want claims to the land so desperately? Neither Andrew Jackson, or Wilson Lumpkin, ever totally reveals the motives that lead them to advance upon the Cherokee nation. One surveyor mentions in his travels into the mountains of north Georgia, “The two last nights we have been compelled [to] lay out without our tent, our pack horses not being able to get us in the mountains”[32]. This particular insight does not make the environment seem very appealing. However, Levi Branham, a slave working in Murray county in the 1850s and 60s near the Chief Vann House, recalls the splendor of the region in his life accounts called My Life and Travels. He recalls finding a fish basket filled with “about five or six trout weighing from four or five pounds,” in the Conasauga river[33]. This detail juxtaposes the surveyors account and suggests that the region was fruitful. Seeing how many Native Americans also came to the river specifically to hunt, and knowing that many financial enterprises relating to the environment (logging for example) would come from the region, Jackson and Lumpkin did not have to say why they believed claiming the land in north Georgia would be so important. There were already, what where legally called, “improvements” made upon the land by the Native Americans who once resided there, and whoever got the winning ticket would be able to enjoy said “improvements.” These “improvements” upon the land and consisted of “houses, fields, cabins, farm buildings…roads, and trails,” which were placed close to streams[34]. Americans wanted to move there. The prospect of getting 160 acres of free land, minus the $18 fee to actually claim their parcel of land, was something no person could resist[35].

What this means is that the land entered a transitional period. Even though many Cherokees had adapted to white society, in economic and political ways, there were some who still had moral attachments to the land. For example, some Cherokee did not believe the earth could be owned. A Cherokee man named “The Flea” asserted “that it is basically not our earth, it is God’s,” and that a certain portion of people from white society were curious about the land. They were never looking out for the vulnerable Native American’s best interests, but really “only had their own in mind.” This could mean that he believed white society was looking to exploit the land through commercialization practices. He also warned that many Native Americans will allow themselves to be taken advantage of by white people anxious to settle in the territory if “chiefs did not guard against this”[36].

Still, the government moved forward with the land lottery and began sectioning off 160 acre parcels in the northwest corner of the state, which is where the Conasauga river is. The way that the surveyors broke up the parcels of land looks like an avid supporter of Jeffersonian agrarianism’s dream. The land was neatly sectioned out into perfect squares. This would allow the farmer, or businessman, to have adequate access to all their supplies and land at a comfortable distance (see image 5). Only 40 acres per parcel was allowed in “gold country.” Gold country is simply Dahlonega and the area surrounding the city where the most gold was found during the Georgia Gold Rush. The lottery tickets were put into large barrels and the winner of the land was chosen at random[37]. This person had no ties to the land. Their intentions with the land would determine if they would be good tenants. The government did not make any obvious attempts to see who would take advantage of the land and who would monitor how overused the soil would get.

Seeing how desperately the United States and Georgia governments were to get Cherokees out of the northwest corner of the state, it is a bit ironic to hear local historian, Tim Howard, say “very few people who drew the lots in the land lottery actually moved [to the region] after the removal.” However, it was a major financial or health risk for some people to move to the area. What if the land would not turn over a proper harvest every year? After hearing this point of view, it is understandable to see how many land parcels went “unclaimed.” Besides, many “fortunate drawers” were veterans of the Revolutionary War. So, many of them “had no desire to pull up stakes and move to the wilds of northwest Georgia at that point in their lives.” At that point, people could either sell their parcel of the land, or turn it over to family or friends who were willing to take it. This is how Carters Dam was able to be built. Farish Carter bought approximately “25,000 acres in four counties where Carters Dam is today”[38].

After the 1832 Land Lottery, the area surrounding the river was seeming “more and more of a white man’s county.” Meaning there was more access for business to regularly take place. A necessary piece of equipment needed to move merchandise across the country were trains. There were railway lines laid down all over north Georgia (see image 6). Many of the first merchants near the river sold liquor. There were over thirty who applied for a license to sell liquor in Murray county from 1834 to 1839. One of the first non-alcoholic businesses established in the area after the land lottery was the Chester Inn. General Winfield Scott stayed at the establishment while escorting the Cherokee Indians west of the Mississippi. The original structure of the Chester Inn is said to have had “many windows and possibly…three floors”[39]. Perhaps the Chester Inn was expecting to see many visitors in the near future since the land lottery effectively allowed people into the area without legal restrictions. Many other businesses, along with a hotel ran by the Chester’s daughter, opened on the other side of the river in what is known as Dalton[40]. With so many people coming to the region with commercial ambitions, it was inevitable that businesses follow.

The 1832 Georgia Land Lottery proved to be the end of the Cherokee people and the sovereignty they had over their ancestral home lands. The legal actions taken by them did nothing to give them autonomy over their holdings of the land. They did almost everything to keep the land for themselves. Ultimately, forced removal was the only option the United States government saw fit. The surrounding white society enclosed upon the territory to take it and split it up how it wanted. The land lottery split the land around the Conasauga and doled it out to individuals who may or may not have taken responsibility for it. Some left the land deserted and others created a whole lifestyle around it. Whatever people were convinced to do with it, they brought with them business and modernity. Valuable commodities that white society wanted, such as timber and pelts, began to roll on rails next to the Conasauaga river and drifted downstream to deliver these goods to a new and expanding people.

The crops on smaller farms and plantations, like on the Vann plantation, could erode or exhaust the soil. There were not any laws immediately after the land lottery in place to ensure that people were not abusing the land. People came to the region because the “soil was fertile and the broad planes offered excellent pasturage for the large herds of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and swine.” Cotton, in particular, was a harsh crop to grow, and it was grown in excess to bring in a profit[41]. Almost everything that would be grown and done to the land before and after the land lottery was to turn a profit.

By the 1850s, the effects of iron mining and clear cutting were becoming more visible. The hills of the northwest Georgia region were becoming barren of vegetation and the topsoil was beginning to erode. This made the land “less desirable for other agricultural pursuits,” according to Donald Edward Davis[42]. Furances used for iron production were strategically placed close to rivers because the machines needed water to work. On the Conasauga river, there were operations dedicated to creating pots, pans, wrought-iron bars, and other “hollow-ware” items[43]. For these products, there were dams created which flooded parts of the country side. Some areas were cleared to make way for roads and other forms of infrastructure for mill employees. Grist mills became very important to the settled communities because they produced flour and meal. Of course, many families frequently used these staple products and lived close enough to make weekly outings to the grist mill to procure these and other necessary items to sustain their way of life[44]. Out of the three main rivers of northwest Georgia, the Conasauga, the Oostanaula, and the Coosawattee, the Conasauga is the fastest flowing.

So, was the region already exposed to the profit motives of Native Americans or did the land of the Conasauga river and the Conasauga river valley begin to experience hardship only after the white populace completely moved in? Based on the evidence presented, the Cherokee did a lot to the land, even though many of them were concerned with the repercussions. They allowed for plantations to grow excessive amounts of crops, as well as clearing new fields for more crops to grow, and they frequently hunted near and in the Conasauga river. Whenever white society moved in, there was a gradual momentum of progress building that sustains the region today. There were “improvements” made that benefitted those who lived there. Individual and family ran businesses began to pick up in the area around the river and more people found recreational uses for the river than just utilitarian ones. The 1832 Georgia Land Lottery allowed for a fresh society to intercede upon the Conasauga river and the land around it, converting it into an area where people found peace and functionality.

[1]  David, Donald S. The Land of Ridge and Valley: A Photographic History of the Northwest Georgia Mountains. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing), 40.

[2]  David, The Land of Ridge and Valley: A Photographic History of the Northwest Georgia Mountains, 39.

[3] Lewis, Eulalie M. "Tilton: Life In a Small Georgia Town." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 42, no. 4 (1958), 431.

[4] David, The Land of Ridge and Valley: A Photographic History of the Northwest Georgia Mountains, 40.

[5] David, Donald S. The Land of Ridge and Valley: A Photographic History of the Northwest Georgia Mountains, 39.

[6] Denevan, William M, “The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492,”Annals of the Association of American Geographer 82, no. 3, (1992): 370.

[7] Russell Thornton, The Cherokees: A Population History (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press), 40.

[8] “The Vann Plantation-1830s.” Chief Vann House, Chatsworth, Georgia. Photo taken on March 21, 2020.

[9] Murray County’s Indian Heritage. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society. (Fernandina Beach: Wolfe Publishing), 3.

[10] Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press), 111.

[11] Blount, Willie. Willie Blount to David B. Mitchell. Letter. Nashville. Digital Library of Georgia, Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842.

[12] “1835 Census of the Cherokee Nation.” Chief Vann House, Chatsworth, Georgia. Picture Taken on March 21, 2020.

[13]  Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee, 42.

[14]  Murray County’s Indian Heritage. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, 3.

[15] Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee, 110-112.

[16] Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee, 111.

[17]  Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee, 89.

[18] “What type of work did enslaved people do here?” Chief Vann House, Chatsworth, Georgia. Photo taken on March 21, 2020.

[19] African American History at the Chief Vann House. Edited by Tiya Miles. (University of Michigan), 10.

[20] Buddy Sullivan. In association with The Georgia Historical Society. Georgia: A State History. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing), 50. 

[21] Buddy Sullivan. In association with The Georgia Historical Society. Georgia: A State History, 50.

[22] Buddy Sullivan. In association with The Georgia Historical Society. Georgia: A State History, 50.

[23] Buddy Sullivan. In association with The Georgia Historical Society. Georgia: A State History, 50.

[24]  Buddy Sullivan. In association with The Georgia Historical Society. Georgia: A State History, 50.

[25] Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee, 99.

[26]  Murray County’s Indian Heritage. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, 4.

[27] African American History at the Chief Vann House. Edited by Tiya Miles. (University of Michigan), 5.

[28] Coffee, John. John Coffee to Governor Wilson Lumpkin. Letter. Etowah Head Quarters. Digital Library of Georgia, Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842.

[29] Buddy Sullivan. In association with The Georgia Historical Society. Georgia: A State History, 48. 

[30]  “The Cherokee Nation vs. The State of Georgia.” Cherokee Nation vs. The State of Georgia, August 2017, 1.

[31] Miles, Edwin A. "After John Marshall's Decision: Worcester v. Georgia and the Nullification Crisis." The Journal of Southern History 39, no. 4 (1973): 529.

[32] Thomas, Edward Lloyd. Edward Lloyd Thomas to Governor George R. Gilmer. Letter. Cherokee Nation. Digital Library of Georgia, Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842.

[33] Levi Branham. My Life and Travels, Electronic Edition. (Dalton, Ga: The A. J. Showalter Co. Printers And Publishers), 6.

[34] Murray County’s Indian Heritage. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society. (Fernandina Beach: Wolfe Publishing), 34. 

[35] Hoyt Bleakley and Joseph P. Ferrie. Up From Poverty? The 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery and the Long-Run Distribution of Wealth. (Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research), 10. 

[36]  Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokee, 90.

[37]  “Georgia Land Lottery.” New Georgia Encyclopedia. EBSCOhost, Accessed April 3, 2020.      

[38]  Tim Howard, email message to author, March 9, 2020.

[39]  Murray County’s Indian Heritage. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, 51.

[40]  Murray County’s Indian Heritage. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, 51.

[41] Theda Perdue. Slavery and the Evolution of the Cherokee Society, 1540-1866. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press), 97.

[42]  Donald Edward Davis. Homeplace Geography: Essays for Appalachia (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2006), 190.

[43]  Donald Edward Davis. Homeplace Geography: Essays for Appalachia, 190.

[44] Donald Edward Davis. Homeplace Geography: Essays for Appalachia, 187.