MAJOR GENERAL SCOTT, of the United States’ Army, announces to the
troops assembled and assembling in this country, that, with them, he has
been charged by the President to cause the Cherokee Indians yet remaining
in North Carolina, Georgia. Tennessee and Alabama, to remove to the West,
according to the terms of the Treaty of 1823. His Staff will be as follows:
LIEUTENANT COLONEL W. J. WORTH, acting Adjutant General, Chief of the
Staff.
MAJOR M. M. PAYINE, acting Inspector General.
LIEUTENANTS R. ANDERSON, & E. D. KEYES, regular Aids-de-camp.
COLONEL A. H. KENAN & LIEUTENANT H. B. SHAW, volunteer Aids-de-camp.
Any order given orally, or in writing, by either of those officers, in the
name of the Major General will be respected and obeyed as if given by
himself.
The Chiefs of Ordnance, or the QuarterMasters Department and of the
Commissariat, as also the Medical Director of this Army, will as soon as
they can be ascertained, be announced in orders.
To carry out the general object with the greatest promptitude and
certainty, and with -the least possible distress to the Indians, the
country they are to evacuate is divided into three principal Military
Districts, under as many officers of high rank, to command the troops
serving therein, subject to the instructions of the Major General.
Eastern District, to be commanded by BRIGADIER GENERAL EUSTIS, of the
United States’ Army or the highest officer in rank, serving
therein:--North Carolina, the part of Tennessee lying north of Gilmer
county, Georgia, and the counties of Gilmer, Union, and Lumpkin, in
Georgia. Head Quarters, in the first instance, say, at Fort Butler.
Western District, to be commanded by COLONEL LINDSAY, of the United
States’ Army, or the highest officer in rank serving therein:--Alabama,
the residue of Tennessee and Dade county, in Georgia. Head quarters, in
the first instance, say, at Ross Landing.
Middle District, to be commanded by BRIGADIER GENERAL ARMISTEAD of the
United States’ Army, or the highest officer in rank, serving therein:--All
that part of the Cherokee country, lying within the State of Georgia, and
which is not comprised in the two other districts- Head Quarters, in the
first instance, say, at New Echota.
It is not intended that the foregoing boundaries between the principal
commanders shall
he strictly observed. Either, when carried near the district of another
will not hesitate to extend his operations, according to the necessities
of the case, but with all practicable harmony, into the adjoining
district. And among his principal objects, in case of actual or
apprehended hostilities, will be that of affording adequate protection to
our white, people in and around the Cherokee country.
The senior officer actually present in each district will receive
instructions from the Major General as to the time of commencing the
removal, and every thing that way occur interesting to the service, in the
district, will be promptly reported to the same source. The Major General
will endeavour to visit in a short time all parts of the Cherokee country
occupied by the troops.
The duties devolved on the army, through a the orders of the Major General
& those of the commanders of districts, under him, are of a highly
important and critical nature.
The Cherokees, by the advances which they have made in christianity and
civilization, are by far the most interesting tribe of Indians in the
territorial limits of the United States. Of the 15,000 of those people
who are now to be removed--(and the time within which a voluntary
emigration was stipulated, will expire on the 23rd instant--) it is
understood that about four fifths are opposed, or have become averse to a
distant emigration; and altho’ none are in actual hostilities with the
United States, or threaten a resistance by arms, yet the troops will
probably be obliged to cover the whole country they inhabit, in order to
make prisoners and to march or to transport the prisoners, by families,
either to this place, to Ross’ Landing or Gunter’s Landing,
where they are to be finally delivered over to the Superintendant of
Cherokee Emigration.
Considering the number and temper of the mass to be removed, together with
the extent and fastnesses of the country occupied, it will readily occur,
that simple indiscretions--acts of harshness and cruelty, on the part of
our troops, may lead, step by step, to delays, to impatience and
exasperation, and in the end, to a general war and carnage--a result, in
the case of those particular Indians, utterly abhorrent to the generous
sympathies of the whole American people. Every possible kindness,
compatible with the necessity of removal, must, therefore, be shown by the
troops, and, if, in the ranks, a despicable individual should be found,
capable of inflicting a wanton injury or insult on any Cherokee man, woman
or child, it is hereby made the special duty of the nearest good officer
or man, instantly to interpose, and to seize and consign the guilty wretch
to the severest penalty of the laws. The Major General is fully persuaded
that this injunction will not be neglected by the brave men under his
command, who cannot be otherwise than jealous of their own honor and that
of their country.
By early and persevering acts of kindness and humanity, it is impossible
to doubt that the Indians may soon be induced to confide in the Army and
instead of fleeing to mountains. and forests, flock to us for food and
clothing. If, however, through false apprehensions, individuals, or a
party, here and there, should seek to hide themselves, they must be
pursued and invited to surrender, but not fired upon unless they should
make a stand to resist. Even in such cases, mild remedies may sometimes
better succeed than violence; and it cannot be doubted that if we get
possession of the women and children first, or first capture the men, that
in either case, the outstanding members, of the same families will readily
come in on the assurance of forgiveness and kind treatment.
Every captured man, as well as all who surrender themselves, must be
disarmed, with the assurance that their weapons will be carefully
preserved and restored at, or beyond the Mississippi. In either case, the
men will be guarded and escorted, except it may be, where their women and
children are safely secured as hostages; but, in general, families, in our
possession, will not be separated, unless it be to send men, as runners,
to invite others to come in.
It may happen that Indians will be found too sick, in the opinion of the
nearest Surgeon, to be removed to one of the depots indicated above. In
every such case, one or more of the family, or the friends of the sick
person, will be left in attendance, with ample subsistence and remedies,
and the remainder of the family removed by the troops. Infants,
superannuated persons, lunatics and women in a helpless condition, will
all, in the removal, require peculiar attention, which the brave and
humane will seek to adapt to the necessities or the several cases.
All strong men, women, boys & girls, will he made to march under proper
escorts. For the feeble, Indian horses and ponies will furnish a ready
resource, as well as for bedding and light cooking utensils--all of which,
as intimated in the Treaty, will be necessary to the emigrants both in
going to, and after arrival at, their new homes. Such, and all other light
articles of property, the Indian will be allowed to collect and to take
with them, as also their slaves, who will be treated in like manner, with
the Indians themselves.
If the horses and ponies be not adequate to the above purposes, wagons
must be supplied.
Corn, oats, fodder and other forage, also beef cattle, belonging to the
Indians to be removed, will be taken possession of by the proper
departments of the Staff, as wanted, for the regular consumption of the
Army and certificates given to the owners, specifying in every case, the
amount of forage and the weight of beef, so taken, in order that the
owners may be paid for the same on their arrival at one of the depots
mentioned above.
All other moveable or personal property, left or abandoned by the Indians,
will be collected by agents appointed for the purpose, by the
Superintendant of Cherokee Emigration, under a system of accountability,
for the benefit of the Indian owners, which he will devise. The Army will
give to those agents, in their operations, all reasonable countenance, aid
and support.
White men and widows, citizens of the United States, who are, or have been
intermarried with Indians, and thence commonly termed, Indian countrymen;
also such Indians as have been made denizens of particular States by
special legislation, together with the families and property of all such
persons, will not be molested or removed by the troops until a decision,
on the principles involved, can be, obtained from the War Department.
A like indulgence, but only for a limited time, and until further orders,
is extended to the families and property of certain Chiefs and head-men of
the two great Indian parties, (on the subject of emigration) now
understood to be absent in the direction of Washington on the business of
their respective parties.
This order will be carefully read at the head of every company in the
Army.
By Command
/s/ Winfield Scott
/s/ W. J. WORTH, Lt. Colo
Chief of Staff
Source: Transcribed from a graphic of a
broadside (an original printed version of the order) found in the online
Library of Congress, American Memory, An American Time Capsule: Three
Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera (Printed Ephemera
Collection; Portfolio 174, Folder 40a.)
