Henry Henegar to Ed Porter Tompson, October 25, 1897 · Retracing the Bell Route: An Archive of Cherokee Removal · Retracing the Bell Route: An Archive of Cherokee Removal

Transcription

"Standwaty (Boudinot’s half brother) had gone to Flint to get Jack and Sam Bell to raise a company to come and kill Ross for revenge [and Mrs. Boudinot] did not want any further blood shed…When I got there about fifty armed Indians had arrived to protect Ross by the next morning there was two hundred on the ground that morning Standwaty Jack and Sam Bell cam[e] with their party came in right on the prarie but finding they were out numbered turned and went around to the mission. We afterwards learned they went … in the direction of the Fort. by the next day there was six hundred of Rosses friends there armed & to them Ross made a speech in which he advised moderation and to act in the defencive[.] after he returned Ned Gunter a halfbreed made a war speech and said all in favor of pursuing them to make it knowned they all gave a grunt and mounted there [sic] horses and in pursuit. The Bell party having gone into the Fort no trouble insued … in the meantime it was ascertained that two other signers of the treaty had been killed the same morning in accordance with a secret understanding. Jack Bell was the only signer of the treaty that escaped, he being absent from home. Jack Walker having been killed in Tenn mortally wounded near his home eight miles from the place a few days after the treaty was signed. It was claimed by the Ross party that they had treated away there [sic] land without due authority and it was a law of the general council to if any men or set of men should treat away there country without being authorized that they should be killed at any time or place they should be found. Jack Walker was an educated man, his wife was Miss Emily S. Meggs a granddaughter of Return J Meggs of revolutionary fame all the signers of the treaty were men of education and considerable wealth. Boudinot in particular was a man of high attainments and generally beloved. The impression was is abroad that Ross was an unscrupulous man. I was in his employ for fifteen months and at all times found him to be an honorable upright man. I am firmly of the opinion that he had nothing to do with putting to death the signers of the treaty. I once heard Sam Houston say that John Ross was as great a statesman as John C. Calhoun, Daniel Wilder, or Henry Clay…”

Title

Henry Henegar to Ed Porter Tompson, October 25, 1897

Name of Writer

Henry Henegar

Name of Recipient

Ed Porter Tompson

Location Correspondence is Sent From

Charleston, Tennessee