- Collection:
- Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842
- Title:
- [Letter] 1797 Feb. 17, Knoxville, [Tennessee to] Benjamin Hawkins, Superintendent of Indian Affairs / John S[evier] of an image
- Creator:
- Tennessee. Governor (1796-1801 : Sevier)
- Publisher:
- Manuscript held by the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TN, Governor Sevier, box 1, folder 3, document tl034.
- Date of Original:
- 1797-02-17
- Subject:
- Creek Indians--Claims against
Cherokee Indians--Claims against
Horse stealing
Fugitive slaves - Location:
- United States, Tennessee, 35.75035, -86.25027
- Medium:
- letters (correspondence)
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
image/jpeg - Description:
- This is a letter written to Benjamin Hawkins, U.S. Agent to the Creeks, from Tennessee Governor John Sevier (1796-1801, 1803-1809) on February 17, 1797. Sevier recounts the story of two escaped slaves belonging to Capt. James Richardson who ended up in the Cherokee Nation and were later taken by a Creek man, who is said to be holding them until the Cherokees return horses that were stolen from him. He asks Hawkins to see that the slaves are returned. Sevier also tells Hawkins that he suspects that Creeks or Cherokees have recently been committing aggressions against settlers in the Cumberland settlement.
Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries in 2001, as part of GALILEO, funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. - Local Identifier:
- gs034
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_gs034
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_gs034#item
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_gs034/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [title of item], Governor Sevier, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TN, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia
- Extent:
- 2 pages/leaves
- Holding Institution:
- Tennessee State Library and Archives
- Rights:
-
Page: [1]
Knoxville
17 February 1797
Sir,
Sometime past two Negro fellows belonging to Capt. [Captain] James Richardson of this Country ran away and went into the Cherokee Nation, from [deleted text: whence ] [added text: thence ] to the Creeks, Where they were taken by a halfbreed, by [deleted text: sold ] some called [deleted text: the ] [unclear text: Fife ] and by others Lastly; He pretends to hold them until he is made whole for some horses stolen from him by the Cherokees there has been also [added text: a man killed [deleted text: lately & ] ] & a number of horses [deleted text: lately ] [added text: lately ] taken from the cumberland Settlements, supposed to be done by the Creeks or Cherokees
I beg of you to exert your influence [added text: to keep those indians [Indians] within bounds ] And have [deleted text: the ] both the Negroes and horses returned [added text: as soon as possible ], otherways [otherwise] [deleted text: it will be impossible ] [added text: we need not expect ] to Support peace and tranquility Much longer [deleted text: to ] the negroes belongs to a person in Moderate Circumstances, and the loss is very [deleted text: injurious considerably ] [added text: Sensibly ] felt by him and his family -- I hope the pleasure of seeing
Page: [2]
You in the spring at this place, in the mean time [meantime] [deleted text: hope ] [added text: request ] you will communicate to me [deleted text: any ] [added text: every ] thing [everything] that may be interesting to our frontiers or the state.
I have the honor & c [et cetera]
[Signed] J [John] Sevier
Benjaman Hawkins esqr [esquire] Superintendant [Superintendent] of Indian affairs
Benjamin Hawkins
Superintendant [Superintendent]
17 Feby [February] 1797
No [Number] 1
Recorded