United States, Alabama, 32.75041, -86.75026United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018Coffee, John, 1772-18331829-12-30This is a copy of a report dated December 30, 1829 from General John Coffee in Florence, Alabama to Secretary of War John H. Eaton regarding the boundary line between the Creek and Cherokee Nations in Georgia. Coffee's job was to ascertain, at Eaton's request, the true boundary line between those two Indian nations and the state of Georgia, and he details his travels and interviews with both Indians and white settlers about the true location of the boundary line. He mentions several documents given to him by Cherokee leader John Ross in support of the Cherokee claim about the boundary, including a copy of the Cherokee Phoenix that contained Ross's letter to Colonel Hugh Montgomery regarding Cherokee land claims. These enclosures do not survive with his report. Coffee goes on to express his opinion about where the line should be, asserting that Cherokees and Creeks had long shared common hunting grounds, that they had never seen fit to draw any boundary lines until 1821 when they drew a line from the Buzzard Roost (Georgia) to Wills Creek (Alabama), and that the Creeks had admitted giving certain lands over to the Cherokees long ago. The Cherokees had then settled those lands and had long been in possession of them. The state of Georgia's claims to those lands, Coffee concludes, have little evidence to support them.Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2001, as part of GALILEO, funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.text/htmlimage/jpegtcc697engMode of access: World Wide Web.System requirements: AT&T DjVu browser plug-in needed to view images of documents.http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/Manuscript held by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries, Telamon Cuyler, box 01, folder 46, document 02.Cherokee Indians--Land tenureCreek Indians--Land tenureCreek Indians--Government relationsCherokee Indians--Government relationsReport of General John Coffee on the boundary line between the Creeks and Cherokees, 1829, Dec. 30, Florence, Alabama [to] John H. Eaton / Jo[h]n CoffeeText