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  Washington City  
August 5, 1839  
Hon [Honorable]  T. Hartley Crawford  
Commissioner IA [Indian Affairs]  
sir. 
I beg leave to submit for your consideration the following remarks on the accompanying claims of Cherokees for property sold.   
1 It [unclear text: seemed ]  by the treaty of  
1835 that the sale of Cherokee property was not authorized nor does it appear to have been within the authority or duty of the Board of Commissioners who acted under [text missing] article of that treaty and it further appears from the returns of those sales that the Board of Commissioners never acted on or adjudicated those claims and the only thing they did in relation to it was to receive and remit to this office the money due the claimants for their property with a list of their names and amounts due to each as reported by the agents. I am therefore at a loss to perceive how those claims for property sold can be effected by the decisions of the Department are [or]  the decisions made by they Board of Commissioners  on claims provided for under the treaty . The above as stated not having been provided for or adjudicated by them but if in the above in your opinion I have been mistaken the peculiar situation of the claimants is my apology   
  
very respectfully yours & c [et cetera]    
[Signed] WHT [William Holland Thomas]  atto [attorney]  for the  Cherokees East