To James Madison from Charles Hicks, David Melton, and Betsy Melton, Ca. 10 October 1816 (Abstract)
From Charles Hicks, David Melton, and Betsy Melton, Ca. 10 October 1816 (Abstract)
§ From Charles Hicks, David Melton, and Betsy Melton. Ca. 10 October 1816. “The petition of David Melton & Bestsy Melton, heirs & representatives of the late Moses Melton deceased, (the latter of whom was wife of the said Moses,) and Charles Hicks, humbly sheweth, that by a Convention or treaty made at the City of Washington on the 7th. day of January in the year 1806, between Henry Dearborn, then Secretary of War, on the part of the United States, & the Chiefs and Head Men of the Cherokee Nation, in behalf of said Nation, it was among other things agreed & stipulated between the powers contracting that a certain tract of Land two miles in width on the North side of the Tennessee River, & to extend northerly from that River three miles, & bounded as follows, viz, beginning at the mouth of Spring Creek & running up said Creek three miles on a straight line, thence westerly, two miles, at right angles with the general course of said Creek, thence Southerly on a line parallel with the general course of said Creek, to the Tennessee River,1 thence up said River, by its waters to the place of beginning, should be considered the property of the said Moses Melton & Charles Hicks in equal shares, as by reference to the first article of the said Convention will more fully appear; And your petitioners further state to your Excellency that the estate of the said Moses as well the said Charles Hicks being considerably involved in debt, & your petitioners being desirous of extricating themselves from their difficulties & of removing to another part of the Country they have been induced to dispose of the said tract of land. Accordingly for former services rendered & for a real bona fide & valuable consideration, they have sold the same to Mr. Lewis Winston, of Madison County, Mississippi Territory, & have executed to him a conveyance to the same. It is therefore the will & prayer of your petitioners that your Excellency would recognize the title of Mr. Winston & confirm our deed of conveyance by all the forms & sanctions consistent with your high office & powers & the laws of the United States—either re-granting the same or permitting Mr. Winston to take peaceable & quiet possession & to occupy & enjoy the same without let or molestation from the said United States or its agents.”2
RC (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, C-334:9). 2 pp.; “Signed in the presence of Amos [illegible] [and] Samuel Park.” Undated; conjectural date assigned based on a 10 Oct. 1815[6] affidavit by the above-named Samuel Park, filed with the petition, sworn before John Martin, an acting justice of the peace for Madison County, Mississippi Territory, that the petitioners had signed their names in his presence. Petition and affidavit enclosed in George W. Campbell to George Graham, 23 Dec. 1816 (ibid.). Docketed as received in the War Department in December 1816.
1. This description of the tract closely follows the wording of the first article of the 7 Jan. 1806 treaty with the Cherokee (, Indian Affairs, 1:704, 753).
2. In his 23 Dec. 1816 letter to George Graham, Campbell forwarded a letter from Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson (not found), which conveyed the petition of Hicks and the Meltons, with the request that both the letter and the petition be laid before JM for his decision. Campbell also asked that Jackson’s letter be returned to him. Both Hicks and David Melton were of Cherokee descent, and Jackson had recently purchased land from Melton (Smith et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, 4:76 and n. 2). The petition was forwarded to Atty. Gen. Richard Rush, who ruled on 24 Dec. 1816 that Hicks and Melton had “no fee simple interest” in the reserved tract and that they had “nothing more than an usufractuary right passed to them, not an absolute or permanent title. The right of preemption must be considered as still remaining with the United States” (opinion filed in DNA: RG 107, LRRS, C-334:9). On that basis, all persons found on the reserved tract were subject to removal, but on 13 Jan. 1817, Graham authorized Jackson to purchase the tract for the United States by negotiation with the Cherokee (, Indian Affairs, 2:140).