A suit in law was also instituted, at the same time with the foregoing, against James W. Terrell, their former agent (from 1853 to 1861), and his sureties, the above named Thomas and Johnston, to recover a balance of Cherokee funds which he had received for their use from the United States and which it was alleged he had not properly accounted for.
At the May term, 1874, of the circuit court the matters in dispute were by agreement submitted to a board of arbitrators. The arbitrators made their report and award, which were confirmed by the court at the November term, 1874.
The award finds that Thomas purchased for the Indians as a tribe and with their funds a large tract of land on Soco Creek and Oconalufty River and their tributaries, known as the Qualla boundary, and estimated by the arbitrators to contain 50,000 acres. It declares that such tract belongs to and shall be held by the Eastern Band of Cherokees as a tribe.
The award also determines the titles of a large number of individual Indians to tracts of land outside of the Qualla boundary. It further finds that the Indians owe Thomas a balance toward the purchase-money of the Qualla boundary of $18,250, from which should be deducted the sum of $6,500 paid by the Indians to Johnston, with interest thereon to the date of the award, amounting in the aggregate to $8,486.
The award also finds that Terrell and his bondsmen are responsible to the Cherokees for an unaccounted-for balance of $2,697.89, which should also be deducted from the amount due Thomas, leaving a net balance due from the Indians on the purchase money of the Qualla boundary of $7,066. Upon the payment of this sum the award declares they should be entitled to a conveyance from Johnston of the legal title to all the lands embraced within that boundary.[537]
To enable the Indians to clear off this lien upon their lands, Congress, upon the recommendation of the Indian Department, provided by the terms of an act approved March 3, 1875,[538] that the funds set apart by the act of July 29, 1848, should be applied under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior for the use and benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokees. Specifically these funds were to be used in perfecting the titles to the lands awarded to them and to pay the costs, expenses, and liabilities attending their recent litigations, also to purchase and extinguish the titles of any white persons to lands within the general boundaries allotted to them by the court and for the education, improvement, and civilization of their people. This was done and the Indians have now possession of their rightful domain.[539]
PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE CATAWBA INDIANS TO THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY.
It is perhaps pertinent to remark before proceeding further that by the terms of an act of Congress approved July 29, 1848 (United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, p. 264), an appropriation of $5,000 was made to defray the expenses of removing the Catawba Indians from Carolina to the country west of the Mississippi River, provided their assent should be obtained, and also conditioned upon success in securing a home for them among some other congenial tribe in that region without cost to the Government.
These Catawbas were but a miserable remnant of what a century and a half earlier had been one of the most powerful and warlike of the Southern tribes. They once occupied and controlled a large region of country in the two Carolinas, though principally in the Southern province. Their generally accepted western limit was the Catawba River and its tributaries, the region between this river and Broad River being usually denominated a neutral hunting ground for both the Catawbas and the Cherokees. An enmity of long standing had existed between the Catawbas and the Six Nations, and war parties of both nations for many years were wont to make long and devastating forays into each other's territory. The casualties of war and the ravages of infectious diseases had long prior to the beginning of the present century rendered the Catawbas insignificant in numbers and importance. Their territorial possessions had been curtailed to a tract of some fifteen miles square on the Catawba River, on the northern border of South Carolina, and the whites of the surrounding region were generally desirous of seeing them removed from the State.
In pursuance therefore of the provisions of the act of 1848 an effort was made by the authorities of the United States to find a home for them west of the Mississippi River. Correspondence was opened with the Cherokee authorities on the subject during the summer of that year, but the Cherokees being unwilling to devote any portion of their domain to the use and occupation of any other tribe without being fully compensated therefor, the subject was dropped.