On May 28th, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act which would force Native American tribes from their homelands to lands west of the Mississippi River. Some tribes went willingly while others were eventually forced to migrate west.
In the fall of 1838, shortly before their departure, Cherokee citizens who were placed in camps in Charleston Tennessee and Willstown Alabama, made claims against the United States Government. These claims are detailed accounts of property that had been taken or stolen from the Cherokee citizen during the persecutions that they endured at the hand of Georgians. The claims were facilitated by the men who would eventually lead the removal detachments west.
Mike Wren who resides in Atlanta, Georgia and the late Jerry Clark, a Claremore, Oklahoma native collaborated on this project that catalogs these claims. Mike created a spreadsheet that listed the claim by collection, book, section and number along with who the claimant was, the witnesses, the agent who took the claim and the town and district from where the claim originated.
The database and images was then converted into a searchable, online database by OneSequoyah’s parent company, Megaphone Pro Solutions, Inc. The database is now active to where researchers can access and view the 3600 individual claims made in 1838 by the Cherokee citizens of that time.
You can access this resource by clicking here.
