Major General Winfield Scott's Order No. 25 Regarding the Removal of Cherokee Indians to the West
5/17/1838
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In late December 1835, a small group of Cherokee leaders who favored moving to land west of the Mississippi River and representatives of the U.S. government met in New Echota, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, located in northwest Georgia.
The result of their meeting was a treaty, signed on December 29, which required the eastern Cherokees to exchange their lands for land in the Indian Territory, in what is today eastern Oklahoma. The Senate ratified the treaty by a margin of one vote on May 17, 1836 and President Andrew Jackson signed it into law on May 23. The Cherokees were to complete their removal to Indian Territory within two years.
There was a great deal of opposition to the treaty. Members of the Cherokee Nation petitioned Congress, insisting the treaty was fraudulent because it had been negotiated by a minority party who didn't represent the majority of the Cherokee people. New Englanders, religious groups, and missionaries who objected to the policy of forced removal flooded Congress and the President with petitions and memorials. Congress responded to the opposition by tabling the petitions and memorials (laying them aside).
All but about 2,000 Cherokees ignored the treaty and refused to move to the West or begin making preparations for removal. This reaction was encouraged by Cherokee Chief John Ross and continued for nearly two years.
On April 6, 1838, General of the Army Alexander McComb ordered Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott to the Cherokee Agency on the Hiwassee River near Calhoun, Tennessee, to ensure compliance with the treaty. Scott was given a large force of regulars (approximately 3,000 troops), and the authority to raise additional state militia and volunteer troops from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina to force removal if necessary.
Nine days after his arrival at the Cherokee Agency, Scott issued General Order 25. In it, he named the members of his staff and established three military districts to expedite “collection” of the Cherokee people. Scott also urged his troops to treat the Cherokee in a humane fashion, but this did not happen. Some people had to walk as many as 1,000 miles over a four-month period. Approximately 4,000 of 16,000 Cherokees died along the way, a sad chapter in American history known as the "Trail of Tears."
Text adapted from “General Orders Pertaining to Removal of the Cherokees” in the January/February 1999 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
The result of their meeting was a treaty, signed on December 29, which required the eastern Cherokees to exchange their lands for land in the Indian Territory, in what is today eastern Oklahoma. The Senate ratified the treaty by a margin of one vote on May 17, 1836 and President Andrew Jackson signed it into law on May 23. The Cherokees were to complete their removal to Indian Territory within two years.
There was a great deal of opposition to the treaty. Members of the Cherokee Nation petitioned Congress, insisting the treaty was fraudulent because it had been negotiated by a minority party who didn't represent the majority of the Cherokee people. New Englanders, religious groups, and missionaries who objected to the policy of forced removal flooded Congress and the President with petitions and memorials. Congress responded to the opposition by tabling the petitions and memorials (laying them aside).
All but about 2,000 Cherokees ignored the treaty and refused to move to the West or begin making preparations for removal. This reaction was encouraged by Cherokee Chief John Ross and continued for nearly two years.
On April 6, 1838, General of the Army Alexander McComb ordered Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott to the Cherokee Agency on the Hiwassee River near Calhoun, Tennessee, to ensure compliance with the treaty. Scott was given a large force of regulars (approximately 3,000 troops), and the authority to raise additional state militia and volunteer troops from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina to force removal if necessary.
Nine days after his arrival at the Cherokee Agency, Scott issued General Order 25. In it, he named the members of his staff and established three military districts to expedite “collection” of the Cherokee people. Scott also urged his troops to treat the Cherokee in a humane fashion, but this did not happen. Some people had to walk as many as 1,000 miles over a four-month period. Approximately 4,000 of 16,000 Cherokees died along the way, a sad chapter in American history known as the "Trail of Tears."
Text adapted from “General Orders Pertaining to Removal of the Cherokees” in the January/February 1999 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
Transcript
Orders. No. 25Head Quarters, Eastern Division.
Cherokee Agency, Ten. May 17, 1838.
MAJOR GENERAL SCOTT, of the United States Army, announces to the troops assembled and assembling in this country, that, with them, he has been charged by the President to cause the Cherokee Indians yet remaining in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, to remove to the West, according to the terms of the Treaty of 1835. His Staff will be as follows:
Lieutenant Colonel W.J. Worth, acting Adjutant General, Chief of Staff.
Major M.M. Payne, acting Inspector General.
Lieutenants R. Anderson, & E.D. Keyes, regular Aids-de-camp.
Colonel A.H. Kenan & Lieutenant H.B. Shaw, volunteer Aids-de-camp.
Any order given orally, or in writing, by either of those officers in the name of the Major General, will be respected and obeyed as if given by himself.
The Chiefs of Ordnance, of the Quartermaster's Department and of the Commissariat, as also the Medical Director of this Army, will, as soon they can be ascertained, be announced in orders.
To carry out the general object with the greatest promptitude and certainty, and with the least possible distress to the Indians, the country they are to evacuate is divided into three principal Military Districts, under as many officers of high rank, to command the troops serving therein, subject to the instructions of the Major General.
Eastern District, to be commanded by Brigadier General Eustis, of the United States Army, or the highest officer in rank, serving therein: --North Carolina, the part of Tennessee lying north of Gilmer county, Georgia, and the counties of Gilmer, Union, and Lumpkin, in Georgia. Head Quarters, in the first instance, say, at Fort butler.
Western District, to be commanded by Colonel Lindsay, of the United States' Army, or the highest officer in rank serving therein:--Alabama, the residue of Tennessee and Dade county, in Georgia. Head quarters, in the first instance, say, at Ross' Landing.
Middle District, to be commanded by Brigadier General Armistead of the United States' Army, or the highest officer in rank, serving therein:--All that part of the Cherokee country, lying within the State of Georgia, and which is not comprised in the two other districts. Head Quarters, in the first instance, say, at New Echota.
It is not intended that the foregoing boundaries between the principal commanders shall be strictly observed. Either, when carried near the district of another, will not hesitate to extend his operations, according to the necessities of the case, but with all practicable harmony, into the adjoining district. And, among his principal objects, in case of actual or apprehended hostilities, will be that of affording adequate protection to our white people in and around the Cherokee country.
The senior officer actually present in each district will receive instructions from the Major General as to the time of commencing the removal, and every thing that may occur interesting to the service, in the district, will be promptly reported to the same source. The Major General will endeavour to visit in a short time all parts of the Cherokee country occupied by the troops.
The duties devolved on the army, through the orders of the Major General & those of the commanders of districts, under him, are of a highly important and critical nature.
The Cherokees, by the advances which they have made in christianity and civilization, are by far the most interesting tribe of Indians in the territorial limits of the United States. Of the 15,000 of those people who are now to be removed--(and the time within which a voluntary emigration was stipulated, will expire on the 23rd instant--) it is understood that about four fifths are opposed, or have become averse to a distant emigration; and altho' none are in actual hostilities with the United States, or threaten a resistance by arms, yet the troops will probably be obliged to cover the whole country they inhabit, in order to make prisoners and to march or to transport the prisoners, by families, either to this place, to Ross' landing or Gunter's landing, where they are to be finally delivered over to the Superintendant(sic) of Cherokee Emigration.
Considering the number and temper of the mass to be removed, together with the extent and fastnesses of the country occupied, it will readily occur, that simple indiscretions--acts of harshness and cruelty, on the part of our troops, may lead, step by step, to delays, to impatience and exasperation, and in the end, to a general war and carnage--a result, in the case of those particular Indians, utterly abhorrent to the generous sympathies of the whole American people. Every possible kindness, compatible with the necessity of removal, must, therefore, be shown by the troops, and, if, in the ranks, a despicable individual should be found, capable of inflicting wanton injury or insult on any Cherokee man, woman or child, it is hereby made the special duty of the nearest good officer or man, instantly to interpose, and to seize and consign the guilty wretch to the severest penalty of the laws. The Major General is fully persuaded that this injunction will not be neglected by the brave men under his command, who cannot be otherwise than jealous of their own honor and that of their country.
By early and persevering acts of kindness and humanity, it is impossible to doubt that the Indians may soon be induced to confide in the Army, and instead of fleeing to mountains and forests, flock to us for food and clothing. If, however, through false apprehensions, individuals, or a party, here and there, should seek to hide themselves, they must be pursued and invited to surrender, but not fired upon unless they should make a stand to resist. Even in such cases, mild remedies may sometimes better succeed than violence; and it cannot be doubted that if we get possession of the women and children first, or first capture the men, that, in either case, the outstanding members of the same families will readily come in on the assurance of forgiveness and kind treatment.
Every captured man, as well as all who surrender themselves, must be disarmed, with the assurance that their weapons will be carefully preserved and restored at, or beyond the Mississippi. In either case, the men will be guarded and escorted, except it may be, where their women and children are safely secured as hostages; but, in general, families, in our possession, will not be separated, unless it be to send men, as runners, to invite others to come in.
It may happen that Indians will be found too sick, in the opinion of the nearest Surgeon, to be removed to one of the depots indicated above. In every such case, one or more of the family, or the friends of the sick person, will be left in attendance, with ample subsistence and remedies, and the remainder of the family removed by the troops. Infants, superannuated persons, lunatics and women in a helpless condition, with all, in the removal, require peculiar attention, which the brave and humane will seek to adapt to the necessities of the several cases.
All strong men, women, boys & girls, will be made to march under proper escorts. For the feeble, Indian horses and ponies will furnish a ready resource, as well as for bedding and light cooking utensils-- all of which, as intimated in the Treaty, will be necessary to the emigrants both in going to, and after arrival at, their new homes. Such, and all other light articles of property, the Indians will be allowed to collect and to take with them, as also their slaves, who will be treated in like manner with the Indians themselves.
If the horses and ponies be not adequate to the above purposes, wagons must be supplied.
Corn, oats, fodder and other forage, also beef cattle, belonging to the Indians to be removed, will be taken possession of by the proper departments of the Staff, as wanted, for the regular consumption of the Army, and certificates given to the owners, specifying in every case, the amount of forage and the weight of beef, so taken, in order that the owners may be paid for the same on their arrival at one of the depots mentioned above.
All other moveable or personal property, left or abandoned by the Indians, will be collected by agents appointed for the purpose, by the Superintendant of Cherokee Emigration, under a system of accountability, for the benefit of the Indian owners, which he will devise. The ARmy will give to those agents, in their operations, all reasonable countenance, aid and support.
White men and widows, citizens of the United States, who are, or have been intermarried with Indians, and thence commonly termed, Indian countrymen; also such Indians as have been made denizens of particular States by special legislation, together with the families and property of all such persons, will not be molested or removed by the troops until a decision, on the principles involved, can be obtained from the War Department.
A like indulgence, but only for a limited time, and until further orders, is extended to the families and property of certain Chiefs and head-men of the two great Indian parties, (on the subject of emigration) now understood to be absent in the direction of Washington on the business of their respective parties.
This order will be carefully read at the head of every company in the Army.
Winfield Scott.
By Command:
[illegible]
This primary source comes from the Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands.
National Archives Identifier: 6172200
Full Citation: Major General Winfield Scott's Order No. 25 Regarding the Removal of Cherokee Indians to the West; 5/17/1838; Letters Sent and Received by Major General Winfield Scott, May 14-22, 1838; Letters Received and Other Papers of Major General Winfield Scott Relating to the Cherokees, 1838 - 1838; Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, Record Group 393; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/scott-order-25, December 10, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
