History of Bradley County
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Bradley County
Bradley County lies south of the Hiwassee River, and is bounded on the north by Meigs and McMinn Counties, on the east by Polk County, on the south by the State of Georgia, and on the west by James County. Its greatest length is about twenty-five miles, and the greatest width twenty-two miles. It embraces and area of 340 square miles. Its surface consists of a series of Parallel ridges and valleys extending in a southwesterly course from the Hiwassee River to the Georgia line. The ridges are neither high nor abrupt, and the soil upon them, while not as fertile as that of the valleys, is well adapted to agricultural purposes. The valleys are each drained by a creek and its tributaries. Those emptying into Hiwassee River are Canada, Chatata, Chestua and Mouse, which together drain about two-thirds of the county. The remaining one-third slopes to the southward, and is drained by Coahulla, Sugar and Mill Creeks. The territory now embraced in Bradley County lies in the central part of what was once known as the Ocoee District, which embraced that portion of the State south of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. In 1819 the Cherokee Indians having ceded to the United States the lands north of the Hiwassee, and agency was established upon the site of the present town of Charleston, which became known as the "Cherokee Agency." Col. Return J. Meigs, of Revolutionary fame, was the agent of the Government until 1823, when he died. and was succeeded by Gov. McMinn. At the latter's death Hugh Montgomery was appointed agent. Some years before the establishment of the agency John Walker had erected a log house on the hill where the academy now stands, and had sold goods there, but lived on the other side of the river. Soon after the arrival of Col. Meigs, Lewis Ross, a brother of John Ross, the Cherokee chief, opened a store in what has since been known as the Barrett house, and continued in business there until the removal of the Indians. He married a Miss Holt, a member of an old Virginia family. Another prominent merchant was John L. McCarty. A tavern was kept by John Cowan. About 1832 several white persons entered the Nation, as it was then called, and attempted to make settlement, but the most of them were compelled to withdraw. A few who had married Cherokees or half-breeds were already scattered throughout the territory. These encroachments made it evident to some of the more intelligent of the Cherokees that they would be compelled to vacate their lands, and for a consideration they proposed to cede them to the United States, and to remove to a reservation west of the Mississippi, but a large part of the tribe, the leader of whom, John Ross, the principal chief of the Nation, strenuously opposed the measure. The leaders of the party in favor the of cession were Maj. Ridge, and his son John Ridge, Elias Boudinotte, James Starr, William and Johnson Rodgers and John Walker, Jr., all of whom were of mixed blood. They held a council at Red Clay, in August, 1834, and without the sanction of Ross made a treaty ceding the lands to the United States. This was considered an act to treason by the other faction, and they resolved to put he leaders to death, a resolution which they finally succeeded in carrying into effect. The first victim was John Walker, Jr. He was a well educated gentleman, who, in 1824, had married Miss Emily S. Meigs, a grand-daughter of Col. R. J. Meigs, who resided upon a farm about two land one-half mile north of the present site of Cleveland. As he was returning from the council in company with Maj. R. C. Jackson, now of Knoxville, he was fired upon by two Indians in ambush, and fatally wounded. He succeeded in reaching his home however, where he died nineteen days later. His murderers were tracked to their homes, arrested and lodged in jail at Athens. They were half-brothers, James Forman and Addison Springston. After lying in jail for some time they were released by Judge Keith, who decided that the court had no jurisdiction in the case. The treaty signed by the Ridge party was deemed valid by the United States Government, and settlers began to enter the Nation in largae numbers, but Jon Ross still refused for some time to sanction it, and it was not until May 23, 1836, that the final ratification took place. As soon as this was accomplished troops were sent into the Nation to gather up the Indians preparatory to their removal. Gens. Scott and Wool were in command, with headquarters at Charleston. Barracks and other buildings were erected there, covering an area of nearly ten acres, around which was a stockade. As the Indians were brought in they were camped around the place, where they died in large numbers. Their removal was begun in 1837, but not completed until the following year. The survey of the lands in the Ocoee District was begun under an act of the Legislature in the spring of 1837 by John B. Tipton, surveyor-general. His deputies were John C. Kennedy, J. C. Tipton, Thomas H. Calloway, J. F. Cleveland and John Hannah. The base line for the survey began at a large mass of limestone on the Hiwassee River opposite Charleston, and ran 20 degrees west of south, to the Georgia line, passing through Cleveland. In November, 1838, an entry-taker's office was opened at Cleveland with Luke Lea as entry-taker, and P. J. R. Edwards as land register. The lands were placed upon sale at prices ranging with the time in which it was entered. For the first four months the price was $7.50 per acre; the next four months $5, after which it was reduced to $2 and $1, and finally the last was sold in 1841 at one cent an acre. The settlers from the older counties came in rapidly, and Bradley County soon became quite thickly populated. In 1837 the Hiwassee Railroad was begun, but was not completed to Cleveland until the summer of 1851. In the fall of that year it reached Charleston, and in 1856 was opened to Knoxville, the name meantime having been changed to the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad. |
