Milam, Jesse Bartley, 1884-1949

Scope and Contents Handwritten document which seeks to establish that all freedmen who were resident in the Cherokee Nation at the commencement of the American Civil War and who were at that time slaves of any Cherokee or other citizen and were liberated by voluntary act or by law but who did not necessarily return to the Cherokee country within the time specified within the treaty of 1866, be granted the same rights and privileges as other adopted citizens of the Cherokee Nation. Although the document was...

Scope and Contents

Photostatic copies of documents pertaining to claims filed at Fort Gibson and Tahlequah offices of the Commissioner to the Cherokee (Indian Territory) regarding reservation, pre-emption, improvement, spoliation, and other such claims. Claims were filed between January and April 1845 when the commissioner was instructed to close the offices and return to Washington. The offices were established to examine claims of the Cherokee Nation against the United States under the treaty of 1835-6.

Content Description

Report prepared in the office of H. Price, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "May 11, 1882.--Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed." This copy is imperfect: pages 20-54 and maps lacking; pages have been separated and pasted onto sheets of legal-size writing paper with extensive handwritten notes throughout.

Scope and Contents Correspondence and personal papers consisting of correspondence between Milam and various individuals, and national and local organizations and institutions, as well as the U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Indian Affairs and various members of Congress. Although some of the material dates from as early as 1906, the preponderance of the correspondence relates to Milam’s activities and responsibilities as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1941-1949. Included in this series are...

Scope and Contents

Unconquerable: The story of John Ross, Chief of the Cherokees. Typed manuscript with handwritten corrections of John Oskison's unpublished biography of John Ross, Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866. Together with the manuscript is a check for 25 dollars from J.B. Milam to John Oskison dated 1943, presumably in payment for the manuscript.