Collaborative Research Works
Update of Article American State Papers 2nd Congress 2nd Session Indian Affairs Volume 1 Page 288 - 291
The wonderful thing about research is that someone always finds something you miss. And boy did I miss something. In my zeal to prove the United States knew the Chickamauga from the American State Papers, on the following pages, I completely missed the information below.
I was so excited that the United States knew Bloody Fellow and Double Head, that I completely missed the proclamation of Governor Gayoso. It is easily overlooked, but great researchers do not miss things like this.
Read the following and I will explain why it is so important after you have a chance to read.
Starting on Line 9, in the Information by Richard Finnelson it reads: “On the fourth day of the stay of Mr. Fagot at L’Ance la Grace the Governor delivered him a large packet of letters for the Governor at New Orleans. On the fifth day, he proceeded,with Mr. Fagot, down the Mississippi to Natchez, where they arrived and stayed three days; during which time, Governor Gayoso asked Finnelson how were the Indians with the people of Cumberland; he answered, they were very troublesome, and had killed many of the Cumberland people. The Governor replied, that is a thing well enough, for the lands belong to them.”
The phone call I received about 30 minutes after this post shook me to my core. I may have completely missed the most important thing I have ever just “completely missed.” It is the quote from Gayoso.
This find must be understood in the context of the Doctrine of Discovery. According to the Doctrine of Discovery, the King of a white Christian European country which discovers a new land becomes the immediate title holder to that land. All of the land of their “Discovery” belongs to the King. That is why when De Soto explored the Southeast, the lands were claimed in the name of the King of Spain. The claims of Spain went from the Ohio River Basin on the North, to the Ridge of the Appalachians on the East, to the Gulf on the South and the Mississippi River on the West. The Spanish also claimed everything West of the Mississippi River into modern Canada as theirs as well.
There is something going on here that I failed to remember and brushed right over. This is said in 1792 and according to the Doctrine of Discovery, The Cumberland IS Spanish lands. Great Britain cannot claim the lands under the Doctrine of Discovery, the United States cannot claim the lands Under the Doctrine of Discovery because no “Christian" country can claim lands claimed under the Doctrine of Discovery which have been "discovered" by another white Christian European country. Nor can the United States claim the lands under the Doctrine of Conquest because the United States signed the Canandaigua Treaty with the Western Confederacy of which the Chickamauga are party.
There is also something else going on here that appears in the Spanish Archives, that, while I would like to put on the table, I will hold close to the chest because it has the ability to change the history of the entire Eastern part of the United States. Suffice it to say that what Gayoso said is absolutely true and has been academically verified.
In reality, his is what I glossed over: “. . . . Governor Gayoso asked Finnelson how were the Indians with the people of Cumberland; he answered, they were very troublesome, and had killed many of the Cumberland people. The Governor replied, that is a thing well enough, for the lands belong to them.”
I hope you caught it this time. In 1792 the Governor of New Orleans as well as the Governor of St Louis knew the lands on the Cumberland belonged to the Indians. How can these lands "belong" to the Indians if they were "discovered" by Spain and the title of the land belongs to the King of Spain?
At this time in history, the Spanish despise the cherokee,the appeasers and allies of the United States. During this time it is also known throughout the Southeast that the Spanish only refer to the Chickamauga as “the Cherokee Nation” which has also been academically verified.
Ultimately you should be able to put two and two together from the Gayoso quote. The Cumberland, in fact, did not belong to the settlers, it belonged to the Indians.
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.