Autograph letter signed by Edward Morly, to Senator William H. Roane (1787-1845). Gainesville, Alabama, 4 March 1840. 4 pages, folio, 8 x 13 in. Integral address panel on page 4 with "Free" frank.

A fascinating land dispute letter. Here, Edward Morly, a Virginia man who moved to Alabama with interest in buying land, writes to Senator William Henry Roane of Virginia asking for his assistance in a quagmire of a land dispute. He opens with a statement of facts: "In February 1837, as you know, I made a trip to this state for the purpose of viewing the country and ascertaining its advantages if any. During that trip I purchased a tract of land near this and in October of that year sent my hands out and soon after followed with my white family...I purchased...of one Young Bohannon, as the assignee of one Charles Buckhannon, who claimed under the reservation claim of the Treaty of Jumping [Dancing] Rabbit Creek during the spring of the last year [1839]." The deal takes a turn, however, when he was approached by 4 gentleman who "came forward and informed me that I ought not to pay Bohannan for the land, as he had no just title to it...and that the terms of the treaty had not been complied with."

The Treaty mentioned here by Morly, was between the Choctaw American Indian tribe and the United States government, signed on 27 September 1830 and proclaimed on 24 February 1831. It was a first removal treaty which was carried into effect under the Indian Removal Act, and ceded about 11 million acres of land in Mississippi and a small part of western Alabama (encompassing Gainesville) in exchange for 15 million acres in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

Morly continues with more details about the charlatan: "This Charles Buckhannon who was a white man, intermarried with a Choctaw Indian who had two children at the time of making and ratifying the treaty which entitled him to a certain quantity of land for himself and for each of his unmarried children and living with him...not later than March 1835 his wife died, immediately after his children were removed...and he left the land and cabin on it...thus forfeiting his right to reservation and shortly after removed west of the Mississippi, leaving his children (3 in number) behind, perfectly destitute and dependent on charity for subsistence." Morly seems genuinely concerned for these people: "I told Bohannon that I could not pay him for the land for if any person except the Government was entitled to it, it should be the helpless children whom I have paid the board of ever since I was in possession of the facts." He concludes his letter requesting Roane "to lay the facts before the President (for facts they are)..." It is unclear if Senator Roane took the matter to President Van Buren or how the issue was resolved. A letter with the potential for further discovery!

Condition: short tear near original location of wax seal, likely original to reception of the letter, otherwise minor toning.

[Native Americans, Manuscripts, Letters, Documents, Ephemera, Alabama, Indian Treaties, Land Disputes, Politics].