xt7kkw57h61v https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7kkw57h61v/data/mets.xml Bradley County, Tennessee Tennessee Historical Records Survey 1941 Prepared by the Tennessee Historical Records Survey, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration; Tennessee State Planning Commission, Sponsor; Bradley County, Co-sponsor; Other contributors include: United States Work Projects Administration, Division of Professional and Service Projects; 137 leaves: illustrations, maps, plans, charts, 28 cm; Mimeographed; Includes bibliographical references and index; UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries; Call number FW 4.14:T 256/3/no.6 books English Nashville, Tennessee: The Survey This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Tennessee Works Progress Administration Publications Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee, Number 6 Bradley County (Cleveland) text Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee, Number 6 Bradley County (Cleveland) 1941 1941 2015 true xt7kkw57h61v section xt7kkw57h61v    ” TTT·¤T’    
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 , INVENTORY OF TH  COUNTY ARCHIVES lv
A OF TENNESSEE
N0. 6. BRADLEY COUNTY (CLEVELAND)
Prepared by `
The Tennessee Historical Records Survey
Division of Professional and Service Projects
Work Projects Administration
Sponsored by
The Tennessee State Planning Commission
Cosponsored by
Bradley County
Nashville, Tennessee
The Tennessee Historical Records Survey
January 1941

 r “‘ P
\
L The Historical Records Survey Program
· Sargent B. Child, National Director
I Madison Bratton, State Supervisor
` Research and Records Section
Harvey E. Becknell, Director
Milton`W. Blanton, Regional Supervisor
T. Marshall Jones, State Supervisor
Division of Professional and Service Projects
1 Florence Kerr, Assistant Com issioner
4 Blanche M. Ralston, Chief Regional Supervisor
Betty Hunt Luck, State Director
` WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
Y Howard O. Hunter, Acting Commissioner
R. L. MacDougall, Regional Director
Harry S. Berry, State Administrator
i

 +
y FOREWORD
The lnventory of the County Archives of Tennessee is one of a
number of guides to historical materials prepared throughout the United
,' States by workers on the Historical Records Survey Program of the Work
Projects Administration. The publication herewith presented, an inven-
tory of the archives of Bradley County, is number 5 of the Tennessee
series.
The Historical Records Survey Program was undertaken in the winter -
of l955—56 for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy
unemployed historians, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical
workers. In carrying out this objective, the project was organized to
compile inventories of historical materials, particularly the unpublished
government documents and records which are basic in the administration
of local government, and which provide invaluable data for students of
political, economic, and social history. The archival guide herewith
presented is intended to meet the requirements of day—to-day administra-
tion by the officials of the county, and also the needs of lawyers,
businessmen and other citizens who require facts from the public records
for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is so designed that
it can be used by the historian in his research in unprinted sources in
the same way he uses the library card catalog for printed sources.
y The inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey Program
ji attempt to do nmre than give merely a list of records-they attempt
2 further to sketch in the historical background of the county or other
unit of government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organi-
zation and functions of the government agencies whose records they list.
The county, town, and other local inventories for the entire country
will, when completed, constitute an encyclopedia of local government as
well as a bibliography of local archives.
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records
Survey Program, even in a single county, would not be possible without
the support of public officials, historical and legal specialists, and
many other groups in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully
acknowledged.
The Survey Program was organized by Luther H. Evans who served as
Director until March l, 1940, when he was succeeded by Sargent B. Child,
who had been National Field Supervisor since the inauguration of the
Survey. The Survey Program operates as a Nation—wide series of locally
sponsored projects in the Division of Professional and Service Projects,
of which Hrs. Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner, is in charge.
HOWARD O. HUNTER
Acting Commissioner
I

 ’ iv
PREFACE
The Federal Historical Records Survey was inaugurated in Tennessee
l early in 1956; it expired, pursuant to an act of Congress, on August Sl,
1959. By tho provisions of tho Emergency Rcliof Act of 1959, it became
necessary for tho project to become locally sponsored. Tho present
project, the Tennessee Historical Records Survey Project, succeeded the
Federal Survey on September l, 1959. It is sponsored by tho Tennessee
State Planning Commission and co-sponsored by Bradley County and other
counties and municipalities of the State. The Tennessee Survey Project
is engaged not only in surveying county orchivos, but also municipal
archives, church archives, manuscript dopositorics and collections, and
imprints, and in preparing transcriptions of selected curly county court
minutes. A list of the Tennessee Survey Projoct's publications follows
at the and of this Inventory.
While tho new order has in no way brought about a lowering of the
standards of the Federal Survey, it has been partially responsible for
certain rearrangements of editorial concepts. Tho Tennessee Survey
Project, for example, has instituted a series of special publications
to make available certain materials accumulated in the State Office
oditoriol procedures which may be of general interest. Too, thc county
archives inventories are assuming s somewhat different form.
The Tennessee Survey Project is now engaged in preparing a conpro-
honsivo statement of thc general low regulating county government in
tho Stnto. It is oxpootcd that this book will serve as a handbook on
the organization, structure, and evolution of county government in
Tennessee, and will make it unnecessary to repost certain items of
general information in tho various county inventories. The essays in
this Inventory mrc, thcrcforo, limited to special legislation concerning V
Bradley County or on oxposition of the manner in which the gonoral law
has boon, in effect, altered, and only such consideration of thc general ·
law as is nocossary to state tho facts of existence of the offices, thc
dates of their creation, their present status, the manner in which filled,
r and the terms. The conploxitios of tho school laws, however, have made
it necessary for the sake of continuity that thc discussion of education
be more dotoilod. This treatment has also boon followed, but not os
fully, with regard to highway legislation.
The arrangement of offices and entries in this Inventory is tho
l result of o process of trial and error and the pattern followed is one
settled upon in oorlior publications; however, thc complex nature of
somo offices, particularly those with divergent functions, precludes
on absolutely logical arrangement. In general, the urrsngomcnt of
offices consists of grouping those of A similar nature. For oxumplc,
the qusrtcrly county court, the governing body, is followed by thc

 .5 V
Preface
county judge, the chief executive officer; the courts are placed to-
gether, followed by the jury commission and the law enforcement offices.
Within the offices, related and similar records are grouped under appro-
priate subject headings, _The records entries indicate the title, dates,
quantity, labeling, contents, arrangement, indexing,_methcd of recorda-
tion, size, location,_and condition of the record if it is not in good
condition._
The original field inventory of the archives of Bradley County was
completed by workers of the Federal Historical Records Survey in Tennes-
see in September 1958. The inventory was rechecked in the winter of
1958-59. .The archives listed in this book are those available on January
I5, l959.
The field inventory in Bradley County was made by Jack D. Slaughter
under the immediate supervision of Arch Faidley, Jr., and the general
supervision of lhry Alice Burke. rThe records entries were prepared under
the supervision of Vylva Holland; the historical and legal sections,
William Miller and Ruth Winton; the alphabetical index, Robert Cassell, ’
assisted by Brooks S. Colley; and the housing and care essay, floor plans,
and chart, Charles G. Kimbrough; the typing and stencil cutting was done
by Helen P. Allen and Patsy R. Floyd. »
The Survey Project gratefully acknowledges the help and cooperation
of all the officials of Bradley County under whose administrations the
inventory and recheck were conducted, and without whose assistance this
inventory would never have been made. .Particularly helpful was County
Judge Nat M. Eldredge, who encouraged the Survey Project in many ways,
former County Court Clerk Lon C. Brock, the present Clerk, Marvin
Kirkpatrick; and Register James W. Murphy. 4
The Tennessee staff has profited in all phases of its work by the
constructive advice and criticism of the Washington staff. The Inven~ C
tory in manuscript form was given editorial review in the National office »
by Louise Boynton, Assistant Editor, and further reviewed by Mabel S. Brodie .
Editor—in-Chief of public records inventories. The Bradley County inven-
tory was made and preparation of this book instituted during the adminis-
tration of T. Marshall Jones as State Supervisor of the Survey Project
before he resigned to become State Supervisor of the Research and Records
Section and while Dan Lacy, Assistant Director of the Survey Program,
served as Regional Supervisor. .
The Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee will, when com-
pleted, consiEt*of°a_s€t_of*§5—voluEEE—with—a_sEp€rEte number for each
county in the State. The number assigned this Inventory, 6, merely indi-
cates the alphabetical position of Bradley among the counties of the State. -
The publications of the Historical Records Survey projects in all states
are limited in number and consequently are placed in designated centrally
located depositories. Inquiries requesting the locations of the nearest

 it
vi
Preface
depository should be addressed to the State Supervisors or to the
Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration,
Washington, D, C., for the attention of the Director of the Historical
Records Survey Projects.
Madison Bratton, State Supervisor
The Tennessee Historical Records Survey Project
Nashville
January Bl, l94l

 •• lh ,·
A TABLE OF CONTENTS
, Introduction
V Page
1.     l|||OIIIIOIOIIIQIOIOOOOIIOOIIOOOIlIrl|lIl|||||·IIII 4
4         lOIIlllllilllIllIIOOOOOOIIIIIIl||I\O!O|!'•¢•  
2. The Present Governmental Organization of Bradley County ........... 19
Chart of Bradley County Government ....... ...... ... .............. 22
Counties of Tennessee with Years of Creation .................... 25
5. Housing, Care, and Accessibility of the Records ................... 25
Floor Plans of Bradley County Courthouse ........................ 29
4. Abbreviations, Symbols, and Explanatory Notes ..................... 52
` Bradley County Offices and Their Records
Ig       IIOIOI|IIIIOI•lII!-OOIIOIOIOI|I|IOOI_lIUICOO'!  
Original Instruments. Reports. Court Proceedings. Road Records.
Contracts. Bonds and Coumdssions. Miscellaneous.
II-     IIIO|I|OIIIIOOIOOUIOCOIIIIOIICIOIOOIIIIIIIOIOIUOIOlll]   V
Reports. Accounts. Orders and Invoices. Warrants Issued, .
Countersigned Warrants. Disbursements, Unclaimed Funds. '
Miscellaneous.
I§[I•   £\IlCl FiLn€'.llGC COlmTlj.SSj.OI}. ••••••••••••••••••••••n••••••••••••••  
      lllllllllllllitlillllllDOIIIOOOOIOOIIIOQIOIllO|OI·••  
'VQ       Q‘lOOO|IOIOOOOOIOIIIIIOIIOIOOIIIIIIOIIICIIIIICIOO  
Automobile Records. Licenses and Permits Granted. Professional
Registrations. Vital Statistics; marriages; births and deaths.
Bonds. Probate of Deeds, Financial Records. Miscellaneous.
lvl.   |IllI|OI`OOOIIOlIOIOIIIOICIIIIOODOIOOOIIII!I||lI||Ol|lII·III   ·
Original Instruments. Real and Personal Property: warranty deeds;
trust deeds; leases, chattels, contracts, and charters; liens;
releases. Financial Records, Miscellaneous.
VII|   OIIIICIOIICIOOIOOOIOOOIIIOUIOOIIIOIGOIOUOOOIIIIOOIOIIOIOII  
      IIOIIIIIOIIIUOOIGIOOIIIOIIUIIOGIOOOIIIIIIIOIOOIOOOCII  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings. Financial
Records. Naturalization Records. Dog Register.
I.-Xl     lll!OIIOOOIOIIIOOOQIIIOOIIIIDIIIOIOOIOOQQIIIOOOIIIII  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings. Financial
R\;`COl`d.•
X,   lII•IIl|IQOOIIIII}QICIDOIOIOOIIIOIIIOIUIOCOIIIIIIOI  

 ..2 ..
Table of Contents
Page
XI.     OIIOIIOOOOIIIOOIOIIIIIOIIO|||OII·O||O||OIOI|IIIOOIIOO  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings. Bonds.
_ Delinquent Tcxes. Reports. letters of Guardianship. Finenciel
_‘ Records.
I       |•II|C||l|I||¢•I|IIIIIIIIIIOIIOOOOOIIIIOIIOlll!-OOCIII  
Original Instruments. Docket. Court Proceedings. Inheritcncesa
wills; Bonds and letters; inventories end settlements; inheritance
_  tex; insolvent estates. Financial Record.
`       QICOIIII·•·IIOOIUOOOIOOOIOIIIQIOIOOOOOIIIIOIOOIIIII-|·  
Xlvq Justice of the PGHCE •••••••••••••••••••••••1••••••••••••••••••••••v 75
Civil end Criminal Dockets. Civil Dockets. Criminal Dockets.
l V-' XV;   OIVIIGIlIllOI||IlIOIOIOIOOIOIIIIIOOOIIOIIOI|IlOl|I|OOIOlII|l  
Xvltl   IQOOOIIOOUOOIIOIIIIIIIOCBOIOOIIOOIIIIOIOOIIOIOOUOIIIDIUIIII  
"     IIOOO!IIOIIIOIOIIIIIIOOIIIIIIIIIBOIIOOIIIIIIIIIOOCIOIIOCI  
      IIIOOIOICIIIICOOCIUICIIIIlIOIIO|I|OI¤l|iOOO|OIOOIICOOIV  
XIX. Board of Equalization ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Bl
` ml   •lOIIlII•IlII•DOIIOQIIIIIIIOIOIIIIOIOUCIOOIOUIIOIIIOIOUOUOI  
Tex Records: realty, porsonslty, and polls; delinquency. Receipts
` end Disbursements. Werrsnts. Bond Issues. Reports.
Miscellnnovus.
 |     OIOOIIIIIIGIBIOIIOIOIIOIDIOOIIOIIDIIOIIIIOIOI-III.  
XXII. Delinquent Poll Tux Collector ..................................... 86 I
` XXIII• RGV€nuC Commission •••••••••••••••••••¤•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 87
        IlOOIOUUIEIOUUIOIOIII¤OI¤OIOIIIIIIUO|IlOIII  
Minutes. Record ef Tewchwrs. Records of Pupils. Federal Aid
Program. Reports. Transportation Recnrds. Property Records.
` Werrrnts Issued. Correspondence,
) XXV• County PhySiClQH •••••••••••••••••••¤•¤¤••••••¤•••¤•••••••••••••••• 96
XXvI• Health DCpHTtmCnt •••••.•••¤•••••••••••••••••••••••n••••••••v•••••• 96
Family Records. School Records. Clinic Records. Vital
‘ Statistics. Rabiuslnvestigetions and Treatments. Finunciel
Record. Reports. Miscellaneous.
XXVII• Highway Department •••••t••••••••••••••••••••¤••••••••••••••••••••• 99
‘ Werkhtuse Records. Warrants.

 3 3 C 1.
_ V Table of Contents
·‘ Page
·       lIlIOIO||I|l|OI·•OIIIOIOIDIIIIIlI•‘|IIIIII\OIO»\I\••  
XXIXQ   OtillOOIOIIQIOIIOOIIOIOIIOIOQIOOIOIIOOIIIl·II·I·OIOOI‘I|•O•OlII  
XX.-X• AgQI°j.OL1],'b`L1I`€ DGpBI"bIfl€ITb •·••¤•••·•••••••••••••••••••••••6•••••••••••o•  
  County Farm Agent: federal program; 4-H club activities; reportsw
"" Home Demonstration Agent: 4-H club activities; reports. `
  IIIOO'l||IOI|Ol•OIOIIl|O•IOOO!|III\||l|O|I¤I{•OIOOIOOOAOI  
Chronological II'ld€X •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••b`•‘1].6
_ .A].ph&b€tj.C8.]. Index •y••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••b••‘•  
Publications of the Tennessee Historical Records Survey ........... 136

 - 4 -
_ (First entry, p. 57)
1, HISTORICAL SKETCH
_ Bradley County is situated in the picturesque mountain section of
southern East Tennessee, in the broad valley between the Cumberland and
Great Smoky Mountains. Created in 1855 out of former Indian Territory,_
Bradley County lies south of the Hiwassee River,l and is delimited on
the north by Meigsz and McMinn Counties,3 on the east by Polk County,5
on the south bv the State of Gecrgia,5 and on the west by Hamilton
County.6 Polk? and Jamesg Counties have been created out of Bradley
County.
Named in honor of Colonel Edward Bradley of Shelby Countyg who served
in the War of 1812 as Colonel of the First Re§iment of Tennessee Vol-
unteers on an expedition to the Creek Nation, O the county was estab-
lished by the legislature on January 2, l856,_and organized early in May
1856.11 It was created out of the Ocoee District which had been ceded
by the Cherokee Nation to the United States by the Treaty of New Echota
late in December 1855.12 As early as 1852, white people had moved into
1. L.A. 1855-56, ch. 52..
2..`i.A. 1855t56, ch. 54, sec. 1; Pr.A. 1866-67, 2nd ad. ses., ch.
76,_sec..5.;—*Acts-—E7C>--71, 2nd ex. sss.,"é'hT ss, sees. 1, 2; Acts isso,
lst ex. ses., ch.718, sec. 1; Pr.A. 1917, ch. 188, sec. 1; Pr.A. 1951,
ch. 812, sec. 1. —-l- —-`_
3. g.A. 1855-56, ch. 52, secs. 2, 6; Acts 1859-40, ch. 10, secs.
1, 2-
4.. Acts 1859-40, ch. 10, secs. 1, 2; P.A. 1857-58, ch. 47, sec. 5;
_1§_g._g..1ssa·'sc,"E71'E‘1`§s, sec..12; P.1. isse-Ev? 2¤'@1` ad. 'Ses.,_¤h. 10.
5. L.A. 1855-56, ch. 52. Iu-*
6. Ibid., secs. 2, 6; Acts 1870-71, 2nd ex. ses., ch. 66, secs. 1,
2; Acts 1890, lst ex. ses., ch. 18, sec. 1; C 1917, 92, citing James go.,
v. Hamilton Co.,_5 Pickle, 257; Pr.A. 1919, Eh. 695, sec. 1.
_ 7.. Acts_l859-40, ch. 10, seEsT 1, 2; P.A. 1857-58, ch. 47,_sec. 5;
Pr.A. 1859-60,_EhT_155, sec. 12; P.A..1866-67: 2nd ad. ses., ch. 10.
—_`_ 8. Acts 1870-71, 2nd ex. sesl, ch. 66, secs. 1, 2, 4, 10; Acts 1890,
lst ex. ses., ch. 18, soc. 1; Acts 1895, ch. 191, sec. 1; Acts 1907, ch.
580; Pr.A..1917, ch. 188, sec. 2; Pr.A. 1919, ch. 607. James County was
abolished by the lust-named act. *_.—
9.. L.A. 1855-56, ch. 52.. There is some evidence to indicate that
Colonel B;ad1e§_lived in Sumner County and later moved to Shelby County.
(Bradley County Scrapbook, in possession of Penelope J..Al1en of Chatta-
nooga}.; The first_nEme—proposed for the county was Foster, after Ephraim
H. Foster, then Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and
the name of Edward Rutledge, signer cf the Declaration of Independence,
was substituted before Bradley was decided upon.(Tennessee Blue Book,_
1959-1940, 178).
10. Cleveland Daily Banner, Nov. 11, 1956.
11. L.A. 1855-56, ch. 52.
12. jrmes_N55n§§, "Myths of the Cherokee," in Nineteenth Annual
Report 25 the Bureau EE American Ethnology, 1897-98, 125.

 Mr 4
- 5 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 37) 4
the “Nation."15 The act of 1836 directed that the boundaries of the new
county should begin "at the point on the south bank of Hiwassee river,
where the Rhea County line terminates; thence along said line until it
strikes the Hamilton county line, at Wilson Evan*s; thence along said
line to the White~0ak mountain; thence along the extreme height of said
mountain and the Handlton county line entire, until it strikes the five
mile point of Hamilton county line, on the dividing line between the
States of Georgia and Tennessee; thence along said line until it strikes
the main channel of the hiwassce river; thence down the said main channel
with the centre thereof, including such islands as there may be therein,
to the beginning."l@
The county court was authorized to select at its first term in May 1836
a county seat to be called Cleveland, in honor of Colonel Benjamin Cleve-
land,l5 a Revolutionary War hero of North Carolina who led a regiment at
the Bottle of King*s hbuntain,l6 The first meeting of the court was to
be held at the Methodist comp ground near the head of Chatatee Creek.17
The choice of the site of the county seat lay between two places, Andrew
Tay1or*s and Deer·in—the-Water; the quarter section reservation belonging
to Taylor was chosen.l8 The selection of this site for the town of "Cleve-
1and1' was ratified by the legislators in 1858,19 and a board of commission-
ers appointed to contract for and superintcnd the building of a courthouse
and public jail at the cost of $8,000.20 A survey of the "Ocoee District,“
was ordered by the legislature in 1857,21 and John B, Tipton appointed
surveyor-generalrzz An entry-takerls office was opened at Cleveland in
November 1856,25 with Luke Lea as entry-taker, and R. J. R. Edwards as
land register.2&
The territory now embraced in Bradley County lies in the central
part of the origincl Ocoee District, being that portion south of the
· Hiwcssee and Tennessee Rivers to the Tennessec·Georgia 1ine.25 In 1819,
after the Cherokee Indians ceded by the Hiwsssee Purchase the lands north
· 15. Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee, 1929, Historical and ~
Pictorialnheviewi ST*hereinEFter~citednasdlistorlca1*and_Ficteria1`Review. _
""T4T`"1Z.7»x’T1`i"z§s7s-ss, eh. s2, see . 2. ‘"""‘"""‘” """“ "'""""" `”°"`""`
is. -1b`i`d.·,`-seg" s, ·r.
16. Cleveland Herald, Jure 7, 1955,
1·r. 1,.1. isss-s°€f‘E‘;§. sz, scc. s.
18. NeHoria1_oY—Andrew Taylor to the Hon. Edward Hardin and Benjamin
H. Brears.}?1*,11-5-n1rawTR's`i7>1i`·5:_s` {Enid-rmtlie C'h—€r`51;e-e 1l‘}Te<$? o~fT”dT8-;55-7*lFov?_ih~$'Z75-
Eic?T`§T`V@*§h5Lhi¢§$`&Tc*i*E§?f"fsTIs`Q"` "“"` "`“"'"" "”""“” `“ '““ "" "` “"“ ""'
—"ieT K6es"iL‘z@7?s‘sj‘°é‘n. iso, sm . 1 .
20. 1bid.,—sFEsT 1, Y. The commissioners were Lovi Trewhitt, Nicholas
Spring,`FTwJ. G. Lea, James Berry, Robert Swan, John C. Kennedy, John
Hardwick, Robert S. Bashoars, and Burrow Buckner.
21. P,As 1856, called ses., ch. 2.
22. `historical and Pictorial Review, 3.
cs. l\Ets"ll§?:58'T`cHT7’;;wE°€€ 
24. FEstoricE1*and Pictorial Review, 5.
25 . FK¤Tf“T€§B`6]` `cFS11`5d—§`€rZ`T`c1Z—E`:`

 - 5 -
H V Hj.S'CC‘I‘lC8.]. Sk€·`bC1’1. (First gn{;]5•y,·p_, 57)
, N of the Hiwassee River to the United Statos,26 the "Cherokee Agency" was es-
` tablished upon the site of the present town of Charlestons Colonel
, Return J. Meigs, of Revolutionary fame, was the agent of the Government un-
iv` til his death in 1825, and was succeeded by Gov, Joseph McMinn. At McMinn!s
death, Hugh Montgomery was appointed agent.27
{ _ Two rival parties in the Cherokee Nation developed within the Ocoee
4 region. One, lcd by Major John Ridge, prominent Cherokee subchief, held
’ j a council at Red Clay, Tennessee,28 in August 1854, and without the sanc-
. tion of John Ross, Chief of the Nation, made a treaty ceding the lands to
Q _ the United Strtos. This was considered an act of treason by the Ross
1 faction, and it resolved to put the leaders tc death.29·
_ In February 1855, members of the two rival factions arrived in
" Washington. Tho Rev. J. F. Sohermorhorn was appointed Commissioner to ar-
4 range a treaty with the Ridge party to be confhz d later by the Cherokee
` people in general counoi1.°O By this treaty of New Echota, Georgia, signed
I on December 20, 1835, the Cherokee Nation ceded to the United States all
·· of its remaining territory east of the Mississippi River.5l Ross refused
‘ for a considerable time to sanction it, and it was not until May 25, 1856,
that the final ratification took place.52 General Winfield Scott was ap-
“ p pointgg to direct tho removal of the Cherokeos, consummated on May 26,
* ` 1858.
` Bradley and Polk Countios were created to include most of this last
Indian cession in,Ternessec,°% and part of the region is now included in
Hamilton County,&’ The land on which Cleveland now stands was once the
conference ground of the Indians and whitos.O6
Strongly Unionist in 1860, Bradley County cast, in the State re-
· 1 ferendum of February 9, 1861, only 242 votes in favor of callin; a con-
` vention, which it was understood would pass an ordinance of secession, to
» 1,445 votes against holding the convention, about 14 percent for the
* 26. Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1883-84, 219-221.
·` 27.  ies-of Tennessee, 7. McMinn and Monroe
A‘ Counties were formed out cf_thE¤RiwhsEoe Purhhase in 1819.(P.A. 1819, ch.
, 1 7, secs. 1-4). _._
· C 28. John Morgan Wooten, Rod Clay in History.
· I B9; 1VI£)(_ln€y, 10C; cit.,   -··•-I-— M
‘ I 50q   -.·-U- —·_—
= 51. EEEE., 125; Henry D. Whitney, The Land Laws gi Tennessee, 40, 41.
J 52. Mocney, loc. cit., 129.
\ 55. Ibid, *~m- _w-
. 54. L.A. 1855-56, ch. 52; Acts 1859-40, ch. 10.
· 55. nots 1855, oh. 16, sec. 1; Acts 1870;Z1, 2nd ex. ses., ch. 66;
7 §gE§ 1890, lst*e;T sos., ch. 18; Acts—l885, ch. 47, sec. 1; Acts 1901,
· ch. 488?—Pr.A. 1919, oh. 695, soc. 1,
. 56. H$TS`{i¤-?{&~T£T     Review, :5.

 7*}%*,
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 37)
- convention compared to 18 percent in the rest of Unionist East Tennes- C
I see,57 whose vote was 7,629 in favor of holding the convention, 34,312 J
against.58 By June 8, the secession sentiment had increased to 27 per-
cent of the voting strength of the county, although separation was re-
_] jected by a vote of 1,382 to 507.59 East Tennessee showed a percentage
,, of 31 for secession, with 14,780 votes for separation to 32,923 against,
_" indicating the steady growth of secession feeling in East Tennessee as
well as in Bradley County.4O
_ Although there were no spectacular military engagements in Bradley
County during the Civil War, the county, and Cleveland particularly,
. suffered severely as the region was contested both by the regular armies
L and guerilla forces. The courthouse, county jail, and public sguare were
damaged by the Federal Army during its occupation of Cleveland4 in 1864
and 1865. While Federal troops occupied the courthouse, most of the
county archives which had been placed in Craigmiles Storehouse in Cleve-
, land for safekeeping were destroyed by fire on the night of November 25,
1864.42 Troops were quartered in churches and public buildings, proper-
4 ty was destroyed, and business para1yzed.45 The only fighting that occurr-
ed in Bradley County was a spirited skirmish in October 1863, at the
village of Blue Springs, when a considerable force of Confederates from
Virginia which had entered upper East Tennessee and threatened the left
wing of Burnside*s army in Knoxville was driven back into Virginia.44
’ Until August 1863, when the campaign for the "de1iverance" of East
Tennessee was begun in earnest by Federal Major-General William Rosecrans
who advanced upon Chattanooga, most of the region around Bradley County
7 remained under control of the Confederates.45 The Unionists suffered
severely at the hands of the Confederates, and the latter were, in turn,
subjected to harsh treatment after the Federal forces established them-
` selves in East Tennessee.46
Bradley County citizens exhibited their Union sentiment in the
spring of 1864 when meetings were held at Georgetown, across the line
_ in Meigs County, where not less than five or six hundred armed men were
 
37. J. S. Hurlburt, History of the Rebellion in Bradley County, East
Tennessee, 33. _ --7- __
38T—_Ibid. The total State vote was 59,449 for, 68,282 opposed, a
plurality_Ef-8,833 votes against holding the convention. (James Welch
Patton, Unionism and Reconstruction in Tennessee, 1860-1869, 12).
59• HUI`1bUrt-I-_6'p• Cj.t•, 48. —-·
40. Ibid., 48,—ZD.__UBw State vote was 109,399 in favor of secession,
47,233 opposed. (Patton, pp} cit., 21).
41. Minute Book, I, July 57—1865, 39, in Quarterly Minutes, entry 17
in this Inventory.
42. Ibid., Deo. 5, 1864, l.
43. CEEdspeed's, History of Tennessee, East Tinnessee Edition, 803,
hereinafter cited as G8Edspecd3s3"EistEryjpf_Tennessee.
44, Ibid., 491. ___
45. Patton, op. cit., 67.
46. Ibid., 5'3':‘7g’f""

 4. - 8 — ,-
· = ` Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 57)
i ·. mustered and drilled under Union flags. Bradley Confederates threatened
`· to have troops stationed in their midst, but no Confederate forces were
~ ,_ sent into the county.47 During the course of the war, one Union48 and
c two Confederate regiments were organized in Bradley and adjoining coun-
`.; ties.49 The two "rebel" regiments were the 4th Tennessee Cavalry, and
I the 56th Tennessee Infantry. The infantry regiment, armed principally
with squirrel rifles and double-barrelled shotguns, many forcibly taken
from Union citizens, was denominated the "squirrel brigade." After
· ` completion of its organization the regiment was ordered into service
.‘ in the vicinity of Knoxvil1e.56 The Fifth Union Regiment of Tennessee
~ » Mounted Infantry was recruited and organized in the fall of 1864 at
Cleveland by Colonel Spencer B. Boyd and Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Beard.‘
= Engaged chiefly in scouting through lower East Tennessee, northern Georgia,
-. western North Carolina, and northern Alabama, it had fr