Cherokee Indian Agency (Arkansas)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Cherokee, Quapaw, Seneca, and Shawnee, Delaware

History
The Cherokee Agency in the west was established in 1813. Some Cherokee were then living between the Arkansas and White Rivers in what became Arkansas. The agent for the western Cherokee Agency was subordinate to the one in the east until 1817, but was made a full agent in 1818. This agency was at times known as the Arkansas Agency and was also responsible for the Quapaw Indians in Arkansas.

By treaty of 6 May 1828, the Cherokee living in Arkansas agreed to move to Indian Territory and in 1830 the agency headquarters was established at Fort Gibson [see Cherokee Agency (Oklahoma)].

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Cherokee Agency, 1824-1836, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 77-79. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ). Correspondence from this agency was filed by the Office of Indian Affairs under the heading "Cherokee [West]." That heading was used until 1837, when the Cherokee Agency in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) was made a full agency.

A few administrative records for the Cherokee Agency (West), located in Arkansas, are in the National Archives in Washington, DC and have been inventoried by them. .

Agents
Thomas Lewis, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_J._Meigs,_Sr. Return J. Meigs], Joseph McMinn, Hugh Montgomery, Benjamin Currey, Nathaniel Smith