Cherokee Indian Agency (Tennessee)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Cherokee

History
The Chereokee Agency was established as early as 1792. By 1801, the agency as permanently located at what is now Kingston, Tennessee (then called South West Point). From 1807 to 1820, it was located at Hiwassee Garrison at the mouth of the Hiwassee. After 1820, it was moved farther up the river opposite Calhoun, Tennessee. The Cherokee Agency in the East was discontinued as a regular agency of 31 December 1834. A superintendent of emigration was appointed and was given the duties of agent, as well as overseeing the removal of the Cherokees to Arkansas. Although many of the Cherokees were removed, many continued to reside in the east and eventually an agency was established in North Carolina for those remaining.

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 71-76. 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 [East]." That heading was used until 1837, even though the agency was abolished in 1834, and correspondence regarding the Cherokees in the east continued to be filed under this heading by the Office of Indian Affairs until 1839.

Some administrative records for the Cherokee Agency(East), located in Tennessee, are in the National Archives in Washington, DC and have been inventoried by them. . These records have been microfilmed by the National Archives as their Microcopy M208, and are available for research at most of their regional archives.