- Treaty & boundary
- Early
- 1821-1835 (Cherokee removal 1838)
- Fulton County
- General area only
The Chattahoochee as a boundary, 1821-1835
After 1821 the Chattahoochee divided Georgia from Native land. Upstream of Buzzard Roost, just beyond the map's southwest corner, the far bank belonged to the Cherokee Nation until the 1835 Treaty of New Echota; downstream it stayed Creek land until 1826-27.
The record
The 1821 Treaty of Indian Springs made the east bank of the river the edge of Georgia from near Buzzard Roost up to the Shallow Ford. On December 11, 1821, the Creek and Cherokee councils agreed on their own line 'from the Buzzard Roost, on the Chattahoochee River, a direct line so as to strike the Coosa River, opposite the mouth of Will's Creek,' with land north of it Cherokee (text printed in the Cherokee Phoenix, June 4, 1828). So the hills across from Standing Peachtree were Cherokee country: James McC. Montgomery, who settled at the ferry about 1820-21, farmed west-bank land 'in what was still the Cherokee Nation' (GHS). Between 1827 and 1831 Georgia extended its laws over Cherokee territory and set up the lotteries that gave it away in 1832 (NGE). The Treaty of New Echota (December 29, 1835) ceded all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi, and removal followed in 1838.
Today: The river is the Fulton-Cobb line through this stretch.
Where on the map: Chattahoochee River centerline from Buzzard Roost (near the mouth of Utoy Creek, just southwest of the map edge) upstream past the mouth of Peachtree Creek, Paces Ferry and the mouth of Sope Creek to the Shallow Ford near Roswell. East bank: Georgia (DeKalb County, Fulton after 1853). West bank: Cherokee Nation until 1835-38.