Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Return John Meigs Journal, #2972, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A more complete finding aid for this collection is available at the Southern Historical Collection.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Carroll, William, 1788-1844.
• Cherokee Indians--Government relations.
• Georgia--Description and travel.
• Herring, E. (Elbert), 1777-1876.
• Meigs, Return John, 1782-1851.
• North Carolina--Description and travel.
• Ridge, John, 1803-1839.
• Ross, John, 1790-1866.
• Schermerhorn, J. F. (John Freeman), 1786-1851.
• Tennessee--Description and travel.

Return John Meigs was the son of Major John Meigs of Connecticut and Elizabeth (Henshaw) Meigs. He should not be confused with Return J. Meigs (1740-1823), Revolutionary officer and Indian agent; with Return J. Meigs (1764-1824), United States senator and governor of Ohio; or with Return J. Miegs (1801-1891), Tennessee lawyer and state librarian.

MICROFILM ONLY. Journal of Return John Meigs, 5 June-12 October 1835, kept while he was secretary to the commissioners authorized to negotiate with the Eastern Cherokees in north Georgia and Tennessee. The journal records Meigs's itinerary through western North Carolina, north Georgia, and Tennessee, and indicates places where he lodged, meals eaten, church attendence, scenery, persons met, and business activities. The commissioners included J. F. Schermerhorn and William Carroll. They are mentioned in the journal, along with Elbert Herring and Cherokee chiefs John Ridge and John Ross. In addition to the journal entries, the volume includes Meigs's travel accounts and copies of his own correspondence and that of others.