Lovely's Purchase, also called Lovely's Donation, was part of the

Missouri Territory The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821. In 1819, the Territory of Arkansas was created from a portion of its southern area. In 1821, a southe ...

and the

Arkansas Territory The Arkansas Territory was a organized incorporated territory of the United States, territory of the United States from July 4, 1819, to June 15, 1836, when the final extent of Arkansas Territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the ...

of the early nineteenth century. It was created in 1817, to give a haven to the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

and other Native Americans who were being forced to leave the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

and moving west to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

(modern-day

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

) through territory then inhabited by sometimes hostile White settlers and several other Indigenous nations, especially citizens of the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

. Following years of political maneuvering and sometimes conflicting treaties, the purchase was finally split between the Cherokee and

White American White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as " person having ...

settlers, with the larger section going solely to the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

Background

President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

had promised an exclusive "gateway to the setting sun"—an area devoted to settlement for the members of the Cherokee Nation where they were not "...surrounded by the White man." Starting in 1809, members of the Cherokee Nation living west of the Appalachians in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, had started migrating west to the lands set aside by the United States government for those citizens willing to exchange their eastern property for homesteads in the recently set-aside Indian Territory.squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

Military intervention

Fort Smith, and the U.S. government made it clear that Lovely's Purchase would only house Native Americans from that time on. Another treaty between Osage and Cherokee was signed in 1818 at St. Louis, one that finally formalized the earlier Lovely's Purchase, and was this time endorsed by the U.S.''1818 Treaty at St. Louis''
bookscan and transliteration via website; Vintage Bentonville; (2018); accessed January 2023 In 1819, Arkansas was separated from the

, and became an official

organized territory Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations in th ...

of the United States. Lovely's Purchase was made part of

Crawford County Crawford County is the name of eleven counties in the United States: * Crawford County, Arkansas * Crawford County, Georgia * Crawford County, Illinois * Crawford County, Indiana * Crawford County, Iowa * Crawford County, Kansas * Crawford County, ...

at that time. In 1822, due to requests by territorial governor James Miller, the U.S. authorized another outpost and established

Fort Gibson Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any ot ...

(finished in 1824). Fort Gibson was manned by the U.S. Seventh Infantry. The large area these forts oversaw was dubbed "Lovely's Donations" by later legislators. The area still remained contentious, with complaints to the legislators from both White settlers—who were continually being moved out of the ever expanding Lovely Purchase—and the Cherokee—who were being pressured to abandon the rich farmlands and salt mine tracts to the White Americans.

Lovely County

sutler A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp, or in quarters. Sutlers sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent, traveling with an army or to remote military outposts. Sutler wa ...

by the name of John Nicks accompanied the Seventh Infantry to Fort Gibson, and eventually settled in the area of the fort. In 1828, he founded Nicksville, the future capital of Lovely County. More than a decade after Lovely's 1817 death, the area—along with additional tracts of purchased and donated land—was incorporated by the Territory of Arkansas as the short-lived Lovely County. Lovely's Purchase was, without federal authorization, created a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

by the Arkansas legislature in 1827 in an effort to keep the area part of the planned

State of Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma to th ...

, and White Americans immediately started settling there.Benton,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, Crawford counties in Arkansas; plus all or part of present-day

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Sequoyah Sequoyah ( ; , , or , , ; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and Constructed script, neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabl ...

, Adair,

, Wagoner, Muskogee, and

Mayes Mayes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adrian Mayes (born 1980), American football player * Alan Mayes (born 1953), English footballer * Bernard Mayes (1929–2014), British-American lecturer and author * Clifford Mayes (bor ...

counties in present-day Oklahoma.

Division of the purchase lands

The new treaty authorized the western half of the land donations, accumulations, and homestead purchases that had created the 'Lovely Purchase' to become part of Indian Territory. The land was given entirely to the Cherokee Nation—West of the Mississippi,''Lovely Donation and Spanish Claims : Historical Documents, Maps & More''
re-released (copyrighted) 2012; article webpage; Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands Report; retrieved August 2022 while the Osage were moved to the unorganized territory of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

—to finally put an end to the hostilities.

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

''Lovely County defined''

1827
''Maps of the Lovely Donations''
Historical Documents, Maps & Roster of Claims regarding the Lovely Donations (1828) United States and Native American treaties Histories of territories of the United States Colonization history of the United States Missouri Territory 1817 in Missouri Territory Arkansas Territory Presidency of James Monroe