The Hopewell Treaties

The Treaty of Hopewell marked a new era of relations between the United States and Native American nations. During Andrew Pickens’ 20-year career as the commissioner of Indian affairs, “Skyagunsta” or the “Border Wizard Owl,” as Pickens was respectfully called by the Cherokee, successfully negotiated a series of treaties on his Hopewell Plantation in November 1785 and January 1786.

Three hundred yards northwest of the Hopewell property on November 28, 1785, U.S. Treaty Commissioners Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin and Lachlan McIntosh met with 918 Cherokees and signed the first treaty between the United States of America and the Cherokee Nation. Similar treaties were signed at Hopewell with the Choctaws and Chickasaws on January 3 and 10 in 1786.

These treaties ended years of participation in the Revolutionary War for the Native Americans who had befriended the British and provided for prisoner exchanges, boundaries, trade, peace, and perpetual friendship.