[Footnote 574: Letter of General Albert Pike, February 17, 1866; also letter of T. J. Mackey, June 4, 1866.] [Footnote 575: Letter of General Albert Pike, February 17, 1866.] [Footnote 576: Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the President, June 15, 1866.] [Footnote 577: Ibid.] [Footnote 578: Letter of John Ross to O-poth-le-yo-ho-lo, September 19, 1861.] [Footnote 579: Report of Agent Cutler and Superintendent Coffin for 1862. See pages 135 and 138 of the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1862.] [Footnote 580: April 2, 1863.] [Footnote 581: Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1863, p. 24.] TREATY CONCLUDED JULY 19, 1866; PROCLAIMED AUGUST 11, 1866. _Held at Washington, D. C., between Dennis N. Cooley, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Elijah Sells, superintendent of Indian Affairs for the southern superintendency, on behalf of the United States, and the Cherokee Nation of Indians, represented by its delegates, James McDaniel, Smith Christie, White Catcher, S. H. Benge, J. B. Jones, and Daniel H. Ross, John Ross, principal chief, being too unwell to join in these negotiations._[582] MATERIAL PROVISIONS. Whereas existing treaties between the United States and the Cherokee Nation are deemed to be insufficient, the contracting parties agree as follows, viz: 1. The pretended treaty of October 7, 1861, with the so-called Confederate States, repudiated by the Cherokee National Council February 18, 1863, is declared to be void. 2. Amnesty is declared for all offenses committed by one Cherokee against the person or property of another or against a citizen of the United States prior to July 4, 1866. No right of action arising out of acts committed for or against the rebellion shall be maintained in either the United States or the Cherokee courts, and the Cherokee Nation agree to deliver to the United States all public property in their control which belonged to the United States or the so-called Confederate States. 3. The confiscation laws of the Cherokee Nation shall be repealed, and all sales of farms and improvements are declared void. The former owners shall have the right to repossess themselves of the property so sold. The purchaser under the confiscation laws shall receive from the treasurer of the nation the money paid and the value of the permanent improvements made by him. The value of these improvements shall be fixed by a commission, composed of one person appointed by the United States and one appointed by the Cherokee Nation, who in case of disagreement may appoint a third. The value of these improvements so fixed shall be returned to the Cherokee treasurer by returning Cherokees within three years.