History of Bradley County Tennessee United States of America

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Bradley County History

Bradley County, named in honor of Col. Edward Bradley, of Shelby County, was established by act of the Legislature in 1835. The surface of the county is made up of long valleys running from northeast to southwest with ridges between them. In it is a vast amount of water power, a part of which has been harnessed for commercial use in the Ocoee hydro-electric plant established by the Tennessee Power Company.

The entire section of which this county is a part was the scene of many bloody battles with the Indians in the early pioneer days. In 1819, an agency known as the Cherokee Agency, was established on the present site of the City of Charleston, following a treaty with the Cherokee Indians and Return J. Meigs was appointed the first agent. He held this position until 1823, when he was succeeded by Joseph McMinn who, in 1821, had completed his third successive term as governor. McMinn died in 1824 and was succeeded by Hugh Montgomery. Simultaneously with the establishment of the Indian agency, Lewis Ross, brother of John Ross, the famous Cherokee chief, established a store at the agency and remained there until the removal of the Indians in 1838. His wife was a Miss Holt from Virginia. Will T. Hale says:

Previous to 1832 several white men were married to Cherokees or half breeds throughout the section. Encroachments were made by the whites in 1832, leading the Indians to believe they would have to abandon their lands. For a consideration some of them proposed to cede their holdings. Chief John Ross and a large following opposed this movement. Major Ridge, his son John, Elias Boudinotte, James Starr, Wm. Rodgers, John Rodgers, and John Watkins, Jr., were in favor of the cession, and in 1834, without the sanction of Ross, ceded the lands to the United States. A feud resulted. The first victim was Walker, a well educated half breed, who, in 1824, had married Miss Emily J. Meigs, a daughter of Return J. Meigs, who lived on a farm just north of the present Cleveland.

Surveying the Ocoee district was begun in 1837. In Nov., 1838, Luke Lea was made entry taker, his office being opened at Cleveland. For the first four months the price of land was $7.50 per acre; in the next few months the price was reduced, until in 1841 it sold at one cent per acre. Settlers came in rapidly.

Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923

History of Bradley County Tennessee

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