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Philadelphia, November 24, 1796

The Talk of Opiamingo, Chief of the Chickasaw Nation to the Honorable James McHenry Secretary of War to the United States

Friend and Brother,

Our Father the President of the United States in a Talk us, which we received last Winter, expressed a desire to see some of our principal Chiefs--in consequence of which, you now see us here to receive any further Talk he may have to give us.

On our way here, we found the road crowded with people going to Cumberland. That Country borders on our land, and notwithstanding the repeated appearance of protection in the possession of our Country, which we have received from the United States, we cannot help feeling some anxious forebodings from such an unexampled migration to Cumberland.

Our Boundaries are not yet marked, and frontier Settlers when they make Encroachments on our hunting Ground will readily find an excuse in their ignorance of our limits. We wish therefore that the Preside will order the line to be run immediately, and so marked, as to put it out of the power of any person to excuse Embarrassment on that Ground. After this is done, we appeal to the justice of the United States to protect us in the full and undisturbed enjoyment of our bounty, already guaranteed to us by our Father the President

We are all not at peace with the United States and I am thus particular that no cause may hereafter arise to cause our children to differ.

Opiamingo x his mark Olmataha x Minhamataha x Major G. Colbert x Thomas Brown x John Brown x George Augustas x