June 24, 1823

In what became known as the Treaty of Council Oaks (although it was not actually a treaty-making event), Acting Governor Robert Crittenden of Arkansas Territory met with a group of Arkansas Cherokee leaders at the home of Cherokee agent David Brearley on the south side of the Arkansas River in the vicinity of modern Dardanelle (Yell County). The leaders present included John Jolly, who was likely the most influential member of the group and would soon be elected principal chief of the Arkansas Cherokee. Each group came to the meeting with a different agenda, and neither group left the meeting satisfied. Both parties subsequently pressed their cases in writing to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, who at the time had supervisory authority over Indian affairs throughout the country.