Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Volume 9: March to Removal, Part 4, "They Shall Not Be Forsaken,"1830–1833 ed. by Richard W. Starbuck, and: Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Volume 10: March to Removal, Part 5, "This Is Not My Home Any More," 1834–1838 ed. by Richard W. Starbuck (review)

These volumes are the latest in a series reproducing correspondence and other records from the Moravian mission to the Cherokees in the nineteenth century. The Moravians, or United Brethren, were the first Christian church to establish a permanent mission in Cherokee Country. In 1801, with the approval of tribal leaders, the Moravians founded a school and mission at Springplace in present-day northwest Georgia. They remained at Springplace, and at a second station at Oochgeelogy, for more than thirty years until the growing crisis caused by the Indian removal policy forced them to abandon their work in Georgia. While they gained few converts, they developed close ties to a number of prominent Cherokee families and taught scores of Cherokee students. Over time, the Moravian missionaries became close observers of public affairs in the tribe. After removal, the Moravians reestablished the mission in the West, continuing their work until the allotment era. Preserved at the Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the records of the mission provide a rich and multifaceted view of Cherokee life over a period of almost a century.

The documents presented in the series consist mainly of reports and correspondence from the missionaries to their superiors in Salem, along with the mission diaries—journals with brief daily or weekly entries detailing events at Springplace and Oochgeelogy. Many of these records were written in German, using the old handwriting style known as deutsche Schrift, and the translations presented in the series derive from multiple projects completed over many years. Some date to the early twentieth century, when Moravian archivist Adelaide L. Fries began work on the collection Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, published by the North Carolina Historical Commission. Others come from the labors of volunteer scholars, such as Lydia Elizabeth Marx, a retired Moravian teacher who began translating records from Springplace in the 1970s. The present series consolidates the products of these various initiatives while weaving in additional materials transcribed by Moravian archivists in more recent years. Together, these records offer an almost day-by-day account of life in a portion of the Cherokee Nation, making the collection a unique resource for historians.

The latest volumes cover the years 1830 through 1838, a period dominated by the Cherokee struggle over removal. The Moravians were well situated to observe the removal crisis. Living in territory claimed by Georgia, they monitored that state's campaign to extend its jurisdiction over tribal land, outlaw the Cherokee government, and harass Cherokee people. Letters in these volumes describe the chaos fomented by white intruders from Georgia and the Georgia Guard, the infamous police force created to impose state law in Cherokee territory. The missionaries experienced some of this harassment themselves. Like other Cherokee lands, the missions were subject to the Georgia land lottery. In 1832, a white Georgian secured the title to Springplace and began work to evict the missionaries. The collection documents the Moravians' long effort to keep possession of this land and, after that proved impossible, to secure compensation for lost improvements. Meanwhile, like other missionaries, they faced prosecution under a law requiring whites in Cherokee territory to swear an oath of allegiance to Georgia. The collection offers a fascinating view of one group of missionaries' efforts to navigate these deteriorating conditions and...