Return Jonathan Meigs (December 28, 1740 – January 28, 1823) was a colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and an early settler of the Northwest Territory. From 1801 until his death in 1823, he served as an Indian agent to the Cherokee Indians in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Meigs was a conscientious and efficient agent in some respects, but also persuaded and bribed Cherokee leaders to cede much of their land to the United States. The land cessions were controversial, opposed by most Cherokee, and were a prelude to the Trail of Tears when the Cherokee were forced to leave their homeland and settle in Oklahoma.
Early life
Meigs was born in Middletown, Connecticut, on December 28, 1740, to Jonathan Meigs and Elizabeth Hamlin Meigs. Their 13 children included his brother Josiah Meigs. His father was a hatter. As a young man, Meigs entered a mercantile business. He married Joanna Winborn in 1764. Before her death in 1773, they had four children, including Return Jonathan Meigs Jr. In 1774, Meigs married Grace Starr, with whom he had three children, of whom two survived.
American Revolutionary War
thumb|left|upright=1.2|Meigs is shown in the left foreground of [[The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775<br>John Trumbull, 1786]]
Meigs served in the local militia, achieving the rank of lieutenant in 1772 and promoted to captain in 1774.
After Meigs was formally exchanged on January 10, 1777, he returned to active service as major of the 3rd Connecticut Regiment of the newly organized Connecticut Line. Meigs was appointed lieutenant colonel of Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment on February 10, 1777. On May 12 he was sent to command the 6th Connecticut Regiment when its colonel, William Douglas, became incapacitated by ill health.
One of his most important achievements during the war was leading the Meigs Raid against the British forces in Sag Harbor, New York, in May 1777. With just 220 men in a fleet of 13 whaleboats, he crossed Long Island Sound from Connecticut to Long Island to attack British forces at night. The raid succeeded in burning 12 small boats and taking 90 prisoners without losing a single man. The U.S. Congress awarded Meigs a presentation sword for his heroism. After Colonel Douglas died on May 28, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull appointed Meigs as colonel of the 6th Connecticut.
When a corps of light infantry was formed under General Anthony Wayne in July 1779, Meigs was given command of its 3rd Regiment, which he led at the Battle of Stony Point.
Subsequently, he entered political life, being appointed as a territorial judge, a justice of the peace, and clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions. In 1795, he served the army under General Anthony Wayne, as a commissary of clothing in the western country. In 1799, Meigs was elected as a member of the Ohio territorial legislature, serving until 1801. During his 22 years as agent, Cherokee land cessions to the United States totalled leaving the Cherokee in possession of of land, mostly in northern Georgia.
The Cherokee at this time were divided by dissention, although the majority opposed land sales or cessions to the United States. Meigs worked with tribal leaders favorable to ceding land, providing them "special considerations" (bribes) for their cooperation. Meigs believed that the Cherokee should move west of the Mississippi River, as some were doing. In 1808, he said, "It is my opinion that there will never be quietness on any of these frontiers until the Indians are removed over the Mississippi." Removal across the Mississippi was envisioned by many as a permanent solution to the Indian problem. Thomas Jefferson believed that white settlement of the trans-Mississippi region would take 1,000 years. In reality, it was only two decades later, in 1828, before the Cherokee in Arkansas were surrounded by white settlers.
His promotion of Cherokee land cessions notwithstanding, Meigs was in some respects a competent and dedicated agent. He was diligent in attempting to have U.S. the government prosecute crimes, of which there were many, by whites against Cherokee and expelling squatters on Cherokee land. "Meigs endeavored honestly and fairly to support the rights of the Indians." In 1823, he died of pneumonia after giving his quarters to a visiting Cherokee chief and sleeping outside in a tent.
Two Tennessee place names honor Meigs: Meigs County, which was formed in 1836 from part of Rhea County, and Meigs Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains.