At Red Clay Council Ground in the Cherokee Nation on September 28, 1836, Principal Chief John Ross appealed to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to spare the Cherokee people and the wreck of their prosperity, protesting the validity of the Treaty of New Echota in hopes of overturning it. This protest and memorial was also signed by thirty-one members of the National Committee and National Council, 2,174 Cherokee citizens, and several other prominent Cherokee leaders. Other memorials were also sent, including one bearing the names of more than 15,000 Cherokee.