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Tsalagi (Cherokee) Stories, legends, misc, etc...
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Tsalagi/Cherokee
The name "Cherokee" [chair-uh-kee] means "speakers of another language"
or "those who live in the mountains." The Cherokee lived in southwest America, and were considered one of the "Five Civilized Tribes." Staying together in small communities, they stayed near rivers because the land was best for growing crops. The main animal for the Cherokee was deer. The weapons used to hunt were bows and arrows, blowguns, spears, and fishing poles.
They made their clothes out of fiber and deerskin. Men wore breech cloths and leggings while women wore skirts and blouses. Instead of shoes they wore moccasins, which were like slippers.
The Cherokee had seven clans, or family groups:
Bear, Blue, Bird, Paint, Deer, Wind, and Wolf.
The eldest woman was always the one in charge of her clan.
In a village, houses were close together and a council house was made for tribe meetings.
This building had seven sides to show each of the seven clans. One tribe had two chiefs: a Peace Chief and a War Chief. The Peace Chief was in charge unless the tribe was at war, when the War Chief would take over. But, when an important decision had to be made, most of the tribe got to talk about it and decide.
Politically, women were very active in the community and did go to council meetings often.
In Cherokee clans, men and women shared work evenly. War, hunting, and negotiation between tribes were men's work. Women took care of the crops, house, and family members. Men made political decisions for the clans and women made social choices. Only men were chiefs, while women were landowners. Everyone participated in storytelling, art, music, and traditional medicine.
The Cherokee religion was a form of Animism, meaning they revered objects. Almost no one practices the old Cherokee religion today. The society was matri-lineal, meaning everything was passed down on the mother's side. Marrying within one's own clan was not allowed. When a couple got married, the man joined the woman's clan. Strangers who came to the village or were taken in battle were usually accepted into a clan and therefore became Cherokee. When the Europeans came, the Cherokee traded with them: deerskin, fox pelts, otter pelts, bear hide, raccoon skin, slaves, and arrows were given in return for cloth, blankets, brass kettles and pots, and guns. Guns especially were an important trade item.
When the American Revolution broke out, the Cherokee allied with the British.
In response, Americans began a campaign to kill all Cherokee. They attacked many of the towns and in the early 1780's, two-thirds of Cherokee towns were gone. Many Cherokee were forced to flee to the mountains to avoid the plundering, but starved or froze there. If caught, they were held as prisoners of war or were sold into slavery. With no help from the British, the Cherokee called for peace with the Americans in 1782. In 1738, a terrible smallpox epidemic struck the Cherokee tribe and devastated the towns. The Cherokee had no immunity to European diseases. It lasted for eighteen months and killed nearly half of the tribe. Out of the 20,000 before, about 7,000 to 10,000 are estimated to have survived.
One of the most infamous pieces of Cherokee history is the "Trail of Tears." In the 1800's, the American government decided to start the project of Indian Removal to make room for settlers. They created "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma and forced all Native American tribes to live there instead of in the South. The Cherokee refused to leave their homeland and were told the American army would force them to move. When the Cherokee asked the Supreme Court for help, the Court said that the Cherokee should be able to stay. Yet, President Andrew Jackson ordered U.S. troops to march the tribe to Oklahoma. About 4,000 Cherokee died on what is now called the "Trail of Tears."
Cherokee Indians
In the seventeenth century, the Cherokee Indians inhabited what is now the Eastern and Southeastern United States. After the European contact, most were forcibly moved westward to the Ozark Plateau. They were one of the tribes referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes. Cherokee Indians were displaced from their lands in Northern Georgia and the Carolinas in a period of rapidly expanding white population as well as the discovered of gold on their land in 1828. Various official reason for the removal were given. One was that the Cherokee Indians were not efficiently using their land and the land should be given to white farmers. Despite the Supreme Court Ruling in their favor, many in the Cherokee Nation were forcibly relocated West, a migration known as the Trail of Tears or in Cherokee Nona Daul Tsunny (Cherokee:The Trail Where They Cried). This took place after the Indian Removal Act of 1830, although as of 1883, the Cherokee were the last large southern Indian tribe to be removed. John Ross was an important figure in the history of the Cherokee Indians tribe. His father emigrated from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary War. His mother was a quarter-blood Cherokee woman whose father was also from Scotland. He began his public career in 1809. The Cherokee Nation was founded in 1820, with elected public officials. John Ross became the chief of the tribe in 1828 and remained the chief until his death in 1866. Today the Cherokee Indians have a strong sense of pride in their heritage. The Cherokee rose is now the state flower of Georgia. Today, the largest population of Cherokee Indians live in the state of Oklahoma, where there are three federally recognized Cherokee communities with thousand of residents.
~ My Genesis as a Lost Cherokee ~
The year of 1828, the Cherokee Nation was doing great.
Then Andrew Jackson raised his voice,
Asking why should we give these people a choice.
They have a great life style with freedom and wealth.
Those people are happy, educated and enjoying good health.
They have built new homes and have plantations.
We should take their land and move them to reservations.
Some disagreed and said ahem are other ways.
We can mix with their race and change their religion.
lt will take a few years of lying and deception.
However, we can force them to change their direction.
Now we all knew the politicians could not wait,
Because all that gold in Georgia opened a flood gate.
New we fast forward to 1838.
The troops came down to the nation shouting,
"Let’s go for a walk in a westward direction,
you can take our word, there will be no deception."
The Cherokee people said we need time to pack.
The troops said, "Not necessary, you take what’s on your back."
They forced the Cherokee to several stockades;
there they were held for several days.
The invaders needed time to loot their homes in honorable ways.
My great, great grandparents lived in Tennessee.
Now, I get personal because they were part of me.
They walked all the way to the Arkansas River.
The weather was cold, causing them to hover and shiver.
I will not name names, but I know who they were.
Two men and two women and relatives galore.
That is when J. W. decided, l am not taking any more.
He and his sweetheart, her family, and a few more,
Decided to go south and hide if they could,
Because crossing that river just could not be good.
They made their way south then crossed over to Texas.
They knew that Chief Bowles was very well respected.
And all believed they would be readily accepted,
And now we all know if history is told right.
The Texans came to Chief Bowles wanting to fight.
The battle occurred July 16, 1839.
That is the day Chief Bowles ran out of time.
J.W. told his sweetheart and a few more survivors.
It has happened again and now we must hide.
We must all walk because there are no horses to ride.
We will back track to Arkansas and travel with pride.
They would hide in the hills and caves and such.
Now, if you are not Cherokee you should not care much.
That was just life way back then,
However the Lost Cherokee have risen again.
Yes, we are legitimate and we will not go away.
We must all stick together and we will have our day.
Yes we should be accepted by the B. I. A.
WE WILL HIDE NO MORE! WE WILL HIDE NO MORE!
by
Ray (Raging Fire) Farris
Legend of the Cherokee Creation
Earth is floating on the waters like a big island, hanging from four rawhide ropes fastened at the top of the Sacred four directions. The ropes are tied to the ceiling of the sky, which is made of hard rock crystal. When the ropes break, this world will come tumbling down, and all living things will fall with it and die. Then everything will be as if the earth had never existed, for water will cover it. maybe the white man will bring this about.
Well, in the beginning also, water covered everything. Though living creatures existed, their home was up there, above the rainbow, and it was crowded. "We are all jammed together," the animals said. "We need more room." Wondering what was under the water, they sent Water Beetle to look around.
Water Beetle skimmed over the surface but could'nt find any solid footing, so he dived to the bottom and brought up a little dab of soft mud. Magically the mud spread out in the four directions and became this island we are living on - this earth. Someone Powerful then fastened it to the sky celing with cords.
In the beginning the earth was flat, soft, and moist. All the animals were eager to live on it, and they kept sending down birds to see if the mud had dried and hardened enough to take their weight. But the birds will flew back and said that there was still no spot they could perch on.
Then the animals sent Gandfather Buzzard down. He flew very close and saw that the earth was still soft, but when he glided low over what would become Cherokee counrty, he found that the mud was getting harder. By that time Buzzard was tired and dragging. When he flapped his wings down they made a valley where they touched the earth; when he swept them up, they made a mountain. The animals watching from above the rainbow said, "If he keeps on, there will only be mountains," and they made him come back. That's why we have so many mountains in Cherokee land.
At last the earth was hard and dry enough, and the animals descended. They couldnt see very well because they had no sun or moon, and someone said, "Lets grab Sun from up there behind the rainbow! Lets get him down too!" Pulling Sun down, they told him, "Here's a road for you," and showed him the way to go....from east to west.
Now they had light, but it was much to hot, because Sun was too close to the earth. The crawfish had his back sticking out of a stream, and Sun burned it red. His meat was spoiled for ever, and the people still won't eat crawfish.
Everyone asked the sorcerers, the shamans, to put Sun higher. They pushed him up as high as a man, but it was still to hot. So they pushed him farther, but it wasn't far enough. They tried four times, and when they had sun up to the height of four men, he was just hot enough. Everyone was satisfied, so they left him there.
Before making humans, Someone Powerful had created plants and animals and had told them to stay awake and watch for seven days and seven nights. (This is just what young men do today when they fast and prepare for a ceremony.) But most of the plants and animals couldn't manage it, some fell asleep after one day, some after two
Among the trees and other plants, only the cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake on the eighth morning. Someone Powerful said to them: "Because you watched and kept awake as you had been told, you will not lose your hair in the winter." So these plants stay green all the time.
After creating plants and animals, Someone Powerful made man and his sister. The man poked her with a fish and told her to go give birth. After seven days she had a baby, and after seven more days she had another, and every seven days another came. The humans increased so quickly that Someone Powerful, thinking there would soon be no more room on this earth, arranged things so that a woman could have only one child every year. And that's how it was.
Now, there is still another world under the one we live on. You can reach it by going down a spring, a water hole; but you need underworld people to be your scouts and guide you. The world under our earth is exactly like ours, except that it's winter down there when its summer up here. We can see that easily, because spring water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler than the air in summer.
Like their distant cousins the Iroquois, the Cherokee Indians had an even division of power between men and women. Cherokee men were in charge of hunting, war, and diplomacy. Cherokee women were in charge of farming, property, and family. Men made political decisions for the tribe, and women made social decisions for the clans. Chiefs were men, and landowners were women. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine.
Clothing, etc,,,
Cherokee men wore breechcloths and leggings. Cherokee women wore wraparound skirts and poncho-style blouses made out of woven fiber or deerskin. The Cherokees wore moccasins on their feet. After colonization, Cherokee Indians adapted European costume into a characteristic style, including long braided or beaded jackets, cotton blouses and full skirts decorated with ribbon applique, feathered turbans, and the calico tear dress. Here are pictures of Cherokee clothing and photographs of traditional Native American clothing in general.
The Cherokees didn't wear long headdresses like the Sioux. Cherokee men usually shaved their heads except for a single scalplock. Sometimes they would also wear a porcupine roach. Cherokee women always wore their hair long, cutting it only in mourning for a family member. Men decorated their faces and bodies with tribal tattoo art and also painted themselves bright colors in times of war. Unlike some tribes, Cherokee women didn't paint themselves or wear tattoos, but they often wore bead necklaces and copper armbands.
Transportation
The Cherokee Indians used to make long dugout canoes from hollowed-out logs. Over land, the Cherokees used dogs as pack animals. There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe. Today, of course, Cherokee people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.
Food
The Cherokees were farming people. Cherokee women harvested crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. They also gathered berries, nuts and fruit to eat. Cherokee men hunted deer, wild turkeys, and small game and fished in the rivers. Cherokee dishes included cornbread, soups, and stews cooked on stone hearths.
Cherokee hunters used bows and arrows or blowguns to shoot game. Fishermen generally used spears and fishing poles. Warriors fired arrows or fought with a melee weapon like a tomahawk or spear. Other important tools used by the Cherokee Indians included stone adzes (hand axes for woodworking), flint knives for skinning animals, wooden hoes for farming, and pots and baskets for storing corn.
Interaction with other tribes
The Cherokee Indians traded regularly with other southeastern Native Americans, who especially liked to make trades for high-quality Cherokee pipes and pottery. The Cherokees often fought with their neighbors the Creeks, Chickasaws, and Shawnees, but other times, they were friends and allies of those tribes.
The Five Civilized Tribes
'The Five Civilized Tribes' was just a name that the white settlers used to refer to the Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, and Cherokee tribes of the Southeast. These five tribes were never part of an alliance together, and they did not call themselves the Civilized Tribes in their own languages. Originally, the white settlers probably called them this because these five tribes were early converts to Christianity. They were also farmers who lived in settled towns under sophisticated government systems, which Europeans and early Americans considered more higher civilization achievements than independent bands of hunters who moved from place to place. However, there were dozens of other Native American tribes who also led farming lifestyles, not just these five.
Crafts
Traditional Cherokee art included pipe carving, rivercane baskets, gourd art, and pottery. After moving to Oklahoma, the Cherokees couldn't get the materials they used to use for traditional crafts, so they concentrated on other crafts like beadwork and textile arts.
Homes
The Cherokee Indians lived in settled villages, usually located near a river. Cherokee houses were made of rivercane and plaster, with thatched roofs. These dwellings were about as strong and warm as log cabins. Here are some pictures of Native American houses like the ones Cherokee Indians used. The Cherokees also built larger seven-sided buildings for ceremonial purposes, and each village usually had a ball field with benches for spectators. Many Cherokee villages had palisades (reinforced walls) around them for protection.
Bear Legend
In the long ago time, there was a Cherokee Clan call the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi (Ahnee-Jah-goo-hee), and in one family of this clan was a boy who used to leave home and be gone all day in the mountains. After a while he went oftener and stayed longer, until at last he would not eat in the house at all, but started off at daybreak and did not come back until night. His parents scolded, but that did no good, and the boy still went every day until they noticed that long brown hair was beginning to grow out all over his body. Then they wondered and asked him why it was that he wanted to be so much in the woods that he would not even eat at home. Said the boy, "I find plenty to eat there, and it is better than the corn and beans we have in the settlements, and pretty soon I am going into the woods to say all the time." His parents were worried and begged him not leave them, but he said, "It is better there than here, and you see I am beginning to be different already, so that I can not live here any longer. If you will come with me, there is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it; but if you want to come, you must first fast seven days."
The father and mother talked it over and then told the headmen of the clan. They held a council about the matter and after everything had been said they decided: "Here we must work hard and have not always enough. There he says is always plenty without work. We will go with him." So they fasted seven days, and on the seventh morning al the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi left the settlement and started for the mountains as the boy led the way.
When the people of the other towns heard of it they were very sorry and sent their headmen to persuade the Ani Tsaguhi to stay at home and not go into the woods to live. The messengers found them already on the way, and were surprised to notice that their bodies were beginning to be covered with hair like that of animals, because for seven days they had not taken human food and their nature was changing. The Ani Tsaguhi would not come back, but said, "We are going where there is always plenty to eat. Hereafter we shall be called Yonv(a) (bears), and when you yourselves are hungry come into the woods and call us and we shall shall come to give you our own flesh. You need not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always." Then they taught the messengers the songs with which to call them and bear hunters have these songs still. When they had finished the songs, the Ani Tsaguhi started on again and the messengers turned back to the settlements, but after going a little way they looked back and saw a drove of bears going into the woods.
She Who Carries the Sun For Her People
A Historical Narrative
by Dan Troxell
At the time of the French and Indian War, Doublehead, as a teenager, learned that his people received word that a great movement in the north had crossed the Ohio River heading south deep into Kentucky. It was learned that many Indian tribes from the north with their French allies had targeted the lands of Kentucky and the Cherokee Nation for total French gain. Meaning: the Chickamauga Cherokee must now decide their loyalty to either join the French or fight their advance. The French believed that the Kentucky Cherokees would join them, finding little resistance to their advance. But what the French did not realize was that bringing other tribal nations onto Cherokee Territory without a tribal agreement, would bring insult and stir the Kentucky Cherokees into defending their homelands with dire retribution. This was a mistake the French would remember for many years to come which would forever put distrust between the Kentucky Cherokee and any European who came with promises and beads. Many Kentucky Cherokee Thunderbolt council fires concerning this threat took place with many people attending. Some of the Shawnee People who were close friends to the Cumberland River Cherokee allied themselves with the Cherokee Thunderbolts. The sacred holy fires at Ywahoo Falls, Cumberland Falls, and Eagle Falls burned with many holy council meetings of many great chiefs and great warriors and great holy people. And the decision of these councils came about to defend their Cherokee Nation first against any and all aggression, taking no sides in this white mans' war of French and English. They agreed they would fight no Frenchman or Englishman in this war but would fight anyone who raised a War Arm against the Chickamauga Cherokee Nation, whomever they may be, Indian or non- Indian. Some allies of the south from the Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw nations with some friends of the river Shawnee joined with the Cherokee decision as they had also sat in these councils wondering what to do on the matter of invasion. The Thunderbolt Cherokee neighbors in McCreary county Kentucky of the Yamacraw Indian Nation also joined this decision for they attended as well. Word by runners was sent throughout the whole Cherokee Nation and its southern allies to gather all the warriors that would join and assemble along the Kentucky Cumberland River in what is now Pulaski, Wayne, and McCreary Counties in southeast Kentucky. The sacred Cherokee Thunderbolt War Hatchet calling the whole Cherokee Nation to War was sent throughout the whole Cherokee Nation, southern and Chickamaugan. The war headquarters for this huge massing of the Cherokee and its allies was to be at the northern district Cherokee commerce capital at Burnside Kentucky. Any diplomatic moves were to be counseled at "Doubleheads Cave" in Wayne County Kentucky. Its holy center was the many Falls of the Cumberland (Ywahoo, Cumberland, Eagle). As the Cherokee came from the south in other districts, many war songs and war councils echoed through out the Kentucky Cumberland River basin day and night with sacred fires burning continually. The sacred Cherokee Crystal Ark was also brought to the holy grounds of the 3 Falls and became known during this rallying as the Thunderbolt Ark of the Cherokees. Many were purified and made warriors of Great Spirit God at the sacred grounds of the 3 Falls: Ywahoo, Cumberland, and Eagle. The most sacred being Ywahoo Falls of the "Ancient Ones". But each fall area of the 3 falls had its own holiness and sacred meaning. Warriors prepared to defend their country to the last person. Many inter-tribal arrangements were decided on at Doubleheads Cave with elaborate ceremonies to bind the friendship agreements in time of need. Big celebration was seen when High Chief Moytoy himself came in aid. After all, Moytoy was the grandfather to Doubleheads wife, making this more of a personal matter to Moytoy. Moytoy became honored at Doubleheads Cave in Wayne County Kentucky. Many "War Women" were also among the Cherokee ranks preparing to fight. One special War Leader of southeast Kentucky rallied her Thunderbolt force into a frenzied mass of power to encounter the enemy. Many songs were sung and dances performed of her prowess of determination to fight at the head of her Thunderbolts of Kentucky. Her name was She- Who-Carries-The-Sun (for her people). She was a powerful War Woman and leader who lived in southeast Kentucky but walked throughout the Cumberland Plateau. She and her warriors, male and female were of the Thunderbolt Cherokees and carried a special sign of the Thunderbolt as their markings. The painted red and white Thunderbolt of Lightning was on many of her warriors shields, armor, garments, and body. She-Who-Carries-The-Sun had many other names and titles as well but this time she adorned the title of War Woman and was allowed to wear the dressing of both the white and the red for her brightness to her people. She attended many councils of the area, including her presence at Burnside, Doubleheads Cave, and at Yahoo, Cumberland, and Eagle Falls. She was said to have given a great oration while at Yahoo Falls and drenched herself under the falling water of Yahoo Falls for her sacredness, later placing a great victory eagle feather on the Rock of the River of the Ancient Ones. She drank the black drink at Eagle Falls and sat among many high leaders in council on many matters at different locations. Deep respect and honor was highly given where ever she went. The war pole had been struck with her Thunderbolt hatchet by She-Who-Carries-The-Sun. The Cherokee objective was now to wait and stop any enemy at the sacred grounds of the Kentucky Cumberland River. Many people from many tribes were now camped throughout all the sacred hills and valleys of Wayne, Pulaski, and McCreary Counties in a massive bond of Holy Warriors. Their nightly fires lit the sky with flames of "One" people. The smoke carried their spirits aloft in preparation of the coming battle. The Cherokee and their allies waited for the coming aggressors, white or Indian, to come into their waiting arms to feel the blow that only a Cherokee warrior could give its enemy. That only a Thunderbolt could strike its target. Among them was a young warrior called Doublehead. The War songs were sung at the council fires, the war pole had been struck by many, and the sacred Black Drink was accepted. They were ready. She-Who- Carries-The-Sun was at one of the fronts ready to strike as the lightning. Her white and red garments was said to have taken on a light of supernatural brightness. When the battle later came the ranks of the many Cherokee warriors and their allies were lined in defense outside of the Cherokee district capital at Burnside, on both sides of the Cumberland River, with the sacred Cherokee Holy Ark in the front middle of them. Coming on and facing them were the many tribes of the north accompanied by a few Frenchmen who had swayed their invasion of Kentucky. The battle began and lasted for days up and down the Cumberland River going many a ways in every direction on both sides. Many yells and screams of its Chiefs and warriors clashing head on into each other, raw warrior against raw warrior. She-Who-Carries-The-Sun with her Thunderbolt Cherokees fought strong through the whole ordeal, pushing their advance onward, even though her force had encountered the main body of the enemy. The enemies assault on She- Who-Carries-The-Sun was twice as strong as other fronts. Her force was outnumbered 2 to 1, but her willingness to protect her people accompanied by the bravery of her Cherokee Thunderbolt force held to the end and finally began pushing the enemy back. Some of the Frenchmen with their Indian allies was said to have run on just seeing the face of She-Who- Carries-The-Sun, others say that the Frenchmen feared the brightness of her garments. Some say that a hawk soared and screamed over her advance. Her weapons were two-fold, the ancient ball war club and the lance. Her hair was said to be long and shiny black with a length down to the back of her waist, that flowed in movement with the slightest breeze. She was known to be close kin to young Doublehead. Her beauty was also known far and wide which some say was carried over onto Doubleheads daughter Cornblossom. Her renown feature was the bronze of her skin which shone a beauty as a blazing tan, not dark nor light but bronze, which her name clearly defines : She-Who-Carries-The-Sun. Many a bloody warrior, male, female, and children, on both sides fell those days under the ball war club, the arrow, and other instruments of Indian warfare. Sometimes a village had been entered into with many killed by the enemy. Many people died from this great holy battle of Indian against Indian on both sides, one right after the other in a river of blood and death creating a sea of exhaustion. The Cumberland River ran red that day. But in the end the Cherokee with their allies became victorious, causing any Frenchmen left with their many Indian allies to retreat all the way northward back across the Ohio River and into their own lands out of Kentucky. The battle of the Cumberland River had been fought. Their enemies vanquished and posed no threat any more. The Cherokee Thunderbolt had struck the enemy. With many Frenchmen dead, little to no recordings were made, but the story was oft times carried on by the Kentucky Cherokees. After the battle was all over, among the dead was She-Who-Carries- The-Sun, fell with an arrow in her side (it has been related to me that in an obscure account of an archaeological expedition in the early 1900's (possibly Smithsonian) to Doublehead's/Hines Cave [account of present desecration at the cave], that on this expedition a burial of a woman with an arrow head lying in position to have been in her side and could have been the cause of her death was noted: S.E.). Even with an arrow in her, she was said to have kept fighting until the battle was over, then slumped to the ground after raising her hands to the Great Spirit in victory. Some say her war hatchet that was embedded on the war pole she had struck in the council house, mysteriously fell off on her dying breath as if removed by She-Who-Carries-The-Sun herself, meaning: her war is over. She became honored highly and buried inside of the sacred burial chambers at Doubleheads Cave in an elaborate ceremony with all present. Her victories had fallen many an enemy warrior during this battle. Some say that among her fallen enemies, she fell personally 3 enemy chiefs of the north, 2 by the club, 1 with a lance in this battle. Her remembrance was carried with each rising of the Sun from that day forward. Her deeds were told and sung at many council fires to come. Some tell that she still watches over the South Fork and Cumberland Rivers with her brightness. Her white garments were the whitest of white and the red redness of red. This is how many say they recognize her, sometimes in the sun, in the wind, glow of the moon, on the water, many places and design they say she still walks. Some say she can be seen or felt at the Circle of Truth, the natural arches, doors to the other side. Some say that Real Human Beings who belong to the Thunderbolts can feel She-Who-Carries-The-Sun with a sense of closeness at many geological wonders of the South Fork and Cumberland River areas. She was a great warrior in the Land of the Thunderbolt, she was a Great Cherokee ranked with all the others. May someday her recognition be not forgotten and her story told and sung on every lip once again. May her boldness and bravery be the heart of all warriors men and women, and forever may we remember the name of She-Who- Carries-The-Sun. She-Who-Carries-The-Sun along with the 2 daughters of Doublehead one who marries the great Chickasaw Chief (George Colbert) and Cornblossom who marries Jacob Troxell, blood relatives, War Women the three ......... THE 3 MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, and within their beauty was much more, their hearts were of 1 people, 1 culture, they were truly Real Human Beings. They were THUNDERBOLT CHEROKEE who loved and protected their people to the end. Remember them for they will always be with us, forever and ever. Cutsawah, meaning Red Bird in the Cherokee language, is direct descent of She Who Carries the Sun, Cornblossom is cousin to Cutsawah and direct to She Who Carries the Sun as well. There is a painting in Frankfort Ky of one of the Cutsawah Chiefs. Cutsawah and She Who Carries the Sun is also my lineage.
Remember them with great honor and a tear .....
by Dan Troxell
The Legend of Ka na sta
Long ago, while people still lived in the old town of Ka na sta, on the French Broad, two strangers, who looked in no way different from other Cherokee, came into the settlement one day and made their way into the chief’s house. After the first greetings were over the chief asked them from what town they had come, thinking them from one of the western settlements, but they said, “We are of your people and our town is close at hand, but you have never seen it. Here you have wars and sickness, with enemies on every side, and after a while a stronger enemy will come to take your country from you, We are always happy, and we have come to invite you to live with us in our town over there,” and they pointed toward Tsu wa telda (Pilot knob). “We do not live forever, and do not always find game when we go for it, for the game belongs to Tsu lka lu, who lives in Tsu ne gu n yi, but we have peace always and need not think of danger. We go now, but if your people will live with us let them fast seven days, and we shall come then to take them.” Then they went away toward the west.
The chief called his people together into the townhouse and they held a council over the matter and decided at last to go with the strangers. They got all their property ready for moving, and then went again into the townhouse and began their fast. They fasted six days, and on the morning of the seventh, before yet the sun was high, they saw a great company coming along the trail from the west, led by the two men who had stopped with the chief. They seemed just like Cherokee from another settlement, and after a friendly meeting they took up a part of the goods to be carried, and the two parties started back together for Tsuwa tel da. There was one man from another town visiting at Kana sta, and he went along with the rest.
When they came to the mountain, the two guides led the way into a cave, which opened out like a great door in the side of the rock. Inside they found an open country and a town, with houses ranged in two long rows from east to west. The mountain people lived in the houses on the south side, and they had made ready the other houses for the new comers, but even after all the people of Kana’sta, with their children and belongings, had moved in, there were still a large number of houses waiting ready for the next who might come. The mountain people told them that there was another town, of a different people, above them in the same mountain, and still farther above, at the very top, lived the Ani’-Hyun’tikwala’ski (the Thunders).
Now all the people of Kana’sta were settled in their new homes, but the man who had only been visiting with them wanted to go back to his own friends. Some of the mountain people wanted to prevent this, but the chief said, “No; let him go if he will, and when he tells his friends they may want to come, too. There is plenty of room for all.” Then he said to the man, “Go back and tell your friends that if they want to come and live with us and be always happy, there is a place here ready and waiting for them. Others of us live in Datsu’nalasgun’yi [see Track Rock] and in the high mountains all around, and if they would rather go to any of them it is all the same. We see you wherever you go and are with you in all your dances, but you can not see us unless you fast. If you want to see us, fast four days, and we will come and talk with you; and then if you want to live with us, fast again seven days, and we will come and take you.” Then the chief led the man through the cave to the outside of the mountain and left him there, but when the man looked back he saw no cave, but only the solid rock.
The people of the lost settlement were never seen again, and they are still living in Tsuwa`tel’da. Strange things happen there, so that the Cherokee know the mountain is haunted and do not like to go near it. Only a few years ago a party of hunters camped there, and as they sat around their fire at supper time they talked of the story and made rough jokes about the people of old Kana’sta. That night they were aroused from sleep by a noise as of stones thrown at them from among the trees, but when they searched they could find nobody, and were so frightened that they gathered up their guns and pouches and left the place.
Excerpts From Elmira Wauhillau
"The Indian Pioneer Papers" are the product of a project which began in 1936. The Oklahoma Historical Society teamed with the history department at the University of Oklahoma to obtain a Works Progress Administration (WPA) writers' project grant for an interview program. The program was headquartered in Muskogee and was led by Grant Foreman. The writers conducted more than 11,000 interviews and after editing and typing the work, the results were over 45,000 pages long. The following excerpt is from the interview of Elmira Stevens of Wauhillau. - "The Indian Pioneer Papers".
The way we kept weavels (sic) out of dried apples, peaches, dried peas and beans was to put a handful of broken up limbs of sassafras in the sack. Then weavels (sic) would not bother them.
Father tanned his own cowhides, and made his and mother's moccasins himself. He got the hair off the hides by soaking them in red oak bark water.
We had homemade beds. The posts were made of round poles with split half poles for sides and the middle was made of ropes and hickory bark made into narrow strips and sewed back and forth between the side rails.
Our crude feather beds were laid on this criss-cross swing. Feather beds were made of bird, goose, duck, and pigeon feathers. Eggs sold for four cents per dozen.
~ 'Speckled Snake' (Cherokee) ~
Brothers! We have heard the talk of our great father; it is very kind.
He says he loves his red children. Brothers! when the white man first came to these shores, the Muskogees gave him land, and kindled him a fire to make him comfortable; and when the palefaces to the south made war on him,
[the Spaniards of Florida endeavored to break up the English settlement under Gen. Oglethorpe in Georgia. - Drakes note.], their young men drew the tomahawk, and protected his head from the scalping knife.
But when the white man had warmed himself by the Indian's fire, and filled himself with the Indian's hominy, he became very large; he stopped not for the mountain tops, and his feet covered the plains and valleys. His hands grasped the eastern and western sea. Then he became our great father. He loved his red children, but said, "You must move a little farther, lest I should by accident, tread on you." With one foot he pushed the red man over the Oconee, and with the other he trampled down the graves of his fathers.
But our great father still loved his red children, and he soon made them another talk. He said so much; but it all meant nothing, but "move a little farther; you are too near me." I have heard a great many talks from our great father, and they all begun and ended the same. Brothers! When he made us a talk on a former occasion, he said, "Get a little farther; go beyond the Onocee and the Oakmulgee;
there is a pleasant country." He also said, "It shall be yours forever."
Now he says, "The land you live on is not yours; go beyond the Mississippi;
there is game; there you may remain while the grass grows or the water runs."
Brothers! Will not our great father come there also? He loves his red children, and his tongue is not forked.
Speckled Snake (c. 1830)
What the stars are like - Traditional Stories
There are different opinions about the stars. Some say they are balls of light, others say they are human, but most people say they are living creatures covered with luminous fur or feathers.
One night a hunting party camping in the mountains noticed two lights like large starts moving along the top of a distant ridge, They wondered and watched until the light disappeared on the other side. The next night, they saw the lights moving along the ridge, and after discussing the matter decided to go and see what was going on. In the morning, they went to the ridge and after searching some time, they found two strange creatures so large ( making a circle with outstretched arms ) , with round bodies covered with fine fur or downy feathers, from which small heads stuck out like the heads of terrapins. As the breeze played upon these feathers, showers of sparks flew out.
The hunters carried the strange creatures back to the camp. They kept them several days, and noticed that every night they would grow bright and shine like great stars, although by day they were only balls of grey fur. They kept very quiet, and no one thought of their trying to escape when, on the seventh night, they suddenly rose from the ground like balls of fire and were soon above the tops of the trees. Higher and higher they went, while the wondering haunters watched, until at last they were only two bright points of light in the dark sky, and then the hunters knew that they were stars.
~ Cherokee Prophecy ~
Chief Tribe of the End Days
There is a prophecy that says the Cherokee will be the chief tribe of the Native Americans in the End Days. How may this come about? The Cherokee are one of many Native American tribes in North America, so what makes them so special? There was a very wise Cherokee elder and wisdom keeper, John Red Hat Duke, who taught the high spiritual path of the Keetoowah, the Red Road. The Keetoowah are the religious or spiritual branch of the Cherokee. Elder John Red Hat of the Long Hair clan was a wise ceremonial, spiritual leader. He was a Grandfather among the Cherokee people. A Grandfather is one who is held in high esteem by the Cherokee people. He is consulted by chiefs and other elders about the spiritual and traditional ways of the Cherokee ancestors. Elder John Red Hat was a brilliant man who spoke nine languages. He understood Eastern philosophy, and studied under Rabbi Joseph Jasin, an extremely intelligent Jewish teacher. The foundation of Elder Red Hat's beliefs centered on the Torah and the Cherokee White Path. He spent years sharing his deep spiritual understandings with others, but he especially shared his teachings with his partner, Dorothy K. Daigle (Dottie). He taught her Keetoowah spiritual truths and about the ways of the ancestors which she shares with us in Walking the Red Road. Expanded teachings of Walking the Red Road are included in the book Red Hat Speaks. Now we get to how the Cherokee may become the chief tribe in the End Days. Dottie believes it is the Red Road, the spiritual path of the Cherokee Keetoowahs as taught by Elder John Red Hat that will raise the Cherokee up to be the chief tribe of the End Days. She believes the prophecy in Ezekiel 37:19, where Creator promised to unite the House of Judah and the House of Joseph, will be accomplished on the bridge that unites the Torah with the Red Road. She also believes the Red Road will be the new religion prophesied to be received by the Hopi people prior to the time of the Great Purification, and that the Red Road spiritual path is the red force that will purify the Hopi people!
Elder Red Hat passed away in December of 2003, but his teachings live on and are shared in two books,
Red Hat Speaks, and Red Hat's Wisdom, by Dorothy K. Daigle. Dorothy was taught by Cherokee elder and wisdom keeper John Red Hat Duke for over 10 years about Keetoowah spiritual truths. He taught her about the Hopi prophecy of Pahana, and they, along with Dr. Robertson made many visits to the Hopi on Oraibi. They have a connection with the Pahana legend of the Hopi. Keetoowah spiritual wisdom as taught by Grandfather Red Hat is also shared on the site below.
http://redroadspiritualwalk.multiply.com
The Seven Clans
Bird Clan - Their color is Purple, and their wood is Maple
Blue Clan -Their color is Blue and their wood is Ash
Deer Clan - Their color is Brown and their wood is Oak
Paint Clan - Their color is White, and their wood is Locust
Twister Clan - Their color is Yellow and their wood is Beech
Wild Potato Clan - Their color is Green and their wood is Birch
Wolf Clan - Their color is Red and their wood is Hickory
The Cherokee clans were based on a matrilineal system.
(traced thru the mother's line)
Bird Clan, they were messengers and also very skilled in using blowguns for bird hunting. Eagle feathers were presented by them to other members of the tribe because they were the only ones able to collect them. They were the keepers of the birds.
Blue Clan, this clan were keepers of childrens medicines and of medicinal herbs. They were named after a plant called a blue holly, which they used for medicine. This Clan has also been known as the Wild Cat Clan or Panther. They were known as a peace clan.
Deer Clan, they were fast runners and delivered messenges from village to village, or person to person and were excellent hunters and trackers. They were known as a peace clan.
Paint Clan, they were the smallest and most secretive clan, and the only ones that were allowed to make a special red paint and dye that are used for ceremonial purposes and war.
Twister Clan also known as Long Hair Clan It is said that those belonging to this clan wore their hair twisted or in braided hairdos. The peace chiefs usually came from this clan and wore a white feather robe. Their members were teachers and keepers of tradition.
Wild Potato Clan were farmers and gatherers of wild potato plants. They used them to make flour for bread. They were keepers and protectors of the earth. Also known as the Raccoon or Clan Bear Clan.
Wolf Clan is the most prominent clan, providing most of the war chiefs, and warriors. They were the protectors of the people and were known as a warrior clan.
~ Cherokee Women ~
In the Seven Years’ War, the Cherokee had fought with the British against the French, and by the time of the American Revolution, they had decided to fight against the Americans, in large part because of the encroachment of land-hungry patriot colonists. During the American Revolutionary War, the Cherokee were among the worst hit, as vast numbers of men were killed, leaving large numbers of women widows. Some estimates state that there could have been as many as ten times as many Cherokee women than men after the conclusion of the war. Some historians believe that this difference in comparative numbers of each sex as a result of male war deaths served to elevate warrior status, altering gender roles and power within Cherokee society. The Cherokee were in many ways the consummate example of the Native American experience, in that they were some of the most aggressively displaced and actively “civilized” groups. Many Cherokee men and women did in fact become quite fully assimilated into white culture, but were still later forced to relocate to what is now Oklahoma, following the Trail of Tears. Other Cherokees strongly resisted the assimilation programs of the new government. Ultimately, the forced relocation of many Native peoples, like the Cherokee, was not significantly affected by loyalty to the American patriot cause during the Revolution. Groups that had been loyal to the colonists, the British, and remained the neutral were all faced with similar, growing restrictions to land access.
Iroquois women
The Revolution particularly devastated the Iroquois. The nations of the Iroquois confederacy had initially endeavored to remain neutral in the American Revolutionary War. They, like many other Native peoples, saw little to gain from aid to either side in the conflict, and had been burned before by their participation in the Seven Years’ War. Ultimately, however, some of the tribes were persuaded to join the British front by Sir William Johnson. As a result of this alliance, the American Major General John Sullivan and his soldiers burned and completely destroyed about forty Iroquois towns in what is now upstate New York, displacing thousands of Iroquois inhabitants. This campaign obliterated hundreds of acres of crops and orchards, which had largely been the domain of the agricultural women, and served to kill thousands of Iroquois, both outright and through the ensuing starvation.
Cherokee/Western Band
Western Cherokee Nation, Kiamichi Band
Western Cherokees? Who are we?
In 1819 our Chief lead some 3,000 families across the Mississippi river into Missouri and Arkansas Territory. Under the Treaty between (5) Osage Chiefs and our Chief, we were allowed to move into this new land to settle and have forever. The Treaty was Govern by Captian Clark, Supertendance of Indian Affairs in Saint Louis. From 1819 to 1827 over 10,000 Cherokees moved west under this agreement. It was no easy life for our families. Many times we came under attact by the Osage Indians. They did not want us in their land. During this period of time, some of our families moved into Texas Territory under a land grant from the Mexican Government. This land grant is known as Cherokee County. When Texas became a state, our families lost their land and moved back into Missouri and Arkansas and some moved into Oklahoma Territory. With the forced move of the Eastern Cherokees in 1835, we saw our homes being lost too. It was during this time that most of our families begain to make their claim as being (Black Dutch or Low Dutch). Most of the Western Cherokees blended into the white culture claiming no Indian Blood. With the State Hood of Arkansas and Missouri no Native American could own property. Many were run off their property by the Law. Most just faded into the white culture as Black Dutch. When the census were taken most would claim Tennessee as their birth place. Some moved into Kansas as black Dutch claiming Iowa as their birth place. The Western Cherokees were as fish in the sea. They had become lost in the sea of the white culture. In all likely hood, the Western Cherokees are the Largest Native Tribe in America. The Western Cherokee blood flows from coast to coast and few know we exists
Al Hobaugh, 2/10/08
Western Cherokee History
(short Version)
By Dr. Timothy Jones
Anthropologist, University of Arizona
The western Cherokee began to separate from the Eastern Cherokee when a large number of Cherokee Towns and Clans split over the issue of weather to accommodate the movement of White settlers onto their lands. The Cherokee people and their leaders as a whole did not agree to make concessions by treaty (British or later American) in which they would be loosing control of their lands in the present southeast United States. Those leaders who did not agree to the treaties could not stop some leaders from making treaties with Britain and later the United States. Those Cherokee and their leaders began to move west to lands that they considered "traditional homelands" in the area of the present day Ozarks.
The first large historic emigration to the Ozark region was in 1694. The British colony of Carolina negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee that was signed by leaders who cooperated with the whites. Some of the faction that did not agree with signing the treaty left the southeast and moved west of the Mississippi. This formed the foundation for the historic Western Cherokee Nation in the Ozark region.
Other emigrations continued thoughout the late 1600s and early 1700s as the British settlement of the southeast further encroached on the Eastern Cherokee. These emigrations and natural population growth were sufficient to fully populate northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri by the time of the next major emigrations in the 1720s.
The major emigration in the 1720's occurred after another factional division among the Eastern Cherokee. A famous incident in which these Cherokee participated was the LaMotte mine massacre. The next major migrations took place about the time of the American Revolution. In 1782 a group of Cherokee asked Spain if they could settle on land in Spanish Territory west of the Mississippi. These groups emigrated into the Western Ozark region along the Arkansas River on the southern edge of the Western Ozarks. Other emigrations took place in 1785 and 1794, these Cherokee settling on the White River with some settlements nearly in present day Oklahoma. The Western Cherokee worked togeather to their mutual benefit. Some groups would participate in separate treaties with the Spanish though others were consulted for advice and opinions. The debates usually split between those who wanted nothing to do with the whites and those who though some discussions and accommodatioins were useful. Each individual group had their own leader and these leaders would gather when it was necessary to work together. Some famous leaders at the time were Takonee. The Bowl and Benjamin Green. Relaionships went well among the Western Cherokee until 1808 when a substantial migration of Eastern Cherokee under the leadership of Tahlonteekee migrated into north central Arkansas joining relatives who had emigrated there in the 1770s. In 1775 a group of Eastern Cherokee signed the British Treaty of Sycamore Shoals. Those Cherokee who opposed the treaty emigrated into the central Ozarks in north central Arkansas and south central Missouri settling as far north as present day Columbia Missouri. These Western Cherokee groups had the strongest relationships with the new United States and would be those that played a central role in negotiating the Treaty of 1817 and the creation of the Western Cherokee Nation. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 would affect all future Western Cherokee history. The United States bought the Ozark region as part of the purchase from the French and began to explore the area as a region for expansion and settlement. The New Madrid earthquake in the fall of 1811 devastated the Arkansas St. Francis River region and the lowlands of southeastern Missouri making these areas uninhabitable for years. Many of the Western Cherokee decided to leave the area moving to higher ground in the Ozark mountains. Since most of the Ozarks were already settled many of these people were forced to move west of the Ozarks. This move brought the Western Cherokee into clashes with the Osage who had recently migrated into the western Ozarks. The Western Cherokee split over whether to sign a Treaty with the United States to form the Western Cherokee Nation in Arkansas. This treaty was signed by groups in north central Arkansas and south central Missouri. Western Cherokee groups located in northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri and some groups in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri would not sign the treaty but agreed to participate in the Western Cherokee government. Tahlontesskee and later his brother John Jolly were major players in the new Western Cherokee Nation government. All Western Cherokee leaders though participated in the government by attending the Council of Leaders that served as a legislature. The Western Cherokee Nation worked with the Eastern Cherokee Nation in negotiations with the United States. They wanted to unite the Cherokee under lands that principally constitute present day Oklahoma. Plans were going well, so much that the Oklahoma panhandle, known as the Cherokee strip, was negotiated by the Western Cherokee as a strip of land that would give them access to the southern Rocky Mountains where they often went for summer hunts. During one of the negotiation teams meetings with United States Officials in 1828 the negotiation team was "wined", dined, paid, ect" and signed the Treaty of 1828 which ceded lands in the east and in Arkansas for lands present day northeastern Oklahoma. The Western Cherokee Nation leaders did not support the 1828 Treaty witnessed by the fact that none of the signers of the 1819 Treaty signed the 1828 treaty. Most Cherokee refused to leave their lands and the signers of the 1828 Treaty were sentenced to death for treason. Eventually some of the Eastern and Western Cherokee did move to the new lands in Oklahoma but their numbers were small. The United States was determined to remove Cherokee from their eastern lands. The Treaty in New Echota, Georgia in 1835 ended all Indian claims in the southeast and resulted in The Trail of tears in 1838. Though the government forced most of the Cherokee off their eastern lands most of the Western Cherokee in Arkansas and Missouri did not move and were not forced off their lands at the time. After Missouri and Arkansas statehood Western Cherokee who tried to gain title to the land they had occupied for more then 100 years (remember that many Western Cherokee has arrived in the area as early as the late 1600s) were often denied legal title. In Missouri there were laws that prohibited Indians from hunting or roaming within the state (state of Missouri, 1835, Laws of Indians, Sections 1-7). Once Western Cherokee were denied title to their land they were considered to be landless and hence roaming withen the state. They could be forcibly removed from their property and the state. Under state law militia could be formed to remove the "roaming" Western Cherokee and if the militia felt threatened they could use lethal force. The law and the actions conducted under the law kept "Indians" from living in Missouri. This law and subsequent similar statues were not removed until the early 1900's. In Arkansas, Western Cherokee were removed to Oklahoma under the guise of the Treaty of 1828. In addition to the laws, Indians were intimidated by settlers who wanted their land and would villainize Indians in order to control them. With blatant discrimination, acts of aggression and more tacit forms of oppression the Western Cherokee were forced to go "underground" still maintaining their government, associations and traditional life ways without making non-indians, other than some Cherokee sympathizers, aware of their existence. They dropped any outward appearance that would identify them as Cherokee, Ceremony was held in rural locations surrounded by fellow Western Cherokee or Cherokee sympathizers. Barns, chicken coups and rural homes housed Council meetings and other gatherings. Communications between chiefs, clan leaders and other were passed from mouth to mouth or letters were hand carried. Though Cherokee names were given they were not used in public or in public documents. Instead, English names were used officially. This is why people with the same lineage can have different last names or names with different spellings. The CNO (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) has never had a historic presence in Missouri or Arkansas. As witnessed by the Western Cherokee Nation in Arkansas and their History in the Ozarks the Western Cherokee have participated in Missouri and Arkansas thoughout historic times and they trace part of their history in prehistoric Missouri and Arkansas. Relationships between that Western Cherokee and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma have never been good, especially when the Western Cherokee did not move to Oklahoma after the Trail of Tears the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has had a "legal" relationship with the United States and gain their support from this relationship. The United States does not presently recognize the Western Cherokee despite the fact that the U.S. Government continued to communicate with the Western Cherokee as a separate Nation though the mid 1840s. The United States even signed an 1889 agreement (The Old Settler Treaty) with some of the Western Cherokee for loss of their lands in Arkansas though most Western Cherokee refused to sign up for this program. Western Cherokee today do not wear traditional clothing; construct brush arbors in their yard or other visible signs of Western Cherokee culture. They had to stop practicing these easily visible behaviors in order to hide from persecution. Even those who still practice making traditional items usually only shared these with other Western Cherokee. There are many surviving behaviors that show that Western Cherokee roots continue in their everyday lives. As pointed out, they may seem familiar and common to you, but you need to remember that these behaviors and patterns are not found in most American Families. In traditional Western Cherokee culture women held great power in the family and in the society.. Women also owned their own property and since the families were matrilineal (they followed their heritage though their mothers line rather than their fathers line like most Americans there were family matrons that maintained family control. Today there are still female family matrons in Western Cherokee familes. In Western Cherokee families women have always worked, like they do today, and have held positions of power in the community. Western Cherokee valued nature and the skills necessary to live in nature Instead of viewing technology as the way to "conquer" nature (dominant in American belief systems) the Western Cherokee believed that humans are part of nature and lived within nature, learning from all of creation. Since they appreciated nature much of their time is spend outdoors hunting, farming and collecting. Many modern Western Cherokee still spend a lot of time in nature and have to "get out" in order maintaining sanity. They have learned this appreciation of nature as part of the Western Cherokee culture beliefs that were passed to them from their parents and grand parents. Timothy W, Jones, Ph.D. Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
The Cherokee War of 1776
In the early of 1776 a combination was entered into by the Tories and Indians for a general massacre of the Whigs residing along the frontiers from North Carolina to Georgia. The Tories set up peeled poles at their houses, around which white cloth was wrapped. These were called pass-overs.
On June 20, in accordance with previous arrangements, the Indians commenced the work of death among the Whigs, but the Tories sat under their pass-overs in safety. To this, however, there was one exception. Capt. James Ford, who resided on the Enoree River at a place called the Canebrake, was killed while sitting under his passover. His wife was also killed and his two daughters taken captives. It is supposed that the Indians were instigated into the commission of these horrible atrocities by the arts of John Stuart and Richard Parris, agents of the British Government, and that this work of savage butchery along the frontiers constituted a part of a grand scheme for the overthrow of the patriots in the Province.
But the simultaneous appearance of a British fleet before Charleston and the outbreak of savage fury upon the frontier was insufficient to dampen the ardor of the Republicans. The dwellers upon the sea coast met and repelled the invaders at Fort Moultrie, and we shall soon see how the hardy backwoods men dealt their blows upon their insidious enemies. But the spectacle is melancholy. The poor untutored Indians, delighting in carnage, listens to the suggestions of the foreign mercenaries and becomes the victim of the cupidity and ambition of a lordly aristocracy. The British, though normally Christian and the representatives of a great and Christian Nation, so far forgot the better principles of humanity as to engage in their service the tomahawk and scalping knife of a barbarous race to retain within the sway of their illegal exaction a brave and generous people. Here the intelligent and conscientious Loyalist in South Carolina ought to have seen his error. He ought now to have been convinced of the fact that the British Government had no proper sympathy for British subjects on this continent. That the Parliament would not be at the trouble to know the wants of the people and would not condescend to recognize their rights; and hence incapable of legislating for their benefit.
From various indications among the Indians in the first part of the spring of 1775 the Whigs along the frontiers felt apprehensions of danger, but had no means of knowing the nature of the conspiracy and the extent of the dark cloud which threw its shadows above the horizon. They, however, consulted for their safety. In the month of May a number of soldiers embodied under Gen. Williamson and a camp formed upon Fair forest Creek in the vicinity of Col. Thomas's. Messengers were sent out to ascertain the intention of the Indians. These messengers were killed. As soon as Williamson was informed of the attack upon the people he marched to their rescue. The Indians were overtaken at the residence of Richard Parris, the present site of Greenville Court House. The Indians fled with their allies, the Tories. A number of prisoners were retaken, and among them the daughters of Capt. Ford. Williamson stopped a few days to recruit. Thence he pursued to the nearest towns on Seneca and Tugalo. Different battles and skirmishes occurred in the environs of these towns. Williamson then halted for a while in Seneca Town, on the river of the same name. From this place a number of his men were permitted to go home to obtain clothing and other supplies. Among these were Joseph McJunkin, who served in this expedition in the company of Capt. Joseph Jolly in the regiment of Col. Thomas. "As soon as we returned," says Major McJunkin, "Williamson took up the line of march with a view of penetrating the Indian country to the middle settlements on the Hiwassee River. The Indians were assailed at the same time by Gen. Rutherford of North Carolina , Col. Christian of Virginia, and Col. Jack of Georgia. After passing through several deserted Indian towns Williamson's command passed a part of the North Carolina army, from whom he learned that their main body had gone to attack the valley towns. Soon after passing them, on Sept. 22, the advance of Williamson's army fell into an ambuscade prepared for the North Carolina army. The Indians were posted on the crest and sides of a mountain in the form of a horseshoe. Williamson's advance defiled through the gorge, which might be called the heel, and were suffered to approach the part which may be called the toe. In an instant in front, in rear, on the right and the left, the warwhoop sounded.
The warwhoop was answered by a shout of defiance, and the rifles of the Indians answered by an aim equally deadly. The whites were pressed into a circle by their foes and hence the battle was called the Ring Fight. As soon as the firing was heard the main army pressed to the rescue. Before their arrival the advance had to contend with fearful odds. It was not only a woodsman's fight from tree to tree, but often from hand to hand. Among these, Major Ross of York District had a hard scuffle with an Indian, in which the nerve of the white man prevailed over the dexterity of the red. On the arrival of the main army the Indians were charged on all sides and driven from their chosen position. A large quantity of parched corn, dressed deerskins and moccasins were left on the ground. Among the slain a number of Creek Indians were discovered. In this action Cols. Thomas Neal of York District, John Thomas of Spartanburg, John Lysle of Newberry and Thomas Sumter participated. The latter, who commanded the regulars, particularly distinguished himself. Major Andrew Pickens also gave manifestations of those qualities which subsequently elevated him in the estimation of his fellow soldiers.
The next day the army proceeded to the valley towns along the Hiwassee. A great quantity of corn and other provisions were here destroyed. Some however, was thrown into the river, floated down and lodged in fish traps and was afterward found and preserved by the Indians. The army spent a few days at these towns, then crossed the Hiwassee and turned up a river then called Lawassee. On this latter stream were some beautiful towns. This river flowed nearly from south to north. After descending this river some distance Williamson's army met that from North Carolina. The two encamped near each other one night. Thence Williamson crossed over the southern waters; that is, the head streams of the Cattahoochee River. Here he passed a beautiful fenced town called Chota. Here intelligence was received that the Indians were encamped in force at a town twenty miles distant at a place called Frog Town. Col. Sumter was ordered to lead a party, of which McJunkin was one, and surprise them.
In obedience to this order the party set out and passed over a fearful precipice through a passage not exceeding fourteen inches in width. With the exception of a few miserable squaws nobody was found in the town. The party returned in the darkness of the night without being able to discover the narrowness of their passage near the precipice, as when they went out. The army returned to the Keowee towns. Here a treaty was concluded with the Indians, in which they ceded their lands east of the Oconee Mountains and bound themselves to live in peace. The territory thus acquired by the whites within South Carolina comprises the Districts of Greenville, Anderson and Pickens. A heavy penalty was exacted from the miserable Indians for their alliance with the British and Tories. In some of the battles connected with this campaign white men were taken disguised as Indians and using the same methods of warfare. They were Loyalists.
Williamson's army was disbanded at Seneca Town with the understanding that the frontiers were to be guarded in regular order. Accordingly, a line of posts was established from North Carolina to Georgia.
COLUMN: Cherokee Freedmen deserve the benefits of citizenship
Sarah Garrett/The Daily
Monday, August 29, 2011
The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to maintain a 2007 ruling that overturned the citizenship of, among others, all Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of the slaves of Cherokees. The Cherokee Nation, a sovereign country inside the U.S., has the right to a non-federal, sovereign constitution under a series of treaties with the U.S. government from the 19th century onward. Citizens of the Cherokee Nation voted in 2007 to overturn the citizenship of “freedmen”: African-Americans who were forcibly removed to Oklahoma along with their Cherokee owners. No person, family or political entity wants to be responsible and culpable for such an unethical practice as human slavery. But we cannot ignore the ramifications of such wholesale trauma on an entire people (nor, the violence that is normalized in our whole society). Race, slavery and the long, sordid history of injustice in our country is going to take longer than a century and a half to clear up and will probably require continuous attention from all parts of society. This is really unfortunate, because certain views and the corresponding actions of individuals, families and political entities are inherently responsible for enslaving humans, forcibly removing them from their nations and then systematically denying them rights associated with citizenship and humanity. Although the power that comes with sovereignty does not excuse exercising the same kind of erasure and injustice upon others, perhaps that power can help explain current events. The descendants of Cherokee Freedmen have had their citizenship in the Cherokee nation (which confers benefits such as education subsidies and public health care) rent from them by a combination of racism and slavery apologetics, wrapped in ethnic pride. The exercise of tribal sovereignty has been cited by Cherokee Nation activists who support the withdrawal of citizenship rights, but certainly the federal government has undermined tribal sovereignty often enough to present itself as a legitimate threat to that sovereignty, more so than Freedmen, who have individually and as a group participated in the nation since they were included as “residents” in the treaty of 1866. No one wants to feel bad, and therefore we’ve made necessary reparations to the descendants of slaves for having structurally undermined the freedom, lives and rights of slaves and their descendants. This and the current and historical relative poverty of Cherokees and the nation (after the trauma of being militarily removed from their land) is the justification for kicking out the black Freedmen — a group whose ancestors had to bear not only military removal from Africa and political, social and economic subjugation in the United States but also had to withstand the second trauma of military removal from the eastern United States under Cherokee political, social and economic subjugation. Cherokee tribespeople have their own histories of violent removal and subjugation with which to deal. The Cherokee Nation currently uses federally mandated law to determine citizenship; an applicant to the Nation must be able to trace descent from an ancestor who signed the Dawes Commission Roll at the turn of the 19th century signifying that they are “Cherokee by blood.” This use of “blood quantum,” the exact percentage of “Indian blood” a person can trace to a Cherokee family member, excludes black freedmen. Cherokee-ness, and other identities and ways of being in the world, are not transmitted by blood, but they could be transmitted by shared experiences of dehumanization, military removal and continual undercuts by the federal government. This is another manifestation of the idea that culture, history and identity are genetic. Identity, feelings of belonging and certainly citizenship are transferred not biologically, but culturally, through shared experience. It is disappointing that for the combined reasons of money and funds, the Cherokee Nation has gone the same route as the federal government in denying citizenship to rightful residents who share cultural practices and history, dispossessing rights conferred by citizenship in the name of antiquated, racist ideas about blood purity.
Sarah Garrett is an anthropology senior
The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
This has not ceased.
UN report paints grim picture of conditions of world’s indigenous peoples-14 January 2010
The world’s 370 million indigenous peoples suffer from disproportionately, often exponentially, higher rates of poverty, health problems, crime and human rights abuses, the first ever United Nations study on the issue reported today, stressing that self-determination and land rights are vital for their survival.
Startling figures contained in The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples include:
In the United States, a Native American is 600 times more likely to contract tuberculosis and 62 per cent more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
In Australia, an indigenous child can expect to die 20 years earlier than his non-native compatriot. The life expectancy gap is also 20 years in Nepal, while in Guatemala it is 13 years and in New Zealand it is 11.
In parts of Ecuador, indigenous people have 30 times greater risk of throat cancer than the national average.
Worldwide, more than 50 per cent of indigenous adults suffer from Type 2 diabetes – a number predicted to rise.
“Every day, indigenous communities all over the world face issues of violence and brutality,
continuing assimilation policies, dispossession of land, marginalization, forced removal or relocation, denial of land rights, impacts of large-scale development, abuses by military forces and a host of other abuses,” the report’s authors said in a news release.
Although indigenous peoples make up only 5 per cent of the global population, they constitute around one third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people. In both developed and developing countries, poor nutrition, limited access to care, lack of resources crucial to maintaining health and well-being and contamination of natural resources are all contributing factors to the terrible state of indigenous health worldwide.
Indigenous peoples experience disproportionately high levels of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition, cardiovascular illnesses, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis (TB), while suicide rates, particularly among youth, are considerably higher in many countries, for example up to 11 times the national average for the Inuit in Canada. The Inuit TB rate is over 150 times higher.
The study repeatedly identifies displacement from lands, territories and resources as one of the most significant threats for indigenous peoples, citing many examples, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hawaii, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Colombia.
“When indigenous peoples have reacted and tried to assert their rights, they have suffered physical abuse, imprisonment, torture and even death,” it says, stressing that their rights to their own lands and territories must be respected while they need to develop their own definitions and indicators of poverty and well-being.
“Indigenous peoples suffer from the consequences of historic injustice, including colonization, dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, oppression and discrimination, as well as lack of control over their own ways of life. Their right to development has been largely denied by colonial and modern States in the pursuit of economic growth,” it adds, warning that the importance of land and territories to indigenous cultural identity cannot be stressed enough.
Of the world’s 6,000 to 7,000 languages, a great majority are spoken by indigenous peoples, and many, if not most, are in danger of becoming extinct, with some 90 per cent possibly doomed within the next 100 years. About 97 per cent of the world’s population currently speaks 4 per cent of its languages, while only 3 per cent speaks 96 per cent of them.
Indigenous peoples, who are the stewards of some of the most biologically diverse areas, accumulating an immeasurable amount of traditional knowledge about their ecosystems, also face the dual and somewhat contradictory threats of discrimination and commodification.
They face racism and discrimination that sees them as inferior, yet they are increasingly recognized for their unique relationship with their environment, their traditional knowledge and their spirituality, leading to external efforts to profit from their culture which are frequently out of their control, providing them no benefits, and often a great deal of harm.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
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Tsalagi (Cherokee) Stories, legends, misc, etc...
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Tsalagi/Cherokee
The name "Cherokee" [chair-uh-kee] means "speakers of another language"
or "those who live in the mountains." The Cherokee lived in southwest America, and were considered one of the "Five Civilized Tribes." Staying together in small communities, they stayed near rivers because the land was best for growing crops. The main animal for the Cherokee was deer. The weapons used to hunt were bows and arrows, blowguns, spears, and fishing poles.
They made their clothes out of fiber and deerskin. Men wore breech cloths and leggings while women wore skirts and blouses. Instead of shoes they wore moccasins, which were like slippers.
The Cherokee had seven clans, or family groups:
Bear, Blue, Bird, Paint, Deer, Wind, and Wolf.
The eldest woman was always the one in charge of her clan.
In a village, houses were close together and a council house was made for tribe meetings.
This building had seven sides to show each of the seven clans. One tribe had two chiefs: a Peace Chief and a War Chief. The Peace Chief was in charge unless the tribe was at war, when the War Chief would take over. But, when an important decision had to be made, most of the tribe got to talk about it and decide.
Politically, women were very active in the community and did go to council meetings often.
In Cherokee clans, men and women shared work evenly. War, hunting, and negotiation between tribes were men's work. Women took care of the crops, house, and family members. Men made political decisions for the clans and women made social choices. Only men were chiefs, while women were landowners. Everyone participated in storytelling, art, music, and traditional medicine.
The Cherokee religion was a form of Animism, meaning they revered objects. Almost no one practices the old Cherokee religion today. The society was matri-lineal, meaning everything was passed down on the mother's side. Marrying within one's own clan was not allowed. When a couple got married, the man joined the woman's clan. Strangers who came to the village or were taken in battle were usually accepted into a clan and therefore became Cherokee. When the Europeans came, the Cherokee traded with them: deerskin, fox pelts, otter pelts, bear hide, raccoon skin, slaves, and arrows were given in return for cloth, blankets, brass kettles and pots, and guns. Guns especially were an important trade item.
When the American Revolution broke out, the Cherokee allied with the British.
In response, Americans began a campaign to kill all Cherokee. They attacked many of the towns and in the early 1780's, two-thirds of Cherokee towns were gone. Many Cherokee were forced to flee to the mountains to avoid the plundering, but starved or froze there. If caught, they were held as prisoners of war or were sold into slavery. With no help from the British, the Cherokee called for peace with the Americans in 1782. In 1738, a terrible smallpox epidemic struck the Cherokee tribe and devastated the towns. The Cherokee had no immunity to European diseases. It lasted for eighteen months and killed nearly half of the tribe. Out of the 20,000 before, about 7,000 to 10,000 are estimated to have survived.
One of the most infamous pieces of Cherokee history is the "Trail of Tears." In the 1800's, the American government decided to start the project of Indian Removal to make room for settlers. They created "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma and forced all Native American tribes to live there instead of in the South. The Cherokee refused to leave their homeland and were told the American army would force them to move. When the Cherokee asked the Supreme Court for help, the Court said that the Cherokee should be able to stay. Yet, President Andrew Jackson ordered U.S. troops to march the tribe to Oklahoma. About 4,000 Cherokee died on what is now called the "Trail of Tears."
Cherokee Indians
In the seventeenth century, the Cherokee Indians inhabited what is now the Eastern and Southeastern United States. After the European contact, most were forcibly moved westward to the Ozark Plateau. They were one of the tribes referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes. Cherokee Indians were displaced from their lands in Northern Georgia and the Carolinas in a period of rapidly expanding white population as well as the discovered of gold on their land in 1828. Various official reason for the removal were given. One was that the Cherokee Indians were not efficiently using their land and the land should be given to white farmers. Despite the Supreme Court Ruling in their favor, many in the Cherokee Nation were forcibly relocated West, a migration known as the Trail of Tears or in Cherokee Nona Daul Tsunny (Cherokee:The Trail Where They Cried). This took place after the Indian Removal Act of 1830, although as of 1883, the Cherokee were the last large southern Indian tribe to be removed. John Ross was an important figure in the history of the Cherokee Indians tribe. His father emigrated from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary War. His mother was a quarter-blood Cherokee woman whose father was also from Scotland. He began his public career in 1809. The Cherokee Nation was founded in 1820, with elected public officials. John Ross became the chief of the tribe in 1828 and remained the chief until his death in 1866. Today the Cherokee Indians have a strong sense of pride in their heritage. The Cherokee rose is now the state flower of Georgia. Today, the largest population of Cherokee Indians live in the state of Oklahoma, where there are three federally recognized Cherokee communities with thousand of residents.
~ My Genesis as a Lost Cherokee ~
The year of 1828, the Cherokee Nation was doing great.
Then Andrew Jackson raised his voice,
Asking why should we give these people a choice.
They have a great life style with freedom and wealth.
Those people are happy, educated and enjoying good health.
They have built new homes and have plantations.
We should take their land and move them to reservations.
Some disagreed and said ahem are other ways.
We can mix with their race and change their religion.
lt will take a few years of lying and deception.
However, we can force them to change their direction.
Now we all knew the politicians could not wait,
Because all that gold in Georgia opened a flood gate.
New we fast forward to 1838.
The troops came down to the nation shouting,
"Let’s go for a walk in a westward direction,
you can take our word, there will be no deception."
The Cherokee people said we need time to pack.
The troops said, "Not necessary, you take what’s on your back."
They forced the Cherokee to several stockades;
there they were held for several days.
The invaders needed time to loot their homes in honorable ways.
My great, great grandparents lived in Tennessee.
Now, I get personal because they were part of me.
They walked all the way to the Arkansas River.
The weather was cold, causing them to hover and shiver.
I will not name names, but I know who they were.
Two men and two women and relatives galore.
That is when J. W. decided, l am not taking any more.
He and his sweetheart, her family, and a few more,
Decided to go south and hide if they could,
Because crossing that river just could not be good.
They made their way south then crossed over to Texas.
They knew that Chief Bowles was very well respected.
And all believed they would be readily accepted,
And now we all know if history is told right.
The Texans came to Chief Bowles wanting to fight.
The battle occurred July 16, 1839.
That is the day Chief Bowles ran out of time.
J.W. told his sweetheart and a few more survivors.
It has happened again and now we must hide.
We must all walk because there are no horses to ride.
We will back track to Arkansas and travel with pride.
They would hide in the hills and caves and such.
Now, if you are not Cherokee you should not care much.
That was just life way back then,
However the Lost Cherokee have risen again.
Yes, we are legitimate and we will not go away.
We must all stick together and we will have our day.
Yes we should be accepted by the B. I. A.
WE WILL HIDE NO MORE! WE WILL HIDE NO MORE!
by
Ray (Raging Fire) Farris
Legend of the Cherokee Creation
Earth is floating on the waters like a big island, hanging from four rawhide ropes fastened at the top of the Sacred four directions. The ropes are tied to the ceiling of the sky, which is made of hard rock crystal. When the ropes break, this world will come tumbling down, and all living things will fall with it and die. Then everything will be as if the earth had never existed, for water will cover it. maybe the white man will bring this about.
Well, in the beginning also, water covered everything. Though living creatures existed, their home was up there, above the rainbow, and it was crowded. "We are all jammed together," the animals said. "We need more room." Wondering what was under the water, they sent Water Beetle to look around.
Water Beetle skimmed over the surface but could'nt find any solid footing, so he dived to the bottom and brought up a little dab of soft mud. Magically the mud spread out in the four directions and became this island we are living on - this earth. Someone Powerful then fastened it to the sky celing with cords.
In the beginning the earth was flat, soft, and moist. All the animals were eager to live on it, and they kept sending down birds to see if the mud had dried and hardened enough to take their weight. But the birds will flew back and said that there was still no spot they could perch on.
Then the animals sent Gandfather Buzzard down. He flew very close and saw that the earth was still soft, but when he glided low over what would become Cherokee counrty, he found that the mud was getting harder. By that time Buzzard was tired and dragging. When he flapped his wings down they made a valley where they touched the earth; when he swept them up, they made a mountain. The animals watching from above the rainbow said, "If he keeps on, there will only be mountains," and they made him come back. That's why we have so many mountains in Cherokee land.
At last the earth was hard and dry enough, and the animals descended. They couldnt see very well because they had no sun or moon, and someone said, "Lets grab Sun from up there behind the rainbow! Lets get him down too!" Pulling Sun down, they told him, "Here's a road for you," and showed him the way to go....from east to west.
Now they had light, but it was much to hot, because Sun was too close to the earth. The crawfish had his back sticking out of a stream, and Sun burned it red. His meat was spoiled for ever, and the people still won't eat crawfish.
Everyone asked the sorcerers, the shamans, to put Sun higher. They pushed him up as high as a man, but it was still to hot. So they pushed him farther, but it wasn't far enough. They tried four times, and when they had sun up to the height of four men, he was just hot enough. Everyone was satisfied, so they left him there.
Before making humans, Someone Powerful had created plants and animals and had told them to stay awake and watch for seven days and seven nights. (This is just what young men do today when they fast and prepare for a ceremony.) But most of the plants and animals couldn't manage it, some fell asleep after one day, some after two
Among the trees and other plants, only the cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake on the eighth morning. Someone Powerful said to them: "Because you watched and kept awake as you had been told, you will not lose your hair in the winter." So these plants stay green all the time.
After creating plants and animals, Someone Powerful made man and his sister. The man poked her with a fish and told her to go give birth. After seven days she had a baby, and after seven more days she had another, and every seven days another came. The humans increased so quickly that Someone Powerful, thinking there would soon be no more room on this earth, arranged things so that a woman could have only one child every year. And that's how it was.
Now, there is still another world under the one we live on. You can reach it by going down a spring, a water hole; but you need underworld people to be your scouts and guide you. The world under our earth is exactly like ours, except that it's winter down there when its summer up here. We can see that easily, because spring water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler than the air in summer.
Like their distant cousins the Iroquois, the Cherokee Indians had an even division of power between men and women. Cherokee men were in charge of hunting, war, and diplomacy. Cherokee women were in charge of farming, property, and family. Men made political decisions for the tribe, and women made social decisions for the clans. Chiefs were men, and landowners were women. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine.
Clothing, etc,,,
Cherokee men wore breechcloths and leggings. Cherokee women wore wraparound skirts and poncho-style blouses made out of woven fiber or deerskin. The Cherokees wore moccasins on their feet. After colonization, Cherokee Indians adapted European costume into a characteristic style, including long braided or beaded jackets, cotton blouses and full skirts decorated with ribbon applique, feathered turbans, and the calico tear dress. Here are pictures of Cherokee clothing and photographs of traditional Native American clothing in general.
The Cherokees didn't wear long headdresses like the Sioux. Cherokee men usually shaved their heads except for a single scalplock. Sometimes they would also wear a porcupine roach. Cherokee women always wore their hair long, cutting it only in mourning for a family member. Men decorated their faces and bodies with tribal tattoo art and also painted themselves bright colors in times of war. Unlike some tribes, Cherokee women didn't paint themselves or wear tattoos, but they often wore bead necklaces and copper armbands.
Transportation
The Cherokee Indians used to make long dugout canoes from hollowed-out logs. Over land, the Cherokees used dogs as pack animals. There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe. Today, of course, Cherokee people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.
Food
The Cherokees were farming people. Cherokee women harvested crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. They also gathered berries, nuts and fruit to eat. Cherokee men hunted deer, wild turkeys, and small game and fished in the rivers. Cherokee dishes included cornbread, soups, and stews cooked on stone hearths.
Cherokee hunters used bows and arrows or blowguns to shoot game. Fishermen generally used spears and fishing poles. Warriors fired arrows or fought with a melee weapon like a tomahawk or spear. Other important tools used by the Cherokee Indians included stone adzes (hand axes for woodworking), flint knives for skinning animals, wooden hoes for farming, and pots and baskets for storing corn.
Interaction with other tribes
The Cherokee Indians traded regularly with other southeastern Native Americans, who especially liked to make trades for high-quality Cherokee pipes and pottery. The Cherokees often fought with their neighbors the Creeks, Chickasaws, and Shawnees, but other times, they were friends and allies of those tribes.
The Five Civilized Tribes
'The Five Civilized Tribes' was just a name that the white settlers used to refer to the Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, and Cherokee tribes of the Southeast. These five tribes were never part of an alliance together, and they did not call themselves the Civilized Tribes in their own languages. Originally, the white settlers probably called them this because these five tribes were early converts to Christianity. They were also farmers who lived in settled towns under sophisticated government systems, which Europeans and early Americans considered more higher civilization achievements than independent bands of hunters who moved from place to place. However, there were dozens of other Native American tribes who also led farming lifestyles, not just these five.
Crafts
Traditional Cherokee art included pipe carving, rivercane baskets, gourd art, and pottery. After moving to Oklahoma, the Cherokees couldn't get the materials they used to use for traditional crafts, so they concentrated on other crafts like beadwork and textile arts.
Homes
The Cherokee Indians lived in settled villages, usually located near a river. Cherokee houses were made of rivercane and plaster, with thatched roofs. These dwellings were about as strong and warm as log cabins. Here are some pictures of Native American houses like the ones Cherokee Indians used. The Cherokees also built larger seven-sided buildings for ceremonial purposes, and each village usually had a ball field with benches for spectators. Many Cherokee villages had palisades (reinforced walls) around them for protection.
Bear Legend
In the long ago time, there was a Cherokee Clan call the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi (Ahnee-Jah-goo-hee), and in one family of this clan was a boy who used to leave home and be gone all day in the mountains. After a while he went oftener and stayed longer, until at last he would not eat in the house at all, but started off at daybreak and did not come back until night. His parents scolded, but that did no good, and the boy still went every day until they noticed that long brown hair was beginning to grow out all over his body. Then they wondered and asked him why it was that he wanted to be so much in the woods that he would not even eat at home. Said the boy, "I find plenty to eat there, and it is better than the corn and beans we have in the settlements, and pretty soon I am going into the woods to say all the time." His parents were worried and begged him not leave them, but he said, "It is better there than here, and you see I am beginning to be different already, so that I can not live here any longer. If you will come with me, there is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it; but if you want to come, you must first fast seven days."
The father and mother talked it over and then told the headmen of the clan. They held a council about the matter and after everything had been said they decided: "Here we must work hard and have not always enough. There he says is always plenty without work. We will go with him." So they fasted seven days, and on the seventh morning al the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi left the settlement and started for the mountains as the boy led the way.
When the people of the other towns heard of it they were very sorry and sent their headmen to persuade the Ani Tsaguhi to stay at home and not go into the woods to live. The messengers found them already on the way, and were surprised to notice that their bodies were beginning to be covered with hair like that of animals, because for seven days they had not taken human food and their nature was changing. The Ani Tsaguhi would not come back, but said, "We are going where there is always plenty to eat. Hereafter we shall be called Yonv(a) (bears), and when you yourselves are hungry come into the woods and call us and we shall shall come to give you our own flesh. You need not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always." Then they taught the messengers the songs with which to call them and bear hunters have these songs still. When they had finished the songs, the Ani Tsaguhi started on again and the messengers turned back to the settlements, but after going a little way they looked back and saw a drove of bears going into the woods.
She Who Carries the Sun For Her People
A Historical Narrative
by Dan Troxell
At the time of the French and Indian War, Doublehead, as a teenager, learned that his people received word that a great movement in the north had crossed the Ohio River heading south deep into Kentucky. It was learned that many Indian tribes from the north with their French allies had targeted the lands of Kentucky and the Cherokee Nation for total French gain. Meaning: the Chickamauga Cherokee must now decide their loyalty to either join the French or fight their advance. The French believed that the Kentucky Cherokees would join them, finding little resistance to their advance. But what the French did not realize was that bringing other tribal nations onto Cherokee Territory without a tribal agreement, would bring insult and stir the Kentucky Cherokees into defending their homelands with dire retribution. This was a mistake the French would remember for many years to come which would forever put distrust between the Kentucky Cherokee and any European who came with promises and beads. Many Kentucky Cherokee Thunderbolt council fires concerning this threat took place with many people attending. Some of the Shawnee People who were close friends to the Cumberland River Cherokee allied themselves with the Cherokee Thunderbolts. The sacred holy fires at Ywahoo Falls, Cumberland Falls, and Eagle Falls burned with many holy council meetings of many great chiefs and great warriors and great holy people. And the decision of these councils came about to defend their Cherokee Nation first against any and all aggression, taking no sides in this white mans' war of French and English. They agreed they would fight no Frenchman or Englishman in this war but would fight anyone who raised a War Arm against the Chickamauga Cherokee Nation, whomever they may be, Indian or non- Indian. Some allies of the south from the Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw nations with some friends of the river Shawnee joined with the Cherokee decision as they had also sat in these councils wondering what to do on the matter of invasion. The Thunderbolt Cherokee neighbors in McCreary county Kentucky of the Yamacraw Indian Nation also joined this decision for they attended as well. Word by runners was sent throughout the whole Cherokee Nation and its southern allies to gather all the warriors that would join and assemble along the Kentucky Cumberland River in what is now Pulaski, Wayne, and McCreary Counties in southeast Kentucky. The sacred Cherokee Thunderbolt War Hatchet calling the whole Cherokee Nation to War was sent throughout the whole Cherokee Nation, southern and Chickamaugan. The war headquarters for this huge massing of the Cherokee and its allies was to be at the northern district Cherokee commerce capital at Burnside Kentucky. Any diplomatic moves were to be counseled at "Doubleheads Cave" in Wayne County Kentucky. Its holy center was the many Falls of the Cumberland (Ywahoo, Cumberland, Eagle). As the Cherokee came from the south in other districts, many war songs and war councils echoed through out the Kentucky Cumberland River basin day and night with sacred fires burning continually. The sacred Cherokee Crystal Ark was also brought to the holy grounds of the 3 Falls and became known during this rallying as the Thunderbolt Ark of the Cherokees. Many were purified and made warriors of Great Spirit God at the sacred grounds of the 3 Falls: Ywahoo, Cumberland, and Eagle. The most sacred being Ywahoo Falls of the "Ancient Ones". But each fall area of the 3 falls had its own holiness and sacred meaning. Warriors prepared to defend their country to the last person. Many inter-tribal arrangements were decided on at Doubleheads Cave with elaborate ceremonies to bind the friendship agreements in time of need. Big celebration was seen when High Chief Moytoy himself came in aid. After all, Moytoy was the grandfather to Doubleheads wife, making this more of a personal matter to Moytoy. Moytoy became honored at Doubleheads Cave in Wayne County Kentucky. Many "War Women" were also among the Cherokee ranks preparing to fight. One special War Leader of southeast Kentucky rallied her Thunderbolt force into a frenzied mass of power to encounter the enemy. Many songs were sung and dances performed of her prowess of determination to fight at the head of her Thunderbolts of Kentucky. Her name was She- Who-Carries-The-Sun (for her people). She was a powerful War Woman and leader who lived in southeast Kentucky but walked throughout the Cumberland Plateau. She and her warriors, male and female were of the Thunderbolt Cherokees and carried a special sign of the Thunderbolt as their markings. The painted red and white Thunderbolt of Lightning was on many of her warriors shields, armor, garments, and body. She-Who-Carries-The-Sun had many other names and titles as well but this time she adorned the title of War Woman and was allowed to wear the dressing of both the white and the red for her brightness to her people. She attended many councils of the area, including her presence at Burnside, Doubleheads Cave, and at Yahoo, Cumberland, and Eagle Falls. She was said to have given a great oration while at Yahoo Falls and drenched herself under the falling water of Yahoo Falls for her sacredness, later placing a great victory eagle feather on the Rock of the River of the Ancient Ones. She drank the black drink at Eagle Falls and sat among many high leaders in council on many matters at different locations. Deep respect and honor was highly given where ever she went. The war pole had been struck with her Thunderbolt hatchet by She-Who-Carries-The-Sun. The Cherokee objective was now to wait and stop any enemy at the sacred grounds of the Kentucky Cumberland River. Many people from many tribes were now camped throughout all the sacred hills and valleys of Wayne, Pulaski, and McCreary Counties in a massive bond of Holy Warriors. Their nightly fires lit the sky with flames of "One" people. The smoke carried their spirits aloft in preparation of the coming battle. The Cherokee and their allies waited for the coming aggressors, white or Indian, to come into their waiting arms to feel the blow that only a Cherokee warrior could give its enemy. That only a Thunderbolt could strike its target. Among them was a young warrior called Doublehead. The War songs were sung at the council fires, the war pole had been struck by many, and the sacred Black Drink was accepted. They were ready. She-Who- Carries-The-Sun was at one of the fronts ready to strike as the lightning. Her white and red garments was said to have taken on a light of supernatural brightness. When the battle later came the ranks of the many Cherokee warriors and their allies were lined in defense outside of the Cherokee district capital at Burnside, on both sides of the Cumberland River, with the sacred Cherokee Holy Ark in the front middle of them. Coming on and facing them were the many tribes of the north accompanied by a few Frenchmen who had swayed their invasion of Kentucky. The battle began and lasted for days up and down the Cumberland River going many a ways in every direction on both sides. Many yells and screams of its Chiefs and warriors clashing head on into each other, raw warrior against raw warrior. She-Who-Carries-The-Sun with her Thunderbolt Cherokees fought strong through the whole ordeal, pushing their advance onward, even though her force had encountered the main body of the enemy. The enemies assault on She- Who-Carries-The-Sun was twice as strong as other fronts. Her force was outnumbered 2 to 1, but her willingness to protect her people accompanied by the bravery of her Cherokee Thunderbolt force held to the end and finally began pushing the enemy back. Some of the Frenchmen with their Indian allies was said to have run on just seeing the face of She-Who- Carries-The-Sun, others say that the Frenchmen feared the brightness of her garments. Some say that a hawk soared and screamed over her advance. Her weapons were two-fold, the ancient ball war club and the lance. Her hair was said to be long and shiny black with a length down to the back of her waist, that flowed in movement with the slightest breeze. She was known to be close kin to young Doublehead. Her beauty was also known far and wide which some say was carried over onto Doubleheads daughter Cornblossom. Her renown feature was the bronze of her skin which shone a beauty as a blazing tan, not dark nor light but bronze, which her name clearly defines : She-Who-Carries-The-Sun. Many a bloody warrior, male, female, and children, on both sides fell those days under the ball war club, the arrow, and other instruments of Indian warfare. Sometimes a village had been entered into with many killed by the enemy. Many people died from this great holy battle of Indian against Indian on both sides, one right after the other in a river of blood and death creating a sea of exhaustion. The Cumberland River ran red that day. But in the end the Cherokee with their allies became victorious, causing any Frenchmen left with their many Indian allies to retreat all the way northward back across the Ohio River and into their own lands out of Kentucky. The battle of the Cumberland River had been fought. Their enemies vanquished and posed no threat any more. The Cherokee Thunderbolt had struck the enemy. With many Frenchmen dead, little to no recordings were made, but the story was oft times carried on by the Kentucky Cherokees. After the battle was all over, among the dead was She-Who-Carries- The-Sun, fell with an arrow in her side (it has been related to me that in an obscure account of an archaeological expedition in the early 1900's (possibly Smithsonian) to Doublehead's/Hines Cave [account of present desecration at the cave], that on this expedition a burial of a woman with an arrow head lying in position to have been in her side and could have been the cause of her death was noted: S.E.). Even with an arrow in her, she was said to have kept fighting until the battle was over, then slumped to the ground after raising her hands to the Great Spirit in victory. Some say her war hatchet that was embedded on the war pole she had struck in the council house, mysteriously fell off on her dying breath as if removed by She-Who-Carries-The-Sun herself, meaning: her war is over. She became honored highly and buried inside of the sacred burial chambers at Doubleheads Cave in an elaborate ceremony with all present. Her victories had fallen many an enemy warrior during this battle. Some say that among her fallen enemies, she fell personally 3 enemy chiefs of the north, 2 by the club, 1 with a lance in this battle. Her remembrance was carried with each rising of the Sun from that day forward. Her deeds were told and sung at many council fires to come. Some tell that she still watches over the South Fork and Cumberland Rivers with her brightness. Her white garments were the whitest of white and the red redness of red. This is how many say they recognize her, sometimes in the sun, in the wind, glow of the moon, on the water, many places and design they say she still walks. Some say she can be seen or felt at the Circle of Truth, the natural arches, doors to the other side. Some say that Real Human Beings who belong to the Thunderbolts can feel She-Who-Carries-The-Sun with a sense of closeness at many geological wonders of the South Fork and Cumberland River areas. She was a great warrior in the Land of the Thunderbolt, she was a Great Cherokee ranked with all the others. May someday her recognition be not forgotten and her story told and sung on every lip once again. May her boldness and bravery be the heart of all warriors men and women, and forever may we remember the name of She-Who- Carries-The-Sun. She-Who-Carries-The-Sun along with the 2 daughters of Doublehead one who marries the great Chickasaw Chief (George Colbert) and Cornblossom who marries Jacob Troxell, blood relatives, War Women the three ......... THE 3 MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, and within their beauty was much more, their hearts were of 1 people, 1 culture, they were truly Real Human Beings. They were THUNDERBOLT CHEROKEE who loved and protected their people to the end. Remember them for they will always be with us, forever and ever. Cutsawah, meaning Red Bird in the Cherokee language, is direct descent of She Who Carries the Sun, Cornblossom is cousin to Cutsawah and direct to She Who Carries the Sun as well. There is a painting in Frankfort Ky of one of the Cutsawah Chiefs. Cutsawah and She Who Carries the Sun is also my lineage.
Remember them with great honor and a tear .....
by Dan Troxell
The Legend of Ka na sta
Long ago, while people still lived in the old town of Ka na sta, on the French Broad, two strangers, who looked in no way different from other Cherokee, came into the settlement one day and made their way into the chief’s house. After the first greetings were over the chief asked them from what town they had come, thinking them from one of the western settlements, but they said, “We are of your people and our town is close at hand, but you have never seen it. Here you have wars and sickness, with enemies on every side, and after a while a stronger enemy will come to take your country from you, We are always happy, and we have come to invite you to live with us in our town over there,” and they pointed toward Tsu wa telda (Pilot knob). “We do not live forever, and do not always find game when we go for it, for the game belongs to Tsu lka lu, who lives in Tsu ne gu n yi, but we have peace always and need not think of danger. We go now, but if your people will live with us let them fast seven days, and we shall come then to take them.” Then they went away toward the west.
The chief called his people together into the townhouse and they held a council over the matter and decided at last to go with the strangers. They got all their property ready for moving, and then went again into the townhouse and began their fast. They fasted six days, and on the morning of the seventh, before yet the sun was high, they saw a great company coming along the trail from the west, led by the two men who had stopped with the chief. They seemed just like Cherokee from another settlement, and after a friendly meeting they took up a part of the goods to be carried, and the two parties started back together for Tsuwa tel da. There was one man from another town visiting at Kana sta, and he went along with the rest.
When they came to the mountain, the two guides led the way into a cave, which opened out like a great door in the side of the rock. Inside they found an open country and a town, with houses ranged in two long rows from east to west. The mountain people lived in the houses on the south side, and they had made ready the other houses for the new comers, but even after all the people of Kana’sta, with their children and belongings, had moved in, there were still a large number of houses waiting ready for the next who might come. The mountain people told them that there was another town, of a different people, above them in the same mountain, and still farther above, at the very top, lived the Ani’-Hyun’tikwala’ski (the Thunders).
Now all the people of Kana’sta were settled in their new homes, but the man who had only been visiting with them wanted to go back to his own friends. Some of the mountain people wanted to prevent this, but the chief said, “No; let him go if he will, and when he tells his friends they may want to come, too. There is plenty of room for all.” Then he said to the man, “Go back and tell your friends that if they want to come and live with us and be always happy, there is a place here ready and waiting for them. Others of us live in Datsu’nalasgun’yi [see Track Rock] and in the high mountains all around, and if they would rather go to any of them it is all the same. We see you wherever you go and are with you in all your dances, but you can not see us unless you fast. If you want to see us, fast four days, and we will come and talk with you; and then if you want to live with us, fast again seven days, and we will come and take you.” Then the chief led the man through the cave to the outside of the mountain and left him there, but when the man looked back he saw no cave, but only the solid rock.
The people of the lost settlement were never seen again, and they are still living in Tsuwa`tel’da. Strange things happen there, so that the Cherokee know the mountain is haunted and do not like to go near it. Only a few years ago a party of hunters camped there, and as they sat around their fire at supper time they talked of the story and made rough jokes about the people of old Kana’sta. That night they were aroused from sleep by a noise as of stones thrown at them from among the trees, but when they searched they could find nobody, and were so frightened that they gathered up their guns and pouches and left the place.
Excerpts From Elmira Wauhillau
"The Indian Pioneer Papers" are the product of a project which began in 1936. The Oklahoma Historical Society teamed with the history department at the University of Oklahoma to obtain a Works Progress Administration (WPA) writers' project grant for an interview program. The program was headquartered in Muskogee and was led by Grant Foreman. The writers conducted more than 11,000 interviews and after editing and typing the work, the results were over 45,000 pages long. The following excerpt is from the interview of Elmira Stevens of Wauhillau. - "The Indian Pioneer Papers".
The way we kept weavels (sic) out of dried apples, peaches, dried peas and beans was to put a handful of broken up limbs of sassafras in the sack. Then weavels (sic) would not bother them.
Father tanned his own cowhides, and made his and mother's moccasins himself. He got the hair off the hides by soaking them in red oak bark water.
We had homemade beds. The posts were made of round poles with split half poles for sides and the middle was made of ropes and hickory bark made into narrow strips and sewed back and forth between the side rails.
Our crude feather beds were laid on this criss-cross swing. Feather beds were made of bird, goose, duck, and pigeon feathers. Eggs sold for four cents per dozen.
~ 'Speckled Snake' (Cherokee) ~
Brothers! We have heard the talk of our great father; it is very kind.
He says he loves his red children. Brothers! when the white man first came to these shores, the Muskogees gave him land, and kindled him a fire to make him comfortable; and when the palefaces to the south made war on him,
[the Spaniards of Florida endeavored to break up the English settlement under Gen. Oglethorpe in Georgia. - Drakes note.], their young men drew the tomahawk, and protected his head from the scalping knife.
But when the white man had warmed himself by the Indian's fire, and filled himself with the Indian's hominy, he became very large; he stopped not for the mountain tops, and his feet covered the plains and valleys. His hands grasped the eastern and western sea. Then he became our great father. He loved his red children, but said, "You must move a little farther, lest I should by accident, tread on you." With one foot he pushed the red man over the Oconee, and with the other he trampled down the graves of his fathers.
But our great father still loved his red children, and he soon made them another talk. He said so much; but it all meant nothing, but "move a little farther; you are too near me." I have heard a great many talks from our great father, and they all begun and ended the same. Brothers! When he made us a talk on a former occasion, he said, "Get a little farther; go beyond the Onocee and the Oakmulgee;
there is a pleasant country." He also said, "It shall be yours forever."
Now he says, "The land you live on is not yours; go beyond the Mississippi;
there is game; there you may remain while the grass grows or the water runs."
Brothers! Will not our great father come there also? He loves his red children, and his tongue is not forked.
Speckled Snake (c. 1830)
What the stars are like - Traditional Stories
There are different opinions about the stars. Some say they are balls of light, others say they are human, but most people say they are living creatures covered with luminous fur or feathers.
One night a hunting party camping in the mountains noticed two lights like large starts moving along the top of a distant ridge, They wondered and watched until the light disappeared on the other side. The next night, they saw the lights moving along the ridge, and after discussing the matter decided to go and see what was going on. In the morning, they went to the ridge and after searching some time, they found two strange creatures so large ( making a circle with outstretched arms ) , with round bodies covered with fine fur or downy feathers, from which small heads stuck out like the heads of terrapins. As the breeze played upon these feathers, showers of sparks flew out.
The hunters carried the strange creatures back to the camp. They kept them several days, and noticed that every night they would grow bright and shine like great stars, although by day they were only balls of grey fur. They kept very quiet, and no one thought of their trying to escape when, on the seventh night, they suddenly rose from the ground like balls of fire and were soon above the tops of the trees. Higher and higher they went, while the wondering haunters watched, until at last they were only two bright points of light in the dark sky, and then the hunters knew that they were stars.
~ Cherokee Prophecy ~
Chief Tribe of the End Days
There is a prophecy that says the Cherokee will be the chief tribe of the Native Americans in the End Days. How may this come about? The Cherokee are one of many Native American tribes in North America, so what makes them so special? There was a very wise Cherokee elder and wisdom keeper, John Red Hat Duke, who taught the high spiritual path of the Keetoowah, the Red Road. The Keetoowah are the religious or spiritual branch of the Cherokee. Elder John Red Hat of the Long Hair clan was a wise ceremonial, spiritual leader. He was a Grandfather among the Cherokee people. A Grandfather is one who is held in high esteem by the Cherokee people. He is consulted by chiefs and other elders about the spiritual and traditional ways of the Cherokee ancestors. Elder John Red Hat was a brilliant man who spoke nine languages. He understood Eastern philosophy, and studied under Rabbi Joseph Jasin, an extremely intelligent Jewish teacher. The foundation of Elder Red Hat's beliefs centered on the Torah and the Cherokee White Path. He spent years sharing his deep spiritual understandings with others, but he especially shared his teachings with his partner, Dorothy K. Daigle (Dottie). He taught her Keetoowah spiritual truths and about the ways of the ancestors which she shares with us in Walking the Red Road. Expanded teachings of Walking the Red Road are included in the book Red Hat Speaks. Now we get to how the Cherokee may become the chief tribe in the End Days. Dottie believes it is the Red Road, the spiritual path of the Cherokee Keetoowahs as taught by Elder John Red Hat that will raise the Cherokee up to be the chief tribe of the End Days. She believes the prophecy in Ezekiel 37:19, where Creator promised to unite the House of Judah and the House of Joseph, will be accomplished on the bridge that unites the Torah with the Red Road. She also believes the Red Road will be the new religion prophesied to be received by the Hopi people prior to the time of the Great Purification, and that the Red Road spiritual path is the red force that will purify the Hopi people!
Elder Red Hat passed away in December of 2003, but his teachings live on and are shared in two books,
Red Hat Speaks, and Red Hat's Wisdom, by Dorothy K. Daigle. Dorothy was taught by Cherokee elder and wisdom keeper John Red Hat Duke for over 10 years about Keetoowah spiritual truths. He taught her about the Hopi prophecy of Pahana, and they, along with Dr. Robertson made many visits to the Hopi on Oraibi. They have a connection with the Pahana legend of the Hopi. Keetoowah spiritual wisdom as taught by Grandfather Red Hat is also shared on the site below.
http://redroadspiritualwalk.multiply.com
The Seven Clans
Bird Clan - Their color is Purple, and their wood is Maple
Blue Clan -Their color is Blue and their wood is Ash
Deer Clan - Their color is Brown and their wood is Oak
Paint Clan - Their color is White, and their wood is Locust
Twister Clan - Their color is Yellow and their wood is Beech
Wild Potato Clan - Their color is Green and their wood is Birch
Wolf Clan - Their color is Red and their wood is Hickory
The Cherokee clans were based on a matrilineal system.
(traced thru the mother's line)
Bird Clan, they were messengers and also very skilled in using blowguns for bird hunting. Eagle feathers were presented by them to other members of the tribe because they were the only ones able to collect them. They were the keepers of the birds.
Blue Clan, this clan were keepers of childrens medicines and of medicinal herbs. They were named after a plant called a blue holly, which they used for medicine. This Clan has also been known as the Wild Cat Clan or Panther. They were known as a peace clan.
Deer Clan, they were fast runners and delivered messenges from village to village, or person to person and were excellent hunters and trackers. They were known as a peace clan.
Paint Clan, they were the smallest and most secretive clan, and the only ones that were allowed to make a special red paint and dye that are used for ceremonial purposes and war.
Twister Clan also known as Long Hair Clan It is said that those belonging to this clan wore their hair twisted or in braided hairdos. The peace chiefs usually came from this clan and wore a white feather robe. Their members were teachers and keepers of tradition.
Wild Potato Clan were farmers and gatherers of wild potato plants. They used them to make flour for bread. They were keepers and protectors of the earth. Also known as the Raccoon or Clan Bear Clan.
Wolf Clan is the most prominent clan, providing most of the war chiefs, and warriors. They were the protectors of the people and were known as a warrior clan.
~ Cherokee Women ~
In the Seven Years’ War, the Cherokee had fought with the British against the French, and by the time of the American Revolution, they had decided to fight against the Americans, in large part because of the encroachment of land-hungry patriot colonists. During the American Revolutionary War, the Cherokee were among the worst hit, as vast numbers of men were killed, leaving large numbers of women widows. Some estimates state that there could have been as many as ten times as many Cherokee women than men after the conclusion of the war. Some historians believe that this difference in comparative numbers of each sex as a result of male war deaths served to elevate warrior status, altering gender roles and power within Cherokee society. The Cherokee were in many ways the consummate example of the Native American experience, in that they were some of the most aggressively displaced and actively “civilized” groups. Many Cherokee men and women did in fact become quite fully assimilated into white culture, but were still later forced to relocate to what is now Oklahoma, following the Trail of Tears. Other Cherokees strongly resisted the assimilation programs of the new government. Ultimately, the forced relocation of many Native peoples, like the Cherokee, was not significantly affected by loyalty to the American patriot cause during the Revolution. Groups that had been loyal to the colonists, the British, and remained the neutral were all faced with similar, growing restrictions to land access.
Iroquois women
The Revolution particularly devastated the Iroquois. The nations of the Iroquois confederacy had initially endeavored to remain neutral in the American Revolutionary War. They, like many other Native peoples, saw little to gain from aid to either side in the conflict, and had been burned before by their participation in the Seven Years’ War. Ultimately, however, some of the tribes were persuaded to join the British front by Sir William Johnson. As a result of this alliance, the American Major General John Sullivan and his soldiers burned and completely destroyed about forty Iroquois towns in what is now upstate New York, displacing thousands of Iroquois inhabitants. This campaign obliterated hundreds of acres of crops and orchards, which had largely been the domain of the agricultural women, and served to kill thousands of Iroquois, both outright and through the ensuing starvation.
Cherokee/Western Band
Western Cherokee Nation, Kiamichi Band
Western Cherokees? Who are we?
In 1819 our Chief lead some 3,000 families across the Mississippi river into Missouri and Arkansas Territory. Under the Treaty between (5) Osage Chiefs and our Chief, we were allowed to move into this new land to settle and have forever. The Treaty was Govern by Captian Clark, Supertendance of Indian Affairs in Saint Louis. From 1819 to 1827 over 10,000 Cherokees moved west under this agreement. It was no easy life for our families. Many times we came under attact by the Osage Indians. They did not want us in their land. During this period of time, some of our families moved into Texas Territory under a land grant from the Mexican Government. This land grant is known as Cherokee County. When Texas became a state, our families lost their land and moved back into Missouri and Arkansas and some moved into Oklahoma Territory. With the forced move of the Eastern Cherokees in 1835, we saw our homes being lost too. It was during this time that most of our families begain to make their claim as being (Black Dutch or Low Dutch). Most of the Western Cherokees blended into the white culture claiming no Indian Blood. With the State Hood of Arkansas and Missouri no Native American could own property. Many were run off their property by the Law. Most just faded into the white culture as Black Dutch. When the census were taken most would claim Tennessee as their birth place. Some moved into Kansas as black Dutch claiming Iowa as their birth place. The Western Cherokees were as fish in the sea. They had become lost in the sea of the white culture. In all likely hood, the Western Cherokees are the Largest Native Tribe in America. The Western Cherokee blood flows from coast to coast and few know we exists
Al Hobaugh, 2/10/08
Western Cherokee History
(short Version)
By Dr. Timothy Jones
Anthropologist, University of Arizona
The western Cherokee began to separate from the Eastern Cherokee when a large number of Cherokee Towns and Clans split over the issue of weather to accommodate the movement of White settlers onto their lands. The Cherokee people and their leaders as a whole did not agree to make concessions by treaty (British or later American) in which they would be loosing control of their lands in the present southeast United States. Those leaders who did not agree to the treaties could not stop some leaders from making treaties with Britain and later the United States. Those Cherokee and their leaders began to move west to lands that they considered "traditional homelands" in the area of the present day Ozarks.
The first large historic emigration to the Ozark region was in 1694. The British colony of Carolina negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee that was signed by leaders who cooperated with the whites. Some of the faction that did not agree with signing the treaty left the southeast and moved west of the Mississippi. This formed the foundation for the historic Western Cherokee Nation in the Ozark region.
Other emigrations continued thoughout the late 1600s and early 1700s as the British settlement of the southeast further encroached on the Eastern Cherokee. These emigrations and natural population growth were sufficient to fully populate northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri by the time of the next major emigrations in the 1720s.
The major emigration in the 1720's occurred after another factional division among the Eastern Cherokee. A famous incident in which these Cherokee participated was the LaMotte mine massacre. The next major migrations took place about the time of the American Revolution. In 1782 a group of Cherokee asked Spain if they could settle on land in Spanish Territory west of the Mississippi. These groups emigrated into the Western Ozark region along the Arkansas River on the southern edge of the Western Ozarks. Other emigrations took place in 1785 and 1794, these Cherokee settling on the White River with some settlements nearly in present day Oklahoma. The Western Cherokee worked togeather to their mutual benefit. Some groups would participate in separate treaties with the Spanish though others were consulted for advice and opinions. The debates usually split between those who wanted nothing to do with the whites and those who though some discussions and accommodatioins were useful. Each individual group had their own leader and these leaders would gather when it was necessary to work together. Some famous leaders at the time were Takonee. The Bowl and Benjamin Green. Relaionships went well among the Western Cherokee until 1808 when a substantial migration of Eastern Cherokee under the leadership of Tahlonteekee migrated into north central Arkansas joining relatives who had emigrated there in the 1770s. In 1775 a group of Eastern Cherokee signed the British Treaty of Sycamore Shoals. Those Cherokee who opposed the treaty emigrated into the central Ozarks in north central Arkansas and south central Missouri settling as far north as present day Columbia Missouri. These Western Cherokee groups had the strongest relationships with the new United States and would be those that played a central role in negotiating the Treaty of 1817 and the creation of the Western Cherokee Nation. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 would affect all future Western Cherokee history. The United States bought the Ozark region as part of the purchase from the French and began to explore the area as a region for expansion and settlement. The New Madrid earthquake in the fall of 1811 devastated the Arkansas St. Francis River region and the lowlands of southeastern Missouri making these areas uninhabitable for years. Many of the Western Cherokee decided to leave the area moving to higher ground in the Ozark mountains. Since most of the Ozarks were already settled many of these people were forced to move west of the Ozarks. This move brought the Western Cherokee into clashes with the Osage who had recently migrated into the western Ozarks. The Western Cherokee split over whether to sign a Treaty with the United States to form the Western Cherokee Nation in Arkansas. This treaty was signed by groups in north central Arkansas and south central Missouri. Western Cherokee groups located in northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri and some groups in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri would not sign the treaty but agreed to participate in the Western Cherokee government. Tahlontesskee and later his brother John Jolly were major players in the new Western Cherokee Nation government. All Western Cherokee leaders though participated in the government by attending the Council of Leaders that served as a legislature. The Western Cherokee Nation worked with the Eastern Cherokee Nation in negotiations with the United States. They wanted to unite the Cherokee under lands that principally constitute present day Oklahoma. Plans were going well, so much that the Oklahoma panhandle, known as the Cherokee strip, was negotiated by the Western Cherokee as a strip of land that would give them access to the southern Rocky Mountains where they often went for summer hunts. During one of the negotiation teams meetings with United States Officials in 1828 the negotiation team was "wined", dined, paid, ect" and signed the Treaty of 1828 which ceded lands in the east and in Arkansas for lands present day northeastern Oklahoma. The Western Cherokee Nation leaders did not support the 1828 Treaty witnessed by the fact that none of the signers of the 1819 Treaty signed the 1828 treaty. Most Cherokee refused to leave their lands and the signers of the 1828 Treaty were sentenced to death for treason. Eventually some of the Eastern and Western Cherokee did move to the new lands in Oklahoma but their numbers were small. The United States was determined to remove Cherokee from their eastern lands. The Treaty in New Echota, Georgia in 1835 ended all Indian claims in the southeast and resulted in The Trail of tears in 1838. Though the government forced most of the Cherokee off their eastern lands most of the Western Cherokee in Arkansas and Missouri did not move and were not forced off their lands at the time. After Missouri and Arkansas statehood Western Cherokee who tried to gain title to the land they had occupied for more then 100 years (remember that many Western Cherokee has arrived in the area as early as the late 1600s) were often denied legal title. In Missouri there were laws that prohibited Indians from hunting or roaming within the state (state of Missouri, 1835, Laws of Indians, Sections 1-7). Once Western Cherokee were denied title to their land they were considered to be landless and hence roaming withen the state. They could be forcibly removed from their property and the state. Under state law militia could be formed to remove the "roaming" Western Cherokee and if the militia felt threatened they could use lethal force. The law and the actions conducted under the law kept "Indians" from living in Missouri. This law and subsequent similar statues were not removed until the early 1900's. In Arkansas, Western Cherokee were removed to Oklahoma under the guise of the Treaty of 1828. In addition to the laws, Indians were intimidated by settlers who wanted their land and would villainize Indians in order to control them. With blatant discrimination, acts of aggression and more tacit forms of oppression the Western Cherokee were forced to go "underground" still maintaining their government, associations and traditional life ways without making non-indians, other than some Cherokee sympathizers, aware of their existence. They dropped any outward appearance that would identify them as Cherokee, Ceremony was held in rural locations surrounded by fellow Western Cherokee or Cherokee sympathizers. Barns, chicken coups and rural homes housed Council meetings and other gatherings. Communications between chiefs, clan leaders and other were passed from mouth to mouth or letters were hand carried. Though Cherokee names were given they were not used in public or in public documents. Instead, English names were used officially. This is why people with the same lineage can have different last names or names with different spellings. The CNO (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) has never had a historic presence in Missouri or Arkansas. As witnessed by the Western Cherokee Nation in Arkansas and their History in the Ozarks the Western Cherokee have participated in Missouri and Arkansas thoughout historic times and they trace part of their history in prehistoric Missouri and Arkansas. Relationships between that Western Cherokee and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma have never been good, especially when the Western Cherokee did not move to Oklahoma after the Trail of Tears the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has had a "legal" relationship with the United States and gain their support from this relationship. The United States does not presently recognize the Western Cherokee despite the fact that the U.S. Government continued to communicate with the Western Cherokee as a separate Nation though the mid 1840s. The United States even signed an 1889 agreement (The Old Settler Treaty) with some of the Western Cherokee for loss of their lands in Arkansas though most Western Cherokee refused to sign up for this program. Western Cherokee today do not wear traditional clothing; construct brush arbors in their yard or other visible signs of Western Cherokee culture. They had to stop practicing these easily visible behaviors in order to hide from persecution. Even those who still practice making traditional items usually only shared these with other Western Cherokee. There are many surviving behaviors that show that Western Cherokee roots continue in their everyday lives. As pointed out, they may seem familiar and common to you, but you need to remember that these behaviors and patterns are not found in most American Families. In traditional Western Cherokee culture women held great power in the family and in the society.. Women also owned their own property and since the families were matrilineal (they followed their heritage though their mothers line rather than their fathers line like most Americans there were family matrons that maintained family control. Today there are still female family matrons in Western Cherokee familes. In Western Cherokee families women have always worked, like they do today, and have held positions of power in the community. Western Cherokee valued nature and the skills necessary to live in nature Instead of viewing technology as the way to "conquer" nature (dominant in American belief systems) the Western Cherokee believed that humans are part of nature and lived within nature, learning from all of creation. Since they appreciated nature much of their time is spend outdoors hunting, farming and collecting. Many modern Western Cherokee still spend a lot of time in nature and have to "get out" in order maintaining sanity. They have learned this appreciation of nature as part of the Western Cherokee culture beliefs that were passed to them from their parents and grand parents. Timothy W, Jones, Ph.D. Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
The Cherokee War of 1776
In the early of 1776 a combination was entered into by the Tories and Indians for a general massacre of the Whigs residing along the frontiers from North Carolina to Georgia. The Tories set up peeled poles at their houses, around which white cloth was wrapped. These were called pass-overs.
On June 20, in accordance with previous arrangements, the Indians commenced the work of death among the Whigs, but the Tories sat under their pass-overs in safety. To this, however, there was one exception. Capt. James Ford, who resided on the Enoree River at a place called the Canebrake, was killed while sitting under his passover. His wife was also killed and his two daughters taken captives. It is supposed that the Indians were instigated into the commission of these horrible atrocities by the arts of John Stuart and Richard Parris, agents of the British Government, and that this work of savage butchery along the frontiers constituted a part of a grand scheme for the overthrow of the patriots in the Province.
But the simultaneous appearance of a British fleet before Charleston and the outbreak of savage fury upon the frontier was insufficient to dampen the ardor of the Republicans. The dwellers upon the sea coast met and repelled the invaders at Fort Moultrie, and we shall soon see how the hardy backwoods men dealt their blows upon their insidious enemies. But the spectacle is melancholy. The poor untutored Indians, delighting in carnage, listens to the suggestions of the foreign mercenaries and becomes the victim of the cupidity and ambition of a lordly aristocracy. The British, though normally Christian and the representatives of a great and Christian Nation, so far forgot the better principles of humanity as to engage in their service the tomahawk and scalping knife of a barbarous race to retain within the sway of their illegal exaction a brave and generous people. Here the intelligent and conscientious Loyalist in South Carolina ought to have seen his error. He ought now to have been convinced of the fact that the British Government had no proper sympathy for British subjects on this continent. That the Parliament would not be at the trouble to know the wants of the people and would not condescend to recognize their rights; and hence incapable of legislating for their benefit.
From various indications among the Indians in the first part of the spring of 1775 the Whigs along the frontiers felt apprehensions of danger, but had no means of knowing the nature of the conspiracy and the extent of the dark cloud which threw its shadows above the horizon. They, however, consulted for their safety. In the month of May a number of soldiers embodied under Gen. Williamson and a camp formed upon Fair forest Creek in the vicinity of Col. Thomas's. Messengers were sent out to ascertain the intention of the Indians. These messengers were killed. As soon as Williamson was informed of the attack upon the people he marched to their rescue. The Indians were overtaken at the residence of Richard Parris, the present site of Greenville Court House. The Indians fled with their allies, the Tories. A number of prisoners were retaken, and among them the daughters of Capt. Ford. Williamson stopped a few days to recruit. Thence he pursued to the nearest towns on Seneca and Tugalo. Different battles and skirmishes occurred in the environs of these towns. Williamson then halted for a while in Seneca Town, on the river of the same name. From this place a number of his men were permitted to go home to obtain clothing and other supplies. Among these were Joseph McJunkin, who served in this expedition in the company of Capt. Joseph Jolly in the regiment of Col. Thomas. "As soon as we returned," says Major McJunkin, "Williamson took up the line of march with a view of penetrating the Indian country to the middle settlements on the Hiwassee River. The Indians were assailed at the same time by Gen. Rutherford of North Carolina , Col. Christian of Virginia, and Col. Jack of Georgia. After passing through several deserted Indian towns Williamson's command passed a part of the North Carolina army, from whom he learned that their main body had gone to attack the valley towns. Soon after passing them, on Sept. 22, the advance of Williamson's army fell into an ambuscade prepared for the North Carolina army. The Indians were posted on the crest and sides of a mountain in the form of a horseshoe. Williamson's advance defiled through the gorge, which might be called the heel, and were suffered to approach the part which may be called the toe. In an instant in front, in rear, on the right and the left, the warwhoop sounded.
The warwhoop was answered by a shout of defiance, and the rifles of the Indians answered by an aim equally deadly. The whites were pressed into a circle by their foes and hence the battle was called the Ring Fight. As soon as the firing was heard the main army pressed to the rescue. Before their arrival the advance had to contend with fearful odds. It was not only a woodsman's fight from tree to tree, but often from hand to hand. Among these, Major Ross of York District had a hard scuffle with an Indian, in which the nerve of the white man prevailed over the dexterity of the red. On the arrival of the main army the Indians were charged on all sides and driven from their chosen position. A large quantity of parched corn, dressed deerskins and moccasins were left on the ground. Among the slain a number of Creek Indians were discovered. In this action Cols. Thomas Neal of York District, John Thomas of Spartanburg, John Lysle of Newberry and Thomas Sumter participated. The latter, who commanded the regulars, particularly distinguished himself. Major Andrew Pickens also gave manifestations of those qualities which subsequently elevated him in the estimation of his fellow soldiers.
The next day the army proceeded to the valley towns along the Hiwassee. A great quantity of corn and other provisions were here destroyed. Some however, was thrown into the river, floated down and lodged in fish traps and was afterward found and preserved by the Indians. The army spent a few days at these towns, then crossed the Hiwassee and turned up a river then called Lawassee. On this latter stream were some beautiful towns. This river flowed nearly from south to north. After descending this river some distance Williamson's army met that from North Carolina. The two encamped near each other one night. Thence Williamson crossed over the southern waters; that is, the head streams of the Cattahoochee River. Here he passed a beautiful fenced town called Chota. Here intelligence was received that the Indians were encamped in force at a town twenty miles distant at a place called Frog Town. Col. Sumter was ordered to lead a party, of which McJunkin was one, and surprise them.
In obedience to this order the party set out and passed over a fearful precipice through a passage not exceeding fourteen inches in width. With the exception of a few miserable squaws nobody was found in the town. The party returned in the darkness of the night without being able to discover the narrowness of their passage near the precipice, as when they went out. The army returned to the Keowee towns. Here a treaty was concluded with the Indians, in which they ceded their lands east of the Oconee Mountains and bound themselves to live in peace. The territory thus acquired by the whites within South Carolina comprises the Districts of Greenville, Anderson and Pickens. A heavy penalty was exacted from the miserable Indians for their alliance with the British and Tories. In some of the battles connected with this campaign white men were taken disguised as Indians and using the same methods of warfare. They were Loyalists.
Williamson's army was disbanded at Seneca Town with the understanding that the frontiers were to be guarded in regular order. Accordingly, a line of posts was established from North Carolina to Georgia.
COLUMN: Cherokee Freedmen deserve the benefits of citizenship
Sarah Garrett/The Daily
Monday, August 29, 2011
The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to maintain a 2007 ruling that overturned the citizenship of, among others, all Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of the slaves of Cherokees. The Cherokee Nation, a sovereign country inside the U.S., has the right to a non-federal, sovereign constitution under a series of treaties with the U.S. government from the 19th century onward. Citizens of the Cherokee Nation voted in 2007 to overturn the citizenship of “freedmen”: African-Americans who were forcibly removed to Oklahoma along with their Cherokee owners. No person, family or political entity wants to be responsible and culpable for such an unethical practice as human slavery. But we cannot ignore the ramifications of such wholesale trauma on an entire people (nor, the violence that is normalized in our whole society). Race, slavery and the long, sordid history of injustice in our country is going to take longer than a century and a half to clear up and will probably require continuous attention from all parts of society. This is really unfortunate, because certain views and the corresponding actions of individuals, families and political entities are inherently responsible for enslaving humans, forcibly removing them from their nations and then systematically denying them rights associated with citizenship and humanity. Although the power that comes with sovereignty does not excuse exercising the same kind of erasure and injustice upon others, perhaps that power can help explain current events. The descendants of Cherokee Freedmen have had their citizenship in the Cherokee nation (which confers benefits such as education subsidies and public health care) rent from them by a combination of racism and slavery apologetics, wrapped in ethnic pride. The exercise of tribal sovereignty has been cited by Cherokee Nation activists who support the withdrawal of citizenship rights, but certainly the federal government has undermined tribal sovereignty often enough to present itself as a legitimate threat to that sovereignty, more so than Freedmen, who have individually and as a group participated in the nation since they were included as “residents” in the treaty of 1866. No one wants to feel bad, and therefore we’ve made necessary reparations to the descendants of slaves for having structurally undermined the freedom, lives and rights of slaves and their descendants. This and the current and historical relative poverty of Cherokees and the nation (after the trauma of being militarily removed from their land) is the justification for kicking out the black Freedmen — a group whose ancestors had to bear not only military removal from Africa and political, social and economic subjugation in the United States but also had to withstand the second trauma of military removal from the eastern United States under Cherokee political, social and economic subjugation. Cherokee tribespeople have their own histories of violent removal and subjugation with which to deal. The Cherokee Nation currently uses federally mandated law to determine citizenship; an applicant to the Nation must be able to trace descent from an ancestor who signed the Dawes Commission Roll at the turn of the 19th century signifying that they are “Cherokee by blood.” This use of “blood quantum,” the exact percentage of “Indian blood” a person can trace to a Cherokee family member, excludes black freedmen. Cherokee-ness, and other identities and ways of being in the world, are not transmitted by blood, but they could be transmitted by shared experiences of dehumanization, military removal and continual undercuts by the federal government. This is another manifestation of the idea that culture, history and identity are genetic. Identity, feelings of belonging and certainly citizenship are transferred not biologically, but culturally, through shared experience. It is disappointing that for the combined reasons of money and funds, the Cherokee Nation has gone the same route as the federal government in denying citizenship to rightful residents who share cultural practices and history, dispossessing rights conferred by citizenship in the name of antiquated, racist ideas about blood purity.
Sarah Garrett is an anthropology senior
The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
This has not ceased.
UN report paints grim picture of conditions of world’s indigenous peoples-14 January 2010
The world’s 370 million indigenous peoples suffer from disproportionately, often exponentially, higher rates of poverty, health problems, crime and human rights abuses, the first ever United Nations study on the issue reported today, stressing that self-determination and land rights are vital for their survival.
Startling figures contained in The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples include:
In the United States, a Native American is 600 times more likely to contract tuberculosis and 62 per cent more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
In Australia, an indigenous child can expect to die 20 years earlier than his non-native compatriot. The life expectancy gap is also 20 years in Nepal, while in Guatemala it is 13 years and in New Zealand it is 11.
In parts of Ecuador, indigenous people have 30 times greater risk of throat cancer than the national average.
Worldwide, more than 50 per cent of indigenous adults suffer from Type 2 diabetes – a number predicted to rise.
“Every day, indigenous communities all over the world face issues of violence and brutality,
continuing assimilation policies, dispossession of land, marginalization, forced removal or relocation, denial of land rights, impacts of large-scale development, abuses by military forces and a host of other abuses,” the report’s authors said in a news release.
Although indigenous peoples make up only 5 per cent of the global population, they constitute around one third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people. In both developed and developing countries, poor nutrition, limited access to care, lack of resources crucial to maintaining health and well-being and contamination of natural resources are all contributing factors to the terrible state of indigenous health worldwide.
Indigenous peoples experience disproportionately high levels of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition, cardiovascular illnesses, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis (TB), while suicide rates, particularly among youth, are considerably higher in many countries, for example up to 11 times the national average for the Inuit in Canada. The Inuit TB rate is over 150 times higher.
The study repeatedly identifies displacement from lands, territories and resources as one of the most significant threats for indigenous peoples, citing many examples, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hawaii, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Colombia.
“When indigenous peoples have reacted and tried to assert their rights, they have suffered physical abuse, imprisonment, torture and even death,” it says, stressing that their rights to their own lands and territories must be respected while they need to develop their own definitions and indicators of poverty and well-being.
“Indigenous peoples suffer from the consequences of historic injustice, including colonization, dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, oppression and discrimination, as well as lack of control over their own ways of life. Their right to development has been largely denied by colonial and modern States in the pursuit of economic growth,” it adds, warning that the importance of land and territories to indigenous cultural identity cannot be stressed enough.
Of the world’s 6,000 to 7,000 languages, a great majority are spoken by indigenous peoples, and many, if not most, are in danger of becoming extinct, with some 90 per cent possibly doomed within the next 100 years. About 97 per cent of the world’s population currently speaks 4 per cent of its languages, while only 3 per cent speaks 96 per cent of them.
Indigenous peoples, who are the stewards of some of the most biologically diverse areas, accumulating an immeasurable amount of traditional knowledge about their ecosystems, also face the dual and somewhat contradictory threats of discrimination and commodification.
They face racism and discrimination that sees them as inferior, yet they are increasingly recognized for their unique relationship with their environment, their traditional knowledge and their spirituality, leading to external efforts to profit from their culture which are frequently out of their control, providing them no benefits, and often a great deal of harm.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
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- Ko ga / Go ga = "Crow"
- The Crow is "Go ga" or "Ko ga" in Cherokee.
- "Perhaps people don't like crows because, well, they are so human,"
said a friend and former co-worker of mine, Ted Smith, who now lives in East Georgia and is an avid birdwatcher and nature photographer. "Unlike so many species, crows thrive among us because they adapt to changes in their environment, know how to make and use tools, and not only recognize individual human faces, but remember them -- especially the ones who harm them -- and are able to pass along that information to their friends and children. They also live practically everywhere on the planet, so if there were a 'world bird,' it very well could be the crow."
In Cherokee mythology, the Crow is most prominently remembered as the guardian of Ûñtsaiyï', 'The Gambler,' a shapeshifting creature sometimes called "Brass" or "Kettle." Finally the shifty being was caught "just as he reached the edge of the great water where the sun goes down," according to a myth recorded by James Mooney in the late 19th century.
"They tied his hands and feet with a grapevine and drove a long stake through his breast, and planted it far out in the deep water. They set two crows on the end of the pole to guard it and called the place Kâgûñ'yï, 'Crow place.' But Brass never died, and cannot die until the end of the world, but lies there always with his face up. Sometimes he struggles under the water to get free, and sometimes the beavers, who are his friends, come and gnaw at the grapevine to release him. Then the pole shakes and the crows at the top cry Ka! Ka! Ka! and scare the beavers away."
Here's the complete tale:
Ûñtsaiyï', The Gambler
(From James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee, pp. 312-315)
Thunder lives in the west, or a little to the south of west, near the place where the sun goes down behind the water. In the old times he sometimes made a journey to the east, and once after he had come back from one of these journeys a child was born in the east who, the people said, was his son. As the boy grew up it was found that he had scrofula sores all over his body, so one day his mother said to him, "Your father, Thunder, is a great doctor. He lives far in the west, but if you can find him he can cure you."
So the boy set out to find his father and be cured. He traveled long toward the west, asking of every one he met where Thunder lived, until at last they began to tell him that it was only a little way ahead. He went on and came to Ûñtiguhï', on Tennessee, where lived Ûñtsaiyï' "Brass." Now a Ûñtsaiyï' was a great gambler, and made his living that way. It was he who invented the gatayûstï game that we play with a stone wheel and a stick. He lived on the south side of the river, and everybody who came that way he challenged to play against him. The large flat rock, with the lines and grooves where they used to roll the wheel, is still there, with the wheels themselves and the stick turned to stone. He won almost every time, because he was so tricky, so that he had his house filled with all kinds of fine things. Sometimes he would lose, and then he would bet all that he had, even to his own life, but the winner got nothing for his trouble, for Ûñtsaiyï' knew how to take on different shapes, so that he always got away.
As soon as Ûñtsaiyï' saw him he asked him to stop and play a while, but the boy said he was looking for his father, Thunder, and had no time to wait. "Well," said Ûñtsaiyï', "he lives in the next house; you can hear him grumbling over there all the time"--he meant the Thunder--"so we may as well have a game or two before you go on." The boy said he had nothing to bet. "That's all right," said the gambler, "we'll play for your pretty spots." He said this to make the boy angry so that he would play, but still the boy said he must go first and find his father, and would come back afterwards.
He went on, and soon the news came to Thunder that a boy was looking for him who claimed to be his son. Said Thunder, "I have traveled in many lands and have many children. Bring him here and we shall soon know." So they brought in the boy, and Thunder showed him a seat and told him to sit down. Under the blanket on the seat were long, sharp thorns of the honey locust, with the points all sticking up, but when the boy sat down they did not hurt him, and then Thunder knew that it was his son. He asked the boy why he had come. "I have sores all over my body, and my mother told me you were my father and a great doctor, and if I came here you would cure me. "Yes," said his father, "I am a great doctor, and I'll soon fix you."
There was a large pot in the corner and he told his wife to fill it with water and put it over the fire. When it was boiling, he put in some roots, then took the boy and put him in with them. He let it boil a long time until one would have thought that the flesh was boiled from the poor boy's bones, and then told his wife to take the pot and throw it into the river, boy and all. She did as she was told, and threw it into the water, and ever since there is an eddy there that we call Ûñ'tiguhï', "Pot-in-the-water." A service tree and a calico bush grew on the bank above. A great cloud of steam came up and made streaks and blotches on their bark, and it has been so to this day. When the steam cleared away she looked over and saw the boy clinging to the roots of the service tree where they hung down into the water, but now his skin was all clean. She helped him up the bank, and they went back to the house. On the way she told him, "When we go in, your father will put a new dress on you, but when he opens his box and tells you to pick out your ornaments be sure to take them from the bottom. Then he will send for his other sons to play ball against you. There is a honey-locust tree in front of the house, and as soon as you begin to get tired strike at that and your father will stop the play, because he does not want to lose the tree."
When they went into the house, the old man was pleased to see the boy looking so clean, and said, "I knew I could soon cure those spots. Now we must dress you." He brought out a fine suit of buck-kin, with belt and headdress, and had the boy put them on. Then he opened a box and said, "Now pick out your necklace and bracelets."
The boy looked, and the box was full of all kinds of snakes gliding over each other with their heads up. He was not afraid, but remembered what the woman had told him, and plunged his hand to the bottom and drew out a great rattlesnake and put it around his neck for a necklace. He put down his hand again four times and drew up four copperheads and twisted them around his wrists and ankles. Then his father gave him a war club and said, "Now you must play a ball game with your two elder brothers. They live beyond here in the Darkening land, and l have sent for them" He said a ball game, but he meant that the boy must fight for his life. The young men came, and they were both older and stronger than the boil, but he was not afraid and fought against them. The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed at every stroke, for they were the young Thunders, and the boy himself was Lightning. At last he was tired from defending himself alone against two, and pretended to aim a blow at the honey-locust tree. Then his father stopped the fight, because he was afraid the lightning would split the tree, and he saw that the boy was brave and strong.
The boy told his father how Ûñtsaiyï' had dared him to play, and had even offered to play for the spots on his skin. "Yes," said Thunder, "he is a great gambler and makes his living that way, but I will see that you win." He brought a small cymling gourd with a hole bored through the neck, and tied it on the boy's wrist. Inside the gourd there was a string of beads, and one end hung out from a hole in the top, but there was no end to the string inside. "Now," said his father, go back the way you came, and as soon as he sees you he will want to play for the beads. He is very hard to beat, but this time he will lose every game. When he cries out for a drink, you will know he is getting discouraged, and then strike the rock with your war club and water will come, so that you can play on without stopping. At last he will bet his life, and lose. Then send at once for your brothers to kill him, or he will get away, he is so tricky."
The boy took the gourd and his war club and started east along the road by which he had come. As soon as Ûñtsai'yï saw him he called to him, and when he saw the gourd with the bead string hanging out he wanted to play for it. The boy drew out the string. but there seemed to be no end to it, and he kept on pulling until enough had come out to make a circle all around the playground. "I will play one game for this much against your stake," said the boy, "and when that is over we can have another game."
They began the game with the wheel and stick and the boy won. Ûñtsai'yï did not know what to think of it, but he put up another stake and called for a second game. The boy won again, and so they played on until noon, when Ûñtsai'yï had lost nearly everything he had and was about discouraged. It was very hot, and he said, "I am thirsty," and wanted to stop long enough to get a drink. "No," said the boy, and struck the rock with his club so that water came out, and they had a drink. They played on until Ûñtsai'yï had lost all his buckskins and beaded work, his eagle feathers and ornaments, and at last offered to bet his wife. They played and the boy won her. Then Ûñtsai'yï was desperate and offered to stake his life. "If I win I kill you, but if you win you may kill me." They played and the boy won.
"Let me go and tell my wife," said Ûñtsai'yï, "so that she will receive her new husband, and then you may kill me." He went into the house, but it had two doors, and although the boy waited long Ûñtsai'yï did not come back. When at last he went to look for him he found that the gambler had gone out the back way and was nearly out of sight going east.
The boy ran to his father's house and got his brothers to help him. They brought their dog--the Horned Green Beetle--and hurried after the gambler. He ran fast and was soon out of sight, and they followed as fast as they could. After a while they met an old woman making pottery and asked her if she had seen Ûñtsai'yï and she said she had not. "He came this way," said the brothers. "Then he must have passed in the night," said the old woman, "for I have been here all day." They were about to take another road when the Beetle, which had been circling about in the air above the old woman, made a dart at her and struck her on the forehead, and it rang like brass--ûñtsai'yï! Then they knew it was Brass and sprang at him, but he jumped up in his right shape and was off, running so fast that he was soon out of sight again. The Beetle had struck so hard that some of the brass rubbed off, and we can see it on the beetle's forehead yet.
They followed and came to an old man sitting by the trail, carving a stone pipe. They asked him if he had seen Brass pass that way and he said no, but again the Beetle--which could know Brass under any shape--struck him on the forehead so that it rang like metal, and the gambler jumped up in his right form and was off again before they could hold him. He ran east until he came to the great water; then he ran north until he came to the edge of the world, and had to turn again to the west. He took every shape to throw them off the track, but the Green Beetle always knew him, and the brothers pressed him so hard that at last he could go no more and they caught him just as he reached the edge of the great water where the sun goes down.
They tied his hands and feet with a grapevine and drove a long stake through his breast, and planted it far out in the deep water. They set two crows on the end of the pole to guard it and called the place Kâgûñ'yï, "Crow place." But Brass never died, and cannot die until the end of the world, but lies there always with his face up. Sometimes he struggles under the water to get free, and sometimes the beavers, who are his friends, come and gnaw at the grapevine to release him. Then the pole shakes and the crows at the top cry Ka! Ka! Ka! and scare the beavers away.