USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 11
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 11
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 11
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January 10
Roman came to the confluence of the Tombigby and War- rior, and, a little below, passed some steep chalky bluffs, which the traders called the Chickasaw Gallery, because from this point they were accustomed to shoot at the French boats. On the top of this bluff was a vast plain, with some remains of huts standing upon it.f Three miles below the mouth of the Soukan- Hatcha, Roman came upon the old towns of the Coosawdas and Oahchois, commencing at Suctaloosa-black bluff-and extending from thence down the river for some distance.t
* Now, Jones's Bluff. + Now the site of Demopolis.
# Some of the Alabamas living at the town of that name below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and some Creeks of the town
153
THE CHICKASAWS AND CHOCTAWS.
Next, passing a high bluff called Nanna Fallaya, he reached CHAPTER Batcha Chooka, a bluff on the east side, where he encount- II. Part 4. 1772 January 13 ered a desperate band of thieves, belonging to the town of Okaloosa, of the Choctaws. He then came to some bluffs called Nanna Chahaws, where a gray flat rock, called Teeak- haily Ekutapa, rises out of the water. Here the people of Chickasaha once had a settlement. Lower down, the party saw a bluff upon the east side, called Yagna Hoolah-beloved ground-and encamped at the mouth of Sintabouge-snake creek-three miles below which was the English line separat- ing them from the Choctaws. Having entered the British settlements, Capt. Roman continued his voyage until he reached Mobile .*
of Oakchoy, to be nearer the French, who were their friends, moved upon the main Tombigby, and the deserted towns which Roman men- tions were those in which they had formerly lived.
* Roman's Florida.
1772 January 20
ஸ்கைகஸ்டியல்லி
154
THE CHEROKEES.
PART V.
THE CHEROKEES.
CHAPTER II. Part 5. 1540
Ir has been seen that De Soto passed over a portion of the country of these Indians in the territory which embraces Northern Georgia. The name Cherokee is derived from Chera, fire ; and the Prophets of this nation were called Chera- taghge, men of divine fire.
1623
The first that we hear of the Cherokees, after the Spanish invasion, is their connection with the early British settlers of Virginia. A powerful and extensive nation, they even had settlements upon the Appomattox river, and were allied by blood with the Powhattan tribe. The Virginians drove them from that place, and they retreated to the head of the Holston river. Here, making temporary settlements, the Northern Indians compelled them to retire to the Little Tennes- see river, where they established themselves permanently. About the same time, a large branch of the Cherokees came from the territory of South-Carolina, near Charleston, and formed towns upon the main Tennessee, extending as far as the Muscle Shoals. They found all that region unoccupied, except upon the Cumberland, where resided a roving band of Shawnees. But the whole country bore evidence of once having sustained a large Indian population.
155
THE CHEROKEES.
Such is the origin of the first Cherokee settlements upon CHAPTER the main Tennessee, but the great body of the nation appears 11. Part 5. to have occupied Northern Georgia and North-western Carolina as far back as the earliest discoveries can trace them.
But very little was known of these natives until the Eng- lished formed colonies in the two Carolinas. They are first mentioned when some of their Chiefs complained that the Savannas and Congerees attacked their extreme eastern set- tlements, captured their people and sold them as slaves in the town of Charleston. Two years afterwards, Governor Archdale, of Carolina, arrested this practice, which induced the Cherokees to become friends of the English. They joined the latter in a war against the Tuscaroras. But three years afterwards they became allies of the Northern Indians, and once more fought their European friends. At length Governor Nichalson concluded a peace with them, which was con- firmed by Alexander Cummings, the British General Super- intendent of Indian Affairs. The Cherokees assisted the Eng- lish in the capture of Fort Duquesne. When returning home, however, they committed some depredations upon the settlers of Virginia, which were resented. This, together with the influence of French emissaries, had the effect again to array them against the people of Georgia and the Carolinas. Various expeditions marched against them, and their country was finally invaded with success, by Colonel Grant. Having sued for peace, articles of amity and alliance were signed at Long Island, upon the Holston. According to the traditions preserved by Judge Haywood, who wrote the History of
1693
1712
1730
1758 November 24
1:61 November 19
156
THE CHEROKEES.
CHAPTER II. Part 5.
Tennessee, the Cherokees originally came from the territory now embraced by the Eastern States of the Union, in which they differ from the other tribes of whom it has been our province to speak, all of whom came from the west.
When they began to be visited by the Carolina traders, their nation was powerful and warlike, and was divided into two parts. The Upper Cherokees lived upon the rivers Tellico, Great and Little Tennessee, the Holston and French Broad. The Lower Cherokees inhabited the country watered by the sources of the Oconee, the Ochmulgee and the Savannah. The great Unaka or Smoky mountain lay between and divided- the two sections .* Their whole country was the most beau- tiful and romantie in the known world. Their springs of deli- cious water gushed out of every hill and mountain side. Their lovely rivers meandered, now smoothly and gently, through the most fertile vallies, and then, with the precipitancy and fleetness of the winds, rushed over cataracts and through mountain gaps. The forests were full of game, the rivers abounded with fish, the vales teemed with their various pro- ductions, and the mountains with fruit, while the pure atinos- phere consummated the happiness of the blest Cherokees.
About the period of 1700, the Cherokee nation consisted of sixty-four towns. But the inhabitants of those situated in the upper district, were continually engaged in wars with the
* Haywood's Aboriginal History of Tennesse, pp. 233-234. Trans- actions of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. 2, pp. 89-90 Adair's American Indians.
1735 1700
157
THE CHEROKEES.
Northern Indians, while those below were harrassed by the CHAPTER Creeks. Then again, the Cherokees had to encounter, first the II. Part 5. 1738- French, and then the English. From these causes, (added to which was the terrible scourge of the small pox, introduced into Charleston by a slave ship, and thence carried into their country,) the population had greatly decreased-so that, in 1740, the number of warriors was estimated at only five 1740 thousand. That year fully one thousand of these were de- stroved by that disease .*
The Cherokees were so similar to the Creeks in their form, color, general habits and pursuits, that the reader is requested to refresh his recollection in relation to our description of the latter, and will not be required, tediously, to retrace the same ground. Their ball plays, green corn dances, constant habit of indulging in the purifying black drink, their manner of con- ducting wars and of punishing prisoners, their council-houses, their common apparel, and also their appearance during war, were all precisely like those of the Creeks, And, in addition, they played Chunke, like the Choctaws. However, a careful examination of several authorities, has unfolded a few pecu- liarities, which will now be introduced.
. Unlike other Indian nations, who once trod our soil, the Cherokees had no laws against adultery. Both sexes were unrestrained in this particular, and marriage was usually of short duration.
On account of the pure air which they breathed, the exer-
* Historical Collections of Georgia, vol. 2, p. 72.
1735
1735
1
158
THE CHEROKEES.
CHAPTER cise of the chase, the abundance of natural productions which II. the country afforded, and the delicious water which was al- Part 5. ways near, the Cherokees lived to an age much more advanced than the other tribes which have been noticed in this chapter .*
1735
They observed some singular rules in relation to the burial of the dead. When a person was past recovery, (to prevent pollution,) they dug a grave, prepared a tomb, anointed the hair of the patient and painted his face ; and when death en- sued, interment was immediately performed. After the third day, the attendants at the funeral appeared at the council- house and engaged in their ordinary pursuits, but the rela- tives lived in retirement and moaned for some time.t Such ceremonies, practiced upon a poor fellow in his last moments, and while in his senses, was certainly a cooler and more cruel method than that of the Choctaws, who, as we have seen, sud- denly jumped upon the patient and strangled him to death, after the doctor had prononneed his recovery impossible.
It was formerly the habit of the Cherokees to shoot all the stock belonging to the deceased, and they continued to bury, with the dead, their guns, bows and household utensils. If one died upon a journey, hunt or war expedition, his com- panions erected a stage, upon which was a notched log pen, in which the body was placed to secure it from wild beasts. When it was supposed that sufficient time had elapsed, so that nothing remained but the bones, they returned to the spot, collected these, carried them home, and buried them with
* Adair, pp. 226-228. + Adair, p. 126.
1735
1.59
THE CHEROKEES.
great ceremony. Sometimes heaps of stones were raised as CHAPTER monuments to the dead, whose bones they had not been able II. to " gather to their fathers," and every one who passed by Part 5 .- added a stone to the pile .*
Henry Timberlake, a Lieutenant in the British service, was despatched with a small command from Long Island, upon the Holston, to the Cherokee towns upon the Tellico and the Little Tennessee rivers. His object was to cultivate a good understanding with these people, who had, indeed, invited him to their country. He descended the Holston in canoes, to the mouth of the Little Tennessee, and thence passed up that stream to their towns. Spending some weeks here, he re- turned to Charleston with three Cherokee Chiefs, and sailed for England. Three years afterwards he published a book, from which we have been enabled to gain some information respecting the Cherokees.t
The Cherokees were of middle stature, and of an olive color, but were generally painted, while their skins were stained with indelible ink, representing a variety of pretty figures. Ac- cording to Bartram, the males were larger and more robust than any others of our natives, while the women were tall, slender, erect, and of delicate frame, with features of perfect synnetry. With cheerful countenances, they moved about with becoming grace and dignity. Their feet and hands were small and exquisitely shaped. The hair of the male
1761 November 28
1761
1762
* Adair-Bartram.
+ Memoirs of Lieutenant Henry Timberlake. London : 1765.
1776
160
THE CHEROKEES.
1
CHAPTER was shaved, except a patch on the back part of the head, II. which was ornamented with beads and feathers, or with a colored Part 5. deer's tail. Their ears were slit and stretched to an enormous size causing the persons who had the cutting performed to undergo incredible pain. They slit but one ear at a time, because the patient had to lay on one side forty days, for it to heal. As soon as he could bear the operation, wire was wound around them to expand them, and when they were entirely well, they were adorned with silver pendants and rings.
1761
Many of them had genius, and spoke well, which paved the way to power in council. Their language was pleasant. It was very aspirited, and the accents so many and various, that one would often imagine them singing, in their common discourse.
They had a particular method of relieving the poor, which ought to be ranked among the most laudable of their religi- ous ceremonies. The head men issued orders for a war dance, at which all the fighting men of the town assembled. But here, contrary to all their other dances, only one danced at a time, who, with a tomahawk in his hand, hopped and capered for a minute, and then gave a whoop. The music then stopped till he related the manner of his taking his first sealp. HIe concluded his narration, and cast a string of wampum, wire, plate, paint, lead, or any thing he could spare, upon a large bear-skin spread for the purpose. Then the music again began, and he continued in the same manner through all his warlike actions. Then another succeeded him, and the ceremony lasted until all the warriors had related their exploits and thrown presents upon the skin. The stock thus
-
THE CHEROKEES.
raised, after paying the musicians, was divided among the poor. The same ceremony was used to recompense any ex- traordinary merit.
The Cherokees engaged oftener in dancing than any other Indian population ; and when reposing in their towns, almost every night was spent in this agreeable amusement. They were likewise very dexterous at pantomimes. In one of these, two men dressed themselves in bear-skins, and came among the assembly, winding and pawing about with all the motions of that animal. Two hunters next entered, who, in dumb show, acted in all respects as if they had been in the woods. After many attempts to shoot the bears, the hunters fired, and one of them was killed and the other wounded. They attempted to cut the throat of the latter. A tremendous scuffle ensued between the wounded bruin and the hunters, affording the whole company a great deal of diversion. They also had other amusing pantomimie entertainments, among which was "taking the pigeons at roost."
They were extremely proud, despising the lower class of Europeans. Yet they were gentle and amiable to those whom they thought their friends. Implacable in their enmity, their revenge was only completed in the entire destruction of the enemy. They were hardy, and endured heat, cold, and hunger in a surprising manner. But when in their power to indulge, no people upon earth, except the Choctaws, carried debauchery to greater excess .*
161
CHAPTER II. Part 5. 1761
1761
* Timberlake's Memoirs, pp. 49-80 ; Bartram, pp. 363-369
10
..
162
THE CHEROKEES.
CHAPTER II. Part 5. 1776 Spring season
William Bartram, who penetrated the Cherokee nation, mentions the following towns. We use his orthography.
ON THE LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER, EAST OF THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN. Echoe; Nucasse ; Whataga; Cowe. ON THE BRANCHES OF THAT RIVER. Ticaloosa ; Jore ; Couisca ; Nowe.
ON THE LITTLE TENNESSEE, NORTH OF THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS.
1776
Tomothle ; Noewe; Tellico; Clennuse; Ocunnolufte ; Che- we ; Quanuse ; Tellowe.
INLAND TOWNS ON THE BRANCHES OF THAT RIVER, AND OTII-
ERS NORTH OF THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN.
Tellico ; Chatuga; Iiwasse ; Chewase ; Nuanha.
OVERHILL TOWNS ON THE TENNESSEE OR CHEROKEE RIVER.
Tallasse ; Chelowe ; Sette; Chote-great ; Ioco; Tahasse ; Tamohle ; Tuskege ; Big Island; Nilaque; Niowe. LOWER TOWNS, EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Sinica ; Keowe ; Kulsage; Tugilo; Estotowe ; Qualatche ; Chote ; Estotowe, great; Allagae ; Iore ; Nacooche .*
March 5 1792
Gov. Blount, of the Tennessee Territory, made a report to the Indian Department of the Federal Government, in which he described other towns of the Cherokee nation. It appears that a portion of the Cherokees established themselves upon Chicamauga Creek, one hundred miles below the mouth of the Holston, being averse to any terms of friendship with the English. But, believing these new settlements to be infested with witches, they abandoned them, moved forty miles lower
* Bartram, 371-372.
1
163
THE CHEROKEES.
down the Tennessee, and there laid out the foundation of the CHAPTER " five towns " which they inhabited for many years afterwards, and until their final removal to Arkansas. These towns were :
Running Water-on the south bank of the main Tennes- see, three miles above Nickajack, containing one hundred huts, the inhabitants of which were a mixed population of Cherokees and Shawnees.
Nickajack-on the south bank of the Tennessee, contain- ing forty houses.
Long Island Town-on the south side of the Tennessee, on an island of that name, containing several houses.
Crow Town-on the north side of the Tennessee, half a mile from the river up Crow creek. This was the largest of the towns.
Lookout Mountain Town-between two mountains, on Lookout Mountain creek, fifteen miles from its confluence with the Tennessee.
The first four of these towns were considerable Indian thoroughfares for a long period, being the crossing places of the Southern and Northern Indians during their wars with the Cumberland American settlements. Of these five towns, the sites of Nickajack and Long Island only are in Alabama, situ- ated in the north-east part of De Kalb county. But still low- er down, in the present State of Alabama, were Will's Town and Turkey Town-important Cherokee establishments. The former was named for a half breed called Red-headed Will. At these towns lived the British Superintendent, (the celebra- ted Col. Campbell.) before and during the Revolutionary War .*
* Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 261-289.
II. Part 5. 1782
1792
164
MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS IN ALABAMA.
CHAPTER III.
ANCIENT MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS IN ALABAMA.
CHAPTER III.
IN the Southern and North-western States mounds of va- rious dimensions and descriptions are yet to be seen, and con- tinue to elicit no little speculation in regard to the race of people who formed them, and the objects which they had in view.
Mounds are most commonly heaps of earth, but in some in- stances they are made of fragments of rock. In Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, they are of two classes. We will first treat of the large mounds, some of which are round, some eliptical, and others square. Many of them are flat on top, while others present conical forms. They ascend to the height of from forty to ninety feet, and some are eighteen hundred feet in circumference at the base. Especial contrivances ap- pear to have been resorted to, to ascend these singular and im- posing elevations, by means of steps cut in the sides, in- clining at an easy angle, and reaching from the ground be- low to their tops." During the invasion of De Soto, they
1540
* See Chapter 2, pp. 63-64.
1
165
MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS IN ALABAMA.
were used as elevated platforms, sustaining the houses of the CHAPTER Chief, his family and attendants, while the common people III. lived around the base. The writers upon that expedition describe the manner in which the natives brought the earth to the spot and formed these elevations. Garcellasso de Ja Vega states that the erection of a mound was the first object in building a new town, which was generally located upon some low alluvial ground. When completed, the Chief's houses, from ten to twenty in number, were placed upon its top, and a public square laid out at the base, around which were the houses of the prominent Indians, while the humbler wigwams of the common people stood around the other side of the mound.
Such, then, three hundred and ten years ago, was found to be the use of these mounds. By the writers of De Soto, they are repeatedly mentioned as being almost daily seen in all the territory through which that remarkable adventurer passed. Yet, many very learned and wise antiquaries have contended, in various works which they have published, that these mounds must have been constructed at a very ancient period, by a race far advanced in civilization-that the aborigines who were first discovered by Europeans were incapable of erecting such works, on account of their ignorance of the arts and their want of sufficient population. Our readers have seen what a numerous population De Soto and other discoverers found here, and that they possessed much ingenuity in the building of boats, fortifications, temples, houses, de. Of all people upon earth, the American Indians had most time to engage
1540
1540 1564
166
MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS IN ALABAMA.
CHAPTER in such works, for they were never accustomed to regard their
III. time as of the least importance. Indeed, the American citi- zen of the present day, who has lived upon the Indian-fron- tiers, knows that they often assembled together in great num- bers and performed public works of all kinds. But much later authority than that offered by the writers of De Soto 1730 will be presented. It will be recollected that when the French drove the Natchez tribe from the spot now occupied by the city of that name, that the latter established themselves upon 173 the Lower Washita, where they "erected mounds and em- 1732 bankments for defence, which covered an area of four hundred acres." These mounds are still to be seen there, and some of them are very large. These Indians were driven from Natchez in 1730. Two years afterwards the French defeated them upon the Washita, where they were protected by their embankments and mounds, which they had only been a little over two years in constructing. Let it be borne in mind that this was about one hundred and ninety-one years after the invasion of De Soto; and the facts are attested by mime- rous Frenchmen and other authors, some of whom were eye- witnesses .*
Charlevoix and Tonti both mention that they found Indians a little south of Lake Michigan, who well understood the con- struction of mounds and fortifications. Even during the ad- ministration of Jefferson, Lewis and Clarke, who had been de- spatched upon an overland route to Oregon, discovered the
* See Chapter 2, Part 3, pp. 132-133.
167
1776
MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS IN ALABAMA.
Sioux and other Western Indians erecting earthen embank- CHAPTER ments around their camps and towns. Were it deemed ne- III. cessary, other authorities could be adduced to overthrow the speculations of those antiquarians who endeavor to inculcate the belief that our country was once inhabited by an almost civilized race. We heartily concur in the opinion expressed by McCulloh, in his " Researches," that the " mounds were sites for the dwellings of the Chiefs, for council-halls and for temples, which faney and conceit have constructed into va- rious shapes and variously situated, one to the other." This author has reference. of course, to the larger mounds."
Bartram found, in East Florida, many peculiar mounds. HIe saw groups of square mounds surrounded by walls of earth, and pyramidal mounds of great height. " From the river St. John, southwardly to the point of the peninsula of Florida, are to be seen high pyramidal mounds, with spacious and extensive avenues leading from them out of the town to an artificial lake or pond of water." In another place he says :- " At about fifty yards distance from the landing place stands a magnificent Indian mount. But what greatly con- tributed to the beauty of the scene, was a noble Indian high- way, which led from the great mount, in a straight line three quarters of a mile, through a forest of live-oaks, to the verge of an oblong artificial lake, which was on the edge of an ex-
* Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the aborigi- nal history of America, by J. II. McCulloh, Jr., M.D. Baltimore : 1829. pp. 516.
10*
168
MOUNDS AND FORTIFICATIONS IN ALABAMA.
CHAPTER tensive level savannah. This grand highway was about fifty
III. 1776
yards wide, sunk a little below the common level, and the earth thrown on each side, making a bank of about two feet high."
On the east side of the Ockmulgce, and a little below the city of Macon, in Georgia, are some large and interesting mounds. In the town of Florence, Lauderdale county, Ala- bama, is a very large and peculiar mound. Near Carthage, in the same State, there are many mounds of various sizes, some of which are large.
Dr. Charles A. Woodruff -- a native of Savannah, but now a resident of Alabama-a man of letters and research, who has travelled over Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama, engaged in geological researches- has called our attention to a very remarkable group of mounds on the lands of Judge Messier, twenty-one miles in a south- eastern direction from Fort Gaines. A reference to the sketch which he has furnished us, and his description of it, which follows, will make the reader acquainted with these re- markable artificial elevations.
1847
" No. 1. The large sacrificial mound, seventy feet in height and six hundred feet in circumference. This mound is cover- ed with large forest trees, from four to five hundred years old. A shaft has been sunk in the centre to the depth of sixty feet, and at its lower portion a bed of human bones, five feet in thickness, and in a perfectly decomposed state, was passed.
" No. 2, 2. Like the former, have hearth stones on the summit, with charred wood around them, which would show
ANCIENT INDIAN FORTIFICATIONS AND MOUNDS, IN EARLY COUNTY, GEORGIA, FROM A SKETCH BY THE VISITOR, DR. G. A, WOODRUFF.
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