USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 7
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On leaving Patofa, De Soto taxed the king for enough maize to last the expedition four days; but it so happened that soon after leaving the Indian village, he lost the trail which he was following. For several days, the Spaniards wandered blindly through the pine barrens, fording with difficulty two rivers, probably the sources of the Great Ogeechee; and swimming another, supposed by Jones to be Briar Creek, in what
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is now the County of Burke. 'On the 28th day of April, the expedition arrived at Cntifachiqui, a town which Monette locates just north of Augusta at a point where Broad River enters the Savannah. McCulloh places it on the Ocmulgee River, near Macon; but, according to other authorities, including Pickett, Gallatin, Jones, Mooney and others, it occupied the site of Silver Bluff, on the Carolina side of the Savannah River, some twenty-five miles below Augusta. It was here that George Galphin, the celebrated Indian trader, afterwards lived during Colonial times. Mooney thinks it was probably an ancient capital of the Uchees.
It was not without the greatest difficulty that the Spaniards reached Cutifachiqui. Four Indians were captured who refused to give them any information concerning adjacent villages; but one of them having been burned alive the information was at last forthcoming that Cuti- fachiqui was only two days off and was ruled by a woman. Yupaha, therefore, seemed to be at hand. On learning of De Soto's approach, the queen sent canoes to assist him across the river; and when he came into her presence she threw over his head a string of pearls. Moreover, food in abundance was given to his famished men and horses.
But De Soto ill-requited the queen's kindness. He began a systema- tic search for pearls of which he learned that she possessed a goodly number; desecrated graves, taking therefrom many costly ornaments, including figures made from iridescent shells; and even invaded the temple, leaving it poorer in sacred relics. On hearing that the queen's mother was a widow, he expressed a desire to meet her and tried persist- ently to do so; but her ladyship eluded him at every turn. At last the queen herself became so incensed at the outrages perpetrated upon her subjects by the Spaniards that when De Soto announced his purpose to continue his journey she refused either to grant him supplies or to give him directions.
Thereupon the Spanish governor put her under arrest; and, upon resuming his march, on the third day of May, he compelled her to accom- pany him on foot, escorted by female attendants. While at Cutifachiqui, the Spaniards found hatchets and other implements made of copper, some of which appeared to be mixed with gold. On inquiry they were informed that the metal had come from an interior mountain province called Chisea, but the country was represented as thinly populated and the way as impassable for horses. Some time before, while advancing through Lower Georgia, they had heard of a rich and plentiful province called Coosa, toward the northwest; and now by the people of Cutifa- chiqui they were informed that Chiaha, the nearest town of the Coosa province was twelve days inland. As both men and animals were already nearly exhausted, De Soto determined not to attempt the passage of the mountains then, but to push on at once toward Coosa and recuperate before undertaking further exploration.
However, the first objective point of the Spaniards, after resuming the journey, was Ganxule, situated near the extreme northern limits of the queen's domain, in a mountainous region. Hardships multiplied, but in seven days the Province of Chelaque was reached. Both Mooney and Jones identify Chelaque as Cherokee, Georgia; and, according to the latter, De Soto was now probably within the confines of the present County of Franklin. The country was almost destitute of maize. It
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was also extremely uneven; and not less than five days were spent in reaching Xualla, the next town at which the Spaniards stopped. Pickett locates this town in Habersham County, near what is now the Town of Clarksville; and there are Spanish antiquities in the neighborhood which seem to warrant this impression. Irving locates it on the site of a former Indian town at the head of the Chattahoochee River; while, ac- cording to Jones, it was situated in Nacoochee Valley, near the foot of Mount Yonah. There are also numerous relics in this vicinity, which point to the Spaniards.
From this place, De Soto seems to have moved in a westerly direc- tion ; but scarcely were his columns in motion before the queen succeeded in making her escape into the forest, and so effectually did she elude pursuit that efforts to recapture her proved fruitless. The journey from Xualla to Gauxnle consumed five days. Mountains arose on every hand, with intervening valleys, rich in pasturage and irrigated by clear and rapid streams. Gauxule, according to Jones, occupied the site of Coosa- wattee Old Town in the County of Murray. Two more days of travel brought the Spaniards, on the 22d day of May to Conasauga, which, according to Meek and Pickett, was a town on the Conasauga River, in Murray County, but which, according to Jones, was between the Cona- sauga and the Coosawattee rivers, in Gordon County, on the site of New Echota. Thence dispatching an Indian messenger ahead to announce his arrival, De Soto, on June 5, 1540, reached Chiaha, which most of the authorities identify as the modern city of Rome, between the Oostanaula and the Etowah rivers.
It may be of interest in this connection to state that an eminent in- vestigator, James Mooney, dissents from the majority view on this sub- ject and locates Chiaha on the site of the present Town of Columbus. While his opinion in the matter may strike the average reader as some- what erratic, it cannot be lightly dismissed. Mr. Mooney is a recognized authority on American antiquities. He is connected with the Smith- sonian Institution in Washington, District of Columbia, and is not only the latest scholar to investigate the route of De Soto but, what entitles his view to special weight is the fact that he has based his researches largely upon an original document which was not published, except in a mutilated form, until 1851, and which was not consulted by the other investigators, namely, an unfinished report in Spanish by one Ranjel, secretary to the expedition.
There is no essential deviation between Jones and Mooney until the Spaniards leave Cutifachiqui, which both identify as Silver Bluff. Then the two commentators part company ; and where Jones locates Xualla in Nacoochee Valley, Mooney locates it at the head of the Broad River in Western North Carolina, where a tribe of Indians then lived called the Suwali, better known later as Cheraws. Gauxule, a town which the Spaniards reached after traveling in a westerly direction, he locates in Nacoochee Valley. Thence proceeding down the Chattahoochee River, he identifies Conasanga as an old Indian town near the banks of this stream, in the neighborhood of Kennesaw Mountain, a name whose simi- larity of sound may be something more than a mere coincidence; and finally he comes on down to Columbus, in the situation of which town he recognizes the Chiaha of the Spanish narratives.
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ITINERARY OF HERNANDO DE SOTO
(1) According to Jones:
March 3, 1540.
Left Anhayca (Tallahassee, Florida).
March 7, 1540.
Crossed a deep river (Ocklockonee).
March 9, 1540.
Arrived at Capachiqui.
March 21, 1540.
Came to Toalli, in Irwin County (near the Ocmulgee).
March 25, 1540.
Arrived at Achese, in Wilcox County (on the Ocmulgee). Departed from Achese.
April 4, 1540.
Passed through the Town of Altamaca.
April 10, 1540.
Arrived at Ocute, in Laurens County (near the Oconee).
April 12, 1540.
Left Ocute. Passed through a town whose lord was called Cofaqui, and came to the province of another lord, named Patofa.
April 14, 1540.
Departed from Patofa.
April 20, 1540.
Lost in a pine barren. Six days consumed in fording two rivers (sources of the Great Ogeechee).
April April 28, 1540.
Set out for Aymay, a village reached at nightfall.
Departed for Cutifachiqui (Silver Bluff, on the Savannah, 25 miles below Augusta).
May
3, 1540.
Left Cutifachiqui.
May 10, 1540.
Left Cutifachiqui (Cherokee, Georgia, probably in Franklin County).
May 15, 1540.
Arrived at Xualla (Nacoochee Valley, near Mount Yonah).
May 20, 1540.
Arrived at Gauxule (Coosawattee Old Town in Murray County).
May 22, 1540. Arrived at Conasauga (New Echota, in Gordon County).
June 5, 1540. Arrived at Chiaha (Rome, Georgia).
July 1, 1540. Departed from Chiaha.
(2) According to Mooney :
March 3, 1540
to
May 10, 1540.
In substantial agreement with Jones.
May 15, 1540.
Arrived at Xualla (town in Western North Carolina, belonging to the Suwalli Indians, at the head of Broad River).
May 20, 1540.
Arrived at Gauxule (Nacoochee Valley).
May 22, 1540.
Arrived at Conasauga (town of this name, near Kennesaw Mountain).
June 5, 1540.
Arrived at Chiaha (Columbus, Georgia).
July 1, 1540. Departed from Chiaha.
March 24, 1540.
Left Toalli.
April 1, 1540.
26, 1540.
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Whether it be Rome or Columbus, De Soto remained at Chiaha for nearly a month. At the expiration of this time, he parted from the king with kind words, and left on July 1, 1540, for the far west, accompanied by a retinue of slaves as the king's gift. In a short while he was beyond the Territory of Georgia. To trace his wanderings through a trackless forest, exposed without protection to the torrid heat of sum- mer and to the rigorous cold of winter, exhausted by hunger, enfeebled by disease, is not within the purview of this sketch. It suffices to say that the gold for which the Spaniards relinquished home and braved the solitudes of an unknown wilderness proved an illusive phantom. Most of them looked no more upon Spain. At last, on September 10, 1543, a pathetic remnant reached Panuca, in Mexico, after suffering untold hardships; but not until they had lowered the body of De Soto secretly at night into the bosom of the Great Father of Waters, where at last his splendid fabric of dreams literally crumbled into dust.
CHAPTER III
GEORGIA'S ORIGINAL DOMAIN-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUN- TRY SOON TO BE SETTLED-THE MOUNTAINS- THE PIEDMONT PLATEAU -THE COASTAL PLAIN-GEORGIA'S PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS-THE MOUND BUILDERS-WHO WERE THESE PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTS ?- PROB- ABLY NOT INDIANS-CERTAINLY NOT THE RED MEN OF A LATER PERIOD -TUMULI ON THE ETOWAH NEAR CARTERSVILLE AND ROME-MOUNDS IN SOUTH GEORGIA-WHY AN INDIAN THEORY IS REJECTED-IN- DIANS NOT IDOLATORS-INDIANS TOO MIGRATORY TO HAVE BUILT THESE COLOSSAL MONUMENTS-CURIOUS RELICS TAKEN FROM THE TUMULI- TESTIMONY OF A SKELETON-REMOTE INDIAN ANTIQUITIES-BASEBALL A GAME OF INDIAN ORIGIN-FOUR TRIBES OF NATIONS OCCUPYING GEORGIA'S SOIL AT THE TIME OF THE EUROPEANS' ADVENT-THE CREEKS, THE CHEROKEES, THE CHICKASAWS AND THE CHOCTAWS- ONLY THE FIRST TWO TRIBES FIGURE WITH ANY PROMINENCE IN THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA-INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS-VILLAGE LIFE -- GOV- ERNMENT-HABITS-CUSTOMS-OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES-MAR- RIAGE RITES-RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS.
Before resuming our narrative let us glance briefly at the physical characteristics of the country, which Oglethorpe's humane enterprise is soon to people with English subjects. The State of Georgia, as we know it today, occupies only a part of the original domain granted to the trus- tees in 1732. Nevertheless, it contains 59,475 square miles, or 37,120,000 acres, and is still in area the largest state east of the Mississippi River. Its greatest length is 320 miles, its greatest width, 254 miles; and it lies between the 30th and the 35th parallels of north latitude and between the 81st and the 86th degrees of west longitude.#
Georgia's ocean front measures 126 miles in extent. Beginning here at sea level, the land rises toward the north in a series of gradations until it reaches the lofty mountain ranges of the Blue Ridge escarpment. Broadly speaking the state is divided into three sections, the Mountains, the Piedmont Plateau, and the Coastal Plain.
1. The Mountains form a part of the great Appalachian system. These, locally known as the Blue Ridge, occupy the whole upper area of the state running in a southwesterly dircetion from Rabun Gap toward Cedartown. The highest peaks in these ranges are as follows: Sitting Bull, 5,046 feet ; Enota, 4,796 feet, both in Towns; Bald, in Rabun, 4,718; Blood, in Union, 4,468; Tray, in Habersham, 4,435; Cohutta, in Fannin, 4,155, and Yonah, in White, 3,168 feet. The Blue Ridge mountains form
* To be more precise the boundaries of Georgia are as follows: Between 30° 31' 39" and 35° of North Latitude and between 81º and 85° 53' 38".
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a water-shed dividing the streams which flow into the Tennessee from those which empty into the Savannah and the Chattahoochee rivers; and also separating the waters which through these main streams empty, on the one hand, into the Gulf of Mexico and, on the other, into the Atlantic ocean. These mountains are rich in coal, iron, copper, granite, marble, gold and silver. The scenery of Upper Georgia is unrivalled in its pic- turesque beauty, abounding in majestic water-falls such as Toccoa and Amicololah ; in verdant valleys, like Nacoochee ; and in magnificent gorges, like Tallulah, in which there were at one time five unrivalled cataracts .*
2. The Piedmont Plateau, as its name implies, is an area of foot-hills. It corresponds roughly to what is sometimes called the middle belt, and is bounded on the south by a line running from Augusta to Columbus. The elevation of this section varies from 300 to 1,500 feet above sea level. Here were located some of the great plantations of the state in ante-bel- lum days. In this part of Georgia, also, the rivers, escaping from nar- row channels and rocky shoals, broaden into wide streams, on whose smooth expanse of water floats the majestic steam-boat.
3. To the south of this Piedmont Plateau lies the great Coastal Plain, a region embracing 35,000 square miles, or considerably more than half of the state's entire domain. Georgia was first settled on the ocean front, a strip bounding the coastal plain on its eastern side; but it was not until comparatively recent years that the wire-grass region comprising its western area became the home of a thrifty population. Georgia's ocean front is in many places low, marshy, and malarial, but is indented by splendid harbors, full protection to which is afforded by outlying islands, formerly the homes of a wealthy class of people known as sea- island planters. The state's principal sea-ports are Savannah, Bruns- wiek, Darien, and St. Mary's. But we cannot lengthen this discussion. The reader who is interested in Georgia's water-powers, industries, mate- rial resources, etc., is referred to a section of this work devoted exclusively to topics of this character.t
Georgia's original domain, as defined by her royal charter from King George II, of England, lay between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers and extended from the headwaters of these streams, in a westerly direc- tion, "to the South Seas," an expression construed to mean "indefinitely westward ;" but at a later period the state's western boundary was fixed at the Mississippi River. Reaching back for immemorial ages beyond the advent of the European this region of country was the wilderness home of Indian tribes. But, antedating the days of the red men, as we know them, at least, the Territory of Georgia was inhabited by a race of people who, for the want of an ethnological name defining their true relation to the human family have been called the Mound Builders. Great mounds or tumuli found today on the banks of the Etowah, near Cartersville, also in the vicinity of Rome, and in the lower part of the state, not far from
* These cataracts were: L'Eau D'Or, Bridal Veil, Tempesta, Oceana, and Hurricane. They were destroyed by the erection some time ago of a dam in the waters of the stream just above Tallulah by the Georgia Railway and Power Com- pany, but the unrivalled gorge still remains and the approaches thereto will from year to year be made increasingly beautiful by splendid driveways leading to palatial country homes.
t Section VII, "The Period of the Present."
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the Town of Blakely, testify to the existence of this prehistoric race, giv- ing us at the same time some of its peculiar habits and characteristics.
Perhaps nowhere on the continent can there be found today memorials of a more colossal character or of a more profound interest to antiquar- ians, telling of the former existence of this unknown race than we find in the famous monumental structures on the Etowah, some two miles distant from the present Town of Cartersville. These ancient relics of an un- known race are located on what was formerly the property of Col. Lewis Tumlin. There are similar structures to be found in the Valley of the Mississippi and along the Ohio and the Scioto rivers, but none to com- pare in magnitude with these splendid piles. Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr.,* who visited the locality some time in the '50s for the purpose of making scientific investigations, has put on record an exhaustive monograph, dealing with the subject from almost every point of view. He thus describes these immemorial mounds :
"Situated upon the right bank of the Etowah River, in the midst of a perfectly alluvial bottom, they tower above all surrounding objects, changeless amid the revolutions of centuries. They consist of a series of mounds, surrounded by a large and deep moat-the traces of which are quite distinct; and, when filled with the tide of the river it effectually isolated the entire space included within its boundaries. The Etowah River here turns to the south ; and, after a gentle sweep again recovers its wonted course, thus forming a graceful bend. This moat originally communicated at either end with the river, a fact which is still apparent, although the current of the stream, in its flow of years, has filled to a very great extent, the mouths of the ditch, thus preventing the influx and reflux of the tide. Formerly the water must have coursed freely through it, thus isolating the entire space and constituting quite an obstacle in the path of an attacking foe. This ditch varies in depth and width; in some places possessing still a depth of twenty feet-in others, of not more than eight or ten; and differing in width from fifteen to forty feet. North and west of the mounds situated within this enclosure, and along the line of the moat, are two excavations, each having at present a conjectured area of about an acre, and a depth of some twenty-five or thirty feet. With these excavations the moat communicates directly, so that the same rising tide in the river, which flowed into the ditch, would also convert them into deep ponds or huge reservoirs. The reason why these excava- tions were made is evident. The earth removed in constructing the moat was not sufficient to build even a moiety of the immense tumuli within the enclosure. Hence the Mound Builders were compelled to resort to these enormous excavations, which still exist and will remain for ages yet to come. The space included within the limits of the moat is between forty and fifty acres. From the general appearance and nature of the works, we are induced to believe that these excavations were designed to answer another purpose. They might have been, and probably were, intended as huge reservoirs, wherein a supply of water, sufficient to flood the entire moat, might have been detained and preserved ready for an emer- geney. The streams of this region, springing as they do from hilly
* "Historical Remains of Georgia, " by Charles C. Jones, Jr., pp. 27-29, Savannah, 1861.
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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
sources and passing through valleys, are subject to great increase and diminution in volume. When, therefore, the water was low in the Etowah, it might have been difficult, if not impossible, to have filled the moat."
Speaking of the mysterious structures enclosed within this ditch, the same authority says: "
"Within the enclosure there are seven mounds. Three of them are pre-eminent in size; one in particular far surpassing the others in its stupendous proportions, and in the degree of interest which attaches to it. This large central mound stands almost midway between the moat and the river-a little nearer the latter. Its position is commanding, and to the eye of the observer it seems a monument of the past ages. It be- longs not to this generation. The hunter tribes had naught to do with its erection. The offspring of an ancient people, who have passed for- ever beyond the confines of this beautiful valley, it stands a solemn monument, ever repeating the story of what they achieved, while they themselves and all else connected with them are sleeping beneath the shadow of a forgotten past. Composed of native earth, simple yet impres- sive in form, it seems calculated for an almost endless duration. Al- thongh no historian has chronicled the names and deeds of those who aided in its erection-although no poet's song commemorates the virtues, the manners, the loves, the wars, the brave deeds of those who here dwelt-still this monument exists, speaking a language perchance more impressive than the most studied epitaph upon Parian marble.
"This central tumulus is some eighty feet or more above the level of the valley. There is no geological formation entering in the smallest degree into its composition. To all appearances, it consists entirely of the earth taken from the moat and the excavations, together with the soil removed from around its base, having received no assistance whatever from any natural hill or elevation. In view of this circumstance, its stupendous proportions become the more surprising. It is somewhat quadrangular in form, if we disregard a small angle to the south ; its apex diameter two hundred and twenty-five feet, measured east and west, and two hundred and twenty-two feet, measured north and south. It is nearly level on top. Originally this tumulus was crowned with the most luxurious vegetation, but the utilitarian arm of the husbandman has shorn it of this attraction. A solitary tree stands near the northern extremity. The native weeds and annual grasses flourish, however, in such rich profusion that the steps of the observer are seriously impeded. The view of the surrounding country from the summit of this tumulus is highly attractive. Almost at its base flows the ever-changing tide of the Etowah River. Alternate fields and forests charm the eye. The rich alluvial bottoms, teeming with the products of intelligent husbandry -the crests of the neighboring hills, adorned with pleasant cottages and covered with well-cultivated orchards-the consecrated spire, rising from the oak grove which marks the suburbs of the neighboring village-all proclaim in glad accord the happy reign of peace and plenty. Tender
* Ibid,, pp. 107-119.
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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
must have been the attachment with which the Mound-Builders regarded this beautiful valley."
According to Colonel Jones, the following curious relics, among a number of others, have been found from time to time as the result of excavations made within the area enclosed by the moat. 1. A pipe, fashioned of a species of green stone, almost equal to Egyptian granite. It is 31% inches in height. It represents a human figure seated in Oriental fashion, the extended arms of which uphold an urn of classic pattern, which constitutes the bowl. The latter is two inches in diameter, with ornamental rim and unique handles. The countenance of the figure is clearly not Indian in a single feature. The head is thrown back, and the uplifted eyes seem to be resting upon some superior, unseen, yet adorable divinity. The chiseled hair upon the front is gathered upon the top in a fold, and thence flowing backward is confined behind in a knot. Ears prominent. 2. A pipe, likewise of stone, 41/4 inches in height, similar in design to the first, but ruder in its construction. 3. Clay pipes-some perfectly plain, others with rude impressions upon the outside, and scal- loped rims. Probably of Indian origin. Bowl at right angles with the stem-some of baked, others of undried clay. 4. An idol. This interest- ing relie, made of a coarse, dark sandstone, is twelve inches in height. It consists of a human figure in a sitting posture, the knees drawn up, almost upon a level with the chin. the hands resting upon the knees. Retreating chin and forehead-full head of hair, gathered into a knot behind-face upturned-eyes angular. Not a single feature, not an idea connected with this image is Indian in its character. Everything about it suggests the belief that it must have been fashioned by the ancient Mound-Builders. It is an interesting fact, in this connection, that the Cherokees were never worshippers of idols: Both Adair and Bartram testify in positive terms to this effect. 5. A stone plate. This singular relie is circular in form, eleven inches and a half in diameter, one inch and a quarter in thickness. Between the scalloped edges and the central portion of the plate, there are two circular depressed rings. The mate- rial is of a sea-green color. Weight-nearly seven pounds. It was probably never employed for domestic or culinary purposes. We incline to the belief that it was a consecrated vessel, in which was exposed the food placed by the Mound-Builders before the idols which they wor- shipped. 6. A shell ornament. Five and a quarter inches iu length ; four and a half inches in width ; ovoidal in form; various designs chased on both inner and outer sides; numerous apertures cut-some circular, some elliptical. It was probably worn as an ornament, suspended from the neck. The impressions cut upon this shell appear to indicate the fancy and taste of the artist, rather than any positive attempt at repre- sentation of any particular object or thing. The carved lines may be hieroglyphical, but who at this day can reveal the hidden meaning ? We are inclined to refer this relic to the handiwork of the Mound- Builders. 7. Fragments of isinglass. In the construction of mirrors, this material was constantly used by the Mound-Builders. The most extraordinary specimen of this character was found at Circleville, in the Scioto Valley, twenty-six miles south of Columbus. It was three feet in length-one foot and a half in breadth-and one inch and a half in thickness-while on it a plate of iron had become an oxide. 8. Stone
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