USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 2
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History of Tazewell County
hue, made from the wool of llamas and alpacas. Very soon after this visit of discovery Pizarro traveled to Spain and exhibited these specimens to Charles V. and his ministers; and revealed to them what he had seen of the enormous wealth in the land of the Incas. The Spanish monarch and his court were so deeply impressed with the glowing representations of Pizarro, he was invested with num- erous honorable titles, among them being that of governor and cap- tain general of Peru. Having so sueeessfully accomplished his mission to the Spanish Court, the first governor of Peru returned to Panama, accompanied by a band of adventurers who had been lured to his banner by reports of the large quantities of gold and silver possessed by the Incas and their people. At Panama the intrepid adventurer gathered together one hundred and eighty men, twenty- seven horses for his eavalry, and a fairly good equipment of arms and ammunition. These were gotten aboard three small vessels. and the eventful expedition to the country of the Peruvians was started. Upon arrival in Peru with his small but well equipped force of soldiers, the Spanish conquerer promptly revealed his treacherous nature to the people he had visited a few years prev- iously with seeming friendly intention. He proceeded to torture, kill, and rob the natives until he succeeded in crushing the spirit of the nation. Thus was the splendid empire of the Incas brought under Spanish rule. as had been that of Montezuma in Mexico by the ruthless conquest of Hernando Cortes.
The civilization of the Peruvians in many respects was of a higher type than was that of the Aztecs. From traditions of the aboriginal inhabitants it is known that Maneo. the first Inea, with his wife, Mama Oella, mysteriously appeared to the superstitious natives on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Manco told the astonished natives that he and his wife were children of the Sun. and deelared that they had been sent by their god Ita (the Sun) to instruct and rule the people who dwelt in that region. They accepted his state- ments as true, and willingly beeame his subjects. Manco kept his word by instructing the people in agriculture and the arts. He gave them a pure religion and established an excellent social and national organization. Mama Oella taught the women to spin, weave and sew, and trained them in what is now ealled domestic seienee. Investigators and historians are convinced that Manco and his wife were white persons. That they could have reached a country so remote, separated by broad oceans that no mariner had then ever
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crossed from the continents where the white races lived, seems not only improbable but impossible. If, however, the traditions of the aborigines are substantially true as to the appearance of Manco and Mama Oella, they were of a race entirely different from the natives, and must have been white. The simple and superstitious natives were even disposed to believe that Pizarro and his cutthroat band were children of the gods, because of their personal appearance.
The government which Manco established was in the nature of a mild but positive despotism. It constituted the Inca head of the priesthood, gave him authority to impose taxes and made him the absolute source of all governmental power. His empire was divided into four very extensive provinces, each of these being presided over by a viceroy or governor. The nation was further divided into departments of ten thousand inhabitants. and each of the depart- ments had a governor. In fact, the subdivisions were so extended as to embrace within the least departments as few as ten persons.
There was also an advanced agrarian principle engrafted upon the government which Manco founded. No private ownership of land was permitted. All the lands were allotted each year, one-third of the territory of the empire being set apart for the Sun, the Inea. and the people, respectively. The lands allotted to the Sun were for the support of the temples of this god. to defray the expenses of the costly religious ceremonials and maintain the multitude of priests who had charge of the temples and conducted the ceremonies. Those lands set apart for the Inea were to support his royal state and household, and defray the general expenses of the government. The remaining third of the lands was apportioned. per capita, in equal shares among all the people. The allotments made to heads of families were apportioned according to the number of persons in each family. It is stated that this system of annual distribution developed such excellent agricultural methods that the soil was made more productive instead of depleting its fertility. The sandy lands along the seacoast. that originally were of no agricultural value. were transformed into productive fields and rich pastures. This was accomplished by a system of artificial irrigation of such magni- tude as the world has never seen equaled. Water was conveyed from mountain lakes and streams to the sandy waste lands by the use of aqueducts, and distributed through canals similar to those used by the ancient Egyptians, and like those now employed in the arid sections of the United States cast of the Rocky Mountains.
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Several of the Peruvian aqueducts were between four hundred and five hundred miles long. The ruins of some of them still attest the marvelous skill and energy of the people who constructed them without the aid of iron or steel tools or machinery of any kind. How they performed such stupendous tasks is likely to remain as great mystery as the building of the Egyptian pyramids.
The religion of the Peruvians, though of pagan form, was of a higher type than that of most heathen nations. They worshipped, as did the Aztecs and as still do the unconverted tribes of North America, a Great Spirit, whom they adored as the Author and Ruler of the Universe. He, they piously believed could not be symbolized by an image nor be made to dwell in a temple erected by mortal men. They also believed in the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body after death. Like the Aztecs, however, they worshipped secondary gods, of whom they recognized the Sun as chief.
That the Peruvians had some very skillful goldsmiths and silver- smiths was attested by the many beautiful ornaments they made from the precious metals to adorn their palaces and temples. Many of these ornaments were exquisitely designed representations of human and other forms, and of plants, all fashioned with accuracy as to form and feature. They also had highly skilled cutters and polishers of precious stones, and used them to fashion images of brilliantly colored birds, serpents, lizards and other things, the stones being cut and arranged with as much skill as the most accom- plished artists of Paris and Amsterdam have ever exhibited.
Previous to the advent of the Incas there was another large and highly civilized nation that occupied Peru. Historians and ethnol- ogists have never found the name of this people, know nothing of their origin, and have to rest satisfied with referring to them as the pre-incarial nation, or nations. They had a civilization, a language, and a religion that were different from those of the incarial nation. That they lived in large cities is proven by the splendid architec- tural remains, sculptures, carvings and other specimens of art that have been viewed with amazement by archeologists who explored the ruins of these ancient cities. The most diligent efforts of scientific investigators have failed to disclose from what regions these pre- incarial nations came and from which race of mankind they sprang. Therefore they will have to be classed as a prehistorie race. just
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as have been the cave-dwellers of the Rocky Mountains and the mound-builders of the Mississippi Valley.
The Mexican and Peruvian aborigines, like the ancient Egypt- ians, made use of hieroglyphics instead of letters to record events and give expression to their languages. It is what has been termed picture writing, and the pictures used were representations of natural or artificial objects-such as celestial bodies, animals, fishes. reptiles, flowers, plants, the human form, works of art, and a num- erous variety of things. Among the Aztecs the women as well as the men were taught the art of reading and writing the hiero- glyphics. The women were also instructed in ciphering, singing and dancing, and even taught the secrets of astronomy and astrology. Their method of writing was so crude and grotesque and the system of notation so imperfect as to make them very inadequate for prac- tical purposes.
When it is known that the Mexican and Peruvian Indians acquired so many of the elements of civilization, it is hard to under- stand why their attainments were not extended to some of the many other tribes of their race that occupied or roamed over all sections of the North and South American continents. The various tribes, especially the Toltecs, who inhabited Central America, were evidently a useful connecting link for uniting the civilizations of Mexico and Peru; and it is probable that the Central American tribes imparted more than they received from their kindred nations of the Northern and Southern continents.
The civilizations of these three great nations of the American aborigines, the Toltecs, the Aztecs and the Peruvians, partook more of the nature of a refined barbarism than of the type of civilization that developed in Europe after the Christian era began; and they were very deficient in intellectual and moral force. There were several potential causes for these deficiences. One of these was the forms of their religions, which were fundamentally mythological and consequently active breeders of superstition. The religions of the native Mexicans and Peruvians were intensely superstitious; and conspired to make them seclusive or hermit nations, similar to Japan before its policy of isolation was destroyed by Commodore Perry in 1853.
Another reason for the restriction of the civilization of the Mexicans and Peruvians to their own nations was their failure to invent and make use of an alphabet. and their resultant inability
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to express themselves with words or a phonetie written language. Without an alphabet and a written language they could make no satisfactory record of important events that occurred in their national life; and, therefore, could not communicate what they had accumu- lated to neighboring tribes, or even transmit it to their own posterity. except by tradition.
Another very substantial reason why the Mexicans and Peru- vians did not reach a higher standard of civilization, nor impart what they had to other tribes of their race, was that they had no monetary system, no medium of exchange in the shape of metallic tokens that represented specific and intrinsie values. The vast quantities of silver and gold these peoples had accumulated during the centuries that preceded the Spanish conquests were used almost exclusively for ornamentation of their temples and palaces, for making images of their gods, and for ornaments for their person's. The Peruvians had no knowledge whatever of money and no medium of exchange; but the Aztees had a kind of currency which they used in connection with their barter transactions. It consisted of small pieces of tin stamped with a character like a T, bags of cacao (chocolate seeds), valued according to the size of the bags; and small transparent quills filled with gold dust. This currency sys- tem was not superior to that of the North American tribes who used shells and beads, called wampum. for money; and was no better than the coon-skin currency of the pioneer settlers of this country. Neither of the nations had any knowledge of numerals or figures for keeping accounts and business transactions, nor did they have a system of weights and measures.
The highest forms of civilization that existed among the nations of the Old World were developed by the peoples that were imbued with a spirit of commercialism; and who possessed the requisites for conducting business transactions, that is a written language, a monetary system and a knowledge of numerals. All historians who have studied and written about the ancient nations of the world have agreed that the Phoenecians were the first to become noted as a great commercial and maritime people, and to engage extensively in foreign commerce. At a very early period their trade in manu- factured articles and other products extended over the best known parts of the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is conceded that the Phoenecians were the first nation that invented and made practical use of an alphabet. which was destined to become the
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model for all European and American alphabets. Being the first to have an alphabet, the Phoeneeians were the first nation to have a written language and a literature. These acquisitions served to stimulate invention, give impulse to industry and generate a com- mercial spirit, thereby supplying the most essential factors for the building of a high and progressive civilization. The aboriginal inhabitants of Mexico and Peru did not have these indispensibles. Consequently the form of civilization they acquired was very imper- fect. It was purely instinctive, the outcome of natural impulse, rather than the evolvement of mental processes : and tended to make these greatest nations of the American Indians physically and mentally weak.
Three thousand years before the Spaniards invaded Mexico and Peru the Phoeneeians had established intimate commercial rela- tions with the Iberians and Celts who then inhabited Spain. A num - ber of colonies from Phoenecia were established on the seacoast of Iberia, now Spain. Thus there was infused into the inhabitants of Spain the elements of civilization that had made the Phoenecians rank first among the nations of ancient times. At the time Columbus became the discoverer of America, Spain was the leading com- mercial and maritime nation of Europe, and was the greatest mili- tary and naval power of the world. In addition to that which Spain had procured from the Phoenecians, she had received from the Arabs what are known by the distinctive name of Arabic Numerals, the nine figures or digits and the zero that have been used for cen- turies by nearly all civilized nations in their arithmetical calcu- lations.
The civilization of the Spaniards was of a very strong type, having been created by the intellectual development of its people, while that of the three greatest nations of the American race was superficial and weak. of spontaneous or instinctive growth. When these two entirely different forms of civilization met in mental and physical conflict the stronger, with its higher developed mental faculties. and trained soldiers. who were armed with cannon. guns. and swords and spears of tempered and polished steel, easily defeated the weaker people, burdened with pagan superstition and who were fighting with the same simple weapons their ancestors had used many centuries before.
It will not be amiss for the writer to here make known his reason for so freely discussing the types of civilization that existed among
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History of Tazewell County
the aborigines of Mexico and Peru when in their zenith. This has been done with a view of directing equal attention to the best forms of civilization that were found among some of the leading tribes of Indians who inhabited the North American Continent previous to its discovery and settlement by men of the white race. This will give opportunity, by comparison, to analyze and exemplify the wonderful accomplishments of the pioneer settlers, and the steady progress made by their descendants since Tazewell County became an organized society.
CHAPTER II.
NATIONS AND TRIBES NORTH OF MEXICO.
Philologists and historians have, without a dissenting voice, agreed that the North American Indians were divided into a number of distinct families ; and that each of these families was subdivided into numerous subordinate tribes. Every subordinate tribe had its own dialect; and it is known that more than five hundred different dialects were used by the aborigines. There were also many differ- ences in traditions, habits, and social forms among the numerous tribes.
THE ESKIMO.
So far as has been ascertained, the Eskimo ever since their tribal or family organizations were established have inhabited the Arctic regions of the North American Continent. They have had very sparse settlements above the sixtieth parallel of latitude, are scattered across the continent from Labrador to Alaska, and even extending to Siberia. The Eskimo also inhabit the Asiatic side of Behring's Strait; and the people on both sides of the strait are pronouncedly Mongolian in feature. Being the only family common to both continents, they are claimed by many ethnologists to be an indisputable link connecting the Mongols of Asia and the Indians of America.
The Eskimo are of medium stature but are very strong, and have great powers of endurance. Their skin is of a light brownish or yellow color and tinted with red on the exposed parts. They have small, well formed hands and feet, and their eyes, like nearly all the American tribes, have a Mongolian character, which confirms most ethnologists in the belief that they are of Asiatic origin. Their permanent settlements are so located as to be near the best hunting and fishing grounds. In summer time they hunt caribou, musk-ox. and different kinds of birds; and in the winter they subsist mainly on fish and sea mammals, principally the seal that abound in the Arctic regions.
The Eskimo are of a very peacable disposition, are very truthful, and remarkably honest, but are extremely lax in their practices of sexual morality. Their dwellings in the summer are made of deer or seal skins stretched over poles, and in the winter they make shal-
[15]
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low excavations in the earth and use either wood or whale ribs for a framework, which they cover with turf. Many of their winter huts are built with snow.
The social organization of this peculiar people is very loose, the village being the largest unit, while in matters of government each settlement is independent, a pure form of local self-govern- ment. There are no chiefs as found with the tribes of the American natives who lived south of the Eskimo. The men give their time to hunting and fishing, and the women perform all the hard labor. Though they are without anything like culture or education, they are said to be good draftsmen and carvers, and the people about Behring Strait do some painting.
The Eskimo have a strange religion. They believe that spirits exist in animals and even in inanimate objects. Their chief deity is an old woman who lives in the ocean and who controls storms and causes the seals to visit or stay away, as she may direct, from the shores these sea animals frequent. Many other ridiculous beliefs are held in connection with this old woman of the sea. The larger portion of the Eskimo of Greenland and Labrador have been converted to Christianity by Moravian and Danish missionaries ; and Russian missionaries for over a century have been working among the natives of Alaska. The Eskimo have been of great ser- vice to all explorers of the Artic regions. Recent estimates of the number of Eskimo living in North America place them at nearly thirty thousand.
THE ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
When the Europeans first discovered the North American Con- tinent and began to explore and make settlements on its coasts the Algonquians were one of the most prominent and powerful families of the red men. They occupied and roamed over an extensive terri- tory south of that inhabited by the Eskimo, including the greater part of Canada and nearly all that portion of the United States which lies north of the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude. Their territory is said to have reached from the eastern shore of New- foundland to the Rocky Mountains, and from Churchill River, in British North America, to Pamlico Sound. The population of the various tribes or nations of this family of the aborigines has been estimated in the aggregate at a quarter of a million when they first became known to men of the white race. Among the tribes of the
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Algonquians were the Shawnees, and also all the tribes that occupied Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, including those of the Powhatan Confederacy. Most of the Algonquin tribes were of an exceedingly nomadie disposition ; and were constantly moving from one hunting ground and river to others to indulge their passionate fondness for hunting and fishing, as well as to make sure of their supplies of food. The Shawnees were the most ardent rovers of the various Algonquian tribes; and, consequently. gave very little attention to agriculture or home-building. It is said that when the French and other Europeans began to settle in and about the territory of the Algonquians that this large family of the American race had already begun to decline in numbers; and was being greatly reduced by deadly diseases that practically wiped out entire subordinate tribes. This family of the aborigines is also reputed to have suffered more than any of their kindred nations from contact with the white men. They were easily duped and debauehed by the unscrupulous white traders who gave them "fire- water" in exchange for their furs and lands.
THE IIURON-IROQUOIS NATION.
A great nation known as the Huron-Iroquois inhabited territory within the bounds of that occupied by the Algonquian tribes when America was discovered by Columbus. It was a confederation of tribes of Algonquian origin. In the zenith of their power the Hurons exercised dominion over territory that extended from Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to Lakes Erie and Ontario, and south of these lakes extended on down to the Upper Ohio Valley, and eastward to the Sorell River.
The Huron-Iroquois Confederacy originally was composed of the following tribes, the Hurons (afterwards known as the Wyan- dots) who lived north of Lake Erie; the Eries and Andestas, who resided south of that lake; the Tuscaroras who went from North Carolina and rejoined their kindred in the north; the Senecas, Cayugas. Onondagas. Oneidas and Mohawks. The last mentioned five tribes constituted what was known as the Five Nations of New York, and later called the Six Nations after the Tuscaroras joined them in 1712.
The Six Nations occupied the central and western seetions of the State of New York, and had an estimated population of fifteen thousand. 'They were pronounced one of the most intelligent, enter- T.H .- 2
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prising and warlike aboriginal nations that occupied the north- eastern portion of the continent. Their villages were of respectable size and character, and each tribe was divided into families, and governed by sachems or chiefs. All matters that affected the general interests of the confederated tribes were considered and settled by a conference of all the chiefs of the confederacy. When the English colonists in 1776 revolted against the British Government, and while the war of the Revolution was in progress, the Iroquois became the allies of the British. They were influenced to pursue this course by the very unjust and cruel treatment they had received from the colonists. Led by Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, and Red Jacket, chief of the Senecas, the Iroquois inflicted some terrible blows upon the white settlements and gave much valuable assistance to the British armies that the American colonies were struggling against.
Toward the close of the eighteenth century most of the Iroquois tribes sold their lands in New York and gradually moved away. The Mohawks settled in Canada, and were afterwards joined there by a part of the Tuscaroras and parts of other tribes. Other por- tions of the several tribes eventually moved to western reservations or to Canada. A part of the Senacas went to the Indian Territory, now the State of Oklahoma. In 1917 there were 435 Senecas in that State under Federal Supervision. There were about 5,500 Iroquois living as an independent community in New York State in the year 1890. The report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1916, shows that the number of Indians then living in New York was 6,245, of whom 5,585 were under supervision of the New York Agency of the Federal Government.
South of the country inhabited by the Alogonquian tribes were the Cherokees. This nation and that of the Shawnees had so much to do with the history of the pioneer settlers of Southwest Virginia, and of Tazewell County, that it will be necessary for the writer to give these two more particular attention than any of the tribes mentioned. For this reason, that which shall be written about the Cherokees and Shawnees will be put in the closing chapters of the Aboriginal Period.
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