USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 7
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Henrico College, which was founded in 1618, was intended to be used as much for the education of Indian youths as for the whites. In 1619 the council of Jamestown declared its desire and purpose to educate the Indian children in religion, a civil course of life, and in some useful trade. But the benevolent professions and intentions of the early settlers at Jamestown were destroyed by greed; and a cruel policy of extermination of the natives was substituted for that of education and regeneration of the poor "infidels and savages." The pioneers who settled-beyond the mountains in Virginia imbibed this spirit of extermination from the inhabitants who lived east of
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the Blue Ridge, and drove the natives from the country they had so long loved and occupied as hunting grounds.
After the government of the United States was organized, va- rious Christian organizations established seeular day and boarding schools among the Indians. The Roman Catholics, Moravians, and Friends were the pioneers in this work. Later on the Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and other less prominent denominations also took up the work. When the War Department was created in 1789, Indian affairs were committed to that depart- ment of the Federal Government, and remained there until 1849, when the Indian Bureau was transferred to the Department of the Interior.
General Knox, Secretary of War under Washington's adminis- tration, made an urgent appeal for industrial education of the Indians; and President Washington united with Knox in the recom- mendation. It seems that the Knox plan was adopted on a small scale; and, in a message to Congress in 1801, President Adams men- tioned the success of the effort "to introduce among the Indians the implements and practices of husbandry and the household arts." In 1819 Congress made its first appropriation of $10,000 for Indian education, and provided that superintendents and agents to distri- bute and apply the money should be nominated by the President.
In the year 1825 there were 23 Indian schools receiving govern- ment aid. The first contract school was established on the Tulalip reservation, in the State of Washington, in 1869, but not until 1873 were government schools proper provided. The Handbook of American Indians, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, says: "In the beginning there were only day schools, later boarding schools on the reservations, and finally boarding schools remote from them. The training in all the schools was designed to bring the Indians nearer to civilized life, with a view to ultimate citizenship by enabling them to assimilate the speech, industrial life, family organ- ization, social manners and customs, civil government, knowledge, modes of thinking, and ethical standards of the whites."
More than three centuries have passed sinee the benignant promise of bringing "the infidels and savages to human civility and a settled and quiet government" was written into the first char- ter for Virginia issued by James I; and the promise is now being successfully carried out by the Federal Government. This is aecom- plished through government schools for the Indians. The scheme
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being used by the Indian Office is "to teach the pupils English, arithmetic, geography, and United States history, and also to train them in farming and the care of stock and in trade as well as gym- ·nastics." For this training, day, boarding, and training schools are maintained. numbering in the aggregate 253, with 2,300 em- ployees, and an annual expenditure of $5,000,000.
INDIAN MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
There was much diversity in the marriage customs of the aboriginal tribes of North America. Though they were so com- pletely removed from what is known as refined civilization, their marital practices were of unusual merit, much superior to those of other barbarian nations. Whilst polygamy was permissible with a few of the tribes, monogamy was almost the universal practice with the nations who inhabited that part of the continent east of the Mississippi. The clan or gentile systems prevailed among all these tribes. These systems were adopted to prevent the physical and mental deterioration of a tribe which would follow the repeated marriage of those who were of near kinship.
When a youthful Indian wanted to get married he would seek a girl who was a competent housewife, and the girl would select for her mate one who was a skilled hunter. Courtship in all the tribes of the Algonquian family were practically conducted alike. The parents of the young couple would generally arrange the marriage, though the young men in some instances were allowed to conduct their own courtship. Among the Delawares the mother would take the presents of game killed by her son to the parents of the girl and receive gifts in return from them. Then, a conference would take place between the relations of the young lovers, and, if a mar- riage was agreed upon, the exchange of presents would be continued for some time. It is more than probable that all these rude cere- monials were merely formal ; and that the lovers had frequent happy meetings before and while their relations were arranging for the marriage.
Marriages among the Iroquois were arranged by the mothers without the knowledge and consent of the young folks. Though the marriage bond was loose, adultery was held to be a serious crime. Divorce was easily effected, but was not considered creditable. A husband could put away his wife whenever he found fault with her, and a wife could separate from her husband with like ease. If the
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divorcees had children, the offspring went with the wife. Divorces were not as common among the savages as they are now among the English-speaking nations, the American Nation in particular, which boasts of superior Christian civilization.
Like all other races the Indians had both happy and unhappy marriages. Infidelities of a husband sometimes drove his faithful wife to suicide; and the faithless wife was without protection, and if her husband insulted or disfigured her, or even killed her, no protest was made by her relations or other members of the tribe.
AMUSEMENTS.
The primitive Indians were of sombre mien and sedate manner. but they had their amusements just as the white races have always had theirs. The dance was almost universal with the American tribes. Their dances were mostly ceremonial, of religion and of war, but they also had the social danee. When not engaged in hunt- ing or on the warpath, much of their time was occupied with dane- ing, gaming and story-telling. From Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the border of the plains, the great athletic game was the ball play, now adopted among the civilized games under the name of lacrosse. Athletes were regularly trained for this game, both for tribal and intertribal contests. Roosevelt. who got his information from John Bartram, the great American botanist who visited the Cherokees in 1773, says this about the game:
"The Cherokees were a bright, intelligent race, better fitted to 'follow the white man's road' than any other Indians. Like their neighbors they were exceedingly fond of games of chance and skill, as well as of athletic sports. One of the most striking of their national amusements was the kind of ball play from which we derive the game of lacrosse. The implements consisted of ball stieks or rackets, two feet long, strung with raw-hide webbing, and of a deer-skin ball, stuffed with hair, so as to be solid, and about the size of a base ball. Sometimes the game was played by fixed numbers, sometimes by all the young men of a village; and there were often tournaments between different towns and even different tribes. The contests excited the most intense interest, were waged with desperate resolution, and were preceded by solemn dances.
"The Cherokees were likewise very fond of dances. Sometimes these were comic or lascivious, sometimes they were religious in
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their nature, or were undertaken prior to starting on the war-trail. Often the dances of the young men and maidens were very pictur- esque. The girls, dressed in white, with silver bracelets and gorgets, and a profusion of gay ribbons, danced in a circle in two ranks; the young warriors, clad in their battle finery, danced in a ring around them ; all moving in rythmic step, as they kept time to the antiphonal chanting and singing, the young men and girls responding alter- nately to each other."
The warriors and boys of nearly all the tribes amused themselves at target practice with arrows, knives, or hatchets, thrown from the hand, and with both the bow and rifle. Games resembling dice and hunt-the-button were played by both sexes, most generally in the wigwams during the long winter nights.
The women had special games, such as shinny, football, and the deer-foot game. Football was not played by the Rugby Rules, but the main object was to keep the ball in the air as long as possible by kicking it upward. The deer-foot game was played with a num- ber of perforated bones that were taken from a deer's foot. They were strung upon a beaded cord, with a necdle at one end of the cord. The bones were tossed in such a way as to catch a particular one upon the end of the needle. The children also had ample amuse- ments. They had target shooting, stilts, slings and tops for the boys, and buckskin dolls and playing house for the girls, with "Wolf" or "catcher", and several forfeit plays, including a breath holding test.
RELIGION OF THE INDIANS.
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." This emphatic proclamation by the Psalmist of the mental deficiency of the atheist was not and is not applicable to the North American Indians. They did not strive through mental processes to establish the existence of a first Great Cause, or a self-existent Supreme Being; but with simple, child-like faith they believed that an invis- ible Almighty Person controlled the heavens and the earth. To him they directed their spiritual thoughts as the source of all power, and they worshipped him as the Great Spirit. They believed that this Great Spirit entered into, directed and dominated everything throughout the Universe; and that he was present everywhere, all the time; ruling the elements, protecting and caring for the obedient and good, and punishing the disobedient and wicked.
Though the traditions of none of the Indian tribes or families T.H .- 5
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tell of any direct revelation made to men by the Great Spirit, their faith was as strong in the existence of a Supreme Being and a future life for man after death as is that held by any of the raees who worship the God of Abraham, or the God Man, Jesus Christ. To the Indians the mysteries of Life and Light were emblems of Life Eternal. In an address delivered at Boston on the 4th of July, 1825, Charles Sprague, in protraying the characteristics of the North American Indians, thus eloquently spoke of their religious instincts :
"Here, too, they worshipped, and from many a dark bosom went up a fervent prayer to the Great Spirit. He had not written his laws for them on tables of stone, but he had traced them on the tables of their hearts. The poor child of nature knew not the God of Revelation, but the God of the universe he acknowledged in everything around. He beheld him in the star that sank in beauty behind his lonely dwelling; in the sacred orb that flamed on him from his midday throne; in the flower that snapped in the morning breeze ; in the lofty pine that defied a thousand whirlwinds; in the timid warbler that never left its native grove; in the fearless eagle, whose untired pinion was wet in elouds; in the worm that crawled at his feet; and in his own matehless form, glowing with a spark of that light, to whose mysterious source he bent in humble though blind adoration."
Moralists and scientists have tried in vain to fathom thie depths of the moral and religious tenets of the untutored American aborig- ines. These simple children of nature, who were as ferocious as the beasts of the jungle when grappling with their foes, in the presence of the God whom they worshipped were as humble and reverent as the most eultured and devout expositors of the enlightened religions of the world. The moral law was given to the Israelites by direct revelation from Jehovah; and was transmitted through his son, Jesus Christ, to the Gentile nations. It was given to the Indians by the inspiration or visitation of the Holy Spirit; and this was why the wild red men of the American forests and plains recognized God's presence in every grandly mysterious or beautiful thing in nature. It was a faith that emanates from the contact of spirit with spirit, the spirit of the Living God touching and enlivening the spirit of the creature, man. Truly has it been written:
"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform."
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The religious concepts of the North American tribes were more materialistic than rationalistic. They tried to reach the super- natural through the natural, impelled to this by a belief that there is a magic or inherent power in natural objects more potent than the natural powers of man. This idea of a magic power is a funda- mental concept of all the Indian tribes; and they believe that the strange power exists in visible and invisible objects, in animals, men, spirits, deities, and so forth. The Algonquian tribes called it manito, or manitou; with the Sioux tribes it is known as wakanda; and the Iroquois call it orenda.
The aborigines used the word manito to express the unknown powers of life and of the universe. In the vocabulary of the white man manito means spirit-either good, bad, or indifferent. To the Indians the name also signifies, god, or devil, guardian spirit, and so forth.
Most of the tribes believed in tutelary or patron spirits-a belief which strongly resembles the Christian concept of guardian angel. The manito of the individual Indian is supposed to invest him with magic power, and with it abilities to become a successful hunter, warrior, priest, or to imbue him with power to acquire wealth and success in winning the love of women. And the means used by the red men to control or influence the powers of nature were very much like those adopted by the white races. One of these was the use of charms, as still employed by superstitious and ignorant white persons. Another medium was prayer, which the Indian either directed to his individual protecting spirit, or to the supreme powers of nature. They also used ceremonial songs of a peculiar rhythm when making appeals to the supernatural, just as the Jews sing psalms and the Christians sing hymns and anthems in their services.
Among the Indians generally there was a strong conviction that if the supernatural powers were offended by the sin or sins of a particular individual, the powers could be propitiated by punish- ment of the offender. This was accomplished by driving the offend- ing individual from the tribe, by killing him, or the appeasement could be effected by a milder form of punishment. The milder form was most generally used.
The Indians believe that disease is caused by the presence of a material evil object in the body of the diseased person, or is due to absence of the soul from the body. Such a belief will not appear so unreasonable when we remember that Christ healed maniacs and
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epileptics by casting out the devils that were in the poor unfortu- nates. In their efforts to cure diseases, the Indians employ their medicine-men, who claim to procure their powers for healing from or through their guardian spirits. The medicine-man, or shaman works himself into a state of excitement by singing, by using a drum and rattle, and by dancing. The Indians, who are very superstitious, also believe in witchcraft, and that hostile shamans can bring disease to the bodies of their enemies, and may even abduct their souls. So believing, the aborigines made witchcraft a great crime; and punished the witch, but not more severely than did the Puritan fanatics of New England.
The Indians as a racc have rejected the great spiritual verities that Christ planted in his Church nineteen hundred years ago. Why have they refused to accept a religion that is so exalted in its purity, and that awakens not only the holiest emotions but is pillared on the profoundest reason of which man is capable of exercising? Why do the red men scornfully turn away from a religion that teaches the highest moral standards, and that is filled with the elemental principles of truth, justice, charity and righteousness? There is not much trouble in finding an answer to these questions. The white men came among the Indians professing to have a religion that had been revealed to them by the Great Spirit. They tendered the simple natives the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Golden Rule as divine revelations to men. These the white men professed to believe and to practice. Naturally the aborigines made the practices of the so-called Christians the touchstone by which to test not only the sincerity of the white man's professions, but to fathom the quality of the new religion that was brought from beyond the seas. The Spanish discoverers and conquerors, and the French and English colonists, each and all, came to the New World proclaiming their desire and purpose to convert the heathen natives to Christianity. But the great human passions-greed of gold, and lust of pleasure in its most sensuous forms-not only caused them to desecrate the holy banner they bore aloft, but to violate every precept of the Decalogue. the Sermon on the Mount, and the Golden Rule. They murdered and robbed the Indians, destroyed and drove them from their homes, and dishonored their women. Their crimes were not confined to the poor natives; but they oppressed, killed and robbed each other; frequently assigning their fanatical religious
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beliefs as a justification for committing the vilcst crimes against men and women of their own racc. Menendez, the Spanish brute, massacred the entire colony of French Huguenots on the St. John's River in Florida, offering as an excuse for the crime that they were Protestants, or heretics ; the Cavaliers of the Anglican Church in Vir- ginia outlawed the dissenters, the Baptists and Presbyterians, and drove them from the colony to North Carolina and Maryland; and the Puritan Calvinists of Massachusetts and the other New England colonies organized at Boston a military force which was sent to Nova Scotia to destroy the homes and drive into exile the French inhabitants of Acadia. Bancroft says: "Seven thousand of these banished people were driven on board ships and scattered among the English colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia ; one thousand to South Carolina alone." Their houses and barns were destroyed with the torch, and large numbers of cattle, hogs, sheep, and horses were forcibly taken and divided as spoils among the English officers. The annals of the human race record no fouler crime than the one which the men of England and New England committed upon the defenceless French inhabitants of Acadia, who were made objects of cruel vengeance, because as they declared: "We have been true to our religion, and true to ourselves." The Christian religion is pure and holy, and should be accepted by all men; but is it any wonder that the North American Indians rejected, and still reject it, after witnessing its perverted exemplification by the brutal white men who claimed to be Christians?
.
Period of Discovery and Colonization
Relating the Discoveries and Conquests of the Spaniards, and the Discoveries and Settle- ments of the French and English in America.
PERIOD OF DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION
CHAPTER I.
SPANISH AND FRENCII DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS.
In the preparation of a purely local history much trouble is experienced by a writer in selecting, from many collated facts, the things most important and only essential as a prelude to the dis- cussion of the particular subject of which he intends to write. This difficulty has confronted the writer while preparing to write the Pioneer Period of Tazewell County. Most of the local historians of this country have considered it necessary to introduce in the opening chapters of their books a considerable amount of informa- tion about the first discoveries of the North American Continent; and also to write much of the performances of the first settlers on its shores. Our historians in Virginia, both State and local, have followed this course with such thoroughness and so admirably that it seemed useless for another to repeat what they have already done so well. But I have found it necessary to enlarge upon the plan outlined in my "Announcement" and have added another Period, which I will call "The Period of Discovery and Colonization." This will be seen to be an important necessary link to connect the Aboriginal with the Pioneer Period.
As to those who have been reputed the very first discoverers of the New World, there is as much of fable as of reasonable fact. It has been claimed, and generally accepted as true, that the first white men who ever caught sight of the Western Continent were with a Norse navigator who had the name of Herjulfson. He was sail- ing from Iceland to Greenland A. D. 986, was caught in a storm, and was driven westward to Newfoundland or Labrador. Herjulf- son saw the shores of a new country but made no attempt to go on shore. Upon his return to Greenland, he and his companions told wonderful stories of the new land they had seen in the west.
E. Benjamin Andrews in his history of the United States says: "It is a pleasing narrative, that of Lief Ericson's sail in 1000-1001 to Helluland, Markland, and at last to Vineland, and of the subse- quent tours of Thorwald Ericson in 1002, Thorfinn Karlsefue, 1007-1009, and of Helge and Finnborge in 1011 to points still farther away. Such voyages probably occurred. As is well known.
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Helluland has been interpreted to be Newfoundland; Markland, Nova Scotia ; and Vineland, the country bordering Mount Hope Bay in Bristol, R. I. These identifications are possibly correct, and even if they are mistaken, Vineland may still have been somewhere upon the coast of what is now the United States."
As these stories are said to have been taken from Icelandic manuscripts of the fourteenth century, without any substantial supporting evidence being found on this continent, there is grave doubt whether the sea-rovers from the North ever made any pro- longed stay on American soil. Therefore it is claimed that Christ- opher Columbus should be accorded the honor of being the first discoverer of America. Columbus made his first voyage of discovery in 1492, and landed on the island he named San Salvador on the 12th of October of that ycar. Before returning to Spain he dis- covered Cuba and Hayti and built a fort on the latter island. In 1493 he made a second voyage from Spain, starting out from Cadiz. This expedition was not completed until 1496, and during its prog- ress he discovered the Lesser Antilles, Porto Rico, and Jamaica. In a third voyage, made in 1498-1500, he found Trinidad and reached the mainland of South America at the mouth of the Orinoco River. On his second voyage he had established a colony in Hayti and appointed his brother governor. Upon his return from the South American coast he found the colony in Hayti in a badly dis- organized condition. He was attempting to restore order when he was seized by Francisco de Bobadilla, who had been sent from Spain to investigate charges of maladministration against Columbus. The great navigator was put in chains and sent back to Spain but the king repudiated the act of Bobadilla, set Columbus free, and started him on his fourth voyage in search of the Indies. This voyage resulted in nothing more than explorations along the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Disappointed with the results of his last undertaking, he returned to Spain and found that Queen Isabella, his great friend and patron, was dead. Friendless and neglected, he died May 20th, 1505, and became famous to future generations. It is a remarkable fact that Columbus never placed his feet on the North American Continent. He died without knowing that he had discovered a new continent, and claimed till the last that he had reached the coast of India. Columbus had, he believed, accom- plished the chief purpose of his perilous voyages, that is, gained access to the rich treasures of the Indies. He was a devout Catholic
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and a cordial hater of the Turk, whom he wished to drive from Europe and the Holy Land. John Fiske in his very interesting book, "Old Virginia And Her Neighbors", says:
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