Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
3. If a man have a horse stolen, and overtake the thief, and should
1893 words | Chapter 14
his anger be so great as to cause him to shed his blood, let it
remain on his own conscience, but no satisfaction shall be required
for his life, from his relative or clan he may have belonged to.
By order of the seven clans. [214]
Under an agreement with the Cherokee in 1813 a company composed
of representatives of Tennessee, Georgia, and the Cherokee nation
was organized to lay out a free public road from Tennessee river to
the head of navigation on the Tugaloo branch of Savannah river, with
provision for convenient stopping places along the line. The road was
completed within the next three years, and became the great highway
from the coast to the Tennessee settlements. Beginning on the Tugaloo
or Savannah a short distance below the entrance of Toccoa creek,
it crossed the upper Chattahoochee, passing through Clarkesville,
Nacoochee valley, the Unicoi gap, and Hiwassee in Georgia; then
entering North Carolina it descended the Hiwassee, passing through
Hayesville and Murphy and over the Great Smoky range into Tennessee,
until it reached the terminus at the Cherokee capital, Echota,
on Little Tennessee. It was officially styled the Unicoi turnpike,
[215] but was commonly known in North Carolina as the Wachesa trail,
from Watsi'sa or Wachesa, a prominent Indian who lived near the
crossing-place on Beaverdam creek, below Murphy, this portion of the
road being laid out along the old Indian trail which already bore
that name. [216]
Passing over for the present some negotiations having for their
purpose the removal of the Cherokee to the West, we arrive at the
period of the Creek war.
Ever since the treaty of Greenville it had been the dream of Tecumtha,
the great Shawano chief (33), to weld again the confederacy of the
northern tribes as a barrier against the further aggressions of
the white man. His own burning eloquence was ably seconded by the
subtler persuasion of his brother, who assumed the role of a prophet
with a new revelation, the burden of which was that the Indians must
return to their old Indian life if they would preserve their national
existence. The new doctrine spread among all the northern tribes and
at last reached those of the south, where Tecumtha himself had gone
to enlist the warriors in the great Indian confederacy. The prophets
of the Upper Creeks eagerly accepted the doctrine and in a short time
their warriors were dancing the "dance of the Indians of the lakes." In
anticipation of an expected war with the United States the British
agents in Canada had been encouraging the hostile feeling toward the
Americans by talks and presents of goods and ammunition, while the
Spaniards also covertly fanned the flame of discontent. [217] At the
height of the ferment war was declared between this country and England
on June 28, 1812. Tecumtha, at the head of fifteen hundred warriors,
at once entered the British service with a commission as general,
while the Creeks began murdering and burning along the southern
frontier, after having vainly attempted to secure the cooperation of
the Cherokee.
From the Creeks the new revelation was brought to the Cherokee, whose
priests at once began to dream dreams and to preach a return to the
old life as the only hope of the Indian race. A great medicine dance
was appointed at Ustanali, the national capital, where, after the
dance was over, the doctrine was publicly announced and explained by
a Cherokee prophet introduced by a delegation from Coosawatee. He
began by saying that some of the mountain towns had abused him and
refused to receive his message, but nevertheless he must continue to
bear testimony of his mission whatever might happen. The Cherokee had
broken the road which had been given to their fathers at the beginning
of the world. They had taken the white man's clothes and trinkets,
they had beds and tables and mills; some even had books and cats. All
this was bad, and because of it their gods were angry and the game was
leaving their country. If they would live and be happy as before they
must put off the white man's dress, throw away his mills and looms,
kill their cats, put on paint and buckskin, and be Indians again;
otherwise swift destruction would come upon them.
His speech appealed strongly to the people, who cried out in great
excitement that his talk was good. Of all those present only Major
Ridge, a principal chief, had the courage to stand up and oppose it,
warning his hearers that such talk would inevitably lead to war with
the United States, which would end in their own destruction. The
maddened followers of the prophet sprang upon Ridge and would have
killed him but for the interposition of friends. As it was, he was
thrown down and narrowly escaped with his life, while one of his
defenders was stabbed by his side.
The prophet had threatened after a certain time to invoke a
terrible storm, which should destroy all but the true believers,
who were exhorted to gather for safety on one of the high peaks of
the Great Smoky mountains. In full faith they abandoned their bees,
their orchards, their slaves, and everything that had come to them
from the white man, and took up their toilsome march for the high
mountains. There they waited until the appointed day had come and
passed, showing their hopes and fears to be groundless, when they
sadly returned to their homes and the great Indian revival among the
Cherokee came to an end. [218]
Among the Creeks, where other hostile influences were at work, the
excitement culminated in the Creek war. Several murders and outrages
had already been committed, but it was not until the terrible massacre
at Fort Mims (34), on August 30, 1813, that the whole American nation
was aroused. Through the influence of Ridge and other prominent
chiefs the Cherokee had refused to join the hostile Creeks, and
on the contrary had promised to assist the whites and the friendly
towns. [219] More than a year before the council had sent a friendly
letter to the Creeks warning them against taking the British side in
the approaching war, while several prominent chiefs had proposed to
enlist a Cherokee force for the service of the United States. [220]
Finding that no help, was to be expected from the Cherokee, the Creeks
took occasion to kill a Cherokee woman near the town of Etowah, in
Georgia. With the help of a conjurer the murderers were trailed and
overtaken and killed on the evening of the second day in a thicket
where they had concealed themselves. After this there could be no
alliance between the two tribes. [221]
At the time of the Fort Mims massacre McIntosh (35), the chief of
the friendly Lower Creeks, was visiting the Cherokee, among whom he
had relatives. By order of the Cherokee council he was escorted home
by a delegation under the leadership of Ridge. On his return Ridge
brought with him a request from the Lower Creeks that the Cherokee
would join with them and the Americans in putting down the war. Ridge
himself strongly urged the proposition, declaring that if the prophets
were allowed to have their way the work of civilization would be
destroyed. The council, however, decided not to interfere in the
affairs of other tribes, whereupon Ridge called for volunteers, with
the result that so many of the warriors responded that the council
reversed its decision and declared war against the Creeks. [222]
For a proper understanding of the situation it is necessary to state
that the hostile feeling was confined almost entirely to the Upper
Creek towns on the Tallapoosa, where the prophets of the new religion
had their residence. The half-breed chief, Weatherford (36), was the
leader of the war party. The Lower Creek towns on the Chattahoochee,
under McIntosh, another half-breed chief, were friendly, and acted
with the Cherokee and the Americans against their own brethren.
It is not our purpose to give a history of the Creek war, but only to
note the part which the Cherokee had in it. The friendly Lower Creeks,
under McIntosh, with a few refugees from the Upper towns, operated
chiefly with the army under General Floyd which invaded the southern
part of the Creek country from Georgia. Some friendly Choctaw and
Chickasaw also lent their assistance in this direction. The Cherokee,
with some friendly Creeks of the Upper towns, acted with the armies
under Generals White and Jackson, which entered the Creek country from
the Tennessee side. While some hundreds of their warriors were thus
fighting in the field, the Cherokee at home were busily collecting
provisions for the American troops.
As Jackson approached from the north, about the end of October, 1813,
he was met by runners asking him to come to the aid of Pathkiller,
a Cherokee chief, who was in danger of being cut off by the hostiles,
at his village of Turkeytown, on the upper Coosa, near the present
Center, Alabama. A fresh detachment on its way from east Tennessee,
under General White, was ordered by Jackson to relieve the town,
and successfully performed this work. White's force consisted of one
thousand men, including four hundred Cherokee under Colonel Gideon
Morgan and John Lowrey. [223]
As the army advanced down the Coosa the Creeks retired to
Tallaseehatchee, on the creek of the same name, near the present
Jacksonville, Calhoun county, Alabama. One thousand men under General
Coffee, together with a company of Cherokee under Captain Richard Brown
and some few Creeks, were sent against them. The Indian auxiliaries
wore headdresses of white feathers and deertails. The attack was
made at daybreak of November 3, 1813, and the town was taken after
a desperate resistance, from which not one of the defenders escaped
alive, the Creeks having been completely surrounded on all sides. Says
Coffee in his official report:
They made all the resistance that an overpowered soldier could
do--they fought as long as one existed, but their destruction
was very soon completed. Our men rushed up to the doors of the
houses and in a few minutes killed the last warrior of them. The
enemy fought with savage fury and met death with all its horrors,
without shrinking or complaining--not one asked to be spared,
but fought as long as they could stand or sit.
Of such fighting stuff did the Creeks prove themselves, against
overwhelming numbers, throughout the war. The bodies of nearly two
hundred dead warriors were counted on the field, and the general
reiterates that "not one of the warriors escaped." A number of women
and children were taken prisoners. Nearly every man of the Creeks had
a bow with a bundle of arrows, which he used after the first fire with
his gun. The American loss was only five killed and forty-one wounded,
which may not include the Indian contingent. [224]
White's advance guard, consisting chiefly of the four hundred other
Cherokee under Morgan and Lowrey, reached Tallaseehatchee the same
evening, only to find it already destroyed. They picked up twenty
wounded Creeks, whom they brought with them to Turkeytown. [225]
The next great battle was at Talladega, on the site of the present
town of the same name, in Talladega county, Alabama, on November 9,
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