Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual...

Tuscarora—The Tuscarora, a southern tribe of the Iroquoian stock, formerly occupied an extensive territory upon Neuse river and its branches, in eastern North Carolina, and, like their northern cousins, seem to have assumed and exercised a certain degree of authority over all the smaller tribes about them. As early as 1670 Lederer described the Tuscarora “emperor” as the haughtiest Indian he had ever met. About the year 1700 Lawson estimated them at 1,200 warriors (6,000 souls?) in 15 towns. In 1711 they rose against the whites, one of their first acts of hostility being the killing of Lawson himself, who was engaged in surveying lands which they claimed as their own. In a struggle extending over about two years they were so terribly decimated that the greater portion fled from Carolina and took refuge with their kinsmen and friends, the Iroquois of New York, who were henceforth known as the Six Nations. The so-called “friendly” party, under Chief Blount, was settled upon a small reservation north of Roanoke river in what is now Bertie county, North Carolina. Here they gradually decreased by disease and emigration to the north, until the few who were left sold their last remaining lands in 1804. The history of the tribe after the removal to the north is a part of the history of the Iroquois or Six Nations. They number now about 750, of whom about 380 are on the Tuscarora reservation in New York, the others upon the Grand River reservation in Ontario.

Xuala, Suwali, Sara or Cheraw—For the identification and earliest notices of the Sara see historical note 8, “De Soto’s Route.” Their later history is one of almost constant hostility to the whites until their final incorporation with the Catawba, with whom they were probably cognate, about the year 1720. In 1743 they still preserved their distinct language, and appear to be last mentioned in 1768, when they numbered about 50 souls living among the Catawba. See Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East, bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1894.

Catawba—The origin and meaning of this name, which dates back at least two centuries, are unknown. It may possibly come from the Choctaw through the Mobilian trade jargon. They call themselves Nieye, which means simply “people” or “Indians.” The Iroquois call them and other cognate tribes in their vicinity Toderigh-rono, whence Tutelo. In the seventeenth century they were often known as Esaw or Ushery, apparently from iswă′, river, in their own language. The Cherokee name Ata′gwa, plural Ani′ta′gwa, is a corruption of the popular form. Their linguistic affinity with the Siouan stock was established by Gatschet in 1881. See Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East.

105.The southern and western tribes (p. 382): The Creek confederacy—Next in importance to the Cherokee, among the southern tribes, were the Indians of the Creek confederacy, occupying the greater portion of Georgia and Alabama, immediately south of the Cherokee. They are said to have been called Creeks by the early traders on account of the abundance of small streams in their country. Before the whites began to press upon them their tribes held nearly all the territory from the Atlantic westward to about the watershed between the Tombigby and the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers, being cut off from the Gulf coast by the Choctaw tribes, and from the Savannah, except near the mouth, by the Uchee, Shawano, and Cherokee. About the year 1800 the confederacy comprised 75 towns, the people of 47 of which were the Upper Creeks, centering about the upper waters of the Alabama, while those of the remaining 28 were the Lower Creeks, upon the lower Chattahoochee and its branches (Hawkins). Among them were represented a number of tribes formerly distinct and speaking distinct languages. The ruling tribe and language was the Muscogee (plural, Muscogûlgee), which frequently gave its name to the confederacy. Other languages were the Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee, Taskigi, Uchee, Natchee, and Sawanugi or Shawano. The Muscogee, Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee, and Taskigi (?) belonged to the Muskhogean stock, the Alabama and Koasati, however, being nearer linguistically to the Choctaw than to the Muscogee.

The Hichitee represent the conquered or otherwise incorporated Muskhogean tribes of the Georgia coast region. The Apalachi on Appalachee bay in Florida, who were conquered by the English about 1705 and afterward incorporated with the Creeks, were dialectically closely akin to the Hichitee; the Seminole also were largely an offshoot from this tribe. Of the Taskigi all that is known has been told elsewhere (see number 105).

The Uchee, Natchee, and Sawanugi were incorporated tribes, differing radically in language from each other and from the Muskhogean tribes. The territory of the Uchee included both banks of the middle Savannah, below the Cherokee, and extended into middle Georgia. They had a strong race pride, claiming to be older in the country than the Muscogee, and are probably identical with the people of Cofitachiqui, mentioned in the early Spanish narratives. According to Hawkins, their incorporation with the Creeks was brought about in consequence of intermarriages about the year 1729. The Natchee or Natchez were an important tribe residing in lower Mississippi, in the vicinity of the present town of that name, until driven out by the French about the year 1730, when most of them took refuge with the Creeks, while others joined the Chickasaw and Cherokee. The Sawanugi were Shawano who kept their town on Savannah river, near the present Augusta, after the main body of their tribe had removed to the north about 1692. They probably joined the Creeks about the same time as their friends, the Uchee. The Uchee still constitute a compact body of about 600 souls in the Creek Nation, keeping up their distinct language and tribal character. The Natchee are reduced to one or two old men, while the Sawanugi have probably lost their identity long ago.

According to Morgan, the Muscogee proper, and perhaps also their incorporated tribes, have 22 clans. Of these the Wind appears to be the leading one, possessing privileges accorded to no other clan, including the hereditary guardianship of the ancient metal tablets which constitute the palladium of the tribe. By the treaty of Washington in 1832, the Creeks sold all of their remaining lands in their old country and agreed to remove west of the Mississippi to what is now the Creek Nation in the Indian Territory. The removal extended over a period of several years and was not finally accomplished until 1845. In 1898 the citizen population of the Creek Nation numbered 14,771, of whom 10,014 were of Indian blood and the remainder were negroes, their former slaves. It appears that the Indian population included about 700 from other tribes, chiefly Cherokee. There are also about 300 Alabama, “Cushatta” (Koasati), and Muscogee in Texas. See also Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country; Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; Adair, History of the American Indians; Bartram, Travels; The Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of the Eleventh Census; Wyman, in Alabama Historical Society Collections.

Chickasaw—This tribe, of Muskhogean stock, formerly occupied northern Mississippi and adjacent portions of Alabama and Tennessee, and at an early period had incorporated also several smaller tribes on Yazoo river in central Mississippi, chief among which were the cognate Chokchuma. The name occurs first in the De Soto narrative. The Chickasaw language was simply a dialect of Choctaw, although the two tribes were hereditary enemies and differed widely in character, the former being active and warlike, while the latter were notoriously sluggish. Throughout the colonial period the Chickasaw were the constant enemies of the French and friends of the English, but they remained neutral in the Revolution. By the treaty of Pontotoc in 1832 they sold their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remove to Indian Territory, where they are now organized as the Chickasaw Nation. According to Morgan they have 12 clans grouped into two phratries. In 1890, the citizen population of the Nation (under Chickasaw laws) consisted of 3,941 full-blood and mixed-blood Chickasaw, 681 adopted whites, 131 adopted negroes, and 946 adopted Indians from other tribes, chiefly Choctaws. Under the present law, by which citizenship claims are decided by a Government commission, “Chickasaw by blood” are reported in 1898 to number 4,230, while “white and negro” citizens are reported at 4,818. See also Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; The Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of Eleventh Census.

The Choctaw confederacy—This was a loose alliance of tribes, chiefly of Muskhogean stock, occupying southern Alabama and Mississippi, with the adjacent Gulf coast of western Florida and eastern Louisiana. The Choctaw proper, of Muskhogean stock, occupying south central Mississippi, was the dominant tribe. Smaller tribes more or less closely affiliated were the Mobilian, Tohome, Mugulasha, Pascagoula, Biloxi, Acolapissa, Bayagoula, Houma, with others of less note. It had been assumed that all of these were of Muskhogean stock until Gatschet in 1886 established the fact that the Biloxi were of Siouan affinity, and it is quite probable that the Pascagoula also were of the same connection. All the smaller tribes excepting the Biloxi were practically extinct, or had entirely lost their identity, before the year 1800.

The Choctaw were one of the largest of the eastern tribes, being exceeded in numbers, if at all, only by the Cherokee; but this apparent superiority was neutralized by their unwarlike character and lack of cohesion. According to Morgan, whose statement has, however, been challenged, they had eight clans grouped into two phratries. There was also a geographic division into “Long towns,” “Potato-eating towns,” and “Six towns,” the last named differing considerably in dialect and custom from the others. By treaties in 1820 and 1830 the Choctaw sold all their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remove to Indian Territory, where they now constitute the Choctaw Nation. A considerable number of vagrant Choctaw who had drifted into Louisiana and Arkansas at an early period have since joined their kindred in Indian Territory, but from 1,000 to 2,000 are still scattered along the swampy Gulf coast of Mississippi. In 1890 those of pure or mixed Choctaw blood in the Choctaw Nation were officially reported to number 10,211. In 1899, under different conditions of citizenship, the “Choctaw by blood” were put at 14,256, while the adopted whites and negroes numbered 5,150. See also Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; The Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of Eleventh Census.

The Osage—The popular name is a corruption of Ouasage, the French spelling of Wasash, the name used by themselves. The Osage were the principal southern Siouan tribe, claiming at one time nearly the whole territory from the Missouri to the Arkansas and from the Mississippi far out into the plains. Their geographic position brought them equally into contact with the agricultural and sedentary tribes of the eastern country and the roving hunters of the prairie, and in tribal habit and custom they formed a connecting link between the two. Whether or not they deserved the reputation, they were considered by all their neighbors as particularly predatory and faithless in character, and had consequently few friends, but were generally at war with all tribes alike. They made their first treaty with the Government in 1808. In 1825 they ceded all their claims in Missouri and Arkansas, together with considerable territory in what is now Kansas. They have decreased terribly from war and dissipation, and are now, to the number of about 1,780, gathered upon a reservation in Oklahoma just west of the Cherokee and south of the Kansas line.

106.The Giants from the west (p. 391): This may be an exaggerated account of a visit from some warriors of a taller tribe from the plains, where it is customary to pluck out the eyebrows and to wear the hair in two long side pendants, wrapped round with otter skin and reaching to the knees, thus giving a peculiar expression to the eyes and an appearance of tallness which is sometimes deceptive. The Osage warriors have, however, long been noted for their height.

With the exception of Tsulʻkalû′ there seem to be no giants in the mythology of the Cherokee, although all their woods and waters are peopled by invisible fairy tribes. This appears to be characteristic of Indian mythologies generally, the giants being comparatively few in number while the “little people” are legion. The Iroquois have a story of an invasion by a race of stony-skinned cannibal giants from the west (Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 266). Giant races occur also in the mythologies of the Navaho (Matthews, Navaho Legends), Choctaw (Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend), and other tribes. According to the old Spanish chroniclers, Ayllon in 1520 met on the coast of South Carolina a tribe of Indians whose chiefs were of gigantic size, owing, as he was told, to a special course of dieting and massage to which they were subjected in infancy.

107.The lost Cherokee (p. 391): This tradition as here given is taken chiefly from the Wahnenauhi manuscript. There is a persistent belief among the Cherokee that a portion of their people once wandered far to the west or southwest, where they were sometimes heard of afterward, but were never again reunited with their tribe. It was the hope of verifying this tradition and restoring his lost kinsmen to their tribe that led Sequoya to undertake the journey on which he lost his life. These traditional lost Cherokee are entirely distinct from the historic emigrants who removed from the East shortly after the Revolution.

Similar stories are common to nearly all the tribes. Thus the Kiowa tell of a chief who, many years ago, quarreled over a division of game and led his people far away across the Rocky mountains, where they are still living somewhere about the British border and still keeping their old Kiowa language. The Tonkawa tell of a band of their people who in some way were cut off from the tribe by a sudden inroad of the sea on the Texas coast, and, being unable to return, gradually worked their way far down into Mexico. The Tuscarora tell how, in their early wanderings, they came to the Mississippi and were crossing over to the west side by means of a grapevine, when the vine broke, leaving those on the farther side to wander off until in time they became enemies to those on the eastern bank. See Mooney, Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians, Seventeenth Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology, part 1, and The Last of Our Cannibals, in Harper’s Magazine, August, 1901; Cusick, quoted in Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois, p. 478.

108.The massacre of the Ani′-Kuta′ni (p. 392): Swimmer, Ta′gwădihĭ′, Ayâsta, and Wafford all knew this name, which Ayâsta pronounced Ani′-Kwăta′nĭ, but none of them could tell anything more definite than has been stated in the opening sentence. The hereditary transmission of priestly dignities in a certain clan or band is rather the rule than the exception Among the tribes, both east and west.

109.The war medicine (p. 393): The first two paragraphs are from Wafford, the rest from Swimmer. The stories are characteristic of Indian belief and might be paralleled in any tribe. The great Kiowa chief, Set-ängya, already mentioned, was—and still is—believed by his tribe to have possessed a magic knife, which he carried in his stomach and could produce from his mouth at will. The Kiowa assert that it was this knife, which of course the soldiers failed to find when disarming him, with which he attacked the guard in the encounter that resulted in his death.

110.Incidents of personal heroism (p. 394): The incident of the fight at Waya gap is on the authority of the late Maj. James Bryson, of Dillsboro, North Carolina, born in 1818, who had it from his great-uncle, Daniel Bryson, a member of Williamson’s expedition.

Speaking of the Cherokee “War Women,” who were admitted to the tribal councils, Timberlake says (Memoirs, p. 70): “The reader will not be a little surprised to find the story of Amazons not so great a fable as we imagined, many of the Indian women being as famous in war as powerful in the Council.”

111.The mounds and the constant fire: The old sacred things (p. 395): What is here said concerning the mounds, based chiefly upon Swimmer’s recital, is given solely as a matter of popular belief, shaped by tribal custom and ritual. The question of fact is for the archeologist to decide. The Indian statement is of value, however, in showing the supposed requirements for the solemn consecration of an important work.

A note by John Howard Payne upon the sacred square of the Creeks, as observed by him in 1835, just before his visit to the Cherokee, may throw further light on the problem: “In the center of this outer square was a very high circular mound. This, it seems, was formed from the earth accumulated yearly by removing the surface of the sacred square thither. At every Green-corn festival the sacred square is strewn with soil yet untrodden; the soil of the year preceding being taken away, but preserved as above explained. No stranger’s foot is allowed to press the new earth of the sacred square until its consecration is complete” (Letter of 1835 in Continental Monthly, New York, 1862, p. 19). See note on the sacred fire.

Conjured with disease—The practice of conjuring certain favorite spots in order to render them fatal to an invading enemy was common to many if not to all tribes. One of the most terrible battles of the Creek war was fought upon the “Holy ground,” so called because it was believed by the Indians that in consequence of the mystic rites which had been performed there for that purpose by their prophets, no white troops could set foot upon it and live.

The sacred fire—The method described for producing fire and keeping it constantly smoldering in the townhouse appears to have been that actually in use in ancient times, as indicated by the name given to the plant (atsil′-sûñtĭ), and corroborated by the unanimous testimony of the old people. All the older East Cherokee believe that the ancient fire still burns within the mounds at Franklin and Bryson City, and those men who were stationed for a time near the latter place while in the Confederate service, during the Civil war, assert that they frequently saw the smoke rising from the adjacent mound.

The missionary Buttrick, from old Cherokee authority, says: “They were obliged to make new fire for sacred purposes by rubbing two pieces of dry wood together, with a certain weed, called golden rod, dry, between them.... When their enemies destroyed the house in which this holy fire was kept, it was said the fire settled down into the earth, where it still lives, though unknown to the people. The place where they lost this holy fire is somewhere in one of the Carolinas” (Antiquities, p. 9).

The general accuracy of Swimmer’s account is strikingly confirmed by the description of the New-fire ceremony given more than half a century before by John Howard Payne, the poet, who had gone among the Cherokee to study their ethnology and was engaged in that work when arrested, together with John Ross, by the Georgia guard in 1835. He makes the kindling of the new fire a part of the annual spring festival. At that time, says Payne, “the altar in the center of the national heptagon [i.e. townhouse] was repaired. It was constructed of a conical shape, of fresh earth. A circle was drawn around the top to receive the fire of sacrifice. Upon this was laid, ready for use, the inner bark of seven different kinds of trees. This bark was carefully chosen from the east side of the trees, and was clear and free from blemish.” After some days of preliminary purification, sacrifice, and other ceremonial performances, the day appointed for the kindling of the new fire arrived.

“Early in the morning the seven persons who were commissioned to kindle the fire commenced their operations. One was the official fire-maker; the remaining six his assistants. A hearth was carefully cleared and prepared. A round hole being made in a block of wood, a small quantity of dry golden-rod weed was placed in it. A stick, the end of which just fitted the opening, was whirled rapidly until the weed took fire. The flame was then kindled on the hearth and thence taken to every house by the women, who collectively waited for that purpose. The old fires having been everywhere extinguished, and the hearths cleansed, new fires were lighted throughout the country, and a sacrifice was made in each one of them of the first meat killed afterwards by those to whom they respectively belonged.”—Payne MS, quoted in Squier, Serpent Symbol, pp. 116–118.

Similar ceremonies were common to many tribes, particularly the southern tribes and the Pueblos, in connection with the annual kindling of the sacred new fire. See Adair, History of the American Indians; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, quoted by Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; Bartram, Travels; Fewkes, The New-fire Ceremony at Walpi, in American Anthropologist for January, 1900; Squier, Serpent Symbol. Going beyond our own boundaries it may be said briefly that fire worship was probably as ancient as ritual itself and well-nigh as universal.

Wooden box—The sacred ark of the Cherokee is described by Adair (History of the American Indians, pp. 161–162), and its capture by the Delawares is mentioned by Washburn (Reminiscences, pp. 191, 221), who states that to its loss the old priests of the tribe ascribed the later degeneracy of their people. They refused to tell him the contents of the ark. On this subject Adair says:

“A gentleman who was at the Ohio in the year 1756 assured me he saw a stranger there very importunate to view the inside of the Cheerake ark, which was covered with a drest deerskin and placed on a couple of short blocks. An Indian centinel watched it, armed with a hiccory bow and brass-pointed barbed arrows; and he was faithful to his trust, for finding the stranger obtruding to pollute the supposed sacred vehicle, he drew an arrow to the head, and would have shot him through the body had he not suddenly withdrawn. The interpreter, when asked by the gentleman what it contained, told him there was nothing in it but a bundle of conjuring traps. This shews what conjurers our common interpreters are, and how much the learned world have really profited by their informations.”

Such tribal palladiums or “medicines,” upon which the existence and prosperity of the tribe are supposed to depend, are still preserved among the plains Indians, the sacred receptacle in each case being confided to the keeping of a priest appointed for the purpose, who alone is privileged to undo the wrappings or expose the contents. Among these tribal “medicines” may be mentioned the sacred arrows of the Cheyenne, the “flat pipe” of the Arapaho, the great shell of the Omaha, and the taime image of the Kiowa (see reference in the author’s Ghost-dance Religion and Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians).

White peace pipe—This statement concerning the ancient seven-stem peace pipe carved from white stone is given on the authority of Swimmer, who said that the stone was procured from a quarry near the present town of Knoxville, Tennessee. A certain district of western North Carolina has recently acquired an unenviable reputation for the manufacture of spurious “Indian pipes,” ostensibly taken from the mounds, carved from soapstone and having from three to half a dozen stem-holes encircling the bowl.

Turtle drum—This statement is on the authority of Wafford, who had talked with men who claimed to have known those who had seen the drum. He was not positive as to the town, but thought it was Keowee. It is believed that the drum was hidden by the Indians, in anticipation of their speedy return, when the country was invaded by Williamson in 1776, but as the country was never recovered by the Cherokee the drum was lost.

116.The star feathers (p. 399): This story was obtained from John Ax, with additional details from Chief Smith and others, to whom it was equally familiar. It is told as an actual happening in the early days, before the Indian had much acquaintance with the whites, and is thoroughly characteristic of the methods of medicine-men. The deception was based upon the Cherokee belief that the stars are living creatures with feathers (see number 9, “What the Stars are Like”).

The Indian has always been noted for his love of feather decorations, and more than any from his native birds he prized the beautiful feathers of the peacock whenever it was possible to procure them from the whites. So far back as 1670 Lederer noted of a South Carolina tribe: “The Ushery delight much in feather ornament, of which they have great variety; but peacocks in most esteem, because rare in these parts” (Travels, p. 32, ed. 1891).

117.The mother bear’s song (p. 400): The first of these songs was obtained from Ayâsta, and was unknown to Swimmer. The second song was obtained also from Ayâsta, who knew only the verses, while Swimmer knew both the verses and the story which gives them their setting.