Historical evidence
CHAPTER II.
Similarity of the arts and customs of the mound-builders to
those of Indians
Architecture
Tribal divisions
Similarity in burial customs
Removal of the flesh before burial
Burial beneath or in dwellings
Burial in a sitting or squatting posture
The use of fire in burial ceremonies
Similarity of the stone implements and ornaments of various
tribes
Mound and Indian pottery
CHAPTER III.
Stone graves and what they teach
CHAPTER IV.
The Cherokees as mound-builders
CHAPTER V.
The Cherokees and the Tallegwi
INTRODUCTION.
No other ancient works of the United States have become so widely
known or have excited so much interest as those of Ohio. This is
due in part to their remarkable character but in a much greater
degree to the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," by
Messrs. Squier and Davis, in which these monuments are described
and figured.
The constantly recurring question, "Who constructed these works?"
has brought before the public a number of widely different
theories, though the one which has been most generally accepted is
that they originated with a people long since extinct or driven
from the country, who had attained a culture status much in
advance of that reached by the aborigines inhabiting the country
at the time of its discovery by Europeans.
The opinion advanced in this paper, in support of which evidence
will be presented, is that the ancient works of the State are due
to Indians of several different tribes, and that some at least of
the typical works, were built by the ancestors of the modern
Cherokees. The discussion will be limited chiefly to the latter
proposition, as the limits of the paper will not permit a full
presentation of all the data which might be brought forward in
support of the theory, and the line of argument will be
substantially as follows:
FIRST. A brief statement of the reasons for believing that the
Indians were the authors of all the ancient monuments of the
Mississippi Valley and Gulf States; consequently the Ohio mounds
must have been built by Indians.
SECOND. Evidence that the Cherokees were mound builders after
reaching their historic seats in East Tennessee and western North
Carolina. This and the preceding positions are strengthened by the
introduction of evidence showing that the Shawnees were the
authors of a certain type of stone graves, and of mounds and other
works connected therewith.
THIRD. A tracing of the Cherokees, by the mound testimony and by
tradition, back to Ohio.
FOURTH. Reasons for believing that the Cherokees were the Tallegwi
of tradition and the authors of some of the typical works of Ohio.
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE.
Space will not permit any review here of the various theories in
regard to the builders, or of the objections made to the theory
that they were Indians, or of the historical evidence adducible in
support of this theory. Simple declaration on these points must
suffice.
The historical evidence is clear and undisputed that when the
region in which the mounds appear was discovered by Europeans it
was inhabited by Indians only. Of their previous history nothing
is known except what is furnished by vague and uncertain
traditions or inferred from the study of their languages and
customs. On the other hand there is no historical or other
evidence that any other race or people than the Indians ever
occupied this region, or any part of it, previous to its discovery
by Europeans at the close of the fifteenth century.
We enter the discussion, therefore, with at least a presumption in
favor of the conclusion that these works were built by the
Indians--a presumption which has not received the consideration
it deserves; indeed, it is so strong that it can be overcome only
by showing that those mounds, or the specimens of art found in
them, which were unquestionably the work of the builders, indicate
an advancement in skill and knowledge entirely beyond that reached
by the Indians previous to contact with Europeans. But all the
genuine discoveries so far made in the explorations of the mounds
tend to disprove this view.
If it can be shown that tribes occupying the mound region at the
time they were first visited by Europeans used mounds, and in some
cases built them, it will be a fair inference that all these
structures are due to the same race until the contrary is proved.
The objection urged by many that the Indian has always been a
restless nomad, spurning the restraints of agriculture, has been
effectually answered, especially by Mr. Lucien Carr. [Footnote:
Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Historically Considered.] History
also bears us out in the assertion that at the time of the
discovery nine tenths of the tribes in the mound district had
fixed seats and local habitations, depending to a great extent for
sustenance upon the cultivation of the soil. So far as the
southern districts, now comprising the Gulf States, are concerned,
it goes further and asserts over and over again that the tribes of
that section were mound-builders when first encountered by the
whites. To verify this assertion it is only necessary to read the
chronicles of De Soto's expedition and the writings of the pioneer
travelers and French missionaries to that section. This evidence
proves conclusively not only that this had been a custom, but that
it was continued into the eighteenth century.
Such statements as the following, attested by various
contemporaneous authors, should suffice on this point:
The caciques of this country make a custom of raising near their
dwellings very high hills, on which they sometimes build their
houses. [Footnote: Biedma, Hist. Coll. La. vol. 2, p. 105.]
The Indians try to place their villages on elevated sites, but
inasmuch as in Florida there are not many sites of this kind where
they can conveniently build, they erect elevations themselves in
the following manner, etc. [Footnote: Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist.
Fla., ed. 1723, p. 69. ]
The chief's house stood near the beach upon a very high mount made
by hand for defense. [Footnote: Gentlemen of Elvas. Bradford Club
series, vol. 5, p. 23.]
The last, which was on Tampa Bay, was most likely near Phillippi's
Point, where tradition fixes De Soto's landing place, and where a
number of mounds and shell heaps have been found. One of these,
opened by Mr. S. T. Walker,[Footnote: Smithsonian Report, 1879
(1880), pp. 392-422.] was found to consist of three layers. In the
lower were "no ornaments and but little pottery, but in the middle
and top layers, especially the latter, nearly every cranium was
encircled by strings of colored beads, brass and copper ornaments;
trinkets, etc. Among other curious objects were a pair of scissors
and a fragment of looking-glass."
An earlier exploration is thus described: "The governor [De Soto]
opened a large temple in the woods, in which were buried the
chiefs of the country, and took from it a quantity of pearls which
were spoiled by being buried in the ground." [Footnote: Biedma.
Hist. Coll. La., vol. 2, p. 101.]
Another chronicler says: "This house stood on a high mound
(cerro), similar to others we have already mentioned. Round about
it was a roadway sufficiently broad for six men to walk abreast."
[Footnote: Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist. Fla., ed. 1723, p. 139.]
(There are good reasons for believing this to be the Etowah mound
near Cartersville, Ga.) [Footnote: Thomas, Mag. Am. Hist., May,
1884, pp. 405, 406.]
The town of Talise is described as being strong in the extreme,
inclosed by timber and earth. [Footnote: Garcilasso, Hist. Fla.,
p. 144.]
Herrera speaks of "a town of 400 houses, and a large square, where
the cacique's house stood upon a mound made by art." [Footnote:
Hist. Am., Stoven's transl., vol. 6, p. 5.]
Father Gravier [Footnote: Shea's Early French Voyages, pp. 126,
136.] speaks of mounds of the Akansea and "Tounika" villages.
M. La Harpe says "the cabins of the Yasous, Courois, Offogoula,
and Ouspie [along the Yazoo about 1700] are dispersed over the
country upon mounds of earth made with their own hands, from which
it is inferred that these nations are very ancient and were
formerly very numerous, although at the present time they hardly
number two hundred and fifty persons." [Footnote: Lu Rarpe, Hist.
Coll. La., part 3, p. 106, New York, 1851.] (This seems to imply
that there were numerous mounds unoccupied.) "In one of the
Natches villages," says Dumont, "the house of the chief was placed
on a mound." [Footnote: Mem. Hist. La., vol. 2, p. 109.]
Another writer says: "When the chief [of the Natchez] dies they
demolish his cabin and then raise a new mound on which they build
the cabin of him who is to replace him in this dignity."
[Footnote: La Petit, Hist. Coll. La., vol. 3, pp. 141, 142, note.
Also Lettres edifiantes et curioses, vol. 1, pp. 260, 261. See Du
Pratz. Histoire Louisiane, 1738, vol. 3, p. 16.]
According to Bartram, in the Cherokee town of Stico the council-
house was on a mound, as also at Cowe. [Footnote: Bartram's
Travels, pp. 345, 367.]
The same writer says [Footnote: Ibid., p. 516.] the Choctaws
raised mounds over their dead in case of communal burials.
It is apparent from Jefferson's language [Footnote: Notes on
Virginia. 4th Am ed., 1801, pp. 142-147.] that the burial mounds
of Virginia were of Indian origin.
These references, which might be indefinitely multiplied, are
sufficient to bear out the assertion that history testifies that
the southern tribes were accustomed to build mounds.
It is a matter of surprise that so little is to be found regarding
the mounds in the older records of the Northern States. There is
but one statement in the Jesuit Relations and no mention in the
writings of the Recollects, so far has been found, and yet one of
the missionaries must have passed a good portion of the winter of
1700 in the very midst of the Cahokia group. Colden notes that "a
round hill was sometimes raised over the grave in which a corpse
had been deposited." [Footnote: Hist. Five Nations, introd., vol.
1, London, 1755, p. 16.] Carver noticed ancient earthworks on the
Mississippi near Lake Pepin, but knew nothing of their origin.
[Footnote: Travels, ed. 1796, Phila., p. 36; ed. 1779, London, p.
57.] Heckewelder observed some of these works near Detroit, which
he was informed had been built by the Indians. An account of them
was published in a Philadelphia periodical in 1780 or 1790. This
description was afterwards given briefly in his "History of the
Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations."
These older records mention facts which afford a reasonable
explanation of some of the ancient monuments found in the northern
section of the country; as for example the communal or tribal
burials, where the bones and remains of all the dead of a village,
region, or tribe, who had died since the last general burial
(usually a period of eight to ten years) were collected and
deposited in one common grave. This method, which was followed by
some southern tribes, has been described by Bartram, [Footnote:
Travels (1791), p.516.] Dumont, [Footnote: Memoires Hist. La.,
vol. 1, p. 246.] Romans, [Footnote: Nat. and Civil Hist. Fla., pp.
88-90.] and others, but most fully by Jean deo Brebeuf. [Footnote:
In his account "Des ceremonies qu'ils [les Hurons] gardent en leur
sepulture et de leur deuil," and "De la Feste solemnelle des
morts."--Jesuit Relations for 1636, pp. 129-139. See translation
in Thomas's "Burial Mounds of the Northern Section of the United
States," Fifth Annual Rept. Bur. Ethnol., p. 110. See also
Lafitau, "Moeurs des Sauvages," vol. 2, pp. 447-455.]
It is a well-attested fact that northern as well as southern
Indians were accustomed to erect palisades around their villages
for defense against attack.
Some evidences of mound building by northern Indians may be found
in the works of comparatively modern writers. Lewis C. Beck
[Footnote: Gazetteer of the States of Ill. and Mo., p. 308.]
affirms that "one of the largest mounds in this country has been
thrown upon this stream [the Osage] within the last thirty or
forty years by the Osages, near the great Osage village, in honor
of one of their deceased chiefs." It is probable this is the mound
referred to by Major Sibley, [Footnote: Featherstoubaugh, Excur.
through Slave States, p. 70.] who says an Osage Indian informed
him that a chief of his tribe having died while all the men were
off on a hunt, he was buried in the usual manner, with his
weapons, etc., and a small mound was raised over him. When the
hunters returned this mound was enlarged at intervals, every man
carrying materials, and so the work went on for a long time, and
the mound, when finished, was dressed off to a conical form at the
top. The old Indian further said he had been informed, and
believed, that all the mounds had a similar origin.
Lewis and Clarke mention not only the erection of a mound over a
modern chief, but also numerous earthworks, including mounds,
which were known to be the work of contemporaneous Indians.
[Footnote: Travels, Dublin ed., 1817, pp. 30, 31, 55, 67, 115,
117, 122-125, etc.]
L. V. Bierce [Footnote: Historical Reminiscences of Summit County,
Ohio, p. 128.] states that when Nicksaw, an old Wyandotte Indian
of Summit County, was killed, "the Indians buried him on the
ground where he fell, and according to their custom raised a mound
over him to commemorate the place and circumstances of his death.
His grave is yet to be seen."
Another writer says: "It is related by intelligent Indian traders
that a custom once prevailed among certain tribes, on the burial
of a chief or brave of distinction, to consider his grave as
entitled to the tribute of a portion of earth from each passer-by,
which the traveler sedulously carried with him on his journey.
Hence the first grave formed a nucleus around which, in the
accumulation of the accustomed tributes thus paid, a mound was
soon formed." [Footnote: Smith's History of Wisconsin, vol. 3,
1834, p. 245.]
The same author says [Footnote: Ibid., p. 262.] the tumulus at the
Great Butte des Morts (Great Hill of the Dead) was raised over the
bones of Outagami (Fox Indian) warriors slain in battle with the
French in 1706.
According to a Winnebago tradition, mounds in certain localities
in Wisconsin were built by that tribe, and others by the Sacs and
Foxes.[Footnote: Wis. Hist. Soc., Rept. I, pp. 88, 89.]
There is another Indian tradition, apparently founded on fact,
that the Essex mounds in Clinton County, Mich., are the burying
places of those killed in a battle between the Chippewas and
Pottawatomies, which occurred not many generations ago. [Footnote:
Smithsonian Report, part 1, 1884, p. 848.]