STONE GRAVES AND WHAT THEY TEACH.
In order to state clearly the argument based upon these works it
is necessary to present a brief explanation.
There are several forms and varieties of stone graves or cists
found in the mound area, some being of cobble stones, others of
slabs; some round, others polygonal; some dome-shaped, others
square, and others box shaped, or parallelograms. Reference is
made at present only to the last mentioned--the box shaped type,
made of stone slabs. If the evidence shows that this variety is
found only in certain districts, pertains to a certain class of
works, and is usually accompanied by certain types of art, we are
warranted in using it as an ethnic characteristic, or as
indicating the presence of particular tribes. If it can be shown
that graves of this form are found in mounds attributed to the so-
called mound-builders, and that certain tribes of Indians of
historic times were also accustomed to bury in them, we are
warranted in assuming that there was a continuity of custom from
the mound-building age to historic times, or that graves found in
the mounds are probably attributable to the same people (or allied
tribes) found using them at a later date. This conclusion will be
strengthened by finding that certain peculiar types of art are
limited to the regions where these graves exist, and are found
almost exclusively in connection with them.
These graves, as is well known, are formed of rough and unhewn
slabs or flat pieces of stone, thus: First, in a pit some 2 or 3
feet deep and of the desired dimensions, dug for the purpose, a
layer of stone is placed to form the floor; next, similar pieces
are set on edge to form the sides and ends, over which other slabs
are laid flat, forming the covering, the whole when finished
making a rude, box-shaped coffin or sepulcher. Sometimes one or
more of the six faces are wanting; occasionally the bottom
consists of a layer of water-worn bowlders; sometimes the top is
not a single layer of slabs, but other pieces are laid over the
joints, and sometimes they are placed shingle-fashion. These
graves vary in length from 14 inches to 8 feet, and in width from
9 inches to 3 feet.
It is not an unusual thing to find a mound containing a number of
those cists arranged in two, three, or more tiers. As a general
rule, those not in mounds are near the surface of the ground, and
in some instances even projecting above it. It is probable that no
one who has examined them has failed to note their strong
resemblance to the European mode of burial. Even Dr. Joseph Jones,
who attributes them to some "ancient race," was forcibly reminded
of this resemblance, as he remarks:
In looking at the rude stone coffins of Tennessee, I have again
and again been impressed with the idea that in some former age
this ancient race must have come in contact with Europeans and
derived this mode of burial from them. [Footnote: Aboriginal
Remains of Tennessee, pp. 34,35]
The presence of stone graves of the type under consideration in
the vicinity of the site of some of the "over hill towns" of the
Cherokees on the Little Tennessee River, presented a difficulty in
the way of the theory here advanced, as it is well known that the
Cherokees and Shawnees were inveterate enemies from time
immemorial. But by referring to Schoolcraft's History of the
Indians the following statement solves the riddle and confirms the
theory:
A discontented portion of the Shawnee tribe from Virginia broke
off from the nation, which removed to the Scioto country, in Ohio,
about the year 1730, and formed a town known by the name of
Lulbegrud, in what in now Clark County [Kentucky], about 30 miles
east of this place [Lexington]. This tribe left this country about
1730 and went to East Tennessee, to the Cherokee Nation.
[Footnote: Vol. 1, p. 301.]
Some years ago Mr. George E. Sellers discovered near the salt
spring in Gallatin County, Ill., on the Saline River, fragments of
clay vessels of unusually large size, which excited much interest
in the minds of antiquarians, not only because of the size of the
vessels indicated by the fragments, but because they appeared to
have been used by some prehistoric people in the manufacture of
salt and because they bore impressions made by some textile
fabric. In the same immediate locality were also discovered a
number of box-shaped stone graves. That the latter were the work
of the people who made the pottery Mr. Sellers demonstrated by
finding that many of the graves were lined at the bottom with
fragments of these large clay "salt pans." [Footnote: Popular
Science Monthly, vol. II, 1877, pp. 573-584.]
Mention of this pottery had been made long previously by J. M.
Peck in his "Gazetteer of Illinois." [Footnote: 1834, p. 52.]
He remarks that "about the Gallatin and Big Muddy Salines large
fragments of earthenware are very frequently found under the
surface of the earth. They appear to have been portions of large
kettles used, probably, by the natives for obtaining salt."
The settlement of the Shawnees at Shawneetown, on the Ohio River,
in Gallatin County, in comparatively modern times, is attested not
only by history but by the name by which the town is still known.
There is evidence on record that there was an older Shawneetown
located at the very point where this "salt-kettle" pottery and
these stone graves were found. This is mentioned in the American
State Papers [Footnote: Public Lands, Class VIII, vol.2, p. 103,
Gales and Seaton ed.] in the report relating to the famous claim
of the Illinois and Wabash Land Companies. The deed presented was
dated July 20, 1773, and recorded at Kaskaskia, September 2, 1773.
In this mention is made of the "ancient Shawnee town" on Saline
Creek, the exact locality of the stone graves and suit-kettle
pottery. The modern Indian village at Shawneetown on the Ohio
River had not then come into existence, and was but in its prime
in 1806, when visited by Thomas Ashe. [Footnote: Travels in
America, 1808, p. 265.]
As proof that the people of this tribe were in the habit of making
salt the following evidence is presented: Collins, in his "History
of Kentucky", [Footnote: Vol. 2, p. 55.] gives an account of the
capture and adventures of Mrs. Mary Ingals, the first white woman
known to have visited Kentucky. In this narrative occurs the
following statement:
The first white woman in Kentucky was Mrs. Mary Ingals, nee
Draper, who, in 1756 with her two little boys, her sister-in-law,
Mrs. Draper, and others was taken prisoner by the Shawnee Indians,
from her home on the top of the great Allegheny ridge, is now
Montgomery County, W. Va. The captives were taken down the
Kanawha, to the salt region, and, after a few days spent in making
salt, to the Indian village at the mouth of Scioto River.
By the treaty of Fort Wayne, June 7, 1803, between the Delawares,
Shawnees, and other tribes and the United States, it was agreed
that in consideration of the relinquishment of title to "the great
salt spring upon the Saline Creek, which falls into the Ohio below
the mouth of the Wabash, with a quantity of laud surrounding it,
not exceeding 4 miles square," the United States should deliver
"yearly, and every year for the use of said Indians, a quantity of
salt not exceeding 150 bushels." [Footnote: Treaties of United
States with Indian tribes, p. 97.]
Another very significant fact in this connection is that the
fragments of large earthen vessels similar in character to those
found in Gallatin County, Ill., have also been found in connection
with the stone graves of the Cumberland Valley, and, furthermore,
the impressions made by the textile fabrics show the same stitches
as do the former. Another place where pottery of the same kind has
been found is about the salt-lick near Saint Genevieve, Mo., a
section inhabited for a time by Shawnees and Delawares. [Footnote:
C.C. Royce in American Antiquarian, vol. 3, 1881, pp. 188, 189.]
Stone graves have been found in Washington County, Md. [Footnote:
Smithsonian Report for 1882 (1884), p. 797.] History informs us
that there were two Shawnee settlements in this region, one in the
adjoining county of Maryland (Allegany), and another in the
neighborhood of Winchester, Va. [Footnote: C. C. Royce in American
Antiquarian, vol. 3, 1881, p. 186. Virginia State Papers, 1. p.
63.]
Mr. W. M. Taylor [Footnote: Smithsonian Report for 1877, p. 307.
Mentions only known instance of mound with Delaware Village.]
mentions some stone graves of the type under consideration as
found on the Mahoning River, in Pennsylvania. An important item in
this connection is that these graves were in a mound. He describes
the mound as 35 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, having on one
side a projection 35 feet long of the same height as the mound.
Near by a cache was discovered containing twenty one iron
implements, such as axes, hatchets, tomahawks, hoes, and wedges.
He adds the significant statement that near the mound once stood
the Indian (Delaware) village of Kush-kush-kee.
Graves of the same type have been discovered in Lee County, Va.
[Footnote: Eleventh Report of the Peabody Museum, 1878, p. 208.]
Others have been found in a mound on the Tennessee side, near the
southern boundary of Scott County, Va. Allusion has already been
made to the occasional presence of the Shawnees in this region. In
the map of North America by John Senex, Chaonanon villages are
indicated in this particular section.
The presence of these graves in any part of Ohio can easily be
accounted for on the theory advanced, by the well-known fact that
both Shawnees and Delawares were located at various points in the
region, and during the wars in which they were engaged were moving
about from place to place; but the mention of a few coincidences
may not be out of place.
In the American Antiquarian for July, 1881, is the description of
one of these cists found in a mound in the eastern part of
Montgomery County. Mr. Royce, in the article already referred to,
states that there was a Shawnee village 3 miles north of Xenia, in
the adjoining county, on Mad River, which flows into the Miami a
short distance above the location of the mound.
Stone graves have been found in great numbers at various points
along the Ohio from Portsmouth to Ripley, a region known to have
been occupied at various times by the Shawnees.
Similar graves have been discovered in Ashland County. [Footnote:
Smithsonian Report for 1877, pp. 261-267.] These, as will be seen
by reference to the same report (page 504), are precisely in the
locality of the former Delaware villages.
The evidence is deemed sufficient to show that the Shawnees and
Delawares were accustomed to bury in stone graves of the type
under consideration, and to indicate that the graves found south
of the Ohio are to be attributed to the former tribe and those
north to both tribes.
As graves of this kind are common over the west side of southern
Illinois, from the month of the Illinois to the junction of the
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, attention is called to some evidence
bearing on their origin.
Hunter, who traveled in the West, says that some of the Indians he
met with during his captivity buried their dead in graves of this
kind.
According to a statement made by Dr. Rau to Mr. C. C. Jones, and
repeated to me personally, "it is a fact well remembered by many
persons in this neighborhood [Monroe County, III.] that the
Indians who inhabited this region during the early part of the
present century (probably Kickapoos) buried their dead in stone
coffins." [Footnote: Antiquities So. Indians, p. 220.]
Dr. Shoemaker, who resided on a farm near Columbia, in 1861,
showed Dr. Rau, in one of his fields, the empty stone grave of an
Indian who had been killed by one of his own tribe and interred
there within the memory of some of the farmers of Monroe County.
An old lady in Jackson County informed one of the Bureau
assistants that she had seen an Indian buried in a grave of this
kind.
It is doubtful whether Dr. Rau is correct in ascribing these
graves to the Kickapoos, as their most southern locality appears
to have been in the region of Sangamon County. [Footnote:
Reynolds's Hist. Illinois, p. 20.] It is more probable they were
made by the Kaskaskias, Tamaroas, and Cahokias. Be this as it may,
it is evident that they are due to some of the tribes of this
section known as Illinois Indians, pertaining to the same branch
of the Algonquin family as the Shawnees and Delawares.
That the stone graves of southern Illinois were made by the same
people who built those of the Cumberland Valley, or closely allied
tribes, is indicated not only by the character of the graves but
by other very close and even remarkable resemblances in the
construction and contents as well as in the form and size of the
mounds; the presence of hut-rings in both localities, and the
arrangement of the groups.
Taking all the corroborating facts together there are reasonable
grounds for concluding that graves of the type now under
consideration, although found in widely-separated localities, are
attributable to the Shawnee Indians and their congeners, the
Delawares and Illinois, and that those south of the Ohio are due
entirely to the first named tribe. That they are the works of
Indians must be admitted by all who are willing to be convinced by
evidence.
The fact that in most cases (except when due to the Delawares, who
are not known to have been mound-builders) the graves are
connected with mounds, and in many instances are in mounds,
sometimes in two, three, and even four tiers deep, proves beyond a
doubt that the authors of these graves were mound-builders.
The importance and bearing of this evidence does not stop with
what has been stated, for it is so interlocked with other facts
relating to the works of the "veritable mound-builders" as to
leave no hiatus into which the theory of a lost race or a "Toltec
occupation" can possibly be thrust. It forms an unbroken chain
connecting the mound-builders and historical Indians which no
sophistry or reasoning can break. Not only are these graves found
in mounds of considerable size, but they are also connected with
one of the most noted groups in the United States, namely, the one
on Colonel Tumlin's place, near Cartersville, Ga., known as the
Etowah mounds, of which a full description will be found in the
Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
In the smallest of the three large mounds of this group were found
stone graves of precisely the type attributable, when found south
of the Ohio, to the Shawnees. They were not in a situation where
they could be ascribed to intrusive burials, but in the bottom
layer of a comparatively large mound with a thick and undisturbed
layer of hard-packed clay above them. It is also worthy of notice
that the locality is intermediate between the principal seat of
the Shawnees in the Cumberland Valley, and their extreme eastern
outposts in northeastern Georgia, where both tradition and stone
graves indicate their settlement. The tradition regarding this
settlement has been given elsewhere. [Footnote: Am. Antiq, vol. 7,
1885, p. 133]
In these graves were found the remarkable figured copper plates
and certain engraved shells, of which mention has been made by Mr.
W. H. Holmes [Footnote: Science, vol. 3, 1884, pp. 436-438.] and
by myself [Footnote: Ibid., pp. 779-785.] in Science. It is a
singular corroboration of the theory here advanced that the only
other similar copper plates were found at Lebanon, Tenn., by Prof.
F. W. Putnam; in a stone grave in a mound at Mill Creek, southern
Illinois, by Mr. Earle; in a stone grave in Jackson County, Ill.,
by Mr. Thing; in a mound of Madison County, Ill., by Mr. H. R.
Howland; and in a small mound at Peoria, Ill., by Maj. J. W.
Powell. All, except the specimens found by Professor Putnam and
Mr. Howland, were secured by the Bureau of Ethnology, and are now
in the National Museum.
There can be but little doubt that the specimens obtained from
simple stone graves by Professor Putnam and Mr. Thing are to be
attributed to Indian burials, but surely not to Indian
manufacture.
We have, therefore, two unbroken chains connecting the Indians of
historic times with the "veritable mound builders," and the facts
which form the links of these chains throw some additional light
on the history of that mysterious people, the Shawnees.
It may be stated here that in the report relating to the claim of
the Wabash Land Company [Footnote: American State Papers, Land
Affairs, Appendix, p. 20.] is a statement giving a list of
articles furnished the Indians, among which we notice nine ear
wheels. These we suppose to be the same as the spool shaped ear
ornaments found in stone graves and elsewhere.
The engraved shells also form a link which not only connects the
mound-builders with historic times but corroborates the view
advanced in regard to the Shawnees, and indicates also that the
Cherokees were mound-builders. But before introducing this we will
give the reasons for believing that the mounds of eastern
Tennessee and western North Carolina are due to the last-named
tribe.