It remains to speak of the eastern band of Cherokee--the remnant which
still clings to the woods and waters of the old home country. As
has been said, a considerable number had eluded the troops in the
general round-up of 1838 and had fled to the fastnesses of the high
mountains. Here they were joined by others who had managed to break
through the guard at Calhoun and other collecting stations, until
the whole number of fugitives in hiding amounted to a thousand or
more, principally of the mountain Cherokee of North Carolina, the
purest-blooded and most conservative of the Nation. About one-half
the refugee warriors had put themselves under command of a noted
leader named U'tsala, "Lichen," who made his headquarters amid the
lofty peaks at the head of Oconaluftee, from which secure hiding
place, although reduced to extremity of suffering from starvation
and exposure, they defied every effort to effect their capture.
The work of running down these fugitives proved to be so difficult
an undertaking and so well-nigh barren of result that when Charley
and his sons made their bold stroke for freedom [408] General Scott
eagerly seized the incident as an opportunity for compromise. To this
end he engaged the services of William H. Thomas, a trader who for
more than twenty years had been closely identified with the mountain
Cherokee and possessed their full confidence, and authorized him to
submit to U'tsala a proposition that if the latter would seize Charley
and the others who had been concerned in the attack upon the soldiers
and surrender them for punishment, the pursuit would be called off and
the fugitives allowed to stay unmolested until an effort could be made
to secure permission from the general government for them to remain.
Thomas accepted the commission, and taking with him one or two
Indians made his way over secret paths to U'tsala's hiding place. He
presented Scott's proposition and represented to the chief that by
aiding in bringing Charley's party to punishment according to the
rules of war he could secure respite for his sorely pressed followers,
with the ultimate hope that they might be allowed to remain in their
own country, whereas if he rejected the offer the whole force of the
seven thousand troops which had now completed the work of gathering
up and deporting the rest of the tribe would be set loose upon his
own small band until the last refugee had been either taken or killed.
U'tsala turned the proposition in his mind long and seriously. His
heart was bitter, for his wife and little son had starved to death on
the mountain side, but he thought of the thousands who were already on
their long march into exile and then he looked round upon his little
band of followers. If only they might stay, even though a few must
be sacrificed, it was better than that all should die--for they had
sworn never to leave their country. He consented and Thomas returned
to report to General Scott.
Now occurred a remarkable incident which shows the character of Thomas
and the masterly influence which he already had over the Indians,
although as yet he was hardly more than thirty years old. It was
known that Charley and his party were in hiding in a cave of the Great
Smokies, at the head of Deep creek, but it was not thought likely that
he could be taken without bloodshed and a further delay which might
prejudice the whole undertaking. Thomas determined to go to him and
try to persuade him to come in and surrender. Declining Scott's offer
of an escort, he went alone to the cave, and, getting between the
Indians and their guns as they were sitting around the fire near the
entrance, he walked up to Charley and announced his message. The old
man listened in silence and then said simply, "I will come in. I don't
want to be hunted down by my own people." They came in voluntarily and
were shot, as has been already narrated, one only, a mere boy, being
spared on account of his youth. This boy, now an old man, is still
living, Wasitû'na, better known to the whites as Washington. [409]
A respite having thus been obtained for the fugitives, Thomas next went
to Washington to endeavor to make some arrangement for their permanent
settlement. Under the treaty of New Echota, in 1835, the Cherokee
were entitled, besides the lump sum of five million dollars for the
lands ceded, to an additional compensation for the improvements which
they were forced to abandon and for spoliations by white citizens,
together with a per capita allowance to cover the cost of removal and
subsistence for one year in the new country. The twelfth article had
also provided that such Indians as chose to remain in the East and
become citizens there might do so under certain conditions, each head
of a family thus remaining to be confirmed in a preemption right to
160 acres. In consequence of the settled purpose of President Jackson
to deport every Indian, this permission was canceled and supplementary
articles substituted by which some additional compensation was allowed
in lieu of the promised preemptions and all individual reservations
granted under previous treaties. [410] Every Cherokee was thus made
a landless alien in his original country.
The last party of emigrant Cherokee had started for the West in
December, 1838. Nine months afterwards the refugees still scattered
about in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee were reported
to number 1,046. [411] By persistent effort at Washington from 1836 to
1842, including one continuous stay of three years at the capital city,
Thomas finally obtained governmental permission for these to remain,
and their share of the moneys due for improvements and reservations
confiscated was placed at his disposal, as their agent and trustee,
for the purpose of buying lands upon which they could be permanently
settled. Under this authority he bought for them, at various times
up to the year 1861, a number of contiguous tracts of land upon
Oconaluftee river and Soco creek, within the present Swain and Jackson
counties of North Carolina, together with several detached tracts in
the more western counties of the same state. The main body, upon the
waters of Oconaluftee, which was chiefly within the limits of the
cession of 1819, came afterward to be known as the Qualla boundary,
or Qualla reservation, taking the name from Thomas' principal trading
store and agency headquarters. The detached western tracts were
within the final cession of 1835, but all alike were bought by Thomas
from white owners. As North Carolina refused to recognize Indians as
landowners within the state, and persisted in this refusal until 1866,
[412] Thomas, as their authorized agent under the Government, held the
deeds in his own name. Before it was legally possible under the state
laws to transfer the title to the Indians, his own affairs had become
involved and his health impaired by age and the hardships of military
service so that his mind gave way, thus leaving the whole question
of the Indian title a subject of litigation until its adjudication by
the United States in 1875, supplemented by further decisions in 1894.
To Colonel William Holland Thomas the East Cherokee of to-day
owe their existence as a people, and for half a century he was as
intimately connected with their history as was John Ross with that of
the main Cherokee Nation. Singularly enough, their connection with
Cherokee affairs extended over nearly the same period, but while
Ross participated in their national matters Thomas gave his effort
to a neglected band hardly known in the councils of the tribe. In
his many-sided capacity he strikingly resembles another white man
prominent in Cherokee history, General Sam Houston.
Thomas was born in the year 1805 on Raccoon creek, about two miles
from Waynesville in North Carolina. His father, who was related to
President Zachary Taylor, came of a Welsh family which had immigrated
to Virginia at an early period, while on his mother's side he was
descended from a Maryland family of Revolutionary stock. He was
an only and posthumous child, his father having been accidentally
drowned a short time before the boy was born. Being unusually bright
for his age, he was engaged when only twelve years old to tend an
Indian trading store on Soco creek, in the present Jackson county,
owned by Felix Walker, son of the Congressman of the same name who
made a national reputation by "talking for Buncombe." The store
was on the south side of the creek, about a mile above the now
abandoned Macedonia mission, within the present reservation, and
was a branch of a larger establishment which Walker himself kept at
Waynesville. The trade was chiefly in skins and ginseng, or "sang,"
the latter for shipment to China, where it was said to be worth its
weight in silver. This trade was very profitable, as the price to the
Indians was but ten cents per pound in merchandise for the green root,
whereas it now brings seventy-five cents in cash upon the reservation,
the supply steadily diminishing with every year. The contract was
for three years' service for a total compensation of one hundred
dollars and expenses, but Walker devoted so much of his attention to
law studies that the Waynesville store was finally closed for debt,
and at the end of his contract term young Thomas was obliged to accept
a lot of second-hand law books in lieu of other payment. How well he
made use of them is evident from his subsequent service in the state
senate and in other official capacities.
Soon after entering upon his duties he attracted the notice of
Yonaguska, or Drowning-bear (Yâ'na-gûñ'ski, "Bear-drowning-him"),
the acknowledged chief of all the Cherokee then living on the waters
of Tuckasegee and Oconaluftee--the old Kituhwa country. On learning
that the boy had neither father nor brother, the old chief formally
adopted him as his son, and as such he was thenceforth recognized
in the tribe under the name of Wil-Usdi', or "Little Will," he
being of small stature even in mature age. From his Indian friends,
particularly a boy of the same age who was his companion in the store,
he learned the language as well as a white man has ever learned it,
so that in his declining years it dwelt in memory more strongly than
his mother tongue. After the invention of the Cherokee alphabet,
he learned also to read and write the language.
In 1819 the lands on Tuckasegee and its branches were sold by the
Indians, and Thomas's mother soon after removed from Waynesville
to a farm which she purchased on the west bank of Oconaluftee,
opposite the mouth of Soco, where her son went to live with her,
having now set up in business for himself at Qualla. Yonaguska and
his immediate connection continued to reside on a small reservation
in the same neighborhood, while the rest of the Cherokee retired
to the west of the Nantahala mountains, though still visiting
and trading on Soco. After several shiftings Thomas finally, soon
after the removal in 1838, bought a farm on the northern bank of
Tuckasegee, just above the present town of Whittier in Swain county,
and built there a homestead which he called Stekoa, after an Indian
town destroyed by Rutherford which had occupied the same site. At the
time of the removal he was the proprietor of five trading stores in or
adjoining the Cherokee country, viz, at Qualla town, near the mouth
of Soco creek; on Scott's creek, near Webster; on Cheowa, near the
present Robbinsville; at the junction of Valley river and Hiwassee,
now Murphy; and at the Cherokee agency at Calhoun (now Charleston),
Tennessee. Besides carrying on a successful trading business he was
also studying law and taking an active interest in local politics.
In his capacity as agent for the eastern Cherokee he laid off the
lands purchased for them into five districts or "towns," which he
named Bird town, Paint town, Wolf town, Yellow hill, and Big cove, the
names which they still retain, the first three being those of Cherokee
clans. [413] He also drew up for them a simple form of government,
the execution of which was in his own and Yonaguska's hands until
the death of the latter, after which the band knew no other chief
than Thomas until his retirement from active life. In 1848 he was
elected to the state senate and continued to serve in that capacity
until the outbreak of the civil war. As state senator he inaugurated
a system of road improvements for western North Carolina and was also
the father of the Western North Carolina Railroad (now a part of the
Southern system), originally projected to develop the copper mines
of Ducktown, Tennessee.
With his colleagues in the state senate he voted for secession in
1861, and at once resigned to recruit troops for the Confederacy, to
which, until the close of the war, he gave his whole time, thought,
and effort. In 1862 he organized the Thomas Legion, consisting of two
regiments of infantry, a battalion of cavalry, a company of engineers,
and a field battery, he himself commanding as colonel, although then
nearly sixty years of age. Four companies were made up principally of
his own Cherokee. The Thomas Legion operated chiefly as a frontier
guard for the Confederacy along the mountain region southward from
Cumberland gap.
After the close of the conflict he returned to his home at Stekoa
and again took charge, unofficially, of the affairs of the Cherokee,
whom he attended during the smallpox epidemic of 1866 and assisted
through the unsettled conditions of the reconstruction period. His own
resources had been swept away by the war, and all his hopes had gone
down with the lost cause. This, added to the effects of three years
of hardship and anxiety in the field when already almost past the
age limit, soon after brought about a physical and mental collapse,
from which he never afterward rallied except at intervals, when for a
short time the old spirit would flash out in all its brightness. He
died in 1893 at the advanced age of nearly ninety, retaining to the
last the courteous manner of a gentleman by nature and training,
with an exact memory and the clear-cut statement of a lawyer and man
of affairs. To his work in the state senate the people of western
North Carolina owe more than to that of any other man, while among
the older Cherokee the name of Wil-Usdi' is still revered as that of
a father and a great chief. [414]
Yonaguska, properly Yâ'nû-gûñ'ski, the adopted father of Thomas,
is the most prominent chief in the history of the East Cherokee,
although, singularly enough, his name does not occur in connection
with any of the early wars or treaties. This is due partly to the fact
that he was a peace chief and counselor rather than a war leader,
and in part to the fact that the isolated position of the mountain
Cherokee kept them aloof in a great measure from the tribal councils
of those living to the west and south. In person he was strikingly
handsome, being six feet three inches in height and strongly built,
with a faint tinge of red, due to a slight strain of white blood
on his father's side, relieving the brown of his cheek. In power of
oratory he is said to have surpassed any other chief of his day. When
the Cherokee lands on Tuckasegee were sold by the treaty of 1819,
Yonaguska continued to reside on a reservation of 640 acres in a bend
of the river a short distance above the present Bryson City, on the
site of the ancient Kituhwa. He afterward moved over to Oconaluftee,
and finally, after the Removal, gathered his people about him and
settled with them on Soco creek on lands purchased for them by Thomas.
He was a prophet and reformer as well as a chief. When about sixty
years of age he had a severe sickness, terminating in a trance, during
which his people mourned him as dead. At the end of twenty-four hours,
however, he awoke to consciousness and announced that he had been to
the spirit world, where he had talked with friends who had gone before,
and with God, who had sent him back with a message to the Indians,
promising to call him again at a later time. From that day until his
death his words were listened to as those of one inspired. He had
been somewhat addicted to liquor, but now, on the recommendation of
Thomas, not only quit drinking himself, but organized his tribe into
a temperance society. To accomplish this he called his people together
in council, and, after clearly pointing out to them the serious effect
of intemperance, in an eloquent speech that moved some of his audience
to tears, he declared that God had permitted him to return to earth
especially that he might thus warn his people and banish whisky from
among them. He then had Thomas write out a pledge, which was signed
first by the chief and then by each one of the council, and from that
time until after his death whisky was unknown among the East Cherokee.
Although frequent pressure was brought to bear to induce him and his
people to remove to the West, he firmly resisted every persuasion,
declaring that the Indians were safer from aggression among their
rocks and mountains than they could ever be in a land which the white
man could find profitable, and that the Cherokee could be happy only
in the country where nature had planted him. While counseling peace
and friendship with the white man, he held always to his Indian faith
and was extremely suspicious of missionaries. On one occasion, after
the first Bible translation into the Cherokee language and alphabet,
some one brought a copy of Matthew from New Echota, but Yonaguska
would not allow it to be read to his people until it had first been
read to himself. After listening to one or two chapters the old chief
dryly remarked: "Well, it seems to be a good book--strange that the
white people are not better, after having had it so long."
He died, aged about eighty, in April, 1839, within a year after
the Removal. Shortly before the end he had himself carried into the
townhouse on Soco, of which he had supervised the building, where,
extended on a couch, he made a last talk to his people, commending
Thomas to them as their chief and again warning them earnestly
against ever leaving their own country. Then wrapping his blanket
around him, he quietly lay back and died. He was buried beside Soco,
about a mile below the old Macedonia mission, with a rude mound of
stones to mark the spot. He left two wives and considerable property,
including an old negro slave named Cudjo, who was devotedly attached
to him. One of his daughters, Katâ'lsta, still survives, and is the
last conservator of the potter's art among the East Cherokee. [415]
Yonaguska had succeeded in authority to Yane'gwa, "Big-bear," who
appears to have been of considerable local prominence in his time,
but whose name, even with the oldest of the band, is now but a
memory. He was among the signers of the treaties of 1798 and 1805,
and by the treaty of 1819 was confirmed in a reservation of 640 acres
as one of those living within the ceded territory who were "believed
to be persons of industry and capable of managing their property with
discretion," and who had made considerable improvements on the tracts
reserved. This reservation, still known as the Big-bear farm, was
on the western bank of Oconaluftee, a few miles above its mouth, and
appears to have been the same afterward occupied by Yonaguska. [416]
Another of the old notables among the East Cherokee was
Tsunu'lahûñ'ski, corrupted by the whites to Junaluska, a great warrior,
from whom the ridge west of Waynesville takes its name. In early life
he was known as Gûl'`kala'ski. [417] On the outbreak of the Creek
war in 1813 he raised a party of warriors to go down, as he boasted,
"to exterminate the Creeks." Not meeting with complete success,
he announced the result, according to the Cherokee custom, at the
next dance after his return in a single word, detsinu'lahûñgû',
"I tried, but could not," given out as a cue to the song leader,
who at once took it as the burden of his song. Thenceforth the
disappointed warrior was known as Tsunu'lahûñ'ski, "One who tries,
but fails." He distinguished himself at the Horseshoe bend, where
the action of the Cherokee decided the battle in favor of Jackson's
army, and was often heard to say after the removal: "If I had known
that Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would have killed him
that day at the Horseshoe." He accompanied the exiles of 1838, but
afterward returned to his old home; he was allowed to remain, and in
recognition of his services the state legislature, by special act,
in 1847 conferred upon him the right of citizenship and granted to him
a tract of land in fee simple, but without power of alienation. [418]
This reservation was in the Cheowa Indian settlement, near the present
Robbinsville, in Graham county, where he died about the year 1858. His
grave is still to be seen just outside of Robbinsville.
As illustrative of his shrewdness it is told that he once tracked a
little Indian girl to Charleston, South Carolina, where she had been
carried by kidnappers and sold as a slave, and regained her freedom
by proving, from expert microscopic examination, that her hair had
none of the negro characteristics. [419]
Christianity was introduced among the Kituhwa Cherokee shortly before
the Removal through Worcester and Boudinot's translation of Matthew,
first published at New Echota in 1829. In the absence of missionaries
the book was read by the Indians from house to house. After the
Removal a Methodist minister, Reverend Ulrich Keener, began to make
visits for preaching at irregular intervals, and was followed several
years later by Baptist workers. [420]
In the fall of 1839 the Commissioner of Indian Affairs reported that
the East Cherokee had recently expressed a desire to join their
brethren in the West, but had been deterred from so doing by the
unsettled condition of affairs in the Territory. He states that "they
have a right to remain or to go," but that as the interests of others
are involved in their decision they should decide without delay. [421]
In 1840 about one hundred Catawba, nearly all that were left of the
tribe, being dissatisfied with their condition in South Carolina, moved
up in a body and took up their residence with the Cherokee. Latent
tribal jealousies broke out, however, and at their own request
negotiations were begun in 1848, through Thomas and others, for their
removal to Indian Territory. The effort being without result, they
soon after began to drift back to their own homes, until, in 1852,
there were only about a dozen remaining among the Cherokee. In 1890
only one was left, an old woman, the widow of a Cherokee husband. She
and her daughter, both of whom spoke the language, were expert potters
according to the Catawba method, which differs markedly from that
of the Cherokee. There are now two Catawba women, both married to
Cherokee husbands, living with the tribe, and practicing their native
potter's art. While residing among the Cherokee, the Catawba acquired
a reputation as doctors and leaders of the dance. [422]
On August 6, 1846, a treaty was concluded at Washington with the
representatives of the Cherokee Nation west by which the rights of the
East Cherokee to a participation in the benefits of the New Echota
treaty of 1835 were distinctly recognized, and provision was made
for a final adjustment of all unpaid and pending claims due under
that treaty. The right claimed by the East Cherokee to participate
in the benefits of the New Echota treaty, although not denied by the
government, had been held to be conditional upon their removal to
the West. [423]
In the spring of 1848 the author, Lanman, visited the East Cherokee
and has left an interesting account of their condition at the time,
together with a description of their ballplays, dances, and customs
generally, having been the guest of Colonel Thomas, of whom he
speaks as the guide, counselor, and friend of the Indians, as well
as their business agent and chief, so that the connection was like
that existing between a father and his children. He puts the number
of Indians at about 800 Cherokee and 100 Catawba on the "Qualla town"
reservation--the name being in use thus early--with 200 more Indians
residing in the more westerly portion of the state. Of their general
condition he says:
About three-fourths of the entire population can read in their own
language, and, though the majority of them understand English, a
very few can speak the language. They practice, to a considerable
extent, the science of agriculture, and have acquired such a
knowledge of the mechanic arts as answers them for all ordinary
purposes, for they manufacture their own clothing, their own
ploughs, and other farming utensils, their own axes, and even
their own guns. Their women are no longer treated as slaves, but
as equals; the men labor in the fields and their wives are devoted
entirely to household employments. They keep the same domestic
animals that are kept by their white neighbors, and cultivate all
the common grains of the country. They are probably as temperate
as any other class of people on the face of the earth, honest
in their business intercourse, moral in their thoughts, words,
and deeds, and distinguished for their faithfulness in performing
the duties of religion. They are chiefly Methodists and Baptists,
and have regularly ordained ministers, who preach to them on every
Sabbath, and they have also abandoned many of their mere senseless
superstitions. They have their own court and try their criminals
by a regular jury. Their judges and lawyers are chosen from among
themselves. They keep in order the public roads leading through
their settlement. By a law of the state they have a right to vote,
but seldom exercise that right, as they do not like the idea of
being identified with any of the political parties. Excepting
on festive days, they dress after the manner of the white man,
but far more picturesquely. They live in small log houses of
their own construction, and have everything they need or desire
in the way of food. They are, in fact, the happiest community
that I have yet met with in this southern country. [424]
Among the other notables Lanman speaks thus of Salâ'li, "Squirrel,"
a born mechanic of the band, who died only a few years since:
He is quite a young man and has a remarkably thoughtful face. He
is the blacksmith of his nation, and with some assistance supplies
the whole of Qualla town with all their axes and plows; but what
is more, he has manufactured a number of very superior rifles and
pistols, including stock, barrel, and lock, and he is also the
builder of grist mills, which grind all the corn which his people
eat. A specimen of his workmanship in the way of a rifle may be
seen at the Patent Office in Washington, where it was deposited
by Mr. Thomas; and I believe Salola is the first Indian who ever
manufactured an entire gun. But when it is remembered that he never
received a particle of education in any of the mechanic arts but
is entirely self-taught, his attainments must be considered truly
remarkable. [425]
On July 29, 1848, Congress approved an act for taking a census of all
those Cherokee who had remained in North Carolina after the Removal,
and who still resided east of the Mississippi, in order that their
share of the "removal and subsistence fund" under the New Echota
treaty might be set aside for them. A sum equivalent to $53.33-1/3 was
at the same time appropriated for each one, or his representative,
to be available for defraying the expenses of his removal to the
Cherokee Nation west and subsistence there for one year whenever
he should elect so to remove. Any surplus over such expense was
to be paid to him in cash after his arrival in the west. The whole
amount thus expended was to be reimbursed to the Government from the
general fund to the credit of the Cherokee Nation under the terms
of the treaty of New Echota. In the meantime it was ordered that to
each individual thus entitled should be paid the accrued interest
on this per capita sum from the date of the ratification of the New
Echota treaty (May 23, 1836), payment of interest at the same rate
to continue annually thereafter. [426] In accordance with this act a
census of the Cherokee then residing in North Carolina, Tennessee, and
Georgia, was completed in the fall of 1848 by J. C. Mullay, making the
whole number 2,133. On the basis of this enrollment several payments
were made to them by special agents within the next ten years, one
being a per-capita payment by Alfred Chapman in 1851-52 of unpaid
claims arising under the treaty of New Echota and amounting in the
aggregate to $197,534.50, the others being payments of the annual
interest upon the "removal and subsistence fund" set apart to their
credit in 1848. In the accomplishment of these payments two other
enrollments were made by D. W. Siler in 1851 and by Chapman in 1852,
the last being simply a corrected revision of the Siler roll, and
neither varying greatly from the Mullay roll. [427]
Upon the appointment of Chapman to make the per capita payment above
mentioned, the Cherokee Nation west had filed a protest against the
payment, upon the double ground that the East Cherokee had forfeited
their right to participation, and furthermore that their census
was believed to be enormously exaggerated. As a matter of fact the
number first reported by Mullay was only 1,517, to which so many were
subsequently added as to increase the number by more than 600. [428]
A census taken by their agent, Colonel Thomas, in 1841, gave the number
of East Cherokee (possibly only those in North Carolina intended) as
1,220, [429] while a year later the whole number residing in North
Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia was officially estimated
at from 1,000 to 1,200. [430] It is not the only time a per capita
payment has resulted in a sudden increase of the census population.
In 1852 (Capt.) James W. Terrell was engaged by Thomas, then in the
state senate, to take charge of his store at Qualla, and remained
associated with him and in close contact with the Indians from then
until after the close of the war, assisting, as special United States
agent, in the disbursement of the interest payments, and afterward as
a Confederate officer in the organization of the Indian companies,
holding a commission as captain of Company A, Sixty-ninth North
Carolina Confederate infantry. Being of an investigating bent, Captain
Terrell was led to give attention to the customs and mythology of
the Cherokee, and to accumulate a fund of information on the subject
seldom possessed by a white man. He still resides at Webster, a few
miles from the reservation, and is now seventy-one years of age.
In 1855 Congress directed the per capita payment to the East Cherokee
of the removal fund established for them in 1848, provided that North
Carolina should first give assurance that they would be allowed to
remain permanently in that state. This assurance, however, was not
given until 1866, and the money was therefore not distributed, but
remained in the treasury until 1875, when it was made applicable to
the purchase of lands and the quieting of titles for the benefit of
the Indians. [431]
From 1855 until after the civil war we find no official notice of
the East Cherokee, and our information must be obtained from other
sources. It was, however, a most momentous period in their history. At
the outbreak of the war Thomas was serving his seventh consecutive
term in the state senate. Being an ardent Confederate sympathizer, he
was elected a delegate to the convention which passed the secession
ordinance, and immediately after voting in favor of that measure
resigned from the senate in order to work for the southern cause. As
he was already well advanced in years it is doubtful if his effort
would have gone beyond the raising of funds and other supplies but for
the fact that at this juncture an effort was made by the Confederate
General Kirby Smith to enlist the East Cherokee for active service.
The agent sent for this purpose was Washington Morgan, known to the
Indians as Â'ganstâ'ta, son of that Colonel Gideon Morgan who had
commanded the Cherokee at the Horseshoe bend. By virtue of his Indian
blood and historic ancestry he was deemed the most fitting emissary
for the purpose. Early in 1862 he arrived among the Cherokee, and by
appealing to old-time memories so aroused the war spirit among them
that a large number declared themselves ready to follow wherever he
led. Conceiving the question at issue in the war to be one that did not
concern the Indians, Thomas had discouraged their participation in it
and advised them to remain at home in quiet neutrality. Now, however,
knowing Morgan's reputation for reckless daring, he became alarmed at
the possible result to them of such leadership. Forced either to see
them go from his own protection or to lead them himself, he chose the
latter alternative and proposed to them to enlist in the Confederate
legion which he was about to organize. His object, as he himself has
stated, was to keep them out of danger so far as possible by utilizing
them as scouts and home guards through the mountains, away from the
path of the large armies. Nothing of this was said to the Indians,
who might not have been satisfied with such an arrangement. Morgan
went back alone and the Cherokee enrolled under the command of their
white chief. [432]
The "Thomas Legion," recruited in 1862 by William H. Thomas for
the Confederate service and commanded by him as colonel, consisted
originally of one infantry regiment of ten companies (Sixty-ninth
North Carolina Infantry), one infantry battalion of six companies,
one cavalry battalion of eight companies (First North Carolina Cavalry
Battalion), one field battery (Light Battery) of 103 officers and men,
and one company of engineers; in all about 2,800 men. The infantry
battalion was recruited toward the close of the war to a full regiment
of ten companies. Companies A and B of the Sixty-ninth regiment
and two other companies of the infantry regiment recruited later
were composed almost entirely of East Cherokee Indians, most of the
commissioned officers being white men. The whole number of Cherokee
thus enlisted was nearly four hundred, or about every able-bodied
man in the tribe. [433]
In accordance with Thomas's plan the Indians were employed
chiefly as scouts and home guards in the mountain region along the
Tennessee-Carolina border, where, according to the testimony of Colonel
Stringfield, "they did good work and service for the South." The most
important engagement in which they were concerned occurred at Baptist
gap, Tennessee, September 15, 1862, where Lieutenant Astu'gatâ'ga,
"a splendid specimen of Indian manhood," was killed in a charge. The
Indians were furious at his death, and before they could be restrained
they scalped one or two of the Federal dead. For this action ample
apologies were afterward given by their superior officers. The war,
in fact, brought out all the latent Indian in their nature. Before
starting to the front every man consulted an oracle stone to learn
whether or not he might hope to return in safety. The start was
celebrated with a grand old-time war dance at the townhouse on Soco,
and the same dance was repeated at frequent intervals thereafter,
the Indians being "painted and feathered in good old style," Thomas
himself frequently assisting as master of ceremonies. The ballplay,
too, was not forgotten, and on one occasion a detachment of Cherokee,
left to guard a bridge, became so engrossed in the excitement of
the game as to narrowly escape capture by a sudden dash of the
Federals. Owing to Thomas's care for their welfare, they suffered
but slightly in actual battle, although a number died of hardship
and disease. When the Confederates evacuated eastern Tennessee,
in the winter of 1863-64, some of the white troops of the legion,
with one or two of the Cherokee companies, were shifted to western
Virginia, and by assignment to other regiments a few of the Cherokee
were present at the final siege and surrender of Richmond. The main
body of the Indians, with the rest of the Thomas Legion, crossed over
into North Carolina and did service protecting the western border until
the close of the war, when they surrendered on parole at Waynesville,
North Carolina, in May, 1865, all those of the command being allowed
to keep their guns. It is claimed by their officers that they were
the last of the Confederate forces to surrender. About fifty of the
Cherokee veterans still survive, nearly half of whom, under conduct of
Colonel Stringfield, attended the Confederate reunion at Louisville,
Kentucky, in 1900, where they attracted much attention. [434]
In 1863, by resolution of February 12, the Confederate House of
Representatives called for information as to the number and condition
of the East Cherokee, and their pending relations with the Federal
government at the beginning of the war, with a view to continuing
these relations under Confederate auspices. In response to this
inquiry a report was submitted by the Confederate commissioner
of Indian affairs, S. S. Scott, based on information furnished by
Colonel Thomas and Captain James W. Terrell, their former disbursing
agent, showing that interest upon the "removal and subsistence fund"
established in 1848 had been paid annually up to and including
the year 1859, at the rate of $3.20 per capita, or an aggregate,
exclusive of disbursing agent's commission, of $4,838.40 annually,
based upon the original Mullay enumeration of 1,517.
Upon receipt of this report it was enacted by the Confederate congress
that the sum of $19,352.36 be paid the East Cherokee to cover the
interest period of four years from May 23, 1860, to May 23, 1864. In
this connection the Confederate commissioner suggested that the payment
be made in provisions, of which the Indians were then greatly in need,
and which, if the payment were made in cash, they would be unable to
purchase, on account of the general scarcity. He adds that, according
to his information, almost every Cherokee capable of bearing arms was
then in the Confederate service. The roll furnished by Captain Terrell
is the original Mullay roll corrected to May, 1860, no reference
being made to the later Mullay enumeration (2,133), already alluded
to. There is no record to show that the payment thus authorized was
made, and as the Confederate government was then in hard straits it
is probable that nothing further was done in the matter.
In submitting his statement of previous payments, Colonel Thomas,
their former agent, adds:
As the North Carolina Cherokees have, like their brethren west,
taken up arms against the Lincoln government, it is not probable
that any further advances of interest will be made by that
government to any portion of the Cherokee tribe. I also enclose a
copy of the act of July 29, 1848, so far as relates to the North
Carolina Cherokees, and a printed explanation of their rights,
prepared by me in 1851, and submitted to the attorney-general,
and his opinion thereon, which may not be altogether uninteresting
to those who feel an interest in knowing something of the history
of the Cherokee tribe of Indians, whose destiny is so closely
identified with that of the Southern Confederacy. [435]
In a skirmish near Bryson City (then Charleston), Swain county,
North Carolina, about a year after enlistment, a small party of
Cherokee--perhaps a dozen in number--was captured by a detachment
of Union troops and carried to Knoxville, where, having become
dissatisfied with their experience in the Confederate service, they
were easily persuaded to go over to the Union side. Through the
influence of their principal man, Digane'ski, several others were
induced to desert to the Union army, making about thirty in all. As
a part of the Third North Carolina Mounted Volunteer Infantry, they
served with the Union forces in the same region until the close of
the war, when they returned to their homes to find their tribesmen
so bitterly incensed against them that for some time their lives were
in danger. Eight of these are still alive in 1900. [436]
One of these Union Cherokee had brought back with him the smallpox from
an infected camp near Knoxville. Shortly after his return he became
sick and soon died. As the characteristic pustules had not appeared,
the disease seeming to work inwardly, the nature of his sickness
was not at first suspected--smallpox having been an unknown disease
among the Cherokee for nearly a century--and his funeral was largely
attended. A week later a number of those who had been present became
sick, and the disease was recognized by Colonel Thomas as smallpox
in all its virulence. It spread throughout the tribe, this being in
the early spring of 1866, and in spite of all the efforts of Thomas,
who brought a doctor from Tennessee to wait upon them, more than one
hundred of the small community died in consequence. The fatal result
was largely due to the ignorance of the Indians, who, finding their
own remedies of no avail, used the heroic aboriginal treatment of the
plunge bath in the river and the cold-water douche, which resulted
in death in almost every case. Thus did the war bring its harvest of
death, misery, and civil feud to the East Cherokee. [437]
Shortly after this event Colonel Thomas was compelled by physical
and mental infirmity to retire from further active participation
in the affairs of the East Cherokee, after more than half a century
spent in intimate connection with them, during the greater portion of
which time he had been their most trusted friend and adviser. Their
affairs at once became the prey of confusion and factional strife,
which continued until the United States stepped in as arbiter.
In 1868 Congress ordered another census of the East Cherokee, to serve
as a guide in future payments, the roll to include only those persons
whose names had appeared upon the Mullay roll of 1848 and their legal
heirs and representatives. The work was completed in the following year
by S. H. Sweatland, and a payment of interest then due under former
enactment was made by him on this basis. [438] "In accordance with
their earnestly expressed desire to be brought under the immediate
charge of the government as its wards," the Congress which ordered
this last census directed that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
should assume the same charge over the East Cherokee as over other
tribes, but as no extra funds were made available for the purpose
the matter was held in abeyance. [439] An unratified treaty made this
year with the Cherokee Nation west contained a stipulation that any
Cherokee east of the Mississippi who should remove to the Cherokee
nation within three years should be entitled to full citizenship and
privileges therein, but after that date could be admitted only by
act of the Cherokee national council. [440]
After the retirement of Thomas, in the absence of any active
governmental supervision, need was felt of some central authority. On
December 9, 1868, a general council of the East Cherokee assembled
at Cheowa, in Graham county, North Carolina, took preliminary steps
toward the adoption of a regular form of tribal government under a
constitution. N. J. Smith, afterward principal chief, was clerk of
the council. The new government was formally inaugurated on December
1, 1870. It provided for a first and a second chief to serve for a
term of two years, minor officers to serve one year, and an annual
council representing each Cherokee settlement within the state of
North Carolina. Kâ'lahû', "All-bones," commonly known to the whites
as Flying-squirrel or Sawnook (Sawanu'gi), was elected chief. A new
constitution was adopted five years later, by which the chief's term
of office was fixed at four years. [441]
The status of the lands held by the Indians had now become a matter
of serious concern, As has been stated, the deeds had been made out by
Thomas in his own name, as the state laws at that time forbade Indian
ownership of real estate. In consequence of his losses during the war
and his subsequent disability, the Thomas properties, of which the
Cherokee lands were technically a part, had become involved, so that
the entire estate had passed into the hands of creditors, the most
important of whom, William Johnston, had obtained sheriff's deeds
in 1869 for all of these Indian lands under three several judgments
against Thomas, aggregating $33,887.11. To adjust the matter so
as to secure title and possession to the Indians, Congress in 1870
authorized suit to be brought in their name for the recovery of their
interest. This suit was begun in May, 1873, in the United States
circuit court for western North Carolina. A year later the matters
in dispute were submitted by agreement to a board of arbitrators,
whose award was confirmed by the court in November, 1874.
The award finds that Thomas had purchased with Indian funds a tract
estimated to contain 50,000 acres on Oconaluftee river and Soco
creek, and known as the Qualla boundary, together with a number of
individual tracts outside the boundary; that the Indians were still
indebted to Thomas toward the purchase of the Qualla boundary lands
for the sum of $18,250, from which should be deducted $6,500 paid by
them to Johnston to release titles, with interest to date of award,
making an aggregate of $8,486, together with a further sum of $2,478,
which had been intrusted to Terrell, the business clerk and assistant
of Thomas, and by him turned over to Thomas, as creditor of the
Indians, under power of attorney, this latter sum, with interest
to date of award, aggregating $2,697.89; thus leaving a balance
due from the Indians to Thomas or his legal creditor, Johnston, of
$7,066.11. The award declares that on account of the questionable
manner in which the disputed lands had been bought in by Johnston,
he should be allowed to hold them only as security for the balance
due him until paid, and that on the payment of the said balance of
$7,066.11, with interest at 6 per cent from the date of the award,
the Indians should be entitled to a clear conveyance from him of the
legal title to all the lands embraced within the Qualla boundary. [442]
To enable the Indians to clear off this lien on their lands and for
other purposes, Congress in 1875 directed that as much as remained
of the "removal and subsistence fund" set apart for their benefit in
1848 should be used "in perfecting the titles to the lands awarded to
them, and to pay the costs, expenses, and liabilities attending their
recent litigations, also to purchase and extinguish the titles of any
white persons to lands within the general boundaries allotted to them
by the court, and for the education, improvement, and civilization
of their people." In accordance with this authority the unpaid
balance and interest due Johnston, amounting to $7,242.76, was paid
him in the same year, and shortly afterward there was purchased
on behalf of the Indians some fifteen thousand acres additional,
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs being constituted trustee for the
Indians. For the better protection of the Indians the lands were made
inalienable except by assent of the council and upon approval of the
President of the United States. The deeds for the Qualla boundary
and the 15,000 acre purchase were executed respectively on October 9,
1876, and August 14, 1880. [443] As the boundaries of the different
purchases were but vaguely defined, a new survey of the whole Qualla
boundary and adjoining tracts was authorized. The work was intrusted
to M. S. Temple, deputy United States surveyor, who completed it
in 1876, his survey maps of the reservation being accepted as the
official standard. [444]
The titles and boundaries having been adjusted, the Indian Office
assumed regular supervision of East Cherokee affairs, and in June,
1875, the first agent since the retirement of Thomas was sent out in
the person of W. C. McCarthy. He found the Indians, according to his
report, destitute and discouraged, almost without stock or farming
tools. There were no schools, and very few full-bloods could speak
English, although to their credit nearly all could read and write
their own language, the parents teaching the children. Under his
authority a distribution was made of stock animals, seed wheat, and
farming tools, and several schools were started. In the next year,
however, the agency was discontinued and the educational interests
of the band turned over to the state school superintendent. [445]
In the meantime Kâ'lahû' had been succeeded as chief by Lloyd R. Welch
(Da'si`giya'gi), an educated mixed-blood of Cheowa, who served about
five years, dying shortly after his reelection to a second term
(48). He made a good record by his work in reconciling the various
factions which had sprung up after the withdrawal of the guiding
influence of Thomas, and in defeating the intrigues of fraudulent
white claimants and mischief makers. Shortly before his death the
Government, through Special Agent John A. Sibbald, recognized his
authority as principal chief, together with the constitution which
had been adopted by the band under his auspices in 1875. N. J. Smith
(Tsa'ladihi'), who had previously served as clerk of the council,
was elected to his unexpired term and continued to serve until the
fall of 1890. [446]
We find no further official notice of the East Cherokee until 1881,
when Commissioner Price reported that they were still without agent
or superintendent, and that so far as the Indian Office was concerned
their affairs were in an anomalous and unsatisfactory condition,
while factional feuds were adding to the difficulties and retarding the
progress of the band. In the spring of that year a visiting delegation
from the Cherokee Nation west had extended to them an urgent invitation
to remove to Indian Territory and the Indian Office had encouraged
the project, with the result that 161 persons of the band removed
during the year to Indian Territory, the expense being borne by the
Government. Others were represented as being desirous to remove,
and the Commissioner recommended an appropriation for the purpose,
but as Congress failed to act the matter was dropped. [447]
The neglected condition of the East Cherokee having been brought to
the attention of those old-time friends of the Indian, the Quakers,
through an appeal made in their behalf by members of that society
residing in North Carolina, the Western Yearly Meeting, of Indiana,
volunteered to undertake the work of civilization and education. On
May 31, 1881, representatives of the Friends entered into a contract
with the Indians, subject to approval by the Government, to establish
and continue among them for ten years an industrial school and other
common schools, to be supported in part from the annual interest of the
trust fund held by the Government to the credit of the East Cherokee
and in part by funds furnished by the Friends themselves. Through the
efforts of Barnabas C. Hobbs, of the Western Yearly Meeting, a yearly
contract to the same effect was entered into with the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs later in the same year, and was renewed by successive
commissioners to cover the period of ten years ending June 30, 1892,
when the contract system was terminated and the Government assumed
direct control. Under the joint arrangement, with some aid at the
outset from the North Carolina Meeting, work was begun in 1881 by
Thomas Brown with several teachers sent out by the Indiana Friends,
who established a small training school at the agency headquarters at
Cherokee, and several day schools in the outlying settlements. He
was succeeded three years later by H. W. Spray, an experienced
educator, who, with a corps of efficient assistants and greatly
enlarged facilities, continued to do good work for the elevation
of the Indians until the close of the contract system eight years
later. [448] After an interregnum, during which the schools suffered
from frequent changes, he was reappointed as government agent and
superintendent in 1898, a position which he still holds in 1901. To
the work conducted under his auspices the East Cherokee owe much of
what they have to-day of civilization and enlightenment.
From some travelers who visited the reservation about this time we
have a pleasant account of a trip along Soco and a day with Chief
Smith at Yellow Hill. They describe the Indians as being so nearly
like the whites in their manner of living that a stranger could
rarely distinguish an Indian's cabin or little cove farm from that
of a white man. Their principal crop was corn, which they ground
for themselves, and they had also an abundance of apples, peaches,
and plums, and a few small herds of ponies and cattle. Their wants
were so few that they had but little use for money. Their primitive
costume had long been obsolete, and their dress was like that of
the whites, excepting that moccasins took the place of shoes, and
they manufactured their own clothing by the aid of spinning-wheels
and looms. Finely cut pipes and well-made baskets were also produced,
and the good influence of the schools recently established was already
manifest in the children. [449]
In 1882 the agency was reestablished and provision was made for
taking a new census of all Cherokee east of the Mississippi, Joseph
G. Hester being appointed to the work. [450] The census was submitted
as complete in June, 1884, and contained the names of 1,881 persons in
North Carolina, 758 in Georgia, 213 in Tennessee, 71 in Alabama, and 33
scattering, a total of 2,956. [451] Although this census received the
approval and certificate of the East Cherokee council, a large portion
of the band still refuse to recognize it as authoritative, claiming
that a large number of persons therein enrolled have no Cherokee blood.
The East Cherokee had never ceased to contend for a participation in
the rights and privileges accruing to the western Nation under treaties
with the Government. In 1882 a special agent had been appointed to
investigate their claims, and in the following year, under authority
of Congress, the eastern band of Cherokee brought suit in the Court
of Claims against the United States and the Cherokee Nation west to
determine its rights in the permanent annuity fund and other trust
funds held by the United States for the Cherokee Indians. [452] The
case was decided adversely to the eastern band, first by the Court of
Claims in 1885, [453] and finally, on appeal, by the Supreme Court on
March 1, 1886, that court holding in its decision that the Cherokee
in North Carolina had dissolved their connection with the Cherokee
Nation and ceased to be a part of it when they refused to accompany
the main body at the Removal, and that if Indians in North Carolina
or in any state east of the Mississippi wished to enjoy the benefits
of the common property of the Cherokee Nation in any form whatever
they must be readmitted to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation and
comply with its constitution and laws. In accordance with this
decision the agent in the Indian territory was instructed to issue
no more residence permits to claimants for Cherokee citizenship, and
it was officially announced that all persons thereafter entering that
country without consent of the Cherokee authorities would be treated
as intruders. [454] This decision, cutting off the East Cherokee from
all hope of sharing in any of the treaty benefits enjoyed by their
western kinsmen, was a sore disappointment to them all, especially
to Chief Smith, who had worked unceasingly in their behalf from the
institution of the proceedings. In view of the result, Commissioner
Atkins strongly recommended, as the best method of settling them
in permanent homes, secure from white intrusion and from anxiety on
account of their uncertain tenure and legal status in North Carolina,
that negotiations be opened through government channels for their
readmission to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation, to be followed,
if successful, by the sale of their lands in North Carolina and their
removal to Indian Territory. [455]
In order to acquire a more definite legal status, the Cherokee residing
in North Carolina--being practically all those of the eastern band
having genuine Indian interests--became a corporate body under the laws
of the state in 1889. The act, ratified on March 11, declares in its
first section "That the North Carolina or Eastern Cherokee Indians,
resident or domiciled in the counties of Jackson, Swain, Graham, and
Cherokee, be and at the same time are hereby created and constituted
a body politic and corporate under the name, style, and title of the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, with all the rights, franchises,
privileges and powers incident and belonging to corporations under
the laws of the state of North Carolina. [456]
On August 2, 1893, ex-Chief Smith died at Cherokee, in the
fifty-seventh year of his life, more than twenty of which had been
given to the service of his people. Nimrod Jarrett Smith, known to
the Cherokee as Tsa'ladihi', was the son of a half breed father by an
Indian mother, and was born near the present Murphy, Cherokee county,
North Carolina, on January 3, 1837. His earliest recollections were
thus of the miseries that attended the flight of the refugees to the
mountains during the Removal period. His mother spoke very little
English, but his father was a man of considerable intelligence, having
acted as interpreter and translator for Reverend Evan Jones at the
old Valleytown mission. As the boy grew to manhood he acquired a fair
education, which, aided by a commanding presence, made him a person of
influence among his fellows. At twenty-five years of age he enlisted
in the Thomas Legion as first sergeant of Company B, Sixty-ninth North
Carolina (Confederate) Infantry, and served in that capacity till the
close of the war. He was clerk of the council that drafted the first
East Cherokee constitution in 1868, and on the death of Principal Chief
Lloyd Welch in 1880 was elected to fill the unexpired term, continuing
in office by successive reelections until the close of 1891, a period
of about twelve years, the longest term yet filled by an incumbent. As
principal chief he signed the contract under which the school work
was inaugurated in 1881. For several years thereafter his duties,
particularly in connection with the suit against the western Cherokee,
required his presence much of the time at Washington, while at home his
time was almost as constantly occupied in attending to the wants of a
dependent people. Although he was entitled under the constitution of
the band to a salary of five hundred dollars per year, no part of this
salary was ever paid, because of the limited resources of his people,
and only partial reimbursement was made to him, shortly before his
death, for expenses incurred in official visits to Washington. With
frequent opportunities to enrich himself at the expense of his people,
he maintained his honor and died a poor man.
In person Chief Smith was a splendid specimen of physical manhood,
being six feet four inches in height and built in proportion, erect
in figure, with flowing black hair curling down over his shoulders,
a deep musical voice, and a kindly spirit and natural dignity that
never failed to impress the stranger. His widow--a white woman--and
several children survive him. [457]
In 1894 the long-standing litigation between the East Cherokee and a
number of creditors and claimants to Indian lands within and adjoining
the Qualla boundary was finally settled by a compromise by which the
several white tenants and claimants within the boundary agreed to
execute a quitclaim and vacate on payment to them by the Indians of
sums aggregating $24,552, while for another disputed adjoining tract
of 33,000 acres the United States agreed to pay, for the Indians, at
the rate of $1.25 per acre. The necessary Government approval having
been obtained, Congress appropriated a sufficient amount for carrying
into effect the agreement, thus at last completing a perfect and
unincumbered title to all the lands claimed by the Indians, with the
exception of a few outlying tracts of comparative unimportance. [458]
In 1895 the Cherokee residing in North Carolina upon the reservation
and in the outlying settlements were officially reported to number
1,479. [459] A year later an epidemic of grippe spread through the
band, with the result that the census of 1897 shows but 1,312, [460]
among those who died at this time being Big-witch (Tskil-e'gwa),
the oldest man of the band, who distinctly remembered the Creek war,
and Wadi'yahi, the last old woman who preserved the art of making
double-walled baskets. In the next year the population had recovered
to 1,351. The description of the mode of living then common to most
of the Indians will apply nearly as well to-day:
While they are industrious, these people are not progressive
farmers and have learned nothing of modern methods. The same crops
are raised continuously until the soil will yield no more or is
washed away, when new ground is cleared or broken. The value of
rotation and fertilizing has not yet been discovered or taught....
That these people can live at all upon the products of their small
farms is due to the extreme simplicity of their food, dress, and
manner of living. The typical house is of logs, is about fourteen
by sixteen feet, of one room, just high enough for the occupants
to stand erect, with perhaps a small loft for the storage of
extras. The roof is of split shingles or shakes. There is no
window, the open door furnishing what light is required. At one
end of the house is the fireplace, with outside chimney of stones
or sticks chinked with clay. The furniture is simple and cheap. An
iron pot, a bake kettle, a coffeepot and mill, small table, and a
few cups, knives, and spoons are all that is needed. These, with
one or two bedsteads, homemade, a few pillows and quilts, with
feather mattresses for winter covering, as well as for the usual
purpose, constitute the principal house possessions. For outdoor
work there is an ax, hoe, and shovel plow. A wagon or cart may be
owned, but is not essential. The outfit is inexpensive and answers
every purpose. The usual food is bean bread, with coffee. In the
fall chestnut bread is also used. Beef is seldom eaten, but pork
is highly esteemed, and a considerable number of hogs are kept,
running wild and untended in summer. [461]
By the most recent official count, in 1900, the East Cherokee residing
in North Carolina under direct charge of the agent and included within
the act of incorporation number 1,376, of whom about 1,100 are on
the reservation, the rest living farther to the west, on Nantahala,
Cheowa, and Hiwassee rivers. This does not include mixed-bloods in
adjoining states and some hundreds of unrecognized claimants. Those
enumerated own approximately 100,000 acres of land, of which 83,000
are included within the Qualla reservation and a contiguous tract in
Jackson and Swain counties. They receive no rations or annuities and
are entirely self-supporting, the annual interest on their trust
fund established in 1848, which has dwindled to about $23,000,
being applied to the payment of taxes upon their unoccupied common
lands. From time to time they have made leases of timber, gold-washing,
and grazing privileges, but without any great profit to themselves. By
special appropriation the government supports an industrial training
school at Cherokee, the agency headquarters, in which 170 pupils are
now being boarded, clothed, and educated in the practical duties of
life. This school, which in its workings is a model of its kind, owes
much of its usefulness and high standing to the efficient management
of Prof. H. W. Spray (Wilsini'), already mentioned, who combines the
duties of superintendent and agent for the band. His chief clerk,
Mr James Blythe (Diskwa'`ni, "Chestnut-bread"), a Cherokee by blood,
at one time filled the position of agent, being perhaps the only
Indian who has ever served in such capacity.
The exact legal status of the East Cherokee is still a matter of
dispute, they being at once wards of the government, citizens of the
United States, and (in North Carolina) a corporate body under state
laws. They pay real estate taxes and road service, exercise the voting
privilege, [462] and are amenable to the local courts, but do not pay
poll tax or receive any pauper assistance from the counties; neither
can they make free contracts or alienate their lands (49). Under their
tribal constitution they are governed by a principal and an assistant
chief, elected for a term of four years, with an executive council
appointed by the chief, and sixteen councilors elected by the various
settlements for a term of two years. The annual council is held in
October at Cherokee, on the reservation, the proceedings being in the
Cherokee language and recorded by their clerk in the Cherokee alphabet,
as well as in English. The present chief is Jesse Reid (Tse'si-Ska'tsi,
"Scotch Jesse"), an intelligent mixed-blood, who fills the office with
dignity and ability. As a people they are peaceable and law-abiding,
kind and hospitable, providing for their simple wants by their own
industry without asking or expecting outside assistance. Their fields,
orchards, and fish traps, with some few domestic animals and occasional
hunting, supply them with food, while by the sale of ginseng and
other medicinal plants gathered in the mountains, with fruit and
honey of their own raising, they procure what additional supplies
they need from the traders. The majority are fairly comfortable, far
above the condition of most Indian tribes, and but little, if any,
behind their white neighbors. In literary ability they may even be
said to surpass them, as in addition to the result of nearly twenty
years of school work among the younger people, nearly all the men
and some of the women can read and write their own language. All wear
civilized costumes, though an occasional pair of moccasins is seen,
while the women find means to gratify the racial love of color in
the wearing of red bandanna kerchiefs in place of bonnets. The older
people still cling to their ancient rites and sacred traditions, but
the dance and the ballplay wither and the Indian day is nearly spent.