Besides the Iroquois and Shawano, the Cherokee remember also the
Delawares, Tuscarora, Catawba, and Cheraw as tribes to the east or
north with which they formerly had relations.
The Cherokee call the Delawares Anakwan'`ki, in the singular Akwan'`ki,
a derivative formed according to usual Cherokee phonetic modification
from Wapanaq'ki, "Easterners," the generic name by which the Delawares
and their nearest kindred call themselves.
In the most ancient tradition of the Delawares the Cherokee are called
Talega, Tallige, Tallige-wi, etc. [478] In later Delaware tradition
they are called Kitu'hwa, and again we find the two tribes at war,
for which their neighbors are held responsible. According to the
Delaware account, the Iroquois, in one of their forays to the south,
killed a Cherokee in the woods and purposely left a Delaware war
club near the body to make it appear that the work had been done
by men of that tribe. The Cherokee found the body and the club,
and naturally supposing that the murder had been committed by the
Delawares, they suddenly attacked the latter, the result being a long
and bloody war between the two tribes. [479] At this time, i. e.,
about the end of the seventeenth century, it appears that a part at
least of the Cherokee lived on the waters of the Upper Ohio, where the
Delawares made continual inroads upon them, finally driving them from
the region and seizing it for themselves about the year 1708. [480]
A century ago the Delawares used to tell how their warriors would
sometimes mingle in disguise with the Cherokee at their night dances
until the opportunity came to strike a sudden blow and be off before
their enemies recovered from the surprise.
Later there seems to have been peace until war was again brought on by
the action of the Shawano, who had taken refuge with the Delawares,
after having been driven from their old home on Cumberland river
by the Cherokee. Feeling secure in their new alliance, the Shawano
renewed their raids upon the Cherokee, who retaliated by pursuing
them into the Delaware country, where they killed several Delawares by
mistake. This inflamed the latter people, already excited by the sight
of Cherokee scalps and prisoners brought back through their country
by the Iroquois, and another war was the result, which lasted until
the Cherokee, tired of fighting so many enemies, voluntarily made
overtures for peace in 1768, saluting the Delawares as Grandfather,
an honorary title accorded them by all the Algonquian tribes. The
Delawares then reprimanded the Shawano, as the cause of the trouble,
and advised them to keep quiet, which, as they were now left to fight
their battles alone, they were glad enough to do. At the same time
the Cherokee made peace with the Iroquois, and the long war with the
northern tribes came to an end. The friendly feeling thus established
was emphasized in 1779, when the Cherokee sent a message of condolence
upon the death of the Delaware chief White-eyes. [481]
The Tuscarora, formerly the ruling tribe of eastern North Carolina,
are still remembered under the name Ani'-Skalâ'li, and are thus
mentioned in the Feather dance of the Cherokee, in which some of the
actors are supposed to be visiting strangers from other tribes.
As the majority of the Tuscarora fled from Carolina to the Iroquois
country about 1713, in consequence of their disastrous war with the
whites, their memory has nearly faded from the recollection of the
southern Indians. From the scanty light which history throws upon
their mutual relations, the two tribes seem to have been almost
constantly at war with each other. When at one time the Cherokee,
having already made peace with some other of their neighbors, were
urged by the whites to make peace also with the Tuscarora, they
refused, on the ground that, as they could not live without war,
it was better to let matters stand as they were than to make peace
with the Tuscarora and be obliged immediately to look about for
new enemies with whom to fight. For some years before the outbreak
of the Tuscarora war in 1711 the Cherokee had ceased their inroads
upon this tribe, and it was therefore supposed that they were more
busily engaged with some other people west of the mountains, these
being probably the Shawano, whom they drove out of Tennessee about
this time. [482] In the war of 1711-1713 the Cherokee assisted the
whites against the Tuscarora. In 1731 the Cherokee again threatened
to make war upon the remnant of that tribe still residing in North
Carolina and the colonial government was compelled to interfere. [483]
The Cheraw or Sara, ranging at different periods from upper South
Carolina to the southern frontier of Virginia, are also remembered
under the name of Ani'-Suwa'li, or Ani'-Suwa'la, which agrees with
the Spanish form Xuala of De Soto's chronicle, and Suala, or Sualy,
of Lederer. The Cherokee remember them as having lived east of the
Blue ridge, the trail to their country leading across the gap at
the head of Swannanoa river, east from Asheville. The name of the
stream and gap is a corruption of the Cherokee Suwa'li-Nûñnâ'hi,
"Suwa'li trail." Being a very warlike tribe, they were finally so
reduced by conflicts with the colonial governments and the Iroquois
that they were obliged to incorporate with the Catawba, among whom
they still maintained their distinct language as late as 1743. [484]
The Catawba are known to the Cherokee as Ani'ta'gwa, singular Ata'gwa,
or Ta'gwa, the Cherokee attempt at the name by which they are most
commonly known. They were the immediate neighbors of the Cherokee on
the east and southeast, having their principal settlements on the river
of their name, just within the limits of South Carolina, and holding
the leading place among all the tribes east of the Cherokee country
with the exception of the Tuscarora. On the first settlement of South
Carolina there were estimated to be about 7,000 persons in the tribe,
but their decline was rapid, and by war and disease their number
had been reduced in 1775 to barely 500, including the incorporated
remnants of the Cheraw and several smaller tribes. There are now,
perhaps, 100 still remaining on a small reservation near the site of
their ancient towns. Some local names in the old Cherokee territory
seem to indicate the former presence of Catawba, although there is
no tradition of any Catawba settlement within those limits. Among
such names may be mentioned Toccoa creek, in northeastern Georgia,
and Toccoa river, in north-central Georgia, both names being derived
from the Cherokee Tagwâ'hi, "Catawba place." An old Cherokee personal
name is Ta'gwadihi', "Catawba-killer."
The two tribes were hereditary enemies, and the feeling between them
is nearly as bitter to-day as it was a hundred years ago. Perhaps the
only case on record of their acting together was in the war of 1711-13,
when they cooperated with the colonists against the Tuscarora. The
Cherokee, according to the late Colonel Thomas, claim to have formerly
occupied all the country about the head of the Catawba river, to
below the present Morganton, until the game became scarce, when
they retired to the west of the Blue ridge, and afterward "loaned"
the eastern territory to the Catawba. This agrees pretty well with
a Catawba tradition recorded in Schoolcraft, according to which the
Catawba--who are incorrectly represented as comparatively recent
immigrants from the north--on arriving at Catawba river found their
progress disputed by the Cherokee, who claimed original ownership of
the country. A battle was fought, with incredible loss on both sides,
but with no decisive result, although the advantage was with the
Catawba, on account of their having guns, while their opponents had
only Indian weapons. Preparations were under way to renew the fight
when the Cherokee offered to recognize the river as the boundary,
allowing the Catawba to settle anywhere to the east. The overture was
accepted and an agreement was finally made by which the Catawba were
to occupy the country east of that river and the Cherokee the country
west of Broad river, with the region between the two streams to remain
as neutral territory. Stone piles were heaped up on the battlefield
to commemorate the treaty, and the Broad river was henceforth called
Eswau Huppeday (Line river), by the Catawba, the country eastward to
Catawba river being left unoccupied. [485] The fact that one party
had guns would bring this event within the early historic period.
The Catawba assisted the whites against the Cherokee in the war of
1760 and in the later Revolutionary struggle. About 100 warriors,
nearly the whole fighting strength of the tribe, took part in the
first-mentioned war, several being killed, and a smaller number
accompanied Williamson's force in 1776. [486] At the battle fought
under Williamson near the present site of Franklin, North Carolina,
the Cherokee, according to the tradition related by Wafford, mistook
the Catawba allies of the troops for some of their own warriors, and
were fighting for some time under this impression before they noticed
that the Catawba wore deer tails in their hair so that the whites
might not make the same mistake. In this engagement, which was one of
the bloodiest Indian encounters of the Revolution, the Cherokee claim
that they had actually defeated the troops and their Catawba allies,
when their own ammunition gave out and they were consequently forced to
retire. The Cherokee leader was a noted war chief named Tsani (John).
About 1840 nearly the whole Catawba tribe moved up from South Carolina
and joined the eastern band of Cherokee, but in consequence of tribal
jealousies they remained but a short time, and afterward returned to
their former home, as is related elsewhere.
Other tribal names (of doubtful authority) are Ani'-Sa'ni and
Ani'-Sawahâ'ni, belonging to people said to have lived toward the
north; both names are perhaps intended for the Shawano or Shawnee,
properly Ani'-Sawanu'gi. The Ani'-Gili' are said to have been neighbors
of the Anin'tsi or Natchez; the name may possibly be a Cherokee form
for Congaree.