For more important legends localized in Georgia see the stories Yahula,
The Nûñnehi, The Ustû'tli, Âgan-uni'tsi's Search for the Uktena,
and The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister. White's Historical
Collections of Georgia is responsible for a number of pseudo-myths.
Chopped oak: A noted tree, scarred with hundreds of hatchet marks,
formerly in Habersham county, 6 miles east of Clarkesville, on the
summit of Chattahoochee ridge, and on the north side of the road from
Clarkesville to Toccoa creek. The Cherokee name is Digalu'yatûñ'yi,
"Where it is gashed with hatchets." It was a favorite assembly place
for the Indians, as well as for the early settlers, according to whom
the gashes were tally marks by means of which the Indians kept the
record of scalps taken in their forays. The tradition is thus given
by White (Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 489, 1855) on some
earlier authority:
Among the curiosities of this country was the Chopped Oak,
a tree famous in Indian history and in the traditions of the
early settlers. This tree stood about 6 miles southeast of
Clarkesville, and was noted as being the Law Ground, or place
of holding company musters and magistrates' courts. According
to tradition, the Chopped Oak was a celebrated rendezvous of the
Indians in their predatory excursions, it being at a joint where
a number of trails met. Here their plans of warfare were laid;
here the several parties separated; and here, on their return,
they awaited each other; and then, in their brief language,
the result of their enterprise was stated, and for every scalp
taken a gash cut in the tree. If tradition tells the truth, and
every scar on the blasted oak counts for a scalp, the success of
their scouting parties must have been great. This tree was alive
a few years since when a young man, possessing all the prejudices
of his countrymen, and caring less for the traditions of the
Indians than his own revenge, killed the tree by girdling it,
that it might be no longer a living monument of the cruelties of
the savages. The stump is still standing.
Dead Man's gap: One mile below Tallulah falls, on the west side of
the railroad, in Habersham county. So called from a former reputed
Indian grave, now almost obliterated. According to the story, it was
the grave of an Indian who was killed here while eloping with a white
woman, whom he had stolen from her husband.
Frogtown: A creek at the head of Chestatee river, north of Dahlonega,
in Lumpkin county. The Cherokee name is Walâsi'yi, "Frog place." The
name was originally applied to a mountain to the northeast (Rock
mountain?), from a tradition that a hunter had once seen there a frog
as large as a house. The Indian settlement along the creek bore the
same name.
Hiwassee: A river having its source in Towns county, of northern
Georgia, and flowing northwestward to join the Tennessee. The
correct Cherokee form, applied to two former settlements on the
stream, is Ayuhwa'si (meaning "A savanna"). Although there is no
especial Cherokee story connected with the name, White (Historical
Collections of Georgia, p. 660) makes it the subject of a long
pseudo-myth, in which Hiwassee, rendered "The Pretty Fawn," is the
beautiful daughter of a Catawba chief, and is wooed, and at last won,
by a young Cherokee warrior named Notley, "The Daring Horseman," who
finally becomes the head chief of the Cherokee and succeeds in making
perpetual peace between the two tribes. The story sounds very pretty,
but is a pure invention.
Nacoochee: A village on the site of a former Cherokee settlement,
in a beautiful and fertile valley of the same name at the head of
Chattahoochee river, in White county. The Cherokee form is Nagu`tsi',
but the word has no meaning in that language and seems to be of
foreign, perhaps Creek, origin. About 2 miles above the village, on the
east bank of the river, is a large mound. White (Historical Collections
of Georgia, p. 486) quotes a fictitious legend, according to which
Nacoochee, "The Evening Star," was a beautiful Indian princess, who
unfortunately fell in love with a chieftain of a hostile tribe and was
killed, together with her lover, while fleeing from the vengeance of
an angry father. The two were buried in the same grave and the mound
was raised over the spot. The only grain of truth in the story is that
the name has a slight resemblance to nakwisi', the Cherokee word for
"star."
Nottely: A river rising in Union county and flowing northwestward
into Hiwassee. The Cherokee form is Na'dû`li', applied to a former
settlement on the west side of the river, in Cherokee county, North
Carolina, about a mile from the Georgia line. Although suggestive of
na`tû`li, "spicewood," it is a different word and has no meaning in
the Cherokee language, being apparently of foreign, perhaps Creek,
origin. For a pseudo-myth connected with the name, see the preceding
note on Hiwassee.
Talking Rock: A creek in upper Georgia flowing northward to join
Coosawatee river. The Indian settlements upon it were considered
as belonging to Sanderstown, on the lower part of the creek, the
townhouse being located about a mile above the present Talking Rock
station on the west side of the railroad. The name is a translation
of the Cherokee Nûñyû'-gûñwani'ski, "Rock that talks," and refers,
according to one informant, to an echo rock somewhere upon the
stream below the present railroad station. An old-time trader among
the Cherokee in Georgia says that the name was applied to a rock at
which the Indians formerly held their councils, but the etymology of
the word is against this derivation.
Tallulah: A river in Rabun county, northeastern Georgia, which flows
into the Tugaloo, and has a beautiful fall about 2 miles above its
mouth. The Cherokee form is Talulu' (Taruri' in the lower Cherokee
dialect), the name of an ancient settlement some distance above the
falls, as also of a creek and district at the head of Cheowa river,
in Graham county, North Carolina. The name can not be translated. A
magazine writer has rendered it "The Terrible," for which there
is no authority. Schoolcraft, on the authority of a Cherokee lady,
renders it "There lies your child," derived from a story of a child
having been carried over the falls. The name, however, was not applied
to the falls, but to a district on the stream above, as well as to
another in North Carolina. The error arises from the fact that a
word of somewhat similar sound denotes "having children" or "being
pregnant," used in speaking of a woman. One informant derives it
from talulu', the cry of a certain species of frog known as dulusi,
which is found in that neighborhood, but not upon the reservation,
and which was formerly eaten as food. A possible derivation is from
a'talulû', "unfinished, premature, unsuccessful." The fall was called
Ugûñ'yi, a name of which the meaning is lost, and which was applied
also to a locality on Little Tennessee river near Franklin, North
Carolina. For a myth localized at Tallulah falls, see number 84,
"The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister."
In this connection Lanman gives the following story, which,
notwithstanding its white man's dress, appears to be based upon a
genuine Cherokee tradition of the Nûñne'hi:
During my stay at the Falls of Tallulah I made every effort to
obtain an Indian legend or two connected with them, and it was
my good fortune to hear one which has never yet been printed. It
was originally obtained by the white man who first discovered
the falls from the Cherokees, who lived in the region at the
time. It is in substance as follows: Many generations ago it so
happened that several famous hunters, who had wandered from the
West toward what is now the Savannah river, in search of game,
never returned to their camping grounds. In process of time
the curiosity as well as the fears of the nation were excited,
and an effort was made to ascertain the cause of their singular
disappearance, whereupon a party of medicine men were deputed
to make a pilgrimage toward the great river. They were absent
a whole moon, and, on returning to their friends, they reported
that they had discovered a dreadful fissure in an unknown part of
the country, through which a mountain torrent took its way with a
deafening noise. They said that it was an exceedingly wild place,
and that its inhabitants were a species of little men and women,
who dwelt in the crevices of the rocks and in grottoes under the
waterfalls. They had attempted by every artifice in their power
to hold a council with the little people, but all in vain; and,
from the shrieks they frequently uttered, the medicine men knew
that they were the enemies of the Indian race, and, therefore,
it was concluded in the nation at large that the long-lost hunters
had been decoyed to their death in the dreadful gorge, which they
called Tallulah. In view of this little legend, it is worthy of
remark that the Cherokee nation, previous to their departure for
the distant West, always avoided the Falls of Tallulah, and were
seldom found hunting or fishing in their vicinity. [503]
Toccoa: (1) A creek flowing into Tugaloo river, in Habersham county,
with a fall upon its upper course, near the village of the same
name. (2) A river in upper Georgia, flowing northwestward into
Hiwassee. The correct Cherokee form applied to the former settlement
on both streams is Tagwâ'hi, "Catawba place," implying the former
presence of Indians of that tribe. The lands about Toccoa falls were
sold by the Cherokee in 1783 and were owned at one time by Wafford's
grandfather. According to Wafford, there was a tradition that when the
whites first visited the place they saw, as they thought, an Indian
woman walking beneath the surface of the water under the falls, and on
looking again a moment after they saw her sitting upon an overhanging
rock 200 feet in the air, with her feet dangling over. Said Wafford,
"She must have been one of the Nûñne'hi."
Track Rock gap: A gap about 5 miles east of Blairsville, in Union
county, on the ridge separating Brasstown creek from the waters of
Nottely river. The micaceous soapstone rocks on both sides of the
trail are covered with petroglyphs, from which the gap takes its
name. The Cherokee call the place Datsu'nalâsgûñ'yi, "Where there are
tracks," or Degayelûñ'ha, "Printed (Branded) place." The carvings are
of many and various patterns, some of them resembling human or animal
footprints, while others are squares, crosses, circles, "bird tracks,"
etc., disposed without any apparent order. On the authority of a Doctor
Stevenson, writing in 1834, White (Historical Collections of Georgia,
p. 658, 1855), and after him Jones (Antiquities of the Southern
Indians, 1873), give a misleading and greatly exaggerated account of
these carvings, without having taken the trouble to investigate for
themselves, although the spot is easily accessible. No effort, either
state or local, is made to preserve the pictographs from destruction,
and many of the finest have been cut out from the rock and carried
off by vandals, Stevenson himself being among the number, by his own
confession. The illustration (plate XX) is from a rough sketch made
by the author in 1890.
The Cherokee have various theories to account for the origin of the
carvings, the more sensible Indians saying that they were made by
hunters for their own amusement while resting in the gap. Another
tradition is that they were made while the surface of the newly created
earth was still soft by a great army of birds and animals fleeing
through the gap to escape some pursuing danger from the west--some
say a great "drive hunt" of the Indians. Haywood confounds them with
other petroglyphs in North Carolina connected with the story of the
giant Tsul`kalû' (see number 81).
The following florid account of the carvings and ostensible Indian
tradition of their origin is from White, on the authority of Stevenson:
The number visible or defined is 136, some of them quite natural
and perfect, and others rather rude imitations, and most of them
from the effects of time have become more or less obliterated. They
comprise human feet from those 4 inches in length to those of
great warriors which measure 17-1/2 inches in length and 7-3/4 in
breadth across the toes. What is a little curious, all the human
feet are natural except this, which has 6 toes, proving him to have
been a descendant of Titan. There are 26 of these impressions,
all bare except one, which has the appearance of having worn
moccasins. A fine turned hand, rather delicate, occupied a place
near the great warrior, and probably the impression of his wife's
hand, who no doubt accompanied her husband in all his excursions,
sharing his toils and soothing his cares away. Many horse tracks
are to be seen. One seems to have been shod, some are very small,
and one measures 12-1/2 inches by 9-1/2 inches. This the Cherokee
say was the footprint of the great war horse which their chieftain
rode. The tracks of a great many turkeys, turtles, terrapins,
a large bear's paw, a snake's trail, and the footprints of two
deer are to be seen. The tradition respecting these impressions
varies. One asserts that the world was once deluged with water,
and men with all animated beings were destroyed, except one family,
together with various animals necessary to replenish the earth;
that the Great Spirit before the floods came commanded them
to embark in a big canoe, which after long sailing was drawn
to this spot by a bevy of swans and rested there, and here the
whole troop of animals was disembarked, leaving the impressions
as they passed over the rock, which being softened by reason of
long submersion kindly received and preserved them.
War Woman's creek: Enters Chattooga river in Rabun county, northeastern
Georgia, in the heart of the old Lower Cherokee country. The name
seems to be of Indian origin, although the Cherokee name is lost
and the story has perished. A writer quoted by White (Historical
Collections of Georgia, p. 444) attempts to show its origin from
the exploit of a certain Revolutionary amazon, in capturing a party
of Tories, but the name occurs in Adair (note, p. 185) as early as
1775. There is some reason for believing that it refers to a former
female dignitary among the Cherokee, described by Haywood under the
title of the "Pretty Woman" as having authority to decide the fate
of prisoners of war. Wafford once knew an old woman whose name was
Da`na-gâ'sta, an abbreviated form for Da`nawa-gâsta'ya, "Sharp war,"
understood to mean "Sharp (i. e., Fierce) warrior." Several cases of
women acting the part of warriors are on record among the Cherokee.