Woman arbiters--See the preceding story, number 93, and the note on
"The War Woman."
My grandson--Among all the eastern and plains tribes this is a term of
affectionate address to a dependent or inferior, as "grandfather" is a
respectful address to one occupying a superior station, or venerable
by reason of age or dignity, both words being thus used without
any reference to kinship. In tribal councils nearly all the eastern
tribes except the Iroquois addressed the Delaware representatives as
"grandfather," and in an Arapaho song of the Ghost dance the Whirlwind
is thus addressed.
95. Hemp-carrier (p. 364): This story of the old wars was obtained
from Colonel William H. Thomas, who says that Tâle'danigi'ski was a
chief formerly living near Valleytown, in Cherokee county. The name is
variously rendered "Hemp-carrier," "Nettle-carrier," or "Flax-toter,"
from tâle'ta, the richweed (Pilea pumila), a plant with a fibrous
stalk from which the Indians wove thread and cordage. The trail along
which the Seneca came ran from Valley river across the ridge to Cheowa
(Robbinsville) and thence northwest to connect with the "great war
path" in Tennessee (see historical note 19).
Cairns--Stone cairns were formerly very common along the trails
throughout the Cherokee country, but are now almost gone, having been
demolished by treasure hunters after the occupation of the country
by the whites. They were usually sepulchral monuments built of large
stones piled loosely together above the body to a height of sometimes
6 feet or more, with a corresponding circumference. This method
of interment was used only when there was a desire to commemorate
the death, and every passer-by was accustomed to add a stone to the
heap. The custom is ancient and world-wide, and is still kept up in
Mexico and in many parts of Europe and Asia. Early references to it
among the southern tribes occur in Lederer (1670), Travels, page 10,
ed. 1891, and Lawson (1700), History of Carolina, pages 43 and 78,
ed. 1860. The latter mentions meeting one day "seven heaps of stones,
being the monuments of seven Indians that were slain in that place by
the Sinnagers or Troquois [Iroquois]. Our Indian guide added a stone
to each heap." The common name is the Gaelic term, meaning literally
"a pile."
Seven wives--Polygamy was common among the Cherokee, as among nearly
all other tribes, although not often to such an exaggerated extent
as in this instance. The noted chief Yânûgûñski, who died in 1839,
had two wives. With the plains tribes, and perhaps with others, the
man who marries the eldest of several daughters has prior claim upon
her unmarried sisters.
96. The Seneca peacemakers (p. 365): This story was told to Schoolcraft
by the Seneca more than fifty years ago. A somewhat similar story
is related by Adair (Hist. American Indians, p. 392) of a young
"Anantooeah" (i. e., Nûndawegi or Seneca) warrior taken by the Shawano.
Death song--It seems to have been a chivalrous custom among the eastern
tribes to give to the condemned prisoner who requested it a chance to
recite his warlike deeds and to sing his death song before proceeding
to the final torture. He was allowed the widest latitude of boasting,
even at the expense of his captors and their tribe. The death song
was a chant belonging to the warrior himself or to the war society of
which he was a member, the burden being farewell to life and defiance
to death. When the great Kiowa war chief, Set-ängya, burst his shackles
at Fort Sill and sprang upon the soldiers surrounding him, with the
deliberate purpose to sell his life rather than to remain a prisoner,
he first sang the war song of his order, the Kâitseñ'ko, of which the
refrain is: "O earth, you remain forever, but we Kâitseñ'ko must die"
(see the author's Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians, in Seventeenth
Annual Report of the Bureau American Ethnology, part 1, 1901).
97. Origin of the Yontoñwisas dance (p. 365): This is evidently the
one called by Morgan (League of Iroquois, p. 290) the Untowesus. He
describes both this and the Oaskanea as a "shuffle dance" for women
only. The spelling of the Seneca names in the story is that given in
the manuscript.
Not to go after--Morgan, in his work quoted above, asserts that the
Iroquois never made any effort to recover those of their people
who have been captured by the enemy, choosing to consider them
thenceforth as lost to their tribe and kindred. This, if true, is
doubly remarkable, in view of the wholesale adoption of prisoners
and subjugated tribes by the Iroquois.
Blazing pine knots--Torches of seasoned pine knots are much in use
among the Cherokee for lighting up the way on journeys along the
difficult mountain trails by night. Owing to the accumulation of
resin in the knots they burn with a bright and enduring flame, far
surpassing the cloudy glow of a lantern.
Wild potatoes--As is well known, the potato is indigenous to America,
and our first knowledge of it came to us from the Indians. Many other
native tubers were in use among the tribes, even those which practiced
no agriculture, but depended almost entirely upon the chase. Favorites
among the Cherokee are the Cynara scolymus or wild artichoke, and the
Phaseolus or pig potato, the name of the latter, nuna, being now used
to designate the cultivated potato.
Sky people--These spirit messengers are mentioned also in the story
of Hatcinoñdoñ (number 94), another Seneca tradition. Every tribe
has its own spirit creation.
Must do all this--Every sacred dance and religious rite, as well as
almost every important detail of Indian ceremonial, is supposed to
be in accordance with direct instruction from the spirit world as
communicated in a vision.
98. Ga'na's adventures among the Cherokee (p. 367): This story,
from Curtin's Seneca manuscript, is particularly rich in Indian
allusion. The purificatory rite, the eagle capture, the peace
ceremonial, the ballplay, the foot race, and the battle are all
described in a way that gives us a vivid picture of the old tribal
life. The name of the Seneca hero, Ga'na', signifies, according
to Hewitt, "Arrow" (cf. Cherokee gûni, "arrow"), while the name of
the great eagle, Shada'gea, may, according to the same authority, be
rendered "Cloud-dweller." The Seoqgwageono, living east of the Cherokee
and near the ocean, can not be identified. They could not have been
the Catawba, who were known to the Iroquois as Toderigh-rono, but
they may possibly have been the Congaree, Santee, or Sewee, farther
down in South Carolina. In the Seneca form, as here given, ge (ge`)
is a locative, and ono (oñnoñ) a tribal suffix qualifying the root
of the word, the whole name signifying "people of, or at, Seoqgwa"
(cf. Oyadageono, etc., i. e., Cherokee, p. 186).
Go to water--This rite, as practiced among the Cherokee, has been
already noted in the chapter on stories and story tellers. Ceremonial
purification by water or the sweat bath, accompanied by prayer and
fasting, is almost universal among the tribes as a preliminary to every
important undertaking. With the Cherokee it precedes the ballplay and
the Green-corn dance, and is a part of the ritual for obtaining long
life, for winning the affections of a woman, for recovering from a
wasting sickness, and for calling down prosperity upon the family at
each return of the new moon.
Get the eagle feathers--The Cherokee ritual for procuring eagle
feathers for ceremonial and decorative purposes has been described in
number 35, "The Bird Tribes." The Seneca method, as here described,
is practically that in use among all the Indians of the plains,
although the hunter is not usually satisfied with a single feather
at a capture. Among certain western tribes the eagle was sometimes
strangled before being stripped of its feathers, but it was essential
that the body must not be mangled or any blood be drawn. The Pueblos
were sometimes accustomed to take the young eagles from the nest and
keep them in cages for their feathers. A full tail contains twelve
large feathers of the kind used for war bonnets and on the wands of
the Eagle dance.
Stockade--Stockaded villages were common to the Iroquois and most of
the tribes along the Atlantic coast. They are mentioned also among the
Cherokee in some of the exaggerated narratives of the early Spanish
period, but were entirely unknown within the later colonial period,
and it is very doubtful if the nature of the country would permit
such compact mode of settlement.
Dancers went forward--The method of ceremonial approach here described
was probably more or less general among the eastern tribes. On the
plains the visitors usually dismount in sight of the other camp and
advance on foot in slow procession, chanting the "visiting song,"
while the leader holds out the red stone pipe, which is the symbol
of truce or friendship. For a good description of such a ceremonial,
reproduced from Battey, see the author's Calendar History of the Kiowa
Indians, in the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Ethnology. In this instance the visiting Pawnee carried a flag in
lieu of a pipe.
The Cherokee ceremonial is thus described by Timberlake as witnessed at
Citico in 1762: 'About 100 yards from the town-house we were received
by a body of between three and four hundred Indians, ten or twelve of
which were entirely naked, except a piece of cloth about their middle,
and painted all over in a hideous manner, six of them with eagles'
tails in their hands, which they shook and flourished as they advanced,
danced in a very uncommon figure, singing in concert with some drums
of their own make, and those of the late unfortunate Capt. Damere;
with several other instruments, uncouth beyond description. Cheulah,
the headman of the town, led the procession, painted blood-red, except
his face, which was half black, holding an old rusty broad-sword in
his right hand, and an eagle's tail in his left. As they approached,
Cheulah, singling himself out from the rest, cut two or three capers,
as a signal to the other eagle-tails, who instantly followed his
example. This violent exercise, accompanied by the band of musick,
and a loud yell from the mob, lasted about a minute, when the headman,
waving his sword over my head, struck it into the ground, about two
inches from my left foot; then directing himself to me, made a short
discourse (which my interpreter told me was only to bid me a hearty
welcome) and presented me with a string of beads. We then proceeded
to the door, where Cheulah, and one of the beloved men, taking me
by each arm, led me in, and seated me in one of the first seats;
it was so dark that nothing was perceptible till a fresh supply
of canes were brought, which being burnt in the middle of the house
answers both purposes of fuel and candle. I then discovered about five
hundred faces; and Cheulah addressing me a second time, made a speech
much to the same effect as the former, congratulating me on my safe
arrival thro' the numerous parties of northern Indians, that generally
haunt the way I came. He then made some professions of friendship,
concluding with giving me another string of beads, as a token of
it. He had scarce finished, when four of those who had exhibited at
the procession made their second appearance, painted in milk-white,
their eagle-tails in one hand, and small gourds with beads in them
in the other, which they rattled in time to the musick. During this
dance the peace-pipe was prepared."--Timberlake, Memoirs, pp. 36-39.
Adair also makes brief mention of the ceremony among the Gulf tribes
(Hist. Am. Indians, p. 260), but his account is too badly warped by
theorizing to have much value.
Adopt a relative--This seems to point to a custom which has escaped
the notice of earlier writers on the eastern tribes, but which is well
known in Africa and other parts of the world, and is closely analogous
to a still existing ceremony among the plains Indians by which two
young men of the same tribe formally agree to become brothers, and
ratify the compact by a public exchange of names and gifts.
White wampum--As is well known, white was universally typical of
peace. The traditional peace-pipe of the Cherokee was of white stone
and the word itself is symbolic of peace and happiness in their oratory
and sacred formulas. Thus the speaker at the Green-corn dance invites
the people to come along the white path and enter the white house of
peace to partake of the new white food.
Held up the belt--As already noted, every paragraph of an ambassador's
speech was accompanied by the delivery of a string or belt of wampum
to give authority to his words, and to accept the belt was to accept
the condition or compact which it typified. On the plains the red
stone pipe took the place of the wampum.
Try a race--Public foot races were common among many tribes, more
particularly in the West among the Pueblos, the Apache, and the
Wichita, either as simple athletic contests or in connection with
religious ceremonials. On the plains the horse race is more in favor
and is always the occasion of almost unlimited betting.
Throwing sumac darts--The throwing of darts and arrows, either at a
mark or simply to see who can throw farthest, is a favorite amusement
among the young men and boys. The arrows used for this purpose are
usually longer and heavier than the ordinary ones, having carved wooden
heads and being artistically painted. They are sometimes tipped with
the end of a buffalo horn.
99. The Shawano wars (p. 370): The chief authority as to the expulsion
of the Shawano from Tennessee is Haywood (Natural and Aboriginal
History of Tennessee, pp. 222-224). The Schoolcraft reference is from
Notes on the Iroquois, p. 160, and the notice of the Cherokee-Delaware
war from Loskiel, Mission of United Brethren, p. 128, and Heckewelder,
Indian Nations, p. 88. The Tunâ'i story is from Wafford; the other
incidents from Swimmer.
Shawano--The Shawano or Shawnee were one of the most important
of the Algonquian tribes. Their most noted chief was the great
Tecumtha. The meaning of the name is doubtful. It is commonly
interpreted "Southerners," from the Algonquian shawan, "the south,"
but may have come from another Algonquian word signifying "salt"
(siutagan, sewetagan, etc., from sewan, "sweet, pungent"). Unlike
the southern Indians generally, the Shawano were great salt users,
and carried on an extensive salt manufacture by boiling at the salt
springs of southwestern Virginia, furnishing the product in trade to
other tribes. They have thirteen clans--Wolf, Loon, Bear, Buzzard,
Panther, Owl, Turkey, Deer, Raccoon, Turtle, Snake, Horse, and Rabbit
(Morgan), the clan of the individual being indicated by his name. They
are organized also into four divisions or bands, perhaps originally
independent allied tribes, viz, Piqua, Mequachake, Kiscopocoke, and
Chilicothe. To the second of these belonged the hereditary priesthood,
but the first was most prominent and apparently most numerous. The
Shawano were of very wandering and warlike habit. Their earliest
historical habitat appears to have been on the middle Savannah river,
which takes its name from them, but before the end of the seventeenth
century we find a portion of them, apparently the main body, occupying
the basin of the Cumberland river in Tennessee and the adjacent region
of Kentucky. About the year 1692 most of those remaining in South
Carolina moved northward and settled upon the upper Delaware river,
with their relatives and friends the Delaware and Mahican. These
emigrants appear to have been of the Piqua division. Up to about the
year 1730 the Shawano still had a town on Savannah river, near Augusta,
from which they were finally driven by the Cherokee. From their former
intimate association with the Uchee, living in the same neighborhood,
some early writers have incorrectly supposed the two tribes to be
the same. A part of the Shawano joined the Creek confederary, and up
to the beginning of the last century, and probably until the final
removal to the West, occupied a separate town and retained their
distinct language. Those settled upon the Cumberland were afterward
expelled by the Cherokee and Chickasaw, and retired to the upper waters
of the Ohio under protection of the Delaware, who had given refuge
to the original emigrants from South Carolina. With the advance of
the white settlements the two tribes moved westward into Ohio, the
Shawano fixing themselves in the vicinity of the present Piqua and
Chillicothe about the year 1750. They took a leading part in the French
and Indian war, Pontiac's war, the Revolution, and the war of 1812. In
1793 a considerable band settled in Missouri upon lands granted by
the Spanish government. As a result of successive sales and removals
all that remain of the tribe are now established in Indian Territory,
about one-half being incorporated with the Cherokee Nation. In 1900
they numbered about 1,580, viz, in Cherokee Nation (in 1898), 790;
Absentee Shawnee of Sac and Fox Agency, 509; Absentee Shawnee of Big
Jim's band, special agency, 184; Eastern Shawnee of Quapaw Agency,
93. There are also a few scattered among other tribes. For detailed
information consult Drake, Life of Tecumseh; Heckewelder, Indian
Nations; Brinton, Lenâpé and Their Legends; American State Papers:
Indian Affairs, I and II; Annual Reports of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs.
100. The raid on Tikwali'tsi (p. 374): Swimmer, from whom this story
was obtained, was of opinion that the event occurred when his mother
was a little girl, say about 1795, but it must have been earlier.
The locations are all in Swain county, North Carolina. Tikwali'tsi
town was on Tuckasegee river, at the present Bryson City, immediately
below and adjoining the more important town of Kituhwa. Deep creek
enters the Tuckasegee from the north, about a mile above Bryson
City. The place where the trail crossed is called Uniga'yata`ti'yi,
"Where they made a fish trap," a name which may have suggested the
simile used by the story teller. The place where the Cherokee crossed,
above Deep creek, is called Uniyâ'hitûñ'yi, "Where they shot it." The
cliff over which the prisoners were thrown is called Kala'asûñyi,
"Where he fell off," near Cold Spring knob, west of Deep creek. The
Cherokee halted for a night at Agitsta`ti'yi, "Where they staid up
all night," a few miles beyond, on the western head fork of Deep
creek. They passed Kûnstûtsi'yi, "Sassafras place," a gap about
the head of Noland creek, near Clingman's dome, and finally gave up
the pursuit where the trail crossed into Tennessee, at a gap on the
main ridge, just below Clingman's dome, known as Duniya'`tâ`lûñ'yi,
"Where there are shelves," so called from an exposure of flat rock
on the top of the ridge (see the glossary).
Magic arts--It is almost superfluous to state that no Indian war
party ever started out without a vast deal of conjuring and "making
medicine" to discover the whereabouts and strength of the enemy and
to insure victory and safe return to the departing warriors.
Wait for death--The Indian usually meets inevitable fate with
equanimity, and more than once in our Indian wars an aged warrior or
helpless woman, unable to escape, has sat down upon the ground, and,
with blanket drawn over the head, calmly awaited the fatal bullet or
hatchet stroke.
101. The last Shawano invasion (p. 374): This story also is from
Swimmer, whose antiquarian interest in the history of these wars
may have been heightened by the fact that he had a slight strain of
Shawano blood himself. The descendants of the old chief Sawanu'gi and
his brothers, originally of Shawano stock, as the name indicates, have
been prominent in the affairs of the East Cherokee for more than half
a century, and one of them, bearing the ancestral name, is now second
chief of the band and starter of the game at every large ballplay.
The cry of an owl--One of the commonest claims put forth by the
medicine men is that of ability to understand the language of birds
and to obtain supernatural knowledge from them, particularly from the
owl, which is regarded with a species of fear by the laity, as the
embodiment of a human ghost, on account of its nocturnal habit and
generally uncanny appearance. A medicine man who died a few years ago
among the Kiowa claimed to derive his powers from that bird. The body
of an owl, wrapped in red cloth and decorated with various trinkets,
was kept constantly suspended from a tall pole set up in front of
his tipi, and whenever at night the warning cry sounded from the
thicket he was accustomed to leave his place at the fire and go out,
returning in a short while with a new revelation.
Rafts--The Cherokee canoe is hewn from a poplar log and is too heavy
to be carried about like the bark canoe of the northern tribes. As a
temporary expedient they sometimes used a bear or buffalo skin, tying
the legs together at each end to fashion a rude boat. Upon this the
baggage was loaded, while the owner swam behind, pushing it forward
through the water.
102. The false warriors of Chilhowee (p. 375): This story was given
by Swimmer and corroborated by others as that of an actual incident
of the old times. The middle Cherokee (Kituhwa) settlements, on the
head-streams of the Little Tennessee, were separated from the upper
settlements, about its junction with the main Tennessee, by many
miles of extremely rough mountain country. Dialectic differences
and local jealousies bred friction, which sometimes brought the two
sections into collision and rendered possible such an occurrence as
is here narrated. On account of this jealousy, according to Adair,
the first Cherokee war, which began in 1760, concerned for some
time only a part of the tribe. "According to the well-known temper
of the Cheerake in similar cases it might either have remained so,
or soon have been changed into a very hot civil war, had we been so
wise as to have improved the favourable opportunity. There were seven
northern towns, opposite to the middle parts of the Cheerake country,
who from the beginning of the unhappy grievances, firmly dissented
from the hostile intentions of their suffering and enraged countrymen,
and for a considerable time before bore them little good will, on
account of some family disputes which occasioned each party to be
more favourable to itself than to the other. These would readily have
gratified their vindictive disposition either by a neutrality or an
offensive alliance with our colonists against them" (History of the
American Indians, page 248).
Chilhowee (properly Tsû`lûñ'we or Tsû`la'wi) was a noted settlement
on the south bank of Little Tennessee river, opposite the present
Chilhowee, in Monroe county, Tennessee. Cowee (properly Kawi'yi,
abbreviated Kawi') was the name of two or more former settlements. The
one here meant was at the junction of Cowee creek with Little Tennessee
river, a short distance below the present Franklin, in Macon county,
North Carolina. Neither name can be analyzed. The gunstocker's name,
Gûlsadi'hi or Gûltsadi'hi, and that of the original owner of the gun,
Gûñskali'ski, are both of doubtful etymology.
Great war trail--See historical note 19.
Scalp dance--This dance, common to every tribe east of the Rocky
mountains, was held to celebrate the taking of fresh scalps from
the enemy. The scalps, painted red on the fleshy side, decorated and
stretched in small hoops attached to the ends of poles, were carried
in the dance by the wives and sweethearts of the warriors, while in
the pauses of the song each warrior in turn recited his exploits in
minute detail. Among the Cherokee it was customary for the warrior as
he stepped into the center of the circle to suggest to the drummer an
improvised song which summed up in one or two words his own part in
the encounter. A new "war name" was frequently assumed after the dance
(see sketch of Tsunu'lahûñ'ski, page 164). Dances were held over the
same scalps on consecutive nights or sometimes at short intervals
for weeks together.
Coming for water--The getting of water from the neighboring stream
or spring was a daily duty of the women, and accordingly we find in
Indian stories constant allusion to ambuscades or lovers' appointments
at such places.
To have a ballplay--See note under number 3, Kana'ti and Selu.