I have already acquainted you with John McDonald, Scotch trader, and
Dragging Canoe’s Chickamauga Town across the creek from McDonald’s
home. Before the removal of the Cherokees there was more history made
at that place, which at the time attracted visitors from as far away
as England, and yet it is in less than 10 miles of the Chickamauga
Dam.
After a hundred years of warfare, not until the year 1800 were the
Cherokees able to rest. That year the Moravians established a mission
at Spring Place, Georgia. Before selecting that place they visited
McDonald’s on the Chickamauga and, after examining it closely,
rejected it because they judged it to be an unhealthy place in which
to live. In 1816, when the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, of Boston, sent Cyrus Kingsbury to the Cherokee
country, he purchased the identical place that the Moravians
had rejected. It was directly across the Chickamauga Creek from
Chickamauga Town.
On his way South, Kingsbury stopped in Washington and laid his
plans for establishing a mission and school before President James
Madison, who heartily approved it and tendered government assistance
in equipping it. The school was opened in January 1817 and had the
distinction of being the first school in North America where domestic
science and agriculture were taught. It preceded the Gardiner
Institute of Maine by four years.
The institution grew rapidly. At one time there were forty
buildings of one kind and another standing on its grounds. Some
of the outstanding men and women of New England were its leaders
and teachers. Its first superintendent was Ard Hoyt, who left many
prominent descendants. Hundreds of Cherokees were educated and
Christianized during its twenty-one years of existence.
At first the mission was called _Chickamauga_, but since Chickamauga
Town was situated on the other side of the creek, visitors coming
to the school often became confused and went to the Indian village.
It was decided to correct the handicap by changing the name to
_Brainerd_, in honor of David Brainerd, the pioneer missionary among
the Indians of New England and New York. David Brainerd had been in
his grave seventy years before the founding of this namesake of his.
Many were the visitors of prominence who came to Brainerd. Perhaps
the most noted person was President James Monroe, who paid the
mission a surprise visit May 27, 1819, and spent the night there.
Monroe took a deep interest in the institution and gave it the
material support of the Federal Government.
John Howard Payne, author of the famous song, _Home Sweet Home_,
while collecting data for a history he was preparing of the Cherokee,
spent two weeks at Brainerd, and the fourteen large volumes of his
manuscripts now at the Newberry Library in Chicago contain copies of
many letters written by the pupils of this mission school.
Dr. Samuel Worcester, one of the founders of the American Board
and its first secretary, who was largely responsible for founding
Brainerd Mission, visited the institution in 1821. He was ill when he
left his home in Boston and traveled by boat as far as New Orleans.
After driving a horse and buggy from that southern city to Brainerd,
he arrived there on May 25 a very sick man. On June 7 he passed away.
His funeral in the Brainerd cemetery on June 9, 1821, was attended by
hundreds of Cherokees riding horseback from all parts of the nation,
who came to show their respect for a man they had not seen but whom
all had learned to love.
[Illustration: Little Owl’s village site on the Elise Chapin Wildlife
Sanctuary]
Sequoya, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary, also came for a
visit. The first translations of the Bible in Cherokee was made
by another Indian by the name of _Atsi_, but who was known to the
whites as John Arch. This took place at Brainerd. John Arch was the
interpreter at Brainerd. When he arrived at the school, after having
walked to the mission from the Nantahala Valley of Western North
Carolina, now a part of the Smoky Mountain Park, he was so raggedly
dressed and so wild looking that the missionaries were three days
deciding whether to accept him as a pupil or not. He had only one
possession, a gun, which he gladly exchanged for some warm clothes.
Much to their surprise John Arch proved an apt pupil, and after
receiving a few years’ education, he became one of the strongest
supporters of the school.
Sequoya spent a dozen years perfecting his alphabet. It was judged by
competent critics as ranking second to the English alphabet, which
required several hundred years to perfect. By Sequoya’s alphabet
of 85 characters a Cherokee was able to read and write in a few
hours. The inventor of this alphabet received many honors. He had the
distinction of being the only literary person in the United States to
receive a pension, which came from the Cherokee Nation. The Big Trees
of California were also named _Sequoia_ in his honor. His alphabet
enabled the Indians to make rapid progress in education, and after
type had been cast in Boston, _The Cherokee Phoenix_, a newspaper,
was established and published at their capitol in New Echota, near
the present town of Calhoun, Georgia. Elias Boudinot, a full-blooded
Cherokee who had been educated at Brainerd Mission and Cornwall,
Connecticut, was chosen as its editor.
John Ross, who became one of the most influential and renowned
Cherokees, was a frequent visitor at Brainerd and was its chief
supporter, so was Andrew Jackson. Jackson was the first white man to
assist Cyrus Kingsbury in his initial meeting with the Cherokees at
Turkeytown near the present town of Centre, Alabama, when the plan of
the mission and school was approved by the Cherokees.
In 1817, Elias Cornelius, representing the American Board, the
founders of the Brainerd Mission, came to Brainerd for a visit.
Cornelius was on a good will tour among the Indians of the South
and Southwest where the Board planned to establish more missions
and schools. On November 15 he left Brainerd on horseback with
three companions _en route_ for New Orleans. After traveling about
200 miles, he reached Caney Creek, which was swollen from recent
rains. Cornelius did not dare risk swimming his horse, but selected
a camp site nearby. Soon he saw a band of Cherokee approaching on
the opposite side of the creek. They plunged their horses into the
swollen stream and swam successfully across. Night was speeding on,
and the Indians encamped in the woods nearby.
In the early part of the evening Cornelius went to pay his neighbors
a friendly visit. On approaching the open fire he saw tomahawks,
corn, skins of wild animals, and bows and arrows spread before the
fire. Fortunately, there was one Indian in the crowd who was able to
speak English. When Cornelius saw the arrows were bearing the stain
of fresh blood, he learned that this band of Cherokees was returning
from west of the Mississippi, some 30 miles from the Dardanelles,
where they had fought a battle with the Osage tribe. About 800
Cherokees, including their allies, the Delawares and Shawnees, had
participated. Some of the Cherokees had been taken prisoners, and the
Cherokees had captured a few of the Osages. Among them was a little
Osage girl, about five years old, whom they were taking back to their
homes as one of their valued war trophies.
When Cornelius queried them about the little girl’s father and
mother, one of the Indians reached into a rough looking bag, fumbled
around inside, and drew out two human scalps. Holding them up in
plain view he said, “Here they are!”
Cornelius’ heart was deeply touched. He took the little girl in his
arms, whereupon she screamed from fear because she had been taught to
shun white men as being very cruel to Indian children. Remembering
that kindness is the only universal language that is understood by
beasts and birds, by all wild flowers and trees and every living
thing, Cornelius spoke kindly and sympathetically to the girl and
gave her a piece of sweet cake, which she knew not how to use. Then
he presented her with a pretty cup, and thus he won her confidence
and friendship. Before leaving them, he told the Indians about the
Brainerd Mission, and although the Cherokee who claimed possession of
the little girl intimated that he might be willing to sell her, he
promised faithfully that he would place her in the Brainerd school
on his arrival at the mission. Cornelius learned before leaving them
that the Indian who owned her had not captured her, but that he had
swapped a horse for her with the Cherokee who had taken her as a
prisoner.
The next day Cornelius proceeded on his way. After reaching
Mississippi, while he was entertaining some friends in Natchez, Mr.
Cornelius related the story of the little Osage captive, whereupon
a Mrs. Lydia Carter, who was touched with the pathetic story, gave
Cornelius $150 with which to purchase the little girl’s freedom. Soon
Cornelius received a letter from Brainerd stating that the Indian
had not brought the little girl to the school as he had promised.
When interviewed, the Indian refused to part with her unless the
missionaries would give him in return a Negro girl as a servant. Such
thoughts were repulsive to the missionaries. On Cornelius’ return to
Brainerd he rode 60 miles to call on the Indian who held the little
girl. On seeing him approaching, she did not become frightened, but
ran to greet him. Her owner, however, stubbornly refused to release
the little girl.
On his way back to Boston, Cornelius called on the President of the
United States. Then he interviewed the Secretary of War who handed
him written authority to demand possession of the little Osage
girl. On receipt of the order, Ard Hoyt, superintendent of Brainerd
Mission, went after the little girl and paid the Indian for her
release. On his way back to the Mission, Hoyt, christened her Lydia
Carter in honor of the benevolent woman of Natchez. Lydia was adopted
by Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain, missionaries at Brainerd, and she became
a sister of their own little daughter, Catherine.
A few days later rumors reached the missionaries that the Cherokees
held two other Osage children, a boy and a girl, and that Lydia was
their sister. The boy had been sold first for $20 and resold so many
times that the last price brought $150. Return J. Meigs, the Indian
Agent, gave the missionaries authority to take possession of the
boy and place him in the Brainerd school. John Ross, then a dashing
young man, went to Brainerd and tendered his services in rescuing the
boy. Ross rode horseback for 250 miles to the mouth of the Catawba
River. He handled the situation with skill. Before going to the house
of the Indian who held the boy, Ross hid his horse in the woods and
stealthily approached on foot. When he glimpsed the lad, entirely
nude, playing about the hut, as agile as a deer, Ross leaped the
fence gracefully, and in another moment he had the boy securely in
his arms. In great excitement the owner came rushing out. Ross turned
a deaf ear to the pleading of the Indian, who tried all kinds of
schemes to prevent Ross from taking the boy away. In a few moments
Ross had the boy riding behind him on the horse, and they were
hastening on their way to Brainerd Mission. After 13 days, riding
through forests, swimming rivers, fording streams, Ross returned
with his human prize. During this time he had traveled more than 600
miles. On his return the Osage boy was christened John Osage Ross in
honor of the young man who had rescued him.
[Illustration: Mayor Hugh P. Wasson of Chattanooga, standing by the
side of President Dutra of Brazil, points to an interesting feature
of the Chickamauga Dam]
The story of these two children was so remarkable that Elias
Cornelius wrote a book entitled _The Little Osage Captive_, which was
published in Boston, also in York, England. The book had a wide sale.
Later when John Rogers, Cherokee, came from Arkansas to take Lydia
Carter and John Osage Ross back to the Osages, there was great
sadness at Brainerd when the missionaries had to part with the
children. John Rogers was an antecedent of the late humorist Will
Rogers and a relative of Tiana Rogers, Sam Houston’s Cherokee wife.
The Brainerd Mission was closed on August 19, 1838, at the time of
the removal of the Cherokees to the West. Many of the missionaries
chose to accompany them to the new lands and there resumed their
labors as they had done so unselfishly at Brainerd. It should be
remembered that Brainerd Mission gave the name to Missionary Ridge,
and on August 19, 1938, at the identical hour marking the 100th
anniversary of the closing of the Brainerd Mission, a meeting was
held on the grounds attended by hundreds of Chattanoogans.