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MY ANCESTORS-MY PEOPLE-MY HERITAGE
MY ANCESTORS-MY PEOPLE-MY HERITAGE
Welcome to this forum. It is here to help spread the truth and history of my people the CHICKAMAUGA CHEROKEE'S,Cherokee's and other Indian peoples.
NATIVE AMERICAN ADVOCATE
New! Anil+kant+pray+for+india+song -- Anonymous, 06:08:34 01/26/14 Sun




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[ Edit | View ]

Chickamagan History -- Anonymous, 16:24:08 07/19/02 Fri

There are so many things that I would like to say ... but instead invite all to my website to read them yourselve ... Mysteries of Trox ... in Native History u will find my families history and story of the Cherokee ....

Mysteries of Trox http://trox11.tripod.com

Trox Native History http://trox11.tripod.com/native/native.htm

Thank You ... Dan Troxell ... DeNi U-Gu-Ku


[ Edit | View ]

A Song for the Cherokee -- Anonymous, 15:46:56 01/15/02 Tue

Osiya,
Here are some lyrics, to the tune of Nearer My God to Thee, that I made up and want to share them with all Cherokee.May it bring the peace I find in it, too.

As-Ga-YaGa-Lun-La-Ti oh, Tas-la-gi
Every-where you're there with me
As you tend to be

The an-cestors spoke your fame
Rev-er-ence of the same
Seven clans that call your name
Hold your ho-ly flame

As-Ga-YaGa-Lun-La-Ti oh, Tas-la-gi
Thoughts gathered with clar-it-y
All things as they be

The an-cestors spoke so true
We shape the fu-ture too
Words and thoughts of to-day
Shape things as they may

As-Ga-YaGa-Lun-La-Ti oh, Tas-la-gi
My heart's eyes open for me
My sprit guide to see

The an-cestors spoke their hearts
Praised you in all their arts
Circle of light shin-ing through
Guide me oh so true

As-Ga-YaGa-Lun-La-Ti oh, Tas-la-gi
Con-fused by things I see
Seem too strange to be

The an-cestors prayed each day
Knew you to know the way
Thanks for the life I lead
Thanks for every deed

Wado,
Kevin Porter a.k.a. unawi


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Words Spoken: Old Tassel, Cherokee -- Anonymous, 07:46:58 11/19/01 Mon

Words Spoken: Old Tassel, Cherokee

"Many proposals have been made to us to adopt your laws, your religion, your
manners and your customs. We would be better pleased with beholding the good
effects of these doctrines in your own practices, than with hearing you talk
about them".

"You say, for example, "Why do not the Indians till the ground and live as
we do?" May we not ask with equal propriety, "Why do not the white people
hunt and live as we do?"

The end of the Revolutionary War brought an end to British aid, however, a
new European power was anxious to expand its claims in North American -- the
Spanish. With France and England out of the way, Spain began to encourage
the Chickamaugas to continue their raids on the colonists. Not much
encouragement was needed, however, because settlers were continuing to flood
across treaty boundaries onto Cherokee land.

Old Tassel had assumed responsibilities of chief upon the deaths of
Attacullakulla in 1780 and Oconostota in 1782. A new era was beginning for
the Cherokee. The Cherokee had a new nation to contend with -- the United
States. Old Tassel's first order of business was another futile attempt to
stop the intrusions onto Cherokee land.


*****

Note: This meeting on November 18, 1785 led up to the The Treaty Of New
Echota, which was the first first treaty between the United States and the
Cherokee and which was signed at Hopewell on November 28, 1785. It has been
said that this was considered less a "treaty" than a concession by the
Cherokee, whose protests about white settlers on land that was supposedly
under their ownership were basically ignored.


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MESSAGE TO Elected Cherokee Officials -- Anonymous, 21:41:28 11/15/01 Thu

MESSAGE TO...
Elected Cherokee Officials
by Ray Walker
May 3, 1997

Copyright © 1998 Ray Walker
All Rights Reserved



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Message To,The elected servants of the Cherokee people:
Sam Ed Bush, Mary Flute Cooksey, Bill John Baker, Dora Mae Watie, Charles Hoskins, non-elected, Byrd appointed Harley Terrell, Barbara Mitchell Conness, and Don Crittenden.
History will note your "treason" on this day, May 3, 1997. Cherokee History will tell the story of how you attempted to sell out your own tribe to the federal government and how you stabbed the nation in it's youthful heart of new self-governance. History will record not only did you betray your own Cherokee people, you betrayed Native American tribes throughout America.

Our posterity will read about how you attempted to sell out our nation to the Federal government for the sake of federal political "damage control" and avoidance of your own Chief's criminal investigation in a court of his own peers.

Our grandchildren will read how you helped Joe Byrd, Garland Eagle, Joel Thompson, Mark McCullough the non-Indian financier of Byrd's campaign for Chief, non-Indian Bruce Taylor, the U.S. Federal Government BIA, the embarrassed Democratic Party that picked Joe Byrd as their "token" Indian Chief to road trip around during the past federal election year with the U.S. Democratic President of the United States hoping to influence the "Indian swing vote" not realizing that their "token" was under a criminal investigation for misappropriated federal and tribal funds.

Native Americans throughout the Cherokee Nation and across the country will not forget your names, nor will they let this matter pass until the truth is revealed, and it will be. Not until then will they rest... and all of you mark these words well... not one day before that time will there be rest in the wounded hearts and spirits of our people.

Ancestors are crying out through our spirits to defend our sovereignty and the people's integrity. They cry with us over the tragic failure of you Cherokee leaders to hold dear your promises that you made to the people to uphold our laws and respect the people's will. It will be done, the truth shall be revealed. History will deliver your legacy to your children's children and their children, and they will be dishonored by your deeds.

Shall it be said, "forgive them for they know not what they did" when they crucified the young self-governing nation of the Cherokee people.

We cry again in this unending trail of tears to rebuild a sovereign nation of people, but the tears are particularly bitter this day because you, our own people, have attempted to give our nation back the U.S. Federal government for personal gain.

History will note kindly that (7) of the peoples' elected servants stood up for them today... and history will also note that the Honorable Councilman Jiggs Phillips stood up and walked out of your "kangaroo court" today and told you that it was "illegal" and unforgivable; and that he would not stand for your attack on the core of the peoples court; your attempt to impeach the honored and outstanding jurists of Cherokee Nation's Judicial Tribunal (the nations highest court); Cherokees who have respectfully and faithfully served the nation; protected our people rights; and have insured that our Constitution works for all the people for the last 20 years. We say to Cherokee Councilor Harold Jiggs Phillips... our hearts rejoice in your wisdom; we say this also to Councilors Troy Poteete, Barbara Star Scott, Harold DeMoss, Nick Lay, Paula Holder, and William Smoke and our 15 Cherokee Nation Marshals... we say thank you for your unselfish dedication to the Cherokee people.

Ray Walker
c/o P.O. Box 1767,
Tahlequah, OK 74465



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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TSALAGI STORIES -- Anonymous, 17:23:31 11/15/01 Thu

The Pleiades and the Pine



Long ago, when the world was new, there were seven boys who used to spend all their time down by the townhouse playing the gatayusti game, rolling a stone wheel along the ground and sliding a curved stick after it to strike it. Their mothers scolded, but it did no good, so one day they collected some gatayusti stones and boiled them in the pot with the corn (selu) for dinner. When the boys came home hungry their mothers dipped out the stones and said, "Since you like the gatayusti better than the cornfield, take the stones now for your dinner."

The boys were very angry, and went down to the townhouse, saying, "As our mothers treat us this way, let us go where we shall never trouble them any more." They began a dance -- some say it was the Feather dance -- and went round and round the townhouse, praying to the spirits to help them. At last their mothers were afraid something was wrong and went out to look for them. They saw the boys still dancing around the townhouse, and as they watched they noticed that their feet were off the earth, and that with every round they rose higher and higher in the air. They ran to get their children, but it was too late, they were already above the roof of the townhouse—all but one, whose mother managed to pull him down with the gatayusti pole, but he struck the ground with such force that he sank into it and the earth closed over him.

The other six circled higher and higher until they went up to the sky, where we see them now as the Pleiades, which the Cherokee still call Anitsutsa (the Boys). The people grieved long after them, but the mother whose boy had gone into the ground came every morning and evening to cry over the spot until the earth was damp with her tears. At last a little green shoot sprouted up and grew day by day until it became the tall tree that we now call the pine, and the pine is of the same nature as the stars, and holds in itself the same bright light.


The Origin of Strawberries (a-nv)

When the first man (a s ga ya) was created and a mate was given to him, they lived together very happily for a time, but then began to quarrel, until at last the woman (a ge ya) left her husband and started off toward the Sun land (Nundagunyi), in the east. The man followed alone and grieving, but the woman kept on steadily ahead and never looked behind, until the Creator, took pity on him and asked him if he was still angry with his wife. He said he was not, and Creator then asked him if he would like to have her back again, to which he eagerly answered yes.

So Creator caused a patch of the finest ripe huckleberries to spring up along the path in front of the woman, but she passed by without paying any attention to them. Farther on he put a clump of blackberries, but these also she refused to notice. Other fruits, one, two, and three, and then some trees covered with beautiful red service berries, were placed beside the path to tempt her, but she went on until suddenly she saw in front of her a patch of large ripe strawberries, the first ever known. She stooped to gather a few to eat, and as she picked them she chanced to turn her face to the west, and at once the memory of her husband came back to her and she found herself unable to go on. She sat down, but the longer she waited the stronger became her desire for her husband, and at last she gathered a bunch of the finest berries and started back along the path to give them to him. He met her kindly and they went home together.



The Bear Legend



In the long ago time, there was a Cherokee Clan call the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi (Ahnee-Jah-goo-hee), and in one family of this clan was a boy who used to leave home and be gone all day in the mountains. After a while he went oftener and stayed longer, until at last he would not eat in the house at all, but started off at daybreak and did not come back until night. His parents scolded, but that did no good, and the boy still went every day until they noticed that long brown hair was beginning to grow out all over his body. Then they wondered and asked him why it was that he wanted to be so much in the woods that he would not even eat at home.

Said the boy, "I find plenty to eat there, and it is better than the corn and beans we have in the settlements, and pretty soon I am going into the woods to say all the time." His parents were worried and begged him not leave them, but he said, "It is better there than here, and you see I am beginning to be different already, so that I can not live here any longer. If you will come with me, there is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it; but if you want to come, you must first fast seven days."

The father and mother talked it over and then told the headmen of the clan. They held a council about the matter and after everything had been said they decided: "Here we must work hard and have not always enough. There he says is always plenty without work. We will go with him." So they fasted seven days, and on the seventh morning al the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi left the settlement and started for the mountains as the boy led the way.

When the people of the other towns heard of it they were very sorry and sent their headmen to persuade the Ani Tsaguhi to stay at home and not go into the woods to live. The messengers found them already on the way, and were surprised to notice that their bodies were beginning to be covered with hair like that of animals, because for seven days they had not taken human food and their nature was changing. The Ani Tsaguhi would not come back, but said, "We are going where there is always plenty to eat. Hereafter we shall be called Yonv(a) (bears), and when you yourselves are hungry come into the woods and call us and we shall shall come to give you our own flesh. You need not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always." Then they taught the messengers the songs with which to call them and bear hunters have these songs still.

When they had finished the songs, the Ani Tsaguhi started on again and the messengers turned back to the settlements, but after going a little way they looked back and saw a drove of bears going into the woods.



The Origin of Medicine



At one time, animals and people lived together peaceably and talked with each other. But when mankind began to multiply rapidly, the animals were crowded into forests and deserts.

Man began to destroy animals wholesale for their skins and furs, not just for needed food. Animals became angry at such treatment by their former friends, resolving they must punish mankind.

The bear tribe met in council, presided over by Old White Bear, their Chief. After several bears had spoken against mankind for their bloodthirsty ways, war was unanimously agreed upon. But what kinds of weapons should the bears use?

Chief Old White Bear suggested that man's weapon, the bow and arrow, should be turned against him. All of the council agreed. While the bears worked and made bows and arrows, they wondered what to do about bowstrings. One of the bears sacrificed himself to provide the strings, while the others searched for good arrow wood.

When the first bow was completed and tried, the bear's claws could not release the strings to shoot the arrow. One bear offered to cut his claws, but Chief Old White Bear would not allow him to do that, because without claws he could not climb trees for food and safety. He might starve.

The deer tribe called together its council led by Chief Little Deer. They decided that any Indian hunters, who killed deer without asking pardon in a suitable manner, should be afflicted with painful rheumatism in their joints.

After this decision, Chief Little Deer sent a messenger to their nearest neighbours, the Cherokee Indians.

"From now on, your hunters must first offer a prayer to the deer before killing him," said the messenger. "You must ask his pardon, stating you are forced only by the hunger needs of your tribe to kill the deer. Otherwise, a terrible disease will come to the hunter."

When a deer is slain by an Indian hunter, Chief Little Deer will run to the spot and ask the slain deer's spirit, "Did you hear the hunter's prayer for pardon?"

If the reply is yes, then all is well and Chief Little Deer returns to his cave. But if the answer is no, then the Chief tracks the hunter to his lodge and strikes him with the terrible disease of rheumatism, making him a helpless cripple unable to hunt again.

All the fishes and reptiles then held a council and decided they would haunt those Cherokee Indians, who tormented them, by telling them hideous dreams of serpents twining around them and eating them alive. These snake and fish dreams occurred often among the Cherokees. To get relief, the Cherokees pleaded with their Shaman to banish their frightening dreams if they no longer tormented the snakes and fish.

Now when the friendly plants heard what the animals had decided against mankind, they planned a countermove of their own. Each tree, shrub, herb, grass, and moss agreed to furnish a cure for one of the diseases named by the animals and insects.

Thereafter, when the Cherokee Indians visited their Shaman about their ailments and if the medicine man was in doubt, he communed with the spirits of the plants. They always suggested a proper remedy for mankind's diseases.

This was the beginning of plant medicine from nature among the Cherokee Indian nation a long, long time ago.


The Origin of Medicine



At one time, animals and people lived together peaceably and talked with each other. But when mankind began to multiply rapidly, the animals were crowded into forests and deserts.

Man began to destroy animals wholesale for their skins and furs, not just for needed food. Animals became angry at such treatment by their former friends, resolving they must punish mankind.

The bear tribe met in council, presided over by Old White Bear, their Chief. After several bears had spoken against mankind for their bloodthirsty ways, war was unanimously agreed upon. But what kinds of weapons should the bears use?

Chief Old White Bear suggested that man's weapon, the bow and arrow, should be turned against him. All of the council agreed. While the bears worked and made bows and arrows, they wondered what to do about bowstrings. One of the bears sacrificed himself to provide the strings, while the others searched for good arrow wood.

When the first bow was completed and tried, the bear's claws could not release the strings to shoot the arrow. One bear offered to cut his claws, but Chief Old White Bear would not allow him to do that, because without claws he could not climb trees for food and safety. He might starve.

The deer tribe called together its council led by Chief Little Deer. They decided that any Indian hunters, who killed deer without asking pardon in a suitable manner, should be afflicted with painful rheumatism in their joints.

After this decision, Chief Little Deer sent a messenger to their nearest neighbours, the Cherokee Indians.

"From now on, your hunters must first offer a prayer to the deer before killing him," said the messenger. "You must ask his pardon, stating you are forced only by the hunger needs of your tribe to kill the deer. Otherwise, a terrible disease will come to the hunter."

When a deer is slain by an Indian hunter, Chief Little Deer will run to the spot and ask the slain deer's spirit, "Did you hear the hunter's prayer for pardon?"

If the reply is yes, then all is well and Chief Little Deer returns to his cave. But if the answer is no, then the Chief tracks the hunter to his lodge and strikes him with the terrible disease of rheumatism, making him a helpless cripple unable to hunt again.

All the fishes and reptiles then held a council and decided they would haunt those Cherokee Indians, who tormented them, by telling them hideous dreams of serpents twining around them and eating them alive. These snake and fish dreams occurred often among the Cherokees. To get relief, the Cherokees pleaded with their Shaman to banish their frightening dreams if they no longer tormented the snakes and fish.

Now when the friendly plants heard what the animals had decided against mankind, they planned a countermove of their own. Each tree, shrub, herb, grass, and moss agreed to furnish a cure for one of the diseases named by the animals and insects.

Thereafter, when the Cherokee Indians visited their Shaman about their ailments and if the medicine man was in doubt, he communed with the spirits of the plants. They always suggested a proper remedy for mankind's diseases.

This was the beginning of plant medicine from nature among the Cherokee Indian nation a long, long time ago.


The Origin of Game and Corn



Long ages ago, soon after the world was made, Kenati, a Cherokee Indian hunter and his wife Selu, lived on Looking-glass Mountain in North Carolina. They had a little son named Good Boy.

Whenever Kenati hunted in the woods, he always brought back all the game his family needed. His wife cut up the meat and washed it in the river not far from their lodge. Good Boy played near the river almost every day. One day his parents thought they heard laughing in the bushes, as if there were two children playing there.

That evening Kenati asked his son, "Who were you playing with today down by the river?"

"He is a boy who comes out of the water and calls himself my elder brother," replied Good Boy.

When Selu washed game in the river again, the parents thought the water boy must grow from the animal blood. She never saw the water boy, because as she approached he disappeared.

One evening, Kenati said to his son, "Tomorrow when your playmate comes out of the water, wrestle with him and hold him down and call me, so we can come and see him." Good Boy promised to do as his father asked.

Next day a wrestling match took place between the two boys. Kenati and Selu were not far away, and at the first call from their son, they ran to see the boy from the river. Compared with Good boy, the other one looked wild.

"Let me go! Let me go!" he cried out. Good Boy held him down until his parents arrived. They took the water boy home with them.

The family kept the wild one in the house form some time, trying to tame him. But he was always disagreeable in his disposition and tried to lead Good Boy into mischief. The family discovered that wild one possessed some magic powers, so they decided to keep him. They named him Wild Boy.

Always Kenati came home from hunting with a large fat deer on his back. Always he was lucky with game. One day Wild Boy said to his brother, "I wonder where our father finds so much game? Let's follow him next time."

In a few days, Kenati took his bow and arrows and went hunting. Shortly afterward the boys followed. Staying out of sight, they saw their father go into a swamp where some strong reeds were growing. With these, hunters usually made arrow shafts. Wild Boy changed himself into a puff of bird's down. A little wind carried him up and onto Kenati's shoulder. There he watched where Kenati went and what he did. The father was not aware of Wild Boy's presence on his shoulder as he gathered reeds and fitted them with feathers.

"I wonder what those things are for?" thought Wild Boy to himself. Kenati came out of the swamp and went on his way into the woods. The wind carried the down off Kenati's shoulders and soon Wild Boy was his normal self again. Still keeping out of sight of their father, the two brothers followed him into the mountains.

When Kenati reached a certain place, he stopped and lifted a large rock. At once, a large buck deer came running out of the hole. Kenati shot it and lifted it upon his back, starting home with his prize.

"Oho!" said the boys. "He keeps the wild animals shut up inside a cave until he needs them. He then kills the game with those things he made in the swamp." They hurried to reach home before their father arrived with his heavy load.

The very next day, the boys wanted to see if they could do as their father had done. First, they went to the swamp and made some arrows. When they came to the big rock, they lifted the cover and instantly a deer ran out, but they forgot to replace the cover.

As they made ready to shoot the deer, another deer came out of the hole, then another, and another--the boys became so confused they forgot what to do next.

Long ago, a deer's tail stuck straight out from his body. When Wild Boy struck at a deer's tail with an arrow, the tail stood straight up. The boys thought it great fun. As another deer ran by, Good Boy swung at it with an arrow so hard that the tail curled over the deer's back. Since that time most deers' tails curl at the end.

All of the deer in the cave came out and disappeared into the forest. Following them were raccoons, rabbits, and all the other four-footed animals. Last came turkeys, partridges, pigeons, and other winged creatures. They darkened the air as they flew away. Such a noise arose that Kenati heard it at his lodge. To himself he said, "I must go to see what trouble my boys have stirred up."

Kenati went to the mountain, to the place of the large rock. There stood the two boys, but all the animals and birds were gone. Kenati was furious with them, but said nothing. He went into the cave and kicked off the covers of four large jars that stood in the back corner.

Out of the jars swarmed bedbugs, lice, and gnats that attached the two boys. they screamed from terror as they tried to beat off the insects. Bitten and stung, the boys dropped to the ground from exhaustion.

When Kenati thought they had learned their lesson, he brushed away the pests. "Now you rascals," he scolded them. "You have always had plenty to eat without working for it. When we needed game, all I had to do was to come up here and take home just what we needed. Now you have let all of the game escape. From now on when you are hungry, you will have to hunt throughout the woods and mountains and then not find enough game."

The two boys went home and asked their mother for something to eat.

"There is no more meat," said Selu. "I will go to the storehouse and try to find something."

She took her basket and went to the two-story provision house set upon poles high above the ground, out of reach of most animals.

Every day before the evening meal, Selu climbed the ladder to the one opening. She always came back with her basket full of beans and corn.

"Let's go and see where she gets the corn and beans," urged Wild Boy to his brother. They followed Selu and climbed up in back of the storehouse. They removed a piece of mud from between the logs and looked through the crack. There stood Selu in the middle of the room with her basket on the floor. When she rubbed her stomach, the basket was half-filled with corn. When she rubbed her legs, the basket was full to the top with beans. Wild Boy said, "Our mother is a witch. Maybe her food will poison us."

When Selu came back to the house, she seemed to know what the boys were thinking. "You think I am a witch?"

"Yes, we think you are a witch," Wild Boy replied.

"When I die, I want you boys to clear a large piece of ground in front of our lodge. Then drag all of my clothes seven times around the inside of the circle. If you stay up all night and watch, next morning you will be rewarded with plenty of corn."

Soon thereafter Selu became ill and died suddenly. The boys set to work clearing the ground as she had said. But instead of the whole piece of ground in front of the lodge, they only cleared seven small spots. This is why corn does not grow everywhere in the world.

Instead of dragging Selu's clothing seven times, they only went around the circle twice, outside and inside the circle. The brothers watched all night, and in the morning there were fully grown beans and corn, but only in the seven small spots.

Kenati came home from a long hunting trip. He looked for Selu but could not find her. When the boys came home, he asked them, "Where is your mother?"

"She turned into a witch and then she died," they reported. Kenati was saddened by the news.

"I cannot stay here with you any longer. I will go and live with the Wolf people," he said.

He started on his journey. Wild Boy changed himself into a tuft of bird's down and settled upon Kenati's shoulder to learn where he was going.

When Kenati reached the settlement of the Wolf people, they were having a council in their town-house. He went in and sat down with the tuft upon his shoulder. Wolf Chief asked Kenati what was his business.

"At home I have two bad boys. In seven days, I want you to go and play a game of ball with them."

The Wolf people knew that Kenati wanted them to punish the boys and promised to go in seven days. At that moment the down blew off of Kenati's shoulder and the smoke carried it up and through the smoke hole in the roof. It came down to the ground outside, where Wild Boy resumed his own shape and ran home fast to tell his brother. Kenati did not return but went on to visit another tribe.

The two brothers prepared for the coming of the wolves. Wild Boy the magician told his brother what to do. Together they made a path around the house, leaving an opening on one side for the wolves to enter.

Next, they made four large bundles of arrows. These they placed at four different points on the outside of the circle. Then they hid themselves in the woods nearby and waited for the wolves.

At the appointed time, a whole army of wolves surrounded the house. They came in the entrance the boys had made. When all were within, Wild Boy magically made the pathway become a high fence, trapping the wolves inside.

The two boys on the outside began shooting arrows at the wolves. Since the fence was too high for the wolves to jump over, they were trapped and most were killed.

Only a few escaped through the entrance and made their way into a nearby swamp. Three or four wolves eventually survived. These were the only wolves left alive in the world.

Soon thereafter, some strangers came from a great distance to learn about the brothers' good grain for eating and making bread. Only Selu and her family had the corn secret.

The two brothers told the strangers how to care for the corn and gave them seven kernels to plant the next night on their way home. They were advised that they must watch throughout the night, then the following morning they would have seven ears of corn. This they should do each night, and by the time they reached home, they should have enough corn for all their people to plant.

The strangers lived seven days' distance. Each night they did as the brothers had instructed them. On the last night of the journey, they were so tired that they fell asleep and were unable to continue the whole night's watch. Next morning, the corn had not sprouted and grown as on the previous six nights.

Upon arriving in their own village, they shared all the corn they still had left with their people. They explained how the two brothers told them the way to make the corn prosper. They watched over the planting with care and attention. A splendid crop of corn resulted. Since then, however, the Cherokee Indians needed to tend their corn only half the year to supply their people.

Kenati never came back to his home. The two brothers decided to search for him. Wild Boy sailed a magic disk to the northwind and it returned. He sailed it to the southwind and it returned, but it did not return from the eastwind. They knew that was where their father was living. They walked a long, long time and finally came upon Kenati with a dog walking by his side.

"You bad boys," rebuked Kenati. "Why have you followed me here?"

"We are men now," they replied. "We plan to accomplish what we set out to do." Wild Boy knew that the dog was the magic disk that had not returned, and had become a dog only a few days ago.

Kenati's trail led to Selu, waiting for him at the end of the world where the sun comes up. All seemed glad to be reunited for the present.

Their parents told the two brothers that they must go to live where the sun goes down. In seven days, the two boys left for the Land of the Setting-Sun. There they still live, overseeing the planting and the care of corn.

The brothers still talk about how Selu brought forth the first corn from her seed. Since that time, the Cherokee tribe refer to her as the "Corn Woman."


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The First Fire -- Anonymous, 17:13:55 11/15/01 Thu

The First Fire



In the beginning of the world, there was no fire. The animal people were often cold. Only the Thunders, who lived in the world beyond the sky arch, had fire. At last they sent Lightning down to an island. Lightning put fire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore tree.

The animal people knew that the fire was there, because they could see smoke rising from the top of the tree. But they could not get to it on account of the water. So they held a council to decide what to do.

Everyone that could fly or could swim was eager to go after the fire. Raven said, "Let me go. I am large and strong."

At that time Raven was white. He flew high and far across the water and reached the top of the sycamore tree. While he sat there wondering what to do, the heat scorched all his feathers black. The frightened Raven flew home without the fire, and his feathers have been black ever since.

Then the council sent Screech Owl. He flew to the island. But while he was looking down into the hollow tree, a blast of hot air came up and nearly burned out his eyes. He flew home and to this day, Screech Owl's eyes are red.

Then Hooting Owl and Horned Owl were sent to the island together. But the smoke nearly blinded them, and the ashes carried up by the wind made white rings about their eyes. They had to come home, and were never able to get rid of the white rings.

Then Little Snake swam across to the island, crawled through the grass to the tree, and entered it through a small hole at the bottom. But the smoke and the heat were too much for him, too. He escaped alive, but his body had been scorched black. And it was so twisted that he doubled on his track as if always trying to escape from a small space.

Big Snake, the climber, offered to go for fire, but he fell into the burning stump and became as black as Little Snake. He has been the great blacksnake ever since.

At last Water Spider said that she would go. Water Spider has black downy hair and red stripes on her body. She could run on top of water and she could dive to the bottom. She would have no trouble in getting to the island.

"But you are so little, how will you carry enough fire?" the council asked.

"I'll manage all right," answered Water Spider. "I can spin a web." so she spun a thread from her body and wove it into a little bowl and fastened the little bowl on her back. Then she crossed over to the island and through the grass. She put one little coal of fire into her bowl and brought it across to the people.

Every since, we have had fire. And the Water Spider still has her little bowl on her back.


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The Legend of The Sacred Pipe -- Anonymous, 17:09:06 11/15/01 Thu

The Legend of The Sacred Pipe



Many stories have been told about the 'Sacred Pipe'. The Whites refer to it as The Peace Pipe, but persons of Indian descent know it as a sacred item having a special place in Indian cultures. The pipe, in one form or another, has come to most cultures around the world. Every society has used the pipe in one way or another. Our Lakota brothers tell the story of the White Buffalo woman and how she first brought the pipe to the Red man. What is important is not how the pipe first arrived or who it came to first. What is important is that the pipe is revered as a sacred item and also important is that it did come from The Creator. What is most important is that pipe was brought to all men of this world, for we all must share this world.

This is the story of how the pipe first came to the Southern Cherokee. If you know any differences in this story that is because it was told to me this way:

Long ago, but not long after the world was new, a tribe of red skinned people came to live on the lands which are around The Blue Smoke Mountains.

At this time, the animals of the world still talked to men and taught them how to live on and care for the land. These people were called " Ani Yun Wiya " or the One True People. In this tribe lived a brave warrior woman. She was called 'Arrow Woman'. Arrow Woman was taught to use the bow, the spear and the knife. Even though it was a man's job to hunt and fight, Arrow Woman could shoot straighter with the bow than any man, she could throw the knife so as split a branch no bigger than your thumb and she could throw the spear into eye of a hawk in flight. Because of all this, no man would tell her to be like a woman.

One day while on a hunt, Arrow Woman came upon the tracks of Yona the bear. She saw blood on the ground and knew him to be wounded so she followed his tracks. High into the mountains she followed. Soon she came to a place that she did not know. It was in this place, a place known only to the animals that she finally saw Yona the bear. He had a deep cut in his side and she saw him bowing down in prayer. She saw him bowing toward a large field of tall grass and speaking words that she had not heard before. Suddenly, the grass shimmered and became a lake. Arrow Woman saw Yona dive into the water. After a time he emerged from the water, his side was completely healed. Yona then saw Arrow Woman and walked to her. Yona told her, "this is the sacred lake of the animals. It is called, 'Atagahi' and it's location is known only to the animals. It is where we come for healing and strength. You are the first man creature to see the sacred lake. You must never tell your kind of it's location for it is the home of 'The Great Uktena'. With these words Yona the Bear turned and walked into the woods and disappeared.

Arrow Woman was tired after following Yona all day so she decided to rest a while by this lake. She built a small fire and sat down to eat a meal that she had brought with her. She took a drink of the water from the lake and felt instantly refreshed. She was amazed, she felt strong as Yan'si the Buffalo. She felt as if she run faster than Coga the Raven could fly.

The woods were quiet, Unole the wind was sleeping, Nvda the sun was shinning bright but was not hot, the surface of the lake was completely calm, Arrow Woman began to get sleepy.

It was at this time that she saw 'Uktena', she had been told of him when she was a child but no one in her tribe ever claimed to have seen him. High above the water he raised his great serpent's head, the jewel in his forehead glistening. He began to move toward her. Arrow Woman grabbed up her spear and stood up to face the great creature coming to her, standing proud, showing no fear, the way any warrior should. She raised her spear and prepared to strike the huge beast.

Uktena stopped a short distance from her. He smiled, his mouth was larger than a man was tall and full of teeth longer than man's forearm. He spoke to the brave woman on the bank of his lake. To her he said, "Put down your weapons for I mean you no harm. I come only to teach." Arrow Woman laid down her spear and began to relax, somehow knowing Uktena spoke truly.

Uktena told her to sit and to listen. Uktena dipped his head below the surface and came back up a moment later. In his mouth he had a strangely crooked stick and a leather pouch. These things he laid on the ground in front of Arrow Woman. Then the Great Uktena began to teach. He said,

"This that I have laid before you is the Sacred Pipe of The Creator." He then told her to pick up the pipe. "The bowl is of the same red clay The Creator used to make your kind. The red clay is Woman kind and is from the Earth. Just as a woman bears the children and brings forth life, the bowl bears the sacred tobacco (tsula) and brings forth smoke. The stem is Man. Rigid and strong the stem is from the plant kingdom and like a man it supports the bowl just as man supports his family." Uktena then showed Arrow Woman how to join the bowl to the stem saying, " Just as a man and a woman remain separate until joined in marriage so too are the bowl and stem separate. Never to be joined unless the pipe is used." Uktena then showed her how place the sacred tsula into the pipe and with an ember from the fire lit the tsula so it burned slightly. He told her this, "The smoke is the breath of The Creator, When you draw the smoke into your body, you will be cleansed and made whole. When the smoke leaves your mouth, it will rise to The Creator. Your prayers, your dreams, your hopes and desires will be taken to Him in the smoke. Also the truth in your soul will be shown to Him when you smoke the pipe. If you are not true, do not smoke the pipe. If your spirit is bad and you seek to deceive, do not smoke the pipe."

Uktena continued his lesson well into the night teaching Arrow Woman all of the prayers used with the pipe and all of the reasons for using the pipe. He finished just as the moon was beginning her nightly journey across the sky in search of her true love. He told Arrow Woman to wrap the pipe in cloth, keeping the parts separate. With this done He told her that she would never again be able to find this place but to remember all that she had learned. Uktena then returned to depths of the lake. Arrow Woman saw the water shimmer and become again the field of grass. She left, taking with her the pipe and her lessons and a wondrous tale.

Ever since that time, The Ani Yun Wiya have used the sacred pipe and never again has any man seen the sacred lake of Uktena.

The pipe is not a symbol of things that are sacred. The pipe itself is sacred. Not everyone is called upon to be a pipe bearer. The person who carries the pipe and practices the pipe ceremonies and traditions has a great responsibility to his brothers and sisters, his land and country and even to the Earth Mother.

The pipe bearer does not 'own' the pipe he carries. He simply carries the pipe until the time comes for him to pass it to the next bearer. The pipe bearer is given certain powers of sight from the pipe as well as an ability to heal and purify. Should the bearer fall from grace and become a liar or thief or become deceitful, the pipe would repossess these gifts and then the possibility of misfortune for the former bearer may exist.

One should be ready to accept the responsibility of the pipe for it may make demands upon you. It will become your teacher and guide. It can also be your worst enemy if used wrongly.

I leave it to you to decide if these words are truly said. This is the way that I have learned. See you on the medicine path.

As told by Dancing Heart Rising


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The Legend of the Cherokee Sweet Shrub -- Anonymous, 17:06:17 11/15/01 Thu

The Legend of the Cherokee Sweet Shrub
(as told by Tsisghwanai - Traveller Bird)


Long ago, the Old Ones say that in the year of the Great Harvest, the land of the Cherokees was becoming too thickly populated. The people realized that they needed more lands in order to grow and prosper. So the Peace Chief sent out a delegation of the leading men of the nation to talk with the neighboring Anitsigsu (Chickasaws), who claimed large areas of suitable lands toward the southwest. Now the Chickasaws were not as strong as the Cherokees, for they had been at war for a long time with their enemies. The Cherokees sat in council with the Chickasaws to arrange the terms of the exchange of territory. This council lasted for many days. There were many courtesies to be observed before business could be started. At the beginning, it was polite to sit in complete silence. The the didahnvwisgi (physician-priest, commonly referred to as "medicine men") enacted the lengthy invocation. After the invocation, the ancient and sacred Tsola (tobacco) Pipe Ceremony must be performed. The pipe was passed leisurely around to each council member, who took his turn on the sacred medicine. Some elaborate speeches of greeting and the presentation of gifts expressed the good will of the visitors. These were answered by the hosts. These amenities must not be hurried, lest it appear that the Cherokees were eager to have their business done with and go on home. At the end of each day, the Chicksaws prepared an elaborate feast, which was served by the young maidens. The most beautiful maiden of them all was the daughter of the Chickasaw War Chief. Among the Cherokee group was Sanuwa (the hawk), nephew and heir of one of the powerful Cherokee War Chiefs. The first night he sat for a long time around the campfire composing a love song. The next afternoon he did not appear at the council meeting. He was playing the new song and she secretly went to meet him by the bend in the river. They enjoyed the thrill of a forbidden adventure. They gathered wild flowers and waded barefoot across the stream, following after the shrill cry of a blue dove. Sanuwa told her of the land of his people, where the mountains touch the sky and the sun always stands still. He knew that he was expected to choose a wife from the proper clan of an important Cherokee village in order to increase the power and solidarity of the nation. And she, too knew that a brave warrior had spoken to her parents for her. But the Redbird Spirit of love pays no heed to the notions of nations, and fluttered at the breast of the young lovers. So the young lovers agreed that when the council was ended and his people went on their way homeward, Sanuwa would come for her. They planned that if he should be detained she would hide in a thicket at the bend of the river and he would come for her there. Finally the council ended between the Chickasaws and the Cherokees. The Chickasaws agreed to move back a day's walk to allow for the expansion of the Cherokee Nation, and to share their hunting lands with the Cherokees. Many of the Chickasaw warriors objected to the trading away of their lands and wanted to fight for them, but the civil Chief could see that there was no chance of keeping the land for themselves. He argued that it was better to trade away than to lose it, along with the lives of many warriors. But when the Cherokees left, the daughter of the Chickasaw War Chief could not be found. The Chickasaw warriors began a search for her. They were the first to find her, hiding in the thicket at the bend of the river. When Sanuwa arrived, he found her dead. He buried her there at the bend of the river. Then he rejoined his own group and began the long journey homeward. The next spring, Sanuwa returned and found among the deep green leaves growing over the mound, the soft brown petals of a sweet-smelling bush. He knelt beside it and called it his Sweet One, for he had claimed the Chickasaw maiden for his own. He carried the bush back to his homeland and planted it. But, long before the long winter was over, he grew eager to see and to be with his Sweet One. So he went back to her grave and waited until his own death came. But the bush with deep brown flowers spread throughout the lands of the Cherokees. And to this day, the Cherokee Sweet Shrub opens her eager face and sweet smell in early spring to welcome the return of her loved one.


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LEGEND OF THE CEDAR TREE -- Anonymous, 17:00:46 11/15/01 Thu

The Legend of the Cedar Tree
A long time ago when the Cherokee people were new upon the earth, they thought that life would be much better if there was never any night. They beseeched the Creator that it might be day all the time and that there would be no darkness.
The Creator heard their voices and made the night cease and it was day all the time. Soon the forest was thick with heavy growth. It became difficult to walk and to find the path. The people toiled in the gardens many long hours trying to keep the weeds pulled from among the corn and other food plants. It got hot, very hot, and continued that way day after long day. The people began to find it difficult to sleep and became short tempered and argued among themselves.

Not many days had passed before the people realized they had made a mistake and, once again, they beseeched the Creator. "Please," they said, "we have made a mistake in asking that it be day all the time. Now we think that it should be night all the time." The Creator paused at this new request and thought that perhaps the people may be right even though all things were created in twos… representing to us day and night, life and death, good and evil, times of plenty and those times of famine. The Creator loved the people and decided to make it night all the time as they had asked.

The day ceased and night fell upon the earth. Soon, the crops stopped growing and it became very cold. The people spent much of their time gathering wood for the fires. They could not see to hunt meat and with no crops growing, it was not long before the people were cold, weak, and very hungry. Many of the people died.

Those that remained still living gathered once again to beseech the Creator. "Help us Creator," they cried! "We have made a terrible mistake. You had made the day and the night perfect, and as it should be, from the beginning. We ask that you forgive us and make the day and night as it was before."

Once again the Creator listened to the request of the people. The day and the night became as the people had asked, as it had been in the beginning. Each day was divided between light and darkness. The weather became more pleasant, and the crops began to grow again. Game was plentiful and the hunting was good. The people had plenty to eat and there was not much sickness. The people treated each other with compassion and respect. It was good to be alive. The people thanked the Creator for their life and for the
food they had to eat.

The Creator accepted the gratitude of the people and was glad to see them smiling again. However, during the time of the long day of night, many of the people had died, and the Creator was sorry they had perished because of the night. The Creator placed their spirits in a newly created tree. This trees was named a-tsi-na tlu-gv {ah-see-na loo-guh} cedar tree.

When you smell the aroma of the cedar tree or gaze upon it standing in the forest, remember that if you are Tsalagi Cherokee, you are looking upon your ancestor.

Tradition holds that the wood of the cedar tree holds powerful protective spirits for the Cherokee. Many carry a small piece of cedar wood in their medicine bags worn around the neck. It is also placed above the entrances to the house and the needles are burned to protect against the entry of evil spirits.


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THE CHEROKEE ROSE -- Anonymous, 16:58:31 11/15/01 Thu

Otherwise known to my people as 'The symbol of the Trail Where They Cried', no better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the Trail Where They Cried than the Cherokee Rose.

The Cherokees in 1828 were not nomadic savages, as were many other tribes. They loved their native hills and valleys, streams and forests, fields and herds. They enjoyed established houses and communities, and had learned to "talk on paper" like the white man. Many had accepted the white man's God, and they had translated the Bible into Cherokee language. The Cherokees had adopted a constitution asserting that they were a sovereign and free nation, and consequently were recognized by world powers.

In fact, they had assimilated many European-style customs, including the wearing of gowns by Cherokee women. They built roads, schools and churches, had a system of representational government, and were farmers and cattle ranchers. A Cherokee alphabet, the "Talking Leaves" was perfected by Sequoyah. The Cherokees even attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an independent Cherokee Nation. At first the court seemed to rule against the Indians. In Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, the Court refused to hear a case extending Georgia's laws on the Cherokee because they did not represent a sovereign nation. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee on the same issue in Worchester vs. Georgia, but the ruling was never enforced by President
Andrew Jackson (known as Old Chicken Snake) the few who spoke out against the removal of the Cherokee and other tribes was Tennessee Senator Davy Crockett.

By 1835 the Cherokee were divided and despondent. Most supported Principle Chief John Ross, who fought the encroachment of whites starting with the 1832 land lottery. However, a minority (less than 500 out of 17,000 Cherokee in North Georgia) followed Major Ridge, his son John, and Elias Boudinout, who advocated removal. The Treaty of New Echota, signed by Ridge and members of the Treaty Party in 1835, sealed the fate of the Cherokee. In 1838 the United States government began the removal to Oklahoma, fulfilling a promise the government made to Georgia in 1802. Early that summer General Winfield Scott and the United States Army began the invasion of the Cherokee Nation.

In one of the saddest episodes of our brief history, men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food, then forced to march a thousand miles (Some made part of the trip by boat in equally horrible conditions). Under the generally indifferent army commanders, human losses for the first groups of Cherokee removed were extremely high.

John Ross made an urgent appeal to Washington to let him lead his tribe west and the Federal Government agreed. Ross organized the Cherokee into smaller groups and let them move separately through the wilderness so they could forage for food. Although the parties under Ross left in early fall and arrived in Oklahoma during the brutal winter of 1838-39, he significantly reduced the loss of life among his people. About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears"

The mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mother's spirits and give them strength to care for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white, for the mother's tears. It has a gold center, for the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem that represent the seven Cherokee clans that made the journey.

To this day, the Cherokee Rose prospers along the route of the "Trail of Tears"and are plentiful in Oklahoma, the end of the Trail. The State of Georgia has been fortunate enough to have this beautiful symbol as their official state flower, may it always serve as a reminder of their history.



"We, the great mass of the people think only of the love we have to our land for...we do love the land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land go...to let it go it will be like throwing away...[our] mother that gave...[us] birth."

(Letter from Aitooweyah, to John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokees.)


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ANDREW JACKSON "A GLORIFIED MURDERER" -- Anonymous, 16:11:12 11/15/01 Thu

Atrocities Committed by
U.S.President Andrew Jackson

"Jackson's Trail of Murder"

WHO ELSE IN HISTORY WAS A HYPOCRITE WHO LAUGHED AT THE LAW
AND CARED NOTHING ABOUT THE EFFECT ON NATIVE PEOPLE?

In 1831 the Supreme Court of the United States, in a decision rendered by Justice, John Marshall, declared the forced removal of the entire Cherokee Nation from their ancestral homes in the South Eastern United States to be illegal, unconstitutional and against treaties made. President Andrew Jackson, having the executive responsibility for enforcement of the laws had this to say:

"John Marshall has made his decision; let him enforce it now if he can."

U.S. President ANDREW JACKSON whose life was saved by the Cherokee at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, sent 4,000 Cherokee children, women and men
to their deaths.

WE DEMAND THIS MAN WHO PUBLICLY CONFESSED HIS CONTEMPT FOR THE LAW BE TRIED FOR HIS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY,
THE DEATH OF CHEROKEE CHILDREN

His genocide of 4,000 Cherokee is honored by the
United States on the $20 bill
THE BLOOD MONEY OF THE UNITED STATES

The result of this man's failure as chief executive to enforce the law was 4,000 Cherokee children, women and men who died when they were
driven like cattle to Oklahoma.
This was done by US troops under the direction of General Winfield Scott at the direction of President Andrew Jackson.
This is JACKSON'S TRAIL OF MURDER

"I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the
stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into
six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the west....On the morning of November the 17th we
encountered a terrific sleet and snow storm with freezing temperatures and from that day until we reached the
end of the fateful journey on March the 26th 1839, the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the
exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as
many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold and exposure..."
Private John G. Burnett
Captain Abraham McClellan's Company,
2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Mounted Infantry
Cherokee Indian Removal 1838-39

WE DEMAND THIS MAN WHO OPENLY VIOLATED THE LAW
BE TRIED FOR HIS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

HE WILL BE KNOWN IN THE HISTORY BOOKS FOR HIS MURDER OF CHEROKEE CHILDREN.

IF THIS KILLING HAD HAPPENED TO ANY GROUP OF WHITE CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?
WOULD THOSE 4,000 DEAD WHITE CHRISTIANS BE MASCOTS TODAY?

WOULD THE MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE STOPPED IT HAVE HIS PICTURE ON YOUR MONEY?

WHY IS, Andrew Jackson, THE MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THIS MASS DEATH HONORED WITHIN THE SCHOOL HISTORY BOOKS OF AMERICA?

BY HAVING JACKSON GLORIFIED IN HISTORY THE UNITED STATES DECLARES THAT IT IS HONORABLE TO HATE A REDSKIN.


THE HISTORY BOOKS DO NOT SPEAK WELL OF ADOLF HITLER, LIKEWISE, WE ARE DEMANDING THAT ANDREW JACKSON'S NAME BE EXPLAINED AS
THE MAN WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE DEATH OF 4,000 CHEROKEE

WHO IS AMERICA TEACHING TO COMMIT THE NEXT ATROCITIES BY NEGLECTING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY?

STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD COME TO AMERICA TO GET AN EDUCATION
WHAT WILL THEY TELL THEIR COUNTRYMEN ABOUT AMERICAN RACISM AND BIGOTRY?



90 tribes, in addition to the Cherokee, were removed from their homes to Indian Territory,
now Kansas and Oklahoma. They suffered atrocities, attacks on their children, race, culture and religions. To be called a redskin was a sentence of death. They had been promised by treaties
to be left unmolested in peace on the land to which they were removed,
"As long as the rivers run and the grass shall grow"

Oklahoma Indian Territory was dissolved with the forced allotments of lands made by the application of
the Dawes Act virtually complete in 1926
concurrent with the creation of the American Indian Mascot.


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NEW ECHOTA GEORGIA -- Anonymous, 16:02:13 11/15/01 Thu

New Echota Historic Site
County: Gordon
City: Calhoun

The silence of the streets of New Echota is broken only by the occasional staccato laughter of children, playing in the now empty capital that serves as a reminder to Georgia of the treachery of the United States government and our own dark history. At New Echota rest the hopes of the sovereign Cherokee Nation. Here the Cherokee establish a capital in 1825 and fight to stay, not with guns, but with the white men's printed page, laws and courts. At the museum the visitor can glimpse the culture of the Cherokee before they moved west on the "Trail of Tears".



New Echota's Beginning

The early 19th century is a new era for the Cherokee. Discarding a traditional clan system of rule, they adopt a government similar to that of the United States. The nation is divided into eight districts, and a legislature established to make laws and approve treaties. Four delegates from each district are elected to the lower house, called the National Council. This body chooses the 12 members of the upper house, called the National Committee. In turn, the National Committee selects the top level officers: principal chief, assistant principal chief and treasurer.

Eight Districts of
The Cherokee Nation
Hickory Log Chickamaugee
Chattoogee Amoah
Etowah Tahquohee
Aquohee Coosewatee
During the fall of 1819, the Council begins holding annual meetings in Newtown, a small community located at the junction of the Coosawattee and Conasauga rivers in present-day Gordon County. On November 12, 1825, the council adopts a resolution making Newtown the Cherokee Nation's capital. They change the town's name to New Echota in honor of Chota, a beloved town located in present-day Tennessee.

New Echota is a planned community laid out by Cherokee surveyors. By 1830 the town has 50 residents, a main street 60 feet wide, and a two-acre town square. The government buildings, including the Council House, Supreme Court and printing office, dominate the center of town. Private homes, stores, a ferry and a mission station are in the outlying area. The town is quiet most of the year, but council meetings provide the opportunity for great social gatherings. During these meetings, several hundred Cherokees fill the town, arriving by foot, on horseback or in stylish carriages.

Tour the reconstructed Supreme Court building and the Print Shop where the bilingual newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was printed. Visit the restored Vann Tavern and see where missionary Samuel Worcester lived.


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THE NEVERENDING TRAIL -- Anonymous, 16:00:51 11/15/01 Thu

The Neverending Trail

We whites honor the "Hermitage"
And the man who once lived there -
But, that leader of our Nation
Was cruel, unjust, unfair -

He ordered the removal
Of the Cherokee from their land
And forced them on a trek
That the Devil must have planned -

One thousand miles of misery -
Of pain and suffering -
Because greed of the white man
Could not even wait till spring -

We should bow our heads in shame
Even unto this day
About "The Trail Of Tears"
And those who died along the way.

It was October, eighteen thirty-eight
When seven thousand troops in blue
Began the story of the "Trail"
Which, so sadly, is so true -

Jackson ordered General Scott
To rout the Indian from their home -
The "Center Of The World" they loved -
The only one they'd known -

The Braves working in the fields
Arrested, placed in a stockade -
Women and children dragged from home
In the bluecoats shameful raid -

Some were prodded with bayonets
When, they were deemed to move too slow
To where the Sky was their blanket
And the cold Earth, their pillow -

In one home a Babe had died
Sometime in the night before -
And women mourning, planning burial
Were cruelly herded out the door -

In another, a frail Mother -
Papoose on back and two in tow
Was told she must leave her home
Was told that she must go -

She uttered a quiet prayer -
Told the old family dog good-bye -
Then, her broken heart gave out
And she sank slowly down to die -

Chief Junaluska witnessed this -
Tears streaming down his face -
Said if he could have known this
It would have never taken place -

For, at the battle of Horse Shoe
With five hundred Warriors, his best -
Helped Andrew Jackson win that battle
And lay thirty-three Braves to rest -

And the Chief drove his tomahawk
Through a Creek Warrior's head
Who was about to kill Jackson -
But whose life was saved, instead -

Chief John Ross knew this story
And once sent Junaluska to plead -
Thinking Jackson would listen to
This Chief who did that deed -

But, Jackson was cold, indifferent
To the one he owed his life to
Said, "The Cherokee's fate is sealed -
There's nothing, I can do."

Washington, D.C. had decreed
They must be moved Westward -
And all their pleas and protests
To this day still go unheard.

On November, the seventeenth
Old Man Winter reared his head -
And freezing cold, sleet and snow
Littered that trail with the dead

On one night, at least twenty-two
Were released from their torment
To join that Great Spirit in the Sky
Where all good souls are sent -

Many humane, heroic stories
Were written 'long the way -
A monument, for one of them -
Still stands until this day -

It seems one noble woman
It was Chief Ross' wife -
Gave her blanket to a sick child
And in so doing, gave her life -

She is buried in an unmarked grave -
Dug shallow near the "Trail" -
Just one more tragic ending
In this tragic, shameful tale -

Mother Nature showed no mercy
Till they reached the end of the line
When that fateful journey ended
On March twenty-sixth, eighteen thirty-nine.

Each mile of this infamous "Trail"
Marks the graves of four who died -
Four thousand poor souls in all
Marks the shame we try to hide -

You still can hear them crying
Along "The Trail Of Tears"
If you listen with your heart
And not with just your ears.



The Neverending Trail was written by Del "Abe" Jones


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HISTORY -- Anonymous, 10:14:48 11/15/01 Thu


When all was water, the animals lived above in Galunlati but it was very crowded and they wanted more room. Dayunisi, the little Water-beetle, offered to go see what was below the water. It repeatedly dived to the bottom and came up with soft mud eventually forming the island we call earth. The island was suspended by cords at each of the cardinal points to the sky vault, which is solid rock.

Birds were sent down to find a dry place to live but none could be found. The Great Buzzard, the father of all buzzards we see now, flew down close to the earth while it was still soft. He became tired and his wings began to strike the ground. Where they struck the earth became a valley and where they rose up again became a mountain and thus the Cherokee country was created.

The animals came down after the earth dried but all was dark so they set the sun in a track to go every day across the island from east to west. At first the sun was too close to the island and too hot. They raised the sun again and again, seven times, until it was the right height just under the sky arch. The highest place, Gulkwagine Digalunlatiyun, is "the seventh height".

The animals and plants were told to keep watch for seven nights but as the days passed many begin to fall asleep until on the seventh night only the owl, panther, and a couple of others were still awake. These were given the power to see in the dark and prey on the birds and animals that sleep at night. Of the plants, only the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake to the end and were therefore given the power to be always green and to be the greatest medicine, but to the others it was said: "Because you have not endured to the end you shall lose your hair every winter."

Men came after animals and plants. At first there were only a brother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to multiply, and so it was. In seven days a child was born to her and thereafter every seven days another until there was danger that the world could not keep up with them. Then it was made that a woman should have only one child in a year, and it has been so ever since.


from James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees



The Cherokee sometimes refer to themselves as Ani-Kituhwagi, "the people of Kituhwa". Kituhwa was the name of an ancient city, located near present Bryson City, NC which was the nucleus of the Cherokee Nation. The common English phonetic spelling today is "Keetoowah", a name used by traditionalist Cherokee groups like the Keetoowah Society (followers of traditional religion) and the United Keetoowah Band (a Federally recognized faction of predominantly full blood Cherokees).

The Legend of the Keetoowah, as recalled in 1930 by Levi B. Gritts, a prominent member of the traditionalist Keetoowah Society, places them on islands in the Atlantic Ocean east of South America. Anthropologists have discovered that Cherokee basket and pottery styles resemble those of South American and Caribbean tribes, differing from other tribes of the southeast U.S..





Seventy tribes attacked them but, by the guidance of God, they were victorious. The last warrior of their attackers, Ner-du-er-gi, was on top of a mountain overlooking their camp in the deep valley below. This warrior saw a smoke arising from the camp which "extended up beyond Heaven". The smoke was divided into three parts and in that there was an eagle holding arrows. When the warrior and his followers saw this, he ordered them not to attack the Indians for they were God's people and powerful and if they attacked they would be destroyed.

When God created these people he gave them great, mysterious power to be used for the best interests of the people. They lived in large cities with tall buildings. Some wise men began to use their power different than was intended which troubled the people. God instructed them to take their white fire and move away from that place. Some went to Asia, some to India, and others to North America leaving the wise men behind. After they had gone to other countries, these large cities were destroyed when the ground sank and are now under the ocean. God turned to the people that came to America and gave them wisdom and guided them.

There came a time when the people began to violate their teachings - committing crimes against each other, committing murders, and feuding between the seven clans. The people met with their medicine men around their fire to ask God for guidance. The medicine men were inspired to go up to a high mountain, one at a time on each of seven days.

On the seventh day, they heard a noise over them and a light brighter than day appeared and a voice said, "I am a messenger from God. God has heard your prayers and He has great passion for your people and from now on you shall be called Keetoowah. Go back to your fire and worship. There is a white ball from way east, who is your enemy, coming and your grandchildren's feet are directed west. They shall have great trials on the edge of the prairie. They shall be divided into different factions and their blood shall be about only on half. Families shall be divided against each other and they shall disregard their chiefs, leaders, medicine men, and captains. But if these younger generation should endeavor to follow your God's instruction there is a chance to turn back east and if not, the next move shall be west, on to the coast and from there on to the boat and this shall be the last."



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The Cherokee system was based more on responsibility for wrongful actions than on the notion of "justice" in the western sense of the word. Rather than justice, the Cherokee system was ideal for keeping balance and harmony in the spiritual and social worlds.

One day, some Cherokee children were playing outside, when a rattlesnake crawled out of the grass. They screamed and their mother ran outside. Without thinking, she took a stick and killed it.

Her husband was hunting in the mountains. As he was returning home that night, he heard a strange wailing sound. Looking around, he found himself in the midst of a gathering of rattlesnakes, whose mouths were open and crying.

"What is the matter," the man asked the snakes. The rattlesnakes responded, "Your wife killed our chief, the Yellow Rattlesnake today. We are preparing to send the Black Rattlesnake to take revenge."

The husband immediately accepted their claim and took responsibility for the crime. The rattlesnakes said, "If you speak the truth, you must be ready to make satisfaction." The price they demanded was the life of his wife in sacrifice for that of their chief. Not knowing what else might occur, the man consented.

The rattlesnakes told the man that the Black Rattlesnake would follow him home and coil up outside his door. He was to ask his wife to bring him a fresh drink of water from the spring. That was all.

When the man reached home, it was very dark. His wife had supper waiting for him.

"Please bring me some water," he asked her. She brought him a gourd from the jar, but he refused it.

"No," he said. "I would like some fresh water from the spring."

His wife took a bowl and stepped outside to get him some fresh water. The man immediately heard her cry. He went outside and found the Black Rattlesnake had bitten her and she was already dying. He stayed with her until she was dead.

The Black Rattlesnake then crawled out of the grass. "My tribe is now satisfied," he told the husband. He then taught the man a prayer song. The Black Rattlesnake told him, "When you meet any of us hereafter, sing this song and we will not hurt you. If by accident one of us should bite you, sing this song over the person and he will recover." And the Cherokee have kept this song to this day.

We had a strict liability law for any killing. The death created an imbalance which required revenge to restore harmony. The clan of the perpetrator of the homicide was to admit and accept responsibility for the wrongful killing. Then the clan was expected to pay the cost. Blood called for blood. Following this system, the husband sacrificed his wife's life to restore harmony. He did so because that was the law. In following the law, harmony was restored between the rattlesnakes and the humans. To reward the man, the snakes gave the humans a song to protect them and to remind the snakes of their duty to the humans, as well.

The Cherokee religion drove the sense of balance, which created a moral system for the human to follow. What drove the revenge system was the sense of balance. When a delict was committed, it created imbalance and tension on the jurisdictional unit. The acceptance of responsibility and paying of the cost restored that balance. Once the balance was restored, the relationship between the jurisdictional units or clans continued as if nothing happened. There were to be no hard feelings expressed between family members of the victim or killer. Balance had been restored and any friction was to end with the restoration of balance.

The creation of imbalance was tied to the Cherokee religion. It was believed that the murdered "soul" or ghost would be forced to wander the earth, unable to go to the next world. This created the imbalance. The acceptance of responsibility and the death of the killer or one of his clansmen restored balance by freeing the innocent ghost, allowing him to go to the next world. That is why it did not matter who paid the cost for the delict of the wrongful killing. Any death from the responsible clan would suffice to free the innocent man's ghost from this world. An enemy scalp might suffice as well.

In international law, the Cherokee system worked much the same way. If an international delict occurred, then anyone from the that jurisdictional unit, in this case, the foreign nation, would suffice to pay the cost. Taking responsibility for the international delict and paying the cost were exercised in the face of swift vengeance. There was no time for contrition. Thus, interloping settlers took their chances by moving onto Cherokee territory, because they might be called to pay the cost for someone else's actions or the actions of their nation. Cherokees saw it as their responsibility, whether or not the settlers saw it that way.



At the base of the Great Smoky Mountains live a people whose ancestors came to America thousands of years before Columbus. Ancient tribes followed large animals over a land bridge from Asia when the seas had frozen into glaciers during the last Ice-age, making the oceans shallow. Tribes hunted the large animals with stone tipped spears, then roasted their meat over fires in coastal caves and rustic abodes. Hides were used for clothing, shoes and blankets. Clans moved down the shorelines with the animals and gathered wild fruits and vegetables along the way. Fire was carried from place to place. Fish were caught and sea shells were used for knives, tools and utensils. Colorful feathers, gems and shells were strung with animal hide and worn for identity.

When our climate got warmer the glaciers melted, the oceans rose, smaller animals prevailed and people moved inland with the oceans. Tropical currents flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, causing rains which kept the Mississippi River full year round. Fish and migratory animals ate the foods which grew near the river's bottom lands and thousands of people settled the Mississippi River. They fanned up its feeders as the climate got warmer. Various clans gathered to form villages to protect themselves from others and wild animals. Some in the villages fished, others hunted, some made blankets and clothes from plants and animals, and others gathered wild fruits and vegetables. Pottery was made from clay and seeds were planted in fertile places along the rivers. Houses were made with wood and covered to keep them dry. Fire places were built and used to smoke fish and meat for the winter. Crops were gathered and stored in dry places.

Villages united into networks bordered by natural barriers. Dugout canoes were invented and networks enlarged into nations of people who shared certain customs and gestures. Culture grew rapidly with the exchange of news, foods, clothing, metals, and art. The Cherokee Indians, the Tennessee River people, became one of the nations residing along the Great River System; the Mississippi and all of its giant tributaries. Other nations were forming along the Great River's other tributaries: the Ohio, the Missouri, the Arkansas and the Red Rivers. Trade was conducted along the Great River from the Rockies to the Appalachians and down to the Gulf of Mexico. Large cities grew where the big tributaries merged. Indian economy focused into the continent, with Illinois at the center of trade, not outward across the seas, as was the habit of European nations at the time Columbus discovered America.

The Cherokee Indians lived along the Tennessee River in the Appalachian Mountains. They thrived in the bottom lands from Virginia southward. They built their houses in villages, much like Early American settlers did. Villages were separated by day-long walks, houses were made of wood and stone, fields were planted, nuts and berries were gathered, game was cured, tobacco was smoked and the Cherokee people adhered to high ethical standards. "Fire," the center of life, became the Cherokee word for "home."

Rivers between the Cherokee mountains, fed by creeks running from all directions, flowed north and west into the Great River, the Cherokees' lifeline to other Indian cultures. A network of roads followed those rivers and streams to connect the Cherokee villages. Steep mountain gaps limited routing choices so Cherokee roads converged at certain gaps, just as roads do today in those mountains. Village chieftains lead and represented the people to the tribe as a whole. The people used the roads to trade and compete with other villages. They continued to grow and flourish well after Columbus discovered America, but when Hernando de Soto followed their roads into their villages in 1540 everything changed.

The Spaniards brought foreign diseases, horses, chains, knives, guns and vicious dogs to America; they took women, food and slaves as they went. North America withstood the onslaught to become the only place in the New World that Spain never colonized. Spain reacted to news of DeSoto's failure by blaming the Indians for his defeat. They conceived a prejudice against the Indians which others acquired. Our image of the Devil, a "red man with a spear," was born when DeSoto died in America. That image was used to symbolize the Indian people who resisted Spanish settlement of America. DeSoto devastated America's Indians with foreign diseases; his people crippled the survivors with an enduring prejudice. Our pioneers brought that image with them from Europe.


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HISTORY -- Anonymous, 10:12:24 11/15/01 Thu

The first recorded European contact with the Cherokee was Hernando De Soto's expedition of 1540. Records of the expedition refer to the tribe as "Chalaque", probably from the Mobilian trade language (a corrupted Choctaw jargon used by the tribes of the Southeast), probably meaning "cave people". This word in the southern Cherokee dialect was pronounced "Tsa-la-gi" but in the eastern area pronounced "Tsa-ra-gi", from which the name "Cherokee" is derived. The Cherokee called themselves "Ani-Yun-wiya", the principal people. The Cherokee also referred to themselves as "Ani-Kituhwagi", the people of Kituhwa -- an ancient town which was probably the original nucleus of the tribe.

In April of 1540, De Soto crossed through the Cherokee country looking for gold. The Spanish explorers found the first Cherokee village they encountered practically deserted. The Cherokee were aware of the outrageous conduct of the Spaniards toward neighboring tribes so they abandoned their towns before the arrival of the expedition, leaving behind only those who could not travel. In need of food and receiving no help from the Cherokee, the expedition quickly moved on to the north.

Turning to the west, across the Blue Ridge, De Soto again entered the Cherokee country and received a much warmer welcome. The Cherokee were reportedly very hospitable and provided the travelers with much needed food -- corn, wild turkey, and other small game.

De Soto moved on to the Muscogee, Creek, country but sent two soldiers back into the Cherokee country to look for reported copper and gold mines. One report states that they found mines of a fine species of copper with indications of gold and silver but De Soto chose not to return to search for the mines.

The two soldiers were given a dressed buffalo skin, the first obtained by white men, and described it as "an ox hide as thin as a calf's skin, and the hair like a soft wool between the coarse and fine wool of sheep." It should be noted that buffalo (actually the correct name is "bison") did not just roam the "Great Plains" but could be found all the way to the Atlantic Coast.

The next reported contact with Europeans came in the fall of 1566. The Spanish had established Fort San Felipe near present Port Royal, SC and a small expedition was sent into the interior of the region. Joined the following summer by another detachment of troops, the combined force returned to their fort. Most reports were that they received a friendly reception everywhere along the their route.

The Spanish carried on mining and smelting of gold and other metals within the Cherokee country in the mid to late 1600's. Although these operations were kept secret by the Spanish, they were well known in the Spanish settlements of Santa Elena and Saint Augustine.



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Although somewhat insulated by geography against the initial intrusions by Europeans the Cherokee did have contact with Europeans, sporadically at first but later living among them. After De Soto's expedition in 1540, Spaniards begin mining and smelting operations within the Cherokee country which were reportedly still in operation as late as 1690. By the 1670's, all the tribes in the region were in possession of firearms.

The first reported contact of the Cherokee with the English colonists came in 1654. The Virginia colony was alarmed to find that a large group of Rickahockans (as the Cherokee were known by the Powhatan tribes) had settled at the falls of the James River - the present site of Richmond VA. The Virginians, having just fought an exterminating war with the Powhatans, resolved "that these new come Indians be in no sort suffered to seat themselves there, or any place near us, it having cost so much blood to expel and extirpate those perfidious and treacherous Indians which were there formerly." The Virginians, with their Pumunkey Indian allies, attacked the Cherokees but were soundly defeated in a bloody battle and forced to sue for peace.

In 1673, Abraham Wood, a Virginia trader, sent two men, James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, to the Cherokees' Overhills capital of Chota for the purpose of establishing trade. Needham's letter book gives a description of Chota:

The town of Chote is seated on ye river side, having ye clifts on ye river side on ye one side being very high for its defence, the other three sides trees of two foot or over, pitched on end, twelve foot high, and on ye topps scaffolds placed with parrapets to defend the walls and offend theire enemies which men stand on to fight, many nations of Indians inhabit downe this river . . . which they the Cherokees are at warre with and to that end keepe one hundred and fifty canoes under ye command of theire forts. ye leaste of them will carry twenty men, and made sharpe at both ends like a wherry for swiftness, this forte is four square; 300: paces over and ye houses sett in streets.
Needham went back to Virginia to procure trade goods, leaving Arthur behind to learn the Cherokee language. On the return trip, Needham was killed after an argument with his guide, "Indian John". Indian John then encouraged the Cherokees at Chota to kill Arthur but the chief prevented it.

Arthur, disguised as a Cherokee, accompanied the chief of Chota on raids of Spanish settlements in Florida, Indian communities on the east coast, and Shawnee towns on the Ohio River. In 1674, he was captured by the Shawnee who discovered that under his coating of clay and ashes he was a white man. Surprisingly, the Shawnee did not kill Arthur but allowed him to return to Chota. In June of 1674, the chief escorted Arthur back to Virginia.

Contacts by explorers and traders with the Cherokee continued in the subsequent years. Early manuscripts make reference to a treaty between the Cherokees and the South Carolina colony made in 1684. In 1690, the secretary of the colony, James Moore, ventured into the Cherokee country looking for gold. Some Cherokee chiefs visited Charleston in 1693 demanding firearms for their wars against neighboring tribes.

By all reports of the colonists, war was the "principal occupation" of the Cherokee. This was apparently a matter of necessity. Colonel George Chicken, sent by the crown in 1725 to regulate Cherokee-British trade and alienate the Cherokee from the French, reported heavily fortified towns -- as Needham described Chota in 1673 -- and stated that "Otherwise ...[the residents] would be cut off by the enemy who are continually within a mile of the town lurking about the skirts thereof."



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As tribes acquired firearms from Europeans and used them against neighboring tribes, a "weaponry race" began. Tribes accelerated trade to acquire firearms for military purposes. Initially the guns were purchased with furs and skins. The South Carolina Colony, established in 1670, was encouraging the tribes to trade their Native American prisoners of war which were then sold into slavery. In 1705, there were complaints from North Carolina that the South Carolina governor's trade in Native American slaves had so angered the tribes that an Indian war was inevitable.

Several tribes, including the Cherokee, assisted colonists in driving out their mutual enemy, the Tuscarora, in a war that lasted from 1711-1713. However, with the Tuscarora out of the way, the tribes begin to address their grievances with the colonists -- primarily the sale of Native Americans into slavery despite agreements to discontinue this practice.

The result was a war, in 1715, in which the combined tribes in the region threatened to wipe-out the South Carolina Colony. Ultimately, the colonists were able to mass their forces and after achieving several victories the tribes began to sue for peace. Peace was made with the Cherokee who were given a large quantity of guns and ammunition in exchange for their alliance with the colony.

In 1721, a treaty was signed with South Carolina to systematize trade but the most significant condition was the establishment of a fixed boundary between the Cherokee and the colony which was the first land cession made by the Cherokee to the Europeans. The population of the Cherokee Nation was probably 16,000-17,000 including 6,000 warriors. Although allied with the English, the Cherokee began to favor the French who had established Fort Toulouse near present Montgomery AL. The French showed greater respect for the Indians than the British who considered them an inferior race. (It should be noted that the English also considered non-English whites as inferior).

To prevent a Cherokee alliance with the French, Sir Alexander Cuming visited the prominent Cherokee towns and convinced the Cherokee to select an "emperor", Chief Moytoy of Tellico, to represent the tribe in all dealings with the British. In addition, he escorted seven Cherokees to England who met with the King and swore allegiance to the crown.

A treaty was signed obligating the Cherokee to trade only with the British, return all runaway slaves, and to expel all non-English whites from their territory. In return, the Cherokee received a substantial amount of guns, ammunition, and red paint.

Although the seven Cherokee who made the trip were presented the to the king as "chiefs", only one could be considered a prominent Cherokee -- the others being young men who went for the adventure. The chiefs of the tribe declined due to their responsibilities for hunting and defense. However, one of the young men was Attacullakulla, known as "Little Carpenter", who later became a powerful and influential chief.

About 1738, small pox, brought to Carolina by slave ships, broke out among the Cherokee with such terrible effect that nearly half the tribe died from the disease within a year. Native Americans had never been exposed to many European diseases and had no immunity to them. To make matters worse, the traditional Cherokee remedy for serious illnesses of plunging in a cold stream was the worst possible treatment.

James Adair, an English trader who lived among the Cherokee for 40 years, reported the Cherokee were so proud of their physical appearance that when they saw their disfigurement from the disease many warriors committed suicide:

Some shot themselves, others cut their throats, some stabbed themselves with knives and others with sharp-pointed canes; many threw themselves with sullen madness into the fire and there slowly expired, as if they had been utterly divested of the native power of feeling pain.
The small pox epidemic was also devastating to Cherokee religious tradition. Cherokee priests, unable to cure the disease, fell from favor. The priests felt that the tribe was being punished for adopting the white man's ways and discarded their now powerless sacred objects.

The Cherokee were constantly at war with neighboring tribes. In 1715, they drove the Shawnee northward out of the Cumberland River region. They continued their hereditary war with the Creeks (Muscogee). They fought an eleven year war with the Chickasaw until they were ultimately defeated in 1768.

When the Seven Years War ("French and Indian War") began, the Cherokee would have sided with the French except for their dependance on trade with the English. Lieutenant Henry Timberlake, a young Virginian officer who visited the Cherokee a few years later, gave the reasons for their fondness for the French:

I found the nation much attached to the French, who have the prudence, by familiar politeness -- which costs but little and often does a great deal -- and conforming themselves to their ways and temper, to conciliate the inclinations of almost all the Indians they are acquainted with, while the pride of our officers often disgusts them. Nay, they did not scruple to own to me that it was the trade alone that induced them to make peace with us, and not any preference to the French, whom they loved a great deal better.... The English are now so nigh, and encroached daily so far upon them, that they not only felt the bad effects of it in their hunting grounds, which were spoiled, but had all the reason in the world to apprehend being swallowed up by so potent neighbors or driven from the country inhabited by their fathers, in which they were born and bought up, in fine, their native soil, for which all men have a particular tenderness and affection.
A treaty was signed in 1754 reaffirming the Cherokee alliance with the English and, besides the usual stipulation of land cessions, provided for British forts in the Cherokee country. In spite of the treaty, the Cherokee were obviously in contact with the French and perhaps participated with other French-allied tribes in raids against the British colonists.

About 100 Cherokee accompanied a British expedition that was intended to attack the French-allied Shawnee but the campaign was abandoned when their provisions were lost while attempting to cross a swollen river. The Cherokee began home on foot in starving condition, angered at the contempt and neglect they experienced from the British. They "confiscated" some free-roaming horses belonging to Virginia colonists, feeling fully justified considering their service to the ungrateful colonists. The colonists, however, attacked the Cherokee, killing over twenty of them. The Cherokee dead were mutilated and scalped and the scalps redeemed for bounty as provided by Virginia law.

The chiefs of the Nation attempted to negotiate restitution with the colonists but the young warriors were so incensed that they began raiding border settlements. The colonists declared war, cut-off all trade, and demanded that numerous chiefs be surrendered for execution. Thirty-two prominent Cherokee, including the famous war chief Oconostota, went to Fort Prince George, in South Carolina, to attempt to negotiate peace but the British took the whole party prisoner. Chief Attacullakulla, the Little Carpenter, was able to negotiate the release of Oconostota and two others while the remaining twenty-nine chiefs remained captive.

Angered at the tactics of the British, Oconostota laid siege to Fort Prince George. The commander of the fort was called out to speak to Oconostota but when he came out he was shot and killed. The garrison of the fort immediately killed their twenty-nine captives. With war now in full swing, Oconostota's warriors begin raiding the Carolina settlements while other Cherokees laid siege to Fort Loudoun in what is now eastern Tennessee. A force of 1,600 Colonials drove Cherokees back and destroyed numerous towns. The Cherokee, however, massed a large force and in June of 1760 forced the colonists to retire leaving Fort Loudoun under siege.

Fort Loudoun surrendered to Oconostota in August on the condition that they would be allowed safe passage with sufficient arms and ammunition for the march home but delivering all other weapons and ammunition to the Cherokee. When they occupied the fort, the Cherokee discovered that powder, balls (i.e., bullets), and cannon had been buried or thrown in the river. Angered at the former garrison's deception, the Cherokees attacked the soldiers the next morning killing 29 in the first volley and taking the remainder prisoner until they were later ransomed by the colony.

The colonist demanded revenge and, despite attempts for peace by Attacullakulla, sent an 2,600 man force in 1761 which destroyed 15 Cherokee towns and "pushed the frontier seventy miles farther to the west" though incurring heavy losses in the process. Attacullakulla was able to negotiate a treaty with the South Carolina colony in September of 1761.

In November of the same year, a force of Virginians who had descended as far a present Kingsport TN were met by a delegation of Cherokees and a treaty was signed. In addition, Lt. Henry Timberlake volunteered to return with the Cherokee and lived with them for several months. Timberlake later took a delegation of chiefs to England but, since the trip was not authorized by the government, they were practically ignored and returned disgusted.

By the time France and England made peace in 1763, the tribes throughout the region had been devastated by warfare, loss of crops and orchards, and another small pox epidemic. Immigrants began to flood across the mountains. Numerous treaties were signed, each relinquishing more land to the whites, in an attempt to fix a permanent border but all were ignored by the settlers. The most significant treaty was the Henderson Purchase in 1775 which ceded lands north of the Cumberland River and included most of what is now Kentucky. A faction of the tribe, the Chickamaugas, refused to honor the treating and kept up constant raiding of settlements in this region through the turn of century.

Every treaty was essentially forced upon the Cherokee and only signed because they were assured that no further cessions would be demanded. The typical pattern was that settlers would move onto Cherokee land and refuse to leave. In spite of Cherokee raids resulting in numerous deaths, the settlers continued to arrive. Though the colonial governments promised to prevent the intrusions, this was never done. Local militia were raised to protect against Cherokee raids and eventually the Cherokee were forced to cede the land in another treaty.

It is no wonder that the Cherokee, infuriated and frustrated in their dealings with the colonists, chose to side with the British in the Revolutionary War. The British government had continued to trade with the Cherokee. British Indian agents and traders had married into the tribe and were raising families there. The British began to heavily supply arms and ammunition and even offered bounties for scalps of colonists as early as 1775.

While initially successful in striking numerous devastating blows to the frontier settlements, large expeditions of Colonial forces began to destroy Cherokee towns. Reports of the expeditions said that practically every Cherokee man or woman encountered was either killed and scalped or sold into slavery. Over 50 towns were burned and all crops and livestock taken or destroyed. A peace treaty was signed in 1777 which ceded nearly all of South Carolina to the colonists and much of north and eastern Tennessee.

The end of the Revolutionary War brought an end to British aid, however, a new European power was anxious to expand its claims in North American -- the Spanish. With France and England out of the way, Spain began to encourage the Chickamaugas to continue their raids on the colonists. Not much encouragement was needed, however, because settlers were continuing to flood across treaty boundaries onto Cherokee land.

Old Tassel had assumed responsibilities of chief upon the deaths of Attacullakulla in 1780 and Oconostota in 1782. A new era was beginning for the Cherokee. The Cherokee had a new nation to contend with -- the United States. Old Tassel's first order of business was another futile attempt to stop the intrusions onto Cherokee land.


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HISTORY -- Anonymous, 10:09:52 11/15/01 Thu



... Native Americans have made significant contributions to journalism for nearly two centuries. This history starts in the 1820s in the Cherokee Nation's capital of "New Town" or New Echota, Georgia. The leaders of the Cherokee Nation believed their destiny was linked to making "their nation an intelligent and virtuous people."So the nation went about the task they called civilization: cultivating land, ideas and laws.

But it was the invention of the Cherokee alphabet that was the powerful agent of change. In a couple of months-a tick of a second on a nation's clock-thousands of Cherokee people learned to read and write in their own language.

"Most historians credit Sequoyah, the most famous Cherokee, with the invention of the syllabary. However, some oral historians contend that the written Cherokee language is much, much older. But even if there was an ancient written Cherokee language, it was lost to the Cherokees until Sequoyah developed the syllabary," wrote Cherokee Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller in 1993. "The development of the syllabary was one of the events which was destined to have a profound influence on our tribe's future history. This extraordinary achievement marks the only known instance of an individual creating a totally new system of writing."

If there was to be civilization, a Republic, then it would come on Cherokee terms. Written Cherokee had "swept away that barrier which [had] long existed and opened a spacious channel for the instruction of adult Cherokees."

At first, written Cherokee was primarily for Christian instruction. But tribal leaders also saw the vision of a national newspaper. In 1827, Principal Chief John Ross and the national council selected a young man who had taken the name Elias Boudinot as the first editor of The Cherokee Phoenix.

"To obtain a correct and complete knowledge of these people, there must exist a vehicle of Indian intelligence, altogether different from those which have heretofore been employed," Boudinot said in a speech raising money for the project.

"The columns of The Cherokee Phoenix will be filled, partly with English, and partly with Cherokee print; and all matter which is of common interest will be given in both languages in parallel columns.

"As the great object of The Phoenix will be the benefit of the Cherokees, the following subjects will occupy its columns.

"1. The laws and public documents of the Nation.

"2. Account of the manners and customs of the Cherokees, and their progress in Education, Religion and the arts of civilized life; with such notices of other Indian tribes as our limited means of information will allow.

"3. The principal interesting news of the day.

"4. Miscellaneous articles, calculated to promote Literature, Civilization, and Religion among the Cherokees."

The Phoenix was supposed to start publishing with the new year of 1828, but the paper supply did not arrive in time. On February 21, 1828, the first edition of The Phoenix appeared.

"As The Phoenix is a national newspaper, we shall feel ourselves bound to devote it to national purposes. 'The laws and public documents of the Nation,' and matters relating to the welfare and condition of the Cherokees as a people, will be faithfully published in Cherokee and English," Boudinot wrote in the first issue. "As the liberty of the press is so essential to the improvement of the mind, we shall consider our paper, a free paper, with, however, proper and usual restrictions. ... But the columns of this newspaper shall always be open to free and temperate discussions on matters of politics, religion, and so forth."

The usual and proper restrictions, however, were left to different interpretations by the state of Georgia and the Cherokee government.

Georgians had been trying to oust their Cherokee neighbors for decades. Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and President James Monroe met with a Cherokee delegation in 1824 to extinguish aboriginal title in Georgia, and this meeting was seen by Georgians as a federal promise for removal.

But the Cherokee delegation, led by Boudinot's uncle, Major Ridge, was equally firm in its right to stay. Even if the United States paid all of the money in its treasury or exchanged twice as much land, the Cherokee Nation said, such compensation would fall short of equity. Moreover, the Cherokee Nation said it could not recognize "the sovereignty of a state within the limits of [its] territory."

The state enacted a number of laws in the 1820s and 1830s designed to destroy Cherokee sovereignty-and the will of tribal members to resist "removal" from their homeland. The greed of the Cherokee's Georgia neighbors intensified after gold was found in 1828, and tribal members were forbidden by law from mining, even on their own land. A removal champion, Wilson Lumpkin, was elected governor on the Union Party Ticket in 1831. Union Party newspapers predicted the new governor would settle this problem once and for all, aided by the old Indian fighter and now president, Andrew Jackson. The state annexed Cherokee lands, banned the tribal legislature from meeting and seized property from tribal members.

"Yes, this is the bitter cup prepared for us by a republican and religious government," Boudinot wrote. "We shall drink it to the dregs."

What really infuriated Georgia was that the Cherokee Nation was indeed civilized. Boudinot wrote in the June 17, 1829, edition that perhaps Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe "were only tantalizing us when they encouraged us in the pursuit of agriculture and government. ... Why were we not told long ago that we could not be permitted to establish a government within the limits of any state?

"The Cherokees have always had a government of their own. Nothing, however, was said when we were governed by savage laws."

Liberty was as dear to Boudinot and to the Cherokee as it was to the founders of the United States of America. And it was inconceivable that these freedoms would be denied to any Americans. The Midgeville Statesman and Patriot said it was time for the Cherokees to submit to inevitable destiny.

"What destiny?" Boudinot replied. "To be slandered and then butchered?"

A new Georgia law required all non-Cherokees to take an oath of allegiance to the state or leave Cherokee Territory. Many Georgians believed that the Cherokee could do nothing on their own-and if the outside agitators were removed, the Cherokee would leave too. Some even believed that Boudinot was only a front for a white man who was the true editor of The Phoenix. Boudinot dismissed this idea a number of times: "It has already been stated to the public that The Phoenix was under Cherokee influence. It has never been, nor was it ever intended to be, under the influence of any Missionary or White man."

Nonetheless, Georgian authorities started a campaign to arrest non-Cherokees who refused to take the oath.

"This week we present to our readers but half a sheet," Boudinot wrote in The Phoenix on Feb. 19, 1831. "One of our printers has left us; and we expect another (who is a white man) to quit us very soon, either to be dragged to the Georgia penitentiary for a term not less than four years."

Nor could the editor ask for more help-any other white printer would be arrested too.

"And our friends will please remember," the editor wrote, "we cannot invite another white printer to our assistance without subjecting him to the same punishment; and to have in our employ one who has taken the oath to support the laws of Georgia, which now suppress the Cherokees, is utterly out of the question. Thus is liberty of the press guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia."

On March 26, 1831, The Phoenix reported the arrest of several non-Indian missionaries by the Georgia Guard, the state militia. One was Samuel Worcester, who in addition to helping Boudinot at the paper was also the Cherokee Nation's postmaster. However, the state judge released Worcester and the missionaries, saying they were in the Cherokee Nation as "agents of the government."

Even though the state court sided-at least in part-with the Cherokee cause, Boudinot was amazed. "We were very much surprised to hear that the missionaries were discharged on the ground of their being agents of the government. Who ever thought of such a thing before? It shows that a Judge may twist into law what shape he pleases."

The Georgia Guard's Col. C.H. Nelson also harassed Boudinot. The editor was brought before the Guard for a possible libel action against The Phoenix. Once Boudinot was in custody, Nelson told him that he could not be prosecuted under Georgia law, but if the reportage of the Guard's activities did not cease, Nelson would tie him to a tree and give him a sound whipping.

Boudinot responded with a series of editorials on the Guard and freedom. Boudinot wrote: "In this free country, where the liberty of the press is solemnly guaranteed, is this the way to obtain satisfaction for an alleged injury committed in a newspaper? I claim nothing but what I have a right to claim as a man-I complain of nothing of which a privileged white editor would not complain."(10)

Meanwhile, Boudinot's friend Samuel Worcester continued to wait in a Georgia prison. On March 3, 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee cause in the landmark decision, Worcester v. Georgia. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote: "The Cherokee Nation, then, is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described in which the laws of Georgia can have no force and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter, but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves. ... the acts of Georgia are repugnant to the constitution, laws and treaties of the United States."

The Court reversed the Georgia courts and said state law did not apply in Cherokee territory.

"It is a glorious news," Boudinot wrote his brother Stand Watie, who was acting editor of The Phoenix while Boudinot traveled across the country to raise money for the newspaper. "The laws of the State are declared by the highest judicial tribunal in the Country null and void. It is a great triumph on the part of the Cherokees so far as the question of their rights were concerned."

Boudinot predicted "a new era on the Indian question." Perhaps in theory. But the court ruling only intensified the emotions of the Georgians. Both the state and the federal government increased pressure on the Cherokees to move West, and six months later, Boudinot was convinced that removal was inevitable. He was bitterly disappointed by the government's failure to enforce its own Supreme Court decision, and he came to believe that the Cherokee had no options left.

This epiphany placed Boudinot in direct conflict with the leadership of the Cherokee government. It was clear that the very discussion of removal was illegal (and considered treasonous).

The Cherokee Constitution did not guarantee a free press. And tribal politicians argued that the editor, and the newspaper, were instruments of public policy. Chief Ross even called The Phoenix a "public press" and said it "should be cherished as an important vehicle in the diffusion of general information, and as a no less powerful auxiliary in asserting and supporting our political rights ....

"The press being the public property of the nation, it would ill become its character if such infringements upon the feelings of the people should be tolerated. In other respects, the liberty of the press should be as free as the breeze that glides upon the surface."

The contradiction in Ross' statement is telling: The Phoenix was as free as the breeze-until its writings infringed on the feelings of the people or those of the leadership.

On Aug. 11, 1832, Boudinot resigned as editor.

"Were I to continue as editor, I should feel myself in a most peculiar and delicate situation. I do not know whether I could, at the same time, satisfy my own views, and the views of the authorities of the nation. My situation would then be as embarrassing as it would be peculiar and delicate. I do conscientiously believe it to be the duty of every citizen to reflect upon the dangers with which we are surrounded; to view the darkness which seems to lie before our people-our prospects, and the evils with which we are threatened; to talk over all these matters, and, if possible, come to some definite and satisfactory conclusion."

Boudinot believed in discourse, conversation in the printed columns that debated the merits of a policy, even a policy as controversial as removal.

A few days after Boudinot's resignation, Chief Ross wrote to the National Council that The Phoenix ought to be continued under the leadership of a new editor.

"The views of the public authorities should continue and ever be in accordance with the will of the people; and the views of the editor of the national paper be the same. The toleration of diversified views to the columns of such a paper would not fail to create fermentation and confusion among our citizens, and in the end prove injurious to the welfare of the nation."

Ross hired Elijah Hicks as the new editor of The Phoenix. And few questioned the new editor's loyalty: he was Ross' brother-in-law.

Boudinot continued to write letters and joined the political opposition consisting of his relatives-the Ridge, Boudinot and Watie families-as well as other Cherokee families who favored negotiating a new treaty.

"Removal, then, is the only remedy-the only practicable remedy," Boudinot wrote in a letter to Chief Ross. "What is the prospect in reference to your plan of relief, if you are understood at all to have any plan? It is dark and gloomy beyond description. Subject the Cherokees to the laws of the States in their present condition?"

The Cherokee Nation was divided. Boudinot's allies became known as the Treaty Party, while supporters of the chief became the Ross Party. But political parties were moot at this point anyway: Georgia made it illegal for the Cherokees to meet or hold elections. The newspaper was destroyed by the Georgia Guard in October of 1835, and its lead type dumped into a well.

Boudinot and other Treaty Party members signed a removal treaty in December and agreed to leave Georgia for land in what is now Oklahoma. "I know that I take my life into my hand, as our fathers have also done. ... Oh what is a man worth who will not die for his people? Who is there here that will not perish, if this great Nation may be saved?"

Boudinot knew exactly what was at stake: It was treason, and tribal law clearly called for the death penalty for agreeing to removal. However, none of the 20 Cherokees who signed the New Echota Treaty was ever charged with any tribal offense. In the winter of 1838, some 14,000 Cherokees were marched from Georgia to the new lands on the Trail of Tears. The Boudinots moved to Park Hill, Cherokee Nation, where the bitter dispute continued.

On June 28, 1839, some Cherokee men rode up to Boudinot's house on horses. They asked for medicine. Boudinot went to get it.

"He walked but a few rods when his shriek was heard by his hired men, who ran to his help; but before they could come back the deed was done. A stab in the back with a knife, and seven gashes in the head with a hatchet, did the bloody work," wrote his friend and neighbor Samuel Worcester. "In his own view he risked his life to save his people from ruin, and he realized his fears."

The story of The Phoenix illustrates the central quandary of tribal journalism today. Does a tribal newspaper serve its community by printing discourse? Or, does it aid the enemies of tribal government by revealing a community's weakness? This debate is no more resolved now than when Boudinot died. It is also one of the reasons for the success of independent newspapers, such as Tim Giago's Indian Country Today and Paul DeMain's News From Indian Country.

Golden Words

Elias Boudinot was not the only assassination victim on that day in June. His uncle, Major Ridge, died in an ambush near the Arkansas border. And, at dawn, raiders pulled his cousin John Ridge from his bed and stabbed him nearly 30 times.

Twelve-year-old John Rollin Ridge witnessed his father's murder. Fearing for her family, Sarah Ridge moved her children from the Cherokee Nation to Fayetteville, Arkansas. But the border town was not free of the tribe's political split, and the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot family-now called the Treaty Party-continued to confront and battle Ross supporters. Often these debates became violent (a problem common to 19th-century politics).

Sometimes the politics became personal. David Kells, a Ross supporter, mutilated and gelded a prize stallion owned by John Rollin Ridge. When confronted, Kells said, "I am willing to stand by my deed with my life."The two squared off, and Ridge warned the man to stay away from him. Kells continued walking toward Ridge, who shot him dead.

"Fearful of reprisals from Kells' vengeful relatives, Ridge fled to Springfield, Mo., notwithstanding the strong element of self-defense," a newspaper said years later. "The Widow Ridge, however, fearful her son would meet assassination, as had her husband and father-in-law, forbade Ridge to return."

Ridge did not stand trial; he took off for California and the Gold Rush. As he headed west, Ridge supported himself by writing poems and stories for newspapers. In 1848, he wrote a piece for the Texas Northern Standard advocating Cherokee admission as a state. Ridge wrote about the Gold Rush and Indian affairs for newspapers in Texas, Louisiana and California.

"I suppose you know pretty well from different sources what my history has been in California. It has been a series of bad luck," Ridge wrote his cousin Stand Watie in 1853. "I have tried the mines, I have tried trading, I have tried everything but with no avail, always making a living but nothing more. If I could have contented myself to remain permanently in the country, I could have succeeded in making a fortune, but I have been struggling all the time to make one in a hurry so that I might return to Arkansas (and I say to you) to the Cherokee Nation also."

Ridge also continued to write. He was a frequent contributor to the literary magazine, The Golden Era,where he shared bylines with the likes of Bret Harte, Mark Twain and Joaquin Miller. His pen-name was Yellow Bird, a translation of his Cherokee name, Chees-quat-a-law-ny. The author Yellow Bird also completed a novel, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, a story about a Mexican bandit. This may have been the first novel by an American Indian author, and, ironically, it created an enduring stereotype and myth about people from another culture.

"I expected to have made a great deal of money off of my book," Ridge wrote Watie in October of 1854. "And my publishers, after selling 7,000 copies and putting the money in their pockets, fled, busted up, tee totally smashed, and left me, with a hundred others, to whistle for our money!"

In the same letter, Ridge outlined for Watie a "most powerful friend," a proposal for an Indian newspaper to be located somewhere near the Cherokee Nation. "It would be a medium not only of defending Indian rights and making oppressors tremble, but of preserving the memories of the distinguished men of the race, illustrating their characters and keeping green and fresh many of the most important events of Indian history which should not be allowed to perish.

"Now Stand, if you will furnish the money to buy a press, I will engage to edit it ... I want to preserve the dignity of the family name ... Don't you see how much precious time I am wasting in California? I should be using my pen in behalf of my own people."

Ridge and Charles Watie were hired in 1856 as editors of The California American. Meanwhile, Charles Watie continued to press his brother Stand for money to start a Cherokee newspaper-and hinted that Ridge might not be immediately available. Perhaps Ridge changed his mind because he was keen on his new career. The American was a political journal, and Ridge could use his pen to promote his ideas about liberty, democracy and the future of Indian country.

After a year as editor-essentially a hired gun-Ridge organized a group of Sacramento business leaders to start a new paper. They purchased the plant of The California American and announced the creation of The Sacramento Daily Bee. The first issue was published on Feb. 3, 1857, and Ridge wrote: "The name of The Bee has been adopted, as being different from that of every other paper of the state, and as also being emblematic of the industry which is to prevail in its every department."

Ridge, the poet and novelist, said he had found his true calling. He divided newspaper editors into "true editors" and "apologies for editors." True editors, he said, must know "everything" and must carry a vast "fund of general information, for there is not a subject which engages men's minds, in whatever range of science or literature, upon which he is not peremptorily called to write."

The Bee's editor also called for a new kind of journalism. He attacked the fiercely partisan newspapers as "nothing more than the sneaking apologists of scoundrels who pay them for the trouble of lying." Ridge defended the entry of women into journalism.

And he made it clear that The Bee's editorials carried the soul of an American Indian. In an essay about poetry, for example, Ridge writes: "The speech of the North American warrior or chief in council is full of metaphor and the essence of poetry. It is up to the true poet to use his pen, his chisel, or his pencil ... to give us pictures of our nobler selves."

In July of 1857, the Sacramento partners who owned The Bee sold it to James McClatchy. (Ridge was headed to another California newspaper as editor.) The official history of The Bee begins here-and it is somewhat different from the history just cited. This sentence is from a book called Newspapering in the Old West by Robert Karolevitz: "The Sacramento Daily & Weekly Bee was founded on Feb. 3, 1857, and under the editorship of James McClatchy, The Bee was anything but a drone."

Or, The Bee's official history said it this way: "When the Sacramento Daily Bee was founded, Ridge was associated with the paper for a period of two months."

According to The Bee, it was only after Ridge left Sacramento that he could claim the title of owner or editor. Ridge went on to edit and own several newspapers in California, and all carried the unmistakable mark of a political journalist who cared about his country and its policy toward the Native Americans.

John Rollin Ridge was not the only cousin writing about Cherokee politics in mainstream newspapers. Colonel Elias Cornelius Boudinot, the son of Elias Boudinot, edited The Arkansian in Fayetteville, a town bordering the Cherokee Nation. The colonel had no military experience and was only 24 years old.

"Lay aside fears that your editor will get rich faster than his neighbors," Boudinot wrote on March 5, 1859. "We never heard of a man making more than a decent living by the publishing of a county newspaper."

Boudinot encouraged subscriptions from people who agreed with his thinking. And, "do not expect the editor to make honest mention of you and your business every few weeks for nothing."

Even though The Arkansian was a mainstream newspaper, Boudinot took advantage of every opportunity to ridicule his father's political opponent, Chief John Ross. "Our war upon this chief, whose long cause of thirty years has been sustained with blood and corruption, shall be a war to the knife," Boudinot wrote.

However, Boudinot was fair. He also printed letters from a challenger, "Sofkey."

"Mr. Ross has at last found a champion in Sofkey," Boudinot wrote. "A friend informs us that Sofkey is a word for mangy dog."

("Sofkey" is a Creek word for corn and can be used to describe a sour mash after the corn softens-sometimes dogs get into this mess and gain a unique look.)

But Sofkey was a worthy opponent. He wrote: "As we are not competent to answer you with words and acknowledge that you are our superior-and if we were capable of answering you with a pen, we would not waste our time and words with no such d----d scoundrel as you are. Sofkey."

Most of Boudinot's passion was saved for the issue of the day, the growing threat of civil war. The colonel saw the South as the only hope for the Cherokee Nation. "And all abettors of Abolition from the Chief down should be publicly warned that although the South is the natural protector of the Cherokee, Creeks, and Choctaws, yet the South will sweep from its frontier every one who is so basebold, or insidious, as to raise thereon the Black Flag of Abolition."

Boudinot, his family, Chief Ross, indeed many wealthy Cherokees were slave holders in Georgia and, after removal, in Oklahoma. On this issue Boudinot saw no middle ground.

"The distinctions are hypocritical. ... We believe in aggressive slavery; that it is the duty of all good meaning citizens, if they are able, to own Negroes. We believe the Creator will inflict a terrible punishment on those who neglect this duty."

As his father had, Boudinot found that the constitutional guarantees of liberty were not always the same for Americans who were not white. One newspaper questioned his right as an American Indian even to vote. The State Rights Democrat claimed Boudinot left the Cherokee Nation for Arkansas "either for the country's good or to save his own scalp." The paper claimed the editor was "impudently interfering" in public affairs, adding that "free white citizens" were more qualified to "manage their own affairs without being dictated to by this unnaturalized Indian refugee."

Nonetheless, most in the states'-rights cause considered Boudinot a patriot-and he was rewarded by being named co-editor of the True Democrat in the capital city of Little Rock and later appointed chairman of the state Democratic Party. He continued his anti-Union rhetoric and was named secretary to the state's secession convention. During the war, after winning a commission as a lieutenant colonel, Boudinot was a delegate to the Confederate Congress in Richmond. He returned to newspaper writing and editing after the war.

Ridge and Boudinot both excelled at the political journalism of the mid-19th century. They edited newspapers during elections-when the party (most often the Democratic Party) needed their passionate sermons. Both editors also made Indian affairs somewhat mainstream in their newspapers' coverage-although Ridge looked down on tribes less civilized than the Cherokee.

...
Pictures of our nobler selves

The first editor of an Indian daily, a newspaper called The Indian Journal, was a Creek poet and journalist by the name of Alexander Posey. He wrote this poem, "Ode to Sequoyah," around the turn of the century to honor the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet.

The names of Watie and Boudinot -

The valiant warrior and gifted sage -

And other Cherokees may be forgot,

but thy name shall descend to every age ...

The world did remember Sequoyah. And it did forget the sage Boudinot, his relatives Stand Watie, John Rollin Ridge and Colonel Elias C. Boudinot, Ora Eddleman Reed, Tanna Beebe and many, many others who made important contributions to the journalism profession. There was Edward Bushyhead, a Cherokee, and founder of the San Diego Union; Peter Navarre, a Prairie Band of Potawatomie member, and owner of the Rossville Reporter in Kansas; William G. Pugh, a Lakota and owner of The Martin Messenger, and Leon Boutwell, Ojibway, a former professional football player and owner of the Mechanicsburgh, Ohio, Daily Telegram. There was Zitkala Sa or Gertrude Bonnin, a Sioux, who wrote for The Atlantic Monthly and other magazines, who wrote books and who even composed a full-scale opera.

John Rollin Ridge was talking about poets and journalists when he wrote that Native Americans can use a pen, chisel or pencil "to give us pictures of our nobler selves." But Ridge might as well have been talking about the America that could be, the America that would be the very essence of democracy. This nobler America would embrace native journalists, past and present, and would include other forgotten elements of society. Ridge wanted more women to work at newspapers-and for all readers to understand what female journalists had to say. He wrote a novel decrying the injustice suffered by Mexican-Americans who lived in California during an era of intense anti-immigration laws. Ridge saw oppression the same way, whether it was directed at Cherokee or Mexican miners.

Ridge also understood the inherent power of tribal newspapers. He wrote his mother that if he could start a newspaper in the Cherokee Nation, "I can bring into its column not only the fire of my own pen, such as it may be, but the contributions of leading minds in the different Indian nations. I can bring to its aid and support the Philanthropists of the world. I can so wield its power as to make it feared and respected. Men, governments will be afraid to trample upon the rights of the defenseless Indian tribes, when there is a power to hold up their deeds to the excration [sic] of mankind."

...

"The media has, for its own purposes, created a false image of the Native American. Too many of us have patterned ourselves after that image. It is time now that we project our own image and stop being what we never really were."


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OUR HISTORY -- Anonymous, 10:04:17 11/15/01 Thu

The boundaries of the Cherokee Country prior to the European invasion.

The boundaries of the Cherokee Country in the east prior to the removal. It should be noted that before the removal, much of the Nation was overrun by whites who had taken over Vann's house at Springplace, Major Ridge's house (Rome GA), and Chief John Ross's house (Rossville GA). The Cherokee council had been meeting at Red Clay on the Tennesse border because the State of Georgia was using the Georgia Militia to prevent them from meeting at the capital at New Echota. Lands in Georgia had already been granted to white lottery winners in the Georgia Land and Gold Lotteries.

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A large group of Cherokees moved west of the Mississippi (Spanish territory) with the permission of the Spanish govenor in New Orleans. Groups continued to move west to escape the flood of white settlers onto Cherokee land in NC, GA, and TN.

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Cherokees who had been moving west since before 1800 were joined by an ongoing migration from the original Nation in the East. A large number of Cherokees had moved into the Arkansas Territory and settled on either side of the Arkansas River between present Ft Smith and Russellville AR. Most of the Cherokees already living around the "bootheel" of Missouri had moved to this area also. The boundaries were established by treaty with the US in 1817. Most the the settlements were along either side of the Arkansas River (the southern boundary) and the White River (the northern boundary). The Arkansas Cherokee (aka Western Cherokee or Old Settlers) were forced to move again in 1828 to what is now Northeastern Oklahoma.


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FEMALE NATIVE AMERICAN NAMES -- Anonymous, 07:51:09 11/15/01 Thu

ABEDABUN: Cheyenne name meaning "sight of day."

ABEQUA, ABEQUE: Cheyenne name meaning "stays at home."

ABETZI: Omaha name meaning " yellow leaf."

ABEY: Omaha name meaning " leaf."

ABEYTU: Omaha name meaning " green leaf."

ADOETTE: large tree

ADSILA: Cherokee name meaning "blossom."

AIYANA: eternal blossom

ALAMEDA: grove of cottonwood

ALAQUA: sweet gum tree

ALAWA: Algonquin name meaning "pea."

ALGOMA: valley of flowers

ALSOOMSE: Algonquin name meaning "independent."

ALTSOBA: Navajo name meaning "all war."

AMADAHY: Cherokee name meaning "forest water."

AMAYETA: Miwok name. Meaning is unknown

AMITOLA: rainbow

ANABA: Navajo name meaning "returns from war."

ANEVAY: superior

ANGENI: spirit

ANGWUSNASOMTAQA: Hopi name meaning "crow mother spirit."

ANKTI: Hopi name meaning "repeat dance."

ANNA: Algonquin name meaning "mother."

ANPAYTOO: Sioux name meaning " radiant."

APONI: butterfly

AQUENE: peace

ASDZA: Navajo name meaning "woman."

AT'EED: Navajo name meaning "girl."

ATEPA: Choctaw name meaning "wigwam."

AWANATA: Miwok name meaning " turtle."

AWENASA: Cherokee name meaning "my home."

AWENDELA: morning

AWENTIA: fawn

AWINITA: Cherokee name meaning "fawn."

AYASHE, AYASHA: Cheyenne name meaning "little one."

AYITA: Cherokee name meaning "first to dance."

BENA: pheasant

BLY: tall

CATORI: Hopi name meaning "spirit."

CHA'KWAINA: Hopi name meaning "one who cries."

CHA'RISA: Hopi name meaning "elk."

CHAPA: Sioux name meaning " beaver."

CHENOA: dove

CHEPI: Algonquin name meaning "fairy."

CHILAILI: snowbird

CHIMALIS: bluebird

CHITSA: fair

CHOCHMINGWU: Hopi name meaning "corn mother."

CHOLENA: bird

CHOSOVI: Hopi name meaning "bluebird."

CHOSPOSI: Hopi name meaning "bluebird eye."

CHU'MANA: Hopi name meaning "snake maiden."

CHU'SI: Hopi name meaning "snake flower."

CHUMANI: Sioux name meaning " dewdrops."

COCHETA: stranger

DENA: valley

DEZBA: Navajo name meaning "goes to war."

DIBE: Navajo name meaning " sheep."

DOBA: Navajo name meaning " no war."

DOLI: Navajo name meaning " bluebird."

DONOMA: Omaha name meaning " sight of the sun."

DYANI: deer

EHAWEE: Sioux name meaning " laughing maiden."

ENOLA: solitary

ETENIA: rich

EYOTA: great

FALA: Choctaw name meaning "crow."

FLO: arrow

GAHO: mother

GALILAHI: Cherokee name meaning "attractive."

HAKIDONMUYA: Hopi name meaning "time of waiting moon."

HALOKE: Navajo name meaning " salmon."

HALONA: of happy fortune

HANTAYWEE: Sioux name meaning " faithful."

HAUSIS, HAUSISSE: Algonquin name meaning "old woman."

HEHEWUTI: Hopi name meaning "warrior mother spirit."

HELKI: Miwok name meaning " touch."

HONOVI: Hopi name meaning "strong deer."

HUATA: Miwok name meaning " carrying seeds in a basket."

HUMITA: Hopi name meaning "shelled corn."

HURIT: Algonquin name meaning "beautiful."

HUYANA: Miwok name meaning " falling rain."

IMALA: disciplines

ISI: Choctaw name meaning "deer."

ISTAS: snow

ITUHA: sturdy oak

ITUHA: white stone

KACHINA: Hopi name meaning "spirit, sacred dancer."

KAI: Navajo name meaning " willow tree."

KAKAWANGWA: Hopi name meaning "bitter."

KALISKA: Miwok name meaning " coyote chasing deer."

KANTI: Algonquin name meaning "sings."

KASA: Hopi name meaning "dressed in furs."

KAYA: Hopi name meaning "elder sister."

KEEGSQUAW: Algonquin name meaning "virgin."

KEEZHEEKONI: Cheyenne name meaning "burning fire."

KIMAMA: Shoshone name meaning "butterfly."

KIMI: Algonquin name meaning "secret."

KIMIMELA: Sioux name meaning " butterfly."

KINEKS: rosebud

KIWIDINOK: Cheyenne name meaning "of the wind."

KOKO: Blackfoot name meaning "night."

KOKYANGWUTI: Hopi name meaning "spider woman at middle-age."

KOLENYA: Miwok name meaning " coughing fish."

KUWANLELENTA: Hopi name meaning "to make beautiful surroundings."

KUWANYAMTIWA: Hopi name meaning "beautiful badger going over the hill."

KUWANYAUMA: Hopi name meaning "butterfly showing beautiful wings."

LEOTIE: flower of the prairie

LENMANA: Hopi name meaning "flute girl."

LEQUOIA: meaning unknown (probably an alteration of sequoia, name of a giant redwood tree)

LILUYE: Miwok name meaning " singing chicken hawk that soars."

LISELI: Zuni name. Meaning unknown

LITONYA: Miwok name meaning " darting hummingbird."

LOMAHONGVA: Hopi name meaning "beautiful clouds arising."

LOMASI: pretty flower

LULU: rabbit

LUYU: wild dove

MACAWI: Sioux name meaning " generous."

MAGASKAWEE: Sioux name meaning " graceful."

MAGENA: moon

MAHAL: woman

MAHU: Hopi myth name.

MAI: coyote

MAKA: Sioux name meaning " earth."

MAKAWEE: Sioux name meaning " mothering."

MAKKITOTOSIMEW: Algonquin name meaning "she has large breasts."

MALIA: Zuni name meaning " bitter."

MALILA: Miwok name meaning " fast salmon swimming up a rippling stream."

MANABA: Navajo name meaning " return to war."

MANKALITA: Zuni name. Meaning unknown

MANSI: Hopi name meaning "plucked flower."

MAPIYA: Sioux name meaning " sky."

MARALAH: born during an earthquake

MAUSI: plucks flowers

MEDA: prophetess

MELI: Zuni name meaning " bitter."

MEMDI: henna

MEOQUANEE: Cheyenne name meaning "wears red."

MIGISI: Cheyenne name meaning "eagle."

MIAKODA: power of the moon

MIGINA: Omaha name meaning " returning moon."

MIKA: intelligent raccoon

MIMITEH: Omaha name meaning " new moon."

MINAL: fruit

MISAE: Osage name meaning "white sun."

MITUNA: Miwok name meaning " wraps salmon in willow leaves."

MONA: gathered of the seed of a jimson weed

MOSI: Navajo name meaning " cat."

MUNA: Hopi name meaning "overflowing spring."

NADIE: Algonquin name meaning "wise."

NAHIMANA: Sioux name meaning " mystic."

NAMID: Cheyenne name meaning "star dancer."

NARA: from Nara

NASCHA: Navajo name meaning " owl."

NASHOTA: twin

NATA: speaker

NIABI: Osage name meaning "fawn."

NIDAWI: Omaha name meaning " fairy."

NIJLON: Algonquin name meaning "mistress."

NINA: strong

NITA: Choctaw name meaning "bear."

NITTAWOSEW: Algonquin name meaning "she is not sterile."

NITUNA: daughter

NOKOMIS: Cheyenne name meaning "grandmother."

NOVA: Hopi name meaning "chases butterfly."

NUKPANA: Hopi name meaning " evil."

NUMEES: Algonquin name meaning "sister."

NUNA: land

NUTTAH: Algonquin name meaning "my heart."

ODAHINGUM: Cheyenne name meaning "rippling water."

OGIN: wild rose

OLATHE: beautiful

OMINOTAGO: Cheyenne name meaning "beautiful voice."

OMUSA: Miwok name meaning " misses with arrows."

ONATAH: Iroquois name meaning "of the earth."

ONAWA: wide awake

ONIDA: the one searched for

OOLJEE: Navajo name meaning " moon."

OOTA DABUN: Algonquin name meaning "day star."

ORENDA: Iroquois name meaning "magic power."

PAKWA: Hopi name meaning " frog."

PAKUNA: Miwok name meaning " deer jumping downhill."

PAMUYA: Hopi name meaning " water moon."

PAPINA: Miwok name meaning " vine growing around an oak tree."

PATI: Miwok name meaning " break by twisting."

PAUWAU: Algonquin name meaning " witch."

PAVATI: Hopi name meaning " clear water."

PETA: Blackfoot name meaning " golden eagle."

PETUNIA: flower name

POLIKWAPTIWA: Hopi name meaning " butterfly sitting on a flower."

POLOMA: Choctaw name meaning " bow."

POSALA: Miwok name meaning " farewell to spring flowers."

POWAQA: Hopi name meaning " witch."

PTAYSANWEE: Sioux name meaning " white buffalo."

PULES: Algonquin name meaning "pigeon."

ROZENE: rose

SAHKYO: Navajo name meaning " mink."

SALALI: Cherokee name meaning "squirrel."

SANUYE: Miwok name meaning " red cloud at sundown."

SATINKA: magical dancer

SHADA: pelican

SHADI: Navajo name meaning " older sister."

SHESHEBENS: Cheyenne name meaning "small duck."

SHIDEEZHI: Navajo name meaning " younger sister."

SHIMA: Navajo name meaning " mother."

SHIMASANI: Navajo name meaning " grandmother."

SHUMAN: Hopi name meaning " rattlesnake handler."

SIHU: Hopi name meaning " flower."

SINOPA: Blackfoot name meaning "fox."

SISIKA: bird

SITALA: Miwok name meaning " of good memory."

SITSI: Navajo name meaning " daughter."

SOKANON: Algonquin name meaning "rain."

SOKW: Algonquin name meaning "sour."

SOOLEAWA: Algonquin name meaning "silver."

SOYALA: Hopi name meaning " time of the winter solstice."

SULETU: Miwok name meaning " flies."

SUNKI: Hopi name meaning " to catch up with."

TABLITA: Hopi name meaning " tiara."

TADEWI: Omaha name meaning " wind."

TADITA: Omaha name meaning " one who runs."

TAIGI, TAINI: Omaha name meaning " returning moon."

TAIMA: thunder

TAIPA: Miwok name meaning " spread wings."

TAKALA: Hopi name meaning " corn tassel."

TAKCHAWEE: Sioux name meaning " doe."

TAKHI: Algonquin name meaning "cold."

TALA: wolf

TALULAH: Choctaw name meaning "leaping water."

TALUTAH: Sioux name meaning " blood-red."

TAMA: thunder

TANSY: Hopi name meaning " name of a flower."

TAYANITA: Cherokee name meaning "young beaver."

TEHYA: precious

TIPONI: Hopi name meaning " child of importance."

TIS-SEE-WOO-NA-TIS: Cheyenne name meaning "she who bathes with her knees."

TIVA: Hopi name meaning " dance."

TOLINKA: Miwok name meaning " flapping ear of a coyote."

TOTSI: Hopi name meaning " moccasins."

TUWA: Hopi name meaning " earth."

UNA: Hopi name meaning " remember."

URIKA: Omaha name meaning " useful to all."

UTINA: meaning unknown

WACHIWI: Sioux name meaning " dancer."

WAKANDA: Sioux name meaning " possesses magical power."

WAKI: Hopi name meaning " shelter."

WANETA: charger

WAUNA: Miwok name meaning " singing snow goose."

WEEKO: Sioux name meaning " pretty."

WENONA: firstborn daughter

WICAPI WAKAN: Dakota name meaning "holy star."

WIHAKAYDA: Sioux name meaning " little one."

WIKIMAK: Algonquin name meaning "wife."

WINEMA: chief

WINONA, WENONA, WENONAH: Sioux name meaning "giving."

WITASHNAH: Sioux name meaning " virginal."

WUTI: Hopi name meaning " woman."

WYANET: beautiful

YAMKA: Hopi name meaning " blossom."

YAZHI: Navajo name meaning " little one."

YEPA: snow woman

YOKI: Hopi name meaning " rain."

ZALTANA: high mountain

ZIHNA: Hopi name meaning " spins."

ZITKALA: Dakota name meaning "bird."


[ Edit | View ]

MALE NATIVE AMERICAN NAMES -- Anonymous, 07:48:54 11/15/01 Thu

ABOOKSIGUN: Algonquin name meaning " wildcat."

ABUKCHEECH: Algonquin name meaning " mouse."

ACHAK: Algonquin name meaning " spirit."

ADAHY: Cherokee name meaning " lives in the woods."

AHANU: Algonquin name meaning " he laughs."

AHIGA: Navajo name meaning " he fights."

AHILIYA: Hopi name. Meaning unknown

AHMIK: beaver

AHOTE: Hopi name meaning " restless one."

AHTUNOWHIHO: Cheyenne name meaning " one who lives below."

AKANDO: ambush

AKECHETA: Sioux name meaning " fighter."

AKULE: looks up

ALO: Hopi name meaning " spiritual guide."

ALOSAKA: Hopi myth name

ANAKAUSUEN: Algonquin name meaning " worker."

ANOKI: actor

APENIMON: worthy of trust

APONIVI: Hopi name meaning " where the wind blows down the gap."

ARANCK: Algonquin name meaning " stars."

ASHKII: Navajo name meaning " boy."

ASKOOK: Algonquin name meaning " snake."

ASKUWHETEAU: Algonquin name meaning " he keeps watch."

ATA'HALNE': Navajo name meaning " he interrupts."

AVONACO: Cheyenne name meaning " lean bear."

AWAN: somebody

AYAWAMAT: Hopi name meaning " one who follows orders."

BEMOSSED: walker

BIDZIIL: Navajo name meaning " he is strong."

BILAGAANA: Navajo name meaning " white person."

BIMISI: slippery

BODAWAY: fire-maker

CHA'AKMONGWI: Hopi name meaning " crier chief."

CHA'TIMA: Hopi name meaning " the caller."

CHANKOOWASHTAY: Sioux name meaning " good road."

CHANSOMPS: Algonquin name meaning " locust."

CHAS-CHUNK-A: Winnebago name meaning " wave."

CHAVATANGAKWUNUA: Hopi name meaning " short rainbow."

CHAYTON: Sioux name meaning " falcon."

CHESMU: gritty

CHEVEYO: Hopi name meaning " spirit warrior."

CHOCHMO: Hopi name meaning " mud mound."

CHOCHOKPI: Hopi name meaning " throne for the clouds."

CHOCHUSCHUVIO: Hopi name meaning " white-tailed deer."

CHOGAN: Algonquin name meaning " blackbird."

CHOOVIO: Hopi name meaning " antelope."

CHOVIOHOYA: Hopi name meaning " young deer."

CHOWILAWU: Hopi name meaning " joined together by water."

CHU'A: Hopi name meaning " snake."

CHUCHIP: Hopi name meaning " deer spirit."

CHUNTA: Hopi name meaning " cheating."

CIQALA: Dakota name meaning " little one."

DELSIN: he is so

DEMOTHI: talks while walking

DICHALI: speaks a lot

DOHOSAN: bluff

DUSTU: Cherokee name. Meaning unknown

DYAMI: eagle

ELAN: friendly

ELKI: Miwok name. Meaning unknown

ELSU: flying falcom

ELUWILUSSIT: Algonquin name meaning " holy one."

ENAPAY: Sioux name meaning " brave."

ENKOODABOOAOO, ENKOODABAOO: Algonquin name meaning " one who lives alone."

ENYETO: walks as a boar

ETCHEMIN: Algonquin name meaning " canoe man."

ETLELOOAAT: Algonquin name meaning " shouts."

ETU: sun

EZHNO: solitary

GAAGII: Navajo name meaning " raven."

GAD: Navajo name meaning " juniper tree."

GOSHEVEN: leaper

GUYAPI: frank

HAHKETHOMEMAH, HARKAHOME: Cheyenne name meaning " little robe."

HAHNEE: beggar

HAKAN: fire

HANIA: Hopi name meaning " spirit warrior."

HASSUN: Algonquin name meaning " stone."

HASTIIN: Navajo name meaning " man."

HAWIOVI: Hopi name meaning " going down the ladder."

HE-LUSH-KA: Winnebago name meaning " fighter."

HEAMMAWIHIO: Cheyenne name meaning " wise one above."

HELAKU: full of sun

HELKI: Miwok name meaning " touch."

HESKOVIZENAKO: Cheyenne name meaning " porcupine bear."

HESUTU: Miwok name meaning " yellow jacket nest rising out of the ground."

HEVATANEO: Cheyenne name meaning " hairy rope."

HEVOVITASTAMIUTSTO: Cheyenne name meaning " whirlwind."

HIAMOVI: Cheyenne name meaning " high chief."

HINUN: myth name

HINTO: Dakota name meaning " blue."

KOHKAHYCUMEST: Cheyenne name meaning " white crow or white antelope."

HOHNIHOHKAIYOHOS, NEEHEEOEEWOOTIS: Cheyenne name meaning " high-backed wolf."

HOK'EE: Navajo name meaning " abandoned."

HONANI: Hopi name meaning " badger."

HONAW: Hopi name meaning " bear."

HONIAHAKA: Cheyenne name meaning "little wolf."

HONON: Miwok name meaning " bear."

HONOVI: strong

HOTAH: Sioux name meaning " white."

HOTOTO: Hopi name meaning " warrior spirit who sings; he who whistles"

HOTUAEKHAASHTAIT: Cheyenne name meaning " tall bull."

HOWAHKAN: Sioux name meaning " of the mysterious voice."

HOWI: Miwok name meaning " turtle-dove."

HURITT: Algonquin name meaning " handsome."

IGASHO: wanders

ISTAQA: Hopi name meaning " coyote man."

INTEUS: has no shame

ISTU: sugar

IYE: smoke

JACY: moon

JOLON: valley of the dead oaks

KACHADA: Hopi name meaning " white man."

KAGA: chronicler

KAJIKA: walks without sound

KANGEE: Sioux name meaning " raven."

KELE: Hopi name meaning " sparrow."

KEME: Algonquin name meaning " secret."

KESEGOWAASE: Algonquin name meaning " swift."

KESTEJOO: Algonquin name meaning " slave."

KITCHI: Algonquin name meaning " brave."

KNOTON: wind

KOHANA: Sioux name meaning " swift."

KOLICHIYAW: Hopi name meaning " skunk."

KONO: Miwok name. meaning unknown

KOSUMI: Miwok name meaning " fishes for salmon with spear."

KOTORI: Hopi name meaning " screech owl spirit."

KUCKUNNIWI: Cheyenne name meaning " little wolf."

KURUK: Pawnee name meaning " bear."

KWAHU: Hopi name meaning " eagle."

KWATOKO: Hopi name meaning " bird with big beak."

LANGUNDO: peaceful

LANSA: Hopi name meaning " lance."

LANU: Miwok name. Meaning unknown

LAPU: Hopi name meaning " cedar bark."

LEN: Hopi name meaning " flute."

LENNO: man

LEYATI: Miwok name meaning " shaped like an abalone shell."

LISE: Miwok name meaning " salmon head rising above water."

LIWANU: Miwok name meaning " growl of a bear."

LOKNI: Miwok name meaning " rain falls through the roof."

LONATO: flint

LOOTAH: Sioux name meaning " red."

MACHAKW: Hopi name meaning " horny toad."

MACHK: Algonquin name meaning " bear."

MAHKAH: Sioux name meaning " earth."

MAHPEE: Sioux name meaning " sky."

MAKKAPITEW: Algonquin name meaning " he has large teeth."

MAKYA: Hopi name meaning " eagle hunter."

MANIPI: amazing

MANTOTOHPA: Cheyenne name meaning " four bears."

MASICHUVIO: Hopi name meaning " gray deer."

MASKA: strong

MASOU: myth name

MATCHITEHEW: Algonquin name meaning " he has an evil heart."

MATCHITISIW: Algonquin name meaning " he has bad character."

MATOSKAH: Sioux name meaning " white bear."

MATUNAAGA: Algonquin name meaning " fights."

MATWAU: Algonquin name meaning " enemy."

MAZA BLASKA: Dakota name meaning " flat iron."

MEGEDAGIK: Algonquin name meaning " kills many."

MELKEDOODUM: Algonquin name meaning " conceited."

MELVERN: meaning unknown

METURATO, MOKATAVATAH, MOKETAVATO, MOKETAVETO, MOKETOVETO, MOKOVAOTO, MOTAVATO: Cheyenne name meaning " black kettle."

MILAP: charitable

MINGAN: gray wolf

MINNINNEWAH: Cheyenne name meaning " whirlwind."

MISU: Miwok name meaning " rippling brook."

MOCHNI: Hopi name meaning " talking bird."

MOJAG: never silent

MOKI: Hopi name meaning " deer."

MOLIMO: Miwok name meaning " bear walking into shade."

MOMUSO: Miwok name. Meaning unknown

MONA: Miwok name meaning " gathers jimson weed seed."

MONGWAU: Hopi name meaning " owl."

MOTEGA: new arrow

MUATA: Miwok name meaning " yellow jackets inside a nest."

MUKKI: Algonquin name meaning " child."

MURACO: white moon

NAALNISH: Navajo name meaning " he works."

NAALYEHE YA SIDAHI: Navajo name meaning " trader."

NAHCOMENCE: Cheyenne name meaning " old bark."

NAHELE: forest

NAHIOSSI: Cheyenne name meaning " has three fingers."

NAPAYSHNI: Sioux name meaning " strong, courageous."

NASTAS: Navajo name meaning " curve like foxtail grass."

NAWAT: left-handed

NAWKAW: Winnebago name meaning " wood."

NAYATI: he who wrestles

NEKA: wild goose

NIGAN: ahead

NIICHAAD: Navajo name meaning " swollen."

NIKITI: round, smooth

NITIS: friend

NIXKAMICH: Algonquin name meaning " grandfather."

NIYOL: Navajo name meaning " wind."

NODIN: wind

NOOTAU: Algonquin name meaning " fire."

NOSH, NOSHI: Algonquin name meaning " father."

NUKPANA: Hopi name meaning " evil."

OCUMWHOWURST, OCUNNOWHURST: Cheyenne name meaning " yellow wolf."

ODAKOTA: Sioux name meaning " friend."

OGALEESHA: Sioux name meaning " wears a red shirt."

OHANKO: reckless

OHANZEE: Sioux name meaning " shadow."

OHCUMGACHE, OKHMHAKA: Cheyenne name meaning " little wolf."

OHITEKAH: Sioux name meaning " brave."

OMAWNAKW: Hopi name meaning " cloud feather."

OTAKTAY: Sioux name meaning " kills many."

OTOAHHASTIS: Cheyenne name meaning " tall bull."

OTOAHNACTO: Cheyenne name meaning " bull bear."

OURAY: arrow

OYA: Miwok name. Meaning unknown

PACHU'A: Hopi name meaning " feathered water snake."

PACO: eagle

PAHANA: Hopi name meaning " lost white brother."

PAJACKOK: Algonquin name meaning " thunder."

PALLATON: warrior

PANNOOWAU: Algonquin name meaning " he lies."

PAT: fish

PATAMON: tempest

PATWIN: man

PAYAT, PAY, PAYATT: he is coming

PAYTAH: Sioux name meaning " fire."

PINON: myth name

PIVANE: Hopi name meaning " weasel."

POWWAW: Algonquin name meaning " priest."

QALETAQA: Hopi name meaning " guardian of the people."

QOCHATA: Hopi name meaning " white man."

ROWTAG: Algonquin name meaning " fire."

SAHALE: falcon

SAKIMA: king

SANI: Navajo name meaning " the old one."

SEGENAM: Algonquin name meaning " lazy."

SEWATI: Miwok name meaning " curved bear claw."

SHILAH: Navajo name meaning " brother."

SHIRIKI: Pawnee name meaning " coyote."

SHIYE: Navajo name meaning " son."

SHIZHE'E: Navajo name meaning " father."

SHOEMOWETOCHAWCAWEWAHCATOWE: Cheyenne name meaning " high-backed wolf."

SICHEII: Navajo name meaning " grandfather."

SIK'IS: Navajo name meaning " friend."

SIKE: Navajo name meaning " he sits at home."

SIKYAHONAW: Hopi name meaning " yellow bear."

SIKYATAVO: Hopi name meaning " yellow rabbit."

SIWILI: tail of the fox

SKAH: Sioux name meaning " white."

SONGAN: strong

SOWI'NGWA: Hopi name meaning " black-tailed deer."

SUCKI: Algonquin name meaning " black."

SUNUKKUHKAU: Algonquin name meaning " he crushes."

T'IIS: Navajo name meaning " cottonwood."

TAHKEOME: Cheyenne name meaning " little robe."

TAHMELAPACHME: Cheyenne name meaning " dull knife."

TAIMA: thunder

TAKODA: Sioux name meaning " friend to everyone."

TANGAKWUNU: Hopi name meaning " rainbow."

TAREGAN: Algonquin name meaning " crane."

TASUNKE: Dakota name meaning " horse."

TATANKA-PTECILA: Dakota name meaning " short bull."

TATE: he who talks too much

TEETONKA: Sioux name meaning " talks too much."

TELUTCI, TUKETU: Miwok name meaning " bear making dust."

TIHKOOSUE: Algonquin name meaning " short."

TOCHO: Hopi name meaning " mountain lion."

TOGQUOS: Algonquin name meaning " twin."

TOHOPKA: Hopi name meaning " wild beast."

TOKALA: Dakota name meaning " fox."

TOOANTUH: Cherokee name meaning " spring frog."

TSE: Navajo name meaning " rock."

TSIISHCH'ILI: Navajo name meaning " curly-haired."

TUPI: Miwok name meaning " to pull up."

UZUMATI: Miwok name meaning " bear."

VAIVEAHTOISH, VAIVE ATOISH: Cheyenne name meaning " alights on the cloud."

VIHO: Cheyenne name meaning " chief."

VIPPONAH: Cheyenne name meaning " slim face."

VOHKINNE: Cheyenne name meaning " Roman nose."

VOISTITOEVITZ, VOISTTITOEVETZ: Cheyenne name meaning " white cow."

VOKIVOCUMMAST: Cheyenne name meaning " white antelope."

WAHANASSATTA: Cheyenne name meaning " he who walks with his toes turned outward."

WAHCHINKSAPA: Sioux name meaning " wise."

WAHCHINTONKA: Sioux name meaning " has much practice."

WAHKAN: Sioux name meaning " sacred."

WAKIZA: desperate warrior

WAMBLEE: Sioux name meaning " eagle."

WAMBLEESKA: Sioux name meaning " white eagle."

WAMBLI-WASTE: Dakota name meaning " good eagle."

WANAGEESKA: Sioux name meaning " white spirit."

WANAHTON: Sioux name meaning " charger."

WANIKIYA: Sioux name meaning " savior."

WAPI: lucky

WAQUINI: Cheyenne name meaning " hook nose."

WEAYAYA: Sioux name meaning " setting sun."

WEMATIN: Algonquin name meaning " brother."

WEMILAT: of wealthy parents

WICASA: Dakota name meaning " sage."

WIKVAYA: Hopi name meaning " one who brings."

WILNY: meaning unknown

WOHEHIV: Cheyenne name meaning " dull knife."

WOKAIHWOKOMAS: Cheyenne name meaning " white antelope."

WUYI: Miwok name meaning " soaring turkey vulture."

WYNONO: firstborn

YAHTO: Sioux name meaning " blue."

YANCY: Englishman

YANISIN: Navajo name meaning " ashamed."

YAS: Navajo name meaning "snow."

YISKA: Navajo name meaning "the night has passed."

YOSKOLO: meaning unknown

YUMA: son of a chief


[ Edit | View ]

CHEROKEE CLAN NAMES -- Anonymous, 07:45:43 11/15/01 Thu

CHEROKEE CLAN NAMES


Belonging to your mother's clan was the first and most important consideration for a Cherokee. Yet, so basic was it, that today there is considerable controversy about the names of those clans. Has everything Cherokee become lost? Just about. Yes, just about everything.


In the 19th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology "Myths of the Cherokee", page 212, the names are listed:

Ani'wa'ya (Wolf); Ani'-Kawi' (Deer); Ani'-Tsi'skwa (Bird); Ani'-Wa'di (Paint);

Ani'-Saha'ni; Ani'-Ga'-tage'wi; Ani'-Gila'hi. The names of the last three cannot be translated with any certainty.


In Bulletin 133 (The Eastern Cherokees), page 203, is listed:

Aniwahiya (Wolf); Anikawi (Deer); Anidjiskwa (Bird); Aniwodi (Red Paint);

Anisahoni (Blue ?); Anigotigewi (Wild Potatoes ?); Anigilohi (Twisters ?)

On page 205 there is a comparison with some other lists that do not agree.


Grace Steele Woodward lists in her book, from the Eastern Clan today: Wolf, Deer, Bird, Twister, Blue, Red, and Wild Potato.


And in Cherokee People, Thomas E. Mails (more recent) is listed: Wolf, Deer,Bird, Red Paint, Blue, Wild Potato, and Twister.


These are basicly the same. You will note that in none of them is there a mention of a "Long Hair" clan. Such a clan never existed in ancient times.


[ Edit | View ]

TSALAGI ANIMAL NAMES -- Anonymous, 07:43:32 11/15/01 Thu

I have listed over 200 Tsalagi Animals names in various dialects. I hope everyone enjoys this page and learns alot.
Sgi.Dedadagohvhv.
Gvhe/Bobcat
The Four Leggeds:
===============
Animal-Ganatlai
Antelope-Ahwiyusdi
Armadillo-Uyasgali
Badger-Ukuna or Igodi ehi ogana
Bat-Tsaweha Or Tsameha Or Tlemeha or Dlameha
Bayhorse-Soquili uwodige
Bear, variety of- Kalosganvhidv " Long- Hams "
Bear-Yona or Yonv
Bears-Hilvsgi yona
Beaver-Doya or Doyi
Boar-Siqua tsukanvsdena
Blackfox- Inoli or Gvhnage tsula or Gvnige tsuli
Black skunk-Dila gvhnage'i
Bobcat-Gvhe
Buck-Galagina (Male Deer)
Buffalo-Yanisa or Yanvsa
Bull-Waka tsukanvsdena
Calf-Waka agina
Camel-Kemili
Cat-Wesa or Wesi
Cougar-Tsvdatsi or Tsvdatsi or Tlvdatsi
Colt-Soquili agina
Coyote-Wahya usdi
Deer-Ahwi
Dog-Giri or Gili or Gitli or Gihli
Donkey-Soquili digalenvhida
Elephant-Kamama
Elk-Ahwi equa
Ewe-Unodena agisi
Fawn-Ahwi agina
Flying squirrel-Tewa
Fox-Tsula or Tsuli
Giraffe-Galvndi alsdagisgi
Guinea pig-Ohweli
Goat-Ugasotsadena or Awianaluna
Gopher-Kiga
Groundhog-Ogana
Ground squirrel-Kiyuga
Heifer-Waka agina
Hog-Siqua
Hogs-Anisiqua
Horse-Soquili
Hound dog-Gitli digalenvhida
Jackass-Uk
Jackrabbit-Tsisdu utana
Kangaroo-Diltagedi tsisdetsi yusdi
Kitten-Wesa ada
Leopard-Tlvdatsi unvtsadi
Lion-Tlvdatsi
Little Deer-Ahwi usdi or Ahwusdi
Mare-Soquili agisi
Mice-Tsisdetsi
Mink-Etli or Svgi or Gosvgi
Mole-Utlav or Tinequa
Monkey-Adalesgiyisgi
Mouse-Tsisdetsi
Muskrat-Selagisqua or Selaquisga or Salaquisgi
Opossum-Utsetsisdi or Siqua utsetsisdi
Otter-Tsiya
Ox-Ganali
Panther-Tsvdatsi or Tsvdatsi or Tlvdatsi
Polar Bear-Yona unega
Pony-Soquili usdi
Porcupine-Tsutsayasti unequagule or Dila tsutsayasdi
Puppy-Gitli ada
Prairie dog-Gitli igodi ehi
Rabbit-Tsisdu
Raccoon-Kvtli or Kvli
Rat-Kaniquisa or Tsisdetsi
Red Fox-Tsula uwodige
Red Wolf-Wahya gigage'i
Rhinoceros-Lanosila
Salmon-Semoni
Sheep-Ahwi unodena
Shrew-Talasgewi
Skunk-Dila or Dili
Sorrell-Gigage-iyusdi sogwili
Sow-Sigwa agisi
Squirrel-Saloli
Steer-Ganali
Striped skunk-Tsulvdesdi
Weasel-Tsisgatsi daloni
Wolf-Wahya or Waya
Wolves-Aniwahya
Woodrat-Kaniquisa utana
Wolverine-Tsisgatsi daloni equa
Zebra-Soquili iyusdi or Soquili tsulvdanvni

The Winged Ones:
===============
Bird-Tsisqua
Birds-Hilvsgi tsisqua
Blackbird-Tsiqualisda
Bluebird-Tsaquoladi or Tsiquoladagi
Bluejay-Tsayoga or Tsayoga or Dlayiga
Blue Heron-Nvda dikani
Buzzard-Suli
Cardinal-Totsuhwa or Dotsuwa or Dotsuwi
Chickadee-Tsigilili
Chicken-Tsitaga or Tsataga
Chickens-Hilvsgi tsitaga
Chicken Hawk-Tawodi
Crane-Asaladisgi
Crow-Koga or Kogi or Kogv
Dove-Gule disgohnihi
Drake-Kawonu atsvya
Duck-Kawonu or Kawoni or Kawanv
Ducklings-Kawonu anidv
Eagle-Awohali
Foxsparrow-Wakvta
Geese-Sasa unigodi
Gobbler-Gvna atsvya
Goose (White faced)-Dagulaku
Goose (Wild)-Tulagu
Goose (Tame)-Sasa
Goshawk-Tlanuwa usdi or Tsiwodi
Great Hawk-Tsanuwa orTsanuwa or Tlanuwa
Grouse-Dvdisdiyusdi
Guinea-Guque tsunasdi
Hawk-Tsanuwa or Tsanuwa or Tlanuwa
Hen-Tsitaga agisi
Heron-Kanasgowa
Hoot Owl-Ugukuhi
Horned Owl-Atsasgila
Hummingbird-Walela or Waleli or Walelu
Kingfisher-Tsalo
Martin-Tsutsu or Tsutsu or Dludlu
Meadowlark-Noquisi
Mockingbird-Skadagisgi
Mudhen-Digaquani
Nighthawk-Asvnoyi
Nuthatch-Tsuli'ena "Deaf"
Oriole-Wadaga
Ostrich-Gvna utana
Owl-Uguku
Peacock-Gvna tsuquatotli
Pigeon-Woya or Woyi
Pheasant-Dvdisdi
Prairie Chicken-Tsitaga igodi ehi
Quail-Guque
Raven-Koranu or Golanv or Kolanu
Robin-Tsisquoquo
Rooster-Tsitaga atsvya
Sandpiper-Guwisguwi
Sapsucker-Kvquoha
Scarlet-tanager-Tsaquiyu
Screech Owl-Wahuhi or Wahuhu
Shitepoke-Agasalawididi
Shrike-Tsisqua geluhvsga or Tsusgadigisg "Eater of Heads"
Snowbird-Dudi
Sparrow-Tsisquaya
Sparrowhawk-Tawodi usdi
Swallow-Akisga
Swan-Sasa
Swallow tailed Flycatcher-Tsandiquanitsugi or Tsandiquatski
Titmouse-Ulisgi
Turkey-Gvna or Gvni
Whippoorwill-Tsaqualequala or Waguli
Winter Wren-Tsitsi
Woodcock-Agaluga
Woodpecker-Dalala
Wren-Tseni or Alitama
Yellow Mockingbird-Huhu

The Reptiles and Fish:
==================
Alligator-Tsulasgi
Alligator Lizard-Tiyohali
Bass-Unoga
Blackracer-Ugasuhi or Adogiyasdi inadv
Black snake-Galegi
Bullfrog-Kanuna
Cobra-Quanadayoha
Copperhead-Wodige-asgoli or Tsugatatsidatli
Crawfish-Tsisdvna
Diamondhead Rattler-Ugasuti
Eel-Tlvdequa or Tlvdega or Dvdegi
Fish-Atsadi or Utsuli or Ugvsdili
Freshwater mussel-Daguna
Frog-Walosi
Greensnake-Siliquoli
Having Horns "Fish"-Ugvsteli
Hogsucker-Daloge
Killerwhale-Daquadihi
Large Red Crawfish-Tsiskigili
Large Lizard-Gigatsuhali "Bloody Mouth"
Lizard-Ganatlai
Lobster-Tsisdvna utana
Minnow-Atsadi usdi
Mythical Snake-Ugatena or Uktena
Oyster-Dagvna
Rainbowt rout-Tsulolvdi atsadi
Rattlesnake-Utsonati
Red horse-Oliga
Scorpion Lizard-Tsonehi or Gigadanegiski
Snapping turtle-Saligugi or Saliguga
Snake-Inada or Inadv
Soft shell turtle-Ulanawa or Ulinawi
Speckled trout-Unvtsadv atsadi
Speckled trouts-Unanvtsadv atsadi
Spreadingadder-Daligasta
Spring Lizard-Dawega
Spring Lizard "Red with Black spots"-Daganta or Anigantiski "Rain Maker"
Spring Frog-Tustu
Terrapin-Dagisi
Trout-Tsunaga
Waterdog-Tsuwa
Whale-Daqua also Great Mythic Fish
Watermoccasin-Kanequoti

Insects:
======
Ant-Dosvdali or Tsusudali
Bed bug-Galuyasdi
Bee-Wadulisi
Bug-Tsigoya
Butterfly-Kamama
Caterpiller-Sgoya anesgilvvsgi
Centipede-Tsaganotsi
Cowant-Dosvdali atatsvski "Stinging ant" or Nv yunuwi "Stone Dress"
Cricket-Taladu "Sixteen" also called the Barber
Dragonfly-Wadaduga or Wadulisdi
Earthworm-Utsiya
Flea-Tsasuga or Tsuga or Kasehela
Fly-Tvhga
Grasshopper-Tolatsiga or Tolatsuqua
Grubs-Sgoyi or Tsvsgoyi
Horned Beetle-Tsistana or Awi or Galagina
Horsefly-Damaga
Jar-Fly (Cicada aulets)-Lolo
June Bug-Taga or Tuya diskalawstiski "One who keeps fire under the beans"
Katydid-Sigigi
Leech-Tsanusi or Tsanusi or Dlanusi
Locust-Vle
Louse-Tina
Mole Cricket-Galgwogi "Seven"
Mosquito-Dosa or Dosi or Tosi or Dosa udvna
Mud dauber-Diguhldisgi
Moth-Wasotla
Praying mantis-Udolanvsdi
Scorpion-Tsisdvna adatsvyasgi
Snail-Elaqua
Snaping Beetle-Talskuwa "One that snaps with it's head"
Spider-Kananesgi
Tick-Guga'i
Wasp-Kanatsisdetsi
Water beetle-Doyunisi
Water spider-Kananesgi amaiyehi
Worm-Utsiya or Tsisgoya or Sgoyi
Yellowjacket-Tsasgaya
Yellowmoth-Tvtawa


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