The Cherokee Nation - largest of the Five Civilized Tribes of
the Southeast - is a people of Iroquoian lineage. The Cherokee,
who called themselves 'Ani'-Yun' wiya' - 'Principal People'
- the 'Keetoowah' - 'People of Kituhwa' - or Tsalagi from their
own name for the Cherokee Nation - migrated to the Southeast
from the Great Lakes Region.
Cherokee Timeline
1450 - First Cherokee enter the state in the vicinity of Traveler's
Rest. Tugaloo Old Town is the first major Cherokee village.
1540-1 De Soto "visits" the Cherokee and is supposedly
one of the first whites seen by the tribe, although written
descriptions of the tribe by the Spanish note the wide range
of colors in the tribe, from "negro" (black) to light
skinned and "fair," according to Moyano and Pardo.
1650 - Cherokee commanded more than 40,000 square miles in
the southern Appalachians by 1650 with a population estimated
at 22,500.
1715 - Massive uprising against North and South Carolina
1721 - First treaty with whites - South Carolina
1738 - Smallpox eradicates 25% of the Cherokee Nation. Nancy
Ward is born
1753 - Smallpox epidemic
1755 - Battle of Taliwa - Accounts differ on exact events,
however, the Creek, who greatly outnumber the Cherokee, attack
the Cherokee line five times. During the fifth attack elderly
Cherokee leader Kingfisher is slain. His teenage wife picks
up his weapon, and chanting a Cherokee war song, Nancy Ward
leads the Cherokee to victory, routing the Creek. The battle
marked successful expulsion of the Creek from much of North
Georgia. The only major remaining Creek settlement was near
present Rome, Georgia.
1760-1762 - Cherokee War (SC)
1773 - First cession of Cherokee land in Georgia
1776-1783 - Impressed by the British during the French and
Indian War, the Cherokee side with them during the American
Revolution. The price for the decision is immense. Beginning
at about the time of the American Revolutionary War, divisions
over continued accommodation of encroachments by white settlers,
despite repeated violations of previous treaties, caused some
Cherokee to begin to leave The Cherokee Nation. These dissidents
became known as the Chickamauga. Led by Chief Dragging Canoe,
the Chickamauga made alliances with the Shawnee and engaged
in raids against colonial settlements, aided by the British.
Colonel Pickens destroyed Long Swamp village (1782) and forced
the Cherokee to cede land to settlers.
1786 Treaty of Hopewell (SC) - The Cherokee thought this would
be the end of the settlers' invasion of Cherokee land. Within
3 years bitter fighting had erupted as settlers continued to
move into the Cherokee Nation. This treaty is the basis for
the term "Talking Leaves." [See below] Cherokee felt
that written words were like leaves, when they were no longer
of use they withered and died.
John Ross is born.
Ross was an important figure in the history of the Cherokee
tribe. His father emigrated from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary
War. His mother was a quarter-blood Cherokee woman whose father
was also from Scotland. He began his public career in 1809.
Still permitted under the Constitution at that time, The Cherokee
Nation was founded in 1820, with elected public officials. John
Ross became the chief of the tribe in 1828 and remained the
chief until his death.
Ross, also known as Kooweskoowe, was a leader of the Cherokee
Native American tribe. Ross was born near Lookout Mountain,
Tennessee, the son of a Scotsman who had gone to live among
the Cherokee during the American Revolution. John Ross's mother
was 3/4 Scottish as well.
At the age of twenty, after having completed his education,
he was appointed as Indian agent to the western Cherokee and
sent to Arkansas. He served as an adjutant in a Cherokee regiment
during the War of 1812 and participated in fighting at the Battle
of Horseshoe Bend against the British-allied Creek tribe.
Ross relocated to Georgia and was chosen as a member of the
Cherokee national council in 1817, becoming its president two
years later and serving in that capacity for seven years. After
this he became assistant chief of the eastern Cherokee, becoming
principal chief the following year and serving as such until
1839, participating in the drafting of the Cherokee constitution
in 1827.
During his tenure as chief he opposed displacement of the
tribe from its native lands, a policy of the United States government
known as Indian Removal. However, Ross's political rival Major
Ridge signed an unauthorized removal treaty with the U.S. in
1836. Ross unsuccessfully lobbied against enforcement of the
treaty, but those Cherokees who did not emigrate to the "Indian
Territory" by 1838 were forced to do so by General Winfield
Scott, an episode that came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
Accepting defeat, Ross convinced General Scott to have supervision
of much of the removal process turned over to Ross.
In the Indian Territory, Ross helped draft a constitution
for the entire Cherokee nation in 1839, and was chosen as chief
of the nation. He would remain chief until his death.
1791 Treaty of Holston-Cherokee cede land in eastern Tennessee
in exchange for President Washington's guarantee that the Cherokee
Nation will never again be invaded by settlers. This treaty
forces Americans to obtain passports to enter Cherokee lands,
and granted Cherokee the right to evict settlers.
1792 The town of Hightower moves from the vicinity of Rome,
Georgia to present-day Cartersville, further east on the Etowah
River after a brutal attack on the village by Tennessee governor
John Sevier.
1799-1804 Building of the Augusta to Nashville Road, later
known as the Federal Road.
1801 Return J. Meigs appointed "indian agent." Morovians
start mission at Spring Place.
1802 President Thomas Jefferson agrees with the state of Georgia
to removal of all American Indians in exchange for the state's
claim of western lands.
1804 Cherokee cede Wafford's Tract.
1806 Start of a complex series of events known as Revolt of
the Young Chiefs
1811 New Madrid earthquake. Actually 3 separate earthquakes
with an epicenter near the town of New Madrid, Missouri in the
southeastern border with Kentucky. The quakes were felt throughout
the Cherokee Nation and sparked what is best described as a
religious revival among the Cherokee. Writer James Mooney would
call this movement the "Ghost Dance," after a similar
Western Indian revival.
1812 Shawnee warrior Tecumseh agitates American Indians on
the frontier to rise up and destroy the settlers. A faction
of the Creek Indians, the "Red Sticks," revolt, attacking
Fort Mims, Alabama and massacre 250 men, women and children.
1 813-1814 Cherokee warriors fight alongside future president
Andrew Jackson during two campaigns (5 major battles) against
the Red Sticks, saving both his army and his life in separate
battles.
1814 Jackson demands cessions of 2.2 million acres from the
Cherokee.
1817 Cession of land east of the Unicoi Turnpike. (Treaty of
Turkey Town, instead of the 2.2 million acres demanded by Jackson.)
1819 Final cession of land in Georgia, and part of a much larger
cession, the Cherokee give up claims to all land east of the
Chattahoochee River.
1821 Cherokee warrior Sequoyah finishes his work on a written
language (syllabary) for the tribe. Within six months more than
25% of the Cherokee Nation learns how to read and write.
1822 Georgia begins press for cession of remaining Cherokee
lands, citing Jefferson's
1802 commitment to the state.
1828 Gold discovered in Georgia. This discovery was on Cherokee
land ceded to the U. S. in 1817 (Duke's Creek), however, gold
was soon found inside the Cherokee Nation; Publication of the
Cherokee Phoenix begins with Elias Boudinot, editor.
1830 - Cherokees were displaced from their ancestral lands
in North Georgia and the Carolinas primarily as a result of
the Gold Rush around Dahlonega, Georgia in the 1830's. Cherokee
evict encroachers in Beaver Dam on Cedar Creek, a few miles
south of present-day Rome, Georgia. Passage of the Indian Removal
Act.
1831 Chief Justice John Marshall rules that the Cherokee have
no standing to file suit in the United States in Cherokee Nation
vs. Georgia. He then instructs attorney William Wirt on how
to correctly file; Samuel Worcester and others arrested for
violation of Georgia law requiring whites to get permits to
work in the Cherokee territory.
1832 The Supreme Court of the United States declares the Cherokee
Nation to be sovereign (Worcester vs. Georgia). This has constitutional
implications, disallowing the state of Georgia from passing
any law governing the Cherokee; Elias Boudinot resigns as publisher
of the Cherokee Phoenix under pressure from John Ross because
of his editorial support for removal;Georgia's sixth land lottery
and the gold lottery.
1834 The Georgia Guard destroys the printing press in the offices
of The Cherokee Phoenix.
1835 Ross and John Howard Payne, in Red Clay, Tennessee, are
illegally detained by the Georgia Guard. Dec. 29 Treaty of New
Echota signed in Elias Boudinot's home by members of the Treaty
Party.
1838 Deadline for voluntary removal. Georgia Guard had begun
round-up 5 days earlier. U. S. forces under command of Winfield
Scott begin roundup in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and North
Carolina. Cherokee are herded into "forts," gradually
making their way north to the Cherokee Agency in southeastern
Tennessee.
Once the Cherokees reached Indian Territory (now Oklahoma),
tensions ran high and the suspension of the Cherokee Blood Law
was ignored. On June 22, 1839, after the adjournment of a tribal
meeting, some of the prominent signers of the Treaty of New
Echota were assassinated, including the drafter of the Blood
Law, Major Ridge, along with John Ridge and Elias Boudinot.
This started 15 years of civil war amongst the Cherokees. One
of the notable survivors was Stand Watie, who became a Confederate
general during the American Civil War. The Cherokees were one
of the five "civilized tribes" that concluded treaties
with, and were recognized, by the Confederate States of America.
In 1848 a group of Cherokee set out on an expedition to California
looking for new settlement lands. The expedition followed the
Arkansas River upstream to Rocky Mountains in present-day Colorado,
then followed the base of mountains northward into present-day
Wyoming before turning westward. The route become known as the
Cherokee Trail. The group, which undertook gold prospecting
in California, returned along the same route the following year,
noticing placer gold deposits in tributaries of the South Platte.
The discovery went unnoticed for a decade but eventually became
of the primary sources of the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859.
Other Cherokees in western North Carolina served as part of
Thomas' Legion, a unit of approximately 1,100 men of both Cherokee
and white origin, fighting primarily in Virginia, where their
battle record was outstanding. Thomas' Legion was the last Confederate
unit to surrender in North Carolina, at Waynesville, North Carolina
on May 9, 1865.
The Cherokee Nation citizens lost their right to elect their
own chief in 1907 when Oklahoma became a state. Various chiefs
were appointed by the Presidents until 1970 when the Cherokees
regained their right to elect their own government via a Congressional
Act signed by President Nixon. W. W. Keeler was the first elected
chief of The Cherokee Nation. Keeler, who was also the President
of Phillips Petroleum was succeeded by Ross Swimmer, Wilma Mankiller,
Joe Byrd and Chad Smith who is currently the chief of The Cherokee
Nation
Clans
The Cherokee were divided into seven clans. People in a clan
had to marry outside of his or her clan. Then, the male lived
with his wife's family (matriarchial).
Homes
Before the Europeans came over, they lived together in square
houses made of bark, wood, earth, and clay. Later, they lived
in log cabins. Economy
Their economy consisted of the cultivation of corn, beans,
and squash. Also, hunting and slash-and-burn agriculture was
a large part of their economy. Their only domesticated animal
was the dog, until the Europeans brought horses over.
Ceremonies
The Cherokees held many ceremonies. One of their ceremonies
marked the changing of rulers between the Red and White Organization.
Another ceremony consisted of nightlong dancing before going
to war. After war, they had rituals of purification before they
returned to their daily routine.
Recreation
For leisure, the Cherokees played a game with rackets and a
ball. Ritual fasting and bleeding was associated with the game.
Along with this they had ceremonies called harvest feast and
an observance of the new year.
Life and Culture
Cherokee life and culture greatly resembled that of the Creek
and other Indians of the Southeast. The Cherokee nation was
composed of a confederacy of red (war) and white (peace) towns.
The chiefs of the red towns were subordinated to a supreme war
chief, while the officials of the white towns were under the
supreme peace chief. The white towns provided sanctuary for
wrongdoers; war ceremonies were conducted in red towns.
When first encountered by Europeans in the mid-16th century,
the Cherokee possessed a variety of stone implements including
knives, axes, and chisels. They wove baskets, made pottery,
and cultivated corn (maize), beans, and squash. Deer, bear,
and elk furnished meat and clothing. Cherokee dwellings were
windowless log cabins roofed with bark, with one door and a
smokehole in the roof. A typical Cherokee town had between 30
and 60 such houses and a council house where general meetings
were held and the sacred fire burned. An important religious
ceremony was the Busk, or Green Corn, festival, a first-fruits
and new-fires rite.
Wars and Treaties
The Cherokee wars and treaties, a series of battles and agreements
around the period of the U.S. War of Independence, effectively
reduced Cherokee power and landholdings in Georgia, eastern
Tennessee, and western North and South Carolina, freeing this
territory for speculation and settlement by the white man. Numbering
about 22,000 tribesmen in 200 villages throughout the area,
the Cherokee had since the beginning of the 18th century remained
friendly to the British in both trading and military affairs.
In 1773 the Treaty of Augusta, concluded at the request of
both Cherokee and Creek Indians, ceded more than 2,000,000 tribal
acres in Georgia to relieve a seemingly hopeless Indian indebtedness
to white traders. In 1775 the Overhill Cherokee were persuaded
at the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals to sell an enormous tract of
land in central Kentucky.
Although this agreement with the Transylvania Land Company
violated British law, it nevertheless became the basis for the
white takeover of that area. Threatened by colonial encroachment
upon their hunting grounds, the Cherokee announced at the beginning
of the American Revolution their determination to support the
crown.
Despite British attempts to restrain them, in July 1776 a force
of 700 Cherokee under Chief Dragging-canoe attacked two U.S.-held
forts in North Carolina: Eaton's Station and Ft. Watauga. Both
assaults failed, and the tribe retreated in disgrace. These
raids set off a series of attacks by Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw
on frontier towns, eliciting a vigorous response by militia
and regulars of the Southern states during September and October.
At the end of this time, Cherokee power was broken, crops and
villages destroyed, and warriors dispersed. The humiliated Indians
could win peace only by surrendering vast tracts of territory
in North and South Carolina at the Treaty of DeWitt's Corner
(May 20, 1777) and the Treaty of Long Island of Holston (July
20, 1777). As a result, peace reigned on this frontier for the
next two years.
When Cherokee raids flared up again in 1780 during American
preoccupation with British armed forces elsewhere, punitive
action led by Col. Arthur Campbell and Col. John Sevier soon
brought them to terms again. At the second Treaty of Long Island
of Holston (July 26, 1781), previous land cessions were confirmed
and additional territory yielded.
After 1800 the Cherokee were remarkable for their assimilation
of white culture. The Cherokee formed a government modelled
on that of the U.S. Under Chief Junaluska they aided Andrew
Jackson against the Creek (see Creek War), particularly in the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend. They adopted white methods of farming,
weaving, and home building.
Language
Perhaps most remarkable of all was the syllabary of the Cherokee
language, developed in 1821 by Sequoyah, a half-blooded Cherokee
who had served with the U.S. Army in the Creek War. The syllabary
- a system of writing in which each symbol represents a syllable--was
so successful that almost the entire tribe became literate within
a short time. For years, many people wrote transliterated Cherokee
on the Internet or used poorly intercompatible fonts to type
out the syllabary. However, since the fairly recent addition
of the Cherokee syllables to Unicode, the Cherokee language
is experiencing a renaissance in its use on the Internet.
Sequoyah
Of his mother, it is known that she was a Cherokee and belonged
to the Paint Clan and Mooney states that she was the niece of
a Cherokee chief. His father was either white or part white
and part Native American. Again, sources differ as to the exact
identity of Sequoyah's father, but many (including Mooney) suggest
that he was possibly a fur trader or the son of Christopher
Gist, a scout for George Washington.
There is some indication, however, that Sequoyah and his mother were abandoned by his father, this may be indicated by the fact that Sequoyah did not speak English. At some point before 1809, Seuqoyah moved to the Wills Valley in Alabama. There he established his trade as a silversmith. He may have fought in the Creek War between 1813 and 1814 against the Red Sticks. Of course if he was crippled, likely he would not have fought, but historians speculate that he may have been wounded in battle, thus leaving him crippled.
"Talking Leaves" and a syllabary
As a silversmith, Sequoyah dealt regularly with white people
who had settled in the area. Often, the Native Americans were
impressed by their writing, referring to their correspondence
as "talking leaves." Around 1809, Sequoyah began work to create
a system of writing for the Cherokee language.
After attempting to create a character for each word, Sequoyah decided to divide each word into syllables and create a character for each syllable. Utilizing the Roman alphabet and quite possibly the Cyrillic alphabet, he created 85 characters to respresent the various syllables. This work would take Sequoyah 12 years to complete.
There was some doubt amongst his fellow Cherokee as to the worthiness of his alphabet. In order to prove his creation, Sequoyah taught his daughter Ah-yo-ka how to read and write in Cherokee. After amazing locals with his new writing, Sequoyah attempted to display his feat to tribal medicine men only to be rebuffed by them for being possessed by evil spirits. Sequoyah finally proved his feat to a gathering of Chickamaugan warriors. Quickly news of the syllabary spread and the Cherokee were filling schools in order to learn the new language. By 1823 the syllabary was in full use by the The Cherokee Nation. The language was made the official language of the Cherokee Nation in 1825.
After the acceptance of his syllabary by the nation in 1825, Sequoyah moved to the new Cherokee territory in Arkansas. There he set up a blacksmith shop and a salt works. He continued to teach the syllabary to anyone who came to him. In 1828, Sequoyah journeyed to Washington, D.C. as part of a delegation to make a treaty for land in Oklahoma.
His trip brought him into contact with representatives from other tribes of Native Americans around the nation. With these meetings he decided to create a syllabary for universal use among all Native American tribes. With this in mind, Sequoyah began to journey to areas of present day Arizona and New Mexico seking tribes there.
In addition, Sequoyah dreamed to see the splintered Cherokee Nation re-united. It was on a trip seeking Cherokees who had moved to Mexico that he died in the summer of 1843.
Famous Cherokee
There were several famous Cherokees in American history, including Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee writing system. Sequoyah may be the only known person in history to invent a written language single handedly. Sequoyah never learned to speak, read or write the English language. Another famous person with Cherokee ancestry was the humorist Will Rogers. Today, Wes Studi is a well-known actor. Famous Cherokee politicians include Chad 'Corntassel' Smith, Wilma Mankiller and Ross Swimmer. The American blues-rock guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, was of Cherokee descent via his paternal grandmother, Nora Rose Moore. Oral Roberts, a Pentecostal evangelist in the 1950's through the 1990's, is also of Cherokee descent. Journalist and writer Sarah Vowell also has Cherokee ancestors.
Constitution
A written constitution was adopted, and religious literature flourished, including translations from the Christian
scriptures. An Indian newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, the first of its kind, began publication in
February 1828.
But the Cherokee's rapid acquisition of white culture did not protect them against the land hunger of the
settlers. When gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia, agitation for the removal of the Indians
increased. In December 1835 the Treaty of New Echota, signed by a small minority of the Cherokee,
ceded to the U.S. all their land east of the Mississippi River for $5,000,000. The overwhelming majority
of Cherokees repudiated the treaty and took their case to the Supreme Court of the United States. The
court rendered a decision favourable to the Indians, declaring that Georgia had no jurisdiction over the
Cherokees and no claim to their lands.
Georgia officials ignored the court's decision, and Pres. Andrew Jackson refused to enforce it. As a
result, the Cherokees were evicted under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by 7,000 troops commanded
by Gen. Winfield Scott. Some 15,000 Cherokees were first gathered into camps while their homes were
plundered and burned by local residents. Then the Indians were sent west in groups of about 1,000,
most on foot.
Trail of Tears
