HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: CHEROKEES Version 1.0, 15-Dec-2002, H-02.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Dec-2002 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Dec-2002 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Mary Cherry Doyle, Clemson, SC in Jan-1935 Dedicated To: Dr Edgar Clay Doyle FOREWORD In presenting these fragmentary facts that have come to my knowledge, it is my hope that they may prove helpful in preserv- ing the history of Oconee county for the youth of the land and all who are interested in the history of Oconee county for South Carolina. With knowledge there will follow a fuller appreciation of the great heritage that is ours. I wish to acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to Dr. J. Walter Daniel, an author- ity on Indians of the South. We are indebted to members of the Wizard of Tamassee Chapter S. C. D. A. R. and many other friends. MARY CHERRY DOYLE. January, 1935. CHEROKEES Sir Alexander Cummings tells us in his notes that the Cherokees lived in semi-permanent villages in houses 10 x 14, built of logs and roughly plastered with a place for fire in the center. They were the mountaineers among the Indians and were more civilized than most at the time of the Revolution. They had been visited by the Moravian Missionaries and doubtless others and we are told that the chiefs expressed pleasure at having the gospel preached to their people. They were industrious, cultivating fields of corn and other feed crops. It was said that their flour was a com- pound of corn, beans and pumpkin, pounded together. Bartram, the early botanist, said he found them kind and hospitable. They made beautiful baskets, fairly good pottery and at the time of the Revolution were acquainted with and used to some extent the spinning wheel and loom. Their territory comprised the entire Alleghany region from the interlocking head streams of the Kanawha and Tennessee, southward almost to the sight of Atlanta and from the Blue Ridge on the east to Cumberland range on the west, an area of 40,000 square miles, now included in the states of Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Their principal towns were on the headwaters of the Savannah, Hiwassee, and Tuckasegee and along the whole length of the Little Tennessee to the junc- tion with the main stream. Eschota, on the east bank of the Little Tennessee, a few miles above the mouth of the Tellico river in Tennessee, was commonly called the capital of the whole nation. When the whites pressed upon them from the east and northeast, their more exposed towns were destroyed and new settle- ments were formed lower down the Tennessee. As the case is with tribal geography, there were no fixed boundaries and on every frontier their territory was contested by rival claimants. In Virginia, there is reason to believe that the tribe was held in check by Powhatan; on the east and southeast the Catawbas and Tuscaroros were inveterate enemies, and on the west there was war with the Creeks who claimed nearly all of upper Georgia, but who were gradually pressed to the Gulf. The Eastern or lower dialect was spoken in all towns on the Keowee and Tugaloo and adjoining portions of Georgia. The chief peculiarity was the rolling r which takes the place of 1 in the other language. They were practically without territory after the signing of the treaty of Hopewell. In 1812 they fought bravely on the American side and from 1817-19 they made still further concessions and were forced to remove west of the Mississippi. In 1838 they were forcibly removed from Georgia in the dead winter. John Ross, the noted half breed, was their leader. This was called the "Way of Tears" and has been compared with the flight of the Arcadians from Grand Pre. About one-fourth died on the way. A remnant remained and lived in the Cherokee Reser- vation at Cherokee, N. C. They hold an interesting fair in the first week in October of each year. In Oklahoma, they occupy at present an area of 7,861 square miles in the northeast section of the state. They have a chief, and assistant and a legislature, all chosen by vote. They live in dwellings, not wigwams. They have an orphan asylum, seminary and one hundred private schools. Their capitol is Tahlequah. In the North Carolina reservation they occupy an area of 98,211 acres.