A nation formerly inhabiting the hilly regions of
Georgia, western Carolina, and
northern Alabama, and called the Mountaineers of the
South.
They were among high hills and fertile valleys, and have ever been more susceptible of civilization than any of the
Indian tribes within the domain of the
United States.
They were the determined foes of the Shawnees, and, after many conflicts, drove those fugitives back to the
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Ohio.
They united with the Carolinians and Catawbas against the Tuscaroras in 1711, but joined the great Indian league against the Carolinians in 1715.
When, early in 1721,
Gov. Francis Nicholson arrived in
South Carolina, he tried
to cultivate the good — will of the Spaniards and Indians in
Florida.
He also held a conference with the chiefs of thirty-seven different cantons of Cherokees.
He gave them presents, smoked with them the pipe of peace, marked the boundaries of the lands between them and the
English settlers, regulated weights and measures, and appointed an agent to superintend their affairs.
He then concluded a treaty of commerce and peace with the
Creeks.
About 1730 the projects of the
French for uniting
Canada and
Louisiana by a cordon of posts through the
Ohio and Mississippi valleys began to be developed.
To counteract this scheme, the
British wished to convert the Indians on the frontiers into allies or subjects, and, to this end, to make with them treaties of union and alliance.
The British government accordingly sent out
Sir Alexander Cumming to conclude such a treaty with the Cherokees.
It was estimated that they could then put 6,000 warriors in the field.
In April, 1730, Sir Alexander met the chief warriors of all the
Cherokee towns in council; informed them by whose authority he was sent; demanded from them an acknowledgment of King George as their sovereign, and a promise of their obedience to his authority.
The chiefs, falling on their knees, promised fidelity and obedience.
By their consent, Sir Alexander nominated Moytoy, one of their best leaders, commander-in-chief of the
Cherokee nation.
They brought a rude crown, five eagles' tails, and four scalps of their enemies to Sir Alexander, and desired him to lay them at the feet of the
King when he should return to
England.
Six of the chiefs went to
England with Sir Alexander, and, standing before his Majesty, they promised, in the name of their nation, eternal fidelity to the
English.
A treaty was drawn up and signed by the
Secretary to the
Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations on one side, to which the marks and tokens of the chiefs were affixed.
The chiefs were amazed at the magnificence of the British Court and nation.
They said: “We came hither naked and poor as the worms of
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the earth; but you have everything; and we that have nothing must love you, and will never break the chain of friendship which is between us.”
They returned to
Carolina with
Robert Johnson, who came with a commission as governor.
For a long time the Cherokees and the Five Nations had bloody contests; but the
English effected a reconciliation between them about 1750, when the Cherokees became the allies of the
British against the
French, and allowed the former to build forts on their domain.
About that time they were at the height of their power, and inhabited sixty-four villages along the streams; but soon afterwards nearly one-half the population were swept off by the small-pox.
The
Cherokees assisted in the capture of
Fort Duquesne in 1758.
While the Cherokees who accompanied the expedition against
Fort Duquesne in 1758 were returning home along the mountains on the western borders of
Virginia and the Carolinas, they quarrelled with the settlers, and several white men and Indians were killed.
Some
Cherokee chiefs were sent to
Charleston to arrange the dispute, when they were treated almost with contempt by the governor of
South Carolina.
This was soon followed by an invasion of the
Cherokee country by
Governor Littleton (October, 1759) with 1,500 men, contributed by
Virginia and the Carolinas, who demanded the surrender of the murderers of the
English.
He found the Cherokees ready for war, and was glad to make the insubordination of his soldiers and the prevalence of smallpox among them an excuse for leaving the country.
He accepted twenty-two Indian hostages as security for peace and the future delivery of the murderers, and retired in haste and confusion (June, 1760). These hostages, which included several chiefs and warriors, were placed in
Fort St. George, at the head of the
Savannah River.
The
Cherokees attempted their rescue as soon as
Littleton and his army had gone.
A soldier was wounded, when his companions, in fiery anger, put all the hostages to death.
The
Cherokee nation was aroused by the outrage.
They beleaguered the fort, and war-parties scourged the frontiers.
The Assembly of South Carolina voted 1,000 men and offered £ 25 for every Indian scalp.
North Carolina voted a similar provision, and authorized the holding of Indian captives as slaves.
General Amherst, petitioned for assistance, detached 1,200 men, chiefly Scotch Highlanders, for the purpose, under
Colonel Montgomery, with orders to chastise the Cherokees, but to return in time for the next campaign against
Canada.
Montgomery left
Charleston early in April, with regular and provincial troops, and laid waste a portion of the
Cherokee country.
They were not subdued.
The next year
Colonel Grant led a stronger force against them, burned their towns, desolated their fields, and killed many of their warriors.
Then the Indians humbly sued for peace (June, 1761).
In 1776 the Cherokees seriously threatened the frontier of
South Carolina.
As these Indians had become the dread of the frontier settlers of
Georgia,
North Carolina, and
Virginia, these three States joined in the defence of
South Carolina.
Col. Andrew Williamson led an expedition into the
Cherokee country, destroyed all their settlements eastward of the
Appalachian Mountains, and effectually brought the natives to submission.
This conquest was effected between July 15 and Oct. 11, 1776.
A military work named Fort Rutledge was erected in the
Cherokee country and garrisoned by two independent companies.
In 1781 the Cherokees having made a hostile incursion into the Ninety-six District, in
South Carolina, murdered some families, and burned several houses,
Gen. Andrew Piekens, at the head of about 400 mounted militia, penetrated into their country, and, in fourteen days, burned thirteen towns and villages, killed more than forty
Indians, and took a number of prisoners, without losing a man.
By a treaty concluded at
Hopewell, on the
Keowee, between the
United States commissioners and the head men and warriors of all the Cherokees, the latter, for themselves and their respective tribes and towns, acknowledged all the Cherokees to be under the protection of the
United States.
The boundaries of their huntinggrounds were settled; several mutual and pacific conditions were agreed upon; and a solemn pledge was made that “the hatchet should be buried,” and that the
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peace re-established should “be universal.”
These Indians were friends of the
United States in the
War of 1812, and helped to subjugate the
Creeks.
Civilization took root among them and produced contention, a portion of them wishing to adhere to their former mode of living, while others wished to engage in the industries of civilized life.
They were so absolutely divided in sentiment that in 1818 a portion of the nation emigrated to wild land assigned to them west of the
Mississippi.
The
Cherokees, in turn, had ceded large portions of their lands, and their domain was mostly confined to
northern Georgia.
They were then making rapid progress in civilization; but the Georgians coveted their lands.
The
Cherokees were yet powerful in numbers, and were then considerably advanced in the arts and customs of civilization.
They had churches and schools and a
printing-press, issuing a newspaper; and they were disposed to defend their rights against the encroachments of their white neighbors.
President Jackson favored the Georgians, and the white people then proceeded to take possession of the lands of the Cherokees.
Trouble ensued, and the southern portion of the republic was menaced with civil war for a while.
The United States troops had been withdrawn from
Georgia, and the national government offered no obstacle to the forcible seizure of the
Indian territory by the Georgians.
Some missionaries laboring among the Cherokees were arrested and imprisoned for residing in their country contrary to the laws of the
State, and for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to
Georgia.
The
Cherokees then numbered between 14,000 and 15,000 east of the
Mississippi.
The matter in dispute was adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the
United States, and on March 30, 1832, that tribunal decided against the claims of the Georgians.
The
Georgians, still favored by the
President, resented this decision.
An amicable settlement was finally reached; and, in 1838, under the mild coercion of
Maj.-Gen. W. Scott and several thousand troops, the Cherokees left their beautiful country in
Georgia with sorrow, and went to wild lands assigned them, well towards the eastern slopes of the
Rocky Mountains, where they yet remain, with Choctaws, Creeks, and others for their neighbors.
In 1861,
John Ross, the renowned principal chief of the Cherokees, who had led them wisely for almost forty years, took a decided stand against the
Confederates.
He issued a proclamation (May 17), in which he reminded his people of their treaty obligations with the
United States, and urged them to be faithful to them, and to take no part in the stirring events of the day. But he and his loyal associates among the Cherokees and Creeks were overborne by the tide of secession and insurrection, and were swept on, powerless, by the current.
The betrayal of the United States troops by
General Twiggs into the hands of the
Texas authorities left their territory on the side of that State open to invasion.
False rumors continually disturbed them.
Their neighbors, and the wild tribes on their borders, were rallying to the standard of the
Confederates.
The National troops in
Missouri could not check the rising insurrection there.
The chief men of the Cherokees held a mass-meeting at
Tahlequah in August, when, with great unanimity, they declared their allegiance to the “
Confederate States.”
Ross still held out, but was finally compelled to yield.
At a council held on Aug. 20, he recommended the severance of the connection with the national government.
Ross's wife, a young and well-educated woman, still held out; and when an attempt was made to raise a Confederate flag over the council-house, she opposed the act with so much spirit that the
Confederates desisted.
During the
Civil War the Cherokees suffered much.
The Confederates would not trust
Ross, for his Union feelings were very apparent.
When, in 1862, they were about to arrest him, he and his family escaped to the
North, and resided in
Philadelphia for a while.
In 1899 there were 32,161 Cherokees at the
Union agency,
Indian Territory, and 1,351 at the
Eastern Cherokee agency,
North Carolina.
