Cherokee
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![]() Flag of the Cherokee Nation ![]() Flag of the Eastern Band Cherokee ![]() | |
Languages | |
---|---|
English, Cherokee | |
Religion | |
Christianity, Kituhwa, Four Mother's Society | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Iroquois (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora), Nottoway, Meherrin, Coree, Wyandot, Mingo[citation needed] |
The Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ) are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States (principally Georgia, the Carolinas and Eastern Tennessee). Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian-language family. In the 19th century, historians and ethnographers recorded their oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples were located.[1]
In the 19th century, people in the United States called the Cherokees one of the "Five Civilized Tribes", because they had assimilated numerous cultural and technological practices of European-American settlers. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, with more than 300,000 members, today they are the largest of the 563 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.[2]
Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. They were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Name
The Cherokee refer to themselves as Tsalagi (ᏣᎳᎩ) or Aniyvwiyai (ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ), which means "Principal People." The Iroquois called the Cherokee Oyata’ge'ronoñ (inhabitants of the cave country). Many theories - though none proven - abound about the origin of the word Cherokee. It may have originally been derived from the Choctaw word Cha-la-kee, which means "those who live in the mountains", or Choctaw Chi-luk-ik-bi, meaning "those who live in the cave country".[3] The earliest Spanish rendering of Cherokee, from 1755, is Tchalaquei.[4] Another theory is Cherokee derives from a Muscogee Creek word, meaning "those who live by Cherry Creek".
Origins
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There are two prevailing views about Cherokee origins.
- Migration from the North:
One view is that the Cherokees are relative latecomers to Southern Appalachia, who likely migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas, the traditional territory of the Iroquois and other Iroquoian-language people. Researchers in the 19th century talked to elders who recounted an oral tradition of the people's migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times.[1]
Some historians and archaeologists believe evidence supports the view that Cherokees did not come to Appalachia until as late as the 13th -16th centuries. The scholars believe they originated near the Great Lakes, where they had been part of other Iroquoian-speaking peoples. The period of differentiation is when the Iroquois nations formed of the Haudenosaunee, as well as the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, for instance. Over time, the Cherokee moved into Muscogee Creek territory and settled at the sites of mounds built by Muscogee ancestors.[5]
Initially, archeologists had mistakenly attributed several Mississippian culture sites to the Cherokee, including Moundville and Etowah Mounds. Late 20th-century studies have shown instead that the sites are unquestionably related to Creek ancestors. At the same time, archeologists have found artifacts with iconography from the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) in historical Cherokee villages dating from the time of European contact.
- Longer in the South
The other possibility is that Cherokee people have lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time.[6][7] During the late Archaic and Woodland Period, Indians in the region began to cultivate plants such as marsh elder, lambsquarters, pigweed, sunflowers and some native squash.[8] People began building mounds, created new art forms like shell gorgets, adopted new technologies, and followed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies.
During the Mississippian Culture period (800 to 1500 CE), which was distinct from the cultures of historic tribes, local women developed a new variety of maize (corn) called eastern flint. It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex villages with concentrated populations during the Mississippian-culture period. Because of its importance, corn was central to several religious ceremonies, especially the Green Corn Ceremony.
Early culture
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Cherokee_beadwork_sampler_1840_ohs.jpg/260px-Cherokee_beadwork_sampler_1840_ohs.jpg)
Much of what is known about pre-18th-century Native American cultures, including the Cherokee, has come from records of Spanish expeditions. Some of this work was not translated into English and more widely available to historians until the 20th century. In addition, the dominance of English colonists over the Southeast led to a discounting of Spanish sources for some time.
American writer John Howard Payne wrote about pre-19th century Cherokee culture and society. The Payne papers describe the account by Cherokee elders of a traditional two-part societal structure. A "white" organization of elders represented the seven clans. As Payne recounted, this group, which was hereditary and priestly, was responsible for religious activities, such as healing, purification, and prayer. A second group of younger men, the "red" organization, was responsible for warfare. The Cherokee considered warfare a polluting activity, and warriors required the purification of the priestly class before participants could reintegrate into normal village life. This hierarchy had disappeared long before the 18th century.
Researchers have debated the reasons for the change. Some historians believe the decline in priestly power originated with a revolt by the Cherokee against the abuses of the priestly class known as the Ani-kutani.[9] Ethnographer James Mooney, who studied the Cherokee in the late 1880s, was the first to trace the decline of the former hierarchy to this revolt.[10] By the time of Mooney, the structure of Cherokee religious practitioners was more informal, based more on individual knowledge and ability than upon heredity.[9]
Another major source of early cultural history comes from materials written in the 19th century by the didanvwisgi (Cherokee:ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ), Cherokee medicine men, after Sequoyah's creation of the Cherokee syllabary in the 1820s. Initially only the didanvwisgi adopted and used such materials, which were considered extremely powerful in a spiritual sense.[9] Later, the syllabary and writings were widely adopted by the Cherokee people.
Unlike most other Indians in the American Southeast at the start of the historic era, the Cherokee spoke an Iroquoian language. Since the Great Lakes region was the core of Iroquoian-language speakers, scholars have theorized that the Cherokee migrated South from that region. This is supported by the Cherokee oral history tradition. But, other scholars argue that the Iroquois migrated North from the southeast.[citation needed] According to their theory, the Tuscarora, another Iroquoian-speaking people inhabiting the Southeast in historic times, and the Cherokee broke off from the major group during its northern migration.
Other historians hold that, judging from linguistic and cultural data, the Tuscarora people migrated South from other Iroquoian-speaking people in the Great Lakes region in ancient times. Most "returned" to the New York area from the southeast by 1722 because of warfare in the southern region. The Tuscarora were admitted then by the Iroquois as the Sixth Nation of their confederacy.[11]
Linguistic analysis shows a relatively large difference between Cherokee and the northern Iroquoian languages. Scholars posit a split between the groups in the distant past, perhaps 3500–3800 years ago.[12] Glottochronology studies suggest the split occurred between about 1,500 and 1,800 B.C.[13] The Cherokee have claimed the ancient settlement of Kituwa on the Tuckasegee River, formerly next to and now part of Qualla Boundary (the reservation of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), as the original Cherokee settlement in the Southeast.[12]
History
16th century: Spanish contact
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The first known European-Native American contact was in 1540, when a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto passed through Cherokee country. De Soto's expedition visited many inland Georgia and Tennessee villages which they recorded as ruled by the Coosa chiefdom, of the Mississippian culture. The Cherokee did not settle in this area until the early 1700s.[14] The Spanish noted the Chalaque nation as living around the Keowee River where North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia meet.[15] European diseases, introduced to natives by contact with the Spaniards and their animals, decimated many Eastern tribes because of their lack of immunity to the new diseases.[16]
A second Spanish expedition came through the interior in 1567 led by Juan Pardo. Spanish troops built six forts in the interior Southeast, including at the Mississippian chiefdom of Joara, where they named their installation Fort San Juan. This was the first European settlement in the interior.[17] They visited what were later Cherokee towns of Nikwasi, Estatoe, Tugaloo, Conasauga, and Kituwa. The indigenous people rose against the Spanish soldiers, killing all but one of the 120 stationed at the six forts, and burning all the forts.[17] The Spanish retreated to the coast.[18]
17th century: English contact
In 1654, there was a disturbance in Virginia Colony as the Rechahecrians or Rickahockans, as well as the Siouan Manahoac and Nahyssan, broke through the frontier and settled near the Falls of the James, near present-day Richmond, Virginia. The following year, a combined force of English and Pamunkey drove the newcomers away. The identity of the Rechahecrians has been much debated. Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for the Eriechronon or Erielhonan, commonly known as the Erie tribe. They had been driven away from the southern shore of Lake Erie by the powerful Iroquois Five Nations in 1654. The anthropologist Martin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after the wars. (1986:131–32) Fewer historians suggest this tribe were Cherokee.[19]
Virginian traders developed a small-scale trading system with the Cherokee before the end of the seventeenth century; the earliest recorded Virginia trader to visit the Cherokee was a certain Dority, in 1690.[20] The Cherokee sold them Indian slaves for use as laborers in Virginia and further north.[21]
18th century history
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Three_Cherokee.jpg/275px-Three_Cherokee.jpg)
The Cherokees gave sanctuary to a band of Shawnee in the 1660s, but from 1710 to 1715 the Cherokee and Chickasaw, allied with the British, fought Shawnee, who were allied with the French, and forced them to move north.[22] Cherokees fought with the Yamasee, Catawba, and British in late 1712 and early 1713 against the Tuscarora in the Second Tuscarora War. The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of an English-Cherokee relationship that, despite breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century. With the growth of the deerskin trade, the Cherokee were valuable trading partners, since deer-skins from the cooler country of their mountain hunting-grounds were of a better-quality than those supplied by neighboring tribes.
In January 1716, Cherokee murdered a delegation of Muscogee Creek leaders at the town of Tugaloo, marking their entry into the Yamasee War. It ended in 1717 with peace treaties between South Carolina and the Creek. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades.[23] These raids came to a head at the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, present-day Ball Ground, Georgia, with the defeat of the Muscogee.
In 1721, the Cherokee ceded lands in South Carolina. In 1730, at Nikwasi, a Englishman, Sir Alexander Cumming convinced Cherokees to crown Moytoy of Tellico as "Emperor." Moytoy agreed to recognize King George II of Great Britain as the Cherokee protector. Seven prominent Cherokee, including Attakullakulla, traveled with Sir Alexander Cuming back to London, England. The Cherokee delegation signed the Treaty of Whitehall with the British. Moytoy's son, Amo-sgasite (Dreadful Water) attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, but the Cherokees elected their own leader, Cunne Shote (Standing Turkey) of Chota.[5]
Political power among Cherokees remained decentralized and towns acted autonomously. In 1735 the Cherokee were estimated to have sixty-four towns and villages, and 6000 fighting men. In 1738 and 1739 smallpox epidemics broke out among the Cherokee, who had no natural immunity. Nearly half their population died within a year. Hundreds of other Cherokee committed suicide due to their losses and disfigurement from the disease.
From 1753 to 1755, battles broke out between the Cherokee and Muscogee over disputed hunting grounds in North Georgia. Cherokees were victorious in the Battle of Taliwa. British soldiers built forts in Cherokee country to defend against the French, including Fort Loudoun near Chota. In 1756 the Cherokees fought with the British in the French and Indian War. Serious misunderstandings arose quickly between the two allies, resulting in the 1760 Anglo-Cherokee War. King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade British settlements west of the Appalachian crest, as his government tried to afford some protection from colonial encroachment to the Cherokee. The ruling was difficult to enforce.[24]
In 1771-2, North Carolinian settlers squatted on Cherokee lands in Tennessee, forming the Watauga Association.[25] Daniel Boone and his party tried to settle in Kentucky, but the Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo, and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone’s son. The American Indians used this territory as a hunting ground; it had hardly been inhabited for years. The conflict sparked the beginning of what was known as Dunmore's War (1773–1774).
In 1776, allied with the Shawnee led by Cornstalk, Cherokee attacked settlers in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina in the Second Cherokee War. Overhill Cherokee Nancy Ward, Dragging Canoe's niece, warned settlers of impending attacks. Provincial militias retaliated, destroying over 50 Cherokee towns. Invasions by North Carolina in 1776 and 1780 destroyed the Overhill towns. In 1777 surviving Cherokee town leaders signed treaties with the states.
Dragging Canoe and his band moved near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they established 11 new towns. Chickamauga was his headquarters and his entire band became known as the Chickamaugas. From here he fought a guerrilla war against settlers, the Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794). The first Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse, signed 7 November 1794, ended the Chickamauga Wars. In 1805, the Cherokee ceded their lands between the Cumberland and Duck Rivers (i.e. the Cumberland Plateau) to Tennessee.
19th century
Acculturation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Major_ridge.jpg/200px-Major_ridge.jpg)
The Cherokee lands between the Tennessee and Chattahoochee Rivers were remote enough from white settlers to remain independent after the Chickamauga Wars. The deerskin trade was no longer feasible on their greatly reduced lands, and over the next several decades the Cherokee built a new society modeled on the white Southern United States.
George Washington sought to 'civilize' friendly Southeastern American Indians, through programs overseen by Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins. U.S. agents convinced them to abandon their communal land-tenure and settle on isolated farmsteads, facilitated by the destruction of many American Indian towns during the American Revolutionary War. The deerskin trade brought white-tailed deer to the brink of extinction, and as pigs and cattle were introduced, they became the principle sources of meat. The tribes were supplied with spinning wheels and cotton-seed, men were taught to fence and plow the land, in contrast with traditional division where farming was woman's labor, women were instructed in weaving; blacksmiths, gristmills and eventually cotton plantations were established.
The Cherokees organized a national government under Principal Chiefs Little Turkey (1788–1801), Black Fox (1801–1811), Pathkiller (1811–1827), all former warriors of Dragging Canoe. The 'Cherokee triumvirate' of James Vann and his protégés The Ridge and Charles R. Hicks advocated acculturation, formal education, and modern methods of farming. In 1801 they invited Moravian missionaries from North Carolina to teach Christianity and the 'arts of civilized life.' The Moravians and later Congregationalist missionaries ran boarding schools, and a select few students were educated at the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions school in Connecticut.
In 1806 a Federal Road from Savannah, Georgia to Knoxville, Tennessee was built through Cherokee land. Chief James Vann opened a tavern, inn and ferry across the Chattahoochee and built a cotton-plantation on a spur of the road from Athens, Georgia to Nashville. His son 'Rich Joe' Vann grew the plantation to 800 acres and 150 slaves, exporting cotton to England, and owning a steamboat on the Tennessee River.[26] The Cherokee allied with the U.S. against the nativist and pro-British Red Stick faction of the Upper Creeks in the Creek War during the War of 1812, and Cherokee warriors led by Major Ridge played a major role in General Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Major Ride built a plantation and ran a ferry on the Oostanaula River, and, although he never learned English, educated his son and nephews in New England mission schools. His translator and protégé Chief John Ross, descendant of several generations of Scottish fur-traders, built a plantation and operated a trading firm and a ferry at Ross' Landing (Chattanooga, Tennessee). During this period, divisions arose between the acculturated elite and the great majority of Cherokee, who clung to traditional ways of life.
Ca.1809 Sequoyah began developing a written form the Cherokee language. He spoke no English, but his experiences as a silversmith dealing regularly with white settlers and a warrior at Horseshoe Bend convinced him the Cherokee needed to develop writing. In 1821, he introduced Cherokee syllabary, the first alphabetic form of an American Indian language, although this innovation met with initial opposition from both Cherokee traditionalists and white missionaries who sought to encourage the use of English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/New_Echota.jpg/250px-New_Echota.jpg)
In 1819, the Cherokee began holding council meetings at New Town, at the headwaters of the Oostanaula (near present-day Calhoun, Georgia). In November 1825, New Town became the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and was renamed New Echota, after the Overhill Cherokee principle town of Chota.[27] Sequoyah's syllabic alphabet was adopted, and, in 1827, the Cherokee Nation drafted a Constitution modeled on the United States, with executive, legislative and judicial branches and a system of checks and balances. The two-tiered legislature was led by Major Ridge and his son John Ridge. Convinced the tribes survival required English-speaking leaders who could negotiate with the U.S., the legislature appointed John Ross as Principle Chief. A printing press was established at New Echota by Vermont missionary Samuel Worcester and Major Ridge's nephew Elias Boudinot, who had taken the name of his white benefactor, a leader of the Continental Congress and New Jersey Congressman. The Bible was translated into Cherokee syllabary and the first edition of the bilingual 'Cherokee Phoenix,' the first American Indian newspaper, was published in February 1828.[28]
Removal era
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Before the final removal to present day Oklahoma many Cherokees relocated to present-day Arkansas, Missouri and Texas. Between 1775 and 1786 the Cherokee, along with people of other nations such as the Choctaws and Chickasaws, began voluntarily settling along the Arkansas and Red Rivers.[29]
In 1802, the federal government promised to extinguish Indian titles to lands claimed by Georgia in return for Georgia's cession of the western lands that became Alabama and Mississippi. To convince the Cherokee to move voluntarily in 1815, the US government established a Cherokee Reservation in Arkansas.[30] The reservation boundaries extended from north of the Arkansas River to the southern bank of the White River. Di'wali (The Bowl), Sequoyah, Spring Frog and Tatsi (Dutch) and their bands settled there. These Cherokees became known as "Old Settlers."
The Cherokee eventually migrated as far north as the Missouri Bootheel by 1816 and they lived interspersed among the Delawares and Shawnees of that area.[31] The Cherokee in Missouri Territory increased rapidly in population, from 1,000 to 6,000 over the next year (1816–1817) according to reports by Governor William Clark.[32] Increased conflicts with the Osage Nation lead to the Battle of Claremore Mound and the eventual establishment of Fort Smith between Cherokee and Osage communities.[33] In the Treaty of St. Louis (1825) the Osage were made to "cede and relinquish to the United States, all their right, title, interest, and claim, to lands lying within the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas..." to make room for the Cherokees and the Mashcoux who were Muscogee Creeks.[34] As late as the winter of 1838 there were still Cherokees and Creeks living in the Missouri and Arkansas areas petitioning to the War Department to remove the Osage from the area.[35]
A group of Cherokee traditionalists led by Di'wali moved to Spanish Texas in 1819. They settled near Nacogdoches, and were welcomed by Mexican authorities as potential allies against Anglo-American colonists. The Tsalagiyi nvdagi were mostly neutral during the Texas War of Independence, and in 1836, signed a treaty with Texas President Sam Houston, an adopted member of the Cherokee tribe. His successor Mirabeau Lamar sent militia to evict them in 1839, the survivors fled north across the Red River and rejoined Cherokee in Indian Territory or south to Coahuila, Mexico, although a few remained in Texas, passing for Black Dutch.[36][citation needed]
Trail of Tears
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Chief_John_Ross.jpg/170px-Chief_John_Ross.jpg)
During the first decades of the 19th century, Georgia was focused on removing the Cherokee's neighbors, the Lower Creeks. After first cousins Georgia Governor George Troup and Lower Creek Chief William McIntosh signed the Treaty of Indian Springs (1825), ceding the last Muscogee (Creek) lands claimed by Georgia, the state's northwestern border reached the Chattahoochee, the border of the Cherokee Nation. In 1829, gold was discovered at Dahlonega, on Cherokee land claimed by Georgia. The Georgia Gold Rush was the first in U.S. history, and state officials demanded that the federal government expel the Cherokee. When Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as President in 1829, Georgia's position gained the upper-hand in Washington. In 1830 the Indian Removal Act authorized the forcible relocation of American Indians east of the Missisippi to a new Indian Territory.
Andrew Jackson said removal policy was an effort to prevent the Cherokee from facing the fate of "the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware".[37] However there is ample evidence that the Cherokee were adapting modern farming techniques, and a modern analysis shows that the area was in general in a state of economic surplus.[38]
The Cherokee brought their grievances to US judicial review that set a precedent in Indian Country. John Ross traveled to Washington, D.C. and won support from National Republican Party leaders Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. Samuel Worcester campaigned on the Cherokee's behalf in New England, where their cause was taken up by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In June 1830, a delegation led by Chief Ross defended Cherokee rights before the U.S. Supreme Court in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia. In 1831 Georgia militia arrested Samuel Worcester for residing on Indian lands without a state permit, imprisoning him in Milledgeville. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832) Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that American Indian nations were 'distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights,' entitled to federal protection from the actions of state governments that infringed on their sovereignty.[39] Worcester v. Georgia is considered one of the most important decisions in law dealing with Native Americans.
Jackson ignored the Supreme Court's ruling, needing to conciliate Southern sectionalism during the era of the Nullification Crisis. His landslide reelection in 1832 emboldened calls for Cherokee removal. Georgia sold Cherokee lands to its citizens in a Land Lottery, and state militia occupied New Echota. The Cherokee National Council, led by John Ross, fled to Red Clay, a remote valley north of Georgia's land claim. Ross had the support of Cherokee traditionalists, who could not imagine removal from their ancestral lands, but a small group known as the "Ridge Party" or the "Treaty Party" saw relocation as inevitable. Led by Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, they represented the Cherokee elite, whose homes, plantations and businesses were confiscated, or under threat of being taken by white squatters with Georgia land-titles. With capital to acquire new lands, they were more inclined to accept relocation. On December 29, 1835, the "Ridge Party" signed the Treaty of New Echota, stipulating terms and conditions for the removal of the Cherokee Nation. In return for their lands, the Cherokee were promised a large tract in the Indian Territory, $5 million, and $300,000 for improvements on their new lands.[40] John Ross gathered over 15,000 signatures for a petition to the U.S. Senate insisting that the treaty was invalid because it did not have the support of the majority of the Cherokee people, but the Treaty of New Echota passed by a one-vote margin, and was enacted into law in May 1836.[41]
Two years later President Martin Van Buren ordered 7,000 Federal troops and state militia under General Winfield Scott into Cherokee lands to evict the tribe. Over 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly relocated westward to Indian Territory in 1838-1839, a migration known as the Trail of Tears or in Cherokee ᏅᎾ ᏓᎤᎳ ᏨᏱ or Nvna Daula Tsvyi (Cherokee: The Trail Where They Cried), although it is described by another word Tlo-va-sa (Cherokee: The Removal). Marched over 800 miles, across Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, as many as 4,000 died of disease, exposure and starvation.[42] As some Cherokees were slaveholders, they took enslaved African-Americans with them west of the Mississippi. Intermarried European-Americans and missionaries also walked the Trail of Tears. John Ross preserved a vestige of independence by negotiating for the Cherokee to conduct their own removal under U.S. supervision. In keeping with the 'blood law' that prescribed the death penalty for Cherokee who sold lands, his son arranged the murder of the leaders of the "Treaty Party". On June 22, 1839, Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot were assassinated by a party of twenty-five Ross supporters that included Daniel Colston, John Vann, Archibald, James and Joseph Spear. Elias Boudinot's brother Stand Watie fought off the attempt on his life that day and escaped to Arkansas.
In 1827, Sequoyah led a delegation of Old Settlers to Washington, D.C. to negotiate for the exchange of Arkansas land for land in Indian Territory. After the Trail of Tears, he helped mediate divisions between the Old Settlers and the rival factions of the more recent arrivals. In 1839, as President of the Western Cherokee, he and John Ross signed an Act of Union that reunited the two groups of the Cherokee Nation.
Eastern Band
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The Oconaluftee Cherokee of the Great Smoky Mountains were the most conservative and isolated from white American civilization. They rejected the reforms of the Cherokee Nation, and, when the Cherokee government ceded all territory east of the Little Tennessee River to North Carolina in 1819, they withdrew from the Nation.[43] William Holland Thomas, a white store owner and state legislator from Jackson County, North Carolina, helped over 600 Cherokee from Qualla Town obtain North Carolina citizenship, which exempted them from forced removal. Over 400 Cherokee either hid from Federal troops in the remote Snowbird Mountains, under the leadership of Tsali (ᏣᎵ),[44] or belonged to the former Valley Towns area around the Cheoah River who negotiated to stay in North Carolina with the state government. An additional 400 Cherokee stayed on reserves in Southeast Tennessee, North Georgia, and Northeast Alabama, as citizens of their respective states, mostly mixed-bloods and Cherokee women married to white men. Together, these groups were the basis for what is now known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Civil War
The American Civil War was devastating for both East and Western Cherokees. The Eastern Band, aided by William Thomas, became the Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, fighting for the Confederacy in the American Civil War.[45] Cherokees in Indian Territory were divided, into Union and Confederate factions.
Stand Watie, the leader of the Ridge Party, raised a regiment for Confederate service in 1861. John Ross, who had reluctantly agreed to ally with the Confederacy, was captured by Federal troops in 1862. He lived in self-imposed exile in Philadelphia, supporting the Union, and Watie was elected Principle Chief. A master of hit-and-run cavalry tactics, he fought Cherokee loyal to John Ross-who issued declarations abolishing slavery and rejoining the Union-and Federal troops in Indian Territory and Arkansas, capturing Union supply trains and steamboats and saving the Confederates from collapse by covering their retreat after the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862. He became a Brigadier General of the Confederate States, the only American Indian to hold the rank in the American Civil War. On June 25, 1865, two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, he became the last Confederate General to stand down.
Reconstruction and late 19th century
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Group_of_Cherokee%2C_Yankton%2C_and_Sisseton_1909.jpg/325px-Group_of_Cherokee%2C_Yankton%2C_and_Sisseton_1909.jpg)
The pro-Union faction of Cherokee Nation issued the Cherokee Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.[46] After the Civil War, the US government and the Cherokee Nation signed the 1866 Treaty, which among other clauses, says that all Cherokee freedman and all free African-Americans living within tribal lands "shall have all the rights of native Cherokees."[47] Both before and after the Civil War, some Cherokee intermarried or had relationships with African Americans, just as they had with whites. Many Cherokee Freedmen were active politically within the tribe.
The US government also acquired easement rights to the western part of the territory, which became the Oklahoma Territory, for the construction of railroads. Development and settlers followed the railroads. By the late 19th century, the government believed that Native Americans would be better off if each family owned its own land. The Dawes Act of 1887 provided for the break up of commonly held tribal land. Native Americans were registered on the Dawes Rolls and allotted land from the common reserve. This also opened up later sales of land by individuals to people outside the tribe.
The Curtis Act of 1898 dismantled tribal governments, courts, schools, and other civic institutions. For Indian Territory, this meant abolition of the Cherokee courts and governmental systems by the U.S. Federal Government. This was seen as necessary before the Oklahoma and Indian territories could be admitted as states. In 1905, the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory proposed the creation of the State of Sequoyah, but failed to gain support in Washington, D.C.. In 1907, the Oklahoma and Indian Territories entered the union as the state of Oklahoma.
By the late 19th century, the Eastern Band of Cherokees were laboring under the constraints of a segregated society. In the aftermath of Reconstruction, conservative white Democrats regained power in North Carolina and other southern states. They proceeded to effectively disfranchise all blacks and many poor whites by new constitutions and laws related to voter registration and elections. They passed Jim Crow laws that divided society into "white" and "colored", mostly to control freedmen, but the Native Americans were included on the colored side and suffered the same racial segregation and disfranchisement as former slaves. Blacks and Native Americans would not regain their rights as US citizens until the Civil Rights Movement and passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.
Culture
Marriage
Cherokee attitudes towards marriage are flexible. Before the 19th century, polygamy was common.[48] Traditionally, couples, particularly women, can divorce freely.[49]
In the 19th century in Indian Territory, marriage between Cherokees and non-Cherokees was common but complicated. A European-American could legally marry a Cherokee woman by petitioning the federal court with approval of ten of her blood relatives. Once married, the man became an "Intermarried White" member of the Cherokee tribe with restricted rights; for instance, he could not hold any tribal office. He also remained a citizen of and under the laws of the United States. Common law marriages were more popular.
If a European-American woman married a Cherokee man, the children of such a union would not have a clan and traditionally not be considered Cherokee; however, this has legally changed under current tribal enrollment laws among the three Cherokee tribes. These stem from the matrilineal and matrilocal aspects of Cherokee culture.[48]
Cultural institutions
The Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., of Cherokee, North Carolina is the oldest continuing Native American art co-operative. They were founded in 1940 to provide a venue for traditional Eastern Band Cherokee artists.[50] The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, also in Cherokee, displays permanent and changing exhibits, houses archives and collections important to Cherokee history, and sponsors cultural groups, such as the Warriors of the AniKituhwa dance group.[51]
The Cherokee Heritage Center, of Park Hill, Oklahoma hosts a reproduction of an ancient Cherokee Village, Adams Rural Village (including 19th century buildings), Nofire Farms, and the Cherokee Family Research Center for genealogy.[52] The Cherokee Heritage Center also houses the Cherokee National Archives. Both the CN and UKB, as well as other tribes contribute funding the CHC.
Language and writing system
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Sequoyah.jpg/200px-Sequoyah.jpg)
The Cherokee speak a Southern Iroquoian language, which is polysynthetic and is written in a syllabary invented by Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏯ).[53] For years, many people wrote transliterated Cherokee 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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Cherokee_syllabary_Sequoyah%27s_original_order.png/200px-Cherokee_syllabary_Sequoyah%27s_original_order.png)
Because of the polysynthetic nature of the Cherokee language, new and descriptive words in Cherokee are easily constructed to reflect or express modern concepts. Examples include ditiyohihi (Cherokee: ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ), which means "he argues repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose," meaning "attorney." Another example is didaniyisgi (Cherokee: ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ) which means "the final catcher" or "he catches them finally and conclusively," meaning "policeman."
Many words, however, have been borrowed from the English Language, such as gasoline, which in Cherokee is ga-so-li-ne (Cherokee: ᎦᏐᎵᏁ). Many other words were borrowed from the languages of tribes who settled in Oklahoma in the early twentieth century. One example relates to a town in Oklahoma named "Nowata". The word nowata is a Delaware Indian word for "welcome" (more precisely the Delaware word is nu-wi-ta which can mean "welcome" or "friend" in the Delaware Language). The white settlers of the area used the name "nowata" for the township, and local Cherokees, being unaware the word had its origins in the Delaware Language, called the town Amadikanigvnagvna (Cherokee: ᎠᎹᏗᎧᏂᎬᎾᎬᎾ) which means "the water is all gone from here", i.e. "no water".
Other examples of borrowed words are kawi (Cherokee: ᎧᏫ) for coffee and watsi (Cherokee: ᏩᏥ) for watch (which led to utana watsi (Cherokee: ᎤᏔᎾ ᏩᏥ) or "big watch" for clock).
The following table is an example of Cherokee text and its translation:
![]() |
Tsalagi: Nigada aniyvwi nigeguda'lvna ale unihloyi unadehna duyukdv gesv'i. Gejinela unadanvtehdi ale unohlisdi ale sagwu gesv junilvwisdanedi anahldinvdlv adanvdo gvhdi.[54] |
English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)[54] |
Treaties and government
Treaties
see Historic treaties of the Cherokee
The Cherokee have participated in at least thirty-six treaties in the past three hundred years.
Government
1794 | Establishment of the Cherokee National Council and officers over the whole nation |
1808 | Establishment of the Cherokee Lighthorse Guard, a national police force |
1809 | Establishment of the National Committee |
1810 | End of separate regional councils and abolition of blood vengeance |
1820 | Establishment of courts in eight districts to handle civil disputes |
1822 | Cherokee Supreme Court established |
1823 | National Committee given power to review acts of the National Council |
1827 | Constitution of the Cherokee Nation East |
1828 | Constitution of the Cherokee Nation West |
1832 | Suspension of elections in the Cherokee Nation East |
1839 | Constitution of the reunited Cherokee Nation |
1868 | Constitution of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians |
1888 | Charter of Incorporation issued by the State of North Carolina to the Eastern Band |
1950 | Constitution and federal charter of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians |
1975 | Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma |
1999 | Constitution of the Cherokee Nation drafted[55] |
After being ravaged by smallpox, and pressed by increasingly violent land-hungry settlers, the Cherokee adopted a European-American Representative democracy form of government in an effort to retain their lands. They established a governmental system modeled on that of the United States, with an elected principal chief, senate, and house of representatives. On April 10, 1810 the seven Cherokee clans met and began the abolition of blood vengeance by giving the sacred duty to the new Cherokee National government. Clans formally relinquished judicial responsibilities by the 1820s when the Cherokee Supreme Court was established. In 1825, the National Council extended citizenship to the children of Cherokee men married to white women. These ideas were largely incorporated into the 1827 Cherokee constitution.[56] The constitution stated that "No person who is of negro or mulatlo [sic] parentage, either by the father or mother side, shall be eligible to hold any office of profit, honor or trust under this Government," with an exception for, "negroes and descendants of white and Indian men by negro women who may have been set free."[57] This definition to limit rights of multiracial descendants, may have been more widely held among the elite than the general population.[58]
Modern Cherokee tribes
Cherokee Nation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Cherokee_National_Capitol.jpg/220px-Cherokee_National_Capitol.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Seminary_Hall.jpg/220px-Seminary_Hall.jpg)
During 1898-1906 the federal government dissolved the former Cherokee Nation, to make way for the incorporation of Indian Territory into the new state of Oklahoma. From 1906 to 1975, structure and function of the tribal government were not clearly defined. In 1975 the tribe drafted a constitution, which they ratified on June 26, 1976,[59] and the tribe received federal recognition. In 1999, the CNO changed or added several provisions to its constitution, among them the designation of the tribe to be "Cherokee Nation," dropping "of Oklahoma." According to a statement by BIA head Larry Echohawk the Cherokee Nation is not the historical Cherokee tribe but instead a "successor in interest." The attorney of the Cherokee Nation has stated that they intend to appeal this decision.[60]
The modern Cherokee Nation, in recent times, has experienced an almost unprecedented expansion in economic growth, equality, and prosperity for its citizens. The Cherokee Nation, under the leadership of Principal Chief Chad Smith, has significant business, corporate, real estate, and agricultural interests, including numerous highly profitable casino operations. The CN controls Cherokee Nation Entertainment, Cherokee Nation Industries, and Cherokee Nation Businesses. CNI is a very large defense contractor that creates thousands of jobs in eastern Oklahoma for Cherokee citizens.
The CN has constructed health clinics throughout Oklahoma, contributed to community development programs, built roads and bridges, constructed learning facilities and universities for its citizens, instilled the practice of Gadugi and self-reliance in its citizens, revitalized language immersion programs for its children and youth, and is a powerful and positive economic and political force in Eastern Oklahoma.
The CN hosts the Cherokee National Holiday on Labor Day weekend each year, and 80,000 to 90,000 Cherokee Citizens travel to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for the festivities. It also publishes the Cherokee Phoenix, the tribal newspaper, published in both English and the Sequoyah syllabary. The Cherokee Nation council appropriates money for historic foundations concerned with the preservation of Cherokee Culture.
The Cherokee Nation also supports the Cherokee Nation Film Festivals in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and participates in the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, led by Chief Michell Hicks, hosts over a million visitors a year to cultural attractions of the 100-square-mile (260 km2) sovereign nation. The reservation, the "Qualla Boundary", has a population of over 8000 Cherokee, primarily direct descendants of Indians who managed to avoid “The Trail of Tears”.
Attractions include the Oconaluftee Indian Village, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the country’s oldest and foremost Native American crafts cooperative. The outdoor drama Unto These Hills, which debuted in 1950, recently broke record attendance sales. Together with Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel, Cherokee Indian Hospital and Cherokee Boys Club, the tribe generated $78 million dollars in the local economy in 2005.
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians formed their government under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and gained federal recognition in 1946. Enrollment into the tribe is limited to people with a quarter or more of Cherokee blood. Many members of the UKB are descended from Old Settlers — Cherokees who moved to Arkansas and Indian Territory before the Trail of Tears.[61] Of the 12,000 people enrolled in the tribe, 11,000 live in Oklahoma. Their chief is George G. Wickliffe. The UKB operate a tribal casino, bingo hall, smokeshop, fuel outlets, truck stop, and gallery that showcases art and crafts made by tribal members. The tribe also issues their own tribal vehicle tags.[62]
Relations between the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes
The Cherokee Nation participates in numerous joint programs with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It also participates in cultural exchange programs and joint Tribal Council meetings involving councilors from both Cherokee Tribes. These are held to address issues affecting all of the Cherokee People.
The administrations of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation have a somewhat adversarial relationship. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians interacts with the Cherokee Nation in a unified spirit of Gadugi.[citation needed]
The United Keetoowah Band tribal council unanimously passed a resolution to approach the Cherokee Nation for a joint council meeting between the two Nations, as a means of "offering the olive branch", in the words of the UKB Council. While a date was set for the meeting between members of the Cherokee Nation Council and UKB representative, Chief Smith vetoed the meeting.
Membership Controversies
Tribal recognition and membership
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Cherokees.jpg/275px-Cherokees.jpg)
In 2000 the U.S. census report 729,533 people self identified as Cherokee Indian, more than twice the population of the second most populous American Indian group, the Navajo people, who numbered 298,197.[63] This figure is also more than twice the population of current estimates of all three federally recognized tribes combined.
The three federally recognized Cherokees tribes have differing requirements for enrollment. The Cherokee Nation determines enrollment by lineal descent from Cherokees listed on the Dawes Rolls and has no minimum blood quantum requirement.[64] Currently, descendents of the Dawes Cherokee Freedman rolls are members of the tribe, pending court decisions. CN has numerous members who also have African-American, Latino, Asian, white and other ancestry. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum one-sixteenth Cherokee blood quantum (genealogical descent, equivalent to one great-great-grandparent) and an ancestor on the Baker Roll. The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum one-quarter Keetoowah Cherokee blood quantum (equivalent to one grandparent), and the UKB does not allow members that have relinquished their membership to re-enroll in the UKB.[65]
Over 200 groups claim to be Cherokee nations, tribes, or bands.[66] Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller has suggested that some groups, which he calls Cherokee Heritage Groups, are encouraged.[67] Others, however, are controversial for their attempts to gain economically through their claims to be Cherokee. The three federally recognized groups assert themselves as the only groups having the legal right to present themselves as Cherokee Indian Tribes.[68]
One exception to this may be the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands (TCAB). Prior to 1975, they were considered a part of the Cherokee Nation, as reflected in briefs filed before the Indian Claims Commission. At one time W.W. Keeler served not only as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, but at the same time held the position as Chairman of the TCAB Executive Committee.
Following the adoption of the Cherokee constitution in 1976, TCAB descendants whose ancestors had remained a part of the physical Mount Tabor Community in Rusk County, Texas were excluded from citizenship. Their ancestors did not appear on the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes, registered under the Dawes Commission. However, most if not all TCAB descendants did have an ancestor listed on the Guion Miller or Old Settler rolls.
While most Mount Tabor residents returned to the Cherokee Nation following the death of John Ross in 1866, today there is a sizable group that is well documented but outside that body. It is not actively seeking a status clarification. They do have treaty rights going back to the Treaty of Bird’s Fort. From the end of the Civil War until 1975, they were associated with the Cherokee Nation. The TCAB formed as a political organization in 1871 led by William Penn Adair and Clement Neely Vann. Descendants of the Texas Cherokees and the Mount Tabor Community joined together to try to gain redress from treaty violations, stemming from the Treaty of Bowles Village in 1836. Today, most Mount Tabor descendants are in fact members of the Cherokee Nation. Only some 800 are stuck in limbo without status as Cherokees. Many of them still reside in Rusk and Smith counties of east Texas.
New resolution
The Councils of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians at the Joint Council Meeting held in Catoosa, Oklahoma on April 9, 2008 passed a resolution "Opposing Fabricated Cherokee 'Tribes' and 'Indians'.[69] It denounced state or federal recognition of any new "Cherokee" tribes or bands. The bands committed themselves to assisting state and federal authorities in exposing and ending any group, which attempted or claimed to operate as a government of the Cherokee people.
In addition, they passed a resolution requesting that no federal or state government spend public funds on behalf of non-federally recognized 'Cherokee' tribes or bands. The Nation called for a full accounting of all federal monies given to state-recognized, unrecognized or 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that claimed any Cherokee affiliation. It called for federal and state governments to stringently apply a federal definition of "Indian" that included only citizens of federally recognized Indian tribes, to prevent non-Indians from selling membership in "Cherokee" tribes for the purpose of exploiting the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990.
In a controversial segment that could affect Cherokee Baptist churches and charitable organizations, the resolution stated that no 501(c)(3) organization, state-recognized or unrecognized groups shall be acknowledged as Cherokee.
Celebrities who claim to be Cherokee, such as those listed in the associated article of self-identified Cherokee, are also addressed by resolution.
Any individual who is not a member of a federally recognized Cherokee tribe, in academia or otherwise, is hereby discouraged from claiming to speak as a Cherokee, or on behalf of Cherokee citizens, or using claims of Cherokee heritage to advance his or her career or credentials. – Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.[70]
This declaration was not signed or approved by the federally recognized United Keetoowah Band. The Cherokee Nation acknowledges there are people of Cherokee descent "...in states such as Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas," who are Cherokee by blood but are not members of the Cherokee Nation.[71]
Cherokee Freedmen
The Cherokee freedmen, descendants of African American slaves owned by citizens of the Cherokee Nation during the Antebellum Period, were first guaranteed Cherokee citizenship under a treaty with the United States in 1866. This was in the wake of the American Civil War, when the US emancipated slaves and passed US constitutional amendments granting freedmen citizenship in the United States.
In 1988, the federal court in the Freedmen case of Nero v. Cherokee Nation held that Cherokees could decide citizenship requirements and exclude freedmen. On March 7, 2006, the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeal Tribunal ruled that the Cherokee Freedmen were eligible for Cherokee citizenship. This ruling proved controversial; while the Cherokee Freedman had historically been recorded as "citizens" of the Cherokee Nation at least since 1866 and the later Dawes Commission Land Rolls, the ruling "did not limit membership to people possessing Cherokee blood".[72] This ruling was consistent with the 1975 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, in its acceptance of the Cherokee Freedmen on the basis of historical citizenship, rather than documented blood relation.
On March 3, 2007 a Constitutional Amendment was passed by a Cherokee vote limiting citizenship to Cherokees on the Dawes Rolls for those listed as Cherokee by blood, Shawnee and Delaware.[73] The Cherokee Freedmen had 90 days to appeal this amendment vote which disenfranchised them from Cherokee citizenship and file appeal within the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council, which is currently pending in Nash, et al. v. Cherokee Nation Registrar. On May 14, 2007, the Cherokee Freedmen were reinstated as citizens of the Cherokee Nation by the Cherokee Nation Tribal Courts through a temporary order and temporary injunction until the court reached its final decision.[74]
Notable Cherokees in history
(This includes only documented Cherokees in history. Contemporary notable Cherokee people are listed on their tribe's articles.) (For self-identified people of Cherokee heritage, see List of Self-identified people of Cherokee ancestry)
- Attakullakulla (ca. 1708-ca. 1777), diplomat to Britain, headman of Chota, chief
- Bob Benge (ca. 1762-1794), warrior of the Lower Cherokee during the Chickamauga wars
- Elias Boudinot, Galagina (1802–1839), statesman, orator, and editor, founded first Cherokee newspaper, Cherokee Phoenix
- Ned Christie (1852–1892), statesman, Cherokee Nation senator, infamous outlaw[75]
- Rear Admiral Joseph J. Clark (1893–1971), United States Navy, highest ranking Native American in the US military.
- Doublehead, Taltsuska (d. 1807), war leader during the Chickamauga wars, led the Lower Cherokee, signed land deals with US
- Dragging Canoe, Tsiyugunsini (1738–1792), general the 2nd Cherokee War, principal chief of the Chickamauga or Lower Cherokee
- Franklin Gritts, Cherokee artist taught at Haskell Institute and served on the USS Franklin
- Charles R. Hicks (d. 1927), Second Principal Chief to Pathkiller in early 17th century, de facto Principal Chief from 1813–1827
- Junaluska (ca. 1775-1868), veteran of the Creek War, who saved President Andrew Jackson's life
- Oconostota, Aganstata (ca. 1710-1783), war chief during the Anglo-Cherokee War, Beloved Man
- Ostenaco, Ustanakwa (ca. 1703-1780), war chief, diplomat to Britain, founded the town of Ultiwa
- Major Ridge Ganundalegi or "Pathkiller" (ca.1771-1839), veteran of the Chickamauga wars, signer of the Treaty of New Echota
- John Ridge, Skatlelohski (1792–1839), son of Major Ridge, statesman, New Echota Treaty signer
- John Rollin Ridge, Cheesquatalawny, or "Yellow Bird" (1827–1867), granson of Major Ridge, first Native American novelist
- Clement V. Rogers (1839–1911), Cherokee senator, judge, cattleman, member of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention
- Will Rogers, Cherokee entertainer, roper, journalist, and author[76]
- John Ross, Guwisguwi (1790–1866), Principal Chief in the east, during Removal, and in the west
- Sequoyah (ca. 1767-1843), inventor of the Cherokee syllabary[77]
- Nimrod Jarrett Smith, Tsaladihi (1837–1893), Principal Chief of the Eastern Band, Civil War veteran
- William Holland Thomas, Wil' Usdi (1805–1893), non-Native but adopted into tribe, founding Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
- James Vann (ca. 1765-1809), Scottish-Cherokee, highly successful businessman and veteran
- Stand Watie, Degataga (1806–1871), signer of the Treaty of New Echota, last Confederate general to surrender in the American Civil War
See also
Concentrations of Cherokee
Cherokees are most concentrated in the Southeastern United States, but more reside in the state of Oklahoma and the U.S. West Coast (Over 2 percent of population of 3 largely rural communities in California - Covelo, Hayfork and San Miguel, one town in Oregon and one town in Arizona). There has been some Cherokee settlement occurred in the Western United States during the late 19th century, another wave occurred during the dust bowl era in the 1930's into multi-ethnic/racial urban centers of California (i.e. the Greater Los Angeles and SF Bay areas), and they usually lived in farming communities, by military bases and other Indian reservations. Source [1]
Notes
- ^ a b Mooney, James (2006) [1900]. Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Kessinger Publishing. p. 393. ISBN 9781428648647.
- ^ "The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2000" (PDF). Census 2000 Brief. 2002-02-01. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ Cherokee Indian Tribe. Access Genealogy. (21 Sept 2009)
- ^ Charles A. Hanna, The Wilderness Trail, (New York: 1911).
- ^ a b Brown, John P. "Eastern Cherokee Chiefs", Chronicles of Oklahoma Vol. 16, No. 1, March 1938. (retrieved 21 Sept 2009) Cite error: The named reference "ecc" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Finger, 6-7
- ^ Youngblood, 34
- ^ "Archaic Period", Museum of the Cherokee Indian. (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
- ^ a b c Irwin 1992.
- ^ Mooney, p. 392.
- ^ David Landy, "Tuscarora", Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Cengage Learning Website, Houghton Mifflin Company, accessed 12 Jan 2010
- ^ a b Mooney, James (1995) [1900]. Myths of the Cherokee. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-28907-9.
- ^ Glottochronology from: Lounsbury, Floyd (1961), and Mithun, Marianne (1981), cited in Nicholas A. Hopkins, The Native Languages of the Southeastern United States.
- ^ Fagan, Brian. Ancient North America. London: Thames and Hudson, 2005, pp. 487–488.
- ^ Mooney
- ^ Hill, 65
- ^ a b David G. Moore, Robin A. Beck, Jr., and Christopher B. Rodning, "Joara and Fort San Juan: culture contact at the edge of the world", Antiquity, Vol.78, No.229, Mar. 2004, accessed 26 Jun 2008
- ^ Hill, 66-67
- ^ Conley, A Cherokee Encyclopedia, p. 3
- ^ Lewis Preston Summers, 1903, History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, p. 40
- ^ Gallay, Alan (2002). The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-1717. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10193-7.
- ^ Vicki Rozema, Footsteps of the Cherokees (1995), p. 14.
- ^ Oatis, Steven J. A Colonial Complex: South Carolina's Frontiers in the Era of the Yamasee War, 1680-1730, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8032-3575-5.
- ^ Rozema, pp. 17-23.
- ^ "Watauga Association", North Carolina History Project. (retrieved 21 Sept 2009)
- ^ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2726&hl=y
- ^ http://ngeorgia.com/ang/New_Echota_Historic_Site
- ^ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-611&hl=y
- ^ Rollings (1992) pp. 187, 236.
- ^ Logan, Charles Russell. "The Promised Land: The Cherokees, Arkansas, and Removal, 1794-1839." Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. 1997 (retrieved 21 Sept 2009)
- ^ Doublass (1912) pp. 40-2
- ^ Rollings (1992) p. 235.
- ^ Rollings (1992) pp. 239-40.
- ^ Rollings (1992) pp. 254-5, Doublass (1912) p. 44.
- ^ Rollings (1992) pp. 280-1
- ^ http://www.texascherokees.org/history1.html
- ^ Wishart, p. 120.
- ^ Wishart 1995.
- ^ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2720
- ^ http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/documents/treaty_of_new_echota.html
- ^ http://ngeorgia.com/history/cherokeehistory7.html
- ^ Georgia Historic Marker, New Echota, 1958
- ^ Theda Purdue,Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina, Pg. 40
- ^ "Tsali." History and culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians). (2007-03-10)
- ^ "Will Thomas." History and culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians). (2007-03-10)
- ^ Taylor, Quintard. "Cherokee Emancipation Proclamation (1863)." The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. (retrieved 10 Jan 2010)
- ^ "Treaty with the Cherokee, 1866." Oklahoma Historical Society: Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. 2, Treaties. (retrieved 10 Jan 2010)
- ^ a b Perdue (1999), p. 176
- ^ Perdue (1999), pp. 44, 57-8
- ^ Qualla History. (retrieved 15 Sept 09)
- ^ The Museum of the Cherokee Indian. (retrieved 15 Sept 09)
- ^ "Cherokee Heritage Center". Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ Morand, Ann, Kevin Smith, Daniel C. Swan, and Sarah Erwin. Treasures of Gilcrease: Selections from the Permanent Collection. Tulsa, OK: Gilcrease Museum,2003. ISBN 097256571X
- ^ a b c
"Cherokee syllabary". 1998–2009. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ This constitution was approved by Cherokee Nation voters in 2003 but was not approved by the BIA. The Cherokee Nation then amended their 1975 constitution to not require BIA approval. The 1999 constitution has been ratified but the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court is currently deciding what year the 1999 constitution officially went into effect. Constitution of the Cherokee Nation. (pdf file). Cherokee Nation. (retrieved 5 March 2009).
- ^ Perdue, p. 564.
- ^ Perdue, pp. 564-565.
- ^ Perdue, p. 566.
- ^ "Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma." University of Oklahoma Law Center. (retrieved 16 Jan 2010)
- ^ http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/50644002.html
- ^ Leeds, George R. United Keetoowah Band. Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
- ^ Oklahoma Office of Indian Affairs. Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory. 2008:36
- ^ http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/09s0036.pdf
- ^ Cherokee Nation Registration.
- ^ Enrollment. United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees. (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
- ^ Glenn, Eddie. "A League of Nations?" Tahlequah Daily Press. 6 Jan 2006 (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
- ^ Glenn 2006.
- ^ Official Statement Cherokee Nation 2000, Pierpoint 2000.
- ^ A RESOLUTION OPPOSING FABRICATED CHEROKEE "TRIBES" AND "INDIANS".
- ^ Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Resolution #00-08. A Resolution Opposing Fabricated Cherokee "Tribes" and "Indians."
- ^ Information on Registration with Cherokee Nation.
- ^ "Freedman Decision" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ Cherokee Constitutional Amendment March 3, 2007.
- ^ "Nash, et al v. Cherokee Nation Registrar" (PDF).
- ^ "The Case of Ned Christie", Fort Smith Historic Site, National Park Service, accessed 3 February 2009.
- ^ Carter JH. "Father and Cherokee Tradition Molded Will Rogers". Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ "Sequoyah", New Georgia Encyclopedia, accessed 3 January 2009.
References
- Evans, E. Raymond. "Notable Persons in Cherokee History: Dragging Canoe". Journal of Cherokee Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 176–189. (Cherokee: Museum of the Cherokee Indian, 1977).
- Finger, John R. Cherokee Americans: The Eastern Band of Cherokees in the 20th Century. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8032-6879-3.
- Glenn, Eddie. "A league of nations?" Tahlequah Daily Press. January 6, 2006 (Accessed May 24, 2007)
- Irwin, L, "Cherokee Healing: Myth, Dreams, and Medicine." American Indian Quarterly. Vol. 16, 2, 1992, p. 237.
- McLoughlin, William G. Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).
- Mooney, James. "Myths of the Cherokees." Bureau of American Ethnology, Nineteenth Annual Report, 1900, Part I. pp. 1–576. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
- Perdue, Theda. "Clan and Court: Another Look at the Early Cherokee Republic." American Indian Quarterly. Vol. 24, 4, 2000, p. 562.
- Perdue, Theda. Cherokee women: gender and culture change, 1700-1835. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0803287600.
- Pierpoint, Mary. "Unrecognized Cherokee claims cause problems for nation." Indian Country Today. August 16, 2000 (Accessed May 16, 2007).
- Wishart, David M. "Evidence of Surplus Production in the Cherokee Nation Prior to Removal." Journal of Economic History. Vol. 55, 1, 1995, p. 120.
- Youngblood, Wayne L. Cherokee: People of the Written Word. Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7858-2398-8.
- Doublass, Robert Sydney. "History of Southeast Missouri", 1992, pp. 32–45
- Rollings, Willard H. "The Osage: An Ethnohistorical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-Plains." (University of Missouri Press, 1992)
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/40px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png)
- Cherokee Nation, official site
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, official site
- United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, official site
- Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, NC
- Cherokee Heritage Center, Park Hill, OK
- Smithsonian Institution - Cherokee photos and documents
- Historical Sound Files of Cherokee Stomp Dance
they are awesome* Cherokee article, Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
- History of the Cherokee
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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