DRAGGING CANOE
Dragging Canoe (ᏥᏳ ᎦᏅᏏᏂ, pronounced Tsiyu Gansini, “he is dragging his canoe”) (c.1738–February 29, 1792) was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of disaffected Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers in the Upper South.
During the American Revolution and afterward, Dragging Canoe’s forces were sometimes joined by Upper Muskogee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Indians from other tribes/nations, along with British Loyalists, and agents of France and Spain. The series of conflicts lasted a decade after the American Revolutionary War. Dragging Canoe became the preeminent war leader among the Indians of the southeast of his time. He served as war chief of the Chickamauga Cherokee (or “Lower Cherokee”) from 1777 until his death in 1792, when he was succeeded by John Watts.
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NANYE-HI
Nanye-hi was born in 1738. She was the daughter of Tame Doe, a member of the Wolf Clan and sister to Attakullakulla. She married Kingfisher and had two children by him. Nanye-hi accompanied her husband on a raid of the Creeks during the Battle of Taliwa in 1755. Kingfisher was killed in the battle and Nanye-hi filled his place in the battle. She took his rifle and rallied the warriors to victory.
For her bravery she was bestowed with the title of Ghigua. The Ghigua, or Beloved Woman of the Cherokee, was a prestigious title given to extraordinary women by the Cherokee clans. The Ghigua headed the Council of Women and held a voting seat in the Council of Chiefs. The Ghigua was given the responsibility of prisoners and would decide their fate.
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ATTAKULLAKULLA (pronounced At-A-Gul-Kula) AKA Little Carpenter
Name meaning: Wood Leaning Up
Attakullakulla was a powerful eighteenth-century Overhill Cherokee leader who played a critical and decisive role in shaping diplomatic, trade, and military relationships with the British Colonial governments of South Carolina and Virginia for over fifty years. He effectively led and acted as the primary spokesman for the Overhill Cherokees in the 1750s and 1760s, although apparently he never attained the official title of Uko, or foremost chief, within Cherokee society. He was probably born in the early 1700s, most likely along the French Broad River. In 1730 he was one of seven Cherokees who accompanied Sir Alexander Cumming to England. From about 1743 to 1748 Attakullakulla resided as captive among the Ottawas of eastern Canada, where he was afforded considerable freedom and became well regarded among the French.
He returned to the Overhill country about 1750 and quickly became second in authority to Connecorte, or Old Hop, the Uko at Chota, who was probably his uncle. By this time, whites knew Attakullakulla as Little Carpenter. Popular stories attributed his name to his ability to construct amicable relationships with whites, but it more likely referred to his small stature and to his woodworking skills. James Mooney suggested the derivation of Attakullakulla from the words for “wood” and for “something long leaning against another object.”
In the 1750s Attakullakulla negotiated repeatedly with the Virginia and South Carolina Colonies as well as the French and British traders in the Ohio Valley to improve the abundance and availability of trade goods to the Cherokees. He also argued for increased colonial military presence in the Overhill villages, which led to the construction of the Virginia Fort and Fort Loudoun near the Overhill villages in 1756. In 1759 Chief Oconastota and twenty-eight of his followers were taken hostage at Fort Prince George as the result of misunderstandings concerning a joint military action with the British against the French. Although Attakullakulla secured Oconastota’s release, some of the hostages were killed; the Cherokees retaliated with the siege of Fort Loudoun. Attakullakulla worked to prevent an escalation of violence. Placing himself at great personal risk, he managed to save John Stuart from massacre along with most of the Fort’s garrison. Stuart was subsequently appointed superintendent of Indian affairs south of the Ohio.
Attakullakulla remained an active leader and negotiator for the Cherokees into the 1770s. When American Revolutionary forces under the command of William Christian occupied the Overhill villages in 1776, Attakullakulla arranged for their withdrawal and played a leading role in the 1777 peace negotiated at Long Island on the Holston. His influence diminished as Dragging Canoe, his son, and other young leaders continued Cherokee resistance to the Americans. Sometime between 1780 and 1785 Attakullakulla died.
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SEQUOYA
Cherokee Indian scholar; Cherokee name Sogwali; also known as George Guess or Gist. He invented a writing system (the Cherokee syllabary) 1809–21 for the Cherokee language and with it taught thousands of Cherokee Indians to read and write. The giant sequoia trees of California are named for him.
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CHIEF MOYTOY OF TELLICO (Rainmaker)
Moytoy of Tellico, (Amo-adawehi in Cherokee, meaning “rainmaker”) He was given the title of “Emperor of the Cherokee” by Sir Alexander Cumming. He was chief of the Wolf Clan.
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CHIEF PATHKILLER
Pathkiller was the last hereditary Cherokee Indian Chief and lead many battles against the Overmountain Men and Frontiersmen that came to seek out land during the time of the Revolutionary War. Not only did he earn his name through his leadership skills, he would become the last iconic, full-blooded Cherokee Chief. He had at least seven children
A description of Cherokee Council sessions was given by the missionary, Ard Hoyt, on a visit to the seat of Cherokee government in October, 1818:
On entering, I observed the King [Path Killer] seated on a rug, at one end of the room, having his back supported by a roll of blankets. He is a venerable looking man, 73 years old; his hair nearly white. At his right hand, on one end of the same rug or mat, sat brother Charles Hicks. The chiefs were seated in chairs, in a semicircle, each facing the king. Behind the chiefs a number of the common people were standing listening to a conversation, in which the king and chiefs were engaged.
A possible burial site of Pathkiller exists in a cemetery found in the old Cherokee Nation capital of New Echota
After 1813, the de facto authority in the Cherokee Nation had shifted to Charles Renatus Hicks, who was the first chief of partial European descent. Pathkiller remained chief (in title only) through 1828, basically a figurehead. Pathkiller and Hicks both were mentors to John Ross, having identified the talented young mixed-blood Cherokee of Scotts-Irish descent as the future leader of the Cherokee people. After the tribe formed a constitutional republic, Ross was elected principal chief in 1828.
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CHIEF CHARLES RENATUS HICKS (Reborn) The first baptized Christian Chief
Charles Renatus Hicks 1767 -1827 was one of the most important Cherokee leaders in the early 19th century and the first non full-blood to be chosen as Principal Chief of the tribe. Born Dec. 23, 1767 in the town of Tomotly on the Hiwassee River, his parents are believed to be a white trader named Nathan Hicks and Nan-Ye-Hi, a Cherokee woman.
The principal wife of Charles Hicks was Nancy, daughter of Chief Broom of Broomstown. Hicks served as interpreter to U.S. Agent Return Jonathan Meigs, acted as treasurer for the Cherokee Nation, and fought against the Creek Red Sticks in the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Allied with the former warriors James Vann and Major Ridge, Hicks was one of the most influential leaders in the Nation during the period after the Chickamauga wars to just past the first quarter of the 19th century. He was baptized by Moravian missionaries as Charles Renatus (“Born Again”) Hicks on April 8, 1813. Extremely well-read and acculturated, his personal library was one of the biggest on the continent, public or private. In an 1826 letter to John Ross, Charles Hicks wrote about events in Cherokee history that occurred during his youth, including his encounters with Oconostota, Attacullaculla, and the early European trader Cornelius Dougherty.
He was elected Second Principal Chief under Pathkiller in 1817, but after the “revolt of the young chiefs” two years later, partly over land deals, Hicks became de facto head of government with Pathkiller serving as a mere figurehead. Upon Pathkiller’s death in 1827, Hicks became the first mixed-blood to become Cherokee Principal Chief, but died on January 20, 1827. His younger brother William Abraham Hicks served as interim Principal Chief, but John Ross, as President of the National Committee, and Major Ridge, as Speaker of the National Council, were the real power brokers in the Nation. Later in 1828 John Ross was elected as the new Principal Chief and served in this capacity until his death in 1867.
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CHIEF JOHN ROSS
John Ross dedicated his entire life to fighting for Cherokee rights. Despite the hardships faced by the Cherokees, Ross “advocated cultural assimilation and sought to use democratic tools to protect Cherokee land rights within the United States. In 1828 he would be elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. As Chief, Ross regularly challenged Andrew Jackson and other supporters of Indian Removal. In 1836, Chief John Ross wrote:
“Little did they [the Cherokee people] anticipate, that when taught to think and feel as the American citizen, and to have with him a common interest, they were to be despoiled by their guardian, to become strangers and wanderers in the land of their fathers, forced to return to the savage life, and to seek a new home in the wilds of the far west, and that without their consent. An instrument purporting to be a treaty with the Cherokee people, has recently been made public by the President of the United States… this instrument is fraudulent, false upon its face, made by unauthorized individuals, without the sanction, and against the wishes, of the great body of the Cherokee people. Upwards of fifteen thousand of those people have protested against it, solemnly declaring they will never acquiesce.”
Despite Ross’s efforts, he was unable to prevent the removal of the Cherokee from their lands.
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THE CHEROKEE WARRIOR
The Cherokee warriors were tattooed during deeply religious ceremonies and in connection to war. “Young men had to qualify for such decorations by killing enemies in war, warriors often used their own bodies as “Goal Board” to keep track of how many they had killed.” They used sharp fish or animal bones and pierced the skin rapidly then “rubbed coal or okra into the wounds”(Guzman, 2013). This resulted in very dark, dotted patterns and symbols on the skin.
The Traditional Cherokee warriors wore Mohawk headdresses and often shaved their heads around a long single pony tail on the crown. They fashioned bones and jewelry breastplates, sashes and animal hide clothing and moccasins.
The Cherokee noblemen who traveled to England in the 18th century were heavily tattooed on both their bodies and their heads. In order to blend in the English society, the noblemen adopted middle eastern turbans and British smoking jackets to hide their bodily symbols.
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THE CHEROKEE CLAN MOTHERS
Cherokee Families And The Importance of Clan Mothers
Understanding the Cherokee family begins with an understanding of Cherokee clans. First of all, clans are not just a bunch of people who are somehow vaguely related to each other.
Clans are corporate entities with names, traditions, oral history, and membership rules. Traditionally, the Cherokee were a farming people and the fields were farmed by the clans. The land was owned by the village and allocated to the clans.
Membership in a Cherokee clan is determined by the mother: you belong to your mother’s clan. Among the Cherokee, as with many other American Indian tribes, clan membership is the most important thing a person has and was the most fundamental of Cherokee rights. To be without a clan is to be without identity as a Cherokee.
The Cherokee had seven clans:
Blue: (A ni sa ho ni) Also known as the Panther or Wild Cat clan
Long Hair: (A ni gi lo hi) The Peace Chief was usually from this clan
Bird: (A ni tsi s kwa)
Paint: (A ni wo di) Many of the medicine people were from this clan
Deer: (A ni ka wi)
Wild Potato: (A ni ga to ge wi) Also known as the Bear, Racoon, or Blind Savannah clan
Wolf: (A ni wa yah) Many war chiefs came from this clan
Among the Cherokee, individuals were not allowed to marry members of their own clan or members of their father’s clan. They were, however, encouraged to marry members of their maternal grandfather’s clan or their paternal grandfather’s clan. In general, marriage was regulated by the women of the village. This does not mean that women were told who to marry. No relative-not her mother, nor her uncles, nor her brothers-had any compulsory authority over her.
Women were free to dissolve a marriage at will.
Cherokee women resided with their kinswomen, that is, with members of their own clan. They owned the homes and shared in the agricultural products of the clan’s fields.
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