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Cherokee Indian Chiefs
Boudinot, Elias (native name Gălă-gi′na,
'male deer or turkey'). A
Cherokee Indian, educated in the foreign mission
school at Cornwell, Conn., founded by the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, which he entered with two other Cherokee youths in 1818 at the
instance of the philanthropist whose name he was allowed to adopt. In 1827 the
Cherokee council formally resolved to establish a national paper, and the
following year the Cherokee Phoenix appeared under Boudinot's editorship. After
a precarious existence of 6 years, however, the paper was discontinued, and not
resumed until after the removal of the Cherokee to Indian Teritory, when its place
was finally taken by the Cherokee Advocate, established in 1844. In 1833 Boudinot wrote "Poor Sarah; or, the Indian Woman," in Cherokee characters,
published at New Echota by the United Brethren's Missionary Society, another
edition of which was printed at Park Hill in 1843; and from 1823 to the time of
his death he was joint translator with Rev. S. A. Worcester of a number of the
Gospels, some of which passed through several editions. Boudinot joined an
insignificant minority of his people in support of the Ridge treaty and the
subsequent treaty of New Echota, by the terms of which the Cherokee Nation
surrendered its lands and removed to Indian Ter. This attitude made him so
unpopular that on June 22, 1839, he was set upon and murdered, although not with
the knowledge or connivance of the tribal officers. See Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep.
B. A. E., 1900; Pilling, Bibliography of the Iroquoian Languages, Bull.
B. A. E., 1888.
Bowl, The (a translation of his native name, Diwa′‘lĭ),
also called Col. Bowles. A noted
Cherokee chief and leader of one of the first bands to establish themselves
permanently on the west side of the Mississippi. At the head of some hostile
Cherokee from the Chickamauga towns he massacred all of the male members of a
party of emigrants at Muscle shoals in Tennessee River in 1794, after which he
retired up St. Francis River on the w. side of the Mississippi, and, his act being
disowned by the Cherokee council, who offered to assist in his arrest, he
remained in that region until after the cession of Louisiana Territory to the
United States. About 1824 so much dissatisfaction was caused by delay in
adjusting the boundaries of the territory of the Western Cherokee in Arkansas
and the withholding of their annuities that a party headed by Bowl crossed
Sabine River into Texas, where they were joined by bodies of refugees from a number
of other eastern tribes and began negotiations with the Mexican government for a
tract of land on Angelina, Neches, and Trinity rivers, but were interrupted by
the outbreak of the Texan war for independence in 1835. Houston, who had long
been a friend of the Cherokee, entered into a treaty to assign them certain
lands along Angelina River, but it was rejected by the Texas senate in 1837, and Houston's
successor, Lamar, declared his intention to drive all the Indians from Texas. On
the plea that they were entering into a conspiracy with the Mexican inhabitants,
a commission, supported by several regiments of troops, was sent to the Cherokee
town on Angelina River to demand that they remove at once across the border. On
their refusal they were attacked, July 15-16, 1839, and defeated in two
engagements, Bowl and his assistant chief, Hard-mush, being among the many
killed. See Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep. B. A. E., 1900.
Big-mush.
A noted western Cherokee,
known to the whites also as
Hard-mush and among his
people as Gatiûñ'wa`li ('bread made into balls or lumps'), killed
by the Texans in 1839-Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee,
in 19th
Rep. B. A. E., 1900.
Black Fox
(Inâlĭ). A principal chief
of the Cherokee who, under the
treaty of Jan. 7, 1806, by
which the Cherokee ceded nearly 7,000 sq. m. of their lands
in Tennessee and Alabama, was given
a life annuity of $100.
He was then an old man.
In 1810, as a member of the national
council of his tribe, he signed an
enactment formally abolishing the custom
of clan revenge hitherto universal
among the tribes, thus taking an
important step toward civilization.-Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee,
in 19th Rep.
B. A. E., 87, 1900.
Dragging-canoe (translation of his Indian name, Tsíyu-gûnsíní
known also as Cheucunsene and Kunnese). A prominent leader of those Cherokee who
were hostile to the Americans during the Revolutionary war. He moved with his
party to the site of Chickamauga, where he continued to harass the Tennessee
settlements until 1782, when the Chickamauga towns were broken up. His people
then moved farther down the river and established the "five lower towns," but
these also were destroyed in 1794. In accounts of the Creek war Dragging-canoe
is mentioned as one of the prominent Cherokee chiefs in alliance with Jackson,
and a participant in the last great encounter at Horseshoe Bend
Foreman, Stephen. A Cherokee who became an active
coworker with the Presbyterian missionaries among his people. He received an
elementary education at the mission school at Candy's Creek, w of Cleveland,
Tenn., and after pursuing some preparatory studies under Rev. S. A. Worcester at
New Echota, Ga., spent a year at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and
another at Princeton, N. J., in the study of theology. He was licensed to preach
by the Union Presbytery of Tennessee about Oct. 1, 1833. Foreman is said to have
preached with animation and fluency in the Cherokee language. With Mr Worcester
he translated the Psalms and a large part of Isaiah into the Cherokee language.
Pilling, Bibliog. Iroq. Lang., Bull. B. A. E., 1888.
Going
Snake (I′nǎdû-na′ĭ.
signifying that a person is 'going along in company with a snake'). A Cherokee
chief, prominent about 1825. Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep. B. A. E.522, 1900.
Hanging-maw (Uskwá′lĭgû′tǎ,
'his stomach hangs down'). A prominent Cherokee chief of the Revolutionary
period. Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep. B. A. E., 543, 1900.
Jolly, John. A Cherokee chief, noted as the adopted
father of Gen. Samuel Houston, and later chief of the Arkansas band of Cherokee.
His native name was Ahúludégĭ,
He throws away the drum. His early life was spent in Tennessee, near the mouth
of the Hiwassee, where an island still preserves his name, and it was here that
Houston came to live with him, remaining 3 years and acquiring a life long
friendship for his adopted people. In 1818 Jolly removed to the other side of
the Mississippi and joined the Arkansas band, whose chief he became a few years
later on the death of Tollunteeskee. Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep. B. A. E., 507, 1900.
Junaluska (corruption of Tsunúlǎhûñskĭ,
'he tries repeatedly, but fails'). A former noted chief of the East Cherokee in
North Carolina. In the Creek war of 1813-14 he led a detachment of warriors to
the support of Gen. Jackson, and did good service at the bloody battle of the
Horseshoe Bend. Having boasted on setting out that he would exterminate the
Creeks, he was obliged to confess on his return that some of that tribe were
still alive, whence the name jokingly bestowed upon him by his friends. He went
west with his people in the removal of 1838, but returned to North Carolina, and
as a special recognition of his past services was given citizenship rights and a
tract of land at Cheowa, near the present Robbinsville, Graham co., N. C., where
he died in 1858. See Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep. B. A. E.,97, 164-5, 1900.
Little Carpenter,
Attakullaculla (Ătă'-gûl`kălû',
from
ătă'
wood,'
gûl'kălû' a verb implying that
something long is leaning,
without sufficient support,
against some other object;
hence 'Leaningwood.'-Mooney).
A noted Cherokee chief, born about 1700,
known to the whites as Little
Carpenter (Little
Cornplanter, by mistake, in Haywood).
The first notice of him is as one of the delegation taken to
England by Sir Alexander Cumming in
1730. It is stated
that he was made second in authority under
Oconostota in 1738. He was
present at the conference with Gov. Glenn, of
South Carolina, in July, 1753,
where he was the chief
speaker in behalf of the Indians,
but asserted that he had not supreme
authority, the consent of Oconostota,
the war chief, being necessary for
final action.
Through his influence a
treaty of peace was arranged with Gov.
Glenn in 1755, by which a large
cession of territory was made
to the King of England; and it was also through his instrumentality
that Ft Dobbs was built, in the
year following, about 20 miles,
west of the present Salisbury, N. C. When Ft
Loudon, on Little Tennessee
River, Tenn., was captured
by the Indians in 1760, and most of
the garrison and refugees were
massacred, Capt. Stuart, who had escaped the tomahawk,
was escorted safely to Virginia by
Attakullaculla, who purchased him
from his Indian captor,
giving to the latter, as
ransom, his rifle, clothes, and everything
he had with him. It was again
through the influence of Attakullaculla that the treaty of
Charleston was signed i n 1761,
and that Stuart, after peace had
been restored, was received by the Cherokee as the British
agent for the southern tribes; yet notwithstanding his friendship
for Stuart, who remained a steadfast
loyalist in the Revolution, and the
fact that a large majority of
the Cherokee espoused the
British cause, Attakullaculla
raised a force of 500 native
warriors which he offered to
the Americans. He is described
by William Bartram (Travels, 482,
1792), who visited him in 1776, as "a man of
remarkably small stature, slender
and of a delicate frame, the only instance I saw in the nation,
but he is a man of superior
abilities." Although he had become
sedate, dignified, and somewhat
taciturn in mature years,
Logan (Hist. Upper
So. Car.,
1,
490, 515, 1859)
says that in his younger days
he was fond of the bottle and often inebriate.
The date of his death has not
been recorded, but it was probably about 1780. See
Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th
Rep. B. A. E., 1900.
Moytoy. A
Cherokee chief of Tellico, Tenn., who became the so-called "emperor"
of the seven chief Cherokee towns. Sir Alexander Cuming, desirous of
enlisting the Cherokee in the British interest, decided to place in
control a chief of his own selection. Moytoy was chosen, the Indians
were induced to accept him, giving him the title of emperor; and, to
carry out the program, all the Indians, including their new sovereign,
pledged themselves on bended knees to be the faithful subjects of King
George. On the next day, April 4, 1730, "the crown was brought front
Great Tennessee, which, with five eagle-tails and four scalps of their
enemies, Moytoy presented to Sir Alexander, empowering him to lay the
same at His Majesty's feet." Nevertheless, Moytoy afterward became a
bitter enemy of the whites, several of whom he killed without
provocation at Sitico, Tenn. See Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee, in 19th Rep. B.
A. E., pt. 1, 1900.
Additional Cherokee Biographies
Cherokee Indian Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source:
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge,
1906, Bureau of Ethnology, Government Printing Office.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect
some errors in the textual output.
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