While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Yonaguska
(properly 'The bear drowns him,' whence his common name 'Drowning-bear').
The adopted father of Col. Wm. H. Thomas, and the most prominent chief in
the history of the East Cherokee, although, singularly enough, his name
does not occur in connection with any of the early wars or treaties. This
is due partly to the fact that he was a peace chief and counselor rather
than a war leader, and in part to the fact that the isolated position of
the mountain Cherokee kept them aloof, in a great measure, from the tribal
councils of those living to the west and south.
In person he was strikingly handsome, being 6 ft 3 in.
in height and strongly built, with a faint tinge of red, due to a slight
strain of white blood on his father's side, relieving the brown of his
chicks. In power of oratory he is said to have surpassed any other chief
of his day. When the Cherokee lands on Tuckasegee River were sold by the
treaty of 1819, Yonaguska continued to reside on a reservation of 640
acres in a bend of the river a short distance above the present Bryson
City, North Carolina, on the site of the ancient Kituhwa. He afterward
moved over to Oconaluftee, and finally, after the removal, gathered his
people about him and settled with them on Soco Creek on lands purchased
for them by Thomas. He was a prophet and reformer as well as a chief. When
about 60 years of age he had a severe illness, terminating in a trance,
during which his people mourned him as dead. At the end of 24 hours,
however, he awoke to consciousness and announced that he had been to the
spirit world, where he had talked with friends who had gone before, and
with God, who had sent him back with a message to the Indians, promising
to call him again at a later time. From that day until his death his words
were listened to as those of one inspired. He had been somewhat addicted
to liquor, but now, on the recommendation of Thomas, not only stopped
drinking himself, but organized his tribe into a temperance society. To
accomplish this he called his people together in council, and, after
clearly pointing out to them the serious effect of intemperance, in an
eloquent speech that moved some of his audience to tears, he declared that
God had permitted him to return to earth especially that he might thus
warn his people and banish whisky from among them. He then had Thomas
write out a pledge, which was signed first by the chief and then by each
one of the council, and from that time until after his death whisky was
unknown among the East Cherokee. Although frequent pressure was brought to
bear to induce him and his people to remove to the west, he firmly
resisted every persuasion, declaring that the Indians were safer from
aggression among their rocks and mountains than they could ever he in a
land which the white man could find profitable, and that the Cherokee
could be happy only in the country where nature had planted him. While
counseling peace and friendship with the white man, he held always to his
Indian faith and was extremely suspicious of missionaries. On one
occasion, after the first Bible translation into the Cherokee language and
alphabet, some one brought a copy of Matthew from New Echota, but
Yonaguska would not allow it to he read to his people until it had first
been read to himself. After listening to one or two chapters the old chief
dryly remarked: "Well, it seems to be a good book—strange that the white
people are not better, after having had it so long." He died, aged about
80, in Apr. 1839, within a year after the removal. Shortly before the end
he had himself carried into the townhouse on Soco Creek, of which he had
supervised the building, where, extended on a couch, he made a last talk
to his people, commending Thomas to them as their chief and again warning
them earnestly against ever leaving their own country. Then wrapping his
blanket around him, he quietly lay back and died. He was buried beside
Soco, about a mile below the old Macedonia mission, with a rude mound of
stones to mark the spot. He left two wives and considerable property,
including an old Negro slave named Cudjo, who was devotedly attached to
him. One of his daughters, Katalsta, still (1909) survives, and is the
last conservator of the potter's art among the East Cherokee.
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
Lowrey, George.
A cousin of Sequoya and second chief of the Eastern Cherokee under John
Ross, commonly known as Mayor Lowrey. His native name was Ag1 It ('He is
rising'), possibly a contraction of an old personal name, Agin'agi`ll
(.'Rising-fawn'). He joined Ross in steadily opposing all attempts to
force his people to move from their eastern lands, and later, after this
had been accomplished, he was chief of council of the Eastern Cherokee at
the meeting held in 1839 to fuse the eastern and western divisions into
the present Cherokee Nation. See Mooney in 19th Rep. B. A. E., 115, 135,
1900.
Lowrey, John, A Cherokee
chief, commonly known as Colonel Lowrey. He commanded, the friendly
Cherokee who helped Gen. Andrew Jackson in the war against the Creeks in
1813-14, and with Col. Gideon Morgan and 400 Cherokee surrounded and
captured the town of Hillabi, Ala., Nov. 18, 1813. The two were
conspicuous also in the battle of Horseshoe Bend, Mar. 27, 1814, for
which they were commended. Lowrey was one of the signers of the treaties
made at Washington, June 7, 1806, and Mar. 22, 1816. See Mooney in 19th
Rep. B. A. E., 90, 1900.
