The origin and development of the Redbird Smith movement

Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)

Authors Thomas, Robert K.

Publisher The University of Arizona.

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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/319138 THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE REDBIRD SMITH MOVEMENT

by Robert K. Thomas

A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Graduate College, University of Arizona

1953

Approved:

E777/

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This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of re­ quirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the dean of the Graduate College when in their judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.

SIGNED: AGKHOMLEDG-MEITS

The amthor wishes■to express gratitude t© the following peoples Br«, E. H. Spiee'r# who gave the original impetus and incentive for the field work to he done and afterwards spent many hours consolidating incipient ideas about the problem and putting forth new ideas and suggestions and giving the neeessary eneouragement to the writing of this thesis<> Also, my thanks to ray two main informants, John and, especially^ George Smiths who, as old men should have been allowed to relax peacefully, but nevertheless gave freely of their time and hospitality* X would also like to thank the many Gherokees who gave me such excellent ©©operations and especially Chief Stokes Smith who offered me his help many times* I would also like to thank the many graduate students at the University of Arizona who discussed the problems with me and gave me many new ideas* TABLE OF. COETEHTS

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IETRODU UTIOE o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Xo Chapter lo CULTURE HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE , . . o * . . . 10 II o FULL-BLOQI) LIFE II THE 18908 s . . , o ■. « o » 71

Ille THE REDBIRD SMITH MOVEMENT = <, = = = » o e = = o 111 IVo ANALYSIS OF THE REDBIRD SMITH MOVEMENT AND COMPARISON WITH THE GHOST DANCE »'» .... . = 201}.

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ILLUSTRATIONS

THE WAMPUM BELTS 00000000000000000000 121a CHEROKEE NATION a = . . » . . » ,00 . 163a DIAGRAM OF STOMP GROUND . = = 0= 000000000=0 l8la

111 " IITROBUCTIOl'T

This thesis was originally planned to include a detailed study of a natlvistie movement, about 1900, among the full- blooded Oklahoma Cherokee* The field work was started on the assumption that this movement was a Messianle ©me led by Red- bird Smith which .©neojapassed approximately a six-year period» The problem was formulated as' the determination of spe­ cific events during this short period, but after the beginning of field work, it was found that the Redbird Smith movement was far more complex than had been supposed* Because of lack ©f any basic field work in the area, and because of unreliable information given by an informant in previous years, this oversimplified conception had been formulated* Even initial work in the field showed the beginning of the movement to have been not a Messianic uprising at a par­ ticular time, but the culmination of a long series of events* Also, the development of the movement itself was found to cover not just a six, but at least a twenty-year period of culture history* Furthermore, the author had been under the impression that the movement, which called for the reconstruction of earlier Sheroke© culture, was accomplished by old Cherokees. who had lived in the earlier period» However, this was not so*

1 The reconstruction was much more complex than this--as will be shown below= In view of these facts, the approach to the problem was altered. It was felt,.,.as field work progressed, that it would be possible to slant the work toward an explanation of the social conditions that gave rise to the movement and the motivating forces of the people, concerned in the movement,, $he thesis, therefore, is focussed on such analysis and to that extent goes beyond a descriptive chronological account, Much time was given, nevertheless, to the actual details and chronological sequence of this period, Also, I felt that, in the reconstruction of this time period, reference to spe­ cific events could be carried only so far, I felt that I would, in another month Of interviewing, reach a point of diminishing returns with my informants. After doing the basic field work, a need was felt for some sketch of Cherokee culture history before the time in question, in order to establish exactly how the Cherokee reached the point where such an almost complete cultural revival could take place. Therefore, the first part of this monograph is devoted to an outline of the culture history up to the time of the movement and, in order to determine what conditions gave rise to such a revival, a reconstruction of life in the Cherokee Nation in the 1890‘s. The outline of Cherokee culture history for purpose of this study has been kept brief, empha­ sizing only the points which bear on later events. The time actually spent in the field, working on the problem was from early July until the last of October 1951° Contact with the Cherokee of the area were established in previous years, and trips had been made to Oklahoma in the summers of 19%9 and 195® in regard to the problem. The month ©f June 01951 1 spent working on a problem net related to my thesis around Stilweil and Lyons Switch, Oklahoma. During this period, I felt that I needed a more basic under­ standing of Cherokee culture in Oklahoma than 1 had at that. point. I felt that I had fallen into the old anthropological stereotype of classing Indians into conservative and progres­ sive groups, for example, putting the Baptist Cherokee into the progressive group, and the pagan Cherokees into the con­ servative group. After a month of research in Oklahoma in June in this restricted area, I felt I needed a month of seeing as much of Cherokee culture in operation in as many parts of the Cherokee area as possible. Z went to as many Indian dances, church meetings, and other community activities as I could. Even after I began intensive interviewing, I tried to continue this practice. In fact, the area around Jay, Oklahoma, which was one of the focal points of the movement, was the only area of major fullblood concentration which 1 felt I did not cover suffi­ ciently. After this month of getting acquainted, I started inten­ sive interviewing. During the month of August, I interviewed intensively one of ray two main informants# John R» Smiths of Tale%mahs Oklahoma, At this time» I lived at Stilwell® ©kla= home, and drove twenty miles to Talequah. I usually spent a morning or an afternoon interviewing him, 1 did not live at his homse beeamse, being a personal friends he would have wanted to '*keep me for nothings® and I did not feel like im­ posing on his hospitality, This month of interviewing was not to© frmitfnls as I was just becoming acquainted -with the Hedbird Smith movement and did not know how to guide the interviewso Also, John Smith is a very cautious man and will answer questions only after long periods of thought and will not elaborate very much. The months of. September and October> however, were spent with ray other main informant, Eeorge R, Smith of ©ore, Okla­ homa, I lived at his house during this time, and this period provided the most fruitful material. The interviewing during all this period was done in English without the aid of an interpreter. Throughout the last six weeks of that field time, my understanding of Chero­ kee had progressed to the point where I felt that I was get­ ting the exact meaning from a conversation. During this time, I gathered much material from speeches at the ceremonial grounds and from conversations of my informants with their families and friends. The pagan or Eighthawks were involved in a factional dispute, and much discussion of Cherokee tradition, behavior 1 and values was going on. Bae interview® wiish ray two main informants were more in

the form of guided interviewso It was necessary to ask John

Smith more direct questions» But with all other people, the material was gathered in the form of conversations» In the presence of ray two main informants, I usually took notes. But, otherwise, the notes were written up after the questioning period. It is difficult to take extensive notes and still participate in Cherokee culture and family life. My two main informants were John B, Smith and George R, Smith, John Smith is seventy-six years old and resides at falequab, Oklahoma, with his two sons, one of whom is married with several children, John Smith speaks excellent English and was interpreter for the Council of the Cherokee Ration and for his father, Redbird Smith, Because he was interpreter for his father as a young man, he was intimately concerned with the Redbird Smith movement, In later years, he beearase prominent in the hierarchy of the lighthawk Cherokee, In the 930*8, because of a theological disagreement, he quit the Eighthawk organisation and later became converted to the Peyote religion. Because of this, he is interested in prosely­ tising for the Peyote religion among the Cherokee, (Therefore, when interviewing John about things prior to his conversion, it was necessary to keep in mind that he interpreted earlier events in the light of later ones. 6 , . As to M s roles In white ©ultmre<, he is able to fnnetion very sneeessfmlly, having been constable in Gore, Oklahoma, for many years= At the present time, he is a practicing medicine man and is considered to have an extensive knowledge of Cherokee medicine equal to anyone = He is also one of the acknowledged authorities on Cherokee traditions He probably has a greater grasp of the real ^meat18 of Cherokee religious thought than any other Cherokee» He is also now accepted as the authority on the interpretation of Cherokee wampum belts = George Eo Smith, my other informant, is also a son of Bedblrd Smith 6 He was the Pire-keeper of the head Fire of the Highthawks from its beginning in 1902, and, after 1915# was Fire-chief of the same .Fire, until about 193© when he retiredo He is sixty-five years old and, at the present time, lives with his wife and one of his sons near Gore, Oklahoma» His Ehglish is limited, but with time he is able to pre­ sent a point clearly. He is very deaf, so it was necessary

to check over and over the information I got from him, so

that I would be sure he had not misunderstood me. George Smith lives on his father1s allotment, only about one hundred yards from the head ceremonial ground» He also is a practicing medicine man and is considered a good ©5a@» fhese two factors made my stay with him doubly profitable, for seeing Cherokee culture in operation. It was during these two months that my most profitable work was accomplished. George Smith is very responsive to questions and will follow a line of thought and elaborate on it <> He took an

interest in the work I was doing and would go to other sources to get information for ia© if he did not know himself. During these two monthss using George Smith as my main informant* and having him cheek baek with John Smith* I had a very desirable field situation,. We would discuss the Hedhird Smith movement sometimes all day and into the night« His sons would also enter into the discussion* I used several other informants to a lesser extent* at this time* and talked to many Gherokee in the area* too numerous t© mention* Some of the main ones* however* were: Mr* White Runabout of Lyons Switch* Oklahoma* formerly of Jays Mrs* Anna May Terrapin of

Stilwelli Mrs* Sarah Hitcher of Stilwelli Albq Smith of Wauhilau* Ely Pumpkin of Proctor? Mike Dreadfulwaters of Talequah? Will and George Bolin of Marble City; Levi Gritts of Muscogee? and Charlie Batt of Tucson, Arizona* It might seem anthropologically unsound to rely so heav= ily on two informants * However* most of the men intimately connected with the Redbird Smith movement have died and most of the young men* at that time, were not included in the inner workings of the movement itself* George and John Smith are exceptions to this rule* John Smith was involved in it be- . cause of his ability to act as interpreter* and George Smith was a Pire-keeper at seventeen years of age* My own role during this field work was a clearcut one* at least t© my main informants. I merer disguised the fact that I was doing a whistoryts of the Bedhird Smith movement, and that the material would he published» George Smith, without prompting from me, came to the conclusion that work of this sort would be of benefit to the.younger generatione

John Smith • thought 1 was working f©r the government, because of previous experience with an anthropologist in that capacityo And, except for the fact that he was a personal friend, I am sure that I would not have gotten much material from himo She Eighthawk Gherokee are very suspicious, because of previous bad contacts with outsiders, and I am sure that, although most of them like me personally, they were suspicious of my motiveso The fact that I was a personal friend to my two main informants and was of Cherokee descent facilitated my worko 1 had an excellent field situation and was treated with the greatest cooperation by the Gherokees I talked to* The Mhltes in the area were more concerned, or worried, about what I was doing and understood less about the work than the Gherokeeso However, I received some good material from them tOOo In the transcribing of Cherokee for the purpose of this monograph, some alteration of the International Phonetic Alpha­ bet was made for the sake of convenience= The consonants d, h, 1, m* n, s, t, w, and y stand for . . 1 sounds symbolised by the same letters in common English usage„ 9 G- has the value of g as In gum, j has the value of j as in jaw, and k has the value of k as in kite» $he symbol is the voiceless 1, the glottal stop, and n is the nasalised n. The ©h has the somid as in chief, the tl as in little, ts as in nuts, and wh as in what* The vowel a has the value of the a in father, aw as in law, o as in mote, i as in pin, u as in up, oo as in too, and e as in pet0 In Chapters II, III, and IF the word Cherokee will refer to the fullVblood Cherokee unless otherwise stated. CHAPTER I

CULTURE HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE

This first ehapter is @©meerned with a sketch ©f the eialttare history of the Cherokee<> Several points should be kept in mind when reading the material„ One is that the chapter is bmly to, giy© the reader a general idea of the sequence of events leading up to the Redbird Smith movement and a picture of the general trends of Cherokee culture his=» I tory» It is only an elaborated outline, a **sketch*" Another point is that only secondary sources were available to the author* Also, only those features of Cherokee culture his­ tory which were felt significant in relation to the Redbird Smith movement were concentrated on at any length* Aspects of acculturation such as the taking over of white material culture are only mentioned while social organisation is given more space in the chapter* The Redbird Smith movement involved primarily the revival of forms of social organisation* In handling the material it was felt that Linton8 s concept 1 of the contact continuum could be used to good advantage* First'an "aboriginal" pattern is described and then the culture history is traced up through time to the period of the Redbird Smith movement* Most of the material gathered to present the

-i ‘ .... Linton, R* Acculturation in Seven American Indian Tribes, pp* vi-xi* ...... 10 IX aboriginal pattern was obtained from “flfae Eastern Gherokees18 by William H« Gilbert^ Jr<, Gilbert bad aeeess to the Payne- Bnttrlek mannsoripts in the Ayer Golleetion of Ameriean Indian a Lore in the Hewberry Library of Ghieago» Prom these mann- seripts he made an exeellent re const me t ion of the “'aboriginal pattern of the <3herokeeso Baese manuseripts are material collected by John Howard Payne and D. S. Bhttriek in the l@208s and *30*80 Gilbert8s reeonstrnction of the “aboriginal88 pat­ tern is a ©ondensatiom of these manuseripts „ The “aboriginal88 pattern presented in this chapter is a condensation of Gilbert8s reconstruction, in other words, a condensation of a eondensationo Most of the information in the manuscripts was collected by Do S. Buttrieko Buttriek was one of the early missionaries in the Cherokee area* He undertook a study of Cherokee lore in the l8209s and 8308Se He had the cooperation of the Cherokee authorities in pursuing his research. Chief John Boss took time from national affairs to introduce him to “wise and ancient chiefs of the nation. Setting the time of this “aboriginal88 pattern in the early manhood of his oldest informants would put it in the neighborhood of I7 6O 0 At this period the Cherokee were living in sixty-four towns in villages in the present area of eastern Tennessee, western Worth Carolina, and northwestern South Carolina. This is a region of mountains with arable land along the river courses. The towns consisted of clusters of houses along the river

"^Starkey, M. 1 . The Cherokee Hat ion, pp. 22l{.-225» 12 valley® The whole town ©mltlvated one large field® Within this field individual.family plots were marked off by ridges of earth5 stone* or posts® The people of a town all worked in a unit* working from one end of the town field to the other.® The main crops grown were melons* maize* beans* tobacco* peas* cabbages* potatoes* and pumpkins» One man. was selected to manage the communal work. A settlement or town was made up of near, relatives* close relatives settling together. Each of the towns was organized along the same lines® There was a set of officials which were the civil and religious government * the White organization® And another set which func­ tioned during war® There was a principal town or capital town whose officials served as the government for the whole tribe® These were as follows:

The White Organization °1. The chief of the tribe or 8high priest8 * who is variously called uku* ookah* and other- ceremonial titles. 2® The chief8s'right-hand man, 3 . Seven prime counselors representing the seven clans^ ij'® The council of elders or "beloved men8® 5® Chief speaker. - 6 , Messengers. 7® Under officers for particular ceremonies such as 7 hunters* 7 cooks* 7 overseers for each festival* 7 firemakers for the new fir#* Jwa&fe hymn singer* 7 cleansers* and the attendants at the Ookah Dance®113- •

... i ...... Gilbert* W. H. $ The Eastern CSherokees, Bureau of American Ethnology* Bull®.133? P» 321® 13 The Red Organization nl* Great Red War Ghief^ or Gap tain (Shayagustu Egwo) or 8High Priest of the War8 * who was . sometimes - called 8 The Raven8 as -he scouted forward when the army was on-the march and wore a raven skin about his meek. 2« Great "War Chief8s Seconds or Right-Hand Man. 3= Seven War Counselors to order the war. 4,. Pretty Women (War Women) or honorable matrons to judge the fate of captives and conduct of war»' 5>o Chief War Speaker, or 8Skatiloskl8. S. A Flag Warrior* or 8Katata kanehis, to carry the banner. , - 7® A Chief Surgeon* or 8Kmikutl8, with three assistants. . - 80 Messengerso 9. Three War Scouts or titled mens ao The Wolf wore a wolfskin about his neck and scouted to the right of the army when on the march. b. The Owl who wore an owl skin around his neck and scouted to the left of the army when on the marcho e. The Fox who wore a fox skin about his neck and scouted in the rear of the army when on the march. 10. Sometimes a special War Priest was appointed to take over the divinatory and other religious functions of the Great War Chief. 1 1 = There were a great number of under officers such as drummers, cooks, certain special priests who had killed an enemy were called osi tahihi and . alone superintended the building of sweat houses." Each of the larger towns of the Cherokee had a correspond­ ing organization except,those listed under number 7 in the list of officials of the white organization. This was.because most of the ceremonies ,were held at the capital town and not on the local level. The ookah probably corresponds to the modern

Cherokee word for chief, noo-gun-wi-yoo. His office was more

1Ibi d., pp. 34S, 349. 34 generally hereditary than elective* It was passed from mole to sister's son and stayed In a particular elan* Bae white chief of the capital town was the chief of the nation* When he died the right hand man consulted with the seven counselors and appointed a time for the selection of a successor* The white chiefs of the other towns were informed and they assem­ bled in the capital at the appointed time and selected a successor* His successor was inaugurated with a complex ritual* The seven prime counselors held office as advisers to the chief and their offices were probably also hereditary* The beloved men were old distinguished men who wielded considerable influence with the people * In each of the larger towns there was this same group of white officials conducted into office in a like manner* The national council met before the Green Corn Festival and consisted of the white chief of the capital town and his attendants with the white chiefs of the various towns and their attendants. ; Besides operating on the national level the town chiefs and their attendants acted as civil tribunals in their respec­ tive to#ns mid tried public offenders * Small villages which had no such large organisation went to the closest town with such an organization* For murder and private injuries the law of blood revenge was adhered to* The elan of the injured party exacted satis­ 15 faction by inflicting a like hurt on the offender or a member of his clan or by demanding a payment of goods or like tribute» An offender could flee to one of the four white towns of the tribe where no blood could be shed, He could j, also, seek the protection of the white chief and be adjudged guilty or inno­ cent by him and his court® Besides these political and judicial duties, the white officials acted as priest and directors of the tribal cere­ monies <, These ceremonies were held in the capital tpwn® “1. The first new moon of spring - This was celebrated when the grass began to grow and had no special title® The present-day ©ora Dance, called adanwisi, or "they are going to plant8 (Yontonwisas Dancy of Mooney), may be descended from this rite of March. 2® The Preliminary Green Corn Feast - This is entitled 8sah-lookstiknukustehstub8 in the Payne Manuscripts and is rendered selu tsunistigistiyi or 8roasting ear8s time8, by present-day informants„ -It was held in August when the young corn first became fit to taste® " ’ ' 3 ® The Green Corn Feast - This is called tungnahkawho©ghni in the Payne manuscripts and is rendered donagohumi by present-day informants® Ihe rip© or mature Green Corn Feast succeeded the Preliminary Green Corn Feast of August in about I4.0 or $0 days in the middle or latter September when the corn had become hard or perfect and is still held today® I}.® The Great Hew Moon Feast - This is called nungtahtay- quah in the Payne Manuscripts and is rendered nuwati eguva, or ?big medicine8, by present day informants® This festival was held at the first new moon of autumn in October when the leaves had begun to fall into the waters of the rivers and Impart their cura­ tive powers to the latter® This was identical, with the medicine dance of later times® 5® The Cementation or Reconciliation Festival - This is called ahtawhhumgnah by Payne and is rendered adahuna, or 8woman gathering wood8, by present-day informants after the dance of that name® This festival succeeded the preceding one after a lapse, of 10 days at the end of October and was concerned with the making of new fire ® 6 . The Exalting or BoundIng Bush Feast =■ This is called ©lahvahtah laykee in the Payne Manuseripts and is rendered aliwatadeyi, or 8pigeon dance8, "by present^ day informants. This festival oeenrred in December and was characterized by the use of spruce or pine boughtSo It is not within the scope of this thesis to go into a detailed- account of the .ceremonies„ Anyone'wishing to do so can consult Gilbert8s excellent account» There are several elements which the .ceremonies have in common— the feeding of the fire either deer8s tongue, old tobacco leaves or flowers; the new fire ceremony at the first and fifth ceremony; build­ ing the fire with seven selected woods; ceremonial hunts; fasting; divinations by the priests; feasting; all night danc­ ing; and the ceremony of “going to water1* in several of the ceremonies* This last consists of the populace facing the river while the priest says an appropriate ritualized prayer and then everyone plunging into the water seven times» Some of these ceremonies deviated from the general pattern. At the preliminary Green Oorn Feast seven ears of new corn was fed to the fire and at the Exalting or Bound ing Bush Feast the populace fed the fire pine needles and old tobacco crushed together. These ceremonies dealt with two main problems— food and health. The food problem was dealt with in the first three festi­ vals. However, information from other sources indicates that the Preliminary Green Oorn Feast dealt with both health and

•LIbide. p. 327o 17 f@eeis as a mediein© was takem at this time to mullify aay ©ffeets the eating of the mew eorm might have. 1 The problem of physieal health was dealt with in the Great Mew Hoom Feast of Autisim while the Cementation Festival with its swearing of friendship, the making of new fire, and ©hanging of clothes, was primarily for the social health of the groupo It overcame the enmities with the group and re­ newed the life ©f the tribe with, the new fire» Besides these major annual ceremonies there was a monthly ceremony at each new moon of Agoing to the water»n Every seven years there was, also, a sacred thanksgiving dance by the Ookaho There were also rites when needed- for rain, too abundant rain, and waPB and ©old weather* Closely connected with the ceremonies mentioned was the rite of the ball play* However, the priests had little to do with the ceremonies connected with the game* This game was played between towns» There were twelve players on a side* , They carried a racquet or “ball stick" in each hand * The ball was about the size of a walnut, of squirrel hide with deer hair stuffing* The ball was pitched up in the center and there were goals at each end of the field. The game was won when one side had made twelve scores. An all night "ball-play" - dance preceded the game with ceremonial "going to water*" Each team had their own dance* Each tea# was accompanied, by a conjuror who tried to assure, success for the team by eonjura*

1 Speck, F. &. and Broom, L* Gherokee Dance and Drama, p. 53® 18 tlonsv Wmeroms taboos were prescribed for the players before a ball game» This game is closely allied to war. and is called ^little war** in Cherokee and is probably the reason the priests had little t© do with these ceremonies® All of the preceding ceremonies# except those connected with the ball play# were held in the town house# a large seven- sided rotunda# or in the sacred square in front of the rotunda® The priest also officiated at the individual crisis rites® There were three main crisis rites— birth# marriage# and death. They will be discussed in more detail than the ceremonies so that they can be compared, with the crisis rites later recon­ structed in the Redbird Smith movement« . 11 The mother had little difficulty in child birth® She was generally assisted by the grandmother and mother# no men being allowed present except the priest® If the child fell on its breast it was a bad ©mem# if it fell on its head it was a good omen. If the ©men was bad the child was thrown into the creek and fished out when the cloth over its head had become disengaged® The child was warmed over the fire after birth or held before it# and a prayer made to that element. Children were bathed at birth and every morning for two years ® On the fourth or seventh day after birth# the child was bathed in the river by the priest# who prayed it might have long life ® The parents were excessively indulgent with their chil­ dren# and the latter had great affection for their elders® They were named at the sixth or seventh day,’’I As a boy grew up he might be singled out for special ©du= ' cation either as a professional hunter or initiated into the priesthood® The priesthood was to some extent hereditary but there was leeway in selecting candidates® A priest took over the training of the boy# teaching him th# different taboos and

1Ibido®. p® 339® 19 lore of the priesthood» Wsmlly the training started when the boy was about nine years old* A priest eould tutor as many as seven boys => To train a professional hunter the youth was secluded for four years while he received this special knowl­ edge from certain priests» Different accounts are given by different authors on the marriage ceremony* Most of these accounts indicate very little ritual connected with marriage * But Buttrick indicates that

the priest was called upon to divine the course of the marriage and if the ©mens were bad, the marriage was forbidden* The only account of a marriage ceremony is given by Washburn, a missionary among the Gherokees in Arkansas at about the same time Buttriek was in the east* “The marriage preliminaries were settled by the mother and one of her brothers on each side, according to Wash­ burn (1 8 6 9 , p* 206 ff„)* Generally there existed a previous attachment between the parties but very often the bride and groom were mot consulted at all* The whole town convened * The groom feasted with his male.comrades in a lodge a little way from the council house= The bride and her companions feasted a little way from the council house on the opposite side® The old men took the higher seats on one side of the council house and the old women took the higher seats on the opposite side® Then came the married men below the old men and the married women below the old women® At a signal the groom was escorted to one end of the open space in the center and the bride likewise at the opposite end® The groom received from his mother a leg of venison and a blanket and the bride received from her mother an ear of corn and a blanket» Then the couple met in the center and the groom presented his venison and the bride her corn and the blankets were united® Thus the ceremony symbolised the respective func­ tions of the man and woman in the Cherokee household® They then walked silently to their cabin® Divorce was called 8the dividing of the blankets® *1" 1

llbid* * p® 339. 20 Im ease of a separation the possessions were divided and the children were eared for hy the mothers probably by her lineage = Adultery was severely punished particularly in the ease of the woman« Gherokee society was based on the seven matrilineal elans and the death penalty was prescribed for marrying, in the ©lam<, In each town there was a man appointed to bury the dead* This burial took place with very little ceremony connected with itb Most of the ritual took place in connection with cleansing the family for re-entry into society, MBie burial completed, the funeral procession returned and the man who buried the corpse entered the house alone, took out the gourds and what furniture happened to be in the house when the person died and, carrying them away, either broke up, buried, or burned them. He then took out all the old fire ashes and wood from the house and made new fire with cedar boughs and 'geldearod weed for future use. He then took the family (after they had taken an emetic) to a stream where all plunged seven times, alternately facing east and west, Then putting on clean new clothes, the remained in a state of separation in a camp, being unclean for four days, A medicine was made for the family to drink and sprinkle themselves with=nl After this they returned to the house and were sent for by the town chief. They went to council house and took their seats, everyone shook hands with them, and they were readmitted to the society. Most of the material given on the “aboriginal11 pattern so far has been concerned with the duties of white officials. They were political and judicial officials, priest and directors

^Ibido, pp» 3 5 8 , 21 of the tribal ceremonies, ami dirsetors of the .crisis'rites* They were the most important of the two divisions, white and red. They were the real directors of Cherokee society and had ascendancy over the Sed organization.

The Sed organization functioned in time of war. It could not declare war without the consent of the nation, and the White organization made peace® The #ed organisation only carried out the' fighting. The officers of this organization were chosen by the warriors and approved by W u and his white counselorso The Great War Captain was conducted into office at the Green Corn Feast with an elaborate ceremony® The Pretty Women mentioned in the list were old honorable women high in the council of clans who were delegated to judge the fate of captives In war.. _ War was a form of blood revenge in retaliation ".for the killing of a relative by the members of another nation. Also, probably, to get captives to replace the individuals lost in battle. The Pretty Women could take a younger captive and have him adopted into a elan or family who had lost someone in war. War was highly ritualized. "In summary, them, war can be said to have been a ritu­ alized recurrent event of immense importance in Cherokee society. There were three main phases, the preparation, the actual campaign, and the return. The first phase consisted in actual practical preparations of equipment and provisions as well as the divinations and magical rites of the priests. The second phase consisted of a series of stratagems and devices whereby the warriors, under the guidance of the priest and their magic, en­ deavored to outwit the enemy. The third phase consisted mainly in the ritual purification of the warriors for 22 1 their retmrm t© the ranks of eivillamg.!

At this period im SBerekee history the emrlng of disease was very impertamt» fbe epidemie diseases, most of which had heeia ferowght im toy the whites, were eared toy a variatiom of the Cement at loa Festivals For the emrimg of mom-epiemie dis­ eases, varioias eh arms, imeamtatioms, sacrifices, -and prayers were msed» These ritwalized prayers ©omstltute a great body of material ami contain most of the Cherokee religions eoneepts* Divimatiom was also msed to see what comrse to follow im treat­ ing the disease® The Cherokee pantheon was 18prayedM to im these ritual prayers® The.most active to take ear© of mam her© on earth was the fire® Sacrifices were made to the fire and the smoke was the messenger, carrying the request to a greater fire above® The fire of the sacrifice was part of that fire above® The original sacred fire which was kept burning perpetually was destroyed toy enemies and now the fire had to toe kindled on occasions of importance® The sun and the moon were the principals over lower crea­ tion and were thought to toe the creators of the world® They were prayed to, tout the sun was considered the most powerful® The Thunder was also an important god prayed too In the center of the sky at the zenith was the Great Spirit® , He had created points on the earth at the cardinal directions® At the north was a blue mam, in the east a red man, im the south a white mam.

1IMd., p® 3£6 ® 23 and in the west a blaek man. fhey were,the viee regents of the Great Spirit and prayers were said to them in the prescribed ordero’ fhere were other sky beings. Several classes of spirits dwlet on earth» Bie nanehi. were among the most important and dwelt under water had in the mountains. A. belief in transmigration of souls and haunted places was held by the Oherokee. Knockings were done by witches and the penalty for witchcraft was death. There are some criticisms which can be made of this recon- struction of the “aboriginal11 pattern. Most important is that, Buttrick was undoubtedly receiving an account of an ideal pat­ tern from his informants» One gets the picture of a very unified and centralized government. This does not hold up under a closer examination^ even for the time period of the 1760*3 which is probably the time for which.this pattern is supposedly valid. There are traditions of wars between towns in the Cherokee tribe* and at different times in Cherokee history different sections of the tribe were almost at war with one another.^ In the l8th century when the official policy of the Gherokee nation was an alliance with the English* certain town chiefs at various times allied with the French. 2 Also* a war chief supposedly could not make war without the consent of the nation. However* individual war chiefs of

! % Mooney* James* MFtth s of the Gherokees. Bureau of Ameri­ can Ethnology 19th Annual Report* P-* 2Brown» J. F.* Old Frontier^, pp. 75? 90. 24 certain towns did go to war without the sanction of the national organisation in 1758 and 1759« They pillaged the English fron­ tier.^ It is also stated that the white organisation held prec­ edence over the red organization^ ^et in the war with the English in 1760-61 the red organisation pursued the war while the white organization was trying to arrive at a settlement. In the American Revolution the red organization would not agree to a peace with the Americans and withdrew and formed new towns, causing a factional split in the tribe, There are other points which are not borne out in the light of recorded Gherokee history. For instance, there is no mention in any other document of hereditary descent of the chieftainship. Even Buttrick is not clear on this point, stat­ ing that it was more generally hereditary than elective. Per­ haps he was confusing the uncie-nephew relationship found in most matrilineal societies with hereditary privileges. . Some of these points can be attacked on the basis of logic alone. Buttrick states that the ceremonies were held on the national level at the capital town. It seems improbable that twenty-thousand Gherokees congregated in one town. Also, as Eehota was the capital in this period it is questionable that. Cherokee® came a distance of several hundred miles from present- day South Carolina to eastern Tennessee to attend ceremonies.

3-Ibid.» pp. 83, 90. 2Ibid., pp. 162, 163. 25 Probably these ceremonies were held in most of the larger towns of the Cherokee country= The strongest criticism which can be leveled at Buttriek$s data is that they do not allow for time level or for regional variationo Much of his material may be traditional informa­ tion or from different time levels» .There was undoubtedly much regional variation in a tribe covering this much terri­

tory and speaking three distinct dialects= However, this may not be a just charge, as Buttrick was not a trained observer in the modern tradition and his account is still one of the best accounts of a native tribe for that time and area. There are some conflicts with other sources, but the material checks on most points* Charles Hicks, second chief of the Cherokee lation writes, in 18 1 8, "The national council is composed of persons from each clam; some clans sending more, some less, according to their population, though the number is not very defi­ nitely fixed."! This statement does mot cheek with what is known of other southeastern tribes and Buttriek8s information seems to be more correct. Hick’s statement may be due to a confusion of terms. All in all Buttrick’s material checks very well with other sources. Hick’s description of ceremonies, allowing for some breakdown by 1818, tallies closely with Buttriek, except that he adds a Bean Dance which is like the Preliminary Green Gorn Feast.. 1 • - ' Walker, Bo-.S., Torchlights to the Cherokees, p. 12%.. 26, The next step in handlling Gherokee emltune history is to trace out the contact eontinuum to the time of the Redbird Smith movement. There are four main periods of Cherokee cul­ ture history--(l) from contact to 1880; 2. from 18OO-I8I4.OJ 3 . from 18^0-1 8 6 5 ; ^ , 1865-1 8 9 0 o This scheme is somewhat of a departure from Linton8s eon- 1 " ception of the contact continuum. It was felt that because of the long time span of Cherokee culture history and the changing complexion of Cherokee culture the contact continuum could best be divided into these periods. The division is made on the basis of the type of contact and the results of contact. The first period is characterized by a series of initial shocks from contact with white culture ending in a period (from 1776-1 7 9 4 ) of social disorganisation and tremendous population movement. The second period is one of great cul­ ture change after the ”aboriginal” pattern had been broken down in the former period. Great changes in all aspects of Cherokee culture took place. Factionalism which was to per­ vade Cherokee culture up until the present was formed. This period ended with the removal of the Cherokee to the Indian Territory.> The third period, although beginning with civil strife among the Gherokees, and ending with Cherokee partici­ pation in the Civil War, was characterized by the stabilization

Linton, R.j, Acculturation in Seven American Indian Tribes, pp. vi-xi...... 27 ©f full^blood! culture o $he fourth period was one of little ,culture change among the full=hloodss hut is a period in which the authority of the United States was impinging more and more on Cherokee autonomy and the mixed-bleed faction, was assuming more prominence in directing Cherokee affairs« Hhe Cherokee were in contact with the English, before 1721, but before; this date English influence hardly affected theaculture, They bad been allies of the English in Tusearora War of 1711-1713 and were involved in the Yamassee uprising in 17l£« However, in 1721 they made their first recorded treaty with the Grown. At this treaty a chief called Wrosetasatow "was formally commissioned as supreme head of the Nation, with authority to punish all offenses, including murder, and to represent all Cherokee claims to the colonial govern^ 1 ment. This step was taken at the governor of South Caro­ lina 8 s suggestiono It was obviously a step taken by the British to have a central authority to deal with. This was the beginning of centralised authority in the Cherokee tribe® 2 In 1730 Sir Alexander Cuming made a trip into the Chero­ kee country and formally exacted a promise of alliance with the British Crown from the Cherokee leaders® "At Tellieo he met koytoy, whom the Cherokees had agreed to elect as their principal chief, and received from him a pledge of submission® 11 It was talked among the several towns last year that they.would make me chief over all, 6 Moytoy told him, 8but now it is what you please.8"3

■^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, p,5,v3it-*»" 34* Starkey, M, L„, The Cherokee Nation, pp. 12, 13* %rown, J. P., Old Frontiers, p® 43« 28 The British efforts to have a unified Gherekee authority were bearing fruit = After this time Bjehota became the capital of the Gherokee Nat ion o The next month Mo y toy was made "Emperor," with the consent of all the head men of the various towns of 1 the Nation, at Nequasse. The information gathered by But- trick must,, therefore, refer to a period after 1730 = Certain Cherokee chiefs were, also, taken to England by Cuming in order to bind the Cherokee alliance more firmly»2 A very disastrous blow fell upon the Cherokee people in 1738 or 1739 when smallpox broke out= Nearly half the tribe was dead within a year, "The awful mortality was due largely to the fact that as At was a new and strange disease to the Indians they had no proper "remedies against it, and therefore resorted to the universal Indian panacea for 8 strong8 sickness of almost any kind, vis., cold plunge baths- in the running stream, the worst treatment that could possibly be devised. As the pestilence spread un­ checked from town to town, despair fell upon the nation. The priests, believing the visitation a penalty for the violation of the ancient ordnances, threw away their sacred paraphernalia as things which had lost their protecting power. Hundreds of warriors committed suicide on beholding their fright­ ful disfiguremento "3 , According to Adair, a trader, the priests blamed the epidemic on the adulterous practices of the young peopleThisif epi­ demic must have had a tremendous effect on Cherokee culture as it wiped out half the tribe and the priests must have

^Ibid., p„ h 3 o 2Ibid., pp. » -^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, - 3-- ^Williams, S . 0 ., Adair8s History of the American Indians. • P o 2)^ o " ' '• 1 ’ - 29 lost prestige because they failed to cure the disease® In 1775» Adair wrote that for the past thirty years the Cherokee had undergone a great many changeso "Ibe Cherokee are now a nest of apostate hornets, pay little respect to grey hairs, and have been degenerating fast from their primitive religi­ ous principles."^ Approximately thirty years before 1775> would be about the period of the great epidemic. About twenty years later the Cherokee became involved in a war with the English, another disastrous blow to Chero­ kee culture. Some of the war chiefs returning from Virginia had some skirmishes with settlers. They had gone to Virginia to help the British troops fight the French. They were badly handled by the British officers and were in a bad mood. In skirmishes with Virginia settlers, several Indians were killed and on returning home they raided the frontier. The next" year more Gherokees went to Virginia and were insulted and returned home® Here war parties raided the frontier. A peace delega­ tion sent by the Gherokees was held as hostages by the governor 2 of South Carolina. Most of the hostages were later killed. The war began in earnest. The Cherokee defeated the first army sent against them and destroyed Fort Loudoun, a fort built by the English on the Little Tennessee river. However, the second army burned the Lower and Middle settlements of of the Cherokee in North and South C a r o l i n a . ^ This was the llbld», p. % . 2Brown, J. P., Cld Frontlers, pp. 83=93° 3Ibid.„ pp. 1 1 0 , 1 1 1 . - 30 first time the Cherokee had ever felt the might of an invader and peaee was soon concluded® It would seem that the war started because of the old Cherokee law of blood revenge? but a new type of warfare was experienced by the Cherokee# not just the old sporadic raids.of an enemy tribe in quest of revenge# but the new luropean concept of warfare— -to pillage and defeat a people as thoroughly and quickly as possible® One of the reasons given for the defeat of the Cherokee was tige fact that they had run out of ammunition® This shows how much the Cherokee had already begun to rely on the English for trade goods® Traders began coming into the Cherokee Hation as early as 1690®^ It was these British traders who managed to keep the Cherokee allied with the British and as a buffer between the French Indians and the southern frontier® These traders and their descendants were later to have much influ­ ence on Cherokee culture and history® The traders handled the usual things of Indian trade such as guns# knives# mirrors# blankets# etc® But no great material charge had comeabout in Cherokee life unless it was the use of the gun for warfare ® During this period# about 1775s a traveller# Bartram, gives a description of the Cherokee personality® “The Cherokees in their dispositions and manners are grave and study? dignified and circumspect in their department? rather slow and reserved in conversation? yet frank# cheerful# and humane? tenacious of the liberties and natural rights of man? secret# delib­ erate and determined in their councils? honest# just

1 * Mooney# James# Myths of the Cherokees, P:®.. 3.1 ®:, > 31 , 31 and liberal, and ready always to sacrifice every pleasure and gratification, even their blood and life itself, to defend their territory and maintain their rights, <. « 0M1 Condensing this description and weeding out the moral judgments one sees a slow, reserved, Measygoing,18 but very nationalistic peoplee This description could characterize the Cherokee today, Bertram compares the Cherokee with the Greek, "The Museegulges are more volatile, sprightly, and talkative than their Northern neighbours, the Cherokee,0» These are the characteristics which modern Cherokee informants bring out when comparing the two tribes. A, story by a modern informant illustrates these characteristics, "One time back in the thirties the Creeks came over to have a ball-play. It had been a long time since we had had a ball-piay around here and lots of these young fel­ lows didmrt know how to play that kind of ball, When the game started the Cherokee boys just kind of stood ’ around and watched. You know how Gherokees are, they kind of hung back. The Greeks they ran up several scores right quick. They sure did laugh and holler, Waen those Cherokee boys caught on they got right in and won that game in a little while. Them old Creek sure got m a d , They just throwed their ball sticks down and wanted to fight right now,” This first period of Cherokee culture history culminated in a war with the Americans which lasted eighteen years. After a council with the Northern tribes such as the Iroquois, Shaw­ nee , Ottawa,.and Delawares, the Gherokees went to war against the Americans.^ In 17?6 the Cherokee fell upon the frontier.

1 Swanton, J, R ., Indians of Southeastern United States, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bull, 137, P« 231, 2Ibid, ^Brown, J . P „, Old Frontiers, pp® 1I4.3-1 4 6 , 32 They were aeting in the capacity of “allies1* of the British and were encouraged by them. In retaliation the states of Virginia, Worth Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia each raised armies and advanced into the Cherokee country and destroyed all the principal towns of the Cherokee Wation ex­ cept Echota, the capital, which was sparedThe head, men of the Cherokee decided to make peace with the Americans, but one faction under Dragging Canoe, a war chief, withdrew and settled his followers on the. Tennessee river near the present Chattanooga. Most of his followers were from the Upper Towns on the Little Tennessee rivero Although the peace party made peace for the Cherokee Wation. Dragging Canoe continued the war. During this period of intermittent warfare most of the Cherokee Wation was involved in the war= In 1779 the “hostile** towns were located further down the Tennessee as a result of being destroyed by an army under Evan Shelly Shelly of Virginia. These became known as the 2 Lower Towns or the Chiokamaugas. Although these towns were the focal point of the hostile element or war party, most of the other towns except those on the Little Tennessee, were engaged in hostilities and were providing warriors and support for the war. This war was a series of raids and counter-raids Wearly all of the towns of the Cherokee Wation were ravaged several times.

1I b i d ., pp. l51i-"l59o

2Ibld., p. 1 7 5 o 33 The effect of this war upon the Oberokee people and Chero­ kee culture cannot be stressed enough» The first expeditions of the four armies ravaging the Cherokee Hation was enough of a blow a ■ “The effect upon the Cherokee of this eruption of more than six thousand armed enemies into their territory was well night,paralyzingo More than fifty of their towns had been burned» their orchards cut down, their fields ' wasted, their cattle and horses driven off, their stores of buckskins and other personal property plundered0 Hundreds of their people had been killed or died of starvation and exposure, others were prisoners in the hands of the Americans and some had been sold into slavery. Those who had escaped.were fugitives in the mountains, living upon acorns, chestnuts, and wild game, or were refugees with the British. From the Virginia line to the Chattahoochee the chain of destruction was complete. “-L This expedition in 1776 was only one of many which took place in this war. The war finally ended in 1791). after the defeat of the northern tribes by Wayne and after the complete 1 2 destruction of the Lower Towns on the Tennessee. The Cherokee emerged from this war with most of their hunting ground north of the Little Tennessee sold to the United States» However, they retained all of the land on which their original towns were established, except those in South Carolina and they still held the lands of northern Georgia and northwestern Alabama. During this period there had been a tremendous shift in population. When the invasion of Cherokee soil came in 1776

^Mooney, James, Myths of the Oherokees, »- p 6 2Ibid., p. 7 9 . 314- and the old Lower Towns in South Carolina were destroyed, the people moved to the headwaters of the Coosa river in Georgia and into Alabama."1 The migration of the war party down the Tennessee has been mentioned. Also, refugees from the Upper towns were coming into Georgia during the war and the popula­ tion had shifted so that the capital town was changed from Eehota on the Little Tennessee to Ustanali on the headwaters p of the Coosa River in Georgia. At the beginning of the second period of Cherokee history the-situation was ripe for some_drastic changes in Cherokee culture. The movement and social disorganization in the war with the Americans had •disoriented the Cherokees. Towns and kin units had been broken up. The most noticeable feature in the second period is the inclination for peace. After the final peace with the U. 5., in 179I4. the Cherokee never again took up arms against the United States. Throughout the war the names of war chiefs were prominent in Cherokee history, particularly in dealing with the Americans. Even before this time there was conflict between the red and white organizations. But from 1800 the war motif disappears from Cherokee culture» War had failed to help the Cherokees and they had decided that peace with the Americans and fulfillment of treaty obligations were their only protection. The red organization had failed. Less and less is heard of the war chiefs who were very prominent in

. 1Ibid., pp. 55. 2Ibid. the preceding period, A head war chief is spoken of no more in Gherokee. history» The white organization was in control, The two halves of Gherokee society which had been opposed were uniteds as one definite policy came into effect. There was a definite philosophy behind the white organization which was old in the history of the eastern woodlands. This was the philosophy of peace— the White Path, . This philosophy of peace being desirable over war is first seen in the origin legend of the Greek as given by a Greek chief to Oglethorpe in 1735° This legend points.out the striving oftthe Greeks for peace„ and the symbolism of the white path, white hearts, are seen throughout the legend. The traditional founding of the heage of the Iroquois is on this basis® The League is the Great Peace, the symbol of the League was the Great Ihite Pine with White Roots growing ■ , • - s ' ' • out, signifying the extension of the Law or Peace® Under the Tree is the White Mat of the Law (white wampum belt). War was only a necessary evil to extend this Peace ® This trend in Cherokee thought accelerated during the period and can be shown both in the fact that the Gherokees only resisted passively the efforts to remove them west in 1 8 3 8 , and that after being removed to the Indian Territory they became known among the other tribes as peacemakers®

■'"Sw^ntoti., J. R,, Greek Social Organization and Usages, Bureau of American Ethnology, %2hd Annual•Report" pp. 33-3 8 ° 2Wallace, ,P® A. N®, The White Roots - of Peace® pp. 6/ , 7» 30, 35°, . , - • ■ _ ■ ' . 36 The white officials set out to purge Cherokee society of certain uhiiesirable elements, which were not compatible with the concept of the White Path„ One of the first steps was the passage of an act in 1810 which reformed some of the bad features of the law of clan revenge= This act provided that accidental killing should hot be adjudged murder and the innocent aggressor should not suffer; that if brother killed brother, although of the same clan, he should be adjudged guilty of murder; that if a man killed a horse-thief no satis­ faction should be required of the offended clan. Speaking of these elements of the law of blood revenge, Jfa Hadjo, speaker of the Creek national council, said, "This custom is a bad one, blood for blood, but I do not believe it came from E-sav-get-tuh E-mis-see (Master of Breath), but proceeded from .ourse 1 ves =" 3. He then told how he worked against blood revenge in the case of accidental death. This attitude may be responsible for repeal of some of the more harsh penalties, for breaking laws such as those for adultery, marriage within O the elan, and witchcraft. This act which modified, certain elements in the law of blood, revenge was signed by the chief, Black Fox, and seven others, possibly the seven counselors from each of the clans, so it is likely that these innovations •a . ? took place under the old order.^ The young leaders who were

3-Swanton, J. R., Creek Social Organization and Usage, p. 3^2. ^Gilbert, Wo H=; The Eastern Cherokee, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bull. 133, P.° 3t>5. . _ -^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokee, pp. 8 6 , 8 7 . 37 to rise in Cherokee history and be responsible for many inno­ vations had not come on the scene yet° By l800 the lands of the Cherokee had shrunk and they had lost most of their hunting ground, Ehis called for a drastic change in Cherokee economy» The Cherokee had early begun to take on certain elements of white material culture<> The gun ■ and the horse they, had adopted early in the eighteenth century* The articles soldi by the traders have already been mentioned® By the time of the Revolutionary War some of them had poultry, sheep, cattle, and milch cows® Women had learned to make butter and cheese® Hogs were allowed to run wild and live off the nuts in the woods® Borne Gherokees kept bees® Farmers were raising flax and cotton and women were learning how to spin and weave® The depletion of the game called for more concentration on agriculture® The government, after the Cherokee wars, was distributing farm machinery to the Cherokee so that the land could be cultivated more extensively® The government policy was to encourage more cultivation of the soil, and several TJ„ S . Presidents advised the Cherokee to rely more on agri­ culture and not depend on the fast disappearing game® In order to carry on more extensive agriculture it was necessary to spread out from the town centers® Host of the arable land was in the river valleys and in order to take up more land it was necessary to “string out11 along the river courses® The heart of the town, however, was still the log 38 towiihouse. Many farms began to take on the appearance of the individually operated frontier American farms»^ However, most of the people still worked their farms on a cooperative basisB This spreading out of the farms no doubt weakened the old town organizational structure«, With the adoption of white material goods, economic dif­ ferences began to develop in the Cherokee Wation® British trader s had long been marrying into the Cherokee Hat ion and settling there® .Those who had the money sent their sons off ' to school, others built school houses and brought in private 2 teachers» Descendants of these traders, such as the BosP~ family, began moving into the broad valleys of the Coosa and establishing large plantations® Plantations began to spring up in other places® The Bidge family, although educated and raised as conservative full-bloods also began to operate large plantations® These plantations were operated by slave labor® Many of the slaves were captured in the wars with the Americans® Although the slaves were held in bondage they had more freedom than was usual in the South, and after schools were established Hegro children were allowed to go to school with Gherokees® These slaves brought many American ideas into Cherokee homes®^ Also many Gherokees began running stores and inns in this period®

^Starkey, M, h®, The Cherokee Hation, pp® l6 , I?, ^Mooney, James, Myths of the Gherokees, p® 8 3 ® ^Starkey, M® L., The Cherokee Hation, pp® 17-19® 39 It should be obvious from the foregoing that a process of differential acculturation was going on in the Cherokee Hationo Certain families were becoming.more aeeulturated and assimilat­ ing more American.goals and values than others. However$ the power was still in the hands of the old conservatives = Besides this differential acculturation among families regional differences were also obvious<> fhe Cherokee of the original settlements such as the Valley Towns5 the Middle Settlements, and what people remained in the Upper Towns were more conservative than the people further down in Georgia* The moving and shifting of population had tended to break i down Cherokee culture more in that area. However, in the Georgia area there were differences be­ tween towns and between local areas» Borne communities spoke more English than others and some towns like Turkey Town in Alabama were very conservative= 2 Although this differential acculturation must be noted, it should also be emphasized that the whole Cherokee Nation was adopting white material culture and was assuming at least superficially the aspect of frontier America.^ In 1812 came the first Cherokee reaction against accul­ turation « It was primarily concerned with material culture. It was part of a general movement among the tribes at that

^"Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, , p* ?3; Starkey, H. 1., The Cherokee Nation, pp. 27, 28: Walker, R. S.» Torchlights to the Gherokees, pp, 191, 192» ^Starkey, M. L.„ The Cherokee Nation, pp, 3 8 , 39 = 3Poremen, Go, The 'Five Civilized Tribes, .pp.. 352-355» lf.0 time, being part of the dissemination of the doctrine of ' Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet and brother of Tecumseh„ Mooney gives an. aeeowb of this movement, ^From the Creeks the new revelation was brought'to the Cherokee# whose priests at once began to dream dreams and to preach a return to the old >life as the only hope of the Indian race„ A great medicine dance was appoint­ ed at TJstanali, the national capital# where# after the dance was over# the doctrine was publicly announced and explained by.a Cherokee prophet introduced by a delega­ tion from Coosawatee. He began by saying that some of the mountain towns had abused him and refused to receive his message# but nevertheless'he must continue to bear testimony of his- ms si on whatever might happen. The Cherokee had broken the road which had been given to their fathers at the beginning of the world, . They had taken the white manfs clothes and trinkets# they had beds and tables and-mills# some even had books and cats. All this was bad# and because of. it bbeir gods were angry and the game was leaving their country. If they would live and be happy as before they must put.off the white man*8 dress# throw away his mills and looms# kill their cats# put on paint and buckskin# and be. Indians again| otherwise swift destruction would come upon them, "His speech appealed strongly to the people# who cried out in great excitement .that his talk was good. Of all those present only Major Ridge# a principal chief# had the courage to stand up and oppose it# warning his hearers that such talk would inevitably lead to war with the United States# which would end in their own destruc­ tion, The maddened followers of the prophet sprang upon Ridge and would have killed him but for the interposition of friends. As it was, he was thrown down and narrowly escaped with his life# while one of his defenders was stabbed by his side, "The prophet had threatened after a certain time to in­ voke a terrible storm# which should destroy all but the true believers# who were exhorted to gather for safety on one of the high peaks of- the Great Smoky mountains, In full faith they abandoned their bees# their.orchards, their slaves# and everything that had come to them from the white man# and took up their toilsome march for the high mountains® There they waited until the appointed day had come and passed# showing their hopes and fears to be groundless# when they sadly returned to their 4i homes and the great Indian revival among the Gherokees came to an end."1 In an earlier volume, Mooney gives a more elaborated account of the 11 end of the world11 trek to the Great Smokies« “Prom the venerable James Waffordj, of the Cherokee Nation, the author in 1891 obtained some interesting details in regard to the' .excitement among the Gherokees, According to his statement, the doctrine first came to them through the Greek about 1812 or l8l3» It was probably given to the Greek by Teeumtha and his party on their visit to that tribe in the fall of l8ll, as will be related hereafter® Ihe Greek were taught by their prophets that the old Indian life was soon to return, when “instead of beef and bacon they would have venison, and instead of chickens they would have turkeys® 8 Great sacred dances were inaugurated, and the people were exhorted to be ready for what was to come. Prom the south the movement spread to the Cherokee, and one of their priests, living in what is now upper Georgia, began to preach that on a day near at hand there would be a terrible storm, with a mighty wind and hailstones as large as hominy mortars, which would destroy from the.face of the earth all but the true believers who had previously taken refuge on the highest summits of the Great Smoky moun­ tains® Full of this belief, numbers of the tribe in Alabama and Georgia abandoned their bees, their orchards, their slaves, and everything else that might have come to them through the white man, and in spite of the entreaties and remonstrances of friends who put no faith in the prediction, took up their toilsome march for the mountains of Carolina. Wafford, who was then about 10 years of age, lived with his mother and stepfather on Valley river, and vividly remembers the troops of pil­ grims, with their packs on their backs, fleeing from the lower country to escape from the wrath to come. Many of them stopped at the house of his stepfather, who, being a white man, was somewhat better prepared than his neighbors to entertain travelers, and who took the opportunity to endeavor to persuade them to turn back, telling them that their hopes and fears alike were groundless. Some listened' to him and returned to their homes, but others went on and. climbed the mountain, where they waited until the appointed day arrived, only to find themselves disappointed. Slowly and sadly then they took up their packs once more and turned their faces

"'"Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, "ppm\t8%, 89> 88, 89. 42 homeward„ dreading the ridicule they were sure to meet therej, but yet believing in their hearts that the glorious eoming was only postponed for a time.®-*- Sometime after this revival, the Creek War of 1813-I81J4. began and the Cherokee went to the aid of the Americans. They rendered good service in the cause of the United States. 2 This was not a return to prestige of the old war organization and the war motif in Cherokee culture, but was part of the new policy of peace with the United States. Hoddra informants describe this war in these terms: "You know them old Creeks donst like the Cherokee yet, because of when we helped out the Americans against them. The Greeks rose up and broke the Peace and we helped, the white people put them down.® After the Greek war there was a very definite movement toward change in the organization of the Cherokee Eation by .the Cherokee authorities. This trend revolutionized the Cherokee government and other.aspects of Cherokee life. It was an effort toward controlled innovation. The Cherokee of that period were very much concerned about preserving their national heritage and their land. Chief Pathkiller said, "This grieves me so I can think of little else. If we have a little brother who is poor and does not know well how to take care of himself, I do not think it right to get away from him the little all that he has.®^ This attitude is behimd most

Mooney, James, The Ghost Dance Religion, Bureau of Ameri­ can Ethnology, llfbh Annual Report, Ipp-iL r6f.7 *; Vc , t.y.7 . ^Mooney, James, Myths of the .Gherokees■> :pp. 89r9&o, 3$tarkey, M. L., The Cherokee Ration, pp » 49# 4 3 of the innovations that came about in this period«. The atti­ tude of “getting smart as a white man,“ as modern informants express it, went along with the goal of preserving Cherokee autonomyo Part of a speech made by a chief to school child­ ren in this period brings out the attitude, nI feel that much depends on you. On you depends the future welfare of your country.> a» You have now ac­ quired considerable knowledge. By and by you will have ihore» This gives me great satisfaction. Remem­ ber the whites are near us. With them we have.con­ st ant intercourse, and you must be . sensible, that „ unless you can speak their language^ read and write as they do, they will be able to. cheat you and. trample on your rights. Be diligent therefore in your studies ahd let nothing hinder you from them. Those innovations which were thought helpful in resist­ ing white domination were accepted, others were rejected. Early in this period a local chief built a wagon, but the National Council forbade the use of the vehicle. “If you have a wagon, there must be wagon roads; and if wagon roads, the whites will be amongst us. The innovations were introduced and passed by the young ■a chiefs and with the approval of the older chiefs. The Cherokee government was tending toward centralization. Cherokee authorities were very concerned about individual chiefs signing away land without the consent of the national council. In l80j? some of the leading chiefs, in return for

1 1 Walker, R » 8 ., Torchlights to the Cherokees, pp. 243, 24k. 2Ibld., p. 1 0 1 . 3Ibid., p. 2 2 5 « certain considerations by the government of the United States# signed away some of the Cherokee land without approval of the council, The main instigator of this treaty* Doublehead, was

*1 killed by MajorRidge.on orders of the chiefs of the Hat!on® Even so* land was signed away by chiefs who wished to remove to Arkansas in 1 8 1 7 , This emigration to Arkansas had been going on for several years. The emigrants were mostly from the Lower Towns on the Tennessee* the old hostile element. Many of them still liked the hunting life and emigrated to Arkansas to continue it. 2 Also* many of these chiefs had been powerful war chiefs and probably did not like the new trend toward centralization which curbed the authority of individual town chiefs,. One of the first major innovations in Cherokee government was the appointment of a national Committee in l8llj.,^ This committee consisted mostly of young chiefs like John Ross, These young educated chiefs were largely responsible for many of the innovations in government. By 1820 the numerous.intro­ ductions had resulted in changing the form of organization of the Nation to a republican form of government modeled after that of the United States, The legislature was composed of the council and the committee. The Nation was divided into eight districts and elections were held. Each district had a

1 Mooney* James, Myths of the Oherokees, 191$:; 102,' 2Ibid. ^Foreman* G-=* The Five Civilized Tribes, p. 303 = judge and a marshal*,* Companies called “light horse11 were organized to enforce the law. B y special decree capital pun­ ishment was taken out of the hands of the clans and vested in 1 - the courts of the. Nat ion <, Through this reorganization town government was done a w a y witho The authority for the punish­ ment of murder was taken away from the clan. The town and the clan now functioned only ceremonially„ The old chief. Path- killer, was still chief of the Cherokee Nation and John Boss was president of the National Committee» Analysis of a roster of the names of the officers in the government indicates that the officers were predominantly “full-bloods,,11 Those having English names are very much in the minority*^ This change in form and function of government was not just the work of a few educated mixed-hloods = 4 s has been mentioned, schools were very much desired by the Cherokees and in this period schools began to flourish« The Cherokees admitted the different mission groups' to provide schools. In l801 they had admitted the Mor­ avians. When the Moravians told the Cherokee authorities they came to preach the gospel instead of teaching children, the chiefs said, “We have no ears to hear: it.11 To remain in the Cherokee Nation they were required to teach school primarily and preach the gospel secondarily«^ In l8l6 the Cherokee authorities admitted Baptists, Methodists, Congregational!sts,

^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, Igjp* 2 C :

. P ' ■ Walker, R. S., Torchlights to the Cherokees, pp. 11^, 115« 3Ibido, pp. 29, 30. 4 6 and Presbyterianso They were admitted under tbe same eondi- tions as the Moravians— -they could preach whatever they wanted, but they must center on education of the children*^ Soon schools were flourishing throughout the Gherofeee Eat ion, While education was thus being carried on in “white man's** fashion one of the most singular events in Cherokee history happened» In 1821 an illiterate Indian named Sequoyah invented a usable “alphabet** (actually a syllabary) for the Cherokee language. He could speak no English= His impulse came from seeing writing in English, He labored for approximately eight years undergoing many hardships, and developed a basic syllabary of eighty-four characters which could be learned by p the average Cherokee speaker in a matter of days, A great literary movement took place among the people. All over the Cherokee Eation people were teaching each other the new syllabary. Classes were conducted by people who had gone miles to learn the system and bring it back to their communi­ ties, fhe Cherokee authorities later published a paper in 1827 called the Cherokee Phoenix, Through this medium the Cherokee government was able to inform the people on most issues both internal and those connected with the E, S . Govern­ ment, Editions of Cherokee law .were also printed. The forces O of unifying the people into a informed nation was begun,

1 Starkey, M, L,, The Cherokee Eation, p, 30, 2Itid,» pp, 77, 84° 3Ibid,. pp. 84-89, 95, 97, k-7 Xn addition to written material on legislative and polit­ ical affairs, the Bible was also translated into. Cherokee and thus Christianity gained an easier access to Cherokee culture» Also, the priests began writing down their medicine.in the syllabary and keeping books filled with medicine prayers.^ This meant that no longer need the prayers be trusted to mem­ ory, but were permanently recorded, thus preserving this facet of Cherokee culture« However, it also meant that it was no longer necessary to spend years learning the lore of the priesthood» This probably weakened the priesthood as the knowledge was easier obtained* It meant that the knowledge diffused to more individuals as these books were sold or passed on after death0 It also meant that there was an increase in conjuration practices and fear of conjuration as this knowl­ edge spread to unauthorized persons* The priests could not pick who they would initiate into the priesthood» As modern informants say, “Those old men were pretty careful who they let get hold of that kind of knowledge, but nowadays lots of people have it *“ Although the syllabary may have weakened the priesthood Sequayah.is looked upon today as almost a cul­ ture hero by most of the full-blotids® During this period, in 1819* the lands along the little Tennessee drainage were sold and there were more population shifts* The people left in the Upper Towns moved into the area of the Five Lower Towns on the Tennessee, now called the

1Ibid *, pp. 81]., 95=97* C&lefearaamga District, and into the area around Willstown in Alabama, The Middle Towns people moved west into the Valley Towns area, . The Cherokee had perfected their government along repub­ lican lines and they decided to adopt a constitution in 182?® In the midst of these proceedings the old conservative chief, Pathkiller, died and John Ross was elected chief under the new constitution. This set off a second revolt, concerned this time with the acculturation to American republican style gov­ ernment , Mooney gives an account of this, “By this time the rapid strides of civilisation and Chris­ tianity had alarmed the conservative element, who saw in the new order only the evidences of apostasy and swift national decay. In 1828 White Path (IJun^nfi-tmne ga), an influential full-blood and counselor, living at Turniptown £W!lur/’yI), near the present El 11 jay, in Gilmer county, Georgia, headed a rebellion against the new code of laws, with all that it implied. He soon had a large band of followers, known to the whites as ‘Red— stieks8, a title sometimes assumed by the more war-like element among the Creeks and other southern tribes. From the townhouse of El11jay he preached the rejection of the white man8s ways, and a return to old tribal law and custom— the same doc­ trine that had constituted the burden of Indian revelation in the past. It was now too late, however, to reverse the wheel of progress, and under the rule of such men as Hicks and loss the conservative opposition gradually melted away, Hhite-path was deposed from his seat in council, but subsequently made submission and was reinstated, He was afterward one of the detachment commanders in the Removal, but died while on the m a r c h =“2 Starkey also gives an account of the revolt as seen from

1 Mooney, James, Myths of the Gherokees, tu>i 1109* t-* *' 0r)> l6 l| Walker, R, S., Torchlights to the Gherokees, pp, 191, 192, ^Mooney, Myths of the Gherokees, 123*',■ k-9 the viewpoint of the missionaries. Ifihe Cherokee eonstitution had not been achieved without birth pangs. As always there was a strong reactionary element that bitterly opposed such aping of white men. To these the lip service the constitution paid Christi­ anity was an outrage against the faith of their fathers. The death of Pathkiller and Hicks in January 1827 set off the period of ferment and protest known as *White Path8s Rebellion.8 ' PThis phenomenon really frightened the missionaries= They saw towrihouses become the scene of passionate ora­ tory, rump councils called toxdenounce the constitution, the preaching of the missionaries, the prevalence of the new soft ways, and to demand a return to old customs. It was at times almost a ghost dance. Strong leadership and an intelligent sense of direction were lacking, how­ ever, and the Cherokee leaders were undismayed. 8A noise will only end in noise8, John Boss reassured the alarmed Worcester. And, indeed, a Council called to conciliate the disaffected bore quick results. The constitution , was ratified without further incident on July br, 1827 =!i This constitution was only a restatement of the laws and government which had been established in 1 8 2 0 . It may have been a move on the part of' the Gherokees to make the United States recognize them as a people worth dealing with as equals and to stop the underhanded practice of bribing chiefs to make n treaties.K While innovations were being made in government, the missionaries through educating the children were also gaining converts to Christianity. The Baptists who worked mostly in Valley Towns and conservative mountain towns of northern Georgia were to have the most influence over the full-bloods in later times. Other denominations, such as Presbyterians and Methodists worked in the more aeeulturated areas. Probably

^Starkey, M. L., The Cherokee Hat ion, pp. lOlj.# 105>« 50 the ceremonial pattern had begun to break down before the advent of the missionaries^ but they surely hastened the process* In the l8l0*s according to an account by chief Hicks the Hew Hoon rite of spring, the Preliminary Green Corn Feast, tie Green Corn Feast, and the Cementation Festival were in operation* Some of tie areas like the Ghiekamauga Dis- 2 ' trict had discontinued ceremonies at this time* The conserva­ tive areas still continued some of the ceremonies until the time of Removal* In the Middle Towns the Preliminary Green Corn Dance, the Green Corn Dance and the Cementation,Festival, at least, were continued up to the time of Removal* Certain towns in the Talley Town area, a conservative area, had dis­ continued . ceremonies by the 1820*s because of Christian influ­ ence*^ Other conservative towns in Georgia still had square grounds and ceremonies* It seems there were two reasons for the discontinuance of ceremonies— the effects of social disor­ ganization and the influence of the missionaries* These factors varied from area to area and town to town* In 1830 a significant step was taken in the history of the Cherokees# the state of Georgia extended her laws over the Cherokee nation*This was part of a general movement by the

^Walker, R. S., Torehlights to the Oherokees, pp» 121, 125* 2Ibid*, pp* 1 9 1 , 1 9 2 * ' ^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, .p.* 3&7..0 - - ^Walker, R. S. Torchlights to the Gherokees, p* 208* ^Foreman* G*, The Five Civilized Tribes, p» 229* government and the southern states to get the Indian tribes of the south to move west* $he act abolished the government of the Cherokee Nation and settlers flooded the Cherokee lands» The Cherokees were without rights as Cherokee citizens or Georgia citizens* In 1832 in the ease of Worcester vs* the state of Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia had no right to enter the Cherokee Nation and declared their aet null and void 0 Howevers the president refused to enforce the decision of the court and made his famous remark * "John Marshall has made his -decision# now let him enforce it*" The Cherokee Nation still refused to remove even;under these intolerable conditions. In 1835 the United States signed a "treaty" with a number of Cherokee providing for the removal of the Cherokee Nation to the Indian Territory. This "treaty" was signed without the consent of the constituted authorities of the Cherokee Nation. A few individuals led by the Ridge family had taken matters into their own hands. Despite the fact the Cherokee Nation rejected this treaty the United States chose to look upon it as a binding document.^ The Ridge or Treaty party, as they became known, were the most aeeulturated of the Gherokees. Many of its members were, white men with Indian families or Gherokees with little Indian blood and very little connection with the rank and file of the full-bloods. This faction removed in 1837 to the Indian Terri-

"^Starkey, M. L., The Cherokee Nation, pp. 177s 178® %ooney, James. Myths of the Gherokees. SSNb 52 tory of Western Cherokee countrye 1 Many Cberokees bad mi­ grated earlier to Arkansas, whence they were removed and settled in the Indian Territory, They already had a tribal government and a constitution by this period. The rest of the Cherokee took no steps to remove. General Wool, with an army, had previously disarmed the Cberokees and in 1838 General Winfield Scott with an army of 7,000 men entered p the Cherokee Nation to remove the Cberokees, This removal was accomplished by rounding up nearly seven­ teen thousand Cberokees and placing them in concentration camps ready to be removed,^ The first parties had much sickness and mortality because of the heat. The head men of the Cherokee Nation asked to be allowed to conduct their own removal in the f a l l A This request was granted by General Scott, The Cberokees removed in the fall under designated leaders in contingents of about one thousand each. Most of the contin­ gents started in the fall and arrived in the spring in the Indian Territory, . The effects of this removal cannot be stressed too strongly. Since 1830 the Cherokee had been pressured by the U, S, and Georgia to remove. The presence of Georgians in their country and the persecutions of the Indians must have

*1 Foreman, G , , The Five Civilized Tribes, p, 273* 2Foreman, G,, Indian Removal, p, 286, ^Ibid,, p, 2 9 0 , ^Ibid,, pp, 299, 312* 53 had a teprifie disorganizing effect. The Cherokees were dis­ armed and put into concentration camps. Hundreds died in the concentration camps and hundreds more died in the removal. Altogether about four thousand died as a result of the removal, % about one-fourth of the whole tribe. Most of the old people and many of the young died on this trip. This meant that most of the tradition-ke©pers of the tribe died and much of the lore of the Cherokee was lost. A. small band of conservatives hid in the mountains of Worth Carolina and became the Eastern Band of Cherokees who live today in that area. This disastrous blow to Cherokee culture is summed up by Mooneys " "For manyyyears the hunter and warrior had been giving place to the farmer and mechanic, and the forced expa­ triation made the change complete and final. Torn from their native streams, and mountains, their council fires extinguished and their townhouses burned behind them, and transported bodily to a far distant country where everything was new and strange, to changed sur­ roundings. The ball-play was neglected and the green- corn dance proscribed, while the heroic tradition of , farmer days became a fading memory or a tale to amuse a child. Instead of ceremonials and peace councils we hear now of railroad deals and contracts with cattle syndicates, and instead of the old warrior Chiefs who made the Cherokee name a terror— Oeonostota, Hanging Maw, Doublehead, and Pathkiller— we find the destinies of the nation guided henceforth by shrewd mixed-blood politicians, hearing white men8s names, speaking the white men8 s language, and frequently with hardly enough Indian blood to show itself in the features.”2 The third period of Cherokee culture begins with the settlement of the Cherokee in the Indian Territory. Ho sooner

foreman,, 5 . The Five Civilized Tribes. %eoney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, lh6 ,;-llT.,,-3, 54 had they arrived than they began to negotiate with the Old Settlers# the Gherokees who had previously removed west# in order to find some ground on which to merge the two govern­ ments. At this time parties of full-bloods went to the houses of Major Ridge# John Ridge# and Elias Boudinot and killed them for their part in the signing of the Removal T treaty. The .Gherokees had passed a law many years earlier which exacted the death penalty for anyone signing away Cherokee land without the consent of the national authorities® P Major Ridge# himself# had drawn up the law® And he had killed Doublehead for the treaty of l80j?« It is said when he signed the Removal treaty he stated# MI am signing my own death warrant®" The killing of the Ridges was done# however# without the consent of the national authorities# and carried out by private citizens® It was to set off a feud between the two factions which amounted almost to a civil war. Finally an act of union in 1839 was effected between most of the Old Settlers and the new immigrants® A new gov- ernment was set up and John Ross was elected chief®Some of the Old Settlers were dissatisfied and joined forces with the Treaty Party® The next six years saw a small scale war in the Cherokee Nation between the Ross faction on one side and the Treaty and Old Settlers on the other side® Killings

Foreman# G-®# The Five Civilized Tribes# pp® 291# 292® 2Ibid®, pp. 299-303® 3Ibld®# p® 3 0 4 ® 55 and house burnings were frequent;, ‘Ebe Cherokee authorities still did not recognize the “treaty8 of 1835* In order to settle this dispute and satisfy the members of the other fac­ tions the government undertook a new.treaty with the Cherokee Hation in 18^6 „ This treaty satisfied the demands of all the factions and peace finally reigned*^ In the midst of this civil war a great inter-tribal. council was called by the Cherokee in 1.843° There had been earlier councils in the Indian territory. The Arkansas Cherokee, or Old Settlers, had participated in these councils. In 1838 they were made custodians of the wampums of this -semi-alliance of eastern tribes in a council at Takatoka

. The council lasted four weeks and in the speeches of the Cherokee the peace motif which was now so strong in their

1lbid., pp. 349* 350. Foreman, Gr., Advancing the Frontier, p . 205° ^Ibid.* p. 1 9 6 . ^Tbid., p. 2 0 6 . 56 culture was reiterated again and again® The meeting became the most important interstribal council held in the Indian Territory and because of their part in it the Cherokees attained great prestige..among the rest of the tribes® After this time the Cherokee took the role of peace makers at alllimportant.inter-tribal councils® They also acted as intermediaries.between the U® S. government and the Plains tribes. They became known as the tePeacemakers of the Plains®11 Many wagonttrains^tried to procure Gherokee guides, knowing that the presence of a Gherokee guaranteed safe conduct through hostile territory^ The Cherokee wore a distinctive hunting coat trimmed in red yarn fringe® Anyone wearing this coat> was usually safe when traveling in the plains area® Prominent Gherokees, like Sequoyah, could travel through the area and always be sure of being received cordially and getting help if needed from the “wild tribes®11 The peace motif which had begun to dominate among the Gherokee in the early part of the century had reached its peak in the great council of I8I4.3 ® After I8I4.6 an era of comparative peace descended on the Cherokee nation® During this era Gherokee culture became stablized and its major patterns changed little if at all from that time® The differential acculturation among families had finally reached its peak in the formation of the Treaty party who were later to be called “mixed-bloods.11 This faction took over more and more of the American pattern with its goals and values® $he dichotomy in aeemlturation reached the point where there was no common ground for the two factions to meet on* It was almost like having a group of frontier Americans and Indians united under the same government, Even a Masonic lodge was organized in Talequah in 18^9.^ The mixed-bloods continued the type of life they had started in Georgia— running large plantations worked by slaves, operating farms on the American frontier pattern, or keeping stores<> Most of the mixed-bloods belonged to the Treaty Party = However, the Ross family, who followed this pattern, provided leadership for the full-blood factiono As a modern informant said, “Those old full-bloods thought John Ross was a "god.11 Many of the full-bloods were unable to bring much of their material possessions 'on the Removalo When they arrived in the Cherokee Ration they had to return to an older pattern, for example, using skin clothing and pottery vessels. However, in a few years they were able to get glazed ware and began spinning and weaving. 2 After the removal to the Indian Terri­ tory no town organisations were set up, no town houses were built, and no ceremonials were held. The ball-play was held sometimes^ as were all might “stomp" dance's. The Baptists had become the prevailing sect among the full-bloods,^" and the

Foreman, G», The Five Civilized Tribes. 2Ibid., p. 283. 3Ibid., p.. 3 6 8 .

^Tbido, p£j. 367, %12. • Baptist 'ehmreh "began to be the center of full-blood eonaraunities The range of variation in the religious, pattern was from the orthodox Baptist church members to those old conservatives who held on to the concepts of the old religion and what form that remained» It is probable# however# that most of the full-bloods participated in both patterns to some extent as they did in later times— goimg to church as well as to "stomp" dances and using the ritualized Cherokee medicine which was • . ■ ■ based on the old Cherokee religious concepts« The Removal performed the function of making full~blood culture more uniformu Ho town was more conservative than another as no town had town houses and ceremonials« Towns were broken up and families scattered throughout the Nation* Con­ servative Arkansas Cherokee were living in the same community with full-bloods from the more disorganized sections of Georgia The full-blood tended to settle in the Ozark regions of the Nation along the stream courses as they had done in the "old dountry." The unwieldy lineage had started to break up in the movement of the Cherokee from their original towns into Georgia,, The Removal was the final blow to the lineage" and clan# when the kin unit was broken up. The pioneer conditions in the Nation after the Removal began to put more reliance on the man and on his position as the economic provider of the family, Cherokee family organization was tending toward the bi-lateral extended family. By i860 there had been a change in the kinship structure which showed the Cherokee were 59 placing more emphasis on the paternal side and by 1890 the Cherokee had a generational pattern of kinship organization rather than one based on the lineage<,1 It was also becoming the custom to take over English family names® In Cherokee the process was modified somewhat® An example of this is the Smith family. Redbird Smith,8s father was called Little Pig in Cherokee® He was a blacksmith. His English name became Pig Smith, Smith continued to be the family name® In Cherokee, however, Redbird Smith was called Taw-joo-wha Si-qua-nits, Redbird Little Pig. Redbird Smith8s son is called in English Stokes' Smith® In Cherokee he is called Gaw-ged Taw-joo-wha. Heavy Redbird ® In 1859 there were rumblings of the approaching Civil War, and the Cherokee were caught up in the excitement® Many of the mixe.d-bloods were slave holders and formed secessionist organizations. In 1859 the Ketoowah Society formed among the full-bloods. "This Cherokee secret society, which has recently achieved some newspaper prominence by its championship of Cherokeeaautonomy, derives its mame— property Kitu hwa but commonly spelled Ketoowah in English print-- from the ancient town in the old HatIon which formed the nucleus of the most conservative element of the tribe and sometimes gave a name to the Ration itself (see Kitu hwagi, under Tribal Synonums) ® A strong' 8band of comradeship,8 if not a regular society or­ ganization, appears to have existed among the warri­ ors and leading men of the various settlements of the Kituhwa district from a remote period, so that the name is even now used in councils as indicative of

■^Spoehr, A®, Changing-Kinship Systems, Field Museum of Hatural History, Anthropological Papers, Tol® 33, Ho® I4., pp® 180-190. 6o genuine Cherokee feeling in its highest patriotic form. Mhen, some years ago# delegates from the western Hation visited the Bast Cherokee to invite them to join their more prosperous brethren beyond the Mississippi# the speaker for the delegates expressed their fraternal, feeling for their separated kinsmen by saying in his opening speech# •we are all Kituhwa people8 (Ani -Kitu h'wagi)e The Ketoowah society in the Cherokee nation west was organized shortly before the civil war by John Bo Jones# son of the missionary# Evan Jones# and an adopted citizen of the Nation# as a secret society for the ostensible purpose of cultivating a national feeling among the fuTl-bloods.# in opposition to the innovating tendencies of the mixed-blood element«. The real purpose was to counteract the influence of the *Blue Lodge® and other secret secessionist organi­ zations among the wealthier slave-holding classes# made up chiefly of mixed-bloods and whites. It ex­ tended to the Creeks# and its members in both tribes rendered good service to the Union cause throughout the war. They were frequently known as ®Pin Indians# 8 for a reason explained below. Since the-close of the- great struggle the society has distinguished itself by its determined opposition to every scheme looking to the curtailment or destruction of Cherokee national self-government. "The following account of the society was written shortly after the close of the civil war; 'Those Cherokees who were loyal to the Union combined in a secret organization for self-protection# assuming the designation of the Ketoowha society# which name was soon merged in that of 'Pins,® The Pins were so styled because of a peculiar manner they adopted of wearing a pih. The symbol was discovered by their enemies# who applied the term in derision) but it was accepted by this loyal league# and has almost superseded the designation which its members first assumed. The Pin organization originated among the members of the Baptist congregation at Peavine# Going-snake district# in the Cherokee nation. In a short time the society, counted nearly three thousand members and had commenced proselytizing the Greeks# when the rebellion# against which it was arming# preventing its further extension# the poor Greeks having been driven into Kansas by the rebels of the Golden Circle, During the war the Pins rendered services toxthe Union cause in many bloody encounters# as has been acknowledged by bur generals. It was distinctly an anti-slavery organisation. The slave-holding Cherokees# who constitute the wealthy and more intelligent class# naturally allied themselves with the South# while loyal Cherokee^ became more and more 6i opposed to slavery, fflais was shown very clearly when the loyalists first met in convention# in February# 1 8 6 3 . ‘They not only abolished slavery unconditionally and forever# before any slave state made a movement toward emancipation# but made any attempts at enslav­ ing a grave misdemeanor» "%The secret signs of the Pins were a peculiar way of touching the hat as a salutation# particularly when they were too far apart for recognition in other ways. They had a peculiar mode of taking hold of the lapel of the coat# first drawing it away from the body# and then giving it a motion as though wrapping it around the heart. During the war a portion of them were forced into the rebellion# but quickly rebelled against General Cooper# who was placed over them# and when they fought against that general at Bird Greek# they wore a bit of corn-husk# split into strips, tied in their hair. In the night when two Pins met# and one asked the other# 'Who are you?1 the reply or pass was# 1Tahlequah-— who are you?• The response was# #I am Ketoowha's son.' Dr. D. J.-MacGowan# Indian Secret Societies# in Historical Magazine# %# l866."l This movement among the full-bloods was the culmination of years of hostility toward the mixed-bloods. It was the final step— organized factionalism. Besides the reasons "mentioned above for the formation of the Ketoowah Society many full-bloods joined the society for 2 the purpose of preserving the old Cherokee religion. For instance besides the meeting mentioned at Peavine church there was also a meeting of full-bloods at the old Tahlontuskey camp ground at the mouth of the Illinois. This group was without benefit of church supervision and probably represented the more conservative element« After conferring here they decided

^Mooney# James# Myths of the Cherokees, 22£»v 226SP5#

^Wardell# M. A.# A Political History of the Cherokee Nation# p. 121. - . 62 that “we are still A-ni-Ki-tob-wha-gi" or People of Ketbomha. Ehe name of.the.society is taken from the old ceremonial name of the Cherokee» The town of Ketdowha was apparently the original nucleus of the tribe and was located upon the head­ waters of the Tuekasigee river in the old Middle Settlements» fhis area was the most conservative of the Cherokee nation. The name itself cannot be analyzed.^" The name has different meanings to the modern full-bloods. To the pagan Cherokee it is still the old ceremonial.name of the Cherokee. To the Baptist Cherokee it signifies Cherokee national feeling in the extreme. The Ketoowah Society was organized with the head of the organization spoken of as the chairman (tsoo-da-te-ma) with two assistant chairmen. The Society had a secretary and a treasurer. Each District of the Cherokee ETation had a cap­ tain (skai-gunst) with two other assistant captains. Each , settlement in a District had a little captain (oos-di skai- gunst). Exactly what the reason was for using the titles of the old red organization^ e.g., the captain (skai-gunst) is not known. Perhaps, the full-bloods still looked upon the Cherokee government led by John Boss as the white organiza­ tion and did not want to sever relations with it, so they used the red. titles. Perhaps because of the. approach of war they used the fed titles. The use of three ofieials is not

^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokee, 1 63 clear* but the Arkansas Cherokee in their government had a , series of three officials to an office instead of two® A committee was formed to be the governing body of the Societyo A. convention was held each ^ear in August and the committee passed the laws of the Society® ©ne to three eom= mittee members were chosen from each community® Although the Ketoowah Society was primarily organized to resist the mixed=-blo©d faction it was also a partial return to some type of town organization® The new Cherokee govern- . ment did not allow a place for town or community representa­ tion® The Ketoowah Society provided for a little captain for each community and for committee members chosen, from the com­ munity® 1 In 1859 the Ketoowah Society adopted a constitution® This constitution is little more than a stkfebment of the old values 1 of the Cherokee such as cooperation* friendliness* sharing* etc® The Cherokee had become indoctrinated by this time with John Ross8 constitutionalism so they felt that they had to have a constitution® Modern informants say of the old Cherokee Hat ion* "when we was under our own constitution,11 A const! tu- tion* to the full-blpbd*. establishes an organization or a people as a recognized' entity® When. the Civil War broke out in l86l the national author­ ities headed by John Ross and backed by the Ketoowah Society declared for strict neutrality. However* the pressure from the Confederacy became too strong and the Cherokee Hation % signed a treaty with General Pike, acting on behalf of the Confederacy, to ally itself with the Confederate States a"*" The Cherokee Hation raised two regiments to fight with the Confederacy, one under Stand Wat1e which consisted of the mixed-bloods and the other under Colonel Drew which was mostly full~bloods» The full=bloods soon deserted to the Union side® The families of the Union Cherokee fled to Kansas, 2 with the loyal'full-blood Creeks» ‘ . There are several fact which explain the action of the full-bloods for declaring for neutrality at the beginning of the war and later deserting to. the Union side® One,, they were opposed to slavery, and anything the mixed-bloods were for, they were against, One modern informant said, 11 Those old fwll^’bloods were still pretty made at Georgia because of the way she treated them," The most important factor explaining full-blood action is that they wanted to keep the treaty with the U. S „ Throughout Cherokee history the basis for the sur­ vival of the Cherokee as an entity was the recognition of them as such by the W. S. government and the fulfillment of treaty obligations by both sides® Although there were successive treaties made with the U. S, the basis of these treaties, the recognition of the Cherokees as a legal entity, remained the same. The full-bloods of today speak of "The Treaty" almost as a sacred document®

■'"Mooney, James, Myths of the Oherokees, P® 1 2Ibid». pp® 1I4..8, 65 $he 'full-blood Cherokee $s feeling probably coincided closely with the sentiments of the full-blood Greeks- One full-blood. Creek leader^ Oktarharsass Earjo said, "That man told Indian that Union people would come and take away property and take away land— -now you sleep, you ought to wake up and attend to your property- Tell them there ain’t no U.S.— ain’t any more Treaty— all be dead— Tell them as there is ho more U. S. no more Treaty that the Creeks had better make new Treaty with South and the Southern .President, would protect them and give them their annuity— Tell them if you make Treaty with Southern President that he would pay you more annuity and would pay better than the U. S . if they the Indians would help the Southern President— Mr- Pike makes the half breeds believe what he says and the half breeds makes some ©f the full blood Indians believe what he says that they (the Indians) must help the secession­ ists. 11 . Later this same leader said, "As for himself he don’t believe him yet - Then he thought the old U. S. tras alive yet and the (old) Treaty was good- Won’t go against the TJ. S, himself. Another leader. Sands, said, 11. - . Have come in and saw p my agent and want to go by the old Treaty..." The full blood Gherokees speak of Upothle Tahola, the Greek Leader, as the main chief of the loyal Creek and Gherokees. It is likely, therefore, that the full-blood Gherokees held the same views as the full-blood Greeks. The last main period of Cherokee culture history begins with the end of the Civil War. Guerilla bands had completely devastated the Cherokee Nation. The homes were burned, orchards destroyed, stock driven off, public buildings burned, and the

Debo, A., pp. II4.5 , II4.6 . "Ibid.p. llj.9. 66 settlements were blackened ruins.^ It is said that there was not a house standing in the Cherokee Eation, The Cherokee soon rebuilt and life began to take up where it had left off. There was very little major culture change in this period but there were some significant trends. The United States was steadily encroaching on the authority of the Cherokee Eation and more and more settlers were neyeing11 Cherokee lands. Railroads were built across Cherokee lands in accordance with the treaty of 1866 and the railroad companies worked hard for the destruction of the Cherokee Hat ion. Cattle men were coming in from the south with vast herds which grazed on Cherokee land illegally. During this timo the Cherokee Hation inaugurated a permit sys­ tem by which cattle men or farmers could use Cherokee land by the paypent of a feww or by working as tenants for a Cherokee citizen.^ Many of the full-bloods were opposed to this "legal" use of Cherokee lands by whites, but the mixed-bloods were able to override their objections. This brings out another important trend. The full-bloods had always, because of numerical superi­ ority, been able to control the Cherokee government but by the end of this period the.control was in the hands of the mixed- bloods, who began to be known as the Downing party. Without such a leader as John Ross the full-bloods were many times out maneuvered by the mixed-blood politicians.

^Royce, C . C., The Cherokee Hation of Indiana, Bureau of American Ethnology, 5th Annual Report, p. 376.■ ^Wardell, M. L., A Political History of the Cherokee Hation, pp. 272-27f?» - - ' The full-bloods were steadily taking over more and more white material traits<> The Cherokees, as far as material culture goess had become almost indistinguishable from fron­ tier whites • Some important events took place in this period o In 1872 there occurred the famous Croin^s&aMew Massacre» 1• A Cherokee citizen, one Zeke Proctor, who was later a famous sheriff of the District, accidently killed Polly Chesterton, the Cherokee wife of an adopted white man® The Cherokee courts assumed jurisdiction, but Chesterton appealed to the federal court at Port Smith, Arkansas« The U„ S. marshals approached the court­ house where Proctor's trial was being held. The men in the • courthouse immediately organized and the result was a gunfight in which several were killed and wounded. The Cherokee won this fight to uphold their autonomy, but acts of Congress in the 90*s. were to strip their courts of any power. In 1874 there was a reorganization of the' Ketoowah Society Lewis Downing was head chairman of the Ketoowah Society during the Civil War period and was elected to the office of chief of the Nation in 1 8 6 7 . He was ’re-elected again in 1 8 7 1 , but died while in office in' 187:2. After his death the Ketoowah Society broke up into small groups. There was no general convention and the Society was run by local chiefs. In l87l|- Bud Gritts reorganized the Society. He was elected chairman and the Society was united. Some innovations were introduced in 187^. 68 Each local chapter of the Society, "besides the little captain, was to have a secretary and a treasurer, dues were collected and meetings were to be held in which minutes were written down in Cherokee» Several articles were added to the consti­ tution,,^ By reorganisation of the Ketoowah Society, Bud Sritts was able to elect a full-blood chief in 1879* Dennis Bushyhead. Bushyhead was elected again in 1883 and Bud G-ritts died in 1885, During the first term of Bushyhead in l88l the Green Peach War broke out in the Creek nation. This civil war was a revolt of the full-bloods against the innovating tendencies of the mixed-bloods. The full-bloods had fought for the Union and the raixed-bloods for the Confederacy in the Civil War, Many Greeks who were Cherokee citizens were involved in the war, especially the Creek's settlement on Greenleaf Greek in the Illinois District of the Cherokee Wation. 2 However, they had the sympathy of Bushyhead who was a full-blood and could sympathise with their position. The Green Peach War ended the next summer in 1882 without the Gherokees becoming involved. The election of Dennis Bushyhead as chief from 1883 to 1887 was the last time the full-bloods were able to elect the chief of the Cherokee Nation, From this time on the mixed-

' 1 ' Tyner, H,, The Ketoowah Society in Cherokee History, page 58. - . - - ... - ■ • ; ^Debo, A,, The Hoad to .Disappearance, pp, 272-27^= blood faction was In control« It is with these conditions prevailing— the IT. S. encroaching on Cherokee autonomy* white renters on Cherokee land* mlxed-blood politicians in control of national policies--that we enter the decade of the nineties* the decade from whence came the Redblrd Smith movement* the third major Cherokee reaction against acculturation. In summary* several major trends can be seen in Cherokee culture history. One* there was a very definite attempt on the part of the Cherokee to preserve their national existence. This, resulted in a complete reorganization of Cherokee govern­ ment brought about by a process "controlled innovations" to better; perfect/ Cherokee resistance. The government was cen­ tralized in order to control all the factors which might give the whites an opportunity to break the resistance. The final outcome of these innovations was the adoption of a republican form of government with a constitution. Establishment of schools was also brought about by this process of "controlled innovations Because of differential acculturation among families and American attempts to break Cherokee resistance the Cherokee became divided into two factions* later called the mixed-bloods and the full-bloods. The cultural dichotomy between them be­ came so great that there was no common ground on which these two factions could meet. By the nineties the mixed-bloods . had become almost completely Americanized* many not able to speak the Cherokee language. The full-bloods* on the other 70 hand, had retained the basis of Cherokee culture and the lan­ guage , Many full-bloods were unable to speak English, so that even communication was cut off between these two groups to a large extent. , The functions of the 1:1 town’* among the full-bloods had been replaced by several new agencies in Cherokee culture0 The republican form of government had replaced the political functions of the town* The Baptist church had largely taken over the religious functions» The clan was being forgotten. The lineage was broken up and was replaced by the bilateral extended family. However, the organization of the Ketoowhh Society had in part restored some type of town representation. The most important trend in Cherokee culture history, as far as the Redbird Smith movement is concerned, was the.elabo­ ration of the peace motif— the' White .Path, the Path of Peace, The "War Organization and its values were stamped out. The elaboration of the peace motif reached its peak in the passive resistance of the Cherokee to the Removal and in the role that they took as peacemakers among the western tribes after the Removal, The concepts of "Keeping the Peace" and "the Treaty" with the United States in order to preserve their autonomy was connected with the peace motif. The leaders of the Red­ bird Smith movement were well grounded in these concepts of the old religion. These facts account for the Redbird Smith movement never taking over some of the more violent aspects of resistance movements such as the contemporary Grazy Snake revolt among the Creeks, CHAPTER II

FULL-BLOOD.LIFE IH THE l8909s

The last part of the l880*s and the first part of the 1890*8 was the last period in which the Cherokee people func- . tioned as a semi-= autonomous national group „ Officially the state of Oklahoma was formed in 1906, and the Cherokee gov­ ernment came to an end at that period» But all through the last half of the 1890*8, successive laws were passed by Congress stripping the Cherokee Hation of nearly all of its independence. The older full-bloods look back on this period as the last era in which Cherokee culture flowered, There were signs foretelling the coming catastrophe, but the average full-blood of that era was largely unaware of them. Even though conditions were becoming hard for the survival of Cherokee full-blood culture, the full-bloods did not think at this time that the United States would break their treaty. Life in the Cherokee Hat ion had most of the aspects that modern Americans now associate with the Wild West. There were great cattle ranches in the Indian Territory, becoming railroad towns, and. an influx of '’Boomers,M that is, Ameri­ can citizens illegally settled on Indian land, People were travelling through Indian Territory by wagon, horseback, and, on foot, moving farther west or looking for new, 71 72 land * The tide of American westward migration had flowed aroimd the Cherokee Hat Ion and settled most of the unclaimed land in the Wnited States, But now with no more rich acres further west to settle, American citizens of the surrounding states were filtering in to Indian Territory, As one infor­ mant put it; ,lI seen these white people come in here from Arkansas with a wagon load of ragged kids. They lived in houses just made, like a log pen with a dirt floor. They came in here poor and now they own the country,n Citizens of the state of Arkansas made up a great many of the intruder class in the Cherokee Hation. By the last of the l89Qls, there were approximately 0 • . twenty-five thousand whites in the Territory and seventy-five thousand Indians, Most of the intruders in the Cherokee Hatiom settled in the rich lands of the Akansas River bottoms and in the country west of the Grand River, These intruders in the river bottoms soon formed an association to fight any type of eviction or legal difficulty. They were led by Watts# who was the most noted of the intruders on Indian land. As one informant said; "If you tried to prosecute against any of these people# the association would beat you in court," At this time# all cases involving a United States citizen and a Cherokee were tried in the court at Fort Smith# Arkansas# under the famous Judge Isaac Parker, "The intruders could steal your horse or cow# but you eouldn8t beat them in Judge Parker8 s' court," Much of the intruder population was concentrated along 73 the several railroads'which ran through the Cherokee Nation® Boom towns had sprung up at the stations® They had all the aspects of the stereotype of the wild and wooly western town® t!A man could do anything he was big enough to do.** Law en­ forcement was very lax as there was only the one court at Port Smith until 1895 to deal with the entire Intruder population of the Indian Territory® These towns became a haven for the most undesirable element of the West. Outlaws* gunmen* gam- felers--it was a real frontier. Host of the full-bloods watched this activity with grow­ ing apprehension, and met the bustling new situation by drawing further back into the hills. The Smith family, for instance, traded a rich farm in the Arkansas River bottom lands to retreat farther back in the hills. After the railroad between Port Smith and Goffeevilie, Kansas, was built through their farm, the Smith family soon moved away-; The railroad trains killed many of the stock and generally disrupted the tranquility of existence. George Smith said that when he was a boy people were always walking through onithe railroad, going somewhere. One of the greatest events in his life as a small boy was when a man came travelling along the railroad with a dancing bear. Most of the mixed-bloods lived west of the Grand River in the Cherokee Nation, in the Goweeseoowee District. By this time, the mixed-blood faction of the Cherokee were almost com­ pletely acculturated to American life. Many of the young Ik mixed-bloods of the era spoke no dierokee* The percentage of Indian bloods because of intermarriage with whites and other mixed-bloodSj, was very slight in most families 0 These people were Americans in every way but in alle­ giance e They considered themselves Cherokee and were many times very militant about that facto But, because of culture differences, the dichotomy between these two factions was al­ most unbridgeable. An example of the great difference between them was shown in their respective attitudes towards allotment and the disso­ lution of the tribal government. The mixed-bloods fought against it'-legalistieally* but when resistance was no longer feasible, they accepted and entered whole-heartedly into the life of the state of Oklahoma, The full-bloods, as a whole, met the problem of allotment by ignoring, it, by passive resistance and a nativistlc revival. To the full-bloods, resistance to the allotment never became "no longer feasible11 (as it did to the mixed-bloods) for individual ownership of land struck at the very core of the culture, . ■ A good example of mixed-blood behavior can be seen in the Rogers family of Claremore, Oklahoma, Clem Rogers, and his wife were both less than one-fourth Indian, They were well-off financially and were cattle owners. They spoke little if any Cherokee. Clem Rogers was successful In poli­ tics in the Cherokee Ration and later in the new state of 75 Oklahoma*. One of his sons. Will, became the exemplification of the American spirit, in the 1920*8 and *301 s«, It was no trouble for most of the members of this faction to become Americans, as most of them were that culturally. Host of the mixed-bloods lived in the richer lands west of the Grand River« And many were large cattle owners, Much of this movement into the Cooweescoowee District had taken place after the Givil Waro However, there were many mlxed-bloods living in predominantly full-blood areas east of the Grand River. These people carried on basically the pattern of American rural life. There was a well-knit aristocracy among this faction who became the basis for the class structure of Oklahoma today« Host of the mixed-blood Raristocratic fami­ lies11 became the leaders in Oklahoma state politics.and are today, or were until recent years, the aristocracy of Oklahoma. The mixed-bloods who were against the allotment because of national feeling were also against it, probably, for reasons of financial gain. The allotments that would have been given them would have been too small for the vast herds owned by many mixed-bloods. American congressmen interested in seeing the Indian Territory become a state used this argument many times to bolster their point. They claimed that the rich mixed- bloods were taking advantage of the poor full-bloods. However, the author never heard or read of any full-blood objection to these large land holdings. East of the Grand River, the full-bloods lived in the quite hills relatively free from turmoil, away from the boom towns and the great cattle ranches® The procession of the ful1-bloods retreating further into the woods and hills that goes on today was also going on at this time. Hot only was the full-blood retiring before the encroachment of "civiliza­ tion-, H but also he was being pushed before it. It was from the socially disorganizing aspects of this "civilization" that the full-blood was retreating. Such condi­ tions as the presence of boom towns and intruders and the wave of outlawry in this period were some of the factors which gave rise to the Redbird Smith movement. However, back in the hills the full-bloods were still preserving their cultural identity. After two hundred years of intensive contact with whites, the core of Gherokee culture was still basically the same. As can be seen in the preceding chapter on culture history, all through Gherokee history the goals and values of the full-blood Gherokee had changed little. The approach to problems and re­ action to situations were unchanging patterns. Gherokee culture bad adapted to changing conditions and forms had changed, but basically the core of full-blood Gherokee culture in the nine­ ties was. the same as before. And out of full-bl'o-od Gherokee culture in the nineties came the Redbird Smith movement. The Gherokee Hation was divided topographically into two main areas— one, east of the Grand River, was the Ozark plateau which extends over from the neighboring state of Arkansas. This country is highly dissected in parts and is very wooded. On the 77 midis sect e<3 parts of the plateau are prairies „ West of the G-rand River is the prairie country of eastern Oklahoma and Kansas~=gently rolling grass country* with sparse timber* but well-watered and suitable for farming, Bie full-bloods generally lived along the streams which dissected the plateau» It was only in the 8908s that the full-bloods* to any extent, began to move on to the prairies of the “mountain tops.* This was probably due notoohly to the cultural preference of the full-bloods, but to the fact that the steel plow* which is suitable- for breaking prairie sod, came into general use in the latter part of the nineteenth century= The typical full-blood community was spread along a stream courseo Its center was usually a log church. These communi­ ties were made up usually of two or three extended families. The average full-blood lived in a log house* sometimes of the double variety seen on the American frontier* This is a two room structure with a “dog trot," an open passage way, between the two rooms. More often, however, the dwelling was a one room log house. There was usually a smoke house where meat was stored and, later, jars of canned goods, when that technique came into Cherokee life. There was also a corn crib and a barn. Most full-bloods had no outside toilets or toilet facilities. Most of the income of a full-blood family came from the land. The major crop grown was corn, and usually there was a small garden also. At this time stock had to be fenced out. 78 as the land was all free range*. Most of the counties in Okla~ home in this area now have free ranges because of the full- blood preference for this type of land tenure« Sometimes a little cotton was grown and taken to one of the gins in the area for cash, or traded. Cotton was grown more places in the Cherokee Mat ion then than it is now. Cotton was the "cash crop." But, generally speaking, full-blood economy was almost self-sustaining. One of the principal items of full-blood economy was wild game. Exactly how much hunting was relied upon in relation to agriculture cannot be seen at this time. However, it is proba­ ble that wild meat consisted of at least lj.0 to per cent of all Cherokee food. The Cherokee today.eat a great deal of meat, -and most of the meat eaten in those days was wild game. As one informant put it, "We lived on deer in them days.” The full-blood section of the Cherokee Nation was full of wild game. The timber was very large and high grass grew through all the woods. Informants say, "You could see a horse in those woods at a quarter of a mile or more, because of the lack of undergrowth." These conditions were ideal for the propagation of wiId life. Large parts of the Cherokee Nation werevsunoccupied except along the courses of the streams. To maintain this type of

economy, the full-bloods needed large areas in which to hunt« In earlier days, before the Civil War, many full-bloeds had made yearly trips back to the Great Plains area to hunt 79 buffalo. But now51 the great herds were gone from this part of the United States, and so this part of the diet had lapsed. Although much of the diet consisted of other kinds of game, corn products in various forms were eaten too, as well as beanss and other garden products, even though the Gherokees were not as intensive farmess as certain other tribes of the region, such.as the Greeks. Gherokee food preparation at that time still retained much of the aboriginal character, with new techniques added from white culture. Hominy and corn bread, in various forms, were eaten. Even today, most Gherokee households still have a mortar and pestle in the back yard which is used in the preparation of distinctive dishes. She dishes require much time and preparation by Gherokee women. Today, one of the distinctive dishes eaten by the Gherokee is responsible for a nickname given to the full-bloods by the local whites in the area. They refer to the full-bloods as ’’Kunuehi-pounders.tf The dish is made by pounding up hickory nuts into a jelly and mixing with the Gherokee form of hominy. It requires a great deal of pounding of the hickory nuts— hence the name. An article of diet which was relied upon heavily was fish. Even now, the streams of this area abound in typical Ozark fish, and the Gherokee of today fish quite a bit as they did then. All during the summer months, in Oklahoma, you can see Gherokees fishing along the streams. The whites in the area are always amazed at the success they have in their 80

flsMng technique* This success is due to many hundreds of years of practice» The full-bloods have a great store of knowledge about weather conditions and general fishing lore, How5 the state of Oklahoma restricts certain fishing tech­ niques of the Cherokee; but in the nineties all the techniques were in use. Fishing with line and pole, use of the trot line, spearing, and the use of a drug "devil's shoe string,11 were employed. This,drug is pounded up and thrown in a water hole, drugging the fish, and making them float to the topo where they can be easily thrown out on the bank. The fish not caught soon recover and swim off. Many times such fishing by the use of herbs was a group affair, and some of the fish caught would be barbeeured and eaten on the, spot. Hunting of deer and small game was' done with the use of guns. Squirrels were hunted with a bow and very long, blunt- pointed arrow. Birds were hunted with the blow gun. The Cherokee full-bloods also kept herds of cattle, although these herds were not as extensive as those of some of the great ranching families of the mixed-bloods, Full-blood cattle ran wild and were branded by the individual owner. The cattie-raising culture of the southwest had been taken on by most of the Cherokee by this time, and all the techniques that belong to this special occupation. Some milk cows were also kept by the full-bloods, but milk or dairy products were not used ton extensively by them. Many of the Cherokee preferred to drink a hominy concoction or coffee. 81 Hogs were allowed to run wild in the woods and were usu­ ally marked with a cut in the ear for identification., Actually, although the Cherokee had stock, they still made use of wild game for much of their meat supply« Around most Cherokee homesteads,>there was a small or­ chard of peaches and apples, which were dried for winter use* Jerky and other foodstuffs were also smoked and dried* Although the families lived in individual homesteads, much of the work was done communally. The Cherokee of this time,were a very compact and united people* Most of the. large efforts in their economy were accomplished by community work. Such tasks as plowing the fields, tending the stock, hog kill­ ing, harvesting, housebuilding, and rail splitting were all done by the community* The type of community participation varied from area to area* And the most intensive community activity took place in heavily populated full-blood areas* Even today, white landowners hiring workers usually hire one or two families for work in the fields* As one white land­ owner explained It: "The Cherokees don$t like much to work by theirselves, but you get 8em together and they811 do a good, careful job*" This communal working is called by the Cherokee, "gad!Q%gl" This word is probably related in some way to the word for breed, "gadoo" and the word for a political unit, "skadOogi" In most Cherokee full-blood communities, the commu­ nal work was under the leadership of the "little captain," (oos-di skai-gunst), the local officer of the Ketoowah Society. 82 It can be seen that the Cherokee economy was almost self sufficient; but now In the *90*s, the Cherokee were beginning to be drawn into the cash economy of Western civilization* Periodic trips were made to the trading centers, which were usually in the railroad towns or other urban centers in the Cherokee Eation* There were some country stores in this area which were usually run by mixed-bloods or inter-married whites* The full-bloods would usually go in extended family groups to trade at these centers * Sometimes they would stay a day or more, (Today, when the full-blood shops, he likes to take his time, and if hurried or nhigh-pressured11 will just answer.less and less*) The items bought at these stores were: flour, sugar, tobacco, clothing, and coffee, (Today a lot of coffee is consumed by the full-bloods-=and the Cherokee has a reputation among the Creeks for being an excessive coffee drinker*) The articles purchased were paid for in barter or, more often, in cash. The clothing that was bought by the Cherokee was the usual frontier type of garments, A decade earlier most of the clothing was made of homespun by the women, A Cherokee man wore boots, usually made by a native cobbler, sometimes with wooden nails. They were the knee-high, low-heeled "miners boots," Most of the full-blood men affected a "Western" type of hat. The women wore the full-length dresses adopted in the earlyiipart of the century, and usually tied a bright handker­ chief on their heads. Some of the younger women# however# were beginning to affect fashionable clothes of the era. Most of the pictures of the full=bloods at that time show them in this attire. The,Gherokee were beginning to get caught up in the picture-taking phase of American life. Most families have pictures from the era of their relatives. The men formerly had worn their hair cut below the ear# and many much longer than that; but it was beginning to become customary to wear short hair# as the pictures show. As well as being social gathering places# the trading centers advanced credit for the full-bloods,- After the payment of money to the Cherokee Hat ion for the rent of the Cherokee Strip# the full-bloods around Braggs# Oklahoma# deposited their money with the local trader# an intermarried citizen# so that he had in his possession tens of thousands of dollars. The temptation was too great and he absconded with the money# leaving his wife and child and the trading establishment. On the whole# however# the land payments helped bolster Cherokee economy. The money received from a large cattle association for the rent of the Cherokee Strip was issued individually to the Indians at various stations throughout the Cherokee Hation, Old timers say you eouldn8t walk for the drunk Indians for miles around the stations. The various outlaws were busy robbing them as they lay. But many full-bloods made provident use of their money. 84 Re,dbird Smith built a new house with his issue. In the nineties, this issue was spoken of as "bread money." ■ Some of the full«=bloods were left out of one or more of these issues. It was necessary to register previously in order to be able to draw individual money. And some of the full-bloods unfamiliar with legislative machinery failed to register. As stated before, a typical Cherokee community extended along a stream and was made up of one or more extended fami­ lies , The bi-lateral extended family is very important in Cherokee life today, and was at that time, Cherokee kinship terminology had shifted somewhat, but was based upon the matrilineal clan of earlier days, although certain changes had been made in the structure to take care of 1 a shift from the matrilineal. The Cherokee, as today, had very large families, and there was a close feeling of kinship on both sides of the family. As One Cherokee man said, "Seems like every time I meet a pretty girl, she turns out to be a cousin." . The clan at this time had almost been forgotten. Many people did not.know their clan, and others would not tell, for fear of black magic. The name of a person and his clan is used in the rites of black magic, or as they say in Okla­ homa in "conjuring."

^Spoehr, A., Changing Kinship Systems, Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropological■Papers, Vol. 33i No, 4* pp» 180-90. 85 Most of the rules based on clan status regulating personal behavior toward individuals were forgotten, The intermarriage between clan members# the selection of-mates from certain clans# the joking relationships# had all lapsed° A taboo had grown up against intermarriage of blood relations on either side. On the Cherokee reservation in Worth Carolina# the first thing one asked of a strange Cherokee was# "What is your elan? and what was your father * s clan?" This was done in order to determine the status in relation to oneself# so that the proper behavior and kinship term could be used. One of the things which they express great surprise about in Worth Carolina is the fact that some Oklahoma Cherokee when visiting there will not tell their clan. By this time# the emphasis in Cherokee family life had shifted to the male line. The man was head of the house. It was the pattern for the male when marrying to bring his wife and settle around his. own community. However# there was not a hard and fast rule about this# and sometimes the couple would settle in the community of the wife or move to another one, (And# even though the pattern had shifted at this time# the Cherokee still did not have the strict patrilineal dominance of the ordinary Southern white,) Women were excluded from participation in politics in the Cherokee Hation# and it was almost as much of a shock to the sensibilities of many of the full-bloods when the women "got the vote" as it was to the Southern white. 86 The father controlled the Cherokee family to a large degree, and the close relation of mother’s brother to the children was not in evidence. Somewhat stricter control was used with the children than in former times. But even so, this control was very limited, John Smith spoke of the time %y father drove me to school with a long switch"; but after more determined resistance was offered by John the matter was dropped, Cherokees today say that the children were more well-behaved than now— although this might be a looking-back into the "golden age," Today, Cherokee children exhibit the personality traits which go along with Cherokee culture and are very well-behaved generally, according to white standards. The mother still, however, as in former times, had a great deal of control over the children;, and Cherokees were apt to listen to the counsel of their elders, even when they them­ selves were in advanced years. The pattern of marrying was usually arranged by the boy and the girl themselves— although the counsel of the parents was influential in their decision, Cherokee girls required almost as much courtship and attention as did the white girls of the era. However, Cherokees accept the act more readily than whites that economic security is influential in a woman’s decision in picking a mate. One informant told a story which hinges on this point and is an example of Cherokee humor, He said that, when he was a young man, his brother and a friend went over one night to court one oftbe local belles. They had on their best clothes* new boots, and rode fine saddle horses with good saddles» One of the local boys was there, calling on the same girl® He was without family and had to live back In the woods, very poorly® He rode a.donkey which was so old that his ears hung down and all the hair was off one side- For a saddle, the boy had a mattress thrown "on the donkey * s back and he carried a musket, . as long as he was tall® To turn the donkey, it was necessary to prod him in the side of the head with the musket® When all the boys were sitting at the girl8s house, the subject of their, qualifications for a husband came up, and they in turn expounded their virtues® When it came time for the poorest young man, he said, “You look at those boys there- They8re dressed in fine clothes and.ride good saddle horses. But every stitueh they have on their back and the fine saddle horses belong to their fathers.11 Because of this he found favor in the girl8s eyes. Today, young men will tell girls how much cattle or prop- erty they have. Although nominally Baptist, they have never taken on the strict moral code of American whites® And sex laxity was not greatly censured® The rate of illegitimacy is very high among the Gherokees of past times and today. But usually, regardless of this fact, a girl will be able to get married later® The attitudes of condoning sexual laxity in females and illegitimacy probably goes back to the time when the matrilineal clan was strpng among the Gherokees® The Cherokee Hat ion8 a legal system provided for civil marriage in the courts. But not many full-bloods went through this rite, preferring to be married by an Indian preacher, or, as informants say, just "take up together"— -or a "blanket mar­ riage," Divorces were simply a parting of the way, when people could not get along. In Cherokee, you say "to divide the blankets" for divorce. The extended family of the mother usually absorbed the economic obligation to the children. By this period in Cherokee history, the prevailing reli­ gion among the ful 1-bloods was the Baptist, Each community had a Baptist church, usually built of logs, and in a central location, so that it could be easily reached. Many times, brush arbors were built by the side of the church, for summer use. These arbors are reminiscent of the old brush arbors of the ceremonial dance grounds of the Southeast, The church was highly organized, somewhat after the fashion of southern white Baptist churches. But each church was almost an autonomous unit. The community helped in erecting new build­ ings and keeping the church up. The women had quilting bees and communal church activities, and community life revolved around this center. Nearly every community had a lay native preacher, who was usually a farmer as well as a preacher. All services were con­ ducted in the Cherokee language, and the preaching style is almost identical with the old ceremonial speaking style used 89 on the old ceremonial grounds« The Bible was translated into Cherokee by the famous missionaries, Evan Jones and his son, John. Because of the use of the Cherokee language many of x the "Biblical" concepts follow older Cherokee religious thought. Also, some Christian concepts are obscured, because of the lack of exact translation into the Cherokee language. However, this translation is excellent considering the great handicaps. A few passages are obscured, possibly intentionally, in order not to lend validity to certain,older Cherokee concepts which the missionaries wanted to "weed out." Hymns are trans­ lated into Cherokee, many of them the standard hymns sung in white churches in the South. Others were composed by the Gherokees, following the general pattern of hymn music set by the early missionaries. However, this music was altered to fit the Cherokee language and the Cherokee melodic pattern. Much of the singing by the Cherokee has a medieval European flavor. These hymns are one of the greatest attractions that the Baptist church holds for the Cherokee. Even pagan Gherokees today go to Baptist meetings just to hear the hymn singing. It is doubtful whether the Cherokee of the period ' understood the Christian doctrines in the same way as white Baptists. Even today, young Cherokee preachers make most

surprising statements relative to Christian doctrine. - And the stricter aspects of the Baptist moral code were never wholly taken on. 9° The preachers and the men In the church organization were usually leaders among the full-bloods. The religious and political life of the period was intermeshed« There is no real separation in the Cherokee mind between church and state. The full-bloods of that time usually had all day meetings and had "dinner on the ground.," during the day. Host churches had a small "cookhouse" nearby where food was prepared. At some time in the year, usually around September, there was a meeting of all the Cherokee Baptists, This was held for about four days, with.hymn-singing and preaching throughout the entire period.r People came and camped. The meeting usually took place at about the same time that the old Green Corn cere­ mony had occurred. At the present time, this meeting is usually held just east of Talequah, Oklahoma. The meeting also served to bring together young people from all over the Cherokee Nation and was a chance to meet old friends. The full-bloods always made a social as well as a religious holiday of their meetings. By this period in Cherokee history, "stomp dancing" (Indian dancing) had stopped. The dancing did not stop immedi­ ately, but went through a gradual decline. Also, there were now missionaries in the Cherokee Nation who were very much against Indian dancing and preached to the full-bloods against it. Some of the full-bloods were beginning to see a dichotomy between some oof the old aboriginal customs, such as Indian 91 dancing*, and the Christiian religion<> Before this times there, had been a general combination of the two patterns, as there was among the Greeks at this period, The Greeks would go to 11 stomp dances" all Saturday night and to church in the morning, . There was a minority in the Cherokee Nation who still held to the old religion as much as possible. As the old ceremonial pattern had broken down, this minority was left with no formal religion since they did not participate in the Baptist pattern. The Smith family was one of these. And it was this small core of conservatives which became the core of the Redbird Smith movement, A pyase of Cherokee culture, which had survived into the 990fs was the complex medical lore of former times. This lore consisted of ritualized prayers and herbs for curing. And it was from these ritualized prayers that much of the religious thought and concepts of the Redbird Smith movement could be reconstructed, The medical lore of the Cherokee is unbelieva­ bly complicated, and to be a medicine man requires a great store of knowledge. Each medicine man usually had a book in which the ritual prayers were written in the Cherokee alphabet, Some of these books are many pages long. The knowledge was perpetually being added to. The Cherokee of Oklahoma did not have a great vari­ ety of herbs such as they did in the mountain regions of the South, There in the southern Appalachians, several different plant zones existed, because of the height of the moutains, ' 92 Here,tin Oklahoma, the hills were only high enough to include one life zone* But even after one hundred years, the medicine men of today in Oklahoma know herbs whinh grow in the "old country, " "Tsa,la-gi oo-we-tl " The herb11ore was being added to by experience and accul­ turation from white herb specialists. Medicine men are always discovering new herb remedies. One of George Smith 8s most successful medicines was purchased from a travelling white herb specialist for the sum of $20.00. The medicine man's prayers are added to by dreams. George Smith has, at times, dreamed medicine songs and short prayers, and so has John smith. But, by and large, the origins! of the complicated ritual prayers are very ancient. Actual prayers, that is the asking of a deity to accomplish a specific purpose, is found only in the prayers to the most powerful deities. The minor spirits are commanded to do some­ thing. ^ ' The Cherokee Baptists see no conflict in going to a medi­ cine man and being a staunch Baptist. Many staunch Baptists today are medicine men themselves. And there are Baptist preachers who are skilled in this specialt^y They see no conflict in preaching Christianity and praying to the Thunder to cure disease» Most, of the prayers are used in curing the sick. But others are also used in hunting. Songs are also used.

Mooney, James, The Swimmer Manuscript, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bull. 99, p* 20. 93 There were doctors in the Cherokee Eat!on— mixed-bloods as well as white. But the full~bloods made little use of them, preferring their own medicine men. Many of the people at that time, especially the medicine men, knew the old scared myths. The myths were not as sacred as in former times., because now an alternate had entered Cherokee culture--the sacred myths of the Bible. In former times, to learn the great sacred myths, it was necessary to go through special training. A young novice, desiring to learn these traditions, would meet at night with the older tradition keepers of the tribe in one of the small houses of of the Cherokee. There, after talking all night, they would go to the river in the morning for a purification rite. This consisted of having the hearers of the myths strip themselves and be scratched by a bone scratcher, after which they would wade out into the stream and face the rising sun while the priest recited the appropriate prayers on the bank. This purification rite is a very Important ritual performance.^ However, at this time, the myths were not this sacred. Most of the people at this time knew something about the Cherokee deities, such as the Bun, the Fire, and 'the Thunder. There was also supposed to be a race of "little people,H in Cherokee, "y^n-wi-oos-di," a race of perfectly formed small people thought to live under the "bluffs." The world was peopled with other spirits, and the Cherokee are very afraid

1Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokee, p. 230. 9k of witches. Another great fear is the fear of black magic. There are many ritualistic prayers which can be used for making an­ other person sick, causing death, and other bad happenings. There are also prayers for success in love® This black magic is called “conjuring1* in Oklahoma. Pear of witches and conjuring looms large in the Cherokee mind. Conversation around these topics takes up a good deal of Cherokee time. The active art of black magic was practised more in the !90fs than it is today, but the fear of being conjured is now just as strong as formerly. Much sickness is laid at the door of these practices. Many Cherokees today, while going to church meetings, will take their own lunch instead of eating the food provided there, for fear that it may be conjured, . Girls are also afraid many times to talko to a boy because of fear of a former girl friend. As can be seen from the foregoing material, the life of the full-blood was fairly well cut off from that of the rest of the Cherokee in general. There was one institution in which full-bloods participated, which brought together most of the factions among the Cherokee citizens. This was the tribal government. The capital of the Cherokee Hation was at Talequah. And the present County Courthouse of Cherokee county, Oklahoma, was the capitol building. This town was.the only true Cherokee urban center. Many of the “aristocratic11 mixed-bloods lived around Talequah<, And there are many other mixed-blood fami­ lies in the.District= The Cherokee government was modeled along the lines of the United States government» There were two houses, a lower and an upper house, the lower house being formed of representatives according to population, and the upper house having two delegates from each district» The whole organization was called the Council« ' There x^as also a chief and a second chief and executive councilo This was the governing body of the Cherokee Hation» During the 890rs, the lower house had a great many full-, blood representativeso The speeches were in English or Chero­ kee according to which was the language of the representative speaking, and several interpreters'were provided to translate from English to Cherokee and from Cherokee to English« However, the full-bloods were in the minority* Before, the numerical superiority of the full-bloods had allowed them to control the policies of the Cherokee Motion* But after 1887, when Chief Dennis Bushyhead went out of office, the mixed-

( blood faction was able to control the politics of the Cherokee Motion* The .mixed-bloods were very proficient in English and had many educated men among them, such as doctors, lawyers, and other specialists who had been educated in the "States." During this period, the more subtle politicians of the mixed-blood faction were.able to outmaneuver the more direct full-bloods. Formerly in the Cherokee Motion, politics and issues had revolved around individual leaders, but now in the 96 t'9-01 s', the issue of the eoming dissolution of the Cherokee Nation was becoming clear. The National party usually repre­ sented the full-blood interest, and the Downing party the inixed-blood interests. The dichotomy between the two factions had reached the point where it pervaded every, aspect of Cherokee life. For instance, the marker in the yard, of the Cherokee capital build­ ing,- now the Cherokee County Courthouse, was erected to General Stand Watie, The full-bloods had wanted to put up a marker to Sequoyah and resented this tribute to one of the leaders of the old Treaty party, a general of the Cherokee Confederate forces. But they were outvoted by the members of the Downing party. By this time, most of the mlxed-bloods, or half-breeds, spoke little, or no, Cherokee, and communication was almost cut off between the two factions. The terms “half-breed” and “full-blood“ are to a large extent cultural designations. Most of the mlxed-bloods were less than one-fourth Indian, Since the original split into the two factions, the mlxed- bloods had intermarried very extensively with the whites and with other mixed-bloods. This widened the gap of cultural difference as the years went by. The term “full-blood,“ as it was used in this time, refers to the faction which was predominantly Indian in blood, lan­ guage, and culture. However, even at this time,there were few actual pure blooded Cherokees left. But intermarriage in this conservative group had been cut off to a large extent after 97 the removal to Oklahoma, Host of the %mll-bloods" had some white ancestors5 but they were now several generations back. For instance? George Smith's great grandfather? on his mother's side? was a white man? as was also his great grandfather on his father's side„ There is probably white blood from other sources in the family also. But? at this time? if both of your parents spoke Chero­ kee, you were considered a full-blood, In the Cherokee Hation at this time there were about twenty-five thousand Cherokee citizens. Approximately nlhe thousand of these belonged to the fhll-blood faction. There were four thousand Hegro freedmen? and the rest of the citizens were mixed-bloods. For the first time in Cherokee history? the mixed-bloods were outnumbering the full-bloods. The Hegro vote was also important, but it was usually flswung” by mixed-bloods. As John Smith says? nThe 'full-blood never had a chance under the tribal, government, ” The Hegro did not hold the same place in Cherokee society as in Creek and Seminole societies? for instance. In those Indian Hations the Hegro sided many times with the full-blood. In the Cherokee Hation most of the Hegroes had been owned by the wealthy mixed-blood class. And the Cherokee Hegro followed the general cultural pattern of the American Hegro,

^Wardell? M. L,, A Political History of the Cherokee Hation? pp, 2 8 3 ? 333® - 98 There was very little contact between-the full-blood and the Negro. The freedmen lived in the rich Arkansas bottoms and west of the Grand River» There was very little intermar­ riage between the Negro citizens and other Gherokeeso In the Greek Nation, on the other hand, many Negroes spoke Creek, went to Green Corn dances, sang Creek .songs, and were culturally full-blood Creeks. There was also quite a bit of intermarriage between, the Greeks and the freedmen. More conservative Creeks had owned slaves, and the slaves had acculturated to conservative Greek ways and language. Very few of the full-bloods in the Cherokee Nation, how­ ever, had owned any slaves, and there is some prejudice of the full-blood against the Negro. The Negro is considered too noisy by the ful1-blood. Cherokee politics had all the lusty qualities of frontier American polities. Candidates running for office stumped the country making speeches. Political rallies and barbecues were ,held. Election time was the signal for flare-ups of violence just as it was in the rest of the rural South. Whiskey was always plentiful around the polling places, as it was at any festival time. Votes were recorded by a clerk at the polling centers. Only the areas with large c on cent rat 1 ons v 6‘f full-bloods were able to send full-bloods to the lower House. The Cherokee Nation had a system of courts modeled some­ what after those of the United States, with a supreme court and courts for each district. The -court procedure, as well as 99 all the procedures of the Cherokee government# was tempered by the personality of the full-bloods. On paper# the govern­ ment and courts, of the Cherokee Nation seemed to be exactly like that of an average state. And this is what mixed=blood leaders were striving for. But the full-bloods altered the systems to fit their concepts.. These tribal courts# as well as politics# developed many successful politicians and lawyers of the future state of Oklahoma. Many of the mixed-blood politicians like to tell stories of these days in the Indian Territory# particularly about dealings with the full-blo.ods# much as the now successful urban Southerner tells about his backwoods relatives# or modern Americans of Irish descent tell about the first Irish immigrants. Court procedure and court time were often bogged down by Indian temperament and habit. For instance# full-blood

, witnesses often took hours of court time telling in consci­ entious detail about the physical aspects of a certain scene# whether they had been present at the actual time the crime took place or not. Cherokee justice was swift and direct# particularly in courts where full-blood judges presided. Before this decade# Cherokee courts had been almost autonomous# except insofar as the Intercourse Acts were con­ cerned— such as the transporting of whiskey into Indian Terri­ tory and cases between a United States citizen and a Cherokee Univ. of Arizona Library 100 citizen® Throughout.this period, however, more and more authority was stripped from Indian courts and put Into the % 'hands of Federal courts. The Cherokee nation had a system of law enforcement with sheriffs and deputies for each Dis­ trict, but more and more United States marshalls were taking over their functions. The educational system of the Cherokee Nation was as good as or better than that of the Southern states. There were two high schools and one hundred primary schools. Also, four­ teen primary schools and one high school were provided for Negro citizens. Also, there were twelve mission schools func­ tioning at this time. There was an orphan asylum. And ehil- ' 2 dren of non-citizens had their own subscription schools. However, although this outwardly presented a high level of education, the full-bloods were still largely uneducated. Among the mixed bloods, on the other hand, there were very highly educated men, such as lawyers and doctors and other professional men who had attended the schools of the Cherokee Nation and Universities in the states. Although schools were provided equally for the full-blood districts, educational methods at this time for teaching non- English speakers were very poor. The Cherokee full-bloods set a high premium on education, but nevertheless most of them did not go to school for more than a few years, if at all, prima­ rily because of the language handicap. Redbird Smith, for

1Ibido, p. 152. 2Ibld., p. 155. 101 instance,, wanted very much that his sons become educated and. was much in favor of schools« He urged his oldest son to be­ come educated at least to the point of becoming a very good interpreter; and being an interpreter of the Cherokee language requires an excellent knowledge of English as well as a facil­ ity with languageo Most of the full-bloods over forty spoke very little English, if any. And it was only the young men at that time who were learning English to any great extent,

Even today there are quite a few people who were young men and women at that time who speak very little English, The Cherokee Hation had a fairly good road system but citizens were not required to work on the roads, neighbor­ hoods took care of their roads. Even today many of the coun­ try roads built then are in very good shape. Older Indians, when riding through.the country, will always remark about which roads are 11 Indian roads,n All functions of the Cherokee government were achieved without financial help from its citizens. The interest on the money for the sale of Cherokee land to the United States provided enough to sustain the courts, government, support of the schools, etc. The Cherokee personality of this time was very much like that of today. And it may draw its roots from far back in

t the past. The Cherokees in Oklahoma today seem to an outsider to be stoical. However, among themselves the full-bloods laugh and Joke quite a bit, although they are hardly ever 102 boisterous. They earn be characterized as having a quiet jovi­ ality. Because of bitter past experience, they are suspicious of strangers? but are still very hospitable<, Cherokee behavior as compared to whites is quiet* and many Cherokees can be in a crowd and still make very little noise. Even at large gatherings* the atmosphere can be described as a “quiet hubbub,“ The Cherokee try to avoid conflict situ­ ations* such as direct and open criticism and arguments. How­ ever, when aggression does come into the open it is apt to come in the form of violence. However, the full^bloods were not so prone to violence as the frontier whites. Much of this aggression was expressed in the form of gossip and even the Cherokee men were great gossipers. When aggression comes to the surface in the form of criticism, arguments, or violence it causes enmity between individuals. On the level of the society as a whole it caused factionalism. Full-blood Cherokee culture is highly organized and does not allow for much difference of opinion as does American culture. There is no channeling of factionalism. When the break does come there is no reconciliation and no common ground for the factions to meet on. There is no other course to take but for one faction to go one way and the other faction another way. This can be seen in the actions of the Ketoowah Society and the Ketoowahs Inc. in the first part of the twentieth century, and in the modern factions of the full-bloods.1

1 This description of Cherokee personality is only a layman*s impression and is designed only to give the reader a general impression. 103 The full-bloodsbecause of their eomparatively easy eco­ nomic life# had a great deal of leisure time and much of this was spent in amusements. The communal nature of Cherokee culture brought together groups of people to engage in activ­ ities » The full-bloods always made a social gathering out of their communal workings and church activities. The full- bloods like to gather in large groups. They like to go fish­ ing together# to walk to church together# to eat together# and to gather in crowds and visit together. Since statehood# the full-bloods have followed the Ameri­ can rural pattern of going to town on Saturday# and they make a great event of this. They circulate around# shaking hands and visiting with friends# wandering in and out of shops and standing on the streets 11 just. looking,18 The Oherokees are great watchers. They also visited a great deal. The full-bloods liked to gamble quite a bit. Men liked to sit under the shade trees and play cards in the afternoon. On weekends# there were usually all night card games going on# particularly in the boom towns. 1 Horse racing was also quite a sport# and many of the rich mixed-bloods kept blooded horses. There were race tracks in many parts of the Cherokee Nation. There were also quite a few herds of wild horses (in the Cherokee Nation) and great horse drives were undertaken. The full-bloods like to ride horses and work with cattle. They io4 always had a great many more horses than they needed. And even today many of them are “horse poor.0 Another gambling game was “Corn Stalk Shoots.0 This game is played by piling com stalks about two feet high in a bundle and shooting at them from a distance of over one hundredyy.ards. The arrow has a long spike on the end of it and the score is reckoned by how many cornstalks the arrow pierces => Teams were organized, and one team would shoot against another all day. Each team had its captain and its own medicine man. The team members would meet at the river and the medicine man would make medicine all night. In the morning, the team would be put through the purification rite of “going to the water.” The medicine man would divine to see if they were strong -enough in medicine, and, if not, would continue his arts. Sometimes the corn stalk shoot would not get underway until two in the afternoon., In former days, large numbers of people engaged in a corn stalk shoot3 sometimes one District shooting against another, with hundreds of people gathered together, A lot of wagering was done on the game and a great deal of money changed hands. Also, the art of conjuration was practiced, because of the gambling involved, George Smith tells of one time when he was conjured in a match so that his arm knotted up and he could not pull the bow. After this he decided to quite, because, he declared, “There wasn^t much to that corn stalk shooting.'1 The Cherokee ball game with its ceremonialism was not being played at this time. Square dancing was well-liked by the full-bloodSj, and many of them played the fiddle or some other stringed instrwaont. The full-bloods are unusually musical and like all types of singing and music. A. real regional type of square dance music and general folk music grew up in the Indian Territory. Many songs and tunes are characteristic of this region, such as square dance tunes like 11 Fort Smith,n and "The Creek Hat ion Even today many full-bloods play at the country dances in the area. In 195)1, an elderly Indian woman, about sixty years old won easily over all competition in the old time fiddlers con­ test at the Sqquoyah County Fourth of July celebration. Many of the social events were accneted with whiskey drinking and fighting. At this time a wave of outlawry de­ scended on the Cherokee UStion, and many of the full-bloods were caught up in it* This was a symptom of the social dis­ organization of the time and had happened before in Cherokee history at such times.: After the Removal to Oklahoma, there was a minor civil war between the Ross faction rand the members of the Treaty party. Also, during and immediately after the Civil War was the great era of turbulent days for which the Indian Terri­ tory is noted. The boom towns along the railroad were like all frontier towns, and the Indian Territory was a haven for outlaws. Law enforcement was inadequate, and whiskey flowed into the Indian Territory. io6 John Smith tells of a time when., on a "bender" with a friend in Port Smith, they shipped several, cases of liquor to their home town by railway express® They came back on the train loaded down with whiskey and managed to intimidate the TJ. S . marshall on the train by holding their guns on him® They got off safely in their home town® One John Childers, a full-blood postmaster at Sallisaw, in. the Indian Territory, brought in at one time two hundred barrels of whiskey. There were also illegal "stills" in the Cherokee nation. As George'Smith expressed it, "Every night, you could hear somebody whooping and shooting off their guns."

. - The Federal court at Port Smith, Arkansas, under the famous Judge Isaac Parker, hanged eighty-eight white and Indian outlaws during this period and sentenced another eighty-four to be hanged = Many of the full-bloods who were involved in this wave of outlawry became famous— or infamous. Life was cheap at this time, and many of the stories told by informants would seem exaggerated if written as modern fiction. It is probable that much of the outlawry among the full-bloods wassbecause of resentment from being arrested by U. S.. marshals and not being , tried by their own courts. Most of the full-bloods were sympa­ thetic to these outlaws and made..their capture very difficult. The Cherokee sheriffs of the various Districts were very effi­ cient, however. These sheriffs were thought to know a lot of i medicine, and many of them used the old war medicine in their activities. 107 One famous sheriff of the Illinois District was Johnson Mannic, Johnson Mannlc at one time killed six outlaws with a six shooter when they were robbing the town of Braggs# Okla­ homa 0 He accomplished this against men with Winchester rifles# by riding straight into town where.the outlaws had herded all the citizens into the middle of the town# and he continued run­ ning towards them scooting# after his horse had been shot out from under him, Johnson Mannic was believed to "know a lot of medicine," Mose Miller and his companion# Will Hails# were two full- Iglood outlaws, of the period who also used ‘"me d 1 cine" in their escapades 0 * One of the ways they eluded capture was by divina­ tion with a quartz crystal, or "dragon scale#" as it is known in Cherokee# to divine with, So they knew when the law officers were approaching. One of the most famous outlaws of this period was lied Christie, He was a gunsmith by trade# spoke good English# and was a member of the Cherokee Council® When the Council was in session in Talequah# he killed a TJ. S. marshal when drunk® He was later shot in the nose and wascured by a medicine man® He supposedly became embittered and refused to speak English, He became one of the most famous outlaws in Indian Territory and held out against TJ. S. marshals for over seven years« He built a log fort with a rock wall around it in the present Bidding Springs in Adair County# Oklahoma. He was finally killed by thirteen TJ. S. marshals who used a three pound cannon and 108 dynamite to blast him out of his fort. Some of the full^blood outlaws of this period later beeame peaceful citizens, and one, Jess Pigeon, became one of the leaders in the Bedbird Smith movement. Cherokee culture had by this time progressed far along the road of acculturation, by' all outward appearances. To the traveler in Indian Territory, the life of the full-bloods would seem in many respects similar to that of the frontier Whites. The fuH-bloods lived in log houses, dressed in frontier clothes, and went to the. Baptist church. However, much of the accultura­ tion was in form only. The Baptist church as an institution had replaced the old ceremonial town organization; but it had taken on many of the forms and meanings of this former organi­ zation. The Baptist church was still organized highly as had been the old ceremonial towns, and many of the concepts of the Baptist church ..had been combined with older ones. The medical lore remained almost Intact. The greatest absolute change had probably taken place in social organization* The goals and ethos of Cherokee culture were fundamentally unchanged. Judging from Bartram!s account in the eighteenth century, discounting his romantic tendencies, the personality structure seemed to be primarily the same. One of the best examples of this process of acculturation in Cherokee life can be illustrated by the concept of land tenure. Although a full-blood family lived in individual home­ steads and farmed Individually to some extent, there was no 109 real concept of Individual land ownership* The full-bloods traded homesteads and sometimes sold improvements on land* But a man was thought to have use of the land only as long as he occupied it* The land itself belonged communally to the whole Gherokee people. This concept was one of the bases for resistance to the allotment. Even today, there are full-bloods who have no real understanding of individual land ownership. They give lip service to present Aneriean system, but the majority still think in terms of the older concept* A good example of the fact that the basic concepts, goals, and ethos of Gherokee culture were present can be shown in the various adjustments that different tribes in Oklahoma have made to American "civilization." The Southern Plains tribes were settled in western Oklahoma. They were outwardly, at this time, much less aeculturated than the full-blood Gherokee. Yet these tribes have made a far better adjustment, probably because of more Individualistic tendencies in the aboriginal pattern, than have the full-blood Gherokee. The acculturation of the full-blood Gherokees can best be summed up by the following statement of Angie Debo in The Road to Disappearance in which she is.writing about the full-blood Creeks who had acculturated in primarily the same way as the full-blood Gherokees; "Although the Greeks attained a measure of what the white man defines as 8civilization,8 their greatest strength always lay in their native steadfastness. They:’£dbuld~- and did--ehange their style of dress, they were -quick to 110 see the advantage of planting peach trees around their dwellings or buying an ax from a trader, they were glad to,, substitute the convenience of owning domestic animals for the uncertainties of the chase, they even established schools as a measure of self-defense, and they found in Christianity a compensation for the loss of their ancient faiths but the attempt to replace their group loyalties with the white man’s individualism brought a spiritual collapse from which they never fully recovered. After all the ’civilizing8 work of their missionaries and agents, they-remained to the end essentially unchanged, and their hope of survival still rested upon the unyielding tenacity of their native traits,"!

1Debo, Angie, The Road to Disappearance, p, x, para, 2. CHAPTER I I I

THE REDBUD SMITH MOVEMENT

The term., Reibird Smith movement, is an artificial one applied to the nativistic revival spearheaded by Redbird Smitho The Cherokee have no specific term which they apply to the events in this, period, The term was coined by the author, and is used only for the sake of convenience» The term takes its name from the man who was to become the guid­ ing force and leader and who is looked upon by the Cherokee of today as being largely responsible for the events and happenings in this movement« Redbird Smith,-or TW#^b4#a. Bi-qua-nits (Redbird Little Pig) was born July 19, 18^0, when his family was moving from around Fort Smith, Arkansas, further west in the Indian Terri­ tory. He was of the Wolf clan. His mother was the daughter of a German miller named Sehrimseher and a full-blood Chero­ kee woman* His father Pig Smith, Si-qua-nits (Little Pig), a black­ smith by trade, although not mentioned in written Cherokee history, was one of the leaders of the full-bloods throughout his lifetime, especially of the very conservative element. He had been a captain in the old Cherokee organization in the east and was one of the conservatives who first moved west to form the Arkansas Gherokees = He had a large part in the forma- 111 112 tion and organization of the Ketoowah Society in 18^9» During the Civil War, Pig Smith went to Kansas with Gpothle Tahola, the leader of the full-blood Greeks. He was prominent in the Inter-tribal Councils held before the Civil War and had gre&t influence among the Plains.Indians, A story told by John Smith illustrates this point» "Back before the Civil War, Pig Smith used to go out to the Great Salt Plains in western Oklahoma to hunt the buffaloe. One time a bunch of Osages stole the horses of the party he was hunting with. They went right in the Osage camp and got the Osage chief to return their horses He was a man who knew a great deal of medicine, especially for war, and during the Civil War, even though an elderly man, he would rush into the enemy lines and return with a scalp un­ harmed. He was president of the Cherokee Senate in 1870. He died shortly after this, in 1870 or-1-871* Although he died when his son was a youngster, he pro­ vided him with a teacher to instruct him in the lore of the Cherokee. Phis is the family tradition, as given by John Smiths "Sometime after the Civil War, the Ketoowahs held a meet­ ing at the Saline Lakes near what is now Salina, Oklahoma. All the people camped outtup there. All the old men at that time were seers. They kept themselves clean with medicine. They could see a long ways ahead. Phe medi­ cine men investigated the future of the Ketoowahs. Phey saw that Pig Smith8s seed would be the leader of the Ketoowahs in the time of their greatest trouble. Pig , Smith saw his life was short and his son was just a boy. He looked for a man to teach his son the ways of the Ketoowahs and guide him spiritually. He decided on Creek Sam, a Uatchee Indian, He told him he would leave his son in his care and teaching and that he would be his adviser even to the time of his (Pig Smith’s) grandchil­ dren." - 113 According to George Smith-, the medicine men found that Redbird Smith would also "get back what the Ketoowahs lost," meaning the wampum belts of the Cherokee* Creek Sam was Redbird Smithfs teacher and adviser through- out his lifetime, "even to his grandchildren." He was born in the old Cherokee Mation in the east before the Removal and was part Cherokee. One of his earliest memories was the Removal from the east when he was a small boy. Someone had given him an old vest to wear on the trip and it was so long on him it dragged the ground« His family came into the Cherokee Mation in Going snake District, but later moved to. Matches town on the Illinois River* Creek Sam was well versed in the tribal lore of the Cherokee, Creek, and Matches. He was considered an expert on these matters * He was, also, a great seer* George Smith tells a story about him. "You know that old man, Greek Sam, sure knowed lots* He predicted all the machines like the airplane and car. One time when X was a boy he told me that 5one day there9d be slick roads running everywhere over the country.® I thought he meant railroads. I didn®t realize what he meant until.they started building these highways around the country." Redbird Smith grew up well schooled in the old Cherokee lore. Redbird Smith was a mild-mannered,, friendly man, "He was no great medicine man" but what he knew was good. He was not an illustrative speaker, but he "gave a good straight talk." This type of non-aggressive personality was the premium set Ilk by Gherokee culture on leaders <, If Bedblrd Smith had been more of an aggressive personality, he probably would not have had as great an influence on the full-bloods as he did* In 1889, there was a great revolution in the Ketoowah Society* Formerly, it had been strictly a secret society*

Before 1889, the Ketoowahs in the section of the Illinois'Dis­

trict where Bedblrd Smith lived, and met in secret in a deep ®hoiler,8 now known as "Redbird Holler/* and only people who joined were.to do so* Redbird Smith came to the first meeting here as a young man by himself; but when they saw him, they were glad to Btake him in” the organization* As George Smith

says, “Back then, you just paid your dollar and they took you in,” . " In 1 8 8 9 , a rump session of the Ketoowahs met at Long Valley in the Goingsmake District and drew up an amendment to the Ketoowah constitution* Formerly, the Society had met at 'Moody*s Spring in the lalequah District* The three men who were principally responsible for the amendment were Bluford

Sixkiller, Red Bullfrog, and “Old Man” Ghewey* These men were all prominent in Cherokee and in Ketoowah circles* They were the ones who “got it up*” George Benge was the head chairman of the Keetoowah Society at that time, with Daniel Redbird second chairman. Although George Benge was not pres­

ent at this particular rump session, he later approved the amendment.

This amendment provides that the Ketoowah Society be a 115 ' religions as well as a political institution® This was proba­ bly a revolt against the involvement in politics of the Ketoo- ,wah Society throughout the years® During the years the Ketoowah Society had been embroiled in the polities of the Cherokee Eation® It would seem from reading Cherokee history that many times the Society was used to advantage by politicians, which sometimes carried dissension in the ranks of the full-bloods» Judging from the later, ac­ tions of the men who promulgated the amendment they may have realized this situation and thought the amendment was more in keeping with the original purpose of the Society, that is, being more of a religious and moral organization than a politi­ cal one* After this time, the meetings were in the open, and a church was built at long Valley, where Christian services were held during the Ketoowah convention® This convention had formerly been held at Moody Springs for three or four days on the second Monday in August® The convention was changed to the second Monday in Septem­ ber® At these conventions all of the officers of the Ketoowah Society met along with many members and passed laws and deter­ mined Ketoowah policy® Before this time, Kedbird Smith had been a little captain, but after 1889 he rose rapidly and in a few years was soon head captain of the Illinois District® In 1890, he was also a member of the Cherokee Council® He had great influence on the people and officers of the Society= And during that time he was nalways preaching to them,n In 1 8 8 7 # the so-called Dawes Act was passed in Omgress» This called for the allotment of Indian land through out the U -. S., although the Five Civilized Tribes were exempted from this act because of treaty obligations held by the United States towards them. The delegates of the Five Civilized Tribes in Washington had worked earnestly to defer its pas- 1 sage. The next year an intertribal council met at Fort Cibson in the Cherokee Eation. Delegates of twenty-two tribes attend ed and two or three thousand people were there as spectators. The Plains tribes were very much disturbed by the Dawes Act as it affected them directly and most of the council's time and effort was put forth on this question. The council was held in the Cherokee Eation and S. H. 2 Benge, a Cherokee, was elected president of the council. This was the first inkling that the Cherokee people had of the coming allotment. However, it .is doubtful that this information diffused into the ranks of most of the full-bloods From this time on, after 1887 , the full-bloods began to feel more and more the encroachments of the white man.^ In 1 8 8 9 , the- Oklahoma Territory was opened to land settle ment. And all through this period, various reservations in

■1 - ■ iBbo,' Angle, The Boad to Disappearances, p. 320. 2Ibid., pa 3 4 3 . * 3Ibid. 117 western Oklahoma were being allotted and opened to white settlemento

. In l893s the Dawes Commission was appointed$ beaded by

Denator Henry L= Dawes, of Massachusetts, the famous author of the Dawes Aet of 1887, to negotiate with the Five Civilized

Tribes to extinguish the land titles, to allot the land, and

for the dissolution of the tribal government» This committee was first made up of three members, and was later, in 1895

increased to five» The Commission arrived in the Indian Terri-

tory in January 1894- and at once began negotiations. Of the other events going on in the Indian Territory at this time, such as the allotment of land to the Western tribes and the sale of the Cherokee Strip, none made as great an im­ pression on the full-bloods as the coming of the Dawes Commis­ sion, All though this period from this time on, the Dawes Com­ mission spent some part of the year negotiating with the Chero­ kee government, trying to make some type of agreement satisfac­ tory both to the United States and the Cherokee governments. However, no type of agreement which included land allotment and dissolution of the tribal government was satisfactory to the Cherokee people, especially to the full-KLoods, The Cherokee Hation appointed a committee to negotiate with the Dawes Com­ mission, Although the membership of this committee shifted

..... Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokee, pp, 153-1540 118 from time to time there were always several fiall~bl©©ds servinge Borne of these men, such as Deklnny Waters and Wolf Goon were to become leaders in the Redbird Smith movement, These nego­ tiations went on many months each year at Talequah after 1894 and were a constant symbol of coming disaster to the fmll-bloods® Another event which brought this feeling even closer home was the survey authorized by the Dawes Commission in l895» This survey took symbols of the power of the U, B, government up every l$hollerR in the Cherokee Eat ion and into all of the backwoods areas. While.the Dawes Commission was in Talequah, somewhat removed from daily life, the survey was being made across full-=blood farms® One white man who worked on the survey gives an account of the effect of the projects "That survey liked to seared those full-bloods to death. They would stand in the woods by the hour and watch us work, not moving or saying nothing, Borne of the bolder men that could speak English would come over and visit with us. They'd act like they was just passing the time of day, but all the time they'd be looking around," The next year in 1896 the Dawes Commission authorized a census of the Cherokee Eat ion. And this census had an effect, to a lesser extent, like that of the survey. All of these events— = the inter-tribal councils, the coming of the Dawes Commission, the surveys, and the census were begin­ ning to have an effect on the full=bloods, and about this time the first step was taken in the start of the nativistie revival. The Ketoowah leaders summoned Redbird Smith to a conference with them. They could see the handwriting on the wall and the Cherokee Ration's inability to deal with this situation. More positive action would have to be taken. 119 Bie Ketoowah leaders felt that the Ketoowahs were going down hill, that somewhere along the line they had taken a wrong turn» They felt that the calamities which were hefalling the

Cherokee Hat ion, such as the outlawry, the social dis6rganiza=* tion, and the encroachments of the white man were the fault of the fhll~hloods themselves0 Somewhere they had forgotten God 8s Buie, and because of this fact, God no longer was on their side6

Sie Ketoowah leaders, or head chairman, appointed Redbird Smith to “get back what the Ketoowahs had lost." A committee was appointed to help himo This committee consisted of Wilson

Girty, Anderson Gritts, and Red Bullfrog, with Charlie Scott later taking Red Bullfrog's place.

This year is marked, in the mind of George Smith, with an omen or sign. In the spring "After they had the first meeting of the committee, some •tedblrds with long tails lit in the trees near Red Bull­ frog 8s house. They crowed like roosters. Red was going to take his shotgun and drive them away, but he decided they meant something. They stayed all the year and left in the fall. They were never seen before in the Cherokee Ration. And they haven't been seen sinceo**

The first step that was taken to "get back what the Ketoo­ wahs had lost" was to recover the Cherokee wampum belts. The wampum belts, which had been in the hands of Chief John Ross, were now being kept by his son. Bob Ross. B e k i m y Waters and

Wilson Girty, both members of the Cherokee Council and District

eaptalh'S, Ih the. Ketoowah Society, were responsible for getting

the wampums back from Bob Ross. Bekimy Waters was one of the three captains in the Illinois District, and Wilson Girty was 120 one of the head captains in the Ganadiam District* Bekinny Waters was a very w© 11= respected man in the Cherokee Wat ions, and he served on the committee which the Cherokee Nation ap­ pointed to deal with the Dawes Commission. They talked to Bob Boss to get him to lend the wampiam to the Ketoowahs. Then they sent John Smith„ who wrote a note himself to Bob loss and got the wampnms« t$In the old days, it was the custom for the wampums to be kept by the chief155 but, after John Boss's death. Bob Boss considered them as a family heirloom. As John Smith said,

"The Ketoowahs just let John Boss keep the wampums „n Bob Boss was a prominent politician in the Cherokee Nation and had been a member of the Ketoowah Society during Civil War times. The Ketoowah .Society never returned the wampums to Bob Boss, feeling that they were justly the property of the group. Bob Boss later accosted John Smith in Port Gibson and asked for the return of the wampum belts. . They engaged in an argument in which John Smith told Bob Boss to take the ease into court if he wished, but "The blood will stop running in my veins, if you ever get the wampum belts back." When the Ketoowah Society first got possession of the wampums, they knew nothing of the interpretation of them. They knew that the belts were the fountaihhead of all Cherokee culture and the organ by which they could "get back what the

. Ketoowahs had lost*** 121 All the following acts of the great natlvistie revival stemmed from the Interpretation of these wampums* To the present day Qherokee, alsOj, the wampum belts have a lot of power» Aecording to John Smiths RIt is dangerous to handle them too muchp and if the chief who has them in his power does not do right the power will turn against him*'* Many present day Cherokees believe that the possession of the wam­ pums assures the chieftainship of the Ketoowah Society0 At first the Cherokee knew very little of the interpreta­ tion of the wampum belts*. When Redbird Smith first brought them to the Ketoowah convention, no one knew anything about them* And as George Smith says, HThere were a lot of old men up there too, but they weren't old enough to know about these wampums *11 The wampums, however, gradually became interpreted as tne Ketoowahs ’’gained knowledge * ” In other words, the warn- puns were interpreted in the light of the concepts of older

Cherokee culture*

Many of their concepts were recovered through the knowl­ edge of the ritualized medicine prayers which contained the concepts of the Cherokee religion, and after the movement had been under way for a period of time, the interpretations of the wampums had become greatly elaborated* The wampum belts today are not interpreted as fully as they were in previous times * Then, there was more of a stand­ ard interpretation for each wampum belt* At present, when

George Smith explains the wampum belts, he talks about ’’the The Wampum Belts

Left to right are John Smith, Redbird Smith, Bluford Sixkiller, and Oce Hogshooter. In John Smith1s right hand is a rattle made of a coconut. In Redbird Smith1s left hand is the Peace Pipe. He is wearing an "Indian suit” made in St. Louis and a turban given him by the Shawnee. In the foreground are crossed ball sticks, a water drum, and the Ketoowah "flag." In the background is the sacred fire with logs to the cardinal points; the west arbor of the four around the fire, and far in the background, is the ball-play ground. The ball post extends above the arbor with the round ball at the top. This picture was taken about 190$. 122 travelling of the White Path0 depicted on the wampums<> This is an appeal to the old Cherokee moral code of peacefulness, neighborliness, etc. He explains the wampums in only general terms and, even fifty years ago, the interpretation was com­

paratively generalized, with the theme of travelling the White

Path central in the explanation^ John Smith today is the acknowledged interpreter of the wampum belts. And although the wampums are not explained pub­

licly ..today, and are in possession of Chief Stokes Smith, John

Smith * s interpretation runs, in brief, as follows:

In the plate showing the picture of the wampum belts, the red belt on John Smith8s shoulder is interpreted as emphasiz­

ing and proving the origin of smoking the peace pipe around . the fire. This smoking of the pipe is supposed to work for

peace and to make ths atmosphere peaceful, as well as sending

prayers in the form of smoke to God» The pipe and the smoke

of this wampum is almost obscured by the wampum he holds in his left hand. The small wampum of white beads he holds is

usually drawn into the general scheme of the value of travel­

ling the White Path. The wampum held in the right hand of

Redbird Smith shows two- figures representing mankind at the end of the White Path which leads straight to Heaven— which

is shown at the end of the wampum belt. On the White Path in

this wampum, and not to be seen in the photo, are several symbols, /VX —— — , which are not explained, but which

have a meaning as sacred symbols. George Smith thinks that these are something like Masonic symbols,, that there may be a connection between these symbols and those used in the Masonic orderb - .

Redbird Smith holds in his left hand a large peace pipe. ®ae original pipe was smoked, according to tradition, at one of the Cherokee towns in Tennessee, where the Cherokees made peace and drew up their treaty with the Americans after the war of the Revolution. This pipe was supposed to have been smoked with George Washington* It was broken and a duplicate pipe was made to take its place.

The wampum belt held in the hand of Bluford Sixkiller is to commemorate the Council at which "All the Indians made peace among themselves."

The large wampum of white beads on Bluford Sixkiller8® right shoulder, is also interpreted as showing the desirability of the White Path. The small wampum on his left shoulder has three white crosses on a red field, with a red center for each cross.. This wampum is interpreted as showing the reason why the Cherokee must keep the sacred fires burning and cherish the other cultural traits which go along with these sacred firestbuA&lngf the moral values and traits are spoken of as being God 8s Rule, which He gave in earliest times to the Chero­ kee..

The wampum belt held in the hand of Gee Hawk shooter is interpreted by John Ba$th, as a result of a dream, as meaning that all classes of men are equal, that you should be hospitable 12% and share ycrar food with people who have none* that the three squares on the wampum are all the same size and are all level* meaning that all men* and classes of.men* should he level and the same*

Into this interpretation of the wampums the theme of

$teternal, peace with the white man” is woven* This concept is part of the general concept of the ttt€hite Path” and is eon- r nected with the supernatural sanction given to ”The Treaty” between the United States and the Cherokee Nation*

In mo d e m times the elaboration of the interpretation of the wampums is going on as it did in the 190 's* Stokes Smith * the present chief of the Ketoowah Society* showed the author the small white wampum which is shown in the plate* held in

John Smith8 s left hand* This wampum had been re strung and strips of buckskin had been woven into the wampum belt* divid­ ing it into seven sections* Chief Smith interpreted this wampum belt as symbolizing that “each of the seven elans had pledged to follow the Path of Peace (the White Path}*”

The Cherokees have different opinions as to the origin of the wampum belts* Some think that the belts represent some type of treaty with the United States government or with other

Indian tribes*

Another interpretation is that these wampums were used as peace symbols to make peace between the various tribes* Others say that the ”old time Ketoowahs” made the belts in order to pass down traditions to the younger Cherokee* 125 The first mention, of the use of wampum among the Chero­ kee was in the peace made with the English and after the war in 1761, Sere, Little Carpenter, Peace Chief of the Cherokee nation, delivered strings of wampum for each of the towns, sig­ nifying that each of these, desired peace e He delivered them after the pipe was smoked and passed around*. He delivered

them as symbols of peace, using much of the symbolism in his speech which the Cherokee of today use*

The Cherokee received wampum belts,after the peace with the Iroquois in 1768 at Fort St^ndish, Eew York. The belts . were delivered by the Iroquois,

James W&fford, one of Mooney8s informants in the Indian Territory, was present-at the great inter-tribal Council held near Talequah in the Indian Territory in June, 18^.3 ° The belts were interpreted by the Cherokee Speaker, Catunwa8H Eardmmsh, who had seen the delivery to the Cherokee Chiefs at Eehota, or

I-tsaw-ti--seventy years before, or about 1770, Wafford de- 2 scribed this occasion to Mooney;

'’Holding the belts over his arm while speaking, Hardmush told of the original treaty with the Iroquois, and ex­ plained the meaning of each belt in tum„ According to the best of Wafford8s recollection, there was one large belt to which the smaller belts were fitted. The beads did not seem to be of shell, and may have been of porce­ lain.. There were also red pipes for the warriors, gray­ ish white pipes for the chiefs who were foremose in making the peace, and some fans or other ornaments of

Brown, J. P., Old Frontiers, pp. 112-115°»

^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokee, Part 1, p„ 356° 126 feathers* USiere were several of the red pipes = resem­ bling the red-stone pipes of the Siomc# but omiy one, or perhaps two of the white peace pipes# which may have been only painted# and were much larger than the others« The pipes were passed around the circle at the... council# so that each delegate might take a whiff* The objects altogether made a ednsitierable package# which was care­ fully guarded by thd Cherokee keeper. It is thought that tiiceip were destroyed in the War of the Rebellion when the house of John Ross# a few miles south of Tale- quah# was burned by the Confederate Cherokee under, their general Stand Watie*11 There is also an account by J* Mix Stanley# the artist# who was present when Major George Lowrey# second chief of the Cherokee Nation, recited the tradition of the origin of the Cherokee wampum belts at this same council of 18^3*^ The second chief said: "You will now hear a talk from our forefathers* You must not think hard if we make a few mistakes in describing our wampum* If we do# we will try and rectify them* "My brothers# you will now hear what our forefathers said to us * "In the first place# the Senecas# a great many years ago devised a plan for us to become friends* When the plan was first laid# the Seneca rose up and said# I fear the Cherokee# because the tomahawk is stuck in several parts of his head* The Seneca afterwards remarked that he saw the tomahawk still sticking in all parts of the Chero­ kee’s head and heard him whooping and hallooing say (sic) that he was too strong to die* The Seneca further said# Our warriors in old times used to go to war# when they did go# they always went to fight the Gherokeess some­ times one or two would return home--sometimes none* He further said# The Great Spirit must love the Gherokees# and we must be in the wrong# going to war with them. The Seneca then said# Suppose we make friends with the Chero­ kee# and wash his wounds and cause them to heal up# that he may.grow larger than he was before* The Seneca# after thus speaking# sat down* The Wyandot then rose and said# You have done right# and let it be. I am your youngest

^Ibid * * pp* 486-488. 12? brother# and you our oldest® This word was told to the Shawmees; they replied. We are glad, let it be; you are our elder brothers® The Beneeas then said, they would go about and pray to the Great Spirit for four years to assist them in making peace, and that they would set aside a vessel of water and cover it, and at the end of every year they would take the cover off and examine the water, which they did; every time they opened it, they found it was changed; at the end of four years they uncovered the vessel and found that the water had changed to a colour that suited them® The Seneca then said. The Great Spirit has had mercy upon us, and the thing has taken place just as we wished it® "The Shawnee then said. We will make straight paths; but let us make peace among our neighboring tribes first be­ fore we make this path to those afar off® "The Seneca then said. Before we make peace, we must give our neighboring tribes some fire; for it will not do to make peace without it,— they might be travelling about, and run against each other, and probably cause them to hurt each other. These three tribes said, before making peace, that this fire which was to be given to them should kindle in order that a big light may be raised, so that they may see each other at a long distance; this is to last so long as the earth stands; They said further, that this law of peace shall last from generation to generation— so long as there shall be a red man living on this earth; They also said, that the fire shall continue among and shall never be extinguished as long as one remains® The Seneca further said to the Shawnees, I have put a belt around you, and have tied up the talk in a bundle, and placed it on your backs; we will now make a path on which we will pass to the Sioux® The Seneca said further. You shall continue your path until it shall reach the lodge of the Osage, When the talk was brought to the Sioux, they replied, we fee1 thankful to you and will take your talk; we can see a light through the path you have made for us® "When the Shawnees brought the talk to the Osages, they replied. By tomorrow, by the middle of the day, we shall have finished, our business® The. Osage said further. The Great Spirit has been kind to me® He has brought some­ thing to me, I being fatigued hunting for it® When the Shawnees returned to the lodge of the Osages, they were informed that they were to be killed, and immediately made their. escape® "Ihen the Shawnees returned to their homes whence they came, they said that they had been near being killed® 188 MT3ae Seneca then said to the Shawnee that the 0sages must be mistakeno lEhe Shawnees went again to see the 0sages-— they told them their business» The Os ages remarked* The Great Spirit has been good to us*— -tomorrow by the middle of the day, he will give us something without fatigue, 'When the Shawnees arrived at the lodge, an old man of the Osages told them that they had better make their es­ cape'! that, if they did not, by the middle of the follow­ ing day, they were all to be destroyed, and directed them to the nearest point of the woods. The Shawnees made their escape about midday. They discovered the Osages following them and threw away their packs, reserving the bag their talk was in, and arrived at their camp safe. When the Shawnees arrived home, they said they had come near being killed and the Osages refused to receive their talk. The Seneca then said. If the Osages will not take our talk, let them remain as they are; and when the ris­ ing generation shall become as one, the Osages shall be like a lone cherry-tree standing in the prairies where the birds of all kinds shall light upon it with pleasure. The reason this talk was made about the Osages was, that they prided themselves upon their warriors and manhood, and did not wish to make peace, "The Beneea further said, we have succeeded in making peace with all the northern and neighboring tribes. The Seneca then said to the Shawnees, You must now turn your GOhrse to the Souths you must take your path to the Ghero- .kees and even make it into their houses, When the Shaw- , nees started at night they tookuup their camp and sat imp v all night, praying to the Great Spirit to enable them to arrive In peace and safety among the Cherokees. The Shawnees still kept their course until they reached a place called Talequah, where they arrived in safety as they wished, and there met the chiefs and warriors of the Gherokees. When they arrived near Talequah, they went to a house and sent two men to the head chiefs. The chief8s daughter was the only person in the house. As soon as she saw them, she went out and met them and shook them by the hand and asked them into the house to sit down. The men were all in the fields at work— the girl8 s father ..with them. She ran and told him that there were two men in the house .and that they were enemies. The chief immedi­ ately ran to the house and shook them by the hand and stood at the door. The Gherokees all assembled around the house and said, let us kill them for they are enemies. Borne of the men said, Eo, the chief8s daughter has taken them by the hand, so also has our chief. The men then became better satisfied. The chief asked the two men if they were alone.: They answered, Eo; that there were some more with them. He told them to go after them and bring them to his house, When these two men returned with the 129 rest of their people, the chief asked them what their business was„ They then opened this valuable bundle and told him that it contained a talk for peace = The chief told them, X cannot do business alone $ all the chiefs are assembled at a place called Cho-que-ta (for B-eho-ta) where I will attend to your business in general council» When the messengers of peace arrived at Oho-que-ta, they were kindly received by the chiefs, who told them they would gladly receive their talk of peace* The messengers of peace then said to the Gherekees, We will make a path for you to travel in, and the rising generation may do the same--we will also keep it swept clean and white, so that the rising generation may travel in peace» The Shawnee further said. We will keep the doors of our house open, so that when the rising generation come among us they shall be welcome0 He further said. This talk is in­ tended for all the.different tribes of our red brothers, and is to last to the end of time* He further said, I have made a fire out of the dry elm— this fire is for. all the different tribes to see by* I have put one chunk toward the rising sun, one toward. the northyi and one toward the south * The fire is not to be extinguished so long as time lasts* I shall stick up a stick close by this fire, in order that it may frequently be stirred, and raise a light for the rising generation to see by; if any one should turn,in the dark, you must catch him by the band and lead him to the light, so that he can see that he was wrong* !tl have made you a fire-light, X have stripped some white hickory bark and set it up against the tree, in order that when you wish to remove this fire, you can take it and put it on the bark; when you kindle this fire it will be seen rising up toward the heavens * I will see it; and know it; I am your oldest brother* The messenger of peace further said, I have prepared white benches for you, and leaned the pipe against them, and when you eat you shall have but one dish and one spoon* We have done everything that was good, but our warriors still hold their tomahawks in their hands, as if they wished to fight each other* We will now take their tomahawks from them and bury them; we must bury them deep under the earth where there is water; and there must be winds, which we wish to blow them so far that our warriors may never see them again*

II The messenger further said. Where there is blood spilt, I will wipe it up clean— wherever bones have been scattered, I have taken them and buried them, and covered them with white hickory bark and a white cloth— There must be no more blood spilt; our warriors must not recollect it any more* Our warriors said that the -Gherekees were working for the rising generation by themselves; we must take hold and help them* 130 M!Ehe messengers then said that yon Gherokees are placed now nnder the eentre of the snnj this talk I leave with yon for the different tribes* and when yon talk it, ©nr voice shall be -loud' enough to be heard over this island, This is all 1 have to say,,^ ' This talk abonnds in symbolism of the White Path and the sacred fire» The bundle and bag spoken of is undoubtedly the bundle and bag referred to by Waff or d and the ^talk*5 is the message of the wampum belts» Each wampum belt had a symbolic meaning and was used to illustrate the point of the ^tradi­ tion^ being recited« Wafford explains the origin of the wampum belts as told to him by Sequoyah * which tallies very closely with the speech by Major (leorge Lowry.'1 The Cherokee also received wampum belts at other times* such as at the beginning of the Revolutionary war when all the northern tribes, such as the Iroquois and Shawnee, met to go to war against the Wnited States. 2 There was also a peace wampum exchanged with the Shawnee tribe at the beginning of the war of 1812. This was explained by Seqmoya to John Howard Payne around 18I4.O1 ^ but it was never Interpreted into English. The Arkansas Gherokee had exchanged wampum belts with dif­ ferent eastern tribes at various times = And in 1838 at a coun­ cil at Fort Gibson they were made the custodians of the wampum

Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokee, pp» 353=355 ^Brown, J. P., Old Frontlers, p. 1%3< ^Foreman, G ., Advancing the Frontier, p. 223* 132 belts of the eastern tribes west of the Mississippi,^ It was the custom at inter-tribal councils for the dele­ gates from the different tribes to give a ‘‘talk,l$ In the eighteenth century it began to be the custom to have a belt of wampum made to illustrate this “talk," These talks, no matter on what subject were full of the symbolism and traditional religious concepts of the eastern tribes, A delegate would hold his wampum belt on his arm while he made his "talk." Afterwards, if his belt was accepted by the other tribe, his p “talk" also was accepted. It was the custom among tribes like the Iroquois to make wampum belts to document some treaty or to preserve some religious or political'concept. These tribal traditions were interpreted on public occasions from the sym­ bolic designs on the wampum belt. These wampum belts became so important at inter-tribal gatherings that government representatives began to present wampum belts to the tribes when treaties were made between the United States and Indian tribes, These belts were guarantees of the prmises of the federal government In the middle of the nineteenth century the wampum belts held by the Cherokee functioned as symbols of peace at the great inter-tribal gatherings. George Smith said, “Boss Daniel (grandson of John Ross) told me that in the old days they used

^Ibid., p. 1 9 6 .

o ' Brown, J. P., Old frontiers, pp. 29, 30. ^Mooney, James, Myths of the Cherokees, p. I4.8 8 , 132 them wampums to make the Peaee between the Indians, Whenever these tribes would get mean the Cherokee would bring out the wampum belts and make them stop all that fighting around It is very possible that the present wampums are those

given by the Iroquois in 1770-— although they may be- any of the ' others. Howevers the fact that the came from Bob Eoss? son of Chief John Ross who was custodian of these wampums, makes it probable that they were the wampums given by the Iroquois, In ,the great inter-tribal councils, these wampums were explained and the meaning of them diffused from the Eastern tribes out to the Plains tribes. At one inter-tribal meeting, held in the Creek Nation in 1845$ Chief Holey McIntosh\ chief of the lower Greeks, expressed his dissatisfaction that the Cherokees did not attend the meeting as, ’’Ihey hold the wampum by.which the traditions of their forefathers could be property interpreted,n At this time, Tuekabatche Micco, chief of the Upper Creeks, made a speech explaining the use of the wampum, This was so like the speeches of the Ketoowah leaders today, it could have 2 been made by one of them, "Tuekabatche Micco said in his address that in the old days speeches and symbols in aid of peace were unknown, but a long time ago the Delaware Indians, the grandpar­ ents of all other Indians, had sent them some beads with a talk saying: "Your ears are stopped and your eyes have dust in them--receive these emblems, they will open your ears and wipe out the dust from your eyes, ,.,8 the inten-

- 7" Foreman, C., Advancing the Frontier, p. 228, 2Ibid,» pp, 226-228, 133 tion of which was to open the White path of peace, that we might train up our children in it° X am now tracing up the old customs of our Blathers and what I am saying is understood by all of our old people present»8 "He explained that because of the recent staining of the white path of peace with the blood of the Hani Maha, he proposed to send the beads he held in his hand to the Delaware Indians to be by them conveyed to the prairie Indians in token of the desire of the Greeks to be at peace with them. 8We have traveled a long way from the course of the rising sun. Before coming to the land we now inhabit, we heard a great deal about our brethren who dwelt far towards the setting sun. Since arriving and kindling here our new fires, we have had the pleasure to see some of our western brethren, and have taken, a great interest in explaining to them the ways of our tForefathers® " 8In former- times our fathers knew nothing of the emblems I -hold in my hands, as in those days there was nothing but war and bloodshed among the people. But since the adop^ tion of these emblems, and the use of them for making peace between different tribes and their becoming a custom among the Red people, they have proved of great benefit, and form the ground-work in training our children in the path of peace.

" 8These white beads seem small and unimportant; they are to us everything— our creed, our faith— the mode of per­ petuating the customs and traditions of our forefathers| -as our children grow up we train them in the same old customs, to cherish and love them. The white beads and tobacco which I send to the different tribes, are to cleanse the path which has lately been stained with bloodj and I wish all those who hear this talk, to take it home with them, and tell it to their children and grand children, and to advise them to talk in the straight path of peace. It is given around the Great Council Fire, and must not be forgotten as long as the sun rises and sets--or the waters run and the trees grow. " 81 will send this talk by Mr. Baptiste, to our Grand Father, the Delaware, with the request that he will send it with some beads and tobacco to the Pawnee Mahas, and say to them that the path that leads to their country is grown up--when they receive them the path will be opened and purified of the stain of blood. Bo more blood must be spilt. I will also send word to them, that hereafter, when traveling the path, should they happen to see blood or bones, they must think that they have been caused by lightening, a fall from a horse, or through some other 134 accident <= Bae red people like other populous nations, have among them some bad people, who will, probably, stain the path by spilling bloode Should any do so, we feel that it will be our duty to rise up with our arms, and joining our friends, put a stop to it, 1 also send some tobacco and beads to our Grand Father, the Delaware, with a request that he will send them with this talk to Shawnees, Wyandots and Kickapoos.*" Also at this time, the northern tribes, who were unable to attend,$ such as the Winnebago, Chippewa, Menominee, and Ottawa, sent a "talk" and an enormous pipe ornamented with feathers of an eagle. They said: : , "The pipe being painted blue, shows that such is the color of the sky at the time we send it, and which we believe to be a token of friendship. Having received t this pipe, fill it with the tobacco attached to it, and let #.11 our friends smoke It--for, when we shall see the smoke rising to the sky, then will our hearts feel glad. The beads are also a token of the friendship which we bear towards our other brethren. The Eagle feathers are intended to keep the White path clean, which has of late been stained with blood; you must sweep it out with them," This speech shows how even among the northern tribes the symbols of peace, smoking of tobacco, wampum, and the White path were strong concepts at this time. The full-blood Ghero- kees of Oklahoma managed to reconstruct the meaning of the wampums so well that, on a trip to visit Worth Carolina Ghero- kees in October, the older men of the Earth Carolina group were able to understand perfectly George Smith8s inter­ pretation of the wampum belts shown in the plate. So compat­ ible was the interpretation with the older concepts of Chero­ kee culture that, even afj§@r one hundred years of separation, it could be understood and accepted readily by the older men among the Horth Carolina Cherokee, 135 However*, at the beginning of the Redblrd Smith movement, very little was known about the wampum belts. This was when, as George Smith says, "The old man went West." This was when the Ketoowah Soeiety became involved in the Four Mothers Soci­ ety, an organization which was composed of the full-bloods of alllFive Civilized Tribes. At about the same time, probably about the years 1896-97s

18stomp dances" were revived in the section of the Illinois District in which Redbird lived. They were revived by a settlement of "Greeks" who lived near Vian Greek. This section of the Illinois District, which gave impetus to the revival of Cherokee ceremonies, was made of a composite group of Cherokees, Greeks, and Matches. In the southwestern section.of the Illinois District the culture and Organization of the Redbird Smith movement grew up. Bach of these ethnic groups contributed to the formation of this new culture. The final product of which was a recombination of these older elements into a new pattern. Another example of this.process is present-day Yaqui Indian culture, a combination of Spanish and Indian which is a new product, neither Spanish nor Indian. ' , Each of these ethnic groups contributed. Some traits were "aboriginal" traits while others were those which they had taken over from the Cherokee in earlier times and preserved, even though the Cherokee had dropped them from their culture. To understand this process a short history of these ethnic , 136 groupsj, their eontaet with the Cherokeeand how they oame to be in the Illinois District will be given; - Creek Indians had lived in the Cherokee HatIon since-be­ fore the Removal west. One family9 the prolific Beaver family of Lyons Switehs Oklahomas has lived in the Cherokee tribe and retained their own language since before the Removal« These “G r e e k s h o w e v e r , who.lived: along VIan Greek were not descendants of actual members of the Creek tribe, They are descendants of a band of Seminoles led by Wildcat and Alligator— Seminole chiefs who refused to go into the country allotted to them, as they would have been under the jurisdiction of the Creeks, Most of these .Seminoles finally went to the Greek Hat ion. except a small band which settled on Vian Greek, However, the Beminoles in Oklahoma speak the same language and have almost the same customs as the Greeks and therefore the Cherokees refer to these Beminoles along Vian Greek as Creeks, There were also quite a few Greek Indians in the Cherokee Wation before and after the Removal, They were considered Cherokee citizens. The majority of the Greeks who lived around Braggs, Oklahoma, came into the Cherokee Hation after the Civil War, There was a factional dispute which divided the Greeks after the war between the states, Opothle Yah©la had died while the loyal Creeks were still in Kansas, After the loyal Greeks and Gherokees settled around Port Gibson, a faction grew up under Ispokogee Yah©la which.refused to recognize the leadership 137 of the new Greek leader<, Sandss and remained in the Cherokee nation* The Greek agent did persuade some of the Wewogufkee Greeks to return to their countrya But about two hundred Tuckabatehees withdrew further into Cherokee country. They finally returned home in the winter of 1869 and 1870, permit­ ting their agent to conduct them,'1' Even so# there were still Creeks left in the Cherokee Nation, According to John Smith# the Greeks settled along ' Green Leaf Greek# after the War between the States# in,order to be near Big Smith# who was a great friend of Opothle Yahola, In the Green Beach War# a civil war in.the Greek Nation between the full-bloods and the mixed-bloods# there were people living in the Green Leaf settlement# although the Tuckabatehees had gone home. These Greeks were Closely allied to the full- blood faction under Isparhecher' -it who# during the time when he was in exile stayed among these Greeks, These Greeks were under the leadership of Sleeping Rabbit and at one time in- 2 vaded the Greek Nation, The Greeks in this area were probably Okchai Greeks, The Okehai were allied with the Wiwohka Greeks who supposedly started the Green Peach War in the Greek Nation, After the close of the Green Peach War# in which Sleeping Rabbit was killed# some Okfuskee Greeks also settled with this group on Green Leaf Greek,^ ■kDebo# Angie# The Road to Disappearance# pp, 177-178, % b i d 03 pp, 27!k-275 = 3Swahton# John# Early History of the Greek Indians# Bureau of American Ethnology# Bull, 73, p, 251 = 138 ffcie trail between these two settlements ran across the Prairie where the Smith family was settled and George Smith says he can remember the Creeks crossing the prairie on horse­ back, traveling, as is their custom, about twenty yards one behind the other0 This custom is thought of as one of the many peculiar Creek ways by the Gherokees. Most of the Creeks in this area were bi-lingual, speaking Cherokee and Creek, and had aceulturated to many Cherokee cus­ toms, particularly those Creeks along Vian creek, who had been in the Cherokee Hation the longest. There is a great deal of rivalry between the Creeks and Cherokee s. The Cherokees jbhink the Creeks are high tempered, and, in the past, when there were ball games between the Creeks and Cherokees, it always ended up with the Greeks "get­ ting mkdeand wanting to fight." The Cherokee also accuse the Creeks of being cowardly. They say when they were fighting with them in the Civil War they would fight well while going forward, but would break and run in a retreat. As one informant expressed it, "Them old Creeks don81 amount to much." Yet Creek culture is closer to Cherokee culture than that of any tribe and the history and interests of the two tribes have been intimately tied up during the last two centuries. And Creek culture has had a great deal of influence on Cherokee culture = Another small tribe in the area, which lived at Hotchee- town on the Illinois River, were the Watch eg Indians. These 139 people are descendants of the tribe which lived near Hatches, Mississippi,, which had great temples, a caste system, and generally a “high civilization*They were expelled from this area in the mid-eighteenth century. and found sanctuary with other tribes* In the first part of the nineteenth century, the Hatches had a town on the Hiwassee River, in the present Cherokee county in Horth Carolina, Later, in l82t|., the lived jointly with the Cherokee in a town called Gulaniyi, about six miles 1 from their former location* There were also Hatches lying scattered among Cherokee settlements down the Hiwassee River to the Tennessee„ According to Watt Sam, son of Creek Sam, the Hatches around Hotcheetown originally lived in Worth Georgia in the , tribal Creek town of Abihka* This town was occupied by Creeks, Hatches, and Gherokees— but the Hatches and the Creeks were thought to be the real citizens of the town* The people of this town removed west with the Cherokee and those Hatches who were intermarried with the Greeks went 2 on to the Creek Hation with the Creeks of Abihka town. According to Mrs. Haney Raven of Lowrie, Oklahoma, a cousin of Watt Sam and the last surviving Hatches speaking Indian, the Hatches lived formerly with the Cherokee in “the old coun­ try. “ When the Gherokees were removed west, some Hatches

Mooney, James, Myths of Gherokees, p* 3 8 7 * %aas, Mo R ., Hatches and Chltamacha Clans, American Anthropologist, Vol* 1^1, p * 8« • . .... lk-0 settled around Uotetoeet@wn? while many others were scattered throughout the Gherokee Nation* especially in the G-oingsnake Districto After a while all of them moved together into one community at Notcheetown. After the Civil War* they came back to Notche©town again* after having gone North to Kansas, Mrs, Raven*s testimony seems to point out that both Natchez from Abihka town and from other parts of the Cherokee

Nation settled at Noteheetown® The Gherokees from the mountain towns where the Natchez were represented came into the Going- snake District® These Natchez were very adept at learning languages® Greek Sam left the old Cherokee Nation when he was about five and could remember the Removal® He could speak Natchez* Greek* and Cherokee® One of his sons* Watt Sam* whose mother was a Natchez* could speak all three lan­ guages also® Another son* Charlie Sam, whose mother was a Greek* spoke Gherokee and Greek® Mrs® Raven can speak Natchez* Gherokee* and Greek® These “Notdhee,® having lived so many years with the Gherokees* had probably acquired many Gherokee traits as well as Greek® The Notchee had a reputation among the Gherokee for knowing medicine and the old time ways® It was this mixed group of Gherokees* Greeks, and Not­ ehees in the southwestern eorner of the Illinois District which started the revival of ceremonialism among the Gherokee® Around 1896* the first stomp dance was held at the home of a widow by the name of Ella Bonarskie* a Greek Indian® There lip. had been a rail mauling (rail-splitting) that day, so, appro­ priately, a stomp dance was held that night, as it used to be* The next stomp dance, which was held a few weeks later, was held on Vian Greek also, at the home of Teeumseh Yahola» George Smith was about ten years old this time, and it was the first dance he had ever seen«, He said, “That stomp dance and whooping like to scared me to death = I thought them Indians had gone wildo" There were a great many Gherokees at both of the dances and there were many grown people among them who had never seen a stomp dance before. Shortly after this, George Mushingshell, a “Greek,M put ' up a “Fire" near his home, which was on Black Gum mountain, about a mile from the Smith home. He also put a ball post with a horsehead on top of it* This Fire was about a mile from the home of Redbird Smith near Vian Greek. At first, they played “men8s ball,“ and, having no ball sticks (racquets) they had to run with the ball in their hands, hater they got the ball post up and the ball sticks made, then they played the Greek ball game between men and women. Usually the young men and women would play ball on Sunday afternoon and stomp dance Sunday night« There had been a ceremonial stomp ground, or “Fire!! kept by the Greeks on Greenleaf Greek. According to John Smith, the Greeks brought the Fire into the Gherokee Hat ion with them after the Civil War. And at one time, this Fire had been at Hotchee- town.5 but it was now on Green Leaf mountain® The stomp dance had just about died outP and they held a dance there about once every two years. However* when stomp dancing was revived in the area* the Fire Mcame back up ®H George Mushing shell soon ’’went into” the Fire on Green Leaf mountain* near Sulphur Springs, At this time*, only the - old people knew how to dance* and George Mushingshell had to put turtleshells on his own legs to show the women how to man­ ipulate them® Soon* this Fire at Sulphur Springs was having stomp dances* ball plays*, and corn stalk shoots very often® It began to be the custom for Redbird Smith and his committee (those appointed to ’’get back what the Ketoowahs had lost” ) to meet at this Fire informally* along with the head District captains of the Ketoo- wah Society®-- When Redbird Smith would go to the meetings of the Four Mothers Society* there would be a stomp dance held before he departed and after his return® Very little information could be gathered about the Four Mothers Society® Most of the men* in fact all of the men* inti­ mately connected with this movement, among the Cherokees are now dead = It is not known whether Redbird Smith helped organize the Four Mothers Society or not» But he must have joined the Society early in its beginnings» Greek Sam* as his teacher* undoubredly influenced his decision to join this Society® !Ehe Four Mothers Society seems to have been on the order 143 of the old Inter-tribal eounoils of the paste Delegations from the full-bloods of each of the Five Civilized Tribes met to discuss ways to combat the coming disintegration of the tribal government, They met close to the present Hanna* Okla­ homa* in the Greek Hation* usually at the house of the Greek

leaders* Eufala Har jo* or of Glijime Fixico<, They met any time of the year and for however long it was necessary to negotiate their business» Greek Sam usually interpreted for Redbird Smith* into Greek* at these meetings. The meetings were held sometimes in the winter* and the delegates would sleep on the ground around the fires. The main purpose of this organization seems to have been to combat the coming Allotment and to maintain a delegation in Washington to combat it. The ful1-bloods were determined in their resistance to block this move by the United States government to break up their governments. The Cherokee Hat ion was the last of the Five Civilized•Tribes to make an agreement with the United States. • And they made one only after the Curtiss Act of 1898 was passed. The Dawes Commission had been working since 1894 with the committee appointed by the Gherokees to come to some kind of agreement on this matters. Hearly all of the rest of the Five Civilized Tribes had made some type of agreement. On June 28* 1898* the Curtiss Act was passed by Congress.^ The

Mooney* James* Myths of the Cherokee, p. 1^6 . entire control of tribal revenues was taken from the Five Tribes and placed in the hands of the resident supervising in= specter. The tribal courts were abolished, allotments were made compulsory, and authority was given to increase the popu­ lation of towns in the Indian Territory. This left the Ghero- kee Hation no choice but to try to reach an agreement with the United States government. In August 1897s the leaders of the Ketoowah Society sent a letter 1 to the Cherokee committee not to come to any agree­ ment with the Dawes Commission, but to hold fast to the old treaties. After the passage of the Curtiss Act, an agreement was reached between the delegates of the Cherokees and the Dawes Commission. This was voted on by the Cherokee Hation and was passed; although Redbird Smith and his following voted against It. However# Congress refused to ratify the agreement and a 2 second agreement had to be drawn up. Redbird Smith did not vote on the second agreement. Some of the full-bloods today think that the voting on this agree­ ment was to decide whether the Cherokees would become United States citizens or not. One old full-blood who was originally a follower of Redbird Smith told John Smith, "We wouldnst have any Oklahoma state in here now, if your father hadn$t sold out.

^Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, 1898, pp. 19F-197. , ...... ^Political History of the Cherokee Hation, by Morris A. Wardell, pp. 321, 322,;323...... 114-5 fhe conservative members of the committee appointed to deal with the Dawes Commission refused to sign the agreement * Wolf Coon, second captain of the Ketoowah Society, was one of these* He was nominated in 1899 for Chief by the national party» He was nominated on the'platform of no compromise with the issue of allotment. Although Wolf Coon was a candidate, the Ketoowah Society, somewhere around this time, had established the policy, through the instigation of Redbird Smith, of allowing any member to vote as he pleased and of not bringing political disagreement into the ranks of the Ketoowah Society. Redbird Smith himself had run for senator from the Illinois District and had won, although this District was not predomi­ nantly full-blOod. He was very popular with all■Gherokees. He made a speech during this campaign in which he said that 11 the people from Arkansas came into the Cherokee Ration to avoid taxes and now they want to bring the same situation down on us." Somewhere in this period between 1898 and 1901, there was a division of the ranks of the full-bloods as to the question of the allotment. Ihere is some uncertainty as to how and when this division took place. Some leaders wanted to temporize with the unyielding policy of the mass of the full-bloods. According to one informant, the split came at a meeting in Talequah in 1898. The Ketoowah Society decided that active measures should be taken to oppose the allotment. However, Redbird Smith felt that any move in this direction by the United. States should, be ignored, as it was illegal, and passive resistance should be used => ■ According to the testimony of the sale informant, the split came in 1901, at a meeting at Moody Springs on September 60 At this meeting, delegates appeared who had recently been to Washington trying to make a deal with the United States government to trade or sell the Cherokee land so that they could form, a colony in Mexico«. However, they were not success­ ful in their mission® Therefore, the Ketoowah leaders, decided at Moody Springs to enroll and cooperate with the United States, in order to get the best legislation for the people® They de­ cided to enroll under protest and file a statement of this protest with the allotment papers® All voted for this policy except Redbird Smith, and eleven of Smith8s elan® However, Smith made no protest at this time® But he soon came out for no enrollment, saying that the United States government could not abolish the Gherokees government without the consent of the majority of the Gherokees by blood®'*" George Smith knew nothing of this split in the Ketoowah Society. The Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, Part II, 1902, states that the Ketoowah Society expelled all those who favored allotment and formed a new organization® Heither of my two main informants, however, knew anything about' the split® John Smith said those ful1-bloods who wanted to

. . Tyner, Howard, The Ketoowah Society in Gherokee Hi story, p® 6 8 ,. • •...... 347 temporize 11:© opposing the Allotment ,feame along and picked up the old constitution of 1859.tt This new organization was incorporated in 1905# and Richard Mo Wolf became chief» Ac­ cording to John Smith# "Prank Boudinot had a hand in breaking up the Ketoowahs like that. He wanted to get revengec;on the full-bloods for them killing his relatives after the Removal Prank Boudinot was one of the contemporary Cherokee leaders and a descendant of the Ridges and Elias Boudinot who^were killed after the Removal by the full-bloods. This, faction probably represents a minority of the Chero­ kee full-bloods# as the prevailing full-blood sentiment of the time was "Ho Compromise on the Allotment." The rolls of the Ketoowah Society of which Redbird Smith was a member took in six thousand people# while there were only nine thousand full- bloods in the Cherokee Hation. All during this period the resistance to the Allotment, the Four Mothers Society, and the ceremonial revival were tak­ ing place at the same time and were inter-related„ Redbird ' Smith had made repeated trips to the Four Mothers meetings# along with his 'committee. The committee# at the Four Mothers meetings, according to George Smith, "Were not very much help to the old man. Whenever they would go over to that meeting they just sat like bumps on a log, and the old man had to do all the talking."

Ibid,, p. 86, RedMrd Smiths representing the Ketoowah Societys presided at these meetings as a result of the fact that the Gherokees were the ‘’Elder Brothers” to the tribes representedo Ibis goes back to the old protocol of inter-tribal councils, in which the tribe with the most prestige and. the one with the longest and most honorable history was accorded the title of Elder Brother» According to John Smith, who made, two or three trips with his father to the meetings, there was no real head of the Four Mothers Society, But George Smith seemed to think that Glijime Fixico was the head captain of the Four Mothers Society, fhe Four Mothers Society kept a delegation most of the time in Washington, This usually consisted of Eufala Earjo and Jim Gray, interpreter. But, as George Smith says, "When Eufala Ear jo and Jim Gray would come back from Washington, they would get off the train at Viam to come up to see the old man. They would generally be so drunk they could hardly, get off the train. Ho doubt this displeased Redbird Smith because he thought drunk­ en© ss was. hot "following the White Path," Redbird Smith was very concerned with the drunken©ss among

. i the full-bloods. Most of the violence and murders took place under the influence of alcohol. In the period between the pas­ sage of the Gurtiss Act, which stripped the Gherokee authorities of most of their power, and statehood, drunken©ss ran riot. The federal courts did not have the man power to handle the situa­ tion, George Smith said, "Just before statehood the drunkards like to took the country. They were always drunk and shooting Ik9 around the stomp ground = After statehood came in we always had an officer com© up to the stomp ground whenever we were going to have a danceo” Even today at a dance several men are usually appointed to eject drunks from the stomp ground. Red- bird Smith was also concerned with the "conjuring" that went on at cornstalk shoots and finally, cornstalk shoots were pro­ hibited from being held at the stomp grounds. According to George Smiths his father never preached in a negative vein. "He never told you what youi oughten to do, he told you what you ought to do," Although Redbird Smith was very much concerned with drunken©ss and conjuration he never preached directly against these practices. He took the position

that if his positive sanctions were applied these practices woulds naturally, disappear. He was not against drinking itself, as some of the contemporary Baptist preachers were, but he was against the abuse of drink. The same applies to cornstalk shooting. He was not against cornstalk shooting but rather the "conjuring" that went on at the shoots. These two practices of conjuration and drunkeness are symp­ tomatic of the social disorganization of the times. It is sig­ nificant that these problems were the foci of two other nativistic revivals among Indians— one, the revival led by Handsome Lake I among the Iroquois in 1799 and the revival led by Tenkswataw* the brother of Tecumseh, among the Shawnee and Ohio Valley

1 Deardorff, M. H., The Religion of Handsome Lake; Its Origin and Development, Bureau-of American Ethnology, Bull, lij.9; ppTb9-91, 9b« - i5o tribes in 1805° It would seem that social disorganization had a similar effect among the eastern tribes» All the time that the Fire at Sulphur Springs was goings Redbird Smith was setting up his campaign to "put the Cherokee back on the White Pathon He made talks on this theme constantly. He was particularly against the. conjuration practices of the Cherokees. He said, . “In the old days, the Indian used all of his medicine to huntii to make the animals weak so that they could catch them easy. One time a man go made at another man and used medicine to harm him. He finally got him so weak, he was down in the woods and couldn't get up. The man who used the medicine came upon him - and then the conjured man had enough strength to pull his bow and kill him. Phis was the beginning of conjuring. Pretty soon, the Indians go so mean they were fighting among themselves, even one nation against another. They had broken God8s Rule long before the white man came here. Pretty soon, they got so mean they lost the Fire and were so scared to tell their clan that they had lost it too. Then the white man came with his Bible to try to civilize the Indian.n There are several important concepts in the foregoing story of the downfall of the Cherokee which should be discussed. One is “God8s Rule.11 Phis is often spoken of as “God8s haw.“ Phis is the “Law51 or “Rule" which God laid down for the Indian to follow. It consists not only of “following the White Path," that is being peaceful, friendly, and observing the rest of the moral virtues; but also of keeping up the old Cherokee customs, such as the fire, stomp dancing, etc. Phis concept is wide­ spread among the eastern tribes. In later times "God8s Law" or "God8s Rule" was also called the "Seven Clan Rule." Phe importance

■^Mooney, James, Phe Ghost Dance Religion, p. 672 = i5i of this eoneept can best be illustrated by a story told by John Smith. ”One time Alex Deer-in=water died and went to heaven. Ihen he got up there he saw a big building with seven stories. G-od was sitting on the seventh storey with my father at his right hand. Alex went into the ground floor. It was nothing but cells with preachers in them. Them preachers was in heaven all right, but they was in jail. He asked to see God, but they told him he eouldn$t do that because he was going back. They.went up and got my father for him, though. My father shook hands with him and said, 8God wants you to go back down to earth and enforce His haw, the Seven Gian Rule.8 Then Alex come to.18 Another concept is the “downfall of Indians.!1 Many Indians believe that their present troubles are God8s punishment for past sins. George Smith said, “The Indians got so mean God turned from them and then the white people come over her© and took over the country, low looks like the white people are getting plumb mean with all these wars. Maybe somebody else will take over this countryo18 However, according to John Smith, “If the Indians get back on the White Path their trail will turn toward the East and they will come up again.18 Redbird Smith said, “Perhaps all this trouble is a test and God is saving the Chero­ kee s for something better in the future.88 White concept of the downfall and punishment of the Indian is widespread among the eastern tribes. “We were once a great people,88 said a Mohawk a few years ago on the Reserve,18 God punished us for our sins. - -j But we shall rise again and the world will listen to us.88 George Smith said, “Maybe God is selecting his good seed and after all these wars there811 be the Peace.88

^Wallace, P. A; W., The Tnihlte Roots of Peace, p. f?7° 15>2 The eoneept of the **peace** is also an important one. **The Peace” is not just an interlude of quiet between wars, it is almost a tangible thing- George Smith talks of f,when the Greeks broke the Peace” and "when the Indians sat down and made the Peace,” The Iroquois call their League, the Great Peace, and 1 in Iroquois the word for Peace and Law is the same - This is another widespread concept among the eastern tribes. In speak­ ing to the Plains tribes in l81j.8 at a council. Wildcat of the Seminoles said, "They were all at peace in that quarter (meaning the eastern tribes)= Every person could travel there in peace— the road was clear of brush, and white by which all their red brethren pass to the council fire of the different tribes. A great Council fire was kindled among the Cherokee four years ago and when the path to that peace, and the Council fires of the p others was made white, for all the Indians.” Bedbird Smith preached that every man must follow the White Path. ”If you follow the White Path, God will give you protection. If you are following the White Path and a man strikes you in the back, dom8t turn around. If you do, you will be off in the black.” This figure of "strikes in the back” refers to conjuration. Bedbird Smith tried to control the young men of that time. According to George Smith, "When the old man heard anybody whoop­ ing and shooting off his pistol, he would go out of the house

1lbid ..pp. 6 , 7 . p - Foreman, G., The Journal of Elijah Hicks, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XIII, ppT^Bo, 81. t 153 and go up and talk to them. Pretty soon, you would see a gun go flying off into the bushes one.way and a bottle the other way." At the Ketoowah convention ground at Long Valley during this time, there was a church built to hold services in0 And when the Fire at Sulphur Springs was reinstated, a church was built there also. They would hold services during the day and stomp dances at night, According to one man, ltUp at the conven­ tion ground, the preachers would preach all day and be the first ones out that night to lead the stomp dances," That shows the integration of the two elements in the Cherokee mind. There are young Gherokee today that do not realize there ever was a time when the Baptist church was not among the Cherokee. This integration continued for several years, but Redbird Smith finally "weaned them away from the churches." However, according to George Smith, his father never preached against Christianity. "The old man wasn't against nothing. He always said that if a man was a Christian and followed his religion, he was a good man. Sometimes the old man would even speak at white people's church meetings," This incident occurred once when a white congregation were decorating the graves on Decora­ tion Day. Redbird Smith was passing by, stopped in, and was asked to speak. He gave a short talk. Although George Smith makes the foregoing statement about his father's attitude toward Christianity, John Smith frequently speaks of his father as "anti-Christ." iZk During this time, the Ketoowah Soeletj still held out in its resistance to the allotment. The Dawes Commission was at this time enrolling Indians in order to allot them land» But most of the full-bloods had managed to avoid the enrolling par­ ties ® As one informant said, "When these people would arrive to enroll us, we used to hide in the woods," By 1902, on the basis of the census taken by the Dawes Obmmission in 1896, there were still 5>,li39 Cherokee s un-enrol led, In February of 1902, a court summons was acquired by the Indian Office at Muskogee to arrest certain leaders of the resistance to the allotment and to hold them in jail until they enrolled According to George Smith, John Brown, a Cherokee from Marble City, Oklahoma, was a member of the Indian police force working out of Muskogee, He came up to the Smith home and told Redbird Smith to appear at Muskogee on a certain date. Because of the respect the Gherokees had for Redbird Smith, he was. not formally arrested by John Brown, but Brown knew that he would obey the summons, He was put in j.ail along with Dekinny Waters, . CharlessScott, and John Bark, leaders o f the resistance afound ' the Gore area, and with several others from the Sallna area— another area of strong resistance, Redbird Smith stayed in jail overnight and registered the next day. Some others stayed in longer before giving in. According to the Indian Journal of May 1st, 1903,. one of the "Boomer11 newspapers at Vinita, Chero-

to the Department of the Interior, 1902, Part II, pp, 31, 32,■ 1 # ke@ Nationj which was. very hostile to the "Eighthawk" movement, - the Indians in jail would not enroll until Federal officials threatened to cut their hair— and finally cut one’s hair In front of the rest. They they enrolled under protest. This story is very doubtful as several of the men impris­ oned wore short hair at the time, Hedbird Smith being one of them. However# this kind of story was typical of the "Boomer" newspaper. It tried to discredit the leaders of the "Highthawk" whenever possible. One of their techniques was to picture the Nightbawk leaders as ignorant# backwoods Indians who were stand­ ing in the way of "progress.11 The story seems to be intended to ridicule these leaders as amusing# ignorant# old conserva­ tives. This move by the government of the United States did not break the resistance to the allotment# however. People did not enroll any faster after this time. The Cherokee Nation was divided up into districts by the Dawes Commission# and U. S. marshals and posses went along with the enrolling parties in order to forcibly enroll the full-bloods. Resistance was par­ ticularly strong in the Spavinaw Creek area.^ However# , the work-was accomplished# through difficulty# and many full-bloods were enrolled by the use of informers in different communities. Because of this# names have been recorded wrong as Well as incorrect numbers of people in a family. Bo

1Ibid.# p. 32. 156 that many ful 1-bloods today do not know where all the land Is that they were assigned. According to the Dawes Commission, the leaders of the Ketoowah Society went through the country preaching to the people" that there would be no allotment, that the tribal government and the courts would be restored and the whites expelled, The newspapers in the Indian Territory at this time were very concerned in spreading rumors about the Ketoowah Society, which had got the nickname of tlHighthawksn at this period. They were accused of arson, murder, attacking and blowing up progressive meetings. The whites of modern Oklahoma know little about the full-bloods of today and will make ridiculous state­ ments concerning their thoughts and acts. One woman commented recently that the reason the white landowers of eastern Okla­ homa did not bring Mexican labor in to help pick the local strawberry crop was that they were •scared of what the full- bloods might do. The whites in the Indian Territory of the period around 1900 knew even less about the full-bloods and were perpetually afraid of an Indian uprising. The area around Shawnee, Okla­ homa, in the 990*8 was sent .into, a turmoil because of a rumor of an Indian uprising. Many whites left the area, while others stayed in their houses for days. However, there was absolutely no foundation for the rumors,^

, • L > ' Alford, T. W,, Civilization, pp, l6h, 165° 157 Ebrough this period, until 1906, the Hightbawks tried to keep their members from enrolling for the allotmento According to the testimony of an informant, the old men made speeches promising that the full-bloods would return to the old laws and customs and continue to own the lands in common» Biey said that the Cherokee government would not be abolished in 1906, but would be revised and continue as it had been in the past. Meetings were held about every two weeks, and this group would not come and settle their allotments,^" In 1902, another significant event happened in the Redbird Smith movement. The Ketoowah Society broke off from the Pour Mothers Society, Several resistance movements came from the Four Mothers Society at this time» There was the Crazy Snake ’’revolt*1 among the Creeks, in 1902 and again in 1908, and there 2 was a similar movement among the Choctaws. There is some question as to the purpose of the Crazy Snake movement among the Greeks, as to whether the leader. Crazy Snake, intended to perpetuate his resistance with vio­ lence, In 1902, he established his headquarters at Hickory Ground, one of the Greek towns, seceded from the rest of the Greek Hation and set up his own government and law officers. This movement was put down by force and Crazy Snake was ar­ rested, A similar outbreak occurred in 1908 in which he was

i ’ - Tyner, H., The Ketoowah Society in Cherokee History, p, 7 6 ...... p . Debo, A,, The Rise and Pall of the Choctaw Republic, pp. 267-268, ■ lf?8 % shot and afterwards died, According to John and George Smith* Crazy Snake was a member of the Four Mothers Society® He was very bitter against. the whites and wanted the full"bloods of the Five Civilized Tribes to unite and drive the whites out of the Indian Terri" tory. • The Ketoowah Society broke off from the Four Mothers at about the same time as the Snake rebellion. According to John Smith* the story of that break was as followsi .He was a member of the Four Mothers delegation in Washington at the same time RedbirdaSmith was in jail in Muskogee® f,We were all sitting around the hotel room mp In Washing" ton when Eufala Earjo came up to me and asked me to do him a favor« He. had an old paper which had been folded in four parts and had Open torn along the creases» He asked me if I would paste it together on another piece of paper for him, I pasted it on another piece of paper and then read it. It was a pass given by the Indian agent in 1870 to the Creeks living in the Cherokee Ration* telling everyone not to molest these people on their way home® aI asked the Creeks if they knew what the paper said® They said It was the Old Treaty with the United States, I explained to them what it really was * but they just got made at me® I asked Jim Gray, the interpreter* if he knew what it said®. He said he did® I asked him why he didn8t tell them what it was. But he said* 8Oh* I just hated to®8 After that* my father quit the. Four Mothers Society because we had been following the Creeks under a false lead® I got sick because of this and had to be cured by medicine®11. According to George Smith* the break came in a different way. The Four Mothers delegation had hired a lawyer* Walter Mitehel* to represent them in Washington® One time* when the

. Meserve* J», Ghitto Earjo* Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol, XIII* >p„ 139-145* ...... 159 delegation came back from Washington* they said that they had fired Walt Mitchel and hired a Negro lawyer in his place. When next the delegation went to Washington* they stopped to confer with Redbird Smith, He suggested that the head captain of the Four Mothers Society* Clijime Fixico* go to Washington with the rest of the gnoup. He also suggested that they see Walt Mitchel when on this trip. The Ketoowah Society contrib­ uted money to the support of this delegation and for a lawyer in Washington, When the delegation came back from Washington* they first stopped to see Clem,Beaver near Lyons Switch and then came to confer with Redbird Smith» When asked by Redbird Smith if they had talked to Walt Mitchel they said* No, After this* Redbird Smith withdrew from the Four Mothers Society, This disagreement points out the different place of the Negro in Cherokee and Creek cultures. It was a real conflict of cultural values* for the Greeks consider the Negro equal with themselves and the Cherokee do not» Redbird Smith had some of the wampum belts in the Creek Nation and after he quit the Four Mothers Society* he sent John Smith to get them. John Smith states that nothing much was learned of the interpretation of the wampums from the Creeks, "My father had explained them to the Greeks* but I don't think they understood him." The withdrawal from the Four Mothers Society is an illus­ tration of a basic pattern of Cherokee behavior. Gherokees try to avoid conflict situations. Individuals avoid other Individ­ i6o uals where a conflict situation might occur» Typically, if a full-blood cannot resolve a situation he will withdraw from it« This behavior can be shown in Cherokee history» In the 18208s full-bloods were withdrawing back into the hills .away from the public roads which traversed the Cherokee Hation in Georgia. This process of withdrawal from contact was going on in the 8908s and is going on today. After the Treaty of Hew Echota in 1835 the mass of the full-bloods took no steps to remove until troops were, in the Cherokee Hation and herding them into concentration camps.. They simply ignored the situation. The withdrawal from the Pour Mothers is symptomatic of this attitude. As John Smith said, “We had been following, the Creeks under a false lead." Therefore, they withdrew® This process of withdrawal went on until the Ketoowah Society had completely withdrawn from the rest of the Oherokees. After the first agreement with the United States government was passed by the Cherokee Hation, the followers of Redbird Smith did not vote in the election for the second agreement. It is reported that they did not vote in the election for chief of the Cherokee Hation in 1903 which resulted in Levi Cookson being defeated by Vo Go Rogers.^ This attitude was carried still further when in 1906 the Ketoowah Society changed the title of their leader from Head

^Walter, R. S., Torchlights to the Cherokee, pp. 303= 305 = ^Caywood, E, R . , The Administration of William C. Rogers, Cherokee Hat ion. Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 3QQC, p. 32 = l6i Chairman to Chief» These acts severed all relations with the tribal government, The attitude of withdrawal on the part of the Ketoowah Society lasted until the death of Redbird Smith in 19180 After this time they tried to combine with the rest of the Cherokee factions in their resistance» This was not promoted by a Cherokee, however, but by 0, P. Cornelius, their advisero After the failure of Cornelius to aleviate the bad economic situation of the members of the Ketoowah Society, the policy of the Society was to once again withdraw from participation in tribal affairs» In the decade of the 191x08s the Indian Service called a meeting at Talequah, Oklahoma, to elect a Cherokee chief. Host of the Ketoowah leaders refused to .attend and the full-blood leaders of other factions who attended soon became disgusted and walked out of the meeting. In the summer of 1902, the first Cherokee ceremonial ground was built, Redbird Smith built a ceremonial town square or 18stomp ground88 about one-fourth of a mllefrom his house on Black Gum mountain. Before this time, there had been only two Fires in the Cherokee Hat ion, the one at Sulphur Springs, run by the Wotchees, and another one run by Clem Beaver for his family at hyons Switch, Although the Cherokee had not had ceremonial grounds with sacred fires in them for. at least sixty years, the fire was still a part of Cherokee culture» The spirit of the Fire is 162 one of the m&ibn deities in the Cherokee pantheon and is second only to God in importance* The fire is spoken of as "Grand­ father®1* The use of the sacred fire and sacrifices was used in the medicine lore. And the fire was also used in conjuring or in huntingi Before this times Bam Smith (one of Redhird 8s sons) after he had killed a deer would build a fire in his fireplace and sacrifice the liver of the freshly killed deer to see, by divi­ nation, if he should continue to hunt that day® As George Smith says, "You can build a fire right in your own fireplace and feed it and the fire will know"— will know you have made a sacrifice to it. On Black Gum mountain, a deep square hole was dug and the fire was lit in the bottom of the hole by the use of flint, steel, and punk. The Fire at Sulphur Springs had been modeled after the pattern of the Greek square grounds in the Greek Eation. This pattern was continued in the first Gherokee Fire on Black Gum mountain. There were four arbors at the cardinal directions around the fire, and four logs pointing to the car­ dinal points stemmed from the heart of the fire. And a ball game post was placed at about a distance of thirty yards to the west of the fire. . ' • Most of the organization, practice and custom which had developed at the Sulphur Springs Fire after its rejuvenation was continued at the Black Gum Fire. This Fire was originally 163 called Deep Branchs huts at the request of Deklnny Waters, who said, "live lived in the Illinois District all ray life, and ■ before I die I 8d like to see this Fire called the Illinois District Fire,R the name was changed as Deklnny Waters wished„ Redbird Smith8s decision to "make the Fire" was probably prompted by the events that had happened during the year* Ac­ cording to George Smith i "The old man put that.Fire down along the lines that the old men had set for him to "get back what the Ketoowahs had lost<=" Soon after this Fire was started. Fires in communities all over the Cherokee Hat ion sprang up. At first. Fires were built in the Illinois District and the Spavinaw Creek area5 but, after a couple of years, twenty-two Fires were built all over the Cherokee Ration. If the people in a given community wanted a Fire, the little captain appointed a Fire-keeper and a fire was built. The Fire at Sulphur Springs had been organised with a minimum of officers. There were three Firekeepers and a medicine maker for the Fire. There was no such complicated town organisation as in the Greek Ration, probably because of the mixed popula­ tion the Sulphur Springs Fire served. With the Gherokees, Fires were started with only three Firekeepers for officers— these were called A-tsi-lak-ti. George Smith was first appointed head Firekeeper at the new Fire, called Deep Branch Fire, by Will Bolin, the little captain of the District. - In the building of this first Fire, no ashes or coals were taken from the Fire at Sulphur Springs, nor were ashes or coals The locations of the stomp grounds on the map are only approximate and are meant to convey a general impression as to the relation of stomp grounds to areas of full-blood con­ centration. It is not even certain that all these stomp grounds were in operation at the same time.

1. ? Known only to be located in Cooweescoowee District. Kama not known. 2 . Koo-wa joo-ne-ga ditZ-skun — Sycamore tree o 3". A -mo-hi — > Salty place. b- Koo-wa dit^-skun -- Mulberry tree. 5. Da-lo-ni-ge-stu -- Yellowish. 6 e Cherokee name not given. Known in English as the Old Eaton Stomp Ground. 7. Daw-di-yawn-sta$~nu ■— Brushpile. 8. Cherokee name not given. Confused-with number2. 9» Da-wa-jil-ditZ-skun -- Elm tree. 10 o Se-di ditY-skun -- Walnut tree 11. Joo-skaw dit$-skun — Post Oak tree. 12. 1-da-na-i -- Going snake. 13- Daw-di-jaw-whe-la — Writing. 14'. Ki-yun-sa^-ti «— no translation given. 13- Called same as above. 16 . Sa-tu>-u-di — Trap. 17- Gi3-da-sa-gwa-lun-sta — Hound. 18. Eal’-se j jaw-da-lu •— Sugar Mt. 19. Da?-na-we-yi — no translation given. 20. Hu-waw-ti -- Medicine. Known in English as the Sulphur Springs Eire, 21. A-gis-ku-na-ge stun-yi ska-doo-gi — Illinois District Eire,. the" head Fire. 22. Di-ga-ha-ta — A hole punched in. 23- Gi-da-yaw-sti — Marble, (the plaything) Later called Sequoyah District Fire. ' <• aA*rt*S¥ntr

DELAWARE COO-WEE SC WEE SHAWNEE

DEL AWARI

SALINE

TAHLEQUAH

CHEROKEE NATION 1905

VARYING DISTRIBUTION OF FULL-BLOODS

CONCENTRATED

REEK

MEDIUM

LIGHT

LITTLE OR CANADIAN NONE

STOMP GROUND 164 taken from the Deep Branch Fire for the building of the rest of the Cherokee Firest* At the present time, there is some disagreement on the procedure for establishment of a new Fire. At Marble City, Oklahoma,, a new Fire was established in the summer of 1951? and the members were split into two factions® One faction said that the fire should be started from the coals of an already existing firej, or at least ashes from such a fire be put down. The other faction held that this was not necessary, as it was not done in Redbird Smith8s time. The faction favor­ ing the first method had had much contact with the Creeks around Braggs> Oklahoma, and may have pieked-up the concept from Creek lore. The ceremonial ground, or stomp ground, was called in Cherokee, "Oa-ti-ya.'* This means literally, according to John Smith, "An agent to help you." This term is also applied to Indian mounds by the Worth Carolina Cherokee. After the Fire at Deep Branch was first started and the other Fires were being built, the committee at the Ketoowah convention at Long Valley began to pass on new innovations to modify the Hotchee customs to make them more compatible with Cherokee culture. As George Snith says, "They changed the rule every year. They kept trying to get back-what they had lost." George Smith speaks of this time as, "When we were under the Hotchee rule." One of the first innovations was the rule that all new Fires had to be built with the wood of seven different trees. . i6£ • x . seven being the sacred mmber of the GberokeeSo Throughout all the culture elements received from the Eotchees, the sacred number seven was substituted for the Botches sacred number four® The first culture element taken over from the Botchee or

Greek which was really made compatible with Cherokee culture was the ball game. This games is played between men and women, men using the ball-sticks (racquets) as shown in the picture, and women being allowed to use their hands. The ball is thrown at an object on the tope of a twenty-foot pole. (A buffalo fish, carved out of wood, was placed on the topa of the pole at the Sulphur Springs #ire.) It' counted four points to hit the fish and one to hit above a line marked near the top of the pole. The score was kept by drawing a line from the pole to a stump or rock and the score for the women was marked on the left side of the line facing the pole and for the men on the right side, by drawing lines perpendicular to the main one, either,four or one, according to the number of points made. This scoring was changed by the Cherokee to seven points for hitting the fish and two for hitting the top of the pole. After each four games of ball, some type of stew, usually deer, was eaten. The first bit was taken out of the mouth and dropped on the ground. This eating of the stew was changed, by the committee, to after every seven games. The Botchee or Greeks were very afraid of burning in the fire wood which had been struck by lightning. However, the Gherokees had no such fear, believing the lightning to be their l6 6 friend o If a tree was rstruck close to the stomp ground, the Eotchees and Greeks would out it down and haul it away, usually- throwing it in a creek to be washed away. Redbird Smith would use such wood on a sacred fire. It was even the custom in North Carolina in the 8908s for ball players to paint themselves with charcoal from wood struck by lightning o'*" At every stomp dance, which were usually held every two weeks, men were appointed to pick out leaders to lead the dances. They were called, tta~ni--na-wis-ti~ski,tl callers. These callers were appointed by the Fire-keeper and they would pick out one man to lead a dance and four men to help him. This was changed to'the appointment of a leader and seven men. The fire was lit by the use of flint and steel at every meeting by the Fire-keeper, preferably just before dawn. How­ ever, it was such a hard job to light the fire in this way that it was often not thoroughly started until eight o $clock. The- Fire-keeper was not allowed to blow on the punk while build­ ing the fire, or he would be "cold all day.” By Notchee and Creek custom, the fire was fed every fourth time ball was played, and at least once a month. Sometimes a stew was made from the leftovers of what they fed to the fire-*for instance, if half of a deer heart was fed to the fire, the stew was made out of the rest of the deer. The proper thing at.this time for the

Mooney, James, American Anthropologists, Vol. Ill, pp. 122—12^. - 1 6 ? Firekdeper tp sacrifice to the fire, was any of the following: four squirrel heads, one buffalo fish, or four smaller type fish, one-half of a deer heart, or one whole turkey heart„ The Firekeeper "told the people what to bring him to feed the fireo" During this time, that is, at the new Cherokee Fires, the rule was changed to sacrificing to the fire every seventh time ball was played. During this time, according to George Smith, "We were just learning about the fire®" A few years after the Deep Branch Fire was started, when most of the Cherokee Fires had been established, all the Fire-keepers had a meeting at the Sulphur Springs Fire in order to learn more about the customs and rules pertaining to the fire® They were instructed by Charlie Sam, the head Fire-keeper for the Hotchees at the Sulphur Springs Fire® The Fire-keeper of twenty-two Cherokee Fires came to this meeting, which took place probably in 1905» At the Sulphur Springs Fire, before 1902, there was a carved buffalo fish o n - top of the ball post in the manner of the Okehal Greeks ® When the Cherokee first started building their Fires, many of them put this fish on top of their ball posts® Charlie Sam instruct­ ed the Fire-keepers, at this meeting, that only the head Fire (which was at this time the Sulphur Springs fire) should have the buffalo fish on top of the ball post, all the rest should have some other ob ject on top of the pole ® The old Cherokee ball game which had been played between 168 male members of different towns was played only sporadically .during this period. Teams were selected# usually without re­ gard to affiliation to a particular fire or town# sometimes a team of Greeks would play a team of Gherokees, The games usually were not accompanied by the all night ball play dance# nor the purification rite before playing ball. The game was usually played and then# afterwards# the players were scratched and put through the purification rite of 11 going to the water when out blood was hot, George Smith# on a trip with Redbird Smith to the Fire near Bull Hollow# saw the ball-play dance performed as one of a number of dances at an all night stomp ' dance» To the Cherokee of today# having the ball post directly west of the stomp ground and making the post of cedar is tradi­ tional, But the Greek town of that time put the ball post in any direction from the stomp ground and put anythihg,they pleased on top of the pole, . - Another thing Charlie Sam suggested at the 1905> meeting was that a head Fire-keeper of all the Fires be selected, Haturally# because of his knowledge# he was selected the head Fire-keeper, He also suggested that a medicine maker was needed to visit all the Firest and make medicine around them. He suggested that he knew of a medicine maker who would work medicine around each Fire if each Fire would contribute a horse and a cow. Heedless to say# the Cherokee rebelled at this nstiff18 price and it 169 was finally settled at twenty dollars per Fire instead„ Hie medicine maker, he had in mind was probably his brother. Watt Sam, who was the medicine maker for the Sulphur Springs Fire. However, this was never brought about, because, a short time later, the Ketoowah Society made the Deep Branch, or Illinois District, Fire, the head Fire, and addition of the medicine maker to Cherokee culture was not accompli she d.0 According to Wotchee or Greek custom, four dances were given at a stomp dance, and anyone was allowed tosspeak at at the fire who so desired» This was changed to seven dances and then speeehmaking» These are only a few of the innovations which were brought about during this time, But informants are hard pressed to remember them all, because, as they say, 11 the rule was changed every year» ' During this time, stomp dances, were held every two weeks, usually on Saturday nights, because the Cherokee had taken on the American pattern of resting on Sunday = Ball was plftyed Saturday afternoon» Saturday nights, the animal dances and others were performed, such as the horse dance, buffalos dance, the bean dance, and Rwind*-up011 These dances had a specific order in which to be danced as the night progressed. Sometimes, after the dancing was over, at dawn, the ritual of “going to the water“ was performed for all the participants. Another class of dances performed were those known as “stomp11 dances, or, as they are called in Forth Carolina, / . ■: ■; . •: - ^ r friendsjaip dances »• These dances are.,.done in a line, clockwise around-the fire, and are led hy a leader who sings a refrain - and is answered hy the rest of the people in the line. There are certain standardized calls and refrainshut .a great deal of individuality is allowed the leader in his calls. One such . call and refrain performed today > was made ..up .hy Bedhird Smith . .when returning from a Pour Mothers meeting. He and Greek,Sam stopped the buggy to make camp one night, when a wolf, howled. in the '•distance „ Eedbird Smith B a n g ’’Wa-hi-ya ne-r-ga-weM and. Greek Sam answered "Wa-hi-ya tawnk-wa." According to George Smith, "Usually at the Sulphur Springs lire , them old Greeks would lead just as nasty as they .eould^ ' but when we started, our Pires, the HetOowahs made.them stop all, that nasty singing." If there was a'Greek singer present at the Cherokee dances, sometimes Creek dances would be performed. v The great ceremonials, such as the Green Corn dance were too far in the past to be revived. The last Green Corn dance in the Cherokee Nation was performed..by.the Creeks under Sleeps ing Rabbit around the 18701 s or '80's. " ... ;.During this time, - Redbird Smith had been travelling around to different Pires preaching the message of the wampum belts. • On one trip on which George Smith accompanied him, he spent two: ' or three days at the Pire west of Talequah, near Little, Kansas, and at the present Bull Hollow. There was two or three day - ' . meetings at each of the Pires, with all night stomp dances, and Redbird Smith explained the wampum belts at each meeting. He . O' 171 also explained the wampums at the convention meetings. It was at the convention meetings that most of these Inno­ vations were decided upon. The committee, would pass them and the chief would sign his name and stamp them with the official Ketoowah seal. This seal was gotten in I90I5. from the daughter.of Rabbit Bunchs the head chairman of the Ketoowah Society who died in 1.888. On the seal it saids ^Ketoowah— 185>9.11 Minutes were also taken at these meetings by the secretary, Oee Hogshooter. He wrote them in the Cherokee language. By this time, Redbird Smith was the head Chairman of the Ketoowah Society. Daniel Redbird, during this period, having "gone over to the Ketoowah, Inc.11. This first period of the nativistic movement, after 1902, was the time when the greatest number of innovations and modi­ fications of the borrowed elements were made. After this time, the culture of the Ketoowah Society managed to become more stable, although they changed the "rule," to some extent, every year® During the period, probably between 1902 and 1907, the Ketoowah leaders once again were put in jail. Three brothers,^ "the Wycliffe boys," had become outlaws and were sought by the U. S. marshals. John Wycliffe, the father, was the head, captain Of the Saline District, and, on the trip previously mentioned, on which George Smith accompanied his father, John Wycliffe was questioned by the marshals as to the whereabouts of his sons. - 172 He denied any knowledge of where they were, but he was not be­ lieved, The head U, S„ marshal promised John Wycliffe that he would soon take in his sons. So, the present day Gherokees think it very humorous :that this marshal was killed in the first encounter with the Wyeliffe .boys. The whites in the Indian Territory thought that the leaders in the Ketoowah Society were harboring fugitives. And therefore Redbird Smith and fourteen others were jailed in Vinita, awaiting question­ ing, A mob formed to lynch Redbird Smith, and it was necessary to sneak him out of the jail at night, handcuffed in order to avoid the lynch mob, Redbird Smith was finally released after questioning by the head TJ. S. marshal. "After this, the Ketoowah Society appointed twenty of the best shots and trackers among their members to hunt down the "Wycliffe boys," This group was led by, John Smith, They used a. medicine man who was very good at divination to help them in finding these outlaws. However, although this committee was very proficient and searched for a long time, they were unable to capture the Wyeliffes. John Smith reasons that the failure was because the medi­ cine man they used was secretly working for the Wyeliffes, These outlaws later gave themselves up, after the oldest brother was killed, and they were cleared of charges. In 1906, at the contention meeting, Redbird Smith8s title was officially changed from that of chairman, tsoo-da-tferfia, to chief, noo-gun-wi-yoo. And a second chief, ta-li-ne noo-gun- wi-yoo, was appointed, , 173 John Smith was largely responsible for this. He said, "It only took me about an hour to convince them to put this througho I said in the old days the Ketoowahs had a chief and that is a good reason for us to have one now. The full-bloods never had a chance under the tribal government and it is fail­ ing us now." This change of title amounted to a formal decla- . ration of independence from the rest of the Cherokees. The chief of the Cherokee Hat ion was called noo-gun-wi-yoo, and was considered the chief of all the Cherokee, while the Ketoowah Society only had had a head).eh airman. But with this change of title for the leader of the Ketoowah Society, the Society asserted its independence from all other factions„ This title, noo-gun-wi-yoo is translated, in the eighteenth century, as "beloved man." This same year, Redbird Smith appeared before a senate . investigating committee in the Indian Territory and presented his views on the allotment and coming statehood» He felt that the United States should uphold its treaty obligations to the Cherokee and that it had no right to thrust the full-bloods into an alien society. . In the minds of the Cherokees of that time, "The Treaty" with the United States was as much of a sacred document as the United States Constitution is to the American people. The Treaty was given supernatural sanctions.. ^t had .for 100 years preserved Cherokee culture as a separate entity, and the pres­ ence of this Treaty had always guaranteed Cherokeesuultimate n k justiee from the United States government in any situation,. One of the objections of Big Jims the Shawnee leader, to allot­ ment was that the earth was the mother of the Shawnee and should not be broken up in this manner. In other wcrds, super­ natural sanction was given to the common holding of the land, However, among the full-blood Qherokees, this treaty had served as a bulwark against aggression by the United States, tak­ ing the place of any kind of sanction, such as the one given by the Shawnee, Many full-bloods today, of the older generation, after almost fifty years, still cannot believe that the Chero­ kee Treaty has been abrogated, And the full-bloods of today still talk a lot of The Old Treaty, Many full-bloods of that period did not believe that the United States would actually break The Treaty, but that some final reconciliation would be made. As Bedblrd Smith said, "God was witness to The Treaty made between the United States and the Cherokees, and the knowledge of that Treaty extends to heaven," However, in 1907# Oklahoma was admitted as a state of the United States, and the Cherokee government ceased to exist ex­ cept to discuss and handle certain legal matters. The full- bloods were now citizens of the United States, owners of indi­ vidual land holdings, which were restricted as to sale by the Indian Office, Full-blood land was non-taxable and could only be sold with permission of the Indian Office, The full-bloods were usually.allotted about sixty acres around their home, called a homestead^ andj, west of the Grand River? about another sixty acres called surplus« Boon the restrictions on the surplus land were removed| it became taxable and there were no re­ strictions on its sale* Throughout this period of about twenty years of the state of Oklahoma5s history, the ful1-bloods. were robbed of their land by every means known in legal history« Forgery# misrepre­ sentation# fraud were all used to get hold of full-blood lando"*- Guardians were appointed in Oklahoma cities for “incompetent” fuil-bloodSo These guardians cheated them also. Several lawyers of this period had more than one hundred wards. Th 1910 Redbird Smith went to Mexico City. Wilson Girty# the head captain of the Canadian District# had an old “contract with the Mexican government regarding the Cherokee. One band of Gherokees had migrated to Texas around 1820 when it was Mexican Territory# and they had been given permission by the Mexican authorities to settle there. When Texas became inde­ pendent# a treaty was made with these Gherokees but was not ratified by the Texas senate. In l8i{.0# the Gherokees were driven back intp the Indian Territory. According to Cherokee tradition# there were many outlaws among this band and in a raid they killed a fisherman and a'family of settlers# which led to their expulsion from Texas. Many of the Texas Cherokee had settled in the Canadian District. Wilson Girty gave Redbird Bmith the old treaty with the

i Debo# A.# The Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma# p. 1 . 176 Texas republic, which was written on deerskin, and John and Redbird Smith set out for Mexico City, They saw the United States ambassador in Mexico City, and he advised them to get a Mexican lawyer to examine the archies» This Mexican lawyer told them that the Texas Cherokee had a contract with the Mexi­ can government to settle so many families in the area to which they were assigned, but they had failed to fulfill the complete requirement and therefore the Cherokees had no legal'claim on the Mexican government? They left the deerskin treaty with one of the lawyers, Raphael Fernandez, and returned home? A short time later, the Mexican revolution started and they heard no more from the lawyers? Some of the people accuse Redbird Smith of selling out? These malcontents, according to John Smith, were largely, responsible for Redbird Smith8 s death later, through the use of conjuring. There had been Mexican agents in the Cherokee Ration in 1901, trying to get numerous full-bloods to remove to Mexico, Some of the full-bloods wanted to do so. This may have, been one of the reasons for Redbird Smith8 s trip, although, according to John Smith, 11 We just went down there to see what we could get out of it,M Somewhere in this period between 1900 and 1910, Redbird Smith, John Smith, and Bluford Sixkiller had also made a trip to visit the Shawnee Indians? They ^arrived at a time when 11 Some kind of Indian meeting was going on,H They stayed at the 177 house of the Shawnee chiefs Little Axe» At this meeting* Red- bird Smith took out the Cherokee wampum belts and laid them on the ground, "To see what they would say about them. An old blanket Indian with long hair got up and explained the wampum belts. He said almost exactly what we already knew about them." Redbird Smith was well received by rthe Shawnee and was given a turban by them® But John Smith said, "They wouldnH listen to his message." The gathering of more knowledge about the wampum belts was the main reason for this trip. Somewhere between 1910 and 19!lj-, a major innovation took place in the structure of the Ketoowah Society. The Committee was replaced by a council of seven men, one for each elan. John Smith was largely responsible for this innovation also. He sand,"I’d heard the old people say that the chief used to have a council of seven men, one for each clan, to advise him. And I thought we ought to have this now. It didn’t take me very long to convince the committee pf this." The seven clan council took on the functions of theocommittee and became the governing body of the Ketoowah Society.. In 1944, Redbird Smith made a trip to Washington to see the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He requested some type of reservation for the Ketoowah Society. But the commissioner of that time, Cato Sells, refused to consider such a proposal. The prevailing sentiment and policy of the Indian Bureau was to discourage any "tribalism" and to individualize and Americanize the Indians. 178 On this trip to Washington* the Cherokees met a Doctor Marcy* who was interested in Indian problems® He believed strongly in the theory of the lost land of Atlantis and dis­ cussed this with the Ketoowah leaders. By this time* the great migration legend of the Cherokee had been forgotten. And this theory appealed to them. The coming from the east* which is the sacred direction of the Cherokee* was compatible with their cul­ ture, Dr, Marcy recommended that they read On Two Planets by Oliver* which explained this theory. This theory of the lost land of Atlantis has crept into much Cherokee lore,. The Cherokee have a legend for the origin of the name Ketoowahi 11 There were originally seven villages among the Cherokee, Each one of these villages was called by the name of each of the. seven clans of the Cherokee, There were seven representatives on the council and one chief. They would all meet at the fire to discuss problems. They were all seers. One day they saw something in the fire* a sign. But they didn't know what it represented. They wanted to find out. The chief went up on top of a mountain to fast and ask Cod. what the sign meant.. He said nothing to the others. The first night* one of the seven came. And each night another came* until* the seventh night* they were all there, On the seventh night* Cod spoke to one, He said* 'In time* your grandchildren's trail will be towards the setting sun. You will be-driven to the edge of the Prairie, By that time* half of the blood will be gone and half of the clan forgotten. You will grow wise* but you won't mind one another. After a time* your trail will turn East again and you will go through hardships until peace will reign. This peace .will last for several generations until disaster once again overtakes you. And this time will be the extinction of the Cherokee people. But* on the next day* the world will come to an end. Here­ after* you shall be called Ani-Ki-too-wha-gi.'" To shfow the . influence that this theory of the lost land of Atlantic has had on Cherokee lore is another legend of the 179 origin of the Ketoowah by another informants "The Gberokee originally lived on an island in the Atlantic= There they warred with 70 tribes. They defeated all 70 through God's help and the knowledge of raedieineo The leader of the last tribe, Ber-du-we-gis was leading his men on the Gherokee camp. He saw smoke rising from the camp and dividing into three parts = In the middle was an eagle holding arrows in his claws„ So the leader decided that the Gherokee were too strong in medicine and did not attack« "After a time, the medicine men became corrupt and audeath penalty was attached by the people for conjuring« At this time, seven medicine men went up the mountain to fast» The seven came in consecutive order, A vision from God came to them. The vision said, "A white ball is coming from the East which is your enemy, Your grandchildren's steps will be towards the west. You must leave this place. Hereafter, you shall be called A-ni-Ki-too-wba-gi, As the people were leaving, some looked back and saw the island sinking into the sea. They landed on the coast of South America and wandered up through the Isthmus of Panama and into the United States» They wandered back and forth be­ tween the Carolinas and the Ohio Valley until they finally settled in Georgia. This legend seems to be a combination of a tradition of wars with the Iroquois, Hedbird Smith's teaching, and the previous legend of the Ketoowah, and Oliver's theory of Atlantis in On Two Planets. On the same trip to Washington on which they met Dr. Marcy and heard the legend of the Lost Atlantis, Hedbird Smith and his delegates met a Mrs. Kellogg, an Oneida Indian woman married into the famous Kellogg family who was interested in promoting, through Congress, the Lolomi Plan which provided for the rehab­ ilitation of American Indians along lines of community enter­ prise. However, this plan was not in favor with Congress at

1 Tyner, H», The Ketoowah Society in Gherokee History, p. 27, 180 this time. Redbird Smith returned ft?om Washington discouraged because of the failure of the Commissioner to give him any encouragement

' ‘ X in the plan for a reservation. A "rump" session of the Ketoowah Society was called at his house after his return to determine what course of action they should follow. It was a seven day convention held at the Illinois District Fire in July of 19l!|-. Seven men were selected from each one of the seven clans and each group of seven from a particular elan fasted a day and a night to receive a vision or "answer" from Cod. First the A-ni-Wa-hi-ya (Wolf) clan,, then the A-ni-Oi-lo-gi clan* then the A-ni-Sa-mo-Bi and the A-ni-wo-di (Red Paint) clan* fasted. John Smith was one of the A-ni-Jis-kwa (Bird) clan members chosen to fast. They fasted all day and all night * but like the preceding four clans got no vision. "When we came back from fasting," John Smith said, "and from sitting up all night, my father came out on his porch to meet us, to hear what we had to say. Just as I was going up the steps to the porch, I looked up and saw a cloud in the shape of the big Peace pipe. I pointed up to it and everybody looked up and saw it. My father said to me* ’What do you think it means? 11 I said, ®I guess it means we ought to use the pipe more." This was the answer they had been looking for. At the convention the next year, in 1915? another great innovation was made. The Ketoowah Society now had a council made up of a member from each of the seven clans and the rule l8l of mamiraous vote had been made* The society became more sacredj in Redfield8 s sense* and the clan was assuming more importance in Cherokee life* At this time* in 1915# the major­ ity of the Cherokees had forgotten their clans or would not disclose the name of their clan to another person* At this convention* John Smith* along with several others* got through the rule that from now on every one should know the clans and they should not be kept secret» This is known as* "The time when we found our clans*n Many people of the tribe did not know which elan they belonged to and old men were often re­ sorted to, who alone could tell some of the people what their clans were = This was as much a renaissance as had been the starting of the stomp dances in 1 8 9 6 * or the relighting of the Cherokee Fires between 1902 and 1 9 0 6 , The number of arbors around the fire before this time had been four* one at each cardinal point* After this time* how­ ever* each one of the elans had an arbor around the fire* making seven in all* The arbors were placed in a semi-circle around the fire*leaving an opening to the west.. Before this time* the ball game score had been kept from the pole to a stump or rock* low* because there was no arbor between the ball post and the fire* the line was drawn to keep score between the ball game post and the fire itself* The Fire-keepers at about this time added a stick tostir the fire with, which they kept stuck in the ground to the east of the fire * This stick was used to mark out the score of the ball game on the ground* "0 - □ □ B a c l **oyr jmc /a * o nan □

Ojagram or s t o m p g r o u /* o b e f o r e. i9is

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FIGURE. E 182

This movement in 19.15 of ‘‘finding the clansn was the be­ ginning of a new series of innovations in “Wight Hawk" emitnre» At about this time* a man appeared among the Cherokee to “try to help the full-bloods.“ His name was 0. P. Cornelius» He was a brother to.Mrs. Kellogg* Redbird Smith and his delegation had met in Washington. He was a member of the Oneida tribe of Wisconsin and a graduate lawyer. Exactly what his motive was in coming to Oklahoma is not known* unless it was to try to promote an extention of the Lolomi Plan. He had everything in his favor to be received favorably by the Gherokees. He was an Indian* an educated man* and he came from the sacred direc­ tion* east. He convinced the Ketoowah Society that he,knew a lot about old time Indian ways. He said that there were six nations in the east which still kept up the old rules of the Fire* that there had originally been seven nations* or Fires* but* some­ time in the past* one of the Fires had left and migrated else- where* until they were lost to the rest. He said he thought that this Fire among the Cherokee was the seventh lost Fire. He never said what the other six Fires were, but undoubtedly he meant the Six Mations of the Iroquois in Mew York. The Oneidas of Wisconsin had been Christian for many years and do not keep up the rites of the Long House. But C. P. Cornelius* being an educated man* must have read much of Iroquois history and proba­ bly had visited the Six Mations of Mew York and Canada. He seemed to have known a great deal about the workings of culture* 183 for he apparently introduced only those elements which would be compatible with Cherokee culture; and other Iroquian traits he presented in a modified manner, so as to be compatible= A white chicken was scarified, or "fed" to the fire every month for four months under the direction of 0. P= Cornelius. He had also got ashes from one of the Fires "back east," and, every month, some of the ashes were put into the fire at the Illinois District, which was the head Fire-— always with the sacrifice of the white chicken. This was done to "get the east and the west Fires together and to make the Cherokee Fire white and good like the Fire in the east." According to George Smith, "0. "P. Cornelius knew a lot about old time Indian ways and could interpret the wampum more fully than we had." George Smith spoke of the time before 0 . P. Cornelius as, "Hhen we were under the Motehee Rule," and of the time after C„ P. Cornelius started his innovations as "When we were under the Ketoowah rule." Because C. P. Cornelius "Got the rule back" and put ashes from the eastern Fire into the Illinois District Fire, the "Ketoowahs felt that they had really never lost the rule, that the Fires had never really gone out." Chief Stokes Smith has a somewhat different opinion on the matter. "Some people say that that Fire out there is a Hotchee Fire, but that’s not so. It never was a Hotchee Fire. Mhen the old man was in that Fire over there on Greenleaf mountain he was not learning about the Fire then. Creek Bam was teaching him. He (Redbird Smith) was just going along the line that my grand- iSij. father (Pig Smith) set for him, Tihen he started the Fire over here on Blaek Gum mountain it was a Cherokee Fire," . After a period of four months, the new rules, subject to approval by the Eetoowah council, were "put in" by C. P. Cor­ nelius = Some leeway was given him in introducing new ways and teaching the people, but he was always subject to the control of the Eetoowah council, * At this, time, each Fire had a little captain for the commu­ nity labor and a secretary and treasurer Snd three Flre-keepers* A council of seven men was added for each Fire, the Society having a similar body as stated before, fhls council was called di-ni-la-wi-gi go-ska-wi-gi-ya-ni. After this innova­ tion, a Fire-chief, Ska-doo-gi At-si-la Hoo-gun-wi yoo was named. The first word means "a political unit," the second word means "fire" and the third.word "chief," In other words, the "chief of a town fire," The name for the council was modeled after the old Cherokee word for Council of the Cherokee Nation, Di-ni-la-wi-gi, The Fire-chief at the Illinois District Fire was put in as follows: The seven elan council of the Illinois District Fire picked out seven men from the best of the available candidates. They narrowed this down to two, Will Elk was chosen to be the Fire-chief. But Will Elkkwas old and deaf and did not feel he could accept the responsibility. The question was placed in the hands of the people of this Fire, but no one volunteered or could make a diels ion, Redbird Smith then directed Will Elk to 185 pick, out two men by medicine* He chose Aaron Hicks for Fire- chief and George Smith for second Fire-chief* ta-li-ne Hoo- gun-wi-yoo Ska-doo-gi A-tsil* $he next year Aaron Hicks resigned and George became the head Fire-chief. In this period a board of medicine men, one for each elan, was added for the whole Soeiety and for each Fire. The medicine board is called in Cherokee; nu-waw-ti tsoo-lu-ni-wi-sta-ne-i. To Clarify the picture, a brief history of the innovations and origins of the Society should be given here. Before 1902, the Ketoowah Society had three head chairmen, first, second, and third, and a secretary and treasurer for the whole Society. Each District of the Cherokee Hation had three head captains. And each full blood community had a little captain. Each com­ munity also had a secretary and treasurer for the local chapter of the Ketoowah Society. The governing body of the Ketoowah Society was the Committee— a body made up of one or two repre­ sentatives from each community, elected for one or two years. After the Fires were started, each Fire had three Pi re- keepers. In 1906 the three head chairmen were abolished and were replaced by a first and second chief. Between 1910 and 191ij-, the seven clan council for the whole Society replaced the committeeo After the advent of C. 3?. Cornelius, each Fire first ac­ quired a seven clan council of its own, then a Pire-kkipfp and then a medicine board for each Fire and a medicine board for 186 the whole Society<= A spokesman for the whole Society was also chosen at this time» At an individual Fire, the function of the seven elan coun­ cil: was to choose officials by unanimous agreement, such as the Fire-chief, Firekeepers, secretary, and treasurer* The medicine board passed on these individuals by divination to see if they were good men for the office or not and had the. first word as to the appointment. On the level of the Society, the function of the council was to make the laws and rules for the whole Society and the medicine board would approve or disapprove by the same method of divination used at the individual Fires* The people of each clan at an individual Fire chose the clan representatives to the council and to the medicine board, subject to the approval of their medicine board. The members of each clan at the conven­ tion chose the members of the elan council and the medicine board, subject to the approval of the central medicine board. Later, the medicine board picked out a head medicine man from their body and the council chose a head councilman. At this time, the Fire-chief took over the function of the District captains and the Fire became the political unit. The little captains, as far as terminology goes/ disap­ peared. And the Fire-chief could appoint captains to help him on a project or could appoint a captain in a certain area. Ac­ cording to George Smith, MI asked C. P. Cornelius what we were Igoing to do about these captains now and he said I could appoint 18? a captain to help me <, He said that if some people over in a settlement far away from the Fire needed a captain, I could just appoint one over there®1’ After these innovations by C. P® Cornelius, the organization of the Fires very closely approximated the organization of the Cherokee town fires in aboriginal times. The Cherokee town organization seems to have been a basic Southeastern town organization modified by the Iroquoian empha­ sis on clan® The Ketoowah Society had started out by taking on a modified version of the Greek town organization and. then had modified this further with the help of an Iroquois, C. P. Cornelius® The Fire-chief had taken over the function of the District captain and the direction of community labors for the little captain, and much of the function of the Fire-keeper® Previ­ ously the Fire-keeper had decided what to feed the fire and had told “the people11 what to bring him® How, the Fire-chief had the final say on when to build the fire and what to feed it® According to George Smith, procedures would have been some­ thing like this: 11 If I wanted to build some new arbors around the fire, I 8d call the council and w e 8d get together and we8d decide what to do® If we needed so many logs to build these arbors we would assign each man to bring so many logs. In that time, the council and medicine board for the Society would make the rule, and the Fire-chief had to follow what they decided® Say, if the head chief decided to have a meeting at your Fire, the Fire-chief would get the Fire-keeper to build a fire that day at dawn and feed it® Then I (as Fire-chief) would meet the chief at the door of the stomp ground and bring him in®11 188 C. P. Cornelius also taught the Fire-keepers how to feed the fire differently. At this time, a white chicken or bird was fed to the fire, and the fire could be fed at dawn, at noon, or in late afternoon, or at all three times, The Fire- keeper could not eat until the sacrifice had been made. Also, the Fire-keeper could pray to the fire while he fed it. Accord­ ing to George Smith, ^Hhem old Eotehees didnlt know nothing about praying to the fire. All they knew how to do was just feed it. But G. P. Cornelius told us we could pray for anything we wanted to. We could pray for peace or anything The prayers were individual, but the fire is always addressed in Cherokee, when praying to it, as MHi-ga-yun-i-gi Gi=ga-ge-in which means, t$Ancient and Honorable Red Person.n The fire is address this way in the ritual medicine prayers. The Fire-chief could ask the Fire-keeper to pray while he was feeding the fire. At this time also, the medicine board of a Fire was used to help cure any of the members of a Fire. According to George Smith, "If somebody was sick the Fire-chief would tell the Fire- keeper to build a fire in the stomp ground. In such a case, you could even build one in the middle of the day. The medicine board could make medicine around the fire to help the sick man. You can bring the patient over to the stomp ground if you want to. If somebody was sick and lived a long piece away, the Fire-chief could tell the Fire-keeper to make the fire right in the person8s yard, and the medicine board would make medicine for-him. You could use all seven of the medicine board, if it took that strong a medicine, or how many you needed," In this period, different crisis rites were added to the ritual of the Cherokee life cycle. A midwife usually attended ' 189 a woman at birth„ However5 if the birth was difficult, the Pire-ehief was notified and one or all of the medicine men, according, to the seriousness of the difficulty, was sent to help0 Hie Fire-chief was notified at the birth of every.child. Ten days after, the medicine men washed the child in medicine every day for four days, or took him to the water every morning foribur days. Then the medicine board could select a name for the child„ Later in this period, a fire was built on the day of the birth of a child and the medicine men prayed for the welfare of it. Ho.marriage ceremony was inaugurated. According to George Smith, "The Indian agent told us he could get permission for us to do marriages at the fire. But there was so much law con­ nected with it that we didn*t understand, we just let it slide. If a couple had a falling out, the Fire-chief could get a cap­ tain to bring the couple to the fire and the Fire-chief would try to make peace for them." For the burial ceremony, at the direction of G. P „ Cornelius, a long rectangular "house" was drawn in the stomp ground with the fire in the middle and a door toward the west. This was accomplished by making a low ridge of earth along the outline of the house. This house is probably modeled after the Iroquois Long House» This long house was Inside the area encompassed by the seven arbors» Although the house outline has been observed

only at the head Fire, the Illinois District Fire, the concept is now firmly fixed in the culture of the Ketoowah Society. 190 This can best be illustrated by the dream of an informant, not a member of the Illinois District Fire, who was a small boy at the time this innovation was taking place. This dream also points out Cherokee color:.dnd directional symbolism» The dream is as follows; nI dreamed we were having a big stomp dance up there at the Illinois District Fire, And, right where the outline of that house was, something like a barn was built, right on that outline, with the boards going straight up and down. We were having the stomp dance inside the building around the fire, I dreamed there was a road leading out of that building that turned and went wouth a little ways, and, after a little ways, it forked. One fork was white and went east, the other fork was black, just like some of the black top roads and went west— it ended at a cliff edge. 1 dreamed S— led the people out of the house in a line and went downtthe. road going south« He turned off at the fork going west, I was the last one in line coming out of the building. When I saw what was happening, it seemed like I was supposed to give four whoops and then I led the people down the White Path to the east." This long house outline was used in the ceremony for death and in the ceremony for the inauguration of new officers. Before the innovations of G . P, Cornelius, the Hotehee, or Creek, custom for death was as follows; Ho one in the family could go to a dance at another stomp ground for four days» At the end of four days, the Fire-keeper would clean up trash, sticks, and so forth from the area around the fire and would purify himself in the ceremony of going to the water. As George Smith says, "The old Hotchee rule was pretty hard, especially if it was in the wintertime." Under the "Ketoowah rule" after the death of an official, the fire was lit at the. local stomp ground. The body, in a coffin, was brought and placed on the east side of the fire. 191 with the family just to the east of the coffin. A. "speaking" was'given at this time. The Fire-chief made a speech. After that speech was over, seven pp.ll bearers who had been selected by the Fire-chief, four with a white sash diagonally from right to left and three with white arm bands on the right arm carried the coffin counterclockwise around the fire. As the coffin was brought around to the west side of the fire, on that trip toward the door, two of the Fire-keepers would light brands and stand­ ing on each side of the coffin would accompany it to the grave­ yard o Here the pallbearers lowered the coffin into the grave. . The arm bands and sashes- of the pallbearers were then thrown in the grave, and, after the grave was half-filled, the Fire- keepers who had been standing on each side of the grave threw the brands into the dirt, and the grave was filled, For an ordinary member of the Fire, the coffin was taken to the stomp ground and placed on the east side of the fire, along with the family5. but the fire was not lighted, nor the ritual gone through. There was a "speaking." After the ceremony was over, every one at the grave drank a concoction of red root or washed his face in it. An element which had been added before this time, and continued was that the next day neighbor women would clean the house of the person who had died, wash the clothes, clean the yard. Then medicine would be sprinkled on the floor of the house. In this death ceremony, if the dead person lived too far from the stomp ground for his body to be brought there, the 192 Fire-chief could instruct the Fire-keeper to "make fire" in the deceased 8s yard and carry on the ceremony there» Another ceremony added, was the Inauguration of officers. All officers of a Fire were selected for office at that Fire, while the officials for the whole Society were selected at the convention meeting in September. All of the officials of the Society, under the new rule, were put through the ritual at the head Fire, the Illinois District Fire. The ceremony for inaugurating the chief of the Society was as follows; The sacred fire was built in the stomp ground by the Fire-keeper, and six other small finest were built--three in the north section of the long house, and three in the south section. These seven fires symbolized that all the seven clans would accept this chief. The Fire-chief and the head medicine man stood east of the fire facing west. The second Fire-chief and head eouncilmen stood just inside the door, to the west. The second Fire-eh lei1 was known as the doorkeeper in this ceremony. Three medicine men stood in the southeast corner of • the long house. Three eouncilmen stood in the southwest corner of the long house and three stood in the northwest corner. The three Fire-keepers stood just south of the fire. And any old Fire-keeper who had retired stood to the north of the fire. The chief sat on a seat in back of the Fire-chief and the head medicine man at the eastern end of the long house. He wore the wampum belts around himself for this ceremony. A captain appointed by the Fire-chief took the new chief and led him out 193 of the long house5 around the people who were group.#d around the edge of the long house# and took him to the west door. Here the second Fire-chief stood with a bow and arrow pointed at his heart and asked him if he would follow the Ihite Path# talk with a straight tongue# etc. If he were accepted by the doorkeeper or second Fire-chief# he was then taken toward the fire, Then the head Fire-keeper advanced to meet him. If,the head Fire-keeper accepted him and shook hands with him# he was taken to the Fire-chief who would also accept him and shake hands with him,. The captain then took the chief from the Fire-chief and walked him around the fire in a clockwise direction. When the chief got back to the east side of the fire# he was oficially the new chief. On the east side of the fire# he made a speech of accept­ ance and then was taken back to his seat at the east end of the long house. Only with the head officers of the Society was the bow and arrow used or the seven fires built. But all the officers of each Fire were supposed to be taken through a modified version of this ceremony. After this time, any one joining a Fire# that is any new member of the Ketoowah Society# was taken in as a member of a Fire by this type of ceremony. And# if the medicine board accepted you as a member# you were taken around the fire and then to your clan seat. 19k It must be borne in mind that these crisis rites and cere­ monies were probably done with more exactness at the head Fire near where Redbird Smith lived „ Sometime during this period a small pipe was made for each Fife, after the manner of the big peace pipe, and was kept by each Fire-chief. The big pipe, according to George Smith, is supposed to be smoked at gatherings of different Indian tribes to "make the Peace there. But the big pipe was smoked usually at the convention meetings." ' The wampums were not explained a great deal at this time. Each Fire-chief could smoke the small pipe at his discretion. (Before the use of the small pipe, all the people of the Fire lined up and took a pinch of tobacco, which had been made sacred by the medicine men, and three it in the fire, one man after another.) Usually the Fire-chief lights the pipe before the speeches are made at the stomp ground for peace. The procedure today is as followss Before a stomp dance, each councilman takes his seat in the arbor built for his elan around the fire. The Fire-chief stands to the east of the fire and lights the pipe from a brand from the fire. The seven council­ man walk counterclockwise around the fire and line up behind the fire-chief. Anyone who wants to smoke, man, woman, or child, can walk around the fire counterclockwise and line up behind the seven councilman. The Fire-chief takes seven puffs to the east and passes the pipe to the councilman behind him. He takes seven pusffs then leaves.the fire„ Each person in turn is handed the pipe

> and takes seven puffs, then leaves the fire, until the last person finally hands the pipe back to the Eire-chief„ After this, anyone can speak before the fire who cares to. This speaking is supposed to be done in the old Cherokee oratorical style. After the speaking is over, the all night stomp dance begins, and ends at dawn. The individual Fires held stomp dances usually every two weeks on Saturday nights. There were two meetings for the whole Society. One. held for three or four days in September, was the convention at Long Valley. Here the Ketoowah Society made new rules, beefs were barbecued every day, ball was played, and stomp dances were held every night. Cherokees came and camped for miles around. And sometimes calf-roping was held in the afternoon for the young men. The other meeting was held on July 19, the birthday of Redbird Smith. During this period, and previously, many people had come to eat dinner with Redbird Smith on his birthday. The gathering got so largeathat Redbird Smith’s wife suggested that they put tables at the stomp ground and have the dinner there.

Usually, in the afternoon, the people would go to the graveyard and decorate the graves. Finally a stomp dance was held at night. The Ketoowah Society, at Redbird Smith’s suggest finally made the day the official Decoration Day.

■Individual Fires could hold decorations on this day, but many people came to the Illinois Bistrict Fire for this eele- ■ 196 ■bratIon. This meeting was continued even after Redbird Smith $s death. At this meeting on July, 19ths many white people would come to the celebration and would dance in the stomp dances. Stands were put up close to the stomp ground, and the Ketoowah Society collected money from the sale of food and drink at these stands. The stands were managed by a woman * s organiza­ tion which had grown up at this time. This organization had a foreman, a treasurer and a scretary. They held quilting bees and sold food at the July 19th celebration, as said before. The money went to the treasury of the Illinois District Fire, of, if needed, to the treasury of the Society. "White politicians and white neighbors would make contribu­ tions for this celebration too. However, at the convention, very few whites attended. It began to be the custom for the July 19th celebration to be open to all who wanted to attend, while the convention meet­ ing was strictly an Indian affair. In 1916, the Ketoowah Society passed a rule that only those Fires which had enough members to elect councilman for each of the seven clans could continue. Because of this fact, the Fires:- were consolidated. Three Fires came into the Illi­ nois District Fire. f Probably by this time, the Redbird Smith movement had lost some of its following, as evidenced by the fact of the consoli­ dation of the Fires. The allotment had come and the full-bloods 197 had had ten years under the state of Oklahoma of being cheated out of their land by crooked lawyers and real estate dealerss Many full=bloods who were at one time strong Eighthawks do not like to talk about this era, probably because of the discour­ agement they feel over the inability of the Ketoowah leaders to help them in their plight. At the same time, however, that the ordinance was passed consolidating the Fires another rule was made saying that the people who still wanted a Fire could have a limb Fire, "Oo-wan- jga-tu.n The Fire-chief could appoint Fire-keepers for a Fire such as this and' a captain to carry out his directions in the area, •

In 1917s the Gherokees, as United States citizens, were involved in the first World War, The Ketoowah Society helped by making contributions to the Red Gross, However, some trouble arose over drafting the young Cherokee men. According to one informant, "Them Christies.over at Wauhilau liked to got Redbird Smith in trouble "They told some of the boys over there not to register for the draft, because they didnit like the United States, When the United States marshal came to see them about it, they laid it on Redbird Smith and he almost got arrested again. The Indian agent helped him out of it though. They called a special meeting, and Redbird Smith told everyone to obey the law and register for the draft." This type of passive attitude and obedience goes a long with the whole passive resistance trend of the Redbird Smith move­ ment , Redbird Smith preached to obey man-made law as well as "God8 s Law.11 The Cherokee had had experience with legal sane- tions under the old Gherokee HatIon and could see their bene­ fit, The obeying of the law and this passiveness can be seen in the fact that no resistance was made at either of the times Redbird Smith and the Ketoowah leaders were put in jail, Hor was there resistance, except passive, to the enrollment of the! full-bloods. Even though Redbird Smith did not like the new state of Oklahoma he preached to obey its laws. Many of the full-bloods thought the drafting of Indians very unjust. There was, nevertheless, only this one Incident of active resistance. In 1917$ the Ketoowah convention was changed from Long Valley to the head Fire, or Illinois District, In 1918, because of the War, the re was no convention meeting. After 1918 the convention meeting was continued at the Illinois District Fire,

During the War, in 1917, George Smith, the Fire-chief of the Illinois District Fire, inaugurated a special ceremony. He set aside the fourteenth day of every month for the head chief and all the head officers of the Society to come to the Illinois District Fire, He met the officers at the door of the long house and brought them inside. On this day, the fire was built, fed, and the Fire-keepers prayed to the fire for the safety ofthe Cherokee boys in the Army, Every one fasted that day. The pipe of the Illinois District Fire was smoked, and a stomp dance was held.that night. This ceremony was discontinued after the war. In Hovember 1918, Redbird Smith died. He was buried accord ing to the approved death ceremony. 199 On the dayi of Red bird Smith * s funeral, a large white crane flew from the east at sun-up and lit in a tree next to the stomp ground = According to John Smith, nWe were up In the stomp ground fixing to have services for my father when this crane was sitting in the tree by the stomp ground» 0. P« Cornelius said, 8You watch and see if that crane isn8t down by the graveyard when we bury your father.8 Pretty soon the crane flew off and lit in a tree just west of the graveyard. When we car- ' ried my father8s coffin down to the graveyard, the crane sat there in that tree and hollered» After we buried my father, the crane Sat there until sundown and then flew off to the west.’1 The Cherokee report this event as some type of omen, for a crane is very wild and hardly ever can one approach within fifty yards of it without its flying away. Ten days after Redbird Smith 8s death, a service was held. According to John Smith, the soul lingers about the stomp ground for three days and then it takes seven days to go up through the seven levels of Heaven to the Highest level. John Smith said, l,C. P. Cornelius knew the custom of the old Indians after their chief died. At the hour of his death, .ten days afterward, you were supposed to build seven fires around his grave. It was raining that night and we hadto use seven candles. We held our hats over them to light them. I was chosen to say the prayer. I said, 8Our Father, our leader has left us. You have accepted his soul. How send his soul back to us often to help us in our work of en­ forcing Your law.8 • "After we left the grave, my brother Bam8s wife was feeling bad that night» Her sister had to stay home with her. She had a dreamathat night. She thought she was at my .father8s grave. There was an arched bower of branches over the grave, and seven candles on the bower. The smoke from these candles was going clean to Heaven. There was a square platform to the south of the grave, with a white shbet over it. My father was standing on it. Beven birds 200 flew from the east and lit on the bower„ My father was just going to explain what this meant when she woke up« In the morning she went, down to the grave, and saw the seven eandlesticks like she had dreamed c®* Although Redbird Smith died at the age of sixty-eight, it was felt that he had lived to see his purpose accomplished» It had been over twenty-five years since he had been appointed to "get back what the Eetoowahs had lost." As George Smith says, "By the time the old man died the rule was complete." The new chief of the Society was Sam Smith, one of the sons of Redbird Smith. The medicine board of the Society di­ vined and found which clan was suitable for one of its members to become chief at that time. This was the Bird Clan. Then, by further diviniation, a man was picked out from this clan to be chief. He was put through the ceremony described» But, unfortunately, Sam Smith was not able to wear the wampum belts as prescribed because Redbird Smith had given some of the belts to some one to keep and they were not found until after the ceremony. Sam Smith was a "gooddchief," but he did not have the personal following of his father. 0. P. Cornelius, as s spokesman for the Society, was really the principal influence after Redbird Smith8 s death.

C. P. Cornelius had proposed a plan to Redbird Smith to get the Ketoowah Society a reservation, regardless of goverh- ment help. A bill was introduced in Congress, by reason of political pressure put on the representative from that Congres­

sional District to allow the Ketoowah Society to incorporate as an industrial community. This bill was proposed in 1916, but it failed to pass. 201 However, 0. P. Corneliuswith Redbird Smith 8s approval, tried to accomplish the purpose nevertheless<. On his recom­ mendation, members of the Society were advised to congregate in the area of the Illinois District Fire as much as possible0

And in 1917# many people from the area around Jay, Oklahoma moved south'and settled in this area* After Redbird Smith * s death, CF. P„ Cornelius continued with his plans, The restrictions were removed on several full- blood allotments and they were mortgaged. With this money, a bank was set up in Core, Oklahoma, with C„ P, Cornelius as president, A herd of black Angus cattle was purchased in Wisconsin and driven to Oklahoma, These cattle were placed on different tracts of fuil-blood land,, each smaller herd with cowboys appointed to look after it, and with a general foreman to supervise the whole project. During this time, C, P, Cor­ nelius tried to reestablish in some way the old tribal organi­ zation of the Cherokee Hation.

After 1907, Chief W, 0, Rogers took care of any legal matters arising between the Cherokee Hation and the United States government = However, since his death in 1917# the Cherokee Hation had no legal representation, C„ P. Cornelius tried to get all the factions among the full-bloods and mixed-bloods together and to appoint Levi Grits, an educated full-blood, as chief. However, this project failed. Then, with the influence of Bill Hastings, a mixed-blood Chero­ kee and representatives in Congress of that District in Oklahoma, 202 a bill was passed in Congress providing that the Gherokees have a council elected by them and a chief appointed by the President of the United States, All the Cherokee citizens who were interested assembled at a central point in each of the old Districts of the Chero- / kee Nation and elected a council* The Chief, appointed by the President, was Ed Frye, a mixed-blood Cherokee of Sailsaw, Oklahoma* He was a prominent businessman in Sequoyah County* This organization is still in effect today* Sometime in the early 19201s, the bank at Gore failed, the cattle herd was taken by creditors, and the full-bloods who had mortgaged their allotments lost their land, George Smith said • “We bought the cattle when times were good, and then prices went down.* We had a bad winter that year with deep snow all over the ground* C. P* Cornelius tried to get more restrictions removed so he could mortgage that land and get some more money to tide us over* But the government found out what the Ketoowahs were trying to do (set up a reservation) and they wouldn't remove anymore restrictions from full-blood land,”- This failure of the bank probably happened in the post World War I depression in the early 19201s when many sound busi­ nesses and banks failed. Many full-bloods today feel that C. P. Cornelius cheated them out of their land* But George Smith says, “0, P, was awful smart; you couldift get ahead of him. The white people was scared of him all the time, watching what he was doing with the Ketoowahs, He was a good man, but the white people were against him, and we had some bad luck«11 After this time, the Ketoowah council dismissed C. P,"Cor- - 203 he11us as spokesman for the Society, and his program is still the source of bitter feeling and controversy among the members of the Ketoowah Society today. After Redbird Smith8s death and the failure of Cornelius8 program, the Society began to lose more of its membership. "They all started going back to the Baptists." During this period, several of the Fires of the Ketoowah.Society became independent. The Hotchee Fire on Greenleaf Mountain, during Redbird Smith8s lifetime, maintained relations with the Ketoo­ wah Society. They tried to keep up with the innovations as much as possible, considering the predominantly Greek member- » ship. But after Redbird Smith died, the Fire drifted away. The Fire at Wauhilau, in which the Christie family were leaders, also drifted away.

In 1931? the Fire-chief at Proctor, Oklahoma, seceded from

the Ketoowah Society because of disagreements. By 1931, the Ketoowah Society had approximately one thousand members. The

other Fires probably had a total membership of about three

hundred--making about thirteen hundred Highthawks in all. This

is in marked contrast to the beginning of the century, when the

Ketoowah Society had about six thousand members. The allotment

had come. Oklahoma was a state. The full-bloods by this time

were fairly impoverished. C. ;P. Cornelius8 project had failed, and people had begun to lose faith in Indian ways. The tide had receded. 20k

CHAPTER T¥

ANALYSIS OF THE REDB1HD SMITH MOVEMENT AED COMPARISOH WITH THE GHOST BAHCE

The Redbird Smith movement was mainly a reaction to white contact and to forced assimilation. There were two main prob­ lems in the general field of white contact against which the movement was reacting. One was the social disorganization of the time. This was brought about by the interference of the railroads, the "intruders^ settled on Cherokee land, the "boom towns" in the Cherokee Hat ion, whiskey peddlers, TJ„ S. marshals, and the unfamiliar procedure of the federal courts. The social disorganization of the time was manifested in the wave of out­ lawry among the full-bloods and the conjuration practices which had increased„since the initial breakdown of dlder forms of controls and institutions. The second problem with which the movement was principally concerned was the allotment and the break-up of the tribal government. Although the main informants never couch the Redbird Smith movement in these terms, but only in terms of salvation for the Cherokees, collectively and individually, the testimony of other informants and the subsequent acts of the Ketoowah Society and Redbird Smith show the movement to be as much concerned with the second problem as with the first. 205 The Redbird Smith movement tried to ward off the allot­ ment and the dissolution of the tribal government and, after Oklahoma statehood, tried to establish some kind of communal enterprise, These two problems with which the movement was concerned are not sharply defined in the Cherokee mind and are intertwined, with one another» The Redbird Smith movement can be divided into four major periods. The first period was from about.1896 to 1902, During this period, Redbird Smith was appointed to “get back what the Ketoowahs had lost," and the wampums were obtained and reinter­ preted o On a different level, the people of the southeastern sec­ tion of the Illinois District started a revival of Indian dances. These two series of events led to the participation of the Ketoowah Society in the Four Mothers Society, During this time, a culture pattern was being established at the rejuvenated Sulphur Springs Fire, a modified version of the Greek square ground. The second period, from 1902 to 1907, is characterized by the withdrawal of the Ketoowah Society from the Four Mothers and the starting of the Cherokee Fires all.over the Cherokee Ration, Stomp dances were revived in nearly all the full-blood areas. During this period, the Ketoowah Council was making innova­ tions and modifying the cultural pattern established during the previous period at Sulphur Springs Fire, This finally ended 206 in a complete break-away from the leadership of this Fire. The period was also characterized by passive resistance on the part of the full-bloods to enrolling for the allotment<> The third period, 1907 to I91I4., is a comparatively quiet period with little action by the Ketoowah Society, possibly because of the disastrous blow of'the admission of Oklahoma to statehood. From 19lij- to 1922, was another period of action and resist­ ance to forced assimilation. Redbird Smith tried to get a reservation established, and this program was continued by 0. P. Cornelius, only to end in failure in the early 8208s. During this period, an almost complete reorganization of the Ketoowah Society was undertaken, under the tutelage of 0. P. Cornelius» The Fire became the center of community life» The Fire-chief took over the function of the old District captain and the Fire became the political unit. The Fire-chief also took over supervision of community labor from the little cap­ tain. The reorganization drew together the different facets of the community life. During this time, the Society became more sacred. Unani­ mous agreement was made compulsory. And the medicine board ratified or rejected all proposals by the use of divination. In nearly all of the ful1-blood areas, at the time of the movement, the Ketoowah Society was strong. However, in one area of heavy full-blood concentration, as can be seen by the position of the stomp grounds in Figure 1, the membership of the Ketoowah Society was small« This area is the Flint Dis­ trict- of the Cherokee Eation, and is the present area south of Stilwell, Oklahoma. Here approximately twenty-five hundred full-hloods remained loyal to the Baptist church during this period. In many respects this is a very conservative area. Around the turn of the century, when the younger generation among the full-bloods in other areas had forgotten their clans, the clans were still remembered here. Informants in this area, who grew up about this time, generally know their clans. There may be a historical explanation for the fact that this group did not turn toward the Ketoowah Society. Most of the Chero- kees in this area are descendants of the full-bloods from the Valley towns of Morth Carolina, They came into this area of the Cherokee Nation in detachments led by Bev. Evan Jones and Rev. Jesse Bushyhead. According to Informants, the dialect they speak is the closest Oklahoma Cherokee dialeAt to that spoken among the Cherokees in Graham County, North. Carolina. These Valley towns were the least disorganized of any in the Cherokee Nation. And Evan Jones built his mission in this area in 1821. ■ He seems to have allowed his Cherokee converts a great deal of leeway in accepting the Christian doctrine, and he allowed them to integrate the Baptist religion into their life. The Baptists were the sect which worked most among the full-bloods, and the Baptist religion was being offered to the Cherokees of the Valley towns before it spread to the full- bloods of other areas. After the Removal, Evan Jones settled 208 in the G-olngsnake District and worked among these full-bloods* becoming a potent factor in their life® Sae Baptist church was probably more fully integrated into the life of the ful 1-bloods here than in any other area. Be­ cause of this fact, and possibly because social disorganization was not so prevalent here, the Redbird Smith movement did not have the appeal here that it had in other areas. The Redbird Smith movement may be compared with another great nativistic movement of approximately this same time-- namely, the ©he&tDDnneee The Ghost Dance was the result of a vision by Wovoka, or Jack Wilson, a Paiute Indian of Hevada, around 1890. During an eclipse of the sun, in 1889s he fell to the ground unoon-

s> scious. He was transported to Heaven. There he saw all the dead living happily and engaging in old sports and customs. The land teamed with wild game. God instructed him in a doc­ trine of peace and in a moral code. If the people on earth would follow this code, they would be united with dead rela­ tives and friends. God also showed him a dance, which if danced at different time periods, for five days, would hasten the event. He also gave Wovoka power over Bain. This doctrine, as preached by Wovoka, quickly-spread into the Rocky Mountain region and, to a greater extent, in the . Plains area. Bach tribe modified the movement to fit its own culture. Songs for the dance, which was a version of the Paiute circle dance, were composed by the different tribes. Among the . 209 Sioux, the doctrine of peace was modified somewhat to fit the emphasis on war in the Sioux culture, with such things as sacred, protective warppaint, and the famous ghost shirt which was supposed to protect the wearer from bullets». A part of this dance, among the Plains Indians, was a i state of hysteria which the dance built up, during which people jerked violently and fell to the ground in an unconscious stateo In this state, they dreamed of seeing dead relatives, the return of the buffalo, and the practice of old customs»1 The. movement culminated in the famous Ghost Dance out­ break among the Sioux in 1890-1891° - A detachment of the Seventh Cavalry was sent to disarm the members of Big Foot's band, who were awaiting the event which promised the return of the buffalo, the return of dead relatives, and the oblitera­ tion of the white man. Whatever may have caused the initial disturbance is questionable, but the event ended in the massa­ cre, by the Seventh Cavalry, of the majority of the Big Foot's band--which were mostly women and children* Other Sioux bands left the reservation, but,finally returned after.peace was established» ■ . There were some similarities between the Ghost Dance and the Redbird Smith movement„ Both of these movements preached a return to an older and better way of life* In the beginnings of the Ghost Dance, the philosophy of "Wovoka" was that of peace and brotherhood, much like that of the Redbird Smith

i Mooney, James, The Ghost-Dance Religion, Bureau of Eth­ nology, lij.th Annual Report, Part II* - 210 movements 'but it was later translated into terms of violent resistance by some.of the Plains Indians» There were many points of difference howevers even in the early stages of the Ghost Dance movement. It was inter­ tribal, while the Redbird Bmith movement was primarily for the Cherokees and strictly localized to the Cherokee tribe* Both movements tried to gp back to an earlier pattern of culture; but the ways in which this was to be accomplished were different. In the Ghost Dance revival, a new culture element was added, the ghost dance itself. This was a modi­ fied version of the circle dance of the Palates, but a new culture element to the Plains tribes. In the Redbird Bmith movement, on the other hand, the return to the older pattern was to be accomplished by rationally, according to Cherokee logic, reconstructing the older pattern. 1 Another difference from the. Ghost Dance was that the Redbird Smith movement was started to forestall a disaster-- the break up of the Cherokee Hation— while the Ghost Dance, as it was manifested among the Plains Indians, was to nullify the effects of a past disaster. The Plains Indians took over the Ghost Dance after they had been defeated by military force, settled on reservations, and were completely under the domina­ tion of the Indian Service, who subjugated them by means of beef rationing, Indian police, and so forth. The greatest vigor of the Redbird Smith movement came before the allotment. 211 Another difference Is that^ because of disastrous results and failure of achievement, the Ghost Dance movement has died out among the Plains Indians, However, the Redbird Smith move­ ment is still in existence among the Cherokees, although in modified form, The most significant difference between the two movements is that there was no vision and no prophet who gave emphasis to the Redbird Smith movement or directed its cettese, Redbird Smith was not in the strict sense a prophet. He was a leader in the movement. He was appointed by the head ehairmbn of the Ketoowah Society, along with a committee to help him to "get back what the Ketoowahs had lost." The recovery of the wampum belts was not Redbird Smith8s achievement alone, and the inter­ pretation of them was the accumulation of the knowledge of that generation. Throughout this period, until 1908, he also had as adviser and teacher, Greek Sam, ,and he always maintained the teacher- student relation with him® Even in later periods, he could not "put through" innovations but could only.suggest them.. The Ketoowah council always had the final say. As George Smith said, "The old man never told the medicine men what to do. "When he was chief, he would set on the pencil while they went down to the water to make the decision. And when they came back, they would come up to his house and tell him what they had decided." 212 Co P= Cornelias, although the instigator of many innova­ tions, could not be considered a prophet. He was considered an authority on customs which no living Cherokee knew about. As John Smith said, "G . P. knew a lot about ol d time Indian ways." All of his proposals, however, were passed on by the Council and some of his suggestions were not accepted or were modified. When he would speak before the fire, with John Smith as interpreter, he would refer to the stomp ground as the "long white house." Phis was not accepted by the mass of the Chero- kees who still clung to the older concept of ga-ti-ya, "an agent to help you." In the burial ceremony, which he suggested, former ele­ ments, such as the washing and cleaning of the house by nelgh- borwomen and the sprinkling of the house with medicine were added.

Although he said that only the seven pallbearers in this ceremony had to drink the concoction of red root, the Ketoowah council decided that everyone at the grave should take it. The lack of visions or of prophets can be explained by the nature of Cherokee, culture. The full-bloods of that time were group-orientated and most activities were undertaken communally. The society was highly organized, with specific channels through which any decision for the group had to pass, and the leaders of Cherokee society, then as now, are in the older age group, Ho action is taken without much deliberation by the group. An example of usual procedure can be shown by the way in which a faction broke off from the main Ketoowah Society and started a Fire at Marble City, Oklahoma in 1951« This factionalism had' been brewing for several yearss but no action had been taken until then» When the situation came to a heads a group met twice, once each month, and talked through the afternoon and into the night, without taking action® At the third meeting, action was decided upon, and the first thing the group did was to organize® They first appointed a secre­ tary to take minutes, and then appointed chiefs. Fire-chief, Fire-keeper, all by vote of the group assembled ® An organiza­ tion for work was set up before action was taken® The leaders who were elected were all men over sixty and recognized author­ ities on Cherokee culture® A committee was appointed to see about obtaining land on which to build a stomp ground® This committee consisted of two men, one to see about obtaining the land, and one man with a car with which to drive him to the county seat® This type of procedure is typical of Cherokee culture in initiating any type of action. Although visions of the type which gave rise to the Ghost Dance are not found, among the Cherokee, dreams are very important. The Cherokee are not culturally conditioned, however,, t# dream­ ing visions which affect the.action of a group® Dreams are very important in Cherokee culture in determining individual • action® Most dreams of any significance are interpreted as omens to guide future actions or to predict coming events® 214 Most medicine men dream short prayers for protection or for ourlng9 and songs for hunting and medicine» The Hedbird Smith movement did make use of visions to de­ termine group action; but seeking visions was undertaken by the group*— -such as the one in 1911{.s after Hedbird Smith ts return from Washington, An example of the relation of dreams to Cherokee culture can be pointed out in a dream by John Smiths who is an extremely individualistic-personality type for Cheroke-e culture. The dream is as follows (it took place about 1900) i "There was a council at my father*s house. He was. explain­ ing the wampum belts. He held them up one by one and ex­ plained them. The one with the three squares on it was interpreted as representing three nations, I didn’t be­ lieve it* I thought' that they had forgotten the meaning of it, I thought about three day sc: om i t , Rabbit Bunch’s widow* my mother-in-law* had told me a prayer to use be­ fore you go to sleep if you want to know something, I > used it* I dreamed the Ketoowahs were emigrating east in wagons. They had their furniture and their families along, I was in one of the wagons. We stopped at an old camping place with a spring close-by. We wrapped our lines on the standard. All the men got out of the wagons* with their axes* and went off west a little ways, I could hear them chopping, . They carried poles and threw them down by this everlasting spring there at the bottom of a round knoll as big as a house. They built a square pen at the spring* about two feet high. Then they all went back west a little ways and looked at it. Then* they made all four corners of the pen level. An old man appeared out of the . knoll. He was a white man* with long hair and a beard* just dressed in common clothes. He put his hand above the pen and said in Cherokee* ’that’s the way to do. Even though you are travelling and stop just for a little while* first make it level,’" John interprets this to mean that every one is the same— all level. There should be no’ rich or poor* and every one. should share. He said* told this to the old men* but they 215 never said nothing= ^ This type of individual dreaming by a young man was not compatible with Cherokee culture0 How- evers nowg since John Smith is in his -seventies, and a recog­ nized leader and authority on interpretation of the wampum belts, this dream is aeceptedo Another instance is a vision of 1905s which will do well as an example of how vision-seeking is initiated by the group and put through channels« John Smith8s account follows: "The Ketoowahs were going down hill, having a hard time, and the old men thought maybe they were forgetting some­ thing. The time has come to do like in the old days, they said. They used to pick out seven men to ask God a question, and fast seven days and nights. They had Mill Elk pick out' seven men by medicine. He picked Creek Sam, Charlie Sam, Redbird Smith, John Smith, Martin Bolin, Mill Elk, Joshua Glass. He made more medi­ cine and saw that one of them would get the message. It would be me. Me met at the Eire on an appointed day and put my father in as spokesman. He took some fire down to the bluff below the house, on a ledge, and built a little fire. He asked God, 8Our Father in the seventh story we come to you as Ketoowahs, for you have said for us to be Ketoowahs. We have kept your word until now. How we are surrounded, in a dark corner, by grafters, ready to grab the bread from our children. We ask you to help us and tell us what to do8,H "Me weren81 allowed to talk except of something of that nature. We were all sitting on the ledge. I saw light­ ning flash in the west. A storm was gathering. It got closer. I could hear the thunder. It was roaring loud and the wind was blowing. I thought we would be blown away. The rest of them just sat there with their heads down. The storm struck, lightning and rain. My father and I were facing east. Right in front of us appeared two boys about two feet tall, haked, who were chasing one another. They wrestled right in front of us. They got up laughing and went off towards the north, down the hill, looking back and laughing. When they got out of sight, the storm quit. 216 nl told the rest of them what had happened® My father said, ’One of the boys stopped in front of me and said, 1 am the Thunder,$ The next morning my father said in seven days we would fast again, 1' was glad, because I had thought they.meant seven days straight. On the seventh day, we went to the Fire and then went and sat down about two-hundred yards south of where we had been. This time, we took .a bucket of water with us. My father asked the same thing. Along in the night, two of the old men got talking about what the old people used to do, I was listening. All:at once, it felt like a quilt or a blanket fell on me. It was power, "lbere I was walking under the bluff* Allittle old man was sitting on the ground with whitebhair and mustache smoking a pipe. He looked up and spoke in Cherokee* He pointed to the bluff and said, 6Bato8 There was a cave big as a house, like a tunnel.qaTher© were two little women putting food on the table, I threw my hat down and sat down.. There was a bowl of hominy with a wooden spoon in it. You had to help yourself, I filled my glass with hominy. Plenty of food— corn bread balls, wild meat, sweet potatoes, beans, but no cake, pie, biscuit, sugar, or nothing like that, I got up, put on my hat, and, all at once, I was back up on the rock. All this time, I could still hear those old men' talking, I saw two tigers toward the east about thirty yards looking at us. One was a little taller than the other, I thought it must be a he and she tiger. The she wnet off to the south, and the he went off to the north. There was a valley toward the southeast that was full of people, but no Indians, They were stirring around and excited. They were afraid of those tigers, Greek Bam came from the north. He had a white sheet wrapped around him. He was trailing the tigers, slowly, unexcited. One of the men spoke, ’Look at that man trailing the tigers, not afraid or excited,- He knows something so the tigers won’t harm him, that’s the reason he’s not afraid I A messenger boy about twelve years oldrpame out of the south. He said, ’The she tiger that went south was captured and caged,’ The boy went off to the north to tell the he tiger his mate was captured and caged. All at once, there was a roaring from the north and the he tiger went towards the south to rescue his mate, roaring. There was a hickory tree growing below the bluff— its limbs came up over the ledge, A man’s voice came from this tree, it said: ’You all are here,-that’s all it’s necessary to do. They ain't nothing but what you all can see new?. ’ I came to. I told the rest o f them what I had seen right then. Creek . Bam said, ’That’s what we want to know.’ And that is all that that they ever did say. . - ’’Toward morning, an old fellow got thirsty. He picked up the bucket, it was empty. Everyone laughed. The water 217 had all leaked oui;0 It was running on the ground, away from the bucket= The fire was bright enough to see by= We done without water all the rest of the night. Day­ light cames they all laughed again. They said, 'The water leaked out last night; now it's full this morning.' We stayed about another hour, poured the water out, and - went to the house.11 This dream shows the importance of vision seeking among the Gherokees and also how it is controlled and channeled by the group« Prom this fact and preceding facts, it should be clear why the Eedbird Smith movement took the form it did. The only good study of a nativistic movement among Ameri­ can Indians has been among individualist cultures, i.e., the Ghost Dance. Perhaps a nativistic movement among other commu­ nal, highly organized cultures, such as Pueblo or Yaqui, would take a form like this one of the Gherokees. A good comparative study could be done on the Crazy Snake movement which happened about the same time among the Greeks, Lit isacomparable to the Eedbird Smith movement because it took place in another commu­ nal, highly organized culture, but has its violent aspects rather lik.b the Ghost Dance. BIBLIOGRAPHY"

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