The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters University of Nebraska Press Fall 2010 The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees Rowena McClinton Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons McClinton, Rowena, "The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees" (2010). University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters. 63. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples/63 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Nebraska Press at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Abridged Edition Buy the Book Buy the Book Buy the Book Indians of the Southeast Series Editors Michael D. Green University of North Carolina Theda Perdue University of North Carolina Advisory Editors Leland Ferguson University of South Carolina Mary Young University of Rochester Buy the Book The Mor avian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, abridged edition Edited and with an introduction by Rowena McClinton university of nebraska press lincoln and london Buy the Book © 2010 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Frontispiece. Early nineteenth-century water- color by Anna Rosina (née Kliest) Gambold depicting a Christmas celebration at the Beth- lehem Female Seminary for Young Ladies. Courtesy of the Moravian Archives, Bethle- hem, Pennsylvania. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gambold, Anna Rosina, d. 1821. The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees / edited and with an introduction by Rowena McClinton. — Abridged ed. p. cm. — (Indians of the Southeast) Includes bibliographical references. isbn 978-0-8032-2095-9 (paper: alk. paper) 1. Cherokee Indians — Missions — Geor- gia — Spring Place — History — 19th century — Sources. 2. Moravians — Mis- sions — Georgia — Spring Place — His- tory — 19th century — Sources. 3. Cherokee Indians — Georgia — Spring Place — His- tory — 19th century — Sources. 4. Indian school children — Georgia — Spring Place — His- tory — 19th century — Sources. 5. Gambold, John, ca. 1761–1827 — Diaries. 6. Gambold, Anna Rosina, d. 1821 — Diaries. 7. Moravi- ans — Georgia — Spring Place — Diaries. 8. Mis- sionaries — Georgia — Spring Place — Diaries. 9. Springplace Mission (Ga.) — History — 19th century — Sources. 10. Spring Place (Ga.) — His- tory — 19th century — Sources. I. McClinton, Rowena, 1940– II. Gambold, John, ca. 1761–1827. III. Title. e99.c5g164 2010 266’.467583108997557 — dc22 2010017331 Set in Adobe Garamond Buy the Book To the memory of my grandfather Samuel Proctor McRae Buy the Book Buy the Book Contents List of Maps. xi Series Editors’ Preface . xiii Acknowledgments . xv Editorial Policy . xix Introduction . 1 Chapter 1. Signifi cant Events and Themes at Springplace Mission between 1805 and 1821 . 13 Conversion, Moravian Style. 13 Principal Converts to the Moravian Church . 15 James Vann’s Rejection of Christianity . 18 Annuity Distribution at Vann’s Plantation . 18 Cherokee Education, Moravian Style . 24 Children’s Illnesses at the Mission . 25 Removal of Children from the Mission School . 30 Rumors of Mistreatment of Students . 35 Runaway Students . 35 Rumors of Abductions. 37 Rumors of Hunger. 38 Buy the Book Children’s “Errant” Behavior . 40 A Child’s Death at the Mission . 42 Use of Alcohol . 44 Travelers and Notable Visitors . 47 Earthquakes . 54 Creek War of 1813–14 . 59 Chapter 2. Continuity of Traditional Cherokee Cultural Traits . 64 Cherokees’ Concept of Land and Land Values . 64 Voices in Cherokee Councils . 68 Moravians and the U.S. Government. 73 Cherokee Agricultural Practices . 74 Cherokee Traditional Rituals and Contact with Christianity . 76 Trade . 86 Cherokee Law and Punishment . 88 Green Corn Ceremony . 97 Ball Play . 98 Cherokee Origin Stories . 106 Cherokees’ Responses to Christian Images . 110 Epilogue . 115 Notes . 117 Buy the Book Maps 1. Springplace Mission in 1819 . 10 2. Cherokee Nation, 1830 . 11 Buy the Book Buy the Book Series Editors’ Preface The Moravians, a pietistic German sect who settled in piedmont North Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century, conducted the fi rst sustained Christian missionary work among the Cherokees. The mission’s most dynamic years were those when John and Anna Rosina Gambold pro- vided its leadership. The Gambold years correspond to a period of enor- mous change in Cherokee society. In this period, the Cherokees became increasingly engaged in a commercial agricultural economy, coped with land cession and removal, and began to centralize their government. At the same time, many traditional beliefs and practices endured. The missionaries were witnesses to this tumultuous time, and they record- ed their impressions in the mission diary. Like the missionaries of other denominations, they were sometimes ethnocentric and condescending, and they often wrote about activities, such as medical treatments and ball games, of which they did not approve. By recording the Cherokee life they observed every day, however, they have left us a valuable record of cultural persistence and social transformation. They also have given us a portrait of themselves, and the kindness and generosity that is evi- dent in this diary explains why many Cherokees addressed the Gam- bolds as “mother” and “father.” The abridged edition of the Moravian Springplace Mission to the Buy the Book Cherokees provides an annotated translation of the mission diary during the period of the Gambolds’ tenure. Because the Moravians wrote their journals in German, their native language, these documents have not been readily accessible to many people interested in their content. Rec- ognizing their value, the Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, generously permitted Rowena McClinton to prepare this schol- arly edition. McClinton used both her own translations and those done in house, and she brought to the project not only her facility with Ger- man script but also her deep understanding of Cherokee and Moravi- an history. Her training enabled her to decipher oblique references to the Cherokees’ matrilineal kinship system, medico-religious practices, and other cultural expressions as well as Moravian notions about salva- tion, the lot, Christ’s wounds, community, and propriety. This volume conveys her respect for both cultures as well as for the complex cultur- al interactions of the people who appear on these pages. Her annota- tions make this diary particularly useful to scholars, but they also will make the diary accessible to a wide range of readers. We are pleased to welcome this work to the Indians of the Southeast Series. — Theda Perdue Michael D. Green University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill xiv series editors’ preface Buy the Book Acknowledgments Many persons made suggestions and assisted me in the publication of The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Abridged Edition. Past acquisitions editor and director of the University of Nebraska Press Gary Dunham, now of Albany, New York, recommended that I write a thematic abridgment of the Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees (2 vols., Nebraska, 2007), similar to An American Epic of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Journals: The Abridgment of the Defi nitive Nebraska Edi- tion (Nebraska, 2003) edited and with introduction by Gary E. Moulton. Present editor-in-chief and acquisitions editor Heather Lundine has assisted me in expediting the publication process. The expert attention copyeditor Lona Dearmont had applied to the reading and correcting of the two-volume Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees allowed me to extract themes with less diffi culty than otherwise. I am most appreciative of everyone who works at the Newberry Library. I use the extensive collections regularly, and the use of a Newberry carrel has allowed me to conduct the needed research for this project. Newberry Library’s John Aubry shared his fi nely tuned knowledge of the Ayer Col- lection and Native Americans in general, which enhanced my ability to comprehend the complexities and nuances of the two volumes. Overall, the Newberry’s Research and Education staff, in particular director Jim Buy the Book Grossman, assistant director Diane Dillon, and Leslie Kan, make available an ongoing scholarly community. The Newberry’s Center for Renaissance Studies gave me a generous grant for the project “Moravian Roots and Culture” that augmented the religious sections of the Moravian Spring- place Diary, Abridged Edition. I am grateful to the center’s director, Carla Zecher, and assistant director Karen Christianson. The Newberry Library has also bestowed on me the honor of scholar in residence. Productive travels to the Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, have led to more substantive information about the life of Anna Rosina Gambold. I am grateful to archivist Dr. C. Daniel Crews and assistant archivist Richard Starbuck of Winston-Salem, archivists Paul Peucker and Laney Graf of Bethlehem, and former archivist Vernon Nelson. The publication of the original volumes of the Moravian Springplace Mission