Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBR

ACTOR, LENOX AND TILREN FOU DETION,

[graphic][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

СНАР. ХІІІ.]

HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEES.

97

CHAP. XIII.]

HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEES.

97

CHAPTER XIII.

HISTORY OF THE EXPATRIATION OF THE CHEROKEES.

"Some entertain, that the history of these present times must not be written by any one alive; which, in my opinion, is disgraceful to an historian, and very prejudicial to posterity; as if they were to write at a distance, that obscurity might protect their mistakes from discovery. Others also say the truth is not ripe enough to be writ in the age we live in: So politicians would not have the historian to tread on the heels of the times, lest the times tread on his heels." WINSTANLY.

"Still to the white man's wants there is no end:

He said, 'beyond those hills he would not come.'
But to the western seas his hands extend,

Ere yet his promise dies upon his tongue."-Unpublished POEM.

WHILE the war is progressing in Florida, we will proceed to lay open a few pages of Cherokee history, praying, in the mean time, for its speedy conclusion.

The situation of the Cherokee country is most delightful; it is every thing that heart could wish, whether actuated by the best or worst of motives. It lies in about thirty-five degrees of northern latitude, bounded north and west by Tennessee, on the south by Alabama, and easterly by Georgia and North Carolina, comprising about 8,000 square miles. In 1802 it contained 11,175; the difference having been sold to the United States for the use of Georgia.

That country is well watered by living springs, in every part, whose fountains are like reservoirs raised to a great height by the art of man; they having the superior advantage of being natural reservoirs, raised by springs in their lofty range of mountains which stretch across the whole nation. In the north it is hilly; but in the south are numerous fertile plains, in part covered with tall trees, through which beautiful streams of water glide. Here cattle, in vast herds, roam, and horses are plenty, and in all the ordinary uses among the Indians. Flocks of sheep, goats, and swine, live on the slopes of the hills. On their navigable rivers the Cherokees have vessels engaged in commerce. Their spring opens in great beauty; the soil is excellent for corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, oats, indigo, sweet and Irish potatoes; and the people had, in 1825, begun to export cotton to New Orleans in their own vessels.

They have public roads, and taverns with good accommodations, and butter and cheese are common upon the ordinary tables of the Indian inhabitants. Neat and flourishing villages have already sprung into being. Cotton and woollen cloths are manufactured, and by native Indian hands. There is scarcely a family which does not raise cotton sufficient for its own use. Their trade is almost wholly carried on by native Cherokees. The mechanic arts are considerably cultivated, although agriculture chiefly engages the attention of the inhabitants.

In 1819, there were about 10,000 inhabitants, and in 1825 they had increased to 13,563, all natives; there were, in addition, 147 white men married in the nation, and 73 white women. Of slaves there were 1,277. Hence it is plain that the Cherokees do not decrease, but have, in about five years, increased over 3,500. This is equal, at least, to the increase of white population under similar circumstances.

By the laws of the nation, the whites are allowed the privileges of natives, except that of suffrage, together with their ineligibility to hold offices. Some of the Cherokees, following the example of their southern neighbors, have become slave-holders; buying their negroes of white men who bring them into the nation. And here the reflection naturally arises in the inquiry upon the relative barbarity of the white and red men. It was strongly urged by some southern statesmen, that the Indians were such barbarous wretches that they could not think of living beside them; and yet poor Africans are sold by them to these barbarians! But, unlike the whites in one particular, they will not mix with their slaves.

The nation was reorganized in 1820, and by a resolve of its national council, divided into eight districts, each of which had the privilege of sending

« PreviousContinue »