Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, North Carolina

Detsadanilvga ~~ Welcome. The Cherokee people have told stories for many generations, passing them from generation to generation. These stories tell important lessons about how to live in the world as a Cherokee person. Stories also preserve history, entertain people on long winter evenings, explain how things came to be, and recount marvelous and supernatural happenings. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian help tell those stories.

Characters from Cherokee stories appear in dances, masks, pottery designs, and carvings. Beaded belts, adela, were used to tell stories. They also carried messages of war and peace to other tribes. 

Paleo-Indians (11,000 BC - 8,000 BC) were the first people in North America. Groups of several families moved seasonally to gather wild plant foods and hunt animals, including the now extinct Ice Age mammals such as the Mastodon. Although no evidence remains, they probably lived in lean-to shelters, or took advantage of caves and rock overhangs. Except for some well made tools, little of their material culture has survived the millennia.

The Paleo Indians utilized one of the earliest manufacturing skills known to man ~~ knapping, which is the process of flaking stone into useful shapes. "Percussion" was one method they used. Using a hammerstone or a billet, they knocked off flakes, producing a particular type of long flake called a blade. Sometimes the flakes were finished by using an antler tip to punch off smaller flakes. This was called pressure flaking. 

Flint knapping required an understanding of force and fracture and was a skill taught to boys at an early age. A skilled knapper could manufacture a projectile point in a matter of minutes, as well as produce specialized tools for shredding, scraping or engraving and drilling.

For the Paleo Indians, ambush was a successful hunting technique. They would set up their camp near a watering hole, wait until the animals came to drink, then sneak up and throw their spears. Once an animal was wounded, they would harass it until it died.

With the Archaic Indians (8,000 BC - 1,000 BC) a knowledge of plants grew and more vegetation was added to their diets, thus they were able to create a surplus of food without having to cultivate crops. As a result, they took on a more sedentary lifestyle. With leisure time, they were able to develop more sophisticated tools and they then began to cultivate plants, like sunflowers. From the southern Americas, two tropical plants were introduced: the bottle gourd and the squash. Both were easy to cultivate and could be used as containers.

Gourd

The large prehistoric animals had become extinct and smaller animals, such as the white-tailed deer and the turkey, became important food sources. Nuts were another source of food. 

The Archaic Indians used stone scrapers to clean and process deer hides. These hides were treated with brain matter from the slaughtered, animal grease and iron oxide. The hides were used for clothing, containers and shelter coverings. One of the more important developments in hunting was the atlatl, which increased both the force and the distance a spear could be thrown. Made from a wooden shaft about two feet long with a hook (often carved from a deer antler) on one end, the atlatl was used throughout the Archaic into the Woodland Period.

Fishing was also developed during this period. They made nets from long grape vines, a fish trap, called a weir, made from stones placed in a V-shape dam across the river. Where the stones come together, nets and traps, called crails, were attached to trap fish. These ancient fish traps are still used today. When rivers and streams ran low, the Indians would sometimes grind up walnut bark and sprinkle it into the water. The poison attacked the nervous system, stunning the fish and causing them to rise to the surface, so the Indians could pick the ones they wanted, while the rest would recover and swim away.

There was an extensive network of trails around the southeast which was the basis for the trade system. 

The Woodland Indians (1,000 BC - 900 AD) found new ways to hunt and grow food. The use of the bow and arrow enabled them to hunt a wider range of animals from greater distances and, with a more sedentary lifestyle, pottery manufacturing became widespread. Cultivation of crops included a variety of plants, and it was during this period came the introduction of corn, which became a mainstay of their diet. This early forerunner, called "tropical flint" not only provided a stable source of food for the Indians, it also served as an excellent deer "lure." 

With better weapons and crop cultivation, the Woodland people were able to live more settled lives in small villages. Trade expanded between the coastal people and those in the interior with salt, dried fish, beads and shells exchanged for feather cloaks, pottery, animal skins and mica.

The presence of arrowheads seems to indicate that the bow and arrow came into use sometime in the early Woodland Period in the Southeastern United States. The bow and arrow had excellent range and accuracy. They used the bow and arrow to hunt game from only 40 yards away.

Since pottery was both fragile, bulky and not easy to transport, it is thought that pottery making occurred mainly among Indians living in relatively permanent villages. Pottery with markings impressed upon it with cords and fabric appeared in upper Tennessee by 900 B.C. To strengthen pottery, grit or crushed rock was combined with the clay and decorations were added in different ways. Stamped designs were created by carving a design onto a wooden paddle, then pressing it into wet clay. Another technique involved using a sharply pointed instrument. Designs of this type included the bird and serpent motifs, which were recurrent elements in the beliefs of Southeastern Indians.

Many tools and weapons remained pretty much the same as during the Archaic Period, such as spear points. However, the Woodland axes (known as Celts) were more durable. The improved fastening of the celt to its handle allowed it to be easily removed and replaced. When the celts were used, the force of the blows actually pushed it back into the straps which held it, making it a more stable, reliable tool. 

Drills were used to punch holes in deerskins. Sinew or other strips of leather would be used to stitch the deerskins into garments, cooking skins, and even shelters. The bone awl was used primarily for leather punching and tailoring clothes. Knives and scrapers were used for many daily tasks, such as cutting meat, removing skins from animals and shaping wood.

Stone carvings and wood carved masks.

Commercial tanned buckskin with sharpie pigment

Although it was not the only time of year a marriage could be performed, the Green Corn Festival was a popular occasion for a wedding ceremony. With friends and family around, the groom would present a gift of meat to the bride. This symbolized his manhood and his ability to take care of her. The bride would reciprocate by giving her groom an ear of corn, representing Selu, the mother of corn, or a pot containing food she had cooked for him. This represented her womanhood, her ability to take care of her husband. The couple would tie their blankets together, literally "tying the knot." 

For the Cherokees and other Southeastern tribes, music was both entertaining and educational. Important tribal events were sung about and re-enacted through movement. Children learned about their place in the universe through the songs and dances of their people.

The Cherokee believe they are connected to all living things in their world, from the four-legged beasts to the plants. Their music was a form of prayer and they danced to honor all their relations. They gave thanks for a good harvest through the Green Corn Dance.

Since the Indians believed that the green corn belonged to the spirit powers, a purification ceremony had to be performed before the corn could be eaten. Purification included "going to water" several times, scratching their bodies with a sharp animal bone and drinking a bitter medicine made from plant roots.

When all village fires were extinguished, the medicine man would start a new fire, from which all the home fires were rekindled. Then, the medicine man would sacrifice seven ears of corn, one for each clan, in the sacred town house fire. Now purified, the people came together for dancing and singing, followed by a huge feast.

The Green Corn Festival was an occasion when the Cherokee people would get together with their friends and enjoy the harvest. The feast was a time for celebration and an opportunity to maintain "balance" by forming alliances and trade agreements among clans and among other villages. These gatherings, which often lasted all night, often resulted in marriages, since leaders knew war was less likely if the tribes were related.

In the Mississippian Period (900 AD - 1,500 AD), a new variety of corn with more kernels emerged, called eastern flint. Corn, combined with beans and squash, became known as the "Three Sisters." These crops provided the means by which the Indians were able to increase their population and leisure time.

They also refined their planting, cultivating, and harvesting techniques. They used a method called "hilling," piling dirt around the case of the corn stalk, to provide drainage. They also had an ingenious method of pest control ~~ they hung gourds around their gardens to attract purple martins, which are known to consume large quantities of insects. They purple martins would aggressively defend their territory against crows and blackbirds, both of which could destroy newly planted corn.

Bird Man

Pottery making was being perfected during this period. It was still a pretty complex undertaking ~~ first, a dried and smoothed pot was propped on its side around the fire with the mouth pointed toward the blaze. When the entire pot took on a faint brown color, it was hot enough for firing. Then the potter took a long stick and rolled the pot over, mouth down, on the burning embers. After that the pot was completely covered with dry bark to a depth of two to three inches. In about an hour, the bark would burn away, leaving the rounded bottom of the pot sticking through the ashes.

Then, the potter would use a hooked stick to roll the pot away from the fire, tapping it sharply to detect cracks. If a pot "rang clear" it was perfect. While the pot was still red hot, the potter would put corn cobs inside and stir the cobs with a stick, pressing them against the inside. While the corn cobs were still blazing, the pot would be inverted and this "smoking" process made the pots suitable for storing liquids. 

During the Mississippian Period, distinct styles of gorgets emerged. Gorgets are pendants worn around the neck and hung from a string. In Texas, gorgets made of marine shell have been found in Caddo Indian. For the Mississippian Indian, gorgets had many different styles; one being the "Water Spider" which according to a Cherokee story, "The First Fire" was successful in bringing fire to the people after all the other animals and birds had failed. 

Since early times, Indians have made baskets. Many of the same weaving techniques the Cherokee use today were in evidence as early as 7500 B.C. Indians employ two main basketmaking techniques -- weaving and coiling. Baskets were used as sieves and fanners for processing grains and meals. Woven mats were used as carpeting, bedding, as roofs and even to wrap the dead.

The height of cultural developments during this period was reflected in their pottery. Their lifestyle allowed more time for refinements in the technique, design, and artistic decoration of pottery. The techniques developed during this time were used for centuries and some are still being used today.

Pottery was first introduced in the Cherokee area around 2,900 years and survives as an honored, ancient art. Some of the same kinds of tools and methods used by Cherokee potters as far back as 500 years ago are still being used by modern Cherokee potters today. Stones, shells, bones and river cane knives are still used to pull and stretch the clay into shape and to etch or incise designs. The clays used to form and color the pots are still dug from the earth throughout the southern Appalachians. It is still ground between two stones into a fine powder. Water is added to the powder and, to give the raw clay strength, some of the same ingredients are added which were used by Cherokee potters hundreds of years ago.

The Story of the Nicotani ~~ The Nicotani were a mystical, religious body of whom the people stood in great awe. No one knows how they came to power, or how long they maintained it, but over a period of time, they became haughty, insolent, overbearing and licentious to an intolerable degree. At last, the priestly sect went too far. A daring young man, a member of an influential family, was married to a woman of remarkable beauty. While a Warrior was away hunting, his beautiful wife was forcibly abducted and violated by one of the Nicotani. 

On the hunter's return, he found no difficulty in exciting in others the resentment and anger which he felt. So many had suffered in a similar manner, so many feared that they might be made to suffer, that nothing was wanted but a leader.

Under the direction of the young Brave, the people rose up and killed every Nicotani, young and old. Thus perished a hereditary secret society, since which time, no hereditary privileges have ever been tolerated among the Cherokees. Thereafter, the priestly functions were assumed by individual Medicine Men and conjurers.

Medicine Man

Beginning in the Woodland Period and heading into the Mississippian, an extensive trade network covered most of the eastern United States. Long distance trade was established by the heads of the various clans. Pre-Colombian Cherokees may have been obliged to pay tribute to the local chiefs of the mound societies, such as Etowah. This trading network allowed these chiefs access to materials unavailable in their own territories, which increased their personal prestige and their desirability as strong alliance partners. By wearing or giving away such wealth, local chiefs exhibited their control over long range trade.

Corn Pounder

Etowah

At the height of their culture, the Mound Building Societies ranged as far as Spiro, Oklahoma, to Cahokia, Illinois, to Etowah, Georgia. Etowah was the largest of the mound societies in the area adjacent to the Cherokee heartland. One Etowah Mound covered an area of over three acres and contained 4,300,000 cubic feet of earth. It is considered second only in volume to Cahokia, which covered 16 acres and was 100 feet high. Etowah was believed by some to have been the dominant village or "hub" in its area. Traders from far away came to Etowah, as did the nearby ancestors of this historic Cherokee.

They also played games -- one was called Stickball, a form of Canadian Lacrosse.

The other game they played is called Chunkey. Many Indians used a hoop and pole, but the Cherokee used a stone or disc. Normally the game was played by two men. One man would roll the stone, then the two men would cast their poles. If one of the players knocked the Chunkey stone over, it was an automatic win. If both missed, the player whose pole was closest to the stone when it stopped, was the winner. Notches on the poles were used to measure the distance from the stone.

Some of the guns the Cherokee received in trade with the British were called "trade guns." They differed from standard guns in that they were cheaply made, easily broken and required special shot. One explanation for selling the trade guns is that prices for merchandise were fixed. An inferior gun had the same trade value as one of quality, so it is logical that not all traders would provide the superior item. Also, according to some sources, traders were forbidden to sell rifle-barreled guns because the rifles made larger holes in the deerskin. Still another reason may have been that the colonists did not want the Indians to have equal firepower.

Whatever the reasons, trading resulted in a Cherokee reliance on British guns and goods. These feelings of dependency were voiced by Skiagusta, head warrior of Keowee, one of the Lower Cherokee Towns ... My people [cannot] ... live independent of the English. What are we red people? ... the clothes we wear, we cannot make ourselves. ... We use... [English] ammunition with which to kill deer... We cannot make our guns. They were made [for] us. Every necessary of life we must have comes from the white people.

Grant Expedition Powder Horn

This powder horn traces the route of Lt. Colonel James Grant. In 1761 he led a force of 2,000 troops into Cherokee territory, where they destroyed 15 towns and over 1,000 acres of crops, driving around 5,000 Cherokees from their homes. Grants troops passed within 10 miles from the town of Cherokee. The powder horn engraving is done in the scrimshaw style, which was used by sailors of the period.

This lithograph depicts Ostenaco, a famous Cherokee warrior and orator, along with Stalking Turkey (Cunne Shote) and The Pigeon (Woyi), the two Cherokees who accompanied him to England to meet King George III.

It all started in Charlestown when Ostenaco saw a portrait of King George III and remarked, "Long have I wished to see the King ..." A short time later Ostenaco, Stalking Turkey and The Pigeon went to England, accompanied by Lt. Henry Timberlake. A reporter from the St. James Chronicle described his party: "They are tall, well-made Men, near six feet tall, dressed in their own Country Fashion, with only a Shirt, Trowsers and Mantle round them; their Faces are painted of a Copper Colour, and their Heads adorned with Shells, Feathers, and Earrings, and other triffling Ornaments."

Ostenaco, Stalking Turkey & The Pigeon

The people from across the ocean brought many changes, but we survived and even managed to prosper. When King George issued his Proclamation of 1763, forbidding whites to settle in the Appalachians and all parts West, we thought we would be safe...but then came... The American Revolution. Unfortunately, there was no way to enforce this law.

The Civilization Policy - Expansion with Honor. At the end of the 1780s, the United States created the Civilization Policy to transform the Indians from wandering hunters into farmers. The Indians would adopt the American way of life through individual ownership of property, the speaking of English, the worship of one true God, and would govern themselves with written laws. They would give up their culture, religion and tribal organization.

From the very beginning, the policy meant different things to different people. To some whites, it was an honest attempt to "civilize" native peoples; to others, it was a means of gaining Indian land for white settlers. Using the logic that farming required less land than hunting, the excess Indian land could then be given to the ever-increasing white population. 

Even among Cherokees, the meaning of the Policy varied. Some Cherokees hoped to gain respect by adopting aspects of the white culture. But most viewed the "civilization" process as a way to keep their life, along with their remaining lands. With the Civilization Policy came a period of incredible change for the Cherokees.

"The white race is a wicked race. The hunting grounds are fast disappearing and they are driving the red man farther and farther to the west. Let the white race perish whence they came. Upon the trail of blood they must be driven. Will not the warriors of the Southern tribes unite with the warriors of the Lakes? ~~ Tecumsch, 1811

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend brought together a number of key figures in the history of the United States and the Cherokee Nation. Among them were: John Ross, the future Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation; Sequoyah, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary; Major Ridge, the future leader of the Cherokee faction known as The Treaty Party; Junaluska, a famous Cherokee warrior and patriot; Sam Houston, adopted and called "The Raven" by the Cherokee, who would help to win Texas' independence. They were led by a man who would later become President of the United States and who would push for the removal of his Indian allies. Known to whites as "Old Hickory" and to the Cherokees as "Sharp Knife," his name was Andrew Jackson.

The Battle of Fort Mims: When Tecumsch, the fierce Shawnee-Creek leader, urged Southern tribes to rebel against the Americans. One warrior named Red Eagle, a mixed-blood Creek, otherwise known as William Weatherford, agreed. The result was Fort Mims, one of the bloodiest battles in American frontier history, with over 500 whites, Indian mixed-bloods and blacks killed. On August 13, 1813, Weatherford's warriors rushed the main gates of the Alabama fort, which had been opened for repair, and flooded inside. News of the massacre quickly spread, alarming the entire white population on the Creek frontier.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: In 1814, following the Fort Mims massacre, surrounding states organized militia to fight the anti-American faction of Creeks called the "Redsticks." Their leader was an obscure backwoods politician from Tennessee named Andrew Jackson. Over 500 Cherokees joined Jackson's forces of about 1,500 militia and friendly Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws at Horseshoe Bend in eastern Alabama. Among the Cherokee warriors fighting with Jackson were The Ridge (upon whom Jackson bestowed the title "Major"), John Ross and Sequoyah. According to some sources, another Cherokee warrior named Junaluska, saved Jackson's life during this battle, and historians have attributed him to have quoted: "If I had known that Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would not have saved his life that day at Horseshoe Bend." 

Sam Houston sustained injuries during this battle that would plague him for the rest of his life. The battle was a success for Jackson's forces. Out of 900 Red Stick warriors, only 70 survived, with 300 prisoners taken. Jackson quickly rose to Major General in the regular army, in charge of the Mobile-New Orleans military district. It is said that Jackson attributed his victory at Horseshoe Bend to the military efforts of the Cherokee, yet later, as President of the United States, he led the effort to remove the Indians, including the Cherokees, from their lands.

Sacred Belt (Legend of the Burning Belt)

The Legend of the Burning Belt: A story is told that, in the Fall of 1776, most towns in the Little Tennessee region were burned by American Soldiers and militia men, but one town was spared. It was Chota, the home of Nancy Ward. According to the Legend, a Sacred Belt (or adela) was laid over a crossbeam in Nancy Ward's home and a prophesy told that the problems of the Cherokee stemmed from their having left the traditional path. If they obeyed tradition, they would be all right as long as the Belt survived. The Belt then burst into flames, but the structure remained "...as if the fire had burned around the strings which held the beads together." The event was interpreted as the Belt being indestructible, like the "Fire People" (the Cherokees) themselves. Around the time of removal, the Belt disappeared and was thought destroyed. Later, the Belt was found in the possession of the Western Band Cherokees in Oklahoma and is still there today.

Nancy Ward was called the "Pocahontas of the West," Nancy is one of the most famous Cherokee women in history. She was a Ghighau, or Beloved Woman, an honor won in battle, even though she became an advocate of peace. In 1776, she sent a warning to white settlers in the Overmountain settlements of an impending Cherokee attack. For this action, some Cherokee regard her as a traitor, but it appears she had the welfare of the people at heart and all of her life, she remained an advocate of peace between the Cherokees and the whites.

During the 1820s and 1830s, the major tribes of the Southeast were removed from their homelands and transplanted in the West. These tribes -- the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, the Creeks, the Seminoles and the Cherokees -- were known as the Five Civilized Tribes. They were considered to have been the most receptive to the "Civilization Policy." They adopted agriculture, as opposed to hunting, they sent their children to white schools, they had written laws and their own governments, and many had converted to Christianity. But in spite of their efforts, were all removed from their homelands to the Indian Territory in the west.

William Holland Thomas

As a loyal white southern, William Holland Thomas joined the Confederate Army. He ultimately became the commanding officer of a force known as the Thomas Legion. In 1861, Thomas organized a local defensive force of about 200 Cherokees, which he called the Junaluska Zouaves, a tribute to the deceased Cherokee warrior, Junaluska. The following year, Thomas agreed to turn over his Cherokee troops to the Confederate States and accept a commission as their commanding officer. By June of 1862, Thomas' force of whites and Cherokees had reached battalion size. Supplemented by infantry, cavalry and others, the entire force became known as Thomas' Legion of Indiana and Highlanders or, more simply, the Thomas Legion. Approximately 400 Cherokee served in the Legion at one time or another.

In the final year of the war, Thomas tried to keep his Cherokee troops together, but they were dispatched to other units and some were sent to the most dangerous battlefields. At last, in May of 1865, two weeks after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Thomas and his officers surrendered. A bodyguard of about 20 Cherokees accompanied him to the surrender council where, even there, he tried to protect them. He insisted that they had never been mustered into Confederate service and should be allowed to retain their weapons to defend themselves. The Union officer agreed and Thomas and the Cherokees returned home.

Now 60 years old, Thomas was in ill health and deeply in debt. His creditors gained the deeds to all his property, including Cherokee land registered in his name. After a series of legal battles, the Cherokee were able to use money from an 1848 treaty (which, ironically had been negotiated by Thomas) to recover their land.

In Cherokee society, the basic kinship group was the clan. A clan was a group of people who believed themselves to be blood relatives through descent from a common female ancestor. Each clan took its name from a particular animal or natural phenomenon and a child's clan was determined through its mother. 

Clans served as a guide for interactions. For example, a Cherokee boy could joke or tease anyone he called "brother" (clan members of his own age), but if harm were done to a younger clan member ("younger brother"), he was expected to seek revenge even though they might live in different villages and hardly know each other. If a clan member was killed, the law of blood revenge demanded that the murdered person's clan restore balance by avenging the death.

Members of the same clan were not allowed to marry, and even though Cherokees were, overall, indulgent parents, punishment was handled through the clan, too. Girls were supervised by the women of their clan. Boys were punished by their mother's brother, usually the oldest, most influential male in the mother's family.

Sequoyah

This statute honors Sequoyah, the Cherokee genius who invented the Cherokee alphabet. It was sculpted from a single giant California Sequoia (Redwood) log which was donated and shipped by Georgia-Pacific. This sculptor is Peter Wolf Toth's 63rd statute across the United States and Canada commemorating the contributions of Native Americans. It was dedicated on September 30, 1989.