James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 4

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

September 24th. From the settlement of the Cherokees, at Rocky Bayou, our route lay towards the south-east, across the succession of rocky hills, sparingly wooded with oak, intermixed with the cornus porida, attaining an unusual magnitude.

As we descended towards the Arkansa, we perceived before us the cabins and plantations of another settlement of Cherokees. Passing near a wretched and neglected tenement, we observed a white man, who appeared to be the occupant, and called upon him to direct us to the place where, as we had been told, the river could be forded. It was not until we had repeated our request several times, that he seemed disposed to give any attention. He then approached at a snail's pace, and setting himself down upon the ground, drawled out his direction, terminating each word with a long and hearty yawn. The depression and misery which seemed written on his features, and the sallowness of his complexion, convinced us that disease, as well as native indolence, had some share in occasioning the apparent insolence he had shewn, and cured us of any wish we might have felt to reproach him.

Following a winding pathway, which led through deep-tangled thickets and heavy cane-brakes, we {130} arrived at the ford, and crossing without difficulty, halted at the settlement of Walter Webber,[10] a young chief of the Cherokees.

Here we found the gentlemen of our party who had left the garrison before us.

The chiefs of the Cherokee nation had called a grand council, to meet at Point Pleasant the day after our arrival there, to adopt measures to forward the negotiations for peace with the Osages, with whom they had been at variance for many years. The origin of the quarrel, existing between these powerful and warlike nations, is by some referred to the period of the American revolution, when the Osages killed a number of refugees, who had fled to them for protection. Among these were some Cherokees, some Indians of mixed breed, and it is said some Englishmen, to whom the success of the American arms rendered unsafe a longer residence in the country then occupied by the Cherokee nation. Whether the outrage thus alleged against the Osages was in fact committed, it is not at this time easy to determine. It appears, however, agreeably to the information we have been able to collect, that of late years the Cherokees have almost uniformly been the aggressors, while the abuses of the Osages, so loudly complained of, both by the Cherokees and the Whites, have been acts of retaliation. A large number of Cherokees now live on the south side of the Arkansa, upon lands claimed by the Osages; and all the Cherokees of the Arkansa are in the habit of hunting and committing depredations upon the Osage hunting grounds. In 1817, the Cherokees, with a number of Delawares, Shawnees,[11] Quapaws, and eleven American volunteers, the whole amounting to about six hundred men, made an irruption into the territory of the Osages, having previously taken measures to quiet the suspicions of their enemies, by occasional messages, professing a peaceable disposition on their part. When they had arrived near the village, they {131} sent a deputation to the Osages, concealing at the same time their numbers and their hostile intention, and inviting Clermont, the chief, to a council which they proposed to hold at a little distance from the town. Clermont being absent on a hunt with the young men of his village, an old Indian, and one in high standing with his people, was appointed to act in his stead, and commissioned to conclude a peace with the Cherokees, according to the wish they had expressed by their messengers. But what was his surprise, when, on arriving at the spot designated as that at which the council was to be held, instead of a few chiefs and old men, as had been represented, he found himself surrounded by the whole armed force of the Cherokees. He was seized and put to death on the spot. The design of this act of perfidy had been to effect the destruction of Clermont, the bravest and most powerful of the Osages. The Cherokees then proceeded to the attack of the town, where, on account of the absence of the efficient men, they encountered little resistance. A scene of outrage and bloodshed ensued, in which the eleven Americans are said to have acted a conspicuous and a shameful part. They fired the village, destroyed the corn and other provisions, of which the Osages had raised a plentiful crop, killed and took prisoners between fifty and sixty persons, all old men, women, and children. Four of these prisoners, who had been since held in captivity by the Cherokees east of the Mississippi, had been brought to Point Pleasant, by a metif called Captain Rogers, and a consultation was now to be held, concerning the manner of restoring them to the Osages.

In the winter of 1817-18, some of the leading men of both nations had been summoned to a council at St. Louis, by Governor Clark, for the purpose of negotiating a peace. By the treaty then made, the Cherokees had agreed to relinquish the prisoners in question, in consideration of which they were to be {132} allowed the privilege of hunting in the country north of the Arkansa, as high as the Grand river or Six Bulls, and on the south side as high as they pleased.[12] The stipulated surrender of the prisoners not having been made, a party of Osages, who were hunting on Red river, some time in the ensuing winter, fell in with three Cherokee hunters, and whom they murdered by way of retaliation. This circumstance tended to widen the breach between them, till at length both parties were resolved on war, which was for the present prevented by the interference of Governor Miller, and by the check imposed by the presence of an armed force at Belle Point, on the frontiers of the two nations. At the time of our visit, it was hoped the influence of Governor Miller would effect the establishment of a permanent peace. The first of the ensuing month (October) had been appointed for the surrender of the prisoners, and Governor Miller was said to be then on his way to Belle Point, to ensure the fulfilment of the conditions stipulated between the contending parties. The Osages were to give up the men concerned in the murder on Red river, in exchange for the women and children then prisoners with the Cherokees.

The Cherokees were taught the culture of cotton many years since, by Governor Blount[13] of North Carolina, who offered them a stipulated price per pound, for all they would deliver at the trading-house. They were for several years paid regularly for their cotton; but the factor at length refusing any longer to receive it, they complained to Governor Blount, who advised them to manufacture it into clothing for their own use, which they consented to do, on condition of being furnished with a person to give the requisite instruction. They now raise considerable quantities of cotton, and many of them are comfortably clad in garments of their own manufacture.

The introduction of a considerable degree of civilization among the Cherokees, has been attended {133} with the usual consequence of inequality in the distribution of property, and a larger share of the evils resulting from that inequality, than are known among untutored savages. Encroachments upon the newly-established rights of exclusive possession have been frequent, and have rendered the numerous class of the poor among the Cherokees troublesome neighbours, both to the wealthy of their own nation, and to those of the white settlers in their vicinity who had any thing to lose. But wealth seldom finds itself destitute of the means of protection. Three bands of regulators, or troops of light horse, as they are sometimes called, are maintained among the Cherokees, consisting each of ten men well armed and mounted, and invested with an almost unlimited authority.[14] A few days previous to our arrival at Point Pleasant, a young man had been apprehended by one of these bands of regulators, on suspicion of horse-theft. On examination, the supposed delinquent proved stubborn and refractory, whereupon the captain ordered the infliction of fifty lashes; and this not seeming to produce the desired effect, an additional fifty was commenced, when the culprit confessed himself guilty, and disclosed the whole transaction, in which he had been concerned. We were called upon for advice in the case of the Osage prisoners, a young woman and three children labouring under an attack of intermitting fever. The young woman we found sitting upon the floor in a little cabin, near the trading-house, and crying bitterly, not more, as we were informed, on account of ill-health, than of her reluctance to return to the Osages. She had been long among the Cherokees, whose customs she had adopted, and among whom she had formed attachments.

Tikatok's village, which we passed on the 25th, is situated on the Illinois Bayou,[15] about seven miles above Point Pleasant. It consists of no more than {134} five or six cabins, but is the residence of the venerable Tikatok, who, since the death of Tallantusky in 1817, has been considered the principal chief of this portion of the Cherokee nation. He has been a distinguished benefactor to his people, and is familiarly known by the name of "The Beloved." The Cherokees who live at and about this village, and those settled at a distance from the Arkansa, generally are less subject to fevers than those who reside on the river bottoms. At a little distance above the village we left the Illinois, and proceeded across the wilderness towards Little Red river, on our route to Cape Girardeau. Two or three scattered plantations, occupied by Cherokees, occur in the country between Point Pleasant and Little Red river, where we arrived on the 28th. This river has a deep rocky channel, sixty or one hundred yards in width, at the point where we crossed it, which is distant about eighty miles from its confluence with White river. It had at this time scarcely a perceptible current, and in many places might be crossed on foot without wading. It is, however, like most of the rivers of this region, subject to great and sudden floods, which, in several instances, have drowned the cattle, and destroyed and swept away the crops of those who were settled along the banks. From the marks left by the last flood upon the banks, we perceived that the range, from high to low water, could not be less than sixty feet. From Stanley's settlement on Little Red river, it is about thirty-six miles north-east to Harding's ferry on White river. Here are numerous settlements of Whites; but notwithstanding the country is hilly and profusely irrigated with numerous rapid streams, the inhabitants have almost without exception a sickly appearance. Harding's ferry is about four hundred miles distant from the confluence of White river and the Mississippi.[16] White river is navigable for keel-boats at high water to this place, and during a considerable portion of the year, they {135} may ascend one hundred miles farther. It is here about three hundred yards wide. Its water is remarkably clear, and flows with a moderate current over a gravelly or stony-bed.