Part 4 - Chapter 8

The land of the Cherokee in the eighteenth century.

In the early eighteenth century, the Cherokee Indians lived in the mountainous region of western North and South Carolina, northern Georgia, and Alabama. They, also, spread into parts of Tennessee and Virginia. James Mooney claimed that in the traditional period they controlled 40,000 square miles of territory.1 In 1650, according to Mooney, the population numbered approximately 22,000.2

The Cherokee towns, according to William H. Gilbert, were divided into four regional communities from the time of earliest contact with the Europeans until the time of the American Revolution when they moved southward into northern Georgia. These groupings consisted of:

"(1) Lower Settlements on the upper tributaries of the Savannah River in what is now South Carolina; (2) Middle Settlements or Kituhwah lying to the north of the Lower Settlements on the eastern most reaches of the Little Tennessee and Tuckaseegee Rivers in North Carolina between the Cowee Mountains and the Balsam Mountains; (3) Valley Settlements in extreme western North Carolina along the Nantahala, the Valley River, and the Hiwassee; (4) Overhill Settlements north of the Unakas and south of the Cumberland Chain along the upper Tennessee and Lower Little Tennessee Rivers."3

Other writers, like Corkran, seem to combine the Middle and Valley settlements and call them just the Middle settlements so that there are three regional divisions of the Cherokees instead of four.4

The Cherokees were not a confederation like the Creeks but a unified nation separated into regional divisions.

Since the Cherokees lived in the mountains, they had little sustained contact with the early Europeans and are only briefly mentioned by some of the early Spanish explorers like De Soto. In addition, little was written about them until the mid to late eighteenth century. Gilbert listed only eight major writers from 1540-1790.5

These distinct regional groups, initially, had contact with different groups of Europeans as well as with different groups of Indians. The Overhill group had contact with those Europeans who lived in Virginia and with the Shawnee Indians.6 This group was the first to have known documented contact with the English in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The capital of the Overhills was Chota from whence the one council fire originated.7 However, by 1729, the Overhill Cherokee trade centered around Charles Town in South Carolina.8

The Lower group had contact mainly with the South Carolinians and with the Creek Indians.9

The two middle groups or one group, depending on the source, had little contact with the Europeans since they lived in a more isolated and inured section.10

There is practically no known specific information written through eye witness accounts of the Cherokee's dress and adornment in the early and mid eighteenth century.

Supposition can be frustrating, at best, both to the researcher and reader. Unfortunately, information cannot be manufactured. Although suppositions can lead to erroneous conclusions, so long as they are labeled as such and not taken out of context, they can be viewed from that perspective. There are many possibilities why the information is so scarce: 

1)The Cherokees were isolated from Europeans other than traders.

2)Few traders kept journals.

3)Those people who were exposed to the Cherokees in situ did not see anything different in their dress than was customary with other southeastern Indian tribes.  

Supposition #3 warrants some attention. Following the train of thought that most people only note the unusual and not the mundane, and it is known that some Europeans did live or travel amongst the Cherokees like Adair, Alexander Long(e), and Sir Alexander Cuming who did note their experiences, and that none of these described the Cherokees' every day dres, and that all they noted was a small amount that dealt with their festivals and ceremonies, it can be surmised that their everyday dress did not differ much from that of the other Indians in the Southeast. The only logical difference in their dress from other Southeast Indians would be some apparel that could be used to offset the colder mountain weather of their habitat. Adair did state, however, that their anointing and bathing in cold water did inure them from the cold.

It is known, from trading records and later statements that the Cherokees did purchase English goods and English clothes.

"My people...cannot...live independent of the English.... The clothes we wear we cannot make ourselves. They are made for us."11 12

It is, also, known that they did interact with the British. Le Jau, in 1715 in a letter to the secretary of the S. P. G., described an interesting peace ceremony whereby the Cherokee Indians that were involved danced a solemn dance.

"....wherein they Stripd themselves, and layd their cloaths by parcels att the feet of some of our most considerable men, who in return must do like to them, this Exchanging of Cloathes & smoaking out of the same Pipe is a solemn token of reconciliation of friendship."13

One of the first expeditions to England by the Southeast Indians took place in June of 1730 when Alexander Cuming took a delegation of Cherokee men to pay homage to King George ll. The English press reported on their dress.

"There were not wanting at the time those scribblers for the public prints who were prepared to make the most of any odd affairs to gratify their natural propensity for ridicule. One denominated the chief of the Indians:

`High and mighty Sagamore of the Cherokees, whose dress was an officer's blue coat with white metal buttons, and this with a laced hat and other martial accoutrements, made him look as soldiery as the late King of Sweden, having as many scarifications on his swarthy face as there are bars on a gridiron; wrought first with a sharpe instrument, then inlaid with gun-powder to add terribly to his awful visage.'

`They had severally the honor to kiss the hands of his Majesty, the Prince of Wales and the Duke. The Indian King had on a scarlet jacket but all the rest were naked, except an apron about their middles, and a horse's tail hung down behind. Their faces, shoulders, &c. were painted and spotted with red, blue & green. They had bows in their hands & painted feathers in their heads.'"14

This delegation presented the King with the "crown" of the Cherokee nation....with the five eagles' tails as an emblem of his Majesty's sovereignty, and four scalps of Indian enemies.15

While Cuming's Indian delegation was in England, they had their portrait painted wearing European clothes including breeches. The only (supposed) concession to their Indian heritage were moccasins and feathers in their hair. However, it is not known whether they continued to wear any of this dress when they returned to America. Thus, the significance, in terms of their adoption of new apparel, is not known.

Alexander Long(e) traded and/or lived with the Cherokees for over a decade. Whether he wrote more than what is contained in his narrative, A Small Postscript on the ways and manners of the Indians called Charikees, is not known. Little information is given in this work that pertains to their dress and adornment. The only reference involves the crown worn by the chief during the festival of the first fruits.

"The crown or head part of itt Is worktt with verious Colers as Reed, blue yalow and porpole and the backe partt of itt Rehess down to thire heales with Red and yalow possums heare, and one the tope of the Crown abunch of white fethers.. together with tow fanes [two fans] mad of Turkes fether[s] quite Round upon tew handles of wood which is karid by to of the senators...."16

James Adair described another aspect of the religious dress of a Cherokee Chief whom he, Adair, equated to a Levitical high-Priest of the Hebrews. He referred to the Cherokee chief Old Hop as an Archimagus [a chief magician]. Even though Adair claimed that the high-priest and this Archimagus, dressed differently, he claimed there were still similarities.

"Before the Indian Archi-magus officiates in making the supposed holy fire, for the yearly atonement of sin, the Sagan [the deputy of the Jewish high-priest] clothes him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. When he enters on that solemn duty, a beloved attendant spreads a white-drest buck-skin on the white seat, which stands close to the supposed holiest, and then puts some white beads on it, that are given him by the people. Then the Archi-magus wraps around his shoulders a consecrated skin of the same sort, which reaching across under his arm, he ties behind his back, with two knots on the legs, in the form of a figure eight. Another custom he observes on this solemn occasion, is, instead of going barefoot, he wears a new pair of buck-skin white maccasenes made by himself, and stitched with the sinews of the same animal. The upper leather across the toes, he paints, for the space of three inches, with a few streaks of red--not with vermillion, for that is their continual war emblem, but with ascertain red root, its leaves and stalk resembling the ipecacuanha, which is their fixed red symbol of holy things."17

For the first third to half of the eighteenth century, James Adair's description of the general dress of the Southeastern Indians would apply to the Cherokees, also. One addition that Adair made in his section on the "Cherokees" was the warrior's use of mirrors.

"They are never genteely drest, according to their mode, without carrying one [a looking glass] hung over their shoulders."18

This custom, according to Adair, led to the death of many after the smallpox epidemic in 1738. When an Indian saw how disfigured he had become, he would kill himself rather than appear in that condition.19

The Indians used the looking glass when applying paint prepatory to a war dance. They carried these looking glasses on their person by means of a string attached to their pack.20

One of the best accounts of the Cherokee Indians in the mid eighteenth century was written by a Lt. Henry Timberlake who visited the Cherokee Nation at the request of some of the Cherokee chiefs when they concluded a peace treaty with the English in 1761.21

Timberlake described their physical appearance and their dress. As has been done on previous occasions, his statements about dress will be discussed in their entirety even if passages appear to be repetitions of earlier descriptions of their demeanor.

    Costume Plates # 19 & 20
     Male & Female Indians19 & 20 Indians.jpg (23843 bytes)
In the following passage, Timberlake described the appearance of male Cherokees.

"The Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho' generally painted, and their skins stained with gun powder, pricked into it in very pretty figures. The hair of their head is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown piece, which is ornamented with beads, feathers, wampum, stained deer hair, and such like baubles. The ears are split and stretched to an enormous size......so soon as the patient can bear it, they are wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with silver pendantts and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose."22

"They that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out of clamshells, a silver breast plate, and bracelets on their arms and wrists of the same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a shirt of the English make, a sort of cloth-boot, and mockasons, which are shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with porcupine quills23; a large mantle or match-coat thrown over all compleats their dress at home; but when they go to war they leave their trinkets behind, and the mere necessaries serve them."24

"The women wear the hair of their head, which is so long that it generally reaches to the middle of their legs, and sometimes to the ground club'd, and ornamented with ribbons of various colours; but, except their eyebrows, pluck it from all the other parts of the body, especially the looser part of the sex.25 The rest of their dress is now become very much like the European; and indeed that of the men is greatly altered".26

The Indian women would have had no use for the frilled, hooped, and corsetted dress of the "well clad" European woman. The European dress that Timberlake referred to was a "generic" form of frontier dress which was more utilitarian than stylish; although, when available, ruffles were added, ribbons, bits of lace, etc., especially to the "Sunday best" dress.

The frontier woman in the mid to late eighteenth century wore a dress of homespun, which was usually a mixture called linsey-woolsey [linen warp and woolen weft] or fustian [many forms of linen, cotton, combinations with wool etc.]27; in addition, they could wear clothes of leather although homespun or material purchased from the trader was more common. The bodice, often was slightly pointed to emulate the fashion of the period. It, also, could be laced in front although that was not a necessity. It would, however, have a relatively low neckline and elbow length sleeves. Under the bodice was worn a chemise of cotton or coarse linen. The gathered neckline of the chemise sometimes extended above the neckline of the bodice as a form of modesty. Different size shawls were worn. Some were worn as a type of collar while others were worn as outer wraps and as head coverings. The skirts were as full as the material allowed and reached to around the ankles. Aprons were worn over the skirt both for protection and as decoration.

Timberlake reported that:

"The old people still remember and praise the ancient days, before they were acquainted with the whites, when they had but little dress, except a bit of skins about their middles, mockasons, a mantle of buffalo skin for the winter, and a lighter one of feathers for the summer.28"

The above quote was entirely plausible because the Cherokees did not become well acquainted with the Euro/Americans until the beginning of the eighteenth century when the trade between the two parties increased.

Through the traders, the Cherokees were able to barter for fabric as well as for some ready made items. Timberlake reported that the Cherokee men and women sewed their own clothes except for the shirts. In addition, the women made "very pretty belts, and collars of beads and wampum, also belts and garters of worsted."29

The Indians, however, were not only exposed to frontier clothing, but to the "haute mode" of the English court and noblemen when Timberlake escorted Cherokee Chief Ostenaco and two of his companions to England in the Spring of 1762.

They remained in England over the summer and were constantly reported by both the English and American press. The following item appeared in Lloyd's London Evening Post of June 22-23, 1762:

"Salisbury, June 21- On Thursday last arrived in the City on his way to London, the King of the Cherokees Indians in North America, attended by two of his chiefs...They are tall, well made men, near six feet high, dressed with only a shirt, trowsers, and mantle around them; their faces are painted of a copper colour, and their heads adorned with shells feathers, ear-rings, and other trifling ornaments."30

It was also reported by one of the gazettes on June 23, 1762 that:

"A house is taken in Suffolk Street, and equipage preparing for the three Cherokee Indian Chiefs. Clothes are also making after the English fashion, in which they are to make their appearance. They are to be clothed in scarlet."31

The Dodsley Annual Register for 1762 described their dress upon presentation to the King:

"When introduced to his Majesty, the head Chief wore a blue mantle covered with lace, and had his head richly ornamented. On his breast hung a silver gorget with his Majesty's arms engraved. The other two chiefs were in scarlet richly adorned with gold lace, and gorgets of plate on their breasts."32

According to the various news reports, the Indians had their picture painted by both a Mr. Parsons33 and Mr. Reynolds [who later became Sir Joshua Reynolds]34.

The Royal Magazine for July of 1762 published an article about the three Indians and illustrated it with a picture of Ostenaco called by them Austenoco. This account combined some of the other accounts.

"They are men of middling stature, seem to have no hair on their heads and wear a kind of skull cap, adorned with feathers; their faces and necks are besmerched with a coarse sort of paint, of a brick dust colour, which renders it impossible to know their complexion. They have a loose mantle of scarlet cloth thrown over their bodies, and wear a kind of loose boot. Their necks are streaked with blue paint, something resembling veins in a fine skin. Their seem to be a mixture of majesty and moroseness in their countenances."35

Ostenaco is pictured wearing a loose mantle over his left shoulder edged with seven rows of trim. Under the mantle he wears a type of long shirt with full sleeves that are held in place by both wrist and arm bands that allow it to puff up in between and end in a ruffle formed by the gathers. A type of belt or trim appears a little below his waist. On his breast he wears a large crescent shaped gorget with a pendant. Over this decoration, he appears to be a wearing a woven bead necklace in the shape of a "U". His neck appears to be encased in a high collar with small points. Under his tunic type shirt, are leggings with trim on both sides and on the bottom. They are not tight fitting but extend a few inches beyond his ankle. His feet are encased in what appears to be a sock or a moccasin. His head appears to be without hair save for some feathers or such on top and a lock falling between his eyes to the bridge of his nose. Earrings dangle from his ears and also some trinkets probably from the fringes of his hair behind his ears.36

De Brahm, the Surveyor General of the Southern department, also spent time with the Cherokee Indians in the seventeen sixties. He described the installation of the Cherokee King of Estatowee. Initially, he stated that the King sat naked on a throne and was fanned by a fan made from turkey feathers by two naked Indians.

Since the function of an Indian King was of European origin, and there is no former reference to any installation ceremony, it is possible that this ceremony and the dress associated with it were initiated after the advent of the White man. The wearing of white clothes have, however, previously been associated with acts or ceremonies of purity, cleansing, renewal, etc.

"The physicians perform the Ceremony of the Installation, and begin with putting on his Feet a pair of Socks (Mokasins37) made of white dressed Deer skin; next they tie a white Dressed Deer Skin round his Waist to hang behind half way down his Heels; thirdly they offer him two fur Sleeves made of whole Ratoons [raccoons38] Skins, in which he slips his arms, fourthly they sling another white Skin over his left Shoulder and under his right Arm by way of a Mantle; the fifth are two Strings of Deer Claws, which they fasten round his Ancles; the sixth is a Diadem of a Roll of Fur pieced together of Rattoon [raccoon] skins. some dyed yellow, and some crimson, (a) this they tye on his Head, and let two long ends hang down his Back, two Pieces of the same kind are fixed to the Diadem to go across his Head to keep the Diadem from slipping on his Neck in dancing. The seventh and eighth is a Swan's Wing and a white leather Tobacco Pouch. The former he receives in his right, and the latter in his left Hand; but none of these robes and regalia must touch his Body, before he has, by spitting upon each in particular, sacrated it to his Use."39

Even though this ceremony was said to be a part of the strictly Indian Green Corn Feast, it seems apparent from its description, that it became a combination of Indian and European elements. Firstly, it is said to take place in the square with the musicians under two May poles; secondly, even though white dress was used in purification ceremonies, the dress of the king, as described by De Brahm, contained many elements that were not intrinsically Indian.

The other alternative to this ceremony being a combination of Indian and European elements is that De Brahm's description is a magnification of another ceremony. This theory is possible, for De Brahm, according to his writings, did not always understand the culture of the Indians. It is possible that he exaggerated this event for his European audience.

In the 1770's William Bartram, in his travels through out the southeast, was witness to another Cherokee festival. He witnessed a rehearsal for a Ball-Play dance at the town of Cowe. His rendition is more historically in keeping with Cherokee cultural history than was De Brahm's.

"The people being assembled and seated in order, and the musicians having taken their station, the ball opens, first with a long harangue or oration.....This prologue being at an end, the musicians began, both vocal and instrumental; when presently a company of girls, hand in hand, dressed in clean white robes and ornamented with beads, bracelets and a profusion of gay ribbands, entering the door, immediately began to sing their responses in a gentle, low, and sweet voice.....This continued about a quarter of an hour, when we were surprised by a sudden very loud and shrill whoop, uttered at once by a company of young fellows, who came in briskly after one another, with rackets or hurls in one hand. These champions likewise were well dressed, painted, and ornamented with silver bracelets, gorgets, and wampum, neatly ornamented with moccasins and high waving plumes in their diadems."40

Some historians believe that the aftermath of The American Revolution started the decline of the Cherokees in the Southeast that was to culminate in their eventual forced removal to Indian Territory which would becomee the present state of Oklahoma. However, newspapers and magazines demonstrate that their persecution started many years prior to the American Revolution. The following quotation is from a report in the London Magazine of 1761 on the actions accomplished by Colonel Grant's troops.

"Heaven has blest us with the greatest success on every occasion; we have finished our business as compleatly as the most sanguine of us could have wished; all of their towns, amounting to 15 in number, besides many little villages and scattered houses, have been burnt; upwards of 1400 acres of corn, according to a moderate consumption, entirely destroyed; and near five thousand Cherokees, including men, women, and children, driven to the mountains to starve; their only subsistence, for some time past, being horse flesh. Not the smallest vestige of corn was found anywhere but at a town called Tessanteé...."41

A people's "distressed" way of life is very significant when trying to gain knowledge of their culture. When people, as an aggregate, are under undo stress, starving, and forced to flee their homes, obviously, their cultural institutions will not grow. When people have nothing, they are fortunate if they can wear even enough to protect them from the bare elements.

Starting immediately after the American Revolution, land hungry frontiersmen were illegally appropriating Indian land, and thus many skirmishes ensued. Each time that the Cherokees lost a battle, the colonials believed that they had a right to appropriate for themselves more land.

This problem, also, created a severe split amongst the Cherokees themselves because some felt that the best method of reconciliation was to change their way of life and to acculturate to the "White Man's Life Style" while others, the younger and more radical, believed that they had to fight for their land. So severe was the problem that the latter split from the main body of the Cherokees and formed the Chickamauga Cherokees.

Also, the Cherokees chose to side with the British against the Americans in The Revolutionary War. By believing that the British would win the war, they chose many courses of action which resulted in loss of land, loss of life, and in the creation of an adversary position in regards to the Americans. This state was to continue and intensify even after The Revolution. The situation was also part of the entanglement surrounding the controversy of state's rights, federal rights, individual frontiersmen's rights, etc. Unfortunately, the Cherokee were caught in the middle of this snare which would continue to draw its noose tighter and tighter around the Cherokee nation, especially as "Emigration [into Cherokee lands by White Americans] after the Revolution became a mania."42

In the Treaty of 1791, the Cherokee requested that stipulations for agricultural implements and instruction be written into it. The Cherokee were encouraged to become an agricultural society. Those that did not want to abandon the "Hunting Life" were encouraged as early as 1785 to emigrate toward the West.43

There is evidence that agricultural and related products were distributed to the Cherokees. The Missionary Abraham Steiner in his report of 1799 remarked more than once of seeing looms and weaving houses. He reported that:

"In the course of the summer 300 plows and as many pairs of cotton carding-combs had been sent to the nation and that they had begun to devote themselves to agriculture and the raising of cotton; had several times brought cotton for sale and that they had begun to spin and to weave."44

Unfortunately, few Cherokee men knew how to farm and few women knew how to spin and weave. Thus, they were dependent on outsiders to teach them these new skills. In addition, they were reluctant to learn them for traditionally Indian men did not work in the fields. It was not a simple matter of learning a new skill, but one that required total reorientation of their spiritual and cultural life. Due to many factors, by the turn of the century, their economic life was at a subsistence level.45

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, severe division of the tribe had commenced earlier in the century. This division was only to increase as the mixed bloods being more exposed to White ways embraced many aspects of acculturation. According to McLoughlin, "They thought they were proving themselves to be good Cherokees by becoming good whitemen and white women."46

Even though many of the Indians donned the Whiteman's dress, others still dressed in the fashion that had been prevalent in the past with modifications. In 1788, in order to make Joseph Brown, a white captive look more like a Cherokee Indian, Brown recollected that:

"they trimmed my hair..., and shaved the entire side of my head, leaving only a small scalp-lock on the top of it to tie a bunch of feathers to. They also took away my pantaloons, and gave me in exchange their own substitute for the same, merely a piece of coarse cloth about four feet long, and ten or fifteen inches broad."47

He also stated that:

"I had a short old shirt, with a brooch in the breast of it coming down to my waist. My neck collar was pulled open, my thighs, and head were bare...."48

This description seems to be representative of a style of dress that was popular with the Indians men, full and mixed blood alike, especially on their own "turf" even into the nineteenth century.

Louis-Philippe in his journal of his travels through America in 1797 described what he saw in regards to Cherokee dress. He described more of a spectrum from the costume of the players in the ball game to that of the wealthy.

The players in the ball game wore:

"....only a belt that holds up in front a small square cloth of red or yellow, etc., bordered with a different color and the same behind, which is called a loincloth. These two squares of cloth are connected below in such a way that although they do not seem to be fastened, one is never indecent. This is their fighting dress and they never cover themselves in war."49

Louis-Philippe not only gave a good description of the ball-play costume, but also, described the variety of male attire amongst the Cherokees.

"Cherokee clothing is made from European cloth and goods. The rich men among them wear great loose-dressing gowns, of prints or similar fabrics."50

These dressing gowns or banyans were not bathrobes or gowns to sleep in. They were loose robes with loose sleeves and very popular in the 18th century for informal occasions. From various pictures of banyans, the length varied as did the fabric. Worn in conjunction with the banyan or dressing gown was a beret-like turbans. This turban was very popular for informal attire.

"Some wear hats, but the majority have kept the Indian hairdo. They shave their heads so as to leave hair only on top of the head and behind, like Capuchins would appear if they kept the hair inside their tonsures. The ends of their hair are usually ornamented with some danglers or some braids made in their fashion with tin, red-dyed horse hair, etc. Sometimes they dye their own hair with vermillion, which is frightful and makes them look bloody. In general vermillion is very fashionable among them and is always used in places where one least expects to find it. Sometimes there is a strong spot of it underneath one eye and only there, sometimes there is some in front of the ears, and sometimes at the roots of the hair. Also, some of them, in order to make themselves more pleasant, put on their heads feathers of the wild turkey or other birds to which they also add danglers, small glass beads, and red-dyed down.

"Their dress is so varied that it is impossible to describe it precisely. Most wear a woollen blanket passed over the left shoulder and under the right shoulder so as to leave the right arm entirely free. They all wear a shirt or tunic (or coat -Sturtevant's addition) that is, reportedly, rather frequently washed. They bathe quite often. Trousers are unknown to them. They only have the small cloth square, and either the shirt or the tunic is belted to conceal it completely.

"Some of them dress rather elegantly, and I have seen one among others (the one from whom I bought the silk pouch) dressed in silk kerchiefs and a light green cloak or sheet, very well draped and elegant.

"The outer rim of the ear is always detached with an incision among them. They wrap it with tin and hang from it very long and heavy ear pendants. Also they often have a triangle or other dangler passed through the nasal septum. These ornaments are only worn by men."51

In comparison to the men, Louis-Philippe says very little about the Indian women. However, what he does say is extremely telling for he stated that:

"There is nothing strange about their clothing, except perhaps the way they wrap themselves in a blanket in which they carry their children on their backs as if in a pack basket. They all have their hair clubbed rather close to the head [worn in a knot] and sometimes they braid it. Some, but few, have ear pendants, and I have seen none with a nose pendant. their garments, and those of the Indian men as well are all made of our European cloth and their blankets are also. They have red ones, blue ones, embroidered ones, etc. I have seen that they paint their faces with vermillion and that they have found means of using it agreeably."52

The statement "There is nothing strange about their clothing" in reference to Cherokee Indian women's garb is extremely important for it reinforces and reiterates the fact that most Cherokee women, and many women from other Southeastern tribes, wore a form of American colonial dress that to Louis-Philippe was familiar.

Paint was still used symbolically; black was still associated with "trouble, defeat, and death for enemies;"53 while red was associated with "blood, sacred fire, and victory."54

Ceremonial scratching was still done with a gar's bill or teeth, but, also, with brass pins pushed through a stick.55

Two lists of supplied delivered to the Indians in January of 1798 are good indicators of the yard goods they probably "desired" as well as the accessories used by them in conjunction with sewing, etc. The first list reflects definitely compensation for the deaths of two of their members.

"The United States

To Anthony Foster off  for Amount delivered the Cherokee Indians by order of James Robertson in consequence of two Indians being kill'd on Stone River by white people (to Witt) Dec. 28, 1797

5 Class knives

1/2 yd plush

2 1/2 yds Callico

1 pr Scissars

1 1/2 doz Buttons

2 sticks twist

3 skeins thread

1/4 yd plush

1/2 yd Brown holland

4 Claps knives

1/2 yd Scarlet

12 doz needles

6 skeins thread

4 Tin Cups

4 pr Shears

3 3/4 yds Cloth

15 1/2 U Lead

5 1/2 U powder

4 yd fine Country Linen

1 yd ditto

1/2 bushell salt

4 lb powder

4 lb lead

1 1/4 yd Country Linen

1 Rifle Gunn

1 Bushell Salt

4 lb Manufactured Tobacco

A Foster

January 3, 1798"56

"W. A. Foster

Sir, You will please deliver the following Articles to the Cherokee Indians (to Wit)

1/2 yd Green Cloth

3 yd fine Callico

1 Silk Handhf

1 Fine Hat & ribbond

2 bridles

12 doz Needles

1 oz thread

1 handhf

6 large butcher Knives

1 small ditto ditto

1 pr sp?

4 1/2 yd furniture Callico

1 large Blankett

1 ditto silk handhf

4 yd fine Callico

7 tin cups

1 fring pan

3 taylors thimbles

2 yd Stroud

3 yd Fine Callico

1 large Silk Handhf

1 yd Country linen

10 1/2 lb lead

8 lb powder

7 1/2 yd fine Country Linen

1/2 Bushell Salt

10 lb Manufactured Tobacco

 

For which I hold myself Accountably to you

I am Sir Yrs

Signed Jas. Robertson

December 29th, 1797"57


1. .James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee, p. 14; David Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier, p. 3.

2. .Swanton, BAE 137, p. 114.

3. .Gilbert, BAE 133, "Anthropological Paper 23" p. 178.

4. .Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier, p. 3.

5. .Gilbert, BAE 133, p. 373.

6. .Fred Gearing, American Anthropologist, Memoir 93, "Priests and Warriors," p. 1.

7. .Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier, pp. 3-4.

8. .Mary U. Rothrock, East Tennessee Historical Society's Publication, Carolina Trades Among the Overhill Cherokees, 1690-1760.

9. .Fred Gearing, American Anthropologist, Memoir 93, "Priests and Warriors," p. 1.

10. .Fred Gearing, American Anthropologist, Memoir 93, "Priests and Warriors," p. 1

11. Stated by Skiagunsta, the old head warrior of the Lower Towns in the early to mid eighteenth century.

12. .Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier, p 14.

13. .Frank J. Klingberg, The Carolina Chronicle of Dr. Francis Le Jau, p. 169.

14. .Samuel Drake, Early History of Georgia embracing the Embassy of Sir Alexander Cuming, p. 17.

15. .Ibid., p. 17.

16. .Alexander Long(e), A Small Postscript of the ways and manners of the nation of Indians called Charikees, p. 13.

17. .James Adair, History of the American Indian, pp. 85-89.

18. .Ibid., p. 245.

19. .Ibid., p. 245.

20. .Charles Johnson, A Narrative of the incidents attending the Capture, Detention, and Ransom of Charles Johnson who was Made Prisoner by the Indians on the River Ohio, in the year 1790, p. 22.

21. .Timberlake, The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake, p. 14.

22. .Timberlake, The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake, pp. 75-76.

23. Earlier, porcupine quills were practically non-existent among the Southeastern Indians.

24. .Timberlake, The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake, p. 76.

25. Fyffe claimed that both sexes shaved their pubic regions. (page 5 of the typed manuscript.)

26. .Timberlake, The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake,p. 77.

27. .Definitions of fabrics from Montgomery Textiles in America 1650-1870.

28. .Timberlake, The Memoirs of Lt. Timberlake, pp. 76-77.

29. .Ibid., p. 86.

30. .From the Lyman Copeland Draper Collection at the Library of Congress. Microfilm reel # 119, item #2

31. .Ibid., From same collection in LC.

32. .Ibid., From the same collection in the LC.

33. .Ibid., Lloyd's London Evening Post, July 28, 1762. From the same LC collections.

34. .Ibid., From the London Chronicle, June 24th, 1762.

35. .Ibid., from the same LC collection.

36. .Ibid., from the same Royal Magazine.

37. It seems really strange that De Brahm would use the word socks and then qualify it by the word "moccasins" since he was familiar with Indian garb unless he felt that his audience would not know the term moccasins.

38. Inserted by editor of De Brahm's text, De Vorsey.

39. .De Brahm's Report, edited and with an introduction by Louis De Vorsey, pp. 111-112.

40. .Travels of William Bartram, Dover edition, pp. 298-299.

41. .The London Magazine or The Gentleman's Intelligencer, Volume 30, 1761, p. 469.

42. .Zeigler & Grosscup, The Heart of the Alleghanies, p. 31.
43. .Fogelson & Kutsche, "Cherokee Economic Cooperatives", BAE 180, p. 98.

44. .Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, p. 459.

45. .McLoughlin, Cherokees and Missionaries, p.29.

46. .Ibid., p. 8.

47. .Journal of Cherokee Studies, "Captivity of Joseph Brown", volume 2, number 2, p. 211.

48. .Ibid., p. 211.

49. .William Sturtevant, Journal of Cherokee Studies, "Louis-Philippe on Cherokee Architecture and Clothing in 1797", volume 3, number 4, p. 201.

50. .Ibid., p. 201. Also consulted is the translation by Stephen Becker of Louis-Philippe's diary "Diary of my Travels in America" p. 95 although William Sturtevant's translation is quoted.

51. .Ibid., Sturtevant, pp. 201 & 202; Becker, pp. 95 & 96.

52. .Ibid., Sturtevant, pp. 199-200; Becker, p. 85.

53. .Duane King, Journal of Cherokee Studies, volume 2, number 2, p. 226.

54. .Ibid., p. 226.

55. .Journal of Cherokee Studies, "Captivity of Joseph Brown", volume 2, number 2, p, p. 213.

56. .Cherokees East - Folder 10. Letter of 1798.

57. .Ibid., - Folder 12, Letter from James Robertson of December 29, 1797.