The Indian tribes of the Southeast in the eighteenth century. The eighteenth century saw a large growth to the Euro/American population in the Southeast. It also saw a huge proliferation, in comparison to that produced in previous centuries, of literature about the various Indian tribes in the Southeast. Prior to the eighteenth century, the most descriptive literature had been about the Algonkian tribes and those that bordered on the Mississippi river. In the eighteenth century, many travelers and traders wrote about the various Indian nations in the southeast. It was the period of the French writers - Du Pratz, Charlevoix, Bienville, Pénicaut etc. and the English writers - Lawson, Timberlake, Adair, Bartram, and many others who are not as well known. In addition, much of the writing centered around the tribes which were later to be known as the "Five Civilized Tribes". Also, during this century, many of the tribes sent representatives to England and France to meet with members of royalty. Tomochichi of the Yamacraw went in 1734 and Ostenaco of the Cherokees went in 1762. Jean-Bernard Bossu related two incidents that occurred in the middle of the eighteenth century. Even though these occurrences happened to different Indians from different tribes, they demonstrated the huge cultural gap that existed between the Europeans and the Indians. One incident occurred when an Illinois Indian was visiting France and saw the Thuileries in France; he commented on the men of "fashion" that he saw there. "....in the Thuileries, and other public walks, he had seen men who were half women, having their hair dressed like women, wearing the same ear-rings, and great nose-gays on their breast; and he suspected they put rouge on their faces..."1 The second incident also had to do with French dress. A Tonikan Indian who wanted to show his respect for officers of the French troops believed that for the sake of decency he should wear the complete suit of clothes that he had been given previously by the French Governor. However, since Indians found breeches to be extremely annoying, he put on the suit of clothes without the breeches but carried them under his left arm. When questioned about this, he replied that the French have hats for their head but carry them under their arms and he was just doing the same thing out of respect since this was a present coming from "his father" the King of France.2 The southeast can be geographically and tribally divided into three regions. The eastern seaboard comprised a region from Virginia to Georgia extending inland to include parts of Tennessee. This section was mainly settled by the English. The two largest groups of the Five Civilized Tribes inhabited this region. They were the Cherokee Indians who lived in Eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina and the tribes of the Muskohegan Confederacy, also known as the Creek Confederacy. These tribes lived, mainly, in the states of Alabama and Georgia. As stated previously, the French had been exploring the Mississippi river and its environs in the late sixteenth century. By 1700 they had settled in the gulf area near Biloxi and Mobile. While they wrote a lot about the Natchez Indians and related tribes, they, also, included in their narratives information about the Chickasaws who lived in northern Mississippi, extending into Tennessee, and the Choctaws who lived in the lower eastern segment of Mississippi. The third region was initially dominated by the Spaniards. The Indian tribe that would become prominent in the eighteenth century was the non-indigenous Seminole. However, a very short history of Florida in reference to the indigenous tribes will be presented in this section. The last area will comprise those tribes marginal but having some influence on the Southeastern tribes: the Caddo, Arkansas, Hasinai etc. However, only the tribes will be discussed that affected the material culture, in the form of dress and adornment, of the traditionally recognized southeastern tribes. Because a tribe lived primarily in a region dominated or associated by a particular European power, did not mean that that tribe was, necessarily or automatically, an ally of that European power. Alliances changed drastically. For the most part, the Cherokees, Creeks, and Chickasaws were allied with the English and the Choctaws with the French. However, these alliances were unstable and very fluid. As has been stated previously, trade was a key factor that governed allegiances and, thus, the formation of alliances. The English, French, and Spanish continued to control the three geographic regions described above until The Peace of Paris in 1763; this accord was to have tremendous political ramifications for the Indians. The event marked the end of The Seven Years War between the European powers in Europe and The French and Indian War in America which merged into the aforementioned Seven years War. Initially, of the three major powers, only Spain was not involved in the war while France and England were antagonists. However, in 1761 Spain allied herself with France. The declaration of peace known as "The Peace of Paris" redrew boundaries both in Europe and in America. According to the treaty, the geography of the European Powers' right to land "ownership" on the North American Continent had been drastically altered. France lost all territory on the North American mainland with Canada and all the land east of the Mississippi going to Great Britain. Spain ceded to Great Britain East and West Florida. In exchange for Spain's lost lands, France ceded to Spain the province of Louisiana and all French claims to the territory west of the Mississippi. The Mississippi River became the dividing line between Great Britain and Spain. 3 British policies governing the acquisition of the French land east of the Mississippi river was to have far reaching repercussions and was to be a trigger of events leading to the American Revolution. Further, had the British been victors in this conflagration, the history of the Indians in the nineteenth century might have been different. The British desired to form a boundary line prohibiting the westward expansion of the colonies. Their major reasons were two fold - firstly, to have a tighter control over the American colonists; and secondly, to pacify the Indians who were militant in the face of continual encroachment of their tribal lands.4 In order to put the plethora of material about the Indians in perspective, a list of important eighteenth century events can help to understand and recognize the changes that occurred in the Indian's life style. List of Events
The eighteenth century, historically, had a tremendous impact on the lives of the Indians and started the gradual expulsion of the Indians from the southeast which was to culminate in the early nineteenth century in the various "trails of tears". This century was fraught with intrigue, alliances, and treachery by both the European powers and, as a reaction, by the Indians of the Southeast. The three main European powers continued to use the Indians as pawns in their bids for power, land, and political and economic supremacy both in Europe and in the colonies. They manipulated, primarily, tribal alliances and tribal wars through the economics of trade. This included trading European goods for Indian land. However, the Europeans still refused to acknowledge the important Indian belief that land did not involve ownership. According to the Native population, land could only be lent, not given. When the French and Spanish lost power in America, they were forced to give up much of their land (that they believed they held) to the English. The Indians, however, did not understand how these two powers could turn over land that they did not own but had only been lent to them by the Indians to use.6 The five major tribes who warred with each other were the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and both divisions of the Creeks, the Upper and Lower. The Upper Creek towns were located on the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. The main divisions of the Upper Creek towns were: the Alabamas, the Tallapoosas, and the Abeikas. The Lower division towns were less numerous and were located, at various time periods, on the Ocmulgee, Flint, and Chattahoochie rivers of Georgia. The major towns were Coweta and Cussita.7 These upper and lower divisions, often, acted independently of each other. During the eighteenth century, the missionary movement expanded. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts sent missionaries over from England, initially in 1701;8 and the Moravians in 1735 sent missionaries from Saxony.9 It is important to understand how these sects viewed the Indians in order to understand their attitude toward "appropriate" dress. The missionaries believed that in order for an Indian to be a Christian he must resemble a European Christian. While the natives purchased European cloths, they adapted them to their liking and lifestyles. The majority of the missionaries, Catholic and Protestant alike, believed that the Indians needed to look like Christians in order to be Christians. Thus, they often forced converted Indians to wear constricting and heavy European clothes.10 Another reason that these missionaries desired the Christian Indians to wear European clothes was so that they could be distinguished from the enemy - the "pagan" Indians.11 Some of the Christian sects, mainly the Puritans in New England, held the belief that long hair symbolized pride and vanity both in regards to Europeans as well as to Indians. To some of the Protestants, the Indian's long hair symbolized an "affront to Anglo-Christianity."12 The early Protestant schools in the southeast were started by missionaries in order to train Indians to spread the Gospel and to aid in "reducing the Indians to civility."13 These schools were set up in a similar manner to traditional English ones.14 These same missionaries further believed that the young children needed to be removed from their home "before the hereditary stain of savagism became indelible".15 They, also, believed in disciplining them through corporal punishment, a type unknown to Indian children.16 The French Jesuit missionaries of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did not follow the same methodology of the protestant missionaries. They taught the Indians in situ by becoming a part of their community and learning their language. According to Axtell, "the Jesuits articulated and practiced a brand of cultural relativism, without, however, succumbing to ethical neutrality."17 The Spanish Franciscans, on the other hand, demanded that the Natives recognize the importance of these Friars and act accordingly, almost as vassals and penitents. The next Euro-American event that would have tremendous impact on the Indians and be the catalyst that would end in the eventual removal of the Indians from the Southeast was the Treaty of Paris in 1783. This final document of "Peace" not only gave sovereignty to the thirteen American Colonies but also delineated boundaries between Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The North American mainland was divided accordingly: Great Britain ceded the Floridas to Spain; the United States won the land west to the Mississippi River, north to Canada, and south to the Floridas.18 However, this division of land lasted less than twenty years. In 1800 a secret treaty was signed by Spain giving France the Louisiana Territory. Spain continued to occupy the land until November 30, 1803 when they formally ceded it to France. But three weeks later, the United States bought it from France in the form of the Louisiana Purchase and added it to their growing territory.19 This purchase left Florida isolated as it was still owned by Spain even though Spain maintained few posts there. 1817 saw the occurrence of the first Seminole war. By 1818, the United States army was basically in control of Florida even though an official act of war with Spain had not ben declared. By 1819, Florida became a possession of the United States. The Spanish boundaries were redefined to extend from the mouth of the Sabine River on the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean at the forty second parallel.20 The major tribes and/or confederacies always encompassed other tribes; some of these latter had been major tribes in another era. Sometimes people speak about the "Five Civilized Tribes" as if they were distinct entities unto themselves without common traits, habits, ideas, etc. This was not true. These tribes in the 18th century were products of interaction between the Natives themselves and the Natives and the White man. This is not to say that they had "sold out" or changed their Native affiliations. But the idea of a tribe being composed of members whose ancestors had only been members of that same tribe is fallacious. Members of a tribe married members of other tribes as well as married White men and women. The Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole were, in part, by the eighteenth century, a conglomerate or amalgamation of different tribes. This was especially true of those tribes that formed the Creek Confederacy. Of all the tribes, the Cherokees, even though they supported and adopted smaller tribes, comprised the most cohesive group. The Creeks, on the other hand, were a loose confederation of tribes whose members were not always even of the same linguistic family. The Seminoles were not even a tribe in the seventeenth century but were an outgrowth of eighteenth century political events. Since these above mentioned tribes emerged from the turmoil of the seventeenth century and eighteenth century as independent but still similar units, the information about them will be discussed separately from the other tribes in the Southeast. However, it is imperative to remember that these five tribes were products of the same milieu or environment as the other tribes and that their material culture cannot be divorced from each other and from the rest of the Southeastern tribes. The regional dress of the Southeastern tribes in general must be remembered when considering the dress of a particular tribe. Just because a form of dress is mentioned in reference to a particular tribe, does not mean that it exclusively belonged to that tribe. The reverse is also true. If the dress was very common to the observer, he might not have included it in any descriptive narrative about a particular tribe. As mentioned earlier, the Indians adapted European dress to suit their own taste. In late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century depictions of the Indians, Indian men are described as wearing tunics. Since Euro-American male shirts had long fronts and backs, these could easily be belted and resemble what is commonly called a tunic. The Indians accepted presents from the Europeans readily; however, they accepted only what they desired. The presents given to the men were often full suits of clothing (and they wore only those parts that they liked). Very few records show that Indian women were given a full complement of ready made apparel. The following document is a good example of the distribution of fabrics and apparel. It is safe to state that the Indian male adopted Euro/American styles of dress more quickly than did his female counterpart. This cannot only be seen from eye witness accounts of their dress, but also from inventories of goods that were purchased or given as presents. The following lists give two examples. The first is from a shipment of good sold by the Crown to Swanson McGillivray & Co. in 1779. These passed through a series of merchants in Mobille [Mobile] and arrived at Pensacola.
List of Goods sold in 1779 20 ps [pieces] Strouds 10 ps Large Duffles 10 dos[z]en Check shirts 50 Indian Trading Guns 6 dosen Large Ruffled Shirts 4 dosen 3/4 Cotton Chk Shirts 4 dosen 7/8 di [ditto] Ruffled 17 dosen plain white Irish Shirts 6 pr Callicoes [pieces of fabric] 3 dosen Looking Glasses 2 Large Trunks to pack Shirts21 The second example of goods specified for the Indians is from an inventory of presents given to the Indians contained in an appendix attached to a document written by Enrique White of St. Augustine, Florida in 1796. The gifts were given according to class status:
To a Chieftain22 "A woolen blanket, a woolen shirt, three cuartas [about 8 inches=1 cuarta] of coarse woolen cloth, one and one-half varas [2.78ft=1 vara] of plain, inferior cloth, a pair of garters containing three varas of woolen stripping, a looking glass......" "A woolen blanket, a plain shirt, one and one-half varas of plain, inferior cloth, a pair of garters containing three varas of woolen stripping, a looking glass....." To a Woman "Two and one-half varas of linen, five varas of woolen stripping, three cuartas of velveteen, one and one-half varas of Siresa [a type of woolen cloth], a looking glass, a little collection of glass beads, ten needles, a thimble, a skein of yarn." "Two varas of linen, one and one-half varas of inferior cloth, a small trumpet."23 "One vara of Siresa, one and one-half varas of inferior cloth." Costume Plate # 11 "The women wore linnen Jacketts with a petticoat to their knees."24 This garment could have been similar to two types of apparel worn by non-Indian women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Colonial women, especially those living in rural areas in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century wore what was called a shortgown. This was traditionally long sleeved, loose, closed in front, and flared at the bottom. It came to the hip. Sometimes it had a drawstring at the waist and was worn over the petticoat25. Slaves, also wore jackets made of linen or cotton materials. These were worn, however, as outer garments, but they could have been adapted to be worn over a petticoat. They are pictured as having long sleeves, front button closure, and of falling slightly below the hips.26 Pieces of material, presented to the Indians were also used by Europeans and Americans to signify alliances and treaties. In the "Treaty of Alliance & Commerce" between the English & Cherokees on September 20, 1730, presents of European goods were given to the Indians after each section of the treaty was presented. After the first section, "four pieces of striped serge" were given. After the second section, "two pieces of blue cloth" were given; after the third section, "a piece of red cloth" was given, and after the ninth section, a bandolier was given which the King of England is reported to have instructed the Cherokees to show to present and future generations. "[This bandolier] may be received and shown to your whole Nation, to their children and grand children, to confirm what has been said to you...."27 This giving of items upon the signing of a treaty was not a new phenomenon because the Indians, even as late as 1782, presented wampum belts and strings of white beads to signify peaceful intent.28 29 Chapter one of part four will discuss the dress of the colonists in the eighteenth century. The rest of the information dealing with the eighteenth century will be divided by geographical region as formulated by Euro/American political events and by specific Indian tribes. 2. Bossu, Nouveaux Voyage Dans L'Amerique Septentrionale, p. 262 (translated and paraphrased by the author.) 3. Parkes, The United States of America - A History and Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, Volume 1. 4. William Gerard De Brahm, De Brahm's Report, 1971 edition, pp.4 & 5 of the introduction by Louis De Vorsey, Jr. 5. Different historians sometimes report varying dates. The dates used in this chapter are primarily from Cotterill, The Southern Indians and from Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, volume 1. 21. War of Revolution British Hession Box 1. "Seminole Indians -East Florida" Folder entitled East Florida 1779. Courtesy of the New York Historical Society. Note: Goods for the Indians, in general, came through Pensacola during this time period. The designation of this collection entitled "Seminole Indians" does not mean that these goods were only for the Seminoles. 23. Richard K. Murdoch, Florida Historical Quarterly, July 1956 -April 1957 "Presents To Give or Not to Give. Governor White's Quandary", pp. 335-337. 24. Courtesy of the New York Historical Society. Miscellaneous Mss Hall. Part of a Diary of Mr. Hall Indian Agent from January 1, 1776 - January 5, 1777. "Account of Creek Indians," 16 pages of original manuscript, p. 90. 27. Cherokee East Treaty of 1730, Folder 1, Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK. Originally copied by G. W. Grayson 1919 from Jenkins Collection of Treaties, Vol. 11, 1713-1748. |