LETTERS FROM THE AI.LEGHAMES
Cherokee Church
A traveler is fascinated by
л
visit
to the nation, just ten years after
the “Great Removal.”
By CHARLES LANMAN
Oualla Town. North Carolina
May. 1848
Qualla Town is a name applied to
a tract of seventy-two thousand acres
of land, in Haywood county, which is
occupied by about eight hundred
Cherokee Indians and one hundred
Catawba* . Their district is mountain¬
ous from one extremity to the other,
and watered by a number of beautiful
streams, which abound in fish; the
valleys and slopes arc quite fertile, and
the lower mountains are well adapted
to grazing, and at the same time arc
heavily timbered and supplied with
every variety of game. This portion of
a much larger multitude of aborigines,
in consideration of their rank and age,
and of valuable services rendered to
the United States, were permitted by
the General Government to remain
upon their native soil, while the great
body of the Cherokee nation were
driven into exile. They (the exiles)
amounted in all to more than sixteen
thousand souls, eighteen hundred and
fifty having died on their way to the
"promised land" beyond the Missis¬
sippi. And here it may with propriety
be added, that since the removal those
in the West have gradually decreased
in numbers, while the remaining por¬
tion have steadily increased by births
at the rate of four per cent per annum.
In addition to the Indians above men¬
tioned. it ought to be stated that there
is a remnant of two hundred still re¬
maining in the county of Cherokee; of
those, however. I know but little, and
therefore purpose to confine my re¬
marks to those of Oualla Town alone.
The Indians of this district, having
formed themselves into a regular com¬
pany, with appropriate regulations,
they elected an old friend of theirs,
named William H. Thomas, (men¬
tioned in my last letter,) to become
their business chief, so that the con¬
nection now existing between the two
parties is that of father and children.
What the result of this arrangement
has been will be fully understood when
I come to speak of the advance which
the Indians have made in the march of
civilization. As they are organized at
the present time, the Oualla Town
people arc divided into seven clans,
and to each clan is assigned what is
called a town, over each of which pre¬
sides a regular chief. The Cherokee
nation was originally divided into
seven clans, which were probably de¬
scended from certain noted families,
and the old party feeling is still pre¬
served with jealous care among their
descendants in this vicinity. The
names of the clans arc: In-e-chccs-
quah. or Bird Clan; In-cgil-lohcc, or
Pretty-faced Clan; In-c-wo-tah, or
Paint Clan; In-c-wah-hc-yah, or Wolf
Clan; In-c-se-ho-nih, or Blue Clan;
In-c-co-wih, or Deer Clan; and In-e-
co-te-ca-wih, the meaning of which
is not known. And among the customs
which prevail among these clans is
one which prevents their marrying
among themselves, so that they have
to select their wives from a neighbor¬
ing fraternity. Formerly such mar¬
riages were prohibited by penalty of
death.
With regard to the extent of their
civilization and their existing manner
of life, the following may be looked
upon as a comprehensive summary:
About three-fourths of the entire popu¬
lation can read in their own language,
and, though the majority of them un¬
derstand English, a very few can speak
the language. They practise, to a con¬
siderable extent, the science of agri¬
culture, and have acquired such a
knowledge of the mechanic arts as
answers them for all ordinary purposes
for they manufacture their own cloth¬
ing, their own ploughs, and other farm¬
ing utensils, their own axes, and even
their own guns. Their women are no
longer treated as slaves, but as equals;
the men labor in the fields, and their
wives arc devoted entirely to house¬
hold employments. They keep the
same domestic animals that are kept
by their white neighbors, and cultivate
all the common grains of the country.
They arc probably as temperate as
any other class of people on the face
of the earth, honest in their business
intercourse, moral in their thoughts,
words, and deeds, and distinguished
THE STATE. DECEMBER 4. 1954
