THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Entered at tecond-cla»» matter. June I. 1933. at the PostolTlce at Raided. North
Carolina, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Vol. XII. No. 15 September 9, 1944
The Survival of
the Cherokee
Their's has boon a tragic story
iiitleod, but tlioy havo survived
unjust porsooutions of the past
and aro non rospootod oifi/.ons
of both the state and tho nation.
By CLIFTON KFCKWITII
SCATTERED throughout the
coves and along the valleys
of the Great Smokies, but
centering in what is known as
The Qualla Boundary in the
high border country of western
North Carolina, and clinging even
now to many of the old hunting
grounds and town sites which their
forefathers held for so many
generations before them, there
lives today a most remarkable
people.
These are the native Indians,
now known as The Eastern Band
of the Cherokee, the apparently
indestructible remnant of that once
powerful Cherokee Nation which,
at the time of its first contacts
with our white civilization, held
practically undisputed sway over
the entire Southern Appalachian
region, including the greater part
of the mountainous sections of the
present states of Virginia, West
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia and Alabama. This, of
course, was an enormous stretch
of country, blessed with almost
unlimited natural advantages, and
the Cherokee were then, according
to all accounts, a numerous, power¬
ful knd pr perou sj: . , Iready
far advanced beyond the nomad-
hunter stage so dear to the heart
of the historical fictionist. Ac¬
cording to all obtainable evidence,
at the time of the earliest English
settlements on our coasts, these.
the original mountaineers of the
South, numbering their settle¬
ments by the score and their war¬
riors by the thousands, were living
a well-organized, orderly com¬
munal life, with long-established
town sites and seats of tribal
government surrounded by exten¬
sive and well cultivated fields and
orchards, and depending only in
small part on the fickle fortunes
of the chase. Secure in their
native hill country, independent
and content with their lot, it was
early written of them that in strik¬
ing contrast to other roving tribes,
they were "brave and resolute in
the defence of their own" rather
than aggressive and predatory.
Until the white man came, they
were confident enough of their
own strength to be reasonably
tolerant of their weaker neighbors,
TIIE COVER PICTURE
Following the hounds at
Southern Pines. Moore
County. It's a popular sport
with residents and vacation¬
ists at this popular resort and,
needless to say, is greatly en¬
joyed.
Both Southern Pines and
Pinchurst are looking forward
to an exceptionally fine sea¬
son this fall and winter.
(Photo by John Hemmer.)
The Cherokee of today dress just
about the same as other people,
hut occasionally, for the benefit of
tourists, they don the costumes that
were worn a hundred years or
more ago.
and it was only when our own
relentless encroachment upon their
ancestral lands became intoler¬
able that their natural resentment
flamed into war against the forces
of a civilization which so clearly
threatened the destruction of all
that the Cherokee held dear.
This perhaps inevitable clash of
cultures was the beginning of the
long-drawn-out tragedy of the
Cherokee. The natural justice of
their cause was of no avail against
the westward surge of the land-
hungry Anglo-Saxon. The naked
courage of their young men could
not off-set the odds against which
they fought valiantly but in vain,
nor could the native wisdom of
their councillors prevail against the
studied guile of a more advanced
civilization. Defeated in battle
after battle, defrauded by treaty
after treaty, ravaged by the white
man's strange diseases, debauched
by his trade rum, beset by enemies
i