Traditional Military Leadership Home

Prior to the 18th century, Cherokee political leadership, much like that of neighboring Muscogee and Natchez tribes, was dual: white or peace leaders, and red or war leaders. In times of conflict, the red war chief would organize young men into war parties. The primary war chief was assisted by a deputy chief, a speaker, and messengers. Decisions were made by a war council composed of delegates from each of the seven Cherokee clans please see http://www.cherokee-nc.com/index.php?page=61

War women, including the Beloved Woman or Ghigau, could participate in the council or accompany war parties. Mothers of the Roundhouse (7 clans) Scouts and medicine menwould round out the organization.^[1]

CHEROKEE WEAPONS

Arrowheads were made from various kinds of stone, but, flint was considered the best. Not only because it was so hard, but also because the “grain” in flint is easier to chip than most other hard rocks. The favorite tool for chipping arrowheads into shape was the deer antler. A piece of rock was first broken into smaller pieces by using a hammer stone, then the most likely pieces shaped into arrowheads by chipping away with a smaller hammer stone and with deer antlers.

Spear points were made similar to arrowheads, only larger in size and somewhat different in shape. Some spears were made of hard wood and the wooden point sharpened and hardened in a fire.

Stone weapons, tomahawks and battle hammers were made from rocks of the right shape by sharpening one edge and grinding a groove around the stone using other harder stones. The groove was made so that the stone could be bound to a handle with rawhide. Other hammers and axe-type weapons also were used – sometimes a wood “burl” or knot in a root or branch with a convenient handle made a good battle axe.

Cherokees also used blowguns, generally for small game, but occasionally for warfare. Blowguns were from three to eight or nine feet long, with darts made of hard woods with the “fluff” or the rear end of the dart made from thistledown to center the dart in the blowgun. This would form a seal so that wind pressure (from blowing) behind the dart would send it through the barrel at a great speed. These were very accurate at short distances. In war time, if darts were used, they were generally poisoned, sometimes by getting a poisonous snake into a piece of spoiled meat and dipping the darts into to the poisoned meat. Certain plant juices were also used for poisons.

CHEROKEE WARFARE

The Chickamauga, however, were at war with the Americans and formed an alliance with the Shawnee. Both tribes had the support of British Indian agents who were still living among them (often with native wives) and arranging trade. During 1775 the British began to supply large amounts of guns and ammunition and offer bounties for American scalps. In July, 1776, 700 Chickamauga attacked two American forts in North Carolina: Eaton's Station and Ft. Watauga. Both assaults failed, but the raids set off a series of attacks by other Cherokee and the Upper Creek on frontier settlements in Tennessee and Alabama.

Through all of this, the Chickamauga fought on but were forced to retreat slowly northward, until by 1790 they had joined forces with the Shawnee in Ohio. After the initial Indian victories of Little Turtle's War (1790-94), most of the Ohio Chickamauga returned south and settled near the Tennessee River in central Tennessee and northern Alabama. From here, they had the unofficial encouragement of the Spanish governments of Florida and Louisiana and began to attack nearby American settlements. One of these incidents almost killed a young Nashville attorney/land speculator named Andrew Jackson, which may explain his later attitude regarding the Cherokee. Even though the Cherokee saved his life at one point.

Dragging Canoe died in 1792, but a new round of violence exploded that year with the American settlements in central Tennessee and northern Alabama. After two years of fighting with Tennessee militia, support from other Cherokee declined, and the Chickamauga's resolve began to weaken. Following the American victory at Fallen Timbers (1794), the last groups of the Ohio Chickamauga returned to Tennessee. Meanwhile, the Spanish government had decided to settle its border disputes with the United States by diplomatic means and ended its covert aid to the Cherokee. After a final battle near Muscle Shoals in Alabama, the Chickamauga realized it was impossible to stop the Americans by themselves. By 1794 large groups of Chickamauga had started to cross the Mississippi and settle with the Western Cherokee in Spanish Arkansas. The migration was complete by 1799, and open warfare between the Cherokee and Americans ended.

Meanwhile, the Cherokee homeland in the east was rapidly being whittled away by American settlement reflected by a series of treaties: Hopewell 1785; Holston 1791; Philadelphia 1794; Tellico 1798, 1804, 1805, and 1806. The final cession of ten million acres in 1806 by Doublehead (Chuquilatague) outraged many of the Cherokee and resulted in his assassination as a traitor by the faction led by Major Ridge (Kahnungdatlageh -"the man who walks the mountain top"). A new, mixed-blood leadership of Ridge and John Ross (Guwisguwi - blue eyes and 1/8 Cherokee) seized control determined not to yield any more of the Cherokee homeland while introducing major cultural changes. With a unity made possible by the departure of the more traditional Cherokee to Arkansas, in less than 30 years the Cherokee underwent the most remarkable adaptation to white culture of any Native American people. By 1817 the clan system of government had been replaced by an elected tribal council. A new capital was established at New Echota in 1825, and a written constitution modeled after that of the United States was added two years later.

The Cherokee government afterwards became even more determined not to surrender any more land, but things were moving against them. In 1802 Cherokee land had been promised by the federal government to the state of Georgia which afterwards refused to recognize either the Cherokee Nation or its land claims. By 1822 Georgia was pressing Congress to end Cherokee title within its boundaries. $30,000 was eventually appropriated as payment but refused. Then bribery was attempted but exposed, and the Cherokee responded with a law prescribing death for anyone selling land to whites without permission.

With the election of Jackson as president in 1828, the Cherokee were in serious trouble. Gold was discovered that year on Cherokee land in northern Georgia, and miners swarmed in. Indian removal to west of the Mississippi had been suggested as early as 1802 by Thomas Jefferson and recommended by James Monroe in his final address to Congress in 1825. With Jackson's full support, the Indian Removal Act was introduced in Congress in 1829. There it met serious opposition from Senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay who were able to delay passage until 1830. Meanwhile, Jackson refused to enforce the treaties which protected the Cherokee homeland from encroachment. During the two years following his election, Georgia unilaterally extended its laws to Cherokee territory, dividing up Cherokee lands by lottery, and stripping the Cherokee of legal protection. Georgia citizens were free to kill, burn, and steal. With the only alternative a war which would result in annihilation, John Ross decided to fight for his people's rights in the United States courts.