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Show 2 1 2 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ ETH. AXN. 19 Country,*' written in 1799 and published by the Historical Society of Georgia in 1848, remains a standard. His journal and other manuscripts are in possession of the same society, while a manuscript Cherokee vocabulary is in possession of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Authorities: Hawkins's manuscripts, with Georgia Historical Society; Indian Treaties, 1837; American State Papers: Indian Affairs, i, 1832; n , 1834; Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; Appleton, Cyclopaedia of American Biography. ( 27) GOVERNOR WILLIAM BLOUNT ( p. 68): William Blount, territorial governor of Tennessee, was born in North Carolina in 1744 and died at Knoxvilie, Tennessee, in 1800. He held several important offices in his native state, including two terms in the assembly and two others as delegate to the old congress, in which latter capacity he was one of the signers of the Federal constitution in 1787. On the organization of a territorial government for Tennessee in 1790, he was appointed territorial governor and also superintendent for the southern tribes, fixing his headquarters at Knoxville. In 1791 he negotiated an important treaty with the Cherokee, and had much to do with directing the operations against the Indians until the close of the Indian war. He was president of the convention which organized the state of Tennessee in 1796, and was elected to the national senate, but was expelled on the charge of having entered into a treasonable conspiracy to assist the British in conquering Louisiana from Spain. A United States officer was sent to arrest him, but returned without executing his mission on being warned by Blount's friends that they would not allow him to be taken from the state. The impeachment proceedings against him were afterward dismissed on technical grounds. In the meantime the people of his own state had shown their confidence in him by electing him to the state senate, of which he was chosen president. He died at the early age of fifty-three, the most popular man in the state next to Sevier. His younger brother, Willie Blount, who had been his secretary, was afterward governor of Tennessee, 1809- 1815. ( 28) ST CLAIR'S DEFEAT, 1791 ( p. 72): Early in 1791 Major- General Arthur St Clair, a veteran officer in two wars and governor of the Northwestern Territory, was appointed to the chief command of the army operating against the Ohio tribes. On November 4 of that year, while advancing upon the Miami villages with an army of 1,400 men, he was surprised by an Indian force of about the same number under Little- turtle, the Miami chief, in what is now southwestern Mercer county, Ohio, adjoining the Indiana line. Because of the cowardly conduct of the militia he was totally defeated, with the loss of 632 officers and men killed and missing, and 263 wounded, many of whom afterward died. The artillery was abandoned, not a horse being left alive to draw it off, and so great was the panic that the men threw away their arms and fled for miles, even after the pursuit had ceased. It was afterward learned that the Indians lost 150 killed, besides many wounded. Two years later General Wayne built Fort Recovery upon the same spot The detachment sent to do the work found within a space of 350 yards 500 skulls, while for several miles along the line of pursuit the woods were strewn with skeletons and muskets. The two cannon lost were found in the adjacent stream. Authorities: St Clair's report and related documents, 1791; American State Papers, Indian Affairs, i, 1832; Drake, Indians 570, 571, 1880; Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. ( 29) CHEROKEE CLANS, ( p. 74): The Cherokee have seven clans, viz: Ani'- Wa'Va, Wolf; Ani'- Kawl', Deer; Ani'- Tsi'skwa, Bird; Ani'- Wa'dt, Paint; Ani'- Saha'nl; Ani'- Ga'tage'wl; Ani'- Gila'ht. The names of the last three can not be translated with certainty. The Wolf clan is the largest and most important in the tribe. It is probable that, in accordance with the general system in other tribes, each clan had formerly certain hereditary duties and privileges, but no trace of these now remains. Children belong to the clan of the mother, and the law forbidding marriage between persons of the same clan is still enforced among the conservative |