CHEROKEE INDIANS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

THE CHEROKEE WERE A POWERFUL, DETACHED TRIBE OF THE IROQUOIS FAMILY WHO LIVED IN THE MOUNTAIN REGION OF SOUTH ALLEGHENIES IN VIRGINIA, NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, TENNESSEE, AND ALABAMA. THEIR TRIBAL NAME IS TSALAGI, OR CAVE PEOPLE. THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE REAL PEOPLE, OR PEOPLE OF KITUHWA, THEIR MOST IMPORTANT ANCIENT VILLAGE. THEIR LANGUAGE HAS THREE DIALECTS. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE SHOWS THEY ORIGINATED IN THE NORTH BUT BY 1540 THEY MOVED INTO ALLEGHENY REGION. THEIR RELATION WITH THE COLONISTS BEGAN IN THE 1700'S. IN 1736 PRIBER BUILT A MISSION. HE WANTED THEM ORGANIZED ON A CIVILIZED BASIS. THERE WERE ABOUT 22,000 IN 1759 THEY BEGAN A WAR AGAINST THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA. THEY CAPTURED FORT LOUNDON, A POST IN THE HEART OF THEIR COUNTRY. THE NEXT YEAR THE INDIANS WERE DEFEATED BY A LARGER FORCE UNDER JAMES GRANT. THEY COMPELLED THE TRIBE TO MAKE PEACE. IN 1769 THEY A SEVERE DEFEAT BY THE CHICKASAWS. AFTER THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION THEY SIDED WITH THE BRITISH AND FORMED A NEW VILLAGE NEAR TENNESSEE AND ALABAMA BOUNDARIES.

AFTER 1800 THEY ADOPTED A FORM OF GOVERNMENT MODELED ON THE U.S. A LARGE GROUP MOVED TO ARKANSAS.

IN 1821 SEQUOYA, SUBMITTED A SYLLABARY OF WORDS, AND WITHIN A FEW MONTHS WERE ABLE TO READ AND WRITE. THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD NEAR DAHLONEGA, GEORGIA BROUGHT MORE COLONISTS. AFTER A COUPLE OF YEARS OF FRUITLESS STRUGGLE THEY FORMED A TREATY. THE CHEROKEE HAD TO SELL ALL OF THEIR TERRITORIES NOT PREVIOUSLY GIVEN UP AND AGREED TO BE REMOVED TO THE WEST SIDE OF MISSISSIPPI TO LANDS FOR THEM. BEFORE THIS MIGRATION TOOK PLACE SOME WENT TO LIVE IN TEXAS, AND THEY GOT A LAND GRANT FROM THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. BUT TEXAS REVOLUTIONISTS KILLED THEIR CHIEF AND MANY MEN - THEY WERE EXPELLED FROM TEXAS. BY 1906 THEIR GOVERNMENT CAME TO AN END AND THEY BECAME CITIZENS OF OKLAHOMA.

THIS TRIBE IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS OF ALL NATIVE AMERICANS. THEY WERE THE ONLY TRIBE TO HAVE A WRITTEN LANGUAGE. THERE ARE MANY PLACE NAMES FROM CHEROKEE SOURCES.

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