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The name the Cherokees used was Tsalagi, or Tsalragi
"Cherokee" appears in English print for the first time in 1708
As a people the Cherokees were the most enlightened and civilized of all the North American tribes. They were well featured, straight and tall. Their complexion, somewhat lighter than the men of neighboring tribes; while some of their young women were nearly as fair and blooming as European maidens. They had small hands and feet.
Their disposition and manners were grave and steady; their deportment, dignified and circumspect.
In conversation they were rather slow and reserved, yet frank and cheerful; in council, secret, deliberate, and determined.
They wore robes of buffalo skin in winter and of buckskin and feathers in summer. They were attached to their homes with a strength of passion possible only to a people who loved and appreciated beauty of nature, and who possessed a certain culture and refinement. Like all true mountaineers, they stood ready to sacrifice every pleasure and gratification, even life itself, to the defense of their homes and hunting grounds.
In their own language they were the Yun-wi-yah, the "Principal People."
It is easily believed that a people, so calling themselves, would yield only to greater numbers and after bitter defeat.
They were very religious, believing in God, the Great Spirit, beneficent, supreme—residing above the clouds—sole author of warmth, light and all animal and vegetable life. They believed in a future life, the "Happy Hunting Ground," or Indian Heaven, and in a place where those who failed to reach the Happy Hunting Ground, by reason of evil and vice, were condemned to perform the most menial labor.
As they had a passionate attachment for the beautiful land which they inhabited, the Cherokees likewise loved their homes
A mistaken idea has prevailed that the Indian women were drudges, little better than slaves to the men. The contrary is true. The Indian families were usually small, including only one or two children. There was little household work to do. The women tended the crops and the cooking and such household duties as were necessary, but this was considered an honorable division of labor. The warrior had the important work of defending the home and providing for it.
Warfare among the Indians was almost constant, and the man was a warrior. The wife would have considered herself degraded if she had permitted her husband to be distracted by household tasks.
All the women were highly respected and they had a voice in the daily council of the village. They aided in the election of the war chief, on the theory that as he was responsible for the defense of themselves and their homes, they should share the privilege of choosing him.
The Cherokee women thus enjoyed a species of suffrage a hundred of years before it was granted to the women of a more advanced civilization.
The "Beloved Woman" occupied a remarkable place among the Cherokees. Her word was final and her voice was considered that of the Great Spirit speaking through her.
The family line was counted through the mother. She had exclusive control of the children, who were well treated. They were taught by precept and example and were never whipped.
A woman once ruled the Cherokees of North Georgia. She was the Cacica of Cafachiqui, and was taken prisoner by De Soto after she had treated him most courteously. The Indians, even while she was a captive, paid her every honor and respect. In reading her story one has a distinct sense of pleasure that she was able to escape and elude the treacherous Spaniards and re-turn to her town of Talmico, the City of the Cacica.
The Cherokees living simple lives in villages, always situated along sparkling streams, and bathing frequently, the bath being a daily rite.
In 1735 they had sixty-four villages, each village having its council house and its surrounding fields of maize or corn, beans, pumpkins, and squash, the common property of all.
Each village had its head or chief. He and certain distinguished warriors were responsible for all affairs. They also represented the village in the general council of the nation.
A principal chief was chosen to rule the nation. Tribal unity was maintained by laws and regulations, by which all members of the tribe were bound.
History
of Hamilton County
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