The Voice Of Freedom

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

REPORT

Of a visit to some of the Tribes of Indians, located west of the Mississippi River, by John D. Lang, and Samuel Taylor, Jun.

CHEROKEE INDIANS.

This large tribe is settled on lands lying west of the state of Arkansas and bordering on the Arkansas River and numbered about twenty thousand souls. It is thought they have diminished in numbers since their removal west. The history of this nation is generally known to the public therefore it may not be expected that we should be so particular in our account of them. We entered upon the northeast corner of their lands and travelled south to their council ground near Park Hill. Some of their lands bordering on the west line of Arkansas are hilly and well watered and timbered, but not well adapted to agriculture; in other parts it is level and fertile. The Cherokees live principally by farming. They raise neat cattle, horses and other domestic animals, and keep an abundance of poultry: Some of the nation are extensive farmers and planters. Cotton is grown in the southern part of the nation, where most if not all who are able to keep slaves to cultivate the land do the work in the houses &c. The manners and customs of this portion of their community do not differ materially from those of the white planters in the south and west: Their style of dress and mode of living are also very similar. A few of the Cherokees are large slave-holders. Their laws for the government of their slaves are similar to those in the slave states. The slaves frequently desert their masters and run away. Some cotton and woollen goods are manufactured by them for domestic use: We saw a number of good dwelling houses as we passed through their country, but most of them reside in small log cabins. They have more generally adopted the manners of the whites than any other tribe we met with. While passing along, we frequently saw white men who were married to Indian woman, and in some instances an Indian man was connected by marriage to a white woman. There is less similarity in the general appearance of the Cherokees than in that of any other tribe. They are divided into three distinct classes. First: those that are pretty well civilized and appear intelligent. Second; those who may be reckoned among the half civilized or apprentices in civilization. Third; those that have made but little improvement in their dress and manner; the last class is most numerous. They are cultivators of the soil, and have generally given up hunting, but are dissipated. The Cherokees have a number of missionaries and native preachers among them, and about two hundred profess the christian religion, and have joined themselves either to the Presbyterian, Baptist or Methodist societies. They have thirteen schools in the nation, where all the children attending them are taught in the English language. These schools are represented to be in a flourishing condition and in their general features are similar to our district schools in New England. Many of this tribe manifest an interest for the welfare of their children and the rising generation, and have recently made very considerable appropriations in order to extend more generally the benefits of education and civilization among them. They have a printing press in the nation where they have their laws and public documents printed both in English and the Cherokee language. We arrived at the council ground at a time when their National Council was in session. Their government is divided into three departments, viz. the Executive, Legislative and Judicial. They style the head of the executive department, principal chief. Their legislative department is divided into a committee and council. The Judiciary is composed of a Superior Court and Inferior or Circuit Court. John Ross is now and has been for many years the head chief of the nation. Their committee and council consists of fifteen members each elected by the people. All laws are enacted by the legislature and signed by the principal chief. Their Supreme Court is composed of five judges. At the head of this court is Jesse Bushyhead, an interesting and intelligent man, a half blood Indian and a Baptist preacher. We were introduced to all the members of the several departments of government, from whom we received many kind attentions; and had an opportunity of witnessing their manner of transacting business, which, although simple and plain, was very much to the point. The whole nation, or at least as many as wished to assemble, were one day while we were there, collected together, to hear the annual message of the principal chief and the report of the delegation that were sent to Washington the last winter to transact some business with the general government. The report embraced all their correspondence with the President and Secretary of War; and that and the message were drawn up with ability. We witnessed nothing like a spirit of hostility on the part of these Indians towards the government of the United States; and yet they have not forgotten the wrongs that have been practiced upon them by the whites. It affords them some relief when they can meet with persons who are willing to sympathize with them in the sad tale of their sufferings and miseries. By accounts from persons of unimpeachable veracity who were eye-witnesses of some of the horrid scenes which occurred before and at the time of their removal, we were led to think the half had never met the public eye. They treated us with kindness and much attention while we were in the nation and although they have not had much acquaintance with members of our own religious society until recently, yet they looked upon them as their friends and spake with grateful hearts of the benevolent and christian interposition of Friends in a great many instances on behalf of the red man. Much might be said respecting the advancement of this tribe in civilization &c., but we will conclude by saying that our hearts were made to feel deeply for them, and to put up our feeble petitions to the Father of all our sure mercies that he might yet smile upon this stripped and peeled people, and awaken them under a sense extended to them to a feeling of their own obligation to deal justly and show mercy and kindness to those poor descendants of the African race who are held in bondage among them. A band of the Seminole Indians, lately from Florida were temporarily settled upon the Cherokees' land, near the council ground, at the head of which were two chiefs by the names of Wildcat and Alligator, who were noted men in the late Florida war. We held two councils with these chiefs, at one of which came about twenty of their principal men. Wildcat and Alligator made many bitter complaints of the ill-treatment of the white men, both before and since their removal. We feared there might be an outbreak by Wildcat and his party in their present excited state. It was expected that the agents would soon remove them from the Cherokee country to lands provided for them by the general government, in the Creek nation; at which Wildcat and Alligator appeared much offended. We conversed with several of the agents and officers of the general government and desired them to consider their peculiar dispositions, and use all conciliatory means in their power in the removal of these unhappy beings. We also endeavored to persuade these Indians to live peaceably with their neighbors, and to break off from their old habits and become farmers, like the Cherokees and other Indians around them. They are much given to drunkenness, stealing, and other vices, and live like wild Indians. They formerly belonged to the Creek nation, and now speak the Creek language. Some of them hold slaves, who serve for interpreters and servants to them. We next visited the Creek nation. They are situated south of the Cherokees, on lands bordering on the Verdigris river, & number about 15,000 Indians & 3 or 4000 slaves. We had an interview with Benjamin Marshall, a very intelligent man, and one of the most wealthy and influential men in the nation. He informed us that every family in the Creek nation would raise produce enough the present season to supply their wants throughout the year. They are fast improving in agriculture and domestic manufactures, and in their manner of living. They expect soon to manufacture all the material for their own clothing. Many of them live in comfortable houses and dress like the white people; but others still wear the blanket and are as much given to dissipation. They have of late become anxious that their children should be educated, provided it could be done in their nation; but are generally averse to sending them abroad for this purpose. They have made application to our government for their school fund to be appropriated to education in their nation, instead of being spent at the Choctaw academy, as heretofore. They have at this time but one school and that is continued throughout the year. They have lately passed severe laws to prohibit the vending of ardent spirits among them, which took effect six months ago, and those who had been opposed to the law have seen the good effect of it and become satisfied. Many of the slaves and Indians appear sober and religious. Some of the slaves are approved preachers and hold meetings regularly on first-days. We attended one of these meetings which was conducted in a moderate and becoming manner. It was composed of Indians, slaves and their masters; their minister was an uneducated slave. All seemed interested in the meeting, and several much affected even to tears. A slaveholder told us he was willing his slaves should go to these meetings, for it made them better men and women. The Creeks have long been slave holders, and appear insensible on the subject of this great evil. Their laws respecting their slaves and the government of their tribe, are similar to those of the Cherokees and Choctaws. Their country is good for agriculture, well watered and timbered, and we believe this nation would soon become a prosperous and flourishing people, were it not for the injustice and destructive influence of slavery within and around their borders. A few days previous to our arriving there, about two hundred slaves ran away from their masters. They belonged in the Creek and Cherokee nations. This caused much excitement, and a posse was sent after them from both nations. Both Church and State seemed aroused on account of these desertions, and ready to make every possible effort to recover them at all hazards, and in future to enact more rigid laws for the government of their slaves, and for binding their chains more strongly upon them.