37 8 The Winning of the West 



The mutual outrages continued throughout the 

 summer, and in September they came to a head. The 

 great majority of the Otari of the Overhill towns 

 were still desirous of peace, and after a council of 

 their head-men the chief Old Tassel, of the town of 

 Chota, sent on their behalf a strong appeal to the 

 Governors of both Virginia and North Carolina. 

 The document is written with such dignity, and yet 

 in a tone of such curious pathos, that it is worth giv- 

 ing in full, as putting in strongest possible form the 

 Indian side of the case, and as a sample of the best 

 of these Indian "talks." 



"A talk to Colonel Joseph Martin, by the Old Tas- 

 sell, in Chota, the 25th of September, 1782, in favor 

 of the whole nation. For His Excellency, the Gov- 

 ernor of North Carolina. Present, all the chiefs of 

 the friendly towns and a number of young men. 



"Brother : I am now going to speak to you. I 

 hope you will listen to me. A string. I intended 

 to come this fall and see you, but there was such 

 confusion in our country, I thought it best for me 

 to stay at home and send my Talks by our friend 

 Colonel Martin, who promised to deliver them safe 

 to you. We are a poor distressed people, that is in 

 great trouble, and we hope our elder brother will 

 take pity on us and do us justice. Your people 

 from Nolichucky are daily pushing us out of our 

 lands. We have no place to hunt on. Your peo- 

 ple have built houses within one day's walk of our 

 towns. We don't want to quarrel with our elder 



