BDLL. 30] 



CHEROKEE 



247 



When the main body of the tribe was 

 removed to the W., several hundred fugi- 

 tives escaped to the mountains, where 

 they hved as refugees for a time, until, in 

 1842, through the efforts of Wm. H. 

 Thomas, an influential trader, they re- 

 ceived permission to remain on lands set 

 apart for their use in w. North Carolina. 

 They constitute the present eastern band 

 of Cherokee, residing chiefly on the 

 Qualla res. in Swain and Jackson cos., 

 with several outlying settlements. 



The Cherokee in the Cherokee Nation 

 were for years divided into two hostile 

 factions, those who had favored and 

 those who had opposed the treaty of re- 

 moval. Hardly had these differences 

 been adjusted when the civil war burst 

 upon them. Being slave owners and sur- 

 rounded by southern influences, a large 

 part of each of the Five Civilized Tribes 

 of the territory enlisted in the service of 

 the Confederacy, while others adhered to 

 the National Government. The territory 

 of the Cherokee was overrun in turn by 

 both armies, and the close of the war 

 found them prostrated. By treaty in 

 1866 they were readmitted to the protec- 

 tion of the United States, but obliged to 

 liberate their negro slaves and admit 

 them to equal citizenship. In 1867 and 

 1870 the Delawares and Shawnee, re- 

 spectively, numbering together about 

 1,750, were admitted from Kansas and 

 incorporated with the Nation. In 1889 

 the Cherokee Commission (see Commis- 

 sion) was created for the purpose of 

 abolishing the tribal governments and 

 opening the territories to white settle- 

 ment, with the result that after 15 years 

 of negotiation an agreement was made 

 by which the government of the Cher- 

 okee Nation came to a flnal end ^lar. 

 3, 1906; the Indian lands were divided, 

 and the Cherokee Indians, native and 

 adopted, became citizens of the United 

 States. 



The Cherokee have 7 clans, viz: Ani'- 

 wa^'ya (Wolf), Ani^-KawF (Deer), Ani^- 

 Tsi^skwa (Bird), Ani^-waMi (Paint), 

 Ani^-SahtVni, Ani^-Ga^tag^wl, Ani'-Gi- 

 la^hi. The names of the last 3 can not he 

 translated with certainty. There is evi- 

 dence that there were anciently 14, which 

 by extinction or absorption have been 

 reduced to their present number. The 

 Wolf clan is the largest and most im- 

 portant. The "seven clans" are fre- 

 quently mentioned in the ritual prayers 

 and even in the printed laws of the tribe. 

 They seem to have had a connection with 

 the ' ' seven mother towns ' ' of the Chero- 

 kee, described by Cuming in 1730 as 

 having each a chief, whose office was 

 hereditary in the female line. 



The Cherokee are probably about as 

 numerous now as at any period in their 



history. With the exception of an esti- 

 mate in 1730, which placed them at about 

 20,000, most of those up to a recent 

 period gave them 12,000 or 14,000, and in 

 1758 they were computed at only 7,500. 

 The majority of the earlier estimates are 

 probably too low, as the Cherokee occu- 

 pied so extensive a territory that only a 

 part of them came in contact with the 

 whites. In 1708 Gov. Johnson estimated 

 them at 60 villages and "at least 500 

 men" (Rivers, So. Car., 238, 1856). In 

 1715 they were officiallv reported to num- 

 ber 11,210 (Upper, 2,760; Middle, 6,350; 

 Lower, 2,100), including 4,000 warriors, 

 and living in 60 villages (Upper, 19; 

 Middle, 30; Lower, 11). In 1720 they 

 were estimated to have been reduced to 

 about 10,000, and again in the same year 

 reported at about 11,500, including about 

 3,800 warriors (Gov. Johnson's Rep. in 

 Rivers, op. cit., 93, 94, 103, 1874). In 

 1729 they were estimated at 20,000, with 

 at least 6,000 warriors and 64 towns and 

 villages (Stevens, Hist. Ga., i, 48, 1847). 

 They are said to have lost 1,000 warriors 

 in 1739 from smallpox and rum, and they 

 suffered a steady decrease during their 

 wars with the whites, extending from 

 1760 until after the close of the Revolu- 

 tion. Those in their original homes had 

 again increased to 16,542 at the time of 

 their forced removal to the W. in 1838, 

 but lost nearly one-fourth on the journey, 

 311 perishing in a steamboat accident on 

 the Mississippi. Those already in the 

 W., before the removal, were estimated 

 at about 6,000. The civil war in 1861-65 

 again checked their i:)rogress, but they 

 recovered from its effects in a remark- 

 ably short time, and in 1885 numbered 

 about 19,000, of whom about 17,000 were 

 in Indian Ter,, together with about 6,000 

 adopted whites, negroes, Delawares, and 

 Shawnee, while the remaining 2,000 were 

 still in their ancient homes in the E. Of 

 this eastern band, 1,376 were on Qualla 

 res., in Swain and Jackson cos., N. C; 

 about 300 are on Cheowah r., in Graham 

 CO., N. C, while the remainder, all of 

 mixed blood, are scattered over e. Ten- 

 nessee, N. Georgia, and Alabama. The 

 eastern band lost about 300 by smallpox 

 at the close of the civil war. In 1902 

 there were officially reported 28,016 per- 

 sons of Cherokee blood, including all 

 degrees of admixture, in the Cherokee 

 Nation in the Territory, but this includes 

 several thousand individuals formerly re- 

 pudiated by the tribal courts. There 

 were also living in the nation about 3,000 

 adopted negro freed men, more than 2,000 

 adopted whites, and about 1,700 adopted 

 Delaware, Shawnee, and other Indians. 

 The tribe has a larger proportion of white 

 admixture than any other of the Five Civ- 

 ilized Tribes. See Mooney, Myths of 



