220 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.a.sn.]9 



t<) every scheme looking to'tlie cnrtailnient or destruetion of Cherokee national self- 

 government. 



The following aeeonnt of the si_>eiety was w ritten shortly after the elose of the civil 

 war: 



"Those Cherokees who were loyal to the I'nion comljined in a secret organization 

 for self-protection, assnming the designation of the Ketoowha society, which name 

 was soon merge<l in that of "Pins." The Pins were so styled because of a i)eculiar 

 manner they adopted of wearing a pin. The symbol was discovered by their ene- 

 mies, who applied the term in derision; bnt it was accepted by this loyal league, and 

 has almost superseded the designation which its members first assumed. The Pin 

 organization originated among the members of the Baptist congregation at Peavine, 

 Going-snake district, in the Cherokee nation. In a short time the society counted 

 nearly three thousand members, and had commenced proselytizing the Creeks, 

 W'hen the rebellion, against which it was arming, preventing its further extension, 

 the por)r Creeks having been driven into Kansas by the rebels of the Golden Circle. 

 During the war the Pins rendered services to the Union cause in many bloody 

 encounters, as lias been acknowledged by our generals. It was distinctly an anti- 

 slavery organization. The slave-holding Cherokees, who constituted the wealthy 

 and more intelligent class, naturally allied themselves with the South, while loyal 

 Cherokees became more and more opposed to slavery. This was shown very clearly 

 when the loyalists first met in convention, in February, 186.3. They not only abol- 

 ished slavery unconditionally and forever, before any slave state made a movement 

 toward emancipation, but made any attempts at ensla\ing a grave misdemeanor. 



The secret signs of the Pins were a peculiar way of touching the hat as a salutation, 

 particularly when they were too far apart for recognition in other ways. They ha<l 

 a peculiar mode of taking hold of the lapel of the coat, first drawing it away from 

 the body, and then giving it a motion as though wrapping it around the heart. 

 During the war a portion of them were forced into the rebellion, but quickly rebelled 

 against General Cooper, who was placed over them, and when they fought against 

 that general, at Bird Creek, they wore a bit of corn-husk, split into strips, tied in 

 their hair. In the night when two Pins met, and one asked the other, 'Who are 

 you?' the reply or pass was, 'Tahlequah — who are you?' The resjionse was, 'I 

 am Ketoowha's son.' " — Dr D. J. MacGowan, Indian .Secret Societies, in Historical 

 Magazine, x, -1866. 



(48) F.VREWELL .VDDRESS OF Llovi) "Welch (p. 1 7.T ) : In thesad and eventful history 

 of the Cherokee their gifted leaders, frequently of white ancestry, have oftentimes 

 spoken to the world with eloquent words of appeal, of protest, or of acknowledgment, 

 but never more eloquently than in the last farewell of Chief Lloyd Welch to the 

 eastern band, as he felt the end draw near (leaflet, MacGowan, Chattanooga [n. d., 

 ISHO]); 



" To the Chairtiian and Council (ifllie Eastern Band of Cherokee.':: 



"My Brothers: It Ijecomes my imperative duty to bid you an affectionate farewell, 

 and resign into your hands the trust you so generously confided to my keeping, prin- 

 cipal chief of the Eastern Band. It is with great solicitude and anxiety for your 

 welfare that I am constrained to take this course. But the inexorable laws of 

 nature, and the rapi<I decline of my health, admonish me that soon, very soon, I 

 will have passed from earth, my body consigne<l to the tomb, my spirit to God who 

 gave it, in that happy home in the beyond, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, 

 no jjain, no death, but one eternal joy and hajJiiiness forever more. 



"The only regret that I feel for thus being so soon called from among you, at the 

 meridian of manhood, when hope is sweet, is the great anxiety I have to serve and 

 benefit my race. For this I have studied and labored for the past ten years of my 

 life, to secure to my lirothers equal justice from their brothers of the west and the 

 United States, and that vmi would no longer lie hewers of wood and drawers of 



