MooxEY) GEORGIA LEGKNDS 415 



squui'i' iiu-losure or "'t'ort" of uiulri's-icd stone. Acfording to n tradi- 

 tion given to Wafford, the Cherokee onee prepared an ambush here 

 for a h()stil(> war party which tiiey w(>ri' expecting to come up the 

 river, but were themselves defeated hy tiie enemy, who made a detoui 

 around the Black mountain and came in upon their rear. 



Tenne.sske: The ("herokeo form is 'ranasi'. and was applied to scv 

 eral localities within the old territory of the trihe. The most impor- 

 ttmt town of this name was on the south bank of Little Tennessee river, 

 halfway ])etween Citico and Toco creeks, in ^Monroe county, 'J ennes- 

 see. Another was on the south side of Hiwassee. just above the junction 

 of Ocoee, in Polk county, Tennessee. A third district of the same 

 name was on Tennessee creek, the extreme easterly head of Tucka- 

 segee river, in Jackson county. North Carolina. The meaning of the 

 name is lost. It was not the Indian name of the river, and does not 

 mean *'Big spoon," as has been incorrectly asserted. 



125. LOCAL LEGENDS OF GEORGIA 



For more important legends localized in Georgia see the stories 

 Yahula. The Nunnehi, The Ustii'tli, Agan-uni'tsi's Search for the 

 Uktena, and The ]\Ian who Married the Tluuiders Sister. White's 

 Historical Collections of Georgia is responsible for a number of 

 pseudo-myths. 



Chopped oak: A noted tree, scarred with hundreds of hatchet marks, 

 formerly in Habersham county, (i miles east of Clarkesville, on the 

 .summit of Chattahoochee ridge, and on the north side of the road from 

 Clarkesville to Toccoa creek. The Cherokee name is Digalu'yatuii'yi, 

 " Where it is gashed with hatchets." It was a favorite assembly place 

 for the Indians, as well as for the early settlers, according to whom 

 the gashes were tally marks by means of which the Indians kept the 

 record of scalps taken in their foray's. The tradition is thus given by 

 White (Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 4:89, 1855) on some earlier 

 authority: 



Among the curiosities of this country was the Chopped Oak, a tree famous in 

 Indian liistory and in tlie traditions of the early settlers. This tree stood about 6 

 miles southeast of Clarkesville, and was noted as being the Law Ground, or place of 

 holding company musters and magistrates' courts. According to tradition, the 

 Chopped Oak was a celebrated rendezvous of the Indians in their predatory excur- 

 .sions, it being at a point where a number of trails met. Here their plans of war- 

 fare were laiil; here the several parties separated; and here, on their return, they 

 awaited each other; and then, in their brief language, the result of their enterprise 

 was stated, and for every scalj) taken a gash cut in the tree. If tradition tells the 

 truth, and every scar on the blasted oak counts for a scalp, the success of their scout- 

 ing ]iarties must have been great. This tree was alive a few years since when a young 

 man, possessing all the jirejudices of his countrymen, ami caring le.ss for the traditions 

 of the Indians than his own revenge, killed the tree by girdling it, that it might be no 

 longer a living monument of the cruelties of the savages. The stump is still standing. 



