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JUNALUSKA

BYRD PRINTING CO. ATLANTA

Almost nothing had been written of Cherokee history until 1897- '98, and many details and inci- dents in the life of Junaluska are not recorded. A full account of the battle of Horseshoe Bend and many causes of the removal to the West are given because of the important part they play in his life. I acknowledge my in- debtedness to Mr. James Mooney, United States Ethnologist, and to others who have written short appreciations of Lake Junaluska.

Maude McCulloch, Waynesville, N. C.

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S a rule Indian children are unnamed until several months old, and then are generally named by one of the grandparents. Some names are de- rived from some circumstance of birth, others from a dream, and many— particularly among the Cher- okee— are hereditary. Any of these may be changed repeatedly in after life.

In early life Junaluska was known as GiiY- kala'ski. The name refers to something habitu- ally falling from a leaning position. He was born about the year 1758, and no one knows why this name was given him.

The Creeks were hereditary enemies of the Cherokee. On the outbreak of the Creek war in 1813, Gul'kala'ski raised a party of warriors to go down, as he boasted, "to exterminate the

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Creeks." John Preston Arthur, in his "His- tory of Western North Carolina," states that, 1 'at first, he failed to keep his promise." Not meeting with success, he announced the result, according to the Cherokee custom, at the next dance after his return in a single word, detsinu'- lahufigu', "I tried, but could not," given out as a cue to the song leader, who at once took it as the burden of his song. Thenceforth Gul'kala'- ski was known as Tsunu'lahufi'ski, "One who tries, but fails. " Tsunu'lahufr\ski was cor- rupted by the whites to Junaluska.

Tsunu'lahufi'ski distinguished himself as a great warrior at the battle of Horseshoe Bend, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, where the Creeks were reported to have collected in great force. At this place, known to the Creeks as Tohopki or Tohopeka, the Tallapoosa river made a bend so as to inclose some eighty or one hundred acres in a narrow peninsula opening to the north. On the lower side was an island in the river. Across the neck of the peninsula the Creeks had built a strong breastwork of logs, behind which were their houses, and behind these were a number of canoes moored to the bank for use if retreat became necessary. The fort was defended by a thousand warriors, with whom were also about three hundred women

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and children. General Andrew Jackson's force numbered about two thousand men, including, according to his own statement, five hundred Cherokee. He had two small cannon. The mas- sacre occurred on the morning of March 27, 1814.

General Jackson detailed General Coffee, with the mounted men and nearly the whole of the Indian force, to cross the river at a ford about three miles below and surround the bend in such manner that none could escape in that direction. Jackson, with the rest of his force, advanced to the front of the breastwork and planted his cannon upon a slight rise within eighty yards of the fortification. He then di- rected a heavy cannonade upon the center of the breastwork, while the rifles and muskets kept up a galling fire upon the defenders when- ever they showed themselves behind the logs. The breastwork was very strongly and com- pactly built, from five to eight feet high, with a double row of portholes, and so planned that no enemy could approach without being exposed to a crossfire from those on the inside. After about two hours of cannonading and rifle fire to no great purpose, a company of spies and a party of the Cherokee force crossed over to the peninsula in canoes and set fire to a few of their

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buildings there situated. They then advanced with great gallantry toward the breastwork and commenced firing upon the enemy. Find- ing that this force, notwithstanding the deter- mination they displayed, was wholly insufficient to dislodge the enemy, Jackson determined to take possession of their works by storm.

Coffee had taken seven hundred mounted troops and about six hundred Indians, of whom five hundred were Cherokee and the rest friendly Creeks, and had come in behind, hav- ing directed the Indians to take position se- cretly along the bank of the river to prevent the enemy from crossing.

According to the official report of Colonel Gideon Morgan, who commanded the Cherokee, and who was himself severely wounded, the Cherokee took the places assigned them along the bank in such regular order that no part was left unoccupied, and the few fugitives who attempted to escape from the fort by water "fell an easy prey to their vengeance." Finally, seeing that the cannonade had no more effect upon the breastwork than to bore holes in the logs, some of the Cherokee plunged into the river, and swimming over to the town brought back a number of canoes. A part crossed in these, under cover of the guns of their compan-

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ions, and sheltered themselves under the bank while the canoes were sent back for reenforce- ments. In this way they all crossed over and then advanced up the bank, where at once they were warmly assailed from every side except the rear, which they kept open only by hard fighting.

The Creeks had been fighting the Americans in their front at such close quarters that their bullets flattened upon the bayonets thrust through the portholes. This attack from the rear by five hundred Cherokee diverted their attention and gave opportunity to the Tennes- seeans, Sam Houston among them, cheering them on, to swarm over the breastwork. With death from the bullet, the bayonet and the hatchet all around them, and the smoke of their blazing homes in their eyes, not a Creek war- rior begged for his life. When more than half their number lay dead upon the ground, the rest turned and plunged into the river, only to find the banks on the opposite side lined with enemies and escape cut off in every direction. Very few ever reached the bank, and that few were killed the instant they landed. From two hundred and fifty to three hundred of the enemy were buried under water and were not numbered with the dead that were

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found. Some swam for the island below the bend, but here too a detachment had been posted and "not one ever landed."

Jackson says: "The enemy, although many of them fought to the last with that kind of bravery which desperation inspires, were at last entirely routed and cut to pieces. The bat- tle may be said to have continued with severity for about five hours, but the firing and slaugh- ter continued until it was suspended by the darkness of night. The next morning it was resumed and sixteen of the enemy slain who had concealed themselves under the banks."

About three hundred prisoners were taken, of whom only three were men. Jackson states that not more than twenty Creeks could have escaped. The defenders of the Horseshoe had been exterminated.

On the other side the loss was twenty-six Americans killed and one hundred and seven wounded, eighteen Cherokee killed and thirty- six wounded, five friendly Creeks killed and eleven wounded. It will be noted that the loss to the Cherokee was out of all proportion to their numbers, their fighting having been hand to hand work without protecting cover. In view of the fact that only a few weeks before Jackson had been compelled to retreat before the

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Creeks, and that two hours of artillery and rifle fire had produced no result until the Cherokee turned the rear of the enemy by their daring- passage of the river, there is truth in the claim of Junaluska that they saved the day for Jack- son, and thus there was fulfilled in a measure the boast of Junaluska that he would ' ' exterminate the Creeks," because he rendered such val- uable assistance to Jackson in breaking the chief arm of that intrepid nation in the battle of Horseshoe Bend. In view of that achieve- ment his name now signifies ' ' The Undaunted. ' ' In the number of men actually engaged and the immense proportion killed, this ranks as the greatest Indian battle in the history of the United States, with the possible exception of the battle of Mauvila, fought by the same In- dians in DeSoto's time. The result was deci- sive. The Creek war was at an end.

Not many years passed before the Cherokee began to hear the first low muttering of the coming storm that was soon to overturn their whole governmental structure and sweep them forever from the land of their birth. In No- vember, 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States. He was a fron- tiersman and Indian hater. His position was well understood, and there is good ground for

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believing that the action at once taken by Georgia was at his suggestion. A month after his election, Georgia passed an act annexing that part of the Cherokee country within her chartered limits and extending over it her juris- diction ; all laws and customs established among the Cherokee were declared null and void, and no person of Indian blood or descent residing within the Indian country was henceforth to be allowed as a witness or party in any suit where a white man should be defendant. The act was to take effect June 1, 1830. The whole territory was soon after mapped out into counties and surveyed by state surveyors into "land lots" of 160 acres each, and "gold lots" of 40 acres, which were put up and distributed among the white citizens of Georgia by public lottery, each white citizen receiving a ticket. Every Cher- okee head of a family was, indeed, allowed a reservation of 160 acres, but no deed was given, and his continuance depended solely on the pleasure of the legislature. Provision was made for the settlement of contested lottery claims among the white citizens, but by the most strin- gent enactments, in addition to the sweeping law which forbade anyone of Indian blood to bring suit or to testify against a white man, it was made impossible for the Indian owner to

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defend his right in any court or to resist the seizure of his homestead, or even his own dwell- ing house, and anyone so resisting was made subject to imprisonment at the discretion of a Georgia court. Other laws directed to the same end quickly followed, one of which made invalid any contract between a white man and an Indian unless established by the testimony of two white witnesses — thus practically can- celing all debts due from white men to Indians — while another obliged all white men residing in the Cherokee country to take a special oath of allegiance to the state of Georgia, on pen- alty of four years' imprisonment in the pen- itentiary, this act being intended to drive out all the missionaries, teachers, and other edu- cators who refused to countenance the spolia- tion. About the same time the Cherokee were forbidden to hold councils, or to assemble for any public purpose, or to dig for gold upon their own lands.

The purpose of this legislation was to render life in their own country intolerable to the Cherokee by depriving them of all legal protec- tion and friendly counsel, and the effect was precisely as intended. In an eloquent address upon the subject before the House of Represen- tatives, the distinguished Edward Everett

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clearly pointed out the encouragement which it gave to lawless men : "They have but to cross the Cherokee line ; they have but to choose the time and the place where the eye of no white man can rest upon them, and they may burn the dwelling, waste the farm, plunder the prop- erty, assault the person, murder the children of the Cherokee subject of Georgia, and though hundreds of the tribe may be looking on, there is not one of them that can be permitted to bear witness against the spoiler." Senator Sprague, of Maine, said of the law that it devoted the property of the Cherokee to the cupidity of their neighbors, leaving them exposed to every outrage which lawless persons could inflict, so that even robbery and murder might be com- mitted with impunity at noonday, if not in the presence of whites who would testify against it. The jjrediction was fulfilled to the letter. The Cherokee appealed to President Jackson, but were told that no protection would be afforded them. Despairing of any help from the Presi- dent, the Cherokee addressed an earnest me- morial to Congress, which memorial evidenced the devoted and pathetic attachment with which the Cherokee clung to the land of their fathers. Attempt after attempt was made to induce the Cherokee, to remove to the West, but they re-

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fused to be convinced that justice, prosperity, and happiness awaited them beyond the Mis- sissippi.

The national paper, "The Cherokee Phoe- nix," was suppressed and its office plant seized by a guard. Their chief, Gu'wisguwf (John Ross), was arrested, all his private papers be- ing taken at the same time, and conveyed into Georgia, where he was held for some time with- out charge against him, and at last released without apology or explanation.

The Cherokee were nearly worn out by con- stant battle against a fate from which they could see no escape. A treaty was finally drawn up and signed on December 29, 1835.

Briefly stated, by this treaty of New Echota, Georgia, the Cherokee Nation ceded to the United States its whole remaining territory east of the Mississippi for the sum of five mill- ion dollars and a common joint interest in the territory already occupied by some Cherokee who had moved to the West to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, with an additional smaller tract adjoining on the northeast, in what is now Kan- sas. Improvements were to be paid for, and the Indians were to be removed at the expense of the United States, and subsisted at the ex- pense of the government for one year after

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their arrival in the new country. The removal was to take place within two years from the ratification of the treaty.

It was agreed that a limited number of Cherokee who should desire to remain behind in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, and become citizens, having first been adjudged ''qualified or calculated to become useful cit- izens," might so remain, together with a few holding individual reservations under former treaties. This provision was allowed by the commissioners, but was afterward stricken out on the announcement by President Jackson of his determination "not to allow any preemp- tions or reservations, his desire being that the whole Cherokee people should remove to- gether. ' '

Provision was made for payment of debts due by the Indians out of any moneys coming to them under the treaty ; for the reestablishment of the missions in the West; for pensions to Cherokee wounded in the service of the gov- ernment in the war of 1812 and the Creek war ; for permission to establish in the new country such military posts and roads for the use of the United States as should be deemed neces- sary; for satisfying Osage claims in the west- ern territory and for bringing about a friendly

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understanding between the two tribes ; for the commutation of all annuities and other sums due from the United States into a permanent national fund, the interest to be placed at the disposal of the officers of the Cherokee Nation and by them disbursed, according to the will of their own people, for the care of schools and orphans, and for general national purposes.

The principal officers of the Nation were not present when this treaty was drawn up. Gu'- wisguwi' and the national delegates presented protests with signatures representing nearly 16,000 Cherokee, but the treaty was ratified by a majority of one vote over the necessary num- ber, and steps were at once taken to carry it into execution.

The history of this Cherokee removal of 1838, as gleaned from the lips of actors in the tragedy, exceeds in weight of grief and pathos any other passage in American history. Even the much-sung exile of the Arcadians falls far behind it in its sum of death and misery.

Junaluska accompanied the exiles of 1838, but afterward returned to his old home in western North Carolina. He was often heard to say: "If I had known that Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would have killed him that day at the Horseshoe." In recognition of his

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services the state legislature, by special act, in 1847 conferred upon him the right of citizen- ship and granted to him three hundred and thirty-seven acres of land in Graham County, near the present Kobbinsville.

Junaluska died about the year 1858, aged more than one hundred years. They laid him under the trees in the land of his birth, and "over his bed the wild vines lovingly wove a coverlid of softest green. All his woodland friends gather about his couch. Forest and hill and flower and cloud sing the songs he loved. All day the sunlight lays its wealth in bars of gold at his feet, and at night the moon- light things and the shadow things come out to play. ' ' By his side they laid Nicie, his wife. A monument was erected to his memory in 1910, but the greatest and most enduring monuments of this far-famed East Cherokee chief are Mount Junaluska, bathed in the everlasting sunshine of the land of the sky or wrapped in mantles of untrodden snow, and Lake Juna- luska, which nestles at its base and from its depths reflects as a vast mirror the incompar- able splendors of the surrounding hills, lofty mountains and gorgeous sunsets.

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They laid him under the trees.

Pag-e 16

LAKE JUNALUSKA

NORTH CAROLINA

LAKE JUNALUSKA

HE Laymen's Missionary Movement of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at its Convention in Chatta- nooga, Tennessee, in April, 1908, took into consideration the question of establishing at the most suitable place a great permanent Assembly such as would meet the growing need of the Church for rest, recreation, conference, train- ing and inspiration. The Executive Committee of the Movement was empowered to establish such an Assembly. The Executive Committee appointed a Committee on Location to look thor- oughly into such questions as healthfulness, beauty, comfort, accessibility, water and water- power and to report. This Committee visited various places, and, after long and careful ex- amination into the elements which enter into the location for such an Assembly, reported in favor of Richland Valley, Haywood County, North Carolina. On the basis of this report the Executive Committee took up the whole ques- tion and confirmed with gratifying unanimity the choice of their Committee on Location.

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A gigantic pair of compasses, with one point on the apex of Mount Junaluska, and the other at Baltimore, on the northeastern border of the Southern Methodist territory, would describe a circle extending from the shore of Lake Erie to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and from the border of the Atlantic Ocean to beyond St. Louis, Missouri. There is no place east of the Mississippi with the necessary qualifications which is more accessible to our Southern peo- ple than Lake Junaluska.

It is in the center of the most beautiful and fertile section of the mountains, lying on the apex of the Blue Eidge range, twenty-eight hun- dred feet above sea level. Within a radius of fifty miles are many lofty peaks lifting their heads into the ethereal blue, while numerous lesser eminences give a pleasing contrast and add to the beauty of the scene. From Point Junaluska toward the gates of the sunset one sees the mountains standing round about like the mountains round about Jerusalem, and Mount Junaluska, the grandest of them all, in the center of the group, pierces the sky.

At Lake Junaluska the climate is sufficiently bracing to make vigorous exercise of body and mind a joy, and to insure nightly repose with the drapery of your couch about you, while

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much of the world is seeking relief from the stifling airs of the lowlands.

Scattered about this region are numerous springs of cool, pure, sparkling water gushing from the mountains hard by, and Eichland Creek, a bold stream, once divided the bound- ary of more than a thousand acres into two nearly equal parts.

Such a region of enchantment was the home of the Cherokee, whose progeny still linger in peaceful possession near by, and this was the enchanted spot selected by the Laymen's Mis- sionary Movement of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to gather the tribes from every part of the Church year after year.

To appreciate Lake Junaluska fully, one should read the history of the Cherokee who roamed these mountains. They have left a memory and traditions behind them which still linger in this district. The whole country is haunted ground, and the landscapes, beautiful in themselves, become twice glorified by the glamour thrown around and about them by the genius of the story-teller.

The Committee saw this valley prepared by the Great Architect and Builder, and, shutting their eyes, caught a vision of a new-born lake, along whose shores multitudes would hear and

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answer the same call that once men heard by Galilee, to the world's remaking.

In the summer of 1913, they halted Richland Creek in its flow through an upland valley, and in three weeks the valley bore on its breast as charming a lake as any that reflect the skies of Scotland, England, Switzerland or Italy. It laved the feet of mountains which saw in its mirror for the first time how beautiful they were. The water, churned almost into mist, dashed over the spillway, making one of the most beautiful waterfalls to be seen among the mountains.

Around the lake the landscape architect threw a looped girdle of winding road over six miles in length. He also threw loop after loop around the hills, from various points of which the most beautiful views appear.

Down at the water's edge they built a cir- cular steel auditorium capable of seating forty- five hundred. A number of cottages and public buildings were erected, some on breeze-swept heights, others nestling down among the shady coves. Beautiful for location is Junaluska Inn, the pride of the Junaluskans.

The United States Bureau of Fisheries stocked Lake Junaluska with fishes, and fisher- men have every reason to rejoice with the com-

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ing of summer, for it brings promise of rare sport along its banks. There we have the royal basses and many other fishes in an abundance that makes every follower of Izaak Walton happy.

The "Oonaguska," a double-decked steamer with a passenger capacity of over two hundred, was launched on August 22, 1914. The ' ' Oona- guska" and a smaller launch make excursions around the lake. Often these excursions are made at night, when the moon like a queen comes forth from the slow opening curtains of the clouds, and over the lake, the vales, the hills, the mountains, her silver mantle throws.

Many enjoy boating, and at any time one can look out and see numerous boats gliding over the surface of the water. Swimming, horseback riding, autoing, tennis, basket-ball, croquet, baseball, bowling and other sports are enjoyed by the guests and lake-dwellers. On October 24, 1916, a Golf Club was organized, and over one hundred acres of land was selected by experts for a golf course.

Lake Junaluska is within easy reach of many neighboring places of interest by mountain trails, carriages, automobiles, or trains.

A TRIP TO MOUNT JUNALUSKA

NORTH CAROLINA

A TRIP TO MOUNT JUNALUSKA

HE trip to Mount Junaluska, eight miles away, is often taken by tramp- ing parties, who, in the early morn- ing, before the sun far ascends the eastern slope, are wending their way over vale and hill. One is compelled to exclaim,

"Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God."

They follow the trail up the mountain side, over babbling brooks, through dense forest shade beneath canopies where filtering sun- beams strain their way through incense-mak- ing boughs— on, until they merge from the shadows and enter a scantily wooded section, from which point can be seen the forests man- tling the mountain sides with their dark green coats, mottled here and there with lighter green, and in the valley below the town of Waynes- ville, beautiful for situation. Myriads of small winged creatures — birds, bees, butterflies — give glad animation and fill the air with music.

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The air of these uplands is a perfect tonic to wasted energies, and the elixir of life seems to flow with new vigor through torpid veins.

"Within a quarter of a mile of the summit is Bogohama (Water-of-Life), a crystal spring, with temperature forty-five degrees, surrounded by giants of the forest, rhododendron in pro- fusion, and flowers indigenous to the clime. Here the trampers, with a bountiful supply of lunch, ask "good digestion to wait on appetite and health on both."

From this point they make their way to the top, on which Eagle's Nest Hotel is perched. Here one gets a breath of the ozone-laden air as it comes direct from the top of the Balsams, and eyes feast upon an enchanting panorama of overpowering sublimity. Yonder is Plott's Balsam and Jones' Knob, and toward Great Di- vide, a myriad of peaks.

Fortunate the sojourner on this high moun- tain platform to see the sun rise, sometimes over a billowy sea of clouds stirring in the dawn around those mountain masses out of which the peaks appear, and set, sinking over the peaks softened into the alpenglow of pink and purple, and the shooting pillar of light long after it is dusk below.

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THER wonderful trips are to Bal- sam, Cherokee, Old Bald, Pisgah, Mount Mitchell, and should one de- sire to spend a day or so in the midst of the wildest mountain scenery, the Southern Railway penetrates into the very heart of the Nantahalas,

far-famed for the magnificent grandeur of their

scenery.

Lovely is the autumn time in the Lake Juna- luska region. The summer 's green is first sup- planted by a robe of barbaric splendor, reveal- ing all the hues of the rainbow. After a few visits of Jack Frost, these colors become still more vivid, and the forests seem to blaze with the glory of the changing season. Then the col- ors become somewhat more subdued, and the sourwoods and the blackgums, which have been holding aloft the fiery cross of revolt, are recon- ciled to their fate, and await patiently the re- turn of spring. The mountains then are a more somber brown, with long threads of balsam and white pine woven into the pattern of their quieter robes. As years go by permanent Juna- luskans will enjoy seeing Nature pour new glory on the woods from her beakers of rich- est dyes.

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HILE opportunities for boating, fish- ing, swimming, mountain-climbing, and excursions to neighboring points are pleasures not to be lightly es- teemed by those who are in the habit of spending the most of their time in solving the stern problems of life, yet recreation is not the main object for which the Assembly was established.

The old Jewish Church had its holidays and festivals. Among the legitimate factors in the work of exerting the desired influence and bringing about desired results was the social feeling centering in the innate and universal propensity of men and women to meet together, to look each other in the eye, to exchange opin- ions, and to engage in those other amenities which are so highly prized.

The camp-meetings of the last century were partly an answer to the demand of the Church to express normally the age-old social feeling of humanity. Among the most prized inheri- tances possessed by those who attended these camp-meetings are memories interwoven with social experiences.

The successor of the old-time camp-meeting is, in a sense, the modern Chautauqua. The

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Methodist Pjpiscopal Church, South, had long- needed the Southern Assembly. Lake Junaluska, designed to be the meeting place of the best order of conferences, the homes of the best peo- ple, the association of high-minded men, wo- men and children, is destined to become one of the great prides and influences of our land.

There is a feast for those who enjoy the high- est intellectual entertainment. At Lake Juna- luska we have had some of the ablest speakers in the world, men of extraordinary power to instruct, move and inspire large audiences. A number of gifted musicians have charmed their hearers. In the not distant future educational buildings will surmount some of the most beau- tiful forest-clad hills.

And, greatest of them all, Lake Junaluska combines with physical, social and intellectual refreshment, edification and inspiration for the spiritual man. The concerted action of the lead- ers of our great Church is behind the establish- ment of the Southern Assembly. Missionary, Epworth League, Sunday-school and Evangel- istic meetings have been conducted at Lake Junaluska since the year of its opening — 191o. The moral value in Christian life and service of this great Southern Chautauqua cannot be esti- mated. Lake Junaluska is in deed and in truth

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the central powerhouse from which currents of spiritual influence go out to all parts of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.