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Full text of "Pages from Cherokee Indian history, as identified with Samuel Austin Worcester, D.D., for 34 years a missionary of the A.B.C.F.M. among the Cherokees. A paper read at the commencement of Worcester Academy at Vinita, Ind. Ter., June 18, 1884"

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Mv  Deak  Bkothkr: 

We  seud  to  you,  as  a  friend  of  the  Indian  race,  this  Article  of 
our  Indian  girl,  "Vada."  It  tells  its  own  pathetic  story.  "Vada" 
is  a  Chri.-^tian  girl,  16  years  of  age.  She  is  a  member  of  this  "WoR- 
CKSTEK  Indian  Academy  of  Vinita,"  the  only  Congregational 
Indian  Mission  iSch(X)l  of  the  Am.  H.  M.  Society. 

Please  read  the  article  yourself  on  account  of  its  merits  and 
thrilling  interest,  and  we  know  you  will  desire  to  have  it  read  to  your 
Sunday  SchfX)l  and  Missionary  Society.  It  will  give  you  some  idea 
of  tlio  class  of  inintls  we  are  given  to  work  upon,  the  kind  of  work 
we,  as  a  denomination,  are  called  to  do,  and  the  blessed  results  we 
may  expect.  Let  us  make  this  one  Indian  school  worthy  of  our  name, 
and  an  evidence  of  our  Hinrorc  purpo.se,  in  the  place  of  abuse  and 
wnjng,  to  do  justice  to  the*  hxlian  race;  to  elevate  and  save  the  people 
of  these  tribes. 

We  greatly  need  funds.  Witli  the  needed  money  at  hand,  we  can 
furnish  here,  in  this  Indian  Land,  e<pial,  and  better  results,  than  can 
bo  attained  outside  and  at  a  <iistance.  Can  you  not,  will  you  not  help 
U8?  If  you  deBJre  special  information  about  <>ur  life  and  work  among 
the  Imilans,  wc  will  aii.s\\«r,  to  Ito  rca<l  to  your  Sunday  School  or 
Mibslonary  Society,  any  letter  you  may  send  us,  and  any  (juestions 
you  may  ask. 

l"uM(N  may  be  sent  to  the  Secretaries  of  the  A,  H.  M.  Soc,  or 
may  be  sent  here. 

Yours  Sincerely, 

ISAAC  N.  CI  X  HA  LI., 

Prircipal  cf  The  W:rcor.cr  Itiian  Academy  of  Vinita, 

VINITA,   I    T. 


THE   WORCESTER   ACADEMY  OF  VINlTA. 

AX  rxnr.i.y  school  or  the  AMERiCAy  home  MissioxARr  soriETr. 


PAGES 


Gl]er"ol(EE  Indiaq  fetoitj] 


Vi    IKK.VTII  IKI»   AViril 


s.wH  i:i.  Ar>ii\  \yi)kci:sTi;k.  n.  ii 

torn   M   YtAR*    A    MlttlONARV   Or    THE    A.    B.   C.   F.   M. 
AMOMO    THf    CHCROKtES. 


:^  Vapcr 


i;i  \h    \i    rill    «  mmmi  vrKMi.NT   UK   wokckstm:    \(  \i>i;mv 
\\   \iMi  \.  iM»   ri:i{...n  \K  is.  ik«<4. 


U\   Mjs>  NE\Ai)A  rorcii 

A   Mii.  i,o.  o<  f...  Acjdemy 


t.,..^MED    FOR    THE    INSTITUTION 
TIIIUO   KI»ITI«»N.      MKVISKK. 


\{    V.  >tii<ll.\  A-  <  «..,  |'rmt«i>.  >t.  I.<.ni« 


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COPYRIGHT    SECURED. 


Ylic  Woi'des^tei'  Sdadeniv  of  Viiiita. 


Is  a  (  onjrre^ational  Mission  School,  intended  especially  to 
ffive  tlje  best  educational  advantajres  to  Indian  boys  and 
^nrls. 

It  is  located  at  \'inita,  (.'lierokee  Nation,  Indian  Terri- 
tory. 

It  was  established,  and  is  suppijrted  by  the  American 
IIojMf  Missionary  Society. 

It  lias  a  I'xtanr  of  Directors,  composed  of  the  best  citi- 
zens of  the  locality. 

Only  a  Nominal  Tuition  is  charged  to  students,  about 
sufVn'ient  to  meet  the  incidental  expenses  of  the  school. 

The  Salaries  of  the  Teachers  are  paid  from  Congrega- 
tion:il  Home  Missionary  fun<ls  at  New  York. 

Tbe  Homo  Miflsionary  Society  at  New  York  appoints  the 
teachers,  as  it  furnishes  the  funds. 

The  s<'h<M)l  is  depjMident  on  tlie  beneficent  regard  of  the 
friends  of  Indian  Missions.  Material  interest  in  this  work 
is  urgently  solicited. 

The  condition  of  the  Academy  is  prosperous,  increas- 
ingly so.  Its  el!lcieney  would  be  greatly  promoted  if 
buildings  could  be  innnediately  erected  for  boarding  and 
trades  purposes. 

Faci'i/i  V  OK  Insthuction.  —Rev.  I.  N.  Cundall,  Prin- 
cipal; .Miss  .\da  .\.  Durham,  Miss  Cordelia  Myers,  Miss 
Madge  (Joodykoontz,  Assistants.  By  either  of  whom 
letters  of   in(|uiry  will  be  promptly  answered. 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  CHEROKEE. 


hitVTi,Tn  cf>*f(^itB^  cS)yit  a^  ts.     Jj^^yit^v^z  s=(»ysET,  e<yByc« 
afhy^>^  ivRT,  Dcf  R&<L-v^^(r  r^n  hA.9-iiT.     Eoiio-. 

INTERPRETATION,    WITH    PRONUNCIATION    ACCORDING 
TO   THE   ALPHABET. 

aw  ^i  daw  da  |  ga  Iv  la  di  ehi  |  ga,  \v  tjuo  di  yu  |  ge  se 
sdi  I  de  tsa  daw  v  i  |  dsa  gv  wi  yu  hi  ge  sv  |  wi  ga  na  nu 
gaw  i  I  a  ni  e  law  hi  |  wi  dsi  ga  li  sda  |  ha  da  nv  ste  gv  i  | 
na  sgi  ya  |  ga  Iv  la  di  |  tsi  ni  ga  li  sdi  ha  |  ni  da  daw  da 
qui  sv  I  aw  ga  li  sda  yv  di  |  sgi  v  si  |  gaw  hi  i  ga  |  di  ge  sgi 
V  si  quo  naw  |  de  sgi  du  gv  i  |  na  sgi  ya  |  tsi  di  ga  yaw  tsi 
na  haw  |  tsaw  tsi  du  gi  |  a  le  tla  sdi  |  oo  da  gaw  le  ye  di  yi 
ge  sv  I  wi  di  sgi  ya  ti  nv  sta  n?;  gi  |  sgi  yu  da  le  sge  sdi  quo 
sgi  ni  I  oo  yaw  ge  sv  i  |  tsa  tse  li  ga  ye  naw  |  tsa  gv  wi  yu 
hi  I  ge  sv  i  I  a  le  I  dsa  li  ni  gi  di  yi  |  ge  sv  i  |  a  le  |  e  dsa  ly; 
quo  di  yu  |  ge  sv  |  ni  gaw  hi  Iv  i  |  e  me  n. 

TRANSLATION. 

Our    Father  |  heaven    dweller,   |  Hallowed  |    be  |  thy 
name.  |  Thy  kingdom  |  let  it  make  its  appearance.  |  Here 
upon    earth  |  take  place  |  Thy  will,  |  the  same    as  |  in 
heaven  |  [it]  is  done.  |  Daily  [adj.]  |  our  food  give  to  us  | 
this  day.  |  Forgive  us  |  our  debts,  |  the  same  as  |  we  for- 
give I  our  debtors.  |  And  do  not  \  temptation  being  |  lead 
us  into  [it].  I  Deliver  us  from  |  evil  existing.  |  For  thine  | 
the  kingdom  |  is,  ]  and  ]  the  power  |  is,  |  and  |  the  glory  | 
is,  I  forever  {  amen. 


P  .^  O  E  S 


CHEROKEE  INDIAN  HISTORY, 


A^    Il'KM  II  IK1»   W  ITU 


I  )lx\   S.   .\.  W'ORCHSTHR 


—  in  — 
MISS  NK\  M)A  <  ol  (   H. 


Our  Institution  is  called  Worcester  Academy,  in  honor 
ol  iU'\ .  Samuel  AuHtin  Worcester,  D.  I).,  u  true  and  tried 
Itleiid  of  the  (.'herokee  people. 

It  is  (In-  purpose  of  this  o>^say  to  collect  such  facts  as  may 
he  availahle,  from  what^jver  source  and  in  whatever  form, 
pertaininjf  to  the  early  and  later  life  of  this  eminently 
faithful  and  ^'<>od  man,  with  some  leading  fads  of  (Jhero- 
kee  Indian  history  ideiititled  with  it. 

Kev.  Samuel  Austin  Worcester  was  sprung  from  an 
honored  anrestry.  The  "Worcester  Family  Jiecord"  traces 
him  hack  through  eight  generations  of  ministers  of  the 
gosjiel.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Leonard  Worcester,  of 
I'eacham,  N't.  Ills  mother  was  Kli/aheth  Hopkins,  daugh- 
ter ot  Kev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  l>,  D.,  of  Hadlev,  Mass. 

He  was  l»(»rn  January  1!»,  17*JK,  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  from 
which  place,  when  the  t^hild  was  «iuito  young,  his  father 
removed  to  Peacham,  Vt.,  to  hec<jme  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  at  that  New  P'ngland  town.  The 
father  had  been  a  printer,  and  left  that  occupation  to 
enter  the  ministry.     An  illustrated  family  bible  is  said  to 


6 


be  in  the  hands  of  the  family,  which  was  published  by 
him  and  printed  with  his  own  hand.  Here  the  lad  grew 
up,  and  in  the  Academy  of  Peacham,  then  under  the  cele- 
brated "Jeremiah  Evarts,  he  was  fitted  for  college. 

The  Church  of  which  his  father  was  pastor  was  feeble, 
and  the  means  its  salary  furnished  the  family  was  limited. 
Consequently  we  find  young  Worcester,  when  ready  for 
college,  walking  the  seventy-one  miles  distance  to  Bur- 
lington, in  the  fall  of  1815,  that  he  might  enter  the  "Uni- 
versity of  Vermont,"  of  which  his  uncle,  after  whom  he 
was  named,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Austin,  was  president. 

He  remained  in  college  through  the  entire  course,  and 
graduated,  with  the  honors  of  his  class,  in  1819.  He  ex- 
perienced religion  in  his  sophomore  year,  during  a  college 
revival,  and  connected  himself  with  the  college  church  by 
profession,  in  September,  1817.  After  the  delay  of  a  year 
in  teaching,  he  entered  the  Theological  Seminary,  at  An- 
dover,  where  he  graduated  in  1823. 

After  leaving  Andover  he  was  employed  in  the  Mission- 
ary Rooms  at  Boston,  with  Jeremiah  Evarts,  who  had 
succeeded  his  uncle  as  Secretary,  and  by  hifn  was  advised 
to  become  a  missionary  to  the  Cherokee  Indians,  and  learn 
their  language,  which  was  then  considered  as  difficult  as 
the  Chinese.  He  was  ordained  to  the  gospel  ministry  in 
Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  with  Elnathan  Gridley,  Aug. 
25,  1825,  his  father  preaching  the  sermon. 

He  was  married  July  19,  1825,  to  Miss  Ann  Orr,  daugh- 
ter of  Hon.  John  Orr,  of  Bedford,  New  Hampshire  — a 
woman  who  possessed  a  large  share  of  common  sense, 
coupled  with  a  good  degree  of  vivacity  and  wit —  a  pupil 
of  the  excellent  educator  of  women,  Mr.  Joseph  Emerson, 
of  Byfleld,  and  a  schoolmate  of  Mary  Lyon.  Though  plain 
in  person,  her  conversational  powers  were  of  a  high  order. 
Her  home  education  partook  of  the  Puritan  sort,  of  which 
she  was  never  ashamed. 


^Afterwards  Secretary  Evarts  of  the  A;  B,  C.  F.  M.,  author  of  the 
"William  Penu  Letters  in  hehalf  of  the  Indians,"  and  father  of  Ex. 
Secretary,  &c.,  AVm.  M.  Evarts. 


The  churches  at  the  East  during  the  years  immediately 
preceding,  liad  become  intensely  interested  in  the  work  of 
Foreign  Missions.  This  interest  succeeded  the  years  of 
wonderful  revival  in  New  England,  the  results  of  which 
had  become  specially  manifested  in  the  young  men  who 
were  in  course  of  education  in  the  colleges  of  Vermont, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 

Tiie  missionary  interest  which  had  become  marked  at 
Williams'  College,  and  made  sacred  by  the  names.  Mills, 
Hall  and  Richards,  mjou  identified  itself  in  special  organ- 
izations for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  abroad. 

When  Mr.  Worcester  had  completed  his  studies,  this 
interest  had  become  directed  in  this  country  to  the  Indian 
tribes,  and  by  the  side  of  Mills,  Hall,  Richards,  stood  now 
afresh  the  honored  names  of  Mayhews,  Elliot  and  Brain- 
erd.  Already  a  movement  had  been  made  among  the 
Cherokees,  at  their  old  home  in  Georgia.  What  more 
natural  than  that,  six  (hiys  after  his  ordination,  we  should 
find  Mr.  Worcester  an<l  his  excellent  wife,  in  the  earnest- 
ness of  their  Christian  zeal,  leaving  home  and  its  endeared 
associations  ;  ho,  desiring  to  give  his  life  and  lal^<jrs  where 
he  felt  tiie  Lord  tlirected  his  >teps,  ollering  himself  to  the 
servieo  of  the  then  only  Missionary  Board  representing 
his  own  fait!)  and  the  faith  of  his  fathers. 

So  they  embarked  from  Boston,  August  31,  1825,  for  life- 
long labor  to  the  Cherokee  Nation,  whose  tlevelopment 
and  interest  Mr.  Worcester  had  most  heartily  adopted, 
and  to  which  he  was  to  give  the  busy  years  of  a  struggling 
devoted  life. 

They  arrived  at  liraiiu-rd,  lOast  Tennessee,  on  the  bor- 
ders of  (icorgia,  October  lil,  1H25,  where  they  labored  until 
Ih'Jh,  when  they  removed  to  New  P^chota. 

In  IsHi  Dr.  Samuel  Worcester,  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle 
Church,  at  Salem,  Mass.,  the  first  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  tlie  American  Jtoard  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, in  whose  church  the  five  first  foreign  missionaries, 
three  years  before,  had  been  ordained,  wrote,  congratulat- 
ing Rev.  (Jyrus  Kingsi)ury,  on  his  success  in  having  estab- 


—  8  — 

lished,  the  year  previous,  among  the  Cherokees,  by  aid  of 
an  Indian  chief,  the  site  of  the  Brainerd  Mission,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Chickamauga  —  "  a  point  ten  miles  from  the 
place  made  famous  forty-seven  years  later  by  the  repulse 
of  the  Union  army,  on  the  banks  of  the  creek  which  some 
rebel  termed  the  "  River  of  Death,"  and  seven  miles,  also, 
from  the  brow  of  that  Lookout  Mountain,  where,  in  "  the 
battle  of  the  clouds,"  the  Confederacy  received  a  stunning 
blow.  The  Missionaries  called  it  Brainerd.  A  neighbor- 
ing height  still  bears  the  name  of  "Mission-  Ridge." 
Little  thought  he  then  that  only  five  years  later  his  own 
spirit  would  take  its  flight  heavenward  from  that  very  spot. 

A  few  weeks  before  the  arrival  of  the  nephew  and  his 
wife  at  Brainerd,  where  the  boarding  school  for  Cherokee 
boys  and  girls  had  been  established  and  was  in  operation, 
Mr.  J.  C.  Ellsworth,  the  superintendent,  on  reading  a  letter 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Board,  said :  "  We  are  soon  to 
have  a  minister  and  an  old  acquaintance,  Samuel  A.  Wor- 
cester, a  scholar  who  can  learn  the  Cherokee  language." 
Reading  the  next  page,  he  remarked  to  Miss  Sawyer, 
teacher  of  the  girls'  school:  "He  is  just  married  to  Miss 
Ann  Orr,  a  former  school  companion  of  yours."  Miss  Saw- 
yer at  once  exclaimed .  "A  Worcester  and  an  Orr  united 
in  marriage!  they  are  strong  characters.  We  shall  have 
to  mind  our  P's  and  Q's  when  they  get  here." 

When  the  people  were  collected  at  Brainerd  to  hear  the 
new  missionary  preacher  for  the  first  time,  according  to 
custom,  a  Cherokee  name  must  be  given  to  him.  An  old 
Indian  woman  said:  "  He  is  very  white ;  "  and  suggested 
a  name  in  Cherokee  which  meant  "green,"  Charles  Reese, 
the  warrior  mentioned  in  Mrs.  Sigourney's  "  Traits  of  the 
Aborigines,"  was  standing  by,  and  exclaimed:  "No,  no. 
He  knows  a  great  deal ;  he  must  have  a  better  name." 
After  considerable  discussion  in  Cherokee,  they  agreed  to 
call  him  A-tse-nu-sti,  "  a  messenger,"  and  a  messenger  of 
good  tidings  he  was  ever  after  to  that  people. 

There  was  general  rejoicing  at  other  stations,  on  learning 
that  there  was  now  a  prospect  that  tracts,  hymns  and  other 


literature  would  ere  long  be  published,  as  Guess',  or 
Sequoyah's  Syllabic  Alphabet,  was  soon  to  be  used  in  pub- 
lishing a  national  newspaper,  partly  in  English  and  partly 
in  Clierokee,  at  New  Eehota,  the  eapitol  of  the  Nation. 

Mr.  Worcester  and  wife  spent,  two  years  at  Brainerd, 
encouraging  and  strengthening  those  of  the  mission  family 
to  whose  lot  it  had  fallen  to  repair,  improve  and  add  to 
the  buildings.  Here  his  ingenuity  and  skill  in  mechani- 
cal work  was  in  requisition.  He  was  slow,  patient  and 
generally  successful. 

Hen*,  at  Jirainerd,  his  first  child.  Ann  Eliza,  who  after- 
wards became  the  wife  of  Rev.W.  S.  Robertson,  was  born— a 
woman  of  rare  intellect  and  power,  who,  true  to  family 
instincts,  has  given  her  whole  life  to  missionary  work,  in 
tlie  Cberokee  Nation  at  first,  and  from  the  day  of  her 
nnirriage,  in  the  Creek  Nation.  For  many  years,  and  up  to 
this  writing,  in  advanced  age,  she  has  been,  and  is  engaged 
in  translating  the  Bible,  hynms  and  tracts,  into  the 
Creek    <*r  '^  Mus-ko-ker'^  language. 

His  work  of  translating,  with  the  aid  of  an  educated 
•Cherokee,  was  soon  after  intcrrui)ted  by  the  unrighteous 
laws  of  (  MMirgia  ;  but  tbe  ycarly+ almanac,  and  two  or  three 
important  tra«;ts,  were  scattered  among  tbe  people,  most  of 
wliom  judge<l  bim  a  very  learned  man  who  could  know  so 
much  abcjut  times,  seasons,  sun,  moon  and  stars. 

I)r,  \V«>rcester  entered  most  heartily  iut<j  whatever 
served  the  best  i n teres t«<  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  When 
he  saw  new  and  unlawful  encroachments  made  ui)on  their 
lands,  tlie  sure  precursors  of  a  forced  removal,  with  its 

•l-.lin-  HuiMlniiit;  afliMwiinls  hv  Kfv,  Sti'i>h«Mi  Forciimn,  n-centlv 
<|..  .  1^.  .1.  fiitlicr  of  Di.  ri»n-iiiaii,  (if  \  inita!.  of  Mr.  KdiMiuaii,  the 
Mi.^^i'iunu  Jhraiil,  Dec.  K'..;,  lia^  ilii.«*  notice:  "Mr  Stei»lieii  Foreintui. 
;i  «  i.  ,1,.  v., Ill,'  inuii,  wlin  ieeei\ei|  liis  elo?iientar>'  eilueatioii  al 
I  111    '  ii  CmikIvS  ('it-ek,  ami  after  attemliii;;  to  >()iiie  j)ie- 

li:i'  Ml  Mr.  \V(ireestei- al  N<'\v  Keliuta.  >|ient  one  >  ear  at 

(111     I   „;(iil  >einiiiar>,in  Viririnia,  and  anntlier  at  that  in 

rnneetoii,    Stw    .l.i.-»i'\.    in    the 'stnds    of    theoh);^_\,    was    licensed   to 

Iireai'h  by  the  I  nion  r'reshyt«-iy.  Tenni-ssee.  al)ont  "tiie  lirst  of  Oct.  18.'i:5. 
Iv  l^^eaeile^  witii  animation  and  ihnney  in  the  Ciierokee  lanfruaKC, 
and  i)n)niiM'.H  to  In*  hi^ldy  useful  as  an  evan^eUst  among  his  people." 
tThe  ealenlations  for  which  were  mud«*.year  by  year,  Ijy  the  cele- 
brate<l  mallieniatician,  Itcnjaniin  (Jrecnleaf,  of  llraillord,  Mass.. 


—  10  — 

attendant  hardships  and  cruelties,  his  heart  was  touched 
with  sympathy,  and  he  spoke  boldly  and  acted  fearlessly 
in  their  defense.  He,  and  the  other  missionaries  who 
acted  in  concert  with  him,  became  marks  for  the  special 
hostility  of  those  who  were  determined  to  deprive  the  In- 
dians of  their  country  and  their  homes. 

Dr.  Worcester  regarded  the  course  ihey  were  pursuing 
as  both  wicked  and  cruel,  and  the  laws  they  were  enact- 
ing, as  unconstitutional. 

When  the  shafts  of  persecution  fell,  they  struck  the  mis- 
sionaries first.  By  various  machinations,  the  consent  of  a 
small  minority,  the  Missionary,  Rev.  Mr.  Willey  says : 
"  sixty  me/7,  and  no  chiefs,"  was  declared  to  be  the  will  of 
the  nation  to  give  up  their  lands  ;  and  the  whole  nation 
was  ordered  to  leave.  Pending  negotiations  on  their  be- 
half, by  which  it  was  hoped  the  Indians  could  remain, 
Dr.  Worcester  resisted  the  law,  and  encouraged  the  deter- 
mination of  the  Cherokees  to  remain  unless  removed  by 
force. 

For  his  firm  fidelity  to  the  Cherokees  and  what  he  be- 
lieved to  be  right,  he  was  arrested  time,  time  and  again. 
The  first  time,  while  in  the  midst  of  his  duties,  on  Sunday, 
March  13,  1831,  he  was  arrested  by  the  Georgia  Guard, 
representatives  of  a  Christian  State,  carried  more  than  100 
miles,  and  discharged.  He  was  arrested  again  by  the 
Georgia  Guard,  July  7,  1831,  treated  with  rudeness  and 
insult,  and  put  in  prison,  after  being  marched  on  foot 
many  miles.  He  was  released  July  23,  on  giving  security 
for  his  appearance  in  court  in  September.  During  these 
transactions  Mrs.  Worcester  was,  and  had  been  for  some 
time  previous,  confined  to  her  bed  by  sickness.  The  fol- 
lowing sentences  from  his  letter  to  his  Excellency,  George 
R.  Gilmer,  then  Governor  of  Georgia,  will  show  the  firm 
temper  and  spirit  of  Christian  fidelity  and  faith  of  the 
devoted  man,  whose  name  every  Cherokee  has  high  rea- 
son to  revere.  Referring  to  charged  criminal  hostility  to 
the  humane  policy  of  the  General  Government,  he  says  :  "  I 
cannot  suppose  that  your  Excellency  refers  to  those  eflTorts 


— 11  — 

for  the  advancement  of  the  Indians  in  knowledge,  and  in 
the  arts  of  civilized  life,  which  the  general  government  has 
pursued  ever  since  the  days  of  Washington,  because  I  am 
sure  that  no  person  can  have  so  entirely  misrepresented 
the  c<nirse  which  I  have  pursued  during  my  residence  with 
the  Cherokee  people.   ...  If  the  opposition  is  that  I  have 
had  the  misfortune  to  differ  in  judgment  with  the  Execu- 
tive of  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  tendency  of 
those  measures  recently  enacted  for  the  removal  of  this 
and  other  tribes,  and  that  I   have  freely  expressed  my 
opinion,  I  cheerfully  acknowledge  the  fact,  and  can  only 
add  that  this  expression  of  opinion  has  been  unattended 
with  guilt.  .  .  .  Shall  I,  then,  abandon  the  work  in  which 
I  have  engaged?     Your  excellency  is  already  acquainted 
in  general  with  the  nature  of  my  object,  and  my  employ- 
ment, which  consists  in  preaching  the(rospel,  and  making 
known  the  Word  of  God  among  the  Cherokee  people.     As 
to  tlie  means  used   for  this  eiid,  aside  from  the  regular 
preachingof  the  Word,  I  have  had  the  honor  to  commence 
the  work  of  publishing  portions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and 
other  religious  books  in  the  language  of  the  people.     I 
have  the  pleasure  of  sending  to  your  Excellency  a  copy  of 
the  (tosptl  of  Matthew,  of  a  hymn  book  and  a  small  tract, 
eon?*isting  chielly  of  extracts  from  Scripture,  which,  with 
the  aid  of  an  interpreter,  I  have  been  enabled  to  prepare 
and  publish.  Tlu''rractofScrii)ture  Extracts  has  been  pub- 
lisbed  since  my  trial  and  ac<iuittal  by  the  Superior  Court. 
.My  own  view  of  duty  is  that  I  ought  to  remain  and  quietly 
j)ursuo  my  labors  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Cherokee 
people  until  I  am  forcibly  removed.     If  I  am  correct  in 
tlie  appr«'lu'nsion  that  the  State  of  Georgia  has  no  right- 
ful jurisdi<;tion  over  the  territory  where  I  reside,  then  it 
follows  that  r  am  ujider  no  moral  obligation  to  remove  in 
compllan(;e  with   her  enactments  ;  and  if  I  suffer  in  conse- 
quence of  c»)ntinuing  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  diffuse  the 
written    word  of  Cod  auKmg   this  people,  I   trust  that  I 
shall  be  sustained  l>y  a  conscience  void  of  offence,  and  by 
the  anticipation  of  a  righteous  decision  at  that  tribunal 
from  which  there  is  no  appeal." 


12 


Dr.  Worcester  was  arrested  the  third  time  August  17, 
1831,  but  released  the  next  day,  on  account  of  the  death  of 
his  youngest  daughter,  to  attend  whose  funeral  he  had 
just  reached  home,  after  a  sad  ride  of  52  miles,  to  his  sick 
wife  and  bereaved  family. 

He  was  finally  arrested,  with  Dr.  Butler,  and  taken  be- 
fore the  Superior  Court  of  Georgia,  on  the  15th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1831,  and  on  the  following  day  they  were  sentenced, 
by  Judge  Clayton,  of  Georgia,  to  four  years'  imprisonment 
at  hard  labor,  in  the  Georgia  Penitentiary,  at  Milledge- 
ville. 

It  is  true,  all  this  was  claimed  to  be  under  cover  of  law, 
but  a  law  aimed  at  the  missionaries,  because  they  stood  in 
the  way  of  the  most  nefarious  plans. 

When  the  State  of  Georgia  sent  a  guard  to  arrest  him, 
he  called  his  family  together  in  his  wife's  sick  room,  and, 
inviting  the  soldiers  also,  he  conducted  family  worship 
with  accustomed  ease,  and  then,  gently  bidding  adieu  to 
his  wife  and  little  daughters,  he  followed  the  guard  to  the 
court  room,  several  miles  away,  attended  by  no  counsel, 
and  to  plead  his  own  cause,  though  he  was  a  postmaster 
at  the  time,  and,  as  a  United  States  official,  exempted 
from  their  authority. 

In  January,  1831,  Mr.  Worcester  and  his  companions  had 
received  notification  of  a  law  requiring  all  white  jnen  re- 
siding on  the  Cherokee  lands  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  State  of  Georgia  and  get  a  license  from  the  Governor, 
under  penalty,  if  found  there  after  the  first  of  the  follow- 
ing March,  of  penitentiary  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for 
not  less  than  four  years.  It  was  under  this  law  they  were 
to  stand  trial. 

When  the  blow  fell  and  the  sentence  was  finally  given. 
Dr.  Worcester,  leaving  his  sick  family,  accepted  it  with  all 
its  indignities  —  the  hardship,  cruelty  and  persecution  it 
betokened. 

Nine  other  persons  were  arrested,  tried  and  sentenced  to 
the  same  punishment  by  this  court,  among  whom  was  a 
Methodist  minister,  Mr.  Trott,  (father  of  the  Trott  Bros,  of 


—  13  — 

Viuita,)  and  a  Cherokee  named  Proctor.  The  latter  was 
for  two  nights  chained  hy  the  neck  to  the  wall  of  the 
house,  and  by  the  ankle  to  Mr.  Trott,  and  marched  two 
days  chained  l»y  tlie  neck  to  a  wagon  ;  and  Dr.  Butler  was 
marched  also  with  a  chain  about  his  neck,  and  part  of  the 
time  in  pit^-h  darkness,  with  the  chain  fastened  to  the 
neck  of  a  horse.  So  says  Dr.  Bartlett  in  his  "  Sketch  of 
the  North  American  Indians." 

As  they  fame  within  siirlit  of  the  penitentiary  walls,  one 
of  the  guar<i  called  out  in  derision  :  **  Fear  not,  little  flock, 
it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  t^  give  you  the  kingdom." 

Mr.  Worcest^T  said  the  sptak*-!  little  knew  the  <'omfort 
he  gave. 

On  their  way  lo  tii<-  p«'iiii.-iii  i:iry  :ii  Milledgcville,  they 
sometimes  passi'd  village--  w  her«'  Christians  indulged  in  a 
measure  of  sympathy  for  ibmi.  At  one  of  these  villages 
they  spent  tlu*  night,  and,  by  riMpiest  (jf  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  were  permitted  to  attend  tlie  Monthly  Concert  of 
I'rayer.  TIh-  Itad.r,  a  P^astern  man,  read  and  suul--  the 
psalra  - 

I.'     ill  till-  r<H »..r  Aunt  fnoh. 
ThuH  to  iilniM'  llii-  Mins  <.f  «;oi|?" 

At  the  close  of  the  scrvit-e  the  pastor's  wife  exclaimed  : 
"An  everlasting  blot  on  the  State  of  (Georgia  I ''■ 

On  tlieir  arri\al  at  the  gates  of  the  penitentiary,  pardon 
was  oflercHl  to  the  whole  on  condition  that  they  would 
promise  not  again  to  reside  in  the  Cherokee  country. 
With  this  ofl'cr  all  c<nnplicd,  except  Dr.  Worcester  and 
Dr.  hutler,  who  were  ac<-ordlngly  thrust  into  prison. 
They  were,  like  ihe  other  convicts,  arrayed  in  the  prison 
garb,  and  Mr.  Worcester  was  set  to  work  at  the  cabinet- 
maker's tra«b<,  while  his  ((jrnpaiiiofj,  j)r.  I'>iitlei-,  took  the 
>li().iii;iker's  liench. 

-wtup  CH-  •riiiii  Ministers  c«»iidf'iime(l  tliciii, 

aii'i  >\  M.-n  their  \vi\i-^  W.I.  ..II  111.  II  way  to  s«»o  thcni.  ur;,'('«l  thut  they 
ohoiihl  nsr  thfii  iiitlii<-iicr  to  h-jul  tljt'ir  hiisl»iiii(ls  to  siil)riiit  to  tlic 
«triirtfia  law  .  ii-t  a  rhri-tian  «liit\ .  Mrs.  Wofcrstn's  answer  to  on**  of 
tliivHi-  wii-H,  "If  svv  tlioiiKlit  we  woiihl  say  oni-  \vor<l  to  weaken  tlir^ 
ptirposu  of  our  i)iiM)>iiiMl!j  we  wouUl  not  ^^ounotlier  steji." 


—  14  — 

During  the  time  they  were  separated  from  their  families 
and  labors,  condemned  to  an  ignominious  punishment, 
and  shut  up  in  a  penitentiary  with  felons,  they  had  been 
placed  in  a  most  trying  situation,  requiring  great  fortitude 
and  a  firm  reliance  on  the  faithfulness  of  their  covenant 
God  and  Saviour.  Nor  should  it  be  noticed  with  less  grati- 
tude that  they  were  enabled  so  well  to  maintain  the  Chris- 
tian character,  and  to  exhibit  in  all  the  trials  and  sufferings 
to  which  they  were  subjected,  that  meekness  and  benev- 
olent forbearance  which  the  Gospel  requires.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  in  all  their  correspondence  there  was  not  one 
word  which  indicated  an  angry,  unforgiving  or  vindictive 
spirit. 

They  held  stated  religious  services  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
during  the  last  five  or  six  months  all  the  prisoners  were 
assembled,  and  Mr.  Worcester  was  requested  by  Col.  Mills, 
the  keeper,  to  preach  to  them  one-half  the  day.  A  spirit 
of  inquiry  was  to  some  extent  awakened  among  the  prison-' 
ers, — a  number  w^ere  savingly  and  permanently  benefited. 

Mrs.  Worcester  and  Mrs.  Butler  visited  the  prison,  and 
were  received  kindly  by  Col.  Mills.  Mrs.  Butler  was  quite 
overcome,  but  Mrs.  Worcester  carried  out  her  determina- 
tion that  no  Georgian  should  see  her  tears,  lest  the}^  should 
construe  them  as  regretting  her  husband's  coiirse,  which 
she  never  did. 

The  second  Mrs.  Boudinot,  in  her  "Reminiscences," 
thus  describes  this  visit  to  the  penitentiary : 

"  When  the  year  came  round,  it  was  proposed  that  Mrs. 
Worcester  and  Mrs.  Butler,  with  their  children,  should 
visit  their  husbands  and  fathers.  Accompanied  by  a  kind 
missionary  brother,  Bev.  William  Chamberlin  (grand- 
father of  the  Chamberlin  Bros,  of  Vinita),  eight  in 
number,  they  travelled  over  the  same  rough  road,  which 
was  made  smoother  years  later  when  Gen.  Sherman  left 
Grant  to  capture  Richmond,  while  he  was  marching  to 
relieve  our  Union  boys  from  a  prison  equally  cruel  and 
unjust.    The  hand  of  God  w^as  in  each.    Col.  Mills,  the 


-15- 

kind  keeper,  received  these  families  at  Milledg-eville  as 
Christians,  and  Gov.  Lumpkin  and  his  amiable  Xorthern 
wife  showed  them  kindness. 

"  When  the  children  met  their  fathers  in  prisoners'  garb 
they  shrunk  back  from  their  proffered  embrace,  but  rallied 
when  smiled  upon."     It  was  father  and  child. 

Mr.  Worcester  and  Dr.  Butler  remained  in  this  incar- 
ceration at  hard  labor,  according-  to  the  terms  of  the  sen- 
tence, for  sixteen  months,  when  they  were  liberated  by 
the  (Jovernor,  Jan.  14,  1833.  They  immediately  returned 
to  the  stiitions  which  they  had  respectively  occupied  in 
the  Cherokee  country,  and  resumed  their  labors;  but  still 
iniiependent  in  their  consciousness  of  rijrht,  in  refusinor  to 
take  the  obnoxious  oaths. 

The  following'  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  to  (iov.  TiUmpkin, 
written  by  Dr.  Won-ester.  \\  hie})  Ifd  to  Ins  lehvise  froiu 
the  (ttH>r;ria  penitentiary  : 

"  I'KMTKN  riAKV,    M  I  LLKIKJ  EVILLE,  1 

Jan.  8,  183:5.       i 

"7'o//M  KxcrUrncif  WiImoii  /jUi/i/»f:i/i,  (iorrmor  of  (icoi'fjia. 

"  HiK  :  In  reference  to  a  notice  j,nven  to  your  Excellency 
on  the  L'8th  of  November  last,  by  our  counsel  in  our  l)ehalf, 
of  our  intention  to  move  the  Su])reme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  second  day  of  February  next,  for  further 
process  in  the  case  between  ourselves  individually,  as 
plaint  ills  in  error,  and  t!ie  State  of  Georgia,  as  defendant 
in  error,  we  have  now  to  inform  your  Kxcelleiicy  that  we 
have  this  day  forwarded  instructions  to  our  counsel  to  f(jr- 
bear  th««  intended  motion,  and  to  prosecute  the  case  no 
further.  We  beg  leave  respectively  to  stjite  to  your  Excel- 
h'ucy,  that  we  have  not  been  led  to  the  adoption  of  this 
measure  by  any  change  of  views  in  n-gard  to  the  principles 
on  which  we  have  acted,  or  by  any  doubt  of  the  justice  of 
our  cause,  or  of  our  perfect  right  of  a  legal  discharge,  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  our 
favor  already  given,  but  by  the  apprehension  that  the 
further   prosecution   of  the    controversy,    under   existing 


—  16  — 

circumstances,  might  be  attended  with  consequences  in- 
jurious to  our  beloved  country.    We  are, 

Respectfully  yours, 
(Signed)  S.  A.  Worcester. 

Elizur  Butler." 

The  Governor  was  highly  offended  with  the  latter  part 
of  this  letter.  He  thought  that  it  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient to  give  him  a  simple  notice  of  the  withdrawal  of  their 
suit,  without  insulting  him  with  the  declaration  that  they 
were  altogether  right,  and  the  State  altogether  wrong. 
Whereat,  after  consultation  and  deliberation  with  politi- 
cal friends,  a  second  letter  was  written,  January  9,  saying 
they  meant  no  indignity,  etc.,  but  "  simply  to  forbear  the 
prosecution  of  our  case,  and  to  leave  the  question  of  the 
continuance  of  our  confinement  to  the  magnanimity  of  the 
State."  After  five  days  of  deliberation  on  the  Governor's 
part,  and  of  suspense  to  them,  he  was  satisfied,  and  they 
were  told  by  the  keeper  of  the  penitentiary  that  the  Gov- 
ernor had  ordered  their  discharge,  but  no  reply  was  ever 
made  to  the  prisoners  themselves. 

Mrs.  Robertson,  his  daughter,  gives  an  account  of  this 
transaction,  in  a  letter  to  the  collator,  as  follows : 

"They  would  neither  forsake  their  work,  or  perjure 
themselves,  so  took  the  penalty,  and  appealed  to  the  Su- 
preme Court.  They  employed  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Chester,  to 
plead  their  cause.  The  celebrated  Wm.  Wirt,  then  in 
public  life,  also  volunteered  on  their  behalf,  and,  refusing 
compensation,  argued  the  case  before  the  Court.  The  de- 
cision of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  was  given  in 
an  order  that  the  missionaries  must  be  set  at  liberty.  The 
State  of  Georgia  refused  to  release  them,  '  except  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.'  After  this  the  missionaries  with- 
drew their  suit,  thus  leaving  the  question  of  State  Sover- 
eignty to  he  settled  by  bloodshed  at  a  later  day.^^ 

The  tale  of  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees  from  their 
Georgia  home,  made  dear  to  them  by  the  most  sacred 
associations,  is  one  of  the  saddest  of  the  many  sad  stories 
of  Indian  history.  After  every  effort,  it  was  found  that  no 
modification  of  the  treaty  requiring  their  removal  would 


—  17  — 

he  granted.  It  had  seemed  inipossihle  to  them  that  a 
treaty  so  iiiiciiiitoiis  and  oppressive  would  be  executed. 
The  order  will  he  enforced.  While  the  military  were 
Catherine:  around  them,  like  the  vultures  round  their  vic- 
tim, and  while  numerous  fortifications  were  erected  in  the 
country,  they  remained  quietly  in  their  homes.  Late  in 
the  season,  the  missionaries  celehrated  the  Lord's  i^upper 
for  the  last  time  at  Rrainerd,  and  sixteen  thousand  people 
s<»on  bade  a  mournful  and  reluctant  adieu  to  the  land  of 
their  fathers.*  A  tive  months'  journey  was  before  them. 
Sick,  and  well,(jld  men  and  children,  mothers  and  infants, 
throuurh  the  winter  months  they  travelled  on,  from  six  to 
ei«;hteen  miles  a  day.  There  were  births  and  there  were 
•leathH,  but  the  deaths,  ahis  I  were  two  to  one.  They  aver- 
ajred  thirteen  deaths  a  day.  They  arrived  at  last,  but 
more  tlian  four  thousand  —  more  than  one-fourth  of  their 
\N  hoh*  nuMjher  — in  that  ten  months'  time,  they  had  left 
Iteneath  the  sod.  That  this  shockintr  mortality  and  ill- 
treatment  was  borne  so  patiently  is  a  woniler.  Jieligious 
sorvicea  were  held  by  the  companies  aloup  the  way,  and 
probably  the  inlluence  of  the  missionaries  had  to  do  with 
the  prevention  of  that  outburst  whi«h  liad  been  predicted 
by  the  government.  The  followin«:  year,  however,  brouu^ht 
loan  untimely  end  three  of  the  six  men  who  had  sold  their 
country  by  si^rnin;;  the  treaty.  Major  Kid^je  was  way- 
laid and  shot;  John  liidge,  his  son,  was  taken  from  his 
bed  and  cut  to  pieces  ;  tKllas  lioudinot  was  decoyed  from 
his  hous»'  ""i  -^'(i"  will.  Upiv*'-  rind  hatchets. 

•Tlu-  (  coiiipri.s»*<l  moil'  lliati  oii«'- 

liiill  of  th     .  Ihth    pHil    of  Kfiitiu-kv.  tlif 

Hoiitliwi'Ht  « <•)  IK  1  .M  .  .  oii-.i*l«  r.«l»l«' pnrtioii  of  tin- Caioliiias, 

11  !«iimll  portion  oi   '  kI  tli«'  nortliriii   part  of  Alaliaiiia       It 

toiiipn"<«Ml  iiioi-f  tli;ii  .irie.Hof  IuimI.     I'lt-vioii.- to  isju.  JT.oOd.iMio 

lu-rrs  hiiil  iH-rii  dJMiio.Ht  .1  oi.  i.  HviiiK  still  H,(KX).fH»o  acii's.  Tluy  lett  not 
<»nly  tiu'ir  laml'*,  l»ut  tlirir  homes. 

♦  Mr.  .John  I{i«t;.'r  nn«l  Mr.  Klitis  Bomlinot  wvyv  cousins,  and  \v«'r«' 
sclioolinatrs  in  tin-  Mission  S<-hool  of  tlic  Ann-rican  P.oard,  at  Corn- 
«iill.  Conn.  It  WHS  \\vvi\  at  (  ornwall,  thai  Mr.  I'.ondinot  nn-t  liis 
lovrlv  and  uifn-d  wif«>.  u  dauKlitrr  t>f  .lnd;:r  (ionid  of  Unit  i)laef. 
Wln-n  Mr.  and  Mr.-.  W<.rc«'sti-r  n-acln-d  tin-  <lnroktH'  country.  Miss 
|)flik'ln  Sai««'nt,  w  iio  nfterwards  Jn'canu'  tin-scfond  Mrs.  IJoudinot  wa.s 
an  ixrrlliMit  tt-at  Iwr  in  tin-  l{rain«'rd  Mission  i^lR"  still  livi;s  at  licr 
KiiHtfrn  honi«",  vi;.'on»ns  at  past  four  .scorr  year.'*,  and  the  only  one 
ii«»\v  rrniuininii  of  tlM"{'o  workers  of  thost' early  trying  days. 


—  18  — 

But  it  must  be  remembered  they  had  passed  tlnoii«:h  a 
most  terrible  trial,  during  which  their  deportment  had 
been  worthy  of  a  Christian  people.  Posterity  will  judge 
which  displayed  the  higher  type  of  civilization— the  Chero- 
kee Nati«  n  and  John  Ross  its  noble  chief,  or  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  in  those  years,  the  President  and  the 
Legislature  of  the  Christian  State  of  Georgia. 

It  is  perhaps  due  to  the  six  men  who  "signed  the  lands 
away"  by  signing  the  treaty  of  1836,  to  say,  that  they 
claimed  to  have  affixed  their  names  under  a  positive  assur- 
ance from  Rev.  Mr.  Schermerhorn,  the  United  States  agent, 
that  the  treaty  should  not  be  held  binding  until  the 
consent  of  the  Ross  delegation,  then  in  Washington^  had 
been  obtained. 

After  Georgia  extended  her  laws  over  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  the  land  was  overrun  by  a  very  wicked  class  of 
her  population.  The  new  regime  compelled  the  admission 
of  whisky,  with  its  attendant  evils  and  crimes.  Mr. 
Boudinot  felt  that  the  only  hope  of  his  people  was  In  get- 
ting away  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  "Promised  Land" 
had  been  pictured  in  bright  colors,  and  was  to  be  theirs 
exclusively  "while  grass  grows  and  water  runs." 

Though  Dr.  Worcester  urged  Mr.  Boudinot  not  to  sign 
the  treaty  until  the  consent  of  the  majority  had  been 
secured,  he  thought  he  could  see  ruin  and  misery  coming 
upon  his  people.  He  could  endure  it  no  longer.  He  signed 
the  treaty,  though  he  knew,  as  it  so  soon  proved,  his  act 
was  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life. 

Dr.  Worcester  regarded  him  as  being  at  heart  as  true  a 
patriot  as  ever  lived,  and,  at  his  open  grave,  spoke  of  this 
as  the  only  act  of  his  life  which  he  disapproved.*  '■'-They 
have  cut  ojf  my  right  hand!  ^^  he  exclaimed,  as  he  reached 

*Mrs.  Kobertson  writes :  "I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  heard  my 
father  speak  so  strongly  of  the  loveliness,  integrity  and  Christian 
worth  of  any  one  as  he  did  of  Mr.  Boudinot  to  the  little  group  of 
stricken  ones  that  stood  around  the  o])en  grave.  And  referring  to  the 
act  which  had  resulted  in  that  cruel  death,  he  spoke  of  it  as  the  only 
instance  of  his  swerving  from  this  general  rectitude,  saying  that  even 
that  was  caused  by  his  desire  for  good  to  his  people,  and  was  an 
instance  of  that  doing  of  •'  evil  that  good  may  come,"  against  which 
the  apostle  Paul  Avarns  us. 


-19  — 

the  l)ody  of  his  murdered  friend.  And  truly  Mr.  Boudinot 
had  been  his  ri^ht  hand,  as  interpreter,  as  translator,  and 
in  Cliristian  work  He  had  been  a  brother,  not  only  to 
Dr.  Worcester  himself,  but  to  the  feeble  wife  left  behind, 
when  her  husband  was  in  the  penitentiary.  The  daughter, 
referred  U)  above,  says  that  among  her  earliest  recollec- 
tions are  tliose  of  his  conducting  the  exercises  at  the  grave 
of  lier  little  sister,  while  her  father  was  away  on  account  of 
the  threat«*ued  arrest  at  Brainerd  Mission,  and  while  her 
mother  was  too  sick  to  be  present. 

The  Kev.  Dr.  Butler  came  with  the  Cherokees  on  their 
removal  to  their  home  in  this  new  land.  He  journeyed 
with  the  Didian  people  and  shared  with  them  the  hard- 
ships of  the  way.  Dr.  Worcester,  his  wife  and  his  three 
little  dauKhttTs,  made  the  journey  in  tadvance  of  the 
Cherokees,  he  huving  been  driven  from  his  work  at  New 
lOchotii,  when  the  <iaughter,  now  Mrs.  Hitchcock,  of  Fort 
<JIbHon,  was  but  si.x  weeks  old.  On  this  account,  Mr. 
Ueese,  (the  same  one  who  had  named  the  father,)  named 
the  babe  "( ia-tua-ya,'"  ''dispossessed,"  a  name  with  which, 
she  says,  she  has  been  w»ill  satislifd,  as  suggesting  the 
sharing  of  her  father's  h«juse  with  the  indignities  and  rob- 
beries o(  the  thousands  of  mourning  and  disconsolate 
Cherok««e  househoUls  at  that  day.  In  1815  there  were 
I0i),()0()  Didians  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Of  these  70,(»00 
were  Cherokees,  Creeks,  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws. 
Where  are  they  now?     Why,  and  by  what  means?    It  is 

Ml  linii;;!)  riMi\  iiiomI  tinil  llit-  onlv  liopr  of  ri'sriic  rtoiii  ilcst  nu-t ion 
to  ilif  CiHMokfi's  lii\  III  tln'ir  irmoviil.  Iir  frit  it  \vroui<  lor  a  iiuiii  to 
-iuii  iiw  ay  till-  romury  of  liin  trilji-  without  l^rin;;  iiulliori/cd  l)y  tin- 
tinijority."  Ami.  in  twin.  Mr.  Houdiiiofr,  1  ive  lor  Dr.  Worecslfi"  wiis 
wi'll  ^iliowii,  wlirii,  H|)<-iikiii;;  lo  aiiotlicr  iiiissioiiiiry  ot  tli<*  <-irciiiii- 
•«tanr«"H«»l  lii>  »i^iiiii;{  tlif  trrtity  iiikI  its  coiisi'iiiirticfs,  tii- i-xi-laiuit'cl, 
ai- I  nMnriiihcr  In-  wonlsj  wn'li  Mtroii:;  ciiioiioii.  "  hor  niyx'll',  I  can 
lii'ur  wlialrxi'r  <>oiiii-s  upon  UK',  Imt  t<»  sc**  Mr.  NVoivcster  thrown  into 
siifh  trouhii'  by  my  lU'tioii  srrni-i  almost  morr  than  1  t-an  hear." 

♦  Thr  fiut  of  Dr.  \V.>iv«'st«-rs  coniin;;  W«'st  l.rfoif  tlif  si;;nin;;ot  tiic 
tr«'aty.  was  oiu*  of  tin*  mo>t  iiii|iortaiit  in  his  lil««  in  rr;rar<l  to  tin-  fccl- 
iiitf  «'\«-it«'(l  ill  many  ol  th<'  (  lu'i'ikri-s  that  In-  had  drsfiifd  llifir  cause. 
Doiili||i»«s  his  siilfcrin^  in  feeling  in  coii-ciiiinicc  was  more  keen  than 
diiriiiLC  all  that  he  had  |iassei|  throii;;h  in  <ieor;<ia  lint  ins  |iiir)iose  to 
'■  spend  ami  he  -.pent  "  lor  t  h«*  ( 'herokees  was  never  shaken,  and  when 
tliev  talked  ol  drivin}{  him  fnnn  anion;;  them  as  a  "treaty  man,"  he 
stin\  if  tlH-y  slioiild,  he  would  set  up  Ids  iirintini;  press  just  across  the 
line  and  >{o  on  with  his  work  ou  the  Scriptures,  in  their  hehall. 


-20- 

not  forgotten— it  will  go  down  with  our  traditions — that  in 
1838  General  Winfield  Scott,  at  the  head  of  2,000  United 
States  troops,  entered  our  territor}^  and  drove  us  from 
our  homes.  Dr.  Worcester  remained  with  the  Cherokees, 
faithful  and  beloved  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

Two  of  Mr.  Worcester's  most  striking  traits  of  character 
were  his  humility  and  his  meekness.  The  meekness  with 
which  he  bore  contradiction  was  very  strongly  spoken  of 
in  the  Presbytery  of  Maryville,  Tenn.,  of  which  he  was  a 
member  for  a  time.  The  peculiar  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  often  placed  might  have  led  to  complaints  of  un- 
kind treatment  received,  but  never  did  a  word  of  the  kind 
escape  his  lips.  His  humility  was  w^ell  illustrated  on  one 
occasion,  when,  after  his  receiving  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from 
his  Alma  Mater,  a  brother  minister  addressed  him  as  "  Dr. 
Wortceser."  "  Don't  doctor  me,"  he  exclaimed  in  tones 
so  beseeching  as  to  make  it  really  touching  ;  but  for  once 
he  begged  in  vain. 

What  Dr.  Rufus  Anderson,  in  the  "  Memorial  Volume," 
says  of  his  instructor,  Jeremiah  Evarts,  is  equally  true  of 
the  pupil  at  Brainerd  and  Park  Hill.  "  His  personal  ap- 
pearance was  by  no  means  imposing,  but  he  had  a  mind 
and  a  heart  that  made  him  a  prince  in  the  domain  of  intel- 
lect and  of  goodness." 

Dr.  Worcester's  daughter,  Mrs.  Robertson,  writes  :  "It 
was  ver}^  pleasant  to  me,  in  visiting  my  father's  native 
town  in  my  own  school  days,  to  find  how  affectionately 
his  memory  was  cherished  there  for  what  he  was  in  his 
young  days  among  them.  The  work  he  did  in  improving 
his  father's  house  and  grounds  in  his  college  vacations  was 
shown  me  with  pride.  How  little  could  he  have  foreseen 
while  his  hands  jvere  so  employed,  that  he  would  one  day 
be  called  upon  to  use  his  mechanical  skill  within  the  walls 
of  a  penitentiary,  or  that  his  work  would  ever  be  found  in 
a  state  capitol.  My  father's  cheerful  submission  to  cir- 
cumstances was  shown  on  his  way  to  the  penitentiary, 
when,  before  being  chained  to  his  bed  at  night,  he  walked 
back  and  forth  singing,  the  chains  attached  to  his  ankles 


—  21  — 

dragorin^  along  the  tloor.  On  reaching  the  gate  of  the 
penitentiary,  tl»e  keeper  was  not  on  hand  with  the  kev  so 
wiiile  tljey  waited  there,  my  father  lay  down  on  theground 
and  UM)k  a  go<jd  sleep. 

"  Fn  184.{  I  saw  Rev.  Dr.  Patton,  of  New  York,  who  told 
me  of  visiting  the  two  missionaries  in  the  prison,  and  he 
saiil  they  were  the  happiest  men  he  ever  saw  in  his  life. 
As  to  his  work  among  the  Cherokees,  he  was  sent  out  with 
a  special  view  of  giving  to  tlie  Clierokees  books  in  their 
own  language,  and  he  never  lost  sight  of  this  object ;  espe- 
cially did  he  long  to  give  them  the  liiblcas  fast  as  pos- 
sible." 

}fe  at  one  time  commenced  preparing  a  (Jeographv  for 
the  (Jherokees,  and  pursued  it  with  much  zest  for  a  while, 
and  abandoned  it  because  he  saw  it  would  take  too  much 
time  from  his  work  on  the  Bible. 

lie  had  both  a  Grammar  and  a  Dictionary  of  the  Chero- 
kee language  in  a  forward  st^ite  of  preparation,  when  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  the  place  of  his  labors  at  New 
Kchota.  These  manuscripts,  with  all  the  rest  of  his  effects, 
were  sunk  with  a  steamboat  on  the  Arkansas. 

Dr.  Worcester  was  compelled  to  remove  to  Brainerd, 
beyond  the  chartered  limits  of  (ieorgia,  March  lo,  1834. 
.\fter  waiting  thcr«*  a  year,  feeling  that  he  was  losing  time 
from  his  great  work,  and  that  there  was  no  hope  of  his 
being  able  to  resume  it  permanently  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
he  came  West  with  his  family,  making  the  journey  in  a 
small  tw«>-seated  ambulance,  leaving  Brainerd  April  8, 
1h;{.'>,  an«l  arriving  at  Dwight,  on  the  Salisas,  May  29,  1835. 
Tin*  n«'Xt  fall  he  remove*!  to  the  old  I'nion  Mission,  on 
(J rand  lUver,  set  up  again  his  mission  press,  and  had 
printing  done  for  both  (.'herokees  and  Creeks,  while  his 
house  at  I*ark  Hill  was  in  building.  To  that  he  removed 
December,  2,  lS.3t>.  There  he  established  a  day  school  and 
printing  otllce,  and  tjjere  he  built  up  a  church,  whose 
menjbers  mourned  as  for  a  father  when  he  was  "taken 
from  the  evil  to  conu\"  just   Itefore  the  war  which  proved 


—  22  — 

so  terrible  to  the  nation  of  his  love  and  care.     He  labored 
faithfully  at  Park  Hill  until  his  death,  April  20,  1859. 

At  Park  Hill,  May  23,  1810,  he  was  bereaved  of  his  wife, 
who  was  just  such  a  helpmeet  as  Mr.  Worcester  needed 
during  his  eventful  life.  She  was  one  from  whom,  he  often 
said,  he  learned  much  that  was  of  great  benefit  to  him  in 
his  work. 

Having  this  family  of  six  motherless  children,  about  a 
year  later  he  married  the  second  time.  Miss  Erminia  Nash, 
of  Lowville,  New  York,  a  lady  who  had  been  teaching  a 
mission  school  at  Honey  Creek  station.  She  was  a  most 
devoted  wife  while  he  lived.  She  survived  him  thirteen 
years,  and  died  of  paralysis,  at  Fort  Gibson,  May  5,  1872. 
She  sleeps  near  him  in  the  cemetery  near  Park  Hill,  the 
place  where  for  so  many  years  he  preached  the  blessed 
Gospel. 

During  twenty  years  of  the  twenty-three  he  lived  thero, 
he  published  an  Almanac  in  Cherokee.  This  almanac  he 
made  a  great  power  for  good  upon  every  moral  question, 
especially  the  subject  of  temperance.  The  last  number 
contains  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  Cherokee  people  for 
temperance.  He  was  accustomed  to  travel  through  the 
country  lecturing  on  this  subject,  taking  with  him  a  mu- 
sical instrument,  and  furnishing  himself  the  hymns  and 
songs.    He  was  author  of  the  "Cherokee  Hymn  Book." 

He  expressed  a  desire  not  long  before  his  death,  to  live 
to  prepare  a  new  edition  of  the  Hymn  Book,  as  well  as  to 
finisli  the  Bible.  He  wished  to  prepare  a  revised  and 
larger  book,  saying,  "2%ere  is  no  one  else  who  can  do  it/^ 
And  he  seems  to  have  been  correct  in  this  feeling,  for  the 
Hymn  Book  has  been  reprinted  since,  witli  very  little 
change.  He  felt  praise  to  be  a  very  important  part  of 
worship,  and  never  omitted  it  from  family  prayers.  Even 
after  his  children  were  grown  up,  and  he  left  with  no  one 
to  help  him  in  singing,  he  would  sing  alone,  chanting  most 
frequently,  as  he  could  best' manage  chants  on  the  instru- 
ment. 


-  23  — 

'I'lie  last  iiiinil»er  of  liis  A  linanac  contains  the  statenieiil, 
that  tlie  Cherokee  Iiil)le  Society  had  then  heen  in  exist- 
ence seventeen  .years,  and  the  Mission  Chun-h  aid  Semi- 
nary at  Park  Hill,  near  Tahle(]uah,  was  contributinir  Sl'"^ 
per  year  for  foreijrn  missions.  Thus,  in  every  department 
of  his  work,  there  was  the  evidence  of  excellent  plaiminir, 
a  clear  takinjr  in  of  dnn|rers  and  wants,  and  a  healthy 
•rrowth. 

The  practical  <:ood  sense,  antl  the  ten«ler,  charitable 
Christian  spirit  of  Dr.  Worcester  is  seen  in  the  view  which 
he  took  of  the  relation  of  denominations  of  Christians  to 
each  other,  where  only  unimportant  matters  were  involved. 
He  was  a  Conj<rrc^'ationalist  from  education  and  from  prin- 
ciple. Yet  he  had  no  feeling  to  prevent  him  from  be- 
cominjra  nn'mberof  a  Tresbytery,  whenever  circumstances 
preventeil  his  having:  access  to  a  Congrejrational  Asso- 
ciation, or  from  bcin;.'  a  faithful  attendant  at  its  meetinjjs, 
even  when  «listance  made  it  <IilVicult.  When  with  the 
Cherokees,  in  their  <»ld  country,  he  and  his  associates  did 
not  orjranize  a  new  and  separate  I-'c<lesiastical  body,  but 
became  at  once  faithful  members  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Maryville.  When  they  came  to  the  new  country  ami 
everything;  was  to  be  or^ranized  anew,  the  Coiiirrej^ational 
form  was  adopted. 

The  "Confession  «»f  Faith"  .•md  the  "Covenant  of  the 
Chiir.h  at  Park  Hill,"  ad(>pte<I  .lune  4,  ls37,  were  prepared 
by  him.  The  creed  is  very  plain  and  very  simple;  but 
whether  the  old  or  the  n*  tf  creed,  for  substance.  I  do  not 
know  only  one  leels  on  readinL'  it  a  lonfrim.'  to  rest  in  it 
entirely. 

In  the  remarks  accompaiiyin;:  it.  Dr.  Worcester  says: 
"The  Churches  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,  t'ommonly  called 
Presbyterian,  are  not  as  at  present  organized,  I'resby  terian, 
l)Ut  Con^repitional.  The  ditVerence  is  not  in  doctrine,  but 
in  the  mode  of  Church  (lovernment. 

"Each  Church  has  its  own  Confession  of  I'aith  and 
Covenant.  Those  here  printed  are  n«»t  the  Confission  of 
Kallh  and  Covenant  «»f  all  Con«,'regational  Churches,  but 
of  the  Cluirch  at   Park    Hill. 


—  24  — 

"  We  require  those  whom  we  receive  from  the  world  to 
our  communion,  publicly  to  assent  to  oiir  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Covenant.  The  Confession  of  Faith  is,  there- 
fore, made  to  include  only  a  few  of  the  most  important 
doctrines  of  Christian  Faith,  expressed  in  terms  easily 
understood,  that  we  may  not  exclude  such  as  our  Saviour 
accepts. 

"  We  examine  those  who  offer  themselves  for  admission 
to  the  Church,  and  receive  only  such  as  we  are  led  to  hope 
have  become  children  of  God,  by  the  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

*'  Those  who  are  received  are  received  by  vote  of  the 
Church,  and  if  any  are  expelled,  they  are  expelled  by  vote 
of  the  Church." 

And  in  his  letter  to  the  Brethren  and  Sisters,  he  adds : 
"Remember  it  is  not  the  joining  of  the  Church,  but  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwelling  in  your  heart,  and  governing  3'our 
life  ;— not  the  maldng  of  a  solemn  vow,  but  the  keeping  of 
it,  which  proves  your  title  to  eternal  life.  You  are  the 
purchase  of  the  Saviour's  blood— tlie  blood  of  the  Son  of 
(rod.     Let  your  life  honor  your  Redeemer." 

Asa  preacher  he  was  simple  and  earnest,  and  as  a  pas- 
tor tender  and  winning — in  spirit  he  was  an  Edward  Pay- 
son.  One  of  his  daughters  says  to  me  :  "  I  wish  to  mention 
a  characteristic  of  my  father's  preaching,  Avliich  I  never 
saw  so  strongly  exhibited  in  any  other  man ;  it  was  his 
living  faithfully  up  to  the  declaration — 'I  am  determined 
to  know  nothing  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  him 
crucified.'  He  made  this  mean  that  he  would  never  preach 
a  sermon,  on  whatever  subject,  in  which  he  would  not  be- 
fore its  close,  so  plainly  bring  in  Redemption  by  Christ  as 
that  all  might  embrace  it  if  they  would.  His  skill  in 
making  this  come  in  naturally,  tvith  whatever  subject  or 
text  he  might  be  handling,  seemed  to  me  remarkable." 

In  the  "Reminiscences"  of  Mrs.  Boudinot,  I  find  this 
reference  :  "  When  journeying  to  Arkansas  we  did  not  on 
every  Saturday  eve  find  it  consistent  to  put  up  for  the  Sab- 


bath  near  a  i»reacliing  place,  consequently  spent  the  day 
in  our  tents  as  \ve  would  in  our  dwellings  when  deprived 
ol*  thifi  privilege.  On  one  such  occasion  the  writer  was 
reading  to  her  husband  and  children  the  Biography  of 
William    Carey,  the  early  English  missionary   to   India. 

Mr.  i< ,  whose  lamily  tent  was  near  by,  came  to  our  tent 

door,  saying  :  '  Please  tell  me  what  you  are  reading?  '  In  a 
lew  words  I  sketched  the  outline  of  the  life  of  this  truly 
great  man,  who  left  the  shoemaker's  bench  and  with  his 
young  family  went  to  India  at  a  period  when  trials,  such  as 
modern  missionaries  know  nothing  of,  met  him  for  a  series 
of  years,  but  who  in  hisclosingyears  enjoyed  a  large  release, 
and  died  a  great  Oriental  scholar,  freed  from  the  poverty 
which  at  times  closely  pursue*!  himself  and  family.  Then 
I   added:     'An*!   since  the  days  «>f  the  Apostle  Paul,  who 

has   e<iiMillcd    himV"       .Mr.   II replied,   empliatically  : 

'  You  are  describing  our  missionary,  liev.  Samuel  A.  Wor- 
cester; and  I  hope  to  see  the  day  wlien  his  labor  for  us 
shall  be  appreciated,  and  he  be  at  the  head  of  a  College 
among  tlie  rherokees.  Our  school  fund  is  ample,  as  you 
know.'  This  honor  neither  liveti  to  see,  but  the  recent 
institution  at  Vinita,  under  the  care  and  supp«)rt  of  the 
.\merlcan  Home  .Missionary  Society,  an«l  in  charge  of  He\ . 
I'rof.  Isaac  N.  (untlall,  enjoys  his  worthy  name,  much  to 
the  gratification  of  his  children,  his  vrrandchildren,  and 
one  surviving  associate— imleed,  of  a  grateful  people,  who 
are  dellgiited  In  knowing  that  this  new  seat  of  learning  Is 
behi},'  so  bles-ed  to  the  rising  generation  of  tin*  Indian 
race." 

lint  his  anxious  mind  lal»ored  earnestly  in  interpreting 
and  giving  to  the  Chen*keesthe  Bible.  HesuU'ereda  long 
and  very  painful  illness,  during  which,  on  his  bed,  he  con- 
tinued his  work,  with  his  interpreti-r,  on  the  Hible,  In 
Cherokee,  as  long  as  he  could  use  his  ])en,  and  then  dic- 
tated as  long  as  he  could  command  his  thoughts  for  the 
work,  the  wlille  being  obliged  to  He  In  one  position,  and 
that  On  his  f'u<( . 


26 


"I  would  be  willing  to  live  for  years,  suffering  as  I  do 
now,"  he  exclaimed,  "if  I  could  only  finish  the  work  of 
giving  the  Cherokees  the  Bible." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Torrey,  of  the  Cherokee  Mission,  wrote  : 

"  The  Lord  has  removed  the  main  prop  of  our  mission, 
and  taken  our  dear  brother  Worcester  to  himself.  He 
died  on  Wednesday,  April  20  (1859),  at  a  quarter  before 
six  in  the  morning.  His  death  w^as  very  quiet,  entirely 
without  a  struggle.  He  suffered  intensely,  but  bore  all 
with  wonderful  patience  and  cheerfulness. 

"  It  was  a  great,  a  very  great  trial  for  him  to  give  up  the 
work  of  translation  ;  he  clung  to  it  more  closely  than  he 
clung  to  life,  and  reluctantly  gave  it  over  when  it  became 
a  physical  impossibility  for  him  to  continue  it  any  longer. 
The  Cherokee  of  Thessalouians,  Titus,  Philemon  and  part 
of  Hebrews  is  a  monument  to  liis  perseverance  and  his 
eager  desire  to  complete  the  work  which  (lod  bad  entrusted 
to  his  hands. 

*'  For  some  time  after  he  had  been  obliged  to  lay  aside 
the  work,  if  a  question  were  presented  to  him  in  regard  to 
the  rendering  or  the  meaning  of  a  passage,  he  would  arouse 
himself  and  throw  his  whole  soul  into  the  matter  with  an 
energy  which  we  felt  could  not  but  be  injurious,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  call  his  mind  to  the  subject  as  little  as 
possible. 

"  Of  the  magnitude  of  the  loss  we  have  sustained  in  this 
bereavement  it  is  needless  for  me  to  speak.  It  will  be 
long,  very  long,  before  we  find  it  out  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth. 

"It  is  a  loss  to  this  people  which  I  fear  can  never  be 
repaired." 

"I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  thy  likeness," 
was  his  expression  in  view  of  death,  and  it  indicated  the 
longing  to  be  freed  from  sin,  which  ruled  his  life. 


rO/^ 


A  small  neat  shaft  of  Rutland  marble  marks  the  place 
at  Park  Hill  where  the  mortal  part  awaits  the  last  trum- 
pet'.s  call  to  immortality. 

On  the  two  sides  of  the  sliaft  are  the  names  of  his  two 
wives.     The  faoe  hears  this  inscription  : 

''JU:\.  -.   A.   W()RrP:STEIl.  D.  1)., 

For  34  years  a  Missionary  of  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreijrn  Missions  anion jr  the  Cherokees. 
To  his  work  they  owe  their  Bihle  and  Hynm  Book.'' 

To  this  ^iHnl  man.  and  to  such  jrood  men  as  have  been 
Hent  to  us  as  Missionaries  and  Missionary  Teachers,  we 
owe  largely  our  advaneed  position  amon^  Indian  tribes, 
and  the  pre<Mous  advantajjcs  we  now  enjoy. 

We  echo  the  senliment  of  Dr.  Alden,  Secretary  of  the 
American  Board,  in  his  recent  address  at  the  Seventy- 
fifth  Anniversary  of  I'ark  Street  Ciiurch,  Boston,  where 
J)r.  Worcester  was  ordained  as  a  Minister  of  the  Gospel, 
and  as  a  Foreijrn  Missionary:  "Let  his  name,  SAMn-.i. 
A.  WoucK.'^TKH,  and  his  hist<»ry,  never  be  f«»rgotten  in 
eo!iiieetion  with  tlie  ( Jeor^la  Penitentiary,  Chiekamau^'^.i, 
Missionary  Hidge,  the  weary,  travfic  exodus  to  .\rkaiis:is. 
and  tlie  Academy  which  now  bears  his  name  at  \'init:», 
in  the  Indian  TerritMry." 

May  the  .\cademy,  whos*-  anniversary  \n  e  celebrate  to- 
day, be  worthy  of  the  name  it  bears —committed  to  every 
^ood  w«»rk  and  stiujf^linjr  heroically,  even  at  cost  of  suf- 
fering, to  be  a  lilessln^^  to  the  Cherokee  Nation,  for  whom 
the  noble  Worcester  ^-ave  his  life. 


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