Cherokee. Meaning unknown, but possibly from Creek tciloki, "people of a different speech." The middle and upper dialects substitute l for r.

Also called:

Alligewi or Alleghanys, a people appearing in Delaware tradition who were perhaps identical with this tribe.
Ani'-Kitu'hwagi, own name, from one of their most important ancient settlements, and extended by Algonquian tribes to the whole.
Ani'-Yûn'-wiya', own name, meaning "real people."
Bäniatho, Arapaho name (Gatschet, MS., B. A. E.).
Entari ronnon, Wyandot name, meaning "mountain people."
Manteran', Catawba name, meaning "coming out of the ground."
Ochie`tari-ronnon, a Wyandot name.
Oyata' ge`ronóñ, Iroquois name, meaning "inhabitants of the cave country."
Shánaki, Caddo name.
Shánnakiak, Fox name (Gatschet, Fox MS., B. A. E.).
Talligewi, Delaware name (in Walam Olum), see Alligewi.
Tcálke, Tonkawa name.
Tcerokiéco, Wichita name.
Uwatáyo-róno, Wyandot name, meaning "cave people."

Connections. —The Cherokee language is the most aberrant form of speech of the Iroquoian linguistic family.

Location. —From the earliest times of which we have any certain knowledge the Cherokee have occupied the highest districts at the southern end of the Appalachian chain, mainly in the States of Tennessee and North Carolina, but including also parts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia. (See also Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas.)

Subdivisions and Villages: There were anciently three Cherokee dialects which probably corresponded in some measure to the three groups of towns into which early traders and explorers divided the tribe. These groups, with the towns belonging to each according to the Purcell map, but following as far as possible the Handbook (Hodge, 1907, 1910) orthography, are as follows:

Lower Settlements:

Estatoee, 2 towns:


(1) Old Estatoee on Tugaloo River below the junction of Chattanooga and Tullalah Rivers, in Oconee County, S. C.; and (2) Estatoee in the northwestern part of Pickens County.
Keowee, 2 towns:

(1) Old Keowee on Keowee River near Fort George, Oconee County, S.C., and (2) New Keowee on the headwaters of Twelve-mile Creek in Pickens County, S.C., the latter also called probably Little Keowee.
Kulsetsiyi, 3 towns:

(1) on Keowee River, near Fall Creek, Oconee County, S.C.; (2) on Sugartown or Cullasagee Creek near Franklin, Macon County, N.C.; (3) on Sugartown Creek, near Morganton, Fannin County, Ga. Oconee, on Seneca Creek near Walhalla, Oconee County, S.C.
Qualatchee, 2 towns:

(1) on Keowee River, S.C.; (2) on the headwaters of Chattahoochee River, Ga.
Tomassee, 2 towns:

on Tomassee Creek of Keowee River, Oconee County, S.C.; (2) on Little Tennessee River near the entrance of Burningtown Creek, Macon County, S.C.
Toxaway, on Toxaway Creek, a branch of Keowee River, S.C.
Tugaloo, on Tugaloo River at the junction of Toccoa Creek, Habersham County, Ga.
Ustanali, several towns so called:

(1) on Keowee River below the present Fort George, Oconee County, S.C.; (2) probably on the waters of Tuckasegee River in western North Carolina; (3) just above the junction of Coosawatee and Conasauga Rivers to form the Oostanaula River in Gordon County, Ga.; (4) perhaps on Eastanollee Creek of Tugaloo River, Franklin County, Ga.; (5) perhaps on Eastaunaula Creek flowing into Hiwassee River in McMinn County, Tenn.; and (6) possibly another.

Middle Settlements:

Cowee, about the mouth of Cowee Creek of Little Tennessee River, about 10 miles below Franklin, N.C.
Coweeshee, probably between the preceding and Yunsawi.
Ellijay, 4 towns:


(1) on the headwaters of Keowee River, S.C.; (2) on Ellijay Creek of Little Tennessee River near Franklin, N. C.; (3) about Ellijay in Gilmer County, Ga.; and (4) on Ellejoy Creek of Little River near Marysville in Blount County, Tenn.
Itseyi, 3 towns:

(1)on Brasstown Creek of Tugaloo River, Oconee County, S.C., (2) on Little Tennessee River near Franklin, N.C.; and (3) on upper Brasstown Creek of Hiwassee River, Towns County, Ga.
Jore, on Iola Creek, an upper branch of Little Tennessee River, N.C.
Kituhwa, on Tuckasegee River and extending from above the junction of the Oconaluftee nearly to the present Bryson City, Swain County, S.C.
Nucassee, at the present Franklin, N.C.
Stikayi, 3 towns:

(1)on Sticoa Creek, near Clayton, Rabun County, Ga.; (2) on Tuckasegee River at the old Thomas homestead just above Whittier, Swain County, N.C.; and (3) on Stekoa Creek of Little Tennessee River, a few miles below the junction of Nantahala, Graham County, N.C.
Tawsee, on Tugaloo River, Habersham County, Ga.
Tekanitli, in upper Georgia.
Tessuntee, on Cowee River, south of Franklin, N.C.
Tikaleyasuni, on Burningtown Creek, an upper branch of Little Tennessee River, western North Carolina.
Watauga, 2 towns:

(1)on Watauga Creek, a branch of Little Tennessee River, a few miles below Franklin, N.C.; (2) traditionally located at Watauga Old Fields, about Elizabethtown, on Watauga River, in Carter County, Tenn.
Yunsawi, on West Buffalo Creek of Cheowa River, Graham County, N.C.

Over-the-Hills and Valley Settlements, or Overhill Settlements:

Chatuga, 3 towns:


(1) on Chattooga River, on the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia; (2) probably on upper Tellico River, Monroe County, Tenn.; (3) perhaps on Chattooga River, a tributary of the Coosa, in northwest Georgia.
Chilhowee, on Tellico River in Monroe County, Tenn., near the North Carolina border.
Cotocanahut, between Natuhli and Niowe.
Echota, 5 towns:

(1)Great Echota, on the south side of Little Tennessee River, a short distance below Citico Creek, Monroe County, Tenn.; (2) Little Echota on Sautee Creek, a head stream of the Chattahoochee west of Clarksville, Ga.; (3) New Echota, at the junction of Oostanaula and Conasauga Rivers, Gordon County, Ga.; (4) the old Macedonian Mission on Soco Creek, of the North Carolina Reservation; and (5) at the great Nacoochee mound. (See Naguchee below.)
Hiwassee, 2 towns:

(1) Great Hiwassee on the north bank of Hiwassee River at the present Savannah Ford, above Columbus, Polk County, Tenn.; (2) at the junction of Peachtree Creek with Hiwassee River, above Murphy, N.C., probably the Guasuli of the De Soto Chroniclers.
Natuhli, on Nottely River, a branch of Hiwassee River at or near the site of the present Ranger, Cherokee County, N.C.
Nayuhi, seems to have been the name of four towns:

(1) probably of the Lower Settlements, on the east bank of Tugaloo River, S. C.; (2) on the upper waters of Tennessee River, apparently in North Carolina, and (3 and 4) in the same general region, the last three being mentioned by Bartram (1792).
Sitiku, on Little Tennessee River at the entrance of Citico Creek, Monroe County, Tenn.
Tahlasi, on Little Tennessee River about Talassee Ford in Blount County, Tenn.
Tallulah, 2 towns:

(1) On the upper Tallulah River, Rabun County, Ga.; (2) on Tallulah Creek of Cheowa River in Graham County, S.C.
Tamahli, 2 towns:

(1) On Valley River a few miles above Murphy, about the present Tomatola, Cherokee County, N.C.; (2) on Little Tennessee River about Tomotley Ford, a few miles above Tellico River in Monroe County, Tenn.
Tellico, 4 towns:

(1) Great Tellico, at Tellico Plains on Tellico River, Monroe County, Tenn.; (2) Little Tellico, on Tellico Creek of Little Tennessee River about 10 miles below Franklin, N.C.; (3) (also called Little Tellico at times) on Valley River about 5 miles above Murphy, N.C.; (4) Tahlequah, capital of the Cherokee Nation in what is now Oklahoma.
Tennessee, 2 towns:

(1) on Little Tennessee River a short distance above its junction with the main stream in east Tennessee; (2) on an extreme head branch of Tuckasegee River, above the present Webster, N.C.
Toquo, on Little Tennessee River about the mouth of Toco Creek, Monroe County, Tenn.
Tsiyahi, 3 towns:

(1) on a branch of Keowee River, near the present Cheochee, Oconee County, S.C.; (2) a modern settlement on Cheowa River about Robbinsville, N.C.; (3) a former settlement in Cades Cove, on Cover Creek Blount County, Tenn.
Ustanali; according to Purcell's map, there was a town of this name different from those already given, on the upper waters of Cheowa River, Graham County, N.C.

Besides the above, the following settlements are given by Mooney and other writers:

Amahyaski, location unknown.
Amkalali, location unknown.
Amohi, location unknown.
Anisgayayi, a traditional town on Valley River, Cherokee County, N.C.
Anuyi, location unknown.
Aquohee, perhaps at the site of Fort Scott, on Nantahala River, Macon County, N.C.
Atsiniyi, location unknown.
Aumuchee, location unknown.
Ayahliyi, location unknown.
Big Island, on Big Island, in Little Tennessee River a short distance below the mouth of Tellico River.
Briertown, on Nantahala River about the mouth of Briertown Creek, Macon County, N.C.
Broomtown, location unknown.
Brown's Village, location unknown.
Buffalo Fish, location unknown.
Canuga, 2 towns:


(1)apparently on Keowee River, S.C.; (2) a traditional town on Pigeon River probably near Waynesville, Haywood County, N.C.
Catatoga, on Cartoogaja Creek of Little Tennessee River above Franklin, N.C.
Chagee, near the mouth of Chatooga Creek of Tugaloo River at or near Fort Madison, southwest Oconee County, S.C.
Cheesoheha, on a branch of Savannah River in upper South Carolina.
Chewase, on a branch of Tennessee River in East Tennessee.
Chicherohe, on War Woman Creek in the northwestern part of Rabun County, Ga.
Chickamauga, a temporary settlement on Chickamauga Creek near Chattanooga.
Conisca, on a branch of Tennessee River.
Conontoroy, an "out town."
Conoross, on Conoross Creek which enters Keowee or Seneca River from the west in Anderson County, S.C.
Coyatee, on Little Tennessee River about 10 miles below the Tellico, about the present Coytee, Loudon County, Tenn.
Crayfish Town, in upper Georgia.
Creek Path, with Creeks and Shawnee at Gunter's Landing, Ala.
Crowmocker, on Battle Creek which falls into Tennessee River below Chattanooga, Tenn.
Crow Town, on the left bank of Tennessee River near the mouth of Raccoon Creek, Cherokee County, Ala.
Cuclon, an unidentified town.
Cusawatee on lower Coosawatee River in Gordon County, Ga.
Dulastunyi, on Nottely River, Cherokee County, N.C., near the Georgia line.
Dustayalunyi, about the mouth of Shooting Creek, an affluent of Hiwassee River, near Hayesville, Clay County, N.C.
Ecochee, on a head stream of Savannah River in northwest South Carolina or northeast Georgia.
Elakulsi, in northern Georgia.
Etowah, 2 towns:

(1) on Etowah River about the present Hightower, Forsyth County, Ga.; (2) a possible settlement on Hightower Creek of Hiwassee River, Towns County, Ga.
Euforsee, location unknown.
Fightingtown, on Fightingtown Creek, near Morgantown, Fannin County, Ga.
Frogtown, on a creek of the same name, north of Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, Ga.
Guhlaniyi, occupied by Cherokee and Natchez, at the junction of Brasstown Creek with Hiwassee River a short distance above Murphy, N.C.
Gusti, traditional, on Tennessee River near Kingston, Roane County, Tenn.
Halfway Town, about halfway between Sitiku and Chilhowee on Little Tennessee River about the boundary of Monroe and Loudon Counties, Tenn.
Hemptown, on Hemptown Creek near Morgantown, Fannin County, Ga.
Hickory Log, on Etowah River a short distance above Canton, Cherokee County, Ga.
High Tower Forks, probably one of the places called Etowah.
Ikatikunahita, on Long Swamp Creek about the boundary of Forsyth and Cherokee Counties, Ga.
Ivy Log, on Ivy Log Creek, Union County, Ga.
Johnstown, on the upper waters of Chattahoochee River and probably in the northern part of Hall County, Ga.
Kulanunyi, a district or town laid off on the Eastern Cherokee Reserve in Swain and Jackson Counties, N.C. Kanastunyi, on the headwaters of French Broad River near Brevard in Transylvania County, N, C., also possibly a second on Hiwassee River.
Kansaki, 4 towns:

(1) on Tuckasegee River a short distance above the present Webster in Jackson County, N.C.; (2) on the lower course of Canasauga Creek in Polk County, Tenn.; (3) at the junction of Conasauga and Coosawatee Rivers, the later site of New Echota, Gordon County, Ga.; (4) mentioned in the De Soto narratives but perhaps identical with No. 2.
Kanutaluhi, in northern Georgia.
Kawanunyi, about the present Ducktown, Polk County, Tenn.
Kuhlahi, in upper Georgia.
Kulahiyi in northeastern Georgia near Currahee Mountain.
Leatherwood, at or near Leatherwood in the northern part of Franklin County, Ga.
Long Island, at the Long Island in Tennessee River on the Tennessee-Georgia line.
Lookout Mountain Town, at or near the present Trenton, Dade County, Ga.
Naguchee, about the junction of Soquee and Sautee Rivers in Nacoochee Valley at the head of Chattahoochee River, Habersham County, Ga.
Nanatlugunyi, traditional, on the site of Jonesboro, Washington County, Tenn.
Nantahala (see Briertown).
Nickajack, on the south bank of Tennessee River in Marion County, Tenn.
Nununyi, on Oconaluftee River near Cherokee, Swain County, N.C.
Ocoee, on Ocoee River near its junction with the Hiwassee, about Benton, Polk County, Tenn.
Oconaluftee, probably at the present Birdtown, on the Eastern Cherokee Reservation.
Ooltewah, about the present Ooltewah, on Ooltewah Creek, James County, Tenn.
Oothcaloga, on Oothcaloga (Ougillogy) Creek of Oostanaula River near Calhoun, Gordon County, Ga.
Paint Town, on lower Soco Creek, within the reservation in Jackson and Swain Counties, N.C.
Pine Log, on Pine Log Creek in Bartow County, Ga.
Quacoshatchee, in northwest Pickens County, S.C.
Qualla, agency of the Eastern Cherokee on a branch of Soco River, Jackson County, N.C.
Quanusee, location unknown.
Rabbit Trap, in upper Georgia.
Red Bank, on Etowah River, at or near Canton, Cherokee County, Ga.
Red Clay, on Oconaluftee River in Swain County, N.C., Eastern Cherokee Reservation.
Running Water, on the southeast bank of Tennessee River below Chattanooga, near the northwestern Georgia line and 4 miles above Nickajack.
Sanderstown, in northeastern Alabama.
Selikwayi, on Sallacoa Creek probably at or near the present Sallacoa, Cherokee County, Ga.
Seneca, on Keowee River about the mouth of Conneross Creek in Oconee County, S.C.
Setsi, traditional, on the south side of Valley River, about 3 miles below Valleytown, Cherokee County, N.C.
Skeinah, on Toccoa River, Fannin County, Ga.
Soquee, on Soquee River, near Clarksville, Habersham County, Ga.
Spikebuck Town, on Hiwassee River at or near Hayesville, Clay County, N.C.
Spring Place, a mission station in Murray County, Ga.
Standing Peach Tree, on Chattahoochee River, at the mouth of Peachtree Creek, northwest of Atlanta, Ga.
Sutali, on Etowah River, probably in southwestern Cherokee County, Ga.
Suwanee, on Chattahoochee River about the present Suwanee, Gwinnett County, Ga.
Tagwahi, 3 towns:

(1) on Toccoa Creek east of Clarkesville, Habersham County, Ga.; (2) on Toccoa or Ocoee River about the present Toccoa in Fannin County, Ga., (3) perhaps on Persimmon Creek which enters Hiwassee River some distance below Murphy, Cherokee County. N.C.
Takwashnaw, a Lower Cherokee town.
Talahi, location unknown.
Talaniyi, in upper Georgia.
Talking Rock, on Talking Rock Creek, an affluent of Coosawattee River, Ga.
Tasetsi, on the extreme head of Hiwassee River in Towns County, Ga.
Taskigi, 3 towns occupied originally by Tuskegee Indians (see Alabama):

(1) on Little Tennessee River above the junction of the Tellico, Monroe County, Tenn.; (2) on the north bank of Tennessee River just below Chattanooga, Tenn.; (3) perhaps on Tuskegee Creek of Little Tennessee River near Robbinsville, Graham County, N.C.
Tikwalitsi, on Tuckasegee River at Bryson City, Swain County, N.C.
Tlanusiyi, at the junction of Hiwassee and Valley Rivers on the site of Murphy, N.C.
Tocax, location unknown, perhaps connected with Toxaway or Toccoa.
Torsalla, one of the Keowee towns.
Tricentee, one of the Keowee towns.
Tsilaluhi, on a small branch of Brasstown Creek of Hiwassee River, just within the lines of Towns County, Ga.
Tsiskwahi, a district or town in the Eastern Cherokee Reservation, Swam County, N, C.
Tsistetsiyi, on South Mouse Creek, a branch of Hiwassee River in Bradley County, Tenn.
Tistuyi, on the north bank of Hiwassee River at the entrance of Chestua Creek, in Polk County, Tenn., at one time occupied by Yuchi.
Tsudinuntiyi, on lower Nantahala River, in Macon County, N. C.
Tucharechee, location unknown.
Tuckasegee, 2 towns:

(1) about the junction of the two forks of Tuckasegee River, above Webster, Jackson County, N.C.; (2) on a branch of Brasstown Creek of Hiwassee River, in Towns County, Ga.
Turkeytown, on the west bank of Coosa River opposite the present Center, Cherokee County, Ala.
Turniptown, on Turniptown Creek above Ellijay, Gilmer County, Ga.
Turtletown, in upper Georgia.
Tusquittah, on Tusquittee Creek near Hayesville, Clay County, N.C.
Two Runs, on Etowah River at the crossing of the old Indian trail between Coosa and Tugaloo Rivers, Bartow County, Ga.
Ustisti, one of the Lower Towns.
Valleytown, at Valleytown on Valley River, Cherokee County, N.C.
Wahyahi, on upper Soco Creek on the Eastern Cherokee Reservation, Jackson County, N.C.
Wasasa's Village, on Brown's Creek, a southern affluent of Tennessee River in northern Alabama.
Willstown, on Wills Creek, below Fort Payne, De Kalb County, Ala.

History. —There seems to have been a Cherokee migration legend something like that of the Creeks according to which the tribe entered their historic seats from some region toward the northeast. In 1540 De Soto seems to have passed through only one town that has a Cherokee name, but Pardo in 1566 learned of another, Tanasqui, which has a Cherokee appearance and may have given its name to Tennessee River. Continuous contact between the Cherokee and the Whites began after Virginia was settled, when traders from that colony commenced to work their way into the Appalachian Mountains. Contact became more intimate with the founding of the Carolina colonies, and a contingent of 310 Cherokee joined Moore in his attack on the Tuscarora in 1713. In 1730 Sir Alexander Cuming staged a personal embassy to the Cherokee and afterward took seven of the Indians to England with him. In 1738 an enemy more serious even than White men made its first appearance in this tribe, namely smallpox, which cut down their numbers by nearly 50 percent. In 1755 the Cherokee won a great victory over the Abihka Creeks, who forthwith withdrew from the Tennessee River. Relations with the Whites were upon the whole friendly until 1759 when the Indians refused to accede to the demand of the Governor of South Carolina that a number of Indians including two leading chiefs be turned over to him for execution under the charge that they had killed a White man. He had asked also to have 24 other chiefs sent to him merely on suspicion that they entertained hostile intentions. War followed, and the Indians captured Fort Loudon, a post in the heart of their country, August 8, 1760, after having defeated an army which came to relieve it. The year following, however, the Indians were defeated on June 10, by a larger force under Col. James Grant, who laid the greater number of the Middle Cherokee settlements in ashes, and compelled the tribe to make peace. In 1769 they are said to have suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Chickasaw at the Chickasaw Oldfields. On the outbreak of the American Revolution they sided with the British and continued hostilities after its close down to 1794. Meanwhile parties of Cherokee had pushed down Tennessee River and formed new settlements near the present Tennessee-Alabama boundary. Shortly after 1800 missionary work was begun among them, and in 1820 they adopted a regular form of government modeled on that of the United States. In the meantime large numbers of them, wearied of the encroachments of the Whites, had crossed the Mississippi and settled in the territory now included in the State of Arkansas. In 1821 Sequoya, son of a mixed-blood Cherokee woman by a White man, submitted a syllabary of his own devising to the chief men of the nation, and, on their approval, the Cherokee of all ages set about learning it with such zeal that in a few months numbers of them were able to read and write by means of it. In 1822 Sequoya went west to teach his alphabet to the Indians of the western division, and he remained among them permanently. The pressure of the Whites upon the frontiers of the Eastern Cherokee was soon increased by the discovery of gold near the present Dahlonega, Ga., and after a few years of fruitless struggle the nation bowed to the inevitable and by the treaty of New Echota, December 29, 1835, sold all of their territories not previously given up and agreed to remove to the other side of the Mississippi to lands to be set apart for them. These lands were in the northeastern part of the present Oklahoma, and thither the greater part of the tribe removed in the winter of 1838-39, suffering great hardships and losing nearly one-fourth of their number on the way. Before the main migration took place one band of Cherokee had established themselves in Texas where they obtained a grant of land from the Mexican government, but the Texas revolutionists refused to recognize this claim although it was supported by Gen. Sam Houston. In consequence, the Cherokee chief Bowl was killed in 1839 along with many of his men, and the rest were expelled from the State. At the time of the great migration, several hundred Cherokee escaped to the mountains where they lived as refugees until in 1842, through the efforts of William H. Thomas, an influential tender, they received permission to remain on lands set apart for their use in western North Carolina, the Qualla Reservation, where their descendants still reside. The early years of the reestablished Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi were troubled by differences between the faction that had approved removal and that which had opposed it. Afterward the tribal life was entirely disrupted for a few years by the Civil War. In 1867 and 1870 the Delaware and Shawnee were admitted from Kansas and incorporated into the nation. March 3, 1906, the Cherokee government came to an end, and in time the lands were allotted in severalty, and the Cherokee people soon became citizens of the new State of Oklahoma.

Population. —Mooney (1928) estimates that in 1650 there was a total Cherokee population of 22,000. In 1715 a rather careful estimate, yet in all probability too low, gave a total of 11,210 (Lower Cherokee 2,100; Middle 6,350; Upper 2,760), including 4,000 warriors and distributed among 60 villages. In 1720 two estimates were made, of 10,000 and 11,500 respectively, but in 1729 the estimate jumps to 20,000, with 6,000 warriors, distributed in 64 towns. In 1755 a North Carolina estimate gives 5 divisions of the tribe and a total of 2,590 men. In 1760 we find a flat figure of 2,000; in 1761, about 3,000. Even before this time the Cherokee are supposed to have lost heavily from smallpox, intoxicants, and wars with the colonists, but at the time of their forced removal to the west in 1838 those in their old country had increased to 16,542. Those already in the west were estimated at about 6,000. The Civil War interfered with their growth but in 1885 they numbered 19,000, about 17,000 being in the west. In 1902 there were officially reported in the west 28,016 persons of Cherokee blood, including all degrees of admixture, but this includes several thousand persons repudiated by the tribal courts. The Census of 1910 returned 31,489 Cherokee, 29,610 of whom were in Oklahoma, 1,406 in North Carolina, and the rest scattered in 23 other States. In 1923 the report of the United States Indian Office gave 36,432 Cherokee "by blood" in Oklahoma, and 2,515 in North Carolina: total 38,947. In 1930, 45,238 were returned: 40,904 in Oklahoma, 1,963 in North Carolina, and the rest in more then 36 other States. In 1937 the number of eastern Cherokee was given as 3,327.

Connection in which they have become noted. —The Cherokee tribe is one of the most famous in all North America, (1) on account of its size and strength and the prominent part it played in the history of our country, (2) from the fact that the invention of the Cherokee alphabet by Sequoya was the only case of the adoption of a system of writing without immediate White prompting in the annals of our Indians, (3) from the perpetuation of numerous place names from Cherokee sources and of the name itself in counties in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas, and places in some of these States and California, Kentucky, and Arkansas; in Colbert County, Ala.; Cherokee County, Iowa; Crawford County, Kans.; Lawrence County, Ky.; and the name of stations in Louisville, Ky.; Swain County, N. C.; Alfalfa County, Okla.; and San Saba County, Tex. There is a Cherokee City in Benton County, Ark.; Cherokee Dam at Jefferson City, Tenn.; and Cherokee Falls in Cherokee County, S. C. Several prominent Americans were descended from this tribe, including Senator Robert Owen and Will Rogers.

Chiaha. A part of this tribe was encountered by De Soto in 1540, in the territory now forming this State, probably, as shown by Mr. J. Y. Brame, on what is now Burns Island. They are also mentioned in connection with the explorations of Juan Pardo in 1567. (See Georgia.)

Chickasaw. In historic times the Chickasaw claimed the greater part of western Tennessee, and twice drove Shawnee Indians from the Cumberland Valley, the first time with the assistance of the Cherokee, according to the claim of the latter. At an early date they had a settlement on the lower Tennessee River but it is doubtful whether this was in Tennessee or Kentucky. (See Mississippi.)

Kaskinampo. Meaning unknown, though -nampo may be the Koasati word for "many."

Connections. —The Kaskinampo were probably closely related to the Koasati, and through them to the Alabama, Choctaw, and other Muskhogean people.

Location. —Their best-known historic location was on the lower end of an island in the Tennessee River, probably the one now called Pine Island. (See also Arkansas.)

History. —There is every reason to believe that this tribe constituted the Casqui, Icasqui, or Casquin "province" which De Soto entered immediately after crossing the Mississippi River, and it was probably in what is now Phillips County, Ark. We hear of the Kaskinampo next in connection with the expeditions of Marquette and Joliet but do not learn of their exact location until 1701, when they seem to have been on the lower end of the present Pine Island. We are informed, however, by one of the French explorers that they had previously lived upon Cumberland River, and there is evidence that, when they first moved to the Tennessee, they may have settled for a short time near its mouth. Both the Cumberland and the Tennessee were known by their name, and it stuck persistently to the latter stream until well along in the eighteenth century. After the early years of the eighteenth century we hear little more of them, but there is reason to believe that they united with the Koasati.

Population. —Our only clue to the population of the Kaskinampo is in an unpublished report of Bienville, who estimates 150 men, or a total population of about 500.

Connection in which they have become noted. —The Kaskinampo are distinguished only for the prominent part they played in the De Soto narratives and for the application of their name for a time to Tennessee River.

Mosopelia. This tribe probably established themselves on Cumberland River and at one or two points on the Tennessee shore of the Mississippi on their way from Ohio to Mississippi. (See Ofo under Mississippi and Ohio.)

Muskogee. Although we do not have records of any settlement in Tennessee by the true Muskogee, it is probable that some of them occupied part of its territory in prehistoric times, and at a later date their war parties constantly visited it. (See Alabama.)

Natchez. After being driven from Mississippi and Louisiana, one band of Natchez lived among the Cherokee. (See Mississippi.)

Ofo, see Mosopelia.

Shawnee. Meaning "southerners," the best-known variants of the name being the French form Chaouanons, and that which appears in the name of Savannah River.

Also called:

Ani'-Sawanu'gi, by the Cherokee.
Ontwagana, "one who stutters," "one whose speech is unintelligible," applied by the Iroquois to this tribe and many others.
Oshawanoag, by the Ottawa.
Shawala, by the Teton Dakota.

Connections. —The Shawnee belonged to the Algonquian linguistic stock, their closest relatives being the Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo.

Location. —There was scarcely a tribe that divided so often or moved so much as the Shawnee, but one of the earliest historic seats of the people as a whole was on Cumberland River. (See also Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and the District of Columbia, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia.)

Subdivisions and Villages: There were five subdivisions of long standing, Chillicothe, Hathawekela, Kispokotha, Mequachake, and Piqua. The Hathawekela, Kispokotha, and Piqua later formed one body known as Absentee Shawnee. The following names of villages have been preserved:

Bulltown, or Mingo, on Little Kanawha River, W. Va.
Chillicothe, 3 or 4 towns:


(1) on Paint Creek on the site of Oldtown, near Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio; (2) on the Little Miami about the site of Oldtown in Greene County, Ohio; (3) on the Great Miami River at the present Piqua in Miami County; (4) probably the native name of Lowertown (see below).
Conedogwinit, location unknown.
Cornstalk's Town, on Scippo Creek opposite Squaw Town, Pickaway County, Ohio.
Girty's Town, on St. Mary's River, east of Celina Reservoir, Auglaize County, Ohio.
Grenadier Squaw's Town, on Scippo Creek, Pickaway County, Ohio.
Hog Creek, on a branch of Ottawa River in Allen County, Ohio.
Kagoughsage, apparently in Ohio or western Pennsylvania.
Lewistown (and Seneca), near the site of the present Lewistown, Logan County, Ohio.
Lick Town, probably Shawnee, on upper Scioto River, probably near Circleville, Ohio.
Logstown, with Delaware, and Inter Iroquois, on the right bank of Ohio River about 14 miles below Pittsburgh, in Allegheny County, Pa.
Long Tail's Settlement, in Johnson County, Kans.
Lowertown, 2 towns;

(1) on Ohio River just below the mouth of the Scioto and later built on the opposite side of the river about the site of Portsmouth, Ohio; (2) in Ross County, also called Chillicothe.
Mequachake: There were several towns of the name occupied by people of this division; they also had villages on the headwaters of Mad River, Logan County, Ohio.
Old Shawnee Town, on Ohio River in Gallia County, Ohio, 3 miles above the mouth of the Great Kanawha.
Peixtan (or Nanticoke), on or near the lower Susquehanna River in Dauphin County, Pa., possibly on the site of Paxtonville.
Pigeon Town, Mequachake division, on Mad River, 3 miles northwest of West Liberty, Logan County, Ohio.
Piqua, 4 towns:

(1) Pequea on Susquehanna River at the mouth of Pequea Creek, in Lancaster County, Pa.; (2) on the north side of Mad River, about 5 miles west of Springfield, Clark County, Ohio; (3) Upper Piqua on Miami River 3 miles north of the present Piqua in Miami County, Ohio, and (4) Lower Piqua, a smaller village on the site of the modern town of that name, Ohio.
Sawanogi, on the south side of Tallapoosa River in Macon County, Ala; but see Muskogee in Alabama.
Scoutash's Town (or Mingo), near Lewistown, Logan County, Ohio.
Shawneetown, on the west bank of Ohio River about the present Shawneetown, Gallatin County, Ill.
Sonnioto, at the mouth of Scioto River, Ohio, perhaps the same as Lowertown.
Tippecanoe, on the west bank of the Wabash River, just below the mouth of Tippecanoe River in Tippecanoe County, Ind.
Wapakoneta, on the site of the present Wapakoneta, Auglaize County, Ohio.
Will's Town, at the site of Cumberland, Md.

History. —Tradition and the known linguistic connections of the Shawnee indicate that they had migrated to the Cumberland River Valley from the north not long previous to the historic period. They were on and near the Cumberland when French explorers first heard of them, although there are indications that they had been in part on the Ohio not long before. Shortly after 1674 the Hathawekela or that part of the Shawnee afterward so called, settled upon Savannah River, and in 1681 they proved of great assistance to the new colony of South Carolina by driving a tribe known as Westo, probably part of the Yuchi, from the middle Savannah. Early in the following century, or possibly very late in the same century, some of these Hathawekela began to move to Pennsylvania and continued to do so at intervals until 1731. Meanwhile, however, immediately after the Yamasee War, a part had retired among the Creeks, settling first on Chattahoochee River and later on the Tallapoosa, where they remained until some years before the removal of the Creeks to the west. Of the remaining bands of Shawnee- those which had stayed upon the Cumberland- part of the Piqua moved eastward into Pennsylvania about 1678, and more in 1694, so that they were able to welcome their kinsmen from the south a few years later. A French trader named Charleville established himself at Nashville among the rest of the tribe, but soon afterward they were forced out of that region by the Cherokee and Chickasaw. They stopped for a time at several points in Kentucky, and perhaps at Shawneetown, Ill., but about 1730, by permission of the Wyandot, collected along the north bank of the Ohio between the Allegheny and Scioto Rivers. Shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century they were joined by their kinsmen who had been living in Pennsylvania. One Pennsylvania band continued on south to the Upper Creeks with whom they lived for several years before returning north. Their return must have occurred soon after 1760, and they are said to have settled for a time in the old Shawnee country on the Cumberland but were soon ejected by the Chickasaw, this time unassisted by the Cherokee. From the beginning of the French and Indian War to the treaty of Greenville in 1795, the main body of Shawnee were almost constantly fighting with the English or the Americans. They were the most active and pertinacious foes of the Whites in that section. Driven from the Scioto, they settled upon the headwaters of the Miami, and later many of them assisted the Cherokee and Creeks in their wars with the Americans. In 1793, however, one considerable body, on invitation of the Spanish Government, occupied a tract of land near Cape Girardeau, Mo., along with some Delaware. After the treaty of Greenville, the Shawnee were obliged to give up their lands on the Miami, and part retired to the headwaters of the Auglaize, while the more hostile element swelled the numbers of those who had gone to Missouri. In 1798 a part of the Shawnee in Ohio settled on White River, Ind., by invitation of the Delaware. Shortly afterward a Shawnee medicine man named Tenskwatawa, known to the Whites as "the Shawnee prophet," began to preach a new doctrine which exhorted the Indians to return to the communal life of their ancestors, abandoning all customs derived from the Whites. His followers increased rapidly in numbers and established themselves in a village at the mouth of Tippecanoe River, Ind. Their hostile attitude toward the Whites soon becoming evident, they were attacked here in 1811 by Gen. W. H. Harrison and totally defeated. While this war was going on Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa's famous brother, was in the south endeavoring to bring about an uprising among the tribes in that section. In the war between the Americans and British which broke out in 1812 Tecumseh acted as leader of the hostiles and was killed at the battle of the Thames in 1814. In 1825 the Shawnee in Missouri, who are said to have taken no part in these wars, sold their lands, and most of them moved to a reservation in Kansas, but a large part had previously gone to Texas, where they remained until expelled by the American colonists in 1839. About 1831 the Shawnee still in Ohio joined those in Kansas, and about 1845 the Hathawekela, Kispokotha, and Piqua moved from Kansas to Oklahoma and established themselves on Canadian River, becoming known later as the Absentee Shawnee. In 1867, a band which had been living with the Seneca also moved to what is now Oklahoma and came to be known as Eastern Shawnee; and still later the main body became incorporated with the Cherokee. One band, known as Black Bob's band, at first refused to remove from Kansas, but later joined the rest. All have now become citizens of Oklahoma.

Population. —Owing to the number of separate bodies into which this tribe became divided, and their complex history, estimates of Shawnee population in early times are difficult. Mooney (1928) places their entire number at 3,000 in 1650. Estimates made by various writers during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries vary between 1,000 and 2,000, 1,500 being the favorite figure. In 1760 the Abihka and Tallapoosa bands numbered 100 warriors. In 1909 the Eastern Shawnee numbered 107; the Absentee Shawnee, 481; and those incorporated with the Cherokee Nation, about 1,400. The census of 1910 returned only 1,338. In 1923, 166 Eastern Shawnee were enumerated and 551 Absentee, but no figures were given for that part of the tribe in the Cherokee Nation. The census of 1930 gave 1,161, most of whom were in Oklahoma. There were 916 in Oklahoma in 1937.

Connection in which they have become noted. —Although prominent by virtue of its size, the Shawnee tribe is noteworthy rather on account of numerous migrations undertaken by its various branches and the number of contacts established by them, involving the history of three-quarters of our southern and eastern States. They constituted the most formidable opposition to the advance of settlements through the Ohio Valley, and under Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa attempted an extensive alliance of native tribes to oppose the Whites The name Shawnee is preserved in various forms in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois, and most conspicuously of all, perhaps, in the name of the river Savannah and the city of Savannah, Ga. There are places called Shawnee in Park County, Colo.; Johnson County, Kans.; Perry County, Ohio; Pottawatomie County, Okla.; and Converse County, Wyo.; Shawnee-on-Delaware in Monroe County, Pa.; Shawnee in Claiborne County, Tenn.; Shawanese in Luzerne County, Pa.; Shawano in Shawano County, Wis.; Shawneetown in Gallatin County, Ill., and Cape Girardeau County, Mo.

Tali. A tribe met by De Soto near the great bend of the Tennessee and found in the same region by the earliest English and French explorers, living in what is now northern Alabama and perhaps also in Tennessee. It is probable that they were a part of the Creeks (q. v.).

Tuskegee. One band of Tuskegee formed a settlement or settlements in the Cherokee Nation. (See Cherokee, and Tuskegee under Alabama.)

Yuchi. The greater part of the Yuchi probably lived at one period in and near the mountains of eastern Tennessee though one band of them was on the Tennessee River just above Muscle Shoals and there is evidence for an early occupation of the Hiwassee Valley. Some remained with the Cherokee until a very late date. (See Georgia.)