Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1853-02-09
Com m
FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE,
WAH-W-CATOCAH,
OR, WOLF.

been we'll established for honesty, simplicity
and hospitality and this doubtless would
have been his characteristic to this day, but
for the introduction by the white man., the
pretended christian, God save the mark"
Ofthe accursed fire water" into his wigwam
and around his council fires.
Until they had been deceived and injured
by the double-tongue Of the pale faces that
zane in among them with their hypocritical
pretcnsions Of friendship, the word of an In
dian was always sacred, and his promises
performed with answering fidelity. And
the incidents we shall here detail, exhibit
this trait in the character of Zone, who, though
despoiled of his birth-right and defrauded Of
his natural and dearest rights by those whose
power and force surrounded him, puts to
the blush the bonds, securities and safeguards
that the whites require Of one another.
Prior to the treaty of 1885, there lived in
Haywood county, a Cherokee Indian, known
as Wah-w-catocah, or Standing Wolf"
He possessed all the characteristics of his
tribe-honest, hospitable and unsuspecting
in his native simplicity, possessing more than
an ordinary share of the physical power of
his race, with all the courage to make a man
good and great. But unfortunately, he pro-
cured from the white nan the fatal " fire
water and soon he acquired the habit OF
using it to drunkenness whenever it was to
be obtained. When intoxicated, he was a ter
ror to his race boisterous, violent and full
of revenge. All who knew him, feared and
summed him all the good qualities of the
Indian savage were perverted into the most
fendish and brutal passions, so much so, that
he lost all of that respect and confidence that
he once enjoyed with both the Indian and
the christians, who had sold him the debasing
poison. He was then an outcast but not
by the white mar on account of drunken
ness, but because they feared him!
IN 1878, the Indian country was filled
with United States troops, preparatory tt
removing the Indians west of the "Fathel
of waters" and being engaged to assist il
this work, | kept a journal Of some passins
events and although fourteen years have
passed by, yet the events of those days ar
still fresh in my memory.
The order of tho commanding Genera
reached our post in the night of the Sd o
June, 1888, directing the officers to arres
all the Indians not ready or willing to g
west. Preparations for carrying this orde
into effect occupied the night of the 3r(
and ourr~company was divided into thre
squads. One officer and some few men wer
left at the fort to take charge of the amml
milton, provision, &c., while the other two d
visions went out to arrest an innocent an
unofending people. / was interpreter f
one of the parties, After we had succeedC
In arousing several families from their peac
full and quiet slumbers, and a~rresting ther
placing u guard over all that were take
compelling each family to bid q long adieu
his humble but much beloved home-a hor
and country endeared to them by a thousal
fond associations, where they had roam
free as the air amid their native mountain
where they were born, and where rested t
bones of their fathers. Every creek, pat
%ravine, mountain and cave was familiar
them. Here they had listened to the song
Whippoorwill, and dreamed of the loved a
lost in the spirit land" All these to be aba
doned, where cluster all their fond recoll
tons, to be driven to an untried and unkno7
countTY to them.
cast behind, cs they slowly moved of. fir,
their deserted "wigwams leaving all Il
was near and dear to them-their focks
cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, &C., left a pr
to the wild beasts of the forest, or to
swallowed up by the more greedy avarice
the white man. Here was a scene suficit
to move the sympathies of the hardest hea
for my w part, | felt that it was dealt
ont more than death to this unfortunate,
ficted people.
The work was continued until we came
the house of an aged Patriarch with wht
1 had been acquainted from childhood.
h"u OhOO llNeu u CIOSc nelgnDOr TO me anu /
done me many an honest days work-t
was MISUNDERSTANDING from his hal
prior to his removal to this part of the natl
l feared we would have trouble with him
Some time before his removal to where
now find him, he had fallen in with a Me
odlst itinerant missionary and had been h
PLY converted to- the religion of the Bible
This, however, was unknown to US. WI
we called on him, we expected still to t
the bloody savage.
his family consisted of three grown so
three or four daughters and a. step son.
the arrival of the troops at his house, he &
his family were told what we had come f
that the General of the Army required t
he should leave all, and at once 90 to,
Fort. On hearing our message, it seen
that he almost sank beneath the weigh
feeling that possessed him. He gazed in
lence, looking on his wife and children; &
after some moments had passed, | asked /
for his firearms. He spoke to his sons, e.
one stepped to the place Of deposit, went
the yard, discharged them at a tree and Il
handed them to me. "See, said he,
children are almost naked, and in that Ii
is a web of cloth. | now beg that my v
and these little ones remain here a few d.
until that web be wove out, so that we Il
be able to clothe them. l and my sons
be your prisoners and go with you, but lie
my wife and these little ones, a few DAYS,
til you are near ready to leave with us
the far west, and | will come and take I'll
to your Fort myself"
l said Wah-w-catocah, our comma
are positive and without exceptions, We
have heretofore found you an honest man
grant this request, | am responsible,
have no other security than my knowle
Of you for strict honesty. l will howe
take that responsibility"
This seemed to some extent to relieve /
and leave being granted him to prepare s.
wood for his family, he asked permissio
pray with his dear ones before the sep
ton. How every nerve of my system th
cd at this request. We had been in ser
Of the, US ). for near a year, with all sort
dissipation and wickedneSs around us
scarcely ever n pious thought entering
minds; when this is considered and the
mcr habits of the poor Indian thought
the reader will have some idea Of the feel
it produced. Ii he and his sons had me
ut the door OF his ~wigwanl with arms pre-
ted, it would not have produced such ex
ment. | Of course unhesitatingly gra.
his request, and the old man took frc
shelf u hymn book, of the Methodist chu
translated and printed in the Cherokee