The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-09-01

= and after carrying portion 70 the Mico
(head chief,0 the warriors rub themselves
+ with the remainder.
J Then some tobacco. Of q peculiar kind,
I called ltan chule-pue-puggee told mans
. tobacco Is brought toy two Officials and the
1 warriors all repair TO the house of the Nlico,
q ana each secure portion of it, The Mio1
a and the warriors then walk touFt time, round
the hre, and every time they face the east
, they throw little tobacco into the fire.
They then face TO the west
2 Next, cane Is set mp iu the cabin OF the
2 MIco. with two white feather, at the end of
E It. One of the Fish elan ~Iet-lo.gul-eee)
. taxes tins cane, Just as the sun b. setting.
] and proceeds to the river lor nearest waterD
followed by all the warriors When NE gets
halfway he gives the death-whoop. and re-
peats 1t four times before he reaches the
water. The warriors form q compact body
r on the edge of the water. The caue-b bearer
/ plants II on the bank, then every man puts
t a grain of the old mans tabacco on their
heads and IN each year. Then they each
! throw little into the water and plunge in,
2 and each picks up four pebbles With these
they cross themselves four times on the
breast, each time casting one of the pebbles
into the water and sounding the death
whoop. They then battle, and take the cane
and plant il in the center of the square and
visit from house TO house About ten at
Mad dance and by daydawn the festival
of the BOos-ke-tow Is over.
: On this occasion, a general amnesty for
offences committed during the past is pr1-
claimed All quarrels cease. The fugitive
may return home. All crimes are sponged
out, homicide alone excepted. The mex,
orable rule OF life Tor life overrules even
this general amnesty
All the tribes had the greeu-corn dance
but 1t was more protractrQ and impbsin,,
among the Creeks
The Muscogees were a powerful coufed-
eracy, lying south of the Cherokees and
east Of the Choctaws They received and
Incorporated within themselves any broken
tribe that came to them for refuge assigned
them district to live in, allowed them to-
retain their usual customs and language
but required their aid for the common de-
| fence. This conglomeratiou of tribes ac-
counts for the fact noted by all the early
/ travellers that sometimes, even in Coutigu-
! Gus villages, different dialect prevailed
They were called Greeks from the numer-
Gus water courses in their territory upon
which their towns were generally situated
/ and they were divided into the upper and
lower Greeks the latter sometimes called
Seminoles. In l773-I Bartram, the natur-
alist, travelled through the Cherokee, Greek.
and Choctaw nations and has recorded
many interesting details of their customs
the westward, fought their way through
many tribes, and halted in the forks of the
Okemulgee and 0oouee, in the present State
of Georgia Here Bartram found the YES
tiges of an ancient metropolis mounds
terraces, squares, and entertainments enclos-
ing large area The cleared land extended
up and down the river fifteen or twenty
miles, and was then called the Okemulgee
old fields Here they concentrated and
resisted their enemies through whose country
they had fought their way. Here too. thew
were attacked by the Namasees once 4 for
midable tribe in South Carolina, and whom
the Greeks, after many bloody encounters
had nearly eXterminated; and the Savana.
Cguchees, Santees, and others, shared the
same tate. The Greeks early entered into
friendly negotiation with the British au-
thorities in Charleston, and their amicable
relrtions were never disturbed But they
made war on the Spaniards of East Florida
for giving shelter to the Yamasees, aud even
threatened st. Augustine.
Owing to the number Of their enpruie.
the Indians usually settled in towns or viii
lagos. The ground they cultivated I'M corn.
beans, potatoes, pumpkiLs, aud melons was
under common enclosure in which each
family had its particular portion Among
the upper Greeks, some of these villages
were large and populOus. The old Uchee
town, for example, on the upper waters of
the AppalachlcOla, contained, in liza. over
1000 inhabitants. Ia 1898, Col. Hawkins,
so long United States agent enumeratea
fifty towns in the Greek nation. The APP
palachicOla town was considered the mother
/ town of the Greek conlederacy Ii was
sacred to peace. No human blood was al
lowed to be shed i'm it, No capital punish
ments were there inflicted, Criminals were
sent beyond its limits for punishment, and
all treaties for peace were there negotiated
To
up, was known as the Bloody town. There
all criminals were put 70 death, and there
the MicOs his chiefs and warriors, assembled
to prepare for war
In or near most of these towns .nere we're
evidences of occupation by numerous
people long preceding the advent Of the
Auscogees, but no tradition as to what they
were, or what became of them. Their
mounds. embankments, and terraces re-
NAMED, and the fields that had been cleared
OF the primitive forest but nothing more.
The Muscogees claim to have come into the
country from the southwest, beyond the
Mississippi, before Charleston was settled
by the English, and their tradition as 10
whence they came, aud why they left their
native country, is very nearly the same as
the Natchez, as related by DuPatz. Upon
the downfall of the NatcheZ couiederacy,
the Muscogees rose to power, vanquished
every nation they came i'm collision with,
except the Choctaws and Incorporated the
and suppiiants into their own
body In l79S, in the fifty towns visited
by Bartram, two-thirds Of them spoke diff
ferent dialects.
In 177l, Captain Roman, of the British
army, passed from Mobile, 10y land, through
the Chootaw nation to the Chickasaws, and
down the TombigOee river Ho
crossed the head waters of Dog river 10
Bogue Hooma (Red Creek,) and there eu-
Cd he {
divided into two districts the eastern called
la. o. she Small District the
western was called Oscoo-la-Faylaya. There
veg6 some seventy villages
He found the Chickasaw- chiefly couceu-
rated in = large, rolling prairie, some thre
niles square. They had Il continuous town
divided into seven Villages: Melatan, hat
md feather Chatetan, coppertown Chick
ifalaya, long town Hickaha, stand still
jhuccaessa, great town; IucEahaw, weed
own Ash-wic-boO.ma, red grass
This last was fortified w.;h pirEet=, and
vas where the unfortunate D'Atagnette had
)een defeated wheA be came from Canada To-
meet BienvilIe
As hunters and warriors the Chckasaws
rave had no superioFs on the continent.
Never numerous-and frequently at war
hey never failed to defend their country
rom invasion, but were az last expelled, or
ather seduced away by the predominating
raft Of the whites As long as their ancient
rings, and the pure blood, retained the AS
the Ch!.kasaws and ChUctaWs
elected evesy proposal for the purchase OF
he:g country But when the hali-brecds
II hybrid races became predominant, accu-
INFLATED wealth and monopolized authority.
he county, which their foreiathers had s."
ong defended, was sold to the United states
or ONLY 1.-THE Of it, real value. With I'D
vent their towns, their fields, and the bones
If their ancestors; and they made their sad
md reluctant exodus, with but single con-
solemn promise end covenant
II this Great Republic, that the.T new ter
.itory should never be encrJached upon
hat their independence should De- maintain
,d-their laws and Institutions respected,
md that theY should be, ina all respects