The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1883-07-12
INDIAN ANNALS.

Ooi' l. W. avery, Writes LrOul
Canton, Ga, to the Augusta Chroni-
Gle and Constitutionalist as follows
81 have met but three persons who
had a direct personal acquaintance
with the red men in this section. and
they are Judge Donaldson and Mr..
and Mrs. Reinhardt. All of these
reliable and intelligent persons re-
count host of recollections of the
Indian, and they strikingly agree in
their variations.
All of these venerable chronicles
of those days unite 10 bearing strong
testimony to the fair, just character
of the Cherokee Indians. They
were clever, we'll disposed people,
easy to get along with, grateful for
kindness, and dealing correctly with
the whites. The bad ones vere the
exceptions. Cherokee county was
quite thick!y settled with them, there
being somewhere between a thOus>
sand and fifteen hundred.
Some of lhe young women were
very handsome and attractive
They had many of them very fine
figures, full, symmetrical, 1.-THE and
graceful. They had clear, dark
compilations and brilliant black eyes.
Their carriage was especially grace
full and free. Judge Donaldson has
seen young woman 10 her springy
grace bound lightly over a fence
seemingly without an effort. The
leaders among the Indians were some
of them wealthy, owning negroes,
and they put on considerable style,
and their daughters were educated
and dressed and appeared well. The
chastity among them was not high.
The marriage relation was often vio-
lated, and sometimes Indians had
several wives. One case was given
where a man married the mother
and two daughters. The women did
the farm aud garden work and the
men hunted. The women bore the
pains of maternity with ease, fire.
quently tramping miles the day after
a birth. 1t was q strange sight to
see a mother put her child on her |
shoulders and strap it to her body |
with shawl, leaving the baby's
head out to take the hot sun as she |
worked or trudged along.
A very noted Indian -baaaisse&bo
seems to have besn generally kno wn
and attracted much admiration, was
y Nancy Heusgo.
Among the more noticeable exer,
cises of the Indians, and very excit
Jog to the locker on, was the ball
play. Ball Ground, in Cherokee
county, now an important station on
The Marietta and North Georgia
Railroad, was the place where this
was conducted. Col G.
c. Jones, 10 his fine work, The Au
Iiquties of the Southern Indians
gives a description of this noted
species of Indian fun, but Judge
Donaldson gives many additional
and new particulars. He says that
The Indians stripped entirely naked
for this play, SO as to afford nothing
by which hold could be had upon
hem. They also cut strips in their |
arms and legs, making them bleed,
80 as to be slippery. The contests
we're most desperately conducted
and sometimes men we're seriously |
hurt. The play was made over a
single ball. Leaders were chosen
who had each about twenty followers
Each side strove to carry the ball on
it's own eide past certain point, and
the side that succeeded in carrying |
the ball ten times won the game
The men had a sort of wooden scoop |
that they used to catch the ball. -
The ball was thrown up high in the |
air and then the tussle began for its
possession. The skirmishing was
often most deadly 10 its intensity, |
and men would do any violence to
make the catcher of the ball yield it |
up. Judge Donaldson has seen men
choke another to almost insensibility
to force the ball loose. Men in
squads threw themselves savagely
upon the holder and the most fero-
cious struggling ensued for the mas
tery. Limbs we're broken and other
serious injuries incurred and given
with fierce reCklessness The play
was intensely earnest and exciting.
Some of the players exhibited won
derful activity and alertness. Among
the most skilful and daring leaders
were Buzzard FlaPper and Gpeat
Tusb, who had some lively contests.
Judge Donaldson saw one quick
fellow capture the ball and carry it
back successfully eight sim0s in sue.
cessiOn; but bis side was defeated
after that. Whenever q man was
especially successful, the opposite
side combined upon him and stopped
at nothing to cripple bin.
The circumstances connected With
the removal of these Indians from
the Cherokee county have never
been written and they form -One of
the saddest chapters of Indian sn-
n ala and q sariona blot upon our