Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-30
CHEROKEE ALPHABET.
a JUST TRIBUTE TO SE-QUOYAH,
ITS INVENTOR.
By His Inventive Genius This Tribe Have
Raised Themselves to an Elevation
Unattained by Other Tribes
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette
TAHLEQUAH. l. T., Aug. 29.-Many are
aware OF the existence of Cherokee alpha
bet, but few perhaps have had access to a
history of the invention, and hardly any
have an idea of the nature of the alphabet
itself. 1t is to be wondered at that this re-
markable display Of genius has not been
more generally noticed by the American
people and u proper tribute paid the un-
tutored inventor.
1t is not too late, however, to do justice
to this great benefactor of the Cherokee In
dians, who, by his inventive power, have
raised themselves to an elevation unat-
tanned by any other tribe of Indians on the
great American continents.
Se-QuOyah, the inventor Of the Cherokee
alphabet. has been justly referred to by an
eminent writer as the American Cadmus
and Modern Moses" The appearance and
habits of Se-quoyah were those of a full
blood Cherokee, though his grandfather on
his fathers side was white man. He was
educated in only the customs of his nation,
and at the time of his death was ignorant of
any other language but his own.
The exact time and place Of sSe-quoyah'S
death is somewhat merged in obscurity, but
from the best authority it appears to have
occurred about 1915, and Indian tradition
tells US he died away from MS people and in
the heart of Old Mexico, where he had gone
to Join some friend in thar country. AT any
rate delegation of CherokeeS were sent to
Mexico some years later TO find and bring
his remains back to his native country, but
they Were totally unsuccessful in their
search. and the grave of Se-quoyah is I'M
known to this day.
The Immediate circumstance which in
duced Se-quoyah to undertake the great
task of inventing an alphabet appears to be
based upon conversation between himself
and a few companions upon the subject of
writing, or the talking leaf" as they
called it, at certain town in the old Cher
okee Nation east of the Mississippi, called
Saunta. Some young men were remarking
on the wonderful and superior talents of the
white man. One of the company said that
the white man could put a talk on paper
and send it any distance, and it would be
perfectly understood by those who would
receive it. All admitted that this was in
deed wonderful, an art far beyond the
reach Of the red man, and they were utterly
at a loss to conceive in what way it was
done. Se-quoyah, after listening to the
conversation awhile in silence, raised him
self and, putting on an air of great import
ance, observed: ''You are all fools! Why,
the thing is very easy-I can do it myself,
and taking up fiat stone that lay near him
he commenced making words on it with
a sharp instrument of some kind. After a
few minutes no told them what he had
WfIGlen ny IldhlnS d uldEh 1OT each NOTu,
etc. This produced a laugh, and the con-
versation on the subject ended.
The inventive powers of Sequoyah were,
however, now put in active operation,
although it seems he had thought on the
subject long before, and had to contend
with the prejudices of his people, who be-
lieved that the knowledge of letters be-
longed alone to the pale-faces. Some of this
portion of his countrymen attempted to
convince him that God had made that great
distinction between the white and red, by
relating to him the follow tradition:
In the beginning God created the white
man and the red man. The red man was
the elder and in his hand the Creator placed
q book, and in the hand of the other he
placed a bow and arrow, with a command
that each make good use of them The red
man was very slow in receiving the book,
and appeared so indifferent about it that
the white man came and stole it from him
when his attention was directed in another
way. The red man was then forced to take
the bow and arrow to gain his subsistence
by pursuing the chase. He had thus for
feited the book which his Creator had
placed in his hand. and which now rightly
belonged to his white brother
The narrative of such a story, however,
was not sufficient TO convince Se-quoyah or
to divert hiafrom his great undertaking.
Afrr thS3pferview at Saunta, alluded to
at6ve, He rent home, obtained some paper
and pHnfand began in earnest to ''paint
language on paper" From
lie crils of wild beasts, from the talents of
the mdSking- bird, from the voices of his
Nae5mp anions, he knew that feel
ingS and passions were conveyed from one
intelligent being to another. The thought
then occurred TO him 10 try and ascertain
al the sounds in the Cherokee language
When he thought he had distinguished
all the different sounds in his language he
to use pictorial signs, images of
birds and beasts, to convey these sounds to
others, or to mark them in his own mind.
In this and several other methods he failed
in his attempts to perfect his great under
taking, but he was not in the least discour-
aged. He at length hit upon the idea of di-
viding the words into parts, or syllables,
and he had proceeded in this direction but
short time when, to his great satisfaction,
he had the written language of his country
During the time Se-quoyah was occupied