Rome, Georgia - History (part 1 of 17)

Friends, Romans

This book has not been subjected to the custom and formalities of copyrighting. Persons who consider parts of it ivorthy of reproduction are requested to make suitable acknoivledgment

At the top, a panoramic view of Rome taken about ten years ago from Myrtle Hill cemetery, showing the castle-like spires of old Shorter College, the city clock and the Floyd County court house; to the left, the Oostanaula River, and in the foreground, the Etowah. This picture was obtained through courtesy of the Central of Georgia Railway Company.

At the bottom are: Rome in 1864, shortly after Gen. Sherman had captured the town; the Confederate Soldiers' section in Myrtle Hill cemetery; the North Rome Baptist church; Broad Street and a column of Boy Scouts ready for a hike.

On the front are: The grave of the first Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, in Myrtle Hill ; the chapel of the Berry Schools ; entrance to the old Rome driving park and fair grounds, near DeSoto Park ; Rome boys enjoying a freshet; Col. Thos. W. Alexander, commander of the Berry Infantry.

On the back are: Gen. Charles Floyd, father of Gen. John Floyd, for whom Floyd County was named (in the uniform of the St. Helena Guards, of Charleston) ; Gen. Charles Floyd assisted in removing the Indians from Cherokee Georgia (he is wearing in his hat a crescent bearing the words "Liberty or Death," which is in posession of Wm. G. McAdoo, a grandson several degrees removed) ; Donald Harper, of Rome and Paris (France) ; the Baptist parsonage; Steve Eberhart (or Perry), mascot of Floyd County Camp 368 of Confederate Veterans; Maj. Philip W. Hemphill, one of the four founders of Rome; left to right, little Misses Elizabeth Morris, Eleanor Fuller and Juliet Graves; entrance to the Battey vault, in Myrtle Hill.

The Importance Of History

Out of monuments, names, traditions, private records and passages of books we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time. - Bacon.

This I hold to be the chief office of history, to rescue virtuous actions from the oblivion to which a want of records would consign them. - Tacitus.

God is in the facts of history as truly as He is in the march of the seasons, the revolutions of the planets or the architecture of the worlds. - Lanahan.

History maketh a young man to be old, without wrinkles or gray hairs, privileging him with the experience of age, without either the infirmities or the inconveniences thereof. - Fuller.

An historian ought to be exact, sincere and sympathetic, free from passion, unbiased by interest, fear, resentment or affection, and faithful to the truth, which is the mother of history. - Napoleon.

The Author

DEDICATION To the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of Rome and Floyd County, whose youthful enthusiasm and helpful, unselfish spirit of service promise so much for the development of civic enterprise and the advancement of interest in the wholesome life of the Great Outdoors, this book is affectionately dedicated by THE AUTHOR.

OW AND THEN a queen pawns her jewels to advance the cause of civihzation, and thus gives back part of what her admiring subjects have offered up. Similarly has a queen who wears no tiara or crown thrown herself into the breach and made possible the completion at this time of the History of Rome. Her rocking chair is "in soak" because she' believes the enterprise is worth while. If we will redeem the chair out of sales from the book, she will feel amply repaid, and can sit down again. It will be possible through a little unselfish sacrifice on the part of each and all of us.

One thousand copies of the book are included in the first binding. More than half of these have been mailed to subscribers who spoke for them in advance. Additional sheets have been printed so that other Romans may have copies who desire them. Extra copies will be bound in accordance with the demand, so that the total issue will be just what Romans, former Romans and a select company of "innocent bystanders" make it. The compiler hopes that many will avail themselves of the opportunity to invest, for the double reason that the book contains a wealth of material which everybody should have, and a subscription does just that much to advance the interests of the town and section. He does not urge any support in the expectation of making a profit, for he has put far more into it these two years than he can possibly get out, except in mental satisfaction. He wishes to sell the book not on personal or sentimental grounds, but on the basis of whatever value the purchaser may see in it. No doubt the edition will be cjuickly exhausted, because material has been included which is expected to stimulate a heavy demand outside of Rome. Then there will be no more copies, for the number is strictly limited.

The excuse for this work was found in the fact that the historians have systematically neglected the section known of old as "Cherokee Georgia." The compiler went back to his birthplace Oct. 21, 1920, to supply whatever of the deficiency he could, realizing that he had had no previous historical experience, but believing that the svibject was worthy of a literary masterpiece. He found a fertile field in which to labor ; the legend of DeSoto's visit in 1540, the Indian occupation and removal, the deeds of valor in war, the constructive enterprises following the war's wake,, all supplied an inspiration that was irresistible. On beginning his work, he saw the truth of the statement, "The South makes plenty of history, but writes very little of it." His task, therefore, consisted in laying a foundation as well as erecting a superstructure, and he realizes the imperfections that such conditions necessarily impose, and is fully conscious of his inability to handle the material as it deserves. He only hopes that the work may be considered from cover to cover, and thus criticized, rather than that any insignificant error of omission or commission may be allowed to obscure the whole in the estimation of the individual.

It is manifestly impossible here to devote much attention to tlie entire Northwest Georgia section. Floyd's sister counties will no doubt eventually write histories of their own. However, there are numerous references to happenings elsewhere which are connected with characters

Since the greater part of Rome's history existed in tradition and in scrap books and old records, it has been deemed advisable to go back as far as possible, and rescue the fragments of early Rome before they are lost in the dust of the past. The story of Rome's part in the removal of the Indians has never been adecjuately told, nor has the picture of conditions just before the Civil War been fully presented. The subject of Rome's part in the war of 1861-5 is all but ignored. The duty is manifestly to revert to the dim beginnings, to give "right-of-way" to the "old settlers," to suggest that the present generation keep newspapers and records liberally so our contemporary history may not suffer likewise.

So much material has been developed that the necessity of a second volume is apparent. Volume I contains half of the complete narrative, a great many pictures and a vast amount of miscellaneous data. Its faulty arrangement is due to the uncertainty, up to the last m-oment, ovef what was to be used. Volume II, which it is intended should be published when conditions are more favorable, will contain many additional pictures and such biographical sketches and miscellaneous items as could not be included in the first. These two volumes will in a measure tell the romantic tale.

The history started with a series of articles in the Rojiie News, followed by "Rambles Around Rome." It has been augmented from many sources, and particularly from the files of the old Rome Courier, which" was the forerunner of Rome's daily newspaper. The Tribune-Herald. Both of these present-day newspapers have been unflagging friends of the history. In the collection of material, chiefly of a statistical nature, the most consistent individual has been Richard Venable Mitchell, of Rome. Mr. Mitchell, has worked with splendid spirit and without hope of reward ; Romans are certain to appreciate the accurate data he gives, them in his lists of the natural resources of Floyd, and of the state, city and county officials, various important and interesting dates and a vast quantity of odd information. Mrs. Harriet Connor Stevens has contributed liberally of her time in order that some of the Cave Spring" pioneers might be remembered. Miss Frances Long' Harper has also helped substantially at Cave Spring. In forcing the history upon public attention, the most valiant supporters have been H. H. Shackelton, president of the Chamber of Commerce ; Robt. H. Clagett, editor of the Rome News ; W. S. Rowell, editor of the Tribune-Herald, and Lee J. Langley, writing for both papers.

Thanks are due Hooper Alexander, of Atlanta ; W. R. L. Smith, of Norfolk, Va. ; Mrs. Mabel Washbourne Anderson, of Prvor, Okla. ; S. W. Ross, of Tahlequah, Okla.; Judge Henry C. Meigs, of Ft. Gibson, Okla., and C. F. Hanke, chief clerk of the Indian Office, Washington, D. C, for much of the Indian data. (The biographies of the Indian leaders are omitted for further investigation of conflicting material). Substantial assistance has been given by Miss Tommie Dora Barker, librarian of the Carnegie Library, Atlanta, and by Miss Carrie Williams, of the reference department ; Mrs. Maud Barker Cobb, state librarian, the Capitol, Atlanta ; Duncan Burnett, librarian of the library of the University of Georgia, Athens ; Dr. Lucian L. Knight, director of the State Department of History, the Capitol, Atlanta, and Miss Ruth Blair, of the same department. Dr. Knight's valuable books have been consulted freely and credit generally given in each instance. Appreciation is like- wise expressed herewith of aid rendered by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and of the interest shown by Henderson L. Lanham, president of the Board of Education of the City of Rome, by Prof. B. F. Quigg, City Superintendent, and Prof. W. C. Rash, County Superintendent, in a plan for teaching local history in the public schools. While nothing definite has been done, the suggestion that a condensed school history be written out of the History of Rome is being considered, and already has the moral support of at least one large Eastern publishing house.

The artistic pictures of the Berry Schools were taken by D. W. Densmore, faculty member, and a number of pictures of landmarks by R. V. Mitchell. vSeveral pictures and some text do not appear because they have been lost or misplaced ; a few typographical errors herein likewise prove the intensely human character of the work of man.

Loans negotiated through the assistance of John M. Graham and Wilson M. Hardy greatly helped the work at the, outset, and $100 received near the close from a group of Rome business men, headed by E. R. Fishburne, averted an almost certain postponement. Mr. Weaker D. Carr, of Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston publishers, loaned the cuts of John Ridge and Major Ridge. To all others who have helped with friendly advice, data or money the heartfelt thanks of the compiler are herewith given. Rome will thank them in her own way. The list is a long one, and it cannot be extended here ; it will appear, perhaps, in the proposed Vol. 11.

There is a great deal that is left over for another volume simply because no funds were in sight to print it. Ample warning of this situation was given from time to time. If Romans make Vol. H possible by an underwriting plan, or if a single Roman desires the opportunity of doing that much for the town he loves, the compiler will dig into his files again. Undoubtedly some Roman who wishes a send-off here below and a welcome above will remember Vol. H in his will.

The rules governing the history campaign were very simple. Practically everybody who showed as much as a passing interest has been given some notice in the book, either for themselves or their ancestors. Those who have ignored letters, personal or circular, or both, or have refused to "weep" while we "mourned," have erected a temporary barrier between us. Fortunately, there have not been many of these, althbugh more have sat on the fence. They will have another chance if they want it - for Vol. n. No considerations of friendship have caused us to overlook a flagrant neglect of Rome and the history by those who in our opinion could have helped. At the same time, we feel friendly and hold the door open - for Vol. H. We consider it a duty to speak plainly so Romans will understand, and that we may do better next time. Let us make Vol. H surpass Vol. L

The original plan called for sections of text devoted to the Berry Schools, Shorter College, Hearn Academy, the Georgia School for the Deaf at Cave Spring, and the Floyd County and Rome public schools. Failure of the leading institutions in this group to pay a cost price for the printing (due largely to the general economic conditions) has put these sections over for further consideration.

A few words about quoted articles. Most of the items with dates from 1920-22 affixed are from The Rome News, prior to that, after 1886, from The Tribune of Rome or The Tribune-Herald, and from 1850 to 1887

It is hoped that the history will please the subscribers as well as prove of some use to them as a work of reference. A reading glass for aged eyes is recommended where type and pictures are small. In practically all cases the biographies have been submitted to the families for correction and approval. A committee of Romans has kindly gone over most of the other data. Anecdotes are told - on our own clan, too - which we hope will be received in good part, for there is no intention to offend anyone. Romans are noted for speaking the truth fearlessly, and since we are all in one big family and are blessed with a sense of humor, we can well aft'ord to perpetuate the stories of our members for fireside enjoyment. A colorless story of Rome would be of no good and would find few willing consumers.

With this much said by way of introduction, we salute our subscribers and friends, wish them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and unreservedly place our literary fate in their tender hands.

Geo. M. Battey, Jr

P. S. - Since the above was written, the decision was reached to include in Vol. I. no biographical sketches. It was believed best to hold over for consideration for Vol. II. all the 300 sketches rather than to print only a few to the exelusion of the many. A little extra financial support would have made possible the inclusion of all. Since it was not forthcoming, it seemed best to file this other valuable material. The recent vote by mail, by the way, was overwhelmingly in favor of holding the biographies for another time. The several persons who advanced money for sketches will be reimbursed or given extra copies of the present volume, as they prefer. We assure them and all others that we regret our inability to use this excellent data, which can only be improved with age. We will keep it intact in the confident hope that Romans will make its publication possible at some day in the near future.

DeSoto lands at Tampa Bay. - Reaches the Savannah River. - Meets an Indian princess.- - Takes the princess along as a hostage. - She escapes. - Arrival at Nacoochee. - Receives Indian dogs for his men to eat. - His route discussed. - Spends 30 da^s at Chiaha. - Enjoys pearl hunt.

Hostile Cherokees in massacre. - Sevier puts them to flight and burns their towns. - Gen. Floyd defeats the Creeks in Alabama. - Early laws of the Indians. - The "Widow Fool" and the ferry. - Wm. Mcintosh killed. - Sequoyah's alphabet. - Missionaries imprisoned. - Pressure on the Indians.

Three travelers decide to establish a town.. - A fourth pioneer. - County site removal from Livingston to Rome authorized by legislature. - The homes of Ross and the Ridges. - The gander pulling and other early amusements. - The Green Corn dances. - Geo. Lavender, trading post man. - - Pioneer days at Cave Spring.

The Cherokees' biggest pow-wow at Running Waters. - Speeches by the Ridges, Ross afnd the United States agents. - The Indians withdraw to the woods. - Government men continue to speak. - Mr. Schermerhorn's determination to have a treaty. - Major Currey reports to Washington. - Ross faction supreme. - Ridge's men listed.

"Home, Sweet Home" author bears letters to prominent Georgians. - Loves an Athens belle. - Departs for Indian country. - Is arrested with John Ross and guarded at Spring Place. - "Big John" Underwood, Rome grocer, one of his captors. - Payne's own account. - His arrest causes sensation. - "Old Hickory's" contribution.

"Rome Indians" in the Payne "picture." - Maj. Currey explains. - Frelinghuysen, Everett, Polk, Calhoun, Bell and White active. - "Lumpkin Press" lambastes Guard. - Legislature protests and Col. Bishop resigns. - Payne's anonymous letter. - A tragedy at the Vann house.^ - The Indians removed and the Ridges and Boudinot slain. - A Payne memorial.

Pioneers establish bank, inn, newspaper, churches, schools and stage lines. - John Ross converted to Methodism. - Alfred Shorter casts lot with the new town. - William Smith and the scuttled steamboat. - Early political campaigns. - Lumpkin, Miller, Underwood, Hackett and Wright. - Pickett's visit to Rome. - The Nobles, iron kings, appear.

The slavery agitation and efforts to halt "gentlemen from the North." - Warnings sounded by Dwinell and Stovall. - Mass meetings and resolutions.- - Trade boycott against the North. - Rome Light Guards active. - Stephens, Iverson and HiU speak in Rome. - Secessiorr, strongly favored.

Feeling at fever heat. - Mayor thanks voters for "sober election." - Dr. Word elected. - Guns for Light Guards arrive. - Judge Wright on the inauguration of Jefferson Davis.

Floyd companies depart. - Cannon and church bells announce war. - Casualty lists. - Incidents of the battle. - Capt. Magruder and Jeff Davis. - Death of Col. Bartow. - An illuminating letter from Richmond. - War profiteers rapped by the "home gaiard."

Andrews' "Wild Raiders" steal state road engine in dash to burn bridges and tear up track. - Fuller joins in thrilling pursuit. - -"Wm. R. Smith" takes up chase at Kingston and aids capture. - Fugitives abandon engine. - Are caught in woods. - Some are hanged and some escape.

Women establish charity organization. - The Wayside Home. - A young "Rebel" with smallpox spreads terror. - Hospitals removed from Rome. - Hard times described back of the lines.

Federal commander tries foray of destruction. - Is engaged by Forrest with inferior force, and surrenders. - "Rebel" leader's strategy denounced by captive officers, who see Rome for first time. - Admiring women snip locks of Forrest's hair. - The "Battle of Rome," and John Wisdom's famous ride. - Forrest dodges Rome picnic.

Three forts are silenced and Davis, Vandever and Corse establish headquarters. - "Miss Lizzie's" adventure on Shorter Hill. - Sherman enters Rome twice and pursues Hood, who crosses the Coosa at Veal's ferry. - Hood flits through Texas valley. - Only a fiddle is needed as Rome burns.

The campaign outlined. - Movements around Dalton, Resaca, Cassville, Da,llas and Rome. - Sherman's narrow escape. - Why Johnston refused battle. - Corse at AUatoona. - Sherman on Fourth Avenue.- - His message from Rome brings orders to march to the sea.

Bridges burned by retreating Confederates. - Church pews used for pontoons. - Famine and despair. - Citizen killed by scouts. - Letter tells of Romans' plight.

John Gatewood invades northwest Georgia. - Jack Colquitt's band. - John and Jim Prior take seven scout scalps. - "Little Zach" Hargrove to the rescue.

Chapter

VNY years before the English settled the first permanent colony in America at Jamestown, Va., in 1607, there existed a wild stretch of country at the southwestern end of the Appalachian ^Mountain chain, encompassing Avhat is now Rome and Floyd County, Ga., and which was inhabited only by tribes of Indians who lived in wigwams made of bark and skins, and huts of rough pine and oak finished in red clay mortar. The waters of this region, leaping through the mountain gorges in slender, silken streams, purled their way into the valleys and found outlets in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. They were alive with fish, especially the upland streams with trout, and it used to be said that had the Indian possessed a hat, in many places he could have scooped up a hatful at a time.

Large black bears went grubbing over the mountain tops in search of worms and roots, occasionally shambling into the fertile valleys below ; hungry wolves leaped freely through the forest trails ; deer penetrated the thickets and slaked their thirst at the sparkling brooks ; panthers and wildcats slunk serenely from feeding ground to cavernous lair ; snakes of huge size and great number infested the rocky fastnesses, the sun-baked river banks and the grassy plains ; wild turkeys clucked along the leafy bowers and smaller birds of beautiful plumage dotted the trees of hillside, valley and swamp.

Upon this primitive stage at some uncertain date had appeared the Indian, successor to the illfated Mound Builder of North America. Agile, bloodthirsty and possessing a keen appetite, the Indian pursued by foot and in his swift canoe, with his trusty bow and arrow, the animals, birds and snakes, killed them and ate the fiesh, sometimes cooked, sometimes raw, and made the skins into rugs, wigwam covers, robes, papoose bags and numerous ornaments for his person. The Indian painted his face and, his body with a mixture of oil and clay, dressed himself in a wampum belt from Avhich depended a wildcat skin or kilt of liml)er grass or hair, and with a headdress of feathers which bung down to his waist he joined in the big tribal hunts or fared forth to fight enemy tribesmen. The Indian women, or squaws, did the routine work about the hut or wigwam settlements, took care of the children and strung beads and wove various materials into baskets, rugs and articles of clothing, and cultivated small patches of grain.

From the time when Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and took possession in the name of the King and the Queen of Spain, the Indian was forced to count on the paleface as a potential foe who needed his hunting grounds and his towns for colonization purposes. The Spanish are regarded as the pioneer explorers of America through their expeditions to Florida, the Land of Flowers, which embraced vastly more territory than the State of Florida of the present day. Juan Ponce DeLeon explored the coast of the Florida Peninsula in 1513, penetrated into the interior in search of the Fountain of Perpetual Youth, engaged the savages and was killed with a poisoned arrow. Followed the cruel Narvaez to the west coast of the peninsula, where he set an example for the savages by loosing bloodhounds on the aged mother of an Indian chief, which tore her to pieces ; then he cut off the chief's nose and sent him to Cuba as a slave. The Indians avenged this atrocity by driving Narvaez to his ships ; a storm hit the vessels and Narvaez and all but four of his men were lost.

Next in importance was Hernando (Ferdinand) DeSoto, wdio in his search of the Chiahan Eldorado in the hoj^e of filling the treasure chest of the King of Spain is supposed to have spent nearly 30 days on the present site of Rome.

DeSoto had fought successfully in the Spanish wars of concjuest in Central America and Peru, when called by the king to cut a path through Florida, to work the gold mines and the pearl fisheries which earlier explorers had assured the king existed. Having recently married Dona Isabel de Bobadilla, member of the Spanish royal family and his social equal, whose father was his superior in wealth if not in manhood, DeSoto set sail from Spain on April 8. 1538, taking with him his wife, 600 soldiers, 200 horses and a herd of swine for food. DeSoto's "noble Six Hundred" carried arquebuses, matchlocks, one cannon and a falconet (small cannon in general use at that time). They had plenty of ammunition, and led by tethers a pack of fierce bloodhounds. Plenty of iron chains, collars and wristlets were carried to put upon Indian prisoners. Swine and cattle furnished a large part of the food, while pack mules bore the provisions. The personnel was made up of mechanics, builders and smiths monks, laymen and Catholic priests in robes. Quite a number of the fighters wore light armor which readily shed the sharp darts of the red-skins. They landed at Havana, Cuba, but after a short stay proceeded up Florida's west coast, leaving Dona Isabel behind as governess of the island. On Friday, May 30, 1539, DeSoto landed at the present Tampa Bay, where he took possession of Florida as Adelantado (governor), and where he wrote the city fathers of Santiago de Cuba wdiat was supposed to have been the only letter he sent back on his long and heart-breaking journey.

DeSoto immediately asked the Indians where gold and precious stones could be found ; they pointed northward. He fought and diplomatized his way to the present Georgia-Florida line, encountering numerous physical difficulties ; Ihence he proceeded northwestward when told by a captured scout* of a province ruled over by a beautiful Indian princess, called Cutifachiqui, where his beasts might break their backs under the load of pearls and gold. The home of the princess is supposed to have been at Silver Bluff", Barnwell Co.. S. C, 25 miles southeast of Augusta, Ga., on the Savannah river, where George Golphin later lived. Here DeSoto was presented with a handsome string of large pearls by the Princess Cutifachiqui ; he dug heaps of pearls and relics out of Indian mounds, which the Indians did not like, but they maintained an appearance of acquiescence. On leaving, he forced his gracious hostess to accompany the expedition as a guide and protection against any possible attacks by her tribesmen. The Indian maid's knowledge of trails and woodcraft enabled her to escape in a few days and return to her settlement. DeSoto pressed northward in forced marches to relieve his weary and starving horses and men, and to seize or unearth gold for the king.

While accounts differ as to the route DeSoto took through North Georgia, the authorities generally agree that after leaving Cutifachi qui, DeSoto went to the' site of Yonah Mountain, in Nachoochee Valley, White County, where he mined a while and the Indians gave his troops many dogs to eat; also that he crossed the North Georgia mountains to the Connasauga River, thence followed the Oostanaula River to the junction of the Etowah River, where the Coosa forms, to Chiaha province and town, the modern site of Rome ; also that he followed the Coosa southwestward into Alabama, whence in time he pushed on across West Tennesssee and discovered the Mississippi River, in which he was buried after dying of fever in 1541.

It is possible to mention these differences of opinion only in brief here. James Mooney, a careful student of the subject, held that De- Soto followed the Chattahoochee River headwaters down the valleys of Habersham County, sighted Kennesaw (Keiisagi) Mountain in Cobb County, instead of the Connasauga River, (passing near the site of modern Atlanta), and instead of visiting Chiaha, visited Chehaw, a Creek town in Alabama below Columbus. It may be significant that Atlantans do not claim that DeSoto passed near their land.

An understanding of the topography of the country, the aims and necessities of the expedition and the reasonable probabilities are prerecjuisites to a reconciliation of the viewpoints. Some aid may be found in the reflection that DeSoto often divided his force ; undoubtedly he let the main body follow the rivers in the valleys, while prospecting parties penetrated through the mountains. Thus it is possible that his main force, with the heavy equipment and pigs, started down the headwaters of the Chattahoochee in Habersham County, bore to the northwest, crossed the headwaters of the Etowah and followed the Etowah to Rome, discovering and exploring the huge Indian mound on the Tumlin place three miles south of Cartersville ; also that the mining group, after exploring the mountains nearly to the Tennessee line, came to the Connasauga River and followed the Oostanaula River down to Rome, where he joined the other unit. Chiaha Town was described by the early chroniclers of the expedition as an island. That impression might easily be made on an explorer crossing the creeks north of Rome whose headwaters nearly touch, and passing on down the peninsula to the water on all sides.

It is quite possible, moreover, that 382 years ago a canal connected the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers, passing through North Rome and making an island of the narrow neck of land between the streams at their junction. Another theory is that the DeSoto district (now better known as the Fourth ward), which is supposed to have been where the Spanish camped, was once an island, having- been cut off by a break in the Oostanaula near the mouth of Little Dry Creek, which found its way through the lowlands and entered the Coosa above Horseleg Creek, forming a body of land of not less than 250 acres.

Both of these suppositions find encouragement in freaks of nature Avhich are observable in the lifetime of the average man. Less than a decade ago Perkins Lsland, in the Etowah River, near the foot of Fifth Avenue, was yielding sand to a concern which for many years had sold to contractors who were erecting the most substantial buildings in Rome. In 1920 suit was filed in the Superior Court of Floyd county by the Perkins heirs against Mrs. J. Lindsay Johnson to prevent her from removing the sand. Mrs. Johnson's answer recited that the island had stood opposite her East Rome farm, separated from the mainland by a narrow body of water. Accretions of sand and silt had filled up this channel and made the island part of the mainland ; therefore, as she claimed, the former island belonged to her.

Another island which has become part of the mainland in like manner was at Nixon's sand bar, Coosa River, just below and across from the mouth of Horseleg Creek. There are no examples as conspicuous as these in which new islands have been formed, but examples are common elsewhere, notably in the Mississippi Valley.

Certain historians who do not believe DeSoto camped at the present site of Rome locate the island down the Coosa in Alabama, near the Georgia line. However, Pickett, Jones, Knight and others hold that Chiaha settlement and the present site of Rome are identical, and that the route proceeded down the Coosa. It is worthy of note that DeSoto resisted the supplications of his men to turn back toward his ships and first landing place, and insisted on striking repeatedly northward in search of gold. Although he followed a zigzag course, his trail was generally northwestward, allowing for a considerable zag toward Mobile, where he won a great battle with the Indians. At Chiaha he dispatched two cavaliers on a ten-day journey riorthward. There appears to have been no point in his going below Columbus, Avhere in July it is much hotter than the North Georgia mountains.

The Indians all along the route had told DeSoto of the rich province of Chiaha, the Eldorado of his dreams. To the principal towns of this province DevSoto had sent scouts to demand of the chiefs a two months' supply of maize (Indian corn). On June 4, 1540, DeSoto entered Chiaha Town via the valleys of the west bank of the Oostanaula River, camped his cohorts along what has for many years been known as the DeSoto Road of the DeSoto District of Floyd County, and crossed the Oostanaula River (probably in canoes) with his advance guard. Here he was warmly received by the young chief, who spake substantially as follows as he handed DeSoto a long string of perfect pearls :*

Mighty Chief: Into this beautiful and beloved country which our fathers have hunted for the beasts and birds of the forest and handed down to us a long time ago, and in which we worship the Spirit of the Sun with all the strength of our natures, we welcome you as friends and brothers. Stay

*This speech is supposed to be more nearly typical of Indian nature and disposition than the polished versions of the chroniclers, which are unmistakably Spanish.

with us as long as you desire; live in our houses, fish and hunt with us in our choice places, and accept our gifts offered you from our hearts. Tell us at once your mission, that we may serve you with the fidelity of the stars. You have asked of my good people supply of maize to sustain your powerful tribe two months. Here you will find 20 barbacoas (barns) bursting with our best grain. Welcome ! May your people and my people enjoy a peaceful friendship that will be as strong as the mountains and last as long as the sun shines warm and the rivers of Chiaha run cold.

he said : "Talahi - chetawga - chisqua !" The men ran to a picketed enclosure and brought many fowls and dogs for the hungry Spaniards to eat, after which the young chief announced that DeSoto wotdd stop at "akwenasa" (my home).

DeSoto is supposed to have spent 26-30 days in Chiaha, after which he went through Alabama and Western Tennessee and discovered the Mississippi River at Chickasaw Bluff, below Memphis. He died shortly after and was buried in the Mississippi to prevent the Indians from destroying his corpse. His wife died in Cuba of a broken heart, following her husband shortly. She had had no word from him since his departtire.

Chapter Ii

which the site of Rome was brought to the attention of the country. Gen. John Sevier* descended upon Cherokee Georgia from Tennessee, chasing with his 800 men 1,000 Indians who had scalped and killed thirteen people at Cavett's Station, near Knoxville, and had retreated southward. Gen. Sevier swept out of his path such resistance as was offered, and burned a number of Indian towns. Presently he arrived at Oostanaula, near the forks of the Coosawattee and Connasauga rivers, and after burning this village, divided his force. With half he proceeded down the Oostanaula, while Colonel Kelly and Major Evans were detailed to take the other half down the Etowah river, and to destroy such towns as they found. On Oct. 17, 1793, the Battle of Etowah was fought.

The Kelly-Evans force discovered the main body of the fleeing Indians at a rocky bluff across the Etowah. Some say this was where the Southern Railway now crosses the river, about a mile above Rome, while others hold it was quite a distance farther down the stream. The Indians had felled numerous trees and behind these had sought protection, while a few hid in the rocky fissures of the bluff. Many others had been strung out down the river bank to protect a ford. A clever ruse dislodged the Indians and brought about their defeat. The two officers took their force below the crossing point. Colonel Kelly and several others plunged their horses in and swam across. Thinking the whole force was coming into the water and hoping to shoot them with arrows and guns before they could get out, part of the Indians left their protection and bore down upon the Colonel and his squad, who quickly dashed back into the Etowah. In the meantime, Capt. Evans had back-tracked his force to the ford, and there crossing, fell heavily upon the surprised foe, and put them to flight with a heavy loss. For many years later Indian bones and relics could be found in the crevasses of the hill.

Such of the Indians as escaped -swam the river at Myrtle Hill cemetery, and made a stand at the Avestern foot of it. Gen. Sevier having come up with his force, the frontiersmen inflicted terrible slaughter upon the red-skins, and drove them in confusion down the Coosa Valley. Sevier is also said to have destroyed Coosa Old Town at this time. This was a villag'e which has been located by certain people on the Nixon farm and by others below it on the Coosa River.

It so happened that most of these Tennessee "squirrel hunters" were volunteers who had had a friend or relative killed at Cavett's Station, and among them we find a youth of tender years named Hugh Lawson White.** Historians relate that in this engagement the young paleface shot a minie ball into the breast of Chief King Fisher, one of the leaders of the Indian horde, killing him instantly and causing the Indian ranks to break in con-

*Gen. Sevier was a Tennesseean and the ancestor of the Underwoods, the Rowells, the Nevins, the Fattens, the O'Neills, the Wylys and others of Rome. The Cherokees called him "Nollichucky Jack." A monument glorifying his exploit at the site of Rome was erected at the western base of Myrtle Hill cemetery by the Xavier Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

fusion. Forty-two years later Hugh Lawson White became a noted man in Tennessee - a judge, Senator and friend and supporter of President Andrew Jackson, with many of the Jacksonian attributes. In 1835 he was nominated for president by the Whigs, and carried his own state over Martin Van Buren, the Democratic nominee, by 10,000 majority. It was said that Jackson's support would have won for Judge White, but it was captured by Van Buren.

Finding the authorities powerless, the patience of the Cherokees gave way, and the latter part of August, 1793, provided unmistakable evidence of Indian hostility. The settlements were put in a posture of defense. Gen. Sevier was posted at Ish's station, across the river from Knoxville, with 400 mounted infantry. . . . On the evening of Sept. 24, John Watts, at the head of a large body of Indians, estimated at 1,000 men or more, composed of Cherokees and Creeks, crossed the Tennessee river below the mouth of Holston and marched all night in the direction of Knoxville. They avoided Campbell's station, passed within three miles of Ish's, and daylight found them in sight of Cavett's station, eight miles west of Knoxville . . .

Col. Watts had with him some of the most intractable chiefs of the nation . . . The chiefs disputed whether they should kill everybody in Knoxville or only the men. Doublehead insisted on the former. An altercation between Doublehead and Vann was long and heated. Vann had a little boy, a captive, riding behind him. Doublehead became so infuriated that he killed the little boy. . . .

In sight of Cavett's station there v/as a block house in which Alexander Cavett and family of thirteen people resided, only three of whom were gun men. The three made a brave resistance. Alexander Cavett, the father, died with bullets in his mouth, which he had placed there to facilitate loading. Five Indians fell dead or wounded before their rifles. This checked the assaults and brought on a parley. The Bench, Watts' nephew, who spoke English, agreed with the besieged that if they surrendered, their lives should be spared, and they should be exchanged for a like number of Indian prisoners. These terms were accepted and the little garrison surrendered.

As soon as they left the blockhouse, Doublehead and his party fell upon them and put them all to death in the most barbarous manner, except Alexander Cavett, Jr., who was saved by the interposition of Col. Watts, though he was afterwards killed in the Creek towns . . .

Gen. Sevier being reinforced until his army numbered about 700, he marched rapidly southward until Oct. 14, 1793, when he reached the beloved town of Estaunaula. The town was deserted, but since it contained abundant provisions, Sevier halted and rested his men. The Indians undertook to disperse his camp at night, but the attack was unsuccessful. From some Cherokee prisoners taken at Estaunaula it was learned that the main body of the enemy, composed of Cherokees and Creeks, had passed the place a few days previously, and were mak- ing for a town at the mouth of the Etowah river. After refreshijig his troops, Gen. Sevier followed the enemy, reaching the confluence of the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers on the evening of the 17th.

The Creeks and a number of Cherokees had intrenched themselves on opposite banks of the Etowah, to obstruct its passage. A happy mistake on the part of the guides, Carey and P'indleston''% saved the day for the whites. They carried Col. Kelly's force half a mile below the ford, where he and a few others immediately swam the river. The Indians, discovering this movement, abandoned their intrenchments and rushed down the river to oppose Col. Kelly. Capt. Evans, discovering the error, wheeled, and straining his horses back to the ford, dashed into the river. The Indians at the ford, under the command of King Fisher, a Cherokee chief of the first consequence, saw their mistake, and, returning, received Capt. Evans' connpany furiously at the crossing of the bank.

The engagement was hot and spirited. The King Fisher made a daring sally within a few yards of H. L. White, afterwards the distinguished jurist and statesman. He and some of his comrades discharged their rifles, the King Fisher fell and his warriors abandoned the field. The whites lost three men in the engagement. This campaign ended the war and closed the military careers of Col. Watts and Gen. Sevier.

In obedience to an order from Secretary Smith, I marched in pursuit of the large body of Indians who on the 25th of last month did the mischief in Knox County, Grassy Valley. . . .

We directed our march for Estanaula'''** on the Coosa**'''* river, at which place we arrived on the 14th instant. . . . We there made some Cherokee prisoners, who informed us that John Watts headed the army lately out on our frontiers; that the same was composed of Indians more or less from every town in the Cherokee nation; that from the Turkey's Town, Sallyquoah, Coosawaytah and several other principal ones almost to a man was out, joined by a large number of the upper Creeks, who had passed that

We, after refreshing the troops, marched for that place, taking the path that leads to that town, along which the Creeks had marched, in five large trails.

On the 17th instant, in the afternoon, we arrived at the forks of Coosa and Hightower rivers. Col. Kelly was ordered with a part of the Knox regiment to endeavor to cross the Hightower. The Creeks and a number of Cherokees had intrenched themselves to obstruct the passage. Col. Kelly and his party passed down the river half a mile below the ford and began to cross at a private place, where there was no ford. Himself and a few others swam over the river. The Indians, discovering this movement, immediately left their intrenchments and ran down the river to oppose their passage, expecting, as I suppose, the whole intended crossing at the lower place.

Capt. Evans immediately with his company of mounted infantry strained their horses back to the upper ford and began to cross the river. Very few had, got to the south bank before the Indians, who had discovex'ed their mistake, returned and received them furiously at the rising of the bank. An engagement instantly took place and became very warm, and notwithstanding the enemy were at least four to one in numbers, besides the advantage of situation, Capt. Evans with his heroic company put them in a short time utterly to flight. They left several dead on the ground, and were seen to carry others off both on foot and on horse. Bark and trails of blood from the wounded were to be seen in every quarter.

The encampment fell into our hands, with a number of their guns, many of which were of the Spanish sort, with budgets, plankets and match coats, together with some horses. We lost three men in this engagement, which is all that have fell during the time of our route, although this last attack was the fourth the enemy had made upon us, but in the others repulsed without loss.

After the last engagement we crossed the main Coosa, then proceeded on our way down the main river near the Turnip Mountain, destroying in our way several Creek and Cherokee towns, which they had settled together on each side of the river, and from which they have all fled with apparent precipitation, leaving almost everything behind them. Neither did they after the last engagement attempt to annoy or interrupt us on our march, in any manner whatever. I have got reason to believe their ardor and spirit was well checked.

The party flogged at Hightower were those which had been out with Watts. There are three or four men slightly wounded and two or three horses killed, but the Indians did not, as I heard of, get a single horse from us the time we were out. We took and destroyed nearly 300 beeves, many of which were of the best and largest kind. Of course their losing so much pi'ovision must distress them very much.

Many women and children might have been taken, but from motives of humanity I did not encourage it to be done, and several taken were suffered to make their escape. Your Excellency knows the disposition of many that were out on this expedition, and can readily account for this conduct.

The National Encyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. II, page 395, gives Hugh Lawson White credit for the death of the Indian chief mentioned above : "A war with the Cherokees breaking out, he volunteered under Gen. Sevier.

The next military event of importance to Cherokee Georgia was the invasion of Alabama by Gen. John Floyd in 1814. Gen. Floyd was a native of Souih Carolina and a descendant of noted fighting men. He owned Fairfield Plantation, Camden County, where he died June 24, 1839, after having served in the State Legislature and in Congress. He defeated the Creek Indians, allies of the British, at

Autossee, Fort Defiance, and Chinibee, Ala., and so complete was the rout that the warlike Creeks as a nation never afterward became dangerous along the border, and the comparatively peaceful settlement of Northwest Georgia was made possible.

Another civilizing influence about this time was the invention of the Cherokee alphabet of 85 characters by Sequoyah (George Guess or Gist), an uneducated Indian who lived at Alpine, Chattooga County, and who was a frequent visitor to Major Ridge's at his home on the Oostanaula. Sequoyah wrote on bark with pokeberry juice, instructed his little daughter and any Indian who wished to learn. He went west to the Indian country in a few years, and presently his alphabet was adopted by the Cherokee Nation and was used along with English in copies of the Cherokee Phoenix,

Several glimpses into Indian and frontier life are given in "The Laws of the Cherokees," published by the Cherokee Advocate at Tahlequah, Okla., in 1852. One of these if contained in an order from the chiefs and warriors in National Council at "Broom's Town," Sept. 11, 1808. (Broom's Town was probably Broom Town, Cherokee County, Ala., in Broom Town Valley, and about five miles from Cloudland, Chattooga County, Ga.). The order forms "regulating companies" of one captain, one lieutenant and four privates each, at annual salaries of $50, $40 and $30, respectively, for the purpose of arresting horse thieves and protecting property. The penalty for stealing a horse was 100 lashes on the bare back of the thief, be he man or woman, and fewer lashes for things of less value ; and if a thief resisted the "regulators" with gun, axe, spear or knife, he could be killed on the spot.

This law was signed by Black Fox, principal chief; Chas. Hicks, secretary to the Council ; Path Killer and Toochalar. These officials and Turtle at Home, Speaker of the Council, drafted the following law Apr. 10, 1810, at "Oostannallah," a town supposed to have been located about three miles east of Resaca, Gordon County, on the east bank of the Connasauga (sometimes known at that point as Oostanaula) River, near the mouth of Polecat Creek :

Be it known that this day the various clans and tribes which compose the Cherokee Nation have agreed that should it happen that a brother, forgetting his natural affection, should use his hand in anger and kill his brother, he shall be accounted guilty of murder and suffer accordingly; and if a man has a horse stolen, and overtakes the thief, and should his anger be so great as to cause him to kill him, let his blood remain on his own conscience, but no satisfaction shall be demanded for his life from his relatives or the clan he may belong to.

"Echota" was the Cherokee term for "town." The first capital is said by some authorities to have been originally in Virginia, the second in North Carolina and the third in East Tennessee. Prior to 1825, it appears, John Ross, principal chief, lived at Ross' Landing, Tennessee River, now Chattanooga. The first mention in the Cherokee laws of New Town (or New Echota) was under date of Oct. 26, 1819. This place was situated on tiie south bank of the Oostanaula River, in Gordon County, Ga., just below the confluence of the Coosawattee and the Connasauga Rivers and presumably three miles south of Oostanaula village.

This day decreed by the National Committee and Council, That all citizens of the Cherokee Nation establishing a store for the purpose of vending merchandise shall obtain license for that purpose from the clerk of the

National Council, for which each and every person so licensed shall pay a tax of $25 per annum, and that no other but citizens of the Cherokee Nation shall be allowed to establish a permanent store within the Nation. And it is also decreed that no peddlers not citizens of the Nation shall be permitted to vend merchandise in the Nation without first obtaining license from the Agent of the United States for the Cherokee Nation, agreeably to the laws of the United States, and each and everyone so licensed shall pay $80 to the treasurer of the Cherokee Nation annually.

This law was signed by John Ross, President of the National Committee ; Path Killer, Chas. R. Hicks and Alex McCoy, clerk. Three years later George M. Lavender encotmtered its provisions by establishing the first trading post near Rome, at the old home of Major Ridge up the Oostanaula River.

Whereas, the Big Rattling Gourd*, Wm. Grimit, Betsey Brown, The Dark, Daniel Griffin and Mrs. Lesley having complained before the Chiefs of a certain company of persons having formed a combination and established a turnpike arbitrarily, in opposition to the interest of the above-named persons, proprietors of a privileged turnpike on the same road, be it now, therefore, known

That said complaint having been submitted by the Council to the National Committee for a decision, and after maturely investigating into the case, have decided that the said new company of the disputed turnpike shall be abolished, and that the above-named persons are the only legal proprietors to establish a turnpike on the road leading from Widow Fool's (ferry) at the forks of High tower (Etowah) and Oostannallah Rivers to Will's Creek by

*The Big: Rattling Gourd was a sub-chief who lived at cne time at Cave Spring. His wife proved unfaithful to him and in a moment of anpter he bit off her nose and otherwise so maltreated her that she died. According to Mrs. Harriet Connor Stevens, of Cave Spring, she was buried on the spot where the Cave Spring postoffice now stands.

w-ay of Turkey Town;** and the said company shall be bound to keep in repair said road, to commence from the first creek east of John Fields, Sr's home, by the name where Vann was shot, and to continue westward to the extent of their limits; and that the Widow Fool shall also keep in repair for the benefit of her ferry at the fork, the road to commence from the creek above named to where Ridge's Road now intersects said road east of her ferry, and that the Ridges shall also keep in repair the road to commence at the Two Runs, east of his ferry, and to continue by way of his ferry as far as where his road intersects the old road, leading from the fork west of his ferry, and that also the Hightower Turnpike Co. shall keep in repair the road from the Two Runs to where it intersects the Federal Road, near Blackburn's.

In 1820, also at New Town or N^ew Echota, a law was passed dividing the Cherokee country of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee into eight territorial and judicial districts : Amoah, Aquohee, Challoogee, Chickamaugee, Coosewatee, Etowah, Hickory Log and Tahquohee. In a description of the Coosewatee District the ferry of the Widow Fool is again mentioned.

It would appear that for about six years, from 1819 to 1825, the Cherokee National Committee and Council held their meetings at New Echota. On Nov. 12, 1825, it was resolved to establish a town with suitable buildings, wide streets and a park :

That 100 town lots of one acre square be laid off on the Oostannallah River, commencing below the mouth of the creek (Town), nearly opposite to the mouth of Caunasauga River, the public square to embrace two acres of ground, which town shall be known and called Echota. There shall be a main street of 60 feet, and the other streets shall be 50 feet.

That all the ground lying within the following bounds, not embraced by the lots, shall remain as commons for the convenience of the town: beginning at the mouth of the creek, opposite the mouth of Caunasauga, and up said creek to the mouth of the dry branch on which Geo. Hicks lives, up said branch to the point of the ridges, and thence in a circle around along said ridges, by the place occupied by the Crying Wolf (lately occupied by War Club), thence to the river.

Signing this document were John Ross, President of the National Committee ; Major Ridge,* Speaker of the Council ; Path Killer, Chas. R. Hicks,** A. McCoy, clerk of the National Committee, and Elias Boudinot, clerk of the National Council.

Thus we see the Cherokees, driven from pillar to post by the encroaching pale-faces, marshaling their forces for a last ditch stand. Their first expedient was to establish "a nation within a nation," hence the concentration of power in a Principal Chief, a National Committee and a National Council, and a regular seat of government at New Echota ; their second expedient was resort to such force as they could command - highway assassination, attacks on isolated families, tribal uprisings - and finally, when state and federal government pressure became too great, non-intercourse and passive resistance. Their newspaper proved a feeble weapon.

As far back as the presidency of George Washington (1794) we find pow-wows in Philadelphia (then the national capital) with the Cherokees and other tribes of the various states in the east and the southeast. In 1803 Thos. Jefiferson, then President, suggested a general movement westward. In 1817 and in 1819, during the Presidency of James Monroe, important treaties were signed with the Cherokees, involving cessions of land. In 1802, during the administration of Mr. Jefiferson, Georgia had ceded to the United States government all the land she owned westward to the Mississippi River, now the states of Alabama and Mississippi, in exchange for the government's promise to extinguish the Indian title to land within Georgia's present boundaries. Twenty years passed ; nothing having been done. Gov. Geo. M. Troup pressed the matter upon the attention of President James Monroe, and the President called a meeting in 1825 for Indian Springs. Here the Lower Creeks, led by Gen. Wm. Mcintosh, ignored the hostile Alabama Creeks, who did not attend, and signed away their Georgia lands. This act infuriated the Alabama Creeks, and 170 men volunteered to kill Gen. Mcintosh, who lived at "Mcintosh Reserve,"onthe Chattahoochee River, five miles southwest of Whitesburg, in what is now Carroll County. The band lay in the woods until 3 o'clock one morning, and proceeded to the Mcintosh home with a quantity of pitch pine on the backs of three warriors. Presently the pine knots were igriited and thrown under the house, and the structure blazed up brightly. From the second story Mcintosh fought ofif his enemies with four guns, but eventually the heat forced him to descend, and when he exposed himself he was shot, then dragged into the yard and killed with knives.

*Major Ridge was a powerful orator, but it is said he was uneducated and could not write his name. The state papers of the Cherokees usually have after his name "his mark." Path Killer also signed by touching the pen.

**Chas. R. Hicks became the first principal chief after the Cherokees had set up their revised structure of government at New Echota. He was succeeded in 1828 by John Ross.

ing president, John Ouincy Adams, took their side and ordered Gov. Troup not to survey the lands just ceded. The Georgia Governor defied Mr. Adams and told him if United States troops invaded Georgia soil, Georgia troops would put them off. Trouble was averted by a new agreement in which the Indians were given about $28,000.

The Creek settlement furnished a suggestion for the agents who ten years later negotiated with a minority faction of the Cherokees, as will be told more fully herein hereafter. Farther down, in South Georgia and Florida, were the such establishment. Samuel A. Worcester, a native of Worcester, Mass., had charge of a mission at New Echota. Missionary Station, at Coosa, Floyd County, was in the care of Rev. and Mrs. Elijah Butler, who were sent out from South Canaan, Conn., by the American Baptist Committee on Foreign Missions. In 1831 Dr. Worcester, Dr. Butler and nine others were sentenced to a term of four years in the Georgia penitentiary at Milledgeville, and served a year and four months. They were charged with pernicious activities among the Indians. Their

The Cherokee Alpha.Bpt

The clan system among the Cherokees was abolished about 1800. The clans were Wolf, Deer, Paint, Longhair, Bird, Blind Savannah and Holly. Jno. Ross was a Bird, Major Ridge a Deer and David Vann a Wolf.

Prior to 1820 Congress appropriated $10,000 yearly toward the maintenance of missions and missionaries among the Indians of Cherokee Georgia and contiguous territory. The Brainerd Mission was located on Missionary Ridge. Tenn., and was probably the first

Pressure on the Indians may be said to have been exerted from two directions ; it proceeded from the oldest section of the State, the neighborhood of Augusta, Savannah and Darien, in a generally northwesterly direction, and from South Carolina, in a westerly direction. Various land speculators, adventurers, criminals and good, substantial people began to overrun the Cherokee country. Under letter date of Aug. 6, 1832, from the Council Ground at Red Clay, Whitfield County, the following red-skins protested to Lewis Cass,

John Ross, Going Snake, speaker of committee; Joseph Vann, David Vann, James Daniel, Thos. Foreman, Alexander McDaniel, his x mark; Fox Baldridge, Samuel Gunter; Chincumkah, his X mark; Young Glass, hixxmark; John Foster, Te-sat-es-kee, his x mark; Ed. Duncan, John Watts, his x mark; John Wayne, his x mark; Sit-u-akee, his X mark; Bean Stick, his x mark; Walking Stick, his x mark; N. Connell, Richard P^ielding, John Timson, Wm. Boling, George Still, his x mark; Hair Conrad, hisxmai'k; Sleeping Rabbit,"'* his X mark ; Archibald Campbell, his x mark; The Buck, his x mark; White Path, his X mark; John R. Daniel, Ruquah, his x mark; James Speaks, his X mark ; Sweet Water, his x mark ; Peter, his x mark; Soft Shell Turtle, his X mark; A. McCoy, George Lowry. U. S. Agent Elisha W. Chester, witness.

It was not until Oct. 23, 1832, however, that the situation became so acute as to call for the most delicate diplomacy from national and state governments. Then it was that the lottery drawings for the Cherokee lands were held, and tlie influx of settlers became general. Like a plague of locusts the new-comers alighted on the choice hunting grounds of the Cherokees. 'ihe territory was broken up into counties, and thus was also broken the friendship between the contending parties, which for so long had been hanging by a slender thread. John Ross directed a protest to his tribesmen which caused them to fast for several days. The Indians assumed an ugly attitude, l)ut it availed little, as we shall iiresently see.

Part Ii

N THE spring of 1834 two lawyers were traveling on horseback from Cassville, Cass County, to attend court at Livingston, the county seat of Floyd. They were Col. Daniel R. Mitchell, a lawyer of Canton, Cherokee County, and Col. Zachariah B. Hargrove, Cassville attorney, formerly of Covington, Newton County. The day was warm and the travelers hauled up at a small spring on the peninsula which separates the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers at their junction. Here they slaked their thirst and sat down under a willow tree to rest before proceeding on their way.

"I was just thinking the same," returned his companion. "There seems to be plenty of water round about and extremely fertile soil and all the timber a man could want."

A stranger having come up to refresh himself at the spring, and having overheard the conversation, said : "Gentlemen, you will pardon me for intruding, but I have been convinced, for some time that the location of this place offers exceptional opportunities for building a city that would become the largest and most prosperous in Cherokee Georgia. I live two miles south of here. My business takes me now and then to George M. Lavender's trading post up the Oostanaula there, and I never pass this spot but I think of what could be done."

The last speaker introduced himself as Maj. Philip Walker Hemphill, planter. Learning the mission of the travelers, he added: "The court does not open until tomorrow afternoon. You gentlemen are no doubt fatigued by your journey, and it will give me great pleasure if you will accompany me home and spend the night. There we can discuss the matter of locating a town at this place."

Col. Mitchell and Col. Hargrove accepted with thanks. The three left the spring (which still runs under Broad street at the southeast corner of Third Avenue), crossed the Etowah River on John Ross' "Forks Ferry," and proceeded with Major Hemphill to his comfortable plantation home at what is now DeSoto Park. Here they went into the question more deeply. A cousin of Maj. Hemphill, Gen. James Hemphill, who lived about ten miles down Vann's Valley, had recently been elected to the Georgia legislature, and could no doubt bring about a removal of the county site from Livingston to Rome ; he was also commanding officer of the Georgia Militia in the section.

After court was over. Col. Mitchell and Col. Hargrove spent another night with Maj. Hemphill, and the next morning Col. Wm. vSmith was called in from Cave Spring, and became the fourth member of the company. It was there agreed that all available land would be acquired immediately, the ferry rights would be l)OUght and the ground laid off in lots. Gen. Hemphill was requested to confer with his compatriots at Milledgeville and draw up a bill for removal. The projectors would give sufficient land for the public buildings and in time would make the ferries free and cause neces- sary bridges to be built, as well as to lay out streets at once. A contract along" these lines was signed with the Inferior Court of Floyd County. Since Col. Mitchell and Col. Hargrove were fairly well established elsewhere, and it would be some time before they could move, they agreed to leave the legal matters in the hands of John H. Lumpkin, of Oglethorpe County, who was ready to resign as secretary to his uncle, Governor Wilson Lumpkin, and to grow up with the new town.

These five pioneers put five names into a hat, it having been agreed that the name drawn out should be the name of the city they were to build. Col. Smith put in the name Hillsboro, typifying the hills, and this later became the name of the suburb he developed. South Rome ; Col. Hargrove suggested Pittsburg, after the iron and steel metropolis of Pennsyl- vania ; Col. Hemphill preferred Hamburg, after the great commercial city of Germany ; Col. Mitchell, recalling the seven hills of ancient Rome on the Tiber, wanted Rome ; and Mr. Lumpkin favored Warsaw, after the city of Poland. The name Rome was extracted and became the name of the town.

Col. Alfred Shorter, who came from Society Hill, Ala., to finance the operations of William Smith, on a half interest basis ; Joseph Watters and John Rush, of the Watters District ; John Ellis, Jos. B'ord, Judge W. H. Underwood, Alford B. Reece, Thos. G. Watters, Tlios. S. Price, Wesley Shropshire, Edward Ware, Thos. and Elijah Lumpkin, Micajah Mayo, Elkanah Everett, of Everett Springs ; A. Tabor Hardin, Wm. C. Hardin, Nathan Piass, Thos. Selman, Rev. Genuluth Winn, Dr. Alvin Dean, Isaac and John P. Bouchillon, Wm. Ring, John Smith, Shade Green, Dr. Jesse Carr, Jno. W. Walker, Henry W. Dean, Jno. Townsend, Jeremiah L. McArver, Sam Smith, Wm. Mathis, G. T. A-Iitchell, Fletcher Carver, J. W. Carver, J. D. Alexander, Col. Jno. R. Hart, Gilbert Cone, Dr. H. V. M. Miller, Thos. W. Burton, A. D. Shackelford, Thos. C. Hackett, James McEntee, Wm. T. Price, R. S. Norton, C. M. Pennington, Rev. Shaler G. Hillyer, Wm. E. Alexander, W. S. Cothran, A. B. Ross, Jobe Rogers, Jno. and Wm. Dejournett, Judge Jno. W Hooper, Ewell Meredith, Col. Jas. Liddell (or Ladelle), Alfred Brown, James Wells, Jesse Lamberth, Terrence McGuire, Dennis Hills, Dr. Thos. Hamilton, Samuel Mobley, Wm. Montgomery, Fielding Hight, Green Cunningham and Samuel Stewart.

l)ecause of the number and prominence of her citizens who settled in Cave Spring, Vann's Valley or Rome. Among- these might be mentioned Mrs. Alfred Shorter, Major Philip W. Hemphill and his brother, Chas. Jonathan Hemphill ; Col. and Mrs. Wm. Smith and her brother, Jno. Willis Mayo, and her kinsman, Micajah Mayo, after whom the Mayo Bar lock was named ; Col. Smith's brothers, Chas., John and Elijah A. Smith ; Gen. Jas. Hemphill, Walton H. Jones, Peyton Skipwith Randolph, Newton Green, Col. James Liddell (or Ladelle), and Wm. Montgomery. Most of tliese settled in Vann's Valley or Cave Spring and thus furnished the inspiration for Rome. Generally they hailed from Jefferson, home of Dr. CraAvford W. Long.

In 1828 the Georgia Legislature had passed a law extending jurisdiction over the Cherokee country, thus ending the "nation within a nation" dream. On Dec. 3, 1832, less than two months after the lottery tirawings, the Legislature passed an act providing for a division of Cherokee Georgia into ten large counties : Floyd, called after the Indian fighter. Gen. Jno. Floyd, of Camden County ; Cherokee, Forsyth, Lumpkin, Col^b, Gilmer, Cass, Murray, Paulding and Union. Roughly speaking, this territory lay northwest of ilie Chattahoochee River, and was bounded on the north by the Tennessee line, and on the west by the Alabama line. Gradually more and more divisions were made, until today the territory is composed of the following additional counties : Dade, Walker, Catoosa, Chattooga, Bartow, Gordon, Polk, Haralson, Carroll, Douglas, Milton, Dawson, White, Fannin, Pickens, Rabun, Towns and Habersham, and parts of Hall, Heard and Troup.

Floyd was surveyed by Jacob M. Scudder, who in 1833 was employed by the United States government to appraise Indian lands and improvements near Cave Spring. Mr. Scudder's name appears on the early records at the Floyd County courthouse in a real estate transaction, but there is no evidence that he ever lived at Rome. Livingston, a hamlet located on the south side of the Coosa River at Foster's Bend, about 14 miles below Rome, was chosen by legislative act of Dec. 21, 1833* as the county seat, and a log cabin courthouse was erected at which one or more sessions of court, presided over by Judge Jno. W. Hooper, were held, and in which quite a lumiber of Indians appeared as prosecutors and defendants.

consummated in 1835. However, a considerable settlement had sprung up prior to this in Vann's Valley. On the "pale-face side" of the Chattahoochee a large and restless element had been held back by the existing conditions, but when encouragement was given by the Georgia authorities to encroachments on the Indian lands, this tide overflowed into the Cherokee country.

The county site was removed to Land Lot 245, 23rd District, 3rd Section, Head of Coosa, Floyd County, the new place to be known as Rome.* The first Saturday in February, 1835, was set as the date for selecting five commissioners for one-year terms.** Parts of land lot 244, east of the Oostanaula and 276, north of the Hightower (Etowah), were also reserved for the growth of the town. The act further stated that nothing therein was to be considered in conflict with a contract made previously by Wm. Smith, et al., with the Inferior Court.

An amendment*** to the act of 1834, passed Dec. 29, 1838, provided for creation of the office of "intendant," which means "superintendent" by the dictionary, but pjobably meant "mayor" in those days ; also included were commissioners, clerk, marshal, etc., and some salaries were fixed.

David Vann, a Cherokee subchief, had settled near Cave Spring in the valley which was given his name, and in tliis valley between the present Rome and Cave Spring people began to "squat" several years before there was a Rome. In 1828, Major Armistead Richardson, father-in-law of the late Judge Augustus R. Wright, of Rome, removed to Vann's Valley from Augusta and with the assistance of a number of enthusiastic associates began preparations

Ridge Valley, seven miles north of Rome, had been settled simultaneously with the Vann's Valley settlement. This valley was named after another Indian leader. Major Ridge, who is supposed to have lived in it, at the present Rush place, at Hermitage, a number of years before moving to the Oostanaula near Rome.

The period of John Ross' residence in DeSoto (Rome's present Fourth ward) has not been determined accurately. However, a satisfactory conclusion may be drawn from the fact that the Cherokee chiefs had been meeting at the New Echota Council ground since 1819, that New Echota had been the capital since 1825, and Mr. Ross found DeSoto ("Head of Coosa") a central point to reside.**** Undoubtedly Mr. Ross was influenced

**Jas. M. Cunningham's place, at or near the present DeSoto Park, had been designated in the act of Dec. 21, 1833, as the place to hold county elections.

****Persistent search has been made to reveal who it was that turned John Ross out of ihis home, but his identity has not been established to a certainty. However, it is on record in the Secretary of State's office. State Capitol, Atlanta, and an old book known as the Cherokee Land Lottery says the Ross home site land (Land Lot 237, 23rd district, 3rd section) was drawn by Hugh Brown, of Beavour's district, Habersham County. Floyd County Deed Record D, page 40, recites that Brown sold the 160 acres Nov. 23, 1835, to Samuel Headen, of Franklin County, for $500 : and on page 45 it is set down that Samuel Headen sold it Feb. 21, 1844, for $3,000 to John B. Winfrey, of Hall. John B. Winfrey was the father of Jas. O. Winfrey, of Floyd. He sold 80 acres of it to Col. Alfred Shorter and 80 to Daniel R. Mitchell. The part on which the Ross house stood is now between Mrs. James M. Bradshaw's home and Hamilton park, and includes the home of County School Superintendent W. C. Rash. It is an eminence where a large sugar berry tree and a walnut are growing. Here, according to a memorial Ross and others sent to the United States Senate in 1836, was where one of his babies and his beloved father, Daniel Ross, were buried. Since Hugh Brown sold the land in November and Ross was dispossessed in April, 1835, it is likely that Brown was living there at the time the Indian leader and his family were turned adrift. Mr. Ross lived at Ross' Landing, Lookout Mountain, now Chattanooga, Tenn., and at Rossville, Walker County, Ga. He was born Oct. 3, 1790 ; some authorities say at Rossville, some Turkeytown, Etowah Co., Ala., and some Tah-nee-hoo-yah ("Logs in the Water"), Ala., which last place and Turkeytown were on the Coosa.

The Heart Of Cherokee Georgia

by the fact that Major Ridge was living about a mile away, and they could hold their conferences much more easily. John Ridge, son of the Major and also a leader, lived about three miles from Ross, at "Running Waters," later the John Hume place. New Echota was some 30 miles, and the Council Ground at Red Clay, Whitfield County, was 60 miles northward, as the crow flies. Sequoyah, the man of letters and knowledge, was 25 miles away. Elias Boudinot, Stand Watie and David Vann were readily available. Assuming that Ross moved to DeSoto in 1825, he resided there ten years, until finally dispossessed of his home. He used to start his letters "Head of Coosa."

the final removal in 1838 than even the capital itself; but at best the Indians were a nomadic race, living here today and there tomorrow^, and their leaders hopped with alacrity between Rome, New Echota, Red Clay and Washington.

Col. Mitchell surveyed the section between the rivers and made a map, dated 1834, copies of which are in existence today. This work was done from Third Avenue northward, since the farm below was owned by Col. Smith and at that time was considered unsafe for building on account of the high waters ; furthermore, it was reserved for race track and tournament purposes. Col. Smith was a lover of horseflesh and he built a half-mile cinder track around the banks of the rivers, and placed his grandstand near the spring alluded to in the foregoing. There were special races between the best riders of the surrounding counties ; the Indians, who usually rode bareback, carried off many a prize. Tournaments were held now and then, in which the riders, going at full speed on their mounts, ran their lances through rings held lightly by a projecting wooden arm - the man who got the most rings in the fewest runs won the contest.

Another diversion, of a highly humorous nature, was the "gander pulling." The neck of a live gander v.as greased thoroughly and the bird hung up by the feet to a limb. The game was to pull the gander's neck oft" or bring him down "whole." This was a difficult feat because the gander dexterously dodged his head when the horseman was about to "pull." Still another was the "greased pole." Anybody who could climb 15 feet to the top could have the bag of money suspended therefrom. The pole was of skinned hickory or oak and would have l^een sleek enough without any grease. If the boys could not make it to the top in a reasonable time they were allowed to put sand on their clothing ; then they went home to their "maws." "Catching the greased pig" was another sport.

In 1833 occurred an event which made Indians and many superstitious folk believe the world was coming to an end. One night the stars "fell." Such another display of pranks in the skies had never been seen ; for quite a while the stars shot this way and that, in graceful curves, then in uncanny zig-zags, until it appeared that the feeble little people of earth would surely be covered in a shower of stars. Indian mothers rushed about, gathering up their oft'spring, and rum old negro mammies and uncles hid under beds and houses, shouting, "Oh, Lordy ! Oh, Lordy ! Dis ingger's soul am pure !"

The task of forming the Rome bar fell to Col. Mitchell, who proceeded with a nucleus composed of himself, Mr. Lumpkin and two or three others. Presently, in 1835, funds were raised and a brick courthouse erected at Court (East First) Street and Bridge Street (East Fifth Avenue). Removal of the courthouse did not exactly suit Jackson Trout, who had built the first wooden dwelling at Livingston. He kept up with the procession by skidding his house down to the Coosa River, putting it on a barge and polling it to Rome, where he set it up again as the first dwelling there. Others followed suit, and they had considerable trouble when they reached Horseleg Shoals, which required "mulehauling" of a high order, to use a nautical expression.

woods except at the forks, and that was swampy and full of willows, with an occasional sturdy tree and hungry mosquito. The rivers were still alive with fish; wild turkeys and deer were often seen ; snakes were numerous ; quail were abundant and squirrels skipped in their native element where Broad Street now extends ; the bushes were alive with wild birds of beautiful color ; on Mt. Alto and Lavender Mountain, five miles away, bears could be found ; and at night the fiery gleam from the eye of a wolf was a common sight. It was a wild country, with trails for roads, and few conveniences.

Squatters and Indians alike pitched their tents in suitable spots waiting for some new word to "move on" or "move ofif." Small squads of Georgia Guardsmen, established by act of 1834, or of United States soldiers, watching Guards and Indians alike, camped a while and then went on to other duty. Trappers and traders did a thriving business ; so did the ferrymen who set people across at the forks or elsewhere. Everybody seemed to be going or coming, despite the efforts of the Town Company to halt them at Rome. The Indians were unusually restless.

Along would come a white family on horseback, carrying all their worldly goods. They had traveled from some neighboring county, or perchance as far as from North Carolina, hoping to better their material condition. The man would lead, the children would follow, and the mother bring up the rear, riding sidewise. Any old port in a storm looked good.

Many had definite objectives, many did not and would "squat" anywhere that looked like it held promise for the future. Others were definitely attracted by the prospect of pioneering in a live town. It is fair to say that Rome and Floyd County received, along with many "floaters," a highly substantial and even aristocratic citizenship. The founders were men of character and iron will - accustomed to blazing their way through one kind of forest or another. They started with little and made out of it much. There were no luxuries to be had, hence they worked with the things of nature, and fashioned out of them whatever they could.

The old Alabama Road forked where the Central Railroad trestle now crosses it. One fork led to Major Ridge's Ferry opposite the Linton A. Dean place, and the other bent southeast to the Ross ferry at the confluence of the rivers. At the Ross ferry a man from Alabama could gain the Hillsboro side or the Rome side, as he pleased. A little later the trafiic became so heavy that Matt and Overton Hitchcock built for Col. Smith a covered wooden bridge at Fifth Avenue (over the Oostanaula), and from that point connected with the Alabama Road. Agricultural business gradually grew prosperous. George Lavender's trading post did a land office business. It used to be said that Lavender kept his money in a barrel or keg which was always fairly well filled with gold and silver coin ; and that when his partnership with Major Ridge and Daniel R. Mitchell was dissolved, they cut a melon estimated at $250,000 in 1922 coin.

Perhaps 5,000 Indians patronized this establishment, and they paid any price for what they wanted. They were especially fond of calico garments, and would buy extravagantly for their women, and often include enough for an odd waist which the women would make for them. They wore outlandish clothes, never matching in any particular ; buckskin or woolen trousers, well worn or patched ; hats that suggested the hat of today on a Chinaman, often with a squirrel tail tacked on it and hanging down the side or back ; some hats made entirely of skin, and therefore very warm in cold weather ; moccasins or discarded white man shoes covering their feet, but many barefoot; cheap jewelry and trinkets whenever they could get it, which was often ; sometimes a cjueer tur- Itan in place of a hat ; usually no coat or jacket, except in winter.

The Indian was fond of tobacco and liquor, but as soon as the leaders saw what terrible inroads were being made on Indian territory by pale-face profiteers of various kinds, a strong Indian organization was formed to stamp out the evils. Liquor was obtained from stores that had a provision shop in front and a barroom or "doggery" in the rear, the entire establishment being dignified by the name "grocery." Green wooden screens obscured the occupants of the barroom until a state law caused them to be abolished, and then everybody could peek in and see who was getting "lit up." Around these places loafed a gang of shiftless Indians and whites, bent on satisfying their abnormal appetites, and fit subjects for whatever mischief might be suggested by the Demon

Rum. These gangs were extremely profane, and poisoned the atmosphere for such a distance that ladies and young ladies would never venture closer than across the street. Knife and pistol scrapes were frequent, especially late at night after the more peaceful inhabitants had retired to their beds. A calaboose soon became a crying necessity, and with it a town marshal who managed to keep it full, except when the inmates escaped and turned the thing over on its side. It was a log afifair, near West Second Street and Sixth Avenue.

There is no certainty as to just what the early city government was like. Doubtless in the beginning ever}' man was a law vuito himself. Gradually, however, local laws were passed and irresponsible persons made amenable to them. In the thirteen years that Rome remained unincorporated it is likely that the intendant or the marshal acted as the executive major domo, and certain that local or inferior court judges meted out justice.

Col. Mitchell, surveyor, evidently had in mind a future instrument like the automobile when he laid out the streets of the town. He made Broad Street and Oostanaula Street (Fourth Avenue) 132 feet wide, all other streets 66 feet wide and lanes 35 feet. Some modifications of that scale, notably with regard to Fourth Avenue, have since been made, and a lawsuit of some importance and interest has resulted.

A few more stores and shops sprang up which carried every article that could l)e obtained in such a limited market. The groceries would also ofifer a line of retail dry goods, small farming implements, plug and smoking tobacco, pipes, lanterns and lamps, wax tapers, matches, candles, novelties for the Indians, snufif for the women, suits.

hats and shoes, horse collars and harness, nails, hand tools, occasionally musical instruments. There were no soda water, ice, silver cigarette cases, bon-bons or chocolates, nail files, lip sticks, rouge, hair nets or beaver hats. Drug stores, banks newspapers, steamboats, crockeries and bakeries, schools and churches were to come along later.

Gentlemen blacked their own boots and cut out of the forest with great cross-cut saws the wood that went into their homes. They wore the uniforms of the frontier and assumed the manners of frontiersmen. Rome was to be built, and it could not be l^uilt with kid gloves.

The social life was very restricted at first. It consisted of calls from neighbor on neighbor, afoot, on horseback or by ox-cart ; or maybe a country break-down on a rudely improvised platform. Since the Indians had no city to build - since they needed only to get a little something to eat every day and keep out of the way of landgrabbers and the "state police" - they had more time for frolics than the early whites. Around bonfires in their villages the red-skins made merry, rending the nights hideous with their war-whoops ; and on these special occasions they put aside their semi-civilized garb and donned the buckskin, the flaming headdress of feathers and all the paint they could daub on.

Each year in summer came the Green Corn Dances at the various villages. The late Mr's. Robert Battey recalled one at Major Ridge's, held when she was about seven years of age. A large company of Indians gathered, and one thing that impressed her particularly was that some of the men had mussel shells tied around their ankles and filled with gravel that rattled when they danced. She remembered that several remained over night until Sunday, and kicked up their heels in George Lavender's store. Her impression of the Indian was the same as that obtained by anybody who knew his nature ; he was a silent, taciturn individual, deeply religious in his own way, ever faithful to the paleface who befriended him and ever ihe foe of one who played him false. He seldom, if ever, broke a promise.

I drove with Mr. Wesley O. Connor out to see Mr. Wright Ellis, one of the last of the old settlers of the Cave Spring region, and Mr. Ellis told many interesting stories of the early days. Mr. Ellis came to Cave Spring with his father as a little boy. Near his house at the end of Vann's Valley stood an old fort which protected the settlement. He told me of a wolf found dead in the cave; it had lain there several years, and the mineral qualities of the cave had preserved it perfectly, until one day a band of Indian boys dragged forth the carcass and tore it to pieces.

David Vann lived on the hill above the spring and the Indians used to congregate near his place for their annual ball play, as they called it". They came from miles away to enjoy the sport. They would also form in two

'From this description it is evident that the games were played on the low, level spot which now comprises the campuses of Hearn Academy and the Georgia School for the Deaf.

A short distance west of Cave Spring was where the Indians of that neighborhood held their Green Corn dances. Mr. Ellis said he had seen crowds estimated at 1,000 to 5,000. Out in the nearby mountains Capt. John Ellis, his father, went with a small party and captured two Cherokee chiefs who were giving trouble during the removal, and threatening a massacre. The chiefs were sent west. As the raiders approached, a sentinel cried, "Eastochatchee soolacogee!" meaning "much white man!"

These were the days of the "pony clubs," whose members blacked their faces and stole horses from whites and Indians alike. A party of the law and order element, known as the "slickers," once caught two thieves and gave them lashes on their backs with a whip.

Mr. Ellis also told how Col. Wm. Smith, known to the Indians as "Black Bill," because of his dark complexion, routed a crowd of drunken red-skins

Capt. John Townsend, Maj. Armistead Richardson, William Simmons, Jackson Trout, W. D. Cowdrey, W. K. Posey, Carter W. Sparks, Major Wm. Montgomery and Gen. Jas. Hemphill were among the pioneers who possessed the Cave Spring land ere the print of the moccasin had faded from the soil.

Life with the rugged settlers of Rome was just one murder, horse theft or incendiary fire after another. The country was overrun with vigilance' committees, outhiws, land speculators, soldiers, unruly Indians and plain people of respectability who wanted to farm and conduct their shops in peace. Peace and the social order that thrives in it was not to be attained, however, until the Indians were sent west lock, stock and barrel.

HE following item from the Georgia Constitutionalist, of Augusta, July 24, 1835, (Guieu & Thompson, proprietors), announced the date and place of the important meeting of Ridge and Ross forces and Georgia Guardsmen and United States troopers near Rome. This meeting was vital because it paved the way for the Council pow-wow at Red Clay in October, which in turn brought about the New Echota meeting" and treaty signed Dec. 29, 1835, the instrument by which the Cherokees were removed :*

The Cassville Pioneer says John Ridge and his friends will hold a Council in Floyd County six miles north of Rome 20th of July inst. It is expected this Council will be numerously attended. The cause of Ridge and his party is going ahead.

The gathering was supposed, prior to discovery of the above item in an old newspaper file in the Library of the University of Georgia, to have been held at the home of Major Ridge on the Oostanaula, but since the item says it was to be held six miles north of Rome, and several authorities assert the place was "Running Waters," the conclusion is inevitable th?t it was held at the home of John Ridge, son of the Major, three miles north of Rome, at the plantation later owned by John Hume, and now the property of E. L. Forster. A bold spring at this domicile caused the name "Tantatanara,"

*A)lowing for women and children, Georgia Guardsmen, United States troops, officials and onlookers, it is probable that 3,000 people attended this meeting. It was estimated that 600-800 attended the Red Clay Council in October, 1835, and 300-500 the New Echota meeting in December, 1835, when the treaty was accepted.

All authorities ag'ree that the Running Waters pow-wow was the largest the Cherokees had held up to that time, and its importance could not be overestimated. Major Currey's special correspondence is here given.

Dear Sir: The people composing the council called for the purpose of obtaining the sense of the nation on the subject of the annuity convened on the day before the period appointed. There were between 2,500 and 2,600 Indian men present. This number could not by any previous measures or meetings have been anticipated. Mr. Schermerborn was present and obtained their consent to address them on the next morning. The first day was consumed in discussions, explanations and voting on a proposition to divide the annuity among the people by ayes and nays.

When the next morning arrived, Mr. Schermerhorn had a stand erected, so that he might by his elevation be the more generally heard ; aided by the Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, he went into a full explanation of the views of the Government, and the relation in which the different delegations stood to one another; their people, the States and the general Government; which was listened to with much attention for a period of three hours. In order to insure attention, this resolution had been so worded that it would not dispose of the question further than the single proposition was concerned ; and by addressing them before the vote was finished, Mr. Schermerhorn had, perhaps, the largest red audience of adult males ever before assembled togather in this nation at one time.

The Cherokees had, until a few days before, been advised not to attend, but when Ross found that the money would be paid to the order of the majority attending, his head men were called together at Red Clay, when I am informed he told them the agents of Gcvernment, and the disorganized attached to Ridge, must be put down; and in order to do this, all the men of the nation must rally, and be there to sustain their nation and treasury. They came, some starving, some half clad, some armed, and scarcely any with provisions for more than one or two days. Under these circumstances, having a desire to be heard, Mr. Schermerhorn promised them rations for one day, on condition they would hear him as commissioner. On examination, I found they might, under the 9th section of the regulations for paying annuities, be furnished at public expense, if circumstances rendered it necessary. Arrangements were accordingly made, and requisitions drawn on Lieut. Bateman to meet the same.

I took occasion to say to the Cherokees, as they came up by districts, that let them vote the money in what way they would, it could not save their country; that their party had been invited to express their views and wishes freely; instead of doing this they had withdrawn themselves from the ground, and been counselled in the bushes. Why was this so? Were their chiefs still disposed to delude their people, when ruin demanded entrance at the red man's door, and the heavy hand of oppression already rested upon his head?

To say the least of it, there was something suspicious in their withdrawal. The officers of Government were bound to report their speeches to the Secretary of War, and the chiefs had shown contempt to the United States by withdrawing themselves and their people into the woods beyond their hearing. If this was not the proper construction to be placed upon such a proceeding, the chiefs had certainly carried them off to feed their feelings on false hopes and false promises once more.