Native American/Scottish Relations

[Guest guest]

NIWarriorS, "Lojah" <Lojah wrote:

 

New World Celts

 

http://www.newworldcelts.org/celtic_indians.htm

 

Coilltich and Ceiltich

 

When celebrating the fabulous history of the Celtic peoples in the

New World, one must include the progeny of their liaisons with the

Native Americans, for herein lay many of the greatest stories on

this

continent. The joining of these two tribal cultures results in some

of the greatest warrior-heroes to walk the planet, just when their

people needed them the most. The traditional powers of the Old World

(Britain, Spain and France) were locked in mortal combat over the

vast resources of the New World. These resources included

the "Coilltich", Gaelic for the "forest-folk", the term the

highlanders had for the Red Man.

 

From the Gaelic periodical, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 1840,

translated: "There is no people on the face of this earth who, in

matters of war or hunting, can surpass the Indians who inhabit the

region of America not inhabited by the white people. They are now,

alas! few in number compared to what they were at one time; for , as

the white people become more numerous and powerful, the Indians are

scourged backwards before them, from place to place; and are injured

by every sort of the most merciless brutality and violence."

 

"The American Indians are very refined in their language and they

are

eloquent and expressive in their manner of speaking."

 

"It is likely that the Gaels realized that Native Americans were

the

disposed and disenfranchised of America in the same sense that they

had become the subject race of Scotland, driven out of their home by

Clearances that continued into the early twentieth century" , We're

Indians sure Enough. The Legacy of Scottish Highlanders in the

United

States…Michael Newton 2001

 

From the Emigrants Guide to North America, Robert MacDougall, 1841,

in Gaelic: MacDougall describes Native Americans as people who are

similar to Gaels and who deserve their admiration. "Not only are the

men physically attractive according to Highland ideals of manhood,

they exhibit warrior qualities, and live under the protection of

leaders "just like the clan chiefs who were once among the Gaels".

 

It is no wonder then, that the Highlander would leave the English

on

the coast of America and settle on the frontiers of the 18th

century,

intermingle with the tribes and settle down with the women of the

Native Americans. "Such unions enabled them to enjoy better

relations

with their wife's tribe, gave them a partner with the knowledge and

experience necessary to survive in the wild, and bestowed

full "native status" to their children on account of the matrilineal

reckoning of Native American society."

 

The following are some of the stories of those children, who having

the bloodlines of two warrior tribes from different ends of the

planet, made their indelible mark on history, for both the Coilltich

and the Ceiltich.....Mike Dunlap...From the upcoming book, "New

World

Celts...Voyage to America"

 

 

 

Throughout the French and Indian War, English authorities negotiated

with the Native Americans for their military assistance. While not

as

skilled at romancing them as their French counterparts, the English

did experience some success, due partly to the influence of the

Scottish Highlanders, whom the Indians viewed as being similar to

themselves. Both cultures were consummate warriors and lovers of the

fray, both had great respect for the orator and Chieftain, and both

clan and tribe held ancient traditions in high regard. Their

similarities in temperament and philosophy sometimes led the English

to refer to the Scots as "cousins to the Indian." Preparing for

battle had its own Highland custom . . . the war dance. On the left

Robert Griffing shows a soldier of the 42nd Highland Regiment within

the walls of Fort Ticonderoga seeking a prophecy by engaging in an

ancient Highland tradition. According to clan tradition, if the

dancer touches the swords beneath his feet during the dance, its a

forecast of doom for the coming battle. A piper provides the tunes.

An Iroquois warrior watches, waiting for the results. An amused and

approving smile appears on the face of a tribal headman as he keeps

time with his drum. On the right, "Warriors". From and for sale

at:

www.Terryjamesart.com

 

 

 

 

 

Alexander McGillivray, Hoboi-Hilr-Miko, son of a Scots trader and

an

Indian Princess, becomes the symbolic Chief of the Creek, Choctaw,

and Seminole Tribes in the Southeast USA in 1780. 1759–93, Native

American chief. He was born in the Creek country now within the

borders of the state of Alabama, the son of Lachlan McGillivray, a

Scots trader, and Sehoy Marchand, his French-Creek wife. Given a

classical education at Charleston, S.C., he returned to his mother's

people at the beginning of the American Revolution when Georgia

confiscated the property of his Loyalist father, who thereupon

returned to Scotland. In the war he was a British agent, influential

in maintaining Creek loyalty to the crown. At Pensacola in 1784,

McGillivray, now dominant in his nation's councils, concluded with

the Spanish a treaty confirming the Creek in their lands, giving the

Spanish a trade monopoly, and making him Spanish commissary. With

arms provided by the Spanish, his warriors periodically attacked

American frontier settlements from Georgia to the Cumberland River.

In 1790, President Washington, seeking to end the depredations,

invited him to a conference in New York City. McGillivray, an

intelligent diplomat, accepted, meanwhile assuring Spanish

authorities of his loyalty, and was well received. By the Treaty of

New York (1790), the Creek acknowledged U.S. sovereignty over part

of

their territory, acquired lands claimed by Georgia, and agreed to

keep the peace. McGillivray himself accepted a brigadier generalcy

and a yearly pension. He continued in the pay of the Spanish,

however; in 1792 when they increased his subsidy, he entered upon

another treaty with them that practically repudiated his treaty with

the Americans, and the Native American attacks were resumed.

McGillivray and McQueen's

 

 

 

 

 

William McIntosh,c.1775–1825, Tustunugi Hutka, Native American

chief, son of (Scottish) Captain William McIntosh and Senoia

Henneha

of the Coweta-Cussitta Towns of the Lower Creeks, was born about

1775

near Tuetumpla (now Alabama). McIntosh also spent much time with his

father and stepmother in the Savannah area. It was here that he

learned to read, write and speak English. He learned his business

skills from his father as well. Feeling comfortable with both his

mother's people and his father's people helped McIntosh to gain the

confidence necessary to become a leader. His mother was of the Wind

Clan, the clan from which leaders are usually chosen. McIntosh

became

a Micco (king) of the Lower Creek villages. That is, he was elected

orator, or chief spokesman for these loosely aligned villages.

White's Historical Collections of Georgia, an early Georgia history,

described McIntosh as intelligent and brave. In person he was tall,

finely formed, and of graceful and commanding manners. His first

cousin was George Troup, who served as Governor of Georgia. Friendly

to the Americans, McIntosh led the lower Creek (White Stick) against

the British in the War of 1812 and was made a brigadier general. He

later fought alongside Andrew Jackson against the Seminoles under

McQueen. In Feb., 1825, he signed a treaty ceding the Creek lands

East of the Chattahoochee River to Georgia and was shortly

thereafter

slain by the upper Creek, who opposed the cession. White Warrior

Chief William McIntosh

 

 

 

 

 

McIntosh, CHILLY.--A Creek chief. After his brother, William, was

slain by Menewa for having betrayed the Creeks by "selling the

graves

of their ancestors," he became the head of the minority party that

acquiesced in the proposed emigration to Indian Territory. As such

he

frequently visited Washington to treat with officials regarding the

transfer of lands and acquitted himself as a capable man of

business.-

-Stanley, Portraits Am. Inds., 13, 1852.

 

 

 

 

 

William Weatherford aka Red Eagle c. 1780–1824, Native American

chief, b. present-day Alabama.

 

Red Eagle, also known as William Weatherford, was born about 1780,

the son of Scottish trader Charles Weatherford and a Creek

chieftain's daughter. In his early thirties he became an ally of

Tecumseh, and led one of the Creek factions to resist the advance of

the white frontier. After an attack by white frontiersmen upon a

party of Creeks returning from a trading expedition to Florida, Red

Eagle assembled a force of a thousand warriors and trailed the

attackers to Fort Mims, an outpost north of Mobile. On August 30,

1813, they overran the poorly defended fort and after , refusing to

heed his plea for restraint ,killed about five hundred of its 550

occupants, who consisted of whites, black slaves, and Creeks loyal

to

the U.S. The Fort Mims massacre brought several columns of militia

and regular Army troops in pursuit of Red Eagle's warriors. With

Menewa and other Creek leaders, Red Eagle built a stronghold at

Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. On March 27, 1814, General

Andrew Jackson's forces surrounded and severely defeated the Creeks.

After the battle, Red Eagle boldly entered Jackson's headquarters,

surrendered, and promised that if his life was spared he would spend

the remainder of it working for peace. Impressed by the man's

courage

and intelligence, Jackson pardoned him. Red Eagle kept his word,

settled on a plantation in Monroe County, Alabama, and was accepted

in the community as a man of peace and strict honor. This great

American Indian leader died March 9, 1822, shortly before his people

underwent their mass removal to Indian Territory.

 

"I am a soldier, I have done the white people all the harm I could.

 

I have fought them and fought them bravely. If I had an army I would

yet fight!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Menewa, Chief of the Redstick Muskogee (Upper Creek) born probably

at Okfuskee, about 1766, died in the Creek Nation west,--but year of

death not known. He was a half-breed, whose tradition relates that

his father was a Scot trader. He was noted in early life for his

annual horse stealing., exploits on the Cumberland frontier in

Tennessee, but seldom shedding the blood of the settlers, except

when

he met with resistance. He received, in consequence of these raids,

the name of Hopothla, said to mean "crazy war hunter". When

Tecumseh visited the Creeks in 1811, Menawa was the second chief of

the Okfuskee town. He entered heart and soul into Tecumseh's

schemes,

influenced to this action, in a measure, by his hatred of General

McIntosh, who, he knew, in case of war, would be on the side of the

Americans. He fought in several battles of the Creek war, but is

best known from his connection with the battle of the Horse-Shoe. In

1825, a secret council was held, in which a party of chiefs and

warriors were appointed to carry into execution the national law by

putting to death General William McIntosh, who, in violation of this

law, had presumed to make a cession of land at Indian Springs.

Menawa

was one of these National executioners. In after years, he regretted

his share in this affair, saying that he would freely lay down his

life, if by; so doing, he could bring back to life Billy McIntosh.

Menawa was opposed to the emigration of the entire Creek Nation, but

wished that certain reservations, to be held in perpetuity, should

be

granted to such individuals as wished to remain in the ceded

territory.

 

 

 

Jack Kinnard The most most colorful of these characters in the

lower Flint River region was the Scotch-Creek mestizo or "mixed-

blood" named Jack Kinnard. Like a number of other Creek leaders in

the late eighteenth century, Kinnard had a Scotch merchant father

and

a Creek mother. Scotch and English traders operating out of Charles

Town (later Charleston, SC) often lived for awhile in Creek country

while arranging for the exchange of deerskins for British

manufactured goods, especially guns, ammunition, and alcohol. Some

of

these traders took Creek wives and produced offspring who often took

advantage of their dual heritage. Since Creek society was

matrilineal

with property descending through the female line, the son for a

Creek

woman had status in American Indian society. In colonial British

society, which was patrilineal, the son achieved his status through

his father. In a sense then, mestizos like Jack Kinnard were the

ideal intermediaries or cultural brokers between Creek and

Euramerican society. In 1790, he owned over 1200 cattle and horses,

and about forty black and several Indian slaves. In the 1790s he was

recognized by both Creeks and Americans, as well as the Spanish in

Florida, as the headman or Creek leader in the lower Flint River

region. His father was probably John Kinnard, a Scot trader among

the

Creeks as early as 1747. His mother was apparently a Hitchiti Creek

woman, for Jack was referred to on several occasions as a Hitchiti

chief. The Hitchiti lived in one of the Lower Creek towns, located

along the Chattahoochee River.

 

 

 

Billy Powell aka Osceola 1804-1838 Osceola was not born a chief

nor was he ever so named by formal election. He was born in Georgia,

near the Chattahoochee River, in the country of the Creeks, near

Tuskogee, Alabama. His name means Black Drink Crier (Asi-YaHolo).

His

lineage is disputed, but biographers Hartley in 1973 and Wickman in

1991 both refer to Tom Woodward's lineage of Osceola. A Scot named

James McQueen lived with the Creeks from 1716 till 1811 when he died

at the age of 128. He had married a Tallassee woman and had many

children, two of which were Peter McQueen (great-Uncle and chief in

his own right), and Ann. Ann married a half-breed named Copinger and

had a daughter named Polly. Polly Copinger then married William

Powell, a Scot trader and their son was named Billy, later known as

Osceola. Osceola always maintained that he was full-blooded, but

that

was because his mother had told him that Creek and Seminole followed

Matriarchal lineage....the male did not count: " You are Muskogee

because I am. I am because my mother is." In actuality, Osceola has

Scottish lineage on both sides: McQueen on his mother's and Powell

on

his father's. The male on the mothers side is of the most influence

and that was his great uncle Talmuches Hadjo aka Peter McQueen.

 

Elegant in dress, handsome of face, passionate in nature and giant

of ego, Osceola masterminded successful battles against five baffled

U.S. generals, murdered the United State's Indian agent, took

punitive action against any who cooperated with the white man and

stood as a national manifestation of the Seminoles' strong

reputation

for non-surrender. Osceola was not a chief with the heritage of a

Micanopy or Jumper, but his skill as an orator and his bravado in

conflict earned him great influence over Seminole war actions.

Osceola's capture, under a controversial flag of truce offered by

Gen. Thomas Jessup, remains today one of the blackest marks in

American military history. A larger-than-life character, Osceola is

the subject of numerous myths; his 1838 death in a Charleston, S.C.

prison was noted on front pages around the world. At the time of his

death, Osceola was the most famous American Indian. Osceola

osceola2

Florida Seminole Indian war

 

 

 

 

 

Peter McQueen: (Talmuches Hadjo) Creek Chief, born probably 1780,

and

on Line Creek in Montgomery County, Alabama, was the son of James

McQueen and a Tallassee woman. James McQueen was a Scotchman, born,

it is said in 1683, deserted from a British vessel at St. Augustine

in 1710. McQueen was a prominent chief at the massacre of Fort

Mims.

He seems not to have been present at the battle of the Horse-Shoe.

After this defeat, he and his two brothers-in-law, John and Sandy

Durant, placed themselves for a short time with their people on the

headwaters of Line Creek. Thence they went to Florida. General

Thomas Woodward writes of meeting him and Josiah Francis at Fort

Hawkins near the close of 1817. The two chiefs were there trading

and

their meeting with their old acquaintance, Woodward, was entirely

friendly. Very soon after this, the fugitive Creeks and Seminoles

were at open war against the Americans, and Peter McQueen was

recognized as the head leader. The war of 1818 in Florida known in

history as the first Seminole war, was fought almost solely by the

friendly Indians under General William McIntosh against the Red

Stick

Creeks and Seminoles under Peter McQueen. There was very little

fighting done by the Americans. The most notable fight was on April

12, 1818, at Econfinnah, in which McQueen was defeated with the loss

of thirty-seven men killed, and six men and ninety-seven women and

children capture of cattle. McIntosh's loss was three men killed and

four wounded. At the close of the Florida war McQueen took refuge on

a barren island. on the Atlantic side of Cape Florida, where he soon

after died.

 

 

 

John Walker, Jr. John Walker, Jr. and John Ross had a good deal in

common. Both were Cherokee chiefs who sided with the whites during

the Creek War. Both were rich ferry owners who had white fathers and

Indian mothers. But their strong disagreement on the Removal

question

divided them and created a gap that could not be bridged. The two

men

clearly did not like each other. So strong was the enmity between

them that Walker tried in 1819 to kill Ross with a knife in

Washington, DC, where several of the tribe's most influential chiefs

had assembled for treaty discussions. When Walkers son, John Walker

III, was assassinated in 1834 by Ross's political supporters, the

murder so intensified a tribal feud that it spanned several

generations and states. Young Walker's assassination fueled the

ongoing conflict and disintegration of the Cherokee Nation, driving

a

wedge between those supporting and those opposing removal to

Arkansas. In some respects, John Walker, Jr. was symbolic of the

transition, which the Chickamauga's experienced between the 1780's

and 1830's. Although he had fought against the Americans when he was

only fourteen years old, he later assimilated white customs. In his

early years he was a follower of Dragging Canoe. He took white

scalps

during a raid on Buchanan Station in 1792. After the end of the

Indian wars, however, he became a respectable trader, a licensed

blacksmith, and an accomplished businessman. In 1819, the United

States government granted Walker two 640-acre reservations; one

included his home and ferry, the other included his grist and saw

mills. He laid out the town of Calhoun on one of his tracts and

retained several valuable lots. He may have served in the Lighthorse

Guard before McMinn County was organized and he was a member of the

prestigious National Council of Thirteen. During the War of 1812, he

received a major's commission and he was decorated for his bravery.

 

 

 

 

John Stuart, "father of the Cherokees" One of the most widely known

and admired persons in the province of South Carolina during the

decade preceding the American revolution was Captain John Stuart, a

descendant of Scotland's Royal line. Although an untitled private

gentleman, he became the Royal Superintendent of Indian Affairs for

the Southern Districts of North America in 1762 largely because of

the most amazing example of friendship between an Indian and a white

man ever recorded. He would meet and become the blood-brother of

Attakullakulla, (The Little Carpenter), the beloved Peace Chief of

the Cherokee Nation. There was a sincere affection between these

men

that endured for their lifetime. Although he had no previous

experience with Indians Stuart was attracted to their way of life

and

was readily accepted by the fierce mountain people. A number of

Cherokee warriors accompanied General Oglethorpe when he invaded

east

Florida in 1740 and had witnessed the bravery of the kilted warriors

from over the sea, as they battled the Spanish with their deadly

broadswords at Fort Mosa. The Cherokee admired the Highland Scots

whom they considered fellow warriors. Some purists may be dismayed

at

this but it is a fact the two races had much in common. Both were

mountain people with proud, independent, warrior societies who

gloried in a good fight, rough games and reckless living. Both were

clan societies which considered loyalty to the clan their first

obligation. An Indian's insistence on vengeance for the killing of a

member of his clan was perfectly understood by an 18th century

Highlander with a similar custom. The Scottish Martinmas Fair held

each fall, was almost identical to the Cherokee Green Corn Busk,

also

held each fall. Cherokees passed a newly born child through the

smoke

of a fire to purify it and the Scots had an identical custom. The

Scots were so compatible with the Indians that after 1750 nearly all

the traders among the southern Indians were Highland Scots. Because

of his ability to get along with the Indians Stuart handled all

liaison with them and traded for provisions for the garrison. On

January 5, 1762, Stuart was appointed Royal Superintendent of Indian

Affairs for the Southern Districts of North America. Stuart held

office for 18 years, during which he had a harmonious relationship

with the Commanders in Chief and Ministers under whom he worked. At

a

time when many Royal officials considered their office mainly as a

means to advance their own fortunes. Stuart's tenure was one of the

few bright spots of the English administration of her American

colonies. He was a consummate diplomat and truly devoted to his

savage charges, their welfare was always his foremost concern. The

southern Indians in turn loved and trusted their "Beloved Father," a

title of great respect given him by the Cherokees.

 

While serving at Loudoun - according to Cherokee legend - Stuart

took

a Cherokee maiden, Susannah Emory, as his consort. Susannah was the

three quarter white, grand daughter of Cherokee trader Ludovic

Grant,

a transported Jacobite taken at Preston in 1715 and sent to South

Carolina to serve a 7 year indenture. Susannah had a son by Stuart

who was called Oo-no-dutu (Bushyhead) as Stuart was , because of his

shock of bushy, red-gold hair, typical of the Stuarts. This son,

known only by his Indian name, remained among the Indians and

married

Nancy Foreman, the daughter of a Scottish trader and a Cherokee

woman. They had a son who was called Jesse Bushyhead and he became

the progenitor of a long line of Bushyheads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chief Jesse Bushyhead of the Oklahoma Cherokee from rosecity.net/

tears/trail/cgc.html

 

 

 

Chief Dennis Bushyhead of the Oklahoma Cherokee

 

 

 

John Ross, whose name in Cherokee is Kooweskoowe , 1790–1866,

Native

American chief, b. near Lookout Mt., Tenn., of Scottish and Cherokee

parents. He was educated at Kingston, Tenn., and in the War of 1812

served under Andrew Jackson against the Creeks. Elected principal

chief of the eastern Cherokee in 1828, Ross struggled valiantly to

hold the ancestral lands of his people but was unable to withstand

the constant pressure of the state of Georgia for removal. In a

treaty (1835) of questionable validity, a small minority of the

Cherokee ceded the lands and moved west. Ross and the majority

refused to acknowledge the cession, but resistance was unsuccessful,

and in 1838–39 he led them on the long, hard journey to present-day

Oklahoma. Thousands died on the trip, known in Native American lore

as the "trail of tears." From 1839 until his death Ross was chief of

the united Cherokee nation (the western Cherokee had migrated at the

beginning of the century). (Columbia Encyclopedia) Chief John Ross

Chief from 1828-1866. Cherokee John Ross and the Confederacy

 

 

 

Duncan Macdonald.. Half Scot and half Nez Perce, Duncan was

descended

from the MacDonald's of Glencoe. Unfortunately he experienced a

similar tragedy when he helped guide White Bird's breakaway when

Chief Joseph was caught by US troops near the Canadian border.

Highlanders and Indians: the MacDonald's in Montana

 

Angus MacDonald was born in 1816 near Loch Torridon, Scotland and

came to America to work in the fur trade in 1838. He could speak

several Native American languages and in c. 1840 married the sister

of a chief of the Nez Perce. He was in charge of the Fort Colvile

trading post (in modern Washington State) of the Hudson's Bay

Company

from 1852 to 1872 and was one of the last of the Chief Traders of

the

Hudson's Bay Company to operate within the territory of the United

States. One of the children of this union was Duncan MacDonald, born

in 1849. Although Duncan could speak Gaelic, as well as English and

Salish, he came to consider himself to be a Nez Pierce "Indian." As

he wrote himself:

 

"I have learned to have a thorough understanding of Indian things.

Today I think of and view things about me with Indian eyes."

 

Duncan determined to let the outside world know the story from the

native point of view. Combining his skills as a storyteller, a Nez

Pierce tradition-bearer, and a literate English-speaker, he wrote

many articles for newspapers which brought the brutal treatment of

his kinsmen to the attention of the American public. In 1878, Duncan

undertook a lengthy journey to visit White Bird, living on Sitting

Bull's camp outside of American jurisdiction, in Alberta.

 

Duncan recorded the last texts documented from White Bird before he

died, just months later, telling his own version of the fighting of

1877, and the origins of that conflict. Duncan turned these into

articles for The New Northwest, although not everyone was happy

about

these alternative interpretations appearing in print:

 

"I made many enemies among the whites, because I corrected them

about

their stories." From saorsa media

 

 

 

Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks 1700-1763 Mary Musgrove, the

Creek

(American) Indian interpreter, diplomat and businesswoman, was born

in 1700 to the prestigious Wind Clan of the Creek tribe. Her

original

Creek name was Cousaponokeesa. She was born in the small settlement

of Coweta near the present day Macon, Georgia, U.S.A. The Creek

clans

trace their lineage through the maternal line. Cousaponokeesa's

mother was an esteemed clan matriarch, a sister of Hoboyelty, the

civil chief of Coweta, called Emperor Brims by the Europeans.

Cousaponokeesa's father is unknown, but the legend has it that he

was

a Scottish trader. When the Englishman, James Edward Oglethorpe,

came

to start the British colony of Georgia, he sought out Mary to be his

interpreter and adviser. Mary helped Oglethorpe negotiate land

treaties with the local tribes, which led to the founding of

Savannah

in 1733 and of Augusta in 1735. Mary Musgrove Queen of the Creeks

Mary of the Creeks Georgia woman of accomplishment

 

 

 

PADDY CARR.--A Coweta Creek leader, interpreter to the Agent at Fort

Mitchell. He was the son of Tom Carr an Irish trader among the

Indians. Paddy was reared an orphan among the family of Mr. Crowell,

the Agent, and served with him to date of the removal of the Indians

in 1836. Carr's first born children were twins, Ari and Adne, named

to honor the daughter of his youthful friend, Miss Ariadne Crowell,

niece of the Hon. John Crowell, the Creek Indian Agent. Carr died in

the West after an eventful career there. At one time he owned

considerable property in Russell County in Alabama. Served

against the Seminoles in Florida in 1836.

 

Scots and the American Indians.

 

 

 

 

 

Archie McIntosh Born in Canada, he was one of the greatest

Indian

scouts of the Old West. He was the son of a Chippewa mother and a

Scots father. He was offered a post with General George Crook. He

was

considered almost superhuman among the tribesmen. After moving to

Arizona, he fought in campaigns against the Tonto and San Carlos

Apaches. In 1855 Archie McIntosh entered the service of the U.S.

Army

as a scout. Working with another Scottish-Indian, Donald McKay, he

saved a band of U.S. soldiers from a number of Columbia River Native

attacks. As one contemporary reporter observed, `The whole body of

troopers would have been massacred had it not been for the strategy

of those two cunning half breeds."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesse Chisholm, Scot-Cherokee Indian trader, guide, and

interpreter,

was born in the Hiwassee region of Tennessee, probably in 1805 or

1806. His father, Ignatius Chisholm, was of Scottish ancestry and

had

worked as a merchant and slave trader in the Knoxville area in the

1790s. Around 1800 he married a Cherokee woman in the Hiwassee area,

with whom he had three sons; Jesse was the eldest. Sometime

thereafter Ignatius Chisholm separated from Jesse's mother and moved

to Arkansas Territory. Jesse Chisholm was evidently taken to

Arkansas

by his mother with Tahlonteskee's group in 1810. During the late

1820s he moved to the Cherokee Nation and settled near Fort Gibson

in

what is now eastern Oklahoma. Chisholm became a trader and in 1836

married Eliza Edwards, daughter of James Edwards, who ran a trading

post in what is now Hughes County, Oklahoma. Chisholm took trade

goods west and south into Plains Indian country, learned a dozen or

so languages, established small trading posts, and was soon in

demand

as a guide and interpreter. Eventually he interpreted at treaty

councils in Texas, Indian Territory, and Kansas.

 

He was active in Texas for nearly twenty years. While president of

the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, who probably met Chisholm at

Fort

Gibson between 1829 and 1833, called on him to contact the prairie

Indian tribes of West Texas. Chisholm played a major role as guide

and interpreter for several Indian groups at the Tehuacana Creek

councils beginning in Spring 1843, when he coaxed several tribes to

the first council on Tehuacana Creek near the Torrey Brothers

trading

post eight miles south of the site of present Waco. Over the next

year and a half he continued to offer his services to Houston, and

on

October 7, 1844, Chisholm got Comanches and others to attend a

meeting at Tehuacana, where Houston spoke. In February 1846, while

visiting the Torreys' post from a trip south of San Antonio,

Chisholm

was hired to bring Comanche's to a council at Comanche Peak (Glen

Rose today). The meeting was held on May 12. Finally, on December

10,

1850, Chisholm assembled representatives from seven tribes at a

council on the San Saba River. At some of these meetings and on

trading trips he was able to rescue captives held by the Indians.

 

By 1858 Chisholm ended his trips into Texas and confined his

activities to western Oklahoma. During the Civil War he served the

Confederacy as a trader with the Indians, but by 1864 he was an

interpreter for Union officers. During the war Chisholm resided at

the site of Wichita, Kansas; Chisholm Creek in the present city is

named for him. In 1865, Chisholm and James R. Mead loaded a train of

wagons at Fort Leavenworth and established a trading post at Council

Grove on the North Canadian near the site of present Oklahoma City.

Many of his Wichita friends followed, and their route later became

the Chisholm Trail, which connected Texas ranches with markets on

the

railroad in Kansas. Chisholm died of food poisoning at Left Hand

Spring, near the site of present Geary, Oklahoma, on April 4, 1868.

 

--- End forwarded message ---