[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.]

In the colonial period, most Native American clans were simply a village or two. Those who spoke a common language, such as Iroquois by the Cherokee, would live in the same general district and may trade, but most often did not have a centralized government or power structure. The Powhattan Confederacy is a historically known exception.

In the early 1700’s, when my British great-grandfathers met my Native American great-grandfathers, the British defined five Cherokee groups based on their location.

Overhill Towns (east Tennessee) lived along the Tellico and Little Tennessee rivers. Lower towns (north Georgia) inhabited Tugalo, Keowee and upper Savannah rivers. Middle Towns (North Carolina) populated the headwaters of the Little Tennessee River. Valley Towns (North Carolina) peopled the Hiawassee and Valley rivers. Out Towns (North Carolina) occupied the Tuskaseegee and Occonoluftee rivers.

That was too many disparate groups for Sir Alexander Cuming to administer. He “persuaded” several village chiefs to meet at the village of Nequassee (Middle Towns), where they became convinced to submit to British rule. They could still do their own thing, but in exchange for paying tribute (taxes) in form of furs to the British, the British soldiers would “protect” them from enemies, including encroaching Europeans.

How did that work out? Oh, by the way, you must have one emperor or grand chief of the Cherokee speaking people, and I want to introduce you to my choice. His name is Chief Moytoy of Tellico, an Overhill village.

Thus began the proud Cherokee Nation, not by choice, but by coercion of the British Colonial government. The tenuous relationship between different villages continues today. The Keetowah Band and Cherokee Nation are two separate groups located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma (Indian Territory).

The W. W. Keeler Tribal Complex of the Cherokee Nation has the name of a former Chief but native-son of the Texas band of Cherokee, who are not recognized by the Cherokee Nation as being Cherokee. Go figure.

But we are getting ahead of the story. Let’s get back to the British governed Cherokee. The Cherokee largely favored the French operating on the Mississippi River side of the Appalachian Mountains to the British on the Atlantic side. But the British were dominant in the land occupied by most Cherokee.

Why prefer a French allegiance?

The French were only interested in trading by migratory trappers and had little interest in land because they were not settlers.

Oh, the situation was just like Indian Territory a hundred years later with the French Chouteau and Baugis (Bogy) families before the English-speaking settlers.

The Cherokee dependence on the central government continued with more cession of land to the British. In the Revolutionary War, the Cherokee sided with their traditional British associates against the upstart Americans. It was not until 1794 that the Chickamauga (Lower Towns) ended their war against the Americans.

We have seen before that 1794 was the time when first one contingent then others began moving from Lower Towns across the Mississippi to Spanish controlled Louisiana Territory. Do you see why?

Some transitioned to the now state of Arkansas, some to Louisiana, and others to Texas. One thing was in common. All were out of the United States influence and in the Spanish province.

With the cessation of the Revolution, the Cherokee Nation surrendered their governmental submission to the nascent United States.

On one level, all seemed well. Most Cherokee adopted some English ways. They had businesses, farms, European style homes, Protestant Christian churches, broad education, and a tribal government similar to the government of the United States.

Simultaneously, and this is very important, they successfully maintained their culture. Tribal laws upheld land in common and matrilineal power, but did begin acquiescence to English patrilineal heritage to fit within the legal system.

But not everyone fits with the same level of freedom, whether Native American or contemporary American. People who live in the city are uncomfortable with a rural lifestyle.

The country maverick is disturbed by the constraints of urban. The issues are not just preferences, but strong emotional feelings, physical activity, and mental way of thinking or philosophy. Congested-living is more submissive, more rules, more government dependency, while open-living is more personal responsibility, more independent, less government not only in politics but religious practices.

My late friend Rolf from New Jersey put it best. “We can move to where you live and blossom, but your neighbors cannot move to where we live and be well.”

Think about what is the consequence of forcing people, who have different concepts of freedom, culture, and lifestyle to submit?

Is that not how revolutions start?

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Excerpts from our book:

Where Indians, Outlaws & Oilmen Were Real, ISBN: 9781658834643.