James Everett Meeks

For Consideration. I would like to place the following document for re-consideration with the modifications noted in accordance with the references reviewed

A RESOLUTION FOR THE RECOGNITION OF THE HISTORIC INDIAN TRIBES OF TENNESSEE

WHEREAS, the area that now encompasses the Great State of Tennessee was once the homeland and tribal hunting grounds of a number of First Nations People who had great attachment to the land and who did staunchly defend their right to live, hunt, and draw nourishment from that land; and
WHEREAS, those same people were decimated by imported diseases, warfare, and continual encroachment upon their land, their livelihood, and their way of life; and
WHEREAS, as their numbers dwindled, their rights were usurped at the whim of foreign governments; and whether by choice, by force, or by treaty, these First Nations were made to give up their Natural Birthright and remove to other lands; and
WHEREAS, although the tribes themselves were removed, many individuals managed to remain behind in the lands of their nativity; or, after removal, to return to the lands of their ancestry; and
WHEREAS, the Eastern Ridge and Valley Region of the Tennessee River and its tributaries was known to be the home of the Yuchi Tribe, the Koasati Tribe, and the Tuskegee Tribe in times of earliest contact with the white man; and the evidence of early Muscogee (Creek) occupation in the same region is exhibited by the names of historic Indian towns such as Tallassee and Etowah; and
WHEREAS, the tribes in this region were later supplanted by the Cherokee Tribe, who, in many cases, kept the same town names established by the earlier tribes; and went on to establish numerous new towns such as Tellico, Echota, and Settico; and claimed all of Middle Tennessee as their territorial hunting ground; and who, after 1729, allowed a band of the Natchez Tribe to establish a town in what is now known as Monroe County, in an area that is still known as Notchy Creek; and

WHERAS, a part of the Chiaha tribe was encountered by De Soto in 1540, in the territory now forming this State, probably, as shown by Mr. J. Y. Brame, on what is now Burns Island and are also mentioned in connection with the explorations of Juan Pardo in 1567; and

WHEREAS, the Mosopelia tribe established themselves on Cumberland River and at one or two points on the Tennessee shore of the Mississippi on their way from Ohio to Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, we are informed by one of the French explorers that the Kaskinampo lived upon Cumberland River where there is evidence that, when they first moved to the Tennessee, they may have settled for a short time near its mouth, and that both the Cumberland and the Tennessee were known by their name yet they stuck persistently to the latter stream until well along in the eighteenth century wherein, after the early years of the eighteenth century there is reason to believe that they united with the Koasati; and

WHEREAS, beginning in 1952, several members of the Choctaw Tribe began to move into Lauderdale and Shelby Counties in West Tennessee in search of employment, and established communities there; where, in 1992 the Federal Government purchased 172 acres near Henning to establish housing for them; and they still retain their language and practice many of their customs; and

WHEREAS, while primarily living in York and Lancaster counties of South Carolina, the Catawba extended their settlement into the neighboring state of Tennessee; and

WHEREAS, about the time of the American Revolution, a war chief known as Dragging Canoe, and his followers, did separate from the Cherokee Nation and form a new tribe known as the Chickamaugas; and they established new towns in the lower Tennessee and Sequatchie River valleys, both within Tennessee and the neighboring states of Georgia and Alabama; and
WHEREAS, the Chickasaw Tribe once occupied the area that was known as the Chickasaw Bluffs, and is now within the City of Memphis; and the Chickasaws claimed all of Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee as their territorial hunting grounds; and
WHEREAS, portions of the Shawnee Tribe once lived in the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee before twice being expelled by an alliance of the Cherokees and Chickasaws; and after the formation of the Chickamauga Confederacy, the Shawnees were allowed to establish towns among their newfound allies, and left a memento of their name in the modern town of Sewanee; and
WHEREAS, there are many pre-historic Indian sites in Tennessee, such as Pinson Mounds, Old Stone Fort, and many lesser-known archaeological sites whose precise links to modern or historical tribes has yet to be definitively established;

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the above mentioned First Nations Peoples known as the Catawba, Cherokee, Chiaha, Chickasaw, Chickamauga, Kaskinampo, Koasati, Mosopelia, Muscogee (Creek), Natchez, Quapaw, Shawnee, Tuskegee, Yuchi and Choctaw, be recognized as the Historical Tribes of Tennessee; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that any other tribe(s) that archaeological or historical research can link to Tennessee, will likewise be given recognition as an Historical Tribe of Tennessee when sufficient evidence is presented.

Modifications:

Added Historical References for the Catawba, Chickasaw, Kaskinampo, Quapaw, Chiaha and Mosopelia

Reordered and added the Catawba, Chickasaw, Kaskinampo, Quapaw, Chiaha, Mosopelia to “BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED” item 1

Removed “Choctaw” from “BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED” item 1

REFERENCES

http://www.native-languages.org/tennessee.htm

http://www.tngenweb.org/cessions/

http://www.tngenweb.org/cessions/ilcmap54.jpg

  3. Cherokee, Treaty of Hopewell, 28 Nov 1785 (Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina)
  (***). Choctaw, Treaty of Hopewell, 3 Jan 1786.
  (***). Chickasaw, Treaty of Hopewell, 10 Jan 1786 (Chickasaw Boundaries Defined)

  8. Cherokee, Treaty of Holston, 2 Jul 1791 (Tennessee)

  42. Cherokee, Treaty of Tellico, 2 Oct 1798 (Tennessee and North Carolina)
  52. Cherokee, 24 Oct 1804. (Georgia - Wafford’s Settlement)
  55. Chickasaw, 23 Jul 1805 (Tennessee and Kentucky. Not shown on the map is the Chickasaw cession of land in Middle Tennessee.)
  57. Cherokee, 25 Oct 1805 (Tennessee and Kentucky)
  58-59. Cherokee, 27 Oct 1805 (Cessions near South West Point Tennessee)
        58. Cherokee, 27 Oct 1805 (Tennessee)
        59. Cherokee, 27 Oct 1805 (Tennessee)

  64. Cherokee, 7 Jan 1806 (Alabama and Tennessee)
        64. Cherokee, 7 Jan 1806
        64. Cherokee, 11 Sep 1807 (Elucidation of a convention with the Cherokee Nation)

  79-81. Chickasaw, 20 Sep 1816
        79. Chickasaw, 20 Sep 1816 (Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. See Map No. 56)
        80. Chickasaw, 20 Sep 1816 (this number is found only on Map No. 56) (Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi )
        81. Chickasaw, 20 Sep 1816 (this number is found only on Map No. 56) (Alabama)

  83-86. Cherokee, 8 Jul 1817
        83. Cherokee, 8 Jul 1817 (Georgia)
        84. Cherokee, 8 Jul 1817 (Tennessee)

  100. Chickasaw, 19 Oct 1818, The Great Chickasaw Cession. (Tennessee and Kentucky)
  101-109. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819
        101. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee and Alabama)
        102. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee)
        103. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee, North and South Carolina)
        104. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee)
        105. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee)
        106. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Alabama)
        107. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee)
        108. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee)
        109. Cherokee, 27 Feb 1819 (Tennessee)

178. Chickasaw, 20 Oct 1832 (Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. The map shows only the tract of land between the Winchester Line and the re-surveyed state line. In reality, with this Treaty, the Chickasaw ceded all of their lands east of the Mississippi River. Please see Mississippi Map No. 36 for better look at cession area No. 178. 456k.)
(***). Chickasaw, 22 Oct 1832. (Supplement to 20 Oct 1832 Treaty)

203. Cherokee, 29 Dec 1835, Treaty of Removal or Treaty of New Echota, the so called Trail of Tears Treaty. Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia)

http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/ww-tenn.htm

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tennessee/index.htm

http://www.indigenouspeople.net/tuskegee.htm

http://www.hiddenhistory.com/page3/swsts/tennsee1.HTM

http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/swn-se25.HTM

http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/swn-se14.htm

http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/swn-se25.HTM

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/shawnee/shawneehist.htm

http://www.tngenweb.org/cessions/colonial.html

The First People of Tennessee

Our Aboriginal People of Tennessee map (93k) shows the Indian cultural groups at about 1700 CE (AD) just after the beginning of the Historic Period. The map locates the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Quapaw, Shawnee, and Yuchi (a.k.a Uchee) in what is now Tennessee. We have added to our list, Catawba, Chiaha, Kaskinampo, Mosopelia, Muscogee (Creek), Natchez, Tali, and Tuskegee.

Of these First Nations, only the Cherokee and Chickasaw treated with the British colonials and/or later with the United States government to cede land in Tennessee. Spanish or French treaties with Chickasaw may exist.

Cherokee, linguistic group, Iroquian.

In historic times, East Tennessee’s major Indian Nation. (Also in western North Carolina and northern Georgia.)

Chickasaw, linguistic group, Muskogian.

In historic times, West Tennessee’s major Indian Nation. (Also in northern Mississippi and northwestern Alabama.)

The Nations (or small parts of them) listed below are believed to have either lived in within the bounds of modern Tennessee or contiguous to those bounds. Some of these Nations have treated with the United States government and have ceded non-Tennessee land. Some but not all of these Nations have simply faded away.

Catawba, linguistic group, Siouan.

In historic times, the Catawba lived in the Carolinas.

“For a brief time in their later history the Catawba lived among the Cherokee and may have occupied lands in Tennessee at that time. There are indications they may have been in eastern Tennessee at a more remote epoch.”¹

Chiaha.

“A part of this tribe was encountered by De Soto in 1540, in the territory now forming this State, probably as shown by Mr. J. Y. Brame, on what is now Burns Island [South Pittsburg, Marion Cty. Tennessee]. They are also mentioned in connection with the explorations of Juan Pardo in 1567.”¹

Kaskinampo.

“There is every reason to believe that this tribe constituted the Casqui, Icasqui, or Casquin ‘province’ which De Soto entered immediately after crossing the Mississippi River, and it was probably in what is now Phillips County, Ark. We hear of the Kaskinampo next in connection with the expeditions of Marquette and Joliet but do not learn of their exact location until 1701, when they seem to have been on the lower end of present Pine Island. We are informed, however, by one of the French explorers that they had previously lived upon Cumberland River, and there is evidence that when they first moved to the Tennessee, they may have settled for a short time near its mouth. Both the Cumberland and the Tennessee were known by their name, and it stuck persistently to the latter years of the eighteenth century. After the early years of the eighteenth century we hear little more of them, but there is reason to believe that they united with the Koasati.”¹

Mosopelia.

“This tribe probably established themselves on Cumberland River and at one or two points on the Tennessee shore of the Mississippi on their way from Ohio to Mississippi.”¹

Muscogee (Creek), linguistic group, Muskogian.

A northern Georgia Nation whom Ramsey reported as having a slight presence on the Tennessee River as far north the mouth of the Hiwassee River.

Then we see ...

“Although we do not have records of any settlements in Tennessee by the true Muskogee, it is probable that some of them occupied part of its territory in prehistoric times, and at a later date their war parties constantly visited it.”¹

Natchez, linguistic group, Natchez-Muskogian.

In 1729, the pro-Chickasaw Natchez massacred the French people of Fort Rosalie (located at present day Natchez Mississippi). Soon after, a French-Choctaw force destroyed the Natchez people. Many Natchez were killed; some were enslaved and sent to the West Indies. Some Natchez were able to flee and joined other tribes.

“After being driven from Mississippi and Louisiana, one band of Natchez lived among the Cherokee.”¹

Quapaw, linguistic group, Siouan.

Originally from the Ohio Valley. By 1667, they were forced from their homelands by the Iroquois League. They settled at the mouth of the Arkansas River. There influence on the east side of the Mississippi was minimal.

Shawnee, linguistic group, Algonkian.

See below.

Tali.

“A tribe met by De Soto near the great bend of the Tennessee and found in the same region by the earliest English and French explorers, living in what is now northern Alabama and perhaps also in Tennessee. It is probable that they were a part of the Creeks.”¹

Tuskegee.

In historic times, the Tuskegee lived in Alabama.

“One band of Tuskegee formed a settlement or settlements in the Cherokee Nation.”¹

“The later and best know location of this tribe was on the point of land between Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, but in 1685 part of them were on the Chattahoochie River near modern Columbus [Alabama] and the rest were on the upper Tennessee near Long Island [Long Island is on the Tennessee Georgia line].”²

Yuchi (a.k.a. Uchee), linguistic group, Siouan.

Please visit our Yuchi Page.

For our purposes, the Historic Period for Tennessee’s Indian Nations is the period covered by the white man’s written records. Before that, there were hundereds of generations of Indians living in Tennessee. Stepping back in time to the Prehistoric Period, we find the mound builder societies; there were the Mississippian (800 CE to 1450 CE) and Hopewell (100 BCE to 400 CE) cultures in Tennessee. Today, archeological work is conducted at many of these sites. All are part of the story of the First People of Tennessee.
_______
1. The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 145. Government Printing Office, 1953; pp. 215-229.
2. Ibid, p. 172.

http://www.indigenouspeople.net/creek.htm