WHITE INTRUDERS
Introduction:
The Cherokees
complained bitterly about white people moving onto their land, mining their
gold, stealing their livestock, and evicting them from their houses and farms.
The
One of those
who lost money in the market that followed the lottery for Creek lands was John
Brandon, husband of Zillah Haynie Brandon, whose memoir is printed here. The Creeks
ceded their last land in
John
Brandon’s early loss had not dampened his enthusiasm for the land lottery and
the secondary market that followed. When he failed to draw a lot, he purchased
another man’s rights to Cherokee land. He had not met with much success in
life, and land in the Cherokee Nation gave him yet another opportunity to start
over. He did not hope alone. Many in
All I want in this Creation
Is a pretty little wife and a big plantation
Way up north in the Cherokee Nation.
John and
Zillah Brandon moved with their three small children to a Cherokee cabin in
what
Brandon also
had a very stereotypical view of Indians: all Indians, in her mind, were
essentially the same. She refers twice, for example, to William McIntosh, who
was executed in 1825 for illegally signing a Creek removal treaty, without
realizing that McIntosh was a Creek, not a Cherokee. She also had difficulty
separating the Cherokee farmers among whom she lived from the warriors about
whom she had heard. She accepted the notion, common in the nineteenth century,
that race determined character, and she regarded the Indian character as
decidedly inferior. At the same time, the death of her Cherokee neighbor
clearly moved her, particularly since she believed that she could have
prevented it. She gave refuge in her home to a Cherokee woman whose husband
threatened her. And she kept the gifts presented to her two young sons by
neighboring Cherokees long after the little boys had become men. One of the
very important things that
ZILLAH HAYNIE
Memoir
1 830—1 838
After my marriage, your father thought proper to
make an investment of all the money in his power in lands in
The weather was excessively cold, but on the sixth
day after our departure, we arrived at the place of our destination [and] found
a family of Indians occupying our house, which, by the way, was a very poor one
without floor or loft. The Indians set about moving out, tho, with looks as
magisterial as if they had been kings seated upon thrones in royal robes with a
retinue about them, leaning upon the sceptres. They would not deign to look at us,
much less speak to us. That, though, was characteristic of that people: they
are seldom known to speak to strangers, that is, among the white people. As
soon, however, as they were out, we spread carpets over the dirt floor and
unloaded the wagons and went in with thankful hearts, yet at the same time
suffering from unavoidable circum stances, something of which you that were
with me felt, but I in its intense rigor…
It was on a solemn sabbath evening that we arrived
at our new home. The white people were sparsely settled, but many came out to
meet us and bid us welcome. The winds of a departing winter day was murmuring
and whistling among the trees and through the large cracks of our house as the
sun’s last rays were gilding the evening sky, which served to render my
feelings more solemn, while all without seemed withered, bleak, and drear. Oh!
what a night was our first spent at our new home: crushed hopes, and anxious
fears, with bodily pain from diseases, fatigue, and exposure to the cold damp
earth and piercing winds. My own and my babes sickness drove sleep from my
anxious eyes. But presently, with joy we hailed the coming morn, and as the
sun’s first beams gilded the eastern sky, our people were off with their wagons
for plank to make us floors, which were made before we slept again. Yet the
sufferings of the first months of our sojourn at our new home is so fixed upon
my memory that they will never be obliterated while reason retains her empire.
And had not God in mercy interposed, there would have been little left upon
life’s track but that which was dark and cheerless as a desert waste. Yet the
love and care of our God is as the sunlight which overspreads our faith; and
although our earthly comforts were as gradual as the coming of spring, yet with
chastened and matured affections, we were better able to appreciate and realize
the blessings heaven had in reservation for us. Here we planted, we built, we
sowed, and gathered into garners,[3]
through the sweat of yours and your Father’s brows, my dear children, and
richly did the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ crown your efforts with
temporal blessings giving us the good of the land. But still, you children were
fettered for want of money to complete your education, but while your trameled
genius struggled to overleap the footprints that had sparkled proudly along the
path of intricate science, the sweet wreath, the consciousness of having done
your duty awakened the light notes of glad ness to a lively echo, which will
vibrate along your path while the sunshine of the fame of others will grow dim.
.
In sixty yards of our house there lived three
families of Indians, who like their whole tribe, looked as if the very shafts
of desolation was hanging around them, maddening that nation with more than death-like
quiver, whose venom darts lay but half concealed in brave unconquered hearts.
The tide of discord among their own nation wove a web which fettered those
hands which were stained with the blood of one of their noblest chiefs,
McIntosh, hung powerless while their tongues cursed the shrine upon which the
white people knelt in prayer to God. And although there were many well informed
and religious among that tribe, yet those nearest us were not of that class,
especially the males. The women I believe were chaste and very civil, but their
husbands would drink to drunkenness, and were very cruel when under the
influence of the fire water. And though death had come among them and with an
unpleasant brow, when on the very brink of the sable shore, warned them to
drink no more, yet it seemed like a mirror held before them which lost its
brilliancy in a few weeks, and then the poisoned cup was again placed to their
lips. The death referred to was an old man, the English of whose name was
Peacock, being a nobleman among them. He was taken sick a month or two after we
settled there. We had so far gained upon their good graces as to have a nod of
their head when we spoke to them, or an occasional call when they wished to
barter fish for salt or some other little matter relating to their necessities.
A white woman in her degredation had some years before come in among them, and
then had an Indian husband. She, after visiting the sick one day, called at my
door and answered my enquiries in English. I came to the conclusion that the
old man had pneumonia. I told her that I thought several things which I had in
my power to supply them with would be of service to him. But she said I had
better not offer to assist them, for if the means did not cure him, they would
at once believe I had killed him. So as I was so much of a stranger, I did not
offer them any assistance, but sincerely did I pity them when, from the want of
knowledge, their sufferings were so much augmented. A few weeks past, and one
night at mid hour, we were awakened by the lamentable wail of many voices. We
guessed the cause, which was proven to us as soon as daylight came, for they
came in for plank to make a coffin, each family having their burying ground.
Preparation was going on in sight of our house for the interment. However deep
their lamentation, whenever any white person would go in, they would suppress
it. But the white woman, before alluded to, told me of the closing scene, when
the soul and body was about to be rent asunder. Then the heathen, the Indian,
was honest with himself when his destiny was about to be sealed for eternity.
He past in review over the past: the frightful rocks, the treacherous seas, the
dangers he had dared; the strife of death with which he had contended; the
storms, the lightnings, he had braved; the iron hearted he had faced; the
barbarious rites to which he had submitted; the oppressive yoke under which his
tribe was then labouring, sinking beneath the flashing frown of laws long past,
which they regarded as a blighting simoon[4]
crushing all their hopes in its onward sweep. Oh! Such moments as these they
snatched like a minute’s gleam of sunshine, when scarcely a beam of life lit up
his marble like brow, his fluttering heart and trembling voice burned, and
spoke of Liberty even when death was summoning the aged, way worn chieftain
before the Great Spirit. Yea, with falling voice he spoke of that liberty the
Great Spirit had given them, though the star that had given them light was
growing dim, their glory as a nation lost. Their cause he thought was betrayed
by two of their Chieftains, McIntosh and Ridge, which had sunk them into
wretchedness, with a doom still darker gathering over them. But oh! One
rapturious thought kindling out of woe. He said he “had lived a long time, had
done much but had never done much harm.” He said he “had sometimes drank too
much but he had not been bad while drinking.” I am thus particular in relating
these things to show that truly that Spirit enlightened every man that cometh
into the world, had been doing its work even in the heart of the heathen. We
stood with them as the grave closed over him without any ceremony or any burial
service. Yet mentally we could say “Christ is the resurrection and the life, he
that believeth in me shall never die.” Glory, glory to God. How gladly we would
have pointed these broken hearted people to the foot of the cross and the
victory of
During the time they lived by us, we attended three
of their burials. Their interments are pretty much like ours with the exception
of the shallowness of their graves. They place in the coffin all that had been
dearest to the departed, [ all throw in a handful of dirt upon the lid. I had
noticed the man about whom I have been telling you wearing a beautiful large
merino shawl which I saw them pack in around his head and shoulders.
When they were sober, we were not afraid of them,
but their drinking was so common a thing, a whiskey shop being kept by a white
man in a quarter of a mile of us, that it was impossible to tell when we were
safe. The contiguity of our habitations rendered our situation perilous. When
they got drunk from home and their death like yells were heard by their
families, they would look as if the cord of their souls were torn asunder. They
would stand outside of their houses weeping and looking so doleful, that it
would move any heart, not possessed of a demon, to pity. But presently the
wives of those whose husbands were drunk would dress and take their babes and
go and meet them with appearance of the soul of love and bravery, and from
their husbands’ savage eyes the truth was thus concealed and their secret well
kept while they remained drunk. I have thought of all the women in the world,
the wives of those drunken savages knew the least about a resting place.
I recollect once, while your father was on a
journey, that a dozen or more Indian men came to the houses of those bordering
on our yard, bringing whiskey with them, and it happened on a day when one of
their wives were across the river, a quarter from her home. The first she knew
of the troubles at home she heard the shrill panther-like screams which at once
admonished her to get home in order, with pleasant alacrity, to attend to the
nod of his lordship—her husband. But she was too late. He had taken the death
drought till his anger was excited. Thinking it might endanger her life to go
in, she and some lads came into our house. Her babe was snugly placed against
her shoulders, cradled there by a large piece of canvas. I noticed that she did
not take it down, and her distressed looks plainly told us her situation. One
or two of the boys stood at the back of the chair on which she was seated,
their hands placed upon it as if they intended to shield her. One of them in
the meantime, watching to see if he could get a glimpse of some of the women
from whom he could learn something relative to the wife’s safety, after
remaining a few minits, he walked boldly to the house. In a few minits, with a
hurried step, he returned, telling her to fly. Quick as possible, they were
again to the river, leaving us almost paralyzed with fear for ourselves. A
resolve was instantly taken that I would take you children and go to a
neighbor’s for that night. So locking our door, we were off instantaneously.
Having gotten about eighty steps from the house, we looked back and saw the
enraged husband turn off from our door with his gun in his hand. Seeing us look
at him, he gave one of his war whoops such as only rolls from the caverns of
devils. We had at that time the society of three white families who lived in
less than a half of a mile of us, one on the east of us and the other two west.
The continued noise among the Indians on the evening refered to, excited the
fears of our neighbors so much that when the men of one of those families came
in, they asked the landlady what they should do in regard to us. She said, “By
all means go and look after their safety,” saying she expected they had killed
me and all my children. The white man whose name was Spence, taking a Negro who
was also able to measure arms with any of the Indians, came stealthily to our
house. It was then getting dark, and they, acting the spy, had come to the back
part of the house to see if they could hear us, but finding all was still and
dark within, they redily came to the conclusion that the lady’s conjectures had
proven a reality. Spence, who had been living among the Indians for two or
three years, having learned their language and understanding their true
character, said to his companion, “Let us go round. And if they are killed,”
with an oath he swore, “the last one of them should die before day light.” As
soon as he got to the door, discovering the lock, he said, “We were safe.” Like
a bird we had escaped. But as anger was burning in his soul and not fearing
danger and death, and the yell of havoc ringing in his ears with curses poured
forth upon the whites, he burst in among them like a spirit of fire, and being
armed for battle, fell on them with his stick, and after beating several of
them, avenging himself for the alarm they had caused, left by telling them if
their fury was not sufficiently cooled that he would return with hellish force
and rend the last one of them. That led them as soon as they were sufficiently sober
to scatter. Soon after that your Father hired them to move a quarter of a mile
farther from us. That however endangered his life, for although they had
received pay for their possessions, one of them, in a drinking spree, came to
our house to kill him, but was prevented by a young Indian man running ahead of
him to give us warning, which we could not fully understand till the wife who
came with her unmanageable husband bid us go away. But to our great comfort the
liquor shop was demolished, and from that time, we had less to fear.
All the kindness we could show to any living
people, we were assiduous to show to them. All that would relieve their
sufferings or ameliorate their sorrows, that was in our power, we did for them,
looking to God for his approval and reward. And at length, when the time came
for their removal, their regard and kind feelings for us were made manifest,
bursting the cold bars of silence that were raised like a wall of adamant
around them, manifesting an unbounded preference for us by giving us those
articles which were dearest to them, though of no real value to us. Two middle
aged men, Duck and Etowah, gave William and John their bows and blow guns
which, although nearly a score of years have passed, are still here, the former
with their dressed squirrel skin strings wrapped loosely around, while the
brawny hand, is far away, by which they have been so often tightened, born and
nurtured in dangerous paths; whose skill and fierceness we would not dare to
tempt, for whenever the fatal aim was taken and the pointed arrow flew, they
were sure of their prey. Yet poor Cherokee, here lies your great bows unstrung.
And although the sun has risen and set so often and torrents have flown, and
streams of carnage have passed over portions of the land, and the word of the
Lord demolished the thrones of the living, yet hope and courage still kindle
along the track of those two boys by whom these momentoes are kept.