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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +THE PROBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUNDS. + +By Cyrus Thomas. + + + + + +CONTENTS + +Introduction + +CHAPTER I. + + Historical evidence + +CHAPTER II. + + Similarity of the arts and customs of the mound-builders to + those of Indians + + Architecture + + Tribal divisions + + Similarity in burial customs + + Removal of the flesh before burial + + Burial beneath or in dwellings + + Burial in a sitting or squatting posture + + The use of fire in burial ceremonies + + Similarity of the stone implements and ornaments of various + tribes + + Mound and Indian pottery + +CHAPTER III. + + Stone graves and what they teach + +CHAPTER IV. + + The Cherokees as mound-builders + +CHAPTER V. + + The Cherokees and the Tallegwi + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +No other ancient works of the United States have become so widely +known or have excited so much interest as those of Ohio. This is +due in part to their remarkable character but in a much greater +degree to the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," by +Messrs. Squier and Davis, in which these monuments are described +and figured. + +The constantly recurring question, "Who constructed these works?" +has brought before the public a number of widely different +theories, though the one which has been most generally accepted is +that they originated with a people long since extinct or driven +from the country, who had attained a culture status much in +advance of that reached by the aborigines inhabiting the country +at the time of its discovery by Europeans. + +The opinion advanced in this paper, in support of which evidence +will be presented, is that the ancient works of the State are due +to Indians of several different tribes, and that some at least of +the typical works, were built by the ancestors of the modern +Cherokees. The discussion will be limited chiefly to the latter +proposition, as the limits of the paper will not permit a full +presentation of all the data which might be brought forward in +support of the theory, and the line of argument will be +substantially as follows: + +FIRST. A brief statement of the reasons for believing that the +Indians were the authors of all the ancient monuments of the +Mississippi Valley and Gulf States; consequently the Ohio mounds +must have been built by Indians. + +SECOND. Evidence that the Cherokees were mound builders after +reaching their historic seats in East Tennessee and western North +Carolina. This and the preceding positions are strengthened by the +introduction of evidence showing that the Shawnees were the +authors of a certain type of stone graves, and of mounds and other +works connected therewith. + +THIRD. A tracing of the Cherokees, by the mound testimony and by +tradition, back to Ohio. + +FOURTH. Reasons for believing that the Cherokees were the Tallegwi +of tradition and the authors of some of the typical works of Ohio. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE. + + +Space will not permit any review here of the various theories in +regard to the builders, or of the objections made to the theory +that they were Indians, or of the historical evidence adducible in +support of this theory. Simple declaration on these points must +suffice. + +The historical evidence is clear and undisputed that when the +region in which the mounds appear was discovered by Europeans it +was inhabited by Indians only. Of their previous history nothing +is known except what is furnished by vague and uncertain +traditions or inferred from the study of their languages and +customs. On the other hand there is no historical or other +evidence that any other race or people than the Indians ever +occupied this region, or any part of it, previous to its discovery +by Europeans at the close of the fifteenth century. + +We enter the discussion, therefore, with at least a presumption in +favor of the conclusion that these works were built by the +Indians--a presumption which has not received the consideration +it deserves; indeed, it is so strong that it can be overcome only +by showing that those mounds, or the specimens of art found in +them, which were unquestionably the work of the builders, indicate +an advancement in skill and knowledge entirely beyond that reached +by the Indians previous to contact with Europeans. But all the +genuine discoveries so far made in the explorations of the mounds +tend to disprove this view. + +If it can be shown that tribes occupying the mound region at the +time they were first visited by Europeans used mounds, and in some +cases built them, it will be a fair inference that all these +structures are due to the same race until the contrary is proved. + +The objection urged by many that the Indian has always been a +restless nomad, spurning the restraints of agriculture, has been +effectually answered, especially by Mr. Lucien Carr. [Footnote: +Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Historically Considered.] History +also bears us out in the assertion that at the time of the +discovery nine tenths of the tribes in the mound district had +fixed seats and local habitations, depending to a great extent for +sustenance upon the cultivation of the soil. So far as the +southern districts, now comprising the Gulf States, are concerned, +it goes further and asserts over and over again that the tribes of +that section were mound-builders when first encountered by the +whites. To verify this assertion it is only necessary to read the +chronicles of De Soto's expedition and the writings of the pioneer +travelers and French missionaries to that section. This evidence +proves conclusively not only that this had been a custom, but that +it was continued into the eighteenth century. + +Such statements as the following, attested by various +contemporaneous authors, should suffice on this point: + +The caciques of this country make a custom of raising near their +dwellings very high hills, on which they sometimes build their +houses. [Footnote: Biedma, Hist. Coll. La. vol. 2, p. 105.] + +The Indians try to place their villages on elevated sites, but +inasmuch as in Florida there are not many sites of this kind where +they can conveniently build, they erect elevations themselves in +the following manner, etc. [Footnote: Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist. +Fla., ed. 1723, p. 69. ] + +The chief's house stood near the beach upon a very high mount made +by hand for defense. [Footnote: Gentlemen of Elvas. Bradford Club +series, vol. 5, p. 23.] + +The last, which was on Tampa Bay, was most likely near Phillippi's +Point, where tradition fixes De Soto's landing place, and where a +number of mounds and shell heaps have been found. One of these, +opened by Mr. S. T. Walker,[Footnote: Smithsonian Report, 1879 +(1880), pp. 392-422.] was found to consist of three layers. In the +lower were "no ornaments and but little pottery, but in the middle +and top layers, especially the latter, nearly every cranium was +encircled by strings of colored beads, brass and copper ornaments; +trinkets, etc. Among other curious objects were a pair of scissors +and a fragment of looking-glass." + +An earlier exploration is thus described: "The governor [De Soto] +opened a large temple in the woods, in which were buried the +chiefs of the country, and took from it a quantity of pearls which +were spoiled by being buried in the ground." [Footnote: Biedma. +Hist. Coll. La., vol. 2, p. 101.] + +Another chronicler says: "This house stood on a high mound +(cerro), similar to others we have already mentioned. Round about +it was a roadway sufficiently broad for six men to walk abreast." +[Footnote: Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist. Fla., ed. 1723, p. 139.] +(There are good reasons for believing this to be the Etowah mound +near Cartersville, Ga.) [Footnote: Thomas, Mag. Am. Hist., May, +1884, pp. 405, 406.] + +The town of Talise is described as being strong in the extreme, +inclosed by timber and earth. [Footnote: Garcilasso, Hist. Fla., +p. 144.] + +Herrera speaks of "a town of 400 houses, and a large square, where +the cacique's house stood upon a mound made by art." [Footnote: +Hist. Am., Stoven's transl., vol. 6, p. 5.] + +Father Gravier [Footnote: Shea's Early French Voyages, pp. 126, +136.] speaks of mounds of the Akansea and "Tounika" villages. + +M. La Harpe says "the cabins of the Yasous, Courois, Offogoula, +and Ouspie [along the Yazoo about 1700] are dispersed over the +country upon mounds of earth made with their own hands, from which +it is inferred that these nations are very ancient and were +formerly very numerous, although at the present time they hardly +number two hundred and fifty persons." [Footnote: Lu Rarpe, Hist. +Coll. La., part 3, p. 106, New York, 1851.] (This seems to imply +that there were numerous mounds unoccupied.) "In one of the +Natches villages," says Dumont, "the house of the chief was placed +on a mound." [Footnote: Mem. Hist. La., vol. 2, p. 109.] + +Another writer says: "When the chief [of the Natchez] dies they +demolish his cabin and then raise a new mound on which they build +the cabin of him who is to replace him in this dignity." +[Footnote: La Petit, Hist. Coll. La., vol. 3, pp. 141, 142, note. +Also Lettres edifiantes et curioses, vol. 1, pp. 260, 261. See Du +Pratz. Histoire Louisiane, 1738, vol. 3, p. 16.] + +According to Bartram, in the Cherokee town of Stico the council- +house was on a mound, as also at Cowe. [Footnote: Bartram's +Travels, pp. 345, 367.] + +The same writer says [Footnote: Ibid., p. 516.] the Choctaws +raised mounds over their dead in case of communal burials. + +It is apparent from Jefferson's language [Footnote: Notes on +Virginia. 4th Am ed., 1801, pp. 142-147.] that the burial mounds +of Virginia were of Indian origin. + +These references, which might be indefinitely multiplied, are +sufficient to bear out the assertion that history testifies that +the southern tribes were accustomed to build mounds. + +It is a matter of surprise that so little is to be found regarding +the mounds in the older records of the Northern States. There is +but one statement in the Jesuit Relations and no mention in the +writings of the Recollects, so far has been found, and yet one of +the missionaries must have passed a good portion of the winter of +1700 in the very midst of the Cahokia group. Colden notes that "a +round hill was sometimes raised over the grave in which a corpse +had been deposited." [Footnote: Hist. Five Nations, introd., vol. +1, London, 1755, p. 16.] Carver noticed ancient earthworks on the +Mississippi near Lake Pepin, but knew nothing of their origin. +[Footnote: Travels, ed. 1796, Phila., p. 36; ed. 1779, London, p. +57.] Heckewelder observed some of these works near Detroit, which +he was informed had been built by the Indians. An account of them +was published in a Philadelphia periodical in 1780 or 1790. This +description was afterwards given briefly in his "History of the +Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations." + +These older records mention facts which afford a reasonable +explanation of some of the ancient monuments found in the northern +section of the country; as for example the communal or tribal +burials, where the bones and remains of all the dead of a village, +region, or tribe, who had died since the last general burial +(usually a period of eight to ten years) were collected and +deposited in one common grave. This method, which was followed by +some southern tribes, has been described by Bartram, [Footnote: +Travels (1791), p.516.] Dumont, [Footnote: Memoires Hist. La., +vol. 1, p. 246.] Romans, [Footnote: Nat. and Civil Hist. Fla., pp. +88-90.] and others, but most fully by Jean deo Brebeuf. [Footnote: +In his account "Des ceremonies qu'ils [les Hurons] gardent en leur +sepulture et de leur deuil," and "De la Feste solemnelle des +morts."--Jesuit Relations for 1636, pp. 129-139. See translation +in Thomas's "Burial Mounds of the Northern Section of the United +States," Fifth Annual Rept. Bur. Ethnol., p. 110. See also +Lafitau, "Moeurs des Sauvages," vol. 2, pp. 447-455.] + +It is a well-attested fact that northern as well as southern +Indians were accustomed to erect palisades around their villages +for defense against attack. + +Some evidences of mound building by northern Indians may be found +in the works of comparatively modern writers. Lewis C. Beck +[Footnote: Gazetteer of the States of Ill. and Mo., p. 308.] +affirms that "one of the largest mounds in this country has been +thrown upon this stream [the Osage] within the last thirty or +forty years by the Osages, near the great Osage village, in honor +of one of their deceased chiefs." It is probable this is the mound +referred to by Major Sibley, [Footnote: Featherstoubaugh, Excur. +through Slave States, p. 70.] who says an Osage Indian informed +him that a chief of his tribe having died while all the men were +off on a hunt, he was buried in the usual manner, with his +weapons, etc., and a small mound was raised over him. When the +hunters returned this mound was enlarged at intervals, every man +carrying materials, and so the work went on for a long time, and +the mound, when finished, was dressed off to a conical form at the +top. The old Indian further said he had been informed, and +believed, that all the mounds had a similar origin. + +Lewis and Clarke mention not only the erection of a mound over a +modern chief, but also numerous earthworks, including mounds, +which were known to be the work of contemporaneous Indians. +[Footnote: Travels, Dublin ed., 1817, pp. 30, 31, 55, 67, 115, +117, 122-125, etc.] + +L. V. Bierce [Footnote: Historical Reminiscences of Summit County, +Ohio, p. 128.] states that when Nicksaw, an old Wyandotte Indian +of Summit County, was killed, "the Indians buried him on the +ground where he fell, and according to their custom raised a mound +over him to commemorate the place and circumstances of his death. +His grave is yet to be seen." + +Another writer says: "It is related by intelligent Indian traders +that a custom once prevailed among certain tribes, on the burial +of a chief or brave of distinction, to consider his grave as +entitled to the tribute of a portion of earth from each passer-by, +which the traveler sedulously carried with him on his journey. +Hence the first grave formed a nucleus around which, in the +accumulation of the accustomed tributes thus paid, a mound was +soon formed." [Footnote: Smith's History of Wisconsin, vol. 3, +1834, p. 245.] + +The same author says [Footnote: Ibid., p. 262.] the tumulus at the +Great Butte des Morts (Great Hill of the Dead) was raised over the +bones of Outagami (Fox Indian) warriors slain in battle with the +French in 1706. + +According to a Winnebago tradition, mounds in certain localities +in Wisconsin were built by that tribe, and others by the Sacs and +Foxes.[Footnote: Wis. Hist. Soc., Rept. I, pp. 88, 89.] + +There is another Indian tradition, apparently founded on fact, +that the Essex mounds in Clinton County, Mich., are the burying +places of those killed in a battle between the Chippewas and +Pottawatomies, which occurred not many generations ago. [Footnote: +Smithsonian Report, part 1, 1884, p. 848.] + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SIMILARITY OF THE ARTS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MOUND +BUILDERS TO THOSE OF INDIANS. + + +The historical evidence is, as we have seen, conclusive that some +of the tribes of Indians were mound builders. + +The explorations by the Bureau of Ethnology in the South and West +have also brought to light so many corroborative facts that the +question may be considered settled. These will shortly be given to +the public; only a few can be noticed here, and that in a very +brief and general way. + +As the country was inhabited only by Indians at the time of its +discovery, and as we have no evidence, unless derived from the +mounds, of its having ever been occupied by any other people, +every fact indicating a similarity between the arts, customs, and +social life of the mound-builders and those of the red Indians, is +an evidence of the identity of the two peoples. The greater the +number of these resemblances, the greater the probability of the +correctness of the theory, so long as we find nothing +irreconcilable with it. + +Architecture.--One of the first circumstances which strike the +mind of the archaeologist who carefully studies these works as +being very significant, is the entire absence of any evidence in +them of architectural knowledge and skill approaching that +exhibited by the ruins of Mexico and Central America, or even +equaling that exhibited by the Pueblo Indians. + +It is true that truncated pyramidal mounds of large size and +somewhat regular proportions are found in certain sections, and +that some of these have ramps or roadways leading up to them. Yet +when compared with the pyramids or teocalli of Mexico and Yucatan +the differences in the manifestations of architectural skill are +so great, and the resemblances are so faint and few, as to furnish +no grounds whatever for attributing the two classes of works to +the same people. The facts that the works of the one people +consist chiefly of wrought and sculptured stone, and that such +materials are wholly unknown to the other, forbid the idea of any +relationship between the two. The difference between the two +classes of monuments indicates a wide divergence--a complete step +--in the culture status. + +Mexico, Central America, and Peru are dotted with the ruins of +stone edifices, but in all the mound-building area of the United +States not the slightest vestige of one attributable to the people +who erected the earthen structures is to be found. The utmost they +attained in this direction was the construction of stone cairus, +rude stone--walls, and vaults of cobble-stones and undressed +blocks. This fact is too significant to be overlooked in this +comparison, and should have its weight in forming a conclusion, +especially when it is backed by numerous other important +differences. + +Though hundreds of groups of mounds marking the sites of ancient +villages are to be seen scattered over the Mississippi Valley and +Gulf States yet nowhere can there be found an ancient house. The +inference is therefore irresistible that the houses of the mound- +builders were constructed of perishable materials; consequently +that the builders were not sufficiently advanced in art to use +stone or brick in building, or else that they lived a roving, +restless life that would not justify the time and trouble +necessary to erect such permanent structures. As the last +inference is irreconcilable with the magnitude and extent of many +groups of these remains we are forced to the conclusion that the +first is true. + +One chief objection to the Indian origin of these works is, as +already stated, that their builders must have been sedentary, +depending largely upon agriculture for subsistence. It is evident, +therefore, that they had dwellings of some sort, and as remains of +neither stone nor brick structures are found which could have been +used for this purpose, we must assume that their dwellings were +constructed of perishable material, such as was supplied in +abundance by the forest region in which they dwelt. It is +therefore apparent that in this respect at least the dwellings of +mound-builders were similar to those of Indians. But this is not +all that can be said in reference to the houses of the former, for +there still remain indications of their shape and character, +although no complete examples are left for inspection. In various +places, especially in Tennessee, Illinois, and southeast Missouri, +the sites of thousands of them are yet distinctly marked by little +circular depressions with rings of earth around them. These +remains give the form and size of one class of dwellings that was +common in the regions named. Excavations in the center usually +bring to light the ashes and hearth that mark the place where the +fire was built, and occasionally unearth fragments of the vessels +used in cooking, the bones of animals on whose flesh the inmates +fed, and other articles pertaining to domestic use. + +During the explorations of the Bureau in southeastern Missouri and +Arkansas, finding the remains of houses in low, flat mounds was a +common occurrence. Although the wood in most cases had +disappeared, what had not been converted to coals and ashes having +rotted away, yet the size and form, and, in part, the mode of +construction, were clearly indicated. The hard-tramped, circular, +earthen floor gave the size and form; the numerous fragments of +burnt clay forming a layer over the floor--often taken by +explorers for brick-revealed the method of plastering their +dwellings; the charred remains of grass and twigs showed that it +had been strengthened by this admixture; the impressions left on +the inner face of these lumps of burnt plastering revealed the +character of the lathing, which was in some cases branches and +twigs, but in others split cane. The roof was thatched with grass +or matting, the charred remains of which were found in more than +one instance. In probably nine cases out of ten it was apparent +these dwellings had been burned. This was found to be due to the +custom of burying the dead in the floor and burning the dwelling +over them, covering the remains with dirt often before the fire +had ceased burning. + +As a general rule the strata are found in this order: (1) a top +layer of soil from 1 foot to 2 feet thick; (2) a layer of burnt +clay from 3 to 12 inches thick (though usually varying from 4 to 8 +inches) and broken into lumps, never in a uniform, unbroken layer; +immediately below this (3) a thin layer of hardened muck or dark +clay, though this does not always seem to be distinct. At this +depth in the mounds of the eastern part of Arkansas are usually +found one or more skeletons. + +Take, for example, the following statement by Dr. Edward Palmer in +regard to these beds: + +As a general and almost universal rule, after removing a foot or +two of top soil, a layer of burnt clay in a broken or fragmentary +condition would be found, sometimes with impressions of grass or +twigs, and easily crumbled, but often hard, and stamped, +apparently, with an implement made of split reeds of comparatively +large size. This layer was often a foot thick, and frequently +burned to a brick-red or even to clinkers. Below this would be +found more or less ashes, and often 6 inches of charred grass +immediately over the skeletons. These skeletons were found lying +in all directions, some with the face up, others with it down, and +others on the side. With each of these were one or more vessels of +clay. + +Remains of rectangular houses were also discovered, though much +less frequent than other forms. These consisted of three rooms, +two in front and one in rear. For example, Dr. Palmer found in a +broad platform like elevation not more than 3 feet high the +remains of a house of this form which he traced by the burnt clay. +The lines of the upright walls were very apparent, as also the +clay which must have fallen from them, and which raised the outer +marginal lines considerably higher than the inner area. Dr. Palmer +remarks: + +The fire must have been very fierce, and the clay around the edges +was evidently at some height above the door, as I judge from the +irregular way in which it is scattered around the margins. + +Excavations in the areas showed that they were covered with a +layer of burnt clay, uneven and broken; immediately below this a +layer of ashes 6 inches thick, and below this black loam. On these +areas large trees were growing, one a poplar 3 feet in diameter. +Below one of these floors were found a skeleton, some pottery, and +a pipe. A large oak formerly stood at this point, but it has been +blown down. + +Subsequently the remains of another dwelling of precisely the same +form, that is, two square rooms joined and a third of the same +size immediately behind these two, were discovered in the same +region by Colonel Norris. In this case remnants of the upright +posts and reed lathing forming the walls were found, also the clay +plastering. + +Prof. G. C. Swallow [Footnote: 8th Rept. Peabody Museum, 1875, pp. +17, 18.] describes a room formed of poles, lathed with split cane, +plastered with clay both inside and out, which he found in a mound +in southeastern Missouri. Colonel Norris found parts of the +decayed poles, plastering, and other remains of a similar house in +a large mound in the same section. + +From the statements of the early writers, a few of which are given +here, it is evident that the houses of the Indians occupying this +region when first visited by the whites were very similar to those +of the mound-builders. + +La Harpe, speaking of the tribes in some parts of Arkansas, says: +"The Indians build their huts dome-fashion out of clay and reeds." +Schoolcraft says the Pawnees formerly built similar houses. In +Iberville's Journal [Footnote: Relation in Margry, Deconvertes, +4th part (March, 1699), p. 170] it is stated that the cabins of +the Bayogoulas were round, about 30 feet in diameter, and +plastered with clay to the height of a man. Adair says: "They are +lathed with cane and plastered with mud from bottom to top within +and without with a good covering of straw." + +Henri de Tonty, the real hero of the French discoveries on the +Mississippi, says the cabins of the Tensas were square, with the +roof dome-shaped, and that the walls were plastered with clay to +the height of 12 feet and were 2 feet thick. [Footnote: Relation +of Henry de Tonty in Margry, Decouvertes, vol. 1, 1876, p. 600] + +A description of the Indian square houses of this southern section +by Du Pratz [Footnote: Hist. La., vol. 2, French ed., 1758, pp. +173-175; English ed., 1764, p. 359.] is so exactly in point that I +insert a translation of the whole, passage: + +The cabins of the natives are all perfectly square; none of them +are less than 15 feet in extent in every direction, but there are +some which are more than 30. The following is their manner of +building them: The natives go into the new forest to seek the +trunks of young walnut trees of 4 inches in diameter and from 18 +to 20 feet long; they plant the largest ones at the four corners +to form the breadth and the dome; but before fixing the others +they prepare the scaffolding; it consists of four poles fastened +together at the top, the lower ends corresponding to the four +corners; on these four poles others are fastened crosswise at a +distance of a foot apart; this makes a ladder with four sides, or +four ladders joined together. + +This done, they fix the other poles in the ground in a straight +line between those of the corners; when they are thus planted they +are strongly bound to a pole which crosses them within each side +[of the house]. For this purpose large splints of stalks are used +to tie them at the height of 5 or 6 feet, according to the size of +the cabin, which forms the walls; these standing poles are not +more than 15 inches apart from each other; a young man then mounts +to the end of one of the corner poles with a cord in his teeth; he +fastens the cord to the pole, and as he mounts within, the pole +bends, because those who are below draw the cord to bend the pole +as much as is necessary; at the same time another young man fixes +the pole of the opposite corner in the same way; the two poles +being thus bent at a suitable height, they are fastened strongly +and evenly. The same is done with the poles of the two other +corners as they are crossed over the first ones. Finally all the +other poles are joined at the point, which makes altogether the +figure of a bower in a summer-house such as we have in France. +After this work they fasten sticks on the lower sides or walls at +a distance of about 8 inches across, as high as the pole of which +I have spoken, which forms the length of the wall. + +These sticks being thus fastened, they make mud walls of clay, in +which they put a sufficient amount of Spanish moss; these walls +are not more than 4 inches thick; they leave no opening but the +door, which is only 2 feet in width by 4 in height; there are some +much smaller. They then cover the frame-work which I have just +described with mats of reeds, putting the smoothest on the inside +of the cabin, taking care to fasten them together so that they are +well joined. + +After this they make large bundles of grass, of the tallest that +can be found in the low lands, and which is 4 or 5 feet long; this +is put on in the same way as straw which is used to cover thatched +houses; the grass is fastened with large canes, and splints, also +of canes. When the cabin is covered with grass they cover all with +a matting of canes well bound together, and at the bottom they +make a ring of "bind-weeds" all around the cabin, then they trim +the grass evenly, and with this defense, however strong the wind +may be, it can do nothing against the cabin. These coverings last +twenty years without being repaired. + +Numerous other references to the same effect might be given, but +these are sufficient to show that the remains found in the mounds +of the South are precisely what would result from the destruction +by fire of the houses in use by the Indians when first encountered +by Europeans. + +It is admitted now by all archaeologists that the ancient works of +New York are attributable to Indians, chiefly to the Iroquois +tribes. This necessarily carries with it the inference that works +of the same type, for instance those of northern Ohio and eastern +Michigan, are due to Indians. It is also admitted that the mounds +and burial pits of Canada are due, at least in part, to the +Hurons. [Footnote: David Boyle, Ann. Rept. Canadian Institute, +1886-1887, pp. 9-17; Ibid., 1888, p. 57.] + +Tribal divisions.--As the proofs that the mound-builders pertained +to various tribes often at war with each other are now too +numerous and strong to be longer denied, we may see in them +evidences of a social condition similar to that of the Indians. + +Similarity in burial customs.--There are perhaps no other remains +of a barbarous or unenlightened people which give us so clear a +conception of their superstitions and religious beliefs as do +those which relate to the disposal of their dead. By the modes +adopted for such disposal, and the relics found in the receptacles +of the dead, we are enabled not only to understand something of +these superstitions and beliefs, but also to judge of their +culture status and to gain some knowledge of their arts, customs, +and modes of life. + +The mortuary customs of the mound-builders, as gleaned from an +examination of their burial mounds, ancient cemeteries, and other +depositories of their dead, present so many striking resemblances +to those of the Indians when first encountered by the whites, as +to leave little room for doubt regarding their identity. +[Footnote: Evidence bearing on this point will be found in the +paper on The Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections, by C. Thomas, +in the Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.] Nor is +this similarity limited to the customs in the broad and general +sense, but it is carried down to the more minute and striking +peculiarities. + +Among the general features in which resemblances are noted are the +following: + +The mound-builders were accustomed to dispose of their dead in +many different ways; their modes of sepulture were also quite +varied. The same statements will apply with equal force to the +Indians. + +"The commonest mode of burial among North American Indians," we +are informed by Dr. H. C. Yarrow, [Footnote: First Annual Report +Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1879-'80 (1881), p. +93.] "has been that of interment in the ground, and this has taken +place in a number of ways." The different ways he mentions are, in +pits, graves, or holes in the ground; in stone graves or cists; in +mounds; beneath or in cabins, wigwams, houses or lodges, and in +caves. + +The most common method of burial among the mound-builders was by +inhumation also, and all the different ways mentioned by Dr. +Yarrow as practiced by the Indians were in vogue among the former. +It was supposed for a long time that their chief and almost only +place of depositing their dead was in the burial mounds, but more +thorough explorations have revealed the fact that near most mound +villages are cemeteries, often of considerable extent. + +The chief value of this fact in this connection is that it forms +one item of evidence against the theory held by some antiquarians +that the mound-builders were Mexicans, as the usual mode of +disposing of the dead by the latter was cremation. [Footnote: +Clavigero, Hist. Mex., Cullen's transl., I, 325; Torquemada, +Monarq. Ind., I, p.60, etc.] According to Brasseur de Bourbourg +the Toltecs also practiced cremation. [Footnote: H.H. Bancroft, +Native Races, vol. 2, 1882, p. 609.] + +REMOVAL OF THE FLESH BEFORE BURIAL.--This practice appears to have +been followed quite generally by both Indians and mound-builders. + +That it was followed to a considerable extent by the mound +builders of various sections is shown by the following evidence: + +The confused masses of human bones frequently found in mounds show +by their relation to each other that they must have been gathered +together after the flesh had been removed, as this condition could +not possibly have been assumed after burial in their natural +state. Instances of this kind are so numerous and well known that +it is scarcely necessary to present any evidence in support of the +statement. The well-known instance referred to by Jefferson in his +"Notes on Virginia" [Footnote: Fourth Am. ed., 1801, p. 143; p. +146, in 8th ed.] is one in point. "The appearance," he tells us, +"certainly indicates that it [the barrow] has derived both origin +and growth from the customary collections of bones and deposition +of them together." + +Notices of similar deposits have been observed as follows: In +Wisconsin, by Mr. Armstrong; [Footnote: Smithsonian Rept., 1879, +p. 337] in Florida, by James Bell [Footnote: Smithsonian Rept., +1881, p. 636.] and Mr. Walker; [Footnote: Smithsonian Rept., 1879, +p. 398] in Cass County, Ill., by Mr. Snyder; [Footnote: +Smithsonian Rept., 1881, p. 573.] in Georgia, by C. C. Jones. +[Footnote: Antiq. So. Inds., p. 193.] Similar deposits have also +been found by the assistants of the Bureau of Ethnology in +Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Missouri, North Carolina, New York, +and Arkansas. + +Another proof of this custom was observed by Mr. J. D. Middleton +and Colonel Morris in Wisconsin, northeastern Missouri, and +Illinois. In numerous mounds the skeletons were found packed +closely side by side, immediately beneath a layer of hard, mortar- +like substance. The fact that this mortar had completely filled +the interstices, and in many cases the skulls also, showed that it +had been placed over them while in a plastic state, and as it must +soon have hardened and assumed the condition in which it was +found, it is evident the skeletons had been buried after the flesh +was removed. + +As additional evidence we may mention the fact that in stone +graves, so small that the body of a full-grown individual could +not by any possible means be pressed into them, the bones of adult +individuals are sometimes found. Instances of this kind have +occurred in Tennessee, Missouri, and southern Illinois. + +From personal examination I conclude that most of the folded +skeletons found in mounds were buried after the flesh had been +removed, as the folding, to the extent noticed, could not possibly +have been done with the flesh on them, and the positions in most +cases were such that they could not have been assumed in +consequence of the decay of the flesh and settling of the mound. + +The partial calcining of the bones in vaults and under layers of +clay where the evidence shows that the fire was applied to the +outside of the vault or above the clay layer, can be accounted for +only on the supposition that the flesh had been removed before +burial. + +Other proofs that this custom prevailed among the mound builders +in various sections of the country might be adduced. + +That it was the custom of a number of Indian tribes, when first +encountered by the whites, and even down to a comparatively modern +date, to remove the flesh before final burial by suspending on +scaffolds, depositing in charnel-houses, by temporary burial, or +otherwise, is well known to all students of Indian habits and +customs. + +Heckewelder says, "The Nanticokes had the singular custom of +removing the bones from the old burial place to a place of deposit +in the country they now dwell in." [Footnote: Hist. Manners and +Customs Ind. Nations, p. 75.] + +The account by Breboeuf of the communal burial among the Hurons +heretofore referred to is well known. [Footnote: Jesuit Relations +for 1636. Transl. in Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnol., p. 110.] The +same custom is alluded to by Lafitau. [Footnote: Moeurs des +Sauvages, vol. 2, pp. 420-435.] Bartram observed it among the +Choctaws. [Footnote: Travels, p. 516.] It is also mentioned by +Bossu, [Footnote: Travels through Louisiana, p. 298.] by +Adair,[Footnote: Hist. Am. Indians, p. 183.] by Barnard +Romans,[Footnote: Nat. Hist. Florida, p. 90.] and others. + +Burial beneath or in dwellings.--The evidence brought to light by +the investigations of the Bureau of Ethnology, regarding a custom +among the mound-builders of Arkansas and Mississippi, of burying +in or under their dwellings, has been given, in part, in an +article published in the Magazine of American History. [Footnote: +February, 1884.] It is a well-attested historical fact that such +was also the custom of the southern Indian tribes. Bartram affirms +it to have been in vogue among the Muscogulgees or +Creeks,[Footnote: Travels, p. 505.] and Barnard Romans says it was +also practiced by the Chickasaws.[Footnote: Nat. Hist. Florida, p. +71] C C. Jones says that the Indians of Georgia "often interred +beneath the floor of the cabin, and then burnt the hut of the +deceased over his head;"[Footnote: Antiq. So. Indians, p. 203.] +which furnishes a complete explanation of the fact observed by the +Bureau explorers, mentioned in the article before alluded to. + +Burial in a sitting or squatting posture.--It was a very common +practice among the mound-builders to bury their dead in a sitting +or squatting posture. The examples of this kind are too numerous +and too well known to require repetition. I may add that the yet +unpublished reports of the Bureau show that this custom prevailed +to a certain extent in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, +Missouri, Ohio, and West Virginia. Instances have also been +observed elsewhere. [Footnote: Jones's Antiq. So. Indians (Georgia +and Florida). pp. 183-185.] That the same custom was followed by +several of the Indian tribes is attested by the following +authorities: Bossu, [Footnote: Travels, vol. 1, p. 251.] Lawson, +[Footnote: Hist. Carolina, p. 182.] Bartram, [Footnote: Travels, +p. 515.] and Adair.[Footnote: Hist. Am. Indians, p. 182.] + +The use of fire in burial ceremonies.--Another observance in which +the burial customs of mound-builders corresponded with those of +Indians was the use of fire in funeral ceremonies. The evidences +of this custom are so common in mounds as to lead to the +supposition that the mound-builders were in the habit of offering +human sacrifices to their deities. Although charred and even +almost wholly consumed human bones are often found, showing that +bodies or skeletons were sometimes burned, it does not necessarily +follow that they were offered as sacrifices. Moreover, judging +from all the data in our possession, the weight of evidence seems +to be decidedly against such conclusion. + +Among the Indians fire appears to have been connected with the +mortuary ceremonies in several ways. One use of it was to burn the +flesh and softer portions of the body when removed from the bones. +[Footnote: Barnard Romans, Nat. Hist. Florida, p. 90.] Breboeuf +also mentions its use in connection with the communal burial of +the Hurons. [Footnote: Jesuit Relations for 1636, p. 135.] +According to M. B. Kent [Footnote: Yarrow's Mort. Customs N. A. +Indians, 1st Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnology (1881), P. 95.] it was the +ancient custom of the Sacs and Foxes to burn a portion of the food +of the burial feast to furnish subsistence for the spirit on its +journey. + +Pickett says [Footnote: Hist. Alabama, 3d ed., vol. 1, p. 140.] +the Choctaws were in the habit of killing and cutting up their +prisoners of war, after which the parts were burned. He adds +further, in reference to their burial ceremonies: [Footnote: +Ibid., p. 142] "From all we have heard and read of the Choctaws, +we are satisfied that it was their custom to take from the bone- +house the skeletons, with which they repaired in funeral +procession to the suburbs of the town, where they placed them on +the ground in one heap, together with the property of the dead, +such as pots, bows, arrows, ornaments, curiously-shaped stones for +dressing deer skins, and a variety of other things. Over this heap +they first threw charcoal and ashes, probably to preserve the +bones, and the next operation was to cover all with earth. This +left a mound several feet high." This furnishes a complete +explanation of the fact that uncharred human bones are frequently +found in Southern mounds imbedded in charcoal and ashes. + +Similarity of their stone implements and ornaments.--In addition +to the special points of resemblance between the works of the two +peoples, of which a few only have been mentioned, we are warranted +in asserting that in all respects, so far as we can trace them +correctly, there are to be found strong resemblances between the +habits, customs, and arts of the mound-builders and those of the +Indians previous to their change by contact with Europeans. Both +made use of stone implements, and so precisely similar are the +articles of this class that it is impossible to distinguish those +made by the one people from those made by the other. So true is +this that our best and most experienced archaeologists make no +attempt to separate them, except where the conditions under which +they are found furnish evidence for discrimination. Instead of +burdening these pages with proofs of these statements by reference +to particular finds and authorities, I call attention to the work +of Dr. C. C. Abbott on the handiwork in stone, bone, and clay of +the native races of the northern Atlantic sea board of America, +entitled "Primitive Industry." As the area embraced in this work, +as remarked by its author, "does not include any territory known +to have been permanently occupied by the so-called mound- +builders," the articles found here must be ascribed to the Indians +unless, as suggested by Dr. Abbott, some of a more primitive type +found in the Trenton gravel are to be attributed to an earlier and +still ruder people. Examining those of the first class, which are +ascribed to the Indians, we observe almost every type of stone +articles found in the mounds and mound area; not only the rudely +chipped scrapers, hoes, celts, knives, and spear and arrow heads, +but also the polished or ground celts, axes, hammers, and chisels, +or gouges. + +Here we also find drills, awls, and perforators, slick stones and +dressers, pipes of various forms and finish, discoidal stones and +net sinkers, butterflys tones and other supposed ceremonial +objects, masks or face figures and bird-shaped stones, gorgets, +totems, pendants, trinkets, etc. Nor does the resemblance stop +with types, but it is carried down to specific forms and finish, +leaving absolutely no possible line of demarkation between these +and the similar articles attributed to the mound-builders. So +persistently true is this that had we stone articles alone to +judge by, it is probable we should be forced to the conclusion, as +held by some writers, that the former inhabitants of that portion +of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains pertained to one +nation, unless possibly the prevalence of certain types in +particular sections should afford some data for tribal +districting. + +This strong similarity of the stone articles of the Atlantic coast +to those of the mound area was noticed as early as 1820 by Caleb +Atwater, who, knowing that the former were Indian manufactures, +attributed the latter also to the same people although he held +that the mounds were the work of the ancestors of the civilized +nations of Mexico and Central America. + +Mound and Indian Pottery.--The pottery of the mound-builders has +often been referred to as proof of a higher culture status, and of +an advance in art beyond that reached by the Indians. The vase +with a bird figure found by Squier and Davis in an Ohio mound is +presented in most works on American archaeology as an evidence of +the advanced stage of the ceramic art among the mound-builders; +but Dr. Rau, who examined the collection of these authors, says: + +Having seen the best specimens of "mound" pottery obtained during +the survey of Messrs. Squier and Davis, I do not hesitate to +assert that the clay vessels fabricated at the Cahokia Creek were +in every respect equal to those exhumed from the mounds of the +Mississippi Valley, and Dr. Davis himself, who examined my +specimens from the first-named locality, expressed the same +opinion. [Footnote: Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 349.] + +The Cahokia pottery which he found along the creek of that name +(Madison County, Ill.) he ascribes to Indians, and believes it to +be of comparatively recent origin. + +Most of the mound pottery is mixed with pulverized shells, which +is also true of most Indian pottery. [Footnote: Dumont, Mem. Hist. +La., vol. 2, 1753, p. 271; Adair, Hist. Am. Indians, p. 424; +Loskiel, Gesell. der Miss., p. 70, etc.] Du Pratz says that "the +Natchez Indians make pots of an extraordinary size, cruses with a +medium-sized opening, jars, bottles with long necks holding two +pints, and pots or cruses for holding bear's oil;" [Footnote: +Hist. La., p. 79.] also that they colored them a beautiful red by +using ocher, which becomes red after burning. + +As is well known, the bottle-shaped vase with a long neck is the +typical form of clay vessels found in the mounds of Arkansas and +southeastern Missouri, and is also common in the mounds and stone +graves of middle Tennessee. Those colored or ornamented with red +are often found in the mounds of the former sections. It is worthy +of notice in this connection that the two localities--near Saint +Genevieve, Mo., and near Shawneetown, Ill.--where so many +fragments of large clay vessels used in making salt have been +found, were occupied for a considerable time by the Shawnee +Indians. As will hereafter be shown, there are reasons for +believing this pottery was made by the Shawnees. + +The statement so often made that the mound pottery, especially +that of Ohio, far excels that of the Indians is not justified by +the facts. + +Much more evidence of like tenor might be presented here, as, for +example, the numerous instances in which articles of European +manufacture have been found in mounds where their presence could +not be attributed to intrusive burials, but the limits of the +paper will not admit of this. I turn, therefore, to the problem +before us, viz, "Who were the authors of the typical works of +Ohio?" + +As before stated, the answer is, "These works are attributable in +part at least to the ancestors of the modern Cherokees." + +As a connecting link between what has been given and the direct +evidence that the Cherokees were mound-builders, and as having an +important bearing upon both questions, the evidence derived from +the box-shaped stone graves is introduced at this point. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +STONE GRAVES AND WHAT THEY TEACH. + + +In order to state clearly the argument based upon these works it +is necessary to present a brief explanation. + +There are several forms and varieties of stone graves or cists +found in the mound area, some being of cobble stones, others of +slabs; some round, others polygonal; some dome-shaped, others +square, and others box shaped, or parallelograms. Reference is +made at present only to the last mentioned--the box shaped type, +made of stone slabs. If the evidence shows that this variety is +found only in certain districts, pertains to a certain class of +works, and is usually accompanied by certain types of art, we are +warranted in using it as an ethnic characteristic, or as +indicating the presence of particular tribes. If it can be shown +that graves of this form are found in mounds attributed to the so- +called mound-builders, and that certain tribes of Indians of +historic times were also accustomed to bury in them, we are +warranted in assuming that there was a continuity of custom from +the mound-building age to historic times, or that graves found in +the mounds are probably attributable to the same people (or allied +tribes) found using them at a later date. This conclusion will be +strengthened by finding that certain peculiar types of art are +limited to the regions where these graves exist, and are found +almost exclusively in connection with them. + +These graves, as is well known, are formed of rough and unhewn +slabs or flat pieces of stone, thus: First, in a pit some 2 or 3 +feet deep and of the desired dimensions, dug for the purpose, a +layer of stone is placed to form the floor; next, similar pieces +are set on edge to form the sides and ends, over which other slabs +are laid flat, forming the covering, the whole when finished +making a rude, box-shaped coffin or sepulcher. Sometimes one or +more of the six faces are wanting; occasionally the bottom +consists of a layer of water-worn bowlders; sometimes the top is +not a single layer of slabs, but other pieces are laid over the +joints, and sometimes they are placed shingle-fashion. These +graves vary in length from 14 inches to 8 feet, and in width from +9 inches to 3 feet. + +It is not an unusual thing to find a mound containing a number of +those cists arranged in two, three, or more tiers. As a general +rule, those not in mounds are near the surface of the ground, and +in some instances even projecting above it. It is probable that no +one who has examined them has failed to note their strong +resemblance to the European mode of burial. Even Dr. Joseph Jones, +who attributes them to some "ancient race," was forcibly reminded +of this resemblance, as he remarks: + +In looking at the rude stone coffins of Tennessee, I have again +and again been impressed with the idea that in some former age +this ancient race must have come in contact with Europeans and +derived this mode of burial from them. [Footnote: Aboriginal +Remains of Tennessee, pp. 34,35] + +The presence of stone graves of the type under consideration in +the vicinity of the site of some of the "over hill towns" of the +Cherokees on the Little Tennessee River, presented a difficulty in +the way of the theory here advanced, as it is well known that the +Cherokees and Shawnees were inveterate enemies from time +immemorial. But by referring to Schoolcraft's History of the +Indians the following statement solves the riddle and confirms the +theory: + +A discontented portion of the Shawnee tribe from Virginia broke +off from the nation, which removed to the Scioto country, in Ohio, +about the year 1730, and formed a town known by the name of +Lulbegrud, in what in now Clark County [Kentucky], about 30 miles +east of this place [Lexington]. This tribe left this country about +1730 and went to East Tennessee, to the Cherokee Nation. +[Footnote: Vol. 1, p. 301.] + +Some years ago Mr. George E. Sellers discovered near the salt +spring in Gallatin County, Ill., on the Saline River, fragments of +clay vessels of unusually large size, which excited much interest +in the minds of antiquarians, not only because of the size of the +vessels indicated by the fragments, but because they appeared to +have been used by some prehistoric people in the manufacture of +salt and because they bore impressions made by some textile +fabric. In the same immediate locality were also discovered a +number of box-shaped stone graves. That the latter were the work +of the people who made the pottery Mr. Sellers demonstrated by +finding that many of the graves were lined at the bottom with +fragments of these large clay "salt pans." [Footnote: Popular +Science Monthly, vol. II, 1877, pp. 573-584.] + +Mention of this pottery had been made long previously by J. M. +Peck in his "Gazetteer of Illinois." [Footnote: 1834, p. 52.] + +He remarks that "about the Gallatin and Big Muddy Salines large +fragments of earthenware are very frequently found under the +surface of the earth. They appear to have been portions of large +kettles used, probably, by the natives for obtaining salt." + +The settlement of the Shawnees at Shawneetown, on the Ohio River, +in Gallatin County, in comparatively modern times, is attested not +only by history but by the name by which the town is still known. +There is evidence on record that there was an older Shawneetown +located at the very point where this "salt-kettle" pottery and +these stone graves were found. This is mentioned in the American +State Papers [Footnote: Public Lands, Class VIII, vol.2, p. 103, +Gales and Seaton ed.] in the report relating to the famous claim +of the Illinois and Wabash Land Companies. The deed presented was +dated July 20, 1773, and recorded at Kaskaskia, September 2, 1773. +In this mention is made of the "ancient Shawnee town" on Saline +Creek, the exact locality of the stone graves and suit-kettle +pottery. The modern Indian village at Shawneetown on the Ohio +River had not then come into existence, and was but in its prime +in 1806, when visited by Thomas Ashe. [Footnote: Travels in +America, 1808, p. 265.] + +As proof that the people of this tribe were in the habit of making +salt the following evidence is presented: Collins, in his "History +of Kentucky", [Footnote: Vol. 2, p. 55.] gives an account of the +capture and adventures of Mrs. Mary Ingals, the first white woman +known to have visited Kentucky. In this narrative occurs the +following statement: + +The first white woman in Kentucky was Mrs. Mary Ingals, nee +Draper, who, in 1756 with her two little boys, her sister-in-law, +Mrs. Draper, and others was taken prisoner by the Shawnee Indians, +from her home on the top of the great Allegheny ridge, is now +Montgomery County, W. Va. The captives were taken down the +Kanawha, to the salt region, and, after a few days spent in making +salt, to the Indian village at the mouth of Scioto River. + +By the treaty of Fort Wayne, June 7, 1803, between the Delawares, +Shawnees, and other tribes and the United States, it was agreed +that in consideration of the relinquishment of title to "the great +salt spring upon the Saline Creek, which falls into the Ohio below +the mouth of the Wabash, with a quantity of laud surrounding it, +not exceeding 4 miles square," the United States should deliver +"yearly, and every year for the use of said Indians, a quantity of +salt not exceeding 150 bushels." [Footnote: Treaties of United +States with Indian tribes, p. 97.] + +Another very significant fact in this connection is that the +fragments of large earthen vessels similar in character to those +found in Gallatin County, Ill., have also been found in connection +with the stone graves of the Cumberland Valley, and, furthermore, +the impressions made by the textile fabrics show the same stitches +as do the former. Another place where pottery of the same kind has +been found is about the salt-lick near Saint Genevieve, Mo., a +section inhabited for a time by Shawnees and Delawares. [Footnote: +C.C. Royce in American Antiquarian, vol. 3, 1881, pp. 188, 189.] + +Stone graves have been found in Washington County, Md. [Footnote: +Smithsonian Report for 1882 (1884), p. 797.] History informs us +that there were two Shawnee settlements in this region, one in the +adjoining county of Maryland (Allegany), and another in the +neighborhood of Winchester, Va. [Footnote: C. C. Royce in American +Antiquarian, vol. 3, 1881, p. 186. Virginia State Papers, 1. p. +63.] + +Mr. W. M. Taylor [Footnote: Smithsonian Report for 1877, p. 307. +Mentions only known instance of mound with Delaware Village.] +mentions some stone graves of the type under consideration as +found on the Mahoning River, in Pennsylvania. An important item in +this connection is that these graves were in a mound. He describes +the mound as 35 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, having on one +side a projection 35 feet long of the same height as the mound. +Near by a cache was discovered containing twenty one iron +implements, such as axes, hatchets, tomahawks, hoes, and wedges. +He adds the significant statement that near the mound once stood +the Indian (Delaware) village of Kush-kush-kee. + +Graves of the same type have been discovered in Lee County, Va. +[Footnote: Eleventh Report of the Peabody Museum, 1878, p. 208.] +Others have been found in a mound on the Tennessee side, near the +southern boundary of Scott County, Va. Allusion has already been +made to the occasional presence of the Shawnees in this region. In +the map of North America by John Senex, Chaonanon villages are +indicated in this particular section. + +The presence of these graves in any part of Ohio can easily be +accounted for on the theory advanced, by the well-known fact that +both Shawnees and Delawares were located at various points in the +region, and during the wars in which they were engaged were moving +about from place to place; but the mention of a few coincidences +may not be out of place. + +In the American Antiquarian for July, 1881, is the description of +one of these cists found in a mound in the eastern part of +Montgomery County. Mr. Royce, in the article already referred to, +states that there was a Shawnee village 3 miles north of Xenia, in +the adjoining county, on Mad River, which flows into the Miami a +short distance above the location of the mound. + +Stone graves have been found in great numbers at various points +along the Ohio from Portsmouth to Ripley, a region known to have +been occupied at various times by the Shawnees. + +Similar graves have been discovered in Ashland County. [Footnote: +Smithsonian Report for 1877, pp. 261-267.] These, as will be seen +by reference to the same report (page 504), are precisely in the +locality of the former Delaware villages. + +The evidence is deemed sufficient to show that the Shawnees and +Delawares were accustomed to bury in stone graves of the type +under consideration, and to indicate that the graves found south +of the Ohio are to be attributed to the former tribe and those +north to both tribes. + +As graves of this kind are common over the west side of southern +Illinois, from the month of the Illinois to the junction of the +Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, attention is called to some evidence +bearing on their origin. + +Hunter, who traveled in the West, says that some of the Indians he +met with during his captivity buried their dead in graves of this +kind. + +According to a statement made by Dr. Rau to Mr. C. C. Jones, and +repeated to me personally, "it is a fact well remembered by many +persons in this neighborhood [Monroe County, III.] that the +Indians who inhabited this region during the early part of the +present century (probably Kickapoos) buried their dead in stone +coffins." [Footnote: Antiquities So. Indians, p. 220.] + +Dr. Shoemaker, who resided on a farm near Columbia, in 1861, +showed Dr. Rau, in one of his fields, the empty stone grave of an +Indian who had been killed by one of his own tribe and interred +there within the memory of some of the farmers of Monroe County. +An old lady in Jackson County informed one of the Bureau +assistants that she had seen an Indian buried in a grave of this +kind. + +It is doubtful whether Dr. Rau is correct in ascribing these +graves to the Kickapoos, as their most southern locality appears +to have been in the region of Sangamon County. [Footnote: +Reynolds's Hist. Illinois, p. 20.] It is more probable they were +made by the Kaskaskias, Tamaroas, and Cahokias. Be this as it may, +it is evident that they are due to some of the tribes of this +section known as Illinois Indians, pertaining to the same branch +of the Algonquin family as the Shawnees and Delawares. + +That the stone graves of southern Illinois were made by the same +people who built those of the Cumberland Valley, or closely allied +tribes, is indicated not only by the character of the graves but +by other very close and even remarkable resemblances in the +construction and contents as well as in the form and size of the +mounds; the presence of hut-rings in both localities, and the +arrangement of the groups. + +Taking all the corroborating facts together there are reasonable +grounds for concluding that graves of the type now under +consideration, although found in widely-separated localities, are +attributable to the Shawnee Indians and their congeners, the +Delawares and Illinois, and that those south of the Ohio are due +entirely to the first named tribe. That they are the works of +Indians must be admitted by all who are willing to be convinced by +evidence. + +The fact that in most cases (except when due to the Delawares, who +are not known to have been mound-builders) the graves are +connected with mounds, and in many instances are in mounds, +sometimes in two, three, and even four tiers deep, proves beyond a +doubt that the authors of these graves were mound-builders. + +The importance and bearing of this evidence does not stop with +what has been stated, for it is so interlocked with other facts +relating to the works of the "veritable mound-builders" as to +leave no hiatus into which the theory of a lost race or a "Toltec +occupation" can possibly be thrust. It forms an unbroken chain +connecting the mound-builders and historical Indians which no +sophistry or reasoning can break. Not only are these graves found +in mounds of considerable size, but they are also connected with +one of the most noted groups in the United States, namely, the one +on Colonel Tumlin's place, near Cartersville, Ga., known as the +Etowah mounds, of which a full description will be found in the +Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. + +In the smallest of the three large mounds of this group were found +stone graves of precisely the type attributable, when found south +of the Ohio, to the Shawnees. They were not in a situation where +they could be ascribed to intrusive burials, but in the bottom +layer of a comparatively large mound with a thick and undisturbed +layer of hard-packed clay above them. It is also worthy of notice +that the locality is intermediate between the principal seat of +the Shawnees in the Cumberland Valley, and their extreme eastern +outposts in northeastern Georgia, where both tradition and stone +graves indicate their settlement. The tradition regarding this +settlement has been given elsewhere. [Footnote: Am. Antiq, vol. 7, +1885, p. 133] + +In these graves were found the remarkable figured copper plates +and certain engraved shells, of which mention has been made by Mr. +W. H. Holmes [Footnote: Science, vol. 3, 1884, pp. 436-438.] and +by myself [Footnote: Ibid., pp. 779-785.] in Science. It is a +singular corroboration of the theory here advanced that the only +other similar copper plates were found at Lebanon, Tenn., by Prof. +F. W. Putnam; in a stone grave in a mound at Mill Creek, southern +Illinois, by Mr. Earle; in a stone grave in Jackson County, Ill., +by Mr. Thing; in a mound of Madison County, Ill., by Mr. H. R. +Howland; and in a small mound at Peoria, Ill., by Maj. J. W. +Powell. All, except the specimens found by Professor Putnam and +Mr. Howland, were secured by the Bureau of Ethnology, and are now +in the National Museum. + +There can be but little doubt that the specimens obtained from +simple stone graves by Professor Putnam and Mr. Thing are to be +attributed to Indian burials, but surely not to Indian +manufacture. + +We have, therefore, two unbroken chains connecting the Indians of +historic times with the "veritable mound builders," and the facts +which form the links of these chains throw some additional light +on the history of that mysterious people, the Shawnees. + +It may be stated here that in the report relating to the claim of +the Wabash Land Company [Footnote: American State Papers, Land +Affairs, Appendix, p. 20.] is a statement giving a list of +articles furnished the Indians, among which we notice nine ear +wheels. These we suppose to be the same as the spool shaped ear +ornaments found in stone graves and elsewhere. + +The engraved shells also form a link which not only connects the +mound-builders with historic times but corroborates the view +advanced in regard to the Shawnees, and indicates also that the +Cherokees were mound-builders. But before introducing this we will +give the reasons for believing that the mounds of eastern +Tennessee and western North Carolina are due to the last-named +tribe. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE CHEROKEES AS MOUND BUILDERS. + + +As the evidence on this point has to a large extent been presented +in my article on "Burial Mounds of the Northern Section," +[Footnote: Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur Ethnol] also in articles published +in the Magazine of American History [Footnote: May, 1884, pp. 396- +407] and in the American Naturalist, [Footnote: Vol. 18, 1884, pp. +232-240] it will be necessary here only to introduce a few +additional items. + +The iron implements which are alluded to in the above mentioned +articles also in Science, [Footnote: Science, vol. 3, 1884, pp. +308-310] as found in a North Carolina mound, and which analysis +shows were not meteoric, furnish conclusive evidence that the +tumulus was built after the Europeans had reached America; and as +it is shown in the same article that the Cherokees must have +occupied the region from the time of its discovery up to its +settlement by the whites it is more than probable they were the +builders. A figure of one of the pieces is introduced here. + +[Illustration with caption: Fig I Part of an iron blade from a +North Carolina mound] + +Additional and perhaps still stronger evidence, if stronger be +needed, that the people of this tribe were the authors of most of +the ancient works in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee +is to be found in certain discoveries made by the Bureau +assistants in Monroe County, Tenn. + +A careful exploration of the valley of the Little Tennessee River, +from the point where it leaves the mountains to its confluence +with the Holston, was made, and the various mound groups were +located and surveyed. These were found to correspond down as far +as the position of Fort London and even to the island below with +the arrangement of the Cherokee "over-hill towns" as given by +Timberlake in his map of the Cherokee country called "Over the +Hills," [Footnote: Memoirs, 1765] a group for each town, and in +the only available spots the valley for this distance affords. As +these mounds when explored yielded precisely the kind of ornaments +and implements used by the Cherokees, it is reasonable to believe +they built them. + +Ramsey also gives a map, [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 376] +but his list evidently refers to a date corresponding with the +close of their occupancy of this section. Bartram [Footnote: +Travels, pp. 373.374.] gives a more complete list applying to an +earlier date. This evidently includes some on the Holston (his +"Cherokee") River and some on the Tellico plains. This corresponds +precisely with the result of the explorations by the Bureau as +will be seen when the report is published. Some three or four +groups were discovered in the region of Tellico plains, and five +or six on the Little Tennessee below Fort London and on the +Holston near the junction, one large mound and a group being on +the "Big Island" mentioned in Bartram's list. + +The largest of these groups is situated on the Little Tennessee +above Fort London and corresponds with the position of the ancient +"beloved town of Chota" ("Great Chote" of Bartram) as located by +tradition and on both Timberlake's and Ramsey's maps. According to +Ramsey, [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 157] at the time the +pioneers, following in the wake of Daniel Boone near the close of +the eighteenth century, were pouring over the mountains into the +valley of the Watauga, a Mrs. Bean, who was captured by the +Cherokees near Watauga, was brought to their town at this place +and was bound, taken to the top of one of the mounds and about to +be burned, when Nancy Ward, then exercising in the nation the +functions of the Beloved or Pretty Woman, interfered and +pronounced her pardon. + +During the explorations of the mounds of this region a peculiar +type of clay beds was found in several of the larger mounds. These +were always saucer shaped, varying in diameter from 6 to 15 feet, +and in thickness from 4 to 12 inches. In nearly every instance +they were found in series, one above another, with a layer of +coals and ashes between. The series usually consisted of from +three to five beds, sometimes only two, decreasing in size from +the lower one upward. These apparently marked the stages of the +growth of the mound, the upper one always being near the present +surface. + +The large mound which is on the supposed site of Chota, and +possibly the one on which Mrs. Bean was about to be burned, was +thoroughly explored, and found to contain a series of these clay +beds, which always showed the action of fire. In the center of +some of these were found the charred remains of a stake, and about +them the usual layer of coals and ashes, but, in this instance, +immediately around where the stake stood were charred fragments of +human bones. + +As will be seen, when the report which is now in the hands of the +printer is published, the burials in this mound were at various +depths, and there is nothing shown to indicate separate and +distinct periods, to lead to the belief that any of these were +intrusive in the true sense. On the contrary, the evidence is +pretty clear that all these burials were by one tribe or people. +By the side of nearly every skeleton were one or more articles, as +shell masks, engraved shells, shell pins, shell beads, perforated +shells, discoidal stones, polished celts, arrow-heads, spearheads, +stone gorgets, bone implements, clay vessels, or copper hawkbells. +The last were with the skeleton of a child found at the depth of 3 +1/2 feet. They are precisely of the form of the ordinary sleigh- +bell of the present day, with pebbles and shell-bead rattles. + +That this child belonged to the people to whom the other burials +are due will not be doubted by any one not wedded to a +preconceived notion, and that the bells are the work of Europeans +will also be admitted. + +In another mound a little farther up the river, and one of a group +probably marking the site of one of the "over-hill towns," were +found two carved stone pipes of a comparatively modern Cherokee +type. + +The next argument is founded on the fact that in the ancient works +of the region alluded to are discovered evidences of habits and +customs similar to those of the Cherokees and some of the +immediately surrounding tribes. + +In the article heretofore referred to allusion is made to the +evidence found in the mound opened by Professor Carr of its once +having supported a building similar to the council-house observed +by Bartram on a mound at the old Cherokee town Cowe. Both were +built on mounds, both were circular, both were built on posts set +in the ground at equal distances from each other, and each had a +central pillar. As tending to confirm this statement of Bartram's, +the following passage may be quoted, where, speaking of Colonel +Christian's march against the Cherokee towns in 1770, Ramsey +[Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 169.] says that this officer +found in the center of each town "a circular tower rudely built +and covered with dirt, 30 feet in diameter, and about 20 feet +high. This tower was used as a council-house, and as a place for +celebrating the green-corn dance and other national ceremonials." +In another mound the remains of posts apparently marking the site +of a building were found. Mr. M. C. Read, of Hudson, Ohio, +discovered similar evidences in a mound near Chattanooga, +[Footnote: Smithsonian Rept, for 1867 (1868), p. 401.] and Mr. +Gerard Fowke has quite recently found the same thing in a mound at +Waverly. Ohio. + +The shell ornaments to which allusion has been made, although +occasionally bearing designs which are undoubtedly of the Mexican +or Central American type, nevertheless furnish very strong +evidence that the mounds of east Tennessee and western North +Carolina were built by the Cherokees. + +Lawson, who traveled through North Carolina in 1700, says +[Footnote: Hist. of N. C., Raleigh, reprint 1860, p. 315.] "they +[the Indians] oftentimes make of this shell [a certain large sea +shell] a sort of gorge, which they wear about their neck in a +string so it hangs on their collar, whereon sometimes is engraven +a cross or some odd sort of figure which comes next in their +fancy." + +According to Adair, the southern Indian priest wore upon his +breast "an ornament made of a white conch-shell, with two holes +bored in the middle of it, through which he ran the ends of an +otter-skin strap, and fastened to the extremity of each, a buck- +horn white button." [Footnote: Hist. Am. Indians, p. 84] + +Beverly, speaking of the Indians of Virginia, says: "Of this shell +they also make round tablets of about 4 inches in diameter, which +they polish as smooth as the other, and sometimes they etch or +grave thereon circles, stars, a half-moon, or any other figure +suitable to their fancy." [Footnote: Hist. Virginia, London, 1705, +p. 58] + +[Illustration with caption: FIG. 2. Engraved shell gorget from a +Tennessee mound.] + +Now it so happens that a considerable number of shell gorgets have +been found in the mounds of western North Carolina and east +Tennessee, agreeing so closely with those brief descriptions, as +may be seen the figures of some of them given here (see Figs. 2 +and 3), as to leave no doubt that they belong to the same type as +those alluded to by the writers whose words have just been quoted. +Some of them were found in the North Carolina mound from which the +iron articles were obtained and in connection with these articles. +Some of these shells were smooth and without any devices engraved +upon them, but with holes for inserting the strings by which they +were to be held in position; others were engraved with figures, +which, as will be seen by reference to the cuts referred to, might +readily be taken for stars and half-moons, and one among the +number with a cross engraved upon it. + +The evidence that these relics were the work of Indians found in +possession of the country at the time of its discovery by +Europeans, is therefore too strong to be put aside by mere +conjectures or inferences. If they were the work of Indians, they +must have been used by the Cherokees and buried with their dead. +It is true that some of the engraved figures present a puzzling +problem in the fact that they bear unmistakable evidences of +pertaining to Mexican and Central American types, but no +explanation of this which contradicts the preceding evidences that +these shells had been in the hands of Indians can be accepted. + +[Fig. 3: Shell gorget with engraving of coiled serpent] + +In these mounds were also found a large number of nicely carved +soapstone pipes, usually with the stem made in connection with the +bowl, though some were without this addition, consisting only of +the bowl with a hole for inserting a cane or wooden stem. While +some, as will hereafter be shown, closely resemble one of the +ancient Ohio types, others are precisely of the form common a few +years back, and some of them have the remains of burnt tobacco yet +clinging to them. + +Adair, in his "History of the North American Indians," [Footnote: +P. 433.] says: + +"They mate beautiful stone pipes and the Cherokees the best of any +of the Indians, for their mountainous country contain many +different sorts and colors of soils proper for such uses. They +easily form them with their tomahawks and afterwards finish them +in any desired form with their knives, the pipes being of a very +soft quality till they are smoked with and used with the fire, +when they become quite hard. They are often full a span long and +the bowls are about half as large again as our English pipes. The +fore part of each commonly runs out with a sharp peak 2 or 3 +fingers broad and a quarter of an inch thick." + +Not only were pipes made of soapstone found in these mounds, but +two or three were found precisely of the form mentioned by Adair, +with the fore part running out in front of the bowl (see Fig. 5, +p. 39). + +Jones says: [Footnote: Antiq. So. Indians, p. 400.] + +It has been more than hinted at by at least one person whose +statement is entitled to every belief, that among the Cherokees +dwelling in the mountains there existed certain artists whose +professed occupation was the manufacture of stone pipes, which +were by them transported to the coast and there bartered away for +articles of use and ornament foreign to and highly esteemed among +the members of their own tribe. + +This not only strengthens the conclusions drawn from the presence +of such pipes in the mounds alluded to, but may also assist in +explaining the presence of the copper and iron ornaments in them. + +During the fall of 1886 a farmer of east Tennessee while examining +a cave with a view to storing potatoes in it during the winter +unearthed a well preserved human skeleton which was found to be +wrapped in a large piece of cane matting. This, which measures +about 6 by 4 feet, with the exception of a tear at one corner is +perfectly sound and pliant and has a large submarginal stripe +running around it. Inclosed with the skeleton was a piece of cloth +made of flax, about 14 by 20 inches, almost uninjured but +apparently unfinished. The stitch in which it is woven is +precisely that imprinted on mound pottery of the type shown in +Fig. 96 in Mr. Holmes's paper on the mound-builders' textile +fabrics reproduced here in Fig. 4. [Footnote: Fifth Ann. Rept. +Bur. Ethnol., p. 415, Fig. 96.] + +[Illustration with caption: FIG. 4. Twined fabric impressed on a +piece of pottery obtained from a mound in Jefferson County, +Tennessee.] + +Although the earth of the cave contains salts which would aid in +preserving anything buried in it, these articles can not be +assigned to any very ancient date, especially when it is added +that with them were the remains of a dog from which the skin had +not all rotted away. + +These were presumably placed here by the Cherokees of modern +times, and they form a link not easily broken between the +prehistoric and historic days. + +It is probable that few persons after reading this evidence will +doubt that the mounds alluded to were built by the Cherokees. Let +us therefore see to what results this leads. + +In the first place it shows that a powerful and active tribe in +the interior of the country, in contact with the tribes of the +North on one side and with those of the South on the other, were +mound-builders. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that they +had derived this custom from their neighbors on one side or the +other, or that they had, to some extent at least, introduced it +among them. Beyond question it indicates that the mound-building +era had not closed previous to the discovery of the continent by +Europeans. [Footnote: Since the above was in type one of the +assistants of the Ethnological Bureau discovered in a small mound +in east Tennessee a stone with letters of the Cherokee alphabet +rudely carved upon it. It was not an intensive burial, hence it is +evident that the mound must have been built since 1820, or that +Guess was not the author of the Cherokee alphabet.] + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE CHEROKEES AND THE TALLEGWI. + + +The ancient works of Ohio, with their "altar mounds," "sacred +enclosures," and "mathematically accurate" but mysterious circles +and squares, are still pointed to as impregnable to the attacks of +this Indian theory. That the rays of light falling upon their +origin are few and dim, is admitted; still, we are not left wholly +in the dark. + +If the proof be satisfactory that the mounds of the southern half +of the United States and a portion of those of the Upper +Mississippi Valley are of Indian origin, there should be very +strong evidence in the opposite direction in regard to those of +Ohio to lead to the belief that they are of a different race. Even +should the evidence fail to indicate the tribe or tribes by whom +they were built, this will not justify the assertion that they are +not of Indian origin. + +If the evidence relating to these works has nothing decidedly +opposed to the theory in it, then the presumption must be in favor +of the view that the authors were Indians, for the reasons +heretofore given. The burden of proof is on those who deny this, +and not on those who assert it. + +It is legitimate, therefore, to assume, until evidence to the +contrary is produced, that the Ohio works were made by Indians. + +The geographical position of the defensive works connected with +these remains indicates, as has been often remarked by writers on +this subject, a pressure from northern hordes which finally +resulted in driving the inhabitants of the fertile valleys of the +Miami, Scioto, and Muskingum, southward, possibly into the Gulf +States, where they became incorporated with the tribes of that +section. [Footnote: Force: "To what race did the mound-builders +belong?" p. 74, etc.] If this is assumed as correct it only tends +to confirm the theory of an Indian origin. + +But the decision is not left to mere assumption and the +indications mentioned, as there are other and more direct +evidences bearing upon this point to be found in the works of art +and modes of burial in this region. That the mound-builders of +Ohio made and used the pipe is proven by the large number of pipes +found in the mounds, and that they cultivated tobacco may +reasonably be inferred from this fact. + +The general use of the pipe among the mound-builders is another +evidence of their relation to the Indians; while, on the other +hand, this fact and the forms of the pipes indicate that they were +not connected with the Nahua, Maya, or Pueblo tribes. + +Although varied indefinitely by the addition of animal and other +figures, the typical or simple form of the pipe of the Ohio mound- +builders appears to have been that represented by Squier and Davis +[Footnote: Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, 1847, p. +179.] in their Fig. 68; and by Rau in Smithsonian Contributions to +Knowledge, No. 287. [Footnote: 1876, p. 47, Fig. 177.] The +peculiar feature is the broad, flat, and slightly-curved base or +stem, which projects beyond the bowl to an extent usually equal to +the perforated end. Reference has already been made to the +statement by Adair that the Cherokees were accustomed to carve, +from the soft stone found in the country, "pipes, full a span +long, with the fore part commonly running out with a short peak +two or three fingers broad and a quarter of an inch thick." But he +adds further, as if intending to describe the typical form of the +Ohio pipe, "on both sides of the bowl lengthwise." This addition +is important, as it has been asserted [Footnote: Young +Mineralogist and Antiquarian, 1885, No. 10. p. 79.] that no +mention can be found of the manufacture or use of pipes of this +form by the Indians, or that they had any knowledge of this form. + +E. A. Barber says: [Footnote: Am. Nat., vol. 16, 1882, pp. 265, +266] + +The earliest stone pipes from the mounds were always carved from a +single piece, and consist of a flat curved base, of variable +length and width, with the bowl rising from the center of the +convex side (Anc. Mon., p. 227). + +The typical mound pipe is the Monitor form, as it may be termed, +possessing a short, cylindrical urn, or spool-shaped bowl, rising +from the center of a flat and slightly-curved base. [Footnote: For +examples of this form see Rau: Smithsonian Contributions to +Knowledge, No. 287, p. 47, Fig. 177.] + +Accepting this statement as proof that the "Monitor" pipe is +generally understood to be the oldest type of the mound-builders' +pipe, it is easy to trace the modifications which brought into use +the simple form of the modern Indian pipe. For example, there is +one of the form shown in Fig. 5, from Hamilton County, Ohio; +another from a large mound in Kanawha Valley, West Virginia; +[Footnote: Science. 1884, vol. 3, p. 619.] several taken from +Indian graves in Essex County, Mass.; [Footnote: Abbott, Prim. +Industry, 1881, Fig. 313, p. 319; Bull. Essex Inst., vol. 3, 1872, +p. 123.] another found in the grave of a Seneca Indian in the +valley of the Genesee; [Footnote: Morgan, League of the Iroquois, +p. 356.] and others found by the representatives of the Bureau of +Ethnology in the mounds of western North Carolina. + +[Illustration with caption: FIG. 5. Pipe from Hamilton County, +Ohio.] + +So far, the modification consists in simply shortening the forward +projection of the stem or base, the bowl remaining perpendicular. +The next modification is shown in Fig. 6, which represents a type +less common than the preceding, but found in several localites, +as, for example, in Hamilton County, Ohio; mounds in Sullivan +County, east Tennessee (by the Bureau); and in Virginia. +[Footnote: Rau: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, No. 287, +p. 50, Fig. 190.] In these, although retaining the broad or winged +stem, we see the bowl assuming the forward slope and in some +instances (as some of those found in the mounds in Sullivan +County, Tenn.) the projection of the stem is reduced to a simple +rim or is entirely wanting. + +[Illustration with caption: FIG. 6. Pipe from Hamilton County, +Ohio.] + +[Illustration with caption: FIG. 7. Pipe from Sullivan County, +Tennessee.] + +The next step brings us to what may be considered the typical form +of the modern pipe, shown in Fig. 8. This pattern, according to +Dr. Abbott, [Footnote: Prim. Industry, 1861, p. 329.] is seldom +found in New England or the Middle States, "except of a much +smaller size and made of clay." He figures one from Isle of Wight +County, Va., "made of compact steatite." A large number of this +form were found in the North Carolina mounds, some with stems +almost or quite a foot in length. + +[Illustration with caption: FIG. 8. Pipe from Caldwell County, +North Carolina.] + +It is hardly necessary to add that among the specimens obtained +from various localities can be found every possible gradation, +from the ancient Ohio type to the modern form last mentioned. +There is, therefore, in this peculiar line of art and custom an +unbroken chain connecting the mound-builders of Ohio with the +Indians of historic times, and in the same facts is evidence, +which strengthens the argument, disconnecting the makers from the +Mexican and Central American artisans. + +As this evidence appears to point to the Cherokees as the authors +of some of the typical mounds of Ohio, it may be as well to +introduce here a summary of the data which bear upon this +question. + +Reasons which are thought well-nigh conclusive have already been +presented for believing that the people of this tribe were mound- +builders, and that they had migrated in pre-Columbian times from +some point north of the locality in which they were encountered by +Europeans. Taking up the thread of their history where it was +dropped, the following reasons are offered as a basis for the +conclusion that their home was for a time on the Ohio, and that +this was the region from which they migrated to their historic +locality. + +As already shown, their general movement in historic times, though +limited, has been southward. Their traditions also claim that +their migrations previous to the advent of the whites had been in +the same direction from some point northward, not indicated in +that given by Lederer, but in that recorded by Haywood, from the +valley of the Ohio. But it is proper to bear in mind that the +tradition given by Lederer expressly distinguishes them from the +Virginia tribes, which necessitates looking more to the west for +their former home. Haywood connects them, without any authority, +with the Virginia tribes, but the tradition he gives contradicts +this and places them on the Ohio. + +The chief hostile pressure against them of which we have any +knowledge was from the Iroquois of the north. This testimony is +further strengthened by the linguistic evidence, as it has been +ascertained that the language of this tribe belongs to the +Iroquoian stock. Mr. Horatio Hale, a competent authority on this +subject, in an article on Indian migrations published in the +American Antiquarian, [Footnote: Am. Antiquarian, vol. 5, 1883, p. +26] remarks as follows: + +Following the same course of migration from the northeast to the +southwest, which leads us from the Hurons of eastern Canada to the +Tuscaroras of central North Carolina, we come to the Cherokees of +northern Alabama and Georgia. A connection between their language +and that of the Iroquois has long been suspected. Gallatin, in his +"Synopsis of Indian Languages," remarks on this subject: "Dr. +Barton thought that the Cherokee language belonged to the Iroquois +family, and on this point I am inclined to be of the same opinion. +The affinities are few and remote, but there is a similarity in +the general termination of the syllables, in the pronunciation and +accent, which has struck some of the native Cherokees." + +The difficulty arising from this lack of knowledge is now removed, +and with it all uncertainty disappears. The similarity of the two +tongues, apparent enough in many of their words, is most +strikingly shown, as might be expected, in their grammatical +structure, and especially in the affixed pronouns, which in both +languages play so important a part. + +More complete vocabularies of the Cherokee language than have +hitherto been accessible have recently come into possession of the +Bureau of Ethnology, and their study serves to confirm the above +conclusion that the Cherokees are an offshoot of Iroquoian stock. + +On the other hand, the testimony of the mounds all taken together +or considered generally (if the conclusion that the Cherokees were +the authors of the North Carolina and East Tennessee mounds be +accepted) seems to isolate them from all other mound-building +people of that portion of the United States east of the Rocky +Mountains. Nevertheless there are certain remains of art which +indicate an intimate relation with the authors of the stone +graves, as the engraved shells, while there are others which lead +to the opinion that there was a more intimate relation with the +mound-builders of Ohio, especially of the Scioto Valley. One of +these is furnished by the stone pipes so common in the Ohio +mounds, the manufacture of which appears also to have been a +favorite pursuit of the Cherokees in both ancient and modern +times. + +In order to make the force of this argument clear it is necessary +to enter somewhat further into details. In the first place, nearly +all of the pipes of this type so far discovered have been found in +a belt commencing with eastern Iowa, thence running eastward +through northern Illinois, through Indiana, and embracing the +southern half of Ohio; thence, bending southward, including the +valley of the Great Kanawha, eastern Tennessee, and western North +Carolina, to the northern boundary of Georgia. It is not known +that this type in any of its modifications prevailed or was even +in use at any point south of this belt. Pipes in the form of birds +and other animals are not uncommon, as may be seen by reference to +Pl. XXIII of Jones's Antiquities of the Southern Indians, but the +platform is a feature wholly unknown there, as are also the +derivatives from it. This is so literally true as to render it +strange, even on the supposition here advanced; only a single one +(near Nashville, Tenn.), so far as known, having been found in the +entire South outside of the Cherokee country. + +This fact, as is readily seen, stands in direct opposition to the +idea advanced by some that the mound-builders of Ohio when driven +from their homes moved southward, and became incorporated with the +tribes of the Gulf States, as it is scarcely possible such sturdy +smokers as they must have been would all at once have abandoned +their favorite pipe. + +Some specimens have been found north and east of this belt, +chiefly in New York and Massachusetts, but they are too few to +induce the belief that the tribes occupying the sections where +they were found were in the habit of manufacturing them or +accustomed to their use; possibly the region of Essex, Mass., may +prove to be an isolated and singular exception. + +How can we account for the fact that they were confined to this +belt except upon the theory that they were made and used by a +single tribe, or at most by two or three cognate tribes? If this +be admitted it gives as a result the line of migration of the +tribe, or tribes, by whom they were made; and the gradual +modification of the form indicates the direction of the movement. + +In the region of eastern Iowa and northern Illinois, as will be +seen by reference to the Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of +Natural Sciences [Footnote: Vol. 1, 1876, Pl. IV.] and the +Smithsonian Report for 1882, [Footnote: Smithsonian Report for +1882 (1884), Figs. 4-8, pp. 689-692] the original slightly-carved +platform base appears to be the only form found. + +Moving eastward from that section, a break occurs, and none of the +type are found until the western border of Ohio is reached, +indicating a migration by the tribe to a great distance. From this +point eastward and over a large portion of the State, to the +western part of West Virginia, the works of the tribe are found in +numerous localities, showing this to have long been their home. + +In this region the modifications begin, as heretofore shown, and +continue along the belt mentioned through West Virginia, +culminating in the modern form in western North Carolina and East +Tennessee. + +As pipes of this form have never been found in connection with the +stone graves, there are just grounds for eliminating the Shawnees +from the supposed authors of the Ohio works. On the other hand, +the engraved shells are limited almost exclusively to the works of +the Shawnees and Cherokees (taking for granted that the former +were the authors of the box-shaped stone graves south of the Ohio +and the latter of the works in western North Carolina and East +Tennessee), but are wanting in the Ohio mounds. It follows, +therefore, if the theory here advanced (that the Cherokees +constructed some of the typical works of Ohio) be sustained, that +these specimens of art are of Southern origin, as the figures +indicate, and that the Cherokees began using them only after they +had reached their historical locality. + +Other reasons for eliminating the Shawnees and other Southern +tribes from the supposed authors of the typical Ohio works are +furnished by the character, form, and ornamentation of the pottery +of the two sections, which are readily distinguished from each +other. + +That the Cherokees and Shawnees were distinct tribes, and that the +few similarities in customs and art between them were due to +vicinage and intercourse are well-known historical facts. But +there is nothing of this kind to forbid the supposition that the +former were the authors of some of the Ohio works. Moreover, the +evidence that they came from a more northern locality, added to +that furnished by the pipes, seems to connect them with the Ohio +mound-builders. In addition to this there is the tradition of the +Delawares, given by Heckewelder, which appears to relate to no +known tribe unless it be the Cherokees. Although this tradition +has often been mentioned in works relating to Indians and kindred +subjects, it is repeated here that the reader may judge for +himself as to its bearing on the subject now under consideration: + +The Lenni Lenape (according to the tradition handed down to them +by their ancestors) resided many hundred years ago in a very +distant country in the western part of the American continent. For +some reason which I do not find accounted for, they determined on +migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out together in a +body. After a very long journey and many nights' encampments +[Footnote: "Many Nights' encampment" is a halt of one year at a +place.] by the way, they at length arrived on the Namaesi-Sipu, +[Footnote: The Mississippi or The River of Fish; Namaes, a fish, +and Sipu a river.] where they fell in with the Mengwe, [Footnote: +The Iroquois, or Five Nations.] who had likewise emigrated from a +distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat higher +up. Their object was the same with that of the Delawares; they +were proceeding on to the eastward, until they should find a +country that pleased them. The spies which the Lenape had sent +forward for the purpose of reconnoitring, had long before their +arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi was +inhabited by a very powerful nation who had many large towns built +on the great rivers flowing through their land. Those people (as I +was told) called themselves Talligew or Tallgewi. Many wonderful +things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been +remarkably tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there +were giants among them, people of a much larger size than the +tallest of the Lenape. It is related that they had built to +themselves regular fortifications or intrenchments, from whence +they would sally out, but were generally repulsed. I have seen +many of the fortifications said to have been built by them, two of +which, in particular, were remarkable. One of them was near the +mouth of the river Huron, which empties itself into the Lake St. +Clair, on the north side of that lake, at the distance of about 20 +miles northeast of Detroit. This spot of ground was, in the year +1776, owned and occupied by a Mr. Tucker. The other works, +properly intrenchments, being walls or banks of earth regularly +thrown up, with a deep ditch on the outside, were on the Huron +River, east of the Sandusky, about six or eight miles from Lake +Erie. Outside of the gateway of each of these two intrenchments, +which lay within a mile of each other, were a number of large flat +mounds in which, the Indian pilot said, were buried hundreds of +the slain Talligewi, whom I shall hereafter, with Colonel Gibson, +call Alligewi. Of these intrenchments Mr. Abraham Steiner, who was +with me at the time when I saw them, gave a very accurate +description, which was published at Philadelphia in 1789 or 1790, +in some periodical work the name of which I can not at present +remember. + +When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi they sent +a message to the Alligewi to request permission to settle +themselves in their neighborhood. This was refused them, but they +obtained leave to pass through the country and seek a settlement +farther to the eastward. They accordingly began to cross the +Namaesi-Sipu, when the Alligewi, seeing that their numbers were so +very great, and in fact they consisted of many thousands, made a +furious attack upon those who had crossed, threatening them all +with destruction, if they dared to persist in coming over to their +side of the river. Fired at the treachery of these people, and the +great loss of men they had sustained, and besides, not being +prepared for a conflict, the Lenapi consulted on what was to be +done; whether to retreat in the best manner they could, or to try +their strength, and let the enemy see that they were not cowards, +but men, and too high-minded to suffer themselves to be driven off +before they had made a trial of their strength and were convinced +that the enemy was too powerful for them. The Mengwe, who had +hitherto been satisfied with being spectators from a distance, +offered to join them, on condition that, after conquering the +country, they should be entitled to share it with them; their +proposal was accepted, and the resolution was taken by the two +nations, to conquer or die. + +Having thus united their forces the Lenape and Mengwe declared war +against the Alligewi, and great battles were fought in which many +warriors fell on both sides. The enemy fortified their large towns +and erected fortifications, especially on large rivers and near +lakes, where they were successfully attacked and sometimes stormed +by the allies. An engagement took place in which hundreds fell, +who were afterwards buried in holes or laid together in heaps and +covered over with earth. No quarter was given, so that the +Alligewi at last, finding that their destruction was inevitable if +they persisted in their obstinacy, abandoned the country to the +conquerors and fled down the Mississippi River, from whence they +never returned. + +The war which was carried on with this nation lasted many years, +during which the Lenape lost a great number of their warriors, +while the Mengwe would always hang back in the rear leaving them +to face the enemy. In the end the conquerors divided the country +between themselves. The Mengwe made choice of the lands in the +vicinity of the great lakes and on their tributary streams, and +the Lenape took possession of the country to the south. For a long +period of time, some say many hundred years, the two nations +resided peacefully in this country and increased very fast. Some +of their most enterprising huntsmen and warriors crossed the great +swamps, and falling on streams running to the eastward followed +them down to the great bay river (meaning the Susquehanna, which +they call the great bay river from where the west branch falls +into the main stream), thence into the bay itself, which we call +Chesapeake. As they pursued their travels, partly by land and +partly by water, sometimes near and at other times on the great +salt-water lake, as they call the sea, they discovered the great +river which we call the Delaware. + +This quotation, although not the entire tradition as given by +Heckewelder, will suffice for the present purpose. + +The traces of the name of these mound-builders, which are still +preserved in the name "Allegheny," applied to a river and the +mountains of Pennsylvania, and the fact that the Delawares down to +the time Heckewelder composed his work called the Allegheny River +"Allegewi Sipu," or river of the Allegewi, furnish evidence that +there is at least a vein of truth in this tradition. If it has any +foundation in fact there must have been a people to whom the name +"Tallegwi" [Footnote: There appears to be no real foundation for +the name Allegewi, this form being a mere supposition of Colonel +Gibson, suggested by the name the Lenape applied to the Allegheny +River and Mountains.] was applied, for on this the whole tradition +hangs. Who were they? In what tribe and by what name shall we +identify them? That they were mound-builders is positively +asserted, and the writer explains what he means by referring to +certain mounds and inclosures, which are well known at the present +day, which he says the Indians informed him were built by this +people. + +It is all-important to bear in mind the fact that when this +tradition was first made known, and the mounds mentioned were +attributed to this people, these ancient works were almost unknown +to the investigating minds of the country. This forbids the +supposition that the tradition was warped or shaped to fit a +theory in regard to the origin of these antiquities. + +Following the tradition it is fair to conclude, notwithstanding +the fact that Heckewelder interpreted "Namaesi Sipu" by +Mississippi, that the principal seats of this tribe or nation were +in the region of the Ohio and the western slope of the Allegheny +Mountains, and hence it is not wholly a gratuitous supposition to +believe they were the authors of some of the principal ancient +works of eastern Ohio (including those of the Scioto Valley) and +the western part of West Virginia. Moreover, there is the +statement by Haywood, already referred to, that the Cherokees had +a tradition that in former times they dwelt on the Ohio and built +mounds. + +These data, though slender, when combined with the apparent +similarity between the name Tallegwi and Cherokee or Chellakee, +and the character of the works and traditions of the latter, +furnish some ground for assuming that the two were one and the +same people. But this assumption necessitates the further +inference that the pressure which drove them southward is to be +attributed to some other people than the Iroquois as known to +history, as this movement must have taken place previous to the +time the latter attained their ascendancy. It is probable that Mr. +Hale is correct in deciding that the "Namaesi Sipu" of the +tradition was not the Mississippi. [Footnote: Am. Antiquarian, +vol. 5, 1883, p. 117.] His suggestion that it was that portion of +the great river of the North (the St. Lawrence) which connects +Lake Huron with Lake Erie, seems also to be more in conformity +with the tradition and other data than any other which has been +offered. If this supposition is accepted it would lead to the +inference that the Talamatau, the people who joined the Delawares +in their war on the Tallegwi, were Hurons or Huron-Iroquois +previous to separation. That the reader may have the benefit of +Mr. Hale's views on this question, the following quotation from +the article mentioned is given: + +The country from which the Lenape migrated was Shinaki, the "land +of fir trees," not in the West but in the far North, evidently the +woody region north of Lake Superior. The people who joined them in +the war against the Allighewi (or Tallegwi, as they are called in +this record), were the Talamatan, a name meaning "not of +themselves," whom Mr. Squier identities with the Hurons, and no +doubt correctly, if we understand by this name the Huron-Iroquois +people, as they existed before their separation. The river which +they crossed was the Messusipu, the Great River, beyond which the +Tallegwi were found "possessing the East." That this river was not +our Mississippi is evident from the fact that the works of the +mound-builders extended far to the westward of the latter river, +and would have been encountered by the invading nations, if they +had approached it from the west, long before they arrived at its +banks. The "Great River" was apparently the upper St. Lawrence, +and most probably that portion of it which flows from Lake Huron +to Lake Erie, and which is commonly known as the Detroit River. +Near this river, according to Heckewelder, at a point west of Lake +St. Clair, and also at another place just south of Lake Erie, some +desperate conflicts took place. Hundreds of the slain Tallegwi, as +he was told, were buried under mounds in that vicinity. This +precisely accords with Cusick's statement that the people of the +great southern empire had "almost penetrated to Lake Erie" at the +time when the war began. Of course in coming to the Detroit River +from the region north of Lake Superior, the Algonquins would be +advancing from the west to the east. It is quite conceivable that, +after many generations and many wanderings, they may themselves +have forgotten which was the true Messusipu, or Great River, of +their traditionary tales. + +The passage already quoted from Cusick's narrative informs us that +the contest lasted "perhaps one hundred years." In close agreement +with this statement the Delaware record makes it endure during the +terms of four head-chiefs, who in succession presided in the +Lenape councils. From what we know historically of Indian customs +the average terms of such chiefs may be computed at about twenty- +five years. The following extract from the record [Footnote: The +Bark Record of the Leni Lenape.] gives their names and probably +the fullest account of the conflict which we shall ever possess: + +"Some went to the East, and the Tallegwi killed a portion. + +"Then all of one mind exclaimed, War! War! + +"The Talamatan (not-of-themselves) and the Nitilowan [allied +north-people] go united (to the war). + +"Kinnepehend (Sharp-Looking) was the leader, and they went over +the river. And they took all that was there and despoiled and slew +the Tallegwi. + +"Pimokhasuwi (Stirring-about) was next chief, and then the +Tallegwi were much too strong. + +"Tenchekensit (Open-path) followed, and many towns were given up +to him. + +"Paganchihiella was chief, and the Tallegwi all went southward. + +"South of the Lakes they (the Lenape) settled their council-fire, +and north of the Lakes were their friends the Talamatan +(Hurons!)." + +There can he no reasonable doubt that the Alleghewi or Tallegwi, +who have given their name to the Allegheny River and Mountains, +were the mound-builders. + +This supposition brings the pressing hordes to the northwest of +the Ohio mound-builders, which is the direction, Colonel Force +concludes, from the geographical position of the defensive works, +they must have come. + +The number of defensive works erected during the contest shows it +must have been long and obstinate, and that the nation which could +thus resist the attack of the northern hordes must have been +strong in numbers and fertile in resources. But resistance proved +in vain; they were compelled at last, according to the tradition, +to leave the graves of their ancestors and flee southward in +search of a place of safety. + +Here the Delaware tradition drops them, but the echo comes up from +the hills of East Tennessee and North Carolina in the form of the +Cherokee tradition already mentioned, telling us where they found +a resting place, and the mound testimony furnishes the +intermediate link. + +If they stopped for a time on New River and the head of the +Holston, as Haywood conjectures, [Footnote: Nat. and Aborig. Hist. +Tenn., p. 223.--See Thomas, "Cherokees probably mound-builders," +Magazine Am. Hist., May. 1884, p. 398.] their line of retreat was +in all likelihood up the valley of the Great Kanawha. This +supposition agrees also with the fact that no traces of them are +found in the ancient works of Kentucky or middle Tennessee. In +truth, the works along the Ohio River from Portsmouth to +Cincinnati and throughout northern Kentucky pertain to entirely +different types from those of Ohio, most of them to a type found +in no other section. + +On the contrary, it happens precisely in accordance with the +theory advanced and the Cherokeee traditions, that we find in the +Kanawha Valley, near the city of Charleston, a very extensive +group of ancient works stretching along the banks of the stream +for more than two miles, consisting of quite large as well as +small mounds, of circular and rectangular inclosures, etc. A +careful survey of this group has been made and a number of the +tumuli, including the larger ones, have been explored by the +representatives of the Bureau. + +The result of these explorations has been to bring to light some +very important data bearing upon the question now under +consideration. In fact we find here what seems to be beyond all +reasonable doubt the connecting link between the typical works of +Ohio and those of East Tennessee and North Carolina ascribed to +the Cherokees. + +The little stone vaults in the shape of bee-hives noticed and +figured in the articles in Science and the American Naturalist, +before referred to, discovered by the Bureau assistants in +Caldwell County, N. C., and Sullivan County, Tenn., are so unusual +as to justify the belief that they are the work of a particular +tribe, or at least pertain to an ethnic type. Yet under one of the +large mounds at Charleston, on the bottom of a pit dug in the +original soil, a number of vaults of precisely the same form were +found, placed, like those of the Sullivan County mound, in a +circle. But, though covering human remains moldered back to dust, +they were of hardened clay instead of stone. Nevertheless, the +similarity in form, size, use, and conditions under which they +were found is remarkable, and, as they have been found only at the +points mentioned, the probability is suggested that the builders +in the two sections were related. + +There is another link equally strong. In a number of the larger +mounds on the sites of the "over-hill towns," in Blount and Loudon +Counties, Tenn., saucer-shaped beds of burnt clay, one above +another, alternating with layers of coals and ashes, were found. +Similar beds were also found in the mounds at Charleston. These +are also unusual, and, so far as I am aware, have been found only +in these two localities. Possibly they are outgrowths of the clay +altars of the Ohio mounds, and, if so, reveal to us the probable +use of these strange structures. They were places where captives +were tortured and burned, the most common sacrifices the Indians +were accustomed to make. Be this supposition worthy of +consideration or not, it is a fact worthy of notice in this +connection that in one of the large mounds in this Kanawha group +one of the so-called "clay altars" was found at the bottom of +precisely the same pattern as those found by Squier and Davis in +the mounds of Ohio. + +In these mounds were also found wooden vaults, constructed In +exactly the same manner as that in the lower part of the Grave +Creek mound; also others of the pattern of those found in the Ohio +mounds, in which bark wrappings were used to enshroud the dead. +Hammered copper bracelets, hematite celts and hemispheres, and +mica plates, so characteristic of the Ohio tumuli, were also +discovered here; and, as in East Tennessee and Ohio, we find at +the bottom of mounds in this locality the post-holes or little +pits which have recently excited considerable attention. We see +another connecting link in the circular and rectangular +inclosures, not combined as in Ohio, but analogous, and, +considering the restricted area of the narrow valley, bearing as +strong resemblance as might be expected if the builders of the two +localities were one people. + +It would be unreasonable to assume that all these similarities in +customs, most of which are abnormal, are but accidental +coincidences due to necessity and environment. On the contrary it +will probably be conceded that the testimony adduced and the +reasons presented justify the conclusion that the ancestors of the +Cherokees were the builders of some at least of the typical works +of Ohio; or, at any rate, that they entitle this conclusion to +favorable consideration. Few, if any, will longer doubt that the +Cherokees were mound builders in their historic seats in North +Carolina and Tennessee. Starting with this basis, and taking the +mound testimony, of which not even a tithe has been presented, the +tradition of the Cherokees, the statement of Haywood, the Delaware +tradition as given by Heckewelder, the Bark Record as published by +Brinton and interpreted by Hale, and the close resemblance between +the names Tallegwi and Chellakee, it would seem that there can +remain little doubt that the two peoples were identical. + +It is at least apparent that the ancient works of the Kanawha +Valley and other parts of West Virginia are more nearly related to +those of Ohio than to those of any other region, and hence they +may justly be attributed to the same or cognate tribes. The +general movement, therefore, must have been southward as +indicated, and the exit of the Ohio mound-builders was, in all +probability, up the Kanawha Valley on the same line that the +Cherokees appear to have followed in reaching their historical +locality. It is a singular fact and worthy of being mentioned +here, that among the Cherokee names signed to the treaty made +between the United States and this tribe at Tellico, in 1798, are +the following: [Footnote: Treaties between the United States of +America and the several Indian tribes (1837), p. 182.] +Tallotuskee, Chellokee, Yonaheguah, Keenakunnah, and +Teekakatoheeunah, which strongly suggest relationship to names +found in the Allegheny region, although the latter come to us +through the Delaware tongue. + +If the hypothesis here advanced be correct, it is apparent that +the Cherokees entered the immediate valley of the Mississippi from +the northwest, striking it in the region of Iowa. This supposition +is strengthened not only by the similarity in the forms of the +pipes found in the two sections, but also in the structure and +contents of many of the mounds found along the Mississippi in the +region of western Illinois. So striking is this that it has been +remarked by explorers whose opinions could not have been biased by +this theory. + +Mr. William McAdams, in an address to the American Association for +the Advancement of Science, remarks: "Mounds, such as are here +described, in the American Bottom and low-lands of Illinois are +seldom, if ever, found on the bluffs. On the rich bottom lands of +the Illinois River, within 50 miles of its mouth, I have seen +great numbers of them and examined several. The people who built +them are probably connected with the Ohio mound-builders, although +in this vicinity they seem not to have made many earthen +embankments, or walls inclosing areas of land, as is common in +Ohio. Their manner of burial was similar to the Ohio mound- +builders, however, and in this particular they had customs similar +to the mound-builders of Europe." [Footnote: Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. +Sci., 29th (Boston) meeting, 1880 (1881), p. 715.] One which he +opened in Calhoun County, presented the regular form of the Ohio +"altar." + +A mound in Franklin County, Ind., described and figured by Dr. G. +W. Homsher, [Footnote: Smithsonian Report for 1882 (1884), p. +722.] presents some features strongly resembling those of the +North Carolina mounds. + +The works of Cuyahoga County and other sections of northern Ohio +bordering the lake, and consisting chiefly of inclosures and +defensive walls, are of the same type as those of New York, and +may be attributed to people of the Iroquoian stock. Possibly they +may be the works of the Eries who, we are informed, built +inclosures. If such conclusion be accepted it serves to strengthen +the opinion that this lost tribe was related to the Iroquois. The +works of this type are also found along the eastern portion of +Michigan as far north as Ogemaw County. + +The box shaped stone graves of the State are due to the Delawares +and Shawnees, chiefly the former, who continued to bury in +sepulchers of this type after their return from the East. Those in +Ashland and some other counties, as is well known, mark the +location of villages of this tribe. Those along the Ohio, which +are chiefly sporadic, are probably Shawnee burial places, and +older than those of the Delawares. The bands of the Shawnees which +settled in the Scioto Valley appear to have abandoned this method +of burial. + +There are certain mounds consisting entirely or in part of stone, +and also stone graves or vaults of a peculiar type, found in the +extreme southern portions of the State and in the northern part of +Kentucky, which can not be connected with any other works, and +probably owe their origin to a people who either became extinct or +merged into some other tribe so far back that no tradition of them +now remains. + +Recently a resurvey of the remaining circular, square, and +octagonal works of Ohio has been made by the Bureau agents. The +result will be given in a future bulletin. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Problem of Ohio Mounds +by Cyrus Thomas + diff --git a/4248.zip b/4248.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..92d2cad --- /dev/null +++ b/4248.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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