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Prior to the Pioneers: 10,000 B.C. to 1538 A. D. In his 1963 speech, The Quiet Crisis, Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall, described native inhabitants of the land in North America:
“The most common trait of all primitive peoples is a reverence for the life-giving earth, and the Native American shared this element ethic: the land was alive to his loving touch, and he, its son, was brother to all creatures. His feelings were made visible in medicine bundles and dance rhythms for rain, and all of his religious rites and land attitudes savored the inspirable world of nature and God, the master of Life. During the long Indian tenure the land remained undefiled, save for scars no deeper than the scratches of cornfield clearings” (Bartlett’s Quotations, 14th Edition, p. 1077b).
On a pictorial chart in the Clay County Museum, archaeologists tell us that inhabitants of the land now identified as Clay County were in four geological periods and anthropological epochs:
10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C. (Paleo-Indian and Archaic Epochs)
1,000 B.C. to 1,000 A.D. (Woodland Period─Spike Buck Town existed)
800 A.D. to 1,500 A.D. (Mississippian Epoch)
1,500 A.D. to Present
The experience and instinct of the early inhabitants caused them to locate their villages next to the major streams: Tusquittee Creek, Fires Creek, Qualla Creek, Town Creek, Brasstown Creek, Shooting Creek, and the Hiwassee River.
According to historian Margaret Freel, it was in these streams and rivers that abundant fish, mussels, and other aquatic life supplied food, as did the fertile fields and bottoms (flat lands on either side of a stream) along these streams and the one river bed. In these areas, referred to as “patches,” the work of cultivating a variety of vegetables (beans, peas, tomatoes, and maize/corn) was the task of the women of the tribe (before white settlers arrived). Gourds were also planted, then harvested, dried, and used for storage containers and as ceremonial masks, like those pictured here. (Margaret Walker Freel, Our Heritage: The People of Cherokee County, North Carolina. 1540 to 1955; 1973).
Males were responsible for keeping the households supplied with fresh fish and wild game. Hunting trails that developed usually followed the creeks, ridges, and low gaps between mountain peaks. Two of the most used paths were the Tusquittee and Shooting Creek, which gave access to the Nantahala River area, inhabited by all kinds of fish and wildlife. The major trail, Overland Trail, led into the area that later became the Unicoi Turnpike. Another hunting trail, Tusquittee, later became part of the Tusquittee Turnpike toll road, also played an important role in the development of the area. Other hunting trails eventually became routes selected for developing County roads.
Historical records from the official Commissioners’ meetings show that both roads were maintained by the newly formed County Government.
Spike Buck Town is the best known ancient Cherokee village or town in what was to become Clay County. It was built on the banks of the Hiwassee River and Town Creek, approximately one-half mile east of current-day Hayesville Center. The town had a large population and played a major role in the future development of Clay County, because Cherokee ancestors had already settled, farmed, and hunted throughout the area, so their descendants continued the same and eventually taught the first white settlers special survival skills.
Sometime during the Woodland and Mississippian geological/anthropological periods, in Spike Buck town, Indian ancestors built a large earthen mound, which served as the ceremonial center; and the same mound was used for hundreds of years. Archeologists have determined that this mound measured approximately 16 feet tall and 200 feet wide at its base. Today the mound is overgrown with small bushes, grass, and river canes. Viewing the mound from a distance is best achieved by following Myers Chapel Road southeasterly within the town limits to the recreation complex at the Allison-Bristol War Memorial, then driving through the ball field to the end of the road. A viewing platform is being constructed to see the mound across Town Creek. For protection and preservation, no one should trespass close to the mound.
See Spike Buck Town on “Maps of the Former Territorial Limits of the Cherokee Nation” in the Cherokee County Museum in Murphy, North Carolina, and also in a three-dimensional replica in the Clay County Historical and Arts Museum in Hayesville.
Archeological digs in Spike Buck Town have revealed that ancient natives were skilled in bartering, because artifacts from other areas (arriving through trading) were in their possession, such as sharks’ teeth, beads, and arrowheads made from stones not found locally.
During America’s colonial period, the Cherokees also occupied Spike Buck Town and hosted early European explorers and traders. As signs of this early trading, modern excavations in the County have yielded artifacts and tools of steel and iron that date from the 16th to the 19th centuries. These were products of descendants of ancient Native Americans who had also enjoyed an abundant life for hundreds of years in large towns along the mountain creeks.
Members of the Cherokee Nation were quick to establish trading relationships with the new European settlers, obtaining clothing, steel axes, cast iron kettles, garments, and ornaments, in exchange for deer and other wildlife hides. (See Chapter on Economy for examples of bartering terms.) In 1973 and 1975, two Western Carolina University excavations of the Spike Buck Ceremonial Mound uncovered many of these trade items from the 17th and 18th centuries. Artifacts from the digs are cataloged and maintained by the University, but a picture display of the digs is on permanent exhibit in Clay County Historical and Arts Museum in Hayesville. To understand the extent of the Indian culture here during those centuries, it is well worth seeing this exhibit.
The Town finally suffered from military campaigns waged by the colonists against the Cherokees. Archeological evidence suggests Spike Buck Town may have been one of the towns burned by the soldiers of American Revolutionary War General Rutherford in August 1776 as retaliation for Indians having killed one of his soldiers (Freel, Ibid.).
Another important structure was the Tusquittee Council House (also called Town House), which was located where today at the junction of Old U.S. Highway 64 West and the new four-lane By-Pass, U. S. Highway 64. In this Council House, democratic governance evolved with elected representatives from various villages. The representatives acted much like our State House of Representatives, acting upon resolutions and proposed laws, then forwarding them to the Tribal House (like a Senate) in the town of New Echota in Georgia (the government center for the Cherokee Nation). Upon passage in the Tribal House, the major Chief would adopt or veto—much like the U. S. President.
Cherokee Nation Loses Land Through Invasions and Treaties
As early as the late 1700s, the Cherokee leaders began entering into treaties that began relinquishing their farming and hunting land. As best as can be described, treaties with the Cherokee Nation were, indeed, tales of shame. The Cherokees’ domain of 40,000 square miles shrank to about 20% of the original land through the terms of various treaties with the “white man.” In a total of eight (8) treaties, some were made with colonists before the Revolutionary War and some with the new states. They were (1) Treaty of 1761; (2) Treaty of 1772; (3) Treaty of 1777; (4) Treaty of Hopewell 1785; (5) Meigs and Freeman Treaty 1792; (6) Treaties of Tellico 1804; (7) Treaty of New Echota 1835; (8) Treaty of 1891.
Every time a treaty was negotiated, the Cherokees’ boundary lines moved farther westward. Upon ratification of a treaty, the territory became available by the U. S. Government for entry and for land granting to white settlers (Ibid.).
For purposes of illustration, only the 4th and 7th treaties are highlighted here, because these two documents had the most significant impact on land granting and entry-taking of land in what is now Clay County:
The Treaty of Hopewell, signed November 28, 1785 between the new U.S. Government and the Cherokees, encompassed a large tract of land east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, covering portions of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and north Georgia. Although Indians were allowed to continue to live in their villages, control of villages and surrounding land went to white settlers.
The Treaty of New Echota, signed in 1835 and ratified May 23, 1836, nullified all pervious treaties. In this treaty, the Cherokees relinquished control to the U. S. Federal Government all Indian-occupied lands in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. This area contained approximately 1,112 square miles. Sadly, in this treaty, the Cherokees agreed to migrate from their homeland to west of the Mississippi River within two years (Freel, Ibid.).
Succeeding President Andrew Jackson, who first initiated the “west- migration” plan, President Van Buren was convinced that migration-through-treaties was going too slowly. Therefore, he decided that the only way to remove the Cherokee Nation from coveted land was by force, so he ordered General Winfield Scott to take command of this operation. General Scott arrived in Cherokee County May 8, 1838 and two days later set up his official headquarters at New Echota in Georgia, the main Cherokee government center, also with a large population (Ibid.).
Plans by John C. Fremont in 1837 were used as basic construction plans for smaller forts and stockades on former Cherokee-occupied lands in North Carolina, such as four in old Cherokee County, named here with the towns that grew up near them: Fort Hembree/Hayesville; Fort Butler, the largest, Murphy; Fort Delaney /Andrews; and Fort Montgomery/Robbinsville. These forts were used for housing the influx of soldiers and for securing the area. But their primary purpose was for holding uncooperative captured Cherokees until they were deported for resettlement.
Fort Hembree was named for the officer in charge, Captain Joel Hembree of the Tennessee Volunteer Militia, who served under General Scott. Fort Butler was the major collection point for the Indians that would migrate to Oklahoma and other points in the West during the “Trail of Tears,” which began with the New Echota Treaty.
The 1838 sketched map found in Nathanial C. Browder’s book, The Cherokee Indians and Those Who Came After—Notes for a History of Cherokee County, North Carolina, 1838 to 1850, shows locations of the forts that General Scott commanded in Western North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Stockades in North Carolina were built under supervision of U. S. soldiers and the State of North Carolina’s militia troops and volunteers (Browder).
It is important to note that all Cherokees that once lived in the area that became Clay County did not move to the western states. Those that were sick were allowed to stay but had to move north. And many families, who luckily fled into the mountains when the forced migration began, eventually gathered and settled in the area known today as Cherokee, North Carolina, which is west of Asheville and two hours north of Clay County. Their community is filled with proud descendants and Cherokee history and culture. It is an educational place where visitors can appreciate their courage and stamina, and their intelligence, achievements, and arts.
For details of the exodus and the fate of those that remained in North Carolina, an excellent source is found in the Cherokee County Historical Museum in a newspaper article, “Fort Butler and the Cherokee Indian Removal from North Carolina”, by Jerry Clyde Cashion. After the exodus, the “white” families already living in the area with the Cherokees and more pioneering families would take over all the land, while seeking a better life among the mountains and in the valleys along the many creeks and rivers of Western North Carolina.
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I hear a pioneer village will soon be put where at one time a Cherokee village was located. Looking back at how the Cherokee were treated by the white men I think it would be best to honor the real owners of the land. The ones who knew god not just professed too.
And while it is not the fault of those who inherited the land from their fathers being a pioneer from Clay county is nothing to be proud of. Unless you are not looking through Cherokee eyes. No one need agree or disagree facts are facts.
This site has a lot of information ...good work