Myths of the Cherokee

The last noted leader of the Shawano raiding parties was a chief known to the Cherokee as Tawa'lï-ukwanûñ'tï, "Punk-plugged-in," on account of a red spot on his cheek which looked as though a piece of punk (tawa'lï) had been driven into the flesh.

The people of Tïkwäli'tsï town, on Tuckasegee, heard rumors that a war party under this leader had come in from the north and was lurking somewhere in the neighborhood. The Cherokee conjurer, whose name was Ëtäwa'hä-tsistatla'skï, "Dead-wood-lighter," resorted to his magic arts and found that the Shawano were in ambush along the trail on the north side of the river a short distance above the town. By his advice a party was fitted out to go up on the south side and come in upon the enemy's rear. A few foolhardy fellows, however, despised his words and boldly went up the trail on the north side until they came to Deep Creek, where the Shawano in hiding at the ford took them "like fish in a trap" and killed nearly all of them.

Their friends on the other side of the river heard the firing, and crossing the river above Deep creek they came in behind the Shawano and attacked them, killing a number and forcing the others to retreat toward the Smoky mountains, with the Cherokee in pursuit. The invaders had with them two Cherokee prisoners who were not able to keep up with the rapid flight, so their captors took them, bound as they were, and threw them over a cliff. An old conjurer of their own party finding himself unable to keep up deliberately sat down against a tree near the same spot to wait for death. The pursuers coming up split his head with a hatchet and threw his body over the same cliff, which takes its name from this circumstance. The Shawano continued to retreat, with the Cherokee close behind them, until they crossed the main ridge at the gap just below Clingman's dome. Here the Cherokee gave up the pursuit and returned to their homes.

[1] Swimmer, from whom this story was obtained, was of opinion that the event occurred when his mother was a little girl, say about 1795, but it must have been earlier.

The locations are all in Swain county, North Carolina. Tĭkwăli′tsĭ town was on Tuckasegee river, at the present Bryson City, immediately below and adjoining the more important town of Kituhwa. Deep creek enters the Tuckasegee from the north, about a mile above Bryson City. The place where the trail crossed is called Uniga′yataʻti′yĭ, “Where they made a fish trap,” a name which may have suggested the simile used by the story teller. The place where the Cherokee crossed, above Deep creek, is called Uniyâ′hitûñ′yĭ, “Where they shot it.” The cliff over which the prisoners were thrown is called Kala′ăsûñyĭ, “Where he fell off,” near Cold Spring knob, west of Deep creek. The Cherokee halted for a night at Agitstaʻti′yĭ, “Where they staid up all night,” a few miles beyond, on the western head fork of Deep creek. They passed Kûnstûtsi′yĭ, “Sassafras place,” a gap about the head of Noland creek, near Clingman’s dome, and finally gave up the pursuit where the trail crossed into Tennessee, at a gap on the main ridge, just below Clingman’s dome, known as Duniya′tâlûñ′yĭ, “Where there are shelves,” so called from an exposure of flat rock on the top of the ridge (see the glossary).

Magic arts – It is almost superfluous to state that no Indian war party ever started out without a vast deal of conjuring and “making medicine” to discover the whereabouts and strength of the enemy and to insure victory and safe return to the departing warriors.

Wait for death – The Indian usually meets inevitable fate with equanimity, and more than once in our Indian wars an aged warrior or helpless woman, unable to escape, has sat down upon the ground, and, with blanket drawn over the head, calmly awaited the fatal bullet or hatchet stroke.