University of the South - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Sewanee, TN)

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northwestern part of the state, but later moved to the banks of the Cumberland in the central part. As the Shawnees realized the purpose for which the Cherokees had issued the invitation, and having successfully withstood a few at- tacks from the tribes to the northwest, they quarreled with the Cherokees. Whereupon the Cherokees allied themselves with the Chica- saws and drove the Shawnees out. At this time the tribe split into two parts, one group going to the headwaters of the Santee and Peedee rivers in South Carolina, while the main body remained on the Tennessee river. From this time (1690) until I 760 the history of these two branches of the tribes is separate. The Savannah, or South Carolina branch shall not be considered, since only the Cumberland, or Tennessee, branch played a part in the history which is now being traced. Suffice it to say that the Savannah branch remained in South Carolina until its migration to the north, which occurred just prior to 1 760. In 1700 the Cumberland Shawnees estab- lished themselves on the land in the eastern and middle parts of Tennessee. Their main village was located not far from the present site of Nashville. However, they were finally forced to flee into the Smoky Mountains, due to the- continual attacks of the stronger Chero- kees. Seeking safety they erected their main village on the mountain which is the present site of the University. On the mountain they finally found shelter from the attacks of their enemies, since it was considered sacred by these hostile tribes, besides being well-nigh im- pregnable. Hence, the Shawnees named this mountain Sewanee, meaning Mother, Mountain, because it fostered and protected them with almost maternal care.. With this point as their center, they substantially aided the French in the French and Indian Wars. Their raids into South Carolina and Georgia made them the scourge of the British colonists, and they wrought irreparable damage to the colonial planters. In every case the Shawnees sided against the colonists, not only because they looked on them as invaders, but also be- cause they had gotten the worst in most ot their dealings with the Americans. Even before the end of the war their wandering spirit had again moved them, this time to the north, into Kentucky, through which state they roamed for a number of years. Leaving Kentucky after a visit of per- haps half a decade, they moved north again, through Illinois, stopping near the present town of Shawneetown, but finally settling on the banks of the Ohio river, where they uni ted with the Savannah group in 1760. From this time ' till 1 795 the Shawnees were constantly at war with the English. Their in- tense hatred of the English is shown by their boast that they (the Shawnees) had killed more Englishmen than any other tribe. Just prior to the American Revolution they

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ORIGIN OF SEWANEE Long ago when Indian legend was being formulated and while the mists of time still shrouded the history of man, there lived in the pest-ridden swamps of Louisiana a lonely tribe of embittered Indians — outcasts who found in these murky moss filled swamps refuge from their enemies. Here, joined together by com- mon cares, originated the savage Shawnees, a robber band, feared by the surrounding tribes for their swift and guerrilla raids. At early dawn nearby tribes were often surprised by the appearance of forty or fifty stern Shawnees gliding swiftly out of the swamps in their light canoes. During the resulting confusion, before any organized resistance could be made, the Shawnees would have taken what they wanted and would be safely hidden in the swamps. Legendary became their feats of courage and cruelty. Their wild, barbaric bravery filled the hearts of their foes with fear. No beautiful woman was safe from their raids. Wives were carried from the sides of their dying husbands, and soon wealth of all kinds filled the palmetto lodges of the robber Shaw- nees. Time passed and with its passing the Shawnees grew over-confident and soft in their ways. Thus, the inevitable happened. They were routed out of their swampy refuge by more hearty enemies. This brought about their first migration. Night and day, as they wound slowly along the Gulf coast, they were harrassed by hos- tile tribes, and slowly they dwindled to a mere handful of warriors. Everywhere they sought refuge and found none. Nowhere was there a friendly tribe or heart which would harbor the erstwhile powerful Shawnees. Out of their native haunt, away from the protect- ing warmth of the swamps, life seemed strange to them. At last, in the scrubby palmetto and pine- filled region of Florida they found another im- passible swamp. Here again they plied their fire-hollowed canoes through the rushes and overhanging Spanish moss. Here they found the warmth of safety ; at last they had found refuge on the banks of a mothering river, to which they gave the name Suwanee, Mother River. Again, however, finding their neighbors hos- tile, and unable in their present weakened con- dition to forage in the surrounding country, they moved northward to settle on the banks of another river. To this river they gave the name Savannah. Here they remained for some years, establishing their main village, Savan- nah-town, about seven miles from the present site of Augusta, Georgia. The savage nature of the Shawnees under- went a metamorphosis at this time, and the life of the tribe became somewhat more se- date. They found game plentiful in this re- gion, and soon Savannah-town became one of the largest of the Indian trading posts. While here, Governor Archdale of the nearby state of South Carolina, said of them that they were good friends and useful neighbors. From this statement of the governor it may be gathered that the Shawnees must have set aside their barbaric habits of old. However, all did not go as well as it might for the reformed robbers. For they soon became rivals of the most powerful tribe in that region, the Catawbas, in striving for the lucrative trade of the colonists. In this con- test they were disappointed, inasmuch as the colonists favored the Catawbas over the Shaw- nees. Hence, when the Cherokees asked the Shaw- nees to settle on their borders in Tennessee they readily accepted. This move was not as amiable as it seems, for what the Cherokees really wanted was a buffer against the hostile tribes in the north. For a while the Shawnees made their home near the Mississippi in the

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moved, with the consent of the Iroquois, to Pennsylvania and settled there. Having been incited against the Americans by the British, it was during this period that they gave the American armies considerable trouble by practicing on them that type of warfare for which they were so famous. It has been told that the Litany used by the Continental Army contained the invocation from the fury of the Shawnees, Good Lord, deliver us. At the end of the war the Shawnees were forced to withdraw into Missouri (which was then Spanish Territory) since they could no longer get aid from the British. At this time a second division took place, when a part of the tribe established friendly relations with the American government, and was allowed to settle on the banks of the Ohio river. This concession on the part of the government, how- ever, later proved somewhat indiscreet. About 1800, one of the Shawnee medicine men, called Tenshawatowa, the Prophet, who was the brother of Tecumseh, began to preach a new dec- trine, ostensibly a form of communism. Lured to him by that superstition which gave the Prophet power over them, thousands of In- dians from all tribes rallied around. Through the ingenuity and eloquence of Tecumseh, a confederation resembling the earlier one of Pontiac (whom Tecumseh probably conscious- ly imitated) was formed, and in a short time the intentions of the cagy Tecumseh departed from all similarity to the original communistic doctrine and became obviously hostile. In 181 1, after a series of outrages, the American government was forced to send William Henry Harrison to the West. Harrison at- tacked Tecumseh at the center of his confed- eration, Tippecanoe, and completely shattered the revolt. Tenskawatowa was killed, but Tecumseh and his confederations, though both were somewhat shattered, survived. The spirit of Tecumseh was not yet brok- en, for during the next year, when the War of 1 8 12 broke out, that famous leader was immediately sought by the British agents. As a result, Tecumseh soon strode forth in the uni- form of a British Major-General. The aid of the Confederation had been pledged to the British King. The agent who drove this bargain with Tecumseh was probably well pleased with himself, but it was this subtle move which lost the British cause. Some time later the English army was retreating through the north, and was joined by Tecumseh and his braves at the Thames River. Tecumseh could not bear to retreat, and, forcing the English to wheel, gave battle at a disadvantageous point. The result is told in the historic battle at the Thames River, where the English were crushed and Tecumseh killed. After the death of Tecumseh, the spirit of the Shawnees was broken and the tribe fell apart, leaving no group to sing of the struggles and wanderings of the robber band which once took refuge in Sewanee long enough to name it. Hola.