“Civilization of the Indians”

Creator

Return Meigs

Date

7-17-1816

Newspaper

The Georgia Journal

Page and Column

Page 2, Column 1 and 2

Newspaper Location

Milledgeville, Georgia

Serial Number

622

Abstract

Long report on the Cherokee tribe by Return Meigs, Indian agent. Mentions Cherokees in Arkansas, possible New Madrid eyewitnesses.

Transcript

CIVILIZATION OF THE INDIANS. City of Washington, May 4, 1816 I have been here several weeks with a depatation of the Cherokee chiefs, on business of moment to their nation; they have succeeded in their mission much to their satisfaction in settling the boundary lines between them and the Creeks: this had become necessary to designate the lands acquired by Jackson's treaty, so called. In the year 1809, I had a census taken of the number of the Cherokee nation, which amounted to 12,357. The numbers of males and females was nearly equal-they have considerably increased since that period, so that, including a colony of Cherokees who went to settle on the river Arkansas, their number is about 14,500 souls-those who emigrated to Arkansas, as well as those on their ancient grounds have made considerable advances in acquiring the useful arts, particularly in the manufacture of cotton and woollen cloth. They raise the cotton and the indigo for dying their yarn; they are good weavers, and have at this time upwards of 500 looms; most of the looms are made by themselves; they have more than 500 ploughs—this greatly increases the village of their lands, they have large stocks of black cattle and horses, swine, and some sheep; they have domesticated poultry in plenty; and having now an abundance of the necessaries of life, their population proportionably increases. By means of some schools, many of their young people read and write. A great part of the men have adopted our modes of dress; and the females without exception dress in the habits of the white people. Some of them who are wealthy are richly dressed. They are remarkable clean and neat in their persons; this may be accounted for by their universal practice of bathing in their numerous transparent streams of water which in almost every direction run through their country. Men, women, and children practice bathing, which undoubtedly contributes to their health. All can swim, and this is often of great convenience, as no river can impede their way in travelling. When the females bathe, they are never exposed; any improper conduct towards them would be held in detestation by all. Since I have been first in that nation, a young white man solicited the hand of a young Cherokee woman.—She refused his offer, and objected, as a principal reason, that he was not clean in his appearance; that he did not as the Cherokees do—bathe himself in the rivers. Ablution with these people was formerly a religious rite. It is not now viewed by them in this light, but it is nearly allied to a mortal virtue. It is unfortunate for these people that they should be held in contempt by people who in no one respect act better than they, and have no advantage of them except in the color of the skin; and whether this ought to be so considered is problematical—for we have seen savages with white skins. I have not been an inattentive spectator in viewing these people in various situations in their forests, in their houses, in their schools, and in their public counsels. The progress of their children in their schools, has been as great as that of any other children, in acquiring the knowledge of letters and of figures. Nature has given them the finest forms; and can we presume that God has withheld from them correspondent intellectual and mental powers of mind. No man who has had public business to transact with them, can have a doubt of the capacity of their minds. Their hospitality in their houses is every where acknowledged; their bravery in the field is also acknowledge by those who acted with them in the late war against the hostile Creeks. It will be acknowledged, that where hospitality and bravery preside, they are not solitary virtues. Ought such a people to be considered as part of the great family of Man, or ought they to be considered as having had a distinct origin, and to have been created on an inferior scale, incapable of every valuable improvement? They have already been raised from a state of hunters to that of herdsmen and cultivators of the soil. More than 50,000 or these red people (so they call themselves) are living on the east side of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Heaven has placed these people under the guardianship of the United States, with many more north and west of those rivers, not accidentally or fortuitously. Heaven has actually placed them within the limits and jurisdiction of our government. I presume it will never be a question of cold calculation with our government, whether we shall avail ourselves of the value of the many thousands of these human beings, and thereby add strength to the republic; or by a vindictive policy consign them, and hasten their descent, to utter extinction. I have lately seen a number of letters under the signature of Americanus published in the Democratic Press, Philadelphia. Americanus has descended from the high ground to which his signature would seem to entitle him. It may be sport to the writer to aim his deadly arrows at the very existence of a large portion of the human race just emerging from barbarity to civilization. In some of the Indian tribes, civilization is considerably advanced already, some individuals of which tribes are very decent and well informed; men, whose minds and sentiments are too much refined to descent to language used by that writer, and illiberally applied to that Indian woman without any qualification or discrimination; "Draggletailed, dirty, filthy, blanketed squaws." What a tissue of vulgarity, rudeness, cruelty, and injustice! Again-You can no more convert an Indian into a civilized man, than you can convert a Negro into a white man; the animal configuration and propensities are different." This last declamatory observation, though not quite so vulgar as the first, is equally as void of credibility. That there are some Indians who are well informed, and of decent, handsome manners and deportment, is well known. And as to animal configuration, if there is a difference, it will be found in favor of the Indians; and, if a statuary should want models for the human figure, he will find the most perfect amongst the southern Indian tribes south of the Ohio river. There is no occasion to go to Greece or Italy for models for the sculptor; and if propensities have any analogy to configuration, the Indian must have the best. Americanus is animated on the subject of physiognomy. On this subject; facts are better than declamation. About one half of the Cherokee nation are of mixed blood by intermarriages with the white people. Many of these are as white as any of our citizens. There are some of the aboriginal Cherokees, who have never used any particular care to guard their faces from the action of the sun, who have good complexions. There is nothing in nature yet discovered to give these people a distinctive, intrinsically distinctive character from the great character of Man. If by dissection it may be proved that there is any error, any defect in the nervous system, and that the brain receives no impressions except such as are distorted and vicious and barbarous, then I will acknowledge that the Indians may have propensities different from the Europeans and their descendants in this country, and that they are not entitled to the common character which we in our pride accord to human nature. I have frequently attended at the schools for the instruction of the Indian children— seen them by classes go through their exercises. On these occasions I have seen tears of joy steal down the checks of benevolent men, men who rejoice at the diffusion of knowledge amongst those long lost part of the human race. The Cherokees universally believe in the being of God; they call him the Great Spirit; they mention him with reverence; with them, his attributes are power and goodness. They never profane the nature of God in their own language. They have no size of words that they can combine to profane the name of God. There is no doubt of these people being capable of receiving the highest improvement. Shall we consign some hundred thousands of these people, whom Providence has placed under our care, to eternal night and oblivion, without an effort to preserve them! If Americanus could see these people as I have done in the course of fifteen years, he would not consider them as unworthy of cultivation; and in a few years of being blended and incorporated with us as part of our rising empire; he would say, these are our long-lost brothers—we will have patience with them—when they go astray we will bring them back, and point out to them the road, and show them the value of civilization; it will make them happy, and will add to the strength of the republic. I have often compared them to the condition of a foundling laid at the door of charity, on which if we turn our back he will perish, but if we take him in, he may one day help to defend the house. I will not make any apology for troubling you, because you once invited me to correspond with you on the subject of Indian history. I have the honor to be, with very great respect, your obedient servant. RETURN J. MEIGS. Dr. S. L. Mitchell.

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