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.Unfortunately, these Cherokees experienced the same diffi-culties as others who received reservations under the terms ofthe Treaty of 1819.North Carolina had already disposed of thereservations granted to the eastern Cherokees by the federalgovernment.North Carolina, however, admitted the error andpaid the Cherokees for their land.A few Cherokees, includingEuchella, a prominent local leader, took the money and movedtheir families across the Little Tennessee into the CherokeeNation.Others, however, chose to stay in North Carolina.Underthe leadership of Yonaguska, they bought land along theOconaluftee River and supported themselves by selling livestockand ginseng, a medicinal herb, to white traders.The Oconaluftee Cherokees, as they were known in theearly nineteenth century, had little experience dealing withthe non-Cherokee world.Few spoke English or had otherskills necessary for protecting their land and themselvesfrom whites who greedily eyed their territory.Fortunately,they found a spokesman in William Holland Thomas, afatherless white boy whom Yonaguska had adopted.Whenhe grew up, Thomas became a trader, and he helped theCherokees consolidate their landholdings by purchasingtracts for them as the land became available.When theremoval treaty was signed in 1835, the Oconaluftee Cherokeesinsisted that it did not apply to them because they wereno longer part of the Cherokee Nation.Instead, they werecitizens of North Carolina.Thomas went to Washington,D.C., to lobby on their behalf and pleaded their case beforethe North Carolina legislature.76 THE CHEROKEESIn the end, his efforts helped save the Oconaluftee Cherokeesfrom removal.North Carolina tacitly assented to their remainingin the state, and the United States also informally recognizedtheir rights under earlier treaties.Nevertheless, the position ofthe Oconaluftee Cherokees was precarious.Although they hadconsiderable sympathy for those Cherokees who were beinghunted by soldiers, imprisoned in stockades, and marched off tothe West, any aid to the victims jeopardized their own status.Tension increased when citizens of the Cherokee Nation, aman named Tsali and his sons, killed two soldiers involved inthe Cherokee roundup and wounded another.They then fledwith their wives and children into the mountains.GeneralWinfield Scott insisted that these Cherokees must be punished.In order to secure their own position, the OconalufteeCherokees agreed to assist in the capture of Tsali s band.Thomas and the Oconaluftees enlisted the aid of Euchella,Yonaguska s son-in-law, who was subject to removal because hehad moved back into the Cherokee Nation.These Cherokeescaptured Tsali s band and executed the murderers.Oral traditionsuggests that they did this reluctantly and that Tsali recognizedthe necessity of their actions and faced his executioners coura-geously.Because of his assistance in capturing Tsali s band,Euchella received permission to remain with the OconalufteeCherokees.General Scott also withdrew the soldiers and,thus, other fugitives were able to come out of hiding.More thana thousand Cherokees managed to remain in North Carolina.The descendants of fugitives, Euchella, and the Oconalufteesbecame the Eastern Band of Cherokees.They forged a commonidentity, in part by retelling the story of Tsali, a Cherokee wholoved his country so much that he was willing to kill rather thanleave and to die so that other Cherokees could remain in theirhomeland.Although many versions of the account do not bearup under close historical scrutiny, Tsali has become a folk herowho embodies the deep attachment eastern Cherokees feel fortheir land.The Eastern Band of Cherokees 77The desire to remain in the East is a recurring themethroughout the history of the Eastern Band.Nevertheless, thefederal government made periodic attempts to convince themto join their relatives in the West.These attempts usuallystemmed from the government s wish to clarify the status of theCherokees or to simplify the administration of Indian policy.Occasionally, groups of Cherokees went west looking for betteropportunities or to escape political factionalism at home.Mosteastern Cherokees, however, were determined to stay exactlywhere they were.After removal, the lives of eastern Cherokees changed littleuntil the Civil War.William H.Thomas was an enthusiasticsupporter of the Confederacy, and he convinced more thantwo hundred Cherokees to enlist in a legion he was organizingfor the Confederate Army [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]