The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 2, July 1898 - April, 1899 Page: 62
[335] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
62 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
It was nearly a century after the expedition of De Soto before
the Cherokees again met the white man. Then they encountered
the pioneers from the Atlantic coast, and then the racial conflict
began-a conflict that for two hundred and fifty years has been
waged against 'the rapacity of Anglo-Saxon civilization. When
first begun, the villages of the Cherokees covered the mountains
and valleys of the Sihenandoah, and their scouts camped on the
summit of Monticello. Upon the Blue Ridge the Cherokee sat as
upon a thone; within his dominion was cradled "the Tennessee
and the Cumberland, the Kanawha, and the Kentucky, the Pedee
and the Santee, the Savannah 'and the Altamaha, the Chatahoochee
and the Alabama;" along their banks he pursued his game, and
upon their laughing waters his love-song and his war-whoop were
carried to the sea. These scenes of sovereign sway remained un-
disturbed for many years after the white man became the red
man's neighbor. The distance between the mountains and the
sea coast for a long time kept them -apart. The cupidity of the
white fur-trader, however, land the display of his coveted goods
brought the two together within the dominions of the native mon-
archs. The Ahabs thus saw their neighbor's splendid vineyard
and were stricken with a passion to possess it. The title to the
coveted possession was thenceforth to :be only a question of time.
From 1721 to 1783, the Cherokees made ten treaties, by which
the Colonies -of Virginia, Georgia, and the two Carolinas acquired
seventy thousand square miles of land. From 1785 to 1866, they
executed thirty-five treaties with the United States, by which they
ceded fifty-six thousand square miles of territory lying south of the
Ohio river. To the new country thus acquired, the Americans of
the Atlantic States were early attracted. Among these immigrants
was the widowed mother of Sam Houston, who, with her family,
moved from Virginia 'to Tennessee, in 1807, and settled on the Ten-
nessee river, the boundary line between the American and Chero-
kee possessions. Her son, the future hero of San Jacinto, was
then fourteen years of age, and was not long in finding his way
across the river to the red braves of whom he had heard, and for
whom he had conceived a most romantic passion. Their unfettered
habits, their wild liberty, their love of adventure, found in him a
responsive chord. He was daily, and often for days, without inter-
mission, among his new friends, and for four years the companion-
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 2, July 1898 - April, 1899, periodical, 1898/1899; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101011/m1/66/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.