Chapter III (5)

[127] The Mamelle is at the mouth of a stream which is still marked on the maps as the Maumelle, a corruption of the original. The name was not infrequently applied by the French to hills of breast-like form. This peak is now called “The Pinnacle.”--ED.

[128] A granitic formation is exposed in central Arkansas, extending from Pulaski County to Pike. Argentiferous galena is found throughout this area, but is especially rich around Silver City in Montgomery County. The Spaniards left numerous old diggings as evidence of their knowledge of the existence not only of lead, but of more valuable metals. At one time considerable quantities of silver were obtained from lead mines a few miles north of Little Rock. A gold “craze” was caused in 1809 by the finding of a nugget in the same neighborhood where Nuttall places the silver mine.--ED.

[129] Hist. Louisian. p. 219, London Edition.--NUTTALL. _Comment by
Ed._ Second London edition (1764).

[130] Major James Pyeatt and his brother Jacob came from North Carolina in wagons in 1807, and the settlement which grew up about them was called Pyeattstown. It was twelve miles above Little Rock, but has disappeared. Here resided for a time James Miller, first governor of Arkansas Territory. See _post_, note 214.--ED.

[131] The Mamelle terminates a range of hills to which it gives name (known locally as the Maumelle Mountains). North of this lies the valley of Fourche la Fave River, and between this valley and that of the Arkansas rises another range of hills. See _post_, note 181.--ED.

[132] The name of this stream is derived from Lefevre, the name of a French family prominent in early Arkansas history (see _ante_, note 119). The sources of the stream are near the western boundary of the state, in Scott County; its headwaters are only a few miles from those of Little River, a tributary of the Red, and those of the Ouachita lie between; it flows slightly to the north of east.--ED.

[133] The site of Cadron settlement was the mouth of Cadron Creek, thirty-eight miles above Little Rock, in Faulkner County. In 1820 it was made the seat of justice for Pulaski County against the wishes of Governor James Miller, who favored Pyeattstown, his own residence. In time Cadron fell into decay, and it has now disappeared from the map.--ED.

[134] John McElmurray settled at Cadron prior to 1818. In the spring of that year he had for neighbors Benjamin Murphy, Harvey Hager, and families named McFarland and Newell.--ED.

[135] Hot Springs, now the famous health resort in Garland County. The spot was widely known among the Indians, and De Soto, led on by their reports, probably visited it in 1542. Summer parties of wealthy planters began to frequent the region early in the nineteenth century, and to such visits were doubtless due the well-marked roads from Natchitoches, described above (see _ante_, note 126). The town of Hot Springs is of late growth; it was a mere village in 1860. A tract of four square miles surrounding the springs was purchased in 1877 by the government, and is now a national park.--ED.

[136] For a further account of this mineral, which appeared to be undescribed, see a note in the Essay on the Geological Structure of the Valley of the Mississippi, which I published in the first part of the second volume of the Journal of the Academy of the Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.--NUTTALL.

[137] The name may be a corruption of Massengill. Two brothers of this name, who had been Tories during the American Revolution, drifted into the region in 1818, and soon passed on before the advancing tide of civilization. On the Pecannerie settlement and the character of its people, see _post_, pp. 280–281.--ED.

[138] If the date given by local authorities is correct, Nuttall is wrong in asserting that no grist-mill had been set up prior to his visit. William and John Standlee are said to have erected a grist- and saw-mill in 1818, the first within the present limits of Faulkner County.--ED.

[139] Or Point Remove, whose name is derived from the action of the current. For the boundary of the Cherokee reservation, see _post_, note 145.--ED.

[140] The Little John (or Petit Jean) enters the Arkansas at the northeast corner of Yell County. Tradition says that the stream is named for a Frenchman of small stature, named Jean, who was here killed by the Indians.--ED.

[141] A Strobilaria, more commonly considered as a species of
Phytolite.--NUTTALL.

[142] Magazine Mountain rises two hundred and eighty feet above the level of the stream. It terminates on the river in the headland called the “Dardanelle,” to be described a few pages below.--ED.

[143] Charlevoix also remarks, “I cannot find out to what language the Cherokees belong, a pretty numerous people, who inhabit the vast meadows between the Lake Erie, and the Mississippi,” and adds, that the Iroquois make war with them. Hist. Journal, p. 115, London Ed.--NUTTALL.

[144] Purchas’s Pilgrims, vol. IV., p. 1539.--NUTTALL.

[145] It is not now believed that the Cherokee ever occupied the Carolina coast. It is more probable that they came from the north, a century or two before De Soto visited them. Their traditions and the researches of archæologists indicate that their original home was northwest of Lake Superior, whence they migrated southeast, coming up the Ohio and the Kanawha valleys, and finally descending the Great Valley of the Appalachians to their historic seat. They are thought to have built, _en passant_, the mounds of the Ohio region.

The removal policy was a gradual development. Even before the close of the eighteenth century--soon, in fact, after the treaty of Hopewell (1785)--bands began to cross the Mississippi; and as the pressure of white population increased the migration was facilitated by treaties. In 1803, President Jefferson suggested the desirability of removing the tribe beyond the river, and the Act of 1804, dividing the Louisiana Purchase, appropriated $15,000 for this purpose. In 1809, Jefferson encouraged a part of the tribe which was discontented with existing conditions to send a delegation to inspect lands on the Arkansas, with a view to exchanging their old range for a new one in that region. The exchange was not consummated until 1817, by which time the migration of families and small parties had swelled the number in Arkansas to two or three thousand. The treaty of July 8, 1817, gave the Arkansas Cherokee a tract lying between the White and Arkansas rivers, bounded on the east by a line running northeast from Point Remove on the Arkansas to Shield’s Ferry on White River, and on the west by a parallel line starting from Table Rock, just above Fort Smith. This reserve was surrendered in 1825 for seven million acres in Indian Territory. The main body of the eastern Cherokee were removed to the Territory under a treaty made in 1835.--ED.

[146] Derdanai, or “Dardonnie,” is said to mean “sleep with one eye.” The name and the appearance of the rocks suggest the Dardanelles, whence, it is alleged, the modification of the name to Dardanelle. The Cherokee agency was located on this site in 1820; but the town proper dates from the coming, some years later, of white settlers ejected from Indian lands. The modern town of Dardanelle is the most important commercial town on the river between Little Rock and Fort Smith.--ED.

[147] When first encountered by whites in 1560, the Natchez occupied a considerable tract on the east side of the Mississippi. Their chief village was near the site of the modern Natchez. According to their own traditions, they came from the Southwest, and their customs--worship of the sun, human sacrifices, etc.--indicate a connection with the Indians of Mexico and Yucatan. The men were of large stature, few being under six feet. The tribe soon acquired dissolute habits from the whites, and rapidly dwindled in numbers. Hostilities with the French began in 1715, and continued intermittently until 1740. The Choctaw and Chickasaw became involved, the former as allies of the French, and the latter, incited by the English, as allies of the Natchez. The final result of the wars was the extinction of the Natchez as a distinct tribe, although a remnant long persisted among the Chickasaw and Muskogee; in 1835 this remnant numbered three hundred souls.

The Chetimachas were a small tribe which dwelt on Lake Grand, in
southern Louisiana.--ED.

[148] Tallantusky (Tollontuskee, Tollunteeskee, Tolontusky, Talootiske, etc.) was one of the chiefs who signed the treaty of October 25, 1805, at Tellico, Tennessee. This rewarded Tallantusky and another chief, Doublehead, by certain secret reservations; and for this and further abuses of his power Doublehead was afterwards slain by decree of other chiefs of his tribe. To Tallantusky is due the establishment of the first mission among the Cherokee of Arkansas. While visiting the eastern Cherokee in 1818, he met an officer of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and invited him to send missionaries to his people. As the result, Cephas Washburn and Alfred Finney, accompanied by their families, established Dwight mission, opposite Dardanelle, in the spring of 1820. The station was named in honor of Timothy Dwight, the president of Yale College, and a pioneer organizer of the mission board.

Tallantusky’s brother, here mentioned, was Jolly the chief,
referred to in the text a few lines below. See following note.--ED.

[149] John Jolly (Oolooteka), brother of Tallantusky, and his successor as chief, had removed from the mouth of the Hiawassee, in Tennessee. There young Samuel Houston, famous later as the emancipator of Texas, had won his friendship and been adopted as his son. After the Arkansas Cherokee had removed to Indian Territory, Houston settled near Jolly (1829), and married his niece, Talihina, daughter of a half-breed named Rogers. See _post_, note 153.--ED.

[150] Reuben Lewis. See Bradbury’s Travels, volume v of our series,
note 93--ED.

[151] Nancy Ward was born about 1740. Her father was a British officer, and her mother a sister of the principal chief of the Cherokee. The Indians believed her to be the inspired mouthpiece of the Great Spirit, and allowed her a voice in their councils with the power of deciding the fate of captives. She was friendly to the whites, and several times saved captives from death. In 1776 she warned the settlers of the Holston and Watauga rivers of the hostile plans of her kinsmen, and in 1781 represented her tribe in seeking peace from the frontiersmen. She is described as tall, erect, and beautiful, with prominent nose, regular features, clear complexion, long, silken black hair, large, piercing black eyes, and an imperious yet kindly air.--ED.

[152] See Long’s _Voyages_, our volume ii, note 31.--ED.

[153] James Rogers signed the treaty of July 8, 1817, as one of the deputies of the Cherokee on the Arkansas. Whether he is the John Rogers here referred to does not clearly appear. John Rogers figures during the difficulties with the Osage, as the person charged with the task of bringing Osage captives from the Cherokee east of the Mississippi, not long after Nuttall’s visit. Samuel Houston’s wife, Talihina, was the daughter of a half-breed named Rogers, quite possibly the person mentioned in the text.--ED.

[154] John D. Chisholm was one of the deputies who signed the treaty of July, 1817, on behalf of the Arkansas Cherokee. Whether or not he was the person guilty of the crime referred to, is uncertain.--ED.

[155] It would be impracticable to give here a full history of the difficulties between the Cherokee and Osage. They began with the advent of the first Cherokee bands in Western Arkansas, for the Osage claimed the land. A treaty of peace between the two tribes was made at a council held at St. Louis in October, 1818, but it proved ineffective. In the summer of 1820, Governor James Miller, of Arkansas Territory, made a second unsuccessful effort to pacify the tribes. The United States government compelled them to conclude a treaty of peace in 1822, but petty depredations continued long after.--ED.