The Five Civilized Tribes

In the first few weeks of this blog we spent some time detailing the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, as well as the Black Seminoles.  Now it's time to focus on another grouping of Natives.  The name "civilized" has always irked me because it implies that other tribes lacked civilization.  However, all tribes had a form of government, a way of settling disputes and punishing wrongdoers, a method for educating their young and providing for the needs of their people.  If that's not civilization, I have no idea what is.  In the case of these five tribes, however, the label of "civilized" was used by early European-American settlers as a euphemism to mean, 'more like us'.  Each of these tribes practiced agriculture, grouped themselves into towns, accepted Christianity to some degree, sent their elite young men to be educated in White schools, intermarried with Settlers and-regretfully-practiced slavery and plantation farming to an extent.  These tribes chose to adopt certain White ways for many reasons, but one was an effort to get along more peacefully with the Settlers in their midst, and to be accepted by the Settlers as equals and not savages.  In the end, the strategy failed.  Members of all five tribes, along with other smaller tribes in the Southeast, were placed on the Trail of Tears and deported to Oklahoma in the 1830's.

The largest nation was, and in many cases still is, the Cherokee.  They refer to themselves as Ani-yu-wiya, meaning principal people.  The word Cherokee may derive from a Choctaw word meaning 'people of the mountains' or 'those who dwell in cave country'.  An Iroquoian-speaking people, their fellow Iroquois speakers also referred to them as 'those who dwell in cave country.'  The term 'Tsalagi' more properly refers to the language, but is sometimes used to denote the people themselves. The Cherokee originated from the area around what is now New York, with the other Iroquois nations.  Consensus is mixed on when they moved to the Southeast or why, but likely they had been in the area of North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia for hundreds of years.  Like other Iroquoian nations, Cherokee society is matrilineal and agricultural.  They were also efficient warriors, guarding their hunting ranges from powerful tribes like the Shawnee and Catawba. 

The next three tribes, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek are Muscogean-speaking people.  Scholars believe that they descended from an earlier, mound-building civilization known as the Mississippian culture.  During his expeditions in 1539-1541, Hernando de Soto and his men observed remnants of the declining Mississippi culture and may have met early predecessors of these three tribes.  Their range was in the lower Southern States, from Louisiana to Alabama.  Spanish missionaries worked among these Natives for many years, and some accepted Catholicism.  That did not prevent them from practicing their indigenous beliefs.  The high point of the year in their villages and towns was the annual Green Corn Ceremony, where the entire community gave thanks for a plentiful corn harvest.  Fires were relit, young men received their adult names and the right to embark on warrior training, all crimes except for rape and murder were pardoned, and the community gave itself up to several days of feasting and dancing.  At some point during the ceremony, a ritual drink made of the Yaupon Holly was served to the leading warriors by the newly initiated young men.  Called 'Black Drink' or 'Asi', it was accompanied by a shout or 'Yahola.'  One young warrior of Creek heritage who had immigrated to Florida to live with the Seminoles emerged from his Green Corn Ceremony with a name that would go down in legend-Osceola. 

The final tribe in this group, the Seminoles, were primarily descendants of Creeks who had migrated to Florida for a variety of reasons.  Whether they were following retreating Spanish missionaries, or wary of White encroachment on their land in the lead up to the Seven Years War (1755-1762), is a matter of debate.  Also up for controversy is the extent to which these Creeks melded with existing Florida tribes such as the Yamassee, Guale, Miccosuki and others.  Even their name is shrouded in mystery.  Seminole may be a corruption of the Spanish word 'cimarron' meaning wild or a runaway.  The Seminole people's own name for themselves, 'yat-siminoli' means free people.  Like their Creek forebears, Seminole society is matrilineal, with the primary until of government being the town.  They, too, practiced agriculture.  Some of their leaders, such as Tiger Tail, spoke English.  They were not averse to coexisting with Settlers in Florida, as long as they were left well-enough alone.  Sadly, that was not to be the case.  We'll get to the three Seminole wars and the roundups that followed in a future blog, but we're back to the most important contribution of the Cherokee tomorrow--a system of w

riting.