Part 3: Dragging through history — the legacy
They say that when a chosen one dies, they are taken to the Land of Legends where they are granted immortality in stories and songs.
Whether one believes this or not, one thing is for sure, the stories and legends told about great leaders are often more influential than the leaders themselves were during their mortal life. Dragging Canoe was one of these. As light bends as it passes through water, so facts bend as they pass through legend.
By the time that Dragging Canoe walked on in 1792, he had put in place a political and military leadership structure that was to reverberate down to the present day. It is important to remember that the Cherokee Nation had revoked his citizenship and declared him to be an outlaw, someone who could be killed without consequence.
The same also applied to those who rode with him. Partially because of this, and partially because he did not discriminate, he attracted a peculiar mix of people, both men and women. Cherokees, Creeks, Tories, Shawnees, Spaniards and white outlaws. If you were willing to ride and fight with him, and were loyal to him, that made you Cherokee enough for Dragging Canoe. There were also an equal number of women, both Native and white who were attracted to the Chickamauga for their own reasons. A number of women also fled to the protection of the Chickamauga towns to avoid being mishandled at the hands of Sevier’s bandits.
For the better part of two decades, Dragging Canoe trained and molded these divergent characters into a cohesive unit, committed to each other and quite willing to die in defense of their rights. They were for the most part well- educated, and well- traveled. Dragging Canoe and his officers ranged as far north as the Iroquois territory and as far south as Mobile and Spanish Florida. He recruited and trained more than a few leaders who would go on to make their own mark on history. They would also take their place in what would later be called the “Mixed Blood Aristocracy,” this due to the fact that so many Chickamauga leaders were mixed- bloods who spoke English, and in some cases French and Spanish as well as Creek and Shawnee.
In the meantime, the women of the Chickamauga towns were doing what Cherokee women had always done. Taking care of things. And raising and educating the next generation. And again, due to the mix of backgrounds, bloodlines and influences, the experience and education of Chickamauga children was in all likelihood a good deal more varied than it would have been in other Cherokee towns of the same era. There was also the advantage of varied language skills, given that in a Chickamauga town one would hear both English and Cherokee spoken as well as a few others. We know from family stories and oral histories that there were more than a few Chickamauga women who were gifted and influential leaders, but unfortunately their stories have not, for the most part, made it into the historical record.
The result — the legacy — of this adventure in resistance that began with Dragging Canoe’s famous speech, was to produce a unique, some would say peculiar, strain of Cherokee. Many mixed blood Cherokees today, both those who are enrolled in federal tribes and those who are not, trace their ancestry to the Chickamauga towns. Those who are still connected to their traditions and ancestors carry a special pride in being “Chickamauga.” The stories and legends that make up that tradition seems to give those who share it a special strength and fortitude.
After Dragging Canoe walked on, the Chickamauga leaders would come to dominate Cherokee politics for a number of years. Many Chickamauga leaders would go on to make their own mark on history. Sequoyah comes to mind as well as John Jolly, well known today as the adoptive father of Sam Houston. Sequoyah finished his work on the syllabary at Willstown, the southernmost of the Chickamauga towns.
From present- day Chattanooga south to present- day Fort Payne, and back up the east slope of Lookout Mountain, that is the Chickamauga territory. The legacy lives on, in stories, in legends and family histories, we carry it with us today, tomorrow and ever after.
Early in the morning, in a quiet field, look into the morning mist. If your mind is right, if you are chosen, you just may catch a glimpse of the legendary “Cherokee Dragon.”