Whitepath’s rebellion
It is not unusual when a society is under stress or facing a time of change for there to arise preachers and prophets of various stripes preaching some easy road to salvation. During the period around the turn of the 18th century into the 19th century there arose a few prophets among the Native Nations along the eastern seaboard, preaching messages of greater or lesser validity. Tecumseh of the Shawnee and Handsome Lake of the Seneca are probably the best remembered today. Largely because the message delivered, in Handsome Lake’s case at least, has withstood the test of time.
Among the Cherokee there was Whitepath, a member of the National Council from Turnip Town, near Ellijay. Very little is known of Whitepath today, but in his time, he was a force to be reckoned with indeed. Together with his right-hand man Big Tiger, they caused many a sleepless night for Pathkiller, the Hicks boys, and the rest of the Cherokee Nation leadership.
Whitepath was not always a radical preacher, he fought in the War of 1812 as a member of the heroic Cherokee Regiment that saved Jackson’s bacon at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Seeing the perfidy of Jackson and his henchmen after the war may well have contributed to his later radicalization. At any rate, it was not always thus. Whitepath’s early career followed the standard path for a young Cherokee leader, military service followed by election to higher office, and eventually election to the National Council.
The early decades of the 19th century were an extremely difficult time for Cherokee people and the Cherokee leadership. The lies of white men and the faithlessness of the government, combined with the greed and virulent racial animosity of the Georgia leadership of the time conspired to make it a very difficult time to be Cherokee.
Whitepath sought solace in the ancient traditions of his people.
Unfortunately, like smallpox, the Old Ways held no medicine for this new challenge. It was a new world and a new kind of war. One that the Cherokee leadership was trying to carefully negotiate.
There were no easy answers, and what answers there were fell in between bad and worse. Then as now, the time was ripe for an easy gospel. One that could be summed up in a sound bite.
Whitepath and Big Tiger hit the circuit, the Council Houses and gathering places of the Cherokee towns in the northeastern districts of the nation. They preached a fundamentalist gospel, advocating a return to the old ways and beliefs. Eventually they developed a substantial following among the more conservative elements of the population. The conservatives were looking for easy answers to changing times. One thing that has not changed from that time to this. Over a period of time, Whitepath and Big Tiger attracted enough of a following to seriously threaten the Cherokee government, even to the point of threatening secession and electing Big Tiger as principal chief in defiance of Pathkiller, who was principal chief at the time. This is what became known as “Whitepath’s Rebellion.”
Whitepath was a good and decent man, no doubt. He was also, I’m sure, a competent and fiery preacher, and there can be little doubt that he was well educated in the theology and traditions of The Cherokee Way. But like a lot of preachers who meddle in politics, his rebellion was unsuccessful, and worse, it was unhelpful. The journey of the soul may track the journey of the body, but they are different. It is better when both the preachers and the politicians remember that.
We can learn many things from our shared history. Perhaps if we would study a little more, we could avoid making the same mistakes all over again. One good lesson to learn from Whitepath is the truth of the old saying, “Never trust a preacher who tells you how to vote, or a politician who tells you how to pray.”