Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

REMEMBERING OUR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE

WHERE IS THE EAGLE~~GONE
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land~~~~~~The idea is strange to us~~~~~Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water~~~~~~How can you buy them from us~~~~~Every part of this earth is sacred to my people~~~~~~We know that white man does not understand our ways~~~~~~One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs~~~~~~The earth is not his brother but his enemy, and when he has conqured it he moves on~~~~~~~He leaves his fathers graves and his children's birthright is forgotten~~~~~~~~There is not quite place in the white man's cities~~~~~~No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insects wings~~~~~~~But perhaps because I am savage and do not understand the clatter only seems to insult the ears~~~~~And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frog around the pond at night~~~~~~~The whites too, shall pass~~~~~~perhaps sooner than other tribes~~~~~Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste~~~~~~When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires~~~~~~Where is the thicket~~~~Gone~~~~Where is the eagle~~~~~Gone~~~~~~And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival~~~~~~~~~Words spoken by Chief Seattle to President Pierce, 1855~

Chief Seattle

"Deliverance"
A plate from Mystic Warriors collection

The Words of Crazy Horse "We did not ask you white men to come here. The Great Spirit gave us this country as a home. You had yours. We did not interfere with you. The Great Spirit gave us plenty of land to live on, and buffalo, deer, antelope and other game. But you have come here; you are taking my land from me; you are killing off our game, so it is hard for us to live. Now, you tell us to work for a living, but the Great Spirit did not make us to work, but to live by hunting. You white men can work if you want to. We do not interfere with you, and again you say why do you not become civilized? We do not want your civilization! We would live as our fathers did, and their fathers before them." . . . . Crazy Horse

THE STORY OF ANNA SMITH NAIL & JOSEPH WHITEHEAD

Anna Smith was born in Elbert County, Georgia in 1781. Her mother died when Anna was still a young child. A devoted older sister persuaded her cruel husband, a man whose last name was Nails, to allow her younger sister to come and live with them so she could care for Anna. The husband agreed, but he treated Anna as a bonservant and forced her to work alongside his slaves. According to a custom not uncommon in those days, the young girl took his last name, becoming Anna Smith Nails.

A young man named Joseph Whitehead lived in the same community. Soon he became attracted to the pretty young girl in the Nails home. In 1798 when Joseph was 19 years of age and Anna was 17, they decided to marry. With the aid of Anna's sister, the couple eloped to be married by a nearby minister. Leaving word for the cruel brother-in-law not to follow if he valued his life, the couple mounted horses and set out northward.

Young Joe had made friends with the Indians of Elbert County who told him of a high waterfall deep in Cherokee lands. With this as their goal, Anna and Joe traveled many days through dense forest with only Indian trails to guide them. They faced possible death on every hand from wild animals, from unfriendly Indians and from the uncharted wildness itself. Finally, after a courageous journey of some 50 miles, they arrived at the beautiful Tocca Falls valley.

The chief of the Cherokees befriended the young couple. He led them to a spot about two miles above the falls, and there young Joe built a cabin for his new bride. By trading with the chief, Joseph soon owned a plot of land that extended for five miles in every direction. Joseph and Anna were the first white settlers in the Tocca Falls vally.

Joseph and Anna bore four sons and five daughters, and some of their descendants still live in northeast Georgia. joseph died in 1858. Anna died in 1876 at the age of 95.

The Whiteheads sleep silently in a family cemetery about one mile above the falls on property that now belongs to Tocca Falls College.

In James Mooney's "Sacred Formula and Myths of the Cherokee", James Wofford (Worn-Out-Blanket) who was an interpreter for John Ross during the Removal of the Cherokee Indians said that his grandfather owned the Toccoa Falls in Georgia and so did Joseph Whitehead hold title also.