THE RAID ON TĬKWĂLI′TSĬ

THE RAID ON TĬKWĂLI′TSĬ

The last noted leader of the Shawano raiding parties was a chief known to the
Cherokee as Tawa′lĭ-ukwanûñ′tĭ, “Punk-plugged-in,” on account of a red spot onhis cheek which looked as though a piece of punk (tawa′lĭ) had been driven into
the flesh.
The people of Tĭkwăli′tsĭ town, on Tuckasegee, heard rumors that a war party
under this leader had come in from the north and was lurking somewhere in the
neighborhood. The Cherokee conjurer, whose name was Ĕtăwa′hă-tsistatla′skĭ,
“Dead-wood-lighter,” resorted to his magic arts and found that the Shawano
were in ambush along the trail on the north side of the river a short distance
above the town. By his advice a party was fitted out to go up on the south side
and come in upon the enemy’s rear. A few foolhardy fellows, however, despised
his words and boldly went up the trail on the north side until they came to Deep
Creek, where the Shawano in hiding at the ford took them “like fish in a trap”
and killed nearly all of them.
Their friends on the other side of the river heard the firing, and crossing the river
above Deep creek they came in behind the Shawano and attacked them, killing a
number and forcing the others to retreat toward the Smoky mountains, with the
Cherokee in pursuit. The invaders had with them two Cherokee prisoners who
were not able to keep up with the rapid flight, so their captors took them, bound
as they were, and threw them over a cliff. An old conjurer of their own party
finding himself unable to keep up deliberately sat down against a tree near the
same spot to wait for death. The pursuers coming up split his head with a hatchet
and threw his body over the same cliff, which takes its name from this
circumstance. The Shawano continued to retreat, with the Cherokee close behind
them, until they crossed the main ridge at the gap just below Clingman’s dome.
Here the Cherokee gave up the pursuit and returned to their homes.

 

Source:
Myths of the Cherokee, James Mooney