The Element Encyclopedia of Native Americans: An A to Z of Tribes, Culture, and History

CAYUSE

Of the Penutian language group, the original meaning of the word Cayuse has been lost in the mists of time. However, because of the tribe’s particular skill in breeding horses and also in dealing them, their name has become synonymous with that of a particular small pony that they bred. The Native American name of the Cayuse is Waiilatpu. Associated with the Nez Perce and Walla Walla, the Cayuse lived along the Columbia River and its tributaries from the Blue Mountains as far as the Deschutes River in southeast Washington and northeast Oregon.

The Cayuse lived in a combination of circular tentlike structures and rectangular lodges. Extended families made small bands, each with its own headman or chief. The horses that became such an important part of the life of the tribe were introduced to them in the early part of the 18th century. Trading was not restricted to horses, though; the Cayuse bartered with the coastal tribes items such as buffalo blankets for shells. Later, they would trade with the white men: furs for guns and tools.

The Cayuse War of 1847–1850 was ignited by an outbreak of one of the European diseases for which the Native American tribes had no immunity: measles. The disease was first contracted by the Cayuse children who attended the mission school, and it spread to the adults.

The people who had started the mission school were not popular, and it seems that they had made little attempt to establish good and meaningful relationships with the Cayuse, with whom they had lived and worked for ten years. Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa, were Presbyterians and had started the Waiilatpu Mission in 1836. The couple took little notice of the traditional ways and customs of the Cayuse and were zealous in their pursuit of converts. Moreover, it was rumored that they had made money for themselves from resources which should have belonged to the Cayuse: furs and land sales.

At the outbreak of measles, then, a chief and another Cayuse visited the mission in search of medicine, already angry with Whitman since, as well as any other grudges they had against him, they blamed the mission for the disease. Whitman was attacked and killed. Shortly afterward, the angry Cayuse attacked again, killing Narcissa along with ten other white people.

An army was organized by Oregon County officials, who retaliated by raiding a Cayuse settlement and killing some 30 people. The Natives in the area, including the Walla Walla and the Palouse, allied with the Cayuse against the Oregon army. Cornelius Gilliam, the army leader, was shot by his own gun and his troops fled. In the meantime, the two Cayuse who had visited the mission for the medicine, Tomahas and Tilokaikt, had fled immediately after the incident. Tired of hiding, after two years they gave themselves in, hoping for mercy. But they were sentenced to death by hanging.

The Cayuse uprising caused change in Oregon, with new forts and military posts being built; this in turn exacerbated mistrust between the Natives and the white people, which led to more wars. In time, the Cayuse were forced onto a reservation in 1853, in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. Whitman was honored by having a town named after him in Washington.

CELT

A tool used as a scraper (for scraping hides, for example), as an ax for chopping meat, as a skinning knife, for woodworking, and also as a weapon of war, a Celt was made from hard stone, shaped in the form of a hatchet but without a handle.

CHANUNPA

This is the Sioux name for the ceremonial smoking pipe, and also the ceremony that features it. An ancient legend has it that the chanunpa was brought to the people by the White Buffalo Calf Woman, in order that it might enable the tribes to communicate with the sacred and divine worlds of The Great Mystery, or Wakan Tanka.

CHEROKEE

A member of the Iroquoian stock and language family, the Cherokee are one of the more prominent tribes in Native American history, and also had a crucial role to play in the shaping of the United States.

The oral history of the tribe records that the Cherokee migrated south from the Great Lakes, settling in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina, South Carolina, northeastern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama. There is no date accorded to the start of this migration. In their own language, the Cherokee refer to themselves as Tsalagi.

The Spanish explorer De Soto was the first European to encounter the Cherokee, in 1540. They had further considerable contact with the Europeans in the 1700s, and in the 1800s the white settlers referred to the Cherokee as one of the Five Civilized Tribes because it was deemed that the people had adopted enough of the characteristics of Europeans to be deemed “civilized” by European standards.

Respected by the whites in ways that perhaps other Indians were not, by 1825, 47 white men and 83 white women had actually married into the tribe. The Cherokee were the first of the Indian Nations to accept the European way of schooling and farming. By 1808, they had established a Cherokee police force, for example, and two years later had abolished “blood vengeance” (essentially, long-running feuds). Further, by 1820 the Cherokee had emulated the style of government belonging to the United States, and in 1825 had a designated capital city of the Cherokee Nation, a town that was formerly known as New Town and was renamed New Echota.

However, as well as benefits, the European settlers had brought with them other things that did the Cherokee no good at all. Of the population of 6,000 Cherokee people spread across some 64 settlements, smallpox claimed half that population between 1738 and 1739; further Cherokee people committed suicide, unable to live with the severe disabilities and disfigurements that came in the wake of the disease.

It was the Cherokee who were the first to turn their language into written shapes and symbols with the creation of a Cherokee alphabet by the prominent Cherokee tribal member, Sequoyah, who was born of a Cherokee mother and a white father. It is certain that his mixed-race background inspired the need to communicate in the same way as the white settlers, and be able to send letters home and receive information from far afield. Because of Sequoyah’s syllabary, we have access to documents written by the didanvwisgi—the Cherokee medicine men, who were the only ones who could read and write, since the letters of the alphabet were considered extremely sacred and powerful. The Christian Bible was subsequently translated into Cherokee, and a bilingual Cherokee newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was established in 1828. This was the first Native American newspaper.

Prior to the 19th century, Cherokee society was divided into two parts: the “White” and the “Red.” The elders of the White society represented the seven clans of the Cherokee. These elders were effectively the hereditary priests, or Ani Kutani, who led ceremonies and prayers, and performed healing acts and rituals of purification. Warfare was considered by this group to be “unclean.” The Red organization was responsible for warfare; after engaging in combat, the warriors had to be ritually purified and cleansed before they were permitted to re-enter the everyday life of the tribe. For some reason, by the time the Europeans encountered them, this caste-style system had all but disappeared, and the shamans of the Cherokee were chosen according to their skills rather than their birth.

Prior to the 19th century the Cherokee were also polygamous, a practice that was more common among the wealthier male tribal members. The tribe were also matrilineal—any children born were considered to belong to the clan of the mother, not the father. Also, when children were born, the mother’s brother, rather than their father, was considered to be the main influence on the children. Couples were allowed to divorce freely. Women made all the major decisions regarding the family and also with respect to the leadership of the tribe itself.

Alliances between the white settlers and the Cherokee were cemented by marriage even before the 19th century. The offspring from such marriages helped to build a bridge between the two cultures, and none in a more practical and ingenious way than Sequoyah.

It was rarer for a Cherokee man to marry a white woman than for a Cherokee woman to marry a white man. If the former happened their children would be disadvantaged in that, because of the matrilineal law, they would not be considered to belong to either Nation, having been born “outside” the clan and therefore not Cherokee. However, the progressive Cherokee people passed a law in 1825 stating that children born to a Cherokee man and a white woman would be included as full tribal members from then on.

Later in the 1800s, however, the U.S. Government began to impose restrictions on inter-racial marriages. A European man now had to gain the approval of ten blood relatives of his prospective bride. Then, if the marriage still went ahead, the husband’s rights were restricted. He couldn’t hold any sort of tribal position and would also remain subject to the laws of the United States above those of the tribe. Therefore it’s not surprising that common law marriages were popular, being easier in many ways for both parties.

Gold was discovered in Cherokee country, in Georgia, in the 1820s. The Europeans, despite all their respect for the Cherokee, lost all consideration for the Native people in the face of potential wealth, and made moves to eject them from their hereditary lands. Horses and cattle were stolen; homes and farms were destroyed. And in the late 1830s the U.S. Army simply corraled the Cherokee and forced them to march west to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, as part of the Indian Removal Act. Many Indians perished en route to their newly designated homeland. Once the straggling Cherokee survivors arrived, they found that they had joined Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, and Creek Indians—others of the Five Civilized Tribes—and would go on to fight on the side of the Confederate States in the Civil War.

CHEROKEE PHOENIX

This was the name of the first American Indian newspaper, which was bilingual. It was possible only because of the work of the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah, who devised a syllabary—i.e., an alphabet that rendered the sounds of the language into shapes and symbols. The newspaper was first published in 1828, and was, at the time, relatively short-lived, closing down in 1834. It has, however, been published from time to time since then, and is currently available online.

CHEWING GUM

The origins of our modern chewing gum are from Native American people. As well as chewing the delicately flavored sap of pine trees, a habit that they passed on to the Europeans, the Aztecs chewed a substance called Chicle, a naturally occurring latex substance of the Sapodilla or Naseberry tree from Central America. Chicle itself can be a pink or reddish brown color, and has also been used as a rubber substitute. It was introduced to the United States as the primary ingredient of chewing gum in the late 1880s. In order to collect the chicle, deep V-shaped grooves were cut into the tree to allow the sap to run down the trunk, where it was collected. The word “chicle” is reflected in the brand name of some chewing-gum products.

CHEYENNE

The name Cheyenne was for a while believed to be derived from the French word for “dog,” which is chien, since this people had a noted society of Dog Soldiers. However, the name is actually a Sioux word meaning “people of different speech.” The Cheyenne name for themselves, Tsistsistas, means “beautiful people.” The Cheyenne were part of the large Algonquian language family.

The Cheyenne originally lived in what is now Minnesota, and moved to North Dakota, from which they were driven west by the Ojibwe and the Sioux. The Ojibwe destroyed the Cheyenne settlements, at which point the Cheyenne allied with the Arapaho.

The Cheyenne adopted the horse in the late 16th century, and rapidly became adept at both riding and breeding the animals. The coming of the horse meant a great change in their lifestyle, and the tribe gradually abandoned agriculture—as they put it, they “lost the corn” in favor of hunting buffalo. They also abandoned their former permanent homes in favor of the portable tipi.

The Cheyenne, in general, did not want to have fights with the white settlers, and were party to a treaty signed in 1851 which was intended to guarantee safe passage for the white settlers traveling along the Oregon Trail, which stretched from Missouri to Oregon. But when the settlers continued to encroach upon Native lands, they found themselves attacked by some members of the Southern Cheyenne. The Natives were then attacked by a force of cavalrymen in 1857. Then came the Colorado Gold Rush, which affected Cheyenne and Arapaho lands. Neither tribe wanted to sell their lands, and refused offers which would have involved trading territory and settling on a reservation. However, the governor of the area, John Evans, decided to force the tribes to agree by starting a war against them. The leader of the volunteer army was Colonel John Chivington, a notorious Indian-hater. In early 1864, Chivington started a merciless all-out attack on the Cheyenne and Arapaho. He razed their settlements to the ground, killed women and children, and stole their possessions. The Cheyenne retaliated by attacking white settlements. Matters came to a head at the Battle of Sand Creek.

Negotiations had been held outside Denver, Colorado, at which the tribes were informed that, if they agreed to camp nearby and checked in regularly at army posts, it would be assumed that a truce had been declared. This was agreed by the Cheyenne chief, Black Kettle, who led some 600 of his people to a place called Sand Creek, as agreed. Black Kettle assured the garrison there that he wanted peace. Chivington, however, although informed of what had happened, decided to attack the Indians anyway. Many of his soldiers were drunk when, at dawn on the morning of November 29, 1864, the Cheyenne were attacked. This despite the fact that Black Kettle had flown a white flag as well as the flag of the United States. Some 200 Cheyenne were murdered in one of the most appalling massacres in Native American history; further, half of those who were slaughtered were women, children, and babies. The ensuing outrage forced Chivington to resign.

The Cheyenne unified with the Lakota under Sitting Bull, and were among the force that fought against General Armstrong Custer in 1876. When they were defeated, the Cheyenne were forced to live on a reservation in the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The Cheyenne chief, Dull Knife, hating conditions on the reservation, left a year later with a band of some 300 of his followers, intent on returning to Wyoming and Montana. They managed to escape capture for some six weeks before their pursuers—who numbered approximately 13,000 men—finally caught up with them. In the ensuing battle Dull Knife’s daughter was killed, and most of the band surrendered eventually at the Sioux reservation in South Dakota. The Cheyenne who had escaped were given a reservation in Montana.

The spiritual life of the Cheyenne encompassed ceremonies called the Arrow Renewal and the New Life Lodge (also called the Sun Dance). The mythical and legendary hero/god of the Cheyenne was a figure called Sweet Medicine.

Chickee

A dwelling place of the Seminole, the Chickee was a building constructed of a wooden platform with a thatched roof, raised on stilts.

CHIEF

The overall leader of a tribe. In many tribes, the position of chief was, as with European royalty, a hereditary one. In other tribes, however, the position of chief was given to a man after acts of great courage or as an example of exemplary leadership. Desperate times often gave men the opportunity to prove themselves. During war, if one man stood out from the others as being both a warrior himself and also capable of leading others to be warriors, he was called a war chief; Black Hawk is a good example. In circumstances like this, the original chief of the tribe, the civil chief, would resign his position so that the man more able for the wartime role could step into the position of leader.

The Iroquois had a system of making sure their chiefs were exceptional men: when a chief died, his shoes were not filled automatically. They were happy to wait until the right man came along at the right time. Unlike captains or generals, or kings, the chief had no automatic right to be obeyed, and following him was a voluntary act. Some of the Plains tribes had a system whereby a man could put himself forward for the position of chief.

There were many different types of chief who would all sit together to make decisions on behalf of their people at a tribal council.

Although, as has been mentioned, chiefs did not have the same rights or powers as Western kings, the man at the top of a powerful tribe might be labeled as such. The Europeans would sometimes give Native American rulers titles that would mean something familiar to other Europeans. Hence Pocahontas was described as a princess when she was presented in England, and her father was referred to as a king.

Chief John BIG TREE

1877–1967

A member of the Seneca, Isaac Johnny John was an actor who appeared in a number of films between 1917 and 1949. Born in Michigan, Big Tree said that he had been one of the three Indians who inspired the portrait of a Native which appeared on a coin of the U.S. Government. This coin became known as the Indian Head Nickel. He also appeared on the front cover of Esquire magazine, replicating the pose of the Native American on the coin.

CHIEF JOSEPH

“If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace … Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it …”

1840–1904

Born in northeastern Oregon, Joseph’s Native American name was Hin mah too yah lat kekt, which means “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain.”

Chief Joseph was a renowned leader of the Wallowa Band of the Nez Perce tribe. The tribe’s ancestral homelands were at the meeting point of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, many of them living near the Wallowa Lake area of northeastern Oregon. Joseph guided his people through a difficult time when one General Howard attempted to force the band to relocate to a reservation in Idaho, which was just one-quarter the size of the original territory that they had roamed in for generations. Joseph used logic and dignity in his protest against such a move, and is still renowned as a peacemaker over 100 years after his death. Later, Joseph would earn the epithet of “The Red Napoleon” for the way he fought, and subsequently surrendered, to save the lives of his people.

Like many Native Americans meeting the Europeans for the first time, Joseph was courteous and hospitable to the settlers, but quickly realized that they were greedy for land, taking territory that had been used by the indigenous peoples for centuries for grazing and agriculture. Joseph was among other Nez Perce chiefs who signed a treaty in 1855 establishing a new reservation to safeguard 7.7 million acres of land for his people. The treaty included the traditional territories of the Nez Perce tribes.

However, as soon as the European settlers discovered the yellow metal—gold—on the land designated to the Indians, they went back to the Nez Perce and asked them to accept a considerably smaller allotment—780,000 acres—in Idaho. This land excluded the traditional territories. Promises of a new school and various other financial incentives proved too tempting to refuse for some of the chiefs, but Joseph was among those who would not sign the treaty on behalf of the Nez Perce nation.

This split the Nez Perce nation into two: those who had signed the treaty, who relocated to the new reservation, and those who refused to sign, who stayed at home on their traditional territories. Joseph’s father outlined this territory with poles, and swore never to give up the precious land where their ancestors were buried to the white man. When the old chief died in 1871, his son, Joseph, took on the mantle of his father. His father had told Joseph, prophetically:

“Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. A few years more and white men will be all around you. They have their eyes on this land. My son, never forget my dying words. This country holds your father’s body. Never sell the bones of your father and your mother.”

Although the Nez Perce who did not sign the treaty were prey to unfair treatment by the settlers, who wanted them out, Joseph kept a level head and never retaliated with violence; he did all he could to maintain peace, often under extreme duress. In 1873 Joseph managed to arrange with the U.S. Government that his people would have the right to remain where they were, but just four years later the Government reneged once again on its promise. It was at this point that General Howard said that he would attack the band if they kept on refusing to do as they were told and move, with the other Nez Perce, to Idaho. Not wanting to fight, Joseph warily agreed to inspect alternative lands with the General. When the General offered them land that was already inhabited by other Native Americans and white people, Joseph refused it, telling Howard that he couldn’t take what wasn’t free either to give or to take. Exasperated, Howard gave Joseph’s people just 30 days to pack up everything and leave. Joseph wanted more time, but Howard declared that if the band were there after the designated 30 days, there would be war.

Explaining what had happened at a council meeting, Joseph advocated peace above all, even willing to sacrifice the land that his father had held so dear. But the others were prepared for war. Despite Joseph’s conciliatory attitude, blood was spilled shortly afterward when a young member of the band murdered four white settlers as an act of revenge after his father was killed. Wanting to avoid bloodshed, Joseph and other leaders began moving their people away from the Wallawa Lake region.