Museum of the Cherokee Indian
In 1853, a Raleigh newspaper ran a story that detailed the escape of The Standing Wolf and his family from the Cherokee Removal of 1838. Their journey reveals some of the strategies that Eastern Cherokee families used to stay in their beloved homelands. Newspapers and journals around the country picked up the story, and the 82 year old Standing Wolf, still at home in Wolftown, became the most famous Eastern Cherokee in America
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After painstakingly transcribing this from the Newspaper Article I found it had been transcribed in the article link below. I needed a kleenex a few times as I was typing it out.
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FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
WAH-W-CATOCAH
OR STANDING WOLF
In the early history of Western Carolina, there are many incidents connected with the Cherokee Indians, that are fast passing away. The natural character of the red man, has been well established for honesty, simplicity and hospitality; and this doubtless would have been his characteristic to this day, but for the introduction by the white man, the pretended christian ital "God save the mark," of the accursed "fire water" into his wigwam and around his council fires.
Until they had been deceived and injured by the double-tongue of the pale faces that came in among them with their hypocritical pretensions of friendship, the word of an Indian was always sacred, and his promises performed with unswerving fidelity. and the incidents we shall here detail, exhibit this trait in the character of one, who, though despoiled of his birth-right and defrauded of his natural and dearest rights by those whose power and force surrounded him, puts to the blush the bonds, securities and safeguards that the whites require of one another.
Prior to the treaty of 1835, there lived in Haywood county, a Cherokee Indian, known as "Wah-w-catocah, or "Standing Wolf." He possessed all the characteristics of his tribe--honest, hospitable and umsuspecting in his native simplicity, possessing more than an oridingary share of the physical power of his race, with all the courage to make a man good and great. But unfortunately, he procured from the white man the fatal "fire water," and soon he acquired the habit of using it to drunkenness whenever it was to be obtained. When intoxicated, he was a terror to his race; boisterous, violent and full of revenge. All who knew him, feared and shunned him; all the good qualities of the Indian savage were preverted into the most fiendish and brutal passions, so much so that he lost all of that respect and confidence that he once enjoyed with both the Indian and the christians, ital who had sold him the debasing poison. He was then an outcast! But not by the white man on account of drunkenness but because they feared ital him!
In 1837-38, the Indian country was filled with United States troops, preparatory to removing the Indians west of the "Father of waters," and being engaged to assist in this work, I kept a journal of some passing events; and although fourteen years have passed by, yet the events of those days are still fresh in my memory.
The order of the commanding General reached our post in the night of the 3d of June, 1838, directing the officers to arrest all the Indians not ready or willing to go west. Preparations for carrying this order into effect occupied the night of the 3rd, and our company was divided into three squads. One officer and some few men were left at the fort to take charge of the ammunition, provision, &c., while the other two divisions went out to arrest an innocent and unoffending people. I was interpreter for one of the parties. After we had succeeded in arousing several families from their peaceful and quiet slumbers, and arresting them, placing a guard over all that were taken, compelling each family to bid a long adieu to his humble but much beloved home--a home and country endeared to them by a thousand fond associations, where they had roamed free as the air amid their native mountains, where they were born, and where rested the bones of their fathers. Every creek, path, ravine, mountain and cave was familiar to them. Here they had listened to the song of Whippoorwill, and dreamed of the loved and lost in the "spirit land." All these to be abandoend, where cluster all their fond recollections, to be driven to an untried and unknown country to them, east behind, as they slowly moved off from their deserted "wigwams" leaving all that was near and dear to them-- their flocks of cattle, sheep, hogs poultry, &c., left a prey to the wild beasts of the forest, or be swallowed up by the more greedy avarice of the white man. Here was a scene sufficient to move sympathies of the hardest heart; for my own part, I felt that it was dealing out more than death to this unfortunate, afflicted people.
The work was continued until we came to the house of an aged Patriarch with whom I had been acquainted from childhood. He had once lived a close neighbor to me and had done me many an honest day's work-- this was Wah-w-catocah-- and from his habits prior to his removal to this part of the nation, I feared we would have trouble with him.--Some time before his removal to where we now find him, he had fallen in with a Methodist itinerant missionary and had been happily converted to the religion of the Bible.-- this, however, was unknown to us. When we called on him, we expected still to find the bloody savage.
His family consisted of three grown sons, three or four daughters and a step-son. On the arrival of the troops at his house, he and his family were told what we had come for; that the General of the Army required that he should leave all, and at once go to the Fort. On hearing our message, it seemed that he almost sank beneath the weight of feeling that possessed him. He gazed in silence, looking on his wife and childre; and after some moments had passed, I asked him for his fire-arms. He spoke to his sons, each one stepped to the place of deposit, went into the yard, discharged them at a tree and then handed them to me. 'See said he, my children are almost naked, and in that loom is a web of cloth. I now beg that my wife and these little ones remain here a few days, until that web be wove out, so that we may be able to clothe them. I and my sosn will be your prisoners and go with you, but leave my wife and these little ones, a few days, until you are near ready to leave with us for the far west, and I will come and take them to your Fort myself."
I said; "Wah-w-catocah, our commands are positive and without exceptions, yet I have heretofore found you an honest man; if I grant this request, I am responsible, and have no other security than my knowledge of you, for strict hoensty. I will however take that responsibiltiy."
This seemed to some extent to relieve him, and leave being granted him to prepare some wood for his family, he asked permission to pray with his dear ones before the separation. How every nerved of my sysem thrilled at this request. We had been in service of the U.S. for near a year, with all sorts of dissipation and wickedness around us and scarcely ever a pious thought entering our minds; when this is considered and former habits of the poor Indian thought of, the reader will have some idea of the feelings it produced. If he and his sons had met us at the door of his wigwam with arms presented, it would not have produced such excitement. I of course unhesitatingly granted his request, and the old man took from a shelf a hymn book of the Methodist church, translated and printed in the Cherokee language; he seemed in that moment to forget all the circumstances that surrounded him, though well calculated to dismay the stoutest heard, and to make the strong voice tremble; sitll, under all this, he sang the anthems and praises of his Redeemer without a single change of voice, but with the composure, calmness and patience that a persecuted christian feels, when he knows that he in an heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, who died that he might live.
While this was going on, the soldiers crowded around the door of the hut, and at the closing verse he fell on his knees, his wife and family following his example he then lifted his hand towards Heaven, and plead the cause of those of his oppressors, and asked God to forgive them all their sins and prepare each one by grace divine, for admission in that "house not made with hands eternal in the heavens."
My feelings on this occasion can never be described; such I never had before, and the impressions then made on my mind never will be removed.
Although I was the only one present who understood the Cherokee language, yet all seemed to read the feelings of that old man's heart; and when I began to chide myself for my weakness, I looked around upon my fellow soldiers, and tears were streaming from every eye. This day and this scene was the theme of converstation for weeks after it occurred.
The old man and his four sons, in accordance with his promise, went on to the Fort, submitting to all the privations to which they were incident under the circumstances, with a cheerfulness seldom equalled. On the next day the old man came to me and requested leave of absence until 12 o'clock the day following. I told him I would try to obtain it, and went to the Major to get him off. He refused me, but I continued to insist as the old man seemed very anxious to see what had become of his wife and children. The Major agreed at last that he might go but that he would hold me responsible for his return; I therefore became his surety and let him off. He went home, and at the exact time he returned to the Fort and reported himself--After this, I allowed him to go to his much beloved home and return at his pleasure, and I must here say, that he never failed to be prompt in every promise he made.
The day now being fixed for the departure of all that we had then taken, to the far west, Wah-w-catocah was directed to bring into his camp his wife and smaller children. He went alone, promising to bring them all in. And now the test of his honesty : here he was permitted to go at large, with no bonds and no responsibility save his own word. - The reader is almost ready to say I would have forfeited my word, rather than subject myself and family to such great privations and trials. This however, did not seem to enter the mind of the honest Indian; he had promised, and this was sufficient for him, and without stopping to think of the loss or gain, he kept it righteously.
Reader, think, pause for a moment, consider the situation of this poor red man of the forest; he was in the midst of plenty; heaven's smiles seemed to beam upon him and upon all he possessed; he knew no restraints save those of the religion of the Bible; his wife, his sons and his daughters, that had arrived to mature age, although their skin was red, yet they too had espoused the same cause with the husband and father, and they now feel that Christ is their only hope, and heaven their only home. Their earthly home has now to be left forever, not of their own chioce, but torn from a home they loved, where God had blessed the father, mother, brothers and sister, all together. I can now see them in my imagination, piling up their little plunder preparing to bid it a final farewell. And as the father is busily engaged in arranging his packs, the big tear stands full in his eye, and with his tawny hands he wipes them away: he looks around on a beautiful growing crop, he remembers how providence has rewarded his toils. His yard is covered with beautiful poultry, his fields with flocks and herds, all the product of his own honest labor. All are to be left to the mercy of the with man, who had heretofore been his greatest enemy. Finally, his preparation is completed; taking upon himself the largest burdens and assigning to his wife and each child their load, the big tears begin now to chase each other down their cheeks. The old man take the lead, his wife next and the children following according to their age. Silently they all moved out before fairly out of sight the old man turns aorund to take the last lingering look at an humble but much beloved home, and, in a whisper, he bids all that he calls home and countyr 'good-by.' He now winds his way on to the Fort, soon to depart for the wes. Here he joins his sons that are prisoners, and the whole family are again united.
Their stay here was but for a few days, where they, with hundres of others, took up the line of march for hear quarters, whic hat a Calhous, Tenn. To this place all the Cherokees from Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee, that were removed, were brought. The were in number about 18,000. Here were 18,000 of what were then called savages, arrested by force, all driven from their homes and congregated at this place, without the shedding of blood. This is unparalleled in history: but such was the fact, although blood was afterwards she in the most inhuman and brutal manne, of which I may hereater give you a full and detailed acocunt, as I have all these events on record yet. But let us now return to the subject of our story.
Old Standing Wolf. We parted with him, when he left for head quarters, about the 20th of June, 1838, little thinking we should ever see him again this side of that great day which is to unalterably fix all our destinies. But so it was, we met him again in August, the same year. The transportation of the Indians could not be effected until in October or November, in consequence of low water. Having some unsettled business to attend to, I went to head quarters in August. The settlement of my business was delayed, and I concluded on Sabbath to go out amongst the Cherokees who were encamped some three miles from Town, at a large lime stone spring called the "Rattle Snakes Spring," where I met my old friend, Wah-w-Catocah. He just saw me, and making his way through the crowd, he seized me by the hand before I saw him. A copious flood of tears began to flow, and he asked me to remain where I was until he brought his wife to see me. I agreed to do so, meanwhile falling into deep thought on the scene before me, as I looked over the vast assembly then camped in the open woods. I was not permitted long to indulge my reflections, for it seemed but a moment had passed before he returned with his wife by his side. She gave me her hand, and with a down-cast look and faltering voice, said she was glad to see me. Seating ourselves under the shade of a tree, the tears rolled thick and freely down the tawny face of my companions. After some time spent in weeping, she began to relate to me the sad events that she had had to encounter since she left their old home. "Two moons, said she, have passed since we left our own wigwam, and two of our dear little ones have gone to the sprit land; the balance of our family are sick. We never can go to the west we must all die. Is there no chance for us to get back to our old home? The hope of once more seeing that lovely hunting ground, would cheer our wounded spirits more than all the vast hunting grounds of the west. Can you help us?" We continued the converstaion for some time, while all wept. Reader, you may suppose that you never could be induced to shed tears for an obscure Indian family, and perhaps you might not; but I thank God that I have a heart susceptible of feeling and one that has never failed to sympathise with suffering humanity, wherever found. I sat in silence, listening to a bereaved father and mother mourning for their lost children with that deep anguish of soul only known to those who have had such afflictions to encounter.--I had no help in store for them; I say obstacles on every side, if they attempted to escape. But this was their only chance; so I advised them to save, of the provisions they drew, all that they could, and when they had a sufficiency to carry them to their old homes, to take the last look at the camp-fires by night, as they did their old home, and return to it and then to use for their support, any and all of the crop they left behind, as it was then my own. It had been sold by Commissioners appointed by the Government to take charge of the property left by those forced to emigrate, and I became the owner, under one of these sales. And could that crop or twenty more such, be wanting to give liberty, ease and comfort to these unfortunate creatures, all would have whether it was right or wrong, and we parted. I had but little hope of ever seeing him again.
In a few days I returned to my wife, then in Haywood county. I often spoke of the old Wolf and his family, and some two or three weeks had gone by and I begun to think less often of the great distress of Standing Wolf and his family, when one day my attention was attracted by a company of Indians moving on in the direction of my house. I looked intently at them, thinking the while that there seemed something about them that was familiar. At length I recognized old Wah-w-catocah in the lead, with seventeen of his relations following him. I went out and met them, welcomed them to my house, gave them the best I had to eat. We then consulted what they should do. I advised them to go among his own people, as many of them were then living a short distance off, that the Government could not remove, as they had beceome land owners and were subject to the laws of the State. He took my advice and went to his Father, who was then living.
Wah-w-catocah still lives; although he is well stricken in years, is in the enjoyment of good health. He is a good citizen, his hope is yet firm and steadfast; he is no more a drunken savage, but a christian. He and all his family belong to the M. E. Church, South; two of his sons continually occupy the sacred desk for the benefit of their red bretheren, men of strong mind and truly eloquent; and aided by Grace Divine, have done, and are doing much good for the cause of the religion among the Cherokees in this State. And now the father, mother, sons and daughters are happy and contented, and are causing many to seek the religion which has given them so much comfort in days passed by, and which enables them to look to the future with so much hope. They live in Haywood county, an honor to their race, and setting a Godly example even for the white man. As for myself, if I did wrong, I hope I may yet repent; but I never have yet felt any remorse of conscience for it. Some may blame and denounce me:- be it so.
Murphy, N.C., Jan. 17, 1853.
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THE RETURN OF STANDING WOLF
In 1847, Standing Wolf was among eastern Cherokee leaders named as directors of the
“Cherokee Company,” a corporation chartered in North Carolina that was ostensibly formed for
the “cultivation and manufacture of Sugar and Silk,” but actually devised as a mechanism to allow
eastern Cherokees to operate as a state-sanctioned corporate entity and hold title to lands.18 The
1848 Mullay Roll identified Standing Wolf, age 60, and his wife Wakee (Becky), age 55, at
Wolftown on Soco Creek, along with daughters Kaloneeska, Sulstiah, Oolscossity, Sittanneh and
their children.19 Most of Standing Wolf’s and Wakee’s other surviving children, including Enoli,
Wilson, Sam Wolf, and John Ecooih lived nearby. Wakee died at Wolftown in 1855.20
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/b901751a-f5e3-4ec3-bce2-9ca8ee303d42/The%20Return%20of%20Standing%20Wolf.pdf
Dr. Brett Riggs presents The Return of Standing Wolf in a special webinar presented by the National Trail of Tears Association.
https://nationaltota.com/the-return-of-standing-wolf
