Yonaguska, (1759–1839), who was known as Drowning Bear (the English meaning of his name), was a leader among the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

of the Lower Towns of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. During the

Indian Removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a de ...

of the late 1830s, he was the only chief who remained in the hills to rebuild the

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a Federally recognized tribe, federally recognized Indian Tribe based in Western North Carolina in the U ...

, joined by others who had escaped or eluded the United States soldiers. Before that time, he had adopted

William Holland Thomas William Holland Thomas (February 5, 1805 – May 10, 1893) was an American merchant and soldier. He was the son of Temperance Thomas (née Colvard) and Richard Thomas, who died before he was born. He was raised by his mother on Raccoon Cr ...

as his son; the fatherless European-American youth was working at the trading post and had learned Cherokee. Yonaguska taught him Cherokee ways and, after Thomas became an attorney, he represented the tribe in negotiations with the federal government. Thomas was never a Chief of any Cherokee band but played important roles. Thomas bought land and established a Cherokee reserve for the tribe's use at what is now the

Qualla Boundary The Qualla Boundary or The Qualla is territory held as a land trust by the United States government for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who reside in western North Carolina. The area is part of the large historic Chero ...

, the territory of the federally recognized tribe in

. During his life, Yonaguska was a reformer and a prophet; he was a leader who recognized the destructive power of the white man's liquor and the settlers' insatiable greed for Cherokee lands.

Early life

''Yonaguska'' was born about 1759 in the Cherokee Lower Towns of present-day North Carolina and Georgia. According to the Cherokee

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...

system of inheritance and descent, he was considered born into his Cherokee mother's clan, where he gained his status. As a boy of 12, Yonaguska had a vision that the European Americans threatened the Cherokee way of life, but people did not pay attention when he spoke of it. At age 17, he witnessed widespread destruction by Gen.

Griffith Rutherford Griffith Rutherford (c. 1721 – August 10, 1805) was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War, a political leader in North Carolina, and an important figure in the early history of the Southwest Territory and the state of Ten ...

and his North Carolina

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, who in 1776 burned 36 Cherokee towns during the

military action War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

. The Cherokee had been allied with the British, and the colonials were trying to discourage them from acting in the coming revolution. Yonaguska was described as a strikingly handsome man, strongly built, and standing . He suffered from becoming addicted to alcohol as a young man. He and his wife adopted as their son

, a fatherless European-American youth who worked at the trading post at Qualla Town and learned the Cherokee language. Thomas learned many Cherokee ways.

Awakening

In 1819 when he was 60 years old, ''Yonaguska'' became critically ill. He had a vision, which he told his people after recovering. His message from the spirit world was that, "The Cherokee must never again drink whiskey. Whiskey must be banished." He had Will Thomas write out a pledge: "The undersigned Cherokees, belonging to the town of Qualla agree to abandon the use of spirituous liquors." Yonaguska signed it, followed by the council (chiefs of the clans) and town residents. From the signing of the pledge until Yonaguska's death in 1839 at the age of 80, the

refrained from using liquor. On the few occasions when he learned of someone breaking the pledge, Yonaguska had the culprit whipped. Throughout the early 19th century, federal agents tried to persuade Yonaguska to remove his people to lands west of the Mississippi River. He firmly resisted their efforts, declaring that the Cherokee were safer among their rocks and mountains, and belonged in their ancestral homeland. Other chiefs made the Treaty of 1819, by which they sold Cherokee lands along the

Tuckasegee River The Tuckasegee River (variant spellings include Tuckaseegee and Tuckaseigee) flows entirely within western North Carolina. It begins its course in Jackson County above Cullowhee at the confluence of Panthertown and Greenland creeks. It flows ...

. At the time, Yonaguska was given set aside in a bend of the river between Ela and

Bryson City Bryson City is a town in Swain County, North Carolina, Swain County, North Carolina in the United States. The population was 1558 as of the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Swain County. Located in what was historically the land of the Cherok ...

, including the ancient

Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...

site of

Kituwa Kituwa (also spelled Kituwah, Keetoowah, Kittowa, Kitara and other similar variations) or ''giduwa'' (Cherokee: ᎩᏚᏩ) is an ancient Native American settlement near the upper Tuckasegee River, and is claimed by the Cherokee people as their ori ...

, which the Cherokee held sacred. As pressure increased by the federal government for removal of Indians from the Southeast, Yonaguska rejected every offer for land exchange and subsidies. Having seen European-American settlers push westward through North Carolina, he did not believe they would ever be satisfied. He did not want to leave his homeland and face more removal pressure later. He thought the United States government promises of protection were "too often broken; they are like the reeds in yonder river—they are all lies." The missionary Samuel Goodenough worked with

Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...

to translate and print the

Gospel of St Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

in Cherokee. Yonaguska insisted on hearing it read to him before allowing its circulation. He reportedly said about the gospel:

Well, it seems a good book - strange that the white people are no better, after having had it so long. p31

Yonaguska approved the distribution of the scriptures to his people.

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

The treaties of 1817 and 1819 with the federal government reduced the territory of the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

in North Carolina, as they gave up land to European-American settlers. In 1824 Yonaguska gathered the remaining Cherokee outside the new boundaries. They settled together at Soco Creek on lands purchased for them by his adopted son, Will Thomas, as the Cherokee were not allowed to buy land outside their nation. Although adopted as Yonaguska's son, Thomas was still considered "white" under the law and could legally buy land; he could also allow the Cherokee to live on "his" property. Purchased for the use of the Cherokee, his land was the basis of

. It is now the territory of the

, a federally recognized tribe.

Death

Shortly before his death in April 1839, Yonaguska was carried into the town house at Soco, where he gave a last talk to his people. The old man commended Thomas to them as their chief and warned them against ever leaving their own country. Wrapping his blanket around him, he quietly lay back and died. Yonaguska was buried beside Soco Creek, about a mile below the old Macedonia mission, with a mound of stones to mark the spot.

References

Sources

*Blankenship, Bob. ''Cherokee Roots, Volume 1: Eastern Cherokee Rolls''. (Cherokee: Bob Blankenship, 1992). *Brown, John P. ''Old Frontiers: The Story of the Cherokee Indians from Earliest Times to the Date of Their Removal to the West, 1838''. (Kingsport: Southern Publishers, 1938). *Ehle, John. ''The Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation''. (New York: Doubleday, 1989). * Finger, John R. ''The Eastern Band of Cherokees 1819-1900''. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984). *Lumpkin, Wilson. ''The Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia''. (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1907). *Mooney, James. ''Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee''. (Nashville: Charles and Randy Elder-Booksellers, 1982). *Smithsonian Institution, ''Mooney's American Bureau of Ethnology Records'', Photograph of Katalsta & Ewi Katalsta, daughter & granddaughter of Yonaguska/Yanaguski. *Hicks, James R. "Cherokee Lineages," Register Report of Drowning Bear *Virginia Moore Carney, ''Eastern Band Cherokee Women - Cultural Persistence in Their Letters and Speeches,'' Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2005 *Donal F. Lindsey, ''Indians At Hampton Institute 1877-1923,'' Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Yonaguska Principal Chiefs of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Native American people from North Carolina 1759 births 1839 deaths 18th-century Native Americans Native American temperance activists Cherokee Nation people (1794–1907) 19th-century Native Americans People from Anson County, North Carolina