Journal of our journey to Creek Path.

We started on the first Monday in May, to-day we went to Major Ridges, their farm and their house presents a fine appearance, the house is an elegant painted mansion with poarches upon each side as the fashion of the country is, we saw in the house likeness of John Ridge, Esq. Accurately painted, hanging in a large frame in the position of writing which was his principal buisness.

Tuesday; We visited John Ross, the principal Chief, his house is a long two story building, inside has the appearance of neatness and elegance, here we crossed the Coosa, and passed the tomb of the Cherokee, who was so barberously murdered by the Georgians. We went alng Vans Valley, to David Van’s; his house is elegantly painted outside, and in, and is beautifully clouded and furnished with the nicest kind of furniture, his wife amused us in the evening by playing most charmingly on her Piano, They are both decendants of Cherokee’s.

Wednesday; Went 33 miles to Lasleys, of Turkey Town, we had butter, cheese, and every desireable on the Cherokee tables, and were treated extriordinarily hospital, on account of our connection with Mr. Boudanot.

Thursday; We rode to Mr. Jack Rose’s, a native of New Jersey, Brother in law to the proncipal Chief.

Friday; We traveled over the Raccoon Mountain, which is about 20 Miles from the brow of the Mountain on one side brow on the other side; We arrived at Creek Path in the evening, here is a flourishing, superintended by Mr. and Mrs. Potter, from our native State. There is some seriousness in the school at this time.

Saturday; One of the scholars and myself mounted our horses, and rode between two Mountains, in the beautiful Valley of Creek Path, to David Carter’s, found his wife weaving, the slaves we saw about the plantation, Mr Carter’s, wife is a decendant of the Cherokee’s, and is as white as the Northern ladies, dresses well, left an invitation for herself and husband to visit at Mr. Potter’s, in the evening, as he was not at home. Went on to Col. Gilbreath’s, who married a sister of David and Catharine Brown, Mrs Gilbreath, favors her brother David very much in looks, disposition, and actions, she invited me to take dinner, which was fritters, butter, honey, and thick milk, I am very fond of it.

Sabbath; 10. Of May, attended meeting at the Creek Path School House, sermon by Mr. Potter, (interpated by Samuel Gunter), alternately in Cherokee and English, David Carter, and his wife presented their child to be baptized by Mr. Potter.

Monday; Took a ride with Dr. Carter Dempsey Fields, to Gunters Landing, fields of corn and cotton in this part of Creek Path Valley looked finely. We called at Mr. Edawrd Gunter’s, a member of the Cherokee Committee. He is an excellent man, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Tuesday; We parted with our Cherokee friend at Creek Path, traveled over the Mountain to Wills Valley, 33 Miles to Col. Mulkey’s, who is a native of Georgia, and brother in law to the Principal Chief, Mrs Mulkey is the youngest daughter of Mr. Daniel Ross. There as in other places we were treated cordially and hospitably.

Wednesday; We rode to Willstown, called by the way on many Cherokee’s, among whom, was Judge Huss, Judge of the Supreme Court, of the Cherokee Nation. None of the family could talk English, but my imperfect Cherokee made them understand that my father and mother were the parents of Mrs. Boudanot. They expressed much satisfaction on seeing us. We gave Mr. Husse’s, daughter the Cherokee Pheonix, which she fluently read in the Cherokee Language.

Thursday; We visited the families of the Louries, and Ross’s, of Willstown. There we saw some of the families of the Guesse’s, and went under the very shade trees where Guess, studied upon his sylabolic Alphibet.

Friday; We rode to Mr. Benyes, in company with Mr. Chamberlin, Minister of Willstown, some of Genges, family belong to Mr. Chamberlin’s, Church. Fritday we rode the whole day under the lofty Lookout Mountain, passed the residence of an ancient Chief, near the end of the Lookout, We saw some mounds about the place in the form of pyramids, about 10 feet high, and about 15 thick where the bones of ancient Chief’s lie deposited. As we passed over the Lookout Mountain, the Tennessee was to be seen winding its course below the high Mountain, this I think is the highest Mountain I ever crossed in a wagon, at the end of this Mountain is the plantation of Mr. Joseph Coody, Father of Willam S. Coody, Clerk of Cherokee Delegation at Washington. There we talked and had a short visit with Mr. Coody’s family. Mrs Coody, is a native sister of John Ross, the principal Chief. Traveling 8 Miles farther on we came in sight of the bars chimneys of the Brainend Station. The meetinghouse and some other houses at a distance escaped the conflagration. There we saw Cherokees’s, flocking to the meetinghouse to attend a preparatory lecture.

We spent Sabbath at Brainend, there three of the missionaries of the American Board, providencially met on Monday, Vis, the Rev. Mr. Worcester. Rev. Mr. Thompson. And Rev. Mr. Chamberlin, at 4 O’clock in the evening, and Monday following rode as far as the house of Hon. Richard Taylor.

Tuesday; We arrived at the beloved City of the Cherokee’s, New Echota. I should like to give you many more particulars, but fail for want of time.

(Gen) D.B. Brinsiade. May 22. 1830. (H.S. GOLD)

P.S. Our Cherokee friends at Creek Path, say they shall all love the people of the North for the part they have taken for them, and for their sending such good missionaries.

All the places where we stayed they would not have a cent, but said they were glad to have us call on them.

The following information has been graciously supplied by LeeAnn Thompson-Dreadfulwater. LeeAnn, who works at the Cherokee Nation in Park Hill, OK, wrote:  

    "I believe I have the answer to your mysterious paper found in the 
1960's. The travelers refer a couple of times to their connection to "Mr. 
Boudanot," meaning Elias Boudinot (Buck Watie) and mention that they 
share the same mother as Mrs. Boudinot. Elias Boudinot married Harriet 
Ruggles Gold, a white woman he had met while at school up north, in March 
of 1826. Harriet had a brother, Hezekiah Sedgwick Gold and also a 
brother-in-law, General Daniel Bourbon Wooster BRINSMADE, who must be the two signators and travelers. General Brinsmade was born in 1782 in 
Connecticut and was married to Mary Wakeman Gold in January of 1814. Hezekia Gold was born in 1807.

    Incidentally, the Huss family they visited with on the tenth day are my 
ancestors. The daughter who "fluently read in the Cherokee language" 
was most likely my g-g-g-grandmother, Ahnewake Spirit Mayes. Her father, 
who was a Supreme Court Justice of the Cherokee Nation, also went by 
the name "The Spirit"." 

Ms. Thompson-Dreadfulwater later wrote -

    "... in modern-day Tahlequah, names like Boudinot and Watie and Ross are still topics of discussion. Your document is amazing--it reads like a who's who of the old Cherokee Nation back east before removal .... Many of the names mentioned were very important players in the Cherokee political events that played out from 1835 through the post-Civil War period. David Vann's house is a museum in Georgia now, I believe, (note: David Vann's house, located in Cave Spring, GA, still stands, but is not a museum. The house belonging to James Vann, David Vann's uncle, better known as Chief Vann's house, IS a museum and is located in Chatsworth, GA) and I work with a direct descendent of the David Carter mentioned (He went on to become a judge as well). The "Guess" family referred to is the family of Sequoyah, aka George Guess, the gentleman who invented the Cherokee syllabary. The "Louries" he refers to are probably the "Lowery" family, a very prominent mixed-blood family. He's probably also referring to the Benges (another prominent  family) when he writes "Benyes" and "Genges." And the Reverend Mr. Worcester he speaks of is the Samuel Worcester, a white missionary who later was imprisoned because of his association with the Cherokees (see Worcester v. Georgia, a very famous legal case in Cherokee history)."

    Charlotte Adams Hood then wrote:

    Re: Day 4 - Jack "Rose" is actually John Golden Ross who married Elizabeth, a sister of John Ross, Cherokee Chief. John G. Ross's home and business was located near Gadsden, Alabama, NOT Valley Head, AL. He is noted on La Tourette's 1835 Map of 1835 as J.G. Ross ent. This information, with map, is included in a book entitled JACKSON'S WHITE PLUMES, written by Charlotte Adams Hood, published 1995.

    'Bill' wrote:

    "my best guess is that "h.s. gold" was Gen. Brinsiade's "scribe". It's hard to tell though, as some generals changed scribes more often than they changed socks. And to make matters worse, a scribe could be an N.C.O. or officer."

    Charles Scott Perry then wrote:

    "I have been researching David Carter and have a bio prepared. I show 
Buck Watie was renamed Elias Boudinot after his mentor and married 
Harriet Ruggles Gold, daughter of Col. Gold. They married in 1826. The sister of Harriet Gold was Mary Wakeman Gold who married General Daniel Brinsmade.

My grandmother, Sophia Fry, was raised by the son of David Carter, 
Benjamin Wisnor Carter, and her cousin Serena (nee Guy) Carter in Ardmore Indian Territory. Carter County is named for Judge Benjamin W. Carter.

Buck Watie and David attended the mission school at Cornwell, 
Connecticut as did the son of Major John Ridge. This is documented in The 
History of Cornwell, Connecticut by E. C. Starr."

"For those wishing to do further research on General Brinsmade (also 
spelled Brinsmead), see "The Priest, the Judge and the General" by Mary 
Brinsmade in 1917.
For research on Catherine Brown see "The Memoir of Catherine Brown, a 
Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation" by Rufus Anderson, published in 1822 but reprints are available from Abebooks.com.
For the Foreign Mission School, Carter's and Buck Wade/Elias Boudinot 
see "A History of Cornwall, Connecticut" by E.C. Starr, 1926. This book has a very good bio on Elias Boudinot nee Buck Wade and a history of the Foreign Mission School.

    "The journey mentioned above is very much related to the Civil War in that the causes of the War go back much farther than 1860.

    "The Treaty Party, headed by Major Ridge, his son, and his nephew, were basically mixed-blood Cherokees, highly literate, and of the planter class. They owned slaves (although they did not treat them as such and referred to them as "servants"). When the Ridge Party wrote and accepted the Treaty of New Echota, enacted under Andrew Jackson, it was understood that they would set up a pro-slavery nation near the states of Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.

    "Their claim to the ability to treat with the United States was severely disputed by the Ross faction. Although Ross was at best 1/8 Cherokee, he was the elected Principal Chief. While he himself owned slaves, many of his full-blooded constituents did not. This was primarily because most of the full-bloods lived in the mountains where slavery was not economically viable. The Ross Party fought hard to keep their lands while the Ridge Party and their constituents moved west via the river. Ross and his people lost, and embarked on the "Trail of Tears," except for a scant few who remained east in the Smoky Mountains.

    "Once in the new Indian territory, the Ross Party organized the Keetoowah Society. Based loosely on Freemasonry (of which Ross was a member), they swore vengeance on the leaders of the Ridge Party. Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Major Ridge's nephew Elias Boudineut (his white name), were savagely murdered. While Ross never accepted responsibility, Stand Watie, Elias Boudineut's brother, went on the warpath against the new full-blood settlers.     

    Until his death in August 1877, General Stand Watie stood by the Confederacy during the War Between the States.  Since he and his troops were the last to 'strike the colors', this made Watie the last CSA general to disband his troops. After signing the document, the Cherokee Braves battleflag was proudly carried back to Tahlequah, I.T. (Indian Territory) where the tattered and well worn battleflag was first carried on high to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then on to it's final reward in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

    "It was a time when the United States was desperately trying to avoid War. With the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which held that the western states would decide the slavery issue themselves, eastern settlers from both the North and South flooded the area, some committed "Free-Soilers," some "Pro-Slavery. It was into this maelstrom that the Cherokee nation found itself. The Ridge Party, which favored slavery, was the target of the anti-slavery Ross Party (Ross, who had taken a Quaker girl for his second wife, manumitted the few slaves he held). The Keetoowah Society, also known as "Pin Indians" because of their habit of wearing two pins crossed in their lapels, sided with the Free-State faction (the "Red Legs"). The Ridge Party sided with the pro-slavery faction. Soon, "Bleeding Kansas" bled into Cherokee lands as the two factions fought a bitter war of raiding pillaging and burning.

    "When War finally came, the Keetoowahs and other pro-Union full-bloods, influenced by anti-slaver Moravian missionaries and their Chief, John Ross, allied themselves with the Union.  The Ridge faction, now led by Stand Watie, signed on with the Confederacy.

    "For the nation, the Civil War was just beginning. For the Cherokee, it had never ended."

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