Removal and had heard the story from their parents. Charley's story is
a matter of common note among the ha-: Cherokee, and was heard in full detail from Colonel Thomas
and from Wasituna ("Washington" , Charley's youngest -on, who alone was spared bj <■■ ■
on account of his youth. The incident is also noted, with some slight inaccuracies, in Lanmau,
Letters from the Alleghany Mountains. See i> 157,
182 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19
in the hottest part of the year, was attended with so great sickness and
mortality that, by resolution of the Cherokee national council, Ross
and the other chiefs submitted to General Scott a proposition that the
Cherokee be allowed to remove themselves in the fall, after the sickly
season had ended. This was granted on condition that all should
have started by the 20thof October, excepting the sick and aged who
might not be able to move so rapidly. Accordingly, officers were
appointed by the Cherokee council to take charge of the emigration;
the Indians being organized into detachments averaging one thousand
each, with two leaders in ehai"ge of each detachment, and a sufficient
number of wagons and horses for the purpose. In this way the
remainder, enrolled at about 13,000 (including negro slaves), started on
the long march overland late in the fall (11).
Those who thus emigrated under the management of their own
officers assembled at Rattlesnake springs, about two miles south of
Hiwassee river, near the present Charleston, Tennessee, where a final
council was held, in which it was decided to continue their old consti-
tution and laws in their new home. Then, in October, 1S3S, the long
procession of exiles