Red and White Organizations
The ancient Cherokees lived in an alternating state of war and peace which called for a dual organization of tribal government: a white, or peace, organization, and a red, or war, organization. If either of the two organizations was in any way subordinate to the other, it was the red one, since the Great High Priest could make or unmake the war chiefs. The white officials were either to some extent hereditary (through female line) or subject to appointment by the Great High Priest. Like the national capital, each town was governed by its two head chiefs: the white chief in peacetime and the red chief in war. The one exception was when the nation was being attacked and the white chief took control. An assemblage of Beloved Women, also called "Pretty Women" or "War Women," was present at every war council. These served as counselors to the male leaders, and also regulated the treatment dealt to prisoners of war.

The White Organization

The white organization consisted of a set of officials aged fifty or more, a large portion of whom were priests, and who performed both secular and religious functions. The higher authority was the Great High Priest, whose Cherokee name was "Uku". The Great High Priest had a principal assistant, a great speaker, and seven counselors representing the seven clans, whom he consulted on all matters of importance. It was this group of officials that helped him determine the times of the national feasts and made arrangements for them. In addition to administering civil law, white officials alone owned the prayers for invoking blessings from protective spirits. White officials could remove the uncleanness from polluted persons and restore them to normal life.

 

The principal officers in the white organization were:

 

1. The chief of the tribe, or Great High Priest: Uku, Ookah
2. U lo tv, the chief's principal assistant, also called "right-hand man" or "the one who fanned him."
3. Ti nv Ii no he ski, the seven counselors who represented the seven clans.
4. A tsi nv sti, the chief's messenger.
5. Ti kv no tsi Ii ski, the chief speaker.
6. The council of elder, or beloved men.
7. The Beloved Women.
8. A ke yv gv sta, the women who warmed water to wash the chief.
9. Lesser officers required for specific ceremonies included: seven hunters, seven cooks, seven overseers, seven fire makers, seven cleansers, musicians, attendants at the Ookah dance, and the Yo wah hymn singer.
10. Nv no hi ta hi, the priest who superintended the building of the hothouse.

 

On festival occasions, the Uku was clothed in a sleeveless white waistcoat and wore a broad woven belt. He wrapped around his shoulders in shawl fashion a consecrated deerskin that was also whitened and wore a new pair of whitened buckskin moccasins he had made and stitched together with deer sinew. The top portion above the toes he painted with a few streaks of red - not vermilion, for this was a war color - but with a certain red root whose leaves and stalk resembled the ipecacuanha, which was one of the principal symbols for holy things. The festival costume of the Uku included a magnificent cape made of white feathers and a breastplate made of a white conch shell. His headband was either a wreath of swan feathers or a long piece of swan skin. Probably the principal assistant and the chief speaker had differently adorned but similarly shaped hats with swan feathers and bells, but topped with feathers a little shorter than those worn by the Great High Priest. All priests had spectacular ritual pipes, which were about three feet long and had whitened wooden stems and stone bowls carved with symbolic figures.

The Uku Consecration Ceremony

On the death of the presiding Uku, his principal assistant set a date for the consecration of his successor, who would already have been chosen and trained. A messenger was dispatched to notify the chief priests throughout the nation. He was given a special string of braided wild hemp with as many knots tied in it as there were nights prior to the appointed date. Each day the messenger traveled, he was to cut one knot from his string and thus would keep a precise account of the time. At the appointed time, the nation's priests assembled with their messengers at the national heptagon and sent them to the candidate to request that he accept the office. When the messengers returned and the priests were assured that the candidate would comply with the request and had begun a six-day fast, the priests used those six days to make a special platform of tall and strong reeds, an official Uku investiture costume, and a yellow painted scepter. Then, on the seventh day, the priests, along with a vast multitude, went to the candidate's house. Previously selected persons undressed and carefully bathed the candidate, for he must be absolutely clean when his official clothing was put on him. Then he was dressed in Uku garments and his face was anointed with sacred white paint. The platform was brought to the candidate's house, and he leaped onto it and stood upright, taking the yellow scepter in his right hand; four chosen men then lifted the platform on their shoulders and carried the candidate to the national heptagon, with half of the assembled priests walking in front and the other half behind, all singing. The procession halted three times on the way. The procession of priests bearing the candidate walked silently around the heptagon four times and then lowered the platform to within three feet of the ground, whereupon the candidate climbed onto the back of an appointed person and was carried into the heptagon. The candidate stood up, and except for his breechclout, his clothes were removed by another priest. Next, the principal assistant presented the candidate with an eagle-tail fan, old sacred tobacco and a sacred pipe, which was the signal for the candidate to commence smoking with the other priests as a token of friendship and loyalty. Each priest smoked his own pipe, for the candidate's pipe, since he was being transformed into the Uku, was sacred. At this point the chief speaker came forward and made a lengthy address in which he directed everyone to pay homage to the new Uku, and the people arose and in single file came to do this, bowing before the Uku and saying, "Tsa gv wi tso la," to which he replied, "Ho!" When everyone had returned to their seats, they sat in silence for the rest of the night and contemplated the significance of the event, the people no doubt praying for divine blessings, success and happiness. Just before daybreak, the Uku broke the silence with an address to the people in which he promised to exercise his authority in all respects according to the commands of God. When he finished, the people promised to obey him. Then the candidate was dressed again in his official garments.

 

In addition to his special costume, the Uku had a standard or flag, which consisted of a long white pole with a carved eagle on top and bearing a pennant made of white cloth or deerskin, four or five yards long, painted with red spots like stars. In case of a sudden attack, the standard was raised in front of the national heptagon, and the national council would, after assembling for divination with tobacco smoke to learn the nature and extent of the emergency.

The Red Organization

The Red organization consisted of a set of officials who corresponded in rank and duties to the white officials, except that their function was exclusively military. The red officials were at frequent intervals elected by popular vote or acquired their rank as the result of bravery in battle. They were honored with victory and scalp dances and sat in places of honor in the town council houses.

The principal officers of the red organization were:

1. Ska ya gu stu eg wo, the Great Red War Chief or High Priest of War, was called "the Raven" when he scouted while the army was on the march.
2. The Chief's second, or right-hand, man.
3. Seven war counselors, to order acts of war.
4. Beloved Women to judge the fate of captives
5. Ska li ko ski, the chief war speaker.
6.Ka tat a ka ne hi, the warrior who carried the Great War Chief's battle standard
7. Ku ni ko ti, the Chief War Priest for healing and treating wounds, who had three or more assistants.
8. Messengers
9.A tsi lv ti ye gi, the priest who carried to war the ark containing the holy fire. His right-hand man was called Ko lv nv. Only the priest and this man were allowed to touch the ark.
10. Three war scouts: the Wolf, the Owl, and the Fox
11. A special war priest, who did the divination and carried out other religious functions for the Great War Chief.
12. Lesser officers included drummers, cooks, fire tenders and wood gatherers. A priest who had killed an enemy during a battle was named Nv no hi ta hi, and he superintended the building of sweat houses for purification rites.

When anyone of the town chiefs was forewarned of approaching enemies who were yet some distance away, he immediately dispatched a messenger bearing this news to the Uku, along with a twist of sacred tobacco that was painted red. On receiving the tobacco and message, the Uku immediately called for the Great War Chief and his officers. If after consulting together, this group felt there was no great worry, they did not smoke the tobacco but sent it back by the same messenger who had brought it. If the concluded that danger was imminent, the tobacco was smoked, messengers spread the news throughout the nation, and the Uku had his standard hoisted to notify the citizens of the national capital. The seven counselors were summoned to convene at the national heptagon. As soon as this meeting was held, and always in conjunction with the Great War Chief and his advisers, war plans were made. The red war standard was also hoisted in front of the heptagon, and the red officers painted themselves and their weapons with fresh red paint.

The body of soldiers who would gather to defend the nation would be divided into either four or seven companies and the council selected a healer for each company. Then seven counselors, one from each clan, were selected to direct each company. Either a priest of great power was chosen to officiate in divining and offering sacrifices for the entire army or the counselors for each company selected their own priest. Each group of seven counselors had its own speaker, called Ko wo ni gv lv, who during such emergencies exhorted the warriors to boldness and action by describing the legendary feats of distinguished leaders who had fallen in past battles.

War Practices

War prayer formulas were recited by the priests of the different companies for four consecutive nights. On the fourth night, the priests gave each man a small root that through ritual had been given the power to confer invulnerability. On the eve of the battle, the warriors, after immersing in a stream, chewed some of the root and spat the juice on their bodies to make enemy arrows or bullets slide off like drops of water.

In declaring a war of revenge, the Great War Chief took control. He and his principal assistant consulted together and whatever they decided, the entire nation agreed to. The Chief took his gourd rattle and went into the yard surrounding his house, where he walked back and forth, shook the rattle, shouted the war whoop again and again, and sang four times the word "U gi wan e e" . After this, he returned to his house, sat down and handed the gourd to his assistant, who went outside and repeated the ritual. People living nearby heard this performance and relayed the word until it had spread throughout the town. Within minutes, large numbers of warriors gathered at the Great War Chief's house, where he notified that Cherokees would return the blows that had been struck.

The warriors got ready for leaving. Each warrior carried his own provisions and was heavily loaded with them when he started out. He also furnished his own weapons and armor. The armor consisted of a shield and a club used only for defense, and the weapons consisted of war clubs, axes, knives, lances, and bows and arrows. A bracelet was worn on the left wrist, made of buffalo hide, and was designed to protect the arm against the released bowstring. The "helmet", a three-inch-wide thick buffalo-hide headband, whose upper edge held a tightly packed circle of upright feathers painted red. The shield was twenty-four inches in diameter and made from the thick forehead skin of the wood buffalo. It was boiled and then dried in the sun until hard. It was said that in instances of starvation, some warriors would roast and eat their shields, afterwards being referred to as "shield eaters." The Cherokee men made perhaps the finest war bows and the smoothest barbed arrows of all Indians. Oak, ash, and hickory wood were used for the bows. For greater flexibility, the bows were coated with bear oil, then warmed by a fire to cause the oil to sink in. War bows averaged five feet in length and had a flat, rectangular cross section. The handle section was one-and-three-quarters inches wide, and the limb width tapered to three-quarters of an inch at the necks. The draw was more than fifty pounds. Strings were fashioned from twisted bear gut and were very strong. Stone-headed arrows averaged thirty inches in length, were made of cane, and were fletched with two split turkey feathers.

Once the warriors of each town and village were assembled, armed, and ready, their war chief and their war officers led them in rapid procession for the sometimes long march to the place of meeting at the national capital, which was the house of the Great War Chief. War priests were chosen to serve on the occasion, and notice given, the messengers went to the national heptagon and obtained seven dressed deerskins that were kept for that purpose in the treasure house. The skins were taken to the Chief War Priest, who wrapped his divining crystal in them and gave the bundle to his assistant. The priest then took up his ark, which is described as a lidded earthen pot that contained live coals taken from the sacred fire, and with his assistant trailing behind him, marched through the town to bestow his blessing upon the planned war expedition.

The ark held a prominent place in Cherokee life. The ark has been described either as an earthenware vessel or a square basket. Three of the basket sided are bowed out in the middle, but the fourth side that rests again the carrier's back is flat. The ark has a cover that is rightly woven in basketry style with hickory splints, The ark is quite small - perhaps twenty inches in length, fifteen inches broad and fifteen inches high. The designated priest and a beloved waiter carried the ark by turns, It contained several consecrated vessels of antiquated forms made by Beloved Women. The priest and waiter were purified more thoroughly than the rest of the company, so that the first might be fit to act in the religious office of a priest of war and the other to carry the sacred ark. This description of the ark as a basket is most intriguing and suggests that since it contained consecrated vessels one of those would have been the earthenware pot that contained the live coals taken from the sacred fire in the national heptagon.

Once the entire army was assembled in the capital, a fast day was celebrated. This consisted of a day and a night that were given over to prayer and fasting. The taboos included a provision that no warrior or priest should eat or sleep, and no one should take anything directly from the hand of another person. Objects to be passed must be dropped on the ground by the passer and picked up by the receiver.

The three principal leaders of a revenge army were the Great War Chief, now called the Raven because he wore around his neck a raven skin; the flag carrier, who in most respects was considered equal in authority with the Raven, and who carried the Great War Chief's standard that consisted of a four- or five-yard-long, red-painted deerskin flag that was attached to a tall, ed pole and Ska ti lo ski, the chief speaker. Next in line after the three leaders were the seven counselors of the chief warrior. Then came one after the other the individual companies, each led by its town war chief who was called A ska ye gv sta, and who was followed by his principal assistant, by his own seven counselors and speaker, and by his priests, doctors, and cooks. Town drummers and other musicians marched in the center of each company.

On the morning of the second day, bathing was optional, and that evening, the war standard was set up in the middle of the town sacred square. That night, by the light of huge bonfires, the war party did a dance called A te yo hi, which means "going around in a circle." Just before daylight, the Great War Chief halted the dance and ordered the entire war party to the river, where the men immersed themselves seven times. At sunrise, everyone gathered around the Great War Priest, who swept and made bare a place on the ground, then kindled afire on it with some of the coals of the ark, whose fuel on this occasion was seven special kinds of wood. Into this fire he first sacrificed rats and 'worms. Standing on the west side of the fire and facing the east, with his principal assistant at his right and his seven counselors behind him, he held a piece of deer tongue in his hand and prayed to learn what the fate of the war party would be. Then he threw the piece onto the fire. If the fire burned bright and clear and quickly consumed the meat, it indicated that the Cherokees would win the battle, but if the fire did not consume it, it meant the opposite. If the latter happened, other rituals were done, and further predictions were solicited to see if the prediction could be changed. Each night, when the Great War Chief put on his raven skin, and went forward as a spy, three renowned warriors put on their skins and went off in other directions. The owl man went as a spy to the right, the wolf man to the left and the fox man went back the way they had come. A little after sunrise, the priest set up a small table, folded and put seven deerskins on it, and placed his divining crystal on top of the skins. He then moved back a few steps and prayed to each of the seven heavens. If they were to win, blood would flow down the right side of his crystal, and if they were to lose. down the left side.

At the end of the rituals, the priest put then the hot ashes of the fire back in the ark and picked it up. That was the signal for the Great War Chief to call the men to order, and to do this he waved his red war club in the air, then made a speech. The priest made a prayer to the Three Beings above and the war party moved off, and before long the Great War Chief and his principal assistant shouted the war whoop and broke into a rousing war song. The chief speaker chose the path the marchers would follow, selected campsites, and sounded the daily call to awaken and get moving. Certain rules were to be obeyed and certain rituals be followed along the way. Although acts such as these are put in the category of superstition today, they were firmly believed in then, and among other things kept men's minds focused and inspired continued confidence. If in marching the war party unexpectedly encountered enemies, the chief speaker told the warriors what to do, and everyone waited for his directions. When the war party reached enemy country, everyone halted while the chief speaker gave a speech of encouragement.

On their return home from a battle, the warriors stayed at their own town council houses for twenty-four days where before returning to their wives and families, they underwent extensive purification rituals to rid themselves of uncleanness that was contacted during the fighting. Warriors who distinguished themselves in battle were on their return honored by the gift of a new name that was publicly bestowed by a general council of town leaders. Killer was the highest name, then Raven, Owl, Wolf and Fox. Such men achieved higher status and with it certain war offices and increased responsibilities. Another rule was that in battle, the Great War Chief never retreated, although when other warriors saw that the tide was turning against them, they could take him by force and make him retreat. To honor the Great War Chief's bravery, when he retired he was given an eagle feather with a red strip painted across it for each war party he had led and each enemy he had killed.

Warriors

The prime age for a warrior was twenty-five to fifty years, and all men under the age of twenty-five were called "boys." When war officers reached fifty years of age they retired, and other men were appointed to fill their places. When the Great War Chief retired or was killed, the nation's warriors nominated his successor. This nomination was presented to the Uku and to the war chiefs, and if they and their counselors approved, the candidate underwent a regal consecration ceremony. The ceremony was directed by the retiring Great War Chief or if this chief had been killed, by a past Great War Chief.

Individuals were appointed to prepare the candidate's seat, which was something like a stool with a four-foot-high back and painted red; when the stool was ready, they were to place it just to the west of the sacred fire in the national heptagon. Other men were appointed to wash the candidate ld to dress him in his official robes, which were entirely red. Four retired war officers of high rank were chosen to spend with the candidate the day and night prior to the day of the consecration ceremony. During this time the retired war officers neither ate or slept, and they also fasted on the day of the ceremony. At sunrise, wearing red costumes, they inducted the candidate to his heptagon seat. One of them carried a ceremonial war club made entirely of red stone and walked in front of him, one bearing a red-painted eagle feather walked on his left, one carrying a bag of red paint and a bag of black paint walked on his right, and one behind him carried a magnificent red cape made of eagle feathers. On arriving at the heptagon, which was already filled with the leaders of the Cherokee Nation, the group circled it once and then entered to lead the candidate to his seat, which faced east and was situated directly in front of the seats of the Uku and the retiring Great War Chief. While the candidate stood in front of his seat and faced the sacred fire, the four escorts performed a low dance around him, singing one verse of a certain song with each circle, until they have passed around him four times and four verses had been sung. The men who had walked behind the candidate undressed him saved his red-dyed breechclout. The men put the war club in the candidate's right hand and the man with the eagle feather put it on the candidate's head. Then they proceeded to paint his body with red and black stripes. Now the man who carried the red cape put it on the candidate's shoulders and the man who had undressed the candidate put on him garters and moccasins.

At this point, the retiring war chief stood up and addressed the audience, charging them to obey without question the new chief and never to go to war without his knowledge and direction. In concluding, he would address the audience (the new chief): "You have now put me in blood from my head to my feet, but in war I shall not bloody my hands by destroying the infants and aged who cannot defend themselves, Yet, if in my path any tribe or individual shall raise the war whoop, and if I see weapons in their hands, I will fight and conquer or die. You have made me your Great War Chief and I will strive to take care of my young warriors, never exposing them unnecessarily in war.

The ceremony continued until noon next day, at which time food was brought to the heptagon and served to the new chief and the other chiefs and priests. The red eagle feather, along with the bands of otter skin he wore on his arms, legs and head was the chief's identifying badge of rank. The final act of preparation for the new chief was when the retired Great War Chief brought forth his revered stuffed raven skin and put it on the neck of his successor.