THE CHEROKEES| JACKSON| CALHOUN | ELIZA ALLEN
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Chief Oolooteka was the leader of the Cherokee people who lived on Hiwasee Island, located about 50 miles southwest of Maryville, Tennessee. Considered one of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Cherokee culture emphasized openness and flexibility. Their society was egalitarian; a class system did not exist and women were treated as equals. In an attempt to coexist with the white frontiersmen who settled on their boundaries, the Cherokees adopted the ways of the whites more readily than any other tribe in North America. In fact, the Cherokees fought beside the white Americans during the Creek War (1813-14), and by 1821, due to the efforts of Sequoyah, the Cherokees had their own written language.

By the beginning of the 19th Century, most Cherokees lived a settled existence as farmers and hunters in some sixty or seventy loosely formed bands, each with its own chief. When Sam Houston came to live with Chief Oolooteka and his tribe, the town was populated by 82 men, 98 women, 66 horses, 170 head cattle, 242 hogs, and 32 spinning wheels. The Cherokees lived in "wigwams," although tribal leaders like Chief Oolooteka usually had a two-story frame house. Slaveholding was common among the wealthy Cherokees.

Many Cherokees intermarried with whites and it was common to have two names—a Cherokee name and an English name. The Chief's English name was John Jolly and his Cherokee name, Oo-loo-te-ka, means "He who puts away the drum," a testament to a leader who sought reconciliation and peace rather than war. The Chief usually dressed in buckskin with a hunting shirt, leggings and moccasins and he did not speak English.

Chief Oolooteka and his people eventually immigrated west to Arkansas Territory in 1818, after being forced to leave their homeland by a treaty that was suspiciously obtained. The Chief died in 1838.

Sources:

Randolph B. Campbell, Sam Houston and the American Southwest, ed. Oscar Handlin (New York: Harper Collins, 1993).

The Cherokee Nation, accessed June, 2003.
http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/HistoryPage.asp?ID=59

About North Georgia, accessed June, 2003.
http://www.ngeorgia.com/history/cherokee.html

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