![]() ![]() ![]() There are no Cherokee now living in Georgia to substantiate the story, but I am inclined to put some faith in it from the fact that Coosawattee, although the name of a Cherokee settlement, signifies "the old country of the Creeks." The numerous localities in the Southern States bearing the name of "Ball Flat," "Ball Ground," and "Ball Play" bear witness to the fondness of the Indian for the play. There is a tradition among the few old traders still living in upper Georgia, to the effect that a large tract in this part of the state was won by the Cherokee from the Creeks in a ball play. In 1834, before the removal of the Cherokee to the west, a great game was played near the present site of Jasper, Georgia, between the settlements of Hickory Log and Coosawattee, in which there were eighteen players on a side, and the chiefs of the rival settlements wagered $1,000 apiece on the result. Won that game will never be known, for in the middle of it an advanced detachment of "the Yankees" slipped in, burned the bridge, and were moving forward, when the Cherokee, losing all interest in the game, broke for cover and left the Federals in possession of the ground. Whether Wolf Town or the Big Cove would have The preliminary ceremonies were dispensed with for once, the players stripped, and the game began, while the rest of the Indians looked on with eager interest. The suggestion was received with hearty favor, and soon all hands were at work putting up the poles, shaping the hickory sticks, and twisting the bark for the netting. At last, in a moment of inspiration, one man proposed that they make some ball sticks and have a game. But an Indian never takes kindly to anything in the nature of garrison duty, and time hung heavy on their hands. In the late war three hundred of the East Cherokee entered the Confederate service and in the summer of 1863-just a century after the fatal day of Mackinaw-a detachment of them was left to guard the bridge over the Holston river, at Strawberry Plains, in Tennessee. Let us turn from this dark picture to more recent times. The English, taken completely by surprise, are cut down without resistance. the hatchet which she had concealed under her blanket, and the next moment it is buried in the brain of the nearest soldier. The Cherokee Ball Play by James Mooney Sacred Texts Native American Cherokee Index ![]()
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