The Problem of the Rechahecrian Indians of Virginia

In discussing the linguistic affinity of these Indians and the origin of their distinctive appellation it is not with the intent of discrediting their now accepted identification as Cherokees nor to argue against the classification of the term Rechaheerian as one of the early synonyms for this nation that this paper is sent forth, but rather to draw attention to the mixed character of the Indians who were originally designated by the term as verified by some data hitherto overlooked and traditions ofttimes quoted, but never analyzed nor compared with the historical memoranda now to be presented. It will also be adduced from assemblage of fact and tradition that many of these Indians were originally Powhatans, who were driven from the soil of Virginia by the enraged colonists after the terrible massacre of 1622-'23, and who became by their affiliation with the northern branches of the Cherokees, to whom and with whom they fled, so amalgamated with them as to lose in time their own language and tribal organization, although traces of the former seemingly still exist in the Cherokee tongue. That the Cherokees have retained these characteristics of a mixed people has been discussed and noted by various authorities, and that, although now included in the Iroquoian linguistic group, its affinities with that group are few and remote. Loskiel' wrote over a century ago: The Cherokees speak a compound of Shawanose, Iroquois, Huron, and others. The late

Archaeology · Genealogy · Archaeology and Natural History · Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies · History · SAS software applications and methods

• Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South

  Open Access•Robin A Beck, Robin Beck et al.•Chiefdoms, Collapse, and…•2013

  Add to list

• Maopewa iati bi

  Isaac J Emrick•2015

  Add to list

• Anthropological Professionalization and the Virginia Indians at the Turn of the Century

  Open Access•Frederic W Gleach•American Anthropologist•2002

  Add to list