How Cherokees Used Trees of Southern Appalachia for Food, Medicine, and Craft

[hawgrider]

Trees of Southern Appalachia

Wild plant foragers get excited this time of the year. Green shoots make their way through the soil for another growing season. Autumn turns to winter and the smorgasbord disappears. But trees, they stand ready to share their resources year-round.

Winter tree identification would not be challenging if trees would stop dropping their leaves. Mark taught winter botany lessons which I had never been exposed to. Sharing all I learned would take several articles. For our purposes today, we will explore 3 of my favorite trees in my woods and how the Cherokee and settlers used them for food, medicine,
https://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/how-cherokees-used-trees-of-southern-appalachia-for-food-medicine-and-craft/

[BucketBack]

They also killed them all , killed all the buffalo, polluted the water , and moved on, hence their nomadic lifestyle.

The land was trashed and used up and left no other choice but to find greener ground to pollute

[hawgrider]

They also killed them all , killed all the buffalo, polluted the water , and moved on, hence their nomadic lifestyle.

The land was trashed and used up and left no other choice but to find greener ground to polluteHmmm no I don't think the Cherokee killed all the buffalo pretty sure you got that part wrong.


Among the earliest waves of settlers were trappers and traders, people who made their living selling meat and hides. By the 1870s, they were shipping hundreds of thousands of buffalo hides eastward each year: more than 1.5 million were packed aboard trains and wagons in the winter of 1872-73 alone. The commercial killers, however, weren’t the only ones shooting bison. Train companies offered tourists the chance to shoot buffalo from the windows of their coaches, pausing only when they ran out of ammunition or the gun’s barrel became too hot.

There were even buffalo killing contests. In one, a Kansan set a record by killing 120 bison in just 40 minutes. “Buffalo” Bill Cody, hired to slaughter the animals, killed more than 4,000 buffalo in just two years. Some U.S. government officials even promoted the destruction of the bison herds as a way to defeat their Native American enemies, who were resisting the takeover of their lands by white settlers. One Congressman, James Throckmorton of Texas, believed that “it would be a great step forward in the civilization of the Indians and the preservation of peace on the border if there was not a buffalo in existence.” Soon, military commanders were ordering their troops to kill buffalo — not for food, but to deny Native Americans their own source of food. One general believed that buffalo hunters “did more to defeat the Indian nations in a few years than soldiers did in 50.”

By 1880, the slaughter was almost over. Where millions of buffalo once roamed, only a few thousand animals remained. Soon, their numbers dwindled, with the largest wild herd — just a few hundred animals — sheltered in the isolated valleys of the newly created Yellowstone National Park. As American Buffalo shows, it is from this tattered remnant that people are today trying to rebuild the once mighty buffalo nation.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/american-buffalo-spirit-of-a-nation-introduction/2183/




US POLICY TO EXTERMINATE THE BUFFALO

Some scholars suggest that in order to make migration to the west easier, the US government, through the Army, adopted a policy to exterminate the buffalo. Extermination of the buffalo would inevitably mean the demise of the Indians who so relied on them for almost every aspect of their existence.

"Although the army was plagued by strategic failures, the near extermination of the American bison during the 1870s helped to mask the military's poor performance. By stripping many Indians of their available resources, the slaughter of the buffalo severely reduced the Indians' capacity to continue an armed struggle against the United States. The military's role in this matter is difficult to asses. Sheridan and Sherman recognized that eliminating the buffalo severely reduced the Indians' capacity to continue an armed struggle against the United States. The editors of the Army and Navy Journal supported the proposition, comparing such an effort with Civil War campaigns against Confederate supplies and food sources. Forts provided de facto support for hunters, who used the civilian services often found near army bases. Officers and enlisted personnel also killed buffalo for food and sport, though the impact of their hunts was minute when compared to the organized efforts of the professionals." (The Military and United States Indian Policy, p. 171) "In 1874, Secretary of the Interior Delano testified before Congress, "The buffalo are disappearing rapidly, but not faster than I desire. I regard the destruction of such game as Indians subsist upon as facilitating the policy of the Government, of destroying their hunting habits, coercing them on reservations, and compelling them to begin to adopt the habits of civilization." (The Military and United States Indian Policy, p. 171) Two years later, reporter John F. Finerty wrote that the government's Indian allies "killed the animals in sheer wantonness, and when reproached by the officers said: �better kill buffalo than have him feed the Sioux.'" Although Sheridan added that "if I could learn that every buffalo in the the northern herd were killed I would be glad," some indications point to a groundswell of military opposition to the killing. (The Military and United States Indian Policy, p. 172) In 1873, the Secretary of War was forwarded a letter from Major R.J. Dodge, endorsed by [General] Pope and Sheridan, that addressed the problem. The Secretary of War also approved Sheridan's request which seemed to indicate the general's own ambivalence on the subject, to authorize Col. De L. Floyd Jones "to put a stop to their wholesale destruction." Several officers protested the wanton destruction to Henry Bergh, president of the America Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The army, while anxious to strike against the Indians' ability to continue their resistance, did not make the virtual extermination of the American bison part of its official policy; in some cases, individual officers took it upon themselves to try and end the slaughter. (The Military and United States Indian Policy, p. 171)
http://www1.american.edu/TED/ice/buffalo.htm



http://d1jrw5jterzxwu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/LO-RES-FEA-PHOTO-Buffalo-hides-in-Dodge-City-KS-Kansas-Historical-Society-00051698-270x178.jpg



A pile of hides in Dodge City, Kansas, ready to be shipped back to the East Coast.

Isenberg said, “Some Army officers in the Great Plains in the late 1860s and 1870s, including William Sherman and Richard Dodge, as well as the Secretary of the Interior in the 1870s, Columbus Delano, foresaw that if the bison were extinct, the Indians in the Great Plains would have to surrender to the reservation system.” Colonel Dodge said in 1867, “Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone,” and Delano wrote in his 1872 annual report, “The rapid disappearance of game from the former hunting-grounds must operate largely in favor of our efforts to confine the Indians to smaller areas, and compel them to abandon their nomadic customs.”

“As a policy stat

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/05/09/genocide-other-means-us-army-slaughtered-buffalo-plains-indian-wars-30798

[MrsInor]

The Cherokee were not really nomadic either. They built villages.

[Inor]

The Cherokee were not really nomadic either. They built villages.

That was before they attacked New Ulm, Minnesota. The heathen bastards!

[MrsInor]

That was the Dakota Sioux - sheesh.

[Inor]

That was the Dakota Sioux - sheesh.

Ya Sioux one, ya Siouxn 'em all!

[BucketBack]

Grandma was Lakota from NODAK

Never said the Indian killed ALL the Bison, merely all in the area they were in. Then they moved on.

Another part of history that has been reported incorrectly

[Baglady]

Whomever is to blame, things never change. Several hunters here that I know personally, kill any and all deer they can. These guys don't even put up the meat because they don't cook. They give the meat to others, but still, for them it truly is a "SPORT".
Makes it hard for our other hunters (like my hubby)to put meat in the freezer, and enjoy the true spirit of the hunt.

[TJC44]

Whomever is to blame, things never change. Several hunters here that I know personally, kill any and all deer they can. These guys don't even put up the meat because they don't cook. They give the meat to others, but still, for them it truly is a "SPORT".
Makes it hard for our other hunters (like my hubby)to put meat in the freezer, and enjoy the true spirit of the hunt.

What a waste. I just don't understand hunting as a "sport"
Venison tastes too good for that.

[Arklatex]

Very interesting article. Never knew that about the tulip trees. Another good tree they used was willow. You can weave furniture out of it and the bark can be used as a painkiller like asprin. Black Walnut can be used to treat poison ivy and to make dye. Anybody else got some tree facts to share?

[Baglady]

Very interesting article. Never knew that about the tulip trees. Another good tree they used was willow. You can weave furniture out of it and the bark can be used as a painkiller like asprin. Black Walnut can be used to treat poison ivy and to make dye. Anybody else got some tree facts to share?

Yeah we got off topic. I know pines are good to get the pitch off of for starting fires, and according to one of those survival shows, you can plug a hole in a boat with it too. :thumb:

[BucketBack]

Holland has the Tulip Festival in the spring. The Dutch don't care for my saying Plant Two-Lips on my Azz

[Inor]

Holland has the Tulip Festival in the spring. The Dutch don't care for my saying Plant Two-Lips on my Azz

Question: What's better than having roses on your piano?

Answer: Having tulips on your organ.

:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

[BucketBack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS_yyRk_dj8

[hawgrider]

German Lakota medicine song featuring Bucketbacks decendents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_afgeTAopc

[BucketBack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM

[Arklatex]

Why did the pine tree get in trouble?

It was being knotty.


Now that I've gotten that outta the way, this thread is officially wrecked! I don't think I will be LOGGING in to this one anymore. It's gotten to be acorn-y one.

[hawgrider]

Why did the pine tree get in trouble?

It was being knotty.


Now that I've gotten that outta the way, this thread is officially wrecked! I don't think I will be LOGGING in to this one anymore. It's gotten to be acorn-y one.
Yup trashed oh well... tough crowd here lol

[Arklatex]

Yup trashed oh well... tough crowd here lol
You know it's bad when I have to dig deep to come up with some stupid tree jokes!

[hawgrider]

Well Im proud of my heritage. My great great grandmother was a full blood Cherokee I think that makes my dad a 1/8 me a 1/16 something like that. The article was interesting to me. And no my great great grandmother did not kill all the Buffalo or use up and pollute the land. They took what they needed and used every part of what they killed.

[A Watchman]

Well Im proud of my heritage. My great great grandmother was a full blood Cherokee I think that makes my dad a 1/8 me a 1/16 something like that. The article was interesting to me. And no my great great grandmother did not kill all the Buffalo or use up and pollute the land. They took what they needed and used every part of what they killed.

Just gotta ask ...... how many heavy set Injuns anybody else seen?

[MrsInor]

Just gotta ask ...... how many heavy set Injuns anybody else seen?

More than two.

[hawgrider]

Just gotta ask ...... how many heavy set Injuns anybody else seen?
Reservation Indians probably a lot of them. Before reservations probably not many or for sure not as many.

[TJC44]

Well Im proud of my heritage. My great great grandmother was a full blood Cherokee I think that makes my dad a 1/8 me a 1/16 something like that.

Does this look like an indian to anyone?
2493

[MrsInor]

TJC are you trying to get a rise out of us Indians?

[hawgrider]

Does this look like an indian to anyone?
2493
Lol funny right there. Once on the www. Always on the www. Yeah Im a fat whiskey drinking blond hair blue eyes Cherokee, English, Scottish and a sliver of Irish. Woof! Im a mutt Lol

[TJC44]

No, just yanking on Hawg's chain. About time he woke up from the food coma earlier.
FWIW, I've been trying to find either Micmac or Penobscot that I was told is in my line somewhere.
Haven't found it yet through ancestry. I have to dig deeper.

[Coastie dad]

Lol funny right there. Once on the www. Always on the www. Yeah Im a fat whiskey drinking blond hair blue eyes Cherokee, English, Scottish and a sliver of Irish. Woof! Im a mutt Lol

Quit calling us mutts, dammit.

It is Mongrel-American. Mongrel-American Lives Matter. MLM.

(Sorry. Found piss in my post toasties again. Better to smart off here than to hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.):pirateflag::butcher: