"The Great Cherokee Children Massacre at Ywahoo Falls"
By Dan Troxell
On Friday, August 10th 1810, the Great Cherokee Children Massacre took place
at Ywahoo Falls in southeast Kentucky ...... the Cherokee village leaders
of the Cumberland Plateau territory from Knoxville Tennessee to the Cumberland
River in Kentucky were led by the northern provisional Thunderbolt District
Chief, Beloved Woman/War Woman "Cornblossom", the highly honored daughter
of the famous Thunderbolt War Chief Doublehead. Several months before this
date, Beloved Woman/War Woman Cornblossom, was preparing the people in all
the Cherokee villages of southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee to bring
all their children to the sacred Ywahoo Falls area of refuge and safety.
Once all the Cherokee children were gathered, they were to make a journey
to Reverend Gideon Blackburns' Presbyterian Indian School at Sequatchie Valley
outside of Chattanooga Tennessee in order to save the children of the Cherokee
Nation remaining in Kentucky and northern Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau.
This area of Sequatchie Valley was very near to Lookout Mountain at Chattanooga,
the once long held Chickamauga National capital of the Thunderbolts. Near
Lookout Mountain, just on the other side in northeast Alabama, was the rendezvous
point for the Chickamaugan Cherokees and their allies the Creek Nation. For
by this time, many Creek and Chickamaugan Thunderbolt Cherokee were defending
the rest of the Indian Nations there as well. The arrangements to save the
Cherokee children through Gideon Blackburns' white protection Christian Indian
Schools, had been made earlier by Cornblossoms father War Chief Doublehead,
who had also several years earlier been assassinated by non-traditionalist
of the southern Cherokee Nation of the Carolinas and far eastern Tennessee.
A huge gathering area underneath Ywahoo Falls itself was to be the central
meeting place for these women and children to gather and wait. Then all the
children of all ages would go as one group southward to the school to safety
from the many Indian fighters gathering in the neighboring counties of Wayne
and Pulaski in Kentucky. These Indian fighters were led by an old Franklinite
militiaman from Tennessee named Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory who came from Sullivan
County Tennessee at the settlement of Franklin and had fought many Franklinite
campaigns under John Sevier to eliminate all the traditional Thunderbolt
Cherokees totally and without mercy. Big Tooth Gregory, sanctioned by the
United States government, War Department, and Governor of the territory,
carried on the ill famous Indian hating battle cry of John Seveir that "nits
make lice". Orders were understood by these Cherokee haters that nits (baby
lice) would grow up to be adults and especially targeted in all the campaigns
of John Seveir Franklinites were the Cherokees women, pregnant women, and
children of all ages. John Seveir, Big Tooth Gregory, and all the rest of
the Franklinites philosophy was that if they could destroy the children of
the Cherokee, there would be no Cherokees and no Cherokee Nation to contend
with in their expansion of white settlements, the white churches, and the
claiming of territory for the United States. Orders were issued to the
Franklinites to split open the belly of any pregnant Cherokee woman, remove
the baby inside her, and slice it as well. To the Franklinites, the Cherokee
baby inside the mother was the nit that would eventually make lice.
In all the earlier campaigns of the Franklintes in the late 1700s, the blood
and screams of the Cherokee children were constantly heard throughout the
Cumberland Plateau territory from todays' Knoxville Tennessee to the Cumberland
River in southeast Kentucky to all their adjoining territories. From as far
in Kentucky as present day London/Corbin and the lands within the present
Daniel Boone National Forest the cries could be heard. The Lands from London
to Cumberland Falls were ruled by many war leaders, among them was a great
warrior and friend to Cornblossom, War Chief Red Bird called Chief Cutsuwah,
descendent of the Great War Woman Cutsuwah that fell during the French and
Indian War at Burnside Kentucky. Red Bird was also a close relative to
Cornblossom, War Chief Peter Troxell and their descendants. The cries of
Red Birds women and children echoed many times in this genocide campaign
of the Franklinites to rid the area of powerful Cherokee leaders. The blood
of many warriors, men and women, was spilled trying to defend their Cherokee
people. From where todays Pickett State Park lays in northern Tennessee just
below the Kentucky Tennessee State Line lying south of present day Wayne
County Kentucky, the cries of women and children and fallen warriors of War
Chief The Fox could also be heard. The Fox was sometimes called Black Fox
or Captain Fox. He became known as Captain Fox when Doublehead and his loyal
Thunderbolt war parties in the late 1700s attacked a militia in Kentucky,
killing their leader which was a Captain in the American Army. As The Fox
was the one who killed the Captain, he took his militia overcoat in victory
and wore it constantly. A frenzied whoop dance was performed on Lookout Mountain
by Dragging Canoe, Doublehead, and the Bloody 7 over this victory attack
on the Kentucky militia. The Fox then became known to all the Cherokees as
Captain Fox. Now the villages under Chief Captain Fox came under attack by
the Franklinites.
Standing Fern from the Ywahoo Falls area sent many warriors and war women
to counter the Franklinites move on their boundaries many times as did
Cornblossom and War Chief Peter Troxell. War Chief Peter Troxell had attacked
to the west of Ywahoo Falls in 1806 and 1807 the settlers of Wayne and Pulaski
counties, bringing many settlers to the point of utter fear for their
encroachments against the Cherokees of the now Daniel Boone National Forest
of southeast Kentucky. But in 1807, War Chief Peter Troxell had been granted
official amnesty by the Governor of Kentucky if he and his Cherokee war parties
from neighboring McCreary County stop their raids into Wayne and Pulaski
County. War Chief Peter Troxell agreed and turned over his scalping knife
with 9 notches to the authorities at the courthouse in Wayne County. Peace
would last just a short time when the settlers of Wayne and Pulaski banded
together in 1810 to break this peace treaty at the massacre of Ywahoo Falls.
Many of the Cherokee who tried to protect their people during these times
simply did not return, dwindling the people down to small factions, and the
Indian fighters knew it. But these small factions of Cherokee traditionalist
in southeast Kentucky became more determined to save their people as ever.
And from all this, the Thunderbolts endured the militia of the Franklinites,
continued encroachments of white settlers, land speculators, the many Southern
Cherokee who allied themselves with the United States government trying to
defeat the traditionalist of Kentucky Georgia and Tennessee, all, resulting
in the Chickamaugan Cherokee separating even more from the southern Cherokee
of the Carolinas to fight this continuing drastic change.
Politically, Two (2) Cherokee Nations had been formed during Dragging Canoe
and Doubleheads' fight for freedom of the traditionalist: The Southern Cherokees
of the Carolinas and far eastern Tennessee and the Chickamaugan Cherokee
of Georgia, eastern Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. For you see, over the
many years, many of the southern Cherokee of the Carolinas who lived more
close to the white settlements leaned toward the US Governments policy of
change, many became inbred within the white society and did as the whites
did collecting black and Indian slaves for themselves and to sell, with some
becoming rich, many did away with the "Old Ways" and played into the hands
of politicians and land speculators to steal land as they themselves would
now own land unto themselves. Many of the Southern Cherokee would also condemn
the Thunderbolt traditional Cherokees in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky
who would not change and accept the new ways of the Europeans, shamed and
banished any Carolina Cherokees who would not accept the white mans ways.
Many Cherokees in the Carolinas and elsewhere isolated themselves in the
mountains way before the trail of tears during this social civil strife between
the people. These conformed Cherokees would brand any and all who kept their
ancient Cherokee heritage as traitors to the Cherokee people. And from all
of this strife of change many traditional Cherokee protectors arose. Dragging
Canoe and Doublehead arose to defend the people. But by this date of 1810
Dragging Canoe and the rest of the so- called Bloody Seven had either died
a natural death or been killed and War Chief Doublehead, Cornblossoms father,
had met his death by means of assassination at the hands of the Cherokee
conformist from the south.
And now, in 1810, one more attempt would be made to destroy the Cherokees
who kept the old traditional ways. One more attempt would be made to destroy
the "nits that make lice" as the many Cherokee women with their children
began coming to Ywahoo Falls in order to make the great "Children" migration
to Seqatchie Valley near Chattanooga, Tennessee. In southeast Kentucky,
underneath Ywahoo Falls itself, was War Woman Standing Fern and over 100
women and children, others stationed themselves out from the falls. Standing
Fern was the mighty woman war leader of the Ywahoo Falls area and was married
to the 1st born of Cornblossom. She was married to War Chief Peter Troxell.
At this time Cornblossom was married to the famous "Big Jake" Jacob Troxell,
a half breed Delaware Warrior from Pennsylvania who had been sent by the
personal staff of President George Washington earlier to sway the Cherokee
away from the Spanish of Florida and more towards the New Americans in alliance.
But Jacob had ended up joining the Cherokee instead which came about over
the inhumane cruelty the incoming settlers of Kentucky and Tennessee were
inflicting on the Cherokee and other tribes of southeast Kentucky and northern
Tennessee. To the New Americans he had "turned injun"(again). By 1810, "Little
Jake" Peter Troxell was a mighty War Chief riding along side his mother
Cornblossom in all her campaigns and protecting the sacred sites with his
wife Standing Fern. They were true Cherokee Thunderbolts and wore the sacred
emblem and mark of the Thunder People: the Lightning Bolt. Standing Fern
was in charge of the gathered children who by August 10th had almost all
assembled. Now they would wait for Cornblossom to bring her younger children
to the falls, then all would be ready and they would go southward in a children
fleeing journey more closer to the Thunderbolts of the south who were more
stronger.
Runners brought word to Standing Fern at the falls that her husband War Chief
Peter Troxell and Cornblossom were on their way to Ywahoo Falls with the
last of the children. Traveling with Cornblossom and War Chief Peter Troxell
were Chief Red Bird of the Cumberland Falls area and their children, the
youngest children of Cornblossom, and all the children of War Chief Peter
Troxell. When they arrived at Ywahoo Falls the journey southward would begin.
But before Cornblossom, Red Bird, War Chief Peter Troxell, and the children
with them arrived, the old Franklinite "Indian fighter" by the name of Hiram
"Big Tooth" Gregory had heard of the planned trip several days prior and
headed immediately for the falls area to kill them all with all he could
muster to kill the Cherokee.
Breaking the 1807 peace treaty between War Chief Peter Troxell and the Governor
of Kentucky, Big Tooth Gregorys band of Indian fighters crossed into Cherokee
territory and came in two directions, one group from Wayne County, the other
from neighboring Pulaski county in southeast Kentucky. The Indian fighters
on horseback joined together at what is now called Flat Rock Kentucky and
headed into the Ywahoo Falls area with fiery hatred. Big Tooth Gregory and
his Indian fighters could not allow these children (nits) to escape. Being
only 1 good accessible way in by land and 1 way in by water, Gregorys band
of Indian fighters chose the quick way by land, sending a few side skirmishers
by way to block anyone trying to escape. Before they reached the falls, at
todays entrance to Ywahoo Falls, the Indian fighters encountered a front
Cherokee guard consisting of "Big Jake" Jacob Troxell (husband to Cornblossom),
a few long hunters friendly to the Cherokee mainly through intermarriage
and some remaining Thunderbolt warriors, all who were guarding the entrance
to the falls. This occurred shortly after midnight in the early morning hours
of darkness before the rising of the sun. This will be the night morning
of screams. This will be the last day of many children. This will be the
day that will forever mark the Troxell Cherokee heritage in history.
Jacob Troxell, the long hunters, and warriors instantly sense the trouble,
a Cherokee runner takes off in flight to attempt to warn Standing Fern at
the falls but is cut down by 2 side skirmishers on the way. At the same time
Jacob Troxell and the front guards lock in a fierce battle of flintlock against
flintlock and hand to hand fighting, trying to keep Gregory and his band
out, but are overcome in a short time by the numbers of the Indian fighters.
All the front guard is killed at this entrance to Ywahoo Falls. It was said
through the memories of the Cherokee people of southeast Kentucky that Jacob
Troxell and 1 renowned great warrior were the last to fall of the front guards.
Jacob, now swinging a half broken highly decorated war club in one hand and
a large skinning knife in the other, stood fighting hand to hand with blood
coming out of his mouth from several bodily wounds and was said to have kept
screaming to the end in a loud voice over and over, "The Children!". The
Great Warrior witnessed the fall of Jacob as the Indian fighters took sharp
aim and fired a whole volley of lead into Jacobs body finally downing and
scalping him. Jacob will survive this attack but is mortally wounded and
will live 2 months before he dies as a result from this massacre. So some
say that Jacob died at this massacre to denote his final breath to save the
children because that was where his heart was - defending the children of
a now forgotten people lost within the hills and valleys of southeast Kentucky
waiting for remembrance of their families. The Great Warrior, who was still
standing and the last to fall, was jumped by several Indian fighters and
downed to the ground. Breaking his arms the Indian fighters then cut his
throat and scalped him.
This had all been witnessed and watched by a hidden son of one of the front
Cherokee guards who was given orders to flee into the woods upon the Indian
fighters approach. This hidden Cherokee son would carry down this memory
for generations (today at this entrance to Ywahoo Falls there is only one
lonely memorial grave marker with the name "Jacob Troxell" only, to mark
remembrance of this incident, the Ywahoo Falls area is part of the Big South
Fork River and Recreation Area of the National Park Service and is the tallest
waterfall in Kentucky which drops 113 feet, underneath and behind the falls
is an open huge gigantic rock shelter where the children and Standing Fern
had gathered).
Gregory with his Indian fighters after scalping all the front guards, then
moved onward in a rush to the falls area. Lining themselves all along the
top rim of the bluff surrounding the falls and large "rock house" below it,
they began firing from all sides down on War Woman Standing Fern and over
100 children now trapped directly underneath them. The ones out from the
falls ran, hid, and escaped. Trapping the 100 children with other old men,
pregnant women, and mothers underneath the falls, Gregory and his men worked
their way down into the gigantic area of the rock house on the 2 downward
side paths while the ones on top kept them bottled in. As children and women
fell all around her from the volley of lead above, War Woman Standing Fern
and her few warriors now take to the two left and right inclining side paths
that lead into the huge rock shelter hoping to meet and stop the Indian fighters.
Looking outward from underneath the falls itself, Standing Fern and several
warriors took the right hand path that would lead upward, the other few warriors
took the left path. The trapped Cherokee people and the children old enough
to hold a weapon grabbed what ever they could in their grasps to defend
themselves. Some would have a knife or hatchet, while most would only have
a rock or a clay cooking bowl to throw or nothing at all to use as a weapon.
Some of the ones who escaped out from the falls, hid among the rocks, water,
and trees and would watch in horror with tears to tell the story for generations
so that we may remember what happened that day, Friday, August 10th, 1810.
Standing Fern and her warriors were very quickly overcome by the Indian fighters
and brutally killed but not before Standing Fern fought with a passion of
defense taking with her several of the Indian fighters in hand to hand combat
along the right path while the other warriors fought with the ever fevered
courage of a Thunderbolt as well. The fall of Standing Fern occurred at a
narrow spot on the right path fighting several of the Indian fighters with
the swinging of a hatchet in hand to hand combat. As she was fighting she
was shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the hip, and gutted in the
belly with an unforeseen knife. As the knife entered her belly, at the same
time she was shoved over the ravine by several Indian Fighters, but not before
taking some with her.
With Standing Fern and all her warriors now defeated and murdered, the Indian
fighters set upon the children and others that were trapped under the falls,
rushing it with more volleys of lead and close attack. Using what useless
weapons they had, the women, old men, and children fell prey to the evil
dark designs of the attackers. They screamed an earthquake of death and tears.
The water and ground ran red.
Hiram Big Tooth Gregory and all his Indian fighters raped the women and younger
female children of all ages, pillaged, cut bellies open, murdered, and scalped
over 100 Chickamaugan Cherokee women and children that had been trapped
underneath Ywahoo Falls, killing most of them as they ran, begged, huddled
together, and screamed and pleaded for life.
Meanwhile this same day the party of Cornblossom approached with her children.
As her party came closer to the falls area, it is said a hawk flew above
them and lit in a nearby tree and acted strange. Investigating this remarkable
occurrence, it was found that the tree was bleeding blood out of its bark,
the leaves trembled, and the sound of the hawk was as a cry and scream of
a baby. Fearing something wrong, Cornblosom and her party pushed onward in
a frantic pace to get her children to the falls and safety. When Cornblossom
arrived at the falls entrance area, she found all of the front guards brutally
scalped and killed with her husband "Big Jake" Jacob Troxell. Leaving the
children with some women at the front guard entrance, Cornblossom, her son
War Chief Peter Troxell, Red Bird, and their party of warriors and war women
then rushed to the Falls itself, where they find some of Gregorys murderers
who had remained behind still finishing their evil work of rape, torture,
and scalping. Cornblossom screams for her warriors, Redbird, and her son
Chief Peter Troxell to kill these remaining men with a blow of passion. Her
famous cry was once again heard as she had always shouted in all her many
campaigns: "Shoot Twice Not Once!". War Chief Peter Troxell, Chief
Redbird, and the Thunderbolt Warriors, along with Beloved Woman / War Woman
Cornblossom, charge the murderers with screaming Cherokee war hoops and passion
of justice, a battle ensues with a short volley of rifle fire and close hand
to hand combat with all its fierceness. All the remaining men of Gregorys
Indian fighters are cut down to never more harm the Cherokee people.
From this last fight of Cornblossom, her son War Chief Peter Troxell was
himself killed at the huge rock shelter underneath the falls and Cornblossom
herself received an agonizing long rifle gunshot injury. Cornblossom will
live 2 days before this wound takes its full toll on her life. Beloved Woman
Cornblossom, wounded and in much pain from wound and sorrow, will sing and
wail the "Death song of the Cherokees" underneath and atop the ancient sacred
grounds of Ywahoo Falls over and over for 2 days and nights. Clinching her
raised fists and raised open arms to the Great Spirit, day and night, she
kept screaming the words of her father Doublehead, son War Chief Peter Troxell,
and daughter-n-law War Woman Standing Fern: "WE ARE NOT CONQUERED YET!".
And on the 3rd day, as the blazing eastern morning sun would rise over the
mountains and valleys of Kentucky, Cornblossom passed on into Cherokee history
as a great woman of her people and a great mother of future generations.
May we not forget her or her childrens children. Remember her with a Cherokee
tear and with honor.
From this massacre, Jacob Troxell (husband to Cornblossom), the Great Warrior,
and all the front guards killed, War Woman Standing Fern (wife to War Chief
Peter Troxell) and her elite Thunderbolt warriors all killed defending the
children below the falls, War Chief Peter Troxell killed in the last fight,
and over 100 women and children waiting to go south to safety in a children
journey to a Christian mission school, all lay dead, massacred, raped, tortured,
and scalped, by these "Indian fighters". It was said that "Bones and Blood
ran so deep underneath Ywahoo Falls that the murdered dead were all put there
together in a heap to be their grave". The place of innocence and the Ancient
Ones now became a place of death of the innocent. The Falls ran red that
day of darkness, Friday, August 10, 1810. No more will they witness the Blessed
Moonbow at Cumberland Falls and receive its sacred Blessing, no more will
they hear great orations spoken at Ywahoo Falls by not only the many Cherokee
leaders of the Nation but other great orators from other tribal neighbors
as well. No more will they roam and see the land of paradise and the geological
wonders of the area. William Troxell the youngest son of Cornblossom will
forever keep the fires of memory alive so all may know what happened on Friday
August 10, 1810. These fires will be carried by William to Alabama were the
stories are etched and burned into the generations to come of the Troxells
and whoever may listen and remember.
They will now wait for remembrance of themselves, their land, their culture,
and their hearts. They will wait for someone to say "I remember".
A relative Troxell and a Blevins man of the area reports this incident to
the Sheriff of Wayne County but nothing is done, nor is Hiram Big Tooth Gregory
brought to justice for many of the local non-Indians believed that "nits
make lice".
Beloved Woman Cornblossom wails and suffers so much over the dead that she
dies from grief a couple of days after the massacre of her husband, her son,
her daughter-n-law, and over 100 loved women and children of her Cherokee
people. Her grief was sorrowful and hard. It is said that on her last breath
to leave her body was the soft words "WE ARE NOT CONQUERED YET ... REMEMBER
MY CHILDREN .... REMEMBER MY PEOPLE".
This massacre ended all power of the mighty Chickamaugan Thunderbolt Cherokee
people in Kentucky to Knoxville Tennessee. Cornblossom and Standing Fern
were the last powerful "Beloved Women/War Women" of the Thunderbolt Cherokees
of the Cumberland Plateau. War Chief Peter Troxell, son of Cornblossom, was
the last of the great powerful Cherokee "War Chiefs" of Kentucky and the
Cumberland Plateau. These people of southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee
held out unto death. And as it is often said "Today was a good day to die"
for "We are not conquered yet". The rest of the children of Cornblossom,
the children of Standing Fern, War Chiefs Redbird and Peter Troxell were
spared from this tragedy, to live on, generation after generation, some keeping
the memory and history alive of the Cherokee Nation. With no powerful Cherokee
leaders left in Kentucky and the Cumberland Plateau to hold any strong power,
many Cherokee leave the South Fork area of southeast Kentucky and northern
Tennessee after this Great Massacre in fear of the whites, while others become
isolated and hide in the mountains. The childrens children of War Chief Peter
Troxell, Standing Fern, and Cornblossom will isolate themselves in the valleys
and mountains of southeast Kentucky with some holding on to the memory of
their Great Cherokee heritage, to not speak openly or too much until the
time has come for remembrance. I, Dan Troxell, Deni U-Gu-Ku, direct descendant
through Cornblossom and her last born son William Troxell, comes out from
isolation and proclaims our history alive for I am a Real Human Being, I
am a Thunderbolt, I am Cherokee. The Thunderbolt people will now wait for
a remembrance.
After the massacre at Ywahoo Falls, Reverend Blackburns "Indian schools"
in Tennessee are discontinued due to Blackburns illness and grief over the
many women and children killed at Ywahoo Falls in southeast Kentucky. Reverend
Blackburn is caught with a boatload of whiskey and becomes an alcoholic.
Chief Redbird isolates his people that live near Cumberland Falls and sends
any remaining people into hiding until the remembrance. The children of
Cornblossom and Standing Fern survived. William Troxell the youngest son
of Cornblossom, and my descent, survived and removed himself to northeastern
Alabama 7 yrs after the massacre, lived with the Creeks, and became a link
between the hidden Cherokee of Kentucky and Tennessee before and after the
Trail of Tears.
But there is more to be told that came after the massacre, events that will
shape history into meaning of not only the Doublehead legacy but for all
who were to survive the invasion of settlers. Survival of the children and
their generations to come. And this will center on the descendants in
southeastern Kentucky and William Troxell and his father Jacob Troxell and
the legacy that will now transpire in Alabama. In order to protect the children
and their generations many things were done to persevere, hidden things,
things on one hand presented to the settlers to be true while in reality
other things came about, and this tactic of survival was given to them earlier
by Doublehead.
As there were Cherokee survivors to this massacre many did die a brutal death
from it. Doubleheads' descent of his children and their children were considered
by the settlers to be not only a threat but a future threat as well. Also
in the last fight of Cornblossom, Peter Troxell, and Redbird when they attacked
the remaining murderers at the Falls, 3 of the white men were held and spared
briefly and executed personally by the hidden children who had escaped and
run into the nearby hill. This execution of justice came shortly after the
passing of Cornblossom on the 3rd day after being weighed in judgment by
the Cherokee Council of Women of Redbird. The first blow was said to be struck
by the son of the Great Warrior who fell among the front guards. His name
was Tommy Bright Star, who will also remove himself to Alabama later with
William Troxell. One of the 3 white men executed by the children was close
blood kin to the Indian fighter leader Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory, his name
was Homer Gregory, believed to be the brother of Hiram.
The many Indian hating settlers along with the Kentucky and Tennessee militia
deemed this massacre the last of the resistance movement of the Kentucky
Cherokees and northern Tennessee. The aftermath of this Cherokee massacre
brought new questionable ideals to the now so-called victorious gloated settlers.
Questions like: Is the Cherokee resistance truly over or will somewhere
retaliation occur? Are they truly conquered and defeated? And what of the
children, will they assimilate into non-Indian society, or must they be dealt
with harshly, or what? Many questions, much pondering on what next. The settlers,
now feeling powerful and self dominated, ponder on the next steps to take
in the Cherokee matters.
Foreseeing more tragic events in southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee,
and understanding that the Indian fighters are now receiving bits and pieces
of rumors that some of the Cherokee leaders are NOT dead and possibly survived,
and that Homer Gregory and two others were executed, the Cherokees must keep
one step ahead of the settlers by making widely known that the massacre event
had killed all their leaders, especially the ones of the Doublehead/Cornblossom
connection and descent who had any Cherokee power as their known leaders.
True: Cornblossom, Peter Troxell, Standing Fern, the Great Warrior, many
front guards, and over 100 Cherokee women and children were slaughtered in
the massacre. All who had strong connections with the Doublehead legacy.
However, what is kept from the settlers is that Jacob Troxell and some others
did not die from their wounds. The others were the ones who had escaped when
the massacre began. But Jacob will suffer much pain from his wounds. William
Troxell (Dan Troxell direct descent), 7 yrs after the massacre in the year
1817, will concealingly take Jacob and some other Cherokee with him to northeast
Alabama. War Chief Peter Troxell became known as the last father of the people,
father of his brothers and sisters in honor, and that is why some will say
that Peter is of their descent, so no one will forget him as well.
But first ALL things must be concealed from the non-Indians. Jacobs 3 trading
posts are burned by the Cherokee with any goods distributed to the PEOPLE.
Caves are deliberately sand walled and collapsed in southeast Ky and northern
Tennessee. Some Cherokee traveled into the non-Indian KY territories of Wayne,
Pulaski, and Green to conceal THINGS of importance, while other THINGS are
secretly transported to northeast Alabama through the guise of Cherokee War
Women acting like non-Indian Women. Villages, burial grounds, and other important
things of past leaders are shuffled to conceal. On and On. To the settlers,
Jacob Troxell could not be allowed to live, he was politically a threat,
as he was married to the daughter of Doublehead which could stir up the Cherokees
again to resistance. If any of the leaders were to have survived, bloodshed
after bloodshed could have maybe occurred. With all Cherokee power now gone,
the killing of innocent Cherokee must end. This hope to save the people must
now obscure itself into time and history.
To give the false story to the settlers that Jacob died with the rest, brought
satisfaction to the settlers that the Cherokee resistance had completely
ended. And this self assurance of conquering ALL the Cherokee leaders
gave the Ky Cherokees the time they needed. This time allowed Jacob and his
son William Troxell to safely travel to Alabama, set up a communication link,
and survive.
The other children of Cornblossom in southeast Kentucky will inter- marry
into early settlers and survive. The son of Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory from
Wayne County, whose name is also Hiram Gregory, a raving fire and brimstone
mountain preacher, takes in marriage a woman by the name of Jane Stevenson.
Jane Stevenson, a white woman, had also been married to War Chief Peter Troxell
during the early 1800s. And this is also another reason that sparked the
massacre, as Jane, before the massacre, had run off from the white settlers
to join the Cherokee of Cornblossom, Jacob Troxell, and Peter. You see, Peter
Troxell had 2 wives, Jane Stevenson and Standing Fern. And this stuck in
the craw of all the white people who hated the Cherokee of south central
Ky. Again, the real reason of the massacre was just because the Cherokee
were there, and the children had to die, this feeling of a white woman, one
of the settlers own, married to a Cherokee who had attacked them all the
time, was just fuel that fired the flame of hatred. Jane Stevenson, whether
forcibly or willingly, after the massacre, will take the children of her
husband War Chief Peter Troxell and Standing Fern into survival through the
marriage of the son of the one who killed her husband.
Seeing intermarriage with their own, the Indian hating populace feels secure
that Doubleheads' grandchildrens' assimilation into white society will bring
no threat to the area anymore. The Indian haters did not know that Jacob,
William, and some other Cherokee will escape their reach and later to return
to the area in generations to come with a history to tell. Many of the early
settlers believed now that the Cherokees, their culture, history, and ideas,
were now being devastated, and over time would be completely destroyed. They
did not count on the Cornblossom legacy to ever return with what happened
to a great people: the Thunderbolts.
On a very cold day, in early spring of 1994, during the Moonbow Event of
Cumberland Falls, with many attending, Danny Troxell, direct descendent of
Cornblossom and her last born son William Troxell, broke the silence of the
falls for the 1st time by making the 1st Cherokee oration at Ywahoo Falls
since the massacre of 1810. For 184 years, since the massacre, no Cherokee
descent had spoken at the falls. But on that day a great tragedy chronicle
of the Cherokee people was spoken. Today, (1996 - 186 years after the massacre)
in southeast Kentucky and elsewhere, the descendants of Cornblossom and other
Cherokee descendent are numerous.
William Troxell, last born of Cornblossom and Jacob Troxell, my direct descent
line who was known as "Little Willie" or sometimes called "Little Loud Wolf",
was 10 years old at the time of this great massacre. William was in the party
with Cornblossom (his mother), Peter Troxell (his brother), and Red Bird
(his very close relative).
Jacob Troxell did not ever recover from the massacre, he had been shot and
scalped, his family and friends destroyed. His mind and thinking was gone,
to never be recovered. So in memory, and the way it was, Jacob DID
die at the massacre, never leaving his wife Cornblossom, his son and
daughter-n-law, and the 100 Cherokee children and others. Even though his
body was in Alabama, his mind was always at the Cherokee massacre, the people,
and the lands he loved, THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE. Maybe someday a memorial
will be erected to remember them all.
LET US NOT FORGET THEM
REMEMBER THEM WITH A CHEROKEE TEAR
Danny Troxell
Direct Descendent of Cornblossom (daughter of Doublehead) the
Mighty Cumberland Plateau Thunderbolt Cherokees and the Southern Ky Cumberland
River Shawnee
This is the true story of my family! |
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