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The Legend of Tsali: A True Tale of Timeless Sacrifice
The Tsali Challenge and Tsali Recreation Area take their names from a real-life Cherokee hero named Tsali, whose legend is re-enacted every summer as part of the Cherokee outdoor drama "Unto These Hills."
Tsali was a farmer who lived with his wife and three sons near the mouth of the Nantahala River near what is now Bryson City, NC. He and his family were among the l6,000 Cherokee General Winfield Scott ordered moved to Oklahoma in 1836 under the terms of the Treaty of New Echota, the document that gave President Andrew Jackson the authority to enforce what became known as the Trail of Tears.
Like most North Carolina Cherokee, Tsali was a traditionalist who lived outside the Cherokee mainstream and was not actively involved in the debates over the federal government's Cherokee removal policy. Warned by his brother-in-law, Nantayalee George, of their impending removal, Tsali simply went back to work in his fields, not understanding why he would be forced to leave his home.
When soldiers arrived to force Tsali and his family from their home in the fall of 1838, Tsali offered no resistance. However, during the trip to the stockade at Bushnell, a site now covered by Fontana Lake, an altercation broke out among the 12 Cherokee in the party and their four-solider armed escort. Two soldiers were killed. Some stories claim the soldiers assaulted Tsali's wife Wilani with a bayonet (or beat her to death as portrayed in "Unto These Hills") and that Tsali and his sons killed the soldiers out of revenge. Others say a fight broke out after one of the soldiers's shot himself accidentally with his own weapon. Federal military records claim a Cherokee wielding a hidden ax attacked the soldiers.
In any event, the Cherokee party including Tsali and his family disappeared into the forests, taking refuge in a hidden cave near Clingman's Dome. On November 6, 1838, General Scott issued orders to hunt down the Cherokee fugitives and execute those responsible for the soldiers' deaths. After federal search parties turned up no leads, General Scott pressured the Quallatown band of Cherokee, promising that their people would not be removed to Oklahoma if they helped find the fugitives
Legend has it the Quallatown band sent an emissary to Tsali's hidden band, offering them this compromise from General Scott — if Tsali, his sons and the rest of the party surrendered, the rest of the remaining Cherokee could remain in their North Carolina home. Tsali accepted.
60 Quallatown Cherokee escorted the fugitives into the Bushnell stockade. The rest of the party, including Tsali's youngest son, was spared. But four men including two of Tsali's sons and Tsali himself were executed by firing squad in December, 1838 and buried outside the stockade. And the legend of Tsali was born.
In a rare turn of events, the federal government for once kept its word and allowed the remaining Cherokee to remain in their North Carolina home. Their 10,000 descendants still live on the Qualla Boundary — which is known today as Cherokee, NC, home to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.
Some historical documents dispute the accuracy of the events surrounding the fight that led Tsali to flee, the details of General Scott's offer and Tsali's ultimate surrender. Yet one fact remains irrefutable — the story of Tsali's resistance made him a martyr, a hero, a legend and a symbol to the Cherokee — as a man who gave up his life so that his people might live free.
Over the years since, hikers in the area have reported seeing a solitary, spectral figure striding through the surrounding forests. Witnesses say that the enigmatic figure vanishes in an instant, then reappears at dusk, his shadow looming dark and tall against the evening sky. Many have investigated this phenomenon, but the Cherokee claim it is the spirit of Tsali, who still watches over the people and the homeland he sacrificed himself to save.
Comments
Awesome story. I have heard of Cherokee tears before but I did not know what they were. Thanks for covering the region like no one else.
- Posted by: Angela at October 18, 2005 10:45 AM
Alright! You have hooked me. I did not want to like this magazine. I thought it would be like all free magazines - full of drool just to get advertisers. BUT Roam proved me wrong. I recently moved to Charlotte from New Jersey and this is the best magazine I have read in years. It is the New Yorker magazine of the south in my opinion.
- Posted by: Richard at October 18, 2005 11:11 AM
