CHAUTAUQUA SYSTEM OF EDUCATION-CHEROKEE INDIANS and commanded a ship at the age of nineteen years. He made several voyages to the East Indies in the ships of John Jacob Astor. In 1798 he was made a lieutenant of the navy, and was acting captain of the Chesapeake in 1802. He became master in May, 1804, and captain in 1806. During the War of 1812-15 he was in command of the American naval force on Lake Ontario, where he performed efficient service. After that war he commanded the Mediterranean squadron, and, with Consul Shaler, negotiated a treaty with Algiers. In 1820 he was naval commissioner in Washington, D. C., and again from 1833 until his death, in that city, Jan. 27, 1840. Commodore Chauncey's remains were interred in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, and at the head of his grave stands a fine white-marble monument, suitably in scribed. Chautauqua System of Education, an enterprise established in 1878 at Chautauqua, N. Y., in connection with the Chautauqua Assembly, which had been organized in 1874, by the joint efforts of Lewis Miller and the Rev. John H. Vincent, for the purpose of holding annual courses of instruction in languages, science, literature, etc., at Chautauqua, in July and August annually. The aim of the Chautauqua System is to continue the work of the assembly throughout the year in all parts of the country. Since 1878 more than 250,000 students have enrolled their names for the various courses. The purpose of the Chautauqua Circles is to promote habits of reading and study in literature, history, art, and science, without interfering with the regular routine of life. The complete course covers four years, and aims to give "the college outlook on life and the world. The books for study include specified works approved by the counsellors; a membership book, with review outlines; a monthly magazine, with additional readings and notes; and other aids. Local circles can be formed with three or four members. One hour each day for nine months is the time annually required. All who complete the course receive certificates, and in case any have pursued collateral and advanced reading seals are affixed to the certificate. Cheatham, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, mil itary officer; born in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 20, 1820. He entered the Mexican War as captain in the 1st Tennessee Regiment; distinguished himself in the battles of Monterey, Medelin, and Cerro Gordo, and became colonel of the 3d Tennessee Regiment. At the conclusion of the war he was appointed major-general of the Tennessee militia. When the Civil War broke out he organized the whole supply department for the Western Army of the Confederacy—a work in which he was employed when he was appointed brigadiergeneral (September, 1861). He partici pated in the battles of Belmont and Shiloh and accompanied Bragg on his expedition into Kentucky in September, 1862. Later he was promoted to major-general, and was engaged at Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Nashville, and other places. After the war he applied himself chiefly to agriculture. In October, 1885, he was made postmaster of Nashville. He died in Nashville, Sept. 4, 1886. Cheat River, BATTLE OF. See CARRICKSFORD, BATTLE OF. Cheeshahteaumuck, CALEB, Indian; born in Massachusetts in 1646; graduated at Harvard College in 1665, being the only Indian who received a degree from that institution. He died in Charlestown, Mass., in 1666. Cheney, THESEUS APOLEON, historian; born in Leon, N. Y., March 16, 1830; educated at Oberlin. When the Republican party was forming he suggested its name in an address at Conewango, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1854. His publications include Report on the Ancient Monuments of Western New York; Historical Sketch of Chemung Valley; Historical Sketch of Eighteen Counties of Central and Southcrn New York; Relations of Government to Science; and Antiquarian Researches. He died in Starkey, N. Y., Aug. 2, 1878. Cherokee Indians, a nation formerly inhabiting the hilly regions of Georgia, western Carolina, and northern Alabama, and called the Mountaineers of the South. They were among high hills and fertile valleys, and have ever been more susceptible of civilization than any of the Indian tribes within the domain of the United States. They were the determined foes of the Shawnees, and, after many conflicts, drove those fugitives back to the to cultivate the good-will of the Spaniards their sovereign, and a promise of their and Indians in Florida. He also held a conference with the chiefs of thirty-seven different cantons of Cherokees. He gave them presents, smoked with them the pipe of peace, marked the boundaries of the lands between them and the English settlers, regulated weights and measures, and appointed an agent to superintend their affairs. He then concluded a treaty of commerce and peace with the Creeks. About 1730 the projects of the French for uniting Canada and Louisiana by a cordon of posts through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys began to be developed. To counteract this scheme, the British wished to convert the Indians on the frontiers into allies or subjects, and, to this end, to make with them treaties of union and alliance. The British government accordingly sent out Sir Alexander Cumming to conclude such a treaty with the Cherokees. It was estimated that they obedience to his authority. The chiefs, falling on their knees, promised fidelity and obedience. By their consent, Sir Alexander nominated Moytoy, one of their best leaders, commander-in-chief of the Cherokee nation. They brought a rude crown, five eagles' tails, and four scalps of their enemies to Sir Alexander, and desired him to lay them at the feet of the King when he should return to England. Six of the chiefs went to England with Sir Alexander, and, standing before his Majesty, they promised, in the name of their nation, eternal fidelity to the English. A treaty was drawn up and signed by the Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations on one side, to which the marks and tokens of the chiefs were affixed. The chiefs were amazed at the magnificence of the British Court and nation. They said: "We came hither naked and poor as the worms of the earth; but you have everything; and men and offered £25 for every Indian we that have nothing must love you, and will never break the chain of friendship which is between us." They returned to Carolina with Robert Johnson, who came with a commission as governor. scalp. North Carolina voted a similar provision, and authorized the holding of Indian captives as slaves. General Amherst, petitioned for assistance, detached 1,200 men, chiefly Scotch Highlanders, for For a long time the Cherokees and the the purpose, under Colonel Montgomery, Five Nations had bloody contests; but with orders to chastise the Cherokees, but the English effected a reconciliation be- to return in time for the next campaign tween them about 1750, when the Chero- against Canada. Montgomery left Charleskees became the allies of the British ton early in April, with regular and proagainst the French, and allowed the vincial troops, and laid waste a portion former to build forts on their domain. of the Cherokee country. They were not About that time they were at the height subdued. The next year Colonel Grant led of their power, and inhabited sixty-four a stronger force against them, burned their villages along the streams; but soon after- towns, desolated their fields, and killed wards nearly one-half the population many of their warriors. Then the Indwere swept off by the small-pox. The ians humbly sued for peace (June, 1761). Cherokees assisted in the capture of Fort Duquesne in 1758. As In 1776 the Cherokees seriously threatened the frontier of South Carolina. these Indians had become the dread of the frontier settlers of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, these three States joined in the defence of South Carolina. Col. Andrew Williamson led an expedition into the Cherokee country, destroyed all their settlements eastward of the Appalachian Mountains, and effectually brought the natives to submission. This conquest was effected between July 15 and Oct. 11, 1776. A military work named Fort Rutledge was erected in the Cherokee country and garrisoned by two independent companies. While the Cherokees who accompanied the expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758 were returning home along the mountains on the western borders of Virginia and the Carolinas, they quarrelled with the settlers, and several white men and Indians were killed. Some Cherokee chiefs were sent to Charleston to arrange the dispute, when they were treated almost with contempt by the governor of South Carolina. This was soon followed by an invasion of the Cherokee country by Governor Littleton (October, 1759) with 1,500 men, contributed by Virginia and the Carolinas, who demanded the surrender of the murderers of the English. He found the Cherokees ready for war, and was glad to make the insubordination of his soldiers and the prevalence of smallpex among them an excuse for leaving the country. He accepted twenty-two Indian hostages as security for peace and thirteen towns and villages, killed more the future delivery of the murderers, and retired in haste and confusion (June, 1760). These hostages, which included several chiefs and warriors, were placed in Fort St. George, at the head of the Savannah River. The Cherokees attempted their rescue as soon as Littleton and his army had gone. A soldier was wounded, when his companions, in fiery anger, put all the hostages to death. In 1781 the Cherokees having made a hostile incursion into the Ninety-six District, in South Carolina, murdered some families, and burned several houses, Gen. Andrew Pickens, at the head of about 400 mounted militia, penetrated into their country, and, in fourteen days, burned than forty Indians, and took a number of prisoners, without losing a man. By a treaty concluded at Hopewell, on the Keowee, between the United States commissioners and the head men and warriors of all the Cherokees, the latter, for themselves and their respective tribes and towns, acknowledged all the Cherokees to be under the protection of the United States. The boundaries of their huntinggrounds were settled; several mutual and pacific conditions were agreed upon; and The a solemn pledge was made that "the 1,000 hatchet should be buried," and that the The Cherokee nation was aroused by the outrage. They beleaguered the fort, and war-parties scourged the frontiers. Assembly of South Carolina voted peace re-established should "be univer- they yet remain, with Choctaws, Creeks, sal." These Indians were friends of the United States in the War of 1812, and helped to subjugate the Creeks. Civilization took root among them and produced contention, a portion of them wishing to adhere to their former mode of living, while others wished to engage in the industries of civilized life. They were so absolutely divided in sentiment that in 1818 a portion of the nation emigrated to wild land assigned to them west of the Mississippi. The Cherokees, in turn, had ceded large portions of their lands, and their domain was mostly confined to northern Georgia. They were then making rapid progress in civilization; but the Georgians coveted their lands. The Cherokees were yet powerful in numbers, and were then considerably advanced in the arts and customs of civilization. They had churches and schools and a printing-press, issuing a newspaper; and they were disposed to defend their rights against the encroachments of their white neighbors. and others for their neighbors. In 1861, John. Ross, the renowned principal chief of the Cherokees, who had led them wisely for almost forty years, took a decided stand against the Confederates. He issued a proclamation (May 17), in which he reminded his people of their treaty obligations with the United States, and urged them to be faithful to them, and to take no part in the stirring events of the day. But he and his loyal associates among the Cherokees and Creeks were overborne by the tide of secession and insurrection, and were swept on, powerless, by the current. The betrayal of the United States troops by General Twiggs into the hands of the Texas authorities left their territory on the side of that State open to invasion. False rumors continually disturbed them. Their neighbors, and the wild tribes on their borders, were rallying to the standard of the Confederates. The National troops in Missouri could not check the rising insurrection there. The chief men of the Cherokees held a mass-meeting at Tahlequah in August, when, with great unanimity, they declared their allegiance to the "Confederate States." Ross still held out, but was finally compelled to yield. At a council held on Aug. 20, he recommended the severance of the connection with the national government. Ross's wife, a young and well-educated woman, still held out; and when an attempt was made to raise a Confederate flag over the council-house, she opposed the act with so much spirit that the Confederates desisted. President Jackson favored the Georgians, and the white people then proceeded to take possession of the lands of the Cherokees. Trouble ensued, and the southern portion of the republic was menaced with civil war for a while. The United States troops had been withdrawn from Georgia, and the national government offered no obstacle to the forcible seizure of the Indian territory by the Georgians. Some missionaries laboring among the Cherokees were arrested and imprisoned for residing in their country contrary to the laws of the State, and for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to Georgia. The Cherokees then numbered between 14,000 and 15,000 east of the Mississippi. The matter in dispute was adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the United States, and on March 30, 1832, that tribunal decided against the claims of the Georgians. The Georgians, still favored by the President, resented this decision. An amicable settlement was finally reached; and, in 1838, under the mild coercion of Maj.-Gen. W. Scott and Cherry Valley, MASSACRE AT. During several thousand troops, the Cherokees a heavy storm of sleet on Nov. 11, 1778, left their beautiful country in Georgia a band of Indians and Tories-the former with sorrow, and went to wild lands as led by Brant, and the latter by Walter signed them, well towards the eastern N. Butler, son of Col. John Butlerslopes of the Rocky Mountains, where fell upon Cherry Valley, Otsego co., N. Y., IL-H During the Civil War the Cherokees suffered much. The Confederates would not trust Ross, for his Union feelings were very apparent. When, in 1862, they were about to arrest him, he and his family escaped to the North, and resided in Philadelphia for a while. In 1899 there were 32,161 Cherokees at the Union agency, Indian Territory, and 1.351 at the Eastern Cherokee agency, North Carolina. 113 bow. These were followed by the remainder of the broadside, poured into the hull of the Chesapeake. Though Barron, suspecting mischief, had hastily tried to prepare his ship for action, he was unable to return the shots, for his guns had no priming-powder. After being severely injured by repeated broadsides, the Chesapeake struck her colors. The vice-ad of the Chesapeake were mustered by British officers, and the deserters were carried away; one of them, who was a British subject, was hanged at Halifax, and the lives of the Americans were spared only on condition that they should re-enter the British service. and murdered thirty two of the inhabi- the vice-admiral's commands must be tants, mostly women and children, with obeyed." This insolent announcement was sixteen soldiers of a little garrison there. repeated. The Chesapeake moved on, and Nearly forty men, women, and children the Leopard sent two shots athwart her were carried away captive. Butler was the arch-fiend on this occasion, and would listen to no appeals from Brant for mercy on the innocent and helpless. The captives were led away in the darkness and a cold storm; and when they rested they were huddled together, half naked, with no, shelter but the leafless trees, and no resting-place but the wet ground. Chesapeake, the name of a famous miral's command was obeyed. The crew United States frigate that will always be memorable because of her interest-absorbing career. In the spring of 1807 a small British squadron lay (as they had lately) in American waters, near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, watching some French frigates blockaded at Annapolis. Three of the crew of one of the British vessels, Melampus, and one of another, Halifax, had deserted, and enlisted on board the Chesapeake, lying at the Washington navy-yard. The British minister made a formal demand for their surrender. The United States government refused compliance, because it was ascertained that two of them (colored) were natives of the United States, and there was strong presumptive evidence that the third one was, likewise. The commodore of the British squadron took the matter into his own hands. The Chesapeake, going to sea on the morning of June 22, 1807, bearing the pennant of Commodore Barron, was intercepted by the British frigate Leopard, whose commander, hailing, informed the commodore that he had a despatch for him. A British boat bearing a lieutenant came alongside the Chesapeake. The officer was politely received by Barron, in his cabin, when the former presented a demand from the captain of the Leopard to allow the bearer to muster the crew of the Chesapeake, that he might select and carry away the alleged deserters. The demand was authorized by instructions received from Vice-Admiral Berkeley, at Halifax. Barron refused compliance, the lieutenant withdrew, and the Chesapeake moved on. The Leopard followed, and her commander called out through his trumpet, "Commodore Barron must be aware that This outrage caused fiery indignation throughout the United States. The President issued a proclamation, at the beginning of July, ordering all British armed vessels to leave the waters of the United States, and forbidding any to enter until ample satisfaction should be given. A British envoy extraordinary was sent to Washington to settle the difficulty. Instructed to do nothing until the President's proclamation should be withdrawn, the matter was left open more than four years. In 1811 the British government disavowed the act. Barron, found guilty of neglect of duty in not being prepared for the attack, was suspended from the service for five years, without pay or emolument. While the Hornet, Captain Lawrence, was on her homeward-bound voyage with her large number of prisoners, the Chesapcake was out on a long cruise to the Cape de Verde Islands, and the coast of South America. She accomplished nothing except the capture of four British merchant vessels; and as she entered Boston Harbor, in the spring of 1813, in a gale, her topmast was carried away, and with it several men who were aloft, three of whom were drowned. Among the superstitious sailors she acquired the character of an "unlucky" ship, and they were loath to embark in her. Evans was compelled to leave her on account of the loss of the sight of one of his eyes; and |