Cherokee Gun Makers?

[T.C.Albert]

Are there any known pre Trail of Tears era Cherokee gun makers known
from the smoky mountain region?

Im sure there had to be, and Im interested in
seeing their work especially. I wonder how it compares
to other southern mountain guns from that region and era?
tca   

[WElliott]

TC, I am unaware of any who are documented. As I recall, they Moravian community at Salem sent at least one missionary-gunsmith to northern Georgia. Did he train the Cherokees?  I wish we knew more about it.

[Curtis]

TC, contact the Cherokee museum in  Cherokee NC.  My wife and I toured the museum recently and I seem to remember something about a Cherokee gunsmith.  I think they would be glad to help as they like to teach the history of their people.

Let me know if you have issues with finding the contact information, we kept lots of literature from our visit.

Curtis

[Elnathan]

Might depend on what you mean by "gunsmith." The natives learned pretty quickly how to fit spare parts onto a broken lock and how to restock a gun - little caches of lock parts and files show up in archeology from time to time dating as far back as the 17th century, IIRC. Hamilton's book on frontier guns has illustrations of some of these.

Harder stuff, like forging out new lock parts, rebreeching and refreshing barrels, not to mention building a new gun from parts, seems to have been largely the domain of whites. The French sent gunsmiths out to the frontier to do these kinds of tasks, which suggests that the natives couldn't do them themselves.

I do recall reading something about a late 18th-early 19th century gunsmith among one of the SE peoples, but I can't remember any details or where I read it, despite having tried ever since this thread was started....

[Seth Isaacson]

There is a big difference between parts of the Cherokee nation and most other Native American groups in that many Cherokee adopted American customs and built brick homes, owned slaves, and established plantations. I see no reason to believe the Cherokee could not have had their own gunsmith in one of their settlements and would think their guns would have been similar to others from the same region since many\ were attempting to integrate with Southern white culture before Jackson forced them westward.

[Seth Isaacson]

Sequoyah was a blacksmith and silversmith and ran a trading post. I see no reason to think he may not have built some guns. I found references that Cherokee outlaw Ned Christie and his father had been gunsmiths in mid-19th century. Most sources suggest that most firearms would have come from Anglo-American gunmakers or traders.

[Hungry Horse]

Somewhere I saw a pistol with a legend engraved on it. It stated it was made by a Cherokee Indian gunsmith, possibly called Squirrel. He was a well known gunsmith in the Cherokee nation.

  Hungry Horse

[Dennis Glazener]

The Macon County NC Historical Society museum has a signed Philip Gillespie rifle that is dated 1841. The rifle belonged to Cherokee Chief Chuttahsotee (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25338918 ). Information posted with the display tells of the undocumented “legend” of the rifle being given to Chuttahsotee by William Holland Thomas, friend and later Chief of the Qualla Cherokee.

I would think if there was a Cherokee gun maker in the area at that time (1841) Thomas would have gotten the presentation rifle from him rather than Gillespie who's shop was about 71 miles away.

Of course this was after the 1838 removal of many of the Cherokee people and its possible that if they had a gun maker he may have been in the forced removal.

Later on there was a Cherokee Blacksmith that evidently made at least one pistol, here is a link to this information http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=521

Dennis

[Dennis Glazener]

I seem to remember something about a Cherokee gunsmith.  I think they would be glad to help as they like to teach the history of their people.

Good luck, I have a friend that was good friends with the Cherokee Chief that died a few years ago. He tried to get some information for me regarding a Gillespie rifle that they have in their archives. He was never able to get any information about it.

Dennis

[T.C.Albert]

Im thinking along the lines of the Rambling Historian with my question...
in many cases the Cherokee were more civilized and affluent than the
folks that replaced them after they were removed...I would love to
think one or more was a gunmaker...? If true, I wonder what the rifles especially
may have looked like...the underhammer boot pistol is pretty neat, and fits with the
gone to Texas under hammer craze of the era...its a good lead for sure...
Thanks for all the replies...
tc

[J I]

I emailed the education contact at the Cherokee museum and also left a message but have not heard back yet.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I was speaking with a friend of mine who has finished his PhD in studying southeaster Indian  material culture.  He is also Native American so he is allowed into tribal collections that are not open to the public. 

I have helped him identify some gun parts from those collections that seem to be worn as trinkets.  By that I mean, the tip of the trigger guard worn as a decorative trinket. 

I asked him what he thought about this and he confirmed that he has not seen tools associated with gun building.  He  also noted that he has not seen bullet molds.  He concludes that the natives were getting most everything through trade. 

He did add that there is a site in Ohio that had some blacksmithing tools. 

Cory Joe Stewart

[jrb]

For what it's worth, the site in Ohio is probably the find at McKee's Town, a Shawnee village in Logan county destroyed by Kentucky militia in 1786.  Recently excavated, was a cache of blacksmith tools including; a couple cut off tools, an iron tapered drift presumably for shaping tomahawk eyes, a pair of iron tongs, and several bars of iron.
At this period in time these Indians were trading and allied with the British, and it seems it was not uncommon for a blacksmith to be in the areas.

[J I]

I just spoke with the Education Contact at the Cherokee Museum. She was short on time today, but was able to give me some information. She did not know of any gun makers specifically but did say that as of 1770 there were several Cherokee Blacksmiths and silversmiths (Sequoya was a silversmith)who were very good at these trades. She said they made repairs to guns and could have possibly built them too.
 She said a Cherokee by the name of Salola (Squirrel) patented a pistol in 1843. It looks like a percussion underhammer but I'm not sure if that's correct. She referenced page 63 of the book The Eastern Band of Cherokees:1819-1900 by John Singer. This link has some information about the pistol at the very bottom of the page    http://cherokeeregistry.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=405&Itemid=614   The  link says he provided "a number of very superior rifles and pistols."

The link that Mr. Glazener posted from AMHistory is of the same pistol.
 
I hope this information helps. I will try to get more.
Jeremiah

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

....On page 92 of Walter M. Cline book..."The Muzzle loading Rifle Then & Now"...he gives an excellent account of "Salola"..."The Squirrel"....A Cherokee gunsmith At Qualla Town N.C. in 1849.....Excellent story & book....!!!

[Hungry Horse]

I don't know what makes me happier, the fact that I remembered the name of the Cherokee gunsmith called Salola ( Squirell). Or that my families Cherokee heritage comes from that very part of North Carolina.

  Hungry Horse