The Family at Serpiente

by Raymond Tolman

  It all may have started in Mexico City, and by the time it exhausted itself of victims seven years later, it had killed American Indians trading at remote Hudson’s Bay Company outpost in far northern Canada by way of long established trade networks.

  Before the introduction of the white man into the southeast the Cherokees were the absolute rulers of this part of what was to become the United States. The Cherokee conquered all previous tribes of people who had lived here eons ago and either drove them out or subjugated them. The Cherokees in 1828 were not savages. In fact, we assimilated many European-style customs, including the wearing of gowns by Cherokee women. We built roads, schools and churches, had a system of representational government, and were farmers and cattle ranchers. We were in many ways, more civilized than the foreign invaders. We even had a Cherokee alphabet, the ‘Talking Leaves’ that was perfected by Sequoyah.”

  It should not have surprised Corey about the command Owl had of the English language as well as his vast knowledge of history that Corey was unaware of. After all, William Owl had spoken English all his life and he had been steeped in the history; it was the history of his own people. He continued, “After gold was discovered in Georgia, in 1830 the congress of the United States passed the Indian Removal Act. Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee Congressman Davy Crocket, it passed anyway. It was President Jackson who signed the bill into law.

  We Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an independent Cherokee Nation. At first, the court seemed to rule against us, as if we were not a nation, which we obviously were. In Cherokee V. Georgia, the Court refused to hear a case extending Georgia’s laws on the Cherokee because they did not represent a sovereign nation. Then in 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee Nation. In this case, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign, making the removal laws invalid. We rejoiced but then learned that we would have to agree to removal in a treaty.”

  “By 1835 we Cherokees were divided and very sad. At that time, most of our people supported Chief John Ross, who fought the encroachment of whites starting with the 1832 land lottery. However, a few of my people actually wanted to move to another place. They actually thought there would be places they could go where they would not have to deal with the white people.”

  “A treaty was signed by members of a Treaty Party in 1835, giving Jackson the legal document he needed to remove us all. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate and that sealed our fate. Among the few of your people who spoke out against the ratification was Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, but it still passed by a single vote. In 1838 the United States began our removal to Oklahoma, doing what they had intended to do all the time. General Winfield Scott arrived here in 1838 with 7000 soldiers and the invasion began.

  Men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into temporary stockades without food or even places to relieve themselves. Then my ancestors were forced to march a thousand miles. We would have all died but our chief made an urgent appeal to Scott, requesting that the general let our people get into smaller groups. By moving in smaller groups they could forage for food. They arrived in Oklahoma during the brutal winter of 1838. About four thousand of my people died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself, of course, became known as ‘The Trail of Tears’.”

  “We killed many of our own chiefs who had worked with the whites after we realized what had happened. Perhaps that helps to explain why many of us American Indians have such a low opinion of the whites. We are now locked out of most of our homeland as well as our culture.”

  Corey ended the conversation by adding; “And so a county formed fifty years earlier on the premise...that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, brutally closed the curtain on a culture that had done no wrong.”

  William Owl sat and starred at Corey for a moment then changing the subject of the conversation, he added, “Don’t give up on your girl. She is under the influence of a serpent, a demon but she doesn’t know it. Here,” he handed Corey a small amulet that appeared to be a tiny carved owl with a leather string tied in a loop around it. “She should wear this around her neck, she needs protection. Give it to her to wear when you see her.” With that said, and without an explanation, William Owl walked out of the motel room, closing the door behind him.

  Hidalgo’s Arrival in East Tennessee

  A day later, Corey was feeling much better, particularly after grandmother and I retrieved him from North Carolina. Borrowing Grandpa Nick’s cane, he decided to get out of the house and exercise his sprained ankle. That evening Corey and I slowly walked up the trail behind the farm house where we could be assured some privacy. There, I stood and studied the stars on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, contemplating my position in the universe. Was it wise, like thousands of girls before me, to blindly take a plunge into married life as I was about to do? Or, like a select few, perhaps I should test myself by traveling to the edge of many new worlds and there possibly find my real love, my purpose in life, and perhaps even God. I was entertaining quite a personal dilemma.

  My recent preoccupation with getting married was a complete paradox within myself. It elicited feelings of doubt, panic, and worry, and yet I sometimes drifted into a feeling of elation when I thought about a release from those fears. Like my wrestling coach had said, “Face your fears and they will go away.” This is just another fear for me to face. In the quest for a solution to my problem, I thought to myself that perhaps tonight I would discover my place at the edge of the universe. Here among the stars, I was dealing with that ultimate challenge, to pick the right path, but for now I was content to look down to the man in my dreams, the greatest love in my life, Corey.

  Corey appeared to have gone to sleep. Oh well, I laughed at myself. I had been warned that men treat their women that way. I walked over to him and kicked his shoe.

  “Are we going to get married? I demanded as a tease.

  No, he answered. Then he started to add something to his answer but I was already storming down the trail. After a few steps I stopped, turned around and spoke. What I heard coming out of my mouth sounded strange even to me. “Come on, time for us to get back down to the farmhouse. This problem isn’t going to solve itself, nor is it going to be solved tonight or ever. I am not going to fight this anymore.”

  Without saying a word, Corey rose to his feet, catching up and attempting to slip his arm around my waist. I pushed it away and continued down the trail muttering; “Well, if you don’t want me, I can find someone else who does!”

  Corey, who was still limping badly, forced himself to catch up with me and said. “I have something I would like you to wear.”

  Turning around I grabbed the tiny owl amulet and thrust it into my pocket, then I turned and stomped down the last of the trail leaving Corey far behind me. When I got back to the farmhouse I climbed a set of stairs and then entered through a side door directly into my room.

  Meanwhile Corey was hurt, confused and scared. Perhaps, he thought, it was time to get back to Serpiente. Entering the old farm house kitchen through the back door he was amazed at what he found inside. There sat Hidalgo eating a homemade pretzel with coffee, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  As Corey reached over to shake hands with Hidalgo, he yelled for me to bring in a fresh cup of coffee.

  I was angry at this point, how dare Corey so nonchalantly to ask me to bring him a cup of coffee. I was completely unaware that Hidalgo had arrived from New Mexico. As I crept down the stairs I heard him repeat the request; “Penny, how about getting me some more of that coffee?” Thinking it was just Corey, and still more than a little angry, I got the coffee out of the kitchen, and went into the parlor and threw it on Corey. It missed Corey but the hot co
ffee landed all over Hidalgo.

  Hidalgo who had a worried look on his face began wiping himself off and then laughed, “That sure is a bad waste of good coffee.”

  “Hidalgo,” I exclaimed, “What in the world are you doing here; we thought you understood that you were not supposed to come out here unless we decided to go ahead, and get married.”

  Hidalgo contemplated the situation for a moment then asked the obvious question. “Well, are you going to get married?”

  “Yes, interjected Corey in a firm voice, but not now,” he emphasized. “We have way too many things to do first.”

  Without thinking I reached into my pocket and pulled out the amulet Corey had given me. It was a small carving of what appeared to be a very hard bone, looking somewhat but not exactly like a tiny owl with a leather string strung around it. I had forgotten about it in all the excitement of the moment. Pulling it over my head so it hung under my chin I experienced an epiphany. I looked at Corey and simply said “For some reason, and it is a mystery why, I have been acting like a huge fool. For some reason I got it in my head that I had to get married right now. Looking back for the last few days I must have been a horrible host.

  “But as far as what you just said, thank you, I couldn’t agree more.” Corey and I hugged, which brought a chuckle from Hidalgo.

  “Can I see that amulet?” Hidalgo asked.

  “It’s something Corey gave me,” Penny explained and handed it to him.

  Looking at Corey, Hidalgo asked him where he had gotten it. The question brought a long explanation from Corey about William Owl and what he had said to him.

  Hidalgo examined the small amulet then said, “Owls are usually thought of as symbols of death. There was a long pause in the conversation then he continued, “But owl amulets are sometimes used as a protection from death. If I were you, I would wear it”

  Corey explained what William Owl had said about a demon bothering Penny.

  “Has he ever met you?” Hidalgo asked me?

  “No, all I know is that he is someone that helped Corey after he fell and that he seemed kind of mysterious.”

  Hidalgo again said, “Wear it and see if things don’t change.” He seemed to be the mysterious one now.

  My grandmother, Nora came into the parlor at just that moment, seeing Hidalgo she was deeply embarrassed by the coffee still dripping off of him. She grabbed a kitchen towel and further embarrassed Hidalgo by wiping up his lap. After taking a moment to fend off my grandmother, he began his explanation as to what he was doing in East Tennessee.

  “After you left, Aunt June and Uncle Ken took off a couple of days and visited the canyon with the pool that you and Corey discovered. She found something there.”

  “What do you mean she found something there?” I asked.

  “Well, answered Hidalgo, “You know that she is quite versed in Indian rock carvings.”

  “Sure,” said Corey, “We all know that but what did she discover? We had already told her about the old Greek or Hebrew writings on the panel.”

  “That’s true,” answered Hidalgo “But after she was able to really examine the rock carvings she discovered that they were from tribes from all over the Southwest. She even discovered a Toltec symbol there. It looks like something right out of a Mayan panel. Evidentially peoples from all over the place met there.”

  “True, but that wouldn’t have brought you seventeen hundred miles out here,” says Corey.

  “No, I may suffer from butt fatigue for some time now. But you see, she told a friend of hers, a fellow archeologist from the University of New Mexico, and now everyone wants to know the secrets of the place. She was contacted by some people from a group that call themselves the New Mexico Historical Society; they are offering her a reward of ten thousand dollars. What they want back is publishing rights to her field notes. Just think, a guaranteed, published book with, of course, royalties. The royalties from the book would be worth far more than the cash reward. It could be the chance of her professional lifetime.

  “I don’t understand,” I asked, “Exactly why does all that bring you out here?”

  Hidalgo answered, “There is circumstantial but growing body of evidence that there were people here well before Columbus. In fact, as you pointed out once before, they know that the Vikings made journeys to the extreme northern portions of the east coast. Archeologists are currently excavating ruins that these early visitors left there even as we speak.”

  Hidalgo pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and began reading out loud, “There are many clues which have been discovered which are accepted in other cultures and strands of science, but not in the pragmatic unyielding, and often biased archeological science of western culture.”

  “Early explorers, probably of Persian but possibly Egyptian, Middle Eastern, or even of African descent have voyaged into the Gulf of Mexico and then explored northward, following the aboriginal trails or rivers into the interior. Did they leave documents in the form of hieroglyphs carved into rock which prove they were here; if they did, why did they choose the routes that they took and what were they looking for”?

  “You mean European contact,” interjected Nora.

  “It doesn’t matter, any contact before Columbus,” answered Hidalgo. “The first thing we need to do is to start finding any information we can about discoveries out here and then get the information to June for documentation.”

  Nora setting down her kitchen towel and with a thoughtful look on her face interjected, “Perhaps I can get you started. I read an article in the Greeneville Sun about a recent find at a place called Bat Creek, Tennessee. According to the article, professors say that carbon dating of wood fragments and other evidence found a century ago in an ancient tomb prove that Hebrews sailed to America centuries before Columbus.” Grandma walked over to a small china closet that had a large stack of old newspapers on it. After setting several papers aside she announced, “Here it is,” and began reading out loud.

  “Cyrus Gorden, a former Dartmouth College professor of Judaic culture, proposed a theory this year after studying inscriptions on a stone.” She walked back to her rocker, sat down and continued reading; “The inscription is important because it is the first scientifically authenticated pre-Columbian text in an Old World script or language found in America.”

  “According to the article, they also found brass bracelets made from a zinc-copper alloy used by the Romans from 45 to 200 A.D. They theorize that the Hebrew sailors were trying to escape Roman repression after a rebellion in 73 A.D. Gordon believes the sailors landed in the southeastern United States, were forced inland because the coast was settled by American Indians and got as far as Louden County, here in Eastern Tennessee.”

  “The Bat Creek tomb was first unearthed in 1889. It contained nine skeletons, with the heads of all but one pointing north. Under the skull and jawbone of the south pointing skeleton were several objects, including the inscribed stone.”

  “It says here, Gordon’s work has been ignored because it is so controversial. The prejudice against the idea that someone came before Columbus is so enormous it’s practically impossible to overcome.”

  Hidalgo complemented her by saying, “That is exactly the kind of documentation that we are looking for.”

  “I’m confused, Grandma asked, “What do they mean the prejudice about the idea that someone came to the United States before Columbus is so controversial?”

  Hidalgo set back in his chair and answered her. “Before modern dating methods were invented, no one knew exactly how old a historical site was unless there was some actual historical document of some kind that told them. They are using radioactive isotopes now in order to tell. They have matched up radiometric with tree ring dating and they can now date objects going back many thousands of years very precisely. Yet they don’t even know for sure how long the local natives have been here in Tennessee or where they came from. Well, I am from Dine, now located in New Mexico.” he continued with a grin. “The pr
oblem is most of what we are looking at is rock carvings that cannot be dated by any method. They are easily faked. It has become a tradition among professional archeologist that Columbus was the first to discover America. Archeologists are now at war over the date 1492. Most professional archeologist won’t touch stuff like the Bat Creek Mystery Stone because they are quickly labeled as pseudo or fake archeologist. Anymore, it takes people who are not dependent upon the money provided by institutions to make new discoveries. That is why groups like The New Mexico Historical Society offers rewards. They want to stir up interest. Besides, the more discoveries we make; the richer all our histories are.”

  “I suppose if someone could prove that their ancestors discovered America first, they could possibly lay claim to this entire country,” says Grandma.

  “Fat chance, those politicians aren’t going to let that happen,” chimed in my grandfather Nick with his rather matter of fact way of talking. “All of this puts you into a particular position, doesn’t it Hidalgo?”

  “No,” answered Hidalgo, “Native Americans own property because that is the way American operates, but our ancestors had no concept of owning land. If you think about it, the idea of ownership is only a legal term anyway. Like money, you can’t take it with you.”

  “Anyway, historical detectives consider what they do a privilege. They are explorers. It is more than a job, it’s an adventure. A historical detective is unlike an archeologist who documents discoveries. We make discoveries.”

  “And that would be you all,” exclaimed Grandma who now looked at everyone in a whole new light. She was suddenly seeing me in a whole new light; her grandbaby was truly a grown woman. Nora was proud. As her mind worked, she was now seeing my whole family in an entirely different way.