Cherokee
The Cherokee were originally located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains including the Carolinas, northern Georgia and Alabama, southwest Virginia and the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee and Kentucky. There are four groups of Cherokee, three of which are recognized by the federal government. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band, both in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee, in North Carolina, and the Echota Cherokee, are recognized only by the State of Alabama. Migration from the original Cherokee Nation began in the early 1800’s. Some Cherokees moved west on their own and settled in other areas of the country. A group known as the Old Settlers previously had voluntarily moved in 1817 to lands given them in Arkansas where they established a government and a peaceful way of life. Later, however, they were forced to migrate to Indian Territory.
Cherokee weapons were a big part of life. Arrowheads were made from various kinds of stone but flint was considered the best. Not only because it was so hard, but also because flint is easier to chip into "flakes" with sharp edges than most other hard rocks. A favorite tool for chipping arrowheads into shape was the deer antler. A piece of rock was first broken into smaller pieces by using a hammer stone, then the most likely pieces shaped into arrowheads by chipping away with a smaller hammer stone and with deer antlers. Spear points were made in the same way; they were just larger in size and shaped a bit differently. Some spears were made entirely of hard wood; the points sharpened by hand and then hardened in a fire. Stone weapons, tomahawks and battle hammers were made from rocks of the correct overall shape by sharpening one edge and grinding a binding groove around the stone using other, harder stones. The groove was made so that the stone could be tied to a handle with rawhide. Other hammers and axe-type weapons also were used; sometimes a knot in a root or branch with a...