Читать книгу Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies - Льюис Спенс, James Mooney - Страница 145

Table of Contents

Sequoyah or George Guess, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, removed to the country west of the Mississippi long anterior to the treaty of 1835,481 and was for several years one of the national council of the Western Cherokees.

In the year 1843 he left his home for Mexico in quest of several scattered bands of Cherokees who had wandered off to that distant region, and whom it was his intention to collect together with a view to inducing them to return and become again united with their friends and kindred.

He did not meet with the success anticipated. Being quite aged, and becoming worn out and destitute, he was unable without assistance to make the return trip to his home. Agent Butler, learning of his condition, reported the fact to the Indian Department482 and asked that sufficient funds be placed at his disposal for the purpose of sending messengers to bring the old man back. Two hundred dollars were authorized483 to be expended for the purpose, and Oo-no-leh, a Cherokee, was sent on the errand of mercy, but upon reaching Red River he encountered a party of Cherokees from Mexico who advised him that Guess had died in the preceding July, and that his remains were interred at San Fernando.484