The Life of Okah Tubbee of the Choctaw Nation of Indians: An Original Compilation (in English)
Synopsis "The Life of Okah Tubbee of the Choctaw Nation of Indians: An Original Compilation (in English)"
IN contemplating the Indian character, there is an interest thrown around it, which cannot fail to impress the mind of every inquiring person, although the Indian race is fading away; their palmy days being gone; yet there is a charm thrown around their past history, and the most lively emotions are created in the mind of the Patriot and Philanthropist in contemplating their past and present history, and are led to look upon the high and lofty bearing of the red man, with the most intense admiration. There was a period in the history of the aborigines of North America, when they reigned as supreme lords over this vast continent. The Yonkoo tribe had undisputed sway over the New England country, which means literally conqueror. The term Yankee comes from the tribe of Indians styled Yonkoo-when the English conquered them after a long and bloody contest; when blood had flown in crimson currents, and the shrieks of many an innocent and massacred female rent the air, and the red man's tomahawk was wreaking in the blood of its victim. At length they were subdued, when the War Chief, a proud and noble fellow, stepped forth and presented his tomahawk to the officer in command of the English forces, saying me yonkoo or conqueror, but now you yonkoo, hence the term has been twisted about until it has become yankee-the English called the six States named New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont, New England, in contradistinction to Old England; we Americans call the New Englanders Yankees, but on the other side of the ocean, all Americans are called Yankees, Odium sometimes is attached to the term Yankee, yet candid and unprejudiced minds are willing to admit that the Yankees are a thorough going go-a-head people. The Massachusetts tribe inhabited what is now called the State of Massachusetts, the name being derived from the tribe. All the States do not derive their names from the Indian tribes. Vermont is an exception from the Latin words, vers mons, meaning verdure or green, and mount, meaning mountain, hence the name of the State Vermont, or green mountain, the State of New York, so called from the Duke of York, and called New York to distinguish it from old York. Pennsylvania, meaning Penn's woods; Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Dakotah, Minesotah, and Nebrascah, and Oregon, all are Indian names. Louisiana, derives its name from Louis a former monarch of France; the Carolinas, from Queen Caroline; Virginia, from one who bore that name in the old world; Georgia, derived its name from a king. It would be interesting and useful to trace this feature of the subject further, but time will not permit me at present, hereafter we will resume the subject. All Indian names are beautifully significant-take a few merely for the sake of illustration. Okah Tubbee, which means Big Chief, not only referring to a great and enlarged mind but to a powerful tribe, a Chief of the Choctaw nation. Mississippi father, hence the Choctaw of the Mississippi, hence the Mississippi is called the father of waters-how significant one of the largest rivers upon the face of the globe, taking its rise in the rocky mountains, continuing its onward course through an immense valley, widening and deepening in its onward course, bearing on its broad bosom a world of commerce, wealth and enterprize, with six thousand trading and two thousand steam boats, until it disembogues into the gulph of Mexico, moistening and fertalizing the soil of three territories and ten states. Laah, Ceil, Manetoi, Elaah, or the Great Spirit's gift, a Princess of the Mohawk tribe. Oletepu, the beautiful Prarie-Bird. We will pursue this subject also hereafter.
