Participants in the 2009 Woodland Indian Camp at Pricketts Fort were witness to a rare event on Wednesday evening, July 1: the appearance of one of the most widely renowned and honored of Cherokee chiefs, the mid-eighteenth century orator and warrior Ostenaco (portrayed by historian and re-enactor Doug Wood).
During the early 1760s, Ostenaco moved in the highest circles of British colonial society, attending formal dinners at William and Mary College and in Williamsburg. In 1762 Ostenaco sailed to England in the select company of several Cherokee chiefs and British officers. The evening before his departure he made a farewell speech to his people.
Among his listeners was a young Thomas Jefferson, who recorded his impression of the Cherokee leader: I knew much of the great Outassete (Ostenaco), the warrior and orator of the Cherokee. He was always the guest of my father on his journeys to and from Williamsburg. I was in his camp when he made his great farewell oration to his people the evening before he departed for England. The moon was in full splendour, and to her he seemed to address himself in his prayers for his own safety on the voyage and that of his people during his absence. His sounding voice, distinct articulation, animated action, and the solemn silence of his people at their several fires, filled me with awe and veneration, although I did not understand a single word he uttered.
While in London, Ostenaco drew crowds wherever he went, including a young Oliver Goldsmith, among the most famous of English poets, who waited for three hours to present him with a gift. The internationally famous painter Joshua Reynolds, portraitist to aristocrats and kings across Europe, painted Ostenaco’s portrait, and he was presented to King George III.
Ostenaco, during his lifetime, fought in numerous wars, including the French & Indian War, the Anglo-Cherokee War, the Chickamauga wars and the American Revolution. In the long course of these wars, he both fought alongside American colonists as an ally, and later against them as enemies. After his people were defeated by the Americans in 1776, he was among the leaders who led them westward as refugees into Tennessee.
The appearance of Ostenaco was only one of many features awaiting participants in this year’s Woodland Indian Camp at Pricketts Fort. The camp lasted for three days, and included a sleepover encampment on the final night.
On the first morning participants were introduced to the general subject of frontier life in the 1700s, including a history of Pricketts Fort. After lunch, Two Hawks (Aaron Bosnick), the organizer and driving force behind this year’s Woodland Indian Camp, gave an extended presentation on native life skills, covering clothing, equipment and food. Participants were instructed in the basic skills of living in a native community, how to prepare food, how to hunt, fish and trap, preparing for the trail, and participating in a war party.
A lesson by Mary Rose Mustachio in making corn husk dolls and decoys finished out the first day.
The second morning began with Two Hawks explaining how to read pictographs and wildlife signs on the trail, capped off by an extended hike through the forest near the fort.
After lunch the students witnessed a trading session between Two Hawks and a frontier trader (Lee Miller). The students were invited to join in, assisting in exchanges of furs for trade goods. Later, Two Hawks explained the history and uses of wampum.
On the third morning Pricketts Fort was visited by a member of the Lower Eastern Ohio Mekoce Shawnee tribe of West Virginia, who brought a screech owl from their raptor center and spoke its habits and importance in the ecosystem and the necessity of offering it continued protection.
This was followed by a session of music and dance, leading up to lunch.
After lunch, the afternoon was given over entirely to traditional Native American games: the Dice Game, the Pin Game, Chunky Stone, Cherokee Marbles, Corncob Yard Darts, and that perennial favorite: Stickball, which began with a history of the game and an explanation of its rules, after which everyone joined in to play it in the spacious area between the Visitors Center and the Fort.
After the games, once everyone had rested, washed up and had dinner, Ostenaco, who had joined in the play, made his presentation to the group, talking about his life and role in the history of the country. Later, sitting around the fire, Ostenaco, Two Hawks and all the students talked and told stories until the call came for — Lights Out! — and everyone rolled out their sleeping bags on the floor of the main cabins in the fort. Two Hawks, much to the incredulity of everyone, disdained to sleep in the comfort of a modern nylon mummy bag, and instead snored away contentedly through the cold night, rolled up in a deer hide and buffalo robe.
