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CHAPTER XXI
SEQUOYA'S WONDERFUL INVENTION-—THE CHEROKEE ALPHABET—IN
THE OPINION OF LINGUISTIC SCHOLARS ONE OF THE GREATEST
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE HUMAN INTELLECT—DR. SCOMP's CRITICAL
ANALYSIS—How SEQUOYA CAM'E TO DEVISE AN ALPHABET—ITS
EFFECT UPON THE CHEROKEE NATION-—NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
PRINTED IN SEQUOYAN—BIBLBS AND HYMN-BOOKS—THE CHEROKEE
ADOPT A NATIONAL CONSTITUTION—SEQUOYA'S GREAT AMBITION-—
To PRODUCE A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE FOR THE INDIANS—WHEN AN
OLD MAN HE GOES TO THE FAR WEST IN SEARCH OF A LOST TRIBE—
DIES IN MEXICO.
Sequoya, the noted Indian' half-breed, who invented the Cherbkee
alphabet, lived at one time near the village'of Alpine, in Chattooga
County, Georgia, not far from the present Alabama line. The first
newspaper ever printed in Sequoyan characters was'edited and published
at New Echota, in Gordon County, at the confluence of the Coosawattee
and the Connasauga rivers. Sequoyai's invention marked the rise of
culture among the Cherokees, the only tribe' 1 of Indians on the North
American continent who possessed a written' language and -who boasted
an organized national existence, founded upon constitutional law; In
the opinion of linguistic scholars, the invention of Sequoya is one' of'the
greatest achievements of the human,intellect. The celebrated red-wood
trees of California, the most colossal giants of the American forest,
have been christened the Seqlioias, in honor of thi§ : gifted Indian's won
derful invention.* It is not an inappropriate tribute to the almost
extinct race which produced the original occupants of the soil that the
greatest of red-wood trees should commemorate the greatest of red men.
Dr. H. A. Scomp, the author of the 'following article, was for years pro
fessor of Greek, in Emory College, at Oxford, Georgia. He was later
engaged to prepare a comparative dictionary of the Muskogee languages,
under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D. C.
Doctor Scomp was an eminent literary critic, and one of the foremost
authorities of the day on the subject of Indian antiquities.
"Perhaps the most remarkable man who has lived on Georgia
soil,' was neither a politician, nor a soldier, nor an ecclesiastic, nor a
scholar—but was merely a Cherokee Indian, of mixed blood. ' And,
strange to say, this Indian acquired permanent fame, neither expecting
it nor seeking after it. He himself, never knew the full measure of
his claim to a place in the temple of fame; never knew the full value of
his work, nor the literary chasm which he had bridged; never knew that
* '' New International Encyclopedia,'' Vol. XVII. Article on the Sequoias.
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