Anyone who's been on these lists with me for any amount of time may have noticed that I am a huge fan of the appalachian summitt web site. I have, over time, copied and printed the whole 500+ pages of it and have it in my library. The following will be in two emails and will address Christian Priber. Kingdom of Paradise Christian Priber, a French speaking German who claimed to be a Jesuit priest, lived among the Cherokees for four years during which time he attempted to establish a socialists society. William Stephens – Lieutenant Kent, in his Way home, meeting with a Letter sent to him out of the Cherokee Nation . . . It came to us this Morning, and was from Lodowick Grant, a Trader in that Nation; who wrote him that there were eighty of those People lately marched out in two Parties, on what Design, at first not known; but it proved to be against the French, whom they attacked as they were coming up the River to Terriqua, in three Perriaguas, two of which they plundered and destroyed. What the consequnece may be we do not know, but think it forebodes no Ill to the English. Copies of two Letters out of the Cherokees from Traders living among them, imparting that the Nation were fallen out with the French and waylaying the Banks of the River which the French frequently traded on with their Pettyaguas; they had surprised and killed a considerable number of them, and destroyed several of their Vessels, after plundering them of their Cargoes, which consisted of Aboundance of valuable Goods imported from Europe; such as the finest Broad-Cloth, Silks, &c. intended for the French Settlements near the Mississipi: But while the Cherokees were busy with this Spoil, the Creek Nation came on the Backs of them Southward, and made War upon them, killing and carrying away Prisoners, divers (the Number uncertain;) so that the Cherokees have now Enemies to deal with on both Sides; and as they expect the French to come upon them in the Spring for Revenge, they are now seeking assistance from the English, to repel them. [i][2] Antoine Bonnefoy - The convoy destined for the Illinois, composed of three bateaux and . . . pirogues, of the year 1741, was commanded by Sieur De Villers, officer. The enrolment, including officers and traders, of this convoy was 28 men in each bateau and eight or nine in each of the pirogues. This convoy set out from New Orleans the 22nd of August 1741. The pirogue in which I was followed the convoy till within sight of the River Ouabache, where we arrived the 14th of November, at evening, and passed the night at that place. On the 15th the convoy set out again as usual at day-break, and our boat went in its usual order until seven o’clock, when the commander caused the bateaux to cross the river and signaled to follow him. The Sieur Marin, voyageur, whose pirogue was in front of us, asked Legras. . . if he were not in favor of continuing on our course without crossing the river. Unwisely, being agreed, we continued on our route in company. An hour after having left the bateaux, we perceived at the entrance to a little bayou, a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the Wabash, a number of pirogues tired to the shore. We examined their appearance and took them for Illinois and Missouris. The savages from these pirogues, who were on the land and of whom we did not perceive a single one, had disembarked 20 fathoms above the boats. The pirogue of Sieur Marin, which we had formerly followed, was at this time behind ours. There were eight men of us in each. Under these circumstances, and under the impression the savages were Illinois or Missouris, we came around the bayou and the boats, up to the place of ambush, where the first discharge of the muskets from the savages instantly killed our skipper and two of our oarsmen, and wounded two men in the other boat, which, being behind, had time to make off and was saved. The savages directed so heavy a fire upon the boat that we were obliged to lie down flat, to escape certain death. Immediately 20 of these savages got into their boats to hasten after the pirogue of the Sieur Marin, who escaped from them. A moment afterward, these same pirogues came and surrounded us. The shore was lined with other savages, who were aiming at us. The surprise, and the death of our skipper and of two of our oarsmen, having put us out of direction to defend ourselves, we surrendered at discretion, to the number of four Frenchmen and one negro, and were seized, each by one of the savages, who made him his slave. Brought to the land we were tied separately, each with a slaves collar around the neck and the arms merely, without however depriving us of freedom to eat and to pergailler when we were ordered to do so. This action took place in sight of the bateaux, which had become distant only to the extent of the breath of the river. The commander contented himself with hoisting his flag on his bateaux, without giving us any aid. The savages who had taken possession of us proved to be Cherakis instead of Chicachas as we had thought at the time of firing. The convoy entertained the same opinion, following the information given them at New Orleans. When we had been bound with these collars the savages, having found in our boat what had been intended for our breakfast, brought it to us to eat, and gave us to understand by signs that no harm should come to us, and that we should be even as themselves. They then unloaded our boat, and distributed the goods equally among the 80 men of the party, with the exception of the iron and three kegs of rum, which they left in the boat, having filled all their kettles and even three barrels in which the powder had been – after having divided up the latter. I observed that these savages were careful not to spoil the goods they could not take away. They passed the day of the 15th in packing their merchandise, till night, when they embarked in 22 boats , with two, three, four or five men in each according to its size. My companions in misfortune, and I, followed our masters, bound in the manner I have described. The party took us its course, paddling without making the least noise, along the river Ouabache till six o’clock the next morning, then rested about two hours, during which time they broiled some meat they had found in our pirogue when we were captured. They gave us (as they always did) a portion equal to theirs, after which they resumed their paddles, and gave us each one, after having made us each drink, as with the first meal, the evening before, a cup of rum. I bathed a wound I had received in the knee, from a musket-shot in the first discharge; after which I was not further troubled by it. It was not so with the negro, whose wounds began from that day to become worse. We embarked again and continued down the Ouabache to the River of the Cherakis, which leads up to the villages of those savages and falls into the former river thirteen leagues from its junction with the River St. Louis or Missipi. When evening had come the savages landed at the mouth of the river, and passed the night there, and made stocks to keep us in safety. In these my three comrades were set. . . . The savage to whom I belonged did not wish that I should be put in the stocks. The next day we entered into the river, which they did not leave till the third of February, marching and hunting on alternate days, till we were four days by land from their first village. The 20th of December my savage took off my slave’s collar. Rivard and Potier kept theirs a fortnight, and Coussot a month. They were not put in the stocks except for the first four days, and then only during the night. At the beginning of January we were adopted by men of prominence in the party. I was adopted as brother by a savage who bought me of my master, which he did by promising him a quantity of merchandise, and giving me what at that time I needed, such as bed-coverings, shirts, and mittens, and from that time I had the same treatment as himself. My companions were adopted by other savages, either as nephews or as cousins, and treated in the same manner by their liberators and all their families. The same day on which my collar was taken off, the negro, whose wounds had grown worse, was set at liberty and the head man of the party told him to return to the French, but not knowing where to go, he followed the pirouges for two days. On the third, which was the 23rd of December, the savages, tired of seeing him, gave him over to the young people, who killed him and took his scalp. On January 10 or 11 our party met a troop of savages, Chicachas. They, recognizing each other as friends, negotiated, and made several exchanges of merchandise and slaves, smoked together, and prepared to continue their routes as we had begun. In the course of this river, which I estimated as 450 leagues from the Ouabache to the first village of our savages, there are three waterfalls. The first is situated about half way up. The portage is about one-quarter of a league. The second is eight days’ journey further up. The portage amounts to a good league. At this place the river is two leagues broad, and rolls its waters like a cascade, a league long, in the shape of a hill, like that of the portage which we were obliged to make. The third, at which we arrived on the first of February, has a portage of only about 100 paces. The river at this place is extremely rapid, and generally is so, more and more, from this uppermost fall to the place where we left it, February 3, to make the rest of our journey by land. The savage who had adopted me gave me, before setting out upon the march, a gun, some powder, and some bullets. The pirogues having been unloaded, each savage carried, as well as ourselves, a pack of booty. We immediately set out on the march, and on the seventh arrived in sight of the first village, which was called Chateauke and Talekoa, which are two different councils, though the cabins are mingled together indistinguishably. At the first sight of our savages, all the men ran out to the place where they then were, for the ceremony customary among this nation. Our clothes were taken off, and a stock make for each of us, without, however, putting us in it; they merely put on us our slaves-collar. Then the savages, putting in each ones’ hand a white stick and a rattle, told us that we must sing, which we did for the space of more than three hours, at different times, singing both French and Indian songs, after which they gave us to eat of all that the women had brought from the village, bread of different sorts, sagamite (corn porridge), buffalo meat, bear meat, rabbit, sweet potatoes, and graumons. We passed the night at this place. The next day February 8, in the morning, the savages having matache’ themselves according to their custom, matacherent our whole bodies, having left us nothing but breeches, made the entry into their village in the order of a troop of infantry, marching four in each rank, half of them in front of us, who were placed two and two after being tied together, and having our collars dragging. . . . They made us march in this order, singing and having a white stick and rattle in our hands, to the chief square of the village and march three or four times around a great tree which is in the middle of that place. Then they buried at the foot of the tree a parcel of hair from each one of us, which the savages had preserved for that purpose from the time when they cut our hair off. After this march was finished they brought us into the council-house, where we were each obliged to sing four songs. Then the savages who had adopted us came and took our collars off. I followed my adopted brother who, on entering into his cabin, washed me, then after he had told me that the way was free before me, I ate with him, and there I remained two months, dressed and treated like himself, without other occupation than to go hunting twice with him. We were absent thirteen days the first time and nine days the last. At the time when we arrived in the village there were three English traders there, who each had a store-house in the village where I was, and two servants of theirs. There was also a German, who said in French that he was very sorry for the misfortune which had come upon us, but that it would perhaps prove to be our happiness, which he proposed to show us in the sequel.[ii][3] Ludovick Grant - one Pryber who Called himself a German but was certainly an Agent for the French. He went up from Amelia Township to the Cherokee Nation, and lived in the Town of Telliquo, and being a great Scholar he soon made himself master of their Tongue, and by his insinuating manner Indeavoured to gain their hearts, he trimmed his hair in the Indian manner & painted as they did, going generally, almost naked, except a shirt & Flap, he told these people that they had been strangely deluded, that they had been tricked out of a great part of their Land by the English, That for the future they should make no concessions to them of any kind but should profess an equal regard for bothe the French and the English, and should trade with both upon the same footing, which would be their greatest security for they would then be courted & carressed & receive presents from both.[iii][4] James Adair – In the year 1736, the French sent into South-Carolina, one Priber, a gentleman of a curious and speculative temper. He was to transmit them a full account of that country, and proceed to the Cheerake nation, in order to seduce them from the British to the French interest. He went, and though he was adorned with every qualification that constitutes the gentleman, soon after he arrived at the upper towns of this mountainous country, he exchanged his clothes and every thing he brought with him, and by that means, made friends with the head warriors of great Telliko, which stood on a branch of the Mississippi. More effectually to answer the design of his commission, he ate, drank, slept, dressed, danced, and painted himself with the Indians, so that it was not easy to distinguish him from the natives, -- he married also with them, and being endued with a strong understanding and retentive memory, he soon learned their dialect, and by gradual advances, impressed them with a very ill opinion of the English, representing them as a fraudulent, avaritious, and encroaching people: he at the same time, inflated the artless savages, with a prodigious high opinion of their own importance.[iv][5] Bonnefoy – I had occasion to ask the German, who was called Pierre Albert, who had accosted us on the day of our arrival, and who was lodging in the cabin of my adopted brother, what he wished me to understand. I prayed him to explain to me what was this alleged happiness he promised us. Guillaume Potier and Jean Arlut were present. He replied that it would take time to explain to us what he had to say to us, addressing himself to all three; that he thought we ought to join his society; that he would admit us to an establishment, in France, of a republic, for which he had been working for twenty years; that the form of the government should be that of a general society of those composing it, in which, beyond the fact that legality should be perfectly observed, as well as liberty, each would find what he needed, whether for subsistence, or the other needs of life; that each should contribute to the good of the society, as he could. I told him, as did my comrades, that we were disposed to join him as soon as he should have shown us some security respecting his establishment.[v][6] Grant – He proposed to them a new System or plan of Government, that all things should be held in common amongst them, that even their Wives should be so, and the Children looked upon as the Children of the public and be taken care of as such & not by their natural parents, That they should move the chief seat of Government to a place nearer the ffrench called Coosawattee, where in ancient times a Town had stood belonging to the Cherokees, and that they shoul’d admit into their Society Creeks & Catawbas, French & English, all Colours and Complextions; in short, all who were of These principles, which were truly such as had no principles at all.[vi][7] [i][2] A.D. Candler, ed, Colonial Records of the State of Georgia (Atlanta: Franklin, 1904-16, 26 vols.; AMS Press, 1970), 81-2. [ii][3] Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, 1540-1800, 149-154. [iii][4] Grant, "Historical Relation of Facts Delivered by," 59. [iv][5] James Adair, Adair's History of the American Indians (New York: Johnson Reprint, 1969), 252-4. [v][6] Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, 1540-1800, 155. [vi][7] Grant, "Historical Relation of Facts Delivered by," 59. Joyce Gaston Reece