The Federal Military replaced Governor Throckmorton and demanded that the Confederate Press at Austin print the condition of the State of Texas as he was going to be replaced. At this time, only ten percent of the people in Texas were Northern sympathizers. The demands of the North on the policies of the state were that people in elected offices were to take an oath that they never supported the Southern causes, and if they did it was an offense and they were removed from the office. All decisions were to be made by the Northern military soldiers.

Last week, it was mentioned that our school at the Key Settlement was shut down for seven years. The school system was on a volunteer basis and operated as one of only a few in Denton County. It was called a free school and was held in the dirt floor log cabin that was being used as a church as well as the Key Settlement school.

Our local economy had almost deteriorated to nothing; as our local Cherokee historian Leon Milton has said many times that the local tribes people were very cooperative in sharing what they had with each other. Their mere existence was dependent on each other. Since the local tribes people were a friendly and acceptable large group that dominated this area’s population, the few churches that existed had a bigger responsibility to minister to the different needs of the people.

It was during this period that the locally produced cotton was planted, harvested and taken to the gin and was transported out on wagons to the Gulf Coast and to Brownsville, and Matamoros on the Rio Grande where it was loaded and shipped by freighter ships. Brownsville was the hot spot for Texas during the Civil War with a population of 25,000 while Matamoros had 40,000 population just across the river. As the Confederate as well as the Union supplies ran out, the soldiers from both sides made their way into Mexico to avoid destruction of their lives and what possessions they had. They went into Mexico to escape the hardships of the Civil War and when the supplies arrived, the fighting would pick up and start again.

Brownsville and Matamoros were a thriving community with a combined population of 65,000 during the Civil War. Onega was only a settlement of Indians that had been forced from their homes in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and other places east of the Mississippi River.

The wages in Brownsville during the seven years that the Key Settlement School was shut down were for the common laborers $5 to $10 per day. They were paid in silver. The hourly rates in St. Louis at this time were only 20 cents.

The family Civil War letters that I have mentioned were written by the Williams and the Slatons of Onega (pronounced as U-nega), and were mailed to the family here through the postal system that was near what is now Arlington. They were then brought to Onega by family members. This was a practice that existed during this time. The folks in Arlington area would hand deliver the mail to the people in Onega. This made it difficult for the Unionist to track the activities of the tribe. Mary Slaton had a sister named Sophia Estes that lived with her mother in Arlington, which had around 200 people living there during and just before the Civil War. Dallas was growing in population at this time but the Onegans didn’t have any trustworthy relatives from this area.

I have heard some of our local historians say that the name of the early community was pronounced Ornega. But the Cherokee language did not possess the letter R in its alphabet. When Sequoyah reinvented the alphabet, it was added during the 1820's when he was in Tennessee and on his way to Indian Territory.

I would like to refer to the Texas Chief Hicks’ comment in his newsletter. He says, "It is hard to get people to understand that our people are called Ani-Tsalagi and we are not Cherokee. The word ‘Cherokee’ is a corruption of an old Choctaw Indian trade language word, Chulaki (People from the cave country). The first use of the word was by the Spanish explorer DeSoto, in 1540 when he used Chalague. In 1718, the English colonists used Charikee, and Charokee in 1747. It finally came down to the modern Cherokee, using the "r" in their dialect. The Lower Towns call is Tsaragi. So, let’s keep telling people. It’s doubtful that he white and black man will use Ani-Tsalagi, most preferring the word Cherokee after all of these years, but we can educate them as much as possible."

The Chief continues, "I repeat these words again, for as new people come into the tribe, they must learn new words. Here are the meaning and how to pronounce several words: Tsunalugi (Ju-na-loo-gee), "Rising Smoke"; Nvdagi (nv-da-gee), "Texas"; Gadusideli (Ga-too-see-day-lee), "Over the Hill Towns"

The Chief goes on to mention several words each month as we learn just a few of the words, we can have fun practicing the language amongst ourselves.

Our town has the honor of holding the Texas Tribal Council Meeting, which includes all of the districts in the states. This is the state meeting where all of the districts assemble. This meeting is being held in the hardware store on July 27. Dinner will be served compliments of the Northern Tribes District. While seating will be limited for this meeting, it is open to every one.