The Son of God / He paid for us
In 1817, Reverend Humphrey Posey, a Baptist, began preaching to the Cherokees of North Carolina… By 1833, there were 250 or more Cherokee Baptists in western North Carolina… When the War for Southern Independence came, the Indians of North Carolina were organized by William [Holland] Thomas and Major George Washing Morgan, who was part Cherokee. Of these troops, many of them Christians, it was said “that they were…the best behaved soldiers raised in the mountain districts” (Finger 85). When the Cherokee detachment arrived in Knoxville, TN, they were the main attraction in the city. “The highlight of their stay occurred when they conducted Christian services in their own language at the First Presbyterian Church. Goggle-eyed whites filled every available pew, eager to witness the strange spectacle. The Indians had their Cherokee hymnals, and Unaguskie, their chaplain, led the service. A local editor described him as ‘tall, slender, graceful, and eloquent, though having little of the mannerisms of the modern pulpit. His sermon seemed to be persuasive rather than denunciatory, advisory, and parental rather than condemnatory and authoritative.’ The music struck the reporter as ‘less artistic’ than in a white service. The whites sat through the entire proceedings, enrapt but not understanding a word that was said” (Finger 85-86).
- from an article by Dr. Cecil A. Fayard in Confederate Veteran (Nov/Dec 2007)
“e lo ni gv ni li s qua di ga lu tsu ha i yu”
All the world will end / When He returns
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