Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Deep South.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Deep South.
Merry Christmas, Y’all
Chunkey, Anyone? Another Popular Native American Sport
Painting by George Caitlin. Mandans playing Chunkey
Chunkey, an ancient Native American sport, is enjoyable for everyone. Also, it’s easy to play. The game goes back at least as far as the 7th century A.D.
Much like stickball, Native American tribes, particularly those in America’s Southeast, played this game to settle disputes. They took this game seriously and even played it to gamble. Quite a few players lost everything in their wagers, sometimes with even more tragic consequences such as suicides. Today, it’s usually played for fun.
Below is a basic overview of the game. The Native Americans then and now play different variations of the game and have different methods of scoring.
Playing Field
- In previous centuries, the tribes played it on a hard surface, such as packed clay.
- Nowadays, it’s played on grass.
Equipment Needed to Play
- Hickory or popular spears that are eight to ten feet long. These are called chunkey (pronounced ‘tchung-kee).
- Round chunkey stone, sometimes with a hole in it. These were often made of sandstone, clay or granite.
How the Game is Played
- A player rolls the chunkey stone across the playing field underhanded, like a bowling ball.
- Players with spears hurl them at the stone. The player whose spear came closest to the stone scores a point.
Famous American painter and artistic chronicler of the West witnessed this game, as seen in his painting at the beginning of this post, He recorded what he saw in writing as well.
The game of Tchung-kee [is] a beautiful athletic exercise, which the Mandan seem to be almost unceasingly practicing whilst the weather is fair, and they have nothing else of moment to demand their attention. This game is decidedly their favourite amusement, and is played near to the village on a pavement of clay, which has been used for that purpose until it has become as smooth and hard as a floor. … The play commences with two (one from each party), who start off upon a trot, abreast of each other, and one of them rolls in advance of them, on the pavement, a little ring of two or three inches in diameter, cut out of a stone; and each one follows it up with his ‘tchung-kee’ (a stick of six feet in length, with little bits of leather projecting from its sides of an inch or more in length), which he throws before him as he runs, sliding it along upon the ground after the ring, endeavouring to place it in such a position when it stops, that the ring may fall upon it, and receive one of the little projections of leather through it.
— George Catlin, 1832
Sources
Lindsey Bark, “Chunkey: A Game of Stones,” Cherokee Phoenix, August 27, 2020, Chunkey: A Game of Stones | Culture | cherokeephoenix.org
Anne Gregory, Chunkey, Cahokia, and Indigenous Conflict Resolution (Thesis), Scholar’s Bank, University of Oregon, September 25, 2020, Chunkey, Cahokia, and Indigenous Conflict Resolution (uoregon.edu)
E. Metcalf, “Chunkey: More Than Just a Game,” Real Archaeology(blog),November 5, 2023, Chunkey: More Then Just a Game | Real Archaeology (vassar.edu)
Being Professional
With today’s technology, it’s become easier for wannabe writers to see their work published. Indeed, thousands of books are out there clamoring for readers’ attention. The ease with which publication has become, though, presents its own issues for self-published authors.
We must understand that professional writing demands more than just sitting down at our laptops, whipping out a manuscript, and then self-publishing it. It goes well beyond that first draft, second draft, even third draft. It takes long hours of hard work and revision till we’ve finally polished our prose.
Just as we can’t repair a car if we don’t understand how its engine works, so we can’t engage in effective revision and polish if we don’t understand what makes good writing work. Effective writing entails numerous elements, and each element requires constant practice. For serious authors, writing is a daily discipline. Professional writers don’t wait for the inspiration bug to hit them. Professional writers write!
Do we want our self-published books to stand out among all the other indie books on the market? Do we want to be taken seriously as authors? Do we want to sell our books? If so, we must approach our craft the same way all serious writers approach it— through disciplined study, practice, and, of course, writing on a regular basis.
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Stickball, A Native American Sport
Sunset kissed the horizon. Kana trotted her gray pony along a narrow path, to a game field where cheers, singing and drumbeats drew her attention to the contest in progress. Her whole village, turned out for the stickball game to settle a dispute with a village from Mississippi. Despite the fact she was in no mood for a game, she guided her pony to the animated crowd watching the ball play, dismounted and led it by its reins.
She hitched her pony to a post next to other horses and ponies and made haste to the contest. Dust tickled her nostrils. So much dust the players caused in this game, hundreds of them, constantly running back and forth. She asked the Great One to let the game end soon. She must speak with her uncle, Foha’s war chief Gray Eagle. Her eyes skirted the animated crowd every direction—the dancing and singing women on both sides of the field, the shamans shouting from the sidelines, the players getting tackled or else stumbling from a whack on the head with two-feet long hickory sticks.
Her cousin Eyachubbe— wearing white war paint—tossed a small deer hide ball with his hickory stick to another teammate, who caught it in his stick’s small rawhide cup then raced toward their opponents’ goal. An opposing player in red warpaint tackled him, stole the ball, maneuvered around Foha’s players. But when he tossed it to his teammate, Red Panther snatched it in the air with a low leap. Agile as a cat, he wove and darted between numerous opponents chasing him, his ball nested in the stick’s leather-laced cup.
Red Panther rushed the ball toward a tall sapling. He passed it to Eyachubbee, who snatched the ball with his stick then wove through and around the mass of players who chased him. He tossed the ball to a teammate, who ran with it, then tossed it back to Red Panther, who raced with it while spectators withdrew to clear his path. His long black hair flying, he evaded three more opponents, passed the ball to Eyachubbee, who sent the ball flying into the goal, a sapling. Each side’s scorekeeper drove a stick in the ground. Ten sticks to the opposing team’s seven. Applause and cheers erupted from the sidelines.
Kana did not cheer.
In this excerpt from my work-in-progress, tentatively titled Ruffians, Redsticks and Circuit Riders, I describe a popular game played by two Choctaw villages. Stickball was also called “little war.” The Southeastern tribes in the early 1800s and earlier played it to settle disputes with other villages in a peaceful manner. These tribes still play it today. Lacrosse traces its origin to this sport.
Unlike our modern times, though, early stickball games had few rules—players could tackle each other, whack each other with their two-feet long hickory sticks, and similar things. Hundreds, even thousands, of men on both sides participated in the contest.
The players would fashion a rawhide cup at the end of their hickory sticks. The ball, also made of hide, was stuffed with deer hair. Sometimes, even, a rock. This game was so rough, players got injured. The object of the game was to fling the ball against a goal, such as shown in my excerpt. If the ball struck it, a point was scored.
During the 19th century, the United States government tried to ban the game. Today, it thrives among these tribes from the American Southeast: Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. They even have tournaments, notably the World Series of Stickball, held in Mississippi.
Recently, as part of my research, I visited the Poarch Creek reservation in Poarch, Alabama and spoke with the Creek curator of its museum. She told me her people, at least those living in Alabama, play stickball just for fun and the women are allowed to play with the men. However, they do have a rule, she said—the male players are not allowed to hit the women players. The game remains rough even today.
Here’s a video of a recent World Series of Stickball Tournament held in Mississippi.
Sources
“Choctaw Nation Sends Three Teams to Stickball World Series,” Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, July 12, 2022, accessed 10/24/2023 Choctaw Nation Sends Three Teams to Stickball World Series
Browne, Eric E. “Games of the Southeastern Indians,” Encyclopedia of Alabama. Last updated March 27, 2023, Alabama Humanities Alliance 2023.
Griffin, Benjamin W. McIntosh and Weatherford, Creek Leaders, Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1988.
Critics, Insulters, and Naysayers
“Are you working, or are you still writing?” came the patronizing voice over the telephone in the early 1990s.
“Still writing,” I told the businessman. While we discussed a business matter, my insides simmered. Oh, I really wanted to tell him a few things! However, I didn’t. What I wanted to spout off wouldn’t have been nice.
Ah! But those were the man’s exact words, engraved in my memory. I was much younger then, and my writing career was young. It was in those “good ole typewriter days.” Now, I look back on this experience and laugh. Had he understood how hard it is to write at a professional level, and how hard I worked, he never would’ve said it. Obviously, he knew nothing about the craft, yet he insulted me for something he didn’t understand. He may not have meant it as an insult, but that’s how I took it.
Photo Credit: Alan Light
I once heard the great singer, Mel Tormè, tell a story on a television show. He mentioned unnamed people who offered him unsolicited advice regarding his singing. Mr. Tormè’s response? He told them that if they were Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, or another musician or singer, he’d listen to them. In other words, he only heeded the advice of those who knew their craft. He was right. We, like Mel Tormè can ignore them because chances are, they know little or nothing about writing.
As writers, expect some people to criticize us. And yes, even insult us. It comes with the territory.
Doesn’t such criticism and naysaying hurt? Of course, it does. It still hurts me from time to time. But one thing I know for certain—by God’s grace, He’s called me into a literary ministry. I’ve never doubted this, not even in my early struggling years. Because I never doubted it, I never quit, and I thank the Lord for this. When we worry about what others think or say about us, the critics and naysayers, we become their slave. A slave to their opinions, a slave to their negative comments. Personally, I’m more concerned with what the Lord thinks about me—how I live my life and my writing.
Has the Lord given you a dream to be a writer? He has? Then don’t pay attention to those who criticize you, insult you, and try to kill your dream. I’ve been writing professionally for over thirty years. The Lord has brought my dream to pass. So always trust Him. He’ll bring your dream to pass too.
Myths and Misconceptions About Writers and Writing
Myth # 1: Writing is Easy. Anybody Can Do it.
Many years ago, when I first began studying the literary craft, I heard someone tell a mutual friend: “Jack’s not doing anything. All he does is sit at his desk all day..”
Well, when our mutual friend told me this, I just sighed and rolled my eyes. He, and untold thousands of others, have no idea about the of level of work and commitment that’s involved—that is, if one wants to write at a professional level.
Writing is not easy. In fact, I once read an article where someone compared writing professionally to paving a mile of highway by yourself. Writing at a professional level requires study, practice and discipline.
Myth #2: Writers Are Lazy
No, professional writers are not lazy. If they were, they wouldn’t write much of anything worth publishing. Most folks understand work as physical labor (and it is). However, writing requires intense concentration and mental labor.
Outsiders can’t observe the gears grinding in the writer’s head, their innumerable frustrations, the nights of insomnia when their brains can’t let go of a work-in-progress, and the painful/disappointing rejections by agents and editors.
Lazy folks aren’t self-motivated, whereas successful writers are. No one stands over them saying, “Write! Write!”
Myth # 3: Good Writing Requires Complexity and Adornment
Some people believe excellent prose must flow with long, complicated sentences adorned with multisyllable words and many figures of speech. Not true.
Every writer has his/her own literary style and voice. To communicate with today’s reading public (a general audience), simple is always best. The best writers know how to communicate in effective, yet simple, language.
Myth # 4: Writers Are Rich
Rich? Ah, if only that were true! Someone once told me that his wife said she was “going to write a book and get rich.” Since I didn’t know his wife, I don’t know if she was serious. However, many have the misconception that all writers are wealthy. The truth is, though a few are wealthy, most aren’t. Most writers have another job that supports them while they pursue their craft.
Myth # 5: Writers Are Expert Grammarians and Spellers
Think so? Tell that to William Faulkner. He had a “special gift” for misspelling words that his editors had to constantly correct.
Although we writers should seek excellence in grammar and spelling, we’re still human and so, we make mistakes. Among other things, we often consult reference books, such as stylebooks (The Chicago Manual of Style, The AP Stylebook, and the MLA Handbook), grammar books, dictionaries, and thesauruses.
A Final Word
I hope those who seek to write professionally will take these above-mentioned things to heart. Writing is neither easy nor a path to great riches. Well, maybe I’m wrong. Those who desire to write, who are called to write, do possess great wealth. Not in a monetary sense, but in a sense of joy and fulfillment. Why? Because we writers are doing what we were born to do on this earth. We write, because that’s who we are and what we do. .
Speaking Event
This past Saturday, I had the privilege of giving a lecture and doing a book signing at the National Civil War Naval Museum, located at Port Columbus, Georgia. It is a fantastic museum, and I highly recommend it to all Civil War buffs., especially those interested in the conflict’s naval history. I spoke on the battle of Mobile Bay. All photo credits belong to Terri Miller. Thank you, Terri.
Behind us is the USS Hartford, the flagship of Admiral David G. Farragut. You can walk inside it and see how the various compartments were arranged and how they were furnished.
If you’re ever in Columbus, Georgia, this museum is well worth a visit and very easy to find — just off Highway 280.
Watch Out! I See Mary Jane!
During your writing, have you ever stumbled upon Mary Jane? Who is she? Why, she’s an absolutely beautiful character (forgive the unnecessary adverb). Everything about her is flawless – her hair, her makeup, her clothes. She’s so smart, she never makes a mistake. Because she’s the epitome of perfection, she always gets along with other characters. Why, she has the answers for every situation. I suggest we all watch out for her. Why’s that? It’s simply this. Mary Janes are so perfect, readers cannot identify with them and, worst of all, they’re boring.
A Few Tips on How to Avoid Mary Janes
Give Characters Weaknesses/Flaws/Fears
One of my favorite authors is C.S. Forrester. In his series about the fictional Napoleonic War naval hero, Horatio Hornblower, Hornblower sometimes gets seasick. This adds to his humanity. One wouldn’t expect a naval hero to get seasick, but Captain Hornblower does. Although I’ve never been seasick because I grew up on the Gulf Coast and did lots of saltwater fishing in my younger years, my friends who do get seasick can identify with him.
Let Our Characters Make Mistakes
If they’re our story’s protagonist, mistakes go a long way toward gaining reader sympathy for him/her. If they’re the villain, readers will rejoice at the villain’s error.
Hercule Poirot may be one of the mystery genre’s greatest detectives. Want to know how he died in Agatha Christie’s last Poirot novel, Curtain? He made a mistake many people, unfortunately, make. He died of a heart attack because he didn’t take his heart medicine
Give Our Character a Unique Physical Appearance
A character may walk with a limp due to an old injury. Or, perhaps, he’s missing a finger from a chainsaw accident.
Mary Janes may wear petite size dresses and always promenade in designer clothes. However, although a more believable female character may wear a size petite dress in our story, she might also wear lots of frumpy clothes and battered tennis shoes.
A Final Word
It’s important to spend quality time thinking about our characters. Make an outline of their strengths and weaknesses and portray them as original, and believable, as we can.
And hey, watch out for Mary Jane! She lurks everywhere within manuscripts and in the pages of certain books.
The Creek War (1813-1814), Part 14, Horseshoe Bend
Tohopeka, a Creek village consisting of three hundred hastily built cabins, sat on the toe of a sharp bend in the Tallapoosa River that resembled a horseshoe. The village was temporary, meant to protect Red Stick women and children. Some one-thousand warriors guarded it under the leadership of a fearless chief, Menawa.
Across this peninsula’s four-hundred-yard-wide neck, the Red Sticks had erected a log barricade five to eight feet high with loopholes for muskets. It was built in such a way that their guns could catch the Americans in a cross-fire if, and when, they attacked. These warriors were the Red Sticks’ best, the last great hope for victory over General Jackson.
With his army now reinforced with regular soldiers—the Thirty-ninth Infantry, Tennessee militia, friendly Cherokees and Creeks (under the command of William McIntosh) and two small cannon–Jackson left his base on the Coosa River on March 21, 1814. To get to Horseshoe Bend, his men cut a road over fifty miles long across ridges. His force consisted of 2,000 infantry, 700 cavalry, and 600 Indians. Lieutenant Sam Houston, later of Texas Revolution fame, was an officer in the Thirty-ninth. Also Major Lemuel P. Montgomery, for whom Alabama’s Montgomery County would be named.
By March 26, Jackson’s army camped within six miles of the Bend. On March 27, he gave his orders and his men prepared for their attack.
Jackson’s Battle Order
- Coffee’s Cavalry and Indians: positioned three miles below Tohopeka, surrounding it to cut off the Red Sticks’ retreat.
- Jackson’s artillery: positioned on a hill to pound the breastworks.
- Jackson’s infantry: make a frontal assault after the artillery’s bombardment.
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend
By 10:30 A.M. Jackson arrived at the Horseshoe. Soon after, Coffee’s troopers and Indians positioned themselves across the Tallapoosa.
Some Cherokees under the command of Colonel Gideon Morgan swam across the river without orders and stole the enemy’s canoes. To compensate for this, Coffee shifted part of his force to the tip of the Bend and kept other men in reserve.
Using the stolen canoes, the Cherokees and friendly Creeks began crossing the Tallapoosa in increasing numbers. Three hundred men, including some Indians, attacked Tohopeka during Jackson’s artillery barrage. Fierce fighting ensued. Tohopeka was burned.
Meanwhile, for two hours, Jackson’s cannons kept roaring and pounding the barricade to no effect. Then he ordered a frontal assault. The Thirty-ninth Infantry led the attack, Lemuel P. Montgomery and Sam Houston running toward the barricade ahead of everyone else. Montgomery scaled the barricade and was shot down. Houston scaled it next. An arrow flew into his thigh, two rifle balls smashed his shoulder later.
Although the Thirty-ninth did most of the fighting, the Tennessee militia supported it. It was a brutal battle—hand to hand, musket to musket.
At last, Jackson gained control of the situation and headed toward the Bend. After five hours of conflict, with darkness settling over the battlefield, the fighting ended.
Coffee’s men shot those who’d tried to escape across the river.
Aftermath
Chief Menawa, though wounded seven times in the battle, survived by playing dead till nightfall. He then crawled to the river and made his escape in a canoe. During Jackson’s presidency, he was sent to Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears.
To get a proper casualty count after the battle, Jackson ordered his men to cut off the tips of the dead Red Sticks’ noses after the battle.
After the battle, during his march to the hostile Hickory Ground where the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers merge, Jackson laid waste to Creek villages and destroyed their food supplies. On April 17, when he arrived at the site of the old French fort, Fort Toulouse, he built Fort Jackson. Starving Red Sticks poured into this camp and surrendered, among them was William Weatherford. We don’t know for certain all the things that transpired between Weatherford and Jackson. Lots of conflicting accounts. What we do know for certain, though, is that Jackson was so impressed by Weatherford’s courage and dignity that he let him go. Weatherford helped persuade other Creeks to follow his example and surrender.
The Creek War vaulted Andrew Jackson to national prominence and was the first step on his road to the Presidency of the United States.
Bibliography
Bunn, Mike and Clay Williams. Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812. Charleston: History Press, 2008.
Holland, James W. Victory at the Horseshoe: Andrew Jackson and the Creek War. Eastern National with the cooperation of the University of Alabama Press and Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, 2004
Waselkov, Gregory A. A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813-14. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006.
Special Announcement
June 17, I will be doing a book signing and giving a talk on the Battle of Mobile Bay at the Port Columbus Civil War Naval Museum. I hope some of you who live in, or near, Columbus., Georgia can attend!
