 Without further hesitation, he spits in the hole. “Now, cover the hole,” she commands. Without hesitation, Greenwood quickly obeys.
Drawn into a deep trance, Greenwood’s eyes close. The old woman smiles, contemplating her words carefully as she plants the story in Greenwood’s heart.
“Your white Great-Great-Grandfather William Thomas was an orphan called ‘Dutch Boy’ by the whites of the Isle of Wight in Virginia. He did not mix well with his own people and was cast away, forced to roam the hill country in search of food and shelter. The Yundi Tsuni (Little People) looked after him, and through a dream told one of the old women of the Tsalagi Uweti Clan of him. The next morning at sunrise, the old woman rose up and went to water for her daily cleansing. Upon leaving the river, she dressed and set out to find the strange boy with white hair and clear eyes she had seen in her dream.
“After several days of searching, the old woman finally found the boy gathering berries in the woods. Although he was strange in appearance, she took pity on the ugly boy and took him in as one of her own. In his years with the old woman, William learned the tongue of the Virginia Cherokee and fit well with our people. Being a stranger, he was accepted and adopted into the Anigilohi Clan. He grew into a strong warrior with long white hair and clear eyes.
As the old woman continues, Greenwood remains in a mesmerized trance.
She pauses several seconds, inspecting Greenwood’s glassy gaze. Satisfied, she continues.
“On a return trading trip from Isle of Wight, the English soldiers follow White Hair back to his town. Isaac is ten years of age when the English soldiers raid their village.
“Isaac is standing beside his mother to protect her when an Englishman bursts into their lodge and grabs her. Isaac attacks the soldier with his tomahawk, but the soldier’s sword is quicker, cutting deeply into Isaac’s face. Isaac reels back unconscious, awakened later by his mother’s screams of pain and terror as the soldier ravishes her. The soldier has his back to Isaac and cannot see the young man as he slowly reaches for his tomahawk. Clutching the weapon with both hands, he stands and buries the tomahawk in the soldier’s back, killing him.
“The sword leaves a deep scar, not only on Isaac’s face, but even deeper into his soul. After the English massacre, White Hair gathers the survivors to migrate further west, deeper into Tsalagi ground, but his older sons, Jacob and John, choose to stay in Virginia and live as white. Reluctantly, William, Ah-we’-nee and, Isaac load their belongings onto a travois and leave their town. They are followed by the last remnants of the Virginia Tsalagi.
The old woman’s eyes fill with tears, but she collects herself to continue her story.
“The year is 1749. Across the mountains in what the whites now call Tennessee, living in Chota, City of Refuge, there is a twelve-year-old girl. The girl, Nanye’Hi (NAN-YA’-HEE’ )– she who walks among the spirit people – lives with her mother, Tame Doe, and father, Five Killer, who are in their thirties. Nanye’Hi’ was guided by her mother’s brother, Peace Head-Man Attkullakulla, whom the whites call Little Carpenter. Although Little Carpenter is in his sixties, short and stout, he is a man of immense internal strength and wisdom.
“On the rocky banks of the Little Tennessee River that borders Chota, War Head-Man Oconostota (AH-KAH-NAH’-SSS-DOE-TAH) commands a group of fifty warriors, completely covered in red and black war paint. Oconostota himself stands more than six feet tall with dotted tattoos on his face and body to mark his many accomplishments. The warriors are loading five large dugout canoes with muskets, bows, arrows and other battle provisions.
“The boy doesn’t flinch at the impossible task. Laying down his bow and quiver, he puts his back to the canoe, squats down and pushes with all his might, his skinny legs shaking from the strain. The canoe does not move.
“There are chuckles from the warriors. The boy glares at the warriors’ laughter, then focuses all his strength. Trembling from head to toe, he pushes with every ounce of strength he has, but the canoe moves only a few inches. The warriors’ goading lessens. The boy strains and pushes again, this time gaining a foot. He resets again and pushes. The canoe moves two feet. He sets up again, putting his heart and soul into it. Now, instead of laughing, the warriors encourage him. The canoe starts to move, but this time he keeps his feet moving till the canoe reaches the water. Spent, the boy falls prostrate on the rocky bank, his bony chest heaving as he gasps for air.
The old woman continues on with her story: “On the day of the journey to Seven Springs town, Little Carpenter is escorting his long-time friends, Dr. Thomas Walker and Christopher Gist, the first white men to venture deep into the ‘Overhill Country.’ Little Carpenter is also accompanied by Five Killer and his daughter Nanye’Hi’(Nan-yah’-Hee’).
“The small Cherokee settlement of crude log structures is named for the seven springs cradled in linked rock cisterns that sit high on top of a wooded mountain. When the visitors arrive, Little Carpenter is greeted warmly by four Moravian missionaries dressed in all black. The missionary group includes one older man, tall and thin with a gray beard with no lip hair, a younger clean-shaven man and his Irish wife, both in their thirties, and a redheaded Irish daughter about fourteen years old. The older man is one of the original missionaries Little Carpenter had brought to the New World on his return trip from England many years earlier to teach the white man’s words to the Tsalagi.
“Standing beside the missionaries outside William’s crude lean-to log trading post are (White Hair) now called William ‘The Emigrant’ with long flowing white hair, dressed totally in buckskin. Beside him is his Tsalagi son Isaac, age thirteen, dressed in only a breechclout. He is a tall, robust boy for his age with a deep scar running down the left side of his face from above his eye to his lower jaw.
“She leads him to where the other children are playing, and while the men trade, Isaac and Nanye’Hi talk and laugh, forming a close bond. The missionaries gather the children, including the older Isaac and Nanye’Hi’, to sit on the ground in a circle. The older missionary takes her place in the center of the circle.
“The older missionary woman is fighting to keep her wild curly auburn hair concealed. Her daughter, Lidia, is a pretty girl with pinkish complexion, pudgy checks and fiery red hair. 
“Once witnessed, you will never forget what you are about to receive, both the good and the evil.” In a low, mournful chant, the old woman leads Greenwood on his journey back into another place, another time.
Lost Warrior Part 1 tells the story of the Cherokee in the pre-dawn of the American Revolution. During the French and Indian war, the English had already committed mass genocide upon Cherokee by infecting trade blankets with small pox. This action had killed off nearly half of the Cherokee Nation.
With the approach of the American Revolution the English Army wiped out whole towns. This excerpt is based on a letter Lt. Marion wrote in the aftermath of Col. Grant’s Raid on Tomasse. At the time of the raid all that remained were old men, women and Children. After which the Cherokee called Col. Grant “The Corn Puller”.
A sick feeling fills his soul as he walks on making his way through the burnt devastation of the once flourishing fields of corn. Entering the edge of town he looks around at the needless death of scalped old men, women and children. Their mutilated bodies relieved of genitalia and scalps sicken him. Their bodies covered in flies were left lying in pools of their dried blood to rot. Above him the vultures’ circle ever lower. They are impatiently waiting to pick the meat from these innocent victims of English greed. A vulture sweeps down on a corpse and immediately he begins to pick and pull ripping the meat from the bones. Even though Marion is a hardened militiaman he becomes physically sick at the sight and vomits.
As the town smolders and burns, Col. Grant’s Army makes camp. Marion can hear them laughing and bragging about their conquest. They count their bounty, bragging about the few coins they will receive for the scalps and genitalia. Deeply depressed and overcome with guilt Marion finds a secluded place away from everyone. He makes a secluded camp and builds a small fire. Sitting alone by the fire he turns his thoughts to the woman and child he smuggled to the river. However, his thoughts are on the women and children that were murdered. He rummages through his haversack hanging on his side. He takes out paper, a quill