Post # 4 - Southern war clubs of the 18th c.

Hello everyone,

Today I'm thinking about Southeastern war clubs of the 18th c., particularly those in use by the Cherokee. To date, there are no surviving clubs that date to the 18th c. and have a documented attribution to any Southeastern Nation. There are 2 clubs out there that might be Southeastern, but are not absolutely attributed. One is in the Splendid Heritage collection, the other is at Trotta Bond auction house:

http://www.splendidheritage.com/nindex.html (search for "southeast" and you'll find it)

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/folk-art/native-american-objects/rare-antique-native-american-animal-effigy-club-19th-century/id-f_1988882/


Looking at the surviving text of the 18th c. - you can see a distinct pattern emerge in style of Southeastern clubs as they were seen by Europeans :

"It is the custom of the Indians, to leave a club, something in the form of a cricket-bat, but with their warlike exploits engraved on it, in their enemy's country, and the enemy accepts the defiance, by bringing this back to their country."  Timberlake.

"having Wooden Falchions in their Hands, (such as Stage-Fencers commonly use;) in this Dress they danced about an Hour, shewing many strange Gestures, and brandishing their Wooden Weapons, as if they were going to fight each other" Lawson, 1709. Describing a Catawba war dance.

The following is an image of a Natchez Native holding a club, this one has a ball on the rear :

Then there's the "7 Cherokee in London" image that appears to show a "large head"  war club (similar to the one in the Splendid Heritage collection) being held by one of the Cherokee in the back :

The "atassa" is another name for a particular type of Southeastern club that is notched on one side and can be seen in this image :

Perhaps one day a firmly attributed Southern club will be found and brought to the public so we can have a solid example to base our research and study on, or more research will be done on the 2 clubs I linked earlier and their attribution can be backed up. Until then we just have to remain as close to the documented images and text that we have when portraying or discussing war clubs of the Southeast.