University of Virginia Library

2. Sequoyah

Among the great names in the history of invention, of men who have added momentum to the progress of their race, the name of Sequoyah, the illustrious Indian, deserves to be remembered. The triumph of his genius, in the invention of the Cherokee alphabet, is a victory that must associate his name with the apostles of science and civilization, and with the benefactors of mankind. No other in the history of his race has won a higher regard from posterity. The deeds of Pocahontas are noble, the heroism of King Phillip, Tecumseh, and other Indians are commendable, and these will live in the memory of the people, but the most enduring remembrance is due to this inventor.

It matters not in what region of the earth the seed of genius is cast-remote or conspicuous--it will germinate and bear its fruit. This truth is verified in the nativity of Sequoyah, as of Shakespeare, of Washington, and of the majority of the most eminent characters of history. The birth-place of men whose lives are destined to be given to the amelioration of humanity, is not confined to some one favorite spot alone. The flower of the desert may shed a sweeter fragrance than the one that has grown in the garden of luxury. Somewhere-no one knows precisely-in that beautiful country once owned by the Cherokees, Sequoyah was born. Though denied the advantages of education, he had access to the teachings of nature-an ear ever opened to the voice of reason. His textbooks were the mountains, the rivers, the forest, and the heaven. His soul was the soul of a philosopher, that thirst for mental gain and ceases never to investigate. He walked amid the winds contemplating natural laws and the secrets of cause and effect, while his countrymen gloried over the trophies of the chase and war. This high aspiration, by the proper use of the knowledge gained, resulted in the invention of the alphabet in which the rich language of the Cherokees is written.

A mind thus tutored in the university of nature, and achieving such a beneficent deed for humanity, is worth a myriad of others, however learned, that bring nothing to pass. Self-reliance and self-instruction are necessary in moulding grand characters. These were the characteristics of Sequoyah.

When he conceived the possibility of his invention, it was his misfortune to share the fate of most discoverers. His project was scoffed at and ridiculed by unappreciating ignorance, which conferred upon him the title of lunatic. No friend had the nobleness and generosity of heart to encourage him in his toil. But all this served only to animate his faith in the plan which a reason had submitted to his hands for execution. When his task was finished-when the subject of his dreams was realized, his fellows looked upon him as one inspired and worthy of his country's approbation.

Sequoyah was not, however, without his faults. The one blemish of his life was intemperance; an evil that has displayed itself in the lives of some of our greatest men. He would, no doubt, have sunk into oblivion, in consequence of this infamous habit, had he not possessed the will, the courage, and the strength of character to break and thrust aside its bonds. Thus, Sequoyah rescued his name from infamy, his genius from ruin. A man addicted to strong drink seldom reforms. But he knew that he could not fulfill the sublime mission of his life and be a slave to inebriety. He knew that he could not devote his time to the execution of his plans and be a drunkard. He knew that such a course of life would do injustice to his fellowmen by tempting the young to follow in his footsteps. Had he been other than a lover of humanity, of science, of civilization; had he been other than an industrious man, a lover of toil, one who finds something always to employ his time, he would have perished in his delirium, for such is the fate of multitudes who come to ruin in consequence of having nothing to do. This was the noblest victory of his life.

But monuments and words of praise can never express the worth of Sequoyah to his people. Though he fell by the wayside of neglect, though distant stars and the flowers of a foreign clime smile above his grave, the work of his hands helped to make his people happy and prosperous!