Cherokee Conjurers right near Fort Duquesne
Staring down at the fort from a height across the river, they were gaining a view of the headquarters of terrorism. This was the al Qaeda. The base. This was the French fort, Fort DuQuesne. The French got agreement from a dozen Indian nations stretching all the way through the Ohio lands to the Great Lakes. These Indian Nations were always coequal, and no one's minion. They ran their own operations, and for now their wishes coincided with the French wish to terrorize this country infested with this invasive species, those English. Now, I grant you this, trade commerce with this invasive species was beneficial, but once you open the door a little bit, that door swings wide open, n'est pas?
Those very invasive species was NOT some Spotted Lantern Fly. Instead it was one Colby Chew, an Ensign of the Virginia Regiment looking right this minute at them. From the other side of the river they stood. He and the Cherokee were looking from a ridge high above the river. This occurred around 16 Aug 1758. This little war party left 7 Aug 1758 for this destination.
We imagine with no proof that Colby Chew and the Cherokee were standing on this spot where now sits the Statues of Guyasuta and GW facing each other.
The Conjurers
Before planning anything, the Cherokee Conjurers bestowed a magical cocoon of protection on these men facing clear and present danger - necklaces dangling "conjuring implements."
It was only temporary protection for Colby Chew. He dies a month later right over there across the river near the fort. He probably wasn't wearing his necklace. He died as part of Grant's failure attacking Fort Duquesne 14 Sept 1758.
But back to now, mid-August 1758:
Read Colby Chew's writing of this moment.
At one point they get naked, a way to address their fate.
We hid ourselves in a thicket
until the Indians had congered and painted
after which
we went down the river
within 3/4s of a mile of the fort
then turned to the SE,
and went up a stony ridge
where the chief warrior
took his congering implements
and tied them about the necks of the three . . . young Indians . . .
and told them they could not be hurt;
round my neck he tied the otter skin
win which congering implements
ad ben kipt
and round the sgt's necek
he tied a bag of paint
that had been kpt with the implements,
he then told us not one of us could be shot . . .
he then made us strip ourselves of all our clothes
except our breechcloths and mocasins
and then shook hands with us
and told us to go fight like men
for nothing could hurt us.
That's a quote from David H Corkran quoting Colby Chew's journal on page 155 of The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962.
The Letter with the Journal
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And here's the letter Colby Chew writes to Colonel George Washington enclosing his journal containing those words above.
To George Washington from Colby Chew, 22 August 1758
From Colby Chew Rays Town Augst 22d 1758 Sir As I think it my duty to Report
any thing to you
that is Extraordenary
I take the Fredom
to Inclose you a Journald 1
that I kept from the time I Reced my Orders
tell I Returnd,
Which is as Exact a one
as the place Would Permit of
pray Excuse my Freedom
and believe me to be Dr Colo. your most Obt Servt Coleby Chew
ALS, DLC:GW.
Source of picture above:
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Compiled, authored by Jim Moyer 7/1/2022, updated 7/31/22, 8/4/22, 8/5/22
The sections below:
Founders Online Footnotes
on the Colby Chew's letter to Colonel GW
Joseph Chew is brother to Colby Chew
Colby Chew has a brother Chew in New London Connecticut who also writes to Colonel GW
Correction of Corkran:
Proof Colley Chew is a misspelling, The correct name is Colby Chew. Corrections of Corkran calling Chew a partisan when he really was an Ensign in the 1st VA Regiment.
The Last Cherokee Conjurer
About the last conjurer according to this article
Research Notes
Not organized but some interesting items.
Founders Online Footnotes
for that Letter Colby Chew writes to Colonel George Washington:
Lt. Colby (Coleby) Chew of the 1st Virginia Regiment was killed in Major James Grant’s raid near Fort Duquesne on 14 Sept. 1758.
1. Colby Chew gave GW and Bouquet virtually identical versions of his journal, which begins:
“Monday August the 7th 1758
I Set of from Rays Town by order of Colo. Bouquet With a party of indians & White men to make What Discoverys I could of the Strenth & Situation of the Enemy to the Westward” (DLC:GW).
On Wednesday, 16 Aug.,
all but Chew, Sgt. Andrew Vaughan, and five Indians returned, but these then pushed on to within a mile of Fort Duquesne:
“from the top of this Ridge I had an extraordinary good View as it was considerbly higher than the F[ort] & scarce half mile Distant from it. there were fifty or sixty tents pitched on the Ohio abt 100 yards from the Fort & there are several houses on Monongahala. there were Neither Cannoes nor Batteaus in this that I Could percieve, nor Could I Discover any New Works abt the fort. . . . from What I saw I do not judge that they have above 300 Frenchmen. . . . After Dark the Indians got to Singing & Dancing from their noise I judge them to be Abt fifty in Number all which the Cherokees told me were Shawnese[.] As I have taken a plan of the place & Fort as well as I could upon a separate paper. I shall make no mention of it here.”
On Saturday the nineteenth
Chew and his party returned to Maj. George Armstrong’s camp on Drounding Creek just after Ens. John Allen of the Virginia forces had returned with his party from a similar mission.
Chew’s journal is printed in full in Stevens, Bouquet Papers, 2:400–404, and Allen’s journal is printed on pp. 324–26.
The mileage in Chew’s entry for Tuesday, 15 Aug., is different in DLC from that in the Bouquet Papers: 3 miles in GW’s copy is 8 miles in the Papers and 12 miles is 42 miles in the Papers.
Otherwise the differences are minimal.
There is also a copy of the journal, probably sent to John Forbes, in the Dalhousie Muniments, Scottish Record Office. The plan, or map, that Chew sketched while on his reconnaissance accompanies the copies of the journal both at DLC and the Scottish Record Office; the DLC copy is not as complete but is more legible.
Source:
Joseph Chew is brother
to Colby Chew
Joseph Chew lives in both NYC and New London.
Joseph Chew was also Colonel George Washington's eyes and ears up north. Joseph Chew reported 17 July 1758 to Colonel GW about Abercrombie's disaster attacking Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga).
After this March 1757 letter below, we discover that Joseph Chew's request for favor for his brother Colby Chew eventually nets Colby Chew the rank of Ensign in the Virginia Regiment by October 1757.
Also interesting that Colby Chew was with the famous Thomas Walker. He's one of the big dogs of this time. He hit Cumberland Gap before Daniel Boone claimed fame for it.
To George Washington from Joseph Chew, 14 March 1757
I have a Brother who has acted as under Commissry for Mr Walker at Winchester he is young and I hope of a good Disposition. I trouble you with the inclosed for him and Pray the favour of you to show him any Countenance his Situation may admit of; and give him on my Accot any Friendly advice you think Proper. I hope he himself will be greatfull, and I assure you I Shall Ever be so, indeed I make no doubt but you will Receive a satisfaction in showing Favour to a Poor youth whose Fathers bad œconomy has turn’d into the world to shift for himself, but this subject would be only troubling you with Mallencholly Scenes you have no Connection with.1
1. Colby Chew was associated with Thomas Walker as early as 1750 when Walker led his expedition into the Kentucky territory. GW made Colby Chew an ensign in the Virginia Regiment in October 1757.
Corrections of Corkran
We hid ourselves in a thicket
until the Indians had congered and painted
after which
we went down the river
within 3/4s of a mile of the fort
then turned to the SE,
and went up a stony ridge
where the chief warrior
took his congering implements
and tied them about the necks of the three . . . young Indians . . .
and told them they could not be hurt;
round my neck he tied the otter skin
win which congering implements
ad ben kipt
and round the sgt's necek
he tied a bag of paint
that had been kpt with the implements,
he then told us not one of us could be shot . . .
he then made us strip ourselves of all our clothes
except our breechcloths and mocasins
and then shook hands with us
and told us to go fight like men
for nothing could hurt us.
That's a quote from David H Corkran quoting Colby Chew's journal on page 155 of The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962.
David H Corkran writes of that quote:
The Virginia partisan Colley Chew] depicted one party at work in August [1758] near Fort Duquesne .
We dispute the word "partisan."
That usually refers to someone acting in their own volition with no orders from any authorized military. This man was an Ensign in the 1st Virginia Regiment.
Also his name is Colby Chew not Colley Chew.
But Corkran's research was done in 1962 or before that year without the easy access available on the internet today.
Here is proof Colley Chew and Colby Chew are one and the same guy. This proves that David Corkran's book has a misspelling of Chew.
Colley Chew is supposed to be Colby Chew Colbey Chew.
See this link in Hamilton where David Corkran got his quote:
The Last Conjurer
Of The Cherokee Nation
Source for picture:
Shaman, Medicine Man, Witch And Conjurers – What Is The Difference?
Before one can explain the use of gourd rattles, it’s important to understand the difference between Shamans, Medicine Men, Witches, and Conjurers.
Shamans deal with spiritual, inner discovery. They often act as a guide through trips into your subconscious mind or dreams.
Medicine Man is more like its namesake, dealing with healing plants, setting bones, or treatment of illness. Witch is a dark magician, man or woman, it applies to both. Think Harry Potter death eaters, a group of dark wizards.
Conjurers acted as a combination of police officers, judges, military heads, history and traditions keepers, paranormal investigators. They are very similar to the old Catholic priests.
Jeramy (left) and his father Bobby Neugin (right). Bobby is wearing traditional medicine man bear hide robes trimmed in red which symbolizes the east, red spirit Conjurer colors of black and red as war chief, with lightning-struck wood staff with horn top, scalp locks on the belt (horse or hair taken from war games like stickball) with matching pheasant, eagle feather designation, brass gorget necklace as a symbol of a high official station, crystal-adorned necklace, and unrefined pearl bracelet.
I (Jeramy) am wearing the designated Conjurer face paint, blue, which symbolizes the afterlife, and a ghost cape, used when summoning the dead or afterlife. Bear claw headdress with -horsehair top, peacock and Raven and turkey feather adornment, Phoenix design symbolizing resurrection and rattlesnake trim on a loincloth for spirit protection, rabbit and coyote leg ties the trickster spirit animals, star beaded medicine bag with crystal and snake bone, coyote and bear claw, holding traditional Cherokee "knob stick" a fighting club similar to Irish shillelagh. When whites began banning Cherokees from carrying weapons, they adapted a walking stick for fighting use. Adorned in skull carving in stick and scalp locks. Credit: Jeramy Neugin
Magic, both sleight of hand and Mysticism was once a big part of Cherokee culture. Everyone in the tribe could perform some type of Magic. After the Trail of Tears, it was reduced to just a handful of myths and legends, the magic that went with it was destroyed.
The Purpose And Meaning Of Gourd Rattles
Carved masks decorated the walls of some homes, known as "booger masks" (after the old English word for a goblin). These were carved with their eyes closed and not meant to be worn. They were for the protective spirits to wear. If they saw that a mask had its eyes open, witches or dark spirits were near. A video appears in this article.
Jeramy Neugin explains the use and meaning of Cherokee gourd rattles.
Gourd rattles were carried by both children and adults. Cherokee children were not allowed, under any circumstances to be outside after dark.
The underworld of the dead known as the darkening lands is far away, beyond the horizon, but when the sun goes down, it is free to run rampant with the moon.
Source
ABOUT JERAMY NEUGIN
Jeramy Neugin was the son in a father & son Oklahoma Magicians act who use unique one of a kind stories, illusions and humor to promote and preserve their Native American culture and Oklahoma heritage as Lost City Magic. The Cherokee was one of the few tribes who had sleight of hand Magic as part of their culture. They were known as Conjurers. it was all but erased by the genocide removal known as the trail of tears and subsequent interference by missionaries. it's being attempted to return it back to the culture and remove the taboo that is attached to magic by Jeramy and his father Bobby Neugin which is why they are known as the Last Conjurers of the Cherokee Nation. After six years of non stop traveling street and table Magic shows, his father was forced to retire from performing due to health issues, leaving Jeramy to continue on solo as the Last Conjurer of the Cherokee Nation. He currently resides in Lost City, where he can be close to his father and the Cherokee roots that inspire many of his routines. When not performing, Jeramy spends his time researching myths, legends, ghost stories looking for inspiration for a new routine scanning Magic and mentalism books or in his shop building supernatural props and sideshow museum displays, all of which can be seen on his social media sites.
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GREAT STATE Great State: The Last of the Cherokee Conjurers Posted: Oct 31, 2013 / 01:00 PM CDT Updated: Oct 31, 2013 / 01:00 PM CDT
SHARE This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
LOST CITY, OKLAHOMA —
The eye of a witch, the shrunken head of an Oklahoma Outlaw; these are among the ‘tools’ of Jeramy Neugin and his father Bobby, who bill themselves as the last of the Cherokee conjurers. “We are, as far as we know,” says Bobby. “We don’t know of any other Indians that perform magic.” From their lonely house in rural Lost City, near Tahlequah, the Cherokee capital, this father and son act spent years researching family history, native lore, and good magic tricks. “The storytellers that the Indians have today, back in the old days they illustrated those stories with magic,” says Jeramy Neugin. In the five years since they went professional, Bobby and Jeramy’s tricks include calling up a ‘demon’, who appears in the form of a wasp swarm.
A live wasp emerges from a closed fist. “There goes the first one,” says Jeramy. They have what they playfully claim is the finger of Sasquatch which turns squiggly lines on a piece of paper into real worms when their finger is waved over a velvet bag.
The eye of their witch has magical powers too, helping them perfom card tricks.
“They say whoever possesses that eye can see things no other person can see,” says Jeramy during a performance. Bobby used to do a few magic tricks for his son, but it wasn’t until he started telling old stories with them that they stuck in Jeramy’s imagination.
That’s why they dug up the old Illinois River monster legend which includes what they tell audiences is the body of an infant monster.
They call on the forces of a Thunderbird too. That, they tell spectators, is the fossil of a dragon. Another Cherokee legend tells on a race of forest guardians they call the Little People.
The Neugins have what they call a skeleton specimen which communicates through a bell on a wooden box.
“If you’re here in spirit, let us know,” says Jeramy. Then the bell rings.
The Neugins say the original Cherokee conjurers used all kinds of trick magic to help tell their stories. Even the old cup and ball trick has links to Native American heritage.
Jeramy says of his ancestors, “If they were alive today they would be Chris Angel or David Blayne doing this stuff.” They perform their magic show all over the country.
The Neugins might come off as a little spooky at first, but from bleeding ghosts to resurrected vampires and more, this show aims for entertaining their audience instead of scaring it.
Bobby and Jeramy perform under the name ‘Lost City Magic’.
They have an interesting website at
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Research Notes
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miscellaneous finding
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4. Mr. Chew probably was Ens. Colby Chew of the 1st Virginia Regiment though it may have been his younger brother Larkin Chew, who became an ensign in the 2d Virginia Regiment. See Joseph Chew to GW, 10 May 1758. GW sent young Billy Fairfax £50 which his brother Bryan Fairfax repaid in 1761, a year and a half after Billy’s death on the Plains of Abraham (General Ledger A, folio 50).
From George Washington at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA to William Henry Fairfax, 23 April 1758
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To George Washington from Joseph Chew, 17 July 1758
From Joseph Chew New London [Conn.] July. 17th 1758 Dear Sir: I was on a Vissit over to Long Island a few days agoe and unexpectedly Came here.1 shall Return in the morning for New London. am Very sorry to give an Accot of the Repulse our Forces met with before Tiondoroga[.] we Landed on the 7th near that Fortress with the Loss of abt 30 men. but what was Very Fatall, the Gallant Lord How there Lost his Life, we drove the Enemy from all their out Posts and killed an took abt 400 Prisoners—the 8th our army attacked the Retrench’d Camp before The Fort sword in hand, there is so many Various Reports of the attack and Loss; that it is Very hard to Come at the truth, however we met with a Very Warm Reception, the Enemy were ⟨trebly⟩ intrenched to their Teeth, how Long the attack lasted I cannot Say but the General has Retreated in good order to the Placee where Fort William Henry Stood with the Loss of near 1600 men killed missing and wounded[.] it is Said 97 officers are killed missing & wounded[.]2 their is as yet no Returns, or List Come to hand theirfore I can give you the Names of but Very few and them only of the greatest Note—Vizt Lord How. Colo. Donaldson. Colo. Beaver, Majr Proby Majr Rutherford, Majr Tulithen, these most People agree are Certainly amongst the Slain[.] wounded, Colo. Gage. Colo. Delancy of the Yorks Colo. Grant Majr Ayers, Mr Clark Enginere, & I am Very Sorry for an occassion to give you any accot of this kind but as it is so wish it was in my Power to give you a more Particular one, of this severe and unexpected blow.3 I Sincerely hope we shall have a Better story to tell Very soon from you in the neighbourhood of Fort Duquesne, where may he who governs the universe have you under his Peculiar Care and send you back Loaded with Honnour a thing you have always so much merrited. Please to give my Love to my Brother. I have not time to write to him. Excuse this scrawl being in great haist and accept of my most sincere wishes for your safety & welfare and assure your self that I am my Dear Sir Your affectionate Jos. Chew our Friend Beverley is at Albany wth Govr Delancey his Dear good woman and Prety Boys are Very well—if Doct. Thomas Walker is with you Pray give my best Respects to him. I greatly thank him for his kindness to my Brothers. ALS, DLC:GW. 1. The postscript suggests that Chew wrote this letter in New York City where he saw the family of his friend Beverley Robinson.
2. On 4 July Gen. James Abercromby with about six thousand regulars and ten thousand provincials sailed up Lake George to attack the French at Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga). After Abercromby’s army landed at the head of the lake on 6 July, his second in command, George Augustus, Lord Howe, colonel of the 55th Regiment, was killed; and on 8 July the French led by the marquis de Montcalm repulsed the British attack on Ticonderoga, inflicting heavy losses on the British regulars. Abercromby reported on 12 July to William Pitt 464 men killed, 29 missing, and 1,117 wounded. Fort William Henry at the south end of Lake George was destroyed the year before by Montcalm. 3. Among those Chew names here as killed or wounded at Fort Ticonderoga are: John Donaldson and Thomas (or James) Proby, lieutenant colonel and major respectively of Howe’s 55th Regiment; John Tulleken (who in fact survived), major in the 60th Regiment; Samuel Beaver, lieutenant colonel of the 46th Regiment; Thomas Gage (who was unhurt), lieutenant colonel of the 44th Regiment, and William Eyre, major of that regiment; Francis Grant, lieutenant colonel of the 42nd; John Rutherfurd, formerly of an Independent Company in New York and more recently of the 60th Regiment; James De Lancey, Jr. (who survived), of the New York forces; and Matthew Clark, an engineer.
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file:///C:/Users/jim-m/Downloads/59230.pdf
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