n.

In 1823 the General Council of the Cherokee Nation voted a large silver
medal to George Gist as a mark of distinction for his discovery. On one
side were two pipes, the ancient symbol of Indian religion and law; on
the other a man's head. The medal had the following inscription in
English, also in, Cherokee in his own alphabet:

"Presented to George Gist, by the General Council of the Cherokee
Nation, for his ingenuity in the invention of the Cherokee alphabet."

John Ross, acting as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, sent it
West to Se-quo-yah, together with an elaborate address, the latter
being at that time in the new nation.

In 1828 Gist went to Washington city as a delegate from the Western
Cherokees. He was then in his fifty-ninth year. At that time the
portrait was taken, an engraving from which we present to our readers.
He is represented with a table containing his alphabet. The
missionaries were not slow to employ it. It was arranged with the
Cherokee, and English sounds and definitions. Rev. S.A. Worcester
endeavored to get the outlines of its grammar, and both he and Mr.
Boudinot prepared vocabularies of it, as did many others. In this way,
by having more and better observers, we know more of this language than
many others, and affinities have been traced between it and some
others, supposed to be radically different, which would have appeared
in the case of some others, had they been as fully or correctly written.

Besides the Scriptures, a very considerable number of books were
printed in it, and parts of several different newspapers existing from
time to time; also almanacs, songs, and psalms.

During the closing portion of his life, the home of Se-quo-yah was near
Brainerd, a mission station in the new nation. Like his countrymen, he
was driven an exile from his old home, from his fields, work-shops, and
orchards by the clear streams flowing from the mountains of Georgia. Is
it wonderful if such treatment should throw a sadder tinge on a
disposition otherwise mild, hopeful, and philosophic?

One of his sons is a very fair artist, using promiscuously pencil, pen,
chalk, or charcoal. He served, as a private soldier, in the Union army
in the late war, and there, in his quarters, made many sketches. His
power of caricaturing was very considerable. If a humorous picture of
some officer who had rendered himself obnoxious was found, chalked in
unmistakable but grotesque lineaments, on the commi