From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 2, 1863:
Chickamauga, or the river of Death.
In the spring of 1858, while seeking the benefit of a change of climate and relaxation from laborious duties, I met the late Colonel Whiteside at Chattanooga. Among the many interesting traditions associated with various localities in this beautiful region of country he related one in explanation of the meaning of the word “Chickamauga,” and how it came to be applied to the two small streams which bear this name. A tribe of Cherokees occupied this region, and when the small-pox was first communicated to the Indians of this continent it appeared in this tribe, and made frightful havoc among them. It was the custom of the Indians, at the height of this disease, to go, by scores, and jump into the river to allay the tormenting symptoms. This, of course, increased the mortality, and the name “Chickamauga.” or “River of Death” was applied to the two streams, which they have borne ever since. The remnant of the tribe was also afterwards called the “Chickamauga tribe.” We hope Gen Bragg will call his great victory the Battle of Chickamauga, and not “Peavine Creek” or “Crawfish Springs,” as is suggested in Rosecrans’s dispatch. He has certainly crawfished out of Georgia; but we prefer “Chickamauga,” or the “River of Death.”
“River of Death” and its association with the Cherokees’ contact with Europeans’ small pox is one possible meaning of Chickamauga. The verb crawfish can mean “to back out of a commitment or retreat from a position”
The image is from wpclipart
