The Forgotten Game of Anetsa

An illustration of the game of Anetsa being played.

Anetsa, a game that resembles lacrosse, was a Cherokee Indian game played by two teams of up to eighteen players on a 100-yard field. Normally this was played by a water source. They used wooden sticks (longer than a tennis racquet) with a depressed cavity made of deer sinew (looking similar to a spoon) On each end of the field, there were two poles erected with a pole spanning the top (similar to Football posts). The first team to twelve points (points were earned by running a ball through the poles) would win. There was no time limit on the games. The ball was not allowed to be touched by the hands of the players. There were no penalties for holding, but the players would cover themselves in a slippery substance from a plant, or with bear grease to ensure that ‘holding’ wouldn’t be easy. The game was known as the little brother of war because in many ways it was an aggressive game. It was also used to solve disputes. If a dispute arose among different groups of natives, they would frequently play to resolve the issue.

The sticks used in Anetsa as seen in the Vann House in Spring Place, Georgia.

According to the late Reverend Charles O. Walker, there were other locations where this game was played locally. One of the ball fields is located on the former grounds of the Griffeth family on the present land of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family. 

The most famous local site is of course in Ball Ground, Georgia, where a game was used to settle a territorial dispute between the Cherokee and the Creek Indians. NOTE: As a point of interest, Ball Ground appears as Battle Ground from maps dating back to the 1800’s. Some people think this name refers to the alleged battle of Taliwa (1755).

According to Belle K. Abbot, in her book 'The Cherokee Indians in Georgia', one day in the early nineteenth century, James Simmons (owner of the former Tavern located on the Federal Road - located near the present Vintage Volkswagen shop across from NZI Services) witnessed teams from the Indian Districts of Coosawattee and Hickory Log competing in Hood's field (A.K.A. Hood's Place - see LL 269, District 12, of J.W. Henley's map of Pickens County from 1903). Hood's Field was very close to his Tavern on the Old Federal Road.

Hood's place wasn't far from the Simmons Tavern

By 1867, the Hoods owned over 300 acres of land in District 1098. Jesse Hood was listed as living in Gilmer County, at the site of what is now in Pickens County as early as 1840. (Two years after the Indian Removal took place.

The likely location of the game of Anetsa in the spot Hood's Place is indicated in Henley's 1903 map.

The game between the two tribes took two hours to complete, and in the end, the team from Coosawattee won the day. 

Regardless of the exact locations of the ball fields, we definitely know the game was played throughout the Cherokee Territory and on the land that now makes up Pickens County. As for the idea of having a game settle disputes between political parties, I’m all for it.