I.W. Wright - Cave's Oldest Grafitti
In the early 1700s, European Nations sent traders to travel through Indian lands and live in their villages. More than just merchants, these traders were political ambassadors from the European nations to the Indians. In return for deer, bear and beaver skins, the traders would supply such goods as metal knives, iron kettles, guns and woven cloth to the Indians. Or, they would give these supplies as gifts in return for the Indians' political or military support.
One of the earliest used and most famous trader trails was the Charleston-Chickasaw. This trail passed right by DeSoto Caverns, near the Creek Indian towns of Abhika and Coosa. Using this trail and needing rest, I.W. Wright, a well-known landowner and Indian trader from South Carolina, stopped off at DeSoto Caverns to recuperate for a few days. While resting, he chiseled his name in rock. Angry at his invasion of their ancestral cave, the Indians scalped him!
Almost 100 years later Stiggins describes in his published diary how "a half century ago a man's skeleton was found in the cave and right by him carved in rock, I.W. Wright 1723." This marker, on display in DeSoto Caverns, is the oldest inscribed marker or "graffiti" to be found in any U.S. cave. (No record of Mr. Wright's having returned to South Carolina or being seen elsewhere after leaving on his 1723 journey exists.)
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