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Was the two fletch a real standard for the Cherokee?

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part Cherokee:
Hey,
 My name is Matt and ive been hanging around for a while now and i decided to join up.
Some of you may no me from tradgang as sirrobin77. Hey Pat!
 What im wondering is was the 2 fletch a real standard for the Cherokee? The Bowers Boble Vol 2
says that the 3 fletch was standard for the Cherokee and the 2 fletch was used only in emergencies or for kid arrows.
Is this true? Anyone have insight on this?
Matt

Pat B:
Welcome to PA. Matt. Looking forward to some answers here too. ;)

Hillbilly:
From what I've seen, absolutely yes. I live only a few miles from the Eastern Cherokee rez, and they still use it to this day. Almost every example of an old original Cherokee arrow that I've seen in museums or photos is two-fletched. There are a couple of standard-fletched ones, and a few three-feather radial fletches, but the two-fletch seemed to be by far the standard with the Cherokee, as well as many of the other Eastern tribes. I saw that in Al Herrin's chapter, also, and wondered how he could make a statement like that, because it's very inaccurate. Then I realized that he had probably never seen or heard of the traditional fletching style of his tribe. What he was calling a two-feather fletch was completely different from the traditional Eastern Woodlands style. A lot of traditional knowledge was lost with the death of so many elders on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma, and also there was a lot of homoginization that probably took place over the years after the Cherokee people were forced to live in an unfamiliar area in close proximity to several other tribes who were in the same situation; so much knowledge like this probably didn't survive in the western part of the tribe. Relocation of the Eastern tribes was one of worst chapters in American history, IMO. The Cherokee that stayed here in the Smokies of western NC were mostly the hard-core traditional element of the tribe that refused to be relocated, so they hid out in the mountains and starved rather than be forced from their homeland. Their descendants still remember a lot of the old ways, including the two-feather fletch.

part Cherokee:
Do you have a pic of a TRADITIONAL Cherokee 2 fletch?

Hillbilly:
I don't have a pic of an old Cherokee arrow at the moment, but here's my take on the Eastern Woodlands two-fletch. It varied a bit from person to person then just like our fletchings do now, but the basic things that are consistant is the partially-split feathers and some helical twist. This style of fletching flies great. It's simple, but ingenious the way it's designed.

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