125-745: Too-Cowee (sometimes Cowee ) (also Stecoah ), was an important historic Cherokee town located near the Little Tennessee River north of present-day Franklin, North Carolina . It also had a prehistoric platform mound and earlier village built by ancestral peoples. As their expression of public architecture, the Cherokee built a townhouse on top of the mound. It was the place for their community gatherings in their highly decentralized society. The name translates to "pig fat" in English. British traders and colonists referred to Cowee as one of
250-446: A British-Cherokee relationship that, despite breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century. With the growth of the deerskin trade , the Cherokee were considered valuable trading partners, since deer skins from the cooler country of their mountain hunting-grounds were of better quality than those supplied by the lowland coastal tribes, who were neighbors of the English colonists. In January 1716, Cherokee murdered
375-695: A band of Shawnee in the 1660s. But from 1710 to 1715, the Cherokee and Chickasaw allied with the British, and fought the Shawnee, who were allied with French colonists, forcing the Shawnee to move northward. The Cherokee fought with the Yamasee , Catawba , and British in late 1712 and early 1713 against the Tuscarora in the Second Tuscarora War . The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of
500-680: A contributing site to the "Cowee-West's Mill Historic District." British colonists attacked the village during the Anglo-Cherokee War , which accompanied the later years of the French and Indian War . During the American Revolutionary War , the Cherokee sided with the British, hoping to expel colonists from their territory. Cowee was attacked by colonial militia led by Colonel William Moore in November 1776. Most of
625-569: A delegation of Muscogee Creek leaders at the town of Tugaloo , marking their entry into the Yamasee War . It ended in 1717 with peace treaties between the colony of South Carolina and the Creek. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades. These raids came to a head at the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, at present-day Ball Ground, Georgia , with the defeat of
750-810: A group of some twelve or thirteen Regulator families from North Carolina to the Watauga River . On May 8, 1772, the settlers on the Watauga and on the Nolichucky signed the Watauga Compact to form the Watauga Association . Each of the groups thought they were within the territorial limits of the colony of Virginia. After a survey proved their mistake, Alexander Cameron, Deputy Superintendent for Indian Affairs, ordered them to leave. Attakullakulla, First Beloved Man (Principal Chief) of
875-561: A large contingent of Catawba warriors, encountered an ambush by the Cherokee at the Battle of Cowee Gap in what is now western North Carolina. After defeating the attackers, he proceeded to a designated rendezvous with the South Carolina militia. On August 1, Cameron and the Cherokee ambushed Andrew Williamson and his South Carolina militia force near the Lower Cherokee town of Isunigu known to whites as Seneca, in
1000-645: A large contingent of Cherokee and Muscogee warriors against the back country settlements of the Carolinas and Georgia. The Cherokee established a camp at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers (near present-day Paducah, Kentucky ) to prevent infiltration into the Mississippi in the spring of 1778. In late 1778, British strategy shifted south. As their attention went, so too did their efforts, their armies, and their supplies, including those slated for
1125-411: A letter to indicate a large force of regular troops, plus Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Muscgoee, was on the march from Pensacola and planning to pick up reinforcements from the Cherokee. The forged letters alarmed the settlers, who began gathering together in closer, fortified groups, building stations (small forts), and otherwise preparing for an attack. In May 1776, partly at the behest of Henry Hamilton ,
1250-523: A link to Henry Stuart, brother of John, in the West Florida capital of Pensacola . Cameron, the British deputy Indian superintendent, accompanied Dragging Canoe to Chickamauga. Nearly all the whites legally resident among the Cherokee were part of the related exodus. In March 1777, Cameron sent the refugees to Chickamauga along with a sizable amount of goods. The colonials learned of the materiel and planned to intercept it. When Cameron informed him of
1375-788: A major war chief of the Iroquois, had organized the Western Confederacy of tribes to resist American settlement in Ohio Country. The Lower Cherokee were founding members and fought in the Northwest Indian War that resulted from this conflict. The Northwest Indian War ended with the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The conclusion of the Indian wars enabled the settlement of what had been called "Indian territory" in
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#17327722015811500-712: A metaphor for the entire struggle for the Southern frontier. The governors of Virginia and North Carolina repudiated the Watuga treaty, and Henderson fled to avoid arrest. George Washington also spoke out against it. The Cherokee appealed to John Stuart , the Indian Affairs Superintendent, for help, which he had provided on previous such occasions, but the outbreak of the American Revolution intervened. Henderson and frontiersmen thought
1625-470: A polluting activity. Researchers have debated the reasons for the change. Some historians believe the decline in priestly power originated with a revolt by the Cherokee against the abuses of the priestly class known as the Ani-kutani . Ethnographer James Mooney , who studied and talked with the Cherokee in the late 1880s, was the first to trace the decline of the former hierarchy to this revolt. By
1750-565: A regional variation of the Mississippian culture that arose circa 1000 and lasted to 1500 CE. There is a consensus among most specialists in Southeast archeology and anthropology about these dates. But Finger says that ancestors of the Cherokee people lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time. Additional mounds were built by peoples during this cultural phase. Typically in this region, towns had
1875-645: A single platform mound and served as a political center for smaller villages. The Cherokee occupied numerous towns throughout the river valleys and mountain ridges of their homelands. What were called the Lower towns were found in what is present-day western Oconee County, South Carolina , along the Keowee River (called the Savannah River in its lower portion). The principal town of the Lower Towns
2000-543: A small strip in what is now Oconee County . One provision of the Treaty of Fort Henry required that James Robertson and a small garrison be quartered at Chota on the Little Tennessee. He had been appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for North Carolina, while Joseph Martin had been appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Virginia. From their new bases, the Cherokee conducted raids against settlers on
2125-733: A split between the groups in the distant past, perhaps 3,500–3,800 years ago. Glottochronology studies suggest the split occurred between about 1500 and 1800 BCE. The Cherokee say that the ancient settlement of Kituwa on the Tuckasegee River is their original settlement in the Southeast. It was formerly adjacent to and is now part of Qualla Boundary (the base of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians ) in North Carolina. According to Thomas Whyte, who posits that proto-Iroquoian developed in Appalachia,
2250-560: A time; so soon as the patient can bear it, they wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with silver pendants and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose. This custom does not belong originally to the Cherokees, but taken by them from the Shawnese, or other northern nations. They that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out of clam-shells, a silver breast-plate, and bracelets on their arms and wrists of
2375-636: A treaty with the United States, the mound and village site were abandoned for a time. In 1838-1839 most of the Cherokee were removed from the Southeast to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River . The European-American Hall family acquired property including this site in the 1840s. The Halls held the land for 175 years, and refused to allow private archaeological access to the main platform mound and former village area. In 2002 Hall descendants began negotiations that culminated in
2500-418: Is considered Cherokee country. The Spanish recorded a Chalaque people as living around the Keowee River , where western North Carolina, South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia meet. The Cherokee consider this area to be part of their homelands, which also extended into southeastern Tennessee. Further west, De Soto's expedition visited villages in present-day northwestern Georgia, recording them as ruled at
2625-532: Is part of the Iroquoian language group. In the 19th century, James Mooney , an early American ethnographer , recorded one oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian peoples have been based. However, anthropologist Thomas R. Whyte, writing in 2007, dated the split among the peoples as occurring earlier. He believes that
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#17327722015812750-480: Is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown-piece, which is ornamented with beads, feathers, wampum , stained deer hair, and such like baubles. The ears are slit and stretched to an enormous size, putting the person who undergoes the operation to incredible pain, being unable to lie on either side for nearly forty days. To remedy this, they generally slit but one at
2875-585: Is that "Cherokee" derives from the Lower Creek word Cvlakke ("chuh-log-gee"), as the Creek were also in this mountainous region. The Iroquois Five Nations, historically based in New York and Pennsylvania, called the Cherokee Oyata'ge'ronoñ ("inhabitants of the cave country"). It is possible the word "Cherokee" comes from a Muscogee Creek word meaning "people of different speech", because
3000-535: Is the Cherokee name for the Cherokee language . Many theories, though all unproven, abound about the origin of the name "Cherokee." It may have originally been derived from one of the competitive tribes in the area. The earliest Spanish transliteration of the name, from 1755, is recorded as Tchalaque , but it dates to accounts related to the Hernando de Soto expedition in the mid-16th century. Another theory
3125-752: The Battle of Taliwa . British soldiers built forts in Cherokee country to defend against the French in the Seven Years' War , which was fought across Europe and was called the French and Indian War on the North American front. These included Fort Loudoun near Chota on the Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee. Serious misunderstandings arose quickly between the two allies, resulting in the 1760 Anglo-Cherokee War . King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade British settlements west of
3250-539: The Battle of Twelve Mile Creek . The South Carolina Militia retreated and later joined up with the militia force of Andrew Pickens . The next day, August 2, the joint militia force bivouacked, and Pickens led a party of 25 to forage for food and firewood. In what is known as the Ring Fight , 200 Cherokee surrounded and attacked the party, which withdrew into a ring and were able to hold their attackers at bay until reinforcements arrived. Pickens and his militia defeated
3375-654: The Chattanooga, Tennessee area, where the Great Indian Warpath crossed the Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek ). Since Dragging Canoe made that town his seat of operations, frontier Americans called his faction the "Chickamaugas". Other Cherokee refugees turned up in Pensacola and wintered there. John McDonald already had a trading post across the Chickamauga River. This provided
3500-860: The Chickamauga Wars , were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest from 1776 to 1794 between the Cherokee and American settlers on the frontier. Most of the events took place in the Upper South region. While the fighting stretched across the entire period, there were extended periods with little or no action. The Cherokee leader Dragging Canoe , whom some historians call "the Savage Napoleon", and his warriors, and other Cherokee fought alongside and together with warriors from several other tribes, most often
3625-485: The Great Lakes region was the territory of most Iroquoian-language speakers, scholars have theorized that both the Cherokee and Tuscarora migrated south from that region. The Cherokee oral history tradition supports their migration from the Great Lakes. Linguistic analysis shows a relatively large difference between Cherokee and the northern Iroquoian languages, suggesting they had migrated long ago. Scholars posit
3750-656: The Green Corn Ceremony . Much of what is known about pre-18th century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions. The earliest ones of the mid-16th century encountered peoples of the Mississippian culture era, who were ancestral to tribes that emerged in the Southeast, such as the Cherokee, Muscogee , Cheraw , and Catawba . Specifically in 1540–41, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto passed through present-day South Carolina, proceeding into western North Carolina and what
3875-670: The Highlands . A few were Scotch-Irish, English, French, and German (see Scottish Indian trade ). Many of these men married women from their host peoples and remained after the fighting had ended. Some of their mixed-race children, who were raised in Native American cultures, later became significant leaders among the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast . Notable traders, agents, and refugee Tories among
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4000-652: The Illinois Country . His plans were to assemble 500 warriors from various Indian nations, including the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Shawnee, and others, for a campaign to expel Clark's forces back east, then drive through Kentucky clearing American settlements. McDonald's headquarters at Chickamauga was to be the staging ground and commissary for the Cherokee and the Muscogee. Clark recaptured Fort Vincennes, and Hamilton along with it, on February 25, 1779, after
4125-552: The Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina , southeastern Tennessee , southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina , northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles. The Cherokee language
4250-585: The Iroquois in 1768. The Cherokee were initially to retain their lands west of the Kanawha River , from its confluence with the Ohio to its headwaters, with the boundary continuing south to Spanish Florida. However, colonists in the Cherokee region continued to ignore the treaty line, in part because Fort Stanwix promulgated a boundary in the north that simply continued west along the Ohio. To further adjust
4375-473: The Joara chiefdom (north of present-day Morganton, North Carolina ). The historic Catawba later lived in this area of the upper Catawba River. Pardo and his forces wintered over at Joara, building Fort San Juan there in 1567. His expedition proceeded into the interior, noting villages near modern Asheville and other places that are part of the Cherokee homelands. According to anthropologist Charles M. Hudson ,
4500-648: The Kingdom of Great Britain against the American colonies. The Cherokee War of 1776 encompassed the entirety of the Cherokee nation. At the end of 1776, the only militant Cherokee were those who migrated with Dragging Canoe to the Chickamauga towns and became known as the " Chickamauga Cherokee ". The second phase lasted from 1783 to 1794. The Cherokee served as proxies of the Viceroyalty of New Spain against
4625-823: The Muscogee in the Old Southwest and the Shawnee in the Old Northwest . During the Revolutionary War , they also fought alongside British troops, Loyalist militia, and the King's Carolina Rangers against the rebel colonists, hoping to expel them from their territory. Open warfare broke out in the summer of 1776 in the Overmountain settlements of the Washington District , mainly those along
4750-665: The Overhill Cherokee . At the end of this conflict, the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Long-Island-on-the-Holston with the Colony of Virginia (1761) and the Treaty of Charlestown with the Province of South Carolina (1762). Conocotocko (Standing Turkey), the First Beloved Man during the conflict, was replaced by Attakullakulla , who was pro-British. Having concluded the Treaty of Paris in 1763 to settle
4875-404: The Royal Proclamation of 1763 , and culminated in the first trans-Appalachian states, Kentucky in 1792 and Ohio in 1803. The French and Indian War and the related European theater conflict known as the Seven Years' War laid many of the foundations for the conflict between the Cherokee and the American settlers on the frontier. These tensions on the frontier broke out into open hostilities with
5000-548: The Second Cherokee War . Overhill Cherokee Nancy Ward , Dragging Canoe 's cousin, warned settlers of impending attacks. Provincial militias retaliated, destroying more than 50 Cherokee towns. North Carolina militia in 1776 and 1780 invaded and destroyed the Overhill towns in what is now Tennessee. In 1777, surviving Cherokee town leaders signed treaties with the new states. Dragging Canoe and his band settled along Chickamauga Creek near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee , where they established 11 new towns. Chickamauga Town
5125-447: The Siege of Fort Vincennes . The Chickamauga Cherokee turned their sights to the northeast. The British captured Savannah on December 29, 1778, with help from Dragging Canoe, John McDonald, and the Cherokee, along with McGillivray's Upper Muscogee force and McIntosh's band of Hitichiti warriors. Just over a month later, January 31, 1779, they captured Augusta, Georgia , as well, though they quickly had to retreat. With these victories,
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5250-456: The Tennessee and Chattahoochee rivers were remote enough from white settlers to remain independent after the Cherokee–American wars . The deerskin trade was no longer feasible on their greatly reduced lands, and over the next several decades, the people of the fledgling Cherokee Nation began to build a new society modeled on the white Southern United States. Cherokee%E2%80%93American wars The Cherokee–American wars , also known as
5375-414: The Watauga , Holston , Nolichucky , and Doe rivers in East Tennessee , as well as the colonies (later states) of Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , and Georgia . It later spread to settlements along the Cumberland River in Middle Tennessee and in Kentucky . The wars can be divided into two phases. The first phase took place from 1776 to 1783, in which the Cherokee fought as allies of
5500-427: The white settlers. They also developed their own writing system. Today, three Cherokee tribes are federally recognized : the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) in Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation (CN) in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) in North Carolina. The Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 tribal members, making it the largest of the 574 federally recognized tribes in
5625-418: The " Long Knives ", the squatters who settled and remained in Kain-tuck-ee, or, as the settlers called it, Transylvania . At the close of his speech, Cornstalk offered his war belt, and Dragging Canoe accepted it. Dragging Canoe also accepted belts from the Ottawa and the Iroquois. To prepare themselves for the coming campaign, the Overhill Cherokee began raiding into Kentucky, often with the Shawnee. Before
5750-718: The "Nikwasi Trail", a corridor to be highlighted along the Little Tennessee River. The tribe and local organizations are collaborating to develop this area for recreation, education, and heritage tourism related to these important sacred sites. Cherokee California : large ethnic diaspora community, 22,124 registered tribal members North Carolina : 16,158 (0.2%) Oklahoma : 102,580 (2.7%) – extends to nearby Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri South Carolina : 3,428 The Cherokee ( / ˈ tʃ ɛr ə k iː , ˌ tʃ ɛr ə ˈ k iː / ; Cherokee : ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ , romanized: Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi , or Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩ , romanized: Tsalagi ) people are one of
5875-422: The 1820s. Initially only the didanvwisgi learned to write and read such materials, which were considered extremely powerful in a spiritual sense. Later, the syllabary and writings were widely adopted by the Cherokee people. In 1657, there was a disturbance in Virginia Colony as the Rechahecrians or Rickahockans , as well as the Siouan Manahoac and Nahyssan , broke through the frontier and settled near
6000-504: The 2007 transfer of the mound and village site to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). Certain conservation and preservation easements are held by the state. The EBCI have also worked to acquire other important Cherokee sites in their historic homeland, such as Kituwa , their mother town, which they acquired in 1996. With a non-profit partner, they acquired the Cowee Mound and Village Site in 2006. The EBCI are descended from Cherokee who remained in this area after removal, and they are
6125-411: The Appalachian crest, as his government tried to afford some protection from colonial encroachment to the Cherokee and other tribes they depended on as allies. The Crown found the ruling difficult to enforce with colonists. From 1771 to 1772, North Carolinian settlers squatted on Cherokee lands in Tennessee, forming the Watauga Association . Daniel Boone and his party tried to settle in Kentucky, but
6250-420: The Beloved Woman (leader or Elder). The Cherokee offensive proved to be disastrous for the attackers. On July 3, a small war party of Cherokee besieged a small fort on the North Carolina frontier. The garrison managed to keep from being overrun until a large body of militia arrived in the rear of besiegers, who then retreated. A 190-strong war party of Cherokee and Loyalist partisans dressed as Cherokee attacked
6375-422: The Blue Ridge on September 1, and reached the outskirts of the Out, Valley, and Middle Towns on September 14, at which they started burning towns and crops. Williamson's militia were attacked at the Battle of Black Hole near Franklin, North Carolina on September 19 but were able to fend off the Cherokee and meet up with Rutherford. In all, Williamson, Pickens, and Rutherford destroyed more than 50 towns, burned
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#17327722015816500-419: The British against their rebel subjects, and for help with the illegal settlers. The two men told him to wait for regular troops to arrive before taking any action. When the two arrived at Chota, Henry Stuart sent out letters to the frontier settlers. He informed them that they were illegally on Cherokee land and gave them 40 days to leave. In an exercise of propaganda, people sympathetic to the Revolution forged
6625-400: The British governor in Detroit, the Shawnee chief Cornstalk led a delegation from the northern tribes (Shawnee, Lenape, Iroquois, Ottawa and others) to the southern tribes. He traveled to Chota to meet with the southern tribes (Cherokee, Muscogee, Chickasaw, Choctaw ) about fighting with the British against their common enemy. Cornstalk called for united action against those they called
6750-520: The Cherokee Middle Towns along this river; they defined geographic groupings based in relation to their coastal settlements, such as Charlestown, South Carolina . The "Cowee Mound and Village Site", now within present-day Macon County, North Carolina , has been listed since 1973 on the National Register of Historic Places as an archeological site. Since 2006 it has been owned by the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians , based in North Carolina, which shares some conservation easements with
6875-432: The Cherokee and Tuscarora broke off in the Southeast from the major group of Iroquoian speakers who migrated north to the Great Lakes area. There a succession of Iroquoian-speaking tribes were encountered by Europeans in historic times. In the 1830s, the American writer John Howard Payne visited Cherokee then based in Georgia. He recounted what they shared about pre-19th-century Cherokee culture and society. For instance,
7000-406: The Cherokee and Americans, who had achieved independence from the British Crown. In 1805, the Cherokee ceded their lands between the Cumberland and Duck rivers (i.e. the Cumberland Plateau ) to Tennessee . The traders and British government agents dealing with the southern tribes in general, and the Cherokee in particular, were nearly all of Scottish ancestry, with many documented as being from
7125-512: The Cherokee delegation signed the Treaty of Whitehall with the British. Moytoy's son, Amo-sgasite (Dreadful Water), attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, but the Cherokee elected their own leader, Conocotocko (Old Hop) of Chota . Political power among the Cherokee remained decentralized, and towns acted autonomously. In 1735, the Cherokee were said to have sixty-four towns and villages, with an estimated fighting force of 6,000 men. In 1738 and 1739, smallpox epidemics broke out among
7250-402: The Cherokee expanded deeper to the south and west into Georgia and Alabama. The Cowee Mound and Village Site has been defined as the mound and about 53 acres (21 ha) of rolling fields and hills, believed to contain evidence of the Cherokee village and earlier habitations. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as an archaeological site . In 2001 it was listed as
7375-550: The Cherokee included John Stuart , Henry Stuart, Alexander Cameron, John McDonald, John Joseph Vann (father of James Vann ), Daniel Ross (father of John Ross ), John Walker Sr., Mark Winthrop Battle, John McLemore (father of Bob), William Buchanan, John Watts (father of John Watts Jr. ), John D. Chisholm , John Benge (father of Bob Benge ), Thomas Brown, John Rogers (Welsh), John Gunter (German, founder of Gunter's Landing), James Adair (Irish), William Thorpe (English), and Peter Hildebrand (German), among many others. Some attained
7500-453: The Cherokee on the Tugaloo River in the Battle of Tugaloo , which they then burned on August 10. On August 12, Williamson and Pickens defeated the Cherokee at the Battle of Tamassee . With this, they had completed their destruction of the Lower Towns, Keowee , Estatoe, Seneca, and the rest. Afterwards, they proceeded north to meet up with the North Carolina militia of Griffith Rutherford. Rutherford's militia traversed Swannanoa Gap in
7625-441: The Cherokee, interceded on their behalf. The settlers were allowed to remain, provided no additional people joined them. In 1769, developers and land speculators planned to start a new colony called Vandalia in the territory ceded by the Cherokee. Plans for that fell through, however, and Virginia annexed it as the District of West Augusta in 1774. On June 1, 1773, the Cherokee and the Muskogee ceded their claims to 2 million acres in
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#17327722015817750-532: The Cherokee, who had no natural immunity to the new infectious disease. Nearly half their population died within a year. Hundreds of other Cherokee committed suicide due to their losses and disfigurement from the disease. British colonial officer Henry Timberlake , born in Virginia, described the Cherokee people as he saw them in 1761: The Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho' generally painted, and their skins stained with gun-powder, pricked into it in very pretty figures. The hair of their head
7875-431: The Cherokee. North Carolina sent Griffith Rutherford with 2,400 militia to scour the Oconaluftee and Tuckasegee river valleys, and the headwaters of the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee . South Carolina sent 1,800 men to the Savannah , and Georgia sent 200 to attack Cherokee settlements along the Chattahoochee and Tugaloo rivers. Not long after leaving Fort McGahey on July 23, Rutherford's militia, accompanied by
8000-479: The Cumberland Basin, defending against territorial settlements, they also fought as allies of Great Britain against American patriots. British strategy was focused on the North, and not so much on the backwoods settlements, especially those in the west. The Cherokee, therefore, were on their own, except for supplies from British ports on the coast and some joint operations in South Carolina. As tensions rose, Loyalist John Stuart, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs,
8125-440: The European conflict, the British hoped to maintain peace in the colonies and were surprised with the outbreak of Pontiac's War in the north soon thereafter. In response, King George III hastened to issue the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in an effort to impose a boundary between the native tribes and encroaching colonists. The proclamation prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains , at least temporarily, but
8250-408: The Falls of the James River, near present-day Richmond, Virginia . The following year, a combined force of English colonists and Pamunkey drove the newcomers away. The identity of the Rechahecrians has been much debated. Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for the Eriechronon or Erielhonan , commonly known as the Erie tribe , another Iroquoian-speaking people based south of
8375-401: The French Salt Lick at Nashville ), the Cumberland Trail (from the Upper Creek Path to the Great Lakes ), and the Nickajack Trail ( Nickajack to Augusta ). Later, the Cherokee stalked the Natchez Trace and roads improved by the uninvited settlers, such as the Kentucky, Cumberland, and Walton roads. Occasionally, the Cherokee attacked targets in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and
8500-407: The Great Lakes in present-day northern Pennsylvania. This Iroquoian people had been driven away from the southern shore of Lake Erie in 1654 by the powerful Iroquois Five Nations, also known as Haudenosaunee , who were seeking more hunting grounds to support their dominance in the beaver fur trade. The anthropologist Martin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after
8625-419: The Great Lakes. This has been the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee nations and other Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Another theory is that the Cherokee had been in the Southeast for thousands of years and that proto-Iroquoian developed here. Other Iroquoian-speaking tribes in the Southeast have been the Tuscarora people of the Carolinas, and the Meherrin and Nottaway of Virginia. James Mooney in
8750-400: The Holston, Doe, Watauga, and Nolichucky rivers, on the Cumberland and Red rivers, and those in the isolated frontier stations in between. The Cherokee ambushed parties traveling on the Tennessee River, and on local sections of the many ancient trails that served as "highways", such as the Great Indian Warpath ( Mobile to northeast Canada), the Cisca and St. Augustine Trail ( St. Augustine to
8875-424: The Little Tennessee in late October, Christian's Virginia force found those towns from whence the militant attackers had sprung—Great Island, Citico ( Sitiku ), Toqua ( Dakwayi ), Tuskegee ( Taskigi ), Chilhowee, and Great Tellico—not only deserted but burned to the ground by their own former inhabitants, along with all the food and stores that could not be carried away. Oconostota supported making peace with
9000-695: The Lower Towns began attacking the frontier of South Carolina. On July 1, the Out, Middle, and Valley Towns sent out war parties raiding the frontiers settlements of North Carolina east of the Blue Ridge coming down the Catawba River . Meanwhile, traders warned the Overmountain settlers of the impending attacks from the Overhill Towns. They had come from Chota bearing word from Nancy Ward ,
9125-619: The Mississippian culture-period (1000 to 1500 CE in the regional variation known as the South Appalachian Mississippian culture ), local women developed a new variety of maize (corn) called eastern flint corn . It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms consisting of several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in religious ceremonies, especially
9250-437: The Muscogee. In 1721, the Cherokee ceded lands in South Carolina. In 1730, at Nikwasi , a Cherokee town and Mississippian culture site, a Scots adventurer, Sir Alexander Cuming , crowned Moytoy of Tellico as "Emperor" of the Cherokee. Moytoy agreed to recognize King George II of Great Britain as the Cherokee protector. Cuming arranged to take seven prominent Cherokee, including Attakullakulla , to London , England. There
9375-528: The Ohio country. In contempt of the peace proceedings at Fort Henry in April 1777, Dragging Canoe led a war party that killed a settler named Frederick Calvitt and stole 15 horses from James Robertson, then moved to Carter's Valley, killing the grandparents of David Crockett along with several children near the modern Rogersville , and marauding across the valley. In all the raiders took twelve scalps. In summer 1777, Deputy Superintendents Cameron and Taitt led
9500-477: The Overhill towns and other Cherokee towns. Dragging Canoe , headman of Great Island Town and son of Attakullakulla, refused to go along with the deal. He told the North Carolina men, "You have bought a fair land, but there is a cloud hanging over it; you will find its settlement dark and bloody". This utterance gave rise to the contentious epithet for Kentucky as the dark and bloody ground . The phrase became
9625-532: The Pardo expedition also recorded encounters with Muskogean -speaking peoples at Chiaha in southeastern modern Tennessee. Linguistic studies have been another way for researchers to study the development of people and their cultures. Unlike most other Native American tribes in the American Southeast at the start of the historic era, the Cherokee and Tuscarora people spoke Iroquoian languages . Since
9750-488: The Payne papers describe the account by Cherokee elders of a traditional two-part societal structure. A "white" organization of elders represented the seven clans . As Payne recounted, this group, which was hereditary and priestly, was responsible for religious activities, such as healing, purification, and prayer. A second group of younger men, the "red" organization, was responsible for warfare. The Cherokee considered warfare
9875-583: The Seminole commanding his East Florida Rangers, who fought with them and some of the Lower Muskogee. From St. Augustine, Stuart sent his deputy, Alexander Cameron, and his brother Henry to Mobile to obtain short-term supplies and arms for the Cherokee. Dragging Canoe took a party of 80 warriors to provide security for the pack train. He met Henry Stuart and Cameron (whom he had adopted as a brother) at Mobile on March 1, 1776. He asked how he could help
10000-497: The Shawnee, Delaware , Mingo , and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone's son, James Boone, and William Russell 's son, Henry, who were killed in the skirmish. Faragher, John Mack (1992). Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer . New York: Holt. pp. 93–4. ISBN 0-8050-1603-1 . In 1776, allied with the Shawnee led by Cornstalk , Cherokee attacked settlers in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina in
10125-418: The Southeast for more than 1,000 years. When the Cherokee occupied this area, they built a large townhouse or council house on top of the mound, which was their form of public architecture. It held the sacred flame of the people. When needed, the townhouse would be dismantled and burned, then replaced, and the mound repaired. It gradually became larger in circumference. Large enough to hold hundreds of people,
10250-663: The Southern Indians. The Southern theater had the added advantage of being home to more Loyalists than the North. With all these new advantages, the Cherokee were able to greatly renew their territorial defense. Both the Cherokee and the Upper Creek signed on for active participation. On December 17, 1778, Henry Hamilton captured Fort Vincennes and used it as a base to plan a spring offensive against George Rogers Clark , whose forces had recently seized control of much of
10375-609: The United States. In addition, numerous groups claim Cherokee lineage , and some of these are state-recognized. A total of more than 819,000 people are estimated to have identified as having Cherokee ancestry on the U.S. census; most are not enrolled members of any tribe. Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the UKB have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma , and most of their members live in
10500-495: The advent of the American Revolution . The action of the French and Indian War in North America included the Anglo-Cherokee War , lasting 1758–1761. British forces under General James Grant destroyed a number of Cherokee towns, which were never reoccupied. Kituwa was abandoned, and its former residents migrated west; they took up residence at Mialoquo , called Great Island Town , on the Little Tennessee River among
10625-403: The area. Because they gave up tribal membership at the time, they became state and US citizens. In the late 19th century, they reorganized as a federally recognized tribe. A Cherokee language name for Cherokee people is Aniyvwiya ( ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ , translating as "Principal People"). Another endonym is Anigiduwagi (ᎠᏂᎩᏚᏩᎩ, translating as "People from Kituwah"). Tsalagi Gawonihisdi ( ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ )
10750-492: The boundary, John Stuart , as Superintendent for Southern Indian Affairs, negotiated a second treaty with the Cherokee in 1770, the Treaty of Lochaber . This surrendered their remaining claims in what is now West Virginia and Kentucky and protected colonists north of the Holston River , in the region of today's Tennessee-Virginia border. The earliest colonial settlement in the vicinity of what became Upper East Tennessee
10875-618: The colonists. Dragging Canoe called for the women, children, and old to be sent below the Hiwassee and for the warriors to burn the towns, then ambush the Virginians at the French Broad River . Oconostota, Attakullakulla, and the older chiefs decided against that plan. Oconostota sent word to the approaching colonial army, offering to exchange Dragging Canoe and Cameron if the Overhill Towns were spared. Dragging Canoe spoke to
11000-403: The council of the Overhill Towns, denouncing the older leaders as rogues and "Virginians" for their willingness to cede land for an ephemeral safety. He concluded, "As for me, I have my young warriors about me. We will have our lands." Afterward, he and other militant leaders, including Ostenaco , gathered like-minded Cherokee from the Overhill, Valley, and Hill towns, and migrated to what is now
11125-469: The danger, Emistisigua, Paramount Chief of the Upper Muscogee , sent a force of 350 warriors to guard them as well as to assist in rebuilding and waging war. Preliminary negotiations between the Overhill Towns and Virginia were held at Fort Patrick Henry in April 1777. Nathaniel Gist , later father of Sequoyah , led the talks for Virginia, while Attakullakulla, Oconostota, and Savanukah headed
11250-555: The delegation of Cherokee. The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Dewitt's Corner with Georgia and South Carolina on May 20 and the Treaty of Fort Henry , also known as the Avery Treaty , with Virginia and North Carolina on July 20. They promised to stop warring, with those colonies promising in return to protect them from attack. In the Treaty of Dewitt's Corner, the Lower Towns ceded all their land in modern South Carolina except for
11375-526: The group. The Shawnee , Lenape (Delaware), Mingo , and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party, which included Boone's son James. James Boone and Henry Russell, son of William Russell , a compatriot of Daniel Boone, were captured by the Native Americans and ritually tortured to death. The settlement attempt was abandoned. When word got back to Virginia, the colonists led by Lord Dunmore himself retaliated with Dunmore's War (1774) which
11500-694: The historic Cherokee and occupied what is now Western North Carolina in the Middle Woodland period, circa 200 to 600 CE. They are believed to have built what is called the Biltmore Mound, found in 1984 south of the Swannanoa River on the Biltmore Estate, which has numerous Native American sites. Other ancestors of the Cherokee are considered to be part of the later Pisgah phase of South Appalachian Mississippian culture ,
11625-520: The honorary status of minor chiefs and/or members of significant delegations. By contrast, a large portion of the settlers encroaching on the Native American territories were Scotch-Irish , Irish from Ulster who were of Scottish descent and had been part of the plantation of Ulster . They also tended to support the Revolution. But in the back country, there were also Scotch-Irish who were Loyalists, such as Simon Girty . The Cherokee lands between
11750-538: The houses and food stores, destroyed the orchards, slaughtered livestock, and killed hundreds of Cherokee. They sold captives into slavery, and these were often transported to the Caribbean. In the meantime, the Continental Army sent Col. William Christian to the lower Little Tennessee Valley with a battalion of Continentals, 500 Virginia militia, 300 North Carolina militia, and 300 rangers. Upon reaching
11875-437: The island. However, on July 20, it encountered a larger force of militia six miles from their target, about half the size of his own but desperate, in a stronger position than the small group before. During the "Battle of Island Flats" which followed, Dragging Canoe was wounded in his hip by a musket ball, and his brother Little Owl incredibly survived after being hit eleven times. His force then withdrew, raiding isolated cabins on
12000-600: The large fort on the South Carolina frontier known as Lindley's Station . Its 150-man Patriot garrison had just finished building it the day before. After repulsing the attack, the Patriots gave chase, killing two Loyalists and capturing ten, but inflicting no casualties on the Cherokee. Dragging Canoe's forces advanced up the Great Indian Warpath and had a small skirmish with a body of militia numbering twenty who quickly withdrew. Pursuing them and intending to take Fort Lee at Long-Island-on-the-Holston, his force advanced toward
12125-470: The late 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee people migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times. They occupied territories where earthwork platform mounds were built by peoples during the earlier Woodland and Mississippian culture periods. For example, the people of the Connestee culture period are believed to be ancestors of
12250-552: The main cultural centers in the Midwest. In this period, the larger villages in South Appalachia each built a single platform mound. These villages each served as the political center for several nearby smaller communities. In the largest centers, by contrast, such as Cahokia and Etowah Indian Mounds , the Mississippian culture people gathered in larger centers and built multiple mounds. These dense settlements expressed
12375-416: The more stratified levels of social and political hierarchy. The Too-Cowee mound and village site became an important center for the Cherokee , who occupied a large territory in southeastern Tennessee, western North and South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia. They are believed to have migrated from the Great Lakes area, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples are based, and to have been in this homeland in
12500-516: The most prominent, ceded the claim of the Cherokee to the Kentucky lands. The Transylvania Land Company believed it was gaining ownership of the land, not realizing that other tribes, such as the Lenape, Shawnee, and Chickasaw , also claimed these lands for hunting. Documented Cherokee towns like Sullen Possum in southeast Kentucky and in other areas of Kentucky did exist with links to what is called
12625-498: The northern delegation had left, Dragging Canoe led a small war party into Kentucky and returned with four scalps to present to Cornstalk before they departed. In another raid, a war party led by Hanging Maw , captured three teenage settler girls, Jemima Boone and Elizabeth and Frances Callaway , on July 14 but lost them three days later to a rescue party led by Daniel Boone , father of Jemima, and Richard Callaway , father of Elizabeth and Frances. In late June 1776, war parties from
12750-531: The northern sector of the Georgia colony, in return for the cancellation of their debts. Most of the Muskogee refused to recognize the treaty, and the British government rejected it. In Sept. 1773, Daniel Boone led one of the first settler's expeditions through the fabled Cumberland Gap route to establish a temporary settlement inside the hunting grounds of modern-day Kentucky. There were about 50 settlers in
12875-497: The only federally recognized tribe in North Carolina. By 2020 the EBCI and partners also succeeded in gaining control of Nikwasi and Watauga mounds, the visible remnants of once-large historic Cherokee and ancestral towns at these sites along the upper Little Tennessee River. They formed the non-profit Nikwasi Initiative and worked with Mainspring Conservation Trust to achieve this. They are planning to highlight these three sites on
13000-495: The origin of the proto-Iroquoian language was likely the Appalachian region , and the split between Northern and Southern Iroquoian languages began 4,000 years ago. By the 19th century, White American settlers had classified the Cherokee of the Southeast as one of the " Five Civilized Tribes " in the region. They were agrarian , lived in permanent villages and had begun to adopt some cultural and technological practices of
13125-622: The outbreak of the Revolution superseded the judgments of the royal governors. The Transylvania Company began recruiting settlers for the region they had "purchased". In 1776, the Virginia General Assembly prohibited further settlement, and in 1778, declared the Transylvania compact void. During the Revolutionary War, the Cherokee not only fought against the settlers in the Overmountain region, and later in
13250-561: The outskirts of Carter's Valley far into the Clinch River Valley in Virginia, but those targets contained only small settlements and isolated farmsteads, so he did no real military damage. The affected colonies of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia conferred and decided that swift and massive retaliation was the only way to preserve peace on the frontier. The colonials gathered militia who retaliated against
13375-477: The people had fled the village but, according to his account, the militia destroyed their houses, and looted their stored crops before attacking other towns. During and after the revolution, other Cherokee bands fought a series of actions in the Chickamauga territory of southeastern Tennessee to evict encroaching European-American settlers . After the Cherokee were forced to cede this territory in 1819 by
13500-474: The recently formed United States of America . Because they migrated westward to new settlements initially known as the "Five Lower Towns", referring to their location in the Piedmont, these people became known as the Lower Cherokee. This term was used well into the 19th century. The Chickamauga ended their warfare in November 1794 with the Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse . In 1786, Mohawk leader Joseph Brant ,
13625-637: The remaining neutral towns of the Lower Muscogee threw in their lot with the British side. Thomas Brown of the King's Carolina Rangers was assigned to the Atlantic District to work with the Cherokee, Muscogee, and Seminole. Charlestown was captured on May 12, 1780, after a siege that began March 29. Along with it, the British took prisoner some 3,000 Patriots, including South Carolina militia leader Andrew Williamson. Upon giving his parole that he would not again take up arms, Williamson became
13750-572: The same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a shirt of the English make, a sort of cloth-boots, and mockasons ( sic ), which are shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with porcupine-quills; a large mantle or match-coat thrown over all complete their dress at home ... From 1753 to 1755, battles broke out between the Cherokee and Muscogee over disputed hunting grounds in North Georgia . The Cherokee were victorious in
13875-461: The state. Cowee was developed in the floodplain of the river, as were most prehistoric and historic indigenous towns. It has been described as one of the best-preserved South Appalachian Mississippian culture sites in western North Carolina and has an earthwork platform mound . The people of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture flourished in this area from about 1000 CE to the 14th or 15th century. It developed later in this region than in
14000-657: The state. The UKB are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers", also called Western Cherokee: those who migrated from the Southeast to Arkansas and Oklahoma in about 1817, prior to Indian removal . They are related to the Cherokee who were later forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act . The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located on land known as the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. They are mostly descendants of ancestors who had resisted or avoided relocation, remaining in
14125-601: The time by the Coosa chiefdom . This is believed to be a chiefdom ancestral to the Muscogee Creek people , who developed as a Muskogean-speaking people with a distinct culture. In 1566, the Juan Pardo expedition traveled from the present-day South Carolina coast into its interior, and into western North Carolina and southeastern Tennessee. He recorded meeting Cherokee-speaking people who visited him while he stayed at
14250-416: The time that Mooney was studying the people in the late 1880s, the structure of Cherokee religious practitioners was more informal, based more on individual knowledge and ability than upon heredity. Another major source of early cultural history comes from materials written in the 19th century by the didanvwisgi ( ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ ), Cherokee medicine men , after Sequoyah 's creation of the Cherokee syllabary in
14375-541: The townhouse was a place for the community to gather. In the westernmost eleven counties of North Carolina, the Cherokee developed towns known by colonists in the eighteenth century as the Middle, Valley, and Out Towns, along the river valleys and floodplains between mountain ridges in this region. The major rivers were the French Broad, Pigeon, Tuckaseegee, Little Tennessee, and Hiwassee. In the late eighteenth century,
14500-441: The two peoples spoke different languages. Jack Kilpatrick disputes this idea, noting that he believes the name come from the Cherokee word "tsàdlagí" meaning "he has turned aside". Anthropologists and historians have two main theories of Cherokee origins. One is that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian-speaking people, are relative latecomers to Southern Appalachia , who may have migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas around
14625-542: The wars ( 1986:131–32 ), later becoming known as the Westo to English colonists in the Province of Carolina. A few historians suggest this tribe was Cherokee. Virginian traders developed a small-scale trading system with the Cherokee in the Piedmont before the end of the 17th century. The earliest recorded Virginia trader to live among the Cherokee was Cornelius Dougherty or Dority, in 1690. The Cherokee gave sanctuary to
14750-504: The way and returned to the Overhill area with plunder and scalps, after raiding further north into southwestern Virginia. On July 21, Abraham of Chilhowee led his party in attempting to capture Fort Caswell on the Watauga, but his attack was driven off with heavy casualties. Instead of withdrawing, however, he put the garrison under siege, a tactic which had worked well the previous decade with Fort Loudon. After two weeks, though, he and his warriors gave that up. Savanukah's party raided from
14875-504: The western side of the Appalachian Mountains, in present-day southeastern Tennessee. During the late Archaic and Woodland Period , Native Americans in the region began to cultivate plants such as marsh elder , lambsquarters , pigweed , sunflowers , and some native squash . People created new art forms such as shell gorgets , adopted new technologies, and developed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies. During
15000-628: Was Keowee . Other Cherokee towns on the Keowee River included Estatoe and Sugartown ( Kulsetsiyi ), a name repeated in other areas. In western North Carolina, what were known as the Valley, Middle, and Outer Towns were located along the major rivers of the Tuckasegee , the upper Little Tennessee , Hiwasee , French Broad and other systems. The Overhill Cherokee occupied towns along the lower Little Tennessee River and upper Tennessee River on
15125-515: Was Sapling Grove ( Bristol ). This initial North-of-Holston settlement was founded by Evan Shelby , who first entered the area as early as 1765, but "purchased" the land in 1768 from John Buchanan. Jacob Brown began another settlement on the Nolichucky River , and John Carter another in what became known as Carter's Valley (between Clinch River and Beech Creek), both in 1771. Following the Battle of Alamance in 1771, James Robertson led
15250-629: Was besieged by a mob at his house in Charleston and had to flee for his life. His first stop was St. Augustine in East Florida . Another noted Loyalist later associated with the Cherokee, Thomas Brown , was not nearly so fortunate. In his home of Brownsborough, Georgia, near Augusta, he was assaulted by a crowd of the Sons of Liberty , tied to a tree, roasted with fire, scalped, tarred, and feathered . After his escape, he took up residence among
15375-450: Was conducted mostly against Shawnee raiders from north of the Ohio. The Cherokee and the Muskogee were active also, mainly confining themselves to small raids on the backcountry settlements of the Carolinas and Georgia. On March 17, 1775, a group of North Carolina speculators led by Richard Henderson negotiated the extra-legal Treaty of Watauga at Sycamore Shoals with the older Overhill Cherokee leaders; Oconostota and Attakullakulla,
15500-469: Was his headquarters and the colonists tended to call his entire band the Chickamauga to distinguish them from other Cherokee. From here he fought a guerrilla war against settlers, which lasted from 1776 to 1794. These are known informally as the Cherokee–American wars, but this is not a historian's term. The first Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse , signed November 7, 1794, finally brought peace between
15625-426: Was widely resented by the colonists. Once they were able to end hostilities with Pontiac's confederation, the British refocused their attention to settling treaties that could resolve land claims with tribes across the colonies. The two Superintendents for Indian Affairs for the northern and southern colonies contemporaneously negotiated the Treaty of Hard Labour with the Cherokee and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix with
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