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88-535: The historic Cherokee settlements were Cherokee settlements established in Southeastern North America up to the removals of the early 19th century . Several settlements had existed prior to and were initially contacted by explorers and colonists of the colonial powers as they made inroads into frontier areas. Others were established later. In the early 18th century, an estimated 2100 Cherokee people inhabited more than sixteen towns east of

176-557: 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

264-695: 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

352-569: 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

440-470: 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

528-565: 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

616-645: 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

704-733: 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,

792-498: A supreme First Beloved Man was elected to run a national Cherokee council. This group alternated between meeting at Willstown and Turkeytown , but it convened irregularly and had little authority with the people. The First Beloved Man of each town still maintained a substantial amount of authority. The murders of the Overhill pacifist chiefs—including Old Tassel , the regional headman—who that same year were lured to parley with

880-560: 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

968-418: 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

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1056-539: Is now Stephens County, Georgia . This became known as the Tugaloo Massacre during the Yamasee War in 1716. By 1717, Theophilus Hastings operated a trading center among the Creek at Tugaloo. At the time of James Adair 's publishing of his magnum opus , The History of the American Indians , in 1775, the Cherokee towns of Ishtatohe (Estatoe) and Toogalo (Tugaloo) along the head waters of

1144-532: 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

1232-591: Is present-day Tennessee, where they ultimately each flowed into the Tennessee River at different points. Early Cherokee Overhill settlements included those on the lower Little Tennessee River : Chilhowee , Chota , Citico , Mialoquo , Tallassee , Tanasi , Tomotley , Toqua , and Tuskegee (Island Town) ; those on the Tellico River : Chatuga and Great Tellico ; and those on the lower Hiwassee River : Chestowee and Hiwassee Old Town . Following

1320-480: 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

1408-585: 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

1496-535: 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

1584-739: 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

1672-597: The Blue Ridge Mountains and across the Piedmont plains in what was then considered Indian Country . Generally, European visitors noted only the towns with townhouses. Some of their maps included lesser settlements, but "the centers of towns were clearly marked by townhouses and plazas." The early Cherokee towns east of the Blue Ridge Mountains were geographically divided into two regions:

1760-649: The British in the hopes of expelling the newly independent US colonists from their territory. After these attacks, the Cherokee sued for peace with the Americans. By January 1777 the Upper Town Cherokee had made a peace. A large following of Cherokee, however, refused to settle with the encroaching Americans and moved further south. Under the war chiefs Dragging Canoe , Black Fox , and Little Turkey , they settled many additional locations throughout

1848-505: The Colony of South Carolina ; many were based along the Keowee River , including: the major towns of Seneca and Keowee New Towne ; as well as, Cheowie , Cowee , Coweeshee , Echoee , Elejoy , Estatoie , Old Keowee , Oustanalla , Oustestee , Tomassee , Torsalla, Tosawa (also later spelled Toxaway), Torsee, and Tricentee . In addition, since the late 20th century, archeologists have identified historic Cherokee townhouses dating from

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1936-581: The Creek or Chickasaw . authority control Cherokee people 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

2024-485: 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

2112-656: 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

2200-670: 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

2288-615: 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

2376-473: 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 ,

2464-755: The Muscogee Creek . The letter was intercepted, and when it was discovered, the North Carolina General Assembly launched an investigation into Martin's conduct. He was exonerated after it was revealed that he was acting as a spy directed by Patrick Henry to discern McGillivray's ties to the Spanish, who were active in neighboring Spanish Florida . In 1798, Superintendent Benjamin Hawkins , in charge of Southeastern regional Native American relations, used Tugaloo town as one of

2552-673: 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

2640-614: The State of Franklin and ambushed instead, resulted in an increasingly violent period between the Cherokee and American settlers. A definitive peace was finally achieved in 1794. The ambush had resulted in driving many of the Upper Cherokee, who at the time were more supportive of some adaptation to European-American ways, into union with the Lower Cherokee leadership. By the time of Dragging Canoe's death (January 29, 1792),

2728-528: 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. Tugaloo About six miles upriver

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2816-562: The failed two-prong attack against the frontier settlements of the Washington District in the summer of 1776, the colonies of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia mounted a retaliatory attack against all the Cherokee towns. It was known as the Rutherford Light Horse expedition , and militias attacked the Cherokee on both sides of the mountains, destroying many towns. The Cherokee had allied with

2904-536: The southeastern United States , mostly driven by events of the ongoing Cherokee–American wars . This Chickamauga faction moved further downstream on the Tennessee River system, establishing 11 new towns well away from the American frontier. Following further conflicts with the military of the fledgling United States, in 1782 Dragging Canoe established five new "Lower Towns" even further downstream along

2992-679: 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

3080-525: The 11 original Chickamauga lower towns (established 1776–1778 following the Rutherford and Williamson campaigns ); LT-5 : founded at the time of the establishment of the later five+ Chickamauga Lower Towns; LTK : the original Lower/Keowee Towns (including those of the Carolina Piedmont ); LLT : Late Lower Towns (formed in or after the 1790s); X Non-Cherokee or shared-residence towns with

3168-613: 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

3256-654: 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

3344-487: 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,

3432-595: 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

3520-564: 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

3608-550: 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

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3696-599: The Cherokee settlements of the Lower Towns had increased from five to seven. The re-populated New Keowee was still the principal town of the region. Up until 1794, when the fighting stopped and the national council ground moved to Ustanali , the Cherokee remained a fragmented people. At the founding of the first Cherokee Nation in 1794, the now united people still controlled a large area encompassing lands now located in several states, including: Tennessee , North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , and Alabama . The Cherokee Nation's five regional councils of 1794 comprised 1)

3784-810: The Cherokee who lived along the Keowee River , Tugaloo River, and other head streams of the Savannah River in the Piedmont and foothills of the region defined above. These communities of Cherokee spoke the Eastern Dialect of Cherokee. In 1715 Gen. James Moore ordered an expedition into the Cherokee Lower Towns. The expedition, led by Col. Maurice Moore, left Fort Moore and arrived at Tugaloo on December 29, 1715. The expedition left Tugaloo on New Year's Day, 1716, for Nacoochee , and passed through Toccoa. Indian agent George Chicken

3872-588: 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

3960-629: 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

4048-407: 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

4136-419: 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

4224-412: The Little Tennessee, mainly along its tributary the Tuckaseegee River and its tributary, the Oconaluftee River . Towns and settlements included Conontoroy, Joree , Kittowa (the 'mother town' of the Cherokee, which was reacquired by the EBCI in 1996), Nununyi , Oustanale , Tucharechee , and Tuckaseegee . Both the Little Tennessee River and the Hiwassee River flowed through the mountains into what

4312-521: The Lower Towns (of the Piedmont coastal plains in what are now northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina), and the Middle/Valley/Out Towns (east of the Appalachian Mountains ). A third group, the Overhill Towns , located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains, made up the remainder of the Cherokee settlements of the time. Within each regional group, towns exhibited close economic, linguistic, and religious ties; they were often developed for miles along rivers and creeks. Satellite villages near

4400-533: 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

4488-437: 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

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4576-481: The Overhill Towns; 2) the Hill Towns; 3) the traditional Valley Towns; 4) the new Upper Towns (these were the former Lower Towns of southern North Carolina, western South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia); and 5) the new Lower Towns (newly occupied settlements located in north and central Alabama, southeastern Tennessee, and far northwestern Georgia). The constant warfare took its toll on the traditional Cherokee settlements. Several had become permanently de-populated by

4664-411: 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

4752-436: 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

4840-450: The Piedmont settlements, also called Keowee towns, as they were along the Keowee River . In 1775 – May 1776, explorer and naturalist William Bartram described a total of 43 Cherokee towns in his Travels in North America , after living for a time in the area. Cherokee were living in each of them. The Cherokee also established new settlements—or moved existing settlements—using the same or very similar names from one location to another, as

4928-400: The Savannah River were already either forsaken or destroyed because of the incessant wars. After the United States gained independence in the American Revolutionary War, General Joseph Martin , U.S. Special Agent to the Cherokee and Chickasaw , visited the once-famous site of Tugaloo town in 1788. From there he wrote a letter to Creek leader Alexander McGillivray . Martin sent McGillivray

5016-497: 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

5104-450: The Tennessee River. The original five towns included: Running Water town ( Amogayunyi ) (Dragging Canoe's new headquarters); Long Island on the Holston ( Amoyeligunahita ); Crow Town ( Kagunyi ); Lookout Mountain town ( Utsutigwayi , or Stecoyee); and Nickajack ( Ani-Kusati-yi , meaning Koasati Old-place). The Chickamauga also re-established a small military presence in Tuskegee Island Town at this time. Additional settlements in

5192-439: 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

5280-443: The area were quickly developed, following the arrival of more members to join Dragging Canoe's force. These people became known more properly as the Lower Cherokee, as opposed to Chickamauga. Their settlements included the major, regional town of Creek Path town ( Kusanunnahiyi ); Turkeytown ; Turnip town ( Ulunyi ); Willstown ( Titsohiliyi ); and Chatuga ( Tsatugi ). The Cherokee were highly decentralized and their towns were

5368-403: 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 )

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5456-424: The dam would inundate these ancient sites. The Tugaloo Bend Heritage Park was established near Yonah Dam and what is believed to have been the ancient site of Estatoe. A historic preserve of 87 acres was established here. During much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, after the Cherokee had been removed from the Southeast and forced to Indian Territory , this property was farmed for agriculture. The park

5544-436: 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 ,

5632-461: 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

5720-452: The landmarks for the boundary between the state of Georgia and Muscogee Creek territory. After Indian Removal in the late 1830s of the Cherokee and Creek peoples, European Americans took over these lands. They expanded cotton plantations throughout the uplands, and used much of the area or agriculture well into the twentieth century. In 1959 the areas of Tugaloo and the nearby Estatoe village, believed to have been about 6 miles north on

5808-413: 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

5896-422: The most important units of government. The Cherokee Nation did not yet exist. Before 1788, the only leadership role that existed with the Cherokee people was a town's or region's "First Beloved Man" (or Uku ). The First Beloved Man would be the usual contact person and negotiator for the people under his leadership, especially when dealing with European or frontier government representatives. Starting in 1788,

5984-418: The names were associated with a community of people. This practice complicated the historical recording and tracking by Europeans of many early settlement locations. Examples of this practice of repeated names include "Sugar Town," "Chota/Echota," and "Etowa/h," to name just a few. The Lower Towns in that period were considered to be those in the northern part of the Colony of Georgia and northwestern area of

6072-436: 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

6160-474: The regional towns often bore the same or similar names to the regional centers. The minor settlements shared architecture and a common culture, but they maintained political autonomy. No list could ever be complete of all Cherokee settlements; however, in 1755 the government of South Carolina noted several known towns and settlements. Those identified were grouped into six "hunting districts:" 1) Overhill, 2) Middle, 3) Valley, 4) Out Towns, 5) Lower Towns, and 6)

6248-410: The resolutions of Congress pertaining to Cherokee affairs, and expressed a desire for tensions between the United States and the Creek Nation to end. He asked for McGillivray's assistance in recovering horses that were purportedly stolen from his force by Creek raiders. He also asked McGillivray to allow several hundred European-American families to settle in the Tombigbee area, which was controlled by

6336-515: 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

6424-779: The sites of Nuckasee , Steecoy , and Watoge along the Little Tennessee River. These will be featured as part of the planned "Nikwasi-Cowee Corridor". The Valley Towns consisted of those along the upper Hiwassee River and its tributary the Valley River , and the Nantahala River , which flowed into the Little Tennessee River from the south. These rivers were all south of the Little Tennessee. Valley Towns included Chewohe , Tomately , and Quanassee . The Out Towns were located slightly north of

6512-406: The sixteenth through the early eighteenth century at the towns known as Chauga (where the Cherokee were identified as occupying it in the last of four phases) and Chattooga site, both in present-day western South Carolina; and Tugalo , in present-day northeastern Georgia. The latter site is now inundated by Lake Hartwell . The Middle Towns of western North Carolina Colony were primarily along

6600-657: 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

6688-538: 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

6776-416: 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

6864-434: The turn of the 19th century. The settled areas stabilized for a time following the 1794 establishment of the Cherokee Nation and partial acculturation of the people in the east. Following The Removal era (1815–1839), however, many of these settlements were all but abandoned forever. * KEY : MVO : Middle/Valley/Out Towns; OH : Overhill Cherokee settlement; LT : Cherokee Lower Towns, divided as: LT-11 : one of

6952-441: 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

7040-426: The upper Little Tennessee River and its tributaries. The Cherokee towns and related settlements in this area included Comastee , Cotocanahuy, Euforsee , Little Telliquo , Nayowee , Nuckasee , Steecoy , and Watoge . Since the late 20th century, the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and partners have reacquired some of these former town sites in their homeland for preservation. These include

7128-542: 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

7216-718: The west side of the Tugaloo River, were excavated and studied by an archaeological team led by the University of Georgia . (Note: There were other Cherokee villages named Estatoe in both South Carolina and North Carolina.) The University of Georgia team was conducting a salvage study prior to flooding of both sites by a reservoir after completion of Hartwell Dam on the Savannah River, and related dams on upper tributaries. They were seeking to use excavation and collection of artifacts to gather as much information as possible about these sites. The creation of Lake Hartwell above

7304-504: 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

7392-628: 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

7480-404: Was Estatoe, another historic Cherokee town in this area. (Other historic towns named Estatoe were identified in both western South Carolina and North Carolina.) Both the historic and prehistoric sites of Estatoe and Tugaloo were inundated by the creation of Lake Hartwell above Hartwell Dam. Tugaloo's proper name in Cherokee was Dugiluyi (ᏚᎩᎷᏱ); abbreviated to Dugilu (ᏚᎩᎷ). In English, it

7568-528: 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

7656-532: Was part of the expedition, and described Tugaloo as "the most ancient town in these parts." Col. Chicken convinced the Cherokee leaders to fight against the Savanna, Yuchi , and Apalachee peoples as allies of the English. The Cherokee killed eleven Lower Creek ambassadors at Tugaloo, bringing them into additional conflict with the Lower Creek, with whom they had been competing also in Tennessee and what

7744-478: Was phonetically spelled variously as Tugalo, Tugaloo, Toogelah, Toogoola, etc. Its meaning in Cherokee is uncertain, but seems to refer to a "place at the forks of a stream." Tugaloo was classified as one of the Cherokee "Lower Towns", located in southwestern South Carolina and northeastern Georgia. The principal one of this grouping was Keowee . The terms "Lower Towns" and "Lower Cherokee" were geographic classifications by English traders and colonists, referring to

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