The Westo were an Iroquoian Native American tribe encountered in what became the Southeastern U.S. by Europeans in the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian language. The Spanish called these people Chichimeco (not to be confused with Chichimeca in Mexico), and Virginia colonists may have called the same people Richahecrian . Their first appearance in the historical record is as a powerful tribe in colonial Virginia who had migrated from the mountains into the region around present-day Richmond. Their population provided a force of 700–900 warriors.
92-449: Early academic analysis of the origin of the Westo posited that the so-called Rechahecrian/Rickohakan of Virginia were perhaps Cherokee or Yuchi , and that the Westo were a band of Yuchi. Anthropologist Marvin T. Smith ( 1987:131–32 ) was the first to suggest that the Westo were a group of Erie , who had lived south of Lake Erie until forced to migrate further south to Virginia during
184-557: 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
276-695: 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
368-569: 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
460-676: A much smaller and more localized scale, including Bull Sluice Lake , which is held by the Morgan Falls Dam . This dam was built by the Georgia Railway and Power Company in 1902 to provide electric power for the Atlanta trolley system, which has long since been replaced by other forms of transportation. At various points, the Chattahoochee serves as the boundary between several counties and cities, as well as forming
552-470: 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
644-565: 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
736-645: 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
828-733: 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,
920-560: 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
1012-530: A trading relationship with the Westo, exchanging firearms for Indian slaves . When the Westo migrated to the Savannah River, they quickly became known for their military power and their slave raids on other tribes. Before their destruction, the Westo wreaked havoc on the Spanish missionary provinces of Guale and Mocama . On July 20, 1661, a Westo war party canoed down the Altamaha River and destroyed
SECTION 10
#17327726587501104-716: Is a river in the Southeastern United States . It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River , a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers and emptying from Florida into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of Mexico . The Chattahoochee River
1196-680: Is about 430 miles (690 km) long. The Chattahoochee, Flint, and Apalachicola rivers together make up the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin ( ACF River Basin ). The Chattahoochee makes up the largest part of the ACF's drainage basin . The source of the Chattahoochee River is located in Jacks Gap at the southeastern foot of Jacks Knob , in the very southeastern corner of Union County , in
1288-418: 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
1380-532: 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
1472-480: 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
1564-585: 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
1656-535: 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
1748-468: The Battle of Atlanta , Shoup talked with Johnston on June 18, 1864, about building fortifications. Johnston agreed, and Shoup supervised the building of 36 small elevated earth and wooden triangular fortifications, arranged in a sawtooth pattern to maximize the crossfire of defenders. Sherman tried to avoid the Shoupade defenses by crossing the river to the northeast. The nine remaining Shoupades consist of
1840-804: 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
1932-624: The Fall Line , as well as creating the longest urban whitewater course in the world. Several large manmade reservoirs , including Lanier , Lake Eufaula , West Point , and George W. Andrews , lakes are controlled by the United States Army Corps of Engineers . The dams and reservoirs were developed following legislation by Congress of the mid-1940s for flood control , domestic and industrial water, hydroelectricity , recreation, and improved navigation for river barges. Most of
SECTION 20
#17327726587502024-485: 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
2116-656: 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
2208-670: 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
2300-615: 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
2392-473: 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 ,
2484-673: 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
2576-586: 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. Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River ( / ˌ tʃ æ t ə ˈ h uː tʃ i / )
2668-679: 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
2760-631: The 17th-century Beaver Wars . The powerful nations of the Iroquois League extended their control into a wider area to gain hunting grounds. Smith theorizes that as the colonial settlements expanded in Virginia, the Westo migrated south to the Savannah River , shortly before the founding of South Carolina in 1670. Subsequent work by John Worth ( 1995:17 ) and Eric Bowne ( 2006 ) strongly supports Smith's hypothesis. Virginia established
2852-613: 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
Westo - Misplaced Pages Continue
2944-654: 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
3036-597: The Carolina colony. The colony depended on the Esaw (Catawba) tribe for defense until December 1674. Some Westo visited Dr. Henry Woodward and made peace. The peace became an alliance after the Westo escorted Woodward to their towns on the Savannah River, where they gave him many presents and encouraged friendship. From 1675 to 1680, trade between the Westo and South Carolina thrived. The Westo provided Carolina with slaves, captured from various Native American groups, including
3128-503: The Chattahoochee River is commemorated in the poem "The Song of the Chattahoochee" (1877), by the noted Georgian poet Sidney Lanier . Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee is named for him. Country music artist Alan Jackson released his song " Chattahoochee " in 1993 as a single off his album A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love) (the name of the album being the last line of the aforementioned song's chorus). "Chattahoochee" received Country Music Association awards for Single of
3220-543: 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,
3312-595: 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
3404-564: 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
3496-550: 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
3588-532: 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
3680-626: The Cobb and Fulton county lines in metropolitan Atlanta, are nine remaining fortifications nicknamed "Shoupades" that were part of a defensive line occupied by the Confederate Army in early July 1864. Designed by Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup , the line became known as Johnston's River Line after Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . A month prior to
3772-629: 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
Westo - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-459: 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
3956-591: 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
4048-478: The Hollis Quartzite of the Pine Mountain belt, and must have established its current course prior to uplift of those units. At the mouth of the Chattahoochee-Flint-Apalachicola River system, in the Apalachicola River delta, the geologic history of the delta can be traced at least as far back as the Miocene . The vicinity of the Chattahoochee River was inhabited in prehistoric times by indigenous peoples since at least 1000 BC. The Kolomoki Mounds , now protected in
4140-428: The Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park near present-day Blakely in Early County , southwest Georgia, were built between 350 AD and 650 AD and constitute the largest mound complex in the state. The Chattahoochee River was of considerable strategic importance during the Atlanta Campaign by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman of the American Civil War . Between the tributaries of Proctor Creek and Nickajack Creek on
4232-448: The Lake Walter F. George and Andrews Dams. All other locations have observations only. Tributary creeks , streams , and rivers , as well as lakes, along with the county they are in: Note that the above list is incomplete, and that each item is not in the exact order in which it joins the Chattahoochee. (For confluences now inundated by lakes, it may be impossible to determine from current maps exactly where they were.) The beauty of
4324-533: 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
4416-437: 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
4508-411: 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
4600-436: 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
4692-417: The Savannah moved into their lands and took over their role as the chief Indian trading partner with the Carolina colony. The fate of most of the surviving Westo was probably enslavement after being shipped to work on sugarcane plantations in the West Indies . Some surviving Westo may have continued to live near the colony of South Carolina. A map published anonymously in 1715 shows Indian villages during
SECTION 50
#17327726587504784-455: The September 2009 floods included the following: The second most recent major flood along the river occurred during the 2009 Georgia floods , with 28.10 feet (8.56 m) of water recorded at Vinings at the northwestern Atlanta city limit. The flood was over 5 feet (1.5 m) higher than the previous flood recorded in September 2004, as a result of Hurricane Fred . Numerous tributaries also swelled far over and beyond their banks. These were
4876-497: 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
4968-420: The Spanish mission of Santo Domingo de Talaje near present-day Darien , Georgia . Florida governor Alonso de Aránguiz y Cortés sent troops to what is now St. Simons, Georgia to guard against further raids. That the Westo had ties with Virginia colonists did not mean they would be friendly toward the South Carolinians. In 1673 the Westo attacked both coastal Indians, such as the Cusabo , and settlements of
5060-443: The Spanish-allied tribes in Guale and Mocama. The captives were "Settlement Indians", bands supposedly under the protection of Carolina. The Westo likely captured slaves from the upcountry Cherokee , Chickasaw to the south, and the various smaller tribes who later aligned as the Creek Confederacy. Since the Westo were traditionally enemies with nearly every other tribe in the region, their alliance with Carolina effectively blocked
5152-439: 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
5244-401: The alternating freshwater and saltwater flows that the river and the tides provide. The amount of flow in the Chattahoochee has also been decreased by interbasin water transfers, where water is withdrawn from the Chattahoochee, but discharged as treated sewage water into another river, such as the Oconee River , which flow to the Atlantic Seaboard via the Altamaha River . Interest groups and
5336-403: 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 )
5428-430: The city named after them). Although the same river, this portion was given a different name by separated settlers in different regions during the colonial times. The name Chattahoochee is thought to come from a Muskogee word meaning "rocks-marked" (or "painted"), from chato ("rock") plus huchi ("marked"). This possibly refers to the many colorful granite outcroppings along the northeast-to-southwest segment of
5520-427: The colony from establishing other tribal relationships. A group of Shawnee Indians migrated to the Savannah River region and met with the Westo while Henry Woodward was among them. These Shawnee became known as the "Savannah Indians". Woodward apparently witnessed the first meeting of the Shawnee and Westo. Using sign language, the Shawnee (Savannah) warned the Westo of an impending attack from other tribes. They earned
5612-436: The earthworks portion of the original earth and wooden structures; they are endangered by land development in the area. Two of the last battles of the war, West Point and Columbus took place at strategically important crossings of the Chattahoochee. Since the nineteenth century, early improvements and alterations to the river were for the purposes of navigation. The river was important for carrying trade and passengers and
SECTION 60
#17327726587505704-402: The goodwill of the Westo, who began to prepare for the attack. The Savannah later approached Woodward and established an independent relationship with the colonists, which doomed the Westo. The Carolinians realized the value of trading beyond the Westo. When war broke out between Carolina and the Westo in 1679, the Savannah/Shawnee assisted the Carolinians. After they destroyed the Westo in 1680,
5796-418: The highest water levels seen since 1990, and the second-highest ever since the large Buford Dam was built upstream. The National Weather Service in Peachtree City estimated that this was a 500-year flood event. The main stream gauges are located: Water-level forecasts are regularly issued only at Vinings and Atlanta. Forecasts are issued only during high water at Norcross, Whitesburg, West Point, and
5888-436: 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 ,
5980-409: The historically majority-Native American settlement of Oketeyeconne, Georgia . The lakes were complete in 1963, covering over numerous historic and prehistoric sites of settlement. Beginning in the late twentieth century, the nonprofit organization called " Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper " has advocated for the preservation of the environment and ecology of the northern part of the river, especially
6072-461: 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
6164-421: The lakes were completed by 1963. Numerous historic and prehistoric sites were covered over by the lakes during the flooding of the reservoirs, including Oketeyconne, Georgia. The Georgia Power Company also owns a small series of dams along the middle portion of the river (the Columbus area) between West Point Lake and Lake Walter F. George. Several smaller and older lakes and dams also provide these services on
6256-413: 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
6348-421: The lower half of the boundary between Alabama and Georgia. Within Georgia, it divides: Atlanta is built upon the crest of a large ridge, rather than in the floodplain of the river. This has contributed to the preservation of much of the natural scenic beauty of the section that runs through metropolitan Atlanta. North of the metropolis, the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area protects other portions of
6440-436: 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
6532-408: The overlying Eutaw Formation record an estuarine environment in approximately the same location, suggesting a persistent paleodrainage system in the vicinity of the modern Chattahoochee for at least 10-20 million years during the Late Cretaceous. North of the Fall Line, in the Piedmont of Georgia and Alabama, the course of the Chattahoochee River cuts across prominent, resistant rock layers, including
6624-539: The part traversing Metropolitan Atlanta . In 2010, a campaign to create a whitewater river course was launched in the portion of the Chattahoochee River that runs through Columbus, Georgia. Between 2010 and 2013, construction took place on the river, the Eagle and Phenix and City Mills Dams were breached and a 2.5 mile Whitewater Course was formed in Uptown, Columbus. The project returned the river to its natural path across
6716-689: The period from about 1691 to 1715, when the early Muscogee/Creek towns had relocated from the Chattahoochee River to the Ocmulgee River and Oconee River . The map shows a town labeled "Westas" (all the towns' labels are pluralized) on the Ocmulgee River above the confluence of the Towaliga River. It is one of a cluster of towns near the important "Lower Creek" town of Coweta . The 1715 map reflects town locations in
6808-925: The period when the Lower Creek moved their towns back to the Chattahoochee River. The town appears on the Mitchell map of 1755 just below the town of Euchees. As with several other groups of Indian refugees who found haven with the Lower Creek, the surviving Westo appeared to have been absorbed into the emerging Creek confederacy. 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
6900-574: The river water. A lawsuit has been filed in the case to reduce priorities given to navigation. The lawsuit is now in court, and may take years to resolve. The most recent major flooding of the Chattahoochee River took place in November 2009. This was caused by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Ida as it tore through the Georgia Piedmont. Downstream from Roswell, the Chattahoochee River remained in moderate flood stage. Streams affected by
6992-543: The river's banks. Farther south, it merges with the Flint River and other tributaries at Lake Seminole near Bainbridge , to form the Apalachicola River that flows into the Florida Panhandle . The Chattahoochee River ends in the city of Chattahoochee, FL . From there, the same river is then named Apalachicola River, which ends (106 miles away) in the city of Apalachicola, FL (meaning both rivers end in
7084-490: The river, there has been increasing controversy since the late twentieth century related to competing development among the regions and the implications for the river. The enormous growth of metropolitan Atlanta has increased its water withdrawals from the river. This has effects downstream. For example, the oysters in the Apalachicola Bay of Florida depend on the brackish water mixture of river and ocean water, and
7176-544: The river. Much of that segment of the river runs through the Brevard fault zone . The current course of the Chattahoochee River has a geologic history that extends back in time at least 100 million years. A Late Cretaceous system of paleovalleys incised into the Coastal Plain unconformity in the vicinity of Columbus, Georgia is infilled with fluvial sands and gravels of the lower Tuscaloosa Formation . Younger rocks of
7268-429: The riverbanks in a region that is spread across several disconnected areas. The river traverses much of Atlanta's hilly topography of the northern suburbs. Wealthy suburban communities in northern metro Atlanta that abut the river include: Vinings , Buckhead , Sandy Springs , East Cobb , Roswell , Dunwoody , Peachtree Corners , Duluth , Johns Creek , and Berkeley Lake . Since three states have needs related to
7360-572: 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
7452-796: The southern Blue Ridge Mountains , a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains . The headwaters of the river flow south from ridges that form the Tennessee Valley Divide . The Appalachian Trail crosses the river's uppermost headwaters. The Chattahoochee's source and upper course lie within Chattahoochee National Forest . From its source in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Chattahoochee River flows southwesterly to Atlanta and through its suburbs . It eventually turns due-south to form
7544-623: The southern half of the Georgia/Alabama state line. Flowing through a series of reservoirs and artificial lakes, it flows by Columbus , the second-largest city in Georgia, and the Fort Moore Army base. At Columbus, it crosses the Fall Line of the eastern United States. From Lake Oliver to Fort Moore, the Chattahoochee Riverwalk provides cycling, rollerblading, and walking along 15 miles (24 km) of
7636-435: The state of Florida have asked the U.S. Congress to intervene to reduce the priority given to put navigation of the lower Chattahoochee, south of Columbus, by river barge. This requirement causes large water withdrawals, which environmental supporters consider a waste of water needed to support habitats, especially during droughts. The navigation issue has aggravated the fight between Georgia, Florida, and Alabama over rights to
7728-657: 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
7820-601: 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
7912-416: 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
8004-441: 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
8096-598: 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
8188-504: 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
8280-628: 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
8372-626: Was a major transportation route. In the twentieth century, the United States Congress passed legislation in 1944 and 1945 to improve navigation for commercial traffic on the river, as well as to establish hydroelectric power and recreational facilities on a series of lakes to be created by building dams and establishing reservoirs. Creating the manmade, 46,000-acre Walter F. George Lake also known as Lake Eufaula, in Eufaula, Alabama, required evacuating numerous communities, including
8464-528: 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
#749250