Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 16, No. 1
March, 1938
EASTERN CHEROKEE CHIEFS
By John P. Brown
The Cherokees, by similarity of
language, have been determined to be a branch of the great Iroquoian family of
Indians. They are believed to have emigrated to the Southern Appalachians about
the Thirteenth Century. They found the country occupied by various branches of
the Muscogee or Creek people, who inhabited the Tennessee River valley to upper
East Tennessee and North Carolina; and the headwaters of Tugaloo and
Chattahoochie Rivers in Georgia and South Carolina.1
Intermittent warfare, lasting
through several centuries, was waged for possession of the mountainous country.
Eventually, the Creeks, Kusatees, and Uchees, all of Muscogee blood, were
forced to the southward.2 The Shawnees, who occupied Middle
Tennessee, were forced northward into Ohio. The Cherokees, by right of
conquest, claimed all the mountainous section now embraced in East Tennessee,
North and South Carolina, and North Georgia. They claimed in addition as their
hunting grounds, Middle Tennessee and Kentucky.
De Soto, who traversed the Cherokee
country in 1540, found them in substantially the same location as during the
English period of settlement.
The Cherokees had dealings with
Virginia as early as 1689. Their principal affairs, however, were handled by
the English through the Colony of South Carolina, and it is from the South
Carolina records that we get the first mention of Cherokee chiefs.
1The Muscogee or Creek Indians are
believed to have emigrated from Mexico to the mouth of the Mississippi about
the year 1200 A. D. The word Muscogee means Mexco-ulgae, Mexican People.
2The last fight between Cherokees and
Creeks occurred in 1755 at Taliwa, Ga. The Cherokees were victorious, and
Northern Georgia was abandoned by the Creeks.
De Soto, who might have helped us,
visited numerous Cherokee towns, but failed in every instance to mention the
name of the chief.
The original Cherokee settlement was
the old town Kituwah, at the junction of Ocona Lufty and Tuckasegee Rivers.3 The tribe was from the earliest times
divided into seven clans, and a few of the town-names indicate that each clan
may have originally occupied a separate village.4 The seven clans were, Ani-gatugewa,
Kituwah People; Ani-kawi, Deer People; Ani-waya, Wolf People; Ani-Sahani, Blue
Paint People; Ani-wadi, Red Paint People; Ani-Tsiskwa, Bird People; and
Ani-Gilahi, Long Hair People.
The first chief of whom we have
mention is Uskwa-lena, Bull Head or Big Head, who defeated the Creeks in a
battle at Pine Island, Alabama, the present Guntersville, in 1714. Pine Island
was thereafter a Cherokee settlement known as Creek Path, Kusanunnehi.
Seven years later, Governor
Nicholson signed a treaty with Chief Outacite by which the Cherokees made their
first cession of land to the white men, and agreed to trade with the Engish.5 Following that date, (1721) Colonel
George Chicken was appointed by the Governor to supervise the Indian trade, and
we have fairly complete information concerning the various chiefs who attained
prominence, in the records of South Carolina.
The Cherokees occupied, at that
time, four principal groups of towns.
1. The Lower Towns, around the headwaters of Tugaloo River,
in South Carolina. The principal towns were Seneca, Tugaloo, Keowee, Noyowee,
Qualatchie, Sticoyee, and Estatoe, with numerous smaller villages.5½
3The Cherokee Kituwah Society
commemorates this fact, and the Cherokees often called themselves Kituwah
People.
4The Clan Ani-gatugewa has been
rendered erroneously "Blind Swamp People." The name means literally
"People of the Principal Town," which was Kituwah.
5The name Outacite was a war honor
conferred upon a chief who had killed an enemy in battle. The name is
literally, Untsi-tee-hee, Man Killer.
5½A chief, Cheera-ta-he-gi,
"Possessor of the Sacred Fire," is mentioned as head man of the Lower
Towns in the year 1714.
2. The Middle Towns, upon the headwaters of the Tennessee.
The principal towns were Kituwah, Nucassee, Etchoe, Cowe, Ayore, and Ellijay.
3. The Valley Towns, along Valley and Hiwassee Rivers, in
North Carolina; principal towns Esthenore, Cheowee, Taseechee, Notally, Turtle
Town, Tamotley, and Cootacloohee.
4. The Overhill Towns, situated in Tennessee along the
Little Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers; principal towns, Echota, Tellico,
Hiwassee, Tuskegee, Tamotley, Toquo, Citico, Chilhowie, Tallassee, and
Chestuee.
The population of the Cherokees
about 1730 was estimated to be not far from 60,000. During that year, Sir
Alexander Cuming was sent to cement the Cherokees still more closely to
England. He toured the country, and held a great council at Nucassee or
Nequassee, near the present Franklin, North Carolina. Outacite, the Peace Chief
who had concluded the treaty with Governor Nicholson nine years earlier, had
died in 1729, and had been succeeded by Moytoy, of Tellico.6 Moytoy was by the consent of the other
chiefs given by Cuming the title of Cherokee Emperor. Following the treaty,
seven chiefs accompanied Cuming to London to visit King George II. They were,
Kitigiska, Okou-Ulah, Tiftowe, Clogoitah, Colonah the Raven, and Ookou-naka.
The seventh member of the party was not officially a representative, and did
not sign the treaty.
Oconostota, the great Cherokee War
Chief, was just coming into prominence. He did not accompany the delegation to
England, but his brother, Kitegiska the Prince, was one of the visiting chiefs
and spoke for the Indians before the King. He later attained considerable
prominence. By far the most important of the seven, however, was Oukou-naka,
who was later to be known as Atta-culla-culla (the Little Carpenter), one of
the greatest Cherokees who ever lived. He became Peace Chief of the Nation,
associated with Oconostota as War Chief. The story of the Cherokees
6Cuming's Journal, republished in
Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, Watauga Press, 1928.
The name Moytoy means, in Cherokee, Amo-Adaw-ehi, Water Conjuror, or Rainmaker.
for the succeeding forty years is
practically the story of these two men.
Unfortunately for the interest of
the Cherokees and of the English, Sir Alexander Cuming became involved in the
barbarous debt laws of the time, and was thrown in jail for debt. He was thus
unable to accompany the Cherokees on their return trip to America. The Indians
loved him, and were much impressed by his imprisonment. They regarded the white
men as exceedingly foolish to place a man in jail for debt, thus making it
impossible for him to pay.
Moytoy, the Cherokee
"Emperor," died about 1753. His son, Amo-sgasite, (Dreadful Water)
claimed his title. The Cherokees, according to their ancient custom, selected
their own head man, and the choice fell upon Standing Turkey of Echota,
Kana-gatoga, known to the white men as Old Hop because he was advanced in age,
and lame.7 Oconostota was at the time War Chief, and
Atta-culla-culla Peace Chief. Other prominent chiefs were Outacite of Keowee,
known as Judd's Friend;8 Big Eagle, Awali-na-wa, known to the
white men as Willenawah, of Toquo; Wahatchie, Waya-tsi, Bad Wolf, head man of
the Lower Towns; Round O of the Middle Towns; and Amo-sgasite of Tellico.
Oconostota had just led his warriors in the Battle of Taliwa by which all of
North Georgia was gained to his people from the Creeks. He was universally
known as the Great Warrior of Echota. Attacullaculla, the Little Carpenter, is
described as the most influential man in the Nation.
In 1754, Governor James Glen of
South Carolina, visited the Cherokee country for the purpose of building a
fort. Outacite, head man of the Lower Towns, and the Raven of Toxoway, ceded to
him for $500.00 a tract of land upon which he built Fort Prince George, on
Keowee River opposite the old town of Keowee, in the present county of Pickens,
South Carolina.
7Old Hop, or Standing Turkey, has
been confused by some historians with Oconostota. He served from 1753 to 1761,
and was succeeded for a brief time by his nephew, also called Standing Turkey.
8The names Outacite and Raven were
war titles, conferred for bravery. Both were common throughout the Cherokee country,
several chiefs bearing them at the same time. They were identified by adding
the name of their town, as "Raven of Echota."
Governor Glen held a second treaty
with the Cherokees in 1755, at their town of Saluda. Rivalry between England
and France for control of America had reached the stage of open warfare.
General Edward Braddock had been sent to America with an army of British
Regulars. He hoped, with Colonial assistance, to banish the French from North
America. Both French and English were bidding for Cherokee support, and Glen's
treaty was for the purpose of clinching matters by securing Cherokee warriors
to help Braddock.
Old Hop appointed Attacullaculla to
speak for the Nation. The Cherokees agreed to support the English cause
provided they were given arms and ammunition; and that Governor Glen should
build a fort among the Overhill (Deli-gatusi) towns, to protect their women and
children while the men were away fighting the French. The Little Carpenter's
speech is a model of Cherokee oratory, forceful, eloquent, and dramatic.9 So well did he acquit himself that he was
thereafter considered the Speaker for the Nation in dealings with the white
men. Old Hop, however, held a vigilant rein over his younger associate, and
specifically reserved the right to correct his speech when necessary. The honor
of Principal Chief was not lightly bestowed, but for merit, and we are told
that all the chiefs, including Oconostota and the Little Carpenter, deferred
with respect to the opinions of Old Hop.
In fulfillment of Governor Glen's
promise, Captain Raymond Demere was sent to the Overhill country in 1756 to
build a fort. This he located at the mouth of Tellico River where it joins the
Little Tennessee, in the present Monroe County. The fort was called Fort
Loudoun in honor of the British Commander-in-chief who had just reached
America. It was the first building erected by English speaking people west of
the Alleghenies. Captain Raymond Demere, being in ill health, asked to be
relieved, and his brother, Captain Paul Demere, was sent to command the fort.
The garrison consisted of three hundred men. Just before Fort
9Full proceedings at Glen's treaty
area given in South Carolina Public Records.
Loudoun had been erected, Major
Andrew Lewis of Virginia had also built a fort among the Overhills for that
State.10
The Cherokees, following the
building of the two forts, sent four hundred warriors to assist Virginia
against the French. They were under general charge of Outacite, (Judd's
Friend); and Major Andrew Lewis was given their command. Lieutenant Richard
Pearis accompanied them as interpreter.
Oconostota and the Little Carpenter,
at the same time, led a war party against the French fort at Toulouse, the
present Montgomery, Ala. They were successful in taking five French scalps and
two prisoners.
The Cherokees who went to Virginia
arrived too late to be of help in Braddock's campaign. Governor Dinwiddie of
Virginia blamed Glen for the delay. "Had our Indians arrived
earlier," he wrote, "they could have engaged the enemy in their bush
style of fighting, and the result would have been different. The failure of the
campaign...may be laid at the door of Governor Glen, who has acted contrary all
along to the King's interests."11
The vigorous complaint of the
Virginia governor, and the horror in England at Braddock's defeat, caused the
recall of Governor Glen in 1756. He was succeeded by William Henry Lyttleton, a
pompous braggart, far less capable of dealing with the Indians than Glen.
The assistance of the Cherokees was
welcomed with open arms by George Washington following Braddock's defeat. The
northern Indians, taking advantage of their victory, overran the Virginia
frontier and spread desolation. Major Lewis led the main body of the Cherokees
against the Shawnee towns in Ohio. Other bands of Cherokees were used for
scouting the frontier. All were instructed to take scalps of the French and
their Indians, Virginia paying $75.00 each for the trophies. The Cherokees
served for two years, war parties coming and going from their country.
10The Virginia fort was situated on
the north side of Little Tennessee River, directly opposite Echota. It was
never garrisoned, and was destroyed by the Cherokees in 1761.
The absence of interpreters led to
constant friction with the Virginia military authorities. Pearis, the
interpreter, was usually away with a war party. Warriors returning after
scouting trips were often unable to secure their own horses or property. One
party of ten were seized and imprisoned in the belief that they were enemy
Indians. The large reward offered for enemy scalps tempted Virginians of
mercenary character to secure Cherokee scalps and collect the bounty, for all
Indian scalps looked alike. Major Lewis thus lost several of his Cherokee
warriors. The news traveled rapidly back to the Cherokee country and taxed the
diplomacy of the Little Carpenter to avoid open warfare between Engish and
Cherokees. The chief himself journeyed to Virginia to assure the English
authorities of the sincerity of Cherokee friendship. He was insulted by General
John Forbes, in command of the expedition against Fort DuQuesne. Cherokee
assistance was belittled by British officers because the Indians expected
presents to be distributed among them, when as a matter of fact that was the
only pay they received for exposing themselves in arduous service for British
interests. Washington, recognizing the real value of the Indians, exerted every
effort to keep them satisfied. The Little Carpenter, feeling that his efforts
were not appreciated, ordered his warriors back to their home in 1758.12
Moytoy of Citico, who commanded one
of the returning parties, had lost several of the horses of his followers, or
had not been able to secure the return of them from British authorities. Without
ceremony, considering himself justified under the circumstances, Moytoy
appropriated other horses to replace those lost. He took the first horses
available, in some cases by force. The Cherokees, having given unselfish
service to the English, were in bitter mood that it was not appreciated.
Moytoy's action brought instant
retaliation. Virginia militia was hastily called out and a pitched battle was
fought near Staunton with nineteen Indian loss. Moytoy hastened a runner to
Echota
12For details of troubles of the
Cherokees in Virginia in 1758, see Dinwiddie Papers; Correspondence of
Washington, Sparks; Calendar of Virginia State Papers; and South
Carolina Public Records, Indian Affairs, Vol. 6.
to inform the heads of his Nation of
the action; and burning for revenge, led his surviving warriors to the Carolina
frontier where he took nineteen scalps to replace those lost by his followers.13
Old Hop, Oconostota, and the Little
Carpenter at once disavowed the action of Moytoy. The scalps he had taken were
required of him and were delivered to Captain Demere, who gave them honorable
burial within the walls of Fort Loudoun. Oconostota and Judd's Friend, with
twenty-two chiefs, the most influential in the Nation, journeyed to Charleston
to assure Governor Lyttleton that the taking of scalps by Moytoy had been
unauthorized, and that the Cherokees sincerely desired peace.
Lyttleton had already called out the
Carolina militia. He was vain and desirous of military glory. He informed
Oconostota that the persons of the chiefs with him would be respected as
ambassadors, but that he proposed to march to the Cherokee country to take
satisfaction, and they would be permitted to return with him. Privately, he
informed his council that he expected to hold the chiefs as hostages.
A march from Charleston to the
Cherokee country at that time was a serious matter, and the Governor's
enthusiasm waned by the time he had arrived at Fort Prince George.
Atta-culla-culla then appeared to plead for peace. Smallpox had broken out
among the white troops and most of the men were dissatisfied and wanted to go
home. The Governor therefore offered his terms of peace, which were that a
Cherokee warrior should be surrendered for every white person who had been
killed, these warriors to be put to death to balance the score.
The Little Carpenter doubted his
ability, alone, to fulfill the terms. He asked that Oconostota and Judd's
Friend be released to lend the weight of their authority. This the Governor
did. The other chiefs were confined under guard within a cabin at Fort Prince
George, plain violation of Governor Lyttleton's promise and of the rules of
warfare either savage or civilized, by which the
13Affidavits of Virginia Citizens, S.
C. I. A. 6, 153-162. Moytoy, (Amo-adaw-ehi) of Citico, was a nephew of the
former Emperor of the same name. A few of his descendants yet live in Monroe
County, Tenn., and on the Eastern Reservation.
persons of ambassadors are sacred.
The Governor returned to Charleston, where he paraded the streets as a
conqueror. He was shortly afterward transferred to the governorship of Jamaica.
Control of South Carolina was taken over temporarily by William Bull,
Lieutenant Governor.
The imprisonment of their
ambassadors, which included the head man of almost every important Cherokee
town, roused bitterness and resentment throughout the Nation. Feeling was
intensified when Lieut. Richard Coytmore, Commander of Fort Prince George, with
another British officer, crossed the river to the town of Keowee, forced their
way into a Cherokee house and grossly abused some Cherokee women whose men were
away hunting. The French agent Lantagnac appeared among the Cherokees and urged
them to take up the hatchet against the English; as did the great Creek chief,
the Mortar. Oconostota appeared at Fort Prince George and requested release of
the hostages; stating that Governor Lyttleton had promised that they should
return without injury to their own countrymen. The request was refused. A few
days later, on February 16, 1760, he appeared again, and a second time
requested release of the hostages. Coytmore refusing, Oconostota stated that he
would go to Charleston and see if he could not get the Governor to release
them. "I will go and get a horse for the trip," he said, and as he
spoke, waved a bridle around his head three times. This was a prearranged
signal. Forty of his followers who were lying in concealment opened fire and
mortally wounded Coytmore. As soon as he was borne into the fort, his soldiers
fell upon the defenseless hostages, twenty-two in number, and killed every one.
By this bloody act, almost every Cherokee town in the Nation lost its head man,
and there could be but one result. "Every man of them that can carry a gun
is on the warpath," one of the traders wrote.
Communications with Fort Loudoun
were cut. Willenawah, (Awali-na-wa, Big Eagle), nephew of Old Hop, was
entrusted with siege of the fort which he pressed with ever-increasing
intensity. Oconostota, the Raven, and Judd's Friend led large parties of
warriors to the Carolina frontier. In the Long Cane settle-
ments of South Carolina, fifty-six
people were killed. The Yadkin settlements in North Carolina suffered severely.
Governor Bull sent a hasty call to General Amherst for help, and in June, 1760,
Colonel Archibald Montgomery, with two Highlander regiments, arrived at
Charleston. Realizing that Fort Loudoun was in desperate straits, he marched at
once for the frontier and burned the two Cherokee towns Estatoe and Sugartown.
He then proceeded, by forced marches, toward the Middle Settlements. About five
miles east of the present Franklin, N. C., at a place called Etchoe Pass,
Oconostota placed his forces in ambush and waited. A hard battle was fought
there, in which the English lost about one hundred men. Although Montgomery
advanced a few miles and burned the town of Etchoe, he was so crippled and
encumbered with wounded that a prompt retreat to Fort Prince George was
ordered. The victorious Cherokees hung on his flanks and harassed him very much
as the Americans were later to harass the British at Lexington. It was a great
victory for Oconostota.
The defeat of Montgomery left Fort
Loudoun in hopeless condition. Demere held out until August, 1760, his men
being forced toward the last to eat mules, rats, and anything possible to
secure. A number of the men had married Cherokee women, among these being
William Shorey, Chas. McLemore, and John Watts. The wives of these men managed
to smuggle them a few supplies. Willenawah threatened them with death, but the
women replied that if they were killed their relatives would, according to
Cherokee law, kill Willenawah in return.
Captain John Stuart, an officer who
had married the half Cherokee daughter of Ludovic Grant, an old trader in the Nation
and greatly beloved, was sent to arrange terms of capitulation. These were
quite honorable. The garrison was permitted to march out with flying colors,
each man being permitted to retain his gun and sufficient ammunition to sustain
him until arrival at Fort Prince George. The Cherokees agreed to supply horses
for the wounded and feeble, and men to hunt for meat on the march. In return,
the fort, the cannon with which it was defended, all powder and ball and other
supplies, were to be surrendered to
the Cherokees without deceit or
evasion. Old Hop, the Cherokee Emperor, had died during the siege. His nephew,
Standing Turkey, with Oconostota, signed the articles of capitulation for the
Cherokees; and Captains Demere and Stuart for the English. On August 8, 1760,
the British flag was hauled down, and the garrison, numbering about three
hundred with women and children, marched for Fort Prince George, distant one
hundred and forty miles. Late that afternoon, they camped at Cane Creek where
it empties into the Tellico, the first day's march having been about fifteen
miles.
With great rejoicing, the Cherokees
swarmed into the long besieged fort. The respect in which they held their
leaders was shown in their treatment of the Little Carpenter. He had taken no
part in the siege, and had more than once given warning to Demere of impending
attacks. The Cherokees, however, granted him the right to his own opinions.
Upon the surrender, he was permitted to take the house of Captain Demere for a
residence.
Some time that day, a warrior
discovered fresh dirt under a cabin and surmised that a burial had taken place.
Eager for a scalp, he began digging, and uncovered ten kegs of powder which had
been hidden in violation of the terms of surrender. The passions of the
campaign flared again. It was never known by whose order the powder was
secreted, but the warriors placed the blame without hesitation upon Captain
Demere. The war whoop was sounded, and as one man the Cherokees swarmed upon
the trail of the garrison.
The Little Carpenter was horrified
by the turn of events. Then and there, he performed an act that has made his
name synonymous with Indian friendship. He had taken the oath of blood
brotherhood with Captain John Stuart. He realized that the wrath of the
warriors would be directed against him as well as Demere, for Stuart, with his
commander, had signed the articles of capitulation. The Carpenter called to him
Onatoy, a brother of the well known chief Round O, a warrior in whom he had the
utmost confidence. To Onatoy he confided that Stuart was his blood brother a
relationship held particularly sacred by the Cherokees.
He instructed Onatoy to proceed to
the white camp and to save Stuart's life, regardless of what might happen.
At daybreak on the morning of the
9th, as the white men were preparing for another day's march, seven hundred
yelling painted savages closed in on them. The Indians directed their fire
mainly at the officers. At the first gun, Onatoy rushed upon Captain Stuart,
overcame him, and forced him across Cane Creek to comparative safety. He was
the only English officer to escape. Demere was wounded at the first fire,
scalped while yet alive, and various members of his body were amputated until
he died. His mouth was stuffed with dirt, the warriors taunting him, "The
English want land, we will give it to you." That the action of the
Cherokees was directed principally against Demere is shown by the action of
Judd's Friend; who, as soon as the white commander was killed, ran to all parts
of the field, shouting "Stay your hands, we have got the man we
want!" Twenty-three Englishmen in all were killed; the remainder of the
garrison, including women and children, surrendered. The warriors of Citico,
resentful because it was their people who had been killed in Virginia, carried
two prisoners, privates Luke Croft and Frederick Mouncy, to their town with the
intention of burning them at the stake. Croft was actually burned, and Mouncy
would have suffered his fate but for the arrival of a runner from Oconostota
forbidding his execution. The prisoners as a whole were treated kindly; some of
them were ransomed, and others were released at the conclusion of peace in the
following year. Several who had married Indian women chose to remain among the Cherokees.14
The escape of Captain John Stuart is
one of the classics of Indian warfare. His captor, Onatoy, hurried him to Fort
Loudoun where he was given the reception of a friend and brother by the Little
Carpenter. "I had thought never to see you again," the chief
exclaimed; and he gave to Onatoy in his gratitude, his rifle, pouch, and
articles of clothing.
A few days later the Little
Carpenter announced that he would go into the woods with his friend and hunt
the deer that Cap-
14South Carolina Public Records; and various Draper Manuscripts.
tain Stuart's strength might be
regained, after the hardships of the long siege. Regardless of his own
popularity among his people, and even of his life, for Oconostota had planned
to use Stuart to operate Fort Loudoun's cannon against Fort Prince George, the
Little Carpenter conducted his friend for nine days through the wilderness to
the Virginia fort at Long Island of Holston.15 The chief then returned to face, if necessary,
the wrath of his people.
Fort Prince George was never
attacked. The Cherokees really desired peace with the English, and toward that
end the Little Carpenter used all his influence. A great council was held at
Nequassee late in 1760, which was attended by two thousand Cherokees. It voted
unanimously for peace, but peace was not yet to come.
The destruction of Fort Loudoun and
the possibility of further Indian hostilities roused consternation in South
Carolina. Governor Bull dispatched an urgent message to General Jeffrey
Amherst, British commander in North America, for help. The conquest of Canada
had just been completed, deciding that America was to be English and not
French. General Amherst, having plenty of idle soldiers at his disposal, ordered
Col. James Grant with two thousand regulars to South Carolina to chastise the
Cherokees. Grant asked and received permission to take with him Roger's
Rangers, commanded by Major Robert Rogers, the most capable Indian fighter in
North America.16 Grant himself was familiar with the
Cherokee country, having served as Montgomery's aide, and he had had much
experience against the northern Indians. He carefully planned every detail of
the campaign with General Amherst before leaving New York.
Colonel Grant arrived at Charleston
early in 1761. Even a slight investigation convinced him that further
hostilities were use-
15The Little Carpenter took with him
also, the physician at Fort Loudoun, and William Shorey the interpreter, and a
young Indian woman who was probably Stuart's Indian wife, daughter of Ludovic
Grant. Shorey was the great-grandfather of Chief John Ross; and Stuart was the
progenitor of the well known Bushyhead family.
16See Northwest Passage, by
Kenneth Roberts, for details of the exciting life of Major Robert Rogers.
less; that the Cherokees wanted
peace, and the war existed "only in the heated imagination" of
certain Carolineans. Grant had his instructions, however, and carried them out
with an energy and thoroughness that was to make his name a watchword among the
Cherokees for half a century.
Moving rapidly into the Cherokee
country, within the space of twenty days, he destroyed every Middle and Lower
town. The Cherokees were badly defeated at Etchoe Pass, scene of Montgomery's
failure. Fifteen Indian towns were reduced to ashes. More than a thousand acres
of crops were destroyed. Five thousand Cherokees were driven into the woods, as
Grant thought, to perish. Grant failed to recognize, however, the extent of the
Cherokee country. The refugees simply crossed the mountains to the Valley and
Overhill towns where they found ready welcome. Once the troops were withdrawn,
the Middle and Lower towns were rebuilt.17 The Indian loss in man-power was slight.18
Having completed his campagin, Grant
retired to Fort Prince George and sent runners to the Cherokees desiring that
they come in to treat for peace. A few days later, Attacullaculla appeared.
Colonel Grant announced his terms, which were agreeable to the Carpenter with
one exception. Grant specified that four Cherokees be delivered to him to be
put to death in front of his troops, as a warning to other Cherokees. This
stipulation the Carpenter refused. He asked permission to go to Charleston and
talk the matter over with Governor Bull, which was granted. As a result of that
conference, the disagreeable requirement was eliminated, and the Cherokees were
granted an honorable peace. The treaty was signed December 16, 1761, by the
following chiefs:
17A copy of Grant's Journal, a day by
day report of his campaign, may be consulted in the Lawson McGhee Library,
Knoxville, in their typed copy of British Colonial Papers covering the
period of John Stuart's agency.
18Early writers estimated the number
of the Cherokees at 60,000. Adair states that one half of the nation were
destroyed by smallpox in an epidemic in 1738, the disease having been
communicated from negroes brought over on a slave ship to Charleston. South
Carolina documents indicate, however, that the number of deaths was much smaller,
one writer placing it at 1,000. It is thought that the early population was
considerably over-estimated. It was probably nearer 30,000 than 60,000.
Attacullaculla, of Echota
Kitegisky the Prince, brother of Oconostota
Skilolosky, of Sticoy, brother of Judd's Friend.
Cappy of Tomotley, adopted son of Old Hop.
Onatoy of Toquo, brother of Round O
Halfbreed Will, of Nequassee
Old Warrior, of Estatoe, commonly called the Good Warrior
Tettatalaska, of Citico
Outacite, the Mankiller, of Keowee
A part of the agreement stipulated
that all the English prisoners captured at Fort Loudoun or otherwise, be
surrendered within ninety days at Fort Prince George; and all Cherokees held
prisoner by the Engish were released. By request of the Little Carpenter, John
Stuart was sent to the Cherokees to act as resident British Agent. A short time
later he was appointed His Majesty's agent to all southern Indians, with
headquarters in Mobile.
It will be noted that neither
Oconostota nor Judd's Friend, both of whom had been the leaders in the recent
hostilities, attended the treaty, for fear that their presence might arouse
resentment. Each of them, however, sent his brother as evidence of good faith.
Oconostota, in fact, was blamed by many of his own people for the calamity that
had come upon the Cherokees, and the war chief had the good judgment and
modesty to place himself in comparative retirement for a time. A year later,
Lieut. Timberlake visited the Overhill towns, and found Judd's Friend,
Outacite, acting in Oconostota's place. Oconostota still held a high place in
the estimation of the Cherokees, for in a letter to Captain Stuart, inviting
him to visit again his Cherokee friends, the chief signs himself "Speaker
of the National Assembly." Stuart's departure from the Cherokee country
did not lessen his friendship for the Little Carpenter and his people, which
was to endure until his death.19 Oconostota, in his letter, spoke of the
happiness
19Full account of the proceedings at
Bull's treaty with the Cherokees in 1761 may be found in South Carolina
Public Records, S. C. Journal, Sept. 15, 1761. The period of Stuart's
agency is best covered by British Colonial Papers, Lawson McGhee
Library, Knoxville.
of the Cherokees if they could once
more shake Stuart's hand; "It is what you will," he said, "if
you will visit us again."
The Cherokee war of 1760-61 had one
delightful result: the visit to the Overhill towns of Lieut. Henry Timberlake,
and his subsequent trip to London with three Cherokee chiefs headed by Judd's
Friend. That chief, like the little Carpenter, was thereafter the firm friend
of the English.20 Timberlake's story, however, had a sad
ending. Two years later, he made a second trip to London with a delegation
headed by Cheulah, the Fox, of Citico. The second visit was unauthorized and
led to Timberlake's ruin. The Indians were eventually returned to America on
one of His Majesty's warships. Timberlake, reduced to penury, wrote his memoirs
to retrieve his fallen fortunes, but died before their publication.
In 1768, Oconostota and
Attacullaculla signed a treaty at Hard Labor, South Carolina, with John Stuart,
by which the Cherokees ceded a large tract of land, including the sites of the
old towns of Seneca, Keowee, Sugartown, Estatoe, and Tugaloo. This treaty
almost extinguished Indian titles in South Carolina. "Having given our
friends enough land to live on," Oconostota said, "I hope we may
dwell togehter in peace as brothers." The hope was in vain, for the ink
was hardly dry when white settlers were across the mountains at Watauga River
in violation of the treaty.
Leaving the Treaty of Hard Labor,
Oconostota, the Little Carpenter and Judd's Friend were conveyed aboard an
English warship, and were taken to New York, where they attended at Fort
Stanwix a great congress of all Indian tribes held by Sir William Johnson, the
northern British Indian Agent. The object was to secure a lasting peace between
those Indian tribes which had formerly been subject to the French, and those
who had followed English interests. Oconostota and Judd's Friend returned
aboard the ship. The Little Carpenter journeyed by land to the Shawnee towns in
Ohio which had been hereditary enemies of the Chero-
20Timberlake's Memoirs have been reprinted
by S. C. Williams.
kees to use his persuasive powers
with those Indians toward peace. His efforts were not entirely successful.
Shawnee raids in the Cherokee country continued, with Cherokee retaliatory
efforts, until the Revolution. This trip, however, probably made the Little
Carpenter the most traveled of all Cherokee chiefs.
During John Stuart's absence from
the Cherokee country upon his duties at Mobile, he sent as his deputies among
the Cherokees, Alexander Cameron and John McDonald. McDonald lived at
Chickamauga, near the present Chattanooga, Tennessee. Cameron lived first in
South Carolina, but after the cession of Indian lands there, moved to Toquo,
among the Overhills. He married a Cherokee woman, and was greatly beloved by
the Indians. A strong friendship, leading to the rite of blood brotherhood,
developed between Cameron and the Little Carpenter's son, Dragging Canoe,
(Tsi-yu-gun-sini).21 This chief was later to become the
bulwark of Indian opposition to white encroachment; and his influence was to
throw the support of the Cherokees to the English and not to the Americans, in
the Revolutionary War.
The year 1775 found England and
America on the verge of war. That, however, was on the seaboard. Beyond the
Alleghenies other events occupied the stage. American settlements had
penetrated well into Cherokee country at Watauga and Nolichucky. Richard
Henderson, a man of vision of North Carolina, had an ambition to establish an
inland empire where free men might settle without fear of such things as stamp
taxes. Already, many North Carolineans had crossed the mountains to Watauga and
Holston to escape oppressive English governors. Henderson organized the
Transylvania Company to purchase all of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee from the
Cherokees. Daniel Boone, acting for him, had scouted over the entire territory
with more than favorable report. Henderson met the Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals
on March 7, 1775, and after a week of negotiation, secured a deed for the vast
territory, in return for which he paid the Cherokees $50,000 in goods: guns,
ammunition, blankets, beads, etc.
21Indian relationship is difficult to
trace. The writer makes the statement that Dragging Canoe is the son of the
Little Carpenter from what seems good evidence. He was either son, or nephew.
The treaty was marked by a startling
protest from Dragging Canoe, the Little Carpenter's son. Regardless of the fact
that his own father was willing to sign, Dragging Canoe protested bitterly
against cession of his people's hunting grounds. He flatly refused to sign. In
a speech bristling with honest patriotism, he begged his people not to sell
their lands. With prophetic eye he foresaw the ruin of the red men. He
predicted that they would be driven ever westward, and their lands taken from
them even there. When Oconostota and the Carpenter signed regardless of his
protest, he stalked from the treaty ground with the defiant statement to
Henderson, "You have bought a fair land, but you will find its settlement
dark and bloody." And to that end Dragging Canoe devoted his life,
successfully.
The war between England and America
gave Dragging Canoe, as he thought, his opportunity to regain his people's
hunting grounds. Every ounce of his influence was thrown into the scales in
favor of the English. "I will hold fast to your talk," he told
Cameron; "I will set out for war and will stick close to these Virginians.
I do not understand their crooked talks." Through his influence, backed by
Cameron and McDonald, British agents, the Cherokees threw their strength to
English support. Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia felt at once the scourge
of Indian warfare. Dragging Canoe led the principal body of warriors from the
Overhill towns against the Watauga settlements.
Oconostota and the Little Carpenter
were old. With bitter memories of the last war, they sat silent and dejected
when the younger chiefs, with fiery eloquence, demanded that the hunting
grounds they had sold be repossessed by the Cherokees. "I am no speaker,"
said Oconostota, "I will let my nephew, the Raven, speak for me." The
Raven (Colonah) of Chota was thenceforth considered as acting War Chief in
Oconostota's place. The Little Carpenter, likewise being old, designated Old
Tassel, (Kai-ya-ta-hee) to speak for him. These two, the Raven and Old Tassel,
became the War and Peace Chiefs of the Cherokees.
The Indian warfare brought swift
reprisals. The towns around the headwaters of Tugaloo River were destroyed by
Georgians.
Colonels Williamson and Rutherford, of
the Carolinas, destroyed the Middle and Valley Towns. Colonel Christian, with
an army of Virginians, burned the Overhill Towns. The Cherokee country was thus
completely desolated. The Raven and Old Tassel sued for peace, and a treaty was
held at Long Island in July, 1777, by which the Cherokees were compelled to
cede all of upper East Tennessee and an immense tract in Western North
Carolina. The treaty was signed for the Cherokees by Oconostota,
Attacullaculla, The Raven, Old Tassel, Abram of Chilhowie, Outacite of
Hiwassee, and lesser known chiefs.22
Dragging Canoe regarded the peace
negotiations with scorn. Inasmuch as the old men of the Cherokees had become
"Virginians and rogues," he announced his intention of seceding from
the Cherokee Nation. He demanded that the Little Tennessee towns so long
occupied by the Overhills should be abandoned, and new locations be selected
lower down the Tennessee River. Followed by nearly a thousand warriors,
practically the entire fighting strength of the Nation, he removed to
Chickamauga Creek, at the site of the present Chattanooga. He was accompanied
in his voluntary exile by such prominent chiefs as Outacite, Young Tassel, later
to be known as John Watts, Scolaguta or Hanging Maw, Bloody Fellow, Little Owl,
Kitegiska, the Glass, Middlestriker, Little Turkey, Richard Justice, Lying
Fish, and other chiefs of less renown. Eleven towns were established in the
vicinity of Chickamauga Creek, and drawing their name from the little stream,
Dragging Canoe and his followers soon became known as the Chickamaugas. They
regarded themselves, however, as Ani-yunwi-ya, the real Cherokees, and called
those Cherokees who had entered into the treaty with the white men,
"Virginians and rogues."
Dragging Canoe instantly dispatched
war parties to the frontier to take American scalps. He himself was raiding in
the neighborhood of Long Island before the detested treaty negotiations had
been completed. The menace was recognized in the white settle-
22See Haywood, Civil and Political
History of Tennessee, Appendix, for full account of the Treaty of Long
Island. The Cherokees reserved the island itself, a "sacred old treaty
ground," for the use of Col. Nathaniel Gist of Virginia, father of
Sequoyah.
ments; and early in 1779 a combined
army of Virginians and North Carolineans destroyed the new Indian towns. Four
Indians only were killed, and Dragging Canoe was not dismayed. "We are
living in the grass, but we are not yet conquered," he said. He withdrew
with his followers behind the protection of Lookout Mountain, stretching forty
miles north and south into Alabama. The Tennessee River below Chattanooga was
impassable for navigation. The only entry into the new retreat was by a narrow
pass at Lookout Mountain, which could be defended by a few men against a host.
In this safe location, five new towns were built, and later a sixth. They were
Nickajack, Running Water, Crowtown, Lookout Town, and Long Island.23 A few years later Willstown was built,
near the present Fort Payne, Alabama.
The peace loving heart of the Little
Carpenter was broken by the calamities of his Nation. His last public
appearance was at the Treaty of Long Island, in July, 1777. He was at that time
living at Natchey Town, on Natchey Creek about seven miles south of the former
Fort Loudoun. Shortly after his attendance at the treaty, he died, in the
seventy-seventh year of his age. His place of burial is not definitely known,
but is probably at Natchey Town.24
Oconostota, also old and helpless,
but quite friendly to the white men, was taken by Col. Joseph Martin,
Virginia's Indian agent, to his home near Long Island, where his last years
were passed peacefully. Early in 1783, he told Colonel Martin that his end was
near, and requested that he might be buried in the soil of Echota. His wish was
respected. He was taken by canoe to Echota. Taking Colonel Martin by the hand,
he asked that he be given Christian burial, and expired while thanking his
friend for his kindess. Colonel Martin placed his body in a canoe, and buried
it as Oconostota had wished.25
23The Cherokee names were
Ani-Kusati-yi, Amo-gayun-yi, Kagun-yi, Utsuti-gwa-yi or Stecoyee, and
Amo-yeli-gunhita.
24Natchey Town was also the place of
the birth of his son, Dragging Canoe.
25Narrative of William Martin, Draper
Manuscripts. A short time before he died, Oconostota said to Colonel Martin,
"I have never run from an enemy, but I walked fast up a branch once."
From his "Five Lower
Towns," Dragging Canoe maintained unceasing warfare against the Americans.
Late in 1780, the region on Cumberland River around Nashville, part of
Henderson's purchase, was settled by white men. The new settlement grew
rapidly, and within fifteen years had a white population of ten thousand. Yet,
until Dragging Canoe's death, the life of no man was safe except in a walled
fort. For many years the only route to the Cumberland was by way of Kentucky.
So closely was the Kentucky Road guarded by red warriors that as late as 1794,
the rate for carrying a letter from Knoxville to Nashville was fifty dollars,
"and that dearly earned in many cases," commented Governor William
Blount.
The relations of Cherokees and white
men were complicated by the State of Franklin, which in 1784 declared its
independence from North Carolina and for four years maintained separate
government. John Sevier, Franklin's famous Governor, repeatedly led his hard
riding followers against the Cherokee towns. By the "Treaty of
Coyatee," more of a pretext than a treaty, Franklin seized all Cherokee
land north of Little Tennessee River, and Old Tassel, in Echota, could look
across the narrow stream at white settlements. The United States Government by
the Treaty of Hopewell, in 1785, refused to recognize Franklin's claims, and
placed the Cherokee boundary at the old line. Franklinites ignored the treaty
and encroached more and more on Cherokee land. The only answer could be bloody
Indian warfare.
In 1788, Old Tassel and Abram,
harmless, friendy chiefs, the former the principal chief of the Nation, were
killed while under a flag of truce by a band of Sevier's men under command of
James Hubbard, an Indian hater. The actual killing was done by John Kirk, whose
people had been murdered by Indians. This bloody act sent to Dragging Canoe's
camp some stalwart recruits. Old Tassel's brother, Doublehead, was to prove the
most blood-thirsty of all the Indian chiefs who harassed the American border.
His nephew, Benge, known to the whites as Captain Bench because he wore a sword
taken from an English officer at Fort Loudoun, was to take forty-five scalps
with his own hands, and to become
so famous that white mothers would
say to their children, "Captain Bench will get you if you are not
good." John Watts, another nephew of Old Tassel, was roused to frenzy by
the treacherous death of his uncle, and could not mention the matter for years
thereafter without shedding tears.
Following the collapse of the
Franklin movement, John Sevier was arrested and carried to North Carolina to be
tried for treason. During his absence, Joseph Martin, Brigadier General of the
frontier militia, led an army of five hundred in an unsuccessful attempt to
destroy the Five Lower Towns. A successful ambush at the pass of Lookout
Mountain forced the white army back in dismay, followed closely by an avenging
horde of warriors who spread terror on the border. In October, 1788,
Gillespie's Fort, a small station on Little Tennessee River, was taken by
storm, and twenty people lost their lives. A defiant note was left at the
burning ruins, signed by John Watts, Bloody Fellow, Kitegisky, and Glass,
warning the white settlers to move off Indian lands within thirty days. An
index of the character of the border warfare may be had in the action of Bloody
Fellow, who, when he lost his brother through what he considered white
treachery, took fifteen scalps in revenge.
The Cherokees had long ago
discontinued, in active warfare, the use of gatsodi-ale-dacleda-taw, the bow
and arrows. Although the bow, at short range, was probably more deadly than the
defective guns handled by the traders, the white man's weapon was used whenever
it could be procured. That fact was most unfortunate from the standpoint of the
Cherokees, for it made them dependent entirely upon outside sources for their
ammunition. Thus the failure of ammunition at the second Battle of Etchoe Pass
enabled Grant to win his campaign. There is little doubt that the conquest of
the Indian country would have been long delayed had the red warrior stuck to
his ancient weapons.
Up to and during the American
Revolution, the Cherokees secured their ammunition from the English. The close
of the American Revolution would have automatically ended the Indian
wars by shutting off their supplies
of powder and ball, but for one reason.
By the terms of the treaty which
ended the Revolution, Spain was awarded Florida, and as she already owned
Louisiana, this gave her control of the mouth of the Mississippi and navigation
on that great stream. Spain was determined to maintain that control. She regarded
the western American settlements as a menace to it, and was willing, even
anxious, that they be destroyed. To that end, Spain supplied the Indians with
unlimited ammunition, "to be had for the asking," and the Cherokees
were enabled to carry on.
North Carolina in 1789 ceded its
western lands to Congress, which organized the Territory South of the River
Ohio, comprising the present Tennessee. William Blount, friend of Washington
and member of the convention which had just framed the Constitution of the
United States, was named Governor.
Governor Blount took up his duties
in 1790. His first act was an attempt to end the Indian war by diplomacy. He
announced that he would rectify the wrongs done the Indians. Hence, practically
every chief of prominence, with the lone exception of Dragging Canoe, attended
Blount's Treaty of Holston in 1791.
The Indians had understood that
Blount would remove white settlers from Indian land. They were bitterly
disappointed when, instead of removing the settlers, he proposed to buy the
land which had been wrongfully taken. Watts and Bloody Fellow, who spoke for
the Cherokees, protested. Watts, overcome by the memory of the treacherous
death of his uncle, withdrew from the treaty. Blount offered the Cherokees some
presents, and an annunity of $1000.00 for the land. "It would not buy a
breech clout for each member of my Nation!" Bloody Fellow replied; but
signed the treaty, feeling himself under duress. Without consulting Blount
further, he set out at the head of a delegation for Philadelphia to attempt to
secure better terms from the President. The effort resulted in an increase of
the Cherokee annuity to $1500.00 per year; and Washington conferred upon Bloody
Fellow a new name,
Eskaqua, meaning "Clear
Sky."26 Thereafter, he was a friend to the
Americans.
While Bloody Fellow was in
Philadelphia, Dragging Canoe died, in March, 1792. John Watts was elected his
successor as War Chief. Watts was a magnetic personality, an eloquent orator,
and a man of proven bravery. The Cherokees flocked to his banner with even more
enthusiasm than to that of Dragging Canoe. In addition, a large number of Creek
warriors placed themselves under his command. It was a stirring scene when
Watts, at the great council at Willstown in September, 1792, threw the weight
of his influence into the scales, and announced "To war we will go
together.!"
Watts was determined to prove that
Indians could "fight in armies" as well as white men. His plan of
campaign was well thought out. He proposed to throw the whole strength of the
Nation against the Cumberland settlements, wipe them out, then turn eastward
and repeat the process at Watauga. He himself marched against Nashville at the
head of three hundred warriors. To block assistance or word of his coming,
Doublehead was sent with a hundred men to lie in wait upon the Kentucky road.
Middlestriker, with the same number, was sent to cover the new Cumberland road,
a shorter route just opened from Knoxville to Nashville. Middlestriker
intercepted and defeated a band of forty white militia on the way to Nashville,
capturing the commander, Captain Samuel Handley. Doublehead found the Kentucky
road almost deserted, took a couple of scalps, and departed post-haste for
Nashville to assist in the attack.
Two days later he camped at
Horseshoe Bend of Caney Fork River. His men scattered to hunt, leaving a single
sentry at the camp. About noon, Captain William Snoddy in command of
thirty-four militiamen, discovered and plundered the camp. The sentry escaped,
and feeling sure that he would be attacked, Snoddy chose a strong position,
protected on three sides by a high bluff, and went into camp for the night. It
soon began to drizzle rain.
26The word Eskaqua is from the
Shawnee. In Cherokee, Clear Sky would be Galunladi-yiga.
The men were kept at high tension
throughout the night by Doublehead assembling his warriors. The howl of a wolf,
answered by the scream of a panther, the hoot of an owl, or the bark of a fox,
culminated about daybreak with a terrific yell, followed by profound silence.
Four of Snoddy's men bolted in terror, and were seen no more. At daylight,
Doublehead attacked. A desperate hand to hand struggle, lasting an hour,
ensued. Doublehead lost thirteen men, and Snoddy four. The Indians withdrew
eventually, and proceeded toward Nashville. That day, Doublehead was met by two
runners who informed him that Watts had failed, and was being carried, mortally
wounded, to Willstown. Doublehead, scourge of the frontier, wept.
"Vengeance I will have for Watts!" he said.
The Indian campaign had indeed
failed. Watts had with him numerous Creek allies under Talotiskee of Broken
Arrow; and thirty Shawnees under Shawnee Warrior. About dark on September 30,
1792, the Indians approached Buchanan's Station, five miles east of Nashville.
Watts insisted they they proceed to Nashville, which was the principal object
of the campaign. His two allies objected to leaving white men in their rear.
"Buchanan's must be taken first!" they argued. About midnight Watts
consented. A furious assault, which lasted through the night, was made. No
white men were killed, but the Indian loss was serious. Talotiskee and Shawnee
Warrior were killed; as were Little Owl, Dragging Canoe's brother, and
Kiachatalee, a brave young chief of Nickajack. Watts, desperately wounded, was
placed upon a stretcher between two horses, and the Indian army retreated
rapidly.
Watts recovered. The following year,
1793, he led an army of a thousand warriors against the settlements around
Knoxville. Dissension with his uncle, Doublehead, delayed the march and gave
the white settlers time to congregate in the forts. A small station, Cavett's,
eight miles south of Knoxville, was surrounded. The inmates offered to
surrender if their lives were spared. Watts, a humane man, readily agreed, the
famous Captain Bench acting as interpreter. No sooner were the gates opened
than Doublehead fell upon the helpless captives and murdered every one,
regardless
of the protests of Watts and other
chiefs. The redoutable Bench wept, feeling that his honor had been betrayed,
for he had promised the captives immunity. Watts abandoned the campaign, was
pursued by John Sevier at the head of a large force, and was defeated at
Etowah, site of the present Rome, Georgia.
Governor Blount, hoping to end the
war, invited the leading chiefs to visit President Washington at Philadelphia.
Doublehead was among those who accepted, and headed the delegation. The old
warrior succeeded in having the Cherokee annuity raised to $5000.00 per year,
and collected a year in advance which he distributed among his own followers.
In September, 1794, a white army
from Nashville, headed by Col. James Ore, surprised and destroyed the towns of
Nickajack and Running Water. About the same time General Wayne defeated the
northern allies of the Cherokees; and Spain, pushed by the Napoleonic wars in
Europe, withdrew support from the Indians. Watts, faced by the inevitable, made
peace with the Americans. The implacable Doublehead returned about that time
from Philadelphia, and although peace had been made, could not resist the
temptation to make one more raid. He led a surprise attack upon the station of
Valentine Sevier and killed fourteen people, in revenge, as he said, for what
Sevier's brother "Chucky Jack" had done to the Cherokees.
Thereafter the Cherokees followed
the white man's path and made war no more with the Americans.
Following the death of Old Tassel in
1788, the upper Cherokee towns recognized Scola-guta, Hanging Maw, as Peace
Chief. He was not active until the close of the war, when Watts, the War Chief,
retired to comparative seclusion at Willstown.27 Hanging Maw was then recognized
generally as head of the tribe. The assassination of the Principal Chief, and
steady encroachment of white settlers even south of the Little Tennessee,
caused a general
27John Watts, respected and beloved by
his people, continued to reside at Willstown, where he died about 1808. He is
believed to have been buried in the cemetery now marked as the site of the
Willstown Mission to the Cherokees, about two miles north of Fort Payne, Ala.
His grave, however, is not marked.
exodus from the towns along that
stream, so long occupied by the Cherokees. The Creeks had been defeated by the
Cherokees in the Battle of Taliwa, in 1755.28 Following the battle, the Creek towns in
northern Georgia had been abandoned. The Cherokees had gradually occupied the
old sites, and this movement was hastened by Old Tassel's death. The Cherokee
capital was removed, first to Oostanaula on Coosawatie River in Georgia; and
two years later to a new town near the present site of Calhoun, Georgia, which,
in honor of the beloved old capital, was called New Echota. Hanging Maw
continued to reside at Coyatee,29 and those of the Cherokees who had
settled in the Georgia towns, the lower part of the Nation, generally
recognized Kanaketa, the Little Turkey, as their head man. Until peace was
established, in 1794, the affairs of the Nation were in great confusion.
Hanging Maw died in 1798, and was
succeeded as Peace Chief by the Little Turkey. Both of these mild and friendly
chiefs were dominated by the powerful personality of Doublehead, who had been
selected as speaker of the National Council, and who came more and more to
represent his people in all dealings with the white people. Doublehead was
utterly selfish and unprincipled.30 In the year 1807, without authority from
the National Council, and probably for bribery, he signed a treaty ceding all
Cherokee land lying to the westward and northward of Tennessee River, including
Sequatchie Valley and Cumberland Plateau, the best hunting ground of the
Cherokees. Certain parcels of land were privately reserved for the use of
Doublehead and his relatives.
The terms of this treaty when they
became known created consternation and uproar. Doublehead when upbriaded for
his treachery was defiant, and shot one of his accusers. He was then
28It was at the Battle of Taliwa that
we get our first glimpse of the famous Nancy Ward, later to be Agi-ga-u-e,
Beloved Woman, of the Nation. Her first husband, the Kingfisher, was killed in
the action. She took his place and fought as a warrior, and later, in
recognition of her bravery, was made Beloved Woman.
29Coyatee, Kai-ete-yi, Sacred Old
Place, was situated at the mouth of Little Tennessee River, opposite the
present Lenoir City.
30This statement should be modified,
perhaps, by the fact that Doublehead's hatred of the white man, and his reason
for going to war in 1788, was the treacherous murder of his uncle while under a
flag of truce.
killed by a party consisting of
Major Ridge, John Rogers,31 Alex Saunders, and two members of the
clan of the man whom he had killed. Black Fox, Enoli, who had succeeded the
Little Turkey as Principal Chief in 1801, confirmed Doublehead's treaty upon an
agreement by Return J. Meigs, United States Indian Agent, that he would be paid
a thousand dollars in cash and a regular annuity. The practice of bribing
chiefs, usually when drunk, was followed regularly to obtain concessions that
would have been hard to obtain without the use of liquor.
The killing of Doublehead was the
cause of the repeal of the old Cherokee law of Clan Revenge; which required
relatives of a slain person to exact blood for blood, regardless of the
circumstances of the killing. The majority of the Cherokees felt that the
killing of Doublehead was justified, and his relatives should not be required
to take revenge.
Black Fox died in 1811. He was
succeeded by Pathkiller, Nunna-dihi, a very honorable man who was to guide the
destinies of the Cherokees through sixteen years. During that time the Nation
made its greatest progress despite many discouraging factors.
In 1812-1814 occurred the Creek War.
The great Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh, endeavored to unite all Indian tribes
against the whites. He was successful in enlisting the Creeks. The Cherokees,
after much deliberation, sided with the Americans. They furnished nearly two
thousand warriors who fought under Andrew Jackson, and contributed a great deal
to winning the war. Colonel Gideon Morgan commanded the Cherokee forces. Under
him served such well known Cherokees as Pathkiller, Junaluska, Whitepath,
Richard Taylor, Charles Rees, Young Dragging Canoe, and John Ross. The Creek
war ended with the Battle of Horseshoe
31John Rogers was an old trader in the
Nation prior to the Revolution who lived at the town of Chickamauga, the
present Chattanooga. His record was honorable. He saved at least two people
from death at the stake by ransoming them with his own goods. He was later to
become a leader in the Treaty Faction which advocated removal, and both he and
his sons signed the removal treaty. He was the father of James Rogers; whose
son, Clement Vann Rogers, was the father of Will Rogers.
Bend, in 1814, by which the Creeks
were totally defeated, with the terrible loss of nearly a thousand warriors.
Having served loyally under the
Stars and Stripes, the Cherokees should have been entitled to fair treatment
and consideration; but the contrary was the case. The State of Georgia, in
1802, had ceded to the Government its western lands out of which was later to
be erected the States of Alabama and Mississippi. The land was occupied at the
time by the Creek and Choctaw Nations, who claimed title from time immemorial;
and Spain also claimed the territory under the terms of the treaty which
terminated the Revolution. In return for the cession, the Government paid to
Georgia a million and a quarter dollars and assumed the State's share of the
expenses of the Revolutionary War. By a clause in the agreement which was later
to prove the ruin of the Cherokees, the Government agreed to extinguish Indian
titles within Georgia "as soon as it could be done peaceably."
Georgia pressed continually for
fulfillment of this clause. White settlers, too, encroached continually on
Cherokee lands, and were difficult, if not impossible, to remove. The
Government, bound by numerous treaties to protect the title of the Cherokees,
was in the predicament of being forced to buy land from the Indians which they
were not willing to sell.
In 1817, a treaty was held at
Hiwassee, and the Government demanded cession of all Cherokee land north of
Hiwassee River. Bitter dissension arose. A number of chiefs were willing to
make the cession. Others, probably a majority, opposed it. John Ross, then a
young man of 26 years, had just been elected to the National Council. He was
well educated, and was appointed to draw up a formal protest to the cession,
setting forth that the Cherokees desired no land in the West, but only to
remain in peace in the land of their fathers and to become civilized. The
cession was signed by certain chiefs, regardless of the protests. Several of
these, fearing the fate of Doublehead, removed to the West. Among
them were John Jolly,32 Ahu-ludi-ski, chief of Hiwassee Island;
Takatoka, and John D. Chisholm.
In the same year, 1817, the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established Brainerd Mission at the
old town of Chickamauga, the present Chattanooga. Efforts to Christianze the
Cherokees had been made as early as 1799; and a Moravian Mission had been in
operation at Spring Place, home of the Vanns, since 1804. From Brainerd, branch
missions were scattered throughout the Nation, and the Cherokees were almost
unanmiously Christianized. A few years later, Sequoyah perfected his Cherokee
alphabet or syllabary and the Scriptures were translated into Cherokee. The
Cherokees rapidly became a reading Nation. In 1827, John Ross drew up a
Constitution for the Nation, based upon that of the United States, and in the
following year, 1828, he was elected Principal Chief, which office he was to
fill for nearly forty years.33
Shortly after his election, Chief
Ross removed from Rossville to the Coosa River opposite the present Rome,
Georgia, where he built a commodious home. He was not to enjoy it for long.
Gold was discovered near Dahlonega
in 1828. The insistence of Georgia on Cherokee removal became clamorous. Andrew
Jackson, candidate for Presidency, announced that if elected he would support
Georgia's removal plans. He was elected. Georgia immediately passed a
legislative act annexing all Cherokee lands. The Cherokees were forbidden to
hold a council within the limits of the State; were denied legal rights of
trial; forbidden to dig
32Jolly was later Principal Chief of
the Western Cherokees. He was the friend of Sam Houston and the father-in-law
of John Rogers.
33John Ross was born at Kanagatugi,
Turkey Town, on Coosa River opposite the present Center, Ala., Cherokee County,
in 1791. Ann Shorey, daughter of William Shorey, interpreter at Fort Loudoun,
and a Cherokee woman, married John McDonald, British Agent at Chickamauga.
Their daughter, Mollie McDonald, married Daniel Ross, a trader among the
Cherokees. Chief John Ross was their third son. At the time of his birth, the
lower Cherokees were at war with the Americans. McDonald, at the close of the
Revolution in 1783, had made arrangements with the English trading firm
Panton-Leslie & Co. at Pensacola to secure supplies for the Cherokees. To
that end, he located at Turkey Town, which was on the main trail to Pensacola,
that he might keep the supplies coming regularly. About 1797, after conclusion
of peace, he moved to what is now Rossville, Ga., and built the house still
standing, where Chief Ross grew up. Ross was well educated, by private tutor;
at the Presbyterian school maintained by Rev. Gideon Blackburn at Kingston; and
at a seminary at Maryville now known as Hiwassee College.
gold on their own land; and Cherokee
land was divided into lots of 160 acres and gold lots of 40 acres, and distributed
by lottery to Georgia citizens. Ross, in the name of the Cherokees, protested
the action of Georgia. He appealed to Congress, to the President, and to the
courts. On one of his trips to Washington, his home was taken over by a Georgia
citizen who had drawn it in the lottery.34 He moved his family to Red Clay, just
across the Tennessee boundary, which then became headquarters for the Cherokees
until the removal. While there, he was visited by John Howard Payne, author of Home
Sweet Home, who was so impressed with the justice of the Cherokee cause
that he prepared to write a book setting forth their side of the controversy.
He was arrested by the Georgia Guard, along with Ross, and imprisoned for two
weeks in the Vann home, at Spring Place.
A party grew up within the
Cherokees, consisting mainly of those who had been dispossessed of their land
in Georgia, which favored selling the land while something could be obtained
for it, Georgia already having taken possession. They were headed by Major
Ridge, his son John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, editor of the National Paper, the
Rogers family, the Gunter family, and other prominent Cherokees. In December,
1835, the "Treaty Party" signed a treaty at New Echota by which all
Cherokee land east of the Mississippi was sold to the Government for four and a
half millions of dollars and an equal acreage in the West. The Western land was
guaranteed to the Cherokees "forever, never to be placed under the
jurisdiction of any State."
John Ross protested the treaty
"in the name of God and the Cherokee Nation." The National Council
denounced it as unauthorized. Ross carried a petition of protest to Washington,
signed by 17,000 Cherokees, almost the entire population. President Jackson was
adamant, and would be satisfied with nothing less than removal.
By the treaty terms, the Cherokees
were to remove within two years. Early in 1838, General Winfield Scott with
7000 soldiers
34The same happened to the Vann House,
at Springs Place, still standing, which had cost Joseph Vann $10,000 to build.
moved into the Cherokee country to
enforce removal. The Indians were rapidly concentrated in stockades, and
removal began. So many died during the heated season that the National Council
petitioned for permission to remove under their own chiefs later in the year.
The permission was granted, over the bitter protest of Andrew Jackson who had
been succeeded in the Presidency by Van Buren.
In the fall of 1838, thirteen
parties of Cherokees, approximately a thousand each, took up the long journey.
By April, 1839, the sad pilgrimage was completed, at terrible cost. Four thousand
Cherokees had died during the removal. Shortly after arrival in the new country
the leaders of the treaty party, Major Ridge and his son, and Elias Boudinot,
were killed, presumably for the sale of the eastern lands without authority.
John Ross was elected Principal Chief of the reunited Cherokees, and a new life
was begun.
Mention should be made of fugitives
who fled to the mountains and there hid, thus escaping removal. They were led
by Chiefs Utsala, (the Lichen), Yona-gunski (Drowning Bear), and Junaluska. The
descendants of these fugitives now constitute the Eastern Band of Cherokees.
Eternal fame should go to Tsali, or Charlie; a man not a chief but a true
Cherokee and a patriot. Captured, he murdered two soldiers who had insulted his
wife while being taken to a stockade for removal. Charlie and his family fled
to the mountains and there joined other refugees. General Scott, realizing that
to run down each fugitive would be the work of months, made this proposition:
if Charlie, his brother, and his two sons would surrender to be put to death
for killing the soldiers, the other refugees would be permitted to remain in
the mountains without further molestation. Charlie accepted the hard terms. He
voluntarily surrendered with his brother and two sons. Later, with exception of
the youngest son, they faced a firing squad; thus purchasing with their blood
the homes now occupied by the Eastern Cherokees. History records no finer act.
Other chiefs, not so prominent but
who played the part of men in the long warfare to hold the Cherokee country,
should
have mention. Kingfisher, who died
defending the ford at Etowah; Breath of Nickajack, whose name signified that he
was a good runner, killed at his own town, Nickajack, in 1794; Glass, of
Running Water, who prevented early settlement of Muscle Shoals; Nontuaka, the
Northward Warrior, who journeyed to Philadelphia in behalf of his people; Otter
Lifter and Red Headed Will, of Willstown; Six Killer and the Terrapin, sons of
Nancy Ward; Chuloah, the Boot or Big Foot, who fought at Chickamauga and died
on the Cumberland Trail; Kenoteta, the Rising Fawn, who tried to save white
mens' lives; Going Snake of Notally, for whom a western district was named;
Whitepath of Ellijay, whose bones whitened the Trail of Tears.
The roll would be incomplete without
the names of descendants of the white men who married Indian women and whose
sons were loyal Cherokees: The Benges, Taylors, Coodys, Careys, Morgans, Vanns,
Gunters, Scrimshers, Blythes, Hildebrands, Webbers, Walkers, Finnlestons,
Thompsons, McLemores, and Seviers. The fidelity of these sons of white fathers
to the people of their mothers is one of the brightest pages in Cherokee
annals.35
35Mr. J. P. Brown is a historian
living at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
