Chickamauga Indian
Encyclopedia
The Chickamauga or Lower Cherokee, were a band of Cherokee
who supported Great Britain
at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War
. They were followers of the Cherokee chief
Dragging Canoe
. In the winter of 1776/1777, he and they moved down the Tennessee River
away from the historic Overhill Cherokee
towns, establishing almost a dozen new "towns", isolated from colonists' encroachment. The frontier people often referred to them as "Chickamaugas" after the name of the new town on the Chickamauga River where Dragging Canoe resided.
After the Cherokee moved further west and southwest five years later, they were more commonly known as the "Lower Cherokee," after the "Five Lower Towns" originally making up the new settlement. They never considered themselves distinct from the Cherokee people. Richard Fields, a minor leader of the so-called "Chickamauga", was asked by a Moravian missionary Brother Steiner, "What kind of people are the Chickamauga?"; in reply, Fields laughed and said, "They are Cherokee, and we know no difference."
, Tennessee
, Virginia
and North Carolina
. Migration increased in the years following the Revolutionary War. Dragging Canoe and his Lower Cherokee settled at the place where the Great Indian Warpath
crossed the South Chickamauga Creek, near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee
. In 1782, the eleven Cherokee towns were destroyed by militia
forces under John Sevier
and William Campbell
. Dragging Canoe led his people further down the Tennessee River.
(on the Tennessee River), Crow Town (at the mouth of Crow Creek), and Lookout Mountain
Town (at the site of the current Trenton, Georgia
).
settlers, who had pushed them out of their traditional territory. From Running Water, Dragging Canoe led attacks on white settlements all over the American Southeast. Later, his Chickamauga warriors raided as far as Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia (along with the Western Confederacy
—which they helped establish). Due to a growing belief in the Chickamauga cause, as well as the destruction of the homes of the other Native Americans
, a majority of the Cherokee came to be allied against the US.
After the death of Dragging Canoe in 1792, his hand-picked successor John Watts
assumed control of the Chickamauga. Under Watts' lead, the Chickamauga continued their policy of Indian unity and hostility toward European Americans. Watts moved his base of operations to Willstown
to be closer to his Muscogee allies. Prior to this, he had concluded a treaty in Pensacola
with the Spanish governor of West Florida
, Arturo O'Neill, for arms and supplies with which to carry on the war. The Chickamauga and the frontiersman were continuously at war until 1794, in what were called the Chickamauga Wars
.
. Steiner asked his guide, "What kind of people are the Chickamauga?". Fields laughed, then replied, "They are Cherokee, and we know no difference."
The Chickamauga Towns and the later Lower Towns were groupings for geographic description, as with the Overhill, Valley or other geographically described Cherokee. At the time, the Cherokee were organized by clan (with a matrilineal system of property and descent) and town. Each of the clans had different functions within the towns and tribe. They had regional councils, but these did not have binding political power.
The only "national" position which existed before 1788 was that of First Beloved Man, who was a chief negotiator selected from the Cherokee towns farthest from the reach of intruders. After 1788, the Cherokee established a National Council, but at first it met irregularly and had no prescriptive or proscriptive powers. After the peace of 1794, the Cherokee were organized into five groups: the Upper Towns (formerly the Lower Towns of western Carolina and northeastern Georgia moved to North Georgia), the Overhill Towns, the Hill Towns, the Valley Towns, and the (new) Lower Towns. Each group had regional councils which were considered more important than the "national" council at Ustanali.
Dragging Canoe often spoke to the National Council at Ustanali; and he publicly acknowledged Little Turkey
as the senior leader of all the Cherokee. Dragging Canoe was memorialized at the council following his death in 1792. There was constant communication between leaders of the "Chickamauga" and the Cherokee of other regions, they fought together in certain actions, and the "Chickamauga" chiefs signed treaties with the federal government, along with other leaders of the Cherokee, as Cherokee.
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
who supported Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. They were followers of the Cherokee chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe
Tsiyu Gansini , "He is dragging his canoe", known to whites as Dragging Canoe, was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers...
. In the winter of 1776/1777, he and they moved down the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
away from the historic Overhill Cherokee
Overhill Cherokee
The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the former Cherokee settlements located in what is now Tennessee in the southeastern United States. The name was given by 18th century European traders and explorers who had to cross the Appalachian Mountains to reach these settlements when traveling from...
towns, establishing almost a dozen new "towns", isolated from colonists' encroachment. The frontier people often referred to them as "Chickamaugas" after the name of the new town on the Chickamauga River where Dragging Canoe resided.
After the Cherokee moved further west and southwest five years later, they were more commonly known as the "Lower Cherokee," after the "Five Lower Towns" originally making up the new settlement. They never considered themselves distinct from the Cherokee people. Richard Fields, a minor leader of the so-called "Chickamauga", was asked by a Moravian missionary Brother Steiner, "What kind of people are the Chickamauga?"; in reply, Fields laughed and said, "They are Cherokee, and we know no difference."
"Establishment" of the Chickamauga
"Chickamauga" towns
Establishing these communities further down river allowed (at least initially) the band to insulate themselves from the constant encroachment of settlers migrating west from GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. Migration increased in the years following the Revolutionary War. Dragging Canoe and his Lower Cherokee settled at the place where the Great Indian Warpath
Great Indian Warpath
The Great Indian Warpath — also known as the Great Indian War and Trading Path, or the Seneca Trail — was that part of the network of trails in eastern North America developed and used by Native Americans which ran through the Great Appalachian Valley...
crossed the South Chickamauga Creek, near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
. In 1782, the eleven Cherokee towns were destroyed by militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
forces under John Sevier
John Sevier
John Sevier served four years as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years as Governor of Tennessee. As a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death...
and William Campbell
William Campbell (general)
William Campbell was a Virginia farmer, pioneer, and soldier. One of the thirteen signers of the earliest statement of armed resistance to the British Crown in the American Colonies, the Fincastle Resolutions, Campbell represented Hanover County in the Virginia House of Delegates...
. Dragging Canoe led his people further down the Tennessee River.
"Five Lower Towns"
Dragging Canoe relocated his people west and southwest, into new settlements centered on Running Water (now Whiteside) on Running Water Creek. The other towns founded at this time were: Nickajack (near the cave of the same name), Long IslandLong Island (Tennessee)
Long Island, also known as Long Island of the Holston, is an island in the Holston River at Kingsport in eastern Tennessee.The Long Island was a sacred council and treaty site among the Cherokee. Daniel Boone began from here to clear the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in 1775. It is a...
(on the Tennessee River), Crow Town (at the mouth of Crow Creek), and Lookout Mountain
Lookout Mountain
thumb|right|See seven statesLookout Mountain is located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southern border of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain, along with Sand Mountain to the northwest, makes up a large portion of the...
Town (at the site of the current Trenton, Georgia
Trenton, Georgia
Trenton is a city in Dade County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,942 at the 2000 census. It is the only incorporated municipality in the county, and as such it serves as the county seat....
).
Constant war
The Chickamauga became known for their uncompromising enmity against United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
settlers, who had pushed them out of their traditional territory. From Running Water, Dragging Canoe led attacks on white settlements all over the American Southeast. Later, his Chickamauga warriors raided as far as Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia (along with the Western Confederacy
Western Confederacy
The Western Confederacy, also known as Western Indian Confederacy, was a loose confederacy of North American Natives in the Great Lakes region following the American Revolutionary War...
—which they helped establish). Due to a growing belief in the Chickamauga cause, as well as the destruction of the homes of the other Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, a majority of the Cherokee came to be allied against the US.
After the death of Dragging Canoe in 1792, his hand-picked successor John Watts
John Watts (Cherokee chief)
John Watts, or Kunokeski, also known as Young Tassel, was one of the leaders of the Chickamauga during the Chickamauga Wars, particularly after the murder of his uncle, Old Tassel, by marauding frontiersmen firing upon delegates at a peace conference in 1788...
assumed control of the Chickamauga. Under Watts' lead, the Chickamauga continued their policy of Indian unity and hostility toward European Americans. Watts moved his base of operations to Willstown
Willstown
Willstown was an important town in the southwesternmost part of the nation prior to the Indian removal of 1836...
to be closer to his Muscogee allies. Prior to this, he had concluded a treaty in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
with the Spanish governor of West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
, Arturo O'Neill, for arms and supplies with which to carry on the war. The Chickamauga and the frontiersman were continuously at war until 1794, in what were called the Chickamauga Wars
Chickamauga wars
The Chickamauga Wars were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles which were a continuation of the Cherokee struggle against encroachment by American frontiersmen from the former British colonies...
.
Classification of the Chickamauga
In 1799 Brother Steiner, a representative of the missionary Moravian Brethren, met at Tellico Blockhouse with Richard Fields, a former Lower Cherokee warrior whom he had hired to serve as guide and interpreter. Steiner had been sent south to scout for a location for a mission and school they planned to build, which was ultimately located at Spring Place (Georgia) on land donated by James VannJames Vann
James Vann was an influential Cherokee leader, one of the triumvirate with Major Ridge and Charles R. Hicks, who led the Upper Towns of East Tennessee and North Georgia. He was the son of Wah-Li Vann, a mixed-race Cherokee woman, and a Scots fur trader...
. Steiner asked his guide, "What kind of people are the Chickamauga?". Fields laughed, then replied, "They are Cherokee, and we know no difference."
The Chickamauga Towns and the later Lower Towns were groupings for geographic description, as with the Overhill, Valley or other geographically described Cherokee. At the time, the Cherokee were organized by clan (with a matrilineal system of property and descent) and town. Each of the clans had different functions within the towns and tribe. They had regional councils, but these did not have binding political power.
The only "national" position which existed before 1788 was that of First Beloved Man, who was a chief negotiator selected from the Cherokee towns farthest from the reach of intruders. After 1788, the Cherokee established a National Council, but at first it met irregularly and had no prescriptive or proscriptive powers. After the peace of 1794, the Cherokee were organized into five groups: the Upper Towns (formerly the Lower Towns of western Carolina and northeastern Georgia moved to North Georgia), the Overhill Towns, the Hill Towns, the Valley Towns, and the (new) Lower Towns. Each group had regional councils which were considered more important than the "national" council at Ustanali.
Dragging Canoe often spoke to the National Council at Ustanali; and he publicly acknowledged Little Turkey
Little Turkey
Little Turkey was elected First Beloved Man by the general council of the Cherokee upon the move of the council's seat to Ustanali on the Conasauga River following the murder of Corntassel in 1788...
as the senior leader of all the Cherokee. Dragging Canoe was memorialized at the council following his death in 1792. There was constant communication between leaders of the "Chickamauga" and the Cherokee of other regions, they fought together in certain actions, and the "Chickamauga" chiefs signed treaties with the federal government, along with other leaders of the Cherokee, as Cherokee.