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Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)
Encyclopedia
Fort Loudoun was a British colonial fort in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, near the towns of the Overhill Cherokee
. The fort was reconstructed during the Great Depression
and was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1965.
of South Carolina
built the fort in 1756, naming it for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun
. With the outbreak of the French and Indian War
, the Overhill Cherokee
were attacked by French-allied Shawnee
, and requested the construction of a fort. Fort Loudoun was built a few miles downstream from the Cherokee
capital Chota
. Its purpose was to defend the Cherokee and British settlers on the frontier, to maintain the Cherokee-British alliance, and to guard against French attempts to gain influence among the Cherokee. It also served as a diplomatic and trading outpost.
Mutual suspicions and betrayals repeatedly undermined the Cherokee-British alliance. Relations soured as South Carolina frontiersmen invaded the Lower Cherokee Towns along the headwaters of the Savannah River
to procure scalps. Open warfare erupted between the Cherokee and the British
in 1759, when Cherokee warriors returning from raids against the Shawnee
killed cattle belonging to Virginia
n settlers, and were killed in retaliation. A Cherokee war party led by Chief Oconastota laid siege to Fort Loudoun, which fell on August 7, 1760. The Cherokee attacked and killed part of the garrison
in an ambush
two days later, as they were returning to South Carolina. During this period, several Cherokee had apparently traveled to Louisiana
to secure French aid. The British response was swift; South Carolina militia destroyed the Lower Towns, and Virginia threatened to invade the Overhill Towns, forcing the Cherokee to sue for peace.
The Cherokee village of Tuskegee grew up around Fort Loudoun. Sequoyah
, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, was born in this village seventeen years after the destruction of the fort. After Fort Loudoun was burned, the site was abandoned for nearly two centuries. In 1917, the Colonial Dames of America placed a marker at the site of the fort. With sporadic support from the state, and from the federal government via the Works Progress Administration
, preservationists researched the fort's history and reconstructed the facility starting in the 1930s during the Great Depression
. The reconstructed fort was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1965.
The present-day reconstruction of the fort sits on the bank of the Little Tennessee River
, but the fort was not originally on the waterfront. When the Tennessee Valley Authority
's (TVA) construction of Tellico Dam
threatened to flood the original fort site, preservationists moved the reconstruction. They dismantled the fort, used fill dirt to raise the site 17 feet (5m), and rebuilt it. The dam brought the river closer to the fort than it was originally.
Together with an interpretive center and recreation area, the fort is part of Fort Loudoun State Park
. The Tellico Blockhouse
site is also part of the park. It features foundations reconstructed based on archaeological investigations. The blockhouse was built on the river opposite the fort by the U.S. Government in 1794 and was in operation until 1805.
Located nearby is the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. The TVA
deeded the land around the museum back to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.
Loudon County, Tennessee; Loudon, Tennessee
; and Fort Loudoun Dam
are named for the fort.
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...
. The fort was reconstructed during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1965.
History
The British colonyThirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
built the fort in 1756, naming it for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun
John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun
Major-General John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun was a British nobleman and army officer.-Early career:Campbell inherited the peerage on the death of his father in 1731, becoming Lord Loudoun. The earl raised a regiment of infantry that took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 on the side of the...
. With the outbreak of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, the 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...
were attacked by French-allied Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
, and requested the construction of a fort. Fort Loudoun was built a few miles downstream from the 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...
capital Chota
Chota (Cherokee town)
Chota is a historic Overhill Cherokee site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. For much of its history, Chota was the most important of the Overhill towns, serving as the de facto capital of the Cherokee people from the late 1740s until 1788...
. Its purpose was to defend the Cherokee and British settlers on the frontier, to maintain the Cherokee-British alliance, and to guard against French attempts to gain influence among the Cherokee. It also served as a diplomatic and trading outpost.
Mutual suspicions and betrayals repeatedly undermined the Cherokee-British alliance. Relations soured as South Carolina frontiersmen invaded the Lower Cherokee Towns along the headwaters of the Savannah River
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...
to procure scalps. Open warfare erupted between the Cherokee and the British
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...
in 1759, when Cherokee warriors returning from raids against the Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
killed cattle belonging to 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...
n settlers, and were killed in retaliation. A Cherokee war party led by Chief Oconastota laid siege to Fort Loudoun, which fell on August 7, 1760. The Cherokee attacked and killed part of the garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
in an ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
two days later, as they were returning to South Carolina. During this period, several Cherokee had apparently traveled to Louisiana
Louisiana (New France)
Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...
to secure French aid. The British response was swift; South Carolina militia destroyed the Lower Towns, and Virginia threatened to invade the Overhill Towns, forcing the Cherokee to sue for peace.
The Cherokee village of Tuskegee grew up around Fort Loudoun. Sequoyah
Sequoyah
Sequoyah , named in English George Gist or George Guess, was a Cherokee silversmith. In 1821 he completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible...
, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, was born in this village seventeen years after the destruction of the fort. After Fort Loudoun was burned, the site was abandoned for nearly two centuries. In 1917, the Colonial Dames of America placed a marker at the site of the fort. With sporadic support from the state, and from the federal government via the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, preservationists researched the fort's history and reconstructed the facility starting in the 1930s during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The reconstructed fort was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1965.
The present-day reconstruction of the fort sits on the bank of the Little Tennessee River
Little Tennessee River
The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, approximately 135 miles long, in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.-Geography:...
, but the fort was not originally on the waterfront. When the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
's (TVA) construction of Tellico Dam
Tellico Dam
Tellico Dam is a dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in Loudon County, Tennessee on the Little Tennessee River just above the main stem of the Tennessee River. It impounds the Tellico Reservoir....
threatened to flood the original fort site, preservationists moved the reconstruction. They dismantled the fort, used fill dirt to raise the site 17 feet (5m), and rebuilt it. The dam brought the river closer to the fort than it was originally.
Fort Loudoun State Park
Fort Loudoun State Park is a state park in Monroe County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It houses the reconstructed Fort Loudoun along with an interpretive center and recreation area, and the remains of the Tellico Blockhouse....
. The Tellico Blockhouse
Tellico Blockhouse
The Tellico Blockhouse was an early American outpost located along the Little Tennessee River in Vonore, Monroe County, Tennessee. Completed in 1794, the blockhouse operated until 1807 with the purpose of keeping the peace between nearby Overhill Cherokee towns and early Euro-American settlers in...
site is also part of the park. It features foundations reconstructed based on archaeological investigations. The blockhouse was built on the river opposite the fort by the U.S. Government in 1794 and was in operation until 1805.
Located nearby is the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. The TVA
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
deeded the land around the museum back to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.
Loudon County, Tennessee; Loudon, Tennessee
Loudon, Tennessee
Loudon is a city in and the county seat of Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 4,476 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located in eastern Tennessee, southwest of Knoxville, on the Tennessee River...
; and Fort Loudoun Dam
Fort Loudoun Dam
Fort Loudoun Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Loudon County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority , which built the dam in the early 1940s as part of a unified plan to provide electricity and flood control in the...
are named for the fort.