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Henry Timberlake
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Henry Timberlake (1730 – September 30, 1765) was a colonial American officer, journalist, and cartographer. He was born in Virginia in 1730 and died in England. He is best known for his work as an emissary to the Overhill Cherokee during the 1760s.
Timberlake's account of his journeys, published as his memoirs in 1765, became a primary source for later studies of the eighteenth-century Cherokee. His detailed descriptions of Cherokee villages, townhouses, weapons, and tools have helped historians and anthropologists identify Cherokee structures and cultural objects uncovered at modern excavation sites throughout the southern Appalachian region.
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Henry Timberlake (1730 – September 30, 1765) was a colonial American officer, journalist, and cartographer. He was born in Virginia in 1730 and died in England. He is best known for his work as an emissary to the Overhill Cherokee during the 1760s.
Timberlake's account of his journeys, published as his memoirs in 1765, became a primary source for later studies of the eighteenth-century Cherokee. His detailed descriptions of Cherokee villages, townhouses, weapons, and tools have helped historians and anthropologists identify Cherokee structures and cultural objects uncovered at modern excavation sites throughout the southern Appalachian region. During the Tellico Archaeological Project, which included a series of salvage excavations conducted in the Little Tennessee River basin in the 1970s, archaeologists used Timberlake's "Draught of the Cherokee Country" to help locate major Overhill village sites.
Early life and career
Henry Timberlake was probably born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1730. Although he inherited a small fortune when his father died, Timberlake still needed a means to support himself, and sought a military career. In 1756, at the outset of the French and Indian War, he joined a Virginia militia company known as the "Patriot Blues," which had embarked on a campaign to expel French and Native American raiders in the western part of the state. Shortly thereafter, he applied for a commission in the Virginia regiment—then commanded by George Washington—but was denied due to a lack of vacancies.
In 1758, Timberlake successfully applied for a commission in Colonel William Byrd's recently-formed 2nd Virginia Regiment. Commissioned as an Ensign, Timberlake initially accompanied the regiment on its march to Fort Duquesne, but illness kept him from proceeding. In 1759, however, he took part in several minor operations in the Pittsburgh area, mostly overseeing the construction of defensive works.
In 1760, British relations with the Cherokee, which had been moderately friendly for several decades, grew sour after several Cherokee chiefs were imprisoned and killed in South Carolina. In early 1760, the Cherokee laid siege to Fort Loudoun, a remote outpost in what is now Tennessee. The garrison held out until August of that year, but was forced to surrender to lack of provisions. In spite of leaving under a flag of truce, the garrison was massacred on its march home. In 1761, the British colonies responded, with South Carolina sending James Grant against the Lower towns and Virginia sending Byrd against the Overhill and Middle towns.
While Byrd proceeded to the destroy the Cherokee Middle towns in North Carolina, he dispatched Colonel Adam Stephen into the Holston River valley to attack the Overhill towns. Timberlake accompanied Stephen to Long Island of the Holston (in modern-day Sullivan County, Tennessee), where they began building a base known as "Fort Robinson" and made preparations to march south.
Journey to the Overhill country
On November 19, 1761, as Fort Robinson was nearing completion, a 400-man Cherokee force led by Chief Kanagatucko (sometimes called "Old Hop") arrived at the camp and asked for peace, which was immediately granted by Col. Stephen. Kanagatucko asked for an officer to accompany him to the Overhill towns as proof that hostilities had ended. Stephen was reluctant to allow it, but granted the request when Timberlake volunteered. Timberlake would be accompanied by Thomas Sumter (a sergeant at the time), an interpreter named John McCormack, and an unknown servant. The group purchased a canoe and 10 days' worth of provisions with money Sumter had borrowed. The plan was to follow the Holston River to its confluence with the French Broad River, and then proceed to the Little Tennessee River, where the Overhill towns were situated.
Timberlake's party left Long Island on November 28, 1761. The Holston River's unusually low water levels almost immediately stalled the journey as the party was forced to drag the canoe over exposed shoals and sandbars. The party ran out of provisions after several days, but McCormack managed to shoot a bear, supplying them with several days' worth of meat. Around December 7, the party explored a stalactite-filled cave situated approximately 50 feet above the river, and Timberlake described an incident in which Sumter swam nearly a half-mile in the near-freezing river waters to retrieve their canoe, which had somehow drifted away while they were exploring the cave.
On December 13, the expedition reached a series of treacherous cascades that Timberlake called "Great Falls." The party spent a whole day carefully maneuvering their way down the cascades only to find the Holston frozen over immediately downstream. The ice slowed the expedition's progress, but rains on the night of December 14 thawed the ice, and the party passed through the mouth of the Holston (in modern Knoxville) into what is now the Tennessee River on December 15.
The Overhill country
The deeper waters of the Tennessee River allowed the Timberlake expedition to proceed much more quickly. A hunting party led by the Cherokee chief Slave Catcher met the Timberlake expedition near the mouth of the Little Tennessee River, and supplied the weary expedition with provisions of "dried venison, homminy, and boiled corn." The following day, Slave Catcher guided the expedition up the Little Tennessee, although the Timberlake party struggled to keep up, with Timberlake recalling, "my hands were so galled, that the blood trickled from them, and when we set out the next morning I was scarce able to handle a pole." The Timberlake party arrived in the Overhill town of Tomotley on December 20, where they were greeted by the town's head man, Chief Ostenaco.
After spending several days in Tomotley as guests of Ostenaco, Timberlake and McCormack proceeded to the Overhill mother town of Chota, where a number of chiefs had gathered in the town's large councilhouse. Ostenaco gave a speech and ceremoniously buried a hatchet in the ground, symbolizing a state of peace between the English and the Cherokee. Afterward, Timberlake partook in a ceremony in which he smoked several peace pipes with the gathered chiefs, a practice Timberlake personally found "very disagreeable," but participated without openly complaining.
Timberlake and Ostenaco continued southward to Citico, where Timberlake was greeted by a ceremonial dance involving some 400 Cherokee. Timberlake recalled that the dancers were "painted all over in a hideous manner" and that they "danced in a very uncommon figure." The town's chief, Cheulah, presented Timberlake with a string of beads and held another pipe-smoking ceremony. The non-stop pipe smoking made Timberlake so sick that he "could not stir for several hours." The following day, Timberlake and Ostenaco traveled to Chilhowee, the second southernmost of the Overhill towns on Timberlake's map, where the town's chief, Yachtino, held a peace procession similar to that at Citico.
Return to Virginia
His assignment largely completed, Timberlake returned to Tomotley with Ostenaco on January 2, 1762. Timberlake spent the next few weeks studying Cherokee habits and making notes for his map of the Overhill country. At the end of January, rumors began trickling in from Cherokee scouts of renewed hostilities with rival tribes to the north. Although the rumors turned out to be based on a misunderstanding, Timberlake nevertheless grew anxious and begged Ostenaco to guide him back to Virginia. Ostenaco reluctantly agreed, and the party set out on March 10, 1762. Just before departure, Timberlake witnessed the ceremonial return of a war party led by Chief Willinawaw. The party sang "the war-song" and planted a scalp-filled pole next to the councilhouse door.
The Timberlake party had decided to make the return trip overland, having purchased horses from the Cherokee. Ostenaco, accompanied by several hundred Cherokee warriors, guided the Timberlake group northward across what is now known as the Great Indian Warpath, which follows the western base of the Appalachian Mountains. On March 11, the party arrived at the abandoned village of Elajoy along Little River in what is now Maryville, and crossed the French Broad River the following day. A week later, they reached Fort Robinson, which the Stephen garrison had abandoned but had left behind a large supply of flour. The expedition left Long Island on March 22, continuing northward to an abandoned army camp where Timberlake was despaired to find that a trunk containing his belongings had been looted. The party finally arrived in Williamsburg in early April.
Visits to London
While in Williamsburg, Timberlake and Ostenaco attended a dinner party at William & Mary College at which Ostenaco professed his desire to meet the king of England. Although he feared the trip would break him financially, Timberlake agreed. In May of 1762, Timberlake, Sumter, and three distinguished Cherokee leaders, including Ostenaco, departed for London.
Arriving in early June, the Cherokee were an immediate attraction, drawing crowds all over the city. The poet Oliver Goldsmith waited for three hours to meet the Cherokee, and offered a gift to Ostenaco. They sat for Sir Joshua Reynolds to take their portraits, and they met personally with King George III. The Cherokee returned to North America with Sergeant Sumter on about August 25, 1762. Timberlake remained in England dealing with some financial difficulties. He was appointed by Crown Governor of Virginia, Jeffrey Amherst, a Lieutenant in the "42nd or Royal Highland Regiment of foot," and the pay from this appointment allowed him to pay for his return to Virginia in March 1763.
Having reached Virginia, Timberlake set out for New York to meet with the Amherst to receive his commission. Not long afterward, he received notice that he was among a number of officers to be reduced to half pay. Having learned this, he left the militia and returned home to Virginia to petition the General Assembly for his expenses for the journey to be recompensed, but was denied.
In the summer of 1764, five Cherokee visited him, seeking an audience with the governor of Virginia and requesting passage to London. The Cherokee wished to appeal to King George to enforce the Proclamation Line of 1763, due to continuing encroachement of white settlers on Cherokee land. The governor denied their request, but Timberlake agreed to help them, and he and three of the Cherokee reached London in the fall of 1764. Not long after their arrival, the benefactor of the trip fell ill and died. Lord Halifax refused to grant the Cherokee an audience, as the trip was unauthorized. Timberlake was accused of attempting to profit off of the public attention given to the Cherokee. The government sent the Cherokee back to North America in March. Shortly after their departure, Timberlake was arrested for failing to pay the debt for the last bill for lodging of himself and the Cherokee. He likely wrote his Memoirs while incarcerated.
Legacy
Timberlake's primary legacy is the journal he kept while living with the Cherokee. Published in 1765, the volume was likely released posthumously. The journal is of importance both as an ethnological study, as it contains detailed descriptions of various facets of Cherokee society, and as a historical account, as it gives insight into Cherokee political decision-making and the tribe's early reactions to the encroaching European colonists.
Along with methods of warfare, Timberlake described Cherokee agricultural and hunting habits, religious beliefs, birth and death rites, and marital habits. He described Cherokee government as a "mixed aristocracy and democracy," with chiefs chosen on the basis of merit. The journals also contain information regarding Cherokee methods for building canoes and dwellings, and the general size and form of Cherokee summer and winter houses. Timberlake's description of the Cherokee councilhouse— the central structure in a typical Cherokee village— has aided archaeologists in the location of such structures at modern excavation sites.
Timberlake's map, entitled "A Draught of the Cherokee Country," accompanied the journal. On it he located all the Cherokee villages on the lower Little Tennessee River and provided important demographic information about village sizes, populations, and leaders. Modern studies have generally confirmed that Timberlake's map was remarkably accurate. The journal, simply entitled Memoirs, and his map of the Overhill Cherokee country have been reprinted several times. Timberlake's Memoirs remains one of the best contemporary accounts of the 18th-century Cherokee.
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