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Sycamore Shoals
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Sycamore Shoals is a stretch of the Watauga River near Elizabethton, Tennessee, USA, offering a ford crossing of the river.
American pioneers constructed Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals. Richard Henderson and Daniel Boone met with the Cherokee Indians at Sycamore Shoals to treaty over land which became known as the Transylvania Purchase. In 1776, a faction of warring Cherokees led by Dragging Canoe—angered over the massive transfer of lands with the Transylvania Purchase and allied with the British during the war—launched an attack on the Watauga and Holston settlements.
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Encyclopedia
Sycamore Shoals is a stretch of the Watauga River near Elizabethton, Tennessee, USA, offering a ford crossing of the river.
American pioneers constructed Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals. Richard Henderson and Daniel Boone met with the Cherokee Indians at Sycamore Shoals to treaty over land which became known as the Transylvania Purchase. In 1776, a faction of warring Cherokees led by Dragging Canoe—angered over the massive transfer of lands with the Transylvania Purchase and allied with the British during the war—launched an attack on the Watauga and Holston settlements. The settlers around Sycamore Shoals were warned by the Cherokee leader Nancy Ward and prepared defenses. One battle was fought near the Long Island of the Holston River (in present-day Kingsport, Tennessee), and another at Sycamore Shoals and Fort Watauga along the Watauga River. The Fort Watauga later became a staging area in 1780 for the march of the Overmountain Men to the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolutionary War.
History
In 1772, the pioneers who had settled in Northeast Tennessee (along the Watauga River, the Doe River, the Holston River, the Nolichucky River, and Carter Valley) met at Sycamore Shoals to establish an independent regional government known as the Watauga Association.
In 1775, a treaty was held between the Cherokee and a delegation of the Transylvania Company, headed by Richard Henderson. Under the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (or the Treaty of Watauga) the Transylvania Company purchased a vast amount of land from the Cherokees, including most of present-day Kentucky and part of Tennessee. The treaty was technically illegal since the purchase of land from Native Americans was reserved by the government (the British, the governments of Virginia and North Carolina, and, later, the United States, all forbade private purchase of land from Indians).
During the treaty, Dragging Canoe, son of the Cherokee chief Attacullaculla, made a speech condemning the sale of Cherokee land and broke from the general Cherokee government to form the sub-tribe known as the Chickamauga.
After Henderson's Transylvania Company had bought Kentucky (although other tribes claimed it, such as the Shawnee), Daniel Boone was hired to widen the Indian path over Cumberland Gap to facilitate migration. This road became known as the Wilderness Road.
In September 1780, the "Overmountain Men" assembled, forming a militia under Colonel John Sevier and Colonel Isaac Shelby. These Patriot troops days later crossed the Appalachian Mountains at Roan Mountain and successively engaged the British Army at the Battle of Kings Mountain, a southern battle recognized as one of the turning points of the American Revolution.
National Historic Landmark
Today, Sycamore Shoals is a park area. A reconstruction of Fort Watauga stands near the Sycamore Shoals River crossing. The original location is believed to be approximately 1,500 yards (1,500 m) to the southwest of the reconstructed fort. Some historians question the location of Fort Watauga, pointing to discrepancies in the historical accounts and the lack of good primary sources. Archaeological and archival research indicates that there was some kind of fortification near Sycamore Shoals, but it may have been one of many blockhouses built in the region rather than Fort Watauga. A scenic trail leads from the fort and the bank of the Watauga River by the historic shoals.
Sycamore Shoals is listed as a National Historic Landmark and is also protected as part of the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area located within Elizabethton. The state park features both a visitors center and reconstruction of Fort Watauga just upstream from the original fort site. The annual summer play Liberty: The Saga of Sycamore Shoals (and formerly billed as "The Wataugans") performed at the state park re-enacts the Cherokee war party attack led by Dragging Canoe against Fort Watauga, the Transylvania purchase, and the battle of King's Mountain.
See also
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