The Colonial Period
III
Once white man had seen the vast untamed wilderness of America, the fate of the Indian was sealed. The white men first came in small parties with pretensions of friendliness to the Indians. Then they came in large parties with more gear and less friendliness. Then they came with their plows and fences and their greedy need for land. Some remained friendly but others took what lay in their paths and called it theirs, because it belonged to a people they considered savage. And to them, a savage had no rights nor consideration. As each shipload emptied its spawn of human cargo from the hovels and fetters of the old world, they spread and grew and moved into the new land. At first, they were mostly met with curiosity and awe, but then, after more and more came to build cabins and fences, upon what had once been fertile forests and untamed wilderness, the Indians began to resist and to wonder where it would all end. The Indians themselves had no real need for land as individuals, because they did no great amount of farming, but the forest and rivers they did need, for when the trees were cut and the rivers occupied with towns and villages, there no longer remained any game upon which the Indians could live. The Indians asked the officials of the colonies to hold back the ever-swelling tide to certain boundaries, and when this failed, they began to try to stem the tide, as they had in other times with their own kind. Indian warfare was not of a kind the colonist had ever known before. It was a savage and a ruthless war that left women and children in villages and towns without protection or mercy.
For nearly a hundred years after the visit of DeSoto, the Cherokees had very little contact with white men. A small party of Spaniards is known to have traveled through Cherokee Country, much as DeSoto did, but these early comers established no permanent settlements. Later, the Spaniards did try to set up mining operations within the outskirts of Cherokee Country, but these did not remain as permanent fixtures. The secret policy maintained by the Spanish Government left no records of the success of their mining operations.
The first known contact the British Settlements had with the Cherokee occurred at Richmond, Virginia. The English had been at war with the Powhatins Tribe at the James River Falls, for a considerable time. They had no sooner driven out the Powhatins then the village site was re-occupied by a large force of Cherokee. It had taken a considerable effort to dislodge the Powhatins from the site and to have it reoccupied immediately by another was almost too much for the English. They became very alarmed and called in over a hundred Pumunky warriors to help them destroy the new intruders. The combined forces marched against the Cherokee, but received such a beating they were forced to sue for peace.
The first known English settlement of South Carolina occurred in 1670 and the first known treaty signed by a Cherokee chief occurred in 1684. By the early seventeen hundreds, regular skirmishes were occurring between the races. The Governor of South Carolina was accused of commissioning agents to take Indians as slaves during a time that the Cherokee and the English colonies were at peace. Quite often the Cherokee joined the English in war against tribes with whom they themselves were unfriendly. They did this with the Tuscarora and with the help of the English forced them out of the Carolina's by 1713. Two years later, the refused to join the Yamassee conspiracy that resulted in a great massacre of the whites by the Yamassee and as a result of the refusal, the Creeks burned and sacked the Cherokee villages. Thus, began the destruction that would last over a hundred years and in the end, would completely destroy all Cherokee towns.
Between the years seventeen hundred and seventeen hundred and sixty-three, the different tribes that lay between the Spanish, French, and English colonies were political pawns for the different interests of these various nations. One great difference existed between the way the English treated the Indians and the way the Spanish and French treated them. The French, particularly, mingled and mixed with them freely. Their traders often married Indian women and settled down within the tribes to continue to serve their mother country as well as well as being a part of the Indian tribal life. The English did this very seldom. They looked down on the Indians’ way of life and associated them with only when forced to. This was particularly so after a few generations of the English had grown up along the frontier. The frontiersmen feared and hated the Indians and lost few opportunities to do them harm. By 1773, three different treaties had taken from the Cherokee all the great hunting territory that lay between the Cumberland and Kentucky Rivers. Constant pressure of the ever-moving and expanding English settlements along the Holston and Tennessee Rivers gradually moved the Indian towns and settlements before them. One treaty would hardly be signed before another would be in order because white settlers would have moved into new Indian Territory before the old treaty could be ratified. By the time the American Revolution broke out in 1776, the Indians were firmly aligned against the Frontier Americans. To the Indians, the British Government stood as the only symbol of authority. They were well aware that they could expect very little quarter from the frontier government.
By the latter part of 1776, the Indians and Tories began attacking the frontier settlements all along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia.
Isolated homes and farmsteads felt the tomahawk and scalping knife. Charleston, South Carolina came under attack from British men of war and Torie and Indian forces attacking it.
The Holston settlements in Tennessee were the objects of seven hundred marching Cherokee warriors and would have undoubtedly been completely destroyed if it hadn’t been for the heroic warning of Nancy Ward, (a Beloved Woman) a friendly Indian woman. As it was, the Tennesseans were able to defeat the Cherokee in a bloody battle at a place called Long Island.
Realizing the danger of constant harassment from the Indians and the necessity of being on the alert for the British, the American leaders in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia decided that expeditionary forces from four sides into the Indian Country would forestall much of the danger that would result from attempting to defend all the eastern frontiers. As a result, an Army 2,400 strong, under General Griffith Rutherford, crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and struck at the very heart of the Cherokee homeland. Towns that had never before felt the vengeance of the white soldiers were completely destroyed. All the Indian towns along the Oconaluftee and Tuckaseegee rivers felt the impact of the torch and musket. There occurred a pitched battle near Wayah Bald between Rutherford’s forces and the Cherokee, high in the Nantahala Mountains.
In late September, the South Carolina forces under the command of Col. Andrew Williamson intercepted Rutherford’s forces at Murphy, North Carolina. This juncture served to complete the raids on the Cherokee towns in Georgia and North Carolina. Meanwhile, the Virginia forces under Col. William Christian marched down the great Indian war trail to the Long Island on the Holston. Here they gathered additional North Carolina forces and what men were available from the Tennessee garrisons. This combined force made their way against Indian and Tory forces drawn up to oppose them at a crossing on the French Broad River. However, when the Indians saw what a formidable force they were facing, they withdrew without resistance, thus allowing the Revolutionary army to continue through the Indian towns on the Little Tennessee River. By the time the army arrived at the Indian towns on the Little Tennessee, the people had fled, leaving all they owned for the army to destroy and burn. This destruction made most of the remaining Cherokee Tribe realize the futility of further resistance. So, they sent the important men of the tribe to sue for peace. This was done and peace finally established.
By the treaties that were negotiated after the intrusion of the North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia armies, the Cherokees lost all their lands in South Carolina, everything in Tennessee to the Blue Ridge Mountains and had to suffer under the eyes of an agent who watched their actions for signs of hostility toward the new states. Many of the die-hard Cherokee moved out of their original home territory and settled far down the Tennessee River, to become a thorn in the sides of the colonist until their towns were destroyed again about three years later. This group remained a hostile group for as long as they existed as a group of people. They were under the implacable leadership of the great Dragging Canoe who would not concede to those who had destroyed his way of life.
British forces with the active assistance of their Indian allies, had by the early part of 1780 taken all of Georgia and South Carolina. Their armies were preparing to move northward into North Carolina and Virginia when they made the mistake of demanding the surrender of the mountain men who up to this time had spent their efforts in fighting off the Indian allies of the British. The mountain men assembled, under leadership of the own choosing, began the march of Kings Mountain, South Carolina, that spelled the defeat of the British in the South.
Thus, the burning of the Indian towns and the defeat of the British at Kings Mountain left the Cherokee at the mercy of the frontier Americans.
By Tom Underwood
For nearly a hundred years after the visit of DeSoto, the Cherokees had very little contact with white men. A small party of Spaniards is known to have traveled through Cherokee Country, much as DeSoto did, but these early comers established no permanent settlements. Later, the Spaniards did try to set up mining operations within the outskirts of Cherokee Country, but these did not remain as permanent fixtures. The secret policy maintained by the Spanish Government left no records of the success of their mining operations.
The first known contact the British Settlements had with the Cherokee occurred at Richmond, Virginia. The English had been at war with the Powhatins Tribe at the James River Falls, for a considerable time. They had no sooner driven out the Powhatins then the village site was re-occupied by a large force of Cherokee. It had taken a considerable effort to dislodge the Powhatins from the site and to have it reoccupied immediately by another was almost too much for the English. They became very alarmed and called in over a hundred Pumunky warriors to help them destroy the new intruders. The combined forces marched against the Cherokee, but received such a beating they were forced to sue for peace.
The first known English settlement of South Carolina occurred in 1670 and the first known treaty signed by a Cherokee chief occurred in 1684. By the early seventeen hundreds, regular skirmishes were occurring between the races. The Governor of South Carolina was accused of commissioning agents to take Indians as slaves during a time that the Cherokee and the English colonies were at peace. Quite often the Cherokee joined the English in war against tribes with whom they themselves were unfriendly. They did this with the Tuscarora and with the help of the English forced them out of the Carolina's by 1713. Two years later, the refused to join the Yamassee conspiracy that resulted in a great massacre of the whites by the Yamassee and as a result of the refusal, the Creeks burned and sacked the Cherokee villages. Thus, began the destruction that would last over a hundred years and in the end, would completely destroy all Cherokee towns.
Between the years seventeen hundred and seventeen hundred and sixty-three, the different tribes that lay between the Spanish, French, and English colonies were political pawns for the different interests of these various nations. One great difference existed between the way the English treated the Indians and the way the Spanish and French treated them. The French, particularly, mingled and mixed with them freely. Their traders often married Indian women and settled down within the tribes to continue to serve their mother country as well as well as being a part of the Indian tribal life. The English did this very seldom. They looked down on the Indians’ way of life and associated them with only when forced to. This was particularly so after a few generations of the English had grown up along the frontier. The frontiersmen feared and hated the Indians and lost few opportunities to do them harm. By 1773, three different treaties had taken from the Cherokee all the great hunting territory that lay between the Cumberland and Kentucky Rivers. Constant pressure of the ever-moving and expanding English settlements along the Holston and Tennessee Rivers gradually moved the Indian towns and settlements before them. One treaty would hardly be signed before another would be in order because white settlers would have moved into new Indian Territory before the old treaty could be ratified. By the time the American Revolution broke out in 1776, the Indians were firmly aligned against the Frontier Americans. To the Indians, the British Government stood as the only symbol of authority. They were well aware that they could expect very little quarter from the frontier government.
By the latter part of 1776, the Indians and Tories began attacking the frontier settlements all along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia.
Isolated homes and farmsteads felt the tomahawk and scalping knife. Charleston, South Carolina came under attack from British men of war and Torie and Indian forces attacking it.
The Holston settlements in Tennessee were the objects of seven hundred marching Cherokee warriors and would have undoubtedly been completely destroyed if it hadn’t been for the heroic warning of Nancy Ward, (a Beloved Woman) a friendly Indian woman. As it was, the Tennesseans were able to defeat the Cherokee in a bloody battle at a place called Long Island.
Realizing the danger of constant harassment from the Indians and the necessity of being on the alert for the British, the American leaders in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia decided that expeditionary forces from four sides into the Indian Country would forestall much of the danger that would result from attempting to defend all the eastern frontiers. As a result, an Army 2,400 strong, under General Griffith Rutherford, crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and struck at the very heart of the Cherokee homeland. Towns that had never before felt the vengeance of the white soldiers were completely destroyed. All the Indian towns along the Oconaluftee and Tuckaseegee rivers felt the impact of the torch and musket. There occurred a pitched battle near Wayah Bald between Rutherford’s forces and the Cherokee, high in the Nantahala Mountains.
In late September, the South Carolina forces under the command of Col. Andrew Williamson intercepted Rutherford’s forces at Murphy, North Carolina. This juncture served to complete the raids on the Cherokee towns in Georgia and North Carolina. Meanwhile, the Virginia forces under Col. William Christian marched down the great Indian war trail to the Long Island on the Holston. Here they gathered additional North Carolina forces and what men were available from the Tennessee garrisons. This combined force made their way against Indian and Tory forces drawn up to oppose them at a crossing on the French Broad River. However, when the Indians saw what a formidable force they were facing, they withdrew without resistance, thus allowing the Revolutionary army to continue through the Indian towns on the Little Tennessee River. By the time the army arrived at the Indian towns on the Little Tennessee, the people had fled, leaving all they owned for the army to destroy and burn. This destruction made most of the remaining Cherokee Tribe realize the futility of further resistance. So, they sent the important men of the tribe to sue for peace. This was done and peace finally established.
By the treaties that were negotiated after the intrusion of the North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia armies, the Cherokees lost all their lands in South Carolina, everything in Tennessee to the Blue Ridge Mountains and had to suffer under the eyes of an agent who watched their actions for signs of hostility toward the new states. Many of the die-hard Cherokee moved out of their original home territory and settled far down the Tennessee River, to become a thorn in the sides of the colonist until their towns were destroyed again about three years later. This group remained a hostile group for as long as they existed as a group of people. They were under the implacable leadership of the great Dragging Canoe who would not concede to those who had destroyed his way of life.
British forces with the active assistance of their Indian allies, had by the early part of 1780 taken all of Georgia and South Carolina. Their armies were preparing to move northward into North Carolina and Virginia when they made the mistake of demanding the surrender of the mountain men who up to this time had spent their efforts in fighting off the Indian allies of the British. The mountain men assembled, under leadership of the own choosing, began the march of Kings Mountain, South Carolina, that spelled the defeat of the British in the South.
Thus, the burning of the Indian towns and the defeat of the British at Kings Mountain left the Cherokee at the mercy of the frontier Americans.
By Tom Underwood
