Cherokee military history
Encyclopedia
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...

 people from the Southeastern United States and later Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 and surrounding areas have a long military history. Since European contact, it has been documented through European records. Tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

s and bands
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...

 had numerous conflicts in the 18th century with European colonizing forces, primarily English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Both Eastern Band
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians , is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America, who are descended from Cherokee who remained in the Eastern United States while others moved, or were forced to relocate, to the west in the 19th century. The history of the...

 and Western Cherokees fought in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, with bands allying with either the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 or the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

. As a result of many Cherokee allying with the Confederacy, the United States government required a new treaty with the nation after the war. Cherokees have served in the United States military in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Traditional military leadership

Prior to the 18th century, Cherokee political leadership, much like that of neighboring Muscogee and Natchez tribes, was dual or shared by two chiefs: "white" or peace leaders, and "red" or war leaders. In times of conflict, the red war chief would organize young men into war parties. The primary war chief was assisted by a deputy chief, a speaker, and messengers. Decisions were made by a war council composed of delegates from each of the seven Cherokee clans. War women, including the Beloved Woman or Ghigau, could participate in the council or accompany war parties. Scouts and medicine men would round out the red organization.

War of the Cherokee and Chickasaw with the Shawnee (1710)

Around 1710, the Cherokee and the Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

 forced their joint enemy, the Shawnee, north of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

. In the 1660s, the Cherokee had allowed a refugee group of the Shawnee to settle in the Cumberland Basin
Cumberland Basin
Cumberland Basin is an inlet and northeasternmost part of the Bay of Fundy, located on the border between the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick....

 when they were fleeing the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 during the Beaver Wars
Beaver Wars
The Beaver Wars, also sometimes called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refers to a series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America...

. The Shawnee also acted as a buffer against the Cherokees' traditional Chickasaw enemies.

The Cherokee allowed another group of Shawnee to pass through their territory to settle on 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...

, where they would be a buffer against the Catawba
Catawba
Catawba may refer to several things:*Catawba , a Native American tribe*Catawban languages-Botany:*Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other Native American tribes*Catawba , a variety of grape...

. Over time, more Shawnee came into the area and began to attract the attention of the Iroquois. In addition, they were allied with the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-allied Cherokee and Chickasaw finally decided to act in concert to expel the Shawnees from their territories. The conflict lasted 1710–1715. Sporadic warfare continued for more than 50 years. In 1768 the Shawnee and Cherokee forged a peace between them.

Tuscarora War

Except for some trading contact, the Cherokee remained relatively unaffected by the presence of European colonists in North America until the Tuscarora War and its aftermath. In 1711, the Tuscarora
Tuscarora (tribe)
The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...

 began attacking colonists in North Carolina after diplomatic attempts to address various grievances failed. The governor of North Carolina asked South Carolina for military aid. Before the war was over several years later, South Carolina had mustered and sent two armies against the Tuscarora. The ranks of both armies were made up mostly of Indians, with Yamasee
Yamasee
The Yamasee were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans that lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida.-History:...

 troops especially.

The first army, under the command of John Barnwell, campaigned in North Carolina in 1712. By the end of the year, a fragile peace had been established, and the army dispersed. No Cherokee were involved in the first army. Hostilities between the Tuscarora and North Carolina broke out soon after.

In late 1712 to early 1713, a second army from South Carolina fought the Tuscarora. This army consisted of about 100 British and over 700 Indian soldiers. As with the first army, the second depended heavily on the Yamasee and Catawba
Catawba (tribe)
The Catawba are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill...

. This time, however, hundreds of Cherokee also joined the army. The army's campaign ended after a major Tuscarora defeat at Hancock's Fort. All told, over 1,000 Tuscarora and allied Indians were killed or captured. Those captured were mainly sold into the Indian slave trade
Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas
Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas took many forms throughout North and South America. Slavery was institution among various Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas; however, chattel slavery was introduced after European and African contact. Indigenous peoples have...

. Although the second army from South Carolina disbanded soon after the battle, the Tuscarora War continued for several years. Some previously neutral Tuscarora turned hostile, and the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 confederacy entered the dispute. In the end a large number of Tuscarora moved north to live among the Iroquois.

The Tuscarora War altered the geopolitical context of colonial America in several ways, including an increased Iroquois interest in the South. For the many southeastern Indians involved, it was the first time so many had collaborated in a military campaign. It was also the first time they saw how different the various English colonies were. As a result, the war helped to bind the Indians of the entire region together. It enhanced Indian networks of communication and trade. The Cherokee became much more closely integrated with the region's various Indians and Europeans. The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of an English-Cherokee relationship that, despite breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century.

Destruction of Chestowee

The Tuscarora War also marked the rise of Cherokee military power, demonstrated in the 1714 attack and destruction of the Yuchi
Yuchi
For the Chinese surname 尉迟, see Yuchi.The Yuchi, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American Indian tribe who traditionally lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee in the 16th century. During the 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina...

 town of Chestowee (in today's Bradley County, Tennessee). The English traders Alexander Long and Eleazer Wiggan instigated the attack through various deceptions and promises, although there had been pre-existing conflict between the Cherokee and Yuchi. The traders' plot was based in the Cherokee town of Euphase (Great Hiwassee
Great Hiwassee
Great Hiwassee was an important Overhill Cherokee town from the late 17th through the early 19th centuries. It was located on the Hiwassee River in present-day Polk County, Tennessee, on the north bank of the river where modern U.S. Route 411 crosses the river...

). It mainly involved Cherokee from that town.

In May 1714, the Cherokee destroyed the Yuchi town of Chestowee. Inhabitants not killed or captured fled to the Creek or the Savannah River Yuchi. Long and Wiggan told the Cherokee that the South Carolina government wished for and approved this attack, which was not true. The governor of South Carolina, having heard of the plot, sent a messenger to tell the Cherokee not to continue the attack on Yuchi. The messenger arrived too late to save Chestowee. The Cherokee attack on the Yuchi ended with Chestowee, but it was enough to catch the attention of every Indian tribe and European colony in the region. Thus, around 1715, the Cherokee emerged as a major regional power.

Yamasee War

In 1715, just as the Tuscarora War was winding down, the Yamasee War broke out. Numerous Indian tribes launched attacks on South Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...

. The Cherokee participated in some of the attacks, but were divided on what course to take. After South Carolina's militia succeeded in driving off the Yamasee and Catawba
Catawba (tribe)
The Catawba are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill...

, the Cherokee became strategically pivotal. Both South Carolina and the Lower Creek tried to gain Cherokee support. Some Cherokee favored an alliance with South Carolina and war on the Creek, while others favored the opposite.

The impasse was resolved in January 1716, when a delegation of Creek leaders was murdered at the Cherokee town of Tugaloo
Tugaloo (Cherokee town)
Tugaloo was a Cherokee town on the Tugaloo River, at the mouth of Toccoa Creek, near present-day Toccoa, Georgia and very near the historic tavern called Travelers Rest....

. Subsequently, the Cherokee launched attacks against the Creek. In 1717, peace treaties between South Carolina and the Creek were completed, undermining the Cherokee's commitment to war. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades. These raids came to a head at the Battle of Taliwa
Battle of Taliwa
The Battle of Taliwa was fought in Ball Ground, Georgia in 1755. According to Cherokee folklore, it was mainly fought over land disputed between the Cherokees and Creek, with the Cherokees winning...

 in 1755, present-day Ball Ground, Georgia
Ball Ground, Georgia
Ball Ground is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1433 at the 2010 census.Ball Ground is at the northernmost end of Georgia Interstate 575, north of Canton at exit 20 on I-575, and ending seven miles north at exit 27...

, with the defeat of the Muscogee Creek. The Creek had already withdrawn most of their towns from what is now North Georgia
North Georgia
North Georgia is the hilly to mountainous northern region of the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of North Georgia were often scenes of important events in the history of Georgia...

 to create a buffer zone between themselves and the Cherokee.

In 1721, the Cherokee made their first land cession to the British, selling the South Carolina colony a small strip of land between the Saluda, Santee and Edisto rivers. In 1730, at Nikwasi
Nikwasi
Nikwasi was an important Cherokee town located on the Little Tennessee River at the site of present-day Franklin, North Carolina....

, Moytoy of Tellico was chosen as "Emperor" by the elders of the principal Cherokee towns. Sir Alexander Cumming had requested this to gain control over the Cherokee. Moytoy agreed to recognize King George II of Great Britain
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...

 as the Cherokee protector. Seven prominent Cherokee, including Attakullakulla, traveled with Sir Alexander Cuming to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The Cherokee delegation stayed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 for four months. The visit culminated in a formal treaty of alliance between the British and Cherokee, the 1730 Treaty of Whitehall
Treaty of Whitehall
The Treaty of Whitehall was signed between Louis XIV of France and James II of England in November 1686 as an agreement that Continental conflict would not disrupt peace and neutrality in New France and New England...

. While the journey to London and the treaty were important factors in future British-Cherokee relations, the title of Cherokee Emperor did not carry much clout among the Cherokee. Although Moytoy's son Amouskosette attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, the power in the Overhill country had shifted to Tanasi
Tanasi
Tanasi is a historic Overhill Cherokee village site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The village is best known as the namesake for the state of Tennessee...

, then to 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...

.

The unification of the Cherokee "empire" was essentially ceremonial, with political authority remaining town-based for decades afterward. In addition, Sir Alexander Cuming's aspirations to play an important role in Cherokee affairs failed. In 1735 the Cherokee were estimated to have sixty-four towns and villages and 6000 fighting men. In 1738-39 smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 was introduced to the country via sailors and slaves from the slave trade. An epidemic broke out among the Cherokee, who had no natural immunity. Nearly half their population died within a year. Hundreds of other Cherokee committed suicide due to disfigurement from the disease.

War with the Muskogee-Creeks

Cherokee folklore describes the conflict between the Cherokees and the Muscogees as being over disputed hunting grounds in what is now North Georgia
North Georgia
North Georgia is the hilly to mountainous northern region of the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of North Georgia were often scenes of important events in the history of Georgia...

, The last phase of the war lasted from 1753–1755. However, the war actually began in 1715 after the Cherokees invited all of the Muskogean leaders (there was no Creek tribe then) to a diplomatic conference in the Cherokee town of Tugaloo, at 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...

. At the behest of a Cherokee conjurer, the Cherokee hosts murdered all of the Creek leaders in their sleep, thus precipitating a fifty year long war. The English and French maps of the period show only a very small area in the northeastern tip of what is now Georgia, ever being occupied or claimed by the Cherokees, so the story of the joint hunting grounds is a myth. Later, after the Anglo-Cherokee War
Anglo-Cherokee War
The Anglo-Cherokee War , also known as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, the Cherokee Rebellion, was a conflict between British forces in North America and Cherokee Indians during the French and Indian War...

, the British Crown did create a relatively small joint hunting ground in northeast Georgia, which was approximately 20 miles wide and 50 miles long.

The Cherokees remember the war as a great victory for the Cherokees as a result of the Battle of Taliwa
Battle of Taliwa
The Battle of Taliwa was fought in Ball Ground, Georgia in 1755. According to Cherokee folklore, it was mainly fought over land disputed between the Cherokees and Creek, with the Cherokees winning...

 on the Etowah River
Etowah River
The Etowah River is a waterway that rises northwest of Dahlonega, Georgia, north of Atlanta. Its name is the Cherokee version of the original Muskogee word Etalwa, which means a "trail crossing". On Matthew Carey's 1795 map the river was labeled "High Town River"...

 in northwestern Georgia. However, actual archives from the period tell an opposite story. First of all, northwestern Georgia was claimed by France and occupied by their Indian allies, the Apalachicola. The Muskogee-Creeks were allies of the Colony of Georgia and Great Britain. They never were known to have lived in northwestern Georgia, or even claimed land in northwest Georgia. The word, Taliwa
Battle of Taliwa
The Battle of Taliwa was fought in Ball Ground, Georgia in 1755. According to Cherokee folklore, it was mainly fought over land disputed between the Cherokees and Creek, with the Cherokees winning...

, in fact, is not Muskogee, but the Apalachicola word for "town." It is unlikely that the Muskogee-Creeks, as allies of Great Britain, would have fought on behalf of Indians allied with France.

French military maps of the period show all of what is now northwestern Georgia to be occupied by tribes allied with France until 1763. In fact, in 1757, a large contigent of Upper Creeks, allied with France, relocated from what is now north-central Alabama to northwestern Georgia to reinforce the Apalachicola. They remained in the region till 1763. Taliwa may have been burned by an Overhills Cherokee Army, but it was not a Muskogee town. That battle had nothing to do with the fifty year long battle with the Muskogees.

Evidence which refutes the Cherokee version of the Cherokee-Muskogee War is in the archives of the Georgia Historical Society
Georgia Historical Society
Georgia Historical Society is the premier independent statewide institution responsible for collecting, examining, and teaching Georgia history...

. The letters and reports of Georgia colonial officials and Indian traders describe a series of devastating attacks between 1750 and 1755 on the Valley Cherokee towns in North Carolina and Lower Cherokee towns in northeastern Georgia, which left the region depopulated and being used as Creek hunting grounds. One Georgia trader to the Creeks reported that the Koweta Creeks even sent boys and women into battle to mock the Cherokees before defeating them yet again. He also wrote that the Koweta Creeks maintained a place outside the town, where they burned Cherokee captives. The general reliability of these reports are confirmed by a map prepared by Dr. John Mitchell
John Mitchell
-Politics:*John Mitchell *John Mitchel , Irish nationalist*John N. Mitchell , United States Attorney General and Watergate conspirator*John Mitchell , United States Congressman from Pennsylvania...

 in 1755, which shows all of the Valley and Georgia Cherokee towns burned and abandoned in that year.

Anglo-Cherokee War (1760)

Upon hearing reports that the French were planning to build forts in Cherokee territory (as they had with Ft. Charleville at the Great Salt Lick, now Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

), the British hastened to build forts of their own, completing Fort Prince George near Keowee
Keowee
Keowee was a Cherokee town in the north of present-day South Carolina. It was settled in what is present day Oconee County, the westernmost county of South Carolina, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just north of Clemson...

 (in South Carolina) among the Lower Towns, and in 1756, Fort Loudoun
Fort Loudoun
Fort Loudoun was the name of three British forts built during the French and Indian War in North America. They were named for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun.*Fort Loudoun in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee...

 near Chota. In this year the Cherokee gave their assistance to the British in 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...

; however, serious misunderstandings between the two allies arose quickly. In 1760, the Cherokee besieged both forts, eventually capturing Fort Loudoun. The British retaliated by destroying 15 Cherokee communities in 1761, and peace treaties ending hostilities were signed by the end of the year. A Royal Proclamation of 1763
Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

 from King George III forbade British settlements west of the Appalachian crest, attempting to afford some temporary protection from encroachment to the Cherokee, but it proved difficult to enforce.

The Cherokee and Chickasaw continued to war intermittently with the Shawnee along the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...

 for many years; the Shawnee allied with the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...

, who remained at war with the Cherokee until 1768.

War with the Chickasaw and major land cessions in 1763

After their devastating defeat by the Muskogee-Creeks, the Valley Cherokees essentially ceased to exist. The Overhills Cherokees had lost several towns to the Upper Creeks during the first two years of the French & Indian War, but changed sides in 1757; thus avoiding any more losses. Still able to muster about 800 warriors, the Overhills Cherokees turned their attention west, to the hunting grounds of the Chickasaw in what is now the portion of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 north of the Tennessee River – from 1758 to 1769. After eleven years of intermittent warfare, they were defeated at the Battle of Chickasaw Old Fields.

In 1763 the French and Indian War ended with a complete victory for the British Empire. The Cherokees were punished for switching sides in 1758 by the loss of all of their lands east of the 80th longitude line. This line runs through modern day Murphy, NC and is about 45 miles west of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians , is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America, who are descended from Cherokee who remained in the Eastern United States while others moved, or were forced to relocate, to the west in the 19th century. The history of the...

 Reservation today. Having lost all but the extreme western tip of North Carolina's current boundaries. the surviving North Carolina Cherokees had no place to go. The British Crown allowed them to occupy the northwestern corner of what is now the boundaries of Georgia, plus the northeastern tip of what is now the State of Alabama. These were areas formerly occupied by Indian allies of the French.

To compensate the Muskogee-Creeks for their constant loyalty to Great Britain, the British Crown gave the remainder of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, to the Creeks, plus opened up all of Florida to Creek migration. Those Creeks, who migrated to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 later became known as the Seminoles.

Watauga Association

Following the Battle of Alamance
Battle of Alamance
The Battle of Alamance was the final battle of the War of the Regulation, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over issues of taxation and local control. In the past, historians considered the battle to be the opening salvo of the American Revolution and locals agreed with this assessment...

 in 1771, which brought their Regulator movement to an end, many North Carolinians refused to take the new oath of allegiance to the Royal Crown and withdrew from the province. One of these, James Robertson, led a group of some twelve or thirteen Regulator families from near where present day Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

 now stands into the west. Believing they were in the territorial limits of the colony of Virginia, they settled on the banks of the Watauga River
Watauga River
The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 60 miles long with its headwaters on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain and Peak Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina.-Hydrography:...

. After a survey proved their mistake, Deputy Superintendent Cameron ordered them to leave. However, certain Cherokee leaders in the region interceded on their behalf, and they were allowed to remain, provided there was no further encroachment.

In 1772, Robertson and the pioneers who had eventually settled in Northeast Tennessee (along the Watauga
Watauga River
The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 60 miles long with its headwaters on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain and Peak Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina.-Hydrography:...

, the Doe
Doe River
The Doe River is a naturally flowing river in northeast Tennessee that forms in Carter County near the North Carolina line, just south of Roan Mountain State Park.-Hydrography:...

, the Holston
Holston River
The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia...

, and the Nolichucky River
Nolichucky River
The Nolichucky River is a major stream draining the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and east Tennessee. The river is long.-Hydrography:...

s) met at Sycamore Shoals
Sycamore Shoals
The Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River, usually shortened to Sycamore Shoals, is a rocky stretch of river rapids along the Watauga River in Elizabethton, in the U.S. state of Tennessee...

 to establish an independent regional government known as the Watauga Association
Watauga Association
The Watauga Association was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is now present day Elizabethton, Tennessee...

.

The Cherokee would soon come to regret their generosity, because these settlements and branches on the Cumberland River were to become the bane of their existence.

Transylvania Purchase

In response to the first attempt by Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...

 and his party to establish a settlement inside the hunting grounds of Kentucky, the Shawnee, Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...

 (Delaware), Mingo
Mingo
The Mingo are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans made up of peoples who migrated west to the Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century. Anglo-Americans called these migrants mingos, a corruption of mingwe, an Eastern Algonquian name for Iroquoian-language groups in general. Mingos have also...

, and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone’s son. This sparked the beginning of what was known as Dunmore's War
Dunmore's War
Dunmore's War was a war in 1774 between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations....

 (1773–1774), named after the governor of the Virginia colony at the time.

One year later at Sycamore Shoals, in 1775, a group of North Carolina speculators led by Richard Henderson negotiated the Treaty of Watauga with Overhill Cherokee leaders, chief of whom were Oconostota and Attakullakulla, in which the Cherokee surrendered claim to the Kain-tuck-ee (Ganda'gi) lands and supposedly gave the Transylvania Land Company
Transylvania (colony)
Transylvania, or the Transylvania Colony, was a short-lived, extra-legal colony founded in 1775 by Richard Henderson, who controlled the North Carolina based Transylvania Company, which had reached an agreement to purchase the land from the Cherokee in the "Treaty of Sycamore Shoals"...

 ownership. This treaty disregarded the claims to the region by other tribes such as the Shawnee and Chickasaw.

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...

, chief of Great Island Town (Amoyeli Egwa) and son of Attakullakulla, refused to go along with the deal. He told the North Carolina men, “You have bought a fair land, but there is a cloud hanging over it; you will find its settlement dark and bloody”. The governors of Virginia and North Carolina repudiated the Watauga treaty, and Henderson had to flee to avoid arrest.

Second Cherokee War

The year after the beginning of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

, the Shawnee chief Cornstalk
Cornstalk
Cornstalk was a prominent leader of the Shawnee nation just prior to the American Revolution. His name, Hokoleskwa, translates loosely into "stalk of corn" in English, and is spelled Colesqua in some accounts...

 led a delegation from the northern tribes to the southern tribes and met with the Cherokee leaders at Chota, calling for united action against those they called the Long Knives. At the close of his speech, he offered his war belt, and Dragging Canoe (Tsiyugunisini) accepted it, along with Abraham of Chilhowee
Chilhowee (Cherokee town)
Chilhowee was a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Blount County and Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States...

 (Tsulawiyi). Dragging Canoe of Great Island also accepted belts from the Ottawa and the Iroquois, while Savanukah
Savanukah
Savanukah was the Raven of Chota in the late 18th century. The nephew of Oconostota, he became First Beloved Man of the Cherokee in the fall of 1781. He was ousted by the elders of the Overhill towns in 1783 in favor of the more pacifist Old Tassel...

, the Raven of Chota, accepted the belt from the Lenape.

The Middle Towns were to attack South Carolina, the Lower Towns Georgia, and the Overhill Towns Virginia and North Carolina. The Overhill Cherokee offensive proved to be disastrous for the attackers, however, because the settlers had been warned by the Beloved Woman (the female equivalent of Beloved Man, or chief) Nancy Ward
Nancy Ward
Nanyehi , known in English as Nancy Ward was a Ghigau, or Beloved Woman of the Cherokee Nation, which meant that she was allowed to sit in councils and to make decisions, along with the other Beloved Women, on pardons...

, particularly those under Dragging Canoe going up against the Holston settlements. Abraham of Chilhowee was likewise unsuccessful in his attempt to take Fort Watauga
Fort Watauga
Fort Watauga, more properly Fort Caswell, was an American Revolutionary War fort that once stood at the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee...

, and Savanukah did no real military damage. After the failed raids, Dragging Canoe led his warriors to South Carolina to join in the attack of the Lower Towns.

In response, North Carolina sent 2400 militia to scour the Middle Towns while South Carolina and Georgia sent 2000 men to attack the Lower Towns. In all, they destroyed more than fifty towns, burned their houses and food, destroyed their orchards, slaughtered livestock, and killed hundreds, as well as put survivors on the slave auction block. In the meantime, Virginia sent a large force and North Carolina volunteers to the Overhill Towns. By this time, Dragging Canoe had returned with his warriors and calling for them to burn their own towns, send the women, children, and old below the Hiwassie, and ambush the Virginians at the French Broad River
French Broad River
The French Broad River flows from near the village of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into the state of Tennessee. Its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville is the beginning of the Tennessee River....

. Oconostota advocated making peace at any price and the rest of the older chiefs agreed.

Dragging Canoe gathered those of like mind and migrated southwest, even as those from the Lower Towns poured into North Georgia
North Georgia
North Georgia is the hilly to mountainous northern region of the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of North Georgia were often scenes of important events in the history of Georgia...

. The Virginia force found Great Island, Citico (Sitiku), Toqua (Dakwa), Tuskeegee (Taskigi), and Great Tellico deserted, with only the older leaders who had opposed the younger ones and their war remaining. Christian, commander of the Virginia force, limited the reprisal in the Overhill Towns to the burning of the deserted towns.

The next year, 1777, the Cherokee in the Hill, Valley, Lower, and Overhill towns signed the Treaty of Dewitt’s Corner with Georgia and South Carolina and the Treaty of Fort Henry with Virginia and North Carolina agreeing to stop warring and ceding the lands of the Lower Towns, with those colonies promising in return to protect them from attack, a promise that was ephemeral at best.

Chickamauga Wars


The area to which Dragging Canoe and his band migrated was in what is now the region of 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...

, and here they set established eleven new towns, four of which bore names of towns on the Little Tennessee: Toqua, Citico, Tuskeegee, and even Chota. He himself made his headquarters in the town called Chickamauga, which lent its name to the entire surrounding area, for which reason the frontiersmen and colonists called his band the "Chickamauga
Chickamauga Indian
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...

" or the "Chickamauga Cherokee", though they were never a separate tribe. From here Dragging Canoe began a guerrilla war that lasted nearly two decades and terrorized the entire western frontier from the edge of the Muscogee nation north to the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 and east into Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as Georgia.

Because of the activities of the Chickamauga Cherokee, the frontiersmen, and sometimes the colonies and later states, launched punitive raids against the Cherokee, usually against the Overhill Towns. However, large forces invaded the Chickamauga area in 1777 and destroyed all eleven towns. After that occurred again in 1782, Dragging Canoe and his people shifted west and southwest yet again, this time to what became known as the Five Lower Towns (though they later number much more than five), which were west of the edge of the Cumberland Mountains and below the series of navigation hazards in the Tennessee River Gorge
Tennessee River Gorge
The Tennessee River Gorge is a canyon formed by the Tennessee River once known as Cash Canyon. It is the fourth largest river gorge in the Eastern United States. The gorge is cut into the Cumberland Plateau as the river winds its way into Alabama from Tennessee. The Tennessee River Gorge is home...

. Due to their new location, and additions of population from the understandably unhappy Lower Towns people, he and his people began to be referred from this point as the "Lower Cherokee". Their headquarters area was never invaded again until the final year of the wars.

It was about this time that Dragging Canoe, now based out of Running Water Town (Amogayunyi, at the current Whiteside, Tennessee
Whiteside, Tennessee
Whiteside is an unincorporated community in Marion County, Tennessee. It lies at an elevation of 807 feet ....

), began to work extensively in cooperation with the Upper Muscogee, often as separate forces but sometimes coming together for large operations. The Shawnee and other northern tribes were allies already, the Shawnee even sending warriors to fight with those of his band; the noted war leader Chiksika
Cheeseekau
Cheeseekau , better known as Matthew, was a war chief of the Kispoko division of the Shawnee Nation. Also known as Pepquannakek , Popoquan , Sting, and Chiksika. He was also known as "The Shawnee Warrior" by the Cherokee...

 and his younger brother Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...

 were among one of the Shawnee war parties who did so, staying for nearly two years. The Cherokee, of course, responded in kind and sent warriors north.

Just as Dragging Canoe and those of like mind among the other tribes of the South were coming together in a coalition to fight the Americans with the help of the British, the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

 was signed in 1783. Dragging Canoe simply travelled south to Pensacola and obtained the support of the Spanish 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...

 to continue his war, still maintaining relations with the British governor at Detroit.

In 1788, the murder of Old Tassel
Old Tassel
Utsi'dsata, or Corntassel, known to history as Old Tassel, became First Beloved Man, at least of the Overhill and other non-belligerent Cherokee, in 1783 after the elders removed his predecessor, The Raven of Chota...

, the headman of the Overhill Cherokee and head chief of the Cherokee, along with several other pacifist chiefs while on an embassy to the State of Franklin
State of Franklin
The State of Franklin, known also as the Free Republic of Franklin or the State of Frankland , was an unrecognized autonomous United States territory created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been offered,...

 and the invitation of the latter enraged the whole Cherokee people. More joined the Chickamauga Cherokee in their raids or carried out ones of their own than ever before. In response, Franklin sent out a large force to invade the Five Lower Towns, but this was soundly defeated at the foot of 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...

. Dragging Canoe raised an army of Cherokee and Muscogee that numbered over three thousand, which split into war bands, some of which were hundreds strong.

Four more years of frontier warfare ensued. Dragging Canoe came back to his home town in 1792 after a long diplomatic trip which had seen the Lower Muscogee and Choctaw accepting his invitation to join the war (but which the Chickasaw had rejected). However, the morning after a huge dance at Lookout Mountain Town (Utsutigwayi or "Stecoyee" —now 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....

) celebrating his diplomatic successes —as well as those of a recent raid by The Glass
The Glass (Cherokee chief)
Tagwadihi , better known as The Glass, was a leading chief of the Cherokee in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, eventually becoming the last principal chief of the Lower Cherokee...

 and his brother Turtle-at-Home
Turtle-at-Home
Turtle-at-Home, or Selukuki Wohelengh, was a Cherokee warrior and leader, brother of Dragging Canoe and one of his chief lieutenants during the Chickamauga wars...

 on the Cumberland River and into Kentucky —Dragging Canoe was found dead.

He was succeeded as leader of the Lower Cherokee by the nephew of Old Tassel, 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...

, with the assistance of Bloody Fellow and Doublehead
Doublehead
Doublehead or Incalatanga , was one of the most feared warriors of the Cherokee during the Chickamauga Wars. In 1788, his brother, Old Tassel, was chief of the Cherokee people, but was killed under a truce by frontier rangers. In 1791 Doublehead was among a delegation of Cherokees who visited U.S...

. One of the first things Watts did was renew the alliance with Spain through West Florida and shifted his headquarters to Willstown (now Fort Payne, Alabama
Fort Payne, Alabama
Fort Payne is a city in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 12,938. The city is the county seat of DeKalb County. It bills itself as the "Official Sock Capital of the World."...

). The next year, though, he sent a delegation to Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, then capital of the Southwest Territory
Southwest Territory
The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States as the State of Tennessee.The Southwest Territory was...

, to seek terms of peace. This delegation, which included his deputy Doublehead, was attacked. Watts answered this action by raising the largest single native force seen on the frontier to date, one single army of over one thousand Cherokee, Muscogee, and Shawnee. They were thwarted in their hostile intentions on Knoxville but did manage to destroy several smaller settlements along the way. The activities at one of these, Cavett's Station, set in motion rivalries that would dominate Cherokee affairs into the 19th century.

In autumn the next year, 1794, General Robertson, military commander of the Mero District (as the Cumberland River settlements were then called) in the Southwest Territory received word that the Lower Cherokee and the Muscogee were planning large-scale attacks on his region. He sent a large force of U.S. army regulars, Mero District militia, and Kentucky volunteers south. The force attacked Nickajack, one of the Five Lower Towns, without warning, destroying it completely, then proceeded to Running Water and destroying it as well. Fortunately for the Cherokee, the greater part of the populations of those two towns was at a stickball play several miles to the south at Crow Town.

That incident, combined with the defeat that summer of the army of their northern allies under Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket or Weyapiersenwah was a war chief of the Shawnee people, known for his militant defense of Shawnee lands in the Ohio Country...

 of the Shawnee and Little Turtle of the Miami
Miami tribe
The Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...

, convinced Watts and his fellow war leaders that the end of the wars was inevitable. The Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse was signed 7 November 1794, ending the Chickamauga wars.

After the wars

Following the peace treaty, the leaders of the Lower Cherokee were dominant in national affairs. When the national government of all the Cherokee was organized to form the original Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation (19th century)
The Cherokee Nation of the 19th century —an historic entity —was a legal, autonomous, tribal government in North America existing from 1794–1906. Often referred to simply as The Nation by its inhabitants, it should not be confused with what is known today as the "modern" Cherokee Nation...

, the first three persons to hold the office of Principal Chief —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...

 (1794–1801), Black Fox (1801–1811), and Pathkiller
Pathkiller
Pathkiller, , fought in the Revolutionary War for Britain, then in the Chickamauga Wars against American frontiersmen . He was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1811-1827. Pathkiller, a fullblood, "unacculturated" Cherokee, was the last individual from a conservative background to...

 (1811–1827) —had all previously served as warriors under Dragging Canoe; as had the first two Speakers of the Cherokee National Council, Doublehead
Doublehead
Doublehead or Incalatanga , was one of the most feared warriors of the Cherokee during the Chickamauga Wars. In 1788, his brother, Old Tassel, was chief of the Cherokee people, but was killed under a truce by frontier rangers. In 1791 Doublehead was among a delegation of Cherokees who visited U.S...

 and Turtle-at-Home
Turtle-at-Home
Turtle-at-Home, or Selukuki Wohelengh, was a Cherokee warrior and leader, brother of Dragging Canoe and one of his chief lieutenants during the Chickamauga wars...

. In addition, other former Chickamauga warriors such as Bloody Fellow, The Glass
The Glass (Cherokee chief)
Tagwadihi , better known as The Glass, was a leading chief of the Cherokee in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, eventually becoming the last principal chief of the Lower Cherokee...

, and Dick Justice dominated the political affairs of the Cherokee Nation for the next twenty years, being in many ways more conservative (keeping as many of the old ways as possible) while embracing many facets of acculturation.

The Lower Cherokee had their governmental seat at Willstown, in what was known as the "Lower Towns". Roughly speaking, the Lower Towns were south of the Hiwassee River along the Tennessee down to the north border of the Muscogee nation and west of the Conasauga and Ustanali in Georgia while the Upper Towns were north and east of the same and between the Chattahoochee and Conasauga.

The seat of the Upper Towns was at Ustanali (bear Calhoun, Georgia
Calhoun, Georgia
Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 15,650. The city is the county seat of Gordon County.-Geography:Calhoun is located at , along the Oostanaula River....

), also the titular seat of the Nation, and with the former warriors James Vann and his protégés The Ridge
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge was a Cherokee Indian member of the tribal council, a lawmaker, and a leader. He was a veteran of the Chickamauga Wars, the Creek War, and the First Seminole War.Along with Charles R...

 (formerly known as Pathkiller) and Charles R. Hicks
Charles R. Hicks
Charles Renatus Hicks was one of the most important Cherokee leaders in the early 19th century; together with James Vann and Major Ridge, he was one of a triumvirate of younger chiefs urging the tribe to acculturate to European-American ways and supported a Moravian mission school to educate the...

, the "Cherokee Triumvirate", as their dominant leaders, particularly of the younger more acculturated generation. The leaders of these towns were the most progressive, favoring acculturation, formal education, and modern methods of farming.

The settlements of the Cherokee remaining in the highlands of western North Carolina which had become known as the Hill Towns, with their seat at Quallatown, and the lowland Valley Towns, with their seat now at Tuskquitee, were more traditional, as was the Upper Town of Etowah, notable for being inhabited mostly by full-bloods and for being the largest town in the Nation.

When pressure began to be applied to the Cherokee Nation for its members to emigrate westward across the Mississippi, leaders of the Lower Cherokee were the first to lead parties away for good. Likewise, the remaining leaders of the Lower Towns (those mentioned above, Young Dragging Canoe, 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...

 (George Guess), others) proved to be the strongest advocates of that course of action. The domination of the former warriors over the external affairs of the Nation lasted until a revolt of the young chiefs in the Upper Towns in 1808 which temporarily unseated Black Fox, The Glass, and others —until the reunification council at Willstown the next year abolished separate regional councils.

Eastern Band

Out of gratitude to Thomas, these Western North Carolina Cherokees served in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 as part of what became known as the Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders. Thomas' Legion consisted of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The legion mustered approximately 2,000 men of both Cherokee and white origin, fighting on behalf of the Confederacy, primarily in Virginia, where their battle record was outstanding. Thomas' Legion, along with the Western District of North Carolina under Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

 General John Echols
John Echols
John Echols was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:Echols was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was educated at the Virginia Military Institute, Washington College and Harvard College. A tall imposing man, standing 6 feet 4 inches tall, Echols...

 (of which it was the only effective unit) surrendered after capturing Waynesville, North Carolina
Waynesville, North Carolina
Waynesville is a town in and the county seat of Haywood County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest town in Haywood County and the largest in Western North Carolina west of Asheville. Waynesville is located about or 50 km southwest of Asheville between the Great Smoky and Blue...

 on May 9, 1865, after learning of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of original and reconstructed nineteenth century buildings. It was signed into law August 3, 1935. The village was made a national monument in 1940 and a national historical park in 1954...

 (the decision was made by Brig. Gen. Echols, the senior commander; Thomas wanted to keep fighting). They agreed to cease hostilities on the condition of being allowed to retain their arms for hunting. Brig. Gen. Stand Watie
Stand Watie
Stand Watie , also known as Standhope Uwatie, Degataga , meaning “stand firm”), and Isaac S. Watie, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

, commanding officer of the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
Army of the Trans-Mississippi
The Army of the Trans-Mississippi was the major Confederate field army for the Department of the Trans-Mississippi during the American Civil War...

 as well as Principal Chief of the Confederate Cherokee, demobilized his forces under a cease-fire agreement with the Union commander at Fort Towson
Fort Towson
Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma....

 (which was within in the territory Choctaw Nation) on July 23, 1865.

Western Bands

The Civil War was devastating for Western Cherokee, who fought on both sides of the war. After their forced removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...

 from their southern homelands to Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

, the Cherokee were wary of the South. The Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 wooed the Cherokee with promises of autonomy and security of their landholdings. In 1861, the Confederacy had three regiments of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole soldiers. These fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...

, Arkansas in 1862.

Because of the Native alliances with the Confederacy, in the summer of 1862, 5000 Union soldiers, under the command of Colonel William Weer
William Weer
William Weer was a lawyer, attorney general for Kansas and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War...

, 10th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry
10th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry
The 10th Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 10th Kansas Infantry was organized at Paola, Kansas by consolidating the 3rd Kansas Infantry and 4th Kansas Infantry, which had recruits, but were never...

, swept through Indian Territory. They fought the Confederacy at Locust Grove
Locust Grove, Oklahoma
Locust Grove is a town in Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,423 at the 2010 census compared to 1,366 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Locust Grove is located at ....

 in the Cherokee Nation on 2 July 1862. On 16 July 1862, Captain Greeno, 6th Kansas Cavalry, captured Tahlequah
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was founded as a capital of the original Cherokee Nation in 1838 to welcome those Cherokee forced west on the Trail of Tears. The city's population was 15,753 at the 2010 census. It...

, the capital of the Cherokee Nation. On 19 July, Colonel Jewell, 6th Kansas Cavalry, captured Fort Gibson, a strategic port.

Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole joined Union regiments organized by William A. Phillips
William A. Phillips
William Addison Phillips was a U.S. Representative from Kansas.Born in Paisley, Scotland, Phillips attended the common schools of Paisley....

, of Kansas. They fought battles in Missouri, Arkansas and the Honey Springs
Battle of Honey Springs
The Battle of Honey Springs was an American Civil War battle, an important victory for Union forces in their efforts to gain control of the Indian Territory. The battle was also unique in the fact that white soldiers were the minority in both forces...

 and Perryville in the Cherokee Nation.

The majority of Cherokee traditionalists supported abolishing slavery
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

, opposed the South, and formed an association known as the “Pin Indians
Original Keetoowah Society
The Original Keetoowah Society is a Cherokee religious organization that preserves the culture and teachings of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society in Oklahoma....

.” They identified themselves by a pair of crossed pins under their coat lapels.

Principal Chief John Ross tried to keep the Cherokee Nation out of the war and issued a proclamation of neutrality in 1861. Stand Watie
Stand Watie
Stand Watie , also known as Standhope Uwatie, Degataga , meaning “stand firm”), and Isaac S. Watie, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

, who supported the Confederacy, was a threat to John Ross’ authority. On May 21 of that year, the Cherokees held a council of over 4000 men. The majority present supported the South and Chief Ross agreed with them to maintain tribal unity. At the time, the South appeared to be winning the war and Union politicians expressed anti-Indian sentiments. In October 1861, Chief Ross signed a treaty with the Confederate States of America.

In the summer of 1862, Union troops captured Principal Chief Ross, who was paroled and spent the remainder of the war in Washington and Philadelphia. He worked to convince the government of the Cherokee Nation to remain loyal to the Union.

In 1863 the Cherokee Nation abolished slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 and emancipated
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...

 all Cherokee slaves. As a result of the nation's alliance with the Confederacy, the US government required it to agree to a new treaty. This stipulated that Cherokee freedmen must be accepted by the tribe as full members, just as their counterparts were made citizens of the United States throughout the South.

On June 23, 1865, Brigadier General Stand Watie
Stand Watie
Stand Watie , also known as Standhope Uwatie, Degataga , meaning “stand firm”), and Isaac S. Watie, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

, a Cherokee leader, became the last Confederate general to surrender in the war.

20th century

Cherokee have proudly served in both World Wars. Approximately 600 Cherokee and Choctaw served in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 in the 142nd Infantry Division of the 36th Texas-Oklahoma National Guard Division.

While Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...

 and Navajo code talkers are well known, Cherokee men also served as code talkers in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, with as many as 40 of them using their native language for sensitive communications.

Rear Admiral Joseph "Jocko" Clark
Joseph J. Clark
Admiral Joseph James "Jocko" Clark, USN was an admiral in the United States Navy, who commanded aircraft carriers during World War II. A native of Oklahoma, Clark was a member of the Cherokee tribe...

, an Oklahoma Cherokee, was a highly decorated Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 as a result of his achievements in commanding aircraft carriers in World War II. He achieved the highest rank of a Native American in the US military.

Second Lieutenant Billy Walkabout
Billy Walkabout
Billy Walkabout is thought to be the most decorated Native American soldier of the Vietnam War. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, five Silver Stars , ten Bronze Star five with Valor device, one Army Commendation Medals , and six Purple...

, an Oklahoma Cherokee of the Blue Clan, was the most-decorated Native American veteran of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. He served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Company F, 58th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division (United States)
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...

.

21st century

The United Keetoowah Band Lighthorse Color Guard is composed of UKB military veterans. "If you're Native American, you're going to fight harder. That's the kind of track record the Keetoowah Cherokee veterans have. You fought harder because this is your country," UKB Chief George Wickliffe has said.

Cherokee Nation veterans who were honorably discharged may join the Cherokee Nation Warriors Society
Cherokee Nation Warriors Society
The Cherokee Nation Warriors Society is a society of Cherokee Nation tribal members who are also military veterans, and who were honorably discharged from military service. The society is based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and is administered by the Cherokee Nation Office of Veterans Affairs...

. They often provide a color guard for civic events and powwow
PowWow
PowWow is a wireless sensor network mote developed by the Cairn team of IRISA/INRIA. The platform is currently based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard radio transceiver and on an MSP430 microprocessor...

s. Veterans are specially honored at the Eastern Band's annual fall festival.
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