The Cherokee-American Wars

Phase Two, 1783-1794

by Denise Weimer

"The Cherokees Are Coming," Knoxville, 1793

Their marriage of convenience offers Moravian missionaries John and Clarissa Kliest enough of a challenge in my novel releasing this month, The Witness Tree. But it’s certainly not the only hardship they face. It’s 1805, and the couple join a party journeying from the quaint town of Salem, North Carolina, into Cherokee Indian Territory. John, a builder and surveyor, and Clarissa, a linguist and teacher, are to lend their expertise at a mission school for children of the Cherokee chiefs in what is now Northwest Georgia. John yearns for adventure, but the fact that those same Indians were at war with the Americans just above a short decade ago makes Clarissa more than a little nervous.

In today’s post, we’re looking at the second part of The Cherokee-American Wars, 1783-1794, that led up to my story.

After siding with the British in the American Revolution, the Cherokees relocated westward and southward to the “Five Lower Towns.” They became known as the Lower Cherokee. Encroaching settlers forced many Cherokees to sign the Treaty of Hopewell in 1785, but dissatisfaction and Spanish support led to the Cherokee War of 1786. Warriors of Chief Dragging Canoe and a large contingent of Creek Indians attacked White’s Fort near modern Knoxille, then raided along the upper Holston, Cumberland, and even into Kentucky. John Sevier sent soldiers to attack Valley Towns, ending in the Treaty of Coyatee. However, many Cherokees joined a Western Confederacy of Native Americans formed in 1786 and continued raids and campaigns.

Around 1790, a couple of years before the death of Dragging Canoe, a chief named Doublehead came to prominence, working largely independent of the Lower Cherokees. In a 1793 incident, his warriors cooked and ate their enemies. At Cavett’s Station, Tennessee, he and his warriors killed settlers, mainly women and children, who had surrendered. Chief James Vann, who later invited the Moravian missionaries to his plantation, succeeded in saving one boy from Doublehead’s ax. After that day, Vann and Doublehead became lifelong enemies, and Doublehead earned the moniker “Babykiller.”

The frontier war finally ended in 1794, after U.S. Army Regulars burned the villages of Nickajack and Running Water. The Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse was signed in November of 1794. After this time, former warriors dominated governance of the Cherokee Nation, leading it into an era of education, diplomacy, and attempted assimilation with the Americans. They even fought alongside the Americans in the Creek War, part of the War of 1812. I’ve got a story coming about that too! But if you haven’t read The Witness Tree yet, check it out at (The Witness Tree on Amazon).

Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing editor for Smitten Historical Romance imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and the author of The Georgia Gold Series, The Restoration Trilogy, and a number of novellas, including Across Three Autumns of Barbour’s Colonial Backcountry Brides Collection. A wife and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses! Connect with Denise here:

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The Cherokee-American Wars

Phase One, 1776-1783

by Denise Weimer

Their marriage of convenience offers Moravian missionaries John and Clarissa Kliest enough of a challenge in my novel releasing this month, The Witness Tree. But it’s certainly not the only hardship they face. It’s 1805, and the couple join a party journeying from the quaint town of Salem, North Carolina, into Cherokee Indian Territory. John, a builder and surveyor, and Clarissa, a linguist and teacher, are to lend their expertise at a mission school for children of the Cherokee chiefs in what is now Northwest Georgia. John yearns for adventure, but the fact that those same Indians were at war with the Americans just above a short decade ago makes Clarissa more than a little nervous.

The Cherokee-American Wars divide into two phases, 1776-1783, and 1783-1794. Today we’ll focus on that first phase, when the Cherokees fought as allies of Great Britain against America’s bid for independence.

Early on, when the English strategy focused on the North, the Cherokees received only supplies from coastal ports and limited joint operations in South Carolina. Each section of Cherokee warriors (Middle, Out and Valley Town; Lower Towns; and Overhill Towns) were to attack different portions of the frontier, with the Overhill under Dragging Canoe (along the lower Little Tennessee and Hiwassee rivers) proving especially fierce. On one of their raids in conjunction with the Shawnee, they captured the daughter of Daniel Boone and two other teenage girls in a canoe on the Kentucky River. Boone and his men rescued them, but the incident provided inspiration for the plot of The Last of the Mohicans. 

Charles Ferdinand Wimar (1853) painting of abduction of Boone's daughter

Colonial militia responded to the raids by attacking and destroying more than fifty towns. While the older Overhill chiefs wanted to sue for peace, and indeed peace was signed in April 1777 at Fort Patrick Henry, Dragging Canoe sent the women and children south of the Hiwassee and burned the villages they left behind. His warriors continued to raid to the Holston River, Cumberland settlements, French Broad River, and Wilkes County, Georgia (my setting for Across Three Autumns), until the end of the Revolution.

In my November post, we’ll look at the second phase of the Cherokee-American Wars. Meanwhile, if you’re curious how the Kliests’ mission work goes, it’s release day for The Witness Tree! Hop on over the Singing Librarian Books to find out more and enter a grand prize giveaway (The Witness Tree on Amazon / SLB Witness Tree Tour). 

Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing editor for Smitten Historical Romance imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and the author of The Georgia Gold Series, The Restoration Trilogy, and a number of novellas, including Across Three Autumns of Barbour’s Colonial Backcountry Brides Collection. A wife and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses! Connect with Denise:

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