Tag: Chickamauga
The Chickamauga were a Cherokee people who dissented from the main Cherokee leaders during the 18th century over the continued accommodation of encroachment by white settlers, especially the 1775 Treaty of Watauga held at Sycamore Shoals, in which the Cherokee sold their claims to most of Kentucky. ‘Chickamauga’ or ‘Chickamauga Cherokees’ was a term used by whites to differentiate between the pro-British Cherokees, led by Dragging Canoe, and the supposedly neutral Overhill Cherokee of the Little Tennessee River Valley.
At the beginning of the American Revolution, a large American army forced the traditional leaders of the Overhill Cherokee to declare themselves neutral. Dragging Canoe, however, assured his adopted brother, Alexander Cameron, that he would keep the treaty obligations the Cherokees had with the Kingdom of Great Britain and help put down the rebellion.
Dragging Canoe (“Tsiyugunsini” in Cherokee), son of Attacullaculla, then Principal Chief of the Overhill Cherokee,…
