Great Warrior: Bob Benge of the Chickamauga Cherokee

Time and again we've seen how mixed-race children of the frontier remained loyal to the Native side of their family.  This feared Chickamauga warrior is another example.  Bob Benge (C 1762-1794) was the son of a Cherokee woman and a Scots fur trader.  He was tall, redhaired and his favorite weapon was an axe.  As per custom with the Cherokee, he took his status from his mother's side of the family, where his great-uncles included Old Tassel and Doublehead, and his maternal uncle was John Watts, successor to Dragging Canoe.  Any of these men were qualified to rear a young warrior on the right path and they did a good job.  Captain Bench, or The Bench, as he was known to Whites, was a feared household name from Ohio to Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Little is known of Benge's early life.  He was born in the Overhill town of Toqua.  Whether his father provided him an education or not, he was able to speak English.  He rose to prominence during the Cherokee-American Wars (1775-1794) serving under Dragging Canoe and alongside such warriors from other tribes as Cheeseekau of the Shawnee, older brother and mentor to Tecumseh.  His fiercest opponent was often John Sevier of Tennessee, and Benge more than once interfered with Sevier's plans for punitive raids on Cherokee towns.  As fierce as he was a warrior, Benge was also a man of his word.  In 1788, Cherokee leaders reached agreement for the release of members of a Settler family, the Browns.  Some of them had already been exchanged to the Creeks, but three siblings remained with the Cherokee.  Joseph and Polly Brown were brought to the exchange point, but Jane Brown was missing.   Her foster family refused to release her.  Benge picked up his axe and went to explain matters to them, saying he would bring Jane or someone's head.  He brought Jane to the exchange point.

In 1793, John Watts led a raid that included Cavett's Station.  Benge negotiated the surrender of the Station, promising safe conduct for the women and children.  Doublehead and their Creek allies disagreed, believing that all the Settlers should be put to death.  Despite the pleas of Watts, Benge, and James Vann, Doublehead and his followers began killing the Settlers.  Benge tried to hand a young child to Vann, but was interrupted by Doublehead, who snatched the child away and killed him.  After this incident, Benge parted ways with his uncle, refusing to work with him anymore.  Benge was on a raid in what is now Wise County, Virginia in 1794 when he was killed in an ambush.  His scalp was sent to Governor Lighthorse Henry Lee and a local militiaman was given the credit for killing Benge.

Benge's son, John Benge, was appointed in 1838 as captain of a band of 1,000 Cherokee slated for removal from Alabama during the Trail of Tears.  Benge's axe is preserved in a museum in Texas today.