Natives versus Settlers, the Nickajack Expedition of 1794

The Cherokee-American War, 1775-1794, was one of the longest-running Native versus Settler conflicts in American history.  This skirmish in the fall and summer of 1794 was the last gasp of the Chickamauga Cherokee.

The Chickamauga Cherokee had long resisted any kind of agreement with Settlers for more Cherokee land, eventually withdrawing to Tennessee, where they allied with like-minded Shawnee and Creek allies.  They kept up their raids on frontier settlements, operating from a town known as Nickajack, near a cave of the same name in present-day Marion County, Tennessee.  William Blount, Governor of what was then known as the Southwest Territory, opened negotiations with the Chickamauga, hoping for a peaceful settlement, when members of two prominent families were killed in 1794.  He decided instead on a punitive expedition against the Chickamauga.  Militia units from Tennessee and Kentucky banded together and marched against Nickajack Town and Running Water Town. 

Scouts had alerted the inhabitants of Nickajack Town of the militia's movements and most of its inhabitants fled, leaving a hundred or so warriors behind.  As these warriors fell back to Running Water Town, they met up with a war party coming from there.  They decided to engage the Americans and a series of skirmishes led to a final encounter on the banks of the Tennessee River.  The Chickamauga force was defeated, killing seventy warriors and burning both towns.  Only 3 settlers were wounded.  With this defeat, the Chickamauga had no choice but to agree to the Treaty of Tellico, signed in 1794.  This would be a fatal year of defeat for many Native tribes, including the end of the Northwest Indian War through the Battle of Fallen Timbers.