The Watauga Association

Life on the frontier was a system of improvisation.  Far away from the usual sources of government such as legislatures and courts, citizens banded together and come up with their own forms of government.  One of these, the Watauga Association, formed the nucleus of the modern state of Tennessee and was a source of constant conflict with the Chickamauga Cherokee and Settlers, and amongst the Cherokee themselves.

Beginning in the late 1760's and 1770's, Settlers mostly from Virginia began arriving in the Watauga, Nolichucky and Holston River Valleys in what is now northeastern Tennessee.  They believed that these lands were part of a cession from the Cherokee to Virginia and that they had a right to settle there.  However, a professional survey of the lands in question revealed that the land the Settlers were on was still part of the Cherokee domain and, more importantly, covered by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains.  Dragging Canoe of the Chickamauga Cherokee didn't need a survey to tell him that Settlers were encroaching on his people's hunting range and he was determined to drive them away with a series of raids. 

The Settlers in the three river valleys were ordered by royal officials to leave the area and took exception.  Their leaders brokered a 10-year-lease with Cherokee and formed the Watauga Association, taking the name of one of the rivers.  Subsequently, they purchased this land outright from the Cherokee.  Both the lease and purchase were strictly illegal from the royal point of view.  Further, Dragging Canoe, whose range was most affected, hadn't made any agreements with anyone and didn't believe himself bound to respect the settlements.  Dragging Canoe allied with the British during the American Revolution, hoping they would enforce the Proclamation of 1763 and keep Settlers out of Chickamauga Territory.  More settlers kept coming and, as the Revolutionary War loomed, they reformed their Watauga Association into the Washington District and petitioned Virginia to annex the area.  Virginia refused and later North Carolina briefly annexed what would become present-day Washington and Carter counties in Tennessee. 

Residence of the Wataugan lands were also known as the Overmountain men, rugged, tough farmers and settlers, of mostly Scottish, Irish or German extraction and allergic to rules or being told what to do.  They formed their own ad hoc government, complete with courts and a militia, which they were ready to use.  They were more than willing to defend their farms and settlements with their long rifles and were willing to take on Dragging Canoe.  They formed the backbone of frontier militias commanded by men such as George Rogers Clark and John Sevier, and as such were constant enemies of Dragging Canoe and other Cherokee leaders trying to hold onto their land.  Raids and reprisals went both ways between Settlers and Cherokee.  Eventually, though, representatives of the Cherokee Nation ceded control of the Watauga, Nolichucky and Holston River valleys to White Settlement in 1777.  The Chickamauga, though, weren't about to give up and continued the fight until the Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse in 1794.