Tellico Blockhouse and the Treaties of Tellico

Blockhouses on the frontier served several purposes, including defense for local Settlers.  They were also centers of trade and could be meeting places for treaty parleys with local tribes.  Tellico Blockhouse, on the Little Tennessee River in what is now Monroe County, Tennessee served as the focal point for four treaties with the Cherokee.  The blockhouse was named for one of the principal Overhill Cherokee towns, Great Tellico.

The period of 1775-1794 saw continual skirmishing between the Cherokee, particularly the Overhill Cherokee and White Settlers who were coming into the Tennessee Valley.  Cherokee leader Hanging Maw opened talks with North Carolina Governor William Blount, who had control over what is now Tennessee, to build a blockhouse and fort in the area and appoint an agent to treat with the Cherokee.  Hanging Maw donated the land and construction began in 1794.  In 1795, Congress passed what was known as the factory act, formalizing relations with Native tribes through what they called factories, what we now know as agencies or trading posts.  Each factory was headed by an Indian Agent, or factor in the language of the time, whose job it was to serve as a liaison with the local tribe. 

The Blockhouse was surrounded by a palisade and quickly became the focal point for the surrounding community, both Natives and Settlers.  It even made the itinerary for foreign visitors, such as Louis-Philippe, Duc of Orleans and future King of France, who was one of many royal dignitaries to visit the frontier.  The fort remained in operation until 1807, when it was abandoned.  Modern archaeologists have uncovered the fort site and even artifacts from the people who lived and passed through it.  An outline of stones gives the blockhouse and palisade dimensions and layout.  Tellico Blockhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The four treaties concluded at Tellico Blockhouse included:

Treat of 1794, which brought an end to the Cherokee-American Wars.  Hanging Maw represented the Overhill Cherokee and John Watts was the signatory for the Chickamauga Cherokee.

First Treaty of Tellico of 1797, dealt with the problem of forcing squatters from Cherokee lands.  The Cherokee agreed to a cession of land in exchange for financial compensation. 

Second Treaty of Tellico of 1804, the Cherokee ceded land in Northern Georgia in return for financial compensation.

The Third and four Treaties of Tellico, signed on October 25 and October 27, 1805, acquired the area between the Cumberland and Duck Rivers.  The Cherokee leaders who signed were later accused of having done so for personal financial gain. 

Settlers versus Natives: Battle of Hightower, October 17, 1793

The Cherokee-American War (1775-1794) was one of the longest-running conflicts between Natives and Settlers, skirmishes on frontier towns and settlements and raids on Native villages punctuated by pitched battles.  The Battle of Hightower, sometimes called the Battle of Etowah, after a nearby Cherokee village, was one of these contests.

In the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell, the Cherokee agreed a specific set of boundaries for their homeland and hunting range.  This included areas in Tennessee, eastern North and South Carolina, nd Northern Georgia.  They also received assurances that the United States would keep trespassers out of Cherokee land.  If anyone trespassed on Native land, they could be punished as the Cherokee saw fit, with the exception of anyone accused of murdering a Cherokee.  These were to be punished by American jurisdiction.  The Cherokee also agreed to suspend trade with Spain.  However, there was no way to enforce this clause or any other terms of the treaty.  Settlers continued to make their way onto Cherokee land and Spanish traders infiltrated Cherokee territory, too. 

John Watts led a band of 1,000 Chickamauga and Muscogee warriors in attacks against American settlements.  The settlers, under Col. John Sevier, retaliated.  The two sides skirmished back and forth and tempers flared.  Near Knoxville Road on the French Broad River, Watts' force ambushed Cavett's Station.  The settlers there offered to surrender in return for promises of clemency, which Watts intended to allow them.  However, another Cherokee leader, named Doublehead, opposed Watt's lenient position and began killing prisoners despite the efforts of Watts and James Vann, whom we've already run across, to stop him.  This would deepen already hard feelings between Watts, Vann and Doublehead, which would fester later, but more on that.

Sevier learned of the attack and mustered his forces.  They caught up with a portion of Watts' force under a leader named Kingfisher in what is now Rome, Georgia and what was then near the Cherokee town of Etowah.  The Cherokee took up a defensive position on Myrtle Hill and tried to prevent Sevier from fording the Etowah River to attack.  Sevier forded the River further downstream and, when the Cherokee rushed to stop him, turned around and made straight for the village.  When Kingfisher was killed, Cherokee resistance collapsed.  Sevier's men rushed and burned the village of Etowah.  Nor was that all.  He burned several more Cherokee and Creek villages before heading back to Knoxville.

The war between the two sides would flare up again in 1794, as the frontier was never quiet.  The battle ground on Myrtle Hill is now a cemetery with a monument honoring Sevier's part in the battle, as he later became a governor of Tennessee.