(Official Web Site of the Echota Cherokee)
As a result of federal policies mandated during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Native American culture was virtually decimated in Alabama. Among those who managed to avoid removal were a small group of Cherokee whose descendants today identify themselves as the Echota Cherokee.
Today there are approximately 22,000 descendants of these Chickamagua and the Cherokee refugees to whom the reservees gave sanctuary living in the state. In 1980 these descendants organized under the name Echota Cherokee and elected Joseph (Two Eagles) Stewart as Principal Chief. It was the spirit of persistence and rebuilding which prompted the selection of the name "Echota", which represents a Cherokee place of sanctuary and removal.
The members of the Echota tribe document their ancestry as Chichamauga Cherokee, who ceded from the Cherokee Nation over the issue of land cession to the U.S. Government in 1777. By the seventeenth century, the Cherokee had proven to be valuble friends and allies of the English colonists. A steady supply of guns and other European goods had begun to flow westward following James Needham's 1673 expedition causing the Cherokee to prefer peace and friendship with the English colonists over war and animosity.
The peaceful coexistance between the Cherokee and the colonists began to deteriorate when the latter began to push over the Cherokee boundaries. In 1775, Richard Henderson's alleged purchase of lands in the Cumberland river valley, by way of a treaty signed by a few elderly Cherokee chiefs, stirred resentment in the young Cherokee warriors. A year later, the situation climaxed when America won her independence from Britain. In spite of warnings from British Indian agents and Cherokee chiefs, there was a sudden great migration of settlers into the watershed of the Tennessee River. In retaliation for this voilation of its treaties, the Cherokee launched a major offensive which drove out all settlers except those in two or three isolated settlements.
The Americans, however, weren't daunted or punitive. Expenditions into Cherokee territory convinced older chiefs to seek peace. The 1777 treaty of DeWitt's Corner ceded Cherokee land in South Carolina along the Savannah and Salude Rivers also, the lands north of the Nolichucky were ceded in that same year.
These peace conferences and the decision not to resist further induced Dragging Canoe and a large number of Cherokee warriors, many of whom had been displaced by the land cessions, to secede from the Cherokee nation. Disenfranchised Creek Indians joined these Cherokee. Dragging Canoe's forces established a number of villages along the Chickamagua Creek. although the secessionists became known throughout as the Chickamagua because of their location, they considered themselves to be "Aniyuniwiya" the real Cherokee. Under the name 'Chickamaguas' they soon became noted for their uncompromising and never ceasing hostility. In 1777, with help of Alexander Cameron and John Stuart, (both British agents), the Chickamagua established an impressive war commissary. When their towns were destroyed in 1779 by Shelby's invasion, the Chickamaguas rebuilt their stores and in 1782, Dragging Canoe moved his people southward to a narrow gourge in the Cumberland Plateau, making approach to the new settlement extremely difficult.
There they established the five lower towns. Using small mobile war parties, the Chickamagua inflicted profound losses on white settlements disrupting travel and communications. In response, the settlers made devastating attacks, not on the Chickamagua, but on "friendly" Cherokee of the Five Upper towns. It is not clear whether this was due to genuine confusion between the Chickamagua and the Cherokee who desired peace, or because the settlers simply conveted the lands that the peaceful Cherokee occupied. Many moved south, into northern Georgia, others joind the Chickamagua. Thus, the ranks of warriors grew to seven hundred by 1789. In July of 1791, the remaining, much harassed Cherokee of the Five Upper towns signed the Treaty of Holston, which was heavily weighted in favor of the white settlers.
The Chickamagua, having repulsed yet another invasion onto their domain in March, also sent representatives to the Holston peace talks. Nevertheless, the resolute Chickamagua (determined not to surrender the lands of their fathers without exacting a high cost) along with their allies, continued their harassment of settlers during the summer of 1791.
Dragging Canoe, the great war chief of The Chickamagua, died March 1, 1792. During his chieftaincy, he refused to barter lands or allow his people to become powerless wards of the U.S. He died with his forces, towns, and supplies intact. Ready to continue his stuggle against the ever increasing white population. On his death, his nephew, John Watts was elected war chief and the capital was moved to Willstown, (near present day Fort Payne, Alabama), continuing to war against the settlers...in September 1792, the Chickamagua declared war againist the U.S.
Watts proved to be a shrewd military strategist as well as a clever statesman. He launched two campaigns against the encroaching settlers: The Nashville campaign of 1792 and the Knoxville campaign of 1793. A retaliation led by John Sevier, which destroyed several of the Cherokee villages in northern Georgia, did not attempt to enter the territory of the Chickamagua. Against increasing odds, the Chickamagua nevertheless continued their resistance.
Northern Indian allies of the Chickamagua suffered a crushing defeat at Falling Timbers on August 20,1794. As a final blow, a force of five hundrend and fifty militia men under the leadership of Major James Ore invaded the five lower towns. Nickajack, now a town of more than two hundred log homes was burned to the ground. Its woman and children were taken prisoners. Running Water the formal capital of the Chickamagua, was also destroyed. This one day blitz ended with two important Chickamagua towns in ashes, seventy dead (most of whom were women and children), many taken captive, and the remainder of the population profoundly demoralized. Due to all these factors, a peace party was developing among the Chickamagua. Faced with ever increasing numbers of settlers, loss of allies and supplies, ever diminishing natural resources, and finally the loss of their security, the Chickamagua ended eighteen years of resistance at the tready of Tellico Blockhouse on January 3, 1795.
The end of the Chickamagua War found the Cherokee people united for the first time since Dragging Canoe and his followers seceded from the Cherokee Nation in 1777. In the year 1795, Congress passed the "Factory Act". As a result, U.S. agents were sent to set up a trading post and a program to teach farming techniques. They established grist mills and employed blacksmiths.
They provided women (who were willing to learn) with cotton seeds, spinning wheels and looms. Within a short period of time, the Cherokee were producing more cotton and cloth than they needed and were selling raw cotton and cloth to the Federal agents. Ironically, the Chickamagua who had fought so long and hard againist the encroachment, were some of the most successful in the new lifestyle and economy. The southern chiefs, Will, Doublehead and John Watts had more success in obtaining goods for their people than the mountain Cherokee.
In 1817, the U.S. Government recognized the Chickamagua as a separate Cherokee community. In that same year the Cherokee signed a treaty which ceded most of the Chickamagua's land base.
In 1829, Legislation enacted by the state of Alabama drove all Native American tribal activities in the state underground. This outlawed Native American government, voided all contracts made with Native Americans (canceling all debts owed them), made it illegal for Native Americans to testify in court against white people, and forbade Indians to hold meeting and councils. In 1838, after exhaustive efforts to change the removal treaty of New Echota, forced removal began and the bulk of the Cherokee Nation embarked upon the infamous "Trail of Tears".
The U.S. Government took the position that all Cherokee were removed to Oklahoma, however reservees, those individual members of the Chickamagua Cherokee tribe who had been guaranteed land allotments under previous treaties, retained their properties. many reservees were able to provide refuge for others who escaped removal.
Little Cedar Mountain of today is actually the top of the Little Cedar Mountain of days gone by. It juts out into and borders on today?s Nickajack Lake which covers its flanks. Little Cedar Mountain is one of the home grounds of Dragging Canoe, last of the great Cherokee war chiefs. His own town, Running Water (now called 'Whiteside'), is just a mile upriver, and another of his "Lower Towns," Nickajack, is right across the river. These were two of the five towns of the Chickamaugan Cherokees, the most serious and determined resistance to white settlement in the East Tennessee area. This area was occupied by various other native peoples including the Creeks.
The severe social and economic cost of publicly acknowledging Native American identity compelled many..(mixed blood) to conceal their heritage. Over the years, under the fear of being shipped west, they denied being Indains. During Indian removal and many years later it was a source of danger to admit to being Indian. One source of danger was the idea of threat or (removal to the west) which continued until 1968. The Alabama Cherokee faded into the backdrop of history for more than a century.
Today the Echota Cherokee are a state recognized tribe. They support a national dance team, publish a tribal newsletter, and supervise the Lawrence County Title IV Indian Education Program...
Dragging Canoe, or Tsi-yu-gunsini (Chees-you-guh-see-nee) (He is dragging it) was born about 1737 in the Overhill settlements of the Cherokees (now Monroe County, East Tennessee). As a youth he attempted to join his fathers' war party, by pulling a large canoe into the Little Tennessee River. The warriors cried with encouragement, "Tsi yu gunsini" or he is dragging it. By 1775, Dragging Canoe remained basically unknown among the white population and leaders of the Cherokee Nation. He was the Great Warrior of Great Island of the Little Tennessee River. When Colonel Richard Henderson attempted to purchase Cherokee lands in March 1775, Dragging Canoe protested with rage and declared war on all whites who imposed upon Cherokee lands. Afterwards Dragging Canoe led a confederacy of warriors, made up of Cherokees (Chickamauga Cherokees), Shawnee, Creeks, and others. Allied to the British during the Revolutionary War, Dragging Canoe resisted American imperialism. England surrendered to the Americans in 1783, yet the Chickamauga Confederacy continued to fight the Americans thru 1792.
For 17 years, Dragging Canoe maintained a line of resistance.
Wa do, Water Turtle
Links of Native American Interest
Dragging Canoe (History of a great War Chief)
The Dragon (Dragging Canoe- The Dragon)
Dragging Canoe and his name (How Dragging Canoe got His Name)
Tsalagi Cherokee (Chichamauga Tsalagi Cherokee)
The Greatest Military Leader (The Greatest Military Leader ever produced by the Cherokee people)
Nativeweb (A site full of information about Native Americans)
Cherokee History (History of the Cherokees)
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