"Bicentennial Bites"
Articles by Billie R. McNamara published in The Standard-Banner in 1996
in celebration of Tennessee's 200th statehood anniversary.

Prestatehood Tennessee

If you are sitting comfortably in your home in Jefferson County, do you realize the very spot where you are has been called many things throughout history?  It was once even claimed by several different nations -- sometimes simultaneously!  Before the State of Tennessee was admitted to the United States in 1796, the 41,750 square miles that now comprise our state were considered to be part of many "states."

Native Americans who travelled through and lived here called this area by more than a half-dozen names.  The first white explorers known to have visited East Tennessee, members of Spaniard Hernando de Soto's party, arrived about 1540.  Some researchers believe the party came as far north as present-day Jefferson City, while others think it stopped north of present-day Chattanooga.  James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, Englishmen who came in 1673, were the first white men whose visit to our area is documented.  When the French, English, and Spanish governments were arguing over ownership of this region, it was called Florida, New France, Louisiana, Virginia (until 1663), and Carolina.  Carolina was divided (1693), and our land went with the Northern portion.  For a time, much of present-day East Tennessee belonged to one Englishman, the Earl of Granville.

As settlers migrated across the mountains from North and South Carolina to make their claims in present-day upper East Tennessee, they lived in small communities along major rivers.  North Carolina eventually established the whole area we call Tennessee as the Washington District, later Washington County (1777).  When North Carolina first gave her lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to the United States (1784), rebelling residents formed their own state, Franklin.  After Franklin disbanded (1788), the region was returned temporarily to North Carolina.  Soon afterward (1790), North Carolina again gave her western lands to the U. S., and Congress created the Territory South of the River Ohio (also called "Southwest Territory") from present-day Tennessee.  Finally, the Southwest Territory was admitted as the 16^th state -- Tennessee.

Native American Settlers

Who were the original inhabitants of the area surrounding present-day Jefferson County?  Where did they live?  These two questions are hotly-debated in anthropological circles.  Two authorities, Charles Hudson (Univ. of Georgia) and Richard Polhemus (UT-Knoxville) have done extensive research and writing on these issues.  As information is uncovered and research techniques become more sophisticated, clearer answers may be discovered.

Bands of various Native American tribes travelled through East Tennessee, but most did not leave a record.  They made temporary and permanent homes along rivers and large streams.  It is impossible to determine what tribe was the first to arrive here.  Tennessee historians Garrett and Goodpasture wrote that it was "conjectured by ethnologists that the Natchez, if not the aborigines of Tennessee, were the first inhabitants of whom we have any trace."  The Natchez are thought to have extended as far east as the mountains dividing Tennessee from North Carolina.  Most information about the Natchez came from legends of other tribes and Spanish and French explorers.

Several Native American races simultaneously claimed Tennessee.  All of Tennessee, along with lands as far north and west as the Ohio River, was once called "The Great Hunting Grounds" of the Iroquois Confederacy.  The nations of the Confederacy, located primarily along the lower Great Lakes, believed their ancestors had conquered Tennessee and expelled the Natchez.  The Hunting Grounds were one of the most-fertile and best-watered lands in America, filled with fish and game of every kind.  Can you imagine that great herds of buffalo once roamed these valleys?  Today, thanks to movies and television, most people think buffalo only lived in the western plains.

Because it was so valuable, the Iroquois killed any hunters who entered the Hunting Grounds without permission.  The Iroquois "hired" the Cherokee and Chickasaw to help guard the Hunting Grounds.  The beautiful, fertile area was uninhabited and seemed to be just waiting for settlement when white pioneers arrived.

The Shawnee, part of the Algonquin race, travelled and hunted throughout present-day Tennessee for many years until they were defeated by Cherokee and Chickasaw warriors enforcing the Iroquois claim.  Interestingly, the Shawnee lent their name in various forms to more geographic locations than any other tribe.  Both Sewanee, Tennessee, and Savannah, Georgia, derived from the word "Shawnee."  A smaller tribe, known as Uchee or Yuchi, lived in East Tennessee until they were apparently defeated by the Cherokee.  The Yuchi were gone before white settlers arrived in Tennessee about 1769.

The Overhill Cherokee, part of the Mobilian (or Appalachian) race, are the best-known Native Americans resident in East Tennessee.  Cherokee influence on East Tennessee will be discussed in the future.

No one has found proof of long-term residence by any specific tribe in present-day Jefferson County.  However, scientific study of some locations has proven that Native Americans lived in Jefferson County from very early prehistoric times.  The most important location was probably on Zimmerman's Island, in the French Broad River near Dandridge.  Zimmerman's Island does not appear on modern maps -- it was inundated by Douglas Reservoir when the dam closed.  Some anthropologists believe an extensive Native American village, "Chiaha," was located on Zimmerman's Island.

This aerial photograph is Zimmerman's Island as it appeared in 1925.  The island, now under Douglas Reservoir, was located in the Shady Grove Community.  When driving along Highway 139 near the Shady Grove Boat Dock, look across the lake and toward the Dam -- you will be looking at the spot where the island used to be.  For directional assistance, Highway 139 and Deep Springs Road have been highlighted in the lower left corner of the picture.

In this photo, the Chiaha burial mound appears near the upper end of the island as a black dot.  This burial mound, nearly thirty feet high, is one of the largest in East Tennessee.

Chiaha

Do you find it difficult to believe that remnants of a great civilization may lie buried beneath your hayfield, your neighbor's house, your school, or the shopping center where you regularly buy groceries?  For those who live in Jefferson County, the odds are very good that this is true.  Why?  Many anthropologists (scientists who study ancient cultures) believe that Chiaha, an important prehistoric Native American village, was located on Zimmerman's Island in the French Broad River, near present-day Dandridge.  Spanish explorers, travelling through present-day Jefferson County in the 16^th Century, found several villages located near the French Broad and Holston Rivers.

When he crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1540, Hernando de Soto followed the French Broad River into Tennessee.  There, he found the chiefdom of the Chiaha.  One of the more important place names in the Creek language, "Chiaha" is still used today.  The Chiaha were ruled by a large and very powerful chiefdom, Coosa, based about 200 miles away in present-day Georgia.  Another group, known as the Chiscas, lived a few miles north of Chiaha, probably on the Nolichucky River.  Their settlement may have been the one destroyed in 1567 by an advance guard travelling with Spanish explorer Juan Pardo -- more than 1,500 Indians were killed.  These same Spaniards also visited Chiaha, but it was spared.

The Spanish soldiers found the town guarded by a strong palisade, square towers, and numerous warriors.  No women or children were in the town.  After exploring the region several days, the Spaniards built a fort on the island and awaited Juan Pardo's arrival.  In October, 1567, Juan Pardo visited the chief town of Chiaha, known as Olamico (also spelled "Olameco, "Lameco," and "Solameco" by Spanish chroniclers).

While some anthropologists believe Chiaha was near present-day Chattanooga, Professor Charles Hudson (University of Georgia) and others have done extensive research and make a compelling argument for the location of Chiaha's main town on Zimmerman's Island.  Although Zimmerman's Island is now under Douglas Lake, photos of it give clear indications that it matched the descriptions of Chiaha written by Spaniards more than 400 years ago.  One, known as "the Gentleman of Elvas," wrote this when he accompanied de Soto to Chiaha in 1540:

The town [Olamico] was isolated between the two arms of a river, and seated near one of them.  Above it, at a distance of two crossbow shots, the water divided, and united a league below.  The vale between, from side to side, was the width of a crossbow shot and in others two.  The branches were very wide, and both were fordable:  along their shores were very rich meadow-lands having many maize-fields.

The people of Chiaha were a band of Muskogean speakers, known as Coasati.  Like the main town, the leader of the Chiaha was called "Olamico."  A 30-foot-high mound, one of the largest ever found in East Tennessee, was located about 600 yards from the upper end of Zimmerman's Island.  Most likely, Olamico was built around the mound.  The Spaniards had high praise for the land near Chiaha:  it was rich and broad, surrounded by beautiful rivers, where grapevines and persimmon trees grew in abundance.  There were many small towns, just a few miles apart.  They called the area tierra de angeles -- "a land of angels."  Jefferson Countians would heartily agree!

Vast numbers of early Indians travelled throughout Jefferson County's current boundaries on their way to and from Chiaha.  We may never know everything about them.  Before Douglas Dam closed approximately 50 years ago, TVA sponsored archaeological excavations on Fain's Island and Zimmerman's Island.  Because of time restrictions, Fain's Island was studied more thoroughly than Zimmerman's.  No report was ever written about the findings, but the raw data and photographs have been preserved at the University of Tennessee.  Perhaps, someday, funds will be available at a time when Douglas Lake is low enough to allow further research on Zimmerman's Island.  Until then, there can be no absolute proof that the great Chiaha settlement was located here.

Two books are recommended for learning more about Chiaha and its neighbors (high school-to-adult reading level):

• Hudson, Charles, and Tesser, Carmen Chaves, eds. The Forgotten Centuries: Indians and Europeans in the American South, 1521-1704. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 1994.
• Hudson, Charles. The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Explorations of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

The First White Men Arrive

From the end of the Revolutionary War to the beginning of the Civil War, thousands of pioneers passed through present-day Jefferson County, Tennessee, from their homes in the Carolinas, Maryland, and Virginia, travelling westward to Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, and beyond.  This is primarily because two major waterways -- the Holston and French Broad Rivers -- flow through Jefferson County on their way to a convergence in neighboring Knox County, where they meet to form the Tennessee River.

Voyagers on the Tennessee River could easily reach northern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, and innumerable points west.  Early Jefferson Countians appear to have been real trailblazers.  Older Jefferson County families can trace descendants through every state in the U. S.  People from all over the United States (and as far away as Canada) have visited Jefferson County in search of their family history, since most of those who came through here left a record of some sort.

In previous segments, you read of the Spanish explorers that travelled through East Tennessee.  Besides the Spanish, who were the first known white men to visit our area?  Two Englishmen, James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, leading a party of explorers from Fort Henry, Virginia, are believed to be the first.  This party discovered a passage through the Appalachian Mountains (near the current juncture of the Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia borders) in 1673 and made its way into present-day East Tennessee.

Some historians have written that Yuchi Indians showed the way, since the mountains traversed by Needham's and Arthur's party had no marked path.  All but one of their horses died before the party finally emerged from the mountainous wilderness near the present-day town of Trade, in Johnson County, Tennessee.  Incidentally, Trade received its name because it became a popular meeting place for traders, trappers, and Indians wishing to sell or buy goods.

The party travelled farther into East Tennessee before it found a friendly Cherokee village.  After spending time at this unidentified village, Needham and some of the Cherokee started back to Virginia to get trade goods.  Arthur stayed with the Indians.  Before he could reach Fort Henry, Needham was murdered by an enemy Indian; Arthur was held captive by the Cherokee for nearly a year.

As Needham and Arthur were crossing the eastern mountains, French explorers Marquette and Jolliet travelled down the Mississippi and reached Tennessee's western border.  After these visits, French and English traders and adventurers explored all over present-day Tennessee.  Commerce with the Cherokee began as traders travelled past the villages on their way, by river, to Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina.  Virginians learned early that they could make a fortune trading with the Indians.  For guns, ammunition, cloth, beads, and other items the Indians wanted, traders would receive hides and furs they could sell to London merchants for huge profits.

Beginning in 1689, a French voyager married to a Shawnee lived for three years with his wife's people on the Cumberland Plateau (near present-day Nashville).  Thus, Martin Chartier was probably the first white man to establish residence in Tennessee. Chartier did not stay in Tennessee, nor did he figure in its history.

Almost all historians agree that the earliest detailed surveys of East Tennessee were made by Dr. Thomas Walker and his associates, beginning in 1748.  Contrary to the belief of many people, Daniel Boone was not the first white man to discover the Cumberland Gap!  Dr. Walker's party discovered the Gap in 1750.  At that time, much of "Tennessee" was claimed by both the British and the French.  Their dual claim covered most of western North and South Carolina, much of Georgia, and all of East and Middle Tennessee.  In the next segment, we will discuss the problems this caused.

The Rise and Fall of Fort Loudon

In 1754, the French and Indian War began.  This was not a confrontation between the French and the Indians; rather, the Kings of France and England were fighting for dominion over lands in the eastern Mississippi Valley -- including Tennessee.  British and French settlers in Tennessee started battling much earlier, however:  in 1736, the French attacked Chickasaw villages along the Mississippi, and British traders supported the Indians.

By 1755, the Cherokee living in East Tennessee were concerned about potential attacks on their villages by the French and other Indians allied with them.  The governors of Virginia and South Carolina talked of jointly building one fort in the Overhill Cherokee country (now southeastern Tennessee), but Virginia did not want to wait for South Carolina.  In June, 1756, Virginia's Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, responded to Cherokee concerns by sending troops to build a fort near the Cherokee capital of Chota.  The fort, 105-feet square and built of heavy logs, was never garrisoned and was soon destroyed by the Cherokee.  No one knows the actual location of this first fort.

Meanwhile, Governor Glen of South Carolina led a group into the Overhill country to build another fort, named Loudoun after the commander-in-chief of British troops in North America.  Many soldiers brought their families and established the "English Camp" at the edge of the Cherokee village, Toskegee.  This was the first full-fledged English settlement -- complete with homes, mothers, and children -- made in present-day Tennessee.

Before Fort Loudoun was completed, its commander decided he had had enough of life so far from civilization.  He left, filling the Indians with contempt and his soldiers with disgust.  Six months later, under a new leader, the fort was finished.  Residents of the English Camp moved into the fort, and life between them and nearby Indians was peaceful from 1756 until late 1759.  Things changed as the English were winning their war against the French in the northern part of America, and tensions developed between the whites at Fort Loudoun and their Indian neighbors.

The fort's residents cut themselves off from the outside world, hoping reinforcements would arrive from Carolina or Virginia before their food supply ran out.  Some sympathetic Indians helped smuggle food into the fort.  When there was nothing left to eat but horse meat, the fort surrendered to Cherokee chiefs at Chota.  In return for the whites' safe passage back to Charles Town (Charleston, SC), the Indians would receive the fort and all its munitions.  Two days later, the white settlers started home.  Marching just fifteen miles to near the junction of Cane Creek and Tellico River, these now-refugees camped for the night.  Early the next morning, their Cherokee escorts surrounded the camp and killed all but a handful of the whites.  Those who did not die were taken to Cherokee villages.  Some were tortured and killed; others were ransomed by the English and returned home.  The great chief, Attacullaculla, rescued John Stuart, an English officer who played a later role in the American Revolution.

After Fort Loudoun fell, 2600 English troops from New York, South Carolina, and Virginia joined in a massive attack on the Cherokee.  They destroyed all the Middle Towns, located in the Carolina mountains. Before the soldiers could destroy the Overhill Towns, their leaders begged for peace and a treaty was signed in December, 1761.  This ended the first Cherokee War.  King George of England was tired of fighting in the American colonies, so he declared the crest of the Appalachian Mountains to be a boundary between white and Indian settlers.  It did not take long, however, for whites to ignore the "Proclamation Line" and encroach on Indian lands.

During this period, the Virginia colony built other forts in East Tennessee, although none had the importance of Fort Loudoun.  About 1758, an unidentified station was constructed on the Holston River at the lower end of the Long Island (now the site of Tennessee Eastman Company in Kingsport).  In the late Fall of 1761, Fort Robinson members of the Byrd Expedition against the Cherokee built Fort Robinson.  It was probably on the same location as Fort Patrick Henry, which was built during the Revolutionary War on the upper end of the Long Island.

Several years ago, the site of Fort Loudoun was excavated.  It is now preserved as a state historic site with a Visitors' Center and reconstruction of the original fort.  The Tellico Blockhouse, just across the Tellico River from the Fort, also has a tour.  To visit these and nearby historic sites, take U. S. Highway 411 South to Citico Road (near Vonore, about 15 miles south of Maryville).  Citico Road leads to the island where the Visitor's Center and fort are.

An English soldier went to live with the Cherokee after the peace treaty was signed.  After he returned to London, Lieutenant Timberlake wrote an interesting account of his life in the villages.  Memoirs of Lieutenant Henry Timberlake was published over 200 years ago, but it has been reprinted and is available at many area libraries.  Paul Kelley's Historic Fort Loudoun, published in 1958 by the Fort Loudoun Association in Vonore, Tennessee, is another excellent resource.

Treating for Land

The last segment discussed the destruction of Fort Loudoun by Cherokees and reciprocal pillaging by English soldiers.  Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of many years of atrocities committed by both natives and white settlers.  Since most Tennessee history books describe in detail the massacres and wars that occurred, this column will not.

With the exception of traders and the residents of Fort Loudoun, the first white settlement of what is now Tennessee occurred shortly after a treaty was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk River near present-day Rome, New York.  Sir William Johnson negotiated with the Iroquois Crown for title to the lands from present-day Western New York, through Ohio and Pennsylvania, down to the mouth of the Tennessee River in present-day Knoxville, Tennessee.  Adventuresome souls erroneously believed this treaty opened the lands to settlement, despite the Proclamation Line decreed by Britain's King George in 1763.  The Governor of Virginia ignored the Proclamation and continued issuing land patents as far south as the headwaters of the Tennessee River.  Virginia, not North Carolina, granted the first land in Tennessee.  The patent, issued to John Buchanan in June, 1753, was for 1,250 acres on the Indian River in present-day Sullivan County.

Following Fort Stanwix, numerous treaties with Native American residents of present-day Tennessee were entered into by the States of North Carolina, Virginia, and Franklin, the United States, and even the French.  While the Iroquois were negotiating with the English at Fort Stanwix, the Cherokee asked North Carolina for establishment of a boundary between that state's western lands and the Indians' hunting grounds.  Capt. John Stuart, one of the survivors of Fort Loudoun, acted as an Indian Agent for the British Crown in negotiating this agreement, known as the Treaty of Hard Labour.  It was executed almost simultaneously with Fort Stanwix and extinguished Cherokee claims to part ownership in most of the same area covered under the Fort Stanwix agreement.  East Tennessee was left in Cherokee control, even though settlers had already penetrated the area.

Less than two years after the Fort Stanwix and Hard Labour treaties, Virginia wished to purchase lands in her southwestern region.  An agreement, called the Treaty of Lochabar, was negotiated with the Cherokee by Col. John Donelson, who is well-known for his leadership in settling Middle Tennessee.  Lochabar left most of East Tennessee under Cherokee control, but it opened the area of upper East Tennessee for colonization. Within a few months, pioneers began streaming into the Watauga, North Holston, Carter's Valley, and Nolichucky settlements.

Tennessee's early pioneers were amazing folks, who individually and collectively made significant marks on the history of our region.