Historic Cherokee settlements

The historic Cherokee settlements were Cherokee settlements established in Southeastern North America up to the removals of the early 19th century. Several settlements had existed prior to and were initially contacted by explorers and colonists of the colonial powers as they made inroads into frontier areas. Others were established later.

In the early 18th century, an estimated 2100 Cherokee people inhabited more than sixteen towns east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and across the Piedmont plains in what was then considered Indian Country.^{[page needed]} Generally, European visitors noted only the towns with townhouses. Some of their maps included lesser settlements, but "the centers of towns were clearly marked by townhouses and plazas."

The early Cherokee towns east of the Blue Ridge Mountains were geographically divided into two regions: the Lower Towns (of the Piedmont coastal plains in what are now northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina), and the Middle/Valley/Out Towns (east of the Appalachian Mountains). A third group, the Overhill Towns, located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains, made up the remainder of the Cherokee settlements of the time. Within each regional group, towns exhibited close economic, linguistic, and religious ties; they were often developed for miles along rivers and creeks. Satellite villages near the regional towns often bore the same or similar names to the regional centers. The minor settlements shared architecture and a common culture, but they maintained political autonomy.

No list could ever be complete of all Cherokee settlements; however, in 1755 the government of South Carolina noted several known towns and settlements. Those identified were grouped into six "hunting districts:" 1) Overhill, 2) Middle, 3) Valley, 4) Out Towns, 5) Lower Towns, and 6) the Piedmont settlements, also called Keowee towns, as they were along the Keowee River. In 1775 – May 1776, explorer and naturalist William Bartram described a total of 43 Cherokee towns in his Travels in North America, after living for a time in the area. Cherokee were living in each of them.

The Cherokee also established new settlements—or moved existing settlements—using the same or very similar names from one location to another, as the names were associated with a community of people. This practice complicated the historical recording and tracking by Europeans of many early settlement locations. Examples of this practice of repeated names include "Sugar Town," "Chota/Echota," and "Etowa/h," to name just a few.

The Lower Towns in that period were considered to be those in the northern part of the Colony of Georgia and northwestern area of the Colony of South Carolina; many were based along the Keowee River, including: the major towns of Seneca and Keowee New Towne; as well as, Cheowie, Cowee, Coweeshee, Echoee, Elejoy, Estatoie, Old Keowee, Oustanalla, Oustestee, Tomassee, Torsalla, Tosawa (also later spelled Toxaway), Torsee, and Tricentee. In addition, since the late 20th century, archeologists have identified historic Cherokee townhouses dating from the sixteenth through the early eighteenth century at the towns known as Chauga (where the Cherokee were identified as occupying it in the last of four phases) and Chattooga site, both in present-day western South Carolina; and Tugalo, in present-day northeastern Georgia. The latter site is now inundated by Lake Hartwell.

The Middle Towns of western North Carolina Colony were primarily along the upper Little Tennessee River and its tributaries. The Cherokee towns and related settlements in this area included Comastee, Cotocanahuy, Euforsee, Little Telliquo, Nayowee, Nuckasee, Steecoy, and Watoge.

Since the late 20th century, the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and partners have reacquired some of these former town sites in their homeland for preservation. These include the sites of Nuckasee, Steecoy, and Watoge along the Little Tennessee River. These will be featured as part of the planned "Nikwasi-Cowee Corridor".

The Valley Towns consisted of those along the upper Hiwassee River and its tributary the Valley River, and the Nantahala River, which flowed into the Little Tennessee River from the south. These rivers were all south of the Little Tennessee. Valley Towns included Chewohe, Tomately, and Quanassee.

The Out Towns were located slightly north of the Little Tennessee, mainly along its tributary the Tuckaseegee River and its tributary, the Oconaluftee River. Towns and settlements included Conontoroy, Joree, Kittowa (the 'mother town' of the Cherokee, which was reacquired by the EBCI in 1996), Nununyi, Oustanale, Tucharechee, and Tuckaseegee.

Both the Little Tennessee River and the Hiwassee River flowed through the mountains into what is present-day Tennessee, where they ultimately each flowed into the Tennessee River at different points. Early Cherokee Overhill settlements included those on the lower Little Tennessee River: Chilhowee, Chota, Citico, Mialoquo, Tallassee, Tanasi, Tomotley, Toqua, and Tuskegee (Island Town); those on the Tellico River: Chatuga and Great Tellico; and those on the lower Hiwassee River: Chestowee and Hiwassee Old Town.

Following the failed two-prong attack against the frontier settlements of the Washington District in the summer of 1776, the colonies of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia mounted a retaliatory attack against all the Cherokee towns. It was known as the Rutherford Light Horse expedition, and militias attacked the Cherokee on both sides of the mountains, destroying many towns. The Cherokee had allied with the British in the hopes of expelling the newly independent US colonists from their territory. After these attacks, the Cherokee sued for peace with the Americans. By January 1777 the Upper Town Cherokee had made a peace.

A large following of Cherokee, however, refused to settle with the encroaching Americans and moved further south. Under the war chiefs Dragging Canoe, Black Fox, and Little Turkey, they settled many additional locations throughout the southeastern United States, mostly driven by events of the ongoing Cherokee–American wars. This Chickamauga faction moved further downstream on the Tennessee River system, establishing 11 new towns well away from the American frontier.

Following further conflicts with the military of the fledgling United States, in 1782 Dragging Canoe established five new "Lower Towns" even further downstream along the Tennessee River. The original five towns included: Running Water town (Amogayunyi) (Dragging Canoe's new headquarters); Long Island on the Holston (Amoyeligunahita); Crow Town (Kagunyi); Lookout Mountain town (Utsutigwayi, or Stecoyee); and Nickajack (Ani-Kusati-yi, meaning Koasati Old-place). The Chickamauga also re-established a small military presence in Tuskegee Island Town at this time.

Additional settlements in the area were quickly developed, following the arrival of more members to join Dragging Canoe's force. These people became known more properly as the Lower Cherokee, as opposed to Chickamauga. Their settlements included the major, regional town of Creek Path town (Kusanunnahiyi); Turkeytown; Turnip town (Ulunyi); Willstown (Titsohiliyi); and Chatuga (Tsatugi).

The Cherokee were highly decentralized and their towns were the most important units of government. The Cherokee Nation did not yet exist. Before 1788, the only leadership role that existed with the Cherokee people was a town's or region's "First Beloved Man" (or Uku). The First Beloved Man would be the usual contact person and negotiator for the people under his leadership, especially when dealing with European or frontier government representatives.

Starting in 1788, a supreme First Beloved Man was elected to run a national Cherokee council. This group alternated between meeting at Willstown and Turkeytown, but it convened irregularly and had little authority with the people. The First Beloved Man of each town still maintained a substantial amount of authority. The murders of the Overhill pacifist chiefs—including Old Tassel, the regional headman—who that same year were lured to parley with the State of Franklin and ambushed instead, resulted in an increasingly violent period between the Cherokee and American settlers. A definitive peace was finally achieved in 1794. The ambush had resulted in driving many of the Upper Cherokee, who at the time were more supportive of some adaptation to European-American ways, into union with the Lower Cherokee leadership.

By the time of Dragging Canoe's death (January 29, 1792), the Cherokee settlements of the Lower Towns had increased from five to seven. The re-populated New Keowee was still the principal town of the region. Up until 1794, when the fighting stopped and the national council ground moved to Ustanali, the Cherokee remained a fragmented people. At the founding of the first Cherokee Nation in 1794, the now united people still controlled a large area encompassing lands now located in several states, including: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

The Cherokee Nation's five regional councils of 1794 comprised 1) the Overhill Towns; 2) the Hill Towns; 3) the traditional Valley Towns; 4) the new Upper Towns (these were the former Lower Towns of southern North Carolina, western South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia); and 5) the new Lower Towns (newly occupied settlements located in north and central Alabama, southeastern Tennessee, and far northwestern Georgia).

The constant warfare took its toll on the traditional Cherokee settlements. Several had become permanently de-populated by the turn of the 19th century. The settled areas stabilized for a time following the 1794 establishment of the Cherokee Nation and partial acculturation of the people in the east. Following The Removal era (1815–1839), however, many of these settlements were all but abandoned forever.

• 
  Cherokee Nation c.1760
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  A Draught of the Cherokee Country, Henry Timberlake (1762) Overhill Towns
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  Post-Revolution Cherokee towns
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  Native American settlements of the Southeastern United States (1806)

• The Valley River

• "An Indian Land Grant in 1734" by Mabel L. Webber; "The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine Vol.19, No.4, pp.157–161"

• Cherokee town map – Compiled from Maps by Stuart, Hunter and Royce
• Mooney's Cherokee Country map (1900) – Map of Cherokee Country by James Mooney
• Cherokee Country Sketch – Sketch of Cherokee Country by John Stuart
• Cherokee Nation Map of 1730 – Map of the Cherokee Nation by George Hunter
• Goodspeed Map – The East Tennessee and Chickamauga towns

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