TREATIES - The first permanent English settlement in South Carolina was established in 1670.
- 1680: An English settlement was made on the Mobile River just north of present day Mobile Alabama.
1702: Tired of the poor treatment the Creek Indians received from the British, the Creeks invited the French to occupy the British site and prevent a British monopoly on trade . They did, first building a fortified trading post and then in 1717 Fort Toulouse was built. - In 1684 a treaty or agreement was made between that colony and the Chickmaguan Nation. The nation's leaders who signed were- Corani the Raven (Ka lanu): Sinnawa the Hawk (Tla nuwa): Nellawgitchi (possibly Mankiller): Gorhaleke: Owasta: all of Toxawa: and Canacaught, the Great Conqueror: Gohoma: Caunasaita of Keowa.
In 1690 the first trader established himself among the nation, and took a Native wife. he was Cornelius Doughtery, an Irishman from Virginia. - 1691: South Carolina orders an investigation to allegations that some of the colonists "have, without any proclamation of war, fallen upon and murdered several of the tribe."
- 1693: Some chiefs went to Charleston with presents for the governor and promises of friendship to solicit the colonies' protection against their enemies; the Esaw- Catawbas, Savanna (Shawano), and Congaree, all of that colony, who had made war upon them and sold their tribesmen into slavery. They were told their kinsmen could not be recovered, but that the English wanted their friendship, and that the government would agree that there would be no future ground for such complaint.
- 1716: After friction erupted between the Cherokees and British, and needing their support to wipe out other Nations, Colonel George Chicken was dispatched to the Chickmaguans. For 200 guns, 50 English soldiers for the campaign, and a supply of ammunition they again agreed to aid the British against other tribes.
- 1721: A treaty between Governor Nicholson, of South Carolina, and the Cherokees and Creeks. In an attempt to systematize Indian affairs Governor Nicholson invited the Chiefs to come for a conference. 37 towns were represented. The agreements reached were;
1) Trading methods were regulated.
2) A boundary line was established between the Cherokees and the settlement.
3) An agent was appointed to oversee their affairs.
4) Wrosetastow was formally commissioned as the supreme head of the nation.
5) Wrosetastow was given the authority to punish all offenses including murder (important because of the blood law), represent all the Nation's claims to the colonial government.
6)Of course, land cessions. - 1730: Due to encroachments by the French and Spanish in the West, Sir Alexander Cumming negotiated a treaty with the Chickamaugans in April, 1730 at Keowee. He was determined to win their allegiance to the British crown. He entered the town house at Keowee fully armed, which was a serious violation of Cherokee custom. Tremendously impressed, however, the Indians abided his orders "to acknowledge his Majesty King George's Sovereignty over them on their Knee," a submission which, Sir Alexander boasted, "they never before made either to God or man." Later he met with delegations from all of the Cherokee towns at Nequassee, where he designated one of their number, Moytoy of Great Tellico, as Emperor of the nation and obtained the submission of the whole tribe to the British king. At this meeting the crown of the Cherokee nation was brought from Tenasee, their chief town, and presented to Sir Alexander, which was of five eagle tails and four scalps of their enemies, Moytoy presented it to Sir Alexander, requesting him, on his arrival at Britain, "to lay it at his majesty's feet."
- Six Indian chiefs accompanied Sir Alexander Cumming on his return to England that same year. Noted among these was Atta Kulla Kulla, the Little Carpenter so named for his ability to hammer together difficult agreements. On September 30, 1730, at Dover England, these six chiefs signed a treaty with the British government. This treaty provided "friendship, alliance and commerce." Also, it declared that "the Chain of Friendship" between the King of England and the Cherokee Indians "is like the Sun, which shines here and also upon the great mountains where they live, and equally warms the Hearts of the Indians and of the English." The Indians agreed that their people were "now the children of the King of Great Britain, and he their Father," and that they "must treat the English as Brethren of the same Family, and must be always ready, at the Governor's command, to fight against any nation, whether they be White Men or Indians, who shall dare to molest or hurt the English." An important provision of the treaty, which later was the cause of some ill feeling, declared that "if by any accidental misfortune it should happen, that an Englishman should kill an Indian, the King or Great Man of the Cherokees shall first complain to the English Governor, and the Man who did it shall be punished by the English Laws, as if he bad killed an Englishman; and in the like manner, if an Indian kills an Englishman, the Indian who did it shall be delivered up to the Governor, and he be punished by the same English Law as if he were and Englishman."
- 1740: A trading path for horsemen was laid out by the Chickamaguans from the new settlement at Augusta Georgia to the towns at the headwaters on the Savannah River thence to the west.
- 1750: A treaty was made between Colonel Waddell, on behalf of North Carolina, with Atta Culla Culla, or the Little Carpenter, on behalf of the Cherokees, under which treaty Fort Dobbs was built.
- On November 24, 1755, a treaty was made by Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, with the Cherokees, by which the Cherokees ceded a large tract of territory to the King of England.
- In 1756, a treaty was made between Col. Hugh Waddell, on behalf of North Carolina, and the Cherokee and Catawba Indians.
- In 1760, and in 1761, treaties were made with the Cherokees, by authority of South Carolina the first by Colonel Littleton, and the second by Colonel Grant.
The French and Indian War lasted from 1754-1763 when peace was made and France ceded their possessions in Canada and the Ohio Valley. However, both Forts DuQuesne and Quebec had fell under control of the Crown by 1759. Coupled with the weakening of the Chickamaguans by a smallpox epidemic in 1738 or 1739, their lands became the targets of British avarice and after the peace between France and England was concluded a flood of encroachers flowed down the Western slopes of the Appalachians. During this time a rash of land cessions occurred to try and stem this flow but it was to now avail as the thirst for Chickamaguan lands was unquenchable. The Cherokee war lasted from 1760-1761 and campaigns were launched which reduced all the Lower Towns and all 15 of the Middle Towns to ashes as well as destroying their granaries and cornfields, sending the inhabitants fleeing to the mountains for safety.
These campaigns pushed the frontier some 70 miles westward.
Subsequently, Atta Kulla Kulla, in September 1761, went to Charleston and sued for peace.
A force of Virginians, led by Colonel Stephen, had advanced to the Great Island of Holston, Kingsport Tennessee where they met a large delegation of Cherokees. On November 19th 1761, a treaty of peace was concluded. At the request of the Nation, to cement the new friendship, a young officer named Lt. Timberlake remained and accompanied them to their towns where he remained for several months. - An article in a special council held on Tennessee River, March 1, 1757, conveys to Capt. Patrick Jack, of Pennsylvania; "in consideration of $400, a tract of fifteen miles square south of the Tennessee River" in pursuance of this grant a deed was made by Arthur Dobbs, governor of North Carolina, and Atta Kulla Kulla, or the Little Carpenter, half-king of the Cherokees, on behalf of the Cherokee nation. This deed was confirmed by a general council, held in 1762.
- 1763, Treaty of Augusta: The peace treaty between England and France in 1763 ceded the whole western territory to England. A great council was held at Augusta Georgia with all the chiefs and principal men of the southern nations attending. Captain John Stuart, superintendent for the southern tribes, attended as well as the colonial governors of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,and Georgia. The Nations expressed displeasure of how the treaty between France and England gave their lands to the English but a treaty of mutual peace friendship was signed November 10th, 1763.
- 1763: A royal proclamation was issued to check future encroachments by the yonegas (whites) and also prohibited future land purchases or any granting of warrants for Indian lands west of the streams flowing into the Alantic.
- 1768, Treaty of Hard Labor: Superintendent Stuart, at the request of the Nations, negotiated a treaty at Hard Labor North Carolina by which the Kanawha and New Rivers, and their entire courses, downward from the North Carolina line were fixed as the boundary between the yonegas and the Cherokees. Within two years so many whites had illegally settled on Cherokee land that a treaty was made to amend the Hard Labor treaty. By this treaty, the line was changed to run south from the mouth of the Kanawah to the Holston, thus cutting off the Chickamaguans from the whole of their hunting grounds in West Virginia and Virginia. In 1772 the Virginians took another land cession which took everything east of the Kentucky River.
- The Treaty of Fort Stanwix. The first general grant of land by 'Indians' within the limits of the present State of Tennessee, was made by the Six Nations in the treaty at Fort Stanwix, concluded November 5, 1768. This treaty conveyed a doubtful claim "the said land from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations, so that the Six Nations shall and do yield to the United States, all claims to the country west of the said boundary" which was very controversial, affecting not only the Tennessee settlers but presenting a vexatious question to Congress in the adoption of the articles of confederation. Further, the lands west of the 'said boundary' were not Six Nations lands. This clause was inserted by the white negotiators to justify the theft of the land of the Chickamaugans. The Six Nations knew these lands weren't theirs. What was said here was they had no claim to these lands but the whites interpreted, to their benefit, it as selling those lands.
- October 14, 1768, the treaty of Hard Labor
- Treaty of Lochabar- This treaty was concluded at Lochabar, S.C., October 18, 1770. It conveyed lands in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
- Leases by the Watauga Association and Jacob Brown- In 1772, the The Watauga Association leased for eight years, from the Cherokees, lands of the Watauga Valley lying along the Watauga River. Payment rendered was $6000 value in blankets, muskets, and other trade goods. and Jacob Brown made a similar lease for lands on the Nollichucky. The boundaries of these two leases are not positively known.
- October 10 1774; the Battle of Point Pleasant. Lord Dunmore's War ends when 300 Shawnee led by Cornstalk are forced to withdraw across the Ohio. There are substantial casualties on both sides. Later that same month, Cornstalk meets with colonial officials, pledging friendship and giving up all Shawnee claims to Kentucky. Yet, the Shawnee split in loyalty with many supporting the Chickmaugans against their own people.
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