Cherokee War of 1776

The war began in the Summer of 1776. The conflicts arose in part due to the rapid expansion of European-American settlers into Cherokee lands, which caused the tribe concern. It began with a series of raids against the trans-Appalachian settlements.

Under the Command of General Griffith Rutherford, Captain William Moore led attacks against the Cherokee in July 1776 during an punitive expedition, destroying five Cherokee towns, killing around 50-60 Cherokees, and suffering only minor losses.[2]

During the expedition, Rutherford also led militia men to the town of Cowee. Being over-powered and out-numbered, the Cherokee people offered peace to the American People.[3] This conflict was known as the "Battle of Cowee Gap." After the destruction and loss that the Cherokee people endured, the majority of the Cherokee settlements signed the Treaty of Dewitt's Corner in 1777.[4]

The Treaty of Dewitt's Corner did not stop all conflict between the American and the Cherokee peoples. In fact, groups of the Chickamauga band of the Cherokee led by Dragging Canoe refused to sign the treaty and continued attacks on the American settlements. A peaceful agreement with the Chickamauga Cherokees did not come until 1785 when the Treaty of Hopewell was signed.[5] Regional conflicts between the American people and all Indigenous peoples in the eastern continental United States continued until the Indian Removal Act in 1830 led to the Trail of Tears.