Early Settlements

1. Early Settlements SPI 7.3.19 Examine reasons and patterns of human migration through the use of maps, charts, diagrams (i.e., famine, natural disasters, political and religious oppression, wars). I can chart the movement of people based on political oppression. I can chart the movement of people based on religious oppression. I can chart the movement of people based on wars. SPI 7.5.2 Identify reasons why people choose to settle in different places (i.e., occupation, family, climate, natural resources). I can determine why people choose to live in an area based upon family. I can determine why people choose to live in an area based upon natural resources.

2. After the French and Indian War the British controlled all lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Much of East TN and all of Middle and West TN was ceded ( surrendered or given up) to the Indians. No British subject could own land in this area even if bought and paid for from the Indians. Any land purchased from the Indians automatically became the property of King George III. Long Hunters had traveled into the TN area to hunt for years before the French and Indian War. .

3. One such Long Hunter was Daniel Boone. Boone mainly traveled into Kentucky but did venture into Tennessee. Boone followed the trail paths of buffalo into what is now TN. His stories of what he saw made him a folk hero in the Virginian and Carolina Colonies. Other Long Hunters followed Boone into the territory to hunt for pelt and it was not unusual for them to sell the pelts for $1,600.00 or more. 1768 Indian Agents were able to purchase the lands of what is now TN from the Indians and reserved a parcel of land for the Cherokee.

4. The first settlers into Tennessee were mainly fro VA and NC with a few from PA • Several reasons for people to leave the Colonies and head over the Mountains. • Many angry with political leaders that levied (required or collected fees by legal authority) unjust taxes and enforced illegal fees on the people. Many saw the over the mountain territory as a was to escape the unjust taxes. • The first known permanent settlers into TN was William Bean and his wife Lydia. He led several of his neighbors into the over the mountain territory to make their homes.

5. Bean cleared landin the fall of 1768 in what is the Watauga River area and built a cabin on Boone’s Creek near the creeks junction with the Watauga river. James Robertson was soon to follow. He was 28 when he ventured into the over the mountain territory. He was 5’ 9” tall (unusually tall for the time), and did not know how to read and write. Robertson wanted to be free from the tyranny (cruel and unjust use of power) of NC Governor William Tyron. Robertson’s first trip was said to be by the side of Daniel Boone in 1770.

6. Robertson met a man named John Honeycutt that lived on the side of a mountain and Robertson was hooked. Robertson began to clear land and plant crops. He spent the next several months building and waiting for the harvest of the crops so he could store them for later use. After the harvest Robertson starts back across the mountains to gather his family and becomes lost. After two hunter found him and nursed him back to health they directed him back into NC. Robertson quickly was able to talk about 80 people into joining him and his family on a trip back to make settlements.

7. Robertson was joined by his wife Charlotte and son Jonathan. Trip carefully planned and supplies were gathered and packed on horses. Men in the group would chop their way through the forest as the boys took care of the horses and the women cooked meals and took care of the sick. Other settlers soon joined the Robertson group and in 1771 they established four settlements in what is now NE Tennessee. These settlements were – North of the Holston near present day Bristol, Carter’s Valley just below the forks of the Holston River, Watauga, where Robertson settled, near present day Elizabethton, and Nolichucky near present day Erwin TN.

8. All the settlements thought they were in Virginia territory and away form the tyranny of the NC Governor, but a survey of the area by John Donelson and Alexander Cameron discovered they were actually in NC territory. Government of Carolina orders all settlers to move back across the mountains. Robertson and the others now knew they could not gain title to the land but still ignored the order. The Watauga settlement and the Nolichucky joined together and decided to deal with the Indians directly. Indians allow settlers to stay until the crops were harvested and then Little Carpenter negotiated a deal that allowed the settlers to rent the land for 10 years. Indians were to receive manufactured products as rent payment. For the next several years the Indians and settlers lived in peace and actually helped each other.

9. The Wataugua Association 1. First written constitution in North America (a constitution is a document that sets up the framework of a government). 2. The Laws Drawn up were called: The Articles of the Watauga Association Formed a court of five members to exercise judicial matters, a sheriff, and a clerk to record deeds etc. Major concerns of the court were road maintenance, militia, and tavern rates

10. The Transylvania Purchase • Land: Europeans believed that land could be bought and sold – Indians believed that the land could be controlled for the whole tribe to use and that anyone could claim use of the land Indians thought that land was only used temporarily. Judge Richard Henderson along with other North Carolinians' offered to buy Indian lands for goods built in the colonies. Why did Judge Henderson want to buy the Indian’s land?

11. The Transylvania Purchase Judge Richard Henderson along with other North Carolinians' offered to buy Indian lands for goods built in the colonies. Judge Henderson offered six wagons of goods for the Cherokee land. Indians send Little Carpenter and Nancy Ward to North Carolina to inspect the goods. Indians and members from the Transylvania Land Company meet at Sycamore Shoals in the Watauga settlement March 1, 1775 WHY DID THEY MEET IN MARCH?

12. The Treaty of Sycamore Shoals Meeting lasted five day with lots of festivals As many as 1,200 people (settlers and Indians) showed up for the meeting. Trading of pelts and manufactured goods between settlers and Indians went on All seemed well between settlers from the Wataugua Association and Indians

13. The Treaty of Sycamore Shoals Meeting lasted five day with lots of festivals Dragging Canoe (son of Little Carpenter) was one of the Indians that did not approve of the sale of Indian lands. He argued that the Indian was giving away their home. On March 14th the other chiefs voted to accept the offer of six wagons of goods for most of their land. Dragging Canoe told them that Kentucky and Middle Tennessee would be bloody ground and it would be dark and difficult to settle. Native American Indian Treaties and Agreements

14. Little Carpenter father of Dragging Canoe • Nancy Ward and Little Carpenter were known as Peace Chiefs. During times of Peace the Chiefs wore white. The war council was composed of additional chiefs and only sat on the council during times of war. During times of war the chiefs wore Red. Thus the color white symbolized peace and the color red symbolized war. Most of the modern American History books contain the name of Little Carpenter as having fought with the Americans in the American Revolution. His son, Dragging Canoe fought on the side of the British, Chief of the Chickamauga Cherokees. Nancy Ward and Little Carpenter often warned the settlers of impending Indian attacks.

15. Nancy Ward Nancy Ward was born in the Cherokee town of Vhota and was a member of the Wolf Clan. Nanyehi and Kingfisher fought side by side at the Battle of Taliwa against the Creek in 1755. When he was killed, she took up his rifle and led the Cherokee to victory. This was the action which, at the age of 18, gave her the title of Beloved Woman. Nancy Ward and her husband Kingfisher had two children, Catherine and Fivekiller. Nancy then married Bryant Ward, a South Carolina colonist and Indian trader, and their child was Elizabeth Ward, who became the Cherokee wife of General Joseph Martin. In the revolutionary War, Ward warned the whites of an impending attack by Dragging Canoe, an act that has made her a Patriot for the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

16. Dragging Canoe • Tsiyu Gansini "He is dragging his canoe", known to whites as Dragging Canoe, (c. 1738 – March 1, 1792) was a Cherokee war leader who led a dissident band of Cherokee (joined by Chikasaw, Shawnee, and Indians from other tribes/nations, along with British Loyalists, French and Spanish agents, renegade whites from the colonies, and runaway slaves), against the United States in the Revolutionary War and a decade afterwards, a series of conflicts known as the Chickamauga wars, becoming the pre-eminent war leader among the Indians of the Southeast of his time. He served as principal chief of the Chickamauga, or Lower, Cherokee from 1777 until his death in 1792, upon which he was succeeded by John Watts.

17. 1. Name the 1st constitution drawn up in North America. • 2. What did this constitution do? • 3. What was the Transylvania Land Company? • 4. What did the Land Company offer the Cherokee? • 5. What happened at the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals? • 6. Briefly describe, Little Carpenter, Nancy Ward and Dragging Canoe.