This is the story of the Indian Creek Band Chickamaugan Creek Indians that make up Chickamaugan Cherokee Indians in Alabamafrom the late 1757 to the Fall of the Red Lance Warriors at Horse Shoe Bend in Southern Alabama. The Creek Indians well deserves his name of Warrior. Generally he prizes and values his honor, and the Historical records show that most of the Indian Chiefs have been honorable and full of valor.
From the infancy, however he has been taught that war was business, and that he was born to be victorious Fighter. He gloried in his forest and growing fields, was brave, but full of craftiness and strategy, but really never a thief, or dishonest, in a legitimate deal. To him, war was serious and he prepared for it every day and every hour of his life by dancing, drinking, what the Indians called Black drink, and by (Religion to him Totemism) consulting the Great Spirit.
He painted himself and bedecked his body, with feathers and bright emblem to make themselves look like the devils they were supposed to imitate, When Fighting. The Warriors, thought more of fighting then Working, and for a livelihood choose to hunt and fish, and the Women stayed at home, tilled the soil and did the work of making the laws in the long houses, and each doing their bit, not measured, but whatever they chose to do to support the tribe and clans. As husband, and wives, generally, they were true to their mates and it was seldom that domestic trouble ever arose over unfaithfulness. The Creek Indians were revengeful never forgot an injury. They were fast on foot and sneaky, but not liars.
1794
American victory at Fallen Timbers in the north OhioValley. British failed to support Native allies. After two years of fighting against the Tennesseemilitia, support from the Cherokee declined. However, the will and resolve of the Chickamaugapeople did not weaken.
1794
Skirmish near Muscle Shoals in Alabama.
1794
Battle at Nickajack. White attack on Nickajack, burned town. Breath, long-time headman of Nickajack, killed. Unofficial militia raid by Col. James Orr of Nashvillearea took Nickajack by surprise and killed mostly women and children, took a few captives back to Nashville. Most men were attending a social function down in Turkeytown, Alabama. Men wanted pursuit, but were talked out of it by the families of captives who feared their family members' death. Nickajack rebuilt. .. Spanish withdrew their support, suggesting some accommodation with the Americans rather than continue fighting.
1796
At this time, the Chickamauga
moved into Alabama
Northeast
Town.
2000 Chickamauga Warriors were sent to aid Chief Red Eagle in his attack on Fort Mims.
1799
Chickamaugan migration complete. Open warfare between the Cherokee and Americans ended.
The Treaty of Tellico
was turned down
by Chief
Doublehead and many other Chiefs.
John Watts (who was only Head Warrior Chief for two years) went against the beliefs of Dragging Canoe.
1800
James Orr, who led the
1794 expedition
that
burned Nickajack, lived in the Knoxvillearea, went
bankrupt, failed in white society. Went to live among the Indians, ironically,
selected Nickajack, and was accepted, especially after he explored NickajackCaveand began
mining the cave, producing gunpowder for the Chickamauga.
Also operated a Cherokee tavern there. (Larry's later.)
1803
United Statesgained
control of
Arkansas
and Missouri
through the
Louisiana Purchase.
Warfare between Cherokee and Osage fairly common.
1805
The Treaty of Tellico finally was passed. Chief Doublehead and over 100 of his Warriors were killed. (John Watts had been removed as Head Warrior Chief ). The Chickamaugacontinued to fight in Alabama.
1808
Over 2,000 western Cherokee established in northern Arkansas
1817
Turkey Town Treaty The first formal recognition of the Western Cherokee by the United States. Under its terms, 4,000 Cherokee ceded their lands in Tennessee in exchange for a reservation with the Western Cherokee in northwest Arkansas.
1817
Osage continued to object to the Cherokee presence. Americans built Fort Smith to maintain peace.
1818-19
Calhoun Treaty ceding
land north of the
HiwasseeRiverand North
and West of the Tennesseesigned by
Secretary of War John Calhoun and Cherokee in Washingtonand
ratified by the U.S. Senate. New Eastern Cherokee immigration to Western
Cherokee. Numbers now 6,000. The Gloss, John Walker, Path Killer, Going Snake
and more signed. ± Treaty signer John Boggs may have lived at Little Cedar
Mountain. His wife was Turtle At Home's daughter.
Treaty established boundaries of Cherokee lands in ArkansasTerritory.
1824
Americans built FortGibson to maintain peace between Osage and Cherokee.
1825
White settlers of the ArkansasTerritorydemanded the removal of both the Cherokee and Osage.
1828
Western Cherokee forced to exchange their Arkansaslands for a new location in
Indian Territory of Oklahoma, and adopted a written constitution.
1833
Boundaries of new Western Cherokee reservation determined.
1835
Osage agreed to boundaries of new Western Cherokee lands.
1835
Treaty of New Echota in
north
Georgia.
The
"Treaty Party" sign away all land of the Cherokee Nation east of the
Mississippi.
Later,
upon arrival in Oklahoma, three principle signers: Major Ridge, John Ridge and
Elias Boudinot "Buck Watie",
were assassinated for supporting the
1819 "Old Settlers" in opposition to John Ross' late arrivals.
Period
of intense civil war between the Cherokee in Oklahoma.
Sequoyah withdrew from the area and moved to Mexico, others emigrated to California.
1845
The Chickamauga continued their fight after they left Alabama. The Chickamauga had moved to Alligator Town in Florida (now called Lake City, FL) and continued to fight what the U.S. Government called the Seminole War in 1845.
The Chickamauga never surrendered.
1862-5
American Civil War. The
Keetoowah’s
came into
being, siding with the Union and
fought
against the Cherokees who sided with the Confederates. John Ross was a Union
supporter and took the Cherokee treasury to Washington for
"safekeeping" where he married a white woman and lived to the end of
his days. The "Old Settlers" were primarily pro-Confederate, and the
Ross people pro-Union. The Keetoowah supported the Union.
Confederate General Cherokee full-blood Stan Watie (Elias Boudinot's brother)
was the last Confederate general to surrender to the Union.
He was the Supreme Confederate Commander in Texas at the time.
1862
River ferry, first
established by
Dragging
Canoe's brother, Turtle At Home, operated at Little Cedar Mountain(Shellmound) by mixed-bloods Larry, subsequently by a white man named Love.
Union General Negley drove Confederates out of the north side area at
Battle
Creek,
through Jasper, to
Little Cedar
Mountain.
1862-63
Confederates mined
saltpeter from
NickajackCave(south side
of river). Rebel soldiers abandoned it, the largest Confederate saltpeter mine,
escaping over the SandMountain to
Chattanooga.
1863 August
Major encampment and river-crossing site for the Union Army's approach to Chattanooga.
1864-65
Jasper area under USmilitary control to protect area and ferry against Rebel insurgency.
1913
Hales Bar Dam built one mile upstream from Dragging Canoe's old home at Running Water.
1933
US government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a Depression-era social plan to make fertilizer down in Mussel Shoals, Alabama, and later expanded their role to control flooding in Tennessee Rivervalley and provide for rural electrification.
1939
TVA purchased Hales Bar Dam, displacing the town of Guild.
1950s
TVA determined Hales
Bar Dam
inadequate,
plans drawn up for site six miles downstream and 1 mile below the old town of Nickajack.
1960s
TVA acquired property
from all
surrounding
property owners by eminent domain.
Archaeologists worked to determine the
Native American "cultural resources"
in the future reservoir that would be forever lost.
1964
Construction of TVA Nickajack Dam begun. Cedar Mountain Corporation formed to install a marina, 44 house lots, and hotel. Plan later given up. 1967 TVA Nickajack Reservoir filled. Dragging Canoe's lower town lands flooded.
1967
TVA urged State of
Tennessee to
develop a
state resort park on a 701-acre tract of TVA land known as Tract 3,
the land currently in jeopardy.
1968
TVA developed the
Shellmound Recreation
Area on 81 acres on the
downriver portion
of the Tract 3 land in an attempt to boost the State's interest in expanding the facilities into a resort.
1969
Local Shriner's create Annual Fall Color Cruise celebration begun at the Shellmound Recreation Area.
1973
State of Tennesseecompleted a Master Plan for a large-scale resort park on Tract 3 and subsequently rejected plans.
1987
Mandated by federal
regulations, TVA
initiated
the Nickajack Reservoir Lands Planning project, and as a part of this, solicited
archaeological survey proposals of the entire reservoir.
University of Alabama Office of Archaeological Research conducted a
"Cultural Resources Survey" of Little CedarMountain.
1990
TVA Board of Directors approved the Nickajack Reservoir Land Management Plan which identified 638 acres of Tract 1 (below the dam) for Industrial Use, 701 acres of Tract 3 for Public Recreation Development, and 39 acres of Tract 4 (the mountain itself) for Public Recreation Development. Management Plan states that private sector proposals for development of public recreation facilities on Tract 3 (the land in question) would be considered with evidence of financial feasibility.
The plan also stated that private residential or non-recreational commercial development would not be allowed.
1995 November 20
TVA goes public with a
plan for
1,079-acre
Outdoor Recreational Complex that would contain
developed & undeveloped areas.
1995 December 19
TN Wildlife Resources Agency writes their opposition to TVA proposal strongly urge the property remain as is, undeveloped.
1996 January 26
US Fish & Wildlife
Service opposed
TVA
proposal strongly urge the property remain as is, undeveloped.
1996 April
TVA orchestrated public
hearings in
Jasper
TN:
stipulated
that speakers register one-hour in advance of meeting in order to speak. TVA
promised that the public would still have access to the property
and the Shellmound Recreation Area would be unaffected.
1996 December
TVA's "Final
Environmental Assessment:
Recreation Development Alternatives for the Little Cedar MountainTracts, Nickajack Reservoir, Marion County, Tennessee", by Michael R.
Crowson, Lenoir CityTN,
published.
TVA's Nickajack Little Cedar Mountain land divided into four sectors
with different uses proposed: Tract 1: 638 acres below the dam
containing
extensive Native burials, formerly zoned for Industrial Use, now allocated for
"wildlife management over a long-term period"; Tract 3: 701 acres of former farmland
immediately above the dam, previously zoned for "Public Recreation",
changed to "private sector for commercial recreation, public recreation
and residential development", this is the principle land in immediate
jeopardy of development by TVA and Hines Interests, Limited Partnership of
Houston,
Texas; Tract 4: 39 acres of
land
located between East- and West-bound lanes of Interstate 24 between Chattanooga
and Nashville;
and Tract 5: the southern section of the steep Little Cedar
Mountainproper which contains various Native American sites. TVA Assessment editor Lee Carter writes that ±66% of respondents on the issue were in favor of the development. Marion County Commission voted 14-1 infavor of development of Little Cedar Mountain (Commissioner Louis Campbell was the sole opposition vote.
1997 June 1
Sacred Little Cedar
MountainDefense
Coalition (SLCMDC) and Chattanooga Intertribal Association (CITA) members Tom
Kunesh and Judy Fox discovered an undocumented mound in the middle of Little
Cedar Mountain's Tract 3.
The information was to be kept secret until further confirmation and decision about its political implications.
1997 July 5
"TN River Band of
Chickamauga"
demonstrated at TVA headquarters in downtown Chattanooga,
20-person
rally distributed 800 pamphlets downtown and at the TN Aquarium.
Their objective was a phone & letter-writing campaign to local US Representative Zach Wamp.
1997 September 7
SLCMDC members walked
7 miles from Nickajack
Shellmound
Recreation
Area to the
Marion County Court House in Jasper, Tennessee, where a 60-person rally was held.
1997 September 10
Chattanooga Times
editorial "TVA
stumbles on Little Cedar" published.
1997 October 22