Timeline of Cherokee history

This is a timeline of events in the history of the Cherokee Nation, from its earliest appearance in historical records to modern court cases in the United States. Some basic content about the removal of other southeastern tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River is included. In a series of treaties, these tribes ceded land to the United States.

Year	Date	Event
c. 1540		Members of Hernando DeSoto’s expedition became the first recorded Europeans to encounter the Mississippian culture people, in the towns of Chalaque, Guaqili, Xuala (Joara), and Guasili.^[1] Joara was a regional chiefdom established around the year 1000 near the present day town of Morganton, North Carolina.^[2] These villages are believed to have been developed by Catawba ancestors (specifically the Cheraw).
c. 1567		On a lengthy journey into the interior from Santa Elena (present day South Carolina) to the planned capital of Spanish Florida, Juan Pardo established the Presidio of San Juan at Joara.^[1] In later journeys, Pardo encountered Native Americans in towns such as Nikwasi, Tocoa, and Kituwa.
c. 1654		English settlers from Jamestown, supported by a force of Pamunkey, attacked the "Rechahecrian" (possibly Cherokee) village of 600–700 warriors in the vicinity of present-day Richmond, and were soundly defeated.
c. 1670		German trader James Lederer travelled south from the James River in Virginia to Catawba territory near the newly established Province of Carolina, where he encountered the "Rickahockan," whom he placed on a map as being in the western mountains of present-day North Carolina.
c. 1708		The Lenape destroyed a Cherokee town in the upper Ohio River region and drove away its people. The Cherokee at Qually Boundary told anthropologist James Mooney these were the last Cherokee remaining in the north.
c. 1710–1715		The Cherokee and Chickasaw warred with the Shawnee of the Cumberland River basin in present-day Tennessee.
c. 1711–1715		The Cherokee joined other tribes and European militias in fighting against the Tuscarora, longtime enemies of the Cherokee. Their victory in the Tuscarora War forced the remaining Tuscarora to migrate north to New York, where they joined the Iroquois Confederacy as the Sixth Nation in 1722.
c. 1714		The Cherokee destroyed the Yuchi town of Chestowee on the Hiwassee River, in the brief Cherokee-Yuchi War.
c. 1715–1717		In the Yamasee War, the Cherokee initially joined other tribes, such as the Yamasee, Catawba, and Lower Muscogee), in attacking South Carolinian colonists. Along with the Catawba, the Cherokee switched sides during the course of the war, contributing to the defeat of their former allies.
c. 1721		The Cherokee signed the Treaty with the Province of South Carolina, ceding land between the Santee, Saluda, and Edisto Rivers. Subsequently, the first recorded band of Cherokee crossed the Mississippi River, supposedly led by a warrior named Dangerous Man (Yunwiusgaseti). Part of this band allegedly reached the Rocky Mountains and survived into the 19th century.^{[citation needed]} In an attempt to reunite the Cherokee, Sequoyah left Indian territory for northern Mexico, where he disappeared.
c. 1730		Sir Alexander Cumming, who crowned Moytoy of Tellico as "Emperor of the Cherokee," took seven Cherokee leaders, including Attakullakulla, to London. They met with King George I and signed the Articles of Trade and Friendship between the Cherokee and the Kingdom of Great Britain.
c. 1753–1755		The Cherokee-Muscogee War was fought, culminating in the Battle of Taliwa.
c. 1754–1763		During the French and Indian War, the North American theater of the Seven Years' War, the Cherokee initially fought with British forces against those of the Kingdom of France, but British mistreatment of Cherokee forces led Moytoy to initiate the Anglo-Cherokee War, which the British won. At that war's conclusion, the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Long Island-on-the-Holston with the Colony of Virginia in 1761 and the Treaty of Charlestown with South Carolina in 1762.
c. 1755		The Cherokee signed the Treaty with South Carolina, ceding the land between the Wateree and Santee rivers.
c. 1758–1769		The Cherokee-Chickasaw War was fought, culminating in the Battle of Chickasaw Old Fields.
c. 1762	May	Following his peace mission to the Overhill Towns, Lieutenant Henry Timberlake took three headmen—Ostenaco of Tomotley, Standing Turkey of Chota, and Wood Pigeon (Ata-wayi) of Keowee—to meet with George III in London to reaffirm the peace treaties signed at the end of the Anglo-Cherokee War.
1763	October 7	King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, creating a boundary line along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, beyond which colonists were forbidden to settle, in an effort to try to preserve Indian territory and reduce conflicts between colonists and Indians.
c. 1768		The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Hard Labour with the British Indian Superintendent, ceding land in southwest Virginia.
c. 1770		The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Lochaber with the British Indian Superintendent, ceding land in present-day Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
c. 1772		The Cherokee signed the Treaty with Virginia, ceding land in Virginia and eastern Kentucky. The Cherokee agreed to lease land to a group of colonists, creating the semi-autonomous Watauga Association.
c. 1773		The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Augusta, ceding over two million acres (8,000 km²) to the colony of Georgia.
c. 1775		The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, selling land to the Transylvania Company. A group of Cherokee defeated Spanish miners in the Mine La Motte area of Missouri.

Year	Date	Event
c. 1775–1783		During the American Revolutionary War, the Cherokee supported British forces against rebelling American colonists.
c. 1777		The Cherokee signed the Treaty of DeWitts’ Corner with South Carolina and Georgia, and the Treaty of Fort Henry with Virginia and North Carolina, ceding lands in both cases. As a result, some Cherokee migrated westward into North Georgia; Dragging Canoe moved southwestward, leading a large group of like-minded Cherokee (known as the Chickamauga) to the present day Chattanooga area and began the Cherokee–American wars (1776–94).
c. 1782		A group of Cherokee under Standing Turkey received permission to emigrate west of the Mississippi from the governor of Spanish Louisiana, into present day Missouri. Dragging Canoe led his people further westward and southwestward, eventually penetrating present day Alabama as more Cherokee refugees migrated to the area.
c. 1783		The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Long Swamp Creek with the state of Georgia, ceding most of the land between the Savannah and Chattahoochee Rivers.
c. 1785	November 28	The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Hopewell with the United States, and the Treaty of Dumplin Creek and Treaty of Coyatee with the State of Franklin (part of present-day Tennessee).
c. 1788		The principal town of the Cherokee people was moved from Chota to Ustanali, near present-day Calhoun, Georgia, after a raid by settlers from East Tennessee resulted in the assassination of Old Tassel, the tribe's leading chief and several other leaders. Little Turkey, a former warrior, was elected headman, but Hanging Maw claimed the title by tradition.
1791	February 22	The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Holston with the United States, establishing terms of relations between the tribe and the young nation. Among other provisions, the treaty made the United States responsible for managing foreign affairs for the Cherokee.
1792	March 1	Dragging Canoe died near present-day Trenton, Georgia and was buried near present-day Whiteside, Tennessee. He was succeeded as leader of the Chickamauga Cherokee by John Watts.
1793	September 25	On the way to attack White's Fort (present day Knoxville, Tennessee), a combined force of over 1000 Cherokee and Muscogee warriors under John Watts attacked a small fortified homestead called Cavett's Station. After Watts negotiated a surrender, another Cherokee chieftain, Doublehead, attacked and killed the homesteaders, despite the attempts of Watts and James Vann to stop him. The incident broke up the invasion force and began a bitter rivalry between Vann and Doublehead, which caused a rift in the Cherokee Nation lasting long past their deaths.
1794	June 26	The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Philadelphia, selling land to the United States.
1794	November 7	The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse' with the United States, ending the Cherokee–American wars and establishing a Cherokee Nation.
c. 1794		Little Turkey was recognized by all Cherokee as Principal Chief of the Nation, and the Cherokee National Council was formally established as the nation's legislative body.
c. 1796		Mixed-blood, red haired chief Will Weber, whose town Titsohili later became known as Willstown in his honor, departed west over the Mississippi becoming one of the first of the "Old Settlers" in the Indian Territory.
1798	October 2	The Cherokee signed the first Treaty of Tellico, affirming boundaries between the Cherokee Nation and the United States.
c. 1801		The Moravian Brethren established Spring Place Mission on land given to them by James Vann from his Diamond Hill plantation, the most important feature of which was a school.
c. 1802		The state of Georgia surrendered to the federal government its claims to its western lands; in exchange, President Thomas Jefferson nullifies the titles of the Muscogee and Cherokee to their lands within Georgia's borders.
c. 1803		With the death of Little Turkey, former warrior Black Fox was chosen to succeed him as principal chief.
1804	October 24	The Cherokee signed another Treaty of Tellico, ceding land to the United States.
c. 1805		At the suggestion of Louisiana Territory Governor James Wilkinson, the Cherokee living in southeast Missouri on the Mississippi River moved to the Arkansas River, in what later became the Arkansaw Territory.
1805	October 25	The Cherokee signed another Treaty of Tellico, ceding land to the United States, including for the Federal Road.
1805	October 27	The Cherokee signed another Treaty of Tellico ceding land to the state of Tennessee state assembly to meet upon.
1806	January 7	The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Washington, ceding land to the United States.
1807	August	Near present-day Calhoun, Tennessee, Major Ridge and Alexander Saunders assassinated Doublehead, Speaker of the Cherokee National Assembly, who engaged in secret land deals for personal profit. Doublehead's archrival James Vann was originally designated the main assassin, but was too inebriated at the time.
c. 1808		Because of their attempt to make a secret deal for their own profit with U.S. Commissioner Return J. Meigs, Black Fox and his assistant principal chief Tagwadihi were deposed from office at a council in Hiwassee Old Town. Black Fox was succeeded by Pathkiller, another former warrior.
1808	September 11	The National Council, meeting at Broomtown, Alabama authorized the formation of the Cherokee Lighthorse Guard under Major Ridge. This patrol was charged with prevention squatting by Americans, robbery, horse theft, and cattle rustling.
c. 1809		A large group of Cherokee under Doublehead's brother Tahlonteeskee emigrated to lands in present day Arkansas, where Tahlonteeskee became the first principal chief of the Cherokee Nation West. Later that year, Meigs sent John Ross to these Cherokee as his deputy. The Cherokee National Committee was established to handle affairs of the nation between meetings of the National Council.
1809	February 19	An unknown assassin killed James Vann.
c. 1810		A party under The Bowl and Tsulawi migrated west. Clans surrender the right to blood vengeance to the Cherokee Nation government.

Year	Date	Event
c. 1811		The "Cherokee Ghost Dance" movement, a somborie led by former warrior Tsali and influenced by Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, began. In Tecumseh's War, Shawnee leader Tecumseh led a confederacy of tribes in an unsuccessful war against American forces led by future president William Henry Harrison. Black Fox died, after having been restored as principal chief. He was again succeeded by Pathkiller, with Charles R. Hicks as assistant principal chief.
c. 1813–1814		The Cherokee joined the Creek War as part of Andrew Jackson's army at the request of the Lower Muscogee, who had been threatened by the Red Sticks.
c. 1815		John Ross opened a trading post on the Tennessee River that became known as Ross' Landing. Timothy Meigs, brother of US Indian agent Return J. Meigs, was his business partner.
1816	March 22	The Cherokee signed another Treaty of Washington, ceding their remaining territory in South Carolina.
1816	September 14	The Cherokee signed the Treaty of Chickasaw Council House, ceding more land to the United States.
c. 1817		The Cherokee-Osage War began in the Arkansas Territory.
1817	February	The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established Brainerd Mission, across the river from the town of Chickamauga, on land given to them by John McDonald, a former British agent to the Cherokee. Like the Moravian mission at Spring Place, the mission's most important feature was its school.
1818	Spring	The Battle of Claremore Mound was fought in the Arkansas Territory, in which a force of Cherokee, Shawnee, and Lenape attacked the Osage villages of Pasona and Pasuga in retaliation for raids against farms and horse theft.
c. 1819		Disgruntled Arkansas Cherokees, led by The Bowl and later Chief Richard Fields, emigrated to Texas in Spanish Mexico, and in what is now Rusk County, Texas.
1819	February 27	The Cherokee signed another Treaty of Washington which ceded further land and in exchange Cherokee families would receive 640 acres of land and financial compensation for any improvements they had made to the ceded land.^[3]
1819	March	After the most recent treaty in Washington, D.C. was signed, John Walker, Jr., stormed into the room of John Ross and attempted to knife him.
c. 1820		John Jolly succeeded his brother Ataluntiski as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation West. The National Council in Cherokee Nation East established eight judicial districts with courts in each to handle civil disputes. These districts also served for elections and legislative matters.
c. 1822		The Cherokee Supreme Court was established.
1822	November 8	The Cherokee band of The Bowl signed the Treaty of San Antonio de Bexar with the Spanish governor of Texas, granting them land. However, the treaty was never ratified by the Viceroyalty of New Spain or its successor states, the Mexican Empire and the Republic of Mexico.
c. 1823		Sequoyah emigrated to the Cherokee Nation West. The last battle between the Cherokee and the Osage in the Arkansas Territory took place, after which both nations agreed to an end to hostilities.
c. 1824		Influenced by the teachings of the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake, Whitepath led a protest movement of traditionalists against acculturation, forming its own council under Big Tiger. This schism lasted four years. After years of legal action and negotiations over rights to land within the bounds of North Carolina, the Cherokee living outside the territory of the Cherokee Nation were confirmed in their lands, the center of which was Quallatown on the Oconaluftee River. Yonaguska was chosen as their principal chief.
c. 1825		Census figures for the Cherokee Nation East counted 13,563 Cherokees, 1,277 slaves, and 220 intermarried whites.
c. 1826		Whitepath was removed from the Cherokee National Council, but was reinstated two years later when the schism collapses.
1826	December	Pathkiller was succeeded as principal chief by his assistant, Charles Hicks.
1827	January	Pathkiller dies, followed two weeks later by Charles Hicks; government devolves to Major Ridge, as Speaker of the National Council, and John Ross, as president of the National Committee. William Hicks would later be selected as the next principal chief.
1827	July 26	The Cherokee Nation East adopted a constitution with a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature and eight legislative-judicial districts.
c. 1828		Gold was discovered in Cherokee land near Dahlonega on Ward's Creek, a tributary of the Chestatee River.
1828	February 21	Elias Boudinot began publication of the Cherokee Phoenix at New Echota.
1828	May 6	The Cherokee signed another Treaty of Washington, ceding its lands in the Arkansas Territory in exchange for lands in what later becomes Indian Territory; many individual Cherokee remain for some time in Arkansas.
1828	October	Elections were held under the new constitution of the Cherokee Nation East, resulting in the election of John Ross as principal chief and George Lowery as assistant principal chief. Major Ridge was appointed as Ross's chief counselor.
c. 1829		The states of Georgia and Alabama passed acts appropriating the lands of the Cherokee Nation within their state limits. The Georgia act nullified the laws of the Cherokee Nation and prohibited Cherokees from testifying in court against whites.

Year	Date	Event
c. 1830		561 Cherokee voluntary emigrated to western lands.
1830	January 4	A party of thirty warriors under Major Ridge expelled several families of white squatters on Cherokee farmsteads in a detached section of Cherokee land inside southern Georgia.
1830	June 3	Governor George Rockingham Gilmer declared the Georgia legislative act of the previous December to be in effect, claiming all Cherokee lands, including gold mines, for the state.
1830	May 28	Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, directed at the "Five Civilized Tribes," including the Cherokee.
1830	October	The Cherokee Nation held its National Council meeting at New Echota for the last time. John Ridge was elected president of the National Committee, Going Snake the Speaker of the Council, and Alexander McCoy the council clerk. Ridge, William Shorey Coody (Ross's nephew), and Richard Taylor were chosen to lead a delegation to Washington to protest mistreatment of the Nation.
c. 1831		The state of Georgia passed a law requiring whites living within the Cherokee Nation to swear a loyalty oath and to obtain permission from the state in order to continue living there. The law was primarily directed at missionaries, particularly those at the Brainerd Mission.
1831–1832	January–December	907 Cherokee emigrated to western lands in these two years, mostly in two parties of 347 and 422, including 127 slaves in the latter.
1831	February 24	The Choctaw sign the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, ceding most of their land to the United States. Some chose to remain in Mississippi and become US citizens subject to state law. Their descendants in the 20th century organize as the federally recognized Mississippi Band of Choctaw.
1831	September 15	Eleven white men were tried in Lawrenceville, Georgia for failing to obtain a state permit for residency in Cherokee territory. The jury found the men guilty, and the judge sentenced each to four years of hard labor. Upon their arrival at the prison in Milledgeville, Governor Gilmer offered to pardon them if they agreed to take the loyalty oath and leave the state; nine of them agreed. Missionaries Elizur Butler and Samuel Worcester refused, and later took their case to the Supreme Court.
1831	December	A delegation from the Cherokee Nation East, composed of John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, James Martin, and William Shorey Coody, arrived in Washington to present Cherokee grievances against the state of Georgia.
1832	March 3	In the case of Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall of the Supreme Court struck down the recent laws of the state of Georgia, ruling that the Cherokee Nation East have the right to protection of the federal government from harassment by the states, who have no criminal jurisdiction in Indian territory. The court also ordered the release of Worcester and Butler. A month later, President Jackson told the Cherokee delegation he would not enforce the ruling.
1832	March 24	The Muscogee signed the Treaty of Cusseta, with the United States. The treaty provides an exchange of lands for those Muscogee who chose to emigrate to Indian Territory, and individual ownership of current lands with submission to Alabama state laws for those who did not. After violence broke out from speculators defrauding the Muscogee of their land, the federal government sent General Winfield Scott to forcibly remove the Muscogee.
1832	April 16	Secretary of War Lewis Cass met with the Cherokee delegation and offers them extensive lands in Indian Territory, sovereignty over their affairs there, an annuity of equal value to their ceded lands, payment for improvements to ceded lands, support for schools and industries, and various other incentives for the ceding of their lands in the east.
1832	May 9	A small faction of Seminole in favor of removal signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing the United States. The Senate did not ratify it for two years.
1832	July 23	The Cherokee National Council met for the first time at Red Clay. They passed a resolution to allow current officers to continue, including John Ross as Principal Chief. Boudinot resigned as editor of The Cherokee Phoenix after Ross refused to allow him to publish a report of the recent delegation to Washington in favor of removal; he was replaced by Elijah Hicks, one of Ross's brothers-in-law. These divisions in the nation later led to the Treaty Party and the National Party.
1832	October 20	The Chickasaw signed the Treaty of Pontotoc with the United States, ceding their land east of the Mississippi in exchange for financial compensation and equal lands in Indian Territory. The United States did not pay the promised amount for 30 years.
1832	October 22	Georgia began the Land Lottery to allocate the lands seized from the Cherokee.

Year	Date	Event
c. 1833		Tatsi led a party to join the Texas Cherokee in what was then Mexico. Among the party was Sam Houston, adopted son of John Jolly.
1833	February	President Jackson offered John Ross $3 million and equivalent land in the west for the removal of the Cherokee Nation East; Ross refused.
1833	February 14	The Treaty of Fort Gibson corrected conflicts between land guarantees to the Cherokee and to the Muscogee.
1833	November	A group of Cherokee who decided to emigrate, including most of the Treaty Party, met the Cherokee Agency at Calhoun, Tennessee, where they elected William Hicks as principal chief of their faction and John McIntosh as his assistant. They sent a delegation including Andrew Ross to Washington to represent their interests.
1834	March 13	Lieutenant Joseph Harris departed from the Cherokee Agency with an emigration party. With new arrivals along the way, the party eventually numbered 903.
1834	Spring	John Ross proposed to Secretary Cass that the Nation be allowed to remain in the East on a small part of their land, subject to the laws of the states, with a goal of eventually assimilating into American society. His brother Andrew, on the other hand, signed a removal treaty with terms so poor, even advocates of removal boycotted it. Major Ridge condemned both extremes, citing to John Ross the extreme destitution of the Catawba, who followed a similar course.
1834	May 16	Harris's party arrived at the Cherokee Nation West. An epidemic of typhus had killed 120 of the party along the way.
1834	June 19	The United States concluded the treaty with Andrew Ross, over the objections of Ross, Ridge, and their allies. The treaty was rejected by the United States Senate and the Cherokee National Council.
1834	June 24	John Walker, Jr., a leading advocate of removal, was assassinated by James Foreman and his half-brother Anderson Springston while returning home from a meeting of the National Council.
1834	August	Elijah Hicks presented to the National Council a petition charging Major Ridge, John Ridge, and David Vann with treason, calling for their impeachment and removal from office. They were never tried, although the charged were never dropped.
1834	November 27	The Treaty Party holds its own council at Running Waters, the plantation of John Ridge, not far from Oothcaloga (present day Calhoun, Georgia).
c. 1835		Census of the Cherokee Nation estimated 5000 Cherokee in the west counted the following people in the east: Georgia: 8946 Indians, 776 slaves, 68 whites; North Carolina: 3644 Indians, 37 slaves, 22 whites (this excluded the Oconaluftee under Yonaguska in Haywood County, North Carolina, who were considered state citizens); Tennessee: 2528 Indians, 480 slaves, 79 whites; and Alabama: 1424 Indians, 299 slaves, 32 whites; Total: 16,542 Indians, 1592 slaves, and 201 whites (18,335 people)
1835	March 14	US envoy John F. Schermerhorn offered the Ridge delegation $3.25 million for the lands of the Cherokee Nation East. The Ross delegation countered with a demand of $20 million, which was rejected outright. The delegation promised to accept an amount set by the US Senate. The Senate almost immediately offered $5 million but the Ross delegation rejected it. Schermerhorn eventually concluded a preliminary treaty delegation offering $4.5 million plus other financial considerations.^{[clarification needed]}
1835	July 18	Hundreds of Cherokee from both internal parties converged on John Ridge's plantation Running Waters, a few miles from New Echota, to meet with Shermerhorn, Return J. Meigs, Jr., and other officials representing the United States. Following the conclave, members of the National Party began murdering members of the Treaty Party at least weekly.
1835	August 24	John Ridge held a Green Corn Dance at Running Waters attended by hundreds, primarily to build support for a removal treaty. John Ross attempts to hold dances elsewhere in opposition, but the Georgia Guard dispersed them.
1835	October	The Cherokee Council rejected the treaty offered in March. The council appoints twenty men, including John Ross and treaty advocates John Ridge, Charles Vann, and Elias Boudinot (later replaced by Stand Watie), to represent the Cherokee Nation for a new treaty with compensation over $5 million. Schermerhorn, meanwhile, called for a convention to negotiate a removal treaty at New Echota in December.
1835	November 7	The Georgia Guard invaded present day southeast Tennessee, crossing its state line to arrest John Ross at his house, where they also found and arrested John Howard Payne. Ross was released nine days later and immediately headed to Washington, but Payne was held for an additional three days.
1835	December 22	Approximately 400 Cherokee converged on New Echota for treaty negotiations.
1835	December 29	After a week of negotiations, most of the Cherokee negotiators approved the Treaty of New Echota, ceding their remaining land in the east in exchange for $5 million, with an additional half-million dollars for education, perpetual rights to equal land in the Indian Territory, and compensation for property left in the east. An additional clause allowed Cherokee not wishing to move would be allowed to remain and become citizens of the states in which they resided, but President Jackson struck this clause. John Ross refused to sign, and returned to the Cherokee Nation, implying to his supporters that he had worked out a deal with the government allowing the Cherokee to remain, under his leadership.(Brown, p. 498–499)

Timeline of Cherokee history

1540–1775

1775–1811

1811–1829

1830s

1830–1832

1833–1835

1836–1837

1838

1839–1840

1841–present

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

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