Robert Sparks Walker

“ Hamilton had offered so many rewards to the Indians for the scalps of revolutionists that he was popularly dubbed the Hair Buyer. John Stuart was the British Agent for the South who had charge of seeing that the war supplies were kept at McDonald’s. Everything went well until the Americans, in command of Colonels Evan Shelby and Montgomery, got into boats at Kingsport, Tennessee, in the spring of 1779, and descended the Tennessee River. Soon after passing where the Chickamauga Dam now stands, they piloted their boats to the south side, where they found an Indian fishing. ”

“ An old boatman on the Tennessee River operating his hand-propelled paddle wheel boat.
After leaving Georgia, Joseph Vann settled on the south bank of the Tennessee River, a few miles above the Chickamauga Dam. He was very industrious, and soon there were thirty-five houses erected and occupied on his property. The village was known as Vanntown. There was scarcely a moment’s rest, however, for the poor Indians. The greedy whites kept encroaching on their real estate until only a small portion of their once large territory remained. ”

“ Dragging Canoe was the leader of the militant minded Indians there.
In 1770 there passed down the Tennessee River at the site of the Chickamauga Dam a Scotch trader by the name of John McDonald. With him was a half-breed Cherokee by the name of William Shorey. They turned their boats which held their possessions up the South Chickamauga Creek and paddled and poled for about seven miles upstream, halting at the crossing of the Great War Path where the Lee Highway now crosses the Chickamauga Creek. ”

“ About the year 1815, following the close of the Creek War, John Ross, Cherokee, and Timothy Meigs, son of Return J. Meigs, the Indian Agent, established a trading post seven miles south of the Chickamauga Dam. They operated a ferry as well as a general store. The place became known as Ross’ Landing, but when the Indians had departed for the lands in the West, the whites had the town surveyed, and the name was changed to Chattanooga. ”

“ In 1849, when the state of Georgia finished the Western and Atlantic Railroad, a station and post office was established there known as Chickamauga, Tennessee. It became a busy village where thousands of dollars worth of farm produce was bought and shipped. After General Bragg abandoned Chattanooga, Chickamauga became the terminus where the Confederate troops and supplies were loaded and unloaded.
In 1777 the Cherokee settlements from Virginia to the Chattahoochee River were destroyed by the whites. ”

“ In 1760, when the British troops surrendered Fort Loudon, Ostenaco was one of the chiefs to march out with the conquered soldiers. The day’s trek took the 180 soldiers 15 miles where they encamped on Cane Creek. At daybreak the next morning the British were attacked by several hundred Cherokees, and after they had killed Paul Demere, who had been in command of the fort, and 23 of his men, Ostenaco ran about the field yelping like a wolf in an effort to stop the Indians from fighting. He thus saved the lives of many white soldiers. ”

“ Printed and bound in the United States of America
[Pg 5]
The Chickamauga Dam
and Its Environs
Well, here we are, standing on the top of a huge pile of concrete 129 feet above the ground floor, about seven miles from the center of Chattanooga.
What a beautiful body of water it is that spreads before us to the east! It is a lovely creation. I think you will agree that its shoreline warrants its claim to as much beauty as the water itself. ”

“ The Chickamaugas were not ready to give up after their towns had been destroyed in 1779. They rebuilt Chickamauga Town, but in 1782 John Sevier, in command of a troop of mounted Tennesseeans, descended on them, and after burning Chickamauga, marched up the creek and destroyed Little Owl’s village. Fourteen years later John Sevier became the first governor of Tennessee.
It is of interest to note that the land on which Little Owl’s village was situated, containing 105 acres, has been The Elise Chapin Wild Life Sanctuary, owned by the Chattanooga Audubon Society. ”

“ He had the distinction of being the only literary person in the United States to receive a pension, which came from the Cherokee Nation. The Big Trees of California were also named Sequoia in his honor. His alphabet enabled the Indians to make rapid progress in education, and after type had been cast in Boston, The Cherokee Phoenix, a newspaper, was established and published at their capitol in New Echota, near the present town of Calhoun, Georgia. Elias Boudinot, a full-blooded Cherokee who had been educated at Brainerd Mission and Cornwall, Connecticut, was chosen as its editor. ”

“ At that time the white settlers took possession of the lands lying south of the Tennessee River. Three years previous to that date, however, the whites had slowly been slipping into their lands. Hamilton County’s boundary was then extended to take in the Cherokee lands from the Tennessee River to the Georgia line. It was at that time that Dallas lost the county seat, since Vanntown was chosen and a court house was erected. This happened about the time that William H. Harrison was elected President of the United States, so Vanntown became Harrison, Tennessee. ”

“ Later, Daniel Ross married Molly McDonald, daughter of John McDonald, and John Ross, who later became the most distinguished Chief of the Cherokee Nation, was their son. Ten miles northeast of Dragging Canoe’s Chickamauga Town was another Cherokee settlement known as Ooltewah. Some of the Cherokees most prominent men once lived in that region, especially along Ooltewah Creek, which name has been corrupted to Wolf Tever. Much of the land there which was formerly occupied by the Cherokees, has been inundated by the Chickamauga Dam. ”

“ Perhaps, the most primitive type would have been the bullboat, which was made by stretching a wet buffalo hide with hair on the inside over a framework of willow strips, in the shape of a tub or a canoe, about seven feet in diameter. The bowl-shaped type would carry about 700 pounds. It was propelled with a paddle made of wood, or with the shoulder blade of a buffalo fastened to a stick for a handle.
Every now and then would have passed us a big flat boat resembling in shape a big box floating on the water, carrying as its cargo human families with their possessions. ”

“ The said Cherokee Nation being at peace and friendship with the United States, are entitled to the confidence and friendly offices of the citizens, and therefore recommended to all such with whom they may meet on their passage to the place of their destination. ”

“ Lydia Carter, who was touched with the pathetic story, gave Cornelius $150 with which to purchase the little girl’s freedom. Soon Cornelius received a letter from Brainerd stating that the Indian had not brought the little girl to the school as he had promised. When interviewed, the Indian refused to part with her unless the missionaries would give him in return a Negro girl as a servant. Such thoughts were repulsive to the missionaries. On Cornelius’ return to Brainerd he rode 60 miles to call on the Indian who held the little girl. ”

“ Bragg’s men fled eastward and the Union troops pursued them as far as the Georgia line. The Confederates lost forty cannon, 7,000 stand of arms, and 6,687 men. The Federals lost 5,815 men. The battle of Missionary Ridge was so closely connected with that of Lookout Mountain, some students of military history at least think of it as the second day’s battle of Lookout Mountain. ”

“ At various places on the lake are to be found beautiful cottages and bungalows where families enjoy recreation as well as the pure atmosphere and the cool currents of air that come from the fresh waters. ”

“ It was due to his negotiations that Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845. The flooding of the Hiwassee Island by the waters of the Chickamauga Dam put an end to its history as a place where human beings might reside. ”

“ It rises in northwest Georgia, and as it flows northwest it collects the waters from other sources. One mile above the site of John McDonald’s trading post it receives the water from the West Chickamauga, which has its source at the junction of Pigeon and Lookout Mountains, thirty-five miles south of Chattanooga. This is the Chickamauga Creek which gave the name to the battle of Chickamauga. ”

“ On November 15 he left Brainerd on horseback with three companions en route for New Orleans. After traveling about 200 miles, he reached Caney Creek, which was swollen from recent rains. Cornelius did not dare risk swimming his horse, but selected a camp site nearby. Soon he saw a band of Cherokee approaching on the opposite side of the creek. They plunged their horses into the swollen stream and swam successfully across. Night was speeding on, and the Indians encamped in the woods nearby. ”

“ Following these heavy losses, the Lower Cherokees gave up all their lands lying in South [Pg 20] Carolina, except a very small strip on their western boundary. Two months later, the Middle and Upper Cherokees signed away their lands lying east of the Blue Ridge. ”

“ Briefly, there are a navigation lock 60 by 360 feet, a concrete spillway, a concrete powerhouse intake section, a concrete bulkhead section, and an earth embankment on each side. It calls for a long stretch of the legs to walk from one end to the other. ”