Chickamauga Wars: the earliest U.S. war?

History With RCS: Our American ancestors, right from 1776, warred about as much we war now. I hope to give you some short histories of a few of those wars in the future.

                Right now here are a few words on the "Chickamauga War:"

                The history books talk a bit about the Chickamauga War, but I like to say wars, because Chickamauga wars started early and lasted long. Some call them the Cherokee Wars. When Cherokee ancestors protected their families and territory from the violence of our ancestors, our ancestors killed them; killed them man, woman, and child; killed them and took their homes and land. Ancestors, theirs and ours, killed each other. Our ancestors often proved to be the better killers. 

                Still the Cherokee people, with the sometimes help of other peoples such as the Muskogee and Shawnee, actively resisted for nearly a century. In some history books those wars continued for only about 20 years.

                Much of those struggles took place in what we might call the northern tier of the  southern states; states like Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina.

                Mostly the Cherokee depended on their native allies, but they also allied themselves with the Kingdom of Great Britain to protect themselves from invasion and occupation by Americans. 

                The Cherokee, it may well be remembered, are one of we called the civilized tribes. They were called civilized for a variety of reasons; reasons such as their life style and their way of dealing with others.
                

                They were also one of the first tribes to widely intermarry with Europeans. They may well have intermarried with Europeans well before the first colonies were established in North America. The Cherokee, I believe, have long established bloodlines with Portugues, Irish, Scots, Welsh, and others.

                During much of the most severe strife between Cherokee and American an important Cherokee leader was Dragging Canoe.  

                The Cherokee are distant relatives of the Iroquoi and spoke and Iroquoian language. They probably migrated south from Iroquois territory around the Great Lakes in pre Columbian times. So, the Cherokee probably dispossessed others to claim territory in what are now US states.

                I plan to write more about our wars.

                Was Nancy Ward a news paper Cherokee?





                                                                                            by Richard Sheehan