Tennessee’s oldest European
structure
The story of Fort Loudoun
In 1756, the Cherokee stood and watched a small British group
of soldiers begin construction on a fort in the Little Tennessee
Valley near the junction of the Tellico and Little Tennessee
River. The project was being overseen by British engineer-in-charge
William Gerald DeBrahm. DeBrahm and his men began to cut the
trees, shape them, and set them into the ground. It wasn’t
a job done hastily. DeBrahm and his men painstakingly built
the structure to withstand any natural or unnatural disaster.
The fort had been the idea of former South Carolina Governor
James Glen, who saw its presence as a way of cementing relations
with the Cherokee. French traders were beginning to work their
way east towards the coast calling British claims to North America
into question with the Native American leaders. A fort in the
heart of the Cherokee’s capital cities was the only way
Britain felt they could show a good faith effort towards the
tribe and establish a relationship that would continue until
the outbreak of the American Revolution.
Since the early 1700s, Britain and France had been locked into
a war over North America. While Britain continued to colonize
the eastern coast, France had been working its way west from
the Mississippi River and south from Canada developing diplomatic
relations with tribal leaders. It allowed the French to forge
tribal alliances that could be successfully exploited against
the British.
This often led to brutal attacks on colonists, who were trying
to escape British rule themselves, but found new enemies in
the French. They successfully used the colonial attacks to encourage
Native Americans to engage in a war to completely remove them
from America. Throughout 1755, the French-led attacks pushed
Britain into a diplomatic corner with Native American leaders.
On May 18, 1756, Britain officially declared war on France beginning
the Seven Years War or what would become known in American history
as the French and Indian War.
While most of the fighting and conflicts revolved around the
upper northeastern section of North America, the powerful Cherokee
Nation in the south was also being courted by the French and
posing problems for colonists in the Carolinas and Georgia.
In the memoirs of British Officer Henry Timberlake published
in London, Timberlake remarked, in a rather "British"
fashion, on how the Cherokee were being influenced by their
European enemies.
" I found the nation much attached to the French,"
Timberlake wrote, "who have the prudence, by familiar politeness-which
costs but little and often does a great deal- and conforming
themselves to their ways and temper, to conciliate the inclinations
of almost all the Indians they are acquainted with, while the
pride of our officers often disgusts them. Nay, they did not
scruple to own to me that it was the trade alone that induced
them to make peace with us, and not any preference to the French,
whom they loved a great deal better...The English are now so
nigh, and encroached daily so far upon them, that they not only
felt the bad effects of it in their hunting grounds, which were
spoiled, but had all the reason in the world to apprehend being
swallowed up by so potent neighbors or driven from the country
inhabited by their fathers, in which they were born and brought
up, in fine, their native soil, for which all men have a particular
tenderness and affection."
Timberlake’s comments echoed British sentiment and forced
British military leaders into building the structure. The construction
of the fort in the Little Tennessee Valley was completed in
1757 and put under the command of Captain Raymond Demere.
The fort was named after John Campbell, the Fourth Earl of Loudoun,
who was the Commander-in-Chief of Britain’s North American
forces. The garrison was staffed by 90 British regular troops
and 120 South Carolina militiamen.
Before the fort had been finished, the Cherokee Council at the
capitol city of Echota had ordered the work stopped and plainly
told the officer in charge that they did not want so many white
people in their ancestral grounds. During the early months of
the fort’s presence, relations between the British and
Cherokee began deteriorating.
Cherokee Chief Attakullakulla was one of the principal leaders
of the Cherokee nation and their representative to the British
government. He was among a delegation of Chiefs who had crossed
the Atlantic at Britain’s request and met King George.
Even though he was one of Britain’s staunchest allies,
the Chief agreed with the council’s decision to stop construction
on the fort.
In treaty negotiations with Attakullakulla, however, the Cherokee
had agreed to the building of Fort Prince George, Fort Loudoun,
and Fort Dobbs. They also agreed to supply four hundred warriors
to help back up the British in the northern campaigns. It was
an agreement the British enforced on the tribe and were willing
to use soldiers to back it. Over the Council’s objections,
Fort Loudoun was completed and staffed. In rebellion some of
the Cherokee started dealing again with the French traders and
relations with the British began breaking down.
In August of 1757, Capt. Raymond Demere relinquished command
of the fort to his brother Paul. He was an officer many said
had more gall than guns and often mistreated the Cherokees he
had to deal with on a daily basis. In fact, he recruited many
warriors from the area and sent themto British units to fight
in the northern campaigns.
When the Cherokee warriors began returning from the British
excursions in the north, they were disgusted with the way British
command had acted in the field. The snow and swollen rivers
of the American backwoods had forced many soldiers and Cherokee
to return in near starved conditions and their horses had also
died under the circumstances.
Finding horses running loose on the range when they returned,
the Cherokee took them on the premise that it was a fair exchange,
since they had lost their own horses by risking their lives
to protect the colonists.
Many of the colonists didn’t see it that way and attacked
the returning warriors killing over 30 of them. They also scalped
and mutilated the bodies. It was a method the colonists had
learned and become accustomed to in the numerous border wars
in the region. The scalps were then sold to the British as those
of French Indians. The young warriors started taking revenge,
but were restrained by the Chief until proper satisfaction could
be demanded in the normal way, according to the treaties negotiated
with the British. While they waited and carried on as usual,
British soldiers at Fort Prince George raided a nearby Cherokee
village and the warriors turned loose on the colonists attacking
them and burning their farms.
Numerous attacks were made on the back settlements of Carolina
and two soldiers at Fort Loudoun were also killed by the warriors.
The British responded in kind pushing the situation towards
an official declaration of war.
A group of influential Chiefs then decided to gather together
in Charleston to sue for peace with the British. In May 1759,
South Carolina Governor Lyttelton came forward and demanded
that the Cherokee turn over every warrior who had killed a white
colonists including two chiefs from Citico and Tellico. At the
same time, the commander of Fort Loudoun also demanded that
the tribe turn over 24 other Chiefs whom he suspected of unfriendly
actions against the British. To enforce their demands, the British
cut off trading supplies to the upper Cherokee tribes. The Cherokee
exploded in rage and sent delegations to Charleston to protest
the demand and refuse to surrender their chiefs. Governor Lyttelton
declared War on the Cherokee in Nov. 1759 and sent messengers
to enlist other tribes to help them assault the Cherokee towns.
While this was going on, a second delegation of 32 prominent
Cherokee led by Chief Oconostota arrived at Fort Prince George
to make an offer for peace, but the Governor refused and seized
the entire delegation. He threw them into a room only large
enough for six men and shipped 1,400 soldiers into the Cherokee
country to start the assault.
Chief Attakullakulla pleaded on behalf of the delegation to
the Governor, who decided to release Oconostota and two others
from the Fort after forcing them to sign a paper where they
agreed to kill any Frenchman entering their territory and to
turning over the warriors for execution. With smallpox now ravaging
the tribal towns, the Governor returned to Charleston thinking
the matter was closed.
After Oconostota left the Fort, however, he turned around and
began immediately waging war on the Fort to force the British
to surrender the Cherokee they held captive. Being winter, the
chief cut communications and knew the British couldn’t
call in reinforcements. In Feb. 1760, Oconostota used a flag
of truce to lure commander Lt. Coytmore out of the Fort to negotiate
terms. When the Lieutenant stepped from the stockade, Oconostota
waived a bridle over his head as a signal to the warriors to
shoot and Coytmore was wounded in the fire. The British soldiers
in the Fort exploded in anger and, in their rage, busted open
the door where the Chiefs were and slaughtered them to the last
man.
For Oconostota, the murders of the tribal chiefs meant it was
now a war to the finish. The chief began full-scale attacks
on the backwoods settlements. The Cherokee warriors on the other
side of the mountain began laying siege to Fort Loudoun. The
men in Fort Loudoun began a fight for their lives. They did
manage to get word out to other British posts of their situation
and asked for help. In June, a British force of 1,600 men under
the command of Colonel Montgomery began laying waste to Cherokee
towns and heading to the Little Tennessee River to relieve the
Fort. The British burned Cherokee villages, burned their orchards
and cornfields, and killed hundreds of warriors. The Cherokee
mustered their forces, however, and 27 days later engaged the
British near the sacred town of Nikwasi, near present day Franklin,
N.C. In a desperate battle, the Cherokee rallied and drove the
British back from the sacred town to forcing them into retreat.
The soldiers marched back to Fort Prince George with over 100
casualties. Montgomery’s retreat sealed the fate of Fort
Loudoun.
The men in the Fort had been reduced to eating dogs and horses
and were only able to hold out because of the kindness of the
Cherokee women, who had taken some of the men as husbands and
brought them food. Their ration of corn, however, had been reduced
to one quart per day divided among three men.
The strong-willed British held out until Aug. 8, when Captain
Demere surrendered to Oconostota on the terms that he and his
men be allowed to retire unmolested with enough arms and munitions
for the march north. Chief Oconostota agreed to the terms on
the condition the British would leave the remainder of their
arms and ammunition in the fort. On the morning of Aug. 9,1760,
180 men and 60 women and children surrendered the Fort and began
their march north.
The troops marched out from Fort Loudoun and got far enough
away from it to make camp for the night. When the Cherokee sacked
the fort, they accidentally discovered powder and lead the British
had buried to keep out of their hands and learned they had also
tossed about the same amount into the river. Oconostota was
enraged by the deception and dispatched a unit of Cherokee to
the British encampment.
When dawn broke, the Cherokee attacked the British soldiers
killing Demere and 29 others. The rest were taken captive and
held for ransom. British Captain Stuart, Demere’s second
officer, had befriended many of the Cherokee during his stay
at Fort Loudoun. Although he was among those slated to die,
he had his life "claimed" by Attakullakulla. As Atakullakulla’s
prisoner, Stuart became a part of his household. When the time
was right, the Chief took Stuart on a hunting excursion and,
for nine days, conducted him safely to Virginia where he was
turned over to British friends. The Chief was well rewarded
for his efforts and it was by Atakullakulla’s hand that
peace was finally brought about between the British and the
Cherokee Nation.
Fort Loudoun was securely in Cherokee hands and the British
never again tried to retake the fort. Through the years, it
fell into disrepair and then into ruins until it was just a
memory to the Cherokee and early settlers. The Fort became a
footnote in the Seven Years War and earned a niche in history
as the oldest European structure built in Southern Appalachia
and subsequently in the state of Tennessee.
While numerous books are available on the Seven Years War, very
little is mentioned about the war in Southern Appalachia. Like
the War Between the States, experts don’t view the conflicts
in the west as worthy of study. It did, however, forge a colonial
relationship with the settlers that led to the Cherokee taking
up arms against the British on numerous occasions.
Loudon County derives its name from the British Fort, but through
the years, the word has been corrupted from the proper Loudoun
name to the current spelling of Loudon.
In the 1970s before the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded the
Little Tennessee River into Tellico Lake, archaeologists from
Tennessee and the US Government descended on the area. They
located the ruins of Fort Loudoun and excavated the site. From
their finds, a replica of the fort was built 20 feet above the
original site and is today The Fort Loudoun State Park. In addition
to the fort, archaeologists also uncovered the Tellico Blockhouse,
a building built after the American Revolution that sat on the
border of Indian territory and played a vital role in early
tribal negotiations. It was a facility used by all the region’s
tribes and even once hosted French King Louis Phillip, who was
touring the area. The archaeological reports from Fort Loudoun,
however, have never been filed by the Chief Archaeologist Dr.
Brian Kutruff. He is now living in Baton Rouge, La. and says
he will file them soon. Archaeologists who assisted Kutruff
are confused by the length of time it has taken him to do so.
In addition to the British and American structures found in
the Little Tennessee Valley, archaeologist Dr. Jeff Chapman,
now Director of the McClung Museum, uncovered the Cherokee Capitol
of Echota. They found the foundations of the seven pillars on
the tribal Council house, each one representing the seven clans
of the Cherokee. The site is now under the dominion of The Eastern
Band of the Cherokee Nation. It is ran in conjunction with the
Sequoyah Birthplace Museum and is often used in tribal ceremonies.
At what used to be the door of the Council House, the archaeologists
also found the remains of Chief Oconostota. His burial site
at the doorway shows the high honor the Cherokee held for the
chief.
One of the ways archaeologists were able to identify him was
by the burial container that held his remains. The chief had
often seen white settlers buried in coffins and was so impressed
with the practice that he requested to be buried the same way.
When the chief died, however, the Cherokee couldn’t find
one and instead wrapped him in blankets and buried Oconostota
in a canoe.
Chief Atakullakulla remained an active part of Cherokee history
throughout his life. During one of his stays at Fort Loudoun,
he gave a set of beads to a Presbyterian Missionary he had befriended.
Those beads were passed down through the family and today lay
in a safety deposit box in a bank in Clarksville. Patrick Meguiar
is a descendent of the Missionary and put them on loan to U.T.’s
McClung Museum last year for display. They are the only artifact
of the ancient chief known to exist.
Fort Loudoun State Park is located in Vonore off of Highway
411. The Monroe County state park is one of the most visited
in East Tennessee. The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum is located
about a half mile north of the park and can direct visitors
to the ancient Cherokee sites on Tellico Lake.
Throughout the year, Fort Loudoun State Park is the scene of
numerous reenactments from the French and Indian War. The "Garrison
Weekends" are usually held every third Saturday and feature
period soldiers, craftsmen, and Cherokee. The next one is scheduled
for Aug. 8-9.
Over time, the September Garrison Weekend and Trade Fair has
become very popular and drawn reenactors from across America
and Europe. The Vonore community’s support of the museum
has helped it to become what it is today. Their "friends"
organization is regarded as one of the best in the state.
The park facilities are open daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 and the
park from 8 a.m. to sunset. Fort Loudoun has an on site museum
and interpretive center. For more information, you can contact
the park at (423) 884-6217.
