| 1500s | "Chattanooga", "Chickamauga": Muskogean (Creek) placenames, indicating that the area was occupied by Muskogean/Creek people. | ||
| 1660 | Large groups of Shawnee were driven south by the Iroquois. The Cherokee allowed one group to settle in South Carolina and serve as a buffer between them and the Catawba. Other Shawnee were permitted to locate in the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee for a similar purpose against the Chickasaw. [Cherokee were 63 independent towns. The Shawnee were down here at the time, especially in south Georgia where "Savannah" & "Sewannee" are derivatives of their name.] | ||
| 1692 | Shawnee raid to capture slaves for trade with the English destroyed a major Cherokee village while its warriors were absent on a winter hunt. This treachery destroyed any trust or friendship that had existed between the Cherokee and Shawnee. | ||
| 1693 | Cherokee delegation visited Charlestown demanding more firearms to fight their enemies. | ||
| 1705 | North Carolina was urging South Carolina to curtail the trade in Native American slaves or face a massive uprising. [There wasn't a separate distinct difference between North & South Carolina that early. The more foresighted colonial leaders were the voices of opposition to slavery, that enslaving natives would unite native opposition and would thus be counter-productive.] | ||
| 1706 | Peace arranged between the Cherokee and Iroquois to serve British military and trading interests. | ||
| 1708 | Cherokee joined the Catawba and Alibamu in an attack against the Mobile in southern Mississippi who were serving as middlemen for the new French trading posts in the region. | ||
| 1713 | 300 Cherokee warriors served with the South Carolina army of Colonel James Moore against the Tuscarora. | ||
| 1715 | Some Lower Cherokee joined the Yamasee during the general uprising against the Carolinas. [The bulk of Cherokee as a whole supported the English. "Our safety very much depends on the Cherokees."] | ||
| 1715 | Cherokee allied with the Chickasaw to inflict a major defeat on the Shawnee of the Cumberland Basin. [Pretty accurate ... as when the Shawnee started going north] | ||
| 1721 | First treaty and land cession by the Cherokee, regulated trade and established a boundary between the Cherokee and the British settlements. | ||
| 1730 | White Owl (Atakullakulla/"Little Carpenter"), a young man and "Prince of Chota", goes to England with six other older but still young Cherokee. | ||
| 1738± | Possibly the oldest child of Atakullakulla, Tsi'ui-Gunsin'ni (Dragging Canoe) was born. Had brothers Little Owl and Turtle At Home. | ||
| 1738 | Devastating smallpox epidemic. [Half of the Cherokee people died. Priests wiped out around this time? ... reason?] | ||
| 1740 | Creeks finally driven from Little Cedar mountain area stemmed from generations' old war between Shawnee & Cherokee, (Creek secretly supported the Shawnee) | ||
| 1745 | Second Chickasaw alliance forced remaining Shawnee north across the Ohio River. | ||
| 1750 | Third Chickasaw alliance succeeded in defeating the French-allied Choctaw. [ Major war between Cherokees and Creeks; Creeks finally driven from Little Cedar Mountain area. ] | ||
| 1750 | Atakullakulla led war parties against the French & their Native allies, including Shawnee, in the Ohio Valley. A 12-14 year old boy, told he couldn't go with the war party unless he could drag the fully-loaded war log canoe on land into the water. His enthusiasm and endeavors earned him the name "Dragging Canoe". | ||
| 1750s | Atakullakulla captured by the French, taken to Canada, released. | ||
| 1753 | Second (but smaller) devastating smallpox epidemic. Total death count of nearly half of all Cherokee. | ||
| 1754 | The contest between the French and British for control of a New World empire culminated in the French and Indian War, in which native alliances became the objects of European military strategy. English soldiers built Fort Loudoun near present-day Vonore, Tennessee, in an effort to keep the divided Cherokee loyal. The plan backfired as Cherokee warriors laid siege to the fort and starved out its garrison, most of whom were massacred on their march to captivity. | ||
| 1763 | British Proclamation prohibited all westward settlement beyond the Appalachians. | ||
| 1763 | The Keetoowah (meaning "Principal People", Western Cherokee or Old Settlers), a small group of pro-French Cherokee, after the French defeat by the British, relocated to northern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. [*There weren't "Keetoowahs" then. This didn't happen. No reason for Cherokee emigration.] | ||
| 1770s | Dragging Canoe, headman of the town of Malaqua, a town on an island in the Little Tennessee River, now inundated by the TVA Tellico Dam. | ||
| 1774 | Watauga Treaty and | ||
| 1775 March 17 | Overhill Cherokee Treaty (Sycamore Shoals) The Transylvania Land Company aka Henderson Purchase, for most of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, led by Richard Henderson of Hillsborough, North Carolina, the largest private real estate transaction in United States' history. For the price of 2,000 pounds sterling and 8,000 pounds in goods (about six wagon loads of goods worth), he purchased 20 million acres of land from the Cherokee Nation that included the Cumberland River watershed and lands on the Kentucky River (all of eastern and central Kentucky). During these dealings, the local settlers "purchased" the right to remain on the Cherokee land that they were living on in the Watauga settlement. One of the minor chiefs, Dragging Canoe, opposed to the selling of the Cherokee ancestral hunting grounds, warned the whites that they were purchasing a "dark and bloody ground". | ||
| 1775 |
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| 1776 March 1 | Dragging Canoe went to Mobile AL to escort 2 British Commissioners, Cameron (Dragging Canoe's adopted brother), to bring a pack-train to the Cherokee back to Chota & give the British line re. the upcoming American Revolution. Dragging Canoe was in full agreement | ||
| 1776 April | Back at Chota. Alexander Cameron advises Indian neturality because there were Loyalists among whites - Indians wouldn't know the difference. Cameron & Stuart sent letters to whites in the area. Text was altered to foment anti-Indian sentiment (fear of attack). Delegation of northern Indians, predominantly Shawnee (Cornstalk?), came to Chota requesting a Cherokee alliance against the American. Raven of Chota led an attack against the Carter Valley setniments - burnerd houses, but Americans had withdrawn. Nancy Ward, a "Beloved Woman of the Cherokee, having been a warrior in her day, forewarned the Americans. Abram of Chilhowee led the attack against Fort Wautaugo wehre Sevier was at the time. Laid siege, nothing happened, so the Cherokee withdrew. Dragging Canoe went against the Holston River settlements, including the Eton Station fort, but the Americans, forewarned by Nancy Ward, were prepared and successfully defended themselves. The Cherokee attacked, Dragging Canoe got shot through both legs; his brother, Little Owl, also got hit. The Cherokee withdrew for lack of numbers. Elders, indluding Oconostota, wanted to capitulate and offered a reward of 100 pounds on the heads of Dragging Canoe and Alexander Cameron. No record of known attempts on their lives. Dragging Canoe responded by withdrawing from the area and moved with his people to the Chattanooga area. Joined by survivors of the Lower Towns of South Carolina. | ||
| 1776 July | 700 Chickamauga attacked two American forts in North Carolina: Eaton's Station and Fort Watauga. Both assaults failed, but the raids set off a series of attacks by other Cherokee and the Upper Creek on frontier settlements in Tennessee and Alabama. The Wataugans, led by their popular and soon-to-be-famous Indian fighter John Sevier, repulsed the onslaught and swiftly counter-attacked. With the help of militia from North Carolina and Virginia, they invaded the heartland of the Cherokee and put their towns to the torch. | ||
| 1776 | At the outbreak of the American Revolution, leaves father up north Knoxville way, moves families downriver to Chickamauga & Chattanooga & Running Water Creeks ... Upper & Lower Towns. [At the beginnging of the year Dragging Canoe wanted to attack the American whites, and vice versa. However, most of the Cherokee were opposed to war. British didn't want indians involved. Letter was copied, faked, derisive comments about Indians added, copies circulated to stir up anti-British hate among Indians.] Dragging Canoe was very militant. Led an attack against whites, but didn't have much of a following. Rather than capitulate with the older men, he and other disillusioned warriors moved south to Chattanooga and Chickamauga Creeks and became the warsome Chickamauga wage war against the settlers for the next twenty years. | ||
| 1776 September | Americans destroyed more than 36 Cherokee towns killing every man, woman and child they could find. [Rather than killing all the indians, impropmptu slave auctions on site were held to raise money for the White militia by selling Native women & children. ] | ||
| 1777 | Unable to continue resistance, the Cherokee in the area asked for peace. The Treaties of DeWitt's Corner (May) and Long Island (or Holston) (July) were signed at gunpoint and forced the Cherokee to cede almost all of their remaining land in the Carolinas. | ||
| 1777 Summer | Dragging Canoe led raids against American settlers as far up as southern Virginia - killing whites whenever they could find them & burning houses. | ||
| 1778-79 | Most Cherokee fighters (made up of many half-bloods & mixed-bloods, predominatly white mix - French, English, Irish, Spanish & American-born whites, Cherokee, Shawnee, Creek, and free Blacks) went to Georgia to join the British forces in the Georgia campaign. | ||
| 1776-82 | Cherokee under Dragging Canoe joined the side of Great Britain in the American Revolution against encroaching white settlement. Cui Canacina (Dragging Canoe) and the Chickamauga refused the Overhill Cherokee Treaty and kept raiding the new settlements. At the outbreak of the Revolution, the Cherokee received requests from the Mohawk, Shawnee, and Ottawa to join them against the Americans, but the majority of the Cherokee decided to remain neutral in the white man's war. The Chickamauga, however, remained at war with the Americans and formed an alliance with the Shawnee. | ||
| 1779 | Evan Shelby attacks & burns 11 Chickamauga towns in the Chattanooga area while Dragging Canoe was in Georgia. Upon learning of this, Dragging Canoe & men come back, Cameron with British arms also. At this time a Shawnee delegation came down to see if the burning of the towns had broken the Cherokee resistance. Dragging Canoe assured them that he would keep fighting. Alexander Cameron recorded Dragging Canoe's speech, "We are not yet conquered." A group of Cherokee went to the Shawnee to fight with them and to assure consolidation of will. Likewise, a group of Shawnee, including Tecumseh's widowed mother, her son, Tecumseh, a boy, and his triplet brothers, including the later White Prophet, came down. Their older brother fought with distinction, but was killed a few years later in the raid on Nashville. Dragging Canoe then moves Chickamaugans in Lower Town of Running Water; Breath established Nickajack by Nickajack Cave - across the river from Little Cedar Mountain. | ||
| 1780 | Dragging Canoe rescued the British Col. Brown in the American Siege of Augusta. Returned home. The Chickamauga remained hostile and renewed their attacks against western settlements in Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. Continued his resistance, attacks Nashville against Cumberland settlements. | ||
| 1781 July | After more fighting, the forced second Treaty of Long Island of Holston confirmed the 1777 forced cessions and then took more Cherokee land. | ||
| 1782 | The English give up the war effort and sued for peace. Dragging Canoe established contact with the Spanish in Florida and British in Canada and Detroit. | ||
| 1790 | Chickamaugans continued action with the Shawnee in the Ohio Valley: the Ohio Chickamaugans. | ||
| 1790-94 | "Little Turtle's War" of the Miami in the Ohio Valley with the Wyandots, Delaware, Hurons, Mohawks and Dakota. After their initial victories. From here, they had the unofficial encouragement of the Spanish governments of Florida and Louisiana and continued attacking American settlements. One of these incidents almost killed a young Nashville attorney/land speculator named Andrew Jackson, which may explain his later attitude regarding the Cherokee. | ||
| 1791 January | Chickamauga Chief Glass/"Catawba Killer" captured James Hubbard and 16 men building a blockhouse at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and released them with a warning not to return. | ||
| 1791 November 4 | Combined force of Chickamaugans, Creek, Anishnabe (Chippewa), Shawnee, Deleware, Iroquois, Miami, Wynadot and Dakota totally annhilated the forces of American Gen. Arthur St. Clair at the Wabash River in Indiana. "St. Clair's Defeat" - the biggest (number of whtie's killed) united Native triumph in history. | ||
| 1792 February 17 | Chickamauga Chief Glass and Dragging Canoe's brother, Turtle At Home, waylaid the John Collingsworth family near Nashville, killing the father, mother, and a daughter, and capturing an eight-year-old girl. Returning to Lookout Town (near Trenton, Georgia), they held a scalp dance, grinding one of the scalps in his teeth as he performed. Dragging Canoe, recently returned from Mississippi after meeting with Choctaws, celebrated the occasion so strenuously that he died the following morning, age ±54. John Watts of Will's Town (near Fort Payne, Alabama), became the new Chickamauaga leader of the united war effort. Cherokee resistance continuesd - led a big campaign against settlements in Nashville (Buchanan Station 1793) and in upper east Tennessee led the combined Cherokee-Creek attack at Cavett's Station in 1793 in which there were no white survivors. | ||
| 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 Nashville area 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 accomodation with the Americans rather than continue fighting. | ||
| 1796 | Tellico Treaty ended hostilities between USA and Cherokee, signed by the Chickamauga and leader of the Chickamauga John Watts, a half-blood, Old Tassel's nephew. Warfare generally ended between Cherokee and Chickamauga, although armed resistance by Will Webber "Red-Haired Will", half-blood who founded Will's Town, and full-blood Bowl, continued. Webber went west of the Mississippi, Bowl to Texas. | ||
| 1799 | Chickamaugan migration complete. Open warfare between the Cherokee and Americans ended. | ||
| 1800 | James Orr, who led the 1794 expedition that burned Nickajack, lived in the Knoxville area, went bankrupt, failed in white society. Went to live among the Indians, ironically, selected Nickajack, and was accepted, especially after he explored Nickajack Cave and began mining the cave, producing gunpowder for the Chickamauga. Also operated a Cherokee tavern there. (Larry's later.) | ||
| 1803 | United States gained control of Arkansas and Missouri through the Louisiana Purchase. Warfare between Cherokee and Osage fairly common. | ||
| 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 Hiwassee River and North and West of the Tennessee signed by Secretary of War John Calhoun and Cherokee in Washington and 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 established boundaries of Cherokee lands in Arkansas Territory. | ||
| 1819 | reservation of John Brown, Cherokee on Moccasin Bend (north of the Tennessee River) later sold for agricultural use | ||
| 1825 | White settlers of the Arkansas Territory demanded the removal of both the Cherokee and Osage. | ||
| 1828 | Western Cherokee forced to exchange their Arkansas lands for a new location in Indian Territory of Oklahoma, and adopted a written constitution. | ||
| 1833 | Boundaries of new Western Cherokee reservation determined. | ||
| 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 Watti", 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. | ||
| 1838 | All Indians in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama "removed". Dragging Canoe's lands are racially cleansed of his and all other native people. The US Supreme Court, in its review of the State of Georgia vs. Missionaries helping the Cherokee, sides with the Cherokee, but President Andrew Jackson refuses to enforce their findings; sends USA troops to Georgia, South and North Carolina and Tennessee to help states "cleanse" the land of the native Cherokee. | ||
| 1864-81 | Thieves of Time [also a PBS video title] collection of human skulls of different races for use in phrenology: "A good deal of caution is required in obtaining anything from the graves of Indians, and will have to be managed very carefully to prevent the Indians from finding out, as this might be offered as an excuse for taking the warpath again, as soon as the grass is high enough for the ponies." --Colonel George Otis, 1830-1881, curator of the Army Medical Museum 1864-81, Washington DC | ||
| 1879 | federal court ruled that an Indian was a person | ||
| 1900-32 | Collecting/stealing Native culture Warren K. Moorehead - on rented boat, traveled the Tennessee River ca. 1900-1932, collecting Native American artifacts for Phillips Academy, Andover MA Col. James (F.?) Corn bought the land on Moccasin Bend b. 1884, 1988 (mayor, Cleveland city atty.)
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| 1919? 1926? | Looking Backward Chattanooga City Commission petitioned by the town of Lookout Mountain to buy the property for recreational purposes; opposed by the Industrial Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce | ||
| 1942 | Landmarks' Peril Cited by Wilhoite. Desecrating Cameron Hill or Moccasin Bend Called Irrecoverable Loss. L.J. Wilhoite, chairman of the Electric Power Board, to "desecrate either Cameron Hill or Moccasin Bend in the name of progress would "sacrifice something we can never recover." | ||
| 1949 | Committee Votes 'Moccasin Park' A bill authorizing the transfer of 1,400 acres of land in the Moccasin Bend area to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was unanimously approved by the USHouse of Representatives' Committee on Public Lands. "One of the oldest and largest of the national historical areas." | ||
| 1955 | Veto Cuts Out $100,000 Fund for New Park. Moccasin Bend Project `Too Costly'--$40,000 Lost by Historical Group. $1,500,000 is Slashed [Tennessee] Governor Clement vetoed a $100,000 appropriation to buy the Moccasin Bend and $40,000 for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Historical Commission because the [state's] general fund could not stand these and "other costly items." | ||
| 1958? | Long-Range Bend Landscape Plan Would Exclude Plants, Add Lakes. A long-range plan for landscaping the whole of controversial Moccasin Bend with an array of artificial lakes, athletic facilities and gardens has been added to the rapidly mounting list of proposals by Mrs. Sim Perry Long, civic and social leader here. ... [would exclude all industry, would include the proposed state mental facility, and the proposed freeway across the bend.] Mrs. Long's proposed park would contain two lakes, an azalea garden, hiking and bridle trails, football and baseball playing fields, a horse show area and possibly polo grounds, a band shell and state and a large swimming pool and bath house. | ||
| 1958? | Planning for the Bend The Chattanooga Times suggests that the value of the Bend be considered both for the esthetic and the financial return to the city. ... the plan presented by Mrs. Long tells us to consider what the Bend if beautified according to this lovely design would mean in actual dollars and cents in the tourist travel as well as in making Chattanooga a synonym for beauty of scene throughout the world. ... We can afford to go slow. If Moccasin Bend is left like it is for years, that would not be a misfortune. | ||
| 1959 | U.S. Has No Plans on Moccasin Bend. Has Lost Interest in Idea of Acquiring Area as Addition to Park. The National Park Service has declined local overtures to acquire Moccasin Bend as an addition to Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park. ... because the hospital and certain other installations on the Bend interfere with a uniform park. | ||
| 1960 | State acquisition and development of MB MB Mental Health Hospital, city-owned golf course, radio antennae | ||
| 1963 | construction of Interstate 24: removal of the southern Moccasin Bend river bank [containing Native American bones and artifacts] to widen the river for commercial tugboat traffic, and spoil material deposits in the inner Bend area; construction of pipe line and electrical line through Hampton Place | ||
| 1964 | Moccasin Bend to be Searched for Indian Data. An archeological expedition to salvage anything of historical and archeological significance on the sole of Moccasin Bend will be coordinated with construction of the interstate highway link across the river to Tiftonia. | ||
| 1965 | Indians' Homes on Bend for Thousands of Years.
Evidence recovered during scientific excavations conducted on the sole of Moccasin Bend before it was dredged away in preparation for construction work on an Interstate highway there shows "without a doubt that Indians lived there over a span of several thousands of years." This conclusion was drawn in a recently released report, "The Archeological Investigation of Moccasin Bend, Hamilton County, Tennessee" by J.B. Graham, department of anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. [based on a] project which was conducted from Jan. 27 through May 14, 1964. | ||
| 1968 | U.S. Grant for Land on Bend is Approved. The federal government has approved a grant of $50,000 toward the purchase of the Fine tract on Moccasin Bend. The Moccasin Bend Association has pledged $25,000 toward a local matching sum for the $100,000 purchase and the County Council and City Commission each has pledged $12,500. With the purchase of the Fine tract all of Moccasin Bend from the sewage-treatment plant southward will be publicly owned with the exception of what is known as the former Hoodenpyle tract adjacent to the treatment plant property. ... But Sherman Paul, president of the Moccasin Bend Association] pointed out that the association's commitment stipulates that the association shall have a voice, along with the city and county government, in how the property is to be developed." ... "The purpose for which we have raised our share of the money is park and recreation use for all of the people in Hamilton County. Some of the things which we have talked about include a museum, a park, a marina, a tourist attraction." | ||
| 1975 | University Team Digs for Indian Relics on Bend. A short while ago, the Genoco Oil Heat Co. on Pineville Road, adjacent to the Tennessee River, called the UTC department of anthropology. Frank Smith, terminal manger of the company, had been supervising the digging of a drainage ditch around some of the holding tanks on the grounds. The diggers unexpectedly cut into Indian graves. ... "The entire area about Moccasin Bend should be on the National Register of Historic Places," said [Dr. Jeff] Brown [assistant professor of anthropology at UTC], who added there are hundreds of sites of Indian life in the community. | ||
| 1982 | Panel Begins Local-Citizen Interviews over Bend Tract. A Blue Ribbon Institute Panel began interviewing over 100 Chattanooga business executives, government officials and other citizens this morning about future use of approximately 600 acres of land on Moccasin Bend. The panel, funded by the Lyndhurst Foundation and sent by the Urban Land Institute, was assigned to evaluate and make recommendations for the best land use strategies for the ultimate and interim use of the land, which is owned by both the city and county. | ||
| 1982 | Zoo, Tourist Park are Recommended for Moccasin Bend. Moccasin Bend should be the site of a multifaceted tourist park anchored by a zoo and offering such attractions as a recreated Indian village, outdoor amphitheater and a marina from which steamboats would sail to Ross' Landing and Reflection Riding. This was the central recommendation from a distinguished panel of professional developers from around the country, members of the Urban Land Institute who spent five days here evaluating the best use of about 600 acres of undeveloped land on the Bend, which is owned by city and county governments. In a Friday morning presentation of the panel's findings, it was also recommended that the Stringer's Ridge property be preserved as a public park with hiking trails and bridle paths. The Moccasin Bend Golf Course should be upgraded ... there should be no residential or heavy industrial development, ... Recommending its development with a tourist and public use orientation, said panel member Christopher Leinberger of Beverly Hills, California, "goes against the grain of most of us on the panel ... The group as a whole works primarily in the private sector ... Our predisposition, quite honestly, was to develop it industrially." Leinberger went on to say, "It is crucial that Chattanooga put tourism in its proper place and unify the entire community around that concept." ... "The zoo would act as an anchor for a mixed-use tourist-oriented development," Leinberger said. This could give Chattanooga the "critical mass" it needs to become a destination point for tourists. "Chattanooga needs to view itself as a comprehensive theme park, rather than a random collection of attractions," he said. "As such, those attractions must be integrated, coordinated, graphically tied together and properly packaged so as to attract a vacationer looking for more than just a one-day experience." ... An outdoor amphitheater, perhaps in the Stringer's Ridge area, could accomodate a Chattanooga pageant similar to "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee, N.C., as well as outdoor concerts and other theatrical events, he said. ... Indian history on Moccasin Bend is rich, and Leinberger said a "logical attraction" would be an historical Indian village and museum with guided tours of excavated archeological sites. | ||
| 1982 | Cherokees Considering Moccasin Bend Plans. Authentic Indian Village Proposed. (Times) Cherokee Indians Concerned about Development of Bend (NFP) Protection of ancestral burial grounds would be the biggest concern of the Cherokee Indians if the Cherokees elected to become involved in projects to develop Moccasin Bend, Arnold Wachacha, a Cherokee, said in Chattanooga on Wednesday. "We don't want our ancestors dug up," Wachacha said. "They had reasons for burying them there." The Cherokees may have had a worship area on the bend, he said. Wachacha and Frank Teesateskie, both residents of Cherokee, N.C., were in Chattanooga to learn more about the Moccasin Bend area and plans for its development. Almost all proposals for developing the bend include an authentic indian village, said Sue Worley, who has drawn up two proposals for use of Moccasin Bend. ... "We are rich in Cherokee history here, particularly on Moccasin Bend," Mrs. Worley [assistant director of the Private Industry Council] said. And she feels any development of the bend would have to include the Cherokees. ... Four area groups, the Chattanooga Jaycees, the Zoological Society, the Alternative Energy Group and the Moccasin Bend Heritage Association have joined to promote the best possible development of Moccasin Bend, Mrs. Worley said. The umbrella organization is termed the Moccasin Bend Heritage Association. | ||
| 1982 | Legendary Indian Town of Chiaha May have Stood on Moccasin Bend. For years archeologists have tried to discover the location of a large American Indian town--probably the center of the province of Chiaha--mentioned by early Spanish explorers traveling through southeastern North America. Now there is evidence that town may have been located on Moccasin Bend, and that artifacts discovered there could provide significant historical information regarding little-known expeditions by Spanish conquistadors and other explorers. But that information may be destroyed unless a comprehensive assessment is available in time to be used by officials planning the construction of a zoo or other facilities on Moccasin Bend, the Chattanooga Regional Anthropological Association said. ... "Potential developers view our activities as a deterrent to development," said CRAA president S.H. Chu, "but all we want is to get any historical data out of (Moccasin Bend) before it is disturbed." | ||
| 1982 | Archeologists Begin Digging, Call Bend Site a Major Find. Ten archeologists who spent the weekend excavating a 400-year-old American Indian dwelling on Moccasin Bend confirmed Sunday the peninsula is a significant historical find. ... CRAA president S.H. Chu and archeologists agreed the study need not delay potential development of the peninsula, which has been proposed as the site of a zoo and other projects. They said if the money to pay for it were available, the assessment could be completed by spring. | ||
| 1983 | Moccasin Bend Panel to Meet Archeologists. Moccasin Bend Task Force members said Thursday they hope to meet later this month with archeologists studying the historical significance of the Bend in order to coordinate that group's activities with task force needs. | ||
| 1983 | Area Archeologists Begin Dig in Moccasin Bend Area. `Chattanooga is beginning to take advantage of the deep history and pre-history we're blessed with.' Dr. Major McCullough describes Chattanooga's Moccasin Bend land area as a "fabulous microcosm of our local heritage containing some real jewels of Chattanooga's history and pre-history." ... "The importance of finds along Moccasin Bend has been known for years. There have repeated attempts to halt vandalism in the area. There has also been much talk regarding developing the area; some are ready to destroy what's there. I took it as my professional responsibility to find what its value is and what its best uses would be." ... Previously neglected, the area has suffered extensive damage. "We have mapped the damage. There are between 1100 and 1200 pits from uncontrolled digging. In the past experts have said this causes loss of scientific value. I don't believe this. This area is not tarnished; there is so much here." | ||
| 1983 | Tourist Attraction Needed, Says Member of Bend Task Force. Jack McDonald, representing the five-member Moccasin Bend Task Force, told members of the City Commission that the 600-acre tract jointly owned on the Bend by the city and county offers the opportunity for "a real biggy" of a tourist attraction to spur the economy and boost the city's image. He said the Task Force is looking for the type of attraction that will encourage families to come to Chattanooga for a stay of at least a day or two, making the city a place for visitors to go "to" rather than "through." ... The objective now, he said, is for the major attraction that generate tourist dollars. He said the area already has many pluses: the river, history (Civil War and Indian), "great scenery." | ||
| 1983 | Sierra Club digging for source of rumors attacking bend work. The Moccasin Bend Task Force and the Sierra Club have joined forces to "get to the bottom of" rumors which could escalate and slow development of the bend, Sierra Club president Jim Desrosiers said Wednesday. ... He emphasized the environmental group is "not trying to say how Moccasin Bend should be used." So long as the bend is not messed up environmentally, he said, his group will not take sides in whether the peninsula should become "a zoo or a golf course or whatever." ... Some of the rumors, he said, claim the archeological work done to date on the bend has been inept. Others charge that TVAis deeply involved in development on the bend, that the task force plans to use chemical herbicides to kill locust trees and brush on the peninsula, and that the task force has held secret meetings after telling the public no meeting was planned. | ||
| 1984 | National Register of Historic Places - Archaeological District nomination by Dr. Major McCullough, site archaeologist | ||
| 1986 | National Historic Landmark nomination by Dr. Major McCullough, site archaeologist | ||
| 1993 | CITA establishes itself as caretaker of the Bend. The Chattanooga InterTribal Association (CITA) held its first formal event on Moccasin Bend, reburying artifacts and remains taken from the area and erecting two signs that read, "Native American Burial Grounds, Chattanooga InterTribal Assocation". | ||
| December 1994 | CITA defeats county Amphitheater plan. A very visible demonstration of community solidarity led by the Chattanooga InterTribal Association in the spring and CITA's continued involvement in the issue helped defeat the siting of an amphitheater on Moccasin Bend (in Lily Springs Hollow of Stringer's Ridge) proposed by the Tennessee Outdoor Drama Association and Hamilton County and City of Chattanooga. |
This page is produced and maintained by tpkunesh@chattanooga.net,
a member and public relations guy for the Chattanooga InterTribal Association (CITA).
Comments, suggestions, corrections, additions are all welcome.