Lyttelton's Expedition part I - Little Carpenter can just cry
Through December 2023 we will tell you of the last month's moments of Lyttelton's Expedition of Dec 1759, moments that touched the hearts of these men near Keowee next to Fort Prince George, now underwater in a reservoir and resort center next to it.
Before Little Carpenter meets with Lyttelton in Dec 1759 at Fort Prince George below the heights of the Cherokee town Keowee, here is how Little Carpenter finds out what is going on in Nov 1759.
Little Carpenter was on a hunt for French scalps on the Mississippi Illinois country. Here's what hits him when he returns to Chota, the heart and center of the Cherokee nation and Fort Loudoun (in today's Tennessee).
The blue italics are from
Page 186, The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962).
Over the hills, the Little Carpenter, opposed by all the forces of hate in the nation, had fought the battle of his career to prevent the Overhills from plunging the nation into an English war.
A Gordion Knot
When he heard Elliott's translation of Lyttelton's demand for surrender of those who had killed the whites, he had wept, knowing that these men had acted by the basic law of family and clan that now he must deliver them to death in order to bring peace.
He had faced nativist accusations of servility to the English for having accepted presents at Fort Loudoun and Charlestown. And presents promised back on 13 June 1759 by the Virginia Executive Council.
In Chota council house, Old Hop had called him a traitor to his people and had threatened him with death should he ever go against the French again.
Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. Fight and lose ? Or Stand down and swallow the indignation and lose? They're looking at inevitable doom no matter what. Hate and anger surrounds all of this.
Source:
Page 186, The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962).
That's it.
That's our lead story.
There's always more.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 12/05/2023, 12/06/2023
Table of Contents
Power Politics - A decision has to be made Little Carpenter makes move to tak over
Trader John Elliott's Round Trip and Little Carpenter out on the Mississipi
Tricky Trader John Elliott's end He cheated on weights and measures.
Power Politics - A decision has to be made
The politics of taking over
In great anger he had turned his back on the Fire King and had taken the unprecedented step of announcing to the councill that he as Second Man would fill the role of First Beloved Man, or head of the nation.
What had happened was that the First Beloved Man in supporting a war with the English had deserted his Kingly duty as keeper of the peace, his fundamental religious and civil role.
The Little Carpenter in determining to maintain the peace had assumed the First Beloved Man's duty in this respect.
However, Little Carpenter could not unilaterally take over that role without a vote by the nation.
The British make him Emperor
But when he [Little Carpenter] announced his decision at Fort Loudoun [in today's Tennessee], Stuart, who had arrived some time before with reinforcements, welcomed the idea and conceived the notion that he could have Carolina declare the Little Carpenter the emperor of the Cherokees.
Since this was an English office and granted by them to the Cherokee they chose for recognition as head of the nation, the Little Carpenter, who needed the confidence of Demere, Stuart, and Lyttelton, left the two Captains at the fort with the impression that he was their man and aspired to the appointment they held out.
De jure vs de facto
His position [Little Carpenter] as negotiator with Lyttelton . . . lacked proper authorization to confer.
Lyttelton through oversite had not invited him, and Chota and Old Hop, distrusting him [Little Carpenter]. had failed to give him the talk of the Council. Minor figures carried Old Hop's empty talk to Keowee. The Middle Settlements deputies had invited him to accompany them, and as Second Man of the Overhills, and Right Hand Man of King, he ranked highest of among the Cherokee conferees.
Source:
Page 186, The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962).
Compiled by Jim Moyer 12/05/2023, 12/06/2023
Trader John Elliott's Round Trip
On November 23 [1759], trader John Elliott returned. In 12 days the energetic little man had made the four-hundred mile round trip to Fort Loudoun. He reported a nation divided: the Middle Settlements clearly for peace, the Overhills mostly so, and Lower Towns but partially. Settico, Chilhowee, and Telassie among the Overhills, and Estatoe and Conasatchee among the Lower Towns openly prepared for war. The latter group alone mustered near 500 men.
Elliott also brought the news that the Little Carpenter had returned from a successful foray into the Illinois country between Fort Chartres and Fort de l'Assomption. On September 18 [1759] the Little Carpenter's scouts had spotted near the Mississippi eight Frenchmen seated about a fire eating buffalo steaks. The Cherokee crept up on them, fired, and rushed, taking eight scalps and losing one man. They finished the meal themselves with great satisfaction. They also fired from ambush upon a boat which came close to shore.
At the end of October [1759] they had come into Fort Loudoun, displayed their scalps, told their story, and received presents. To hear Little Carpenter talk was to believe that old times had come again.
On trader John Elliott's arrival at Fort Loudoun on November 15 [1759], the Little Carpenter came to express his concern at the Carolina measures ( Lyttleton's Expedition and its demands for the Cherokee to give up 23 of its own who killed white settlers) and to send word he would meet Lyttelton at Keowee.
Source:
Page 183,The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962).
Chota Council House - How big?
A townhouse was a conical rotunda, as large as sixty fee in diameter. The roof's central high point stood thirty feet above the ground. From there it sloped down and out, extending to low, wattle and daub walls at the building's perimeter. The roof consisted of layered poles, cane, bark, soil and grass, all supported by eight interior posts. On the south side, a narrow, winding entryway led to a small door, which in turn opened into a large, circular amphitheater.
This was where village politics unfolded. As many as six hundred tribespeople could congregate here,
Source:
Cherokee Townhouse
Source:
Pages 90-91 Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American .Southeast 1756-1763 By Daniel J. Tortora, published by the University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2015.
Tricky Trader John Elliott's end
His End
He is tomahawked and killed by the Cherokee 19 Jan 1760. They had enough of him. He was a necessary evil for awhile because the Cherokee needed his supplies.
A few miles away [from the attack on Fort Prince George] Cherokees had already commenced the war [Jan 1760]. Before Serowah had reached the fort, thirty Indians had attacked Elliott's trading how at New Keowee. Of the dozen whites about the place when the Estatoes struck, several fell in the first fire. Two or three were seized. Others, running, were shot down. The hated Elliott, tomahawked, raced a mile before his pursuers felled him. Ten others, including James May, the Joree trader, died. Serowah's men, returning, joined the looting and rum drinking at Elliott's.
Source:
Pages 192The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962).
Thumb on the Scale
In the summer of 1757 Little Carpenter and others had complained that Little John Elliott's weights and measures were cheating the Cherokee out of payment for their furs and skins. Little Carpenter sent Oconostota to seize the absent Elliott's steelyards and measuring sticks and take them to Demere who, not disinterested, found the scales registered 2 pounds underweight and the measuring sticks several inches short.
Source:
Pages 133-134 The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival 1740-1762, by David H Corkran, published by the University of Oklahoma Press 1962).
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