Attakullakulla (
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
”Tsalagi”, (ᎠᏔᎫᎧᎷ) ''Atagukalu''; also spelled Attacullaculla and often called Little Carpenter by the English) (c. 1715 – c. 1777) was an influential
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
leader and the tribe's
First Beloved Man
Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteenth ...
, serving from 1761 to around 1775. His son was
Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe (ᏥᏳ ᎦᏅᏏᏂ, pronounced ''Tsiyu Gansini'', "he is dragging his canoe") (c. 1738 – February 29, 1792) was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee warriors who resisted colonists and United States settlers in the ...
, a leader of the
Chickamauga Cherokee
The Chickamauga Cherokee refers to a group that separated from the greater body of the Cherokee during the American Revolutionary War. The majority of the Cherokee people wished to make peace with the Americans near the end of 1776, following se ...
.
Attakullakulla was a man of remarkably small stature, he was noted for his maturity, wisdom, and graciousness. Attakullakulla knew some English but was not fluent. However, he was considered the most gifted Cherokee orator from the 1760s to the 1770s. He first appeared in historic records in 1730, noted as accompanying
Alexander Cuming
Sir Alexander Cuming, 2nd Baronet (1691–1775) was a Scottish adventurer to North America; he returned to Britain with a delegation of Cherokee chiefs. He later spent many years in a debtors' prison.
Early life
Cuming was born (according to his ...
, a British treaty commissioner, and six other Cherokee to England. He was one of the signatories of an early Cherokee treaty with Great Britain.
By the early 1750s, Attakullakulla, renowned for his oratorical skills, had been appointed a principal speaker for the
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
.
In the 1750s and 1760s Attakullakulla dominated Cherokee diplomacy. Although he usually favored the British, he was a consummate diplomat, always hoping for a peaceful resolution to problems but looking out for the best interests of the Cherokee.
Names
Early in his life, he was first known as Onkanacleah. According to anthropologist
James Mooney
James Mooney (February 10, 1861 – December 22, 1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. Known as "The Indian Man", he conducted major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as of tribes on the Gr ...
, Attakullakulla's Cherokee name could be translated as "leaning wood", from ''ada'' meaning "wood", and ''gulkalu'', a verb that implies something long, leaning against some other object. His name "Little Carpenter" was related both to the English meaning of his Cherokee name and a reference to his physical stature. Naturalist
William Bartram
William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian and explorer. Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title ''Bartram's Travels'', which chronicled ...
described the chief as "a man of remarkable small stature, slender, and delicate frame." "His ears were cut and banded with silver, hanging nearly down to his shoulders." He was mild-mannered, brilliant, and witty.
Contemporary Felix Walker also described Attakullakulla by the following: just “as a white carpenter could make every notch and joint fit in wood, so he could bring all his views to fill and fit their places in the political machinery of his nation”.
[Izumi Ishii, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] He also was known to excel at building houses.
Early life
Attakullakulla is believed to have been born in the territory of the
Overhill Cherokee
Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 1 ...
, in what is now
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...
, sometime in the early 1700s, although it is not known exactly when.
[Gerald Schroedl,]
Attakullakulla
" ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. Retrieved: 17 December 2013. His son,
Turtle-at-Home
Turtle-at-Home, or Selukuki Wohelengh, was a Cherokee warrior and leader, brother and chief lieutenant of Dragging Canoe, a war-chief in the Cherokee–American wars.
Early battles
In the beginning and the later years, he led Chickamauga Cheroke ...
, said that he was born to a sub-tribe of the
Algonquian-speaking Nipissing in the North near
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
. He was captured as an infant during a raid in which his parents were killed, and brought south to Overhill territory, where he was adopted by a Cherokee family, and raised as Cherokee. He married ''Nionne Ollie,'' the daughter of his cousin,
Oconostota
Oconostota (c. 1710–1783) was a Cherokee ''skiagusta'' (war chief) of Chota, which was for nearly four decades the primary town in the Overhill territory, and within what is now Monroe County, Tennessee. He served as the First Beloved Man of Ch ...
. She was said to have been a
Natchez Natchez may refer to:
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* Natchez, Alabama, United States
* Natchez, Indiana, United States
* Natchez, Louisiana, United States
* Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States
* Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...
captive adopted by his cousin's wife. The marriage was permissible because the individuals were from different
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
s; he was Wolf Clan and she was Paint Clan.
In 1730, Attakullakulla was a member of a delegation of Cherokee leaders who traveled to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. In 1736, he rejected the advances of the French, who had sent emissaries to the
Overhill Cherokee
Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 1 ...
. Three or four years later, he was captured by the
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, allies of the French. They held him captive in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
until 1748. Upon his return, he became one of the Cherokees' leading diplomats and an adviser to the Beloved Man of
Chota, which had become the primary town of the
Overhill settlements.
Cherokee warrior
In the 1750s, Attakullakulla worked to provide a steady supply of trade goods for his people. When the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
began in North America, Cherokee warriors traveled to the Pennsylvania frontier to serve in British military campaigns against French and their Indian allies' strongholds.
Virginia frontiersmen killed some Cherokee on their way home after these campaigns. Attakullakulla journeyed to Pennsylvania, to Williamsburg, and then to Charles Town, securing the promise of British trade goods as compensation for participation in fighting. But this was not enough to satisfy young Cherokee who wished to honor their cultural obligation of "blood revenge" and sought social status. Throughout 1758 and 1759, Cherokee warriors launched retributive raids on the southern colonial frontier. Hoping that matters might be forgiven, Attakullakulla led a Cherokee war party against the French Fort Massiac, and tried to negotiate peace with the British.
These efforts proved unsuccessful. In late 1759, some Cherokee leaders went to
Charleston
Charleston most commonly refers to:
* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
Charleston may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
* Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
to try to negotiate with
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
authorities for peace. The colonial governor,
William Henry Lyttelton, seized the delegates as hostages until the Cherokee surrendered those men responsible for killing white settlers. Having raised an expeditionary force of 1,700 men, Lyttelton set out for
Fort Prince George
Fort Prince George was an uncompleted fort on what is now the site of Pittsburgh, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The site was originally a trading post established by Ohio Company tra ...
, with the hostages in tow, and arrived on December 9, 1759. Attakullakulla was forced to sign a treaty agreeing that the Cherokee would deliver suspected "murderers" in exchange for the nearly two dozen hostages confined at Fort Prince George.
Attakullakulla returned to Fort Prince George in early 1760 to negotiate for the release of the hostages, but to no avail. As peaceful negotiations failed,
Oconostota
Oconostota (c. 1710–1783) was a Cherokee ''skiagusta'' (war chief) of Chota, which was for nearly four decades the primary town in the Overhill territory, and within what is now Monroe County, Tennessee. He served as the First Beloved Man of Ch ...
lured Lt. Richard Coytmore out of the fort by waving a bridle over his head. He incited Cherokee warriors hiding in the woods to shoot and kill Coytmore. The garrison in the fort retaliated and executed all the remaining Cherokee hostages.
In response, the Cherokee launched an offensive against settlements on the southern frontier. Many Cherokee blamed Attakullakulla for the murders of the hostages. While he worked to try to bring about peace, later in 1760, British and South Carolina troops invaded the Cherokee Lower Towns and Middle Towns. They were forced to retreat, and the Overhill Cherokee besieged Fort Loudoun, gaining its surrender in August 1760. The Cherokee killed many of the garrison as they retreated to the East.
Attakullakulla again attempted to negotiate a peace, but this was not achieved until 1761, when the British and South Carolina military conducted a punitive expedition against the Middle and Lower Towns. Attakullakulla signed peace terms in Charles Town on December 18, 1761. He was robbed and harassed by angry frontiersmen on his journey home. Throughout the 1760s, he would work in vain to stall white settlement in the western Carolinas and Overhill Territory, and was a frequent guest of colonial officials in Charles Town and
Williamsburg.
Diplomatic contributions
In the 1750–1760s, Attakullakulla dominated Cherokee diplomacy. Although he usually favored the British, he was a skilled diplomat, always looking for a peaceful resolution to problems but looking out for the best interests of the Cherokee. After
Connecorte died, Attakullakulla, the diplomat and peace chief, and Oconostota, the war chief, shared power at Chota; they led the Cherokee for a generation.
[James C. Kelly, ''American Nation Biography'']
In the Treaty of Broad River (1756), Attakullakulla agreed to a Cherokee land cession to the English, in exchange for their promise to build forts in Cherokee territory to protect their women and children while the men were fighting with the British in the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
. He honored treaty promises to the English but was opposed by fellow Cherokee for doing so. He also played the colonies of South Carolina and Virginia against each other in order to secure fair trading practices for his people.
The Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed by
William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton MP (24 December 1724 – 14 September 1808) was a British peer, politician, and colonial administrator from the Lyttelton family. He was the youngest son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet.
Bi ...
, Governor of South Carolina, and Attakullakulla, stated that there would “be firm peace and friendship between all His Majesty's subjects of this province and the nation of Indians called the Cherokees, and then said Cherokees shall preserve peace with all his majesty's subjects whatsoever”.
On June 2, 1760, he left the fort and was expelled from the Cherokee Council. He moved into the woods, finding it impolitic to be among either the ones who lost or the victors of the 1760 Cherokee War. In June 1761 a British expedition dispatched by General
Jeffery Amherst
Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaign ...
and commanded by Colonel
James Grant destroyed several Cherokee Lower and Middle towns in the Carolinas. The Cherokee recalled Attakullakulla to the council to negotiate peace with the British. Attakulla also influenced the selection of John Stuart as Superintendent of Southern Indian Affairs.
In 1772 Attakullakulla leased lands to the
Watauga Association
The Watauga Association (sometimes referred to as the Republic of Watauga) was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee. Although it lasted only a few ...
, an organization formed by Anglo-American settlers who wanted to create an independent community in what is now the upper eastern corner of Tennessee. In 1775 he favored the so-called
Transylvania Purchase
The Transylvania Colony, also referred to as the Transylvania Purchase, was a short-lived, extra-legal colony founded in early 1775 by North Carolina land speculator Richard Henderson, who formed and controlled the Transylvania Company. Henders ...
, by which North Carolina colonel
Richard Henderson bought twenty million acres in present-day Kentucky and Middle Tennessee from the Cherokee.
On May 1775, Attakullakulla,
Oconostota
Oconostota (c. 1710–1783) was a Cherokee ''skiagusta'' (war chief) of Chota, which was for nearly four decades the primary town in the Overhill territory, and within what is now Monroe County, Tennessee. He served as the First Beloved Man of Ch ...
and other elderly chiefs relinquished the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation (now roughly the states of Kentucky and Tennessee) for £10,000.
Family and death
Connecotre (Old Hop), the headman of the Cherokee during the 1750s, was his maternal uncle. Attakullakulla's son Dragging Canoe led a resistance to the United States in the 1780s. His niece,
Nancy Ward
''Nanyehi'' (Cherokee: ᎾᏅᏰᎯ: "One who goes about"), known in English as Nancy Ward (c. 1738 – 1822 or 1824), was a Beloved Woman and political leader of the Cherokee. She advocated for peaceful coexistence with European Americans and, ...
, was a ‘beloved woman’, who had the power to free war captives.
During the Revolutionary War, Attakullakulla was one of a party of elder Cherokee leaders who ceded lands to Virginia, contrary to the wishes of younger warriors. Attakullakulla's son,
Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe (ᏥᏳ ᎦᏅᏏᏂ, pronounced ''Tsiyu Gansini'', "he is dragging his canoe") (c. 1738 – February 29, 1792) was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee warriors who resisted colonists and United States settlers in the ...
, the Chickamauga Cherokee leader during the
Cherokee-American wars, split with his father during this time.
After the Cherokee massacred much of the garrison from
Fort Loudon, Attakullkulla realized that Capt. John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs under the colonial government, had escaped death. In order to save Stuart, Attakullakulla purchased him from the Cherokee who had taken him. Attakullakulla gave his rifle, clothes and all he could command to purchase Stuart. After this act, by Cherokee custom, Stuart was to be considered his eldest brother. Their lifelong friendship proved to be profitable to the English. The life of Capt. Stuart being again menaced, for refusing to aid in the mediated reduction of
Fort George, Attakullkulla resolved to rescue his friend or die trying. He told his fellow Cherokee that he intended to go hunting and take his prisoner with him to eat venison. The distance to the frontier settlements was great. The expedition was necessary to prevent being overtaken by those in pursuit of the Cherokee. Nine days and nights they traveled through the wilderness until they fell in with a party of rangers sent out for protection of the frontier, who conducted them in safety to the settlements. Attakullakulla had a daughter named Rebecca "Nikiti" Carpenter with his first wife Nionnee Ollie and another known as "Weena" with one of the survivors of the Loudon battle.
Attakullakulla is believed to have died between 1777–1780 in what would later become Tennessee.
[Kelly, "Attakullakulla", p. 27.] He was succeeded as First Beloved Man of Chota by
Oconostota
Oconostota (c. 1710–1783) was a Cherokee ''skiagusta'' (war chief) of Chota, which was for nearly four decades the primary town in the Overhill territory, and within what is now Monroe County, Tennessee. He served as the First Beloved Man of Ch ...
.
References
Sources
*
Adair, James. ''History of the American Indians'' (1775), p. 148.
*Anderson, William and Rambo, Robert K. "Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter)" in "Encyclopedia of United States Indian Policy and Law", Vol.1, Paul Finkelman and Tim Alan Garrison, editors (CQ Press, Washington, D.C.) 2009: pp.108''–''109.
*''The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review (1817-1819);'' New York, Vol. 4, Iss. 2, (Dec 1818): p. 157.
*Bartram, William. ''Travels through North Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, The Cherokee Country...'' Philadelphia: James & Johnson, 1791.
*Calloway, Colin G. ''The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Entry from the Tennessee Encyclopedia*Henry Thompson Malone, ''Cherokees of the Old South: A People in Transition'', 1956.
*Izumi Ishii, “Attakullakulla", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2004.
*James C. Kelly, ''American National Biography,'' 1999.
*Kelly, James C. "Notable Persons in Cherokee History: Attakullakulla." ''Journal of Cherokee Studies'' 3:1 (Winter 1978), 2–34.
*Kimber, Isaac (ed.); Kimber, Edward (ed.).”London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, 1747–1783; London Vol. 29”, (Mar 1760): 144–145.
*Kimber, Isaac (ed.); Kimber, Edward (ed.). ''London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, 1747–1783; London Vol. 35'', (Feb 1766): p. 87.
*Klink, Karl, and James Talman, ed. ''The Journal of Major John Norton''. Toronto: Champlain Society, 1970.
*Litton, Gaston L
''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 15:3 (September 1937), pp. 253–270 (retrieved August 18, 2006).
*Mooney, James. ''Myths of the Cherokee'' (1900, reprint 1992).
*Spencer C. Tucker, James R. Arnold, and Roberta Wiener. ''The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social, and Military History'', 2011.
*Tortora, Daniel J. ''Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American Southeast, 1756–1763''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015.
*Walker, Felix. "Narrative of a Kentucky Adventure in 1775". Edited by Samuel R. Walker. ''DeBow's Review'' 16 (February 1854), pp. 150–55.
*Wright, Ronald.
Stolen Continents (2005) p. 200.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attakullakulla
1700s births
1770s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
18th-century Cherokee people
Native American leaders
People from Chota (Cherokee town)
Native American people from Tennessee