Cohee—also spelled coohee, kohee, quohee—was a name that Irish, Scotch-Irish and German immigrants to the colonial-era

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

gave themselves. They settled in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

and differentiated themselves from the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

planters of eastern Virginia who were called Tuckahoes. The Cohees were the first Europeans to settle in what are now

Amherst County Amherst County is a county, located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is also named Amherst. ...

and

Nelson County, Virginia Nelson County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,775. Its county seat is Lovingston. Nelson County is part of the Charlottesville, VA Metropolitan Statistic ...

. The word comes from the Scots and Ulster Scots phrase "quo he", which corresponds to "quoth he" in standard English. It has come to mean "a backwoods settler of Scots or northern Irish origin". It primarily refers to inhabitants who lived west of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

in what is now

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. The term also applied to German, Scottish, or Irish people in Pennsylvania.

References

{{Reflist Pre-statehood history of Virginia Pre-statehood history of North Carolina Pre-statehood history of South Carolina Pre-statehood history of West Virginia History of the Southern United States Virginia society People of Virginia in the American Civil War Scotch-Irish American culture in South Carolina Scotch-Irish American culture in North Carolina Scotch-Irish American culture in Virginia Scotch-Irish American culture in West Virginia Scotch-Irish American history North Carolina society South Carolina society West Virginia society American regional nicknames