James Vann (c. 1762–64 – February 19, 1809) 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, one of the triumvirate with
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge (and sometimes Pathkiller II) (c. 1771 – 22 June 1839) (also known as ''Nunnehidihi'', and later ''Ganundalegi'') was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the C ...
and
Charles R. Hicks, who led the Upper Towns of
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 ...
and
North Georgia
North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important eve ...
as part of the ᎤᏪᏘ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ (Uwet Tsalag Ayetl or
Old Cherokee Nation). He was the son of ᏩᎵ (Wali) Vann and Indian trader Joseph John Vann. He was born into his mother's Clan, ᎠᏂᎪᏓᎨᏫ (Anigodagewi or
Wild Potato Clan, also called Blind Savannah Clan).
[Miles (2010), p. 40]
Vann was among the younger leaders of the Old Cherokee Nation who thought its people needed to acculturate to deal with the European Americans and the United States government. He encouraged the
Moravians
Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...
to establish a mission school on Cherokee land, and became a wealthy
plantation owner
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
and slave owner.
Early life and education
James Vann was born the oldest of three children, most likely in South Carolina near his father-in-law's trading post on the Savannah River. By 1764 his family moved to the mouth of Little River, in Georgia. (Who is Wah-li? No context. Was that James's mother?) Wah-li was the daughter of a Cherokee woman of the ''Anigategawi'' or Wild Potato People clan, later referred to as "Mrs. Roe."
[ James had two younger sisters, Nancy and Jennie.][Georgia Pioneers, (1969), p. 119]
The children grew up within the Cherokee culture and clan of their mother. As the Cherokee had a matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
system of property and hereditary leadership, the children traditionally gained their status in the tribe from their mother's people. Their maternal uncles were more important to the rearing of the children, especially the boy James, within the Cherokee nation than was their father.
The Vann children were likely bilingual, learning some European-American culture from their father. Wah-li later married Clement Vann (brother of Joseph), who acted as a stepfather to the children. (Sources disagree about the identity of Vann's biological father: Gary E. Moulton of the University of Nebraska, suggests Clement Vann. William H. Vann Jr. in his self-published genealogy book, ''Vann Generations with Cherokee Origins from John Joseph Vann & James Clement Vann I of NC, SC, TN, GA ca 1750-1989,'' identified Joseph Vann. Virginia Vann Perry chooses another James Vann, and Belinda Pierce, a contemporary genealogy expert, thinks Joseph John Vann was the father. "According to the experts at the Vann House in Chatsworth, Georgia, Vann's father is unknown.")
Cherokee–American wars
A story was repeated about James Vann that indicates the violence of his times. As a young man, he helped lead the John Watts' 1793 offensive against the Holston River
The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...
colonial settlements. They originally planned an attack against White's Fort
James White's Fort, also known as White's Fort, was an 18th-century settlement that became Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The name also refers to the fort, itself.
The settlement of White's Fort began in 1786 by James White, a mil ...
, then capital of the Southwest Territory
The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States a ...
(as Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
was known). As the war party was traveling to the destination, Vann argued they should kill only men, against Doublehead
Doublehead (1744–1807) or Incalatanga (''Tal-tsu'tsa'', ᏔᎵᏧᏍᎦ in Cherokee), was one of the most feared warriors of the Cherokee during the Cherokee–American wars. Following the peace treaty at the Tellico Blockhouse in 1794, he serv ...
's call to kill all the settlers. Not long after this, the war party of more than 1,000 Cherokee and Muscogee
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands[Bob Benge
Robert "Bob" Benge (c. 1762–1794), also known as Captain Benge (or "The Bench" to frontiersmen), was a Cherokee leader in the Upper Towns, in present-day far Southwest Virginia during the Cherokee–American wars (1783–1794).
Early life
He w ...]
, a leading warrior, negotiated the settlers' surrender, saying no captives would be harmed. But, Doublehead's group and his Muscogee Creek allies attacked and began killing the captives, over the pleas of Benge and the others. Vann managed to grab one small boy and pull him onto his saddle, only to have Doublehead smash the boy's skull with an axe. Another warrior saved another young boy, handing him to Vann, who put the boy behind him on his horse. Later he gave him to three of the Muscogee for safe-keeping; a few days later, a Muscogee chief killed and scalped the boy. Vann called Doublehead "Babykiller" for the remainder of his life.
The events were the start of a lengthy feud between the two men. This contributed to the confrontational politics between their respective Upper and Lower Towns of the early 19th-century 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 ...
.
Career
Vann became the richest man in the Cherokee Nation, and possibly in the entire eastern U.S. at the time. As a result of his favorable negotiations for access and land when the US government built the Federal Road, Vann built his Diamond Hill
Diamond Hill is a hill in the east of Kowloon, Hong Kong. The name also refers to the area on or adjacent to the hill. It is surrounded by Ngau Chi Wan, San Po Kong, Wong Tai Sin and Tsz Wan Shan. Its northeast is limited by the ridge. It is pr ...
mansion, a two-story house constructed of brick in 1804, with access to the road, near present-day Chatsworth, Georgia
Chatsworth is a city in Murray County, Georgia, United States, specifically in the Dalton, Georgia Dalton metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 4,874 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is the cou ...
. He also had a store and other facilities there. He donated land for the mission school of the Moravian Brethren
, image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
, main_classification = Proto-Prot ...
, which he had encouraged the Cherokee National Council to permit. His father had earlier run a trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
on that site.
Vann created a ferry across the nearby Conasauga River
The Conasauga River is a river that runs through southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. The Conasauga River is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 an ...
, and built a tavern and store nearby to supply locals and travelers. He also owned Vann's ferry, which crossed the Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...
near present-day Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
on the road to the Lower Towns of the Muscogee
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands[Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...]
.
He held more than 100 slaves and hundreds of acres of plantation. He also owned land at the mouth of Ooltewah (Wolftever) Creek in present-day Hamilton County, Tennessee
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the southern part of East Tennessee on the border with Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 366,207, making it the fourth-most populous county i ...
. His Vann's Ferry landing in Tennessee was the basis for Vann's Town. Later it became the county seat and was called Harrison
Harrison may refer to:
People
* Harrison (name)
* Harrison family of Virginia, United States
Places
In Australia:
* Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin
In Canada:
* Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...
.
A story was recounted about Vann's wealth. Return J. Meigs Sr.
Return Jonathan Meigs orn December 17 (old style) or 28th (new style), 1740; died January 28, 1823 a colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, was one of the settlers of the Northwest Territory in what is now the ...
, the US Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government.
Background
The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...
to the Cherokee living at Cherokee Agency (now Calhoun, Tennessee
Calhoun is a town in McMinn County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Chattanooga–Cleveland–Athens combined statistical area. The population was estimated at 536 in 2020.
History
The area where Calhoun is located was settled by Jo ...
), found the government had misrouted its annuity payment to the nation (for lands surrendered in treaty) to . Meigs turned to Vann for help. Vann paid the annuity in full from his own funds and could wait for Meigs to pay him back after he had received the original annuity.
Politics
In national Cherokee politics, Vann led the so-called "young chiefs" of the Overhill Towns, who rebelled against the oligarchy of those, primarily from the Lower Towns, referred to as the "old chiefs," who were led by Doublehead
Doublehead (1744–1807) or Incalatanga (''Tal-tsu'tsa'', ᏔᎵᏧᏍᎦ in Cherokee), was one of the most feared warriors of the Cherokee during the Cherokee–American wars. Following the peace treaty at the Tellico Blockhouse in 1794, he serv ...
. The Lower Town chiefs followed more traditional practices. Vann and Charles R. Hicks persuaded a reluctant National Council to permit the establishment of a school operated by the United Brethren (Moravians
Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...
) of Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...
. Vann furnished the land and building for the Moravian school next to his home at Spring Place, Georgia.
His feud with Doublehead ended in 1807. The Council ordered Doublehead executed for having secretly profited from the private sale of Cherokee land, a capital offense under tribal law. The council appointed Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge (and sometimes Pathkiller II) (c. 1771 – 22 June 1839) (also known as ''Nunnehidihi'', and later ''Ganundalegi'') was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the C ...
and Alexander Saunders from the Nation to carry out the sentence. Vann was also appointed but was said to be too drunk to participate.
As part of changes in tribal practices, in 1808 Vann helped form the Cherokee Lighthorse Guard, a kind of police force to monitor the roads in the Nation to suppress horse stealing and other thefts. That same year, chiefs of the seven clans, plus Black Horse as chief and Pathkiller
Pathkiller, (died January 8, 1827) was a Cherokee warrior and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Warrior life
PathkillerPathkiller is a Cherokee rank or title—not a name. His original name is unknown. fought against the Overmountain Men ...
as his assistant, signed the Act of Oblivion on September 11, 1808, which ended the traditional clan blood law requiring vengeance killings.["The First Printed Law in the Cherokee Nation Sept. 11, 1808"](_blank)
''Cherokee Observer ᎠᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᎦᏎᏍᏗ,'' Vol. 15, No 11 & 12. Nov/Dec 2007, p. 2
While riding patrol, Vann was shot to death at Buffington's Tavern on February 19, 1809. Speculation was that his killer might have been someone related to someone he had wronged, or Alexander Saunders. Further speculation suggests his shooting was organized by his sister, who felt that his drunkenness threatened their family's safety.
Vann was buried in or near Blackburn cemetery, Forsyth County, Georgia
Forsyth County ( or ) is a County (United States), county in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Suburban and exurban in character, Forsyth County lies within the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. The county ...
. Charles Hicks replaced him on the council.[Hicks, p. 37]
Legacy
Vann was a shrewd tribal leader and businessman. He owned taverns, ferry boats, grist mills, and livestock. His business activities included a cattle drive to Pennsylvania and a pack train of goods to South Carolina. Vann brought European-American education into the Cherokee Nation with his support of the Moravian mission school. He urged adoption of European-style "civilization" for the positive aspects he observed.
He was noted as having problems with alcohol, which became increasingly severe.
Vann fought a notable duel with his brother-in-law John Falling, with both armed with muskets and on horseback (Falling died). Vann was generous with his money to those in need, but ruthless to those who crossed him. He ordered a slave Isaac, caught stealing, to be burned alive. In the same incident, Vann had a teenaged girl slave hung by her thumbs to tell about the theft; the Moravian missionaries rescued her and tried to dissuade him from the murder of Isaac.
In his will, Vann left nearly all his property to Joseph Vann
Joseph H. Vann (11 February 1798 – 23 October 1844) was a Cherokee leader of mixed-race ancestry, a businessman and Planter (American South), planter in Georgia, Tennessee and Indian Territory. He owned plantations in the American South, p ...
, his eldest son by Nannie Brown. This followed European-American practice, but differed from the traditional Cherokee matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
system of having property passed on through the maternal line. Joseph inherited the Spring Place plantation (Diamond Hill), and the property on the Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...
later known as Vann's Town. He became known as "Rich Joe" Vann. Because Vann had gone against tradition, the National Cherokee Council recognized the other children of Vann's nine wives or consorts as minor heirs, and they shared in the inheritance of lesser amounts of property.
His Nephew was David Vann (Cherokee leader) an ancestor of Will Rogers
William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...
Representation in other media
Dee Alexander Brown wrote a novel based on a fictionalized version of Vann's life, called ''Creek Mary's Blood'' (1981).
Notes
References
*"Colonial Records Relating to Indian Affairs, 1710–1765," South Carolina Archives, Charleston, SC.
*Dews, Robert to Alexander Cameron (1779 letter), Southern Superintendency of Indian Affairs, British Colonial Office Records, National Archives of Great Britain, Kews, U.K. (Microfilm in Library of Congress).
*Georgia Pioneers, Genealogical Magazine Vol. 6., Mary Carter, Albany, 1969.
*Hawkins, Benjamin. ''Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1806.'' Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. IX, Savannah, GA, 1916.
*Hicks, Brian. "Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the Cherokees, and the Trail of Tears." New York: Atlantic Monthly Press,2011.
*Maschke, Karen J., editor
Theda Perdue, "Cherokee Women and the Trail of Tears"
in ''Women and the American Legal Order''] (Gender and American Law: The Impact of the Law on the Lives of Women), London: Routledge, 1997. .
*McClinton, Rowena. ''The Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, 1805–1821'' (2 volumes). (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2007).
* William G. McLoughlin, McLoughlin, William G. ''Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic''. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).
*McLoughlin, William G. "James Vann: Intemperate Patriot, 1768–1809," i
''The Cherokee Ghost Dance; Essays on the Southeastern Indians, 1789–1861''
Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1984.
*Miles, Tiya
''The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story''
University of North Carolina Press, 2010. .
*''The Payne-Butrick Papers,'' 2-volume set (Indians of the Southeast), edited by William L. Anderson, Anne F. Rogers, Jane L. Brown. University of Nebraska Press, 2010
(W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1993).
*Wilkins, Thurman. ''Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People''. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1970).
External links
James Vann
About North Georgia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vann, James
1768 births
1809 deaths
Cherokee slave owners
Native American leaders
Chickamauga Cherokee
Murdered Native American people
Cherokee Nation politicians (1794–1907)
American people of Scottish descent
People murdered in Georgia (U.S. state)
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Deaths by firearm in Georgia (U.S. state)
18th-century Native Americans
1809 murders in the United States
Native American people from Georgia (U.S. state)