Tellico Blockhouse
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The Tellico Blockhouse was an early American outpost located along the
Little Tennessee River The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It drains portio ...
in what developed as Vonore,
Monroe County, Tennessee Monroe County is a county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,250. Its county seat is Madisonville. History During the early part of the 18th century, the area around what is now ...
. Completed in 1794, the
blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
was a US military outpost that operated until 1807; the garrison was intended to keep peace between the nearby
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 ...
towns and encroaching early Euro-American pioneers in the area in the wake of the
Cherokee–American wars The Cherokee–American wars, also known as the Chickamauga Wars, were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest from 1776 to 1794 between the Cherokee and American se ...
. The Tellico Blockhouse was the site where several treaties were negotiated between the United States and the
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 ...
, by which the latter ceded large portions of land in present-day
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 ...
and
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
in order to try to gain peace. The US provided various financial incentives for these actions. During this period, the blockhouse was the site of official liaisons between the United States government and the Cherokee. It was designated as the Tellico Blockhouse State Historic Area and listed in 1975 on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. It is administered by staff of the nearby Fort Loudoun State Historic Area.


Geographic setting

The Tellico Blockhouse site is located at the junction of Nine Mile Creek and the Little Tennessee River (now Tellico Lake), between Maryville and Vonore.
U.S. Route 411 U.S. Route 411 (US 411) is an alternate parallel-highway associated with US 11. US 411 extends for about from US 78 in Leeds, Alabama, to US 25W/ US 70 in Newport, Tennessee. US 411 travels through no ...
passes nearby. Fort Loudoun was located just across the river to the west, but it was in ruins by the time the blockhouse was built. The Tellico Blockhouse originally stood on a high bluff overlooking the Little Tennessee valley. The Overhill towns of Chota and
Great Tellico Great Tellico was a Cherokee town at the site of present-day Tellico Plains, Tennessee, where the Tellico River emerges from the Appalachian Mountains. Great Tellico was one of the largest Cherokee towns in the region, and had a sister town nea ...
were within a
day's journey A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible, ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance. In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the dis ...
to the south. The river town of Morganton (then known as "Portville") was within walking distance.
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
was thirty miles downstream on the Little Tennessee River and then upstream on the Tennessee River to the north. As there were no bridges built to span the Little Tennessee until the late 19th century, blockhouse officials crossed at Niles Ferry. This ferry site was later used for the ends of the modern US-411 bridge. In 1979 the Tellico Dam was completed on the Little Tennessee River. The impoundment of the river, creating Tellico Lake, pushed the present shoreline to within a few meters of the blockhouse site. Historically, the Tellico Blockhouse was the starting point of the Old Federal Road, which connected Knoxville to Cherokee settlements in Georgia.


History

During the second half of the 18th century, the number of Anglo-European settlers into
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 ...
rapidly increased. They came into conflict with the Cherokee, whose territory this had been for centuries. Armed confrontations developed, as the Cherokee raided the settlements and sometimes killed settlers, conducting ritual
scalping Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the tak ...
s. The settlers formed independent militias and carried out reprisal attacks. This violence reached a climax in 1793, when the Cherokee attacked Henry's Station in Blount County. The pioneers responded by crossing
Chilhowee Mountain Chilhowee Mountain is the name of two non-contiguous low ridges in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The northern section is at the outer edge of the Great Smoky Mountains, stretching between the Little Tennessee River and Chilhowee Dam to the west, a ...
and sacking the Cherokee village of Tallassee. Even as the Cherokee chief
Hanging Maw Hanging Maw, or ''Uskwa'li-gu'ta'' in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day southeastern Tennessee. He became chief following the death of Old Tassel, and the abandonment of ...
was meeting with Governor William Blount to discuss bringing peace to the area, the chief's delegation was attacked by a band of settlers, who killed several Cherokee headmen.
Hanging Maw Hanging Maw, or ''Uskwa'li-gu'ta'' in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day southeastern Tennessee. He became chief following the death of Old Tassel, and the abandonment of ...
convinced Blount to construct a fort in the vicinity of the Overhill towns in order to suppress violence. The chief donated the land. The Tellico Blockhouse was completed and garrisoned by federal troops from Knoxville in 1794. John McKee, a surveyor in the area, was appointed as the first Tellico Indian Agent.Rozema, ''Footsteps of the Cherokees'', p. 131. He was to act as the official liaison between the United States government and the Cherokee Nation. The blockhouse was a crude fort built from earthworks and timber. Sawed planking was shipped upstream from Knoxville. According to historian
J. G. M. Ramsey James Gettys McGready Ramsey (March 25, 1797 – April 11, 1884) was an American historian, physician, planter, slave owner, and businessman, active primarily in East Tennessee during the nineteenth century. Ramsey is perhaps best known for h ...
in his history originally published in 1853, it was:
...a strong work, of considerable size, with a projection on each square, furnished with port-holes, and calculated to stand a siege by an enemy provided with small arms only.
The original blockhouse was approximately 120x100 feet, enclosed by a defensive
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...
approximately 16 feet high. The gate was on the north wall, with the captain's quarters and guardhouse just inside the gate. The original enclosure contained two barracks, a well, and parade grounds. A watchtower stood at the northeast corner.Interpretive signs at the Tellico Blockhouse State Historic Site, November 2006. In 1795,
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
passed the Factory Act, which sought to improve relations with American Indians by setting up official trading posts and teaching the natives agricultural and mechanical techniques. To implement this, McKee's successor, Silas Dinsmoor, expanded the Tellico Blockhouse to nearly double its original size to incorporate a civilian half. This new section, separated by a wall from the military section, contained lodging areas for travelers and delegates and a two-story building known as the Tellico Factory. Along with a trading post where European-American tools and finished goods were traded for Native American furs and raw materials, the factory included a section where members of the new
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 ...
could learn mechanical arts, and spinning and weaving cloth. In April 1797, the exposure of the so-called "Blount Conspiracy"—in which Senator
William Blount William Blount (March 26, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, statesman, farmer and land speculator who signed the United States Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention of ...
attempted to convince Britain to attack and capture the Spanish-controlled port of New Orleans—began at the Tellico Blockhouse. James Carey, a merchant whom Blount had attempted to recruit, gave a letter from Blount detailing the conspiracy to James Byers, a government trader at the Blockhouse. Byers turned the letter over to Colonel
David Henley David Henley (February 5/12, 1748/9 – January 1, 1823) was a Continental Army officer during the American Revolutionary War, who served as George Washington's intelligence officer and prisoner of war commandant. He later served as the Agent ...
(a foe of Blount) in Knoxville, and Henley delivered it to Secretary of State
Timothy Pickering Timothy Pickering (July 17, 1745January 29, 1829) was the third United States Secretary of State under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. He also represented Massachusetts in both houses of Congress as a member of the Federalist Party. ...
. Blount was eventually expelled from the Senate based in part on this letter. In December 1797, one of the first recorded
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
celebrations in Tennessee occurred among the garrison at the Tellico Blockhouse to celebrate the Little Tennessee River freezing over. On the night of December 25, Dinsmoor and the federal garrison held a dinner party on the ice. This was later described by Ramsey from a contemporary news article:
On the 25th, a Christmas dinner was given upon the ice, by the Federal officers, at Tellico Block-house, to a large company of gentlemen and ladies. "Contiguous to the place of entertainment, two quarters of a bear were barbecued, where the ice was found to be, in thickness, sufficient to bare fire enough to have roasted an ox, without being materially weakened by the heat."
The Tellico Blockhouse likely had its peak of activity around 1799, due to its location along the Old Federal Road. That same year,
Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate List of French monarchs#House of Orléans, July Monarchy (1830–1848), monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, h ...
, Duke of Orleans and later king of France, paid a visit to the blockhouse.Rozema, ''Footsteps of the Cherokees'', p. 132. In 1800, several Cherokee leaders convened at the blockhouse to debate whether or not to allow missionaries into Cherokee towns. The Cherokee hoped the missionaries would provide educational services to their children. In the early 19th century, the Cherokee slowly migrated south to the Hiwassee River and deeper into Georgia, trying to escape the encroachment of European Americans. As the Overhill towns along the Little Tennessee River began to disperse, the Tellico Blockhouse's influence started to wane. In 1801, Colonel Return J. Meigs took over as Cherokee agent. This appointment effectively moved the agency to
Fort Southwest Point Fort Southwest Point was a federal frontier outpost at what is now Kingston, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Constructed in 1797 and garrisoned by federal soldiers until 1811, the fort served as a major point of interaction between t ...
(modern
Kingston, Tennessee Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States. This city is thirty-six miles southwest of Knoxville. It had a population of 5,934 at the 2010 United States census, and is included in the Harriman Micropolit ...
), where Meigs was based. In 1805, the last Tellico treaty called for the removal of the blockhouse garrison south to the Hiwassee River area. When archeologists from the
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
conducted excavations at the Tellico Blockhouse site in the 1970s, they located the fort's foundations and a number of artifacts. Due to a lack of records, officials concluded they would not attempt a reconstruction of the blockhouse. They directed the reinforcement of foundations with authentic fill material so visitors can see the fort's layout. Short posts were erected to show the position of the blockhouse walls, and interpretive signs were placed at the site to explain the fort's brief history. The site is preserved as a State Historic Area, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, and managed by staff of the Fort Loudoun State Historic Area. Some of the artifacts recovered during the excavation are displayed at the nearby Fort Loudoun museum and the Frank H. McClung Museum in Knoxville.


Treaties

Several treaties between the United States and the Cherokee Nation were negotiated at the Tellico Blockhouse: * A treaty signed on November 8, 1794 marked the end of the Cherokee–American wars. Cherokee chiefs
Hanging Maw Hanging Maw, or ''Uskwa'li-gu'ta'' in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day southeastern Tennessee. He became chief following the death of Old Tassel, and the abandonment of ...
(representing the Upper Cherokee) and Colonel John Watt (representing the Lower Cherokee, or "
Chickamauga Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment * "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce * "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe * "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album ''Anodyne'' * ''Chic ...
") met with Governor William Blount to negotiate this. All sides agreed to recognize boundaries set forth in previous treaties. * The 'First Treaty of Tellico', also known as the Treaty with the Cherokee, negotiated in 1797 and signed on October 2, 1798, was intended to compensate the Cherokee for land to be ceded to illegal settlers ("squatters"). In exchange for ceding land, the Cherokee received various financial incentives and a guarantee of the right of the Cherokee Nation to "exist forever." The U.S. negotiators, acting on instructions from Governor John Sevier, included James Robertson,
Lachlan McIntosh Lachlan McIntosh (March 17, 1725 – February 20, 1806) was a Scottish American military and political leader during the American Revolution and the early United States. In a 1777 duel, he fatally shot Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaratio ...
, Thomas Butler, and James White.Ramsey, ''Annals of Tennessee'', pp. 693–696. * The 'Second Treaty of Tellico', signed on October 24, 1804, brought the Wafford settlements in northern Georgia under U.S. dominion. The Cherokee received various financial incentives to cede these lands to the US. Colonel Return J. Meigs negotiated the treaty for the United States.Mooney, ''Myths of the Cherokee'', p. 84–85. * The 'Third Treaty of Tellico', signed on October 25, 1805, and the 'Fourth Treaty of Tellico', signed two days later on October 27, brought the land between the
Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...
and Duck River (i.e., most of the Cumberland Plateau) under U.S. dominion by Cherokee cessions. The goal of the U.S. was to connect East Tennessee with
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
. Both treaties were negotiated for the United States by Colonel Return J. Meigs. Two of the Cherokee negotiators, Doublehead and Tollunteeskee, were later criticized for including "secret articles" that allowed for personal incentives.


See also

*
Bledsoe's Station Bledsoe's Station, also known as Bledsoe's Fort, was an 18th-century, fortified, frontier settlement located in what is now Castalian Springs, Tennessee. The fort was built by long hunter and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe (c. 1735–1793) ...
*
Fort Blount Fort Blount was a frontier fort and federal outpost located along the Cumberland River in Jackson County, Tennessee, United States. Situated at the point where Avery's Trace crossed the river, the fort provided an important stopover for migrants ...


References


External links


Fort Loudoun State Park
- official site
Frank H. McClung Museum
- houses a number of artifacts from the Tellico Blockhouse site * {{Cherokee 1794 establishments in the Southwest Territory Infrastructure completed in 1794 18th-century fortifications Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Pre-statehood history of Tennessee Tourist attractions in Monroe County, Tennessee Protected areas of Monroe County, Tennessee Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Tennessee Treaty signing historic sites Blockhouses