There’s a chapter in Virginia’s Indigenous history that’s been largely untold. This Saturday, historic Smithfield museum in Blacksburg is hosting an event to remember the Cherokee War of 1776, and descendants from both sides of the conflict will share their perspectives.
The Cherokee War of 1776 took place at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. White settlers, including forces from Southwest Virginia, clashed with Cherokee fighters across central Appalachia.
“This is a big part of the history of Indigenous people, whose story has not been as well told and as often revealed as I think it should be,” said historian Walt Bailey, with historic Smithfield. He was inspired to organize the event to tell this story after he read a book by Nadia Dean about the 1776 war, called “A Demand of Blood.”
She researched accounts of those who were in the war, including people who described how a Cherokee chief, named Dragging Canoe, led a force of warriors to defend their land.
“And he said, ‘enough is enough. We’ve lost so much land already,’” Dean told RadioIQ. “He was able to coalesce young warriors who said, ‘listen, we’re not gonna die like dogs, we’re gonna die fighting. And we must maintain our homeland. We must maintain the integrity of our culture because it’s slipping away from us.’”
Mark Ledford is a Cherokee Tribal member who lives in east Tennessee. For generations, his family didn’t talk about their Ingenious history. Even today, he says there are gaps in what most people know.
“The trail of tears are what the Cherokee are known for, and that was kind of the defeat period,” Ledford said. “Not the golden period by any means.”
The golden period, he said, was the 1700s. Cherokee leaders visited England to negotiate over land treaties, and traveled throughout the east coast as a powerful nation.
“They were great warriors and they fought. But it was just a simple case of numbers,” Ledford said. “They couldn’t stand against the size of the onslaught of settlement that was going on.”
In the War of 1776, he said the Cherokee were significantly outnumbered. Landowners in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee organized a force of 6,000 men to fight against them.
Their aim, said Dean, was to push the Cherokee west, out of Appalachia.
“They felt like this is going to be the final blow,” Dean said, describing the attacks against Cherokee. “They burned over 50 towns. They starved thousands of women and children who fled to the woods.”
Dean admits parts of this history are difficult to face. While researching her book, she learned that her ancestors fought in this conflict against the Cherokee.
That happened to Walt Bailey too. His ancestor fought in one of the most brutal militia forces against the Cherokee.
“Of course, I’m a descendant five generations later, so I couldn’t control what my ancestor did,” Bailey said. “But honestly it doesn’t feel good. To be a descendant of someone who’s part of that.”
Difficult as it is, he said it’s important to reflect on this history, and listen to different perspectives of what happened.
The war ended in 1777, when the Cherokee signed the Avery Treaty, in an area that’s now Kingsport, TN. At the interpretive event this Saturday, Mark Ledford will portray one of the Cherokee negotiators who debated whether to accept the treaty.
“So the Cherokee were in a very difficult situation. They were getting nothing for it,” Ledford said. “They were expected to give up more land even.”
Dean said it’s vital to remember that, despite overwhelming odds, the Cherokee did manage to survive the onslaught.
“We’ll never know the total number of causalities from the Cherokee side, but it was immense,” Dean said. “And yet the Eastern band of Cherokee are still here. Very resilient people and they survived the most incredible odds to wipe them out.”
The event on Saturday is from 10:00-3:00 outside the historic Smithfield museum, next to the Virginia Tech campus, and is free and open to the public.
