1776: A fight over Cherokee land: the Revolutionary War in Oconee County
The first battle between an American militia and the Cherokee
By Mary Smithnosky & Carlos Hebert
It’s August 1776 – a month after the Declaration of Independence was signed. War comes to the South Carolina upcountry, and it’s not just between the Americans and the British. The war also involves the Cherokee.
In what is now Oconee County, Maj. Andrew Williamson led a South Carolina backcountry militia of 25 men against 185 Cherokee-aligned British, led by General Andrew Pickens. The goal was to take over Cherokee territory in South Carolina.
Oconee History Museum Director Jennifer Moss said the Cherokee joined the British after being mistreated in the French and Indian War.
“The British promised the Cherokee to keep their land as well during all of this." Moss said. "So basically, the colonists were pushing over onto their territory and the British said ‘if we win, you get to keep your territory.’”
The Cherokee had been troublesome for South Carolinians in the backcountry, which ignited the Williamson campaign and its first conflict. Despite the difference in number of forces, the militia defeated the Cherokee with the ring technique.
“The ring fight, from what I've seen, is you would form two concentric circles, and there would be an inner circle and an outer circle,” Moss said. “Back in the day, you had Kentucky long rifles that you had to load with powder and your bullet. So it took a long time. It's not like our automatic rifles that we have now.”
Moss said it could have taken up to two minutes to reload the rifles.
“One circle would fire, then go down and then the second one would have been down, they go up and fire," she said. "So it would go back and forth between going down, reloading and then firing.”
This strategy was effective, but Moss said the environment was also a key factor.
“I think that technique actually won the day because they were able to fight in a more open place,” she said.
For the Cherokee, however, this battle was more than just a loss.
Quientell Walker, president of the Oconee County 250 Committee, said that Cherokee warriors left on the battlefield after the fight were killed,; the militia continued attacking them with a sort of slash and burn technique.
“The militia, there’s no nice way of putting this, they basically broke the Cherokee,” Walker said. “They destroyed their villages, they destroyed their crops, and they murdered the majority of their warriors.”
For South Carolina, this battle meant growth. Most of the upcountry was, at the time, Cherokee land. With each win, South Carolina gained more territory. The campaign continued until 1777, when the Treaty of Dewitt’s Corner was signed in what is currently Due West. The move gave the majority of Cherokee land to South Carolina and left only bits and pieces of Oconee, Pickens, and Greenville counties in their territory.
Following the revolution, the Cherokee lost the remainder of their land with the two Treaties of Hopewell.
Some of the land taken with these treaties served as a reward for the Continental Army.
“The South Carolina government had plenty of land, Moss said. “So they offered it as bounty land for Revolutionary War soldiers in terms of payment for their service.”
Men such as Col. Benjamin Cleveland, who led the Battle of Kings Mountain, and Col. William Moultrie, the 35th governor of South Carolina, both settled in that bountyland after the war.
More information on the Revolutionary War in Oconee county can be found here.
