[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.]

In 1788, Chief Torquo (Turkey) moved a large contingent of southeastern Native Americans to Spanish Louisiana. After that, many Cherokee had left or were amalgamating, so the influence center of the traditional Cherokee shifted near Chickamauga River (Creek).

The Chickamauga/Lower Cherokee towns were in an area near now Chattanooga along the Tennessee River in now southern Tennessee, northern Alabama and northwestern Georgia. The Chickamauga, under war chief Dragging Canoe, expressed their disdain for the United States by constant war and incursions against the frontiersmen as far away as Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia.

After the passing of Dragging Canoe in 1792, his successor John Watts moved his group to Willstown (Fort Payne), now Alabama to be closer to his Creek allies and his Spanish suppliers. Watts appears to be the brother of Sequoyahís mother Wertuh, consequently, under the matrilineal system, a mentor to the lad. This move included Sequoyahís mother and clan.

In 1794, an unfortunate drunken brawl near Mussel Shoals on the Tennessee River became a seminal event for a new type of freedom, for a while. Six traders with women and children were travelling down the Tennessee River by flatboats. On the ominous day of 9 June 1794, the traders provided large quantities of alcohol to a group of young Cherokee men, before the traders began selling beads, mirrors, and other cheap manufactured goods for exorbitant prices.

After sobering up, the young men returned to the boats to demand restitution. One of the traders killed a Cherokee with a boat pole. Judiciously, the Cherokee withdrew, but went to gain reinforcements. On returning the Cherokee terminated all the traders, but not the women, children, and slaves.

Fearing reprisals by the Cherokee council and the government, the brawlers traveled down the Tennessee to the Ohio River then down the Mississippi River to the St. Francis River in Arkansas. Moving up the St. Francis River they began the first record of the Old Settlers west of the Mississippi. This was not a particularly auspicious start.

The Cherokee council vindicated the young brawlers and the U.S. government found their action justified. Chief Duwali has erroneously been associated with this group, but he did not move for another generation.

Two things of consequence came after the Mussel Shoals debacle. Those interested in educating the Native Americans came into the Chickamauga Territory and as did a presidential visit from Thomas Jefferson.

The Rev. Gideon Blackburn, D.D. (1772-1838) was born in Virginia, but moved to Tennessee territory at the age of 11, to live with his grandfather and uncle after his parents died. Young Blackburn worked in a sawmill and as a surveyor while receiving education from a Presbyterian minister.

After marrying a cousin in 1793 and ordination in 1794, Rev. Blackburn set out as an itinerant chaplain with soldiers to the frontier fort at Maryville, Tennessee territory. As a frontier preacher, he also had a farm and used his grains to build a distillery.

The History of Hamilton County (Chattanooga, Chickamauga) commented about the preacher-teachers. “They first prayed, then preached, then built churches and schoolhouses, and spent the rest of their time praying, preaching, and occasionally fighting.” Armed with his rifle, as a distiller, Blackburn would likely be unwelcomed in religious meetings today.

In 1803, Blackburn received approval and support from the Presbyterians, the Cherokees, and President Jefferson to have a school for Cherokees. He started two schools and had charge of Ross School at Chickamauga, which was the forerunner of Brainerd Mission School.

The time is only 20 years after the American Revolution. To keep activity in perspective, the French controlled the Mississippi River and Louisiana Territory until 1762, when they ceded it to Spain at the end of the Seven Years War.

Did you ever consider where all the gold that Spain sent back on the galleons originated? The Spanish had searched for gold in 1542 on their ventures through western now Oklahoma. They found it in the Wichita Mountains, but had to leave when the French took control of the Louisiana Territory. By 1765, the Spanish had already returned to the Wichitas to mine gold again. Just think, the Spanish archives had kept the records, so they could return immediately when opportunity presented itself.

As a trade route to move the gold, in 1786 the Spanish commissioned Pedro Vial to build the Great Spanish Road from Natchitoches, Louisiana, on the Red River through what would become southern Oklahoma to the Wichita Mountains then on to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Along the route between the two major posts on the edge of their domain, Vial made a cut-off to the San Antonio missions, which would later become the Texas Road.

Arrastras (rock pulverizers) and other Spanish mining equipment have been found, but the mother lode remains hidden deep in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. The western route of the Great Spanish Road became Route 66, then I-40 from near Erick, Oklahoma, through Amarillo, Texas. to Clines Corner, New Mexico.

The Spanish transferred Louisiana back to France in 1800. Then France sold the area to President Jefferson’s envoys, in 1803.

This was a busy era in our area. In a single generation, the region went through four world governments. What were the consequences for the brawlers who escaped to the St. Francis River in Spanish Louisiana, then in French Louisiana, then back in U.S. Louisiana without moving? They had to relocate to Indian Territory.

History is the confluence of multiple seemingly disparate events. Had you considered that the Spanish need to move gold from Oklahoma in 1786 defined the most famous highway of all, Route 66?

Think about how external events, over which we have no control, impact our life and survivability. Be prepared.

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Excerpts from our book:

Where Indians, Outlaws, and Oilmen Were Real, ISBN: 9781658834643.