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Fitzhugh Williams
Mohicanland Statesman
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July 17 2005
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 Posted - March 07 2011 : 08:20:17 AM
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When I saw this picture, the first thing that came to mind was Massacre Valley. Well, it's not. At least not the one in the movie. But it is the site of a massacre in 1760 in South Carolina known as Long Cane Massacre which involved the ancestors of the Calhoun and Pickens (and a lot of other) families. 56 killed and captives taken. "Things were done."
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"Les deux pieds contre la muraille et la tete sous le robinet" |
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RedFraggle
Mohicanite
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Posted - March 07 2011 : 11:49:47 AM
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Hmmm, that does look kind of like Massacre Valley from the movie. What brings you to the topic of the attack in SC? Just curious.  Also---although more than slightly off topic---I always thought "Things were done" was a strange line in LOTM. Seems like a really vague way to refer to the happenings at the Camerons' cabin. |
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Stephanie
Gathering Sachemess
USA
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Posted - March 07 2011 : 1:57:52 PM
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I always thought that the line "Things were done, nobody was spared" was placed in the movie so it could be used to describe future Mohican Gatherings. :-)
Nice picture, Fitz. It looks more like Massacre Valley than Massacre Valley does. I can almost hear the whooping! |
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Fitzhugh Williams
Mohicanland Statesman
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Posted - March 08 2011 : 08:15:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by RedFraggle
What brings you to the topic of the attack in SC? Just curious.
I was looking for some old data about the captivity of Anne Calhoun. The attack at Long Cane was the event that precipitated the Cherokee War of 1760. It was reenacted for a short time around 10 years or so ago, but it is all on private land and there was no interest in continuing it. The attack was in Feb., 1760. Then came the attack on Ninety Six and other sites. The Brits responded by sending Montgomery and his Highlanders supported by Provincials into Cherokee territory. There was a battle at Echoe which was fought to a standstill and Montgomery retreated to Charleston. The 250th was last year. There was no commemoration except for a small event at Fort Dobbs which was not anywhere near the area. In 1761 the Brits came back in force under General Grant (same Grant of Forbes Road "fame"). They fought another battle at Echoe, same place, and this time the Cherokee retreated into the hills. Since he could not bring them to battle, Grant practiced a scorched earth policy and by winter the Cherokee were starving and sued for peace. There is talk this year about something being done for the 250th of that event, so we shall see.
The guy who took this picture really nailed the look of Massacre Valley. He could have taken if from a number of different angles, but he chose this one. Wonder if he had seen LOTM? |
"Les deux pieds contre la muraille et la tete sous le robinet" |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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Posted - March 08 2011 : 08:33:52 AM
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| Fitz, was this attack considered to be a part of the F&I War? Or was this a totally separate thing that just happened coincidentally near the end of the war? I don't think there were any French troops down there, right? But were the Cherokee allied with the French? |
"It is more deeply stirring to my blood than any imaginings could possibly have been." |
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Fitzhugh Williams
Mohicanland Statesman
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Posted - March 08 2011 : 1:35:06 PM
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Probably more than you wanted to know, but still painted with a very broad brush.
This was a case of two incompatible cultures living beside each other. The Cherokee were supposed to go north to help Braddock. They didn't. So when Forbes headed west they were finally talked into helping. They were promised many things and got nothing, so on returning south they replaced some of their lost horses from farms in Virginia. This was according to Cherokee law. The Virginians hunted some down and killed them. The Cherokee retaliated man for man killing those of the same clan (white) which is again Cherokee law. Gov. Lyttleton of SC called a meeting of the Cherokee leaders in Charles Town and demanded they turn over the murderers. The Cherokee couldn't have done that even if they know who did it. So Lyttleton marched north to Fort Prince George and imprisoned 24 of the Cherokee leaders there (I believe that that was the same number as the VA and NC people killed). Plague broke out and Lyttleton and most of his men returned to Charles Town. Oconostota marched to Fort Prince George and demanded a conference with the Commander, a Lt. Coytmore, and when he came out of the fort under a truce Oconostota killed him. There was a reason for this, but I won't go into it here. The soldiers in the fort then killed the 24 hostages. Oconostota besieged Fort Loudoun since he couldn't maintain a siege at Fort Prince George. This was summer 1759. The seige lasted until August 1760. During that time, the Cherokee attacked at the Long Cane settlement, Ninety Six and other fortified sites in SC. Then Montgomery marched north, fought the battle of Echoe, and retreated. Loudoun surrendered in Aug. 1760 and Oconostota killed 24 of the garrison for the 24 Cherokee killed at Prince George. Next summer Gen. Grant came back in force and destroyed the Cherokee towns. The Cherokee sued for peace. The French during this same time went from a great victory at Ticonderoga in 1758 to total defeat in 1760. Cunnechote tried to get help from Louisiana, but the French had none to give. So, the Cherokee war happened because of the F&I War, but really was not a part of it. The Cherokee were never French allies, and were actually British-allied some of the time. It was a case of two incompatible cultures trying to interact with each other.
The peace continued until 1775 when by the treaty of Sycamore Shoals the white settlers got the over mountain areas ceded to them by treaty. Some Cherokee opposed this and again attached SC on July 1, 1776. They were expecting to have to fight only the SC troupes who were engaged with the British at the time. But instead militia from Virginia, NC, and Georgia came to their aid and just like in 1761 the Cherokee lands were laid waste. In 1777 they again sued for peace. There were some other actions, but by then the Cherokee saw the handwriting on the wall and decided that if you can't lick'em, join'em. They decided to adopt white ways and fit into the white culture. They were very successful and many had large farms. But when Andrew Jackson and his bunch wanted the land that worked against them. They were rounded up and sent to Oklahoma on the "Trail of Tears". A few were hidden by white friends and formed the nucleus of the Qualla reservation in NC, where they lived in some seclusion and poverty and became icons for the flatlanders from South Carolina who came there during the summer months to have their pictures made with a "chief" wearing a Souix headdress standing in front of a teepee. Yes, I have one of those pictures of myself, aged 7 or 8. So does my wife. And then the Cherokee discovered Harrah's. And in the last couple of years Harrah's doubled in size. But you can still buy Indian headdresses and mocs, and tomahawks, and bows and arrows, and tee shirts. There are a few who are trying to accurately recreate their history but they are few. We had one, Bo Taylor, at one of the Gatherings.
So that is the history of the Cherokee people. A little more than you asked, but there it is. |
"Les deux pieds contre la muraille et la tete sous le robinet" |
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IWLFNDU
Colonial Settler
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Posted - March 08 2011 : 6:34:58 PM
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Great post, Fitz. Very interesting. You should share all that great knowledge more often! 
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''Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.''
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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Posted - March 08 2011 : 7:03:04 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Fitzhugh Williams
A little more than you asked, but there it is.
No, that is great! Good stuff, and something I did not know about.
Thanks! |
"It is more deeply stirring to my blood than any imaginings could possibly have been." |
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Fitzhugh Williams
Mohicanland Statesman
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Posted - March 08 2011 : 8:12:34 PM
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| Just another comment on Cherokee "law". Some Cherokee women had husbands who were soldiers at Fort Loudoun. When the fort was being besieged they brought them food. Oconostota then issued an order that anyone providing food to the garrison would be killed. But some of the others reminded him that the soldiers had become members of the wife's clan when they were married and that if he had any of the women killed, then their clan would be bound to kill an equal number belonging to the clan of the person who did the killing. So Oconostota immediately cancelled that order. It would have caused a civil war among the Cherokee. |
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A Massacre Valley
