Tensions between British-American settlers and Cherokee warriors of towns that the pioneers encroached on had increased during the 1750s, culminating in open hostilities in 1758.

At the 1754 outbreak of the war, Cherokee warriors took part in British campaigns against the French Fort Duquesne (at present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and the Shawnee of the Ohio Country.

In 1755, a band of 130 Cherokee under Ostenaco (or Ustanakwa) of Tamali (Tomotley) became the garrison in a fortified town at the mouth of the Ohio River at the behest of the Iroquois League (most of these Six Nations were also British allies).

[1][full citation needed] For several years, French agents from Fort Toulouse had been visiting the Overhill Cherokee on the Hiwassee and Tellico rivers and had made inroads into those places.

The strongest pro-French Cherokee leaders were Mankiller (Utsidihi) of Talikwa (Tellico Plains), Old Caesar of Chatuga (or Tsatugi, Chatooga), and Raven (Kalanu) of Ayuhwasi (Hiwassee).

It was reoccupied in 1759 by a Muscogee contingent under Big Mortar (Yayatustanage) in support of the pro-French Cherokee residing in Great Tellico and Chatuga.

This was a step toward Yayatustanage's planned alliance of Muscogee, Cherokee, Shawnee, Chickasaw, and Catawba peoples (which would have been the first of its kind in the South).

Although such an alliance was not organized until the days of Dragging Canoe, Big Mortar still rose to become leading chief of Muscogee bands after the French and Indian War.

[3][4] The Anglo-Cherokee War broke out in 1758 when the Virginia militia attacked Moytoy (Amo-adawehi) of Citico in retaliation for the alleged theft of some horses by the Cherokee.

These people had long been French allies in support of the Cherokee pro-French faction centered in Great Tellico.

The army of British Regulars, Provincial Soldiers, and allied Catawba, Chickasaw, Mohawk, and Stockbridge Indians destroyed the homes and food of approximately 5,000 Cherokee people.

Thomas Sumter, John McCormack (who served as their interpreter), and an unknown servant traveled into the Overhill settlements area to deliver a copy of the treaty with Virginia to the Cherokee.

The most notable of these was Kituwa, the inhabitants of which migrated west, taking up residence at Great Island Town (on the Little Tennessee), living among the Overhill Cherokee.

[13] The Cherokee guests visited the Tower of London, met the playwright Oliver Goldsmith, drew massive crowds, and had an audience with King George III.

Hearing of the Cherokees' warm welcome in London, South Carolinians viewed their reception as a sign of imperial favoritism at the colonists' expense, especially in view of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (which prohibited settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains), and was a foundation of one of the major irritants for the colonials leading up to the American Revolution.