Henry Timberlake
Timberlake's account of his journeys to the Cherokee, published posthumously as his memoirs in 1765, became a primary source for later studies of the people's eighteenth-century culture.
The details have helped them identify Cherokee structures and cultural objects uncovered at modern archaeological excavation sites throughout the southern Appalachian region.
[1] For instance, during the Tellico Archaeological Project prior to construction of the Tellico Dam, which included a series of salvage excavations conducted in the lower Little Tennessee River basin in the 1970s, archaeologists used Timberlake's map, known as Draught of the Cherokee Country, to help locate major Overhill village sites.
[4] After his father Francis died, Timberlake inherited a small fortune, but he still had to support himself, and sought a military career in the colony.
[6] In 1758, Timberlake successfully applied for a commission in Colonel William Byrd's recently formed 2nd Virginia Regiment.
Commissioned as an ensign, the entry rank,[7] Timberlake accompanied the regiment on its march to Fort Duquesne (site of the future city of Pittsburgh), but illness kept him from proceeding further.
A relief column under Archibald Montgomerie failed to reach the fort after burning the Cherokee Lower Towns along the Savannah River in South Carolina and being stopped at the Battle of Echoee.
Timberlake accompanied Stephen to Long Island of the Holston (in modern-day Sullivan County, Tennessee), where they began building a base known as "Fort Robinson", and made preparations for a march south.
[12] On November 19, 1761, as Fort Robinson was nearing completion, a 400-man Cherokee force led by Chief Kanagatucko (or "Old Hop") arrived at the British camp and asked for peace, which was immediately granted by Col. Stephen.
The Holston River's unusually low water levels almost immediately stalled the journey, as the party was forced to drag their canoe over exposed shoals and sandbars.
Timberlake described an incident in which Sumter swam nearly a half-mile in near-freezing river waters to retrieve their canoe, which had somehow drifted away while they were exploring the cave.
A hunting party led by Cherokee chief Slave Catcher met the Timberlake expedition near the mouth of the Little Tennessee River.
[19] Ostenaco gave a speech and ceremoniously buried a hatchet in the ground, symbolizing a state of peace between the English and the Cherokee.
[23] The following day, Timberlake and Ostenaco traveled to Chilhowee, where the town's chief, Yachtino, held a peace procession similar to that at Citico.
At the end of January, rumors began trickling in from Cherokee scouts of renewed hostilities with rival tribes to the north.
Although the rumors were found to be based on a misunderstanding, Timberlake grew anxious and begged Ostenaco to guide him back to Virginia.
Ostenaco, accompanied by several hundred Cherokee warriors, guided the Timberlake group northward via the Great Indian Warpath, which follows the western base of the Appalachian Mountains.
The party went through the mountains and finally reached Williamsburg, Virginia in the Tidewater area along the James River in early April.
He was appointed by Jeffery Amherst, who had been promoted to Crown Governor of Virginia, as a lieutenant in the "42nd or Royal Highland Regiment of foot".
Not long afterwards, he received notice that he was among a number of officers to be reduced to half pay following the end of the Seven Years' War.
Timberlake left the militia and returned home to Virginia to petition the General Assembly to compensate him for his expenses for the journey, but was denied.
The Committee gave them “assurances of ample redress” ’[34] and the Colony Agent for Virginia, Edward Montagu, was charged with costing their return to South Carolina and 'the provision of gifts'.
[41] Along with Cherokee methods of warfare, Timberlake described their agricultural and hunting customs, religious beliefs, birth and death rites, and marital habits.
