Nickajack Expedition

A total of 39 Cherokee chiefs and leaders, including Chickamauga, signed the 1798 Treaty of Tellico, ceding a large territory in East Tennessee to the United States.

During the Revolutionary War, the Chickamauga Cherokee engaged in ongoing raids against American settlers, often with British and Spanish military aid.

Notwithstanding the December 1791 Treaty of Holston between Territorial Governor William Blount and most Cherokee bands, settlers in the "Cumberland Region" (especially around the Nashville area) still feared for their lives.

In September 1792 when the Nickajack native peoples launched their attack against the Mero District that was foiled at the Battle of Buchanan's Station those negotiations failed, and resulted in two more years of defensive engagements on the part of the American settlers.

[1] When the sons of Colonel Anthony Bledsoe (1739-1788) and Major General George Winchester were killed in 1794, however, Blount finally sanctioned military action.

A total of 39 Cherokee chiefs and leaders, including those representing the Chickamauga band, finally signed the 1798 Treaty of Tellico, ceding a large amount of land in East Tennessee to the United States.