Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

“C” is for Cherokee War (1776)

“C” is for Cherokee War (1776). The Cherokee War of 1776 was an early episode in the Revolutionary War. The British established a base of operations among the Cherokees and directed their actions against rebellious settlers. The Cherokee were the most powerful tribe in the region and the first to take action. In July isolated homesteads in Ninety Six and Spartan Districts were overrun and their inhabitants killed. Upcountry militia led by Andrew Williamson, Francis Salvador, and Andrew Pickens retaliated and in a savage campaign. By the end of the summer, Cherokee resistance was broken and the British plan to direct Indian allies against American rebels was defeated. In May 1777, the Treaty of Dewitt’s Corner ended the Cherokee War and resulted in the cession of much of the Cherokee lands within present-day Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens Counties.

Stay Connected
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.