But,
before Findlay guided Boone through the Gap in 1769, the
Shawanoes had been driven out by the Iroquois, who claimed
suzerainty over them as well as over the Cherokees. In 1768, the
Iroquois had ceded Kentucky to the British Crown by the treaty of
Fort Stanwix; whereupon the Cherokees had protested so
vociferously that the Crown's Indian agent, to quiet them, had
signed a collateral agreement with them. Though claimed by many,
Kentucky was by common consent not inhabited by any of the
tribes. It was the great Middle Ground where the Indians hunted.
It was the Warriors' Path over which they rode from north and
south to slaughter and where many of their fiercest encounters
took place. However shadowy the title which Henderson purposed to
buy, there was one all-sufficing reason why he must come to terms
with the Cherokees: their northernmost towns in Tennessee lay
only fifty or sixty miles below Cumberland Gap and hence
commanded the route over which he must lead colonists into his
empire beyond the hills.
The conference took place early in March, 1775, at the Sycamore
Shoals of the Watauga River. Twelve hundred Indians, led by their
"town chiefs"--among whom were the old warrior and the old
statesman of their nation, Oconostota and Attakullakulla--came to
the treaty grounds and were received by Henderson and his
associates and several hundred white men who were eager for a
chance to settle on new lands.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137