Some Greeneville History, Excerpted from "History of Greenville South Carolina" 
by James M. Richardson

Submitted by Beatrice D. MacDonald, aday4me@juno.com September 30, 1996


Chapter III, Fort Prince George Built

     About the year 1750, the piedmont section of South Carolina began to 
receive its first permanent settlers.  These did not come from the coast, 
however, but principally from Virginia, Pennsylvania and western New York, 
moving down the valleys of the Alleghenies, bringing their families and all 
their portable property with them.  They were of the crude pioneer type, having 
little wealth and education, and living in close touch with nature.  Every 
family supplied itself as best it could from the soil and forests.  For the most 
part, these new settlers were Scotch-Irish, and adhered to the Presbyterian 
faith in religion.  Some, however, were of the sturdy Quaker stock.  But in 
contrast to these simple hard-working frontiersmen were the dwellers of the low 
country, who, by this time, had a well-formed social system, and established 
religion (Episcopal) and a great deal of accumulated wealth, with many families 
of culture and refinement.  And in order to understand the sectional 
differences, which have played such a prominent part in the social, political, 
and economic life of South Carolina, one must bear in mind the different types 
of people making up the citizenship of the up-state and the coastal section.

     With the coming of the French and Indian war in 1754, both the French and 
the English were anxious to secure the aid of the various Indian tribes.  The 
Cherokees had always been friends and allies of the English, but the French had 
never lost an opportunity to court their favor, so they now sent emissaries 
among them, with costly presents, who spoke in glowing terms of the advantages 
to be obtained by a French alliance.  But the Cherokees were satisfied with 
existing conditions and hastened to assure the Carolinians that they would 
remain true to their pledge of friendship with the English.  They expressed 
fears, however, of the French making an attack upon the colony by marching 
through their country. Such a move on the part of the French, they did not feel 
themselves strong enough to check, and an attack upon the Carolina frontier from 
their nation, they realized, might cause the English to question their 
sincerity.  For years the government in Charles Town had realized that it was 
unprepared to withstand an attack upon its frontiers made from the Cherokee 
country, whether coming from the French or the Indians themselves.  Now seemed 
an opportune time to gain the consent of the Cherokees to build a few forts at 
strategic points in their nation, so Governor Glen went out from Charles Town in 
1755 to enter negotiations with the Cherokees, relative to securing sufficient 
lands in their territory upon which to build these fortifications. 

     The Governor and his party were met in one of the lower Indian towns by 
Atta Kulla Kulla, who, it will be remembered, had gone to England in the 
Cummings party, and about 500 warriors.  Out of this conference came a formal 
treaty (the first between the Cherokees and Carolinians), by which the colony 
was given permission to build forts in the Indian country, and in addition it 
was granted a vast territory of Indian lands of uncertain boundary.  This treaty 
was reduced to writing and formally signed by Governor Glen for the colony, and 
Atta Kulla Kulla and other Indian chiefs for the Cherokees.  The original is on 
file in the office of the Historical Commission at Columbia, and should prove 
interesting to those who delight in using high-sounding words and well-turned 
phrases to obscure their real meaning.  Reading that document now, in the light 
of later events, one can but think it was the studied purpose of the Carolinians 
when preparing the instrument, to acquire color of title to a major portion of 
the Cherokee holdings while leading the trusting savages to think that only fort 
sites were being granted.  If not, why the vagueness of wording?  One taking 
title to land does not trust to such hidden meanings and vague descriptions as 
are found in this treaty.  But regardless of the intention of the Cherokees, and  
in the face of vigorous protects from their chief,  Atta Kulla Kulla, the 
Carolinians took possession of the major portion of the Indians; rich grazing 
and hunting lands in South Carolina, claiming it under the treaty.  Roughly, 
this new acquisition comprised the territory now constituting the counties of 
Edgefield, McCormick, Greenwood, Abbeville, Laurens, Newberry, Union, 
Spartanburg, York, Cherokee, Chester, Fairfield, Richland, and a portion of 
Lexington.  The Cherokees retained only that portion of the colony embraced 
within the present counties of Anderson, Greenville, Pickens, and Oconee.  After 
the treaty was entered into, England made haste to erect a fort across the river 
from the Cherokee town of Keowee, and called it Fort Prince George. Another 
fortress was built on the Tennessee River and named Fort Loudon. 

     During the year of the Cherokee compact, General Braddock was defeated and 
for a time thereafter the French arms were in the ascendency, thus leaving the 
frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia exposed to French and Indian 
attacks from Fort Duquesne on the Ohio.  Faced with this danger, great numbers 
of the settlers there turned southward to join their neighbors and friends who 
had already moved into upper South Carolina.  Colonel Clarke had come from 
Virginia and settled on Pacolet River, in what is now Sp themselves on the three 
forks of Tyger River.  They were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and within a few 
years established Nazareth church out of which grew Fairview of present 
Greenville County.  The names of some of these were BARRY, MOORE, ANDERSON, 
COLLINS, THOMPSON, VERNON, PEARSON, JAMISON, DODD, RAY, NICHOLS, all names still 
common in Greenville and Spartanburg Counties.  Patrick CALHOUN (ancestor of 
John C.) settled on Long Cane in present Abbeville County in 1756, finding there 
two families who had preceded him, one of whom was named GOWDY, and the other 
EDWARDS.  By 1760 this settlement had grown to a population of near 200.  From 
1751 to 1754, eight or ten families emigrated from Pennsylvania and settled on 
Fair Forest creek, in what is now Union County.  First among these to come were 
George STORY, James MCIlWAINE and a Mr. DUGAN.  Another settlement near the 
present town of Union was made from Pennsylvania about 1754.  Among the 
Settlements were made in present Newberry and Laurens Counties on waters of 
Enoree river, Kings creed, Gilders creek, Indian creek, Duncan creek and Tyger 
river as early as 1749.  Others are known to have taken up lands in all other of 
what are today referred to as Piedmont Counties, except such as were undeniably 
Cherokee territory.  In fact, such a steady stream of immigration flowed in, 
that by now these new settlers came, and the manner in which they set about the 
task of making a home for themselves in this new country, is well described by 
Dr. William A. Schaper in his valuable work,  "Sectionalism in South Carolina" 
in the following words; "The people came in groups, many driving their stock 
before them, from the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.  
They followed the great valleys and adjoining plateaus that run in a general 
southwesterly direction, from western Pennsylvania to northern Georgia.  These 
natural highways afforded an easy approach to the uplands of South Carolina, 
where lands were fertile and far removed from the Indian disturbances of that 
time.  They located first in Waxhaws, in what later became Lancaster District, 
and on the Cane Lands of Abbeville.  From these points, settlement gradually 
spread over the more accessible tracts toward the mountains.  These frontiersmen 
were mostly Scotch-Irish, a hardy band of frontiersmen who stood guard over the 
advancing civilization from the Carolinas to Western New York.  Only the hunter 
and trapper, and the Indian trader had preceded them into the wilderness.  But 
unlike their predecessors, they came to stay, at least long enough to see a more 
settled community arise.... The Carolina pioneers brought their families, their 
rude and scanty store of household goods, their crude implements, seed, and 
domestic animals, ready for the work of frontier farming.  The first task was 
the building of the log cabin.  This was the work of a day or two.  With a jug 
of cider or whiskey to make merry, the pioneer invited his neighbor to lend a 
helping hand....The furniture was scarce, but the faithful rifle always hung in 
the chimney corner within easy reach....The great task of the pioneer was the 
work of clearing and breaking up the land.  Each family owned from 50 to 200 or 
300 acres....They were almost completely shut in from the outside world. There 
were no navigable streams to join them with the civilized world or the older 
settlements.  Below them was the middle country--a sandy tract, covered with 
dense pine forests....In a region where every man must rely on his own strong 
arm and his rifle for the support and protection of his family, there are no 
distinctions.  It was a strongly democratic society, then, that grew up here, 
typical of the West.  Wealth accumulated very slowly and there were very few 
slaves until the close of the century.  The people enjoyed their rude but 
wholesome life spent in close touch with nature."

     And now had begun the actual settlement of the "back country", as it was 
then termed.  For more than a half century, this great section had been the 
source of one of the colony's richest natural recourses in its peltry trade; but 
that asset was about to give way for another--its sturdy Scotch-Irish men and 
women, who were to furnish the future state with some of her most conspicuous 
leaders in every activity of life. 

The First Cherokee War

     The effect of the Cherokee treaty of 1755, followed by the defeat of 
General Braddock in Virginia, was to bring an influx of new settlers upon the 
frontiers of South Carolina, as has been previously discussed.  But 
unfortunately, due to the blundering tactics of Governor Lyttleton of South 
Carolina, these newcomers were soon faced with the same dangers from which they 
had fled---hostile Indians upon their frontiers.  Early in the conflict, the 
Cherokees joined forces with Great Britain and her American colonies, against 
the French and their Indian allies.  And after the British reverses in Virginia, 
the Cherokees dispatched a number of warriors there to reinforce their hard-
pressed allies.  In 1758, Fort Duquesne fell before a combined attack of the 
English, Virginians and Indians, the Indians being led, it is said, by Captain 
Richard Pearis, afterward a resident of present day Greenville County; and with 
the removal of this great French stronghold, the southern colonies began to 
breathe freely again.  The Cherokees, seeing that they were no longer needed, 
set out upon their return to Carolina, but on their homeward journey they 
incurred the wrath of a few Virginia settlers who fired upon them.  Being 
greatly enraged, the warriors hurried to their Carolina homes and reported the 
ill treatment, which had been accorded them.  The young men of the Nation were 
for immediate and indiscriminate war upon the whites, but the leaders endeavored 
to restrain them from committing any overt acts till a conference with the 
governor at Charles Town could be arranged.  However, a number of the young 
Indians, without the sanction of their head-men, raided the frontier settlements 
of present Spartanburg, Laurens and Abbeville Counties, killing a number of the 
inhabitants.

     When it became known in the Cherokee nation that the wishes of the head-men 
had been disregarded, there was great alarm among the Indian people, and a 
deputation of 32 of the leading chiefs, led by Occonostota, was immediately 
started to Charles Town, where it was hoped a settlement of the difficulties 
could be effected.  The Cherokees had always been on terms of the closest 
friendship with the Carolinians, and they greatly desired that this friendly 
relationship continue.  But unfortunately, James Glen, who fully understood the 
Indians, was no longer governor; instead William Henry Lyttleton, a hot-head, 
who had his own ideas of how to handle the situation, now held that position.  
So after traveling for more than 200 miles upon their mission of peace, the 
Indian envoys were not even permitted to lay their petition before the governor.  
Instead, they were bluntly told that the governor did not care to hear them, and 
that he was even then about to march upon their people with an army.  The 
Indians were assured, however, that they would be permitted to return to their 
own country since they had come on a friendly mission; but they were advised 
that the safest way for the return would be with the troops. 

     Within a few days after the coming of the chieftains, fully confident that 
the governor would receive them in the same spirit of friendship that had 
prompted their mission, these chosen leaders of a proud people, found themselves 
in the humiliating position of returning to their country, virtual prisoners in 
the hands of avowed enemies. Till the Congarees (Columbia) was reached they were 
permitted to march with the army, but upon leaving this encampment they were all 
made prisoners, and carried back to Keowee under heavy guard.  Such treatment 
was inconceivable to the Indian mind, except it came at the hand of an enemy.  
In friendship, and on a mission of peace, their chiefs had journeyed to the seat 
of the white man's governments, and they were brought back in chains and lodged 
in prison.  Could such conduct be condoned?  Never in the eyes of the proud 
Cherokee race!  An unpardonable injury had been done them,  and nothing short of 
bloodshed could propitiate that wrong. 

     Governor Lyttleton was as ignorant of the methods of Indian warfare as he 
was of the savage's ethics of life.  The expedition had been hurriedly 
undertaken, and his troops were ill supplied with food, clothing and ammunition 
to withstand an Indian attack in that remote region.  Many of the soldiers, 
realizing the incompetency of their leadership, soon began to show their 
discontent, and the governor, fearing mutiny, hurried messengers to Atta Kulla 
Kulla, the leading chief of all the Cherokees, requesting his immediate presence 
at Fort Prince George.  Upon the arrival of this old chief, Governor Lyttleton, 
making as great a show of strength as possible, told him that he had brought his 
army into the Indian country to make war upon the red men if 24 of their number 
(this being the number of whites killed in the recent raid) were not immediately 
delivered up to be dealt with as might seen best.  Atta Kulla Kulla proposed 
that three of the imprisoned chiefs, including Occonostota, be liberated to 
assist him in finding 24 of the young men who had taken part in the massacre.  
The suggestion was taken, and three of the Indians prisoners were released.  But 
on the following day, after two of the guilty young men had been brought in, 
Atta Kulla Kulla set out upon his journey home.  He had not proceeded far, 
however, when he was overtaken by a messenger from the governor requesting his 
return.  Accordingly, the old warrior retraced his steps and again presented 
himself at the camp of Governor Lyttleton, where he frankly stated that 
additional time must be given if any more of the raiders were to be captured.  
The governor having already realized his mistake, and knowing that his army 
could not be held together longer, proposed a treaty by which 22 of the chiefs, 
then held prisoners, should be retained as hostages till an equal number of 
Indians were delivered in compliance with the original demand.  This was acceded 
to by Atta Kulla Kulla, and such an agreement was reduced to writing and 
formally signed by Governor Lyttleton for the colony, and six Indians chiefs in 
behalf of the Cherokees.  This done, the army was withdrawn.

     Although the treaty was signed by the Cherokees, they never seemed to hold 
themselves bound by its terms, and no effort was made to deliver up any portion 
of the 22 Indians demanded.  Occonostota continued to smart because of the 
treatment accorded him and his friends who had gone to Charles Town, and set 
himself to the task of releasing the hostages still confined in Fort Prince 
George.  After gathering his warriors, he delivered an assault upon the fort, 
but little impression could be made.  Seeing that he could not hope to 
accomplish his purposes in this manner, he used deception to draw Captain 
Cotymore from the fort, and no sooner was he outside its protecting walls than 
he was shot down by Indians previously placed in ambush for that purpose. As a 
consequence of this Indian treachery, orders were given at the fort to put the 
hostages in irons, but they resisted, and the garrison fell upon them and 
butchered them all in a most horrible manner. 

     The Cherokee issue had been unwisely handled from its inception, and this 
last act was a fatal blunder.  There was hardly an Indian in the Nation who had 
not lost a relative in the massacre of the hostages, and now a cry for the blood 
of their enemies "to propitiate the spirits of their dead brothers" went up over 
the entire Cherokee country.  With the hatchet, scalping knife and torch in 
hand, the savages rushed down upon the frontier settlements, leaving death and 
destruction in their wake. Men, women and children fell innocent sacrifices 
everywhere to the inefficient rule of Governor Lyttleton.  Some escaped the 
tomahawk by fleeing to the woods only to die there of hunger, while others were 
taken prisoners to be subjected to themselves, hurried messenger after messenger 
to Charles Town imploring aid, while the savages each day added new victims to 
their harvest of blood.  But an epidemic of smallpox was sweeping over the coast 
country and no help could be furnished, and these unhappy people were left to 
contend with the savage scourge as best they could.  Small forts and block-
houses were hastily constructed along the entire Cherokee frontier, and into 
these crude fortifications the sorely beset settlers crowed with their movable 
property, where they remained in a state of defense, till the fury of their 
enemies exhausted itself in the systematic destruction of their unprotected 
homes, provisions and fields.  At this time, the present Greenville County, 
still being Indian territory, bristled with these places of defense all along 
her eastern and southern boundaries, where are now found Spartanburg and Laurens 
Counties.

     After a time, Virginia and North Carolina came to the rescue of the South 
Carolinians by sending down seven troops of rangers, which were joined in a 
short time by Colonel Montgomery with a small force of British regulars.  
Montgomery, assuming command, marched into the Cherokee country where he 
inflicted heavy losses on the Indians.  But he was recalled to the northern 
provinces within a short time, and again the Carolina frontier was left exposed 
to the savage attacks.  A provincial regiment was then raised and put under 
command of Colonel Middleton. Among the officers of this regiment, who later 
gained prominence in South Carolina military and political history, were Henry 
Laurens, William Moultrie, Francis Marion, Isaac Huger and Andrew Pickens.  This 
force united with a regiment of British regulars under Colonel Grant, who had 
been sent to Carolina when it seemed that the Indian trouble there was becoming 
so serious as to endanger the British cause in America.  The command of the 
united forces was entrusted to Colonel Grant, who, now at the head of 2,600 men, 
pushed rapidly into the wilderness of the Cherokee country, utterly destroying 
the homes, granaries and growing crops of the Indians, who fled before the 
approaching army into the mountains, where they often attacked from ambush, but 
without inflicting sufficient losses upon the advancing forces to seriously 
impede their progress.  This expedition was known as the Grant Indian war; and 
it brought the Cherokees into complete submission, thus ending the first 
conflict of arms between the Cherokees and South Carolina. 

     Note.--The agreement between Governor Lyttleton and the Cherokees with 
reference to holding the hostage chiefs, and the treaty which terminated the 
Grant campaign were both reduced to writing, and are on file in the office of 
Historical Commission at Columbia.  It is with regret that copies are not 
incorporated here, but space will not permit.

Excerpted from "History of Greenville South Carolina" by James M.
Richardson