Fort Loudon on Little Tennessee

From Source:Garrett and Goodpasture, 1903

The garrisons and angers from the French forts produced disaffection to the English among the Indian tribes. As early as 1734, the Province of South Carolina recommended that English forts be built among the Indians, to counteract the French influence. In 1755 Governor Glenn, of that Province, held a treaty with the Cherokees. He obtained from them a grant of land upon which to build two forts in their country. Soon after the cession he built Fort Prince George, on the headwaters of the Savannah, about three hundred miles above Charleston, and within gun-shot of an Indian town called Keowee. continental provinces in America, as well as governor of the Province of Virginia.1 Following up the concession to Governor Glenn, he dispatched Andrew Lewis to build the other fort at the head of navigation on the Little Tennessee River, in 1756. He located it on the south side of the river, within five miles of Chota, the home of the eloquent Cherokee chief, Ocouostota. It was about thirty miles from the present city of Knoxville, and nearly one hundred and fifty miles in advance of any white settlement. It was called Fort Loudon 2 in honor of the first commander-in-chief of the army, and was garrisoned by a force of two hundred British regulars. This was the first structure erected in Tennessee by Anglo-Americans.3 4J. Other Forts Built on the Frontiers. — Besides these forts in the heart of the Indian country, others were erected on the borders of the provincial settlements. North Carolina built Fort Dobbs under the shadow of the Alleghanies. Virginia built a fort on the New River, called Chissel, and another on the Holston, nearly opposite the upper end of Long Island, where Colonel Bird wintered in 1758. This latter fort, while for more than twenty years it was believed to be on Virginia soil, was really some distance south of its line, and was the second Anglo-American fort erected within the boundaries of Tennessee....

Besides these forts in the heart of the Indian country, others were erected on the borders of the provincial settlements. North Carolina built Fort Dobbs under the shadow of the Alleghanies. Virginia built a fort on the New River, called Chissel, and another on the Holston, nearly opposite the upper end of Long Island, where Colonel Bird wintered in 1758. This latter fort, while for more than twenty years it was believed to be on Virginia soil, was really some distance south of its line, and was the second Anglo-American fort erected within the boundaries of Tennessee.

...Under the protection of these forts, the tide of emigration reached the base of the mountains that separate Tennessee from North Carolina. They also afforded the daring frontiersman an opportunity to gain some knowledge of the country beyond. A small settlement sprang up under the guns of Fort Loudon. It is probable that this would have been the first permanent settlement in the State but for an unfortunate affair that occurred immediately after the reduction of Fort DuQuesne.

Massacre of Fort Loudon. — The Cherokees had been the friends and allies of the English. They had volunteered to protect the American frontier south of the Potomac. Some of them marched with the army of the south to Fort DuQuesne. After that decisive engagement, they received little attention from their allies. Having lost their horses, the neglected Indians supplied themselves with such as they found running at large, as they returned through the back counties of Virginia. The enraged backwoodsmen pursued and put a number of the offending warriors to death. The result was, that while the victory of Fort DuQuesne brought peace to the northern frontiers, this distressing incident plunged the southern provinces into the horrors of an Indian war. Fort Loudon was besieged and captured, its garrison was massacred, and the permanent settlement of the State was delayed for another decade.

The Treaty of Paris, J 763.— The second battle of Fort DuQuesne was the last stand of France in her struggle for supremacy in America. It was followed, in 1763, by the treaty of Paris. By this treaty France surrendered to England her claim to all territory east of the Mississippi River, except the Isle of Orleans. From this time the sovereignty of England over the Mississippi Valley was undisputed.