Indian Attacks in Southwest Virginia:Distribution through time

Contents 1 Data 2 Discussion

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Overview Hamilton's Atrocity Stories The Data Caveats Distribution in Time Sesonality Spatial Distribution Events

Data

Attacks by Native Americans on the settlers in Southwest Virginia began in October of 1773, and continued, until the last raid of 1794. During that 21 year period attacks were recorded in every year but one (1775). The frequency of attacks, however, ebbed and flooded in response to changing circumstances. The following graphic describes this variation, based on an extraction of events presented in Hamilton's Atrocity stories.

Discussion

From this chart it is clear that that the indian attacks in southwest Virginia occurred in well defined pulses. Noteworthy features include

1. A temporary pause in the attacks in 1775. This corresponds to the end of Dunmore's War in October of the previous year. Attacks during 1773 and 1774 came from both the Cherokee and the Shawnee, but the attacks in 1775 were mostly carried out by the Shawnee. Attacks by Shawnee in southwest Virginia ended following Dunmore's War, but the Cherokee resumed attacks in 1776. This led to a four separate expeditions launched by the settlers against the Cherokee. One of these expeditions was commanded by Col William Christian, who attacked southward from southwest Virginia, striking as far south as Chota, [???] the capital of the Cherokee....[needs lots of work].

2. While the attacks on the Cherokee heartland stemed the level of attacks on southwest Virginia somewhat, attacks in southwest Virginia were only slightly abated, continueing at a moderate level through the early and middle phases of the Revolution. The single most active year for attacks came in 1782, ....[need explanation of how this fits into British campaign strategy], and relationship to there was a need to maintain militia in southwest Virginia during the King's Mountain campaign.

3. The end of the Revolution saw a drop off in attacks from the high that occurred in 1782. A secondary peak in activity is noted in 1789. This coincides with the influx of settlers into Cherokee territory beginning about 1786. [Need discussion of Indian attacks in Tennessee and their relationship to those in Southwest Virginia.

4. The last attack came in 1794.