Person:Chief Ostenaco (1)

Biography

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Otacity Ostenaco (; , or "Bighead"; c. 1710 – 1780) was a Cherokee leader and warrior of the 18th century. By his thirties, he had assumed the warrior rank of Utsidihi (Mankiller), and the title of the Tassite of Great Tellico. He then rose to assume the higher Cherokee rank of Cherokee chief warrior or skiagusta, orator, and leading figure in diplomacy with British colonial authorities. The name Otacity has a variety of spellings.

Cherokee Chief

Mankiller Ostenaco led 130 warriors against the Shawnees in the winter of 1756. The Cherokee campaign failed by the addition of a slow-moving, hunger-ridden, infighting Virginian army. However, a strong friendship between Mankiller Ostenaco & Mjr. Andrew Lewis ensured the steady support the colonies needed from the Cherokees.

Ostenaco recruited warriors, led war parties, & conducted diplomatic missions. His efforts ensured that the colonies' defensive war was complemented by effective offensive maneuvers carried to the very gates of the enemy's Ohio Valley strongholds. The Cherokee offensive campaign paved the way for the Reverand Post's peace mission to the Ohio Valley Indians, & this led to the relatively unopposed march of General Forbes' army to the ruins of Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh) late in 1758.

Ostenaco, war chief of the Cherokees, accompanied Lt. Henry Timberlake and Sgt. Thomas Sumter to England where he had an audience with King George III.

Link to the Cherokee Heritage Project Page

Portrait of Chief Ostenaco (1762)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Chief U-s-te-na-ka, in The Arnold and Moberly Family Genealogy (WebTrees).

   "Name: Chief U-s-te-na-ka
   Given names: Chief
   Surname: U-s-te-na-ka
   Also known as: Chief Ostenaco
   Also known as: Mankiller of Keowee
   Also known as: Untsi-teehee
   Also known as: Scyacust Ukah
   Birth: about 1702
   Death: after 1780 (Age 78)"

2. ↑ Ostenaco, in Wikipedia
   Retreived 20 March 2012.

   "During the Second Cherokee War part of the American Revolution, Ostenaco was the chief war leader of the Cherokee Lower Towns in western South Carolina/northeast Georgia, and in 1776 led their attack against the Province of Georgia. After the destruction of the Lower Towns in the retaliation which followed, Ostenaco led his people west. The majority resettled in what is now North Georgia, with Ustanali as their chief town, but some followed him into the Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794) with Dragging Canoe, and settled with him in the Chickamauga (now Chattanooga, Tennessee) region at the town of Ultiwa (Ooltewah). He died at the home of his grandson, Richard Timberlake (son of Henry Timberlake and Ostenaco's daughter), at Ultiwa in 1780."

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Ostenaco, in Tennessee4me (The Tennessee State Museum).

   "Chief Ostenaco was born in 1703 to a Hiwasee Cherokee family in present day Polk County in East Tennessee. As a young boy living in an Overhill Cherokee town in the Appalachian Mountains he quickly learned the arts of warfare, and soon earned the honored title of “Outacite” or “Mankiller.” This title was one of many such names that Cherokees used to teach their children the importance of courage, especially during times of war. For many years Ostenaco proved himself time and time again to be one of the greatest warriors in the entire Cherokee nation."

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Outacite or Mankiller, in Aniyuntikwalaski (Fortune City).

   "Between 1711 and 1713 some three hundred Cherokees helped colonial forces drive the Tuscarora Indians northward to the Great Lakes region. In 1721 a group of chiefs representing thirty-seven Cherokee towns met at Charlestown with Sir Francis Nicolson, the first British governor of South Carolina, and reached agreements concerning territorial boundaries. There being no supreme head among the Cherokees, Nicolson appointed a chief named Wrosetasatow as such. The Cherokee was also known as Outacite, or Mankiller. One of the first Cherokee war chiefs to emerge into the realm of modern history was Uskwalena- the name being interpreted as Bull Head or Big Head. He led the Cherokees in defeating the Creeks at Pine Island, near present Guntersville, Alabama, in 1714. The site later became the Cherokee settlement of Creek Path."

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Ostenaco, Outacite or Mankiller, in Aniyuntikwalaski (Fortune City).

   "Glen's inability to improve trade relations as he had promised left Old Hop and his chiefs frustrated. Still, despite pressure from the northern Indians, the Cherokees remained loyal to the British. Ostenaco Outacite or Mankiller, also known as Judd's Friend because he saved the life of a white man) and 130 of his men went north to help protect the Virginia frontier from the Shawnees. However, when Attakullakulla visited Charlestown at the end of 1755 and failed to get Glen to act on building the fort he had promised, the unhappy Cherokee orator headed off for Williamsburg to shore up his connections with Dinwiddie and Virginia."