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E-book
Author Faulkner, Charles H

Title Massacre at Cavett's Station : frontier Tennessee during the Cherokee wars / Charles H. Faulkner
Edition First edition
Published Knoxville : The University of Tennessee Press, 2013

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Description 1 online resource
Contents The Omen -- The Advancing Banner of a Greedy Host -- The Cavetts -- The Lost Station -- Digging into the Past -- A Little Spot of Ground to Stand Upon -- To Become Herdsmen and Cultivators -- The Prophesy -- Epilogue
Summary In the late 1700s, as white settlers spilled across the Appalachian Mountains, claiming Cherokee and Creek lands for their own, tensions between Native Americans and pioneers reached a boiling point. Land disputes stemming from the 1791 Treaty of Holston went unresolved, and Knoxville settlers attacked a Cherokee negotiating party led by Chief Hanging Maw resulting in the wounding of the chief and his wife and the death of several Indians. In retaliation, on September 25, 1793, nearly one thousand Cherokee and Creek warriors descended undetected on Knoxville to destroy this frontier town. However, feeling they had been discovered, the Indians focused their rage on Cavett's Station, a fortified farmstead of Alexander Cavett and his family located in what is now west Knox County. Violating a truce, the war party murdered thirteen men, women, and children, ensuring the story's status in Tennessee lore. In Massacre at Cavett's Station, noted archaeologist and Tennessee historian Charles Faulkner reveals the true story of the massacre and its aftermath, separating historical fact from pervasive legend. In doing so, Faulkner focuses on the interplay of such early Tennessee stalwarts as John Sevier, James White, and William Blount, and the role each played in the white settlement of east Tennessee while drawing the ire of the Cherokee who continued to lose their homeland in questionable treaties. That enmity produced some of history's notable Cherokee war chiefs including Doublehead, Dragging Canoe, and the notorious Bob Benge, born to a European trader and Cherokee mother, whose red hair and command of English gave him a distinct double identity. But this conflict between the Cherokee and the settlers also produced peace-seeking chiefs such as Hanging Maw and Corn Tassel who helped broker peace on the Tennessee frontier by the end of the 18th century. After only three decades of peaceful co-existence with their white neighbors, the now democratic Cherokee Nation was betrayed and lost the remainder of their homeland in the Trail of Tears. Faulkner combines careful historical research with meticulous archaeological excavations conducted in developed areas of the west Knoxville suburbs to illuminate what happened on that fateful day in 1793. As a result, he answers significant questions about the massacre and seeks to discover the genealogy of the Cavetts and if any family members survived the attack. This book is an important contribution to the study of frontier history and a long-overdue analysis of one of East Tennessee's well-known legends
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Cavett, Alexander, approximately 1746-1793 -- Homes and haunts -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
SUBJECT Cavett, Alexander, approximately 1746-1793 -- Homes and haunts -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
Cavett, Alexander, approximately 1746-1793 fast
Subject Massacres -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region -- History -- 18th century
Frontier and pioneer life -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
Pioneers -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region -- History -- 18th century
Cherokee Indians -- Wars -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
Creek Indians -- Wars -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
Archaeology and history -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Antiquities
Archaeology and history
Cherokee Indians -- Wars
Creek Indians -- Wars
Excavations (Archaeology)
Frontier and pioneer life
Homes
Massacres
Pioneers
SUBJECT Knoxville Region (Tenn.) -- History -- 18th century
Knoxville Region (Tenn.) -- Antiquities
Subject Tennessee -- Knoxville Region
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2013001467
ISBN 1621900193
9781621900191