Warrior
Watts first recorded military actions came in October 1788. Following Old Tassel's murder, he led a large war party —which included The Ridge (known as Nunnehidihi, or Ganundalegi)— into his first battle. They captured and burned Gillespie's Station, killing its defenders and taking several prisoners. The Cherokee warriors then proceeded against White's Fort (modern day Knoxville, Tennessee), where they were repulsed. Afterward, the group made camp along Flint Creek (in the area of the future Unicoi County, Tennessee), harassing, raiding, and attacking white settlers in the surrounding countryside. Their base was discovered (in January the following year) and they were attacked by a troop commanded by John Sevier.
Always an advocate of peace (but not "peace at any price"), Watts signed the 1791 Treaty of Holston, along with fellow militants: Doublehead, Bloody Fellow, Black Fox (a future chief of the Cherokee Nation), The Badger (Dragging Canoe's brother), and Rising Fawn.
Read more about this topic: John Watts (Cherokee Chief)
Famous quotes containing the word warrior:
“By many a legendary tale of violence and wrong, as well as by events which have passed before their eyes, these people have been taught to look upon white men with abhorrence.... I can sympathize with the spirit which prompts the Typee warrior to guard all the passes to his valley with the point of his levelled spear, and, standing upon the beach, with his back turned upon his green home, to hold at bay the intruding European.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)