Early during the American Revolutionary War, Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals was attacked in 1776 by Dragging Canoe and his warring faction of Cherokees opposed to the Transylvania Purchase (warring Cherokees also referred to by settlers as the Chickamauga), Cols. John Sevier and James Robertson are named as being among the defenders of the stockade fort along the Watauga River.