page_title: Overhill Cherokee
section_title: Tellico Agency
hierarchical_section_title: Overhill Cherokee / History / Tellico Agency
caption_attribution_description: The Tellico Blockhouse site, located at the junction of Nine Mile Creek and the Little Tennessee River (now Tellico Lake). The blockhouse was the headquarters of the Tellico Agent, the official liaison between the U.S. and the Cherokee Nation, between 1794 and 1807. The treaty ending the Chickamauga Wars was signed here by Gov. William Blount, Chief Hanging Maw, and Chief John Watt. An excavation in the late 1960s discovered the foundations of the blockhouse, which were marked with authentic fill. Posts were planted to mark the corners.
context_page_description: Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 18th-century European traders and explorers from British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as they had to cross the mountains to reach these settlements.
  Situated along the lower Little Tennessee, lower Tellico, and lower Hiwassee rivers, the Overhill towns rose to prominence within the Cherokee Nation in the early 18th century, when they began to standardize trade with the British colonists. In the early part of the century, the Overhill towns' remote location at the far end of the Trading Path meant they were reached only by those traders and explorers adventurous enough to make the difficult journey to the interior over the mountain range. By the middle of the century, the Overhill towns were consistently courted by both British and French emissaries, as the two powers struggled for the control of the continent and the lucrative fur trade.
context_section_description: After the assassination of Old Tassel in 1788, Chief Hanging Maw was recognized as the leader of the Overhill towns.  With violence spiraling out of control, Hanging Maw petitioned territorial Governor William Blount for a fort to protect the peaceful Overhill villages from vengeful settlers.  In 1794, Hanging Maw donated land at the junction of Nine Mile Creek and the Little Tennessee River to the U.S. government for the construction of the Tellico Blockhouse.
  Along with a small garrison of federal soldiers, the Tellico Blockhouse was the headquarters of the Tellico Agent, William Blount, the official liaison between the U.S. and the Cherokee.  On November 8, 1794, Blount met Hanging Maw (representing the Overhill Cherokee) and John Watt (representing the Lower Cherokee) to sign a treaty ending the Cherokee–American wars.  Over the next ten years, the U.S. made several other treaties with the Cherokee, persuading Cherokee leaders to cede large portions of land in East and Middle Tennessee, including the Overhill towns along the Little Tennessee, in an attempt to gain peace.  With the cession of Overhill lands, the Cherokee Nation's center of power shifted south to New Echota in Georgia. Settlers migrating throughout the Southeast kept up pressure to gain Cherokee lands.
caption: The Tellico Blockhouse site, with posts and stone fill showing the original layout.
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