Barbara R. Duncan

By BARBARA R. DUNCAN (Note: The Cherokee syllabary in the column title translates as: Aniyvwiya Degohusdi Dunadvnele’i Didanohesgo’I, “We are telling some things Cherokees did.”) South Carolina militia begins invading Lower Towns. Cherokees fight for homeland and sovereignty. In 1776, the Cherokee Lower Towns clustered along rivers that rushed down from the mountains: the Chattuga, Tugaloo, Keowee, and Broad, which create the Savannah River.

By BARBARA R. DUNCAN (Note: The Cherokee syllabary in the column title translates as: Aniyvwiya Degohusdi Dunadvnele’i Didanohesgo’I, “We are telling some things Cherokees did.”) Founding fathers plan genocide and removal for the Cherokees. Two nations fight against each other – both seeking freedom. Cherokees go to war. Family betrays family. It’s July 1776 in the Cherokee homeland.

By BARBARA R. DUNCAN By June of 1776 Cherokees, backcountry settlers, and colonial governments were all moving closer to war. In Philadephia on June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the creation of a Continental Army, under the command of George Washington. Not only the official government, but colonists in the backcountry west of the Appalachians prepared to fight.