Time to Learn How to Read and Comprehend What You Have Just Read.
First, it is time to understand how to apply COMPREHENSION to READING
What does a part of the Cherokees mean in context?
First, we have to go back to the 1785 Treaty 7 Stat 18 to see what it says.
The Phrase keeps coming to the forefront is "all of the Cherokees."
I would suggest there is more to this phrase than meets the eye.
What does ALL OF THE CHEROKEES mean?
We will find our answers in the American State Papers on Page 40.
It is highlighted in the original document, but, we have the transcript of the page below if you cannot read the original.
November 18, 1785 at Hopewell on the Keowee.
"The commissioners of the United States, in Congress assembled, to treat with the Cherokees, and all other Indians southward of them, within the limits of the United States, assembled."
The reference to Cherokee is a LINGUISTIC reference, not a racial or ethnic reference. So let's proceed.
In George Washington's 4th Annual Address, in the Treaty of 1785 it is clear that the word or term "Cherokee" that is being used, can only be logically deducted to be those who spoke the "Cherokee Trade Language". All of the other Indians southward of them are included in the Treaty according to the Commissioners which means it cannot be the "cherokee nation" but those who spoke the Cherokee Trade Language.
Let's make sure you are comprehending what you have just read.
First, in George Washington's 4th Annual, he had already had an intimate, personal relationship with Chickamauga Chief General Bloody Fellow and already knew Bloody Fellow was a Lower Town Chickamauga who spoke the Cherokee Trade Language. So when George Washington said, a part of the Cherokee, he was directly referencing a group of people who spoke the Cherokee Trade Language who lived on the five Villages on the Tennessee river.
"Of all the Cherokee" in the 1785 Treaty, 7 Stat 18 further demonstrates the use of the term as a LINGUISTIC reference, not racial or ethnic.
This is understood in that it is illogical to call the Choctaw, Natchez, Creek, and Seminole, as well as hundreds of other smaller tribes "Cherokee." It does not work any other way except to understand that the term Cherokee mentioned in these documents references the Cherokee Trade Language, not the name of a tribe or people.
CHICKAMAUGA
George Washington's Use of CHICKAMAUGA. George Washington was already familiar with the Lower Town Chickamauga. His relationship with General Bloody Fellow allowed for the understanding of where the name originated. Chickamauga is the Anglicization of "Tiscamogie." The Chickamauga did not originate in the 1770's with Dragging Canoe, the Tiscamogie were part of the Mound Building Culture of the Southeast Woodlands in the Mississippi River Bottoms. The Tiscamogie (Tisca of the Muskogean Era) are a group of Indigenous people who practiced the traditional Mound Building Culture and Religion. Their beginnings are on the Tennessee River between 600 and 800 AD (CE). Dragging Canoe went to the Tennessee River valley near Chattanooga and joined the already existing Tiscamogie.
Five Villages
There were many lower town "villages." The five largest are the ones being referenced here. There were at least 13 that are generally accepted, while another 20 or so can be identified from near Pensacola to the mouth of the Tennessee River when it dumps into the Ohio.
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.