The Overhill Cherokee village of Chota was located in the Little Tennessee River valley of eastern Tennessee in present-day Monroe County. Chota, or Itsa'sa, is also spelled Echota and Chote. The original meaning has been lost. Chota probably developed from its close neighbor Tanasi, which it had superseded in size and population by the 1740s.
Contemporary descriptions of the village in the 1750s and 1760s, generally confirmed by archaeological studies, indicate that it consisted of a central village plaza with an octagonal townhouse, or council house, where public ceremonies and social events took place. An open rectangular building, or pavilion, where public affairs were conducted in warm weather, stood adjacent to the townhouse. Approximately sixty individual domestic households surrounded the plaza and public buildings and extended along the river for nearly a mile. Each household included a circular winter house, an adjacent summer house, and their associated corncribs and outdoor work areas. Probably three hundred to five hundred individuals populated the village.
By the mid-eighteenth century, both Europeans and Native Americans recognized Chota for its military power, political authority, and economic influence, and regarded it as the capital of the Cherokee nation. Among the Cherokee leaders residing at Chota were Connecorte (Old Hop), Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter), Oconastota, Kanagatuckoo (Standing Turkey), Old Tassel, and Hanging Maw. British colonial traders resided at the town, and a steady flow of emissaries representing the British colonies visited it throughout its history. Henry Timberlake's 1762 journal conveys particularly vivid images of Cherokee life at Chota. In 1780 American Revolutionary War forces destroyed Chota, but it had been rebuilt by 1784. In 1788 the Cherokee capital was moved from Chota to Ustanalli in northern Georgia. By 1807 only thirty people resided at Chota, and by 1813, the population had diminished to a single household. The land occupied by Chota was finally ceded to the United States in 1819.
In 1939, and again from 1969 through 1974, the University of Tennessee conducted extensive archaeological investigations at Chota, recording the townhouses, thirty-seven domestic structures, and hundreds of refuse-filled pits and human burials. This work has contributed substantially to the description of eighteenth-century Overhill Cherokee culture and the changes it experienced as a result of European contact. Prior to the completion of the Tellico Reservoir in 1979, the central portion of the site in the vicinity of the townhouses was covered with fill by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). By agreement with the TVA, this area is now managed by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. Two monuments, one dedicated to Tanasi and the other commemorating the Chota townhouse, were placed at the site in the 1980s.
Contemporary descriptions of the village in the 1750s and 1760s, generally confirmed by archaeological studies, indicate that it consisted of a central village plaza with an octagonal townhouse, or council house, where public ceremonies and social events took place. An open rectangular building, or pavilion, where public affairs were conducted in warm weather, stood adjacent to the townhouse. Approximately sixty individual domestic households surrounded the plaza and public buildings and extended along the river for nearly a mile. Each household included a circular winter house, an adjacent summer house, and their associated corncribs and outdoor work areas. Probably three hundred to five hundred individuals populated the village.
By the mid-eighteenth century, both Europeans and Native Americans recognized Chota for its military power, political authority, and economic influence, and regarded it as the capital of the Cherokee nation. Among the Cherokee leaders residing at Chota were Connecorte (Old Hop), Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter), Oconastota, Kanagatuckoo (Standing Turkey), Old Tassel, and Hanging Maw. British colonial traders resided at the town, and a steady flow of emissaries representing the British colonies visited it throughout its history. Henry Timberlake's 1762 journal conveys particularly vivid images of Cherokee life at Chota. In 1780 American Revolutionary War forces destroyed Chota, but it had been rebuilt by 1784. In 1788 the Cherokee capital was moved from Chota to Ustanalli in northern Georgia. By 1807 only thirty people resided at Chota, and by 1813, the population had diminished to a single household. The land occupied by Chota was finally ceded to the United States in 1819.
In 1939, and again from 1969 through 1974, the University of Tennessee conducted extensive archaeological investigations at Chota, recording the townhouses, thirty-seven domestic structures, and hundreds of refuse-filled pits and human burials. This work has contributed substantially to the description of eighteenth-century Overhill Cherokee culture and the changes it experienced as a result of European contact. Prior to the completion of the Tellico Reservoir in 1979, the central portion of the site in the vicinity of the townhouses was covered with fill by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). By agreement with the TVA, this area is now managed by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. Two monuments, one dedicated to Tanasi and the other commemorating the Chota townhouse, were placed at the site in the 1980s.
Rise of Chota
Chota does not appear in historical records until around 1745. Tanasi is first mentioned much earlier in the century, namely as the base or destination of various traders and diplomats. Tanasi appears on multiple maps of the Overhill territory produced in the 1720s and 1730s, but Chota does not. This suggests that Chota may have been part of Tanasi, or may not have been considered a town before the 1740s. In the 1720s, the head man of Tanasi— known simply as the "Tanasi Warrior"— was the chief of the Overhill towns in what is now Tennessee and the Middle and Valley towns in North Carolina.
In 1730, however, Moytoy of Tellico, with the help of flamboyant emissary Alexander Cuming, was crowned "Emperor of the Cherokee." This effectively shifted the overall capital to his town of Great Tellico, where Moytoy was chief. When Moytoy died in 1741, his son, Amouskositte, attempted to succeed him as emperor. Old Hop, the head man at Chota, began to consolidate power, and by 1753 Chota had usurped Great Tellico as the "mother town" of the Overhill Cherokee.
Around this time, on the eve of the French and Indian War, the Cherokee were reportedly leaning toward the French side, prompting the English colonies of Virginia and South Carolina to increase contact with the Overhill towns. Virginia sent Major Andrew Lewis with 60 men to build a fort at Chota, which was completed in August 1756. It was never garrisoned because the Cherokee allied with the English against the French. Later that year, South Carolina sent engineer William de Brahm with 300 men to build Fort Loudoun, which was completed in March 1757. By 1760, relations between the British and Cherokee had soured, breaking into conflict in the Anglo-Cherokee War. The warriors took spoils from the sack of Fort Loudoun to Chota.
After the fall of Fort Loudoun, the Overhill towns sued for peace, which was granted in the Treaty of Long Island in 1761. Virginia dispatched a delegation led by Henry Timberlake to solidify peace with the Overhill towns. He reached Chota in late December 1761, accompanied by Ostenaco (the head Cherokee man at Tomotley). At a ceremony inside the Chota townhouse, Ostenaco ceremoniously buried a hatchet, symbolizing peace between the British and Cherokee. Timberlake spent the night in Old Hop's "hot-house" (a circular dwelling used by the Overhill Cherokee in cooler months) before proceeding to Citico the next day.
Timberlake's "Draught of the Cherokee Country" reported 52 dwellings and a townhouse at Chota. Kanagatucko (Old Hop) was listed as governor of both Chota and Tanasi. The 175 warriors available at Chota made up the second-largest contingent among the Overhill towns, behind only Citico.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution, the Cherokee aligned with the British, hoping to expel American colonists from their territory. In 1776, Dragging Canoe (the head man at Mialoquo) and Old Abraham of Chilhowee led an unsuccessful two-pronged attack against Fort Watauga and Heaton's Station. In response, Virginia sent Colonel William Christian with a small force to subdue the Overhill towns. Christian entered the Little Tennessee Valley unopposed, and negotiated a truce with Attakullakulla and Oconastota. When Dragging Canoe refused to negotiate, however, Christian destroyed the towns of Great Tellico, Citico, Mialoquo, Chilhowee, and Toqua.
In 1780, John Sevier, who had just returned from the Battle of Kings Mountain, led an invasion of the Overhill country in response to several attacks on American settlements by renegade Cherokees. Most of the remaining Overhill towns, including Chota, were destroyed. Chota was rebuilt by 1784, but it never recovered its former status. In 1788, Old Tassel— who had become the leader of the Overhill towns after the death of Oconastota— was murdered by Americans under a flag of truce at Chilhowee. Largely in response to this incident, the Cherokee moved their capital south to Ustanali, near modern Calhoun, Georgia.
In the late 1790s, the Duke of Orleans paid a visit to the Tellico Blockhouse while on a tour of East Tennessee. The duke witnessed over 600 Cherokees engage in a "ballplay" at Chota, and bet 6 gallons of brandy on the outcome. By this time, only five dwellings were standing in the town.
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