The Chickamauga Wars

Revolutions in the Modern World Semester 1 – 2011Eugene Comisari

Overview

• Focus question - were the Chickamauga wars an act of genocide?

• Background:– What were the Chickamauga Wars?– What was the intention of the colonialists (“the

Americans”)?– What was the result / outcome of the wars?

• Conclusions

What were the Chickamauga Wars?

• An ongoing conflict 1776 – 1794 between Americans and a group of the Cherokee people. It involved:– Battles;– Skirmishes; and– Guerrilla warfare

Chickamauga Wars: who and why?

• Much of the traditional Cherokee land was prime hunting land– wanted by Americans for farmland

• Some Cherokee leaders were willing to sell their land

• Other Cherokee thought the Americans were just getting rid of the Cherokee– ‘Dragging Canoe’ was a leader of those Cherokee

prepared to fight the Americans

Dragging canoe (Tsiyu Gansini)• Dragging canoe opposed the Americans who

wanted to take Cherokee lands

Traditional Cherokee lands

Chickamauga Wars…

• The Cherokee inflicted some losses on the Americans – Cherokee received some help from the English

• But Cherokee defeats always involved humiliating treaties and major loss of land

• Cherokee realised they had nothing to lose by continuing to fight – they would lose their land even if they kept the peace

Chickamauga Wars – the outcome…

• Americans gained traditional Cherokee lands; including in North and South Carolina, and in Georgia– Enormous tracts of Cherokee land ceded

• Cherokee moved out of their traditional land and into new territory– Cherokee ceased to be a serious fighting force– Death of Dragging Canoe (1792- succeeded by

John watts

Chickamauga Wars – act of genocide?

• Focus question – were the Chickamauga wars an act of genocide?

– What is genocide?– What evidence available to support or refute an

accusation of genocide?– What evidence would help us to answer the

question better?

Genocide, defined by United Nations…

• “Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Article 2, UN CPPCG

What genocide ISN’T…

• Genocide is NOT the complete and successful elimination of a racial, ethnic group…

Genocide, defined by United Nations, continued…

• UN CPPCG = United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)

Chickamauga; genocide?

• Evidence of ‘Intent to destroy ethnic or racial group’“cut up every Indian cornfield and burn every Indian town and every Indian taken shall be the slave and property of the taker.. And the lands become property of the public” William Henry Drayton, Congressman, South Carolina

Chickamauga; genocide?

• Note that Drayton is not just an ordinary citizen, he is a Congressman from South Carolina, the heart of Cherokee country

• So, there is a clear intention by the Americans to commit genocide

Chickamauga; genocide?

• Evidence of ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’:

• Removal of traditional Cherokee lands e.g. just one ‘purchase’ involved 27,000 square miles of prime Cherokee land. The purchase is disputed, a Cherokee chief’s signature was allegedly forged.– Ownership of land was central to Cherokee way of life

Chickamauga; genocide?

• Evidence of ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’:

Cherokee villages were burnt, along with crops and orchards, creating ‘deplorable’ conditions… (Hoffman, p251-252)

Cherokee economy 1770’s

• The Cherokee did not have currency in 1700’s• The Cherokee did not earn income from

manufacturing, or from doing jobs for other people…

• They survived on what they could grow and hunt – and by trading in things they grew or hunted.

Chickamauga; genocide?

• Therefore, burning Cherokee villages, crops, orchards etc. was a very serious threat to their life and security…

• Without crops, orchards etc. the Cherokee were very likely to starve in the 1770’s

Genocide – the Cherokee view…

• ‘Dragging canoe’ observed:

“white man… have settled upon Cherokee land. They wish to have that action sanctioned by treaty. When that is gained… new cessions will be asked. Finally, the whole country… will be demanded and [we] will be compelled to seek refuge in some distant wilderness” (statement at conclusion of the Transylvania Treaty)

Genocide – the Cherokee view…

• Dragging Canoe’s comments were an accurate forecast of the future

• The removal of a traditional people from their lands will usually cause “serious bodily and mental harm” – Act of genocide

Comment on sources

• In the late 1700’s, actions were taken against the Cherokee that would be considered appalling today. – At the time, they were considered to be acceptable

‘actions of war’.

• This means that Chickamauga Wars’ primary sources do not try to hide genocidal actions. This is very helpful in making an argument that the Chickamauga Wars were genocidal.– In contrast, the Nazis made sure that the Holocaust was

carried out without written orders.

Comment on conclusions

• Should we judge actions of the late 1700’s according to the way people thought at the time?– i.e. it was acceptable to cheat and murder people

for their land, provided that these people were ‘inferior’ to us.

– ‘Genocide’ was not even defined until the middle of the 20th century

• But we need to judge actions according to our evolving and refining beliefs.

Conclusions

• Evidence (including primary sources) strongly supports the conclusion that these wars were intended to:– destroy the Cherokee people (“in whole or in

part”) through:• Killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; inflicting

physical conditions to bring about their destruction (in whole or in part)

Conclusions, continued…

• Scholars would now call the Chickamauga Wars a colonial genocide– i.e. it is a genocide motivated by a grab for

resources

Bibliography

• Alden, John (1969) A History of the American Revolution, Alfred A. Knof Inc., New York.

• Cesarani, David (2004) Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies, Routledge, London.

• Nash, Gary (2005) The Unknown American Revolution, Viking, New York.

• Dragging Canoe. < www.victorian.fortunecity.com > accessed 24 March 2011

Bibliography• Hoffman, R., Tate, T. and Albert, P. (1985) An

Uncivil War: The Southern Back Country during the American Revolution, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

• Totten, S. & Bartrop, P. (2009) The Genocide Studies Reader. Routledge, London.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historical_genocides#United_States_of_America

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Prevention_and_Punishment_of_the_Crime_of_Genocide