Cherokee-American Wars 1776-1795

[Silent Invader]

I have a skirmish project in mind but am struggling to find pictorial references for the Cherokee.  I'm thinking that the Perry Native warriors would suffice but any advice (and references would be appreciated).

For the settlers, I'm thinking of using the Perry Northern militia and the Militia in hunting shirts.

From Wikipedia:

The Cherokee-American wars were a series of back-and-forth raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest[1] from 1776 to 1795 between the Cherokee (Ani-Yunwiya, Tsalagi) and the Americans on the frontier. Most of the events took place in the Upper South. While their fight stretched across the entire period, there were times, sometimes ranging over several months, of little or no action.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee–American_wars

All advice gratefully received  

[S J Donovan]

Having done some previous research on the area (30 yrs an Archaeologist in SC) Perry's AW30 to 37 would work just fine, you could also use AW29 a Native American volunteers.   However, they would mostly be mounted infantry since most of the militia would come from at least 100 miles east of the TN border.  Most of the warfare took place in western South Carolina and eastern TN.  Indians raiding settlers and trading posts.  If you can find it there was a book either by or about a Colonel Chicken and his dealings with the Cherokee (about 1725), well worth using as a reference, as is: David Ramsey's History of South Carolina, I forget which volume but probably Vol.1; Kathryn Braund's Deerskins and duffels; and Chapman Millings Red Carolinians.
There are three worthwhile Osprey Men-at-arms books 228 - American Woodland Indians, 288 - American Indians of the Southeast, and 383 - Colonial American Troops (3).
Richard

[Silent Invader]

Richard: thank you so much! That is a most useful reply and I very much appreciate the tine taken to compile it. Cheers! 

[Arthur]

Conquest Miniatures also do a fairly large range of late C18th native Americans that are compatible with Perry size-wise (they're a tad more slender but it's nothing distracting) :

http://www.shop.conquestminiatures.com/500-Nations_c9.htm

The figures are available in the UK though Warlord :

http://store.warlordgames.com/collections/french-indian-war-1754-1763

[Hupp n at em]

Conquest Miniatures also do a fairly large range of late C18th native Americans that are compatible with Perry size-wise (they're a tad more slender but it's nothing distracting) :

http://www.shop.conquestminiatures.com/500-Nations_c9.htm

The figures are available in the UK though Warlord :

http://store.warlordgames.com/collections/french-indian-war-1754-1763

You declined to mention that Conquest Miniatures are gorgeous.    They're certainly where I'd start if I were doing frontier gaming in that period.

[Valerik]

Should you wish to add scenery allow me to offer a quaint little glimpse of local lore:

Only slightly post-dating your timeline this priceless little historic site is just a few short miles north of me, just beyond the original capital of the Cherokee Nation, and Fort Prince George, sadly, both now flooded by Duke Power's Lake Keowee...

Oconee Station

Oconee Station State Historic Site

The Park sits on 210 acres on Oconee Creek and has an abundance of interesting features ...located just north of Walhalla off Hwy 11.

Structures: Nestled in a clearing surrounded by a split-rail fence under mature trees, this beautiful location holds the blockhouse and the William Richards home. The blockhouse was built in 1792 as a military post—one of several in the state—to protect settlers against the Cherokee Indians and later to protect Indians against settler encroachment.



In 1805, William Richards, from Ireland, built a brick home next door and established a trading post.

& a couple more from their website: http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/oconeestation/introduction.aspx

HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION

Programs and Guided Tours : Park programs are offered throughout the year, including living history weekends that are held at various times.

Historical Significance : In the late 18th and early 19th century, this small plot of land along South Carolina’s western frontier served as a military compound against attack from the Cherokee and Creek Indians and later served as a trading post.

The park contains two structures: Oconee Station, a stone blockhouse used as an outpost by the SC State Militia from about 1792 to 1799, and the William Richards House, named for the Irish immigrant who built it in 1805.

The stone building circa 1792 was built by state militia to protect against Indian raids. It is the only remaining portion of the fort we called Oconee Station. Later it was converted to a kitchen to serve the William Richards house.

The William Richards House was a residence built in 1805 until his death in 1809. The structure remained a home into the 1960s, and a summer home into the 1970s.

The park staff have some of the early ledgers from the trading post, listing enormous quantities of furs on hand!!  Clearly this was a viable economic link between the two cultures, who nonetheless remained wary of each other.   

This isn't war per se, think Frontier Pacification & Exploitation, by small bands of men, a dozen, perhaps a few more, red & white & black, skirmishing across extremely rugged mountainous terrain spanning 4 states:  my little "Golden Corner" of Upstate South Carolina, NE Georgia, Western North Carolina, & East Tennessee.  Local historians tell me that Indian hunts and raids continued into the 1820s. Some of these were retaliatory, most punitive, almost sporting.  Local eradication evolved, as each year the incursions had to go further north & west to catch & kill their quarry.   Given the population density getting 30-40 + frontiersmen together for an expedition would seriously deplete the region's available defenders, inviting attack, still the boys will go out to have their fun!
 
Long ago, in a century now passed, at a high toned (albeit minor) faculty social function, I was served an old family receipt:

Captain xxxx's Indianfighter Punch circa 1818.  

Apples, rum, cinnamon, brandy, cloves, whiskey, nutmegs, burgundy all featured prominently in a lethal cocktail full of warmth, cheer, joy, courage and stamina!!

When I question the date, which seemed early for Plains, and late for Woodland, campaigns, I was gently chided, "Honey, he was huntin' REAL Indians.  Cherokees, Chickasaws  & Muskogees, in the woods & mountains, all winter, in the snow.  It was easier that way."

I sure wish I could find my copy of that recipe, very much akin to hot buttered rum, even though today's global warming would render it's consumption problematic, to say the least.

Valerik

"the plural of anecdote is not data"
EDIT Grammar Police Warrant

[Silent Invader]

Such great info! 

Thanks Arthur and HaA: yes Conquest are gorgeous. I did once have a F&IW warband built around them. If I was going for a big warband I'd definitely go with Conquest but I am determined to keep this to a small project of about 12 per size. I'm also inclined to westernise (anglocise?) them a bit for the later 18thC, so I guess less bare chests and more smocks (with this in mind I generally find Perry Minis pretty easy to convert).   

A most evocative contribution Valerik: thank you so much! Lovely images and background detail. I'm planning to focus on raids, so am thinking of having a farm house in a large cleared area, with some crops and grazing cattle.  I was imagining a log cabin so the brick built houses in your images are enlightening. 

[Valerik]

I was imagining a log cabin so the brick built houses in your images are enlightening.  

The brick buildings are what's left of a larger outpost.  Not big at all mind you, but, purpose built for a small militia garrison to gather, stand guard, and depart on forays.  The red clay herabouts actually makes splendid hard brick.  Another local custom is to throw some loose clay into the mortar mix, resulting in pink cement, blending the bricks rather than sharply defining them.  Tis a good bet the rest were log constructions.  The strength of the site was its stout buildings constructed for easy defence, rather than palisades or other fortifications.

With a chimney built of local stone this cabin seen alongside the Parkway may have been log originally, though the wide chestnut barnboards it's been 'reconstructed' with are also magnificent!! Original wooden structures are exceedingly rare locally, termites & fire being the common consumers. I offer it as an example of a typical, rather than fortified, abode.

I'm planning to focus on raids, so am thinking of having a farm house in a large cleared area, with some crops and grazing cattle.

While attacks on settlers did occur, the majority of these raids would be going the other way: ongoing efforts to harass the indigenous peoples and drive them from valuable land white folks will soon want to cultivate themselves.  This is pure ethnic cleansing, nothing less, albeit carried out sporadically & desultorily.

 With spring & summer months devoted to wresting bare existence from the unforgiving territory, there's precious little time to vex your neighbor, be he red or white.  Autumn brings harvest, and trade, season, with a bit more time for deviltry.  The winter descends, and bored white 'gentlemen' get moody, and angry, nursing slights, and planning sport.  Mischief takes wing, ambushes ensue, family fails to return home and blood darkens the soil again.  Sadly, no 'good guys' in these savage tales from the Blue Ridge Mountains, just victims and survivors.



Valerik

"Founding colonies can be a tough and difficult business, especially if the locals object."
-Den Valdron
EDIT: my misrable spelling

[Silent Invader]

Another set of fascinating insights!  I very much appreciate your contributions, thanks very much  

[Malamute]

Another project 

You butterfly!

[Valerik]

Another set of fascinating insights!  I very much appreciate your contributions, thanks very much 

You are more than welcome, I am happy to contribute.

If I can supply any specific 'local intelligence' please don't hesitate to ask.

This is a fascinating little stretch of broken land, with a long history of violence, lawlessness, brigandage, bootleggery, terror and outlawry à la Robin Hood.

Changed forever by flooding her valleys to supply lakes needed for hydro-electric & nuclear power, to say nothing of the incursions demanded by the infernal combustion engine, there are still very remote, very inaccessible spots suitable only for men, and mules.  One doesn't go near them.

I concur that clothed Indians are more likely to faithfully represent this stage of Cherokee civilisation. 
I do wish Conquest did packs of their warriors with garments.  Other companies too!
In addition to Foundry's folks somebody does Seminoles that will work handily, except the maroons.  While there were Negros in the vicinity in our period, both slave and free, their numbers were minuscule, and likely absent, or exceedingly rare amongst the mountain tribes.

If I might inflict my all time favourite Cherokee story, courtesy of Bob Potter:

In 1811 Tecumseh returned to Cherokee lands to recruit for his pan-Indian campaign.  Tecumseh had previously spent 2 years ('89-'90) with the Cherokee in Georgia, taking part in, & eventually leading, Cherokee raids against the English settlements in the Carolinas & Tennessee.  Twenty years on, twas a vastly different story: Tecumseh found his warrior friends living in brick houses, wearing clothing, cultivating the land and owning Negro slaves.  After many impassioned pleas, cajoling and foreboding, Tecumseh found few converts, the Redsticks being a minority exception.  On the way back North one of his followers asked what had happened to the Cherokee, receiving this in reply:

"Cherokee too much like White Man.
Have cats, and books."

-Tecumseh 1811

That a mighty warrior and great patriot, chose these two measures of civilisation, of all those on offer, to typify effete degeneration I find absolutely priceless!!!

And NO, in answer to your unspoken question,
I am absolutely NOT at all interested in gaming this backyard conflict. 
And I deny researching and resourcing possible figures to NOT use in any such imaginary games. 
I reject utterly having fantasized such skirmishes on my table.
Though they did seem to be using Mike Demana's "Song of Drums and Tomahawks"...  



A brilliant little ruleset,  I highly recommend their sleek playability and elegant operation. 
http://firstcommandwargames.com/published-rules/song-of-drums-and-tomahawks.html

I'm waiting for his prequel, so I can do Swedes on the Delaware vs
Minquas
Dutch
Delawares 
Virginians
Hurons
Spaniards
Cherokees
French
& anybody else who suits...

I probably don't need the new ruleset as I must needs paint figures & build scenery.

Oh & acquire aboriginal opponents...  My old 25s just don't 'measure up'...

Valerik

not from 'round here, so no claim to Cherokee kin

[Marine0846]

Wow, lots of great photos and history.
Thanks Valerik.
I look forward to see were you go with this project, Silent Invader.
Love Song of Drums and Tomahawk, thanks Mike for the rules.

[pocoloco]

You don't run out of good project ideas SI, do you?

When will this be ready to start... and finish?

I'm waiting for his prequel, so I can do Swedes on the Delaware vs
Minquas
Dutch
Delawares 
Virginians
Hurons
Spaniards
Cherokees
French
& anybody else who suits...

Ooh, this sounds also like a project to follow!  Do start prepping for it soon

And don't forget to include Rambos, Klingas, Marttinens, Räsänens, Kokkinens, Kolehmainens etc

[Mason]

Another project 

You butterfly!

He may be Bibbles long lost twin!
 

[Malamute]

He may be Bibbles long lost twin!
 

What a hideous thought.