* First in a series
I recently came across a history project that I had done probably when I was around 13 or 14 years old and in the eighth grade at Robbinsville School. The report was handwritten using a pencil on notebook paper.
The next series of columns for The Graham Star will be from this document.
To start at the beginning of the history of what was to become Graham County, one must go all the way back to 1540, at least according to a book entitled “The Brief History of Tapoco and the Great Smoky Country.” Mr. Blaine Denton – a long-time teacher in the Graham County school system – also had some input.
The only persons living here at the time were the Cherokee. In this vast mountainous region – covered by dense forests abounding in wild game, with many streams filled with fish – the Cherokees lived for many years prior to the coming of white settlers. The Cherokees have an authentic history – recorded as far back as 1540 – in this region.
It is believed that in 1540, Desoto was the first white man to see this region and the Cherokees were well established here then. Neither the French nor Spanish had established a colony here.
The English started their first colony in 1854. Prior to that in 1663, King Charles II had granted to his friends the territory extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. However, the French had claimed this territory from 1721-63, until they were defeated by the English.
Around 1730, the English and Cherokee traders entered what is now east Tennessee. In 1756, Fort Loudon was constructed by DeBrahn and Demere for Governor James Glenn of South Carolina on the west bank of the Little Tennessee River, some 28 miles from what is now the North Carolina/Tennessee state line. The fort was surrounded and starved by the French and the Cherokees in 1783. The garrison stationed there was massacred after being promised safe conduct by the French to Fort Prince George on the Savannah River, in what became Pickens County.
Shortly after the treaty between the French and English, Scotch and Irish pioneers from Virginia, Pennsylvania and South Carolina began settling in the fertile valleys of western North Carolina. As more whites entered southwestern North Carolina and surrounding areas, the Cherokees increased their resistance to what they saw as an invasion by the whites.
Soon, the frontier became a battleground, as the Cherokees were pushed from their lands west and north of the area between Bryson City and Franklin.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.