At the time of the English settlement of the Carolinas the Cherokees
occupied a diversified and well-watered region of country of large
extent upon the waters of the Catawba, Broad, Saluda, Keowee, Tugaloo,
Savannah, and Coosa Rivers on the east and south, and several of the
tributaries of the Tennessee on the north and west. It is impossible
at this late day to define with absolute accuracy the original limits
of the Cherokee claim. In fact, like all other tribes, they had no
definite and concurrent understanding with their surrounding savage
neighbors where the possessions of the one left off and those of the
other began. The strength of their title to any particular tract of
country usually decreased in proportion to the increase of the distance
from their villages; and it commonly followed as a result, that a
considerable strip of territory between the settlements of two powerful
tribes, though claimed by both, was practically considered as neutral
ground and the common hunting ground of both.
As has already been stated, the extreme eastern settlements of
the Cherokees in South Carolina in 1693 were in the district of
country lying between the Catawba and Broad Rivers, and no claim has
been found showing the existence at any time of any assertion of
territorial right in their behalf to the east of the former stream.
But nevertheless, on Bowen's map of 1752 (obviously copied from earlier
maps), there is laid down the name of "Keowee Old Town." The location
of this town was on Deep River in the vicinity of the present town
of Ashborough, N. C. It was a favorite name of the Cherokees among
their towns, and affords a strong evidence of at least a temporary
residence of a portion of the tribe in that vicinity. A map executed
by John Senex in 1721 defines the Indian boundary in this region as
following the Catawba, Wateree, and Santee Rivers as far down as
the most westerly bend of the latter stream, in the vicinity of the
boundary line between Orangeburg and Charleston districts, whence it
pursued a southwesterly course to the Edisto River, which it followed
to the sea-coast. The southern portion of this boundary was of course
a definition of limits between Carolina and the Creeks, or rather of
certain tribes that formed component parts of the Creek confederacy. No
evidence has been discovered tending to show an extension of Cherokee
limits in a southerly direction beyond the point mentioned above on
the Edisto River, which, as near as can be ascertained, was at the
junction of the North and South Edisto. Following from thence up the
South Edisto to its source the boundary pursued a southwesterly course,
striking the Savannah River in the vicinity of the mouth of Stevens
Creek, and proceeding thence northwardly along the Savannah.
On the borders of Virginia and North Carolina the ancient limits of the
Cherokees seem to be also shrouded in more or less doubt and confusion.
In general terms, however, it may be said that after following the
Catawba River to its source in the Blue Ridge the course of those
mountains was pursued until their intersection with the continuation of
the Great Iron Mountain range, near Floyd Court-House, Va., and thence
to the waters of the Kanawha or New River, whence their claim continued
down that stream to the Ohio. At a later date they also set up a claim
to the country extending from the mouth of the Kanawha down the Ohio
to the ridge dividing the waters of the Cumberland from those of the
Tennessee at the mouths of those streams, and thence following that
ridge to a point northeast of the mouth of Duck River; thence to the
mouth of Duck River on the Tennessee, and continuing up with the course
of the latter river to Bear Creek; up the latter to a point called Flat
Rock, and thence to the Ten Islands in Coosa River, &c.
That portion of the country thus covered, comprising a large part of
the present States of West Virginia and Kentucky, was also claimed by
the Six Nations by right of former conquest, as well as by the Shawnees
and Delawares.
Adair, a trader for forty years among the Cherokees, who traveled
extensively through their country about the middle of the eighteenth
century, thus specifically outlines the boundaries of their country
at that period: "The country lies in about 34 degrees north
latitude at the distance of 340 computed miles to the northwest of
Charlestown,--140 miles west-southwest from the Katahba Nation,--and
almost 200 miles to the north of the Muskohge or Creek country. They
are settled nearly in an east and west course about 140 miles in
length from the lower towns, where Fort-Prince-George stands, to the
late unfortunate Fort Loudon. The natives make two divisions of their
country, which they term '_Ayrate_' and '_Otarre_,' the one signifying
'low' and the other 'mountainous.'"