In 1777 the Cherokee settlements from Virginia to the Chattahoochee River were destroyed by the whites. Following these heavy losses, the Lower Cherokees gave up all their lands lying in South Carolina, except a very small strip on their western boundary. Two months later, the Middle and Upper Cherokees signed away their lands lying east of the Blue Ridge. About the same time they ceded their lands in northeast Tennessee to the white man. Most of the Cherokees, feeling helpless, accepted the unjust treatment, but the loss of their most valuable ground was more than Dragging Canoe could endure. This patriotic Cherokee declared that before he would submit to such an outrageous treaty, which swindled his people boldly, he would go to war. There were hundreds of other brave Indians who felt as did Dragging Canoe and were awaiting an opportunity to strike back at the greedy whites, hoping thereby to regain some of their lost property. When Dragging Canoe made his intentions known, there were attracted to him the bravest of his tribe, who seceded from the Cherokee, organizing themselves into a militant wing which became known as the Chickamaugas. They settled at various places on the Chickamauga Creek. This beautiful stream of water is formed by the aquatic contributions of many other creeks. It rises in northwest Georgia, and as it flows northwest it collects the waters from other sources. One mile above the site of John McDonald’s trading post it receives the water from the West Chickamauga, which has its source at the junction of Pigeon and Lookout Mountains, thirty-five miles south of Chattanooga. This is the Chickamauga Creek which gave the name to the battle of Chickamauga. It might properly be stated here that the many references to it in Civil War history as meaning “the river of death” is an error.