Timberlake Expedition

The Timberlake Expedition was an excursion into the Overhill Cherokee lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, which took place in 1761 following the Anglo-Cherokee War.The expressed purpose of the expedition was to visit the Overhill Cherokee (in present-day Tennessee) to verify that an end of hostilities of the Anglo-Cherokee War had taken place in the Virginia back-country.The Holston River's unusually low water levels slowed their progress, as the party had to drag or portage the canoe over and around exposed shoals and sandbars.In his journal, Timberlake describes Sumter swimming nearly a half-mile in the icy waters to retrieve their canoe which had drifted away while they were exploring the cave.The party struggled to keep up with the Cherokee, with Timberlake recalling, "my hands were so galled, that the blood trickled from them, and when we set out the next morning I was scarce able to handle a pole.[6] After spending several days in Tomotley as guests of Ostenaco, they proceeded to the Overhill mother-town of Chota, where several Cherokee town heads had gathered in the large council-house.Ostenaco gave a speech and ceremoniously buried a hatchet in the ground, symbolizing a state of peace between the English and the Cherokee.At the end of January, rumors began trickling in from Cherokee scouts of renewed hostilities with rival tribes to the north.Ostenaco, accompanied by several hundred Cherokee warriors, guided the Timberlake group northward along what is now known as the Great Indian Warpath, which followed the western base of the Appalachian Mountains.