Episode 1 of 4
Survey confirming Cherokee domain
- When
- 1772
- Where
- Watauga and Nolichucky valleys
A survey by Colonel John Donelson confirmed the Watauga and Nolichucky lands remained within the Cherokee domain.
The settlers had believed the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys were part of lands ceded to Virginia by the Cherokee in the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber. A subsequent survey by Colonel John Donelson confirmed these lands were still part of the Cherokee domain, and in 1772 surveyors officially placed the land within Cherokee territory, requiring the settlers to negotiate a lease.
Sources
- Watauga Association Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
- Elizabethton, Tennessee Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.