formally declared by England until L756,
hostilities in tiie seven year's struggle between France and England,
commonly known in America as the " French and Indian war." began
in April, 1754. when the French seized a small postwhich the English
had begun at tile present site of Pittsburg, and which was afterward
finished by the French under the name of Fort Du Quesne. Strenuous
efforts were made by the English to secure the Cherokee to their
interest against the French and their Indian allies, and treaties were
negotiated by which they promised assistance. 3 As these treaties.
however, carried the usual cessions of territory, and stipulated for
the building of several forts in the heart of the Cherokee country, it
is to be feared that the Indians were not duly impressed by tin disin-
terested character of the proceeding. TheirRoyce i herokee Nation, in Fifth Ann. Rep. Bur. of Eth-
nology, ]'■ 145, i v ^s
40 MYTH- OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.akn.1S
He adds that only dire necessity had induced them to make peace
with the English in I 761.'
In accordance with the treaty stipulations Fori Prince George was
built in L756 adjoining the important Cherokee town of Keowee, on
the headwaters of the Savannah, and Fort Loudon near the junction
of Tellico river with the Little Tennessee, in the center of the
Cherokee towns beyond the mountains. 2 By special arrangement with
the influential chief, Ata-kullakulla (Ata'-uul'kaliV). Fort Dobbs was
also built in the same year about -Jo mile- west of the present Salis-
bury. North ( larolina. 4
The Cherokee had agreed to furnish four hundred warriors to
cooperate against the French in the north, but before Fort