Although the tribe is not
named, the Indians were probably Cherokee, as no other southern
Indians were then accustomed to range in that section. As serving to
corroborate this opinion we have the statement of a prominent Cher-
okee chief, given to Schoolcraft in 1846, that acccording to their tradi-
tion his people had formerly lived at the Peaks of Otter, in Virginia,
a noted landmark of the Blue ridge, near the point where Staunton
river breaks through the mountains. 2
From a candid sifting of the evidence Haywood concludes that the
authors of the most ancient remains in Tennessee had spread over that
region from the south and southwest at a very early period, hut that
the later occupants, the Cherokee, had entered it from the north and
northeast in comparatively recent times, overrunning and exterminat-
ing the aborigines. Hedeclares that the historical fact seems to be
established that the Cherokee entered the country from Virginia, mak-
ing temporary settlements upon New river and the upper Holston,
until, under the continued hostile pressure from the north, they were
again forced to remove farther to the south, fixing themselves upon the
Little Tennessee, in what afterward became known asthe middle towns.
By a leading mixed blood of the tribe he was informed that they had
made their first settlements within their modern home territory upon
Nolichucky river, and that, having lived the-re for a long period, they
could give no definite account of an earlier location. Echota, their
capital and peace town, "claimed to be the eldest brother in the nation,"
and the claim was generally acknowledged. In confirmation of the
statement as to an early occupancy of the upper