Cherokee Boundary

Front: The Cherokees sided with the British during the American Revolution, and in 1776 Maj. Andrew Williamson’s S.C. militia destroyed their “Lower Towns” in what is now S.C. He then cooperated with the N.C. militia in expeditions against the Cherokees in N.C. and Ga. The Cherokees, seeking peace, soon negotiated with the Patriots to give up most of their lands in S.C. Reverse: On May 20, 1777, at Dewit’s Corner, the Cherokees signed a treaty with S.C., moving the frontier boundary line westward into what is now Oconee County. The boundary line crossed the top of Oconee Mountain near here. The remaining Cherokee land in present-day S.C. was ceded in the Treaty of 1816, extending the S.C. frontier to the present state boundary on the Chattooga River.