The War Ford

The War Ford is a Tennessee historical marker in Cocke County.

Cocke Co, Newport, Hwy 321,near bridge over Big Pigeon River

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Located .2 mi. east on the Big Pigeon River is a strategic crossing used by the Cherokees. In Aug. 1782, Gen. Charles McDowell of Burke Co., North Carolina, raised an army of five hundred mounted militia from Morgan District to cross the mountains, join Col. John Sevier's army of the same number from Washington District, and subdue the Indians who sided with the British. During this three month campaign, one of the final skirmishes of the Revolutionary War was fought at this site.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1778 · The Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1796 · Map of The Tennassee (sic) Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1797 · Tennassee Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1814 · Kentucky (Mathew Carey, 1814) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1926 · Proposed Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina-Tennessee / engraved and… (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

The War Ford

Historical maps covering this location

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