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Battle of Echoee Pass
Part of the Anglo-Cherokee War and the French and Indian War
Date27 June 1760
Location
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Result Cherokee victory
Belligerents
 Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Archibald Montgomerie
Strength
1300
Casualties and losses
40 killed[1] 20 killed
76 wounded[2]

Battle of Echoee Pass, or Etchoe Pass, in 1760 was a battle between the British under Archibald Montgomerie and the Cherokee.

Background

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At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, a part of the Seven Year's War, in 1754, the Cherokee were allies of the British, taking part in campaigns against Fort Duquesne (at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and the Shawnee of the Ohio Country.

The Anglo-Cherokee War began in 1758 when Moytoy (Amo-adawehi) of Citico retaliated for the mistreatment of Cherokee warriors at the hands of their British and colonial allies. Moytoy's actions at the time began a domino effect that ended with the murders of Cherokee hostages at Fort Prince George near Keowee. These events ushered in a war which didn't end until 1761. The Cherokee were led by Aganstata of Chota, Attakullakulla (Atagulgalu) of Tanasi, Ostenaco of Tomotley, Wauhatchie (Wayatsi) of the Lower Towns, and Round O of the Middle Towns.

The governor of South Carolina, William Henry Lyttelton, embargoed all shipments of gunpowder shipments to the Cherokee and raised an army of 1,100 men which marched to confront the Lower Towns of the Cherokee. Desperate for ammunition for their fall and winter hunts, the nation sent a delegation of moderate chiefs to negotiate. The twenty-nine chiefs were taken prisoner[6] as hostages and sent them, escorted by the provincial army,[7] to Fort Prince George. Lyttleton thought this would ensure peace.

Governor Lyttleton appealed for help to Jeffrey Amherst, the British commander in North America. Amherst sent Archibald Montgomerie with an army of 1,300 troops[3] including four companies of the Royal Scots[4] and a battalion of the Montgomerie's Highlanders to South Carolina. The regulars were joined by some 400 Rangers, in seven troops, and militia as well a party of Catawba indians.[5] Montgomerie's campaign razed some of the Cherokee Lower Towns, including Keowee, Estatoe and Sugar Town. He then relieved Fort Prince George.

Battle

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Archibald Montgomerie
portrait by Joshua Reynolds.

At some five miles from Etchoe, the lowest town in the Cherokee's middle settlements, Montgomerie's advanced guard of a company of Rangers was ambushed in a deep valley. Captain Morrison, and a number of his Rangers were killed. Many of the Cherokee were armed with rifles which had a longer and more accurate range than the muskets the British fought with.[6] While accounts tell of the indians making aimed shots while the British blazed away with ineffective platoon fire. Indian accounts speak of the British standing in "heaps' and being shot down like turkeys. The Rangers especially performed badly, with Lieutenant Grant reporting that some fifty deserted before the march and the rest ran off when Morrison was killed.[7]

The Royal Scots came forward to support them on rising ground to the right flank of the Cherokee but were thrown back into open ground by heavy rifle fire and it took some time to reform and fight off the Cherokee counter-attack. Montgomerie now extended his line with the highlanders, on the left who turned the indian right. The indians retired from this advance and came into contact with the Royal Scots in a brisk encounter from which they retired to a position on a hill from which they could not be dislodged. Montgomerie ordered an advance through the pass and on to the town, but some of the Cherokee ran to warn the inhabitants to leave. Some of the indians had got around to his flanks and attacked his pack animals and supply train whose loss would cripple the army. The attack was driven off.[8]

Montgomerie found himself with a large number of seriously wounded men which he could neither leave behind if he advanced or retreated. He had to abandon the advance along with a large quantity of supplies in order to provide pack horses to transport the wounded to safety. The British force retreated back to Fort Prince George. Montgomerie turned over supplies to the fort and left his most badly wounded. He then continued his withdrawal to Charleston. By August he and his men sailed back to New York.

Aftermath

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The failure to relieve Fort Loudon forced the garrison to surrender turning over its cannon and ammunition to the Cherokee. Its garrison marched out of the fort and was attacked in the woods by the indians. Some 30 soldiers and civilians were killed and 120 taken prisoners. Panic and consternation reigned in Charleston at the news.

References

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  1. ^ Drake, p. 377.
  2. ^ Drake, p. 377.
  3. ^ Oliphant, p.113. Hatley gives 1,200, p.131.
  4. ^ Woodward, p.74; Drake, p. 376.
  5. ^ Keenan. p.40
  6. ^ Woodward p.75, Hatley p.131.
  7. ^ Hartley, p. 131.
  8. ^ Oliphant, pp.130-131.

Bibliography

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  • Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-375-40642-5.
  • Drake, Samuel Gardner. Biography and history of the Indians of North America, Boston, MDCCCLI.
  • Hatley, Thomas. The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians through the Era of Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
  • Keenan, Jerry. Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-393-31915-6.
  • Oliphant, John. Peace and War on the Anglo-Cherokee Frontier, 1756–63. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2001.
  • Stewart, David, Major General. Sketches of the character, manners, and present state of the Highlanders, Vols 1 & 2. Edinburgh, 1825.
  • Woodward, Grace Steele.The Cherokees, University of Oklahoma Press, 1963, ISBN 0-8061-1815-6.
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