Fort Loudoun State Historic Park

The British built Fort Loudoun in 1756 and 1757 on the south bank of the Little Tennessee River, in the country of the Overhill Cherokees, as part of their war with France. It was named for the Earl of Loudoun, the British commander in North America. The engineer and the first commander quarreled over its design, and Captain Raymond Demeré complained that the Cherokees called it a fort to put horses, cows and hogs in. About 200 South Carolina militia and British regulars lived inside, and they depended on Cherokee women, who traded fresh food and fish for goods. The Cherokees treated the post as much their own ground as the English did.

Trust broke down as the war went on. In March 1760 the Cherokees besieged the fort and cut off its supplies, and by early August heat and hunger had worn the garrison down. On August 9, 180 men and 60 women and children surrendered and set out for South Carolina. The next day about 700 Cherokees attacked them near Tellico Plains, killing three officers, 23 soldiers and three women. The rest were taken to Cherokee towns, where a few were killed and most were ransomed to Virginia or South Carolina.

The 853-acre state park on Tellico Lake holds a reconstruction of the fort as it stood in 1759 and 1760, with a visitor center and museum and trails along the shore. The Overhill towns of Chota and Tanasi stood a few miles along the same river. The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum tells the Cherokee side of the valley.