Cherokee War of 1776

The Cherokee War of 1776, or Second Cherokee War, was a series of conflicts between Cherokee Indians and American citizens who encroached on their land in the southern Appalachian highlands, in what is now eastern Tennessee. It was part of a larger series of battles and conflicts known informally as the Cherokee–American wars.

The war began in May 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. Historians have traditionally chosen 1777 as the end of the Second Cherokee War, but some claim that, in spite of a peace treaty, hostilities continued past that date. Americans invaded Cherokee territory several more times between 1777 and 1782 during the Revolutionary War. Even after most of the Cherokee Nation had made a lasting peace with the United States, the Chickamauga Cherokee band, led by Dragging Canoe, continued fighting until 1794.

The war pitted the Cherokee against armies, militia, and allied Indians from the Anglo-American states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.