North Carolina and the Cherokee

Notice what happens in 1817, over 2000 Cherokee move west. This is the same year Lewis Green left North Carolina. One more thing I'd like to point out is some people say that a person wasn't Indian if they fought in one of the American wars. This simply isn't true. I've seen pictures of Indians in American uniforms, and below is proof that Cherokee did fight on the side of European settlers.

1808 John Chavis, a freeborn African American, opens a school in Raleigh. Chavis, who fought in the Revolutionary War, teaches white children by day and black pupils at night. The Cherokee establish a law code and the "Light Horse Guards" to maintain law and order.

December 29: Andrew Johnson, future 17th president of the United States, is born in Raleigh.

1809 North Carolina native Dolley Madison becomes first lady when James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth United States president. She becomes one of the most popular first ladies in the nation's history.

1810 North Carolina Census Data Total 555,500 Free white persons 376,410 All other free persons (except Indians not taxed) 10,266 Slaves 168,824 The Cherokee abolish clan revenge as a mechanism for social control. James Gay of Iredell County publishes A Collection of Various Pieces of Poetry, Chiefly Patriotic, the first poetry book written in North Carolina. The Bank of North Carolina is chartered.

1811 November 11: The Battle of Tippecanoe, fought in Ohio between the United States Army and Shawnee Indians, ends in the defeat of the American Indians and the loss of their land.

December 16: The people of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee experience the "shaken, trembling, and sounds" of the New Madrid, Mo., earthquake.

1812 Secretary of State William Hill establishes the North Carolina State Library. James F. Taylor will become the first official state librarian in 1843. Cherokee Indians fight on the side of the Americans to put down Shawnee chief TecumsehÕs efforts to drive away white settlers.

June 18: The United States declares war on Great Britain. The War of 1812 lasts until 1815. Onslow County native Otway Burns, captain of the Snap Dragon, is America's most successful privateer during the conflict, capturing more than a million dollars worth of British shipping.

1813 The state's first cotton mill, owned by Michael Schenck, opens in Lincoln County. The Presbyterian Synod of North Carolina forms at Alamance Church in present-day Guilford County.

July 12 to 16: A British fleet occupies Portsmouth and Ocracoke as part of the hostilities during the War of 1812.

1814 March 27: Cherokee Indians aid General Andrew Jackson in defeating the Creek Indians in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. After the battle, Jackson tells the Cherokee chief Junaluska: "As long as the sun shines and the grass grows there shall be friendship between us, and the feet of the Cherokee shall be toward the East." As president, Jackson later plays a major role in the effort to move the Cherokee west.

August 24: The British army burns Washington, D.C. Before the soldiers arrive, first lady Dolley Madison packs papers, furnishings, and Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington for transport, ensuring that valuable items remain safe.

1815 December 24: The United States and Great Britain sign a peace treaty ending the War of 1812. News of peace does not arrive in time to prevent a decisive defeat of the British army at New Orleans, La., on January 8, 1816.

1815 to 1816 Archibald Murphey reports to the General Assembly on internal improvements and education in North Carolina.

1816 The Fayetteville Observer, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the state, is founded. It operates as a weekly until 1896, when it becomes a daily. The Tariff Act passed by Congress places import fees on foreign goods to protect and promote the growth of industry in the United States.

1817 The Episcopal Church organizes in North Carolina. The Cherokee cede land in exchange for land on the Arkansas River, and 2,000 Cherokee move west.