BUSHNELL] NATIVE VILLAGES AND VILLAGE SITES 61 
the whole had the appearamce of desolation. (Hawkins, B., (2), p. 
112.) The structure at Tellico was probably similar to that at Cowe 
and Chote. All town houses of the Cherokee were probably much 
alike, differing only in size and minor details. 
During the latter part of the year 1761 Lieut. Timberlake, of the 
British forces, while on a mission to the Cherokee, reached the im- 
portant town of Chote, in the present county of Monroe, Tennessee, 
opposite the ruins of Fort Loudon. Here in the town house of 
Chote, ‘‘the metropolis of the country,’ gathered the head men of 
the neighboring towns ‘“‘to hear the articles of peace read.’’ This 
mest have been one of the most important and largest buildings 
ever erected by the Cherokee, but in form it did not differ from that 
at Cowe, as the description will prove: 
“The town-house, in which are transacted all public business and 
diversions, is raised with wood, and covered over with earth, and 
has all the appearance of a small mountain at a little distance. It 
is built in the form of a sugar loaf, and large enough to contain 500 
persons, but extremely dark, having, besides the door, which is so 
narrow that but one at a time can pass, and that after much winding 
and turning, but one small aperture to let the smoke out, which is 
so ill contrived, that most of it settles in the roof of the house. 
Within it has the appearance of an ancient amphitheatre, the seats 
being raised one above another, leaving an area in the middle, in 
the center of which stands the fire; the seats of the head warriors 
are nearest it.’ (Timberlake, (1), p. 32.) 
And Chote continued to be the “metropolis” of the nation for 
many years. Here the chief men would gather and deliberate, and 
here the representatives of the colonies, and later of the States, 
would come to meet the Cherokee in council. Letters now preserved 
in the Department of Archives, Virginia State Library, Richmond, 
shed much light on the Cherokee during the latter part of the eight- 
eenth century. One of these letters, being of great historical 
_ interest, reads: 
“4 
Cuoter 19th Sept 1785- 
Sir 
Abreeable to your Excellencys Instructions I have been Very Attentive to the 
Indians Since July Last at which time I returned from Charlestown, at my arrival one 
of the principal [men] moved off and Several Families out of the different Towns. I 
never see them in such Confusion before. I have had Several Meetings with them 
in which time my old friend Oconstota who never forsook my Council died, their 
Confusion arose from the delay of the Treaty and the rapid Encroachments on their 
Lands. Several houses are Built within a Mile of their Towns. Together with the 
Talks from the differt Tribes of Indians some of which are now among them and 
More Expected Shortly. Their Council broke up yesterday which has been Sitting 
Six days. the old Tassel imforms [me] that the Wyandots Chief who is with them teils 
him that the Six Nations of Indians are at peace with Virg@ but all the other Tribes 
are at War, that the Shanees have been through the Different Tribes for their assist- 
ance who have promised to give it this fall and march a Large army against Kentuckey, 
