webb] ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NORRIS BASIN 209 



this Cherokee Indian town came the name for the great state and 

 the great river. In this connection Swanton 18 says: 



The earliest use of the name Tennessee is probably in the form Tanasqui 

 by Juan Pardo or Juan Vandera. It is given to a town on Tennessee River 

 near Chattanooga. The final "qui" may be added erroneously. The date is 

 1567. 



In carrying out this mission for his King, Sir Alexander 19 used 

 very forceful but rather unusual methods, and by so doing gave us a 

 bit of interesting evidence as to the nature and construction of Chero- 

 kee town houses. Of this strange event Williams 20 tells how Sir 

 Alexander Cuming, as an agent of His Majesty, King George, on the 

 night of March 23, 1729, went into the Cherokee town house at Keowee 

 where there were above 300 Indians assembled and caused them to 

 acknowledge King George's sovereignty. He did this in the presence 

 of certain white witnesses that he might have their testimony as a 

 report to his king. Among these witnesses was Ludovick Grant, who 

 came from Scotland and in 1726 went to live in the Cherokee country 

 as a trader among the Over Hill Cherokee. 



In his "Relations", published in the South Carolina Historical 

 Magazine, Grant says : 



I must not omit a circumstance pretty extraordinary. Sir Alexander carried 

 with him into the Town House, his gun, Cutlass, and a pair of pistols ; and one 

 of the Traders telling him that the Indians never came there armed, and did 

 not like that any should, He answered with a wild look, that his intention was 

 if any of the Indians had refused the King's health to have taken a brand out of 

 the fire that burns in the middle of the room and have set fire to the house. That 

 he would have guarded the door himself and put to death every one that en- 

 deavored to make their escape that they might have all been consumed to 

 ashes. * * * 21 



From this most unusual action of Sir Alexander one may surely 

 infer that the town house at Keowee had but one door, for if other 

 means of exit had been available his plan could not have been con- 

 ceived. Even the presence of windows in such a structure would 

 seem to be denied by this occurrence. Further, unless the walls of 

 the building had been very substantially built, and well constructed, 

 the town house could not have served as a "trap", the peculiar pur- 

 pose of Sir Alexander on this occasion. The fact that the other white 

 witnesses present were surprised and awed by the statement of Sir 

 Alexander would clearly indicate that no matter what they thought of 

 the ethics of the case or the danger involved, they evidently believed 



18 Personal communication. 



19 Cuming, 1731, pp. 1-18. 



20 Williams, 1928, p. 132. 



21 Grant, Ludovick, 1909, p. 54. 



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