The Nickajack Expedition in 1794 was a long-running battle fought from late summer to fall between American frontiersmen and the Chickamauga Cherokee. This Cherokee band had resisted the increasing American encroachment into their territory and raided American settlements in the region. The military expedition was a decisive success for the American settlers of what was then called the Southwest Territory and surrounding regions. It eventually became known to Americans as the "Last Battle of the Cherokee". Other Cherokee defeats followed shortly, and the US forced them to agree to another treaty ceding some of their land. A total of 39 Cherokee chiefs and leaders, including Chickamauga, signed the 1798 Treaty of Tellico, ceding a large territory in East Tennessee to the United States. Background Following a 1777 peace treaty between Native Americans and the American settlers of the Overhill settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains during the American War of Independence, followers of the Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe (who opposed the peace), separated from the tribe and relocated to what is today southeastern Tennessee, near the borders with Georgia and the area later known as Alabama. They were joined by bands of Shawnee and Creek at this new settlement, which had been established along Chickamauga Creek; it became their namesake. During the Revolutionary War, the Chickamauga Cherokee engaged in ongoing raids against American settlers, often with British and Spanish military aid. Shortly after the conclusion to the war, the Cherokee moved again, this time west of Lookout Mountain, using Nickajack Cave as a stronghold. Violence between them and European Americans continued for decades. Notwithstanding the December 1791 Treaty of Holston between Territorial Governor William Blount and most Cherokee bands, settlers in the "Cumberland Region" (especially around the Nashville area) still feared for their lives. They had been frequently raided by the Chickamauga and their allies to the south. By 1792, Blount was engaged in continuing peace negotiations with the Chickamauga. In September 1792 when the Nickajack native peoples launched their attack against the Mero District that was foiled at the Battle of Buchanan's Station those negotiations failed, and resulted in two more years of defensive engagements on the part of the American settlers. When the sons of Colonel Anthony Bledsoe (1739-1788) and Major General George Winchester were killed in 1794, however, Blount finally sanctioned military action. The expedition Governor Blount appointed Major James Ore to head an expedition against the