counterattacks in late summer and fall 1776—which destroyed the Cherokee Middle, Valley, and Lower Towns in Tennesee and the Carolinas—his father and Oconostota sued for peace. Refusing to admit defeat, Dragging Canoe led a band of the Overhill Cherokee out of the towns, and they settled further south in 1777. The group migrated along the Tennessee River to the area seven miles upstream from where the South Chickamauga Creek joins the Tennessee, in the vicinity of present-day Chattanooga. Thereafter, frontiersman referred to them as the "Chickamauga" because of their settlement by the creek. They established 11 towns, including one later referred to as "Old Chickamauga Town." This was across the river from the trading post of a Scotsman, assistant superintendent of the British concerns in the region, John McDonald. He regularly supplied the Chickamauga with guns, cannons, ammunition, and supplies to fight the American colonists. In spring of 1779, American pioneer Evan Shelby led an expedition of frontiersmen from Virginia and North Carolina to destroy Dragging Canoe's Chickamauga towns. Shelby reported their success in a letter to Patrick Henry, saying "...[ the Chickamauga Cherokee ] are reduced to a Sense of their Duty and a Willingness to treat for peace with the united States..." In 1782, for the second time since the wars' beginning, Cherokee towns were specifically attacked by a large United States force. The devastation caused by Colonel John Sevier's troop forced the band to move even further down the Tennessee River. Dragging Canoe established the "Five Lower Towns" below the natural obstructions of the Tennessee River Gorge. These were: Running Water Town (now Whiteside), Nickajack Town (near the cave of the same name), Long Island (on the Tennessee River), Crow Town (at the mouth of Crow Creek), and Lookout Mountain Town (at the current site of Trenton, Georgia). Following this move, this band was alternatively referred to as the "Lower Cherokee." From his base at Running Water Town, Dragging Canoe led attacks on white settlements all over the American Southeast, especially against American colonists on the Holston, Watauga, and Nolichucky rivers in eastern Tennessee. After 1780, he also attacked settlements in the Cumberland River area, the Mero and Washington Districts, the Republic of Franklin, the Middle Tennessee areas, and raided into Kentucky and Virginia as well. His three brothers, Little Owl, the Badger, and Turtle-at-Home, often fought with his forces. Death Dragging Canoe died February 29, 1792,