The Rutherford Light Horse expedition launched against which people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains?
Rutherford Light Horse expedition The Rutherford Light Horse expedition was a punitive military excursion launched against the Lower, Middle, and Overhill Cherokee settlements of the Cherokee Indians in the Appalachian region of North Carolina. This was in retaliation for the Native Indian attacks made against the European American settlements of the Watauga Association in July 1776, in an early action of the American War of Independence. The expedition, which took place on the American frontier and resulted in the destruction of six Cherokee towns, ran from October 17 until November 16, 1776. The adventure only concluded when the troop was forced to turn back due to a lack of supplies. It was led by Captain William Moore, acting directly under the command of Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford.
Tanasi Tanasi (Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ , "Tanasi " ) (also spelled Tanase, Tenasi, Tenassee, Tunissee, Tennessee, and other such variations) was an historic Overhill Cherokee village site in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The village was the namesake for the state of Tennessee. Abandoned by the Cherokee in the 19th century, since 1979 the town site has been submerged by the Tellico Lake impoundment of the Little Tennessee River. Tanasi served as the de facto capital of the Cherokee from as early as 1721 until 1730, when the capital shifted to Great Tellico.