Cherokees were
incessantly tampered with by emissaries from the Nuntewees and
the Savannahs in the French interest, and from the French
themselves at the Alibamu Fort. So effective were these
machinations, supported by extravagant promises and doubtless
rich bribes, that the Cherokees soon were outspokenly expressing
their desire for a French fort at Great Tellico.

Dinwiddie welcomed the departure from America of Governor Glen of
South Carolina, who in his opinion had always acted contrary to
the king's interest. From the new governor, William Henry
Lyttelton, who arrived in Charleston on June 1, 1756, he hoped to
secure effective cooperation in dealing with the Cherokees and
the Catawbas. This hope was based upon Lyttelton's recognition,
as stated in Dinwiddie's words, of the "Necessity of strict Union
between the whole Colonies, with't any of them considering their
particular Interest separate from the general Good of the whole."
After constructing the fort "with't the least assistance from
South Carolina," Major Lewis happened by accident upon a grand
council being held in Echota in September. At that time he
discovered to his great alarm that the machinations of the French
had already produced the greatest imaginable change in the
sentiment of the Cherokees. Captain Raymond Demere of the
Provincials, with two hundred English troops, had arrived to
garrison the fort; but the head men of all the Upper Towns were
secretly influenced to agree to write a letter to Captain Demere,
ordering him to return immediately to Charleston with all the
troops under his command. At the grand council, Atta-kulla-kulla,
the great Cherokee chieftain, passionately declared to the head
men, who listened approvingly, that "as to the few soldiers of
Captain Demere that was there, he would take their Guns, and give
them to his young men to hunt with and as to their clothes they
would soon be worn out and their skins would be tanned, and be of
the same colour as theirs, and that they should live among them
as slaves." With impressive dignity Major Lewis rose and
earnestly pleaded for the observance of the terms of the treaty
solemnly negotiated the preceding March. In response, the crafty
and treacherous chieftains desired Lewis to tell the Governor of
Virginia that "they had taken up the Hatchet against all Nations
that were Enemies to the English"; but Lewis, an astute student
of Indian Psychology, rightly surmised that all their glib