Old Tassel —Reyetaeh inCherokee language,Koatohee,[1]: 138 sometimesCorntassel (Cherokee language:Utsi'dsata, died 1788) — was "First Beloved Man" (the equivalent of a regionalCherokee chief) of theOverhill Cherokee after 1783, when the United States gained independence fromGreat Britain. He worked to try to keep theCherokee people of the Overhill region out of theCherokee–American wars being fought between theEuropean-American frontiersmen and theChickamauga band warriors led byDragging Canoe. He was murdered in 1788 along with another chief atChilhowee and 5 others bywhite settlers John Kirk,John Sevier and others, under a flag of truce.
Old Tassel's brothers were the warriors Pumpkin Boy andDoublehead. His maternal nephew wasJohn Watts, known as "Young Tassel."
Old Tassel became "First Beloved Man" of theOverhill Cherokee in 1783, after the tribal elders removed his predecessor,The Raven of Chota (also known asSavanukah). An advocate of peace, Old Tassel strove—with only some success—to keep the people of the Overhill towns out of the Cherokee–American wars being fought between the white settlers and the Chickamauga band, in what are now theeastern Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky regions. He was known as the Great Orator.
Reyetaeh signed the 1777 Treaty of Long Island,[2] and 1786Treaty of Hopewell[3] with United States representatives. The treaty ostensibly protected the Overhill territory as Cherokee.[4] The Americans had given Old Tassel an American flag sewed byBetsy Ross; he flew it over his door.[citation needed] He is described as being fromToquoe/Toquo in the 1777 and 1786 treaties, respectively.[2][3]: 11
In 1786 Old Tassel andHanging Maw were forced to sign the Treaty of Coytoy, which threatened punishment if any murderer of whites was sheltered by the Cherokee. Representatives of the conditionalState of Franklin said that they had been given rights to the territory from north of theLittle Tennessee River to theCumberland Mountains by North Carolina, although in 1785 this area had been affirmed by treaty as Cherokee territory.[4]
Outraged by the Treaty of Coytoy, in May 1788 a Cherokee party killed eleven of the twelve members of the John Kirk family, who werehomesteaders on Little River southwest of present-dayKnoxville, Tennessee. John Kirk, the head of the family, was away at the time.[4] Col.John Sevier, who was attempting to suppress the Overhill uprisings, led retaliatory raids against numerous Cherokee towns in the Little Tennessee Valley. Another officer, Major James Hubbard, persuaded Old Tassel, chief Abraham ofChilhowee, and five other Cherokee to meet him to parley under a flag of truce at Abraham's house. He allowed Kirk to murder them by tomahawk for revenge in June 1788.
TheMaryland Gazette harshly condemned the murders of the chiefs, saying that the flag of truce was "a protection inviolable even amongst the most barbarous people, sacred by the law and custom of nations..."[4] The Cherokee considered these murders to be atrocities, and many gave new support to Dragging Canoe and his warriors afterward. Ultimately this resulted in the CherokeeMassacre at Cavett's Station on September 25, 1793, where the reported casualties were 13 settlers.[4]
| Preceded by | First Beloved Man 1783–1788 | Succeeded by |