250 Years Ago: The Battle in the “Black Hole”
Imagine marching through the mountains of western North Carolina in September 1776.
You're following a narrow trail through unfamiliar country. The mountains close in around you, and somewhere in the surrounding woods are Cherokee warriors who know this land far better than you do.
You know an attack is possible.
You just don't know when—or from where—it will come.
Then the firing begins.
On September 19, 1776—250 years ago this week—South Carolina militiamen marched into a Cherokee ambush somewhere in the mountains of what is now western North Carolina.
As America commemorates the 250th anniversary of the events of 1776, we're looking back at some of the stories that unfolded during that remarkable—and complicated—year, including those that happened right here in North Carolina.
History would remember this encounter by an ominous name: The Battle of the Black Hole.
A Different Side of the American Revolution
When we picture the Revolutionary War, it's easy to imagine red-coated British soldiers on one side and American Patriots on the other.
The reality was far more complicated.
For Native American nations, the Revolution brought difficult choices with enormous consequences. They weren't simply choosing between the British and the Americans. They were trying to protect their own communities, lands, and futures while war unfolded around—and through—them.
The Cherokee had maintained a strong trading relationship with the British for decades. At the same time, colonial settlers were pushing farther west into Cherokee lands—including territory the British government itself had attempted to protect from settlement.
One of the most determined opponents of that expansion was the Cherokee war leader Dragging Canoe.
In 1775, when Cherokee leaders agreed to sell an enormous tract of hunting grounds at Sycamore Shoals, Dragging Canoe fiercely opposed the agreement. He believed continued land concessions threatened the survival and sovereignty of his people. By 1776, he had become a leading voice among younger Cherokee warriors who believed armed resistance was the only remaining answer to colonial expansion.
That summer, the conflict exploded.
Cherokee war parties attacked frontier settlements in the Carolinas and Virginia. Dragging Canoe himself led warriors against settlements along the Holston River in July and was wounded in the fighting.
The response from revolutionary leaders was fierce.
Amid reports of settlers killed along the frontier, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson called for the destruction of the Cherokee nation, according to historian Nadia Dean's account published by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Thousands of militiamen from Virginia and the Carolinas were mobilized for retaliatory campaigns into Cherokee territory.
The Revolution's language of liberty and resistance therefore carried a profound contradiction on the southern frontier. At the same moment colonists were fighting Britain for the right to govern themselves, Cherokee people were resisting encroachment on their own lands and sovereignty.
And even here, the story wasn't simply Patriot versus Cherokee.
South Carolina Colonel Andrew Williamson marched north with 1,696 men, including Catawba soldiers allied with the Patriot cause. Native nations had their own governments, interests, alliances, and histories—and did not all make the same choices during the Revolution.
Williamson intended to meet North Carolina Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford's force near the Cherokee town of Nikwasi, near present-day Franklin.
But Rutherford had already moved on.
So Williamson's men continued through the mountains.
Into the Black Hole
These were not Continental soldiers marching neatly in matching uniforms.
Williamson's men were militia, many dressed in ordinary backcountry clothing and carrying long guns, hatchets, knives, and perhaps swords.
And they knew Cherokee warriors might be nearby.
On the morning of September 19, the column followed a Native American trail toward Wayah Gap. As the landscape closed around them, militiaman Arthur Fairies later described entering a hollow surrounded by mountains on nearly every side.
Then came the attack.
Gunfire erupted from the woods.
Cherokee warriors had positioned themselves around the militia column. Joseph McJunkin, another participant, remembered hearing war whoops from the front, rear, and both sides before the firing intensified.
The militiamen dismounted, scrambled for whatever cover they could find, and began firing back.
Soon the narrow valley was filled with the sound of gunfire reverberating against the mountains. Smoke accumulated, making it increasingly difficult to see where the next shot was coming from.
Some Cherokee warriors moved down the slopes, and portions of the battle became hand-to-hand combat. The militia fired in nearly every direction and reportedly even used small swivel guns—tiny cannons mounted on rods—against their attackers.
The fighting continued for somewhere between one and two hours before the Cherokee withdrew higher into the mountains. Whether they were driven back or began running short of ammunition isn't certain.
Neither are the casualty numbers.
Historical accounts differ, with estimates ranging from 9 to 17 militia killed and 18 to 31 wounded. At least four Cherokee warriors were left dead on the battlefield, although the total number of Cherokee casualties is unknown because some were reportedly carried away.
Fairies later described what remained after the fighting in just a few words:
“A most dreadful sight to behold.”
What Happened Afterward?
Williamson's men buried their dead, tended to the wounded, and continued westward.
Eventually they joined Rutherford's North Carolina force.
And the larger campaign through Cherokee territory continued.
What followed makes the Battle of the Black Hole easier to understand as part of a much larger conflict rather than an isolated skirmish.
Patriot forces systematically destroyed Cherokee towns, homes, crops, and winter food supplies. Rutherford and Williamson's campaigns devastated 23 Cherokee towns in western North Carolina, while campaigns across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee ultimately destroyed more than 50 Cherokee towns, according to the National Museum of the American Indian account.
For Cherokee communities, the consequences extended far beyond what happened in that mountain ravine.
Homes were lost. Families were displaced. Food intended to carry communities through the approaching winter was destroyed.
And the campaign did not end Cherokee resistance.
Dragging Canoe refused to abandon the fight. He and other Cherokee who favored continued resistance eventually established new communities farther west and continued fighting American expansion for years after the Revolution itself had ended.
It's a difficult part of the Revolution—and an important one.
The birth of the United States did not mean the same thing to everyone living on this land in 1776.
The Mystery of the Black Hole
And here's where the story takes an intriguing turn:
Two hundred and fifty years later, we still don't know exactly where the battle happened.
A historical marker along Wayah Road in Macon County identifies the traditional area associated with the battle. One modern reconstruction, based on eyewitness accounts, estimated distances, the route toward Wayah Gap, and the shape of the surrounding terrain, identifies a nearby cove as a strong candidate.
But archaeologists have not confirmed the battlefield.
Other researchers have proposed very different locations.
One theory places the battle in a steep ravine in Swain County. Western Carolina University archaeologist Brett Riggs has suggested another possible site in the upper Nantahala River Valley. Each theory attempts to reconcile 250-year-old descriptions with the mountains as they exist today.
And there may still be physical evidence waiting beneath the ground.
A battlefield could potentially reveal concentrations of musket balls and other artifacts. There's even another tantalizing clue: ten days after the battle, North Carolina officer William Lenoir passed through the area and recorded seeing dead Cherokee warriors. He wrote that the militia dead had been buried in swampy ground beneath a pole causeway over which his men marched.
Somewhere in those mountains, traces of what happened on September 19, 1776, may still remain.
For now, the question is unanswered.
Two hundred and fifty years after the battle, the Black Hole is still keeping one of its secrets.
250 Years Later
One of the things we hope to do at Camp Flintlock is help students understand that the world of the 18th century was filled with many different people, cultures, and perspectives.
That's one reason Native American history has a place within our living history campsite and programs.
Students may make a Native American-inspired necklace or step inside one of our reproduction dwellings, but those experiences also give us an opportunity to begin conversations about the people who were already here—and whose stories are inseparable from the story of colonial America.
As we look back on 1776 during America's 250th anniversary, we'll naturally celebrate some remarkable moments.
But an anniversary also gives us an opportunity to look more closely.
Beyond the famous battlefields and familiar names are stories that unfolded in forests, settlements, villages, and mountain passes—including right here in North Carolina.
Some are inspiring.
Some are complicated.
Some force us to look at familiar figures and familiar events from a different perspective.
And some are painful.
America's 250th anniversary gives us room for all of those stories.
The story of 1776 isn't only the story of a new nation fighting for independence. It's also the story of the many people already living here—and how the creation of that new nation affected them.
All of it is part of our history.
And all of it is worth remembering.
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