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I'm posting this here because I have reached yet another stumbling block in my family research. Online resources seem terribly limited and mostly conflicting. I even came across a thesis regarding the subject of the history of Fort Watauga. While most have similar accounts of the siege of 1776, the college thesis, http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2260&context=etd) in particular, says nothing about later instances when the Cherokee attacked. This leaves me unable to verify the family account that the fort was, again, under attack during the spring of 1780. Also, although historians such as Ramsey, give some information regarding the exact location of the fort, he seems to be 'off' according the the thesis I read.

My sixth great-grandmother died at Fort Watauga and was buried on the same day somewhere in the surrounding forest in an unmarked grave, since my sixth great-grandfather, then a Lt. Colonel in the militia, was concerned the Cherokee would desecrate her grave. Apparently, the funeral took place under the cover of night and was completed by around midnight, since the Cherokee were known for attacking at dawn. If the exact location of this fort truly is in question, this could account for why her remains have never been located.

I have been unable to find any information about this particular attack, to know how long it ran, how devastating it was and to even know if this is what happened to the Fort, since the thesis suggested no one really knows the full history. Certainly, I haven't found much about it online.

There was also a website that suggested the siege of 1776 lasted so long, that the settlers were unable to plant their crops and were having to plead for flour and such. (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/indian/10.html) This is from an unpublished work, so I cannot put much credence into it, nor have I been able verify this. Especially, since the source cited  in the college thesis, (Draper), gave an account that three or four men dared to venture out of the fort at one point to travel the four miles to the plantation of John Sevier for some corn.

Ah, excuse me, if the people were more or less trapped in said fort unable to plant, how was it John Sevier could do so? (Dang, he's good, but I didn't think he had  on a 'Superman cape' underneath that inevitable hunter's shirt.) Let's get real, here, folks.

Does anyone have any credible accounts as to the history of this fort? Or anything that may help me gather the truth? Please, and thank you, in advance.

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I've found a site called www.academia.edu.  It's a little tricky to use.  Many academics and other researchers are on it.  You can search for research papers there.  Most seem to be downloadable.  Don't forget to check Worldcat.org as well.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I shall take a look at both of those sites. In the meantime, I got an email letting me know the "Sevier Family History" book by Cora Bales Sevier, (1961) was available for me to check out from Open Library.

I am finding out a few things I missed the first three times I've borrowed this book. I am hoping to clear up the (sometimes) distorted timeline of events. Phew, it's leaving my poor head spinning!

I just want my family, including my eight grandchildren, to have a clear idea of their ancestor's lives in the tumultuous time they lived through, the building of this nation. I owe it to them.

Okay, now I feel really dumb. Seems I had the wrong fort name in my head. I managed to check out the Cora Bales Sevier "Sevier Family History" book again and to my complete surprise, discovered I had the wrong fort. While John did serve at Fort Watauga (Caswell-on-the-Watauga) he moved to Little Limestone Creek and was building Fort Lee, which was abandoned before the siege of 1776, and John ended up at Fort Watauga as one of the officers in charge there. His family, as it turned out, had already forted at Shelby's Station. How I missed this in earlier reads is beyond me. :O

Although Fort Lee was ultimately burnt down by the Cherokee during that fateful summer, apparently a Fort Nolichucky was built in the area. Not entirely sure how or when, and I have not been able to find out exactly where. But I thought I came across a site that suggested it was built on or near where Davy Crockett's birth home is. At any rate John and his family were living on Little Limestone Creek, six miles below Jonesboro in 1780. His wife died at Fort Nolichucky, not Watauga. Face/palm

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