A’gansta’ta or Oconostota, The Great Warrior
Oconostota, the great war chief. He may have been the
only Indian chief ever to lead his men to victory over an army
of British regulars. He was the son of Moytoy, the great Chickmaugan "Emperor" or Supreme Chief of the Cherokee ~1730 -- 1760. Oconostota was one of the more tragic figures of the American Revolution. As a young warrior, he fought against the Choctaw in the 1750s.
By the time of the Revolution, Oconostota was a great chief in his tribe, and according to Cherokee agent Alexander Cameron, the formidable warrior commanded "not only a vast sway with his own people, but with other tribes." In 1773 he even became a member of the Saint Andrew's Club of Charleston! His portrait 
shows a regal warrior, but the Revolution placed him in an impossible position. As the Anglo-American crisis escalated, Oconostota struggled to avoid open warfare with the Americans. Younger chiefs of the tribe, however, angered at continued pressure on their lands, urged warfare, and the American Revolution gave them an opportunity. While the great chief continually applied to Virginia and Continental officials to negotiate, his people, led by the younger
chiefs, were defeated.
The Snake Doctor
