Tahlonteeskee

Tahlonteeskee, is the name of several Cherokee, and one Creek Indian, during the period of the Chickamauga Wars. The name, (rendered into Cherokee as Ata'lunti'ski), has been translated as "The Disturber" or "The Upsetter".

1. Tahlonteeskee of the Broken Arrow was the possible Cherokee-given name of a Creek chieftain killed in a failed attack against Buchannan's Station, a frontier fort near Nashville, TN, on September 30, 1792. Also killed in this attack was Pumpkin Boy, brother of Doublehead, and the Shawnee warrior called 'Siksika', an older brother of Tecumseh. Wounded in the skirmish was John Watts (also known as 'Young Tassel').
2. Tahlonteeskee was the name of a brother or brother-in-law of Doublehead, a well known Chickamauga Indian warrior. Governor William Blount was told by John Watts that Tahlonteeskee was his uncle "of a kind," perhaps denoting a relationship by marriage. This older man named Tahlonteeskee was a member of the Cherokee delegation to Philadelphia in 1791, accompanying Doublehead and Bloody Fellow. These diplomats met with President George Washington. Later, Tahlonteeskee joined his nephew, John Watts, and the young Dragging Canoe, in a secret trip to Pensacola, FL, whose purpose was to buy arms and supplies from a British merchant. Governor Blount was informed of this trip by spy reports printed in the "American State Papers".
3. Tahlonteeskee (or 'Talotisky' ) was yet another man mentioned by the same source, which noted that John Watts was visited at his residence in the Chickmauga town of Willstown by his nephews: 'Captain' Bench (a.k.a. Bob Benge), The Tail, and Talotisky. The latter name is possibly an alternate spelling of Tahlonteeskee, since at that time there was not a uniform system of writing Cherokee sounds into English.

Sources

• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol.1, 1789-1813Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, 1831-1861.
• McLoughlin, William G. Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).
• Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee. (Nashville: Charles and Randy Elder-Booksellers, 1982).
• Wilkins, Thurman. Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1970).