Hanging Maw
| Hanging Maw | |
|---|---|
| Died | c. 1792 |
| Nationality | Cherokee |
| Title | First Beloved Man |
| Predecessor | Old Tassel |
| Successor | Little Turkey |
Hanging Maw, or Uskwa'li-gu'ta in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day Tennessee. He became chief following the death of Old Tassel, during the troubled period following the destruction of the traditional capital at Chota.
Uskwa'li-gu'ta was born into his mother's clan, as the Cherokee had a matrilineal system. Accordingly, his maternal uncle would have taught him men's ways and guided him into the men's societies. He was a descendant of Moytoy III.
His wife Betsy was the sister of the chief Attakullakulla.
Representing his mother's clan, Hanging Maw was on the tribal council for some time. Although Hanging Maw claimed the title of First Beloved Man by right as the chief headman of the Overhill Towns, the rest of the nation had chosen Little Turkey when they moved the seat of the council to Ustanali on the Conasauga River following the murder of Old Tassel. Uskwa'li-gu'ta was a descendant of Moytoy of Citico. They both exerted power for some time.
Hanging Maw took part in the Cherokee–American wars (1776-1794). In February 1786 in Middle Tennessee, approximately 20 miles southeast of Lafayette, he led a party of 60 men in a skirmish with a surveying party, made up of John and Ephraim Peyton, Squire Grant, and two other white men. Outnumbered, the white men escaped the area, but lost their horses, game, and surveying instruments to the band of Cherokee. The stream at the site of the skirmish became known as "Defeated Creek."
In 1793, a diplomatic party from the Lower Cherokee (as the division of Cherokee still at war with the United States were by then called) was attacked by colonial militia while traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee, then capital of the Southwest Territory. The militia pursued the Cherokee to Chota on the Little Tennessee River. The town was much reduced since the capital moved to Unstanali, near present-day Calhoun, Georgia. When the militia could not capture the diplomatic party, they attacked the people of the town, wounding Hanging Maw and killing Betsy.
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