Timberlake Expedition

The Timberlake Expedition was an excursion into the Overhill Cherokee lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, which took place in 1761 following the Anglo-Cherokee War. Its purpose was to renew and solidify friendship between Colonial Americans and the Cherokee People following the three-year war. The endeavor is named after the commander of the expedition, Henry Timberlake.

The Timberlake Expedition was organized in 1761 by Colonel Adam Stephen. The expressed purpose of the expedition was to visit the Overhill Cherokee (in present-day Tennessee) to verify that an end of hostilities of the Anglo-Cherokee War had taken place in the Virginia back-country. Stephen gave command of the expedition to Timberlake, who had volunteered for the assignment. Timberlake was accompanied by Sergeant Thomas Sumter (who funded the expedition), John McCormack (an interpreter), and a servant. The small group purchased a canoe and ten days' worth of provisions with money Sumter had borrowed. The planned route was to follow the Holston River to its confluence with the French Broad River, and proceed to the Little Tennessee River, where the five main Overhill towns were situated.

Timberlake's party left Long Island-on-the-Holston on November 28, 1761. The Holston River's unusually low water levels slowed their progress, as the party had to drag or portage the canoe over and around exposed shoals and sandbars. They ran out of provisions after several days, but McCormack managed to shoot a bear, supplying them with several days' worth of meat. Around December 7, the party explored a stalactite-filled cave situated approximately 50 feet (15 m) above the river. Timberlake, in his journal, described Sumter's swimming nearly a half-mile in the icy waters to retrieve their canoe which had drifted away while they were exploring the cave.

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