After the American Revolution, settlers began finding their way into the southern Appalachians. In response, the Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations allied themselves with Spain, and the Creek declared war on the U.S. Local militia sought to counter the resulting raids on American settlers.
On January 10, 1789 John Sevier (future first governor of Tennessee) marched his militia 25 miles, up along and even in Rocky Fork Creek, in snow up to their knees, to attack a winter settlement of Chickamauga Cherokee at the confluence of Rocky Fork and Flint Creek.
The deep snow had wet the militia's gunpowder, so the "grasshopper" cannon they had brought with them did not provide the advantage they had hoped. The fighting quickly devolved to hand combat, with sword and tomahawk. Despite this seeming evening of the odds, the element of surprise produced a lopsided result. This along with the fact that Sevier had sent some of his forces over Flint Mountain to cut off avenues of retreat. In the end, some 145 Cherokee lay dead, along with perhaps 5 of Sevier's men.
Today, part of the Cherokee encampment area remains treeless, preserved in this state by Rocky Fork State Park. It is a moving experience to imagine the space filled with fighting, but to me even more so to imagine the space filled with dwellings, camp fires, people, and activity prior to the attack.
The cache is a camo-taped small peanut butter jar (park management objected to the ammo can I had originally selected), with some room for trade and trackable items. There's a modest FTF prize.
Special note: For the first 10 finders at least, there is a special coin minted just for you. If this interests you, though, come prepared to trade even or trade up. Beyond the first 10, the supply of these coins will depend on whether I'm able and willing to resupply the cache.
This cache has explicit approval by the Park Manager, and is the first geocache in Rocky Fork State Park with that distinction.
All risks associated with seeking this cache are disclaimed by the cache owner and are assumed by the seeker.