Morganton, Tennessee

The former site of Morganton, now under Tellico Lake.

After the American Revolutionary War, there was increasing pressure by European-American settlers who started migrating into this area and squatting on Cherokee lands. The Overhill Cherokee had several major villages that were located upstream; for instance, Mialoquo was situated just around Wears Bend, on the opposite side of the Little Tennessee River. By this time, most of these villages had either been destroyed in earlier warfare or were in decline, in part due to high fatalities from smallpox epidemics.

Under pressure from the United States, The Morganton area was part of the lands ceded by the Cherokee with the signing of the First Treaty of Tellico in 1798. The first Euro-American settlers had arrived at the mouth of Bakers Creek in 1796, however, when the land was still claimed by the Cherokee.[2] Ethnologist James Mooney recorded a Cherokee legend regarding blazed trees on the banks "opposite Morganton" that supposedly marked the location of hidden mines; he first published it in his volume on myths in 1900. This and a companion volume were republished in 1972.[3]

By 1799 a grist mill had been established along Bakers Creek by Hugh and Charles Kelso. The following year, Captain Robert Wear (1781-1846) arrived in the area, establishing a plantation near the mouth of the river and a ferry near the mouth of Bakers Creek. In 1801, an inspection port was established near the ferry, and the small community that developed in its vicinity became known as "Portville." The community of Portville incorporated in 1813 after the Kelso brothers donated land for the formation of a town square. The community chose the name "Morganton" after Gideon Morgan (1751–1830), a Revolutionary War veteran and prominent local merchant.[4][5]

By the 1830s, Morganton had grown to become the main shipping hub and business center in the Little Tennessee region. Flatboats carried local products such as whiskey and hemp to trade throughout the Tennessee Valley— and sometimes as far away as New Orleans— for products such as clothing, salt, and spices. By 1832, the town had its own doctor, hatter's shop, hemp factory, wagon factory, cabinet shop, distillery, and silversmith.[6] A steamboat line connecting Morganton and Knoxville began operating in 1831.[7]

Abandoned mill along Bakers Creek in Morganton, photographed in 1939

In late 1863, at the height of the U.S. Civil War, Confederate General James Longstreet hoped to cross the Little Tennessee at Morganton en route from Chattanooga to Knoxville to dislodge the troops under the command of Ambrose Burnside, who had occupied Knoxville earlier in the year. Longstreet later recalled:

Had the means been at hand for making proper moves I should have marched for the rear of Knoxville via Morganton and Marysville ...[8]

As Longstreet lacked the materials to construct a pontoon bridge, however, he was forced to cross the Tennessee River at Loudon, and approach from the west. That same year, however, Union General William T. Sherman crossed the Little Tennessee at Morganton en route to Chattanooga. Sherman tore down several of the town's houses to construct a pontoon bridge.[7]

After the Civil War, railroads slowly replaced riverboats as the preferred mode of shipping and transportation. When the L&N Railroad laid tracks through nearby Greenback in the late 19th century, Morganton slowly declined. In 1947, a bridge near Niles Ferry became toll-free, putting most of the ferries along the Little Tennessee River out of business. The Morganton Ferry was the last to go, folding in 1961.[9]

In 1968, the Tennessee Valley Authority reported 18 houses, a store, and a church at Morganton, all of which were to be torn down in anticipation of the construction of Tellico Dam. In 1978, as the Tellico Dam project was stalled by litigation, University of Tennessee archaeologists conducted a test survey of the Morganton townsite. Several early American artifacts were located, some dating to as early as 1762, as well as several projectile points. The artifacts were similar to those uncovered at the nearby Tellico Blockhouse site, which had been excavated around the same time.[10]