John Stuart

  General Notes:

[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 2, Ed. 1, Tree #2009, Date of Import: Aug 8, 1996]

John Stuart b. 1700 d. February 21, 1779. Born inScotland. He came to America in 1733, and was appointed to a subordinatecommand in the British service, and soon became a favorite with theIndians. He was stationed at Fort Loudon as a Captain of a BritishCompany in 1757. The fort was besieged and captured by the War Chief Ogo no sto ta on August 7, 1760. Nearly all the garrison was killed,butCapt. Stuart was rescued and taken to Virginia by the Civil ChiefAtakullakulla (see note 1599b). In 1763 Stuart was later appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs,South of the Ohio River (a position he held until his death on February21, 1779). married Susannah Emory, their only child was known as Oo nodu tu or Bushyhead and this name has clung to his descendants. Capt.Stuart was known by the Cherokee name of Oo no du tu because of hisshock of blond hair. In 1768 he negotiated with the Cherokee the treatyof hard labor by which the Kanawha River was fixed as the westernboundary of Virginia. At the outbreak of the revolution he organized theCherokee and other southern tribes, with the white loyalists, against theAmericans, and was largely responsible for the Indian outrages along thesouthern border. He planned a general invasion by the southern tribesalong the whole frontier, in cooperation with a British force to belanded in western Florida, while a British fleet should occupy theattention of the Americans on the coast side and the Tories should risein the interior. On the discovery of the plot and the subsequent defeatof the Cherokee by the Americans, he fled to Florida and soon afterwardsailed for England, where he died. (it is debated whether he died inFlorida or England)

John married Susannah Emory, daughter of William Emory and Mary Grant.