Moytoy of Tellico

Moytoy of Tellico, "Emperor of the Cherokee"
Born	c. 1687 Tellico
Died	1760
Residence	Great Tellico
Nationality	Cherokee
Title	First Beloved Man of the Cherokee
Successor	Amouskositte

Moytoy of Tellico (d. 1741^[1]) was a Cherokee leader from Great Tellico, to whom Sir Alexander Cumming, a trade envoy from the Province of South Carolina gave the title "Emperor of the Cherokee". The Cherokee themselves used the title "First Beloved Man". His name in Cherokee was Amo-adawehi, "rainmaker,"^[2].

In 1730 Cumming, a Scottish adventurer with no particular authority so for being a businessman with ties to the colonial government of South Carolina, arranged for Moytoy to be crowned emperor over all of the Cherokee towns in a ceremony aimed at his colonial sponsors; the Cherokee never recognized Moytoy's authority. He was crowned in Nikwasi with a headdress Cumming called the "Crown of Tannassy."

Cumming arranged to take Moytoy and a group of Cherokee to England to meet King George. Moytoy declined to go, saying that his wife was ill. Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter) volunteered to go in his place. The "Crown" was laid at King George's feet along with four scalps.

Some European sources refer to Moytoy's wife as a woman named Go-sa-du-isga, and title her the "Queen of the Cherokee." On his death, some British enterpreneurs attempted to recognize his 13 year old son Amouskositte as Emperor. He had little real authority among the elder-dominated Cherokee, and by 1753 Kanagatucko (Old Hop) of Chota in the Overhill Towns had emerged as the dominant leader.^[3]

See also

• Moytoy of Citico

Notes

1. ^ Gearing, Fred (1962). Priests and Warriors: Social Structures for Cherokee Politics in the 18th Century. 
2. ^ Brown, p. 538
3. ^ Hoig, Stan (1998). The Cherokees and Their Chiefs: In the Wake of Empire. University of Arkansas Press. 

Preceded by Wrosetasatow

First Beloved Man 1730–1741

Succeeded by Amouskositte

Sources

• Brown, John P. Old Frontiers. (Kingsport: Southern Publishers, 1938).
• Haywood, W.H. The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee from its Earliest Settlement up to the Year 1796. (Nashville: Methodist Episcopal Publishing House, 1891).
• Litton, Gaston L. "The Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation", Chronicles of Oklahoma 15:3 (September 1937) 253-270 (retrieved August 18, 2006).
• Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee. (Nashville: Charles and Randy Elder-Booksellers, 1982).
• Ramsey, James Gettys McGregor. The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century. (Chattanooga: Judge David Campbell, 1926).