Hanging Maw, or Uskwa'li-gu'ta in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee

Overhill Cherokee

The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the former Cherokee settlements located in what is now Tennessee in the southeastern United States. The name was given by 18th century European traders and explorers who had to cross the Appalachian Mountains to reach these settlements when traveling from...

 from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day Tennessee. He became chief following the death of Old Tassel

Old Tassel

Utsi'dsata, or Corntassel, known to history as Old Tassel, became First Beloved Man, at least of the Overhill and other non-belligerent Cherokee, in 1783 after the elders removed his predecessor, The Raven of Chota...

, during the troubled period following the destruction of the traditional capital at Chota

Chota (Cherokee town)

Chota is a historic Overhill Cherokee site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. For much of its history, Chota was the most important of the Overhill towns, serving as the de facto capital of the Cherokee people from the late 1740s until 1788...

.

Early life and education

Uskwa'li-gu'ta was born into his mother's clan, as the Cherokee had a matrilineal system. Accordingly, his maternal uncle would have taught him men's ways and guided him into the men's societies. He was a descendant of Moytoy III.

Adult years

Representing his mother's clan, Hanging Maw was on the tribal council for some time. Although Hanging Maw claimed the title of First Beloved Man by right as the chief headman of the Overhill Towns, the rest of the nation had chosen Little Turkey

Little Turkey

Little Turkey was elected First Beloved Man by the general council of the Cherokee upon the move of the council's seat to Ustanali on the Conasauga River following the murder of Corntassel in 1788...

 when they moved the seat of the council to Ustanali on the Conasauga River

Conasauga River

The Conasauga River is a river that runs through southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. The Conasauga River is long and is home to 90 species of fish and 25 species of freshwater mussels...

 following the murder of Old Tassel. Uskwa'li-gu'ta was a descendant of Moytoy III

Moytoy III

Moytoy of Citico was a Cherokee leader during the time of the Anglo-Cherokee War and was its chief initial instigator, in response to perceived slights by the British while campaigning with them against the French in the French and Indian War in 1758...

. They both exerted power for some time.

Hanging Maw took part in the Chickamauga Wars

Chickamauga wars

The Chickamauga Wars were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles which were a continuation of the Cherokee struggle against encroachment by American frontiersmen from the former British colonies...

 (1776-1794). In February 1786 in Middle Tennessee, approximately 20 miles southeast of Lafayette, he led a party of 60 men in a skirmish with a surveying party, made up of John and Ephraim Peyton, Squire Grant, and two other white men. Outnumbered, the white men escaped the area, but lost their horses, game, and surveying instruments to the band of Cherokee. The stream at the site of the skirmish became known as "Defeated Creek."

In 1793, a diplomatic party from the Lower Cherokee (as the division of Cherokee still at war with the United States were by then called) was attacked by colonial militia while traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, then capital of the Southwest Territory

Southwest Territory

The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States as the State of Tennessee.The Southwest Territory was...

. The militia pursued the Cherokee to Chota on the Little Tennessee River

Little Tennessee River

The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, approximately 135 miles long, in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.-Geography:...

. The town was much reduced since the capital moved to Unstanali, near present-day Calhoun, Georgia

Calhoun, Georgia

Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 15,650. The city is the county seat of Gordon County.-Geography:Calhoun is located at , along the Oostanaula River....

. When the militia could not capture the diplomatic party, they attacked the people of the town, wounding Hanging Maw and killing Betsy.

The Cherokee retaliated with an invasion of the Holston River

Holston River

The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia...

 settlements. They gathered the largest force of Indians to that point, more than 1,000 warriors from both the Cherokee and the Upper Muskogee, led by John Watts

John Watts (Cherokee chief)

John Watts, or Kunokeski, also known as Young Tassel, was one of the leaders of the Chickamauga during the Chickamauga Wars, particularly after the murder of his uncle, Old Tassel, by marauding frontiersmen firing upon delegates at a peace conference in 1788...

, the chief of the Lower Cherokee. The Cherokee became divided over the murders by some warriors of a family at a small fortified settlement known as Cavett's Station, whom Watts had promised safe passage.