Biography
He was the son of Attakullakulla ("Little Carpenter"), who was born to the Nipissing and captured and adopted as an infant by the Cherokee, making him one of the tribe. His mother was Nionne Ollie("Tamed Doe), born to the Natchez and adopted as a captive by Oconostota's household.
They lived with the Overhill Cherokee on the Little Tennessee River. Dragging Canoe survived smallpox at a young age, which left his face marked. According to Cherokee legend, his name is derived from an incident in his early childhood. He tried to prove his readiness for war by carrying a canoe, but could only drag it.
Read more about this topic: Dragging Canoe
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