A clear, engaging look at early frontier politics, Cherokee relations, and the rise of North Carolina’s backcountry. This volume presents a focused portrait of the Cherokee towns, traders, and colonial authorities along the edge of colonial South Carolina. It traces how diplomacy, trade, and conflict shaped the frontier, from council meetings and feasts to the friction that sparked broader warfare. The narrative moves through key events in the region’s early history, highlighting the role of forts, mismanaged policies, and evolving relationships with English and French rivals. Readers will see how trade and rum shaped Indigenous life and colonial power, how leadership at Keowee and other towns interacted with Charleston, and how misunderstandings and misrule contributed to decades of tension. The material blends eyewitness accounts with broad historical context to illuminate the backcountry’s volatile rise in the colonial era. How diplomacy, gifts, and diplomacy-back channels affected treaty promises and trust The impact of trade practices, regulation, and rum on Cherokee communities Relations between colonial officials, traders, and Indigenous leaders along the frontier The sequence of events leading up to major conflicts and the move toward Fort Loudon and beyond Ideal for readers of early American frontier history and anyone interested in the roots of colonial-Indian relations in the Carolinas.