North of this site, in the center of the lake, stood an important Indian town in the area now marked by a small island. The settlement began around 500 A.D., was occupied by Cherokee Indians around 1450, and was receiving traders by 1690. In 1716, while Col. Maurice Moore was treating with Charity Hague, a Cherokee conjuror, a group of Creek ambassadors arrived. Supported by Spain and France during the Yamassee War, the Creeks hoped to drive the British from the Carolinas, but the Cherokees killed the Creek ambassadors and joined the British. By 1717, Col. Theophilus Hastings operated a trading center at Tugaloo where gunsmith John Milbourne cared for Cherokee firearms. Indian agent George Chicken visited Tugaloo in 1725 and called it "the most ancient town in these parts." Tugaloo remained a principal Cherokee town until American patriots destroyed it in 1776 while fighting these allies of the British.