European settlers had begun arriving in the Watauga, Nolichucky, and Holston river valleys in the late 1760s and early 1770s, most migrating from Virginia via the Great Valley, although a few are believed to have been Regulators fleeing North Carolina after their defeat at the Battle of Alamance.

These settlers mistakenly believe (or at least will claim to have believed) the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys are part of lands ceded to Virginia by the Cherokee in the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber, but a subsequent survey by Colonel John Donelson confirms that these lands are still part of the Cherokee domain.

As settlement on lands west of colonial boundaries violates the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers are ordered to leave.

In May 1772, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers negotiate a ten-year lease directly with the Cherokee, and being outside the claims of any colony, establish the Watauga Association to provide basic government functions.

The lease and the subsequent purchase of these lands in 1775 are considered illegal by the British Crown, and are vehemently opposed by a growing faction of the Cherokee led by the young chief Dragging Canoe.

With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (April 1775), the settlers organize themselves into the "Washington District," loyal to the "united colonies," and form a Committee of Safety to govern it, marking the end of the so-called "Watauga Republic".

In Spring of 1776, the Washington District Committee of Safety drafts a petition asking the colony of Virginia to annex the district.

After Virginia refuses, the Committee drafts a similar petition (dated July 5, 1776) asking the North Carolina Assembly to annex the district.

In November of this year, North Carolina grants the petition and formally annexes the area.

The Washington District is finally admitted to North Carolina as Washington County in November 1777.

The Cherokee, who are aligned with the British, launch an all-out invasion against the settlements in July 1776, but are soundly defeated.

In 1777, the Cherokee sign he Treaty of Long Island, ceding control of the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys to the American colonies.