Attakullakulla (Cherokee "Tsalagi", (ᎠᏔᎫᎧᎷ) Atagukalu and often called Little Carpenter by the English) (c. 1715 – c. 1777) was an influential Cherokee leader and the tribe's First Beloved Man, serving from 1761 to around 1775. His son was Dragging Canoe, the first leader of the Chickamauga faction of the Cherokee tribes.

While Attakullakulla was "a man of remarkably small stature, he was noted for his maturity, wisdom, and graciousness." Attakullakulla knew some English but was not fluent. He was, however, considered the most gifted Cherokee orator from the 1760s to the 1770s. He first appeared in historic records in 1730, noted as accompanying Alexander Cuming, a British treaty commissioner, and six other Cherokee to England. He was one of the signatories of an early Cherokee treaty with Great Britain.

By the early 1750s, Attakullakulla, renowned for his oratorical skills, had been appointed a principal speaker for the Cherokee tribes. In the 1750s and 1760s Attakullakulla dominated Cherokee diplomacy. Although he usually favored the British, he was a consummate diplomat, always hoping for a peaceful resolution to problems but looking out for the best interests of the Cherokee.

Early in his life, he was first known as Onkanacleah. According to anthropologist James Mooney, Attakullakulla's Cherokee name could be translated as "leaning wood", from ada meaning "wood", and gulkalu, a verb that implies something long, leaning against some other object. His name "Little Carpenter" was related both to the English meaning of his Cherokee name and a reference to his physical stature. Naturalist William Bartram described the chief as "a man of remarkable small stature, slender, and delicate frame." "...his ears were cut and banded with silver, hanging nearly down to his shoulders. He was mild-mannered, brilliant, and witty..."

Contemporary Felix Walker also described Attakullakulla by the following: just "as a white carpenter could make every notch and joint fit in wood, so he could bring all his views to fill and fit their places in the political machinery of his nation". He was known to excel at building houses.

Attakullakulla is believed to have been born in the territory of the Overhill Cherokee, in what is now East Tennessee, sometime in the early 1700s, although it is not known exactly when. His son, Turtle-at-Home, said that he was born to a sub-tribe of the Algonquian-speaking Nipissing in the North near Lake Superior. He was captured as an infant during a raid in which his parents were killed, and brought south to Overhill territory, where he was adopted by a Cherokee family, and raised as Cherokee. Attakullakulla believed he was of Jewish descent. He married Nionne Ollie, the daughter of his cousin, Oconostota. She was said to have been a Black, French speaking Natchez captive adopted by his cousin's wife. The marriage was permissible because the individuals were from different clans; he was Wolf Clan and she was Paint Clan.^{[citation needed]}

In 1730, Attakullakulla was a member of a delegation of Cherokee leaders who traveled to England. In 1736, he rejected the advances of the French, who had sent emissaries to the Overhill tribes. Three or four years later, he was captured by the Ottawa, who were allies of the French. They held him captive in Quebec until 1748. Upon his return, he became one of the Cherokees' leading diplomats and an adviser to the Beloved Man of Chota, which had become the primary town of the Overhill settlements.

In the 1750s, Attakullakulla worked to provide a steady supply of trade goods for his people. When the French and Indian War began in North America, Cherokee warriors traveled to the Pennsylvania frontier to serve in British military campaigns against French and their Native American allies' strongholds.