Defeated is an unincorporated community in Smith County, Tennessee, United States. The town is named for the events that took place around 1790 along the banks of a stream that is now known as Defeated Creek. John Peyton, (one of the earliest settlers and explorers of Smith County) and his surveying party were attacked by a band of Cherokee Indians led by a chief named Hanging Maw. The surveyors were overrun and driven out of the area with many injuries, but no one was killed.