USA > North Carolina > Western North Carolina; a history, 1730-1913 > Part 12
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SEVIER'S SPRING AT BAKERSVILLE. There is a fine spring at Bakersville, nearly in front of the old Penland House, now the Young hotel, at which it is said that Sevier and his party stopped and rested after leaving Morganton. About 1850 an old sword was found near this spring, and was supposed to have been lost by one of these mountaineers. They reached Cathey's, or Cathoo's, plantation that night, after coming 20 miles from Elk Hollow, at the mouth of a small eastern tribu- tary of the North Toe flowing north from Gillespie's gap, and called Grassy creek. Here they camped. It is near what is now Spruce Pine on the line of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad. "On Friday the 29th they passed up Grassy creek and through Gillespie's gap in the Blue Ridge, where they divided; Campbell's men, at least, going six or seven miles south to Henry Gillespie's, and a little below to Colonel William Wofford's Fort, both in Turkey Cove; while the oth- ers pursued the old trace in a easterly direction, about the same distance, to the North Cove, on the North Fork of the Catawba, where they camped for the night in the woods, on the bank of that stream, just above the mouth of Honeycutt's creek."
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SYCAMORE SHOALS MONUMENT. Monuments have been placed along this route to mark it permanently; Sycamore Shoals, Tennessee, at Elk Hollow, at the mouth of Grassy creek near Spruce Pine, and at the junction of Honeycutt's creek and the North Fork, near a station on the C. C. & O. Railroad known as Linville Falls. The monument at Syca- more Shoals is beautiful, and was erected September 26, 1909, by Bonny Kate, John Sevier and Sycamore Shoals chapters, D. A. R. Here it was that the patriots on their way to Kings Mountain assembled under Sevier, Shelby and Camp- bell, September 25, 1780. On the southern face is the inscrip- tion: "The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Also a statement that Fort Watauga, the first settlers' fort built west of the Alleghanies, was erected here in 1770. Also a statement that "Here was negotiated the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals under which Transylvania was acquired from the Cher- okees, March 19, 1775."
ROBERT LOVE. He was born near the Tinkling Spring Meeting house, Augusta county, Va., May 11, 1760. His father was Samuel, son of Ephraim Love, captain of the Col- onial Horse; and his mother Dorcas, second daughter of James Bell, to whom had been issued on the formation of Augusta county, October 30, 1745, a "commission of the Peace."' Samuel Love and Dorcas Bell were married July 3, 1759. Robert Love was christened by Rev. John Craig, who was pastor of the Tinkling Spring church from 1740 to 1764. 10 It was at this old church that the eloquent James Waddell, afterwards immortalized by Wm. Wirt, was pastor for sev- eral years, though he did not become "The Blind Preacher" till after the Revolutionary War and he had removed to Gor- donsville, his blindness having been caused by cataract. Robert Love's pension papers show 11 that he was on the expedition un- der Col. Christie in 1776 against the Cherokees; that he was at Fort Henry on Long Island of the Holston in 1777; that he was stationed in 1778 at the head of the Clinch and Sandy rivers (Fort Robertson), and operated against the Shawnees from April to October; that from 1779 to 1780 he was engaged against the Tories on Tom's creek, New River, and Cripple creek, at Moravian Old Town, and at the Shallow ford of the Yadkin, under Col. Wm. Campbell; that in 1781 he was engaged in Guilford county "and the adjoining county" against Corn-
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wallis, and "was in a severe battle with his army at White- sell mill and the Rudy ford of the Haw river, under Gen. Pickens; that from this place, with Capt. Wm. Doach, he was sent back "from the rendezvous at the Lead Mines to col- lect and bring more men;" that in 1782 he "was again sta- tioned out on the frontiers of the Clinch, at Fort Robertson from June to October." He was living in Mont- gomery, now Wythe county, Va., when he entered the service in 1776, and after the Revolutionary War, his parents being dead, he moved with Wm. Gregory and his family to Wash- ington county, N. C. (now Tennessee), in the fall of 1782. Having moved to Greasy Cove, now Erwin Tenn., he married Mary Ann Dillard, daughter of Col. Thomas Dillard of Pittsylvania county, Va., on the 11th day of September, 1783; and on the 5th of April, 1833, he made application for a pen- sion under the act of Congress of June 7, 1832, attaching his commission signed by Ben. Harrison, governor of Virginia; but, a question having arisen as to the date of this commis- sion Andrew Jackson wrote from The Hermitage on October 12, 1837, to the effect that he had known Col. Love since the fall of 1784, and that there "is no man in this Union who has sustained a higher reputation for integrity than Col. Robert Love, with all men and with all parties, although himself a uniform democratic Republican, and that no man stands deservedly higher as a man of great moral worth than Col. Love has always stood in the estimation of all who knew him." Even this endorsement, however, did not serve to secure the pension; but when E. H. McClure of Haywood filed an affi- davit to the effect that the date of the commission was 1781 or 1782, official red-tape had no other refuge, and granted the pension. He was a delegate to the Greenville convention of the State of Franklin, December 14, 1784, and voted to adopt the constitution of North Carolina instead of that proposed by Sam Houston. 12 In 1778 he was engaged against the Chick- amauga Indians as colonel of a regiment operating near White's fort. 18
He also drew a pension from the State (Colonial Records, Vol. xxii, p. 74). He and John Blair represented Washing- ton county (formerly the State of Franklin) in the North Carolina legislature in November, 1889 (Ibid., Vol. xxi, p. 194). Later in the same session John Sevier appeared and
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was sworn in as an additional representative from the same county (Ibid., pp. 584-85). Love was also a justice of the peace for Washington county in October, 1788. (Ibid., Vol. xxii, p. 702); and the journal of the North Carolina State convention for the ratification of the constitution of the United States shows that Robert Love, Landon Carter, John Blair, Wm. Houston and Andrew Green were delegates, and that Robert Love voted for its adoption. (Ibid., Vol. xxii, pp. 36, 39, 47, 48).
He moved to Buncombe county, N. C., as early as 1792, and represented that county in 1793, 1794, 179514 in the State Senate. According to the affidavit of his brother, Gen. Thos. Love, Robert Love "was an elector for president and vice- president when Thomas Jefferson was elected, and has been successively elected ever since, down to (and including) the election of the present chief magistrate, Andrew Jackson. " 15 This affidavit is dated April 6, 1833. In a letter from Robert Love to William Welch, dated at Raleigh, December 4, 1828, he says that all the electors were present on the 3d "and gave their votes in a very dignified manner and before a very large concourse of people, " the State House being crowded. 16 Fif- teen cannon were fired "for the number of electoral votes and one for the county of Haywood, and for the zeal she appeared to have had from the number of votes for the Old Hero's Ticket. It was submitted to me to bring forward a motion to proceed to ballot for a president of the United States and of course you may be well assured that I cheerfully nominated Andrew Jackson. . . I was much gratified to have that honor and respect paid me. From the most authentic accounts . Adams will not get a vote south of the Potomac or west of the mountains. Wonderful what a majority! For Jackson 178 and Adams only 83, leav- ing Jackson a majority of 95 votes. So much for a bargain and intrigue." 17 The reason for firing an extra gun for Hay- wood county was because that county had cast a solid vote for Robert Love as elector for Andrew Jackson, such staunch Whigs as William Mitchell Davidson and Joseph Cathey hav- ing induced their fellow Whigs to refrain from voting out of regard for their democratic friend and neighbor, Robert Love. He carried the vote to Washington in a gig that year. He
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named the town of Waynesville for his friend "Mad" Anthony Wayne, with whom he had served at Long Island during the Revolution.
In 1821 he was one of the commissioners who ran the bound- ary line between North Carolina and Tennessee from Pigeon river south. On the 14th day of July, 1834, he was kicked on the hip by a horse while in Green county, Tenn., and so crippled that he had to use a crutch till his death. 18 The gig, too, had to be given up for a barouche, drawn by two horses and driven by a coachman. His cue, his blue swallow-tailed coat, and knee breeches with silver knee-buckles and silk stockings are remembered yet by a few of the older people. He died at Waynesville, July 17, 1845, "loved by his friends and feared by his enemies."19 He was largely instrumental in having Haywood county established, became its first clerk, defeating Felix Walker for the position; and in 1828, he wrote to Wm. Welch (December 4) from Raleigh: "The bill for erecting a new county out of the western part of Burke and northeastern part of Buncombe after severe debate fell in the house of commons, on its second reading by a majority against it of three only. The bill for the division of Haywood county has passed the senate the third and last reading by a majority of seven; and, I suppose, tomorrow it will be taken up in the house of commons and in a few days we will know its fate. I do not like the division line, but delicacy closes my mouth for fear its being construed that interest was my motive. " 2 0
He left an estate which "at one time was one of the largest estates in North Carolina. " 21 "He acquired great wealth and died respected, leaving a large fortune to his children." He was the founder of Waynesville. "Besides the sites for the public square, court-house and jail, land for the cemetery and several churches was also the gift of Col. Love." Of him and his brother Thomas, Col. Allen T. Davidson said: ?? "These two men were certainly above the average of men, and did much to plant civilization in the county where they lived, and would have been men of mark in any community."
EDMUND SAMS. In "Asheville's Centenary," Dr. Sond- ley tells us that this pioneer was "one of the first settlers who came from Watauga," and established a ferry at the place
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where the French Broad is now crossed by Smith's Bridge; had been in early life an Indian fighter, and lived on the west- ern side of the French Broad at the old Gaston place. He was later a soldier in the Revolution. In 1824 his son Ben- oni Sams represented Buncombe in the House.
GENERAL THOMAS LOVE. He was a brother of Robert Love, and was born in Agusta county, Va., November 15, 1765. The date of his death is not accurately known, as he removed to Maury county, Tenn., about 1833. 23 Prof. W. C. Allen, in his "Centennial of Haywood County", says (p. 55) that he was a soldier of the Revolution, and served under Wash- ington," but this must have been towards the close of that struggle, as he could not have been quite eleven years of age on the 4th of July, 1776. 24 At the close of that war, however, "he went to East Tennessee and was in the Sevier-Tipton war when the abortive State of Franklin was attempted. " 25 Ramsey's "Annals of Tennessee" (p. 410) records the fact that on one occasion one of Tipton's men had captured two of Sevier's sons, and would have hanged them if Thomas Love had not argued him out of his purpose. He was one of Tipton's followers, but he showed Tipton the unworthiness of such an act. "He came to what is now Haywood county about the year 1790. When Buncombe was formed in 1791 he became active in the affairs of the new county," continues Prof. Allen. In 1797 he was elected to the house of commons from Buncombe, and was re-elected till 1808, when Haywood was formed, largely through his efforts. There is a tradition 2 6 that in 1796 he had been candidate against Philip Hoodenpile who represented Buncombe in the commons that year, but was defeated. For Hoodenpile could play the violin, and all of Love's wiles were powerless to keep the political Eurydices from following after this fiddling Orpheus. But Love bided his time, and when the campaign of 1797 began he charged Hoodenpile with showing contempt for the common herd by playing the violin before them with his left hand; whereas, when he played before "the quality," as Love declared, Hood- enpile always performed with his right hand. This charge was repeated at all the voting places of the county, which bore such significant names as Upper and Lower Hog Thief, Hardscrabble, Pinch Stomach, etc. Hoodenpile who, of course, could play only with his left hand, protested and
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denied; but the virus of class-feeling had been aroused, and Hoodenpile went down in defeat, never to rise again, while Love remained in Buncombe. "From the new county of Haywood General Love was one of the first representatives, the other having been Thomas Lenoir. Love was continu- ously re-elected from Haywood till 1829, with the exception of the year 1816. Who it was that defeated him that year does not appear, though John Stevenson and Wm. Welch were elected to the house and Hodge Raborne to the senate. This Hodge Raborne was a man of influence and standing in Hay- wood county, he having been elected to the senate not only in 1816, but also from 1817 to 1823, inclusive, and again in 1838; but whether it was he or John Stevenson who defeated Thomas Love, or whether he ran that year or no, cannot now be determined. 27 William Welch was a nephew by marriage of Thomas Love, and it is not likely that he opposed him. Gen. Love moved to Macon county in 1830, where his wife died and is buried in the Methodist church yard of the town of Franklin. He was one of the commissioners for North Carolina who ran the line between this State and South Caro- lina in 1814. 28 "He resided in Macon for several years, and then removed to the Western District of Tennessee; was elected to the legislature from that State, and was made pre- siding officer of the senate. He was a man of very fine appear- ance, more than six feet high, very popular, and a fine elec- tioneer. Many amusing stories are told of him, such as carrying garden seeds in his pocket, and distributing them" with his wife's special regards to the voter's wife. 29 His service in the legislature for such an unprecedented length of time was due more to his genial manner and electioneering methods, perhaps, than to his statesmanship; though, unless he secured what the voters most desired he would most prob- ably have been retired from public life. He never was so retired.
A CURIOUS BIT OF HISTORY. William Blount, a native of this State and brother of John Gray Blount to whom so much land had been granted, was territorial governor of Tennessee until it became a State, and was then elected one of its first senators; but served only from 1796 to 1797. He was charged in the United States senate with having entered into a con- spiracy to take Louisiana and Florida from Spain and give
W. N. C .- 9
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them to England in the hope that England would prove a bet- ter neighbor than had Spain, which had restricted the use of the Mississippi. Articles of impeachinent were brought against him in 1797 by the House, and on the day after he was expelled by the Senate. But the impeachment trial was to have pro- ceeded, and an officer was sent to arrest him. But Blount refused to go, those summoned to aid the officer refused to do so, and the trial would have proceeded without him in December 1798, if Blount's attorney had not appeared after the Senate had formed itself into a court and filed a plea that Blount had not been an officer of the United States when the offence charged was committed, and it was decided, 14 to 11, that the Senate had no jurisdiction, on the ground that a senator is not a civil officer of the United States. The specific charge was that Blount had made an attempt to carry into effect a hostile expedition in favor of the British against the Spanish possessions in Flor- ida and Louisiana, and to enlist certain Indian tribes in the same. 8 0
NOTES.
1Hill, p. 215.
?Ibid.
"Dropped Stitches, 28; McGee, p. 80.
"Roosevelt, Vol. IV, ch. 4.
"Ibid., 231.
"Ibid., 182.
"Ibid., 211.
"Ibid., Vol. III, 26.
"Waddell (First Edition), 20, 30, 33, 210, et seq. Ibid. (Second Edition), 288.
1.Augusta county records.
11Pension office files.
""Dropped Stitches, 28.
18Ramsey, 417, 427.
1.W. C. Allen's "Centennial of Haywood county," p. 52.
15Robert Love's Pension Papers.
1"Published in Waynesville Courier, but date of publication not known, except that it was about 1895, probably.
17This refers to the alleged "puritan and blackleg trade" between Adams and Clay four years before.
18W. C. Allen's "Centennial of Haywood County, " 1908, p. 51.
1ºIbid., p. 52.
".Private letter.
"W. C. Allen's "Centennial of Haywood County," p. 52.
"Col. A. T. Davidson's "Reminiscenses" in "The Lyceum," January, 1891.
"Prof. Allen says that he died about 1830, but he signed an affidavit in April 6, 1833, in Robert Love's pension matter.
"Although but a boy, he was a private in the Continental Line. Col. Rec., Vol. XXII, 73. Allen, 55.
"Statement of Capt. J. M. Gudger, Sr.
27Wheeler, 54, 206. There is no other record that approaches this. Col. A. T. David- son in Lyceum, January, 1891.
"Rev. Stat. N. C., 1837, Vol. II, p. 87.
"The Lyceum, p. 9, January, 1891.
"Manual of the constitution of the United States, by Israel Ward Andrews, pp. 199, 200.
CHAPTER VII
GRANTS AND LITIGATION
PUBLIC LANDS. Immediately upon the declaration of inde- pendence the State began to dispose of its immense tracts of vacant lands. It was granted at first in 640-acre tracts to each loyal citizen, with one hundred additional acres to his wife and each child at five cents per acre; but for all in addi- tion to that amount, ten cents per acre was charged, if the additional land was claimed within twelve months from the end of the session of the legislature of 1777.1 The price was expressed in pounds, two pounds and ten shillings standing for the lower and five pounds for the higher price. Ten cents was the charge for all lands in 1818. No person in Washing- ton county, however, could take more than 640 acres and 100 additional for wife and each child, ' until the legislature should provide further; but the county was ceded as part of Tennes- see before this restriction was removed. When the State ac- quired the Cherokee lands it reduced the price per acre in 1833 to five cents per acre again; but it was afterwards restored to ten cents where it remained for a long time. There is also a curious proviso in the act of 1779 (ch. 140, s. 5) to the effect that no person shall be entitled "to claim any greater quantity of land than 640 acres where the survey shall be bounded in any part by vacant lands, or more than 1,000 acres between the lines of lands already surveyed and laid out for any other person." Both the provision for the payment of five pounds for all in excess of 640 acres, etc., in any one year, and this last proviso, seem to have been dis- regarded from the first; for in 1796 the State granted to John Gray Blount over one million acres in Buncombe for fifty shillings a hundred acres. Under a statute allowing swamp lands to be granted in one body land speculators laid their entries adjoining each other in 640-acre tracts, and took out one grant for the entire boundary.' These large tracts usually excepted a considerable acreage from the boundary granted, which acreage had been determined by the secretary of state
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from the surveys made upon the warrants; but unless the grants themselves showed upon their face the number of acres of each tract and the names of the grantees to the excepted lands, the grantees could not show title by proving dehors that their land lay within the limits of the granted tract, as such excepted acreage merely, was held to be too vague to confer title; but the boundaries of these excepted tracts could be determined by the Secretary of State, and shown by certified copies from his office. ‘
CHEROKEE LANDS. Up to 1826 all lands had been ranked alike; but with the acquisition of the large Cherokee terri- tory, with bottom, second bottom, hill, timber, mountain and cliff lands, a classification was imperative. So in that year commissioners were appointed to ascertain all the Cherokee lands that were worth more than fifty cents an acre, lay them off into sections containing from fifty to three hundred acres, and to note the quality of the land, stating whether it was first, second or third. " But this limited classification was soon found to be inadequate, and in 1836 commissioners were required to ascertain all unsold Cherokee lands as would sell for 20 cents per acre and over, and divide them into sections or districts and expose them for public sale; lands of the first quality to be sold for four dollars per acre; lands of the sec- ond quality for two dollars per acre; lands of the third quality for one dollar per acre; lands of the fourth quality for fifty cents per acre and lands of the fifth quality for not less than twenty cents per acre. " The surveyor was also required to note in his field-book the mines, mineral springs, mill seats, and principal water-courses; and to make three maps before November 1, 1837, one of which was to be deposited in the governor's office, the second in the office of the secretary of state, and the third in the office of the county clerk of the county of Macon. All the lands worth less than twenty cents per acre were denominated vacant and unsurveyed lands, but they could be entered, while those classified could be bought only at auction.
How LANDS WERE TO BE SURVEYED. These surveyed and classified tracts were to be bounded by natural boundaries or right lines running east and west, north and south, and to be an exact square or oblong, the length not to exceed double the breadth, unless where such lines should interfere with lands
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already granted or surveyed, or should bound on navigable water, in which last case the water should form one side of the survey, etc.
PREFERENCES. Those who had made entries under the crown or Lord Granville, or, who since his death had made improvements on the lands were to have preference in enter- ing them. 7
INDIAN BOUNDS. 8 In 1778 (ch. 132) it was provided that no lands within the Indian boundaries should be entered, sur- veyed or granted, and those boundaries were described as starting from a point on the dividing line agreed upon between the Cherokees and Virginia where the Virginia and North Carolina line shall cross the same when run; thence a right line to the north bank of the Holston river, at the mouth of Clouds creek, which was the second creek below the Warrior's ford at the mouth of Carter's valley; thence a right line to the highest point of High Rock or Chimney Top; thence a right line to the mouth of Camp or McNamee's creek on the south bank of Nollechucky river, about ten miles below the mouth of Great Limestone; and from the mouth of Camp creek a southeast course to the top of the Great Iron mountain; and thence a south course to the dividing ridge between the waters of French Broad and Nollechucky rivers; thence a south- westwardly course along said ridge to the Blue Ridge, and thence along the Blue Ridge to the South Carolina line. This excluded from entry and grant all of the mountain region west of the Blue Ridge that was south of the ridge between the French Broad and the Nollechucky rivers; but opened a territory now covered by the counties of Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, Avery, Mitchell and a part of Yancey, and a good deal of the northeastern corner of what is now Tennessee.
HOUSES OF WORSHIP ON VACANT LANDS. 9 All churches on vacant lands were given outright to the denominations which had built them, together with two acres adjoining.
OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE CONTINENTAL LINE. In 1782 (ch. 173), each soldier and officer of the Continental line, then in service and who continued to the end of the war; or who had been disabled in the service, and subse- quently all who had served two years honorably and had not re-enlisted or had been dropped on reducing the forces, were given lands as follows:
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Privates 640 acres each; Non-commissioned officers 1000 acres each; Subalterns 2560 each; Captains 3840 each; Majors 4800 each; Lieut .- Colonels 7200 each; Lieut .- Colonel Com- manders 7200 each; Colonels 7200 each; Brigadiers 12000 each; Chaplains 7200 each; Surgeons 4800 each; and Sur- geons Mates 2560 each. Three commissioners and a guard of 100 men were authorized to lay off these lands without expense to the soldiers.
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