USA > Tennessee > The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796 : including the boundaries of the state > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Gc 976.8 H33c 1695552
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02302 8241
THE
CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY -
OF THE
STATE OF TENNESSEE
FROM ITS
EARLIEST SETTLEMENT UP TO THE YEAR 1796,
INCLUDING THE
BOUNDARIES OF THE STATE.
BY JOHN HAYWOOD.
EXACT REPRINT OF THE EDITION OF 1823, PUBLISHED BY W. H. HAYWOOD, GREAT-GRANDSON OF THE AUTHOR;
WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JUDGE JOHN HAYWOOD BY COL. A. S. COLYAR.
PRINTED FOR W. H. HAYWOOD. PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. BARBEE & SMITH, AGENTS, NASHVILLE, TENN. 1891.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/civilpoliticalhi00hayw_0
1695552
DEDICATION.
THIS EDITION OF
HAYWOOD'S CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. XC.
COPYRIGHT, 1891.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
IN presenting at this time to Tennesseeans Judge Haywood's Civil and Political History, patriotism and a natural love for the memory of the author are the motives that actuate me. Judge Haywood wrote that the illustrious deeds of our ancestors might not be forgotten; that we may "have domestic examples to imitate, to gratify the honest pride of the people in the fame of their country, to keep them in mind of the obligations they are under to maintain its glory undiminished, to supply them with standards of patriotism which they may endeavor to exceed and which they must not fall below;" that the sons and daughters of the "Volunteer State" may know from whence sprung that indomitable race who poured their blood as a libation. upon the altar of their country and left their bones to bleach upon every battle-field in the war between the States. Looking upon the pages of his- tory chronicled since their time, I say with gratification and pride that the pioneer fathers and mothers of the grand old State have not failed to trans- mit their shining virtues to posterity. I submit to the patronage of the peo- ple, without elimination or addition, an exact reprint of Judge Haywood's History, with the fullest confidence in their patriotism and the merits of the book. WILLIAM H. HAYWOOD. Brownsville, Tenn., November 22, 1890. (3)
PREFACE.
TO THE PUBLIC.
IN almost every State of the Union some grateful countryman has cele- brated in the historic page the worthies it has produced and the illustrious deeds it has performed under their conduct. This has been done for the benefit of posterity, that they may have domestic examples to imitate; to gratify the honest pride of the people in the fame of their country; to keep them in mind of the obligations they are under to maintain its glory un- diminished, and to supply them with standards of patriotism which they may endeavor to exceed if they can, and which they must not fall below. But no one has yet attempted to record the memorable achievements of the eminent men of Tennessee. According to the sphere in which they have acted and the means placed within their reach, they have deserved from their country their lasting remembrance, their highest gratitude, and their most ardent affection. Already the time has come when to many of our inhabit- ants their names are but just known, while in the memories of others their actions are fading away. Ought not their names and their exploits to be res- cued from the obliteration of time and the tomb of silence? Shall their illus- trious deeds be erased from the recollections of succeeding generations, or be preserved only in the indistinct memorials of oral tradition? And shall posterity be left unacquainted with the examples which they have given to stimulate hereafter to glorious enterprises? If their splendid achievements cannot be transmitted to after ages in the rich dress they deserve, still it is better to perpetuate them in the most simple form than to let them wholly be forgotten. Such are the motives which have impelled the author to under- take this work. Without the affectation of modesty, but in true sincerity, he knows himself unequal to the task, but his hope and expectation is that of the materials which he has now collected and recorded some future historian may avail himself and be enabled to represent the historical occurrences of the periods embraced in this volume in a style of elegance suited to the high merit of the actors. Let no one censure his motives, for they are pure. There will indeed be much room to blame the defective performance of the author, but this he will hear with the greatest pleasure if the person dissatisfied will, for the benefit of his country, either produce a more perfect work or contrib- ute to the amendment of this.
THE AUTHOR.
(4)
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.
Mr. W. HI. Haywood-My Dear Sir: You ask me to write a sketch of your grandfather (Judge John Haywood) to accompany the new edition of his "History of Tennessee," which I understand is now in press. A mere sketch of Judge Haywood-and nothing else can now be attempted-as a preface to the forth-coming volume, is not what the present generation of Tennesseeans is entitled to. This book ought to be reprinted along with an accompanying volume of the life of that eminent man. And I sincerely trust some one competent to do the work will collect the material and give to the public a detailed history of all the incidents of his public life, commencing in 1790 and ending in 1826, and at the same time -- and what would be equally in- teresting-a sketch of his family, of his early life, his education and train- ing, his person and personal habits, his wonderful powers as an advocate, his laborious and untiring work as a judge, together with anecdotes and in- cidents which illustrate his character.
As an advocate history-true history-will place him as the only peer of Felix Grundy; and as a judge, a man who, like Marshall, knew law intui- tively as well as from books, and who had the courage and ability to blaze the way. As Judge John M. Lea said to me in a conversation about him, "He was the Lord Mansfield of the South-west."
His father, Egbert Haywood, was a gallant officer in the Revolution; and the son, who was born in Halifax County, N. C., in 1753, studied law when young; and though a rebel as his father was, there is no evidence that he took any active part in the war, though tradition says he was on the staff (and courageously did his duty) of a North Carolina officer.
Any thing like a full sketch of Judge Haywood's public life, leaving all personal matters out, would carry me far beyond the space set apart in your new edition. He was Attorney-general in North Carolina from 1791 to 1794, and it was in this position that he became widely known as an ad- vocate.
Such was his popularity, and so high was the estimate put on him by the bar of North Carolina, that after serving something over three years as At- torney-general he was transferred to the bench, and for ten or twelve years he was on the bench of the Superior Court of North Carolina. During this time he was as completely the court as Chief-justice Marshall was of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Such was his capacity for and love of work that, like Judge William F. Cooper, he found much spare time for other work when he was or the bench, which he utilized both in North Carolina and Tennessee in writing books. In 1801 he published a " Manual of the Laws of North Carolina," a book which is still valuable as a compilation of North Carolina statutes.
(5)
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HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
About the same time he published "Haywood's Justice," and then he pub- lished the "North Carolina Reports," being the decisions of the Superior or Supreme Court of North Carolina from 1789 to 1806.
Chief-justice Henderson, of North Carolina, in a comparatively recent de- cision, referring to one of Judge Haywood's opinions, says of him: "I neither disparage the living nor the dead when I say that an abler man than Judge Haywood never appeared at the bar or sat on the bench of North Carolina."
Judge Haywood resigned his office as judge of the Superior Court to de- fend an old client charged with the crime of forging land warrants. It is said this old man, who was Secretary of State, was so universally condemned that the odium of his defense, in some sense, attached to his lawyer, and there is a tradition that this was the cause of Judge Haywood's removal to Tennessee; however this may be, immediately after this trial, and in a great measure through the influence of Judge Overton, who was his most inti- mate friend through the remainder of his life, he came to Tennessee and settled on the farm which he called "Tusculum," now owned by J. N. Cal- houn, seven miles from Nashville on the Nolensville pike, where he lived till he died, and where he was buried.
About 1802 or 1803 he came to Tennessee, and in 1312 he was elected one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, where he remained until his death in 1826. At his home he established a sort of law and literary school, built near his dwelling some cabins, in which he gave instruction to the young men -- especially young men studying law. This was done without pay. This was the first attempt at a law school in the South-west. It was a work in which he took great delight, for he was always fonder of young men than of old ones, and besides he was of a literary turn, and had a mind which could not be at rest, and it seemed could not be overstocked with work.
Under the early system of Tennessee, the judges of the Superior Court presided in the districts, as the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States do now. While he was on the bench, between 1812 and 1826, the time of his death, the changes were quite frequent, and during that time he had as his associates Judge John Overton, Hugh L. White, Robert Whyte, Archibald Roane, Thomas Emerson, Jacob Peck, William L. Brown, Samuel Powell, Harry W. Humphrey, John Catron, and George W. Campbell.
At that time there was no chief-justice, but Judge Haywood was the ac- cepted presiding member. The system made the judges of the Superior Court familiar with the lawyers all over the State, and there are many good anecdotes which have been traditionally preserved of Judge Haywood.
He presided without any great amount of dignity, but commanded respect by his known superiorty. He had no pride of opinion, and with him the doctrine of stare decises was not as potent as the doctrine of right and justice. Like all great minds in the legal profession, he readily saw, and promptly seized the strong points-the points in a case-on which the case must be decided, and hence he had but little patience with the discussion of irrele- vant points: he would occasionally stop the lawyers in the middle of a case and decide it. He held the doctrine that courtesy to the bar must have a
----
.
7
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.
limit when the public time was being subordinated to the demands of either ignorance or eloquence.
His one only fault on the bench is creditable to his heart, if not to his judgeship. He was a man of great sympathy and warm feeling, and always leaned to the oppressed, and his kindly nature made lawyers sometimes doubt him when a case was presented which might arouse his sympathies.
Mr. Francis B. Fogg in his life-time told me an anecdote which illustrates his judicial character. Mr. Fogg came to Nashville about 1815, and Judge Haywood became at once very fond of him (Mr. Fogg being quite literary in his tastes), and often took him along for company when he was going to hold court. Having taken young Fogg with him to the court at Franklin about 1816, by way of helping the young man along and of bringing him into notice, he, as usual, asked him to sit on the bench by his side. A case was on trial which Mr. Fogg assured me was all on one side, but the judge exercised great patience in hearing it argued, instead of promptly deciding against the plaintiff, who was a female. But after listening to the argument for some time, and knowing that there was some surprise at his patience, he turned to Mr. Fogg and whispered: "Mr. Fogg, I don't see how I can decide this case against that woman; she is very poor, and I am boarding with her." It was well known that his greatest trial in a judicial position was in pro- nouncing judgment in criminal cases, especially when the extreme penalty of the law was to be imposed. Whenever he could, he avoided it, by miti- gating the sentence or granting a new trial. On one occasion a very bad man had been convicted, when the public was clamorous and the Attor- ney-general persistent. Finally he said to the Attorney-general: "This is signing the poor fellow's death-warrant, and I reckon I will have to do it, but I want you to understand this hanging must last for several years."
Having no pride of opinion, he would overrule his own cases if they were wrong without any qualification or explanation. At one time Spencer Jar- negan was arguing a question before him, and stated a proposition which the judge did not agree to, when the judge said: "Mr. Jarnegan, have you any authority for that proposition of law?" "Yes, sir, a very excellent author- ity," responded the ready Jarnegan, "I have a decision here of a very emi- nent judge of North Carolina, Judge Haywood." "Yes," replied the presid- ing judge with cautious forbearance, "I knew that young man; he was put on the bench of North Carolina when he was quite young, and he made many mistakes. Judge Haywood, of Tennessee, overrules Judge Haywood, of North Carolina."
While he was on the bench of Tennessee he compiled and reported what is known as " Haywood's Reports," in three volumes. Then, in conjunction with R. L. Cobbs, he compiled what is known as the "Statute Laws of Ten- nessee," besides writing a "Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee," a very curious book, in which he undertook to prove that the Indians came from Eastern ancient tribes. And then he wrote the remarkable book, "The History of Tennessee," which you are now having republished. Only a few copies of this book were printed. It has long been out of print, and not one man in ten thousand of the living Tennesseeans has ever seen it. Hence you are doing the public a great service in reprinting it. Without "Hay-
8
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
wood's History of Tennessee," the history of our ancestors from 1769 to 1795 would be a blank when tradition-fireside history-ceases to be available.
For twenty-six years-from the time Robertson, the two Shelbys, and John Sevier made the first settlement on the Watauga until the State Government was formed in 1796-an Indian war raged. Before the Revolution, for sev- eral years, the British furnished the Cherokees, the Choctaws, and the Chick- asaws with guns and ammunition, and in every way encouraged them in their depredations on the settlers. Then, during the Revolution, these In- dians were the allies of the British, and kept up a running fight, using the rifle, the tomahawk, and the scalping-knife. After the war with the British was over, the Indians became the allies of the Spaniards, who maintained a threatening and warlike attitude toward the people of the frontier settle- ment, and through their influence the Indians continued their depreda- tions.
For about twenty years John Sevier stood guard and protected the women and children (often in forts) on the Watauga and Nolachucky, and Gen. Robertson, after he left the Watauga settlement, was the protector in the West. After the United States Government was formed in 1787, the deplor- able condition of the people on the frontiers, especially on the Cumberland, was time and again, by petitions and through messengers, fully made known to the government and assistance sought; but, notwithstanding Tennessee volunteers had by a signal victory in the darkest days of the Revolution at King's Mountain turned the tide which led to the surrender of Cornwallis, no aid was given, and the Tennessee settlements were left to the rapine and
murder of the three most powerful of all Indian tribes. During all this time, except while the Revolution lasted, the United States not only gave no assistance, but actually forbade an open declaration of war, which the peo- ple of this Territory greatly preferred to the burning, killing, and scalping warfare which these Indians were carrying on.
When Judge Haywood came to Tennessee, the people were living who had passed through this long Indian war. Jackson, Sevier, and Robertson, three of the most remarkable men that this or any other country has produced, were living; they were all the intimate friends of Judge Haywood. and from them and his associates on the bench, who had all been Indian fighters, and the citizens generally, some of whom had felt the blows of the tomahawk, and all of whom had shared in the dangers and hardships of the long strug- gle with savage foes, he collected the facts for his "History of Tennessee." The people whose deeds of valor, whose trials of endurance, and whose noble manhood he was to write about were marked as the most wonderful people that this comparatively new country has produced. In many respects the victory of Sevier, Shelby, and Campbell over Ferguson at King's Mountain, and the victory of Jackson over Packingham at New Orleans, are the most astounding and signal victories recorded on the page of history. The sol- diers with whom these wonderful victories were achieved, the same men who stood between the women and the children and the Indians' tomahawks for twenty-five years, were a people whose history, Judge Haygood felt, must not die. He has preserved their history with an accuracy and a detail which probably no other man could have done. With a fondness and a capacity
9
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.
for writing, and a patience in collecting details which no other man in Ten- nessee has had, he entered upon the work while the facts were all known to the living of writing the history of this wonderful people.
His history is a diary of events, and there is scarcely an old family in the State that may not find in this diary some incident of deepest interest con- nected with its ancestry. It is not so much a history of the great men of the time as it is of the people in general. He has detailed more than four hundred tragedies, giving the family, the name of the member killed or scalped or taken into the Indian Nation, together with the-pursuit, when pursuit was made, and the result. This history, or diary, will give to some competent historian at some future day all the initiatory facts for writing a history of Tennessee which will contain more intense tragedy and elevated romance than is found in the history of any modern people.
But if this "History " had closed with its " Preface," it would have marked John Haywood as a great man. His unaffected modesty but fixed purpose to perpetuate the deeds of a great and long-suffering people and to hold up to the coming generations, as examples for them to imitate, Sevier, Jackson, and Robertson, with many others equally brave but not equally great, and this modesty and patriotic desire, clothed in language that would adorn the writ- ings of the most gifted and most scholarly, even of this day, will inspire in the breast of many a reader who picks up the new book a glow of feeling and a respect for the name of a man who lived before our day of colleges and universities.
One of the other works of Judge Haywood, his " Natural and Aboriginal His- tory of Tennessee," is a book which seems never to have reached the public. It is badly printed, without head-notes, and with many mistakes of the printer. I can only hear of two copies; one of these I found preserved as a sacred relic by the judge's grandson, Mr. J. W. Baker. The book shows the author to be a man of vast reading. with a most curious fondness and talent for delving into hidden mysteries, and withal a man of scholarly and scien- tific attainments far beyond what the literary men of this day will allow to their great-grandfathers. This book, in the attempt to discover the family to which the Indians found here belong, shows a familiarity with the an- cient Hindoos, the Chinese, the Persians, the Jews, and other ancient East- ern tribes, their habits and customs, which perhaps none of our modern literary explorers possess. The early finds in the way of coins, crockery, bones, skeletons, which he has given, and his deductions therefrom, are deeply interesting.
It is this book, together with his work called the "Christian Advocate," I imagine, that has given rise to the report that Judge Haywood accepted the doctrine of visible supernatural agencies; and, in all probability, this comes in part from the discussion of an intricate and mysterious question which I find in the book, and that is the question as to the power of water witches. He was a firm believer in the power of the forked switch, and argued it with an ingenuity that marks him as a man of infinite resources upon the most ab- struse questions. He makes the mystery of the needle pointing to the pole -that is, the fact that it does point to the pole-a basis for discussing un- known agencies and powers of the mind with an interest and an ingenuity
10
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
that would surprise the modern mind-reader. He argues that the mind in- tently fixed on fresh water or intently fixed on salt water finds it; and he illustrates it by many instances of his own knowledge. The book, if ever republished, will be read with curious interest by all who have from recent developments come to believe in the operation of mind over mind through a yet unknown affinity. Judge Haywood turned prophet, and said, writing in 1822, that in fifty years the operation of one mind over another in a mys- terious way would be an accepted doctrine.
But his book called the "Christian Advocate " is a literary curiosity-a book of rare merit. It (the volume) is divided into three books; the first into thirty-one chapters, the first chapter on prophesy and all the other chap- ters on the ancient people of the East, the many tribes, and then coming down through the Christian era showing the fulfillment of the prophecies. The wonder is that a man on the bench-for the book was written in 1819-could give so much time to curious questions of theology, science, and race problems. He was a most devout Christian, a firm believer in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit, and believed also in supernatural agencies, sometimes visible to the eye. His writings on the prophecies and their fulfillment ought to be reprinted and given to that class of the clergy of the present day who think platitudes about faith when learned by heart are the only needs of the pulpit.
The second book commences with a chapter on "The World Was Made, and Will Perish," and a most curious book it is.
The third book commences with a chapter on "All men are from one com- mon stock." This book shows a knowledge of ancient history and of the similitude of races, ancient and modern, which will charm the man who is curious to know curious things. In this book he gives his views on the question of slavery. He believed with Washington and Jefferson that the policy of the government should be to fix bounds to its growth, and that the threatened conflict might be averted some system of emancipation ought to be adopted. But his broad humanitarian ideas carried him much farther in his feelings, and his views on this subject may be the reason why family and friends did not give the book a wider circulation; for at the time of his death we were approaching the great sectional struggle which termi- nated in the attempt at secession.
The Tennessee lawyer of the present day, if he traces the history of familiar principles, especially in relation to land titles and other questions peculiar to our jurisprudence, will be surprised to tind how many of them had their origin (for many of them were new questions) in the massive brain of Judge Haywood; and it would be difficult to find one of his well- considered cases that has since been overruled.
Judge Haywood was in person an immense man, weighing 350 pounds. He was at times forbidding and rough, but his angry brow was but the forerun- ner of a gentleness which surprised and captivated.
In 1822 the late honored Judge Guild applied to him to be examined for a law license, and he describes the old judge as surly and gruff, but after giving him a rigid examination and at last putting the question to him: " What is an estate tail, with possibility of issue extinct?" and upon hearing
11
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.
young Guild's answer, "That it was a question on which the authorities were not agreed, but that his definition was that it was a circumcision in violation of the canon law, carried to the utmost limit," he says the old judge laughed heartily, and Guild in his late book then gives this pleasing admonition as given to him.
"The scowl now passed from the old judge's brow, his face lighted up with a smile, and he became exceedingly pleasant, which was gratifying to me as indicating that I had made a very favorable impression on him. He then gave me some advice which contributed no little toward my future course. It was equal to that given to Villiers by Lord Bacon, when the former was elevated to the position of chief cabinet officer of the Crown. Judge Haywood said to me: 'That I was about to enter upon the practice of law; to tread the paths of a profession which was beset with many rough places and many obstacles that would be hard to overcome,' and added: 'You must enter that path impressed with the idea that your studies have just commenced. Your knowledge of the law is to be acquired by long and arduous studies. You will meet with many discouragements and disap- pointments in climbing the steeps of the profession, yet they can be over- come by constant toil and a firm resolution to become a man. You must show self-reliance. Take an office to yourself, and do not be like the vine supported by the oak around which it twines. Be courteous and affable to all, but familiar with none. Spend neither your days nor your nights in rounds of festivity or dissipation, either in drinking, gambling, or any other vice. Let not pleasure encroach upon your time, for time properly spent will bring wealth; and above all, maintain an unblemished reputation and strive at distinction at the bar. Be prompt in attending to your business, and reliable and honest in all your transactions. When retained in a law- suit, take down all the facts given by your client, examine all the authorities diligently, ascertain what action or bill will lie, and whether the law is with your client. If you are satisfied upon these points, advise your client to sue. If you entertain reasonable doubts, frankly state them to your client, and decline to bring the suit, unless he shall take the responsibility and demand it. During your reading in vacation, have an eye to each case you have brought; take notes of the decisions, and when you come to argue each case, be fully prepared with a brief, showing the authorities. Some lawyers have a series of stereotyped questions which they put to all witnesses-a vicious practice which frequently slays their own clients. Always have in view some important object, some point in the suit that will control it, and bring this out strongly, if favorable to you, but avoid or weaken its force if attempted to be made by your opponent. Never keep a client's money an hour after it is collected, find him and pay it over to him; thus you will ac- quire a character for honesty, promptness, and reliability, which to a lawyer is a jewel above price.'"
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