USA > Tennessee > Monroe County > Sweetwater > History of Sweetwater Valley > Part 16
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The above was written not to give a history of the bat- tle but show what part William Lenoir, also the Cleve- lands, took in it. Rather than miss the fight he sur- rendered his position as captain and left his company at Green River and marched and fought as a private in the ranks. Thus he showed that he appreciated the sac- rifices of the men who had come from beyond the great mountains, through pathless wilds almost, to their re- lief.
Until of late years the New England historians of the United States, notably in the school histories, gave little space and attached little importance to that expedition
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and battle. If they mentioned it at all they referred to it as a skirmish in which a few backwoodsmen under Campbell and Sevier captured several companies of tories under Ferguson. This Ferguson had been annoy- ings the whigs of North and South Carolina and the half dozen bullets he got in his carcass was very gratifying to them. After disposing of the expedition in this sum- mary manner they would give several pages to the early life of General Israel Putnam. Oh there never was such a wolf as the one Putnam slew since the time of Romulus and Remus and the days of Red Riding Hood. He (or was it she?) ravaged the flocks and herds of the country around and left a pathway of blood and terror in its wake. Dogs could do nothing with it. When they at- tacked it they were torn to pieces. When closely pushed by men it fled to the caverns in the hills. But Putnam went into its lair and killed it and pulled it out with his naked hands. Then in the Revolution he rounded out a life of glorious deeds by galloping his horse down a flight of stone steps. When the British who were in pursuit, feared to attempt this feat he waved to them with all the grace of "Nolichucky Jack" leading a country dance.
But it has happened for a number of years that the Daughters of the Revolution have seen that the heroes of King's Mountain have received due meed of praise. Their names and fame have not been suffered to decay. In most histories now written they are given ample though tardy justice.
I have seen a little barnyard rooster that clucked and strutted and crowed around all day. He said in his chicken language: "No hen ever sat on the egg I was in; I am no high bred incubator chicken either; I was just hatched out in the sun; I pecked my way out of the egg all by myself; I was not raised, I just came up my- self; not a single chicken ever did anything for me, they were all against me in the whole yard"-and then he flies up on the gatepost and flap, flap, flap, cock-a-doodle-doo -"what game rooster am I?" then the hens come run- ning
I have seen men like this little rooster, who virtually if not actually said: "I am strictly a self-made man; my father wasn't any account; he spent his money in li-
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quor and gambling; my mother was barely respectable if that; she took in washing; they never gave me any clothes or sent me to school; they never taught me or left me anything; I was turned out just like a woods colt to graze in any pasture I could find ;- but behold what I am now! I am owner of a bank or a railroad, or I've been to Congress, or a merchant prince or a copper king, and I've done it all myself, nobody helped me the least bit, everybody tried to hinder me, but just look what I've made out of myself' "'
"Little Jack Horner sat in the corner Eating his Christmas pie ; He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum And said : 'What a great boy am I.' "
Some people admire a man who acts and talks in this way; it is their privilege so to do. You rest assured though that, however much others may admire him, it is not one-tenth as much as he admires himself.
It is of course unfortunate for a man to lack early ad- vantages. In the majority of instances it is unnecessary for him to call attention to the fact. All honor to the man who rises above his heredity and environment and does more for the world than his father did before him. I do not wish to detract one iota from the credit due him. But let him not belittle his parents in order to place himself upon a pedestal : to put it mildly it is not in good taste.
On the other hand that one should be puffed up with pride or claim special privileges because some of his an- cestors were rich or renowned is worse still-even odious.
I am led to make these remarks from the fact that, so far as I am aware, the Lenoirs have been well enough to do for the last 150 years in the United States to give their children a good education and a start in life. Few if any of them can claim that they were not given a" chance in the world. If they did not succeed and become respected citizens they have no one to blame but them- selves.
William Lenoir was a remarkable versatile man, ex- cellently well equipped mentally and physically. It was thought by his relations that he could do anything almost
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except play on the fiddle and probably could have done that if he had tried. If only he had known how much satisfaction it was to be able to do so no doubt he would have added that to his other accomplishments.
He had a real genius for mechanics. My father told me that he (Wm. Lenoir), had already invented a cot- ton gin and had been a little slow in perfecting it when he found out that Mr. Whitney had patented something similar. It is not supposed that one borrowed from the other but that each was working independently. That I would have thought was in the nature of a family legend but for one fact: I have in my possession now a sur- veyor's compass which was made by him at home with apparently no other tools than a pocket knife, a ham- mer, a file and possibly a chisel. It is all of thoroughly seasoned wood except the tube that fits on top of the Jacob staff, the needle and its support, the cards with the degrees marked and the circular glass covering of the face. The copper tube and the needle support were once part of a copper kettle. The face is about six inches in diameter and has two compass cards, the one mark- ing the degrees and the other the half degrees. The fig- ures and lines are nearly perfect except the paper of the cards is slightly moth eaten. The circular glass cover- ing the face is the least artistically done of any part of the compass. It was evidently not cut by a diamond but by some steel instrument. The edge is not smooth enough to have been cut by a diamond. The needle was made out of a piece of steel bearing the marks of having been filed. It was probably magnetized with a piece of mag- netic iron ore. I have never tried to survey with this compass myself but my father said that it ran lines ac- curately.
I have never heard why he made the compass; whether he was unable to procure one when he needed it or mere- ly to show what he could do. Whenever anything is bad- ly wanted, whether needed or not, the inventive genius of the North Carolina mountaineer rarely fails to sup- ply it.
The Revolutionary War and the consequent loss of the colonies brought about a radical change, of policy in
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Great Britain in regard to the treatment of her de- pendencies. The idea of William Pitt (Lord Chatham) began to prevail: "That money or taxes should not be exacted from the colonies without their consent." From that time onward the success of the English in coloniz- ing was remarkable, far beyond that of any other nation. The government at home felt a responsibility for the wel- fare of the colonies. They were not to be exploited, like the French and Spanish dependencies, for the benefit of the empire. Florida and Louisiana were made the foot- ball of kings and emperors to be kicked about at will and bought and sold like a piece of property. Well for the United States that they did not resist the change when bought by us.
The difference in the feeling of the soldiers of the col- onies of the different countries can be seen in the Eu- ropean War from this circumstance: 'While those from the German colonies sing in camp and on the march "The Watch on the Rhine" the French the "Marsel- laise," those from the English speaking colonies unite in singing "Home, Sweet Home," or "It is a Long, Long Way to Tipperary." "God save the King" is seldom heard.
"A pebble in the streamlet cast Has changed the course of many a river."
Here up comes the gentleman from Missouri and says, says he: "Point me to the river; show me the pebble;" or in legal phrasing, "produce the corpus delicti." Get out of my sunshine, Missourian, you are a nuisance ; you are obstructing the wheels of the gilded car of imagina- tion; get thee hence to your mule infested bailiwick and hither return no more.
If hereafter I occasionally indulge in the "might have beens," though I may not attempt to make it rhyme with pen or pens, what harm is done ? or if I choose to specu- late (letting New York, Chicago alone) on the future or the past and call it speculation and not a sure thing who is hurt? What a dreary world this would prove without "ifs" or the magic enchantment of distant views
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of azure hued mountains. Let us determine not to let the grammarians abolish the subjunctive mood.
There was once upon a time a vessel called the "May- flower." I assume you have heard of it. It crossed the briny deep and anchored in Cape Cod Bay. (This is not a fish story.) This ship bore pilgrim fathers and pil- grim mothers, though little mention is made of the lat- ter in history. They landed at or rather on Plymouth Rock in December, 1620. Some historians say there were just 100 of them. Many of them did not survive the winter but perished before the arrival of spring. They were reduced to such extremities that the allowance of food for each one was 15 grains of corn per day or 5 grains for each person at a meal. However some of them survived and being a prolific people their descend- ants are now as the stars in number-too many some have thought.
I have occasionally speculated that if some night a large rat had gnawed his way into the corn bin and eaten up the supply or the. Commissionary General had car- ried it off in his coat pocket what would have been the consequence ? and what would have been the effect on our civilization? We would then have no Rockefeller, consequently no Standard Oil Company; no Boston, no culture; no Sweetwater, no Beautiful Ladies City Im- provement Association; where now the fountain plays in front of my window making ever vanishing rainbows in the summer sunshine, there might still have been the forests primeval.
You may ask what has the coming of the Mayflower to do with Sweetwater. This. One of the Averys or an ancestor was a passenger in the ship. Then the line of descent comes down to Waightstill Avery who came to North Carolina. His daughter, Elizabeth Avery, mar- ried William Ballard Lenoir who was the father of I. T. Lenoir, the founder of Sweetwater. But for the last named there would have been no town here. He was a stockholder in the E. T. & Ga. R. R .; also a director, a member of the county court, a former member of the Legislature, and he gave the seven and one-half acre plot
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on which the depot and railroad track stand. Then he evolved the plan of the town and laid off many lots.
WAIGHTSTILL AVERY.
The Avery family have been a noted one since the ear- ly settlement of the colonies. They have aspired to and held public office. Many of them have been lawyers and politicians. They have rather craved than avoided responsibility. They have characteristics directly op- posite to the Lenoirs in this respect. They like "to read their history in the nation's eyes." They have rarely failed to fill the positions they sought with honor and credit. They have settled in almost every state in the Union. Of those who came south Waightstill Avery is best known and most distinguished: He was born in
Norwich, Conn., in 1746 or 1747. He graduated at Princeton College in 1766 and was tutor there for a year. He studied law under Littleton Denis in Maryland. He emigrated to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and was licensed to practise law in 1769. He was a member of the Mecklenburg Convention and one of the signers of The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on the 20th of May, 1775. This document is credited to Ephi- raim Brevard but some of the Avery family think that Brevard got valuable assistance from Waightstill Avery. Many North Carolinians, with pardonable pride, are of the opinion that this paper is the equal in terseness and vigor to the Declaration written by Jefferson and passed by the Continental Congress, July 4, 1776. (The writer, however, does not share in that opinion.) Waightstill Avery was commissioned by Governor Martin together with Joseph McDowell and Sevier to treat with the Cherokee Indians in the early part of 1777. They ac- complished nothing. But on the 20th of July, 1777, at Long Island on the Holston River, Avery, together with Wm. Sharpe, Joseph Winston and Robert Lanier, signed a treaty with the Cherokees. The signers on the Indian side (in mark) were Oconostota and many other head men of the tribe.
He was the first attorney general of the state in 1777. He married Mrs. Franks, of Jones County, in 1778.
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His law office, books and papers were burned by Lord Cornwallis at Charlotte in 1781.
He moved to Burke County in 1781, Wheeler's History says "for his health."
Taking into consideration the depredations of Corn- wallis and Tarleton and the still worse outrages of Pat. Ferguson and his gang of tories, one is not at all sur- prised at the unhealthfulness of the climate in eastern North Carolina at the time. We find this in Ramsey, page 274, taken from public records: "At a court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery for the counties of Washington and Sullivan, begun and held (at Jonesboro) on the 15th of August, 1782. Present Hon. Spruce McCay, Esq .- Waigtstill Avery, Esq., was appointed attorney general for the state and John Sevier, clerk."
He died in Burke County in 1821, then the patriarch of the North Carolina Bar.
There are three things in Tennessee history about which much speculation has been indulged and many ac- counts have been written, but the exact facts in regard to them will probably never be known. Those who could have told have long since passed away-their lips for- ever sealed. The occurrences referred to above are the challenge and meeting of Jackson and Avery near Jones- boro; the rescue of Sevier by Shelby and others when he was being tried for treason at Morganton, N. C., and what happened between Governor Sam Houston and his wife shortly after his marriage that caused him to resign the governorship and expatriate himself among the In- dians. The tradition extant in the Avery family was somewhat different from the usually accepted version. My father told me that the real reason of Jackson's spite against Avery was not what Avery said in the court- house. As Avery was then the most distinguished mem- ber then at the Bar in that district Jackson, hardly of age, began the study of law under him. Jackson had a share in those vices which were peculiarly distasteful to the conscience of the New Englander ; betting on cards and horse races, whiskey drinking and a disposition to fight in any manner whatever for any fancied insult. Avery told him mildly that in his opinion his peculiar
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talents were not fitted for a legal career and advised him to adopt some other profession. Jackson's high strung temperament could not endure this reflection on his morality and intelligence and he sought an oppor- tunity to wipe out the score. It occurred in the conduct of a case in the courthouse and accordingly Jackson sent his challenge. Avery accepted out of deference to pub- lic opinion. He had no animosity against Jackson and determined not to shoot or shoot up in the air. Jackson at the meeting held his fire as he sometimes did after- ward in his duels and did not shoot. Avery also did not shoot. After he saw that Avery had no intention of injuring him, or even firing upon him, then they all, principals and seconds, returned and reported the dif- ficulty as amicably settled.
William Ballard Lenoir, son of William Lenoir and father of I. T. Lenoir, was born in Wilkes County, N. C., September 1, 1775. In 1802 he married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Waightstill Avery. They settled in the Happy Valley of the Yadkin River, two and a half miles below Fort Defiance, the residence of General Wm. Lenoir. There were born to them four of their twelve children, Isaac Thomas Lenoir being the third. He was three years old in 1810 when his father came to Tennessee. In considerable travel through the states of our Union, I have known three valleys which seemed to. excel all others in beauty and grandeur. They are rich in all the resources which go to make up a place where peace, prosperity and healthfulness reign supreme, "As happy a region as on this side of heaven." They are the Nacoochee Valley at the head of the Chattahoochee River in Habersham County, Georgia, the Valley River Valley in Cherokee County, N. C., and the Happy Valley of the Yadkin River in Caldwell County, N. C. The two first mentioned besides being exceedingly fertile, are im- mensely rich in mineral resources. They are all sur- rounded by grand and lofty mountains and nearby foot- hills, like steps ascending heavenward. In every season and weather they form an inspiring and pleasing pros- pect to the beholder. In speaking of these I am in no wise decrying the thousand charms of our own valley. However favored a spot of earth this may be, it is not
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unreasonable to suppose that there may be others that in the opinion of some one are still more favored. Of these vales spoken of I would, all things considered, give the palm to the Happy Valley on the Yadkin. In this valley in 1810 dwelt William Ballard Lenoir. He was happily married. He resided near many of his relations and in perfect amity with them. It would look as if he had everything to make life easy and pleasant. Yet "man never is but always to be blest."
Under such circumstances as these he chose to leave and come across the Blue Ridge and seek his fortune in a comparatively unknown and unsettled country. He built at the mouth of the Little Tennessee on the Holston (Hogoheechee) River. He may have been induced to do so by information obtained from his father-in-law, Waightstill Avery, who had previously visited this coun- try as one of the commissioners of the state of North Carolina to treat with the Cherokee Indians. When he moved to where Lenoir City now stands he was 35 years of age and in the prime of physical and intellectual vigor. His mind had been informed by education and travel. His father had given him all the advantages possible in that day. Also he came not empty handed. He brought deeds to lands, wagons, horses and slaves. The negroes familiarly called him and his wife "Marse Billy and Mis' Betsy." He took his patrimony into a far country but not to spend it in riotous living, as the prodigal son, but to largely increase it and to make it a blessing to his family, his friends and his neighbors. What route they came from North Carolina I am not informed but it must have been down the Wautauga, and thence by Knoxville, as the way neither along the French Broad or the Little Tennessee rivers was then open. The land he acquired in and around what is now Lenoir City amounted to about 5,000 acres. He settled near the cen- ter of his possessions and never disposed of any of his real estate during his lifetime. The place and postof- fice was called Lenoir's. There eight of his twelve chil- dren were born.
Isaac Thomas Lenoir when a young man visited the place of his birth in North Carolina. He was wonderful- ly pleased with that country. He asked his father how
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he had ever gotten the consent of his mind to leave such a place situated as he was. His father's answer was that a considerable portion of the valley was filled up with his own relatives and that when he went to church or public gatherings he met mostly his own kinspeople. Their relations towards each other were exceedingly cor- dial and agreeable, almost too much so he thought, so that they were liable to become clannish; by going to another section he could have numerous friendships and at the same time retain the love of his relations in North Car- olina. His career in this country justified the wisdom of his choice.
William Ballard Lenoir was a very extensive farmer. The land that he cultivated consisted of river bottom lands, islands and fertile uplands. He was a manufac- turer of cotton yarns and a miller and his house was a famous stopping place. His old residence is still stand- ing north of the passenger depot at Lenoir City. He was also a land surveyor and acquired many tracts of land in McMinn, Monroe, Roane and Morgan counties. He was one of the surveyors for the state in the Hiwas- see District. Just exactly what part of this territory he surveyed, I am not informed, but he must have surveyed a considerable part of Range One east of the basis line. The scheme of the survey of the Hiwassee district was to take as a starting point the junction of the Clinch and Tennessee rivers called southwest point and run what was called the basis line directly south to the Hiwassee River ; then to run lines six miles distant from each other east and west of the basis line. The territory included between these lines was called a range. These ranges were surveyed into townships six miles square. These townships into sections, thirty-six in number, and the sections into quarter sections, one-half mile square, con- taining 160 acres. For these lots of land a grant could be obtained from the state by paying the stipulated price. The grant would read :
160 acres the Quarter Section of Section Number Of Township In Range
of the Hiwassee District of
Date and signed by the Governor and Secretary of the state of Tennessee with the great seal
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of the state attached. The county was sometimes given and sometimes not, but it was not necessary to do so to make a valid grant or a deed. The Hiwassee District whose boundary has heretofore been described was in the counties of Roane, Meigs, McMinn and Monroe. Sweet- water Valley was in the counties of McMinn, Monroe and Roane. The part that was in Roane County is now Loudon County.
ISAAC THOMAS LENOIR.
It was the policy of William Ballard Lenoir when any of his sons or daughters married not to have them set- tle around him in the same neighborhood but to seek other fields ; he thought it better for them to do as he did. And even when they remained at home they ought to have a separate business and a responsibility of their own. His son, Isaac Thomas, engaged when a young man in the mercantile business at Lenoir's. In those days there were no drummers and no wholesale houses, not even in Knoxville, very few anywhere nearer than Bal- timore, Philadelphia and New York. It was the cus- tom then of the merchants to take a trip once or twice a year to one or more of those cities to purchase their supplies. The goods so purchased were hauled in wa- gons the greater part of the distance, competition then was not so great. Any reasonable business ability would insure success. In 1843 he was elected to the lower branch of the' Legislature as a representative from Roane County. The county of Roane was then very close politically between the Whigs and Democrats. He was elected over Colonel Joel Hembree, by a majority of eight votes. In 1845 he was elected senator from the Senatorial District comprising the counties of ยท Roane, Anderson, Morgan and Campbell over Colonel El- bert Sevier. While in the Legislature he helped to se- cure favorable legislation in the amendment of charters for East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, which insured the construction of that railroad from Dalton, Ga., to Knoxville, Tenn. As this railroad formerly under the name of Hiwassee Railroad, afterward under the name of E. T. & Ga. R. R. was graded in a great measure by
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the citizens along the route, it was done in small sections and at different times from 1837 to 1850.
And in some places notably between this section and Philadelphia, the graded right of way of the railroad was used as a road for vehicles between the time of the grad- ing the road and equipping it with ties and rails. This was a fine object lesson for the advantage of graded roads, but the people were not thinking so much of get- ting good roads for their vehicles as securing a railroad for shipment of their farm products and many years had to elapse before the people were willing to submit to the proper expenditure for good roads.
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