USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee, from its earliest discoveries and settlements to the end of the year 1894 > Part 3
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15. In April. 1777, an act was passed by the Legislature of North Carolina, for the encouragement of the militia and volun- teers in prosecuting the war against that part of the Cherokees
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
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BATTLE AT ISLAND FLATS.
who still persisted in hostilities. At the same session an act was passed for the establishment of Courts of Pleas and Quarter Ser- sions, and also for appointing and commissioning Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs for the several courts in the District of Wash- ington, in this State.
16. No frontier community had ever been better governed than the Watauga settlement. In war and in peace, without legislators or judicial tribunals, except those adopted and pro- vided by themselves, the settlers had lived in uninterrupted harmony-acting justly to all, offering violence and injury to none. But the primitive simplicity of patriarchal life. as exiii,- ited by a small settlement in a secluded wilderness, uncontami- nated by contact with the artificial society of older communities. was forced to yield to the stern commands of progress and improvement. The hunter and pastoral stages of society were to be merged into the agricultural and commercial, the civil and political Hereafter, Watauga, happy. independent, free and
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THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
self-reliant, the cradle of the Great West, is merged into and becomes a part of North Carolina.
QUESTIONS .-- I. What did Governor Dobbs do in 1756? What was the first fort in East Tennessee? 2. What is said of Daniel Boone? By whom and when was Nashville visited? 3. Why is it necessary to give characteristics of our ancestors? the beginning of the State's history. 5. What of Indian war- fare? Name tribes. 6. What of the Watauga Association? ;. In North Carolina what had been the condition of affairs> 8. Why was Watanga a favorable location? y. When and why was this company formed? Under whom was the Lower Com- berland explored? Io. How was the Watauga Associations legislative government elected? tr. Why did the colonists resist British taxation? Result? First battle? Commander? 02. What part did North Carolina take for liberty? 13. What gare
the settlers uneasiness? What did Watauga do? What if preaching ? 14. The British emissaries did what ? Why? What 2
occurred in 17-0. Describe it. 15. North Carolina enacted what laws in IT ??? 16. What is said of the government of the Watauga settlement? What became of it?
CHAPTER V.
TENNESSEE, PART OF NORTH CAROLINA.
1. The General Assembly of North Carolina in November. 1777, formed Washington District into a county of the same name, assigning to it the boundaries of the whole of the present great State of Tennessee. By an act passed at the same session. establishing Entry Takers' offices in the several countries. Il- which had accrued or should accrue to the State by treaty of con- quest, were subject to entry.
2. At the same session of the Assembly, provision was made for opening a land office in Washington county, at the rate o: forty shillings per hundred deres, with the liberal permission to
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TENNESSEE, PART OF NORTH CAROLINA.
each head of a family to take up six hundred and forty acres himself, one hundred acres for his wife, and the same quantity tor each of his children. The law provided that the Watauga settlers should not be obliged to pay for their occupancies until January, 1779, and then, for any surplus entered above the quan- tity before mentioned. the purchaser was required to pay five pounds per hundred acres.
3. The facility for taking up the choice lands of the country, induced great numbers of persons, principally those without means, to emigrate to the frontier. A poor man, with seldom more than a single pack-horse on which the wife and infant were carried, with a few clothes and bed-quilts, a skillet and a small sack of meal, was often seen wending his way along the narrow mountain trace, with a rifle upon his shoulder -- the elder sons carrying an axe, a hoe, sometimes an auger and a saw, and the older daughters leading or carrying the smaller children. With- out a dollar in his pocket when he arrived at the distant frontier. the emigrant became at once a large land-holder. Such men laid the foundation of society and government in Tennessee. They brought no wealth with them-but had what was far better. industrious and frugal habits, hardihood and enterprise, fearless- ness and self-reliance. With such elements in the character of its pioneers, any community will soon subdue the wilderness to the purposes of agriculture.
4. Hitherto emigrants had reached the new settlements upon pack-horses and along the old trading paths or narrow traces that had first been blazed by hunters. No wagon road had been opened across the mountains of North Carolina to the West. The Legislature of this year 1779, appointed commissioners to lay off and mark a road from the court house of Washington county into the county of Burke. After that road was opened, citli grants of larger property began to reach the country, and some of the settlements assumed the appearance of greater comfort and thrift.
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TENNESSEE, PART OF NORTH CAROLINA.
5. Under the provisions of an act passed for encouraging the militia and volunteers to prosecute the war against the Indians, the militia of Washington county was, for the greater part of this real. in the service of the State. This enabled every able-bodied man between eighteen and fifty years of age to secure the lands 'he wished to own. It had the further effect of keeping the fron- tier well guarded. Companies of rangers were kept upon the most exposed points to scour the woods and cane-brakes, and to pursue and disperse small parties.of ill-disposed Indians who, hovering about the settlements, occasionally killed and plundered the inhabitant,. Under the protection of these rangers, the settlements were widened and extended down Nolichucky below the mouth of Big Limestone, and down Holston to the treaty line. Indeed, the frontiers were so well guarded that the Indians considered their incursions as perilous to themselves as they could be to the whites, and for a time abandoned them, causing the whites to become careless.
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6. The relaxation of their vigilance and care invited aggres- sion and a renewal of the outrages and massacres which had been experienced by the whites from the Indians. Soon Sulli- van and Greene counties were formed from Washington District. Washington District was added to Salisbury Judicial District, which contained several counties. Jonesboro, the oldest town in the State, was made the county seat of Washington county.
7. The Tories continued depredations and formed strong bands for protection. centralizing their efforts against the adherents of the American cause. Vigilance committees were formed by the inhabitants for safety, and they promptly reported acts of violence and indicted men for being Tories. The Whigs had two bodies of dragoons, numbering about thirty each, to punish disorderly conduct and they did it admirably .. They required the Tory leaders in crime to expiate their guilt by their lives. After order was restored the committees disbanded.
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THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
S. The Christian ministry amid these scenes of violence and disorder, was shedding its benign influence. In 1720. Tidenes I.ane. a Baptist preacher, organized a congregation, and a clutch house was created on Buffalo Ridge. Rev. Samuel Doak wir preaching in Washington and Sullivan counties. The Chicka- manga Indians occupied the summit of the mountains near Look- out, the impregnable fortress of nature, and defied the whites to occupy it. They began their scalping on inoffensive emigrants. Virginia and North Carolina in 1779, selected Evan Shelby to subdue them. He invaded their town by water, which aston- ished them so that they fled, making no resistance. Shelby burnt their town. Five hundred Indians escaped and founded the five towns which subsequently annoyed the Cumberland settlement very much.
9. Richard Hogan. Spencer, Holliday, and others, in 17;s. came from Kentucky in search of good lands. They secured and planted a field, which was the first plantation in Middle Ten- lessee. It was near Bledsoe's Lick. A large hollow free stund near by, in which Spencer lived. Holliday decided to return to Kentucky. Spencer protested, but without avail. In the mean. time the former had lost his knife, whereupon the latter broke and gave him half of his knife.
. 10. During the Revolution, the western settlements were not in a condition to contribute very greatly to the American cats s. They were few but not insignificant, and being called upon. they responded. John Sevier commanded the militia of Washington county, and Isaac Shelby that of Sullivan county, which amounted to about five hundred. They induced Colonel Wi Han: Campbell, of Virginia, who had four hundred men, to join them. They elected him commander of the united forces. Colonel James Williams joined them, and their torce amounted to fifteen hundred. They realized they were fighting a great general, whose courage was as desperate as his generalship was Skilful He had to rely upon Tories who wanted to surrender.
TENNESSEE, PART OF NORTH CAROLINA.
finding themselves in a baptism of fire, but time after time he : dlied his men. Patrick Ferguson, the British officer, selected the top of a cone-shaped hill, which he named King's Mountain, and said "the Almighty himself could not drive him from it." The assailants were desperate and determined. Ascending the mountain on various sides, their deadly rifles literally mowed Jown the Tories. Finally Ferguson was killed, and De Peyster. the second in command. immediately surrendered. This was a great victory for the mountaineers. In 1783. Davidson county was erected and named, and James Robertson was its first Repre- tentative to the North Carolina Legislature. Rev. Jeremiah Lambert, the first Methodist preacher, came this year to the Holston Circuit.
11. The Indians were anticipating an invasion now. Sevier returned home from King's Mountain famous, and when he was notified of their hostile intention he at once selected troops and hastened to meet the Indians. Finding the savages at Boyd's Creek, he routed them. Reenforcements joined him, which enabled him to cross the Little Tennessee and pursue the Indians till he had burned their dwellings, destroyed their crops, and driven away their animals. He marched south through their country in the region of the Coosa River, demolishing as he went. The next year he invaded their country at the source of the Little Tennessee. The Indians would not always conform to treaties, and they had to be dealt with in a summary way. Their deeds were atrocious and degrading, but they saw North Carolina gradually extending her line and securing their lands. which put them on the defensive.
12. The Watauga people evidently hoped when they formed the articles of association that at no remote day they would be governed by royal governors, but adversity defeated it. When they petitioned North Carolina in 1776 for annexation. it wa- readily granted. They expected defense, but it never came. An Indian war was always an impending contingency. They had
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THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
had no adequate military organization, no method of comps !! ing enlistment, no means of collecting taxes. This was ban enough. Subsequently, abuses became worse.
13. In April, 1784. the General Assembly of North Carolina ceded to the United States all the territory embraced in Ten- nessee The cession required its acceptance within two year- To this the settlers complained. because North Carolina iet them without a government for two years. Indignation per- vaded the entire settlement. The Watauga pride had been insulted and North Carolina was bitterly reviled. The most extravagant denunciations of her ingratitude and tyranny were heard. They regarded themselves without a government, but sought a solution of this difficulty in their own resources.
14. Taking their militia companies, each company elected two representatives, who formed a committee, and the three com- mittees of Washington, Sullivan and Greene counties-Davidson does not seem to have been represented-met and decided to call a general convention to be elected by the people of the different counties. This convention met August 23, 1784, at Jonesboro. John Sevier was elected President, and Landon Carter, Secre- tary.
15. The convention voted twenty-eight yeas to fifteen nays to hold a Constitutional Convention November 16, 1784, to form a State, with five delegates from each county. In the fall. North Carolina repealed its act of cession to the United States. Nashville was established July 4. 1784. and North Carolina appointed Andrew Jackson, Judge of Superior Court of Law and Equity for Davidson county. A second convention met at Jonesboro. December 14. 1784. John Sevier was made President. and F. A. Ramsey, Secretary.
16. A Constitution was formed, and the new State was named Frankland or Franklin, and North Carolina appointed John Sevier Brigadier-General. General Washington gained the victory over Cornwallis at Vorktown, Virginia. October 19.
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THE STATE OF FRANKLIN.
1;st, and so the war was virtually ended. The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Paris. November 30. 1782. This war lasted seven years, but Great Fritam declared the United States free, and it could have an independent government.
QUESTIONS. - 1. What did North Carolina do in 1777? IIOW arge was it? 2. What was land worth? What permission to secure it? 3. What effect did this produce? Who came? 4. Hitherto, how had emigrants come? What of roads? 5. What means of protection did they have? What was the result? 6. What of Washington county? Other counties? 7. What of the Tories? Whigs? Committees? S. What of the Christian ministry? The Chickamauga Indians? 9. Describe the settle- sent from Kentucky. ro. What part did the Western settle- ments take in the Revolution? Describe the battle of King's Mountain. 11. Describe Sevier's attack on the Indians. 12. What was the evident anticipation of the Wataugans? 13. What
cession was made in 17844? Why did the settlers complain ? 4. What of the Jonesboro convention? Its officers? 15, Give the substance of this section. 16. Name the new State. What : the treaty of peace?
CHAPTER VI.
THE STATE OF FRANKLIN.
1. The Revolution was now ended, and the independ- unce of the United States acknowledged by England. The transition from a state of provincial vassalage and colonial lependence to self-government was sudden, and in some of the States almost imperceptible. The change from a monarchy to a republic brought a little of the spirit of insubordination. till mature plans and experience could enthrone confidence to meet. The convulsions and disorders of society which were produced by the dissolution from England. In the main, the people expected better results, hence contentment was delayed.
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THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
2. The War of Independence had entailed an immense debt upon the States. The treasury was depleted, and Congress urged the States to cede their unappropriated lands to Congress to enrich the Federal treasury to enable it to defray the expenses incurred by this war. North Carolina ceded the western territory. The State of Franklin thought if it were admitted as an independent State these lands would accrue to its own benefit. Truc, the members from the four western counties voted at Hillsboro for the cession, but they thought Congress would not accept it. After the battle of King's Mountain the "Over Hill" country became famous and attracted immigration. Hither were led by General Elijah Clarke the women and children of Tory-ridden Georgia. A hard fought battle was won over the Cherokees at Boyd's Creek, and their country depopulated around Hiwassee. In November. 1785. a Constitution was adopted by four counties and the East Tennessee country named Franklin.
3. The Constitution of Franklin made lawyers, ministers of the gospel, and doctors ineligible to office. This made it very un- popular. When the Constitution of North Carolina was passed a Bill of Rights was adopted which made provisions for the creation of a State or States out of the Western Territory. Men- tion has been made of the formation of a judicial district for the Western counties, called Washington District, and a Judge and an Attorney-General appointed. Of the militia a brigade was formed, with John Sevier Brigadier General, but he would not accept the position.
4. In those days factions were easily formed. John Sevier was a gallant, faithful, industrious and honorable man, whom his people loved very much From the first, he became identified with all the interests of this people for whom he labored so un- tiringly. Vet his career was an object of jealousy to a man named John Tipton, who did what he could in opposition to Sevier. . At Watauga courts were held at resident houses, and it was Tipton's ambition to annoy Sevier, and capture or destroy the court
THE STATE OF FRANKLIN.
words. The proceedings of one faction were deemed by the ther illegal. The people did not know to whom to pay their Mixes, hence they paid none.
5. Dissension and disruption created much animosity and dis- content. A Constitution was formed for the State, but the many objections thereto promptly defeated it. When Governor Martin, v: North Carolina, heard the news of separation he sent Major Sunuel Henderson to find out the cause of disaffection. Very son Governor Martin received an official declaration of inde- Dendence from the new State. Martin issued a manifesto to the inhabitants of Franklin, and calmly and dispassionately reviewed and refuted causes and charges.
Sevier was elected Governor ut Franklin by the Legislature. One of the first acts of the Legislature of Franklin was to provide for Martin Academy. which was founded by Samme! Doak in 1785, and was the first chool west of the Alleghanies. It afterwards became Washing- in College. This year Davidson Academy was founded at Nashville, and Blount College at Knoxville.
5. Sevier proposed the Constitution of North Carolina and it wis adopted with a few changes. William Cocke was appointed to present this Constitution to Congress for the admission of the State into the Union, which he did, and to which Congress mid no attention. Soon after the adoption of the Constitution by Franklin, the North Carolina Legislature met at Newbern und passed an act of oblivion in favor of those who would return their allegiance, and invited the revolted counties to send representatives to North Carolina. This act did much to altay Itation and make Governor Martin's manifesto popular. In August. [56, a Senator John Tipton, and two Representatives. Lunes Stuart and Richand White, were elected from Washington county to the North Carolina General Assembly.
7. After the election of John Tipton to the Senate of North Carolina, and the people began to see that Franklin could not arrive this difficulty, Sevier cent Cocke to North Carolina to
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THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
persuade the Legislature to agree to a separation. Cocke , appeal was eloquent, but unsuccessful. North Carolina ha! decided that the Franklin people should return to their alles: ance, and should become a separate State only through a formal act of cession. By another act of oblivion, unpaid taxes Wer remitted.
8. Franklin refused to take advantage of the last act of oh. livion. Confusion was still great. Two sets of officers stil executed the laws, and the people were wearying under the needless desertion. Sevier saw a reaction. North Carolina appointed Evan Shelby Brigadier-General. Sevier and Shelby were to exercise the duties of their offices jointly, and in a har monious way, till the next meeting of the Legislature of Nort! Carolina, but ere long they again became involved in confusion.
9. The Governor of North Carolina in May, 1787, replied Evan Shelby and his followers, who had asked to have th. Franklin people brought back to their allegiance by force of arms Very pleasantly, he suggested that the way to secure what the; desired was to return to their allegiance and wait till their wealth and numbers would justify separation. "It is my opinion." -an he, "that it may be obtained at an earlier day than some imagine if unanimity prevail among you."
10. Sevier saw the futility of his plans, and not being despondent. he urged Georgia to interfere in the behalf of Franklin. As Con pensation, he would help subjugate the Creeks and settle the Great Bend of the Tennessee, but Georgia gave no useful aid. Sevier resorted to various futile means. He solicited Shelby to accept the Governorship, but he refused. In September. ITS ;. the last session of the Franklin Legislature met, and soon there- after all the Western counties sent Representatives to the North Carolina Legislature. After acts of pardon and oblivion were passed, the State of Franklin ceased to exist, February 1. 175%.
it. It is interesting to know how officers were then paid. The State taxes and salaries were payable in flax linen, tou
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THE STATE OF FRANKLIN.
Tinen, linsey, beaver skins, tallow, beeswax, rye whisky, peach or apple brandy, country made sugar, and tobacco. Our children will be glad to know of the beautiful scenery of the cradle of this State. It will, perhaps, endear primitive settlers to us.
12. The scenery of the Great Valley of East Tennessee is not surpassed for beauty and grandeur. This is equally true whether it be viewed from the hills or from the tops of the great mountains upon either side. The poet's verse and the artist's brush have long since immortalized the beautiful vales and the rivers of the Great Valley. The mountains lack the massiveness of form and the great altitudes of the Alps and the Rockies. but there is a beauty and harmony of outline in the vast stretch of 'Indscape that at once captivates all beholders. The Valley, when once seen from any one of the great domes upon the eastern wall, is a picture that can never be forgotten. Standing upon one of these great elevations, four thousand feet above the ocean and looking down and out, the Great Valley spreads away in All directions like some vast plain, or a stretch of some silent -ea.
13. Far away to the west, in the extreme background of the picture, a high blue wall is seen kissing the sky: this is the western confine of the Valley. Beyond this tall, blue line is Kentucky. Far away to the right and left the picture slowly fades behind the blue, transparent atmosphere of the Ter- nessee Mountains. Ninety miles away, on the right. beyond the leepest shadow in the picture, les Virginia. Ninety miles away, on the left, beyond where the jan-shaped rays of sunlight tre piercing the borders of a distant cloud. is Georgia. At our fret and back, the great gorges in the mountains open wide their enormous throats a thousand feet in depth; out of these the pre- cipitous sides of the great mountains raise their massive shoul. ders more than two thousand feet above us. Behind their great domes is North Carolina.
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THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE,
14. This beautiful valley was once the home and hurt- grounds of the Indians. From those far away hills three things and feet below us. the smoke of their chose signals answered to another. To them it was typical of their Happy Hu by Grounds. Heroically they resisted the encroachments of : white race upon it a long while ago. Bitterly they tur .. to look upon it for the last time as they took up march towards the setting sun, leaving their brave dead amar in the beautiful vales they had died to defend. But all this .. as it should be, for the Great Valley was destined to cradle mightier race, whose industries and commerce should touch !! boundaries of the farthest shores. The brighter colored spots " see scattered over the valley as far as the eye can reach. the work of the white man who succeeded the Indians, for ti ... are fields of waving grain. The darker colored patches, whi. intervene, are remnants of once unbroken forests; their out .. are eloquent of what has been done. The great columns- smoke rising from the center of the valley are from . : furnaces of modern progress and are prophetic of what !! to be.
15. Several years ago the lamented Landon C. Haynes, ote Tennessee's most eloquent sons, in his famous after-dinner site at Jackson, Miss paid this beautiful tribute to the home of birth: "I was born in East Tennessee on the banks . Watauga, which, in the Indian vernacular, means beatt !! river,' and beautiful river it is. I have stood upor its bank- childhood and looked down through its glassy waters and as seen a Heaven below, and then looked up and behell a Heen above, reflecting, like two mirrors each in the other, it now and planets and trembling stars. Away from its banks ". " and cliff, hemlock and laurel, and pine and cedar, stretch. - vale back to the distant mountains as beautiful and exquisite any in Italy or Switzerland. There stand the great Unico: great Black and the Great Smoky Mountains, among the 1 .
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