USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee from the earliest time to the present : together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee, V.2 > Part 31
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on the Holston in what is now Sullivan County, but Valentine above mentioned settled on the Watauga. "the beautiful river." Here Valen- tine Sevier made a permanent settlement between Sycamore Shoals and Elizabethton, and here he lived to a green old age. The early settlers in this section thought they were settling within the territorial limits of Virginia, but soon found they were under the jurisdiction of North Car- olina. For a number of years these settlers had to contend alone against the Indians and other enemies of the new settlement. Doubtless this independent schooling had something to do in shaping the character of John Sevier. In 1772 the settlers held an election in this new colony and chose thirteen commissioners, whose duty it was to exercise the func- tions of government. Out of the thirteen chosen five were elected a court, " by whom all things were to be settled." The district of this settlement was called the District of Washington. John Sevier was chosen one of the thirteen commissioners and one of the five out of the thirteen for a court. While a member of this court and commissioner Sevier addressed a memorial to North Carolina urging her to extend her government over the Washington District. The appeal was successful. and in 1776 he was chosen a member of the Legislature of that State and assisted in forming the constitution for North Carolina. The terri- torial limits of the States had been better defined and instead of extend- ing to the South Sea the Mississippi River was recognized as the western boundary. In setting forth the boundaries of North Carolina it may be said the germ from which sprang Tennessee was planted. The lan- guage of the boundary of North Carolina, which says that the " boundary shall not be construed as to prevent the establishment of one or more governments westward of this State by consent of the Legislature," is the language of Sevier. On the outbreak of the Revolution Sevier threw all of his wonderful influence in favor of the infant Republic. His home was ever the rendezvous of the leading Whigs, and frequently was the place of meeting of the clans preparatory to a descent upon the British and Tories or the Indians. The history of his work in the Revolution- ary and in the Indian wars is given in the military chapter of this work. After the battle of King's Mountain thirty of the Tory prisoners were condemned to death. It was decided to hang only twelve of them. Cols. Sevier and Campbell determined, after eleven had been hanged, to save the twelfth man. The officer in charge of the work was much more zealous in hanging unarmed men than he had been in fighting the armed British, and seemed determined on carrying out sentence on the last. Col. Sevier ordered the work stopped. saying he was sick of it, and said to the officer: " If you had been as industrious in killing soldiers this
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morning as you are this evening in hanging prisoners we would not have had so many to hang."
After the close of the Revolutionary war the several States ceded their surplus territory to the General Government. By the cession act of June 1, 1784, North Carolina ceded the whole State of Tennessee, in- cluding four organized counties. These counties were left without any government, in fact, about in the same condition as they were previous to the Revolution. They elected two men from each captain's company to meet in convention at Jonesborough on August 23, 1784. Of this assembly John Sevier was chosen president. The cession act was re- pealed in November, and Col. Sevier was made a brigadier-general for North Carolina. A second convention was called, of which Sevier was again made president. A legislature was elected, and Col. Sevier was chosen governor of the new State called Franklin, a position which he held from 1784 to 17SS, when Franklin again became subservient to North Carolina. Gov. Sevier announced the separation and independence of Franklin. Gov. Martin, of North Carolina, declared the mountain- eers rebellious subjects; likewise did Gov. Caswell. Counter proclama- tions were issued by Sevier. Gov. Johnson directed Judge Campbell to issue a bench warrant against Sevier for high treason. The warrant was directed to Col. John Tipton, a North Carolina rival of Sevier, who ar- rested him. To prevent his rescue Sevier was taken across the moun- tains to Morganton, where court convened to try him for high treason. The friends of Sevier also went to Morganton, and entered the court room and attracted the attention of the court while the prisoner made his escape. In 1789, with the indictment still against him, Sevier was sent to the Senate of North Carolina. After he was sworn in a motion was made to inquire into Sevier's conduct, but was lost by an overwhelm- ing majority. In March, 1790, he was elected to Congress and took his seat in that body in June, being the first representative from the Missis- sippi Valley in that body. North Carolina again ceded her territory west of the mountains to Congress. President Washington appointed William Blount territorial governor, who in turn appointed John Sevier as brigadier-general of the territory. On the removal of the seat of the new territory to Knoxville, Sevier left Nollichucky and settled near Knox- ville, and after a time he moved into the city. He was one of the com- missioners with Blount in a great treaty with the Indians on the Holston River. On August 25, 1794, he was appointed a member of the Legis- lative Council of the territory, and in a few days he was made one of the trustees of Blount College, now East Tennessee University. He re- mained an active member of the trustees till his death. On September
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23, 1794, he introduced a bill incorporating Knoxville, and in a short time assisted in the establishment of Washington College.
In 1796 the territory southwest of the Ohio became the State of Ten- nessee. Writs of election were directed to the sheriff's, directing them to hold a general election on March 2S, 1796, for the election of mem- bers of the General Assembly and governor. The choice for governor fell upon John Sevier. He was re-elected in 1797 and again in 1799. Being ineligible for a fourth term he was out two years, when he was again elected for three terms in succession. This brought him to the year 1811, when he was chosen a member of Congress from the Knox- ville District, and again elected in 1813. This was during the period of war with Great Britain. He rendered efficient service on the committee of military affairs during that period. In 1815 Mr. Monroe appointed him commissioner to run the boundary line of the lands ceded by the Creeks to the United States. He left his home in Knoxville in June, and in September was taken sick of miasmatic fever and died on the 24th of the month at the Indian town Tuckabatchie. He was buried by a detachment of United States soldiers under Capt. Walker, on the east bank of the Tallapoosa, near Fort Decatur, Ala. While he was away on official duty to find his grave, his constituents at home again elected him to a seat in Congress, but it is doubtful if he ever heard of his election. He is described as being five feet ten or eleven inches in height, with a most symmetrical well-knit frame, inclining in late years to fullness; his ordinary weight about 140 or 150 pounds; his complexion ruddy, fair skin; his eyes blue, expressive of vivacity, benignancy and fearlessness ;. the nose not aquiline but prominent, with a mouth and chin of chiseled perfection. His form was erect and his walk rapid. He was exceedingly colloquial, urbane, convivial and of most commanding presence. His dress was always neat. He claimed to be the best equestrian in the country, and spent much of his time on horseback. It is said that his individuality was so great that a stranger would never have difficulty in pointing him out in an assembly upon being told that John Sevier was there. He was a military leader for nearly twenty years, and fought thirty-two pitched battles but was never defeated, even in a skirmish. His plan of battle was the impetuous charge, of which he was the leader. He it was that introduced the Indian war-whoop into civilized warfare, and which struck the British with such terror. He was in many des- perate hand-to-hand encounters, but was never wounded. During all his military service, except the last, he never received a cent. His house was the place of rendezvous for his men, and a general without commis- sion he enforced discipline. Men die without any public service and
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have towering shafts of marble erected to their memory, yet John Sevier, who founded a great State and gave it forty years of public service, died and not only no monument marks his grave, but even his burial place is unknown.
Gen. James Robertson,* "the father of Tennessee," was born in Brunswick County, Va., on the 28th of June, 1742. While he was yet a youth his parents moved to Wake County, N. C., where he grew to manhood and married Miss Charlotte Reeves. When that event oc- curred he had already obtained the rudiments of an education, and as Wake County at that time was the center of the intelligence and culture of the colony, he had laid the foundation of the broad and liberal char- acter for which he was ever distinguished. He had also become imbued with the spirit of liberty which was invading every American colony, and in 1770, to escape the oppression of the tyrant Tryon, he resolved to seek a home beyond the mountains. Accordingly in the spring of that year, with a small party, of whom Daniel Boone is believed to have been the leader, he visited the few settlers who had already located on the Watauga, and being favorably impressed with the country decided to make his home among them. He returned to Wake County after having made a crop, and it is thought he participated in the battle of Alamance, May 16, 1771. Soon after that event, with his wife and child, he again set out on a journey over the mountains to the Watauga, which was reached in safety. Soon after his arrival it was determined to form some sort of government, and he took an active part in securing the adoption of a set of written articles of government, which all agreed to support. In the early part of 1776 he was one of the committee who drew the pe- tition for the annexation of Watauga to North Carolina.
As an Indian diplomatist, Gen. Robertson had no superior and very few equals. In 1772 he was chosen to visit and pacify the Cherokees, who had been aroused by the murder of one of their number by a hunter. This he successfully accomplished, and by his courage, address and friendly manner won the regard of the chiefs, with whom he remained several days. Two years later, in October, he participated in a battle with the Indians on the banks of the Kanawha, whither a company under Col. Isaac Shelby had gone to aid the settlers in West Virginia, then in danger of destruction by the Shawanees and their allies. In July, 1777. the Cherokees having become troublesome, Gen. Robertson, co-operating with a force from Virginia, invaded their country and compelled them to sue for peace. During the same year he was appointed temporary agent
*So much has been written concerning den. Robertson that only a brief outline of his life is hore pro- sented.
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of North Carolina, and sent to Chota, "the beloved town" of the Chero- kees, where he resided for some time, and while there rendered himself popular with the chiefs.
In 1779 Robertson determined to remove still further west, and in February, accompanied by a party of eight, he set out to examine and locate land in the Cumberland, and to raise a crop of corn for the sup- port of those who were to come out in the fall. The hardships and pri- vations endured in the founding of the Cumberland settlements have been described in another chapter, and will not be here repeated. Dur- ing all of these troublesome times, and up to his death, Gen. Robertson was looked upon as a counselor and leader by all the colonists. Under the Government of the Notables he was the president of the committee or the judges, and upon the organization of Davidson County was one of the justices appointed to hold the county court. He was also the first representative of the county to the General Assembly of North Carolina, and continued by successive elections until the organization of the Ter- ritorial government. He was then commissioned by Washington major- general of the Mero District.
As a legislator Gen. Robertson displayed the highest qualities of the statesman, and he could no doubt have attained eminence in a wider field. Although the Assembly of North Carolina had evinced a disposi- tion to ignore the settlements west of the Cumberland Mountains, he succeeded in securing the passage of many acts for the benefit of his county, notably among which was one providing for the establishment of Davidson Academy; another provided for a superior court of law and equity, and a third prohibiting the establishment of distilleries in David- son County. In 1795 he resigned his commission as commander of the Mero District, and the following year was appointed Indian agent. In March, 1805, he was sent on a mission to the Chickasaws and Choctaws, and in July following, in company with the Indian agent, Dinsmore, met the chiefs of the former nation and obtained a total relinquishment of the title to a large tract of their land east of the Mississippi. In No- vember a treaty was concluded with the Choctaws.
During the war of 1812 Gen. Robertson rendered his last and greatest service to his country. Through his influence with the Indians, the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees, were induced to aid the United States against the Creeks and the British, and the people of Teunes- see were saved from the horrors of an Indian war. Gen. Robertson had long been subject to neuralgia, and while at the Chickasaw Agency he was seized with an attack of great violence, which ended his life Sep- tember 1. 1814. His remains were interred at the agency, where they
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rested till the year 1825, when they were removed to the cemetery at Nashville. By his side now rest the remains of his wife who survived him until June 11, 1843. They had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Two sons were killed by the Indians; one daughter died in infancy. Felix Robertson, one of the sons, was born at the Bluff January 11, 1781, and was the first white child born in the settlement.
The ancestors of Judge John Haywood emigrated from England at an early period and settled in the city of New York, from which place they moved to Norfolk, Va. The destruction of the town with the home of the Haywoods led the grandfather, William Haywood, to seek a home elsewhere. He moved to near the town of Halifax, on the Roanoke, N. C. Egbert Haywood, the father of Judge John Haywood, became a farm- er in the neighborhood. He was a man of ordinary means, and had little desire for books or social culture, caring more for field sports or the chase than literary attaimnents.
John Haywood, son of the above, was born March 16, 1762, at the family estate in Halifax County, N. C. The country afforded little opportunity for an education: not only were there few schools, but there were few educated teachers. The father being comparatively poor, he was unable to send his son to a foreign country or even a neighboring province to school, as was the case, with those more favored by fortune. The want of public schools was in some instances supplied by private teachers. In his early life he attended a private academy taught by a Rev. Mr. Castle, from whom he obtained a knowledge of the elements of an education. He acquired some knowledge of Latin, Greek, geography and other branches. His knowledge of any one branch of learning at this time was general rather than special. At an early period in his career he formed a resolution to study law, a profession for which he was well fitted by nature. He was without books, without money, and without an instructor. He began his studies by reading some of Ray- mond's reports, which were couched in the stilted and circumlocutory style of the period, and interspersed with innumerable Latin and French phrases. He soon rose to prominence at the bar. He made his first argument before the supreme court at the age of twenty-four. He dis- played such ability in this case as to attract marked attention, and he was no longer without clients. In 1794, as attorney-general, he procured not only the reconsideration but the reversal of judgment by the supreme court of a case decided unconstitutional the year preceding. In 1794 he became one of the judges of the superior court of law and equity, a posi- tion which he held five or six years. While on the bench he collected the decisions of the supreme court of North Carolina from 1789 to 1798.
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After leaving the bench he again began the practice, which he fol- lowed in North Carolina till 1807, when he moved to Davidson County, Tenn., and settled about seven miles from Nashville. The reputation Judge Haywood had made both as a lawyer and a judge in North Caro- lina soon brought him into prominence before the Tennessee bar. This was at a period when many persons were involved in suits over land claims and titles. Judge Guild, who was examined by Judge Haywood in October, 1522, for license to practice law, describes his visit to the judge as being somewhat peculiar. He found the judge lying out in his yard on a bull-hide in the shade. He looked as large as a sleeping bul- lock, as his weight was about 350 pounds. He found him grim, and when he told his business the judge began growling and grumbling, and said he did not see why he should be disturbed. He called two negro men, and had them take the bull-hide by the tail and drag him farther into the shade. He then began a very long and searching catechism on the law. He grew very communicative, and was well pleased with his work. Then followed a long lecture of advice, covering almost the whole of moral and legal ethics. He is said to have been agreeable in his manner, fond of society, and entertaining to the highest degree in his conversation. He kept his law office and library at his home in the country, and compelled his clients to attend on him there. Aside from his law studies Judge Haywood found time to pursue a wide field of literary pursuits. He published a work called " Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee," containing about 400 pages. In this he treats of the In- dians, their usages, etc., earthquakes, dreams, ghosts, goblins, bones of giants, pygmies, mastodons, caves and strange voices in air, portents. signs and wonders, all very curious and interesting. He also published in 1823 his "History of Tennessee," a book of about 500 pages, covering the period of settlement from 1768 to 1795. The "Evidences of Chis- tianity" followed. Many of Judge Haywood's conclusions in his literary works are based on very little evidence. That close reasoning that char- acterizes his legal conclusions is followed in his other works; but is based upon insufficient evidence, and is therefore very often erroneous. Much of his writing is speculative and highly imaginative. One very curious argument Judge Haywood uses to prove that the Hebrews and Indians were the same people is to quote I Samuel, xviii: 27, to prove that the Hebrews scalped their enemies, as well as did the Indians. Many of his other arguments are in a similar vein.
Judge Haywood died at his home near Nashville December 22, 1826, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He died after a few days' illness, his death being hastened from his great corpulency. Judge Haywood
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·left six children-three sons and three daughters: Thomas Haywood, a lawyer and teacher of classic education, died in 1868 near the Nolens- ville pike, about six miles from Nashville; Dr. George was a well-known physician of Marshall County; Dr. Egbert Haywood was a resident of Brownsville, Haywood County; one of the daughters married Dr. Moore, of Huntsville, Ala. ; a second married Col. Jones, of Tuscumbia, and the third married Col. S. Jones, of Limestone County, Ala.
The ancestry of William Blount has been traced with certainty to the invasion of England by William the Norman in 1066. The naine was originally Le Blount, and from the successful issue of invasion to the Normans the two brothers accompanying the expedition became owners of large landed estates. In 1669 Thomas Blount, great-grandfather of William Blount, with two brothers emigrated to Virginia, where one of the brothers settled and became the head of a long line of descendants. The other two brothers moved to North Carolina and settled in the vicin- ity of Albemarle. Jacob Blount, father of William Blount, was born in Bertie County, N. C., in 1726, and was married to Barbary Gray, a lady of Scotch ancestry, in 1744, by whom he had eight children. On the death of his wife he married a daughter of Edward Salten, by which union there were five children. Jacob Blount was a member of North Carolina Assembly in 1775-76. His death occurred at his country seat in Pitt County in 1789. William Blount, eldest son of Jacob Blount, was born in Bertie County, N. C., March 26, 1749. Jacob Blount is said to have been a man of considerable estate, and to have educated his large family in accordance with his ample means and social standing. It is probable that the training of his sons was more'in the line of the prac- tical than of the theoretical, that their training was more of action than of letters. William in early life rose to prominence by personal worth, and was married February 12, 1778, to Mary, a daughter of Col. Caleb Grainger. He and his father participated in the battle of Alamance, May 16, 1771, and all the brothers were leading spirits in the Revolu- tionary war. Her half-brother, Willie, was for a time his private secre- tary; was judge of the supreme court of Tennessee, and was governor of the State from 1809 to 1815.
William Blount was a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina the most of the time from 1780 to 1790. He was a member of the Continental Congress from that State in 1783-84, and again in 1786-87. His native State was active in the preliminary conventions which led to the final convention at Philadelphia, in 1787, of which he was a member. When the action of the convention was referred to the States. Blount used his whole power in the State convention for its ratification.
FROM PHOTO BY THUSS, KELLEIN & GIERS MGHVILLE
WILLIAM BLOUNT
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He is said to have been "a vigilant agent of his State and the faithful guardian of the interests of North Carolina" at the treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokees, November 28, 1785. He always took an active in- terest in the Western settlements and was ever a zealous friend to the Indians. His good influence was used with them in securing some of the most important and liberal treaties with the Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws. The ordinance and the act amendatory to it for the gov- ernment of the territory southwest of the Ohio River, passed August 7, 1789. This was after the second session act of North Carolina, which was intended to simplify matters and strengthen the hands of the Gen- · eral Government. From personal acquaintance with Gov. Blount, made at the constitutional convention, and kne wing his worth and acquaintance with the affairs of the new Territory, Gen. Washington appointed him Territorial governor. His commission was received August 7, 1790, and on October 10 he entered upon his duties. He first took up his resi- dence at the home of William Cobb, at the forks of the Holston and Watauga Rivers, and called around him the ablest men of the Territory to assist in his government. By the unanimous recommendation of the Legislature, he was appointed by President Washington as superintend- ent of Indian affairs. He made a tour of inspection of the Territory to inquire into the wants and needs of the people. The Indians with whom he was to treat were included in the tribes of the Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws. This was one of his most difficult tasks. The boundaries of these were not well-defined and some of the stipula- tions of former treaties not carried out. Many white men had settled upon the territory of the Indians, and this gave cause for complaint by the Indians. British and Spanish intrigue was at work upon the Indians, and to prevent complications with these countries his instruc- tions were to adopt defensive measures only in dealing with the Southern Indians, although surrounded by from 30,000 to 50,000 warriors. Con- sidering the difficulties of the surroundings, he managed with commenda- ble prudence. Being restrained as he was, many private injuries were inflicted by the Indians, which he was unable to punish; hence arose complaints, the grounds for which he was not responsible.
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