USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 12
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117
HENDERSON'S PURCHASE.
also to hold title. Early in that century they had expelled the Shawnees, and had since occupied their country as hunt- ing grounds. Daniel Boon still adhered to his darling pro- ject of planting a colony upon the Kentucky River, which he had seen, and, desirous of obtaining the consent of the Chero- kees, had stimulated Colonel Richard Henderson and others of North-Carolina, to effect a treaty with them for that pur- pose. Henderson, accordingly, associated with him other men of capital, viz : Thomas Hart, John Williams, James Hogg. Nathaniel Hart, David Hart, Leonard H. Bulloch, John Luttrell and William Johnston. Two of these, Colonel Henderson and Colonel Nathaniel Hart, accompanied by Daniel Boon, proceeded to the Cherokee towns, and proposed a general council, for the purpose of purchasing land. Sub- sequently, on the 17th of March, a treaty was concluded and signed by the agents of this company on the one part, and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Cherokee nation on the other part, at the Sycamore Shoals, on Watauga River. By this treaty, the Indians agreed to cede and relinquish to the associates all the lands lying between the Kentucky and the Cumberland Rivers. "Which said tract or territory of lands was, at the time of said purchase, and time out of mind had been, the land and hunting grounds of the said tribe of Cherokee Indians." In consideration of this cession, ten thousand pounds sterling were alleged to have been paid in merchandise. Twelve hundred Indians are said to have been assembled on the treaty ground .* Upon this occasion, and before the Indians had agreed to make the cession, one of the Cherokee orators, said to be Oconostota, rose and deliver- ed a very animated and pathetic speech. He began with the very flourishing state in which his nation once was, and mentioned the encroachments of the white people, from time to time, upon the retiring and expiring nations of Indians, who left their homes and the seats of their ancestors, to gra- tify the insatiable desire of the white people for more land. Whole nations had melted away in their presence, like balls of snow before the sun, and had scarcely left their names behind, except as imperfectly recorded by their enemies and
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* Monette.
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118
ELOQUENT SPEECH OF OCONOSTOTA.
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destroyers. It was once hoped that they would not be will- ing to travel beyond the mountains, so far from the ocean on which their commerce was carried on, and their connections maintained with the nations of Europe. But now that falla- cious hope had vanished ; they had passed the mountains and settled upon the Cherokee lands, and wished to have their usurpations sanctioned by the confirmation of a treaty. When that shall be obtained, the same encroaching spirit will lead them upon other lands of the Cherokees. New cessions will be applied for, and, finally, the country which the Cherokees and their forefathers had so long occupied, would be called for, and the small remnant which then may exist of this nation, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek a retreat in some far-distant wilderness, there to dwell but a short space of time, before they would again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host, who, not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Cherokees, would then proclaim the extinction of the whole race. He ended with a strong exhortation to run all risks, and to incur all consequences, rather than sub- mit to any further dilaceration of their territory .*
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The speech of the venerable chieftain was listened to by his assembled countrymen, with profound attention and mark- ed respect. His counsels were disregarded : the cession was made. The future of his tribe, as delineated by his vehement eloquence, seems now, after the lapse of three quarters of a century ,to be stamped with the inspiration of prophecy. The cotemporaries of Oconostota have left "the lands which their forefathers had so long occupied," and their bones are mouldering "in some far-distant wilderness" beyond the Mis- sissippi.
. The proprietors of Transylvania, as Henderson's purchase was called, at first contemplated the establishment of a sepa- rate and independent government, not materially dissimilar from the other British colonies. In a memorial, however, ad- dressed to the Continental Congress of 1775, they took care to request that Transylvania might be added to the number of the United Colonies. "Having their hearts warmed with the
* Haywood.
119
PURCHASE OF WATAUGA.
same noble spirit that animates the colonies"-such is their language-" and moved with indignation at the late ministe- rial and parliamentary usurpations, it is the earnest wish of the proprietors of Transylvania to be considered by the colo- nies as brethren engaged in the same great cause of liberty and mankind."*
During the treaty at the Sycamore Shoals, Parker & Carter, whose store had been robbed by the Indians, attended the con- ference, and demanded, in compensation for the injury they had sustained, Carter's Valley-to extend from Cloud's Creek to the Chimney-top Mountain of Beech Creek. The Indians consented, provided an additional consideration were given. This consideration was agreed to, and Robert Lucas was taken in as a partner, to enable them to advance the stipulated price. They.leased their lands to job-purchasers. It was, however, afterwards ascertained that the lands thus leased lay in North-Carolina and not in Virginia ; and the purcha- sers refused to hold under them, and drove them off.
The Watauga Association, holding the lands which they occupied, under a lease of eight years, as has been heretofore stated, desired to obtain for them a title in fee. They pro- cured, two days after the purchase was made by Henderson & Co., a deed of conveyance to Charles Robertson, for a large extent of country. It is found in the Register's office of Wash- ington county.
" LAND RECORDS OF THE WATAUGAH PURCHASE.
"This Indenture, made the 19th day of March, 1775, by O-con-os-to- 1775 [ ta, Chief Warrior and First Representative of the Cherokee Na- tion or Tribe of Indians, and Attacullecully and Savanucah, oth- erwise Coronoh, for themselves and the rest of the whole Nation, being the aborigines and sole owners by occupancy from the beginning of time, of the lands on the waters of Holston and Wataugah Rivers, and other lands thereunto belonging, of the one part, and Charles Robertson, of the settlement of Wataugah, of the other part, Witnesseth, &c." The con- sideration was " the sum of two thousand pounds, lawful money of Great Britain, in hand paid." The deed embraced " all that tract, territory or parcel of land, on the waters of Wataugah, Holston and Great Canaway or New River : beginning on the south or south-west side of Holston River, six English miles above Long Island, in said river ; thence a direct line near a south course to the ridge which divides the waters of Watau-
* Morehead's Address, p. 86.
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120
WATAUGA LAND OFFICE.
gah from the waters of Nonachuckeh ; thence along the various courses of said ridge nearly a south-east course to the Blue Ridge or line dividing North-Carolina from the Cherokee lands; thence along the various courses of said ridge to the Virginia line; thence west along the Virginia line to Holston River; thence down the meanders of Holston River to the first station, including all the waters of Wataugah, part of the waters of Hol- ston and the head-branches of New River or Great Canaway, agreeable to the bounds aforesaid, to said Charles Robertson, his heirs and assigns," do. . " And also, the said Charles Robertson, his heirs and assigns, shall and may, peaceably and quietly; have, hold, possess and enjoy said premises, without let, trouble, hindrance or molestation, interruption and denial, of them, the said Oconostota and the rest, or any of the said Nation."
Signed in presence of JOHN SEVIER, OCONOSTOTA, his MA mark. [Seal.]
WM. BAILEY SMITH, ATTACULLEOULLY, his 4 mark.
JESSE BENTON, TENNESY WARRIOR, his MA mark. 4 WILLINAWAUGH, his M mark.
TILLMAN DIXON, WILLIAM BLEVINS, THOS. PRICE.
JAS. VANN, Linguister.
The lands thus conveyed to Charles Robertson, were after- wards regularly patented to the settlers. Occupancy had pro- bably heretofore given ownership. The first patentee was Joshua Haughton. The form of his patent is brief and sim- ple, and is given at length.
" Joshua Haughton, on the seventh day of May, 1775, obtained a patent from this office of a tract of land lying on the south side of the Wataugah, half a mile below the mouth of Doe River, which tract was entered by the said Haughton, April 1, 1775, and obtained a warrant for surveying the same, a plan of which was returned to this office by the hands of Wm. Bailey Smith, Surveyor.
JAMES SMITH, C. L. O."
A list is given here of other patentees in their order : Thomas Haughton, Henry Grymes, Wm. Tacket, Matthew Talbot, Isaac Ruddle, Henry Lyle, John Sevier, John Carter and John Sevier, John Carter, George Russell, Wm. Bean, Andrew Greer, Robert Young, James Robertson, Ben. Ry- burn, Baptist McNabb, Edmond Roberts, John McNabb, Andrew Little, John Jones, James Hollis, John Cassada George Gray, Choat Gambal, Jonathan Tipton, Farrer, Fletcher, Thompson, Lincoln, Lucas Messengall, Duncan Abbit, Walding Denton, Hodge, Bennet, Reaves, Cunning- ham, Jesse D. Benton, Catherine Choat.
To the holders of patents thus given, a deed regularly
121
BROWN'S PRINCIPALITY.
drawn up, and signed by Charles Robertson, was made out. One of these is now before the writer, carefully drawn up and indented after the English style. The witnesses to it are John Sevier and J. Smith.
Another deed was made to Jacob Brown, for lands on both sides of Nonachunheh, and as far west as the mouth of Big Limestone Creek.
" This Indenture, made the 25th day of March, 1775, between Oco- nostota, chief warrior and head prince, the Tenesay Warrior, and Bread Slave Catcher, and Attakullakulla, and Chenesley, Cherokee chiefs of Middle and Lower Settlements, of the one part, and Jacob Brown, of No- nachuchy, of the other part-consideration ten shillings-a certain tract or parcel of land lying on Nonachuchy River, as follows : Beginning at the mouth of a creek called Great Limestone, running up the meanders of the said creek and the main fork of the creek to the ridge that divides Wataugah and Nonachuchy, joining the Wataugah purchase, from thence up the dividing ridge that divides the waters of Nonachuchy and Wataugah, and thence to the head of Indian Creek, where it joins the Iron Mountain, thence down the said mountain to Nonachuchy river, thence across the said river including the creeks of said river, thence down the side of the Nonachuchy Mountain against the mouth of Great Limestone, thence to the beginning.
In presence of,
SAMUEL CRAWFORD,
OCCONOSTOTA, [Seal.]
JESSE DENHAM, THE TENESAY WARRIOR,
MOSES CRAWFORD, THE BREAD SLAVE CATCHER,
ZACHARY ISBELL, ATTAKULLAKULLA, "
CHENESLEY.
" Witness the Warriors-Thomas Bulla, Joseph Vann, Richard Hen- derson."
Mr. Brown thus became the purchaser of a principality on Nonachunheh, embracing much of the best lands in Wash- ington and Greene counties.
Another deed of the same date and between the same parties, conveys another tract of land "lying on Nonachuchy River, below the mouth of Big Limestone, on both sides of said river, bounded as follows, joining the rest of said . Brown's purchase. Beginning on the south side of said river, below the old fields that lie below the said Lime- stone, on the north side of Nonachuchy Mountain, at a large rock ; thence north thirty-two deg. west to the mouth of Camp Creek, on south side of said river ; thence across said river ; thence north-west to the dividing ridge between Lick Creek and Watanga or Holston ; thence up the dividing ridge
122
PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION
to the rest of said Brown's lands ; thence down the main fork of Big Limestone to its mouth ; thence crossing the river a straight course to Nonachuchy Mountain ; thence down the said mountain to the beginning."
In the meantime, the British Parliament persisted in the 1774 § determination to tax the American colonies without
their consent. We copy or condense from Holmes :
"The obnoxious port duties of 1767 had been repealed, excepting the duty of three pence a pound on tea, which was continued for the purpose of maintaining the parliamentary right of taxation. 'That import was continued to keep up the sovereignty,' and 'could never be opposed by the colonists, unless they were determined to rebel against Great Britain.' Such was the language of Lord North. But the jeal- ousy of the colonies was directed against the principle of the ministry, which was as discernible in the imposition of a small as of a large duty. The partial repeal was, therefore, unsatisfactory, and combinations were formed in the principal commercial cities, to prevent the importation of the excepted article. One sentiment appears to have pervaded all the colonies." The ministerial plan was universally considered as a direct attack upon the liberties of the American citizen, which it was the duty of all to oppose. The tax was every where resisted, and at Boston the cargoes of tea were thrown into the dock. This act so provoked the British government that the city of Boston was selected as the first object of legislative vengeance. A bill was passed by which its harbour was closed. This bill excited universal indignation. At Philadelphia contributions were made for such poor inhabitants of Boston as were deprived, by the act, of the means of subsistence. The Assembly of Virginia resolved to observe the first day of its operation as a fast, and espoused the cause of Massachusetts by the declaration ' that an attack made on one of our sister colonies to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole be applied.'"
They also proposed the meeting of a General Congress annually, to deliberate on those measures which the united interests of America might, from time to time, require. This recommendation of Virginia was gradually concurred with, from New-Hampshire to South-Carolina, and on the fifth 'day of September the first Continental Congress met in . Philadelphia. A declaration of rights was soon agreed on ; the several acts of Parliament infringing and violating those rights recited, and the repeal of them resolved to be essen- tially necessary to the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and the colonies. They resolved further on an address to the king and to the people of Great Britain, and
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123
OPPOSED IN ALL THE COLONIES.
a memorial to the people of British America. These reso- lutions of the Continental Congress, received the general sanction of the Provincial Congresses and Colonial Assem- blies. Massachusetts took immediate measures for the defence of the province. The Assembly of Rhode Island passed resolutions for obtaining arms and military stores, and for raising and arming the inhabitants. In New-Hamp- shire similar precautions were taken.
In the more southern colonies, signs of discontent and jealousy of the British government were strongly manifested. A meeting of the officers under the command of Lord Dun- more, resolved :- " That as the love of liberty and attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh every other consideration, they would exert every power within them for the defence of American liberty and for the support of her just rights and privileges, not in any precipi- tate, riotous or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen." The Provincial Congress of Maryland resolved :- " That if the late acts of Parliament shall be attempted to be exe- cuted by force, Maryland will aid such colony to the utmost extent of its, power ;" and further resolved to raise money for the purchase of arms and ammunition. In South-Carolina Judge Drayton, in a charge to a grand jury, said, in speaking of liberty :- " English people cannot he taxed, nay, cannot be bound by any law, unless by their consent, expressed by themselves or by the representatives of their own election. I charge you to do your duty; to maintain the laws, the rights, the constitution of your own country, even at the hazard of your lives and fortunes. In my judicial character I know no master but the law ; I am a servant, not to the king, but to the constitution."
The testimony of one of the earliest and most distinguished martyrs to the cause of liberty is at once illustrative of his own patriotism and that of his countrymen. Dr. Warren said :- "It is the united voice of America to preserve their freedom or lose their lives in the defence of it. Their reso- lutions are not the effects of inconsiderate rashness, but the sound result of sober inquiry and deliberation. I am con-
124
MARTIAL SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE.
vinced that the true spirit of liberty was never so universally diffused through all ranks and orders of people in any coun- ty on the face of the earth, as it now is through all North America."
Georgia was the youngest of the colonies, the most feeble and the most exposed ; yet her whigs were aroused and active at the very dawn of the Revolution. Under Haber- sham and Brown, ber volunteers assisted in capturing, at the mouth of the Savannah, the schooner of Gov. Wright, con- taining the king's powder; and afterwards Doctor N. W. Jones, Joseph Habersham, Edward Telfair, William Gibbon, Joseph Clay, John Millege and others broke into the maga- zine and secured for their little band of whig patriots, the powder intended by the colonial authorities to intimidate the rising spirit of republicanism and resistance to the royal cause. "Some of the bravest and most honourable men in the Union were among the patriots of Georgia." " Mr. Habersham, alone and unaided, entered the house of Go- vernor Wright and arrested him at his own table.""
But all these manifestations of a spirit of determined resist- - ance on the part of the American colonies, were disre-
1775 n garded by the British government. Parliamentary supremacy had been asserted, and coercive measures were adopted to enforce and sustain it. A crisis approached which precluded, forever, all reconciliation between England and her + American colonies. On the 19th of April the battle of Lex- ington took place, the first act in the great drama of the American Revolution. The blood there shed was the signal for war. The martial spirit of the American people rose with the occasion. The forts, magazines and arsenals through- out the colonies, were instantly secured for the use of the Pro- vincials. Troops were raised, and provision made for their pay and support. Valour in the field was not sufficient for the emergency ; it demanded also wisdom in council. A new Congress met on the 10th of May, adopted measures of de- fence, and unanimously elected one of their number, George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United Colonies.
* Dr. Johnson's Reminiscences.
125
HOOPER FORETELLS INDEPENDENCE.
Notwithstanding these proceedings, the views of the colo- nists did not yet extend to a separation from Great Britain, or to the establishment of independent governments, except in the last extremity. This is evinced, not only by the declara- tions of Congress, but from those of the colonial assemblies and conventions in the course of this year.
" But the charm of loyalty to the king and allegiance to his govern- ment, was broken-the spell was dissolved. The colonists had armed in defence of their rights, and the transit was easy from resistance to inde- pendence and revolution. For ten years they had been complaining and remonstrating against the unconstitutional enactments of the mother coun- try, in the submissive language of faithful and loyal subjects. Their tone was changed, and 'independency' was by many contemplated, and no where earlier than in North-Carolina. In this province, peculation by Crown officers, exorbitant taxes and the court law controversy, were pro- minent causes of early dissatisfaction to the people, and indeed transcend- ed, in their immediate influence upon their personal comforts and rights, the abstract question of British allegiance. At a later period, their op- position to the ministry was embittered, not so much by their personal sufferings as by a deep sympathy with the people of Massachusetts, who were complimented in all their public meetings, and assured of their rea- diness to aid them in any general scheme of protection or resistance. The organization of a Continental Congress had been suggested. That was to be effected through the agency of Provincial Congresses ; and in North- Carolina, as early as April 5, 1774, measures were in progress to con- vene one for that purpose. And on the 26th of the same month, Wil- liam Hooper, in a letter to James Iredell, openly avows the propriety, as well as the probability, of independence. It distinctly says : ' With you I anticipate the important share which the colonies must soon have in re- gulating the political balance. They are striding fast to independence, and will, ere long, build an empire on the ruins of Britain-will adopt its constitution, purged of its impurities ; and from an experience of its de- fects, will guard against those evils which have wasted its vigour and brought it to an untimely end-'" *
The people of North-Carolina elected delegates to a Pro- vincial Congress, to meet at Newbern, August 25, 1774. The royal governor consulted his council, and with their advice issued his proclamation condemning the elections that had been held as illegal, and warning all officers of the king, civil and military, to prevent all such meetings, and especially that of certain deputies on the 25th instant. Neither the procla- mation, nor the less official menaces of Gov. Martin, could prevent the assembling of the deputies ; and on the appointed
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* Jones.
126
PROVINCIAL CONGRESS MEETS AT NEWBERN.
day a deliberative assembly was organized at Newbern, independent of and contrary to the authority of the existing government. This assembly or congress, as it was called, elected William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell, delegates to the General Congress to be held in September at Philadelphia, and invested them with such powers as may make any act done by them, " obligatory in honour upon every inhabitant of the province, who is not an alien to his country's good and an apostate to the liberties of America." They re- cognize George the Third as sovereign of the province ; but, as if to mock this profession of loyalty, they claim the rights of Englishmen, without abridgement, and swear to maintain them to the utmost of their power. One of these rights is de- fined to be, that no subject shall be taxed but by his own con- sent, or that of his legal representative, and they denounce, in unmeasured terms, every policy that assails that most sa- cred right .* The instructions to their delegates were in conso- nance with their resolutions. They contemplated a restora- tion of harmony with Great Britain, but pledged a determined resistance to aggression upon their persons or properties, and "to all unconstitutional encroachments whatsoever."
It does not appear that the infant settlements west of the mountains were represented at Newbern. While the Congress of North-Carolina was in session at that place, her Western pioneers were laying the foundation of society, and her brave soldiery had volunteered in an expedition, distant, toilsome, dangerous, patriotic, against the inroads of a savage enemy : thus serving an apprenticeship in self government and self defence, which events transpiring on the Atlantic side of the mountain soon after rendered necessary and important.
At this period the colonial government claimed the sole right to treat with the Indian tribes and to purchase their lands, as one of the prerogatives of sovereignty. This claim furnished a new pretext to Governor Martin to vent his spleen upon the distant settlers. The purchase which they had made at Watauga of the Cherokee lands, was pro- nounced illegal ; the governor alleging, in his proclamation against it, that it was made in violation of the king's inhibi- tion of Oct. 7, 1763, as well as of an act of the Provincial
* Jones.
127
END OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT IN NORTH-CAROLINA.
Assembly. This proclamation of Gov. Martin was a dead letter. No regard was paid to it on Watauga.
A second Provincial Congress was elected. It convened
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[ at Newbern, April 3, 1775, the same time and place 1775 appointed for the meeting of the Provincial Legisla- ture. The members elected by the people to one of these bodies, were generally the same persons elected to the other. " As the Provincial Assembly, with but few exceptions, con- sisted of the delegates to the Congress, and as the Speaker of the former was also the Moderator of the latter body, their proceedings are a little farcical. The Congress would be in session, when the Governor's Secretary would arrive, and then Mr. Moderator Harvey would turn himself into Mr. Speaker Harvey, and proceed to the despatch of public busi- ness. The Assembly, too, would occasionally forget its duty, and trespass upon the business of the Congress."* Governor Martin had, as on a former occasion, endeavoured in vain, by the efficacy of an intemperate and argumentative procla- mation, to prevent the meeting of the Congress. That body issued a counter-proclamation, by way of reply, in terms firm, moderate, forcible, respectful, and not less logical. "On the 8th of April, 1775, the Assembly was dissolved by pro- clamation, and thus ceased forever all legislative action in North-Carolina under the royal government."
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