USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 33
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In the meantime, Greeneville had been laid off. The court-house stood at the lower corner of the present court- house lot. It was built of unhewn logs, and coverd with clapboards, and was occupied by the court, at first, without a floor or a loft. It had one opening only for an entrance, which was not yet provided with a shutter. Windows were not needed either for ventilation or light, the intervals be- tween the logs being a good substitute for them. In this simple and unpretending chamber, the third Franklin Con- vention was held, and there the elaborated and original constitution of the Commonwealth of Frankland was pre- sented, angrily discussed, analyzed and rejected, and the constitution of the State of Franklin adopted. In it the
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335
GREENEVILLE, THE CAPITAL OF FRANKLIN.
Commons assembled and deliberated, while the Senate con- vened in the old court room in Carr's house, which, at this time, had become the village tavern. Greeneville became the permanent capital of the new state, the seat of its legis- lature, and the place where the governor met his council of state, and projected and matured the measures of his foreign and domestic administration. Most loyal amongst the loyal, to Sevier and to Franklin, were the inhabitants of Greene county. There resided many of his captains and most of his officers of state. They were the last to abandon-they never did abandon him. Some of them may not have sup- ported the Governor of Franklin, but none of them refused their support to John Sevier.
Petitions were drawn up and circulated among the people, praying the favourable consideration of the Congress of the United States to the separation of the western from the eastern sections of Virginia and North-Carolina.
Other petitions from the people of the ceded territory, were addressed to the Legislature of North-Carolina. In one of these, here preserved, the petitioners "beg leave to ob- serve that the honourable legislature of your state, on the 2d June, 1784, passed an act ceding to the United States the territory which lies west of the Apalachian or Alleghany Mountains ; containing in said act, several conditions and reservations in behalf of your petitioners, who discovering with pleasure and acknowledged gratitude, the paternal and patriotic disposition of the legislature, to countenance and consent to the ease and happiness of your remote citizens, emboldened us to set about erecting a separate government from that of the parent state. Assuring your honourable body, that it is not from any disgust to your constitution or laws, occasions us to supplicate you to permit a separation, but, on the contrary, (we) regard North-Carolina, and will never cease to feel an interest in whatever may concern her happiness and safety ; and that our hearty and kindest wishes will always attend the parent state."
The convention having rejected the constitution as sub- mitted, and adopted that of North-Carolina, under which the Franklin government had thus far been administered, it
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836
TREATY OF HOPEWALL.
was hoped that the public sentiment would be propitiated, and general harmony restored ; but new elements of strife had arisen during the session of the convention, and new topics of discussion had been thrown out amongst the peo- ple. The dissentients comprised in their number, much of the wisdom and virtue of the body to which they belonged; and desirous of sustaining themselves with their constitu- ents, they published an account of their proceedings, together with the rejected form of government, and appealed again to the people. Here, as might have been anticipated, secta- rian bigotry, unlettered ignorance, and impassioned ultraism, would all tend to aggravate the existing discord and embit- ter the dispute. Sections I, II, III, and XXXII, became pro- lific sources of controversy and angry debate. The deputies in convention had dissented; their constituents themselves could not harmonize ; and without any further effort to re- model the government, the people at length acquiesced in the constitution of the mother state.
In the meantime, the settlements were extended over the territory acquired under the Franklin treaties with the Cherokees, and a new source of hostilities with that tribe arose from the encroachment of the whites upon lands not embraced in former cessions to the adjoining states. It was considered by Congress necessary, therefore, that a treaty should be held under the authority of the United States. Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin, and Lachn. McIntosh, were appointed Commissioners on the part of the General Government. They invited the chiefs of the respective towns to meet with them, in treaty, at Hope- well, on Keowee, in South-Carolina.
The boundary, which had been the chief cause of com- plaint by the Indians, was made to conform with the lines of their deed to Henderson & Co., and the treaty held by Com- missioners of Virginia and North-Carolina in 1777. In their report to Richard Henry Lee, President of Congress, the Commissioners say : "The Spaniards and the French from New-Orleans, are making great efforts to engross the trade of the Indians ; several of them are on the north side of the Tennessee, and are well supplied with the proper goods for
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337
CHEROKEE BOUNDARY.
the trade. The Governor of New-Orleans or West Florida has sent orders to the Chickasaws to remove all traders from that country, except such as should take the oath of alle- giance to the Catholic King." "The Cherokees say that the northern Indians have their emissaries among the southern tribes, endeavouring to prevail with them to form an alli- ance offensive against the United States, and to commence hostilities against us in the spring, or next fall, at the fur- thest ; that, not only the British emissaries are for this mea- sure, but that the Spaniards have extensive claims to the southward, and have been endeavouring to poison the minds of the Indians against us, and to win their affections by large supplies of arms, military stores and clothing."
By the fourth article .of the treaty concluded on the 28th November, 1785, the Cherokee boundary is declared to be :
Beginning at the mouth of Duck River, on the Tennessee ; thence running northeast to the ridge dividing the waters running into the Cum- berland from those running into the Tennessee; thence eastwardly along the said ridge to amnortheast line to be run, which shall strike the River Cumberland forty miles above Nashville; thence along the said line to the river ; thence up the said river to the ford where the Ken- tucky road crosses the river; thence to Campbell's line near Cumberland Gap; thence to the mouth of Cloud's Creek on Holston ; thence to the Chimneytop Mountain; thence to Camp Creek, near the mouth of Big Limestone, on Nollichucky ; thence a southerly course six miles to a mountain ; thence south to the North-Carolina line ; thence to the South- Carolina Indian boundary, and along the same southwest over the top of the Oconee Mountain till it shall strike Tugalo River ; thence a direct line to the top of the Currahee Mountain ; thence to the head of the south fork of Oconee River.
In the meantime, North-Carolina was not inattentive to the growing alienation and defection of her western
1785 citizens. The Greeneville Convention had met on the 14th of November. On the 19th of the same month, the North-Carolina Legislature assembled at Newbern. Fol- lowing the example of Virginia, they proceeded to take into consideration the state of their revolted counties, and passed an act, preceded by a preamble, in which it is stated as rep- resented to the Assembly-
"That many of the inhabitants of Washington, Greene and Sullivan counties, have withdrawn their allegiance from this state, and have been 22
398
ELECTIONS HELD IN FRANKLIN,
erecting a temporary separate government amongst themselves, in con- sequence of a general report and belief that the state, being inattentive to their welfare, had ceased to regard them as citizens, and had made an absolute Cession, both of the soil and jurisdiction of the country in which they reside, to the United States, in Congress. And wherees, such report was ill-founded, and it was, and continues to be, the desire of the General Assembly of this State to extend the benefits of civil government to the citizens and inhabitants of the western counties, until such time as they might be separated with advantage and convenience to themselves ; and the Assembly are ready to pass over, and consiga to oblivion, the mistakes and misconduct of such persons in the above- mentioned counties, as have withdrawn themselves from the government of this state ; to hear and redress their grievances, if any they have, and to afford them the protection and benefits of government, until such time as they may be in a condition, from their numbers and wealth, to be formed into a separate commonwealth, and be received by the United States as a member of the Union."
The act then grants pardon and oblivion for all that had been done in the revolted counties, on the condition that they return to their allegiance to North-Carolina, and ap. pointed officers, civil and military, in place of the incum- bents under the Franklin dynasty, and Ompowered the voters of Washington, Sullivan and Greene, to choose their repre- sentatives otherwise than by the then required forms. Three; good and honest men, preferred by themselves, were to act as inspectors of the elections, and to feturn a certificate in favour of members thus chosen.
It is not known how many of the several counties partici- pated in the provisions thus made by the parent state, for a return of her western citizens to their allegiance. But in Washington county disaffection to the Franklin government began to manifest itself, and George Mitchell, as sheriff, issued the following notice, which is copied exactly from the origi- nal, as found among the Sevier papers.
JULY, 19th day, 1786.
.ADVERTISEMENT .- I hereby give Publick Notice, that there will be an election held the third Friday in August next, at John Rennoe's, near the Sickamore Sholes, where Charles Robertson formerly lived, to choose members to represent Washington county in the General As- sembly of North-Carolina, agreeable to an Act of Assembly, in that case made and provided, where due attendance will given pr me. Geo. MITCHELL, Shff.
The election was held accordingly at the Sycamore Shoals,
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339
FOR MEMBERS TO NORTH-CAROLINA LEGISLATURE.
1786 on Watauga River, when Col. John Tipton was
chosen Senator of Washington county, and James Stuart and Richard White were chosen as members of the House of Commons of the Legislature of North-Carolina. These gentlemen had been members of the convention that formed the new government, and had in other ways partici- pated in its administration. Their well known influence and weight of character in the new settlements, rendered their present position of ill-omen to the future fortunes of Franklin. In Washington county especially, many, influenced by their example, accepted the terms of accommodation held out by North-Carolina, and enrolled their names in opposi- tion to the new state. From this period resistance to, or re- fusal of its authority, assumed a more systematic and deter- mined form.
In the early part of the year 1786, was presented the strange specta- cle of two empires exercised at one and the same time, over one and the same people. County courts were held in the same counties, under both governments; the militia were called out by officers appointed by both ; laws were passed by both assemblies, and taxes were laid by the authority of both states. The differences in opinion in the State of Franklin, between those who adhered to the government of North- Carolina, and those who were the friends of the new government, be- came every day more acrimonious. Every fresh provocation on the one side, was surpassed in way of retaliation by a still greater provocation on the other. The Judges commissioned by the State of Franklin, held Su- preme Courts twice in each year, in Jonesborough. Colonel Tipton openly refused obedience to the new government. There arose a deadly hatred between him and Governor Sevier, and each endeavoured, by all the means in his power, to strengthen his party against the other. Tip- ton held courts under the authority of North-Carolina, at Buffalo, ten miles above Jonesborough, which were conducted by hier officers and agreeably to her laws. Courts were also held at Jonesborough in the same county, under the authority of the State of Franklin. As the process of these courts frequently required the sheriff to pass within the jurisdiction of each other to execute it, a rencounter was sure to take place. Hence it became necessary to appoint the stoutest men in the county to the office of sheriff. This state of things produced the ap- pointment of A. Caldwell, of Jonesborough, and Mr. Pew, the sheriff in Tipton's court. Whilst a county court was sitting at Jonesborough, in this year, for the county of Washington, Colonel John Tipton, with a party of men, entered the court house, took away the papers from the clerk, and turned the justices out of doors. Not long after, Sevier's party came to the house where a county court was sitting for the county of Washington, under the authority of North-Carolina, and took away
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OIVIL AND MILITARY OFFICERS OF FRANKLIN.
the clerk's papers, and turned the court out of doors. Thomas Gory was clerk of this court. The like acts were several times repeated during the existence of the Franklin government. At one time Jama Sevier, then having the records of . the old court under North-Caroline, Tipton, in behalf of the court of North-Carolina, went to his house and took them away by force, and delivered them to Gorly. Shortly after- wards the records were retaken by Sevier's party, and James Sevier, the clerk, hid them in a cave. In these removals many valuable papers were lost, and at later periods, for want of them, some estates of great value have been lost. In the county of Greene, in 1786, Tipton broke up a court sitting in Greeneville, under the Franklin authority. The two clerks in all the three old counties, issued marriage licenses, and many persons were married by virtue of their authority. In the courts hold under the authority of the State of Franklin, many letters of admi- istration of intestate estates were issued, and . probate of wills wen taken .*
Notwithstanding the defection of some of its early advo cates, and the neutrality of others of its friends, the govern- ment . of Franklin continued to exercise its functions in the seven counties composing its sovereignty. County and Superior Courts were held, the militia was mustered and disciplined, and civil and military elections took place under its authority. In the new county of Sevier, Samuel Newell and John Clack were elected representatives ; Samud Weir was clerk of the county court and colonel of the rogi- ment. In Spencer county, these same offices were filled by Thomas Henderson ; and William Cocke and Thomas King were representatives. In Caswell county, Alexander Out- law and Henry Conway were representatives ; Josoph Hamilton was clerk of the county court, and George Doherty, colonel of the regiment. In Greene county, Daniel Kennedy was clerk, and John Newman, colonel. James Sevier was clerk of Washington county. In Sullivan county, John Rhea was clerk, George Maxwell, colonel of the militia, and John Long, John Provin and George Maxwell, members of the Assembly,
In addition to the administration of civil affairs, Governor Sevier, early in this year, found it necessary to repel the aggressions made upon the citizens of Franklin, by the Che- rokees. In the treaty of Hopewell, that tribe had agreed to a lasting peace with the frontier people. Lulled into a state
* Haywood.
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341
VALLEY TOWNS DESTROYED.
of false security by the unanimity with which the treaty had been signed by the chiefs of that nation, emigrants had pushed their settlements on the north side of Holston as low down as Beaver Creek, in what has since become Knox county. Remote from sources of defence, and exposed on three sides to attack, this settlement was selected as the most vulnerable point. The house of. Mr. Biram was at- tacked, and two men fell victims to Cherokee cruelty. Many of the settlers fell back upon the stations above them, while a few of them erected, hastily, temporary defences in their own neighbourhood. Some small parties were soon collected and pursued the authors of the mischief. Governor Sevier himself adopted the policy, heretofore ascertained to be the most effectual, of penetrating at once into the heart of the enemy's country, securing thereby an immediate return of the hostile Indians to the defence of their villages and homes. A call for volunteers was promptly met, by the rendezvous of one hundred and sixty horsemen at Houston's Station, on the waters of Little River. The troops crossed the Ten- nessee River at the Island Town, and passing by the Tellico Plains, marched over the Unaca Mountain to Hiwassee. Here, three of the Cherokee villages, called the Valley Towns, were destroyed, and fifteen warriors were killed. Encamping in another village close at hand, Sevier sent for- ward his spies, who soon returned and reported that they had discovered a large trail. The troops were at once put in motion, and marched upon the trail. From the best in- formation before them, it was decided in a council of officers, that as the number of the enemy could not be less than one thousand warriors, as they were under the command of John Watts, a cunning and daring leader, and were probably en- deavouring to draw Sevier into a narrow defile, it was deemed, under existing circumstances, inexpedient to pursue the enemy without reinforcements. The pursuit was aban- doned-the troops marched back to their encampment and returned home.
The effect of this invasion of the Cherokee country was salutary. Few aggressions were, for some time after, made against the frontier. But it was considered by each of the
848
COLONEL MARTIN'S LETTER.
sovereignties claiming jurisdiction over the country, a wise and necessary policy to adopt further methods of conciliation and security. North-Carolina had sent Col. Joseph Martin on a mission of peace into the interior of the Cherokee na- tion. Upon his return, he gave to Governor Caswell the re- sult of his observation on Indian affairs, and on some of the measures of the Franklin government, of which he at first was an officer. His letter follows :
SMITH'S RIVER, HENRY COUNTY, May 11th, 1786. Sir :- The accounts from the Cherokee country are somewhat alarming. I left Chota the fourteenth of last month, when two or three parties had gone out towards Cumberland or Kentucky, to take satis- faction for four of their young men that were murdered by one McClure, and two others, near a small Indian town, on the Tennessee. I left a man in whom I can confide to watch their return, and follow me with certain intelligence, which he has done, which is as follows :- The 17th of last month, the parties of Indians returned with fifteen scalps, sent several letters to Gen. Sevier, which he read, as they were open ; they in- formed that general that they had now taken satisfaction for their friends that were murdered, that they did not wish for war, but if the white people wanted war, it was what they would get. He further says, that he was informed that there was great preparation making by the Creeks, to carry on an expedition against Cumberland-that they were about to erect a post at or near the Muscle Shoals-that several pack horses had already passed by Chickamauga-they say the French and Spaniards that are settled there are to furnish them with arms and ammunition- the Indians told me I might depend that the Creeks would endeavour to break up Cumberland this summer-I have lately been through the different Cherokee towns this spring, from Tugalo to Hightower, on the Chattahoochee River; they all seem very friendly, and I believe not the least danger from any unless Chickamauga; they seem much divided. The Draggon Canoe, which is one of the chiefs, is much attached to the Spanish interest, and I believe will join the Creeks; he killed two tra- ders the latter part of the winter, on their way to the Chickasaws from Cumberland. Ellis Haslin, one of the principal traders in the Cherokee country, informed me he saw a party of Creeks and Chickamaugas, on their way to Cumberland, and endeavoured to turn them back, but they told him they were at open war with the Virginians, and they would not go back. I spent some days at Holston, to find out, as well as I could, the disposition of the people respecting the new state, and by the best calculations I can make, two-thirds of them are for the old state, and I make no doubt of their sending delegates to North-Carolina next ses- sion ; they have held an Assembly lately, and appointed Capt. Cocke a member of Congress, and given Col. Charles Robertson liberty to coin thirty thousand dollars specie. I am told they are to have a coat of arms of their own, having a reference to the State of Franklin. One of the members of the Assembly informed me that the colonel was in such
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COMMISSIONERS OF COYATEE TREATY.
forwardnees with his mint, that in the course of three weeks he could furnish their members to Congress with cash of the new coin.
Governor Sevier and the authorities of Franklin were not 1786 § inattentive, in the meantime, to their relations with the Indians, and in the exercise of one of the highest at- tributes of political sovereignty, appointed Commissioners to negotiate a second treaty with the Cherokees. The Commis- sioners were William Cocke, Alexander Outlaw, Samuel Weir, Henry Conway, and Thomas Ingles. The conference begun at Chota Ford, July 31, and was concluded at Coytoy, (Coiatee ?) Aug. 3d. On the part of the Indians, the negotia- tion was conducted by Old Tassel and Hanging Maw. The best account of the treaty is found in the letter of one of the Commissioners, enclosing the proceedings to the Governor of North-Carolina. It follows :
BEND OF CHICKEY, Oct. 8th, 1786.
Honoured Sir :- I have enclosed you a copy of a late treaty with the Cherokee Indians, and a just account of their conduct and present situ- ation. They came into our settlement on the north of Holston, the 10th of July, and warned the settlement that there were Creeks to attack them the week following, and agreed with our people that they might know them from the Creeks, to wear a white flag on their head and on their guns ; and that whenever they saw any white people, they would halloo "Chota " to them ; and on the 20th of July, which was the time they said the Creeks was to attack the settlement, two young men were going from the station to a cornfield, some Indians hailed them, and called " Chota," and the young men went to them, and they seemed friendly, offered a swap of guns with one of the white men, and got hold of the white man's gun, and then shot him down with his own gun; the other man rode off, and the other two Indians fired at him, and shot two bullets through him ; but he rode to the station, and lived three days. He was well acquainted with the Indians that shot him. Col. Cocke and myself got account of the murder the 23d, and the 81st we were in the town where the Indians lived that did the mischief, with two hundred and fifty men. We sent for the Heads of the towns to meet us, at about six miles from the town, at Chota Ford, as you will see in the Talk, where they refused to give up the murderers, and said they were gone to the Shawnees ; but we had certain accounts that they were then in the town ; on which news we marched to the town, and, luckily, killed two of the very Indians that did the murder; and sent for all the warriors from all the near towns, which met accordingly, and agreed to the terms I have enclosed; and I was last week in the town, and had a Talk with them, and they seem very friendly, and well satisfied we should settle the country, and say they will sell us the coun- t on the south of the Tennessee, and let us settle round them, if we
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NEGOTIATION AT CHOTA FORD
will keep the Creeks from killing them ; or they will leave the country entirely, if we will give them goods for it; and I am convinced, from the late conduct and accounts I have had from them, the whole country to the Georgia line, on this side of Cumberland Mountain, may be had from them for a very trifling sum.
With this letter, Col. Outlaw sent the following:
A TREATY held between the Officers of the State of Franklin and the Cherokee Indian Chiefs, July 31st and August 3d, 1786, as fol- lows, viz :
JULY 31st, CHOTA FORD.
Brothers and Warriors :- We are sorry that you have drove us to the necessity of coming to your ground to hold a Talk with you after the Grand Peace with our Great People, the Congress, and our own treaty with you, at Dumplin Creek, last year. You have now broke through all your Talks, and murdered our young men, and stole our horses from our own settlements, and robbed and murdered our men at Kentucky, and on the Kentucky Road and at Cumberland, and have always laid it on the Creeks; but now we have got proof that it is your own warriors that do the mischief, and lay it on the Creeks. We have now come down to talk plain and straight with you, and to tell you that North-Carolina has sold us all the country on the north side of Tennessee and Holston ; that we intend to settle on it, and wish to do so in peace with you all, and trade and live friendly with all our bro- thers. And, agreeable to the treaty you made with us, we, in plain words, demand the murderers from you that killed our people, and de- mand all the horses you have taken from us, and from the people on the Kentucky Road and Cumberland ; on which terms we will be bro- thers with you all, and continue so until you do more murder on our frontiers, at which time we will come down and destroy the town that does the mischief, and not let one of the murderers live in the towns that are peaceable and friendly ; and if you are afraid of the other Indians, we will protect you and help you fight them ; on which terms we will make peace with you and be friends. If not, we are warriors, and it is what you will. If you love peace, give up the murderers and you shall have peace.
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