USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 48
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Such were the accumulated difficulties from savage hos- tility, undergone by the Cumberland settlements, in the first nine years after the arrival of Robertson at the Bluff. The prophecy of the sagacious Cherokee chief had been already fulfilled to the letter, and, still later, received further and stronger realization. "Much trouble" attended each step in the growth of the gallant community, of which the French Lick was the nucleus. And it may be safely said, that as the co-pioneers and compatriots of Robertson under-
*Manuscript Narratives.
487
OF THE CUMBERLAND PEOPLE.
went trials, hardships, dangers, invasion, assault, massacre and death from Indian warfare, unsurpassed, in degree and duration, in the history of any people ; so they were endured with a fortitude, borne with a perseverance, encountered with a determination, resisted with a courage, and signal-
· ized with a valour, unequalled and unrecorded. The Bluff, the stations in its environs, the forts in the adjoining neigh- bourhoods, each hunting excusion, the settlement of each farm around the flourishing metropolis of Tennessee, fur- nishes its tale of desperate adventure and romantic heroism,
. . upon which this writer dare not here linger. A volume would be insufficient for that desirable and necessary pur- pose ; and leaving that duty to some admiring and grateful citizen of Nashville, he hastens, for the present, from the account of the military, to the civil affairs of Cumberland.
The General Assembly of North-Carolina, in May of this
§ year, engaged by a public act, in the form of a reso- 1780
( lution, to give to the officers and soldiers, in its line of the Continental establishment, a bounty in lands in propor- tion to their respective grades. These lands were to be laid off in what is known as Middle Tennessee. To all such as were then in the military service, and should continue to the end of the war, or such as, from wounds or bodily infirmity, have been, or shall be, rendered unfit for service ; and to the heirs of such as shall have fallen, or shall fall, in defence of the country. There never was a bounty more richly de- served, or more ungrudgingly promised. It furnished to the war-worn soldier, or to his children, a home in the new and fertile lands of the West, where a competency, at least, per- haps wealth or even affluence, might follow, after the storm of war was past; and where the serene evening of life might be spent in the contemplation of the eventful scenes of bis earlier years, devoted to the service of his country, and to the cause of freedom and independence. In search of this bounty, thus provided by North-Carolina for her whig sol- diery, a vast emigration from that state came soon after to what is now Tennessee ; and, owing to this cause, it was at one time estimated, that nine-tenths of the Tennessee pop u-
-
488
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AT THE BLUFF.
lation came from the mother state. It is still, essentially, North-Carolinian.
As on Watauga at its first settlement, so, also now, on Cumberland, the colonists of Robertson were without any regularly organized government. The country was within the boundaries of Washington county, which extended to the Mississippi River, perhaps the largest extent of territory ever embraced in a single county. But, even here, in the wilds of Cumberland, removed more than six hundred miles from their seat of government, the people demonstrated again their adequacy to self-government. Soon after their arrival at the Bluff, the settlers appointed trustees, and signed a covenant, obliging themselves to conform to the judgments and decisions of these officers, in whom they had vested the powers of government. Those who signed the covenant had considerable advantages over those who did not; they were respectively allowed a tract of land, the quiet posses- sion of which was guaranteed by the colony. Those who did not sign the covenant, were considered as having no right to their lands, and could be dispossessed by a signer with- out any recourse. To the trustees were allowed, in these times of primitive honesty and old-fashioned public spirit, neither fees nor salaries. But, to the cierk appointed by the trustees, were given small perquisites, as compensation for the expense of paper and stationery. The trustees were the Executive of the colony, and had the whole government in their own hands; acting as the judiciary, their decisions gave general satisfaction. To them were also committed the functions of the sacerdotal office, in the celebration of the rites of matrimony. The founder of the colony, Captain James Robertson, as might have been expected, was one of the trustees, and was the first who married a couple. These were Captain Leiper and his wife. Mr. James Shaw was also a trustee, aud married Edward Swanson to Mrs. Car- vin, James Freeland to Mrs. Maxwell, Cornelius Riddle to Miss Jane Mulherrin, and John Tucker to Jenny Herod, all in one day. The first child born in the country, was John Saunders, since the sheriff of Montgomery county, and after-
480
FIRST CHILD BORN IN NASHVILLE.
wards killed on White River by the Indians. The second born in the country, was Anna Wells. The first child born in Nashville, was the son of Captain Robertson-the present venerable relict of another age-Doctor Felix Robertson. .
Under this patriarchal form of government, by trustees se- lected, on account of their experience, probity and firmness, the colony was planted, defended, governed and provided for, several years ; and the administration of justice, and the pro- tection of rights, though simple and a little irregular, it is believed, were as perfect and satisfactory as at any subse- quent period in its history.
The right to the lands on the Lower Cumberland, at the time the Revolutionary War commenced, lay in the Chicka. saws, rather than in the Cherokees. The former, prior to that time, lived north of the Tennessee River, and at least fifty miles lower down that stream, than the lowest Cherokee towns. The greatest contiguity to hunting grounds, and the prior use of them, seems to be the best claim Indians can establish to them. The Chickasaws claimed, and ceded, the Cumberland lands, at the treaty held by Donelson and Martin in 1782 or 1783 .* It was, probably, never reported to Con- gress. Where this treaty was held, its exact date, the boun- daries agreed upon, &c., &c., this writer has not been able to ascertain. It is referred to, as above, in a letter from Governor William Blount to the Secretary of War, dated Knoxville, January 14th, 1793.
But North-Carolina owned the territory, and began to ex- ercise further guardianship over her distant possessions. In April of seventeen hundred and eighty-two, her legislature, by an act passed for that purpose, allowed to the settlers on the Cumberland rights of pre-emption. Six hundred and forty acres were allowed to each family or head of a family. A similar provision was made for each single man, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who had settled the lands before the first of June, 1780. Such tracts wereto in- clude the improvement each settler had made. No right of pre-emption, however, was extended, so as to include any
*American State Papers, vol. v., pp. 482 and 326.
400
LANDS GRANTED TO SOLDIERS.
salt lick or salt spring ; these were reserved by the same act as public property, together with six hundred and forty acres of adjoining lands ; the rest of the country was all de- elared to be subject to partition.
The act for the relief of the officers and soldiers in her Conti- nental line, made good all depreciation of pay and subsist- ence and clothing, of each officer and soldier, and provided for the widow and heirs of such as were killed in the public service. It made a princely allowance in lands " as an ef- fectual and permanent reward for their signal bravery and persevering zeal," to the officers and soldiers of the Conti- mental line ; to a Brigadier-General, twelve thousand acres; and to all intermediate ranks, in that proportion. To General Nathaniel Greene, twenty-five thousand acres were given, " as a mark of the high sense this state entertains of the ex- traordinary services of that brave and gallant officer."
Absalom Tatom, Isaac Shelby and Anthony Bledsoe, were appointed Commissioners to lay off the lands thus allotted. The Commissioners were to be accompanied by a guard of one hundred men.
Courts of Equity were, at the same session of the legisla- ture, established in all the districts of the state. What is now Tennessee, was embraced in the District of Morgan.
The war of the Revolution was coming to an end, and from this event, as had been anticipated by Captain 1782
( Robertson, an abatement of Indian hostility followed. The prospect of peace and security to emigrants and their property, induced the removal of great numbers from the Atlantic sections, which gave new strength and increased animation to the Cumberland settlements.
At the commencement of this year, Commissioners who § had been appointed to lay off the bounty lands to the 1783 officers and soldiers in the North-Carolina line, came to Cumberland. They were accompanied by a numerous guard, for whose services, compensation was provided, in lands, afterwards known as guard rights. Many sought to be enlisted in the service, and the guard soon became for- midable for its numbers. The Indians offered them no mo- . lestation, while they were executing the duties of their ap-
491
COMMISSION TO LAY OFF BOUNTY LANDS.
pointment. The settlers were much encouraged by their presence, and, as such an accession of armed men gave great additional strength to the defence of the country, all idea of leaving it was, at once, abandoned, and the settlements be- gan to wear the aspect of permanence and stability, and a flood of new emigrants soon followed.
The Commissioners, accompanied by the guard and a few of the inhabitants, went to the place since known as Lati- tude Hill, on Elk River, to ascertain the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude. Here they made their observation. They then proceeded to lay off, for General Greene, the twenty- five thousand acres of land presented by North-Carolina to him. The present had been richly deserved, and, on the part of the state, was munificent. It embraced some of the best lands on Duck River-perhaps the best in Tennessee.
The Commissioners then, fifty-five miles from the south- ern boundary and parallel thereto, ran the Continental line. But the Assembly, at the request of the officers, during their session of this year, directed it to be laid off from the north- ern boundary, fifty-five miles to the south : " beginning on the Virginia line, where Cumberland River intersects the same ; thence south, fifty-five miles ; thence west, to the Ten- nessee River ; thence down the Tennessee to the Virginia line ; thence with the said Virginia line, east, to the begin- ning."
A further duty of the Commissioners was to examine into the claims of those persons who considered themselves enti- ted to the pre-emption rights granted to those who settled on Cumberland previous to June 1st, 1780. This was done by the Commission sitting at the Bluff, and the necessary cer- tificates for the pre-emption rights were issued.
Its duties performed, the Commission was dissolved, and Isaac Shelby ceased to be a citizen of what is now Tennes- see, and removed to Kentucky. These annals have testified to the energy, fidelity and success of his services in the mili- tary, civil and political affairs of the country, from the com- mencement of its settlement to the present time. Of his subsequent history, Tennessee may well be proud. His no- vitiate in the public service was passed, and his character
492
CHARACTER OF ISAAC SHELBY AND
formed within her borders and amongst her pioneers. There he laid, with his own sword, the basis of his reputation, and there he acquired the materials out of which to erect the column of renown which has since adorned his name. A fellow-soldier and co-patriot of Sevier, these youthful vol- unteers fired the first guns on the Kenhawa-conquered to- gether at King's Mountain, and together captured the British post at Wapetaw. With their joint assistance, the founda- tion of society in the West was laid by Robertson. These three are the real artificers of Western character, and their co-operation moulded into form the elements which consti- tute its beauty and its strength. The Volunteer State is much indebted to Isaac Shelby. But the details of his fa- ture life cannot be here given. It is proper, however, to add that he became the first Governor of the State of his adop- tion, and that, in the war of eighten hundred and twelve, having again been elected Governor of Kentucky, he marched, at the head of four thousand Kentucky troops, across the State of Ohio, to General Harrison's head-quarters, and there exhibited the same cool and determined courage that had signalized his youth. The last public service he performed for Tennessee was, as one of the Commissioners at the treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, at which that tribe re- linquished all their lands north of the southern boundary of the state, and between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. His death occurred suddenly, July 18, 1826, in the 76th year of his age. The memory of this brave officer and patriotic man, is perpetuated by the state, in the name of her south- western county, where he negotiated with the Chickasaws, and in the name of the beautiful county seat, Shelbyville, in Bedford county.
Amongst the enactments by the Assembly of this year, 1788 was one laying off the county of Davidson, and ap- pointing for it civil and military officers as in other counties, and establishing a court of pleas and quarter ses- sions.
Davidson county, like the other three already established west of the Apalachian chain, received its name from an officer of the army of the Revolution, General William
.
493
OF GENERAL DAVIDSON.
Davidson, of Mecklenburg county, North-Carolina. A na- tive of that part of the state which had early exhibited an enthusiastic devotion to independence and freedom, he sought and obtained a command, though of inferior grade, in the Continental army. In that service he was considered a gallant officer, and acquired reputation. When the enemy overran South-Carolina, he left the regular service, and was immediately appointed General in the North-Carolina mili- tia. In his new sphere of duty, he manifested great zeal and public spirit. It was he whom Col. McDowell sought, to invite him to take the chief command of the troops at King's Mountain. He was constantly on the alert to dis- perse the tories and annoy Lord Cornwallis, while his head- . quarters were at Charlotte. After the battle of the Cow- pens, Morgan, in removing the prisoners, for safe keeping, to Virginia, was pursued by the British army. General Davidson, having under his command some active militia- men, hastily collected in his neighbourhood, endeavoured to retard the pursuers, and at every river and creek caused them some delay, and thus contributed, essentially, to the escape of the American army and the prisoners which encumbered its march. In this service General Davidson lost his life. On the first of February, 1781, the British army, accompanied by loyalists, who knew the roads and crossing places, came to the Catawba River, at Cowan's Ford, and began to cross at that place. Davidson rode to the river, to reconnoitre the enemy on the other side, with the hope of devising some plan to keep them back awhile. A tory, who knew him, and who was in advance, piloting the enemy, had nearly crossed the river, and, unperceived by the General, was near the bank on which he rode, and shot him. Knowing that the wou id was mortal, he rode briskly back to a place where he had left part of his troops, gave them some necessary directions what to do, and soon after expired. "Never was there a more intrepid soldier ; never a greater patriot ; never did any man love his country with a more ardent affection. His name should be ever dear to the people of North-Carolina and Tennessee." *
*Haywood.
494
NASHVILLE ESTABLISHED.
His grave is pointed ont, and may be seen, not far from where he fell, in Hopewell Church-yard. Congress voted him a monument, but his grave is yet without an inscription. The metropolitan county of Tennessee perpetuates his name. His virtue, patriotism and valour, can never be for- gotten.
The Legislature also established a town at the Bluff. It was - named Nashville, in honour of Col. Francis Nash. He 1784 ( was an early advocate for resistance against arbitrary power-being a captain in the Regulation war in 1771, and appointed as early as the 24th August, 1775, by the Congress of North-Carolina, as one of a Committee to prepare a plan for the regulation, internal peace, order and safety of the province. To this important Committee was entrusted the. duty of proposing a system of government, which would supply the want of an executive officer, arising from the ab- sence of Governor Martin, who had fled from his palace, and of submitting other subordinate plans of government, such as the institution of Committees of Safety, the qualifi- cations of electors, "and every other civil power necessary to be formed, in order to relieve the province in the present · unhappy state to which the administration had reduced it."*
September 1st, 1775, the North-Carolina Congress ap- pointed Mr. Nash, Lieutenant-Colonel of the first regiment in the Continental service. At the battle of Germantown he commanded as Brigadier-General, and at the head of his brigade, fell bravely fighting for the Independence of his country. Davidson and Nash were from the same state- bore the same rank in her armies-both fell in engagemer that were unsuccessful to the American arms, but their na its will be gratefully remembered, while the metropolitan .mes ty, and the metropolis itself of Tennessee, shall conti. coun-
The curious may wish to see the initiative proce
Que.
the first Court held in Davidson county. edings of
1783-OCT. 6-COUNTY COURT OF DAVIDSON INS'
Whereas, an act was made at Hillsborough, the ' SITUTED. past, etc., appointing and commissioning the follow' A' pril session last
Anthony Bledsoe, Daniel Smith, Jas. Robertso. .ng £ Gentlemen, viz :-
* Jones. .c Bledsoe, Samuel
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495
DAVIDSON COUNTY COURT. .
Barton, Thos Molloy, Francis Prince, and Isaac Lindsay, Esqs., mem- bers of said Court; Isaac Bledsoe, Samuel Barton, Francis Prince, and Isaac Lindsay, met and were qualified in the following manner :- the next junior to the senior member present, mentioned in the Commission, administered the oaths of office prescribed for the qualifications of pub- lic officers, to the senior member present, and then he to the others pre- sent.
(Signed,) ISAAC BLEDSOE.
Test-ANDREW EWING, C. D. C.
The Court then proceeded to elect a Clerk, and made choice of Mat- thew Talbot, Jun., Esq.
Daniel Williams, elected Sheriff.
Oct. 7-Talbot not being able to give security give up, the place was declared vacant, and the Court proceeded to elect Andrew Ewing, Clerk. Samuel Barton, elected Entry-taker.
Francis Prince, Register.
The Court then nominated constables in the several stations, viz :- Samuel Mason, at Maulding's ; James McCain, at Mansco's; Stephen Ray, at Heatonsburg, John McAdams, at Nashborough ; and Edward Swanson, at Freeland's Station.
The Court then proceeded to fix on a place for the building of a court-house and prison, and agreed that in the present situation of the settlement that it be at Nashborough-size of court-house to be eigh- teen feet square, with a shade of twelve feet on the one side of the length of the house ; said house to be furnished with the necessary
. benches, bar, table, etc., fit for the reception of the Court; also, a pri- son, fourteen feet square, of hewed logs, of a foot square; both walls, loft and floor, except the same, shall be built upon a rock. To be done on the best and most reasonable terms, and that the same be vendued at the lowest price that can be had.
First Mill.
The Court give leave to Headon Wells, to build a water grist mill on Thomas Creek, about a quarter and half a quarter up said creek from the mouth.
First Road laid offt
Ordered that the road leading from Nashville to Mansco's Station, as laid off heretofore by an order of Committee, be cleared out.
Appointed grand jurors, and adjourned to first Monday in January. . 1784-January 5-Court met. Members present-the Worshipful Isaac Bledsoe, Samuel Barton, and Isaac Lindsay, Esqs.
January 6-On motion made to the Court concerning allegations against John Montgomery, as an aider and abettor in the treasonable piratical proceeding, carried on in the Mississippi, against the Spaniards, It is the opinion of the Court that the said M. be holden in security in the sum of 150 pounds, for his appearance at our next Court, on which Elijah Robertson and Stephen Ray became securities for his appear- ance.
Wm. Cocke and John Sevier, were offered as securities on the bond & Matthew Talbot, elected as Clerk. It is the opinion of the Court
.
-408
CUMALIOR COURT ESTARIONIZED
that he is not entitled thereto. The following military officers were sworn :- Anthony Bledsoe, -lat Colonel ;. Isaac Bledsoe, let Major; Samuel Barton, 2d Major ; Jasper Mansco, Ist Captain; George Free- land, 2d; John Buchanan, 3d; Jas. Ford, 4th; Wm. Ramsey, Jona- than Drake, Ambrose Maulding, and Peter Sides, Lieutenants; William Collins and Elmore Douglass, Ensigns, Daniel Smith, appointed Surveyor.
1784-April 5 -. Court met at the house where Jonathan Drake lately lived-adjouros to meet immediately in the house in Nashbargh, where Israel Harman lately lived.
July 8, 1784-Records call it Nashville.
.The Assembly of this year legislated further for the Com- 1785 S berland settlements. The members were received ( and treated with great consideration and regard. Ro- lations of a new character began to spring up between North- Carolina and her ultra-montane citizens. Many inhabitants of the mother state needed the good offices and assistance of her pioneer citizens in the West, in locating to the best advantage, and attending to, their land warrants. The west ara interest, as it was called, was becoming of such value in legislation and appointments to office, that the represents tives from the four westernmost counties, who, from the iden' tity of their local interests, always acted as a unit in the Le' gislature, were much courted and caressed. They dexte- rously used the advantages these considerations placed in their power for the benefit of their suffering constituencies Every thing not involving the expenditure of money by the Treasury of North-Carolina, was cheerfully granted to them. An inspection of tobacco in Davidson county was estab- lished. Davidson Academy was incorporated and endowed with lands, which were exempted from taxation for ninety- nine years.
A Superior Court of Law and Equity, was also established at Nashville, the first session of which was to commence on the first Monday of May, 1786. The act creating this Court, provided that no person in Davidson county should be sub- ject to any action in the Courts east of the Apalachian Moun- tains, and that no person on that side of the mountain should be subjected to any action in Davidson county. The salary allowed to the Judge was fifty pounds for each Court he held, and it was expressly enacted that that should be paid
-
497
ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT OF THE PIONEERS.
from the Treasury of Davidson county, so careful were the Legislature of the parent state that her western possessions should cost North-Carolina nothing.
Commissioners, in the meantime, had been appointed by Congress, to treat with the Cherokees and other southern Indians. Col. William Blount attended, also, as the Agent of North-Carolina, and protested against some of the provisions of the treaty, which " infringe upon and violate the legisla- tive rights" of the state he represented. The Commissioners, in their report to the President of Congress, Richard Henry Lee, remark :
"That there are some few people settled on the Indian lands whom we are to remove, and those in the fork of French Broad and Holston being numerous, the Indians agreed to refer their particular situation to Congress, and abide their decision. We told them there were too many for us to engage positively to order off, although they had settled ex- pressly against the treaty entered into by Virginia and North-Carolina, with the Cherokees, in 1777."
By an estimate furnished by the same report, the Indians then residing south of Tennessee, and in reach of her infant settlements, are computed to be-
"Gunmen of the Cherokees,
2,000
Creeks,
5,400
Chickasaws,
800
Choctaws,
6,000
Warriors, 14,200
There are, also, some remains of tribes settled among these, as Shaw- neese, Euchees, etc."
Fifteen thousand southern Indian warriors, and, perhaps, double that number from the northern tribes, for more than ten years, retarded the growth and prevented the enlarge- ment of the early settlements of Tennessee. That they were not able wholly to exterminate the pioneers, as they successively arrived in the West, ceases now to be a subject of wonder. A like spirit of daring enterprise and chival- rous adventure, continues to be a characteristic of Tennes- see. Wherever danger is to be encountered, a difficulty to be overcome, or an achievement to be wrought, her young men are there to brave, encounter and achieve. The same enter- prising spirit is yet sending out her young men from home in
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