USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 5
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After this rapid survey of French exploration al covery in the West, we return to notice further the & and extension of Virginia and Carolina, as through a later periods were the principal avenues of emigra Tennessee.
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41
CULPEPER'S REBELLION.
was removed to the point formed by the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and was declared to be the capital for the general administration of government in Carolina.
In December, 1677, Miller, a collector of the royal customs, in.attempting to reform some abuses in Albemarle, became obnoxious to the people, and an insurrection followed. The insurgents, conducted chiefly by Culpeper, imprisoned the president and seven proprietary deputies, seized the royal revenue, established courts of justice, appointed officers, called a parliament, and for two years exercised all the authority of an independent state. This insurrection, rather this bold attempt at revolution and self-government by the fourteen hundred colonists of Albemarle, deserves a further notice. We copy from Marshall :
" The proprietors of Carolina, dissatisfied with their own system, applied to the celebrated Mr. Locke for the plan of a constitution. They supposed that this profound and accurate reasoner must be deeply skilled in the science of government. In compliance with their request, he framed a body of fundamental laws, which were approved and adopted. A palatine for life was to be chosen from among the proprie- tors, who was to act as president of the palatine court, which was to be composed of all those who were entrusted with the execution of the 1669 { powers granted by the charter. A body of hereditary nobility was created, to be denominated landgraves and caciques, the former to be invested with four baronies, consisting each of four thou- sand acres, and the latter to have two, containing each two thousand acres of land. These estates were to descend with the dignities forever. The provincial legislature, denominated a parliament, was to consist of the proprietors, in the absence of any one of whom his place was to be supplied by a deputy appointed by himself, of the nobility, and of the representatives of the freeholders, who were elected by districts. These discordant materials were to compose a single body, which could initiate nothing. The bills to be laid before it were to be prepared in a grand council, composed of the governor, the nobility, and the deputies of the proprietors, who were invested also with the executive powers. At the end of every century, the laws were to become void without the formality of a repeal. Various judicatories were erected, and numerous minute perplexing regulations were made."
The Duke of Albemarle was chosen the first palatine, and 1670 the philosophic Locke himself was created a land-
grave. When Governor Stephens attempted to intro- duce, as he was ordered to do, this constitution in Albemarle, the innovation was strenuously opposed ; and the discontes
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42
ALBEMARLE INDEPENDENT.
it produced was increased by a rumour that the proprietors designed to dismember the province. At length these discon- tents broke out into open insurrection, and resulted, as has been narrated, in the establishment, under Culpeper, of an independent government. Thus furnishing, in the language of the same writer, additional evidence to the many afforded by history, of the great but neglected truth, that experience is the only safe school in which the science of government is to be acquired, and that the theories of the closet must have the stamp of practice, before they can be received with im- plicit confidence. The truth is, the people of Albemarle were, perhaps of all communities, the least favourable for a fair experiment of the philosophic system of Mr. Locke. It con- tained scarcely a single feature suited to the wants of a primitive people. Most of its provisions were in conflict with their interests. They needed little legislation and less gov- ernment, and heretofore they had legislated for and governed themselves. "The representative principle, indeed the right of self-government, seems to have been, if not an inheritance to the Carolina colonists, certainly cognate and inborn. They were the ' freest of the free.' Self-government was epidemie to them. It was inherited from them. It has descended without alloy or adulteration to their descendants beyond the mountain. Its contagion has affected the original territorial boundaries of Carolina, has crossed the Mississippi, pervades all Texas. approaches Mexico and California, and can have its ardour quenched only by the waves of the Pacific. From the germ at Albemarle sprang, remotely, our independence ; and the seed sown in 1677, although it required the culture of ninety-eight years to bring it to maturity, continued to vegetate, till it produced the rich harvest of American inde- pendence."*
The proprietors, discovering the growing dissatisfaction of kes . the colonists with the constitution of Mr. Locke, abol- ! ished it, and wisely substituted the ancient form of government.
While the grievances in Carolina were being redressed,
. Written before the war with Mexico.
.
43
BACON'S REBELLION.
discontents in Virginia assumed a serious aspect ; and about the same time that Culpeper was revolutionizing Albemarle, a rebellion appeared at Jamestown, and was headed by Bacon, a member of the council. It was so far successful as to produce the flight of Governor Berkeley from the capital, a convention of the people, a new election of burgesses, and a new government. A civil war followed; the insurgents burned Jamestown, and would probably have entirely sub- verted the authority of the governor, but for the sudden death of their daring leader.
The pacification which followed the death of Bacon, was 167 accompanied with increased emigration and an exten- sion of the settlements into the valley of Virginia. In 1690, they reached to the Blue Ridge, and explorations of the distant West were soon after undertaken. "Early in his ad- 1714 1 ministration, Colonel Alexander Spotswood, Lieu. tenant-Governor of Virginia, was the first who passed the Apalachian mountains, or Great Blue Hills, and the gen- tlemen, his attendants, were called Knights of the Horseshoe, having discovered a horse pass."* "Some rivers have been discovered on the west side of the Apalachian mountains, which fall into the River Ohio, which falls into the River Mississippi below the River Illinois." t It is said that Gov- ernor Spotswood passed Cumberland Gap during his tour of exploration, and gave the name to that celebrated pass, the mountain and the river, which they have ever since borne.
Intestine wars prevailed among the numerous Indian tribes in Carolina, and the colonists, as the means of their own security, had fomented these disputes between the natives. As early as 1693, twenty chiefs of the Cherokee nation waited upon Governor Smith, and solicited the protection of his gov- ernment against the Esaw and Congaree (Coosaw) } Indians, who had lately invaded their country and taken prisoners. The governor expressing a disposition to cultivate their friendship, promised to do what he could for their defence. In 1711, the Tuscaroras, Corees, and other tribes, attempted the extermination of the settlers upon Roanoke. One hundred
* Summary, historical and political, of British Settlements. Vol 2, p. 369 t Idem. + Martin.
44
CAROLINA DIVIDED.
and thirty-seven were massacred. The news of the disaster reaching Charleston, Governor Craven sent Colonel Barnwell, with six hundred militia and nearly four hundred Indians, to their relief. These allies consisted, in part, of the Cherokees and Creeks. The Tuscaroras were subdued, and the hostile part of the tribe emigrated to the vicinity of Oneida Lake, and became the sixth nation of the Iroquois confederacy. "Thus the power of the natives was broken, and the interior forests became safe places of resort to the emigrant." *
The alliance between the colonists of Carolina and the aboriginal inhabitants, perhaps never cordial, was certainly of short duration. In less than five years after Colonel Barn- well's expedition against the Tuscaroras, every Indian tribe, from Florida to Cape Fear, had united in a confederacy for the destruction of the settlements in Carolina. The Con- garees, Catawbas, Cherokees and Creeks, had joined the Yamassees in this conspiracy. They had recently received presents, and guns and ammunition from the Spaniards at St. Augustine; and it has been supposed that the defection of the Indians may be traced to their authority and seductive influence. The confederates, after spreading slaughter and desolation through the unsuspecting settlements, were met by 1715 ( Governor Craven at Salkehachie, and defeated and ( driven across the Savannah.
In 1719, a domestic revolution took place in the southern part of Carolina. The proprietary government had, from the operation of several causes, become unpopular with the people. An association was therefore formed for uniting the whole province against the government of the proprietors, and "to stand by their rights and privileges." The members elected to the assembly " voted themselves a convention dele- gated by the people, and resolved on having a governor of their own choosing." The new form of government went into operation without the least confusion or struggle.t
In 1732, the province was divided into two distinct govern- ments, called North-Carolina and South-Carolina.
In the meantime the French had extended their settlements, laid out Kaskaskias and other towns, and built several forts . * Bancroft. + Martin.
45
FIRST STORE IN TENNESSEE.
in the valley of the Mississippi, and established New-Orleans upon its bank. It had become evident that their intention was, not only to monopolize the Indian traffic in the West, but by a chain of forts on the great passes from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, to confine the English colonies to narrow limits along the coast of the Atlantic, and, by their influence with the natives, to, retard their growth and check their ex- pansion westward. Traders from Carolina had already pene- trated to the country of the Chickasaws and Choctaws, but had been driven from the villages of the latter by the influ- ence of Bienville, of Louisiana. By prior discovery, if not by conquest or occupancy, France claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi. " Louisiana stretched to the head-springs of the Alleghany and the Monongahela, of the Kenhawa and the Tennessee. Half a mile from the head of the southern branch of the Savannah river is Herbert's Spring, which flows to the Mississippi ; strangers who drank of it would say they had tasted of French waters." This remark of Adair may probably explain the English name of the principal tributary of the Holston. Traders and hunters from Carolina, in exploring the country and passing from the head waters of Broad river, of Carolina, and falling upon those of the stream with which they inosculate west of the mountain, would hear of the French claim, as Adair did, and call it, most naturally, French Broad.
M. Charleville, a French trader from Crozat's colony at 1714 New-Orleans, came among the Shawnees then inhab- ( iting the country upon the Cumberland river, and traded with them. His store was built upon a mound near the present site of Nashville, on the west side of Cumberland river, near French Lick Creek, and about seventy yards from each stream. M. Charleville thus planted upon the banks of the Cumberland the germ of civilization and commerce, un- conscious that it contained the seminal principle of future wealth, consequence and empire.
About this period the Cherokees and Chickasaws expelled the Shawnees from their numerous villages upon the lower Cumberland.
At the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, the French
46
PADUCAH BUILT.
built and garrisoned Fort Toulouse, Tombeckbee, in the country of the Choctaws, Assumption, on the Chickasaw Bluff, and Paducah, at the mouth of Cumberland, and trading posts at different points along the Tennessee river, indicated future conflict of territorial rights, if not aggression and hos- tility between the English and French colonies. Colonial rivalry prompted each to ingratiate itself with and secure the trade and friendship of the native tribes.
In pursuance of this policy, Governor Nicholson, in 1721, sent a message to the Cherokees, inviting them to a general congress, in order to treat of friendship and commerce. The chieftains of thirty-seven different towns met him. He made them presents, smoked with them the pipe of peace, laid off their boundaries, and appointed an agent to superintend their affairs. With the Creeks he also made a treaty of commerce and peace, and appointed an agent to reside among them. In 1730, the projects of the French, for uniting Canada and Louisiana, began to be developed. Already had they extended themselves northwardly from the Gulf of Mexico, and had made many friends among the Indians west of Carolina. To counteract their intentions, it was the wish of Great Britain to convert the Indians into allies or subjects, and to make with them treaties of union and alliance. For this purpose, Sir Alexander Cumming was sent out to treat with the Cherokees, who then occupied the lands about the head of Savannah and backward among the Apalachian mountains. They were computed to amount to more than twenty thousand, six thousand of whom were warriors. Sir 1780 § Alexander having summoned the Lower, Middle, Valley { and Over-hill settlements, met in April the chiefs of all the Cherokee towns at Nequassee,* informed them by whose authority he was sent, and demanded of them to acknow- ledge themselves the subjects of his sovereign, King George, and to promise obedience to his authority. Upon which the chiefs, falling on their knees, solemnly promised obedience and fidelity, calling upon all that was terrible to fall upon them if they violated their promise. Sir Alexander then, by
. Martin has it Requassee. It is laid down on Adair's map among the moun- taies near the sources of the Hiwassee.
.47
TENASSEE-CHIEF TOWN.
their unanimous consent, nominated Moytoy* commander and chief of the Cherokee nation. The crown was brought from Tenassee,t their chief town, which, with five eagle tails and four scalps of their enemies, Moytoy presented to Sir Alexander, requesting him, on his arrival at Britain, to lay them at his majesty's feet. But Sir Alexander proposed to Moytoy, that he should depute some of his chiefs to accom- pany him to England, and do homage in person to the great king Six of them, accordingly, did accompany him, and, being admitted to the royal presence, promised, in the name of their nation, to continue forever his majesty's faithful and obedient subjects.# A treaty was then drawn up and exe- cuted formally,§ of friendship, alliance and commerce. With- ' out mentioning the Spaniards and French, it is plain that some of its provisions were intended to exclude their traders from any participation in traffic with the Cherokees, and to prevent any settlements or forts from being made by them in their country. In consequence of this treaty, a condition of friendship and peace continued for many years between this tribe and the colonists.
In 1732, the colony of Georgia was projected, and the governor of it, Oglethorpe, effected a treaty with the Lower and Upper Creeks, a large tribe, numbering together between twenty and thirty thousand. To-mo-chi-chi was their chief, and with his queen and other Indians accompanied Ogle- thorpe to London. This alliance of the Creeks and Chero- kees with the colonists promised security from the approaches of the Spanish and French in Florida and Louisiana.
These treaties, however, were not considered sufficient guarantees to the southern English colonies of permanent security and quiet. The tribes with which they had been negotiated were in close proximity with rival nations, and
. Moytoy of Telliquo, probably the modern Tellico.
t This is the first place in any of the authorities we have consulted, that Tenas- see is mentioned. The town, thus called, was on the west bank of the present Little Tennessee river, a few miles above the mouth of Tellico, and afterwards gave the name to Tennessee river and to the state. + Hewitt.
& See Hewitt's History of South-Carolina for an account of this treaty, and also the speech of one of the chiefs, Skijagustah.
-
48
PROVINCIAL MEMORIAL.
were easily seduced from their fidelity to a distant monarchi, by the machinations of French emissaries amongst thent It was, therefore, deemed necessary to adopt further measures of protection and defence against future defection and attack. The Carolinas and Georgia were now royal provinces. . The crown had already granted them many favours and induk- gences for promoting their success and prosperity, and for. securing them against external enemies. What further fo vours they expected, may be learned from a memorial and, representation of the condition of Carolina transmitted to his majesty, bearing date April 9, 1734, and signed by the! governor, president of the council, and the speaker of the assembly .* The memorial, after enumerating instances of the royal care and protection of these distant parts of his dominion, represents-
ALL. . .
"That being the southern frontier of all his American possessions, they are peculiarly exposed to danger from the strong castle of Bt Augustine, garrisoned by four hundred Spaniards, who have several nations of Indians under their subjection ; that the French have erected: a considerable town near Fort Thoulous on Mobile river, and several other forts and garrisons, some of which are not above three hundred miles from their settlements, and that their possessions upon the Missis- sippi are strengthened by constant accessions from Canada ; that their garrisons and rangers are producing disaffection to the English among the Indian tribes, one of which, the Choctaws, consists of above five thousand fighting men ; that they are paving the way for an invasion of the English colonies, by the erection of the Alabama fort in the centre of the Upper Creeks, which is well garrisoned and mounted with four- teen cannon, and which, with the liberal presents they are making to them, has overawed and seduced them from their allegiance to the Bri- tish crown, and from a dependence upon British manufactures for their supplies. An expedient is then proposed, to recover and confirm the Indians to his majesty's interest, and that is, by presents to withdraw them from the French alliance, and by building forts among them to enable us to reduce Fort Alabama, and prevent the Cherokees from joining our enemies and making us a prey to the French and savages. The Cherokee nation has lately become very insolent to our traders, and. we beg leave to inform your majesty that the building and mounting some forts among them may keep them steady in. their fidelity to us, and that the means of the province are inadequate to its defence -- the militia of Carolina and Georgia not exceeding three thousand five hun- dred men."
The results of this memorial will be given at another
* Hewitt.
1
1
21VALUED TIBKVI
49
FORT ASSUMPTION BUILT.
place. In 1732, the country in the neighbourhood of Win- chester, Virginia, began to be settled.
Louisiana had, in the meantime, reverted from the Missis-
§ sippi Company to the crown of France ; and it con-
1782
( tinued to be the policy of Louis to unite the extremes of his North American possessions by a cordon of forts along the Mississippi river. The Chickasaws had been an obstacle to the accomplishment of this purpose. They had resisted the insinuations of French emissaries, and were indeed considered unfriendly to them. It was, therefore, determined to subdue them. A joint invasion, carried into their country from opposite directions, by Bienville and D'Ar- taguette, terminated disastrously to France. A further inva- sion was projected, and
"In the last of June, an army, composed of twelve hundred whites, 1789 { and twice that number of red and black men, took up its quar- ters in Fort Assumption, on the bluff of Memphis ; the re- eruits from France-the Canadians-sunk under the climate. In the March of next year, a small detachment proceeded towards the Chicka- saw country ; they were met by messengers who supplicated for peace, and Bienville gladly accepted the calumet. The fort at Memphis was razed-the Chickasaws remained the undoubted lords of their country.".
From Kaskaskia to Baton Rouge was a wilderness, and the present Tennessee was again without a single civilized inhabitant, two centuries after Europeans had visited it.
In this year there was a handsome fort at Augusta, where 1740 there was a small garrison of about twelve or fifteen men, besides officers. The safety the traders derived from this fort, drew them to that point. Another cause of the growth of the place, was the fertility of the lands around it. The Cherokee Indians marked out a path from Augusta to their nation, so that horsemen could then ride from Savan- nah to all the Indian nations.
" The boundary line between the provinces of Virginia and North- S Carolina was this year continued, by commissioners appointed by
1749 ( the legislatures of the respective provinces, to Holstein river, directly opposite to a place called the Steep Rock."t
* Bancroft.
t Martin. This is the first time that this tributary of the Tennessee river is mentioned. Haywood says it was called Holston, from a man of that name whe fret discovered and lived upon it.
4
50
TREATY WITH THE CHEROKRES.
The settlements in Virginia were gradually extended along 1750 S its beautiful valley in the direction of Tennessee. Those of North-Carolina had reached the delightful country between the Yadkin and Catawba, and Fort Dobbs was built in 1756, and had a small neighbourhood of farmers and graziers around it. It stood near the Yadkin, about twenty miles west of Salisbury, and had been erected agreeably to the stipulations of a treaty held by Col. Waddle with Atta-Culla-Culla, the Little Carpenter, in behalf of the Cherokees. It was usually garrisoned by fifty men. The Indians paid little regard to the treaty, as the next spring they killed some people near the Catawba.
To prevent the influence of the French among the Indian tribes, it became necessary to build some forts in the heart of their country. This policy had been suggested to the crown by the authorities of South-Carolina, in their memo- rial, as already mentioned. A friendly message was received by Governor Glen from the chief warrior of the Over-hill Settlements in the Cherokee nation, acquainting him that .
" Some Frenchmen and their allies were among their people, endes- vouring to poison their minds, and that it would be necessary to hold a general congress with the nation, and renew their former treaties of friendship. Accordingly, the governor appointed a time and place for holding a treaty."
Governor Glen needed no argument to convince him that 1758 an alliance with such a tribe was, under present cir- cumstances, essential to the security of South-Caro- lina and her sister provinces, and, accordingly, in 1755, he met the Cherokee warriors and chiefs in their own country.
" After the usual ceremonies were over, the governor sat down under a spreading tree, and Chulochcullat being chosen speaker for the Chero- kee nation, took a seat beside him. The other warriors, about five bun- dred in number, stood around them in solemn silence and deep atten- tion. The governor then arose and made a eperch in the name of his king, representing his great power, wealth and goodness, and his particular regard for his children, the Cherokees ; and added, that he had many presenta to make to them, and expected them, in return, to surrender a share of their territories, and demanded lands to build two forts upon in their country, to protect them against their enemies, and to be a retreat
· Williamson.
+ Probably Atta-Culla-Culla, with whom Col. Waddle of North-Carolina ales formed a treaty.
51
FORT PRINCE GEORGE BUILT.
to their friends and allies. He represented to them the great poverty and wicked designs of the French, and hoped they would perinit none of them to enter their towns." When the governor had finished bis speech, Chulochculla arose, and, holding his bow in one hand, his shaft of arrows and other symbols in the other, spoke to the following effect : 'What I now speak, our father, the great king, should hear. We are brothers to the people of Carolina-one house covers us all.' Then taking a boy by the hand, he presented him to the governor, saying- "We, our wives and our children, are all children of the great King George. I have brought this child, that when he grows up he may remember our agreement on this day, and tell it to the next generation, that it may be known forever.' Then, opening his bag of earth and laying it at the governor's feet, said-' We freely surrender a part of our Lands to the great king. The French want our possessions, but we will defend them while one of our nation shall remain alive.' Then shew- ing his bows and arrows, he added-' These are all the arms we can imake for our defence. We hope the king will pity his children, the Cherokees, and send us guns and ammunition. We fear not the French. Give us arms, and we will go to war against the enemies of the great king.' Then, delivering the governor a string of wampum in confirmation of what he had said, he added-' My speech is at an end; it is the voice of the Cherokee nation. I hope the governor will send it to the king, that it may be kept forever.'"
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