USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
It was afterwards further resolved, by both Houses, " that it shall be a duty of the Senators and Representatives of this State, in the Congress of the United States, to lay the remonstrance of the Legislature before Congress, and endea- vour that the object thereof be obtained."
At the election held under the; ict of this called session, Andrew Jackson, of Davidson ch inty, was elected Repre- sentative from the State of Tennc: see in the Congress of the United States. That body assembled December 5th, 1796, at Philadelphia, when Mr. Jackson was qualified and took his seat.
In accordance with the law passed for that purpose, Gov. Sevier wrote, April 25, to the Tennessee Senators, request- ing them to have a suitable seal of the State made by " inge- nious mechanics in Philadelphia-such an one as will be ele- gant, comprehensive, and sufficiently expressive of the pur- poses and uses intended. Under their direction, the present Great Seal of the State of Tennessee was engraven. It has upon it : the cotton plant, the sheaf of wheat, and, as " com- prehensive," the plough, to represent agriculture ; and a sail- vessel, there then being no steamboats in the West, nor
677
AND SUPPORTS THE CLAIMS OF. THE VOLUNTEERS.
· elsewhere, to represent commerce. The XVI at the head of the seal, designated Tennessee as, numerically, the six- teenth at the date of its admission into the Union.
The Senators and Representatives in Congress from Ten- nessee, brought to the attention of the Secretary of War, the claims of the militia of that State for their services against the Indians, on the Etowah campaign. The Secre- tary made an unfavourable report to the House. General Cocke, in a letter to the Gazette, says : " Your representa- tive, Mr. Jackson, has distinguished himself by the spirited manner in which he opposed the report. Notwithstanding the misrepresentation of the Secretary, I hope the claim will be allowed ; if it is, a principle will be established for the payment of all services done by the militia of the Ter- ritory."
In support of the resolution to pay for the military servi- ces against the Indians, Mr. Jackson said-
" The rations found for the troops on this expedition had been paid for by the Secretary of War, and he could see no objection to the pay- ment of the whole expense. As the troops were called out by a supe- rior officer, they had no right to doubt his authority. Were a contrary doctrine admitted, it would strike at the very root of subordination. It would be saying to soldiers-' Before you obey the command of your superior officer, you have a 1 ght to inquire into the legality of the ser- vice upon which you are abo t to be employed, and until you are satis- fied, you may refuse to take ie field.' This, he believed, was a princi- ple which could not be act ! on. General Sevier, said Mr. Jackson, was bound to obey the order he received to undertake the expedition. The officers under him were bound to obey him. They went with full confidence that the United States would pay them, believing they had appointed such, officers as would not call them into the field without proper authority. If, even, the expedition had been unconstitutional, (which he was far from believing,) it ought not to affect the soldier, since he had no choice in the business, being obliged to obey his superior. Indeed, as the provision had been paid for, and as the ration and pay- rolls were always considered as checks upon each other, he hoped no objection would be made to the resolution which he moved."
The winter of 1796-7 is chronicled as the coldest ever experienced by the oldest inhabitant. On the evening of the 22d December, the river was entirely free from ice. On the morning of the 23d, the ice was moving down the river in great quantities ; on the 24th, the river was frozen over, and
678
BEAR BARBECUED UPON THE FROZEN RIVER.
was crossed by horsemen upon the ice. On the 25th, a . Christmas dinner was given upon the ice, by the Federal officers, at Tellico Block-house, to a large company of gen- tlemen and ladies. "Contiguous to the place of entertain- ment, two quarters of a bear were barbecued, where the ice was found to be, in thickness, sufficient to bare fire enough to have roasted an ox, without being materially weakened by the heat."*
Early in this year, disturbances of a serious nature pre- vailed among the Upper Cherokees. Edward Mitchell and William Livingston went to the camp of some Indian hunt- ers, where they were informed, by Lame Will, that Red Bird had gone to the camp of some white people. On his return he was met by Mitchell and Livingston, who fired upon and killed him. They then returned to the Indian camp, when Mitchell fired at, but missed, Lame Will, who, with a knife in one hand and a crutch in the other, made towards Mitch- ell, who ran off. Livingston then coming up, encountered Will, and, after several unsuccessful attempts to shoot him, drew his tomahawk and killed him.t
Jan. 31 .- An Act was passed by Congress giving effect 1797 to the laws of the United States within the State of Tennessee. By the second section of this Act, the State was made to embrace one District, to be denominated the Tennessee District. A District Court was established, four sessions of which should be holden alternately at Knoxville and Nashville. By the fourth section of this Act, the State was made one Collector's District, whose office should be held at Palmyra, which was the only port of entry, or de- livery of any goods, wares or merchandize, not the growth or manufacture of the United States. The salary of the col- lector at Palmyra was one hundred dollars.
* Knoxville Gazette, January 9, 1797.
t For many of the incidents occurring in Blount county, I am indebted to Samuel Bogle, Esq. one of its worthiest pioneers, now nearly one hundred years old, but still vigorous and clear-minded. He was, himself, an active participater ia most of the difficulties with the Indians. Mr. Bogle is, in every respect, an ex- cellent specimen of the frontier citizen and soldier, and is one of the few survi- ving pioneers of Tennessee, living, in patriarchal simplicity and rural quiet, on Mijah, near the old Indian War Trace.
679
FEDERAL TROOPS AT KNOXVILLE.
Two companies of United States troops, commanded by Captain Richard Sparks and Captain John Wade, were sta- tioned at Knoxville. The object of the Secretary of War, in placing them there, was to enforce an " Act of Congress to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian Tribes, and to preserve peace on the Frontier." South of Holston, some settlements had been formed on lands ceded by the Chero- kees, under the Dumplin and Coyatee Treaties; but across the Indian boundary, as fixed by the Treaty of Holston, and in Powell's Valley, settlers were opening their farms under grants from North-Carolina, but upon lands to which the Cherokee title was not yet extinguished. To these set- tlers Captains Sparks and Wade issued their manifesto, in- forming the intruders of their powers, and of the extent of the provisions of the Act of Congress which it was made their duty to enforce.
" It is not our wish, said they, to enter rashly upon the duty assigned us, nor do we conceive there will be a necessity for it ; and, in order, there- fore, to give you full time to prepare your minds for the event, we have deemed it proper to notify you that on or about the 20th instant, we shall meet you at Yocum's Station, where we hope your numbers will be full and respectable, and your tempers calmly disposed to argue on a subject which involves in itself consequences of material magnitude to the Union at large, and to you in particular. We are assured that the reflection of a moment will evince to you how much better it is to ob- serve a strict obedience to the laws, than by a refractory disposition to involve your fellow-citizens in the tumults of anarchy, and probably in the horrors of war, and create in your own minds a self-reproach which will be forever felt.
·
"Fellow-Citizens :- At our meeting we will not scruple to read to you the instructions we have received, and by which we are to be go- verned; and after your hearing them, we cannot admit of a doubt, but that in a given time you will remove to that side of the line to which we have a just claim, and save the necessity of any unnecessary alterca- tion."
The influence of the authorities of Tennessee assisted in promoting obedience to the law of Congress. The Gazette, already an organ of admitted potency in the new State, also contributed its weight, in support of the Federal enactment. Commenting upon the circular addressed by the two United States captains to the intruders, and published in its co- lumns, the Gazette says :- "It is so replete with mildness and
-
680
VINDICATION OF STATE RIGHTS
moderation, that the most obstinate disposition cannot but concur with them in opinion, that it is better to meet the wishes of these gentlemen, than by a perverse conduct com- pel them to measures which may terminate in unhappy con- sequences," etc.
A communication to the same purport from " Many," dated Jefferson county, also appeared in the Gazette. In this the writer earnestly dissuades the intruders from rushing, " with- out consideration, into the horrors of civil confusion, and thereby involve the innocent with the guilty."
But there were not wanting, on this occasion, writers, who, while they did not advise resistance to, or disobedience of the Federal authority, stated emphatically the argument on be- half of the settlers. One of these, in a reply to Capts. Sparks and Wade, remarks :
" It was not from refractory or disorderly dispositions we were influ- enced to take possession of the lands we now occupy. We had regard to the laws of nature, of nations, the statutes of North-Carolina, and to our own civil code. The Constitution of the State of Tennessee, in the 31st Article of the Bill of Rights, guarantees to the people residing south of French Broad and Holston, between the Rivers Tennessee and Big Pigeon, the right of pre-emption and occupancy in that tract. Con- gress recognized that Constitution in all its parts by receiving the State into the Federal Union. Many of us hold grants for our lands, legally obtained from North-Carolina whilst under her jurisdiction. Under these plausible claims we settled ourselves on the lands from which you command us to remove." . .. "Legislators of the great American
Republic ! is it nothing to you to see our wives and children, who by their industry have hitherto lived in affluence on their own farma, beg- gared by your unconstitutional laws! We say your laws are unconsti- tutional, because they deprive us of property, for which we had a legal right before the Treaty of Holston. Do you feel no remorse at our impending ruin ? Are you callous to our sufferings ! Accustomed to wallow in luxury, you cannot feel for the distresses of the poor." . " We have now, gentlemen, delineated to you the outlines of our claims. We have also stated in miniature, the wrongs we are about to sustain from the operations of the General Government. A volume would not contain the reasonings we could advance on the justice of our claims. The earth was created for the use of man. We could plead purchase, occupancy, conquest and relinquishment by the Aborigines; but all these reasonings, we suppose, would be in vain. Power is in the hands of the General Government, and we are disposed to obey her will for the present."
Another communication, signed " The Frontier People of
681
BY A CONTRIBUTOR TO "THE GAZETTE."
Tennessee," appeared soon after. In this the writer pre- mises that redress for the grievances inflicted on them by the act of Congress, concerning the intruders upon Indian territory, should be sought only in the mode which the Con- stitution and the genius of the Government pointout. Speak- ing of the act of May, 1796, the writer says-
" We conceive that law to be an invasion of our natural rights ; we claim it as a power inherent in us, and derived from the author of our existence, to cultivate and to convert to our use, any unappropriated part of the habitable globe, and to make it bring forth the fruits of the earth. This general position we assert to be of divine right, and ac- knowledged from age to age, by all the nations of the christian world, and recognized by the laws, customs and usages of the people of Ame- rica, from its.discovery to the present day." " We submit the justice of our claims to the laws and constitution of our country-we ask from whence does the Federal Government derive the power, to exercise legal jurisdiction over the land on which we are settled ? We claim the right to settle these lands under the laws of North-Carolina, made previous to ceding this country to the United States, and the laws made subsequent thereto." " If we are not now permitted to take possession of these lands, the consideration paid for them is vio- lated ; and it is a distinction new and incomprehensible to us, that a grant from a sovereign and independent State, can convey a right with- out the power to enjoy it. We then assert, that our claims are founded on the act of that very body, whose successors, at the expiration of less than five years, have thought proper to deprive us of those rights pro- perly vested in us." " Why has a law been made to oblige us to the observance of this bargain, (the treaty of Holston,) which has been cancelled with the blood of our fellow-citizens ? We acknowledge to feel the force in all its various powers, which binds the members of a community to respect its laws, and pay to them a necessary submis- sion; but we hope, that we or our posterity, to the latest generation, will never lose sight of the point to which these obligations ought to go, 'and beyond which it is our province, as men, to restrain their progress. It is, therefore, with pain we contemplate the infractions of our unaliena- ble rights, made by the law of 1796-a law which we protest against, as unconstitutional, because it invades the rights of our property." . " Is this the tribunal before which we are to argue? and can a law be binding which places the scales of justice in the hands of a troop of sol- diers! However virtuous that soldiery may be, the original principles of our national compact forbid it. Let it not be said we wish to fan the coals of sedition in our country. As men, we are bound to assert our rights ; as citizens of a free and enlightened State, we ciaim attention to our grievances. Instead of meeting at our doors the soldier, who is ordered to sound the din of war in our ears, we would call on the guar- dians of our country to defend us in the possession of our rights. We rely on the justice of Congress, and we assure our fellow-citizens of the
-
682
CAMPBELL ADDS TO THE ARGUMENT,
Union, that general order and universal acquiesence, under the just laws of government, are the first wishes of our hearts."
Another writer, over the signature of "Campbell," addresses " The citizens of Tennessee, who are about to be alienated and dismembered by the acts and proceedings of the Federal Government." In this address he examines the question, whether Congress has a right to alienate any part of the State of Tennessee, and what are the rights of those who may be dismembered from it. Establishing the principle that North-Carolina had the right to open a land office within her chartered limits, he argues that the State of Tennessee, in consequence of that right, may guarantee to her citizens, the settlement and occupancy of the lands on which it is al- leged they are intruders. That the parent State, previous to the act of Cession, possessing then, as she did, sovereign power over them, had granted these lands, and that Ten- nessee and Congress itself, by accepting its constitution, had recognized the validity of the grants; and that, of course, the occupants cannot be considered to be in a state of re- bellion against their own, or intruders on any other nation. He advises deliberation, deprecates hasty action, and urges the intruders to depend upon the legality of their claims.
" They are founded on facts, principles and laws which cannot be controverted. That as the lands in dispute are held by legal titles, Congress has no right to declare war or re- sort to force for the purpose of expelling the occupants. The civil law ought to decide the contest in the District or Fe- deral Courts." Enlarging upon these and similar topics, "Campbell" closes his second number with these patriotic and' wise remarks : " Let us pursue order and acquiesce in the laws, until we can make a constitutional appeal to Congress. Let us act as if we were only one entire harmonious family, and let the spirit of concord be kept up in the State of Ten- nessee forever. Friendly, true and pathetic applications to Congress, through our representatives, will have greater weight with them, than hostile threats and preparations."
In his third number, addressed to the United States Commis- sioners, Hawkins, Pickens and Winchester, about to hold fur- ther negotiations with the Cherokees, " Cumpbell" says: "Let
683
WHICH IS CONTINUED BY ANOTHER WRITER.
us hope then, that you will not, by a strained construction of the words of the treaty, in favour of the Indian claim, force those citizens who have the right of property and the right of possession, to engage in a litigious controversy with the military who may be ordered to dispossess them. Justifiable opposition to the illegal orders of the Executive, might ex- tend its influence to that which would not be legal, and those whose claims are not fully sanctioned by law, follow the example-an evil which we deprecate or pray may not hap- pen. But we should think it treason against the govern- ment we live under, and which we admire-treason against ourselves, and high treason against posterity-were we to suffer ourselves to be tamely deprived of our lawful pro- perty, by military force or diplomatic authority."
Col. Arthur Campbell is thought to be the writer of these . pieces. These extracts from them are meagre, and do not present, in their full force, the weight of his argument and the legitimacy of his reasoning. The subject, soon after, re- ceived attention in every part of the Union, and " Campbell" may be considered as a pioneer writer in the backwoods of Tennessee, investigating a subject that, soon after, was em- braced in the " Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions," of 1798 and 1799.
Another correspondent, " Andrew Rights," continues the same subject :
" We are here, settled on our own lands, granted to us by our mother State, North-Carolina ; the rights are, in fee simple, ratified by a solemn act of Congress. The Executive of the United States has paid little attention to our rights, by the manner in which it has communicated its will to us, or otherwise it has adopted the method of reasoning made use of by Louis XIV., of France, who inscribed on the muzzles of his cannon-" This is the logic of Kings ;" and with the same propriety may say-" This is the logic of the United States."
Then, referring to " Many," published in the Gazette-
"I would have him to know that we not only call on the State of Tennessee, but upon every State in the Union, to assist us in obtaining our rights and privileges as secured to us by law, and doubt not of their assistance, if necessary ; and I would refer him to this clause in the Constitution, that government being instituted for the common benefit, the doctrine of non-resistance to arbitrary power and oppression is ab- I surd, slavish, and destructive to the good and happiness of mankind.
1
684
ACTION OF CONGRESS ON THE
" One of the usual methods of arbitrary governments, is to include forfeiture of estate, under the pretence of a punishment of some crime. Our Constitution has wisely guarded against such, that even for treason, it has forbidden corruption of blood or confiscation of property, and yet, in sec. five of this law, 'That if any citizen shall make a settlement on any lands granted, by treaty, to any Indian tribe, such offender shall forfeit all his right, title and claim, if any he hath, of whatsoever nature or kind the same shall be, to the lands aforesaid whereupon he shall make settlement or otherwise.' Such a law is cruel, tyrannical and oppressive. The punishments inflicted by it do not stop here. 'He shall also forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and suffer imprisonment not exceeding twelve months.' . The Constitution of Tennessee is admitted into the Union, by Congress, and it prohibits the courts here from inflicting a fine exceeding fifty dollars, except by a jury, and leaves the same to the courts. address the members of Congress from this State to use their industry to have this act repealed. Such an act might look tolerably well in a proclamation from Britain, but I beg you to erase it out of the records and existing laws of a republican government. Let it be wiped away, and never one more of the sort be seen-an enemy to liberty, nature, good policy and humanity."
Mr. Blount and Mr. Cocke, Senators, and General Jack- son, the Representative, of Tennessee, were, in the meantime, active in relation to the affairs of the State they represented, and with whose interests they were so familiar. On the third day of March, this resolution was introduced in the Senate :
" Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause a treaty or treaties to be held, as speedily as may be, with such of the Indian tribes as may have claims to certain western lands, ceded by North-Carolina to the United States, for the purpose of obtaining an extinguishment of their claim to so much thereof as lie to the north and east of the River Tennessee, within the State of Tennessee."
The resolution was rejected, only eight Senators voting in the affirmative.
Previous to the introduction of this resolution, to wit, on the Ist of March, it had been, in the same body,
" Resolved, That provision ought, by law, to be made for opening a land office for the sale of lands lying within the limits of the State of Tennessee, belonging to the United States, to which the Indian title has been extinguished, providing that the occupants shall have a priority in the location of such of the said lands as are now in their actual possession and improvement, upon such reasonable terms as may be fixed by law."
This had been introduced into the Senate by Mr. Hill-
685
LAND CLAIMS OF TENNESSEE.
house, chairman of a committee to whom the whole subject had been referred, and to whom the Tennessee Senators had fully explained the situation of the people to be affected by it. The session of Congress terminated on the third, and there was not time to act upon it. It was, therefore, laid over till the next session.
On the same day, Mr. Hillhouse, from the committee to whom was referred the letter and enclosures from the Go- vernor of North-Carolina, relative to the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands granted to T. Glasgow & Co., by the State of North-Carolina-the address of the Legislature of the State of Tennessee on the same subject, and also the petition of J. Glasgow and others, relative to the land en- tered in the office of John Armstrong, and since ceded to the United States, made an elaborate report, and recommended the following resolution :
" Resolved, That as soon as the title to the said lands shall be extin- guished, under the authority of the United States, by purchase, or oth- erwise, provision ought, by law, to be made, to secure to such of said claimants, as by conforming to the laws of North-Carolina, have secured to themselves a title to the right of pre-emption under such laws, the oc- cupancy and possession of such lands."
It is worthy of remark, that in a contest of this kind, in- volving, as it did, State pride, State sovereignty-the right of property-in which, many of the citizens of Tennessee felt a direct personal interest, not a single appeal is made to the passions of the occupants, nor one exhortation made to insubordination or resistance. Most of the writers advise a contrary course. In his last number, "Campbell" examines the question involved, at great length. He closes thus : "I have not hesitated to speak the truth, even when it compelled me to charge the Executive of the United States with a viola- tion of the rights of the individual States, and of the people. You have heard my reasonings as a citizen ; hear my ad- vice as a friend. Acquiesce in the operations of Govern- ment ; submit to the legal transactions of her ministers ; pe- tition Congress for negotiations, to be set on foot with the Indians, to secure your settlements; countenance no irregu- larities ; commit no outrages. I have announced you to the
686
LOUIS PHILIPPE IN KNOXVILLE.
world as regular and orderly citizens. Let your conduct prove, to the latest ages of posterity, that I have pronounced the truth. Let us attribute our misfortunes to the true sources whence they originated ; to the misunderstanding of the words of the treaty, and to the narrow and contracted . policy of the General Government."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.