USA > Tennessee > The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796 : including the boundaries of the state > Part 21
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began to see with their own eyes the necessity for political re- generation. Deputies to the convention and members for the Assembly were elected in the western counties as well as every- where else; and on the 21st of November, 1789, at Fayetteville, the convention adopted and ratified the proposed Constitution.
The members of the convention who voted against the adopt- tion of the Constitution at Hillsborough, in the year 17SS, were Col. Tipton, John Stewart, Richard White, Joseph Tipton, and Robert Allen. Those who were members from the same county in 1789, and voted for its adoption, were Landon Carter, John Blair, and Robert Love.
Sevier, at the time of the annual election, in August, 1789, of- fered himself as a candidate to represent the county of Greene as a Senator in the next Assembly of North Carolina, and with- out difficulty was elected. At the appointed time, which was on the 2d of November, he went to Fayetteville to take his seat; and for his accommodation they, in a very early period of the session, repealed all and every part of the last providing clause in the act of oblivion of the last session which related to him by name. He took the oaths of qualification, which were required of every member, and the oath of allegiance to the State of North Carolina.
On his first arrival at Fayetteville Sevier waited eight or ten days before he attempted to take his seat, partly that his friends might discover what would be the consequence of attempting to take a seat, and partly to give time for the repeal of that part of the act of oblivion which excluded him by name from any office of honor, trust, or profit. After taking his seat matters re- mained quiet for some time, until Col. (afterward general and Governor) Davie proposed for adoption a resolution to inquire into the conduct of John Sevier, the then sitting Senator from Greene County. It was well understood how the proposal would be received, even before it was offered, and to show at once how far were the members of this Assembly from meditat- ing any harsh proceedings against him. His friends were alarmed for a moment, but they soon found the favoritism which predominated on the side of their friend. The resolu- tion, much to the satisfaction of the mover, was left on the ta- ble, and Sevier was reinstated in the command of brigadier- general for all the western counties.
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Thus was brought to a final conclusion the government of Frankland, and all the consequences appendant to it. Under the present government the Legislature of the State both passed laws confirmatory of administrations granted by the courts held under the authority of the government of Frankland and laws for legalizing marriages celebrated under the authority of that government.
The Assembly of North Carolina, which sat at Fayetteville in November and part of December, 1789, passed a law for paying the militia officers and soldiers for their services in the expedi- tion carried on against the Chiccamauga Indians by Brig .- Gen. Joseph Martin in the year 1788. The commanding officer was authorized to exhibit in the Comptroller's office paroles on oath for the service of said militia; and a roll with the names of the officers who served in the expedition, which the Comptroller was to examine and to make out, and issue certificates to each officer and soldier, which should be received by the sheriff of the District of Washington in payment of the public money tax due therein, and no other, until all such certificates be paid. And in order that the certificates might be got ready in time to pay the taxes with, they ordered the collectors of the public moneys for the District of Washington to delay the collection of the taxes due in that district for the term of three months, and repealed the law for fixing a garrison on the north side of the Tennessee River. They empowered the Comptroller also to liquidate the accounts of the commissary on this expedition, and to grant him certificates receivable as the other certificates were in payment of public dues.
Ever since the month of October, in the year 1784, when the Legislature of North Carolina repealed the cession act which had been passed in the spring of that year, the people of Wash- ington, Sullivan, and Greene Counties were in a state of rest- lessness concerning their situation. They found themselves suddenly re-attached to a country in which a considerable por- tion of them could perceive no affection for themselves, nor any disposition to give them protection, nor otherwise actuated, as many believed, but by a desire to get from the sale of their lands more certificates of public debt, and the opinion was en- tertained that North Carolina could expose them to the toma- hawk and scalping-knife without feeling in the least for their
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sufferings, and without having the least inclination to prevent them .: Past experience, in their judgment, had fully demon- strated the advantages which were to be expected from the re- newal of their connections with North Carolina-they were to fight for themselves, protect their own possessions, and pay tax- es, which, if not sufficient for the expenses incurred in defending themselves, were to be applied as far as they would go, and the surplus of expenses was to be left unsatisfied. Many instances of such treatment were supposed to lie scattered through the public annals of the country. The expenses of maintaining, protecting, and governing the settlements through various chan- nels had greatly accumulated, and every law was carefully worded, so as to restrict the burdens of payment to the districts of Washington and Mero. The instances to the contrary were very few and inconsiderable. The expenses of maintaining the western members at the Assembly, and some others of small note, had inevitably fallen upon the State treasury. On the other hand, the members of the Atlantic Counties had the near prospect, as they supposed, of becoming subject to a still great- er aggravation of burden, and this anticipation never failed to recall a desire for separation; indeed, it seemed as if at this mo- ment there was a presentation to the Assembly of more western claims than had ever before come forward at one time. The Atlantic members labored to find ways and means, and still more to avoid making contributions from the counties east of the Alleghanies. At the same time they began to be tormented with the dreadful apprehension that the time would soon come when they must dive into the pockets of their immediate con- stituents for the payment of their growing expenses. The west- ern members were charged in private circles with an industrious
intimation of enormous expenses, which the present circum- stances of the new settlement made indispensable. Whilst for some cause an outery was made that the western settlements would soon cost more than even the possessions of them would retribute; and it began to be whispered that it was sound policy to follow the scriptural injunction of lopping off and casting away whatever member of the body proved to be offensive. To such and the like apothegms the members of the Legislature began to be familiarized either by the real or pretended accu- mulation of pressing burdens, which it was dreaded were about to
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fall upon the interior counties. They had in the late revolt been furnished with the hint that for very small provocations as they deemed them the western counties would set up for independ- ence, which it was not in their power to control. Operated upon by these and other motives, the Atlantic counties came to the conclusion to let them separate, stipulating for themselves, as the price of emancipation, such terms as were necessary and con- venient for their own people. The Chiccamauga claims, as they were termed, were no small stimulants to the cession act. The Chiccamaugas had plundered and killed the inhabitants of Washington District till it became necessary to embody the militia and march in hostile array into their own country. The Assembly made the provision already mentioned for paying them. The comprehensiveness and the acumen of the terms they employed sufficiently point out the decisive spirit with which it was enacted, and the settled determination of the As- sembly not to subject themselves to any more western debts. Complaints were made that long after the cession act an unfair use was made by the western people of the laws; and it must be acknowledged that if any attempts were made after 1790 to set- tle accounts and obtain certificates under the provisions of the Chiccamauga act, it was an unexpected course of proceeding, ad- verse to the state of things which North Carolina supposed to exist after the acceptance of the cession act. But the western people may have thought it was not material by what means they could draw from a treasury replenished by the sales of lands which the unassisted valor of the western people had plucked from the hands of the savages, and which had also been rendered valuable by the settlements which the same valor had planted upon them. They may have judged that to get into such a treasury through an unguarded avenue which the proper owners had left open and forgotten might not, in a court of conscience, be a crime that is entirely unpardonable, especially if the court were created amongst the western people. The learned say that all consciences are not made in the same mold nor are of the same length, and it has been shrewdly suspected that upon this subject a North Carolinian and a Tennessee con- science would be found to differ materially. It was believed about this time that the western people and their members were not deficient in the advancement of all their just claims, and lost
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no opportunity to present them whenever there was a hope of having them favorably passed on, and as their constituents were not opulent enough to make them neglect trifles, they claimed, it was thought, full measure for all their services and supplies, and omitted no claim from a motive of disinclination to swell the account. Either by accident or design the ungrateful creed was inculcated that more expeditions against the Chiccamaugas and other Indian tribes would soon become necessary. Upon its trail there followed the odious suggestion that whenever the western people wanted money they pretended that the Indians plundered and scalped their inhabitants; embodied the militia, and continued them in service till their pay amounted to the sums they wanted; that there were endless sources of expendi- ture which would never cease to furnish claims and complaints for the unwilling ears of the Atlantic members, who had nearly as much complacency about this time for the yell of the savage as the claims and complaints of the western representatives. These rumors did not fail of their effect. Each party ran with joy to the formation of articles which were to sever them for- ever asunder. They authorized and required their Senators in Congress to execute a deed or deeds conveying to the United States of America all right, title, and claim which North Caro- lina had to the sovereignty and territory of the lands situated within the chartered limits of North Carolina and west of the line which has already been described as the eastern boundary of the State of Tennessee. (See "Appendix," cession act. )
On the 25th of February, in the year of our Lord 1790, Sam- uel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, the Senators in Congress from North Carolina, executed a deed in the words of the ces- sion act; and on the 2d of April, of the same year, the United . States, in Congress assembled, by an act made for the special purpose, accepted the deed. The sovereignty of North Carolina over the ceded territory instantly expired. North Carolina was relieved from all her inquietudes, and the western people with joyful alacrity began to open for themselves the paths to pros- perity and glory. The separation was not like that of a discon- solate mother parting from a beloved daughter, but rather like that where Abraham said unto Lot: "Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left."
CHAPTER VII.
Commissioners and Guards Lay Off the Bounds of the Military Lands-Nashville Established-Provisions Made by the Assembly for the Settlers in Cumberland -Spaniards Set Up Claims to the Counties North of Thirty-one Degrees of North Latitude -- Treaty with the Creeks as within Their Limits-Articles of the Treaty-Col. Robertson's Conduct toward the Spaniards-Indian Incursions- Their Combat with Trammel and Mason-Aspre's Combat with Them-Per- sons Killed or Wounded by the Indians in 1783, 1784, and 1785-Provisions of the Assembly in 1785 for the Cumberland Settlements-Davidson Academy Established-Superior Court for the County of Davidson Established-Distil- lation of Grain in Cumberland Prohibited-Treaty of Hopewell-Inhabit- ants South of the French Broad and the Holston-The Southern States Dis- satisfied with the Treaty-Creeks Persevered in Their Hostilities-Extension of the Settlements in the Cumberland-Persons Killed by the Indians-Whites Routed by the Indians on Defeated Creek-Men Raised by the Assembly for the Protection of Davidson-Road to Be Cut from the Lower End of Clinch Mountain into the Cumberland Settlements-Further Time for Surveys and Registration of Grants-Sumner County Erected in 1786-Settlements toward Red River Extended-Persons Killed or Wounded by the Indians in 1786 and 1787-Expeditions to Coldwater-Indians Surprised and Killed-French Trad- ers and Their Goods Taken; the Town Burned-French Boats Taken Coming up the River-The Troops Returned to Nashville; Goods Sold, and the Pro- ceeds Divided-A Company Went by Water, and Were Defeated at the Mouth of Dack River, and Turned Back-Col. Robertson Wrote to Illinois, Giving a Detailed Statement of This Expedition, and of the Causes Which Led to It -- Creek Parties Came to the Cumberland Settlements and Fell upon the Inhabitants; Pursued and Routed; in Turu Attacked by the Indians, Who, after a Long Conflict, Retreated-Other Parties Came to the Cumberland Set- tlements and Killed the Inhabitants-Troops of Evans's Battalion Begin to Ar- rive in Small Detachments-Patrol Appointed by Col. Robertson, and Duties Prescribed-Indian Party Pursued by Capt. Rains; Not Overtaken-Fell upon the Trail of Indians Going to Nashville; Followed Them; Overtook and Dis- persed Them-Sent Out Again Afterward; Fell upon a Trace; Overtook the In- dians; Killed Some, and Made a Boy Prisoner-Sent Out Again; Found a Trace, Overtook the Indians; Killed Some, and Took a Prisoner -Other Par- ties Frequently Sent Out-The Soldiers of Evans's Battalion Placed at Different Stations-Persons Killed in 1787-Scouting Parties-Their Various Fortunes -Representation to the Assembly of the Distressed Situation of the Cumber- land Settlements by the Members from Davidson and Sumner-Names of Persons Killed-Spaniard- Blamed-Proceedings of the Assembly in Favor of the Cumberland Settlements-Road-Pass to the Indians -Ill Treatment of Indians Prohibited-Escort for Moving Families-Road Cut-Making of Salt Encouraged-Persons Killed or Wounded by the Indians in 1783-
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Robertson and Bledsoe Inquire of the Creeks the Real Cause of Their Hostil- ility-The Answer of MeGillevray-Other Persons Killed or Wounded by the Indians in 1788-Accession of New Settlers-Federal Constitution Rejected- Tennessee County-Seperior Court District; the name of Mero Given to It -Remarks upon That Circumstance -- Creek Claim to Lands in Cumberland Refuted by Gen. Robertson-Justified His Expedition to Coldwater-His Re- ply to McGillevray-McGillevray's Answer-Conflicts with the Indians, 1789 -Persons Killed or Wounded in 1789-Mero's Proclamation Inviting Settlers on the West Side of the Mississippi-Col. Morgan Made a Settlement; Discon- tinued in 1789-Proceedings of the Assembly of 1789, in Relation to the Cum- berland Settlements-Salt Licks Disposed of-Tobacco Inspection.
E ARLY in 1784 the commissioners and guards came from North Carolina, and laid off the military land from the northern boundary of the State southwardly. They ran south fifty-five miles to Mount Pisgah; and then, forming themselves into two divisions, one ran to the Tennessee and the other to the Caney Fork. The line made by the commissioners in 1783 crossed the Harper River a mile, or thereabout, below the place where the Big South Road (as it was then called ) crossed the same river, being six or seven miles above where Franklin now stands; and, in its western direction, passing near where Gid- dens now lives. This South Road, as it was called, was a broad beaten path, made by the buffaloes which came from the south to the French Liek, and apparently had been used by them for ages. It was worn into the earth one or two feet, or more in many places. In some places it was three or four feet wide. Buffaloes, when they go to or from a lick, follow their leader in front in a single line. Sometimes they continue in the same slow and solemn pace for nine or ten miles before they turn off the road to graze and satisfy their hunger. This South Road extended from the French Lick to Duck River, and how much farther the writer has not yet ascertained. The lines run in these two years were said to be eight or nine miles apart. That run in 1783 was called the "Continental Line;" that run in 1784, by Rutherford, the "Commissioners' Line."
The Assembly of North Carolina, in their April and May ses- sion of the year 1784, established a town at the bluff, and named it Nashville in memory of the patriotic and brave Gen. Nash. He was a gallant and active officer, full of zeal for the glory of his country. At the battle of Brandywine he commanded the brigade from North Carolina. In the heat of the battle a can-
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non-ball broke his thigh as he was sitting on his horse in the field of battle. He died a death of honor in the arms of glory. His name is embalmed in the memory of his countrymen, with an unguent of endless duration.
At the same session they provided for many persons who had failed from inevitable causes to obtain from the commissioners in 1783 certificates of their preemption rights.
After the rights of preemption were created by the act of 1782, events took place which de facto formed the preemption- ers into classes more or less meritorious. Some had gone off when the public distress was very pressing, and lived for a time in Kentucky or in other neighboring settlements; some had re- mained and defended the country through all its dangers; others had done the same, but were under the age of twenty-one years, and for that reason were out of the provisions of the act of 1782; others had come after the Ist of June, 1780, but had joined with great bravery and effect in repelling the Indians; and some were killed, and left young children and widows. Those of the first description this act of 1784 left as they were before. Under the provisions of the act of 1782 and 1783 they were entitled to a right of preemption, but must pay the price required. Not so with those who had staid and defended the country, and were still living. They were to make their entries without any price to be paid to the public. These the act particularly named- that is to say: John Cockrill, Ann Coekrill ( formerly the wid- , ow), Ann Johnston, Robert Espey, James Espey, John Buch- anon, Cornelius Reddle, James Mulherrin, James Todd, Isaac Jolinston, John Gibson, Francis Armstrong, John Kennedy, Jr., Mark Robertson, William Ellis, James Thompson, James Shaw, James Franklin, Henry Howdeshall, Pierce Castello, Morris Skean, William Logan, David Flood, John White, Peter Loo- ney, William Collins, Jonas Manitee, Daniel Williams, John Evans, Andrew Thompson, Casper Mansco, George Freeland, Daniel Johnston, Edward Swanson, Andrew Kellow, Francis Hodge, John Mulherrin, James Freeland, John Tucker, James Foster, Amos Heaton, Dennis Condry, Frederick Stump, Rus- sell Gower, Andrew Erlin, Thomas Rater, Isaac Lindsey, Moses Winters, James Harris, John Brown, Lewis Crane, John Mont- gomery, Stephen Ray, Daniel Hogan, Thomas Spencer, Hum- phrey Hogan, Heyden Wells, Henry Ramsey, John Barrow, John
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Thomas, William Stewart, Samuel Walker, David Rouncevall, Arthur McAdoo, James McAdoo, Henry Turney, Samuel Bar- ton, John Dunham, Ephraim Pratt, William Overall, and James Robertson-seventy in all. The same provision was made in fa- vor of the heirs and devisees of such as were dead, and those also were specially named: Zachariah White, Alexander Buch- anon, James Leiper, James Harod, Alexander Thompson, Dan- iel Maxwell, Robert Lucas, Timothy Terril, William Hood, Ed- ward Carven, William Neely, James Franklin, Samuel Morrow, George Kennedy, John Robertson, Able Gowen, Sr., Abel Gowen, Jr., Nicholas Trammel, Philip Mason, James Turpen, Nathan Turpen, Jacob Stump, Nicholas Gentry, William Coop- er, Jacob Jones, James Mayfield, William Green, William John- ston, Samuel Scott, George Aspie, William Leighton, John Crutchfield, Joseph Hay, John Searcy, Isaac Lucas, Patrick Quigley, Jacob Stall, Joseph Milligan, Abraham Jones, David Porter, Benjamin Porter, Edward Larimore, William Gausley, Jonathan Jennings, David Carver, Jesse Bralston, Joseph Renfroe, Philip Conrad, William Gausway, John Bernard, John Lumsden, John Gilky, Solomon Phelps, James Johns, Thomas Hainey, Alexander Allerton, John Blackmore, James Fowler, John McMurtry, John Shoctly, John Galloway, and Isaac La- four -- sixty-three in all. The act takes notice of these latter as persons who were killed in the defense and settlement of the county of Davidson, and directs that the heirs and devisees of each of them shall have six hundred and forty acres of land without price to be paid to the public. It proceeds to make provision for those who, because of their non-age on the 1st of June, 1780, were not entitled to the right of preemption under the act of 1782, though they had remained in the country and helped to defend it; and for those who had joined in its defense, though not in the country on the 1st of June, 1780. They gave to each of them six hundred and forty acres of land, to be laid off out of any lands in the country, except those set apart for the officers and soldiers. These also they particularly named, and enabled them to enter their lands without price to be paid to the State. Their names were: Christopher Gais, Sr., Chris- topher Gais, Jr., Jonathan Gais, Kasper Booker, Richard Breeze, Phineas Cook, Mark Nobles, John Kells, Isaac Mayfield, Samuel Holles, Isaac Rouncevall, Eneas Thomas, Joshua Thom-
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as, Caleb Winters, John Buchanon, Sr., John Kennedy, Jr., John Castello, Robert Thompson, and Sampson Williams. A num- ber of other preemptioners had, indeed, remained in the county, and shared in all the dangers which had threatened it; but they bad made their entries and had paid the purchase money, and were therefore not embraced in this act.
An office was opened for receiving entries of preemption rights, and another for entering and surveying the claims of the officers and soldiers upon the warrants which were so directed ยท to issue to them from the Secretary's office.
But as the affairs of the Cumberland settlers seemed to bright- en the Spanish became sullen. They began to intimate that their territorial limits toward Georgia included the greater part of the Creek Nation, and that the boundary of their territory was several degrees north of latitude thirty-one. Whilst these States were in the childhood of independence the conduct of the Spaniards toward them implied that they had not yet acquired any knowledge of international law, or were too weak to resent the infraction of its rulers. It is an obvious law among nations that one sovereignty shall not treat with inhabitants residing upon the territories of another, nor take them under protec- tion, much less receive from them a stipulation that its. govern- mental orders and municipal laws shall be obeyed by them. Yet now such was the conduct of Spain toward the State of Georgia.
On the 1st of June, 1784, in the fort of Pensacola, the capital of West Florida, Gov. Mero, Gov. Oneille, and Don Navarro, on behalf of the Spanish crown on the one side, and Alexander McGillivray for the Creek nation on the other, made and signed a treaty by which the Creek nation engaged to maintain invi- olable peace with the Spaniards; to expose their lives and fort- unes for the King of Spain; to obey the orders which should be received from the Governor of Louisiana or Florida, and the laws of the great King of Spain in points compatible with the character and circumstances of the Creeks, who should con- form themselves to the municipal usages and customs, estab- lished or to be established, in Louisiana and both Floridas. The treaty speaks of the Tallapuche Nation, who were on the lands conquered by the arms of the King of Spain, and engages to establish a permanent commerce for them. The Creeks were
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