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 25
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to hear something new. And they continued to exhibit their vast political attaimnents upon this inexhaustible subject till by the adoption of the federal Constitution, the event foreseen by the politicians of Cumberland, it became manifest to the whole world that the strong and compact government established by that in- strument forever banished the idea that the free navigation of the Mississippi would be abandoned. It was immediately per- ceived, and by Spain particularly, that there was now too much power concentrated in the hands of the Union to be long with- held from the dominion of the Mississippi and of all the coun- tries adjacent to it. At the applauding thunder in the political atmosphere which ushered into being this grand crisis, the croakers dived in haste to their native habitations, and gave time for a fair examination of the course which had been pur- sued. And it was accorded that these tokens of friendship were hung out to inspire correspondent inclinations, and with the hope and expectation that they might be the parents of friend- ly advice to the Indians. And it is asserted that Gov. Mero was far from being unaffected at this instance of personal es- teem, and that he did actually soften those asperities toward the people of Cumberland, which the Spanish government was not unwilling to encourage. The truth is, that the west- ern people were in circumstances so exposed to temptation as to awaken the jealousy of their Atlantic brethren who were prompted to make inquiry why it was that as early as 1785 tobacco was raised both in Tennessee and Kentucky in such quantities as to be carried to public warehouses to be there declared marketable. Had it been intimated to the people that tobacco raised in Tennessee and Kentucky would be exported down the Mississippi to the New Orleans market? Trifling circumstances, which at other times would not have made the slightest impression, now gave uneasiness and dis- satisfaction, and contributed in no small degree to make the Atlantic counties more sparing of their gratuities. There is one political lesson, and a very important one it is, which is learned from the transactions of these days, that perhaps the predilection for any form of government works not with so much effect, as the consideration that the western people cannot live without a market for the abundant produce of their fertile country; and that it will be a most dangerous experiment ever to place these
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desiderata in opposite scales. It teaches us also the great vigi- lance which the government of the Union should incessantly be- stow upon all places which by being well fortified could contrib- ute to the security of Orleans. Whoever occupies Orleans will be the arbiter of our destinies. What a debt of gratitude is due to those by whose valor and good conduct it has been saved to the United States!
It was not till after the date of McGillevray's letter in April, 17SS, that the Creeks had ever attempted a vindication of their violence against the people of Cumberland upon the score of en- croachment upon their territory. But after that period, in the same year, as if he had forgotten the contents of his former let- ter, he addressed another to Col. Robertson in the latter part of the year, in which complaints were preferred of encroachments made by the Americans upon the Creek lands. Col. Robertson, in reply to this letter, regretted these circumstances, and excused both himself and the people of Cumberland from blame by re- marking that they were not a part of the State whose people had made the encroachments. The people of Cumberland, he avowed, only claimed those lands which the Cherokees, in the year 1775, ceded to Col. Henderson, and for which they were paid. He had not expected to be blamed for his late expedition carried on against a people living below the Muscle Shoals, who had been stated to him both by Creeks and Cherokees as a law- less banditti who submitted to the regulations of no nation. He had just returned, he said, from the Assembly, who, together with the Continental Congress, had the most perfect good-will to do justice to all the red people. And the Assembly had been informed by Dr. White that he ( McGillevray) had promised a suspension of hostilities to all persons but those who were en- deavoring to take their just and national right. He said that since he and Col. Bledsoe had written to McGillevray he had been subjected to the mortification of seeing one of his children inhumanly massacred, a shock that almost conquered the forti- tude which he had been endeavoring from his earliest youth up to provide as a shield against the calamitous evils of this life. At the same time a neighbor's child was made prisoner, whom he requested the good offices of Gen. McGillevray to have re- stored. His parents, said he, were inconsolable for his loss, and the only comfort they enjoy is the hope founded on the gener-
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ous character of MeGillevray that he would cause their child to be restored to them. Last fall he had stopped an expedition against the Cherokees on hearing from Dr. White of their friend- ly professions, and in so doing had incurred the displeasure of many of his friends. He desired MeGillevray to punish the re- fractory part of his nation as the only means of preserving peace. Here grief imperceptibly stole upon his mind and poured forth itself in nature's simple strains. It is a matter of no reflection, said he, to a brave man, to see a father, a son, or a brother fall in the field of action; but it is a serious and mel- ancholy incident to see a helpless woman or an innocent child tomahawked in their own houses. He sent to Gen. McGillevray 'a law of the Legislature of North Carolina for punishing trans- gressions against the Indians, and importuned him to put in force a similar law.
In December, 1783, McGillevray answered that he had seen a proclamation of Congress for restoring to the Cherokees the lands encroached upon since the treaty of 1785, which extended near to Chota. The Cherokees had asked assistance, he said, which the Creeks furnished in the fall of 1788, but since seeing the proclamation he had spoken to Little Turkey and the Bloodyfellow, who were satisfied of the intentions of Congress toward them, and promised to refrain from all hostilities against the whites. The leader, called the Dragging Canoe, who was upon the point of setting off with two hundred men, had stopped. He assured Col. Robertson that he would persist in the meas- ures most proper to keep the Creeks from further hostilities against Cumberland. He expected the ensuing spring would terminate their disputes with Georgia. Col. Robertson about this time also wrote to the Cherokees complaining of the outrages they had committed in the time of his absence at the Assembly. Although it had been agreed by treaty that the innocent should not be punished for the misbehavior of wrong-doers, he invited them to send a flag to him with their answer to let him know whether they intended a general war or not.
The year 1789 as it rolled into view brought with it some or- dinary and some extraordinary events. On the 20th of January the Indians killed Capt. Hunter and dangerously wounded Hugh F. Bell. A party of white men collected and pursued the In- dians, and at the distance of two and a half miles came upon
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them ambuscaded. They fired upon the pursuers, killed Maj. Kirkpatrick, and wounded J. Foster and William Brown.
. They kept up hostilities during the whole summer, and killed a number of persons whose names are not remembered. In the spring of this year, at Dunham's Station, the Indians killed a man of the name of Mills; in May they killed Dunham, and in the summer Joseph Norrington and another Dunham near where the house of Mr. Joseph Irwin now stands. They fired on J. Cockrill and killed his horse. They stole horses, and killed divers persons in different parts of the country.
In May, 1789, Judge McNairy, who had been appointed to succeed the resigned Judge of the Supreme Court for the county of Davidson, and who had come in 1788 to discharge the functions of his office, set off with others to go into what was then called the settlements, and encamped on the west side of Clinch River. Here a large company of Indians fell upon them about two hours by sun in the morning, and killed a man of the name of Stanley, a Chickasaw chief called Longhair, and his son. The whites were entirely routed, and escaped by swimming across Clinch River. They lost all their horses and a great part of their clothing. In 1789 the Indians killed Miss MeGaughs at Hickman Station. They killed Hugh Webb on the Kentucky trace near Barren River, as he and others were bringing salt from Kentucky to Cumberland. They killed a man who had married Jane Kendricks, near Winchester's mill. They shot Henry Ramsey through the bowels, near Bledsoe's Creek, be- tween Greene and Morgan's Station, about three or four miles west from Bledsoe's Lick.
In this year the Indians came to Col. Robertson's station in the day-time and attacked him where his hands were at work in the field, in the latter part of June. They fired upon and shot him through the bottom of the foot as he ran toward the station. He ordered Col. Elijah Robertson, of Davidson County, to send men in pursuit of them. Sampson Williams, a captain, was or- dered upon that service. His men, to the number of sixty or seventy, convened at Gen. Robertson's, and marched along McCutchin's trace up West Harper to the ridge of Duck River, where they discovered that the Indians outtraveled them. Twenty men were ordered to the front, to leave their horses, and to make forced marches upon the trail. Sampson Williams and
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the twenty pushed forward, and came in view of their camp on the south side of Duck River. Andrew Jackson, now Gen. Jackson, was one of the twenty. They went a mile and a half up the river, crossed in the night, and went down the river; but the cane was so thick that they could not find the camp, and lay on their arms all night. In the morning, after advancing fifty yards, Capt. Williams descried them mending up the chumps at the distance of one hundred yards from where he was. He and his men rushed toward them and fired at the distance of sixty yards, killed one, wounded five or six, and drove them across the river to the north side. He took from them sixteen guns, nine- teen shot-pouches, and all their baggage, consisting of blankets, moccasins, leggins, etc., and returned home. The Indians car- ried off the wounded, and did not return the fire.
In this year, near the mouth of Sulphur Fork of Red River, the Indians fell upon two moving families by the name of Tits- worth, Isaac and John, and killed their wives and children-not one escaped. In this year, also, they killed Evan Shelby and Abednego Lewellen as they were hunting in the woods. Hugh F. Bell and Col. Tenen made their escape. In the month of September, in the year 1789, the Indians came to Buchanon's Station and fired upon John Blackburn near the spring on the bank of the creek, in the morning. Ten or twelve of them fired upon him at the same time, killed him, scalped him, and left a spear sticking in his body.
The Spaniards remitted nothing of their aversion to the Cum- berland settlements, nor of the means which they had long since chosen to adopt to repress and to thin those settlements. They and their agents talked much of endeavoring to induce the In- dians to be quiet, yet they were in nowise pacified; and also other measures, if not calculated, at least designed to draw off the settlers, were put in practice. Gov. Mero issued his procla- mation on the 2d of September, 1789, in which he set forth that his Majesty the King of Spain had been graciously pleased to permit the subjects and citizens of other countries to emigrate to his provinces of Louisiana and West Florida, by the Missis- sippi River, with their stock, household furniture, etc., and to introduce their property, promising to each family a tract of land, from two hundred and forty to eight hundred acres, in pro- portion to the numbers, free from all expense, as also exemption 17
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from taxation. In order to fulfill these benevolent intentions, he made it known by this proclamation to all persons who might become the subjects of his Majesty that they would be duly pro- tected in their rights and privileges before mentioned. Each person emigrating, on taking the oath of allegiance, would be obliged to render on oath a true invoice of the property he might bring down, to the governor of the District of Natchez, or the commandant at Lans Le Grace, as the case may be; and solemn -. ly to swear that no other persons are directly or indirectly con- cerned in the same, it being the intention of his Majesty to ex- tend this bounty to actual settlers only; and any attempt to contravene this design would be punished with the utmost rigor. All these regulations had the obvious tendency to dishearten the Cumberland settlers, and, with the assistance of Indian warfare, to make them desirous of a Spanish alliance. Col. Morgan, for some time previous to the date of this proclamation, dazzled by the splendor of these offers, had attempted a settlement on the Spanish side of the river, and continued with much zeal up to the latter part of 1789 to try to persuade the people in the East- ern States to become Spanish subjects, and to give to his under- taking as much eclat as possible Gov. Mero issued his proclama- tion; but finally the attempt failed of success because of the stubborn nature of republican education, which forbids com- mixture with despotic habits.
The General Assembly of North Carolina, at their session which began in Fayetteville on the 2d of December, 1788, and concluded on the 22d of December of that year, ordered the sale of the salt licks and springs and of the adjoining lands. The County Courts of Sumner, Davidson, and Tennessee were en- joined, at the April term of their courts, in the year 1790, to make a list, to be signed by the chairmen, of all licks fit for the manufacture of salt, including Eaton's Lick, Denton's Lick. Neely's Lick, Kasper's Lick, Madison's Lick, Drake's Lick, Sto- ner's Lick, and Bledsoe's Lick, which were to be sold. All other salt licks and springs, not deemed by those courts fit for manu- facturing salt, were declared to be vacant lands, as were also the lands adjoining them, and were made liable to be located and entered. Commissioners were to cause to be surveyed, where not already done, the several licks and springs fit for the manu- facturing of salt, with six hundred and forty acres of the adjoin-
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ing lands; they were to advertise the same for sale, and to make sale of them within twelve months. Two of the reserved licks, with the adjoining land, were to be retained for the use of the Davidson Academy, for which commissioners were ordered to execute a deed to the trustees. The moneys were appropriated to the use of the District of Mero, as might thereafter be by law appointed. Grants were to be made to the purchasers, and cer- tain leased salt licks were provided for. They established at the same session a tobacco inspection at Clarksville and a provision store on the frontier of Hawkins County, at the house of John Adair, for the reception of corn, flour, pork, and beef, for the sole use of the Cumberland guard when called on to escort and to conduct families and emigrants through the wilderness to the Cumberland settlements. John Adair was appointed commis- sioner to purchase provisions, who was to give certificates which should be received by the different sheriff's in the District of Washington in part payment of the public tax in the counties of that district, and from them by the public treasurer. They made provision, also, by an act of the Legislature, for persons wounded in the District of Mero. The County Courts of David- son, Sumner, and Tennessee were authorized, whenever it ap- peared to their satisfaction that any person wounded by the In- dians was not able to defray the expense of his treatment and cure, to pass the accounts of the physician, surgeon, and nurse, and those for the necessary medicines, provision, and attend- ance, the same being properly attested and approved on oath. These accounts, so passed, were to be received in payment of any of the public taxes by the collectors, sheriffs, and other of- ficers in the district. Accounts for provisions furnished the In- dians within the District of Mero, by any of the inhabitants thereof, and being duly proved upon oath, and being exhibited in the court of the county where the claimant resided, the court was authorized to allow and pass and to fix the price of such provisions. Accounts thus passed were made receivable in pat -- ment of any of the public taxes of the district, and they exempt- ed from militia duty all surgeons and physicians in the district. They enlarged the powers and salary of the Judge of the Supe- rior Court for the District of Mero, giving to him an equity ju- risdiction.
CHAPTER VIII.
Congress Regulates the Ceded Territory-Officers Appointed-Governor Proceeds to Tennessee; Causes the Oath of Office to Be Administered-A Treaty Pro- posed to the Cherokees-Circumstances of the Territory-Occupants South of the French Broad and the Holston-Tennessee Company-Spanish Jealousies; Their Attempts to Defeat the Western Settlements; During the Negotiations with Them the Western Settlers Restrained from Offensive Operations against the Indians, Their Allies-Sevier Made Brigadier-general-Cox and His Party Arrested-Indians Had Driven Them Off-Purchasers from Cox-Population of the Territory-Reports Circulated to Deter the Cherokee Chiefs from Meet- ing the Governor-Treaty with Them-Persons Killed or Wounded and Dep- redations of the Indians, 1791-Bowles Prevents the Execution of the Creek Treaty-Printing-press at Rogersville-Indians to Be Induced to Join the United States-Treaty to Be Held at Nashville-Report upon the Displeas- ure of the Indians-Five Lower Towns of the Cherokees Hostile-Scalp Dance -Eagle Tail Dance-Creek Prisoners-Troops Raised-Spanish Instigation- Mutual Hatred of the Whites and Cherokees-Thefts-Indians Killed-Bowles Taken into Custody by the Spaniards-Devastations of the Indians in Kentucky -The Governor Visited Cayette; Received by the Indians with Great Re- spect-Persons Killed by the Indians in 1782-Counties of Knox and Jeffer- son-Creeks Kill White Men in the Cherokee Nation-Spaniards Incite the Indians; Their Violences; Rout Henly's Company and Take Him Prisoner- Gov. Blount's Speech to the Indians-Militia Raised under Sevier, 1792-Peo- ple Averse from the Service against the Insurgents-Indifference of the Gen- eral Government to the Sufferings of the Western People-Fort Erected at West Point by Gen. Sevier-Why Chosen-Indian Depredations-Cherokees Obtained a Junction with the Whites Again at the Northwards-Causes of In- dian Hostilities Explained-Henderson Purchased the Cherokee Claim- Chickasaw Claim-Donalson and Martin-Their Treaty with the Indians, 1783 -Claim and Cession of the Six Nations-Virginia Boundary-Correspondence between the Governor of Virginia and Gov. Blount-Documents Concerning the Boundary -- Gen. Sevier's Instructions to Col. Christian-Watts Wished for Peace-Sevier with His Army Ordered to Knoxville-Troops Discharged -Property Stolen-Persons Killed and Wounded, 1793-Spaniards Incite the Indians to War-The People Embody to Take Satisfaction of the Indians- Dispersed by the Governor's Proclamation-Creeks Bent on War-Perplex- ing Occurrences-Troops Ordered-Instructions to the Officers How to Act- Creek Army-Douglass Killed-Exhortations to Peace-Sconting Parties- Spaniards-Panton-Morris, the Chickasaw, Killed-General Government Censured by the People-Killed and Wounded, 1793-Indians Killed at Hanging Maws by Beard's Party-Militia Ordered to Be in Readiness-Or- dered to March to Knoxville-Invasion of the Creeks and Cherokees Appre- (260)
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hended-Horses Stolen by the Indians-Action between a Party of Indians and Whites-Indians on Their Way Home with Scalps and Horses-Indians at Doherty's Mill-Pursued and Some Killed-Nine White Men Wounded -- Fifteen More Indians Killed-Indian Depredations --- Persons Killed or Wounded-Indians Killed-Houses Burned by the Indians-The Whites Em- body without Orders-Others Embody at Another Place and March against the Indians, Though Forbidden to Do So-Sevier Directed to Raise Men and Reconnoiter the Country-Indians Killed-Indians Killed in Their Towns, and Others Made Prisoners-Persons Killed or Wounded by the Indians on the Frontiers-Gen. Sevier Called on by the People-Indians Embodied-As- sault Henry's Station-Persons Killed by Them-Gen. Sevier's Letter to the Indians-Militia Ordered to Be in Readiness-Measures to Repress the In- cursions of the Indians-Persons Killed by the Indians-A Thousand Indians Invade the District of Hamilton; Assaulted. Cavet's Station; Took It, and Killed His Whole Family, Thirteen in Number-Pursued by Gen. Sevier- Marched to the Indian Towns-A Pattle at the Forks of Coosa and Hightow- er; Indians Routed; Their Towns Burned; Women and Children Suffered to Escape-The Spaniards Supplied the Indians with Powder and Ball for This Expedition-Remarks on the Conduct of the Baron de Carondelet-Persons Killed by the Indians-Grand Jury of Hamilton Complain of the Federal Government; Called for Protection; Requested to Have a Legislature of Their Own-Indians Killed-Whites Killed-Remarks on the Conduct of the Span- iards-Numbers in the Territory Entitled Them to Legislature-Election of Members Authorized-Assembly Called by Proclamation; Met at Knoxville; Their Proceedings; Their Address to Congress-Indians Pursued and Routed by Capt. Evans-Persons Killed or Wounded by Them in 1794 -- Indians Pur- sued and Killed by Capt. Ore-Spanish Incitations Began to Decline-Report of a Committee in Congress on the Memorial of the Legislature; Recommend Calling Out the Militia-Persons Killed or Wounded in 1794-Cherokees Took a Boat Descending the River, Killed the Whites Who Were in It, Took the Negroes, and Plundered the Boat-Persons Killed or Wounded- Creeks Pursued and One Taken; Court of Oyer and Terminer Called to Try Him; Tried, Condemned, and Executed-Creek Parties Out for War; Pursued by the Cherokees; Overtaken and Routed and Some Killed-Death-song- Scalp Dance-Bull Run Block-house Attacked-Another Party Overtaken by Capt. Evans; Routed and Some Killed-Lieut. Mcclellan Attacked and Routed by the Creeks-Persons Killed and Taken-Gov. Blount's Endeavors to Pro- cure Peace-His Arguments to the Creeks-Shows They Had No Claim to the Lands on the Cumberland-Creeks Inform Parker of Their Unwillingness to Join the Spaniards against the Expedition Expected from Kentucky-Per- sons Killed-Goods of the United States Intended for the Indians Destroyed -Cherokee Council Refuses to Give Up the Property Taken by the Cherokees- Large Body of Creeks March through the Cherokee Nation toward the Front- ier-The Occurrence of Events Favorable to Peace-Northern Indians De- feated by Gen. Wayne-Cherokees Send to Gov. Blount Soliciting Peace- Report of an Expedition against the Cherokees Intended by Gov. Logan- Gov. Blount Writes to Him by Express-Conferences at Tellico-White Beads Presented by the Governor-Smoked the Pipe of Peace-Cherokee Chiefs
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Pressed by the Governor to Bring Forward Their Prisoners-Exchange of Pris- oners-The Governor's Remarks to the Cherokees in Favor of Peace-Gov. Blount Wished to Break Up the Creek Nation as the Only Means of Safety to the People of the South-western Territory-McGillevray's Death-The Legis- lature Again Meets-The Council Chosen-The Proceedings of the Legislature -Sevier County and Knoxville Established-Transmit a List of Those Who Were Killed Since Their Last Meeting to Congress, with an Address-The People Directed to Vote For or Against a Convention to Erect the Territory Into a State-Gen. Knox's Report on the Means of Preserving Peace with the Indians.
O N the 25th of May, 1790, Congress passed a law for the gov- ernment of the country south-west of the river Ohio. They declared that for the purposes of temporary government it should be one district, the inhabitants of which should enjoy all the privileges, benefits, and advantages set forth in the ordinance of the late Congress, made in July, 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, ex- cept so far as otherwise provided for in the conditions expressed in the act of Congress of the present session for accepting the cession made by North Carolina. One of these conditions, as will be seen by recourse to the act, was that no regulations made or to be made i . Congress shall tend to emancipate slaves.
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