USA > Tennessee > The history of Tennessee, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 6
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SLAUGHTER OF TROOPS.
1760.]
loss of ninety-seven men in killed and wounded, finally succeeded in routing the enemy. Moving cautiously in pursuit, Montgomery continued his march toward Etchoe, which he reached about midnight. Finding himself in the midst of a country admirably adapted for defence, and with a repulsed but unconquered enemy hovering in large numbers around him, Montgomery was forced to abandon the attempt to relieve Fort Loudoun, and return with his wounded to Fort Prince George.
Cut off from all hopes of succour by the re- treat of Montgomery, the half-famished garrison at Fort Loudoun sent Captain Stuart to Chote, a neighbouring Indian town, with a proposal to capitulate, on condition that all who were within the works should be permitted to retire, under the safe conduct of an escort, to Fort Prince George. The terms being agreed to, the fort was evacuated on the 7th of August. Accom- panied by Occonostota, and a large detachment of warriors, the soldiers and refugee settlers, to the number of two hundred, set out on their journey. Deserted at Tellico by their Indian guards, they were attacked the next morning by a large force of Cherokees, led by Occonostota, which killed Demere, two other officers, and twenty-three privates, in retaliation for the treacherous murder of the imprisoned chieftains at Fort Prince George. The rest of the garri.
94
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
- [1761.
son were taken prisoners and carried back to Fort Loudoun.
When the aged chieftain Attakulla-kulla heard that his friend Captain Stuart was among those whose lives had been spared, he hastened to the fort and purchased him of his captor, at the expense of his rifle, his clothes, and every thing he could command. Learning soon after that Occonostota had threatened to burn all his prisoners unless Stuart would consent to work the artillery at the contemplated siege of Fort Prince George, the generous-hearted old chief carried off his prisoner, under the pretence of hunting, and plunging into the forest, travelled with him rapidly for nine days, through a wil- derness rarely trodden by the foot of man, until they reached the Holston River, where they encountered a party of Virginians advancing to the relief of Fort Loudoun.
Encouraged to persevere in their hostilities by the presence of French emissaries, the Cherokee war parties continued to lay waste the frontiers until the spring of 1761, when the reduction of Canada enabled Amherst to re- spond to the call of the southern provinces for military assistance, by despatching Colonel Grant with a large body of regulars to co-operate with the provincial levies.
With this mixed force, amounting in the aggregate to twenty-six hundred men, Grant
95
PEACE RESTORED.
1761.]
marched from Fort Prince George on the 7th of June ; and on the 10th discovered the enemy posted upon the hill-sides and among the thick- ets of the narrow defile where Montgomery had purchased so severe a victory the previous year. After three hours hard fighting the Cherokees were driven from the ground, and , the army, pushing forward into the heart of the territory, remained there for thirty days, burn- ing the villages and destroying the granaries and cornfields. Grant then returned to Fort Prince George, where Attakulla-kulla, accom- panied by a number of chiefs, presently arrived to sue for a peace. Honourable conditions were offered and accepted, and the southern borderers were once more at liberty to return to their farms and pursue their accustomed labours.
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96
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. - [1763.
CHAPTER VII.
Pressure of borderers upon the Cherokee country-Exploring parties in Tennessee-Wallen's hunters-Boone's-Hender- son employs Boone to explore Eastern Tennessee-Disco- very of Kentucky-Indian complaints-Royal proclamation -Disregarded by the pioneers-Scaggins explores the Lower Cumberland-Remonstrance by the Iroquois-Council at Fort Stanwix-Cession of lands south of the Ohio-Chero- kee council at Hard Labour-Settlements on the Holston- The Long Hunters explore Kentucky-Increase of settlers at Watauga-They establish a local government-The com- missioners for Watauga-John Sevier-Extension of Vir- ginia boundary-The Watauga lands leased of the Chero- kees-An Indian murdered-Danger of the settlers-Hero- ism of Robertson-The north-western tribes-Troubles with the borderers -- The massacres on the Ohio by Cresap and Greathouse-Indian war-Dunmore's campaign-Battle of Point Pleasant-Treaty of peace.
BUT the expeditions of Montgomery and Grant were productive of more serious consequences to the Cherokees than the burning 'of their villages and the loss of a small number of their warriors. By these inroads the hardy and restless popula- tion of the frontiers obtained a knowledge of a fertile region of which they were not slow to profit. Traders with trains of pack-horses, whose jingling bells sounded strangely musical in the heart of the primeval forest, were the first to reap advantage of the peace, by barter-
97
EXPLORING PARTIES.
1764.]
ing their merchandise for the rich peltries of a territory abounding in game. Hunters and trap- pers followed ; and presently came armed bands of explorers, from Virginia and Carolina, who, entering the Cherokee country, gave the earliest English names to the mountains and rivers, and returning to their homes encumbered with the spoils of the chase, infused a similar spirit of adventure into the hearts of others.
Immediately on the close of the Cherokee war, a company of nineteen men from Virginia, among whom were Wallen, Cox, and Scaggs, crossed the northern boundary of Tennessee, and hunted for eighteen months upon Clinch and Powell Rivers. Encouraged by their success, they extended their range during the two follow- ing years to the banks of the Cumberland.
Contemporaneous with them a party from the settlement upon the Yadkin was exploring the country between the two forks of the Holston, under the guidance of young Daniel Boone, who had hunted upon the Watauga the preceding year. The local reputation of Boone as a da- ring and successful pioneer, led to his being em- ployed, in 1764, to explore a country which was already beginning to attract the attention of emi- grants. This commission emanated from an as- sociation of land speculators, at the head of which was Richard Henderson, a man of great ambition, who had risen from an humble station
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1764.
in life to the dignity of associate chief-judge of North Carolina. Attended by his kinsman, Samuel Calloway, Boone traversed the north- eastern party of Tennessee, and ascending a spur of the Cumberland Mountains, saw, with mingled astonishment and delight, the numerous herds of buffalo which thronged the plains of Kentucky. In a burst of irrepressible enthu- siasm, Boone appropriated them all. "I am richer," said he, "than the man mentioned in Scripture, who owned the cattle on a thousand hills-I own the wild beasts of more than a thousand valleys." But the time for taking ad- vantage of these discoveries was not yet come. The Indians had already complained of repeated intrusions upon their hunting grounds ; and to quiet their apprehensions, a royal proclamation had been issued, forbidding the provincials from making any settlements upon lands west of the mountains, and claiming for the crown the sole right to purchase territory from the Indians. At the same time, Captain Stuart, the friend of Attakulla-kulla, was appointed to the office of Indian agent for the southern district. But the royal mandate was little likely to be respected by men who had passed their lives on the borders of the wilderness. They had discovered that the whole of that vast tract of country stretch- ing from the Cumberland Mountains westward to the Mississippi, and northward to the Ohio,
99
INDIAN COMPLAINTS.
1766.]
was entirely uninhabited, and caring nothing for vague titles of ownership, pressed resolutely for- ward to take possession. They too had their claims, for many of them had been soldiers in the war which had stripped France of all her North American possessions with the exception of a small portion of Louisiana, and were au- thorized by their respective provinces to occupy these lands under their military warrants.
The favourable reports brought back by Boone influenced Henderson to make further explora- tions, and under his directions, Henry Scaggins, and other hunters, examined the country as far as the Lower Cumberland. In 1766 a small party, led by Colonel James Smith, thoroughly explored the country between the Tennessee and Cumber- land Rivers, from Stone's River to the Ohio. Other exploring parties speedily followed, while the border population, pressing forward, began to open settlements on the Kanawha and the Holston. Against these continued encroach- ments upon their hunting grounds, the southern Indians repeatedly complained, but could obtain no redress; but when the Iroquois, who laid claim to the territory by right of conquest, formally remonstrated, the question became one of too serious a nature to be slighted. Sir William Johnson accordingly received orders from England to treat with the northern con- federacy for the purchase of their lands ; and at
100
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1771.
a council held at Fort Stanwix, toward the close of October, 1768, the Iroquois ceded to Great Britain all their claim to the country south of the Ohio River. Ten days before the delegates 'assembled at Fort Stanwix, the Chero- kee Indians met Stuart at Hard Labour in Caro- lina, and agreed to extend the south-western boundary of Virginia, from the Holston River to the mouth of the Kanawha. Companies were immediately organized for the purpose of pur- chase and settlement ; and while these were dis- puting among themselves concerning the invasion of each other's rights, a number of pioneer fami- lies quietly crossed the boundaries of North Carolina and founded, on the banks of the Hols- ton, the first permanent settlement in Tennessee. These were followed so rapidly by others, that within a period of six weeks all the choicest lands on the north fork of the Holston were ta- ken up. One daring adventurer, Captain Wil- liam Bean, advanced still deeper into the wilder- ness, and built his station on Boone's Creek, a tributary of the Watauga. In the spring of 1770, a band of hunters, led by Colonel James Knox, assembled from the valleys of the Clinch
. and the Holston, and traversing the sources of the Cumberland, explored the middle and south- ern regions of Kentucky. Returning in 1771, these men, known as the Long Hunters, gave such glowing accounts of the mildness of the
101
JOHN SEVIER.
1772.]
climate and the fertility of the soil, that survey- ing parties were sent down the Ohio to locate lands upon its southern border.
In the mean time, owing partly to local dis- turbances in the Carolinas, and partly to the growing difficulties between England and the provinces on the question of taxation, the popu- lation on the Holston and Watauga had increased so rapidly that, in 1772, the settlers assembled in convention and established a local government. By general agreement five commissioners were chosen, in whom were vested legislative, judicial, and executive powers. The chairman of the committee was Colonel John Carter, a native of Virginia. His associates were James and Charles Robertson, Zachariah Isbell, and John Sevier. The latter was of French extraction, the original name of the family being Xavier. His ancestors being Huguenots, were driven by persecution to seek a refuge in London, where Valentine Xavier, the father of the Watauga commissioner, was born. Emigrating to the colonies early in the eighteenth century, he first settled in Virginia, where, in 1740, on the borders of the Shenan- doah, John Sevier was born. In 1769, the latter, already the head of a family consisting of a deli- cate wife and six children, migrated to the banks of the Holston, where, with his father and bro- ther, he presently took up his abode, the perma- nence of which, henceforth, was only broken by
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102
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1772.
occasional visits to his family in Virginia. With a better knowledge of men than of books, for his learning was scanty ; active, fluent, bold, and generous, the " portly young stranger from Wil- liamsburg" was not long in acquiring the esteem of the rough borderers, among whom he presently rose to the rank of a leader, and rivalled James Robertson in popularity.
By a treaty, which was ratified in 1772, the boundary of Virginia was considerably ex- tended; but as the settlement at Watauga was still beyond provincial jurisdiction, and was an admitted encroachment upon Indian soil, the in- habitants were ordered by Cameron, the deputy superintendent, to retire across the borders. But pioneers, when once in possession of a country, were never known to retrace their steps ; and a mandate so imperative might have been productive of serious results, if the Cherokees had not consented to lease, for a term of ten years, the lands already occupied. Unhappily, the ratification of the treaty led to the commis- sion of an outrage which, for a time, threatened to involve the people of Watauga in the horrors of an Indian war. During the sports and fes- tivities which marked the occasion, an Indian was slain by a party of lawless men from Virgi- nia. This cold-blooded assassination, so atro- cious and unjustifiable, created the greatest com- motion among the settlers, who apprehended,
103
INDIAN WAR.
1774.]
and not without reason, that a sanguinary retali- ation would follow. The danger was, however, averted by the courage and heroism of Robert- son ; who, at the risk of his own life, immediately set out for the principal Cherokee town, and succeeded in exonerating his people from any participation in the murder.
But if the southern Indians were content for a season to maintain pacific relations with the whites, it was far otherwise with the tribes of the north-west. The Shawanese and Mingoes had long viewed with irrepressible feelings of indignation the numerous parties of pioneers which, floating down the Ohio, traversed the territory on its borders, as surveyors or hunters, and marked out the choicest lands for subsequent occupation. Occasional collisions, in which blood was spilled on both sides, increased their hatred of the intruders ; but no general declaration of war took place until 1774, when armed detach- ments of lawless frontiersmen, under Cresap and Greathouse, wantonly attacked, on two separate occasions, a number of inoffensive Indians, and indiscriminately massacred the whole. Logan, a celebrated Mingo chief, whose family Great- house had exterminated, instantly flew to arms, and being joined soon after by roving bands of Iroquois, Shawanese, Delawares, and Wyandots, commenced a sanguinary and destructive wal .. fare upon the inhabitants of western Virginia.
104
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1774.
To afford a temporary check to these alarming inroads, Governor Dunmore despatched a body of troops under Colonel McDonald, against the In- dian towns on the Muskingum. This expedition producing no beneficial results, Dunmore . pre- pared to take the field in person. His army consisted of twenty-seven hundred men, organ- ized into two divisions, one of which was com- posed of levies from southern and western Vir- ginia, and the other of regular troops and vo- lunteers from the northern and eastern counties. In the first division, commanded by General An- drew Lewis, was a company of volunteers from east Tennessee, the captain of which was Evan , Shelby ; his son, Isaac Shelby, the future go- vernor of Kentucky, serving under him as lieu- tenant. Among the orderly sergeants were James Robertson and Valentine Sevier.
Quitting, on the 11th of September, the place of rendezvous in the valley region of Green Brier, General Lewis marched his division, through a rugged and untrodden wilderness, to Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kanawha, where he expected to form a junction with the forces under Dunmore; but finding the flotilla of the governor had not yet arrived, he halted his men and encamped. On the 9th he received instructions from Dunmore, who was then at the mouth of the Big Hockhocking, to cross the Ohio with his division, and join him at the
105
1774.] BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT.
Shawanese towns on the Scioto. The following morning, while the troops were in the act of breaking up their encampment, Robertson and Sevier brought intelligence of the approach of an Indian force, which was subsequently ascer- tained to have numbered a thousand warriors, led by the brave Shawanese chief Cornstalk.
General Lewis immediately ordered his bro- ther, Colonel Charles Lewis, to advance with a strong detachment, and reconnoitre the position of the enemy. Within four hundred yards of the camp, a fire from ambushed Indians mortally wounded Lewis, and disabled Fleming the second in command. The suddenness of the attack threw their men into disorder ; but, supported by reinforcements under Colonel Field, they rallied and returned to the attack. From this time the contest was maintained on both sides with indo- mitable courage and resolution. After lasting nearly the whole day with varying success, it was finally terminated in favour of the Ame- ricans through a secret movement, accomplished by the companies of Shelby, Matthews, and Stuart, who succeeded in gaining the flank of the enemy. Placed between two fires, and impressed with the belief that Lewis had been joined by reinforcements, the Indians, who had hitherto fought with great coolness and delibe- ration, began to waver, and finally breaking up into confused masses, fled precipitately across
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1775.
the Ohio. This important victory led to negotia- tions for peace; and the chiefs of the hostile In- dians having met Dunmore in council, agreed to a treaty, by which they transferred to Great Britain all their claims to lands south of the Ohio River.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Cherokee council at Sycamore Shoals-Purchase of the Wa- tauga territory-Other grants-The Transylvania grant an- nulled by Dunmore-Colonial troubles-Instructions to the royal governors-Seizure of stores at Concord-Battle of Lexington -Difficulties with Dunmore- Patrick Henry marches on Williamsburg-Flight of Dunmore-Action of the Federal Congress at Philadelphia-Spirited conduct of North Carolina-Increased excitement in the province- Flight of Governor Martin-The legislature of North Ca- rolina advocates a declaration of independence-Annexation of the Watauga settlement to North Carolina-Indian hos- tilities-Skirmish at Long Island-Defence of Watauga Fort-Anecdote of Catherine Sherrill-South Carolina me- naced by a British fleet-Provincial expeditions against the Cherokees.
ALTHOUGH the Cherokees were not a party to to the cession of lands exacted by Dunmore at the treaty of Camp Charlotte, they evinced, soon after, a willingness to dispose of a portion of their own sylvan possessions. In March, 1775, they assembled in council at the Sycamore Shoals, on the Watauga River, and, in considera- tion of the sum of ten thousand pounds sterling,
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107
TREATY OF WATAUGA.
1775.]
transferred to Henderson and his associates all their hunting grounds between the Kentucky and the Cumberland Rivers. An immense con- course of Indians being present on this occasion, the people of Watauga seized the opportunity thus afforded them to convert their leasehold titles into titles in fee simple. By the payment of two thousand pounds sterling, they obtained a deed for all the lands lying on the waters of the Watauga, Holston, and Kanawha, beginning on the Holston, six miles above Long Island, and terminating at the sources of the Great Kanawha. Two other deeds were obtained by individuals on the same occasion. The store of Parker & Carter had previously been robbed by Indians ; and as a compensation for the losses thus sustained, and in consideration of an addi- tional sum which a third partner, Robert Lucas, agreed to pay, they obtained a grant of Carter's Valley, "from Cloud's Creek to the Chimney- top Mountain of Beech Creek." Jacob Brown also obtained grants for lands on both sides of Nolachucky River, adjoining the Watauga pur- chase. Henderson immediately proceeded to organize a form of government for the new pro- vince of Transylvania, notwithstanding his title was declared invalid by Governor Dunmore, within whose jurisdiction the territory in ques- tion was at that time supposed to lie. Four days subsequent to the treaty of Watauga, and
108
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
- [1775.
before its stipulations were complied with, Dun- more issued a proclamation, warning all persons against Henderson and his associates ; and, sub- sequently, the legislature of Virginia declared the purchase null and void. But, as a compen- sation for the services rendered by the Transyl- vania association in opening the wilderness, they were granted a tract of land twelve miles square on the Ohio, below the mouth of Green River.
But at this period the prerogatives of the crown were in far more danger within the body of the provinces than in the valley of the Ohio. The resolution of the English ministry to tax the American colonies had been met by a spirit of resistance which was rapidly approaching a crisis. Non-importation agreements had failed to procure redress of grievances. Petitions from the Provincial Congress had been received with
contempt. The indignant spirit of the confede- rated colonies now becoming fully aroused, volunteer corps were organized, and arms and ammunition industriously collected in anticipa- tion of the coming struggle. A considerable force of British troops had already landed at Boston; and early in the spring of 1775, the royal governors received instructions to seize upon all military stores which might be found in possession of the patriots. In obedience to this order, Governor Gage, of Massachusetts, des- patched a party of regulars to take possession
109
WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
1775.]
of some cannon and other materiel of war which were known to be secreted at Concord. The tidings immediately spread; the minute-men collecting in great numbers embarrassed the re- treating regulars, and the battle at Lexington was the commencement of the War of Indepen- dence. This event took place on the 19th of April. Three days afterward, Governor Dun- more ordered the gunpowder in the magazine at Williamsburg to be secretly conveyed on board an armed vessel at anchor off Yorktown. So soon as the abstraction of the powder was made known to the volunteers of the vicinity, they armed themselves, and proceeding in a body to the governor, demanded its restitution. While the dispute was still pending, tidings arrived of the battle of Lexington. Fifteen hundred men from the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies presently collected at Fredericksburg, in readi- ness for any emergency. In the county of Han- over, Patrick Henry placed himself at the head of his company of volunteers, and marched at once upon Williamsburg. By constant acces- sions of armed militia, the force under his com- mand was speedily increased to five hundred men. Sixteen miles from the city, Henry was met by a deputation who had prevailed upon Corbin, the king's receiver, to indemnify the province for the loss of the powder. Having thus succeeded in his purpose, Henry returned
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1775.
to Hanover, and on the 4th of May disbanded his company. A few weeks later, Dunmore fled from Williamsburg, and took refuge on board the Fowey man-of-war. The royal government of Virginia had ceased to exist.
Long before this, however, in all the Anglo- American provinces, committees of safety had been organized, local conventions held, and a general Congress, composed of deputies from all the colonies, had been in session at Philadelphia. The new Congress, which met on the 10th of May, promptly sustained the previous action of Massachusetts, by providing for the organization of an army, and the defence of the United Co- lonies.
On the 17th of June, only two days after the unanimous election of George Washington as commander-in-chief of the American forces, was fought the battle of Bunker Hill.
But though Congress recognised the existence of war, the provinces generally were not yet prepared for a declaration of independence. North Carolina, alone, by her Mecklenburg ma- nifesto, evinced a readiness to throw off all alle- giance to Great Britain. Already the freemen of that province had twice elected delegates to a local convention in opposition to the protests of Governor Martin. By a happy unanimity on the part of the electors, those whom they had chosen as members of the convention, were also
111
1776.] REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS.
elected members of the regular provincial legis- lature, met at the same time and place, and vesting the offices of president of the assembly and moderator of the convention in the same person, combined the functions of legislators recognised by the crown, with the duties of dele- gates expressly chosen to uphold the cause of the people.
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