USA > Tennessee > The history of Tennessee, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 7
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
The Watauga purchase had been declared ille- gal by Governor Martin, but the inhabitants paid no heed to his proclamation. His more strenuous efforts to prevent all action, on the part of the provincial convention, was equally unsuccessful. After the battle of Lexington, and the passage of the Mecklenburg resolutions, the popular effervescence increased to such a degree that Martin began to tremble for his personal safety. The valour displayed by the continentals at the battle of Bunker Hill, in- creased the influence of the patriotic party in North Carolina, and rendered the position of the royal governor still more precarious. Taking council of his fears, he followed the example of Dunmore, and sought the protection of an Eng- lish armed vessel, at that time anchored in the Cape Fear River. On the 20th of August, the provincial legislature met at Halifax, and adopt- ed an independent form of government. At the coming session, which took place on the 4th of April, 1776, this patriotic body anticipated
112
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1776.
the action of the Federal Congress by instruct- ing its delegates to concur with the other colo- nial delegates in a formal declaration of inde- pendence. Laws were also passed constraining loyalists to take an oath of allegiance to the new government, providing for an issue of trea- sury bills, and for the military organization of the state.
Up to this period the inhabitants of the Wa- tauga settlement, had been living peacefully under the regulations they had voluntarily imposed upon themselves. But though they had disre- garded the proclamation of Governor Martin, making void the purchase of their lands, they were not insensible of the difficulties to which they were exposed by their isolated condition, nor regardless of the odium which attached to them, when, as population increased, large num- bers of lawless men took refuge among them, to evade the demands of their creditors, or to shelter themselves from criminal prosecutions. Finding their simple code of laws too weak to control these restless desperados, and earnestly desirous of aiding the provinces in the war of independence, they solicited permission to place themselves under the jurisdiction of North Caro- lina, to which state they petitioned to be annex- ed under the title of "Washington District." Their prayer was granted, and John Carter, John Haile, and John Sevier were elected dele-
113
MEASURES OF DEFENCE.
1776.]
gates to the provincial legislature which met at Halifax on the 12th of November, 1776.
The annexation of the community on the Watauga to the province of North Carolina was productive of the most beneficial results. Out- casts from society were now rendered amenable to the laws. Committees of safety were organ- ized, and Tory refugees and suspected loyalists compelled to swear fealty to the American cause. Companies of volunteers were organized, and every preparation was made for taking part in the revolutionary struggle, as well as to pro- tect the inhabitants from the effects of Indian hostilities.
The measures for local defence were dictated by a wise forecast. It was well known that Cameron, the Indian agent, had been tampering with the Cherokees ; some disturbances had already taken place, and information, derived from authentic sources, put them in possession of the fact that Henry Stuart, the deputy In- dian agent under Cameron, was instigating the Tories to assemble in arms in the Cherokee nation ; and that the latter tribe, in conjunction with the Shawanes, Mingoes, and Delawares, were preparing for a general attack upon the inhabitants of the frontiers.
These alarming tidings roused even those who had hitherto been lukewarm to attach themselves to the common cause. Everywhere the border popu-
10*
114
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1776.
lation deserting their homestead, came flocking into the forts, and picketed stations, bringing with them their wives and children, and their portable effects. Rumours of the intended in- vasion hourly increased, and the people actively exerted themselves to meet it. The forts were strengthened, arms and ammunition collected, and messengers despatched to various quarters for such assistance as could be afforded. Five companies of Virginians receiving intelligence that seven hundred Cherokee warriors were marching, in two divisions, upon the Holston and the Watauga, hastened to Eaton's station on the south fork of the Holston, for the purpose of protecting that advanced post. They had scarcely reached it, before their reconnoitering parties reported the approach of the enemy. Reinforcements arriving soon after, it was con- cluded to leave a small garrison in charge of the fort, while the remainder of the armed detach- ments, to the number of one hundred and seventy men, should march out in search of the enemy. In the vicinity of the Long Island the scouts encountered and defeated a small party of war- riors ; but as pursuit was difficult, by reason of the rugged character of the ground, it was deemed most prudent to return to the fort. During this retrograde movement, their rear was fired on by the enemy in numbers equal to their own. the men, though taken by surprise,
115
INDIAN INVASION. -
1776.]
sustained the shock with great courage, baffled the attempt of the Indians to outflank them, and finally, after a severe contest, which was for the most part hand to hand, succeeded in routing them with considerable slaughter. Another war party of the Cherokees, marching by the Nola- chucky trace, drove in the garrison at Gillespie's station, and made a sudden assault upon the fort of Watauga. Of this station James Robertson was commandant. His effective force did not exceed forty men, but it proved sufficient to beat back the enemy, who, after suffering a signal repulse, and losing a considerable number of warriors, contented themselves with investing the fort until the siege was raised by a reinforce- ment of cavalry under the gallant Colonel Shelby.
It was while assisting in the defence of Wa- tauga Fort, as second in command to Robertson, that an incident occurred which gave to Lieu- tenant John Sevier a romantic introduction to his future wife. In the midst of the alarm pro- duced by the approach of the Cherokees, Sevier " discovered a young lady, of tall and erect stature, coming with the fleetness of the roe toward the fort, closely pursued by Indians, and her approach to the gate cut off by the enemy, who doubtless were confident of a captive, or a victim; but turning suddenly, she eluded her pursuers, and leaping the palisades at an unex- pected point, fell into the arms of Sevier. Ca-
116
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1779.
therine Sherrill, the dashing heroine of this remarkable feat, whose beauty, activity, and natural gracefulness were for many years the theme of border praise, became, in 1779, the happy consort of " the portly young stranger from Williamsburg," and, through a long and eventful life, shared with him his varying for- tunes, proving herself under all circumstances his wisest counsellor and dearest friend.
Notwithstanding the defeat at Long Island, and the repulse before Fort Watauga, other de- tached parties of warriors were successful in penetrating the frontiers of Virginia, and carry- ing desolation and dismay to many an isolated household.
The appearance off Charleston of the British squadron under Sir Peter Parker, diverted for a season the arms of the Cherokees from the Wa- tauga settlement, and precipitated them, as if by previous concert, upon the frontiers of South Carolina. Moultrie's admirable defence of Sul- livan's Island frustrated the designs of the British commander; and with the repulse of the fleet, the sanguinary activity of the savage war- riors slackened also.
Now it was that the four southern provinces, being freed from the alarm of immediate inva- sion by sea, determined to break the power of the Cherokee nation, by sending separate expe- ditions to make a simultaneous attack upon the
117
1779.] DEFEAT OF THE CHEROKEES.
lower, middle, and upper towns. Those who resided on the Tugaloo, were defeated by the Georgian troops. The militia of South Carolina, under General Williamson, after dispersing a mixed force of Indians and Tories at Oconoree, laid all the towns of the middle Cherokees in ruins, destroyed their growing crops, together with the contents of their granaries, and, subse- quently, defeated a second body of Cherokee warriors with considerable loss.
While Williamson was devastating one portion of the middle settlement, General Rutherford, marching from North Carolina with an army increased by accessions to two thousand men, crossed the Blue ridge at the Swannana Gap, and falling upon the towns on the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers, destroyed them without opposition.
Virginia undertook to chastise the mountain Cherokees, those brave and haughty warriors inhabiting the overhill towns, who, by their re- moteness and the difficulties of the route, had escaped unharmed the earlier expeditions of Grant and Montgomery. Authority having been given to Colonel William Christian to organize an army at the expense of the state, he speedily found himself at the head of a large number of frontier men, who had moved by companies and detachments to the rendezvous on the Great Island of Holston. Here also Christian was
118
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1779.
joined by a reinforcement of several hundred men from North Carolina. Volunteers from the Watauga joined him a few days later; and with this army, amounting in the aggregate to eighteen hundred men, he took up the line of march for the overhill towns, two hundred miles distant. At the crossing-place of the French Broad, the Indians were reported to have stationed them- selves, to the number of three thousand warriors, with the avowed resolution of disputing the pas- sage. Deceiving the Indians by a stratagem, Christian threw a strong detachment over the river under cover of the night; and having thus secured a landing-place on the opposite shore, crossed securely over the next morning with his main body. One thousand Cherokee warriors, who had previously assembled at the Big Island of French Broad, seized with a panic at the resolute advance of Christian, abandoned all thought of resistance, and hastened back to their towns to provide places of security for their families in the recesses of the mountains. Along the route, thus unexpectedly opened to him, Christian moved with as much rapidity as con- sisted with prudence, until he reached the Ten- nessee River, where he expected the inhabitants of the towns on the opposite bank would make an obstinate stand. To his great surprise he found those habitations also deserted. The Great Island town, in the midst of its fertile meadows,
119
SUCCESS OF CHRISTIAN.
1779.]
was soon in possession of the invaders ; and here it was, surrounded by abundance of provisions, that Christian established his head-quarters. The detachments sent out from this point laid waste all the villages inhabited by the hostile warriors, who, under old Abram of Chilhowee, the Raven, and the Dragging-Canoe, had threatened previously the Holston and Watauga settlements, and wreaked their vengeance on the borders of Virginia. The towns inhabited by such Cherokees as had remained neutral were wisely spared. After having thus effectually humbled the pride of the mountain warriors, Christian offered to entertain negotiations for a peace. The proposal was eagerly accepted, and an agreement was soon after drawn up, by which the Cherokees bound themselves to send dele- gates from all the tribes to meet in council at Long Island the following May, for the purpose of formally ratifying a treaty. Having thus satisfactorily accomplished the object of the ex- pedition, Christian returned to Long Island, where he disbanded a portion of his army, re- taining only a sufficient number through the winter to construct and garrison Fort Patrick Henry. Thus closed the most important expedi . tion that had ever penetrated into the Cherokee country of East Tennessee. The success which had attended it increased largely the flood of emigration to the waters of the Holston, and the
120
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
[1776.
Watauga, and though a few of the hostile chiefs declared their determination to continue the war, their threats produced no further effects than to render the settlers more watchful and prepared.
CHAPTER IX.
Washington county established-Liberality of the North Caro- lina legislature-Special enactment in favour of the Watauga settlers-Increase of emigration-Military service-Assist- ance sent to Kentucky-Relief of Logan's Fort-Militia disbanded in Tennessee-Lawlessness of the Tories and Re- fugees-Committee of safety organized-Summary punish- ment of obnoxious persons-Hostility of the Chickamaugas -The Nick-a-jack towns-Description of the Nick-a-jack cave -Expedition against the Chickamaugas-Destruction of . their towns-Jonesborough founded-Sullivan county esta- blished-Exploration of the Lower Cumberland-Robertson's settlement on the Bluff at Nashville-Donaldson's remarkable voyage-Joins Robertson at the Bluff.
IN November, 1776, the legislature of North Carolina changed the name of Washington dis- trict into that of Washington county, and as- signed for its bounds the limits of the present State of Tennessee. At the same session a law was passed, establishing a land office in the new county, the price of lands being fixed at forty shillings the hundred acres. Each head of a family was allowed to take up six hundred and
121
1776.] ASSISTANCE TO KENTUCKY.
forty acres for himself, one hundred acres for his wife, and the same quantity for each of his children. By a special enactment in favour of the Watauga settlers, payment for the lands they occupied was not to be exacted until after the 1st of January, 1779. Great numbers of hardy and energetic men hastened with their families to take advantage of this liberality. Many of whom, by enrolling themselves as mi- litia in the service of the State, were enabled during the year to pay for the lands they had taken up, while, at the same time, they afforded protection to the industrial population from roving bands of hostile Cherokees. But the in- habitants of Tennessee did not confine themselves merely to the defence of their own territory. They no sooner learned that Kentucky was suf- fering an Indian invasion, and that Boonesbo- rough, Harrodsburg, and Logan's Station werc invested by large parties of warriors, than forty-five riflemen from the Holston hastened to reinforce the beleaguered garrisons. These proving insufficient, one hundred additional rifle- men, bearing with them supplies of provisions, promptly responded to the personal appeal of Captain Logan, and after a march of two hun- dred miles through the wilderness, entered the fort, the siege of which the enemy hastily aban- doned at their approach.
But while the pioneers of Tennessee were ge-
11
122
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
- [1778.
nerously aiding to promote the security of the scattered population of Kentucky, they grew careless with regard to their own. Believing that the storm of war had rolled to the north- ward, and that they were now sufficiently strong to dispense with the services of the militia, the greater part of the latter were disbanded in 1778. This measure was soon found to have been an impolitic one ; for, although there was but little danger to be apprehended from the In- dians, bands of Tories and desperate men had settled on the frontiers, whose numbers enabled them to defy the laws and to pursue their career of rapine and bloodshed with insolent impunity. The power of the judiciary being found inade- quate to curb this ruffianly domination, the older settlers determined to take the affair into their own hands. A committee of safety was appointed, with unlimited authority to execute summary justice upon all offenders. Under the direction of this committee, sixty mounted riflemen, divided into two companies, were speedily organized for the purpose of patrolling the whole of the country. These rangers were empowered to " capture and punish with death all suspected persons who re- fused submission, or failed to give good security for their appearance before the committee. Slighter offences were atoned for by the inflic- tion of corporeal punishment ; to which was su- peradded, in cases where the offender was able
123
COMMITTEE OF SAFETY.
1778.]
to pay it, a heavy fine in money. Leaders in crime expiated their guilt by their lives. Several of these were shot; some of them at their execu- tion disclosed the names and hiding-places of their accomplices. These were in their turn pursued, arrested, and punished; and the country was, in less than two months, restored to a con- dition of safety." Among the members of Cap- tain Bean's company were Lane, Sevier, and Robertson, men foremost in settling the wilds of Tennessee, and always ready, at the hazard of their own lives, to promote the welfare of its in- dustrious population. This exercise of despotic power can only be justified by the plea of neces- sity. Self-protection is the first law of man's nature. When those regulations in which he has acquiesced fail to provide for the security of his person and property, he has a right to re- sume the functions he had transferred into the hands of others, and to adopt such other measures as may be required for his own security and the general welfare of the community in which he resides. In the brief period during which the administration of justice was entrusted by the popular voice to the committee of safety, some obnoxious persons may possibly have been hardly dealt with ; but if such cases did occur they were few in number, while the evil thus inflicted was greatly overbalanced by the benefit which ac- crued to the whole settlement from the prompt
124
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1778.
and energetic action of those who had been active in the restoration of law and order.
It will be remembered that a few of the Chero- kees refused to treat with Colonel Christian or to send delegates to the council at Long Island. They were principally Chickamaugas, a tribe which originally "occupied the borders of Chick- amauga creek, but afterward extended their vil- lages fifty miles below, on both sides of the
Tennessee." Establishing themselves in what were subsequently known as the Nick-a-jack towns, they carried on so successful a predatory warfare upon parties of emigrants descending the dangerous rapids of the Tennessee River, that their numbers were rapidly increased by roving bands of Indians from other tribes, and by the addition of lawless white men, who had fled from the provinces to evade the penalty of their manifold crimes.
This community of desperadoes were able to send out, on their various incursions against the frontier settlements, one thousand armed men, whose favourite place of resort, either in times of danger, for the storing of their plunder, or for more sanguinary purposes, was the Nick-a-jack Cave, an immense subterranean formation which, piercing the end of the Cumberland Mountain, has its principal entrance upon the Tennessee River. "At its mouth it is about thirty yards wide, arched overhead with pure granite, this
1779.] NICK-A-JACK CAVE. 125
being in the centre about fifteen feet high. A beautiful little river, clear as crystal, issues from its mouth. The distance the cave extends into the mountains has not been ascertained. It has been explored only four or five miles. At the mouth the river is wide and shallow, but nar- rower than the cave. As you proceed from thence up the stream, the cave becomes gradually nar- rower, until it is contracted to the exact width of the river. It is beyond this point explored only by water in a small canoe."
The excesses of these hostile Indians and their confederates keeping the border population of Virginia and North Carolina in a condition of continual uneasiness, the forces of the two pro- vinces were combined for an effective descent upon the Chickamaugas and the destruction of their towns.
The command of this expedition, which com- prised one thousand volunteers and a regiment of twelvemonths' men, was given to Colonel Evan Shelby. From the rendezvous at the mouth of Big Creek in Hawkins county, the troops em- barked in piraguas and canoes, on the 10th of April, 1779, and descending the Holston, fell suddenly upon the enemy, who, taken completely by surprise, offered no resistance, but instantly took refuge in their mountain fastnesses. After killing, during the pursuit, some forty warriors, the troops returned and burned the towns, de-
11*
126
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1779.
stroyed the granaries and stores of provisions, and made prizes of large herds of cattle, which, by an overland march, they brought in safety to the settlement. This expedition humbled the spirit of the Chickamaugas and their allies for a season, and effectually prevented them from forming a coalition with the north-western tribes which Hamilton, the British commandant at De- troit, had strenuously exerted himself to pro- mote. For the important service rendered by the Shelbys on this occasion, Colonel Evan Shelby was raised to the command of the Vir- ginia militia, with the rank of general, while in 1779 his son Isaac was appointed, by Governor Caswell of North Carolina, colonel-commandant of Washington county. The acts of the legisla- ture during this year embraced the appointment of commissioners to run the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina, the erection of the new town of Jonesborough into the seat of jus- tice for Washington county, and the establish- ment of a new county out of part of Washington, which was named Sullivan, in honour of the re- volutionary general of that name.
In the mean time parties of enterprising men were exploring the Lower Cumberland; but with the exception of a few families who resided in a picketed station at Bledsoe's Lick on the Sul- phur fork of the Red River, and a French trading post lately established on the Bluff at
127
1775.] FIRST SETTLERS AT NASHVILLE.
Nashville, no settlers had as yet ventured to occupy any portion of middle Tennessee. At length, in the spring of 1775, a small party under James Robertson left Watauga for the purpose of testing the fertility of the lands on the Cumberland River, preparatory to the re- moval of their families. Their report proving favourable, other emigrants, to the number of three hundred, accompanied them in the fall of the same year to the French lick, the principal part of whom crossed over to the south bank of the Cumberland and commenced the erection of blockhouses on the Bluff, now occupied by the city of Nashville. The situation of these ad- venturers, in the midst of a wilderness, surround- ed by swarthy foes, and at a distance of three hundred miles from their friends upon the Hol- ston, called for constant vigilance and an ever ready system of defence. To add to the dis- comforts of their condition, the first winter they passed upon the Cumberland was one of extra- ordinary severity. Their cattle died; their pro- visions became exhausted ; game was scarce, and while the river remained frozen, it was impos- sible to obtain supplies from the older settle- ments. Toward the close of April the colony at the Bluffs was largely increased by the arrival of a flotilla of emigrants under Colonel Donaldson. These intrepid voyagers descended the Holston from Fort Patrick Henry, and entering the Ten-
128
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE. [1775.
nessee River, committed themselves to its cur- rent. The danger to their frail and heavily laden barks from the rapids and whirlpools which impede the navigation of this river, was nothing in comparison to the perils by which they were beset from sanguinary bands of the Chicka- maugas, who, travelling by both banks of the river, fired into the boats whenever an oppor- tunity offered, and were successful in killing one company of thirty persons, besides wounding a number of others. The voyage was, however, resolutely continued to the Ohio, where most of the boats took a southerly direction. Donaldson's company, however, ascended the river, and en- tering the mouth of the Cumberland reached Robertson's settlement at the French lick on the 24th of April, 1780, after a weary and most eventful voyage of four months.
129
WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
1776.]
CHAPTER X.
War of independence-Evacuation of Boston-Declaration of independence-Battle of Long Island-Of White Plains- Washington retreats across the Jerseys-Battle of Trenton -Battle of Princeton-Howe advances on Philadelphia- Battle of Brandywine-Of Germantown-Burgoyne's inva- sion-His defeat at Saratoga-Conquest of Georgia-Subju- gation of South Carolina-Defeat of Gates at Camden- Activity of the mountaineers-Shelby and Sevier join McDowell-Capture of a Tory garrison on Pacolet River -- Advance of the British and Tories under Ferguson-Battle of Musgrove Mill-Rapid retreat of the mountaineers.
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.