DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/johnsevierascomm01gilm_0 JOHU SEYIER AS A COMMO A WEALTH-BUILDER “ One age moves onward, and the next builds up Cities and gorgeous palaces, where stood The rude log huts of those who tamed the wild ; Rearing from out the forests they had felled The goodly framework of a fairer state,” James Russell Lowell MAF » Places referee! to in John Sevier, H]e (M) mrrj on n? ealth) builder. " From J\arr\5eY’5 ofyerir|e55ee. JOHN SEVIER AS A COMMONWEALTH-BUILDER A SEQUEL TO THE REARGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION BY JAMES R. GILMORE (EDMUND KIRKE) AUTHOR OF “ THE REAR-GUARD OF THE REVOLUTION,” “AMONG THE PINES,” ETC. NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Copyright, 188T, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. PREFACE. 9 A ■//(S' The materials from which this volume has been con- structed have been, in part, the same as those I employed in writing a preceding book upon the same subject, un- der the title of “The Eear-Guard of the Revolution.” But this work goes over later and more thoroughly tilled ground than that, and hence I have had for it a wider range of authorities. Briefly stated, my sources of information have been, first and primarily, lengthy conversations with Dr. J. Gf. M. Ramsey, of Knoxville, Tennessee, during which his “Annals of Tennessee” was used somewhat in the man- ner of a text-book — Dr. Ramsey pointing out its inaccu- racies, amplifying its narrative with interesting details, and relating to me such additional facts as he had gath- ered during the nearly thirty years since the writing of his history. He was a man of rare culture and trained intellect, and, by the character of his mind, was pecul- iarly qualified for historical investigation. When I knew him, he had given fifty years of his life to the study of this subject. VI PREFACE. Next in importance as authorities, I rank the tradi- tions which I gathered, during the years from 1880 to 1884, by a systematic inquiry among the descendants of the men whose deeds I have recorded. The descendants whom I met numbered half a hundred, and nearly a score of them were aged men, who, in their boyhood, had personally known Sevier and many of his compatri- ots. Their accounts I have compared carefully with one another, and verified by all the means at my command. It is my sincere conviction that — in the form they are stated in this book — they may be safely accepted as au- thentic history. Among many there is a prejudice against tradition as a foundation for historical writing ; but it should be borne in mind that most history is, and was, originally tradition. By tradition I do not mean rumor, but those carefully treasured accounts of striking events and heroic exploits, in the lives of our forefathers, which are handed down with religious care from father to son in all families having a proper pride in their an- cestry. Upon some such traditions were undoubtedly based all but one of the biographies we have of the great- est character in history ; and my investigations into the present subject have given me a singular light upon the manner in which at least two of those histories, and the introductory portion of another, must have been con- structed. The three synoptic gospels accord wonderfully in their reports of the spoken words of Christ, but they differ considerably as to the circumstances attending some of the important events which they relate. In a PREFACE. vii similar manner, striking speeches, which in this and the previous volume I have put into the mouths of Sevier, Shelby, and Robertson, have been repeated to me alike, word for word, by half a dozen separate narrators, while the same persons have differed widely in their narrative of events — in some instances so widely that the accounts can not be reconciled, and I have been obliged to dis- card them all. I have also been aided in my understanding of events by visits to all the principal localities I have mentioned, and by mingling freely with the men who are descend- ants of the early settlers, and have inherited many of their great qualities. Of written authorities I have, I think, consulted all that bear upon my subject. Among other books, I have carefully examined Albach’s “Western Annals”; Mo- nette’s “Valley of the Mississippi”; Haywood’s “His- tory of Tennessee” ; A. W. Putnam’s “History of Mid- dle Tennessee ” ; Prof. W. W. Clayton’s “ History of Davidson County, Tennessee”; Francis Baily’s “Jour- ney through the Unsettled Parts of North America in 1796-1797 ” ; the Rev. T. W. Humes’ (Knoxville) “ Cen- tennial Address” ; the volumes of the “Columbian Mag- azine” from 1785-1797; a file of the “Knoxville Ga- zette” from 1791-1796 (kindly forwarded to me, across a thousand miles of country, by the Tennessee Historical Society) ; and, in addition, through the courtesy of Prof. Johnson T. Platt and Addison Van Name, Esq., I have had access to the very complete collection of Colo- PREFACE. viii rial and Revolutionary newspapers contained in the li- brary of Yale University. I have also received essential aid from Mrs. William O’Neil Perkins, of Franklin, Tennessee, who has fur- nished me with very many letters from John Sevier to his son, George Washington Sevier ; various written state- ments of fact by her father, the historian of Middle Ten- nessee ; and other documents that have helped to make the present volume more full and accurate. This lady has the peculiar honor to be the great-granddaughter of General John Sevier, the hero of King’s Mountain, and also of General Israel Putnam, the hero of Bunker Hill. She is also the granddaughter of Colonel George Wash- ington Sevier, and the daughter of Colonel A. W. Put- nam, of Nashville — a pedigree more to be valued than a descent from kings. To her my acknowledgments are strongly due; and also to the Hon. John M. Lea, the President, and to Anson Nelson, Esq., the Secretary, of the Tennessee Historical Society, for their hearty interest and co-operation in my work ; as well as to the Society itself, for its public indorsement of the accuracy and value of my previous volume. And now I beg to say a few words of an explanatory character. In the course of this volume I speak in con- demnatory terms of two enemies of Sevier, Joseph Martin and John Tipton. I have quoted some of Martin’s let- ters ; and they are enough to show that he was a treach- erous friend and a self-seeking demagogue. My charac- terization of Tipton is based upon the facts I relate of PREFACE. IX him, every one of which is abundantly authenticated. My opinion of him accords with that of Dr. J. G. M. Eamsey ; but it is not universal among Tennesseeans. To be assured that I was correct in my estimate of the man, I have sent my manuscript to one of the first ju- rists of Tennessee, who is, no doubt, better acquainted with the history of the State than any one now in it ; and his reply shows that he does not take my view of Tipton’s character. He writes : “ Tipton was always re- garded as a rough and uneducated, but a brave and honorable man. I know many of the family, and to a man they are courageous and true ; but self-willed, im- pulsive, and imperious. You may be correct in your con- ception of his character ; but, if anybody else than one who had investigated the subject were to write of Tipton as you have done, I should think he had misconceived his character, or, rather, had magnified its objectionable features.” I regret that I can not make my views of Tipton accord with those of this gentleman. I differ from him with much reluctance, and only after much questioning of my own judgment ; but, while I would “gently scan my brother man,” I can not, in the face of incontestable facts, come to any other conclusion about Tipton than the one I have stated in this his- tory. However, if my judgment upon him is too harsh, it will not stand ; and, also, new facts may yet be dis- covered to compel a more favorable view of his char- acter. It may be thought, by those not familiar with our X PREFACE. early history, that I have been too severe upon the ruling element in Revolutionary North Carolina, Such persons I beg to refer to Henry Cabot Lodge’s “Short History of the English Colonies in America,” where, with a long array of authorities, they are depicted in much darker colors. On this subject I will quote the following from a letter of Gabriel Johnston — the royal Governor of North Carolina from 1734 to 1752 — which is to be found in the “Marquis of Townshend Papers,” recently published in England. He describes the people of North Carolina at that period as “ the lowest scum and rabble of Change-Alley transplanted into a rich and fruitful country, where, with very small labor, they can build themselves sorry huts, and live in a beastly sort of plenty ; and all the rest of their time devoted to cal- umny, lying, and the vilest tricking and cheating — a people who are a standing proof that refined fraud and dexterous circumvention are not confined to courts and the politer societies of men, but may be equally found among the most rustic and squalid part of the species. Among them a cheat of the first magnitude is treated with all the distinction and regard which is usually paid to men of merit and conspicuous virtue in other parts of the world.” James R. Gilmore. (Edmund Kirke.) CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE The Actoes in this History 1 The thirteen colonies, as characterized by Rev. Hugh Jones in 1750 — Early settlers of North Carolina — Bancroft’s report of them — The character of a majority of the people — A better class settled in Wake, Orange, and Mecklenburg Counties — The first trans-Alleghany settlers a different people — Their char- acter and history — Their great achievements largely due to the remarkable character of John Sevier — His early history, and singular ascendency over men. CHAPTER II. The Fiest Secession . . 19 No sympathy between North Carolina and the western set- tlers — Condition of the States at the close of the Revolution — Extent of western territory belonging to North Carolina — Powers of Congress under the first Confederation — North Caro- lina cedes her western territory to Congress — Consternation of the western people — Threatened by enemies without and within — Meeting of settlers and call for a convention, which resolves to form a State government — North Carolina repeals the ces- sion act, and concedes the demands of the settlers — The con- cessions not generally satisfactory — Sevier opposes secession, xn CONTENTS. but is borne along with the current — John Tipton an ardent secessionist — His character — The mistake of Sevier — Reasons for his action — State of Franklin formed, Sevier elected Gov- ernor, and John Tipton and Joseph Martin left out in the cold. v CHAPTER III. The Aboetive Commonwealth 35 Extent and population of the seceded territory — The task be- fore Sevier — He brings order out of disorder — Establishes a currency — Invites the Cherokees to a treaty — Disaffection of the Cherokees — Unwise effort of Governor Martin to pacify them — Sevier’s treaty with them at Dumplin Creek, which secures a large accession of territory — Belligerent manifesto of Governor Martin — Sevier’s reply to Governor Caswell — Caswell’s letter to Sevier — Prosperity of Franklin — Backwater settlements seek annexation to Franklin — -Action of Joseph Martin — He secures the treaty of Hopewell — Its injurious character — “ Talk ” of the Cherokee king to Governor Caswell — Martin’s treachery and betrayal of Sevier. CHAPTER IV. The Beginning of Troubles 64 Meeting of the Constitutional Convention — Houston’s Utopian Constitution — Tipton’s sudden conversion to North Carolina — Sevier proposes the adoption of the North Carolina Constitu- tion — Partial elections authorized by North Carolina — Tipton elected to the North Carolina Senate — Hostilities with the Cherokees — Sevier promptly invades their country — Escapes an ambuscade — General Cocke’s conference with the Cherokee chief- tains — Punishment of Indian murderers — The Cherokees sub- dued. CHAPTER V. Fruitless Overtures 85 Sevier makes overtures to North Carolina — Appoints General Cocke and Judge Campbell commissioners — His letter to Gov- CONTENTS. xm PAGE ernor Caswell — Letter of Judge Campbell to the same — Address of General Cocke to the North Carolina Legislature — Its ad- verse action — General removal of over-mountain officials. CHAPTER YI. The Chosen Alternative . . . • . . . .99 Danger of war with the Creeks — Co-operation proposed by Georgia, which State appoints Sevier brigadier-general — Letter of Major Elholm — Franklin authorizes a call for volunteers — Statement of the position of Spain — Feeling of Western settlers — Letter from General Clarke to Sevier — From Judge Campbell to Governor Caswell — The whole West ready to secede from the Union — The alternatives before Sevier — He chooses peaceable resistance — His letter to Governor Caswell — Caswell to Sevier — Tipton’s turbulent conduct — Peace agreement between Sevier and Evan Shelby. CHAPTER VII. Quaker Guns 126 Prosperity in Franklin — Fresh disturbances incited by Tipton — Two parties forming — Shelby requests troops from North Carolina — Bledsoe advises the Governor to address the people — Letter from Caswell to Shelby — Sevier urged to make for- cible resistance — Again attempts a peaceable settlement — Gov- ernor Caswell’s conciliatory manifesto to the people, which brings about a peaceable dissolution of the Franklin govern- ment — Sevier, however, the real head of the people — Three thousand volunteers answer his summons to aid Georgia — An empty treasury — Sevier arms troops to aid Robertson at his own cost, and contracts debts in so doing — Sevier elected to the Cin- cinnati — Letter to him from Benjamin Franklin — Another at- tempt to conciliate North Carolina — Sevier outlawed — Sevier’s negroes seized by Tipton — A Quaker battle. XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Sevier as an Outlaw 158 The French Broad people — Hostile plans of Joseph Martin — Offers office to Sevier’s captains — Sevier at Greenville, and con- ference with his officers — Advises submission to North Caro- lina — With only two hundred and fifty men he marches against the Cherokees — Contradictory letters of Joseph Martin — Sevier crosses the French Broad ; his route an ovation — Preparations for defense — Sevier to the Governor of Georgia — The murder of Kirk’s family — Sevier invades the Indian country — Murder of the Cherokee king and chieftains by young Kirk — It more thoroughly arouses the nation — A hand-to-hand fight of five months’ duration — The Indians beaten at last, and sue for peace. CHAPTER IX. Overthrow and Triumph 197 Order for Sevier’s arrest issued by Governor Johnston— Judge Campbell refuses to issue the warrant — It is done by Judge Spencer, of North Carolina — Sevier kidnapped, and conveyed to Morganton, North Carolina, to be tried for high treason — Great uprising of the western settlers — Sevier’s wife plans his rescue — Tipton in danger of lynch law — Details of Sevier’s rescue — Sudden death of Judge Spencer — Great rejoicing over Sevier’s rescue — Sevier elected to the North Carolina Senate — Claims his seat of the Legislature — Fracas between Tipton and Colonel Roddy — Eloquent plea of Robertson — Sevier’s disabilities re- moved, and he given command of the western militia — Elected as the first representative in Congress from the valley of the Mississippi. CHAPTER X. Territorial Government 219 Disordered state of French Broad settlements — Sevier frames for them a government — Dissatisfaction with North Carolina — She again cedes her western territory to Congress — *A territorial CONTENTS. xv PAGE government formed — Sevier appointed brigadier-general in the United States army by Washington — A prosperous era dawns upon the western settlers — Settlement of Knoxville — Fort erected — Treaty of Holston, and meeting of Sevier and Robert- son — Sevier builds a cordon of block-houses — Removes with his family to the extreme frontier — Knoxville threatened by the Cherokees — Heroic preparations for defense — Sevier pursues the Indians and defeats them at Etowah. CHAPTER XI. Pioneer Life in 1796 244 Henceforth peace and Nolichuckv Jack reign upon the border — Remarkable achievements of the western settlers — Farm-life among them — No lack of society and social 'gatherings — Thrill- ing tales of female heroism — Happy ruse of Major Cozby in defense of his family — A backwoods physician — The “Knox- ville Gazette ” — Postal service — Frontier traveling — Cowan’s store — Scenes at Sevier’s inauguration as Governor of Ten- nessee. CHAPTER XII. The New Commonwealth 270 Population in Kentucky as compared with that of southwest territory — Meeting of Territorial Legislature — State of Tennes- see formed — Sevier elected Governor — His first message — French Broad settlers — Sevier re-elected — His peace policy subjected to a severe strain — Condition of things as described by Francis Baily — Another treaty with the Cherokees which secures per- manent peace — The savages ever afterward Sevier’s friends — Great change in the customs and mode of life on the frontier in consequence of Sevier’s full ascendency. CHAPTER XIII. Closing Years 289 This book not a history of Tennessee — “ Happy are the peo- ple whose annals are vacant ” — Sevier six times unanimously XVI CONTENTS. PAGE elected Governor and three times Congressman — Fifty-two years in public life, and always a leader of men — His peculiar rule — His great popularity — An illustrative incident — Remarka- ble good order of western society — An upright lawyer — Sevier’s care for the poor — A message of his — Trouble with Andrew Jackson — Challenged by Jackson to a duel — His poor opinion of Jackson — Sevier’s poverty, his simple way of life, his death, amid universal mourning in Tennessee and throughout the West. JOHN SEVIER. CHAPTER I. THE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. The thirteen United Colonies, which in 1783 achieved their independence of Great Britain, were composed of as heterogeneous elements as ever came together for the forming of a nation. Among them were men of every class and nationality, every rank and character, and every variety of political and religious opinion. Writing of them in 1750, the Rev. Hugh Jones, chap- lain to the Honorable Assembly of Virginia, and min- ister of Jamestown, said: “If Hew England be called a receptacle of Dissenters, and an Amsterdam of relig- ion, Pennsylvania the nursery of Quakers, Maryland the retirement of Roman Catholics, North Carolina the refuge of Runaways, and South Carolina the delight of Buccaneers and Pyrates, Virginia may justly be esteemed the happy retreat of true Britons, and true Churchmen, for the most part, neither soaring too high nor dropping too low ; consequently, it should 2 2 JOHN SEVIER. merit the greater esteem and. encouragement.” His- tory fully confirms the worthy chaplain’s characteriza- tion of the various colonies, and it records also the singular fact that early North Carolina, the “refuge of Runaways,” was the first-born daughter of yirginia, that “happy retreat of true Britons, and true Church- men.” Though the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in- troduced into the northern colony prior to 1670 several ship-loads of respectable English settlers from Barba- does, and considerable numbers of Swiss, German, and French Protestants came in soon afterward, and some small colonies of Scotch Jacobites directly following the Stuart rebellion of 1745, a large majority of the early settlers of North Carolina were “runaways” from Yirginia — either criminals, escaping from justice in the older colony, or “worthless trash,” expelled from it because disorderly, and altogether unprofitable in a civilized community. These last were the remnants or descendants of the servile class who had in former years been imported to work the plantations, and in- dentured to the planters to pay their passage across the ocean. They were Englishmen, but, for the most part, Englishmen w T ho could trace their lineage no further than the prisons and slums of London. Their indentures expired, they found themselves shut out from respectable society by the prejudice entailed by their antecedents ; and the consequence was that the meaner- spirited among them became outcasts, herding together THE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. 3 in the backwoods, and gleaning a wretched subsistence from hunting and fishing ; or, hanging upon the out- skirts of the plantations, living there in filthy cabins, and preying upon the planters’ henneries and smoke- houses. The better and more enterprising portion — those who retained some lingering traces of manhood, and had some aspirations for a higher life — emigrated at once to North Carolina, where, being joined by such of the outcasts as were from time to time expelled by the planters, they formed the principal element in what soon came to be known in the vernacular of the period as the “ Tar-heel Commonwealth.” From a people of such antecedents a model community could not be expected ; and we shall see that the tree bore its legitimate fruit if we glance for a moment at the condition of North Carolina at the time of the Revolu- tion. Bancroft asserts that at this period there was neither law nor lawyers in North Carolina. This, though sub- stantially true, was not so literally ; for lawyers might be found there of the order of Andrew Jackson, who varied a two-years’ reading of Blackstone by intense ap- plication to horse-racing and cock-fighting ; and courts could be discovered sitting in taverns and log-hovels, with judges knowing nothing of law or precedent, and coming to their decisions only after close consultation with a whisky-bottle. Judge Lynch was the popular magistrate, and his decrees were usually those of a crowd of hooting and drunken ragamuffins. Until. 1703 there 4 JOHN SEVIER. was not a clergyman in the entire colony, and the first school was opened and printing-press established just on the eve of the Revolution. As a consequence, the people were densely ignorant, few among them could read or write, and disorder and lawlessness everywhere abounded. To a few towns along the sea-coast a mail came once a month from Virginia, but the post-rider never penetrated into the interior. There the people dwelt in thick darkness, having from year’s end to year’s end no more intelligence from the outside world than could be gleaned from the few travelers who had the hardihood to venture into their wooded solitudes. There was next to no town life. New Berne and Wil- mington, the principal towns, had each a population of less than six hundred. A vast majority of the people occupied small, scattered farms — often unfenced clear- ings in the midst of wide forests, from which the trees had been removed by girdling, and which were culti- vated by negro-labor in a most primitive and wasteful manner. For the farmer himself, however poor he might be, was either too proud or too lazy to work. His time he spent in lounging at taverns, drinking poor whisky, and indulging in “manly encounters” with his neighbors, in which noses were broken, and eyes gouged out by the long finger-nails which he al- lowed to grow, and pared to a point for that express purpose. In aspiration and instinct he was generally but a little above the brute ; and yet he did know enough to dodge his taxes. Law and religion were to THE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. 5 him unmeaning terms, and the chief end of man was to live without work, and keep down the expenses of government. Owing to a coarse diet and brutish habits, these people were poorly developed physically, and they regarded with astonishment the uniformly tall and athletic over-mountain men who marched over their wretched roads to fight the battle they should them- selves have fought at King’s Mountain. But there were a few grains of wheat in this big bushel of chaff — a few brave spirits, “studious of their rights, bold to avow, and brave to maintain them,” whose patriotic acts have cast a gleam of sunlight over the dismal history of Revolutionary North Carolina. These men were mostly of the foreign element which had settled in Orange, Wake, and Mecklenburg Counties. In resistance to the tyranny of Tryon, they in May, 1771, fought the battle of the Alamance, and in May, 1775, they issued what is known as the “Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.” These two acts have given North Carolina the name of being the first of the colonies to make organized resistance to British oppres- sion ; while in truth the credit belongs to but a small fraction of the population. A large proportion of the people were what I have described ; and many of them were Tories in the Revolution ; and Tories not from any intelligent idea of the issues at stake, but because all of the better class among them were patriots, and their instincts led them to oppose the law and order element. Impartial history has to record the fact that 6 JOHN SEVIER. at this period the masses of North Carolina were the pariahs of American society, and the State itself little better than a Botany Bay for the American continent. The men who planted civilization beyond the Alle- ghanies were a different order of people. Though set- tled on the soil, and within the jurisdiction of North Carolina, they were not North Carolinians. They were mostly Virginians, belonging either to the gentry or to the sturdy Scotch-Irish and English yeomanry who worked their own plantations. Of this latter class was the body of immigrants whom James Bobertson led over the mountains in 1770 to form the first civilized settlement west of the Alleghanies. They were Virgin- ians who had only shortly before settled in Wake County, and they supposed, when they built their cabins beyond the mountains, that they were again upon the soil of the Old Dominion ; and this was the impression of all the settlers till a number of years afterward. For nearly ten years the immigration continued, to be of this class, and almost altogether from Virginia, for no road had yet been opened into Eastern North Carolina, and the hunters’ trace across the mountains was well-nigh im- passable ; whereas, from Virginia there was, following the southwestern trend of the valleys, a broad, beaten trail which had been the Indian war-path for many centuries. When a passable road was finally opened over the Alleghanies in 1778, a tide began to set in from North Carolina, but it was of the better class — for it goes TIIE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. 7 without saying that a man must be possessed of very manly qualities who will deliberately set up his abode where he has to take his life in his hand and face death daily. Still, the larger number of new-comers continued to be from Virginia, and the dominant sentiment was always Virginian, alike on the Holston and Watauga and on the distant Cumberlaud. With but one exception the trans-Alleghany leaders were all native Virginians — Sevier, Donelson, and the two Bledsoes being from the ranks of the gentry, Robertson and Cocke from that yeoman class which has given some of its most honored names to English history. The one exception was Isaac Shelby, who was of Welsh descent, but bom and edu- cated in Maryland. The over-mountain settlers were not fugitives from justice, nor needy adventurers seeking in the untrodden West a scanty subsistence which had been denied them in the Eastern settlements. And they were not merely Virginians — they were the culled wheat of the Old Do- minion, with all those grand qualities which made the name of “Virginian” a badge of honor throughout the colonies. Many of them were cultivated men of large property, and, though the larger number were poor in this world’s goods, they all possessed those more stable riches which consist of stout arms and brave hearts, unblemished integrity and sterling worth. They were so generally educated that in 1776 only two in about two hundred were found unable to write their names in good, legible English. No body of men ever had clearer ideas s JOHN SEWER. of civil polity or more highly valued the blessings of good government. Order-loving and God-fearing, they lived together for twelve years without so much as one capital crime among them. Shut out by wide forests and high mountain-barriers from civilized law, they made their own laws, and framed for themselves a government which was, with the sole exception of the “ Fundamental Agreement,” entered into by the “free planters ” of New Haven on June 4, 1639 — the first abso- lutely “ free and independent ” constitution that existed in this country. The ruling motive of many of these men — as it is generally of those who seek new fields of enterprise — was, no doubt, the bettering of their worldly condition ; nev- ertheless, I think it true that much the larger number sought in their Western homes not so much worldly wealth as political freedom. They would be beyond the reach of the “red-coated minions of tyranny”; they dreaded less the war-whoop of the savage than the sting- ing insult of the British oppressor. But their leaders were far-seeing men, and they had higher aims than a mere escape from political tyranny. They sought to found in those Western forests a great empire of free- men, and they knew they were clearing the way for a civilization which should overspread the continent. Said Robertson, while yet the navigation of the Mississippi was controlled by Spain, and all the vast region beyond that river was fast-locked by her mediaeval bigotry, “ We are the Advance Guard of Civilization, and our way is THE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. 9 across the continent ” ; and to Governor Caswell, Sevier wrote, when the settlers were but a handful, “However inconsiderable the people of this country may appear at this day, reason must inform us that the time is not far distant when they will become as consequential in numbers, if not more so, than most of the Eastern States.” Under these two leaders, John Sevier and James Rob- ertson, these people had developed a boundless courage, a constant fortitude, a self-devoted patriotism, worthy of the most heroic ages. When only a handful of thirty men able to wield an axe or handle a rifle, they ventured beyond the Alleghanies, and in the mountain-girt valley of the Watauga built their cabins and tilled their fields, encompassed by twenty thousand armed savages, and shut off by a trackless wilderness from all civilized suc- cor. There for five years they held their ground, till they grew to number about two hundred riflemen, and then, under John Sevier, they began a career for which it is hard to find a parallel in history. Outnumbered more than twenty to one, they held for six years the gateways of the Alleghanies against the savage horde which Great Britain had enlisted for the destruction of the colonies. Time and again they met the savage onset, and time and again they beat it back, and carried havoc and death into the very heart of the Indian country. And so well did they guard the mountain-passes that in all these years not one savage band broke through to carry the torch and the tomahawk to the homes of Eastern. Carolina. 10 JOHN SEVIER. Their own cabins went up in flames, their own firesides were drenched in blood, and their mothers and wives and children fell before the merciless scalping-knife of the Cherokee, yet they never shrank and never wa- vered, but stood, from first to last, the immovable rear- guard of the Revolution. And not conteut with this, when the day was at the darkest, when seaboard Carolina was trodden under foot by the red dragoon, and the young republic seemed in the very throes of dissolution, they left their owu homes well-nigh unprotected, and, mustering their best and bravest, rushed over the mount- ains to the rescue of their distant countrymen. Making an unexampled march of two hundred miles, they hurled themselves, only nine hundred and fifty strong, against the almost impregnable defeuses of King’s Mountain, and, in one hour, annihilated the left wing of the army of Cornwallis 1 The result, in logical sequence, was Yorktown and American independence. Doubtless, the great achievements of the over-mount- ain men were largely due to the remarkable qualities of John Sevier, who was both their civil and military leader, lie knew how to achieve great results with slender meaus, and before Napoleon was born had discovered that prin- ciple of dynamics by which a small body, driven with im- mense force, will deal a heavier blow than a much larger one having only the ordinary momentum. He was a man of great natural endowments, and of a training that peculiarly fitted him to be what he became, the rear- guard of the Revolution, and the guardian and defender THE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. 11 of the newly planted civilization beyond the Alleghanies. JSTo other man of equal talents and equal achievements has been so little noticed in American history, and hence it is not amiss to devote a few pages to a consideration of his life and its influence in founding and developing the great empire which has grown up west of the Allegha- nies. He was not of the ordinary type of backwoodsman. He was a gentleman born and bred ; and in his veins flowed some of the best blood of the French and English nations. He had the force and fire of the Navarre Hu- guenots combined with the solid Anglo-Saxon elements which have had here, perhaps, their highest expression in our venerated Washington. This peculiar blending of qualities was seen even in his face, which, while in contour and lineament strikingly like that of Washing- ton, had the mobility of feature and delicacy of expres- sion which belong to the French physiognomy. He was born in 1745, in the Shenandoah Yallev of Virginia, where his father had established himself a few years before as a considerable planter. The place was then on the confines of civilization, and had few educa- tional facilities ; but John was taught the rudiments of learning by his mother, and, an Indian war soon break- ing out, which forced the family to Fredericksburg, he had there the advantage of a good school for several years. The family returned to their frontier home when John was twelve years old, and then he was sent to an advanced school at Staunton, where he remained, an apt 12 JOHN SEVIER. and ready but not very industrious student, until be was sixteen years of age. From these few years of tuition he acquired as much of an education as was common to young gentlemen of the period — enough to enable him in after-years to be a ready and effective speaker and writer, and to associate on equal terms with the leading men of the country. But he was always better acquainted with men than with books. Study was irksome to his active nature, but the knowledge of men came to him by intui- tion. Leaving school before he was turned of seventeen, young Sevier struck out at once in life for himself by marrying a wife, and laying out a township about half a dozen miles distant from his father’s plantation. This town, still bearing the name he gave it, is now the beau- tiful village of Newmarket, in the valley of the Shenan- doah, about one hundred and fifty miles northwest from Richmond. Here young Sevier erected a log warehouse and dwelling, much in the style of a fort, for security was the prime requisite in backwoods architecture ; and in the warehouse he opened a store for the vending of dry-goods and groceries, thereby making his town what its name indicated, the market-center of a wide agricult- ural region. Among the young trader’s customers were many of the red dwellers of the forest, who came to him for pow- der and lead and the long-barreled rifle. Their eyes were dazzled by the bright array of “stroud,” beads, scar- let cloth, and looking-glasses, with which the warehouse THE ACTORS IN THIS HISTORY. 13 was adorned, and they longed to possess the gorgeous wonders. To their untutored virtue, a few discharges of powder and shot seemed an easier mode of payment than a tiresome getting together of peltries, only to be pro- cured by long and tedious hunting. So, one dark night, they descended upon Newmarket, and attempted to take forcible possession of young Sevier’s business establish- ment. The young gentleman had only a half-dozen men with him, but he made such effectual resistance that the baffled savages soon scattered into the adjacent forest. In the morning, a trail of blood through the trodden undergrowth told the route they had taken ; and, gath- ering a score of his friends together, young Sevier fol- lowed in pursuit of the marauders. After a toilsome march through a pathless forest, he came up with them at their wigwam village, and, not stopping to count their numbers, made so furious an assault upon them that they speedily fled in all directions. Their village was reduced to ashes, and a number of their braves were left unburied among the cinders. Thus did this born soldier, when a youth of scarcely eighteen, inaugurate a new system of Indian warfare. Thenceforth, wherever his influence went, it was attack and not defense : not a skulking behind trees and log- fortresses ; but an open forest, a wild halloo, and then the onward rush of the hurricane ! It was by such tac- tics that Sevier became the victor in thirty-five battles, and the most renowned of Indian fighters. The Indians naturally objected to a bonfire being u JOHN SEVIER. made of one of their villages at the whim of a white stripling, and they attempted to enforce upon him their law of retaliation. They descended again upon New- market in largely augmented numbers ; but this the young soldier had anticipated, aud he was ready to re- ceive them. At the head of about a hundred hardy borderers, he put them again to flight, and he followed up his success by again invading the Indian country, burning their villages, destroying their standing corn, and often defeating bodies of five times his own num- ber. His exploits attracted universal admiration, and in time reached the ears of Lord Dunmore, the last royal Governor of Virginia. The Governor at once sought out the young volunteer who had thus taken off his hands the business of chastising the unruly savages. He ex- pected to find him an uncouth backwoods youth, of rustic ways, and the rude speech of the border ; but, in- stead of this, he met a young man of refined aspect, easy and prepossessing manners, and an air of natural dignity that bespoke the born gentleman. The courtly English- man was fascinated with the backwoods youth, and took him at once into favor, showering upon him many marks of distinction, and, among others, in 1772, a commission as captain in the Virginia line — the same corps in which Washington then held the rank of colonel. Tlius, for about half a dozen years, Sevier fought the Indians with one hand, and with the other dealt out dry -goods and groceries from his warehouse at New- THE ACTORS IX THIS HISTORY. 15 market — doing the last so successfully that, by the time he •was twenty-six, he had accumulated what, for the time and place, was an ample fortune. Then, one spring day in 1772, he was invited by one of his fellow-officers — Captain Evan Shelby, subsequently General Shelby, of the Revolutionary army — to visit him at his cattle -farm of King’s Meadows (now Bristol, Tennessee), on the southwestern border of Virginia. Sevier went, and there he heard of a body of adventur- ous pioneers, who, uuder the lead of James Robertson, had, less than two years before, built their cabins at Wa- tauga, on the western slope of the Alleghanies. Curious to see this handful of settlers, who had thus ventured upon the hunting-grounds of twenty thousand warlike savages, Sevier rode on to the settlement with Evan Shelby and his son Isaac, who afterward became the first Governor of Kentucky. The visit brought him in contact with Robertson, and that fixed his earthly des- tiny. On the instant he decided to cast in his lot with that feeble community beyond the mountains. Viewed in the light of human prudence, this act of Sevier’s seems the extreme of folly. With wealth al- ready acquired, with devoted friends who were among the most influential men in Virginia, and with every avenue of distinction wide open to him in the older set- tlements, he had within his reach every object that usu- ally attracts the ambition of a young man conscious of commanding talents. But he deliberately turned his back upon this brilliant future, and chose instead a life 16 JOHN SEVIER. remote from cultivated society, and amid an unexplored forest, where he was sure to encounter hardship and pri- vation, and every peril that waits on civilized man when he comes in daily contact with untamed barbarism. It would be idle to seek his motive for thus throwing away the most coveted objects of ordinary ambition; but, look- ing at him and events through the lens of a century, it is easy to see that he had found his appropriate life-work ; and that he had been fitted for this work by an excep- tional training — such a training as probably came to no other cultivated man of his generation. There may have been, among the three millions who then peopled the Thirteen Colonies, some other man who could have done what he did, but no such man came to the sur- face of affairs, and hence it is reasonable to conclude that he was a “providential man,” as have been all other men who have executed great tasks in pivotal periods of human history. I have conversed with a number of aged men who knew Sevier well in their boyhood, and they all agree in describing him as possessed of a personal magnetism that was nothing less than wonderful. It was potent with both his friends and his enemies ; felt alike by the court- ly Dunmore and the untamed savage. He fought the Cherokees for more than twenty years, hut they never came within the sphere of his presence without casting aside their grievances and grasping his hand as their brother. Once, when he had reduced their nation to the very verge of starvation by burning every stalk of corn THE ACTORS IN' THIS HISTORY. 17 and ear of grain in their country, their king wrote to the Governor of North Carolina, “ Send us John Sevier, for he is a good man, and he will do us right.” Though they recognized in him the Nemesis of their nation, they conceived for him a fanatical admiration, which at last deepened into a superstitious belief that he was the spe- cial representative of the Invisible. Fighting with him was therefore a struggle with Destiny, and this thought did more for Western civilization than a thousand Deck- ard rifles. His magnetism being thus potent with his enemies, we can easily conceive how it came to be irresistible with his friends — those people whom he had now settled among ; for whom he poured out his wealth like water ; whose homes he watched over with sleepless vigilance ; and whom he soon led in many a desperate battle, crowned always with victory. This magnetism sprang from his overflowing kindliness and goodness of heart, and this it was, with his commanding abilities, which caused him to be recognized from the outset as their leader by these people, and made him, during a long life, the very soul of the Western commonwealth. In a previous book* I have tried to trace the career of this remarkable man from his first appearance at Wa- tauga to the close of the Kevolutionary struggle. In the present volume I propose to take up the narrative where * “ The Rear-Guard of the Revolution,” D. Appleton & Co., New York. 3 18 JOHN SEVIER. it is there left off, and to follow, as well as I can, his course from the Peace of 1783 to the end of his life ; during which period, opposed by North Carolina and unaided by the General Government, he built up a great commonwealth in the very heart of the Western wilder- ness. CHAPTER IT. THE FIRST SECESSION. Between two sucli peoples as are described in the preceding chapter, there could be no community of feeling ; and this lack of sympathy grew into antago- nism, when the western settlers witnessed the indiffer- ence of North Carolina to their security, her parsimo- nious refusal of all appropriations for their benefit, and the grasping eagerness with which she enforced upon them taxation, and availed herself of the proceeds of their unoccupied lands. They had unwittingly settled upon her territory, and from the outset had regarded her as a step-mother ; and this she proved herself to be by exacting all of a mother’s rights, and discharging none of her duties. To this antagonism is mainly to be attrib- uted the first secession which occurred in this country. Like all the Thirteen Colonies, North Carolina came out of the Revolution not only impoverished but loaded down with debt. She owed vast sums to her soldiers, and also her proper share of the national obligations. 20 JOHN SEVIER. 'which now amounted, in round figures, to forty-two mill- ion dollars, with an addition of about three millions for unpaid interest. A considerable part of this sum was due to France, whose government was then asking for some adjustment which would in time provide for the principal, and at once secure the prompt payment of the interest. France had befriended the country in its utmost need, and the general conscience demanded that something should be done to satisfy its just claims. But what could be done with an empty treasury, and the few worthless cannon and worn-out muskets, which com- prised the total resources of these United States, then ♦ just embarked on their great career among the nations ? Various plans were proposed and expedients suggested, and among them was one that the individual States should cede their unoccupied lands to the General Gov- ernment to create a fund to meet the common liabilities. The demand for such lands was active, owing to a large influx of immigration ; and it was calculated that they would speedily yield sufficient avails to expunge the na- tional obligations. North Carolina at this time held about twenty-nine million acres beyond the Alleghanies — all that region which is now comprised within the great State of Ten- nessee. She had acquired this vast domain without the expenditure of a drop of blood or an ounce of treasure, for all that portion of the Henderson purchase which was south of latitude 3G° 30' she had unceremoniously confis- cated on the George III theory that none but a sovereign THE FIEST SECESSION. 21 State has any natural right to buy lands of the Indians ; and the remainder, which was not in actual occupation by the Cherokees, had been bought or wrested from those savages by John Sevier and his riflemen, who had fed, clothed, and equipped themselves without a dollar of aid from North Carolina. As the State contained about one ninth of the population of the Union, she was in equity bound for a like proportion of the national debt ; and now was presented to her legislators the opportunity to execute a brilliant financial feat — to discharge her share of this vast indebtedness without withdrawing a dime from her treasury or imposing a dollar of tax upon her tax-loathing people. This her legislators proceeded to do by passing an act in June, 1784, which ceded the whole of what is now Tennessee to the General Govern- ment ; and this they did without so much as consulting one of the thirty thousand or more loyal citizens w T ho oc- cupied this territory, and had freely expended their blood and treasure to secure her independence. Without a word, she thrust them ruthlessly from her door, and con- signed them to a distant Congress, which could afford them neither shelter nor protection. For Congress at this time had none of the powers that are requisite for efficient government. The Union was merely a rope of sand ; the thirteen States were thirteen small republics, each one exercising nearly all the functions of sovereignty. The cementing principle between them was mutual protection ; hut they had sepa- rate and antagonistic interests that might at any moment 22 JOHN SEVIER. rend them asunder. When threatened by a common danger, they had stood shoulder to shoulder ; but, that danger passed, there was little to hold them together. Nor was there any general sentimenc of nationality among the people. The traveler through the country met a great many Virginians, South Carolinians, and New-Englanders, but very few Americans. To Congress these little republics had delegated a few powers, just enough to entitle them to the name of United States, but not enough to enable the General Government to pre- serve order at home or command respect abroad. Con- gress could contract debts, levy armies, and make agree- ments with foreign powers ; but it could not collect an impost, or force a State to observe a treaty or to contrib- ute a single soldier for the common defense. It had a head, a body, and about ninety bodily members, but the breath of life was not in it. It did not even possess the power to protect itself from indignity and insult by its own soldiery, as had been shown a year previously, when, in its “ own hired house” at Philadelphia, it was sur- rounded by two hundred and eighty mutinous soldiers, clamoring for the pay which was unrighteously withheld from them by the thirteen little republics. To this inert and powerless body North Carolina bade her over-mount- ain citizens look for security and protection, at the very time when they were in daily danger from a savage enemy, and when she was thrusting upon them a host of her own Tories — desperate, lawless characters, thieves, house-burners, cut-throats, and woman-violators, whom THE FIRST SECESSION. 23 nothing but the strong arm of omnipotent law could hold in civilized subjection. Can it be wondered at that, when the tidings crossed the Alleghanies, it aroused a universal feeling of indignant consternation ? News in those days traveled slowly. The State capi- tal was more than tive hundred miles from Watauga, and the road to it over the mountains was in places so steep and rugged that none but a backwoods horseman would attempt its passage. Nearly thirty days were usually consumed in the journey, and thus it was far into July when tidings of the cession act came to the western settlers. They had no printing-press, and so all news passed among them by word of mouth ; but this flew with the rapidity of lightning. From man to man, from cabin to cabin, from hamlet to hamlet it sped, and every- where it went it kindled a flame of angry excitement. With stern faces but anxious hearts they came together to deliberate upon the situation. They had, they said, asked North Carolina for a Superior Court, to deal with the criminals she was driving among them, and for a general officer with jiower to rally their militia for the common defense against the daily increasing danger from the Creeks and Cherokees ; and, while the ink upon their petition was scarcely dry, she had answered it by uncere- moniously turning them over to a distant body, com- posed of men whose interests were upon the seaboard, and who knew no more of their condition and necessities than they did of the geography of the moon — nor half so much, if they had chanced to listen to Professor John 24 JOHN SEVIER. Winthrop, of Haryard, who was then the supreme author- ity on earthquakes and lunar mountains. Whenever be- fore did Watauga so much need a strong government ? It was idle to say that the settlers had hitherto governed and defended themselves. They had done this : pre- served order at home when every man was law-abiding ; subdued the Cherokees when small forces would do the work ; and fed and equipped their volunteers when men like John Sevier had full granaries from which to draw their rations. But now a disorderly element was coming among them, and this element, driven out by the set- tlers, was herding with their enemies, augmenting their strength, and increasing their hostility. Larger armies were now needed for their protection, and Sevier and others like him had become so impoverished by frequent generosity that they could no longer feed and equip large numbers at a moment’s warning. And, if they could, what power had Sevier to call the men together ? His old companions would respond to him promptly ; but would the new-comers answer his summons with the same alacrity ? Had they for him a similar sentiment of fealty ? Would they follow where he led wdien the foe was twenty to one against them ? It was not likely they would, for he had never marshaled them to victory ; never carried them unscathed through the savage fire, nor saved their homes from burning, and their wives and children from the midnight tomahawk. He had been this people’s law as well as leader, and that he would continue to be ; but with this large influx of strange and THE FIRST SECESSION. 25 dangerous elements tlie time liad come when even he could not ride without all the forms of civilized govern- ment. North Carolina had cast them off, but they would form a government of their own, and apply for admission to the Union. With these thoughts stirring in their minds, the settlers came together at Jonesboro. They were sober-minded, judicious men, and they de- termined to do nothing in haste, or without the assent of the whole body of the people. Consulting now together, they decided to recommend the meeting of a convention of forty delegates, who should have power to decide upon the course of action to be taken in the circumstances. These delegates should be elected from the three counties into which the district had been divided, and they should not meet until thirty days had passed, that they might have full time to deliberately consider the situation. The delegates were elected, and they assembled in convention at Jonesboro, on the 23d of August follow- ing. Among them were John Sevier, Charles Robert- son, John Bean, Stockley Donelson, Judge Campbell, and others — as true patriots and as worthy men as were to be found in the country ; and there is no ques- tion that they represented correctly the popular senti- ment. They sat with open doors and windows in the log court-house, which — according to the builder’s specifica- tions, still preserved — was of “diamond corners, hewn down after being built up, with plank floor, neatly laid, and a justice’s bench, a lawyer’s and clerk’s bar, and a sheriff’s box to sit in,” and was the first seat of justice 26 JOHN SEVIER. erected beyond the Alleghanies. This stately structure is now crumbled away, only one solitary log remaining, which a grand-nephew of Sevier has preserved with “pious care” by building it into the wall of a stable ! “ To what base uses may we come at last ! ” There was scarcely room within the little building for the forty delegates ; but the outside audience suffered no sort of inconvenience from the cramped condition of their quarters. They had “all out-doors,” carpeted with a luxuriant greensward, and roofed with wide-branching oaks and poplars. Fully two thousand had come to- gether, mounted on fleet horses, and clad in linsey troilsers and the universal buckskin hunting-shirt; for the country was aflame with excitement, and such another gathering had not been seen there since the never-to-be-forgotten ten hundred and forty rendez- voused at Sycamore Shoals, to be led by Sevier and Shelby on the long march to King’s Mountain. The convention organized with John Sevier as presi- dent, and then appointed a committee to consider the cession of the Territory to Congress by North Carolina. This committee reported that, inasmuch as North Caro- lina had thrust Watauga out into the cold, it should at once form a State government, and apply for admission to the Union. No precedent existed which these men could follow, for Vermont had not yet been admitted, but had been kept standing, hat in hand, at the door of Con- gress since 1776. This was poor encouragement for Wa- tauga, but the report was unanimously adopted by the THE FIRST SECESSION. 27 convention, and then read from the court-house steps to the outside auditory, not all of whom could hear through the open door and windows. It was received with shouts that made the woods ring, and therefore may fairly be considered the voice of the people. The convention then adjourned, after recommending that the people should elect fifteen deputies to decide upon a Constitu- tion, and organize a government for the new. State*-- This election took jfiace on the 14th of December, but before it occurred the people over the mountains heard of the steps being taken by Watauga for self- government. The North Carolina Legislature came to- gether in November, and it made haste — at this dis- tance of time, it appears an unseemly and undignified haste — to repeal the act of the previous session. It also gave to the Watauga settlers a Superior Court, having jurisdiction over capital offenses ; and it formed the militia into a brigade, giving the command to John Sevier as brigadier-general. In other words, the horse being stolen, these sapient legislators locked the stable- door. Requests long refused they suddenly granted, and granted so promptly as to show that they were actuated by a reluctance to losing their grip upon the western counties, and not by any desire to promote their welfare and security. This was apparent to the dullest intel- lect, and it was also seen that this action conveyed no guarantee of any favorable legislation that might be called for by the exigencies of the future. The conces- sions came too late. Had they come earlier, they would 28 JOHN SEVIER. have met general acceptance ; but now they only served to deepen into contempt the dissatisfaction that had been long growing up toward the older counties. With one solitary exception, this was probably the feeling at this time of every settler upon the Watauga and Ilolston. That one exception was John Sevier. Ife had been a member of the convention that formed the Constitution of North Carolina, and had himself caused the insertion in its Declaration of Rights of a provision for the crea- tion of a separate State beyond the Alleghanies. This fact shows that he thus early contemplated the creation of an independent commonwealth ; but he now saw that the time for it had not yet arrived. The Watauga Dis- trict was not yet strong enough in numbers and wealth to properly sustain a separate existence. The concessions which had been granted by North Carolina would enable the settlers to restrain the disorderly among them, and to promptly meet their enemies the Cherokees. These were the evils of the moment, and, these provided for, Sevier thought it wisdom to let things go on in their accus- tomed way. He wrote to his friend Colonel Kennedy, who had been a member of the convention, under date of “2 il January, 1785. “Deab Colonel : I have just received certain infor- mation from Colonel Martin that the first thing the As- sembly of North Carolina did was to repeal the Cession Bill, and to form this part of the country into a separate district, by name of Washington District, which I have THE FIRST SECESSION. 29 the honor to command, as General. I conclude this step will satisfy the people with the Old State, and we shall pursue no further measures as to a new State. David Campbell, Esq., is appointed one of our judges. - ’ Sevier also wrote to prominent citizens of Greene County, advising them to take no further action in re- spect to a new government, and he used his personal influence to that end in his own county of Washington. But revolutions, it is said, never go backward. The elections were held in the three counties at the appointed time for the fifteen deputies who were to form the new government. The polls for Washington County were opened at Jonesboro, and, it being the most populous district, a large throng gathered there to participate in the election. Sevier addressed them, stating what had been done by the Legislature of North Carolina, and advising that no further steps should be taken toward erecting a separate government. These men were ac- customed to follow his lead almost blindly, and they would have done so on this occasion had there not “ hap- pened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was She- ba, the son of Bichri,” who said : “We have no part with North Carolina. Every man to his tent, 0 Israel ! ” This man was one of those restless spirits who seem never entirely happy unless they are in the midst of strife and discord. Profane, foul-mouthed, turbulent. 30 JOHN SEVIER. and of an irascible, domineering temper, he lacked every quality of a gentleman except personal courage, and that nameless something which comes down in a man’s veins from an honorable ancestry. He had the ambition but not the ability to lead, and he could not understand why men should give to Sevier such unquestioning allegiance. He did not know that there is a “ divine right ” in com- manding talents, exercised unselfishly in a people’s serv- ice. He was greedy for office, and a born demagogue, and he had the natural jealousy of Sevier that men of low and yet ambitious minds feel for their moral and in- tellectual superiors. This feeling was deepened into en- mity when he saw himself shut out from positions to which he felt entitled by his own abilities, and the promi- nence of his family ; for he was of good lineage, and bore a name that is honorably mentioned in Southwest- ern history. A younger brother, named Jonathan Tipton, had been second in command to Sevier at King’s Mount- ain, and was badly wounded at Boyd’s Creek. Two others of his family have given names to counties in Ten- nessee and Indiana. One of the next generation emi- grated to the latter State, and, when but a stripling, was an ensign at the battle of Tippecanoe. Of him it is re- lated that, in the heat of the action, General Harrison, riding by, inquired of the boy, whose features were so begrimed with blood and potvder that he could not be recognized, “ Young man, where is your colonel ? ” “Dead, sir,” was the answer. “Your major, then?” “Dead, sir.” “ Your captain ? ” “ Dead, sir.” “Then THE FIRST SECESSION. 31 who commands this regiment?” ‘"I do, sir — Ensign Tipton, Fourth Indiana.” This black sheep of the flock — Sheba, the son of Bich- ri — saw now that the sentiment of the whole commu- nity was unmistakably opposed to any further connection with North Carolina, and quickly he seized upon the opportunity to step into the leadership which seemed about to be vacated by Sevier. In an impassioned ha- rangue he urged the people to go on with the election. They did so ; but they did not throw their beloved Noli- chuckv Jack overboard. Whether he would or not, they were determined that Sevier should go with them. They elected him one of the delegates to organize the State government ; but, unfortunately, they joined with him this same John Tipton and the Rev. Samuel Houston — men of totally opposite characters, but destined, by act- ing together, to be largely instrumental in overthrowing the Watauga commonwealth. And now Sevier made the one mistake of his lifetime V — the one to which may be traced all his subsequent mis- fortunes. Seeing that he could not stem the current, he allowed himself to be borne along with it. Had lie been Robertson, he would have quietly stepped aside, and let the torrent waste itself in its own wild fury. The force of their passion having once spent itself, these people would have returned to him and to reason. In the ab- sence of any express statement from Sevier, it is difficult to determine why he did not pui’sue this course, for he did not lack the moral courage to stand alone-, and he 32 JOHN SEVIER. must have seen that in the changed attitude of North Carolina any further action would be actual rebellion. An easy way to account for his course would be to say that, seeing power about to slip away from him, he promptly changed front and went with the multitude in order to retain his ascendency over them. But we are to judge of character not by one act, but by a whole life, and during his entire career Sevier never sought office. It was always thrust upon him ; and for nearly ten years he persistently set Robertson — a man not equal to him in ability — above himself in the councils of Watau- ga. He was pre-eminently disinterested and unambitious — one of the least self-seeking of those great men to whom the world owes the establishment of civil and re- ligious freedom in America. And, had Sevier been am- bitious, he must have known that he was in no danger of permanently losing his control over the men of Watauga, for his ascendency was founded in the very nature of things. From the first they had recognized in him the qualities that made him their natural leader. They knew that he, and only he, could carry them safely through the dangers by which they were environed, and that deserting him would be throwing overboard their pilot when the ship was riding storm-vexed amid the breakers. Moreover, their feeling for him forbade any separation. They had for him a personal attachment, an almost blind devotion, which has seldom been accord- ed to any popular leader. I know of nothing like it in American history. Washington and Jackson were greatly THE FIRST SECESSION. 33 beloved, but their popularity waxed and waned, while that of Sevier never knew a moment’s diminution. For forty-three years, alike when he was at the head of a great State, and when, a hunted outlaw, fifteen hundred armed men sprang spontaneously to his rescue, he was the idol of the frontier people. Of all this he must have been conscious, and, therefore, we have to seek some other motive for his present action than a fear of losing his hold on power and popular favor. Doubtless Sevier felt contempt for the ruling ele- ment in North Carolina, and disgust at the uniformly selfish and now vacillating policy of its Legislature ; and he may have thought that a firm stand would bring about the separation so much desired by the Watauga settlers. This idea may have had weight with him ; but still I think the main reason for his course is to be found in his strong sympathy with the Watauga people. They were to him as the ‘‘bone of his bone and the flesh of his flesh ” ; for twelve years he had shared with them storm and sunshine, peril and victory ; and now, when he saw them encompassed with dangers from which only he could exti’icate them, and heading recklessly upon a dangerous coast, begirt with sunken rocks and treacher- ous quicksands, he determined to stand by the ship and guide it, if possible, into a secure haven ; and, if that were not possible, then to go down in the wreck with those he loved and who so loved him. No other sup- position seems consistent with his character, or sufficient to account for his now going against the convictions of 4 JOHN SEVIER. 34 his cool judgment, as expressed in his letter to Colonel Kennedy, and freely announced by him to the people, prior to the election of the deputies. The deputies came together, organized a State gov- ernment, and then adjourned, after calling, for the ensu- ing November, another convention to frame and adopt a permanent Constitution. A Legislature was then chosen, which unanimously elected John Sevier as Governor; and then the wheels of the new State were set in opera- tion. John Tipton’s intemperate advocacy of the new order of things had failed to convince the people that he would fitly grace an official position. Consequently, he was left out in the cold, and denied even so much as a seat in the lower branch of the Legislature. A like fate befell one Joseph Martin, another blatant denouncer of North Carolina. These apparently insignificant events had important consequences, as will appear further on in this narrative. Sevier had hoped to guide the ship in safety through the breakers ; but could mortal hand do this, when she was storm-beaten from both east and west, and her own crew was in mutiny ? CHAPTER III. THE ABOETITE COMMONWEALTH. The territory that was termed in legislative docu- ments “Washington District” comprised the whole of what is now Tennessee, except the country around Nash- ville, at which remote outpost of civilization the heroic Robertson was at this time holding his ground against a horde of savage enemies. But the larger portion of this vast region had in 1784 no other inhabitants than wild beasts and wilder men, and the white settlements in it were restricted to an irregular parallelogram, bordering upon the Holston, Watauga, and Nolichucky, and ex- tending southwesterly from the Virginia line at King’s Meadows (now Bristol) to Southwest Point, near the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers. And this settled district was but thinly peopled. It contained no large towns, and but few villages. Knoxville was not yet in existence. Greeneville was little more than a log court-house and a log tavern ; and Jonesboro an insig- nificant hamlet of some fifty or sixty log cabins, clus- tered around the unpretending temple of justice which has been mentioned. The people dwelt mostly in isolated 36 JOHN SEVIER. farm-houses, in the midst of wide forests, or in close vicinity to log “ stations ” — block-houses encompassed with palisades, in which were a few cabins to house the women and children in case of a hostile invasion from the Indians. Scattered as they were, it is wonderful with what speed the men came together on occasions of sudden danger, either to Jonesboro or to the home of Se- vier on the Nolichucky, the usual places of rendezvous. As many as two thousand are known to have assembled within twenty-four hours after Sevier’s couriers had sounded the alarm through the territory — so perfect was his system for conveying intelligence, and so fleet were the animals bestrode by those tireless riders. The total population of the district (exclusive of the Cumberland settlements) at this time can not be given with decided accuracy, but, estimating it by the force with which Sevier soon afterward offered to march to the aid of Georgia, it could not have been far from twenty-five thousand. A handful, truly, to set up an independent existence, when surrounded by hostile savages, and op- posed by the great State which then ranked as the third in the Union! It was no easy task that Sevier assumed when, on the 1st of March, 1785, he took oath to well and truly ad- minister for three year’s the office of Governor of the new State of Franklin. He had to evolve order from rank disorder, and to erect a stable government with the most unstable materials. He had to create a currency when even the wealthy had not enough money to pay their THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 37 taxes, and the North Carolina “ promises to pay ” were not worth one cent on a dollar. He had to provide facilities for education, when nothing above a cross-road school-house existed in the country. He had to establish courts and enforce law, when a lawless element, pouring in on the heels of the Revolution, had flooded every set- tlement, and was stalking unchecked upon every high- way. And he had to organize and discipline a militia, with which to meet the ten thousand Creeks and Chero- kees, who, armed and backed by Spain, were preparing to swoop down upon the territory. In short, he had to enforce law, establish good order, and foil the murderous designs of a great European power, when he was himself acting contrary to law, and in defiance of the constituted authorities of the country. It was a herculean task, but in an incredibly short period, and without the loss of a single life, Sevier accomplished it ; and, in doing so, he displayed a fertility of resource and a wise statesman- ship that entitle him to rank very high as an adminis- trator ; and we are forced to conclude that, if his course had been obstructed by none but outside foes, he would have then established a stable government. Within sixty days from the coming together of his Legislature, Sevier had reduced internal affairs to a satisfactory order. He at once established a Superior Court, with David Campbell as chief-justice — the same who had been named for that office by North Carolina ; and he reorganized the militia — now over four thou- sand strong — placing over it William Cocke and Daniel 38 JOHN SEVIER. Kennedy as brigadier-generals, lie liimself being com- mander-in-chief. Having thus provided for the enforce- ment of law and the defense of the country, Sevier directed the attention of his Legislature to subjects of less pressing importance. At his suggestion it incorpo- rated an institution of higher education, to be presided over by Parson Doak, the pioneer preacher. It was named Martin Academy, in compliment to the Governor of North Carolina, but its title was subsequently changed to Washington College. It was the first institution for classical learning west of the Alleghanies. He also caused acts to be passed levying a tax for the support of the government ; “ to determine the value of such gold and silver coin” as was in circulation ; and “to ascertain the salaries ” to be allowed the Governor and other State officials. These were fixed at the following magnificent sums : For the Governor, £200 ; for the Judge of the Superior Court, £150 ; for the Secretary of State, £25 and the fees of his office ; and members of the Legisla- ture were to receive four shillings per diem. The appoint- ment of all the minor officials was left in the hands of the Governor, and he continued in office all those who held commissions under North Carolina. Thus the passage from the old to the new State did violence to no one, and produced no convulsion. There was, in fact, no alteration in form ; but there was a total change in spirit— an infusion of life into a lifeless machinery, which made it at once a conservator of order and a terror to evil-doers. THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 39 But no civil government lias existed within historic times without a circulating medium, and some standard of value by which to regulate exchanges. Among civil- ized nations the standard is gold and silver, but the North American Indians regarded wampum as money, and Pontiac issued letters of credit upon birch-bark, which were redeemed by the French in hard currency. But gold and silver are sometimes scarce commodities even in civilized communities ; and at such times, while they have remained the measure of value, other articles have of necessity been resorted to as a circulating medium. In 1631 it was enacted in Massachusetts that corn at cur- rent prices should be received in- payment of debts, and in 1656 “ musket-balls, full bore,’’ were made a legal ten- der at a farthing apiece. As late there as 1680 the town of Hingham paid its taxes in milk-pails; in South Caro- lina at about the same period the currency was corn, and in North Carolina as late as 1738 it was hides, tallow, and furs ; while in Maryland and Virginia for more than a century the standard of value, as well as the circulating medium, was tobacco. In the latter State it was enacted that the marshal should be paid, for “laying by the heels,” five pounds of tobacco ; “ for duckings,” ten pounds ; “for -pillory,” ten pounds ; and during a long period the market value of a wife — good or had — ruled in that col- ony with wonderful regularity at one hundred and fifty pounds. At the time of the Revolution the currency of nearly all the colonies was poorly lithographed “prom- ises to pay,” printed on dingy paper, by which the 40 JOHN SEVIER. government treasurer did not so much as agree to pay the sum that was called for by the “ shinplaster.” One of these, issued by North Carolina, is now before me. It reads simply : “ N. Carolina Currency. Half a Dollar. By authority of Congress at Halifax, April, 1776,” and in one corner are the figures of a man and a dog, the man discharging a leveled musket, with the motto, “Hit or miss.” The thing certainly “hit” somebody, or it would not now be in existence ; but it as certainly made a “ miss,” if it ever attempted to draw its face value from the treasury of North Carolina. It may be questioned if Sevier, or any of his legis- lators, ever so much as heard of the musket-ball and milk-pail currency of Massachusetts, or of the Virginia mothers who, perhaps, were dear bargains at one hun- dred and fifty pounds of tobacco. These men had prob- ably none of these precedents before them ; but, there being next to no gold or silver in Franklin, they felt the need of some other circulating medium, and they adopted one which had intrinsic value, inasmuch as it could be either worn or eaten, and was, moreover, within the reach of every one who had a strong arm and a good rifle. In the law levying a tax for the support of the government, they inserted this clause : “ Be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the aforesaid land-tax, and all free polls, to be paid in the following manner : Good flax linen, ten hundred, at three shillings and sixpence per yard ; nine hundred, at three shillings ; eight hundred, two shillings and ninepence ; THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 41 seven hundred, two shillings and sixpence ; six hundred, two shillings ; tow linen, one shilling and ninepence ; linsey, three shillings, and woolen and cotton linsey, three shillings and sixpence per yard ; good clean beaver-skin, six shilli ngs ; cased otter-skins, six shillings ; uncased ditto, live shillings ; raccoon and fox skins, one shilling and threepence ; woolen cloth, at ten shillings per yard ; bacon, well cured, sixpence per pound ; good, clean tal- low, sixpence per pound ; good, clean beeswax, one shilling per pound ; good distilled rye whisky, at two shillings and sixpence per gallon ; good peach or apple brandy, at three shillings per gallon ; good country-made sugar, at one shilling per pound ; deer-skins, the pattern, six shillings ; good, neat, and well-managed tobacco, fit to be prized, that may pass inspection, the hundred, fif- teen shillings, and so on in proportion for a greater or less quantity. ” “And all the salaries and allowances hereby made shall be paid by any treasurer, sheriff, or collector of pub- lic taxes, to any person entitled to the same, to be paid in specific articles as collected, and at the rates allowed by the State for the same ; or in current money of the State of Franklin. ” It will be noticed that the closing paragraph provides that taxes might be paid in “current money of the State of Franklin,” which shows that this “coon-skin cur- rency ” — as it was termed — was merely a temporary ex- pedient, designed for the present relief of tax-payers ; and that Sevier looked forward to the possession of a more civilized circulating medium. This the State soon had — thirty thousand dollars, in silver, issued from the mint of Charles Eobertson — but, nevertheless, the articles 42 JOHN SEVIER. enumerated did for a time pass current as money. It was at first confidently asserted that this currency could not be counterfeited. But in this its advocates were mistaken. It was mostly of skins, which passed from hand to hand in bundles or bales, from the ends of which the caudal appendages were allowed to protrude, to designate the species of the animal. Before long, acute financiers af- fixed the tail of the otter to the skin of the fox and the raccoon, and thus got the better of the receiver in the sum of four shillings and ninepence upon each peltry. The rapidity with which the above-named acts were passed shows not only great unanimity among the legis- lators, but the remarkable ascendency which Sevier had over the frontier people. His word was literally their law, and their absolute devotion to him was what had enabled him to conquer his greatly superior savage ene- mies. Now, with a strong militia organized and em- bodied, he had no fear of the Creeks and Cherokees ; but he preferred peace to war, and, when internal affairs were once set in order, he lost no time in dispatching messengers to the Indian capital, inviting the principal chieftains to a conference, to arrange terms on which the two races might live together in “perpetual amity.” In doing this, the new State was about to exercise one of the highest functions of sovereignty ; but it was no more than had been done by nearly every one of the Thirteen Colonies. They had now delegated the treaty- making power to Congress, but at that very moment THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 43 North Carolina was arranging to hold a treaty with these same Indians. Sevier had no confidence in the ability of its present Governor to secure from them terms that would be advantageous to the Watauga settlers, and he very naturally thought that what would be lawful for North Carolina could hardly be deemed unlawful for Franklin. But, lawful or unlawful, some action had to be taken at once, for the attitude of the Cherokees threatened imme- diate hostilities. It was better to incur the displeasure of Congress than to invite the midnight tQrch and toma- hawk to every settler’s dwelling. A frank explanation might appease the wounded dignity of the Central Gov- ernment ; but no apology would restore wasted fields and burned farm-houses, or gather up the blood that might be spilled in a conflict with the savages. It was these considerations that now induced Sevier to make overtures of peace to the Cherokees. The Creeks were in secret league with Spain for the extermination of the settlers, and their allies, the Chero- kees, had been in a chronic state of dissatisfaction since 1782, in consequence of the locating of the whites upon lands south of the French Broad and Ilolston Rivers, which had never been formally ceded to North Carolina. Their king, Old Tassel, the wary but wise and pacific successor to Oconostota, had addressed frequent protests to the Governor of North Carolina against these en- croachments ; but they had been practically unheeded, though his Excellency, as far back as February 11, 1782, had written to Sevier : “ Draw forth a body of your 44 JOHN SEVIER. militia on horseback, pull down their cabins, and drive them off, laying aside every consideration of their en- treaties to the contrary.” Sevier had not laid aside these considerations, for some of the encroaching settlers were his old companions in arms, who had fought by his side at King’s Mountain, and, time and again, protected the settlements from the midnight raids of these same sav- ages. Though an officer of North Carolina, he had given little heed to the Governor’s arbitrary command. He had not driven the people off, but had dissuaded them from any further encroachments, and given assurance to Old Tassel that none would be permitted. But this, though the settlers were some miles distant from the Indian hunting-grounds, did not satisfy the Cherokees, who rightly regarded every forward movement of the whites as merely another step toward their own final ex- pulsion from the country. This dissatisfaction among the Indians had been but recently inflamed to the pitch of hostile action by the unfortunate killing of Untoola, of Citico, one of their principal warriors, by Major James Hubbard, of the Wa- tauga riflemen. The evidence was that the killing was entirely justifiable, being done strictly in self-defense ; but Hubbard was known among the Cherokees to be the implacable enemy of their race and nation. His whole family had been remorselessly butchered by the Shawnees in Virginia, and, ever since, the one business of his life had been the slaughter of Indians. Though but a young man, he was reputed to have killed more Cherokees than THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 45 any two men upon the border ; and, inflamed by a spirit of vengeance, he did not always wait for what would be deemed justifiable provocation. Knowing this, the Cher- okees had no difficulty in believing that he was the ag- gressor in the rencounter which had resulted in the death of Untoola. Revenge — blood for blood — was with them a religious principle, and the whole nation now cried out for vengeance upon the slayer. The infuriated braves were only restrained from going at once upon the war- path by the promise of Old Tassel to lay the matter be- fore the Governor, and by his assurance that his Excel- lency would now not only listen to their complaints, but would speedily take steps to redress this and their other grievances. In this the Cherokee king was not mistaken. With- out so much as asking for the evidence against Hubbard, Governor Martin gave orders for his immediate arrest and conveyance over the mountains ; and he also, to ap- pease, it would seem, the wrath of this Indian chief, is- sued a proclamation commanding the instant removal of all settlers upon the lands south of the French Broad and Holston. At the same time he wrote to Old Tassel, stigmatizing these settlers as “bad people,” willing to disobey “ any law for the sake of ill-gain aud profit,” and “ caring not what mischief they do between the white and red people if they can enrich themselves” ; and he closed by entreating the wily old savage to be “ patient, and not listen to any bad talks which may disturb our peace and good-will : for you may be certain your elder 46 JOHN SEVIER. brother of North Carolina will do everything in his power to give your minds satisfaction.” This language Governor Alexander Martin addressed to untutored savages, who would be sure to mistake kind words for weakness ; and his proclamation he directed against several thousand law-abiding citizens, who had settled on those lands in reliance upon a special promise of protection made to them by an ordinance of the North Carolina Legislature in May, 1783. Moreover, the men whom the Governor branded as lawless and “bad peo- ple ” were among the best in the territory — men whose daily lives exhibited some of the noblest traits of Ameri- can character, patient industry, indomitable energy, man- ly resolution, and heroic courage. The Governor’s language was regarded as an out- rageous insult, his proclamation as a flagrant injustice ; and both were deplored because calculated to render the Cherokees more unreasonable in their demands. The Indians were thus assured of the sympathy of their “ elder brother >of North Carolina,” and this might lead them to reject any terms that should provide for the peaceable retention of their homes by the intruding set- tlers. This Sevier well knew ; but lie also knew that his name was a terror among the Cherokees, and he counted upon the dread the old king would have of a collision with him, to counteract the effect of the Governor’s proclamation. In any event, he should protect the French Broad settlers, and not permit their removal. The council was held on Dumplin Creek, near the THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 47 north, bank of the French Broad River, and about ten miles east of the present city of Knoxville ; and it began on the 31st of May, 1785, only a few days after the adjournment of the Franklin Legislature. It lasted three days, and was attended by a numerous body of chiefs and warriors. When all had assembled, Sevier addressed them. He did not tell them that his old comrades had wrongfully intruded upon their lands, nor did he make any apology or offer any reparation for the killing of Untoola. But he assured the Indians that he desired to live in peace with them, and, says the old his- torian, “in a speech well calculated to produce the end in view, he deplored the sufferings of the white people ; the blood which the Indians had spilled on the road leading to Kentucky ; lamented the uncivilized state of the Indians ; and, to prevent all future animosities, he suggested the propriety of fixing the bounds beyond which those settlements should not be extended which had been imprudently made on the south side of the French Broad and Holston, under the connivance of North Carolina, and could not now be broken up ; and he pledged the faith of the State of Franklin that, if these bounds should be agreed upon and made known, the citizens of his State should be effectually restrained from all encroachments beyond them.”* The fearless and manly attitude of Sevier had the desired effect upon the Indians. The Cherokees ac- * Haywood. 48 JOHN SEVIER. cepted the situation, and not only ignored the killing of Untoola, and waived the removal of the settlers, but made a cession of a much larger territory than had been already occupied, establishing as the boundary between themselves and the whites the high ridge which divides the waters of the Little Tennessee from those of Little River. For these lands Sevier promised compensation in general terras, dependent, however, upon the good be- havior of the Cherokees, and their faithful observance of the treaty. Thus, by a few spoken words, and the magnetism of his presence, did he reduce the refractory Cherokees to reason, and undo the evil effects of the ill- advised “talks” of the North Carolina Governor. But the wily Old Tassel absented himself from the confer- ence, and was not therefore a party to the treaty. He knew from Governor Martin of the rupture between North Carolina and Franklin, and he sought, by staying away, to keep in a position to repudiate the treaty in case circumstances should render such a course advisable or profitable to the Cherokees. As Sevier was about setting out to negotiate this treaty, an angry blast came from over the mountains. It was wind, empty and loud-sounding, but in it was an articulate voice, which gave warning of “ breakers ahead ” on the course the new State was pursuing. Before the adjournment of the Legislature, Sevier had dispatched an official letter to the Governor of North Carolina, apprising him of the secession of Franklin ; and now came in reply a manifesto from that function- THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 49 ary, addressed “ To the Inhabitants of the Counties of Washington, Sullivan, and Greene.” The document is too long to be here quoted, but a few extracts will give its essential features. It began by saying, “ Whereas, I have received letters from Brigadier-General Sevier, under the style and character of Governor ; and from Messrs. Landon Carter and William Gage, as Speakers of the Senate and House of Commons of the State of Franklin, informing me that they, with you, the in- habitants of part of the territory lately ceded to Con- gress, had declared themselves independent of the State of North Carolina, and no longer consider themselves under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the same, stating their reasons for their separation and revolt, among which, it is alleged, that the western country was ceded to Congress without their consent, by an act of the Legislature, and the same was repealed in the like manner.” The Governor then went on through four closely printed octavo pages to arraign the western lead- ers for high treason, and to warn the people of the dire- ful consequences that would attend a defiance of the Tarboro Legislators. “ The State of North Carolina,” he said, “could not suffer treaties to be held with the Indians and other business transacted in a country where her authority and government were rejected and set at naught. . . . Far less causes had deluged states and king- doms with blood. . . . There is a national pride in all kingdoms and states that inspires every subject with a degree of importance — the grand cement and support of 50 JOHN SEYIEE. every government — which must not be insulted.” His people had been grossly insulted, the honor of his State “particularly wounded,” and “Congress could not coun- tenance such a separation, wherein the State of North Carolina hath not given her full consent ; and, if an im- plied and conditional one hath been given, the same hath been rescinded by a full Legislature. Of her rea- sons for so doing, they [tvlio ?] consider themselves the only competent judges.” After much of this high-sounding verbiage, the Gov- ernor resorted to threats, as follows : “ I know,” he said, “with reluctance the State will be driven to arms ; it will be the last alternative to imbrue her hands in the blood of her citizens ; but, if no other ways and means are found to save her honor, and reclaim her head- strong, refractory citizens, but this sad expedient, her re- sources are not yet so exhausted, or her spirits damped, but she may take satisfaction for this great injury re- ceived, regain her government over the revolted terri- tory, or render it not worth possessing.” The italics are the Governor’s own. These threats were ill-advised, and the whole docu- ment was poorly calculated to win back the western people to a government which had never afforded them either aid or protection. However, the paper did contain a single paragraph which, had their minds not been in- flamed by passion, might have led the western settlers to more fully reflect upon the consequences of their action. This paragraph was as follows: “By such THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 51 rash and irregular conduct a precedent is formed for every district, and even every county of the State, to claim the right of separation and independency for any supposed grievance of the inhabitants, as caprice, pride, and ambition shall dictate, at pleasure, thereby exhibiting to the world a melancholy instance of a feeble or pusillanimous government, that is either un- able, or dares not restrain the lawless designs of its citizens.” Copies of this manifesto were freely circulated in manuscript among the people ; but it appears to have made no general impression. At the moment every one west of the mountains was too much infatuated with a new-born sense of freedom from a hated con- nection, or too much engrossed with thoughts of the pressing danger from the Creeks and Cherokees, to give heed to what seemed idle talk from North Caro- lina. Sevier paid no attention to the document so long as Martin continued Governor ; but in a few weeks Martin was succeeded in office by Richard Cas- well, a far abler man, and to him Sevier addressed a letter, controverting the positions of his predecessor. In it he denied that he and his people were in revolt from North Carolina. That State, he said, had by the act of cession invited the western settlers to the course they had pursued ; and they had taken it from the necessity to prevent anarchy, and provide against their enemies the Cherokees ; and they fully believed that the acts of North Carolina tolerated the separation. 52 JOHN SEVIER. And he added : “The menaces made use of in the manifesto will by no means intimidate ns. We mean to pursue our necessary measures, and with the fullest confidence believe that your Legislature, when truly in- formed of our civil proceedings, will find no cause for resenting anything we have done. The repeal of the cession act we can not take notice of, as we had de- clared our separation before the repeal. Therefore, we are bound to support it with that manly firmness that becomes freemen.” Throughout the letter Sevier is dignified, but con- ciliatory. By brief, pointed sentences he overthrows the wordy ranting of Martin — that is, where it can be overthrown — but he takes no notice whatever of the latter’s allusion to the danger of secession. This he did not attempt to answer ; probably, because he felt that it could not be answered. That he appreciated the evil that might result from the precedent he was trying to establish, is evident from a reference he made to it two years later — in a letter he wrote to the Gov- ernor of Georgia, wherein he styles secession an ulcer which, if allowed to spread, may at last infect the whole body politic. It was fortunate for the Watauga settlers, and fortu- nate also for the country, that Richard Caswell was now Governor of North Carolina. He was one of those rare men — not over-plentiful at any period, and least of all when society has been but recently upheaved by the strong passions of a revolution — who can look on both THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 53 sides of a question, and, while not forgetting his own rights and obligations, can fully appreciate the circum- stances and necessities of an adversary. Had Martin continued in office, and attempted to enforce his policy of coercion, the most disastrous consequences would probably have followed. North Carolina outnumbered the settlers more than twenty to one, but she had no military leaders, and her wretched “ sand-hillers ” were no match for the over-mountain men, who would have fought behind their mountain fastnesses, and under the lead of Sevier, who was incarnate victory. The proba- bilities are that Watauga would have been successful ; and her revolt, occurring so early, while the Central Government was as yet but a rope of sand, and the various States were drawn apart by conflicting inter- ests, other revolts would doubtless have followed. Thus, what Sevier termed the “ulcer” of secession would have spread, till the Union was rent into fragments, and there had been to-day a dozen little republics instead of our one vast and united nation. So, on what seems to us insignificant events hang often great results, which are felt far along the course of time, and over the whole of a continent. In reply to Sevier’s letter, Governor Caswell wrote as follows : “ Kingston, N. C., 1 7th June, 1785. “ Sir : Your favor of the 14th of last month I had the honor to receive by Colonel Avery. In this, sir, you have stated the different charges mentioned in Governor 54 JOHN SEVIER. Martin’s manifesto, and answered them by giving what I understand to be the sense of the people and your own sentiments with respect to each charge, as well as the reasons which governed in the measures he com- plained of. “I have not seen Governor Martin’s manifesto, nor have I derived so full and explicit information from any quarter as this you have been pleased to give me. As there was not an Assembly, owing to the members not attending at Governor Martin’s request, the sense of the Legislature on this business, of course, could not be had ; and as you give me assurances of the peaceable dispo- sition of the people, and their wish to conduct themselves in the manner you mention, and also to send persons to adjust, consider, and conciliate matters (I suppose) to the next Assembly, for the present things must rest as they are with respect to the subject-matter of your letter, which shall be laid before the next Assembly. In the mean time, let me entreat you not, by any means, to con- sider this as giving countenance, by the Executive of the State, to any measures lately pursued by the people to the westward of the mountains.” Being thus left unmolested by North Carolina, Sevier had time to attend to the consolidation of the new gov- ernment. Law was at once effectually administered, a few notorious criminals were properly punished, the dis- orderly element was awed into good behavior, and the militia was thoroughly drilled, to be in readiness at any THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 55 moment to repel an attack from the treacherous Creeks and Cherokees. Under Sevier’s mild but efficient rule everything soon went well ; and now for several months it seemed that Watauga had entered upon an unbroken career of peace and prosperity. So successful was Se- vier’s administration of affairs that it was not long be- fore the Scotch Presbyterians of the Backwater settle- ments, some of whom had fought by his side at King’s Mountain, took steps, under the lead of Arthur Camp- bell, to sever their connection with Virginia, and en- roll themselves under the new Franklin government. Strange as it may seem, the first ripple that disturbed this placid state of things was raised by the distant Cen- tral Government, which now was in session at Philadel- phia. It had thus far turned a deaf ear to the applica- tion of Watauga for admission to the Union ; and it was now to exercise its treaty-making power in a manner both embarrassing and dangerous to the nascent com- monwealth. On the 19th of September, 1785, not much more than half a year after the launching of the State of Franklin by the over-mountain Legislature, one Joseph Martin, Indian agent for the State of North Carolina, held a conference with the principal Cherokee chief- tains, in the grand council-house of the tribe at Echota. Squatted on a buffalo - robe by his side was the Old Tassel, while around him, on the ground, or on the cane benches which encircled the dingy but spacious in- terior, were gathered the “ head-men ” of the Ottari and JOHN SEVIER. Erati Cherokees. These warriors had come together from far and near to hold what in Indian parlance is styled a “ talk” with this “ head-man ” of North Caro- lina ; and this talk, reduced to writing, and dispatched over the mountains, was first to stir the stagnant atmos- phere of North Carolina, and then to arouse a breeze in the great council-house of the Union at Philadelphia — a breeze which should bode no good to the government of Sevier, and to the “ bad people” who now, by right of treaty, were peacefully gathering their crops on the south side of the French Broad aud Holston. This Martin, though an official of North Carolina, had been one of the earliest and most active promoters of the new State ; but somehow, when it came to be organized, he had, much to his chagrin, found himself, like Tipton, left without any official position whatever. This, had he been greedy of emoluments, could not have been a very sore affliction, but he probably cared more for position than profit, for the reason that in the backwoods the possession of money is not a sure passport to influence and consideration. Luckily, how- ever, he had not been so unwise as to cast away an old coat before obtaining a new one ; and now he resumed his former office, and left the new State to go on its own way to destruction. But in these early days of Septem- ber there arose an occasion when, to preserve what little of official position he had, it seemed to Martin necessary that he should help the new government on to its pre- destined consummation. This might involve the be- THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 57 trayal of bis friends, but that were better than the loss of office under North Carolina. Martin had passed the most of the summer among the Cherokees, listening to the grumblings of Old Tassel and the smothered curses of the warriors upon the fast- incoming settlers, who were rapidly filling up the lands recently ceded to Franklin ; but he had uttered not one word of sympathy, encouragement, or remonstrance. The affair he deemed none of his ; he was an officer of North Carolina ; and, as yet, he had no definite intimation of how the recent secession was regarded by its new admin- istration. But early in September there came to Echota the same Colonel Avery who had borne Sevier’s letter to Governor Caswell, and he brought to Martin a naissive from his Excellency, which he had carried in his pocket ever since the date of the Governor’s letter to Sevier. The Governor had heard of Martin’s activity in the formation of the new State, and he now asked the Indian agent the pertinent question, if he intended to serve two masters — or rather, in backwoods phrase, if he was at- tempting to ride two horses at once, barebacked, after the Indian fashion. The Governor’s question alarmed Martin, and he deemed it necessary to do something at once that should assure North Carolina of his zealous allegiance. So, sud- denly, he became sympathetic with Old Tassel, and told him that the existence of Franklin had not yet been recognized by North Carolina ; that, consequently, the treaty which Sevier had lately made with the Cherokees 58 JOHN SEVIER. was no better than waste paper ; and that, if Old Tas- sel should petition the Governor of North Carolina, his Excellency would doubtless order the removal of the “bad people” from the lands south of the French Broad and the Holston. This it was which had led the Chero- kee king to 'Vail together the “head-men” of the whole nation, who now were assembled in their great council- house, eagerly listening to this white man, who was tell- ing them by what treacherous diplomacy they might evade the sacred obligations of a treaty, and involve in ruin several thousands of his own race and kindred. The “ talk ” which resulted from this council, and was dispatched from Old Tassel to Governor Caswell, was as follows : “ Brother: I am now going to speak to you ; I hope you will hear me. I am an old man, and almost thrown away by my elder brother. The ground I stand on is very slippery, though I still hope my elder brother will hear me, and take pity on me, as we were all made by the same Great Being above ; we are all children of the same parent. I therefore hope my elder brother will hear me. “You have often promised me, in talks that you sent me, that you would do me justice, and that all disorderly people should be moved otf our lands ; but the longer we want to see it done, the farther it seems off. Your people have built houses in sight of our towns. We don’t want to quarrel with you, our elder brother. I therefore beg that you, our elder brother, will have your THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 59 disorderly people taken off our lands immediately, as their being on our grounds causes great uneasiness. We are very uneasy on account of a report that is among the white people, that call themselves a new people, that live on French Broad and Nolichucky. They say they have treated with us for all the lands on Little River. I now send this to let my elder brother know how it is. Some of them gathered on French Broad, and sent for us to come and treat with them ; but, as I was told there was a treaty to be held with us by orders of the great men of the Thirteen States, we did not go to meet them ; but some of our young men went to see what they wanted. They first wanted the land on Little River. Our young men told them that all their head-men were at home ; that they had no authority to treat about lands. They then asked' liberty for those that wei’e then living on the lands to remain there, till the head-men of their nation were consulted on it, which our young men agreed to. Since then we are told that they claim all the lands on the waters of Little River, and have appointed men among themselves to settle their disputes on our lands, calling it their ground. But we hope you, our elder brother, will not agree to it, but will have them moved off. I also beg that you will send letters to the Great Council of America, and let them know how it is ; that, if you have no power to move them off, they have, and I hope they will do it.” Of his own personal knowledge, Martin knew that 60 JOHN SEVIER. this “talk" was a tissue of duplicity aud downright falsehood, calculated and intended to deceive, aud de- signed to induce such action on the part of Congress as would render homeless, or expose to the tomahawk and scalping-knife, some thousands of men, women, and chil- dren of his own nation and kindred ; and yet he not only permitted this false paper to go forward to the Gov- ernor of Xorth Carolina, without contradiction or re- monstrance, but himself sent it to his Excellency ; and there is good circumstantial evidence that he inspired its lies, and intrigued with Governor Caswell to get him- self appointed by Congress upon the treaty commission, in order the more effectually to accomplish his end, which was the infliction of a vital blow upon the govern- ment of Sevier, a man with whom he had served, and for whom he then and afterward professed the warm- est friendship. "With the ‘ £ talk ” Martin dispatched to Governor Caswell the following epistle : “ Chota, 19 th September , 1785. “ Dear Sib : Your Excellency’s favor of the 17th June, by Air. Avery, never came to hand until the 10th inst. I find myself tinder some concern, in reading that part wherein T am considered a member of the new State. I beg leave to assure your Excellency that I have no part with them, but consider myself under your im- mediate direction, as agent for the State of Xorth Caro- lina, until the Assembly shall direct otherwise.’ I am now on the duties of that office, and have had more THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 61 trouble with the Indians, in the course of the summer, than I ever had, owing to the rapid encroachments of the people from the new State, together with the ‘talks’ from the Spaniards and the western Indians.” Whatever his predecessor had done. Governor Cas- well was not disposed to usurp any of the prerogatives of the General Government. Accordingly, he submitted the “talk” of Old Tassel to Congress, recommending that a treaty should be at once made with the Cherokees, and naming Joseph Martin as peculiarly fitted, by his famil- iarity with those Indians, and his knowledge of the ques- tions in dispute between them and the settlers, to act as one of the commissioners. Congress had for some time contemplated some action in reference to affairs with the Southern Indians, and it now promptly appointed Joseph Martin, of Xorth Carolina ; Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina ; and Lachlan McIntosh and Benjamin Haw- kins, of Georgia, commissioners to conclude a treaty with the Cherokees. The three last named were men of the highest character, and Hawkins was familiar with the Creeks and more southern Indians : but none of the four, except Martin, had any special acquaintance with the Cherokees, or any knowledge of their relations to the Watauga settlers. Consequently, the others deferred to Martin’s views, and the result was what is known as the treaty of Hopewell, by which all recent treaties were ignored, and the Indian lines were extended so as to cover a large extent of territory which had been ceded 62 JOHN SEVIER. by the Cherokees to Henderson in 1776, and even por- tions of country which that tribe never claimed, and which had been conveyed to the whites by the Six Na- tions at Fort Stanwix in 1768. A considerable part of the lands recently granted by North Carolina, in pay- ment of the arrears due to her soldiers, was declared to be within Cherokee territory, and it was agreed that they should not be settled upon by the whites. Intending settlers should be warned off, and, if they persisted in settling, “for any such obstinate intrusion, they should be liable to be punished by the Indians as they might think proper.” Moreover, the treaty clothed the Chero- kees with judicial and executive powers of a most ex- traordinary character. They might arrest any persons they believed to be guilty of a capital offense, and “punish them in the presence of some of the Cherokees, in the same manner as they would be punished for like offenses committed on citizens of the United States.” The treaty, in short, placed the Cherokees upon a par with the most civilized nations, and made Congress the unwitting instrument of the most flagrant injustice to its own law-abiding citizens. By this extravagant and needless concession to the Cherokees, some thousands of the loyal supporters of the Government were denied both State and national protec- tion, and left exposed to the savage mercy of a nation of cut-throats, who, despite repeated cessions, could now claim this territory as their hunting-ground. The alter- natives before the settlers south of the Holston and THE ABORTIVE COMMONWEALTH. 63 French Broad were now either the abandonment of their homes or a conflict for their possession with the whole Cherokee nation. The last they could not meet without the aid of Sevier, and this he could not give without ar- raying against himself not only North Carolina and the Cherokees, but the General Government of the country. It was probable that the settlers would not abandon their homes ; they were men who had never yet turned their backs upon an Indian ; and it was certain that Sevier would not stand by and see them slaughtered by the sav- ages. What human power, then, could hinder a collision between him and the United States, and his consequent defeat, outlawry, and final ruin ? This was, no doubt, the thought of Martin, and with this thought he must have put his hand to the treaty of Hopewell. It was in these circumstances — opposed by established law, betrayed by pretended friends, and on every side sur- rounded by apparently insurmountable difficulties — that Sevier met the convention which, in November, 1785, assembled in the little log court-house at Greeneville to form a permanent Constitution for the State of Franklin. CHAPTER IV. THE BEGIN - STING OF TROUBLES. To this convention came John Tipton — Sheba, the son of Bichri — who had somehow procured himself elect- ed a deputy, and also the Rev. Samuel Houston, pro- genitor, or near kinsman, to that other Sam Houston, who did many brave things, but none braver than riding by the side of Lincoln when he deemed that good man's life in danger on the eve of his inauguration. In the pocket of the reverend gentleman was a ready-made con- stitution, the handiwork of himself and his friends dur- ing the long months which had elapsed since the session of the organizing convention. This Constitution, when Sevier had taken the chair, and a blessing had been asked upon the deliberations of the delegates, the worthy clergy- man proceeded to unroll, asking permission that it might be read and submitted to the vote of the convention. Permission was readily accorded, for Houston was a man much esteemed — a cast-iron man, of rigid principles and fixed opinions, run in the Scotch Presbyterian mold, but nevertheless holding in solution that kind of salt which THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 65 keeps this world “sweet and wholesome.” How much time was consumed in the reading is not stated ; but it must have been the better part of a day, for the document was longer than the “Westminster Catechism ” and the “ Thirty-nine Articles ” put together, and it was of much the same character. It proposed to run the new govern- ment on theological principles ; and, to secure the purity of its legislative and administrative branches, it provided that no person should be eligible as a representative, or competent to hold any civil office under the new State, who was of “immoral character, or guilty of such flagrant enormities as drunkenness, gaming, profane swearing, lewdness, Sabbath-breaking, and such like ; or who will, either in word or writing, deny any of the following propositions, viz. : “ 1. That there is one living and true God, the Crea- tor and Governor of the universe. “2. That there is a future state of rewards and pun- ishments. “ 3. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments are given by Divine inspiration. “4. That there are three divine persons in the God- head, co-equal and co-essential.” To other sections of a like orthodox character were added many admirable provisions for the promotion of education, the preservation of good order, and the strict enforcement of law and impartial administration of jus- tice ; but the whole was quite as well adapted to the in- habitants of the planet Saturn as to the heterogeneous 66 JOHN SEVIER. population which then tenanted the trans-Alleghany re- gion. An animated discussion followed the reading of this document, in which its advocates exhibited an acrimony altogether unorthodox. They speedily developed the fact that here, in these far-western backwoods, near the close of the eighteenth century, there existed as much intolerant bigotry and ill-directed religious zeal as was to be found in New England at the much earlier period (1674) when the zealots of that region made themselves so obnoxious to their neighbors that the stolid Dutchmen of New York passed a law forbidding all intercourse with the Yankees. The large minority which voted for this Utopian Constitution showed that this intolerant spirit prevailed among a considerable portion of the communi- ty. While the discussion was in progress, the loquacious John Tipton sat in his place as dumb as an oyster ; but, when the decision came to be made, he gave his vote in the affirmative ! Strange that this man, whose daily life was a flagrant violation of some of its prohibitions, should sustain an instrument which would shut him out forever from what he most coveted — official position ! Perhaps, however, he counted on a much-needed amend- ment of life, or saw in this strong religious phalanx the nucleus of a party which might be arrayed for the over- throw of Sevier, and his own political elevation. What- ever the cause, it is capable of demonstration that, at some moment during this day’s session, Tipton was sud- denly converted from a boisterous upholder of secession THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 67 to a zealous advocate of North. Carolina and the old order of things. When the voting was over, Sevier arose, and, in a tem- perate and conciliatory address, alluded to the good order and general prosperity which had prevailed during the past year, while the people had lived under the old Con- stitution. The world, he said, was governed too much. Good order, social progress, political prosperity, depend- ed not so much upon a multiplicity of laws as on the proper enforcement of a few good ones. The old laws were good enough ; the trouble had been in their lax ad- ministration. He was glad to see so large a number zeal- ous for social order and a strict observance of religious duty. Such men were the salt of the earth, shining lights set to show the world the beauty of a spiritual life, and to lead men up and out of a mere natural and animal condition. Without them and their principles modern civilization could not exist ; but he questioned the expediency of bringing religious tenets into a civil constitution. The union of church and state existed in some of the older countries, but it was clearly contrary to the teachings of the Bible and the example of Christ, who had said, “Who made me a judge or a divider over you?” and “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, to God the things which are God’s.” Such things should be left to spiritual teachers; and more zeal- ous, intelligent, and self-devoted men of this class could not anywhere be found than now ministered to the little flock gathered there beyond the mountains. In conclu- 6S JOHN SEVIER. sion, he proposed the adoption of the Constitution of North Carolina, with such modifications as would more perfectly adapt it to the condition of the over-mountain people. This was done, after considerable discussion, and against the written protest of nineteen of the members, among whom were Samuel Houston, John Tipton, John Blair, James Stuart, and George Maxwell, all of whom were soon to be arrayed in bitter hostility to the Frank- lin government. During the discussion it had been per- tinently asked: “If we adopt the Constitution of North Carolina, why not adhere to the government of North Carolina ? If we are to live under her laws, how shall we be better off when standing alone than when united to her, and secure in the protection she now so abundantly promises for the future?” This idea was the stock in trade of the party which Tipton soon attempted to or- ganize in opposition to Sevier’s government. For North Carolina had now outdone the gracious father in the parable. He made haste to welcome the re- turning prodigal ; she had not only gone to meet him when he was yet a great way off, but had sought him out in that far country before he had the remotest thought of returning to the old family mansion. Her Legislature had refused to receive the delegates whom Sevier had appointed to arrange the terms of separation ; it had turned a deaf ear to numerously signed petitions to that end from the people of Franklin, but it soon afterward had passed an act with this preamble : THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 69 “ Whereas, many of the inhabitants of Washington, Greene, and Sullivan Counties have withdrawn their al- legiance from this State, and have been erecting a tem- porary separate government among themselves, in con- sequence of a general report and belief that the State, being inattentive to their welfare, had ceased to regard them as citizens, and had made an absolute cession, both of the soil and jurisdiction of the country in which they reside, to the United States in Congress ; and whereas, such report was ill-founded, and it was, and continues to be, the desire of the General Assembly of this State to extend the benefits of civil government to the citizens and inhabitants of the western counties, until such time as they might be separated with advantage and conven- ience to themselves ; and the Assembly are ready to pass over and consign to oblivion the mistakes and miscon- duct of such persons in the above-mentioned counties as have withdrawn themselves from the government of this State, to hear and redress their grievances, if any they have, and to afford them the protection and benefits of government, until such time as they may be in a condi- tion, from their numbers and wealth, to be formed into a separate commonwealth, and be received by the United States as a member of the Union : Therefore, be it en- acted,” etc. The above would seem to indicate that it was not the prodigal son, but the righteous father, who had come to a hopeful repentance. However, a reading of the law which follows this “Be it enacted ” dispels this illusion. 70 JOHN SEVIER. It provided for a total change in the manner of hold- ing elections in the western counties. It authorized any “ three good and honest men ” to open a poll, constitute themselves inspectors of election, and return as elected whoever might receive a majority of the votes cast for State offices by the persons then present. This enabled, and it was intended to enable, any ten or a dozen voters, in a voting population of perhaps many hundreds, to come together and elect members of the North Carolina Senate and House of Commons, who, though chosen by an insignificant minority, could claim to represent the entire community. It is not known who originated the measure, but it was evidently conceived in a spirit of bit- ter hostility to Sevier and his government. Its covert malice was worthy of the man whose adroit diplomacy had brought about the treaty of Hopewell ; and it is cer- tain that he was then in attendance on the North Caro- lina Legislature. Alluding to it subsequently in a letter to Governor Caswell, Judge Campbell said: “If it was intended to divide us, and set us to massacring one another, it was well concerted; but it was an ill-planned scheme, if intended for the good of all.” Then followed a marriage whose bans are forbidden by both reason and Scripture — a union of the God- fearing, upright, but narrow-minded clergyman with the unprincipled demagogue, whom we now style the “pot-house politician” — for the race has not altogether died out in this country. The clergyman had his Con- stitution put in type — sending the precious manuscript THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. n all the way to Philadelphia for the purpose — and iu pamphlet form it was now circulated everywhere among the godly, with the appended query, “ What better are we off than if under North Carolina?” And, of a truth, they were no better off so far as any Constitution could make them ; for among the laws of North Caro- lina were statutes, as old as 1741, which prohibited drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, and profane swearing, under a penalty, for each offense, of ten shillings. But, alas ! the major part of the population sinned against these laws daily, and hence they had fallen into desue- tude, for a general tax of a dollar and a quarter per diem would impoverish any rural people in a twelvemonth. It is not to be supposed that Tipton circulated many copies of the evangelical Constitution among his bar- room associates ; nevertheless, he used much the same arguments as his clerical coadjutor. Neither found at first many adherents, and they never had any among the more westerly settlers, who were exposed to daily incursions from the Indians, and knew no other salva- tion from border perils than Nolichucky Jack and his riflemen. But in Washington County, among the set- tlers along the base of the mountains, who dreaded a collision with North Carolina, and now seldom saw the face of a Cherokee, they gained a few converts during this winter and the following spring and summer — how many is not known, but enough to secure, under the recent law, a seat in the North Carolina Senate to John Tipton. 72 JOHN SEVIER. One of Tipton’s boon companions was now the Sheriff of Washington County, and he issued, and caused to be posted in several inconspicuous places, a notice for an election of members to the North Carolina Assembly. The paper, which has been preserved in Kamsey’s “An- nals of Tennessee,” was as follows : “ July, 19th day , 1786. “Advertisement. — I hereby give Publick Notice, that there will be an election held the third Friday in August next, at John Rennoe’s, near the Sickamore Slides, where Charles Robertson formerly lived, to choose members to represent Washington County in the General Assembly of North Carolina, agreeable to an Act of Assembly, in that case made and provided, where due attendance will be given pr me. “Geo. Mitchell, Shff .” In accordance with this notice an election was held at the Sycamore Shoals, where Sevier and his men had gathered, six years before, for their weary march to King’s Mountain. How many came together, or what number cast their votes, can not now be ascertained j but ten ballots were as effectual as ten hundred, and con- sequently John Tipton was elected to the Senate, and James Stuart and Richard White were duly declared members of the House of Commons of North Carolina. Henceforth, therefore, this “ man of Belial ” was to be in a position to do essential damage to the new government. THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 73 The fame of Sevier and Shelby had spread throughout the State, but the name of John Tipton had never yet traveled across the mountains. The North Carolina legislators, who knew next to nothing about the western counties, knew absolutely nothing about the new Sena- tor, except, perhaps, that he was a member of a most honorable family. He was plausible of address, and glib of tongue ; they would therefore listen to his opinions, accept for gospel his statement of facts, and thus let their legislation be molded by a man who, caring not a Continental dollar for the good of the people, sought only the overthrow of Sevier and his own advancement. Even Governor Caswell would be influenced by him. That he was is apparent from his letters to Sevier, which are still preserved in the archives of North Carolina. Difficulties, therefore, were to thicken around Sevier ; and, beleaguered as he would be by open enmity and secret conspiracy, by internal discord and external hos- tility, it would be a miracle if he should sustain himself and his new government. But, whether in success or in defeat, he would walk erect, for he was crippled by no unworthy motive, and was sustained by a single desire to be of service to his country. Moreover, and more than all, he had that to lean upon which makes the strong man still stronger — the steadfast devotion of the large- minded and large-hearted woman who for thirty-five years walked loyally by his side. It is probable that Sevier attached at first very little importance to the opposition of Tipton and his associates. JOHN SEVIER. 74 He was not accustomed to lightly esteem an adversary ; but this man, be must have thought, could have no influence in any right-thinking community. But, what- ever he may have thought of these movements, a more pressing danger now demanded his attention. The Cherokees had gone upon the war-path, and were now making their long-expected raid upon the border settle- ments along the French Broad and Holston. By the treaty of Hopewell, as has been stated, the set- tlers south of the Holston and French Broad were ad- mitted to be intruders upon Cherokee territory. They had not yet removed from these lands, and the Creeks, who were now in alliance with Spain for the extermination or driving off of the Americau settlers, were constantly pressing Old Tassel to make war upon them ; but the old king and his chieftains still held back, from a wholesome dread of Nolichucky Jack and his riflemen. But, in the early days of 1786, the treacherous Indian agent, Joseph Martin, could apprise Old Tassel that the sun of Sevier was about to suffer a sudden eclipse — that North Caro- lina was fixed in the determination not to recognize his government, and that she was about to appoint other officers to command the western militia, whicli step would render Sevier powerless, and leave the intruding settlers altogether at the mercy of the Cherokees. That Martin did this is not positively known, and I would not picture him any worse than he was. The incontestable truth about this man is bad enough, and sad enough, and calls for no exaggeration. However, this much is THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 75 fact — that Martin was then among the Cherokees, and the duties of his office brought him into intimate rela- tions with their king ; and that Old Tassel was, about that time, informed of an intended reorganization of the western militia, which did not, and could not, occur till the North Carolina Legislature came together, some months later. Martin was fully informed as to the views and intentions of the leaders of that body, and only some person having that knowledge could have given Old Tassel that information. The old king loved peace, but his warriors were impatient of the near neighborhood of the whites, and were smarting under the repeated taunts of the Creek chief McGillivray, who charged them with cowardice because they tamely submitted to the encroachments of the pale-faces. The power of an Indian king in time of war is supposed to be absolute ; but, like such civ- ilized monarchs as are nominally absolute, he is con- trolled, more or less, by the will of his people. So it was that Old Tassel, averse as he was to hostilities, had to see early in July a strong body of his warriors go upon the war-path. For some unknown reason, they did not descend at once upon the encroaching settlers, in defending whom Sevier would have come in conflict with the United States and the Hopewell treaty ; but they fell upon those north of the Holston, in what is now Knox County, who were clearly within treaty lines, and therefore entitled to both State and national protection. They first attacked the house of 76 JOHN SEVIER. a Mr. Biram, on Beaver Creek, and killed two young men in the neighborhood ; and then they scattered, to spread havoc throughout the settlements. Many of the settlers fell back at once to stations higher up the Ilolston ; others collected behind hastily constructed de- fenses, in hopes to hold their ground till Sevier could come to their rescue. Their messengers found Sevier eighty miles away, at his home on the Nolichucky. He heard the tidings without surprise, for hostile action was daily looked for from the Indians. This might be a mere raid to drive off the intruding settlers, or it might be the signal for an expected general savage uprising along the entire border. Whichever it was, Sevier did not pause to reflect upon it, or to cpiestion if he should come in conflict with United States authority. His old comrades were in danger, and that was enough to bring Nolichucky Jack to the rescue. Without stop- ping to call in his militia, he sprang at once into the saddle, and, with only the half-dozen men who were about him, was in a few hours on his way to the border as fast as his fleet bay mare — the nimblest- footed animal in the territory — could carry him. The attack had been made on the 20th of July ; and on the 23d, gathering his force as he rode along, Sevier, with one hundred and sixty of his men, was at Houston’s Station, midway between Little River and the Little Tennessee, and only twelve miles from the Indian towns on the Tellico. The messengers had THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 77 ridden eighty miles, Sevier one hundred and ten, mus- tering meanwhile this body of riflemen, within the space of three days ! It was by such celerity of movement that he utterly disconcerted his savage enemies. While they looked for him in one quarter, he was miles away in another — in the Indian rear, or in the very heart of their country. But he never moved without a well-con- sidered plan ; and now as he rode along he heard that the Cherokees were being held at bay by the Holston settlers, posted behind their hastily constructed de- fenses. He knew the men, and, knowing them, felt sure they could hold out till his regular militia had time to come to their rescue. One of his brigadiers, General Cocke, could be thoroughly depended upon. He was the same who had been, in 1776, when a cap- tain of militia, the first to suggest that the one hun- dred and seventy men who held Fort Patrick Henry, should march from behind their log walls to win, in the open field, the battle of Long Island Flats. On his rapid way Sevier sent back word to Cocke to mus- ter a force as quickly as he could, and hasten to the rescue of the settlers. Then he pushed on to Hous- ton’s, thirty miles in the rear of the raiding Cherokees. Arrived at Houston’s, Sevier gave his men a night’s rest, and then he plunged at once with his slender force into the very heart of the Indian country. The war they were visiting upon the homes of the whites he would carry to the wigwams of the Cherokees, and it would go hard if they did not pay for this raid, 78 JOHN SEVIER. with interest trebly compounded. To appreciate the boldness of this movement, it needs to be understood that the body of raiders now in Sevier’s rear numbered not less than five hundred, and that he was advancing in the face of twenty-five hundred active warriors, who would soon surround him, and might ambush every pass by which he could return to the settlements ; for he was entering a mountain-region, covered with for- est, and broken into narrow defiles, where a handful could dispute the passage of a thousand— which defiles were often the only passable route for a body of horse- men. The movement was extremely perilous, and, for any other man to attempt it, would have been the height of temerity. But there seems to have been some magic about Sevier which gave success to the most desperate enterprises ; and he had himself come to believe in his own invincibility. This and other exploits of his would be incredible were they not fully verified as authentic history. Leaving the Cherokee villages along the Tellico upon his flank, Sevier forded the Little Tennessee at Island Town, crossed the Tellico Plains, and then, scaling the Smoky Mountains, fell upon what were known as the valley towns, along the Hiwassee. Three of these he at once destroyed, killing fifteen warriors. The rest of the Indians fled panic-stricken into the forest and the neigh- boring highlands, leaving their homes, as they supposed, to certain destruction. But Sevier now held his hand. He had done enough to requite ten to one the raid of THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 79 the savages, and to deter them from further aggression ; and he never wantonly desti'oyed lives or property. Besides, prudence demanded that he should make his way out from the savage cordon by which he was encir- cled before the warriors could concentrate and effectu- ally obstruct his progress. To give his troops a night’s rest, he went into camp, in one of the abandoned Indian villages, sending out trusty scouts to scour the country, and see that it was clear of any body of the enemy. The scouts soon re- turned, reporting that they had struck the trail of a large number of the enemy. Instantly every horse was bridled and every rifleman was in his saddle. Follow- ing the lead of the scouts, they soon struck the Indian trail, which Sevier’s experienced eye at once saw was that of fully a thousand men, commanded, as he surmised, by John Watts, the most cunning and daring of all the Cherokee leaders. Sevier knew him well, Watts having once guided him to the destruction of the Chickamauga towns ; and he did not court a conflict with this redoubt- able Indian chief, backed by a force six to his one, and with rugged defiles and mountains a mile high between him and the settlements. The route taken bj 7 Watts was the one Sevier would naturally have followed. It led through a narrow ravine where, doubtless, the wily half- breed now lay in wait for the whites, concealed in the forest undergrowth. Sevier divined this, and, turning his horse’s head, he led his men back to the encamp- ment. There, setting a strong picket to guard against 80 JOHN SEVIER. surprise, he gave his weary troop a few hours’ rest, and then in utter silence, before the break of day, he led his men, by an unfrequented route, up and over the tail and rugged Unakas, and turned his back upon his enemies. This intrepid raid of Sevier into the heart of their country struck terror among the Cherokees, and led the marauders along the Holston to retreat hastily to their homes upon the Tellico. His end thus accomplished, Sevier led his little force, without the loss of a single man or a single horse, back to the settlements. Meanwhile, General Cocke had not been inactive. The messengers of Sevier reached him on the 23d, the day of his own arrival at Houston’s Station. Muster- ing at once two hundred and fifty men, Cocke set out without delay to the relief of the Holston settlers ; but hearing of his approach, and of the advance of Sevier into their country, the Indians hastily fled, leaving the settlement to its wonted quiet. Having certain infor- mation that the savages who had killed the two men were mostly from along the Little Tennessee and Tellico, Cocke followed at once upon their trail, determined to demand them from Old Tassel for summary punishment. It was a bold movement, but Cocke was a brave man ; besides, he counted on the dread the Cherokees had of Sevier, and the panic his advance had already spread among the warriors. Arriving unmolested at what is still known as ’Chota Ford, six miles from Echota, Cocke sent forward a pris- oner, inviting the chieftains to a conference. This ford THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 81 is a beautiful spot, fringed with low hills, that are still crowned with gigantic oaks and poplars, some of which have looked down on stirring scenes, for they stood there when ’Chota Ford was the gateway into the Indian coun- try ; when innumerable red warriors W’aded its broad but shallow stream ; when mounted white men galloped across it to hunt those warriors in their mountain lairs ; and when, at a later time, the soldiers of Tennessee, marching on the savage enemy, cut for themselves a swath through the forest, still called Jackson’s road, straight as an arrow, and broad as any boulevard on the continent. But all these things have passed away, and now ’Chota Ford is as still as a churchyard, except at seasons of high water, when an old negro, crooning a low hymn, ferries travelers over the river at a dime a trip. To this quiet spot came the Cherokee chieftains on the 31st of July, 1786, to hold a “talk” with the pale- faces after the Indian fashion. Among them were Old Tassel, Hanging Maw, and other noted warriors, all be- decked in leather breeches fringed with wampum, and their heads crowned with eagle-plumes or the tail of the rooster. Conspicuous by his absence was John Watts, the renowned half-breed, who might still have been lying in wait in that narrow defile beyond the TJnakas — waiting for Sevier, who was now quietly at home with his “ bon- nie Kate,” in his shady Mount Pleasant, far away on the Nolichucky. The Indians were grave, dignified, and taciturn, and their manner indicated that they were not entirely sure 82 JOHN SEVIER. that John Watts had not at last entrapped the great eagle of the pale-faces. But their bearing made no im- pression on Cocke, who abruptly opened the conference by upbraiding them for their murders and robberies, and their flagrant violation of the treaty with the people of Franklin ; and he added : “ We, in plain words, demand from you the murderers who have killed our people ; and all the horses you have stolen from us, and from the people on the Kentucky road and the Cumberland. On these terms we will be brothers with you, and con- tinue so until you do more murder on our frontiers, when we will come down and destroy the town that does the mischief. On these terms we will make peace with you, and be friends. If not, we are warriors. It is what you will.” To this, straightening up his bent form, with all the air of an Indian king, Old Tassel answered as follows : “Now I am going to speak to you, brothers. We have smoked. The Great Man above sent the tobacco. It will make your hearts straight. I come from ’Chota. I see you. You are my brothers. I am glad to see my brothers, and hold them fast by the hand. The Great Man above made us both, and he hears the talk. They are not my people who spilt the blood, and spoiled the good talk a little. The men that did the murder are bad men, and no warriors. They are gone, and I can’t tell where they are gone. They lived in Coytoy, at the mouth of Ilolston. This is all I have to say. The Great Man above has sent you this white talk to straight your THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 83 hearts through. I give you this pipe, in token of a straight talk. I am very sorry my people has done wrong, to occasion you to turn your backs. A little talk is as good as much talk; too much is not good.” To this Cocke very briefly replied that, as Old Tassel was not disposed to give up the murderers, as required by the treaty, he should take and deal with them him- self. He should go at once to Coytoy, and there, if they desired any further talk, the chieftains might come to him. This ended the conference, and Cocke set out at once for Coytoy, a small Indian village near Southwest Point, where the Clinch and Holston unite to form the broad Tennessee. He had scarcely entered the place, be- fore some of the Holston settlers who were with him rec- ognized two of the savages as being with the party that did the murders. They were at once sent, by well- directed rifle-shots, to the happy hunting-grounds, and then their cabins and other properties were destroyed, and the village council-house, in which the raid had been planned, was sent skyward in smoke and cinders. But no damage was done to other portions of the village, the intention being to impress the Indians that none but the guilty would be punished. The ruins were still smoldering when, on the 3d of August, Old Tassel and his principal chiefs entered the village. Among them now was John Watts, who had brought to them tidings of the havoc done by Sevier, and of his escape from the trap which he had laid for him. He and the rest were entirely subdued and crest- 84 JOHN SEVIER. fallen. It was of no avail to fight the pale-face chief, who moved like the wind and smote like the whirlwind. This they said, and much more that I will not repeat, for before me are the words of Old Tassel : “A little talk is as good as much talk ; too much is not good.” Suffice it to say that the Indians agreed to give up the other murderers as soon as they could be secured, and promised to live in perpetual amity with their white brothers. One of Cocke’s officers, visiting them not long afterward, reported : “ They seem very friendly, and well satisfied we should settle the country ; and they say they will sell us the country to the south of the [Little] Ten- nessee, if we will keep the Creeks from killing them ; or they will leave the country entirely, if we will give them goods for it ; and I am convinced, from their late con- duct, and accounts I have had from them, that the whole country to the Georgia line, on this side of Cumberland Mountain, may be had from them for a very trifling sum.” All which might have come to pass, but for the continued and obstinate resistance of North Carolina to Sevier’s government. Thus the well-directed energy of Sevier and Cocke speedily dispelled the war-cloud which had gathered over the Cherokee nation ; but there still remained the more portentous cloud which overhung the wdiole frontier, and whose scattered forces McGillivray, at the behest of Spain, was striving to gather into his hand, that he might hurl them, in twenty thousand lightning-bolts, upon all the border settlements. CHAPTER V. FRUITLESS OVERTURES. Having now, for a time at least, reduced the Chero- kees to peaceable behavior, Sevier could turn his atten- tion to affairs at home. They were not in an entirely satisfactory condition. The unnatural marriage between roistering ambition and well-meaning bigotry was already producing a progeny of evils, young yet, and incapable of much mischief, but bound to grow — as all evils do — unless strangled in their infancy. How to strangle them was now the question. How could Sevier do this except by conciliating their source of life and strength, the sa- pient Legislature of North Carolina ? He had made overtures to that body for a friendly adjustment of affairs at its previous session ; but his mes- sengers had been repulsed, and denied even a hearing. But in the threatening attitude of Indian affairs it was now important that all pending difficulties should be ar- ranged with North Carolina, and hence he determined to send to its Legislature again other messengers — men gifted with both logic and the art of persuasion — in the 86 JOHN SEVIER. hope of bringing about an honoi'able adjustment. For the man of logic be chose David Campbell, then bolding the appointment of Chief-Justice from both Franklin and North Carolina ; and, for the man of rhetoric, Will- iam Cocke, the same who bad recently “persuaded” Old Tassel — for General Cocke could talk as well as fight, and, though somewhat blunt and plain-spoken, could so sugar-coat his words as to make them palatable to any mind not blunted by prejudice or obstinate ignorance. To secure these commissioners greater consideration, Sevier himself addressed Governor Caswell a letter in ad- vance of their departure, the principal portions of which were as follows : “Mount Pleasant, Franklin, 28 th October, 1786. “ Sir : Our Assembly has again appointed commis- sioners to wait on the parent State, which I hope will cheerfully consent to the separation as it once before did. “It gives us inexpressible concern to think that any disputes should arise between us, more especially when we did not in the first instance pray the separation, but adopted our course after what was done by act of your Assembly. We humbly conceived we should do no wrong by endeavoring to provide for ourselves ; neither had we the most distant idea that the cession act would he repealed, otherwise matters might not have been car- ried to the length they are. The propriety of the repeal we do not attempt to scrutinize, but permit us to say we FRUITLESS OVERTURES. 87 discover many embarrassments both parties are likely to labor under in consequence of it. . . . “ I hope your Assembly will take under their serious consideration our present condition, and we flatter our- selves that august body will not submerge in ruin so many of their late citizens, who have fought and bled in bebalf of the parent State, and are still ready to do so again should there be occasion. Our local and remote situation is the only reason that induces us to wish for a separa- tion. Your Constitution and laws we revere, and we con- sider ourselves happy that we have had it in our power to get the same established in the State of Franklin, al- though it has occasioned some confusion among ourselves. We do, iu the most candid and solemn manner, assure you that we do not wish to separate from you on any other terms, but on those that may be perfectly consist- ent with the honor and interest of each party ; neither do we believe there are any among us who would wish for a separation, did they believe the parent State would suffer any real inconveniency in consequence thereof. We would be willing to stand or fall together, under any dangerous crisis whatever. . . . “We can not be of opinion that any real advantages can be obtained by a longer connection. Our trade and commerce are altogether carried on with other States, therefore neither party is benefited on that head ; and whether it can be suggested that the business of govern- ment can be extended from five to eight hundred miles distance, is a matter I leave to your own good sense to 88 JOHN SEVIER. judge of ; and, further, it can not be supposed that the inhabitants who reside at that distance are not equally entitled to the blessings of civil government with their neighbors who live east, south, or at any other point, and not one fourth of the distance from the seat of govern- ment, and who enjoy the incomparable advantages of the roads and other easy communications you have on the east of the Appalachians.” This much Sevier had written, when it evidently oc- curred to him that Tipton, in his seat in the North Caro- lina Senate, would be in a position to throw serious ob- stacles in the way of any negotiation, and he added : “ I heartily wish your Legislature had either not repealed or never passed the cession act, for probably it may occa- sion much confusion, especially should your Assembly listen too much to prejudiced persons, though this I have no right to suggest. I fear we may have a sufficient quarrel on our hands without any among ourselves. “ I am authorized to say that no people can think more highly of your government than those who want the separation, and they only wish it to answer their better conveniency ; but, though wanting to be separated in government, they wish to be united in friendship, and hope that mutual good offices may ever pass between the parent and infant State, which also is my wish and de- sire.” The Legislature of North Carolina began its session early in November, but it was not till the 30th of that FRUITLESS OVERTURES. 89 month that General Cocke could set out on the em- bassy, and then Judge Campbell was confined to his home by sickness. He could not, therefore, accompany Cocke, but, instead, he sent by him to Governor Caswell a letter to be laid before the Assembly. This letter throws so much light upon the condition of things in Franklin, that a portion of it is here quoted. He said: ‘‘ If we set out wrong, or were too hasty in our separation, this coun- try is not altogether to blame ; your State pointed out the line of conduct which we adopted ; we really thought you in earnest when you ceded us to Congress. If you then thought we ought to be separate, or if you now think we ever ought to be, permit us to complete the work that is more than half done ; suffer us to give energy to our laws and force to our councils, by saying we are a separate and independent people, and we will yet be happy. I suppose it will astonish your Excellency to hear that there are many families settled within nine miles of the Cherokee nation. What will be the conse- quence of those emigrations ? Our laws and government must include those people, or they will become danger- ous ; it is vain to say they must be restrained. Have not all America extended their hack settlements in opposi- tion to laws and proclamations ? The Indians are now become pusillanimous, and consequently will be more and more encroached upon ; they must, they will be, cir- cumscribed. “ It was not from a love of novelty or the desire of title, I believe, that our leaders were induced to engage in 90 JOHN SEVIER. the present revolution, but from pure necessity. We were getting into confusion, and you know any govern- ment is better than anarchy. Matters will be different- ly represented to you, but, you may rely on it, a great majority of the people are anxious for separation. Na- ture lias separated us; do not oppose her in her work. By acquiescing you will bless us, and do yourself no injury : you will bless us by uniting the disaffected ; and do your- self no injury, because you lose nothing but people who are a clog on your government, and to whom you can not do equal justice by reason of their detached situa- tion.” The foregoing letters of Sevier and Campbell were duly laid before the Legislature by Governor Caswell, and at the bar of that body — whom, by a great stretch of courtesy, Sevier termed “ august ” — General Cocke ap- peared early in December. He was given a hearing, and the address he made on the occasion is fully reported in Judge Haywood’s “History of Tennessee.” It is too lengthy for reproduction here, but a brief synopsis of it can scarcely be omitted, inasmuch as it gives a clear view of the situation of the settlers, as seen by one of them- selves ; and expresses the sentiments of Sevier and of all the best men beyond the Alleghanies. General Cocke began by pathetically depicting the situation of his distressed countrymen. He ascribed the separation, as had Sevier and Campbell, to the difficult and perilous condition in which the western settlers had been placed by the act of cession of June, 1784. They FRUITLESS OVERTURES. 91 were surrounded by hostile savages, who often commit- ted upon them the most shocking barbarities ; and by the passage of that act they suddenly found themselves without the ability to raise or subsist troops for their protection, “ without authority to levy men, without power to levy taxes for the support of internal govern- ment, and without the hope that any of their necessary expenditures would be defrayed by the State of North Carolina, which had then become no more interested in their safety than any other of the United States. . . . These considerations full in view, what were the people of the ceded territory to do to avoid the blow of the up- lifted ' tomahawk ? How were the women and children to be rescued from the impending destruction ? Would Congress come to their aid ? Alas ! Congress had not yet accepted them, and possibly never would.” And, if it did accept of them, it would take time to deliberate upon their situation, and in that time all might be lost. “ The powers of Congress were too feeble to enforce con- tributions.” Action on the part of the several States would have to be voluntary ; and would they be willing to burden themselves for the defense of a people not con- nected with them by any ties of near kindred ? And, if they gave willing aid, might it not be too limited to do any good ; too tardy to be of any practical service ? What were the settlers to do in such circumstances ? Would common prudence justify a reliance upon such prospects ? Could their lives, and the lives of their families, be staked upon them ? Immediate and press- 92 JOHN SEVIER. mg necessity called for the power to concentrate the scanty means they possessed to save themselves from destruction. “ A cruel and insidious foe was at their doors. Delay was but another name for death ! ” They might supinely wait for events, but the first event would be the yell of the savage through all the settlements. Their unpreparedness would be sure to invite attack, for it was the nature of the savage to take sudden advantage of the weakness of an enemy. And, he continued : “ The hearts of the people of North Carolina should not be hardened against their brethren, who have stood by their side in perilous times, and never heard their cry of distress without instantly marching to their aid. They have bled in profusion to save you from bondage, and from the sanguinary hands of a relentless enemy, whose mildest laws for the punish- ment of rebellion are beheading and quartering. When, in the late war, driven from your homes by the presence of that enemy, we gave to many of you a sanctified asylum, and gladly performed the duties of hospitality to a people we loved so dearly ; and every hand was ready to be raised for your protection. . . . “ The act for our dismissal was, indeed, recalled in the winter of 1784. What, then, was our condition ? More penniless, defenseless, and unprepared, if possible, than before, and under the same necessity to meet and consult together for our common safety. The resources of the country were all locked up, and where is the recoi’d that shows any money or supplies sent to us ? — a single FRUITLESS OVERTURES. 93 soldier ordered to be stationed on the fi'ontier, or any plan formed for mitigating the horrors of our exposed situation ? On the contrary, the savages are irritated by the stoppage of those goods which were promised as compensation for the lands taken from them. If North Carolina must yet hold us in subjection, it should at least understand to what a state of distraction, suffering, and poverty her vacillating conduct has reduced us ; and the liberal hand of generosity should be widely opened for our relief from the pressure of our present circum- stances ; all animosity should be laid aside and buried in deep oblivion, and our errors be considered as the off- spring -of greater errors committed by yourselves. Far from your hearts should be the unnatural purpose of adding to the affliction from which we have suffered too much already. It belongs to a magnanimous people to give attentive consideration to circumstances in order to form a just judgment upon a subject so much deserving of their serious meditation ; and, having formed such a judgment, to pursue with sedulous anxiety a course suit- able to the dignity of their own character, consistent with their own honor, and best calculated to allay that storm of distraction in which their hapless children have been so unexpectedly involved. If the mother State shall judge the expense of our adhesion too heavy to be borne, let us remain as w T e are, to support our- selves by our own exertions ; if otherwise, let the means for the continuance of our connection be sup- plied with a degree of liberality that will demonstrate 94 JOHN SEVIER. sincerity on the one hand and secure affection on the other. ” With these legislators the words of Cocke could find no “fit audience.” He had urged that the “liberal hand of generosity” should be opened for the relief of the western settlers, who, let it be remembered, had, with their own blood and treasure, acquired every rood of land then possessed by North Carolina beyond the mountains. With grants of some of this land that State had paid the men who had fought for her in the Revolu- tion, and from sales of the remainder she was daily in receipt of a large revenue. But all this these legislators forgot, or did not care to remember. Before their nar- row minds, besotted by ignorance, there doubtless arose the vision of a standing army, perhaps a thousand strong, supported by North Carolina for the protection of the border. Their sole political maxim was, “Escape your taxes, and keep down taxation,” and now they saw that a half-dollar, perhaps a whole one, was likely to be ex- tracted from every one of their pockets. But all men, however degraded, have some sense of justice. No human being ever yet committed a de- liberate wrong without inventing for himself, or having invented for him, some sophistical excuse to conceal its enormity from his conscience. These legislators had at hand embodied sophistry and downright falsehood in the “man of Belial,” who now assured them that these tales of Indian atrocity were told merely to frighten money out of the State treasury ; that the settlers, though too FRUITLESS OVERTURES. 95 feeble to stand alone, were well enough off under the sheltering wing of North Carolina ; that the Cherokees were copper-complexioned Christians — wise as serpents, but gentle as doves — and altogether harmless if their rights were not encroached upon ; and that all that was needed to restore peace, good order, and a delightful state of things among the over-mountain people, was to depose their factious leaders, and put new and loyal men into every civil and military office in the Territory. Some men fit for such positions could be found over there — among whom he may have mentioned himself, Martin, and other of his boon companions — but the larger number might be drawn from among the friends of the legislators in North Carolina. A lie may prosper if there is no one by to contradict it, and it accords with the views and inclinations of its auditory. There was no one present to expose these falsehoods, and they were exactly adapted to the sordid views of these legislators. They offered also an agree- able salve to their feebly aroused consciences, and con- sequently these Solons proceeded to trample the truth under foot, and to turn and rend the men who had uttered it. But what they did will best be told by quoting from a letter that Governor Caswell wrote to Sevier. It was as follows : “ Kinston, 23 d February, 1787. “ Sir : I was favored with your letter of the 28th of October, on the subject of a separate and independent 96 JOIIN SEVIER. government on your side of the Appalachians, which I did myself the honor of laying before the General Assembly. Their resolutions and determinations on that subject, I had flattered myself it would have been in my power to have forwarded you copies of by this time. It must, therefore, suffice that I acquaint you for the present that the Assembly, from the representations of persons from among yourselves, was induced to believe it was proper for the people to return to subjection to the laws and government of North Carolina ; that they are not yet of strength and opulence sufficient to support an independent State ; that they, the Assembly, wish to continue the benefits and protection of the State toward them until such time as their numbers and wealth will enable them to do for themselves. . . . “Thus, sir, you have in substance, as far as I recol- lect, the amount of the proceedings of the Assembly, save the appointment of civil and military officers for the three old and a new county ; the brigade to be com- manded by Evan Shelby, Esq. In the civil department Judge Campbell is reappointed ; and the representatives have carried out commissions for the county officers, civil and military. I have not a doubt but a new gov- ernment may be shortly established, if the people would unite, submit to the former government, and petition for a separation. This, I think, is the only constitutional mode, and I firmly believe, if pursued, will be a means of effecting a separation on friendly terms, which I much wish.” FRUITLESS OVERTURES. 97 More distinctly than the Governor states it, the Legis- lature had declared that all offices, both civil and mili- tary, whose incumbents had exercised authority under the new State, should be considered vacant, and proper persons should be appointed to fill them by the Assembly, and they be at once commissioned by the Governor as the law directed. This removed from office every justice of the peace and every commissioned officer in every regi- ment in the western counties, thus at one blow decapitat- ing Sevier's government and depriving the country of ex- perienced civil officers whom it trusted, and of military leaders under whom it had served for years, and without whom it' could not hope to be safe from the murderous incursions of the Cherokees. Having done this, the Assembly proceeded to fill these offices with inexperienced men, the most of whom were non-residents, unknown to the people of Franklin, and not a few were worthless characters, appointed through the favoritism of some functionary of North Carolina. Colonels for Washington and Sullivan Counties they made of John Tipton and his creature, George Max- well; and for a new county — which had been erected and named Hawkins — of one Hutchings, a hair-brained North Carolinian, without the coolness of judgment which might be required by circumstances. Thus did North Carolina do her utmost to alienate the affections of the western settlers, and introduce among them such elements of discord as might incite to actual war, which, in the discordant relations then 8 98 JOHN SEVIER. existing between the various States, would probably have been attended by wide-spread and disastrous con- sequences. For the evil would not have been confined to that narrow arena. A small fire, carelessly lighted by some idle camper-out, lias been known to overspread and overwhelm a mighty forest. CHAPTER VI. THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. The “sufficient quarrel,” to which Sevier referred in his letter to Governor Caswell, was a vast combina- tion which the Creek chief, McGillivray, at the in- stance of Spain, had been, since June, 1784, striving to form among the Southwestern Indians for the extermi- nation of the Western settlers. Of bis hostile designs Sevier had early intelligence, and in May, 1786, he wrote to Governor Telfair, of Georgia, apprising him of the danger. The Governor replied that the Creeks were constantly harassing the Georgia frontier ; that he was attempting to negotiate a peace with them, but was fearful a war was inevitable ; and he suggested that in case of hostilities there should be co-operation be- tween the forces of Franklin and Georgia. To this Sevier cordially assented, and on August 27, 1786, Gov- ernor Telfair dispatched to him commissioners, with his appointment as brigadier-general in the army of Georgia, and a letter in which he represented that it would “be greatly to the success of both armies to begin their movements at one and the same time,” and 100 JOHN SEVIER. suggesting the 1st of November as the date for march- ing. The reception which Sevier gave the Georgia com- missioners may be gathered from a letter addressed to Governor Telfair by Major Elholm, a distinguished Polish officer of Pulaski’s Legion, who happened to be then in Franklin. Murray’s Grammar was not at that time in existence, and English was not the major’s vernacular language ; nevertheless, he expresses himself with sufficient force and clearness. His letter was as follows : “Governor Sevier’s, Franklin, September SO, 1J86. “Sir: I does myself the honour to inform your Excellency that your commissioners set out from this the 28th inst., by the way of Kentucky and Cumber- land. They were received very politely by his Excel- lency the Governor, from whose zeal for to assist you, aided by the inclination of the Franks, I am fully convinced your embassy will meet all wished success by the Assembly of this State, which is ordered to assemble 12th next, by his Excellency’s command, in consequence thereof. Several of the inhabitants have waited on the Governor, for to be informed of the contents of the embassy from Georgia. And when being acquainted therewith, it gave me great pleasure to find no other apprehension appeared, but that of making peace with the Creeks without fighting, by which occasion, they said, so favourable a chance for THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 101 humbling that nation would fall dormant. The Gov- ernor, in order that the Americans may reap a benefit from the dread the Cherokees and Chickasaws feels for the displeasure and power of the Franks, he has dispatched letters to them, offering them protection against the Creek nation, with condition that they join him. “ Cumberland (Robertson’s colony), it seems, has at this time in contemplation to join in government with the Franks. If so, so much the better, and it would surely be their interest so to do, as they are yet few in numbers, and often harassed by the Indians. ‘‘Judging from apparent circumstances, you may promise yourself one thousand riflemen and two hun- dred cavalry, excellently mounted and accoutred, from this State, to act in conjunction with Georgia. “Governor Sevier has received letters from the prin- cipal men in Cumberland, which inform him of a con- vention held lately at that place, when commissioners were chosen by the people with power for to join with the Franks in their government. “Mr. John Tipton’s party, which is against the party of the new government, seems deep in decline at present, which proves very favourable to the em- bassy from Georgia.” The Franklin Legislature came together on the call of Sevier, on the 12th of October, and at once passed an act authorizing the Governor to call out, for imme- 102 JOHN SEVIER. diate service, one fourth of the militia, and to hold the entire force in readiness to repel any attack from the Indians. The troops thus called for were at once enrolled, and held in readiness to march on the demand of Georgia; but they were not dispatched immediately to the frontier, because McGillivray promptly disavowed the acts of his marauding followers, and expressed a desire for peace with the Georgians. This proposal was merely a subterfuge to gain time for more effi- cient preparation, and to make certain of the co-opera- tion of the Cherokees. It was so understood by Sevier, who now made ready his entire militia for what was generally believed to be a more formidable war than any that had yet threatened the western settlements. Thus the country remained — in daily expectation of attack from twelve thousand combined Creeks, Semi- noles, and Cherokees — until the ensuing March (1787), and then came to Sevier the already quoted letter from Governor Caswell, which informed him that the Legislature of North Carolina had decapitated every officer of his government, from himself, the highest, down to the lowest civil and military official. This action could not be mistaken. It meant “rule or ruin” to North Carolina or to Franklin, and perhaps to both. Another forward step on the part of Sevier would be downright, defiant rebellion. This he fully understood, and when he took it he was prepared to meet all the consequences of his action. THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 103 It was a momentous crisis in Sevier’s career, and in that also of the nearly thirty thousand people whose well-being and safety depended upon his continuing to be their leader. Only two courses were open to him — either submission or open rebellion ; and that he fully appreciated the gravity of his position is shown by the fact that he took no less than thirty days to decide upon his action. He decided upon rebellion ; but, in doing so, I think it will be seen that he was actuated by the same disinterested patriotism which had so often before led him to hazard his all for the good of his country. To >judge correctly of his subsequent course, it is necessary to take a brief view of the circumstances by which he was now surrounded. The country was feeling the effects of the Spanish imbroglio which, from 1784 to 1796, harassed the Western settlers and endangered the continuance of the Union. A full account of this perilous complication falls more appropriately into a life of Robertson than into one of Sevier, but a brief view of it must here be taken, because it rested with Sevier, more than with any other man, to decide whether the Spanish proposals should be accepted or rejected by the Western settlers. For a brief period Spain had shaken off the leth- argy in which she had been sunk for more than a cent- ury. Recalling her former greatness, her able and far- sighted king, Charles III, had asserted for her again a voice among European nations, and he had resolved to 104 JOHN SEVIER. infuse new life into her vast possessions beyond the Atlantic. To exalt Spain, and cripple the world-power of Great Britain, he had joined with France in aiding the revolted colonies to achieve their independence ; and he had planned the erection of a great empire in America, a new Spain, to extend from the Alleghanies to the Pacific, with New Orleans as its capital and chief port of entry. All the vast region beyond the Mississippi was then Spanish property. Spain also held Florida, and the mouths of the great river, and claimed so much of the territory east of it as is west of the eastern angle of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Hiwassee, Clinch, and Tennessee Rivers — that is to say, nearly all of the present States of Alabama and Missis- sippi, so much of Tennessee as lies west of those rivers, and a considerable portion of Kentucky to its northern boundary on the Ohio. This vast region Charles III designed should be a great mediaeval empire, free from the intrusion of Anglo-Saxon ideas, and a strong bul- wark to Catholic Christianity. He had overlooked the insignificant settlements on the Watauga and in Kentucky ; but the war which crippled Great Britain was no sooner over than he awoke to the fact that, while he had been intent upon crushing one enemy, another had sprung into life — an enemy fewer in num- bers but far more dangerous, because nearer home, and already proclaiming civil and religious liberty at the very doorway of his dominions. Instantly the Spanish king prepared to crush this THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 105 new enemy. To extirpate and drive back the western settlers, he instructed his Governor of Louisiana and West Florida, Don Estephan Miro, to arm the Indians, and incite them to a war of extermination against the colonists : and, to discourage further settlements beyond the mountains, he announced to the United States Gov- ernment that under no circumstances would he consent to the navigation of the Mississippi by the Americans. Thus shut out from the markets of the world, no sane Virginian or ISTew-Englander would think of erecting his domicile beyond the Alleghanies. So Charles III thought, and he was sanguine that twenty thousand native ^warriors, armed and backed by Spain, would make short work with the handful of heretics who had already ventured beyond the mountains. But Charles III had overestimated the strength of his allies, and underestimated that of his enemies. Of these twenty thousand warriors, seven thousand were Choctaws and Cliickasaws, who had been w 7 on over to the Americans through the friendship for Bobertson of Piomingo, the Chickasaw king ; and nearly three thou- sand were Cherokees, who were paralyzed by the pacific disposition of Old Tassel, and a dread of John Sevier’s rifles. The remainder of this savage force, namely, six thousand Creeks, two thousand Seminoles, and two thousand Chickamaugas, were, indeed, pledged to the Spanish king by a treaty between Alexander McGilliv- ray, the Creek chief, and Governor Miro, made at Pensacola, on June 1, 1784 ; but the Creek chief had 106 JOHN SEVIER. ever since feared to meet, without the aid of the other tribes, the combined forces of the settlers. This aid, however, he had hoped, and still did hope, to get ; and meanwhile he was showing his zeal for Spain, and keep- ing alive the spirit of his warriors, by constant raids upon Robertson, who, at one time, with but seventy men, and with never more than a thousand, had for seven years held at bay, or beaten off, these nations of savages. And the Kentucky settlements, which in 1779 had numbered only one hundred and seventy-sis white men, now (1787) contained a population of not less than thirty thousand souls, and a like number were on the Holston and Watauga under Sevier, and fully seven thousand on the Cumberland under Robertson. Al- lowing for the usual excess of men over women in all new settlements, this population of nearly seventy thou- sand would have furnished at least eighteen thousand rifle- men, not a man of whom would passively submit to be exterminated. They were more than a match for double their number of Indians, and consequently the design of the Spanish king was impossible of execution. These facts came at last to the knowledge of Charles III, and then his policy underwent a sudden change from one of hostility to one of conciliation and broth- erly kindness. He sought no longer to exterminate the settlers, but to get them under his control, by inducing them — if he could not otherwise do it — to establish an independent republic between the Alleghanies and the THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 107 Mississippi, under his protection. This would dismem- ber and weaken the Union, and prevent it ever becom- ing a power great enough to endanger the safety of his North American possessions. It would also close forever the western half of this continent to the en- trance of Anglo-Saxon civilization. This separation the Spanish king proposed to bring about by showing the colonists the vast advantages they would derive from a Spanish alliance, and by fostering the dissatisfaction which was fast growing up among them toward the seaboard States. To this end he relaxed the rigor of his embargo upon the Missis- sippi, though he exacted such duties on passing and landed produce as would leave all profits in the hands of his underlings. Many of the settlers availed them- selves of this commercial opening, and tested the fact that tobacco, worth at home but two dollars per hun- dred, found a ready market in New Orleans at nine dollars and fifty cents ; and they saw that with such returns their smiling Kentucky and Cumberland valleys, where the “fragrant weed” lay rotting on the ground, would speedily be transformed into a vast El Dorado — aland of the “golden leaf” — if only the onerous duty were once removed. Upon this the Western people demanded of Con- gress that it should effect such a treaty with Spain as would give them free trade upon the Mississippi. In answer to this, Congress replied : “ We have negotiated to that end since 1784 ; but the Spaniards refuse to 108 JOHN SEVIER. listen to any proposals for the opening of that river. Its free navigation was ceded to us by Great Britain, and you have a natural right to it ; but it can not be had without a war with Spain, and for that the coun- try is not now prepared. That point ignored, we can form an advantageous treaty with that nation — one that will revive trade, bring in gold and silver, and thus relieve our national embarrassments. Therefore, the navigation had better be waived for the moment. It is not needed by you at present. You are too few in numbers to require a foreign commerce ; and you have no more surplus coin and tobacco than can be consumed by incoming settlers. When you and the country are stronger, we shall be able to demand and enforce the- free navigation of that river.” The above is, in effect, what the settlers gathered as to the acts and intentions of Congress, and on the heels of it came the report that John Jay, the U. S. Sec- retary of State, had recommended to that body, in secret session, the making of a treaty with Spain, which would concede her right to control the Mississippi, and close it for twenty years to American commerce ; and that seven of the States — only nine being required to ratify a treaty — had voted in favor of this con- cession. The tidings excited intense indignation throughout the Western country. Never before had such excite- ment been known there, not even when the savages were pouring in resistless numbers upon the well-nigh THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 109 defenseless settlements. The settlers saw themselves shut out from the civilized world, and left at the mercy of a foreign nation. With their barns and warehouses filled to overflowing, they had no outlet for their produce. They had a natural right to a route to the sea, and they were now to be denied that right, simply to fill the already plethoric pockets of the Eastern traders. The wrongs which had brought about the revolt from Great Britain were not near so great nor half so galling as these. Was it for this they had fought the Indians, and made in the wilder- ness a highway for freedom — to be themselves bound hand and foot, at the will of the ruffied-shirted gentry on the seaboard ? Such injustice could not and would not be borne. They would throw off their allegiance to the Central Government, set up a government of their own, and, if need were, with their eighteen or twenty thousand riflemen, they would force a passage to the sea. This -was the language now heard in every hut and every hamlet from the Watauga to the most remote district in Kentucky. And this language was pleasant to the ears of the Spanish king. It was to arouse just this feeling that he had instructed his envoy, Gardoqui, to decline to open to the United States the navigation of the Mis- sissippi ; and quickly he seized upon this opportunity to sever the Western people from the Union. Through Miro he now said to Robertson and other of the West- ern leaders : “ We will freely grant to you what we 110 JOHST SEVIER. have refused to the trading aristocracy on the Atlantic. We will admit your produce to our ports free from all duty, and give you in perpetuity unobstructed naviga- tion of the Mississippi. We will call off, and, if need be, drive off, the Indians from harassing you. We will release to you all claim that we have to the territory which you occupy ; and we will stand by you like lov- ing brothers, with sword and bayonet and heavy artil- lery, if you will but cut loose from the Eastern shop- keepers, and set up for yourselves a free and independ- ent republic in this glorious valley of the Mississippi.” The above is the purport of the declaration of the Spanish king, and we may easily imagine how it was generally received among a people bleeding from the wounds of an interminable savage warfare, and smart- ing under what seemed to them the unmerited neglect and indifference of the General Government. Robert- son had been in frequent correspondence with Miro since 1782. He had reason to consider him a high- toned, kind-hearted Castilian gentleman, who resorted to the employment of savages, not from cruelty, but from state policy ; and he had sought to conciliate his good-will, and mitigate the savage warfare upon his settlement, by giving the name of “Miro District” to the Cumberland region when, in 1783, it was set off from Watauga by North Carolina. The compliment had won for Robertson the decided friendship of the Spanish governor, though it did not induce him to obstruct the policy of his sovereign ; and now, when THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. Ill that policy had undergone a radical change, Eobertson was the first to whom it was communicated. By Eob- ertson these proposals were at once forwarded to Sevier, and they came to Sevier just at the time when Governor Caswell apprised him that the North Carolina Legisla- ture had swept both himself and his government from political existence. I have not been able to discover Sevier’s answer to these Spanish overtures. His subsequent course shows that it must have been a decided refusal ; but the fol- lowing extract from a letter to him from the heroic Elijah Clarke, of Georgia, makes it evident that he was deeply interested in the project of opening the Missis- sippi to Western commerce. Clarke had been Sevier’s devoted friend ever since the time when, in 1780, he had found a refuge at his house on the Nolichucky, and now under date of Augusta, February 11, 1787, he wrote to him as follows : “Dear Sir: I received your favor by Major El- holm, who informed me of your health. Assure your- self of my ardent friendship, and that you have the approbation of all our citizens, and their well wishes for your prosperity. We are sensible of what benefit the friendship of yourself and the people of your State will be to Georgia ; and we hope you will never join North Carolina more. Open a land-office as speedily as possible, and it can not fail but you will prosper as a people : this is the opinion current among us. 112 JOHN SEVIER. “ I have considered greatly on that part of your letter which alludes to politics in the Western country. It made me serious ; and, as seven States have agreed to give up the navigation, it is my friendly advice that you do watch with every possible attention, for fear that two more States should agree. I only observe to you that the Southern States will ever be your friends. I know that you must have the navigation of the Mississippi. You have spirit and right : it is almost every man’s opinion that a rumor” (an outbreak) “will rise in that country. I hope to see that part myself yet. Adieu. Heaven attend you and every friend ! ” This letter of General Clarke expresses the nearly unanimous sentiment of the people of Franklin at this period in regard to a reversion to North Carolina. They were prepared to resist it, “even unto blood.” This is shown by the following extract from a letter of Judge Campbell, the recently appointed Chief-Justice of the North Carolina Superior Court, to Governor Caswell, dated March 18, 1787. He said: “The sword of justice and vengeance will, I believe, be shortly drawn against those of this country who attempt to overturn and vio- late the laws and government of Franklin, and God only knows what will be the event ! If any blood is spilt on this occasion, the act for partial elections from your country” (which had placed Tipton in the North Caro- lina Senate) “ will be the cause of it ; and, I am bold to say, the author of that act was the author of much evil. THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 113 That your Excellency may not be in the dark about the spirit and determination of a great majority of these people, in supporting, maintaining, and defending their beloved Franklin, I shall give you a brief and concise detail of what has transpired here since the fate of our memorial and personal application to the Legislature of Forth Carolina has been announced to us. Pains have been taken to collect the wishes of the people respecting a reversion ; many who were formerly lukewarm are now flaming patriots for Franklin. Those who were real Franklinites are now burning with enthusiastic zeal. They say that Forth Carolina has not treated us like a parent, but like a step-dame. She means to sacrifice us to the Indian savages ; she has broken our old officers, under whom we fought and bled, and placed over us many men unskilled in military achievements, and who were none of our choice. . . . You must not conclude we are altogether unanimous ; but I do assure you that a very great majority, perhaps nineteen twentieths, seem determined to persevere at all hazards.” A letter from Hutchings, the newly appointed Forth * Carolina colonel of Hawkins County, to Governor Cas- well, at about the same date, was to the same purport ; and he added : “ There are many plans and matters agi- tated by them which seem to have a tendency to dissolve the Federal bands. Several letters I have in my pos- session can be spoken of in no other way.” From the above it would seem to be clear that the people of Franklin had now resolved on armed resistance 9 114 JOHN SEVIER. to North Carolina ; and that among them was heard a" subdued talk of throwing off allegiance to the Federal Union. It is not to be supposed that the Spanish pro- posals were as yet generally known ; but they were known to Sevier, and therefore he had before his view the entire situation — the whole people west of the Alle- ghanies ripe for revolt, and Spain pledged to assist them in asserting and maintaining their independence of the General Government. Once before Sevier had gone with the current, and for doing so he has been styled — by those not attentive to his entire career — a demagogue, and accused of personal ambition. What will they say of him if he shall now resist the tide, refuse to lift a hand against North Carolina or the Federal authority, and, with the loss of all he has, and at the hazard of his life and liberty, not only save his own people from sav- age assault, but hold the entire West to its moorings in the Union ? To appreciate what he did, it is necessary to consider what he might have done, had he not been as true a man and as pure a patriot as can be found in American history. The whole West, as has been shown, was ripe for rebellion. Under Isaac Shelby, Benjamin Logan, and George Rogers Clark, five thousand men could have been raised in Kentucky ; three thousand more could have been recruited by Arthur Campbell in Southwest Vir- ginia ; at least one thousand by Robertson on the Cum- berland ; and Elijah Clarke, who had said, “ I hope to see that part myself yet,” could have been counted on to THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 115 lead five thousand over the mountains from Northern Georgia. All of these men, except George Rogers Clark, had served under or with Sevier ; all were devotedly at- tached to him ; and all, knowing his military genius, would gladly have accepted his leadership. Campbell and Robertson had already proposed to join their fortunes with those of Franklin, and Sevier had only to speak the word to rally the others to his side, and then, counting his own troops, he would have been at the head of not less than twenty thousand of the best fighting men in the country. Opposed to him would have been the wretched “ sand-hillers ” of North Carolina, with not one comjae- tent leader, and perhaps the General Government — I say “perhaps,” because the old Confederation had then neither strength nor vitality. It was at the point of dis- solution, and its representatives in Congress were at that very moment debating the new Constitution, which was not adopted by all the States till more than two years afterward. Moreover, a majority of that body were from the Eastern and Northern States, where the general opinion was that the Union already covered too much territory. They would have been content with the Alleghanies as its western boundary, and it is not prob- able that they would have submitted to the expense of maintaining a large armed force for the subjugation of the West. This was the outlook to Sevier if the Spanish pro- posals were not accepted. But, if even a temporary alliance had been formed with Spain, this army of Ilf) JOHN SEVIER. twenty thousand men would have been augmented by twenty thousand Indian warriors, who had for “’Chucky Jack” a superstitious veneration, and every one of whom would have followed him, believing that in doing so he was under supernatural protection. With this alliance the Mississippi would have been opened, a trade estab- lished upon it that would soon have flooded the West with gold and silver, and the murderous tomahawk would have been so deeply buried that it might never again be brandished above the white man’s dwelling. And, in alliance with Spain, Sevier could have counted with absolute certainty upon no interference from the Central Government ; for had it not already for three years borne with wrong, indignity, and savage outrage upon its Western citizens, rather than provoke a war with the Spaniards ; and did it not pursue the same policy for seven years longer ? Each of these courses was now open to Sevier, and either of them would unquestionably have resulted in the independence of the West. Is it not within bounds to say that such another opportunity for what is termed “great achievement” has seldom been presented to any ambitious leader in this country ? On the other hand, what would have been the result had Sevier given up his command, and submitted to the government of Forth Carolina ? Three thousand well- deserving people, who, relying on the faith of North Carolina, had settled on the Indian lands, would have been at once driven from their homes, or else outlawed THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 117 and delivered over, in express terms, by the treaty of Hopewell, to the relentless fury of untamed savages ; and more than this, the whole Watauga country would have been stripped of its tried military leaders, and ex- posed, without so much as a competent captain of militia, to the impending attack from McGillivray and his twelve thousand warriors. This is not too much to say, for Evan Shelby, though an old and tried soldier, was now feeble with age, and incompetent to lead in such an emergency ; and Tipton and Martin, the only colonels worthy of mention, had not the confidence of the people. They were willing enough to lead, but, as very soon ap- peared, the “tall Watauga boys” were not willing to fol- low them. Thus the salvation of Watauga, and the safety of every man, woman, aud child in its scattered settlements, rested upon Sevier, and demanded that he should, at least for a time, retain control of its military organization. These were the facts which of necessity Sevier had before him for the thirty days during which he had his future course under consideration. There is no word from him to indicate his decision ; but the scanty records which exist, and his subsequent action, clearly show it to have been as follows : He would form no alliance with Spain. Light has no affinity with darkness, and American freedom would not ally itself with Spanish tyranny. He would not aid or countenance any effort to dis- member the Union. He had fought to establish it, 118 JOHN SEVIER. and he would again risk his life for its preserva- tion. He would not lift his hand against one of his country- men, nor would he resist by force the arbitrary acts of North Carolina. He would conciliate that State, if pos- sible, by moderate measures, and a right presentation of facts, and in all honorable ways would endeavor to pre- serve peace between the two peoples. But he would, at all hazards, defend against Indian attack the Watauga settlers and the people who were outlawed by the treaty of Hopewell. The better to do this, he would retain in force the civil and military organization of Franklin for the single year that re- mained of his term as Governor. That period having expired, he would no longer be eligible to that office ; but then, if danger from the Indians continued, he would head the militia as their volunteer leader. By this course he might come into collision with North Carolina, and be subjected to a charge of high treason ; but this was a personal risk, involving only his own life and liberty, and he would assume it to protect the Watauga people. Having resolved upon this course, Sevier, on the 6th of April, 1787, addressed the following letter to Gov- ernor Caswell : “Sir : I was favored with yours of 23d February, in which your Excellency was pleased to favor me with a detail of the proceedings of your Assembly. I must own THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 119 I had the fullest hopes and confidence that that body, before their rising, would have either agreed to the sepa- ration, on honorable principles and stipulations, or other- wise endeavored to have reunited us upon such terms as might have been lasting and friendly ; but I find myself and country entirely deceived ; and, if your Assembly have thought their measures would answer such an end, they are equally disappointed. But 1 firmly believe, had proper measures been adopted, an uniop, in some measure, or perhaps fully, would have taken place. “lVe shall continue to act as independent, and would rather suffer death in all its various and frightful shapes than conform to anything that is disgraceful.” To this letter Caswell rejilied promptly, and in a most kindly spirit, urging upon Sevier patience and moderation. In an indirect way he censured the course of the Legislature by saying : “ I can not accouut for the conduct of our Assembly in their last session. I know some of the gentlemen’s sentiments did not coincide with my own. . . . My ideas are that Nature, in this forma- tion of the hills between us, and directing the courses of waters so differently, had not in view the inhabitants on either side being long subject to the same laws and gov- ernment. I conclude by recommending unanimity among you, as the only means by which your government ever can obtain energy, even when the separation is effected by consent of North Carolina.” 120 JOHN SEVIER. Six months prior to the date we are considering, Major Elholm had written to the Governor of Georgia, “Mr. John Tipton’s party seems deep in decline at pres- ent.” It was so, and so would have continued — a mere corporal’s guard, and not a party — and it would speedily have died a natural death, but for the passage of the law beheading the Franklin government. That act was no sooner passed than Tipton himself received new life, and, waiting only for the commissions for the new officials, hurried over the mountains into Franklin, proclaiming everywhere the overthrow of Sevier and his government. He arrived some weeks before the official dispatches, and at first the people listened with incredulous ears to his tidings, but when they saw courts being organized under the new justices, and placards posted at every cross-roads calling upon the militia to muster under the new officers, they believed his report, and the general rage and con- sternation became unbounded. “Does North Carolina,” they asked, “intend to deliver us, bound hand and foot, to our enemies ? In the face of a great Indian war, will she depose our tried leaders, and set over us officers who know nothing of savage warfare ? And what kind of law or equity can we get from these irresponsible men whom she has made our civil justices?” Only in the two older counties could men be found who would ac- cept the new appointments, and even there the feeling ran so high that, had it not been for the pacific counsels of Sevier, violence might have been done to the new officials. THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 121 But this storm of indignation did not intimidate Tipton. Turmoil was his natural element, and he was of so reckless a courage that, right or wrong, with five men at his back, he would anywhere have met a thou- sand. He went on delivering the commissions, organiz- ing justices’ courts in log-cabins and cross-road school- houses, and forming such skeletons of military companies as could be got together from among his own and Hous- ton’s adherents, who now, according to Judge Campbell, numbered not more than five men in a hundred. This slender battalion, it would seem, could not be dangerous, and need not be feared by a majority, large, compact, and powerful ; and yet there was danger in it, for behind this ribald, disorderly crew, so out at the elbows and out of character, was that silent, omuipotent force, which we call Law, and which, whoever resists, is him- self at once an outlaw and a criminal. Though he could not at the time muster a hundred men, Tipton knew his legal strength, and he determined upon such aggressive measures as would overturn Sevier’s pacific policy, and bring on such a collision with North Carolina as, he thought, would be fatal to the new gov- ernment. He had organized a court for the county of Washington at a log-house on Buffalo Creek, about ten miles from Jonesboro, and, procuring a warrant from this court, he collected a body of some fifty armed men, and descended one day in early March upon the regular tribunal, then in session at the county-seat. The rec- ords of the court being refused him, he proceeded to 122 JOHN SEVIER. drive the judge, jury, lawyers, and spectators out-of- doors, and then bore away the records in triumph to his own court on Buffalo Creek. James Sevier, who when a boy not yet sixteen had fought by his father’s side at King’s Mountain, was the clerk of the regular court, and, now promptly gathering a. number of men, he de- scended in turn upon Tipton’s court, regained the capt- ured papers, and bore them away to his own dwelling. Here, a few nights later, he was surrounded by a still stronger party, the papers forced from him, and again borne away by Tipton. But young Sevier was not to be thus overcome by what he deemed a party of lawless ragamuffins. He collected another body of men, again recaptured the papers, and on this occasion hid them in a cave, where they might be as secure as the old charter in the famous oak of Hartford. “However,” says Hay- wood, “ in these removals many valuable papers were lost, and at later periods, for want of them, some estates of great value have also been lost.” Some of these papers came subsequently into the possession of Dr. Bamsey, and he reports that they bore evidence of hav- ing at some time been in very damp quarters. No blood was shed in these various collisions, for on each occasion only the attacking party was armed. These disorderly proceedings increased the public ex- citement, and the Franklin Legislature, then in session, sought to put a stop to them by passing an act to punish by imprisonment every person who should attempt to exercise the authority of a justice of the peace, or per- THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 123 form the duties of any other civil office, by commission from the State of North Carolina. Sevier refused to sanction this law, and it consequently was inoperative ; but it required all his remarkable powers of conciliation to prevent the people resorting to summary and illegal measures, that would inevitably have resulted in blood- shed. This first crop of dragon’s teeth, which sprang from the hostile legislation of North Carolina, warned Sevier that something must at once be done to stop the evil, and secure against further profanation the recog- nized courts of justice. Evan Shelby had been ap- pointed by the old State brigadier-general of the entire western militia, and this, though as yet he was in com- mand of only skeleton regiments, made him the highest representative of North Carolina in the Territory. In anticipation of the hostile feeling which the obnoxious act of his Legislature would arouse in Franklin, Governor Caswell had written Shelby to exert every influence to pacify the people, and now Sevier applied to him for his co-operation in some feasible measure calculated to re- store the public tranquillity. The result was an agree- ment which in effect established two governments in Franklin ; and this shows that Sevier never intended to sustain his authority by force, and only sought to retain power until the present danger from the Indians should be over. The agreement, as reported by Evan Shelby to Governor Caswell, was as follows : 124 JOHN SEVIER. “At a conference held at the house of Samuel Smith, Esquire, on the 20th day of March, 1787, between the Honorable Evan Shelby, Esquire, and sundry officers, of the one part, and the Honorable John Sevier, and sun- dry officers, of the other part : Whereas, disputes have arisen concerning the propriety and legality of the State of Franklin, and the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the State of North Carolina over the said State, and the people residing therein : the contending parties, from the regard they have to peace, tranquillity, and good de- corum in the western country, do agree and recommend as follows : ‘‘First. That the courts of justice do not proceed to transact any business in their judicial departments, ex- cept the trial of criminals, the proving of wills, deeds, bills of sale, and such like conveyances ; the issuing of attachments, writs, and any legal process, so as to pro- cure bail, but not to enter into any final determina- tion of the suits, except the parties are mutually agreed thereto. “Secondly. That the inhabitants residing within the limits of the disputed territory are at full liberty and discretion to pay their public taxes to either the State of North Carolina or the State of Franklin. “ Thirdly. That this agreement and recommendation continue until the next annual sitting of the General Assembly of North Carolina, to be held in November next, and not longer. It is further agreed, that if any person guilty of felony be committed by any North Caro- THE CHOSEN ALTERNATIVE. 125 lina justice of the peace, that such person or persons may and shall be received by the Franklin sheriff or gaoler of Washington, and proceeded against in the same manner as if the same had been committed by and from any such authority from under the State of Franklin. It is also recommended that the aforesaid people do take such modes and regulations, and set forth their grievances, if any they have, and solicit North Carolina, at their next annual meeting of the General Assembly, to complete the separation, if thought neces- sary by the people of the western country, as to them may appear most expedient, and give their members and representatives such instructions as may be thought most conducive to the interest of our western world, by a majority of the same, either to be a separate State from that of North Carolina, or to be citizens of the State of North Carolina. “Signed and agreed, on behalf of each party, this day and year above written. “Evan Shelby, “John Sevier.” Sevier had now chained the winds, and all would be well if they did not slip from his grasp, rush violently together, and he be caught in the whirlwind. CHAPTER VII. QUAKER GUNS. Two years had now passed since Sevier assumed the reins of the Franklin government, and during the whole of that period the country under his control had expe- rienced unbroken prosperity. Education had been fos- tered, law had been duly administered, and crime had been a thing almost unknown. Tradition and the rec- ords of Washington County — so far as they have been preserved — report not a single capital crime to have been committed in the district. Money had not been abun- dant, but the thirty thousand dollars of silver coined by Charles Robertson had been enough for ordinary ex- changes, and, peltry being still receivable by the collect- ors, every man had a ready means of paying his taxes. These had been light — “one shilling the poll, and six- pence per hundred acres” — and the best of agricultural land was obtainable at “forty shillings per hundred ; the first ten shillings in hand, and two years’ credit for the other thirty shillings.” Thus every man had within his reach a home and a competence ; and, though a heavy QUAKER GUNS. 127 •war-cloud hung continually over the border, he could sit “ under his own vine and fig-tree” without fear, see- ing that Nolichucky Jack and his four thousand rifle- men stood guard over his dwelling. So strong was this feeling of security that settlements had been extended on the lands south of the French Broad — acquired by the treaty between Sevier and the Cherokees — to within nine miles of the Indian towns on the Tellico. It was a singular spectacle, this, of a whole people living in scattered settlements, and beleaguered on three sides by savage foes, yet resting without a thought of danger, because of the moral power of one man, whose single name held harmless a swarm of warlike enemies. But this reign of peace and law and fraternal feeling was now to be for a time interrupted by the machinations of a few reckless and ambitious men, who, with no power or in- fluence of their own, were rendered potent for evil by the “mother-State,” which had never expended a dollar nor provided a soldier for the aid or protection of its western citizens. For a time the two co-ordinate governments moved along, side by side, without jar or collision. The North Carolina sheriff lodged his prisoners in the Franklin jail on free straw and at free rations ; the rival justices held court simultaneously at opposite ends of the little log school-houses, and officiated conjointly at the weddings of such young men and women as desired to hold to- gether, whichsoever administration should fall to pieces ; and thus it happened that many a man might be met in 128 JOHN SEVIER. after-years who, with never but one wife, had yet been twice married. The lion and the lamb had, in truth, come to lie down together, though, unfortunately for the lamb, the little child whose office it is to muzzle the larger beast was absent on this occasion. This state of things could not have continued for a day had not these people cherished a high respect for law and order, and a genuine regard for one another. As it was, it lasted fully forty days, and until the parti- sans of North Carolina saw that only through “much tribulation ” could the old State recover her lost domin- ion, and — what was of more consequence to them — they achieve the power they so much coveted. The desire among the people for separation was well-nigh unani- mous ; if the present good feeling continued, it would become altogether so, and the Governor of North Caro- lina had distinctly said that unanimity would secure the wished-for independence of Franklin. Therefore, this harmony must be broken, the dregs of society stirred up to the surface, and discord introduced into a peaceful community, if Tipton and his boon companions did not wish to be reduced to political nonentity. A small stone cast into a placid pool will ruffle the waters to its far- thermost extremity ; so now a few spoken words set in commotion the entire country around Watauga. These words were : “By what authority did John Sevier and General Shelby make that anomalous compact? Can a man serve two masters ? If not, then choose ye : ‘ If the Lord be God, follow him ; if Baal, then follow him.’ ” QUAKER GUNS. 129 The words spread, and thus was that modern inven- tion, party politics, introduced among this primitive peo- ple. Soon at every cross-road gathering was heard discus- sion, and then wrangling, and then shouts for North Caro- lina and for Franklin. The partisans of the new State continued very largely in the majority, but their leader had enjoined upon them peace, forbearance, and brotherly kindness ; and, his Quaker policy being well understood, the factious minority were emboldened to acts of vio- lence. Court-houses were again rifled, and peaceable meetings broken up by the disorderly adherents of Tip- ton, who in some cases resorted to “knock-down argu- ments.” This was too much for the unregenerate man- hood of such of Sevier’s friends as had not pondered upon the thirty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of St. Matthew’s gospel. They returned blow for blow, and thus an animosity was engendered which, in some fami- lies, lasted till far into another century. No blood was shed in these encounters, because, as if by tacit consent, no deadly weapons were employed ; but a reign of vio- lence was inaugurated which could not safely continue unchecked in any community. Meanwhile, Evan Shelby was resting in patriarchal ease at his cattle-farm of King’s Meadows, utterly igno- rant of the unbrotherly dissension which was going on only forty or fifty miles to the south of him. At last word was brought him of this deplorable state of things by the North Carolina colonels — Tipton, Maxwell, and Hutchings — who had been the active agents in raising 10 130 JOHN SEVIER. this storm of disorder. The story lost nothing in their telling, and the old veteran listened aghast to the tale of riot and confusion. He was a cast-iron man, trained in a school of rigid discipline, and for forty years had been accustomed to the exercise of military authority. He saw that this disorder must be put down, or there was an end to all government. But how could it be put down, the discontent so general, and he with only a corporal's guard for an army ? To this answered Tipton and the other colonels: “Call upon North Carolina for a thou- sand men. That force, backed by the moral power of law, will overawe all opposition to the old State. Be- sides, Sevier has announced that he will not resist North Carolina by force, and his followers will not tight if he refuses to lead them.” In accord with this suggestion, General Shelby wrote to Governor Caswell, saying, among other things : “The matter is truly alarming, and it is beyond a doubt with me that hostilities will in a short time commence. I therefore think it highly necessary that one thousand troops, at least, be sent, as that number might have a good effect ; for, should we have that number under the sanction of government, there is no doubt with me they” (the disaffected) “would immediately give way.” With General Shelby at this time was Anthony Bled- soe, the right-hand man of Robertson, and one of the most influential men in the western country. He had been one of the one hundred who rushed to the rescue when, eleven years before, Sevier, with but forty men, QUAKER GUNS. 131 had withstood the assault of the Cherokee king on the fort at Watauga; and he was now in Franklin to solicit Sevier's aid against an expected raid of the same Chero- kees upon the settlements along the Cumberland. Sevier had promised him that, if the raid should be attempted, he would at once march a strong body of men into the Cherokee country, and chastise the savages into reason ; and Bledsoe was naturally unwilling to see JSTorth Carolina array an armed force against so loyal a friend and true a patriot. By Shelby’s permission he wrote the Governor, sending the letter by his messenger. He said : ‘‘ Might I be permitted to request your Excel- lency’s addressing these people, and advising them of the necessity and advantage of returning to their duty once more, and the danger and evil consequences of their per- sisting in the attempt of supporting an independence ? I do assure your Excellency that it is my opinion your address on that occasion would have a very good effect on the principal people in the revolted party.” The Governor received these letters on May 19, 1787, at once laid them before his Council, and on the 21st he replied to General Shelby as follows : “ I have stated the situation of your country to the Council, and laid your letter before them. . . . They think it would be very imprudent to add to the dissatisfaction of the peo- ple there by showing a wish to encourage the shedding of blood, as thereby a civil war would eventually be brought on, which ought at all times to be avoided, if possible ; but more especially at the present, as we have 132 JOHN SEVIER. great reason to apprehend a general Indian war. If the Northern and Southern tribes should unite with your Cherokee neighbors, you will stand in need, they think, of all your force, and therefore recommend unanimity among you, if it can by any means be effected, as you thereby will be much more able to defend yourselves than you possibly can be when divided, let alone the circumstance of cutting each other’s throats. Besides these [considerations], it would be impracticable to raise an armed force here to be sent to your assistance at this time, if we were ever so much disposed thereto, for the following reasons : The people in general are now en- gaged in their farming business, and, if brought out, would very reluctantly march ; there is no money in the treasury to defray the expenses of such as might be called out ; nor, in fact, have we arms or ammuni- tion.” This letter affords proof that, if Sevier, even single- handed, had then chosen to resist North Carolina by armed force, he would have been successful. There were those about him who well understood this weakness of North Carolina, and who urged him to put down the malcontents by a strong arm, feeling sure that the “ mother-State ” could offer no resistance. There were others who advised the same course, but who hoped North Carolina would resist, as in that case the entire West would rally around Sevier, with the result of secur- ing the independence of the trans- Alleghany region and the opening of the Mississippi, not through a league with QUAKER GUNS. 133 Spain, but in defiance of that power, which they would speedily drive into the Gulf of Mexico. There can be no question that a large majority of the people of Franklin entertained at this time the one or the other of these views, and now urged Sevier to extinguish by force all resist- ance to his authority. The pressure upon him must have been great, but he stood firmly by his original reso- lution. “I will,” he said in effect, “constrain no man to maintain the Franklin government. If the people support it, it will stand ; if they do not support it, it will fall. Not in any case will I consent to establish it by shedding the blood of my neighbors or my country- men.” But, though he refused to resort to force, Sevier again attempted to bring about a peaceable settlement with North Carolina. All his direct overtures had failed, and he now sought the intervention of Georgia, with whose Governor he had been in frequent correspondence in re- lation to the expected Indian uprising, and where he had many friends among the best citizens. Among these, the Hon. William Downs had just written him: “I have had the opinion of a number of the greatest poli- ticians in our State respecting yours, who give it as their opinion that it will support itself without a doubt ; and, from what I can understand, they would give every assistance in their power.” Of this feeling Sevier now proceeded to avail himself by dispatching Major Elholm to the Governor to solicit his good offices in bringing about an adjustment of the difficulty with North Caro- 134 JOHN SEVIER, lina. He closes His letter to him with this paragraph : “ Permit us to inform you that it is not the sword that can intimidate us. The rectitude of our cause, our local situation, together with the spirit and enterprise of our countrymen in such a cause, would inflame us with con- fidence and hopes of success. But when we call to mind the great number of internal and external enemies to American Independence, it makes us shudder at the very idea of such an incurable evil, not knowing where the disorder might lead, or what part of the body politic the ulcer might at last infect.” Both the Governor and the Legislature of Georgia took prompt measures to further Sevier’s views ; but, be- fore any result could be arrived at, a general revolution occurred in the sentiment of the Franklin people, which, considering the bitter feeling previously existing toward North Carolina, seems altogether surprising. It was brought about by a few kindly words from a man in whom the Franklin people had confidence ; and it illus- trates the fact that the “soft answer which turneth away wrath” is far more potent with reasoning men than swords and bayonets and brass artillery. These few words were contained in a printed sheet, which, in com- pliance with Anthony Bledsoe’s suggestion, Governor Caswell addressed to the inhabitants of the western counties. The document accomplished such important results that its principal portions are here given : The Governor addressed the people as “friends and fellow-citizens,” and then went on to say that a dis- QUAKER GUNS. 135 orderly state of affairs had been reported to him, in consequence of which “sundry good citizens have been induced to signify to Government their apprehension of being obliged to have recourse to arms. And notwith- standing the behavior of some of the refractory might justify such a measure, yet I am willing to hope that, upon reflection and due consideration of the conse- quences which must ensue in case of the shedding of blood among yourselves, a moment’s thought must evince the necessity of mutual friendship and the ties of brotherly love being strongly cemented among you. You have, or shortly will have, if my information is well grounded, enemies to deal with which will require this cement to be more strong than ever ; your whole force may become necessary to be exerted against the common enemy, as it is more than probable they may be assisted by the subjects of some foreign power — if not publicly, they will furnish arms and ammunition to the Indian tribes, to be made use of against you ; and when your neighbors are so supported and assisted by the Northern and Southern Indians, if you should be so un- happy as to be divided among yourselves, what may you not then apprehend and dread ? Let me entreat you to lay aside your party disputes. They have been as I con- ceive, and believe yet will be, if continued, of very great disadvantage to your public as well as private concerns. While these disputes last, Government will want that energy which is necessary to support her laws and civilize ; in place of which, anarchy and confusion 136 JOHN SEVIER. will be prevalent, and, of course, private interest will suffer. “It certainly would be sound policy in you, for other reasons, to unite. The General Assembly has told you that, whenever your wealth and numbers so much in- crease as to make a separation necessary, they will be willing the same shall take place upon friendly and re- ciprocal terms. Is there an individual in your country who does not look forward in expectation of such a day arriving ? If that is the case, must not every thinking man believe that this separation will be soonest and most effectually obtained by unanimity ? Let that carry you to a quiet submission to the laws of North Carolina till your numbers will justify a general application ; and then I have no doubt but the same may be obtained — nay, it is my opinion that it may be obtained at an ear- lier date than some imagine, if unanimity prevail among you. Although this is an official letter, you will readily see that it is dictated by a friendly and pacific mind. Don’t neglect my advice on that account. . . . “I will conclude by once more entreating you to consider the dreadful calamities and consequences of a civil war. Humanity demands this of me ; your own good sense will point out the propriety of it ; at least, let all animosities and disputes subside till the next Assem- bly ; even let things remain as they are, without pursu- ing compulsory measures till then, and I flatter myself that honorable body will be disposed to do what is just and right, and what sound policy may dictate.” QUAKER GUNS. 13 ? The friendly spirit seen in this manifesto was as oil poured upon troubled waters. It stilled the public ex- citement, and, their passions once allayed, men began to reflect coolly upon the situation. The State of North Carolina granted nothing and exacted everything, and its selfish rule had become intolerable. Many of its ad- herents were social nuisances, the natural enemies of law and order, and there could be no peace so long as they were in the ascendency. But was it wise to resort to one evil to suppress another, to resist law, that they might establish good order ? The Governor had now distinctly said that unanimity and a little patient wait- ing would secure the desired separation ; and was it not better to adopt this course than to incur the horrors of civil war ? And, meanwhile, might they not put down the disorderly demagogues who were disturbing the peace, by going to the polls and electing to office men who would correctly represent the whole community ? A large majority of the stanchest friends of the new government now came to this conclusion, and the con- sequence was that within sixty days the State of Frank- lin went quietly, and without a struggle, out of exist- ence. In adopting this course the western people would at first sight appear to have avoided one danger only to rush upon another, and the danger they most feared — exposure to the expected attack from the Creeks and Cherokees, with none to lead them but the incompetent officers set over them by North Carolina. But their de- 338 JOHN SEVIER. cision to loyally accept the rule of that State was made with an important mental reservation. Their submission was intended to extend merely to civil affairs. In mili- tary matters they should act for themselves, and choose their own leaders. In this they deemed themselves justi- fied by the law of self-preservation, and to this North Carolina could certainly take no exception, if it should be the means of defending the country against her own and their enemies. No public announcement was made of this ; but when Evan Shelby came to enroll his bri- gade, to be in readiness for the expected savage on- slaught, he discovered that not above five hundred men out of a total of more than four thousand answered to his summons. The rest would have no leader but Noli- chucky Jack, for under no one else could they be assured of victory. This appears the more striking, when it is considered that Sevier was now merely a private citizen, not only without legal authority, but actually proscribed, because he had neglected to make overt submission to North Carolina. Nevertheless it was so, as was clearly shown late in June of this year, when a report came that the Creeks had made a raid into Georgia, killing no less than twenty-five families. The attack was regarded as the beginning of the threatened war, and Sevier called at once for volunteers to be ready to march on the demand of the Georgians. Every man was to arm and equip himself, and they were to march some five hundred miles through a trackless forest, and into the heart of the QUAKER GUNS. 139 Creek country ; but at a single summons three thousand men reported themselves ready for duty to their respect- ive brigadiers, Cocke and Kennedy.* No call came from the Georgia Governor, and the report proved to be un- founded ; but the incident illustrated how completely Sevier held in hand nearly the entire military strength of the Territory. Unwilling to see another general, and he a private citizen, thus in command of his own depart- ment, Evan Shelby at once resigned — an unfortunate occurrence, inasmuch as it set over the North Carolina troops the same Joseph Martin who had concocted the treaty of Hopewell. The country continued in hourly expectation of an outbreak of hostilities until the middle of August, when word came from Robertson that the long-meditated blow was to fall first upon the settlements along the Cumber- land. It had been reported to him by the Chickasaws that at a grand council of the Creeks, held shortly be- fore, it had been determined to fall upon and extermi- nate the Nashville settlers, and it was expected the Cherokee nation would join in the attack. Robertson was short of ammunition, and uuprepared for an on- slaught from such overpowering numbers. He had asked North Carolina for aid, but Governor Caswell had writ- ten that he was unable to give any ; he had also applied to Kentucky, but feared he should get none from there * Letter from General Kennedy to Governor Mathews, of Georgia, June 29, 17S7. JOHN SEVIER. 140 in time. He knew that the Franklin government had been overthrown, and he was apprehensive that Sevier was in no condition to help him, nevertheless he wrote to him : “I beg of yon to use your influence to relieve us. I think it might be done by fixing a station near the mouth of Elk, or by marching a body of men into the Cherokee country, or — in any manner you may judge beneficial. I candidly assure you there never was a time when I imagined we were in more danger.”* Only five days subsequent to the receipt of Robert- son’s letter, Sevier received one from Anthony Bledsoe, which stated that small parties of Creeks and Chickh- maugas were already marauding through the Cumber- land settlements, stealing horses, and killing the peace- able inhabitants, who were deserting their homes and fleeing to the forts for protection. The only way, he said, that peace could be assured to his distressed coun- try was by distressing the Chickamaugas ; and he re- minded Sevier that, when he had last seen him, Sevier had proposed to send without delay an expedition against that perfidious tribe should they again attack the Cum- berland settlers, of which he had requested Bledsoe to notify him.f Sevier did not need this reminder to secure his prompt action. He at once called for six hundred vol- * James Robertson to John Sevier, Nashville, August 1, 1787. t Letter from A. Bledsoe to John Sevier, dated Sumner County, August 5, 1787. QUAKER GUNS. 141 unteers, two hundred of whom he dispatched, under Captain Nathaniel Evans, to the immediate relief of Robertson ; the remainder, under competent officers, he ordered to the mouth of Elk River, to build there a fort, and intercept any parties of Chickamaugas who might attempt to go upon the war-path. The timely arrival of the troops under Evans, with the ammunition they supplied, enabled Robertson to beat off the present attack ; and the sudden appearance of the other force in the Indian country prevented any further irruptions of the savages. The Chickamaugas regarded this force as merely the advance of a larger one, which “ ’Chucky Jack” would lead against them in case they or the Creeks made any further hostile movement, and in fear of this both nations suspended hostilities until a stronger coalition should be effected. By the compact between Sevier and Evan Shelby the people were at liberty to pay taxes to either government at their option. The result was that, as a general thing, they paid them to neither, and consequently the treas- ury of Franklin was at this time empty. But money was required for the fitting out of these expeditions, and also to fully equip the force which was intended to be marched into the Creek country ; for, though every backwoodsman had his own rifle and hunting-knife, all were not provided with such an outfit as was required upon protracted expeditions. Sevier had been a man of large wealth for the times, and, ever since the first settlement of the country, he had stood in the gap in 142 JOHN SEVIER, all similar emergencies, contributing liberally of his means to equip his men, and often having hundreds of them at free quarters upon his plantation. For all this he had never received any compensation from the govern- ment, and the consequence of his exceeding liberality was that he came out of the Revolution stripped of all his property, except his home, and the necessary force of negroes to work his plantation. But he had that “good name” which, even in commercial circles, is “better than great riches.” He had now only to pledge this, to finish the equipment of his volunteer forces. This he did, wisely or unwisely, and the consequence Was that, though he saved his friend Robertson, he put himself in the power of his inveterate enemy, John Tipton. It was when he was thus arming troops without au- thority of law, and branded as a rebel by the Legislature of North Carolina, that Sevier received from the first military men of the time the highest honor which was in their power to bestow. Without solicitation on his part, he was elected a member of the Order of the Cin- cinnati, a society composed of the most distinguished officers of the Revolution, of which Washington was president-general to the close of his life, and to which none were admitted but men of high standing and un- sullied record. Their estimate of Sevier will appear from the report of the committee which passed upon his nomination. “He had,” they said, “a principal merit in the rapid and well-conducted volunteer expedition to QUAKER GUNS. 143 attack Colonel Ferguson, at King’s Mountain, and a great share in the honor of that day, which, it is well known, gave a favorable turn to our gloomy and dis- tressed situation ; and an opportunity never yet appeared but what confessed him an ardent friend and real gen- tleman.” At this time, also, letters poured in upon him from many eminent men, advising him as to his course, and expressing the hope that he would be able to extricate himself and the western settlers from the difficulties by ■which they were surrounded. Among these, Benjamin Franklin wrote him fx-equently, but only one of his let- ters has escaped the ravages of our recent civil war. It is so characteristic, has so much of the “ homely wisdom of Poor Richard,” that such portions as bear upon the subject of this history are here copied. He said: “ There are two things which humanity induces me to wish you may succeed in — the accommodating your mis- understanding with the government of North Carolina, and the avoiding an Indian war by preventing encroach- ments on their lands. Such encroachments are the more unjustifiable, as these people, in the fair way of pur- chase, usually give very good bargains ; and, in one year’s war with them, you may suffer a loss of prop- erty, and be put to an expense, vastly exceeding in value what would have contented them in fairly buying the lands they can spare. “. . . If anything should occur to me that I think may be useful to you, you shall hear from me thereupon. 144 JOHN SEVIER. I conclude with repeating my wish that you may ami- cably settle your difference with North Carolina. The inconvenience to your people, attending so remote a seat of government, and the difficulty to that government in ruling well so remote a people, would, I think, be power- ful inducements to it to accede to any fair and reason- able proposition it may receive from you if the cession act had not passed.” Dr. Franklin did not know the Cherokee Indians, nor the element then in control of the Legislature of North Carolina. Had he known them, he might have questioned the possibility of sustaining peaceable rela- tions with the savages, or of effecting an amicable settle- ment with the scarcely more civilized “ sand-hillers ” over the mountains. But, though submission was general in the district contiguous to North Carolina, the more westerly coun- ties continued to hold a divided allegiance — two classes of officials acting peaceably side by side, and a majority of the people still regarding and addressing Sevier as Governor, though he appears to have no longer in any manner exercised the authority of that position. This divided allegiance did not meet the views of Mr. John Tipton, who now was the principal representative of North Carolina in the settlements. In Greene County particularly the people were obstinate in their adhesion to the new State, clinging even to its corpse after all vitality had left it, and Tipton essayed to restore the old order of things by resorting to his original expedient of QUAKER GUNS. 145 capturing the records. He made the attempt in the latter part of August, and, but for the timely interven- tion of Sevier, the consecpiences would have been dis- astrous to himself. The incident is related in a letter to Major Elholm from General Cocke,* who was a resident of Greene County. The letter was as follows : “ Colonel Tipton appeared the other day with a party of about fifty men — of such as he could raise — under a pretense of redressing a quarrel that had arisen between our sheriff and the sheriff of North Carolina, though their principal view was to put themselves in possession of our records. This conduct produced a rapid report that they had made a prisoner of his Excellency, to carry him to North Carolina, which caused two hundred men to repair immediately to the house of Colonel Tip- ton before they became sensible of the mistake ; and it was only through the influence of his Excellency that the opposite party did not fall a sacrifice to our Franks. During this time a body of about fifteen hundred vet- erans embodied themselves to rescue (as they thought) their Governor out of the hands of the North Caro- linians, and bring him back to the mountains — an in- stance that proves our citizens to have too noble a spirit to yield to slavery, or to relish a national in- sult.” * “ Columbian Magazine,” for November, 1 '787. 11 146 JOHN SEVIER. This incident appears to have warned Tipton of the danger attending a continued resort to violent measures. The consequence was that he desisted from any further acts of open hostility, and resorted to secret -craft to accomplish what he most desired — the overthrow of Se- vier, and his own ascendency over the people, which last, he thought, could not be achieved so long as their beloved Nolichucky Jack was in the Territory. In this he reckoned without foundation, for the great majority were order-loving and law-abiding, and would, in no circumstances, have accepted Tipton as their leader. The masses — those whom Mr. Lincoln styled ‘•the plain, common people” — are everywhere won- derfully clearsighted, and readily distinguish the un- selfish patriot from the self-seeking, ambitious dema- gogue. Therefore, though the war-cloud still hung black and ominous over all the border, there was peace now throughout the scattered settlements. Except in the most westerly districts, the people everywhere submitted to the rule of North Carolina, in hopes thereby to bring about the separation which Governor Caswell had pro- claimed would no doubt soon result from unanimity among them. The great majority were as ardently de- sirous of independence as when they organized the State of Franklin ; and, the North Carolina Legislature hav- ing come together in November, Sevier determined to make still another effort to effect an adjustment of the differences with the “mother-State.” Heretofore he QUAKER GUNS. 147 had appealed to her reason and her sense of right and expediency ; now he decided to approach her on her most vulnerable side — the watchfully guarded State treasury. He commissioned Colonel Francis A. Eamsey, his late Secretary of State, to wait upon the Legislature, and propose, as an inducement to separation, the as- sumption by Franklin of the entire Continental debt of North Carolina, then amounting to between four and five million dollars. Colonel Eamsey was the father of the venerable historian of Tennessee, and the latter, even in extreme old age, was one of the most eloquent men I ever listened to. If eloquence be hereditary, Colonel Eamsey must have possessed remarkable powers of per- suasion ; but he failed to persuade these legislators. For months, however, they nibbled at the glittering bait, and there were times when the colonel thought it would be taken ; but at last they told him that they bad de- cided to stay, for the present, out of the Union, and, while they did so, they could not consent to the ces- sion of any portion of their territory to the United States. Meanwhile, Georgia had tired of the repeated out- rages of the Creeks upon her western settlers, and its Governor had written Sevier: “The Assembly of this State are now fully persuaded that they never can have a secure and lasting peace with the Creek Indians till they are well chastised and made to feel severely the effects of war. They have passed a law for raising three thousand men for that purpose, and have em- 148 JOHN SEVIER. powered tlie Executive to call for fifteen hundred men from Franklin, in addition to that number.” This letter was dated Augusta, November 12, 1787, and was forwarded by a special messenger ; but he had a horseback-ride of three hundred miles through the woods, and did not reach Sevier till the 28th of that month. Two hundred of Sevier’s men were still away with Robertson, and four hundred more were yet posted on the Tennessee, at the mouth of Elk River, but without a moment’s delay he issued a circular calling for fifteen hundred to go to the aid of Georgia. In it he said : “ I think to take the field once more”; and he offered his men “the honor of assisting a very generous and friendly sister State to conquer and chastise an insolent and bar- barous savage nation.” He closed by saying : “I hope, after seeing the great notice and respect shown us by the State of Georgia, in her application for our assistance, and the high confidence they place in our spirit and bravery, that the people here will be animated with the idea that, like a young officer who first enters the field, they are competent, by their bravery and merit, to make themselves known and respected among the nations of the world. ... We have not large cities and sea-ports, which generally sink men into wealth and luxury, by which means their offspring dwindle into effeminacy and dissipation, yet I hope we shall always remain as happy, free, and independent as any other people ; if not, sure I am it will be our own fault, and we ought never to be pitied.” QUAKER GUNS. 149 The circular has a clear, metallic ring, like that of steel upon flint, and it struck fire from the hearts of the backwoods people. Within four days fifteen hundred men came together, armed and equipped, and ready for a march of four or five hundred miles into the mount- ains of Georgia. Such magic was there in the words of Nolichuckv Jack, he merely a private citizen ; and, in fact, not so much as that, for at that very moment the Legislature of North Carolina had passed an “Act of Pardon and Oblivion ” for all who had taken part in the Franklin revolt, but distinctly provided “ that the bene- fit of this act shall not entitle John Sevier to the enjoy- ment of any office of profit, or honor, or trust, in the State of North Carolina, but that he be expressly de- barred therefrom.” Thus did North Carolina thrust into outlawry the very man who, in the darkest hour of her history, had saved her from destruction ! Again, the men did not march on the Georgia sum- mons, because that State decided to suspend warlike operations in consequence of the appointment of com- missioners by Congress to conclude a treaty with the Creek Indians. Considerable time was consumed in the negotiation, and meanwhile Sevier’s men returned to their homes, to there await his call should there be an outbreak of hostilities. Soon tidings came from over the mountains of the outlawry of Sevier, and the failure of his final effort to bring about a separation of Franklin from North Caro- 150 JOHN SEVIER. lina. The news speedily reached the Cherokees, who now concluded that they could make their long-intended raid on the settlers south of the French Broad and Holston without interference from Nolichucky Jack and his rifle- men. Fear of him had held them inactive, while settlers had been thrusting forward their cabins to the extreme southern boundary of the lands ceded to Franklin. By the treaty of Hopewell, the intruding settlers were “liable to be punished by the Indians, as they might think proper,” and, having thus a legal right to rob and murder at their discretion, the Cherokees now prepared for an overwhelming onslaught upon these exposed set- tlements. Tidings of these preparations were at once con- veyed to Sevier, and without an hour’s delay he mounted his horse and set out for the frontier. He was on the borders of Greene County, concerting measures to repel the expected invasion, when word came to him that his inveterate enemy, Tipton, had taken advan- tage of his absence to attach his property for the debt he had contracted in fitting out the expedition for the relief of Robertson. Either by buying up these claims, or by inducing their holders to take summary action, Tipton had secured a levy upon Sevier’s negroes, and removed them to his own house in waiting for their sale under execution. Without his field-hands, Sevier would be unable to work his plantation ; and thus, while denied the common rights of citizenship, he was about to be de- prived of the means of sustaining his family. Stung QUAKER GUNS. 151 by such implacable enmity, and indignant at so high- handed an outrage, he listened to the fiery spirits about him, and determined to return to his home and forcibly recover his property. About a hundred and fifty of his men volunteered to accompany him, and with them he set out at once for the house of Tipton, more than a hundred miles distant. Sevier always moved with great celerity, but on this occasion the tidings of his approach preceded him. News travels with amazing rapidity in sections destitute of mail and telegraphic facilities ; but it is probable that Tipton had placed spies with Sevier to give him timely notice of his movements. However this may have been, he had sufficient warning of Sevier’s approach to call to his aid fifteen of his friends, and to dispatch a messenger to Colonel Maxwell, asking him to come to his assistance with the regiment of Sullivan County. Tipton’s house was located on the bank of a small creek flowing into the Watauga, about eight miles east of Jonesboro, and, like most of the better class of backwoods dwellings of the period, was substantially a fort, capable, when properly manned, of resisting attack from greatly superior num- bers. A similar structure, defended by only the num- ber of men who were now with Tipton, a few years later, successfully resisted, in the vicinity of Nashville, an assault from seven hundred savages. It was a cold day, late in February, when Sevier with his one hundred and fifty men, and a piece of small ord- nance, arrived before this log fortification. Seeing at a 152 JOHN SEVIER. glance that Tipton had prepared for his coming, he placed his men on some low ground out of the reach of Tipton’s rifles, and sent in a summons for the surrender of his negroes, threatening to fire upon the building in case of refusal. To this Tipton returned answer, in the elegant phraseology to which he was accustomed, “Fire and be damned ! ” Cowardice was not one of Tipton’s weaknesses. Major Elholm, who was with Sevier, now proposed to him to erect a movable battery with the small cannon, under cover of which the troops might safely advance and carry the place by assault. To this Sevier gave a prompt refusal, declaring that not a gitn should be fired. But, meanwhile, some of his men, who had posted themselves upon a ledge of rocks in near vicinity to the house, observing a number of persons about to enter the place, did fire upon them, killing one and wounding another. To them Sevier at once sent orders to desist from firing, and to Elholm, who now re- newed his application to storm the building, and offered to lead the assault, he gave a more emphatic refusal, say- ing that he had not come there to kill his country- men. Sevier now attempted to open negotiations with Tip- ton, but the latter refused all communication with him, feeling sure he could hold out until succor should come from Sullivan County, and doubtless anxious to lure Sevier on to an attack which would have placed him in the position of armed insurrection. Thus things remained during the rest of the day, El- QUAKER GUNS. 153 holm repeatedly urging the necessity of an assault before re-enforcements should arrive to Tipton, and Sevier as often refusing to imbrue his hands in the blood of his countrymen. He must have seen that only a prompt exertion of force could accomplish the object of his ex- pedition, but he stood inactive and irresolute. On all other occasions he had been quick to resolve and rapid to execute, and his present indecision shows that he must now have been torn by conflicting emotions — his out- raged feelings as a man struggling with his sense of duty as a patriot and a citizen. This struggle was seen in his demeanor, which was usually of a most winning suavity. He now for the only time in his life was reserved, au- stere, abstracted, and even morose, answering all who addressed him with a curt severity that was entirely con- trary to his custom. Cii’cu instances had forced him into a false position, and his loyal nature rebelled at the thought of thus appearing to be at the head of insur- gents ready to engage in a fratricidal warfare. But his duty as a patriot overcame his pride as a soldier, his ob- ligations as a citizen his outraged feelings as a man. With present outlawry and future ruin staring him in the face, he resolutely said, “Hot a shot shall be fired.” Dr. Bamsey truly says that in no other instance did he give “ a livelier exhibition of the true moral sublime of patriotism. ” The feelings of the commander seemed to infect the spirits of the men. They, too, had not come out to im- brue their hands in the blood of their friends and coun- 15 ± JOHN SEVIER. trymen. Some reckless spirits were among them, but much the greater number had no relish for the turn affairs had taken. The night was cold and dark, and they gathered in silence about their camp-fires, or if they spoke it was in suppressed voices. They had followed Sevier on many a campaign, and always before, when the sentries were posted for the night, they had collected in joyous groups and passed the hours in merry laugh, and song and jest, unrestrained by the presence of their com- mander, who nightly made the rounds from mess to mess, joining in their hilarity, and addressing each one as if he had been his intimate companion. It was thus that Sevier made himself the comrade, friend, and idol of his soldiery. They looked for his coming as soon as he had seen for himself that the sentinels were in their proper positions. But this night he did not come. lie sat by his camp-fire in moody silence, gazing abstractedly into the blaze, and even the vivacity of his friend El- holm failed to arouse him. He gave no orders, suggested no plan, made no preparation for either attack or de- fense. All through the night he sat there, absorbed in his own reflections. What those reflections were it is not difficult to conjecture, for we know the man and his self- sacrificing history. Did he not think of his many years of unselfish devotion to his country, of the wealth he had poured out like water in its service, of the many weary marches he had made, the battles he had fought, the deadly perils he had encountered, to give it peace and freedom ? And all for what ? To be driven forth QUAKER GUNS. 155 from the soil he had conquered, and the peace he had won, a penniless man and an outlaw ! And then, per- haps, other thoughts came to him. Might he not yet retrieve his fortunes ? This man Maxwell, who was com- ing against him, would in his hands be but as a child in the grasp of a giant. Having crushed him, might he not sound the border slogan, rally the whole West to his side, and in one day dismember the country which had so un- gratefully requited his unselfish fidelity ? Doubtless he might have done so ; and perhaps such thoughts came to him, for a tempting devil is ever at our ears in our hours of extremest trial. But this devil did not know John Sevier. He might be an outlaw ; he might be a penniless wanderer in the land he loved ; and even worse might yet befall him, for there was no limit to the malice of his enemies ; but through it all he would stand erect and say, as Jackson said at a later period, “I will die in the last ditch before I will see this Union disunited !” Possibly these were his thoughts while he sat there, by his smoldering camp-fire, till far into the cold gray of the winter morning. But suddenly, with the first streak of dawn, there came an explosion of a regiment of rifles ; and, springing upon his horse, Sevier saw his men fleeing like frightened deer in all directions. Then he spurred his horse into the thick-falling snow, and, for the first time in his life, turned his back upon his enemies. A heavy snow-storm had set in at midnight, and to 156 JOHN SEVIER, thaw out their chilled limbs Sevier’s pickets had repaired to the nearest camp-fires. This had allowed Maxwell to approach unperceived, under cover of the snow and the darkness ; aud, unwilling to fire upon Sevier’s troops, he had, when morning dawned, ordered his men to dis- charge their pieces in the air. Sevier’s men aroused thus suddenly from sleep, taken by surprise and unwill- ing to fight, fled without firing a rifle, which ended this Quaker battle. Said Parmenas Taylor, who was one of Maxwell’s men, and subsequently, with. Sevier, one of Governor Blount’s Council : “ We did not go there to fight. Neither party intended to do that. Many on both sides were unarmed, and some who had guns did not even load them. Most of us went to prevent mischief, and did not intend to let the neighbors kill one another. Our men shot into the air, and Sevier’s into the corners of the house. As to the storm of snow keeping the men from taking a sure aim, it is all a mistake. Both sides had the best marks- men in the world, who had often killed a deer, and shot it in the head, too, when a heavier snow was falling. The men did not try to hit anybody. They could easily have done so if they had been enemies.” As Sevier rode away from this bloodless field he was met by messengers from the border, who had been sent to apprise him that the Indians were moving upon the western settlements in great numbers. “In a mo- ment,” says Dr. Ramsey, “Sevier was himself again, elastic, brave, energetic, daring, and patriotic. At the QUAKER GUNS. 157 head of a body of mounted riflemen he was at once upon the frontier to guard aud protect its most defenseless points.” His property was lost, and he was an out- law ; but he had yet a life which he might give to his countrymen. CHAPTER VIIL SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. “ Eight or nine thousand people had crossed the [Holston] river and settled upon lands now within the counties of Greene and Hawkins ; others had crossed the French Broad ; and yet others, not a few, were settled between Clinch River and Cumberland Mountain. All of these were there in violation of the treaty of Hope- well. And yet they were there by treaties with the In- dians, and by connivance and sanction of the State. By Sevier’s treaty at Dumplin Creek these lands were granted to the white people for settlement and homes. The State of North Carolina had issued grants to her citizens to settle upon these lands. Under authorities . and sanctions of this character these thousands of hardy and industrious farmers had gone there ; were busily preparing their homes there. They displaced no Indian, they seized no one’s cabin or field ; they found it an al- most ‘howling wilderness,’ and they hastened to change the whole face of Nature by the opening of farms and building of houses. But now these Indians complain ; they allege that these settlers have trespassed upon In- SEVIER AS A 1ST OUTLAW. 159 dian territory, and demand their expulsion.”* North Carolina listened to these complaints, and, coolly repudi- ating her own official grants and her promises of protec- tion to the settlers, she ordered a portion of these people off the lands they had in good faith occupied. And by a most curious logic she drew a line between them. Those north of the French Broad and Holston she would keep faith with ; those south of those rivers, holding their lands by precisely the same title, she would abandon to the savage mercy provided for them by the treaty of Hopewell. As near as can be ascertained, the people south of those rivers now numbered about three thousand, of whom not far from seven hundred were men inured to frontier life, and expert with the rifle. The country they occu- pied is comprised within the present counties of Blount and Sevier, Tennessee — a most beautiful region, watered by numerous streams, and interspersed with wooded hills and grassy valleys, where vegetation grows in rank luxu- riance, and the soil yields most abundant rewards to the husbandman. All over this delightful region could now be seen the clearings of the white settler. At first a soli- tary cabin went up in the midst of a dense forest ; then other cabins gathered about it, and the whole were in- closed in stout palisades, capable of resisting any small body of Indians. Then far and near the great trees were felled or girdled, the ground was broken up and planted, * Putnam’s “History of Middle Tennessee,” p. 344. 160 JOHN SEVIER. and soon the whole clearing blossomed with the harvest. These places were called “stations.” Not a vestige of one of them at this time remains, but the site of many is indicated by the smiling hamlets and villages that now dot the whole of this enchanting region. Within the walls of these log fortresses the settler made his home ; but of necessity he went forth into the open country to till his fields and care for his cattle. But he never did this without his trusty dog and his rifle beside him. Though nominally at peace with the whites, the Cherokees knew that these people were delivered over to their tender mercy by the treaty of Hopewell. They avoided any attack in considerable numbers, from fear of provoking a conflict with Nolichucky Jack and his rifle- men, but they hung about the stations in small bodies, and never omitted a safe opportunity to commit a theft or do a murder. Hence, when one settler plowed his field, another stood guard over him in some commanding position from which he could observe an ajjproaching enemy. Often were they driven to seek refuge for days within the walls of the stations, and on one or two occa- sions the more exposed were forced to abandon their homes, and fall back for brief periods upon the older set- tlements ; but there never was any permanent ebb in the tide of population. The retreating settler soon returned, re-enforced by other immigrants, and gradually he ex- tended his clearings down those fertile valleys till he be- held the rising smoke of the Cherokee wigwams on the spot where, time out of mind, had been the great council- SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 161 house of the nation. And even here only force had stayed the settler's steps, for he belonged to a race which has no watchword but “Forward!” whose en- croaching spirit is one of the instrumentalities by which Providence is girdling the globe with law and civil- ization. In consequence of these encroachments the whole of that wide district had now become one broad battle-field, where the white man had met the red, and both had gone down to a swift destruction. The traveler to-day will scarcely come upon a spring, or a ford, or a wooded path among the hills in all that region, which had not, at the time whereof I am writing, been the scene of some savage atrocity, or some heroic exploit of the white settler battling for his home and the lives of his wife and children. So long as the State of Franklin existed, the conflict had not been so very unequal ; but that State was now dissolved, and these settlers — abandoned by North Carolina and outlawed by the General Govern- ment — were left a mere handful of seven hundred, to cope with twelve thousand infuriated savages, who now, in overpowering numbers, were said to be moving down upon them. But the settlers were not altogether aban- doned, for Nolichucky Jack was hastening to their rescue. He rode almost alone, a proscribed and penni- less man, bringing nothing but the sword he carried and the horse he bestrode ; but in his very name there was terror to these savages. So the settlers took heart as they gathered behind, their log walls, and listened for the 12 162 JOHN SEVIER. rapid tread of horses’ feet which should announce his coming. Sevier rode almost alone, for his designs had become known, and — to employ his own words — his “ enemies were making use of every diabolical plan in their power” to balk his intention of giving succor to the threatened settlers. As has been mentioned, Joseph Martin, the concocter of the treaty of Hopewell, had succeeded General Shelby in command of the troops acting under North Carolina. He relished no better than Shelby the holding of a divided command — the acting as geueral of a skeleton brigade, while a mere private citizen held con- trol of the actual military strength of the district. It was not for this that he had plotted the overthrow of Sevier, nor would his ambition be satisfied with the mere shadow without the substance of authority. He had been appointed to Sevier’s position, hut lie- could not fill it without gaining over to himself Sevier’s followers, and driving their beloved leader from the Territory. He was subtle, sleek, and sinuous ; and burrowing under- ground seems to have been the mode to which he natu- rally resorted to attain his objects. And, indeed, in no other way could he accomplish his present purpose, for Sevier was so firmly rooted in the affections of the peo- ple that any open assault upon him would surely recoil upon himself, as it had upon Tipton, whose friends were fewer now than at the beginning. Martin’s plans were furthered by the fact that there had arisen “a new king in Egypt, who knew not SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 163 Joseph ” — Governor Caswell having been succeeded by Samuel Johnston, a worthy man, but wholly ignorant of western affairs, and only anxious to end the discontent in the speediest manner possible. From him Martin secured permission to remove all the militia officers lately appointed by North Carolina, with the sole excep- tion of the colonels — Tipton, Maxwell, and Hutchins — and to reinstate in their places Sevier’s captains, or such others as might be elected by the men themselves. This was restoring the old organization, excepting only its head, Sevier; and Martin counted confidently upon thereby gaining full control of the military strength of the Territory. It was, in truth, a master-stroke of policy ; but it failed for lack of co-operation on the part of Sevier’s captains. Those scarred veterans looked askance at the brand-new parchments which greeted them by their old titles. They had probably never heard of the play of “Hamlet” with the part of Hamlet omit- ted ; but they put the same thought into their vernacular language, and said to one another, “Who can ride the bay mare but our old commander ?” Having said this, they tossed the parchments aside, and thought no more of General Martin. This was the condition of affairs when, on the even- ing of March 15, 1788, Sevier rode into the little town of Greeneville, on his rapid way to the border. Though the county-seat of Greene County, and the recent capital of the State of Franklin, Greeneville was then not much of a town. It was merely a score of log-cabins, clustered 164 JOHN SEVIER. around a court-liouse also of logs, and without windows, or other than a single opening, in which hung a plank door on stout wooden hinges. Opposite to this imposing temple of justice was a log-cabin somewhat larger than the rest, and having before it, perched upon a tall pole, a huge sign — a yellow sun rising over red mountains, and casting its mellow rays upon the name of “Thomas Hughes, Innkeeper.” Beneath this sign, and beyond the rays of the aforesaid rising sun, was a smaller board, which announced to all comers, “Entertainment for Man and Beast,” at the moderate rate of “one shilling for diet, fourpence for lodging, sixpence for pasture and stable, eightpence for corn per gallon, and sixpence per half-pint for liquor.” There being eight shillings in a North Carolina dollar, it will be seen from these “tavern rates” that any one with but a moderate supply of legal currency could then take his ease in a backwoods inn for an almost indefinite period. Before this rude hostelry Sevier now alighted with the one hundred and fifty men who had followed him from "Washington County, and here he was met by a number of his captains, who apprised him of the new tactics which Martin had adopted, and of a report, every- where industriously circulated, that any officer or man serving under him was to be expressly outlawed by North Carolina. Sevier heard the tidings without emotion, for he was a man who took Fortune’s ordinary “buffets and rewards with equal thanks” ; but instantly he decided to give all the aid he could to the designs of his enemy. As SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 165 soon as his men had somewhat refreshed themselves he called them all about him, and dispatched nearly the whole troop in various directions to call his old captains together for a conference upon the ensuing Friday. The emergency, he said, was pressing ; every man must turn out, for he conceived the settlements to be in imminent danger. They came, to the number of about three hundred — nearly all of Sevier’s late subalterns — clad in linsey leg- gins and buckskin hunting-shirts, and mounted on fleet horses, every man having his sword by his side, his pistols or hunting-knife in his belt, and his trusty rifle slung to the pommel of his saddle. They were all of stalwart frame, strong and wiry, with bronzed faces, resolute looks, and a certain cool and dauntless bearing, which showed them familiar with battle and with victory. Such another body of men it would have been hard to find even in those days, and west of the Alleghanies. One glance at them was enough to account for Sevier's amazing exploits in border warfare ; and the greeting they gave him proclaimed that, though now a proscribed and branded man, Nolichucky Jack was still the un- crowned king of the backwoods. It was early March, and the morning was cold, but no building in the little town would hold the concourse, so they gathered in the open air, under the great trees which grew about the court-house. Each man upon his horse, they ranged themselves in silence, sevei’al men deep, around Sevier and Cocke and Kennedy, till they 166 JOHN SEVIER. formed a circle, in the center of which were the three generals, and on the circumference the hundred and fifty men who had shared in the recent bloodless battle. Kennedy was the first to speak. Briefly he explained the situation — the service offered by Martin, the out- lawry threatened by North Carolina. Each man was free to do as he pleased ; but, as for him, he had fought and bled with his general, and, let North Carolina do her worst, he should not desert his old commander. The feel- ing in his words found a responsive chord in the breast of every man present, and at once there went up a shout from every throat that rang through the old woods and was echoed back from the distant mountains. Then the men crowded more closely around their leader, each one with some expression of unwavering devotion. Sevier was a man of the keenest sensibilities, and he must have felt deeply these tokens of attachment. It is said that he sat his horse for some time in silence, and that when he spoke his speech had none of his usual rapid and energetic utterance. He thanked the men for their devotion to him, and he hoped the time would soon come when he might again lead them against the enemy ; but now, it was better that they should part. They were in the presence of a peril greater than any which had yet confronted the settlements, and division in the country might be attended with disastrous consequences ; therefore, it was his wish that each man should accept the commission offered him by North Carolina, rejoin and recruit his company, and make his men ready for SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 167 the struggle that was impending. He himself, with the few who were with him, would go on to the frontier, where the French Broad settlers, without hope of other aid than his, were threatened with speedy extermination. However, he knew the border settlers, and he had confi- dence that with them he could beat off the Cherokees. If the Creeks should rise, Georgia would call for volunteers, and then, as he was a general in the army of that State, his old comrades might again serve under him without violating any law whatever. How, it was best that every man should return to his home, and quietly submit to the rule of North Carolina. As for himself, his first duty was to stand by the French Broad settlers. That done, some way would be opened by which he might be of further service to his country. The sky over his head was now dark, but the sun was in the heavens, and it might rise unclouded on the morrow. This is the substance of what Sevier said to his offi- cers, when denied so much as a single volunteer by North Carolina. Even then he could have rallied the whole West to his support ; but he preferred to send his men to their homes, and to go himself, almost alone, to meet, with but a handful, a whole nation of savages. If this is ambition, then is it ambition that would lift a more ordinary man than Sevier to the altitude of a hero. The men knew their leader, and his tone and manner convinced them that he had taken an irrevocable resolu- tion ; so they attempted neither remonstrance nor en- treaty, but with moistened eyes and quivering lips they 168 JOHN SEVIER. gathered about him, each one to say some last word at parting. One after another he took them by the hand, and then without another word he waved his sword to his hundred and fifty men, and turned his horse’s head to the westward. Among the troop that followed him were some of his old officers who were resolved to share his fortunes, whatever they might he. Among these were Kennedy, his recent brigadier ; Cozby, one of his oldest subalterns ; Hubbard, the slayer of Untoola ; and Evans, who had left his company of two hundred with Robertson, and hurried over the Cumberland Mountain as soon as he heard of the misfortunes of his old com- mander. Others were moving out from the circle in front of the court-house when Sevier halted his horse, and, turning to them, asked that none should attempt to follow him. Thereupon Kennedy requested that he might go on to see if more force were not needed at the front ; if it were not, he would at once return and accept the colonel’s commission already tendered him by North Carolina. This Kennedy said and did ; but the others said nothing — Cozby and Evans, because they had resolved not to leave their old leader ; Hub- bard, because being with Sevier he would be the sooner within rifle-shot of the Cherokees.* Of this gathering Martin soon heard, and about it he wrote to the Governor of North Carolina as follows: He dates his letter “ Long Island (near the junction of * From conversations with Dr. Ramsey. SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 169 the North and South Forks of the Holston) 24th March, 1788.” In it he says : “ Sir : The confusion of this country induces me to lay before your Excellency, by express, our present situa- tion, which is truly alarming. I sent, on Saturday last, to Sevier and his party, requiring them to lay down their arms, and submit to the laws of North Carolina, but can get no answer, only from Colonel Joseph Hardin, which I forward ; though I know that on Friday last they met in convention, to concert some plan. The bearer of my express to them informs me that he understood that Sevier had gone toward the French Broad since the 10th instant ; that Colonel Kennedy, with several others, had gone the same way to carry on an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, which, I am well assured, wish to be at peace — except the Chickamauga party, which could be easily driven out of that country if your Excellency should recommend it. I am somewhat doubtful that Sevier and his party are embodying, under the color of an Indian expedition, to amuse us, and that their real object is to make an attack on the citizens of this State ; to prevent which, I have ordered the different colonels to have their men in good order, until I can hear from your Excellency ; at which time, I hope, you will give me directions in what manner to proceed in this uncommon and critical situation, for which I shall wait till the return of the express before I shall take any decisive steps. 170 JOHN SEVIER. “Should the Franks still persist to oppose the laws of this State, would it not be well to order General McDowell to give some assistance — as a few men from there will convince them that North Carolina is deter- mined to protect her citizens ? ” Three days only prior to dispatching this letter to Governor Johnston, this same Martin wrote to General Kennedy as follows : “I am greatly distressed and alarmed at the late pro- ceedings of our countrymen and friends, and must b'eg your friendly interposition, in order to bring about a reconciliation, which, you well know, was my object in accepting the brigadier’s commission. I am, perhaps, as little afraid of stepping forth in the field of action as any other man ; but I would be sorry to imbrue my hands in the blood of my countrymen and friends, and will take every method in my power to prevent anything of that nature. In our present situation, nothing will do but a submission to the laws of North Carolina, which I most earnestly recommend to the people. You well know this is the only way to bring about a separation, and also a reconciliation for our worthy friend [Sevier], whose situation at this time is very disagreeable. I most sensibly feel for him, and will go very great lengths to serve him. Pray see him often, and give him all the comfort you can. “I am told that a certain officer [Tipton] says that SEYIEE AS AN OUTLAW. 171 if I issue an order for a reconciliation, that it shall not be obeyed ; but I shall let that gentleman know I am not to be trifled with. Pray write me all what the people will do, and whether you will accept your commission, which I hope you will. Have the militia immediately officered and prepared for action, as I expect a general Indian war shortly. Please give my best respects to the people in general. Tell them my object is reconciliation, not war.” Hypocrisy is said to be “ the homage that vice pays to virtue.” Of this character was the tribute which this man paid to Sevier. A comparison of the two letters is enough to show his deep duplicity, for in every particular one letter contradicts the other. As subsequent events show, Martin’s sole motive in writing to Kennedy was to detach him from Sevier ; his aim in addressing the Gov- ernor was to prepare that official’s mind for proceeding against the Franklin leader on a charge of high treason ; hence Martin’s insinuation that Sevier was levying troops to attack the citizens — a charge which he must have known to be outrageously false. But, ignorant of these designs of his enemies, Sevier rode rapidly on to Houston’s Station. Every step of his way was an ovation, and, despite his every effort to pre- vent it, before he had crossed the French Broad his troop had been augmented by about a hundred of his old soldiers, who, whether he would or not, insisted upon marching with him against the enemy. But when he 172 JOHN SEVIER. had once forded that river, the people went wild with excitement. They flocked about him wherever he went, strong men weeping, anxious women clasping him in their arms, and little children clinging to his knees — for had he not come to deliver them from a great danger ? Said an old man of ninety-seven to me in 1880 : “ He was a great man, was ’Chucky Jack. I remember him right well, sir. I was a boy of five years when he came across the French Broad to fight the Indians. We all went out to greet him. He shook hands with dad, and gave him some orders, for dad had fit under him ; then he bent over his saddle and kissed mother, and asked dad to lift me up that he might kiss me, too. Dad put me up on the saddle, and ’Chucky Jack took me in his arms, patted me on the head, and said that I should soon grow up to be as brave a man as my father. Ah ! sir, I shall never forget that.” When time had razed about every- thing else from the old man’s brain, and he could no longer recognize even his own children, he vividly re- membered ’Chucky Jack, and his taking him up in his arms and speaking kind words to him ! The Cherokees had not yet appeared in the settle- ments, but the traders had come in, reporting that the whole nation was about to go upon the war-path. The Indians had heard of the overthrow of Sevier, and counted upon an easy conquest of the French Broad set- tlements. That effected, they proposed to move for- ward and drive every settler beyond the Big Pigeon — the eastern limit of their hunting-grounds, as defined SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 173 by the treaty of Hopewell. On arriving at the settle- ments, it was probable they would break into small par- ties, and attack simultaneously every one of the scattered stations. Sevier took his measures accordingly. The weaker stations he ordered to be abandoned, and the people to gather together in the stronger ones. The de- fenses of these were strengthened, and garrisons detailed for them, no man of which was to leave his post except at the call of the commander. He, with a select body of about four hundred men, well mounted, was to stand ready to meet any attack in force, or to invade the In- dian country, as circumstances might dictate. In all previous conflicts, invasion had proved the most effective mode of driving back the enemy. His own wigwam threatened, the Cherokee would leave the settler in peace, and hasten to the defense of his wife and children. The success of such movements depended upon boldness and celerity, but those were the characteristics of Sevier’s warfare. His heaviest blows were always struck in the heart of the enemy’s country, and often when he was en- compassed by twenty times his own numbers. His preparations were now speedily made, and soon the whole region south of the French Broad was a forti- fied camp, in which each man had his post, and every one his allotted duty. Boys of fifteen were enrolled, and even women took to molding bullets and practicing with the rifle. But they were of the “home-guard,” intended to act only in repulsing some determined assault upon the stations. Thus they stood to their arms, the whole JOHN SEVIER. 174 of the scattered settlements ; but nearly two months rolled away before they had any hostile tidings from the Cherokees. The Indians had probably heard of Sevier’s presence among the settlers, and had deferred the in- tended attack till they could make it in irresistible numbers. Meanwhile, the commissioners appointed by Con- gress, by an act of October 26, 1787, to treat with the Creeks, had not yet met those Indians. The Creeks con- tinued to be troublesome, and Georgia was fast embody- ing troops to march into their country, exterminate the “perfidious nation,” or to make peace with them on no “ other terms than a total surrender of their country and themselves.” This the Governor communicated to Se- vier in a letter dated February 19, 1788, but which Sevier did not receive till early in April. Sevier’s answer is here given, because it shows that at this time he had be- come fully apprised of the machinations of his enemies. It was as follows : “Franklin, April 10, 1788. “Sir: Yours of the 19th of February I had the honor to receive. In our present confused condition of affairs, I am not able to reply with that accuracy and satisfaction to your Excellency I could wish. Our coun- try is, at this time, almost in a state of anarchy, occa- sioned, as we suggest, by the North Carolinians stimulat- ing a party to act in a hostile manner against us. . . . It is with great pleasure I inform you that a great num- SEVIER AS AX OUTLAW. 175 ber of our people discover a ready disposition to aid your State against your savage enemies ; and, let matters oc- cur as they may, if I am spared, I purpose joining your army with a considerable number of volunteers, to act in concert with you against the Creeks, though many of our enemies are making use of every diabolical plan in their power in order to destroy our laudable intention. “ I beg your Excellency will be so obliging as to ad- vise us from time to time of your intended operations ; and, should your campaign be procrastinated until the fall season, I am of opinion you will get a much greater number of men from this country.” The first tidings from the Cherokees was an atrocious deed, at which the blood curdles. A settler named Kirk had built his cabin on the south side of Little Eiver, about twelve miles from the present site of Knoxville. It was surrounded by the usual stockade, but was far too weak to resist attack from any considerable body of In- dians. Kirk had been warned to repair to some one of the larger stations, but he considered himself in no dan- ger, being on good terms with the Indians, and having always treated them with extreme kindness and hospi- tality ; so he continued to occupy his exposed position, with his mother, his wife, and nine children, all under fifteen years of age. His eldest son, a lad of sixteen, was away with Sevier at Hunter’s Station. One morning in early May, Kirk had occasion to visit a neighbor a few miles distant, and in his absence there 176 JOHN SEVIER. came to his cabin an Indian named Slim Tom, with whom the family was well acquainted. He asked for food ; it was given him, and he went away with many expressions of gratitude. This gratitude he showed by returning in about half an hour with fifty painted sav- ages. I need not detail what followed. Not one was spared — the aged grandmother, nor the young babe at the breast. All were remorselessly butchered ; and when Kirk returned, a few hours later, he beheld them — all who bore his name except the stripling I have mentioned — stretched, bloody and disfigured, on the grass in the door-yard of his dwelling. The mingled grief, and horror, and rage of this man — thus at one blow bereft of mother, and wife, and children — can only be conceived of by the imagination. Almost crazed by the calamity, he left his dead unburied on the ground, and with the speed of a deer rushed for help to Sevier at Hunter’s Station. Sevier had heard such tales before, but this was one of peculiar atrocity. Instantly he sent out mounted scouts to ascertain if this was an isolated raid or an organized attack by a party belonging to a larger body, which had separated, and spread itself among the scattered settlements. At night the scouts returned, reporting no other trace of Indians except the trail of the murderers, which they had fol- lowed to the Little Tennessee, where it still went south- ward. Gathering his men together to the number of about four hundred, Sevier set out on the following morning SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 177 for the heart of the Indian country ; and with him went young Kirk, and, as second in command, the Major Hubbard who was known as “ the Indian-slayer.” He fol- lowed the trail of the murderers, and so rapid was his march that early on the ensuing day he was fifty miles away, on the banks of the Hiwassee. Here he came upon a large town, filled with warriors, among whom the murderers of the Kirk family had taken refuge. With- out a moment’s delay, Sevier rode into this town, and then began the work of retribution. Panic-stricken, the Indians soon fled, but numbers were shot down in the street of the town, and as they were attempting to escape by the river. Before noon every hut and every wigwam in the place was a mass of smoking cinders. Then Sevier turned his face toward the Little Ten- nessee and Tellico, where were the homes of Old Tassel, John Watts, and twelve hundred Ottari warriors. The towns were well-nigh deserted, but such men as were in them were either shot down or driven back to the mount- ains ; then the torch was applied to half a dozen villages, and soon all that was left of them were so many heaps of smoldering ruin. The small number of men he encountered satisfied Sevier that the bulk of the Ottari were away upon a raid against the settlements ; and leav- ing Hubbard and about two hundred men to complete the destruction he had begun, he hastened back with the remainder of his force to Hunter’s Station. Hubbard was encamped on the south side of the Little Tennessee, and on the northern bank, near a 13 ITS JOHN SEVIER. small stream still called Abraham’s Creek, lived an old Indian named Abraham, who was known far and near as the friend of the white settlers. Before hostili- ties began he had said that, if his nation went to war, he should remain at home, and not lift a hand against his white brothers. Sevier was no sooner away than Hub- bard sent a messenger to this friendly Indian, inviting him to cross the river to his camp. Abraham came with his son, and then Hubbard asked them to go to Old Tassel, and invite him to come there to a talk, for the whites desired to be at peace with the Cherokees. This they did ; and soon the Cherokee king appeared on the opposite bank of the river with five of his principal chief- tains — probably all of the “ head-men ” who were not away on the war-path. On seeing them, Hubbard raised a white flag, and invited them over to his encamp-- ment. The Old Tassel knew Hubbard, and it is doubtful if he would have trusted him had he not supposed that Sevier was with the soldiery. It was generally known that Sevier had been leading the troops, and this ac- counted for the general panic which had everywhere been seen among the Cherokees. They feared the Franklin leader, but they trusted him implicitly. Old Tassel was anxious for peace, and, unsuspicious of treach- ery, he now crossed the river with his chieftains. He was met in a friendly manner by Hubbard, who told him that Sevier was away, but would soon return, and mean- while he and the chieftains had better wait for him in SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 179 an Indian cabin, which stood near the bank of the river. The chieftains and the friendly Abraham had no sooner entered this cabin than a number of armed set- tlers noiselessly surrounded the building, so that escape from it became impossible. Then Hubbard and young Kirk entered the cabin, the latter with a naked toma- hawk in his hand — the same savage weapon which had slaughtered his mother, his brothers and sisters, and his aged grandmother. Hubbard folded his arms and looked at the Indians, in his glance the vengeful hate which had come to be the ruling element in his nature. But the lad did not wait for this signal. Instantly raising the tomahawk, he buried it in the brain of the nearest Indian, as he sat on the ground at one extremity of the half circle in which they had formed themselves. The others, seeing from this the fate which awaited them, cast their eyes upon the ground, and, without a word, bowed their heads to the stroke which had slaughtered their comrade. Soon their bodies were dragged from the hut and thrown unburied upon a pile of debris on the bank of the river. Thus ingloriously perished the peace- loving Kayetayah — known among the whites as Old Tas- sel — an able man, and by far the best king who within historic times had ruled over the Cherokees. Words can not describe the indignation and horror of Sevier when, returning on the following day, he learned that this dastardly deed had been committed. Bitterly he upbraided Hubbard and young Kirk, and the settlers 180 JOHN SEVIER. who had abetted the atrocity. The answer of Hubbard and tbe others is not recorded ; but it is said that young Kirk told Sevier that, had he suffered at the murderous hands of the Indians as he had suffered, he would have done as he had done. Sevier was merely a volunteer leader, with only such power as was given him by the settlers. Almost unanimously they approved of Kirk’s deed as an act of retributive justice, and therefore Sevier was powerless to punish it. There were not wanting enemies of Sevier who charged him with complicity in this crime, and with being conveniently absent to escape its responsibility ; but this was indignantly denied by Hubbard, who as- sumed the entire odium of the deed, and boasted that he would do the like again had one of his neighbors a like provocation. Writing on this subject, the historian Hay- wood says: “Sevier never acted with cruelty before or since ; he often commanded ; be was never accused of inhumanity : he could not have given his consent on this occasion. Considering existing circumstances, he could not maintain as much authority now as at other times ; he was proscribed and driven from his home. . . . They [the settlers] consulted only the exasperated feelings of the moment, and had never been instructed in the rules of refined warfare.” This ill-advised and atrocious crime would naturally inflame the passions of the Cherokees to the highest pitch of frenzy. The bulk of the nation felt deeply wronged by the continued encroachments of the settlers ; SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 181 but this, with one or two impatient outbreaks, they had borne for six years, restrained by the pacific counsels of Old Tassel, and by a fear of Nolichucky Jack and his four thousand riflemen. But now the blood of their leading chieftains had been most wickedly shed, and blood for blood was the cardinal doctrine of their religion — one of whose chief tenets was that the warrior who lost his life in avenging the slaughter of a kinsman was at once translated to the happy hunting-grounds, there to be a mighty chief forever. The head chieftain of the tribe was regarded as not merely the kinsman but the father of the whole people. The lifting of a hand against him was instant death to the most redoubtable warrior ; how much worse was his treacherous murder by a hated enemy ! The killing of Old Tassel was, therefore, a per- sonal wrong to every Cherokee, and the avenging of it a religious duty, which, if he failed to perform, the celes- tial hunting-ground would be closed against him forever. Hence, this one deed had created a nation of fanatics, who would rush into battle regardless of death, and in- tent only on the slaughter of the settlers. Moreover, the Cherokees would be sure to be secretly re-enforced by the Creeks, and abundantly supplied with arms and ammu- nition by the Spaniards, who now were intensely exasper- ated against the settlers because of Robertson’s decided rejection of their overtures for an alliance. Hard beset as he was, the intrepid pioneer had refused their pro- ’ posals, disdainfully saying : “ The Spaniards are devils ; and the worst devil among them is the half-Spaniard, 182 JOHN SEVIER. half-Frenchman, half-Scotchman, and altogether Creek scoundrel — McGillivray ! ” Thus had the unwise killing of Old Tassel greatly in- creased the difficulty of the task which Sevier had under- taken. Never before, it seems to me, were the odds so largely against him ; not when, with but forty men, he repulsed Old Oconostota, nor when, with only nine hun- dred and fifty, he scaled and carried the rugged escarp- ment of King’s Mountain. For active operations he had in reality but about two hundred and. fifty men — the veterans who had voluntarily followed him from the older counties. The seven hundred others were settlers, who, though zealous, brave, and ready to fight to the death, were an unstable force — with him to-day but away to-morrow — drawn off by the first rumor of danger to the station which held their wives and children. Never, at any one time, was Sevier at the head of more than four hundred. But, surrounded by such disheartening circumstances, never once did Sevier’s courage fail him, never once did he call one of his old comrades to his aid, or ask for help from the older counties. Ilis genius seemed to rise with the occasion, and a careful study of his life fails to exhibit him ever so truly great as when, a proscribed and ruined man, he forgot his own interests, and, without hope of pay or fame or other reward, he threw him- self, almost alone, a forlorn hope between those out- lawed settlers and their certain destruction. He seems to have regarded his self-imposed and herculean task SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 1811 simply as a duty ; and he went about it with cheerful de- liberation, adjusting his means to his ends with a sort of mathematical precision which made success a foregone conclusion. This exact forecasting of results, this ability to achieve great ends with small means, were the most characteristic traits of Sevier’s military genius. They enabled him, with never more than a thousand men, to do a great work in American history. Now for five long months Sevier was every day in the saddle — sometimes with forty men, sometimes with four hundred — striking blow after blow, and with every blow totally discomfiting the enemy. Recorded in detail, his exploits in this campaign would fill a volume. I can re- count only a few — just enough to show the character of the conflict. After seeing that the bodies of Old Tassel and his chieftains had received decent burial, Sevier led his troop rapidly back to Hunter’s Station, for he knew that, as soon as the Cherokees had made their first wail over the dead, the whole nation would swarm upon the settle- ments. His first step was to dispatch messengers to the various stations, warning them to be on their guard, to observe strict discipline, and on no account to venture out either singly or in small parties without the utmost caution. If threatened with attack, they were to apprise him at once by swift messengers, and to this end he should keep them advised of his movements. It had been well had his instructions been observed ; but with 184 JOHN SEVIER. most men familiarity with danger breeds a contempt of it, and it was so with these settlers. It was not long before all of the scattered stations were attacked almost simultaneously ; and then Sevier became well-nigh ubiquitous, hastening from one to an- other, and from all driving off the savages before they had done any material damage. Then came a lull in the savage operations. It began to be thought that the Indians had withdrawn into their own country, and a party of twenty-one settlers ventured across the Little Tennessee, on a scouting expedition. Incautiously they entered an open field, when they were suddenly sur- rounded by a large body of savages. Sixteen of the settlers were shot on the spot, one was wounded and taken prisoner, and the remaining four were chased to the gates of the fort on the present site of Knoxville. Then the Indians turned back to make an assault on Houston Station. Five families were housed at this fort — all told, per- haps forty persons, only ten of whom could handle a rifle. With the first alarm, one of the riflemen was sent off to Sevier, while the others essayed to defend the place till his arrival. The Indians quickly surrounded them, and soon it rained bullets on the little inclosure. One of the garrison incautiously exposed himself for a mo- ment, and in that moment an Indian ball pierced his brain, and sent him to the great accounting. But the re- maining eight fought on, the men firing and the women loading the rifles and molding the bullets. Their fire SEVIER AS AV OUTLAW. 185 was rapid, and their aim certain, and many a savage fell never to rise again ; bnt the Indians fought with a desperation never before shown by the Cherokees. At length the tilling between the logs was shot away, and every now and then a ball came into the building, and in dangerous proximity to the occupants. A young woman, subsequently the wife of Senior S. Doak, D. D., was kneeling by the fire, molding bullets, when an Indian ball passed over her head, and, bounding back from the wall, fell at her feet. It was flattened by the blow, and catching it up she molded it anew, and, handing it to the nearest rifleman, said : “ Here is a ball run out of Indian lead ; send it back to them as quickly as possible. It is their own; let them have it in welcome!” The conflict lasted for nearly an hour, when, discouraged with their loss of life, the Indians suddenly drew off from the station. Sevier was twenty-five miles away, but, setting out at once, he met the Indians on their retreat. They num- bered over a hundred, and only a few men were with him ; but they no sooner sounded his well-known yell than the savages broke and scattered in all directions. Sevier determined on pursuit, for he had meanwhile heard of the massacre at the Little Tennessee, and such deeds he always punished by a speedy invasion. Going on to the station, he sent out messengers to call in his men, and on the following day, with Captain Evans and about two hundred men, he invaded the Indian country, laying waste all in his pathway. At Chilhowee he met a 186 JOHN SEVIER. large force of savages, whom he at once attacked and routed, killing thirteen outright, who were left on the ground, while a larger number of wounded were borne away by the Indians. Then he returned again to the protection of the settlements. For more than a month the fight was around every station, and everywhere at the critical time appeared Sevier with his little band of riflemen. Day and night he was in motion, and it is said that now for one whole week he never for one hour was out of his saddle. Few lives were lost among the settlers, for they had learned caution ; hut the bones of many a Cherokee were left to bleach in the summer’s sun far away. from the resting-places of his ancestors. The upper hunting- grounds are pleasant in the dreams of the untutored savage ; but the instinct of life is strong in him, and ’Chucky Jack the Cherokees had long regarded as under the special protection of the Invisible Powers. It was they who turned aside the bullets which were aimed at him, and fighting with him was therefore merely a strug- gle with destiny. The contest was hopeless ; so at last, beaten and crest-fallen, John Watts, Double-Head, and the Bloody Fellow drew off their dispirited followers, and led them back to their mountain fastnesses. They had no sooner gone than Sevier resolved upon another invasion of their country. The Cherokees must be made to feel the full bitterness of the war they had brought upon the settlers ; and, taking with him only Cozby and Evans, and a hundred and forty men, he SEYIER AS AN OUTLAW. 1ST plunged at once into the heart of the Cherokee nation. It seems foolhardy in the extreme, this onslaught of but a handful upon three thousand infuriated savages ; but Sevier knew his soldiers, and they knew him, and every one of them believed in his invincibility. It was just such apparently desperate enterprises that had given the Cherokees the superstitious belief that Sevier was under supernatural protection. Sevier knew this, and counted upon it as an auxiliary more potent than a thousand rifles. Crossing the Little Tennessee under the cover of night, Sevier made a rapid march to the tall Unakas, and, scaling them, fell with fire and sword upon the Valley towns, where dwelt fully one third of the Chero- kee nation. He spread havoc and death through all that region, shooting down every man he met, and taking none prisoners. Everywhere his route was marked by smoking villages ; and everywhere, without making so much as a single stand, the Indians fled before him. Then, the work of destruction finished, he turned his face homeward. He had now been ten days in the Indian country, and he knew that the whole nation would rise in his rear and attempt to intercept his march to the settlements. Destiny might be on his side, but here, the Cherokees saw, was a chance to take destiny at a disadvantage, amid rugged defiles and mountain-passes, where ten men might bar the way of a hundred. John Watts was a half-breed, and less superstitious than his people. The 188 JOHN SEVIER. eagle of the pale-faces was in a trap, and, if he could but capture or destroy him, it was certain, now that Old Tas- sell was dead, that he — John Watts, at the age of thirty- five — would become the archimagus of the nation. It was the highest object that could be presented to Chero- kee ambition ; so Watts called in his warriors to the number of eight hundred, and lay in wait for Sevier at the point where he would attempt to recross the Unakas. But Sevier had counted on this contingency, and he moved with extreme caution as he approached the foot of the mountains. The usual route was by a narrow pass along the bank of the Little Tennessee, where it breaks through the lofty range amid scenery that is grand beyond description. The river here flows over a rocky channel, lined with precipitous cliffs, under which the path winds for a fourth of a mile, only wide enough for a single horse- man. Here Watts had posted his men, concealed among the rocks, three hundred on one side of the river and two hundred on the other, while another force of two hundred lay in wait at the outlet of the defile. Hemmed in on one hand by the tall cliffs, on the other by the deep and rapid river, the moment the white men entered the pass they would be a broad target for the Indian rifles ; and, if any ran the gantlet in safety, they would be mown down by the two hundred who were lying in am- bush at the outlet beyond. Thus destruction to all would have been certain ; not a man who entered that narrow pass would have lived to tell the story. The SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 189 route was the one Sevier would naturally have taken ; but, to make sure of his falling into the trap, Watts placed another hundred men some distance in advance of the pass, with orders to fall back on Sevier’s approach, and thus lure him on to destruction. Then, sure of his prey, Watts waited the approach of Sevier, not dreaming that he would attempt to climb the steep and rugged mountain on horseback. But the cunning of Watts overreached itself, and served merely to warn Sevier of his danger. It is proba- ble that he would not have essayed the perilous passage under any circumstances, for he was as cautious as he was bold ; but, experienced as he was in Indian tactics, this decoy party plainly disclosed to him the ambuscade. Paying no sort of attention to the retreating Indians, and striking at once for the foot of the mountain, Sevier led his men up its precipitous side, over slippery rocks and fal- len trees, and through tangled undergrowth, where never before horseman had traveled. They moved rapidly, but often had to dismount to cut their way or to help their horses up some steep acclivity ; and it was between sun- set and dark before they stood upon the summit of the mountain. Here they halted for a while to rest their jaded beasts ; but it was not long before they began the equally toilsome descent of the northern slope. Evans was one of the most trusted of Sevier’s captains, and he was placed in the rear, that being the position requiring the greatest vigilance. Now, when -Evans had gone about two hundred yards down the mountain, one of his 190 JOHM SEVIER. men requested permission to return for some small arti- cle lie had left behind at the halting-place on the sum- mit. At the summit the man heard the forward glide of a large body moving through the underbrush, and, has- tening to Sevier, apprised him of the danger. At once every rifleman was ordered to dismount and unsling his rifle, in readiness for immediate action. Thus they went down the mountain, in momentary ex- pectation of attack, leading their horses, and picking their way among rocks and precipices, with no light but that of the dying moon struggling through flying clouds and through the thick, overhanging branches of the forest. At their every step they heard the steady glide of the eight hundred savages ; but, unmolested, they at last reached the foot of the mountain. Here the country was still broken by ravines and encumbered with rocks and mat- ted undergrowth. It was no fit field for a battle ; there- fore every man was ordered to mount, and they sped away to an open place about ten miles distant, on the plains of Tellico. Here the riflemen went into camp, and, a double force of sentinels being placed to guard against surprise, they cooked their suppers, and then, overpowered with fatigue, sank into such sleep as is apt to follow a day of toilsome marching. But no sleep came to Sevier. Soon the sentries reported that the In- dians were cautiously encircling the encampment ; but he let his men sleep on, while he, with only Cozby and Evans, walked the picket-rounds all the night, intent upon every sound that came from the near-by forest. He SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 191 expected an attack just before day, when men sleep the most soundly ; but the morning came without any alarm from the savages. They were eight hundred to his one hundred and forty ; but their hearts failed them. John Watts could not inspirit them to an attack, and soon Se- vier led his force unmolested back to the settlements, with not a man of it so much as wounded. Chagrined at this second escape of the great eagle of the pale-faces, John Watts now made a determined effort to arouse the Cherokees for another descent upon the settlements. Should a great nation, he said, be beaten back by a handful of white men ? What was 'Chucky Jack more than other men that the bullets should dodge him ? North Carolina had outlawed him ; the Great Council of the pale-faces was against him ; and should he — one outlawed man — make women of the entire Cherokee people ? No ! let the whole nation rise, and drive these white men beyond the Big Pigeon ; and let them not rest, day or night, till they had taken ven- geance for the murder of Old Tassel. Aud the whole nation rose, and fell again in over- whelming numbers upon the French Broad settlements. Again, and for three long months, the whole region was a battle-field, and again was Sevier everywhere perform- ing prodigies of valor. From station to station he rode by night and by day, and everywhere he rode there were battle and victory. His exploits during this period can be likened only to those of some knight-errant of the middle ages ; but neither in history nor in fiction do I 192 JOHN SEVIER. know of anything that equals this marvelous campaign of the border hero ! The fame of it crossed the rivers, and awoke a thrill of pride among the old soldiers, who adored him ; and it even, swept over the mountains, and became subject of comment by the two journals which then shed a dim political light upon benighted North Carolina. One of these,* published at Raleigh, had the following account of one of his exploits, and, as it is characteristic of them all, it is here copied : “On the 21st of September a large body of the ene- my, not less than two hundred, attacked Sherrell’s Sta- tion late in the evening. Sevier that day, with forty horsemen, was out ranging, and came on the Indians’ trail, making toward the inhabitants ; he immediately advanced after them, and opportunely arrived before the fort when the Indians were carrying on a furious attack. On coming in view of the place, he drew up his troop in close order, made known his intention in a short speech to relieve the garrison or fall in the attempt, and asked who was willing to follow him. All gave unanimous consent ; and, at a given signal, made a charge on the enemy as they were busily employed in setting fire to a barn and other out-buildings. The Indians gave way and immediately retired from the place, and the gallant little band of heroes reached the fort, to the great joy of the besieged. This exploit was performed under cover * “ North Carolina State Gazette.' SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 193 of the night, and, conformably to the Governor of Frank- lin’s usual good fortune, not a man of his party was hurt.” Before this period, Sevier’s old comrades along the Holston and Watauga had clamored to be led to his aid ; but this Governor Johnston could not permit, for it would be an infraction of the treaty of Hopewell. At last, however, he, in a manner, gave way to the pressure by consenting to an expedition against the Chickamau- gas. These Indians were Cherokees, and had been active in the attacks on the French Broad settlers ; but they were a horde of lawless banditti, with a hand against every man, and war upon them was at any time justifi- able ; besides, Martin had said to the Governor that they could “be easily driven out of that country.” Accordingly, Martin called his men together, to the number of about four hundred and fifty, for a descent upon the Chickamaugas. The settlers rendezvoused at White’s Fort, now Knoxville — nearly all of them old soldiers of Sevier, and under such of his former officers as Colonels Love and Kennedy. They were a fine body of men, trained to Indian fighting ; and as they passed through the French Broad country the hearts of the settlers must have beat high with hope, for with less than half the number of these same men Sevier had put to rout the two thousand Chickamaugas. Surely with such a force Martin would be able to make short work of the pestiferous gang, and thus relieve the settle- ments from their midnight marauding. 14 194 : JOHN SEVIER. Martin crossed the Iliwassee, and then marched di- rectly to the Chickamauga towns on the Tennessee, near the present site of Chattanooga. On his approach the Indians deserted the nearest town, and fell back to the point where the river breaks through the Cumberland Mountain. Here they made a stand, and were attacked by the troops in an open field between the bluff and the river. Martin’s men fought desperately, but, being badly led, were soon driven back with the loss of three of their bravest captains, who fell mortally wound- ed. Martin attempted to rally them to a second attack, but all but sixty refused his lead ; and thus the expedi- tion resulted in disastrous failure, not because the men would not fight, but because they would not with him as their leader. Then he led them ingloriously back to their homes, and the expedition had no further result than to inspirit the Cherokees to a renewed attack upon the settlers. Colonel Joseph Brown, subsequently an officer under Jackson, but then a boy of sixteen, and a prisoner among the Chickamaugas, speaks as follows of this event and its consequences, in a narrative he wrote at the request of General Zollicoffer, of Nashville, and which is now in possession of the Tennessee Historical Society : “At one time a Colonel Martin got to Chatta- nooga, within twenty miles of where I lived ; but the Indians killed three of his captains, and he killed only one Shawnee and one negro. No Cherokees were killed ; but they raised an army of three thousand men — borrow- ing one thousand Creeks, to go with fifteen hundred SEVIER AS AN OUTLAW. 195 Cherokees on foot, and fire hundred mounted Cherokees, many of whom were half-breeds and dressed like white men. They kept [these last] ahead of the army, and white men who met them thought them a scouting party of whites, and were by this scheme readily taken prisoners. Several men were taken in this way the day they got to Gillespie’s Fort. Their object in raising the army was to drive all the whites from the south side of the French Broad.” This new invasion also Sevier beat back ; and, having done so, he made another of his unexampled raids into the Indian country, going on this occasion down the Coosa River as far as the present town of Rome, in Georgia. Again he returned without the loss of a man, either killed or wounded. This last invasion, more wide-spread in destructiveness than the previous ones, broke completely the spirit of the Cherokees. Even John Watts, the most indomitable of their chieftains, said to his warriors : “ The wind and the fire fight for the great eagle of the pale-faces. We can no longer contend with him. From his high station in the clouds he sees our exposed places ; and when he swoops down, his hot breath blasts our coru-fields and consumes our wigwams. His flight is like the wind ; his blow like the thunderbolt. Who can stand before him ? He claims the French Broad lands. He will be our friend if we let his people plant their corn in peace. He speaks well. Let it be so ; for it is the voice of the Great Spirit.” 196 JOHN SEVIER. This was the end of the war upon the French Broad settlers. It had lasted actively for five months, the set- tlers having to meet not less than ten times their own number of well-armed and infuriated savages. Having thus secured peace to the border, Sevier, in the latter part of October, returned to his family, from whom he had now been separated for more than half a year. In this period he had not only saved the French Broad settlers, but had rolled back an invasion from North Carolina, which, had it been successful, would have brought upon the frontier the whole strength of the Southwestern Indiaus. He had done this ; and yet, at this very time, as w r e shall soon see, North Carolina was lending her aid to a plot for his destruction. CHAPTER IX. OVERTHROW AND TRIUMPH. While the fame of Sevier was thus ringing through” out the eastern counties, and all men were watching in enthusiastic admiration the unequaled valor and amazing generalship by which he beat back and finally subdued the infuriated Cherokees, it seems incredible that one man could be found, within hearing of his deeds, who could construe them into treason against North Carolina. But, nevertheless, it was so ; and that man was the Gov- ernor of that Commonwealth. Martin had followed up his insinuation that Sevier was levying troops to war upon the citizens by letters to Governor Johnston, in which he made adroit misrepresentations of Sevier’s con- duct, charging him with barbarous and inhuman acts (such as the killing of Old Tassel), and with making un- provoked war upon the Indians, when they desired to he at peace with the white people. Technically, Sevier may have been an insurgent, both against North Carolina and the United States, inasmuch as he was obstructing the execution of the treaty of Hopewell ; but, to listen to 198 JOHN SEVIER. such a charge, the Governor had to forget that blood is thicker than water, and to shut his eyes to the fact that every blow struck by Sevier was in the interest of hu- manity. He heard Martin’s falsehoods in silence from March until late in July, and then he wrote that worthy as follows : “Sevier, from the state of his conduct set forth in your letter, is incorrigible, and I fear we shall have no peace in your quarter till he is proceeded against to the last extremity.” At the same time the Governor gave directions for Sevier’s arrest, in the following letter to Judge David Campbell of the Superior Court :