DIVISION III. HISTORY OF TENNESSEE FROM THE TIME OF ITS
SETTLEMENT BY THE WHITES TO THE DATE OF ITS ADMISSION AS A
STATE.
CHAPTER VII. THE PIONEER.
59. Anglo-American Excursionists Visit Tennessee.—Although
Tennessee had been included as a part successively of three
English colonies, yet none of them had thought it worth their
while to explore or settle the country. The settlement was due
to no concerted or governmental act, but to the agency of the
most "unique and picturesque character of history"—the American
pioneer. The term "pioneer" may be extended to include the first
persons who explored or visited the country. It is especially
used to designate those who made the early permanent
settlements. While there had been no attempt at settlement, or
permanent occupation by the English previous to the
establishment of Fort Iyoudon, in 1756, yet there had been
casual visitors, traders, hunters, and tourists, who had made
excursions into Tennessee. The names of many of these have been
lost to history, but a few have been preserved by the early
historians.
60. The Traders.—Perhaps the first English travelers-who visited
Tennessee were attracted by the hope of gain in trade. In 1690,
i trader from Virginia, named Doherty, visited the Cherokees. In
1730, Adair, from South Carolina, made an extensive tour,
visiting the Cherokees and other tribes. Dr. Ramsey says of
Adair: "He was not only an enterprising trader, but an
intelligent tourist. To his observations upon the several tribes
which he visited we are indebted for most that is known of their
early history. They were published in 1775." In 1740 a party of
traders from Virginia visited the Cherokees. This party employed
Mr. Vaughan as packman. There were, doubtless, many other
traders of whom history makes no mention. Many advantages
resulted from this irregular trade. It was found to be
lucrative, and led to important results. The returning traders
gave glowing accounts of the wonderful resources and fertility
of the western country, and the abundance of game, which excited
a lively interest among the eastern colonists.
61. The Hunters.—Following the traders, came the hunters,
sometimes in company with a trading party, and sometimes in
separate bands. Historians have recorded a few of these hunting
excursions. "As early as 1748," says Dr. Ramsey, quoting from
Monette, "Dr. Thomas Walker, of Virginia, in company with
Colonels Wood, Pat-ton, and Buchanan, and Captain Charles
Campbell, and a number of hunters, made an exploring tour upon
the western waters. Passing Powell's Valley, he gave the name of
' Cumberland' to the lofty range of mountains on the west.
Tracing this range in a southwestern direction, he came to a
remarkable depression in the chain ; through this he passed,
calling it 'Cumberland Gap.' On the western side of the range he
found a beautiful mountain stream, which he named 'Cumberland
River,' all in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, then Prime
Minister of England." In 1760, a Virginia company of hunters,
composed of "Wallace, Scags, Blevins, Cox, and fifteen others,"
spent eighteen months in a hunting excursion along Clinch and
Powell rivers.
62. Daniel Boone.—In 1760 the famous Daniel Boone visited
Tennessee at the head of a party of hunters. It is conjectured
by Dr. Ramsey that this was not Boone's first visit to
Tennessee, although it is the first that has come to the
knowledge of historians. In testimony of this visit, Dr. Ramsey
gives in his history an inscription cut by Daniel Boone on a
beech tree, "standing, in sight and east of the present stage
road leading from Jonesboro to Blountville, and in the valley of
Boone's Creek, a tributary of Watauga. This tree and inscription
is shown in the annexed picture, engraved from a photograph in
the Tennessee Historical Society. There is no doubt of the
genuineness of the inscription, but doubts have been expressed
as to whether it was carved by Daniel Boone. Daniel Boone
visited Tennessee again in 1771, and remained until 1774. Many
other hunting parties prepared the way for the advent of the
pioneers of permanent settlement.
63. The First Negro.—In 17682 an expedition of hunters traversed
the country from the banks of the Holston, in East Tennessee, to
the Ohio River at the mouth of the Tennessee River, passing
along the banks of the Cumberland River, and giving the name to
Stone's River. The party consisted of Colonel James Smith,
William Baker, Uriah Stone, for whom Stone's River was named,
and Joshua Horton. The last-named member of the party, Joshua
Horton, had with him "a mulatto slave," eighteen years old,
whose name is not given. Judge Haywood states that Mr. Horton
left this mulatto boy with Colonel Smith, who carried him back
to North Carolina.
64. The Approach of the Pioneer.—In 1763, the period of nearly
five generations of men had passed since the settlement of
Jamestown in 1607. A new generation now dominated the colonies
who were Americans by birth, and distinctly American in thought,
character, and habit. This differentiation in colonial character
was, however, largely restrained by the influence of English
governors, by constant contact with English laws and
institutions, and by the influx of fresh immigrants who
continued to pour in from the mother country. Along with this
stream of immigrants came the "Scotch Irish." This latter
element inherited the clannish spirit which prompted them to
keep together. They early evinced the desire to found
settlements in which they should be the controlling element.
This tendency, together with their resolute character and
adventurous spirit, constantly prompted them to move further
west. Thus, the Scotch Irish immigrants formed a large element
in the vanguard of the western march of colonization, which
their descendants continued to push further and further
westward. This hardy band of pioneers was now ready to cross the
mountains. The way had been prepared by the Treaty of Paris in
1763, by which the title of France had been ceded to Kuglaud,
and by the various Indian treaties above named.
65. The First Settlers in Tennessee Largely Scotch-Irish.—The
Holston and Watauga were not colonized, as the Cumberland
afterward was, by strong companies moving in concert, under
organized leaders. Their first settlers came in single families
or small parties, with no concert of action, and without any
recognized leader. The Virginia frontiers had now reached the
headwaters of the Holston River, and straggling immigrants
followed that stream beyond the borders of the province, and
formed the first settlements in Tennessee ; supposing their
settlements to be still in Virginia, some families even crossed
the Holston. In 1769 or 1770, William Been, originally from
Pittsylvania County, Virginia, penetrated as far south as the
Watauga, and erected a log cabin at the mouth of Boone's Creek,
where his son Russell, the first native white Tennessean, was
soon afterwards born. His settlement was greatly augmented by
the arrival of small bands of Regulators, whom the tyranny of
the royal governor had driven out of North Carolina. But whether
they came from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, or
Pennsylvania, the first settlers of Tennessee were, in the main,
the same type of people— an aggressive, daring, and hardy race
of men, raised up in the faith of the Presbyterian Covenanter,
and usually comprehended under the general designation of
Scotch-Irish, that people forming their largest element.
66. Origin of the Scotch-Irish.—Ireland, in the time of Henry
VIII, was so strongly Catholic that all the power of that
monarch was not sufficient to establish the Episcopacy on the
island. His effort to do so resulted in a long, bitter, and
bloody war, which was not finally terminated until near the
close of Elizabeth's reign. When it did close, the province of
Ulster, containing nearly a million acres, was found to have
been almost depopulated b)T its devastations. James IV, of
Scotland, succeeded to the throne, and in him the two kingdoms
were united. He conceived the idea of colonizing Ulster with
Protestant subjects. These he chose chiefly from his old
subjects, the Scotch Covenanters, though mainly Englishmen
settled in the southern part of the province.
67. Character of the Scotch-Irish.—These Scotch emigrants were
stern, strict, liberty-loving Presbyterians, who believed in the
Westminster Catechism and taught it to their children. They
resented the pretensions of the Crown to be the head of the
church, and believed with John Knox that the King derived his
authority from the people, who might lawfully resist, and even
depose him, when his tyranny made it necessary. They believed in
education, and followed a system under which every preacher
became also a teacher, a circumstance that had a marked
influence on the educational history of Tennessee. The colony
prospered wonderfully. But these Scotch-Irish as steadfastly
resisted the Episcopacy as did the Irish Catholics, and were
destined to suffer a like persecution. As early as 1636 some of
them set sail on board the "Eagle Wing" for America, but
unfavorable weather sent her back to port in a disabled
condition, and the experiment was not again repeated for half a
century.
68. The Great Ulster Exodus.—Their persecutions continued, with
the exception of a short respite under the reign of William of
Orange. Finally, in the latter part of the seventeenth century,
the great exodus began. It reached its flood-tide near the
middle of the eighteenth century. For some time prior to 1750,
about twelve thousand Irish emigrants had annually lauded in
America. In the two years following the Antrim evictions in
1771, as many as one hundred vessels sailed from the north ports
of Ireland, carrying from twenty-five to thirty thousand
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, mostly to America. Their experience
in Ireland had peculiarly fitted them to lead the vanguard of
western civilization. Their hereditary love of liberty, both
civil and religious, was strengthened by a long course of
persecution and oppression. Moreover, the constant presence of
danger from their turbulent neighbors had made them alert,
active, resolute, and self-confident.
69. The Scotch-Irish Settle on the Frontiers.—The Scotch-Irish
reached the interior of America in two streams. The earliest and
largest poured into Pennsylvania through the ports of New Castle
and Philadelphia, whence it moved southward through Maryland and
Virginia, up the Potomac and Shenandoah valleys, and along the
Blue Ridge into North and South Carolina. There it met the
counter stream flowing in from the south, mostly through the
port of Charleston, but in smaller numbers through those of
Wilmington and Savannah. All along the frontiers, from Pittsburg
to Savannah, they interposed themselves as a conscious barrier
between the sea-board settlements and their Indian foes.
70. The Scotch-Irish in America.—The Scotch-Irish were
everywhere a masterful people. In Pennsylvania they were not
regarded with favor. In 1725 the president of the province
described them as bold, though rude and indigent strangers, who
frequently sat down on any vacant land without asking questions.
He expressed the fear that, if they continued to come, they
would make themselves proprietors of the province. They were
always jealous of their liberties, and ready to resist
oppression with blood. In North Carolina they have made two
counties famous — Mecklenburg for the first Declaration of
Independence, and Orange for the battle of the Alamance.
CHAPTER VIII. THE WATAUGA ASSOCIATION.
71. The North Holston. Settlement.—The first settlements in
Tennessee, as we have seen, were but extensions of the frontier
settlements of Virginia. They lay north of the Holston River, in
what is now Sullivan County. Lying east of the Indian line
established by the treaty of Eochabar, they received the
protection of Virginia, under whose laws they lived, and whose
authority they supported, until the Walker-Henderson line of
1779 showed them to be in North Carolina. The leading family of
the North Holston settlement was the Shelbys. Gen. Evan Shelby,
who settled at King's Meadows, was a famous woodsman, and
figured prominently in the Indian wars on the border. His son,
Col. Isaac Shelby, distinguished himself at the battle of King's
Mountain. He afterwards went to Kentucky, and became the first
governor of that Commonwea!th.
Footnotes:
ln 1738 the Synod of Pennsylvania, upon tl.e application of John
Caldwell, the grandfather of the great statesman, John Caldwell
Calhoun, sent a commission to the Governor of Virginia with a
proposal to people the valley west of the Blue Rigde with
Presbyterians, who should hold the western frontier against the
Indians, and thus protect the colony, upon condition "that they
be allowed the liberty of their consciences and of worshiping
God in a way agreeable to the principles of their
education."—Scotch-Irish in America, First Congress, p. 117.
On the subject of the Scotch-Irish in America, and particularly
in Tennessee, see the Life of George Donnell, by President T. C.
Anderson. See also the proceedings of the Scotch-Irish in
America, at their various congresses, the first of which was
held at Columbia, Tennessee, in 1879.
72. The Carter's Valley Settlement.—There was another settlement
north of Holston, known as the Carter's Valley Settlement, in
what is now Hawkins County. It was, also, believed to be in
Virginia, but was beyond the Indian line. Its people
acknowledged the jurisdiction of Virginia, but being on the
Cherokee lands, were deprived of its protection. Carter's Valley
took its name from John Carter, one of its first settlers, who
afterward became prominent in the Watauga settlement. These two
settlements lived, during all the historic life of the Watauga
Association, under the laws of Virginia, and had no other
connection with the South Holston settlements than that of near
and friendly neighbors, who stood in common peril from the
Indian wars which commenced with the first struggles for
American independence. (See map.) The only distinctive Tennessee
history from 1769 to 1779, was made by the people south of the
Holston River.
73. South Holston Settlements.—There were two South Holston
settlements; Watauga, on the Watauga River, and Brown's, on the
Nollichucky River. The latter was just being planted when the
Watauga Association was formed in 1772, and took no part in its
organization. It was founded by Jacob Brown, a native of South
Carolina, who distinguished himself both in the Indian wars, and
at King's Mountain.
74. James Robertson.—The first decade of Tennessee history
centers in the little settlements on the Watauga River, of which
James Robertson was the most distinguished member. Robertson was
a native of Brunswick County, Virginia, but in his youth moved
with his parents, John and Mary (Gower) Robertson, to Orange
County, North Carolina. He had just reached manhood when the
Regulators began an organized resistance to the oppressions of
the royal government. He had neither wealth nor education, but
his native talent, his resolute spirit, and his inspiring manner
were such that he could neither have been an indifferent
spectator in the stirring scenes of the first year of the
Regulators, nor could he have passed unnoticed through them.
75. Robertson Determines to Leave North Carolina.—During the
year or more of quiet dejection following the dispersion of the
Regulators in the fall of 1768, Robertson determined to seek a
home beyond the reach of British oppression. Accordingly, in the
spring of 1770, he found the beautiful valley of the Watauga,
where he accepted the hospitality of one Honeycutt, raised a
crop of corn, and returned for his family and friends. On the
trackless mountain he lost his way, and would have perished but
for the providential relief afforded by two hunters who chanced
to discover him when his strength was fairly exhausted from
hunger and fatigue.
76. Robertson, the Father of Tennessee.—Robertson was not the
first to settle on the banks of the Watauga. Perhaps that
distinction is properly accorded to William Been. It is certain
Robertson found Honeycutt there on his first arrival. But he has
been justly called the "Father of Tennessee" in recognition of
his eminent services to its infant settlements. It is true, his
name is more intimately linked with the history of the middle
portion of the State, but his public services here antedate the
settlement of the Cumberland Valley by a period of nearly ten
years; during this time he was the leading spirit of the Watauga
settlements, where he proved himself in every way worthy of the
affectionate title he has received. He had an elevation of soul
that enabled him to take upon himself the burden of the whole
community. He was wholly unconscious of self. He never sought
popularity, nor honor, nor position. If there was a service too
humble to attract the ambitious, a post so perilous as to make
the brave quail, or a duty so difficult as to fill every other
heart with despair, that service or post or duty was accepted as
a matter of course by James Robertson. And his head was so cool
and clear; he had such a brave, resolute and devoted spirit; and
his vigilance was so alert and active, that success followed him
like the blessings of a special providence.
77. The Watauga Settlers Ordered off.—By the spring of 1772,
wheu the first political organization in the State was effected,
the Watauga settlement numbered many families. Some of them, as
we have seen, had settled there in consequence of the treaty of
L,ochabar, believing that they were within, the limits of
Virginia. But in 1771, Anthony Bledsoe made an experimental
survey from Steep Rock to Beaver Creek, which clearly indicated
that the Virginia line would not falisouth of the Holston River.
This was followed, in 1772, by a treaty between the authorities
of Virginia and the Cherokees, making the Indian line on the
south identical with the line between Virginia and North
Carolina. Under this treaty, Alexander Cameron, an agent of the
royal government, residing among the Cherokees, ordered the "Watauga
settlers to move off.
78. The Indians Intercede for the Watauga Settlers.— His order
placed the Watauga settlers in a most critical situation.
Hitherto, they had relied on Virginia. Now, they found
themselves without laws, and beyond the protection of any
organized government. Being on Iudialwaud which was controlled
by the Crown, .they were without the jurisdiction, as they were
physically beyond the protection, of North Carolina. They could
not obtain title to their lands, either from the Indians or from
the provincial government. Fortunately for them, a profound
peace existed between the colonists and the Southern Indians.
When the British agent ordered them to move back, some of the
Cherokees expressed a wish that they might be permitted to
remain, on condition that they should not encroach beyond the
lands they then held. After that, no further effort was made to
remove them.
79. Settlers Form an Association.—At this juncture a convention
of the settlers was called to consider their anomalous
condition, and to devise means for its improvement. They never
thought of abandoning their homes. They said they were "too
inconveniently situated to remove back," and besides, they were
"unwilling to lose the labor bestowed on their plantations.''
They determined to do two sensible things: (1) To form a
government of their own for the administration of justice in
their settlement; and (2) to lease for a number of years the
lauds on which they lived, conceiving that the King's
proclamation of 1763, prohibiting them from buying the land from
the Indians, did not extend to a leasing. [Petition of the
inhabitants of Washington District, Ramsey's Annals of
Tennessee, p. 134.]
80. Wafauga Adopts the First Written Constitution in America.—
Accordingly, they entered into a written association and
articles for the government of the settlement, which was the
first written constitution adopted by the consent of a free and
independent people in America. [Compare Ramsey, p. 107; Kelly,
in Proceedings of the First Scotch Irish Congress, p. 153;
Allison, in Proceedings of the Seventeenth Meeting of the
Tennessee Press Association, p. 27; Roosevelts "Winning of the
West, Vol. I, p. 184; Caldwell's Studies in the Constitutional
History of Tennessee, p. 27. See also, Dunmore to Dartmouth, May
16, 1774; Bancroft's History of the United States (first
edition), Vol. VI, p. 401, note.] The instrument itself has not
been preserved. Every member of the settlement signed the
Constitution. They adopted for their government the laws of
Virginia, and not those of North Carolina. A court, consisting
of five magistrates, having a clerk and a sheriff, were
appointed to administer the law under the Constitution. This
government continued until the beginning of the Revolution, in
1775, when it was merged into Washington District.
81. Land Leased from the Indians.—A form of government being now
established, and magistrates appointed, steps were immediately
taken to secure the settlers in the possession of the lands they
had so recently been notified to vacate. James Robertson and
John Bean were appointed to negotiate a lease from the
Cherokees. They assembled the Indians near their own settlement,
and for the sum of five or six thousand dollars in merchandise
leased all the land lying on the waters of the Watauga, for a
period of ten years. Afterwards, in 1775, following the
precedent set by Henderson & Co., in their great Transylvania
purchase, the Watauga people bought their lands in fee simple.
Jacob Brown made a similar lease, and purchased on the Nolli-chucky.
John Carter also met the Indians at Sycamore Shoals, and
obtained a deed to Carter's Valley, partly as an indemnity for a
store destroyed by the Indians some years before, and also for
an additional consideration, which Carter was enabled to raise
by admitting Robert Lucas to the firm. The accompanying map,
page 52, shows the boundaries of each of these private
purchases.
82. The First Geographical Division Named for "Washington.— The
Watauga Association never had, nor sought a political connection
with North Carolina until she declared her independence of Great
Britain. Its people had lived in peace under their own
government from 1772 to 1775. When the conflict between Great
Britain and her colonies began in that year, the united
settlements on the Watauga and Nollichucky formed themselves
into Washington District. This was the first geographical
division in the United States, named for the Father of his
Country.
83. "Washington District Supersedes "Watauga Association.—Having
formed themselves into Washington District, they appointed a
Committee of Safety. This was a kind of provisional government
generally adopted by the colonies. Their Committee of Safety was
composed of thirteen members, of whom Col. John Carter was made
Chairman. The Committee resolved to adhere to the Continental
Congress, and acknowledged themselves to be indebted to the
united colonies for their full proportion of the Continental
expense. Immediately after the Declaration of Independence, in
1776, Washington District presented a petition to the Provincial
Council of North Carolina, praying to be so annexed to that
province as to be enabled to share in the glorious cause of
liberty. [Those desiring further information on the organization
of the Watauga Association are referred to the American
Historical Magazine, Vol. III., p. 103, etseq., where the
subject is discussed more in detail. For an admirable discussion
of the "Watauga Commonwealth," see Roosevelt's Winning of the
West, Vol. I., Chapter 7 ; Putnam, pp. 45 to 49; Ramsey, pp.
134-140. See also Caldwell's Studies in the Constitutional
History of Tennessee.]
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