A large tract of country lying
between the French Broad and the Holston1
rivers on the north and west, the Little
Tennessee river on the south, and the
Alleghany mountains on the east, has had
a singular and remarkable history. It
has sometimes been referred to as the
Territory South of the French Broad.
By the North Carolina Act 1783, Ch. 2,
Sec. 5, the hunting ground reserved for
the Cherokees extended up the middle of
the Tennessee and the Holston rivers,
thence up the middle of the French Broad
to the mouth of Big Pigeon.
By the treaty of Hopewell, as we have
seen, the national authority laid off a
reservation for that nation of Indians,
with its northern boundary located still
higher up in the Franklin territory.2
Although the North Carolina act
prescribed a penalty to be paid by any
one who should survey or make entries on
the lands below the French Broad, that
State, in many instances, granted lands
within the reservation and took the
purchase money from its grantees.
The State of Franklin early in its
history negotiated the treaty of Dumplin
Creek in order to open the upper part of
that tract of country to settlers. But
the rush of emigration in that direction
was too strong to be held back by any
stipulation of act or treaty, and within
less than a year the settlements had
passed the last treaty line and each
succeeding year they crept farther
south.
Those of the settlers who had grants
from North Carolina had a right to
resent the numerous threats and
proclamations of removal made by North
Carolina. Other settlers not so situated
endeavored to stand under cover of those
grantees. A fresh proclamation had
issued from the governor of North
Carolina for the removal of those in the
Territory about the last of the year
1787.
The inhabitants were thus compelled to
rely for protection upon the State of
Franklin and upon the virtue of her
treaty of Dumplin Creek.
In the summer of 1788 there was among
them their leader, John Sevier, whose
fortunes they followed because they
admired him almost to the point of
idolatry. Added to this was their belief
that Sevier and Franklin would save to
them their little holdings. Leader and
people were well met; both were hard
pressed by the same power. Whatever
course the upper counties might take,
the inhabitants south of the French
Broad would not render fealty to North
Carolina who disowned them, though she
was estopped to do so3 This
people, therefore, gave a continued
allegiance to the State of Franklin.
Haywood, in closing his description of
the Sevier-Tipton engagement in
February, 1788, says: "With this battle,
the government of Franklin came to an
end." Every other historian has followed
Haywood and so declared: Ramsey, Phelan,
Roosevelt, Alden, Henderson and others.
Arthur Campbell planned a "greater
Franklin"; now there survived, for a
time, to function as a sovereign power,
even if fitfully and feebly, a "lesser
Franklin"—of the people inhabiting south
of the French Broad.
Late in July Governor Johnston referred
to John Sevier as one "who styles
himself Captain-General of the State of
Franklin."
In September, as we shall see, Sevier
was writing to Gardoqui the Spanish
minister, soliciting a loan for the
people of Franklin, for the repayment of
which he obligated himself and the
"State of Franklin" as an existent
power.4
October 15th the General Assembly was in
session and passed the following act:
In the General Assembly, State of
Franklin, October 15th,1788. Whereas,
the collection of taxes in specie, for
the want of a circulating medium, has
become very oppressive to the good
people of this Commonwealth; and
Whereas, it is the duty of the
legislature to hear at all times the
prayers of their constituents and apply
as speedy a remedy as lays in their
power,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
the State of Franklin, and it is hereby
enacted by the authority of the same,
That, from the first day of January,
A.D. 1788, the salaries of the civil
officers of this Commonwealth be as
follows, to wit:
His excellency, the governor, per annum,
one thousand deer skins; his honor, the
chief justice, five hundred do. do.;
secretary to his excellency, the
governor, five hundred racoon do, do.;
the treasurer of the State, four hundred
and fifty otter do. do.; each county
clerk, three hundred beaver do.; clerk
of the house of commons, two hundred
beaver do.; members of the assembly,
three do.; justices for signing a
warrant, one muskrat do.; to the
constable for serving a warrant, one
mink do.
Enacted into a law this 15th day of
October, 1788; under the great seal of
the State.
Witness his Excellency, &c.
Governor, captain-general,
commander-in-chief and admiral in and
over the same State.5
In reply to remarks of Webster touching
this act of Assembly, in the United
States Senate, Hugh Lawson White, of
Tennessee, gave an account of Franklin
which is the more interesting because of
the fact that the speaker was a son of
Colonel James White, a Franklin leader
who founded the city of Knoxville in the
territory now under discussion. Senator
White, who had been reared among these
bordermen, said:
The Senator from Massachusetts [Mr.
Webster] at the close of his reply to
the Senator from South Carolina, [Mr.
Calhoun] 'for his special benefit' in
very good temper, and in a most happy
manner, referred to the early history of
that portion of my State, now called
East Tennessee, once known as the State
of Franklin. He read us a part of one of
her acts of assembly which fixed the
salaries of some of her officers, and
directed the species of currency in
which they were to be paid.
I always feel gratified when I know or
hear that my State has done anything
that benefits any portion of my
fellowmen. 'Blessed be the peacemakers'
is the language of Holy Writ. On this
occasion the two honorable and
distinguished Senators had assumed an
attitude so belligerent that I really
feared it might end in something worse
than words. But no sooner were the
labors of my State fifty years ago
brought to the notice of this grave
body, than we all forgot that any of us
had been out of temper, and so soon as
we could recover composure enough. to
adjourn, we separated like a band of
brothers—no two leaving the chamber in
better temper with each other than the
two honorable Senators.
But sir, the Senator knew nothing under
the practice of the state law; therefore
we have not the full benefit which we
ought to derive from his reminiscences.
He could have related the whole incident
so much better than I can that I regret
he did not mention the subject to me
before he addressed the Senate; if he
had, I would have given him the
additional facts, that the whole might
have been detailed to the Senate in his
good-tempered and felicitous manner.
It will be remembered that the governor,
chief-justice, and some other officers,
were to be paid in deer skins; other
inferior officers were to be paid in
raccoon skins. Now at that day we were
all good whigs, although we had some of
the notions of the democrats of the
present day.
We thought those taxes might safely
remain in the hands of the collectors
until wanted for disbursement. The taxes
were, therefore fairly collected in the
skins and peltry pointed out in the law.
But the collectors knew, report says,
that although raccoon skins were plenty,
opossum skins were more so, and that
they could be procured for little or
nothing. They therefore, procured the
requisite number of opossum skins, cut
the tails off the raccoon skins, sewed
them to the opossum skins, paid them
into the general or principal treasury,
and sold the raccoon skins to the
hatters.
The treasurer had been an unlucky
appointment, although a worthy man; he
was a foreigner, knew nothing of skins
or peltry, and was, therefore, easily
deceived by the sub-treasurers. When
this imposition was discovered, the
whole system went down, and we never had
a greater fancy for leaving the taxes in
the hands of the sub-treasurers or
collectors from that day to this.
But sir, those old proceedings more
clearly develop the true character of my
State than almost anything of the
present day.
The territory or tract of country called
Franklin, was composed of four counties
of North Carolina, and separated from
the body of the State by the great ledge
of mountains, called at different places
by different names, and from what is now
called West Tennessee by the Cumberland
mountains and a wilderness of two
hundred miles.
The Revolutionary War had terminated
with Great Britain in 1783, but it
continued with the powerful tribes of
Indians who had been in alliance with
her. The depredations of these Indians
were so serious that aid to arrest their
ravages was desired from North Carolina;
that state was not in a situation to
furnish that protection, and instead
thereof, from good motives, no doubt,
but without due consideration, passed an
act ceding us to the United States. When
the news was received, the leading men,
who were King's Mountain men—Sevier, the
companion of the gallant Campbell and
Shelby at their head—took fire; the
discontent ended in a declaration of
independence, and the formation of the
state called, to perpetuate whig
principles, 'Franklin.'
North Carolina discovered her error and
before Congress could act on the
subject, repealed her act of cession.
But it was too late. We had been
disposed of without our consent. Though
but a handful, with a powerful savage
enemy infesting our whole frontier, and
without a dollar to begin with, we set
up for ourselves. We would not brook the
indignity; we had begun the fight for
liberty and liberty or death we would
have. We continued the controversy until
1789, when an accommodation with our
parent state took place; and with our
own consent, and upon terms thought
just, we, with other portions of
territory, were ceded, in 1789, to the
United States.
In 1796, we became the State of
Tennessee, and how we have since
continued, I willingly leave to the
judgment of our sister States.
I confess that, instead of feeling
humbled, I feel proud that my ancestor
was one of that unyielding band; that I
now find myself associated here with a
Sevier and a Tipton; and although I
sometimes think that two generations
back those of their name would not have
worked so tamely in party gear, yet
every once in a while the blood shows
itself, and you can see that if their
home concerns are not attended to here,
according to what is just, they break
party bandages and walk abroad in that
freedom for which their fathers periled
everything.
It is thus seen that "the controversy
continued until 1789.6 The
treasurer referred to was Elholm.6
Henry. Conway, of American ancestry, had
been the treasurer under the Greeneville
Assemblies.
Again, it has already been noted that
the Greeneville government made payment
to the civil officers of the State in
specie or current notes.
Sevier's last battle under the flag of
Franklin was fought in January, 1789;
and he reported it in writing to the
"Privy Council of the State of
Franklin," in the following:
Copy of a letter from Gov. Sevier to the
privy council of the new state of
Franklin, dated at Buffalo Creek,
January 12, 1789.
It is with the utmost pleasure I inform
your honors, that the arms of Franklin
gained a complete victory over the
combined forces of the Creeks and
Cherokees, on the loth inst. Since my
last, I received information that the
enemy were collecting in a considerable
body near Flint Creek, within 25 miles
of my headquarters, with an intention to
attack me. To improve this favorable
opportunity, I immediately marched my
corps towards the spot and arrived,
after enduring much hardship by [reason
of] the immense quantities of snow and
the piercing cold. On the morning of the
loth inst., we were within a mile of the
enemy. We soon discovered the situation
of their encampment by the smoke of
their fires, which we found extended
along the foot of the Appalachian
Mountain. I called a council of war of
all the officers, in which it was agreed
to attack the enemy without loss of
time; and in order to surround them, I
ordered Gen. M'Carter,7 with
the bloody rangers and the tomahawk-
men, to take possession of the mountain,
the only pass I knew that the Indians
could retreat by; while I with the rest
of the corps formed a line, nearly
extending from the right to the left of
their wings.
The arrival of Gen. M'Carter on the
mountain, and the signal for the attack,
was to be announced by the discharge of
a grasshopper, which was accordingly
given and the attack began.
Our artillery soon roused the Indians
from their huts; and, finding themselves
pretty near surrounded on all sides,
they only tried to save themselves by
flight, from which they were prevented
by our riflemen posted behind the trees.
Their case being desperate, they made
some resistance, and killed the people
who were serving our artillery. Our
ammunition being much damaged by the
snow on the march, and the enemy's in
good order, I found it necessary to
abandon that mode of attack, and trust
the event to the sword and the tomahawk;
accordingly gave orders to that purpose.
Col. Loid, with Doc) horsemen, charged
the Indians with sword in hand, and the
rest of the corps followed with their
tomahawks. The battle soon became
general, by Gen. M'Carter's coming down
the mountain to our assistance; death
presented itself on all sides in
shocking scenes, and in less than half
an hour the enemy ceased making
resistance, and left us in possession of
the bloody field.
The loss of the enemy sustained in this
battle is very considerable; we have
buried 145 of their dead, and by the
blood we have traced for miles all over
the woods it is supposed the greatest
part of them retreated with wounds. Our
loss is very inconsiderable; it consists
of five dead, and sixteen wounded;
amongst the latter is the brave Gen.
M'Carter, who, while taking off the
scalp of an Indian, was tomahawked by
another whom he afterward killed with
his own hand. I am in hopes this brave
and good man will survive.
I have marched the army back to my
former cantonment, at Buffalo Creek,
where I must remain until I receive some
supplies for the troops, which I hope
will be sent soon. We suffer most for
the want of whiskey.8
It seems that the inhabitants of the
territory, along with. those of the
upper counties, were led to believe that
separation by act of North Carolina was
near at hand, when the Greene county
delegates to the Carolina Assembly
returned home and made report of the
proceedings and sentiment of that body.
Sevier was willing to give over the
unequal contest if this people could be
satisfied in respect of their occupant
and preemption claims, and not be
dispossessed of holdings that had been
cleared by their axes and defended by
their rifles in numberless contests with
their savage neighbors. Could a diagram
be drawn, accurately designating every
spot signalized by an Indian massacre or
depredation, or by courageous attack,
defense, pursuit or victory by the
whites, the whole of that section of
country would be studded over by
delineations of such incidents.9
It is probable that Sevier counseled the
dropping of the name, State of Franklin,
in petitions to North Carolina in order
that the border people might shape for
adoption by and reconciliation with the
mother State. He himself contemplated
taking the oath of allegiance to that
State at an early date.
On January 12, 1789, representatives of
the inhabitants met to consult on some
"voluntary plan" of safety and defense.
They placed on record the information
they had received of the proceedings of
the North Carolina Assembly; and,
particularly the facts that a treaty was
to be held, in May following, with the
Cherokees "to fix out a certain boundary
betwixt us and the Indians," and that
the commissioners had been instructed
"to purchase the lands south of the
French Broad, if possible, and that the
people in that quarter were directed to
continue in possession of said lands
until the treaty."
The members of this convention conceived
General Martin to be a "person unworthy
our confidence as an officer, from the
partial representation he has given
us—witness his conduct at the treaty of
Hopewell; his not residing in the
district, and the declaration of the
Assembly that he had not acted agreeable
to the orders of the government." They
agreed that John Sevier "should keep the
command of the inhabitants on the
frontier, or any that may come to their
assistance." They declared in favor of a
"Council of Safety" for the regulation
of their affairs, as the laws of French
Broad requires; and that the Assembly of
North Carolina be petitioned to cede the
territory west of the mountains to
Congress.
John Sevier, Alexander Outlaw, Archibald
Roane, David Campbell and Joseph
Hamilton were requested to draw up a
representation of their situation and of
their earnest desire to be in the
Federal Union. William Nelson (Alexander
Outlaw, alternate) was named to wait on
Congress; and Joseph Hardin was
appointed to wait on the Cumberland
Settlement with such instructions as the
council of safety might give. 10
It is the opinion of the writer that at
the same or at a later meeting of this
group of pioneers, they adopted
"Articles of Association," which had
been drafted to be the complement of the
"Proceedings" above described. The
latter document, intended for use in
support of the petition to North
Carolina,11 was purposely silent in
respect to the operations of the
Franklin government among them; while
the Articles provide, in express terms,
for the continuance in power of "the
officers appointed under the authority
of Franklin.11
The one document was a plan of safety;
the other a compact for the government
of their internal affairs.
The Articles may be taken to embody some
of the leading features of the Watauga
Articles of Association. However, the
laws of North Carolina, and not those of
Virginia, were adopted by way of
reference. As given by Haywood12
the fundamental agreement reads:
ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION
We, the subscribers, inhabiting south
of Holston, French Broad and Big Pigeon
Rivers, by means of the division and
anarchy that has of late prevailed
within the chartered limits of
North-Carolina, west of the Apalachian
Mountains, being at present destitute of
regular government and laws, and being
fully sensible that the blessings of
nature can only be obtained and rights
secured by regular society, and
North-Carolina not having extended her
government to this quarter, it is
rendered absolutely necessary, for the
preservation of peace and good order,
and the security of life, liberty and
property to individuals, to enter into
the following social compact, as a
temporary expedient against greater
evils:
Article I. That the Constitution and
Laws of North-Carolina shall be adopted,
and that every person within the bounds
above mentioned, shall be subject to the
penalties inflicted by those laws for
the violation thereof.
Article II. That the officers appointed
under the authority of Franklin, either
civil or military, and who have taken
the oaths of office, shall continue to
exercise the duties of such office, as
far as directed and empowered by these
Articles, and no further, and shall be
accountable to the people or their
deputies for their conduct in office.
Article III. That militia companies, as
now bounded, shall be considered as
districts of the above territory, and
each district or militia company shall
choose two members to represent them in
a General Committee, who shall have
power to choose their own president and
clerk, to meet on their own
adjournments, and the president shall
have power to convene the Committee at
any time when the exigencies of affairs
require their meeting, and shall have
power to keep order and to cause rules
of decorum to be observed, in as full a
manner as the president of any other
convention whatever. And in all cases of
mal-administration, or neglect of duty
in any officer, the party grieved shall
appeal to the Committee, or a majority
of them, who shall be competent to form
a board of business. And upon such
application, the Committee shall cause
the parties to come before them, and
after examining carefully into the
nature of the offence, shall have power
to deprive of office, or publicly
reprimand the offender, as the demerit
of the crime may deserve, or otherwise
to acquit the party accused, if found
not guilty.
Article IV. Where vacancies happen in
the military department, the same shall
be filled up by election, as heretofore
used, and the officers thus elected
shall be the reputed officers of such
regiment or company, as the case may be,
and shall be accountable to the
Committee for their conduct as other
officers.
Article V. The civil officers shall have
power to take cognizance of breaches of
the peace or criminal offences, and
where any person is convicted of an
offence not capital, the officer before
whom such offender is convicted, shall
immediately inflict the punishment
directed by law for such offence. But
where the crime is capital, the officer
shall send such criminal; together with
the evidences for or against him or
them, to the highest justice of the
peace for North- Carolina, there to be
dealt with according to law; but no
civil officer shall decide upon cases of
debt, slander, or the right of property.
Article VI. Militia officers shall have
power to collect their regiments or
respective companies, emergencies making
it necessary, and in case of invasion by
the common enemy, shall call out their
companies regularly by divisions, and
each militia man shall give obedience to
the commands of his officer, as is
required by law, or otherwise be subject
to the penalties affixed by law for such
neglect or refusal, at the judgment of a
court martial.
Article VII. And, whereas, it is not
improbable that many horse thieves and
fugitives from justice may come from
different parts, expecting an asylum
amongst us, as we are destitute of a
regular government and laws by which
they may be punished, each and every of
us do oblige ourselves to aid and assist
the officers of the different state or
states, or of the United States, or any
description of men sent by them, to
apprehend such horse thief or fugitive
from justice. And if any of the above
characters should now be lurking amongst
us, or shall hereafter be discovered to
have taken refuge in this quarter, we do
severally bind ourselves, by the sacred
ties of honour, to give information to
that state or government from which they
have fled, so that they may be
apprehended and brought to justice.
Article VIII. United application shall
be made to the next session of the
Assembly of North-Carolina to receive us
into their protection, and to bestow
upon us the blessings of government.
Article IX. The captains of the
respective militia companies shall each
of them procure a copy of these
Articles, and after calling the company
together for the purpose, shall read
them, or cause them to be read,
distinctly to said company; and each
militia man or householder, after
hearing them read, if he approve of them
shall ascribe his name to the articles,
as a proof of his willingness to subject
himself to them; and said Articles shall
be the temporary form of government
until we are received into the
protection of North Carolina, and no
longer.
Ramsey surmises that the seat of
government under the Articles was at
Newell's Station. The tradition in
Sevier county is that for six months
Sevier made his headquarters on the
Robertson farm, one-half mile east of
Seymour Railway Station, in the ninth
civil district of that county.
Sevier continued to befriend the people
who had settled this beautiful and
attractive country. He presented a
memorial in their behalf to the Carolina
Assembly of 1789, in which he urged that
body to recognize the validity of the
treaty of Dumplin Creek, which, he
declared, had been fairly and openly
negotiated.13 It seems that
Sevier influenced that body to reserve
the right to Carolina, in the last
cession act,14 to open an
office for the entry of preemptions by
the people of this section, but the
Assembly adjourned without making
specific provisions for the office; and
it never did so thereafter. This
entailed on the people long years of
anxious waiting before their titles were
validated.
In 1794, when a member of the
Legislative Council of the Territory
South of the River Ohio, Sevier aided in
procuring the legislature of the
Territory to represent to Congress that
the inhabitants South of the French
Broad ought to be secured in their
rights of preemption.15
As the first governor of Tennessee, and
in one of his first messages, he urged
the Assembly of 1796 to remind the
senators just elected to Congress of the
"embarrassed situation", of this people.
16
He again showed tenderness for those who
had stood by him in the hour of stress
and strain, when in addressing a special
session of the Tennessee legislature, in
18o6, he said in his message: "Among the
very great objects you will have before
you for legislative consideration will
be the situation and circumstance of the
people settled on the south side of the
French Broad and Holston, and west of
Big Pigeon rivers. They are respectable
and worthy inhabitants, who have
suffered by Indian depredations too
deplorable to relate. They are justly
deserving of the patronage and
indulgence of a liberal and patriotic
legislature; and I entertain every hope
that the paternal care of the Assembly
will be tenderly exercised towards such
a deserving and worthy class of
citizens."17
It was not a matter of surprise that the
citizens of one of the counties in that
district, when the county was regularly
formed, insisted upon retaining for it
the old Franklin name of "Sevier."
Common gratitude prompted the action;
theirs was a deeper sense of obligation.
At the February (1789) term of the
Greene County Court, John Sevier, Joseph
Hardin, Henry Conway and Hugh Wear,
"came into court and took the oath of
allegiance, agreeable to the Act of the
Assembly in such cases made and
provided."
Then, truly, the State of Franklin had
come to an end. Governor Caswell's
policy of conciliation had at last
vindicated itself, and it continued to
be the policy of the mother State until
the second cession act was passed.
__________
1 Now called the Tennessee at
this place.
2 Ante, p. 99.
3 Governor Johnston of North
Carolina, a learned lawyer, in an
official communication of date Sept 22,
1788, after pointing out that fifteen
hundred families had settled in the
strip of country, said: "The people
inhabiting the lands on the fork of the
French Broad and Holston rivers claim
under grants from this State, regularly
issued from the secretary's office and
executed by the governors. The people
are, therefore, as much under the
protection of the State as any other of
her citizens. For this reason, as well
as others I have heard, the treaty of
Hopewell will probably ever be
reprobated by every good citizen of this
State." N. C. Rec., XXI, 5OI.
4 Post, p. 240.
5 This act was published as a
news item by newspapers of that period
which gave attention to affairs in
Franklin: Augusta Chronicle and Gazette,
May 2,1789. See also American His
Association Rep., 1898, p. 322. Judge
Simeon E. Baldwin, referring to this
statute, there says that "it is probable
that no statute in this precise form was
ever passed, or, indeed, any statute of
so late a date," but he too follows
Haywood.
The statute probably was printed in one of the Boston journals, because
Daniel Webster made it a topic of debate
in the United States Senate, when in
March, 1838, the establishment of a
sub-treasury was under discussion. He
said:
"Most members of the Senate will remember that, before the establishment
of this government, and before or about
the time that the territory which now
constitutes the State of Tennessee was
ceded to Congress, the inhabitants of
the eastern part of that territory
established a government for themselves,
and called it the State of Franklin.
They adopted a very good constitution,
calling for the usual branches of
legislative, executive and judicial
power. They laid and collected taxes,
and performed other usual acts of
legislation. They had, for the present,
it is true, no maritime possessions, yet
they followed the common forms in
constituting high officers; and their
governor was not only captain-general
and commander-in-chief; but admiral
also, so that the navy might have a
commander when there should be a navy.
"Well, sir, the currency in the State of Franklin became very much
deranged. Specie was scarce, and equally
scarce were the notes of specie-payment
banks. But the legislature did not
propose any divorce of government and
people; they did not seek to establish
two currencies, one for men in office
and one for the rest of the the
community. They were content with
neighbors' fare. It became necessary to
pass, what we should call, now-a-days,
the civil list appropriation bill. They
passed such a bill; and when we shall
have made a void in the bill now before
us by striking out specie payments for
government, I recommend to its friends
to fill the gap by inserting, if not the
same provisions as were in the laws of
the State of Franklin, at least
something in the same spirit.
"The preamble of that law, sir, begins by reciting, that the collection
of taxes in specie had become very
oppressive to the good people of the
commonwealth for the want of a
circulating medium. A parallel case to
ours, sir, exactly. It recited further,
that it is the duty of the legislature
to hear, at all times, the prayers of
their constituents, and apply as speedy
a remedy as lies in their power. These
sentiments are very just, and I
sincerely wish that there was a thorough
disposition here to adopt the like.
"Acting under the influence of those sound opinions, sir, the legislature
of Franklin passed a law for the support
of the civil list, which, as it is
short, I beg permission to read. It is
as follows:
(Mr. Webster here read the body of the
act as set out in the text.)
"This, sir, is the law, the spirit of which I commend to gentlemen. I
will not speak of the appropriateness of
these several allowances for the civil
list. But the example is good, and I am
of the opinion that, until Congress
shall perform its duty by seeing that
the country enjoys a good currency, the
same medium which the people are obliged
to use, whether it be skins or rags, is
good enough for its own members."
6 See sketch of Major Elholm,
post, p. 309
7 The name M' Carter still
survives in Sevier coun ty, Tennessee.
James McCarter, an early Scotch settler
in that county, is here referred to. E.
T. Hist. Soc. Pub., III, 64.
8 City Gazetter and Daily
Advertiser, of Charleston, Apr. 21,
1789; and Augusta Chronicle, May 2,
1789.
9 Ramsey, 370.
10 The proceedings are given
in full, Appendix C.
Gen. Joseph Martin thus reported to
Governor Johnston, Feb. 5th: "A party of
men have lately met on French Broad and
called themselves a convocation of the
people and have passed several resolves,
one of which is to raise a number of men
by subscription, and to be commanded by
Col. Sevier, saying that North Carolina
refused to aid the people over the
mountains, and, in consequence the
Assembly's not making any allowance to
the people who went against Chickamauga.
I was in doubt for some time that a
general revolt would take place." N. C.
St. Rec., XXI, 523
11 Therefore found in the
archives of that State. N. C. St. Rec.,
XXII, 722. 12 Page 193, Ramsey, 435.
12 13 N. S. St. Rec., XXII,
727.
14 N. C. Zell, ch. 3, sec. I,
sub. sec., 10; Scott's Revisal. I, 408.
15 Journal, 12; petition of
inhabitants, pp. 23, 24.
16 Senate Journal,1796, 24.
17 Governor's message,
submitted July 29, 1806. Senate Journal,
5. The history of this district is
interestingly set forth in a rare
pamphlet "An Address to the Citizens of
Tennessee by a Citizen, South of French
Broad and Holston. Knoxville, 1823." The
writer states that the district began to
be populated in 1783. In three or four
years the country fringing the south
bank of the French Broad was settled by
a class of citizens "who were most of
them refugees from the poverty and ruin
in which they were involved by the
calamities of a destructive war which
they had just before successfully
concluded with one of the greatest
powers of the world. Danger had taught
them enterprise; and urged by the calls
of necessity, they were willing to
encounter the most formidable perils . .
. for the sake of obtaining a little
spot of earth upon which they and their
families might subsist. This country
formed a frontier of near one hundred
miles in length and an average breadth
of from fifteen to twenty miles." For
further light on this section:
Sanford, Blount College, 28; and cases in the United States
Supreme Court, Preston v. Browder, 1
Wheaton Rep. (14 U. S.),115; Danforth v. Thomas, Ib. 155;
Danforth v. Wear, 9
Wheaton (22 U. S), 673; also Profit v. Williams, i Yerger
(Tenn.), 92.
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