Franklin Township (part 13 of 19)

One hundred men, raised in Davidson and Sumner, and ( commanded by Col. Mansco and Major Kirkpatriek» c escorted twenty-two families/ who came this year by the way of the future Knoxville to Cumberland. These guards, to escort emigrant families through the wilderness^ were continued several years, and afforded them almost perfect security from Indian disturbance. But wherever a house or a station was allowed to remain defenceless, murder and depredation followed. The Indians, after they killed Bledsoe, murdered one Walters, near Winchester's Mill. They attacked the station of Southerland Mayfield, upon the head of the west fork of Mill Creek, four miles above its junction with the east fork. The party consisted of ten or twelve Creek warriors In the evening, they came to a place near the station where Mayfield, his two sons, Col. Jocelyn, and another person, were making a wolf pen. The Indians, unperCeived, got between them and their guns. They fired upon and killed Mayfield, one of his sons, and another person, a guard at that station. They fired upon the gu|ird and the son, as they went in the direction of the guns to bring to the pen something that was there, and jumped over a log, from where they had lain behind it, to scalp them, in the presence of Mayfield and Jocelyn. The latter ran for his gun and g^^ amongst the Indians, who fired upon him and drove ^jj^i hack> pursuing him in the form of a half moon. At le» jg^ii ^jjgy jrove him to a very large log, over which, if iie c j^jj jjQ^ have jumped, he was completely penned. Bey^^ id his own expectation, Jocclyn leaped over the log and '^ if upon his back. Despairing of overtaking a man of so '^ avmh activity, the Indians desisted from any further pursuit and lefl; him. By a circuitous route he reached the station, llayfield was wounded* He was not seen or pursued by tAe Indians, but was found next day dead. George Mayfield ^as taken prisoner, and held in captivity many years. Satisfied with th^ guns and the prisoner they had taken, the Indians made no assault upon the station, but made a hasty retreat. The people in the station then removed to Captain R&iEls, near Nashville. A mile below Mayfield^ the Indie.ns attacked Brown's Station, and killed four boys - two &e sons of Stowball, one a son of Joseph Denton, and the other a son of John Brown. Not long after, at the same station, James Haggard and his wife, John Haggard, and a man named Adams, were all killed. The people in this station then removed to Captain Rains.

On the 20th January, of this year, the Indians killed Capt. . Hunter, and dangerously wounded Hugh F. Bell. A party of white men pursued, and, at the distance of two and a half miles, came upon them ambuscaded. They fired upon their pursuers, killed Major Kirkpatrick, and wounded J. Foster and William Brown. At Dunham's Station, in the spring, they killed Mills ; in May, Dunham ; and, in the summer, Joseph Norrington, and another Dunham, near the place where Joseph Trvin's house has since been built. J. Cockrill was fired, at and his horse was killed. Besides these already mentioned, there were several others killed, whose Barnes are not recollected. Hostilities continued throughout the summer, and Miss McGaughy, at Hickman's Station, and Hugh Webb, on the Kentucky trace, near Barren River, were killed by the Indians. Henry Ramsey was shot through the body, near Bledsoe's Creek, between Greenfield . and Morgan's Station, three or four miles from Bledsoe's 'Xick.

( mentSy encamped for the night in the wilderness west of Clinch River. Next morning a large company of Indians fell upon them, killing one white man named Stanley, a Chickasaw chief called Longhair, and his son. The whites were entirely routed, and escaped only by swimming across the river. They lost all their horses, and the most of their clothing.

In Jp.ne, the Indians made a bold attack on Robertflon's Station. It was made in the day time, while the hands were at work in the field. In their escape to the fort. Gen. Robertson was wounded. He gave orders to Col. Elijah Robertson to send a force immediately against the Indians who had retreated. To Captain Sampson Williams was this service assigned, who, with sixty or seventy men, convened at Gen. Robertson's, marched at once, pursuing the enemy along McCutchin's trace, up West Harper, to the ridge of Dock River. Here they discovered that the Indians out-travelled them. Twenty men were ordered to the front, to leave their horses, and to make forced marches upon the trail. Captain Williams and the twenty men, one of whom was Andrew Jackson, pushed forward and soon came in view of the Indian camp, on the south side of Duck River. They then went up the river a mile and a half, crossed over it in the night, and went down its bank to the place the Indian camp was supposed to be. The cane was so thick that they coald not find the camp, and they lay on their arms all night. In the morning, Captain Williams advancing about fifty yards, descried the Indians repairing their fires, at the distance of one hundred yards from him. He and his men rushed towards them, fired at sixty yards distance, killed one, wounded five or six, and drove the whole party across the river to the north side. The Indians carried ofi* their wounded and escaped, not taking time even to return the fire. In their flight they left to the victors sixteen guns, nineteen shot-pouches, and all their baggage, consisting of blankets, moccasins and leggins. They were not again overtaken.

Evan Shelby, Abednego Lewellen, Hugh F. Bell, and Colonel Teiien, were in the woods hunting. The two former were killed ; the two last escaped.

In September, the Indians came to Buchanan's Station. John Blackburn, standing on the bank of the creek near the spring, was fired upon by ten or twelve of them at the same time. He was killed, scalped, and left with a spear in his body.

Among other emigrants from North-Carolina to Cumberlandy was the father of Colonel William Pillow. He came through the wilderness with the guard commanded by Captain Elijah Robertson, and settled four miles south of Nashville, at Brown's Station. The son, William Pillow, was in most of the expeditions carried on against the Indians, from the time of his arrival in the country to the close the Indian war. He was under Captain Rains in the tour to Elk River, already mentioned. He also accompanied Captain John Gordon in pursuit of the Indians who had killed a woman near Buchanan's Station. Only one of the savages was killed ; the rest elfected their escape in the oane, and at night He was also one of Captain Murray's company, who gave pursuit to the Indians, who, in February, killed John Helin at Jonathan Robertson's Station, six or seven miles below Nashville, and had also stolen several horses in that neighbourhood. Murray's company crossed Dock River, five miles below the place where Columbia now -tandsy and continued a rapid march, day and night. The from the enemy's camp was discovered, and four or fiye spies were sent forward. Captain Murray charged obliquely to the right of the camp, which was on the bank of Tennessee River. His left charged obliquely to the left, and struck the river above the Indian camp. The spies fired and killed one ; the other Indians ran down the river into Capt. Mnrray's line, when, finding their fiight intercepted in that direction, they jumped into the river, and were shot. Mr. ICaclin shot one before he got into the water. William Pil- low, hearing a gun fire at a place which he had just passed, pushed his horse up the steep second river bank, and dia^ covered Davis running towards him, pursued by four Indians. Pillow dashed forward, and the Indians, discontmuini^ the pursuit of Davis, ran off in the opposite direction. Pillow, pressing the pursuit too eagerly, fell from his horse ; but re* covered, sprang to his feet, gained upon the Indian, and discharged the contents of his musket into his body. At that moment, Captain Murray, Thomas Cox, Robert Evans, Lake Anderson and William Ewing rode up, and Pillow pointed out to them the direction one of the Indians had gone. Thqf immediately gave pursuit, and saw the Indian attempting to mount Pillow's horse, which he succeeded in doing. Cox ran up and shot him through the shoulder. The Indian, nevertheless, held on to PillcfS^'s horse, and kept him in a gallop till the whole company came up with him. He now slipped off the horse, and, as he ca^e to the ground, scared Anderson's mule, which run under a low tree, whose limbs caught his gun and jerked it out of his hand. The brave Indian caught it up, snapped it three or four times at them, before Evans shot him down. Pursuit was then made by Andrew Castleman and others, after the two other Indians whom Pillow had driven from Davis. They were found hid in the water, under a bluff of rocks ; both were killed. Others were found concealing themselves under the bank, and suffered the same fate. Eleven warriors were killed ; the whole party, as was ascertained from the squaws who were taken prisoners.*

Such were the accumulated difficulties from savage hostility, undergone by the Cumberland settlements, in the first nine years after the arrival of Robertson at the Bluff. The prophecy of the sagacious Cherokee chief had been already fulfilled to the letter, and, still later, received further and stronger realization. "Much trouble" attended each step in the growth of the gallant community, of which the French Lick was the nucleus. And it may be safely said, that as the co-pioneers and compatriots of Robertson under- went trials, hardships, dangers, invasion, assault, massacre and death from Indian warfare, unsurpassed, in degree and duration, in the history of anypeople ; so they were endured with a fortitude, borne with a ' perseverance, encountered with a determination, resisted with a courage, and signalized with a valour, unequalled and unrecorded. The Bluffy the stations in its environs, the forts in the adjoining neighbourhoods, each hunting excusion, the settlement of each farm around the flourishing metropolis of Tennessee, fur^ Bishes its tale of desperate adventure and romantic heroism, ' upon which this writer dare not here linger. A volume would be insufficient for that desirable and necessary purpose ; and leaving that duty to some admiring and grateful ettizen of Nashville, he hastens, for the present, from the account of the military, to the civil affairs of Cumberland. The General Assembly of North-Carolina, in May of this \ y®*^' engaged by a public act, in the form of a reso- ( lution, to give to the officers and soldiers, in its line of tiie Continental establishment, a bounty in lands in proportion to their respective grades. These lands were to be laid off in what is known as Middle Tennessee. To all such as were then in the military service, and should continue to the end of the war, or such as, from wounds or bodily infirmity, have been, or shall be, rendered unfit for service ; and to the heirs of such as shall have fallen, or shall fall, in defence of the country. There never was a bounty more richly deserved, or more ungrudgingly promised. It furnished to the war-worn soldier, or to his children, a home in the new and fertile lands of the West, where a competency, at least, perhaps wealth or even affluence, might follow, after the storm ef war was past; and where the serene evening of life might be spent in the contemplation of the eventful scenes of his earlier years, devoted to the service of his country, and to the cause of freedom and independence. In search of this bounty, thus provided by North-Carolina for her whig soldiery, a vast emigration from that state came soon after to what is now Tennessee; and, owing to this cause, it was at one time estimated, that nine-tenths of the Tennessee pop u-

As on Watauga at its first settlement, so, also now, on Cumberland, the colonists bf Robertson ^vere ivitbout any regularly organized government The country was within the boundaries of Washington county, which extended to the Mississippi River, perhaps the largest extent of territory ever embraced in a single county. But, even here, in the wilds of Cumberland, removed more than six hundred miles from their seat of government, the people demonstrated again their adequacy to self-government. Soon after their arrival at the Bluff, the settlers appointed trustees, and signed a covenant, obliging themselves to conform to the judgments and decisions of these ofBccrs, in whom they had vested the powers of government. Those who signed the covenant had considerable advantages over those who did not ; they were respectively allowed a tract of land, the quiet possession of which was guaranteed by the colony. Those who did not sign the covenant, were considered as having no right to their lands, and could be dispossessed by a signer without any recourse. To the trustees were allowed, in these times of primitive honesty and old-fashioned public spirit, neither fees nor salaries. But, to the cierk appointed by the trustees, were given small perquisites, as compensation for the expense of paper and stationery. The trustees were the Executive of the colony, and had the whole government in their own hands ; acting as the judiciary, their decisions gave general satisfaction. To them were also committed the functions of the sacerdotal ofiice, in the celebration of the rites of matrimony. The founder of the colony. Captain James Robertson, as might have been expected, was one of the trustees, and was the first who married a couple. These were Captain Leiper and his wife. Mr. James Shaw was also a trustee, aud married Edward Swanson to Mrs. Carvin, James Freeland to Mrs. Maxwell, Cornelius Riddle to Miss Jane Mulherrin, and John Tucker to Jenny Herod, all in one day. The first child born in the country, was John Saunders, since the sherifi* of Montgomery county, and after- wards killed on White River by the Indians. The second born in the country, was Anna Wells. The first child bora in Nashville, was the son ofCaptain Robertson - the present venerable relict of another a^e - Doctor Felix Robertson. -

Under this patriarchal form of government, by trustees selected, on account of their experience, probity and firmness, the colony was planted, defended, governed and provided for, several years ; and the administration of justice, and the protection of rights, though simple and a little irregular, it is believed, were as perfect and satisfactory as at any subsequent period in its history.

The right to the lands on the Lower Cumberland, at the time the Revolutionary War commenced, lay in the Chicka* saws, rather than in the Cherokees. The former, prior to that time, lived north of the Tennessee River, and at least fifty miles lower down that stream, than the lowest Cherokee towns. The greatest contiguity to hunting grounds, and the prior use of them, seems to be the best claim Indians can establish to them. The Chickasaws claimed, and ceded, the Cumberland lands, at the treaty held by Donelson and Martin in 1782 or 1788.* It was, probably, never reported to Con- Where this treaty was held, its exact date, the bounagreed upon, &c., &c., this writer has not been able to ascertain. It is referred to, as above, in a letter from Governor William Blount to the Secretary of War, dated Knoxville, January I4th, 1708.

But North-Carolina owned the territory, and began to exercise further guardianship over her distant possessions. In April of seventeen hundred and eighty-two, her legislature, by an act passed for that purpose, allowed to the settlers on the Cumberland rights of pre-emption. Six hundred and forty acres were allowed to each family or head of a family. A similar provision was made for each single man, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who had settled the lands before the flrst of June, 1780. Such tracts were to include the improvement each settler had made. No right of pre-emption, however, was extended, so as to include any flalt lick or salt spring ; these were reserved by the same act as public property, together with six hundred and forty acnes of adjoining lands ; the rest of the country was all declared to be subject to partition.

The act for the relief of the officers and soldiers in her Continental line, made good all depreciation of pay and subsistence and clothing, of each officer and soldier, and provided for the widow and heirs of such as were killed in the public service. It made a princely allowance in lands ** as an effectual and permanent reward for their signal bravery and persevering zeal," to the officers and soldiers of the Continental line; to a Brigadier-General, twelve thousand acres; and to all intermediate ranks, in that proportion. To Greneral Nathaniel Greene, twenty-five thousand acres were given, ^ as a mark of the high sense this state entertains of the extraordinary services of that brave and gallant officer.**

Absalom Tatom, Isaac Shelby and Anthony Bledsoe* were appointed Commissioners to lay off the lands thus allotted. The Commissioners were to be accompanied by a gaard of one hundred men.

Courts of Equity were, at the same session of the legisla* ture, established in all the districts of the state. What is now Tennessee, was embraced in the District of Morgan.

The war of the Revolution was coming to an end, and ( from this event, as had been anticipated by Captain ( Kobertson, an abatement of Indian hostility followed. The prospect of peace and security to emigrants and their property, induced the removal of great numbers from the Atlantic sections, which gave new strength and increased animation to the Cumberland settlements.

At the commencement of this year, Commissioners who ( had been appointed to lay off the bounty lands to the ( officers and soldiers in the North-Carolina line, came to Cumberland. They were accompanied by a numerous guard, for whose services, compensation was provided, in lands, afterwards known as guard rights. Many sought to be enlisted in the service, and the guard soon became formidable for its numbers. The Indians offered them no molestation, while they were executing the duties of their ap- pointment. The settlers were much encouraged by their presence, and, as such an accession of armed men gave great additional strength to the defence of the country, all idea of leaving it was, at once, abandoned, and the settlements began to wear the aspect of permanence and stability, and a flood of new emigrants soon followed.

The Commissioners, accompanied by the guard and a few of the inhabitants, went to the place since known as Latitude Hill, on Elk River, to ascertain the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude. Here they made their observation. They then proceeded to lay off, for General Greene, the twentyfive thousand acres of land presented by North-Carolina to him. The present had been richly deserved, and, on the part of the state, was munificent. It embraced some of the best lands on Dock River - perhaps the best in Tennessee.

The Commissioners then, fifly-five miles from the southem boundary and parallel thereto, ran the Continental line. But the Assembly, at the request of the officers, during their session of this year, directed it to be laid off from the northem boundary, fifly-five miles to the south : '' beginning on the Virginia line, where Cumberland River intersects the same ; thence south, fiflj'-five miles ; thence west, to the Tennessee River ; thence down the Tennessee to the Virginia line ; thence with the said Virginia line, east, to the beginning.'*

A further duty of the Commissioners was to examine into .the claims of those persons who considered themselves entitled to the pre-emption rights granted to those who settled on Cumberland previous to June Ist, 1780. This was done by the Commission sitting at the Bluff, and the necessary certificates for the pre-emption rights were issued.

Its duties performed, the Commission was dissolved, and Isaac Shelby ceased to be a citizen of what is now Tennessee, and removed to Kentucky. These annals have testified to the energy, fidelity and success of his services in the military, civil and political affairs of the country, from the commencement of its settlement to the present time. Of his subsequent history, Tennessee may well be proud. His novitiate in the public service was passed, and his character formed within her borders and amongst her pioneers. There he laid, with his own sword, the basis of his reputation, and there he acquired the materials out of which to erect the column of renown which has since adorned his name. A fellow-soldier and co-patriot of Sevier, these youthful volunteers fired the first guns on the Kenhawa - conquered together at King's Mountain, and together captured the British post at Wapetaw. With their joint assistance, the founda^ tion of society in the West was laid by Robertson. These three are the real artificers of Western character, and their oo-operation moulded into form the elements which constitute its beauty and its strength. The Volunteer State is much indebted to Isaac Shelby. But the details of his future life cannot be here given. It is proper, however, to add that he became the first Governor of the State of his adoption, and that, in the war of eighten hundred and twelve, having again been elected Governor of Kentucky, he marched, at the head of four thousand Kentucky troops, across the State of Ohio, to General Harrison's head-quarters, and there exhibited the same cool and determined courage that had signalized his youth. The last public service he performed for Tennessee was, as one of the Commissioners at the treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, at which that tribe relinquished all their lands north of the southern boundary of the state, and between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. His death occurred suddenly, July 18, 1826, in the 76th year of his age. The memory of this brave ofiicer and patriotic man, is perpetuated by the state, in the name of her southwestern county, where he negotiated with the Chickasaws, and in the name of the beautiful county seat, Shclbyville, in Bedford county.

Amongst the enactments by the Assembly of this year, { was one laying off the county of Davidson, and ap- ( pointing for it civil and military officers as in other counties, and establishing a court of pleas and quarter sessions.

Davidson county, like the other three already established west of the Apalachian chain, received its name from an officer of the army of the Revolution, General William

Davidson, of Mecklenburg county, North-Carolina. A native of that part of the state which had early exhibited an enthusiastic devotion to independence and freedom, he sought and obtained a command, though of inferior grade, in the Continental army. In that service he was considered a gallant officer, and acquired reputation. When the enemy overran South-Carolina, he left the regular service, and was immediately appointed General in the North-Carolina militia. In his new sphere of duty, he manifested great zeal and public spirit. It was he whom Col. McDowell sought, to invite him to take the chief command of the troops at King's Mountain. He was constantly on the alert to disperse the tories and annoy Lord Cornwallis, while his headr quarters were at Charlotte. After the battle of the Cowpens, Morgan, in removing the prisoners, for safe keeping, to Virginia, was pursued by the British army. General Davidson, having under his command some active militia^ men, hastily collected in his neighbourhood, endeavoured to retard the pursuers, and at every river and creek caused them some delay, and thus contributed, essentiall}^ to the escape of the American army and the prisoners which encumbered its march. In this service General Davidson lost his life. On the first of February, 1781, the British army, accompanied by loyalists, who knew .the roads and crossing places, came to the Catawba River, at Cowan's Ford, and began to cross at that place. Davidson rode to the river, to reconnoitre the enemy on the other side, with the hope of devising some plan to keep them back awhile* A tory, who knew him, and who was in advance, piloting the enemy, had nearly crossed the river, and, unperceived by the General, was near the bank on which he rode, and shot him. Knowing that the wou id was mortal, he rode briskly back to a place where he had left part of his troops, gave them some necessary directions what to do, and soon after expired. " Never was there a more intrepid soldier ; never a greater patriot ; never did any man love his country with a more ardent affection. His name should be ever dear to the people of North-Carolina and Tennessee." *

His grave is pointed ont« and may be seen, not far from v^here he fell, in Hopewell Church-yard. Congress voted him a monument, but his grave is yet without an inscription. The metropolitan county of Tennessee perpetuates his name. His virtue, patriotism and valour, can never 4)6 forgotten.

The Legislature also established a town at the Bluff. It was ( named Nashville, in honour of Col. Francis Nash. He ( was an early advocate for resistance against arbitrary power - being a captain in the Regulation war in 1771, and appointed as early as the 24th August, 1 775, by the Congress of North-Carolina, as one of a Committee to prepare a plan for the regulation, internal peace, order and safety of the province. To this important Committee was entrusted the* duty of proposing a sj'stem of government, which would supply the want of an executive officer, arising from the absence of Governor Martin, who had fled from his palace^ and of submitting other subordinate plans of government^ such as the institation of Committees of Safety, the qualifications of electors, '* and every other civil power necessary to be formed, in order to relieve the province in the present unhappy state to which the administration had reduced it."*

September 1st, 1775, the North-Carolina Congress appointed Mr. Nash, Lieutenant-Colonel of the first regiment in the Continental service. At the battle of Germantown he commanded as Brigadier-General, and at the head of his brigade, fell bravely fighting for the Independence of his country. Davidson and Nash were from the same state - bore the same rank in her armies - both fell in engagemer that were unsuccessful to the American arms, but their no '^ will be gratefully remembered, while the metropolitan ^^^

BmIoq, Thos Molloy, Francis Prince, and Isaac Lindsay, Esqs., members of said G)urt ; Isaac Bledsoe, Samuel Barton, Francis Prince, and Isaac Lindsay, met and were qualified in the following manner : - the next junior to the senior member present, montioneil in the Commission, administered the oaths of office prescribed for the qualifications of public officers,,to the senior member present, and then he to the others present

Oct 7 - Talbot not being able to give security give up, the place was declared vacant, and the Court proceeded to elect Andrew Ewing, Clerk.

The Court then nominated constables in the several stations, viz : - (Samnel ^ason, at Maulding^s ; James McCain, at Mansco's ; Stephen Bay, at Heatonsburg, John McAdams, at Nashborough ; and Edward Bwanson, at Freeland's Station.

The Court then proceeded to fix on a place for the building of a court-house and prison, and agreed that in the present situation of the settlement that it be at Nashborough - size of court-house to be eighteen feet square, with a shade of twelve feet on the one side of the length of the house ; said house to bo furnished with the necessary * benches, bar, table, etc, fit for the reception of the Court; also, a prison, fourteen feet square, of hewed logs, of a foot square ; both walls, loft and floor, except the same, shall be built upon a rock. To be done on the best and most reasonable terms, and that the same be vendued si Uxe lowest price that can be had.

The Court give leave to Headon Wells, to build a water grist mill on nomas Creek, about a quarter and half a quarter up said creek from the mouth. .

January 6 - On motion made to the Court concerning allegations Mpunst John Montgomery, as an aider and abettor in the treasonable piratical proceeding, carried on in the Mississippi, against the Spaniards, it is the opinion of the Court that the said M. be bolden in security in tte sum of 160 pounds, for his appearance at our next Court, on which Elijah Robertson and Stephen Ray became securiUes for his appear- SDoe.

QuAAe k not entitled tben^to. The J^wiAg jBulitnj oOom ipm tvom: - ^AnthoDj Bfedsoei iBt CSoloneli Wm Bltdioe, Itt Hanor.; Samuet Bftrton, 2d Mqbr ; Jaftpei^ ltai80O| Ist Captain; Oeorgai Frealaad^ Sid; John Baduuian, 3d; Jas. Ford, 4tli4 Wm. Ramaejr, Jona* ilian Drake, Ambme lianMinft, and PeUv Sidaa, LiMtaiante; WiDin Gollina and Bimoro Doi^laaa, Bnsigo^ .,

.The Asaembly of Uiis year lagialated iiirther for th« Gdn^ ( berlaod settloiaeata* The meioilbera vere reeeind ( and treated with great conaidoration aa^ recaid. <ike* latiops of a new character began to apring op between North*' Carolina and her nltra^montane eitisens. Many^ iohabitipllito ^ the mother state needed the gooA ^fficea and- aaaiftaaicgBi of her pioneer citiiena in the WeM». in ipoatiBg totha.lMl advantage, and attending Uh their land wttrantib: The loetf- ^rminlet'eUt as it waa jtsalled, was b^ieOnMiS Vf ^^ tol legislation and apppinUnents to office,^ that the ropraaonti^ tiTsa from the foitr w^atemqiost oonnt&eiB^ whio^ from Ihe ide^ tity of their local interests, always acted as a unit in 4he h^ * gislature, were much courted and caressed. They dexterously used the advantages these considerations placed in their power for the benefit of their suffering constituencies. Every thing not involving the expenditure of money by the Treasury of North-Carolina, was cheerfully granted to them. An inspection of tobacco in Davidson county was established. Davidson Academy was incorporated and endowed with lands, which were exempted from taxation for ninetynine years.

A Superior Court of Law and Equity, was also established at Nashville, the first session of which was to commence on the first Monday of May, 1786. The act creating this Court, provided that no person in Davidson county should be subject to any action in the Courts east of the Apalachian Moontains, and that no person on that side of the mountain should be subjected to any action in Davidson county. The salary allowed to the Judge was fifty pounds for each Court he held, and it was expressly enacted that that should be paid from the Treasury of Davidson county, so careful were the Legislature of the parent state that her western possessions should cost North-Carolina nothing. *

Commissioners, in the meantime, had been appointed by Congress, to treat with the Cherokees and other southern Indians. Col. William Blount attended, also, as the Agent of North-Carolina, and'protested against some of the provisions of the treaty, which '* infringe upon and violate the legislative rights" of the state he represented. The Commissioners, in their report to the President of Congress, Richard Henry Lee, remark :

''That there are some few people settled on the Indian lands whom we are to remove, and those in the fork of French Broad and Holstoi^ bdng numerous, tbe Indians agreed to refer their particular situation to Congress, and abide Vieir decision. We told them there were too many fbrus to engage positively to order off, although they had settled expressly against the treaty entered into by Virginia and North-Carolina, with the Cherokees, in 1777."

By an estimate furnished by the same report, the Indians then residing south of Tennessee, and in reach of her infant aottlements, are computed to be -

Fifteen thousand southern Indian warriors, and, perhaps, double that number from the northern tribes, for more than ten years, retarded the growth and prevented the enlargement of the early settlements of Tennessee. That they were not able wholly to exterminate the pioneers, as they successively arrived in the West, ceases now to be a subject of wonder. A like spirit of daring enterprise and chivalrous adventure, continues to be a characteristic of Tennessee. Wherever danger is to be encountered, a difficulty to be overcome, or an achievement to be wrought, her young men are there to brave, encounter and achieve. The same enterprising spirit is yet sending out her young men from home in

Bearoh of advenlure iicross the Sierra Madre, the Sierra Nevada, and to the coast of the Pacific. That spirit has subdued the wilderness, and made it, teeming with life and fertility, the abode of civilized man. That spirit will not be quelled while there is a new country to be gained, qv an inferior race iQ be conquered, Anglo- American enterprise and Anglo-American valour, are destined to subdue and occupy all North America.*

Treaty Stipulations

By the boundaries, as stipulated in the treaty of Hope- { well, much of the lands that had been entered in the ( offices opened by the Act of 1783, for receiving entries of vacant lands, was made to be within the Indian territory. . The intruders were to be punished by the Indians as they might think proper. An exception was made in favour of the inhabitants south of French Broad and Holston, who, as well as the Cherokees, were to abide by the decision of Congress on their case. The subject of boundaries gave great offence - not to the settlers only, but to all the Southern States. It was considered, that too much had been given up for the purpose of conciliating the Cherokees. The boundaries of the settlements were greatly contracted, and a large extent of country surrendered, which had heretofore been included in the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and in the purchase of Transylvania by Henderson and Company. The treaty encountered opposition for other reasons. William Blount, who, as has been shewed, entered his protest on the treaty-ground, as agent of the State of North-Carolina, was at that time a member of Congress, and determined to carry his opposition to the treaty into the Federal Legislature. He contended against it, as violative of the sovereignty of his state, as he considered it beyond the legitimate power of Congress, to make a treaty in cohtravention of the Laws and Constitution of North-Carolina, concerning lands and boundaries within her ancient and acknowledged limits. The Articles of Confederation, as he contended, had not given such power to Congress. The occupants of the lands thus retroceded, paid no regard to the boundaries thus circumscribed. But the appearance of a treaty concession may have appeased Cherokee hostility in some degree. Aggressions from that tribe, during the succeeding year, were less frequent and less aggravated, especially on the east of the Cumberland Mountains. West of them some mischief was done to the white settlements, but principally under the instigation of the Creeks, who for five or six years had been waging a cruel war against the Georgians. Their most nprthern towns were in close proximity with the Cherokee villages, on the Tennessee River, and they occasionallv se-^

M0 Road Laid Off To Cumberland

The General Assembly of North-Carolina, at its NovenTber session of this year, taking notice of the exposed condition of the inhabitants of Davidson county, adopted measures for their protection and defence. At the instance of Captain Robertson, then a representative of the county, it was enncted that three hnndred men should be embodied for the protection of the Cumberland settlements. That when assembled at the lower end of Clinch Mountain, the troops should cut and clear a road from that point by the most eligible route to Nashville, making the eame at least ten feet wide, and fit for the passage of wagons and curls. The troops were to be marched from lime to time to the Cumberland frontier, and were to be stationed at such places, and disposed of and proportioned in such numbers, as the field officers of Davidson county might direct, or consider most conducive to the intimidation of the Indians, and the prevention of their hostile incursions. The commanding officer of these troops was, moreover, invested with the power, when the emergency rendered it necessary, to make such other disposition of them as the safety of the inhabitants might demand.

The same act also provided that four hundred acres of land should be laid off for each private, in full satisfaction of the half of his first year's pay, and in the same proportion for bis further service. To the officers of this troop, a proportionate allowance in land was also made, for the pay to which they were entitled. Such lands to be located west of Cumberland Mountain.

In strict accordance with the policy invariably pursaed, when disbursements were to be made by North-Carolina for the benefit of her western possessions, this indispenaabk clause was inserted, " thai the monies arising from the tax of lands west of the Apalaehian Mountains, should be appropriated to the purpose of discharging the expense of rawing, clothing, arming and supporting the troops to be embodied in pursuance of this act." And, as a clear intimation of the future policy of the Legislature upon all similarsab- jectey the General Assembly further enacted, ''that in all retarns of taxable property, made by receivers of lists and clerks of courts, these officers should particularly specify the lands situated west of the Cumberland Mountain, that the nett produce of the revenue arising therefrom may be ascertained." Thus leaving the frontier people to infer, that beyond that amount, the treasury of the parent state should not be held liable, for the satisfaction of debts incurred in maintaining and defending her remote settlements.

During this year, the road, as directed in the act, was opened, from Clinch River to Nashville. Emigrants had heretofore reached Cumberland, by the original route through the wilderness of Kentucky. Hereafter the route was more direct - for not only horsemen, but wagons, and immense numbers of the more wealthy people of the Atlantic sections, sought the Cumberland through the new Toad, which ran nearly over the same track still pursued as the stage road, by the way of the Crab-Orchard, the Flat Rock, &c. The top of the mountain is described as being then, a vast upland prairie, covered with a most luxuriant growth of native grasses, pastured over as far as the eye could see, with numerous herds of deer, elk and buflalo, gamboling in playful security over these secluded plains, scarcely disturbed in their desert wilds at the approach of iDan9 and exhibiting little alarm at the explosion of his rifle or fright at the victim falling before' its deadly aim. The frowning clifls and precipices, that every where surrounded the mountain, and the dark laurel thickets, that obstructed the entrances and ascent to its summit level, had hitherto, excluded even the hunter and Indian from an easy access to it in pursuit of game ; and the boundless natural meadow, with its lofty enclosures of granite, erected by Omnipotent masonry, presented to the first intruders, the aspect of primeval solitude, quiet and security. This aspect it wore no longer. The mural escarpment and the mountain waterfall, yielded to the energy of the troop and the guard. Nature doffed her power, her beauty, and her dominion, and Buccumbed to the reign of art and civilizatioti.

Dfivifi son county was divided, and a new county establisfaed. As further evidence of the martin.! spirit of ibe time, and in testimony of the respect and gratitude of his countrymen, the name Sumner WHB given to the new county, in hononr of the military services of General Jelhro Sumner, of the North- Carolina line. 4>uring the whole of the Revolutionary war, he had continued in the service of the country ; acted a distinguished part in the greater number of the hottest actions which had taken place in that struggle, and was ns eminent for personal valour, as for equanimity and suavity of manners. His name is precious in the estimation of bis countrymen ; it is engraven on their hearts in characters of imperishable duration.*

Agreeable to an act of Auembly, for the establishment of Sumner OoDnty Court, at the house of Joliu IlaniiltOD, on the second Monday in April, 1787, Daniel Smith, Isaac Liiidsey, Dnvid Wilson, ]aka Harden, Joseph Keyhandall, William Hale anJ George Winchester, Esqr^., who each of them took the oath for their qnaliS cation ofuffiM. and also the oath of office of Justices of tlie Pcaoe, for said county, and proceeded to business.

The General Assembly of North-Carolina met, this year, '787 ( '^* Tarborough. The members of that body from Da- ( vidson cQunty, were James Robertson and D&vid Hays. The delegation from the two counties made a solemn statement, in writing, of the sufferings of their constituents. In its preparation, they received the assistance of Col. Wil- . liam Blount, who became, afterwards, more closely Identffled with the people and fortunes of Tennessee. In tbe paper thus prepared and silbmitted to the Assembly, it was represented :

" That the inhabitants of the western country were greatly distresaed by a constant war that was carried on against them, by parties of tbe Creeks and Cherokees, and some of tbe western Indians ; that some dt their horses were daily carried off secretly or by force, and that tb«r own livee were in danger whenever they lost sight of a station or stockade ; that in the course of the present year, thutj-three of their fellow dtizeiis had been killed by those Indians, a list of whose names thej annexed, and as many more had been wounded ; that by original letters or Talks, from the Chickasaw nation, which they submitted to the inspection of the Assembly, it appeared that they were jealous or uneasy, lest encroachments should be made on their hunting grounds ; and that unless some assurances were given them, that their lands should not be located, there was reason to apprehend, that they shortly would be as hostile as the Creeks and Cherokees ; that these^counties have been settled at great expense and personal danger to the memorialists and their constituents, and that, by such settlements, the adjacent lands had greatly increased in value, by which means the public has been enabled to sink a considerable part of the domestic debt. They and their constituents, they say, have cheerfully endured the almost unconquerable difficulties in settlmg the western country, in full confidence that they should be enabled to send their produce to market through the rivers which water the country ; but they now have the mortification, not onlv to be excluded from that channel of commerce by a foreign nation, buttne Indians are rendered more hostile through the influence of that very nation, probably with a view to drive them from the country, as they claim the whole of th« soil. They call upon the humanity and justice of the state, to prevent any farther massacres and depredations of themselves and their constituents, and claim from the Legislature, that protection of life and property, which Is due to every citizen ; and they recommend, as the most safe and oon- Tenient means of relief, the adoption of the resolves of Congress, of ths 26th of October last* This relief, they trust, will not be refused, especially as the United States are pleased to interest themselves on this oocssion, and are willing to bear the .expense."

At the same session of the Assembly, at the representation of the members from Davidson and Sumner, the militia officers of these counties were authorized to appoint two or more persons to examine, survey and mark out the best and most convenient way from the lower end of Clinch Mountain^ to the settlements of Cumberland, and to order out the militia of these counties to cut and clear the road so marked. The regiments of these counties were ordered to be divided into classes and parts of classes, beginning with the firsty and so on, in rotation, till the road should be cut. A tax was also to be assessed upon these counties, to defray the expense of opening the road. The military duties of guarding the settlements, as imposed by a prior act, upon the troop of three hundred men as heretofore provided for, had been too incessant and burthensome to allow them to make a road sufficient for the purposes of the vast emigration which was now pouring into the country beyond the wilderness. One wider and more level was demanded by the exigencies of the times. Under the provisions of this act^ a road was soon afterwards cut from Bledsoe's Lick into the Nashville road leading to Clinch River ; and the last men* tioned road was also widened and cleared.

It was further provided, that no person be permitted to go through Davidson or Sumner county to any Indian town; without a pass from some officer duly authorized under the United States, the Executive of North-Carolina or the field officers of one of said counties. The field officers were farther directed to raise militia guafds^ not exceeding fifty men each, when it should be made known to such officers that a number of families were at Cumberland Mountain, waiting fox an escort to conduct them to the Cumberland settlements ; the expense to be paid by a poll tax, which the county courts were authorized to levy upon those counties respectively.

The currency of Franklin was, at this time, peltries, flax linen, &c. - something that could be worn - that of Cumberland was different - something that could be eaten.

ItSt. - October Term - Davidson County Becgrds. " Resolved, That for the better furnishing of the troops now coming into the country under connmand of Major Evans, with provisions, dec, that one-fourth of the tax of this county bo paid in corn, twa fourths ia beef, pork, bear meat and venison ; one-eighth in salt, and one-eighth in money, to defray the expenses of removing the provisions from the place of collection to the troops ; and that the following places be appointed in each captain's company for the inhabitants to deliver in, each, his proportion of the above tax, viz : [Here follow the several stations.] And Daniel Rowan is hereby appointed to superintend the collecting and removing the provisions aforesaid, and that he be allowed twenty dollars per month (or his services, and he is hereby directed to hire hands and horses at as low a rate as possible, for the purpose of removing the specifics, as aforesaid ; and it is hereby resolved, that the following species of provisions be received at the undermentioned prices, viz : Corn, at four shillings per bushel ; beef, at five dollars per hundred ; pork, at eight dollars per hundred ; good bear meat, without bones, eight dollars per hundred wt.; and venison at ten shillings per hundred wt.;.and salt at sixteen dollars per bushel. And the Superintendent is hereby directed to call for such proportions of the aforesaid tax, as the commanding ofiScer of the troops shall direct, and on anj person failing to deliver his or their quotas, at the time and place di-

Manufacture Op Salt Encouraged

1788 - April Term. The Court appointed Robert Hay9, Anthonj Hart and John Hunter, to inspect the currency now in circulation in this county, and such of the bills as they shall believe to be counterfeit to deface, so as to- prevent its further circulation."

By the improvements of the roads through Mfhich the new country was reached, and the security and protection thus given to the lives and property of the emigrants, great accessions to the strength of the Cumberland community were constantly made thoughout the next succeeding years. Large numbers of families would concentrate on the banks of the Clinch - encamp there a few days, waiting the arrival of the guard - accompanied by them, they would pass through the wilderness with little apprehension of Indian aggression. The emigrants being well armed, would, with the guard of fifty practiced woodsmen and Indian-fighters, constitute a formidable corps. With a population thus constantly enlarged ; their agricultural labour amply remunerated by bountiful crops, from a most prolific soil ; with an abatement of the envenomed hostility from the nearest Indian tribes ; with increased cpnfidence in themselves, and with the. sure prospect of augmented numbers and means of defence, the settlers bad a foretaste of a final triumph, over the discouragements and disasters that had so long depressed and enfeebled them. They became still more vigorous and elastic, and better prepared to repel future savage aggression, and, in a short time after, to carry on offensive warfare against their enemies. The legislature passed an act for the encouragement of the making of salt in Davidson eonnty.

Such was the rapid increase of the population of Davidson county, that for the convenience of the inhabitants residing most remote from Nashville, its seat of justice, it was found necessary again to divide it, and form a new county, called Tennessee.

Col. Robertson gave notice, of this date, by a publii cation in the State Gazette of North-Carolina, Nov. 28th, that "the new road from Campbell's Station to Nashville^ was opened on the 25th September, and the guard had attended at that time, to eBoort sndi penon as were ready to proceed to Nashville ; that about iix^ families had gone on, amongst whom were the widow aad family of the late General Davidsoiit and John MeNaiij, Judge of the Superior CJonrt, and that cm the first day of October next, the guard would attend at the same place fiv the same purpose*"

The General Assembly of this year made farther eiiact> 1789 \ ^^^^ of & lo<^<^ character, for her "western ooantici ( They established a provision store on the frontier of Hawkins county, at the house of John Adair, for the reeep* tion of corn, flour, pork and beef, for the use of the Cumber land guard, when called on to escort and conduct emigratiBg fiBunUies through the wilderness to the Cumberland settlements. John Adair was appointed a Commissioner for tk purchase of these provisions. In payment of these, it wai made his duty to give certificates, which should be received by the difierent sheriffs in the District of Washington, k part payment of the public taxes in the counties of that district, and from them by the State Treasurer, A tohaceo inspection was also established at Clarkesville, npon the Cumberland River, below Nashville.

Provision was also made for such persons as had been wounded in the formation and defenpe pf the Camberland settlements. The county courts were authorized, when pe^ sons thus wounded, were unable to pay the expenses of their treatment and cure, to pass the accounts of the physician, surgeon and nurse ; and the accounts so passed, Mrere to be received in payment of any of the public taxes. In a like manner, accounts were passed for provisions furnished to the Indians, by any of the inhabitants on Cumberland. The courts were also authorized to sell ^he several licks in the country, at which salt could be manufactured ; and all deemed unfit for that purpose, they were to declare vacant and liable to location and entry. Two of the licks of the first description, with the adjoining land, were to be retained for the use of Davidson Academy. Thus early, was provision made for the the endowment of a Literary Institution npon the remote frontier. The Assembly also enlarged the powers and increased the salary of the Judge of the Superior Court of the district. This district had been laid off the previous year, and embraced the three Cumberland counties^ Davidson, Sumner and Tennessee. It was named in the act» Mero District, in honour of Don Estephan Mero, Colonel in the service of Spain and Governor of New-Orleans. The Legislature had, in this case, departed from the usage that' had hitherto governed, in giving names to the civil subdivisions of her western possessions. This innovation was made at the instance of the members from the Cumberland counties, and no doubt, was in consonance with the feelings of their constituents, who ragarded Gov. Mero as their friend and benefactor. He had extended, on several occasiond, to the western traders, commercial facilities, and maintained towards the western people, generally, a mild and conciliatory official intercourse with them, - thus reconciling them to the Spanish authorities, and securing to himself their affectionate regard.

An act was passed, empowering the commanding officers ( of Washington, Sullivan, Greene and Hawkins coun- ( ties, to erect a station on the north side <^ Tennessee RtTer, to be garrisoned for one year, with a guard consisting of a captain, lieutenant and ensign, and thirty-three non-commissioned officers and privates; the men to be raised by a voluntary enlistment, or an indiscriminate draft from these counties. The pay and rations of the said guard to be '* payable out of the funds arising from the taxes of the said four eonnties, and out of no other fund whatever, provided the l^rice of the ration shall not exceed one shilling per day.^ The right of disbanding the guard, is reserved to the Go*> vemor, whenever he and his Council should think proper. 'This act was repealed at the next session.

To promote the growth and encourage the settlements upon Cumberland, and facilitate and protect emigration to Ity the legislature authorized a contract to be made for exploring the route, and making a wagon road through the vrilderness waste lying between those settlements and the Holston counties. After this was done, the legislature provided a guard, whose duty it wsus to escort emigrants, and protect them from Indian attacks, wliile in the wilderness. A public provision store was also continued at the house of John Adair, then residing a few miles north of Knoxville. .

As a further protection for the Cumberland settlemenls. a battalion of soldiers was authorized to be raised and marched for the purpose of repelling the marauding parties of Indians, which were constantly making inroads upon that frontier. A further duty of these troops, was to complete a road suitable for wagons, on the nearest route from the end of Clinch Mountain, through the wilderness, to Nashville.

Further attempts were made to reach Cumberland. This year was signalized by an adventure of Col. James Brown, a Revolutionary officer in the North-Carolina line, who was now emigrating to Cumberland, to enter into possession of the lands allotted to him for military services. Taking with him to the distant wilderness, his family, consisting of his wife, five sons, two of whom were grown, and three younger, four small daughters, together with several negroes, he was unwilling to expose them to the dangers of the route throngh Cumberland Gap, or the more direct, but no less unsafe passage, over the mountain ; and, therefore, delermiued to descend the Tennessee River, and reach Nashville, by ascending the Ohio and Cumberland, to that place. The boat was built on Holston, a short distance below Long Island. He took the precaution to fortify it, by placing oak plank, two inches thick, all around above its gunwales. These were perforated with port-holes, at suitable distances. To these measures of defence was added a swivel, placed in theBtem. Besides his two grown sons, James and John, Colonel Brown had five other young men, viz : J. Bays, John Flood, John Gentry, Wm. Gentry and John Grif&n. These were all good marksmen. The emigrants, adventurers rather, embarked on the fourth of May. On the ninth, tbe boat passed the Chickamauga towns, about daybreak, and the Tuskigagee Island Town, a little after sunrise. The head man, Cutley Otoy, and three other warriors, came on board there, and were kindly treated. They then returned to their town, from which they immediately dispatched runners across the moDntain to Ranning Water Town and Nickckjack, to raise all the warriors they could get, to ascend the river and meet the boat. The narrative of the capture of the boat, the massacre of most of the passengers, and the captivity of such as survived, will be given in the words of the narrator - the youngest son - the late Colonel Joseph Brown, of Murray county, Tennessee.* It contains such a horrid recital of Indian cruelty and barbarism by the savage banditti, that so long lay concealed in the fastnesses of Nickajack and Running Water Towns - is withal, so truthful and minute in its details of the captivity and sufferings of one of the prisoners, who himself piloted the expedition in 1794, which penetrated these mountain recesses, and extirpated the miscreant land pirates and murderers that infested them - and is, besides^ now for the first time published, that no apology is needed for giving it entire without condensation or abridgment :

^ Only four canoes came, meeting us in the current of the river, which «t the time was very bigh. Seven or eight came up through the hottoms, in some ponds, and after the Indians in the four first got on board, the other canoes came out through the cane, and the Indians in then\ mko came aboard. The first four came two and two, side by side, holding up white flags, but had their guns and tomahawks covered in the bottom of their canoes. But as there were forty men in the four canoes, my &ther ordered them not to come nigh, as there were too many of them. We then wheeled our boat, levelled our swivel, and had our match ready to sink their canoes, when they claimed protection under the treaty, and said, by a nmn named John Vann, whom they had got to come and talk for them, that it was a peaceable time, and they only -wished to see where we were going to, and to trade with us, if we had iiaything to trade on. My father ordered the young men not to fire, as he was coming to an Indian country, and did not wish to break any

" After they came to us, they appeared friendly, until the other canoes oame around ; and then they began to gather our property, and put it into their canoes. My father begged Vann not to let them behave so, and he replied, that the head man of the town was gone from home, but that he would be at home that night, and would make them give up everything. He also promised that one of them should go with us over the Muscle Shoals, and pilot us, as the passage was dangerous for boats.

"Before they had finished robbing the boats, however, a dirty blacklooking Indian, with a sword in his hand, caught me by the arm, and was about to kill me, when my father, seeing what ho was attempting, took hold of him, and said, that I was one of his little bojs, and that he must not interrupt me. The Indian then let ifle go, but as soon as mj btber's bock was turned, Htruck him nith the sword, and cat hh Lead nearly hiiif off, Auolher Indian then caught him, and Uirew him overboard. 1 saw biin go oterboard, but did not know tlial be n» struck with the sword ; it, tlierefore, ostonished me to sea him gink down, as I knew liim to be a good swimmor. As this took place in lh» «tern, and mj brolbew aud the ollior young raen were with Vann in tiu bow, I went to them, and told them that 'an Indian had thrown our fcther overboard, and hu was drowDed.'

" Our boat was landed at the upper eiad of the town of Nccojack, but before it reached ahore, an Indian wanted mo to go out of ibe boat into . cAiioe, which I refused, not dreaming that I waa a prisoner. As soon ai we landed, the eame Indian brought an old white man and his wib to me, who said to me, ' My boy, I wsmt you to go home with me.' 1 enquired where he lived, and he said bis house was about a mile out of (own. I told him that I supposed 1 could go home witb him that&ighl, but that wo would continue our journey in the morning. On hi& saying thai be was ready to start, and wished me to go with him, I mentioned to one of my brothers the old man's wish that I should go *itt biro, and told him that I would return early in tho morning, to wliicb hi replied, ' Very well.'

" Before I went, however, the Indians were telling my brotbers and ibe olberyoung men of a ccrUiin bouse, in whidi they could stay till morning ; after I bad left tbem, they were told that there was a betUt *bouse down toward the lower end of the town, and that ayoung man would pilot tbera that far. Now the town of Necojock was on a higbtr bank than copimon, and had only been eettlcd about three years ; tbin tbo banks were still full of cane. When the boat whs aliout to drop down to the lower end of the town, the Indians placed themselves behind stumps and iu Uio cane, and as she floated down, they picked off the with their rifles. Three of tbem fdl, the others ran, but were all butchered, some with knives and some with tomahawks and gutu.

" I bad not got half way to the old man's house, before I beard tbe report of the guns which were killing my brothers and the other young men ; but thought it was the noise of our guns, probably taken out 3 the boat to see bow they would shoot. I had been at the old man's only fifteen or twenty minutes, when a very large corpulent old woman came in, the sweat falling in big drops from her face, who iqipeared very angry, and told the old white people that they had done veir wrong in taking rae away, that I ought to he killed, that I would sea everything, and that I would soon be grown and would guide aa annj there and have them all cut off ; in short, that I must t^ killed. Tin was said in Indian, so that I did not understand it, nor what tbe went on to say, viz *. that al! the rest were killed, and that ber sod would be there directly and would kill me, she knew.

"The old Irishman, however, informed me that my people wera all slain, but added that I should not be hurt, though the squaw bad jut told bim that ber son would kill me immediately. He tbea directed me to sit on the side of the bed, and getting up stood in the door wilb. bis face outward, talking all the time to his wife and the old squaw in Indian, which of courw 1 did not understand. In about lea or fiften miQutes, the old squaw's son nrrived, sure enougb, but had not come up the road, so that the old man did not s^ him till he reached the corner of the house. He asked at once if there was a white man within. The old man answered * No,' that there was a ' bit' of a white boy in there ; to which the Indian replied, that he knew how big I was, and that I must be killed. The old white man plead for my life, sajring it was a pity to kill w^omen and children ; but the Indian used the same argument that his mother had employed, i. e. that I would get away, when I grew up, and pilot an army there and have them all killed, and that I must be killed. This old fellow was a British deserter, who had come to America before the Revolutionary war, and had deserted several times, and had at length got into the Cherokee nation, having been there about eighteen years. His name was Thomas Tunbridgc ; he had lived with his wife about sixteen years. She was a French woman, who had been taken by the Indians when a small girl, and grew up and had children to them, before she had an opportunity of returning to her people. Her name, she said, was Polly Mallett. She had no children by Tunbridge^ bat it was an Indian son of hers that took me prisoner ; he gave me to his mother, telling her that I was large enough to help her hoe corn. He had also said that they would kill the rest directly, and that I was so large that when they got in a frolic killing the others, some of them would knock me over. When, therefore, Cutleotoy insisted on killing me, old Tunbridge told him that I was his son's prisoner, and he was still in town, and that I must not be killed. No greater insult could be ofib'red him, for he was a great man and did as he pleased usually ; while Tunbridge's son was only twenty-two years old, and a perfect boy in Cutleotoy 's estimation. Incensed at this insult, he came to Tunbridge, with his knife drawn and tomahawk raised, and asked him if he was going to be the Vir^nian's friend ; in fact, he would have killed him instantly, had he admitted it, but Tunbridge said * no,' and step ping back from the door-sill into the house, spoke for the 6rst time in English : * Take him along.' Cutleotoy, who was a very large strong Indian^ followed in a rage, and came to me with his knife and tomahawk both drawn ; but the old woman b^ged him not to kill me in her hoose, to which he agreed, and catching me by the hand, jerked me up and out of the house. Outside were ten of his men surrounding the house door, and one had in his hand the scalp of one of my brothers, and another that of the other men, on a stick. Some had their guns eocked, and others their knives and tomahawks drawn, ready to put me to death. I requested Tunbridge to beg them to let me have one half hour to pray, to which he replied that it was not worth while ; but they concluded to strip my clothes off. so as not to bloody them, and while they were doing so, the old French woman begged them not to kill me there, nor in the road that she carried water along, for the road passed W her spring. They answered that they would take me to Running Water Town, as there were no white people there, and would have a ftolic knocking me over. All this was said in Indian, however, and I knew nothing of what they discussed ; and as soon as my clothes were o^ I fell on my knees, and cried, like the dying Stephen, * Lord Jesus, into thy hand I commend my spirit^' expecting every moment to be my last But I had not been on my knees more than one minate, ween Tuobridge said. 'My boy, you must get up and go willi them ; they will not kill you berc,' but told me nothing of nhat they eiud of having a frolic at Running Water Town.

" We had not gone more tlian seventy or eigh^ yards, when Cutleotoy stopped his men, and said to tliem, that he could not, and they must not kill me, as they were bii men, and it would be ait bad for him, SB though he himself had done it ; fur that I was tbe prisoner of poor Job, (tbe French woman's son,) who was a man of war.

" 'Now,' said he, ' I liave taken a negro woman out of the boat, and tent her by water to vhere I live, and if we kill this fellow, poor Job will go and kill ray negro, iind I don't want to lose her ; nor could all the Indians in the nation keep him from putting her to death.' Well might be fenr poor Job, for, although he was only twenty-two yens old, and it bad been a time of peace since be was a small boy, he had taken tbe lives of six white men. The Hopewell and HoUton treatiw bound them to peace, but tlieir young men were away with the Creefa and Shawnees at war ; the Chickasaws and Choctaws were eiceptioni to the rule, however.

" Now, when Cutleotoy spoke thus, the thought of my beitig am day a man, and leading an army there, and having Ibcm killed, had given way to avarice, for the old woman, as well aa her son, wanted the aervice of the negro. As 1 knew nothing of what they were aaytng, 1 w»s on my knees, trying to give my soul to Ood, tlirougb the merila of the Saviour, and expecting tbe tomahawk to sink into my skull every moment. At length, tbe favour given lo Stephen in his dying moments, came to my mind ; how he saw the heavens opened, and the blessed Saviour sitUng at the right hand of God. I opened my eye&, and looking up, saw one of the Indians, lis they stood .ill round mc, -mile ; then, glancing my eyes round on them, saw that all their countenances were changed from vengeanM and anger, to mildneea.

" This gave me tbe Gnl gleam of hope. Cutleotoy tlien csUed to old Tunhridge to come after me, that he loved me, and would not kill me then, btit that he would not make peace with me then ; bat if I lived three weeks, he would be back again to make peace with nie. TIm other Indiana, however, explained the reason of this sudden love forme; that it was the negro ho loved so much. Tbe old squaw said, sbe wonid have some of my hair any bow, and coming behind me, loosed my hair, {it was customary for young people, then, to wear their hair iotie,^ and gathering a lock from the crown of my head, with an old dull knifc, cut off a parcel, and kicked me in the side, and called me a poor Virginian. That day the old head-man of the town bad gonetoa beloved ' town sixteen miles off, called Stecoyee, south-east from Nicojack Town. I understood that he was much displeased with their conduct, for he was a man of 6ne mind, and boasted that be bad never atained hit knife in tbe blood of a white man ; but be had killed a Sbawoee, when that nation waa at war with the Cherokees ; bis name was tbe Breath ; be sent for me the second day«fter I was taken, and warned me tliat Bome of \bem would kill me, if I was not put into a fomily, with my liair trimmed like an iDdian'a, and my &ce paiuted. He ateo aaid thit his was one of the strongest families in the nation, he would receive me into it, directing me to call him uncle, and poor Job, brother. On the same day, the 11th of May, 1788, he bored holes in my ears, cut off my hair, oniy leaving a scalp-lock on the top of my head, and taking off my pantaloons, gave me a flap and short shirt, pulling open the collar and putting a small broach in my bosom. On the 12th, which was next day, I was turned out to hoe corn, in the broiling sun ; by noon, all my forehead and ears, and the back of my head, and my neck and thighs, were all blistered with the heat; but the Lord was good, and when I was sick with sun-burns, sent a good thundercloud, and drove us all out of the field. The next day it rained all day, and the third day I was able to go to the field again ; afler that there came a skin on me that stood everything. A grand-son of the French woman went eyerj where with me, to let me kno^ who were Creeks, for they said that if the Creeks caught me out by myself, they might kill me ; I was also cautioned not to look at a CheroKce, because it made an Indian angry to look at him. I had never seen any Indians before, so that every movement they made was strange to me. About three weeks after I was taken, I was going to the spring for water, and saw several Indiana Bitting about there. The little boy seemed alarmed, and I knew that it was on my account, for he said they were Creeks ; but after looking affain he pronounced them Cherokees, saying he knew some of them. My fears being removed, I went on, and wa being a small tin bucket, I dipped it full first, and handed it up the bank to him, and, never looking at the Indians, dipped up my bucket fulL Just as I climbed up the bank, two of them jumped on their horses and came galloping acrooa the branch which ran from the spring. As they came along, I stole a glance at one of them ; he had one side of his head painted red and the other black, and a scalp on his breast Jumping off his hone, he struck me with the butt-end of a white-oak stick, about an inch in diameter and four feet long, on the side of the liead. He was 0o near me that he did not hurt me much, but the second time, he was fiirther ofi^ and that staggered me very much. He and his party consiftting of five others, had been away with the Shawnees and northern Lidians, at war, and they had heard that war had broken out at home, and as they were coming home they determined to come by the Holeton settlements and steal some horses ; they found two little boys, one morning, feeding some cows, and having killed the little fellows, were pmsaed by the whites, who killed three of them, while they were crosswg the Tennessee River. The ai^er excited by this occurrence, caused Um, on seeing me, to strike me, thinking, as he said, that he would knock me down and beat me as long as he thought he could without kUliDg me. I do not suppose he would have cared if I had died.

''During that whole summer there was war, with frequent alarms of white people coming, and at one time a Col. Martin got to Chattanooga, within twenty miles of where I hved ; but the Indians killed three of Iw captains, and he only killed one Shawnee and one negro. No Chelokees were killed, but they raised an army of three thousand men, borrowed one thousand Creeks, to go with fifteen hundred Cherokees on foot, and fire hundred monnted CberokMa, many of whom wmt kl* breeds, and dreeeed like white men ; they kept tbem ahead of Uieavf, and white men who met them thought them a aooatin^ V*ty ciitm, and were by this scheme readily taken prisonen, when tkej would h kept until it was eonyenient to kill them witliout gMug alarm. Semi men were taken in this way the day they got to Gillespie's Fort Tlicir object in raisingthe army was to drive all the whites iinom the soilk side of French Broad, on the pretext that the Indtaiis who soM hodci the south side of that river, were not authorised to do so by the aalMa; but finding only one man in the fort, Captain William GillesfRe, ikf plundered it, and got so much booty from it Bad the sarrtmndii^ frm^ as suflSced, together with ^eir twenty-eeven prisoDetBy taken witkit the loss of a single man, to induce them to return homOy and that itt great triumph.

'^Most of us at Necojack Town, now moved off for the winter; oU Tunbridge went down to Crow Town, thirty miles below Neeqjack Tovi; and one of the prisoners, Major Qlass's wife, was pnrcfaaeed ftom te Lidians who owned her, by Moses Price, who Kvea about half a mik from us, opposite the head of Crow Island, at an old croesin^ pbee tf the Creeks, where the river could be forded nearly across.

^ Price went to Pensaoola for goods, and left fcdiard Findelsloa aid two negro men with Mrs. Qlass, to take care of his stock. One day, wkib Findelston was away from home, a large Creek Indian came by aid seiied Mrs. Glass's suckine child ; the n^^io dared not interfere^ for tib» Indian would have killed him instantly. He ran to onr hoviae to giw the alarm, and said that he had left them at the door. Old TuobiS^ went at once, but only in a walk, and when he got. there, they wen about eighty yards from the house, on the Creek path, the Indian holding the child, and its mother still hanging to it The old man made him releaHe the child, and brought it and its mother home with him, and kept them there some time. It was but a few weeks, however, that we got information that Gov. Sevier had taken a town on the waters of the Cooea River, and there would be an exchange of prisoners shortly. In a few weeks more, sure enough, there was a runner sent after us to come to Running Water Town ; and when we reached Necojack Town, I found there the Indian who had my little sister, having just returned from his winter*s hunt, bringing his wife and my little sister. The old squaw seemed to think as much of her as though she had been her own child. The little girl was stripped of all her finery, it is true, but she was only ^ve years old, and when I told her I was going to take her to her (xwn mother, she ran to the old Indian woman and caught her round the neck, so that I had to take her by force and carry her twenty or thirty yards ; then telling her she should go to see her own mother, I set her down and led her by the hand. My eldest sister was at another place, a child of ten years old.

" We got to Running Water about three o'clock, and found that tbe Head-man from the Upper Towns had come after us. The old Headman of Necojack grumbled at giving us up, as we, who were taken oat ^f the boat, had come from North-Carolina, and did not belong to Holston settlement The old Indian who had come for ua, said that was all true, but that Little John (their name for Gov. Sevier) was so mean and ugly that he could do nothing with him. This word ugly is their hardest term of abuse. He went on to say that "Little John^* declared he would not let one of their people free, unless he got all the whites "wbo were in the nation, naming those taken from the boat particularly. The next morning they spoke of starting, but I told them I could not go without my sister ; a young roan was immediately started after her. She was thirty miles off, and the third day the messenger returned about ten o'clock in the morning without her, and announced that the man who had her, would not let her come without pay. There was an old warrior sitting by, his sword hanging on the wall, and his horse standing at a tree in the yard. He rose, and putting on his sword, made this short speech : *I will go and bring her, or his head.' Sure enough, the next morning, here he came with her ; when asked what the Indian said, he replied, ^nothing.' The next morning we started, and in a few days were at Coosawatee, where an exchange of prisoners was made instead of at Swannanoa, as at first proposed. This was about the 20th of April, 1789. At this tinie my weight was only eighty pounds, though I was in my seventeenth year.'' '

Afler the capture and plunder of the boat and the mas- ( sacre of the men, the Creek banditti started to their ( towns, having two of the daughters of the unfortunate Colonel Brown - ^Jane, aged ten, and Polly, five - ^prisoners. These were pursued by the Cherokee braves, recaptured, and brought back to Nickajack. The trader's wife had the humanity to allow their brother Joseph to go there and see his sisters. From these, he learned that the Creek confederates had gone with his mother, his brother George, a lad ten years old, and his three small sisters, and much of the booty taken in the boat, in the direction of their (Jistant homes on the Tallapoosa River, and that two of the children .had been recaptured by the Cherokees, as already mentioned. The negroes were despatched by water to the Upper Cherokee towns. The children remained in thf town where they captured, and being adopted into several Indran families, were generally well treated. The usual menial offices of savage life were imposed upon them, during their captivity of nearly twelve, months. They had the melancholy pleasure of seeing one another. Occasionally they were threatened, and often had to listen to accounts brought by warriors, returning from their hostile excursions, of horrid barbarities and cruel murders inflicted upon the distant frontier retaliation, by the aggrieved frontier men ; war was brought to the immediate vicinity of the banditti Indians themselves, which resulted in a Peace Talk from General Sevier, and a proposal of an exchange of prisoners followed, and the young prisoners were restored.

Mrs. Brown, when hurried off by her captors, heard the savage yells, that she but too well knew, announced the hard fate of Iier sons and their comrades. To increase the poignancy of her bereavement, two of her daughters were snatched from her side, and carried back to the scene of the calamity which had overwhelmed her family. A single source of consolation was left to her - her two children - the son, aged nine, and the daughter, seven. These were afterwards separated from her, and sent to two neighbouring villages, whilst she continued the prisoner and slave of a Creek warrior, and remained for some time in the condition of hopeless bondage and exile. By the influence and assistance of the wife of Durant, a French trader, Mrs. Brown contrived to escape to-the residence of McGillevray, the Head-man of the Creek nation, who generously ransomed her from her savage owner. The daughter was, some time after, also ransomed, and with Mrs. Brown, was taken by Col. McGillevray, in November, 1789, to Rock Landing, in Georgia, and restored to her surviving friends. McGillevray was offered compensation for the kind ofEces he had performed in ransoming and restoring the captives. This was nobly declined, with the further assurance, that he would endeavour to recover the son, still in captivity in his nation. This waa at length effected. We will see more of Joseph Brown hereafter, when, in 1794, the prophecy was fulfilled of one of his captors, who said, " he' will soon be grown, and will pilot an army here, and have us all cut off."

Few families suffered greater losses and misfortunes, than the family of Mr. Brown. The father, two sons, three sonsin-law, were killed by the Indians - one other shot in his right hand and cut above his wrist - another son, Joseph, and his two sisters, prisoners and in captivity nearly a year - the mother and another daughter, prisoners, seventeen months - the former driven on foot by the Creeks two hundred miles; and not permitted to stop long enough to take the gravel from her shoes, and her feet blistered and suppurating - a younger son, a prisoner five years.

During the summer after this remarkable disaster to Brown and his family, Sevier invaded and chastised the Ch'erokees, as has been already narrated.

The Indians continued their attacks on the stations. In rapid 1788 ( succession, expresses were sent from the frontier to I General Martin and Col. Kennedy, representing their exposed condition, and soliciting succour. An army was raised from the upper counties, which' rendezvoused at White's Fort, where Knoxville now stands. Their number was about four hundred and fifty men.

Col. Robert Love commanded the regiment from Washington county. Col. Kennedy from Greene, and Col. Doherty from below. The army crossed Hiwassee near the present Calhoun, and reached the point where the Tennessee River breaks through the Cumberland Mountain, and encamped in an old Indian field. It was supposed the Indians had taketi off their property to a town six miles below. After dark. Col. Doherty, at the head of fifty men, started with the view of surprising it. As soon as this party reached the spur of the mountain, they were fired upon, and retreated to camp. The troops remained all night with their bridles in their hands. Next morning the spies, who had gone forward to reconnoitre, were fired upon, and William Cunningham, late of Knox county, was wounded. The troops were immediately paraded, and riding to the foot of the mountain, tied their horses, and engaged with -the Indians at a point between the blufi* and the river. Captains Hardin, Fuller and Gibson, were killed. These were buried in a large town house, standing near where the path entered the mountain. After burying their dead with all the precaution possible, they set fire to the town house and burned it down over them. One of Col. Love's captains, Vincent, was badly -wounded, but was put upon a horse litter and brought home, and recovered.

General Mfirtin's troops had scarcely reached home, when a party of Cherokees and Creeks, two or three hundred strong, came to Gilleepie's Station on Little River, within eight or ten miles from Knoxville. They captured several prisoners, and retreafed. General Sevier made a vigorous pursuit, overtook and re-captured the prisoners. Some Indians, also, were taken, who were afterwards exchanged for such white captives as had been carried into the nation.

" On the 2 Ist of September, a large body of the enemy, not leas than two hundred, attacked Sherrell's Station, late in the evening. Serier that day, with forty horsemen, was out ranging, and came on the Indians' trail, making towards the inhabitants ; he immediately advanced after them, and opportunely arrived before the fort, when the Indiana were carrying on a furious attack. On coming in view of the place, he drew up his troop in close order, made kuonn his intcntiou in ashort speech, that ho would relieve the garrison, or fall in the attempt ; and asked who was willing to follow him. All gave an nnanimoua consent, and, at a given signal, made acharge on the enemy, as they wer« bnsily «mp1oyed in setUng fire to a bam 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 of the night, and, conformably to tha Governor of Franklaad's usual good fortune, not a man of his par^ was hurt.

"On the nth of October, Gillespie's Fort, (below the mouth of Little River,) on Holston, a little after sunrise, was attacked by about three hundred Indians, underthe command of John Watts. The few men in tile fort made a gallant resistance; but, being overpowered by Dumben, and their ammunition being expended, the Indians rushed over the walk, or ratherrthe roofe of the cabins which made a part of the forL Great was the horror of the scene that then ensued. The beat acconnts say our loss is twenty-eight persons, mostly women and children, as several of the men belonging to the fort, were abroad at the time.

" I am just now informed, that one thousand Indians hare crossed the Tennessee in two divisions, and that one of them had attacked Major Houston's Fort, and the other was near Captain White's, on the nortb side of Holflton. The whole of our militia are under marching orden, and Colonel Kennedy has already set out with tboae that were Sat ready,"*

We would wish to inform jou of the accident that happened at Gillespie^s Fort, concerning the women and children that were killed in the battle. The Bloody Fellow^s talk is, that he is here now upon his own ground. He is not like you are, for you kill women and children, and he does not. He had orders to do it, and to order them off the land, and he came and ordered them to surrender and that they should not be hurt, and tfiey would not, and he stormed it and took it. For you beguiled the head-man* that was your friend, and wanted to keep peace, bat you began it, and this is what you get for it When you move off the land, then we will make peace, and give up the women and children ; and you must nfarch off in thirty days. Five thousand men is -our number.

In Sullivan county, there appears to be an interregnum from 1784 to March, 1787. The records were, probably, mislaid or lost during the Franklin revolt. At that last date, a Commission, appointing justices of the peace, was presented. The magistrates, thereby appointed, met at the house of Joseph Cole. They resolved, "that it is the opinion and Judgment of the Court, that John Rhea, formerly Clerk of the Court, has not forfeited his office by his absence, and therefore has a right to continue Clerk. In 1788, John Vance -was Clerk."

After the fall of the Franklin Government, early in 1788, the people gradually gave in their adhesion to that of the parent state. On the part of some, it may have been done ' reluctantly. The transition, however, from a separate and independent state, to their former position of a colonial appendage to North-Carolina, was so gradual as to be almost imperceptible. It certainly produced no convulsion, and was followed by no commotion. It was accompanied by no triumphs, and atleuded with scarcely a single regret, Nft one on the frontier has to eat the bitter bread of political or official dependence. Office, under either the one regime or the other, brought with it Httie distinction, and conferred almost no emolument. Its possesiiion was seldom sought after. Its loss produced neither disappointment nor mortification. Under both systems of government the people recognized the same constitution, and were ruled almost by the same laws. The change of officers was hardly known. In military alfairs it was essentially so. Upon Ihe frontier the volunteering system had always obtained. If an enemy was to be repelled, or a campaign to be carried on, the volunteen exercised the right of selecting their leader. Did he hold a commission ? If he had the confidence of his troops, he commanded. Without this he entered the ranks cheerfully, and yielded the command to a subaltern, preferred over him and chosen by the men. Many who, after the first of March, . 1788, became functi officiis, were soon after that date, reinvested with authority by the people themselves, and often by the aid of the strongest zealots for North-Carolina. In one section of Franklin - that south of French Broad and of Big Pigeon - the functionaries of that government continued in power, under no other regulation than the popular will, which was sovereign, supreme, omnipotent. Elsewhere, in all her western counties, the jurisdiction of North- Carolina was acknowledged and her authority obeyed. Under her laws, elections of members to her Legislature vrere held.

The Assembly met at Fayetteville in November. Amongst the laws passed at this session, was one for paying the militia officers and soldiers for their services in the campaign, carried on, as has been heretofore narrated, by Gen. Martin against the Chickamaugas, in the preceding year. By the provisions of this law, the pay rolls of the expedition were to be exhibited under oath to the Comptroller, with the names of the officers. These were to be examined by the Comptroller, who was then to issue his certificate to each officer and soldier. The certificate was tnade receivable in payment of the public tax due in the District of Waihinglonr^ and no other, until all such certificates were paid. A like provision was made to liquidate the accounts of the Commissary on this expedition, making certificates issued to him receivable in payment of public dues. The frugality of the parent state was further exhibited at the same session, by repealing the law for erecting a garrison on the north side of the Tennessee River. These several enactments served to revive the complaints and discontents of the western people, and especially of those of them in the late Franklin counties.