Franklin Township (part 3 of 19)

Adair says of the Cherokees, " their national name is derived from Chee-ra - fire - which is their reputed lower heaven^ and hence they call their magi, Cheera^tahge, men possessed of the divine fire. The natives make two divisions of their country, wlueh they term Ayrate and Ottare, signifying low and mountainous. The former is on the head branches of the beautiful Savannah, and the latter on those of the easternmost river of the great Mississippi."

The same writer says, that forty years before the time he wrote, (1775,) the Cherokees had sixty-four populous towns, and that the old traders estimated their fighing men at above six thousand. The frequent wars between the Over-hill Towns and the northern Indians, and between the Middle and Lower Towns and the Muskogee or Creek Indians, had greatly diminished the number of the warriors, and contracted the extent of their settlements.

" Within twenty miles of the late Fort Loudon,** continues Mr. Adair, ^ there is a great plenty of whet-stones for rasorSi of red, white and black colours. The silver mines are so rich, that by digging about ten yards deep, some desperate va^ grants found at sundry times, so much rich ore, a« to enable them to counterfeit dollars to a great amount, a horse-load of which was detected, in passing for the purchase of negroes, at Augusta." He also mentions load stone as being fonnd there and at Cheowhee, and also a variety of precious stones, of 'Various colour and beautiful lustre, clear and very hard." A tradition still continues of the existence of the silver mine mentioned thus by Adair. It is derived from hunters and traders who bad seen the locality, and assisted in smelting the metal. After the whites had settled near and'^began to encroach upon the Over-hill towns, their inhabitants began to withhold all knowledge of the mines from the traders, apprehending that their cupidity for the precious metals would lead to an appropriation of the mines, and the ultimate expulsion of the natives from the country. The late Mr. De Lozier, of Sevier county, testified to the existence and richness of mines of silver, one of which he had worked at, in the very section of the Cherokee country described by Adair.

The Cherokee tribe is closely identified with the settlement and history of Tennessee. Their nation, and some of their villages, are frequently mentioned in the accotnts of De Soto's invasion, and the journals of other explorers and adventurers into the interior of the south-west. They were formidable alike for their numbers and their passion for war.

Martial Spirit Of Gherokees

The frontier of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, all suffered from their vigour and their enterprise ; and these pages will her^^ailter abound with instances of their revenge, their perfidy, and their courage. They were the mountaineers of aboriginal America, and, like all other mountaineers, adored their country, and held on to and defended it with a heroic devotion - a patriotic constancy, and an unyielding tenacity, which cannot be too much admired or eulogized.

The native land of the Cherokee was the most inviting and beautiful section of the United States, Ijring upon the sources of the Catawba and the Yadkin - upon Keowee, Tugaloo, Flint, Etowah and Coosa, on the east and south, and several of the tributaries of the Tennessee on the west and north.

This tribe, inhabiting the country from which the southern eonfluents of the Tennessee spring, gave their name, at first to that noble stream. In the earlier maps, the Tennessee is called the Cherokee river. In like manner, the name of this tribe also designated the mountains near them. Currahee is only a corruption of Cherokee, and in the maps and treaties where it is thus called, it means the mountains of the Cberokees.

Of the martial spirit of this tribe, abundant evidence will be hereafter given. In the hazardous enterprises of war, they were animated by a restless spirit which goaded them into new exploits, and to the acquisition of a fresh stock of martial renown. The white people, for some years previous to J 730, interposed their good offices to bring about a pacification between them and the Tuscaroras, with whom they had long waged incessant war. The reply of the Cherokees was : ** We cannot live without war. Should we make peace with the Tuscaroras, we must immediately look out for some other, with whom we can be engaged in our beloved occupation." Actuated by the restless activity of this sentiment, there have been but few intervals in the historj^ of the Cherokees, when they have permitted themselves to sink into the inglorious arms of peace, and to be employed only in the less perilous slaughter of the wild beasts of the wilderness. They have hardly ever ceased to sigh for danger, and to aspire to the rank which is attained by acts of heroic valour.* Under the promptings of this feeling, they have, at different times, been engaged in war against the colonists of England, of France, and of Spain, and also against other Indian tribes, with varied success. They assisted in the reduction of Fort Du Quesne ; they besieged and captured Fort Loudon ; they met the entire tribe of the Uchees, at the Uchee Old Fields, in what is now Rhea county, and, exterminating all its warriors, compelled the surviving remnant of that brave race to retreat to Florida, where they became incorporated with the Seminoles.

The Cherokees have a tradition, that when their tribe first crossed the Alleghanies, and settled upon the Little Tennes* see river, some Creeks had previously occupied the country near the mouth of the Hiwassee river. Being near neighbours, the latter pretended to enter into alliance with the former, in a war which they were then carrying on against the Shawnees, but secretly abetted the common enemy. Their treachery became known to the Cherokees while celebrating one of their national festivals at Chota, when they fell suddenly upon the unsuspecting Creeks, and cut them off. A general war between these two tribes succeeded, and was carried on with such vigour as to cause the Creeks to abandon all their settlements and villages on the waters of Tennessee, and to leave them in the undisturbed possession of the Cherokees. Indeed, the latter pushed their conquests as far as the great Creek Path, and then crossed over to Coosa, where, at a large settlement on an island, they by stratagem drew the Creeks from their towns, in a fleet of canoes, to a place on the bank of Coosa, where they lay in ambush, captured the canoes and all the Creek warriors, sacked their towns, and massacred the defenceless inhabitants. The English name of the leader of this excursion was Bullhead. Cherokee tradition abounds with instances of the exploits performed by this Brave against the Creeks.

qnarrelsome, arrogant and incautious. They took offence at the Chickasaws, with whom they had confederated in the expulsion of the Shawnees, and in prosecution of a hostile invasion of their country, had advanced as far as the Chickasaw Old Fields. The inoffensive but brave owners of the country, there met the invaders with great spirit. A terrible eonflict ensued. The Cherokees were defeated, and withdrew by the way of the Cumberland river and the Cany Fork, to their own villages. This signal overthrow of the flower of the Cherokee nation, took place about 1760 - the period when the first white settlement was being formed on Watanga, and, doubtless, contributed much to the pacific demea^ nour manifested for some years by the neighbouring Indians to that infant, feeble and secluded community. The favourable moment was lost, when the young Hercules might have been strangled in his cradle, by a slight exertion of the usual vigilance and enterprise of the Indian sachem and warrior. A germ of the Anglo-American family was permitted to take root and to grow for a time, unmolested by Cherokee opposition, and unrestrained by savage wariness and caution.

Every Indian tribe, according to Adair, has a house or town of refuge, which is a sure asylum to protect a man-slayer, or (he unfortunate captive, if he can once enter into it.

Among the Cherokees, Chota, five miles above the ruins of Fort, Loudon, was their city of refuge. At this place an Englishman took refuge and found protection, after killing an Indian warrior in defence of his property. His dwellinghouse being near to Chota, the English trader resolved, after remaining in the city of refuge some months, to return home ; but he was assured by the head men, that although perfectly safe where he then was, it would be not only dangerous but fatal to him, if he attempted to remove thence. The Indians will revenge blood for blood, unless in some particular case, where the eldest kinsman of the slain is allowed to redeem or pardon.

Among the distinguished Cherokees, was Oconostota. Of him Adair says : " Before the last war. Old Hop^ who was helpless and lame, presided over the whole nation, as ArchimaguSy and lived in Chota, their only town of refuge.''

Speaking of the Indian's passion for revenge, Adair says t '* I have known them to go a thousand miles for the purpose of revenge, in pathless woods, over hills and mountains, through large cane swamps, full of grape-vines and briars, over broad lakes, rapid rivers and deep creeks ; and all the way endangered by poisonous snakes, if not with the rambling and lurking enemy - while, at the same time, they were exposed to the extremities of heat and cold, the vicissitudes of the season, to hunger and thirst - both by chance and their religious scanty method of living when at war - to fatigues and other difficulties. Such is their overboiling revengeful temper, that they utterly contemn all those things as imaginary trifles, if they are so happy as to get the scalp of the murderer or enemy» to satisfy the supposed craving ghosts of their deceased relations."

Amongst the Cherokees, when first seen by the pioneers of Tennessee, there were no cities or fortresses - scarcely a considerable village. Their towns - settlements, rather - were rude huts and wigwams, scattered without order or regularity, along the banks of some stream abounding with springs* and convenient to a fishery, a hunting ground, or lands for pasturage. To each hut was attached a small patch of rich land, from which the cane had been removed. This was used as a garden, where the women cultivated beans, Indian corn, and, at a later period, apples, peaches and plums. These lots were often without fences - as the domestic animals which the Indians raised, were not kept near their houses, but roamed at large over the cane-breaks, or the more distant prairies or forests.

The Indians designated the mountains and streams of their country by names remarkable for their euphony and beauty. Many of these have been lost, or are now seldom heard. The loss is, we fear, irreparable. Bay's, Stone, Iron, Yellow, Smoky, Black, Grand-father Mountains, were once doubtless known by names as smooth and musical as Alleghanee, Unaca, Chilhowee and Chattanooga. Dumplin, Sandy Mush, Little Dismal, Bull Run, Calf Killer, Sweet Water, and High Tower, though sufficiently [significant, would grate harshly upon the ears of a Cherokee, who had bathed in the waters, luxuriated

Of Rivers In Tehne8Bee Aboriginal Names Of The Rivers In Tennessee

From information derived from all the sources within his reach, this writer believes that the Tennessee river was called by the first explorers and geographers, Ueviere des Cheraquis, or Cosquinambeaux - but by the aborigines, Kallamuchee; which I take to be the aboriginal name of the stream, from its confluence with the Ohio to the mouth of Little Tennessee. From this point to the mouth of the PVench Broad, it was called Cootcia ; and from there to the mouth of Watauga, and perhaps to its source in Virginia, the Holston was known to the Indians as Hogohegee. The French Broad, throughout its whole length, was the Agiqua, and received, on its northern bank, the Swannanoah and the Nonachunheh (now Nollichacky). The present barbarous Clinch, had the more euphonious name, Pellissippi. Little River was the Canot ; Little Tennessee was the Tannassee ; and its confluent, Tellico, has bien changed from Ptsaliko, or Saliko ; Hiwassee, was pronounced Euphasee ; Cumberland, was called by the Indians, Warioto - but by the French, Shauvanon ; Wolf River was the Margot ; Loushatchee, Hatchee, Sequatchee, Ocoee, Conesauga and Watauga have, happily, escaped the Vandal mutilation or corruption which the unfortunate Holston, French Broad, Clinch, Wolf and Forked Deer have suffered.

When the pioneers of Tennessee settled in the southwestern part of Virginia, and the coterminous portions of North-Carolina, the country had ceased to be, perhaps had never been, the settled residence of any of the more modem aboriginal tribes. At this time it was the common hunting grounds of the Shawnees, Cherokees and other southern Indians. But east and north of the Tennessee river, there was not a single Indian hut. Still, along the vallies of what is now East Tennessee and South-western Virginia, lay the great Toute and thoroughfare between the northern and southern Indians, in their intercourse with distant tribes, in their hunting excursions, in their hostile expeditions and in their em- baaeies of peace ; this was the path of migration, the ohase^ the treaty and savage invasion. Besides its central poritmi and its direct bearing, the great Apalachian chain coald no where else be so easily ascended and crossed. Abundance of game, water and fuel, a healthful and moderate climate^ an unoccupied territory, no impracticable swamps, or deep and wide streams to retard their jonrneyings^ were all eonsiderap tions that led to the selection of this path. One branch of it was nearly the same as the present stage route passing the Big Lick, in Bottetourt county, Viginia ; crossing New River at old Fort Chissel, near Inglis' Ferry, Holston at the Seven Mile Ford, thence to the left of the present stage road and near to the river, to the North Fork, crossing as at present ; thence to Big Creek and crossing the Holston at Dodson'a Ford, to the Grassy Springs, near the residence of the late Micajah Lea ; thence down the waters of Nollichucky to Long Creek, ascending that stream to its source, and descending Dnmplin Creek to a point a few miles from its mouth, where the path deflected to the left and crossed French Broad near Buckingham's Island. Near this, the path divided. One branch of it went up the west fork of Little Pigeon, and crossed some small mountains to the Tuckalechee towns, and so on to the Over-hill villages of the Cherokees. The other and main fork, went up Boyd's Creek to its source, and falling upon the head branches of Allejay, descended its valley to Little River, and crossing near Henry's, went by the present town of Maryville, to the mouth of Tellico, and passing through the Indian towns and villages of Tellico, Chota and Hiwassee, descended the Coosa, where it connected with the Great War Path of the Creeks. Near the Wolf Hills, now Abingdon, another path came in from the north-west, which pursued nearly the same route now travelled from the latter place to Kentucky, and crossing the mountain at that remark* able depression called Cumberland Gap. It was along this path that the earlier English explorers and hunters first passed to Kentucky, and through it the Rockcastle and Ohio savages often penetrated, to molest and break up the early settlements upon New River and Holston. Dr. Hardy, of Asheville, North-Carolina, believes that the

Cherokees used the country, near and around the sources of the French Broad, more as hunting grounds than as a place of residence. This opinion is sustained by the fact, that the streams and mountains of that region do not bear aboriginal names. French Broad, Pigeon, Sandy Mush, Ivy, &c., are the water courses. Blue Ridge, Pisgah, Glass, Smoky and Bald* are the mountains, all English names. No considerable war path or Indian trace passed through those elevated and almost inaccessible regions, and it was not till after 1787 that emigrants passed through them.

Little of the former history of the Cherokee tribe can be ascertained from their traditions. These extend little further baek than the early days of 0-ka-na-sto-ta, the distinguished chief who visited England in the days of George II. From his time they date the declension of their natioil ; he was king or principal chief. His seat of government was one of the Over-hill towns, Echota, more properly E-tsaw-ty, on Tellico river, since the property of the late John McGhee, Esq.

Of the tumuli scattered every where through the country, and of other remains occasionally found in and near them, ifae Cherokees know nothing, only that when their fathers first took possession of the country, they considered them as the vestiges of an ancient and more numerous population, further adyanced in the arts of civilized life than their own people* For these relics they seemed to entertain some ^collar veneration, and never appropriated them to any secular purpose

The piles or heaps of rocks, so often met with in the gaps or crossing places of mountains or ridges, are structures very different from the tumuli proper. They are believed to be more modem, and it is not improbable that they owe their origin to a superstition not uncommon, if not general, in all heathen countries. The Rev. Mr. Winslow, American missionary at Oodooville, in the district of Jafna, makes the firilowing statement in a journal under date of May 19, 1832 : "In coming over a tract of land which would be called in America * barrens,' where there was no forest and but little cultivation, I saw in several places, near the foot paths leading to the principal bazaar, large piles of stones ; and en- quiring into the caase, was told that the people, in passing over such places, are in the habit, eaph one, of casting a stone upon heaps begun in some particular spot, as an offering to an evil spirit, who would otherwise afflict them and their families.'^

We may not here indulge in further remarks upon the aborigines of America. Were it otherwise proper, the theme would invite us to inquire into and examine their physical, domestic, political, social and religious history; their manners, rites, arts, traditions, religion, government and laws. The analogies which are found betwen these and those of some Asiatic tribes, not less than their physical affinities, furnish, if not the foundation of legitimate inference, certainly ground for plausible conjecture and speonlation. Iti their language or dialects, is presented a subject for philological research that may illustrate the connection which, at some former time, existed between the aboriginal population of America and the rest of the world. But upon these topics we dare not enter. It must be sufficient here, only to say that every where in the West, we find ourselves surrounded with vestiges of different nations who have lived here before us ; and that we may infer from these relics, very different degrees of progress and improvement in the people who constructed them. Of these there are three classes. First : - thos# belonging to the modern Indians ; these are nei^ ther numerous nor interesting - such as rude axes of stone, pestles and mortars, arrow heads, earthen vessels, pipes, war clubs, musical instruments and idols, carved out of a species of serpentine, calumets, &c. Second : - those belonging to or constructed by a people of European or foreign descent ; such as medals, coins, beads, crucifixes, furnaces^ ^c. Third: - those belonging to or made by a people evidently demi-civilized, who anciently inhabited the country ; such as forts, cemeteries, tumuli, temples, altars, camps, towns, videttes, fortifications, &c. These structures furnish unquestionable evidence, that a dense population, at a remote period, occupied this country, and had made some advance *in the arts of civilized life. These, though they may not awaken in the beholder the same associations as the rains of Rome, or the majestic desolations of Greece, are certainly not entirely devoid of interest, but excite a feeling of veneration for the memory of those mighty empires which once flourished where these vestiges of their former greatness are yet found. And the inquiry forcibly presents itself, who were these unknown people ? How and when have these nations become extinct ? Did some swarm of ruthless invaders from our northern hive, at some far distant period of time, seeking a more genial climate, descend the vallies of the West, and, carrying devastation in their march, Vandal-like, consign them to oblivion ? Tradition, a medium of communication between remote ages too much undervalued, is not altogether silent on this subject. At a Tory noted congress or treaty, held early in the last century, at Lancaster, Pa., Indian delegates in attendance, said theirancestors had conquered several nations on the west side of ffae Great Mountains, viz : " The Gony-uch-such-roona, the Coch-now-was-roonon, the Tohoa-nough-roonaw, and the Conatskin-ough-roonaw."

The traditions of the Tennessee tribes on the subject, are indistinct and conflicting. They agree in this, that their forefathers «found these vestiges here, or that they were always here, meaning, thereby, to assign to these ancient relics an indefinite antiquity. The several Indian families in America have been well compared to the fragments of a vast ruin. Certain is it, that these remains imply the former existence of a population so dense as to prove that it was incapable of existing in a country of hunters only, and that, possibly, Tennessee and the West were once the theatre upon which agriculture, civilization and peace exhibited their benign influence, or the dreadful battle field, where the lust of dominion, the bad passions of man and his unhallowed ambition, consigned to the grave and to oblivion hecatombs of human victims, and made the fairest part of God's creation a desert and a waste. Turning from the contemplation of this gloomy picture, we hasten to trace the progress of civilized man, of enlightenment and art over the wilds of Tennessee. #

Chapter Il

In the meantime, the treaty of Fort Stanwix had given a pretext for a general disregard of the king's proclamation^ prohibiting settlements of his subjects west of the mountatnSp and had excited afresh the spirit of emigration and explora* tion westward. Land-mongers penetrated fearlessly into the wilderness, while masses of emigrants had accnmalated along the boundary, and concentrating themselves at the leading avenues from the Atlantic to the westerd watery stood for a moment impatient of longer restraint, and casting a wishful look upon the inviting country before them. Tennessee was yet without a single civilized inhal)itant We have traced the approaches of the Anglo-American population to her eastern boundary. The genius of civilizatiottp in her progress from the east, had passed the base of the great Apalachian range. She stood upon its sutnmit, protid of past success - and, ambitious of further and greater achievement, surveyed from that height the wide field before and around her. On her right, are the rich vallies and Iqmzriant plains of Kentucky and Ohio, as yet imperfectly known from the obscure report of the returning explorer or the Shawnee prisoner. On the left, her senses are regaled by the luxuriant groves, the delightful savannas, and the enchanting beauties of the sunny south. Far in the distance and immediately before her, she contemplates the Great West, lis vastness at first overwhelms and astounds her, but at the extreme limit of her vision, Aq(ierican adventure and western enterprise are seen beckoning her to move forward and to occupy the goodly land. She descends to the plains below, and on the prolific soil of the quiet Watauga, in the lonely seclusion of one of its ancient forests, is depositA the germ of the future State of Tennessee. In that germ were contained all the elements of prospective greatmST ftETTLEMBVT IN TBNNEB0EB. 08 ness and achievement. What these elements were, succeeding pages will but feebly develope and illustrate. Toil, enterprise, perseverance and courage, had planted that germ in a distant wilderness. The circumstances that surrounded Uy "required for its growth, culture and protection, wisdom, flKue, patriotism, valour and self-reliance. American was to jjecome Western character, and here was the place and this ^e time of its first germination.

The ne^ of the great grant from the Six Nations reached 1769 \ y^F^n^i^f settlement soon after the tre<ity of ^o- »er, 1768. Dr. Walker, the Commissioner from Virginia, had returned from Fort Stanwix, and brought with him an account of the cession. He is the same gentleman who, as has been already narrated, had twice explored the new country, and now bore with him one form of authority for an indefinite extension of the white settlements westward. The Indian boundary, as adjusted at Hard Labour, in October of the same year, had given the assent of the Cl^erokees to a further expansion of the Holston settlements ; lyid late ii|^ December, 1768, and early in January of 1769, YAS formed the nucleus of the first permanent establishment / of the white race in Tennessee. It was merely an enlarge-

KBnt of the Virginia settlement near it, and at the time was lieved to be upon the territory of that province, - the line ^^vidin^ Virginia and North-Carolina not having been yet my west of Steep Rock. The settlers were principally from what is now Wake county, in North-Carolina. Some of them had been among the troops raised by that province, and tent, in 1760, for the relief of the garrison at Fort Loudon - Mhers of them had wintered, in 175H, at the Long Island Fort, around which a temporary settlement had been made, which was soon after broken up and its members forced to retire east of Kenhawa.

Early in this year further explorations were made. One of them originated with Gilbert Christian and William Anderson. They had accompanied the regiment commanded by Colonel Bird, and were so pleased with the country through which they had marched, that they determined to explore it more fully. They were joinec? by the late Colonel John Sawyers, of Knox county, and fonr others. They crossed the north fork of Holston at the present ford, and penetrated as low down that stream as Big Creek,, in the present county of Hawkins, where they met a largj party of Indians. '' They turned about and went back up th^ river ten or fifteen miles, and concluded to return home^ About twenty miles above the North Fork, they found, upo^ their return, a cabin on every spot where the range vmm good, and where oniy^six weeks before nothinogKas to be seen but a howling wilderness. When they pass^^k before, on their outward destination, they found no setti^ron Holston, save three families on the head springs of that river."* So impetuous was the current of population westward. i

Of those who ventured farthest into the wilderness with ^ their families, was Capt. William Bean. He came from Pit^ sylvania county, Va., and settled early in 1769 on Boon'sCreel^ a tributary of Watauga, in advance of Carter and others^ who soon after settled upon that ^stream. His son, Russell Bean, was the first white child born in what is now Tenmsssee. Captain Bean had hunted with Boon, knew his camp^ and selected this as the place of lys settlement on the a<v count of its abundant game. His cabin was not far from Watauga. He was an intrepid man, and will be mentioned hereafter. Bean's Station was afterwards settled by him.

But explorations were not confined to the country sinc9b known as East Tennessee. A glimpse had been obtaiaed by Findley, Boon and Smith, of those portions of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee lying upon the Cumberland river. It had been ascertained, too, that the entire territory between the Ohio and Tennessee was unoccupied by any aboriginal tribe, and that it was the hunting ground and often the battle field of the adjoining Indian nations. Possessed by none of these for residence or cultivation, it presented an inviting field for further exploration and future settlement. It had been represented, also, as a country of boundless fertility and inconceivably beautiful. Men of hardy enterprise and fearless spirit were at hand to explore and occupy it. The pio- neers of«civ]lization in the West, - the trader, the hunter, the surveyor, - were already on the frontier ready to tempt the dangerous wilds.

After the return of Smith in 176G, from his expedition to the Lower Cumberland, Isaac Lindsay, and four others from South-Carolina, were the next adventurers. They crossed ^e AUeghanies and the Cumberland at the usual place - hanted upon the Rockcastle and de^M|ded Cumberland as low as the mouth of Stone's river. ^^^ they met Michael hunt. These two were from Pittsburg. Previous to this time, in 1704, the Shawnees had removed from the Cumberland and Greene rivers to the Wabash, and no Indians were then there. At the bluff, where Nashville now stands, some French were settled and had a station. Ten or twelve miles above the mouth of Tennessee, there was then another French station.

The first of May, 1769, Daniel Boon, as narrated by himidfy ^lefl his peaceable habitation on the Yadkin river, in quest of the country of Kentucky," in company with John Findley, John Stewart, and three others. These hunters must have passed rapidly through Upper East Tennessee, as we learn from the narrative that on the 7th of June they were upon Red River, the northern-most branch of the Kentucky liver. In December of that year, John Stewart was killed by Indians, ^the first victim, as far as is known, in the hecatombs of white men, offered by the Indians to the god of battles, in their desperate and ruthless contention for Kentucky."* Of Findley, nothing more is known than that he was the first huntet of Kentucky, and the pilot of Boon to the dark and bloody ground.

On the 2d of June, 17G9, a larger company of adventurers was formed, for the purpose of hunting and exploring, in what is now known as Middle Tennessee. As the country was discovered and settled by the enterprise and defended by the valour of these first explorers, we choose to give their names, the places from which they came, and such details of their hazardous journeyings as have been preserved.

May the time never come, when the self-sacrificing.toil and the daring hardihood of the pioneers of Tennessee will be forgotten or undervalued by their posterity. The company consisted of more than twenty men. Some of them from North-Carolina ; others from the neighbourhood of the Natural Bridge, and others from the infant settlement near Inglis' Ferry, in Virginia. The names of some of theii| follow : John Rains, l|^per Mansco, Abraham Bledsoe, Jobs Baker, Joseph DraJ^^Aadiah Terrill, Uriah Stone, Henry Smith, Ned Cowan^PSert Crockett. The place of rendesvous was eight miles below Fort Chissel, on New River. They came by the head of Holston, and, crossing the north fork, Clinch and Powell's rivers, and passing through Cum* berland Gap, discovered the southern part of Kentncky, and fixed a station camp at a place since called Price's Meadow, in Wayne county, where they agreed to deposit their game and skins. The hunters here dispersed in different diree* tions ; the whole company still travelling to the south-west They came to Roaring River and the Cany Fork, at a point far above the mouth and somewhere near the foot of the mountain. Robert Crockett was killed near the head wateri of Roaring River, when returning to the camp, provided for two or three days' travelling ; the Indians were there in ambush, and fired upon and killed him. The Indians were travelling to the north, seven or eight in company. Crockett's body was found on the war track, leading from the Cherokee nation towards the Shawnees tribe. All the country through which these hunters passed, was covered with high grass ; no traces of any human settlement could be seen, and the primeval state of things reigned in unrivalled glory ; though undor dry caves, on the side of creeks, they found many places where stones were set up, that covered large quantities of human bones; these were also found in the caves, with which the country abounds. They continued to hunt eight or nine months, when part of them returned in Aprilt 1770.* The return of Findley and Boon to the banks of the Yadkin i'77o i *"^ ^^ ^^^ explorers, whose journal has just been c given, to their several homes, produced a remarkable sensation. Their friends and neighbours were enraptured with the glowing descriptions of the delightful country they had discovered, and their imaginations were inflamed with the account of the wonderful products, which were yielded in such bountiful profusion. The sterile hills and rocky uplands of the Atlantic country began to lose their interest, when compared with the fertile vallies beyond the mountains.* A spirit of further exploration was thus excited in the settlements on New River, Holston and Clinch, which originated an association of about fortJ^ stout hunters, for the purpose of hunting and trapping west of Cumberland mountains. Equipped with their rifles, traps, dogs, blankets, and»dressed in the hunting shirt, leggins and mocassins, they commenced their arduous enterprise, in the real spirit of hazardous adventure, through the rough forest and rugged hill8.t The names of these adventurers are now not known. The expedition was led by Colonel James Knox. The leader, and nine others of the company, penetrated to the Lower Camberland, and, making there an extensive and irregular ciroait, adding much to their knowledge of the country, after a long absence, returned home. They are known as the *- Long Hunters."

In the meantime, the infant settlement on Watauga was ^ receiving constant additions to its numbers from North-Ca- ^ rolina and Virginia, where the rage of visiting unexplored regions had become irresistible, and an irrepressible anxiety to emigrate succeeded. Other causes, too, were exerting an indirect influence upon the people of both North and South- Carolina. In each of these provinces, civil disturbances existed, the results of which augmented the population and stimulated the growth of the new community germinating across the mountain.

In South-Carolina, previous to 1770, no courts of justice were held beyond the limits of the capital, and, in the interior of that province, the inhabitants took tfte law into their. own hands and punished oflenders in a summary way.

^ This mode of proceeding was called Regulation, and its authors Regulators."* Those who opposed them were called Scovilites, after their leader, Scovil, commissioned by the governor to suppress them. Each party was armed and prepared for the last extremity, These tumults, and the bitter animosities they engendered,

In North-Carolina, disturbances existed also, but produced by other and different causes, and, unlike those just narrated, were, unfortunately, not quieted without bloodshed. The inhabitants of this province, who lived upon Lord Granville'8 reservation, about two-thirds of the whole, complained that illegal and exorbitant fees were extorted by officers of government, that oppressive taxes were exacted by the sheriffs and that the manner of collecting them was arbitrary and tyrannical. The people had long petitioned and remonstrated, but the officers remained unpunished. Another fruitful source of general discontent increased the popular clamour.

^V In 1764 the intentions of the British ministry to quarter troops in America, and to support them at the expense of the colonies, were publicly announced. Afler debate in the House of Commons, it was unanimously determined that the Parliament of Great Britain had the ri^A^.toJax the Americans, but it was not till March, of the next year, that this right was exercised by the passage of an act for raising a - revenue by a general stamp duty through all the American colonies. This act excited the most serious alarm. It was received as a violation of the British constitution, and as destructive of the first principles of liberty, and combina-. tions against its execution were every where formed. Virginia was the first to assert colonial rights, and to deny the claim of parliamentary taxation. To the bold patriotism and fervid eloquence of Patrick Henry, is dye the immortal honour of this early avowal of the inviolability of the representative principle.

Colonel Ashe Prevents The Landing Of The Stamps. W.

This intelligence reached Wilmington shortly after the meet^ ing of the Assembly, and such was the violence exhibited by the members of the popular House, that Governor Tiyon suddenly prorogued the legislative body.* By the passage of the stamp act, an amalgamation of all parties in the province was brought about. The people of North-Carolina were never before so unanimous. All joined in giving a solemn assurance to the mother country that the colonies would not be forcibly taxed - an assurance that was nobly, thoagh not unanimously, enforced, and which achieved the freedom of America.t Col. Ashe, on the approach of the stamp ship, embodied a company of militia, and held himself ready for battla The odious freight was never kmdedy and the fiery impetuosity of the colonel, aided by the enthusiasm of the whole people, arrested the stamp master, condacted him to the market house, where, in the presence of the assembled multitude, he swore a solemn oath never to perform the duties of his office.

The subsequent repeal of the odious stamp act was insufficient to appease the growing discontent, or to repress the insorreetionary tendencies of the people. The extortions of the officers were continued, and the taxes were multiplied. Besides, the office holders were all foreigners, who, not content with having engrossed the stations of authority and honour in their adopted country, endeavoured to revel upon the hard earnings of an agricultural and primitive people. The trade, too, of the province was monopolized by foreign merchants, ** who came in shoals, to get rich and to get conse. quence. The poor man was treated with disdain, because unable to contribute to their emoluments. He was excluded from their society, unless when he was to be reminded of his insignificance, and to be told with brutal freedom of the low rank which he held.":|; Nothing is more offensive to correct taste, virtuous, sentimeut and just discernment, than the upstart consequence and fictitious importance engendered by sudden or unexpected accumulation. This hauteur is the more intolerable and annoying, as it is never accompanied with intellectual or moral worth.

Such were the outrages, political and domestic, that disquieted the people of North-Carolina. The perpetrators of the former were the men in power, who were appointed by law to redress the wrongs and protect the rights of the people. Those who were injured met and petitioned for relief, and made representations of the mal-practices from which they had suffered. Their petitions were rejected and treated with disdain. They held several meetings, assumed the name of Regulators, and resolved "to pay no more tazesy until they were satisfied that the tax was agreeable to law, and should be applied to the purposes therein mentioned ; to pay no officer any higher fees than the law allows, to attend their meeting of conference ; to consult our representatives on the amendment of such laws as may be found grevious or unnecessary ; to choose more suitable men for burgesses and vestrymen, than we have heretofore done, and to petition tlie Assembly, Governor, Council, King and Parliament for redress, in such grievances as in the course of the undertaking may occur ; and to inform one another, learn, know and enjoy, all the privileges and liberties that are allowed and were settled on us by our worthy ancestors, the founders of oar present constitution, in order to preserve it on its ancient foundation, that it may stand firm and unshaken.^^ In the public and documentary proceedings of the Regulators we see nothing to blame and much to admire. " On these principles, and to this extent of opposition, the whole western counties were agreed. The most sober and sedate in the community were united in resisting the tyranny of unjust and |Xorbitant taxes, and had been aroused to a degree of violence and opposition, difficult to manage and hard to quell. And the more restless, and turbulent, and unprincipled parts of society, equally aggrieved and more ungovernable, cast themselves in as part of the resisting mass of population, with little to gain, bat greater license for their unprincipled passions ; and little to lose, could they escape confinement and personal punishment. Unjustifiable acts perpetrated by these, were charged upon the Regulators, and they were held accountable for all the ill that wicked men chose to do, under the name of struggling for liberty ; while it is well known that the leaders of this oppressed party never expressed a desire to be free from law or equitable taxation. The governor's palace, doable and treble fees, and taxes without law or reason, drove the sober to resistance and the passionate and unprincipled to outrage. But there were cases of injustice most foul and crying, that might palliate, where they could not justify, the violence that followed.

^ The Regulators continued their resistance to illegal taxation, two or three years. The better part of the community were averse to the irregularities of those lawless spirits, who> attaching themselves to the cause of liberty, greatly impeded its progress ; and desired to govern themselves and persuade iheir neighbours by reason, to gain the justice they demanded. But tumult, and violence, and rebellion followed ; the Regulators prevented the setting of courts, and otherwise obstructed the execution of the laws. Governor Tryon met them on the 16th May, 1771, on the Alamance. They numbered between two and three thousand. The governor's troops were something less. The Regulators, being poorly armed, undisciplined and without commanders of skill or experience, were defeated. ''It is the unvarying tradition among the people of the country, that they had but little am- * munition, and did not flee until it was all expended. Nine of them, and twenty-seven of the militia, were left dead on the field ; a great number were wounded on both sides in this first battle - in this first blood shed for the enjoyment of liberty. We cannot but admire the principles that led to the result, how much soever we may deplore the excesses that preceded and the bloodshed itself*

The conduct of the Regulators is viewed in the same light liy an American historian, who from his official position at the Court of St. James, has had the opportunity of examining in the British State Paper Oflice, all the documents pertaining t6 the " Regulation." He says, speaking of them : '* Their eomplaints were well founded, and were so acknowledged^ though their oppressors were only nominally punished. They form the connecting link between resistance to the Stamp Act, and the movement of 1775 ; and they also played a glorioas part in taking possession of the Mississippi valley, towards which they were carried irresistibly by their love of independence. It is a mistake if any have supposed that the Regulators were cowed down by their defeat at the Alamance. Like the mammoth, they shook the bolt from their brow and crossed the mountains.***

Thus early did a great political wrong - ^ taxation without representation" - ulcerate the minds of the subjects of the King in all the American colonies. A little later, did regal oppression, in exorbitant and illegal fees of Crown officers and their deputies, produce disaffection and resistance in Western Ga^ rolina. The defeat of the Regulators on the Alamance quelled, \ for a time, the spirit of resistance ; but the disaffection remained, and caused the voluntary exile of thousands of indigo nant and independent freemen to the western wilds. Remote from the seat of power, and free from the oppressions of regal officers, Watauga gave its cordial welcome to these honest-hearted and virtuous patriots : and here was the cmdie of the infant Hercules - ^Tennessee.

I and Catawba, in North-Carolina, and was spreading itself beyond the limits assigned to the white inhabitants, by the treaty of Hard Labour, in 1768. Some of the settlements were within what was supposed to be the Indian territory, and the Cherokees began to remonstrate against the encroachment. To avoid Indian resentment, and to prevent hostilities on the part of the Cherokees, the Superintendent of Southern Indian Affairs took measures to establish a new boundary further ^1 west. The treaty of Lochaber was signed on the 18th of October, 1770, by the cotmciTof the chiefs, warriors, and head men of the Cherokee nation. The new line commenced on the south branch of Holston river, six miles east of Long Island - ^thence to the mouth of the Great Kenhawa.t This boundary - ^the western limit of the frontier settlements of Virginia and North- Carolina - was a feeble barrier against the approaches of the emigrants, who came in greatly increased numbers to the West. The Holston river was considered as the line^dividing

Arrival Of R0Bert80K

North-Carolina and Virginia. An act of the Legislature of this Province, allowed every actual settler having a log cabin erected, and any portion of ground in cultivation, the right of four hundred acres of land, and so located as to include his improvement. A subsequent act extended the privilege much further - ^allowing such owner and occupant the preference right of purchasing a thousand acres adjoining him, at such cost as scarcely exceeded the expense of selecting and surveying it. These acts greatly encouraged emigration to the West, where every man, with the least industry, could not , fail to secure to himself a comfortable home and a valuable estate for his children. Crowds of emigrants immediately advanced to secure the proffered bounty.* When the line was afterwards run, many of these were found to be within the limits of North-Carolina.

But the misgoverned Province of North-Carolina sent forth most of the emigrants to Watauga. The poor came in search of independence - others to repair their broken fortunes - the aspiring, to attain respectability, unattainable in the country of their nativity. In the wilderness beyond the mountain, they promised themselves, at least, exemption from the supercilious annoyance of those who claimed a pre-eminence above them.f Others came prompted by the noble ambition of forming a new community, of laying broad and deep the foundation of government, and of acquiring, under it, distinction and consequence for themselves and their children.

Amongst those that reached Watauga about this time, was Daniel Boon, who had previously crossed the mountain upon a hunting excursion, and had been as low ai% Boon's Creek, in the present county of Washington. He acted as pilot to the new settlements, and continued the pioneer to civilization, from the Yadkin to the district of St. Charles, in Missouri, where he ended his remarkable and eventful life, in 1820, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.

A little after Boon, and early in 1770, came also James ,*\ Robertson, from Wake county, North-Carolina. "He is the same person,** to use the language of Haywood, who was his countryman, and knew him well, " who will ap- pear hereafter by his aotions, to have merited all the eulogium, esteem and affection, which the most ardent of his countrymen have ever bestowed upon him. Like almost all those in America who have attained eminent celebrity, he had not a noble lineage to boast of, nor the escutcheoned armorials of a splendid ancestry. But he had what was far more valuable : a sound mind, healthy constitution, a robust frame, a love of virtue, an intrepid soul, and an emulous desire for honest fame. He visited the delightful country on the waters of Holston, to view the new settlements which then began to be formed on the Watauga. Here he found one Honeycut living in a hut, who furnis ed him with food. He made a crop there the first year. On re-crossing the mountains he got lost for some time, and coming to a precipicet over which his horse could not be led, he left him there and travelled on foot. His powder was wetted by repeated showers and could not be used in the procurement of game for food. Fourteen days he wandered without eating, till he was so much reduced and weakened that he began seriously to despair of reaching his home again. But there is a Providence which rules over the destinies of men, and preserves them to run the race appointed for them. Unpromising as were the prospects of James Robertson, at that timer, having neither learning, experience, property, nor friends to give him countenance, and with spirits drooping under the pressure of penury and a low estate, yet the God of nature had given him an elevated soul, and planted in it the seeds of virtue, which made him in the midst of discouraging circumstances look forward to better times. He was accidentally met by two hunters, on whom he could not, without much and pressing solicitation, prevail so far as to be permitted to ride on one of their horses. They gave him food, of which he ate sparingly for some days, till his strength and spirits returned to him. This is the man who will figure in the future so deservedly as the greatest benefactor of the first settlers of the country. He reached home in safety, and soon afterwards returned to Watauga with a few others, and there settled."

hnnters whom we left upon the Lower Cumberland were extending explorations in that part of the country. In 1769 or 1770, Mr. Mansco, Uriah Stone, John Baker, Thomas Gordon, Humphrey Hogan, Cash Brook, and others, ten in all, built two boats and two trapping canoes, loaded them with the results of their hunting, and descended the Cumberland river - the first navigation, and the first commerce probably ever carried on upon that stream by Anglo-Americans. Where Nashville now stands they discovered the French lick, and found around it immense numbers of buffalo and other wild game. The country was crowded with them. Their bellowings sounded from the hills and forest. On the mound near the Lick the voyageurs found a stock fort, built, as they conjectured, by the Cherokees, on their retreat from the battle at the Chickasaw Old Fields. Descending to the Ohio, they met with John Brown, the Mountain-leader, and twenty-five other warriors, marching against the iSenekas. The Indians offered them no personal injury, but robbed them of two guns, some ammunition, salt and tobacco. Descending the river, they met Frenchmen trading to the Illinois, who treated them with friendship. The voyage was prosecuted as low as the Spanish Natches. Here some of them remained, while Mansco and Baker returned by the way of the Keowee towns to New River.

In the fall of this year the country on the Lower Cumber- 1771 i '*°^ ^^^ further explored by Mansco, in company with ^ C John Montgomery, Isaac Bledsoe, Joseph Drake, Henry Suggs, James Knox, William and David Linch, Christopher Stoph, William Allen, and others. Among them was an old hunter named Russell, who was so dim-sighted that he was obliged to tie a piece of white paper at the muzzle of his gun to direct his sight at the game - ^and yet he killed a number of deer. The winter being inclement, the party built a skin house. Their ammunition being exhausted, five men were lefl to take care of the camp, while the rest returned home. During their absence in the settlements the camp was attacked, as was supposed, by Northern Indians, and Stoph and Allen were taken prisoners. Hughes escaped, and aUdt the company returning to the camp. It was found

it bad been left - ^tbe Indians bad not plundered it. The party thence extended their bunting and exploring excursions - formed a station camp upon a creek, which is still known as Station Camp Greek - each hunter made a discovery, and time has signalized it with the discoverer's name. Thus, Drake's Pond, Drake's Lick, Bledsoe's Lick, Manseo's Lick, etc. In the absence of* the hunters, twenty-five Cherokees came to their camp, and plundered it of ammunition, skins, and every thing it contained. As they left no trail, it was supposed that they had retreated by wading along the channel of the creek - no pursuit of them could be made. The hunters soon exhausted the remaining ammunition and returned to the settlements.

The Holston and Watauga settlements were in the -mean- ^^f^ ( time receiving a steady stream of emigrants. They em- ( braced within their limits men of very different and indeed opposite traits of character. Most of them were honest, industrious, enterprising men, who had come there to improve their condition, by subduing and cultivating the new lands in I the West. But others had arrived among them, who had fled j demand of the law, and the punishment of crime, by a retreat to these remote and inaccessible frontiers. There, from the existing condition of affairs, they found safety from prosecution, and certainly from conviction through the regular channels of law. North of Holston, in what is now Sullivan and Hawkins counties, was then believed to be in Virginia^ and the inhabitants agreed among themselves to adhere w the government of that province, and to be governed by its laws. The line separating the two provinces had not then been extended west of the Steep Rock. South of Holston was admitted to be within the boundaries of North-Carolina. I There the settlers liyed without law or protection, except byJ regulations of their own adoption. Being thus without any regular government, the people of Watauga, in 1772, exer-^A cised the ** divine right" of governing themselves. They ^ formed a written association and articles for the management of general affairs. Five Commissioners were appointed, ^ by the decision of a majority of whom all matters in contro- veray were settled; and the same tribunal had entire control in all matters affecting the common good. The government was paternal and patriarchal - simple and moderate, but summary and firm. It was satisfactory and sufficient for a number of years. The Articles by which the Association was governed have not been preserved. They formed, it is * believedy the first written compact for civil government any where west of the AUeghanics, and would make a valuable and exceedingly interesting contribution to the historical literature of the Great West, and a most desirable addition especially to these annals. But after the most diligent inquiry and patient search, this writer has been unable to discover them. ^

The Watauga settlers, in convention assembled, elected as , Commissioners, thirteen citizens. They were, John Carter, Charles Robertson, James Robertson, Zach. Isbell, John Se- James Smith, Jacob Brown, William Bean, John Jones, Greorge Russell, Jacob Womack, Robert Lucas, William Tatham. Of these, John Garter, Charles Robertson, James Robertson, Zach. Isbell, and John Sevier, it is believed, were selected as the court - of which W Tatham was the clerk. It is to be regrettedVhat the account of thelives of all these pioneers is 'bo meagre and unsatisfactory. The biography of each of them would be now valuable and interesting. Many of them will be hereafter frequently mentioned.

CfA. John Carter was one of the pioneers of Tennessee^ * ( and a principal and prominent member of the Watau- ( ga settlement. He emigrated from Virginia, in 1771 or 1772. Intelligent and patriotic, he was soon a leader in the Watauga Association, and became the chairman of its committee and of the court - which, for several years, combined the legislative, judicial and executive functions of the infant government west of the Alleghany. His administration was wise and popular.

Charles Robertson emigrated from South-Carolina - was ^ the Trustee of the Watauga Association ; and to him was the conveyance afterwards made by the Cherokee Indians, for the lands purchased or leased from them. He was distinguished for his great good sense and wisdom, not less than for his virtue.

0( James Robertson we have already spoken. He sooii1>ecame distinguished in the nev^r settlement, for sobriety and love of order, as well as for a firmness of character, qualifying him to face danger and defend the feeble colony.

John Sevier was one of the Watauga Committee. His character and services throughout a long life, will be fVeqnently a theme of remark to the close of these annals. This may, therefore, be the proper place to introduce his family to the reader's attention.

The ancestors of Mr. Sevier were French Haguenots. The family name in France, is Xavier. About the beginning of the last century they emigrated to England. Valentine Sevier, the father of John, was born in Liondon, and preyiods to 1740, emigrated to the county of Shanandoah, in the colony of Virginia. Here John Sevier was born, in the year 1744. The opportunity of literary improvement was small, but he used it diligently. The Earl of Dunmore, then Governor of Virginia, conferred upon young Sevier the appointment of captain in the military service of the colony. Not long after, the family emigrated to the West, and s^led on Holston, in what is now Sullivan county. The father, Valentine Sevier, moved from there to Watauga, where he settled permanently* occupying a farm on that river, between the Sycamore Shoals and the present Elizabethton. The remains of part of the old family mansion could be traced in 1644.

Captain Sevier inherited some of the vivacity, ease and sprightliness of his French ancestry. He was fluent, colloquial and gallant - frolicsome, generous and convivial - well informed, rather than well read. Of books, he knew little. Men, he had studied well and accurately. Oral communications had been the source of his mental culture and his knowledge. He was injpulsive, but his impulses were high and honourable. The Chevalier and the Huguenot were combined in his character. He exhibited, in good proportions, the suaviter in mode and the fortiter in re. He was without pride - if that feeling is not one of the ingredients that constitute a laudable ambition - for he was ambitious - not of anything

With such traits of character, it is not strange that Captain Sevier at once became a favourite in the wilds of Watauga, where a theatre presented itself for the exercise of the talents and principles which characterized '' that portly young stranger from Williamsburg."

Early in this year the authorities of Virginia made a ( treaty with the Cherokees-, by which a boundary was | / ( fixed between them, to run west from the White Top Mountain, in latitude thirty-six degrees thirty minutes. Soon after this, Alexander Cameron, a deputy agent for the government of Great Britain, and resident among the CherokeeSy ordered the Watauga settlers to move off. Some of the Cherokees expressed a wish that they might be permitted to stay, if they would agree to make no further encroachmetits; this avoided the necessity of their removal. The inluibitants, however, became uneasy at the precarious te* nvre by which they occupied their land, and desired to obtain a more permanent title. For this purpose they deputed James Robertson and John Boon to negotiate with the Indians for a lease. The negotiation succeeded, and for an amount of merchandize, estimated to be worth five or six thousand dollars, some muskets, and other articles of convenience, the Cherokees made a lease for eight years of all the country on the waters of the Watauga.*

Hitherto the settlements had been confined to the Upper Hobton and to the Watauga. About this time another stream south of them was found to present strong allurements^ and to hold out great inducements to emigrants to settle upon it The NoUichucky finds its source in the midst of the highest mountains in the United States. The scenery near it is romantic and Alpine. Its numerous tributaries, deseending the northern slope of these stupendous heights, bear opon their currents the soil that forms and enlarges its rich alluvial. The bottoms were covered with the most luxariant cane-brakes ; the vallies near it abounded in game, and presented the most inviting prospect of present success to the hunter and grazier, and of a rich requital in future for the toils of the husbandman. The temptation to occupy it could not be resisted by the emigrants, and Jacob Brown, with one or two families from North-Carolina, pitched their tents, in 1772, upon its northern bank. Brown was a small merchant, and for the goods that were carried to his new settlement, upon a single pack-horse, bought a lease of a large tract of this fertile country from the Cherokees. Like jthat on the Watauga, the property advanced for its purchase,, Iwas reimbursed by selling out the lands in small parcels to individuals for the time the lease was to last.

The boundaries of these two leases are not distinctly known. There were no offices in the country at that tiDe^ in which such instruments of writing could be recorded* and the original papers have probably been lost Brown's lease is believed to have embraced lands upon both sides of the Nollichucky. The writer has a deed of conveyance now before him, from Jacob Brown to Richard Trivillian, for two hundred and thirty-two acres of land, lying on the south side of the river. The consideration is one hundred pounds, and the title is not a fee simple, but only a relinquishment on the part of the grantor. In these early times, and among thess primitive people, little regard seems to have been given to forms, even where real estate was concerned. A transfer of land was made in the most simple mode. Upon the back of the same deed from Brown, is endorsed -

" For value received of eighty-five pounds, I do hereby assign all, my right, claim and interest of the within deed, unto George Gillespie, as witness my hand and seal. * riffinal Nonachunheh. It is so given in Brown's deed of conveyance, and also in the plat upon the same paper. In his traffic with the Indians, and in his negotiation for the lease from them, Brown had, doubtless, learned the true pronunciation* Its signification is rapid or precipitous, and is exactly descriptive of the upper portion of the stream.

About the time Robertson was forming his settlement on | Watauga, and a little previous to the first emigration to NoUichucky, several families settled in Carter's Valley, fifteen or eighteen miles above the present flourishing town of Rogeraville. This country being north of Holston, was then believed to be in Virginia. The first emigrants to it were principally from that province. Two of them, Garter (whose name the valley still retains) and Parker, afterwards opened a store, which was robbed by the Indians ; the depredators were supposed to be Cherokees, but of this no certain proof was obtained. The relations between them and the whites had recently been of the most friendly char- / aeter, and mutual confidence was not destroyed on account of this robbery. But at the time when the Watauga lease was executed, an occurrence^ took place, which had wen nigh involved the then feeble settlements of Robertson, Carter and Brown, in hostilities with their savage neighbours. At the close of that treaty, a great race was appointed to be run at Watauga. The occasion had brought together a large oonconrse of people from all the acfjacent settlements. Many of the Indians were still there participating in the athletic amusements of the frontier people. Mischievous white men, from the neighbourhood of the Wolf Hills, in Virginia, as was believed, among others were present, and lurking about the place where the race was run, watched an opportunity at the close of the day and killed one of the Indians. This act, alike atrocious, inhuman and impolitic, gave great offence and produced much alarm. The inhabitants felt that it was not only wrong, but that it would expose them to the retaliatory vengeance of the outraged Cherokees. At this crisis the wisdom and intrepidity of Robertson saved the infant? settlements from extermination. He undertook a jouiTiey to the Indian nation, one hundred and fifty miles distant, in order to pacify them, and allay the irritation produced by this barbarous and imprudent act. The attempt was hazardoes in the extreme ; but the safety of the whites demanded the mission, and he proceeded at once to the chief town of the Che-^ rokees, met their head men, and declared to them that his ' people '* viewed the horrid deed which had been perpetrated^ I with the deepest concern for their own character, and with the keenest indignation against the offender, whom they intended to punish as he deserved whenever he could be diicovered." The Indians were appeased by this instance of condescension in the white people, and of the discountenance which they gave to the miscreant. The settlers were saved from their fury, and Robertson began to be looked upon as an intrepid soldier, a lover of his countrymen, and as a man of uncommon address, in devising means of extrication from difficulties.* In the fall of 1778, Daniel Boon made the attempt to take \ 1773 ) his family to Kentucky. Before this time no white 9 female, no family, had crossed the Cumberland range. Boon prevailed on four or five other families to join him, and with Uiem advanced towards Cumberland Gap. The. little colony was joined in Powell's Valley by forty hunters, well armed. The whole formed a caravan of eighty persons. While passing a narrow defile in their march, on the fifth of October, they were startled by the terrific yell of Indians, in ambuscade, by whom they were furiously assailed. Some of the men flew to the protection of the helpless women and children, while others of them rushed to encounter the enemy in their coverts. A scene of consternation and confusion for a moment ensued ; but the Indians, surprised at the fierce and resolute resistance of the men, soon fled in every direo* tion.

. The first fire of the Indians killed six men and wounded the seventh. Among the killed was a son of Boon, aged about twenty. The party fell back to the nearest settlement, where the emigrant families remained till after the close of Lord Dunmore's war.f After the extension of the British dominion over West

Great Nautical Adventure

Florida, enconragement was given by the English authorities to emigration thereto, from the Atlantic Provinces. No country sarpassed in soil and climate that portion of Florida lying npon the Mississippi River, and emigrants began to seek a ronte to it through the interior, and down the Tennessee and Ohio. Many of these stopped one season and made a crop on Holston, sold the crop, built a boat, and performed the dijQicult and dangerous voyoge from the Boatyard to Natches. A higher degree of nautical adventure lias been no where exhibited. The passage, by men unaceostomed to navigation, through the Boiling Pot, the Skillet^ the Suck, the Muscle Shoals, more than two thousand miles down an unexplored river, both banks of which were, at these places, in the occupancy of Indians, was more than an adventure, it was an enterprise, in which every movement was accompanied with danger and probable disaster. Through this channel Louisiana and Mississippi received some of the oldest American families. Some of these came from the Roanoke, in North-Carolina, and it was probably the first Anglo-American settlement upon the banks of the Mississippi.* A large number of surveyors and woodsmen had been ( sent under tha authorities of Virginia to the wilder- ( ness of Kentucky, for the purpose of locating and selecting lands under royal grants and military warrants. This was viewed by the Indians as an encroachment upon their rights, as they still claimed these lands. Hostilities had, indeed, already been commenced by the Shawnees, who attacked the party of Boon the October previous. The murder of the whole family of the generous, but unfortunate Logan^ who had been the friend of the whites, and an advocate for peace among his red brethren, aroused the vengeance of that bold warrior and influential chieftain. The Shawnees, in alliance with the warriors of other northern and western tribes, began the work of destruction and massacre, in detached parties, on the whole Virginia frontier. The emergency was met by Lord Dunmore with great vigour, and measures were immediately adopted to repress the hostilities; and punish the audacity of the enemy. General Andrew

Lewis* was ordered to raise four regiments of militia and volunteers, from the south-western counties, to rendezvous at Gamp Union, and to march down the Great Kenhawaf to the Ohio. Captain Evan Shelby raised a company of more than fifty men, in the section of country now included in the counties of Sullivan and Carter. With these he marched on the 17th of August, and joined the regiment of Colonel Christian, on New River. From this place the regiment proceeded to the great levels of Green Brier, where they joined the army of General Lewis. On the 11th of September, the army set out for the designated point. The route lay through a trackless wilderness, down the rugged banks of the Kenhawa - through deep defiles and mountain gorges, where a pathway had never been opened. Twenty-five days were consumed in slow and toilsome marches. On the 6th of October, the army reached the Ohio and encamped upon its banks. The camp was upon the site of the present town of Point Pleasant. The troops being upon short allowance, select parties of hunters were kept constantly on duty to supply them with food. On the morning of the 10th, about daylight, two of the men belonging to Captain Shelby's volunteer company, James Robertson and Valentine Sevier, who had been out before day hunting, very unexpectedly met a large body of hostile Indians advancing towards the camp upon the provincials. They were on the extreme left of the enemy, and fired on them at the distance of ten steps. As it was yet too dark to see the assailants, or to know their number, the firing caused a general halt of the enemy, while Robertson and Sevier ran into camp and gave the alarm. Two detachments, under Colonel Charles Lewis and Colonel William Fleming, were immediately ordered forward to meet the Indians, and break the force of their assault upon the camp. These detachments had scarcely proceeded beyond the sentinels, when they encountered the enemy advancing upon them. A most violent and hard fought engagement

* This ia the aame person who was sent by the Earl of Loudon, in 1756, to erect a fort on the Tennessee River, t Angliee. The river of the woods - now known as New Riv.er.

Battle Of The Kenhawa

ensued. Fleming and Lewis were wounded in the first assault - ^the latter mortally - but refused to leave the field until the main line came to their relief. The contest lasted the whole day, with varied success - each line receding or advancing alternately, as the fate of war seemed to balance between the two armies. In the evening, General Lewis ordered the companies commanded by Captains Shelby, Matthews and Stewart, to advance up the Kenhawa River, under the shelter of the bank and the undergrowth, so as to gain the rear of the Indians, and ppur in a destructive fire upon them. In the execution of this order, the men were exposed to a galling fire from some Indians, who had taken position behind a rude breast- work of old logs and bushes, and were from that point giving a deadly fire* One of Shelby's men, the late John Sawyers, of Knox county, wishing to shorten the conflict, obtained permission to take a few others and dislodge the Indians from the shelter which protected them. His bold conception was gallantly executed. A desperate charge was made - the dislodgement of the Indians was effected, and the three companies having gained the enemy's rear, poured in upon the savages a destructive fire. The Indians fled with great precipitation across the Ohio, and retreated to their towns on the Scioto.

The battle of the Kenhawa is, by general consent, admitted to have been one of the most sanguinary and well contested battles which have marked the annals of Indian warfare in the West On the part of the provincials, twelve commissioned officers were killed or wounded, seventy-five non-commissioned officers and privates were killed, and one hundred and forty-one were wounded.*

Of the company of volunteers from what is now East Tennessee, Evan Shelby was captain; and his son, Isaac Shelby, lieutenant. After the fall of his colonel, Captain Shelby took command of the regiment. This was early in the action, and through the rest of the day Isaac Shelby commanded his father's company. **Two privates, Robertson and Sevier, had the good fortune on this occasion to make an unexpected discovery of the enemy, and by that means to prevent surprise and defeat, and possibly the destruction of the whole army. It was the design of the enemy to attack them at the dawn of day, and to force all whom they could not kill into the junction of the river." The heroic charge of the little detachment under Sawyers is admitted to have had a decided influence in shortening the obstinate conflict. JVf any of the officers and soldiers in the battle of Kenhawa, distinguished themselves at a later period in the public service. Thus early did the ''Volunteer State" commence its novitiate in arms. ! As the battle of Point Pleasant furnished the first occasion for the display, by the pioneers of Tennessee, of the adventure and prowess which have since so signally characterized her volunteer soldiery in all periods of her history, it is thought proper to present, at this place, a list of Captain Evan Shelby's company, in the remarkable and patrioty; campaign on the Kenhawa.

James Shelby, John Sawyers, John Findley, Henry Span, Daniel Mungle, Frederick M ungle, John Williams, John Camack, Andre^w Torrence, George Brooks, Isaac Newland, Abram Newland, George Ruddle, Emanuel Shoatt, Abram Bogard, Peter Forney, William Tucker, John Fain, Samuel Vance, Samuel Fain, Samuel Handley, Samuel Samples, Arthur Blackburn, Robert Handley, George Armstrong, William Casey, Mack Williams, John Stewart, Conrad Nave, Richard Burk, John Riley, Elijah Robertson, Rees Price, Richard Holliway, Jarret Williams, Julius Robison, Charles Fielder, Benjamin Graham, Andrew Goff, Hugh O'Gullion, Patk. St, Lawrence, James Hughey, John Bradley, Basileel Maywell, and Barnett O'Gullion. Of the non-commissioned officers; it is only known that John Sawyers, James Robertson, and Valentine Sevier, were three of the orderly sergeants.

Afler the battle at Point Pleasant, and a further invasion 1M6 I ^^ ^^^^^ country, the Indians made a treaty with Lord 5 Dunmore, in which they relinquished all their claim to lands south of the Ohio. To a large extent of this territory, the Cherokees, with other southern tribes, pretended also to hold title. Early in that century they had expelled the ShawneeSy and had since occupied their country as hunting grounds. Daniel Boon still adhered to his darling project of planting a colony upon the Kentucky River, which he had seen, and, desirous of obtaining the consent of the Cherokees; had stimulated Colonel Richard Henderson and others of North-Carolina, to effect a treaty with them for that purpose. Henderson, accordingly, associated with him other men of capital, viz : Thomas Hart, John Williams, James Hogg, Nathaniel Hart, David Hart, Leonard H. Bulloch, John Luttrell and William Johnston. Two of these, Colonel Henderson and Colonel Nathaniel Hart, accompanied by Daniel Boon, proceeded to the Cherokee towns, and proposed a general council, for the purpose of purchasing land. Subsequently, on the 17th of March, a treaty was concluded and signed by the agents of this compan}f on the one part^ and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Cherokee nation on the other part, at the Sycamore Shoals, on Watauga River. By this treaty, the Indians agreed to cede and relinquish to the associates all the lands lying between the Kentucky and the Cumberland Rivers. " Which said tract or territory of lands was, at the time of said purchase, and time out of mind had been, the land and hunting grounds of the said tribe of Cherokee Indians." In consideration of this cession, ten thousand pounds sterling were alleged to have been paid in merchandise. Twelve hundred Indians are said to have been assembled on the treaty ground.* Upon this occasion, and l>efore the Indians had agreed to make the cession, one of the Cherokee orators, said to be Oconostota, rose and delivered a very animated and pathetic speech. He began with the very flourishing state in which his nation once was, and mentioned the encroachments of the white people, from time to time, upon the retiring and expiring nations of Indians, i¥ho left their homes and the seats of their ancestors, to gratify the insatiable desire of the white people for more land. Whole nations had melted away in their presence, like balls of snow before the sun, and had scarcely left their names behind, except as imperfectly recorded by their enemies and destroyers. It was once hoped that they would not be willing to travel beyond the mountains, so far from the ocean on which their commerce was carried on, and their connections maintained with the nations of Europe. But now that fallacious hope had vanished ; they had passed the mountains and settled upon the Cherokee lands, and wished to have their usurpations sanctioned by the confirmation of a treaty. When that shall be obtained, the same encroaching spirit will lead them upon other lands of the Cherokees. New cessions will be applied for, and, finally, the country which the Cherokees and their forefathers had so long occupied, would be called for, and the small remnant which then may exist of this nation, once so great and formidable, will be

^ compelled to seek a retreat in some far-distant wilderness, there to dwell bilt a short space of time, before they would again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host, who, not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Cherokees, would then proclaim the extinction of the whole race. He ended with a strong exhortation to run all risks, and to incur all consequences, rather than submit to any further dilaceration of their territory.*

The speech of the Venerable chieftain was listened to by his assembled countrymen, with profound attention and marked respect. His counsels were disregarded : the cession was made. The future of his tribe, as delineated by his vehement eloquence, seems now, after the lapse of three quarters of a century ,to be stamped with the inspiration of prophecy. The cotemporaries of Oconostota have left "the lands which their forefathers had so long occupied,'' and their bones are mouldering " in some far-distant wilderness" beyond the Mississippi.

^ The proprietors of Transylvania, as Henderson^s purchase was called, at first contemplated the establishment of a separate and independent government, not materially dissimilar from the other British colonies. In a memorial, however, addressed to the Continental Congress of 1776, they took care to request that Transylvania might be added to the number of the United Colonies. " Having their hearts warmed with the same noble spirit that animates the colonies" - such is their language - ** and moved with indignation at th^ late ministerial and parliamentary usurpations, it is the earnest wish of the proprietors of Transylvania to be considered by the colonies as brethren engaged in the same great cause of liberty and mankind." *

During the treaty at the Sycamore Shoals, Parker & Carter, whose store had been robbed by jhe Indians, attended the conference, and demanded, in compensation for the injury they had sustained, Garter's Valley - to extend from Cloud's Creek to the Chimney-top Mountain of Beech Creek. The Indians consented, provided an additional consideration were given. This consideration was agreed to, and Robert Lucas was taken in as a partner, to enable them to advance the stipulated price. They, leased their lands to job-purchasers. It was» however, afterwards ascertained that the lands thus leased lay in North-Carolina and not in Virginia ; and the purchasers refused to hold under them, and drove them off.

The Watauga Association, holding the lands which they occupied, under a lease of eight years, as has been heretofore stated, desired to obtain for them a title in fee. They procured, two days after the purchase was made by Henderson & Co., a deed of conveyance to Charles Robertson, for a large extent of country. It is found in the Register's office of Washington county.

"This Indenture, made the 19th day of March, 1775, by O-con-os-to" 1716 i **» Chief Warrior and First Representative of the Cherokee Na" ( tion or Tribe of Indians, and Attacullecully and Savanucah, otherwiw Coronoh, for themselves and the rest of the vfhole Nation, being the aborigineB and sole owners by occupancy from the beginning of timoi of the lands on the waters of Holston and Wataugah Rivers, and other lands thereunto belonging, of the one part, and Charles Robertson, of the settlement of Wataugah, of the other part, Witnesseth, Arc." The connderatioD was " the sum of two thousand pounds, lawful money of QtetA Britain, in hand paid." The deed embraced '^ all that tract, territory or parcel of land, on the waters of Wataugah, Holston and Great Canaway or New River : beginning on the south or south-west side of Holston Bifer, six English miles above Long Island, in said river ; thence a direct line near a south course to the ridge which divides the waters of Watau- gah from the waters of Nonachuckeh ; thence along the various comrsos of said ridge nearly a south-east course totheBluel&dge or line dividing North-Carolina from the Cherokee lands; thence along the various coursea of said ridge to the Virginia line ; thence west along the Virginia line to Holston River; thence down the meanders of Hol8V>n River to the first station, including all the waters of Wataugah, part of the waters of Holston and the head-branches of New River or Great Canaway, agreeable to the bounds aforesaid, to said Charles Robertson, his heirs and assigns," &o. ^ ''And also, the said Charles Robertson, his heirs and assigns, shall and may, peaceably and quietly,^ have^ hold, possess and enjoy said premises, without let, trouble, hindrance or moliitation, interruption and denial, of them, the said Oconostota and the rest, or any of the said Nation." Signed in presence of

The lands thus conveyed to Charles Robertson, were afterwards regularly patented to the settlers. Occupancy bad probably heretofore given ownership. The first patentee was Joshua Haughton. The form of his patent is brief and sim* pie, and is given at length.

*' Joshua Haughton, on the seventh day of May, 1775, obtained a patent from this office of a tract of land lying on the south side of the Wataugah, half a mile below the mouth of Doe River, which tract was entered by the said £[aughton, April 1, 1775, and obtained a warrant for surveying the same, a plan of which was returned to this office bj the hands of Wm. Bailey Smith, Surveyor.

drawn up, and signed by Charles Robertson, was made out. One of these is now before the writer, carefully drawn up and indented after the English style. The witnesses to it are John Sevier and J[. Smith.

^ This Indenture, made the 25tb day of March, 1775, between Ooonostota, chief warrior and head prince, the Tenesay Warrior, and Bread Slave Catcher, and Attakullakulla, and Chenesley, Cherokee chiefe of Middle and Lower Settlements, of the one part, and Jacob Brown, of Nonachuchy, of the other part - consideration ten shillings - a certain tract or parcel of land lying on Nonachuchy River, as follows : Beginning at the mouth of a creek called Great Limestone, running up the meanders of the said creek and the main fork of the creek to the ridge that divides Wstaogah and Nonachuchy, joining the Wataugah purchase, from thence up the dividing ridge that divides the waters of Nonachuchy and Wataugah, and thence to the head of Indian Creek, where it joins the Iron Mountain, thence down the said mountain to Nonachuchy river, thence across the said river including the creeks of said river, thence down the side of the Nonachuchy Mountain against the mouth of Great Limestone, thence to the beginning.

Another deed of the same date and between the same parties, conveys another tract of land *'lying on Nonachuchy River, below the mouth of Big Limestone, on both sides of said river, bounded as follows, joining the rest of said Brown's purchase. Beginning on the south side of said river, below the old fields that lie below the said Limestone, on the north side of Nonachuchy Mountain, at a large rock ; thence north thirty-two deg. west to the mouth of Camp Creek, on south side of said river ; thence across said river ; thence north-west to the dividing ridge between Lick Creek and Watauga or Holston ; thence up the dividing ridge

" The obnoxioiis port duties of 1767 had been repealed, excepting the duty of three pence a pound on tea, which was continued for the purpose' of maintaining the parliamentary right of taication. ' That import was continued to keep up the sovereignty,' and ' could neifier be opposed by the colonists, unless they were determined to rebel againflt Great Britain.' Such was the language of Lord North. But the jealousy of the colonies was directed against the principle of the ministiyy which was as discernible in the imposition of a small as of a laige da^« The partial repeal was, therefore, unsatisfactory, and combinations were formed in the prindpal commercial cities, to prevent the importation of the excepted article. One sentiment appears to have pervaded all tlie colonies. The ministerial plan was umversally considered as a direct attack upon the liberties of the American citizen, which it was the du^ of all to oppose. The tax was every where resisted, and at Boston the cargoes of tea were thrown into the dock. This act so provoked the British government that the city of Boston was selected as the first object of legislative vengeance. A bill was passed by which its harbour was closed. This bill excited universal indignation. At Philadelphia contributions were made for such poor inhabitants of Boston as were deprived, by the act, of the means of subsistence. The Assembly of Virginia resolved to observe the first day of its operation as a fast, and espoused the cause of Massachusetts by the declaration ' that an attack made on one of our sister colonies to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole be applied.' "

They also proposed the meeting of a General Congress annually, to deliberate on those measures which the united interests of America might, from time to time, require. This recommendation of Virginia was gradually concurred with, from New-Hampshire to South-Carolina, and on the fifth ^ day of September the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. A declaration of rights was soon agreed on ; the several acts of Parliament infringing and violating those rights recited, and the repeal of them resolved to be essentially necessary to the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and the colonies. They resolved further on an address to the king and to the people of Great Britain, and a memorial to the people of British America. These resolutions of the Continental Congress, received the general sanction of the Provincial Congresses and Colonial Assemblies. Massachusetts took immediate measures for the defence of the province. The Assembly of Rhode Island passed resolutions for obtaining arms and military stores, and for raising and arming the inhabitants. In New-Hampshire similar precautions were taken.

In the more southern colonies, signs of discontent and jealousy of the British government were strongly manifested. A meeting of the officers under the command of Lord Dunmore, resolved : - " That as the love of liberty and attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh every other consideration, they would exert every power within them for the defence of American liberty and for the support of her just rights and privileges, not in any precipitate, riotous or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen.** The Provincial Congress of Maryland resolved : - " That if the late acts of Parliament shall be attempted to be executed by force, Maryland will aid such colony to the utmost extent of its. power ;" and further resolved to raise money for the purchase of arms and ammunition. In South-Carolina Judge Dra)rton, in a charge to a grand jury, said, in speaking of liberty : - " English people cannot he taxed, nay, cannot be bound by any law, unless by their consent, expressed by themselves or by the representatives of their own election. I charge you to do your duty; to maintain the laws, the rights, the constitution of your own country, even at the hazard of your lives and fortunes. In my judicial character I know no master but the law ; I am a servant, not to the king, but to the constitution."

The testimony of one of the earliest and most distinguished martyrs to the cause of liberty is at once illustrative of his own patriotism and that of his countrymen. Dr. Warren said: - ^"It is the united voice of America to preserve their freedom or lose their lives in the defence of it. Their resolutions are not the effects of inconsiderate rashness, but the sound result of sober inquiry and deliberation. I am con- vinced that the true spirit of liberty was never so universally diffused through all ranks and orders of people in any county on the face of the earth, as it now is through all North America."

Georgia was the youngest of the colonies, the most feeble and the most exposed ; yet her whigs were aroused and active at the very dawn of the Revolution. Under Habersham and Brown, her volunteers assisted in capturing, at the mouth of the Savannah, the schooner of Gov. Wright, containing the king^s powder; and afterwards Doctor N. W. Jones, Joseph Habersham, Edward Telfair, William Gibbon, Joseph Clay, John Millege and others broke into the magazine and secured for their little band of whig patriots, the powder intended by the colonial authorities to intimidate the rising spirit of republicanism and resistance to the royal cause. '^ Some of the bravest and most honourable men in the Union were among the patriots of Georgia." **Mr. Habersham, alone and unaided, entered the house of Grovernor Wright and arrested him at his own table."*

Sance on the part of the American colonies, were disregarded by the British government. Parliamentary supremacy had been asserted, and coeircive measures were adopted to enforce and sustain it. A crisis approached which precluded, forever, all reconciliation between England and her 4 American colonies. On the 19th of April the battle of Lexington took place, the first act in the great drama of the American Revolution. The blood there shed was the signal for war. The martial spirit of the American people rose with the occasion. The forts, magazines and arsenals throughout the colonies, were instantly secured for the use of the Provincials. Troops were raised, and provision made for their pay and support. Valour in the field was not sufficient for the emergency ; it demanded also wisdom in council. A new Congress met on the 10th of May, adopted measures of defence, and unanimously elected one of their number, George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United Colonies.

Hooper Foretells Independence

Notwithstanding these proceedings, the views of the colonists did not yet extend to a separation from Great Britain, or to the establishment of independent governments, except in the last extremity. This is evinced, not only by the declarations of Congress, but from those of the colonial assemblies and conventions in the course of this year.

" Bnt the charm of loyalty to the king and allegiance to his government, was broken - the spell was dissolved. The colonists bad armed in defence of their riehts, and the transit was easy from resistance to independence and revolution. For ten years they had been complaining and remonstrating against the unconstitutional enactments of the mother country, in the submissive language of faithful and loyal subjects. Their tone was changed, and Mndependency' was by many contemplated, and no where earlier than in North-Carolina. In this province, peculation by Crown officers, exorbitant taxes and the court law controversy, were prominent causes of early dissatisfaction to the people, and indeed transcended, in their immediate influence upon their personal comforts and rights, the abstract question of British allegiance. At a later period, their oppositioD to the ministry was embittered, not so much by their personal aufierings as by a deep sympathy with the people of Massachusetts, who were complimented in all their public meetings, and assured of their readiness to aid them in any general scheme of protection or resistance. The organisation of a Continental Congress had been suggested. That was to be eflfected through the agency of Provincial Congresses ; and in North- Carolina, as early as April 5, 1774, measures were in progress to con- Tenegne for that purpose. And on the 26th of the same month, William Hooper, in a letter to James Iredell, openly avows the propriety, as ^ell as the probability, of independence. It distinctly says : * With yon I anticipate the important share which the colonies must soon have in re> ^nlatini^ the political balance. They are striding fast to independence, and wil^ ere long, build an empire on the ruins of Britain - will adopt its coDstitntion, purged of its impurities ; and from an experience of its delects, will guard against those evils which have wasted its vigour and l>roaght it to an untimely end-' ^ *