Transcriber’s note

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Dropped Stitches

——IN——

TENNESSEE HISTORY.

——BY——

JOHN ALLISON.

1897:
MARSHALL & BRUCE CO.,
NASHVILLE.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897,
By John Allison,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

DEDICATION.

To the Memory of My Mother,
WHO, WHEN I WAS BUT A YOUTH,
FIRST INTERESTED ME IN AND TAUGHT ME MUCH
OF THE
Early History
OF THE
PIONEERS OF MY NATIVE STATE.

PREFACE.

This little volume, as will appear to the reader, is not a history of anything nor of anybody, and is not so intended. The whole is simply an effort to put together in readable form some facts in the very earliest history of Tennessee not hitherto fully shown, if even mentioned.

I was born and brought up at Jonesboro, in Washington county, Tennessee, and resided there until 1889.

My mother, when I was a mere boy, first interested me in and taught me much about the pioneers and early history of my native state. Following up much learned from her, I frequently visited old gentlemen and aged ladies in Eastern Tennessee and a few in North Carolina, and conversed with them about “old times” and their early lives, and from them obtained much information not to be gotten in any other way. By a formal order of the County Court of Washington county, made many years ago, I was given custody and possession of the very earliest court records made at Jonesboro (records from 1778 up to 1800, as I now remember), and had possession of them for two or three years, and at odd times went through and copied much from these old records. I had, however, become interested in, and read much, from these court records before the order of the court giving me possession of them.

I made, as best I could, original investigation as to facts plainly suggested by the proceedings of the courts, as to the men who constituted the court, their lives, character, etc., and also as to the events surrounding, or involved in, the entries as indicated by the substance of the “motions,” “orders,” etc.

Where authorities consulted and information obtained in my original investigation have conflicted as to a date, I have given that which seemed most probably the correct one: where no date at all could be found or fixed, I have followed the “illustrious example of distinguished historians,” and said, “about this time”—without giving any date at all.

By permission of my long, long time scholarly friend, Dr. R. L. C. White, the author, I publish with the volume “A Centennial Dream” with the Key thereto. The “dream” and interpretation are put in an appendix, for the reason that I can not copyright either.

Dr. White’s “Centennial Dream” has suggested, in fewer words, more Tennessee history than any publication heretofore made, and, as hundreds of persons can testify, has excited more interest, and caused more thorough investigation, in Early History of Tennessee, than any book or paper hitherto written on the subject. It will live as an attractive, proficient instructor and teacher of the history of the “Volunteer State” after he has “crossed over the river” and is at “rest under the shade of the trees.”

All who read the dream and key to it will appreciate the obligation I am under to Dr. White.

CONTENTS.

DROPPED STITCHES

——IN——

Tennessee History.

CHAPTER I.

ANDREW JACKSON, ATTORNEY AT LAW.

Most English-reading people, as well as many of those who read history written in other languages, are familiar with the life and deeds of General and President Andrew Jackson; and very many people in the United States know of Senator and Judge Andrew Jackson. Few, however, are acquainted with young Andrew Jackson, Esq., attorney at law, of Jonesboro, then (1788-9) the county-seat of Washington county. North Carolina. They are all one and the same personage; and it can truthfully be said that there is a still smaller number who know anything whatever about the leading and dominating characteristics of the people among whom young Andrew Jackson really began life, at Jonesboro, in what is now Washington county, Tennessee.

Most of Jackson’s biographers, and nearly all of those who have written and spoken about him, make him begin his business and professional life at Nashville, in the fall of the year 1788. John Reid, in his “Life of Andrew Jackson” (published in 1817), says that Jackson, on reaching the settlement on the Holston river, near Jonesboro, remained there until October, 1788, when he left and went to Nashville, arriving at the latter place during the same month. Jenkins, in his “Life of General Jackson” (published in 1850), says that Jackson reached Nashville in October, 1788. Parton, in his “Life of Jackson” (published in 1860), says: “Upon the settlement of the difficulties between North Carolina and her western counties (1788), John McNairy, a friend of Jackson’s, was appointed judge of the Superior Court for the Western District, and Jackson was invested with the office of solicitor or prosecutor for the same district.... Thomas Searcy, another of Jackson’s friends, received the appointment of clerk of the court.... Before the end of October, 1788, the long train of immigrants, among whom was Mr. Solicitor Jackson, reached Nashville, to the great joy of the settlers there.”

The distinguished historians are all in error in all of these statements. There was no Superior Court at Nashville at this date. The act of the general assembly of North Carolina, providing for or establishing a Superior Court of Law and Equity for the counties of Davidson, Sumner and Tennessee, was not passed until November, 1788. The act passed at Fayetteville, in that month, “erected the counties of Davidson, Sumner and Tennessee into a district for the holding of Superior Courts of Law and Equity therein, by the name of Mero.” The first volume of the original record of the minutes of the Superior Court of Law and Equity for the district of Washington—then the “Western District”—at Jonesboro, shows that David Campbell alone held that court from the February term, 1788 (which was the first term), until the February term, 1789, at which latter term the record shows that Judge McNairy appeared and sat with Judge Campbell. The same volume shows that, at the February term, 1788, and on the first day of the term, Francis Alexander Ramsey was appointed and qualified as clerk of the court, and that “Archibald Roan was appointed Attorney to prosecute on behalf of the State,” on the first day of the term, but that he resigned on the following day; “whereupon, William Sharp, Esq. is appointed in his room.” Sharp continued to act as prosecuting attorney until February, 1790, when, as the record shows, he was succeeded by William Cocke. The same volume has this entry: “August Term 1788. John McNairy Esq. produced a License to practice as an Attorney in the several Courts within this State with a certificate from the Clerk of the Court for the District of Salisbury that he has taken the oaths necessary for his qualification as an attorney whereupon he is admitted to Practice in this Court.”

The Superior Court of Law and Equity for the Mero District was not formally organized and opened until late in the year 1789, when John McNairy was appointed judge of that court.

Under the territorial form of government provided by Congress, in May, 1790, for “the territory of the United States of America south of the river Ohio,” the President appointed three attorneys for the territory—one for Washington District, one for Hamilton District and one for the “Mero District.” Andrew Jackson was appointed in and for the “District of Mero,” and I have not been able to find any evidence whatever that he held any office whatever prior to this appointment. It is doubtful whether he ever received any compensation from the government of the United States for the services rendered as attorney of the “Mero District;” for, at the first session of the third general assembly of Tennessee, an act was passed, October 26, 1799, the second section of which is as follows: “Be it enacted, that the sum of four hundred dollars shall be and the same is hereby appropriated for the payment of the sum due Andrew Jackson, as a full compensation for his services as Attorney General for the District of Mero under the territorial government.” Andrew Jackson never accepted payment twice for the same service.

Section 1 of the same act appropriates two hundred dollars “to Archibald Roane, as full compensation for services as Attorney General for the District of Hamilton under the territorial government.”

Jackson did not arrive at Nashville until the fall of the year 1789 or the spring of 1790—most probably the latter. He “settled” in Jonesboro, in what was then Washington county, North Carolina, and is now Washington county, Tennessee, in the early part of the spring of 1788. He probably came from Morganton, North Carolina, across the range of mountains to Jonesboro, as early in the spring as the melting snow and ice made such a trip over the Appalachians possible. From Morganton to Jonesboro, by the trail or route then travelled, was more than one hundred miles, two-thirds of which, at that time, was without a single human habitation along its course. As emigration from east of the mountains to “the new world west of the Alleghanies” was considerable about this period, it is quite possible that Judge McNairy and others came at the same time; but who they all were, and the exact date of their arrival in Jonesboro, is not known.

On the old record books of the minutes of the proceedings of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions kept at Jonesboro will be found the following entry: “State of North Carolina Washington County, Monday the Twelfth day of May Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Eight. Andrew Jackson Esq. came into Court and Produced a license as an Attorney With A Certificate sufficiently Attested of his Taking the Oaths Necessary to said office and Was admitted to Practiss as an Attorney in this County Court.” The entry immediately preceding recites that “Archibald Roane, David Allison, and Joseph Hamilton Esquires Produced sufficient Licenses to Practiss as Attorneys and were admitted,” etc.; and the entry immediately following recites that “John McNairey Produced a license as an Attorney,” etc., and “was admitted to Practiss as an attorney,” etc.

Thus this old record shows the admission to the bar, on the same day, in the one-story log court-house, twenty-four feet square, at Jonesboro, of five young men.

Jackson’s promotion from one office to another, until he reached the highest and most exalted office on earth, the Presidency of the United States, is known to all; but that “Twelfth day of May Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Eight” must have been a lucky day, or there must have been good material in those young men—for Andrew Jackson was not the only one of them who attained eminence. Jackson was first United States attorney for the “District of Mero,” but Roane held the same office at the same time in the Hamilton District, while McNairy presided over both of them as federal judge for “the territory of the United States of America south of the river Ohio.” Jackson met both McNairy and Roane as fellow delegates in the constitutional convention for Tennessee, in 1796. Jackson was afterward a judge of the Superior Court of Law and Equity, but so were both McNairy and Roane—and this, too, before Jackson reached the bench, they having been elected at the first session of the first general assembly of Tennessee, in April, 1796, before the state had been formally admitted into the Union by act of Congress. Their decisions, however, were never called into question on that ground.

In 1797, McNairy was appointed a district judge of the Federal Court in Tennessee, which position he held continuously until his death in 1831 or 1832, leaving his reputation as a wise and just judge and an upright man as a heritage to Tennesseans.

Roane resigned his judgeship in June, 1801, and was elected Governor of Tennessee in the following August. On retiring from the office of Governor, after having served two years, he remained in private life until 1811, when he was appointed circuit judge. Thereafter—in October, 1815—he was again appointed to the Superior Court bench, where he remained until April or May, 1818, and then retired from public service, honored and esteemed.

David Allison was commissioned “Master of the Rolls and Clerk in Equity of the Superior Court of Law and Equity” for Washington District at Jonesboro, by Judges Samuel Spencer and David Campbell, in August, 1788. He held this office for about two years, resigning in 1790, when he went to the settlement on the Cumberland—now Nashville—and engaged, I believe, in the mercantile business.

Joseph Hamilton disappears entirely from the court records and proceedings at Jonesboro, and I have been able only to trace him elsewhere, as Clerk of the County Court of Caswell county, State of Franklin, 1785, and when he was appointed by the territorial Governor and Council to aid in running and marking the lines of Knox and Jefferson counties, when they were established in 1792, and where he was appointed one of the Trustees of Greeneville College in 1794.

It was while Roane was Governor, in 1802, that the memorable contest between John Sevier and Andrew Jackson, for the position of Major General of militia in Tennessee, occurred. It was no empty and meaningless honor to hold this position then in the state—as subsequent events demonstrated. Under the terms of the constitution, the Major General was elected by the field officers of the militia. When the votes which had been cast were counted, there was found to be a tie between Jackson and Sevier. The Governor, by virtue of his office, was commander-in-chief of the militia. He was therefore a field officer, and as such was entitled to cast, and did cast, the deciding vote between these two great commanders. Governor Roane gave his vote for Jackson, and Jackson thus became Major General of militia in Tennessee, which led him up to the victory he gained over the British at New Orleans, and this victory eventually made him President of the United States. If Roane had voted for Sevier?—I am a Presbyterian.

Roane was a candidate for re-election to the office of Governor, in August, 1803. John Sevier was a candidate against him, and defeated him, notwithstanding the fact that Roane had the earnest and active support of Jackson. Jackson and Roane combined could not beat Sevier before the people, although the latter had been three times Governor theretofore. Roane, as before stated, remained in private life until 1811. Sevier was twice elected Governor after having defeated Roane, and remained in public service almost continuously until his death in September, 1815. To give in detail the various offices with which John Sevier was honored, every one of which he honored in turn, would be foreign to the subject. He filled every office known to the statutes—and some which were unknown—except two: he was never a Senator in Congress nor a judge of any of the Superior Courts. (He was not a lawyer.) Nothing that could be said on the subject would add to this evidence of the confidence the people had in him, and of their faith in and affection for the man.

Jackson had attained to the age of twenty-one years on the 15th of March preceding the entry above quoted, admitting him to the bar in Washington county. He may have been formally admitted at Salisbury or Morganton, North Carolina, but he did not in fact open an office or enter upon the practice of law at either place. The order admitting him to the bar at Jonesboro, therefore, may be accepted and regarded as the opening entry in the business life and the professional and political career of this, one of the greatest of all Americans.

These old court records at Jonesboro disclose the fact that Jackson was in the town and in attendance on the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, at its November term, 1788. Under the law at that time, bills of sale of slaves and horses and deeds to land had to be proven in the court mentioned. A bill of sale was presented to this court by Jackson, at its November term, 1788. This bill of sale is given below, for reasons hereafter to be stated. It is as follows: “A Bill of Sale from Micajah Crews to Andrew Jackson, Esquire for A Negroe Woman named Nancy about eighteen or twenty years of Age was Proven in Open Court by the Oath of David Allison a Subscribing Witness and Ordered to be Recorded.”

The court records for the years 1788 and 1789, kept in Washington, Sullivan, Greene and Hawkins counties, establish the fact that Jackson was practising law in those counties during the two years mentioned. He could not, in the very nature of things, have attended court in those counties, if he had been residing at Nashville or practising law in Davidson, Sumner and Tennessee counties, which at that time constituted the “District of Mero.”

It has been stated without qualification by some writers that Jackson was present in Morganton, North Carolina, when Governor John Sevier escaped from the authorities there and returned to “the western waters.” Parton says that “Jackson may have witnessed the celebrated rescue of Governor Sevier, as, about the time of its occurrence in 1788, he was at Morganton, on a visit to Colonel Waightstill Avery, on his way to the western wilds of Tennessee.” Sevier, for having organized and been elected Governor of the “lost state of Franklin,” was arrested near Jonesboro, in October, 1788, and taken to Morganton; but there was no such “celebrated rescue” or escape of Sevier as that pictured in the various accounts of this affair which have been given. Sevier, on reaching Morganton, was met by Generals Charles McDowell and Joseph McDowell, who became his bondsmen until he could make a visit to a brother-in-law who resided some miles from the town. Sevier made this visit, returning to Morganton on the second day after leaving, and reported to the sheriff of Burke county, who permitted him to go where he pleased without requiring bond. In the meantime, Sevier’s two sons, James and John, together with Major Evans, Mr. Crosby and probably others from “the western waters,” had arrived in Morganton; and, in consequence of what was then told to Sevier by his sons and friends (which need not be stated here), he left Morganton, quietly and openly, in broad day, and returned with them immediately to Washington county. All of these occurrences took place during the month of October, 1788; and Jackson could not have been, during this month, in Morganton, in Jonesboro and in Nashville. He was, as before stated, at Jonesboro, familiarizing himself with the country and getting acquainted with the people in the counties mentioned.

It has been written of Jackson that he came into the “new settlements” on foot, or that he walked from Morganton to Jonesboro. This is incorrect. More than twenty-five years ago, the writer made it his business to investigate the truth of that statement, and also other incidents and facts in reference to the early life of Jackson while he made his home at Jonesboro. There were then living in Washington and the surrounding counties several aged native-born citizens who had known Jackson personally, and who had heard much concerning him. These old gentlemen, who ranged in age around eighty-five years, delighted to talk of what they knew and had heard of Jackson when he came to Jonesboro, and while he lived there during the years 1788 and 1789. All that has been or will be stated herein is from notes of conversations had with them, and either taken literally from or based on the old court records at Jonesboro. From these sources of information it can be asserted as truth that Jackson arrived in Jonesboro riding one horse and leading another; that the horse he was riding was a “race horse;” that he had a pair of “holsters” (pistols) buckled across the front of his saddle; and that on the led horse was a shot gun, a “pack” and a well-filled pair of saddle-bags, while following after him and by his side was a goodly pack of foxhounds. This is an inventory of his personal belongings, as given me by at least three of these old gentlemen,[A] each of whom had known Jackson personally, and had heard the story of his arrival in the community repeated often by fathers, mothers and others. It is reasonable to infer that he had some money also, or he could not, within a few months after his arrival, have purchased the slave shown, by the bill of sale set out above, to have been bought by him. The price of such a slave as that described was at that time about three hundred dollars. When one of the old gentlemen referred to was told by me that it had been said and “published” that Jackson had come to Jonesboro “afoot,” he fired up and his eyes fairly sparkled as he exclaimed: “Good God! Jackson never walked anywhere from necessity. He came here riding a race-horse and leading another first-rate horse.”

Jackson made his home, while he remained in the eastern part of what is now Tennessee, at the house of Christopher Taylor (father of Abram Taylor, before mentioned), about one mile west of Jonesboro, on the road that led from the town to the “Brown settlement” on the Nolichucky river. The old house is still standing, and can be seen from the passing trains on the Southern railway. A view of it, as it appeared some years ago, is given.

RESIDENCE OF CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR.
Where Andrew Jackson boarded during years 1788-9. Showing port-holes. Erected about 1773. From a photograph taken in April, 1897.

Christopher Taylor was a slaveholder and a large landowner, and had some race-horses which were fairly good for the times, together with a pack of the “finest and fastest hounds” in the country. While every one knew that Jackson was a devotee of the race-course, a lover of the chase and not averse to a cock-fight, still he was admired and esteemed by all, from the time he came into the country.

It is not probable that he had a law-office in Jonesboro, the tradition being that he received and consulted with his clients at Christopher Taylor’s, when court was not in session. When he was consulted by a client, his first effort was to compromise or adjust the difference, if possible; failing in this, he was most stubborn and unrelenting on behalf of his client, never, however, resorting to anything not in keeping with the strictest rules of propriety and fairness, and always courteous, manly and open in his bearing toward court, jury and opposing counsel, and exacting from every one the most respectful and courteous treatment, whether in court, at the race-course or elsewhere. He never insinuated anything—he spoke it out plainly. He despised deceit and treachery, and he held in the highest esteem the bold, open loyalty of a man to a friend or a conviction. He loathed any man who was guilty of a little mean, or mean little, act. He had a profound contempt for the narrow-minded and penurious or niggardly man. He himself was not extravagant, but his heart and hand seemed to open spontaneously to a deserving object of charity. Strange to say, while he did not know what fear was, he was often heard to express great sympathy for cowards or the timid, and he would never allow such an one to be imposed on in his presence.

It is not necessary to recite evidence or narrate circumstances to show that such a man as Jackson had the most exalted opinion of woman, and that he was always her champion and defender; but an incident which occurred at Rogersville, in Hawkins county, will be related here. A most estimable widow kept the “tavern” at Rogersville. Her house was generally full during court week. One day, a stranger came into the public or reception room, shortly before supper, and asked for entertainment or a room. The landlady in person showed him a room, with two or three beds in it, and told him that he could, if he wished, occupy that room with two other gentlemen, having a bed to himself, explaining that, on account of it being court week, her house was so crowded that she could not give him a separate room. The stranger was not pleased with this arrangement, and so told the landlady. As they returned to the public room, the stranger, just as they entered it, made some insolent remark about a country and a town which could not afford a gentleman a separate room. Jackson, who was sitting in the room, heard the remark. Springing to his feet, he seized the stranger by the arm, exclaiming, “Come with me, sir—I’ll find a separate room and bed for you!” The stranger, observing Jackson’s tone and manner, hesitated, and asked him what he meant. The only answer he received was, “Come on, sir!” and he reluctantly went with Jackson, who was still holding him by the arm. Jackson took his captive out the “back way,” and brought him up in front of a corn-crib, in which were some corn and shucks. Opening the door of the crib, he commanded the stranger to “climb in,” at the same time displaying in his right hand an argument that so overcame all desire of resistance that prompt obedience was the immediate result. The stranger “climbed in,” apologizing and begging at the same time, and Jackson closed the door upon him. After looking at his prisoner for some minutes with great satisfaction, Jackson asked him if he was willing to go back to the house, apologize to the landlady, and accept the room which she had offered him. The stranger readily expressed his willingness to do this, which he did, and so the incident closed.

In going from Jonesboro to the courts in Greene, Hawkins and Sullivan counties, Jackson always took with him his shotgun, holsters and saddle-bags, and very often his hounds, so that he was always ready to join in a deer chase or a fox hunt. He was an unerring marksman, and was always the centre of attraction at the “shooting matches,” at which the prizes were quarters of beef, turkeys and deer. He would dismount anywhere on these trips, in order to participate in such a contest; and messengers were frequently sent from remote parts of the settlements, inviting him to come out and join in a hunt or a “shooting match.” He invariably accepted such invitations.

In those early days, when a new settler came into the community, or a young man married, as soon as the place for the “clearing” and the erection of a cabin was fixed upon, the neighbors “gathered in,” and they had what was called a “house raising” and a “barn raising.” They felled the trees, hewed the logs and built the house and barn—all in one day, or in two days at most. It was said that Jackson attended more of these house and barn “raisings” than any other one man in the country. They usually wound up with a fox hunt, a deer chase or a shooting match. He was said to have been “a horseman without an equal, the boldest and most fearless rider that had ever crossed the Alleghanies.” He would ford or swim his horse through a river wherever he came to it, if he wished to get to the opposite side. His aggressiveness and restlessness were often the subject of remark, and led to the opinion, which was freely expressed, that if ever there was a war, he would be a great general.

He began life among people who had views and opinions of their own on all questions of the day and subjects of public interest; yet his judgment was consulted and his views sought on almost all public affairs, notwithstanding his youth. He was recognized from the first as a man who “would fight at the drop of a hat, and drop the hat himself”; but in all the personal difficulties which he had while he resided in Washington county, save one—a duel with Col. Avery, an account of which will be given in another chapter—public opinion was generally largely in his favor.

It may, and it should, be interesting to those who love and revere the memory of Andrew Jackson to know something of the life, habits and characteristics of the people among whom he first settled at Jonesboro, as well as of those with whom he afterwards made his permanent home at Nashville; for whatever can be said to the credit and glory of either the early settlers on the Watauga or those upon the Cumberland can be truthfully said of the others. Therefore, a brief account of the dominating characteristics of the people among whom he first settled will be given. This will, it is believed, throw some light on the formation of Jackson’s character, methods and course throughout his life.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Major Bird Brown, Abram Taylor and John Allison.

CHAPTER II.

THE PICKETS OF CIVILIZATION.

The first settlers in Tennessee: what did they do?

They founded and administered the first free and independent government in America. They established the first church, the first institution of learning, and the second newspaper, in “the new world west of the Alleghanies.”

They were in the wilderness. The hour of the day was determined by the shadow cast by the sun upon the home-made dial; the time of the night was reckoned from the positions of particular stars in the firmament. Years and months they measured by moons. From the course, color and velocity of clouds, from the temperature and from the direction of the winds, they foretold the weather. They also observed the habits of animals and birds of passage, as aids to their weather bureau; and they watched and studied closely the development and growth of plants, herbs, vines, vegetables and the cereals, as helps to their agricultural department.[B]

The country in which Andrew Jackson made his home for about two years deserves a name and place in history not yet fully given to it. In its wild and picturesque magnificence, in the rugged honesty and frank simplicity of the people who settled it, in their love and struggle for liberty, “home rule” and local self-government, it was a counterpart of the Switzerland of tradition and story.

The sun shone nowhere upon a land of more ravishing loveliness and awe-inspiring sublimity—silver threads of river and streamlet, and gem of valley set in emerald of gorgeous luxuriance; waters murmuring and thunderous, striking every note in the gamut of nature’s weird minstrelsy, dashing and bounding to the sea; every acclivity a Niagara of color flashing from rhododendron and mountain magnolia, elysian fields without Rhenish castles or Roman towers; grooved with fastnesses, terraced with plateaus and monumented with peaks upheaved into a very dreamland of beauty and grandeur, all overlooked by the majestic Roan—

“The monarch of mountains—

They crowned him long ago,

On a throne of rock, in a robe of clouds,

With a diadem of snow!”

About one hundred and thirty years ago, the first permanent white settlement was made on the Watauga river, near where Elizabethton now stands. Up to the winter of 1770-1, there were in all probability twenty families in the new settlement.

May 16, 1771, the “Regulators” fought the famous but disastrous battle of the Alamance, about forty miles northwest of Raleigh. During the summer and fall following this battle, settlers came in considerable numbers to “the new world west of the Alleghanies,” and cast their lot with the settlers on the Watauga; and about this time settlements were made on the Holston and Nolichucky rivers.

Who were these people? Whence and why did they come? I answer:

They were every one patriots, soldiers and good citizens. They came from the battle-field of the Alamance—that first contest of the revolution which eventuated in American independence. They left their homes because of the disastrous result of that battle, in which many of them had participated, and because of their unconquerable hatred of the British government and their open revolt against British authority and the oppression of British officials.

The following letter from Hon. George Bancroft, the historian, then Minister from the United States to Great Britain, on the subject of the “Mecklenburg Resolves,” and the subsequent course and conduct of some of those engaged in the battle of the Alamance, is still of great interest to Tennesseans:

90 Eaton Place, London, July 4, 1848.

My Dear Sir—I hold it of good augury that your letter of the 12th of June reached me by the Herman just in time to be answered this morning. You may be sure that I have spared no pains to discover the Resolves of the Committee of Mecklenburg. A glance at the map will show you that in those days the traffic in that part of North Carolina took a southerly direction, and people in Charleston, and sometimes in Savannah, knew what was going on in ‘Charlotte Town’ before Gov. Martin. The first account of the Resolves extraordinary, ‘by the people in Charlotte Town, Mecklenburg County,’ was sent over by Sir James Wright, then Governor of Georgia, in a letter of the 20th of June, 1775. The newspaper thus transmitted is still preserved, and is the number 498 of the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, Tuesday, June 13, 1775. I read the Resolves, you may be sure, with reverence, and immediately obtained a copy of them, thinking myself the sole discoverer. I do not send you the copy, as it is identically the same with the paper you enclosed to me, but I forward to you a transcript of the entire letter of Sir James Wright. The newspapers seem to have reached him after he had finished his dispatch, for the paragraph relating to it is added in his own handwriting, the former part being written by a secretary. I have read a great many papers relating to the Regulators, and am having copies made of a large number. Your own state ought to have them all, and the expense would be, for the state, insignificant, if it does not send an agent on purpose. A few hundred dollars would copy all you need from the State Paper Office on all North Carolina topics. The Regulators are on many accounts important. They form the connecting link between the resistance to the Stamp Act and the movement of 1775, and they also played a glorious part in taking possession of the Mississippi Valley, toward which they were irresistibly carried by their love of independence. It is a mistake if any have supposed that the Regulators were cowed down by their defeat at Alamance. Like the mammoth, they shook the bolt from their brow and crossed the mountains.

I shall always be glad to hear from you and to be of use to you or your State.

Very truly yours,
George Bancroft.

D. L. Swain, Esq., Chapel Hill, N. C.

One of the “ringleaders” in organizing the Regulators for the battle of the Alamance was John Pugh, who was afterwards sheriff of Washington county, which at that time included all of the territory now embraced within the boundaries of the state of Tennessee. Among the few names of the participants in the battle of the Alamance which have been preserved in history may be found those of several who were afterwards prominent among the settlers on Watauga, Holston and Nolichucky. I have said this much because of some facts which will be given further along.

These people were on the very verge of the frontier, standing as a mere handful of pickets out on the confines of civilization, where the war-whoop of the painted savage rang through the forests, and the constant apprehension of the tomahawk and the scalping-knife haunted every abode, and every thicket ambushed a bloodthirsty foe. When open daring failed, fiendish cunning, the torch and midnight butchery wrought the ruin. Atrocity followed atrocity, in the utter extinction of homes. Men hunted, fished, toiled, slept and worshipped with their trusty rifles at hand. The women also, through necessity and with courage inspired by constant peril, were no less dextrous in the use of deadly weapons, and no less unerring in the precision of their aim. The very genius of evil and desolation seemed at times to brood over the infant settlements. Still, they prospered; and, amid their dangers, they followed industrial pursuits. The creaking clang of the loom and the whir of the spinning-wheel furnished the “accompaniment to the maiden’s concord of measured monotones.” The woodman’s axe felled the forest trees, and fields and farms were opened up, fenced and put in cultivation. Churches and schools were established, and public highways “viewed out” and opened up in the wilderness.

FIRST GRIST MILL BUILT IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.
Erected by Michael Bacon, on Little Limestone Creek, six miles southwest of Jonesboro, in the year 1779.

Among the wealthiest the wheaten cake appeared only at the Sabbath breakfast. Milk and spring water were their only drinks at meals. The red deer flitted through the voiceless solitudes, and bruin roamed the jungles at will. The fruits of the chase and the fishing-rod, together with pounded maize, supplied the wholesome comforts of the hospitable board. Quilting bees, log rollings, house raisings, corn shuckings, flax pullings, maple sugar boilings and the innocent abandon of the dance, enlivened with brimming gourds of nectared dew and the high fun and mirth of backwoods “social functions,” gave variety and zest to the monotony of frontier life.

Maid and matron were clad in fabrics of their own handiwork, each a Joan of Arc in moral and physical prowess and power, and a Venus in rounded symmetry and development, with all the unaffected graces of natural and unspoiled womanhood, “the red wine of lusty life mantling and blushing in the alabaster face”; the men garbed in skins or the coarsest textures of the loom, athletic of limb and fleet of foot as the roe, more than a match for all the cunning stratagems of Indian warfare, “lion-hearted to dare and win, and yet with gentleness and generosity to melt the soul.”

The log structure rose in the wilderness, with puncheon floor, slab benches, port-hole windows and rifle-rack, in whose cribbed and darkened shrine alternated the thunderous vociferations of the fire-and-brimstone preacher and the cries of the truant urchin under the savage birch of the pitiless schoolmaster.

These people were without any local form of civil government, without executive, military, civil or peace officers; but they had among them John Sevier, Isaac Shelby, James Robertson and others, who kept the good of the community at heart. It will be remembered that there has been much controversy, at times in the not very distant past, as to when, where and by whom the first declaration of a free and independent government was made and entered into on this continent—some claiming that Mecklenburg, North Carolina, was the place, its citizens the people, and May, 1775, the date; others asserting that the association formed for Kentucky, “under the great elm tree outside the fort at Boonsboro”—this also in 1775—was the first. I propose to show that neither one of these associations, declarations or formations of government was the first “free and independent government” established on this continent; but that this honor belongs to the settlers on the Watauga. Haywood, in his history of Tennessee (page 41), says: “In 1772 (May), the settlement on the Watauga, being without government, formed a written association and articles for their conduct. They appointed five commissioners, a majority of whom was to decide all matters of controversy, and to govern and direct for the common good in other respects”; and again (page 46): “This committee settled all private controversies, and had a clerk, Felix Walker, now or lately a member of Congress from North Carolina. They had also a sheriff. This committee had stated and regular times for holding their sessions, and took the laws of Virginia for the standard of decision.” Haywood further says that they were living under this government in November, 1775.

Some four years after this local, self, independent government had been entered into by the settlers of Watauga, John Sevier, in a memorial to the North Carolina legislature explaining it, says: “Finding ourselves on the frontiers, and being apprehensive that, for want of a proper legislature, we might become a shelter for such as endeavor to defraud their creditors; considering also the necessity of recording deeds, wills, and doing other public business, we, by consent of the people, formed a court for the purposes above mentioned, taking, by desire of our constituents, the Virginia laws for our guide, so near as the situation of affairs would permit. This was intended for ourselves, and was done by consent of every individual.”

I rather suspect that some inquiry was made by the authorities of North Carolina, as to what kind of a government this was which had been set up within their jurisdiction, and which established courts that took the laws of Virginia as their guide.

The “written association and articles for their conduct,” entered into by the settlers on the Watauga, in May, 1772, formed the first “free and independent government” established and put into practical administration on this continent.

The five commissioners or committeemen first appointed were John Sevier, James Robertson, Charles Roberson, Zachariah Isbell and John Carter. This was an independent government, because they did not ask permission of any power on earth to enter into it, and they did not recognize any authority as superior to that which they had voluntarily vested in the five commissioners chosen by them. It was not a compact or league with any other power, but, as Sevier says, “was intended for ourselves.” It was a free government, because it was voluntarily entered into by the whole people, “by consent of every individual.”

The settlers lived, prospered and were happy, under the government of the five commissioners, for about six years. These commissioners settled all questions of debt, determined all rights of property, took the probate of wills and the acknowledgment of deeds, recorded the same, issued marriage licenses and hanged horse thieves, with much zest and great expedition—the arraignment, trial, conviction, condemnation and execution of a horse thief all occurring within an hour or so after he was arrested, inasmuch as they had no jail in which to imprison him overnight, and believed strongly in the idea that a man who was bad enough to be put in jail deserved to be hanged on the spot.

In November, 1777, the assembly of North Carolina erected the District of Washington into Washington county, which included the whole of what is now the state of Tennessee. This was the first territorial division in the United States named in honor of George Washington. The Governor of North Carolina appointed justices of the peace and militia officers for this county, who, in February, 1778, met and took the oath of office, and organized the new county and its courts. Thereupon, the first “free and independent government” formed and put into operation in America was no more, the jurisdiction and authority of the five commissioners having, by their own consent and that of the people, been superseded by the newly appointed authorities. The first written instrument, paper or record authoritatively made in the organization of what is today the judicial, political, civil and military existence of the state of Tennessee, is in the office of the county clerk at Jonesboro, and is in the words and figures following:

FEBRUARY COURT 1778

The oaths of the Justices of the peace melitia & for officers There Attestments, &c,

Washington County, I A. B. do solemnly swear that as a Justice of the peace, and a Justice of the County Court of pleas, & Quarter Sessions in the County of Washington, in all articles in the Commission to me directed. I will do equal Right to the poor and to the Rich to the Best of my Judgment and according to the Law of the State. I will not privately or Openly by my-self or any other person, be of Council in any Quarrel, or Suit, depending Before me, and I will hold the County Court, and Quarter Sessions of my County, as the Statue in that case shall and may direct.

The fines and amerciaments that shall happen to be maid and the forfeitures that shall be incurred I will cause to be duly entered without Concealment. I will not wittingly or willingly take by myself or any Other Person, for me, any fee, Gift, Gratuity, or reward whatsoever for any matter or thing by me to be done, By virtue of my office except such fees as are or may be directed or Limited by statue, but well and truly I will do my office, of a Justice of the peace as well within the County Court of pleas, and Quarter Sessions as without. I will not delay person of common Right, By reason of any Letter, or order from any person or persons in authority to me directed, or per any other Cause whatever, and if any Letter or Order Come to me, contrary to Law I will proceed to Inforce the Law, such letter or Order notwithstanding. I will not direct or cause to be directed any warrent by me to be maid to the parties. But will direct all such Warrants to the Sheriff or Constable of, the County or Other the Officers, Of the State or Other Indiferant person to do execution Thereof, and finally, in all things belonging to my office, during Continuation therein will faithfully, Truly and Justly according to the best of my (Jud) skill and Judgment do equal and Impartial Justice to the Public and to Individuals, So help me God. Jas, Robertson, Valentine Sevier, John Carter, John Sevier, Jacob Womack, Robert Lucas, Andr, Greer, John Shelby Jr, George Russill, William Been, Zacr. Isbell, Jno McNabb, Tho, Houghton, William Clark, Jno McMaihen, Benjamin Gist, J. Chisholm, Joseph Wilson, William Cobb, James Stuart, Michl, Woods, Richd. White, Benjamin Wilson, Charles Roberson, William McNabb, Thos Price, Jesse Walton.

This oath has a deep and significant meaning, in view of the practices which had characterized the administration of justice by British officials. It is worthy of note that this oath, so full and specific in detail, did not bind those who took it to allegiance either to the state or the colony of North Carolina, or to the United States of America. It did bind them, however, to be honest, just and faithful to the people; it did bind them to “do equal right to the poor and to the rich”; it did bind them not to make suggestions or give counsel in any quarrel or suit pending before them, not to delay any person in obtaining justice, not to allow outside influence to dictate or control their actions, not to accept any fee, gift, gratuity or reward whatsoever for any matter or thing by them to be done, except the compensation allowed by law; to keep an account of fines and to enter them without concealment; and, finally, to “do equal and impartial justice to the public and to individuals.” This oath was not merely administered to them in the modern, perfunctory way, as “You do solemnly swear,” etc. They took it, repeated it after the officer, and signed it.

The new order of things was an innovation on the former simple, direct and expeditious way of administering justice; but the five “committeemen” were also members of the new court, and methods were not very materially changed, as the records of the clerk’s office at Jonesboro will show. They took jurisdiction of all matters relating to the public good, and disposed of all questions summarily, as will be more fully and particularly shown in another chapter.

Whenever a stranger appeared in the settlements, and gave his name as William Morningstar, Samuel Sunshine or Walter Rainbow, he would not be there long before he would be waited upon by a committee, one of whom would say to him: “Look here, stranger, we have examined the book of Genesis from end to end since you came here, and we can’t find the name of your ancestors. We think that you have got another name, and that you stole a horse somewhere and have run off. You must leave this settlement before night, or we’ll hang you!” Such frank treatment was invariably effective: its object was sure to heed the warning and to disappear before sunrise the next morning.

About this time a vigorous and ambitious young man left the city of Philadelphia for the wilds of the southwest. His mind was stored with the rich intellectual treasures of old Princeton, then under the presidency of the father of Aaron Burr. He walked, driving before him through Delaware and Maryland, over the Alleghanies and across Virginia, his “flea-bitten grey,” burdened to the utmost capacity with a huge sack of books. These classics were the nucleus of the library of an institution of learning yet unborn. After a fatiguing journey through a large portion of territory, with only obscure paths through gloomy forests for a highway, this devout and dauntless adventurer halted among the settlers whom I have been describing. Soon thereafter, the first church—a Presbyterian—and the first institution of learning that were established west of the Alleghanies were founded. These were “Salem Church” and “Washington College,” both established in the year 1780, eight miles southwest of the seat of the present town of Jonesboro—the college being the first one in the United States that honored itself by assuming the name of the Father of his Country. It is stated as a fact that, long prior to the late war, twenty-two members of the Congress of the United States had received or completed their education at Washington College, under this pioneer in letters and religious training, whose achievements constitute the jewels of our early literary and moral history. This man was Rev. Samuel Doak, D.D. Though he left a deep and indelible impress on the civilization and the literature of the Southwest, he sleeps today, amid the scenes of his successful earthly labors, with only a simple and fast crumbling memorial to mark the hallowed sepulchre of his silent dust.

THE FIRST CHURCH AND FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE BUILT IN THE “NEW WORLD WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES.”
Afterward, and now, Washington College and Old Salem Church. The picture in an exact reproduction of the original log house, with log partition, erected by Samuel Doak, D.D., 1780, eight miles southwest of Jonesboro.

The settlers lived and their public affairs were conducted under the jurisdiction of the County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for a period of about six years, in a quiet and orderly manner; but ever since that May day of 1772 when they organized the first “free and independent government,” their dream had been of a new, separate and independent commonwealth, and they began to be restless, dissatisfied and disaffected toward the government of North Carolina. Many causes seemed to conspire to increase their discontent. The first constitution of North Carolina had made provision for a future state within her limits, on the western side of the Alleghany mountains. The mother state had persistently refused, on the plea of poverty, to establish a Superior Court and appoint an attorney general or prosecuting officer for the inhabitants west of the mountains. In 1784, many claims for compensation for military services, supplies, etc., in the campaigns against the Indians, were presented to the state government from the settlements west of the Alleghanies. North Carolina was impoverished; and, notwithstanding the fact that these claims were just, reasonable and honest, it was suggested, and perhaps believed, “that all pretences were laid hold of (by the settlers) to fabricate demands against the government, and that the industry and property of those who resided on the east side of the mountains were becoming the funds appropriated to discharge the debts contracted by those on the west.” Thus it came about that, in May, 1784, North Carolina, in order to relieve herself of this burden, ceded to the United States her territory west of the Alleghanies, provided that Congress would accept it within two years. At a subsequent session, an act was passed retaining jurisdiction and sovereignty over the territory until it should have been accepted by Congress. Immediately after passing the act of cession, North Carolina closed the land office in the ceded territory, and nullified all entries of land made after May 25, 1784.

The passage of the cession act stopped the delivery of a quantity of goods which North Carolina was under promise to deliver to the Cherokee Indians, as compensation for their claim to certain lands. The failure to deliver these goods naturally exasperated the Cherokees, and caused them to commit depredations, from which the western settlers were of course the sufferers.

At this session, the North Carolina assembly, at Hillsboro, laid taxes, or assessed taxes and empowered Congress to collect them, and vested in Congress power to levy a duty on foreign merchandise.

The general opinion among the settlers west of the Alleghanies was that the territory would not be accepted by Congress (and in this they were correct); and that, for a period of two years, the people in that territory, being under the protection neither of the government of the United States nor of the state of North Carolina, would neither receive any support from abroad nor be able to command their own resources at home—for the North Carolina act had subjected them to the payment of taxes to the United States government. At the same time, there was no relaxation of Indian hostilities. Under these circumstances, the great body of the people west of the Alleghanies concluded that there was but one thing left for them to do, and that was to adopt a constitution and organize a state and a state government of their own. This they proceeded to do. Was there anything else which these people could have done? Perhaps there was; but did they not adopt just such a course as any people situated as they were would have taken?

They proceeded to take steps for the holding of a convention. Delegates were elected from Washington, Sullivan and Greene counties, who met in convention at Jonesboro, August 23, 1784. Messrs. Cocke, Outlaw, Carter, Campbell, Manifee, Martin, Roberson, Houston, Christian, Kennedy and Wilson were appointed a committee, “to take under consideration the state of public affairs relative to the cession of the western country.” This committee appointed Messrs. Cocke and Hardin a sub-committee to draft a report, which they did. This report was in the nature of an address to the people. The convention then adjourned, to meet again in Jonesboro, September 16. It did not, however, assemble on that date. In October, 1784, the North Carolina assembly repealed the act of cession. In the following November, the delegates again assembled at Jonesboro, but failed to adopt a constitution, and broke up in confusion, because of the repeal of the act of cession. John Sevier, having received official information that the cession act had been repealed, courts established, an attorney general appointed and military officers commissioned, made a speech advising the people to go no further; but Cocke and a majority of the people were unwilling to abandon their dream of a new state—and Sevier went with his people.

December 14, 1784, another convention assembled at Jonesboro, and adopted a constitution, which was to be ratified or rejected by a convention called to meet at Greeneville, November 14, 1785. In the meantime, a general assembly was elected, which met at Greeneville, early in 1785, and chose John Sevier for Governor, David Campbell judge of the Superior Court, and Joshua Gist and John Anderson assistant judges. Landon Carter was chosen Speaker of the Senate, and William Cage Speaker of the House. The same assembly, at the same session, afterward elected Landon Carter Secretary of State and William Cage State Treasurer. Joseph Hardin was then elected Speaker of the House, but I have not been able to ascertain from any source who was elected Speaker of the Senate in place of Carter. Stoakley Donaldson was made Surveyor General, and Daniel Kennedy and William Cocke were appointed Brigadiers General. The assembly elected all other officers, civil and military, being careful to choose those who already held offices under the government of North Carolina—and so the ill-starred “state of Franklin” began its career. The new state was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, as the correspondence of Sevier conclusively shows, and the name should therefore always be written “Franklin,” and not “Frankland.”

The boundaries of the new state, as set forth in a paper in the handwriting of Col. Arthur Campbell of Virginia, were as follows: “Beginning at a point on the top of the Alleghany or Appalachian mountains, so as a line drawn due north from thence will touch the bank of the New river, otherwise called Kenhawa, at the confluence of Little river, which is about one mile above Ingle’s ferry; down the said river Kenhawa to the mouth of Rencovert or Greenbriar river; a direct line from thence to the nearest summit of the Laurel mountain, and along the highest part of the same to the point where it is intersected by the parallel of thirty-seven degrees north latitude; west along that latitude to a point where it is met by a meridian line that passes through the lower part of the rapids of Ohio; south along the meridian to Elk river, a branch of the Tennessee; down said river to its mouth, and down the Tennessee to the most southwardly part or bend in said river; a direct line from thence to that branch of the Mobile called Donbigbee [Tombigbee]; down said river Donbigbee to its junction with the Coosawatee river to the mouth of that branch of it called the Higtower [Etowah]; thence south to the top of the Appalachian mountains, or the highest land that divides the sources of the eastern from the western waters; northwardly along the middle of said heights and the top of the Appalachian mountains, to the beginning.”

I am not prepared to say whether or not these people intended their new state to become part of the Union, as one of the provisions in their proposed form of government was that “the inhabitants within these limits agree with each other to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body politic or state, by the name of the commonwealth of Franklin.” I am inclined to the opinion that in the beginning they did not intend to join the Union of states, but that later they concluded that they would, as there was an effort made to have Congress recognize the new state.

An examination of the boundary lines of the state of Franklin will show that it included fifteen counties of Virginia, six of West Virginia, one-third of Kentucky, one-half of Tennessee, two-thirds of Alabama and more than one-fourth of Georgia. Cast your eye over this magnificent area: see the blue mountains, the sun-browned cliffs, the beautiful rivers, the broad valleys with their golden wheat-fields and verdant meadows, with the hundreds of smaller streams and sparkling springs: it seems like one grand piece of natural embroidery, fashioned and put together by the fingers of infinity and spread out by the hand of the Almighty. Think of the iron, coal, marble, lead, copper, zinc and other minerals hidden within its soil—you might have put a Chinese wall around the people of the “state of Franklin,” and still they could have lived in absolute independence of the outside world. There is more iron and coal in this territory than can be found in the same area elsewhere in the United States, and it is today yielding a vast revenue to its inhabitants. You can stand on some of its mountain-tops, and see the heavens darkened by day with the pillar of cloud, and made luminous by night with the pillar of fire, arising from furnace and forge in the valleys below, and hear the hammer of Thor beating the iron ribs of those majestic old mountains into the marvellous machines of modern invention and the utilities of a grand civilization.

At the first session of the general assembly of the state of Franklin, held in March, 1785, fifteen acts or laws were passed. In the act levying a tax for the support of the government was the following section:

Be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the aforesaid land tax, and the free polls, to be paid in the following manner: Good flax linen, ten hundred, at three shillings and six pence per yard. Nine hundred at three shillings: Eight hundred two shillings and nine pence: Seven hundred two shillings and six pence: Six hundred two shillings: tow linen one shilling and nine pence: linsey three shillings: and woolen and cotton linsey three shillings and six pence per yard: Good clean beaver skin six shillings: cased Otter skins six shillings: uncased ditto five shillings: rackoon and fox skins one shilling and three pence: woolen cloth at ten shillings per yard: bacon well cured at six pence per pound: good clean beeswax one shilling per pound: good clean talow six pence per pound: good distilled rye whiskey at two shillings and six pence per gallon: good peach or apple brandy at three shillings per gallon: good country made sugar at one shilling per pound: deer skins, the pattern six shillings: good neat and well managed tobacco fit to be prized that may pass inspection the hundred, fifteen shillings, and so on in proportion for a greater or less quantity.

The last section of the act is in these words: “And all the salaries and allowances hereby made shall be paid by any treasurer, sheriff or collector of public taxes to any person entitled to the same, to be paid in specific articles as collected, and at the rates allowed by the state for the same, or in current money of the state of Franklin.” This provision furnished those who adhered to the North Carolina government much amusement. They asserted that the salaries of the Governor, judges and other officers were to be paid in skins, absolutely; and, to add to their amusement, had them payable in mink skins at that. From this provision the inhabitants of that section of the country fell into the habit of referring to money as “mink skins;” and this term, as descriptive of money, thus spread all over the southwestern country.

They estimated by law two dollars and fifty cents to be equal to fifteen shillings of the current money of Franklin. They allowed the Governor two hundred pounds annually; the Attorney General twenty-five pounds for each court he attended; the Secretary of State twenty-five pounds and fees; the judge of the Superior Court one hundred and fifty pounds; the assistant judges twenty-five pounds for each court they attended; the treasurer forty pound; and each member of the council six shillings per day for each day of actual service.

A convention met in Greeneville, in November, 1785, to adopt a constitution. Up to this time no disagreement had taken place—all were for Franklin; but when the constitution which had been proposed was submitted, it was rejected; and, on motion of Col. William Cocke, the convention adopted the entire constitution of North Carolina. Thus began the trouble which ended in the overthrow of the state of Franklin.

HOUSE USED AS CAPITOL OF THE STATE OF FRANKLIN.
In Greeneville, Tennessee. From a photograph taken in April, 1897.

I can not now notice the various sessions held by the assembly of Franklin. It met for the last time in Greeneville, in September, 1787. “During the years 1786 and 1787, a strange spectacle was presented—that of two empires being exercised at one and the same time, over one and the same territory and people.” County courts were held in the same counties, under the Franklin and the North Carolina governments; “the same militia was called out by officers appointed by each government; laws were passed by both assemblies”; taxes were laid by authority of both states—but the people said that they did not know which government had the right to receive their taxes, and therefore they adopted the easy solution of paying to neither. The Superior Courts of Franklin were held at Jonesboro; the courts under North Carolina were held at Davis’s on Buffalo creek, ten miles east of Jonesboro, and at Col. Tipton’s. There were now two strong parties, one under Tipton, adhering to North Carolina, and the friends of Franklin following Sevier, each of whom endeavored by every possible means to strengthen his cause. “Every provocation on the one side was surpassed in the way of retaliation by a still greater provocation on the other.... The clerks of the county courts of Washington, Greene and Sullivan, under Franklin, issued marriage licenses, and many persons were married by virtue of their authority.”

In 1786, while a court was in session at Jonesboro, under the Franklin government, Col. John Tipton entered the court house with a party of men, took the records away from the clerk and drove the justices out of the house. Not long after this, Sevier entered the house where the North Carolina court was sitting, turned the justices out bodily and carried off the records. “The like acts were repeated several times during the existence of the Franklin government.” James Sevier was clerk of Washington county under the Franklin government, as he had been under North Carolina. Tipton went to Sevier’s house and took the old records away from him by force. Shortly afterward, the same records were recaptured, and James Sevier hid them in a cave. During these captures and removals many of the records were lost. Of the Franklin records all save one were either lost or destroyed.

This single remaining record of the Franklin courts is not only interesting but amusing; and, to be as drunk as it unquestionably is, contains some law and a great deal of early history. This record was evidently made late at night, by the light of a “tallow dip” or a bear-oil lamp, with a bottle of well-distilled apple or peach brandy near by. It is the only written record relative to the “lost state” and its courts that I have ever been able to find. It is like an old-time copy-book. On the outside are the following entries and memoranda—I give them literally:

State of Franklin,—Washington County
J James Sevier, State of Franklin James Sevier clerk of
Washington County State of Franklin
Franklin
Franklin
Franklin

Inside, in the same handwriting, will be found the following:

Good deeds are very commendable in youth,

Good many men of good many minds

Good birds of Good many kinds

State of —— Court Adg’d, till court In course from a general insurrection of the times, to this date 7th, of May 1786,

On the next page the record continues as follows:

Something ambiguous will say he went to the Indians, no witnesses, no opportunity, they are not able to proove anything, The meaning is to be taken, the latter in contracts, deeds and wills, construed differantly was there a ejectment, and he never tryed, nothing can be done until Injunction issue from the judge. The law says no party shall be tryed without witnesses Hobgobblins, and Ghosts. So many tryals

Read and interpret this record in the flickering light of the history of the times. The court had been broken up and the justices driven out of the house—this, I suppose, is the “ejectment” referred to. John Sevier was at this time on the frontier, fighting the Indians—hence, he “went to the Indians.” There was at this time in the hands of the North Carolina sheriff a bench warrant for the arrest of Sevier; if he was arrested, the charges against him could not be proven without witnesses; these would be hard to procure against John Sevier, and yet no one could be fairly “tryed without witnesses.” So this clerk, alone at midnight, with no company except the flask whose odor seems still perceptible in the pages of his record, reasoned and wrote—until the “Hobgobblins and Ghosts” got after him!

In January or February of 1788, John Sevier’s property was seized under a fieri facias issued by North Carolina. Sevier and Tipton, with their respective followers, met and fought a slight battle two miles south of the present site of Johnson City, in which the former was repulsed. In the following October, Sevier was arrested and carried to North Carolina for trial. Soon afterward, the government of Franklin collapsed, and North Carolina passed an act of “pardon and oblivion,” and reassumed her government of these people.

The state of Franklin, in 1787-8, was composed of the three original counties of Washington, Sullivan and Greene, together with four new counties—Sevier, which covered the same territory it now covers and a part of what is now Blount; Caswell, which occupied the same section of country now included in Jefferson; Spencer, which covered Hawkins; and Wayne, covering Johnson and Carter.

As late as February, 1789, the record in Jonesboro shows the following entries:

James Allison and James Sevier came into open court and prayed to be admitted to take the benefit of the act of pardon and oblivion by taking the oath provided by law, which was deferred till tomorrow for want of the acts of the General Assembly.

On the next day the following entry was made:

James Sevier, James Allison and Francis Baker, persons who had withdrawn their allegiance [from North Carolina] came into open court, and availed themselves of the act of pardon and oblivion by taking the oaths prescribed by law.

At the February term, 1788, of the court, the following order was made and entered of record:

Ordered by the Court that Johnathan Pugh Esqr, Sheriff of Washington County, Take into custody the County court docket of said county, supposed to be in the possession of John Sevier Esqr, And the same records bring from him or any other person or persons, in whose possession they are now, or hereafter shall be, and the same return to the Court or some succeeding court for said county.

At the May term, 1788, this order was made:

Ordered by the court that the Sheriff of this County demand the public records of this County from John Sevier, former clerk of the court.

The records referred to were lost, or remained in the cave where they were hidden.

All opposition to North Carolina authority was now virtually withdrawn, but the people west of the Alleghanies worked quietly for a separation and a new state.

North Carolina passed a second cession act, under the provisions of which, February 25, 1790, Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, Senators in Congress from North Carolina, deeded the territory to the United States, and the sovereignty of North Carolina over it instantly expired. It has been aptly said that “the separation was not like that of a disconsolate mother parting from a beloved daughter, but rather like that when Abraham said to Lot, ‘Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.’”

President Washington appointed William Blount Governor of the territory, August 7, 1790. On the 10th day of the following October, Governor Blount organized the territorial government, at the house of Mr. Cobb, in Sullivan county, on the north side of Watauga river, since known as the Massengale farm, above and opposite where Austin Springs are. The population of the territory in July, 1791, was 36,043, including 3,417 slaves. The whole population of the Cumberland settlement at that time was 7,042.

November 5, 1791, the second printing press introduced in the “New World west of the Alleghanies” was set up, at Rogersville, by Mr. George Roulstone.

The people who made it possible for Tennessee to have a centennial were a wonderful people. Within a period of about fifteen years, they were engaged in three revolutions; participated in organizing and lived under five different governments; established and administered the first free and independent government in America; founded the first church and the first college in the southwest; put in operation the second newspaper in the “New World west of the Alleghanies;” met and fought the British in half a dozen battles, from King’s Mountain to the gates of Charleston, gaining a victory in every battle; held in check, beat back and finally expelled from the country four of the most powerful tribes of Indian warriors in America; and left Tennesseans their fame as a heritage, and a commonwealth of which it is their privilege to be proud.

These are the people among whom Andrew Jackson settled and began life, and from whose character, example and achievements he must have received some little degree of inspiration.

Passing from the scene of their toil and trials, their struggles and dangers, from war with the savage and war with the civilized, let us devote a little time to further examination into their character, as revealed in the judicial records made and left by them.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] The almanac-groundhog and goose-bone theories were adopted by a later and wiser generation.

CHAPTER III.

A UNIQUE COURT.

There may be mistake, error, fraud and injustice in court proceedings and judicial records; but when such records were made more than a century ago, and contain some part of the history of the people who made them, and have stood all these years unchallenged and uncontradicted, such records may be safely accepted as truth. In writing of a people more than a century after the period in which they lived—a people who did not have a daily newspaper in their midst to chronicle their deeds and views, and who were in a country between which and other parts of the world there was but little if any communication—it is easy indeed for a facile writer to ascribe to them characters which they did not have, views which they did not entertain, and accomplishments with which they were not entitled to be credited, without taking much risk of being contradicted.

The early history of the colonies and “new settlements” in North America is and has been for many years a fascinating field for writers; and it must be confessed that too often a little incident or tradition has been so magnified by a too vivid imagination that it has appeared in print as a very readable but colossal falsehood. It is also lamentable that the plain, unvarnished truth of history has, in many instances, been so colored and distorted in the effort to make it romantic, that many persons who could have contributed much valuable information in the way of simple facts have not done so, because of a lack of that faculty of imagination which some writers possess to such a degree that they can inform you beforehand that they are going to tell you a lie—in part, at least—and yet will tell it in such beautiful language and in so smooth and plausible a way as to make you believe the whole story.

The Tennessee pioneers did not have any one with them in their earliest days to write an account of their experiences, or to portray their lives and characters; nor did they have any newspapers to make a record of their doings in the business concerns and affairs of life; and if they wrote any letters on these matters, they have not been preserved. They had, however, at Jonesboro, a “County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions,” in which they made and left a record showing much that they did, and from which, even at this late day, we can get a very clear insight into their views as to the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, the power and duty of courts, as well as their notions concerning the business and social relations of life, and indeed on all matters which, in their judgment, pertained in any way to the peace, good fame and welfare of the community and of individuals. I shall, therefore, quote literally much from these old original records kept in Washington county—the quotations being taken from the records of that county only, for the reason that it was the first county established and organized in what is now Tennessee, and included for quite a time all of the early settlements in what is commonly known as “upper East Tennessee.” The same character of entries will no doubt be found in the old records kept in Sullivan, Greene, Davidson, Hawkins, Sumner, Tennessee and Knox counties, in all of which Jackson practised as an attorney or presided as a judge. The proceedings in the courts of the counties named, especially those that will be set out, will be of interest not alone to Tennesseans, but also to the descendants, scattered throughout the southwest and west, of the men who made these records.

The first session of the court was held at the log-cabin of Charles Roberson, near Jonesboro, February 23, 1778. It was composed of the justices of the peace whose names have been given as subscribers to the oath set out in a preceding chapter. After the court had been organized by electing officers, its first act was to fine John Sevier, Jr., for some minor matter which was gravely denominated “a contempt to the court.” John Sevier, Sr., had just been elected clerk of the court, and was undoubtedly the most influential man in the country, on account of his meritorious character—but this did not shield the son. The fine was not remitted; and there is no evidence that John Sevier the clerk endeavored in any way to interpose.

On the second day, “William Cocke by his counsel Waightsell Avery moved to be admitted to the office of Clerk of this County of Washington which motion was rejected by the Court knowing that John Sevier was entitled to the office.” This is absolutely the whole of the record. It was the first contested election case that occurred west of the Alleghany mountains, and was between two citizens who became very distinguished—Cocke having been elected one of the first two Senators from Tennessee, while Sevier, after holding all the other offices within the gift of the people of that county, was elected a representative in Congress and six times chosen Governor of Tennessee. The worthy justices, “knowing,” as they said, that Sevier had been elected, without hearing Mr. Cocke, his counsel or any evidence whatsoever, swore in Sevier as clerk.

These entries follow:

Ordered that David Hinkley be fined 30 L. for insulting the Court.

Ordered that Hump Gibson be fined 10 L. for swearing in Court.

Then, after passing upon a motion or two—

Ordered that Ephriam Dunlap Atty. be fined 5 Dollars for insulting the Court, especially Richard White.

It is not likely that any member of this court had ever held any office prior to his appointment as a justice of the peace therein, and it is not probable that many of them had ever been in a court of any kind before they organized that which they constituted; and yet the record shows that, from the first day of the first term, and on through all of the many stormy sessions which they held thereafter, they guarded and defended jealously the dignity of their court, and enforced obedience to its mandates. It was a heinous offence indeed, and visited with condign punishment, to “insult the Court.”

The aggregate fines imposed on Sam Tate, at one term, amounted to forty thousand pounds;[C] and while fines were imposed on some one at every term, there are but two entries to be found on the record, from the February term, 1778, to and including the November term, 1790, showing that such fines were remitted.

At the May term, 1778, a somewhat embarrassing question presented itself. Some one of three persons, it would appear, had taken from Samuel Sherrill,[D] without his consent, his bay gelding, and left the country. They could not, therefore, get any one of the suspected persons into court or in custody, and they must have been in doubt as to which of the three did in fact ride the horse off; so they said:

On motion it appears that Joshua Williams Johnathan Helms and a certain James Lindley did Feloniously Steal a certain Bay gelding horse from Saml Sherill Senr. Ordered that if the said Saml Sherill can find any property of the said Joshua Williams Johnathan Helms & said Lindley that he take same into his possession.

So far as the record shows, they never caught any of the defendants, but Sherrill must have got close on them at one time; for, at the August term, the court “ordered that a saddle and coat the property of Joshua Williams be sold and the money arising therefrom be left in the possession of Saml Sherill.” They could not capture and punish the thieves, but they could and did authorize Sherrill to seize the property of the rascals wherever he could find it.

The first case of high treason tried by the court was at the August term, 1778. This is the record:

State}
v.} High Treason.
Moses Crawford. }

It is the Opinion of the Court that the defendant be imprisoned during the present war with Great Britain, and the Sheriff take the whole of his estate into custody which must be valued by a jury at the next Court and that the one half of the said estate be kept by the said Sheriff for the use of the State and the other half remitted to the family of defendant.

I have not examined the statute under which this county court tried, convicted and imprisoned defendants charged with treason, and confiscated their property, to see whether or not they had a right to remit one half of confiscated property to the family of the defendant, for the reason that I do not wish to know how the fact was. I am satisfied with the record as they made it, and leave others to look up the statute.

Having disposed of Crawford—and his property too—they took up the case of Isaac Buller, whom, as he had neither family nor property, and the evidence, if any was heard (on motion), was a little vague, they simply put him in prison until an opportunity should offer to make a better use of him. This is the summary manner in which they disposed of Isaac:

On motion of Ephriam Dunlap that Isaac Buller Should Be sent to the Contl. Army, and there to Serve three Years or During the War On Hearing the facts it is Ordered by the Court That the said Isaac Buller Be Immediately Committed to Gaol and there Safely kept until the said Isaac can be delivered unto A Continent’l Officer to be Conveyed to Head Quarters.

At the February term, 1779, the court made and entered of record an order prescribing the charges that tavern-keepers might exact from guests as follows:

Diet 08s. 0: Lodging 1 night good bed and clean sheets 1s. 6d: Rum Wine or Brandy 3L. 4s. 0: Toddy pr Quart, & sprts of Rum therein 8s. 0. and so in proportion. Corn or Oats per Gal 4s. 0: Stabledge with hay or fodder 24 hrs 4s. 0: Pasturage 24 hrs. 2s: Cyder pr qrt 4s. 0: Bear pr qrt 2s. 0: Whisky pr Gallon 2L. 0. 0:

After they had put the above on record, they entered upon the trial of their second case of a very high crime, as the following entry shows:

State}
vs.} For Treason Feby 1779
George Leivis.}

On hearing the facts and considering the testimony of the Witnesses It is the Opinion of the Court That the defendant be sent to the District Gaol It Apg. To the Court that the said Leivis is a spie or An Officer from Florida out of the English Army.

At this term, besides transacting routine business, they tried ten persons on charges of treason, convicted five of them, ordered their property confiscated, and sent them to the district jail at Salisbury—and the entire record of the term is contained on twelve pages!

If this court could have been transferred to the more intelligent states of Massachusetts or New Hampshire, and had held a few terms therein, “Shays’s rebellion” would have been crushed out in a week, or all the “gaols” would have been filled with the rebellious and the public treasury with the proceeds of confiscated property. These patriots were in earnest.

At the May term, 1779, two entries appear as having been made on the same day, which show two sides of this remarkable court. The first entry is as follows:

State}
v.} For stealing a Ploughshear, hogs and some
Pat Murphey } other Things

The Court are of Opinion that the defendant pay 33L. 6s. 8d. to Zachr. Isbell for his Hog & 26L. 13s. 4 to Thos. Evans for his Hog and ten pounds fine And also receive Twenty Lashes on his bare Back well laid on by the Sheriff or Deputy.

The other entry was:

Ordered that John Murphey be fined the sum of Twenty pounds for Ill Treatment to his reputed father Pat Murphey.

The court said that, in its opinion, Pat Murphey was a bad man—and he was, as other cases in the records against him show; and they had him whipped, fined him and, under the operation of the court’s adjustable jurisdiction, rendered judgment against him in a criminal case for the value of two hogs; but these “backwoods” justices of the peace said to the reputed son of this old and hardened criminal that “Ill Treatment” of a father, by even a reputed son, would not be tolerated in that community.

At this May term, and following the entries just given, is another, which, in a few words and (so far as the record shows) without any previous notice, deprives a citizen of his liberty and of further opportunity to do harm to “the common cause of liberty,” on the mere motion of the state’s attorney. Here it is:

On motion of E. Dunlap State Attorney it is ordered that John Holly for his Ill practices in Harboring and Abetting disorderly persons who are prejudicial and Inimical to the Common Cause of Liberty and Frequently Disturbing our public Tranquility in Genl. be Imprisoned for the Term & Time of One Year.

Up to the date of the entry of this order imprisoning John Holly “for the term and time of one year,” on the mere motion of the state’s attorney, the record shows a little more formality in convictions for treason and the confiscation of property, as it will appear from the recitals that the court, “on considering the facts,” or “on hearing the witnesses [or evidence],” “are of opinion,” etc.

It is very doubtful whether there can be found (outside of Tennessee) another such judicial record as this one, made and entered on a mere motion, without the accused having previous notice or (so far as the record shows) being present in person or by attorney, and without any evidence being heard to support the charge, embodied in the motion, that Holly was an enemy to the public tranquillity generally and guilty of other specified offences. It is safe to assume, however, that the court “knew” he was guilty, as they “knew” that John Sevier was entitled to the office of clerk when they dismissed Cocke’s contest without hearing him at all.

At this term, the court “nominated and appointed John Sevier, Jesse Walton and Zachr. Isbell to take into possession such property as should be confiscated,” and they gave “bond as such commissioners in the sum of Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand pounds.”

And they had the “tax-dodger” with them also, as early as August, 1779—the good citizen who always wants his full share of attention and protection by the law, without paying his just proportion of the taxes to support the government; but he could not escape this court’s resourceful remedies for all exigencies. Here is given the disposition of the case:

Ordered that the Sheriff Collect from Wm. More four fold: his Taxable property being apraised by the Best Information that John Woods, Jacob Brown & Johnathan Tipton Assessors could get—to the sum of Eight thousand pounds.

Even the smart and rascally tax-dodger could not evade the law, with a court like that one to take hold of him.

At the May term, 1780, it was “Ord. that a fine of One Hundred pounds be imposed on John Chisholm Esqr for being Guilty of Striking and Beating Abram Denton in the Court Yard also Disturbing the peace and Decorum of the Court and that the Clerk issue an execution for the same.” This fine is here set out for the reason that John Chisholm was one of the first justices appointed for the county—he was at the time a member of the court that imposed this fine—and, as the records show, was wealthy and prominent in public affairs, being trusted with various appointments by the court; and yet he did not escape the hand of correction so often laid on offenders by the court in one or another way. The offence for which he was fined was committed, not in the presence of the court, but out in the court-yard. I very much doubt if an instance prior to this one can be found, where the limits within which it has been held that a contempt of court could be committed have been so extended as to include the court-yard.

At the November term, 1780, the court formulated and entered the following very remarkable order:

The Court appointed John Sevier, William Cobb, Thomas Houghton and Andrew Greer Commissioners for the County to be Judges of the Different kinds of paper Emissions in Circulation in this County or may be hereafter, in order to prevent frauds and Impositions that might be committed on said County, and for the purpose of Detecting and Suppressing Coins of this kind, who shall be the Judges & Viewers of all such Monies.

The record recites that these commissioners and judges “took the oath and entered into bond for the performance of sd Trust.”

At the time these four gentlemen were appointed as a high commission to be “judges and viewers” of the currency of the realm, and “detectors and suppressers” of spurious or counterfeit “coins” and “paper emissions in circulation,” all kinds of “such monies” seem to have gotten into “the new world west of the Alleghanies,” for, at the same term of the court making the order regulating the charges of tavern-keepers, referred to above, two rates or schedules were prescribed, one in “paper emissions,” the other in “coins.” The order of the county court creating this commission and investing it with power to “view” and “judge” of the genuineness of the circulating medium, and to detect and suppress such of it as should be adjudged fraudulent, does not point out the way, lay down any rules or provide any method for the guidance and direction of the commission in the exercise of the powers given or the discharge of the duties imposed. It says simply what they shall do, or rather what they have been appointed to do, and then leaves them to do it. That they found out an effective way to exercise their powers there is not a doubt. They did not need to be given “mandatory” power. “Counterfeiters” had been “dealt with,” before this domestic monetary commission was created, by some of the same men who constituted the commission.

One of the most delicate and difficult duties that devolved upon this commission, under the terms of the order creating it—particularly the words, “in order to prevent frauds and impositions that might be committed,” etc.—was in cases where a question was raised as to the genuineness of the money offered in payment by a citizen known to be upright and free from any suspicion of handling spurious money, to another equally honest, who refused it because he was doubtful as to its being “good money.” The “judges and viewers” were called in to take action, and had to decide in effect whether or not the money offered was a “legal tender.” Their decision was accepted; and henceforth that particular money circulated, if so ordered, without question, and performed all the functions of money, whether it was in fact genuine or spurious: if the decision was adverse, that money was thenceforth worthless.

As an incident of the power and authority vested in these “judges and viewers,” arose the question occasionally of guilt or innocence, when a charge of counterfeiting or of wilfully and knowingly passing spurious money was preferred. The person so charged was tried before the high currency commission, and its finding or judgment not only settled the question of the guilt or innocence of the accused, but made the particular currency involved either “sound money” or counterfeit in that entire country. John Sevier, according to tradition, was chairman of the commission; if his name was written on the “paper emission,” it passed current thereafter, and when offered in payment was a “legal tender.”

The court also “Ordered that Capt. John Patterson deliver unto John Halley a Certain Rifle Gun being the property of said John Halley.”

Some very serious difference or grave misunderstanding between the court and Mr. James Gibson must have occurred at the November term, 1780, or at some time previous, if the record left in reference thereto be correct—and who would doubt it? Whether or not the court intended to suppress freedom of speech generally, it must be admitted that its action toward Gibson would certainly tend toward suppressing the public expression of a want of confidence in the integrity of that court, and putting a stop to the practice of “throwing out speeches” against it. The record relates that—

James Gibson being brought before the Court, for throughing Out Speeches Against the Court, to-wit,—Saying that the Court was purjured and would not do Justice, and Other Glareing Insults. The Court On Considering the matter are of Opinion that the said James Gibson is guilty of a flagrant Breach of The peace & for the same and the glareing and Dareing insults offered to the Court do order that the said James Gibson be fined the sum of fifteen thousand pounds & that he be kept in custody until same is secured.

Gibson, as the record shows, secured the fine. It is not to be supposed that any of the “speeches” which he had been “throwing out” were made in the court room or in hearing of the court, because the record states that he was “brought before the court.” When and where he assailed this august body does not appear. This did not matter to them: their jurisdiction was as wide as the universe, and their power to punish him unquestionable, as they believed. The fine imposed on John Chisholm, a member of the court, for striking and beating Abram Denton out in the court-yard; the fine imposed on John Murphey, for “ill treatment” of his reputed father, no doubt at home; the order directing Capt. Patterson to deliver “unto John Halley” a gun decided by the court to be “the property of said John Halley”; the method employed to punish Gibson; the creation of a commission to determine in effect what money should or should not be a legal tender, as well as the other matters, hereafter to be related, to which they gave attention, show that this remarkable court had no idea of having its powers limited and defined or its jurisdiction circumscribed.

Only two orders of the May term, 1781, will be noticed. The first is, “Ord, that Saml Tate be fined the sum of ten thousand pounds[E] for a contempt of Court and that the Clerk issue F. Facious vs his estate for the same.” On a subsequent day of the term, the clerk acknowledges the receipt of the fine imposed on Tate. The other order is: “Ordered that Jesse Greer be fined the sum of One Hundred pounds for a Contempt offered to the Court &c in refusing to deliver unto the Widow Dyckes her property as Directed By Order of the Court.” Under their rules of practice, they did not require “the Widow Dyckes” to employ a lawyer and bring an action of replevin against Greer; they had heard the case at a former term “on motion,” without stating on the record who made the motion, and had directed Greer to deliver the property in question to the widow Dyckes, which he had refused to do. They did not require her to employ counsel to sue Greer and recover a judgment for the value of the property detained from her, issue execution, levy on and sell the property to satisfy the judgment; they made use of a much more direct method, by holding Mr. Greer liable for contempt, and resorting to their favorite mode of administering justice without delay—to-wit, “on motion” and “ordered.”

At the May term, 1782, nothing of any considerable consequence was done. The court “nominated and appointed John Sevier William Cocke and Valentine Sevier Commissioners of Confiscation for the year 1782, whereupon sd. Comr’s entered into bond with security for the sum of Fifteen Thousand pounds, Specie.”

The court, at this term, gave to a citizen who had evidently been “hiding out” permission to return to the settlements, as the following order shows:

On motion that Joshua Baulding should be admitted to come in and Remain henceforth peaceably in this County. On proviso, that he comply with the Laws provided for persons being inimical to the State and have Rendered Service that will expiate any Crime that he has been Guilty of inimical to this State or the United States. The Court on considering the same Grant the sd Leave.

This order, and others similar to it, which are not given place in this chapter, serve to establish beyond question the intense loyalty of the members of the court to “the common cause of liberty” (as the struggle of the Americans then going on against Great Britain was always designated), and also the vigilance with which they must have scrutinized the conduct of each individual. There can be no doubt that Baulding had fled and was hiding in the hills or mountains, and that he knew it would not be safe to return or “come in” without the permission of the court.

The August term, 1782, was one of the most memorable in the history of the court. It was a “Court of Oyer and Terminer & Genl. Gaol Delivery,” as well as for other county purposes. At this term it was presided over for the first time by a judge—“the Honl. Spruce McCay Esqr Present and Presiding.” He had the court opened by proclamation, and with all the formality and solemnity characterizing the opening of the English courts.

On the first day of the term, John Vann was found guilty, by a jury, of horse-stealing, the punishment for which at that time was death. On the same day the record contains an entry to the effect that “the Jury who passed upon the Tryal of John Vann beg Leave to Recommend him to the Court for Mercy”; but no mercy was shown him by “the Honl. Spruce McCay Esqr,” as the record discloses further along. During the week, two more unfortunates—Isaac Chote and William White—were found guilty of horse-stealing; and, on the last day of the term (August 20), Judge McCay disposes of all three of these criminals in one order, as follows: “Ord that John Vann Isaac Chote & Wm White now Under Sentence of Death be executed on the tenth day of September next.” This is the whole of the entry.

The judge was mistaken in saying that the three persons named in the order were “under sentence of death.” No such sentence is to be found of record—all that appears is an entry of the style of the case, as “State vs” etc., in each case, and the entry opposite the case, that “the jury sworn to pass upon the Tryal do find the defendant guilty in manner and form as charged in the indictment”; but there is no formal sentence of death entered of record in either of the three cases. It is not probable that a parallel proceeding can be found in judicial history. Judge McCay utterly ignored the unanimous action of the jury who recommended John Vann to the mercy of the court. Can a case be found where a judge, in the United States, ever refused mercy to a criminal who was commended to him for mercy by the jury that found him guilty? Can another case be found where a judge caused three persons to be “executed” by one order, consisting of five lines and seventeen words, exclusive of the names of the criminals?

Judge McCay omits entirely to direct the method of executing the three criminals—he does not say whether they shall be hanged, shot, burned or drowned—but they were executed, either with rope, rifle or tomahawk, according to the good taste of the sheriff or the wishes of the defendants.

Tradition in that country gave Judge McCay the character of a heartless tyrant. He was said, while judge, to have always been on one side or the other of suits tried before him; and he never failed to let it be known which side he was on. He frequently indulged in lecturing, not to say abusing, juries publicly, when they returned verdicts contrary to his wishes and instructions. But “the Honl. Spruce McCay Esqr” found his match in the juries. They could not be driven or intimidated into giving verdicts contrary to their convictions; and whenever they differed with the judge—and they always knew his views—in a case of weight or serious results, they would deliberately disperse, go to their homes, and not return any more during that term of court. In a case styled “State vs. Taylor,” the record shows that the jury was sworn and the defendant put on “Tryal.” Nothing more appears except the following significant entry: “State vs. Taylor. The jury having failed to come back into court, it is therefore a mistrial.”

Judge McCay may only have been, as has been said of him, “a man of strong character, determined and fearless in discharging his duty”—but so were the juries in that county, as the records show.

At the May term, 1783, there was made an entry, which, when taken in connection with one which will be given immediately after it, will show how wisely these pioneers judged of men, and how necessary, sometimes, it was for them to take measures which at the time appeared harsh and cruel. The first entry is as follows:

On petition of Lewis & Elias Pybourn that they who is at this time Lying out and keep themselves Secreted from Justice that the Court would permit them to Return to their Respective Houses and places of abode and Them the said Lewis & Elias Pybourn to give bond and sufficient Security for their Good behavior &c. The Court on consideration of the matter do Grant and Give Leave unto said Elias & Lewis Pybourn to Return accordingly on their giving bond & approved security to Capt. John Newman for their Good behavior &c.

A final entry, made in the “Superior Court of Law and Equity” at Jonesboro, seven years later—at the August term, 1790—in the case of the “State of North Carolina Against Elias Pybourn for Horse Stealing,” justifies the members of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in having required Elias Pybourn to give security for his future good behavior. The full entry is as follows:

The defendant being called to the Bar and asked if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him Saith Nothing. It is therefore Ordered that the said Elias Pybourn be confined in the publick Pillory one Hour. That he have both his ears nailed to the Pillory and severed from his Head; That he receive at the publick Whipping post thirty nine lashes well laid On; and be branded on the Right cheek with the letter H, and on his left cheek with the letter T. and that the Sheriff of Washington County put this sentence in execution between the hours of Twelve and Two this day.

Horrible, awful punishment! Marked for life; a description of his crime burned on and into his face with a hot iron—“Horse Thief”; both of his ears cut off close up to his head. What a hideous spectacle! Was the mark placed upon Cain by the Almighty such that when people met him they said, “Let him alone; keep your hands off him; he has been punished sufficiently already”? Would not people say the same of poor, debased, degraded Pybourn?

Was the punishment inflicted on Pybourn barbarous? Yes; but the court had warned him of the wrath to come, and had first made him flee to the forest for safety—better had he gone to the Indians—and had then given him permission to return to his home, on condition that he would reform and behave himself. The only entry found in the whole of the records to soften in the slightest degree the harsh and (it may be said) inhuman punishment meted out to Pybourn, is one that suggests the horror that came over one Joseph Culton, when he discovered, after he had emerged from a single combat with Charles Young, that the latter had bitten off one of his ears. Culton of course regretted the loss of his ear, and was still more annoyed to be thus disfigured for life; but these were the least of his troubles—somebody thereafter might think that he had been “cropped” for crime. What was he to do? He appeared at the November term, 1788, of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, whose jurisdiction knew no limits as to venue, time when or subject matter, and the following entry was made for his relief and protection from suspicion:

Joseph Culton comes into Court and Proved by Oath of Alexander Moffit that he lost a part of his left Ear in a fight with a certain Charles Young and prays the same to be entered of record. Ordered therefore that the same be Admitted Accordingly.

It is not probable that any one ever examined this entry, and demanded to see the page whereon the lost ear had been formally entered of record; but it is certain that Joseph Culton carried with him constantly a certified copy of the entry which attested that he had been maimed in honorable combat, and not as a punishment for violation of law.

This wonderful county court, before and since which there has been none like it, adapted or adjusted its jurisdictional powers and methods to all matters, questions and conditions that could be brought in any way to its notice. When a stranger came into the community, it did not content itself with letting him alone, no matter how quietly and orderly he might conduct himself; it had him interviewed, as the entry here quoted will prove:

The Court Order that Wm Clary a trancient person give security for his behavior, and return to his family within five months, as the said Clary is without any pass or recommendation and confesses he left his family and have taken up with another woman.

The most that the average detective could have gotten out of Clary would have been that he came from—where he started, and was going—where he went; but the court found out more than this about him, and they must have got it from his own mouth, as the order, after reciting facts that they could have gotten from him only, concludes by setting forth a very damaging confession which he had made, and which, all will agree, justified the court in requiring security of him for his behavior while he might remain in their midst, and peremptorily ordering him to return to his family within a stated time.

By the time of the meeting of the August term, 1784, the court had pretty well purged the country of traitors, horse thieves, “trancients,” etc. At this term the court seems to have turned its attention to the ugly habits of some of the very respectable; for, on the first day of the term, as the record shows, fines were imposed and paid as follows: “Eml. Carter three prophane oaths 8s. 10d. pd: Pharoh Cobb four prophane oaths 10s. 8d. pd: Buckner Nantz One prophane swearing Oath prays mercy Granted: Valentine Sevier for prophanely swearing 4 Oaths fined 10s. 8d. pd: Mark Mitchell for swearing One prophane Oath fined 2s. 8d. Patrick Murphey One Oath, Michael Tylloy Two Oaths.” This treatment seems to have been effective; for, no fines being recorded after the first day, it is reasonably sure that no “prophane oaths” were indulged in, during the remainder of the term—at least in hearing of the court.

As a result of the many battles with the Indians, and the numerous Indian massacres which had occurred, numbers of children were left without fathers or mothers. They had no orphan asylum, but the records of the court show that homes were provided for these wards, nevertheless, by the Watauga and King’s Mountain heroes. They had no county asylum for the poor; but the county court, whose jurisdiction could be extended to meet all emergencies, “ordered” some citizen by name to “take and keep” the person named therein for the time specified. These orders contained no recital that they were made by the consent of anyone—they emanated from the inherent power and duty of the court, as it believed, to provide for the poor.

The entries and orders selected from these old records are given, in order that those who wish to know something of the views, characters and abilities of the very earliest pioneers of Tennessee, may read for themselves the views and opinions which they placed in solemn form on court records, in reference to the various matters, questions and conditions on which, as they thought, the vicissitudes of the times made it necessary for them to take action. I wish to give, at this place, two more orders of the court, before closing this chapter. At the November term, 1784, the following was entered on the record:

The Court recommend that there be a Court House built in the following manner, to wit: 24 feet square diamond corners and hewed down after the same is built up, 9 feet high between the two floors, and the body of the house 4 feet high above the upper floor, each floor to be neatly laid with plank. The roof to be of joint shingles neatly hung on with pegs, a Justices bench, A lawyers and a Clerks bar, also a Sheriffs box to sit in.

FIRST COURT HOUSE BUILT IN THE “NEW WORLD WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES.”
Erected at Jonesboro, Washington county, Tennessee, in the year 1784.

At the November term, 1785, the following was entered:

The Court Ordered that Col’o Charles Roberson be allowed fifty pounds Current money for the building of the Court House in the Town of Jones Borough.

As this was the first court house erected in what is now Tennessee, and the one in which Andrew Jackson, John McNairy, Archibald Roane, William Cocke, David Campbell and others began their professional careers; and in and about which John Sevier, though not a lawyer, rendered so much and such invaluable service in laying the foundations of our state, and its civil as well as military institutions, I have had it reproduced, and present a picture of it in this little volume. From what has been said, and from the records which have been quoted, the imagination can picture the scenes and proceedings occurring in this “temple of justice”—for such it was, although made of logs “hewed down” and covering “hung on with pegs.”

These early records challenge comparison, in spirit, form and substance, with any others made during the same period in any community, country or state in the United States. No patriotic, intelligent people can read them without being filled with admiration and inspired with respect and reverence for the men who made them. They said, on the first day of the first term of the court, the court must be respected; to the cruel son, you shall not ill-treat your father, though he be a criminal; to the vagrant without a “pass or recommendation,” you must give security for your behavior or leave the community; to the man who had abandoned his wife, you must return to your family; to the strong and influential, you must render unto the widow her own, or we will force you to do so by fines that will make you glad to obey; to the tax-dodger, you shall pay your proportion of the taxes; to a member of the court, no matter what your position is, if you cruelly beat your neighbor, we will take from you a large part of your wealth and turn it into the public treasury; to the man who was “throwing out speeches” calculated to destroy the influence of the court for good, you must not malign the court, no matter when nor where—if you do, we will lay the heavy hand of summary punishment upon you; to such as were stirring up sedition and opposition to “the common cause of liberty,” you shall not remain openly and peaceably in the community without giving security for your good conduct; to thieves, we will fine, whip, brand and hang you; to tories, we will confiscate your property and imprison you; to the British, we will meet and fight you, on every field from the mountains to the sea; to the Indians, we will fight you too, from the mountains to the lakes and the gulf. And they did it all. Who could have done more? They were heroes, one and all, but history, it seems, has long since given them over to oblivion.

Although, in 1788, they had passed through a “general insurrection of the times,” as chronicled by the clerk of the court under the state of Franklin, and had no doubt come out somewhat demoralized, still the habit of doing what they believed to be right was so strongly imbedded in their natures that, at a term of court (February, 1788) held after its reorganization following the Franklin collapse, they imposed upon and collected from one of the most prominent citizens of the county a fine for swearing in the court-yard. The record recites that “Leroy Taylor came into Court and pays into the Office the fine prescribed by Acts of Assembly for one profane Oath which was accepted of. Ordered therefore that he be discharged. 21s.” Leroy Taylor was elected from Washington county as a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1796, and was kept in the General Assembly almost continuously for eight or ten sessions after Tennessee was admitted into the Union; he was the author and introducer of the first resolution offered in the General Assembly (in 1801), raising a committee to prepare a design for the great seal of the state of Tennessee—but, with all his prominence, he could not with impunity make use of even “one profane oath” in hearing of the county court of Washington county.

The achievements of these old pioneers will run, however, “like the covenants of warranty with the land” they loved so well. A few glimmering memories, a few dim traditions, some scattered fragments of stories—these are all that is left (outside the old court records alluded to) of many of these men, every one of whom was a giant in morals and a colossus in intellect, as compared with many modern pigmies whose little deeds have been magnified into great achievements.

If the structures of state, county and municipal institutions in Tennessee, and the social fabric as well, had been kept in harmony with the pure, simple, steadfast and enduring foundations laid by John Sevier and his contemporaries, what models we would have today for the world to imitate. Are we wiser or better than they? Read and study these old records: then answer.

FOOTNOTES:

[C] Continental currency.

[D] This was the father of Catherine Sherrill, the “Bonnie Kate” of John Sevier.

[E] It must constantly be kept in mind that these apparently enormous sums were in Continental currency.

CHAPTER IV.

A TRAGIC EPISODE.

Tennessee does not need the prolific genius of the romanticist to embellish and invest with thrilling interest the narrative of her origin and development, of the hardships and endurance of her pioneers, of the heroism and triumphs of her builders and defenders; but, looking backward, with more than a century between us and the Revolutionary War, we would be unmanly not to admit that at times we were a little too vindictive and remorseless in pursuing those whose reverence and love for the “mother country” were stronger than their desire for a change and greater than their faith in the young dream of American liberty.

Whilst separation and independence were imposing theories, so fascinating to the wild and restless spirits who had founded and were building up a vast empire in the western world, advocating their bold measures with absorbing zeal and desperate earnestness, there was a minority, many of whom were staid and sturdy, honest in purpose and courageous in conviction, who regarded the movement as unwarranted, and fraught with immediate peril and ultimate ruin. Despite persuasion, remonstrance, threats, social ostracism and what seemed to them persecution, they held allegiance to the Crown as a paramount duty, and regarded the war that must inevitably follow, in its destruction of the flower of the new country, as a twin horror of the Cretan Minotaur that fed on the Athenian youth.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, these tories (“loyalists,” as they called themselves) were universally execrated; and the most popular victor, with many of the patriots, was he who could suggest the most humiliating punishment for these unfortunates: they were put in stocks, chained to the public pillories, cast into prison, and beggared by the confiscation of their property, “without benefit of clergy.” These and other punishments inflicted on the tories were justified during the times as retaliatory for outrages committed upon the patriots by the British and some of their American allies. Then, too, some extenuation must be found for the victorious revolutionists in the riot of frenzy and demoralization that always follows war.[F]

In the perspective of this group of terrible scenes, heartaches, desolation of homes and disruption of families that the “common cause of liberty” might not perish, stands out a tragedy which, while it is of itself a melancholy picture of misfortune, suffering, despair and absolute want, is yet luminous with courageous manhood and the transcendent glory and conquering heroism of a pure and noble womanhood.

Novr Term 1780. Ordered that the Commissioners advertise and sell the property of James Crawford & Thomas Barker, they the said James Crawford and Thomas Barker being found and taken in Arms Against the State.

May Term 1782. John Sevier a Commissioner of Confiscated property for the year 1781, made return that he sold Two Slaves Confiscated of the estate of Thomas Barker at the price of thirty four Hundred pounds, and that he have the money ready to Return.

Aug. Term 1782. The Court Order that Mrs. Ann Barker wife of Thomas Barker who stands charged with joining the British & was taken at Kings Mountain a prisoner, by the Americans & after that his estate was Confiscated by the County Court of Washington—On her application in behalf of her Husband for Tryal by Jury the same is Accordingly Granted.

These musty old records kept at Jonesboro, stitched together like an old-fashioned copy-book, unbound, “unhonored and unsung,” have slumbered for more than a century. They contain history so sacred, however, that not a mouse or a moth has dared to touch them; the paper is still good and the ink and penmanship clear and legible; and, if properly cared for, they will be as enduring almost as the principles of justice and integrity that guided the men who made them.

Connected with, growing out of and clustering around some entries and orders in these almost forgotten archives of a bygone century, there are stories and traditions which, if they could be unravelled, touched up and then put together again by a skilful and painstaking historian, would thrill with awe, admiration and wonder many of the present generation, and arouse in them sentiments and sympathies far more ennobling and exalting than those aroused by the ephemeral literature of the day. One only of these stories and traditions have I been able to trace and treasure up, for the purpose of giving it to the public at such time as I should think proper.

I have grouped the three entries given above, for the purpose of publishing (for the first time, so far as I know) one of the saddest and most pathetic of the many sad and pathetic stories of the times. The mere reading of these three short entries suggests not only to Tennesseans, but to Americans, a whole history: the Revolutionary War, King’s Mountain, treason, confiscation, imprisonment, wife and children reduced to want, the faithfulness of the wife and her final appeal in person to the court for a trial of her husband by jury. But these entries have their own peculiar and painful history, which will be related briefly, as obtained from sources which would make doubt, on my part at least, undutiful and discrediting to my ancestors.

Thomas Barker came to the Watauga country immediately preceding or just after the formal Declaration of Independence was made by the colonies. He came from either southeastern Virginia or Maryland. He was a large, handsome man, over the average in intelligence. He brought with him a fair library for the times, the best of household and kitchen furniture, some slaves and plenty of live stock and farming utensils. His purpose was to acquire an immense estate in lands, which he was preparing to do when the Revolution broke out in earnest. He was a “tory” from the start, and did not attempt to conceal his views, which were, in brief, that the colonies were too weak to contend successfully with Great Britain; that the latter, with her wealth and facilities, would ultimately crush out all opposition, and the colonies would be reduced in resources and yet subjected to burdens more oppressive than those complained of; or, if they were successful in gaining their independence, they would not be able to agree among themselves upon such form of government as would permanently unite them into one people, offensive and defensive; that no matter what form of government they might adopt for uniting all of the colonies into one whole, they would soon become disaffected and dissolve their relations to each other, thereby becoming a scattered, weak and helpless people for more powerful nations to prey upon and subjugate; and that it was better to yield obedience to and enjoy the protection of the “mother country.”

These views had been expressed by Barker to the court which afterward confiscated his property, as early as the February term, 1779, at which term he was arraigned on a charge of “treason.” Barker also stated to the court that it was not his desire to take sides in the struggle; that he preferred, if let alone, to remain with them and his wife and children, but that, if forced to participate on one side or the other, he should take up arms for the “mother country.” He was a brave man and an honest, and the court knew it; and they disposed of the case—which was styled “State vs Thomas Barker for Treason”—by the following order: “On hearing the facts It is the Opinion of the Court that he the Deft. be discharged.” As the war progressed, however, the feeling of hate and bitterness in the community against “tories” became more and more intense, and Barker finally left his home and joined the British army. He was captured at King’s Mountain by some of the very men who constituted the court to which he had so boldly expressed his views more than a year before. He had been made a captain, and, according to tradition, commanded a company of tories at the battle. He was not only a man of personal courage, but he was a proud, “high-strung” fellow, about twenty-eight or thirty years old; and, at the moment of the surrender of the remnant of Ferguson’s army, he was denouncing in bitter terms the cowardice of his own and other troops.

After the battle of King’s Mountain, the Americans from Virginia and from Washington and Sullivan counties, North Carolina, started home with the prisoners, arms, etc., captured in the battle. On the way, about October 12 to 14, a court martial was held at a point called Bickerstaff’s Old Field, in Rutherford county, North Carolina, and some thirty or more of the prisoners were sentenced to be hanged—some for desertion from the American army, others for horse-stealing, and still others for crimes and outrages perpetrated on the people who were supporting the “common cause of liberty.” None of those so sentenced were regular British soldiers; they were North Carolina tories, some of them from Washington and Sullivan counties. Among the latter were Thomas Barker and James Crawford, who were saved from the ignominious death to which they had been sentenced, and which was actually inflicted on nine or ten of the prisoners, by the intervention of their former friends and neighbors who were then present as soldiers in the commands of Sevier and Shelby. Barker and Crawford knew the men who had captured them, and knew that as a class they were both brave and just. Barker’s bearing, during and after the court martial proceedings, was cool and defiant; he said, with much deliberation, that he was not guilty of a single one of the offences charged against him, and that there were more than a hundred men there who knew him and knew his statement to be true; and he added that, if they stood by and permitted him to be hanged for crimes he was incapable of committing, then he was no judge of men.

This speech infuriated some of the men from Washington and Sullivan counties and Virginia, and they made some demonstrations of instant violence upon the speaker, who stood with a scowl upon his face, and, holding up his open hands, said quietly: “I am unarmed; you can kill me, but you can’t scare me!” His speech, however, had quite a different effect upon those who knew him at home, those who knew his wife, and especially those who knew him to be a brave, truthful, honest man. Col. Charles Roberson, John McNabb, Charles Allison and John Allison,[G] who had participated in the battle of King’s Mountain, interposed with earnestness and emphasis against hanging Barker and Crawford, and they were supported in their opposition by Col. John Sevier and Col. Isaac Shelby, which of course settled it. Barker was brought back to Jonesboro and put in prison, where he had been kept for a little more than a year and ten months, when his noble wife appeared in court in person, and procured the order granting him a trial by jury, given above.

This August term, 1782, was one long talked of and remembered for more reasons than one. It was the term at which a judge—“the Honl. Spruce McCay Esqr.”—presided for the first time; the term at which three horse-thieves had been tried and sentenced to be executed; the term at which tories had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment, and their property confiscated; the term at which some offenders were sentenced to be, and were, whipped at the public whipping-post.[H] Few, very few women would have gone in person before such a court, to demand that a tory be granted a trial by jury; but Mrs. Antoinette Barker, wife of Thomas Barker, walked into court, with two (possibly three) small children with her. Their appearance was sufficient to excite sympathy: their faces were pale and haggard, and their clothing, although neat, was patched and worn. Mrs. Barker was a woman of fine appearance, with a beautiful face and a symmetrical figure, and more than a match for the court in intelligence; but, depicted in every line of her countenance, were the traces of mental anguish and physical suffering. She did not, however, weep, go into hysterics, faint, fall down and be carried out, but she stood up in the presence of that court, in all the magnificence of superior womanhood, and, with the vehement eloquence of despair, pleaded the cause of her husband. All that she said will never be known; some things that she said were handed down from generation to generation. She “used the Declaration of Independence on the court”; she denied that her husband was a traitor; she reminded the justices that he had stated his views to them openly and boldly, that he had never taken the oath of allegiance to the continental cause, and that he had told them plainly that, if forced to a choice, he would go into the British army; that he was her husband, and a kind and good one, and the father of her little, innocent, helpless children; that they had taken all of his property and left his family paupers; that he was then in prison, and had been for nearly two years, in consequence of which his health was altogether gone; that she and her little ones were without a protector, and that her neighbors and former friends had almost wholly forsaken her. Her face, no doubt, was flushed with the hot blood of agony welling up from her heart; possibly her voice grew weak and broke under the stress of her emotion—but this noble woman won her cause. Her application for the trial of her husband by a jury was granted, and the court immediately adjourned. The record shows it, and the adjourning order is signed by Andrew Greer, James Stewart, Charles Roberson, Charles Allison, Thomas Houghton and John McNabb, four of whom at least had participated in the capture of Thomas Barker at King’s Mountain, and had afterward been present at his trial by court martial.

This heroine, in the wilds of the western world, had undoubtedly quoted from the Declaration of Independence the charge against Great Britain “for depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury,” and had also probably suggested to the mind of the court, for the first time, the question as to whether treason could be committed against a government by a person who had never acknowledged allegiance to it.

The order granting Barker a trial by jury, unlike other orders of this court, is not clear. It bears on its face evidence of confusion in the court; and this, taken in connection with the fact that the court adjourned immediately after granting the order, renders it certain that this wonderful woman was, for the time being, in absolute control of this marvellous court.

Did she try to secure the services of a lawyer and fail? I do not know; but I do know that these old records fail to disclose the presence of an attorney as counsel for a single one of the various defendants who were tried by the court on a charge of treason. There were at this time, according to the old records, about six attorneys practising regularly in the court, and the records recite their presence as counsel in other cases at that and other courts. Were these attorneys too patriotic to appear in these cases, or too timid from a personal or business standpoint?

The court afterward relented, and Barker was released on his own recognizance, and never tried. Ruined in fortune, ostracized by friends, broken in spirit and in health, he could not endure his changed condition in life. He died soon after his release from prison, and the brave, faithful, noble but broken-hearted wife speedily followed her husband to the grave, leaving two or three children, the oldest a boy of some five or six years. They were taken by a gentleman and his wife who had no children, but a brother of either Barker or his wife soon came and removed them from scenes and faces that it was well for them to forget forever.

The little graveyard in which this brave man and his noble wife were buried was remembered by old people in Washington and Sullivan counties as late as thirty years ago. When I first saw and knew this graveyard as the one in which they were buried, it looked much like a thicket fenced in, but the old crooked rail fence around it was fast rotting down. There were some large trees in it, the largest a wild cherry. Later, the fence was entirely gone, as well as most of the trees, and cattle were lying on the graves in the shade of the trees. Still later, the trees were all gone save the lone wild cherry, and there was not a stone or a mound left: the owner of the land was plowing over the dust of the dead.

The world’s heroes are not those only who talk face to face with death at the cannon’s mouth, and wet battle-fields with their crimson life-tide.

FOOTNOTES:

[F] If the motives that prompted many of the tories to adhere to the British crown during the Revolution were measured by the more modern political standards of selfishness or self-interest, there be many now who could not make mouths at their memories.

[G] Grandfather of the writer.

[H] See chapter [iii].

CHAPTER V.

EARLY TENNESSEE LEGISLATION.

The first legislative act passed in what is now the state of Tennessee was an “Ordinance of the Governor and Judges of the Territory of the United States of America South of the River Ohio, for circumscribing the counties of Greene and Hawkins, and laying out two new counties, Jefferson and Knox.” This act was passed June 11, 1792, and describes with minute particularity that part of the boundaries of the old counties affected by it, as well as those of the new counties created. The act appoints Charles McClung and James Maberry to run and mark certain parts of the lines, and Alexander Outlaw and Joseph Hamilton to run and mark the other parts. It also directs that the Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for Knox county be held at Knoxville, for the ensuing year, on the third Mondays of January, April, July and October, and for Jefferson county at the house of Jeremiah Matthews, on the fourth Mondays of the same months, “for the administration of justice.”

The second ordinance passed by the same authority is one the example of which it were well we had followed, but, alas! we have not. This ordinance, in a preamble, recites that, “whereas, doubts have arisen whether the several Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in this Territory have by the laws of North Carolina authority to levy taxes for building or repairing court houses, prisons and stocks in the said counties respectively, pay jurors and defray contingent expenses; and whereas, it is necessary that these doubts shall no longer exist”; and then proceeds to authorize and empower the courts to levy and collect a tax for the purposes named—not to issue bonds, and entail their payment, with interest, upon future generations.

The ordinance provides that the tax so levied and collected by the several counties shall not exceed, in any one year, more than fifty cents on each poll, nor more than seventeen cents on each hundred acres of land.

Wise legislators were William Blount, David Campbell and Joseph Anderson, who constituted the legislative authority. Their example was followed, after Tennessee was admitted into the Union, by the general assemblies elected by the people, for a very long period, so that, whenever money was appropriated or a county authorized to make any expenditures, the same act required the county authorities to levy a tax, collect it and pay up, instead of piling up debt. Those who wish to know how it was that Tennessee made such rapid strides in the production of statesmen, the building up of a name, the development of her natural resources, and advancement in education and the very highest order of civilization, for the first half century of her existence, have but to study the legislative history of that period.

“The Governor, Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of the United States of America South of the river Ohio” passed an act, September 30, 1794, entitled “An Act for the relief of such persons as have been disabled by wounds, or rendered incapable of procuring for themselves and families subsistence in the military service of the territory, and providing for the widows and orphans of such as have died.”

The act provides that persons of the description mentioned in the caption must apply to and establish their right to an allowance, under the act, before the county court; that the county court shall make an allowance “adequate to their relief for one year—which allowance shall be continued for the succeeding year and so long as such court shall certify such person to continue under the description aforesaid”; that when such certificate was “countersigned by the Governor and President of the Council and Speaker of the House of Representatives, together with their order or certificate for the said allowance, it shall be a sufficient voucher to any sheriff, collector or treasurer paying the same, in the settlement of their public accounts.”

On August 26, 1776, Congress promised, by a resolution, to the officers and soldiers of the army and navy who might be disabled in the service, a pension, to continue during the continuance of their disabilities.

On June 7, 1785, Congress recommended that the several states should make provision for the army, navy and militia pensioners resident with them, to be reimbursed by Congress.

On September 29, 1789, an act was passed providing that the military pensions which had been granted and paid by the states, respectively, in pursuance with the foregoing acts to invalids who were wounded and disabled during the late war, should be paid by the United States from the fourth day of March, 1789, for the space of one year.

The act of March 26, 1790, appropriated the sum of $96,979.72 for paying pensions which may become due to the invalids.

The act of April 30, 1790, provides for one-half pay pensions to soldiers of the regular army disabled while in line of duty; and the act of July 16, 1790, provides that the military pensions which have been granted and paid by the states respectively shall be continued and paid by the United States from the fourth day of March, 1790, for the space of one year.

There were several other similar acts providing for the yearly payment of pensions, but the first general act which made a regular provision for the pensioning of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, musicians, soldiers, marines and seamen, disabled in the actual service of the United States, and in line of duty, by known wounds received during the Revolutionary war, was the act approved on March 10, 1806, which provided by its terms that it should remain in force for and during the space of six years from the passage thereof, and no longer; but it was subsequently revived and kept in force by the acts of April 25, 1812, May 15, 1820, February 4, 1822, and May 24, 1828.

And so it appears, that the “Governor, Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of the United States of America, south of the river Ohio,” passed an act unconditionally and permanently pensioning disabled soldiers and militiamen, and the widows and orphans of such as had died from wounds, twelve years before such an act was passed by the Congress of the United States.

It would not be in keeping with the main purpose of this modest effort to catch up and put together in their proper places some dropped stitches in Tennessee history, to go into an examination in detail of the various acts passed by the legislative authority of the territorial government and by the earliest sessions of the general assembly of the state. Believing, however, that it may be profitable, at this time, to bring into public view some of the great doctrines, principles and policies that seem to have guided our early legislators, as gathered from what they did, they will be briefly mentioned, with date, substance, objects, etc.

The first of the policies indicated was that counties and municipalities should not contract interest-bearing debts and postpone their payment for a long period of years. This policy was fixed and not deviated from; for in every act which authorized a county or municipality to expend money for the erection of public buildings of any kind, or for any other purpose, such county or municipality was also required to levy a tax to pay for it; and, to prevent extravagance or the erection of a building or buildings for public uses not required, the act fixed a limit in excess of which tax should not be levied or collected. Was this because they were wiser than we are? No. They read the constitution, took an oath to support it, and found that it said, as it does now, that “the general assembly shall have power to authorize the several counties and incorporated towns in this state to impose taxes for county and corporation purposes respectively”; and they had not then become wise enough to construe the true meaning out of this provision, and make it mean that the general assembly shall have power to authorize counties and incorporated towns to borrow money and issue promises and obligations to pay it ten, twenty or thirty years after date, with interest payable semi-annually. If some holder of such promises to pay, or of bonds issued by a county or an incorporated town or city, should be called upon to point out that provision in our constitution which gives power to the general assembly to authorize a county or municipality to enter into and deliver such obligations, what section, clause, line or word could be found to make such bonds legal, valid and binding?

They had the “fee question,” the “school question,” public roads, the regulation of private corporations, the “gold” or “specie contract” question, all to deal with; and they dealt with all of them prior and up to the year 1801, taking hold of and settling these complicated, vexatious problems in a courageous and statesmanlike way.

The fee act, passed in April, 1796, not only regulated the compensation of public officers, but fixed the fees of attorneys in civil suits, from “twelve dollars and fifty cents in any suit in equity,” down to “one dollar and twenty-five cents in any appeal from the judgment of a justice of the peace to the county courts.” The fees allowed attorneys were specified in each character of the various suits, the greatest sum allowed being twelve dollars and fifty cents.

Two acts, however, ought to have special prominence given to them in Tennessee at this particular time (March, 1897). One of these, bearing on the subject of “gold” or “specie contracts,” with the cunning methods used to ultimately accomplish the repeal of the most important section in it, is here given in full: