University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XVI

THE REPULSE OF THE RED MEN

DURING the summer of 1775 the proprietors
of Transylvania were confronted
with two stupendous tasks—that of
winning the favor and support of the frontiersmen
and that of rallying the rapidly dwindling
forces in Kentucky in defense of the settlements.
Recognizing the difficulty of including
Martin's Station, because of its remoteness,
with the government provided for Transylvania,
Judge Henderson prepared a plan
of government for the group of settlers located
in Powell's Valley. In a letter to Martin
(July 30th), in regard to the recent energetic

defense of the settlers at that point against
the Indians, Henderson says: "Your spirited
conduct gives me much pleasure. . . . Keep
your men in heart if possible, now is our time,
the Indians must not drive us." The gloom
which had been occasioned by the almost complete
desertion of the stations at Harrodsburg,
the Boiling Spring, and the Transylvania
Fort or Boonesborough was dispelled with the
return of Boone, accompanied by some thirty
persons, on September 8th, and of Richard
Callaway with a considerable party on September
26th. The crisis was now passed; and
the colony began for the first time really to
flourish. The people on the south side of the
Kentucky River universally accepted proprietary
rule for the time being. But the seeds
of dissension were soon to be sown among
those who settled north of the river, as well
as among men of the stamp of James Harrod,
who, having preceded Henderson in the establishment
of a settlement in Kentucky, naturally
resented holding lands under the Transylvania
Company.

The great liberality of this organization toward
incoming settlers had resulted in immense
quantities of land being taken up through their
land-office.[1] The ranging, hunting, and
road-building were paid for by the company;
and the entire settlement was furnished with
powder, lead, and supplies, wholly on credit,
for this and the succeeding year. "Five hundred
and sixty thousand acres of land are now
entered," reports Floyd on December 1st, "and
most of the people waiting to have it run
out."[2] After Dunmore, having lost his hold
upon the situation, escaped to the protection of
a British vessel, the Fowey, Colonel Preston
continued to prevent surveys for officers'
grants within the Transylvania territory; and
his original hostility to Judge Henderson gave
place to friendship and support.

On December 1st, Colonel John Williams,
resident agent of the Transylvania Company,
announced at Boonesborough the long-contemplated
and widely advertised advance in price
of the lands, from twenty to fifty shillings per
hundred acres, with surveying fees of four dollars

for tracts not exceeding six hundred and
forty acres.[3] At a meeting of the Transylvania
legislature, convened on December 21st,
John Floyd was chosen surveyor general of
the colony, Nathaniel Henderson was placed
in charge of the Entering Office, and Richard
Harrison given the post of secretary. At
this meeting of the legislature, the first open
expression of discontent was voiced in the
"Harrodsburg Remonstrance," questioning
the validity of the proprietors' title, and protesting
against any increase in the price of
lands, as well as the taking up by the proprietors
and a few other gentlemen of the best
lands at the Falls of the Ohio. Every effort
was made to accommodate the remonstrants,
who were led by Abraham Hite. Office fees
were abolished, and the payment of quit-rents
was deferred until January 1, 1780. Despite
these efforts at accommodation, grave doubts
were implanted by this Harrodsburg Remonstrance
in the minds of the people; and much
discussion and discontent ensued.

By midsummer, 1775, George Rogers Clark,

a remarkably enterprising and independent
young pioneer, was "engrossing all the land
he could" in Kentucky. Upon his return to
Virginia, as he relates, he "found there was
various oppinions Respecting Henderson
claim. many thought it go[o]d, others douted
whether or not Virginia coud with propriety
have any pretentions to the cuntrey."[4]
Jefferson displayed a liberal attitude toward
the claims of the Transylvania proprietors; and
Patrick Henry openly stated that, in his opinion,
"their claim would stand good." But
many others, of the stamp of George Mason
and George Washington, vigorously asserted
Virginia's charter rights over the Western territory.[5]
This sharp difference of opinion excited
in Clark's mind the bold conception of
seizing the leadership of the country and making
terms with Virginia under threat of secession.

With the design of effecting some final disposition
in regard to the title of the Transylvania
proprietors, Judge Henderson and
Colonel Williams set off from Boonesborough

about May 1st, intending first to appeal to
the Virginia Convention and ultimately to lay
their claims before the Continental Congress.
"Since they have gone," reports Floyd to Preston,
"I am told most of the men about Harrodsburg
have re-assumed their former resolution
of not complying with any of the office
rules whatever. Jack Jones, it is said, is at
the head of the party & flourishes away prodigiously."[6]
John Gabriel Jones was the mere
figurehead in the revolt. The real leader, the
brains of the conspiracy, was the unscrupulous
George Rogers Clark. At Clark's instance,
an eight-day election was held at Harrodsburg
(June 7-15), at which time a petition
to the Virginia Convention was drawn
up;[7] and Clark and Jones were elected delegates.
Clark's plan, the scheme of a bold
revolutionist, was to treat with Virginia for
terms; and if they were not satisfactory, to
revolt and, as he says, "Establish an Independent
Government" . . . "giving away
great part of the Lands and disposing of the
Remainder." In a second petition, prepared
by the self-styled "Committee of West Fincastle"
(June 20th), it was alleged that "if
these pretended Proprietors have leave to continue
to act in their arbitrary manner out the
controul of this colony [Virginia] the end must
be evident to every well wisher to American
Liberty."[8]

The contest which now ensued between
Richard Henderson and George Rogers Clark,
waged upon the floor of the convention and
behind the scenes, resulted in a conclusion that
was inevitable at a moment in American history
marked by the signing of the Declaration
of Independence. Virginia, under the leadership
of her new governor, Patrick Henry, put
an end to the proprietary rule of the Transylvania
Company. On December 7th such
part of Transylvania as lay within the chartered
limits of Virginia was erected by the
legislature of that colony into the County of
Kentucky. The proprietary form of government
with its "marks of vassalage," although
liberalized with the spirit of democracy, was
unendurable to the independent and lawless

pioneers, already intoxicated with the spirit
of freedom swept in on the first fresh breezes
of the Revolution. Yet it is not to be doubted
that the Transylvania Company, through the
courage and moral influence of its leaders,
made a permanent contribution to the colonization
of the West, which, in providential
timeliness and effective execution, is without
parallel in our early annals.[9]

While events were thus shaping themselves
in Kentucky—events which made possible
Clark's spectacular and meteoric campaign in
the Northwest and ultimately resulted in the
establishment of the Mississippi instead of the
Alleghanies as the western boundary of the
Confederation—the pioneers of Watauga were
sagaciously laying strong the foundations of
permanent occupation. In September, 1775,
North Carolina, through her Provincial Congress,
provided for the appointment in each
district of a Committee of Safety, to consist
of a president and twelve other members.
Following the lead thus set, the Watauga settlers
assumed for their country the name of

"Washington District"; and proceeded by unanimous
vote of the people to choose a committee
of thirteen, which included James Robertson
and John Sevier. This district was organized
"shortly after October, 1775," according
to Felix Walker; and the first step taken
after the election of the committee was the
organization of a court, consisting of five members.
Felix Walker was elected clerk of the
court thus organized, and held the position for
about four years. James Robertson and John
Sevier, it is believed, were also members of this
court. To James Robertson who, with the
assistance of his colleagues, devised this primitive
type of frontier rule—a true commission
form of government, on the "Watauga Plan"
—is justly due distinctive recognition for this
notable inauguration of the independent democracy
of the Old Southwest. The Watauga
settlement was animated by a spirit
of deepest loyalty to the American cause. In
a memorable petition these hardy settlers requested
the Provincial Council of North Carolina
not to regard them as a "lawless mob,"
but to "annex" them to North Carolina without
delay. "This committee (willing to become
a party in the present unhappy contest)",
states the petition, which must have been
drafted about July 15, 1776, "resolved (which
is now on our records), to adhere strictly to the
rules and orders of the Continental Congress,
and in open committee acknowledged themselves
indebted to the united colonies their full
proportion of the Continental expense."[10]

While these disputes as to the government
of the new communities were in progress an
additional danger threatened the pioneers.
For a whole year the British had been plying
the various Indian tribes from the lakes to
the gulf with presents, supplies, and ammunition.
In the Northwest bounties had actually
been offered for American scalps. During
the spring of 1776 plans were concerted, chiefly
through Stuart and Cameron, British agents
among the Southern Indians, for uniting the
Loyalists and the Indians in a crushing attack
upon the Tennessee settlements and the back
country of North Carolina. Already the

frontier of South Carolina had passed through
the horrors of Indian uprising; and warning
of the approaching invasion had been mercifully
sent the Holston settlers by Atta-kulla-kulla's
niece, Nancy Ward, the "Pocahontas of
the West"—doubtless through the influence of
her daughter, who loved Joseph Martin. The
settlers, flocking for refuge into their small
stockaded forts, waited in readiness for the
dreaded Indian attacks, which were made by
two forces totaling some seven hundred warriors.

On July 20th, warned in advance of the approach
of the Indians, the borderers, one hundred
and seventy in all, marched in two columns
from the rude breastwork, hastily thrown
up at Eaton's Station, to meet the Indians,
double their own number, led by The Dragging
Canoe. The scouts surprised one party
of Indians, hastily poured in a deadly fire,
and rushed upon them with such impetuous
fury that they fled precipitately. Withdrawing
now toward their breastwork, in anticipation
of encountering there a larger force, the

backwoodsmen suddenly found themselves attacked
in their rear and in grave danger of
being surrounded. Extending their own line
under the direction of Captain James Shelby,
the frontiersmen steadily met the bold attack
of the Indians, who, mistaking the rapid extension
of the line for a movement to retreat,
incautiously made a headlong onslaught upon
the whites, giving the war-whoop and shouting:
"The Unakas are running!" In the ensuing
hot conflict at close quarters, in some
places hand to hand, the Indians were utterly
routed—The Dragging Canoe being shot
down, many warriors wounded, and thirteen
left dead upon the field.

On the day after Thompson, Cocke, Shelby,
Campbell, Madison, and their men were thus
winning the battle of the Long Island "flats,"
Robertson, Sevier, and their little band of
forty-two men were engaged in repelling an
attack, begun at sunrise, upon the Watauga
fort near the Sycamore Shoals. This attack,
which was led by Old Abraham, proved abortive;
but as the result of the loose investment

of the log fortress, maintained by the Indians
for several weeks, a few rash venturers from
the fort were killed or captured, notably a
young boy who was carried to one of the Indian
towns and burned at the stake, and the wife
of the pioneer settler, William Been, who
was rescued from a like fate by the intercession
of the humane and noble Nancy Ward.
It was during this siege, according to constant
tradition, that a frontier lass, active and
graceful as a young doe, was pursued to the
very stockade by the fleet-footed savages.
Seeing her plight, an athletic young officer
mounted the stockade at a single leap, shot
down the foremost of the pursuers, and leaning
over, seized the maiden by the hands and
lifted her over the stockade. The maiden who
sank breathless into the arms of the young
officer, John Sevier, was "Bonnie Kate Sherrill"—who,
after the fashion of true romance,
afterward became the wife of her gallant rescuer.

While the Tennessee settlements were undergoing
the trials of siege and attack, the

settlers on the frontiers of Rowan were falling
beneath the tomahawk of the merciless
savage. In the first and second weeks of July
large forces of Indians penetrated to the outlying
settlements; and in two days thirty-seven
persons were killed along the Catawba River.
On July 13th, the bluff old soldier of Rowan,
General Griffith Rutherford, reported to the
council of North Carolina that "three of our
Captains are killed and one wounded"; and
that he was setting out that day with what
men he could muster to relieve Colonel McDowell,
ten men, and one hundred and twenty
women and children, who were "besieged in
some kind of a fort." Aroused to extraordinary
exertions by these daring and deadly
blows, the governments of North Carolina,
South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia instituted
a joint campaign against the Cherokees.
It was believed that, by delivering a series of
crushing blows to the Indians and so conclusively
demonstrating the overwhelming superiority
of the whites, the state governments
in the Old Southwest would convince the savages
of the futility of any attempt ever again
to oppose them seriously.

Within less than a week after sending his
despatches to the council Rutherford set forth
at the head of twenty-five hundred men to
protect the frontiers of North Carolina and to
overwhelm the foe. Leading the South Carolina
army of more than eighteen hundred men,
Colonel Andrew Williamson directed his attack
against the lower Cherokee towns; while
Colonel Samuel Jack led two hundred Georgians
against the Indian towns at the heads of
the Chattahoochee and Tugaloo Rivers. Assembling
a force of some sixteen hundred Virginians,
Colonel William Christian rendezvoused
in August at the Long Island of
Holston, where his force was strengthened by
between three and four hundred North Carolinians
under Colonels Joseph Williams and
Love, and Major Winston. The various expeditions
met with little effective opposition
on the whole, succeeding everywhere in their
design of utterly laying waste the towns of
the Cherokees. One serious engagement occurred

when the Indians resolutely challenged
Rutherford's advance at the gap of the Nantahala
Mountains. Indian women—heroic
Amazons disguised in war-paint and armed
with the weapons of warriors and the courage
of despair—fought side by side with the
Indian braves in the effort to arrest Rutherford's
progress and compass his defeat. More
than forty frontiersmen fell beneath the deadly
shots of this truly Spartan band before the
final repulse of the savages.

The most picturesque figures in this overwhelmingly
successful campaign were the bluff
old Indian-fighter, Griffith Rutherford, wearing
"a tow hunting shirt, dyed black, and
trimmed with white fringe" as a uniform; Captain
Benjamin Cleveland, a rude paladin of
gigantic size, strength, and courage; Lieutenant
William Lenoir (Le Noir), the gallant
and recklessly brave French Huguenot, later
to win a general's rank in the Revolution;
and that militant man of God, the Reverend
James Hall, graduate of Nassau Hall, stalwart
and manly, who carried a rifle on his

shoulder and, in the intervals between the
slaughter of the savages, preached the gospel
to the vindictive and bloodthirsty backwoodsmen.
Such preaching was sorely needed on
that campaign—when the whites, maddened
beyond the bounds of self-control by the recent
ghastly murders, gladly availed themselves
of the South Carolina bounty offered
for fresh Indian scalps. At times they exultantly
displayed the reeking patches of hair
above the gates of their stockades; at others,
with many a bloody oath, they compelled their
commanders either to sell the Indian captives
into slavery or else see them scalped on the
spot. Twenty years afterward Benjamin
Hawkins relates that among Indian refugees
in extreme western Georgia the children had
been so terrorized by their parents' recitals of
the atrocities of the enraged borderers in the
campaign of 1776, that they ran screaming
from the face of a white man.