University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIX

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

TO the shrewd diplomacy of Joseph Martin,
who held the Cherokees in check during
the period of the King's Mountain campaign,
the settlers in the valleys of the Watauga
and the Holston owed their temporary
immunity from Indian attack. But no sooner
did Sevier and his over-mountain men return
from the battle-field of King's Mountain than
they were called upon to join in an expedition

against the Cherokees, who had again gone
on the war-path at the instigation of the British.
After Sevier with his command had defeated
a small party of Indians at Boyd's
Creek in December, the entire force of seven
hundred riflemen, under the command of
Colonel Arthur Campbell, with Major Joseph
Martin as subordinate, penetrated to the heart
of the Indian country, burned Echota, Chilhowee,
Settiquo, Hiawassee, and seven other
principal villages, and destroyed an immense
amount of property and supplies. In March,
suspecting that the arch-conspirators against
the white settlers were the Cherokees at the
head waters of the Little Tennessee, Sevier
led one hundred and fifty horsemen through
the devious mountain defiles and struck the Indians
a swift and unexpected blow at Tuckasegee,
near the present Webster, North Carolina.
In this extraordinarily daring raid, one
of his most brilliant feats of arms, Sevier lost
only one man killed and one wounded; while
upon the enemy he inflicted the loss of thirty
killed, took many more prisoners, burned six
Indian towns, and captured many horses and
supplies. Once his deadly work was done,
Sevier with his bold cavaliers silently plunged
again into the forest whence he had so suddenly
emerged, and returned in triumph to the settlements.

Disheartened though the Indians were to see
the smoke of their burning towns, they sullenly
remained averse to peace; and they did not
keep the treaty made at Long Island in July,
1781. The Indians suffered from very real
grievances at the hands of the lawless white
settlers who persisted in encroaching upon the
Indian lands. When the Indian ravages were
resumed, Sevier and Anderson, the latter from
Sullivan County, led a punitive expedition of
two hundred riflemen against the Creeks and
the Chickamaugas; and employing the customary
tactics of laying waste the Indian
towns, administered stern and salutary chastisement
to the copper-colored marauders.

During this same period the settlers on the
Cumberland were displaying a grim fortitude
and stoical endurance in the face of Indian

attack forever memorable in the history of the
Old Southwest. On the night of January 15,
1781, the settlers at Freeland's Station, after
a desperate resistance, succeeded in beating
off the savages who attacked in force. At
Nashborough on April 2d, twenty of the settlers
were lured from the stockade by the artful
wiles of the savages; and it was only after
serious loss that they finally won their way
back to the protection of the fort. Indeed,
their return was due to the fierce dogs of the
settlers, which were released at the most critical
moment, and attacked the astounded Indians
with such ferocity that the diversion thus
created enabled the settlers to escape from the
deadly trap. During the next two years the
history of the Cumberland settlements is but
the gruesome recital of murder after murder
of the whites, a few at a time, by the lurking
Indian foe. Robertson's dominant influence
alone prevented the abandonment of the sorely
harassed little stations. The arrival of the
North Carolina commissioners for the purpose
of laying off bounty lands and settlers' pre-emptions,
and the treaty of peace concluded
at the French Lick on November 5 and 6,
1783, gave permanence and stability to the
Cumberland settlements. The lasting friendship
of the Chickasaws was won; but the
Creeks for some time continued to harass the
Tennessee pioneers. The frontiersmen's most
formidable foe, the Cherokees, stoically, heroically
fighting the whites in the field, and
smallpox, syphilis, and drunkenness at home,
at last abandoned the unequal battle. The
treaty at Hopewell on November 28, 1785,
marks the end of an era—the Spartan yet
hopeless resistance of the intrepid red men to
the relentless and frequently unwarranted expropriation
by the whites of the ancient and
immemorial domain of the savage.

The skill in self-government of the isolated
people beyond the mountains, and the ability
they had already demonstrated in the organization
of "associations," received a strong
stimulus on June 2, 1784, when the legislature
of North Carolina ceded to the Congress of
the United States the title which that state

possessed to the land west of the Alleghanies.
Among the terms of the Cession Act were
these conditions: that the ceded territory
should be formed into a separate state or
states; and that if Congress should not accept
the lands thus ceded and give due notice within
two years, the act should be of no force and
the lands should revert to North Carolina.[1]
No sooner did this news reach the Western
settlers than they began to mature plans for
the organization of a government during the
intervening twelve months. Their exposed
condition on the frontiers, still harassed by
the Indians, and North Carolina's delay in
sending goods promised the Indians by a former
treaty, both promoted Indian hostility;
and these facts, combined with their remote
location beyond the mountains, rendering them
almost inaccessible to communication with
North Carolina—all rendered the decision of
the settlers almost inevitable. Moreover, the
allurements of high office and the dazzling
dreams of ambition were additional motives
sufficiently human in themselves to give driving
power to the movement toward independence.

At a convention assembled at Jonesborough
on August 23, 1784, delegates from the counties
of Washington, Sullivan, and Greene
characteristically decided to organize an "Association."
They solemnly declared by resolution:
"We have a just and undeniable right
to petition to Congress to accept the session
made by North Carolina, and for that body to
countenance us for forming ourselves into a
separate government, and to frame either a
permanent or temporary constitution, agreeably
to a resolve of Congress. . . ." Meanwhile,
Governor Martin, largely as the result
of the prudent advice of North Carolina's
representative in Congress, Dr. Hugh Williamson,
was brought to the conclusion that
North Carolina, in the passage of the cession
act, had acted precipitately. This important
step had been taken without the full consideration
of the people of the state. Among the
various arguments advanced by Williamson
was the impressive contention that, in accordance

with the procedure in the case of other
states, the whole expense of the huge Indian
expeditions in 1776 and the heavy militia aids
to South Carolina and Georgia should be credited
to North Carolina as partial fulfilment
of her continental obligations before the cession
should be irrevocably made to the Federal
government. Williamson's arguments proved
convincing; and it was thus primarily for
economic reasons of far-reaching national importance
that the assembly of North Carolina
(October 22 to November 25, 1784) repealed
the cession act made the preceding
spring.[2]

Before the news of the repeal of the cession
act could reach the western waters, a second
convention met at Jonesborough on December
17th. Sentiment at this time was much divided,
for a number of the people, expecting
the repeal of the cession act, genuinely desired
a continued allegiance to North Carolina.
Of these may well have been John
Sevier, who afterward declared to Joseph Martin
that he had been "Draged into the Franklin

measures by a large number of the people
of this country."[3] The principal act of this
convention was the adoption of a temporary
constitution for six months and the provision
for a convention to be held within one year, at
the expiration of which time this constitution
should be altered, or adopted as the permanent
constitution of the new state.[4] The scholars
on the western waters, desiring to commemorate
their aspirations for freedom, chose as
the name of the projected new state: "Frankland"—the
Land of the Free. The name
finally chosen, however, perhaps for reasons of
policy, was "Franklin," in honor of Benjamin
Franklin. Meanwhile, in order to meet the
pressing needs for a stable government along
the Tennessee frontier, the North Carolina
assembly, which repealed the cession act, created
out of the four western counties the
District of Washington, with John Haywood
as presiding judge and David Campbell
as associate, and conferred upon John
Sevier the rank of brigadier-general of the
new district. The first week in December
Governor Martin sent to Sevier his military
commission; and replying to Joseph Martin's
query (December 31, 1784, prompted by Governor
Martin) as to whether, in view of the
repeal of the cession act, he intended to persist
in revolt or await developments, Sevier gave
it out broadcast that "we shall pursue no furtheir
measures as to a new State."

Owing to the remoteness of the Tennessee
settlements and the difficulty of appreciating
through correspondence the atmosphere of
sentiment in Franklin, Governor Martin realized
the necessity of sending a personal representative
to discover the true state of affairs
in the disaffected region beyond the mountains.
For the post of ambassador to the new
government, Governor Martin selected a man
distinguished for mentality and diplomatic
skill, a pioneer of Tennessee and Kentucky,
Judge Richard Henderson's brother, Colonel
Samuel Henderson. Despite Sevier's disavowal
of any further intention to establish
a new state, the governor gave Colonel Henderson
elaborate written instructions, the purport

of which was to learn all that he could
about the political complexion of the Tennessee
frontiersmen, the sense of the people, and
the agitation for a separate commonwealth.
Moreover, in the hope of placating the leading
chieftains of the Cherokees, who had bitterly
protested against the continued aggressions
and encroachments upon their lands by the
lawless borderers, he instructed Colonel Henderson
also to learn the temper and dispositions
of the Indians, and to investigate the
case of Colonel James Hubbardt who was
charged with the murder of Untoola of Settiquo,
a chief of the Cherokees.

When Colonel Henderson arrived at Jonesborough,
he found the third Franklin legislature
in session, and to this body he presented
Governor Martin's letter of February 27,
1785. In response to the governor's request
for an "account of the late proceedings of the
people in the western country," an extended
reply was drafted by the new legislature; and
this letter, conveyed to Governor Martin by
Colonel Henderson, in setting forth in detail

the reasons for the secession, made the following
significant statement: "We humbly
thank North Carolina for every sentiment of
regard she has for us, but are sorry to observe,
that as it is founded upon principles of interest,
as is aparent from the tenor of your
letter, we are doubtful, when the cause ceases
which is the basis of that affection, we shall
lose your esteem." At the same time (March
22d), Sevier, who had just been chosen Governor
of the State of Franklin, transmitted
to Governor Martin by Colonel Henderson a
long letter, not hitherto published in any history
of the period, in which he outspokenly
says:

Following the issuance of vigorous manifestos
by Martin (April 25th) and Sevier (May
15th),[6] the burden of the problem fell upon
Richard Caswell, who in June succeeded Martin
as Governor of North Carolina.

Meantime the legislature of the over-mountain
men had given the name of Franklin to
the new state, although for some time it continued
to be called by many Frankland, and
its adherents Franks. The legislature had
also established an academy named after Governor
Martin, and had appointed (March
12th) William Cocke as a delegate to the Continental
Congress, urging its acceptance of the
cession. In the Memorial from the Franklin
legislature to the Continental Congress, dealing
in some detail with North Carolina's failure
to send the Cherokees some goods promised
them for lands acquired by treaty, it is
alleged:

Sympathizing with the precarious situation
of the settlers, as well as desiring the cession,
Congress urged North Carolina to amend the
repealing act and execute a conveyance of the
western territory to the Union.

Among the noteworthy features of the
Franklin movement was the constitution prepared
by a committee, headed by the Reverend
Samuel Houston of Washington County,
and presented at the meeting of the Franklin
legislature, Greeneville, November 14, 1785.
This eccentric constitution was based in considerable
part upon the North Carolina model;
but it was "rejected in the lump" and the

constitution of North Carolina, almost unchanged,
was adopted. Under this Houston
constitution, the name "Frankland" was
chosen for the new state. The legislature
was to consist of but a single house. In a
section excluding from the legislature "ministers
of the gospel, attorneys at law, and
doctors of physics," those were declared ineligible
for office who were of immoral character
or guilty of "such flagrant enormities
as drunkenness, gaming, profane swearing,
lewdness, Sabbath-breaking and such like,"
or who should deny the existence of God,
of heaven, and of hell, the inspiration of
the Scriptures, or the existence of the Trinity.
Full religious liberty and the rights of
conscience were assured—but strict orthodoxy
was a condition for eligibility to office. No
one should be chosen to office who was "not
a scholar to do the business." This remarkable
document, which provided for many
other curious innovations in government, was
the work of pioneer doctrinaires—Houston,
Campbell, Cocke, and Tipton—and deserves
study as a bizarre reflection of the spirit and
genius of the western frontiersmen.[8]

The liberal policy of Martin, followed by
the no less conciliatory attitude of his successor,
Caswell, for the time proved wholly abortive.
However, Martin's appointment of Evan
Shelby in Sevier's place as brigadier, and of
Jonathan Tipton as colonel of his county, produced
disaffection among the Franks; and the
influence of Joseph Martin against the new
government was a powerful obstacle to its
success. At first the two sets of military, civil,
and judicial officers were able to work amicably
together; and a working-basis drawn up by
Shelby and Sevier, although afterward repudiated
by the Franklin legislature, smoothed
over some of the rapidly accumulating difficulties.
The persistent and quiet assertion of
authority by North Carolina, without any
overt act of violence against the officers of
Franklin state, revealed great diplomatic skill
in Governors Martin and Caswell. It was
doubtless the considerate policy of the latter,
coupled with the defection from Sevier's cause

of men of the stamp of Houston and Tipton,
after the blundering and cavalier rejection of
their singular constitution, which undermined
the foundations of Franklin. Sevier himself
later wrote with considerable bitterness: "I
have been faithfull, and my own breast acquits
myself that I have acted no part but what has
been Consistent with honor and justice, tempered
with Clemency and mercy. How far
our pretended patriots have supported me as
their pretended chiefe magistrate, I leave the
world at large to Judge." Arthur Campbell's
plans for the formation of a greater
Franklin, through the union of the people on
the western waters of Virginia with those of
North Carolina, came to nought when Virginia
in the autumn of 1785 with stern decisiveness
passed an act making it high treason
to erect an independent government within her
limits unless authorized, by the assembly.
Sevier, however, became more fixed in his determination
to establish a free state, writing
to Governor Caswell: "We shall continue to
act independent and would rather suffer death,
in all its various and frightful shapes, than
conform to anything that is disgraceful."
North Carolina, now proceeding with vigor
(November, 1786), fully reassumed its sovereignty
and jurisdiction over the mountain
counties, but passed an act of pardon and oblivion,
and in many ways adopted moderate
and conciliatory measures.

Driven to extremities, Cocke and Sevier in
turn appealed for aid and advice to Benjamin
Franklin, in whose honor the new state had
been named. In response to Cocke, Franklin
wrote (August 12, 1786): "I think you
are perfectly right in resolving to submit them
[the Points in Dispute] to the Decision of
Congress and to abide by their Determination."[9]
Franklin's views change in the interim;
for when, almost a year later, Sevier
asks him for counsel, Franklin has come to
the conclusion that the wisest move for Sevier
was not to appeal to Congress, but to endeavor
to effect some satisfactory compromise with
North Carolina (June 30, 1787):

Despite Sevier's frenzied efforts to achieve
independence—his treaty with the Indians, his
sensational plan to incorporate the Cherokees
into the new state, his constancy to an ideal of
revolt against others in face of the reality of
revolt against himself, his struggle, equivocal
and half-hearted, with the North Carolina authorities
under Tipton—despite all these heroic
efforts, the star of Franklin swiftly declined.
The vigorous measures pursued by General
Joseph Martin, and his effective influence focussed
upon a movement already honeycombed

with disaffection, finally turned the
scale. To the Franklin leaders he sent the
urgent message: "Nothing will do but a submission
to the laws of North Carolina."
Early in April, 1788, Martin wrote to Governor
Randolph of Virginia: "I returned last
evening from Green Co. Washington destrict,
North Carolina, after a tower through that
Co'ntry, and am happy to inform your Excellency
that the late unhappy dispute between
the State of North Carolina, and the pretended
State of Franklin is subsided." Ever brave,
constant, and loyal to the interest of the pioneers,
Sevier had originally been drawn into
the movement against his best judgment.
Caught in the unique trap, created by the passage
of the cession act and the sudden volteface
of its repeal, he struggled desperately to
extricate himself. Alone of all the leaders,
the governor of ill-starred Franklin remained
recalcitrant.