Monette, John W. History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, by the Three Great European Powers, Spain, France and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by the United States, Until the Year 1846, in two volumes, Volume II . New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1846. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=monette2.html

Argument. — Retrospect of the First Settlements of East Tennessee. — First Settlements on Cumberland River. — Cherokee Hostilities in 1780. — North Carolina encourages Emigration to the Cumberland in 1783. — Military Land District erected. — Chickasâ Cession in 1784. — Increased Emigration to Holston and Cumberland in 1785. — Political Difficulties in Washington District. — Attempted Organization of the "Republic of Frankland." — Colonel John Sevier attainted for Treason, and restored to his Rights. — Authority of North Carolina sustained. — Spanish Influence in the Cumberland Settlements. — Population of Washington and Miro Districts in 1789. — North Carolina cedes her Western Territory to the Federal Government. — "Southwestern Territory" organized in 1790. — Indian Hostilities commence. — Efforts of the Federal Government to maintain Peace. — Rapid Increase of Emigration Westward in 1791. — Indian Hostilities in 1791 to 1793. — Spanish Intrigue with the Indians. — Colonel Sevier and General Robertson conduct Defenses. — Population of Southwestern Territory in 1794. — Population of the Territory in 1795. — Second Grade of Territorial Government assumed. — State Constitution adopted in 1796. — "State of Tennessee" admitted into the Union. — Features of Constitution. — Progressive Increase of Population and Extension of Settlements to the Mississippi until 1840. — Displacement of the Indian Tribes. — West Tennessee and Memphis. — Population and Enterprise. — Colonies sent out from Tennessee.

[A.D. 1776.] IN another portion of this work, ²⁹⁴ we have shown that the country now comprised in the extreme eastern and southeastern counties of Tennessee, and especially the counties of Washington, Carter, Sullivan, Greene, and Hawkins, was sparsely settled by Virginians and North Carolinians as early as the beginning of the Revolutionary war. These settlements, early in the latter period, gradually extended upon the tributaries of the north and south branches of the Holston, and upon the Watauga and French Broad, for more than one hundred miles toward the southwest, along the western base of the great Alleghany range of mountains, and within the former limits of North Carolina. Soon after the Declaration of Independence, the people of these remote settlements were invited by the British authorities to espouse the royal cause against the revolted provinces; but, with noble firmness, they indignantly rejected the proffered protection of the crown, and adhered to the cause of independence. ²⁹⁵

In the autumn of 1776, these settlements, as the "Western District," were entitled to a delegate in the convention for the adoption of a state constitution. Among the prominent men of this region at that early period was Captain John Sevier, who had been an active defender of the frontiers in the preceding Indian wars. The confidence reposed in him by the western people was such that they elected him to represent the Western District in the convention for adopting a state constitution for North Carolina. During the continuance of the struggle for independence, he was a prominent soldier in resisting the incursions of the British cavalry in the western settlements.

[A.D. 1777.] During the year 1777, the jurisdiction of North Carolina was formally extended over the Western District, which was organized into the "county of Washington," having a nominal jurisdiction westward to the Mississippi. ²⁹⁶

The militia of Washington county was organized under Colonel Carter and Lieutenant-colonel John Sevier. ²⁹⁷ Before the close of the year, large bodies of land were relinquished by the Cherokees, in conformity with the stipulations in the treaty of the preceding year. The settlements began immediately to extend upon the ceded territory down the north fork of Holston, and upon the branches of the south fork, and emigration continued gradually to swell the population.

[A.D. 1778.] Only a few months elapsed from the organization of Washington county, when the adventurous pioneers began to plunge into the remote western forest, more than three hundred miles by the only route from the older settlements of the new county. A settlement was commenced on the lower valley of the Cumberland River, nearly one hundred miles west of the chain of the Cumberland Mountains. To reach this remote region, the pioneers advanced through Cumberland Gap, and, diverging from the wilderness route to Kentucky, they proceeded nearly one hundred miles through the southern part of the present State of Kentucky, and thence down the Cumberland Valley to the vicinity of the present site of Nashville. This route traversed the country which had been partly relinquished by the Cherokees to Richard Henderson and Company. South of it was the undisputed territory of the Cherokees and Creeks, who permitted no encroachment with

impunity. The first settlement in this remote region was that near Bledsoe's Station, in the vicinity of Bledsoe's Lick; it was occupied the first year by less than a dozen families, isolated in the heart of the Chickasâ nation, with no other protection than their own courage and a small stockade inclosure. ²⁹⁸

About the same time, a number of French traders advanced up the Cumberland River as far as "the Bluff," near the present city of Nashville, where they erected a trading-post and a few log cabins, ²⁹⁹ with the approbation of the Chickasâs.

[A.D. 1780.] Bledsoe's Station, in the year 1779, received an accession of several additional families, who advanced by the same route from the Holston settlements. With this accession to their numbers, the little colony continued to hold undisputed possession of the country now comprised in Middle Tennessee, until the autumn of 1780, when Colonel James Robertson led out a colony of forty families, who were anxious to retire beyond the reach of the marauding incursions of the British cavalry, which had repeatedly ravaged the remote western settlements of North Carolina. So long as they remained within striking distance of Tarlton's troop, they were allowed the only alternative of submitting to the insolent ravages of the British soldiery, or of espousing the royal cause against their friends and fellow-citizens. ³⁰⁰

Colonel Robertson and his colony, preferring to encounter the dangers of savage warfare to the ruthless incursions of the English, set out for the remote wilderness upon the lower Cumberland Valley. His location was made not far from the present site of Nashville, where he proceeded to erect a stockade inclosure, for the protection of the colony from Indian hostility. This was the beginning of "Robertson's Station," which became the nucleus of the Cumberland settlements, around which were gathered the numerous emigrants who soon afterward advanced to this region.

This remote point continued to be the object of adventurers for three years, when the flood-gates of emigration were opened by North Carolina, in establishment of a military land district in this vicinity.

In the mean time, the Cherokees had become impatient of

the advance of the white population upon the Holston, and before the close of the year 1780 they commenced active hostilities upon the frontier inhabitants of Washington District. To protect the exposed colonies, and to chastise the warlike savages, Colonel Campbell, of North Carolina, invaded the Cherokee country with a force of seven hundred mounted riflemen, and spread consternation and desolation in his march. This was the first time that cavalry in the character of mounted riflemen had been employed successfully against the hostile Indians, and it was the beginning of a new era in savage warfare in the West. ³⁰¹

It was in the summer of 1782 that the government of North Carolina determined to establish a military land district in her western territory for the liquidation of military land-scrip and Revolutionary claims in favor of officers and soldiers of the old Continental line. The same year commissioners were appointed to explore the country upon Cumberland River, and select a suitable region for the military district. After due exploration, they reported in favor of the country south and west of the new settlements upon that river, which was still in the occupancy of the Chickasâ Indians.

[A.D. 1783.] At the next session of the Legislature, provision was made for the formal extension of the state jurisdiction over this country in the organization of a land district, with a land-office, together with a pre-emption law in favor of actual settlers. The latter opened the way of emigration to the Cumberland River, and was a virtual invitation to the people to advance to the occupancy of this valuable region of country.

To prevent collision with the Chickasâ nation, commissioners were appointed to hold a council with the chiefs, head men, and warriors of that tribe for the amicable relinquishment of the country designated. The Indians were assembled early in the year 1783, in the vicinity of Robertson's Station, where a treaty was concluded. In this treaty, the Chickasâs, for and in consideration of certain amounts to them paid, agreed to cede and relinquish to the State of North Carolina an extensive region of country extending nearly forty miles south of the Cumberland River, to the dividing ridge between the tributaries of that river and those of Duck and Elk Rivers. This cession, subsequently confirmed by the treaty of Hopewell, in the year

1785, was formed into a land district for the entry and location of lands. Emigrants immediately commenced their journeys to these western regions, which offered many advantages unknown to the country east of the mountains. Among them were hundreds of officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary armies, and with them came men of talent and enterprise.

[A.D. 1784.] The tide of emigration during the year 1784 began to set strong upon the Cumberland, as well as into Washington District. In the latter, the population had greatly increased, and settlements had extended until the district contained no less than four counties.

The peace of 1783 had quieted all apprehension on the score of English depredations and partisan warfare. The restless population of the Atlantic States were left free to pursue their own inclinations for western adventure and exploration. No state in the confederacy possessed more of this roving and adventurous spirit than North Carolina. Her western regions had been explored, and the fame of their beauty and fertility were the subject of every fireside conversation, and the object of every family's ambition. The privations, the hardships, and the dangers of a frontier life to them had all the charms of romance without its novelty. There is a charm in the virgin earth and primeval forests of the West which perfectly bewilders the mind of the emigrant from old and dense settlements.

The whole Atlantic population, from Maine to Georgia, was convulsed with the tide of emigration setting toward the great Valley of the Mississippi. While Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey were sending their colonies upon the tributaries of the Monongahela, the states of North and South Carolina, as well as Southern Virginia, were sending numerous colonies upon the waters of the Holston and Clinch, and even to the remote regions of Cumberland River and to Kentucky.

Although settlements were extending west of the Cumberland Mountains and upon the lower portion of the Cumberland River, yet such had been the inveterate hostility of the Cherokees and Creeks, that the southern tributaries of the Holston were still chiefly in their possession.

But the following year brought large accessions of emigrants from North Carolina and Georgia to the head waters of the south fork of the Holston, and upon the Watauga. The white population was rapidly extending upon the waters of the

Nolichucky and French Broad, where five years before the Indian was sole lord of the soil. ³⁰²

The settlements which had been made on the Cumberland River, and which had been slowly increasing for the last two years, now began to augment rapidly. Nashville, the present emporium of the state, was first laid out during this summer, and received its name in honor of the gallant General Francis Nash, who fell in the battle of Brandywine. ³⁰³ Many soldiers and officers of the Revolutionary army were among the emigrants for the Cumberland settlements; and these had now increased their population to more than three thousand souls. Still they were citizens of North Carolina, subject to her laws and amenable to her authority; although, like their neighbors, the pioneers of Kentucky, they were removed nearly five hundred miles from the state capital. Unprotected by the troops of the state, or of the United States, they were compelled to protect and defend themselves against the united attacks of the Cherokees and Creeks.

[A.D. 1785.] The same inconveniences which induced the separation of Kentucky operated with equal force in the western settlements of North Carolina. These inconveniences multiplied in the ratio of the increase of population, and all looked forward to a time when they would be obviated. There were many of the first men in North Carolina who had removed to the western country, and who were ambitious of political distinction in becoming the founders of a new state. The question of separation began to be examined in all its bearings, not only in the western settlements, but in the capital of North Carolina. The Legislature, willing to extend relief to the western people, proposed to cede, at the expiration of two years, all the western territory to the Federal government, for the purpose of forming an independent state. Until such time, it was to remain under the jurisdiction of North Carolina. But the people, dissatisfied with the remote period designated for their separation, and the difficulties in calling out and controlling their militia in sudden emergencies, to which their situation in an Indian country exposed them, proposed to dispense with the jurisdiction of North Carolina without further delay. A convention was called, consisting of delegates

from each of the western counties. The convention met, and enacted sundry regulations for the good government of the western settlements. Among these were the following: that all laws of North Carolina, compatible with the condition of the new settlements, should remain in force; that a memorial should be sent to Congress praying the speedy acceptance of the act of cession by North Carolina, with authority to organize an independent state government; that the political affairs of the new settlements shall in the mean time be conducted through a convention elected by the people; that the convention shall elect a delegate to Congress.

[A.D. 1786.] A second convention met in Jonesborough, composed of five members from each county. Commencing their deliberations as delegates of the sovereign people, they formally declared the Washington District independent of North Carolina, and constituting the new State of "Frankland." The new state government was put into operation by the appointment of judges and executive officers. A memorial was sent to Congress by the delegate, who carried with him a copy of the new Constitution. But Congress refused to encourage any rebellion against the mother-state, and declined to recognize the new government in any manner whatever. The delegate was obliged to return to his constituents, and report his fruitless mission.

The State of North Carolina asserted her jurisdiction, and manifested a determination to maintain it over any irregular assumption of power. Two parties, of course, soon sprung up: one for the new government, and one for the state jurisdiction. Each authority persisted in maintaining its supremacy, and collisions were unavoidable. The "State of Frankland" contained within its limits two distinct and opposing courts, each exercising jurisdiction, and each claiming for its decisions paramount authority. In some instances the sheriff of Frankland, with his "posse comitatus," entered the court established by North Carolina, and, having seized the papers, turned the court and its officers out of doors. The power of the mother state in due time retaliated the same courtesy upon the courts of Frankland.

Colonel John Sevier had been elected the first governor of Frankland. Soon after his inauguration he came in collision with Colonel Tipton, a stanch adherent of the old state. From

words they came to blows, and a personal combat ensued. The adherents of each principal followed the example of their leaders, and a general mêlée followed. But this did not settle principles or establish the supremacy of law.

The regular state elections were held. The counties of Washington District elected their representatives to the Legislature of North Carolina. Colonel Tipton was one of these, and carried with him the names of those who were willing to accept the terms of cession by North Carolina, and to secede from the new state authority. The former law proposing a cession to the United States was repealed, and the state persisted in enforcing her authority.

In the mean time, the third convention of Frankland met, enacted laws, and levied taxes. They also selected the eloquent William Cocke, Esq., as a delegate to Congress. He was permitted to address that body on behalf of the helpless and distracted condition of Frankland. Engaged in a civil war with North Carolina on the one hand, and assailed again by the warlike Cherokees, their only protection, their only hope, was in the wisdom of Congress. That body readily interposed its influence to restore harmony in this portion of North Carolina. The authority of the state was maintained, and the new government of Frankland declared illegal. An amnesty was recommended for all past differences, and the regular state authorities were soon after re-established.

The new government very reluctantly yielded. The legislative convention of Frankland met in 1787 for the last time. Their power was at an end, and but little was attempted. The adherents of the new state gradually abandoned their leaders, and the organization of their new government wasted by degrees, until it finally became extinct.

[A.D. 1788.] Thus terminated the first attempt in the West to throw off the allegiance to a parent state in violation of law. The authority of North Carolina having been established over the western counties, her jurisdiction was also extended over the whole settlements, then spreading rapidly upon all the Holston tributaries, as well as those on the Cumberland River.

During the year 1788, the population of the Cumberland settlements had increased to more than six thousand souls, sparsely located within twenty miles of the river, for a distance of more than fifty miles along the same.

Governor Sevier, however, had been highly obnoxious to the authorities of North Carolina. His property had been declared confiscated, and himself outlawed. Colonel Tipton had been active in prosecuting the state authority against his late antagonist, until the Legislature of North Carolina, swayed by public opinion, which duly appreciated his character and services in the war of the Revolution, as well as in the Indian wars, in which he had lately distinguished himself, resolved, in 1789, to repeal the obnoxious law, ³⁰⁴ and to relieve him from all attainder. Soon after which, Colonel Sevier was elected as senator from Greene county to the Legislature of North Carolina, and was appointed brigadier-general for the western counties.

[A.D. 1789.] Since the year 1787, the people of all the Holston settlements, in common with those on the Cumberland River, had become deeply interested in the navigation of the Mississippi, which was the natural outlet for all their surplus products. On this subject they were influenced by all the motives, interests, and prejudices which operated so powerfully upon the people of Kentucky about the same time. During this period, Spain had viewed the rising Republic with jealous concern. Kentucky was presumed by Spain to be disaffected, and the Cumberland and Holston settlements were by no means contented.

It was under these circumstances that the benevolent Governor Miro, of Louisiana, through Colonel Wilkinson, tendered to the people of the Holston and Cumberland settlements, in common with those of Kentucky, the free navigation of the Mississippi, and the rights and privileges of Spanish subjects, upon conditions deemed advantageous to them. Many, lured by the tempting offers of the governor, emigrated to the district of West Florida, and became Spanish subjects. ³⁰⁵

About the same time, the cultivation of cotton was partially introduced upon the Cumberland River; and for several years it constituted an article of trade and barter between the Cumberland settlements and those of Kentucky, under the control of Colonel Wilkinson's agents. ³⁰⁶

Meantime, the population on all the head branches of the Holston and Clinch Rivers, as well as on Cumberland, continued

to extend and to increase in number under the jurisdiction of North Carolina. The Cumberland settlements, before the close of the year 1789, had increased their population to more than eight thousand souls, and had been erected into a judicial district designated "Miro District." Washington District comprised the counties of Washington, Carter, Sullivan, and Greene; and new settlements were extending upon the French Broad and Nolichucky, within the Indian territory. The aggregate population in this district was but little short of thirty thousand persons.

During the advance of the settlements in 1789, the Indians on the whole southern frontier began to manifest extreme impatience of the rapid encroachments upon their territory, and depredations and murders upon the inhabitants became frequent, perpetrated chiefly by Cherokees and Creeks.

[A.D. 1790.] North Carolina had not been averse to an amicable and legal separation of her western territory for the purpose of forming an independent state. Early in the year 1790 the Legislature took measures for accomplishing this desirable object. Following the example of Virginia in her relinquishment of the Northwestern Territory, the Legislature proposed to cede to the Federal government all the western territory, for the purpose of organizing in the same a territorial form of government, preparatory to an independent state government, agreeably to the provisions of the ordinance of July, 1787. In April, Congress acceded to the proposed cession, and the relinquishment on the part of North Carolina was completed.

The ceded country, by act of Congress approved May 20th, was erected into a territory of the United States, under the name of the "Southwestern Territory," agreeably to the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, excepting the clause which prohibits slavery. ³⁰⁷

The territorial government was organized agreeably to the first grade provided by the ordinance of 1787, with a legislative assembly elected by the people, and a legislative council nominated by the Assembly, and appointed by the president. The two houses, thus constituted, elected the delegate to Congress, with the right of speaking, but not of voting, in the House of Representatives. The first territorial governor was William

Blount, who was also superintendent of Indian affairs, which station he continued to fill until the territory passed through its dependent grades to the rank of an independent state.

The census of 1790 gave to Washington District a population of thirty-six thousand souls, including three thousand five hundred slaves; at the same time, the settlements on Cumberland River contained an aggregate of nearly ten thousand souls.

To protect the frontier people from Indian attacks, a military post of the United States was established at the "Southwest Point," the present site of Kingston, near the confluence of the Clinch and Holston Rivers, then within the Indian country.

During the same year, the territorial government went fully into operation, and the present site of Knoxville was selected as the future seat of government, within a few miles of the Indian boundary. The same year witnessed the publication of the first newspaper in the Southwestern Territory, and the first number of the "Knoxville Gazette" was issued on the 5th of November, 1790.

To secure the people of the territory from Indian hostility, the Federal government took immediate measures for conciliating the rising spirit of resistance which had been manifested by portions of the Cherokee and Creek nations. Governor Blount, as superintendent of Indian affairs, commenced a series of treaties and negotiations with different portions of the Cherokee and Creek nations for the peaceable sale and relinquishment of lands occupied by the settlements, and for the amicable adjustment of all cause of complaint on the part of the Indians. These negotiations continued at different points along the exposed border until the close of the following year.

[A.D. 1791.] By this means the Federal government succeeded in restraining the great body of warriors in these two powerful and warlike nations from open war and invasion of the settlements; but it was unable to prevent the encroachments of lawless emigrants upon the Indian lands, or to restrain the depredations and murders which were frequently committed by small parties of hostile Indians upon the exposed colonies. ³⁰⁸ Hence, notwithstanding the Federal government

had entered into treaties of peace and friendship with the chiefs of the Cherokee and Creek nations, a partisan warfare sprung up along the whole frontier between disorderly individuals and detached parties from both Indian nations; and although the Federal authorities forbore to plunge the country into a general Indian war, it was unable entirely to restrain the voluntary expeditions of the people.

[A.D. 1792.] The following year opened with a continuation of hostile incursions and murders by small parties of Creeks and Cherokees along the whole line of border settlements in both Washington and Miro Districts. ³⁰⁹

Yet Governor Blount had not remitted his efforts to conciliate the savages and to restrain the unlawful aggression of the whites upon the Indian territory. The warriors of both nations were gradually preparing for a regular invasion and destruction of the white settlements, especially those on the

Cumberland, prompted and supplied, as was subsequently ascertained, by Spanish emissaries from Florida and Louisiana.

On the 23d of June, Governor Blount had concluded a treaty of peace and friendship with the Cherokees at Coyatee, where he distributed a large amount of goods and blankets. On the 26th, a council was held with the Cherokees at Estanaula, where the chiefs and warriors entered into an agreement to use their utmost efforts to restrain their young men from acts of hostility. On the 10th of August, a treaty of peace and friendship was concluded with the Chickasâs and Choctâs, near Nashville, accompanied with a distribution of a large amount of goods, and presents to the chiefs. On the 31st of October, a similar treaty was concluded with a portion of the Creek nation, near the site of Knoxville, on the Holston. ³¹⁰

Notwithstanding these negotiations, and the earnest efforts to allay all hostile feeling in the Creek and Cherokee nations, they produced no other effect than to prevent an open and general war against all the settlements in the Southwestern Territory.

On the 3d of September, a large Indian trail was discovered within four miles of Buchanan's Station. The same day a party of twenty-four Indians advanced to Fletcher's Lick, eight miles southeast of Nashville, and near the new wilderness road from Knoxville. On the 11th of September, Governor Blount greatly apprehended a descent upon the Cumberland settlements by a large body of Indians which had been discovered upon their march in that direction. On the 30th of September, Buchanan's Station, within four miles of Nashville, was attacked by four hundred Indians, who were repulsed with loss by the garrison. On the 2d of October, Governor Blount wrote to the Secretary of War that "about five hundred Creeks, within a few days, had passed the Tennessee River on their way to the Cumberland settlements, and that they were re-enforced by two hundred Cherokees near the crossing-place, thirty miles below Nicojack."

All these parties of Indians had been well supplied with arms and ammunition by the Spanish agents from Florida, by whom the savages had been urged to exterminate the Cumberland settlements while the American army was advancing north.

[A.D. 1793.] The year 1793 opened with increased activity on the part of the hostile Indians against the whole frontier, from

Holston to Cumberland. ³¹¹ The scalping parties advanced into the heart of the settlements, and no place beyond the stockade inclosures was deemed secure from the nocturnal inroads of the savage foe.

Those on Cumberland River had gradually extended during the year 1792, until they were distributed along the Cumberland River on both sides for a distance of eighty-five miles from east to west, with a general width of about twenty-five miles from north to south. Such was their extent, according to Governor Blount's report to the Secretary of War in 1792. ³¹² The country occupied by them was a fertile and beautiful

region, diversified with deep valleys and towering cliffs, intersected and watered by numerous deep, transparent streams flowing through lofty forests and verdant plains. Many had advanced beyond the limits of the ceded territory, and were encroaching upon the Indian lands upon the northern tributaries of Duck River, when the hostile movements of the Creeks and Cherokees in 1793 compelled them to retire and abandon their unlawful habitations.

Before the close of summer the savages had begun to make formidable demonstrations against the whole extent of the white settlements, and the militias were necessarily called into service for the general defense. In the eastern district the military operations were confided to Brigadier-general Sevier, one of the most efficient officers in the West. Bold, active, and persevering, he possessed the entire confidence of his fellow-citizens, who cheerfully rallied under his command at the first summons. In East Tennessee he was the bulwark of defense against savage invasion. Such was his energy and skill in conducting the Indian wars, that Governor Blount declared in one of his dispatches that "his name carries more terror to the Cherokees than an additional regiment would have done." ³¹³

The principal commander in the District of Miro was General William Robertson. Although he conducted the defenses with great skill and prudence, yet such was the cautious and secret movements of the savages that they never could be encountered in force upon the field of battle. They studiously avoided a general engagement, and restricted their operations to harassing the settlements by frequent incursions of small war parties, which could evade any large force sent against them.

The most formidable demonstration by the savages during this year was made by the Cherokees on the 25th of September, when a large body of warriors, estimated at one thousand, advanced toward Knoxville by night, passing within seven miles of General Sevier's camp of four hundred men; but, after committing several murders and other outrages upon defenseless families, they retired without any attempted collision with his troops. ³¹⁴

The successful operations of General Wayne upon the northwestern frontier evidently exerted a restraining influence upon the Cherokees and Creeks in the South. From this time their

hostilities began to cease, and during the next year they made overtures for the establishment of peace and amity by formal treaties.

[A.D. 1794.] Notwithstanding the hostile attitude of the Creeks and Cherokees, the settlements continued to extend, and the population had steadily increased in numbers, from the continual arrivals of immigrants, not only from North Carolina, but also from Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. During the past year, the people became impatient of their dependent form of government, and the grand jury at Knoxville, in the month of November, adopted an address to the governor, claiming a more independent form of government, as provided by the ordinance of 1787, since the territory contained more than the requisite number of "five thousand free white males." In December following, the governor issued his proclamation for the election of a General Assembly, as provided by law. The Legislature, duly constituted, convened at Knoxville in February, 1794. Much of the session was occupied in providing for the opening of roads and for the protection of the inhabitants from Indian hostilities.

[A.D. 1795.] According to a census ordered by the territorial Legislature, the aggregate population of the territory in 1795 was 77,262 persons; of whom 66,490 were whites, the remainder slaves and colored persons. This amount of population, under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, entitled the people to an independent state government, and application was made to Congress for authority to frame and adopt a state constitution.

[A.D. 1796.] The convention authorized assembled at Knoxville on the 11th of January, 1796, and after a session of four weeks a state constitution was adopted, which having been approved by Congress, the new state was on the first of June admitted into the Federal Union as the "State of Tennessee." ³¹⁵

The new Constitution, in its general features, was more Democratic than that of the parent state, and imposed fewer restraints not absolutely necessary for good government. In its provisions it illustrates the principle established by all subsequent constitutions, that the new states, as well as the older which have remodelled their constitutions, exhibit a

uniform tendency in the public mind to render government more and more the instrument of the popular will.

From the adoption of the state government until the year 1840, the advance of population, agriculture, arts, and manufactures was unprecedented in the West. Tennessee, abounding in fertile lands and rich mineral resources, and possessing a genial climate and an enterprising population, has been surpassed by no state in the rapid development of her natural resources, and in the patriotic chivalry of her citizens.

The increase of her population continued to extend her settlements westward into the Valley of the Cumberland and upon the tributaries of the Tennessee River. Four years after the establishment of state government, the population had increased to 105,602 souls, including 13,584 slaves and colored persons. Ten years afterward the census of 1810 gave the whole population at 261,727 souls, including 44,535 slaves and colored persons.

[A.D. 1820.] In ten years more this number had almost doubled, and the census of 1820 gave an entire population of 420,813 souls, including 80,107 slaves and colored persons. The ratio of increase for the next ten years was almost as great. The census of 1830 gave the inhabitants at 681,903 souls, including 141,603 slaves and 4555 colored persons. ³¹⁶

Yet the whole of the present western district of Tennessee, as late as 1816, was an Indian wilderness, in the undisputed occupancy of the native savages. Until that year, the Chickasâ nation occupied the whole western portion of Tennessee, as far eastward as the Tennessee River, and northward to the southern boundary of Kentucky. The rapid advance of the civilized population made it requisite that the Indian tribes should occupy more circumscribed limits; and they retired within the present State of Mississippi, and subsequently to the Indian territory provided for them west of the present State of Arkansas.

It was on the 20th of September, 1816, that General Andrew Jackson, with David Meriwether and Jesse Franklin, concluded a treaty with the Chickasâs, after a protracted negotiation in a general council of the nation. By this treaty, the Chickasâ nation, for a valuable consideration, ceded to the United States large bodies of land lying on both sides of the

Tennessee River, west of the Muscle Shoals, partly in Alabama, and partly within the present State of Mississippi.

This treaty extinguished the Indian title to a large portion of country, and opened the way for the egress of the redundant population. The treaty was ratified by the Senate on the 30th day of December following, and soon after, the lands were surveyed for market. This was the first advance of the whites into the Chickasâ country after the Creek war.

The second relinquishment of lands by the Chickasâs in Tennessee was two years afterward. In this case, negotiations were conducted by General Andrew Jackson and Colonel Isaac Shelby, of Kentucky; and the treaty was finally concluded and signed on the 19th day of October, 1818, and ratified by the Senate on the 7th of January following.

By this treaty the Chickasâ nation cede and relinquish to the United States all their lands in the western part of Tennessee north of latitude 35° and east of the Mississippi. The Chickasâs soon afterward commenced their gradual removal from the ceded territory. Some retired across the Mississippi to the Indian territory west of the present State of Arkansas; others retired into the heart of the nation in North Mississippi, where they remained until the treaty of Pontatoc, sixteen years afterward.

The first white immigrants advanced into the country early in the year 1820, and extended down the tributaries of the Obian, Forked Deer, Hatchy, and Wolf River, to the Mississippi. Among the first settlements upon the Chickasâ Bluffs was one by John Overton, for himself and company, near the old Fort Pickering, below the mouth of Wolf River. The site of a town was laid off in the month of May, and called Memphis, ³¹⁷ which received its first inhabitants the following year.

[A.D. 1822.] Emigration from East and Middle Tennessee began to advance into all the late Chickasâ cession, and the jurisdiction of the state was annually extended over new counties successively erected and organized by the Legislature. Settlements continued to multiply in all the fine cotton lands upon the tributaries of the Hatchy and Wolf Rivers, until the year 1830, when the entire population of the Western District, according to the census of that year, was 94,792 souls, including 26,224 slaves, distributed over fourteen counties. Such had

been the tide of emigration in ten years into the western district of Tennessee.

[A.D. 1840.] The population, wealth, and resources of Tennessee continued to increase almost in an equal ratio for the next ten years. The Indian claim having been extinguished to the entire territory within the state, and the whole Indian population removed from its eastern as well as its western frontier, the energies of the people of Tennessee were untrammeled, and their wealth, resources, and agricultural enterprise even outstripped their prolific population.

The census of 1840 gave the aggregate inhabitants at 829,210 souls, including 183,059 slaves and colored people The Western District alone contained a population of 193,241 persons, comprised in eighteen organized counties. The admirable agricultural resources of this portion of the state had been greatly developed, and it had become an important portion of the great cotton region of the Mississippi Valley. Memphis, the emporium of Western Tennessee, had received the impress of Tennessee enterprise, and was already the third commercial city on the Mississippi River, and the great cotton mart for West Tennessee and North Mississippi. Its population in 1840 was nearly four thousand inhabitants; but such was the enterprise awakened in 1842, that the commerce and population of the city had more than doubled before the year 1846, when it had also been selected as the location of a naval depot for the United States.

[A.D. 1846.] Tennessee, not inaptly, has been called the mother of states. From the bosom of this state have issued more colonies for the peopling of the great Valley of the Mississippi than from any one state in the American Union. ³¹⁸ Her emigrant citizens have formed a very important portion of the population of Alabama, of the northern half of Mississippi, and of Florida. They have also formed the principal portion of the early population of the states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas.

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