History of Western North Carolina - Chapters 3-4



CHAPTER III.
COLONIAL DAYS

Though the mountains were not settled during colonial days except north of
the ridge between the Toe and Watauga rivers, the people who ultimately
crossed the Blue Ridge lived under colonial laws and customs, or descended
from those pioneers who did. Therefore, colonial times in North Carolina,
especially in the Piedmont country, should be of interest to those who
would know how our more remote ancestors lived under English rule. This
should be especially true of those venturesome spirits who first crossed
the Blue Ridge and explored the mountain regions of our State, what-ever
may have been the object of their quest. For "when the first Continental
Congress began its sittings the only frontiersmen west of the mountains
and beyond the limits of continuous settlement within the old thirteen
colonies were the two or three hundred citizens of the Little Watauga
commonwealth.(1) For they were a commonwealth in the truest sense of the
word, being beyond the jurisdiction of any government except that of their
own consciences. In these circumstances they voluntarily formed the first
republican government in America. "The bullding of the Watauga
commonwealth by Robertson and Sevier gave a base of operations and
furnished a model for similar commonwealths to follow."(2)

For the first written compact that, west of the mountains,
Was framed for the guidance of liberty's feet,
Was writ here by letterless men in whose bosoms,
Undaunted, the heart of a paladin beat.

EARL OF GRANVILLE. There were eight Lords Proprietors to whom Carolina was
originally granted in 1663. Among them was Sir George Carteret, afterwards
Earl of Granville.(3) On the 3d of May, 1728, the king of England bought
North Carolina and thus ended the government of the Lords Proprietors. But
he did not buy the interest of the Earl of Granville, who refused to sell;
though he had to give up his share in the government of the colony. Hence,
grants from Earl of Granville are as valid as those from the crown; for in
1743 his share was given him in land. It included about one-half of-the
State, and he collected rents from it till 1776, his dishonest agents
giving the settlers on it great trouble.

MORAVIANS. The Moravians were a band of religious brethren who came to
America to do mission work among the Indians and to gain a full measure of
religious freedom. Their plan was to build a central town on a large
estate and to sell the land around to the members of the brotherhood. The
town was to contain shops, mills, stores, factories, churches and schools.
After selecting several pieces of lowlands, Bishop Spangenberg bought from
the Earl of Granville a large tract in the bounds of the present county of
Forsyth, and called the tract Wachovia, meaning "meadow stream."(4) On
November 17, 1753, a company of twelve men arrived at Wachovia, and
started what is now Salem. This Bishop Spangenberg is spoken of in Hill's
"Young People's History of North Carolina" as Bishop Augustus G.
Spangenberg; while the Spangenberg whose diary is quoted from extensively
in the next few pages signs himself I. Spangenberg. He will be called the
Bishop, nevertheless, because he "spake as one having authority."(5)

FIRST TO CROSS THE BLUE RIDGE. Vol. V, Colonial Records (pp.1 to 14),
contains the diary of I. Spangenberg; of the Moravian church. He is the
first white man who crossed the Blue Ridge in North Carolina, so far as
the records show, except those who had prolonged the Virginia State line
in 1749. He, with his co-religionist, Brother I. H. Antes, left Edenton
September 13, 1752, for the purpose of inspecting and selecting land for
settling Moravian immigrants. The land was to have been granted by Earl
Granville, and the surveyor, Mr. Churton, who accompanied the expedition,
had instructions from that proprietor to survey the lands, and as he was
to be paid three pounds sterling for each 5,000-acre tract, he was averse
to surveying tracts of smaller acreage. His instructions limited him also
to north and south and east and west lines, which frequently compelled the
good Bishop to include mountains in his boundaries that he did not
particularly desire. Having run three lines this surveyor declined to run
the fourth, and the Bishop notes that fact in order to save his brethern
the trouble of searching for lines that were never run or marked. The
surveyor, however, did survey for the Bishop smaller tracts than those
containing 5,000 acres, though reluctantly.

QUAKEH MEADOWS. In Judge Avery's "Historic Homes" (N.C. Booklet, Vol. IV,
No. 3) he refers to the fact that these meadows were so called from the
fact that a Quaker (Moravian) once camped there and traded for furs. This
Quaker was Bishop Spangenberg. He reached on November 12, 1752, the
"neighborhood of what may be called Indian Pass. The next settlement from
here is that of Jonathan Weiss, more familiarly known as Jonathan Perrot.
This man is a hunter and lives 20 miles from here. There are many hunters
about here, who live like Indians: they kill many deer, selling their
hides, and thus live without much work." On the 19th of November he
reached Quaker Meadows, "fifty miles from all settlements and found all we
thought was required for a settlement, very rich and fertile bottoms....
Our survey begins seven or eight miles from the mouth of the 3d river
where it flows into the Catawba. What lies further down the river has
already been taken up. The other [western] line of the survey runs close
to the Blue Ridge. . . . This piece consists of 6,000 acres. We can have
at least eight settlements in this tract, and each will have water, range,
etc. ...I calculate to every settlement eight couples of brethren and
sisters."

BUFFALO TRAILS. There were no roads save those made by buffaloes. The
surveyor was stopped by six Cherokees on a hunt, but they soon became
friendly. November 24th they were five miles from Table Rock, which with
the Hawk's Bill is so conspicuous from Morganton, where they surveyed the
fifth tract of land, of 700 or 800 acres.

MUSICAL WOLVES. "The wolves, which are not like those in Germany, Poland
and Lapland (because they fear men and do not easily come near) give us
such music of six different comets, the like of which I have never heari
in my life. Several brethren, skilled in hunting, will be required to
exterminate panthers, wolves, etc."

OLD INDIAN FIELDS.(6) On November 28th they were camped in an old Indian
field on the northeast branch of Middle Little river of the Catawba, where
they arrived on the 25th, and resolved to take up 2,000 acres of land
lying on two streams, both well adapted to mill purposes. That the Indians
once lived there was very evident--possibly before the war which they
waged with North Carolina--"from the remains of an Indian fort: as also
the tame grass which was still growing about the old residences, and from
the trees." On December 3d they camped on a river in another old Indian
field at the head of a branch of New River, "after passing over frightful
mountains and dangerous cliffs."

WHERE MEN HAD SELDOM TROD. On the 29th they were in camp on the second or
middle fork of Little river, not far from Quaker Meadows "in a locality
that has probably been but seldom trodden by the foot of man since the
creation of the world. For 70 or 80 miles we have been traveling over
terrible mountains and along very dangerous places where there was no way
at all." One might call the place in which they were camped a basin or
kettle, it being a cove in the mountains, rich of soil, and whewre their
horses found abundant pasture among the buffalo haunts and tame grass
among the springs. The wild pea-vines which formerly covered these
mountains, growing even under the forest trees most luxuriantly for years
after the whites came in, afforded fine pasturage for their stock. It also
formed a tangled mat on the surface of the earth through which it was
almost impossible for men to pass. Hence, the pioneers were confined
generally to the Indian and buffalo trails already existing. These pea-
vines return even now whenever a piece of forest land is fenced off a year
or two.

ON THE GRANDFATHER? It would seem that they had been misled by a hunter
whom they had taken along to show them the way to the Yadkin; but had
missed tbe way and on December 3d came "into a region from which there was
no outlet except by climbing up an indescribably steep mountain. Part of
the way we had to crawl on our hands and feet, and sometimes we had to
take the baggage and saddles from the horses, and drag them up, while they
trembled and quivered hke leaves. The next day we journeyed on: got into
laurel bushes and beaver dams and had to cut our way through the bushes.
Arrived at the top at last, we saw hundreds of mountain peaks all around
us, presenting a spectacle like ocean waves in a storm." The descent on
the western side was "neither so steep, nor as deep as before, and then we
came to a stream of water, but no pasture.... The next day we got into
laurel hushes and beaver darns and had to cut our way through the bushes."

WANDERING BEWILDERED IN UNKNOWN WAYS. "Then we changed our course-left the
river and went up the mountain, where the Lord brought us to a delicious
spring, and good pasturage on a chestnut ridge. . . . The next day we came
to a creek so full of rocks that we could not possible cross it; and on
both sides were such precipitous banks that scarcely a man, certainly no
horse could climb them... but our horses had nothing-absolutely nothing. .
. . Directly came a hunter who had climbed a mountain and had seen a large
meadow. Thereupon, we scrambled down . . . and came before night into a
large plain."

CAUGHT IN A MOUNTAIN SNOWSTORM. "We pitched our tent, but scarcely had we
finished when such a fierce wind-storm burst upon us that we could
scarcely protect ourselves against it. I cannot remember that I have ever
in winter anywhere encountered so hard or so cold a wind. The ground was
soon covered with snow ankle deep, and the water froze for us aside the
fire. Our people became thoroughly disheartened. Our horses would
certainly perish and we with them."

IN GOSHEN'S LAND. "The next day we had fine sunshine, and then warmer
days, though the nights were 'horribly' cold. Then we went to examine the
land. A large part of it is already cleared, and there long grass abounds,
and this is all bottom. Three creeks flow together here and make a
considerable river, which flows into the Mississippi according to the best
knowledge of our hunters." There were countless springs but no reeds, but
"so much grass land that Brother Antes thinks a man could make several
hundred loads of hay of the wild grass. . . . There is land here suitable
for wheat, corn, oats, barley, hemp, etc. Some of the land will probably
be flooded when there is high water. There is a magnificent chestnut and
pine forest near here. Whetstones and millstones which Brother Antes
regards the best he has seen in North Carolina are plenty. The soil is
here mostly limestone and of a cold nature. . . . We surveyed this land
and took up 5,400 acres. . . . We have a good many mountains, but they are
very fertile and admit of cultivation. Some of them are already covered
with wood, and are easily accessible. Many hundred--yes, thousand crab-
apple trees grow here, which may be useful for vinegar. One of the creeks
presents a number of admirable seats for milling purposes. This survey is
about 15 miles from the Virginia line, as we saw the Meadow mountain, and
I judged it to be about 20 miles distant. This mountain lies five miles
from the line between Virginia and North Carolina. In all probability this
tract would make an admirable settlement for Christian Indains, like
Grandenhutten in Pennsylvania. There is wood, mast, wild game, fish and a
free range for hunting, and admirable land for corn, potatoes, etc. For
stock raising it is also incomparable. Meadow land and pasture in
abundance." After "a bitter journey among the mountains where we were
virtually lost and whichever way we turned we were litterally walled in on
all sides," they came on December 14, 1752, to the head of Yadkin river,
after having abandonded all streams and paths, and followed a course east
and south, and "scrambling across the mountains as well as we could." Here
a hunter named Owen, "of Welsh stock, invited us into his house and
treated us very kindly." He lived near the Mulberry Fields which had been
taken up by Morgan Bryant, but were uninhabited. The nearest house was 60
miles distant.

THE FIRST HUNTERS. The hunters who assisted the Bishop in finding the
different bodies of suitable land were Herry Day, who lived in Granville,
John Perkins, who lived on the Catawba, "and is known as Andrew Lambert, a
well-known Scotchman," and Jno. Rhode, who "lives about 20 miles from
Capt. Sennit on the Yadkin road." John Perkins was especially commended to
the Brethren as "a diligent and true worthy man, and a friend to the
Brethren." The late Judge A. C. Avery said he was called "Gentleman John,"
and that Johns river in Burke was named for him.(7)

SETTLERS FROM PENNSYLVANIA. "Many of the immigrants were sent to
Pennsylvania, and they had traveled as far west as Pittsburg early in the
18th century. The Indians west of the Mleghanies were, however, fiercer
than any the Quakers had met; but to the southwest for several hundred
miles the Appalachians "run in parallel ranges . . through Virginia, West
Virginia, the Carolinas and East Tennessee and through these "long, deep
troughs between these ranges . . . Pennsylvanians freely wandered into the
South and Southwest . . . "and "between the years 1732 and 1750, numerous
groups of Pennsylvanians-Germans and Irish largely, with many Quakers
among them-had been . . . gradually pushing forward the line of
settlement, until now it had reached the upper waters of the Yadkin river,
in the north-west corner of North Carolina."(8) "Thus was the wilderness
tamed by a steady stream of immigration from the older lands of the
northern colonies, while not a few penetrated to this Arcadia through the
passes of the Blue Ridge, from eastern Virginia and the Carolinas."(9)

NICK-A-JACK's CAVE. Almost the first difficulties those who first crossed
the mountains encountered was from the depredations of renegade Indians
and desperate white men defiant of law and order. There was at this time
(1777-78) a body of free-booters, composed of "adventurous and unruly
members from almost all the western tribes--Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws,
Choctaws, and Indians from the Ohio, generally known as Chickamaugas. Many
Tories and white refugees from border justice joined them and shared in
their misdeeds. Their shifting villages stretched from Chickamauga creek
to Running Water. Between these places the Tennessee twists down through
the somber gorges by which the chalns of the Cumberland range are riven in
sunder. Some miles below Chickamauga creek, near Chattanooga, Lookout
mountain towers aloft into the clouds; at its base tbe river bends round
Moccasin Point, and then rushes through a gap between Walden's Ridge and
the Raccoon Hills. Then, for several miles, it foams through the winding
Narrows between jutting cliffs and sheer rock walls, while in its boulder-
strewn bed the swift torrent is churned into whirlpools, cataracts, and
rapids. Near the Great Crossing, where the war parties and hunting parties
were ferried over the river, lies Nick-a-jack's cave, a vast cavern in the
mountain-side. Out of it flows a stream up which a canoe can paddle two or
three miles into the heart of the mountain. In these high fastnesses,
inaccessible ravines, and gloomy caverns the Chickamaugas built their
towns, and to them they retired with their prisoners and booty after every
raid on the settlements."

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR LAND WARRANTS.(10) The Chickamaugas lived on
Chickamauga creek and in the mountains about where Chattanooga now stands;
they were kinsmen of the Cherokees. In 1748 Dr. Thomas Walker and a party
of hunters came from Virginia into Powell's Valley, crossing the mountains
at Curnberland gap, and named it - and the river in hono? of the Duke of
Cumberland, Prime Minister of England. In 1756-7 the English built Fort
Loudon, 30 miles from Knoxville, as the French were trying to get the
Cherokees to make war on the North Carolina settlers. After the treaty of
peace between France and England in 1763 many hunters poured over the
mountains into Tennessee; though George III had ordered his governors not
to allow whites to trespass on Indian lands west of the mountains, and if
any white man did buy Indian lands and and the Indians moved away the land
should belong to the king. He appointed Indian commissioners; but the
whites persisted, -some remaining a year or more to hunt and were -called
Long Hunters. Land warrants - had been issued to officers and soldiers who
had fought in the French and Indian wars and those issued by North
Carolina wanted td settle in what is now Tennessee. The Iroquois
complained that whites were killing their stock and taking their lands,
and at a great Indian council at Fort Stanwix, at Rome, N. Y., the
northern tribes gave England title to all their lands between the Ohio and
Tennessee rivers in 1767. But the Indian commissioners for the southern
tribes called a council at Hard Labor, S. C., and bought title to the same
land from the Cherokees. These treaties were finished in 1768. William
Bean in 1769 was living in a log cabin where Boone's creek joins the
Watauga. In 1771 Parker and Carter set up a store at Rogersville, and
people from Abingdon (called Wolf's Hill) followed, and -the settlement
was called the Carter's Valley settlement. In 1772 Jacob Brown opened a
store on the Nollechucky river, and pioneers settling around, it was
called Nollechucky- settlement. Shortly before Bean had settled the
Cherokees had attacked the Chickasaws and been defeated, and the settlers -
got a ten years' lease from Indians for lands they claimed. In May 1771,
at Alamance, Tryon had defeated the Regulators and many of them had moved
to Tennessee. Most settlers in Tennessee thought they were in Virginia,
but either Richmond or Raleigh was too far off, so they formed the Watauga
Association in 1772 and a committee of 13 elected five commissioners to
settle disputes, etc., with judicial powers and some executive duties
also. It was a free government by the consent of every individual. When
the Revolutionary War began Watauga Association named their country
Washington District and voted themselves indebted to the United Colonies
for their share of the expenses of the war.

THE WATAUGA SETTLEMENT AND INDIAN WARS. This caused the British government
to attempt the destruction of these settlements by inciting the Cherokees
to make war upon them. Alexander Cameron was the Indian commissioner for
the British and he furnished the Indians with guns and ammunition for that
purpose; but in the spring of 1776, Nancy Ward, a friendly Indian woman,
told the white settlers that 700 Cherokee warriors intended to attack the
settlers. They did so, but were defeated at Heaton's Station and at
Watauga Fort. In these battles the settlers were aided by Virginia. James
Robertson and John Sevier were leaders in these times. It was after this
that Virginia and North Carolina and South Carolina sent soldiers into the
Cherokee country of North Carolina for the extermination of the savage
Cherokees.(11) In August 1776 the Watauga Settlement asked to be annexed
by North Carolina, 113 men signing the petition, all of whom signed their
names except two, who made their marks. There seems to be no record of any
formal annexation; but in November, 1770, the Provisional Congress of
North Carolina met at Halifax and among the delegates present were John
Carter, John Sevier, Charles Robertson and John Haile from the Washington
District. It is, therefore, safe to conclude that Watauga had been
annexed, for these men helped to frame the first free constitution of the
State of North Carolina. But this Watauga Association seems to have
continued its independent government until February, 1778; for in 1777
(November) Washington District became Washington county with boandaries
coterminous with those of the present State of Tennessee. Magistrates or
justices of the peace took the oath of office in February, 1778, when the
entire county began to be governed under the laws of North Carolina. Thus,
the Watauga Association was the germ of the State of Tennessee, and
although there is on a tree near Boone's creek an inscription indicating
that Daniel Boone killed a bear there in 1760, William Bean appears to
have been the first permanent settler of that section. Indeed, this author
states that Col. Richard Henderson, of North Carolina, induced Boone to
make his first visit to Kentucky in the spring of 1769, and that James
Robertson, afterwards "The Father of Middle Tennessee," accompanied him;
but stopped on the Watuaga with William Bean and raised a crop, removing
his family from Wake county in 1770 or 1771.

FORTS LOUDON AND DOBBS. Fort Loudon was on the Little Tennessee. It was
attacked and besiged by the Indians, and surrendered August 9, 1760, after
Indian women had kept the garrison in food a long time in defiance of
their own tribesmen.(12) In 1756 Fort Dobbs was constructed a short
distance south of the South Fork of the Yadkin.(13) For the first few
years Fort Dobbs was not much used,(14) the Catawbas being friendly; but
in 1759 the Yadkin and Catawba valleys were raided by the Cherokees, with
the usual results of ruined crops, burned farm buildings, and murdered
households. The Catawbas, meanwhile, remained faithful to their white
friends. Until this outbreak the Carolinas had greatly prospered; but
after it most of the Yadkin families, with the English fur-traders,
huddled within the walls of Fort Dobbs, but many others fled to
settlements nearer the Atlantic.(15) In the early winter of 1760 the
governors of Virginia and North and South Carolina agreed upon a joint
campaign against the hostiles, and attacked the Cherokee towns on the
Little Tennessee in the summer of 1760, completely crushing the Indians
and sent 5,000 men, women and children into the hills to starve.(16) With
the opening of 1762 the southwest border began to be reoccupied, and the
abandoned log cabins again had fires lighted upon their hearths, the
deserted clearing were again cultivated, and the pursuits of peace
renewed.(17)

REMAINS OF FORT LOUDON. In June, 1913, Col. J. Fain Anderson, a noted
historian of Washington College, Tenn., visited Fort Loudon, and found the
outline of the ditches and breastworks still visible. The old well was
walled up, but the waIl has fallen in. He says there were twelve small
iron cannon in this fort in 1756, all of which had been "packed over the
mountains on horses," and that a Mr. Steele who lives at McGee's Station-
the nearest railroad station to the old fort-has a piece of one of them
which his father ploughed up over forty years ago. The land on Which the
fort stood now belongs to James Anderson, a relative of J. F. Anderson,
near the mouth of Tellico creek. But no tablet marks the site of this
first outpost of our pioneer ancestors.

WESTWARD THE COURSE OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY. From Judge A. C. Avery's
"Historic Homes of North Carolina" (N. C. Booklet, Vol. iv, No.3) we get a
glimpse of the slow approach of the whites of the Blue Ridge "According to
tradition the Quaker Meadows farm near Morganton was so called long before
the McDowells or any other whites established homes in Burke county, and
derived its name from the fact that the Indians, after clearing parts of
the broad and fertile bottoms, had suffered the wild grass to spring up
and form a large meadow, near which a Quaker had camped before the French
and Indian War, and traded for furs." This was none other than Bishop I.
Spangenberg, the Moravian, who, on the 19th of November, 1752, (Vol. v,
Colonial Records, p.6) records in his diary that he was encamped near
Quaker Meadows "in the forest 50 miles from any settlement."

THE McDOWELL FAMILY. Judge Avery goes on to give some account of the
McDowells: Ephraim McDowell, the first of the name in this country, having
emigrated from the north of Ireland, when at the age of 2, accompanied by
two sons, settled at the old McDowell home in Rockbridge county, Virginia.
His grandson Joseph and his grandnephew "Hunting John" moved South about
1760, but owing to the French and Indian War went to the northern border
of South Carolina, where their sturdy Scotch-Irish friends had already
named three counties of the State, York, Chester and Lancaster. One reason
for the late settlement of these Piedmont regions was because the English
land agents dumped the Scotch-Irish and German immigrants in Pennsylvania,
from which State some moved as soon as possible to the unclaimed lands of
the South.

"HUNTING JOHN" AND HIS SPORTING FRIENDS. "But as soon as the French and
jindian war permitted the McDowells removed to Burke. 'Hunting John' was
so called because of his venturing into the wilderness in pursuit of game,
and was probably the first to live at his beautiful home, Pleasant
Gardens, in the Catawba Valley, in what is now McDowell county. About this
time also his cousin Joseph settled at Quaker Meadows; though 'Hunting
John' first entered Swan Ponds, about three miles above Quaker Meadows,
but afterwards sold it, without having occupied it, to Waightstill Avery.
. . The McDowells and Carsons of that day and later reared thorough-bred
horses, and made race-paths in the broad lowlands of every large farm.
They were superb horsemen, crack shots and trained hunters. John McDowell
of Pleasant Gardens was a Nimrod when he lived in Virginia, and we learn
from tradition that he acted as guide for his cousins over the hunting
grounds when, at the risk of their lives, they, with their kinsmen, James
Greenlee and Captain Bowman, [who fell at Ramseur's Mill in the
Revolutionary War] traveled over and inspected the valley of the Catawba
from Morganton to Old Fort, and selected the large domain allotted to each
of them."

LOG-CABIN LADIES' WHIMS. "They built and occupied strings of cabins,
because the few plank or boards used by them were sawed by hand and the
nails driven into them were shaped in a blacksmith's shop. I have seen
many old buildings, such as the old houses at Fort Defiance, the Lenoir
house and Swan Ponds, where every plank was fastened by a wrought nail
with a large round head sometimes half an inch in diameter. From these
houses the lordly old proprietors could in half an hour go to the water or
the woods and provide fish, deer or turkeys to meet the whim of the lady
of the house. They combined the pleasure of sport with the profit of
providing their tables.... 'Hunting John' probably died in 1775."

LIVING WITHOUT LAW OR GOSPEL? William Byrd, the Virginia commissioner who
helped to run the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia in 1728,
wrote to Governor Barrington, July 20, 1731,(18) that it "must be owned
that North Carolina is a very happy country where people may live with the
least labor that they can in any part of the world," and are accustomed to
live without law or gospel, and will with great reluctance submit to
either." This is still true of North Carolina, except the statement-which
was never true-that we were accustomed to live without law or gospel in
1731; for when this identical gentleman was seeking to get paid for his
services as a commissioner to run the boundary line in 1728, he wrote the
Board of Trade that the Reverend Peter Fountain, the chaplain of that
survey "christened over 100 children among the settlers along the line in
North Carolina."

A "BIRD" WHO SPELT HIS NAME IMPROPERLY. In spite of his animadversions
upon the pioneer settlers of the eastern part of our State, we must always
incline to forgive Col. William Byrd of Westover after reading his piquant
and learned disquisitions upon many matters in the "Dividing Line." He
must truly have been what we of more modern times call a "Bird," although
he spelt his name with a y.

WHERE EVERY DAY WAS SUNDAY.(19) Following are Col. Byrd's Pictures of
Colonial Days: "Our Chaplain, for his Part, did his Office, and rubb'd us
up with a Seasonable Sermon. This was quite a new Thing to our Brethren of
North Carolina, who live in a climate where no clergyman can Breathe any
more than Spiders in Ireland. For want of men in Holy Orders, both the
Members of the Council and Justices of the Peace are empowered by the Laws
of that Country to marry all those who will not take One another's Word;
but for the ceremony of Christening their children, they trust that to
chance. If a parson come in their way, they will crave a Cast of his
office, as they call it, else they are content their offspring should
remain Arrant Pagans as themselves. They account it among their greatest
advantages that they are not Priest-ridden, not remembering that the
Clergy is rarely guilty of Bestriding such as have the misfortune to be
poor.... One thing may be said for the Inhabitants. of that Province, that
they are not troubled with any Religious Fumes, and have the least
Superstition of any People living. They do not know Sunday from any other
day, any more than Robinson Crusoe did, which would. give them a great
Advantage were they given to be industrious. But they keep so many
Sabbaths every week, that their disregard of the Seventh Day has no manner
of cruelty in it, either to servants or cattle."

NYMPH ECHO IN THE DISMAL SWAMP.(20) Once, when separated from their
companions, Col. Byrd "ordered Guns to be fired and a drum to be beaten,
but received no Answer, unless it was from that prating Nymph Echo, who,
like a loquacious Wife, will always have the last word, and Sometimes
return three for one."

THEY BROUGRT NO CAPONS FOR THE PARSON.(21) Some of the people were
apprehensive that the survey would throw their homes into Virginia. "In
that case they must have submitted to some Sort of Order and Government;
whereas, in North Carohna, every One does what seems best in his own Eyes.
There were some good Women that brought their children to be Baptiz'd, but
brought no Capons along with them to make the solemnity cheerful. In the
meantime it was Strange that none came to be marry'd in such a Multitude,
if it had only been for the Novelty of having their Hands Joyn'd by one in
Holy Orders. Yet so it was, that tho' our chaplain Christen'd above an
Hundred, he did not marry so much as one Couple during the whole
Expedition. But marriage is reckon'd a Lay contract, as I said before, and
a Contry Justice can tie the fatal Knot there, as fast as an Archbishop."

GENTLEMEN SMELL LIQUOR THIRTY MILES.(22) "We had several Visitors from
Edenton [who] . . . having good Noses, had smelt out, at 30 Miles
Distance, the Precious Liquor, with which the Liberality of our good
Friend Mr. Mead had just before supply'd us. That generous Person had
judg'd yery right, that we were now got out of the Latitude of Drink
proper for men in Affliction, and therefore was so good as to send his
Cart loaden with all sorts of refreshments, for which the Commissioners
return'd Him their Thanks, and the Chaplain His Blessing."

GETTING UP AN APPETITE FOR DOG.(23) "The Surveyors and their Attendants
began now in good earnest to be alarmed with Apprehensions of Famine, nor
could they forbear looking with Some Sort of Appetite upon a dog that had
been the faithful Companion of their Travels."

POVERTY WITH CONTENTMENT.(24) The following is Col. Byrd's idea of some of
our people who lived near Edenton in 1728:

"Surely there is no place in the world where the inhabitants live with
less labor than in North Carolina? It approaches nearer to the description
of Lubberland than any other, by the great felicity of the Climate, the
easiness of raising provisions, and the Slothfulness of the People....
The Men, for their Parts, just like the Indians, impose all the Work upon
the poor Women. They niske their Wives rise out of their Beds early in the
morning, at the same time that they lye and Snore, till the sun has run
one third his course, and disperst all the unwholesome damps. Then, after
Stretching and Yawning for half an Hour, they light their Pipes, and,
under the Protection of a cloud of Smoak, venture out into the open Air;
tho', if it happens to he never so little cold they quickly return
Shivering into the Chinincy corner. When the weather is mild, they stand
leaning with both their arms upon the corn-field fence, and gravely
consider whether they had best go and take a Small Heat at the Hough; but
generally find reasons to put it off till another time. Thus they loiter
away their lives, like Solomon's Sluggard, with their arms across, and at
the Winding up of the Year Scarcely have Bread to Eat. To speak the truth,
'tis aversion to Labor that makes People ifie off to N. Carolina, where
Plenty and a warm Sun conarm them in their disposition to Lasiness for
their whole Lives."


OUR COMMISSIONER TREATS THE PARSON TO A FRICASSEE OF RUM.(25) The chaplain
went once to Edenton, accompanied by Mr. Little, one of the North Carolina
commissioners, who to shew his regard for the Church, offer'd to treat Him
on the Road with a fricassee of Rum. They fry'd half a Dozen Rashers of
very fat Bacon in a Pint of Rum, both of which being disht up together,
served the Company at once for meat and Drink."

THE DEMOCRACY OF THE COLONISTS.(26) "They are rarely guilty of Flattering
or making any Court to their governors, but treat them with all the
Excesses of Freedom and Familiarity. They are of opinlon their rulers
wou'd be apt to grow insolent, if they grew rich; and for that reason take
care to keep them poorer, and more dependent, if possible than the Saints
in New England used to do their Governors."

THE MEN OF ALAMANCE. Meantime the exactions of the British tax collectors
had brought on the Regulators War, and the battle of Alamance in May,
1771, resulted in the departure of a "company of fourteen families" from
"the present county of Wake to make new homes across the mountains.(27)
The men led the way and often had to clear a road with their axes. Behind
the axinen 'went a mixed procession of women, children, dogs, cows and
pack-horses loaded with kettles and beds." These settled in Tennessee on
the Watauga river. James Robertson, "a cool, brave, sweet-natured man was
the leader of the company." Then came John Sevier and many others. In the
language of the Hon. George Bancroft, historian and at that time minister
to England, "it is a mistake if anyone have supposed that the Regulators
were cowed down by their defeat at Alamance. Like the mammoth, they took
the bolt from their brow and crossed the mountains." Of them and those who
followed them, Hon. John Allison in his "Dropped Stitches of Tennessee
History" (p.37) says:

"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 organimng and lived under five
different governnnents; 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 Kings Mountain to the gates of Charleston, gulning 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 fameas a heritage, and a commonwealth
of which it is their privilege to be proud."

THE FREEST OF THE FREE. The historian, George Bancroft, exclaims: "Are
there any who doubt man's capacity for self-government? Let them study the
history of North Carolina. Its inhabitants were restless and turbulent in
their imperfect submission to a government imposed from abroad; the
administration of the colony was firm, humane and tranquil when they were
left to take care of themselves. Any government but one of their own
institution was oppressive. North Carolina was settled by the freest of
the free."(28)

THE FIRST PUBLIC DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. This was made at Halifax, N.
C., by the Provisional Congress, April 12, 1776, when its delegates to the
Continental Congress were authorized to concur with other delegates in
"declaring independence and forming foreign alliances," reserving the
right of forming a constitution and laws for North Carolina.

THE SCOTCH-IRISH; THEIR ORIGIN AND RELIGION.(29) "Men will not be fully
able to understand Carolina till they have opened the treasures of history
and drawn forth some few particulars respecting the origin and religious
habits of the Scotch-Irish and become familiar with their doings previous
to the Revolution-during that painful struggle-and the succeeding years of
prosperity; and Carolina will be respected as she is knwon."

IN PIONEER DAYS.(30) The men and boys wore moccasins, short pantaloons and
leather leggings, hunting shirts, which were usually of dressed deerskin,
cut like the modern shirt, open the entire length in front and fastened by
a belt. In this belt were carried a small hatchet and a long, sharp
hunting knife. They wore caps of mink or coon skin, with the tail hanging
behind for a tassel. The rifles were long, muzzle-loading, flint-locks,
and in a pouch hung over one shoulder were carried gun-wipers, tow,
patching, bullets, and flints, while fastened to the strap was a horn for
powder. The women and girls wore sun bonnets, as a rule, and had little
time to spend on tucks and ruffles. There was no place at which to buy
things except the stores of Indian traders, and they had very few things
white people wanted. . . The pioneer moved into a new country on foot or
on horse back and brought his household goods on pack horses. They were
about as follows The family clothing, some blankets and a few other bed
clothes, with bed ticks to be filled with grass or hair, a large pot, a
pair of pothooks, an oven with lid, a skillet, and a frying pan, a hand
mill to grind grain, a wooden trencher in which to make bread, a few
pewter plates, spoons, and other dishes, some axes and hoes, the iron
parts of plows, a broadax, a froe, a saw and an auger. Added to these were
supplies of seed for field and vegetable crops, and a few fruit trees.
When their destination was reached the men and boys cut trees and built a
log house, split boards with the froe and made a roof which was held on by
weight poles, no nails being available. Puncheons were made by splitting
logs and hewing the fiat sides smooth for floors and door shutters. Some
chimneys were made of split sticks covered on the inside with a heavy
coating of clay; but usually stones were used for this purpose, as they
were plentiful. The spaces between the log walls were filled in by mortar,
called chinks and dobbin. Rough bedsteads were fixed in the corners of the
rooms farthest from the fire place, and rude tables and benches were
constructed, with three-legged stools as seats. Pegs were driven into the
walls, and on the horns of bucks the rifle was usually suspended above the
door. Windows were few and unglazed. Then followed the spinning wheel, the
reel, and the hand loom. Cards for wool had to be bought. The horses and
cattle were turned into the woods to eat grass in summer and cane in
winter, being enticed home at night by a small bait of salt or grain. The
small trees and bushes were cut and their roots grubbed up, while the
larger trees were girdled and left to die and become leafless. Rails were
made and the clearing fenced in, the brush was piled and burnt, and the
land was plowed and planted. After the first crop the settler usually had
plenty, for his land was new and rich. Indeed, the older farmers of this
region were so accustomed to clearing a "new patch" when the first was
worn out, instead of restoring the old land by modern methods, that even
at this time they know little or nothing of reclaiming exhausted land.
Cooking was done on the open hearths by the women who dressed the skins of
wild animals and brought water from the spring in rude pails, milked the
cows, cut firewood, spun, wove, knit, washed the clothing, and tended the
bees, chickens and gardens. When the men and boys were not at work in the
fields they were hunting for game. After the first settlement time was
found for cutting down the larger trees for fields, and the logs were
rolled together by the help of neighbors and burned. The first rude cabin
home was turned into a stable or barn and a larger and better log house
constructed. When the logs had been hewed and notched neighbors were
invited to help in raising the walls. The log-rollings and house--raisings
were occasions for large dinners, some drinking of brandy and whiskey,
games and sports of various kinds. There were no schools and no churches
at first, and no wagon roads; but all these things followed slowly.

OTHER EARLY EXPLORERS. In the case of Avery V. Walker, (8 N. C., p.117) it
appears that Col. James Hubbard and Captain John Hill had "been members of
Col. George Dohorty's party" and explored "the section of country sround
Bryson City, Swain county, shortly before April 22, 1795"; that Col. John
Patton, the father of Lorenzo and Montreville Patton of Buncombe, and who
owned the meadow land on the Swannanoa river which was sold to George W.
Vanderbilt by Preston Patton, and the "haunted house" at the ford of that
river, when the stage road left South Main street at what is now Victoria
Road and crossed the Swannanoa, there, instead of at Biltmdre, was then
county surveyor of Buncombe, and refused to survey land on Ocona Lufty for
Waightstill Avery because it was "on the frontier and the Indian boundary
had not then actually been run out, and it might be dangerous to survey
near the line." Also that Dohorty's party had a battle with the Indians at
the mouth of Soco creek, and that what is now Bryson city was then called
Big Bear's village. In Eu-Che-Lah V. Welch (10 N. C., p.158) will be found
an exhaustive study of the laws of Great Britain in colonial days
regarding the granting of Indian lands and of the various treaties made by
the State with the Cherokee Indians since July 4, 1776.

[Notes for this chapter currently not available]



CHAPTER IV.
DANIEL BOONE

Just as seven cities contended for the honor of having been the birthplace
of Homer; so, too, many states are proud to boast that Boone once lived
within their borders. But North Carolina was the home of his boyhood, his
young manhood and the State in which he chose his wife. From his home at
Holman's Ford he passed to his cabin in the village of Boone on frequent
occasions, making hunting trips from that point into the surrounding
mountains. From there, too, he started on his trips into Kentucky.

From an address read by Miss Esther Ransom, daughter of the late U. S.
Senator Matt. W. Ransom, to Thomas Polk Chapter, D. A. R., the following
is copied:

"It has been argued that Boone did not fight in the Revolutionary war.
This is true. He was ~ busy fighting Indians in Kentucky, the 'dark and
bloody ground.' Let me impress it upon you that but for Booue and Clark
and Denton and the other Indian fighters there wouldn't have been any
Revolutionary war; no Kings Mountain, no Guilford Court House, no
Yorktown. The Indians were natural allies of the British. British money
supplied them with arms and ammunition and King George III was constantly
inciting them through his officers, to murder and destroy the Patriots.
"Just suppose for a moment if, at Kings Mountain where the mountain men
surrendered Ferguson they, in their turn, had been surrounded by five
hundred or a thousand Indians. The day would have ended in dire disaster
and it would have taken another Caesar to have rescued the Patriots from
that terrible predicament.

"Daniel Boone did as much or more service for our country in fighting
Indians and keeping them back as if he had served in the war with
Washington and Green.

"Like Washington, Boone was a surveyor. He surveyed nearly all the' land
in Kentucky. He was a law maker. He passed a law for the protection of
game in Kentucky and also one for keeping up the breed of fine horses.

"Roosevelt in his vigorous English calls him 'Road-Builder, town-maker and
Commonwealth founder,' and when Kentucky had representation in Virignia,
Boone sat in the house of commons as a Burgess.

"He might be styled the 'Nimrod' of the United States, fbr truly 'He was a
mighty hunter before the Lord."

JOHN FINLEY. Finley was the Scotch-Irishman who had descended the Ohio
river as far an Louisville in 1752; and who, nfter Boone's return from his
trip to the Big Sandy in 1767, turned up at Boone's cabin at Holman's Ford
in the winter of 1768-69(1). He had suggested when on the Braddock
expedition that Boone might reach Kentucky "by following the trail of the
buffaloes and the Shawnese, northwestward through Cumberland gap."(2)
"Scaling the lofty Blue Ridge, the explorers passed over Stone and Iron
mountains and reached Holston Valley, whence they proceeded through
Moccasin gap of Clinch mountain and crossed over intervening rivers and
densely wooded hills until they came to Powell's Valley, then the furthest
limits of white settlement. Here they found a hunters' trail which led
them through Cumberland gap."(3) If they did this by the easiest and
shortest route, they passed up the Shawnee trail on the ridge between Elk
and Stony forks through Cooks gap, down by Three Forks of New river,
through what is now Boone village and Hodges gap, across the Grave Yard
gap down to Dog Skin creek, following the base of Rich mountain to State
Line gap between Zionville and Trade to the hea4 of Roan creek to the
crossing of the two Indian trails at what is now Shoun's Cross Roads, and
thence over the Iron mountain~. Any other route would have been
deliberately to go wrong for the sake of doing so. From any eminence that
route seemed to have been marked out by nature.

BENJAMIN CUTBIRTH. This name was pronounced Cutbaird according to the
recollection of Cyrus Grubb, a prominent citizen of Watauga, and Benjamin
Cuthbirth's name appears on the records of Ashe county as having conveyed
100 acres of land on the South Fork of New river to Andrew Ferguson in
1800. This is the same "Scotch-Irishman" who had married Elizabeth
Wilcoxen, a neice of Daniel Boone, at the close of the French and Indian
war, and when he was about twenty-three years old. In 1767 he and John
Stuart, John Baker and John Ward, crossed the mountains and went to the
Mississippi river, where they spent a year or two, going even to New
Orleans.(4)

HOLMAN'S FORD. About this time Daniel Boone moved sixty-five miles west
from the Yadkin settlement near Dutchman's creek, "choosing his final home
on the upper Yadkin just above the mouth of Beaver creek.(5) Col. James M.
Isbell's grantfather, Martin, told him that Daniel Boone used to live six
miles below James M. Isbell's present home near the bank of the Yadkin
river, on a little creek now known as Beaver creek, one mile from where it
flows into the Yadkin river, near Holman's ford. The Boone house was in a
little swamp and canebrake surrounding the point of a ridge, with but one
approach-that by the ridge. The swamp was in the shape of a horse-shoe,
with the point of the ridge projecting into it. The foundations of the
chimney are still there, and the cabin itself has not been gone more than
52 years. Alfred Foster who owned the land showed Col. Isbell the cabin,
which was still there during his boyhood, and he remembered how it looked.
His grandmother, the wife of Benjamin Howard, knew Boone well as he often
stayed with her father, Benjamin Howard, at the mouth of Elk creek, now
Elkville.(6)

BOONE'S TRIP TO KENTUCKY. There is no evidence except the inscription on
the leaning beech at Boone's Creek nine miles north of Jonesboro, Tenn.,
that Boone was at that spot in 1760. Thwaite's life of Boone, compiled
from the Draper manuscript in the Wisconsin State library, says that in
the spring of 1759, Boone and two of his sons went to Culpepper [sic]
county, Virginia, where he was employed in hauling tobacco to
Fredericksburg, and that he was again a member of Hugh Waddell's regiment
of 500 North Carolinians, when, in 1761, they fought and defeated the
Cherokees at Long Island on the Hoiston. He cites the inscription but
gives no other facts.(7) As 1769 is generally considered the date of his
first trip across the mountains, it becomes important to state that
Thwaite (p.69) says that, in 1767, Boone's brother-in-law, John Stewart,
and Benjamin Cutbirth, who had married Boone's niece, and several others,
went west as far as the Mississippi, crossing the mountains and returning
before 1769; and that Boone himself, and William Hall, his friend, and,
possibly, Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, in the fall of 1767, still
desiring to get to Kentucky-of which he had been told by John Finley, whom
he had met in the Braddock expedition-crossed the mountains into the
valleys of the Holston and the Clinch, and reached the headwaters of the
west fork of the Big Sandy, returning to Holman's Ford in the spring of
1768.

COLONEL JAMES M. ISBELL. According to the statement made by this
gentleman, in May, 1909, Benjamin Howard, his grandfather, owned land near
the village of Boone, and used to range his stock in the mountains
surrounding that picturesque village. He built a cabin of logs in front of
what is now the Boys' Dormitory of the Appalachian Training School for the
accommodation of himself and his herders whenever he or they should come
from his home on the head waters of the Yadkin, at Elkville. Among the
herders was an African slave named Burrell. When Col. Isbell was a boy,
say, about 1845, Burrell was still alive, but was said to have been over
one hundred years of age. He told Col. Isbell that he had piloted Daniel
Boone across the Blue Ridge to the Howard cabin the first trip Boone ever
took across the mountains.

BOONE'S TRAIL.(8) They went up the ridge between Elk creek and Stony Fork
creek, following a well-known Indian trail, passed through what is now
called Cook's gap, and on by Three Forks church to what is now Boone.
There is some claim that Boone passed through Deep gap; but that is six
miles further north than Cook's gap, and that much out of a direct course.
If Boone wanted to go to Kentucky he knew his general course was
northwest; and having reached the town of Boone or Howard's cabin, his
most direct route would have been through Hodge's gap, down Brushy Fork
creek two miles, and then crossing the Grave Yard gap to Dog Skin creek;
then along the base of Rich mountain, crossing what was then Sharp's creek
(now Silverstone) to the gap between what is now Zionville in North
Carolina and Trade in Tennessee. He would then have been at the head of
Roan's that creek, down which he is known to have passed as far as what is
now known as Shoun's Cross Roads. There, on a farm once owned by a Wagner
and now by Wiley Jenkins, he camped. His course from there in a
northwesterly direction cabin would have led him across the Iron and
Hoiston mountains to the Holston river and Powell's Valley. There is also
atradition that he followed the Brushy Fork creek from Hodge's gap to Cove
creek; thence down Cove creek to Rock House branch at Dr. Jordan B.
Phillips'-also a descendant of Benjamin Howard-across Ward gap to the
Beaver Dams; then across Baker's gap to Roan's creek; thence down it to
its mouth in the Watauga at what is now Butler, Tenn. Also, that when he
got to the mouth of the Brushy fork he crossed over to the Beaver-Dams
through what has for many years been called George's gap; and thence over
Baker's gap.(9) If he took either of these routes he preferred to cross
two high mountains and to follow an almost due southwest course to
following a well-worn and well-known Indian trail which was almost level
and that led directly in the direction he wished to go. A road now leaves
the wagon road nearly opposite the Brushy Fork Baptist church, about three
miles from Boone, and crosses a ridge over to Dog Skin creek, and thence
over the Grave Yard gap to Silverstone, Zionville, and Trade, thus cutting
off the angle made by following Brushy Fork to its mouth.(10) Tradition
says the Indian trail also crossed Dog Skin and the Grave Yard gap. Yet,
while this seems to be the most feasible and natural trail, the venerable
Levi Morphew, now well up in ninety, thinks Boone had a camp on Boone's
branch of Hog Elk, two miles east of the Winding Stairs trail, by which he
probably crossed the Blue Ridge, which would have taken him four miles
northeast of Cook's gap, and Col. Bryan states that there is a tradition
that Boone passed through Deep gap, crossed the Bald mountain and Long
Hope creek, through the Ambrose gap and so into Tennessee. No doubt all
these routes were followed by Boone during his hunting trips through these
mountains prior to his first great treck into Kentucky; but on that
important occasion it is more than probable that, as his horses were
heavily laden with camp equipage, salt, ammunition and supplies, he
followed the easiest, most direct, and most feasible route, and that was
via Cook's gap, Three Forks, Hodges' gap, across Dog Skin, over the Grave
Yard gap, to Zionville and Trade and thence to what is now known as
Shoun's Cross Roads.

BOONE'S CABIN MONUMENT. The chimney stones of the cabin in which it is
said that Boone camped while hunting in New river valley are still visible
at the site of that cabin where it is said Boone was found one snowy night
seated by a roaring fire when the young couple who had occupied it the
night before and had allowed their fire to go entirely out, returned from
a trip to the Yadkin for a "live chunk" with which to rekindle it; but
which they had dropped in the snow when almost at Boone's cabin, thus
putting it out, and leaving them as badly off as when they had set out
that morning. Boone had struck fire from his flint and steel rifle and
caught the spark in tow, from which he had kindled his blaze. Upon this
site, that public-spirited citizen, the venerable and well informed Col.
W. L. Bryan, now in his 76th year, has erected an imposing stone and
concrete monument, whose base is seven by seven feet, with a shaft 26 feet
in height. On the side facing the road is the following inscription,
chiseled in white marble: "Daniel Boone, Pioneer and Hunter; Born Feb. 11,
1735; Died Sep. 26, 1820." On the opposite side of the monument on a
similar stone is the following: "W. L. Bryan, Son of Battle and Rebecca
Miller Bryan; Born Nov.19, 1837; Built Daniel Boone Monument, Oct. 1912.
Cost $203.27."

BOONE'S WATAUGA RELATIVES. William Coffey married Anna Boone, a sister of
Jesse Boone and a neice of Daniel Boone. She had another brother called
Israel Boone. Jesse Boone undoubtedly lived in a cabin which used to stand
in a field four miles from Shull's mills and two miles from Kelsey post
office, where he had cleared a field. The chimney foundation is still
shown as his. On the 8th of July, 1823, Jesse Boone conveyed to William
and Alexander Elrod for $600 350 acres of land on Flannery's fork of New
River and on Roaring branch, about two miles southeast of Boone village;
adjoining land then being owned by John Agers, Jesse Council and Russell
Sams, and now owned in part by J. W. Farthing. This deed was registered in
Book M, page 391, of Ashe county records, July 2, 1841. When Jesse Boone's
sister, Anna Coffey, was nearly one hundred years old she talked with Mr.
J. W. Farthing while he was building a house for her grandson Patrick
Coffey, on Mulberry creek, Caldwell county, in 1871. Mr. Mack Cook of
Lenoir is a direct descendant of Daniel Boone's brother, Israel, Boone and
has a rifle and powder horn that used to belong to him. Arthur B. Boone of
Jacksonville, Fla., claims dfrect descent from Daniel Boone, and his son
Robbie E. Boone, has a razor said to have been the property of Daniel
Boone.. There are many others who are related to the Boone family. Col. W.
L. Bryan thinks that Thwaites is mistaken in stating that Rebecca Boone
was the daughter of Joseph Bryan, as her father's name was Morgan, from
whom he himself and William Jennings Bryan are directly descended.(11)
Smith Coffey was born in 1832 in Caldwell county, and says that Jesse was
a brother of Daniel Boone, and had three daughters; Anna, who married
William Coffey, Hannah, who married Smith Coffey, arid Celie, who married
Buck Craig. The Smith Coffey who married Hannah Boone was the present
Smith Coffey's grandfather. Smith Coffey's father moved to Cherokee in
1838 and settled on Hiwassee river four miles above Murphy, after which he
moved to Peach Tree creek where he died a year later, his family returning
to Caldwell. In 1858 Smith returned to Cherokee and lived on a place
adjoining the farm of George Hayes on Valley river, and had a fight with
that gentleman concerning a sow just before the Civil War. Nevertheless he
joined Hayes' company, when the war began, which became Company A in the
Second N. C. Cavalry. After the battle before New Bern, Hayes resigned and
returned to Cherokee, and William B. Tidwell of Tusquitte, now Clay
county, was elected captain from the ranks, and retained that place till
the close of the war.

THE HENDERSON PURCHASE. Although the purchase of Indian lands by white men
had been prohibited by royal proclamation(12) as early as October 7, 1763,
and although much of the territory was in the actual possession of the
Indians, Richard Henderson and eight other private citizens determined to
buy a large tract of land in Kentucky and the northern part of Middle
Tennessee. To anticipate somewhat, it may be here stated that this
intention was carried out but afterwards repudiated by both Virginia,
which claimed the Kentucky portion, and North Carolina, which claimed the
Tennessee tract, and Henderson and his associates were partially
compensated by grants of much smaller bodies of land;(13) nevertheless, at
the treaty of Hopewell, S. C., on the Keowee river, fifteen miles above
its junction with the Tugabo, on the 18th of December, 1785, Benjamin
Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin and Lachlan Campbell, commissioners
representing the United States, had the face to deny the claim of the
Indians to this identical territory- contending that they had already sold
it to Henderson and associates.(14)

BOONE'S SPLIT-BULLET. About 1890 John K. Perry and another were felling
trees in Ward's gap on Beaver Dams, Watauga county, when Perry's companion
cut a bullet in two while trimming a young poplar. He remarked that it
might have been fired there by Daniel Boone, as it was on his old trail.
Perry said that whether Boone fired it or not it should be a Boone bullet
thereafter. So, he filed two corners off a shingle nail and pressing the
point of the nail thus filed on to the clean surface of the split bullet
made the first part of a B. Then he finished the second part by pressing
the nail below the first impression, and found he had a perfect B. Filing
a larger nail in the same way he made the impression of a D, which
completed Boone's initials. This was shown around the neighborhood for a
number of years, and most people contended that the bullet really had been
fired from Boone's rifle. But in June, 1909, Mr. Perry disclosed the joke
rather than have the deception get into serious history.

DANIEL BOONE, THE PATH FINDER. From Chief Justice Walter Clark's "The
Colony of Transylvania," (N. C. Booklet, Vol. iii, No.9) we learn that
Boone was a wagoner under Hugh Waddell in Braddock's campaign of 1755,
when Boone was 21 years old; and that "in the following years he made the
acquaintance of Col. Richard Henderson, who, struck with Boone's
intelligence, and the opportunity for fortune offered by the new lands
south of the Ohio, since known as Kentucky, organized a company, and
employed Boone in 1763 to spy out the country(15) . . . Years passed
before it took final shape. Boone is known to have made one of his visits
to Kentucky in 1769, and was probably there earlier.(16) In 1773 he again
attempted to enter Kentucky, carrying his family, but was driven back with
the loss of six men killed by the Indians, among them his eldest son at
Wallen's gap." But in 1768 Henderson had been appointed a judge; which
position he held till 1773 and which probably delayed his land scheme; but
in 1774 Nathaniel Hart, one of Henderson's partners, journeyed to the
Otari towns to open negotiations with the Cherokees for the grant of
suitable territory for a colony of whites. On March 17, 1775, the Overhill
Cherokees assembled at the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga, pursuant to an
order of their chief, Oconostata, where a treaty was made and signed by
him and two other chiefs, Savanookoo and Little Carpenter (Atta. Culla
Culla), by which, in consideration of 12,000 in goods, the Cherokees
granted the lands between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers, embracing
one-half of what is now Kentucky and a part of Tennessee. But Dragging
Canoe, a chief, had opposed a treaty for four days, and never consented to
it. The share of one brave was only one shirt. But, the Cherokees had no
title to convey, as this land was a battle-ground where the hostile tribes
met and fought out their differences. Besides, this conveyance of the land
by Indians was unlawful under both the British and colonial laws.
Henderson called this grant Transylvania.

As soon as Henderson thought this treaty would be signed he started Boone
ahead on March 10, 1775, with 30 men, to clear a trail from the Holston to
Kentucky--the first regular path opened in the wilderness.

THE BOONE FAMILY. Many people of the mountains claim descent or collateral
relationship with Daniel Boone. His father was Squire Boone, who was born
in Devonshire, England and came to Pennsylvania, between 1712 and 1714,
when he was about 21 years old. He maried Sarah Morgan July 23, 1720.
Their children were Sarah, Israel, Samuel, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Mary,
Daniel, George, Edward, Squire and Hannah, all born at Otey, Penn. Daniel
was the sixth child and was born November 2, 1734. Edward was killed by
Indians when 36 years old, and Squire died at the age of 76. Daniel
married Rebecca Bryan, daughter of Joseph, in the spring of 1756. Daniel's
children were James, Israel, Susannah, Jemima, Lavinia, Rebecca, Daniel
Morgan, John B. and Nathan. The four daughters married. The two eldest
sons were killed by Indians, and the three younger emigrated to
Missouri.(17) None of Daniel's children was named Jesse, but there was a
Jesse Boone who lived just west of the Blue Ridge, about four miles east
of Shull's Mills and one mile west of Kelsey postoffice in Watauga county,
N. C. This was on what has been called "Boone's Fork" of Watauga river.

THE CALLOWAYS. Among the Kentucky pioneers was Col. Richard Calloway(18).
Two of his daughters, Betsy and Fanny, were captured with Jemima, Boone's
second daughter, in a boat at Boonesborough, Ky., on the 17th of July,
1776. They were recovered unharmed soon afterwards;(19) and in the
following August Betsy was married to Samuel Henderson, one of the
rescuing party.(20) Jemima Boone afterwards married Flanders Calloway, a
son of Colonel Calloway.(21) It was this Colonel Calloway who accused
Boone of having voluntarily surrendered 26 of his men at the Salt Licks;
that when a prisoner at Detroit he had engaged with Gov. Hamilton to
surrender Boonesborough, and that he had attempted to weaken the garrison
at Boonesborough before its attack by the Indians by withdrawing men and
officers, etc.;(22) but Boone was not only honorably acquitted, but
promoted from a captaincy to that of major. Related to this Colonel
Calloway was Elijah Calloway, son of Thomas Calloway of Virginia, who "did
much for the good of society and was a soldier at Norfolk, Va., in the War
of 1812."(23) John Calloway represented Ashe county in the House in 1800,
and in the Senate in 1807, 1808,1809; and Elijah Calloway was in the House
from 1813 to 1817, and in the Senate in 1818 and 1818, and 1819. One of
these men is said to have walked to Raleigh, supporting himself on the way
by shooting game, and in this way saved enough to build a brick house with
glass windows, the first in Ashe, near what is now Obid. He was turned out
of the Bear creek Baptist church because he had thus proven himself to be
a rich man; and the Bible said no rich man could enter the kingdom of
heaven. The ehureh in which he was tried was of logs, but the accused sat
defiantly during the 'trial in a splint-bottomed chair, which he gave to
Mrs. Sarah Miller of that locality. This may have been Thomas Calloway,
whose grave is at Obid, marked with a long, slender stone which had marked
one of the camping places of Daniel Boone.(24)

AN IMPORTANT HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTION. Dr. Archibald Henderson, a
descendant of Richard Henderson, published in the Charlotte (Sunday)
Observer, between the 16th of March and the 1st of June, 1913, a series of
articles entitled "Life and Times of Richard Henderson," in which much
absolutely new matter is introduced, and numerous mistakes have been
corrected in what has hitherto been accepted as history. It is especially
valuable regarding the Regulators' agitation and the part therein borne by
Richard Henderson. Dr. Henderson is a member of the faculty of the
University of North Carolina, of the State Library and Historical
Association, and of the American Historical Association, and in the
forthcoming volume, soon to appear, he will put the result of years of
study and research into permanent form. He may be relied on to give
adequate authority for every statement of importance concerning his
remarkable kinsman and the times in which he lived.

HENDERSON'S SHARE IN BOONE'S EXPLORATIONS. Roosevelt, Ramsey and other
historians have related the bare fact that Boone went on his first trip
into Kentucky in 1764 at the instance of Richard Henderson; but in these
papers the details of the association of the two men are set forth.
Certainly as early as 1763, Boone and Henderson, then a lawyer, met, and
discussed the territory lying to the west of the mountains. Henderson was
seated as a Superior Court judge at Salisbury, March 5, 1868, and ceased
to represent Boone as attorney in litigation then pending before the
Superior Court of Rowan county; but in March, 1769, when the distinguished
Waightstill Avery, then fresh from his birthplace, Norwich, Conn., and
from Princeton College, where he had graduated in 1766, made his first
appearance before the bar of that county, we are told that he might have
seen also "the skilled scout and hunter, garbed in hunting shirt, fringed
leggings and moccasins, the then little known Daniel Boone," who attended
that term of court in defence of a lawsuit, and must have (as shown by the
sequel) conferred with Judge Henderson at this time about his contemplated
trip into Tennessee and Kentucky in the interest of himself, John Williams
and Thomas Hart, Henderson's first associates in the colonization
enterprize he contemplated even at that early date, and while holding a
commission as judge of the colony.(25)

THE SIX NATIONS' CLAIMS TO "CHEROKEE." Before Richard Henderson's
appointment as judge by Governor Tryon in 1768, he and Hart and Williams
had engaged Boone to spy out the western lands for them as early as 1764,
though the proclamation of George IV, in 1763, forbidding the Eastern
Colonists to settle on lands west of the Blue Ridge, may have retarded
their plans for "securing title to vast tracts of western lands, and no
move was made by Henderson to that end until after the treaty of Fort
Stanwix in 1768, by which Great Britain had acquired by purchase from the
Six Nations their unwarranted claim to all the territory east and
southeast of the Ohio and north of the Tennessee rivers, which territory
had always been claimed by the Cherokees, and that country was then known
as "Cherokee."(26)

TITLE OF THE CHEROKEES. "The ownership of; all the Kentucky region, with
the exception of the extreme northeastern section, remained vested
absolutely in the tribe of Cherokee Indians. Their title to the territory
had been acknowledged by Great Britain through her Southern agent of
Indian Affairs, John Stuart, at the Treaty of Lochaber in 1770."(27)

KING GEORGE'S PROCLAMATION MADE TO BE BROKEN? Dr. Henderson insists that
the King's proclamation forbidding the acquisition of Indian lands by the
settlers was universally disregarded by the settlers of the east. And
while he points out that Richard Henderson obtained an "opinion, handed
down by the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General," which "cleared away
the legal difficulties" in the way of securing "an indisputable title from
the Indian owners and...to surmount the far more serious obstacle of Royal
edict against the purchase of lands from the Indians by private
individuals, he would doutbless have been justified in his purchase by the
popular sentiment of the day in view of the universal disregard of the
Royal Proclamation of 1763." Dr. Henderson points out that "George
Washington expressed the secret belief of the period when he hazarded the
judgment that the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was a mere temporary
expedient to quiet the Indians, and was not intended as a permanent bar to
Western Civilization. . . . George Washington, acquiring vast tracts of
western land by secret purchase, indirectly stimulated the powerful army
that was carrying the broadax westward. . . . It is no reflection upon the
fame of George Washington to point out that, of the two, the service to
the nation of Richard Henderson in promoting western civilization was
vastly more generous in its nature and far-reaching in its results than
the more selfish and prudent aims of Washington."(28)

HENDERSON'S TITLE. "The valid ownership of the territory being [now]
actually vested in the Cherokees, Henderson foresaw that the lands could
be acquired only by lease or by purchase from that tribe, and he forthwith
set about acquiring an accurate knowledge of the territory in question. To
get this information the services of Daniel Boone were secured, and the
latter must have "conferred with Judge Henderson at Salisbury where he was
presiding over the Superior Court, and plans were 500fl outlined for
Boone's journey and expedition. At this time Boone was very poor and his
desire to pay off his indebtedness to Henderson [lawyer's fees] made him
all the more ready to undertake the exhaustive tour of exploration in
company with Finley and others"; but "at the time of Boone's return to
North Carolina Judge Henderson was embroiled in the exciting issues of the
Regulation. His plan to inaugnrate his great western venture was thus
temporarily frustrated; but the dissolution of the Superior Court (under
the judiciary act of 1767) took place in 1773," and left Richard Henderson
free to act as he saw fit.(29)

HENDERSON AND DANIEL BOONE. "In the meantime, Daniel Boone grew impatient
over the delay . . and on September 25, 1773, started from the Yadkin
Valley for Kentucky, with a colony numbering eighteen men, besides women
and children;" but, being attacked by Indians, and some of Boone's party,
including his own son, having been killed, "the whole party scattered and
returned to the settlements. This incident is significant evidence that
Boone was deficient in executive ability, the power to originate and
execute schemes of colonization on a grand scale . . . Boone lacked
constructive leadership and executive genius. He was a perfect instrument
for executing the designs of others. It was not until the creative and
executive brain of Richard Henderson was applied to the vast and daring
project of Western colonization that it was carried through to a
successful termination."(30)

HENDERSON'S SCHEME DENOUNCED. "When, on Christmas Day, 1774, there was
spread broadcast throughout the colony of North Carolina 'Proposals for
the encouragement of settling the lands purchased by Messrs. Riehard
Henderson & Co., on the branches of the Mississippi river from the
Cherokee tribe of Indians,' a genuine sensation was created." Archibald
Neilson, deputy auditor of the colony, asked "Is Richard Henderson out of
his head?" and Governor Josiah Martin issued "a forcible-feeble
proclamation against Richard Henderson and his confederates in their
daring, unjust and unwarrantable proceeding. In letters to the Earl of
Dartmouth, Martin speaks scathingly of 'Henderson, the famous invader,'
and of 'the infamous Henderson and his associates' whom he dubs 'an
infamous company of land Pyrates.' He denounced their project as a
'lawless undertaking,' and 'an infraction of the royal prerogative.' But
these 'fulminations' were unheeded and 'the goods already purchased were
transported over the mountains in wagons to the Sycamore Shoals.'"(31)

FAILURE OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY. "Serious dangers from without began to
threaten the safety and integrity of the colony. While the Transylvania
legislature was in session, Governor Josiah Martin of North Carolina
ingloriously fled from his 'palace', and on the very day that his
emissary, a British spy, arrived at Boonesborough, Lord Dunmore, the royal
governor of Virginia, escaped to the protection of the British vessel, the
'Fowey' . . . At Oxford, N. C., on September 25, 1775, the proprietors of
the Transylvania company drew up a memoria{ to the Continental Congress,
then in session at Philadelphia, for the recognition of the Transylvania
company as the fourteenth American colony; but this was refused "until it
had been properly acknowledged by Virginia." Application was then made to
the Virginia convention at Williamsburg for recognition, but the effort of
Henderson, assisted by Thomas Burke, was "defeated chiefly through the
opposition of two remarkable men George Rogers Clark, who represented the
rival settlement of Harrodsburg in Kentucky, and Patrick Henry, who sought
to extend in all directions the power and extent of the 'Ancient Dominion
of Virginia.' Under pressure of Henderson's representations, Virginia
finally acknowledged the validity of the Transylvanians' claims against
the Indians; but boldly confiscated the purchase, and made of Transylvania
a county of Virginia. Instead of the 20,000,000 acres obtained by the
treaty of Sycamore Shoals, Virginia grant~d the company 200,000 acres
between the Ohio and Green rivers, and North Carolina later granted to the
company a like amount on Powell and Clinch rivers in Tennessee."(32)

HENDERSON AND JAMES ROBERTSON. Dr. Archibald Henderson claims for his
kinsman the honor of "having accomplished for Tennessee, ill the same
constructive way as he had done for Kentucky [at Boonesborough], the
pioneer task of establishing a colony in the midst of the Tennessee
wilderness, devising a system of laws and convening a legislature for the
passage of those laws." This was nothing less than the settlement of
Nasliborough (now Nashville) and the country surrounding it; for he claims
that "under Henderson's direction Robertson made a long and extended
examination of the region in the neighborhood of the French Lick, just as
Boone in 1769-1771 had made a detailed examination under Henderson's
direction of the Kentucky area. Upon his return to the Watauga settlements
on the Holston, Robertson found many settlers ready and eager to take the
great step towards colonization of the new lands, inspired by the promise
of Henderson and the enthusiastic reports of Robertson and his
companions." It was while Henderson was engaged in surveying the line
between Virginia and North Carolina- "the famous line of latitude of 360
30'" - "that the Watauga settlers set out for the wilderness of the
Cumberiand. Part of these settlers went by water down the Tennessee and up
the Cumberland rivers-under the leadership of Col. John Donelson, father
of Mrs. Andrew Jackson, and the others, under Robertson, overland.
Donelson's diary records the meeting of Richard Henderson on Friday, March
31, 1780. Henderson not only supplied the party with all needed
information but informed them that "he had purchased a quantity of corn in
Kentucky to be shipped at the Falls of Ohio (Lousville) for the Cumberland
settlement. . . . James Robertson's party had already arrived and built a
few log cabins on a cedar bluff above the 'Lick', when Donelson's party
arrived by boat, April 24,1780. Henderson himself arrived soon afterwards,
and, assisted by James Robertson, drew up and adopted a plan of civil
government for the colony. A land office was established; the power to
appoint the entry-taker was vested in Henderson, as president of the
Transylvania company, and the Transylvania company was to be paid for the
lands at the rate of 26 lbs., 13 shillings and 4 pence, current money, a
hundred acres, as soon as the company could assure the settlers a
satisfactory and indisputable title. This resulted in perpetual non-
payment, since in 1783, North Carolina, following Virginia's lead,
expropriated the lands of the Transylvania company, granting them in
compensation a tract of 200,000 acres in Powell's Valley." Henderson
returned to North Carolina, and died in 1785, aged fifty; and although
memorials in his honor have been erected in Tennessee and Kentucky, his
grave at Nutbush creek in North Carolina is unmarked; "and North Carolina
has erected no monument as yet to the man who may justly be termed the
founder of Kentucky and Tennessee."(33)

THE SHADOW OF COMING EVENTS.(34) "One sentence of this backwoods
constitution [of Nashborough], remarkable in its political anticipation,
is nothing less than that establishing for the first time in America the
progressive doctrine of which so much is heard today, the recall of judges
. . . and must forever be associated in American history with the names of
Henderson and his coadjutor, Robertson 'As often as the people in general
are dissatisfied with the doings of the judges or triers so to be chosen,
they may call a new election in any of the said stations, and elect others
in their stead, having due respect to the number now agreed to be elected
at each station, which persons so to be chosen shall haye the same power
with those in whose room they shall or may be chosen to act.'"

BOONE'S TRAIL. The North Carolina Society of the Daughters of the American
Revolution marked Boone's trail in North Carolina by planting iron tablets
bolted to large boulders at Cook's Gap, Three Forks' Churcb, Boone
Village, Hodge's Gap, Graveyard or Straddle Gap, and at Zionville, in
October, 1913. Addresses were made at Boone courthouse October 23, 1913,
by Mrs. W. N. Reynolds, State Regent, Mrs. Lindsay Patterson, chairman of
committee on Boone's trail, and Mrs. Theo. S. Morrison, Regent of Edward
Buncombe Chapter.

RECORD EVIDENCE OF THE RESIDENCE OF THE BOONES. Jonathan Boone sold to
John Hardin (Deed Book No. 5, p.509, Asbe county) 245 acres on the 15th of
September, 1821, for $600- -on the North side of New river and on both
sides of Lynches' Mill creek, adjoining Jesse Councill's line, and running
to Shearer's Knob This was near the town of Boone. The John Hardin
mentioned above was the father of John and Joseph Hardin of Boone, and his
wife was Lottie, the daughter of Jordan Councill, Sr., and the daughter of
Benjamin Howard. On the 7th of November, 1814, Jesse Boone entered 100
acres on the head waters of Watauga river, beginning on a maple, Jesse
Coffey's corner, and obtained a grant therefor on the 29th of November,
1817. (Deed Book "F," Ashe county p. 170)

[Notes for this chapter currently not available]