[Sidenote: =Sevier born in Virginia=]
[Sidenote: =Early life in the Shenandoah=]
=109. A Famous Indian Fighter.= John Sevier was born in the Shenandoah
Valley in 1745. His mother taught him to read, but he obtained most of
his schooling in Washington's old school town, Fredericksburg. He quit
school at sixteen. He built a storehouse on the Shenandoah and called
it Newmarket. He lived there, selling goods and fighting Indians,
until, at the early age of twenty-six, he was a wealthy man. He had
already made such a name as an Indian fighter that the governor made
him captain in the militia of which George Washington was then colonel.
[Sidenote: =Fine looking=]
Sevier was a fine-looking man. He was tall, slender, erect, graceful in
action, fair skinned, blue eyed, and had pleasing manners, which had
come to him from his French parents. He charmed everybody who met him,
from backwoodsmen up to the king's governor at Williamsburg.
[Sidenote: =He goes to the Watauga=]
A most promising future opened before him in Virginia. But hearing of a
band of pioneers on the Watauga, he rode over one day to see them and
resolved to cast in his lot with them.
[Sidenote: =Tennessee in the Revolution=]
During the Revolutionary War, British agents went among the Cherokee
Indians and gave them guns and ammunition. Indian-like, they planned
to take Fort Watauga by surprise. They came creeping up to the fort
one morning just at daybreak. Forty deadly rifles suddenly blazed from
portholes and drove them back to the woods. During the siege of three
weeks, food grew scarce at the fort, and the men became tired of being
cooped up so long. Some of them ventured out and were shot or had very
narrow escapes from death.
[Illustration: JOHN SEVIER
_After an engraving from a miniature now in possession of one of his
descendants at New York_]
[Sidenote: =The story of Jack Sevier and Kate Sherrill=]
The story is told that Sevier, during the siege, fell in love with the
beautiful, tall, brown-haired Kate Sherrill. One day she ventured out
of the fort. It was a daring act, for four men had lost their lives in
this way. The Indians tried to catch the girl, for they did not want
to kill her. But she could run like a deer, and almost flew to the
fort. Sevier was watching, and shot the Indian nearest her. The gate
was closed, but she jumped with all her might, seized the top of the
stockade, drew herself up, and sprang over into the arms of Sevier. Not
long after she became his wife.
[Illustration: KATE SHERRILL RACING FOR LIFE]
[Sidenote: =Sevier acts quickly=]
In 1778 Sevier heard that the Indians were coming again. He quickly
called his men together, took boats, and paddled rapidly down the
Tennessee to the Indian towns. He burned the towns, captured their
store of hides, and marched home on foot. How surprised the Indians
were when they returned!
[Sidenote: =Moves to the Nolichucky=]
=110. Nolichucky Jack.= The Watauga Settlement was growing in numbers,
and Sevier went to live on the Nolichucky, a branch of the French
Broad River. There he built a large log house, or rather two houses,
and joined them by a covered porch. Outside were large verandas, while
inside were great stone fireplaces.
[Sidenote: =Welcomes rich and poor=]
Here Sevier gave hearty welcome to friend and stranger, no matter how
poor, if they were honest. The settlers far and wide, and new settlers
from over the mountains, partook of his cider, hominy, corn bread,
and of wild meat of many kinds. Sometimes he invited them with their
families to a barbecue. Whether people came for advice or to call
him to arms against the Indians, no one was turned away. "Nolichucky
Jack," as his neighbors loved to call him, held a warm place in every
settler's heart.
[Sidenote: =British challenge=]
In 1780 Cornwallis, then victorious in South Carolina, sent Colonel
Ferguson with one thousand British soldiers into western North Carolina
to punish the backwoodsmen. Ferguson grew bold, and sent word across
the mountains, threatening to punish Sevier and his brave riflemen.
This was enough. Colonel Shelby of Kentucky and Sevier resolved to
rouse the frontiersmen, cross the mountains, and teach Colonel Ferguson
a lesson. Colonel Campbell with his men from the Holston, in Virginia,
joined them. A thousand well-mounted backwoodsmen, with their long
rifles, fringed hunting shirts, and coonskin caps, began the march
from the Watauga across the mountains. Once across they were joined
by several hundred Carolinians. Ferguson retreated to Kings Mountain,
too steep on one side to be climbed. He felt safe behind his thousand
gleaming bayonets.
[Sidenote: =The plan of battle=]
[Sidenote: =Battle of Kings Mountain=]
The backwoodsmen picked nine hundred men to make the charge up the
mountain in face of the bayonets, although among themselves there
was not a bayonet. Three divisions, one for each side, marched up
the mountain. Down the mountain side came the flashing bayonets. The
backwoodsmen in the center retreated from tree to tree, firing steadily
all the time. The British, now shot at from both sides as well as in
front, turned and charged at one side. Then one division fired into
their backs and the other on their side. What could bayonets do in the
midst of trees?
[Sidenote: =The result=]
The backwoodsmen kept to the trees and their rifles seldom missed their
aim. The British retreated to the top of the mountain. Colonel Ferguson
was killed and his entire army was killed or captured. This victory
caused great rejoicing among the Americans and prepared the way for the
work of Greene and Morgan.
[Sidenote: =A deadly blow=]
Sevier and Campbell hastened back over the mountains, for the Indians
were scalping and burning again. With seven hundred riflemen, they
marched against the Indian towns and burned a thousand cabins and fifty
thousand bushels of corn. This was a hard blow, but the Indians kept
fighting several years longer.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN
_Where 900 frontiersmen attacked and totally destroyed 1,000 British
soldiers entrenched and better armed_]
Sevier, in all, fought thirty-five battles. He was the most famous
Indian fighter of his time.
[Sidenote: =Governor of Tennessee many times=]
[Sidenote: =Indians trusted him=]
When Tennessee became a state the people elected him governor. They
reëlected him till he had held the office for twelve years. The people
of Tennessee almost worshiped the bold pioneer. He had spent all his
time and all his wealth in their service. And while he was governor,
and living in Knoxville, the early capital, one or more of his old
riflemen were always living at his home. Even the Indian chiefs often
came to visit him. When the people of Tennessee were debating questions
of great importance, they always asked: "What says the good old
governor?"
[Illustration: "NOLICHUCKY JACK'S A-COMING"
_Sevier welcomed by the congregation of the country church_]
[Sidenote: =The boy's disappointment=]
One Sunday, when all the people of a backwoods settlement were at the
country church, a bareheaded runner rushed in and shouted, "Nolichucky
Jack's a-coming!" The people rushed out to see their governor. As he
came near, he greeted one of his old riflemen, put his hand upon the
head of the old soldier's son, spoke a kindly word, and rode on. The
boy looked up at his father and said: "Why, father, 'Chucky Jack' is
only a man!"
[Sidenote: =Died in 1815=]
Sevier died in 1815, while acting as an officer in marking the boundary
line between Georgia and the Indian lands. Only a few soldiers and
Indians were present. There he lies, with only the name "John Sevier"
cut on a simple slab. But for generations the children of the pioneers
went on repeating to their children the story of the courage and
goodness of "Nolichucky Jack." His name is yet a household word among
the people of eastern Tennessee. Their children are taught the story of
his life. In the courthouse yard at Knoxville stands a monument erected
to his memory.