THE CUMBERLAND SETTLEMENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION, 1781-1783.
Robertson passed unharmed through the wilderness to Kentucky. There he
procured plenty of powder, and without delay set out on his return
journey to the Cumberland. As before, he travelled alone through the
frozen woods, trusting solely to his own sharp senses for his safety.
Attack on Freeland's.
In the evening of January 15, 1781, he reached Freeland's station, and
was joyfully received by the inmates. They supped late, and then sat up
for some time, talking over many matters. When they went to bed all were
tired, and neglected to take the usual precautions against surprise;
moreover, at that season they did not fear molestation. They slept
heavily, none keeping watch. Robertson alone was wakeful and suspicious;
and even during his light slumbers his keen and long-trained senses were
on the alert.
At midnight all was still. The moon shone brightly down on the square
block-houses and stockaded yard of the lonely little frontier fort; its
rays lit up the clearing, and by contrast darkened the black shadow of
the surrounding forest. None of the sleepers within the log-walls
dreamed of danger. Yet their peril was imminent. An Indian war band was
lurking near by, and was on the point of making an effort to carry
Freeland's station by an attack in the darkness. In the dead of the
night the attempt was made. One by one the warriors left the protection
of the tangled wood-growth, slipped silently across the open space, and
crouched under the heavy timber pickets of the palisades, until all had
gathered together. Though the gate was fastened with a strong bar and
chain, the dextrous savages finally contrived to open it.
In so doing they made a slight noise, which caught Robertson's quick
ear, as he lay on his buffalo-hide pallet. Jumping up he saw the gate
open, and dusky figures gliding into the yard with stealthy swiftness.
At his cry of "Indians," and the report of his piece, the settlers
sprang up, every man grasping the loaded arm by which he slept. From
each log cabin the rifles cracked and flashed; and though the Indians
were actually in the yard they had no cover, and the sudden and
unexpected resistance caused them to hurry out much faster than they had
come in. Robertson shot one of their number, and they in return killed a
white man who sprang out-of-doors at the first alarm. When they were
driven out the gate was closed after them; but they fired through the
loopholes; especially into one of the block-houses, where the chinks had
not been filled with mud, as in the others. They thus killed a negro,
and wounded one or two other men; yet they were soon driven off.
Robertson's return had been at a most opportune moment. As so often
before and afterwards, he had saved the settlement from destruction.
Other bands of Indians joined the war party, and they continued to hover
about the stations, daily inflicting loss and damage on the settlers.
They burned down the cabins and fences, drove off the stock and killed
the hunters, the women and children who ventured outside the walls, and
the men who had gone back to their deserted stockades. [Footnote:
Haywood says they burned "immense quantities of corn"; as Putnam points
out, the settlers could have had very little corn to burn. Haywood is
the best authority for the Indian fighting in the Cumberland district
during '80, '81, and '82. Putnam supplies some details learned from Mrs.
Robertson in her old age. The accounts are derived mainly from the
statements of old settlers; but the Robertsons seem always to have kept
papers, which served to check off the oral statements. For all the
important facts there is good authority. The annals are filled with name
after name of men who were killed by the Indians. The dates, and even
the names, may be misplaced in many of these instances; but this is
really a matter of no consequence, for their only interest is to show
the nature of the harassing Indian warfare, and the kind of adventure
then common.]
Attack on Nashborough.
On the 2d day of April another effort was made by a formidable war party
to get possession of one of the two remaining stations--Freeland's and
Nashborough--and thus, at a stroke, drive the whites from the Cumberland
district. This time Nashborough was the point aimed at.
A large body [Footnote: How large it is impossible to say. One or two
recent accounts make wild guesses, calling it 1,000; but this is sheer
nonsense; it is more likely to have been 100.] of Cherokees approached
the fort in the night, lying hid in the bushes, divided into two
parties. In the morning three of them came near, fired at the fort, and
ran off towards where the smaller party lay ambushed, in a thicket
through which ran a little "branch." Instantly twenty men mounted their
horses and galloped after the decoys. As they overtook the fugitives
they saw the Indians hid in the creek-bottom, and dismounted to fight,
turning their horses loose. A smart interchange of shots followed, the
whites having, if any thing, rather the best of it, when the other and
larger body of Indians rose from their hiding-place, in a clump of
cedars, and running down, formed between the combatants and the fort,
intending to run into the latter, mixed with the fleeing riflemen. The
only chance of the hemmed-in whites was to turn and try to force their
way back through their far more numerous foes. This was a desperate
venture, for their pieces were all discharged, and there was no time to
reload them; but they were helped by two unexpected circumstances. Their
horses had taken flight at the firing, and ran off towards the fort,
passing to one side of the intervening line of Indians; and many of the
latter, eager for such booty, ran off to catch them. Meanwhile, the
remaining men in the fort saw what had happened, and made ready for
defense, while all the women likewise snatched up guns or axes, and
stood by loopholes and gate. The dogs in the fort were also taking a
keen interest in what was going on. They were stout, powerful animals,
some being hounds and others watch dogs, but all accustomed to contests
with wild beasts; and by instinct and training they mortally hated
Indians. Seeing the line of savages drawn up between the fort and their
masters, they promptly sallied out and made a most furious onset upon
their astonished foes. Taking advantage of this most opportune
diversion, the whites ran through the lines and got into the fort, the
Indians being completely occupied in defending themselves from the dogs.
Five of the whites were killed, and they carried two wounded men into
the fort. Another man, when almost in safety, was shot, and fell with a
broken thigh; but he had reloaded his gun as he ran, and he killed his
assailant as the latter ran up to scalp him. The people from the fort
then, by firing their rifles, kept his foes at bay until he could be
rescued; and he soon recovered from his hurt. Yet another man was
overtaken almost under the walls, the Indian punching him in the
shoulder with the gun as he pulled the trigger; but the gun snapped, and
a hunter ran out of the fort and shot the Indian. The gates were closed,
and the whites all ready; so the Indians abandoned their effort and drew
off. They had taken five scalps and a number of horses; but they had
failed in their main object, and the whites had taken two scalps,
besides killing and wounding others of the red men, who were carried off
by their comrades.
After the failure of this attempt the Indians did not, for some years,
make any formidable attack on any of the larger stations. Though the
most dangerous of all foes on their own ground, their extreme caution
and dislike of suffering punishment prevented them from ever making
really determined efforts to carry a fort openly by storm; moreover,
these stockades were really very defensible against men unprovided with
artillery, and there is no reason for supposing that any troops could
have carried them by fair charging, without suffering altogether
disproportionate loss. The red tribes acted in relation to the
Cumberland settlements exactly as they had previously done towards those
on the Kentucky and Watauga. They harassed the settlers from the outset;
but they did not wake up to the necessity for a formidable and combined
campaign against them until it was too late for such a campaign to
succeed. If, at the first, any one of these communities had been forced
to withstand the shock of such Indian armies as were afterwards brought
against it, it would, of necessity, have been abandoned.
Indian Hostilities.
Throughout '81 and '82 the Cumberland settlers were worried beyond
description by a succession of small war parties. In the first of these
years they raised no corn; in the second they made a few crops on fields
they had cleared in 1780. No man's life was safe for an hour, whether he
hunted, looked up strayed stock, went to the spring for water, or tilled
the fields. If two men were together, one always watched while the other
worked, ate, or drank; and they sat down back to back, or, if there were
several, in a ring, facing outwards, like a covey of quail. The Indians
were especially fond of stealing the horses; the whites pursued them in
bands, and occasionally pitched battles were fought, with loss on both
sides, and apparently as often resulting in the favor of one party as of
the other. The most expert Indian fighters naturally became the leaders,
being made colonels and captains of the local militia. The position and
influence of the officers depended largely on their individual prowess;
they were the actual, not titular, leaders of their men. Old Kasper
Mansker, one of the most successful, may be taken as a type of the rest.
He was ultimately made a colonel, and shared in many expeditions; but he
always acted as his own scout, and never would let any of his men ride
ahead or abreast of him, preferring to trust to his own eyes and ears
and knowledge of forest warfare. The hunters, who were especially
exposed to danger, were also the men who inflicted most loss on the
Indians, and though many more of the settlers than of their foes were
slain, yet the tables were often turned on the latter, even by those who
seemed their helpless victims. Thus, once, two lads were watching at a
deer lick, when some Indians came to it; each of the boys chose his man,
fired, and then fled homewards; coming back with some men they found
they had killed two Indians, whose scalps they took.
The eagerness of the Indians to get scalps caused them frequently to
scalp their victims before life was extinct; and, as a result, there
were numerous instances in which the scalped unfortunate, whether man,
woman, or child, was rescued and recovered, living many years. One of
these instances is worth giving in the quaint language of the old
Tennessee historian, Haywood:
"In the spring of the year 1782 a party of Indians fired upon three
persons at French Lick, and broke the arms of John Tucker and Joseph
Hendricks, and shot down David Hood, whom they scalped and stamped, as
he said, and followed the others towards the fort; the people of the
fort came out and repulsed them and saved the wounded men. Supposing the
Indians gone, Hood got up softly, wounded and scalped as he was, and
began to walk towards the fort on the bluff, when, to his mortification,
he saw, standing upon the bank of the creek, a number of Indians, the
same who had wounded him before, making sport of his misfortune and
mistake. They then fell upon him again, and having given him, in several
places, new wounds that were apparently mortal, then left him. He fell
into a brush heap in the mow, and next morning was tracked and found by
his blood, and was placed as a dead man in one of the out-houses, and
was left alone; after some time he recovered, and lived many years."
Many of the settlers were killed, many others left for Kentucky,
Illinois, or Natchez, or returned to their old homes among the
Alleghanies; and in 1782 the inhabitants, who had steadily dwindled in
numbers, became so discouraged that they again mooted the question of
abandoning the Cumberland district in a body. Only Robertson's great
influence prevented this being done; but by word and example he finally
persuaded them to remain. The following spring brought the news of peace
with Great Britain. A large inflow of new settlers began with the new
year, and though the Indian hostilities still continued, the Cumberland
country throve apace, and by the end 1783 the old stations had been
rebuilt and many new ones founded. Some of the settlers began to live
out on their clearings. Rude little corn-mills and "hominy pounders"
were built beside some of the streams. The piles of furs and hides that
had accumulated in the stockades were sent back to the coast country on
pack-horses. After this year there was never any danger that the
settlements would be abandoned.
During the two years of petty but disastrous Indian warfare that
followed the attack on Freelands, the harassed and diminishing settlers
had been so absorbed in the contest with the outside foe that they had
done little towards keeping up their own internal government. When 1783
opened new settlers began to flock in, the Indian hostilities abated,
and commissioners arrived from North Carolina under a strong guard, with
the purpose of settling the claim of the various settlers [Footnote:
Haywood. Six hundred and forty acres were allowed by preëmption claim to
each family settled before June 1, 1780; after that date they had to
make proper entries in the courts. The salt-licks were to be held as
public property.] and laying off the bounty lands, promised to the
Continental troops. [Footnote: Isaac Shelby was one of these
commissioners.] It therefore became necessary that the Committee or
Court of Triers should again be convened, to see that justice was done
as between man and man.
Internal Government.
The ten men elected from the different stations met at Nashborough on
January 7th, Robertson being again made chairman, as well as colonel of
the militia, while a proper clerk and sheriff were chosen. Each member
took a solemn oath to do equal justice according to the best of his
skill and ability. A number of suits between the settlers themselves
were disposed of. These related to a variety of subjects. A kettle had
been "detained" from Humphrey Hogan; he brought suit, and it was awarded
him, the defendant "and his mother-in-law" being made to pay the cost of
the suit. A hog case, a horse used in hunting, a piece of cleared
ground, a bed which had not been made according to contract, the
ownership of a canoe, and of a heifer, a "clevis lent and delayed to be
returned"--such were some of the cases on which the judges had to
decide. There were occasional slander suits; for in a small backwoods
community there is always much jealousy and bitter gossip. When suit was
brought for "cattle won at cards," the committee promptly dismissed the
claim as illegal; they evidently had clear ideas as to what was good
public policy. A man making oath that another had threatened his life,
the latter was taken and put under bonds. Another man produced a note of
hand for the payment of two good cows, "against John Sadler"; he "proved
his accompt," and procured an attachment against the estate of "Sd.
Sadler." When possible, the Committee compromised the cases, or advised
the parties to adjust matters between themselves. The sheriff executed
the various decrees, in due form; he arrested the men who refused to pay
heed to the judgments of the court, and when necessary took out of their
"goods and chattles, lands and tenements," the damages awarded, and also
the costs and fees. The government was in the hands of men who were not
only law-abiding themselves but also resolute to see that the law was
respected by others.
The committee took cognizance of all affairs concerning the general
welfare of the community. They ordered roads to be built between the
different stations, appointing overseers who had power to "call out
hands to work on the same." Besides the embodiment of all the full-grown
men as militia,--those of each station under their own captain,
lieutenant, and ensign,--a diminutive force of paid regulars was
organized; that is, six spies were "kept out to discover the motions of
the enemy so long as we shall be able to pay them; each to receive
seventy-five bushels of Indian corn per month." They were under the
direction of Colonel Robertson, who was head of all the branches of the
government. One of the committee's regulations followed an economic
principle of doubtful value. Some enterprising individuals, taking
advantage of the armed escort accompanying the Carolina commissioners,
brought out casks of liquors. The settlers had drunk nothing but water
for many months, and they eagerly purchased the liquor, the merchants
naturally charging all that the traffic would bear. This struck the
committee as a grievance, and they forthwith passed a decree that any
person bringing in liquor "from foreign ports," before selling the same,
must give bond that they would charge no more than one silver dollar, or
its value in merchandise, per quart.
Some of the settlers would not enter the association, preferring a
condition of absolute freedom from law. The committee, however, after
waiting a proper time, forced these men in by simply serving notice,
that thereafter they would be treated as beyond the pale of the law, not
entitled to its protection, but amenable to its penalties. A petition
was sent to the North Carolina Legislature, asking that the protection
of government should be extended to the Cumberland people, and showing
that the latter were loyal and orderly, prompt to suppress sedition and
lawlessness, faithful to the United States, and hostile to its enemies.
[Footnote: This whole account is taken from Putnam, who has rendered
such inestimable service by preserving these records.] To show their
good feeling the committee made every member of the community, who had
not already done so, take the oath of abjuration and fidelity.
Affairs with Outside Powers.
Until full governmental protection could be secured the commonwealth was
forced to act as a little sovereign state, bent on keeping the peace,
and yet on protecting itself against aggression from the surrounding
powers, both red and white. It was forced to restrain its own citizens,
and to enter into quasi-diplomatic relations with its neighbors. Thus
early this year fifteen men, under one Colbert, left the settlements and
went down the river in boats, ostensibly to trade with the Indians, but
really to plunder the Spaniards on the Mississippi. They were joined by
some Chickasaws, and at first met with some success in their piratical
attacks, not only on the Spanish trading-boats, but on those of the
French Creoles, and even the Americans, as well. Finally they were
repulsed in an attempt against the Spaniards at Ozark; some were killed,
and the rest scattered. [Footnote: Calendar Va. State Papers, III., pp.
469, 527.] Immediately upon learning of these deeds, the Committee of
Triers passed stringent resolutions forbidding all persons trading with
the Indians until granted a license by the committee, and until they had
furnished ample security for their good behavior. The committee also
wrote a letter to the Spanish governor at New Orleans, disclaiming all
responsibility for the piratical misdeeds of Colbert and his gang, and
announcing the measures they had taken to prevent any repetition of the
same in the future. They laid aside the sum of twenty pounds to pay the
expenses of the messengers who carried this letter to the Virginian
"agent" at the Illinois, whence it was forwarded to the Spanish
Governor. [Footnote: Putnam, pp. 185, 189, 191.]
One of the most difficult questions with which the committee had to deal
was that of holding a treaty with the Indians. Commissioners came out
from Virginia and North Carolina especially to hold such a treaty
[Footnote: Donelson, who was one of the men who became discouraged and
went to Kentucky, was the Virginian commissioner. Martin was the
commissioner from North Carolina. He is sometimes spoken of as if he
likewise represented Virginia.]; but the settlers declined to allow it
until they had themselves decided on its advisability. They feared to
bring so many savages together, lest they might commit some outrage, or
be themselves subjected to such at the hands of one of the many wronged
and reckless whites; and they knew that the Indians would expect many
presents, while there was very little indeed to give them. Finally, the
committee decided to put the question of treaty or no treaty to the vote
of the freemen in the several stations; and by a rather narrow majority
it was decided in the affirmative. The committee then made arrangements
for holding the treaty in June, some four miles from Nashborough; and
strictly prohibited the selling of liquor to the savages. At the
appointed time many chiefs and warriors of the Chickasaws, Cherokees,
and even Creeks appeared. There were various sports, such as ball-games
and footraces; and the treaty was brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
[Footnote: Putnam, 196.] It did not put a complete stop to the Indian
outrages, but it greatly diminished them. The Chickasaws thereafter
remained friendly; but, as usual, the Cherokee and Creek chiefs who
chose to attend were unable to bind those of their fellows who did not.
The whole treaty was, in fact, on both sides, of a merely preliminary
nature. The boundaries it arranged were not considered final until
confirmed by the treaty of Hopewell a couple of years later.
Robertson meanwhile was delegated by the unanimous vote of the settlers
to go to the Assembly of North Carolina, and there petition for the
establishment of a regular land office at Nashborough, and in other ways
advance the interests of the settlers. He was completely successful in
his mission. The Cumberland settlements were included in a new county,
called Davidson [Footnote: In honor of General Wm. Davidson, a very
gallant and patriotic soldier of North Carolina during the Revolutionary
war. The county government was established in October, 1783.]; and an
Inferior Court of Pleas and Common Sessions, vested by the act with
extraordinary powers, was established at Nashborough. The four justices
of the new court had all been Triers of the old committee, and the
scheme of government was practically not very greatly changed, although
now resting on an indisputably legal basis. The Cumberland settlers had
for years acted as an independent, law-abiding, and orderly
commonwealth, and the Court of Triers had shown great firmness and
wisdom. It spoke well for the people that they had been able to
establish such a government, in which the majority ruled, while the
rights of each individual were secured. Robertson deserves the chief
credit as both civil and military leader. The committee of which he was
a member, had seen that justice was done between man and man, had
provided for defense against the outside foe, and had striven to prevent
any wrongs being done to neutral or allied powers. When they became
magistrates of a county of North Carolina they continued to act on the
lines they had already marked out. The increase of population had
brought an increase of wealth. The settlers were still frontiersmen,
clad in buckskin or homespun, with rawhide moccasins, living in
log-cabins, and sleeping under bearskins on beds made of buffalo hides;
but as soon as they ventured to live on their clearings the ground was
better tilled, corn became abundant, and cattle and hogs increased as
the game diminished. Nashborough began to look more like an ordinary
little border town. [Footnote: The justices built a court-house and jail
of hewed logs, the former eighteen feet square, with a lean-to or shed
of twelve feet on one side. The contracts for building were let out at
vendue to the lowest bidder.]
Correspondence with the Spaniards.
During this year Robertson carried on some correspondence with the
Spanish governor at New Orleans, Don Estevan Miro. This was the
beginning of intercourse between the western settlers and the Spanish
officers, an intercourse which was absolutely necessary, though it
afterwards led to many intrigues and complications. Robertson was
obliged to write to Miro not only to disclaim responsibility for the
piratical deeds of men like Colbert, but also to protest against the
conduct of certain of the Spanish agents among the Creeks and
Chickamaugas. No sooner had hostilities ceased with the British than the
Spaniards began to incite the savages to take up once more the hatchet
they had just dropped, [Footnote: Calendar of Va. State Papers, III.,
584, 608, etc.] for Spain already recognized in the restless borderers
possible and formidable foes.
Miro in answering Robertson assured him that the Spaniards were very
friendly to the western settlers, and denied that the Spanish agents
were stirring up trouble. He also told him that the harassed Cherokees,
weary of ceaseless warfare, had asked permission to settle west of the
Mississippi--although they did not carry out their intention. He ended
by pressing Robertson and his friends to come down and settle in Spanish
territory, guaranteeing them good treatment. [Footnote: Robertson MSS.
As the letter is important I give it in full in the Appendix.]
In spite of Miro's fair words the Spanish agents continued to intrigue
against the Americans, and especially against the Cumberland people. Yet
there was no open break. The Spanish governor was felt to be powerful
for both good and evil, and at least a possible friend of the settlers.
To many of their leaders he showed much favor, and the people as a whole
were well impressed by him; and as a compliment to him they ultimately,
when the Cumberland counties were separated from those lying to the
eastward, united the former under the name of Mero [Footnote: So spelt;
but apparently his true name was Miro.] District.