John Sevier
John Sevier was an American soldier, frontiersman, and politician, and one of the founding fathers of Tennessee. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he played a leading role in Tennessee's pre-statehood period, both militarily and politically, and he was elected the state's first governor in 1796. He served as a colonel of the Washington District Regiment in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, and he commanded the frontier militia in dozens of battles against the Cherokee in the 1780s and 1790s.
Sevier settled in the Tennessee Valley frontier in the 1770s. In 1776, he was elected one of five magistrates of the Watauga Association and helped defend Fort Watauga against an assault by the Cherokee. At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he was chosen as a member of the Committee of Safety for the association's successor, the Washington District. Following the Battle of Kings Mountain, he led an invasion that destroyed several Cherokee towns in northern Georgia. In the 1780s, he served as the only governor of the State of Franklin, an early attempt at statehood by the trans-Appalachian settlers. He was brigadier general of the Southwest Territory militia during the early 1790s.
Sevier served six two-year terms as Tennessee's governor: from 1796 until 1801, and from 1803 to 1809, totaling 11 years. Term limits prevented a fourth consecutive term in both instances. His political career was marked by a growing rivalry with rising politician Andrew Jackson, which nearly culminated in a duel in 1803. After his last term as governor, Sevier was elected to three terms in the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee, serving from 1811 until his death in 1815.
Early life
Sevier was born in 1745 in Augusta County in the Colony of Virginia, near the present-day town of New Market.John Sevier was the oldest of seven children of Valentine Sevier and Joanna Goad. His father, who was of Spanish ancestry, had immigrated from England to Baltimore in 1740 and gradually made his way to the back country and Shenandoah Valley. One of his brothers, Valentine Sevier, became a frontiersman, Revolutionary War officer, and the builder of the Sevier Station frontier outpost.
Sevier's father worked variously as a tavern keeper, fur trader, and land speculator; young John pursued similar work. At an early age he opened his own tavern, and he helped found New Market. The town claims Sevier as its founder.
In 1761 at age 16, Sevier married Sarah Hawkins and initially settled into a life of farming. Some sources suggest Sevier served as a captain in the Virginia colonial militia, under George Washington, in Lord Dunmore's War in 1773 and 1774.
Watauga Association and Washington District
In the early 1770s, Sevier and his brother Valentine began making trips to various settlements on the trans-Appalachian frontier, in what is now northeastern Tennessee. In late 1773, Sevier moved his family to the Carter Valley settlements along the Holston River. Three years later, he relocated further south to the Watauga settlements, in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee. The Wataugans had leased their lands from the Cherokee in 1772 and had formed a fledgling government known as the Watauga Association. Sevier was appointed clerk of the Association's five-man court in 1775 and was elected to the court in 1776.The Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade Anglo-American settlement on Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. As the Watauga settlements were in Cherokee territory, British colonial authorities considered them illegal. In March 1775, the settlers purchased the lands from the Cherokee, with Sevier listed as a witness to the agreement. The Crown refused to recognize the purchase, however, and continued to demand that the settlers leave. A band of Cherokee led by Dragging Canoe disagreed with the tribe's sale of communal lands, and began making threats against the settlers.
American Revolutionary War
With the outbreak of the American Revolution, in April 1775, the Wataugans, most of whom were sympathetic to the Patriot cause, organized the Washington District and formed a 13-member Committee of Safety. The committee, which included Sevier, submitted the "Watauga Petition" to Virginia in the spring of 1776, formally asking to be annexed, but Virginia refused.. The Wataugans then petitioned North Carolina.Fearing an invasion by Dragging Canoe, who was receiving arms from the British, the Overmountain settlers built Fort Caswell to guard the Watauga settlements, and Eaton's Station to guard the Holston settlements. Sevier had begun building Fort Lee to guard settlements in the Nolichucky Valley. After receiving word of an impending Cherokee invasion from Nancy Ward, the Nolichucky settlers fled to Fort Caswell, and Sevier soon followed.
The Cherokee attacks began in mid-July 1776. Dragging Canoe went north to attack the Holston settlements, while a detachment led by Old Abraham of Chilhowee invaded the Watauga settlements. On July 21, Old Abraham's forces reached Fort Caswell, which was garrisoned by 75 militia commanded by John Carter, with Sevier and James Robertson as subordinates. Catherine Sherrill, Sevier's future wife, failed to make it into the fort before the gate was locked, but Sevier managed to reach over the palisades and pull her to safety. The fort's garrison beat back the Cherokee assault, and after a two-week siege, Old Abraham retreated. The Cherokee eventually sued for peace following an invasion of the Overhill country by William Christian in October 1776.
The Wataugans sent five delegates, among them Sevier, to North Carolina's constitutional convention in November 1776. The new constitution created the "District of Washington," which included most of modern Tennessee. The new district elected Sevier to one of its two seats in the state's House of Representatives. The district became Washington County, North Carolina in 1777. Sevier was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the new county's Washington County Regiment of militia.
Battle of Kings Mountain
Following the British victory at the Battle of Camden in August 1780, an army of Loyalists under Major Patrick Ferguson was dispatched to suppress Patriot activity in the mountains. After routing a small force under Charles McDowell, Ferguson sent a message to the Overmountain settlements, warning them that if they refused to lay down their arms he would march over the mountains and "lay waste the country with fire and sword." Sevier and Sullivan County militia colonel Isaac Shelby agreed to raise armies and march across the mountains to engage Ferguson.On September 25, 1780, the Overmountain Men, as they came to be called, gathered at Sycamore Shoals to prepare for the march. This force consisted of 240 Washington County militia commanded by Sevier, 240 Sullivan County militia commanded by Shelby, and 400 Virginians commanded by William Campbell. To provide funds for the march, Sevier obtained a loan from John Adair, putting up his own property as collateral. The combined force departed across the mountains on September 26, eventually linking up with the remnants of McDowell's men.
On October 7, the Overmountain Men caught up with and surrounded Ferguson, who had entrenched his Loyalist forces atop Kings Mountain, near the present-day North Carolina-South Carolina border. Sevier's men comprised part of the south flank, along with the forces of Campbell and McDowell. Patriot forces initially failed to break through the Loyalist lines, but the frontier sharpshooters gradually decimated the American Loyalist ranks. At the height of the battle, Sevier and Campbell charged the high point of the Loyalist position, giving the Overmountain men a foothold atop the mountain. Ferguson was killed while trying to break through Sevier's line, and the Loyalists surrendered shortly afterward. Sevier's brother, Captain Robert Sevier, was mortally wounded in the battle.
Cherokee and Chickamauga wars
Upon returning from Kings Mountain, Sevier was told by Nancy Ward of an impending Cherokee attack. He organized a 300-man force and marched south. On December 16, 1780, he routed a Cherokee force at the Battle of Boyd's Creek, near modern Sevierville. A few days later, he was joined by a contingent of Virginia militia led by Arthur Campbell, and the combined forces continued south, occupying the Cherokee town of Chota on December 25. They captured and burned Cherokee towns of Chilhowee and Tallassee three days later. Sevier and Campbell proceeded as far as the Hiwassee River, where they burned the villages of Great Hiwassee and Chestoee, before beginning the march home on New Year's Day.In February 1781, Sevier was commissioned as colonel-commandant of the Washington County militia, following the death of John Carter. Shortly afterward, he embarked on an expedition against the Cherokee Middle Towns, which lay on the other side of the mountains in the vicinity of modern Bryson City, North Carolina. Emerging from the mountains in March, his 150-man force took the village of Tuckasegee by surprise, killing about 50 and capturing several other Cherokee. Facing little opposition, he proceeded to destroy about 15 villages before returning home.
In September 1782, Sevier set out on an expedition against Dragging Canoe and his band of Cherokee, who had become concentrated in a string of villages in northern Georgia and Alabama. Because Dragging Canoe's band had earlier been settled near the Chickamauga River, settlers called them the "Chickamauga" Cherokee, but they were never a separate tribe. Sevier defeated a small force near Lookout Mountain, and destroyed several Cherokee villages along the Coosa River. Chief Oconostota helped negotiate peace between the newly founded America and the Cherokee people, bringing an end to the battles between the two nations.
State of Franklin
In June 1784, North Carolina, bowing to pressure, from the Continental Congress and eager to be rid of an expensive and unprofitable district, ceded its lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to the federal government. However, Congress did not immediately accept the lands, creating a vacuum of power in what is now Tennessee. In August 1784, Sevier served as president of a convention held at Jonesborough with the aim of establishing a new state. In March of the following year, he was elected governor of the proposed state, which was named "Franklin" in honor of Benjamin Franklin.In October 1784, North Carolina rescinded the cession and reasserted its claim to the Tennessee region. Sevier initially supported this, in part because he was offered a promotion to brigadier general, but he was persuaded by William Cocke to remain with the Franklinites. Though Sevier had popular support, a number of men from Washington County, led by John Tipton, remained loyal to North Carolina. As a result, two parallel governments were operating in Tennessee. Both elected public officials. Relations between the two governments were initially cordial, though a rivalry developed between Sevier and Tipton.
As North Carolina and Franklin competed for the loyalties of the residents of the area, Sevier became involved in intrigues with Georgia to gain control of Cherokee lands in what is now northern Alabama. He had taken out claims on several thousand acres of land. He also considered an alliance with Spain, whose Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró tried to sway Sevier, but the American eventually abandoned that idea.
In June 1785, Sevier negotiated the Treaty of Dumplin Creek, in which the Cherokee gave up claims to lands south of the French Broad River as far as the Little River–Little Tennessee River divide. The following year, he negotiated the Treaty of Coyatee, which extended the boundary to the Little Tennessee River. The State of Franklin created three new counties. The United States Senate never ratified these treaties, however, as required to make them legal between a tribe and the government. The fate of the European-American settlers who moved into these areas remained in limbo for years.
In February 1788, the rivalry between Sevier and Tipton came to a head, in what became known as the "Battle of Franklin." While Sevier was campaigning against the Cherokee, Tipton ordered some of Sevier's slaves to be seized for taxes supposedly owed to North Carolina. In response, Sevier led 150 militia to Tipton's farm, which was defended by about 45 loyalists supporting North Carolina. Both sides demanded the other surrender, and briefly exchanged gunfire. On February 29, two days after the siege began, loyalist reinforcements from Sullivan County arrived on the scene and scattered the Franklinites. Sevier retreated, though not before two men were killed. Two of Sevier's sons and other Franklin supporters were captured, but all were subsequently released.
In the summer of 1788, several Kirke family settlers were killed by renegade Cherokee warriors, in Blount County, in what became known by European Americans as the "Nine Mile Creek Massacre". In response, Sevier invaded and destroyed several Cherokee towns in the Little Tennessee Valley. Several Cherokee leaders met with Sevier under a flag of truce to discuss peace. But John Kirke, a member of the murdered family, attacked the delegation and killed several chiefs, including Old Tassel and Old Abraham of Chilhowee. The Cherokee were enraged, resulting in new supporters for Dragging Canoe in his resistance to the European Americans.
Following the Battle of Franklin, support for Sevier and the State of Franklin collapsed among settlers in areas north of the French Broad River. North Carolina Governor Samuel Johnston issued a warrant for his arrest in July 1788. In October, after Sevier attacked David Deaderick, a Jonesborough store owner, for refusing to sell him liquor, Tipton and his men captured the leader. He was sent to Morganton, North Carolina, to stand trial for treason. He was released by Burke County Sheriff William Morrison, before the trial began.
In January 1789, Sevier defeated a large Cherokee invasion led by John Watts at the Battle of Flint Creek near Erwin.