Samuel Wear
Samuel Wear was an American Revolutionary War soldier who fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain. He was one of the early inhabitants of, and a founder of, the "Lost State of Franklin". He later helped draft the Constitution of the State of Tennessee.
Early life
Samuel Wear was born in Augusta County, Virginia in 1753. He and his first wife, Mary Thompson, had four children.Frontier life
During the War for Independence, Wear and his family settled in the Overmountain town of Henderson Springs, then in Washington County. Wear fought with the Overmountain Men in the Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780. During the area's estrangement from North Carolina, Wear's house was the headquarters for the local Sevier County militia, loyal to Franklin president, John Sevier.Wear served as a state constitutional delegate and was the first county clerk of Sevier County under the State of Franklin, 1786–1787. Wear kept the county clerk position through the several local, regional, territorial, and federal governmental changes that followed, and still held the position when the area received statehood in 1796. In February 1788, Wear, fighting alongside Sevier against John Tipton's forces, took part in the siege of Tipton's abode.
Indian relations
In 1782, Wear established a stockade, which was called "Wear's Fort" at the entrance to a cove situated at the confluence of Walden Creek and the Little Pigeon River. This is along the Cherokee footpath known as the "Indian Gap Trail," that passed through the valley en route to its junction with the Great Indian Warpath. Wear's fort was erected to protect the early settlers in that vicinity from Indian attacks; but its location along the trail made it a popular target for small bands of Cherokee raiders.In 1786, Wear was one of the emissaries to the Cherokee who negotiated the Treaty of Coyatee, re-affirming the 1785 Treaty of Dumplin. The new treaty extended the area for white settlement almost as far south as the Little Tennessee River, along which the main "Overhill Cherokee" towns were located. After the conclusion of hostilities with Great Britain, however, continuing encroachment into lands the Cherokee believed to be theirs—by treaty with the Federal government—caused escalating violence in the area, especially south of the French Broad River.
Wear's Fort was attacked by Chickamauga in 1793. At the time, he was commander of the Sevier County militia, then operating under the Territory South of the River Ohio's territorial-governor, William Blount. Wear led a punitive march against the village of Tallassee shortly thereafter. The expedition killed at least fifteen Cherokee, and captured four females. In 1794, several Cherokee fired on Wear and his two sons just outside Calvins blockhouse. The Wears, however, escaped unharmed.