Knox County TN Archives History - Books .....Early Settlement - Chapter III 1900
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Book Title: Standard History Of Knoxville

CHAPTER III.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.



Conditions in the West—Germ of Knoxville—White's Fort—North Carolina

Grants—Explorations of James White—Fixed Settlement— Topography—Growth—New

Stations or Forts—Roads—Cession of Territory to United States—Blount Appointed

Governor—His Character—Appointments—Relations of Whites and Indians—Treaty of

Holston—Provisions and Results.



IN 1786 the first habitation was erected on the present site of Knoxville. At

the time affairs in the West were in a state of deep ferment and grave

uncertainty. Indeed, such was the condition all over the country. Congress was

impotent, the states keeping- their best statesmanship at home and sending to

the national legislature their less experienced and distinguished sons. The

Hopewell treaty was proving a futile compact, the whites continuing to settle

upon lands declared thereby to be in Indian territory. The North Carolina party

within the bounds of the state of Franklin was now making itself felt in rending

the refractory state, and restoring her to the bosom of her mother. The wily

Wilkinson was employing his cunning arts and seductive speech to dismember

Virginia by the separation of Kentucky, and to* identify the latter's fortunes

with Spanish interests. It remained to be seen whether the machinations of Spain

to sever the West from her Eastern connections were to prove abortive when

prospects of extermination and of closing the Mississippi river to traffic were

held out to the settlers and when such robust spirits as James Robertson were

yielding to the blandishments of the neighbor on the southwest.



  The germ of Knoxville lay in White's Fort, which was founded by Col. James

White upon the extreme border land of the Indian country. He had entered the

region thereabout as payment for his services in the Revolutionary war. To

reward the valor and heroism of her officers and soldiers in that war. North

Carolina gave of her immense domain westward large grants of land for their

services, reserving only as hunting grounds for the Cherokee Indians the region

included within the Tennessee, French Broad, and Big Pigeon rivers, east to the

North Carolina line and south to that of Georgia.* Immediately after the passage

of this act by the North Carolina legislature, in 1783. James White, in company

with Robert Love, F. A. Ramsey, who was a practical, surveyor, and others, began

an exploration to select the most advantageous regions open for the location of

land warrants. This party, beginning its work on the French Broad river not far

from where Newport now- stands, followed its valleys southwestward to the mouth

of Dumplin creek, where they crossed over into the lands lying between the

French Broad and Holston rivers. Crossing the Holston several miles above the

present site of Knoxville and entering Grassy valley, they examined the lands

adjacent to the Holston as far as its confluence with the then Tennessee river,

opposite the present Lenoir City, thus passing through the territory which was

to include the future Knoxville.+ It is maintained that this exploration was

continued as far down the river as Southwest Point, now Kingston.#



*   Haywood, History of Tennessee, 121.    Reprint.

+   Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee, 278.

#   Sketch of Knoxville, in Art Work of Knoxville, 2.



  With the passage of the act of the North Carolina legislature in May, 1783,

for the sale and disposition of western lands and with the entry of much of

these by May, 1784, in the land office at Hillsboro, the strong tide of

emigration from North Carolina, poured into what is now Tennessee, thus

counterbalancing that influx of population which had hitherto-flowed from

Virginia. Returning to his North Carolina home Col. White made preparation to

move. In 1784 he went to Fort Chiswell, Virginia, where he made a crop. By 1785

he had settled in the new territory and was sitting in the councils of the state

of Franklin.* His temporary abode was four miles above the junction of the

Holston and French Broad rivers, where he remained only one year. In 1786,

joined by an old neighbor and fellow-soldier, James Connor, likewise of Rowan,

now Iredell, county, North Carolina, he moved thence, following the water

courses downward, and established himself on the north bank of the Holston below

the confluence of the two rivers. Here, several hundred yards from the river, he

built his cabin and fort. Beauty of situation, availability of water power,

proximity to numerous springs, and other natural advantages rendered the spot

peculiarly attractive. The first clearing, according to tradition, was on ground

that now includes the site of the First Presbyterian church, though the monarch

trees near by would seem to question the correctness thereof. The cabin, one and

a half or two stories high, was erected north of the clearing, between the

present Union and Commerce streets. Having regard to the purposes of defence, it

stood at one corner on a quarter of an acre of ground quadrangular in shape.

Three other cabins not so pretentious occupied the other angles, and were

connected therewith by heavy stockades eight feet high, provided with port-holes

well arranged for defence.+ More recent writers upon local history disconnect

the fort or blockhouse and the cabin, placing the former on or between the sites

of the Palace Hotel and the Hampden Sydney School and the latter on the present

site of Mrs. Jane Kennedy's residence, just back of the Imperial Hotel. The L of

this residence is thought to be the original cabin, weatherboarded in later years.#



*   Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee. 295. 

+   Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee. 374.

#   J. W. Caldwell. History of Knoxville, in East Tennessee, Historical and

Biographical, 455. Sketch of Knoxville. in Art Work of Knoxville. 2.



  A study of the topography of this site will serve to show how admirable for

defence was the location and how wise the judgment that dictated the selection.

Half a mile apart, on the east and west respectively. First and Second creeks so

flowed as to make an almost perfect parallelogram, while the ground sloped

towards each stream in regular descent; on the north were abrupt hills and on

the south was the river reached through the narrow gorges of the creeks or over

abrupt precipices. On two sides, then, the approaches were exceedingly

difficult, while the elevations on the other two gave a commanding sweep of

vision and a decided advantage of position. Apart from its strategic importance

and its natural resources, its location almost midway between the then extreme

outposts of the population included within the present Tennessee was fortunate

for its future. It was, so to speak, an unconscious prophecy of the place it was

to occupy in subsequent years when, in 1789, upon the election of John Sevier to

Congress, the certificates of the returning officers were brought to the house

of James White for comparison by the Clerk of the Superior Court of Washington

District, who for the convenience of the counties in Miro District attended at

that place.*



*Ramsey. Annals of Tennessee, 433.



  In tracing the historic incidents leading up to the foundation of Knoxville

the embryo is found in the unpretentious cabin and strong personality of James

White. A settlement beginning with the simplest means of livelihood and the

crudest conditions of life, where bread depended upon the pounding of corn and

the supply of meat upon unerring marksmanship, where the ranger and the scout

betook themselves in safety to recount adventurous scenes and hairbreadth

escapes, where the immigrant paused to consider the inducements for permanent

habitation or to rest his travel-weary cavalcade, it has grown to assume the

position and dignity of a cultured, prosperous, and populous city. If James

White had not been the father of his distinguished son, Hugh Lawson White, if he

had not been throughout his career a useful pioneer, a brave soldier, a

patriotic citizen, and a faithful public official, thereby winning an enduring

fame, he would deserve it as the founder of a city which has enriched the state

and the nation, not only by its contributions of material wealth and prosperity,

but also by its illustrious array of business men, ministers, journalists,

scholars, jurists and statesmen.



  The years intervening between the establishment of White's Fort and the

formation of the "Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio," 1786

to 1790, were full of keen interest to the settlers. Despite Indian depredations

and murders, the conflicts of state and national authorities, internal

dissensions and factional differences, the settlement of James White continued

to grow until by the time Governor William Blount had fixed upon it as the seat

of territorial government it had become a somewhat densely populated community.

The year 1786 was particularly favorable for growth, bringing comparative

freedom from Indian incursions and outrages in view of the concessions made by

the Hopewell treaty. The immigrant profited by it and swelled the increasing

tide of population or pushed on beyond. In view of its urgent necessity Col.

White erected on the creek just east of the fort a small tub mill, the infant

industry of Knoxville. The same year that saw the building of White's Fort, John

Adair's station was established five miles northeast, as a supply store for the

Cumberland guards who were entrusted with -the safe conveyance of settlers

through the wilderness to the Cumberland settlements. Stations were founded

further westward in rapid succession, so that by 1787 the cutting and opening of

a wagon road by way of Campbell's station and the lower end of Clinch mountain

to the Cumberland country, became a matter of legislation on the part of the

North Carolina legislature. The next year James Robertson announced through the

columns of the North Carolina State Gazette the new road open for service.* This

road seems, however, for several years to have been suited only for pack

trains.+ The stir and bustle of life around White's Fort was further accentuated

by the presence of soldiery, the growing hostility and wanton outbreaks of the

Indians being checked only by the prospect of sudden invasion and the wreaking

of speedy vengeance.



*   Ramsey. 503, 505.

+   Roosevelt. The Winning of the West. Vol. IV., in; The American Historical

Magazine. Vol. II., 60.



  A step of far-reaching consequence to the young settlement was now taken. In

1789 North Carolina, as payment of all obligations incurred in the Revolutionary

war, which were to be assumed by the general government, ceded to the United

States all right and title to the Tennessee country. In the spring of 1790 the

transfer was completed. While James White is justly regarded the father and

founder of Knoxville, by his side as the next most conspicuous figure in her

early history stands William Blount. commissioned governor of the "Territory of

the United States South of the River Ohio" by Washington on June 8, 1790.

Blount, from the largeness of his ideas and the wisdom of his policy, may be

termed appropriately the Pericles of Tennessee. His appointment was an

auspicious event for Knoxville, as subsequent events proved. A man of broad

sympathies and tolerant views, of extensive legislative experience, of

distinguished lineage, of courtly manners and large hospitality, of rare skill

in the arts of diplomacy, he possessed pre-eminently the qualifications for the

high office he was selected to administer. There was the additional

recommendation that he came from the state which had just ceded the territory,

and had enjoyed such opportunities for contact with frontiersmen and study of

their difficulties as gave him the practical knowledge required for dealing

intelligently with the delicate problems involved. Joined with his duties as

governor was the superintendency of Indian affairs in the territory.



  The governor reached the scene of his new labors October 10, 1790, fixed his

temporary capital at the house of William Cobb in the fork of the Holston and

Watauga rivers, and proceeded at once to the discharge of his official duties.

After the appointment and commissioning of officers for Washington and Mire*

districts, one of the first and most delicate tasks imposed upon him was the

arrangement of a treaty with the Cherokee Indians. The issues at stake involved

the welfare and security of all those inhabitants in the fork of the Holston and

French Broad rivers, south of the same streams and Big Pigeon, and northwest of

the Holston. Their numbers ran up into the thousands. The Hopewell treaty had

given umbrage to the whites and little satisfaction to the Indians. It brought,

therefore, no cessation of hostile feelings, marauding expeditions, and

murderous attacks. Proclamations of congress and threats of the Secretary of

"War proved unavailing to check the onward flow of immigration and encroachment

upon lands guaranteed by treaty rights. Expeditions into the Indian country and

summary punishment by burning villages, devastating crops, and capturing women

and children served only as a temporary barrier to the retaliatory measures

inspired by Indian cunning and venom. On their part, as has been shown, the

settlers claimed the land tinder acts of the North Carolina legislature and

treaties of the defunct state of Franklin, which they deemed duly constituted

authorities.



  After repeated efforts, involving the sending of various representatives among

the Indians to enlist their interest and to counteract the malign influence of

mischief-makers on the frontier and in the nation, and after changes of date and

location, Governor Blount succeeded in assembling the chiefs for council at a

point four miles below the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers on

the present site of Knoxville.



  An account of this treaty has been left*, which enlivens greatly the dreary

details of Indian treachery and white aggression. The picture drawn is

suggestive of some mediaeval court where the feudal lord is surrounded by his

vassals to witness some feat of skill, to attend some council of his

Witenagemot, to make some application of the ordeal, or to receive some embassy

from a foreign court. The locality, which is near the foot of the present

Central avenue, is a sylvan retreat where the rippling waters of First creek go

to lose themselves in the outspreading bosom of the Holston river, and where the

gently sloping hillside forms a. natural amphitheater for the eager spectators.

Beneath a monarch of the forest, seated in his chair of state, clad in the

splendid paraphernalia of a high-ranking military officer, the governor waits to

give audience to the representatives of the Cherokee nation. James Armstrong,

otherwise "Trooper" Armstrong, who knew the etiquette of European courts, is the

master of ceremonies. As the chiefs are introduced to him by an interpreter, he

in turn, age taking precedence, presents them to the governor. A crowd of twelve

hundred Indians, braves, women, and children gaze on the scene, while a large

company of the whites of the neighborhood lend their presence to the occasion.

The chiefs sit around in silent dignity, the speaker alone rising to present

their cause to the presiding officer upon his bidding them to unfold their

grievances. Thus far this was the great event of Gov. Blount's administration.

It was to impress the Indians with some idea of the power, splendor, and majesty

of the government under which he held sway, while the absence of the agents and

implements of war signified to' them its friendly and peaceful intentions.



*Ramsey. 555.





  After a seven days' conference, ending July 2, 1791, the treaty was signed by

William Blount for the United States and by forty-one chiefs for the Cherokee

nation of Indians. On October 26. 1791, President Washington laid before the

senate the papers relative to the treaty for advice as to ratifying them. On

November 9 following. Senator Hawkins from committee reported back to the senate

their approval of the terms of the treaty, which now, as far as the authorities

at the capital were concerned, meant the restoration of peace and friendship

between the Cherokees and the United States. The treaty's material provisions

were assurances of mutual friendship, the acknowledgment of the protectorate of

the United States, the mutual surrender of prisoners, the designation of

boundary lines and the guarantee of valuable goods and an annuity in

consideration of the extinguishment of Indian claims, the unmolested navigation

of the Tennessee river and use of a road connecting Washington and Miro

districts, provision for the punishment of criminals., notification of any

designs detrimental to the welfare of the United States, and material aid in the

fostering of industrial pursuits among the Indians on the part of the United

States.* By this treaty the lands on the south side of the Holston river,

opposite Knoxville. were ceded.



*   Royce. The Cherokee Nation of Indians. 158. 159.



  When it is recalled that the treaty, in reality, did not strengthen the bonds

of friendship between the two nations, that strained relations and frequent

outbreaks continued unabated, that it required seven days of patient negotiation

to bring about any agreement, that the point of dispute, the ridge separating

the waters of Little and Tennessee rivers as a dividing line, remained

undetermined for some years, and that a delegation of Indian chiefs without the

consent or knowledge of Blount visited Philadelphia and extorted larger gifts of

goods and bounties from the national government, one is disposed to question the

efficacy of the governor's tactics and diplomacy on this occasion.



Additional Comments:
From:



STANDARD HISTORY

OF

KNOXVILLE TENNESSEE



WITH FULL OUTLINE OF THE NATURAL ADVANTAGES, EARLY SETTLEMENT, TERRITORIAL

GOVERNMENT, INDIAN TROUBLES, AND GENERAL AND PARTICULAR HISTORY OF THE CITY DOWN

TO THE PRESENT TIME



EDITED BY

WILLIAM RULE

GEORGE F. MELLEN, PH. D., AND J. WOOLDRIDGE COLLABORATORS



PUBLISHED BY

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

CHICAGO 1900



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