Watauga Association
Encyclopedia
Watauga River
The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 60 miles long with its headwaters on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain and Peak Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina.-Hydrography:...
in what is now present day Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton is the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is also the historical site both of the first independent American government located west of both the Eastern Continental Divide and the original thirteen British American colonies.Elizabethton is also the...
. Although it lasted only a few years, the Watauga Association provided a basis for what later developed into the state of Tennessee and likely influenced other western frontier governments in the trans-Appalachian
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
region. North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
annexed the Watauga settlement area, by then known as the Washington District
Washington District, North Carolina
The Washington District of North Carolina was in a remote area west of the Appalachian Mountains, officially existing for only a short period of time , although it had been self-proclaimed and functioning as an independent governing entity since the spring of 1775...
, in November 1776. Within a year, the area was placed under a county government, becoming Washington County, North Carolina, in November 1777. (This is the present day Washington County, Carter County
Carter County, Tennessee
Carter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 57,424. Its county seat is Elizabethton.Carter County is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined...
and other areas now located in the northeast part of the state of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.)
While there is no evidence that the Watauga Association ever claimed to be outside the sovereign territory of the British Crown, historians have often cited the Association as the earliest attempt by American-born colonists to form an independent democratic government. In 1774, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
governor Lord Dunmore
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a British peer and colonial governor. He was the son of William Murray, 3rd Earl of Dunmore, and his wife Catherine . He is best remembered as the last royal governor of the Colony of Virginia.John was the eldest son of William and Catherine Murray, and nephew...
called the Watauga Association a "dangerous example" of Americans forming a government "distinct from and independent of his majesty's authority." President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
later wrote that the Watauga settlers were the "first men of American birth to establish a free and independent community on the continent." While no copy of the settlers' compact, known as the Articles of the Watauga Association, has ever been found, related documents tend to imply that the Watauga settlers considered themselves British subjects.
History
Watauga River
The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 60 miles long with its headwaters on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain and Peak Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina.-Hydrography:...
, Nolichucky
Nolichucky River
The Nolichucky River is a major stream draining the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and east Tennessee. The river is long.-Hydrography:...
, and Holston
Holston River
The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia...
river valleys in the late 1760s and early 1770s, most migrating from Virginia via the Great Valley, although a few were believed to have been Regulators fleeing North Carolina after their defeat at the Battle of Alamance
Battle of Alamance
The Battle of Alamance was the final battle of the War of the Regulation, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over issues of taxation and local control. In the past, historians considered the battle to be the opening salvo of the American Revolution and locals agreed with this assessment...
. These settlers mistakenly believed (or at least claimed to have believed) the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys were part of lands ceded to Virginia by the Cherokee in the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber
Treaty of Lochaber
The Treaty of Lochaber was signed on October 18, 1770 by British representative John Stuart and the Cherokees. Based on the terms of the accord, the Cherokee relinquished all claims to property from the North Carolina and Virginia border to a point near Long Island on the Holston River to the mouth...
, but a subsequent survey by Colonel John Donelson
John Donelson
Col. John Donelson , explorer and adventurer, was, with James Robertson, co-founder of Fort Nashborough in 1780, which would eventually become the city of Nashville, Tennessee. Donelson was the father of Rachel Jackson, the wife of seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. His...
confirmed that these lands were still part of the Cherokee domain. As settlement on lands west of colonial boundaries violated the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers were ordered to leave.
In May 1772, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers negotiated a 10-year lease directly with the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, and being outside the claims of any colony, established the Watauga Association to provide basic government functions. The lease and the subsequent purchase of these lands in 1775 were considered illegal by the British Crown, and were vehemently opposed by a growing faction of the Cherokee led by the young chief Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe
Tsiyu Gansini , "He is dragging his canoe", known to whites as Dragging Canoe, was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers...
. With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
(April 1775), the settlers organized themselves into the "Washington District," loyal to the "united colonies," and formed a Committee of Safety
Committee of Safety (American Revolution)
Many Committees of Safety were established throughout Colonial America at the start of the American Revolution. These committees started to appear in the 1760s as means to discuss the concerns of the time, and often consisted of every male adult in the community...
to govern it, marking the end of the so-called "Watauga Republic".
In Spring of 1776, the Washington District Committee of Safety drafted a petition asking the colony of Virginia to annex the district. After Virginia refused, the Committee drafted a similar petition (dated July 5, 1776) asking the North Carolina Assembly to annex the district. In November of that year, North Carolina granted the petition and formally annexed the area. The Washington District was finally admitted to North Carolina as Washington County in November 1777.
The Cherokee, who were aligned with the British, launched an all-out invasion against the settlements in July 1776, but were soundly defeated. In 1777, the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Long Island, ceding control of the Watauga and Nolichucky valleys to the American colonies.
Structure
Since no copy of the Articles of the Watauga Association has ever been found, most of what is known about it comes from other sources, primarily the 1776 Petition of the Inhabitants of the Washington District, commonly called the "Watauga Petition," in which the Wataugans requested annexation by North Carolina. According to the Petition, the Articles were fashioned after the laws of Virginia and were enacted by unanimous consent of the settlers. The primary reason given for the establishment of the Watauga Association was to prevent the Watauga and Nolichucky regions from becoming a haven for debtors and felons, and for conducting "public business" such as the recording of deeds and wills. Other sources, such as the later writings of Washington District Committee of Safety clerk pro tem William Tatham (1752–1819) and documents collected by historian J. G. M. RamseyJ. G. M. Ramsey
James Gettys McGready Ramsey was an American historian, physician, and businessman, active primarily in East Tennessee during the nineteenth century. Ramsey is perhaps best known for his book, The Annals of Tennessee, a seminal work documenting the state's frontier and early statehood periods...
in the mid-19th century, reveal that the Articles established a five-member court (the members of which were elected), and that the Wataugans erected a courthouse and jail at Sycamore Shoals
Sycamore Shoals
The Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River, usually shortened to Sycamore Shoals, is a rocky stretch of river rapids along the Watauga River in Elizabethton, in the U.S. state of Tennessee...
.
Historians disagree over the first five magistrates of the court, although most agree that it included John Carter, James Robertson, Charles Robertson, and Zachariah Isbell. The fifth member was probably Jacob Brown. Later court members included Andrew Greer, John Roddye, and John Sevier
John Sevier
John Sevier served four years as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years as Governor of Tennessee. As a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death...
. James Smith was probably the court's first clerk, replaced by Sevier in 1775. When Sevier was elected to the court, Felix Walker
Felix Walker (American politician)
Felix Walker was a Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1817 and 1823.Walker was born near the Potomac River in what was then Hampshire County, Virginia, now part of West Virginia...
took over as clerk, with Tatham serving in his absence.
Military affairs
Wataugan militiamen were present at multiple engagements on the frontier and throughout the American Revolution. A company of 20 Wataugans took part in the Battle of Point PleasantBattle of Point Pleasant
The Battle of Point Pleasant, known as the Battle of Kanawha in some older accounts, was the only major battle of Dunmore's War. It was fought on October 10, 1774, primarily between Virginia militia and American Indians from the Shawnee and Mingo tribes...
in 1774 during Lord Dunmore's War, and another contingent aided in the defense of Boonesborough
Boonesborough, Kentucky
Boonesborough is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. It lies in the central part of the state along the Kentucky River. Boonesborough is part of the Richmond–Berea Micropolitan Statistical Area....
and Harrodsburg
Harrodsburg, Kentucky
Harrodsburg is a city in and the county seat of Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 8,014 at the 2000 census. It is the oldest city in Kentucky.-History:...
later in the decade.
The Washington District Committee of Safety, created in 1775, consisted of John Carter, Zachariah Isbell, Jacob Brown, John Sevier, James Smith, James and Charles Robertson, William Bean
William Bean
William Bean born was a Longhunter and pioneer. He and his wife, Lydia Russell, were Tennessee's first permanent European-American settlers.Bean was a friend of Daniel Boone...
, John Jones, George Russell, and Robert Lucas. The Committee acquired arms and oversaw the construction of Fort Watauga
Fort Watauga
Fort Watauga, more properly Fort Caswell, was an American Revolutionary War fort that once stood at the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee...
(initially named Fort Caswell and located at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton is the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is also the historical site both of the first independent American government located west of both the Eastern Continental Divide and the original thirteen British American colonies.Elizabethton is also the...
), where they thwarted one wing of the Cherokee invasion of July 1776. Wataugans took part in William Christian
William Christian (Virginia)
William Christian was an "Indian fighter", Continental soldier, militiaman and politician from Virginia who served in the era of the American Revolution. He was a signatory to the Fincastle Resolutions and founder of Fort William...
's punitive expedition against the Overhill
Overhill Cherokee
The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the former Cherokee settlements located in what is now Tennessee in the southeastern United States. The name was given by 18th century European traders and explorers who had to cross the Appalachian Mountains to reach these settlements when traveling from...
towns in the latter half of 1776.
Even at the height of the Cherokee threat in the Spring of 1776, the Wataugans heeded a call to arms and dispatched a company of riflemen under Felix Walker to aide in the defense of Charleston
Siege of Charleston
The Siege of Charleston was one of the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War, after the British began to shift their strategic focus towards the American Southern Colonies. After about six weeks of siege, Continental Army Major General Benjamin Lincoln...
in South Carolina. In August 1780, a small contingent led by Col. Isaac Shelby
Isaac Shelby
Isaac Shelby was the first and fifth Governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky and served in the state legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina. He was also a soldier in Lord Dunmore's War, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812...
fought in the American Patriot victory at the Battle of Musgrove Mill
Battle of Musgrove Mill
The Battle of Musgrove Mill, August 19, 1780, occurred near a ford of the Enoree River, near the present-day border between Spartanburg, Laurens and Union Counties in South Carolina...
near present day Clinton, South Carolina
Clinton, South Carolina
Clinton is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,091 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Greenville–Mauldin–Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clinton was first settled by Scots-Irish immigrants two decades before the American Revolutionary...
. In late September 1780, the Overmountain Men
Overmountain Men
The Overmountain Men were American frontiersmen from west of the Appalachian Mountains who took part in the American Revolutionary War. While they were present at multiple engagements in the war's southern campaign, they are best known for their role in the American victory at the Battle of Kings...
— the frontier militia that crossed the Appalachian Mountains and defeated an army of British loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
s at the Battle of Kings Mountain
Battle of Kings Mountain
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
— mustered at Sycamore Shoals, and included 240 Wataugans under the command of Cols. John Sevier and Isaac Shelby. After the battle, Sevier led a second punitive expedition against the Cherokee in which he destroyed the Chickamauga
Chickamauga Indian
The Chickamauga or Lower Cherokee, were a band of Cherokee who supported Great Britain at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. They were followers of the Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe...
villages near modern Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
.
At least one Wataugan, William Tatham, was present at the Battle of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
in 1781.
Legacy
The Articles of the Watauga Association likely influenced the Cumberland CompactCumberland Compact
The Cumberland Compact was a forerunner of the Tennessee State Constitution, signed on May 13, 1780, by settlers when they arrived on the Cumberland River and settled Fort Nashborough, which would become Nashville, Tennessee...
(drafted in 1780), the main link between the two pacts being James Robertson, who in 1779 led a group of colonists into what is now the Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
area. The Clarksville Compact, drafted for the Clarksville
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
settlement in 1785, may have also been inspired by the Watauga Association (the Clarksville Compact even adopted the laws of Virginia, even though the settlement was clearly within the territory of North Carolina). In the mid-1780s, some former Wataugans (especially John Sevier) played a key role in the establishment of the failed State of Franklin
State of Franklin
The State of Franklin, known also as the Free Republic of Franklin or the State of Frankland , was an unrecognized autonomous United States territory created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been offered,...
.
Numerous historians in the 19th and early 20th centuries romanticized the Watauga Association as the first democratic or constitutional government formed by American-born colonists. Historian Andrew C. McLaughlin
Andrew C. McLaughlin
Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin was an American historian born to Scottish immigrant parents. He received his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Michigan. By 1903 he was a respected historian and in 1914 he was named President of the American Historical Association...
, in his first major work on the history of the U.S. Constitution, wrote of the Wataugans, "one can find no more striking fact in American history, nor one more typical, than the simple ease with which those frontiersmen... formed an association and extended the rights and privileges of self-government." McLaughlin's colleague Claude Van Tyne
Claude H. Van Tyne
Claude Halstead Van Tyne was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He taught history at the University of Michigan from 1903–1930, and wrote a number of books on the American Revolution...
wrote of the Wataugans, "like the Pilgrim Fathers they were without formal laws and institutions, and they made them." In The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt treated the Watauga Association as a microcosm of the subsequent American Revolution, writing, "the Watauga settlers outlined in advance the nation's work. They tamed the rugged and shaggy wilderness, they bid defiance to outside foes, and they successfully solved the difficult problem of self-government." Recent historians point out that while the Watauga Association was one of the first constitutional governments west of the Appalachians, it was not intended as a government separate from the English colonies.
External links
- Tennessee State Parks - Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park
- Political History of Tennessee Began in 1772 with Adoption of "Written Articles of Association" — article at TNGenWeb by Dallas Bogan
- Chapter II, Watauga—Its Settlement and Government — in The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century by J. G. M. Ramsey, 1853.