Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1857-01-02

~N''-Ni0 al H1tuuiS ICuHCSSce I6SOlf6u 10 Is
tablish for themselves and their poSterity
some well ordered government.
The 18th of May may be held in remem,
brance as that on which additional reso-
lutions and further association were entered
into at Marlborough" to regulate entries
and locations of land, to protect and pro-
vide for the children and widows of those
who should die or be killed by the Indians;
regulating the military defenceS; calling
into service men from each station; impress
ing horses; imposing, collecting and appro-
priating fines, &c. This was the
" Government Of the Judges"
General ArbitratorS or Triers,"
Chosen by the Freemen Of the different
Stations"
(See Appendix
The emigrants Of these early years, 10
to '84, came with strong reliance upon
the titles acquired by the private treaty Of
l775. Richard Henderson and Nathaniel
Hart, the leading men in the treaty and
association for government, having signed
their names as the first Of signatures, and
witnessed the organization Of government
on the Cumberland, proceeded to what is
now Henderson county, Kentucky, and
there formed similar system Of govern
ment. And thus this treaty-maker, Col.
Richard Henderson, may be entitled to the
honor of having secured the adoption of a
written constitution Of government for three
distinct Colonies, and which might well have
| served as the origin Of three, rather than
two great States. Col Henderson, in
I778-9, had traced TIE line between Vir-
gnia and North Carolina, now nearly as
it is between Kentucky and Tennessee, and
finding that his Watauga and Cumberland
settlements were within the charter limits
Of the Old North State, he concluded to
form Colony similar to the thirteen, and
applied to the Continental Congress at
Philadelphia, in l775, to be admitted by
the name of Pennsylvania, "to unite with
them in the same great cause of liberty and
mankind"
The settlers at Marlborough, Freeland,
and Heaton's Stations-all of which places
are in full view from our Capitol Hill
chose Capt. James Robertson, (soon after
his arrival, to be Colonel Thus he ac-
CURED this distinction from the highest
source; the unanimous voice of his fellow
citizens; and well did all his conduct prove
that it was wisely bestowed. He became
the leading spirit in all the settlements in
the Cumberland District, Commander-in-
chief of the Military forces, and Chairman
or President" Of the Committee on Nota-
bles, down to the period when these, some
times called Triers or Judges, descended
from their seats of distinction and useful
ness, to be dignifed as " Justtces," under
commissions from the Governor of North
Carolina.
Two hundred and ffty-six names are
subscribed 20 the constitution and compact
of government, and it is exceedingly cred
table, and well worthy Of notice, that the
most of them wrote their own names. These
original signatures, like those to other De-
clarations and Constitutions, deserve to be
Autographed and studied The private
and public history of many of the signers
can be given. Many of their immediate
descendants are yet living in this State,
and in Mississippi and Kentucky.
There were eight stations established and
settlements commenced in 1880, and the
inhabitants or settlers were entitled to rep
resentatives in the tribunal of the Notables
or General Arbitrators,' as follows:
From Marlborough, 3.
From Gasper's, 3. Casper Mansker's
Lick)
From Bledsoe's, 1. Now Castalian
Springs
From Asper's, l. (Station Camp Greek. }
From StoLe's River, l. Glover Bot
tom.)
From FreeIand's, l. Or. McGavock's,
or Horticultural Garden.
From Eaton's, 9 (Now Brooklyn
From Fort Union, l. (Haysborough.) }
Which said persons, or majority of
them, after being bound by the solemnity
of an oath to do equal and impartial JUS
tice between all contending parties, &c"
shall be competent to settle all controyer-
sizes relative to locations and improvements
oflands; all other matters ofdispute among
the settlers; protecting the reasonable
claims Of those who may have returned for
their families; providing implements of
husbandry and food for such as might ar
rive without such neeessaries; making es-
pecial provision for soldolcs and orphans,
whose husbands or fathers may die or be
killed by the sayages; guaranteeing equal
rights, mutual protection and impartial JUS
tice; 'pledging themselves, most solemnly
and sacredly," to promote the peace, hap
piness and well-being Of the community-to
suppress the vice and punish crime
What right beginning for great STATED
Having aided in good work East of the
Mountain, aud left it in capable aud ell
cient hands there, they renewed their pa
triotic plans on the banks Of the Cumber.