The Washington times., 1901-09-08
THE STATE OF FRANKLIN.
An Historical Section of the Union
Which Has Been Lost.
Organized in 1854 with John SEWER
ss MISUNDERSTANDING Was 81 Por-
ton OF North Carolina and Is Now
known ns the State of Tennessee.


mean? A member of the Membership
Committee of the Southern Society was
somewhat puzzled. The Southern Society
as an organization is exacting, which is
another way of saying that it is exclu-
sive. When a name is proposed for MEM
bership. the candidate must accompany
1t with a lucid account of himself and a
veracious pen-portrait of his family tree.
One of the questions asked is substan-
TALLY this:
How long and in what States of the
South have your ancestors lived2'
A recent candidate the story goes filed
out the blank space as follows:
Five generations in the States of Vir-
ginia, Franklin. and Tennessee"
1t was Franklin that stunped a mem
ber of the committee-the State of Frank
lin. Where was it? When was it? What
became Of it?
Those who have never heard of the lost
State Of Franklin, which flourished for
three years with it's legislative, judicial,
and executive branches of government
with it's citizen army and its masterful
pioneer spirit which sIbdued the hostile
Cherokees of the Southwest, need not
blush for their ignorance. There are too
many OF them.
to the State of Franklin. which was, in
1874, carved out of what were then parts
of North Carolina and Tennessee, by far
the largest slice being taken from the Old
North State. All Of what was the State
of Franklin is now embodied in the State
of Tennessee.
The genesis of the State of Franklin
makes one of the most interesting and ro-
mantle chapters in American history. 1t
fascinated Theodore Roosevelt, who de-
votes considerable space TO the lost
Commonwealth in his work, The Win
ming of the West" The most accurate
as well as the most vivid account of the
ccmmunitys rise and fall, however, is
found in book by James r. Gilmore
edmund Kirke) called John Sewer. The
Commonwealth Builder
Gilmore sets John Sewer on a pedestal,
and extravagantly says that he was the
ablest creative statesman of the post
Revolutionary epoch between 1883 and the
second war with Great Britain.
1t is n matter Of historic record that
North Carolina did not take this favor
able measure of Sewer. After the col
lapse of the State government, which had
been formed without Federal authority,
he was indicted for high treason by the
North Carolina authorities. and taken to
Morgantcwn for trial. While the hearing
was in progress his friends from over
the mountain stoEmed the courthouse
and he was rescued. The indictment was
wisely dropped. and Sewer was restored
to the favor of Washington, who made
him major general of militia in the ter
ritory west of the AIleghanies. He was
afterward elected the first Governor of
Tennessee-Franklin under new name
and served twelve years. He died in 1915
while a member Of the Federal Congress.
The birth of the State of Franklin came
about in this wise:
In the year 1772, a large number of Vir-
ginians crossed the Appalachian range
and settled on the banks of the Watauga
River, a small stream in what is now
Eastern Tennessee. They were hardy pio-
neers of the better class. Their master
spirit was John Sewer. already referred
TO- He had been captain in the Virginia
line under King George and the military
instinct was very strong within him. lie
and his compatriots had a double task;
they must perforce subdue the forest and
the Indian foe at the same time. How
well they succeeded is a part of history.
The Cherokees We're driven back and made
to understand that the whites were there
to stay. Farms were opened, mills erect
cd, and within a comparatively short
space OF time a prosperous, happy. and
contented people, most of them of the
Presbyterian faith, had built up a commu-
nifty that reflected no discredit upon the
Old Dominion. whence they came There
was a fly in the ointment. however. for
1T was soon discovered that most Of the
settlers were upon North Carolina terri
tory. and in those days the Tar Heels
and the Cavaliers We re- at odds
Meantime Lexington had become page
of history, Bunker Hnl had been fought, /
and the Declaration of Independence !
adopted.
1t TOOK the news OF all this some time
to reach the Watauga settlement, but fin |
ally the pioneers across the mountains |
learned that the Continentals were AT war 1
with the mother country. Ramsay's An |
nails of Tennessee declares that the wa 1
tauga settlement developed just one Tory !
Ia ne'er-do-well who was ordered cut Of |
the country.
In 1850 these backwoodsmen learned that |
Ferguson, the British general, with his !
regulars and a goodly Tory following, was !
not very far away across the mountains !
in the Carolinas. Under the leadership |
of Sewer and Isaac Shelby they organiz- |
ed TO a man and went to meet the foe. !
armed with their Deekard rifles. The old |
est male person left in the Watauga set |
tlement was SEWERS youngest son John, |
jr. His two older boys accompanied him |
The ovcr-mountain men met Ferguson |
at Kings Mountain and signally defeat |
ed him Ferguson was killed, Col. de |
Peyster New York Tory. his second In i
command. was taken prisoner, and the |
tide Of war was turned In that section |
Gilmore says that Kings Mountain put |
Tarleton on the run and made Yorktown |
possible.
At the close of the Revolutionary War |
the Watauga settlement had widely eX- |
tended its borders. and contained large /
and active population. II belonged TO |
North Carolina, and the vast territory, |
comprising what is now the State OF Ten |
nessee, 2. .00p.e9 acres, brought with its |
possession the obligation to bear cor !
respondingly large part of the Federal /
debt North Carolina didn't fancy this, |
and in June, 1884. ceded the land to the |
Federal Government When the news of |
this act reached the settlers they realized |
that they were practically without pro-
lection, as the country had not been or
ganized into a territory and the SoYer-
eighty of North Carolina had ceased TO |
a State government Of their own. and
then apply for admission TO the Union
They were bitter against the North Caro-
lima government, which they thought mad |
neglected them.
Accordingly In August. 17si, they called |
a convention, adopted a constitution, or
ganized a State government, and elected |
SEWER Governor. The State was named |
in honor of Benjamin Franklin, and while |
it lasted and for many years afterward. |
those who lived within its borders were /
called Franks
In the meantime. before the cession of |
the territory had been ratified by the Fed |
eraI Government, the Legislature of |
North Carolina met and hastened to undo |
what had been done at the former ses- |
sion They even made friendly overtures |
to the settlers, guaranteeing them Su- |
perfor Court and promising TO organize |
n militia and make Sewer brigadier gen