The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-07-25


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E14A VHHaHd AS you walk along one of the shady
lElIh V3EI paths in the courthouse yard and
IfliEh VII approach the towering stone these
I9IfEEkaI words meet your eye "The First
G4tEEB Governor of Tennessee-John Sc
~EbV ver, sNolichucky Jack, September
3D. 1744; September a. 1SI5-Pio-
neer, Soldier, Statesman and One of the Founders
of the Republic"
You've never heard of "Nolichucky jack?
Then you've missed knowing one of the really
great characters of the American frontier and
one of the most picturesque figures in all our
history Walk around the monument and read
this inscription: Governor CT the state of
Franklin; Six terms governor of Tennessee.
-Four times elected to congress A protector and
hero of Kings Mountains 80 battles-s5 Victories
His indian war cry was: Here they are Come
on, boys, come on! ="
Thrilling is the story which those words
suggest, it is not complete until you read an in
scr1pt1on on still another side Of the monument
Here 1t is: katherine Sheriff. Sewer, Bonnv
Kate came when girl with her parents 70
Tennessee from North Carolina. Married John
Sewer August IA, $780, when she was twenty-six.
She became the mother of eight children and
died October Z, 1885, aged eighty-two Moved
from Russellvie, Ala and renterred here july
% 1922
And set in the brick walls of the courthouse
nearby is still more interesting memento of
this great frontiersman and his pioneer wife
lhere you Will see the original tomIstones of
Sewer and his "Bonny Kate" which were erected
over their graves in Alabama and moved to their
present location nearly 100 years later. One bears
the simple inscription -. Sewer Died September
"a, 1915" The other reads "Catharine Sewer
Notice the difference in spelling), Wife of Gov
ernor John Sewer of Tennessee Died October
Z, 1886. Aged eightytwo years. These had been
erected over their graves in Alabama where
they spent their last years. For history. YOU
see. had not yet given their people the proper
perspective of time through which to view their
part in building the nation and it was not until
nearly century later that the Tennesseeans re-
claimed them as their own and paid to them in
enduring stone the honors due their greatness
For this John Sewer is characterized by one
historian thus: 1.-THE organizer of the first free
and independent government on the continent
The leader of a great commonwealth: an Indian
fighter whom few have ever equalled; soldier
who could meet the finest troops on the continent
in the field and with inferior numbers win sue
cess from adverse circumstances; an admins
traitor who could conduct the affairs of his fellow
men under circumstances of the greatest diff
Guilty; statesman who takes rank not far behind
those colossal men who watched the travail pains
and facilitated the delivery of the new nation
to be-"
OF him, too, another historian has written.
"Ihe most daring spirit . was the Young
John Sewer OF French Hugenot family Originally
spelled Navier) born In Augusta county, Va 1t
was from MillerstoWn in Shenandoah county
where he was living the uneventfu life of small
farmer that he emigrated in December 1773,
TO the Watauga region lin eastern TENNESSEE
with his arrival there begins one of the most
fascinating and romantic careers recorded in the
varied and stirring annals of the old Southwest
IN thls daring and impetuous young fellow, fair
haired, bue-eyed, magnetic, debonair-of power
fu build, splendid proportions and athletic skill
we behold the gallant exemplar of the truly
heroic life of the border The story of his life
thrilling in the extreme is rich in all the
multi-colored elements which impart romance to
the arduous struggle of American civilization in
the opening years Of the Republic"
The Watauga settlement had been made in
l769-70 by James Robertson and party of North
Caroinians, who had climbed the mountains and
built their cabins in fertile valley on the other
side. The young Virginian, who was a man of
wealth in those days. became a leader in
the settlement and for the next 43 years he was
the one outstanding figure in that part of the
frontier country. For 1T was not long aft er his
arrival that he had an opportunity to enonstrate
his qualities of leadership in the troubles with
the Indians which started during the Dunmore
war or llf4 and continued after the outbreak of
the Revolution. During the Revolution Sewer
more than once broke up the plans of the British
Tor launching the savages upon the borders and
thus delivering fatal stroke against the colonies
VINO were revolving against the mother country
One OF the first Of the British attempts was