The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-07-25
1zHGIzaL 5L4IZER 1OzkB5 z0z1E:S

their allies and prevented their being used by the
British in a rear attack on the colonies who were
engaged in their desperate struggle on the At
lantic seaboard
1t was these same tactics which Sewer used
In winning one of the most brilliant victories of
the Revolution-the dash to trap Colonel Fergu-
son and his force of British at Kings Mountain
and overwhelm them before they could receive
aid from CORVALLIS. Not far from Johnson
City, Tenn, stands a monument where Sewer,
Campbell, Shelby, and other leaders rallied the
mountain men for the march the Great
Smokes to take part in that battle which was
afterwards to be known as 'the turning point
of the Revolution For the loss suffered by the
British on Kings Mountain was one of the steps
which led to the surrender of CORVALLIS at York
town and the end of the Revolution
At the close of the Revolution the North Caro-
lima legislature without consulting the settlers
Wishes coded the Watauga region to the federal
government with the provision that it must be
accepted within two years During the two years
congress debated the matter ana finally rejected
the gift. While the discussion going on in
congress- North Carolina withdrew her courts and
militia and the settlers awoke to the fact that
they were under the protection of neither the
state nor the federal government And from
neither could they gain any help in repelling the
troublesome Although they were still subject
to federal government taxes they were receiving
nothing in return for them. Finally angered by
being thus deserted by the state and nation which
they had served so well during the trying times
of the Revolution, the frontiersmen decided to es
tabsh state of their own. And in 1884 there
came into existence the independent state of
Franklin, a commonwealth unique in American
history. The leader to whom they turned was
"Nolichucky jack Sewer and during the stormy
history of that commonwealth he, as before, was
the outstanding leader of the east Tennessee
frontiersmen. For North Carolina, after with
drawing the act of cession, attempted to assert
her authority over that region again. AS gov
ernor of the commonwealth and a man whose
forceful personality naturally made enemies for
him, Sewer was singled out for punishment He
was treacherously betrayed, captured and after
wards tried al Morgantown, N. g., for high trea-
son. Immediately 1900 of the trans-Allegheny
borderers assembled for the rescue of their be-
loved "Nochucky Jack" For awhile a civil war
seemed imminent. Then, aided by some of his old
comrades-in-arms, Sewer made a spectacular es-
cape, whereupon the people OF the Watauga
country promptly elected him to the North Caro-
lima legislature. There was some protest about
his taking his seat but eventually he was al
lowed to hold the office. When North Carolina
ratified the Federal Constitution and became one
of the sisterhood of states one congressman was
to represent the North Carolina district beyond
the mountains. 1t goes without saying that
Sewer was unanimously elected
When Tennessee became a territory, he was
made general of the militia and when she became
state, he chosen governor without opposi-
tion. He was elected to that position for three
successive terms and then, under The constitution
being ineligible for period of two years, he was
thereafter elected for three more successive
terms, after which he was sent back to congress,
and three times reelected. "Nolichucky Jack"
died he had lived, in the harness, and in the
field. The end came in 1915, in a tent on sur
veying expedition for the government, surrounded
by his soldiers His wife lived on for more than
score OF years and was buried first in Alabama
where she died But in 1929 her body was
brought back TO Tennessee and there in the very
heart Of the country where this pioneer couple
saw history in the making, and helped make it,
"Nochucky Jack" and bis Benny Kate are
together.