Watauga Purchase and Compact The Watauga Compact was the first chance at self-government before the Revolutionary War in East Tennessee East Tennessee comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely Bledsoe, Cumberland, and Marion. East Tennessee is entirely located within the Appalachian Mountains, although the la…East Tennessee
Watauga Association
The Watauga Association was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee. Although it lasted only a few years, the Watauga Association provided a basis for what later developed into the state of T…
Richard Henderson
Richard Henderson CH FRS FMedSci HonFRSC is a Scottish molecular biologist and biophysicist and pioneer in the field of electron microscopy of biological molecules. Henderson shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank.
When did the Watauga purchase the land?
The Watauga Purchase, March 19, 1775 The Wataugans purchased the land they occupied from the Cherokee Indians in the spring of 1775 on the occasion of the Henderson purchase of Transylvania.
What land did the Wataugans purchase from the Cherokee?
The Wataugans purchased the land they occupied from the Cherokee Indians in the spring of 1775 on the occasion of the Henderson purchase of Transylvania. Their purchase, as the contract below indicates, included the whole of the Watauga River valley, plus the North Carolina headwaters of the New River, plus the area below...
Who was the trustee of the Watauga Association?
Here, March 19, 1775, at the Sycamore Shoals, the Watauga Association, Charles Robertson, Trustee, bought from the Cherokee, with Oconostota as chief, lands along the Watauga, Holston and Great Canaway (now New) Rivers. The consideration for the purchase was 2000 Pounds Sterling.
What was the Watauga Compact in East Tennessee?
Tennessee History. The Watauga Compact was the first chance at self-government before the Revolutionary War in East Tennessee. The Watauga Association created it and it lasted for 5 years from 1772-1776. In March 1775, the Watauagans purchased heretofore land, inspired by Richard Henderson’s private purchase of land.
What is the significance of the Watauga Settlement?
White settlers and their African-American slaves moved into Upper East Tennessee in the 1770s and established their own government, the Watauga Association. By so doing, these settlers clearly defied British authority which had forbidden settlement west of the Appalachian Mountain chain in the Proclamation of 1763.
Who formed the Watauga Settlement?
The first permanent white settler in what is now Tennessee was William Bean, who settled in 1769 on Boone's Creek, near where it flowed into the Watauga River. Within a year there were several more families in three adjoining communities: Nolichucky, Carter's Valley, and North Holston.
Who signed the Watauga compact?
All were known as the "Wataugans." Two such hale and hearty pioneers were my ancestors, namely Christopher Columbus Cunningham, Sr. and Isaac Wilson, Sr. Both were signers of the Watauga Petition to the state of North Carolina.
What did the settlers of Watauga do in July of 1776?
The Committee acquired arms and oversaw the construction of Fort Watauga (initially named Fort Caswell and located at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee), where they thwarted one wing of the Cherokee invasion of July 1776.
Why did the Watauga settlers send a petition to North Carolina?
In 1775, the Wataugans secured their lands by purchasing it from the Cherokee Nation, and by August 1776, had petitioned North Carolina for recognition of their government, now termed "Washington District." The following petition is undated, but is believed to have been signed in 1776.
How long did the Watauga Association last?
The court existed for four years, regulating affairs of the Watauga community. The court probably concentrated on judicial business, since the adoption of Virginia laws alleviated the need for legislative action; the only surviving record of the association is a lawsuit handled by the court.
Who settled Boone NC?
When Daniel Boone was a youth his family moved to North Carolina. The exact date of this move is not known, but it is thought to be around 1752, when Daniel was about eighteen. Squire Boone invested in land close to the Yadkin River, about eight miles from Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Why was the state of Franklin never made a state?
North Carolina decided it wanted its land back. Because of this, the Federal Government wouldn't accept Franklin as a state. This angered the people living in Franklin. There were now two governments - the government of Franklin and the government of North Carolina.
Who settled Boone NC?
When Daniel Boone was a youth his family moved to North Carolina. The exact date of this move is not known, but it is thought to be around 1752, when Daniel was about eighteen. Squire Boone invested in land close to the Yadkin River, about eight miles from Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
When was Watauga TN founded?
Disregarding the British mandate, the settlers negotiated a ten-year lease with the Indians for “all the country on the waters of the Watauga.” In 1772 the settlers established the Watauga Association to organize the region.
How were the Cumberland settlements established?
CUMBERLAND SETTLEMENTS. The immense domain acquired from the Cherokee by the Transylvania Company in March 1775 by the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals covered lands on the Cumberland River and below.
Who established nolichucky?
Jacob BrownHISTORICAL SUMMARY. Settlement first began in 1772 when Jacob Brown and others relocated from North Carolina and established a camp on the banks of the Nolichucky River. Three years later a large tract of land was leased from the Cherokees by Mr. Brown, and titled as part of the North Carolina's Washington District.
Where was the Watauga purchase?
The importance of the purchase is explained in a Tennessee Historical Marker erected in Carter County near Elizabethton on Tennessee Highway 91: “Watauga Purchase – Here on Marcy 19, 1775, at the Sycamore Shoals, the Watauga Association, Charles Robertson, Trustee, bought from the Cherokee, with Oconostosta as chief, lands along the Watauga, Holston, and Great Canaway (now New) Rivers. The consideration for the purchase was 2000 pounds sterling.”
What is the Wataugah?
According to the Tennessee Virtual Archive maintained by the Tennessee State Library & Archives, THE WATAUGAH is one of “Tennessee Founding and Landmark Documents.”. The site declares: “This volume comprises the first land grant book created for the area which became Tennessee.
Where was the Ledger Book taken from?
Mrs. McCown in “The Wataugah Purchase” has an explanation that reads: “The Ledger Book was taken to Nashville from the Washington County Archives in Jonesboro some time in the late 1800’s for an exhibit by the Tennessee Historical Society, and was never returned. Mr. Robert A. Quarles, the Tennessee State Librarian and keeper of the records, made a Photostat of this book and entrusted it to Mrs. L. W. McCown, of Johnson City, a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission (elected in 1951 and this date – 1975 – an Emeritus member) to return this copy to the Clerk’s Office in Washington County.”
When was the Watauga Purchase made?
On March 25, 1775 the Watauga Purchase of the East Tennessee lands from the Cherokees was made.
Who owned Fort Watauga?
After the battle with the indigenous people at Fort Watauga in 1776, a second fort was built upriver on lands owned by Valentine Sevier, Sr ., but later owned by Solomon and Abraham Hart, sons of Leonard Hart. Legislative Journal of the Provincial Congress at Halifax, North Carolina Monday, December 23rd, 1776.
Where was the Watauga settlement located?
The Watauga settlement was was south of the Holston River, on the Watauga and Nolichucky Rivers in the colony of North Carolina. There were three main settlements in the area known as Watauga, Carter's Valley, and Nolichucky. Most settlers came down the Great Valley through Virginia, while others went through gaps in the Unaka Range ...
Why was Fort Watauga built?
Fort Watauga (or Caswell) was built at the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River in 1775–1776 by the Watauga Association, to defend settlers from Indian (primarily Cherokee) attacks, which were in part instigated by the British. It was a group of cabins arranged in a rectangle connected by stockade walls of sharp pointed poles.
Why couldn't the Indians buy the land?
They could not buy the lands from the Indians, because the purchase was prohibited, but there was no law prohibiting a lease of the land, and in the year 1774, the Indians leased to the settlers on the Watauga the lands in the Watauga Valley and all was peace once again. ( History of Southwest Virginia)
Who were the first white men to settle in the Watauga Country?
Julius Dugger and Andrew Greer were the first white men to settle in the Watauga Country. They settled about three miles above the present town of Elizabethton. The first permanent settlement in Tennessee was made in 1769 on Boones Creek by Captain William Bean, and his wife Lydia.
Who was the British agent who ordered the settlers to move to the Watauga Valley?
In the fall of the year 1771, Anthony Bledsoe ran the boundary line between the Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, far enough west to ascertain that the Watauga settlement was in North Carolina, and Alexander Cameron, the British agent, immediately ordered the settlers on the Watauga to move oflf of the Indian lands. James Robertson and John Sevier, two of the leading members of the Watauga settlement, immediately set about to devise ways and means by which they could avoid the order of the British agent. They could not buy the lands from the Indians, because the purchase was prohibited, but there was no law prohibiting a lease of the land, and in the year 1774, the Indians leased to the settlers on the Watauga the lands in the Watauga Valley and all was peace once again. ( History of Southwest Virginia)
