A MEMOIR OF JOHN SEVIER.

[Box S 1, No. 39-S, No. 18.]

[The following letter was written by Maj. James Sevier to Mr. Lyman C. Draper, who was then engaged in collecting information relative to Gen. John Sevier. A few years later Mr. Draper, at the request of Col. E. W. Sevier, sent a copy of the letter, duly attested. This copy is now on file in the archives of the Tennessee Historical Society, Box S 1, No. 39, and is published below:]

Dear Sir:

August 19, 1839.

Yours of the second of May has been received, & its contents noticed. Some time past I recd. a letter from E. W. Sevier requesting me to send to you what information I could recollect respecting our Fathers services during the war of the revolution; & informed me that he himself had sent on some documents to you-what they were he did not inform me. I then declined sending any statements, fearing that our statements might conflict. But as you have called my attention to some particular events of that day, I will give you the best information that a head of seventy-five years possesses. As I write from memory, I may in some things err, but not materially, as my memory is still retentive.

My father, whose given name you have, was among the first settlers in the western country, having emigrated from the State of Virginia in 1773. In 1776 he had a command against the Cherokee Indians, who were at war that year. Not long afterwards he was appointed a Colonel, which command he held at the time the troops were raised that fought the battle of King's Mountain. That campaign was planned by Col. Isaac Shelby & my father-they asked the co-operation of Col. William Campbell, who was raising troops at that time, for another destination. Col. Arthur Campbell was not in command there, to the best of my recollection. Col. Wm. Campbell commanded the Virginia troops; Col. Isaac Shelby the Sullivan troops; & my father the Washington troops. My father had in his regiment four brothers beside himself, and two sons-myself the youngest, being at that

time sixteen years old. There were only seven of our family able to bear arms; they all fought in the battle of King's Mountain. One fell, Capt. Robert Sevier, nobly fighting for his country. Col. Isaac Shelby had several brothers in the engagement beside himself. Sparta never raised a better set of men than those that fought the battle of King's Mountain. Col. Cleveland was in the battle; Col. McDowell was not. Col. John Tipton was not there, nor was he a citizen of the western country until several years after the war was over.

Shortly after our return from the battle of King's Mountain my father obtained information that the Cherokee Indians were about to come in a body on the inhabitants. He bid up for volunteers to meet at a place called the Swan Ponds on the frontiers. In two or three days we had two hundred & fifty noble fellows afraid of nothing, at the head of whom my father placed himself, and took the path for the Indian towns. On the third day of our march, the advance guard met a party of Indians on Dumpling Creek, exchanged shots, and the Indians fled, taking the back path recrossed French Broad & made for their towns. They were closely pursued by our little band of warriors; we crossed the river late in the evening, camped on the south side; next morning renewed our pursuit, finding at every branch or watercourse Indian camps & fires fresh burning, their parched corn meal thrown out, & their trails on towards their towns. However, we had not pursued them more than ten miles before we found them prepared for battle. The onset was made by the Indians without any effect. On the fire being returned, the Indians broke for a cane-brake & saved themselves. Thirty or more, however, were run out into open pine woods, and killed; and strange to tell, this battle was fought & so many Indians killed, and not a single white, & but one slightly wounded. Just as the guns had ceased firing, we were overtaken by an express from Col. Arthur Campbell asking the commander to wait until he came up, which would be in two or three days at most. Although we had beaten that party of Indians, which we afterwards learned was about five or six hundred, we could not tell what we might have to encounter ahead, being still two days march from the towns. It was agreed to fall back about ten miles to an island in French Broad river, a place of security for our horses. But we remained in this only three or four days, when we moved

out to the south side & camped on a creek called Boyd's Creek, there to await Col. Campbell's arrival; but to our mortification instead of his being up in two or three days, he was nearly two weeks. In the meantime our provisions gave out, and the men had to live almost all that time on dry grapes, haws, walnuts & hickory nuts. At length the Colonel arrived, but brought with him no supplies but a little corn, which we rather accepted in disgust; however, we parched it, and eat, & moved on immediately for the Indian towns. Campbell brought with him about 150 men. We arrived at the towns the second day in the evening, it being Christmas eve. There we found plenty of corn, poultry, and some fat hogs. Christmas day was certainly a day of feasting after so long an abstinence. The place where we camped so long is to this day called the Hungry Camp on Boyd's Creek. We remained some time in the Indian country, burning & destroying all their towns & provisions, before they made overtures of peace At length a flag was sent in, and a peace talk held, some Indian prisoners restored, & we let the country the last of January, 1781. We had one man killed & several wounded in passing from town to town. Perhaps I have dwelt too long on this campaign, but it was one of great importance to our country at that day, as it saved the country from being deluged in blood by a merciless set of savages.

On our arrival at home we found there was no time to rest. A set of Indians called the Overhill Cherokees were troublesome. My father in the month of February raised what volunteers he could get at that time, and travelled 150 miles through an entire wilderness, a considerable part of it mountainous, very unpleasant for man or horse. He at length reached the head of the Tennessee river, where their towns were situated. After destroying all their towns, & stock & provisions, killing some Indians & taking some prisoners, the army returned home with the loss of two men killed-Mr. Bond & Mr. Davis.

The remainder of the year 1781 we had a little respite from Indian troubles. But shortly after the battle of the Eutaw Springs in South Carolina between Gen. Greene & the British army, men were called for from this side of the mountains. Col. Isaac Shelby raised his regiment in Sullivan County, and my father his in Washington County. We took up our line of march about the last of September, and arrived at Gen. Greene's head

quarters on the High Hills of Santee sometime in October, & were sent on to join General Marion below on the Santee river. We remained with the General about three months, annoying the British at every convenient opportunity, & taking some of their outposts, which occasioned them to call in the remainder, & shortly after moved to Charleston. Having served out our time, we returned home about the middle of a very cold winter. The spring & summer of 1782 brought on us fresh troubles with the Indians. They committed many murders that season with impunity, but as soon as their crops had matured so that we could get something for man & horse to eat my father called on his volunteers to meet him at a given point, who were punctual to a man (for in those days there was no dodging). Every man was personally known to the commander; they were but few in number, but that few so often called together, that they were like a band of brothers raised in the same family. We set out for the Indian country in the month of September, 1782. On the Highwassee river and Chiccamauga creek we destroyed all their towns, stock, corn, & everything they had to support on. We then crossed a small range of mountains to the Coosa river, where we found and destroyed several towns, with all their stock. corn & provisions of every kind. The Indians eluded our march and kept out of our way in the general, although a few men, women & children were surprised & taken. We left the Coosa river for home about the last of October, called on the old Chota Town which professed to be at peace. A peace talk was held with Old Oconnestota, the Tassel, & Hanging Maw, principal chiefs. Peace was made, & the prisoners all set at liberty. Thus ended the war of 1782. We all set out for our homes without the loss of a single man.

From the year 1782 until the year 1788 there was nothing that was very material between the whites and Indians, until the summer of '88, when we had the hottest Indian war I ever witnessed. My father had to remain on the frontiers the whole summer, going from fort to fort with what men that could be spared from the garrisons. Many valuable lives were lost in that war. Several skirmishes were fought during the summer; I was in the first one in June. After the close of the war of '88, we had but little trouble with the Indians until the years '91, 2 & 3, when William Blount was Governor of the Territory.

The Indians were very troublesome, and my father was called to the frontiers to take the command of the army at that time. It may be, that my brother's information on those years is better than mine, as he has always had my father's papers in possession. During the old Indian wars we had few officers higher in commission than captains-Maj. Jesse Walton, Maj. William Russell; Captains Samuel Wear, Samuel Handly, Alexander Moore, Landon Carter, Jacob Brown, William Smith, James Stenson, Robert Beane, William Beane, & Samuel Williams; there may have been others that I have forgotten. Those mentioned were valuable men, & fought through the war of the Revolution. There is one person more I will bring to your notice-my Uncle Valentine Sevier. He was a major some time before the close of the war. There was no campaign from Lewis's in '74, until the close of the war in '82, that he was not in against the Indians, besides several to the South against the British & Tories, where he fought nobly. In the fall of '89 he moved to the Cumberland country, where shortly afterwards he had nearly all his family murdered by the Indians. He died himself in 1800; his widow is still living at the age of 93 years, receiving a pension under the act of July 4th, 1836, of $260 per year. My uncle was one of the first settlers of the western country-moved several years before my father. My grandfather, Valentine Sevier, died in the year '96, at the age of 97, as well as I now recollect. My father & mother were both very young when married, say about the middle of their teens, which may account for my father not being older than 35 or 36, & having two sons in the battle. They were married in Virginia, their native State. My mother's maiden name was Hawkins; she died in the year 1780, & my. father married his second wife the same year, whose maiden name was Sherrell. Col. Ferguson's given name was Patrick, as weli as I now recollect. & I believe I am not mistaken. You have seen that Capt. Robert Sevier fell at King's Mountain. He had been to the South almost twelve months in the service of his country, before he raised his company for the King's Mountain campaign. He was a prudent officer, a stranger to fear, & zealous in his country's cause & service. In all the Indian wars from the year '80 to the year '88, as well as to King's Mountain & a campaign to South Carolina, I was with my father; shared in all the dangers & difficulties that awaited our then situation.