"He is little known little is said about him yet..."

I love historical research. You really get a feel for what the key players in a drama are thinking when you read their correspondence. Witness this exchange of letters that I ran across while researching John Sevier's time as Governor of Tennessee. While today John Sevier is hailed as a hero among his fellow Tennesseans, it seems that the "Father of our Country," George Washington, had little regard for our state's first governor.

Sevier's admirers and descendants often drew favorable comparisons between George Washington and "Tennessee's First Hero." The novelist James Gilmore wrote, "He was a gentleman born and bred; and in his veins flowed some of the best blood of the French and English nations... This peculiar blending of qualities was seen even in his face, which, while in contour and lineament strikingly that of Washington."

When the threat of war between the United States and France developed in 1798, John Sevier received an appointment as one of the brigadiers in the provisional army, and quickly sought the approval of the federal government. On April 25, 1798 Sevier writes:

"Should it be deemed necessary by the president to raise the Army contemplated in case of an eventual necessity, I shall hold myself ready to accept the appointment I had the honor of being nominated for in the provisional army, provided I may be thought adequate to such a command.

Permit me to assure you, Sir, nothing but a real desire to serve my Country in the time of imminent danger could induce me to accept such a Command, filling already the most respectable My country can confer..."

Your Honors etc.,

John Sevier

While George Washington was no longer President by this time, his Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering, remained in office during John Adams' administration. Washington still held considerable influence in the Federalist government and wrote to Pickering regarding Sevier's appointment. Needless to say, he was not impressed with "Nolichucky Jack":

"What in the name of military prudence could have induced the appointments of [Gen. James] White and Severe [sic] as Brigadiers? The latter never was celebrated for anything except the murder of Indians... To give two to that State [Tennessee] when more important ones furnished none... is to me inconceivable... as to Severe, as he is little known little is said abt. him yet."

- Washington to Pickering, September 9, 1798

In hindsight, Washington's opinion of John Sevier seems out of step from conventional views of Tennessee's frontier hero and first governor. But it was many years after his death that anyone outside the states of Tennessee and North Carolina knew of John Sevier. Efforts to embrace Sevier on a national scale began after the Civil War as a means to heal the region from the ravages of battle and of Reconstruction. Tennessee's Centennial celebration also resulted in efforts to forge a unique state identity, with John Sevier as its standard bearer.

One cannot fault George Washington for not seeing in John Sevier what many of his fellow Tennesseans saw in him. At the time Washington was on the national stage, and Sevier had not yet reached that plateau of statesmanship.  But one could argue that first impressions are far more accurate than hindsight.  If this is true, Washington's first impression of John Sevier was so negative that it's little wonder knowledge of Sevier's exploits never really crossed the borders of the Volunteer State until well after his death.


SOURCES:

• Carl S. Driver, John Sevier: Pioneer of the Old Southwest. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932.

• Timothy Pickering papers, Massachusetts Historical Society

 

Gordon Belt is an information professional, archives advocate, public historian, and author of The History Press book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, which examines the life of Tennessee's first governor, John Sevier, through the lens of history and memory. On The Posterity Project, Gordon offers reflections on archives, public history, and memory from his home state of Tennessee.

Revolution, Memory and John Sevier's State of Franklin

Perhaps the most defining moment in John Sevier's life was his participation in the Battle of Kings Mountain. Arguably the most decisive battle in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Kings Mountain pitted a frontier militia, led by Isacc Shelby and John Sevier, against loyalists to the British crown led by British Major Patrick Ferguson. In a little more than one hour, John Sevier's forces totally decimated Ferguson's American Tories, with every last man either dead or taken prisoner.

Engraving depicting the death of British Major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780.
Virtue & Yorston, 1863.
Image courtesy of the Anne S. K. Brown Collection at Brown University.

Kings Mountain established John Sevier as a Revolutionary War hero, and his participation in this battle helped to launch his political career and ambitions. In my ongoing research into John Sevier, I have been reading Sarah Purcell's book, Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America.  In the book, Purcell notes that John Sevier traded on the memory of his status as a Revolutionary War veteran and hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain to prop up his efforts to establish the State of Franklin.  According to Purcell:

"Memories of the Revolutionary War assumed a central role in the Franklinites' rhetoric as they tried to explain why they, as westerners, ought to be able to shape their own political fates. They engaged in a campaign to convince North Carolinians and other fellow southerners that their statehood movement was legitimate because of wartime heroism... Sevier claimed, the veterans' record of Revolutionary service confirmed their fidelity. Indeed, he pointed out in a 1786 letter to Richard Caswell, North Carolina's governor, that so many Franklinites had 'fought and bled in behalf [of] the parent state" that North Carolina ought never to be suspicious of their motives.'" [Purcell, 79]

Strapped for cash, North Carolina ceded its claim to its western frontier to avoid paying its share of the Revolutionary War debt, which was apportioned to each state based upon land ownership.  Sevier used this fact to great effect, making the case that the Mother State had abandoned its western citizens in much the same way as the British abandoned the colonies, a memory still fresh on the minds of many of the overmountain men who fought along side Sevier in the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Again, according to Purcell:

"Arthur Campbell and John Sevier, the leaders of Franklin's bid for independence, had commanded frontier militia units during the war and had become local heroes at the Battle of King's Mountain. In their uphill battle for independence from North Carolina, both sought to capitalize on their heroic reputations by depicting themselves as the leaders of a band of loyal, patriotic veterans who deserved repayment for their wartime service in the form of political independence. During a short period in 1784, it seemed that the government of North Carolina was willing to grant their wish, but conservatives assumed control of the state legislature at the end of the year and rescinded the offer. Sevier was hard pressed to abandon his chance to become a governor and rich land speculator, so he spearheaded a continuing movement to keep Franklin's statehood hopes alive. Continued resistance and the threat of military incursions by North Carolina officials led the Franklinites to amplify their rhetoric. By 1787, Sevier and others seemed to imply that veterans might have to take up arms again, albeit with 'excruciating pain,' if their political requests were not honored."

"The Franklin Council threatened to use violence against easterners with whom 'we have fought, bled and toiled together within the common cause of American Independence,' if it were the only way to guarantee independence. The Franklinites' resistance to what they perceived as oppressive measures was all about memory as Sevier framed it to theNorth Carolina Assembly: 'Has North Carolina forgot that for such acts America took up arms against the British nation?' Although the memories of veterans' shared sacrifice never bore political fruit after the territory was forcibly reintegrated into North Carolina in 1789, Sevier demonstrated the rhetorical power of memory in high-stakes political battle, and his use of military memory to couch thinly veiled threats against easterners showed that some veterans might be willing to explore the darker consequences of a military republic." [Purcell, 79, 81]

NOTE: For a thorough and thought-provoking analysis of memory and the Battle of Kings Mountain, I encourage you to read Michael Lynch's article, "Creating Regional Heroes: Traditional Interpretations of the Battle of King's Mountain," recently published in the Fall 2009 issue of Tennessee Historical Quarterly.  Michael also blogs at Past in the Present, which is also definitely worth a read.


SOURCES:

• Carl S. Driver, "Chapter V: Governor of Franklin," John Sevier: Pioneer of the Old Southwest. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932, pages 79-98.

• Sarah J. Purcell, Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America, University of Pennsylvania Press, Phila., 2002.

• Samuel Cole Williams, History of the Lost State of Franklin, Revised Edition, New York: Originally published 1933, Reprinted by Clearfield Company, Inc., 1997, 2002.

• "Battle of King's Mountain" by Isaac Shelby, a pamphlet "to the public," published in April 1823, and reprinted in King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It by Lyman C. Draper, Cincinnati, 1881, pp. 560-573.

RELATED LINKS:

• The Battle of King's Mountain 7 Oct 1780 - TNGenWeb

• A Dream Deferred: The Lost State of Franklin - The Posterity Project