Chickamauga Timeline
THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

THE STATE OF FRANKLIN

On June 2nd, 1784, the State of North Carolina offered part of it's western region to the Federal Government because of the difficulty in protecting that territory. After North Carolina quickly withdrew the offer on November 20th, the counties of Washington, Sullivan and Green organized into the State of Franklin under the leadership of John Sevier. With divided loyalties by it's people during a conspiracy to secede from the Union and allie with Mexico and Spain, the region operated under two governments, the State of Franklin and the State of North Carolina. In 1788, the State of Franklin collapsed and by 1796 it became part of Tennessee when the former Governor of Franklin, John Sevier, became the first Governor of Tennessee.

Frustrated by the uncertainties and feeling abandoned by North Carolina, the former Regulator Wataugans formed the State of Franklin in 1784. Thus began a 4-year attempt at self-government for a group that would experience conflict with North Carolina, Cherokees, Continental Congress, and ultimately among themselves as two of their leaders, Tipton and Sevier, faced each other in armed conflict. In the end, even Sevier submitted to the authority of North Carolina, probably to qualify for elected office.

The Cherokees found the concept of the two opposing governments of Franklin and North Carolina confusing, to say the least. The Franklinites invited Cherokees to Dumplin Creek in June 1785, but Old Tassel sent Ancoo in his place. Ancoo signed a treaty but apparently did not understand that he was ceding land. At the Treaty of Dumplin Creek in 1785 the Cherokee's agreed that the boundary between the Whites and the Indians would be the ridge dividing the water of Little River and the Tennessee River, and agreed to the cession of all the lands south of the French Broad and Holston Rivers, east of that ridge. Old Tassel protested the treaty to Governor Martin of North Carolina, claiming that Franklinites did not even mention the land cession.

In response, the Continental Congress appointed a commission to assert federal authority in establishing a boundary with the Cherokees. The Treaty of Hopewell, signed in November 1785, was drawn up by Martin and Blount of North Carolina, who opposed the Franklinites. The gathering in South Carolina was attended by Old Tassel and Nancy Ward, who addressed the commissioners in favor of peace.

The treaty had the effect of returning some lands to the Cherokees, and certain Georgia and North Carolina representatives protested that these lands had been legally ceded for war veterans. [R] The treaty protected whites in the Cumberland settlement by setting the boundary outside of their lands. 3000 whites in the area of the Holston were protected and left in an uncertain state to be decided later by Congress. The 5000 Franklinites living west of the French Broad on land covered by the Dumplin Creek Treaty were expected to remove from the land or lose the protection of the United States. A further provision allowed Cherokees to retaliate "legally" if settlers did not move. So the same government that would later enforce a wholesale Cherokee removal made this lame and ineffective gesture that would sanction the violence in eastern Tennessee for years to come.

Franklinites ignored the Treaty of Hopewell, and violence followed. Each little white "fort" or station turned into a bloody battleground along with Cherokee towns. Much of the violence was committed by the Chicamaugans while the older chiefs tried to remain neutral. In spite of their friendly intentions, the Overhill chiefs led by Old Tassel were forced to sign the Treaty of Coyatee in 1786, guarded by a force of 200 Franklinites with rifles. This treaty ceded land between the French Broad and Tennessee to the State of Franklin.

In 1789, North Carolina ratified the U. S. Constitution and ceded her "western lands" of Tennessee to Congress. This time they accepted, forming the "Territory South of the Ohio". William Blount was appointed governor.

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Treaty of Dumplin Creek gave fleeting statehood to Franklin

September 12, 2000

By Fred Brown News-Sentinel staff writer

We drive right by them and never notice. The great, gray Tennessee Historical Commission markers tell us about our past, who we were, who was important, who stopped here long ago. On The School Page we will highlight a slice of history by focusing on some of the state historical markers in our area. Some will surprise you. All of them will enlighten you about the area's rich history and the people who walked this ground before us.

Soon after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, a series of events took shape on the Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee frontier that was an exercise in pure American politics and power.

Just four years after the colonies fought for and gained their independence from England, the 13 states were chugging along at a rather brisk pace. Commerce was picking up.

People were denting the dark and dangerous interior, making their way west where fertile forests and fair lands beckoned.

Then right in the middle of the expansion, an idea bloomed that could have created the 14th state.

The political upstarts, led by Gen. John Sevier, one of the frontier's true heroes of the war, in fact had that very idea in mind.

By 1784, the State of Franklin was organized and on March 1, 1785, the first meeting of the Franklin General Assembly convened at Jonesborough and named John Sevier the governor of the new State of Franklin.

It was, to the curious outside world, a rather surprising venture.

Neither North Carolina nor the fledgling federal government recognized this new state at all.

But big politics were afoot. Sevier -- as governor of the State of Franklin -- worked through the assembly a land deal that took in a wide swath from Southwest Virginia and south of the French Broad River down to Muscle Shoals, Ala., where fortunes stood to be made. This was one of the most important landings on the Tennessee River, and whoever owned this ground could become the next land baron of the expanding frontier.

Almost immediately, settlers began the rush to grab land, calling themselves Franklinites and much obliged to Sevier.

Still, the broad borders set by Sevier remained unsanctioned, until Sevier got a gentle nod from North Carolina's governor-elect, Richard Caswell, an old friend.

That wink from Caswell was all Sevier needed. He quickly assembled a commission and on June 10 met with some minor chiefs of the Cherokee nation at Maj. Hugh Henry's fort on Dumplin Creek.

The Cherokee who arrived were under the impression they were giving title only to lands already settled by Franklinites living in what was being called Sevier County.

Sevier had other notions.

The Treaty of Dumplin Creek quickly opened opportunity to more settlers, who poured in like rushing water to take the good lands.

By 1788, just four years after it began, the State of Franklin was at the end of its experiment, and its government dissolved when North Carolina ignored the Treaty of Dumplin, as did the Congress of the United States.

But now the door was opened wide to the wilderness. By 1790, the population of the area would be up to 3,000-plus frontiersmen, pushing ever deeper; driving the Cherokee away from old, cherished lands; and creating great friction.

Although the Treaty of Dumplin Creek was never recognized, it served to crack open the gateway to the frontier in a way that had not been seen before.

And later as the first governor of Tennessee, Sevier continued to recognize the old land titles issued from his once and former State of Franklin, which was for a while the nation's 14th state.

The historic marker is located at the Sevier exit off Interstate 40 at West Dumplin Valley Road.

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