Show awo AU 00 V h law ca ahab friar r eilf zy ab baft aleci if a ia AV 1 4 X W V L W r by ELO ELMO SCOTT WATSON EAR BAR the courthouse at knoxville tenn stands a tall white obelisk As you walk along one of the he shady paths in the courthouse yard and approach the towering atone these words meet your eye the first governor of tennessee john sevier nolichucky Nolt Noli chucky jack september Sep 23 1744 september 24 1815 pioneer soldier statesman nand and one of the founders of the republic youve never heard of nolichucky Noll Noli chucky rack jack then youve missed knowing one of the really great characters of the american frontier and one of the most picturesque figures in all our history walk around the monument and read this inscription governor of gf the state of franklin six terms governor of Ten tennessee nesRee vow four times elected to congress A projector nod ana hero here of kings mountain 35 battles 35 victories ills his indian war cry was here they are I 1 come coma on boys come on 1 I thrilling as Is the story those words suggest aug gest it Is not complete until you rea read d an inscription on still another side of ni the monument here it Is Kilt herlue sherrill sevier bonny katt kate came when a girl with her parents to tennessee front north th carolina Alar married ried john sevier august 14 1780 when she wits was t wenty twenty six she became the mother of eight children and died october 7 1830 aged el eighty b ty two moved from Russell russellville ville ala and here july 22 1022 1922 11 and set in the brick walls of the courthouse nearby Is a still more interesting ine memento mento of tills this great frontiersman and his pioneer wife there you will see the original orl tombstones of and his bonny kate which were er erected ec t ed over their graves giaves in alabama and moved to their present location nearly years later one bears the simple inscription J sevier died september 24 1815 11 the other reads catharine Cathar lne sevier notice the difference in spelling wife ot of governor john sevier of tennessee died october 7 1836 30 aged eighty two years these had find been erected over their graves in alabama where they spent their last years for history you yon see had bad sot not yet given their people the proper perspective of time through which to view their part in building the nation and it was not until nearly a century later that the Tennesse eana eans reclaimed them as their own and paid to then them in enduring stone the honors due their F for or this john sevier seler Is characterized by one historian thus the organizer of the first free and independent government on the font continent anent the leader of a great commo commonwealth nwe alth on an I 1 indian tighter whom few have ever equalled equal led a a soldier who could meet the finest troops on on the continent in the field and with inferior numbers win success cecii from adae adverse arse circumstances j an adminis brator who could conduct the of ills his fellow men under circumstances of thle alie great greatest esl difficulty 1 a statesman who takes rank not far b behind those colossal men who watched the travail pallis pains and facilitated the delivery of the new nation to he be of him too ft another nother historian has written the most daring spirit was waa the young john sevier of french ful family lilly originally spelled xavier born in augusta county va it was aa from abill in shenandoah county where he be was living the u uneventful ne ve n afe of a small farmer that lie he emigrated in december 1773 to the watauga region in eastern tennessee with his arrival there begins one of the most fascinating find and romantic careers recorded in the varied and stirring annals of tile the old southwest in this daring and impetuous young fellow fair halfred blue eyed magnetic debu debonair nair of powerful build splendid proportions and athletic athle ilc skill we behold the gallant exemplar of the truly heroic life of the border the story of his life thrilling in the extreme Is rich in all tho the multicolored multi colored elements which impart ron romance tance to the arduous struggle of american civilization in the opening years of the republic the watauga settlement had been made in 1769 70 by james robertson Roh ertson and b party of north carolinians who had climbed tile the mountains find and built their cabins in a fertile valley anthe on the other side the young virginian who nho was a man of wealth in those days soon became a leader in tile the settlement and for tile the next nest 43 years he be was the one outstanding figure in that part of the frontier country for it was not long after afier ills his arrival that he had an opportunity to demonstrate his bis qualities of leadership in the troubles with the indians which started during the war of 1774 and continued after the out brelik of tile the during tile the revolution resolution sevier anore mor ethan than once broke up the hie plans of tile the for or launching tile the savages upon the borders and thus delivering a fatal stroke the colonies cia nies who were revolting against the mother country coun iry one of the first of the british attempts wax was Z J ALgaw Y X all J 4 U 0 0 0 0 katherine catherine sherrill ll 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 indian I 1 indian adi st t run girl runt 0 0 A keem eyed la Is at t the fort eat rid cried 0 0 to the women a wh who c milled milked the cow we outside tlde 0 1 they ran a whoop and a cuss report 0 I 1 11 speeding ng their steps sep as they fled to the fort 0 0 farthest of au all from its it sheltering wall 0 0 latest ath to catch and heed head the call 0 was catherln Kather ln sherrill ll fairest of maids 0 in all Wata forest glades 0 0 hearing the As sprang prang like a startled deor 0 0 and led fled on do feet that were winced with fear r 0 0 but the call had come a moment lat batet latet 0 0 the cut her bar off from aarn th the sate te 0 0 and while hit the rifles riffa mated bled away 0 0 ruh rushed e d yelling and gloating to toselo salm selx their prey 0 0 0 0 s at th get at of th the tort fort bold john sevier 0 statesman and carai and pioneer 0 0 was gr rasped d by does hands hand and ad stayed 0 0 As A be tried to rush to the fleeing maldi ids 0 0 grasped held back and th the treat reat bar dropped 0 0 it was certain death if he be were not lot stopped is and LAW a girl be cati led the chaa the foremost mm A oil of the west lie doal 0 0 0 th the india indians rushed to seize 1 their prey pray 0 0 but ah he whirled aside ids and sped oad away aar 0 away A y from the gate ate but toward the wil wall w IL 0 0 0 eight awit teet it ML M L th the mald maid put all 0 her strength in one me great reat leap hup and flutie 0 0 her arms across the top op and dune clung 0 0 0 one instant out of b breath 0 0 then over the top and away from death 0 strong arres arms had caught and drawn her bar cleathe I 1 0 eager efrer anus a of f john sevier 0 0 such li Is the ti story so it was was told 0 to ta a our fathers hr theirs la in the he de day of olds 0 0 0 so will our children th tl tale repeat past 0 0 to children clustered about their feet 0 0 F for as lons ions as beauty Is loved and youth 0 0 0 and adas ded beds cs of valor end and mi man hod hoods truth 0 0 will a pl place be 1 licot t 1 in the heart of th the att state 0 0 0 for john sevier and his bonny kate 0 0 for the her hero brave and the bride he won 0 0 and the love that lived tin till their lives were done 0 0 0 E E miller 01 0 4 0 in 1775 when a war party attacked attached a rude pat pal landed inclosure built on the banks ot of the watauga Wat Wa nuga near sycamore shoals the fort was closely best besieged eged for or some 10 40 days and during this time there occurred the tha romantic episode which has made famous the story of Noli nolichucky chucky jack and hla his bonny kate despite warning some of the people in the tort fort growing tired of the confinement lind gone out outside the walls walla A party of savages suddenly appealed and tried to cut them off on at the arst alarm sevier sent his men to the walls to cover the flight of the terror stricken fugitives hy a sharp rille rifle fire which would hold orr off the indians until all had reached safety one young girl katherine sherrill in her terror leaped to the top of the palisade and fell over the walls into the arms of the corn com anander site she seemed to have leaped into his steart also for they were married soon after during this siege of the fort and hla his men inflicted such heavy losses upon tte indians indiana hat Ocono the great war chief of the cherokees withdrew hla his warriors hut but the flie genius of sevier was not shown so BO much in defensive tactics as it was in the tactics or of attack attach time end and again hp he led the borderers border ers on swift expeditions to surprise un iddinn village and drive daiv p them into headlong rout then after destroying the tha village and the cropsie crops he withdrew to the I 1 watauga Va settlement in fact long before there was a napoleon Noll chucky jack adopted the no na idea of a small mobile concentrated body hurled swiftly upon a superior super for but bat scattered force foice and abid this alite policy of audacity and speed BOOD broke the epic it 11 of the cherokees Chen bees and ml A J t 2 M ia q M their allies and prevented their mug being used by the british in a rear attack on tha he colonies who were engaged in their desperate struggle str on the atlantic seaboard it was these same I 1 tact tactics les sevier used in one of thi th most brilliant victories ot of the revolution the dash to trap colonel ferguson on and his force of british at kings mountain and overwhelm them before they could receive aid from Curn cornwallis Cornwall wallis ls noe noc far from johnson city tenn stands stand a monument where seyler devler campbell shelby 4 and other leaders rallied the tha moun mountain tala men for the march over the great to take part in that battle which was afterwards fobe to be known na as jhb turning point of the alie revolution por for the loss suffered buttered by the tha british on pings kings mountain was one of tile the steps which led to the surrender ot of cornwallis Cornwall ls at yorktown and tile the end of the revolution at the close of the revolution the north carolina legislature without consulting the settlers wishes ceded the watauga region to io the federal government with the provision that it must be accepted within two years during iha 06 two years congress debated the matter awl finally rejected the gift while the discussion was going on in congress north carolina withdrew her courts and militia and the settlers awoke to the fact that they were under the protection protect lon of neither the state nor the federal government and from neither could they gain any help in repelling the attacks of the indians indiana who were again becoming troublesome although they were still subject to federal government taxes they were wera receiving nothing in n return for them finally angered by being thus deserted by the state and nation which they had served so well vell during the trying times of the revolution the frontiersmen decided to establish a state of the their irown own and in id 1784 there came came into existence tile the independent state ot franklin ft a commonwealth unique in american history the leader to whom they turned was Noli nolichucky chucky jack sevier and during the stormy history of that commonwealth tie ho as before was waa the outstanding leader of the east tennessee frontiersmen for north carolina after withdrawing the act of cession attempted to assert asseri her authority over that region again As aa a governor of the commonwealth commons eulth eul th and a man whose forceful ful personality naturally made enemies for wm him sevier seler was singled out for punishment lie was treacherously betrayed captured and afterwards tried at ai morgantown Morgan town N li tor for high treason immediately 1000 1600 of the trans allegheny borderers border ers assembled for the rescue of their beloved nolichucky Noli chucky jack for awhile a civil war seemed imminent then aided by some of hasold his old comrades in arms sevier made a spectacular escape where whereupon tipon the people of the Wat batanga augEt country promptly elected him to the north carolina legislature there was some protest about his bis taking his seat but eventually ho he was allowed to hold the office when north carolina ratified the federal constitution and beca became meone one of the sisterhood of states one congressman was to represent the north carolina district beyond the mountains tt it goes without saying that sevier was wag unanimously elected when tennessee became a territory he was made general of the militia tind and when flie became a state he was chosen governor without opposition lie ile was elected to that po position sitton tor for three successive terms and then under the constitution bein being ginell ineligible gible for a period of two years lie wua thereafter elected for foi three more terms utter after which he was sent back to congress and three times re reelected elected Noll Noti chucky jafek died as he be had lived in the har barnets nets and in the field the end came in 1815 to in a tent on it a surveying expedition for the government surrounded by hla his sold soldiers lers its ills wife lived on for anoro than a of years and was burled first in alabama where she died but in fa 1022 her body was brought baek to tennessee and there in the very heart of th aba 4 country antry nn try where this pioneer couple saw history in me making and helped make it 14 1 Noli nolichucky chucky jack and ills his kate an together |