John Sevier

John Sevier
1st Governor of Tennessee
In office March 30, 1796 – September 23, 1801
Lieutenant	James Winchester (1796–1797) James White (1797–1798) William Blount (1798–1799) Alexander Outlaw (1799–1801)
Succeeded by	Archibald Roane
3rd Governor of Tennessee
In office 23 September 1803 – 20 September 1809
Lieutenant	James White (1803–1805) Joseph McMinn (1805–1809)
Preceded by	Archibald Roane
Succeeded by	Willie Blount
Personal details
Born	September 23, 1745(1745-09-23) Rockingham County, Virginia
Died	September 24, 1815(1815-09-24) (aged 70) Georgia
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse(s)	1 Sarah Hawkins Sevier (deceased) 2 Catherine Sherill Sevier (his death)
Signature

John Sevier (September 23, 1745 – September 24, 1815) served four years (1785–1789) as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years (1796–1801 and 1803–1809) as Governor of Tennessee. As a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death. He also served as the commander of the Washington County, North Carolina, contingent of the Overmountain Men in the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Early life

John Sevier was born in the town of New Market, Virginia. His paternal grandfather, known as Valentine 'The Huguenot' Sevier, was from the French Huguenot branch of the Xavier family that included as a distant relative Saint Francis Xavier; his paternal grandmother, Mary Smith, was English. Sevier's father was born in London, England, and his mother, Joanna Goad, was an American.

Along with his first wife, Sarah Hawkins, and their children, Sevier settled in the Holston River valley in what is now East Tennessee. It was at this time that he gained the nicknames Nolichucky Jack and Chucky Jack for his exploits along the Nolichucky River. That area was then claimed by Virginia, and he served briefly in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774. In this war John Sevier began to win the reputation as an Indian fighter that would make him a hero in his own day, though making some modern historians uncomfortable with his legacy.

Revolutionary War

Soon after settling in Northeast Tennessee, Sevier involved himself in local politics, becoming a signatory to both the Watauga Association and the petition of the Washington District (known as the "Watauga Petition") asking North Carolina to become part of that state. He was the commander of the district's militia in the 1776 Cherokee siege of Fort Caswell (or Fort Watauga) near Sycamore Shoals (present-day Elizabethton, Tennessee). After this battle he was promoted from Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel, and in this capacity led 240 of over 1,000 militiamen over the Appalachian Mountains to fight against Major Patrick Ferguson and a similar number of British Regulars and Carolina Loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain. The tremendous victory for the Overmountain Men increased Sevier's fame and popularity on the frontier, and when the time came for the people of the area to govern themselves, Sevier was more than once their first choice.

During this time, Sevier's first wife, Sarah Hawkins, died, and he married Catherine "Bonny Kate" Sherrill.

Much of this story is presented every year in Liberty!, an outdoor drama performed in Elizabethton, Tennessee, site of the muster of the Overmountain Men.

State of Franklin

North Carolina, bowing to the pressure from Congress and eager to be rid of an expensive and unprofitable district, ceded all her lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to the United States Government. However, the Congress did not immediately accept the lands, creating a vacuum of power in what is now East Tennessee. Sevier was one of several prominent men who stepped into that vacuum, playing a founding role and accepting the governorship of the self-proclaimed State of Franklin. When North Carolina rescinded her cession and re-asserted her claim to the district, Sevier initially wanted to return to the Old North State, in part because he was offered a promotion to brigadier general. William Cocke, another prominent Franklinite (and later U.S. Senator from Tennessee), convinced him to stay the course.

As North Carolina and Franklin competed for the loyalties of the residents of the area, Sevier became involved in intrigues with Georgia to gain control of Cherokee lands in what is now northern Alabama, and he even considered an alliance with Spain, whose Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró sent gold to Sevier in hopes of subverting trans-Appalachian America. In September 1793, he was involved in the battle against Cherokees who slew white settlers near Georgia in Battle of Hightower. Both Franklin and North Carolina elected local officials, state senators, and representatives to Congress. Eventually some of Sevier's property was seized for taxes supposedly owed to North Carolina. This confiscation took place while Sevier was campaigning against Cherokee who were defending themselves against Franklinite settlers living south of the French Broad River. Upon his return, Sevier took the militia to the farm of John Tipton, a prominent North Carolina man (so prominent, in fact, that North Carolina supporters were often called Tiptonites), and laid siege for three days (February 27 to February 29, 1788). Tipton was ultimately reinforced by militia from Sullivan County, and two of Sevier's sons were captured. Upon their release, Sevier withdrew from the siege. This event became known as "The Battle of the Lost State of Franklin", and marked the beginning of the end for the Franklin government. Because the men on both sides were neighbours and friends, most deliberately missed in their shots, and few men were killed or injured. However, within a year, the State of Franklin would no longer exist.

Sevier was arrested in 1788 on a charge of treason under North Carolina law, but he escaped.

In 1789, Sevier was elected to the North Carolina Senate as a Federalist. After this election Sevier received a pardon from the governor, ending the treason charge.

Sevier was elected from North Carolina to the First United States Congress and served from June 16, 1790, until March 3, 1791.

Southwest Territory

In 1789, what is now Tennessee was again ceded by North Carolina to the U.S. government, and it was then organized into the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, or "Southwest Territory". The capital was briefly at Jonesborough, Tennessee, then moved the following year to Knoxville. The governor, appointed by President Washington, was William Blount. Sevier and Blount worked together during the territorial period; but when Tennessee became a state, Sevier and Blount, and later Blount's protégé Andrew Jackson increasingly found themselves at odds.

Governor of Tennessee

The home of John Sevier in South Knoxville

When Tennessee became a state in 1796, Sevier was elected her first governor, and held the office through two re-elections to enjoy three two-year terms (the maximum number of consecutive terms allowed by the Tennessee Constitution of 1796). Upon his relinquishment of that post, he sought the semi-elective position of Major-General of volunteer forces for all of Tennessee. The vote was a tie, broken in favor of Sevier's rival, Andrew Jackson, by the new governor, Archibald Roane who was a personal friend of Jackson's. Sevier and Jackson would remain bitter enemies until Sevier's death, and they would even make an attempt at dueling one another in 1803. Sevier and Jackson met outside the courthouse in Knoxville and Sevier brought up Jackson's marriage to Rachel. Jackson, insulted, requested an interview – a euphemism for a duel – and the two eventually met outside of Kingston, Tennessee. After a lot of name calling and threats, the two rode off without firing a shot. In that same year, Sevier would be reelected to the governor's chair, defeating Roane, and held it for six more years. Partially because of the unusually short length of his first term due to the time of the admission of the state to the Union, Sevier served as governor of Tennessee longer than any other person except for fellow six-term governor William Carroll, who served for slightly over twelve full years.

Later life

After serving as governor for the second set of three terms, Sevier was elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 1809 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1811, holding the latter office until his death. Sevier died one day past his seventieth birthday while surveying the boundary between the state of Georgia and the Creek Nation in modern Alabama, an area he was familiar with from his days as a land speculator.

Family

By his first wife, Sevier had ten children, and by his second wife he had eight children.^[1]

Much like the Sally Hennings/Thomas Jefferson descendants, there are currently several lines of families who claim to descend from John Sevier and an unknown Cherokee Indian woman. Their daughter, Winney Alice Sevier, was left at the Henry Campbell farm in Russell County, Virginia, when the mother could no longer care for her. She fell in love with one of the boys who lived on the farm, Abraham Campbell, and they married and lived in a house on the adjacent farm.

A large family of Seviers in Madison Parish, Louisiana, also claim descent from John Sevier, among them State Senator Andrew L. Sevier of Tallulah, who served in the upper house in Baton Rouge from 1932 until his death in 1962.^[2]

Monuments and memorials

The Gov. John Sevier Home is a Tennessee state historic site.

John Sevier miniature

Both Sevierville, Tennessee, and Sevier County, Tennessee, are named in his honor, as is John Sevier Highway in Knox County, Tennessee.
John Sevier Elementary School, located in Maryville, Tennessee, and John Sevier Middle School, located in Kingsport, Tennessee, are also named in his honor.
The Tennessee Valley Authority runs a coal-fired power plant bearing his name.
Myrtle Hill Cemetery, Rome, Georgia, the Xavier chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument to Sevier in 1901.

John Sevier's funerary monument stands on the east lawn of the Knox County Courthouse grounds, where his body was re-interred in 1889.

Norfolk Southern Railway operates a classification yard in the northeast Knox County. It is known as John Sevier Yard.

His monument still stands in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sevier Hall on Austin Peay State University campus is named in honor of John Sevier, and currently houses over 100 girls a semester.

See also

• Governor John Sevier Historic Site - Marble Springs
• Daniel Boone
• Kings Mountain National Military Park
• Kings Mountain, North Carolina
• Roan Mountain State Park
• Roan Mountain, Tennessee
• Carter County, Tennessee
• Valentine Sevier
• Isaac Shelby
• Tennessee Valley
• James Robertson (early American)
• Chickamauga wars
• Watauga Association
• State of Franklin

References

1. ^ http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=S023 Tennessee Encyclopedia
2. ^ "Sevier Family of Madison Parish, Louisiana". rootsweb.ancestry.com. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/articles/sevierfamily/sevierfamily.htm. Retrieved February 15, 2011. 

Further reading

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

External links

• Jackson-Sevier 'duel'
• Lineage of Governor John Sevier
• John Sevier & Sevier Family genealogy
• Tennessee Encyclopedia entry
• Tennessee State Library & Archives, Papers of Governor John Sevier, 1796–1801
• Tennessee State Library & Archives, Papers of Governor John Sevier, 1803–1809
• Camp Sevier Historical Marker, Taylors, South Carolina

United States House of Representatives
New district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th congressional district 1790–1791	Succeeded by Nathaniel Macon
Preceded by Robert Weakley	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's At-large congressional district 1811–1815	Succeeded by Bennett H. Henderson
Political offices
New title	Governor of Franklin 1785–88	Succeeded by office abolished
New title	Governor of Tennessee 1796–1801	Succeeded by Archibald Roane
Preceded by Archibald Roane	Governor of Tennessee 1803–1809	Succeeded by Willie Blount

Persondata
Name	Sevier, John
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 23, 1745
Place of birth	Rockingham County, Virginia
Date of death	September 24, 1815
Place of death	Georgia