This collection highlights a time when the area that is now the state of Tennessee was land claimed by North Carolina. White settlers and their African-American slaves moved into Upper East Tennessee in the 1770s and established their own government, the Watauga Association. By so doing, these settlers clearly defied British authority which had forbidden settlement west of the Appalachian Mountain Chain in the Proclamation of 1763. Fiercely independent, these Overmountain folk and their like-minded kin in Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Western North and South Carolina, collectively referred to as the Southern Backcountry, had little use for distant colonial governments dominated by the British or wealthy planters.

In April 1775, the slow-burning match finally erupted into full flame as Massachusetts militiamen clashed with British troops at Lexington and Concord. As the American Revolution spread throughout the colonies, settlers in the Southern Backcountry faced an uncertain future. The eruption of warfare in New England had little immediate impact on their lives. That would soon change.

Rebellious colonists stymied British efforts to control the Southern colonies by repulsing the first attack on Charleston, South Carolina, in June 1776. Simultaneously, Cherokee warriors, at the instigation of the British, attacked the Watauga settlements and the Southern Backcountry. This oft-forgotten episode of the Revolutionary War resulted in hundreds of skirmishes and ambushes in Tennessee. Fought on July 20, 1776, between settlers and Cherokee warriors, the Battle of Long Island Flats (modern-day Kingsport) was the largest battle of the Revolutionary War within the boundaries of Tennessee. The Cherokee suffered defeat in the battle and their attack brought retribution from the settlers as well as from militia commanders in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

Meanwhile, Patriot forces confounded British efforts to subdue the rebellious colonies of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. Patriot leaders such as George Washington, Horatio Gates, and others continually harassed the British and, when confronted by overwhelming odds, retreated into the hinterland while occasionally pulling off surprising victories. In the fall of 1777, a Continental Army, under Horatio Gates, surrounded and forced the surrender of a British army, under John Burgoyne, at Saratoga, New York. The Continental victory brought French recognition and a formal alliance with the colonies. With the war in the north nearly at a stalemate, the British again turned their attention to the Southern colonies.

In December 1779, British forces captured Savannah, Georgia. In the spring of 1780, the British took Charleston, South Carolina. The loss of these important coastal cities provided the British with two bases to move into the interior. Anticipating strong support, British troops moved inland and began recruiting amongst the loyalist. The British theater commander, Lord Cornwallis, relied heavily upon two veteran subordinate officers, Colonel Banastre Tarleton and Colonel Patrick Ferguson.

Tarleton, a British dragoon officer noted for his dash and impetuosity, earned a reputation for dealing rather harshly with the rebellious colonials in the Carolinas. Just two weeks after the fall of Charleston, Tarleton happened upon a patriot force at the Waxhaw along the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Charging in amongst the Virginia troops, Tarleton’s men reportedly continued to slash at the Virginians as they attempted to surrender. Although what happened at the Waxhaw remains clouded by history, the immediate perception amongst the patriot forces was that Tarleton massacred many of these troops and violated the rules of war.

The Waxhaw Massacre pushed many in the Carolina Backcountry from a stance of apathy or neutrality into the camp of the rebellious colonist. A witness to these actions in the Waxhaw was a young Andrew Jackson, who would personally suffer under the British oppression during the Revolutionary War. As a teenager, Jackson served in a militia unit until captured by the British. A British officer slashed Andrew with his sword for refusing to clean his boots and brutally struck his brother Robert on the head. Both boys remained prisoners until their mother secured their release. While Andrew eventually recovered from the illness acquired in the prison camp, Robert died a few days after their release.

British heavy-handed treatment in the backcountry began to impact their recruitment efforts adversely. Colonel Patrick Ferguson, a Scottish officer in the British army, strove to recruit loyalist throughout the Carolina backcountry in 1780. In an effort to persuade the settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains to abandon the patriot cause, Ferguson openly threatened to invade the Overmountain settlements if the colonist did not support the Crown.

Ferguson’s threat proved fatal. By threatening these over-the-mountain settlers, he forced them into the opposite corner. If the truth be known, most of them cared little for either side. They simply wanted to be left alone. Threatening these mountain folks moved them from being disinterested bystanders to being firmly set against the suddenly intrusive, overbearing symbols of British authority. As Ferguson continued to recruit and move westward, the over-mountain men began to assemble to take the offensive.