David Crockett_ The Lion of the West - Michael Wallis [20]
By the late 1780s, John was appointed a magistrate of Greene County. As a justice of the court, he was presiding on August 5, 1788, when the young and sinewy Andrew Jackson received his license to practice law in Greene County.15 John Crockett was also active politically, as a staunch Franklinite, one of the supporters of the State of Franklin, the independent state (1785–1789) established by frontier settlers.16
After seceding from North Carolina, the rebellious settlers wrote their own constitution and elected as their governor the popular Revolutionary War hero and “Indian fighter” John Sevier, nicknamed Nolichucky Jack or Chucky Jack for his exploits along the Nolichucky River.17 Sometimes called “Frankland,” meaning “land of free men,” the new state was named after Benjamin Franklin, the aging patriot who told the Franklinites, only a few years before his death in what was then the nation’s capital, that he was honored to have a state named for him but politely explained that he was too old and sickly to be of much help in their cause.18 In a letter to Governor Sevier sent from Philadelphia in 1787, however, Franklin did offer a suggestion:
There are two things which humanity induces me to wish you may succeed in: the accommodating your misunderstanding with the government of North-Carolina, and the avoiding an Indian war by preventing encroachments on their lands. Such encroachments are the more unjustifiable, as these people, in the fair way of purchase, usually give very good bargains.19
Doctor Franklin’s sage advice was not taken.
In August 1788, around the time of David’s second birthday, John and about eight hundred other area men embarked with Brigadier General Joseph Martin on an ill-fated campaign against Dragging Canoe, leader of the same Chickamaugas who massacred John’s parents and others back in Carter’s Valley.20 Martin was a Revolutionary War hero married to Betsy Ward, daughter of Nancy Ward, a prominent Cherokee leader, and her English trader husband. In 1777, Virginia Governor Patrick Henry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, appointed Martin the Indian agent for the Cherokee Nation. This particular action led by Martin was sparked by the recent massacres of more white families and cries for revenge that echoed throughout the land. The campaign was but one of many that took place during the almost twenty years of raids, ambushes, and sometimes full-scale battles between the Cherokees and the ever-growing number of American frontiersmen who illegally encroached into Indian lands.
The various militias gathered at White’s Fort, where Knoxville now stands, and then crossed the Hiwassee River and moved overland to the point where the Tennessee River broke through the Cumberland Mountains.21 Scattered fighting ensued, but when the Chickamaugas offered unexpected resistance and Brig. Gen. Martin gave the order to pursue them, most of his men rebelled. They refused to follow because he had allied himself with the state of North Carolina during the contentious struggle over the failed State of Franklin, and hard feelings had developed between Martin and John Sevier, also a much-admired hero. Martin had no other choice but to go home.22
A weary Martin resigned as Indian agent following the inglorious murder of several Cherokee leaders, including pacifist chief Old Tassel, killed while meeting under a flag of truce. The charismatic John Sevier, however, rode on to more glory even as all hope vanished for Franklin’s gaining admission to the United States. As Franklin and North Carolina competed for the loyalties of the people, Sevier stayed popular and beloved in many circles, based on his past exploits with the Watauga Association, the Battle