“the father of
Tennessee” ; born in
Brunswick county,
Va., June 28, 1742; emigrated to the regions beyond the mountains about 1760.
and on the banks of the
Watauga, a branch of the
Tennessee; made a settlement and lived there several years.
He was often called upon to contest for life with the savages of the forest.
In 1776 he was chosen to command a fort built
near the mouth of the
Watauga.
In 1779 he was at the head of a party emigrating to the still richer country of the
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Cumberland, and upon Christmas Eve of that year they arrived upon the spot where
Nashville now stands.
Others joined them, and in the following summer they numbered about 200.
A settlement was established, and
Robertson founded the city of
Nashville.
The
Cherokee Indians attempted to destroy the settlement, but, through the skill and energy of
Robertson and a few companions, that calamity was averted.
They built a log fort on the high bank of the
Cumberland, and in that the settlers were defended against fully 700 Indians in 1781.
The settlement was erected into a county of
North Carolina, and
Robertson was its first representative in the State legislature.
In 1790 the “Territory South of the
Ohio River” was formed, and
Washington appointed
Robertson brigadier-general and commander of the militia in it. In that capacity he was very active in defence of the settlements against the savages.
At the same time he practised the most exact justice towards the Indians, and when these children of the forest were no longer hostile, his kindness towards the oppressed among them made him very popular.
At length, when the emissaries,
white and
red, from the
British in the
North began to sow the seeds of discontent among them at the breaking out of the
War of 1812, the government wisely appointed
General Robertson agent to the
Chickasaw tribe.
He was ever watchful of the national interest.
As early as March, 1813, he wrote, “The
Chickasaws are in a high strain for war against the enemies of the country.
They have declared war against all passing Creeks who attempt to go through their nation.
They have declared, if the
United States will make a campaign against the
Creeks (because of some murders committed by them near the mouth of the
Ohio), that they are ready to give them aid.”
A little later he suggested the employnent of companies of Chickasaws and Choctaws to defend the frontiers and to protect travellers, and he was seconded by Pitchlyn, an active and faithful Indian.
During the war
General Robertson remained at his post among the Indians, and invited his aged wife to share his privations by quaintly saying to her by a messenger, “If you shall come this way, the very best chance for rest and sleep which my bed affords shall be given you, provided, always, that I shall retain a part of the same.”
He was then seventy-one, and she sixty-three years of age. She went to him, and was at his side when he died at his post in the
Indian country, Sept. 1, 1814.
His remains were buried at the agency.
In 1825 they were removed to
Nashville, and, in the presence of a large concourse of citizens, were reinterred in the cemetery there.
A plain tomb covers the spot.
The remains of his wife rest by his side, and the observer may there read the following inscriptions: “
Gen. James Robertson, the founder of
Nashville, was born in
Virginia, 28th June, 1742.
Died 1st September, 1814.”
“
Charlotte R., wife of
James Robertson, was born in
North Carolina, 2d January, 1751.
Died 11th June, 1843.”
Their son
Dr. Felix Robertson, who was born in the fort, and the first white child whose birth was in
west Tennessee, died at
Nashville in 1864.
Royal governor, born in Fifeshire,
Scotland, about 1710; was deputy-quartermaster under
General Abercrombie in 1758; was at the capture of
Louisburg; and accompanied
Amherst to
Lake Champlain in 1759.
He took part in the expedition against
Martinique in 1762, and was afterwards stationed in New York.
At
Boston, in 1775, he was made major-general, Jan. 1, 1776, and at the evacuation of that city he shared in the plunder.
He was in the
battle of Long Island; was military governor of New York until his return to
England; and, coming back, was commissioned military governor of the
city of New York in May, 1779, and remained such until April, 1783, when he again returned to
England, where he died, March 4, 1788.
