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Richard Henderson (American pioneer)
Encyclopedia
Richard Henderson was an American
pioneer
and merchant who attempted to create a colony called Transylvania
just as the American Revolutionary War
was starting.
, Virginia
. In 1762, he moved to Granville County
, North Carolina
, studied law, was admitted to the bar
, practiced law, and in 1769 was appointed judge of the Superior Court. He was the presiding judge who condemned captured tax resistors to death during the War of the Regulation
. Viewed as a member of the gentry, he had been a target of Regulator violence. He was a member of a Church of England
parish in Williamsboro during this time.
After the Declaration of Independence
(1775) and the organization of the state government in North Carolina, he was re-elected judge, but was prevented from accepting that position by his participation in a scheme organized under the name of the Transylvania Land Company.
tribe, who required negotiation of a lease with the settlers. Tragedy struck as the lease was being celebrated, when a Cherokee warrior was murdered by a white man. Robertson's skillful diplomacy made peace with the irate Native Americans
, who threatened to expel the settlers by force if necessary.
In 1775, a treaty was held between the Cherokee and a delegation of the Transylvania Company
, headed by Richard Henderson. Under the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (or the Treaty of Watauga) the Transylvania Company purchased a vast amount of land from the Cherokees, including most of present-day Kentucky and part of Tennessee
. The treaty was technically illegal since the purchase of land from Native Americans
was reserved by the government in the Proclamation of 1763 (the British, the governments of Virginia
and North Carolina
, and, later, the United States
, all forbade private purchase of land from Indians).
During the treaty, Dragging Canoe
, son of the Cherokee chief Attacullaculla
, made a speech condemning the sale of Cherokee land and broke from the general Cherokee tribal government to form the sub-tribe known as the Chickamauga. After Henderson's Transylvania Company had bought Kentucky (although other tribes claimed it, such as the Shawnee
), Daniel Boone
was hired to widen the Indian path over Cumberland Gap
to facilitate migration. This road became known as the Wilderness Road
.
In 1775, Henderson gathered chiefs of the Cherokee Indians
and negotiated the Treaty of Watauga at Sycamore Shoals
at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee
, during which time he purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River
, the Cumberland Mountains
, and the Kentucky River
, and situated south of the Ohio River
. The land thus delineated encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky
. In order to facilitate settlement, Henderson hired Daniel Boone
, who had hunted extensively in Kentucky, to blaze the Wilderness Road
through the Cumberland Gap
and into the Transylvania land purchase. To appease other prominent early explorers, Henderson held out other rewards. He offered Joseph Martin
, founder of Martin's Station on Martin's Creek in present-day Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia
, a spot as an agent and entry taker for the company, in charge of keeping tabs on settlers moving westward; Henderson offered Martin's brother Bryce a tract of 500 acres (2 km²) adjacent to the Cumberland Gap
.
Henderson followed Boone to a site that came to be called Boonesborough, located on the southern bank of the Kentucky river, Henderson encouraged the few settlers there to hold a constitutional convention. In May of 1775, under the shade of a huge elm tree, a compact organizing a frame of government was drafted. The intended government entailed executive, legislative, and judicial branches. After concluding the Transylvania Compact, Henderson returned to North Carolina and on behalf of his fellow investors in the land scheme petitioned Congress seeking to make Transylvania America’s fourteenth colony. Despite those efforts, Congress was unwilling to act without the consent of Virginia and North Carolina, both of whom claimed jurisdiction over the region in question. In June 1776 the Virginia General Assembly prohibited the Transylvania Land Company from making demands on settlers in the region and in December 1778 declared the Transylvania claim void.
Henderson and his partners instead received a grant of 12 square miles (31 km²), on the Ohio River below the mouth of Green River
.
In 1779, Judge Henderson was appointed one of six commissioners to run the line between Virginia and North Carolina into Powell's valley. He settled in North Carolina, where he practiced farming on a large scale. He served as a militia colonel in the Revolutionary War and was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly
from Granville County
. One of his sons was Leonard Henderson
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneer
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
and merchant who attempted to create a colony called Transylvania
Transylvania (colony)
Transylvania, or the Transylvania Colony, was a short-lived, extra-legal colony founded in 1775 by Richard Henderson, who controlled the North Carolina based Transylvania Company, which had reached an agreement to purchase the land from the Cherokee in the "Treaty of Sycamore Shoals"...
just as the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
was starting.
Early life
Henderson was born in Hanover CountyHanover County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 86,320 people, 31,121 households, and 24,461 families residing in the county. The population density was 183 people per square mile . There were 32,196 housing units at an average density of 68 per square mile...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. In 1762, he moved to Granville County
Granville County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 59,916 people in 20,628 households residing in the county. The population density was 111.6 people per square mile . There were 22,827 housing units at an average density of 42.5 per square mile...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, studied law, was admitted to the bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
, practiced law, and in 1769 was appointed judge of the Superior Court. He was the presiding judge who condemned captured tax resistors to death during the War of the Regulation
War of the Regulation
The War of the Regulation was a North Carolina uprising, lasting from approximately 1760 to 1771, in which citizens took up arms against corrupt colonial officials...
. Viewed as a member of the gentry, he had been a target of Regulator violence. He was a member of a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
parish in Williamsboro during this time.
After the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
(1775) and the organization of the state government in North Carolina, he was re-elected judge, but was prevented from accepting that position by his participation in a scheme organized under the name of the Transylvania Land Company.
In the company of wilderness explorers
In 1772, surveyors placed the land officially within the domain of the CherokeeCherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
tribe, who required negotiation of a lease with the settlers. Tragedy struck as the lease was being celebrated, when a Cherokee warrior was murdered by a white man. Robertson's skillful diplomacy made peace with the irate Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, who threatened to expel the settlers by force if necessary.
In 1775, a treaty was held between the Cherokee and a delegation of the Transylvania Company
Transylvania (colony)
Transylvania, or the Transylvania Colony, was a short-lived, extra-legal colony founded in 1775 by Richard Henderson, who controlled the North Carolina based Transylvania Company, which had reached an agreement to purchase the land from the Cherokee in the "Treaty of Sycamore Shoals"...
, headed by Richard Henderson. Under the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (or the Treaty of Watauga) the Transylvania Company purchased a vast amount of land from the Cherokees, including most of present-day Kentucky and part of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. The treaty was technically illegal since the purchase of land from Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
was reserved by the government in the Proclamation of 1763 (the British, the governments of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and, later, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, all forbade private purchase of land from Indians).
During the treaty, Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe
Tsiyu Gansini , "He is dragging his canoe", known to whites as Dragging Canoe, was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers...
, son of the Cherokee chief Attacullaculla
Attacullaculla
Attakullakulla or Atagulkalu , adopted as an infant into the Cherokee tribe, became their First Beloved Man, serving from 1761 to around 1775...
, made a speech condemning the sale of Cherokee land and broke from the general Cherokee tribal government to form the sub-tribe known as the Chickamauga. After Henderson's Transylvania Company had bought Kentucky (although other tribes claimed it, such as the Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
), Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
was hired to widen the Indian path over Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
to facilitate migration. This road became known as the Wilderness Road
Wilderness Road
The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers for more than fifty years to reach Kentucky from the East. In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened,...
.
The Transylvania Purchase at Sycamore Shoals
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
and negotiated the Treaty of Watauga at Sycamore Shoals
Sycamore Shoals
The Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River, usually shortened to Sycamore Shoals, is a rocky stretch of river rapids along the Watauga River in Elizabethton, in the U.S. state of Tennessee...
at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton is the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is also the historical site both of the first independent American government located west of both the Eastern Continental Divide and the original thirteen British American colonies.Elizabethton is also the...
, during which time he purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
, the Cumberland Mountains
Cumberland Mountains
The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in southern West Virginia, western Virginia, eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains...
, and the Kentucky River
Kentucky River
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state, with its upper course passing through the coal-mining regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and its lower course passing through the...
, and situated south of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. The land thus delineated encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. In order to facilitate settlement, Henderson hired Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
, who had hunted extensively in Kentucky, to blaze the Wilderness Road
Wilderness Road
The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers for more than fifty years to reach Kentucky from the East. In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened,...
through the Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
and into the Transylvania land purchase. To appease other prominent early explorers, Henderson held out other rewards. He offered Joseph Martin
Joseph Martin (general)
Joseph Martin was a brigadier general in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War, in which Martin's frontier diplomacy with the Cherokee people is credited with averting Indian attacks on the Scotch-Irish settlers who helped win the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens...
, founder of Martin's Station on Martin's Creek in present-day Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia
Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia
Rose Hill is a census-designated place in Lee County, Virginia, United States. The population was 714 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rose Hill is located at ....
, a spot as an agent and entry taker for the company, in charge of keeping tabs on settlers moving westward; Henderson offered Martin's brother Bryce a tract of 500 acres (2 km²) adjacent to the Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
.
The Transylvania Compact
Henderson and his partners instead received a grant of 12 square miles (31 km²), on the Ohio River below the mouth of Green River
Green River (Kentucky)
The Green River is a tributary of the Ohio River that rises in Lincoln County in south-central Kentucky. Tributaries of the Green River include the Barren River, the Nolin River, the Pond River and the Rough River...
.
In 1779, Judge Henderson was appointed one of six commissioners to run the line between Virginia and North Carolina into Powell's valley. He settled in North Carolina, where he practiced farming on a large scale. He served as a militia colonel in the Revolutionary War and was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly
North Carolina General Assembly
The North Carolina General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The General Assembly drafts and legislates the state laws of North Carolina, also known as the General Statutes...
from Granville County
Granville County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 59,916 people in 20,628 households residing in the county. The population density was 111.6 people per square mile . There were 22,827 housing units at an average density of 42.5 per square mile...
. One of his sons was Leonard Henderson
Leonard Henderson
Leonard Henderson was an American jurist who served as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1833, and an associate judge of that court beforehand....
.
Place names
- Henderson County, Illinois
- Henderson County, KentuckyHenderson County, KentuckyHenderson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1799. As the latest census data update of 2010, the population was counted 46,250. The county seat is the City of Henderson. The county was named for Colonel Richard Henderson who originally purchased of land...
- Henderson, KentuckyHenderson, KentuckyHenderson is a city in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States, along the Ohio River in the western part of the state. The population was 27,952 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area often referred to as "Kentuckiana", although "Tri-State Area" or "Tri-State" are more...