This is the story of America's first western frontier, when brave men and women crossed the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains to find better lives for themselves and their families.
James Robertson led the first group of settlers over the mountains and founded the first white settlement in what would later become East Tennessee. But they were not alone. Centuries earlier, the Cherokees came from the north, conquered the local tribes, and settled there.
In the year before the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, British Indian agents began inciting the Cherokees, Shawnees, and other western tribes. The frontiersmen mobilized their militias and eventually defeated the Cherokees. Afterward, James Robertson was appointed an Indian agent to keep the peace.
In 1779, Robertson entered into an agreement with Richard Henderson and John Donelson to settle the area around the French Lick, which would later become Nashville. After their arrival in 1780, Indian attacks soon commenced. Using large-scale attacks and small ambushes, the protracted war against the settlers lasted for fifteen years. Richard Henderson fled, and John Donelson was killed. James Robertson's determination and steadfast leadership was the glue that kept the infant settlement together.
George Washington appreciated Robertson's leadership and appointed him brigadier general of the Western Militia. Andrew Jackson's military training began as a private serving in General Robertson's militia. Jackson learned well and years later replaced Robertson after his retirement. Boone, Clarke, Sevier, Shelby, Blount, and Bledsoe were other leaders who trusted James Robertson.
James Robertson's long military and civic career began before the American Revolution and ended after the Battle of Talladega during the War of 1812. He was a brave, intelligent and patriotic leader who believed in Manifest Destiny and founded Nashville, the nation's westernmost settlement of that era.
