large areas of land in the Weat/^Cesaion vaa aided by the Continental Congress"3 passage of a resolution on federal lands, on October, 1780, which stipulated " that the lands which may be ceded or reliqui3hed to the United States should be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States and the lands should be formed into distinct republican States that shall become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other states. "7comman9er P- 2581 Most of the states had ceded their lands by 1802 (see appendix 1). Arthur Campbell was the driving force and the architect of the State of Franklin.lt may have been that this large body of land which the Congress i ntended to divide i nto states gave hi m the initial idea to separate parts of western Virginia and Eastern North Carolina into an independent State, especially in as much as Kentucky and Vermont were already moving in the same direction. Besides being the presiding Justice of the Court of Washington County, Campbell wa3 Lieutenant and commander-in-chief of the county militia, and had held these positions for eighteen years since the founding of Washington County in 1776. [8 william3 p 286] These positions were held by him by appointment of the Governor of Virginia, 8nd his survival in these positions depended to some extent upon the continued patronage and good will of Governor Patrick Henry. 9 [summers, p. 255] Arthur Campbell had served his County and his State with distinction. He had been a member of the committee which drafted the Fincastle Resolutions in 1775. The Fincastle Resolutions proceeded the Declaration of Independence and had early established the support of the western settlers of their New England fellow Americans when the resolution had declared that "they were deliberately and resolutely determined never to surrender their inestimable privileges to any power upon earth but at the expense of their lives. 10[summer3 p 202]He had several times served 83 the delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates. As the delegates and the member of the Senate were the only officials elected by the people themselves, ll[sydnor p. 109] his election as a delegate to the Virginia Legislature indicates the support he received from the people themselves. Why then did Arthur Campbell place his position in the County and State in jeopardy? What made him think he could do more for his County within the framework of a separate state than as a representative for them in the general assembly of Virginia? Looking at the situation from another point of view, Arthur Campbell may have had strictly personal reasons for wanting a new state. A new State, with a new constitution, largely written by Campbell, with himself as the Governor, might have had considerable appeal for him. That he was motivated by self interests apparently was the opinion of Richard Henry Lee, who, when writing to James Madison May 30, 1785, in apparent reference to the memorial recently read in Congress for the erecting of the new 3 State of Franklin, suggested: "Washington County seems to be stimulated by a troublesome person who, for self-aggrandizement, appears to be willing to dismember that part also, and join with the revolted from North Carolina. This last seems to merit the wise and firm attention of the government and the legislature." 12 [ Williams p. 49] Lee could hardly qualify as an unbiased observer, as a near relative, Colonel Henry Lee, had been severely critized by Colonel William Campbell, a first cousin of Arthur Campbell, for his conduct at the Battle of Guilford Court when General Nathaniel Green had faced Lord Cornwallis. 13 Footnote 13: At the Battle of Guilford Court House, Colonel Willaim Campbell had acccused Henry Lee of withdrawing his men in the face of an attack on Campbell's flank by Colonel Tarleton's Cavelry. This left Campbell's militia exposed and they were cut to ribbons. In fact, Campbell was so furious that he resigned his commission, saying he would no longer serve in an army where Lee held a commission. He was later persuaded to change his mind and was appointed a brigadier-general in June 1781 to serve in the Continental forces in Virginia under the Marquis De LaFayette. "It is the opinion of many that had Colonel Lee acted well his part in this battle, Cornwallis would have been defeated and possibly captured instead of the American army being forced to retreat." 13 [summers 353-58 passim] During the Revolution Washington County had been beset by many problems. Many of these were the natural result of warfare and were shared by their fellow Americans. Inflation and problems with paper money. Tories. The problems connected with equip ping the Continental Army as well as the county militias were felt by all Americans. The county was constantly being called upon for a hundred men here, and two hundred there. One official wrote that his county was "drained of men"(Fleming papers (Washington and Lee University) as cited by Hart, p. 96.)In addition shortages of arms , ammunition, and supplies, especially salt, were felt by the settlers. But by far the worst problem that the residents of Washington County encountered during the Revolution were the continual problems with the Indians, it may have been that the accumulation of these problems combined with political problems following the Revolution was the real reason for the desire of the people of southwest Virginia to want to be separated from Virginia into a separate state of their own by whatever name. t£>u A When one civilization is pressing upon the territory and domain of another, conflict is inevitable, and Washington County was located in such a location as to recieve much of the brunt of the Indians' attempt to keep the white man from encroaching any further onto Indian lands during both the French and Indian War and the Revolution. 4 Washington county was located at the southwest tip of the Valley of Virginia, which ran in a southwest direction between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains. At the extreme tip of the county was the Cumberland Gap through which much of the emigration westward into Kentucky moved. Down the Valle^through the gap and into Kentucky ran what was called "The Great Road" or "The Wilderness Road" which had evolved from Indian 8nd Buffalo trails, [see map, pg ?] (This is the map which 3hows the wilderness road)Later it was widened to a width to accomodate a pack train, which was the width of it during the Revolution. The road leading from Moore's Fort in Washington county to the Cumberland gap became a favorite place for the Indians to ambush , kill, and plunder travelers and emigrants. During intense Indian troubles, beleagured Kentucky settlers often retired back along the Wilderness into Washington County to wait until they could return to their homes in Kentucky.16 [kincaid p. 108] In spite of Indian problems emigration into southwestern Virginia during tn^French and Indian war the population increased enough so that Botetourt County was taken off Augusta county in 1769 and Fincastle County from Botetourt in 1772.17[E. K. Kirkham, Counties of the United States, p.71). Virginia emerged from the French and Indian War with some definite pluses. Near the end of the war, Governor Dinwoody had instructed George Washington to erect a string of Forts along the long Virginia Frontier. These were immensely important for the protection of American settlements during the Revolutionary War. In addition, the inexperienced county militias had become experienced Indian fighters, and England had "inadvertently trained the the greatest commander the epoch produced." (George Washington.) 18[Koontz, p. 14-15 ] At the close of the French arid Indian Wars, King George III issued his Proclamation of 1763 which forbad settlement beyond the Appalachian mountains. The lines which were drawn automatically nullified the land titles of those pioneers who had already settled there --in fact, they were told to move back within the described boundaries if their land was in violation of the treaty England had signed with the Indians. At the same time the Governor of Virginia and the Legislature and Council of the state government had assigned lands to veterans of the French and Indian Wars and huge blocks of land in Southwest Virginia, eastern North Carolina and Kentucky to land speculators. The Proclamation wa3 largely ignored. 19 [Ralph Volney Harlow and Hermon M. Noyes, Storuof America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1961, p.53] Even though the settlers paid little attention to the Proclamation, it made it impossible for them to enter their lands. They were squattors by virtue of the law of the land. Some of these early settlers did not 5 have their land registered until after the Revolution. 20 [For Instance, John Kincaid, one of the first Justices of Washington County did not register his land until 1783, although it is thought he moved onto the Clinch River as early as 1769 when he sold his land in Albemarle County, Virginia. His son, James' Revolutionary War Pension application stated that his father was living at a place called Castle's Woods in 1776.]Wash. co. sur . bk, vol 11, p. 560, 242, 302, 340, 449, 78, 92, 335 There was a great difference between the people who lived ifastern Virginia and those that lived in western Virginia. In eastern Virginia most of the settlers were English and Episcopalian, while the early settlers of the Valley of Virginia and 30uthwe3t Virginia were Scotch-Irish and belonged to the Presbyterian faith.