James Robertson (explorer)
| James Robertson | |
|---|---|
James Robertson portrait by Washington Bogart Cooper
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| Born |
June 28, 1742 Brunswick County, Virginia, United States |
| Died | September 1, 1814 (aged 72) Chickasaw Bluff, Tennessee |
| Buried at | Nashville City Cemetery Nashville, Tennessee |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | Southwest Territory militia |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands held | Mero District militia |
| Battles/wars | Cherokee–American wars |
| Relations | Charlotte Reeves (wife) Anne Robertson Johnson Cockrill (sister) |
James Robertson (June 28, 1742 – September 1, 1814) was an American explorer, soldier and Indian agent, and one of the founding fathers of the State of Tennessee. An early companion of explorer Daniel Boone, Robertson helped establish the Watauga Association in the early 1770s, and helped defend Fort Watauga from an attack by the Cherokees in 1776. In 1779, he cofounded what is now Nashville, and was instrumental in the settlement of Middle Tennessee. He served as a brigadier general in the Southwest Territory militia in the early 1790s.
Robertson was born in Brunswick County, Virginia, of Scots-Irish and English descent. Around 1750, his father relocated to Wake County, North Carolina. He worked on his father's farm and had limited formal education.
In 1759, young Robertson accompanied explorer Daniel Boone on his third expedition to lands beyond the Allegheny Mountains. The party discovered the "Old Fields" (lands previously cultivated by generations of Native Americans) along the Watauga River valley at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee, which Robertson planted with corn while Boone continued on to Kentucky.
Robertson returned to North Carolina and married Charlotte Reeves in 1767. He became involved with the Regulator movement. They banded together a group of settlers to return to the Watauga River, which they believed to be in Virginia. In 1772, Robertson and the pioneers who had settled in Northeast Tennessee (along the Watauga River, the Doe River, the Holston River and the Nolichucky River) met at Sycamore Shoals to establish an independent regional government known as the Watauga Association.
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