Series: 1 XX - 2 XX (Volumes 1-2)
Scope and Content Note

Joseph Martin Papers, 1771-1809. Papers of Martin (1740-1808), an active participant in civil and military affairs affecting the development not only of Tennessee but also of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and his native Virginia. Born in Albemarle County where he was a schoolmate of Thomas Sumter, Martin became a trapper, hunter, and early settler in Powell's Valley (1769); militia captain in Dunmore's War and in the Cherokee expedition of 1776; agent for the Transylvania Company to spur settlement in Kentucky in 1775; Indian agent among the Cherokee on the Holston River and commissioner to negotiate treaties with the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek nations in the period from 1777-1789; member of the legislatures of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia; and brigadier general of North Carolina militia (appointed in 1787) and of Virginia militia (appointed in 1793).

Volume 1 XX contains original manuscripts, 1771-1786, pertaining mainly to Martin's military service and to his work as Indian agent and treaty commissioner. A few early pieces, beginning with a letter (1771) from Dr. Thomas Walker, allude to the settlement of Powell's Valley. Military records include Martin's commissions as captain of Pittsylvania County militia signed by Lord Dunmore (1774) and by the Virginia Committee of Safety (1775), a few accounts and receipts, rolls listing the members of his companies (1774, 1776-1777), and letters from Anthony Bledsoe, Arthur Campbell, William Christian, Robert Derry, John Donelson, John Dunkin, John Floyd (at Boonesborough), Philip Love, William Preston, Evan Shelby, Isaac Shelby, Turner Southall, and James Thompson.

Papers on Indian affairs include commissions and appointments signed by Patrick Henry (1777), Nathanael Greene (1781), and Benjamin Harrison (1783); a series of letters (1782-1784) with instructions to Martin and other treaty commissioners from Governor Harrison; manuscripts of talks by Christian, Martin, and John Sevier to Cherokee and Chickasaw leaders; an original treaty (November 5, 1783) signed by Donelson and Martin with the Chickasaw at French Lick [Nashville] on the Cumberland River; lists of gifts presented to the Indians; and letters from William Blount, Christian, Governor Alexander Martin of North Carolina, and Isaac Shelby. Also found in the correspondence are single letters by Martin to Virginia governors Thomas Jefferson (1780) and Patrick Henry (1786). The apprehension and chastisement of a runaway slave are discussed in a letter (1777) by John Wimbish.

Volume 2 XX contains original manuscripts and contemporary copies, 1785-1809, of which the majority pertain to Joseph Martin's involvement in troubled Indian relations and to the development of East Tennessee. Many letters have political allusions and overtones, and there are references to the State of Franklin; to Martin's military participation in the Chickamauga campaign which he led in 1788 and in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794; to land settlement in Kentucky, Tennessee, and adjoining states; and to the unsettled boundaries between North Carolina and Tennessee and between Kentucky and Virginia. Numerous congressional resolutions, statements, and commissions concern negotiations in the 1780s with the Cherokee and other southern tribes. Included are a printed copy of the Treaty of Hopewell (1786) and two copies of a printed broadside bearing a congressional proclamation warning settlers of penalties for illegally inhabiting Cherokee hunting lands guaranteed in the Hopewell treaty. Military records include Martin's commissions as brigadier general signed by Governor Richard Caswell of North Carolina (1787) and Governor Henry Lee of Virginia (1793); a payroll for Thomas Vincent's company from Sullivan County, North Carolina in the Chickamauga campaign; and orders issued to the Virginia militia by Samuel Hopkins in 1794. Two letters (1800, 1805) by Joseph's son, William, cover a range of topics-family; land, business and law suits; Indians; and politics. Letters by Joseph Martin include one (1785) to William Russell written at the Cherokee town of Chota and others addressed to Patrick Henry (1789, 1795, and a summary of one in 1799).

Other writers of notable letters are S. Armistead, William Blount, W.A. Burwell, Edward Carrington, Thomas Evans, Thomas Hutchins, Peter Johnston, Samuel Johnston (governor of North Carolina), Henry Knox, James Lather, Robert Love, Stevens Thomson Mason (1760-1803), Return J. Meigs, James Monroe, Andrew Pickens, Edmund Randolph, Archibald Stuart, Creed Taylor, Edward Telfair, and James Wood.

Series: 3 XX (Volume 3)
Scope and Content Note

Primarily Draper's incoming and outgoing correspondence, 1842-1846, with William Martin, accompanied by Draper's notes of an interview with Martin in 1844 and a few letters by William's sons, by his brother Joseph Martin, Jr., and by a few others. William Martin (1765-1846), son of Joseph, Sr., spent part of his youth with his father near the Cherokee in Tennessee; lived amid Indian threats in Powell's Valley from 1785 to 1787; commanded a company to protect Tennessee settlements in 1787; settled in 1791 in South Carolina on the Tugalo River near the home of Andrew Pickens; then moved in 1798 to Sumner County, Tennessee, where he resided for the rest of his life. A lieutenant colonel during the Creek campaign of 1813, he commanded his regiment when his superior officer, Colonel William Pillow, was wounded in the battle of Talladega (Alabama). Martin's letters are filled with personal reminiscences, anecdotes, and candid comments on persons, events, and pioneer life as he had observed and experienced them. Recorded are the varying attitudes of family members to his father's Indian wife Betsey Ward; stories of William's black servants, Toby, who fought with him in the Lookout Mountain campaign (1788), and Major, who had been raised with him as a boy and became a lifelong companion; commentaries on numerous topics such as frontier women, frontier humor, and the treatment of western history by historians and biographers. Occasionally Draper chose to file Martin's replies in other series; thus there are a few gaps in the sequence of letters in this volume. Draper's letters to Martin not only contain questions but also detail with enthusiasm Draper's early and most productive period of travel and correspondence in pursuit of manuscripts and interviews. The Draper-Martin correspondence documents both Martin's own life and the exceptionally congenial friendship formed between the early pioneer and the eager young collector-historian.

Among the many persons and families mentioned in the letters and interview notes are Philip Alston; Samuel Barton; John Blackmore; Isaac Bledsoe; William Blount; John Buchanan (Buchannon) and his wife; Arthur Campbell; Benjamin Cleveland and his sister Mrs. Molly Franklin; Charles Cox; Zachary Green; William Hord (Herd, Heard); Edmund Jennings; Casper Mansco (Mansker); John Montgomery; Alexander Moore; Robert Orr; John M. Peck; Abraham Penn; George Ridley; Hugh Rogan; Mrs. Archibald Scott and her escape from Indian captivity; James and Moses Shelby; Thomas S. Spencer; Thomas Sumter; John Tipton; Jesse Walton; Henry Wilson; James Winchester; and the Cherokee chiefs Little Carpenter and Oconastota. Frontier outposts discussed include Fort Chiswell (Chissel) (North Carolina), Fort Loudon (Tennessee), and Eaton's Station (Tennessee), and there are countless references to campaigns and battles.

Series: 4 XX (Volume 4)
Scope and Content Note

Original manuscripts arranged and subdivided by Draper into three groups:

1) James Robertson papers, 1783-1794. Robertson (1742-1814) was a man of action and not a literary figure as evidenced both by his letters and by his career, which was highlighted by service in Dunmore's War, explorations in the Cumberland region and leadership of the company making the first settlement of Nashville in 1779, and participation in Indian warfare and negotiations in many subsequent years. Seven letters, 1791-1794, written by Robertson to Daniel Smith and Isaac Shelby, pertain to Indian affairs. Although there are scattered references to relations with the Spaniards in the Mississippi River Valley in several letters, one of particular interest on this topic was written in 1789 by Andrew Fagot in New Orleans. Other letter writers were Samuel Barton, Robert Hays, the Chickasaw chief Piomingo, Elijah Robertson, and Absolom Tatum. A passport issued to a party of Creek Indians was written by Alexander McGillivray. Two Davidson County, North Carolina, legal papers, 1783-1784, precede the correspondence.

2) William Blount papers, 1783-1795. Blount (1749-1800), a prominent North Carolina and Tennessee politician, held many offices: member of Continental Congress, signer of the Constitution, governor of the Territory South of the River Ohio, superintendent of Indian affairs (1790-1794), member and president of the Tennessee Senate (1798-1800). Twenty-one letters, 1783-1795, written by Blount to Joseph Martin, John Sevier, and Daniel Smith, discuss Tennessee land purchase, militia appointments, Indian affairs, and politics. One letter by Richard Caswell to Sevier (1786) discussed North Carolina's non-recognition of the State of Franklin, Blount's conduct in treating with the Indians, and congressional actions in Indian matters. In one letter (1794) Willie Blount, William's half-brother, reported Indian forays and commented upon the Whiskey Rebellion.

Closing this section are selections copied by Draper in 1844 from papers of Willie Blount, including a biographical sketch of William; notes on the government of the State of Franklin; and portions of several letters written by Willie.

3) Daniel Smith papers, 1774-1804. Smith (1748-1818) had an active civic, military, and political career as surveyor, cartographer, soldier, secretary of the Southwest Territory, and United States senator from Tennessee. His papers include: a few military receipts and an undated muster roll for Smith's Fincastle County (Virginia) militia company; letters, 1774-1782, from Arthur Campbell and William Preston concerning service in Dunmore's War, later militia matters, and surveying business; a letter (1783) from Thomas Walker on the Loyal Land and Greenbriar Land companies; one (1789) by Spanish governor Estevan Mero at New Orleans concerning Andrew Fagot, Alexander McGillivray, trade, and Indian affairs; and one (1790) by Benjamin Hawkins urging Smith as secretary of Southwest Territory to encourage manufacturing, fruit growing, and other economic improvements. Also included are financial accounts and drafts of two letters (1804) by Smith concerning his work as Indian commissioner in negotiations with the Cherokee. Among other writers of letters and documents are William Blount, Isaac Davis, William Edmiston, James McCorkle, Robert Nelson, James Sanders, and Daniel's brother Joseph Smith. Printed items include a contemporary broadside publication of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and a few later newspaper clippings about the State of Franklin. Only one of Daniel Smith's manuscript maps is filed in this volume.

Series: 5 XX (Volume 5)
Scope and Content Note

Miscellaneous original manuscripts, 1774-1821, interspersed with Draper correspondence, interview notes, copied documents, and other annotations made in the period from 1839 to 1844. Among the original papers are: a list of Daniel Smith's militia company, receipts signed by William Edmiston, and a letter of William Preston, all written in 1774; contemporary copies of early land surveys in Tennessee (1770s) and in Fayette County, Kentucky (1785); a letter (1782) by William Fleming; one (1790) by James O'Fallon to John Sevier on settlement at the mouth of the Cumberland River; a contemporary copy of James Mayberry's survey (1791) of the North Carolina grant on the Powell's and Clinch rivers for Richard Henderson and Company; and a letter (1793) by the Chickasaw leaders, Piomingo, William Glover, William Colbert, and others to James Robertson to request aid for the Chickasaw Nation against threats by the Creek Indians. Also included are Walter Alves's pocket account books, 1804-1812, recording expenses while traveling in Kentucky and Tennessee and notes on land surveys he made in Tennessee in 1810; and a letter (1821) by James Overton to William W. Worsley commenting on the National Bank and reception of its notes in Tennessee.

Draper's papers contain information on the following persons and events: Joseph Brown and his captivity; Landon Carter; John “Little Jack” Gordon's expedition to Elk River (1794); Samuel Handley; Edmund Jennings; the Nickajack campaign; Thomas S. Spencer; James Thompson; John Tipton; Daniel, Oliver, and Sampson Williams; and the attack on Ziegler's Station (1792). Draper also copied articles on the infamous Harpe brothers and on the medical treatment of scalped heads.

Series: 6 XX (Volume 6)
Scope and Content Note

Mainly Draper correspondence, 1842-1883, with surviving Tennessee pioneers and their families and with historian J. G. M. Ramsey, interspersed with some older manuscripts. Among the latter is a small group of additional papers of Daniel Smith, most notably one of his manuscript maps and his “Soldier's Book” containing muster rolls, names of scouts, and records of horses, provisions, and other purchases for his company during Dunmore's War. Several documents pertain to Andrew Jackson: a satire (1792) directed to George Winchester and signed by Robert Hays and Jackson; receipts (1808) covering private and military accounts of John Hutchings and Jackson, alleged to be in Jackson's handwriting; and muster rolls (1813) prepared by Colonel John Coffee for Tennessee field and staff officers under Jackson's command in the Creek War. Among other early pieces are a fragment of a letter by Anthony Bledsoe, a mutilated document [1775] on land purchases and sales of Negroes in which the firm of Richard Henderson and Company was involved, and a manuscript article (1811) by William Cocke protesting the powers assumed by the federal district court of East Tennessee.

In letters, reminiscences, and biographical sketches Draper's correspondents referred to many events in early Tennessee history, but emphasis was on the Nickajack campaign (1794) and the Creek War (1813). Noteworthy recollections include those of Joseph Brown giving a vivid account of his scalping of an Indian combatant in the Nickajack battle, and those of naval officer David Farragut recording his childhood impressions of his father George Farragut and of the family's life in Tennessee and New Orleans. Among the many other persons and events mentioned in the correspondence are: Samuel Barton; the discovery of Bledsoe's and Mansco's licks; William Bowen; John Buchanan; William Edmiston (Edmondson); Augustus C. G. Elholm; James Ford; William Hall, David and Robert Hays; and attacks on Hays's and Ziegler's stations. Also mentioned are Indian chiefs, including the Breath, Doublehead, Dragging Canoe, Hanging Maw, Little Carpenter, Oconastota, and John Watts; Benjamin Joslin; the route of the Long Hunters; Robert Love; John McIntosh of Georgia; Casper Mansco; Timothy de Montbrun; Thomas Murray and the Elk River campaign; Ephraim and John Peyton; John Rains; George Ridley; Isaac Roberts; James Robertson; Jonathan Robertson and the Creek Indians; Robertson family history; Hugh Rogan; Thomas S. Spencer; James Todd; Elisha Walden; John Williams; and John Winter. Ramsey's letters are primarily historical in content, but in election years contain some contemporary political comments, such as an assessment of possible presidential candidates in 1852 and opinions on Horace Greeley and on the power and influence of the press in American thought and education in 1872. Worthy of mention are three printed items: a circular of the Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society written by Ramsey and a circular of the East Tennessee Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge, both undated and both soliciting manuscripts and publications on early Tennessee history; and a sheet bearing a lengthy poem entitled “The Tennessee State Capitol” headed by an engraved picture of the building.

Series: 7 XX (Volume 7)
Scope and Content Note: Two of Draper's notebooks containing biographical and bibliographical memoranda in chronological arrangement, one devoted to John Sevier, the other to James Robertson.