Early Governors' Papers

To his Excellency John Sevier Governor of the State of Tenessee & Respectable Gentleman - Richard Sparks and John Wade Captains of The 3^d Regiment U. S. army we rec^d your Letters By the hand of M^rSharp in which we Thank you for your kind Salutation to us. Whereas we are admonish^d to obedience to the Laws Of our country it is what we wish ever to be We have been subject both in taking up arms To defend the rights of our country and paying Our Lawful dues but we are drawn ignorantly Into a transgression if in one we be and that By the Irregular conduct of our Legislative Body in the first place North carolina by an Act of Assembly Granted to Colonel Richard Henderson and Co. twenty odd years ago two Hundred thousand Acres of Land in Powels val ley which rights has been established by Con gress as we are informed and other gentlemen Have obtained patents for Land in s^d valley Which has came froward and sold and some of Us has bought and gave our money and property For it and has setled s^d land which has Been previous to an act of Congress passed may 19^th 1795 as for the land being granted to the Indian tribes after these rights being obtain^d Is a mistery to us by these means we are in thrall^d but Honoured gentlemen we do ^earnestly beg your pardon if we have done wrong and hope you Will show as much [finity?] as is in the compass of your power & we hope you will give us time to move off for our case is

Georgetown where I fell in with Col. James Johnson who expressd his approbation to the measure propos ^d and sign^d his name to the paper as little above mention^d with which I proceeded on to Frankfort again I immediately made known my business to the other members of the committee Which Were Mr Bibb Mr Cuttend -en & Mr Sharp at the same time presented the open letter Containing the opinion of Judge Barry Bledsoe Badley & Johnson I was present at the meeting with them and argd the necessaty [sic] of complying with the requisitions contained in the letter Laying before them my misfortunes my present want of funds, and the great advantage it would be to me in case I couldnt obtain it but all to no purpose they utterly refus^d to comply with the other or make any arrangement that would in any Shape meet my present necessaties [sic] saying they had paid enough allreaddy [sic] that they had paid Mr Nielson $250for his extra insurrance money on the Paragon saying also That I had as much reason to extract pay from the State of Indiana as from them asking many impertinent Questions in this way they dismissd the business with say -ing they would lay it before the Legislator, which would sitt in Octo^r I felt verry [sic] much dissatisfied at this and requested they should give there [sic] decision in writing which they did. I then took the two papers the one sign^d by Mr Barry Mr Bodley & Col Johnson the other by Mr Bibb Mr Crittenden & Mr Sharp (who I was inform^d were authorized to act for the other absent members) and lay^d them before the Governor thinking he would decide undoubtedly with the Majority