The Great Grant Deed, also known as The Great Grant, was a transaction for the sale of property by the Cherokee Nation to Richard Henderson and Company. The grant is also known as the Louisa purchase or the Transylvania purchase. The transaction occurred at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River on March 17, 1775. The Great Grant was for lands forming Henderson's new Transylvania ColonyRamsey page 117 comprising much of what is now the state of Kentucky. The Great Grant was one of five property transactions made near present-day Elizabethton Tennessee at the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River, collectively known as The Watauga Treaties. The Path Grant Deed was for lands in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia required by Henderson and company to permit free passage into Kentucky. The Charles Robertson Grant Deed for Watauga settlement lands and two Jacob Brown Grant Deeds For Nolichucky settlement lands clarified ownership of existing settlements in what is now East Tennessee.Henderson chap 14
Together these property sales from the Cherokee to the American settlers allowed the westward expansion of the American colonies beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The path beginning in East Tennessee into Kentucky was blazed by Daniel Boone for Richard Henderson and is known as the Wilderness Road.
The parties to the transaction
The Buyers The buyers of the lands were Richard Henderson and Company operating as the Transylvania company. Judge Henderson wanted to open the country for settlement.Henderson (1), page 224 The company was initially organized as the Louisa Company in Hillsboro North Carolina on August 27, 1774.Louisa Partnership Articles Later, the name was changed to the Transylvania Company in January 1775.HalLmark, Transylvania Partnership Articles The Transylvania Company was in essence a real estate syndicate. The nine members of the syndicate investing their private funds in the venture are listed several times in the Path Grant deed and similarly in the Great Grant deed that served as the template. Those individuals are Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathanial Hart, William Johnson, James Hogg, John Lutterell, John Williams, David Hart and Leonard Henley Bullock.Ramsey page 117Henderson & Co Covenants page 1 All were prominent North Carolina property owners. These men are the partners noted in the Henderson & Co Covenants.
In late summer 1774 at the urging of Daniel Boone that the time was right, Judge Richard Henderson, accompanied by Daniel Boone and Colonel Nathaniel Hart and guided by the experienced Indian-trader, Thomas Price, visited the Cherokee chieftains at the Otari towns.Ramsey Page 117Henderson (1), page 218 The purpose of the visit was to begin negotiations on behalf of the Louisa Company for vast lands in what is now Kentucky.
As a result of this meeting, the Cherokee Chief Attacullaculla, a young man and a woman made the journey to Cross Creek, Fayetteville North Carolina to view the goods offered as consideration for the sale. The goods met the approval of the Cherokee representatives. The woman was said to be especially pleased with the goods presented.Henderson (1) page 218Jefferson Papers page 10 img 766
The Sellers
The identities of the Great Grant sellers, three Cherokee Chiefs acting for and on behalf of the Cherokee nation and also signatories to the Path Grant deed were Alla Cullocullah (aka Attacullaculla ), Oconistoto, and Savanooko, being the representatives appointed by the warriors and other head men on behalf of the whole nation.
The names of the various Cherokee chiefs Attacullaculla, Oconistoto and Savanooko are frequently noted as being present at the treaty and as signatories to the deeds.Jefferson Papers page 10 Img 766 There are numerous references indicating other Cherokee in attendance including Dragging Canoe, Chenosta of the middle Cherokee towns, and twelve hundred others.Jefferson Papers page 10 Img 766Jefferson Papers page 7 img 763Henderson (1)page 224 The Cherokee had traveled some 150 miles from their Overhill towns to Ft Watauga in great numbers to individually receive a portion of the goods provided in consideration for the sale of the lands.
It was testified that there was good order during the three weeks the Cherokee were encamped at Ft Watauga.Jefferson Papers, page 11 Img 767 There was for instance an absence of drunkenness and misbehavior. The Cherokee assembled were satisfied with the quality and amount of the goods and merchandise received as consideration.
Dissention
During the negotiations, Dragging Canoe, a Cherokee warrior and son of Attacullaculla, warned that the land in question might be problematic. He gave an impassioned speech to those assembled. He knew the lands did not actually belong to the Cherokee and any sale of them might be contested.Skinner.
Within a few days, Henderson learned of opposition to his efforts. On April 7, 1775, within three weeks of the treaty's signing, he was on the trail when he learned of attacks by Indians which resulted in the deaths of settlers headed to Kentucky.Hallmark page 6 Dragging Canoe had been correct. On May 9, 1775, Henderson noted in his journal an encounter with Captain Harrod, who had already established his company on the Salt River, well with in the boundaries of the Great Grant.Hallmark page 12
Many others, including both Indians and various politicians, also expressed opposition to the treaty.Henderson (2) page 8,10
The Legality of The Transaction
The transaction was not considered to be legal In modern parlance, The Henderson and Co purchase of the Great Grant lands from the Cherokee Nation may be considered a double scam. Patrick Henry described the transaction as a scheme.Jefferson Papers Page 9, Img 765 John Adams similarly called it a scheme after receiving James Hogg and his proposal for having the Continental Congress accept Transylvania as the fourteenth colony.Henderson A Page 11 Hogg was elected as delegate to the Continental Congress from the unrecognized Transylvania Colony.
The Transylvania colony and the land it claimed were nullified by the Virginia House of delegates by the Resolution of November 4, 1778. The problem was that Henderson had no legal basis for the purchase. To the contrary, his actions were illegal and in violation of the Royal Decree of 1763 prohibiting precisely such actions.StarlingRamsey, page 71 Further, the Virginia Charter claimed all the lands within the boundaries to the Mississippi river. Richard Henderson's fictional Transylvania colony, the sovereign entity created to treat with the sovereign Cherokee nation, was thwarted by the powerful politicians of the Virginia Commonwealth.Henderson (1) page 202 Such notables as George Washington, Sam Adams and Thomas Jefferson weighed in on the matter Henderson (3) page 11
Henderson believed to the contrary. He made studies of similar property transactions to develop structure and precedent for Henderson and Co. Henderson went to (sent to) England and obtained legal advice from Lord Mansfield, the great English jurist and future Lord Chancellor, that purchase of lands in American Colonies was not really different than purchasing land in East India and did not require permission of the crown Henderson: The Significance of the Transylvania Company, page 12
The sellers right to sell On the other side of the transaction, there were also some problems. Foremost of the problems was that the Cherokee Nation said to be represented by Attacullaculla, Oconistoto and Savaninoko did not actually own all of the land it was selling. At very best, the Cherokee Nation ownership of the land between the Kentucky River and the Cumberland River was based on the claim of the old Chief Attacullaculla. The claim made in the deed said to have been read and understood by the signatory Chiefs and other Cherokee present indicated aboriginal ownership since the beginning of time.Jefferson Papers: Deposition of Thomas Price, page 12 . That was just not true. The title of any of the lands within the Great Grant was far from certain and the topic of several depositions made before the Virginia convention investigating the matter.Thomas Jefferson Papers page 10, 12(766, 768)
"Though Claimed by many, Kentucky was by common consent not inhabited by any of the tribes"Skinner page 132
The Cherokee Chief Chenosta from the Middle Cherokee Towns told Thomas Price that so far as he knew, the Cherokee had no claim on the lands north of the Cumberland River and took no part in the signing of the deeds.Jefferson Papers page 12 (768)
Some believe that a primary reason for the Henderson & Co transaction with the Cherokee was that the northernmost Cherokee towns were a scant 50 or so miles from the Cumberland Gap and commanded the route of the Wilderness Road. That is, the Cherokee were in effect bought off to protect the route into Kentucky.Skinner, Constance Lindsey,
The lands included in the Path Grant were different. Those lands were to the south of the Cumberland River and Cumberland Mountain. In his speech where Dragging Canoe referred to a "dark cloud over the bloody Ground" he was making certain reference to the fact that there were other Indians in those lands between the rivers that would fight and die to keep them.Henderson (1) page 277Skinner, Constance Lindsey chap VII
Within one month, "Indians" made several attacks on various parties bound for Kentucky and killed at least four of the whites, two of which were scalped.Henderson (1) page225Skinner page 134,157 Although the Cherokee title to all the lands in the deed might not have ever been completely resolved, the Virginia commission claimed the lands and that ended the matter.Hallmark page 6
Virginia and North Carolina Nullified the Great Grant 1777
Action by Virginia Although aware of the pending treaty in January 1775, Virginia Governor Dunsmore ( Lord Dunsmore) actually learned of the Great Grant transaction within four days of the signing. Thus began a series of events resulting in hearings before the Virginia Convention wherein many individuals were deposed to learn what transpired.Jefferson papers The final determination was that Section 14 of the Declaration of Rights required territorial integrity under the Virginia Constitution. The territory west of the line from the mouth of the Great Kanawa to the point on the Holston River 6 miles upstream from the Long Island of the Holston was Virginia territory. Virginia did not recognize the Transylvania Colony TransylvaniaTreasureHenderson Chapter 14 The nullification was by a Virginia act in December 1778Starling Page 18-19
Action by North Carolina
North Carolina Governor Martin issued a proclamation of opposition in February 1775 in opposition.Henderson (1) page277 Subsequently, in accord with Virginia and the voices of the Watauga settlers demanding clarification of the boundaries, North Carolina nullified the Transylvania Colony and asserted sovereignty over the western territory. That western territory was declared to be the Washington district and included all of what is now Tennessee. This action formally transpired in November 1777.Henderson (1) page277 The involvement of North Carolina in the Great Grant dealings was not nearly so significant as that of Virginia. The lands in question were those where the Cumberland River dipped south of the stated North Carolina/Virginia boundary of 36° 30' that had never actually been surveyed. A survey was needed and Richard Henderson became one of six commissioners to run the line in 1779.Henderson (1) page 277
Restitution to Henderson & Co.: The Green River tract
The Virginia Convention having nullified the Great Grant and thus the Transylvania Colony recognized that Richard Henderson & Co. had in fact made a positive effort and some recompense was in order. The Convention then made a grant of some 200,000 acres to the company.