BUNCOMBE COUNTY

A"" this time the Swannanoa River was recognized as the dividing line between Burke County on the north and Rutherford County on the south.

In 1785 Joseph McDowell, Jr., ran this dividing line, "Beginning at the west point of the line that formerly divided the above said counties, thence west to the Indian boundary as in the Act of Assembly of the seventeenth of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three," that is, to Pigeon River. It crossed Swannanoa River about half a mile above Biltmore. In 1788 this survey was adopted by the Legislature.

On October 5, 1784, Captain William Moore above mentioned caused to be surveyed a tract of land containing 450 acres on Hominy Creek three miles west of French Broad River, later known as the Captain Charles Moore Place, and recently owned by Dr. David M. Gudger. On August 7, 1787, he procured a grant fo*r this land lying on both sides of Hominy Creek. This was probably the first grant for land now in Buncombe County. The original grant is now owned by Mr. Owen Gudger, formerly postmaster of Asheville. When Captain Moore got his grant, as I learn from Mr. Gudger, he put on the land a negro named Jim and Jim's wife Sue on the southern side of the creek in a cabin; and there these negroes for many years sold food to travellers until Captain Moore himself removed to this land, where he resided and died and was buried.

From portions of Burke and Rutherford counties was subsequently formed the County of Buncombe, named for Col. Edward Buncombe, a North Carolina soldier of the Revolution.

In 1729 this territory would have been embraced in the County of Clarendon. At this time the County of New Hanover, with indefinite western boundaries which seem to have extended to the Pacific Ocean, then called the South Seas, was formed, and the name of Clarendon as a county disappears. From New Hanover County in 1738 was cut

off and erected the County of Bladen, whose western limits were left undefined. Again from the County of Bladen was formed in 1749 the County of Anson, still with undefined western limits. Here Buncombe's genealogy divides into two branches, to be united again in her own creation.

Autograph signature of Colonel Edward Buncombe for whom Buncombe County was named

That portion of her territory which was taken from Burke may be traced from this point as follows: In 1758 Rowan County was formed from a part of Anson County, and up to the beginning of the Revolutionary War continued in its entirety. In 1777 was formed from its western portion a new county called Burke.

That portion of Buncombe County which was taken from Rutherford may be traced as follows: In 1762 was formed from the western part of the County of Anson a new county called in honor of the new queen of England, Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, by the name of Mecklenburg County. In 1768 the western part of Mecklenburg County was erected into a new county, and named in honor of North Carolina's notorious colonial governor, Tryon County, but during the struggle for independence the North Carolinians were but little disposed to honor the name of their former oppressor, and when in 1779 this county had become inconveniently large, it was formed into two new counties, and the name of Tryon dropped, and the eastern part called Lincoln, while the western portion received the name of Rutherford County, in honor of Gen. Griffith Rutherford.

In 1792, while David Vance from the upper Reems Creek settlement was a member of the Legislature from Burke County, and Col.

William Davidson, who lived on the south side of the Swannanoa, about two miles from Asheville, represented Rutherford County in the same body, the County of Buncombe was formed of the western portions of Burke and Rutherford counties, with its western borders fixed by the line of the territory which two or three years before North Carolina had ceded to the United States, and which was afterward created into the State of Tennessee.

In April, 1792, there was organized at the residence of Col. William Davidson, which stood on the south bank of the Swannanoa, about one-half mile above its mouth, at a place subsequently called the Gum Spring, the County of Buncombe, in accordance with the provisions of the act creating that county. At this place was transacted for one year the business of the County of Buncombe, until in April, 1793, the county seat was fixed where it has ever since remained.

Famous as Buncombe County deservedly is, she has acquired some notoriety that no place less merits. Her name has become synonymous with empty talk, a lucus a non lucendo. In the Sixteenth Congress of the United States the district of North Carolina which embraced Buncombe County was represented in the lower house by Felix Walker. The Missouri question was under discussion and the house, tired by speeches, wanted to come to a vote. At this time Mr. Walker secured the floor and was proceeding with his address, at best not very forceful or entertaining, when some impatient member whispered to him to sit down and let the vote be taken. This he refused to do, saying that he must "make a speech for Buncombe," that is, for his constituents; or, as others say, certain members rose and left the hall while he was speaking and when he saw them going, he turned to those who remained and told them that they might go too, if they wished, as he was "only speaking for Buncombe." The phrase was at once caught up and the vocabulary of the English language was enriched by the addition of a new term.

Felix Walker was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, on July 19, 1775, and began life as a merchant. His grandfather, John Walker, emigrated in 1720 from Derry, Ireland, to Delaware, where his father, also named John, was born. The younger Walker after

reaching manhood went to Virginia where he married and afterwards moved to North Carolina. In the last State he settled in Tryon, afterward Lincoln, County, on Seipe's Creek, but subsequently removed to Crowder's Creek, about four miles from Kings Mountain. He was a member of the first convention at Hillsboro in July, 1775, and also of the Provincial Congress which met there on August 21, 1775. After serving with the Americans throughout the Revolutionary War, he died in 1796. Felix Walker, his oldest son, went with Richard Henderson to Kentucky (then called Louisa), in 1775, on an expedition of which Daniel Boone was pilot. Here he was badly wounded by Indians, and owed his life to the attention of Colonel Boone. After his return he remained for a while at home and then went to the Watauga settlement, now in East Tennessee, where he became clerk of the first court in the new County of Washington. While holding this office he came to Mecklenburg County in North Carolina and joined the State troops and was made captain of a company placed at Nolli-chucky to guard the frontier against Indians. After this he returned to his duties as clerk. This office he filled for four years in all. Then he removed to Rutherford County, North Carolina, and was appointed clerk of the court in that county. He resided on Cane Creek. After this he was a member of the General Assembly of the State from that county in 1792, 1793, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 and 1806. In 1817 he was elected a member of the Fifteenth Congress of the United States, and was thereafter re-elcted to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses. He was succeeded in Congress in 1823 by Dr. Robert B. Vance, an uncle of the late Governor Z. B. Vance. Again in 1827 he was a candidate for Congress, but withdrew in favor of Samuel P. Carson, who defeated Vance and James Graham. Soon after leaving Congress Mr. Walker removed to Mississippi where he died in 1828. For a more extended but somewhat incorrect sketch of him see Wheeler's Reminiscences, page 408. This was a period of important events. In 1827 Vance and Carson again opposed each other for Congress. While speaking at Asheville, Vance referred to Carson's father in disparaging terms. For this Carson challenged him. They fought on the South Carolina line at Saluda Gap. Vance fell and died in a

few hours. Among the friends who accompanied Carson on this occasion was the celebrated Colonel David Crockett, who married a Miss Patton on Swannanoa, and was killed at the Alamo, fighting for Texas and her independence. After four terms in Congress, Carson went to Texas in 1835 and there became Secretary of State. He died at Little Rock, Arkansas, in November, 1840.

The site of Asheville was once within the borders of a vast and mighty Indian empire. In 1736 a German Jesuit named Christian Priber who had been an officer in the French army came to the Cherokee country and took up his abode among the Cherokees on Big Tellico River, now in Tennessee but then in North Carolina and still not more than a dozen miles beyond the North Carolina border. He was a man of profound and extensive learning, highly polished manners, consummate address, and profound sagacity. Although "adorned with every qualification that constitutes the gentleman," he exchanged his clothes with the head warriors of Tellico River and ate, drank, slept, danced, and painted himself with them and took one of their women for a wife. Already he was master of the Greek, Latin, German, French, Spanish, and English languages, and he soon became thoroughly acquainted with the language of the Cherokees. He set to work to persuade the Indians to form an empire which would be sufficiently powerful to drive the white men from America. The old Indian archi-magus was crowned emperor with much ceremony and the other chief men of that neighborhood were elevated to offices with high-sounding titles in the new empire, while Priber himself became principal secretary of state to his majesty the new emperor. The plan was to engage all the Southern tribes of Indians to become subjects of the empire. He encouraged the aboriginal vanity of the Cherokees by pointing out their superior numbers in having about six thousand warriors and their bravery and fame in war, and represented the English as a people, fraudulent, avaricious, encroaching, and inferior in numbers as well as in warlike spirit to the mighty Cherokees. Soon the British authorities at Charlestown, South Carolina, heard of what was going on upon Tellico and sent Colonel Fox to arrest Priber and bring him to Charles-town. Fox seized his man and made a speech to the Indians in ex-plantation of his action. Before he had concluded, one of the warriors

interrupted the speaker and told him that the man whom he wished to make prisoner was now a Cherokee and a great friend to their nation who had come a great way to benefit them and preserve their liberties and must not be interfered with, while Colonel Fox must leave the country. Fox departed under a passport of safe conduct from Priber himself, who also furnished to the British agent a bodyguard to conduct him in safety a considerable distance on the way to Charlestown. Meanwhile Priber proceeded in the execution of his plans of founding a vast red empire. He invited criminals of all classes to seek an asylum in his new government, and urged debtors, felons, servants, and negro slaves to escape and join him, promising them exemption from punishment for any crime or licentiousness, except murder and idleness, which they might commit. This went on for eight years until in 1744, when he started to Mobile and proceeded to within two days journey of that place. Having passed by land to the navigable part of Tallapoosa River he was spending the night at Tookabatcha, when some traders recognized him and forcibly carried him a prisoner to Frederica in Georgia. General Oglethorpe, then governor of Georgia, was amazed to find that this man dressed in deer-skins and moccasins was a man of much erudition, polish, and accomplishment. With Priber had been seized a bunch of his manuscripts, including a Cherokee dictionary which he had prepared for publication in Paris and his plan of the government for the new empire. He explained his plans freely, exhibited evidence that he might expect aid from France and another unnamed European country, and took his imprisonment with great coolness. When the difficulties of his enterprise were mentioned, he answered that by "proceeding properly, many of these evils might be avoided; and as to length of time, we have a succession of agents to take up the work as fast as others leave it. We never lose sight of a favorite point, nor are we bound by the strict rules of morality in the means, when the end we pursue is laudable. If we err, our general is to blame; and we have a merciful God to pardon us. Before the century is passed the Europeans will have a very small footing on this continent." A magazine, containing powder and shells, took fire near his prison and he was warned to escape. Instead, he lay flat on the floor. When the sentinels returned after the explosion, expecting to

find that he was dead, they observed him quietly seated reading a Greek book. When they reproached him for his rashness, he said that his experience had shown him that his was the best method to avoid danger. While thus a prisoner he became sick and soon died. Thus ended the great empire of the Cherokees in North Carolina and lands adjoining on the south.