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Major Hugh Henry, Sr, left a dim trail in many places and time due to lack of data.
As we try to determine when he actually came into the current Sevier County area, we go back and find little bits of history and try to piece it altogether. He was in Greene County by late summer of 1780, as he mustered with Col. Bledsoe and fought at Kings Mountain in October 1780 and the Battle of Boyds Creek with then Col. John Sevier in December of the same year..
The site for his station is about 10 miles upstream on the French Broad River from where he sank his boat earlier in the year and about the same distance to the site of the Battle of Boyds Creek.. He chose a small hill with a perfect field of fire with water close by and the Indian Warpath only a short 800 feet away. Had he explored this area prior to applying for Cherokee land in 1779 or did he see this area while on the way to the Battle of Boyds Creek with Col. John Sevier ? We may never know. Major Henry got along well with the Cherokees as he built his station beside the Indian Warpath. The ancient Indian Warpath predates human as it was early animal trails made by buffalo, deer and other large animals.
Major Henry built a house sometime between 1780 and 1783. Court Records show that... (November 1783) ..”peace was momentarily interrupted by the conduct of James Hubbard, and a comrade no less wicked and reckless. They were shooting at a mark with two Indians. During the shooting one of the warriors was killed-- the other escaped and fled to the nation. It is believed that Hubbard had killed the Indian designedly, and that a border war would be the consequence. The settlers assembled together at Henry’s, near the mount of Dumplin, and there built a station.”
So, he already had a house and the settlers came in to build a station for their own safety.
The assembly of the State of Franklin authorized a treaty to be held with the Cherokee Indians, Governor Sevier, Alexander Outlaw and Daniel Kennedy were appointed commissioners. The treaty to be held at the house of Major Henry, near the mouth of Dumplin Creek, on the north bank of the French Broad River. The treaty was signed 6 May 1785 between the white men and the some 30 Cherokee Indian Chiefs. This treaty resulted in the legal settling of the white men south of the Holston and French Broad Rivers.
Major Hugh Henry certainly was a was a well respected pioneer and military officer. He died in 1838 and is buried on his own land not far from Henry Station.
The Station | The Cherokee | The History | The Family | Treaty of the Dumplin
