In 1777, the territory laying west of the mountains was formed into the county of Washington.

These North Carolina frontiersmen were patriots. The same spirit of independence, which moved them to face the dangers of the wilderness, turned them also against British taxes. The Indians with whom they were contending for the land whereon they were building their homes were allies of the English.

The extension of the western boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia, in 1780, threw a large settlement that had hitherto considered itself to be on Virginia soil, into the domain of North Carolina. This territory was formed into a second new county and named for General Sullivan.

The militia was organized in Washington and Sullivan Counties, after the manner of the rest of North Carolina. Companies were formed from tall gaunt men with sharp eyes and steady fingers-bred to the rifle from childhood. But for them the fight was in both directions-English armies on the East, Indian bands on the West. Living with gun in hand they were always ready to answer the call to arms.

Ramsey, in his Annals of Tennessee, has preserved the names of a few of the men who were active in Captain William Bean's Company in 1779.

In the North Carolina Revolutionary Army Accounts, Vol. XI, page 18, folio 2, claims dated November, 1777, are found the following items paid to men who were living in the Watauga settlement.

"To Capt. James Holles for himself and company pay £67--£390,2,6."

"To Capt. George Russell, for pay for himself and company £77--£740,16."

P. 20, folio 2. "To Capt. James Robertson for himself and company's pay £91--£2066,5,6."

"To Col. John Carter for himself and regiment £312--£166,10."

P. 20, folio 4. "To Col. John Sevier for sundry persons, for cart and horse £331--£175,5."

Vol. VIII, page 70, folio 4:

Sept., 1777, Samuel Hanley, £11,17,6

Aug., 1777, Jashu Hinder, £11, 17, 6

June, 1777, Samuel Looney, £11,17,6

Aug., 1777, Thomas Hughs, £11,17,6

Aug., 1777, Peter Rasor, £11,15

Aug., 1777, Michael Border, £11,15

Aug., 1777, Philip Duttenger, £11,15

Oct., 1777, George Wampler, £23,6

Oct., 1777, John Fain, £15,4,3

Oct., 1777, Samuel Vance, £15,0,5

Oct., 1777, William Johnston, £6

Oct., 1777, John Gilliham, £14,17,6

Oct., 1777, Samuel Weir, £15

Oct., 1777, George Vaught, £12,13,9

Oct., 1777, Isaac Shelby, £14,14,4

Oct., 1777, Isaac Shelby, £9,4

Oct., 1777, Thomas Little, £3,0,15

The militia of the two western counties was very active up to the close of the Revolutionary War, and for sometime thereafter in Indian campaigns. The Watauga and Holston settlers carried on a continuous struggle with the Indians. At one time a great tribal confederacy was planned by the British, which design, if carried out, would have created a formidable obstruction to the west of the colonies, extending from Canada and Florida.

An expedition against the Chickamauga Indians, in April, 1779, led by Col. Evan Shelby and Lt. Col. Charles Robertson, destroyed this plan, and for the time being, checked the hostilities of the Indians. Five hundred men from Washington and Sullivan Counties took part in this campaign and overcame the Indians at the first Battle of Chickagamauga.

In the summer of 1780, a regiment of Watauga men commanded by Col. Charles Robertson did good service in the South Carolina campaign and participated in several battles.

On October 7, 1780, the memorable Battle of King's Mountain took place, and the part played by the "over-mountain" men in defeat of General Ferguson has been described by competent historians as the turning point in the Revolution.

Returning home from this great victory another excursion was made into the Cherokee Country under the leadership of Col. John Sevier.

A third expedition was ordered against the implacable Chickamaugas by the State of North Carolina, in the fall of 1782, and was commanded by General Joseph McDowell and Col. John Sevier. A thousand men raised in the western counties comprised the troops for this attack on the Indians who were growing increasingly hostile to the American as the result of the labors of British agents among them.

From the North Carolina Colonial and State Records, Vol. 16, page 450, the following extract from a letter of Governor Alexander Martin to the North Carolina delegates in Congress, dated New Bern, Nov. 2nd, 1782, is taken:

"The 20th ultimo near one thousand militia marched in two divisions, under command of Brigadier General McDowell and Col. Sevier, from Morgan District, against the Chickammogy and other hostile towns of the Cherokees. This expedition was absolutely necessary and was by the advice of the Council of State, ordered out."

The state of North Carolina began enacting legislation for the payment of her soldiers and the settling of war claims in 1780. In 1781, a board of Auditors was established for the settlement of public claims, and Anthony Bledsoe, a resident of Sullivan County, was named as one of the Auditors for Salisbury district to which Washington and Sullivan Counties them belonged.

At the same time an act was passed by General Assembly providing for the payment for military duty and other claims against the state for articles furnished and impressed. In April, 1782, an "Act for the Relief of Officers of the Continental Line," was passed, and at the same session an amendment to this act provided "that all claims now due and unsettled shall be liquidated in specie, by the district auditors under the same rules and regulations as prescribed by the before recited act." In section five of the same act the names of the auditors for the different districts of the state are given.

For Washington and Sullivan Counties--Anthony Bledsoe, Edmund Williams and Landon Carter are named.

In 1783, an Act authorizing the opening of a land office for the redemption of specie and other certificates was passed, and all soldiers holding specie or certificates were enabled to redeem them by taking land in exchange, at a rate fixed by the state.

John Armstrong was appointed entry taker, and the Land Office was opened at Hillsboro, in Orange County.

Soldiers from all over the stated entered land in North Carolina's vast western domain, but the list which follows is confined to those soldiers who were paid by Bledsoe, Carter and Williams, indicating that they were living during the time of their active service in the counties of Washington and Sullivan. These payments began June 12, 1782, and continued until August 15, 1783.

Many names appear more than once in the account books, as frequently a man had more than one claim against the state. Other repetitions indicate different individuals of the same name. The spelling of proper names depended on the Clerk's ear and education, so the same person will sometimes appear under a pleasing variety of surnames.