Behind every great man is a Frontier

The “take over” of America Timeline

Official Government Explorer

Captain Joseph Rutherford Walker

Timeline

"Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted."-- Albert Einstein.

Espionage, counterintelligence, and covert action have been important tools of US political leaders since the founding of the Republic. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington and patriots such as Benjamin Franklin and John Jay directed a broad range of clandestine operations that helped the colonies win independence. They ran networks of agents and double agents, employed deceptions against the British army, launched sabotage operations and paramilitary raids, used codes and ciphers, and disseminated propaganda and disinformation to influence foreign governments. America's founders all agreed with General Washington that the "necessity of procuring good intelligence is apparent and need not be further urged upon Secrecy, Success depends in Most Enterprises and for want of it, they are generally defeated"

1054: Crab nebula exploded violently in the constellation Taurus.

The dates, July 4, 1054, and April 17, 1056, indicate that the "guest star" was visible to the naked eye for 653 days, at least from China. Yang Wei-Te, Chinese court astronomer/astrologer in those days, reports that in its first two months, the star was of yellow color.

 Ralph Robert Robbins of the University of Texas announced the discovery of additional records in pottery of the Mimbres Indians of New Mexico. The plate probably representing the supernova is e.g. shown on page 68 of Robert Garfinkle's book Star Hopping. As the author lines out, the art style of this plate was used only before 1100 A.D., and carbon-14 dating indicates that this plate was created between 1050 and 1070 AD, so that it is very probably the supernova is depicted, as a 23-rayed star.

1276: Anasazis Indians move from Mesa Verde.

1600: Samuel Rutherford born near Nisbet, Scotland.

1625: George Walker born in Wigtown, Scotland.

1651: Charles II Stuart crowned King of Scotland.

1712: John Walker, wife Katherine Rutherford and brother Alexander Walker move from Wigtown, Scotland to Newry Down, Ireland.

1718: James MacGregor led his group of settlers (including Alexander Walker) move to "Nutfield" New Hampshire.

1729 Summer: John Walker with his family and the children of Alexander sail to America.

1742: Samuel Walker served in the Colonial War under Captain John Buchanan.

1745 September 23rd: John Sevier born in Rockingham Co., VA.

1749: Augusta Academy founded.

1749: (Rene) Auguste Choteau born in New Orleans son of René Choteau and Marie Therése Cerre.

1752 November 4th: Under grand Master Daniel Campbell, George Washington initiated into the Masonic Lodge at Fredericksburg.

1754-63: French and Indian War; French colonies assisted by Native American Indians lost all positions in Canada to the British, while Spain gained Louisiana. Expelled French speaking population were sent to Louisiana creating the Cajon population. American colonies no longer needed British protection from the French, thus setting the stage for the American Revolution.

1754-63: Baron Johan De Kalb was sent to the American Colonies as a carefully disguised, secret agent to determine the attitude of the Colonies toward the British.

1754-1758: George Washington at 22 years old is commissioned Lt Colonel serving as a British officer in the Virginia Militia.

1756 January 29th: "Light Horse Harry" Henry Lee III born in Leesylvania, VA.

 He was the son of Major General Henry Lee II and later father of Robert E. Lee. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel by 1779 with a picked corps of dragoons (Partisans) (Lee's Legion) to serve the southern theatre of war working with the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion, the father of guerilla (Irregulars) warfare. The commander Harry Lee's personal body guard was Captain Samuel Walker, brother of Joseph Walker Sr.

1758 October 21st: Joseph Walker Sr. born in Rockbridge Co., VA. The people who settled in the valley of Virginia were mostly Presbyterians of Scottish decent coming from Northern Ireland. Many took the name “Scotch-Irish” to disassociate themselves from the poor & illiterate Irish Catholics.

1763 February 10^th: Treaty of Paris established the Mississippi River as the Western limit of British America, with Britain keeping Mobile and the French keeping New Orleans. Louisiana is secretly passed to Spain.

1764 February 15th: Maxent, Pierre Laclede, Auguste Chouteau Sr. establish St. Louis Missouri as an Indian Fur trading location.

1764 April 5^th: British tax on sugar and molasses; know as the American Revenue Act of 1764.

1765 March 22^nd: British Stamp Act required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, wills, pamphlets, dice, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp.

1767: British pass tax on glass, paper, lead, tea and paints in the American colonies. Money collected was used to pay the salaries of British colonial officials.

The use of writs of assistance (general warrants) was authorized, and admiralty courts were established at Halifax, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. These then perform the functions of federal courts, since the only other courts in America could be hamstrung by provincial legislatures. These courts could sit "without" juries drawn from the population; therefore it is hard to avoid the conclusion that they were a set up to any non paying American. Just like today!

1767 March 15^th: Andrew Jackson born in the Waxhaws area somewhere between North & South Carolina.

1769 August 2^nd: A party of Spanish explorers developing a trail between San Diego and San Francisco which became known as El Camino Real. A series of missions would be established along this trail. Led by Father Junipero Serra and Captain Gaspar de Portola, and with Fray Juan Crespi to record what they saw, the expedition of about 67 men entered what is now Los Angeles.

1770 March: Boston Massacre (5 people killed).

1772: The British paid their governors directly to preventing the colonies the ability to control them.

1773: British government passes the Tea Act giving the East India Company the right to export to the colonies without paying regular taxes.

1773 May: The governor of Massachusetts demanded that the people pay the taxes and duty on tea. Taxes had always left a sour taste in the mouths of American citizens. This was the beginning of a national hatred of the debt burden being placed on the population that did not create the burden.

1773 December 16^th: Boston Tea Party; was planned at the Green Dragon Tavern, a known Freemason headquarters.

1774: Quebec Act, Boston Port Bill, Alexander Mackenzie comes to America.

1774 to 1776: Major Samuel Houston and Captain Alexander Stuart; donate forty acres of land at Timber Ridge for Augusta Academy which is located in Mount Pleasant Virginia.

1775 May 10th: Silas Deane, Samuel Wyllys, Samuel Parsons and Ethan Allen plan and capture Ticonderoga.

1775 June 17th: Battle of Bunker Hill.

1775 June 29th: George Washington lodged in the home of Silas Deane.

1775 September: James Wilkinson commissioned Captain under Colonel Benedict Arnold.

1775 September 18^th: Congress established the Secret Committee of Correspondence to procure, pay for, and distribute arms, powder, cannons, clothing and other war needs. The first contract was placed with the Willing and Morris firm, which as historian William Graham Sumner observed, “seems to have first given them a reputation for seeking their own profit in the public necessity.”

1776: Robert Morris appointed head of the Secret Committee of Trade.

By the wars end the American people were loaded with a $25 million war debt to which Morris proposed a land tax, a poll tax, an excise tax and a house tax to help generate revenue for paying debts, but the states wouldn’t agree. Congress appointed Morris to be Superintendent of Finance of the United States in 1781. Three days after becoming Superintendent of Finance Morris proposed the establishment of a national bank. This led to the creation of the first financial institution chartered by the United States, the Bank of North America, in 1782. Morris insisted that Congress allow him to continue his profitable private endeavors while serving in a related public office. By 1795 Robert Morris owned over 6 million acres of land including the western half of New York, 2 million acres in Georgia and 1 million each in Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina.  

1776 March: Silas Deane ordered to France by the Committee of Secret Correspondence as a secret political and financial agent.

Robert Morris's ethics are summed up by this message to his partner, Silas Deane; "It seems to me the opportunities of improving our Fortunes ought not to be lost, especially as the very means of doing it will contribute to the service of our country at the same time."

1776 March 4th: Padre Francisco Garces led by Mohaves, followed prehistoric trail from Tucson Arizona to San Gabriel California.

1776: Arthur Lee the brother of Richard Henry Lee was made a secret agent of the committee in London and later Spain and France. Congress named Arthur, along with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, as Commissioners to the court of Versailles.

1776 May 13th: The trustees, fired by patriotism, change the name Augusta Academy to Liberty Hall Academy. In the fall, William Graham advertises the new college-level program in Williamsburg's Virginia Gazette:

 "An academy, to be distinguished by the name of Liberty Hall, is now established, for the liberal education of youth on Timber Ridge, in Augusta county, where all the most important branches of literature, necessary to prepare young gentlemen for the study of law, physic, and theology, may be taught to good advantage, upon the most approved plan."

1776 November: Baron Johann De Kalb introduces Lafayette to Silas Deane.

1776 December 7th: Lafayette signs secret agreement with Silas Deane.

1776 -1777: Dominguez-Escalante Expedition for a route from Santa Fe to Monterey, traveling New Mexico, Colorado, Utah & Arizona but not California.

1777 April 26th: Using a disguise, Lafayette secretly leaves from “Passages” Spain.

1777 June 14th: Lafayette and De Kalb arrive in America.

1777 November: Washington County N.C. created, later included present State of Tennessee.

1777 November-1781 March: General James Wilkinson appointed Secretary, on the Board of War under Horatio Gates. During the war, he was a participant in the Conway conspiracy to replace George Washington with Horatio Gates as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

1777 November 15th: Articles of Confederation ratified March 1, 1781.

1777 December: Irish born Thomas Conway was one of the French Army officers Silas Deane sent to America. General Gates and Conway plotted to displace George Washington of his command but were cut short by informer James Wilkinson.

1778 February 6th: “Treaty of Alliance” signed between France and the United States.

1778 February 7th: Daniel Boone captured at Blue Lick.

1778 February 24th: Britain declares war on France.

1778 May 27th: George Rogers Clark establishes Louisville Kentucky.

1778 July 5th: George Rogers Clark, Joseph Bowman and 30 Virginia Rangers take Cahokia Illinois and establish Fort Bowman.

1778 July 10th: Louis XVI declares war on Britain in revenge.

1779 January: Lafayette return to France to gain more support.

1779 June: Spain as an ally to France enters the American Revolution providing covert aid and supplies to the colonies but does not recognize the independence of the United States.

1779: North Carolina carved Sullivan County out of Washington County. Survey commissioners were John Sevier, Isaac Shelby & John Chisholm. Chisholm’s associate was Stockley Donelson, the brother of Rachel Donelson future wife of Andrew Jackson.

1780 March: Lafayette delivers a secret message to George Washington from King Louis that 6000 troops under Count de Rochambeau will soon arrive.

1780 March 26th: Rev. Isaac Anderson was born in Rockbridge county, Va. Having prepared himself for the ministry, he was licensed to preach the gospel by Union Presbytery, in May, 1802, and in the Autumn following was installed pastor of Washington Church, Knox County, Tenn. Here he labored for about nine years, during which time he also performed much missionary service, which was attended with signal success. In the Spring of 1811 he was called to the New Providence Church, Maryville, took charge of it the next autumn, and there performed the principal part of the labors of his life. The Southwest Theological Seminary, at Maryville, was established chiefly through his instrumentality, and for many years enjoyed the benefit of his labors as a teacher. He died, January 28th, 1857.

1780 May 26th: British & Indian forces attack St. Louis and simultaneous attack Ft Bowman at Cahokia, against George Rogers Clark, Maj. Bowman & Capt John Rogers.

1780 August 18th: Baron Johann De Kalb died.

1780 October 7th: Battle of King’s Mountain, Colonel John Sevier, Colonel Isaac Shelby and Colonel William Campbell defeat Major Patrick Ferguson. Robert Young Sr., grandfather of Ewing Young is claimed to have shot Ferguson first. 

1781 January 17th: Battle of Cowpens an overwhelming victory by American revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. 

1781 March 15th: Battle of Guilford Court House.

1781 March: Liberty Hall (now in Lexington) students take part in the battle of Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina with militias from Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, including “Lee’s Legion”.

1781 April 10th: British dragoons attack Waxhaw Church.

1781 April 15th: Lt Colonel Henry Lee & Captain Samuel Walker join forces with Colonel Francis Marion & capture the British garrison at Ft  Watson. 1500 men under Major General Nathanael Green camp at near Camden (South Carolina), a key British base and site of a British victory.

1781 April 25th: Battle of Hobkirk Hill, Prisoner exchange between Colonel Francis Lord Rawdon and Captain Walker included 14 year old Andrew Jackson and his brother.

1781 September: Colonel John Sevier & his “Mountain Men” support General Nathan Greene & Francis Marion. Best success attended the American partisan operations directed by Greene and conducted by Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, Andrew Pickens, Henry Lee and William Washington.

1781 September 4th: El Pueblo de "Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de la Porciúncula", Los Angeles established, with a population of less than 100 souls.

1781 Sept-Oct: Battle of Yorktown.

1781 December: Robert Morris, who financed the Revolutionary War created the “Bank of North America” and was appointed the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. The government now being $25 million in debt.

1782 January: Lafayette delivers documents from Congress to the King of France.

1782 November: William Graham petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for an Act of Incorporation, which was, in everything but name, a college charter. On December 28, it was signed into law. The incorporation authorized the institution to confer degrees and appoint professors, and constituted the first formal recognition that Liberty Hall Academy offered a college-level education. A close relationship developed with the Presbyterian Church.

1782: Trustees of Liberty Hall, Mulberry Hill near Lexington:

Joseph Walker, William Alexander, Alexander Campbell, Colonel Arthur Campbell, Rev. Edward Crawford, Samuel Doak, Benjamin Erwin, Major John Hays, John Lyle, James McConnell, James McCorkle, Rev. John Montgomery, General Andrew Moore, Rev. Archibald Scott, Archibald Stuart, John Trimble, James Trotter, Caleb Wallace, John Wilson, Rev. William Wilson, Rev. Samuel Carrick (1784-1791),  who was replaced by Rev. Samuel Houston (1791-1826).

1783 April: The State of North Carolina created Greene County in honor of General Nathan Greene; included in the 1783 tax list is Joseph Walker.

1783 May 13th: George Washington creates the “Society of Cincinnati” in New York, for U.S. officers who had served three years in the Continental Army. 2150 officers joined.

1783 June19th: The Society of Cincinnati adopted the Bald Eagle as its insignia at the suggestion of Major Pierre L’Enfant of the Corp of Engineers, who later laid out the Capital.

1783 November: Treaty of Paris.

1783 December 23rd: George Washington resigns as commander in chief.

1784 May 31st: In a letter from Elijah Robertson to William Blount, solicited help for Blount in selecting "located lands." William Blount, in a letter to John Donelson, Joseph Martin, and John Sevier, urged the securing of the lands at the Great Bend of the Tennessee, but the letter continued with advice to open warrant claim bids as low as an eighth of a dollar an acre. The men also were told to create fictional names, in order to get as much land as possible. All these lands thus claimed were later transferred to Blount. The design was, as Blount said, "to get as much land as possible."Usually, surveyors working for Blount decided what were the best ways to do that. Appointments for Blount's friends were forthcoming; Stockley Donelson became the surveyor for what is now East Tennessee, while John Donelson (the son) got a similar appointment in the Cumberland area.

1784 June-1788: State of Franklin (East Tennessee) governor John Sevier.

Rev. Samuel Houston attempted to write the state constitution.

1785 September: The first commencement ceremony is held at Liberty Hall for twelve graduates who earned the Bachelor of Arts degree. The Commonwealth of Virginia presents General George Washington with a gift of 100 shares of stock in the new James River Company, of which he endorsed over to Liberty Hall in Lexington.

1785 November 28th: Treaty of Hopewell first Cherokee treaty in South Carolina William Blount & Benjamin Hawkins.

1786: James White appointed U.S. Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Southern Department.

1786: Founding of White's fort.

1786: The Tammany Society formed for the working class Scot-Irish.

1786 May 9th: Auguste P. Chouteau born at St Louis, Missouri.

1787: Mother state of North Carolina orders a road cut into East Tennessee. Captain John Walker lived between Fort Southwest Point and Avery Trace.

1787 June: James Wilkinson gets involved in trading goods down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans.

1787 June: "Old Bill" Williams born in North Carolina.

1787 August 8th: James Wilkinson secretly becomes a double agent with Spain. With his partner, Isaac Dunn they contract with Daniel C. Clark  gaining a monopoly on American trade in New Orleans.

1787: Colonel George Morgan received land grant from Spanish minister Don Diego de Gardoqui that would become New Madrid, Missouri.

1789-1799: French Revolution in France.

1789 February 4th: George Washington elected President of U.S.

1789 April 30th: Robert Livingston, Grand Master of New York’s Grand Lodge of Freemasons, administers the oath of office to George Washington.

1789 July 22nd: 31 year old Joseph Walker Sr. marries 19 year old Susan Willis in Goochland County, Virginia.

1789 December 14th: Hugh Lawson White married Elizabeth Moore Carrick, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Carrick by his first wife Elizabeth Moore.

1790: Stockley Donelson issued land grant #74 of 5000 acres from North Carolina.  As a surveyor, Donelson had been encouraged to locate lands, not with "haste, but advantage. "Stockley Donelson had helped issue warrants for 97,000 acres for the Blounts.

In 1796, Stockley sold the 5,000 acre-grant and a 1,200-acre adjoining tract to Charles McClung of Knox County. The Donelson 5,000-acre grant then became known as the "McClung Survey." Charles McClung was also rich and powerful. He married Margaret, the daughter of General James White, the founder of Knoxville. Margaret's brother, Hugh Lawson White, was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. McClung obviously had help along the same lines as Stockley Donelson.   

1790 February: Lucy Walker born to Joseph Walker Sr. and Susan Willis who have only been married for 7 months. (Hum!)

1790 May 25th: Creation of Southwest Territory (south of the Ohio River). President George Washington appointed William Blount as territorial governor, and Rocky Mount Tennessee was its first capital city Loyalty to Blount in turn helped several aspiring lawyers including John McNairy, Archibald Roane, Andrew Jackson and John Overton.

1790-1796: William Blount governor of Southwest territory (Tennessee) who commissioned John Sevier & John Chisholm Justice of the Peace of Washington County. Stockley Donelson appointed Lt. Colonel of Militia.

1790 August 11^th: President Washington expresses his concern about 500 families that have settled on Cherokee land between French Broad & Holstein River.

1790 September 21^st: James Wilkinson bankruptcy precipitates his return to the Army. Daniel C. Clark (the elder) terminates his relationship with Wilkinson.

1791-1793: Lt. William Clark serving under General James Wilkinson gathering intelligence.

1791 July 2^nd: Treaty of Holston Cherokee cede the land effectively Knox County to the Federal government.

William Blount appointed governor & Superintendent of Indian Affairs. His secretaries were Hugh Lawson White & Willie Blount. Estevan Miro displaced by Baron Hector de Carondelet as Governor of Louisiana renewing the cat and mouse game over control of the Cherokees. He continued the Spanish Conspiracy with double agent James Wilkinson.

1791: William Blount, governor of the Southwest Territory, chose White's Fort as the capital of the territory and renamed it Knoxville in honor of Secretary of War Henry Knox.

1791: Captain John Rogers Cooper born.

1792: Rev. Samuel Carrick opens "Blount College" (the town's first school) in Knox County Tennessee.

1792: Blockhouse being built on the Clinch River.  On August 13, 1792 Lt. McClellan, with thirty seven of Captain Evan's Company was attacked on the Cumberland road near Crab Orchard by about one hundred Indians. After twice repelling the warriors he was compelled to retreat with a loss of four men killed.

1792 April 21^st: Secretary of War Henry Knox appoints James Wilkinson a Brigadier General.

1792 May: Frenchman Pedro Vial rides the Santa Fe Trail to St Louis.

1792 June: Knox County created from Greene & Hawkins Counties. Colonel Charles McClung surveys the town of Knoxville.

1792 June 1^st: Kentucky Statehood.

1793: Louis XVI executed, Spain declares war on France.

1793 March 2^nd: General Sam Houston born near Lexington, Virginia.

1793 May: Alexander Mackenzie Scottish born became the first white person to reach the Pacific by crossing overland.

1793 September 18^th: The Grand Lodge of Maryland presides over the laying of the corner stone of the Capital & White House.

JAO = Jahovah, BUL = Baal, ON = Osiris.

1793 November 30^th: Blockhouse completed near South West Point by General John Sevier. Captain John McClellan was placed in command of the fort. Soldiers stationed at South West Point:
Colonel John McClellan, Captain Samuel Walker, Daniel Hitchcock, Dr. Thomas J. Van Dyke, William Flennigan, Captain Abraham McClellan, Stephen Renfro, Abraham Byrd, Paul Cunningham and Lt Carrick 4th Reg. U. S. Cavalry, age 19 died and buried at Post Oak Springs.

25y John McClellan married 19y Mary Wallace daughter of William Wallace, sister of Colonel Matthew Wallace who married Mary Houston the sister of 1y General Sam Houston.

Brother: 17y Abraham McClellan married 2y Jane P. Walker (daughter of 35y Joseph Sr. & future sister of Joseph R. Walker).

Brother: 14y William L. McClellan married Elizabeth Sevier the daughter of General Sevier.

Sister: 26y Anna “Annis” McClellan married 33y Rev. Samuel Carrick.

"Annis" McClellan was the daughter of 53y William McClellan & 52y Barbara Walker, the sister of 35y Joseph Sr. & Aunt of Joseph R. Walker. 

42y Captain Samuel Walker (brother of Joseph Sr.) married 25y Susan McDonald.            

1796 June 1^st: Southwest Territory becomes the State of Tennessee, John Sevier governor, William Blount Senator. Sevier appoints William Claiborne to the Supreme court.

1796: Andrew Jackson claimed that during some of his work with land grants in Tennessee, he had discovered violations of the law in John Armstrong's land office. Jackson sent his findings to the Governor of North Carolina, Samuel B. Ashe. A long, secret investigation led to the implication of James Glasgow, secretary of state for twenty years, along with other respected members of the General Assembly. These included William Blount, John Gray Blount, and Thomas Blount, as well as William Tyrell, John Sevier, and Stockley Donelson.

1796: Stockley Donelson sold his 5,000 acre-grant and a 1,200-acre adjoining tract to Charles McClung of Knox County. The Donelson 5,000-acre grant then became known as the "McClung Survey."

1796: George Washington giving Liberty Hall an endowment gift of the 100 shares of canal stock, valued at between $25,000 and $50,000 -- at that time the largest gift ever made to a private educational institution in America. The principle remains in the present endowment. The trustees express their gratitude to Washington by changing the name of the school to Washington Academy.

 Following the death of Robert E. Lee, who was its highly influential president after the Civil War until his death in 1870, the school was unanimously renamed to the current Washington and Lee University.

1797: General James Wilkinson becomes the Commander in Chief of the Army.

1798: Aaron Burr gains control of the Tammany Society in New York.

1798: Moses Austin creates new lead mines south of St Louis in Missouri.

1798 February 9^th: Abel Stearns born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. *Mason*

1798 May 17^th: Nathaniel Pryor (Lewis & Clark) married Margaret Patton.

1798 December 13^th: Joseph Rutherford Walker born in Knox County Tennessee. On account by James Toomey Walker states his uncle was actually born in Virginia. Brother Joel P. Walker states his parents moved to Knoxville in 1802.

1798 December: Chief Washakie was thought to be born at this time in Montana. On his death in February 1900 he would have been 102 years old.

1798-1800: An undeclared navel war with France. Capture of 84 armed French ships.

1799: Creation of town of Kingston with John Brown as Sheriff. One county military company under the command of Captain John Walker. BROWNS--Thomas, John, and William. Thomas Brown was the quartermaster for the garrison at the fort, and a politician of considerable reputation. He served several terms in the Legislature. Gen. John Brown was the owner of a large tract of land, including the present site of Rockwood, and for twenty-three years was the sheriff of the county. William Brown became a lawyer and removed to Knoxville.

1799 December 14^th: George Washington dies.

1800 October 1^st: Napoleon secretly obtains Louisiana from Spain via the Treaty of Ildefonso in exchange for the Kingdom of Etruria (Tuscany, Italy) for the son-in-law of Charles IV. In 1808 Napoleon took back the kingdom & and gave it to his sister.

1801 May 25: William Claiborne appointed governor of the Mississippi Territory at the age of 26.  

1801 June 1st: Brigham Young born.

1801 November 6th: Roane County formed from Knox County. Named after Judge Archibald Roane, governor from 1801-1803.

Among the earliest settlers of Roane County were: Captain Samuel Walker who had commanded the Light Horse Harry Lee bodyguard and Justice of the peace Abraham McClellan. Colonel John McClellan and Joseph Taylor were appointed commissioners to run and mark the line between the counties of Knox and Roane.

1802 March 16th: West Point opened; Lt Alexander Macomb one of the first officers.

1802: The Society of the Cincinnati in Virginia, present Washington academy with a substantial accumulated fund.

1802: Manuel Lisa open trading post in Osage country.

1802 May 18th: Britain declares war on France. Port of New Orleans closed to American shipping.

1802: 16 year old A. P. Chouteau returns from France.

1802 September 2^nd: Thomas Oliver Larkin born.

1803 January 18^th: Thomas Jefferson sends a secret letter to Congress.

1803 April: Louisiana Purchase from France, Napoleon feared that Louisiana might fall into British hands.

1803 November 30^th: Pierre Clement de Laussat; Napoleon’s Commissioner accepts possession of Louisiana from Spain.

1803 December 20th: General James Wilkinson takes position of Louisiana from Commissioner Laussat. William Claiborne appointed Territorial Governor.

1803-06: Lewis and Clark, Corp of Discovery. Nathaniel Pryor & his cousin Charles Floyd Jr. were of the first to volunteer.

1804 February 11^th: Pompy Charboneau, son of Sacagawea born.

1804 March 17^th: James Bridger born.

1804 March 26^th: Meriwether Lewis staying at the house of Pierre Chouteau Sr.

1804 May: President Thomas Jefferson Appoints A. P. Chouteau to West Point and his father Pierre Chouteau Sr. as U.S. Indian agent and Auguste Chouteau Sr. as territorial justice.

1804 July: Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.

1805: Mormon Joseph Smith born.

1805 July 30^th: General James Wilkinson appointed U.S. Military Governor of Louisiana Purchase, assisting William Claiborne.

1805 September to 1806 April: Zebulon Pike and 20 men journeyed from St Louis to the source of the Mississippi on a reconnaissance of the British fur trade.

1806: A. P. Chouteau graduates from West Point with the rank of ensign, and served as aide to General James Wilkinson.

1805 May: Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel.

1806 July: Zebulon Pike & James Wilkinson Jr. and 24 men were ordered to the South-West to gather intelligence against Spain and use disguises if necessary.

1806: Aaron Burr Conspiracy. Wilkinson exposed Burr’s plot to invade Mexico.

1806 September: Major Sam Houston dies suddenly at Dennis Callighan’s Tavern 40 miles west of Timber Ridge Virginia while on military inspections.

1807: Manuel Lisa builds Fort Raymond Lisa at the mouth of the Bighorn, Montana.

1807: Lewis & Clark member, John Colter joins Manuel Lisa and his Missouri Fur Company. Colter becomes first white man to see Yellow Stone Lake and Jackson’s Hole in WY called Colter’s Hell.

1807 April: Zebulon Pike in Chihuahua meets with a Lt Walker an American from New Orleans of an English father and French mother. Lt Walker had been employed by Andrew Ellicotts a deputy surveyor on the Florida line from 1797 to 1798.

1807: A. P. Chouteau and Nathaniel Pryor up the Missouri River & unsuccessful attempt to escort Mandan Chief Shahaka home.

1807: William Clark U.S. Indian Agent & Militia commander for Louisiana Territory.

1807: Meriwether Lewis replaces James Wilkinson as Governor of Louisiana Territory. Lewis was frequently at odds with General Wilkinson and even his own Lt. Governor, Frederick Bates (former territorial Judge of Michigan).

1808: Fort Osage built. George Chaplin Sibley appointed Indian agent by Thomas Jefferson.

1808: John Jacob Astor organized the American Fur Company.

1808 January 13th: 18 year old Lucy Walker marries Ambrose Toomey.

1809: Fort Mandan built and Chief Shahaka returned to his tribe.

1809: John Colter runs from the Blackfoot Indians in the “human hunt” game.

1809: In the presents of Meriwether Lewis = Benjamin Wilkinson, A. P. Chouteau Jr., Pierre Chouteau Sr., William Clark, Reuben Lewis, Manuel Lisa, Silvestre Labadie, and Pierre Menard, William Morrison and Andrew Henry, Dennis Fitzhugh; form the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company.

 (Benjamin Wilkinson was the brother of General James Wilkinson; Labadie was a brother-in-law to Chouteau’s father; Reuben Lewis was brother to Meriwether Lewis.) (Funding thought to be provided by the U.S. government.)

1809-1811: Thomas Hart Benton Tennessee Senator.

1809: President James Madison sends Joel R. Poinsett as a “Special Agent” to South America to investigate revolutionist freedom from Spain.

1809 October 9^th: Meriwether Lewis having discovered certain secrets about James Wilkinson was murdered on route to Washington, near Hohenwald, Tennessee. Lewis aware of Wilkinson’s involvement in the treacherous Aaron Burr plot over the Louisiana Territory also caused him to fear being painted with the same brush.

1809 December 24^th: Christopher Carson born in Madison County, Kentucky. This was also the hometown of Colonel Benjamin Cooper, William Wolfskill and Mathew Kinkead.

1810: Andrew Henry & Manuel Lisa build fort on Clark’s fork of Snake River.

1810 June 23^rd: John Jacob Astor registered the Pacific Fur Company with partners McKay, McKenzie and McDougall.

1810 July: Astor expedition to the West coast led by Wilson Price Hunt.

1810 September: Astor sends his ships Tonquin & Beaver to build Fort Astoria.

1811: Most severe winter, Red River rose 50 feet and 8 miles wide.

1811 January 15^th: Secret session in Congress to war on Spain and annex Florida.

1811: John James Abert graduates from West Point & served the War office.

1811: John Jacob Astor purchased the Mackinaw Company & hires Alexander McKay.

1811: Jean Baptiste Champlain (MFC) expedition from Yellowstone to Santa Fe, only 4 of 23 arrive. Also another one led by Manuel Lisa and a third one for Wilson Price Hunt led by Charbonneau and Sacagawea.

1811 December 16^th: New Madrid, Missouri earthquake.

1812: Robert Stuart discovers the Oregon South Pass but was required by Astor to keep it secret.

1812 April 4^th: Louisiana Statehood, U.S. mobilizing for War.

1812 May: Sam Houston opens school in Maryville, Tennessee.

1812 June 4^th: Louisiana Territory renamed Missouri Territory.

1812 June 18^th: War with Great Britain and Canada. John Jacob Astor underwrites the war in hopes of gaining their Fur trade.

1812: Bill Williams volunteered as a scout for the Mounted Rangers.

1812: Colonel Benjamin Cooper builds Fort Cooper at Boone’s Lick Missouri. 10 year old Jacob Gregg arrives with family.

1812 August 16^th: Shawnee war Chief Tecumseh is at Fort Detroit.

1812 December 20^th: Sacagawea dies at Fort Manuel Lisa.

1812 December – 1813 April: Colonel Thomas H. Benton commander of 2^nd regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Infantry under Andrew Jackson expedition to Natchez. Colonel John Coffee, commander of Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry married Rachel Jackson’s niece, Mary Donelson.

1813 January 7^th – March: Andrew Jackson leads troops to Natchez.

1813 February: Creek civil war between upper town “Red Sticks” and lower town Creeks & Cherokee.

1813 March 3^rd: Topographical engineers authorized for duty by War department.

1813 March: Sam Houston enlists in regular Army.

1813 April: Donald McTavish brings first European woman Jane Barnes to Oregon.

1813 July 27^th: Battle of Burnt Corn (80 miles north of Pensacola. US Army soldiers from Fort Mims ambush Peter McQueen and his “Red Stick” Creek Indians.

1813 August 11^th: General William Clark becomes guardian of “Pompy” Tousant (10y) & Lizette (1y) Charbonneau.

1813 August 30^th: Peter McQueen & William Weatherford with a force of Creek “Red Sticks” attack Fort Mims.

1813 September 4^th: Andrew Jackson shot by Jesse and Thomas Hart Benton.

1813 September 14^th: Governor Willie Blount calls on Colonel Andrew Jackson & General William Cocke to lead Tennessee troops against the Creeks.

1813 October 5^th: Chief Tecumseh killed.

1813 November 3^rd: Andrew Jackson victory at Tallushatchee & adopts Indian baby boy Lyncoya.

1813 November 9^th: Andrew Jackson victory at Talladega.

1813 December 31^st: Sam Houston along with the 39^th US Army Infantry under Colonel John Williams (Fort Williams) marched to Andrew Jackson.

1814 January: Joseph R. Walker, Joel P. Walker, Samuel K. Walker, & Audley P. Walker volunteer for duty to support General Andrew Jackson under command of Captain James McKamy (McKamey) Company, Colonel John Brown’s Regiment; General John Coffee’s Brigade. 2nd Regiment Mounted Gunmen East Tennessee Volunteer Militia.

This was the second regiment that Colonel Brown commanded during the war. With just over 200 volunteers in the unit, they were used primarily as guards for the supply wagons traveling through Creek territory. As part of Doherty's brigade, they were put under the command of General John Coffee at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (27 March 1814) where they participated in the fighting. Their line of march took them from East Tennessee through Lookout Mountain, Fort Strother, Fort Williams, and Fort Jackson. Colonel Brown was the sheriff of Roane County at the start of the war.

1814 January 14^th: Bannock Indians destroy Astor’s Boise River trading post.

1814 January 22^nd – 24^th: Emuchfaw & Enotachopco engagements. Major A. Donaldson killed.

1814 March 27^th: Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama. Included were Lt. Jesse Bean and his company of Mounted Spies, Sam Houston, Davey Crockett, Joseph R. Walker and Joel P. Walker.

The loss of the Americans was thirty-two killed and ninety-nine wounded. The friendly Cherokees had eighteen killed and thirty-six wounded. The Tory Creeks had five killed and eleven wounded. Among the slain were Major Lemuel Purnell Montgomery and Lieutenants Moulton and Somerville, who fell in the charge upon the brea st-works. (55 killed) Most of the bodies were sunk into the river except Major Montgomery who was cashed in a hidden grave until later recovered.

1814 April: Great Britain defeats Napoleon.

1814 April 2^nd: Andrew Jackson arrives at Fort Williams to re-supply, leave the wounded and march to Hickory Ground (Holy Ground).

1814 April 17^th: Andrew Jackson arrives at French Fort Toulouse.

The battle of the Horse-Shoe had nearly put an end to the war, and the dispirited Red Sticks made but few efforts to rally. Many came in and surrendered (including Chief William Weatherford), while the larger portion escaped towards Florida. The old French trenches were cleaned out, and an American stockade with block-houses was erected upon the site, which received the name of Fort Jackson.

1814 April 20^th: General Pickney arriving at Fort Jackson, and being the senior officer of the Southern US Army, assumed the command and approved of all the acts of Jackson.

April 21^st: Learning that the Indians were generally submitting, General Pickney ordered the West Tennessee troops to march home. Two hours after the order was issued they were in motion. Arriving at Camp Blount, near Fayetteville, Jackson discharged them, after gratifying them with a feeling address. He then repaired to the Hermitage, from which he had been absent eighteen months, in a hostile land, and, a portion of the time, almost alone. Pinckney remained at Fort Jackson with the troops from the two Carolinas and those from East Tennessee. Four hundred of General Dougherty's brigade of East Tennesseans (Including the Walkers); were stationed at Fort Williams.

1814 May 14^th: Andrew Jackson & wounded Sam Houston return to Tennessee. Most likely so did the Walker brothers as Joel was said to be wounded too.

1814 May 28^th: Andrew Jackson commissioned a major General in the US Army; Generals Hamilton & Harrison having resigned.

1814 June 1^st: Joel P. Walker honorably discharged.

1814 July 1^st: British at Pensacola re-supply Red Stick fugitives.

1814 July 10^th: Major General Andrew Jackson travels from Hermitage to Fort Jackson to assume command of the Southern Army.

1814 August 9^th: Treaty of Fort Jackson.

1814 August 24^th: Canadian Army burn the US Capital and President Madison’s house (White House).

1814 August 29^th: British Colonel Nichol arrives in Pensacola and takes Fort Barancas & Fort St. Marks & headquarters at the Spanish Governors house.

1814 September: Andrew Jackson occupies Mobile Point & garrisons Fort Bowyer. British attack fails turning them to New Orleans.

1814 October 16^th: Astoria’s sell all their interest in the Oregon Territory.

1814 November 7^th: General Andrew Jackson defeats the Spanish battery in Florida & captures Pensacola, expulsion of British.

1814 November 22^nd: Major John James Abert assigned as Topographical Engineer.

1814 November 22^nd: Andrew Jackson leaves Pensacola and heads for New Orleans.

1814: Scottish born British sailor John Gilroy Cameron arrives in Monterey California.

1814 December-1815 January 5^th: Battle of New Orleans. Capt. Nathaniel Pryor.

1815 June: Topographical Engineers disbanded except those officers retained by the President and the War department.

1815: Benjamin Bonneville graduates from West Point.

1815: Manuel Lisa appointed Indian Agent of tribes on Missouri above the Kansas.

1815: Captain A. P. Chouteau & Jules de Munn enter the fur trade and arrested & jailed in Santa Fe.

1815: Jake Hawken opens his gunmaking shop in St. Louis.

1815 April 6^th: Andrew Jackson leaves New Orleans for Nashville.

1815 April 15^th: Mount Tambora in Java erupted, killing about 92,000 people.

1816 January 23^rd: Howard County organized (effective March 1, 1816) from St. Charles and St. Louis counties and named for Benjamin Howard, governor of the Missouri Territory.

1816 April 29^th: Topogs Major Kearny, Stephen H. Long and Wilson, reinstated and assigned to Andrew Jackson.

1816 May 2^nd: By act of Congress Topogs Major Abert, Anderson, & Roberdeau, reinstated and assigned to Jacob Brown.

1816: Only licensed Americans allowed to trade south of Lake Superior.

1817: Jean Lafitte establishes the settlement of Campeche, Texas on Galveston Island. James Long failed to recruit him to wrestle Texas from Mexico.

1817 August 2^nd: First steamboat to navigate the Mississippi “Zebulon M. Pike” reaches St. Louis.

1817 April: Major Stephen H. Long ordered north. He also works on Fort Smith Arkansas. The same year that Fort Smith was established, two Americans, Robert M. French and Samuel M. Rutherford established a trading post on the Verdigris River.

1817 June: Construction of Jacksons Military Road to the gulf.

1817 August 12^th: Lawyers Colonel Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas (son of Judge John B.C. Lucas) dual on Bloody Island, near St. Louis where Lucas is killed.

1817 September: Treaty with Cherokee by Major General Andrew Jackson, General David Meriwether and Jesse Franklin.

1817 November: Seminole War.

1817 December 25^th: Fort Smith established in Arkansas. In 1824 relocated to Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma.

1817 December: Jim Kirker reaches St. Louis works for John McKnight and Thomas Brady.

1818 January 8^th: Speaker of the US House of Representatives presented the first petition to Congress from Missouri requesting statehood. 10,000 slaves in Missouri

1818 March 15^th: Andrew Jackson invades Florida.

1818 April 16^th: Joel P. Walker with Andrew Jackson in Florida fighting Seminole Indians.

1818 May: Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola and Fort Barrancas.

1818 June 6^th:  Six men and twenty women organized the Bethel PRESBYTERIAN Church of Roane County.

The Rev. Isaac Anderson was present and ordained John Purris, Ruling Elder. John Walker, Samuel Walker, Abraham McClellan were ordained as Elders. The following were charter members: John Purris, John Walker, Samuel Walker, Abraham McClellan, Roger Barton, George Manifold, Mary Manifold, Mrs. Margaret (Paul) Walker, Jane Walker, Susan Walker, Sarah Purris, Jane Toomey, Jane McKamey, Worthey Bailey, Mrs. Margaret Barton, Ruth Pride, Margaret McKamey, Eliza McClellan, Eliza McCuen, Betsy Walker, Jane Brown, Mary Small, Ann Tucker, Jane Tucker, Fannie Tucker, Mrs. Stephenson, David Patton, John McEwan, Thos. N. Clark, Walter King, William C. McKamey, Trustees.

The following baptised persons not in full communion: Audley P. Walker, James C. Walker, Samuel R. Walker, Margaret L. Walker. Elizabeth M. Walker, James B. Walker, Catherine O. Walker, Barbara M. Walker, John Blackburn Walker, Nancy R. Aberthnot Walker, John McClellan, Ruth A. McClellan, Catherine B. McClellan, Sarah H. Manifold, Mary B. Manifold, Zachariah J. Walker, John M. Walker, Theopheles Walker, Elizabeth Walker, Mary Walker, Michael Toomey, William R. McClellan, Mary Ann McClellan.

1818 August: Topographical Bureau established.

1818: Colonel Benjamin Cooper led pioneers to Boone’s Lick, Missouri.

1818: Joseph R. Walker and David Meriwether arrive in Missouri. David Meriwether was nephew to General David Meriwether commissioner to Creek Indians and other tribes with Andrew Jackson.

1818 September 4^th: from the St. Louis Enquirer an interesting statement of the objects of the “Yellowstone” expedition. A battalion of the Rifle regiment, three hundred strong, embarked at Belle Fontaine, to ascend the Missouri to the mouth of the Yellowstone to establish a post there (Fort Atkinson). This advance force was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Talbot Chambers. The three captains were Martin, Merger and Riley.

1818 October 26^th: Joel P. Walker issued warrant by Roane County to appear in court for a $50. debt.

1818 November 18^th: President Monroe, in his message to congress, said: "With a view to the security of our inland frontiers it has been thought expedient to establish strong posts at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River, and at the Mandan village on the Missouri.

1818 December 2^nd: Thomas S. Jesup reports to Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun that a contract with James Johnson for two steamboats to navigate the Missouri charge with munitions of War and detachments and their baggage.

1819 February 22^nd: Florida Treaty to gain Florida but lose claim to Texas. (Adams-Onis)

1819: A banking conspiracy in the over issuing of paper money (as high as 65%) within the Central bank of the United States (Second Bank of the US) causing the “Panic of 1819”. A nationwide depression of unemployment, banks failed; mortgages foreclosed, bankruptcies, agricultural price drops.

1819 May: