ROBERTSON, James, American pioneer: b. Brunswick. County, Va., 28 June 1742'; d. UlidlaIBW' region, Tenn., 1 Sept. 1814. In 17W he accompanied Daniel Boone. (q.v.) on the latter's third exploration, and stopping at Watauga (now Elisabcthton, Tenn.), planted corn. In 1770 he returned thither with• a band of North Carolinian settlers. The settlement soon numbered some 200. Both North Caro line and Virginia' asserted 'jurisdiction over it but neither colony offered protection; and it was left am•independent outpost- of civilizationi With John Sevier, Robertson became the. head of the 'communities which 'gathered about the hbolatea:and Watauga. •In 17771 he was coin. =monied agent of North Carolina among the Cherokees, and during his residence of more than a year thwarted the British agent and kept at peace the great body of Cherokees and Creeks. With a party of settlers he set out in 1779 for the French Lick of the Cumber land, and on 25 December made the beginnings of a town on the site of Nashville, then 15 days' journey from the westernmost white con fines. A fort built, a military organization was
made, with Robertson as colonel. Troubles in creased. Provisions were low, and the Indians hostile. He detached the Chickasaws and Choc taws from their English alliance and concluded a treaty with the Cherokees. He also defended the settlement against the Creeks, who were abetted by the Spanish authorities of Louisiana; and refused to organize a separate state in alliance with Spain. In 1790 Robertson was commissioned United States brigadier-general, and latterly he was government Indian agent. He was well fitted for his frontier career, and especially successful in his dealings with the savages. His favorite saying, "Man proposes, but God disposes;) he always insisted was somewhere in the Book of Job. Consult the 'Life) by Putnam (1859); Gilmore, Rear Guard of the Revolution) (1886), and HarPWs Magazine, February 1888, pp. 4-426.