James Robertson

James Robertson (?-1784), killed by Indians. He belonged to the Robinson family at the Station Creek settlement, which was the family of William Robinson, who lived at or near Station Camp. Perhaps the same person as the Nelson Robinson remembered in family tradition. (Justin Durand, 2016).

According to story:

"It will be remembered that people had to live in close settlements and build forts for protection against the Indians. They were often shot down if caught outside their forts. One instance I will relate. In the Station Creek settlement there lived a family by the name of Robinson. One morning soon their horses had strayed away from the fort. One young man of the family (James Robinson) went in search of the horses. He was going through a large cane brake, near where the city of Arthur now stands. At a large spring he was shot by the Indians. He ran nearly a half mile and fell and expired in a few minutes. He was buried at the place he died and his grave is, to this day, marked, it being more than one hundred and twenty years ago. The spring has ever since been called Butcher Spring." (Carr, 1894)

A monument to his memory was erected by Daniel Boone Post 125 (American Legion) in 1926:

"James Robertson was a pioneer who, according to the best historical data, lived in an old block house on Indian Creek near Gibson Station. He was originally from the Wautauga Settlement and of the same Robertson family as was the historic James Robertson who settled in the locality of Nashville. This man whose name has been honored by the Legion Post was a fearless pioneer who took part of the settlement of the line between Virginia and Tennessee and it is claimed that it was at the Robertson home that the Commission met which finally decided the line between the two states. Robertson, in 1784, was out hunting stray horses when he stopped at the old Butcher's Spring near Arthur and there was shot by an Indian. Crawling along across the hill he died where the monument has been erected and there was buried. A rough slab was placed at his head and a stone over his grave, but a century of weathering had about obliterated the name." (Mountain Herald, 1926)

The two accounts place the Robertson family in different locations. During the 1780s and 1790s, fortified buildings ("stations") were erected as protection from Indian raids. The earlier account says they lived at the Station Creek settlement. The later account says they lived on Indian Creek near Gibson Station, Gibson Station is in lower Lee County, about four miles east of Cumberland Gap and eight miles northeast of Arthur, Tennessee. The Robertson family lived at Station Camp. The claim that the commission met at the Robertson home confirms that this the right family. This is the claim made for the home of William Robinson, of Station Camp. Part of the confusion is that the location of Station Camp was unknown until it was re-discovered through the research of Lawrence Fleenor in 2001. However, there is no conflict with the action of the story taking place from Gibson Station, which would be a more likely location. (Justin Swanström, 2016).

A tourism site says:

"A mile west is the grave of one James Robertson, killed by Indians in 1784 at Butcher's Spring, near Arthur. He was hunting horses strayed from camp on the Wilderness Road near Cumberland Gap. It is one of the few identified burial spots for pioneers killed on this road from 1775 to 1795." (Pioneer's Grave, U.S. 25E & Hwy 63, TN , USA, Tennessee. TN State Historical Marker).

A more likely origin for the name Butcher Spring is from Joseph Boucher, an early settler in the area.

Sources

• Carr, Robert P. "Short History of Claiborne County." 1894. Goodspeed's History of Claiborne County. 1887.(http://www.joepayne.org/goodspeed.html).
• Fleenor, Lawrence J., Jr. "Station Camp, Trading Creek, & Wagon Road Tunnel." (http://www.bigstonegappublishing.com/STATION%20CAMP.pdf : 2001).
• Hamilton, Emory L. "Frontier Forts of Southwest Virginia." Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, Number 4, 1968, pp. 1-26. ([http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/other/forts.html).
• "In the Memory of James Robertson." The Mountain Herald, Lincoln Memorial University. Vol. 29, no. 1 (Jan. 1926), p.11. (http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/ref/collection/Lincoln/id/2).
• Swanström, Justin. Research Notes. 2016.