The War in the Northwest 385 



settlements must be treated together, or else their 

 real place in our history will be totally misunder- 

 stood. 32 



The two towns of Abingdon and Jonesboro, re- 

 spectively north and south of the line, were the 

 centres of activity. In Jonesboro the log court- 

 house, with its clapboard roof, was abandoned, and 

 in its place a twenty-four-foot-square building of 

 hewn logs was put up; it had a shingled roof and 

 plank floors,, and contained a justice's bench, a 

 lawyers' and clerks' bar, and a sheriff's box to sit 

 in. The county of Washington was now further 

 subdivided, its southwest portion being erected into 

 the county of Greene, so that there were three coun- 

 ties of North Carolina west of the mountains. The 

 court of the new county consisted of several justices, 

 who appointed their own clerk, sheriff, attorney for 

 the State, entry-taker, surveyor, and registrar. 

 They appropriated money to pay for the use of the 

 log-house where they held sessions, laid a tax of a 

 shilling specie on every hundred pounds for the 

 purpose of erecting public buildings, laid out roads, 

 issued licenses to build mills, and bench warrants to ' 

 take suspected persons. 33 



32 Nothing gives a more fragmentary and twisted view of 

 our history than to treat it purely by States; this is the rea- 

 son that a State history is generally of so little importance 

 when taken by itself. On the other hand it is of course true 

 that the fundamental features in our history can only be 

 shown by giving proper prominence to the individual State 

 life. 



33 Ramsey, 277. The North Carolina Legislature, in 1783, 

 passed an act giving Henderson two hundred thousand acres, 

 VOL. VI. Q 



