The Walton War

Carol Greenberger

In today’s Transylvania County in North Carolina lies a twelve mile “orphan strip” of land that caused a war between North Carolina and Georgia in 1810. The Walton War holds an obscure but fascinating place in history.

The disputed area was originally Cherokee land until it was claimed by the state of South Carolina. In 1787 South Carolina ceded the land to the United States, subject to the Indian right of occupancy. In a treaty signed in 1798 the Cherokee Indians ceded the land back to the United States. In the eastern corner of this territory was a settlement of about 50 white families who had lived in the area with the permission of the Cherokee. When the treaty with the Cherokee was ratified, the settlers became occupants of the public domain of the United States, not within the jurisdiction of any state. In 1800 the settlers petitioned Congress to re-cede the property of South Carolina so they would have the protection of the laws of a state. The Congressional committee recommended that the land be given back to South Carolina and assumed that it would be readily accepted. South Carolina however wanted no part of this territory that was well known for lawlessness and entered an objection to the recommendation. Congress then dropped the matter and when the boundaries of these states were finally adjusted, the 12-mile tract wound up in the borders of North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Georgia considered the land their own. In 1802 the United States and the state of Georgia made an agreement to resolve the Yazoo Land Scandal, a massive fraud committed by several Georgia governors and the state legislature that sold land to insiders at extremely low prices. The 1802 Act of Cession gave Georgia responsibility for the orphan strip but did not make clear whether the land actually belonged to Georgia or North Carolina.

The orphan strip, in the upper French Broad River valley, was part of the old Cherokee Middle and Lower Town region. This area had been bypassed by settlers and government since America’s independence. It became a refuge for outlaws and woodland Cherokee and was generally lawless. North Carolina showed little interest in attempting to govern the area from 1802 to 1810.

Georgia disputed the boundary line that placed the land in North Carolina, and in 1803 created a county in this area named Walton County. There is no record of any protest by North Carolina when Georgia established Walton County. It is assumed that they knew about it but did not care. However, North Carolina still claimed the land as their own and South Carolina joined the fray, arguing that the land had been theirs before being ceded to the United States and should be given back to them. Georgia governed their new county from 1803 to 1811. Two elections were held and John Nicholson was the first representative from the county to the Georgia legislature. John Aiken followed Nicholson. Both these family names are common in today’s Transylvania County. Under Georgia’s reign conditions in the orphan strip improved, but the area still remained turbulent and crime ridden.

At the heart of the land dispute was the location of the 35th degree north line of latitude. The line was originally incorrectly located in a survey that placed it at the mouth of the Little River—20 miles north of its actual location. Around 1805 North Carolina officials concluded that the 35th parallel had not been located properly and that the disputed area was, and always had been, part of North Carolina. They reasoned that since South Carolina had never been the true owner of the area, they had no right to cede it to the United States; therefore the United States had no right to cede it to Georgia. They declared all past transactions null and void and claimed the land as belonging to North Carolina.

In 1806 Georgia demanded that Congress appoint a commission to investigate the matter and officially mark the boundary between the two states. The commission produced a report that only contained the history of the strip as already known and gave Georgia title to Walton County without any mention of the mislocation of the 35th parallel.

North Carolina refused to be bound by the commission’s mistaken findings and began to exercise governmental functions in the area. Georgia officials protested and the dissention created an even greater level of turmoil and disorder in the area. The situation became intolerable and in December of 1806 the governor of Georgia wrote to the governor of North Carolina and proposed that the two states appoint a commission to settle the dispute by determining the true location of the 35th parallel and plainly marking the dividing line between the states. North Carolina’s governor agreed and a commission made up of representatives from both states was appointed.

The commission met in 1807 and proceeded to survey the area. They agreed that the parallel had been mislocated and established the correct location. The Georgians were “astonished and mortified” and agreed that they had no claim to the disputed area. (In fact the location the commission agreed upon was also incorrect, although the line picked remains the border.) Both the Georgia and North Carolina commissioners agreed to recommend to their respective legislatures that the survey be accepted and that amnesty be granted for all who had committed crimes in the disputed territory during the time of dissention. In December of 1807 North Carolina’s legislature passed an act adopting the new location of the boundary and amnesty for all offenses committed within the territory. Georgia’s legislature however, refused to relinquish claim to the area. The Commission’s report was rejected and Georgia continued to run the government in Walton County.

The controversy was referred to the United States Congress again, but nothing was done. In 1810 Georgia asked Congress for the third time to settle the dispute. Congress appointed a special committee to investigate the matter but no action was taken.

In December of 1810 North Carolina decided the time had come to lay claim to the area and put an end to the matter. The state militia was dispatched to remove and replace the Georgia government. When Georgia refused to acquiesce, a battle at McGaha Branch (near present day Brevard) was fought. Twenty-five prisoners were taken by North Carolina to Morgantown, the nearest town with a jail. The Georgians who escaped capture or death retreated to the Cathey’s Creek area and a second firefight broke out at Selica Hill with North Carolina proving victorious again. It seems likely that the prisoners taken into custody were outlaws who had taken refuge in the area, but nonetheless, North Carolina had established civil authority in the region.

Still dissatisfied, Georgia hired Andrew Ellicott in 1811 to survey the border between Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Ellicott was one of the paramount surveyors in the history of the United States. A multi-talented man, Ellicott also was a scientist, philosopher, inventor, teacher, soldier, astronomer, author and legislator. In question in the still smoldering dispute between Georgia and North Carolina was the exact location of the 35th degree of north latitude. Ellicott followed the Savannah River north, up the Tugaloo River and then the Chattooga River until he determined by astronomical observations where the true line lay. He marked a rock in the east bank of the Chattooga, now known as Ellicott’s Rock. Ellicott’s survey determined that Georgia had been claiming territory eighteen miles too far north. The legislative commission was unhappy with Ellicott’s findings and refused to pay him. However, Georgia’s governor finally accepted the verdict and said “it appears that no part of the territory heretofore claimed by this state remains in Georgia.”

The orphan strip became part of Henderson County in 1838 and then part of Jackson County in 1851. In 1861 Transylvania County was formed from parts of Henderson and Jackson Counties, and that is where the orphan strip is today. When the present boundary line between Georgia and North Carolina was established, it was placed further west. Today’s Georgia – North Carolina boundary does not touch Transylvania County, where Georgia’s Walton County once existed.

The issue was actually revived in 1971 when Georgia named a legislative commission that claimed the fixed boundary between Georgia and North Carolina was a mile south of the 35th parallel. North Carolina’s legislature proposed a resolution authorizing the governor to call out the state militia to “protect, defend and hold inviolate the territorial border of North Carolina against the spurious claims by the State of Georgia.” Both Georgia and North Carolina’s proposals died in committees.

People tracing their family roots from this area have remarked on puzzling records that show ancestors living in South Carolina, then Georgia and North Carolina, as though they moved frequently. Census reports would list a person stating one year that their mother was born in Georgia, only to claim North Carolina or South Carolina on the next census. This is probably in fact due to the changing statehood of the orphan strip. Once a part of South Carolina, then Georgia and finally North Carolina, the orphan strip’s history was part of a young nation’s growing pains.