The people of the two places were not grouped together; they did not even have a common name.

The three clusters of Holston, Cumberland, and Kentucky settlements developed independently of one another, and though their founders were in each case of the same kind, they were at first only knit one to another by a lax bond of comradeship.
In 1776 the Watauga pioneers probably numbered some six hundred souls in all.

Having at last found out the State in which they lived, they petitioned North Carolina to be annexed thereto as a district or county.
The older settlements had evidently been jealous of them, for they found it necessary to deny that they were, as had been asserted, "a lawless mob"; it may be remarked that the Transylvanian colonists had been obliged to come out with a similar statement.

In their petition they christened their country "Washington District," in honor of the great chief whose name already stood first in the hearts of all Americans.

The document was written by Sevier.