Samuel Wear (1753–April 3, 1817) was an American War of Independence soldier who fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain. He was one of the founders of the "Lost State of Franklin", and a drafter of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee. Early life Samuel Wear was born in Augusta County, Virginia in 1753. He and his first wife, Mary Thompson, had four children. Frontier life During the War for Independence, Wear and his family settled in the Overmountain town of Henderson Springs, then in Washington County (and later Greene County). Wear fought with the Overmountain Men in the Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780. During the area's estrangement from North Carolina, Wear's house was the headquarters for the local Sevier County militia, loyal to Franklin president, John Sevier. Wear served as a state constitutional delegate and was the first county clerk of Sevier County under the State of Franklin, 1786–1787. Wear kept the county clerk position through the several local, regional, and federal governmental changes that followed, and still held the position when the area received statehood in 1796. In February 1788, Wear, fighting alongside Sevier against Tipton's forces, took part in the siege of Tipton's abode (at the so called "Battle of Franklin"). Indian relations In 1782, Wear established a stockade, which was called "Wears Fort," at the entrance to a cove situated in present day Pigeon Forge, at the confluence of Walden Creek and the Little Pigeon River (what is now Pigeon Forge City Park). This is along the Cherokee footpath known as the "Indian Gap Trail," which passed through the valley en route to its junction with the Great Indian Warpath. Wear's fort was erected to protect the early settlers in that vicinity from Indian attacks; but its location along the trail made it a popular target for small bands of Cherokee warriors. In 1786, Wear was one of the emissaries to the Cherokee who negotiated the Treaty of Coyatee, re-affirming the 1785 Treaty of Dumplin (which Dragging Canoe's Chickamauga faction had refused to recognize). The new treaty extended the area for white settlement almost as far south as the Little Tennessee River, along which the main "Overhill Cherokee" towns were located. After the conclusion of hostilities with Great Britain, however, continuing encroachment into lands the Cherokee believed to be theirs—by treaty with the Federal government—caused escalating violence in the area, especially south of