That writer was his old friend, James Robertson.
In 1787, while Sevier was on the frontier of Greene County, defending it from Indians, the legal forces of North Carolina swooped down on his estate and took possession of his negroes.

It was Tipton who represented the law; and Tipton carried off the Governor's slaves to his own estate.
When Nolichucky Jack came home and found that his enemy had stripped him, he was in a towering rage.

With a body of his troops and one small cannon, he marched to Tipton's house and besieged it, threatening a bombardment.

He did not, however, fire into the dwelling, though he placed some shots about it and in the extreme corners.

This opera bouffe siege endured for several days, until Tipton was reinforced by some of his own clique.