The life of Septima Sexta Middleton Rutledge spanned that period of American history from the close of the Revolution to the desolate finish of the War Between the States.

Septima Sexta Middleton and Henry Middleton Rutledge, first cousins and children of Arthur Middleton and Edward Rutledge (South Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence), were married on Septima's sixteenth birthday, October 15, 1799.

In 1816, they and their five children left the security of Charleston friends and family to establish a county seat on the Elk River in Franklin County, Tennessee....