for years after tipton's death, the leader was criticized by historians, most of whom held favorable views of his rival, sevier. sevier's early biographer, james b. gilmore, was particularly hostile toward tipton, and historian james phelan, in his 1888 "history of tennessee," describes tipton as a temperamental and jealous individual who "lacked intellectual force." later historians, among them theodore roosevelt ("winning of the west"), gave more nuanced accounts of the tipton-sevier feud.