[1] He was successful in his next attempt at running away and caught a boat to North Carolina, where he worked as a farm hand, and cut wood for 50 cents a cord.

[1] It was during this period, he bought up bounty certificates issued to veterans of the War of 1812, which authorized them "to settle on any unsurveyed or unappropriated public land.

He found Native Americans living on the land, so he set up a mercantile store in Waco, where he spent his time until he was 70, when he moved to his property in 1881.

They agreed to a contract keeping their estates separate,[3][6] but when the wife learned that her husband owned a considerable amount of land, she asked for a different division of their property.

[3] John Tarleton got to the hearings just in time to present his copy of their marriage contract, and the divorce was granted with no division of property.

[4][6] He also directed that his land in Knoxville be used to set up the John Tarleton Institute "for poor, worthy youths of good moral character.