USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 16
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The citizens of the Eighth District were much harassed during the closing days of the Civil War by marauders from Colonel Dorr's Eighth Iowa Cavalry, stationed at. Waverly. A troop from this regiment overtook and captured in the Epperson Hollow, after a sharp skirmish, a detachment of Kentuckians under command of Colonel Brewer. The Kentuckians were
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attempting to get through to the Southern army. At another time a troop from this regiment was made to double-quick half the length of Sugar Creek by the fire of one lone bushwhacker. Along the line of their retreat they dropped numerous chickens and other booty.
In 1869 and 1870 there was a reign of terror on Sugar Creek without parallel in the annals of the county. The originator of all the trouble was a man called "James Stevenson," who claimed to have come from Ellis County, Texas. On his arm, however, was tattooed the name "James Hooten," which was gen- erally thought to be his name. In 1869 he and Wyatt J. Chappell killed a negro, " Red Joe " Carothers. They took him from his home and shot him through the head with a rifle ball. "Red Joe's " offense was that he had accused Stevenson and others of having robbed him, a crime of which they were doubtless guilty. During this year Kinchen Batteau was shot down from ambush while plowing in a field near where Lee & Gould had their store when they operated their furnace on Sugar Creek. Bob Wilson, a non- resident, who had escaped from the jail at Centerville, and who was being harbored by parties on the creek, was suspected of this crime. Batteau, who had come to Sugar Creek from Kentucky, recovered from his wounds, and afterwards removed to West Tennessee. Previous to this was the killing of Cody near the juncture of the North and Middle Forks of Sugar Creek. He was killed from ambush by Chappell and
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Stevenson, against whom he had made threats on account of their having given him a counterfeit bill. At the time of his death, Cody carried a shotgun, the stock of which was riddled with bullets. Stevenson and Chappell fled to Kentucky, where they were later arrested by Stephen Reeves and Luke L. Bingham, of Sugar Creek. They were carried to Centerville and lodged in jail. Reeves went to Nashville to collect the reward offered by the Governor. After his re- turn he was arrested on complaint of Bingham, who claimed that Reeves had not turned over to him his portion of the reward. While this suit was pending, Reeves and Bingham met at a church on Sugar Creek and exchanged several shots. Neither was wounded. Reeves was sent to the penitentiary for three years, but was almost immediately pardoned by Governor Brownlow. He returned to Sugar Creek, but was waited upon by a vigilance committee and requested to move on, which he did. He went West and never returned. During Reeves' trial one of the prose- cuting attorneys, Col. N. N. Cox, made remarks which offended the prisoner, who promptly denounced the attorney as a liar. The attorney just as promptly struck him with a heavy book, and a few minutes later gracefully paid a fine for this act. In the meantime Wyatt Chappell and two other prisoners escaped from the jail at Centerville. Chappell made his way to Cairo, Ill., and no further attempt was made to appre- hend him. Stevenson did not escape from the Center- ville jail, on account of the smallness of the hole
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through which Chappell and the others escaped. He was removed for safe-keeping to the jail at Columbia, from which place he soon escaped. He, in company with a Maury County criminal named Hatchel, made his way to the mouth of Sugar Creek. He had hard- ly reached the neighborhood when he commenced to inake threats against prominent citizens. He carried none of these threats into execution, as he and Hatchel were slain by Walker Coleman, Milton Spence, and Hosea Chappell. They were buried without coffin or shroud in a hole made by the uprooting of a tree. The place of their burial is on the ridge between Sugar Creek and the Weatherspoon Hollow, near a dogwood tree which stands near the road in the head of a small hollow. This ended the reign of terror.
On Sugar Creek there now lives a grandson of the celebrated Indian fighter, Capt. John Rains, whose deeds have already been frequently mentioned in these pages. This is Jonathan Hans Rains, a son of Capt. John Rains' youngest son. In addition to the fre- quent mention of Captain Rains' exploits in the pre- ceding pages, the following additional information is given concerning him : In October, 1779, John Rains started to what is now Kentucky from New River, Va. When he reached Kentucky, he met the party led by James Robertson. This party was going from East Tennessee through Southern Kentucky to the French Lick on the Cumberland River, and Rains, who had with him his family and live stock, was per- suaded to join them. When they came to the Cum-
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berland on the side which is now East Nashville, they found the river frozen over. This was in Janu- ary, 1780, during the winter which is till this day referred to as "the cold winter." Rains and his party and their stock crossed the river on the ice. He was the first man to bring live stock into what is now Middle Tennessee. Rains settled on what has since been known as " Deaderick's Plantations." Here he remained for three months, when the killing of a set- tler caused him to seek safety in the fort at " The Bluffs." He remained here four years. Rains had a horse, Bowie, which his daughter, Patsv, was one day riding. The Indians fired upon her, killing Bet- sey Williams, who was riding behind her. The horse, however, carried Patsy Rains away in safety, leaping the stockade surrounding the fort. Rains soon be- came prominent among the settlers, who were all daring, by his cool bravery, and for years there was seldom a fight with the Indians at Nashville or in the surrounding country in which Rains was not a par- ticipant. When the handful of defenders of Buchan- an's Fort were surrounded by seven hundred howling Indians, Rains was among the first to enter the fort from the outside and give cheer and assistance to those within. There is scarcely a page of the early history of Tennessee on which the name of " Rains " does not appear in connection with some deed of daring. So great was his energy and persistency when in pursuit of the savages that they soon began to call him " Go- long " Rains. In Humphreys County there lives a
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brother of Jonathan H. Rains who is generally known as "Long " Rains. His real name is John Golong Rains, which perpetuates the name given by the In- dians to their unrelenting enemy, Capt. John " Go- long " Rains. As a hunter and woodsman, Captain Rains had few equals in the Cumberland settlements. It is said that during one winter he killed thirty-seven bears in the vicinity of Nashville.
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CHAPTER XII.
THE NINTH DISTRICT.
T HE Ninth District lies on both sides of Duck River, and includes the mouth of Beaverdam Creek and both sides of this creek up to the line of the Eleventh District. It is bounded on the north by the Seventh and Eighth Districts; east, by the First and Eleventh Districts ; south, by the Tenth and Eleventh Districts ; and west, by the Eighth District and Perry County:
In 1808 Richard C. Lowe, father of Jesse, Wyley, Aquilla, Anon, and Aden Lowe, located in that por- tion of the district which lies north of Duck River, and which is known as " Lowe's Bend." Lowe, for whom the bend was named, was a man of wealth and owned a number of slaves. He and his slaves were rebuilding his fence which had been thrown down by the earthquake of 1811, when a neighbor, Shumake, came up and remonstrated with them, saying that the Lord had destroyed the fence and that they should not attempt to rebuild it. Lowe answered that he did not intend that his hogs should get out and run wild, it mattered not who tore down the fence. He con- tinued to rebuild it. Jesse Lowe was a man of great strength, and was able to defend himself in the fistic arguments which frequently occurred in those days. He emigrated to Missouri, to which State his brother,
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Wyley, went at a later date. Other members of the family sleep near where their father's remains were interred and near the place where they were born.
Perhaps the first to locate in Lowe's Bend was - Sellars, who settled in the upper end of the bend, at the place which has for years been known as the " Lo- max place." The house which Sellars built here in 1808 is still standing. It is a log house, twenty by twenty-four feet in size. It stands on a hill, at the foot of which is a fine spring. It was well suited for the .purposes for which it was built, it having been built for a residence, and also for a blockhouse into which the settlers could go for protection, should the Indians come across the river to attack them.
Just opposite the lower end of Lowe's Bend the Indians had a camp on Skull Creek, so called by the pioneers on account of the finding there of a human skull. Duck River alone separated the approaching whites from the Indians, who looked with jealousy and hatred upon their encroachments. On Skull Creek John Scott, who lived at the mouth of Taylor's Creek, erected an overshot mill in 1825. This mill was patronized for years by those who had pushed across the river after the treaty of 1818. Panther Branch, so called on account of its having been in- fested by panthers in the pioneer days, is above Skull Creek.
After the death of Sellars, his widow married Jo- siah Lomax, who had been employed by her late hus- band. Mrs. Lomax died in 1832, and Lomax, who
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had come into possession of the fine lands here, mar- ried Susan Southall, who was the mother of Thomas Lomax, of Humphreys County, and William Lomax, who died in 1861.
Stephen Cotham settled at an early date near the Lomax place. He was the father of Pleasant, Har- vey, James, and Josiah Cotham, all of whom were good citizens.
Jesse Lovett, for whom Lovett's Island was named ; James Walker, and Levi Murphree were prominent men who once lived here.
At the lower end of Lowe's Bend there lived that prominent and industrious citizen, the late Abram Burchard, who bought the lands on which he lived so long, in 1843, from Wyley Lowe. Burchard, who became a man of wealth, made his first money by the hardest of work. When Lee & Gould operated their furnace on Sugar Creek, he chopped wood for them at thirty-one and a half cents per cord. While indus- trious and attentive to business, he was a great ad- mirer of, and participator in, outdoor sports. In his old age he recounted with much pleasure the story of a wrestling bout which he had in the Lee & Gould "coaling" with the Pace brothers. Burchard was vic- torious in the wrestling contest, but the fight which followed was a draw. However, in later years, Bur- chard and Milton Pace, who were the participants, acknowledged that they were both whipped.
At the lower end of Lowe's Bend a county bridge was built in 1891. The material was hauled from
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Nunnelly Station, thirteen miles away, by Newton McClanahan, John Fowlkes, and Ollie McClanahan. They were engaged at this for six weeks. The bridge ecst about $6,000. In 1896, the original pillars hav- ing proven to be unstable, stone pillars were placed in their stead. The stone was obtained from the quarry of fine building stone between the residences of S. G. and J. C. Carothers.
On the south side of the river, opposite the Bur- chard farm, is the farm of John A. Jones. This farm lies on Duck River and on both sides of Beaver- dam Creek. These lands, as well as those across the river belonging to Samuel G. Carothers, were entered by the pioneer surveyor, John Davis. Davis owned a fine tract of land in Humphreys County below the mouth of Tumbling Creek. This Humphreys County farm Davis sold for $4,000 to Dennis G. Jones, a son of the pioneer, Solomon Jones. Jones concluded that, as the lands were so frequently overflowed by the river, he preferred more elevated lands. He then gave these Humphreys County lands and $1,000 for the valuable body of land now owned by his son, John A. Jones. The farm of Samuel G. Carothers be- longed to his father, William Carothers, and, prior to that, to his grandfather, William H. Carothers. Samuel G. Carothers bought the interests of his brothers, J. C. and W. D. Carothers. The former of these lives near by, and the latter is a prosperous farmer of Shipp's Bend, where he married the daugh- ter of Van Buren Shouse, a highly respected citizen
- 18-
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of that bend. When Dennis G. Jones located at the mouth of Beaverdam Creek, he moved to this place the mill which his father had built in the Eighth Dis- trict, four miles below, on the William A. Jones place, near where Hugh R. Carothers, who married a daugh- ter of William A. Jones, now lives. The mill, after its removal, was erected at a point where the waters of Beaverdam Creek fall abruptly into a cave, through which they run in a northerly direction under a bluff two hundred feet high, rising in the bed of Duck River, three-fourths of a mile away. At high tide a portion of the waters of Beaverdam Creek flows through the natural channel west to the river, one mile distant. The first settler on the Jones place was William Loftis, who married a sister of Solomon Jones. He leased the lands from John Davis and cleared the first acre.
At the S. A. J. Peeler place, above the Jones place, Levi McCollum, father of James McCollum, and grandfather of Hon. Levi McCollum, built a mill in 1830. He expected the large volume of water which comes in a sluggish stream from under the high hill here to furnish the power, but in this he was disap- pointed and the mill was abandoned.
Southwest from the location of McCollum's mill is the Brier Pond, so called on account of the mass of green briers which grew here in the early days. Here Hugh Pinkerton and John Pinkerton, who came from Bedford County and married daughters of John Cooper, lived for many years.
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John Cooper lived at what was later known as the " Walker place." He bought this place from John Stoddard, who bought it from Caleb McCord, who had purchased it from the original owner, John Davis.
James Walker, the father of Dr. W. L. Walker, John T. Walker, David N. Walker, and James B. Walker, all worthy sons of a worthy sire, married a daughter of John Cooper. James Walker was in the Mexican War, and participated in the battles which made famous Campbell's " Bloody First."
Near the western portion of the Brier Pond, Valen- tine Flowers, father of William Flowers, located in 1825. Valentine Flowers was a Primitive Baptist preacher, and in a church house which stood on his lands Liberty Church was organized on June 1, 1827. Two Baptist preachers who signed the minutes of the day's proceedings were Willis Dotson and Elias Dea- ton. The church was afterwards moved from the Flowers place to the Sulphur Fork of Beaverdam Creek, and in 1853 it was moved to its present site, where, instead of the original round-log cabin, there is now a neat frame building. Here, before the Civil War, preached that humble old servant of the Lord, " Black George." " Black George " was a slave, who showed great ability as a Baptist preacher. So marked was this ability, and so unquestioned was his honesty and devotion, that the members of the Bap- tist Church purchased his freedom. He died several years after the Civil War. One of the most cele- brated of the preachers of the Baptist Church was
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E. A. Meadows, who lived on Sulphur Fork prior to 1839, at which time he went to Mississippi. Dr. Richard Fain, who, in addition to being a prominent physician, was a Baptist preacher of note, at one time lived at the Joseph Cooper place, west of Brier Pond.
William Flowers reared a large family at the place settled by his father, Valentine Flowers. Sons of William Flowers were Robert, John I., James, Valen- tine, Dr. David D., and Rev. Gideon Flowers. His daughters were Mrs. Nancy Fowlkes, wife of James H. Fowlkes ; and Mrs. Sarah Price Burchard, who, on November 24, 1841, married Abram C. Burchard. William Flowers owned a number of slaves. Near his home he operated an old-time stillhouse. After the death of William Flowers, his son, Dr. David D. Flowers, lived at the old homestead, where he prac- ticed medicine until the time of his death.
In 1846 the Methodists and Presbyterians erected a church near the Flowers place, to which they gave the name " Macedonia." Here they held several camp meetings, which were conducted by B. B. Brown, James Parrish, John Brigham, and others. Services were held morning, evening, and night, un- der a large arbor, covered with boards and brush. The seats were benches made of split poplar logs. Services were announced by the blowing of a horn or a conch shell, which was kept hanging on a peg driven into a post near the pulpit, or " preacher's stand," as it was called. When this was sounded the congrega-
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tion commenced to assemble from the adjacent woods, the near-by cabins, and the surrounding grounds. For those who came from a distance to attend these meetings, eight log cabins were erected. The cabins were built in pairs-one for the women, the other for the men. Straw was placed on the dirt floor and on the shelf which extended around the cabin, providing upper and lower berths for the lodgers. Fifty peo- ple could sleep in each cabin. Provisions were fur- nished by the citizens of the surrounding country. Part was cooked at home, and part in the camps. This was placed on long board tables, to which all were invited. It is said that upon one occasion one man, during the course of his breakfast, visited four tables and drank four cups of coffee at each. One night after the services a large snake was discovered in the straw near the wall of one of the cabins re- served for the women. There were numerous loud screams and appeals for assistance from the women, inost of whom were in deshabille. Gallant men soon rushed to the rescue of the fair ones, and the "snake," which was about three feet in length, was speedily slain. The men held it up in momentary triumph, then dropped it, looked disgusted, and walked out into the night. One, however, called back to the women to pick up the "snake," that it would not bite them. Finally, one of the more courageous of the women picked up the " snake " on a stick to throw it from the cabin. It was a tunic. A tunic was not a species of poisonous reptile, but an article of feminine
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dress, the predecessor of the bustle of the present day.
While Liberty Church was located at the Flowers place, Mrs. James Pope joined the church, was bap- tized, and started for home rejoicing. When three miles away, she remembered that she had left her infant with a friend at the church. The terrified mother started to return, but found the little one sleeping complacently in the arms of one of those who were then with her. John Halbrooks was a Primitive Baptist preacher of that period.
Some of those who taught school at Macedonia were William Moore, of Shipp's Bend; J. N. Pace, who now lives in Bedford County; and Professor Haynes, who afterwards went to Lewisburg and estab- lished a good school there. Miss Josephine Spence taught school at Macedonia in 1861. Some of those who taught at Liberty were James D. and Robert S. Murphree, sons of Stephen Murphree; and Dr. Will- iam L., John T., and David N. Walker, sons of James Walker. During the winter of 1858-59 Dr. Andrew J. Lowe gave instruction in an informal manner to a party of young men at his home in the Ninth District. The young men formulated their own rules, and met and adjourned at their pleasure, their instructor join- ing them when his business affairs permitted. Some of those who had the benefit of his instruction were Samuel G. Jones, Thomas Lomax, John F. M. Fain, Wesley Morrison, Pleasant Poore, Samuel Woolard, Amsel Murphree, William Burchard, Jared C. Fra-
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zier, W. J. D. Spence, " Bud " Woolard, and Henry Lowe. Dr. Lowe, who was a son of Maj. Lewis Lowe, was a good physician, but preferred farming. He was a member of the Forty-Sixth General Assem- bly, and died during the term.
At the upper end of Brier Pond, on the south side of Beaverdam Creek, is Cow Hollow, so called on ac- count of a large number of cattle having been herded there between 1820 and 1825. The winter range was good here, and stockmen from Davidson and William- son Counties would bring their cattle here. Tradi- tion says that Henry Gee, from Williamson County, or the eastern portion of Hickman County, during one winter killed one hundred and twenty deer while he was herding cattle here.
At the mouth of Powder Mill Branch, which runs into Sulphur Fork, a primitive powder mill was built in 1823, saltpeter being found near by. William Bates, father of Lewis Bates, was badly burned by an explosion of this mill. He died from the effects of the burns. A man employed about the mills was an enemy of Bates, and he was suspected of having put gravel in the mill, a spark from which caused the ex- plosion. There was, however, no direct proof against him.
On Sulphur Fork, in 1823, Adam Coble erected a pottery, from which he turned out in large num- bers jars, crocks, jugs, lamps, churns, etc., of vari- ous shapes and sizes. Good potter's clay was found near by. The wares made by Coble for many years
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found ready sale in Hickman County and adjoin- ing counties. Agents representing him, and accom- panied by wagons loaded with his wares, traveled throughout these counties. First they were sold from ox carts, and later from wagons drawn by horses, but still the demand continued and the work went on until the Civil War. After the war, competing firms from other points, with more improved machinery, caused the Coble pottery to suspend, after having been oper- ated, under the management of several proprietors, for half a century. However, inany of the products of the Coble pottery may yet be found in a number of Middle Tennessee counties.
Prominent men who located on Sulphur Fork at an early date were Joseph Halbrooks, William Woolard, and William Chandler, all of whom came from North Carolina. Halbrooks, after he came here, became dissatisfied with life in the wilderness and returned to the old State, but there he becaine dissatisfied when he thought of the good lands which he had left behind him in the West. He returned to Sulphur Fork, and this time he remained.
Above the mouth of Sulphur Fork there runs into Beaverdam Creek from the south a little stream known as " Blue Water," from the fact that in the early days, before the lands were cleared and cultivated, the waters of this stream were very bluc. Major McClaren erected a mill on this creek in 1829. At the mouth of Blue Water, Samuel Lancaster laid a land warrant in 1830 on lands claimed by
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David Blackfan, a land speculator. Lancaster won the lawsuit which followed. He came from North Carolina, making the journey in an ox cart. Near Lancaster's residence, at the foot of a steep hill, there stood a blacksmith shop, at which an exciting incident occurred in 1864. John Flowers, a. much-wanted guerrilla, being a blacksmith, stopped at this shop to shoe his horse. While in the shop about forty Fed- erals came upon him. Not having time to mount his horse, he rushed around the corner of the shop and up the hill in safety, followed by a shower of bullets. Previous to this the Federals had attempted to cap- ture him by surrounding his house at night. When they knocked at the door, he made no answer, and they forced it open. Eleven entered and attempted to strike matches. Three of these he shot, and, with a pistol in either hand, firing as he went, he rushed through the body of Federals in the yard and escaped.
Above Blue Water, and on the same side of Beaver- dam Creek, is Joe's Branch, named for Joe McCann, who lived there in 1825. This branch is near the line between the Ninth and Eleventh Districts.
Below Blue Water, in 1830, James McCollum set- tled where his father, Levi McCollum, had placed a land warrant a few years before. He here erected a gristmill, and, later, a sawmill. This soon be- came a point of importance, people hauling logs to this mill from a distance of fifteen to twenty miles. James McCollum was the father of Hon. Levi Mc- Collum.
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Another good citizen of the Ninth District who lived in the upper portion of the district was Simeon Wright. One of his daughters married John M. Bates.
Although the Baptists were largely in the majority in this district, Samuel Chesser, of the Christian Church, preached on Sulphur Fork as far back as 1836. A prominent preacher in this church to-day is Elder Thomas Cagle, of this district. He is a great- grandson of the pioneer Baptist preacher, Thomas Curb, who lived in the Seventh District and preached throughout the surrounding country as early as 1807. Curb's daughter, Elizabeth, married Charles Cagle, the father of Thomas Cagle, Sr., who was the father of Elder Thomas Cagle. Charles Cagle lived on Mill Creek, in the Seventh District, at the time of the earthquake of 1811. He had a chill, and when the earthquake shook down some venison suspended over his bed, he thought that his ague was severer than usual. The people throughout the country had not recovered from the effects of the " Great Revival " of 1800, and they were much wrought up over the earthquake of 1811, which they understood as a mani- festation of the Lord's displeasure. Andrew Caroth- ers, the Baptist preacher, baptized large numbers who sought to flee from the wrath to come.
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