USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 7
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Since 1893 phosphate deposits in the upper end of Totty's Bend have been worked with varying degrees of success. The output of the mines was at first 'carried to Centerville by wagons; later it was towed to Centerville in barges by a small steamer. Finally, an arm of the Centerville branch of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad was run from Centerville to the mines. This road runs along the valley of the river, crossing Swan Creek near its mouth, to the mouth of Onstot's Branch, and up the branch to its head, where the mines are located. These mines were for several years under the imme- diate management of the late W. B. Comer, formerly superintendent of the ore mines at Nunnelly.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE THIRD DISTRICT.
T HE Third District is bounded on the north by the Thirteenth District ; on the east, by Maury County ; on the south, by the Fourteenth District ; and on the west, by the Fifteenth District. It in- chuides that portion of Hickman County on the south side of Duck River and north of the Fourteenth Dis- trict, extending from the Manry County line to Buck Branch. A small portion of the district is on the north side of Duck River near Gordon's Ferry. The section of country surrounding the quiet village of Shady Grove was the scene of some of the most im- portant events of the pioneer days, a number of which are described at greater length in a previous chapter. Somewhere near Gordon's Ferry and the "Duck River licks," situated on Lick Creek, was the fight with the Indians in May, 1780. Over the line in Maury County were located Gen. Nathaniel Greene's 25,000 acres of land, laid off by Shelby, Bledsoe, and Tatum in 1783. Through the adjoining districts, the Thirteenth and Fifteenth, ran the Continental Line of 1784. Through these districts ran also the old Chickasaw Trace, or path, which was, prior to the opening of the Natchez Trace, the road from Nash- ville to Natchez and the Chickasaw country. It was over a portion of this trace that the Coldwater Expe-
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dition went in 1787 to avenge the death of Mark Robertson, who had been killed on Robertson's Creek, in the Fifteenth District, up which the trace ran. It was over this trace that the desperately daring bands of scouts under Capt. "Jack" (John) Gordon and Capt. John " Golong " Rains marched often over a hundred years ago. It was over this trace that, in 1795, the old Col. Casper Mansker went with a de- tachment of men from Nashville to the assistance of the Chickasaws, who were sorely pressed by the Creeks. In January of this year the Chickasaws, who were in the main friendly toward the whites, had come upon a body of Creeks on Duck River, some- where in this vicinity, and had taken five scalps. These were sent to Nashville, with the explanation that the Creeks at the time of the attack were on their way to attack the whites. A war ensued, and the Chickasaws called for assistance, which was furnished under the leadership of the veteran, Mansker. Pio- iningo, of the Chickasaws, in his appeal for help, stated that if it did not soon arrive, " You shall soon hear that I died like a man."
The most prominent of the early settlers of this sec- tion was Capt. John Gordon, remembered by a few old citizens of the county as " Old Capt. Jack Gor- don." He had a reputation as a fighter from Nash- ville to New Orleans. Here, as early as 1804, he, in partnership with General Colbert, one of the famous Chickasaw chiefs of that name, had a trading post. He did not bring his family here until two or three
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years later. At this time he kept a tavern in Nash- ville, on the west side of Market street, near the Public Square. At this trading post Thomas H. Benton, " Old Bullion," afterwards United States Senator from Missouri, was a clerk. He also taught school on Duck River somewhere in this section. John Gor- don had married Dollie Cross, sister of Richard Cross, and prior to 1805 Gordon and Cross located on the north side of the river near Gordon's Ferry, which was then established, Gordon and the Indian, Colbert, running it in partnership. Up to this time the whites had no legal treaty right to any lands within the pres- ent limits of Hickman County. This territory be- longed to the Chickasaws. It was also claimed by the Cherokees, who alleged that they had assisted in the expulsion of the Shawnees. They made this claim the excuse for their numerous inroads into Tennessee. The most persistent of the Indians in their attacks upon the whites were the Creeks, who never even at- tempted to excuse themselves by claiming any of this territory. The reservation by North Carolina of lands for her soldiers, the southfern boundary of which was marked by the Line of 1784, included much of Hickman County, but it must be understood that North Carolina obtained her title from England at the close of the Revolutionary War. England had obtained her title from the Six Nations by the treaty of Stanwix in 1768. The Six Nations held by the right of conquest, and after this relinquishment to the whites the Southern Indians reasserted their claims.
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
Adventurous surveyors, holding military warrants, made locations in Hickman County after the running of the Line of 1784; but few, if any, attempts were made to settle upon these lands prior to the treaties of 1805, which will be referred to in the following pages. From this it will be seen that the running of the Continental Line of 1784, locally known as the Military Line, had no connection with any treaty with the Indians. Captain Gordon, in running the trading post in connection with the Chickasaw chief, General Colbert, had only a trader's rights in this territory, but it enabled him to make a good selection of lands, which he soon afterwards occupied. Local tradition says he had permanently settled here before 1805. If so, it was because his business connections with the influential Colbert family made him safc from molestation.
In 1801 a treaty was made at the Chickasaw Bluffs which gave permission to the United States to lay out and cut a wagon road between Nashville and Natchez. The Chickasaws were to be paid $700 for furnishing guides and other assistance. This work was com- menced immediately under the direction of United States troops commanded by Capt. Robert Butler and Lieut. E. Pendleton Gaines. This trace came by the way of Kinderhook, Maury County, crossed Duck River at Gordon's Ferry, passed between the head of Dunlap Creek and Jackson's Branch on the east, ran along the ridge between Cathey's Creek, of Maury and Lewis Counties, and Swan Creek, of Hickman
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County, crossing the latter creek at the point known as Johnson's Stand, below the Kittrell place. It was on this trace at Griner's Stand, in Lewis County, that Meriwether Lewis met his death. While this trace was being opened, Benjamin Smith, uncle of the late Daniel Smith, lived at Kinderhook, as did also Squire Kearsey, father of Rev. John Kearsey, who at one time lived in the Eighth District. Squire Kearsey is said to have been the original of the following time- honored story: While magistrate, application was made to him for a search warrant for a broadax. A careful perusal of his well-worn form book failed to discover a form for a search warrant for a broadax, the nearest approach being a form in which a tur- key hen was mentioned. This form was accordingly copied, and the applicant was instructed by His Honor to take it along and "keep an eye out for the broadax."
John Willey, who afterwards lived in the Fifteenth District, was one of the party that opened the Natchez Trace, known locally as the " Notchy " Trace. Some time was spent in digging the banks of the river at the mouth of Fatty Bread Branch, on the north side, and the banks on the south side near where Joseph Bond now lives. While this was being done the party camped at the large spring at the foot of the hill where Samuel Cochran now lives. This spring is on Dun- lap Creek, and directly on the trace one mile west of where it crosses Duck River near Gordon's Ferry. The spring is one and a half miles south of Shady Grove, and was well suited for a place of encampment.
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The party remained here for several weeks, after which the camp was moved to Swan Creek in what is now the Twelfth District.
On July 23, 1805, a treaty was concluded between the Chickasaws and James Robertson and Silas Dins- more, representing the United States, by which the Indians ceded land in Tennessee to the whites. A portion of the boundary agreed upon was as follows : " Up the main channel of the Tennessee River to the mouth of Duck River; thence up the left bank of Duck River to the road leading from Nashville to Natchez; thence along said road to the ridge dividing the waters running into Duck River from those run- ning into Buffalo River." On October 25 of this year the Cherokees, by treaty, relinquished all claims to lands north of Duck River, and in the following January Sour Mush, Turtle at Home, John Jolly, Red Bird, and other Cherokee chiefs ceded to the United States all lands north of the Tennessee River. These treaties placed the dangerous Cherokees far to the south, and made Duck River throughout the county, and the Natchez Trace at one corner, the boundary between the whites and the comparative- ly peaceable and honorable Chickasaws. This date . marks the commencement of the permanent settle- ment of Hickman County on the north side of the river. The permanent settlement of that section of the county lying south of Duck River followed the treaty of October 19, 1818, by which the Chicka- saws relinquished all claims to Tennessee soil. Isaac
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Shelby and Andrew Jackson represented the United States. One of the considerations was that the United States pay Capt. John Gordon $1,115 due him from the Chickasaws. This was probably the amount of the bad debts left on his old trading-post books. The forty-five Tennesseans who had in 1795 gone to assist the Chickasaws against the Creeks, referred to above,
were paid $2,000 by the United States. Maj. James Colbert had, while on a visit to Baltimore two years before this, lost $1,089 at a theater. This was re- funded by the government, and as to whether the gal- lant Chickasaw, Colbert, was at the time of the loss overcome by force of numbers or by that enemy of his race, John Barleycorn, is left to the imagination of the reader. That accomplished villain and prince of traitors, William McGillivray, received $150, as did also Iskarweuttaba and Immartoibarmicco. Despite the superior length of their names, Hopoyeabaummer, Immauklusharhopoyea, and Hopoyeabaummer, Jr., received only $100 each. These were some of the minor considerations, the terms of the treaty being in general unusually favorable to the Chickasaws.
Following the treaties of 1805 and 1806 came the congressional reservation line, described in an Act of Congress, approved April 18, 1806. As this line is in local tradition confused with the line established between the whites and Indians, the events leading up to its establishment are here referred to. The loca- tion of the Third District of Hickman County makes it a place par excellence for the illustrating of the con-
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fusion attending the perfecting of titles to land in Tennessee from 1796 to 1806. North Carolina, rely- ing upon the title obtained from the Six Nations, in inatters of legislation studiously ignored the claims of the Chickasaws and Cherokees. This is made evi- dent by the erection in 1777 of Washington County, N. C., which embraced all of the present State of Ten- nesseę. At the time of the cession of this territory to the United States in December, 1789, there were unperfected titles to lands in Tennessee founded on military service in the Revolutionary War ; on entries in John Armstrong's office ; on service in Evans' bat- talion ; on services rendered in laying off the military reservation-that is, running the lines of 1783 and 1784; on grants to particular persons, like that to General Greene; and on settlements made on public lands-preemption rights. By the terms of the Act of cession North Carolina retained the right to per- fect these titles. After the admission of Tennessee into the Union, this State declined to recognize the right of North Carolina to perfect these titles, and the opening of entry taker's offices bade fair to cover the State with a new series of entries. The matter was happily arranged as between the two States by North Carolina's transferring to Tennessee the right to perfect these titles, reserving for herself the right to issue warrants to be laid in the military reservation. This was assented to by the United States, with the additional conditions set out in the Act providing for the " Congressional Reservation Line." This line is
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described as follows: " Beginning at the place where the eastern or main branch of Elk River intersects the boundary of the State; thence due north to the northern or main branch of Duck River; thence down the waters of Duck River to the military boundary line; thence with said line west to the Tennessee River; thence down the Tennessee to the northern boundary of the State." Tennessee surrendered all her right to the land south and west of this line, the United States in turn surrendering her right to the land north and east of it. So the United States, while recognizing the Chickasaws' title to the land as far north as Duck River, also recognized Tennessee's title to the land as far south as the Military Line, or Line of 1784. The general belief that the Military Line was the true boundary between the whites and Chickasaws, and Duck River the recognized boundary, is, there- fore, erroneous. Tennessee could perfect titles as far south of Duck River as the Military Line; but the well-founded fear that the Chickasaws would enforce with the tomahawk that treaty which made Duck River the boundary prevented any attempts at perma- nent settlements on the south side prior to 1818. Possible exceptions to this general rule are to be found in the Third District. Here the Chickasaw line turned to the south along the Natchez Trace, and the settler who encroached upon this corner of the reser- vation risked not as much as he who encroached far- ther down the river. Here were doubtless made per- manent settlements on the south side of the river and
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on the Indian side of the trace. The early settler on the north or east side of the river, like Capt. John Gordon, obtained his title from North Carolina through Tennessee; the early settler on the oppo- site bank of the river and on the east side of the trace obtained his title from the United States; the early settler on this side of the river and on the west side of the trace was a " squatter."
Immediately after the treaty of 1805 a man named McIntosh commenced a "clearing" on the place where the late Joseph Bond lived. Tradition says that this was the first " clearing " in the county. A detachment of soldiers patrolled the trace after the treaty in order to restrain the " squatters," which term, as applied to some of the most daring of the early settlers of the county, is certainly used here in no offensive sense. On the ridge, near where Samuel G. Baker's residence now is, there had been erected a round-pole schoolhouse. The teacher was George Peery, Hickman County's first surveyor, who after- wards became one of the most prominent pioneers of the Twelfth District. He owned land on the other side of the river, near the Gordon place. One day his school was interrupted by the sound of horses' feet, . and a troop of government rangers turned out of the trace and rode up to the schoolhouse. He was told that the house was on the Indian side, and, after order- ing him and his pupils out, the building was torn down. He was ordered to rebuild on the other side or not at all. The house was not rebuilt, and this
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ended the school. While the party at work on the trace were encamped at the spring at the Cochran place, they cleared away much of the cane and under- brush around the spring. Later John Pruett, in looking for a desirable place to settle, fixed upon this on account of the good spring and surrounding partial clearing. He accordingly erected a dwelling house on one side of the trace, and a corncrib and stables on the other. As the party which had encampul here had partially opened up land on either side of the trace, he naturally did this. In addition to this, 1.3 fenced land on both sides. The government rangers, on one of their tours, told him to remove his crib 2 d stables from Indian territory. He replied with great. emphasis and some profanity that he would build wherever he pleased. The rangers at once set fire to his buildings and fences on the Indian side, and told him that if he rebuilt on that side they would the next time destroy the buildings on both sides. Robert Dunlap, from whom Dunlap Creek took its name, set- tled at this spring in 1810.
Capt. John Gordon was a man whose prominence has given him a place in Tennessee history, and he is certainly entitled to a prominent place in a history of the county in which he lived during his latter days, and with the early settlement and development of which he.and his family had much to do. Captain Gordon was born in Virginia, and, tradition says, was a descendant of Pocahontas, as was also his wife, Dollie Cross, whom he married in Davidson County.
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He came to Nashville between 1780 and 1790, and died in Hickman County prior to 1823, as Judge Hay- wood, writing at this time, said: " Captain Gordon was a brave and active officer, distinguished through life for a never-failing presence of mind, as well as for the purest integrity and independence of principle. He had much energy, both of mind and body, and was in all, or nearly all, the expeditions from Tennessee which were carried on against the Indians or other cutemies of the country, and in all of them was con- spicuous for these qualities. He now sleeps with the mon of other times, but his repose is guarded by the aff ctionate recollections of all who knew him." One of his expeditions against the Indians, not already mentioned, started from Nashville on June 11, 1794. He followed a party of Indians, who had killed Mrs. Gear, nearly a hundred miles before he overtook them. Later in this year he was out with the Nickajack Ex- pedition, which resulted in the destruction of the upper Cherokee towns. Before crossing the Tennes- see River, Colonel Orr, who was the nominal com- mander of this expedition, called a council of war, in which were Colonel Mansker, John Rains, John Gor-
don, and other veteran Indian fighters. Captain Gordon was among the first to swim the river on this September morning before daylight, and he stood on the bank and counted the whites as they reached the bank and fell into line preparatory to making the at- tack. In this expedition were Joseph Brown and William and Gideon Pillow, ancestors of promi-
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nent Maury County families. Gordon's future com- mander, Andrew Jackson, served as a private in this expedition. In 1796 he was a justice of the peace in Davidson County, and was Nashville's first postmas- ter, serving front April 1, 1796, to October 1, 1797. Following this came his trading-post venture near what is now Gordon's Ferry, and his removal to Hick- man County, which became his home. Here he evi- dently hoped to end in peace an eventful life, satisfy- ing his love for adventure by an occasional trip to New Orleans on a flatboat. Before he came to Duck River he had made at least one trip to New Orleans. He had a loaded flatboat tied up at Nashville. He and one of his negroes, while attempting to fasten it more securely, allowed it to drift from its moorings and out into the current of the Cumberland River. They had provisions already on board, and, without at- tempting to again bring it to the shore, these two set. out for New Orleans, a thousand miles away. They reached this point after a voyage of many days, and when, as was the custom, an offer was made to assist them in landing, Gordon replied : " Ned and I have brought this boat from Nashville, and I think we are able to land it." And they were.
Whatever may have been his dreams of peace, they were rudely interrupted in September, 1813, by the news of the horrible massacre at Fort Mimms, Ala- bama, of five hundred whites by Creek Indians. He was now advanced in age, and nearly a score of years had passed since he had last heard the vengeful crack
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of a Tennessee rifle followed by the death cry of a savage; yet the feelings of indignation with which he heard the horrible news rolled back the tide of the years, and the hero of 1794 became the hero of 1813. His ancestors in old Scotland never rallied around the bearer of the cross of fire with more alacrity than did " Old Captain Jack " Gordon answer the call to arms. He reported for duty and was made captain of a com- pany of scouts, or spies, which rendered such service in the war which followed that the name of Gordon became inseparably linked with those of Jackson, Car- roll, and Coffee. On November 16, 1813, after the battles of Tallushatchee and Talladega, the troops, worn out by fatigue and weakened by lack of food, demanded that General Jackson lead them back home. He was on the point of acceding to this demand and abandoning Fort Strother, when, thinking how much the desertion of the fort would encourage the Indians, he declared that he would remain at the post if only two men would bear him company. Captain Gordon was the first to volunteer, and, moved by his example, over a hundred agreed to remain. Later, when Jack- son's command was reduced by desertion in the face of the enemy to about 800 men, Gordon's spy com. pany was " faithful among the faithless found." At Enotachopco Creek, on December 24, 1813, when the Indians made a spirited and unexpected attack upon the rear guard, Captain Gordon, who had command of the advance guard, recrossed the creek and assisted in changing what bade fair to be a disastrous defeat
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into a complete victory. Referring to this affair, one historian calls him "the famous spy captain of Duck River, Gordon; " another refers to him as " Capt. John Gordon, an old pioneer hero." In August, 1814, after a treaty had been concluded with the Creeks, Gordon was called upon to perform one of the most hazardous duties of his whole career. Clayton, referring to this, says: " General Jackson, being anx- ious to make sure of the fruits of his important victo- ries, now sought to make the Spanish Governor of . Pensacola a party, as it were, to the treaty with the Indians, so as to hold him to a stricter responsibility for his future conduct. But to reach him it was neces- sary for the bearer of his messages to traverse a long stretch of tropical wilderness, unmarked by road or path, and rendered doubly difficult of penetration by reason of numerous swamps, lagoons, and rivers. The bearer of the dispatches was Capt. John Gordon, who, with a single companion, undertook the danger- ous and seemingly desperate mission. At the end of the first day's journey the companion of Captain Gor- don became so much appalled by the prospects ahead that the Captain drove him back and continued his mission alone. After many difficulties and dangers · from hostile Creeks, he reached Pensacola. On his arrival he was surrounded by a large body of Indians, and it was only by the greatest presence of mind that he escaped instant death and reached the protection of the commandant. His mission being ended, he re- turned as he came, and reached General Jackson in
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safety." The information obtained by Gordon re- sulted in General Jackson's marching against Pensa- cola, attacking it, and bringing the Spaniards to terms. As to whether Gordon participated in the fights around New Orleans, we do not know, but later in the year 1815 we find him engaged in operating a cotton gin, which was located on Dunlap Creek be- tween Duck River and Shady Grove. Eight years later Judge Haywood refers to him as one who is no · more.
Captain Gordon's brother-in-law, Richard Cross. was a very wealthy man. On his land in what is now South Nashville was the first race course in the vi- cinity of Nashville. Here General Jackson ran some of his noted horses. Cross owned the valuable lands on the Natchez Trace adjoining the Gordon place. He dying without issue, these lands were inherited by the children of his sister, Mrs. Gordon. These chil- dren were Bolling, Powhattan, Fielding, Andrew, Richard, John, Mary, Dollie, and Louisa.
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