USA > Tennessee > Early history of Middle Tennessee > Part 8
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For some reason the Indians had halted just over the hill, and Hood, following them unawares, suddenly found himself again in their presence. They promptly fell upon him the second time, and after inflicting what they supposed to be mortal wounds, threw his body on a brush heap and left him for dead. Next morning he was found by some of the settlers, who, thinking him - dead, carried him to the station and placed him in an outhouse adjoining. Some of the women went out to see him and insisted there were signs of life in the body. At their direction he was taken into the fort, his wounds dressed and restoratives admin- istered. He soon recovered and by midsummer was able to be about his work.
Hood was a cooper by trade and a bachelor. He was long and lank of body, a great wag, and withal a noted character among the early settlers. He lived at Nashborough for many years after the events above described. The settlers at Kilgore's Station, in Robertson County, had so far been undisturbed. They had come to suppose that because of their distance from the other forts they were free from attack. In this, however, they were doomed to disappointment. The sharp eye of the avenging savage had spied them out. Late in the summer of 1782 Samuel Martin and Isaac Johnson, two occupants of the station, were captured near by and taken prisoners into the Creek Nation. Johnson soon escaped and returned to the fort, but Martin remained with his captors for about a year. He came home elegantly dressed, wear- ing silver spurs on his boots and bringing with him two valuable horses. It was currently reported and generally believed that during the period of his alleged captivity he had accompanied the Creeks on some of their marauding expeditions and shared with them the captured booty.
In the fall two young men by the name of Mason went from Kilgore's to Clay Lick to watch for deer. They hid in a canebrake
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close by, and while thus in waiting seven Indians came to the Lick, probably for the same purpose as themselves. The Masons fired and killed two of them, the remainder of the band retreating. . Elated at this easy victory the young men hastened back to the fort and there were joined by three or four of the settlers with whom they returned to the lick and scalped the dead Indians.
Late the same evening John and Ephraim Peyton, en route from Bledsoe's Station to Kentucky, stopped at Kilgore's to spend the night. When they arose to pursue their journey next morning they discovered that their horses, together with some of those belonging to the settlement, had been stolen. Suspicion at once pointed to a band of Indians who at that time were prowl- ing around the neighborhood. Pursuit was made and the thieves overtaken on Peyton's Creek, a stream afterwards so called because of this incident. The whites opened fire, killing one of the band and retaking all of the horses. On their return, and while they were encamped for the night, the Indians made a cir- cuit and lay in ambush at a point in the road between them and the fort. As the whites were going on toward home next morning the savages poured into their ranks a deadly fire, killing Josiah Hoskins and one of the Masons. The bodies of these were car- ried to the fort and buried nearby. The settlers at Kilgore's now became so much alarmed that they moved to the Bluff, thus break- ing up their station. Among those residing at Kilgore's Station at the time it was broken up were the Kilgores, Moses and Am- brose Maulding. Jesse Simons an I others.
The occupants of all the forts were at this time so much harassed that they could neither plant nor cultivate their fields. Sentinels must be stationed on every side, and even while one person knelt at a spring to drink another must stand ready, rifle in hand, to shoot a creeping savage who might suddenly appear. If three or four were assembled on the open ground on business
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or for social visitation, they dared not face each other, but stand- ing back to back, they looked north, south, east and west, watch- ing in every direction for the stealthy approach of a skulking foe.
A general council was now called to consider the best interests of the settlement. Many favored a removal to a place of greater safety. This, however, was vigorously opposed by Colonel Robertson. He pointed out to the assembled colonists the impos- sibility of escape either to East Tennessee or to the forts in Ken- tucky, as all the roads thithier were now known to be heavily guarded by the Indians, in evident anticipation of such an at- tempt. He argued that a journey could not be made by water to Natchez or Kaskaskia. There were no means of transportation. Nearly all the boats belonging to the Donelson flotilla had been dismantled and the material used in building cabins and out- houses adjacent thereto, and it would be imprudent at this time to venture into the woods for material with which to build another fleet. Thus in whatever way they might begin the journey they would be surely stalking into the jaws of death. Indeed, this meeting marked a crisis in the history of the settlement. Before its adjournment all came to recognize the fact that conditions and not theory must guide their deliberations, and the idea of re- moval was abandoned. Later in the fall of this year General Daniel Smith. Hugh Rogan and William McMurry were traveling the buffalo trail from Bledsoe's to Mansker's Lick. When near the present site of Cragfont, the ancient home of Gen. James Winchester, in the First Civil District of Sumner County, a party of Indians opened fire upon them, killing MeMurry and wounding General Smith. The gun of the latter fell from his hands, but he caught it up again, and, with Rogan, began a fusillade with the enemy, who soon got the worst of it and ran, making their escape into the tall cane. General Smith recovered and after- wards became Secretary of the territorial government and later
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succeeded Andrew Jackson. as Senator from Tennessee in the Congress of the United States. He was born in Fanguier County, Virginia, October 20, 1748; was a skilled civil engineer, and by actual survey made the first map of the State of Tennessee. Com- ing to Middle Tennessee at an early period in its history, he mar- ried a daughter of Col. John Donelson, and selected a fine body of land on Drake's Creek, near Hendersonville, in Sumner Coun- ty. Here in 1784 he built "Rock Castle," his historic residence,
ROCK CASTLE
which still stands. Under General Smith's own supervision it was built from stone taken from a quarry a few hundred yards away. The land on which it stands is now the property of his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Horatio Berry, of Hendersonville. General Smith died at Rock Castle, June 16, 1818, and was buried in the family cemetery nearby.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
EVENTS OF 1783 .- FORTS ESTABLISHED IN SUMNER COUNTY. COURT OF TRIERS ASSEMBLES .- SAVAGE FURY AGAIN
UPON THE SETTLEMENT .- TREATY FORMULATED.
With the beginning of 1783 prospects of peace began to brighten. News of the surrender of Cornwallis and the ac- knowledged independence of the American colonies came over the mountains and caused great rejoicing on the western frontier. In its wake came a number of emigrants to take the place of those who had removed to other localities. The colonies at Boonesborough, Harrodsburg and Davis' Station, in Kentucky, were also augmented by emigrants from the East. During this year the first dry goods store west of the Allegheny Mountains was established at Louisville, the goods with which it was stocked being brought on pack horses from Philadelphia. Soon thereafter Col. James Wilkinson established a second store at Lexington.
Because of a feeling of greater security which now prevailed. some of the Cumberland stations formerly abandoned were re- occupied and others established. Kasper Mansker and his asso- ciates who for two years had been living at Eaton's and the Bluff. selected a site on the east side of Mansker's Creek a mile above the old station, and there built a new fort. The Ashers also re- turned to their station southeast of Gallatin.
In the early spring Maj. John Buchanan and the Mulherrins selected land and built a fort four miles east of Nashborough, near where the Lebanon branch of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad crosses Mill Creek. This was known as Buch- anan's Station and some years later was the scene of a vigorous assault by the Indians.
During this year Anthony Bledsoe, Absalom Tatom and Isaac
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Shelby, who afterwards became the first Governor of Kentucky, were sent over as a commission from North Carolina charged with the duty of laying off to certain soldiers lands in the Cum- berland Valley. This was in payment for services rendered in the recent war of the Revolution. Bledsoe, who was accom- panied thither by his family, decided to remain in the settlement. In the fall he established a station at Greenfield, about two and a half miles north of his brother Isaac's fort at Bledsoe's Lick, and on a beautiful eminence in one of the richest bodies of land in Sumner County. The site is on the farm now owned by Wil- liam Chenault. About the same time James McCain, James Franklin, Elmore Douglass, Charles Carter and others built a fort on the west side of Big Station Camp Creek in Sumner County. It was located at a point south of where the Long Hollow turnpike crosses that stream. This site is near Douglass Chapel and ou the land owned by Mrs. Ellen Brown, wife of the late Dr. Alfred Brown.
Because of an almost incessant warfare with the Indians the Court of Triers had held but few sessions since its creation two years before and of these no official record had been kept. It now began to sit regularly, the first recorded session being held on January 7. 1783. At this time the following Judges were present, to wit: James Robertson, George Freeland. Thomas Molloy, Isaac Lindsey, David Roundsevall, Heydon Wells, James Maulding, Ebenezer Titus, Samuel Benton and Andrew Ewing. At a second meeting held on January 18. Isaac Bledsoe and Capt. John Blackmore appeared and took the oath of office, completing the twelve, and thus constituting a full bench.
Numerous sessions were held this year at which a number of orders were made and decisions rendered. On February 5. John Montgomery was sworn in as sheriff of the district, and Andrew Ewing, one of their number, was made clerk of the court. Mont -.
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gomery was later deposed from office because he was suspected of being in league with the "Colbert Gang," a notorious band of river pirates who infested the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mis- sissippi Rivers. Thomas Fletcher was selected by the court to fill out Montgomery's unexpired term.
The minutes of this court as preserved by the Tennessee His- torical Society are at once unique and interesting. By an order made at the February term the sheriff was commanded to take the body of John Sasseed, keep it safely and bring it before the court on the first day of March following, then and there to satisfy a judgment for twenty pounds and cost of suit, recently rendered against said Sasseed and in favor of John Tucker.
At the August meeting of the court one of the cases heard was that of Frederick Stump against Isaac Renfroe. This suit was over certain property hidden away at the breaking up of Ren- froe's Station. on Red River. Renfroe had left there at that time a quantity of iron which he had later sold "sight unseen" to Stump, who was a miller and blacksmith. Renfroe's brother James afterwards brought away a part of this iron, placing it in the custody of David Roundsevall. Stump, hearing of this action. forthwith attached the estate of Isaac Renfroe, seeking to hold same for the loss thus sustained. He also caused to be issued a garnishment against Roundsevall. The latter answered, but declined to make defense. The facts appearing to the court as alleged, judgment was given against Renfroe for a hundred and sixty dollars and costs. However, the court considered that the iron in Roundsevall's possession was of equal value and it was ordered delivered to the plaintiff in satisfaction of all claims.
This year six spies were employed by the settlement. It was their duty to continually scout through the woods and thus dis- cover. if possible, the movements of the savages. They were un- der the direction of Colonel Robertson and Isaac Bledsoe, and
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were paid seventy-five bushels of corn per month in compen- sation for services rendered. As fifty dollars per bushel was considered a reasonable price for corn on the Cumberland at that time it would seem that their wages were ample. However, their duties were full of peril. The record shows that most of the spies employed from time to time in defense of the settlement met death at the hands of the Indians. The latter exhibited an especial delight in taking them captive, torturing them, and muti- lating their bodies after death. In the month of March Colonel Robertson was elected to represent the settlement in the North Carolina Legislature, which was then in session. He set out at once for Hillsborough, the State capital, traveling the entire distance of seven hundred miles alone and at his own expense. While there he secured the passage of an act establishing an "In- ferior Court of Pleas and Quarter Session" at Nashborough. This tribunal, which took the place of the Court of Judges and Triers, consisted of eight members, appointed by the Gov- ernor from the citizenship of the settlement. It was clothed with military, legislative and judicial powers. As members of the court the Governor issued a commission each to Isaac Bled- . soe, Samuel Barton. Isaac Lindsey. Francis Prince, James Rob- ertson, Thomas Molloy. Anthony Bledsoe and Daniel Smith.
The peace which for several months had been maintained was now broken, and the fury of the savages was again upon the set- tlement. Roger Top was killed and Roger Glass wounded at Rains' Station, in Waverly Place. William. Joseph an 1 Daniel Dunham, were all killed, while prospecting on Richland Creek, and Joshua Norrington and Joel Mills soon thereafter met a like fate. Patsy. daughter of John Raines, with Betsy Williams behind her, was riding on horseback in West Nashville when they were fired upon and the latter killed. Miss Raines escaped uninjured and fled in safety to the bluff. Joseph Nolan lost his life while alone in
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the woods, and a while thereafter his father, Thomas Nolan, was also killed. The Indians crept up to Buchanan's Station, only recentlly established, and killed Samuel Buchanan and Wil- liam Mulherrin, who were guarding the fort. William Overall and Joshua Thomas were ambushed and shot while en route from the Cumberland Settlement to Kentucky. Finally the enemy came at night to the Bluff, stole all the horses around the country- side and began a hasty flight toward the South. A company of twenty soldiers under command of Captain Pruett pursued them to a point beyond Duck River. There they overtook the Indians, whom they fired upon and dispersed. Recovering the stolen horses the whites recrossed the river and camped for the night on the northern shore. The Indians followed them over in the darkness, and at daybreak made an attack on the camp, during which they killed Moses Brown. Thus surprised, the whites fled from the canebrake in which the camp was located to a higher point on the open ground in the rear. There they reformed and awaited the approach of the enemy. The latter, who were far superior to them in numbers, came up in good order and a fierce battle ensued. Captain Pruett's men were put to rout and fled in all haste to the Bluff, leaving Daniel Pruett and Daniel John- son dead on the field. Morris Shine and several others were wounded, but escaped by the aid of their comrades. The In- dians recaptured all the stolen horses, together with those belong- ing to the men who had been killed. This defeat was a great misfortune, coming as it did at a time when the strength of the enemy was somewhat on the wane. Captain Pructt had only recently come to the settlement, and though a trained soldier. was unskilled in Indian warfare. At the beginning of the attack he reproved his men for sheltering behind rocks and trees. insist- ing that they should line up in the open and fight as in regular warfare. They obeyed his command and thus met disastrous defeat.
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During April or May, 1783, the State of Virginia appointed a commission to visit the Cumberland Settlement and there make a treaty with the Southern tribes. This action aroused some in- dignation on the part of the settlers. They desired to know by what authority representatives of another State could come upon soil of North Carolina for such a purpose. They also doubted the wisdom of assembling around the stations a large party of the enemy whom they had so long fought, and of whom the people stood in such continuous dread. Added to the danger with which such action was fraught was also the expense of fur- nishing food to so large a company for an indefinite period. On the other hand it was argued that such a gathering might bring about peace, a condition above all others to be desired.
To determine the will of the people on this subject an election was held at the various stations on June 5. Colonel Robertson and the leading men of the settlement generally voted against the proposition, but a summing up of the returns showed that it was favored by a majority of the settlement, and in pursuance thereof the Indians and commissioners were invited to assemble.
The council took place the latter part of June at the big spring four miles northwest of Nashville on the east side of the Char- lotte turnpike. The body of land surrounding this spring had already been selected by Colonel Robertson as his homestead, and thereon he later built a brick residence, which stood for many years after his death. This was also the site of the old Nashville camp-ground. Thither came the chiefs and head warriors of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws. bedecked in all their savage regalia and accompanied by a vast horde of squaws and papooses, and as is the latter-day custom of these tribes in the West on such occasion, they brought with them all the dogs. cats, chickens, geese and other domestic animals and fowls, such as they happen to possess. On the whole the assembly was in-
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deed a motley crew. However, they were received in a cordial manner by the settlers, by whom they were well fed and other- wise provided for during a stay of a week or ten days. - There were provided for the occasion various kinds of amusement, such as foot races, ball games and jumping contests, in which the visitors engaged with great zest. They were delighted with the. . reception accorded and some friendships were formed which proved of value to the settlers in after years.
Col. John Donelson, at that time living in Kentucky, and Colonel Martin represented Virginia at this council, and by the end of June a treaty was concluded ceding to the whites a scope of country extending forty miles south of the Cumberland to the watershed of Elk and Duck Rivers. But this agreement was likewise between an individual State and the Indians instead of being between the latter and the Federal Government. It was therefore open to legal objctions and was later declared void. However, the occasion of its making was of benefit to the settlers by reason of the personal association above mentioned, and also because it served to further cement the friendship already exist- ing between them and the Chickasaws. The Creeks and Chero- kees, as was their custom, violated all the terms of the treaty and soon thereafter were preying upon the settlement with char- acteristic cruelty.
Though this treaty was rendered void, its principal features were included in that made by the Government with the same tribes at Hopewell, South Carolina. in November, 1785.
On April 14. 1783, the Legislature of North Carolina estab- lished Davidson County. It was so named in honor of Gen. Wil- liam Davidson. of North Carolina, who was killed on the Catawba while trying to check the British troops in pursuit of General Morgan on his march from the battle of the Cowpens. The boundary of Davidson at that time included the entire populated portion of Middle Tennessee.
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The first act of the Davidson County Court was to order the building of a courthouse and jail, the contract for these structures being let soon thereafter. The former was eighteen feet square and of hewed logs. There was also on one side of the building a lean- to, or shed, twelve feet long. The site of the present courthouse . on the Public Square in Nashville was selected for its location. The jail building was also built of hewed logs, each a foot square.
CHAPTER XXV.
EVENTS OF 1784 .- MILITIA REORGANIZED .-- HUNTING PARTIES ATTACKED BY INDIANS.
On January 6, 1784, the Court of Pleas and Common Sessions, all the Judges present, convened at Nashborough and proceeded to exercise the military arm of its power by reorganizing the mili- tia. Officers were elected as follows: Anthony Bledsoe, First Colonel; Isaac Bledsoe, First Major; Samuel Barton, Second Major ; Kasper Mansker, First Captain : George Freeland, Second Captain : John Buchanan, Third Captain; James Ford, Fourth Captain ; William Ramsey. Jonathan Drake, Ambrose Maulding and Peter Sides, Lieutenants ; William Collins and Elmore Doug- lass, Ensigns, and Daniel Smith, Surveyor. The court met for the April term some distance out of Nashborough in a vacant house owned by Jonathan Drake. Probably because of some question as to its right to sit so far from the designated place, an immediate adjournment was taken to the residence of Israel Herman, who lived near the Bluff fort. By an act of the Legis- lature of North Carolina in May of this year the name of the village which had grown up around the Bluff was changed from Nashborough to Nashville, and such it has since remained. Fre- quent excursions for purposes of murder and plunder continued
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to be made by the Indians. Cornelius Riddle was hunting be- tween Buchanan's Station and Stones River. He killed two wild turkeys and hung them up in a tree while he went in- pursuit of another. The Indians who were skulking in the neighborhood heard the report of his gun, and coming near lay in ambush awaiting his return. He was shot and mortally wounded. The enemy took his scalp, and then seizing the turkeys, fled hastily from a vengeance which they knew would otherwise be swift.
In the early spring Nicholas Trammel and Philip Mason. were stalking game along the headwaters of White's Creek, a few miles northwest of Goodlettsville. While they were down on the ground skinning a deer which had been killed a large company of Indians crept up from behind and opened fire, slightly wound- ing Mason. They then stole the carcass of the deer and pursued their journey up the creek. After running some distance through the woods Mason stopped to dress bis wound and also to await the return of Trammel, who went on to Eaton's for reinforce- ments. Later Trammel came back with four of the settlers, and being joined by Mason, the entire party started post-haste after the enemy. They soon found the trail and followed rapidly, but in their haste failed to notice that the large number of tracks they were following had grown less. The Indians, suspecting pursuit. has gradually slipped aside, one and two at a time, in order that the whites might be thus entrapped.
Finally a few who yet led on were overtaken and the settlers dismounting rushed upon them, killing two of their number. In the meantime the Indians in the rear came up, captured the horses and opened a deadly fire on the whites, during which Mason received a mortal woun 1. His companions ran into the woods and thus escaped. Trammel objected to this hasty retreat and desertion of Mason, but his comrades insisted that it was useless to continue the fight, as the contest was unequal. After traveling
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some distance they met Josiah Hoskins, who was known in the settlement as a soldier braver than Julius Caesar, and also a better rifleman. Led now by Trammel and Hoskins, the party started again in pursuit of the Indians, and coming up with them the fight was renewed, this time from behind trees. After three of the Indians had been killed, Trammel and Hoskins boldly came out into the open determined to put the enemy to flight. No sooner had they done so than each received a shot and died instantly. The rest of the whites held their ground and kept up the fire until both parties were exhausted, and by common consent gave up the contest. Each company then went its way, leaving its dead on the field.
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