USA > Tennessee > Sullivan County > Historic Sullivan; a history of Sullivan County, Tennessee, with brief biographies of the makers of history > Part 23
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The farmer of Sullivan county has never given agri- culture the dignity it deserves.
The good roads, just beginning to reach these possi- bilities, will bring into the neglected farms new interests and carry out of them new products.
Sullivan County is just putting on its agricultural overalls.
6Secretary Wilson said East Tennessee was the finest country for sheep raising he had ever seen.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE REMOVAL.
The history of the Cherokee Indians is so intervolved with the history of the first settlers of our State that any- thing concerning that tribe interests our people.
The removal, in 1838, of these Indians from their life- long homes surpasses in pathos any page of our national history. It is the blot on the Escutcheon. The cause of this removal was covetousness on the part of the white race-a longing for more land. The Indians were slowly, and almost for a song, ceding away their chosen land. Although the government in a treaty (1798) agreed to "continue the guarantee of the remainder of their country forever" the whites did not cease making inroads and encroaching upon the tribe's land. By a treaty made January 7, 1806 the Cherokees ceded the large tract be- tween Duck river and the Tennessee, which included Long Island in Sullivan County and embraced nearly seven thousand square miles. For this immense tract they received two thousand dollars per year for five years, a grist mill, a cotton gin and a life pension of one hundred dollars per year for the aged chief Black Fox. After anoth- er treaty, made on March 22, 1816, they declared they would never give up any more land.
Gov. McMinn, of Tennessee, under instructions from Washington, was using his efforts to have the In- dians removed. At a council in November, 1818, he rep- resented to the chiefs it was no longer possible to protect them from the encroachments of the whites, that their lands would be taken, their stock stolen, their women abused, and their men made drunkards unless they re- moved to the allotted territory in the West. He concluded by offering them one hundred thousand dollars for their
JOHN ROSS (Gu wisguwi) Last Chief of the Eastern Cherokees
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THE REMOVAL.
lands. They indignantly refused. He then doubled the sum, but the negotiations failed.
A new civilization and a new form of government now sprung up-principally through the influence of John Ross, the last chief of the Eastern Cherokees. It became treason, punishable by death, for any one to sell lands without the consent of the council.
Another Cherokee-Sequoya-distinguished himself about this time by inventing the Cherokee alphabet. He was the Cadmus of his race. It was easily learned and even without the aid of schools communication became more rapid and intelligent. Sequoya was granted a pen- sion by the government and was the only literary pen- sioner in the United States. The Sequoya trees of Cali- fornia are named in his honor.
John Ross was made chief in 1828 and is the principal author of a constitution which was the first to govern an Indian tribe. He held the position of chief up to his death in 1866, being thirty-eight years the head of the nation.
Their acquirements in the way of enlightenment seem- ed to avail them little. Georgia was pressing them for their lands and was resorting to all kinds of strategy-to secret schemes and open overtures, but all were met with firm refusal. "It is the final and unalterable determina- tion of this nation never again to cede one foot more of land."
When, in 1827, the Cherokees adopted a constitution, the Georgia legislature passed a resolution affirming that the State "had the power and right to possess herself, by any means she might choose, of the lands in dispute and to extend over them her authority and laws."
CAUSE OF REMOVAL.
Up to 1815 all negotiations had been for land only. In this year a little Indian boy in his rambles along the Chestatee river brought a shining pebble, about the size of a small marble, to his mother. She carried it to the
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HISTORIC SULLIVAN.
nearest settlement and sold it to a white man. It proved to be gold. The news spread and in four years this sec- tion was overrun with white prospectors.
In 1828 gold was found on Ward creek-the end of Cherokee possession was near.
In this same year Andrew Jackson was elected Presi- dent. He was an Indian fighter and an Indian hater. Although the Cherokees, six hundred strong, were among his greatest allies in his battle against the Creeks, he now turned against them and would offer them no sym- pathy nor aid.
Junaluska, one of the bravest of the chiefs who accom- panied him, was heard to say,"If I had known that Jackson would drive us from our homes I would have killed him that day at the Horseshoe." When it was known the sympathy of Jackson was not enlisted for the Indian, depredations by the whites became general. Armed men went through the tribe, pillaging and burning. Laws were passed dispossessing the Indians of their homes without redress. Life became almost intolerable and property valueless to the Cherokee. He was not allowed to dig gold on his own land nor was his testimony permit- ted against any white man. He was helpless. The Su- preme Court and the laws of Georgia conflicted. Georgia defied the courts. The issue became a national one and party lines were drawn.1 Such men as Henry Clay, Dan- iel Webster, Edward Everett, Wise of Virginia and Davy Crockett defended the Indian. Through all these trials Chief John Ross was very active in behalf of his people; so much so, he had, under threat, to seek refuge in Ten- nessee. He was later captured by the Georgia guard along with John Howard Payne, who was then stopping with Ross for the purpose of studying the Indian life. They were taken across the line into Georgia where Ross was held a prisoner for some time, but was finally released without explanation.
1lt is worthy of note that the two races, the Indian and the negro, have caused the bitterest controversies in our government.
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THE REMOVAL.
The treaty of 1835, wherein about four hundred out of seventeen thousand Cherokees ceded all their lands west of the Mississippi to the United States for five million dollars, and a portion of land in Indian Territory was rat- ified at New Echota. A man named Schermerhorn was the government representative. He purported to be a minister of the gospel, but, on account of his underhand dealing, had to be warned that nothing but "fair and open terms" would be acceptable. The removal was to take place two years from the date of the treaty.
At the expiration of this time, however, only about two thousand of the Indians had left and it became evident that the removal would only be accomplished by force. Gen. Winfield Scott was given charge of these affairs with about seven thousand soldiers, four thousand of whom were volunteers. Sullivan County furnished her share and more wanted to go.
Troops were sent to various points in the Cherokee country, where they erected stockades in which to hold the Indians after they were corralled. From these stock- ades squads of soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets were sent through the mountains to bring in all Indians that could be found. Men going along the road or found in their fields were seized, and squaws engaged in their domestic duties were taken, while children, all unmindful of the approaching seizure, were often caught at play and forced to go. There were instances when a family, on being taken, looked back and saw their old home burning- set on fire by rowdy camp-followers; some on mischief bent, some for purposes of theft, some out of revenge. These ruffians were so ruthless in their thefts they even dug into the graves of the dead to rob them of metal orna- ments.
One old gray-haired Indian, when told he must go, called his family, including his grandchildren, about him and all knelt down and prayed in their own language.
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HISTORIC SULLIVAN.
Even the hardened hearts of the soldiers softened at this sight. Concluding the prayer they silently followed the soldiers.
At one house which the soldiers surrounded, as was their custom to prevent escape, the woman of the home went to the door, called up the chickens to be fed for the last time, then, with her infant on her back and leading two other children, followed the men to her exile.
All the Indians were not so submissive. An aged man called Tsali (Charley) was taken with his family and the families of his three sons. His wife, being too old to walk as fast as the soldiers desired, was prodded with bayonets to hurry her along. The old man could not control him- self. Talking in Cherokee to the others he quickly form- ed a plan to attack the soldiers at a given signal. This was done and each Indian grabbed the soldier nearest him-their guns were taken and one soldier was killed. The rest fled while the Indians escaped into the mountains. Many also escaped from the stockades and seeing it im- possible to secure all, Gen. Scott made a proposition through Col. Thomas, agreeing that if they would surren- der Charley and his party for punishment he would let the others alone until the courts could adjust the matter. Charley on hearing this came in of his own accord, accom- panied by his brother and sons. He offered himself a sacrifice for his nation. All were shot.
Those fugitives that remained at large, unmolested, were the ancestors of the present tribe of the eastern Cher- okees.
After having collected nearly seventeen thousand of the Cherokees the long journey began. Some went by river, but the great majority went overland. A delay of several months was occasioned by the extreme hot weath- er. The march was resumed in October and continued through the entire winter.
It was a great cavalcade, requiring six hundred and forty-five wagons besides horses for riding. The course
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of the exiles was a trail of death-from ten to twenty dying each day. Among them was the devoted wife of Chief Ross who had to be buried by the roadside. When the end came in March, 1839, over four thousand had died from the effects of the removal.
It is hard for us now to harmonize our convictions with the events that transpired at this period, but the act re- calls that of William the Conqueror, who, to satisfy his passion for outdoor sport, demolished the homes and churches of the peasantry for thirty miles in New Forest, and offered no return for the loss. It befell that in a short while three of his house met violent accidental deaths in this forest.
JOHN NETHERLAND.
A BIOGRAPHY.
John Netherland was born in Powhatan county, Vir- ginia, September 20, 1808, but his parents removed to Sullivan County when he was an infant and settled at Kingsport.
He had the advantage of a good education, being a pupil of Doak, under whom his academic course was completed in his fourteenth year-after this he had home training under Henry Hoss, an excellent scholar.
He began the study of law in 1828 and was practising in 1829. Early in life he became interested in politics, and in 1833, when but twenty-five years old, was elected to the state senate from the district composed of Sullivan, Hawkins and Carter counties. While in this body he attained high rank among his colleagues.
While he was a member, one of the leading questions of the day came up-that pertaining to the removal of the Indians from their eastern homes to the territory set apart for them beyond the Mississippi. In an eloquent speech, in which he appealed to the humane side, he took a stand against the removal.
A revision of the state constitution in 1834, by which the eligible age of a state senator was placed at thirty, threw him out of the race. In 1835, however, he was elected to represent Sullivan County in the legislature. It was while serving as representative that he furnishes an example of high integrity in office. He refused to vote for a resolution, asking our senators to vote for the expunging clause, which referred to an act of censure passed upon Andrew Jackson. Sullivan County en- dorsed it in a primary and asked Netherland to vote for it, but rather than go against his principles he resigned his commission and returned to private life.
JOHN NETHERLAND
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JOHN NETHERLAND.
In 1848 he was elector for the state at large on the Taylor-Filmore ticket.
In 1851 he was elected representative from Hawkins county.
When in 1859 the Whig or what was then known as the "Opposition" party wanted a candidate for governor, Netherland was unanimously the choice of the conven- tion at Nashville. He accepted although he knew he had little chance of success. Isham G. Harris was his opponent and defeated him-Netherland, however, ran far ahead of his ticket. Along with Thomas A. R. Nelson and Andrew Johnson, Netherland took sides with the Union during the Civil War and while he suf- fered, as many others on both sides, he did not harbor hatred, but advised tolerance and good feeling when the battles were over.
His last official act was as a member of the constitutional convention of 1870, although he was afterwards tendered a foreign mission by President Johnson, which he declined.
It is more as a lawyer than as a politician that his memory will be preserved. He was one of the strongest advocates in this or any other state.
During John Netherland's last days as a practicioner at the Blountville bar the venerable appearance of the man seemed to add weight to all said. Besides his legal knowledge he knew human nature. He was a well in- formed man, reading much and committing to memory- his favorite writings were the Bible and Robert Burns, from which he would often quote. No jury could resist his style of delivering a message to them. He would often make personal appeals to a juryman-"Bob -, I remember, sir, when your father was cut to pieces in that sawmill " And while such methods may ยท not conform to legal ethics, they influenced.
He was especially forceful in criminal practise and the prisoner was well favored who secured him as counsel. When he was acting in a murder case-defending a prisoner
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HISTORIC SULLIVAN.
-groups of men could be seen entering the court-house. The farmer found it possible to postpone his work, the business man left his counter, the carpenter his bench and even the school boy, always ready to rebel against listening to discourses of any kind, hurried to the court- room-all drawn thither by the report that "John Nether- land closes for the defense."
He was once engaged to defend a young man charged with murder. There are two periods of life that appeal to any jury-youth and old age. He would often say, "I quote from the good book-the greatest of all books -- the book upon which all human law is founded." This time he plead for mercy. He told the story of Absalom, the young man who mutinied, and how, despite the grave charge, the king plead for his life on account of his youth. "And David," said he in concluding, " 'numbered the people that were with him and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab and a third part under the hand of Abishai and a third part under the hand of Ittaii. And the king stood by the gate side and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittaii, saying, deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom'-gentlemen of the jury, deal gently with the young man."
But for his cheerful spirit, that never forsook him, his last days might have gone out in gloom. Himself a great sufferer from bodily affliction, his cup of sorrow was filled by the unhappy fate of his household. His favorite kinsman had passed from earth; his son and namesake, John, had died from pneumonia, the result of exposure in rescuing his father from drowning; his wife, the companion of his long life, was dead and his daughter, Molly, had been killed by being thrown from a runaway horse. And as the old jurist sat on his sunny porch one afternoon, his long stem pipe held in a palsied
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hand, which, with his increasing emotion, tossed the ashes in his lap, he thus sorrowed. "Sam," he said to his companion, "old John's gone-and young John's gone-and Sarah's gone-and Molly's gone -
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE NEWSPAPER-POLITICS.
John Slack was the Nestor of the press of upper East Tennessee.
He was born in McMinn county, Tennessee, December 19, 1835, his family having removed from Fauquier county, Virginia. Orphaned during his infancy he and his two elder brothers were reared by a bachelor uncle.
When seventeen years of age he was apprenticed to Sam. P. Ivans of the Athens, Tennessee, Post-remained with him for four years and then became a journeyman printer, working at various places in the South.
In 1859 he went to Jonesboro and in partnership with Charles Byars established the Whig, which later became the Express, Byars selling out to Slack.
While there he met Julia P. Holston, who was attending school, and was married to her in September, 1862.
He moved to Bristol in 1865, bought out and revived the Bristol News. He was appointed post-master by Andrew Johnson, later going to Greeneville to manage and publish a paper in Johnson's interest. It was Union in politics.
He was elected to the legislature from Sullivan County in 1869-started the Bristol Courier in 1870. A more extended account of his newspaper connection is given later in this chapter.
In 1885 he was appointed, by Cleveland, post-master at Bristol-was elected trustee of Sullivan County in 1894 and re-elected in 1896. In 1898 he was elected state senator, being in this office when he died, October 13, 1900.
It would be hard to measure the influence and the worth to East Tennessee of a man like John Slack. He was a commoner and he came at a time when the times
JOHN SLACK
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THE NEWSPAPER-POLITICS.
most needed him. The war was over, but there were wounds to heal. He was always conservative. Had he been of a discordant, jarring nature he could easily, through his paper, have kept alive the coals of controversy, which some one was always ready to fan into a blaze. But he sought to smooth down dissension and he tempered the times with sound advice.
He differed from his associates in political sentiment, but he did not differ from them in their sorrow.
Frank in the outward show of the inner self, he at times appeared brusque and rude in manner, but he was of kindly heart and envied no man a betterment.
He craved no honor that carried with it only the glitter of parade. When Gen. William B. Bate was elected gov- ernor he invited the editor to become a member of his staff, the position adorning the holder with the title of colonel. His reply was characteristic-"I am too homely to be an ornament and too poor to be useful-please excuse me."
In church work he was a balancing force. He was especially interested in the Sunday-school and the class- meeting-that love feast where the faithful old souls gather and wring the heart of religion and sympathize with one another and sob away their sorrow. Here he was to be found and his best epitaph is the memory the survivors have of him. The secret of his influence with his fellow citizens lay in his confidence in them, which they rewarded with unquestioned confidence in him.
One day a tall, swaying figure brushed into his office --- his trousers stuffed into his boot tops. Slack was stand- ing at a case, setting up an editorial. "John," said the man, "I got your dun. Look-a-here John, I paid you that subscription last fall, don't you mind?"
"Well," replied the editor, "if you say you paid it I'll take your word for it and scratch it off the books," and he did.
He kept his accounts with his fellow men as he kept
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his accounts with his conscience. He was honest in purse and purpose. And standing on the rim of his rounded life and looking back over the circle of his years the path he left is not hard to find, and there are not so many divergences but that it may be safely followed.
NEWSPAPERS.
In the early days of the publishing business of Sullivan County the newspaper had a varied existence. The office generally occupied space not suited for any other active industry. The usual force consisted of two type- setters and the devil, who was general utility boy. In the event of breakdowns and delays the editor, who was nearly always a practical printer, set his editorials from memory. The old Washington hand press was then in use. The office towel was also in use and was never clean.
The editor's sanctum was the loafing place of political students and those who wanted to read the dailies- it was a time when individuality was stamped upon the editorial columns. The querry was not "what does the Tribune have to say," but "what does Horace have to say?"-meaning Horace Greeley.
The editor, too, was supposed to be a general informa- tion bureau and was expected to know everything from how to plant cucumbers in the sign to expounding inter- national law. For many years the county was content with the four-page weekly paper, and, while the business corner announced the subscription price "one dollar per annum, invariably in advance," few there were who- mindful that the editor was mortal, had wants and must eat-heeded the rule, and at the end of the year this sway of public opinion was glad to accept wood or vegetables or any kind of farm products in payment of delinquent subscriptions. One paper, in good-natured desperation, offered to take spring greens.
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THE NEWSPAPER-POLITICS.
With the advent of the railroads came the newspapers. In May, 1857, a stock company bought a press and A. K. Moore, a real estate agent, was made the first editor of the Bristol News. J. Austin Speery succeeded him in a short while and is still considered the pioneer editor of this section. Speery remained with the paper until 1862, when he went to Knoxville to take charge of the Knoxville Register. This paper refugeed in Bristol during the Civil War. The News press also printed the Presbyterian Witness, which was edited by Revs. A. Blackburn, J. M. McClain and James King.
The Southern Advocate succeeded the News with Rev. W. W. Neal, editor, and at the close of its brief career the State Line Gazette was started. W. L. Rice had re- cently sold some land with a view of going west when he was persuaded by Martin Coman to invest here and the result was the launching of the border paper. The Gazette began business with all the promise of prosperity. Coman made a soliciting trip through Wise, Russell and Lee counties, Virginia, securing five hundred dollars worth of subscriptions and job work. Rice made a busi- ness trip to Baltimore immediately after the war, when the East was seeking to renew trade with the South, and the way merchants took advertising space made his heart glad. He thereupon spent several hundred dollars for additional material to accommodate the visions of abundance that were heaping up.
At the end of the first year Rice thought it was time some remittances were coming in to reimburse him for the money he was paying out to keep the paper alive. Statements were sent to Wise, Russell and Lee counties and in return counter statements were received of debts Coman had made before associating himself with the newspaper. To complete his experience the editor got into a controversy with George Gresham, of the Jones- boro Flag, and the bitter personalities threatened to bring the two men together; however, after Gresham
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HISTORIC SULLIVAN.
and a party of friends came to Bristol with the intention of whipping Rice, they suddenly changed their minds and returned home without making any explanations. Rice sold out to W. W. Neal and not before he was ready to sell. He had sunk three thousand dollars in the enter- prise.
In 1865 John Slack restored the old News, and in 1866 leased it to D. F. Bailey, who ran it for a year. It was then purchased by I. C. and Elbert Fowler, remain- ing the property of the former until his appointment as clerk of the Federal Court, at Abingdon, Virginia. A. C. Smith and M. T. Harrison then had charge of the paper until 1890, when it became a daily and Sam. C. W. Smith succeeded Harrison-the father and son ran it for eighteen years. It then became the property of a stock company with N. B. Remine, editor.
John Slack founded the Bristol Courier in 1870. W. M. Burrow purchased it in 1876, but retained the editor, who a year later took charge again. It enjoyed a large job printing patronage, issuing college papers and the Holston Methodist. In 1880 an attempt was made to publish the Daily Courier but it was ephemeral-lasting only three weeks.
In 1888 Charles H. Slack became connected with the business and the first permanent daily paper established in the county was launched September 15th of that year. The editorials were characterized by an independ- ence of thought, expressed in such terse style that they were quoted all over the state and the paper became an iconoclast in Tennessee journalism. With the ex- ception of about one year, during which publication was supended, it existed as the Daily Courier until merged with the Herald in February, 1907, becoming the Herald- Courier. C. H. Slack, John Slack, Munsey Slack, Jack Faw, Nat Dulaney, Jr., N. B. Remine and Herschel Dove have successively been managing editors of this paper.
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