History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 12

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 12

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The surface distribution of the various formations of the State may be seen perfectly by consulting Dr. Safford's ex- cellent map, as also their full description and lithological characters will be found detailed in the text of his work. We can only give in the space at our command a brief out- line of the location or distribution of these formations.

The lowest or metamorphic rocks are wholly confined to East Tennessee, and in that division they only occur as detached areas or sections immediately along the North Carolina line. Next west of this, along the Unaka Chain, and forming its bold and isolated spurs, appears the Chil- howee, or Potsdam sandstone. The beautiful and fluted valley of East Tennessee is made up of the Knoxville group and the Trenton formation, the former not appear- ing in any other part of the State. The Trenton extends westward, and with the Nashville forms the Great Basin of Middle Tennessee. This Great Basin is geologically, as well as agriculturally, one of the most interesting portious of the State, and as it contains the major part of the county of Davidson, situated in its west side aud lying partly upon its Highland Rim, it will be proper to bestow upon it more than a passing notice.

The Central Basin of Middle Tennessee, embracing an area of five thousand four hundred and fifty square miles, has been denuded of the whole series of the Upper Silu- rian and Devonian formations, extending from the Trenton and Nashville limestone of the Lower Silurian to the sub- carboniferous epoch. "Originally, when continuous," says Dr. Safford, " the strata rose up in a slightly-elevated dome, the summit of which was over the central part of Ruther- ford County. Taking the formation of the flat Highlands around the Basin as the topmost of the dome, the amount of matter removed at this point could not have been less in vertical thickness than 1300 feet."

It would be easy to account for the removal of this vast mass of matter on the supposition of a disturbance of the strata. Going back to the period when the formations were continuous, we should see that they lay buried beneath the sub-carboniferous ocean which then covered a large portion of the continent. Eventually there came a time when the strata were broken and upheaved by internal force, and the

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MESOZOIC TIME.

Carboniferous Age, or Age of | Reptilian Age, or Age of

(a) Flatwoods etc.

Sand,

CENOZOIC TIME.

or Quater-

HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

currents of the ocean rushing into its fissures and caves, perhaps undermining the whole elevated and partially- broken mass, and wearing it on all sides, began the process of disintegration and excavation by which the Basin was finally scooped out. This process, no doubt, accounts for many of the remarkable denudations which have taken place in different parts of the country. But the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee presents no evidence of a general upheaval, although local disturbances may have occurred in different parts of the basin, and probably caused the slight elevation at the centre referred to as the dome over Mur- freesboro'. A general upheaval is entirely incompatible with the fact stated by Dr. Safford, that " throughout the Basin remnants of the strata have been left in the hills and ridges ; these remnants always occurring in a certain order, building up the hills and giving to them a like geological structure. All sides of the Basin present the outcropping edges of the same strata in the same order. That the hills have a like structure results necessarily from the nature of the case, the Basin having been scooped out from horizontal strata, and the hills and ridges being simply portions left by the denuding agencies.

" What these agencies were is a question of interest. The simplest theory is that the work has been done by run- ning water, aided more or less by frost. The waters of the Cumberland, Duck, and Elk Rivers are now at work washing down the hill-sides and deepening the lower areas ; and it is not improbable that the same waters commenced the excavation of the Basin, each branch creek and rill doing its part of the work. This, of course, has required long ages of time, during which the streams have been constantly changing and deepening their channels and their immediate local valleys. The Basin is the aggregate result of the work of all the streams, small and great."

The Cumberland, Duck, and Elk Rivers furnished the first axes of depression when, starting down from the table- land, ages ago, they cut the first valleys through what is now the Basin, and made an opportunity for other streams to flow into it. A perfect type of this may be seen any day in the action of the surface-water after a heavy rain. However small the channel made at first, other innumer- able little rills begin to run into it, and to wear and carry away the soil. It only needs the constant supply of water for a sufficient length of time to excavate great valleys and wear the hard, rocky formation to a depth and extent hardly conceived of when considering the apparently slow process by which the work is carried on by many of our streams and rivers. Such is no doubt the manner in which the great Central Basin has been excavated.

At the bottom of this great Central Basin occur the rocks of the Trenton or Lebanon formation, occupying nearly half of its area. The strata and the bottom of the Basin are slightly tilted to the west, the rocks outcropping at a higher elevation on the east side, and sinking below the rivers at or near Nashville, Franklin, and Columbia, re- spectively. " Nearly all of Wilson, Rutherford, Bedford, and Marshall Counties are within the outcrop of the Trenton formation. . . . This formation is one of great interest, especially in an agricultural point of view. The soils it yields are among the best. To the paleontologist

it is an inviting field, its stratu presenting a rich fossil flora."

We give below from Dr. Safford's report a section show- ing the beds of this formation in their natural order, as follows :

(5.) Carter's Creek Limestone .- ( Topmost.) A heavy- bedded, light-blue, or dove-colored limestone, the upper part often gray ; contains Stromalapora rugosa, Column- uria alvocolata, Tetradium columnare, Petraia profunda, Strophomena filistexta, Rhynchonella recurvirostra, Ortho- ceras Bigsbyi, O. Huronense, Pleurotomaria lapicida, etc. The thickness of the stratum is from fifty to one hundred feet.

(4.) The Glade Limestone .- A stratum of light-blue, thin-bedded, or flaggy limestone. Pre-eminently the bed of the great " Cedar Glades" of the Central Basin. Con- tains Strophomena, S. filistexta, Orthis deflecta, O. per- verta, O. tricenaria, Rhynchonella orientalis, Cyrtodonta obtusa, Trochonema umbilicata, Orthoceras rapax, Illæ- nus Americanus, Leperditiu fubulites, etc. Maximum thickness, one hundred and twenty feet.

(3.) The Ridley Limestone .- Next below is this stratum, a group of heavy-bedded, light-blue, or dove-colored lime- stone. Some of its fossils are as follows: Orthoceras anceps, Stromatapora rugosa, Columnaria alveolata, Or- this bellarugosa, Camerella varians, Rhynchonella Ridley- ana, etc. The maximum thickness observed is ninety-five feet.

(2.) Pierce Limestone .- A group of thin-bedded, flaggy limestones, with generally a heavy-bedded layer near the base. These rocks are highly fossiliferous, and abound in Bryozoa. Among the fossils are Orthis Stonensis, Rhyn- chonella Ridleyana, Dalmanites Troosti, etc. The group has a maximum thickness of twenty-seven feet.

(1.) Central Limestone .- An important group of thick- bedded, cherty limestones, of a light-blue or dove color. Contains Salterella Billingsi and Leperditia fabulites in abundance; also Cyrtoccras Stonense, Trochonema umbili- cata, Helicotoma Tennesseensis, H. declivis, Rhynchonella altilis, etc.

This bed is the bottom-rock of the Central Basin, and presents in the heaviest exposures a thickness of about one hundred feet.

The lands of the basin fall naturally into two divisions, the two being underlaid respectively by the Trenton and Nashville formations. To one group of lands we may give the name of Trenton, to the other Nashville. The soils derived from the Trenton rocks are, as a general rule, ' more clayey than those from the Nashville beds, the latter containing more sandy or siliceous matter. Stone for build- ing purposes is obtained from all the heavy-bedded divisions of the Trenton, the upper part of the Carter's Creek divi- sion supplying a very superior article. This whitish-gray and beautiful limestone is quarried extensively in Maury County, and is conveniently located along the line of the railroad.

In Davidson County the Nashville, or Hudson River group, is the prevailing formation. The passage from the Trenton to this formation is well marked and abrupt. This is well seen at Columbia and at all other points in the Cen-

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PHYSICAL FEATURES.

tnl Basin, where this rock-horizon is accessible. The Trenton ends with light-colored, heavy-bedded limestones (immediately at the top, often thin-bedded, with clayey seams), and the Nashville begins with a siliceous, blue, cakareous rock, weathering often into earthy, buff, sandy masses, and sometimes into shales. The impurities consist of clay and fine sand. A detailed section of the rocks as they occur in Nashville, and which may be taken as a type of the whole county, was made out by Dr. Safford. This section, given below, commences under the Wire Bridge and ascends to the top of Capitol Hill. The section is num- bered from the bottom up, but the highest is described first :

SECTION OF THE NASHVILLE FORMATION.

(6.) College Hill Limestone .- When freshly quarried a dark-blue, highly fossiliferous, coarsely crystalline, and roughly-stratified limestone, with more or less of its lamina shaly. The mass weathers, generally, into rough, flaggy limestones and shaly matter, interstratified, often liberating multitudes of fossils, especially small corals. Some of the layers of this limestone are wholly made up of corals and shells. Stenopora, Constelaria antheloidea, Tetradium fibratum, Columnarin stellata, Stromatopora pustulosa, Strophomena alternata, Orthis lynx, O. occi- dentalis, and others are abundantly represented by indi- vidaals. Bellerophon Troosti, species of Cyrtodonta, Am- bonychia radiata, occur, and, in fact, nearly all the forms given in column M of Dr. Safford's catalogue. The divi- sion is well seen on College Hill, and in the upper part of the bluff at the Reservoir. There is also a fine presenta- tion of it on Capitol Hill, around the capitol. Its lowest layers are at the top of the bluff at the Wire Bridge. These rocks pertain to the highest stratum in the vicinity of Nashville. This division at Capitol Hill measures one hundred and twenty feet.

(5.) Cyrtodonta Bed .- Immediately below the College Hill limestone is a remarkable bed of coarsely crystalline, ashen-gray, or light yellowish-gray limestone, in great part made up of valves of species of Cyrtodonta, individuals of Bellerophon Lindsleyi, and B. Troosti. This bed is best developed in the bluff at the Wire Bridge. It is here ten or eleven feet thick, and forms one solid layer. The shells are silicified, and pretty generally have their edges rounded and worn, as if they had been rolled in currents of water, or by waves. The bed is seen again at the engine-house of the Water-Works, where it is six feet thick. In tracing it beyond the engine-house it very soon runs out, and is replaced by a compact, dove-colored limestone, like No. 3 below. . . . This rock has been used for building purposes to some extent, and for making corner-posts. Maximum thick ness, eleven feet.

(4.) Bed of limestone of the common type; much like the College Hill limestone, coarsely crystalline, fossil- iferous, etc. It occurs below No. 5, on the west side of the capitol. In the bluff at the Wire Bridge it is twenty- three feet thick. In the bluff above the engine-house of the Water-Works it measures twenty-eight feet.

(3.) Dove Limestone .- This is a group of thin layers for the most part. The upper layer is a light dove-colored, compact limestone, four feet thick, breaking conchoidal

fracture, containing strings (mostly vertical) of crystalline matter, which show points on a horizontal surface (Birds- eyes). The middle layer is mainly the common, dark-blue, crystalline limestone (two feet). The lowest layer (four feet) is mostly like the upper, but more or less mixed with blue layers. Such is the group to be seen at the foot of Gray Street, in a quarry on the river-bank. This group presents itself at many points in and around the city. . .. It appears at many points in Davidson County outside of Nashville. The layers are generally of desirable thickness, and are quarried at numerous points in and about the city for building and other purposes.

The group contains a number of species. Detached siphuncles of Orthoceras Bigsbyi and of an allied species are numerous at some points, especially in the middle layer. Tetradium, Bellerophon, Murchisonia, Plurotomaria, and other genera are represented. It is in this group Leperditia Morgani is found. Thickness, eleven fect.

(2.) Capitol Limestone .- This bed supplied the rock to build the capitol, and was formerly well exposed in the old State quarry west and in sight of the building. It is lime- stone, but has the appearance of a laminated sandstone. It is, in fact, a consolidated bed of calcareous sand, the sand being the comminuted fragments of shells and corals. Originally the mass was drifted in running water, and arranged in lamina. As we find the rock now it is, when quarried, a massive, bluish-gray, granular limestone, with a well-marked lamillar structure. When cut and ground smooth a block of it presented edgewise shows well the laminar character. Such a surface is bluish-gray, plenti- fully banded with darker lines. The capitol is a splendid presentation of this rock as a building material. The rock often contains rolled fragments of the beaded siphuncles of species of Orthoceras. Some specimens of these are seen in the faces of the blocks in the walls of the capitol. It exhibits also examples of cross-stratification, another evidence of the current action to which it was originally subjected. The mass contains some little siliceous matter, mostly in grains and in small fragments of silicified shells, so that they do not interfere materially with the working of the rock. It is easily quarried, and can be obtained in blocks of any de- sirable size. In its natural exposure it exfoliates in laminæ by long weathering.

The bed pretty generally underlies the city, has been quarried at the foot of Gray Street, on the river, is near the water under the Wire Bridge, and appears beyond the Water-Works, where it has also been quarried, and is twenty feet thick. The lamellar structure of this bed runs into the one just below to some extent, and it is not always easy to draw a line of separation. Below the Wire Bridge my measurements make the thickness of the bed twenty- five feet.

(1.) The Orthis Bed underlies the last, and is the lowest member of the Nashville formation. It is in the water below the Wire Bridge, but rises in going down the river, and may be studied in the bluff below the railroad bridge. It may be seen, too, and its orthis gathered at the first mile- stone on the Murfreesboro' turnpike. It rises at the end of the bluff beyond the Water-Works, and still farther east, as at Mount Olivet, it may be seen resting on the Carter's

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

Creek Limestone,-the upper member of the Trenton for- mation. It has, however, been described, and its thickness given.

One of these strata takes the name of the Bosley stone, and is quarried in the tenth and eleventh districts, near the Hillsboro' turnpike. It is a light-gray, fine-grained, and easily-worked limestone, and makes a handsome, durable front. Quite a number of the fronts of the best buildings in Nashville are made of this stone ; among others may be mentioned that of the Methodist Book Concern and En- sley's Block adjoining, also the elegant front of Burns' Block. This rock is also quarried in Bell's Bend, below Nashville.

There is a large number of minerals found in the county, but in such small quantities as to be undeserving of notice.

The sulphur springs are numerous, the most famous of which is situated within the corporate limits of Nashville, which was bored to a great depth in search of salt. The water is much used during the summer months, and large quantities are sold on the streets by boys. In the early his- tory of the country this spring was known as the Big French Lick, called so because a Frenchman, M. Charle- ville, from New Orleans, built his cabin on the mound on the north side of Spring Branch as early as 1714.

CHAPTER XII.

INDIAN WARS.

1783, Pruitt's Engagement-Military Organizations at the Stations -- 1788, Diplomacy of Col. James Robertson-Death of Col. Anthony Bledsoe-Attack on Mayfield's Station-1789, Robertson adopts an Aggressive Policy-Pursuit of the Enemy-Bold and Successful Charge of Capt. Williams-1790, Treaty with the Creeks-1791, Treaty at Knoxville with the Cherokees-Defense of Davidson County.

EARLY in the year commissioners appointed by the State of North Carolina to lay off lands for Revolutionary soldiers, and examine claims to pre-emption rights by the Cumber- land settlers, arrived at Nashborough accompanied by a guard of one hundred soldiers. The advent of this large force gave hopes of better security from Indian depreda- tions, but in this the people were disappointed. These sol- diers limited their services to the duty of guarding the com- missioners while engaged in their surveys. This work done they returned whence they came, leaving the distressed settlers again to their own resources. Many murders and outrages were committed even during the presence of the soldiers in the country. These at length grew so frequent that on an incursion being made, in which many horses were taken from the vicinity of the Bluff, Capt. William Pruitt, who had been recently elected to embody the citi- zens of that place for their better defense, raised twenty men for the pursuit at once, and took the trail. The officers of his company were as follows : Samuel Martin and John Buchanan, first and second lieutenants, and William Over- all, ensign. There is no record of how many of these were in the pursuit; if any of them were present, their names

are sufficient guarantee of duty well performed. The trail led south to a point on Richland Creek, probably in Giles County, where he overtook the marauders, when by a rapid charge he dispersed them, although in greatly superior numbers, and recaptured the horses without losing a man. On his return he encamped for the night at a creek falling into Duck River on the north side. The Indians having discovered in the mean time the disparity of the whites, and smarting under defeat and the loss of the horses, re- turned on his trail and attacked his rear as he was in the act of leaving his camp about daylight. Moses Brown, in the rear, fell at the first fire. The whites being encum- bered by the horses in the thick cane, retreated about a mile and a half, when, on reaching the open woods, they halted and formed a line. The enemy soon came on and made regular dispositions for battle by forming lines for front and flank attacks. They then advanced steadily under fire of the whites, who stood bravely to their posts until it was evident that further resistance at this place would endanger the safety of the entire party. They thereupon retreated, Daniel Johnson and Daniel Pruitt being killed and Morris Shaw and others wounded. To make their retreat sure, they were compelled to abandon the horses for which they had struggled so hard. This species of property was esteemed the most valuable of the pioneers' possessions ; it was indispensable in the cultivation of the soil, upon which was based the occupation and settlement of the country. With the losses stated the company made its way back to the Bluff without further molestation. The Indians exulted greatly in their victory, and the whites were correspondingly depressed from the loss of so much valu- able property. The Pruitts, being recent arrivals in the settlement, sought to palliate the disaster by condemning the tree-to-tree manner of fighting practiced on the fron- tier, claiming that dash and boldness were the proper methods of contending with Indians, which observation was very true when there was anything like a party of numbers, or the situation different from that in which he was placed on this occasion. If he had been free-handed or unencumbered with horses it is quite probable he could have made a different showing for himself and his brave little band. It further deserves the notice given it from the hardihood and resolution displayed by the actors in follow- ing and attacking successfully a greatly superior force at such a distance (over sixty miles) from their base.

It was in this year, 1783, that something like a military establishment was formed by the committee which met at Nashborough March 15th, and was constituted as to the officers as follows, as appears from this extract from its records : " It being thought necessary for our better defense in these times of danger that officers be chosen in each respective station to embody the inhabitants for their greater security. Accordingly there was made choice of at Nashborough William Pruitt for captain, Samuel Martin and John Buchanan for first and second lieutenants, and William Overall ensign.

" At Heatonsburg [Eaton's], Josiah Ramsey, captain ; James Hollis, lieutenant; and Joshua Thomas, ensign.

" At Freeland's Station, Joshua Howard, captain ; James Donelson, lieutenant ; and John Dunham, ensign.

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INDIAN WARS.

"At Mansker's, Isaac Bledsoe, captain ; Jasper Mansker, lieutenant ; James Linn, ensign.

"At Maulding's, Francis Prince, captain ; Ambrose Maulding, lieutenant."

By act of the Assembly of October 6, 1783, the State extends its authority over the Cumberland settlements which were organized into Davidson County. The military establishment under this act was as follows: Anthony Bledsoe, first colonel; Isaac Bledsoe, first major; Samuel Barton, second major; Casper 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 Douglas, ensigns.

The opening of the year 1788 soon brought its record of Indian murder and devastation. Col. Robertson, ever mind- ful of the interests of his people, now had recourse to a piece of diplomacy which shows him to have been a man of much intellectual grasp and breadth of view. He ad- dressed a very able communication to Gen. McGillivray, the renowned chief and head of the Creek Nation, in which he indicated the " manifest destiny" of the Western settle- ments to and in their supremacy over the great valley of the Mississippi, and appealed directly to his interest in maintaining the most friendly relations with them. An- drew Ewing and James Hoggatt were the ambassadors, and deserve great credit for the hardihood and courage with which they penetrated the wilderness more than two hundred miles amid the dangers and privations incident to a journey of this kind. McGillivray, who had been edu- cated at Charleston, S. C., replied in a manner which gave much satisfaction and excited great hopes that hostilities from that quarter would in a great measure cease if the frontiersmen would only exercise patience and forbearance.

In consequence of these assurances and the pendency of negotiations in furtherance of peace, Gen. Robertson felt necessitated to a strictly defensive policy for this year, although the warfare continued as bitter as ever and num- bered among its victims not only one of his dearest friends, Col. Anthony Bledsoe, but his own son. It is a strong tribute to his fortitude and public virtue that under these circumstances he restrained his feelings in the hope of an adjustment, and refused to allow any retaliatory expeditions to be undertaken or even pursuit to be made, judging from the barrenness of the record of such measures.

Although no attempts were made to force a direct en- trance into any of the forts, several affairs occurred which resulted in serious calamities to the country in the death of several of its first citizens. The killing of Col. Anthony Bledsoe has been mentioned. This circumstance, though taking place outside of the limits of Davidson County, deserves more than a passing notice, on account of the prominent relation of the victim and his family to the founding and upbuilding of the Cumberland settlement. This event occurred at his fort at Bledsoe's Lick, now Cas- tilian Springs, in Sumner County, on the night of July 20th. The houses were surrounded by the usual stockade, except that of Col. Bledsoe and his brother Isaac, which was double and formed a section of the stockade; the passage between the two rooms was open and not barred

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 12

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013