USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > History of Nashville, Tenn. > Part 5
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In 1771 Mansker made a second visit to the Cumberland, accompa- nied this time by John Montgomery, Isaac Bledsoe, Joseph Drake, Henry Suggs, James Knox, William and David Linch, Christopher Stoph, Will- iam Allen, and others. Among them was an old man named Russell, whose vision was so bad that he was compelled to tie a piece of white paper to the muzzle of his gun to enable him to take sight; yet, in spite of this disability, he killed several deer. The winter was a hard one, and the hunters built a house of skins to protect themselves from the in- clemency of the weather. Finding, moreover, that their stock of lead and powder was running low, they left five men to take care of the camp,
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and set out to get a new supply. During their absence a party of In- dians raided the camp and carried off the guards as prisoners, except a man named Hughes. Escaping, he set out with great speed on the path leading back to the settlements, and had not gone very far before he met his friends returning with a good supply of ammunition. The party now continued to hunt and explore, forming, meantime, a station on what has since been known as Station Camp Creek, in Sumner County. Each of them also discovered some spring or stream that has ever since been known by his name-as Drake's Lick, Bledsoe's Lick, Mansker's Lick, etc. On an occasion of their temporary absence their camp was once more plundered of all the furs, ammunition, and every thing else that it contained by a band of Cherokees. These marauders left no trail by which they could be pursued, and it was supposed that they had waded along the channel of the creek. After this occurrence there was nothing left but for the hunters to go back home, and they shortly took their departure.
The Casper Mansker to whom we have already frequently referred is one of the interesting figures of those early times. He crosses the scene once and again. It seems that he was never so well satisfied as when moving through the depth of some forest or sailing down some remote and lonely stream. In 1775 he visited Middle Tennessee for the third time. With three chosen companions of like mind, he began to trap on Sulphur Fork and Red River. These four taciturn and self-contained men supposed themselves to be the only human denizens of the forests, but it was not long till they discovered signs of Indians. They there- fore appointed Mansker, as being the best woodsman of their number, to go upon a scout in search of more precise information. Without much difficulty or delay he found the Indian camp; and, creeping up cautiously through the undergrowth, discovered that it was occupied by only two persons. As he had now found out all that he wanted to know, he made ready at once to leave. But just at this juncture one of the In- dians took up a tomahawk; and went over the stream; while the other one, gun in hand, also arose and approached the very spot where he himself was standing. Fearful that if he exposed himself he would be shot down, and being unable to get out of the way without detection, the only course left him was to assume the offensive. He therefore took aim and drew trigger. The Indian screamed, threw down his gun, ran to the bluff which was near by, and jumped over it into the river dead. Returning to his friends, Mansker reported what had taken place, and they determined, if possible, to catch the other Indian; but when they went to the spot they found that he had already fled, taking with him
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
his horses loaded with furs. During the whole of that day and the fol- lowing night they pursued him, using reed-torches to dispel the darkness. We cannot help feeling glad, even at this late date, that he traveled too fast to be overtaken. Shortly afterward Mansker and his companions went back to New River, being detained on the way about four weeks by the melting of the snow, which made the streams impassable.
In 1778 Richard Hogan, Spencer, Holliday, and others came to the lower Cumberland from Kentucky. They were in search of good lands ; and with a view to permanent settlement, planted a field of corn at Bled- soe's Lick, in Sumner County. Monette says that during this same year a number of families, less than a dozen, made a settlement near Spencer's corn-patch, and then built for protection a small stockade in- closure. This is a cardinal fact, and must be kept in sight.
Speaking of Spencer and of his advent into the country, Phelan in- dulges in the following remarks: "The chronicles of those times have not preserved full records of each expedition, nor perhaps would they possess more than a factitious interest if we had them. Each party came for the same purpose, each encountered virtually the same adventures, and each departed as it had come, leaving no vestige which remains. As yet there had been no breaking of the soil, no dropping of corn, no fell- ing of trees. · But in 1778 the first settler of Middle Tennessee appears in the figure of a trapper who came with a party of hunters from Kentucky to take possession of and secure permanently a part of the wilderness whose beauty and fertility were apparent to the least percep- tive eye, and whose promise of future wealth found more than an earnest in the swift-flowing river that ran through its midst. Of all who came, Spencer was the only one who had a clear and well-defined idea of the object of his mission as the forerunner of civilization. His companions at first entered into the spirit of the enterprise, and assisted him to plant a small field of corn. The dangers, however, which surrounded the undertaking were too great, and all but Spencer quailed before them. They returned to Kentucky, leaving him behind. It is told as a touching instance of the generosity and fearlessness of the man that he broke his knife into two parts and gave one to Holliday, who had lost his own and feared to make the journey without one. Spencer had taken his abode in the large hollow tree near Bledsoe's Lick, which served the double purpose of protection and concealment. Here he remained throughout the entire winter. He saw no one, and heard not the sound of a human voice. It is related as historically true that he once passed not far from a cabin in which dwelt a hunter in the service of Demonbreun, and that the hunter, seeing the imprint of his enormous foot, became frightened.
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INITIAL MOVEMENTS TOWARD SETTLEMENT.
and fled through the wilderness to the French settlements on the Wabash. This is of doubtful authenticity, however, and originated probably in later years, when the size of Spencer's foot had become one of the stand- ing subjects of jest to the early settlers of Nashville. But in Spencer's sojourn and the small crop of corn we find the embryonic germ of Nash- ville and Middle Tennessee. His gigantic figure-alone in the midst of endless forests; wandering and hunting throughout their vast depths, the herald of a coming civilization; cool, courageous, and self-reliant ; going to sleep at night by a solitary camp-fire, with the hooting of owls and the screaming of panthers around him and with no assurance of the absence of a deadlier foe-is one of the most picturesque in the history of South- western pioneers."
But the set time has at last come, and the tide of immigration is about to begin to pour in upon the land. All these initial and tentative move- ments are to be followed by a great procession of persons in search of homes, and who will come to stay. But before we trace the course of events any farther it will be necessary for us to take a brief survey of the settlements on the Watauga, where for some ten years the men have been halting who are to become the founders and fathers of the great city of Nashville.
CHAPTER IV.
WATAUGA AND NOLLICHUCKY.
First Permanent Occupation of Tennessee-Captain William Bean-The Army of Settlers Following Him-James Robertson-Evan Shelby, Isaac Shelby, and John Sevier-Outlaws in Watauga-Representative Government in Watauga-Alexander Cameron's Visit-Land Leases-Crabtree's Crime-Robertson's Visit to the Indians-Sevier's Stockade Fort- Shawnees Form a Confederacy-Beginning of the Military History of Tennessee-Hender- son's Treaty-Beginning of the War of the Revolution-Battle of Long Island Flats- Governor Patrick Henry's Expedition-Long Island Treaty, July, 1777-Dragging Canoe Refuses to be Governed by It-Battle of Chickamauga Creek-Signs of Better Times- Rev. Tidence Lane Organizes a Congregation-Jeremiah Lambert Comes.
PERMANENT occupation of Tennessee by white people began in 1768-9. In January of this latter year Gilbert Christian and Will- iam Anderson, who had been with the regiment of Colonel Bird at Long Island Fort in 1758, and had then been greatly charmed with the coun- try, determined to explore it more thoroughly. Before actually setting out they were joined by the late Colonel James Sawyers, of Knox County, and four other men. Crossing the North Fork of the Holston, they moved down its north bank till they reached the mouth of Big Creek, in Haw- kins County. At that point they met a large party of Indians; and, not caring to take any unnecessary risks, they turned about and retraced their course. "About twenty miles above the North Fork, they found upon their return," says Haywood, "a cabin on every spot where the range was good, and where only six weeks before nothing was to be seen but a howling wilderness." The tide of immigration, that had thus reached the south-western outskirts of Virginia, would soon overflow into Tennessee.
It is probable that Captain William Bean was the first white man to bring his family to the neighborhood of the Watauga, though it is be- lieved by some that he was preceded a few weeks by Honeycut. Bean came from Pittsylvania County, Va., and built his cabin near the mouth of Boone's Creek. Unverified tradition tells us that he had hunted through the country long before in company with Daniel Boone. He afterward moved still farther west, and gave his name to Bean's Station, which is not far from Morristown. His son, Russell Bean, was the first white child born in Tennessee. Of his numerous descendants, several have been men of more than ordinary intellect; and no one of them has ever been even suspected of lacking the most unqualified physical courage. Dr. James Bean, who perished a few years ago in a snow-storm on Mont Blanc, while he was engaged in making observations and collect-
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WATAUGA AND NOLLICHUCKY.
ing specimens for the Smithsonian Institute, was a member of this fam- ily. When his dead body was found it was also discovered that he had kept a complete record, not only of the course of the storm, but also of his own varying sensations up to the time when his fingers grew too stiff to use the pencil, and he could only scrawl unintelligible marks upon the paper. In this fearless Alpine climber, thus coolly journalizing the progress of his own dissolution as he lay in total darkness under the snow-drift, we see the same high and heroic spirit that took the lead and blazed the way for the advance of civilization into the valleys of the Wa- tauga.
Captain Bean was not long left to hold solitary and undisputed posses- sion of the country. He was only the first and boldest scout of the ap- proaching army. Others soon followed in the tracks that he had made; and in less than two years the woods were ringing with the echoes of ax- strokes, as the stalwart pioneers felled and hewed the logs for their new and simple habitations. The population poured in from many quarters. Some came from distant South Carolina; many, like Bean, from the ad- jacent regions of Virginia; but the majority from the old North State. Gilmore is disposed to deny this fact; but it is well substantiated by Ramsey, who, after all, is our very best authority. The cause of the fact is, moreover, easily discerned in the agitations stirred up by the tyranny of the royalist Governor Tryon, who seemed to be fully bent on forcing the colonists to rebel against the authority of the British king. Nothing, certainly, could have been better adapted to produce such a result than the insolences and exactions of this contemptible creature and his still more contemptible underlings. The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the Alamance preferred liberty above all other things, and were even willing to pitch their tents in the wilderness in order to get it. To make this con- cession is due to the truth of history; but, to go still farther, and to enter an exclusive claim in behalf of this capable and energetic race for the credit of all the great and good things that have been done in the de- velopment and growth of Tennessee, is to miss the mark, and to show a lack of equity.
Early in 1770 James Robertson, clarum et venerabile nomen, appeared upon the scene. He was born and brought up in Brunswick County, Va., but had been living for about ten years in Wake County, N. C. At this time he was twenty-eight years old, a very remarkable man in every respect, and destined to be, with the single exception of John Sevier, the most conspicuous figure in early Tennessee history. He will come be- fore us again frequently as we go forward. It is well enough, therefore, to pause here and get a picture of him. His aged granddaughter, Mrs.
4
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
Cheatham, writing as late as 1880, describes him thus: "He was about five feet nine inches in height, heavy-built, but not too fat. His head inclined slightly forward, so that his light-blue eyes were shaded by his heavy eyebrows. His hair was very dark-like a mole in color-and his complexion, though naturally very fair, was darkened and reddened by exposure. I remember him as being uncommonly quiet and thought- ful, and full of the cares of business." To this sketch Gilmore adds: " He had prominent features, and a square, full forehead, which rose in the coronal region into an almost abnormal development. He was ear- nest, taciturn, self-contained, and had that quiet consciousness of power which is usually seen in born leaders of men." Old Oconostota, who knew him and hated him for thirty years, said of him: "He has winning ways, and makes no fuss." It cannot be considered out of place to ap- pend the quaint and stately tribute of Judge Haywood: "He appears by his actions to have merited all the eulogium, esteem, and affection which the most ardent of his countrymen have ever bestowed upon him. Like almost all those in America who have attained eminent celebrity, he had not a noble lineage to boast of, nor the escutcheoned armorials of a splendid ancestry; but he had what was more valuable: a sound mind, a healthy constitution, a robust frame, a love of virtue, an intrepid soul, and an emulous desire for honest fame."
The traveling companion of Robertson on this occasion was Daniel Boone, who had frequently before been over the mountains, and to whom the route was very familiar. On reaching Watauga they were kindly received and hospitably entertained by Honeycut and Bean. Boone, however, did not tarry long. After a few days, he plunged ahead to- ward Kentucky. Robertson, to use his own language, thought he had "reached the Promised Land," and for the present went no farther. It is not strange that he had such an impression; for no grander vision ever saluted the eye of mortal man than that which he beheld when he first stood upon the summit of Stone Mountain, and looked down into the wide valley below, covered as it then was with a dense growth of oak, poplar, ash, cherry, hickory, and walnut, watered by a hundred limpid streams, and furnishing every facility for the creation of human homes.
Clearing as large a space as he could, Robertson planted a crop of corn, tended it during the summer, gathered it into some sort of shelter in the autumn, and then started back home to fetch his family: It was unfortunate for him that he did not have the guidance of Boone; for, after he left the course of the Watauga and struck into the mountains, he soon became lost. Coming to a precipice over which he could neither
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WATAUGA AND NOLLICHUCKY.
lead nor drive his horse, he was compelled to leave the poor creature to its fate, and to proceed on foot. Meantime his powder had been so thoroughly wet by frequent rains that it would not ignite, and this made it impossible for him to procure game. When his scanty stock of parched corn gave out he managed to subsist for awhile on chestnuts ; but at last-weary, faint, and sick-he could go no farther, and sunk down upon the ground. The precise spot is not known. It was probably some- where on the western base of the Yellow Mountain. In this condition he lay a long time. Haywood says that he had no food for fourteen days. But when he seemed doomed to death two strange hunters- guided, let us reverently say, by the hand of Providence-came to the very place. At first they gave him such sparing quantities of food as he could bear, staid with him until his strength was somewhat restored, set him upon one of their horses, and accompanied him some fifty miles on his way. It is most remarkable that not even Robertson has left any record of their names.
As soon as Robertson could make the necessary arrangements, he re- turned to Watauga, taking with him his brave wife and only child, and settled where Elizabethtown now stands. Sixteen other families also ac- companied him-in all about eighty souls. They were an important ac- cession to the infant community. We use the word " community" advis- edly, for in Robertson's absence a half-score or more of squatters had built their cabins and begun their clearings. If it were a clear day when he once more stood on the top of the mountain, he no doubt saw here and there the columns of smoke rising above the tree-tops, and curling lazily upon the air. At the close of 1771 the settlement numbered some forty able-bodied men and probably as many as two hundred souls, and the influx continued with increasing volume. In 1772, not quite two years after Robertson had first entered the country, three men rode up to his house, dismounted, and hitched their horses. They were Captain Evan Shelby, his son, Isaac Shelby, and John Sevier. The first was a native Welshman, but a thoroughly naturalized Virginian. He was then about fifty years of age, of Herculean frame, a brave soldier and true borderer. He had already won distinction on the Virginia line; and in the swiftly approaching war for independence would rise to the rank of brigadier- general. He had settled at Bristol, long known as King's Meadows, and was largely interested in stock raising. The second of these men was then only twenty-one. In general characteristics he much resembled his father, but was, on the whole, a much greater man. Bancroft calls him "a man of iron." In 1780 he led a regiment from Sullivan County to King's Mountain, and afterward became the first Governor of Ken-
.
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
tucky. Of John Sevier it is not necessary to say much in this volume, though if we were writing the history of the State at large, we should have to deal with him at great length. Of mixed French and English blood, he was born in Shenandoah County, Va., in 1745. In mature manhood he was five feet eleven inches high, and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. He had light hair, a fair skin, a ruddy complexion, and large, dark-blue eyes. His forehead was lofty and his nose promi- nent. He stood erect and moved rapidly. People began life early in those days. He was married at seventeen, and his third son, Major John Sevier, was not quite twenty-two years his junior. At the battle of King's Mountain, when he was just thirty-five, his two older sons, James and Joseph, fought by his side. It is not saying too much to affirm that he was the best-loved man that ever lived in the State. Easily and without apparent effort, he drew the multitude to himself, and held it fast by hooks of steel. From the day when he crossed the Virginia border to the day of his death in 1815 he was one of the controlling forces in Tennes- see life.
But not all the emigrants to Watauga and Holston were like the men we have just described. We cannot even say that they all had in them the elements of decent and respectable citizenship. It is the fate of every border community, at least in its earliest stages, to be a place of refuge for outlaws and desperadoes. Watauga was no exception to this general rule. In a short time it was discovered that regular bands of thieves and murderers were infesting the coves of the adjacent mountains, and were plying their nefarious trade at the expense of honest settlers. Against these villains the well-disposed and law-abiding citizens had no redress. The citizens on the north of the Holston supposed themselves to be still in Virginia, and looked to that colony for protection. South of the river, in the recognized limits of North Carolina, there was absolutely no law. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. To meet the emer- gency, it was necessary that there should be prompt action-and it was taken. The Anglo-Saxon instinct of order asserted itself. Some time in 1772-the exact date is not known-the whole company of settlers met in convention, and organized a temporary government. Fully recogniz- ing the value of the representative principle, they first appointed thirteen commissioners and deputed them to complete the task in hand. These commissioners were John Carter, Charles Robertson, James Robertson, Zachary Isbell, John Sevier, James Smith, Jacob Brown, William Bean, John Jones, George Russell, Jacob Womack, Robert Lucas, and William Latham. Of these thirteen, five were selected and appointed to constitute a " court"-namely, John Carter, Charles Robertson, James Robertson,
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WATAUGA AND NOLLICHUCKY.
Zachary Isbell, and John Sevier. The powers of this court were of the most indefinite and elastic character. It was authorized "to settle every thing." Possibly there has been no other body of men in this country vested with functions so general-legislative, judicial, and executive. The Articles under which this Watauga Association was framed have not been preserved. It is believed that they constitute the first written com- pact for civil government anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were, in any event, at least three years earlier than the time when the fathers of Kentucky, seventeen in number, "met beneath the great elm- tree at Boonesboro, outside of the fort, on the thick sward of the fra- grant white clover," and organized a convention for similar purposes.
When the line of 36° 30' was run, in 1772, it was made quite certain that the settlers were on the south side of it, and were therefore occupying terri- tory that had not been ceded by the Indians. A little while afterward Mr. Alexander Cameron, an Indian Agent of the British Government, came among them and ordered them to move off. But they had risked too much to throw up their prospects at the mere bidding of any one man, and they resolved to stay where they were. Prohibited by a proc- lamation which King George had made as far back as 1763 from making any absolute purchase of the Indians, they determined, nevertheless, to secure their interests by effecting a lease. At a conference which was convened at Watauga Old Fields for the purpose of accomplishing this result, more than six hundred Indians were present, among them such famous warriors as Oconostota, Atta-Culla-Culla, Savanucca, Noonday, John Watts, and Old Tassell. After much deliberation, and in consid- eration of the sum of $5,000 or $6,000-to be paid in powder, lead, mus- kets, cotton goods, etc.,-the desired end was reached, and a lease was made for eight years of all the lands on the Watauga and its tributaries. At the same time and place, Colonel Jacob Brown, who had recently come from South Carolina to the Nollichucky with a small stock of goods, was equally successful in obtaining a lease for an immense tract of land on the latter river. The spot where he took up his abode, and which is still the property of his great-grandson, Mr. John Jacob Brown, is about seven miles south of Jonesboro, and became the center of the second of the East Tennessee settlements. The third, which began in the same year 1772, was in Carter's Valley, fifteen miles from Rogers- ville.
After the conference had terminated its business a few days were given to sports, such as running, leaping, wrestling, etc. While these were going on a man named Crabtree, who was present from the Wolf Hills, in Virginia, and whose brother had been killed by the Indians a
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
few years before, stealthily and cruelly shot one of the young braves. Instantly there was a great commotion. Without waiting for explana- tions, the Indians hastily left for their homes on the Little Tennessee. It was evident that they were in a dangerous mood, and would soon re- turn to seek for revenge. In this important crisis, James Robertson, with a cool courage that has scarcely a parallel in history, volunteered to go unattended to the Indian towns, and seek to prevent hostilities, Never did any man make a more dangerous journey. That he traveled the one hundred and fifty miles unhurt, succeeded in convincing the Indians that the act which had kindled their resentment was one for which the whites were in no wise responsible, and then rejoined his family and friends. after an absence of only a few weeks, justifies the assertion that he was "a born diplomatist." In the meantime, John Sevier, not knowing what the outcome of Robertson's mission would be, had built a stockade fort for protection and defense, the pattern of many subsequent structures.
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