USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee, from its earliest discoveries and settlements to the end of the year 1894 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
5. De Soto never recovered from this attack of the Indians. His force was greatly reduced in number, his supplies were cut off, and his followers greatly discouraged by the combined attacks of sickness and the natives. His next course was in a northwesterly direction. In May, 1541, the discovery which has unmortalized his name was made. Standing on the Chickasaw Bluff. where the city of Memphis, Tennessee, stands, he behell the waters of the Mississippi River rolling below in solitary grandeur to the sea.
À
18
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
6. De Soto died May 21. 1542, in an encampment on the banks of the river he had discovered. To prevent his body fall- ing into the hands of the Indians, his men carried it at night to the middle of the river, and loading it with stones, deposited it beneath the waters. Only a few of De Soto's band survived to reach Cuba. Their great leader gone. they quarreled among themselves. broke up into small bands, and most of them perished by sickness or by the attacks of the Indians.
7. The silence that brooded over the Mississippi River, so far as Europeans were concerned, was unbroken from the date of De Soto's death in 1542 until 1673, when Joliette and Marquette. two devoted missionaries, descended the river from the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas. Five years after- ward. La Salle, who like Joliette and Marquette was a native of France, projected his voyage down the great inland stream. Before making this voyage, he was compelled to return to France for official authority. On his return to America he was accom- panied by the Chevalier Tonti, and the two, accompanied from Canada by Father Zenobia, a devout Jesuit, made the perilous descent to the mouth of the Mississippi.
8. La Salle found that the Indian tribes along the banks of the Lower Mississippi were all sun worshipers. He was greatly interested in their evangelization, and Father Zenobia labored zealously to convert them to the religion of the Cross. After visiting the mouth of the Mississippi, both La Salle and the good priest returned to France to report the results of the expedition. De Tonti remained in America, having been placed in com- mand of Fort St. Louis, an important French post on the Illinois.
9. La Salle returned to America in 1685 for the purpose of establishing a colony on the Mississippi. The undertaking ter- minated very disastrously. His vessels were wrecked, most of his colonists and a number of his crew were lost, and he himself Was treacherously murdered by some of his companions while
19
DE SOTO AND HIS MEN.
ving to cut a path through the vast wilderness that lay between My mouth of the Mississippi and Fort St. Louis.
10. In 1699 the attempt to plant a French colony near the month of the Mississippi was successfully made by Iberville, a gallant soldier who had distinguished himself in the wars between France and Great Britain. With several vessels placed under I- command by the Government of France, Iberville, after a wir voyage across the Atlantic, anchored on February 1. 1699. in the harbor of Ship Island. Accompanied by a strong force, Iberville left his ships and proceeded to explore the surrounding country in the hope of finding a suitable place for a settlement. With two of their ships' boats and some canoes obtained from 'he Indians. they entered the Mississippi River March 2, 1699. The Indians living along its banks received them kindly, exhib- iting presents given them by La Salle and De Tonti.
11. La Salle, Marquette, Talon and Montcalm had an idea Chat the country could be easily subjugated by establishing trad- ing posts on the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers and gradually extending these posts to the tributaries of these and other rivers, thereby increasing the French prestige and sway to the Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, trading posts were placed on the Ohio and the Mississippi. Bribery, artifice, cunning and cruelty were the instruments for the accomplishment of their heinous under- taking to secure power, prestige and possessions in America.
12. Tradition, founded upon ingenious supposition and a super- Acial resemblance of topographical features, says that De Soto. on lis wonderful march of discovery and conquest, which is the brightest and saddest feature in American colonization, entered the eastern part of the then unknown Tennessee, and turning westward across the country, continued his journey until he reached the Mississippi at a village which the Indians called Chisca, which occupied the present seat of Memphis.
13. De Soto crossed a tedious range of mountains, passed through regions of country rich in harvests and thickly settled
P
20
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
by Indians, full of valleys, brooks, rivers and forests. Man days marching led him through the provinces of Indiaus w' inhabited this country, until he reached the "Father of Waters. Repeated efforts have been made to prove the exact journey. be with futile results. History says little about it, imagination does the rest.
14. It is not deemed necessary to pursue this chieftain further his object was conquest and colonization: in both he failed. The generous mind sympathizes in his reverses of fortune, and after watching his fruitless expeditions on the banks of the Mississippi in the wild and boundless solitude of contiguous territory. We see he at last returns to die in the secluded forest upon the shore (: this great river, Mississippi.
15. De Soto's death and the enormous expenditure of 100.000 ducats necessary to equip this expedition, the failure to find go! ! or to achieve any of the objects of the undertaking. discourage ! the Europeans, and it was not till 1673 that another effort from Europe to explore the present Tennessee, was made.
QUESTIONS .- 1. Who was Hernando De Soto? De Leon' 2. How many men did De Soto have? How did the natives view him? 3. Describe his journey through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. 4. With what Indians did he winter? What did he demand ? Describe the conflict. 5. What effect did this have on him? What did he discover in May. 1541? 6. De sos died when? Where? What did his men do? ". What occurred in 1673? Who were Joliette and Marquette? What was their object? 8. What did La Salle find? In what was he interested ' 9. Why did La Salle return in 1685? How did the undertaking end? ro. What did Iberville do? How did the Indians receive him? II. What did the French think? Do? 12. What does tradition say of De Soto's journey? 13. Describe this journey. Whom did he find? 14. Did De Soto succeed ? He died where ' 15. What was the effect of this futile effort?
21
ABORIGINES OF TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER III.
ABORIGINES OF TENNESSEE.
1. In the early days when nomadic, marauding parties took perennial pleasure in tantalizing the ignorant Indians about their possessions, it was a difficult matter to secure and maintain their friendship. From time immemorial the Indians had held undis- jutted ownership and control of the lands which they occupied. and which gave them contentment.
2 With a vague unrest and a jealous eye, they viewed with dread, disgust and alarm the incursions and approaches of the white man, apprehending that these forays would terminate in the Europeans possessing this country. The Indians did what they could to retain their hunting grounds, the title of which, through the untiring energy and shrewd diplomacy of William Pitt, slipped from them, and the sovereignty of the region east of the Mississippi was given to King George III. of Eng-
3. The treaty of Paris in 1763, which the servility of a minister had negotiated for the stupidity of a master, brought rich gains to the territory of England, and King George in 1763 issued a proclamation prohibiting the granting of lands to any one in the region west of the mountains, and beyond the sources of those streams which flowed into the Atlantic, no private person was permitted to buy from the Indians.
4. As early as 1748. Dr. Thomas Walker with a party had ; enetrated the interior of Tennessee and named the Cumberland Mountains, the River, and the Gap, in honor of the royal duke of England. A party of nineteen, about 1;6r, named Walker's Creek and Walker's Ridge in honor of their leader. In 1764. Daniel Boone and Samuel Calloway attempted to explore the
22
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
country; previously Boone's solitary figure and unerring rifle had been with exploring parties often.
5. At the time of its first explorations, Tennessee was a vast and almost unoccupied wilderness, a solitude over which an Indian hunter seldom roamed, and to which no tribe had a dis- tinct claim. On account of its mild climate, rich pasturage and varied ranges of mountains, Tennessee had become an exten. sive park. of which the Indians and the beasts of the forest held undisputed possession. At last. the value of the country began to be appreciated as a hunting ground, and as affording immunity from the molestations of the white man.
6. The Shawnees, according to early French explorers and geographers, occupied the banks of the Lower Cumberland. Numerous villages abounded at times, but as the Indians wandered from place to place their villages were not large. Gen. Robertson learned from the Indians, that in 1665 the Shaw nees occupied the country from the Tennessee River to where Nashville is, and north of the Cumberland: and that about 1700, they left this country and went north.
7. About the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Chicka- saws became the allies of the Cherokees for the expul- sion of the Shawnees from the Cumberland Valley, which was gradually effected. In 1714, when Mr. Charleville opened a store where Nashville now is, he occupied a fort of the Shaw- nees as his dwelling. Having been so harrassed by the enemy, they decided to evacuate the territory, which they soon after did. Hearing of the Shawnees' intention to leave the Cumberland Valley country, the Chickasaw resolved to strike an effectual blow against them and secure possession of the Shawnees' store. The attack was successful. Many Shawnees perished.
8. Since the hostilities of these tribes were closed by no formal treaties, they continued depradations when an opportunity was available. At length. fearing each other. all these tribes forsook the territory, and it remained unoccupied for sixty years. When
3
23
ABORIGINES OF TENNESSEE.
the whites began to settle it, they found the whole country west of the Cumberland Mountains uninhabited and abounding in many of the wild beasts of the forest. Occasionally, a few wandering Shawness would return, and being so familiar with the country. were able to do much mischief to the white settlers.
9. The Chickasaws inhabited the country east of the Missis- sippi and north of the Choctaw boundary: their villages and settlements were generally south of the 35th degree, north lati- tude, but they claimed all the territory within the present States of Kentucky and Tennessee which lies between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers, and very much north of the former. The territory contained no permanent settlements: it was used only for hunting grounds.
Io. These Indians were war-like, valiant, dextrous and brave. They exercised an unwonted influence over the Natches, Choc- taws and other tribes. Usually, they were the friends and allies of the Anglo-Americans; their brave but peaceable warriors were often instrumental in preventing hostilities between other tribes. So close is the affinity between the Chickasaws and Choctams, in their physical appearances, languages, customs, traditions, and laws, that they appear to have had a common origin.
11. The Uchees once occupied the country near the mouth of the Hiwassee: in a battle with the Cherokees their warriors were exterminated; little else is known of them. The Creeks, ouce a powerful tribe, lived at times on the southern boundary of the State, but never settled permanently in it. Tradition says the Cherokees confederated with the Chickasaws for the expulsion of the Shawnees. The Cherokees had become quarrelsome, arro- gant and incautious over their success and victory in war. It is said that every Indian tribe has a house or town of refuge which is a sure asylum to protect a man-slayer, or the unfortunate cap- tive. if he can once enter it. Chota. five miles from Fort London, was the city of refuge for the Cherokees. The Indians never forgot a cruelty inflicted upon them by a foe; they would
24
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
go any distance, through pathless woods, over mountains and deep swamps, for revenge. They designated the mountains and streams by names remarkable for euphony and beauty.
12. Oconostota was a leader of the Cherokees: he was fearless, blood- thirsty and relentless, stealthy of foot, quick of stroke, and sharp of fangs. In an eloquent speech he predicted the fate of his race, in these beautiful words: "This is but the beginning. Whole nations have passed away, and there remains not a stone to mark the place where rest the bones of our ancesors. They have melted like the snow before the rays of the sun, and their names are unrecorded, save in the deeds and the characters of those who have brought destruction upon them. "
13. "The invader has crossed the great sea in ships: he has not been stayed by broad rivers, and now he has penetrated the wilderness and overcome the ruggedness of the AN INDIAN WARRIOR. mountains. Neither will he stop here. He will force the Indian steadily before him across the Mississippi ever towards the west. to find a shelter and a refuge in the seclusion of solitude, but even here he will come at last; and there being no place remaining where the Indian may dwell in the habitation of his people. he will proclaim the extinction of the race, till the red man be no longer a roamer of the forests and a pursuer of wild game."
14. When Daniel Boone and Col. Richard Henderson and others had the Indians collected at Sycamore Shoals to buy their
inc.
25
ABORIGINES OF TENNESSEE.
lands between the Kentucky and the Cumberland Rivers, Gif- speech was delivered in words full of imaginative glow ami pathetic eloquence, showing the gradual encroachment of the whites, impelled by an insatiable desire for land and a yieldling of those who had once possessed the American continent. The fated race was doomed by civilization, that unpitying personin- cation of the march of the world to a higher destiny. This great orator signed the treaty against which he made this vigorous protest.
15. The treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1768, was made between the Six Nations who lived upon the northern lakes and the king of England. In this, the Indians ceded to the king a region of country north and east of the Tennessee River, which included the most of East Tennessee. The representatives of seventeen tribes signed this treaty, thereby forever transferring the title from them, but other tribes contended that the Six Nations had not an exclusive claim to these lands, but that they were the common hunting grounds of the Cherokees and Chickasaws. Reluctantly the Indians witnessed these lands settled by the whites: long and relentless wars were kept up by the Indians. until they were repulsed by John Sevier and James Roberts m.
16. The Cherokees inhabited the mountains of the east, ex- tending into Kentucky and Georgia. The Creeks lived just below Chattanooga. The Chickasaws lived in West Tennes-ce near where Memphis is. The Uchees inhabited the country around the site of the present Nashville. They had The Great Trace, a road which they traveled in coming into Tennessee. It ran through Hast Tennessee and connected the South-West and the North. They also had the Great Natchez Trace, which run froin Nashville to Natchez.
QUESTIONS. -- 1. Why was it difficult to keep Indian friend- ship? Why were they happy : 2. What did they foresee? Di it please them ? 3. When was the Treaty of Paris? What was it? What did King George do? Why? 4. What did Walker
-
:
26
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
and his party do? When? 5. Give the substance of this section. 6. Locate the Shawnees' territory. What did Gen. Robertson learn? ". Between whom and for what purpose was this con- spiracy > Result? S. Why did the Indians abandon this terri- tory ? Eventually, the Shawnees did what? 9. Locate the Choctaw territory. What did they claim? ro. Enumerate their characteristics. II. Where did the Uchees live? What became of them? What of the Greeks? What of the confederation? Refuge? 12. Who was Oconostota? 13. Give the substance of his speech. 14. Why were they assembled at Sycamore Shoals? Did the chief sign the treaty? 15. Between whom was this treaty made? What did the Indians cede? What of war? 16. Where did the various tribes live? What of their Traces?
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
1. In 1756. a treaty was made with the Cherokees for permis- sion to establish forts on their lands in this State. It was nego- tiated by Governor Dobbs, of North Carolina. The first fort in East Tennessee was Fort Loudon, built in 1757, under General Andrew Lewis, by the English, at the junction of the Tellico and Little Tennessee Rivers. In 1758, Colonel Byrd built Fort Chissel. on New River, and Fort Long Island, on Holston River. Stephen Holston. of Virginia, came to this State and named the Holston after himself. In 1760. the garrison at Fort Loudon was massacred by the Indians.
2. Daniel Boone. the pioneer for the whites, who was. in 1760, in Walker's party, left this inscription on a beech on Boone's Creek. near Jonesboro: "D. Boou cilled A BAR on tree in The year 1;60." Nashville was visited this year by Timothy De- monbreun: Colonel Grant burnt, in 176r. the Indian town of Etchre. The Anglo-Americans made their first permanent set- tlement, in i;br. on the Watauga.
كيف
---------
27
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
3. It will be necessary to state briefly the perils of the pioneers, their hearty sacrifices for the general good, their char- acter, their conduct and courage in war, their uniform devotion to the honor and greatness of the country, their rapid advancement in the arts of peace. in population, in political influence: and the impress of their wisdom, valor and patriotism was so Stamped upon their acts as to command the admiration of every Tennessean.
4. The history of this State has no distinctive individuality until the erection, in 1769, of William Bean's cabin, near the junction of the Watauga and Boone's Creek, in what is now East Tennessee, but was then in the western part of North Carolina. William Bean's son, Russell, was the first white child born in Tennessee. Bean's Station was named after hu. The con- gested condition of business in the primitive colonies expanded the hopes of the settlers and infused an inclination to vmigrate west of the mountains. When liberty and happiness can be obtained, the Americans have always been irrepres- sible.
5. Indian warfare in the neighborhood of the Watauga bad nearly exterminated the once powerful Indian race. The Shaw- nees existed only in small. wandering detachments, the most of whom were hidden away in the lofty Cumberland Mountains. The Creeks of the Cumberland region. almost to a man had been massacred by the Cherokees. They, emboldened by re- peated successes, invaded the Chickasaw country, and had been repulsed with great slaughter. Far away were the Chickasaws. but they were kindly disposed to the infant settlement.
6. This was an opportune time for the waves of immigration to deposit the germans of a new social power. The Watauga Asso- ciation being organized at a time peculiarly fortunate for it, little was to be feared except from the roving Indians until the Cherokees had recuperated sufficiently to make war upon the new colony, who knew that the foundation of a new community
28
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
in those wilds meant hardship and danger. The Watauga . Isso- ciation was composed of three settlements, of which Watauga was the nucleus. The other two were Carter's Valley settle- ment, from Wolf's Hill, Virginia, which was in and around the present site of Rogersville: and the settlenient of Jacob Brown on the Nolichucky River, of which, for a time. Brown's store was the center.
7. In North Carolina many of these emigrants saw their prop- erty extorted from them in illegal and exhorbitant fees: oppressive taxes were exacted by the sheriff's, and the manner of collecting them was arbitrary and tyrannical. The people had long peti- tioned and remonstrated against it. but the officers remained unpunished. When the British announced their intention to quarter troops in America, and to have them supported by the colonists, it led to much clamor and an inclination to go West.
8. On account of the comparatively unproductive hills and valleys in the old States, and the absence of courts in South Carolina, the inhabitants of the interior were prone to punish offenders in a sunnnary way. In the meantime, Watauga was receiving constant additions from North and South Carolina. the result of which was increase of population and expansion of the settlement beyond the mountain.
9. A company of adventurers was formed. June 2. 1769. for the purpose of hunting and exploring what is now Middle Teu- nessee. Robert Crockett was killed near the source of the Roar- ing River. and after hunting eight or nine months, the rest of the party returned home in April. 1;70. After their arrival. about forty formed a party, led by Colone! James Knox. who explored the Lower Cumberland, and being absent so long. they secured after their return the appellation. "Long Hunters. " May the time never come when the self-sacrificing toil and daring hardihood of these pioneers shall be forgotten or undervalued. The misgoverned province of North Carolina continued to fur nish emigrants to Watauga. The poor came for independence.
29
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
the aspiring to attain respectability. Here they had exemption from the supercilious annoyances of those who claimed pre- eminence over them. In 1771. Jacob Brown opened a store on the Nelichucky River, at Fort Gillespie. A station was estab- lished on Station Camp Creek, Summer county.
10. The Watauga Association elected a committee of thirteen as a kind of general body for legislative purposes. The execut- tive and judicial power were vested in five commissioners elected by the thirteen from their own body. Articles were signed. the signers pledging themselves to abide the decision of these in authority. The members of the Nolichucky settlement did not sign the articles of the Association at first, but the Watauga people forced them to take the oath of "fidelity to the common canse." This ended Toryism there.
11. At this juncture, the relation between the colonies and Eng- land was very critical. It had been for a long while full of friction and excitement. The English parliament claimed the right to tax the colonies: the latter, having no representation therein, protested bitterly, refused to pay the tax, and organized for resistance. The difference could not be adjusted, and finally it culminated in a long war, beginning at Lexington, Mass .. April 19, 1775. George Washington was elected. in May, commander- in-chief of the American army, and the Revolution began, which lasted seven years, and resulted in an overthrow of the British rule in the United States.
12. Our mother State strongly espoused the freedom of the colonies. In 1775, Mecklenburg county passed famous resolu- tions which embodied the principles and phrases of the Declara- tion of Independence. The Watauga people were in full sym- pathy with the American cause and always helped it when possible. They named their settlement Washington District. and in open committee acknowledged themselves indebted to the United Colonies for their full proportion of the Continental expenses. In 1776, their population was about six hundred.
. .
30
THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
13. The uncertain location of the boundary lines between Virginia and North Carolina gave the settlers much uneasiness and inconvenience. It was discovered in 1772 that the settle- ments were in North Carolina, and in territory which the Indians had never ceded. Watauga at once secured a ten years' lease from the Cherokees. A treaty was made for this purpose and the Indians were invited to participate in the festivities. Rut- fans present from Wolf's Hill settlement slew an Indian, and the rest retired for vengeance. A bloody war was imminent, but Jamies Robertson interceded and pleaded with their chiefs for peace, made excuses for the unfortunate occurrence, and thus temporarily averted war. These primitive people as early as 1772 organized congregations and built two churches, where the Rev. Charles Cummings regularly preached.
14. The British emissaries during the Revolution incited the Indians to deeds of barbarity too atrocious to chronicle. Those who adhered to the American cause jeopardized their lives, but they felt that a mighty principle was involved in their action. In 1:76. a dangerous invasion was led by two Indians. Dragging Canoe and Old Abraham. An Indian squaw, Nancy Ward, exposed the conspiracy and warned the settlers to be ready. They destroyed the weak forts and gathered together in Forts Heaton and Watauga. The troops in Fort Heaton marched out and met a division of the Indians under Dragging Canoe. and after a hard fight. at Island Flats, completely repulsed them. The Indians under Old Abraham attacked Fort Wat- auga. James Robertson, commanding, assisted by John Sevier. met them. There were only forty whites against three hundred Indians. The fight was stubborn, and the firm, unflinching courage of the whites gained the victory, and forced the Indians to retreat.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.