USA > Tennessee > Williamson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 6
USA > Tennessee > Maury County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 6
USA > Tennessee > Rutherford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 6
USA > Tennessee > Wilson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 6
USA > Tennessee > Bedford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 6
USA > Tennessee > Marshall County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 6
USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee from the earliest time to the present , together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee, besides a valuable fund of notes, original observations, reminiscences, etc., etc. V. 1 > Part 6
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
at the base, the summit containing about four acres, and in this part of the country are a great number of mounds besides.
On the north bank of the Holston River five miles above the mouth of French Broad, are six mounds on half an acre of ground, irregularly scattered. The bases of these mounds are from ten to thirty feet in diameter, the largest one ten feet high. Near these mounds on a bluff 100 feet high are painted in red colors the figures of the sun and moon, birds, fishes, etc.
The contents of the mounds are sometimes of considerable interest. In 1821 the Charleville mound near Nashville was opened, and pottery of Indian fabrication was found, as also the jaw bone of some unknown carniverous animal, and small fragments of bones thought to be human. About four feet from the summit was found a layer of charcoal about two inches thick and extending outward from the center of the mound from eight to ten feet. The inference was that a fire had been built on top of the mound, and after the fuel had been consumed, fresh dirt carried in earthen jars and laid on the ashes before they had time to blow away, the fragments of these jars being seen through every part of the mound. The object for which the mound was raised can only be conjectured. It could not have been for a throne for the ruler of the nation, for savages are not thus devoted to their leaders. It could not have been for mili- tary purposes, for to be placed on the mound would be only to be more exposed to the enemy's missiles. It could not have been for a tower, for there was no narrow pass near it to be guarded. It therefore seems prob- able that it could only be for religious purposes.
In the mounds near Bledsoe's Lick (Castalian Springs). in Sumner County, were found ashes, pottery ware, flint, muscle shells, periwinkles. coal, etc. In making an excavation in one of these mounds there was found two feet below the surface a layer of ashes fourteen inches thick. In proceeding downward there were found twenty-eight layers of ashes. alter- nating with clay, the ashes being of a blackish color. At eight feet below the summit of the mound was found the skeleton of a child, the surround- ings bearing evidence of careful burial. The skeleton was in quite a de- cayed state. At its feet was a jug of sand-stone capable of holding about a gallon. Small pieces of decayed human bones were also found, and also the jaw-bone of some unknown animal with a tusk attached, the tusk being of the same form as that of the mastodon. There were found also the bones of birds, arrow points, and flints at the depth of eighteen feet, and pottery, some of which was glazed, isinglass, and burnt corn-cobs. At the depth of nineteen feet were found a piece of a corn-cob and some small pieces of cedar almost entirely decayed.
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Near Nashville, probably about the year 1800, there was dug up an image." The base of this image was a flat circle from which rose a some- what elongated globular figure terminating at the top with the figure of a female head. The features of the face were Asiatic, probably a resem- blance of the Mound Builders themselves. The crown of the head was covered with a cap or ornament, shaped into a pyramidal figure, with a flattened circular summit ending at the apex in a rounded button. Another image was found about twelve miles south from Nashville, of sculptured stone, representing a woman sitting with hands under her chin and elbows on her knees. It was well proportioned, neatly formed and highly polished. Two others were found near Clarksville, one of an old man the other of an old woman. In 1883 a roughish stone image was found on the farm of Dr. W. H. Garman, seven miles from Franklin, Williamson County. This is the image of a person sitting with limbs drawn close to the body and hands upon knees, and with the features resembling somewhat the supposed appearance of the Mound Builders. This image is now in the possession of the Tennessee Historical Society at Nashville.
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In a cave about six miles from Carthage on the Cumberland River were found a number of human skeletons, one of which was that of a female with yellow hair, and having around the wrist a silver clasp with letters in- scribed resembling those of the Greek alphabet. This was in 1815. But perhap the most interesting relics found in Tennessee. in the form of human skeletons, were discovered in 1811 in a cave in Warren County. about twenty miles from McMinnville. These were of two human beings, one male the other female. They had been buried in baskets the construc- tion of which was evidence of considerable mechanical skill. Both bodies . were dislocated at the hips and were placed erect in the baskets, each of which had a neatly fitting cover of cane. The flesh of these persons was entire and undecayed, dry and of a brown color. Around the female. next to her body, was placed a well dressed deer-skin. and next to this was a mantle composed of the hark of a tree and feathers, the bark being com- posed of small strands well twisted. The mantle or rug was about six feet long and three feet wide. She had in her hand a fan made from the tail feathers of a turkey, and so made as to be opened and closed at pleas-
ure. The hair remaining on the heads of both was entire, and that upon the head of the female, who appeared to have been about fourteen years old at the time of her death, was of a yellow color and a very, fine texture. Hence the individuals were thought to have been of European or Asiatic extraction. With reference to the mantles in which these bodies were enclosed it may be remarked that the Florida Indians met with by De
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
Soto in his wanderings "adorned themselves with mantles made of feathers, or in a textile fabric of some woody fiber," and " wore shoes and clothing made from skins which they dressed and colored with great skill."* It appears also that certain Indians were acquainted with some kind of rude art of preserving the bodies of the dead, for, in 1528, Pamphilo de Narvaez and his company in a reconnoissance along the coast near Tampa Bay, Fla., "came upon a little Indian village, where they found some bodies in a sort of mummified condition, the sacred remains, no doubt, of the ancestors of the chiefs of the tribe."+ Thus the mantles and the mummified condition of these bodies might perhaps be considered suffi- ciently accounted for, but there remains the question of the color and fineness of the texture of the hair to be solved.
Numbers of the constructions by the Mound Builders were evidently for other than sacrificial or religious purposes. On the south branch of Forked Deer River between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers is the appearance of what the people there call an ancient fortification. It is 250 yards square. The wall is made of clay and is eight feet above the general level. Trees as large as any in the surrounding county are growing on the top and sides of the wall. Within this wall is an ancient mound eighty-seven feet high, circular in form except at the top where it is square and fifty feet each way.
In Stewart County, near the junction of Spring Branch with Wells Creek is a fortification about ninety feet square, with bastions twelve feet square at the opposite corners. Large white oak and hickory trees are growing on the walls and bastions.
But perhaps the most interesting of all the ancient constructions in Tennessee is what is everywhere known as the "Old Stone Fort." This fort is in Coffee County, at the verge of the highlands one mile from Manchester, just above the junction of Barren Fork and Taylor's Fork of Duck River. The fort itself is in the form of an irregular oval. On the east and west sides of it the water falls from precipice to precipice until the fall is 100 feet in a half mile. The fort is a wonderful struc- ture. The walls are composed of boulders, conglomerate and debris from the beds of the two streams, and earth. The embankment has a base of thirty feet and when built it was doubtless higher than the men who made it. The amount of material which entered into its construction is immense, and a corresponding amount of labor was required to do the work. Thirty years ago the ground was very heavily timbered with poplar, chestnut and hickory, ranging from three to five feet in diameter. Trees as large as could be found anywhere in the vicinity were standing
*Bryant. fIbid.
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
immediately on the embankment, and it is manifest that at the time of the building of the fort there was not a tree nor shrub to be found in the vicin- ity. In the diagram A repre- sents the entrance into the fort, Fallire B a semi-circular embankment to cover the entrance, and Can excavation about 100 feet deep - Fall extending from one river to the other. Whether this excavation Fall was made by man or nature can not now be known, but specula- tion favors the hypothesis that Fall B it was made by man. The an- Fallfix. tiquity of the fort is indubit- STONE FORT able. Nothing has ever been About 40 Acres found about the fort to furnish the least clue to its origin. It -R could not have been, as has been suggested, the work of De 4 Soto and his men, for in the first- = place they were probably much farther south when they passed its longitude, and second it would have required half a life- time to do the work, and then they would have had no use for it when made. In addition to these considerations it is shown to have been in existence before De Soto visited this country. On the 7th of August, 1819, Col. Andrew Erwin. on whose land the fort was, caused to be cut down a white oak tree. Maj. Murray and himself counted 357 annular rings in this tree, which was growing on the wall. How long it was after the building of the wall before the tree began to grow it is of course impossible to know. It may have been one hundred or a thousand years. But if no interval be allowed, which however cannot be supposed, the fort can not have been erected later than 357 years previous to 1819, or 1462, thirty years before Columbus discovered America, and seventy-eight years before De Soto made his famous tour of exploration. Thus again do we arrive at an immense age for these works, and it is also fair to presume that the fort was built when this section of the country was thickly inhabited.
Many other remains and relics of great interest, especially to the anti-
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
quarian, have been found within this State. Enough has been presented to show that the Mound Builders, whencesoever and whenever they may have come, were a numerous, intelligent, religious, agricultural and, to a considerable degree, a warlike people, at least so far as defensive wars are concerned; that they occupied the country probably for many centur- ies; that they were driven out by a race superior in numbers and probably in the art of war, but inferior in intellect; that they can scarcely have lived in this country later than 1,000 or 1,200 A. D .; that when driven out they probably moved southward into Mexico, Central and South Am- erica, and they may possibly have been the ancestors of; or have been absorbed by, some Central American or South American race.
CHAPTER III.
THE INDIAN RACES-DIALECTS AND TRADITIONS-GEOGRAPHICAL TRIBAL LO- CATION-FRENCH AND SPANISH SETTLEMENTS-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIRST FORT-SAVAGE ATROCITIES-THE FORT LOUDON MASSACRE-DESTRUCTION OF INDIAN VILLAGES AND FIELDS-" THE BELOVED TOWN"-PEACE AND CES- SION TREATIES-BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT-BORDER WARS-EXPEDITIONS OF RUTHERFORD AND CHRISTIAN-"THE LOWER TOWNS"-SEVIER'S CAM- PAIGNS-RESERVATIONS AND BOUNDARY LINES-THRILLING FRONTIER INCI- DENTS-INDIAN AFFAIRS ON THE CUMBERLAND-ROBERTSON'S EXERTIONS- THE COLDWATER AND NICKAJACK EXPEDITIONS-TREATY STIPULATIONS -- THE UNICOI TURNPIKE COMPANY-THE HIWASSEE LANDS-THE WESTERN PURCHASE-EXODUS.
THE race of red men having the earliest claim to the territory now em- braced within the limits of Tennessee, was the Iroquois, or Gonfeder- acy of Six Nations, though it was for the most part unoccupied by them. The Achalaques had a kind of secondary, or perhaps it may be called permissory claim to it. In Schoolcraft's great work on the Indian races of North America is a map showing the location of the various Indian tribes in the year 1600, which, if authentic, proves that the Achalaques then occupied most of Tennessee east of the Tennessee River, and also small portions of Georgia and Alabama, and a considerable portion of Kentucky. The ancient Achalaques were the same tribe or nation as the modern Cherokees. They have no / in their language, and hence substitute the letter r therefore, in a manner similar to that in which the modern Chinaman substitutes / for r. Then by a few other slight and obvious changes the name Cherokee is easily obtained. But the first actual Indian occupants of this territory, of which history or tradition fur-
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
nishes any account, were the Shawanees, or Shawanoes as they were earlier known.
With respect to the origin of the Shawanees it is proper to observe that they and the Algonquins are the only tribes of Indians, having a ยท tradition of an origin from beyond the seas-of a landing from a sea voy- age. John Johnson, Esq., who was for many years prior to 1820 agent for the Shawanees, observes, in a letter dated July 7, 1819, that they migrated from west Florida and parts adjacent to Ohio and Indiana, where they were then located:
"The people of this nation have a tradition that their ancestors crossed the sea. They are the only tribe with which I am acquainted who ad- mit a foreign origin. Until lately they kept yearly sacrifices for their safe arrival in this country. From where they came or at what period they arrived in America they do not know. It is a prevalant opinion among them that white people had inhabited Florida who had the use of iron tools. Blackhoof, a celebrated Indian chief, informs me that he has even heard it spoken of by old people that stumps of trees covered with earth were frequently found which had been cut down with edged tools."
About the year 1600 the Five Nations were settled near the site of Montreal, Canada, having come probably from the north or northwest. There were among them, as well as among other races, several traditions relative to the extirpation of an ancient race of people. The tradition of the Indians northwest of the Ohio was that Kentucky had been inhab- ited by white people, and that they had been exterminated by war. The Sac Indians had a tradition that Kentucky had been the scene of much blood. The ancient inhabitants, they said, were white, and possessed arts of which the Indians were entirely ignorant. Col. McGee was told by an Indian that it was a current tradition among the Indians that Ohio and Kentucky had once been inhabited by white people who possessed arts not understood by the Indians, and that after many severe conflicts they had been exterminated. The various sources from which this tradition comes is evidence of its very general existence among the Aborigines more, perhaps, than of its truth.
The Shawanees, who came from the Savannah River, whose name was once the Savannachers, and after whom the Savannah River received its name, at one time claimed the lands on the Cumberland River. This was, however, at a later period in their history, when their name had been changed from the Savannachers to the Shawanoes. The French called both the tribe and the river the Chauvanon, or Shauvanon. . The Chero- kees, as was stated above, also asserted a claim to the same land, but al- ways acknowledged the superior claim of the Iroquois, who themselves
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
claimed the country by right of conquest. For many years both Shaw- nees and Cherokees maintained against each other a bloody contest for its possession ; but being so nearly equal in strength and prowess, neither could gain any decided advantage over the other. At length both na- tions, fearing the results of a continuation of the conflict, refrained from going upon the lands between the Cumberland and the Kentucky and Ohio, for which reason this beautiful section of the country became an immense, luxuriant park, abounding in game of every kind perfectly safe from the arrows of the savages, who fearfully observed this as a neutral ground. When this great and unusual abundance of game became known to white hunters belonging to the English and French pioneers, they soon began to resort thither for the purpose of enriching themselves with the skins and furs of the bear, the deer, the otter and the mink, to to be so easily and so plentifully obtained. Gen. Robertson learned that about a century and a half before his time the Shawanees had by degrees returned to the lands on the Cumberland, were scattered to the west- ward as far as the Tennessee, and even considerably to the north. About the year 1710, being much harassed by the Cherokees, they came to the determination to permanently leave the country.
The Chickasaws were at that time occupying the country to the south- west, in the western part of Tennessee and the northern part of Mississippi. According to their own tradition they came from west of the Mississippi. When about to start eastward from their ancient home they were provided with a large dog as a guard and a pole as a guide. The dog would give them war ing of the approach of an enemy, to defend themselves against whom they could then prepare. The pole they set up in the ground every night, and the next morning they would look at it and go in the direction it leaned. They continued their journey thus until they crossed the Mississippi River, and until they arrived on the waters of the Ala- bama where Huntsville is now located. There the pole was unsettled for several days, but finally becoming steady it leaned in a northwest direc- tion, and in consequence they resumed their journey toward the north- west, planting the pole every night as before until they arrived at the place called "Chickasaw Old Fields," where the pole stood perfectly erect. All then came to the conclusion that they had reached the promised land. In this location they remained until 1837 or 1838, when they migrated west of the State of Arkansas.
When the pole was in its unsettled condition a part of the tribe moved on eastward and joined the Creeks. They always afterward declined the invitation to reunite with the majority of their tribe, but always remained friendly until they had intercourse with the whites. The great dog was
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
lost in crossing the Mississippi, and the Chickasaws always believed that he fell into a large sink-hole and there remained. They said they could hear him howl at night, and so long as this continued whenever they took any scalps from an enemy they sent boys back with the scalps to throw to the dog. In traveling from the West they have no recollection of hay- ing crossed any large stream of water except the Mississippi. Upon leav- ing the West they were informed they might look for white people, that these white people would come from the East, and that they were to be on their guard against them lest they should become contaminated with all the vices the whites possessed.
The Shawanees, it is believed, came to this country about the year 1650, and in 1710 or thereabouts, when they determined to leave it forever on account of the frequent harassments to which they were subjected by the Cherokees, the Chickasaws, for some reason which does not appear, united with the Cherokees, the hereditary enemies of the Shawanees, for the purpose of striking a decisive blow and thus making themselves mas- ters of the situation. In pursuance of this design a large body of Chicka- saws repaired to the Cumberland just above the mouth of Harpeth, where they attacked the Shawanees, killed a large number of them and took from them all their property. The remnant of the tribe made their way north- ward as best they could.
The claim of the Cherokees to the land north of the Cumberland was not considered as perfect even by themselves. This became apparent at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, which was made November 5, 176S. This treaty was made between Sir William Johnson, superintendent for north- ern Indian affairs, representing the King of Great Britain, and 3,200 Indians of seventeen different tribes-the Six Nations, and tribes tribu- tary to that confederacy, or occupying territory contiguous to territory occupied by them. In this treaty the delegates of the respective na- tions aver that "they are the true and absolute proprietors of the lands thus ceded," and that for the consideration mentioned they con- tinued the line south to Cherokee or Hogohegee* River, because the same is and we declare it to be our true bounds with the southern Indians, and that we have an undoubted right to the country as far south as that river." Some visiting Cherokees, who were present at the treaty, on their arrival at Fort Stanwix, having killed some game on the way for their support, tendered the skins to the Six Nations, saying, "they are yours, we killed them after passing the Big River," the name by which they always called the Tennessee. By the treaty at Fort Stan- wix the right to the soil and sovereignty was vested in the king of
* Holston.
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Great Britain, and by the treaty of 1783 the king of Great Britain resigned his sovereignty in the lands, and thus they became the property of those States within whose limits they happened then to be.
While the Six Nations claimed the lands only by the right of con- quest, the Cherokees had long exercised the privilege of using them as a hunting ground, and naturally, therefore, regarded with jealousy the encroachments of the whites. John Stuart, superintendent of Southern Indian Affairs, was, therefore, instructed to assemble the southern In- dians for the purpose of establishing a boundary line with them, and concluded a treaty with the Cherokees at Hard Labour, S. C., October 14, 1768. By this treaty it was agreed that the southwestern boundary of Virginia should be a line "extending from the point where the north- ern line of North Carolina intersects the Cherokee hunting grounds, about thirty-six miles east of Long Island, on the Holston River, and thence extending in a direct course north by east to Chiswell's Mine, on the east bank of Kanawha River, and thence down that stream to its junction with the Ohio."
Having thus traced the Iroquois and Shawanees to their departure from the State, the former by treaty with Great Britain, and the latter by expulsion by the Cherokees and Chickasaws, there now remain, to treat of in this chapter the Creeks -- or as they were originally known, the Muscogees-the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the three leading tribes or nations of the Appalachian group, which in early Indian times, just previous to the dawn of history in this State, occupied Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and the western part of Tennessee, and the Achal- aques or Cherokees, who ostensibly occupied Eastern and Middle Ten- nessee and small portions of Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky.
Perhaps the earliest exploits of the Creeks and Cherokees desirable to mention in this work, were their alliances with the whites in 1711, about the time of the expulsion of the Shawanees from the Cumberland, when the Tuscaroras, Corees and other tribes combined for the extermin- ation of the settlers on the Roanoke, their attempt resulting in the massacre of 137 white people. The details of this disaster reaching Charleston, Gov. Craven sent Col. Barnwell with 600 militia and 400 Indians went to the relief of the survivors, the 400 Indians consisting in part of Creeks and Cherokees. The Tuscaroras and Corees were sub- dued, the hostile portion of the former tribe migrated to the vicinity of Oneida Lake, and then became the sixth nation of the Iroquois Con- federacy.
In about four years after the suppression of the Tuscaroras, all the Indian tribes from Florida to Cape Fear united in a confederacy for
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
the destruction of the white settlements in Carolina. This confederacy was composed of the Catawbas, Congarees, Creeks, Cherokees, and Yamassees. It is believed they were instigated to the course they pur- sued by the Spaniards, as they had just received guns and ammunition from St. Augustine. After spreading desolation and death for some time through the unsuspecting settlements, the confederacy was met by Gov. Craven at Salkehatchie, defeated and driven across the Savannah River.
The French were at this time erecting forts in various parts of the Southwest: Paducah at the mouth of the Cumberland; Assumption, on Chickasaw Bluff; besides others, and numerous trading posts on the Tennessee. The English and French colonists were each seeking to ingratiate themselves with the various Indian tribes with which they came in contact, with the view of attaching to themselves as many of the Indians as possible and of thus obtaining advantages the one over the other. In pursuance of this policy Gov. Nicholson, in 1721, invited the Cherokees to a general conference, in order to establish a treaty of commerce and friendship. In response to this invitation the chieftains of thirty-seven different towns attended the conference, at which Gov. Nicholson made them presents, laid off their boundaries, and appointed an agent to superintend their affairs. Similar measures were taken with the Creeks. In 1730 the projects of the French with reference to uniting Louisiana and Canada began to be more notice- ably developed. They had already made many friends among the Indians west of Carolina, and in order to counteract their influence Great Britain sent out Sir Alexander Cumming to treat with the Cherokees, who then occupied the lands about the head waters of the Savannah River, and backward from the Appalachian chain of moun- tains. This tribe was then computed to consist of more than 20,000 individuals, 6,000 of whom were warriors. Sir Alexander met the chiefs in April of the year last mentioned at Nequassee, all the towns sending in representatives or delegates. Nequassee was near the sources of the Hiwassee. A treaty of friendship, alliance and com- merce was drawn up and formally executed, in consequence of which a condition of peace and friendship continued to exist for some time be- tween the colonists and this tribe. Two years afterward Gov. Ogle- thorpe effected a treaty with the Lower and Upper Creeks, a powerful tribe then numbering in the aggregate about 25,000 souls. These alliances with the Cherokees and Creeks promised security to the col- onists from the encroachments from the Spanish and French in Florida and Louisiana.
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