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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
Presbytery for accepting his explanations and apology; that they seceded and formed the "Independent Presbytery of Abingdon." In the following year (1797) the seceders disavowed their independence, and made their submission to the Synod. The suspension pronounced against them was thereupon removed, and they were restored to the full exercise of their ministerial office. But the differences between the parties being found irreconcilable, Abingdon Presbytery was again divided, this time into Abingdon and Union, the "Old Side" ministers constituting the former, and the "New Side" the latter.1
276. The Baptists .- About 1780, William Murphy, James Keel, Thomas Murrell, Tidence Lane, Isaac Barton, Matthew Talbot, Joshua Kelly, and John Christian, ministers of the Baptist Church, and all from Virginia, except Tidence Lane, who was from North Carolina, moved into what was called the Holston country. Considerable num- bers of their brethren accompanied them - sometimes in an organized capacity, as was the case with a body from Sandy Creek Church in North Carolina, which settled on Boone's Creek. The Baptists were not, however, so numerous as the Pres- byterians or Methodists, and took little part in the great revival of 1800.2
277. The Methodists .- Jeremiah Lambert was appointed to the Holston Circuit in 1783, and was the first Metli- odist preacher in Tennessee. Three years later, Methodism was carried to Middle Tennessee by Benjamin Ogden. The work on the Cumberland was greatly retarded for a time by the schism headed by James O'Kelly, and REV. JOHN B. MCFERRIN, D. D. called Republican 'Methodists. When William Burk came to the Cumberland Circuit in 1795, he found that James Haw, who had been the leading Methodist on the Cumberland, had embraced the views of O'Kelly, and by his influence and address had brought over to his schism the travel- ing preachers, and all but one of the local preachers in the country.3
1 Rev. James Park's History of First Presbyterian Church in Knoxville.
2 Benedict's History of the Baptists ( Edition of 1813), Vol. II. pp. 214-215, and 252.
3 Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism. p. 46.
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THE GREAT REVIVAL.
But by the conference of 1796, Bishop Asbury was able to congrat- ulate him on the defeat of the O'Kellyites during the year. The sub- sequent growth of the church may be studied in the very full and complete History of Methodism in Tennessee, by Rev. John B. McFerrin, one of its pioneers.
278. James McGready, and the Beginning of the Great Revival .- In the meantime a great revivalist appeared in the Transylvania Pres- bytery. James McGready had a remarkable experience. Born in North Carolina of Presbyterian parents, at an early age he was admitted to the communion of the church, and became a candidate for the min- istry. He was given excellent opportunities for his education, to which he applied himself with diligence. One night he overheard a conversation not intended for his ears, in which two of his friends agreed in the opinion that he was a mere formalist, a stranger to regenerating grace. His conscience was touched. A rigid self examination convinced him of the justice of the criticism. He became an earnest seeker, and himself leaves the record of his subsequent conversion. He now devoted himself to the ministry with great earn- estness and power. His success brought with it opposition. He was charged with running the people distracted, and diverting their atten- tion from the necessary avocations of life. This was in Orange County, North Carolina. In 1796, he moved to Logan County, Ken- tucky, and became pastor of Gasper River, Red River, and Muddy River congregations. In the spring of the following year, a woman. a communicant of the Gasper River Church, was converted, and labored among her friends and neighbors with the same earnestness and zeal that had followed McGready's conversion. The result was a general awakening in the Gasper River congregation. This was the beginning of the great revival of 1800.
279. John and William McGee .- John and William McGee were brothers. They were natives of Guilford County, N.C. Their parents were Presbyterians. John McGee, while on a visit to a brother in Maryland, joined the Methodist Church, in which he soon afterwards became a preacher. When William McGee grew up he joined the Presbyterian Church, perhaps under the ministration of McGready. He became a preacher. and in 1794 moved to Sumner County. Tenn .. then Southwest Territory, and took pastoral charge of the Shiloh con- gregation. In 1798 John McGee also emigrated to Tennessee and settled near Dixon's Springs, in Smith County.
158
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
280. The McGee Brothers Join in the Revival .- During the year 1798, the revival work was greatly intensified on Gasper River, and spread to McGready's other congregations. The next year it was renewed in all three congregations with remarkable manifestations and wonderful effect. Their doctrinal differences were not sufficient to dissolve the ties of love and affection which bound the McGee brothers together. In this year they agreed to make a tour together through the barrens towards Ohio, and attend a sacramental meeting in McGready's Red River congregation on the way. At this meeting were first manifested those remarkable demonstrations or exercises that generally characterized the great revival. From this time the Presbyterians and Methodists united in the revival work.
281. The First Camp - Meeting .- With the year 1800, the work continued with increasing power. The sacramental meetings at Red River in June, McGready pronounced the greatest season of refreshing these churches had yet experienced. But the country was very sparsely populated. Many pioneers never had preaching nearer than twenty miles of them. For those who had so far to go, a protracted meeting appeared an impossibility. A family just moved to the county desired to attend one of McGready's meetings. For want of a better way. they provided themselves with necessary provisions, and attended in their wagon, and camped near the church, as they had camped during their journey to the West. They were enabled to give their uninter- rupted attention to the divine ministration.
At a subsequent meeting, two or three families went in a similar way. McGready observed it, and previous to the meeting at Gasper River, in July, 1800, he proclaimed far and wide that he expected the people to camp on the ground. A vast concourse of people attended. some coming, it is stated, from twenty, thirty, fifty, and even a hundred miles. This was the first camp-meeting ever held. The people adapted themselves to the conditions which surrounded them. These meetings spread rapidly over all the Western country, where they were as useful as they were popular. They have gradually subsided as the density of population has made them less necessary.
282. The Jerks .- One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Great Revival was the physical exercises with which it was attended. They are generally referred to as the "Jerks," though the jerks was only one form of their manifestation. The first exercise developed was that of falling, where the subject, generally with a piercing scream. would fall to the earth, and appear as one dead. This occurred in
159
THE GREAT REVIVAL.
the Red River congregation in 1799, where, in the language of John McGee, the floor was soon covered with the slain. The jerks some- times affected a single member, and again the whole body. If the head alone were affected, it would be jerked backward and forward, or from side to side, with such rapidity that the features could not be distinguished. If the whole system were affected, the body would jerk backward and forward in quick succession, the head descending each time nearly to the earth. Saints and sinners, the wise and ignorant, alike were subjected to these exercises, with their accompanying mani- festations of singing, shouting, crying, leaping, and dancing, at church, at home, on the road, and in the forest. They attracted the attention of people of the whole world. Many from every quarter came to witness the strange manifestations, great numbers of whom had their hearts deeply affected. In this way it served to spread the work of the revival.
283. More Preachers Demanded .- At first the Presbyterian min- isters, generally, as well as the Methodists, proclaimed themselves friends to the revival, but as the work progressed, some of them with- drew their countenance from it. Although the revival ministers labored night and day, the cry of the people for more preaching was incessant. At this juncture, the Rev. David Rice, the oldest minister in the Transylvania Presbytery, who lived in one of the upper counties of Kentucky, visited and made himself acquainted with the situation in the Cumberland country. He came to the conclusion that their only remedy was to make use of such material as they themselves could furnish. He therefore proposed the plan of encouraging such among them as appeared to be men of good talents, and who discovered a disposition to exercise their gifts in a public way, to preach the gospel. although they might not have acquired that degree of education which the letter of the discipline required.
284. Anderson, Ewing, and King Licensed .- In accordance with the recommendation of Rice, Alexander Anderson, Finis Ewing. and Samuel King, zealous, intelligent, and influential members of the church, were encouraged to present themselves before the Transylvania Presbytery. Neither of them had enjoyed the advantages of a col- legiate education, and all of them were now men of families, somewhat advanced in age. Finally, on a close division, a minority protesting. they were licensed as probationers by Transylvania Presbytery, having adopted the confession of faith with the exception of the idea of fatality. which they believed it taught. Subsequently they were ordained as
-
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
ministers of the gospel by Cumberland Presbytery, which was formed from Transylvania in 1802.
285. Cumberland Presbytery Dissolved .- The division of Transyl- vania Presbytery gave the revival party a decided majority in that part of it formed into Cumberland Presbytery, which majority was increased from year to year. Then came a long contest be- tween the majority of Cumberland Pres- bytery and Kentucky Synod. Finally, Cumberland Presbytery was dissolved. and the majority formed themselves into a Council, and agreed on a petition to the General Assembly. They determined to promote the interest of the church as well REV. JNO. L. DILLARD, D. D. as they could until an answer to their petition could be obtained. The General Assembly requested the Synod to review its proceedings. This encour- aged the council to send forward a second petition. Upon this the General Assembly decided with the synod.
286. Organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church .- An effort to effect a reconciliation with the Kentucky Synod having failed. on the 4th day of February, 1810. in the old log house of Samuel Mc- Adow, in Dickson County, Tennessee, Samuel McAdow, Finis Ewing. and Samuel King, regularly ordained ministers of the Presbyterian Church, against whom no charge, either of immorality or heresy, had ever been made, constituted themselves into a Presbytery, known by the name of Cumberland Presbytery, on condition that no candidate for the ministry should be required to receive and adopt so much of the Con- fession and Discipline of the Presbyterian Church as teaches the idea of fatality, nor to stand an examination in any other than the English language. Such was the origin of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Its name was taken from the old Cumberland Presbytery. which had been named for the Cumberland River, that flowed through its bounds. It celebrated the semi-centennial of the meeting of its first General, Assembly in 1880, Rev. John L. Dillard, D. D., who assisted in its organization, delivering the principal address. The church now numbers more than 200,000 members.
287. Other Christian Churches .- Prior to 1810 the Presbyterians. Baptists, Methodists, and Cumberland Presbyterians were the only
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ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIE BLOUNT.
denominations represented in Tennessee. Subsequently, most of the leading churches have extended their organizations into the State; the Lutherans in 1825. the Disciples or Christians in 1826, the Episcopalians in 1827, and the Catholics in 1830. All of them now have large and important followings.
CHAPTER XXIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF W'ILLIE BLOUNT - 1809-1815.
288. The Jackson Party Obtains Control of the State Govern-
· ment .- As we have seen, Governor Sevier and General Jackson were the great rivals for leadership in Ten- nessee. The result seemed to depend upon the population of their respective divisions of the State. By the time Governor Sevier had held his office a second time for the constitutional limit of six years, the preponderance of the western portion of the State was un- doubted. In 1809, Willie (pronounced Wy-ly) Blount, a Middle Tennessee man, was elected his successor, and was reëlected for the constitutional limit of three terms. Just before the expiration GOV. WILLIE BLOUNT. of Governor Sevier's last term, he became a candidate for the United States Senate, to succeed Judge Anderson, but Anderson was reëlected by a vote of 23 to 16. Two years later. Governor Sevier was elected to Congress from the Knoxville District. and kept there by repeated elections as long as he lived.
289. The War of 1812 .- Early in Governor Blount's second term, war was declared against Great Britain. It is not the province of a State History to discuss the cause of that war, or recount its events. It is sufficient to say, it was highly pleasing to the people of Tennessee, to whom the disunion sentiments of the New England Federalists, which culminated in the celebrated Hartford convention, of December, 1814, were odious. With the admission of the State into the Union, the
162
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
control of the Federal Government had passed into the hands of the Re- publican or Democratic party, whose political principles were in accord with the sentiments of the people of Tennessee. They were prepared, therefore, to support Mr. Madison in this second war with Great Britain. At the first sound of the tocsin, General Jackson, with 2,500 Tennessee volunteers, entered the services of the government. His objective point was New Orleans, but he was stopped at Natchez, and there left to chafe and fret under enforced inactivity, until he received an order from the Secretary of War dismissing his corps from service. This was in mid-winter, February, 1813, and five hundred miles from home. General Jackson determined, at any hazard, to march his men back to Tennessee before he dismissed them. It was on this homeward march that he received the affectionate nickname of "Old Hickory."
290. Tecumseh and Weatherford. - Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee Indians, was a great man. He had the capacity to conceive grand projects and difficult combinations, and the magnetism and address to win multitudes to his cause. It was he who formed the great scheme of uniting all the Western tribes of Indians, from the Gulf to the lakes, in a close confederation against the whites, for the purpose of recovering their ancient heritage. In furtherance of his enterprise, he visited Alabama, where his parents had lived. While here, William Weatherford, or Red Eagle, as the Indians called him, was won over to his plans. But when it became apparent that the Creek nation could not be made to unite on the enterprise, Weatherford desired to withdraw from it. But it was too late. The war party had been wrought up to such a frenzy that they could no longer be controlled.
291. The Massacre of Fort Mims .- The Alabama country, then a part of Mississippi Territory, was dotted with forts and block-houses, just as this had been in its early settlement. Samuel Mims had built a fort not far from Mobile. When the country became thoroughly alarmed, his neighbors hastened to his enclosure. Governor Claiborne sent a detachment of volunteers to assist in its defense. In all, it contained five hundred and fifty-three souls, more than one hundred of whom were the wives and children of the pioneers. On the morning of August 30, 1813, the commandant wrote Governor Claiborne that the fort was impregnable. Before night the Indians surprised, assaulted, and took it, and massacred its unfortunate inmates. Hardly more than a score escaped. Not a white woman or child was spared. Weatherford was in command, but he made an earnest though fruitless effort to save the captives.
163
ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIE BLOUNT.
292. News of the Massacre Reaches Nashville .- News of the fall of Fort Mims reached Nashville on the 18th of September, and created the most intense excitement. A public meeting was held. Committees were appointed to confer with Governor Blount and General Jackson. Jackson had been in bed two weeks from wounds he had received in an affray with the Bentons, but he assured the committee that he would be able to command as soon as the freemen of Tennessee could be assembled. The Legislature was convened at once, and on the 25th of September the Governor GEN. JOHN COFFEE. was authorized to call thirty-five hundred volunteers to the field, in addition to the fifteen hundred already enrolled in the service of the United States. On the next day, Jackson dispatched Col. John Coffee with his regiment of five hundred horse, and such mounted volunteers as he could instantly assemble, to Huntsville, two hundred miles south of Nashville. By the time he reached Huntsville, October 4th, his force had been augmented to nearly thirteen hundred men. Jackson's whole division reached Huntsville on October 11th.
293. The Battles of Tallushatchee, Talladega, Emuckfau, and Enotachopco .- In this campaign Jackson displayed every characteristic of a great commander. He was confronted with most unusual difficul- ties. In a hostile and unsettled country, he was without supplies. The fortitude of his troops not being equal to their bravery, they mutinied, and only returned to their duty when, as he stood before them, his left arm still in a sling, and his musket resting upon the neck of his horse, Jackson swore he would shoot the first man who attempted to proceed. November 3d, he engaged the enemy at Tallushatchee, whither General Coffee had been dispatched with a force of nine hundred men to destroy a large band of hostile Indians who occupied that place. After a bloody resistance, General Coffee obtained a signal victory. The Indians fought till their last warrior was killed - not one escaped. Jackson now built Fort Strother, at the Ten Islands in Coosa River, which he made the base of his operations. On the 8th, he marched to the relief of a band of friendly Indians cooped up in Talla-
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
dega by a force of more than a thousand hostile Creeks. On the 9th, the Battle of Talladega was fought, in which General Jackson was again entirely successful. On January 22d and 24th, the battles of Emuckfau and Enotachopco were fought. In the latter action, General Coffee was severely wounded. The venerable William Cocke, whoni Jackson had succeeded in the United States Senate in 1797, at the age of sixty-five, entered this engagement, joined in the pursuit of the enemy with youthful ardor, and saved the life of a fellow soldier by kill- ing his savage antagonist.1
294. Jackson Prepares for a Decisive Battle .- The decisive battle of the campaign was that of Tohopeka. or Telopisca, as General Jackson calls it in his official report to Governor Blount, from which this account of the battle is taken. After the battle of Enotachiopco, Jackson had been reinforced by six hundred regulars under Col. John Williams, and large bodies of militia from both East and Middle Ten- nessee. He now had all the force he required, and at once set about making provisions for an energetic campaign. His first objective
His army now num- point was the Indian stronghold at Tohopeka.
bered about five thousand men. After detaching such numbers as were necessary for other duties, particularly for garrisoning Forts Strother and Williams, the latter of which he erected between Fort Strother and Tohopeka, he was left at the head of some three thousand men. With these he set out from Fort Williams on the 24th of March for Tallapoosa. He reached the bend of the Tallapoosa three miles beyond the scene of the battle of Enotachopco, on the morning of the 27th.
295. The Indian Stronghold .- This bend, the report says, "re- sembled in curvature that of a horseshoe, and is thence called by that name by the whites. Nature furnishes few situations so eligible for defense, and barbarians have never rendered one more secure by art. Across the neck of land which leads into it on the north, they had erected a breastwork of the greatest compactness and strength, from five to eight feet highi, and prepared with double rows of port holes very artfully arranged. The figure of this wall manifested no less skill in the projectors of it, than its constructors. An army could not approach it without being exposed to a double and cross-fire from the enemy, who lay in perfect security behind it. The area of this penin- sula thus bounded by the breastworks, includes, I conjecture, eighty
1 General Jackson's dispatch to General Pinckney.
.
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ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIE BLOUNT.
or one hundred acres."? This fort was defended by perhaps a thousand Indian warriors
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PLAN OF BATTLE OF TOHOPEKA, PREPARED BY GEN. ANDREW JACKSON.
I. Coffee Cavalry.
2. Cherokees.
3. Indian Village.
II. Colonel Copeland.
4. High Grounds.
12. East Tennessee Militia.
5. Breastworks.
13. Colonel Cheatham.
6. Island.
14. Rear Guard.
7. Advanced Guard.
15. Emuckfau - old battleground.
8. Hill and Artillery.
16. New Youcau - burnt before.
9. Regulars.
17. High Hills.
o. That angle at which Montgomery fell.
' See Plan of Battle, which was prepared by Jackson, to accompany his report.
Io. Wagons. Pack - horses, and Wounded, in center.
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
296. Disposition of Jackson's Forces .- General Jackson meant that his victory should be complete, and early on the morning of the 27th, he dispatched General Coffee with his force of some seven hundred mounted men, and nearly all the Indians, with instructions to cross the river, and surrounded the bend, so that none of the enemy could escape in that direction. By 10. 30 o'clock the artillery was placed on a small eminence in front of the breastworks, and opened fire upon its center, which was continued about two hours.
297. Jackson Takes the Fort by Storm .- At this point, Captain Russell's company of spies and the Cherokee force crossed over to the extremity of the peninsula in canoes, and set fire to a few of the Indian buildings in that part of the place. They then advanced upon the breastworks, and commenced firing upon the enemy from his rear.
General Jackson now determined to take the place by storm. The men entreated to be led to the charge with most pressing importunity, and received the order with the strongest demonstrations of joy. The regulars were soon in possession of the nearer side of the breastworks. The militia accompanied them with great vivacity and firmness.
After a short but very obstinate muzzle to muzzle contest through the port-holes, in which many of the enemy's bullets were welded to the Tennesseans' bayonets, the latter succeeded in gaining possession of the opposite side of the works. Maj. L. P. Montgomery, for whom the capital of Alabama is named, was the first man upon the breastworks, and while calling upon his men to follow, he received a ball in his head and fell to the ground dead. A young ensign instantly mounted to his place. A barbed arrow pierced his thigh, but, nothing daunted, he called to his comrades to follow, and leaped down among the Indians. This was Sam Houston, afterwards the hero of San Jacinto. He was fol- lowed by the others, and the enemy was routed and cut to pieces. When they gave way, Ensign Houston sat down and called a lieutenant from his company to extract the arrow from his thigh. Two vigorous efforts failed to release it. In a fury of pain and impatience he cried, "Try again, and if you fail I will smite you to the earth." Exerting all his strength, the lieutenant literally tore the barbed missile from the ensign's flesh. The wound bled so profusely that he had to retire for the purpose of having it bandaged. Nevertheless, it was Ensign Houston who vol- unteered to lead a charge for the purpose of dislodging a party of the enemy who had taken cover under the bluffs of the river. Two balls in his right shoulder brought his arm powerless to his side, and staggering out of the fire, he lay down totally disabled
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