USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > Nashville Business Directory, 1855-6 > Part 11
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
.
151
TENNESSEE AND OF NASHVILLE.
length the parental advice and authority of Robertson prevailed. He finally succeeded in quieting the apprehensions of his co- colonists ; and they gradually relinquished the design of evacu- ating the positions they occupied, now somewhat hallowed to them by the recollection of past dangers, endured toils, difficul- ties overcome, and triumphs achieved.
The expectations of Captain Robertson were, in part, soon realized. The revolutionary war was ended ; an abatement of Indian hostility soon followed; and additional emigrants from North-Carolina and other States, gave renewed strength and ani- mation and permanence to his settlement.
But, notwithstanding these favorable circumstances, offering, as they did, some alleviation of the suffering endured on Cumber- land, still, in 1783, the offensive operations of the Indians were occasionally continued. One of the guard who came to the Bluff with the Commissioners from North-Carolina, Roger Top, was killed at the place where Mr. Deaderick has since lived. At the same time and place, Roger Glass was wounded. Within two. days after these acts of hostility, a settler, passing the place where the stone bridge now is, was shot at and wounded by the Indians. He succeeded in reaching the fort, but died soon after- wards.
The Chickasaws, early in 1783, assembled in the vicinity of Nashville, at Robertson's Station, where a treaty was concluded, ceding and relinquishing to North-Carolina, a region of country extending nearly forty miles south of Cumberland River, to the ridge dividing the tributaries of that stream from those of Duck and Elk.
At Armstrong's Fort, as Patsy, the daughter of Mr. Rains, was riding on horseback, with a young woman, Betsey Williams, behind her, they were fired upon by the Indians, and the latter killed; the former escaped. A short time afterwards, near the same place, Joseph Noland was killed ; and during the same summer, a son of Thomas Noland ; and during the fall, the old man himself was also killed near this same place. About the same time, the Indins killed the father of Betsey Williams, above mentioned.
:
152
INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF
Bachanan's Station was upon Mill Creek, five miles from the Bluff, not far from the farm at the present time owned by A. R. Crozier, Esq., on the Turnpike leading from Nashville to Lebanon. There the Indians, in this year, killed Samuel Buchanan, Wm. Mulherrin, and three others, who were guarding the station. Going from the Bluff to Kentucky, William Overall was killed, and Joshua Thomas mortally wounded. The Indians having stolen horses from the Bluff, Captain William Pruett raised twenty men and pursued them to Richland Creek, of Elk River, overtook them, and recaptured the horses on the waters of Big Creek. They fired upon, but did not kill any of the Indians. As they returned, they encamped near a creek on the north side of Duck River. As they began their march next morning, they were fired upon by the Indians in their rear. Moses Brown was killed in a cane-brake, and the ground being unfavorable, the whites retreated a mile and a half to more open ground, and there halted and formed. The Indians came up and an engage- ment ensued. Captain Pruett and Daniel Johnson were shot down, and Morris Shine was wounded. Being overpowered, the survivors of the party made good their escape to the Bluff, with the loss of their recaptured horses.
Constantly harassed and alarmed by the continued recurrence of Indian hostility against his colony, Col. Robertson, could no longer resist the conviction, that his savage neighbors on the south were instigated in their unfriendly conduct to the people on Cumberland by some foreign influence, and he suspected that influence might be from the agents of Spain. He entered into correspondence with one of them, Mr. Portell, assuring him of a disposition on the part of his countrymen to maintain with the Spanish colonists the most friendly relations. Mr. Portell, in reply, expressed his gratitude for the amicable behavior of the Cumberland people, and promised to maintain the best relations on his side, and expressed a wish to be useful to the Colonel and his countrymen. Still, incursions for the purpose of murder and plunder continued to be made by the Indians. Early in this year, Philip Trammel and Philip Mason were killed. As one
153
TENNESSEE AND OF NASHVILLE.
amongst a thousand instances of the unequalled fortitude and gallantry of the first settlers, a recitation is here given of the conflict in which they ended their existence. These two men had killed a deer at the head of White's Creek, and were skinning it. The Indians stole up to the place and fired upon them. They wounded Mason, and carried off the venison. Trammel got assistance from Eaton's Station, and followed the Indians. He came up with them ; they fought, and he killed two of them. The Indians being reinforced, and Mason having received a second and mortal wound, the whites were once more obliged to retreat. Trammel found some other white men in the woods, and induced them to go back with him to the place where the Indians were. They found the latter, and immediately renewed the fight. They killed three Indians, and fought till both parties were tired. Trammel and Josiah IIoskins, enthusiastically courageous, and determined to make the enemy yield the palm of victory, gallantly precipitated themselves into the midst of the retreating Indians, where they fell by the hands of the foe. The rest of the white men maintained their ground until both parties were exhausted and willing to rest from their martial labors.
Another spirited affair, scarcely less heroic, deserves also to be specially mentioned. Aspie, Andrew Lucas, Thomas S. Spencer and Johnston, had left the Bluff on horseback on a hunting tour. They had reached the head waters of Drake's Creek, where their horses had stopped to drink. At this moment a party of Indians fired upon them. Lucas was shot through the neck and through the mouth. He, however, dismounted with the rest, but in attempting to fire, the blood gushed from his mouth and wet his priming ; perceiving this, he crawled into a bunch of briers. Aspie, as he alighted from his horse, received a bullet which broke his thigh; but he still fought heroically. Johnston and Spencer acquitted themselves with incomparable gallantry, but were obliged to give way, and to leave Aspie to his fate, though he entreated them earnestly not to forsake him. The Indians killed and scalped Aspie, but did not find Lucas, whe shortly
.
.
154 INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF
afterwards returned to his friends. Spencer, in the heat of the engagement, was shot, but the ball split on the bone, and his life was spared. The whole Aspie family were superlatively brave. 'A brother had been previously killed in the battle at the Bluff. When he first fell, he placed himself in a position to reach a loaded gun, with which he shot an Indian running up to scalp him.
In this year also, Cornelius Riddle was shot by the Indians, near Buchanan's Station. He had killed two turkeys, and hang- ing them upon a bush, had gone off into the woods to hunt for more. The Indians hearing the report of his gun, came to the place, and finding the turkeys, lay in ambush where they were, and on Riddle's coming to take them away, they fired upon and killed him.
In the year 1785, Moses Brown was killed, near the place on Richland Creek afterwards occupied by Jesse Wharton, Esq., and then known as Brown's Station. Colonel Robertson and Colonel Weakley had gone, with Edmond Hickman, a surveyor, to sur- vey entered lands on Pliny River. The Indians came upon them suddenly, and killed Hickman. The same year they killed a man living with William Stuart, on the plantation where Judge Haywood afterwards lived.
Notwithstanding these daring acts of hostility, the number of inhabitants steadily increased. James Harrison, William Hall, and W. Gibson, settled this year above Bledsoe's Lick, and Charles Morgan established a station on the west side of Bled- soe's Creek, five miles from the Lick. The Indians killed Peter Barnett and David Steele, below Clarkesville, on the waters of Blooming Grove. They also wounded William Crutcher and went off, leaving a knife sticking in him ; he recovered.
On the second day of March, John Peyton, a surveyor, Eph- raim Peyton, Thomas Pugh, and John Frazier, had commenced their survey upon a creek, since called Defeated Creek, on the north of the Cumberland, in what is now Smith County, and had made a camp. While they were sleeping around the camp, about midnight a great number of Cherokee Indians surrounded and
--
TENNESSEE AND OF NASHVILLE. 155
fired upon them. All but one of them were wounded, but they ran through the Indian line, made their escape, and got home, losing their horses, compass, chain, blankets, saddles, and bridles. The Indians retreated immediately to their towns, and were not over- taken.
Near the Locust-land, where General Hall now lives, above Bledsoe's Lick, the Indians killed William Hall and his son Richard, and another man. In May, the Indians came to Rich- land Creek, and in daylight killed Mark Robertson, near the place where Robertson's Mill was since erected. He was a brother of Col. Rebertson, and was returning from his house.
During the summer, the Indians came to Drake's Creek, where William Montgomery lived, shot down and scalped his son, and wounded John Allen. In the same neighborhood they killed Mr. Morgan, Sr., and were pursued by a party of white men, under the command of George Winchester, who followed on their trail. Another party, commanded by Captain William Martin, also fol- lowed them by a nearer route, and not having found their trail, encamped near it. The other party, on the same night, came on the trail, and seeing the camp of Martin, fired into it and killed Wm. Ridley, the son of George Ridley, late of Davidson County.
Considerable delay occurred before Evans's battalion could be recruited, equipped, provided with supplies, and sent forward to Cumberland, as provided for by the assembly of North Carolina. Impatient of this delay, Col. Bledsoe asked permission of Gover- nor Caswell to carry an expedition against the Chickamaugas. His letter was dated from Kentucky, whither he and Col. Robert- son had gone to procure additional forces with which to chastise the enemy.
Soon after the date of Colonel Bledsoe's letter, that officer and Colonel Robertson addressed Governor Caswell, jointly, under date:
"CUMBERLAND, June 12th, 1787.
"DEAR SIR :- Nothing but the distress of a bleeding country could induce us to trouble you on so disagreeable a subject. We enclose you a list of the killed in this quarter, since our depart- ure from this country to the assembly ; this, with the numbers
1
-
156 INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF
wounded, the vast numbers of horses stolen from the inhabitants, has, in a degree, flagged the spirits of the people. A report is now here, and has prevailed throughout this country, and we are nduced to believe it is true, that the Spaniards are doing all they can to encourage the several savage tribes to war against the Americans. It is certain, the Chickasaws inform us, that Span- ish traders offer a reward for scalps of the Americans. A disor- derly set of French and Spanish traders are continually on the Tennessee, that we actually fear are a great means of encourag- ing the Indians to do us much mischief. We should wish to take some measures to remove these disorderly traders from the Ten- nessee, and wish your excellency's advice in the matter."
At length, the Indian atrocities becoming so bold and frequent, it appeared necessary, for the protection and defence of the settle- ments, that offensive operations should be carried on against the Indians in their own towns. One hundred and thirty men, from the different settlements on Cumberland, volunteered for that purpose, and assembled at the house of Col. Robertson. Of this force he took the command, assisted by Col. Robert Hays and Col. James Ford, and marched for the Indian village Coldwater, with two Chickasaws as pilots. They crossed at the mouth of South Harper; thence they went a direct course to the mouth of Turnbull's Creek, and up that stream to its head; thence to Lick Creek of Duck River ; thence down that creek seven or eight miles, leaving the creek to the right hand; thence to an old and very large Lick ; thence to Duck river, where the old Chickasaw trace crossed it; thence, leaving the trace to the right hand, they went to the head of Swan Creek; thence to a creek then called Blue Water, running into the Tennessee River, about a mile and a half above the lower end of the Muscle Shoals. When within ten miles of these rapids, they heard the roaring of the falls. One of the Indian guides, with several of the most active soldiers, was ordered to go to the river. These, about midnight, returned, say- ing the river was too distant for them to reach that night and return to camp. In the morning they pursued the same course they had done the day before. At 12 o'clock, they struck the
1
157
TENNESSEE AND OF NASHVILLE.
river at the lower end of the Muscle Shoals, where it is said the road now crosses, and concealed themselves in the woods till night. On the north side of the river they discovered on a bluff a plain path leading along the river, which seemed to be much travelled ; and, on the south side, opposite to them, were seen several Indian cabins or lodges. Several of the soldiers went down secretly, took their station under the bank, and concealed themselves under the cane, to observe what could be seen on the other side. They had not long remained in their place of con- cealment, when they saw some Indians reconnoitering and evi- dently looking out for the troops of Col. Robertson. In doing this, they passed into an island near the south bank of the river, where they entered a canoe, and came half way over the stream. Not being able to see any of the invaders, the Indians returned to the island where they had started from, and fastened the canoe. When they left the river, Capt. Rains was sent with fifteen men up the path, along the north bank, with orders from Col. Robert- son to capture an Indian, if possible, alive. He executed the order, but did not see an Indian. He went nearly to the mouth of Bluewater Creek, when about sunset he was recalled, having made no discoveries. It was determined to cross the river that . night, and the soldiers who had watched the movements of the Indians, swam over the river and went up to the cabins, but they found not a single living being in the village. They then untied the canoe, and returned in it to the north bank. It was found to be a very large one, but old, and having a hole in its bottom. This the men contrived to stop with their shirts. Into this frail and leaky barque, forty men, with their fire-arms entered. They started from the shore, and the canoe sprang aleak, and began to sink. Jumping into the water, the men swam back with the canoe to the northern bank. In these operations some noise was necessarily made, and considerable time consumed, and the em- barkation of the troops delayed till daylight. With a piece of linn bark, the hole in the canoe was at length covered, and forty or fifty men crossed over in it, and took possession of the bank on the south side. The remainder of the troops swam over with the horses. Having all crossed the river in safety, attention was paid 14
- -.
158
INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF
to drying their clothes and equipments. A rain came on and forced the men into the cabins. After the clouds cleared away, the troops mounted, and seeing a well-beaten path, leading from the river out into the barrens, in a western direction, they dashed into it, and followed it briskly. At the distance of five or six miles, they came to corn fields, and a mile or two further, they come to Coldwater Creek. This most of the troops crossed by a path so narrow that a single horse could only pass it up the bank. On the other side of the creek was a number of cabins, built upon the low grounds, which extended to the river about three hun- dred yards below. The people of the town were surprised by its sudden and unexpected invasion, and fled precipitately to their boats at the river, and were closely pursued by such of the men as had crossed the creek. Captain Rains had remained on its other side, with Benjamin Castleman, William Loggins, William Steele, and Martin Duncan, and seeing the retreat and flight of the enemy, went down the east side of the creek to intercept them. The retreating Indians, as they ran down on the other side, and had their attention drawn to those who pursued them on the same side of the creek, crossed over and came to the spot where Capt. Rains and his men were, and were fired upon while looking back at their pursuers, and not perceiving the snare into which they had fallen. Three of them were killed. Three French traders and a white woman, who had got into a boat and would not surrender, but mixed with the Indians, and seemed determined to share their fate, whatever it might be, were killed by the troops. They wounded and took prisoner the principal trader and owner of the goods, and five or six other Frenchmen, who lived there as traders. These had in the town, stores of taffia, sugar, coffee, cloths, blankets, Indian wares of all kinds, salt, shot, Indian paints, knives, powder, tomahawks, tobacco, and other articles suitable for Indian commerce. The troops killed many of the Indians after they had got into the boats, and gave them so hot and deadly a fire from the bank of the river, that they were forced to jump into the water, and were shot whilst in it, until, as the Chickasaws afterwards informed them, twenty-six of the Creek warriors were killed in the river. The troops immediately after-
159
TENNESSEE AND OF NASHVILLE.
wards collected all the boats that were upon the river, and brought them up the creek, opposite to the town, and placed a guard over them. Each of the Indian guides was, next morn- ing, presented with a horse, a gun, and as many blankets and clothes as the horses could carry, as their portion of the spoils, and despatched to their homes. The name of one of them was Toka, a chief.
After the departure of the Chickasaw guides, the troops buried the white men and the woman killed in the engagement of the day before, set fire to and burned up the town, and destroyed the domestic animals that were found in and around it. The goods of the traders had been removed from the stores, and, with the prisoners, were now put into three or four boats, under the charge of Jonathan Denton, Benjamin Drake, and John and Moses Eskridge, to navigate them. They were directed to descend the Tennessce to some convenient point on its southern shore, where they were to meet the mounted troops, and assist them in crossing. At the time the boats started down the river, the horsemen began their march by land, but being without ยท pilots, and entirely unacquainted with the windings of the stream, they took a course that led them further from it than they intended, into the piny woods, where they encamped. The next day they went to the river, where they saw several persons at a distance on the islands, who proved to be their own boatmen. Neither knew the other till some of the boatmen, nearing the the shore, made the agreeable discovery that the horsemen on the land were their friends. The troops then moved down the river a few miles, and came to a place just above the point of an island, where the descent to the river was easy and convenient for embarkation, and where the bank on the opposite side afforded a safe landing. Here, with the assistance of the boats, they crossed over. The whole command encamped together on the north shore, and found they had not lost a single man, and that not one was wounded. The place at which the crossing was made, is near what has since been known as Colbert's Ferry.
The horsemen, after leaving camp on the Tennessee, marched nearly a north course, till they struck the path leading to the
:
160 INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF
Chickasaw Old Crossing, on Duck River, where they had crossed going out, and pursuing their own trace, returned unmolested to the Bluff.
At Coldwater, Colonel Robertson discovered the sources from which the Indians were supplied with the materials which enabled them to make inroads upon the new settlements ;; the means by which, and the channels through which, they received them ; and the practicable modes of cutting them off, as well as the facility of seizing upon the stores, when deposited in villages near the place of disembarkation. The advantages acquired by his expedition were various and important, and by putting the Indians in danger at home, and making it necessary for them to act on the defensive, near their own villages, had greatly dimin- ished the vigor of their enterprises against the feeble settlements.
Amongst the patrols selected for the performance of this ser- vice, was Captain John Rains. Col. Robertson was led to this choice by the experience he had had in his prowess and diligence. His orders to him had always been executed punctually, promptly, and with a degree of bravery that was never exceeded. An occa- sion soon offered for the exercise of these eminent qualities. The Indians killed Randal Gentry, not far from the Bluff, at the place where Mr. Foster since lived, About the same time, Curtis Williams and Thomas Fletcher, with his son, were also killed near the mouth of Harper. Captain Rains was ordered to pursue the perpetrators of this mischief. He soon raised sixty men and followed them. Their trace was found and pursuit made ; he passed Mill Creek, Big Harper, the Fishing Ford of Duck River, Elk River, at the mouth of Swan Creek, and Flint River. Not being able to overtake the enemy, he left their trace, and went westwardly, and struck McCutchin's trace. Before he reached Elk River, he discovered tracks of Indians going in the direction of Nashville. At the crossing of the river, he came to the camp which they had left the morning before. He went forward six miles and halted, sending forth a few of his men to see that the enemy was not so near as to hear the men forming their encamp- ment. These returned without having seen any of the Indians. Next morning Captain Rains continued the pursuit, and in the
-
161
TENNESSEE AND OF NASHVILLE.
afternoon found the place they had encamped the preceding night. The ground had been cleared of leaves and brush, and upon this the war-dance had been celebrated. There were, moreover, evi- dences of a wary and deliberate invasion for hostile purposes, and of very cautious and watchful progress. The troops, after cross- ing Duck River, at the mouth of Globe and Fountain Creek, en- camped at night on its north side. Renewing their march next morning, they came, at the distance of six miles, on the waters of Rutherford's Creek, near where Solomon Herring has since lived, upon the camp of the Indians. It was fired upon, when the Indians immediately fled, leaving one of their number dead. Captain Rains, with his company, then returned to Nashville.
The same vigilant officer soon after received the orders of Col. Robertson to raise another company, and scour the woods south- wardly from Nashville, and destroy any Indians that might be found east of the line dividing the Cherokee and Chickasaw na- tions. Sixty men constituted the command. They took the Chickasaw trace, crossing Duck River and Swan Creek, pursuing the Chickasaw path, which was recognized as the boundary. They then left the path, going south and east up the Tennessee River. After two days, they came upon an Indian trail, and made pursuit. They overtook them, killed four men, and captured a boy. Seven horses, guns, blankets, skins, and all the Indians had, were taken. The troop then returned to Nashville.
The boy, who had been taken prisoner in this engagement, was the son of a Chickasaw woman. His father was a Creek warrior. Mountain Leader, a distinguished chief of her nation, wrote, in behalf of the mother, to Captain Rains, and proposed to exchange, for his prisoner, the son of a Mrs. Naine, who had been stolen by the Creeks from her, on White's Creek, and taken to the interior of their nation. Batterboo, a son of the Mountain Leader, had recaptured him from the Creeks. The exchange, as proposed, was agreed to and made.
In September, of this year, Captain Rains, being reinforced by a like number of men, commanded by Captain Shannon, made his third expedition. The troop passed Green's Lick and Pond Spring, towards the head of Elk, scouring the woods in various 14*
-
162
INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF
directions. They came upon a fresh Indian trail, which they fol lowed, and soon overtook the enemy. Captain Rains, and one of his men, Beverly Ridley, pursued one of them and killed him. John Rains, Jun., and Robert Evans, outran another, and made him prisoner. All the rest escaped by flight. In the camp of this party were found large quantitities of skins and other plunder, which, with 15 horses, fell into the hands of the whites.
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.