Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches, Part 8

Author: Guild, Jo. C. (Josephus Conn), 1802-1883
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Nashville, Tavel, Eastman & Howell
Number of Pages: 1012


USA > Tennessee > Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches > Part 8


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 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45


Many came from the Old World to the New in sailing ships, which required a voyage of from three to six months. Scarcely any ever returned from the new to the old country. The amuse- ments of the day were mainly athletic sports, the county frolics, the log-rollings, the house-raisings, the meetings in the harvest- fields with the reap-hook, the quiltings and cotton-pickings in the day and the dance at night ; then the country weddings with the large infairs, interspersed with the best of fighting and fine horse-racing, and unequalled shooting matches, and squirrel hunts, and fish fries. We then had a bold peasantry, a happy and united people; the men who bore the flag under Jackson through the Indian wars and gave an undying lustre to our coun- try in the decisive and glorious battle of New Orleans. Now how changed the times ! The commercial world is revolutionized by the American discovery of applying the irresistable power of steam to machinery, giving a propelling power that stems the Mississippi river, and within six days brings the Southern pro- ducts from the Crescent City to Nashville, and returns with Ten- nessee products in less than that time. We now mount the iron- horse, whose muscles never tire, and traverse the continent at the rate of forty miles an hour-faster time than Lexigton ever made in a four mile race. We land in New Orleans or New York in forty or fifty hours. We can bathe upon the shores of the dis- tant Pacific in less than six days. By means of the telegraph, we hold communication with distant friends and relations thou- sands of miles away. We can speak to them across the great deep, and within a few hours receive a response.


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We now have our rings, monied rings, bank and bond rings, credit mobiler rings, Congressional grab rings, corporation rings, railroad rings, and every kind of rings that dispense with labor and place the yoke upon the toiling millions.


These reflections upon old times have induced me to give a short sketch of two races of the Old King, a saddle horse with which Judge Guild rode the circuit when a young lawyer in 1825 and 1826. These races were made and run by the Hon. Bailie Peyton and Judge Guild in the fall of 1826. These young men had been school-mates, read law together, and commenced the- practice in the upper counties at the same time. In those times any young lawyer who had expectations took a circuit, a first-rate horse, Blackstone and the Statutes of Tennessee, with an old pair of saddle-bags containing his wardrobe, as his outfit, relying much upon his vim and natural genius; and these young men had a full portion of each, with a high resolution and untameable will. They were courageous and spirited, and a fine match, hard to handle in any thing they undertook. They have been thrown together for more than fifty years, and during that time they have been unswerving friends. They met on the circuit the gifted Burton and Caruthers of Lebanon, and Rucks and Over- ton of Carthage, and for many years broke a lance with these able men. They also met on the circuit Felix Grundy, then in his glory as an advocate, and the rising Samuel Houston, and the great land lawyers, Jenkins Whitesides and Patrick Darby.


FELIX GRUNDY.


It was a great intellectual feast to hear Booth in his Richard the Third, Forrest in his Macbeth or King Lear, Miss Cushman in Lady Macbeth, or Jo. Jefferson in his Rip Van Winkle, but to hear Felix Grundy in a closely contested case of homicide, when all his fires were burning, his passions aroused; to see his actions, the flash of his gray eyes, the vivid flashes of lightning bursting from his lips; at times to witness his scathing sarcasm, and then his sparkling wit : take it all in all, it was the grandest exhibtion that any Tennesseean ever witnessed. He found him- self carried away by a storm of eloquence that was irresistible. He felt that he was aroused by the same feeling and passion that moved the godlike advocate. I have heard Felix Grundy speak


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a hundred times. If he were alive I would go a thousand miles to hear him again. Under the influence of his magic eloquence, I have seen great assemblies tremble and shudder. I have seen the Judge on his bench forget his position, loll out his tongue, and clap his hands for joy, and refined and enlightened galleries have wept and fainted in the excess of feeling. I have heard most of the American orators, read the speeches of the ancients, as well as the great orators of France, England, and Ireland, and my opinion is that Felix Grundy was the greatest advocate the world has produced. He died in 1840. What a calamity that so much intellect perished with him, and that eloquent tongue is forever silenced, and will never again stir the American heart.


America has produced two great natural orators, Patrick Henry and Felix Grundy. Their speeches were never written out like those of Cicero or Demosthenes. Their genius could not be chained down to paper, or fairly represented by the copy- ist. It was a wasteful and ridiculous excess to attempt to report them. It was an attempt


"To gild refined gold, to paint the lilly ; To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper light, To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish."


The fame of Patrick Henry and Felix Grundy rests in tradi- tion, and will be handed down from sire to son for many gener- ations yet to come.


Mrs. Felicia Grundy Porter, Mr. Grundy's youngest daughter, yet lives. She is a woman of talents and fine accomplishments, with the same general contour of feature and person that marked her accomplished father; a woman devoted to charity and care for the Confederate dead. If her lot had been cast with the sterner sex, and she had been brought to the bar, she would have been a fit representative of her gifted father. She would have been the younger Pitt of the family.


THE RACE OF THE OLD KING.


Now as to the first race of the Old King. Young Guild and Peyton were attending court at Carthage, got a few five-dollar


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fees, and left for their residence at Gallatin, taking the races at Hartsville in their route. They rode very fast, eighteen miles that morning, to get to the races. The Old King was a large sorrel, finely formed, of immense stride and powerful action. He was fatigued by the rapid ride, they not expecting to run him, but so soon as they arrived they were bantered for a mile race with Cook Lewis' horse, who had been in regular training, for $100 aside, to carry one hundred pounds. The young law- yers accepted the proposition, and the race came off in one hour. They had no time to plate the Old King, so they removed his shoes and cupped him. He made a splendid run and won the race in gallant style. The young lawyers remained in Harts- ville that night to enjoy their victory, and the next morning started for Gallatin. Riding six miles they came to Banks' old stand, where they found some strangers, when they were again bantered for a race of one-quarter of a mile for a purse of $200 aside. They were conducted to the stable where they found a heavy muscled, compact horse, which they afterward understood was a celebrated Kentucky quarter-horse lately brought to Ten- nessee. His appearance rather alarmed the keen eyes of the young lawyers. Upon a conference, they knew that, he being a stranger in the county, and from his general appearance, he was a hard customer. But at last they concluded to carry him be- yond his accustomed distance and run him six hundred yards for $200 aside, and each to carry one hundred and forty pounds; and the race was made to come off in thirty days. The Old King was high spirited, was restive, extremely hard to start as well as ride. Bailie Peyton, then being the best rider in the State and of the right weight, the young men fixed the weight with the intent to put up that celebrated rider. The forfeit be- ing put up, the young lawyers left the courts for a season, and both being good trainers, immediately put the Old King into regular training in accordance with the then improvements in the art. They established their head-quarters at Capt. Jack Mitch- ell's Hotel, Gallatin, where they boarded. All the paraphernalia of a regular training stable was adopted, and there is no doubt that they put the horse in as fine condition for the race as the most celebrated trainer could have done. Their old friend, the eminent Judge John J. White, boarded at the same tavern, and


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had a very fine Pacolet riding horse, who had distinguished him- self on the turf, and an old bay, afflicted with the bighead, who had been turned upon the commons. The young trainers cap- tured the old bay and made him a pack-horse to go to mill and to bring hominy and oats, and desiring to give the Old King a quick motion, and to bring his driving muscles into play, and to give a rapid and quick motion for so short a race, each day they trotted him one hour, and the manner of doing this was to place a rider on the Judge's old bay and run him at full speed around a circle, the rider leading the Old King, making him trot, giving him his most rapid stride. One evening while this operation was going on, the Judge and the young lawyers walked out upon the common. The Judge observed that one horse was going at full speed around a circle, with the other following in the rear. He asked, " What does this mean ; they seem to be going round and round ?" At length he said, "Gentlemen, I do believe that is the old bay that the boy is riding in front." They had to admit the fact to the Judge, and endeavored to make the necessary ex- planations. He kindly remarked, "Now, boys, you may use the old hay moderately to go to mill, but its too bad to run him around a circle in that way." They faithfully promised to com- ply with his request, which was done. The training of the Old King went on satisfactorily. A few days before the race, Guild and Peyton desired to test the powers of their horse, and to break him to go off at the word. The only reliable test that they had was to run the Old King against the Judge's Pacolet horse. From great kindness, he had been gentle to ride, and they knew that the Judge would not consent for him to be run with the Old King. They concluded that they would take them out by the light of the moon and run them six hundred yards. Guild rode the Judge's horse and Peyton the Old King. Many were the false starts. Guild would turn the Judge's Pacolet and rush by Peyton on the Old King to get him to start rapidly. At length they got off together. The whip and spur were freely used, and each horse was fully up to his topmost speed, and the result was that the Old King beat the Pacolet some forty yards. This fully confirmed the young trainers that they had an extraordinary race horse. They kept their own secrets, pushed their credit to the utmost extension in raising funds, and then borrowed several


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horses to bet on the race. They resolved to make a spoon or spoil a horn. The day before the race, which was to come off at Cairo, they broke up their stable, and with their baggage train slowly moved upon the battle-field with all the circumstance and pomp of glorious turf racing. They bivouaced upon the battle- field that night, and their thoughts were upon the morrow. Like the chieftains of old, they next morning looked for omens and signs in the heavens foretelling the result of the coming contest. The approach of the king of day was looked for with deep in- terest, whether his great eye was full and bright, or covered with dark clouds. Their horse was a red, bright sorrel, the other was a dark brown. The coming of the sun was without a cloud, re- sembling the beauty and brightness of the Old King, and indi- cating success. This gave Guild and Peyton double assurance that victory would perch upon their standard. Their object was to get odds in the betting, at any rate even bets, as their capital was not very large. In this there was some finessing, which is deemed fair on the turf. They gave out that they had no rider. They weighed one awkward boy and then another; all the time they had their agents out betting their money and horses. The hour having arrived to go upon the track, Guild announced to Peyton that there was no chance for them to procure a rider of the right weight. Then Peyton remarked that rather than there should be a failure he would mount the Old King and ride him- self. So the contestants were led upon the field, and Peyton was stripped for the battle.


The Judges were selected for the start and outcome. Guild was not less distinguished as a turner than Peyton as a rider. Guild seized hold of the bit, and many were the false starts, yet he was determined never to let go until the start was a fair one. The rider, young Peyton, with his spurs and whip in hand,


"I saw rise from the ground like feather Mercury, And vault with such case in his seat, As if an angel dropped from the clouds, To turn and wind the fiery Pegassus, And witch the world with noble horsemanship."


Great were the difficulties in getting off together. At length the word was given, and both bounded off even. In a few strides the horses arrived at their topmost speed. For four hun-


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dred yards it was a dead match, and an umbrella would have covered both riders, and the race rested in great doubt. There was a large post standing on the edge of the track within two hun- dred yards of the out-come, and the contest being equal, it evi- dently appeared that the rider of the Kentucky horse was bear- ing the Old King against that post. He was borne so closely to it that Peyton's leg brushed it. So soon as they passed it, Pey- ton struck the opposite rider in the face with his whip, and a running fight ensued, which lit up afresh all the fires of the Old King, and as he came to the Judges' stand a victor, there was the thunder of battle in his stride and the noise of the tempest in his wing. While hundreds of voices proclaimed that the Old King was the winner of the purse, there was a rumbling discon- tent proclaiming foul riding. In these times it was of the first importance to have good and willing fighters as chiefs of staff in case of emergency. Guild and Peyton had defended them in the courts, and were attended with a reliable reserve. Guild saw the difficulty and fight progressing between the riders, and, like Rod- crick Dhu, blew his whistle, and his clansmen, Johnny Outlaw, Bird Fallice, and others of tried grit, were by his side. They ran six hundred yards to the head of the stretch; they found Peyton had dismounted and was heavily pressed, putting his as- sailants at bay with his drawn knife. Guild announced to Pey- ton, " Here we come !" and perfect order and peace were re-es- tablished. The judges decided that the Old King had fairly won the purse, and it was so awarded. He was led back to his stable with the triumph equal in noise and feeling to that given a Ro- man General upon his return from a glorious campaign.


A JOHN GILPIN RIDE.


The young lawyers now retired from the turf and resumed the practice of the law. Shortly after this celebrated race, Judge White was visiting Craig Font, and one morning had his fine Pacolet brought out to ride. He mounted him while his head was turned West. Guild knew he would break as soon as he was turned East, and told him to turn his horse before mounting. He disregarded the suggestion, and as soon as his head was turned East he bounded off like a brick, and at a few strides he was at the top of his speed. While the Judge was a poor horse-


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man, he was one of the finest lawyers and one of the purest men that Tennessee ever had. At the first bound of the horse, the Judge let go the bridle and held by the mane and saddle. Shortly afterward his hat fell off; the flapping of his great coat inceased the alarm and rapidity of the horse, then his saddle- bags fell, then his wig, and as he turned the Wilson corner the reflection of the rising sun upon his bare head was like unto a meteor in the East. Guild and Peyton ran for two miles to give him relief, apprehending the worst results, but fortunately they found him returning on foot leading his Pegasus by the bridle. They congratulated him upon his safety. The Judge expressed astonishment at his horse bounding off as he did, and could not account for it. Guild remarked to him that he must have struck him with the spur as he mounted. The Judge said that he was very careful, and did not touch him with the spur. Although Guild and Peyton knew the cause, they never ventured to ex- plain to the Judge the reason of his running, but devoted them- selves assiduously to taming and gentling the Pacolet, so the Judge afterward rode him in safety. This able jurist and good man fell a victim to the war in the spring of 1863.


About 1836 he selected Kitty, a beautiful orphan child of four years, and adopted her as his daughter. He educated and made her a charming and most accomplished woman. She is now the wife of the Nashville merchant, C. A. R. Thompson. The shat- tered remnant of a fine estate he gave to his wife and Kitty, hav- donated his large and valuable law library to the bar of Galla- tin. These acts, coupled with his judicial life which appears in the reported opinions of the Supreme Court, are a monument to his memory more lasting than stone, marble, or brass.


PEYTON ELECTED TO CONGRESS.


I will close this communication, now too long, with one more incident of the olden times.


Guild and Peyton, after this race. devoted themselves to the law, and in 1832 had acquired a prominence remarkable for men of their age. After the retirement of the old patriot soldier. Gen. Hall, from Congress, the people of the district looked upon either Peyton or Guild to become the candidate for the succession. Guild having then a successful run of practice, yielded, and 7


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urged his old and long-tried friend, Peyton, to assume the posi- tion. He announced himself in opposition to Col. A. H. Over- ton, of Smith county, who was a speaker of marked ability, and had a voice as sweet and musical as a violin. He relied upon his age and fine oratory to carry him into Congress, and spoke to Guild rather disparagingly of Peyton's running against him. Guild said to him that he would find Peyton rather a tough cus- tomer, and very hard to beat, adding, "When you meet him upon the stump, without disparaging your oratory, you will hear it thunder, and you will witness the forked lightning jumping from crag to crag." In a few weeks after this they met on De- feated Creek to address the people of Smith county. Col. Over- ton anticipated a great victory. Peyton had made this appoint- ment upon the war-path and battle-field of 1790, where his father and uncle had gallantly fought. Peyton opened the discussion to a large assembly of ladies and gentlemen. He went back to the revolution of 1776, and the various battles of that glorious struggle. He alluded to the old pioneers of that revolution, after having achieved the independence of their country, coming to the far West to reclaim Tennessee and Kentucky from the hordes of savages who possessed these delightful regions. He described them as blazing their way over the Alleghanies with a tomahawk in one hand and a rifle in the other, and by their courage and endurance had reclaimed Tennessee and Kentucky from the do- minion of the savage foe, and had made this wilderness blossom as the rose. He pointed out the battle-field upon this creek upon which his father and uncle fought, both being badly wounded, and by their courage and endurance covered the retreat and saved our gallant pioneers from the tomahawk of the savage. He re- ferred to the battle of Nickajack in 1794, when they swam the Tennessee river, and at daylight fought the great battle that gave peace to the settlements and opened the door to civilized man. He stood here as a representative of one of those old pioneers, asking the people to honor him with a seat in Congress. The reply of Col. Overton, though able, had no effect in allaying the storm that Peyton had put in motion, and which carried him into Congress. Guild having heard of this meeting, a few weeks afterward met Col. Overton and said, " Well, Col. Overton, I understand that you and Peyton met at Defeated Creek ;


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what was the result ? what do you think of the young man ?" " Why," said Col. Overton, " I went to the appointment for the purpose of discussing the great national questions of the day as a statesman should have done, but let me inform you, sir, that Peyton touched not one of those great questions. He had not been speaking five minutes when I discovered that all of our Indian wars were being fought over again. I saw the bloody battle of Defeated Creek. I saw his father shot through, his uncle badly wounded; yet they, with their brave followers, still stood up and fought bravely and covered the retreat, saving them- selves from the tomahawk of the savage. Why, sir, I imagined that I saw an Indian warrior behind every tree with his toma- hawk raised. I shuddered ; I felt that the entire assembly would he massacred. In fact, Col. Guild, Defeated Creek ran blood all the time he spoke." Guild replied that this was only an intro- duction. "You will find, Col. Overton, that you will see sights before you get through with this young man." The truth is that Peyton painted the bloody battle of Defeated Creek, assimilating ยท it to the battle between Mortimer and Glendower.


"On the gentle Severn's sagey bank, Who then affrighted with their bloody looks, Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, Blood-stained with these valiant combatants."


Col. Overton was never able to resist this tide which triumph- antly bore Peyton to Congress.


Guild and Peyton have since filled many public trusts, inter- spersed with a vigorous practice of the law, which more or less interfered with their social intercourse, but never with their friendly relations. It is said that the ruling passion is strong in death, seldom extinguished during life. This has been illus- trated in Guild and Peyton in their love and appreciation of the blooded horse. On each of their farms in Sumner county, they have raised and placed upon the turf many distinguished runners. The Hon. Bailie Peyton can point to Fanny McAlister, Mug- gins, Satterlite-who ran successfully in England-Chickamauga, Rosseau, and Richelieu. Judge Guild may refer to a brilliant galaxy of names, Caroline Malone, Little Red, Beeswing, Oliver, Flight, Gloriana, Patrician, Lucille, Nannie Douglas, Duke of Orleans, Capitola, Jack Malone, and Hiawatha.


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V.


CARRYING THE MAILS BETWEEN NASHVILLE AND NATCHEZ - ADVENTURES WITH ROBBERS - DEATH OF LITTLE HARP-THE INDIANS, ETC.


HEREWITH I give some reminiscences of the olden time, de- rived from John L. Swaney, a worthy and respected citizen of Sumner county, a short time before his death, which occurred a few years ago at the advanced age of ninety-six years. These reminiscences, besides being very interesting, will serve to show how rapid has been the advance of the tidal wave of population, commerce, wealth, education, the arts, agriculture and mechan- ics, transportation, and whatever tends to make a great and pow- erful nation. Nashville, now the capital of the State, had, in 1800, nothing but huts built of cedar logs with stone or mud and wooden chimneys, and a population of about one thousand, and no commerce of any description. Now it has the finest State capitol in America; the State Normal College (formerly the University of Nashville), the Vanderbilt and Fisk Univer- sities, besides a number of colleges and academies-making it a great educational center; a large number of churches, and many elegant residences ; and a population of nearly fifty thousand, while it enjoys a heavy and lucrative trade. Such has been the advance at home. In 1800 the great Valley of the Mississippi was a vast wilderness. One might then travel a thousand miles without seeing a white settlement, and only occasionally an In- dian town. Now what do we behold? Westward the star of empire has taken its way until its course has been stayed by the mighty Pacific. Some fifteen or twenty States, containing a bold, courageous, and enterprising population of nearly twenty mil- lions, occupy this vast territory-greater in extent than the em- pires of many European monarchs-which was "a howling wil- derness" within the memory of men yet living, and the enter- prise and energy of these inhabitants have literally made this wilderness to blossom as the rose, adding to the power and glory of our republic.


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Mr. Swaney carried the mail on horse-back from Nashville to Natchez in early times, and frequently saw and talked with the noted robber Tom Mason, the leader of a band who laid in am- bush in the Choctaw Nation, and robbed traders and boatmen as they returned from New Orleans and Natchez. He began carry- ing the mail about 1796 or '97, and continued in this employ- ment for nearly eight years. Nashville was then quite a small town. Every house in the place was built of logs, and many of them had stick and dirt chimneys. The post-office was kept on Market street, a few doors below where the St. Charles Hotel now stands, by an Irishman named Wm. Tab. Soon afterward Robt. B. Curry was appointed post-master. Mr. Swaney says he was an exceedingly accommodating and clever man. Col. Benjamin Joselyn, an old Indian fighter, was the contractor for carrying the mail. The distance from Nashville to Natchez was estimated to be five hundred and fifty miles. The road was a mere trace or bridle-way through the woods and cane-brakes. He would leave Nashville on Saturday night at eight o'clock, and in ten days and four hours the mail was due at Natchez, but being a good horseman, he would often be ahead of the time ; then the same time back to Nashville, would consume three weeks in making the trip. Starting from either place, he had the mail (which consisted of a few letters and government dis- patches, with a few newspapers), half a bushel of corn for his horse, provisions for himself, an overcoat or blanket, and a tin trumpet. Thus equipped, he would leave Nashville and pass Tom Davis' (the last white man's house, which stood near where Franklin now is) at midnight. Sunday morning he would get to Gordon's Ferry, on Duck river, fifty-one miles from Nashville, which was then the line between Tennessee and the Chickasaw Nation. There he fed his horse and ate breakfast. He then had to ride eighty miles to Colbert's Ferry, on the Tennessee river, before night set in, where the Indians would set him across. "The Indians were contrary, and would not come across the river for him if he failed to get to the landing before bed-time. Then resting and feeding his horse, he would have to go to the Chick- asaw Agency, one hundred and twenty miles, before he would see a house, or even an Indian wigwam, and would have to lie out one night in the woods or canebrake. In cold weather he




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