USA > Tennessee > Old times; or, Tennessee history, for Tennessee boys and girls > Part 8
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In the early spring, a large number of Cher- okee warriors joined the party that had infested the settlement during the winter, and the In- dians felt themselves strong enough to storm the Bluff Fort. The attack was well planned. and but for a fortunate accident, might have succeeded. The Indians were divided into two parties, one of which lay in the cane along the branch that empties into the river just seuch ot Broad street. The others hid themselves in the cedars along the ground where the Frankin Turnpike enters the city. Early in the mor ..
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· ing, the party at the branch sent forward three warriors, who fired at the fort, and immediately retreated. Nineteen men from the fort mounted their horzes and pursued them to the branch, where they were firedl upon by those lying in ambush with fatal effect.
The men from the fort at once dismounted, and returned the tire of the Indians. While the contest about the branch was at the hottest, the other body of the enemy rushed out from their concealment, and formed themselves in a line between the fort and the men who had left it. Five or six of the nineteen were already dead, and as many more badly wounded; and there was no way for the remainder to reach the fort but by passing through the line of fresh war- riors. At this critical moment, the horses that had been abandoned at the beginning of the fight, became frightened, ard rashed by the fort toward the Lick Branch. The rascally Cherokres could not resist the temptation to steal horse-toch, and many of whom left their places in the line and ron off in pursuit. This left an open space, through which the brave remnant of the nineteen might retreat into the fort.
The dogs belonging to the fort were also of sig.
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nal service upon this occasion. Being trained to hate Indians, when they heard the vells of the savages, they ran toward the branch and ma le a furious attack upon the Indians in the unbroken .. part of the line. While they were employed in defending themselves against the teeth of their four-footed assailants, the retreating white men could more safely pass them into the shelter of the block-house. The warriors, finding that their plan had failed, desisted from any farther attempt during that day. At night; however, another body, who had not been in the battle, fired upon the fort, but were fright- ened off by the discharge of a small cannon, loaded with stones and pieces of pot-metal in- stead of balls.
In the retreat, Isaac Lucas had his thigh broken by a ball, and of course could go to farther. As he lay upon the ground, an balian ran toward him to take his scalp. Disabled as he was, Lucas managed to bring his ride to bear upon him, fired, and the Indiar fell Moi. Luens was taken safely into the fort. Edward Swanson was also pursaed by a single Indian, who put his gun against his body and shopped it. Upon this, Swanson seized the muzzle and twisted the gun round so as to throw the
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priming out of the pan. Seeing this, the Indian elabbed his gun, and knocked Swanson down. At this instant, John Bocharan stepped from the fort, shot and wounded the Indian, and thu; saved the life of his friend Swanson.
After the battle, only two dead Indians could be found ; but as they got nineteen horses, with all their equipments, it is likely they carried off' the dead and wounded bodies of a good many more. A remarkable incident may be men- tioned here, though it happened some time after this. David Hood was shot down, scalped, and trampled on by the Indians, near the French Lick. After they had left him for dead, Hood got up, and made his way, as well as he could, toward The Blut! To his dismay, he came upon the same Indians again, who killed kiri again, as they thought, and left his body on the snow. some men from the fort made a search next day, found the body, and laid it in an out-house as dead. Strange as it is, he re- vived, and lived many years afterant.
It was probably about this time that the in- mates of a block-house on White's Creek, about ten miles north of Nashville, would seem to have been utterly destroyed. Some years after. a family by the name of Webber, settling in
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that neighborhood, discovered the house still standing, and hundreds of bullets buried in the logs. When the ground around it was put into cultivation, bullets were turned up by the plow for many years. The settlers at The Bluff knew nothing of the house, or of those who built it. The supposition is that they were a party of emigrants who had taken refuge there, and of whom not one was left to tell the story of their destruction.
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CHAPTER VIII.
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DESPAIR OF THE SETTLERS- ROBERTSON'S INFLUENCE.
DURING the next two years, the Cumberland colony was unceasingly harassed by Indian depredations, similar to those described in the last two chapters. The details there given will suffice to show the character of these hostilities, and the degree of suffering which they were calculated to intliet. The years 1782 and 1783 abound with material for a volume of such narratives, but it can serve no good purpose to insert them here. In a state of things where people had to be constantly guarded in fetching water from the spring, and where, when two or more men stopped to talk, they turned their backs to each other for the better chance of seeing an Indian crawling through the cane, it is not necessary to dwell upon the horrid par- ticulars of massacre, in order to present a pi ture of the universal distress.
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At length, so gloomy and nearly desperate had become the condition of the Cumberland settlement, that the inhabitants held a council at The Bluff, in which it was proposed to quit the country entirely. and betake themselves in a body to some other of the more fortunate parts of the frontier. James Robertson, almost alone, opposed the proposition. He argued. remonstrated, and exerted all his great personal influence to prevent such a step. He showed that they would be more exposed to Indian attacks, in any attempt to reach the settlements in East Tennessee or Kentucky, than they were even at The Bluff. To go to the Illinois would require boats, and they could not go into the woods to get timber to make them without almost certain destruction. In a word. he prove l that, bad as their condition was at The Bluff, they would only make matters worse by attempting to leave it.
In 1785 came the end of the Revolutionary War, and peace was proclaimed between Great Britain and the United States. As it had been the policy of Great Britain. during that war, to encourage and assist the Indians in their 1 offre against the western border, so now that the war bad ceased, the people on the frontier
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had grounds to hope that the hostility of the tribes would cease with it. And, to some ex- tent, this was doubtless the result; but, in this time, other motives had begun to urge the sav- age warriors to plunder and massacre. The passion of revenge, and the policy of checking the advancing settlements, before they should occupy their favorite hunting grounds, conspired to place the red and the white men at continual enmity.
To add to these standing causes of jealousy and hatred on the part of the Indians, the Gen- eral Assembly of North Carolina, in this year, passed an act fixing the boundary of the Chickasaw and Cherokee hunting-grounds, and greatly reducing their limits. This was done simply by authority of the State, and without any treaty or talk with the head-men of those tribes.
This act plainly shows that the members of that asamble did not understand the proper course to be taken with Indians. If a treaty had been held, the same territory might have been acquired for a very writing expenses, and the Indians would have thought that they were fairly dealt by. As it was, they saw in this act a determination not to ask their colt-
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sent in disposing of these lands, and they re- sented it accordingly.
In the second chapter of this Book, some account is given of the North American pos- sessions of Spain. About this time, (173-4,) there was good reason to think that the Spanish authorities of Louisiana were scoretly stirring up the southern Indians against our western frontier. There was no war between the United States and the Government of Spain, but the rival claims of the two nations in the Missis- . sippi Valley, were understood to furnish a motive for this unjustifiable tampering with the savages. In their intercourse with the Indians, the Spanish officials usually employed French traders, who had been longer in the country, and were better acquainted with Indian char- arter, than the Spaniards. These traders were Frenchmen who la l remained in the country after Louisiana had been ceded by France to Spain, and many of them had Indian wives ali t families of hali bored chilliva.
Under the impression, which the state of' things was calculated to produce. James Rob- "Mon, now holding the commission of Colonel, .. Fressen a letter, in JTet, to the Spanish . borities in Louisiana, upon the subject of
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Indian hostilities. The letter was, as it should have been, polite in tone, and guarded in its language. The answer received was all that could have been expected or desired, as far as words would go. But for any effect it was ever known to have on the conduct of the Indians, this correspondence amounted to nothing more than a courtly ceremonial. The marauding expeditions of the savages were as frequent and destructive after it as they had been before.
In defiance of all Linderances, the colony on the Cumber land continued gradually to improve, and was occasionally strengthened by the incom- ing of fresh parties of emigrants. Nothing wor- thy of special notice occurred in the year 1785. The usual amount of Indian murders and rob- beries we deem is useless to mention. But in 1736, commissioners, appointed by Congress, made a treaty with the chief's of the Chickasaw Nation, settling the boundary line between them and the whites. It was believed that this treaty would have a good effect in securing the peace and friendship of that tribe, and. in a short time after, a great many came to Middle Ton- nessee, from the old States, who had been kept away only by their tread of Indians.
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CHAPTER IN.
EXPEDITION TO COLDWATER ..
THE General Assembly of North Carolina had provided for the raising of a battalion of mounted troops, to be commanded by Major Evans, for the defense of the Cumberland fron- tier. But the business proceeded slowly, not- withstanding the earnest representations of Colonel Bledsoe and Colonel Robertson upon the subject. At length it was resolved to make an expedition into the Indian country, with what forces could be raised in Cumberland, without waiting for farther authority or assist- ance from the State. The experience of the East Tennessee settlements had proved that the most etfornal way to check Indian aggressions, Was to attack the savages at home. With this view, a hundred and thirty men were embodied. from all the Cumberland settlements, for an invasion of the Cherokees. This body was commanded by Colonel Robertson, and under
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him, Colonel Robert Hays and Colonel James Ford.
In the month of June, 1787, the troops started for the Cherokee town on Coldwater Creek, that empties into the Tennessee on the southern side, just below the Muscle Shoals, and near the present town of Tuscumbia, in Alabama. They had along two Chickas iws as guides, and, without any accident, reached the Tennessee, at the foot of the shoals. By the help of a boat belonging to the Indians, which they found here, they crossed the river in the night, and halted on the other side, to prepare for farther movements. They then entered a beaten path that led off from the river, and. after riding several miles, came to Coldwater Creek, and the Cherokee village on the opposite side, and about three hundred yards from the Tennessee River.
Colonel Robertson, with most of the troops, crossed the creek, and rod; right into the town. The Indians, surprised and frightened. ran down the western bank of the stran body pursued by the horsemen. Cantain Rains, wh, with several others had been left on the eastera side of the creek, ran down aho towant the river, and met the Indians as they harris! across to escape their pursuers on the westert.
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side. Rains's party delivered a deadly fire that brought down three of the warriors on the spot, and wounded others. The Cherokees then took to their boats, lying in the mouth of the creek, and paddled out into the river, where they were repeatedly fired upon by the white men from the bank. Many of the Indians jumped fiom the boats into the water, aud were shot while swimming, like so many otters.
In this affair twenty or thirty savages were slain, mostly Creck warriors, and, at the same time, three French traders and a white woman, who had got into a boat, in company wich the Indians, and refused to surrender. The French- men and. the white woman were buried by the troops, the town burned, and all the domestic animals destroyed. Their duty having been faithfully discharged. the tvo Chicka aw guides were presented each with a horse, a gun, blankets, etc., and sent away to their own people. Five or six French traders were made pris pers, and powces ion taken of all their goods on hand, ou siting of sugar coffee, blankets, powder, lead, knives, tomahawks, and other articles suited to the Indian market. The troops then prepared to return to The Bad.
The French prisoners, and the good: taken
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from them, were pat into several boats, under the charge of Jonathan Dentou, Benjamin Drake, and John and Moses Eskridge. These wore directed to descend the river, while the mounted men rode down on the south side to some convenient place for crossing. After being lost for a time in the pine woods, these latter came to the river, where they found the boats, and crossed over at a place where the banks were favorable on both sides. At the encamp- ment on the north side of the river, the pris- oners were put into a canve, with some sugar, coffee, and other provisions, and were allowed to go up the stream. The boats, with the cap- tured goods on board, were directed to proceed down the Tennessee to its mouth, then up the Ohio and Cumberland home. The troops struck across the country, and arrivent at The Bluff. without having a single man killed or wounded in the expedition.
While the boats were on their way, another piece of good fortune befull the party. exveril boats loaded with goods, belonging to -ome other French traders, who were on board, were met coming up the river. The Frenchmen, thinking that our people were countrymen of theirs returning from the Cherokee towns, trul
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off their guns by way of salute. The Ameri- cans came alongside, with their guns charged, and easily made prisoners of the deluded Frenchmen. They and their cargo of goods were taken up Cumberland, nearly to The Bluff. There the prisoners received a canoe, with permission to go down the stream, as far as might please them, leaving their goods, wares, and merchandise behind.
Some of these traders, it is likely. were acting under the instructions of the Spanish Govern- ment, and exciting the Cherokees to hostilities against our western frontier. Others of them were, however, probably innocent of such de- sign-, and only traded with the Indians with a view to the profit to be made thereby. Still these latter, as well as the more guilty ones, deserved to lose their goods, and to suffer what- ever rough treatment they met with besid ... They knew very well that the powder, and lead. and tomahawkz, which they furnished the fn- diage would, whether they defined it be mot. la all likelihood, be used for warlike purports against the whites. Such articles are, accord- ing to the law of nations, contraband, and . elf- preservation jo-tifie l the colonias in preventing the trade, and punishing the trader-
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CHAPTER X.
MEASURES OF DEFENSE AGAINST THE INDIANS.
THE impression made upon the Creeks and Cherokres, by the energetic measures related in the preceding chapter, did not prove to be of' long continuance. Small bodies of them were, soon after, prowling among the weaker settle- ments. and occasionally murdering individuals and unprotected families. Among the victims of their cruelty about this time, was Colonel Anthony Bledsoe, a man much beloved and confided in by the people of the West, and who hal ren tes I signal service to the new settlements, both in East Tennessee and on the Cumberland. In the pursuit of one of these mariodire bands, en Indian boy was captured. the son of a ( : ok warrios, and afterward exchanged for a son of Me. Naine, that had been cardiol off by the Creeks some time before.
The troops ordered by North Carolina, for the protection of the Cumberland colony. co.nie
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in small companies, each one usually guarding a party of emigrants through the dangers of the wilderness. When arrived, the soldiers were placed at the different stations throughout the country, and added much to the security of the inhabitants. Colonel Robertson also organized companies of patrols, or rangers, whose business it was to keep in motion along the nist exposed parts of the frontier, and he constantly on the watch for Indian enemies. One of these com- panies, under command of Captain Rains, be- came distinguished for the skill with which it could detect Indian sigus, and for the courage and perseverance with which it pursued and attacked the skalking foo.
These defensive measures, and the greater safety of the settlements arising therefrom !. caused the population of Cumberland to in- creuse quite rapidly in the year 1768. Still, Indian hostilities were not entirely suppressed. and dunger was to be constantly apprebended from the unfriendly digestion of the Crack. and Cherokees. It was generally believed that these Tullians wore acting under the indsonoe of the Spanish official. in Louisiana and For- ida. To obtain further information mmin this point. colonel Robertem addressed a inter, in
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very smooth and friendly terms, to MeGille- vray, the head-chief of the Creek Nation, ask- ing what causes of complaint his nation had against our people, and promising, if any wrong had been done them, that it should be redressed.
This letter was taken to the chief by Mr. Ewing and Mr. Hoggat, who brought back an answer of quite a moderate and friendly tone. McGillevray said, in substance, that, during the War of the Revolution, his people had been the friends and allies of Great Britain, and had made war accordingly. After peace was made, he said, the Creeks had no hostile feelings against the white settlers, until some of their warriors had been killed at Coldwater. They had now been sufficiently revenged for this affoir, and he would endeavor to prevent them from any farther hostilities against the people of Cumberland. Such were the sentiments which the great chief thought proper to express upon paper, but they had no effect upon the behavior of the Creeks, who continued their depredations as before.
Colonel Robertson was as shrewd and pru- dent as he was energetic and upright. On the Od of August, 1758, he wrote again to McGifte-
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vray, expressing great satisfaction with the reply of chat chief to his former letter. He proceeded farther to inform him, that, from teclings of high regard toward MeGillevray, a lot in the new town of Nashville, on the Cumber- land, had been presented to him, and the deed recorded in his name. He even went so far as to ask him if he would accent the gift of a rich tract of land in Middle Tennessee. It: conclu- sion, he intimated that. if the people of the western settlements should be kindly treated by the Spaniards, they might be induced to break off' all connection with the Atlantic States, and put themselves under the protection of the Spanish Government.
Properly to understand these proceedings of' Colonel Robertson, the reader should lock again into the second chapter of this Book. In order to extend and strengthen their own dominion in North America, the first policy of the Spau- jarls was to cut off our western settlements by the ageney of the Indian tribes along the hon tier. When this should fail, their next obiect was to induce the people west of the mountains to attach themselves to the Spanish province of Louisiana, for the sake of having peter with the Indians, and the free navigation of the
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Mississippi. By encouraging them in this no- tion, Robertson expected to secure their influence with the Indians in favor of the Cumberland colony, and he was sure that MeGillevray would communicate to the Spanish authorities what he had said in his letter.
But was there any thought among the west- ern people of joining themselves to the Spanish provinces? Perhaps there was, with a few, and at a later period the feeling became both stronger and more extensive. Under all the circumstances, such an inclination would not be unnatural. nor altogether without excuse. It was essential to the prosperity of the Ten- nessee colonies that they should be protected against the Indians, and have the free use of the Mississippi River: and both North Carolina *- and the Federal Government had so far failed to obtain for them either of these advantages. However, Colonel Robertson's immediate object was only to secure pence to the froutiers, until the settlements should become strong enough to protect themselves.
CHAPTER XI.
GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION.
So far we have been ogrupiel exclusively with the relations between the Cumberland settlers and the Indians, and the efforts of the new community to protect itself against external enemies. It is now time that we should look a little at its internal regulations, and the means employel to preserve order and enforce justice among the inhabitants. For this purpose ve emust return to the year 1780, when the colony was first planted. And here the special thing to be remarked is, that although the territory was within the acknowledged limits of North Carolina, yet for several years that State had as birtle concern with the government of Con- herlind as dil the site of Massachusetts.
From Nashville, the caphal of Tennessee, 10 Raleigh, now the seat of governan et of North Carolina, is a distance of six hundred miles, and in 1780, more than half of it was an tin-
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broken wilderness. Besides, the parent State was too entirely alrørbed in the War of the Revolution, to allow her attention to be directed to the concerns of a little cluster of cabins, on the bank of the Cumberland. James Robert- son's colony was therefore left, in its own way, to govern itself' at home, as well as to protect itself against enemies abroad. The people at The Blue' had a do for themselves all that is now done for us by the combined agency of the State and Federal Governments.
As the pioneer settlers at The Bluff were, some of them, the same men, and all of the same character, as those who planted and cherished the community at Watauga, so they naturally undertook to build up a society at the former, by the same methods which had succeeded so well at the latter place. They elected persons as trustees, and, by a written agreement called a covenant, azreel to refer all Hilferenees and . disputes to their decision. By this simple plan, and by taking care that the trustees should be men of sense and integrity, justice was admin- istered, and the rights of all secured. Every signer of the covenant was entitled to a tract of land, which was secured to hing by the public faith of the whole colony.
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These trustees were not only in the place of judges and juries, but they also exercise !! the right of performing the ceremony of mar- riage. Colonel Robertson, who was one of them, married the first couple in Middle Ten- nessee --- Captain Leiper and his wife. Another trustee-Mr. Shaw -- married four couples in one day-Edward Swanson to Mrs. Carvin, James Freeland to Mrs. Maxwell. Cornelius Riddle to Miss Jane Mulherrin, and John Tucker to Miss Jenny Herod. These marriages could not be strictly lawful; but people who wished to be married, could not reasonably be expected to wait for preachers to come amongst them, or for a slow State like North Carolina to appoint justices of the peace in the Camberland colony. These trustees; for the various servies rendered by them, received neither a salary not fees, though the clerk employed by them w .: s allowed enough to pay for pen, ink. and paper. In 1782, when the Cumberland settlement had begun to artraet some attention ta North Carolina, the General Assembly passed a .... emption law, giving to each family in the ony six hundred and forty acres of land, and rie same quantity ty every single man who hat settled there before the 1st of June, 1750.
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