USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 60
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613
THE HEROINE OF NICKAJACK.
by the doors of the houses, which were all open. The In- dians, at the report of the first gun, had run off to the bank of the river. The troops pursued the leading way to the landing. Here they saw five or six large canoes, stored with goods and Indians, and twenty-five or thirty warriors stand- ing on the shore, near the edge of the water. At these Pil- low fired, and soon after him a whole platoon sent a volley of rifle balls, from the effect of which scarce a single In- dian escaped alive. A few by diving, and others by cover- ing themselves over in the canoes with goods, escaped and got out of reach of the rifles.
About the same time the havoc took place at the landing below, Col. Whitley attacked the Indians above the mouth of the Creek. They were not more than a gun-shot apart.
Fifteen men had been directed to stop near the two houses, in the corn field, and way-lay them until the firing had taken place in the town. When the report of the rifles was heard, this detachment attacked the houses. A squaw had re- mained outside to listen. A fellow came to the door and was shot down. Those within drew him inside and closed the door, leaving the squaw on the outside. She attempted to escape by flight, but after a hard chase, she was taken prisoner. The warriors within, made holes through the wall, and made a desperate defence. The squaw taken prisoner was carried up to the town, and placed among the other prisoners in canoes. As they were taking them down the river, to the crossing place, the squaw loosed her clothes, sprang head foremost into the river, disengaging herself artfully from her clothes and leaving them floating upon the water. She swam with great agility, and was rapidly ma- king her escape. Some hallooed shoot her-shoot her. But others, admiring her energy, her activity, and her boldness, replied, " she is too smart to kill," and allowed the heroine to to escape.
After the troops got on the mountain, on the other side of the town, Jeseph Brown was sent back with twenty men to head and intercept the Indians, at the mouth of the creek below the town, when the main body of the assailants should have driven the enemy to that point. This he effected suc-
-
614
SURPRISE OF THE INDIANS WARN . INVADED.
cessfully, though his return was resisted the whole way down, about a quarter of a mile, by the constant fire of the In- dians. Brown and his men guarded the mouth of the creak, · while the troops above were killing and capturing those be- . tween. the two parties. When Brown met the main body, he inquired if they had taken any. prisoners, and was immedi- ately conducted to a house in which a number of them had been fastened up. When he came to its "door he was. at . once recognized by the captives, who appeared to be horror · stricken-remembering, no doubt, that they had murdered his people in the same town, five years before. At length, . one of them ventured to speak to him, reminding Brown that his life had been spared by them, and importuning him now to plead in their behalf. He quieted her apprehension, by remarking that these were white people, who did not kill .women and children. Her answer was, "O see skinney Co- tanconey !" "Oh, that is good news for the wretched !"
These land pirates had.supposed their towns to be inac- cessible, and were reposing at their ease, in conscious seou- . vity, up to the moment when, under the guidance of Brown, 'the riflemen burst in upon them and dispelled the illusion. "Where did you come from ?" said one of the astonished pri- soners to Brown ; " did you come from the clouds ? or did you sprout out of the ground ?" " We have not come from the clouds," answered Brown, "but we can go any where we please. We did not wish to kill the Indians, but you have forced that sad necessity upon us."
The number of the killed was greater than that given by Haywood, from which this account is principally copied. Many of the Indians who escaped to the river, would dive and swim under the water, but when they would rise again above it, the unerring aim of the rifles from the shore would reach their head, neck and shoulders, and thus they were destroyed, though they were not taken into the estimate of the slain at the battle. Brown conversed with a chief af- terwards at Tellico Block-house, who informed him, their loss on that occasion was seventy.
Andrew Jackson, then a private, was one of Ore's men, who then shewed his love of country and his fitness for com-
615
COL. WHITLEY'S NEW MODE OF WARFARE.
mand. His judgment in planning the attack on Nickajack, and his good conduct generally on the campaign, impressed those who witnessed it favourably .*
Col. Whitley adopted a new mode of warfare. "He mounted a swivel upon his own riding horse, so that he could wheel and fire in what direction he pleased. The balls pro- vided were wrought iron.t Some of the men crossed the river on rafts, made of dry cane, which had been found and gathered by torch light. William and Gideon Pillow, being excellent swimmers, were selected to carry the raft of their mess across the river. The former held a rope attached to the raft in his teeth, and swam and pulled his craft, and its cargo of guns, shot-bags and clothes, after him, while Gideon and another comrade swain behind and pushed it."
Jasper Pillow, the ancestor of the family, emigrated from England and settled in the colony of Virginia, about 1740. He had three sons, John, Jasper and William, all of whom were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and continued in the service to its glorious termination, at Yorktown.
John Pillow emigrated to Cumberland in 1784. His wife was Miss Johnston, whose five brothers were soldiers of 1776. John Pillow settled near Nashville, where, with his two sons, William and Gideon, he encountered all the hard- ships, and perils, and privations of frontier life, and of con- stant conflict with the various Indian tribes, which, to the close of his life, infested and devastated the country.
Gideon Pillow, the father of Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, late of the United States Army, in Mexico, was an active soldier in the expedition against Nickajack, and swam the Tennessee River in the celebrated capture of that Indian fortress.
In the further Annals of Tennessee, Col. William Pillow will be frequently mentioned as a gallant officer under Gen. Jackson, at Taladega, and as a quiet, unobtrusive citizen, as amiable in private life as he was vigilant in camp and cou- rageous in battle.
Nickajack and Running Water Towns, were the principal crossing places for the Creeks in their war excursions over
. Willie Blount's Papers.
+ Marshall's Kentucky.
$616
MAJOR. ORB'S OFHOLAL REPORT OF TAB
the Tennessee, and in which they, with the warriors of Look- out Mountain and Will's Town, had heartily do-operated for years past ; boasting of their perfect security, not less from their situation, protected as it was by mountains on three cides and the river on the north, than from the number and desperate character of their warriors.
: : This battle was fought on the thirteenth of September. On the evening of the same day, the victorious troops ro- crossed the Tennessee, and joined such of their comrades as had remained with the horses on the northern bank. Next morning they took up the line of march homeward, and camped that night on the mountain, the next night at the crossing of Elk, near the place where Caldwell's Bridge.now is. The next day they came by Fennison's Spring, and to a place since known as Pardie's Garrison. The next day to Hart's Spring, on the north side of Steele's Creek, and the next day to Nashville, where the volunteers werq dis- banded. Major Ore returned immediately to Knoxville, and made to the Governor the following report :
KNOXVILLE, September 24th, 1794.
Sir :- On the seventh instant, by order of General Robertson, of Mero District, I marched from Nashville, with five hundred and fifty mounted infantry under my command, and pursued the trace of the Indians who had committed the latest murders in the District of Mero, and of the party that captured Peter Turney's negro woman, to the Tennessee. I crossed it on the night of the twelfth, about four miles below Nickajack, and, in the morning of the thirteenth, destroyed Nickajack and the Run- ning Water, towns of the Cherokees. The first being entirely sur- rounded, and attacked by surprise, the slaughter was great, but cannot be accurately reported, as many were killed in the Tennessee. Nine- teen women and children were made prisoners at this town. The Run- ning Water town being only four miles above Nickajack, the news of the attack upon the latter reached the former before the troops under my command, and resistance was made to save it at a place called the Narrows; but, after the exchange of a few rounds, the Indians posted at that place gave way, and the town was burnt without further oppo- sition, with all the effects found therein, and the troops under my com- mand recrossed the Tennessee the same day. From the best judg- ment that could be formed, the number of Indians killed at the two towns must have been upwards of fifty, and the loss sustained by the troops under my command, was one lieutenant and two privates wounded.
The Running Water was counted the largest, and among the most.
617
NIOKAJACK EXPEDITION.
hostile towns of the Cherokees. Nickajack was not less hostile, but in- ferior in point of numbers. At Nickajack were found two fresh scalps, ,which had lately been taken at Cumberland, and several that were old were hanging in the houses of the warriors, as trophies of war ; a quan- tity of ammunition, powder and lead, lately arrived there from the Span- ish Government, and a commission for the Breath, the head man of the town, who was killed, and sundry horses, and other articles of pro- perty, were found, both at Nickajack and the Running Water, which were known by one or other of the militia to have belonged to dif- ferent people, killed by Indians, in the course of the last twelve months.
The prisoners taken, among whom was the wife and child of Richard Finnelson, my pilot, informed me, that, on the fourth instant, sixty Creeks and Lower Cherokees passed the Tennessee, for war against the frontiers. They also informed, that two nights before the destruction of Running Water, a scalp dance had been held in it, over the scalps lately taken from Cumberland, at which were present, John Watts, the Bloody Fellow, and the other chiefs of the Lower Towns, and at which they determined to continue the war, in conjunction with the Creeks, with more activity than heretofore, against the frontiers of the United States, and to erect block-houses at each of the Lower Towns, for their defence, as advised by the Spanish Government.
The prisoners also informed, that a scalp dance was to be held in two nights, at Red-headed Will's town, a new town, about thirty miles lower down the Tennessee.
The troops under my command, generally, behaved well. I have the honour to be, your Excellency's most obedient humble servant, JAMES ORE.
Governor Blount.
The invasion and destruction of the Lower Towns, was not only not authorized by the Federal authorities, but, as has been seen, was prohibited by the instructions of the Secre- tary of War to Gov. Blount. The latter felt it, therefore, his duty to enquire of General Robertson, the reasons for `which he had issued the order under which Major Ore acted. General Robertson, soon after, explained to Gov. Blount the reasons which had induced him to order Ore to pursue the Indians. He writes under date-
NASHVILLE, October 8th, 1794.
Sir :- I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the second instant. Enclosed you have a copy of my order to Major Ore, of the sixth of September; my reasons for giving it, were, that I had receieved two expresses from the Chickasaws, one by Thomas Brown, a man of as much veracity as any in the nation, the other by a common runner, giving information, that a large body of Creeks, with the Che- rokees of the Lower Towns, were embodying, with a determination to invade the District of Mero; and not doubting my information, I con-
618
ROBERTSON VINDICATES THE INVASION.
ceived, if Major Ore did not meet this invading army of Creeks and Cherokees, as I expected, that it could not be considered otherwise than defensive to strike the first blow on the Lower Towns, and thereby check them in their advance ; nor could I suppose that the pursuing of parties of Indians, who had recently committed murders and thefts, to the towns from whence they came, and there striking them, could be con- sidered as an offensive measure, unauthorized by the usage of nations in such cases. It cannot be necessary to add as a justification, the long re- peated, and, I might say, almost daily sufferings of the people of the District of Mero, by the hands of the Creeks and Cherokees of the Lower Towns. The destruction of the towns by Major Ore, was on the thir- teenth of September. On thetwelfth, in Tennessee county, Miss Roberts was killed on Red River, forty miles below Nashville; and on the four- teenth, Thomas Reasons and wife were killed, and their house plun- dered, near the same place, by the Indians. On the sixteenth, in Da- vidson county, twelve miles above Nashville, another party killed - Chambers, wounded John Bosley and Joseph Davis, burned John Donnelson's Station, and carried off sundry horses; and in Sumner county, on the same day, a third party of Indians killed a woman on Red River, near Major Sharp's, about forty miles northeast of Nashville, and carried off several horses. This proves that three separate and dis- tinct parties of Indians were out for war against the District of Mero, before the march of Major Ore from Nashville.
If I have erred, I shall ever regret it; to be a good citizen, obedient to the law, is my greatest pride; and to execute the duties of the commission with which the President has been pleased to honour me, in such a manner as to meet his approbation, and that of my superiors in rank, has ever been my most fervent wish. Previous to the march of Major Ore from Nashville, Col. Whitley, with about one hundred men, arrived there, from Kentucky, saying they had followed a party of Indians who had committed depredations on the southern frontier of that country ; that, in the pursuit, they had had a man killed by the Indians, and seve- ral horses taken, and that they were determined to pursue to the Lower Town. They were attached to Major Ore's command, which augmented the number to upwards of five hundred and fifty men. Enclosed is a copy of a letter to John Watts; and, from my experience in Indian affairs, I have my hopes, that, from the scourging Major Ore has given the Lower Cherokees, we shall receive less injury from them than here- tofore.
Conscious that he had pursued the best policy, in invading the hostile villages on the Tennessee, General Robertson, soon after their destruction, wrote to John Watts, Chief of the Cherokees, and intimated pretty plainly that another expedition might soon become necessary, if prisoners among the Cherokees were not surrendered and assurances of peace given.
Intelligence reached Knoxville of the intention of another
619
. ORIGINAL LETTER OF VALENTINE SEVIER.
volunteer expedition going through and from the Territory, against the Indians on its southern border. Governor Blount communicated that information to the Secretary of War, and also an account of the measures he deemed it necessary to adopt on that subject.
" On the 24th of October, 1794, a party of Indians fired upon John Leiper and another man, near the house of the former, on the east fork of Red River, in Tennessee county. On the 5th of November, 1794, a party of fifty Indians, on the waters of Red River, in Tennessee county, fell upon the families of Colonel Isaac Titsworth and of his brother, John Titsworth, and killed and scalped seven white persons, wounded a negro woman, and took prisoners a white man, three children and a negro fellow, and also a daughter of Colonel Titsworth. Pursuit was given by the neighbouring militia, and the Indians, discovering their approach, tomahawked the three children and scalped them, taking off the whole skins of their heads. The white man and the negro fellow they either killed or carried off, together with the daughter. These murders were imputed to the Creeks."*
Colonel Valentine Sevier had removed west of Cumber- land Mountain, and built a station near Clarkesville. This. the Indians attacked. An account of the assault is copied from his letter to his brother, General Sevier, dated-
CLARKESVILLE, Dec. 18, 1794.
Dear Brother :- The news from this place is desperate with me. On Tuesday, 11th of November last, about twelve o'clock, my station was attacked by about forty Indians. On so sudden a surprise, they were in almost every house before they were discovered. All the men belong- ing to the station were out, only Mr. Snider and myself. Mr. Snider, Betsy his wife, his son John and my son Joseph, were killed in Snider's house. I saved Snider, so the Indians did not get his scalp, but shot and tomahawked him in a barbarous manner. They also killed Ann King and her son James, and scalped my daughter Rebecca. I hope she will still recover. The Indians have killed whole families about here this fall. You may hear the cries of some persons for their friends daily.
" The engagement, commenced by the Indians at my house, conti- nued about an hour, as the neighbours say. Such a scene no man ever witnessed before. Nothing but screams and roaring of guns, and no man to assist me for some time. The Indians have robbed all the goods out of every house, and have destroyed all my stock. You will write our ancient father this horrid news; also my son Johnny. My health is much impaired. The remains of my family are in good health. I am so distressed in my mind, that I can scarcely write. Your affection- ate brother, till death.
VALENTINE SEVIER.
* Haywood.
620
RESULTS OF THE ETOWAH AND NICKAJACK CAMPAIGNS.
" On the 27th of November, 1794, a party of Indians killed and scalped Colonel John Montgomery, and wounded Julius Saunders with four balls, and Charles Beatty through the arm, on the north-western frontier of Tennessee county. And on the 20th, another party of In- dians, on the northern frontiers of Sumner county, killed and scalped John Lawrence, William Hains, and Michael Hampton, and wounded a fourth, whose name was not reported. On the 20th of December, were killed and scalped by Indians, on Harpeth River, Hugh Tenin, of Sum- ner county, then late colonel of Orange county in North-Carolina, and John Brown and William Grimes.
" On the 5th of January, 1795, Elijah Walker, one of the mounted infantry on duty for the defence of Mero District, acting as a spy on the frontiers, was killed by Indians, twelve miles south of Nashville. On the 5th of March, a party of Indians, supposed to be Creeks, at Joslin's Station, seven miles from Nashville, fired upon Thomas Fletcher, Ese- kiel Balding, and his brother, a lad, who were at work in their field; wounded the two first with balls through their bodies, knocked down the third with a war club, broke his skull bone, and skinned the whole of his head. On the 14th, a man was killed by the Indians, within five miles of Nashville. On the 5th of June, old Mr. Peyton was killed, and a negro, belonging to Mr. Parker, wounded dangerously in a field of Mrs. Bledsoe, near Bledsoe's Lick, by Indians."*
The exceedingly long catalogue of Indian outrages and aggressions upon the frontier of Mero and Hamilton Dis- tricts, and the account of the spirited manner in which the inhabitants so successfully repelled them, could have been indefinitely extended. A volume could be filled with these already detailed, and those which have been necessarily omitted. For fourteen years, constant warfare existed on Cumberland, without even a temporary abatement. On the other side of the mountain, the condition of the inhabitants was little better, for the same period. In each section of the country there were unremitted offences on the part of the Indians, and persevering vigilance, enterprise and intre- pidity by the frontier people. No part of the West-no part of the world-suffered more, or resisted more bravely or more successfully, than the frontiers of Tennessee.
The Etowah campaign, penetrating, as it did, to the most southern towns of the Cherokees, and the splendid victory of the Cumberland troops at Nickajack and Running Water Town, broke the spirit of the Indians and disposed them to peace.
* Haywood.
621
TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE MEETS.
Little mischief was afterwards done till the approaching war with England, in 1812, again stimulated into life their passion for war, and revived their almost extinguished hope of even yet resisting the wave of civilization which threat- ened their expulsion from the land of their fathers or the extinction of their tribes.
While these events were taking place, the number of in- 1798 to entitle them to a Territorial Assembly and Legis- § habitants in the Territory had so far augmented as lative Council, as provided for in the Ordinance of 1787. Satisfactory evidence had been presented to Governor Blount, that more than five thousand free males resided in his Territory, and he, therefore, authorized an election to be held for representatives of the people on the third Friday and Saturday of December, 1793.
" Two from each of the counties of Washington, Hawkins, Jefferson and Knox ; and one from each of the counties of Sullivan, Greene, Ten- nessee, Davidson and Sumner ; the elections to be conducted under the regulations prescribed by the election laws of North-Carolina ; and the returning officers were directed to certify the names of the elected to the Secretary's office, at Knoxville, as soon as might"be. On the 22d and 23d of December, elections were held accordingly in all the coun- ties of the Territory, and the people elected Alexander Kelly and John Baird, for the county of Knox ; George Doherty and Samuel Weir, for Jefferson ; Joseph Hardin, for Greene; Leeroy Taylor and John Tipton for Washington ; George Rutledge, for Sullivan, and William Cocke and Joseph McMinn, for Hawkins ; James White, for Davidson ; David Wilson for Sumner, and James Ford for Tennessee.
" No sooner were the elections over, than, by a proclamation, issued on the 1st of January, 1794, the Governor appointed the Assembly to meet at Knoxville, on the 4th Monday of Feb. 1794. The Assembly, on the day appointed, convened at Knoxville, and appointed David Wilson, Esq., their Speaker, and Hopkins Lacy, Esq., their Clerk. And it is to be con- sidered as an auspicious omen of the future prosperity of their young empire, that they laid its foundations in piety to God. On the next day the members, preceded by the Governor and the Speaker, went in pro- cession to the place of worship, where the Reverend Mr. Carrick, after offering up an appropriate prayer, preached to them from these words in the epistle of Paul to Titus : 'In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began : but hath in due time mani- fested his word through preaching ; which is committed unto me accord- ing to the commandment of God our Saviour.'
"They elected ten persons, out of whom five were to be chosen by Congress, as the Legislative Council ; they appointed a committee to draft an address to the Governor, which was drawn accordingly and approved of, in which they strongly recommend some offensive mea-
622
MEMORIAL TO COMORINNS.
sures, could they be resorted to, otherwise that defensive ones might at least be adopted, and block-houses erected on the frontiers at all proper places, many of which they named ; and they stated that, until the frontier people should be better protected, it would be impossible for them to raise their crops, and that they would be forced to evacuate their plantations, and to leave others in the same desolate circumstances. They recommended a guard for the protection of the ,Cumberland members on their return, adverting to the recent fact of an express having been severely wounded in the wilderness, as he came from Nanb- ville to Knoxville.
" The committee also, who were appointed for the purpose, Mr. White, Mr. Cocke, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Weir and Mr. Taylor, drew an address to Congress, which was approved of by the House, and was signed by the Speaker. In it they demand a declaration of war against the Greeks and Cherokees; and stated that, since the treaty of Holston, they had killed, in a most barbarous and inhuman manner, upwards of two hun- dred citizens of the United States, residents in this Territory, without regard to age or sex, and carried others into captivity and slavery; had robbed the citizens of their slaves, stolen, at least, two thousand horses, which, at a moderate calculation, were worth one hundred thousand dollars.
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