USA > Tennessee > The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and early western history, including a chronological summary of battles and engagements in the western armies of the Confederacy > Part 38
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" If Tecumseh was present at the attack upon Buchanan's Station, the presumption is that he was then about twenty years old, or thereabouts; as he was not of the tribe that carried on the expedition, but an ad- venturer, belonging to another tribe, situated at a great distance, that, then, would make him about forty years old at the commencement of the war with England, at which time, according to General Cass, he was a malcontent and novus homo, possessing little or no influence; and having seceded, with a few partisans, from the legitimate authority of his tribe, was very ambitious of distinction, which he had not yet ac- quired, but was ready to involve his people in ruin in order to do so. Now, does not all this indicate that he was then, comparatively at least, a young man? Previous to the age of twenty, the probability is that he had not experienced that disaffection towards his own tribe of which . General Cass speaks; because, at that age, men are commonly buoy- ant and hopeful, and, besides, Tecumseh not having been born to any hereditary honors, would not have felt himself neglected or injured by not having been yet advanced to a high rank in his tribe. Therefore, if he was present at the attack upon Buchanan's Station, he must have been prompted merely by the love of adventure; and, if his merits displayed on that occasion were adequately rewarded, it consti- tuted no cause of complaint against the Shawnees. There are dema- gogues in savage life, as well as in civilized life: and wherever that propensity exists, no matter what the organization of society may be, it is sure to manifest itself upon the first suitable opportunity. The disaffection under which Tecumseh labored before the war of 1812 probably arose from his vain efforts, exerted between the period of his attaining manhood and that time, to obtain the authority and conse- quence to which he thought himself entitled with his own tribe. But, being disappointed and unable to repress his restless spirit, and, withal, being a "man of more enlarged views than are often found among Indian chiefs," he naturally thought of calling in foreign aid, and "eventually of a general Indian confederacy, under the protection of
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the British." Now all this strongly indicates that his natural character, as given by General Cass, operated upon by the circumstances with: which he was surrounded, was just developing itself at some early age, and not that he had lived an humble and quiet individual for twenty years, after having evinced the most warlike traits, and then suddenly become fired with the ambition of accomplishing the most extensive scheme of resistance to a formidable nation, and even of conquest, that ever was formed by savage chieftain, however brilliant and suc- cessful might have been his former career. The truth is, no doubt, that the British had their emissaries among all the Indian tribes of the Northwest, bordering on Canada, for some time before the war, tam- pering with them, and endeavoring to seduce them from their allegi- ance to the United States; and that these emissaries, finding Tecumseh that disaffected man which General Cass describes him to have been, and ready to engage in any desperate enterprise, inspired him with fresh ardour, and infused into his mind those vast schemes of aggran- disement for which he afterward became so celebrated. The hostility of the Creeks, while the other southern tribes all remained at peace, may possibly be imputed, not to the direct agency of the British, but to the influence of Tecumseh, exerted among them upon the tour which he made in the fall of 1811.
The facts here adduced, and the reasoning upon them here sub- mitted, it is conceded, do not conclusively establish the negative of the proposition that Tecumseh was present at the attack upon Buchan- an's Station. But, in my opinion, they tend strongly, if not satisfac- torily, to show that the affirmative cannot be maintained. In addition to which it may be said that there is not a solitary fact in his whole life that is well ascertained which can be even remotely connected with that event; but the proposition rests altogether for its support upon vague and uncertain rumor.
There is also a rumor prevalent that Tecumseh and his party passed through Nashville on his said southern tour. And one of our most re- spectable fellow-citizens, Elisha S. Hall, Esq., asserts that he saw him on the occasion, and that he lodged at Talbot's tavern. Now, it is not likely that the transit of a small party of Indians through our town at- tracted much notice at the time; and the identity of one of them with the chief who afterward became so celebrated, taken in connection with the fact, which was subsequently discovered, that he was then on so important a mission, may, very probably, have been the origin of
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the tradition in question. In the lapse of time, by which the distinct- ness of the memory is obliterated, and in the confusion that is apt to arise from the passing of information through innumerable channels, strange anachronisms will take place, and both scenes and actors be- come strangely distorted. Then, also, the chances of detection are diminished, if any one should be disposed to embellish, or to magnify, or to fabricate, or even to amuse himself with the credulity of his hearers in listening to marvelous legends.
I have stated above, that I do not know the age of Colonel Sparks, which is true; but it may be expected that I should advance some opinion as to what his age was at the time I learned from him the facts which I have communicated, as indicated by his appearance. It is very difficult, at such a distance of time, to call up an accurate rec- ollection of a man's appearance in reference to that which itself is not an object of sense; and, even if my recollection of his personal ap- pearance should be accurate, it might still be a very poor criticism for determining his age, without taking all other circumstances into con- sideration. I never saw Colonel Sparks before the time alluded to, nor since. He sojourned several days in Gallatin, for he was in bad health. I should say, however, that his appearance at that time, ac- cording to my best recollection on the subject, indicated that he might be fifty years old or upward. But it is to be remarked that he had led a frontier life of great hardship and exposure, and was somewhat in- temperate in his habits. I can say, with confidence, that he was much older than his wife, and that they were as much mismatched in that respect as in many others. She, like Desdemona, must have "seen his visage in his mind," and been moved to tenderness and love by the recital of his hair-breadth escapes, his stirring adventures, and his peculiar and striking destiny. Fixing his age at fifty, and that of Tecumseh also, and the latter would have been thirty years old at the date of the attack upon Buchanan's Station-old enough to have acquired some laurels, and to have connected his name more definitely with that event than he seems to have done -- and too old, at the com- mencement of the war with England, not to have been more distin- guished in his own tribe, than, according to General Cass's account of him, he then was; or, than to have been animated still by that rest- less, fiery and indomitable spirit which led him first to secession, and then to the formation of the most magnificent and perilous schemes of self-aggrandisement.
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I will observe, in conclusion, that General Cass uniformly spells the name of this celebrated savage warrior, Te-cum-the, with the French mark of the acute accent over the final e, signifying that the latter is to be pronounced with strong emphasis. I have adopted, however, the orthography which is in common use, and which makes the sound of his name as generally pronounced. THOS. WASHINGTON.
NOTE .- Since the above was written, I have seen and conversed with Colonel Moses Ridley, of Rutherford county, on the subject of the at- tack upon Buchanan's Station. He is a son of the late George Rid- ley, of this neighborhood, and a brother-in-law of Major John Buch- anan, after whom and at whose residence the station was called and situated. Colonel Ridley says that he was between ten and eleven years old when the attack was made, having been born in June, 1782. That he remembers the event perfectly well, and grew up among those who were in the station at the time; that it was a prominent event in the history of the country, and that he has heard its incidents so often narrated, that they have almost become identified with his own exis- tence. Colonel Ridley says that his impression is that his sister's son, George Buchanan (his sister being in the station at the time of the at- tack), was born from ten to fourteen days after the attack ; that, recol- lecting that fact, he made search for the family Bible of Major John Buchanan, in order to ascertain his son George's age, and found a copy of that part of the Bible where the ages of the children are rec- orded in the possession of Henry Buchanan, another son of the said Major John Buchanan. According to that copy, which I have seen, George Buchanan was born on the Irth day of October, 1792. And in the same copy the exact date of the attack on Buchanan's Station is given, as being set down among the ages of Major Buchanan's chil- dren; and, according to that record, it was the 30th of September, 1792. Colonel Ridley also produced to me a copy, as taken from a copy of said family record kept by Thomas Everett, a son-in-law of Major Buchanan, in which the birth of George Buchanan is set down as having occurred on the rith day of October, 1792. Colonel Rid- ley also says that he recollects that the attack was made on a Sunday night, and during the full of the moon, it being a very bright, beauti- ful moonlight night. Colonel Ridley also states that the original family Bible of Major John Buchanan, after his death, went into the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Jane Goodwin, the mother of the
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present keeper of the Nashville jail, from whom it can probably be obtained.
Colonel Ridley also states that some time in August preceding the date of the attack, Findleston, a half-breed Cherokee, and one Joseph Durat, a Frenchman, brought information to Nashville-being, as they stated, direct from the Indian Nation-that the Indians were prepar- ing an expedition against Nashville and the settlements in the neigh- borhood, and intended to make their attack at the next full moon. Findleston had been about Nashville before as a trader, and was ac- quainted with a number of the inhabitants; and, in the course of his visits, had conceived an attachment for a white woman named, as he thinks, Black. So the story went; but, at all events, he afterward married her. He left the Indian Nation, as he stated, in company with Durat, under pretense of acting as a spy, in finding out the situa- tion and strength of the defenses about Nashville, and of returning and giving information. Upon the faith of this information, Abraham Castleman (more familiarly called Abe Castleman), a man of great daring and of much experience in Indian warfare and strategy, was sent out as a spy, to discover whether the Indians were approaching. He returned, after having gone as far as some place between the Black Fox's camp and Duck River, and reported that he had seen the trail of a large body of Indians advancing in the direction of Nashville. A meeting of the heads of families in the settlement was called by Gen- eral Robertson, immediately after the receipt of the above-mentioned information from Findleston and Durat; and the meeting was disin- clined to believe the story, and dispersed. Findleston then offered to General Robertson that he might put him in the Nashville jail, and there keep him until after the next full moon, and if the Indians should not then have arrived, he was willing to be shot. The earnestness of Findleston, as thus evinced, was the occasion of Abraham Castleman's being despatched by General Robertson as a spy, as aforesaid. About two hundred men, however, were assembled and encamped at Rain's Spring, and the families had generally moved in from their residences to stations.
One full moon intervened, and the Indians did not arrive. The men in camp and the families in the stations then began to lose confidence in the truth of the information given by Findleston, and also in that of Castleman's report, and they became very anxious to be disbanded, and to return to their homes. General Robertson, for the sake of
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greater caution, sent out John Rains and Abraham Kennedy (com- monly called Abe Kennedy) in the direction in which Castleman said he had been, for the purpose of seeing what discoveries they could make. Rains and Kennedy were gone a few days and returned, and Rains reported that he had seen plenty of "bear signs," but no " In- dian signs," and swore to it, and that he believed Castleman was mis- taken. Kennedy refused to be sworn, and therefore the men en .- camped at Rain's Spring were discharged. Rains returned, as afore- said, on Thursday, and the next morning-being the Friday next before the attack-the men were discharged. On Sunday morning, the inhabitants being still unsatisfied as to whether Findleston's story might not be substantially true, sent out from Hardeman's Station, after early breakfast, two spies (Gee and Clayton) upon Taylor's old trace, and they advanced as far as a tract of land then owned by Major Buchanan, but now occupied by his son, James B. Buchanan, which is situated on the Jefferson Road and extends across to the present Murfreesboro Turnpike Road, and beyond it; and on said tract of land, near Neill's Spring, where Beverly Nelson now lives, not far from the old Jefferson Road, it being then Taylor's trace, the said spies were met by the advance guard of the Indians, and one of them killed on the spot. The other fled, and was likely to make his escape, when he was called to by the said advance party of Indians, and told that they were friendly, and that his comrade had been killed by the acci- dental discharge of one of their guns. He was thus induced to stop, and when the Indians came up with him, he also was killed. That night the attack on Buchanan's Station was made. The circumstances relative to the deaths of the said two spies were afterwards learned from George Fields, a Cherokee half-breed, and others, after peace was re- stored, the said Fields being of said advance party. And the dead bodies of said two spies were found by the party sent from Buchanan's Station in pursuit of the Indians, after their repulse, lying at some dis- tance apart from each other. The Indian force present at said attack was estimated at nine hundred men. The number of men in the sta- tion, at the commencement of the attack, was about twenty, some of whose names are appended by Henry Buchanan to the copy herewith presented, taken from Major Buchanan's family Bible; in addition to which, Colonel Ridley states that Major Buchanan himself was also present, and John Gowen, Thomas Kennedy, Wm. Turnbull, Joseph Crabtree, Win. Crabtree, Moore Cotton, Henry Gleeson and James
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Mulherrin. These names do not quite make up the twenty ; but Col- onel Ridley, at the interview that I had with him, could not recollect the residue. He says that, after the commencement of the attack, a runner was sent to Nashville, and that Anthony Foster, from Nash- ville, was the first man that entered the fort, he having arrived just as the Indians were retiring, and while yet they were in sight. That John Rains was next, and close after him; but that a number of others went forward, but did not reach the station until after the firing had ceased. He says that the attack commenced about eleven o'clock at night, and that the assault continued about an hour and a half. There were no men killed in the station, and but one slightly wounded by a splinter from some of the timbers of the station. There was a blunderbuss in thé station, of which James O'Connor, an Irishman, took charge, and, in the hurry and confusion that prevailed, thought he had discharged the blunderbuss several times, but had not until he had put in three successive loads; that the piece then went off, and knocked O'Connor to the back side of the house, who was thus very much hurt. Colonel Ridley's impression is that there was a small party of Creeks present with the Cherokees on said occasion, and one chief, whose name he does not recollect, but he was killed. He heard of the difference in council between Watts and said chief, and says there was an extinguished firebrand found the next day lying some ten or fifteen feet from the fort, and near where the said chief lay dead; but that it was Major Buchanan's opinion that said brand had not been on fire so recently as the night before. That said chief was the only man that was found dead; but that, from the quantity of blood that was effused round about, there was much more mortality than that. Colonel Ridley presented me with a rough draft of the fort at the time and the approach to it, which is here presented; and says that John McCrory was the man who fired the first gun into the midst of a group of Indians gathered together just at the fort-gate, from the block-house situated nearest the creek; and that Thomas Kennedy fired the next gun into the same group from the house sit- uated opposite while under a cross-fire. That the Indians then re- treated to an open cellar of an unfinished house, the foundation of which was just digged out and walled up, situated outside of the sta- tion, and scattered about around the the station, and took advantage of the localities afforded by the place.
(Concluded in next Number.)
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THE SOLDIER'S WAR-BAG.
Exploit of Colonel J. W. Starnes .- During the early part of the summer of 1862, Captain Unthank, in command of a force of about eighty Federal cavalry, left Mur- freesboro, Tenn., on a reconnoisance in the direction of McMinnville. His march was so rapid and secret that he took the place completely by surprise. A scouting party from Colonel Starne's Regiment, in command of a Lieutenant, was lolling about the streets, unsuspicious of the impending danger, and several of theit number were captured before they could mount their horses. The Lieutenant set off on foot to make his escape, and succeeded in reaching a corn-fiell on the outskirts of the place, when, finding himself closely pressed, he threw off his coat, and, seizing a hoe which was luckily at hand, he began to hoe the corn. The pursuers passed along the road in a few paces of him, but, not suspecting his ruse, paid no attention to his presence. They returned in a short time to town, and, after a brief stay, Captain Unthank started on his return to Murfrees- boro, leaving some impudent messages with the citizens for Colonel Starnes, who was a few miles off. The fugitive scouts on reaching camp gave such an exag- gerated account of the enemy's numbers that Colonel Starnes decided not to "make any movement until he obtained more exact information. He thereupon ordered out a strong reconnoitering party, with instructions to ascertain the truth before it returned. A good deal of time was lost in consequence, and the pur- suit was delayed for several hours, thereby giving Captain Unthank a decided advantage in the start. Starnes pushed on at a rapid gait, expecting to overtake the enemy at every turn of the road, but it proved to be a stern chase and a long one. Both parties traveled rapidly, the pursuers making no halt at night, and Unthank stopping only once for a short time to feed his horses. The vicinity of Woodbury was reached at daybreak the next morning, and a staked fence, dimly seen through the morning mist, was mistaken for the enemy's line halted to give battle. A charge was ordered at once and executed in gallant style, but the dumb fence gave no response, and was taken without resistance or loss of blood. Beyond this place an orderly sergeant was taken in the act of prowling a house. Some miles beyond a party of seven, probably feeling secure at this stage, had halted and ordered breakfast at a house near the road. They refused to sur- render at first to the small party leading the advance, and William Whitworth, of Winchester, who was the foremost to reach the house, killed two of them with his pistol, when the other five surrendered at discretion. The main body was overtaken at Readyville, some twelve miles from Murfreesboro, where it had stopped and ordered the inhabitants to prepare breakfast. Starnes' column charged headlong into the village, and in a brief time the conflict was over. The entire number was taken with the exception of two or three who happened to be on their horses at the far side of the place. Captain Unthank was greatly
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chagrined at the result, as he had just been boasting to some ladies at the table of the success of his raid, and regretting that he was unable to bring Starnes tu an engagement, when the latter burst in upon him. The Federal loss here was over 70 in prisoners and I killed. The man killed fell in a combat with Thomp- son Wilson, of Fayetteville, Tenn. The pursuit had been pushed, without halt- ing for food or rest, for two nights and a day, but was well rewarded in the end.
Cruelty Resented .- In disputing Sherman's advance from Fayetteville, North Carolina, the First Tennessee Cavalry was extended as skirmishers along a deep ravine, on the opposite side of which the enemy appeared in line of battle in the open field and advancing to cross, The cavalrymen saw their advantage, and firmly held the ground against the odds. The Federals were pushed up to the brink of the ravine, which had precipitous sides, but could not be induced to cross in the face of the murderous fire poured into them from pistols and car- bines at the distance of less than thirty paces. They were freely beaten over the head with the sabre by an officer, but to no purpose. This cruelty was resented by Captain Butler, of Company K, who called out to the officer from across the ravine to stop his conduct or he would kill him. The tyrant was too much en- grossed to heed the warning, and fell dead soon after under the aim of Butler's pistol.
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EDITORIAL.
WE are sorry to confess to another delay in the regular issue of the ANNALS, but hope our friends will accept our assertion that we are doing the best we can, with a subscription list by no means large, and laboring under the farther disadvantage of giving the public a first class magazine at the low price of TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM. The price is unreasonably low, as a comparison with other publications of this kind will show, and we have been urged by friends to put it at THREE DOLLARS; but we find such indubitable evidence of its growth into public favor, and, believing that, at its present rates, it will reach a larger circle of readers, and, there- fore, accomplish more good, we have decided to make no change now. It is finding its way into libraries at the North and in Europe, and will thus carry our story of the war in the West to the bar of History in the most enlightened centers of the world, where we ask to be heard and are willing to be judged. But we want a better home endorsement in the shape of a more liberal subscription, which will put the ANNALS beyond the chances of failure. This we believe is foretokened to it in the many letters received daily, showing that this work is taking a deep hold upon
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TRUE MER.
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BATTLE-FIELD IN FRONT OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, DECEMBER 15TH AND 16TH, 1864. (Compiled from General Thomas' Map and recent reconnoisance by S. W. Steele, Captain Engineers, C. S. A.) Engraved for the Annals, by Tavel, Eastman & Howell, Nashville, Tenn.)
EXPLANATIONS.
C. S. Army, commanded by General J. B. Hood : Lee's Corps, 4,762 ; Stewart's Corps, 5,221; Cheatham's Corps, 3,467 ; Artillery, 1,547; Cavalry, 1,70d. Total of all arms, 16,697.
United States forces 55, 000 strong, commanded by Ma- jor-General George H. Thomas.
A-Overton's Hill. B-Shy's Hill. LEE'S CORPS. 1-Brantley's Mississippi Brigade. 2 -- Clayton's Division. 3-Stevenson's Division. 4-Ed. Johnson's Division. STEWART'S CORPS. 5-Loring's Division. 6-Walthall's Division.
CHEATHAM'S CORPS. 7-Bate's Division. 8-Lowry's (Cheatham's) Division. 9-Magiveny's Hill. to- Govan's Brigade. 11-Cheatham's Cap. 12-Cleburne's Division, (Brig. - Gen. Jas. Smith. )
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