Civil Government among the First Needs of the Settlers-A Voluntary Compact formed-Election of Judges
-Copy of Articles of Agreement-List of the Signers-Additional Articles-Interesting Quotations from the
Records of the Notables-Treaty with the Indians.

THE first civil government upon the Cumberland or in Middle Tennessee was a voluntary compact entered into by the settlers on the first day of May, 1780, with additional articles adopted on the 10th. This was an object of their first care as soon as they had arrived in the country and had provided themselves with temporary shelter and a few necessary articles of subsistence. They had not been without an example of the benefits of such a voluntary association for mutual protection, and for the restraint and punishment of lawless adventurers who might come among them, in a similar organization upon the Watauga: and now that they had immigrated still farther into the wilderness, and still more remote from any protection which the civil arm of the State could immediately throw over them, they were disposed to organize and administer a local government of their own. But they designed that this government should exist only till such time as the State government could be efficiently extended over them.

The articles entered into provided that the several stations should be entitled to representatives as follows:
\”From Nashborough,       3.\”
\”From Kasper\’s,              2.\”            (Kasper Mansker\’s Lick.)
\”From Bledsoe\’s,             1.\”            (Now Castilian Springs.)
\”From Asher\’s,                1.\”            (Station Camp Creek.)
\”From Freeland\’s,            1.\”            (Horticultural Garden.)
\”From Eaton\’s,                 2.\”            (East Nashville.)
\”From Fort Union,           1.\”            (Where Haysborough was.)*

\”Which said persons, or a majority of them, after being bound by the solemnity of an oath to do equal and impartial justice between all contending parties,\” etc., shall be empowered and competent to settle all controversies relative to location and improvement of lands; all other matters and questions of dispute among the settlers; protecting the reasonable claims of those who may have returned for their families; providing implements of husbandry and food for such as might arrive without such necessaries: making especial provisions for widows and orphans whose husbands or fathers may die or be killed by the savages; guaranteeing equal rights, mutual protection, and impartial justice; pledging themselves most solemnly and sacredly to promote the peace, happiness, and well-being of the country; to repress vice and punish crime. This is a summary of what they resolved and ordained.[1]

Certainly no better evidence could be given of the intelligence, patriotism, and foresight of the pioneers. \”One of the best elements,\” says Putnam, \”of our free, popular government was expressly set forth in the compact of government at Nashborough, namely: the authority of the people;a power reserved to the people at the various stations to removetheir judge or judges and other officers for unfaithfulness or misconduct, and to elect others to fill such vacancies.

\”This tribunal exercised the prerogatives of government to their fullest extent, with the single specified exception of the infliction of capital punishment. They called out the militia of the stations to \’repel or pursue the enemy,\’ impressed horses for such service as public exigency might demand, levied fines, payable in money or provisions, adjudicated causes, entered up judgments and awarded executions, granted letters of administration upon estates of deceased persons, taking bonds payable to \’Col. James Robertson, Chairman of the Committee,\’ etc.

Mr. Putnam, by the discovery of the original articles of association by which this government of the Notables was formed, was enabled to add, among other results of his careful research, a very valuable and interesting paper to this portion of the history of Tennessee. He precedes its introduction into his \”History of Middle Tennessee\” with the following remarks:

\”Much has been written and published respecting that \’imperium in imperio,\’ the State of Franklin, and its distinguished founder and Governor; but here we recover the history of a State in every respect and aspect as peculiar as that, six years earlier in date, in active existence for several years, the president or chairman of which was ever the friend of Sevier,-they par nobile fratrum, -but of which the historians of Tennessee have had but a very limited knowledge. Judge Haywood alludes to it on page 126, and others have only copied what he there says, and thus the most interesting incidents in Middle Tennessee history have hitherto remained unknown and unpublished.

\”It soon became manifest that there was much need for such a government, that it would have much to engage its attention both in the civil and military departments. The people at the various stations were urged by their sense of duty, and some apprehension of mischief from the Indians, to elect the number of Notables to which they were entitled that the contemplated government might be put promptly into operation, and suitable directions given for the election of military officers and the equipment of \’spies and sharpshooters.\’

\”The alarm was, \’Indians about!\’ In this very month of May they approached the strong defenses of Eaton\’s Station, and within sight and in open day shot down Mr. Porter and James Mayfield. Shortly thereafter they killed Jennings, opposite the first island above Nashville; and near the same time and place they killed Ned. Carver, whose wife and two children narrowly escaped and reached the Bluff. In a day or two thereafter they killed William Neely and captured his daughter.\”

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT, OR COMPACT OF GOVERNMENT, ENTERED INTO BY THE SETTLERS ON THE CUMBERLAND RIVER, IST MAY, 1780.[2]

The first page is lost, and the second torn and defaced, but we can read distinctly as follows, supplying in brackets lost words:

\”. . . property of right shall be determined as soon [as] conveniently may be, in the following manner: The free men of this country over the age [of twenty] one years shall immediately, or as soon as may [be convenient], proceed to elect or choose twelve conscientious and [deserving] persons, from or out of the different sections, that is [to] say :From Nashborough, three;Gasper\’s, two; Bledsoe\’s, one; Asher\’s, one; Stone\’s River, one; Freeland\’s, one; Eaton\’s, two; Fort Union, one.Which said persons, or a majority of them, after being bound by the solemnity of an oath to do equal and impartial justice between all contending parties, according to the best of their skill and judgment, having due re[gard] to the regulations of the Land Office herein established, shall be competent judges of the matter, and . . . hearing the allegations of both parties and [their] witnesses as to the facts alleged, or otherwise . . . as to the truth of the case, shall have [power] to decide the controversies, and determine who is of right entitled to an entry for such land so in dispute, when said determination or decision shall be forever bind[ing] and conclusive against the future claim of the party against whom such judgment [shall be rendered]. And the entry-taker shall make a [record thereof] in his book accordingly, and the entry . . . tending party so cost shall . . . if it had never been made, and the land in dispute . . . to the person in whose favor such judgment shall . . .

\”. . . in case of the death, removal, or absence of any of the judges so to be chosen, or their refusing to act, the station or stations to which such person or persons belong, or was chosen from, shall proceed to elect another or others in his or their stead; which person or persons so chosen, after being sworn, as aforesaid, to do equal and impartial justice, shall have full power and authority to proceed to business, and act in all disputes respecting the premises, as if they had been originally chosen at the first election.

\”That the entry-book shall be kept fair and open by . . . person . . . to be appointed by said Richard Henderson . . . chose, and every entry for land numbered and dated, and . . . order leaving any blank leaves or spaces . . . to the inspection of the said twelve judges, or . . . of them, at all times. . . .

\”That whereas many persons have come to this country without implements of husbandry, and from other circumstances are obliged to return without making a crop, and [intend] removing out this fall or early next spring, and it . . . reason . . . such should have the pre-emp[tion] . . . of such places as they may have chosen . . . the purpose of residence, therefore it is … to be taken for all such, for as much land as they are entitled to from their head-rights, which said lands shall be reserved for the particular person in whose name they shall be entered, or their heirs; provided such persons shall remove to this country and take possession of the respective place or piece of land so chosen or entered, or shall send a laborer or laborers and a white person in his or her stead to perform the same, on or before the first day of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one; and also provided such land so chosen and entered for is not entered and claimed by some person who is an inhabitant, and shall raise a crop of corn the present year at some station or place convenient to the general settlement in this country. But it is fully to be understood that those who are actually at this time inhabitants of this country shall not be debarred of their choice or claim on account of the rights of any such absent or returning person or persons. It is further proposed and agreed that no claim or title to any land whatsoever shall be set up by any person in consequence of any mark or former improvement, unless the same be entered with the entry-taker within twenty days from the date of this association and agreement; and that when any person hereafter shall mark or improve land or lands for himself, such mark or improvement shall not avail him or be deemed an evidence of prior right unless the same be entered with the entry-taker in thirty days . . . from the time of such mark or improvement; but no other person shall be entitled to such lands so as aforesaid to be reserved . . . consequence of any purchase, gift, or otherwise.

\”That if the entry-taker to be appointed shall neglect or refuse to perform his duty, or be found by the said judges, or a majority of them, to have acted fraudulently, to the prejudice of any person whatsoever, such entry-taker shall be immediately removed from his office, and the book taken out of his possession by the said judges until another shall be appointed to act in his room.

\”That as often as the people in general are dissatisfied with the doings of the judges or triers so to be chosen, they may call a new election at any of the said stations and elect others in their stead, having due respect to the number now agreed to be elected at each election, which persons so to be chosen shall have the same power with those in whose room or place they shall or may be chosen to act.

\”That as no consideration money for the lands on Cumberland River, within the claim of the said Richard Henderson and Company, and which is the subject of the association, is demanded or expected by the said Company until a satisfactory and indisputable title can be made, so we think it reasonable and just that the twenty-six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, current money, per hundred acres, the price proposed by the said Richard Henderson, shall be paid according to the value of money on the first day of January last, being the time when the price was made public [and] settlement encouraged thereon by said Henderson; and the said Richard Henderson on his part does hereby agree that in case of the rise or appreciation of money from that . . . an abatement shall be made in the sum according to its raised or appreciated value.

\”That where any person shall remove to this country with intent to become an inhabitant, and depart this life, either by violence or in the natural way, before he shall have performed the requisites necessary to obtain lands, the child or children of such deceased person shall be entitled, in his or her room, to such quantity of land as such person would have been entitled to in case he or she had lived to obtain a grant in their own name; and if such death be occasioned by the Indians, the said Henderson doth promise and agree that the child or children shall have as much as amounts to their head-rights gratis, surveyor\’s and other incidental fees excepted.

\”And whereas, from our remote situation and want of proper officers for the administration of justice, no regular proceedings at law can be had for the punishment of offenses and the attainment of right, it is therefore agreed that until we can be relieved by government from the many evils and inconveniences arising therefrom, the judges or triers to be appointed as before directed, when qualified, shall be and are hereby declared a proper court or jurisdiction for the recovery of any debt or damage; or where the cause of action or complaint has arisen, or hereafter shall commence, for anything done or to be done among ourselves in this our settlement on Cumberland aforesaid, or in our passage hither, where the laws of our country could not be executed or damages repaired in any other way; that is to say, in all cases where the debt or damages or demand does or shall not exceed one hundred dollars, any three of the said judges or triers shall be competent to make a court and finally decide the matter in controversy; but if for a larger sum, and either party shall be dissatisfied with the judgment or decision of such court, they may have an appeal to the whole twelve judges or triers, in which case nine members shall be deemed a full court, whose decision, if seven agree in one opinion, the matter in dispute shall be final, and their judgment carried into execution in such manner and by such person or person as they may appoint; and the said courts, respectively, shall have full power to tax such costs as they may think just and reasonable, to be levied and collected with the debt or damage so to be awarded.

\”And it is further agreed that a majority of the said judges, triers, or general arbitrators shall have power to punish in their discretion, having respect to the laws of our country, all offenses against the peace, misdemeanors, and those criminals, or of a capital nature, provided such court does not proceed with execution so far as to affect life or member; and in case any should be brought before them whose crime is or shall be dangerous to the State, or for which the benefit of clergy is taken away by law, and sufficient evidence or proof of the fact or facts can probably be made, such court, or a majority of the members, shall and may order and direct him, her, or them to be safely bound and sent under a strong guard to the place where the offense was or shall be committed, or where legal trial of such offense can be had, which shall accordingly be done, and the reasonable expense attending the discharge of this duty ascertained by the court, and paid by the inhabitants in such proportion as shall hereafter be agreed on for that purpose.

\”That as this settlement is in its infancy, unknown to government, and not included within any county within North Carolina, the State to which it belongs, so as to derive the advantages of those wholesome and salutary laws for the protection and benefit of its citizens, we find ourselves constrained from necessity to adopt this temporary method of restraining the licentious, and supplying, by unanimous consent, the blessings flowing from a just and equitable government, declaring and promising that no action or complaint shall be hereafter instituted or lodged in any court of record within this State, or elsewhere, for anything done or to be done in consequence of the proceedings of the said Judges or General Arbitrator so to be chosen and established by this our Association.

\”That the well-being of this country entirely depends, under Divine Providence, on unanimity of sentiment and concurrence in measures; and as clashing interests and opinions without being under some restraint will most certainly produce confusion, discord, and almost certain ruin, so we think it our duty to associate, and hereby form ourselves into one society for the benefit of present and future settlers; and until the full and proper exercise of the laws of our country can be in use, and the powers of government exerted among us, we do most solemnly and sacredly declare and promise each other that we will faithfully and punctually adhere to, perform, and abide by this our Association, and at all times, if need be, compel by our united force a due obedience to these our rules and regulations, In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names in token of our entire approbation of the measures adopted.

\”Richard Henderson.	William Gowan.	John McMurty.
Nathaniel Hart.	John Wilfort.	D\’d Williams.
William H. Moore.	James Espey.	John McAdams.
Samuel Phariss.	Michael Kimberlin.	Samson Williams.
John Donelson C.	John Cowan.	Thomas Thompson.
Gasper Mansker.	Francis Hodge.	Martin King.
John Caffery.	William Fleming.	William Logan.
John Blackemore, Jr.	James Leeper.	John Alstead.
John Blackemore, Sr.	George Leeper.	Nicholas Coonrod.
James Shaw.	Daniel Mungle.	Evin Evins.
Samuel Deson.	Patrick McCutchen.	John Thomas.
Samuel Martin.	Samuel McCutchen.	Joshua Thomas.
James Buchanan.	William Price.	David Rounsavall.
Solomon Turpin.	Henry Kerbey.	Isaac Rounsavall.
Isaac Rentfro.	Joseph Jackson.	James Crockett.
Robert Cartwright.	Daniel Ragsdale.	Andrew Crockett.
Hugh Rogan.	Michael Shaver.	Russell Gower.
Joseph Morton.	Samuel Willson.	John Shannon.
William Woods.	John Reid.	Jonathan Drake.
David Mitchell.	Joseph Dougherty.	Benjamin Drake.
David Shelton.	Charles Cameron.	John Drake.
Spill Coleman.	W. Russell, Jr.	Mereday Rains.
Samuel McMurray.	Hugh Simpson.	Richard Dodge.
P. Henderson.	Samuel Moore.	James Green.
Edward Bradley.	Joseph Denton.	James Cooke.
Edward Bradley, Jr.	Arthur McAdoo.	Daniel Johnston.
James Bradley.	Nathaniel Henderson.	George Miner.
Michael Stoner.	John Evans.	George Green.
Joseph Mosely.	Wm. Bailey Smith.	William Moore.
Henry Guthrie.	Peter Luney.	Jacob Cimberlin.
Francis Armstrong.	James Cain.	Robert Dockerty.
Robert Lucas.	Daniel Johnson.	John Crow.
James Robertson.	Daniel Jarrot.	William Summers.
George Freeland.	Jesse Maxey.	Lesois Frize. (?)
John Tucker.	Noah Hawthorn.	Amb\’s Mauldin.
Peter Catron.	Charles McCartney.	Morton Mauldin.
Francis Catron.	John Anderson.	John Dunham.
John Dunham.	William McWhirter.	Archelaus Allaway.
Isaac Johnson.	Barnet Hainey.	Samuel Hayes.
Adam Kelar.	Richard Sims.	Isaac Johnson.
Thomas Burgess.	Titus Murray.	Thomas Edmeston.
William Green.	James Hamilton.	Ezekiel Norris.
Moses Webb.	Henry Dougherty.	William Farwell.
Absalom Thompson.	Zach. White.	William McMurray.
John McVay.	Burgess White.	John Cordey.
James Thomson.	William Calley.	Nicholas Framal.
Charles Thomson.	James Ray.	Haydon Wells.
Martin Hardin.	William Ray.	Daniel Ratleft.
Elijah Thomson.	Perley Grimes.	John Callaway.
Andrew Thomson.	Samuel White.	John Pleake.
William Seaton.	Daniel Hogan.	Willis Pope.
Edward Thomelu.	Thomas Hines.	Silas Harlan.
Isaac Drake.	Robert Goodloe.	James Lynn.
Jonathan Jennings.	Thomas W. Alston.	Thomas Cox.
Zachariah Green.	William Barret.	Hugh Leeper.
Andrew Lucas.	Thomas Shannon.	Harmon Consellea.
His
James X Patrick.	James Moore.	Humphrey Hogan.
mark
Richard Gross.	Samuel Moore.	James Foster.
John Drake.	Elijah Moore.	William Morris.
John Holladay.	John Moore.	Nathaniel Bidlack.
Frederic Stump (in	Andrew Ewin.	A. Tatom.
Dutch).	Ebenezer Titus.	William Hinson.
William Hood.	Mark Robertson.	Edmund Newton.
John Boyd.	John Montgomery.	Jonathan Green.
Jacob Stump.	Charles Campbell.	Edward Lucas.
Henry Hardin.	William Overall.	Philip Alston.
Richard Stanton.	John Turner.	John Phillips.
Sampson Sawyer.	Nathaniel Overall.	George Flynn.
John Hobson.	Patrick Quigley.	Daniel Jarrott.
Ralph Wilson.	Josias Gamble.	John Owens.
James Givens.	Samuel Newell.	James Freeland.
James Harrod.	Joseph Read.	Thomas Molloy.
James Buchanan, Sr.	David Maxwell.	Isaac Lindsay.
William Geioch.	Thomas Jefriss.	Isaac Bledsoe.
Samuel Shelton.	Joseph Dunnagin.	Jacob Castleman.
John Gibson.	John Phelps.	George Power.
Robert Espey.	Andrew Bushoney.	James Russell.
Geroge Espey.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

The following additional resolutions and further articles were entered into at Nashborough on the 13th day of May, 1780; to wit.:

\”That all young men over the age of sixteen years and able to perform militia duty shall be considered as having a full right to enter for and obtain lands in their own names, as if they were of full age; and in that case not be recovered in the family of his father, mother, or master, so as to avail them of any land on their account.

\”That where any person shall mark or improve land or lands, with intent to set up a claim thereto, such person shall write or mark in legible characters the initial letters of his name at least, together with the day of the month and year on which he marked or improved the same, at the spring or most notorious part of the land, on some convenient tree or other durable substance, in order to notify the intentions to all such as may inquire or examine; and in case of dispute with respect to priority of right, proof of such transaction shall be made by the oath of some indifferent witness, or no advantage or benefit shall be derived from such mark or improvement; and in all cases where priority of mark or occupancy cannot be ascertained, according to the regulations and prescriptions herein proposed and agreed to, the oldest or first entry in the office to be opened in consequence of this Association shall have the preference, and the lands granted accordingly.

\”It is further proposed and agreed that the entry-office shall be opened at Nashborough on Friday the 19th of May, instant, and kept from thenceforward at the same place, unless otherwise directed by any future Convention of the people in general or their representatives.

\”That the entry-taker shall and may demand and receive twelve dollars for each entry to be made in his book, in manner before directed, and shall give a certificate thereof if required; and also may take the same fees for every caveator counter-claim to any lands before entered; and in all cases where a caveat is to be tried, in manner before directed, the entry-book shall be laid before the said Committee of Judges, Triers, or General Arbitrators for their inspection and information, and their judgment upon the matter in dispute fairly entered, as before directed; which said Court or Committee is also to keep a fair and distinct journal or minutes of all their proceedings, as well with respect to lands as other matters which may come before them in consequence of these our resolutions.

\”It is also firmly agreed and resolved that no person shall be permitted to make an entry for any land with the said entry-taker, or permitted to hold the same, unless such person shall subscribe his name and conform to this our Association, Confederacy, and General Government, unless it be for persons who have returned home and are permitted to have lands reserved for their use until the first day of May next, in which case entries may be made for such absent persons, according to the true meaning of this writing, without their personal presence, but shall become utterly void if the particular person or persons for whom such entry shall be made should refuse or neglect to perform the same as soon as conveniently may be after their return, and before the said first day of May in the year 1781.

\”Whereas the frequent and dangerous incursions of the Indians, and almost daily massacre of some of our inhabitants, renders it absolutely necessary for our safety and defense that due obedience be paid to our respective officers elected and to be elected at the several stations or settlements to take command of the men or militia at such fort or station,-

\”It is further agreed and resolved that when it shall be adjudged necessary and expedient by such commanding officers to draw out the militia of any fort or station to pursue or repulse the enemy, the said officer shall have poxver to call out such and so many of his men as he may judge necessary, and in case of disobedience may inflict such fine as he in his discretion shall think just and reasonable, and also may impress the horse or horses of any person or persons whatsoever, which if lost or damaged in such service shall be paid for by the inhabitants of such fort or station in such manner and such proportions as the committee hereby appointed, or a majority of them, shall direct and order; but if any person shall be aggrieved or think himself injustly vexed and injured by the fine or fines so imposed by the officer or officers, such person may appear to the said Judges or Committee of General Arbitrators, who, or a majority of them, shall have power to examine the matter fully, and make such order therein as they may think just and reasonable, which decision shall be conclusive on the party complaining, as well as the officer or officers inflicting such fine; and the money arising from such fines shall be carefully applied for the benefit of such fort or station, in such manner as the said Arbitrators shall hereafter direct.

\”It is lastly agreed and firmly resolved that a dutiful and humble address or petition be presented by some person or persons, to be chosen by the inhabitants to the General Assembly, giving the fullest assurance of the fidelity and attachment to the interests of our country and obedience to the laws and constitution thereof, setting forth that we are confident our settlement is not within the boundaries of any nation or tribe of Indians, as some of us know and all believe that they have fairly sold and received satisfaction for the land or territories whereon we reside, and therefore, we hope we may not be considered as acting against the laws of our country or the mandates of government;

\”That we do not desire to be exempt from the ratable share of the public expense of the present war,[3] or other contingent charges of government; that we are, from our remote situation, utterly destitute of the benefits of the laws of our country, and exposed to the depredations of the Indians without any justifiable or effectual means of employing our militia or defending ourselves against the hostile attempts of our enemy; praying and imploring the immediate aid and protection of our government, by erecting a county to include our settlements, appointing proper officers for the discharge of public duty, taking into consideration our distressed situation with respect to the Indians, and granting such relief and assistance as in wisdom, justice, and humanity may be thought reasonable.
\”NASHBOROUGH, 13TH May, 1780\”

The records of the government of the Arbitrators, had they been kept or preserved, would no doubt have revealed many curious and interesting facts. \”From our researches,\” says Putnam, \”we conclude that immediately after the adoption of the Articles an election was held at the stations, and that then Robertson was chosen Colonel; Donelson, Lieutenant-Colonel; Lucas, Major; and George Freeland, Mauldin, Bledsoe, and Blackemore, Captains.\” Although the entry-taker and the judges were each required to keep separate books in which to keep minutes of their proceedings, it does not appear that any of these are extant, or that even a fugitive sheet or scrap can be found till the 7th of January, 1783. The people were so greatly exposed and kept in such constant turmoil with the Indians that during the intervening period but little had been attended to beyond their own immediate protection. In the midst of these discouraging circumstances many had left the settlements, and their numbers were reduced to seventy men. The record which recites the revival of the government alludes pathetically to these difficulties and trials:

\”NORTH CAROLINA, CUMBERLAND RIVER,
\”January 7th, 1783.
\”The manifold sufferings and distresses that the settlers here have from time to time undergone, even almost from our first settling, with the desertion of the greater number of the first adventurers, being so discouraging to the remaining few that all administration of justice seemed to cease from amongst us, -which, however weak, whether in Constitution, administration, or execution, yet has been construed in our favor, against those whose malice or interest would insinuate us a people fled to a hiding-place from justice, and the revival of them again earnestly recommended, -it appears highly necessary that for the common weal of the whole, the securing of peace, the performance of contracts between man and man, together with the suppression of vice, again to revive our former manner of proceedings, pursuant to the plan agreed upon at our first settling here, and to proceed accordingly until such. times as it shall please the Legislature to grant us the salutary benefits of the law duly administered amongst us by their authority.

\”To this end, previous notice having been given to the several stationers to elect twelve men of their several stations whom they thought most proper for the business, and being elected, to meet at Nashborough on the 7th day of January, 1783.

\”Accordingly there met at the time and place aforesaid Colonel James Robertson, Captain George Freeland, Thomas Malloy, Isaac Lindsey, David Rounsevall, Heydon Wells, James Mauldin, Ebenezer Titus, Samuel Barton, Andrew Ewin, Constituting themselves into a Committee, for purposes aforesaid, by voluntarily taking the following oath, viz.:

\”I, A. B., do solemnly swear that, as a member of the Committee, I will do equal right and justice, according to the best of my skill and judgment, in the decisions of all causes that shall be laid before me, without fear, favor, or partiality. So help me God.

\”The Committee so constituted proceeded to elect Andrew Ewin to be their Clerk, John Montgomery to be Sheriff of the district, and Colonel James Robertson to be their Chairman. And to fix the Clerk\’s fees.\”

We make a few extracts from the records, which continue without interruption to the organization of Davidson County:

\”Jan. 18, 1783.
\”At a Committee called by the desire of the inhabitants for the offering of an address to the State\’s Commissioners, in behalf of some minors and heads of families, the first of which was deprived by their minority, the others by not arriving here by the time prescribed by the act of Assembly for obtaining lands; and that they would represent their case to the Assembly, in hopes of their indulgence toward them; and that the Commissioners would, in the mean time, be pleased to receive their locations for their improvements; to the intent that they might be generally known, in hopes that others would not interfere therewith. To which the Commissioners were pleased to return them an answer, that, to the first, they would do everything in their power for them; but to receiving their locations, it did not come within the line of their duty, etc.

\”The members present were Col. James Robertson, Capt. George Freeland, Thomas Malloy, Isaac Linsey, Heydon Weils, David Rounsevall, Ebenezer Titus, and Samuel Barton. Likewise, Capt. Isaac Bledsoe and Capt. J. J. Blackemore appeared and qualified for members of the Committee, and after discussing the above business, the same Committee, on motion of James McCain, proceeded to take up the deposition of Isaac Neely, viz.: that he, the said Isaac Neely, was witness to a bill of sale, the contents of which, he believes, was a bed purchased of Jourdan Gibson by the said McCain, and further the deponent saith not.

\”The Committee proceeded no further to business, but referred to their former adjournment, and so dismissed.\”

\”Feb. 5, 1783.
\”Committee met according to adjournment. Members present-Capt. George Freeland, Isaac Linsey, Heydon Wells, David Rounsevall, Ebenezer Titus, and James Shaw, elected for Nashborough, appeared and qualified for member of the Committee.

\”The Committee then proceeded and swore in John Montgomery to be Sheriff of the district, and Andrew Ewin, for Clerk to the Committee.

\”On motion made, the Committee granted administration of the estate of John Turner, deceased, to Mr. John Marney, said Marney entering into bonds with Heydon Wells and John Dunham, securities for the sum of one thousand pounds, proclamation money, payable to Col. James Robertson and his successors as Chairman of the Committee, or their assignees, and also qualified as by law required. And there not being a majority of members present, they proceeded no further, but adjourned until the first Tuesday in March, 1783.\”

\”March 4. 1783.
\”Committee met according to adjournment. Members present-Col. James Robertson, George Freeland, Thomas Mulloy, Isaac Lindsey, David Rounsevall, Ebenezer Titus, Samuel Barton, and James Shaw. The Committee then proceeded to take into consideration an address offered to them relative to the inhabitants of the Cumberland, giving their assurance of fidelity to the government of the State in which they reside, which unanimously was approved by the Committee, and agreed that it should be done as soon as opportunity would serve.

\”Letters of administration on several estates granted, and sundry suits continued: one against John Dunham \’for detaining a bed.\’ Daniel Hogan and wife vs. James Todd; parties appeared, and the Committee recommended to the parties to adjust matters themselves.\”

\”March 15, 1785.
\”On motion made, the Committee agree that an address to be sent to the Assembly, acknowledging our grateful sense of their late favor in granting us lands, praying them to grant us the salutary benefit of government in all its branches, and that a land-office may be opened on such a plan as may encourage the settling of the country, that the protection of it may be less burdensome.

\”And that Col. James Robertson present the same, being elected thereto by the people.

\”On motion, agreed that six spies be kept out to discover the motions of the enemy so long as we shall be able to pay them, each to receive seventy-five bushels of Indian corn per month (to be under the direction of Col. Robertson and Capt. Bledsoe). The subscription of Nashborough, Freeland\’s, and Mansker\’s Stations filed with the Clerk of the Committee.

\”The Deputation of Thomas Fletcher to the Sheriffalty of the District by John Montgomery disannulled; and the Committee elect the said Fletcher, who was sworn Sheriff of the District of Cumberland.

\”It being thought necessary to our better defense in these times of danger that officers be chosen in each respective station to embody the inhabitants for their greater safety. Accordingly there was made choice of, at Nashborough, William Pruit for Captain; Samuel Martin and John Buchanan, 1st and 2d Lieutenants; and William Overall, Ensign.

\”At Freeland\’s Station, Joshua Howard, Captain; James Donelson, Lieutenant; and John Dunham, Ensign.
\”At Heatonsburg, Joshua Ramsey, Captain; James Hollis, Lieutenant; and Joshua Thomas, Ensign.
\”At Mansker\’s, Isaac Bledsoe, Captain; Gasper Mansker, Lieutenant; James Lynn, Ensign.
\”At Maulding\’s, Francis Prince, Captain; Ambrose Maulding, Lieutenant.\’

\”AN ADDRESS TO THE COMMITTEE.

\”April 1, 1785.
\”Gentlemen: Whereas the purchasing of Liquors brought from foreign parts and sold to the inhabitants here at exorbitant rates, and carrying away the money out of the country, will greatly tend to the impoverishing of this infant settlement:

\”For the remedying of this evil Let it be resolved and agreed on by this Committee that from and after the first day of April any person bringing liquors here from foreign parts shall, before they expose the same or any part thereof to sale, enter into bonds before some member of the Committee, with two sufficient securities, in the penal sum of two hundred pounds specie, payable to the Chairman of the Committee and his successors as such, that they will not ask, take, or receive, directly or indirectly, any more than one silver dollar, or the value thereof in produce, for one quart of good, sound, merchantable liquor, and so in proportion for a greater or less quantity. And any member of the Committee before whom such bond is given shall grant certificate thereof to the giver.

\”And any person selling or exposing to sale any liquor brought from foreign parts, not having entered into such bond as aforesaid, the same shall be liable to be seized by warrant granted by any member of the Committee, which they are hereby empowered and required to issue; and so seized, to secure and deliver the same until they shall enter into such a bond as aforesaid, or otherwise oblige themselves to transport their liquor again out of this settlement. Provided always that if neither shall be done within twenty days after such seizure the same shall be deemed and held forfeited, and shall be sold, and the money arising thereby shall be applied to the use of the public at the discretion of the Committee.

\”And if any person upon giving bond in either of the premises aforesaid shall afterwards make default therein, and on information and prosecution be convicted thereof by sufficient witness before our Committee, their bond shall be deemed and held forfeited, and judgment be awarded against them accordingly. And on refusal or delay to satisfy such judgment, the same shall be levied on their goods and chattels by distress, and the money arising thereby applied as aforesaid under direction of the Committee. Provided always that such prosecution shall commence within six months after default made.

\”Approved, resolved, and agreed by the Committee.
\”ANDREW EWIN, Clerk.\”

\”On motion ordered that a road be opened from Nashborough to Mansker\’s Station . . . and another from Heatonsburg to Mansker\’s. Overseers appointed and directed to call out hands to work on them. The Committee then proceeded to the causes on the Docket.\”

It would be interesting to report these suits did space permit. We add the regulation concerning commerce and the vote of the stationers upon the subject of the Indian treaty at Nashborough:

\”May 6th, 1783.
\”Committee met according to adjournment. Members present: Col. Robertson, Malloy, Freeland, Barton, Rounsevall, Linsey, Titus, Shaw, and Capt. Isaac Bledsoe. When Thomas Malloy informed the Committee that he had since the last meeting, at the request of some of the members, sent letters to the agent of the State of Virginia, residing at the Illinois, and likewise to the Spanish Governor, informing them that some of our people had gone down the river this spring upon pretense of trading with the Chickasaw Indians: but by the report of some lately come from the Illinois, who met with them on their way here, we are afraid that their design was to assist in plundering some of the trading-boats; and that if any such thing should be committed or effected by or with the assistance of any belonging to us, that it was contrary to the principles and intentions of the generality of the people here, as we detest and abhor such practices; and that we would endeavor for the future to prevent any such proceedings.

\”Which information and conduct of Mr. Malloy was unanimously approved and accepted by the Committee.

\”On motion made, Resolved and agreed on by the Committee, That from and after the 6th day of May, 1783, no person or inhabitant of this settlement shall trade, traffic, or barter with any Indian, nor resort unto them on the other side of the Ohio or of the dividing ridge between Tennessee and Cumberland waters, nor go down these Western waters, upon pretense of trading to the Illinois or elsewhere, without permission first had and obtained of the Committee, and likewise giving bond, with approved security, in any sum at the discretion of the Committee, payable to the Chairman thereof and his successors as such, conditioning that their conduct shall not directly nor indirectly in any way prejudice the interests of this settlement.

\”On motion made, such of the members of the Committee as had not heretofore taken the oath of abjuration and fidelity in this State proceeded to take it, which was first administered to the Clerk by Col. James Robertson, and afterwards by the Clerk in Committee to the members as aforesaid; and the rest of the members made oath of having taken it heretofore in this State, and had at no time since been engaged in the interests of the enemies of the United States.

\”ANDREW EWIN, Clerk.\”

\”June 3, 1783.

\”When on motion made by Maj. John Reid relative to the assembling of the Southern tribes of Indians at the French Lick, on Cumberland River, for holding a Treaty with the Commissioners appointed by the State of Virginia, the Committee considering how difficult it will be for a handful of people reduced to poverty and distress by a continued scene of Indian barbarity to furnish any large body of Indians with provisions, and how prejudicial it may be to our infant settlement should they not be furnished with provisions, or otherwise dissatisfied or disaffected with the terms of the Treaty on which consideration the Committee refer it to the unanimous suffrages of the people of this settlement whether the Treaty shall be held here with their consent or no. And that the suffrages of the several stations be delivered to the Clerk of Committee by Thursday evening, the 5th inst., at which time the suffrages of Freeland\’s Station, Heatonsburg, and Nashborough were given in as follows:

\”Freeland\’s Station, no Treaty here, 32 votes.
\”Nashborough, no Treaty here, 26 votes.
\”Heatonsburg, no Treaty here, 1 vote = 59.
\”Heatonsburg, Treaty here, 54 votes.
\”Nashborough Treaty here, 30 votes = 84.
\”The other stations of Kasper Mansker\’s and Maulding\’s failing to return their votes.\”

The last act of the committee appears to have been the reassertion of the restriction on the sale of foreign liquors:

\”August 5th, 1783.
\”Resolved on by this present Committee that from and after the raising hereof no foreigner bringing any liquors from foreign parts shall ask, take, or receive for the same, directly or indirectly, any more than one silver dollar per gallon, or the value thereof in produce, giving bond and security, or be liable to the same forfeiture as by the resolve of the 1st of April, 1783.
\”Test: ANDREW EWIN, Clerk.
\”Conclusion of the Committee.\”

These proceedings cannot be read without interest, nor without forming a very worthy opinion of the pioneers who first settled Davidson County. The majority, like those who formed the earliest settlements in Ohio and Kentucky, were men of energy, sound judgment, and moral worth. The wisdom, the intellectual discipline, the familiarity with principles of business, both public and private, the knowledge even of forms of law, exhibited in their records and documents, their good sense and use of the English language, all strike the student of their history as being remarkable for that period and for a class of pioneers settling in a new country. \”They possessed neither proud extravagance nor mean selfishness, and would have been ashamed of the transmission of such vices to their posterity.\” The manner in which they looked after the welfare of the absent and considered the interests of widows and orphans is one of the brightest examples in the history of any people.

The treaty with the Indians referred to in the foregoing records deserves further mention.

These fragmentary records and other papers deposited with the Tennessee Historical Society are the only documents which settle definitely the date and other important facts respecting this treaty, about which there has been much contradiction among historians.[4] The questions respecting this treaty were warmly debated at the stations during several weeks in which the commissioners were waiting for the assembling of the Indians. It was deemed of doubtful propriety to hold it here, in a settlement which had been plundered and robbed by the very savages invited, and whose citizens had been murdered and reduced to poverty, and could ill afford to provide such an assemblage with provisions. Besides, what right had the State of Virginia to assemble the Indians upon territory belonging to North Carolina? The question, however, had been submitted to a vote of the people, and had been decided in the affirmative. It appears that of the people on the Nashborough side of the river, where it was proposed to hold the treaty, two to one were opposed;but they were outvoted by those at Eaton\’s, on the east side of the river. Col. Robertson, who resided at Freeland\’s Station, voted \”No Treaty here,\” as did every other man there. At Nashborough the vote was twenty-six to thirty, the majority voting for the treaty. But the controlling vote was at Eaton\’s, being fifty-four to one. The people at the latter station, feeling their responsibility for the treaty, promptly and nobly resolved to sustain their action with both \”person and property,\” and to be present to assist on the day of the treaty. This resolution was signed by fifty-four voters.

The treaty began and was concluded in the month of June, 1783, Cols. Donelson and Martin being the commissioners on the part of Virginia. It was made with the \”Southern tribes of Indians\” generally, not alone with the Chickasaws. \”The Indians were invited to assemble at the large Sulphur Spring, about four miles northwest of Nashville, on the east side, and a few hundred yards from the Charlotte Pike. The beautiful location had been selected by Col. Robertson for his own station and home. There he afterwards erected his brick dwelling-house.

The place was formerly for many years the \”Nashville Camp-Ground.\”

The Indians were treated hospitably, and were dismissed with as many presents as could then be bestowed. No outbreak or disturbance of any kind occurred. The stationers exerted themselves to the utmost, not only to supply the wants of all present, but to make a good impression on their generally unwelcome guests, and succeeded, so that the Indians expressed themselves well pleased.

\”This treaty being made under the authority of one of the States, and not of the Confederated States, was exposed to an objection similar to that which Virginia and North Carolina had made to the treaty of Colonel Henderson, and is not to be seen in the published volumes of Indian Treaties. Its provisions and boundaries were, however, subsequently confirmed, or renewed and settled, by the Treaty of Hopewell, in 1785.\”

It is mentioned by Putnam that the acquaintance formed with some of the Indians at this time was serviceable to the Cumberland settlers, for it enabled Col. Robertson to obtain information relative to the Spanish efforts to excite these Indians to enmity and warfare against the whites. \”Colonel Robertson deemed it proper during this year to address a letter to the Baron de Carondelet, to contradict reports which the Spaniards had heard, or pretended to have heard, of designs entertained by the people of Cumberland to make a descent upon the Spanish possessions on the Mississippi.\” We shall advert to this Spanish question hereafter.

*[transcriber\’s note – Clayton, along with many historical authors, mistakenly wrote that Fort Union was located at the site that later became Haysborough.]
[1] Putnam, p. 90.
[2]This paper contains also additional articles adopted May 13th, the date at which the signatures were added.
[3] War for Independence.
[4]See Monette, Hay-wood, Ramsey, and others, quoted by Putnam, p. 134.

Content on this page was transcribed and published by Debie Cox.
Copyright © June 5, 2007, Debie Cox.

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VIII

History of Davidson County, Tennessee

with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers

by Prof. W. W. Clayton

J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia
1880

CHAPTER VIII.
GOVERNMENT OF THE NOTABLES.

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT, OR COMPACT OF GOVERNMENT, ENTERED INTO BY THE SETTLERS ON THE CUMBERLAND RIVER, IST MAY, 1780.[2]

The first page is lost, and the second torn and defaced, but we can read distinctly as follows, supplying in brackets lost words:

\”Richard Henderson.	William Gowan.	John McMurty.
Nathaniel Hart.	John Wilfort.	D\’d Williams.
William H. Moore.	James Espey.	John McAdams.
Samuel Phariss.	Michael Kimberlin.	Samson Williams.
John Donelson C.	John Cowan.	Thomas Thompson.
Gasper Mansker.	Francis Hodge.	Martin King.
John Caffery.	William Fleming.	William Logan.
John Blackemore, Jr.	James Leeper.	John Alstead.
John Blackemore, Sr.	George Leeper.	Nicholas Coonrod.
James Shaw.	Daniel Mungle.	Evin Evins.
Samuel Deson.	Patrick McCutchen.	John Thomas.
Samuel Martin.	Samuel McCutchen.	Joshua Thomas.
James Buchanan.	William Price.	David Rounsavall.
Solomon Turpin.	Henry Kerbey.	Isaac Rounsavall.
Isaac Rentfro.	Joseph Jackson.	James Crockett.
Robert Cartwright.	Daniel Ragsdale.	Andrew Crockett.
Hugh Rogan.	Michael Shaver.	Russell Gower.
Joseph Morton.	Samuel Willson.	John Shannon.
William Woods.	John Reid.	Jonathan Drake.
David Mitchell.	Joseph Dougherty.	Benjamin Drake.
David Shelton.	Charles Cameron.	John Drake.
Spill Coleman.	W. Russell, Jr.	Mereday Rains.
Samuel McMurray.	Hugh Simpson.	Richard Dodge.
P. Henderson.	Samuel Moore.	James Green.
Edward Bradley.	Joseph Denton.	James Cooke.
Edward Bradley, Jr.	Arthur McAdoo.	Daniel Johnston.
James Bradley.	Nathaniel Henderson.	George Miner.
Michael Stoner.	John Evans.	George Green.
Joseph Mosely.	Wm. Bailey Smith.	William Moore.
Henry Guthrie.	Peter Luney.	Jacob Cimberlin.
Francis Armstrong.	James Cain.	Robert Dockerty.
Robert Lucas.	Daniel Johnson.	John Crow.
James Robertson.	Daniel Jarrot.	William Summers.
George Freeland.	Jesse Maxey.	Lesois Frize. (?)
John Tucker.	Noah Hawthorn.	Amb\’s Mauldin.
Peter Catron.	Charles McCartney.	Morton Mauldin.
Francis Catron.	John Anderson.	John Dunham.
John Dunham.	William McWhirter.	Archelaus Allaway.
Isaac Johnson.	Barnet Hainey.	Samuel Hayes.
Adam Kelar.	Richard Sims.	Isaac Johnson.
Thomas Burgess.	Titus Murray.	Thomas Edmeston.
William Green.	James Hamilton.	Ezekiel Norris.
Moses Webb.	Henry Dougherty.	William Farwell.
Absalom Thompson.	Zach. White.	William McMurray.
John McVay.	Burgess White.	John Cordey.
James Thomson.	William Calley.	Nicholas Framal.
Charles Thomson.	James Ray.	Haydon Wells.
Martin Hardin.	William Ray.	Daniel Ratleft.
Elijah Thomson.	Perley Grimes.	John Callaway.
Andrew Thomson.	Samuel White.	John Pleake.
William Seaton.	Daniel Hogan.	Willis Pope.
Edward Thomelu.	Thomas Hines.	Silas Harlan.
Isaac Drake.	Robert Goodloe.	James Lynn.
Jonathan Jennings.	Thomas W. Alston.	Thomas Cox.
Zachariah Green.	William Barret.	Hugh Leeper.
Andrew Lucas.	Thomas Shannon.	Harmon Consellea.
His
James X Patrick.	James Moore.	Humphrey Hogan.
mark
Richard Gross.	Samuel Moore.	James Foster.
John Drake.	Elijah Moore.	William Morris.
John Holladay.	John Moore.	Nathaniel Bidlack.
Frederic Stump (in	Andrew Ewin.	A. Tatom.
Dutch).	Ebenezer Titus.	William Hinson.
William Hood.	Mark Robertson.	Edmund Newton.
John Boyd.	John Montgomery.	Jonathan Green.
Jacob Stump.	Charles Campbell.	Edward Lucas.
Henry Hardin.	William Overall.	Philip Alston.
Richard Stanton.	John Turner.	John Phillips.
Sampson Sawyer.	Nathaniel Overall.	George Flynn.
John Hobson.	Patrick Quigley.	Daniel Jarrott.
Ralph Wilson.	Josias Gamble.	John Owens.
James Givens.	Samuel Newell.	James Freeland.
James Harrod.	Joseph Read.	Thomas Molloy.
James Buchanan, Sr.	David Maxwell.	Isaac Lindsay.
William Geioch.	Thomas Jefriss.	Isaac Bledsoe.
Samuel Shelton.	Joseph Dunnagin.	Jacob Castleman.
John Gibson.	John Phelps.	George Power.
Robert Espey.	Andrew Bushoney.	James Russell.
Geroge Espey.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

The following additional resolutions and further articles were entered into at Nashborough on the 13th day of May, 1780; to wit.:

We make a few extracts from the records, which continue without interruption to the organization of Davidson County:

\”The Committee proceeded no further to business, but referred to their former adjournment, and so dismissed.\”

\”The Committee then proceeded and swore in John Montgomery to be Sheriff of the district, and Andrew Ewin, for Clerk to the Committee.

\”And that Col. James Robertson present the same, being elected thereto by the people.

\”AN ADDRESS TO THE COMMITTEE.

\”Approved, resolved, and agreed by the Committee.
\”ANDREW EWIN, Clerk.\”

It would be interesting to report these suits did space permit. We add the regulation concerning commerce and the vote of the stationers upon the subject of the Indian treaty at Nashborough:

\”Which information and conduct of Mr. Malloy was unanimously approved and accepted by the Committee.

\”ANDREW EWIN, Clerk.\”

\”June 3, 1783.

The last act of the committee appears to have been the reassertion of the restriction on the sale of foreign liquors:

The treaty with the Indians referred to in the foregoing records deserves further mention.

The place was formerly for many years the \”Nashville Camp-Ground.\”

Content on this page was transcribed and published by Debie Cox.
Copyright © June 5, 2007, Debie Cox.

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VII

History of Davidson County, Tennessee

with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers

by Prof. W. W. Clayton

J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia
1880

CHAPTER VII.
MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE INDIANS.

First Military Companies formed-Attack of Indians on Freeland\’s Station-Battle at the Bluff-Heroic Conduct
of Mrs. James Robertson-The Enemy Discomfited-The Killed and Wounded.

THE first determined pursuit of the Indians was in the summer of 1780. The details of this affair are very meagre, but it is worthy of mention as the first instance of an offensive policy on the part of the settlers, the vigorous practice of which later on led to the most beneficial results, especially when directed against the enemy in his own home. At this time the depredations of the Indians had become particularly grievous. Aside from the murders committed, the loss of live-stock was very heavy, and hard to be borne on account of the great difficulties in replacing it, the source of supply being several hundred miles distant, Putnam remarks that the death of a milk-cow was a sore affliction to the women, next to that of a member of the family. The capture of a horse was equally so to the men. After a raid by a large party of Cherokees in the vicinity of Freeland\’s Station, in which a number of cattle were killed and gashed with knives and some horses carried off, prompt pursuit and punishment of the marauders were determined on. For this purpose Col. James Robertson, Alexander Buchanan, and eighteen others quickly embodied and gave chase. The Indians were overtaken at some point on Duck River not now known, but about forty miles south of the settlement, where Robertson\’s party charged and fired upon them. Several of the Indians were killed and wounded, when the rest fled, abandoning the stolen property to the possession of the whites, who returned in safety without the loss of a man. The result was very creditable, and thereafter Col. Robertson had frequently to restrain the ardor of the settlers in their eagerness to pursue large parties of the enemy with an inadequate force. However, it was an established rule to pursue on the instant when an outrage was committed. In this it was frequently possible to inflict some punishment on the depredators, who sometimes dallied too long to secure the scalp and arms of their victims. As a rule, when the Indians fired upon the whites in the vicinity of the forts they ran off at once and easily made their escape in the thickets of cane which covered over the face of the country. It may be stated in this connection that the Indians exercised the greatest economy in the use of powder, putting in a very small charge, otherwise their warfare would have been much more destructive. They rarely trusted themselves to fire beyond fifty yards, while the average backwoodsman could use his rifle with deadly precision at twice or thrice that distance. They frequently lost their lives, or were placed at disadvantage, by attempting to use the tomahawk as a substitute for a few grains of powder.

THE ATTACK ON FREELAND\’S STATION.

During the first year of occupation a number of settlements had been made or projected, extending along the Cumberland River for the distance of quite forty miles. Many of these stations were small in extent, poorly constructed, and insufficiently manned, as the result soon proved. The occupants were more engrossed with the selection of good locations, preferably near a salt-spring, than the thought that such an intrusion on the favorite hunting-ground of the Cherokee and other Indians would provoke serious and deadly opposition. Some of them, Col. John Donelson among the number, neglected even to erect houses, but passed most of the season in the half-faced structures known as hunters\’ camps. The consequences of this policy of neglect and division of strength were fearfully apparent before the close of the year. The beginning of the year 1781 found the entire body of settlers confined to three forts,-namely, Robertson\’s or the Bluff, Eaton\’s, two miles below on the north side of the river, and Freeland\’s, about a mile to the northwest of the first,-forced into these places for refuge from the rifle and tomahawk of their merciless foes. These results, so flattering to their arms, emboldened the Cherokees and their allies to attempt the extermination of the survivors, now greatly reduced from their original number by casualties and the departure of many families to the settlements in Kentucky and the Illinois.

But to accomplish this result required a larger force than had hitherto invaded the settlements, and the exercise of bravery and enterprise sufficient to overcome fortified posts held bv resolute men fighting in defense of their families and the fertile country they had chosen for habitation. In the execution of this plan Freeland\’s Station was the first to receive the blow, on account of its situation and comparative weakness. That the attack was not successful was due to a want of concert and disregard of discipline which characterize all barbarous races in enterprises of this character. It appears that there were two parties, each numbering between fifty and a hundred warriors, marching to the attack of the place; but the first detachment, on its arrival discovering the weakness of the garrison, determined, in its eagerness to win the prize, to strike without awaiting the advent of the other.

This station was erected by George, James, and Jacob Freeland on the spot afterwards occupied by the residence of Dr. McGavock. It was simply a stockade thrown around the houses of the occupants, and probably bastioned, as many of them were, in order to render more effective the fire of a small force of defenders. The gate was secured by a chain which fastened on the inside. On the night of the attack, Jan. 15, 1781, there seems to have been no apprehension of danger, as there was evidently no sentinel whose duty it was to watch over the safety of the place. The garrison consisted of eleven men and some families, including Col. James Robertson, whose presence proved a most fortunate circumstance, and was occasioned by the fact that on his arrival that day at the Bluff from the Kentucky settlements he learned that his family was at Freeland\’s. His journey through the wilderness had been full of perils, and the narration of this and the detail of home affairs by Mrs. Robertson had kept him awake until a late hour. About midnight his keen ear, trained to wonderful acuteness by long practice on the border, detected a movement of the chain at the gate, and on rising to examine into the cause, he discovered the gate thrown open and a large body of Indians crowding into the inclosure. He instantly raised the cry of alarm and awakened the inmates of the houses to a sense of their danger. Finding they were discovered, the assailants raised their terrible war-whoop to heighten the effect of surprise and chill the spirit of resistance. As soon as possible the men of the garrison sprang to their guns and opened a straggling fire upon the throng. Unfortunately one of the houses occupied by Maj. Lucas and several others, including a negro servant of Col. Robertson, was poorly fitted for defense, owing to the want of chinking and daubing in the cracks between the logs. Maj. Lucas realizing this rushed out to obtain better shelter, but was almost instantly killed. The moon was shining brightly, and the assailants, finding that they could not force an entrance into the houses now without great loss, quickly retreated through the gate, whence they opened a hot fire on the house from which Maj. Lucas had so rashly issued, and which alone on inspection afterwards was found to have received over five hundred bullets. Col. Robertson in a loud voice animated and directed the defense, charging the men to keep from before the port-holes while loading. He was enabled at one time in the conflict to take close aim at a fellow\’s head, and he declared his belief that he had his man, which was confirmed the next day by the discovery of the body of an Indian shot through the brain. He had been carried about a mile and covered with leaves. The din of conflict soon awakened the inhabitants at the Bluff, and a small swivel was fired at that place to convey to the besieged a knowledge that their situation was appreciated.

The Indians kept up the fire until near daylight, when they withdrew out of range. Only about a half-dozen rounds to the man had been fired from the houses, but evidently to good purpose, from the numerous trails of blood left behind in the retreat. The occupants of the unfinished house were the only sufferers, several being wounded and the negro killed. Soon after daylight Capt. John Rains with a small party from the Bluff reached the scene, and following the trail of the Indians for some distance discovered the arrival of a second detachment. No further attempt, however, was made on this or the other two stations, but the ones that had been deserted were visited and burnt, the stock killed, provisions destroyed, trails waylaid, and the game driven off for miles in every direction in order to make its pursuit more hazardous to the hunters who were compelled to rely for food on this source of supply.

THE BATTLE OF THE BLUFF, OR ROBERTSON\’S STATION, APRIL 2, 1781.

Robertson\’s Station, or the Bluff, as it was more usually designated, was, from its central position and the number of inhabitants congregated in the place, the most important of the Cumberland settlements. It was fortified with much care on the stockade plan, and so situated that water from a spring near by could be conducted in troughs within the inclosure. The site was immediately on the bluff of the river, and partly covered the present debouchement of Church Street, in Nashville. The main building ia the inclosure, not erected at this time probably, was built of stone, two stories high, the northern face being on a line with the southern boundary of Church Street. The regulations for its safety were carried out with much care, watches being constantly maintained over the boats in the river and from a block-house on the land side. Since the attack on Freeland\’s all who ventured out were compelled to use great caution on account of the presence of prowling parties of Indians in the vicinity. Only a few days before the engagement at the Bluff Col. Samuel Barton, who was out endeavoring to get some beef cattle into the fort, was wounded in the wrist about where Wilson\’s Branch crosses College Street. On the night of April 1st an Indian was discovered spying the premises and was shot at by James Menifee, the sentinel in the block-house, when he withdrew. Between daylight and sunrise the next morning two others approached, and firing their guns at the fort ran off out of range, where they halted and began leisurely to reload, waving their hands in a bantering manner. It had always been the practice of the settlers to pursue under such circumstances, and although an ambuscade was feared by some it was determined to resent the insult at all hazards. Thereupon a party of twenty-one quickly mounted their horses and dashed through the gate in pursuit. Capt. Leiper led the advance and Col. Robertson the main body. The names of thirteen only of this daring band of salliers have been handed down by tradition, and are as follows: Col. James Robertson, Capt. Leiper, Peter Gill, John Kesenger, Alexander Buchanan, George Kennedy, I. Kennedy, Zachariah White, James Menifee, Kasper Mansker (usually pronounced Manscor), Isaac Lucas, Joseph Moonshaw, and Edward Swanson. When the advance reached the present locality of Broad Street, about its intersection with College, a few of the enemy were seen making a stand at the Branch a short distance off. The whites immediately dismounted for battle, but before they could secure their horses a force of about three hundred warriors rose from the thickets along the Branch and poured into them a deadly volley. They returned the fire with spirit and to good effect. In the mean time another large body of the enemy, which had taken post before daylight in the cedar and privet bushes which thickly covered the present site of Cherry Street embraced between Church and Broad, ran from their concealment after the horsemen had passed and extended their line rapidly in the direction of the fort and the river. The war-whoop of these savages in their rear at once conveyed to the sallying-party and also to their friends in the fort the desperate nature of their situation, and excited in all the gravest fears for their safety. They began at once their retreat, resolutely bringing off all of their wounded who could be assisted. Fortunately for the survivors their horses had broken back in the direction of the fort when the fight began, but on reaching the interposing line they swerved off to its right to escape, when large numbers of the Indians, unable to resist the temptation, quit their places and hurried in pursuit of them. Into the gap thus opportunely left the retreating whites now pressed, hotly pursued from the rear and fired upon from different directions.

At this juncture another most fortunate circumstance occurred to favor their escape. There were great numbers of dogs gathered into the fort, trained to face any danger at bidding, and on hearing the well-known reports of their masters\’ rifles in the vale below they were seized with an uncontrollable frenzy, and evinced by loud cries their disposition to join in the conflict. Mrs. Robertson, the wife of Col. James Robertson, who was watching gun in hand with intense interest the varying changes of the battle, on discovering the snare into which her friends had fallen, and fearing that they would all be lost, now urged the sentinel to open the gate and hiss on the dogs. These animals on being released flew at once at that part of the Indian line still in place, and attacked it with a fury and persistence probably never before witnessed. It was an anomaly indeed in warfare, as dogs are usually much afraid of the fire of guns. Such an onset, however, could not be despised, and forced the enemy to empty their pieces and resort to their tomahawks in self-defense. Favored by this unexpected diversion, the little band of whites now hastened on, and all reached the fort in safety except Isaac Lucas. He had reached a point in rifle-range of the place when he fell with a broken thigh. He had just finished loading his gun as he ran, and when he fell an Indian rushed upon him with the purpose of securing his scalp. Lucas took deliberate aim as he lay on the ground and shot his pursuer dead in his tracks. He then dragged himself a short distance to shelter from the Indian fire, reloaded his rifle, and disposed his tomahawk for a desperate resistance; several determined efforts were made by the friends of the dead man to carry off his body and dispatch Lucas, but were frustrated by the vigilance of the garrison, who kept up a warm fire in that quarter. Lucas was carried into the fort after the enemy withdrew out of range, and soon recovered. Edward Swanson, another of the salliers, was overtaken, within twenty yards of the gate by a large Indian, who pressed the muzzle of his gun against his back and attempted to shoot, but it failed fire. The Indian then struck Swanson heavilv on the shoulder with the barrel, making him drop his gun. Swanson now turned, and seizing his antagonist\’s gun by the muzzle, endeavored to wrench it from his hands. A desperate struggle ensued for the possession of the weapon, which ended at length in the Indian\’s favor, when by a heavy blow on the head he felled the white man to his all-fours. The combatants had been so closely engaged that the friends of Swanson could not fire from the fort without danger to both ; but at this instant, when the Indian was in the act of disengaging his tomahawk to give the finishing blow, old Mr. John Buchanan rushed through the gate and firing quickly, mortally wounded him. Thereupon the savage, gritting his teeth with rage, retired to a stump near by where he fell. Swanson, assisted by his deliverer, made his way into the fort. During the night the body of the Indian was dragged off by his comrades, and was found several days later buried on College Hill, at the place afterwards occupied by the residence of the Rev. Mr. Hume.[1] No attempt was made to carry off the one killed by Swanson, as he was probably scalped by the whites, and this, according to Indian theology, rendered him unfit for burial. The loss of the scalp was supposed to be sufficient to debar the victim from the \”happy hunting-grounds.\” no matter how bravely he may have fought. Hence they always sought at great risk to consign an enemy to the dominions of the bad spirit by practicing this mutilation upon him.

Of the sallying-party seven were killed, according to the statement of the Rev. John Carr, who lived in the pioneer period. These were Capt. Leiper, Peter Gill, John Kesenger, Alexander Buchanan, George Kennedy, Zachariah White, and J. Kennedy. James Menifee, Kasper Mansker, Isaac Lucas, Joseph Moonshaw, and others were wounded. Putnam\’s account says that five were killed, but no names are given. In an obituary notice of Gen. James Robertson, published in the Nashville Clarion in 1813, the writer states that only thirteen returned alive to the fort, which would put the number of killed at eight. Very few of the horses were captured; most of them, after a hot chase across Capitol Hill and about the Sulphur-Bottom, broke by their pursuers and reached the gate of the fort, into which they were admitted. At ten o\’clock A.M. the enemy withdrew from the contest, but returned at night and fired a great many shots at the walls. It was understood that this party was a reinforcement which had arrived too late to take part in the morning\’s battle. At one time during the night a knot of several hundred were seen collecting about the present intersection of Church and College Streets, when it was proposed to fire the swivel at them. Some objected on account of the scarcity of ammunition, but a contribution of powder, slugs, and pieces of iron having been made up, the piece was brought into position and fired. In the stillness of night the report and flash of the little swivel proved very creditable, and more than answered expectations. The party decamped with such haste that they left several articles of value behind. Not another shot was fired at the fort after this, nor was it again directly attacked during the existence of hostilities. Soon after the swivel was fired the one at Eaton\’s gave an answering signal, and in the course of the night a small force came from that place to the opposite bank, where, on making its presence known, boats were dispatched, and it was quickly transferred to assist in the further defense of the place if needed. Early next morning scouts went out and ascertained that the Indians had gone westerly and crossed Richland Creek. The number of their killed was never definitely ascertained. The bodies of the whites were found stripped and scalped. Thus ended an expedition of six or seven hundred Cherokees, the details of which were planned with much judgment and executed with remarkable secrecy. The proverbial want of discipline with the savages at the critical moment alone saved the party which rashly sallied out to attack them from total destruction. In the light of subsequent events the death of Col. Robertson would have been a public calamity, which at this juncture might have operated most unfavorably on the interests of the Cumberland settlements. In any event the loss of so many brave men at one fell swoop would bave been a most serious blow, and liable to have been followed by a train of worse disasters. As Mrs. Robertson pertinently remarked, the Indians\’ fear of dogs and love of horses proved the salvation of the whites on this occasion. It is due to the memory of the pioneer women of Nashville to state that in the midst of the terrible excitement succeeding the repulse of their husbands, brothers, and friends, and the heart-rending prospect of their total destruction, they stood gun and axe in hand at the gate of the fort, determined to die in its defense if occasion demanded it.

[1] On Market Street, opposite the entrance to the Vanderbilt Medical College.

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VII

History of Davidson County, Tennessee

with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers

by Prof. W. W. Clayton

J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia
1880

CHAPTER VII.
MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE INDIANS.

First Military Companies formed-Attack of Indians on Freeland\’s Station-Battle at the Bluff-Heroic Conduct
of Mrs. James Robertson-The Enemy Discomfited-The Killed and Wounded.

THE ATTACK ON FREELAND\’S STATION.

THE BATTLE OF THE BLUFF, OR ROBERTSON\’S STATION, APRIL 2, 1781.

[1] On Market Street, opposite the entrance to the Vanderbilt Medical College.

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VI

PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Chapter VI

For most of the matter contained in this chapter we are indebted to Dr. J. B. McFerrin, himself a pioneer, and able from his personal recollections to describe graphically the scenes of that period.

As salt was very difficult to obtain, the first settlers saved their meats by drying them in the sun and open air. This was commonly called \”jerking.\” The meat was cut into thin slices and strung upon sticks, which were placed upon scaffolds in the sun, or over a slow fire, and kept until perfectly dry; in this condition it remained sound and sweet for a long time.

The immigrants in coming into Middle Tennessee usually followed Indian trails and buffalo paths, or, guided by their pocket compass, followed their course till they reached their destined point. They usually located near a spring of clear water, where they encamped till they could determine on some permanent settlement. They generally came in companies. Each man had his rifle, his shot-pouch, powder-horn and ammunition. Each company had a number of pack-horses on which they brought their camp-kettles, provisions and blankets, and, when families came through, a small amount of bedding, with wearing-apparel, was brought along to supply the women and children, and with which to make a little start in housekeeping.

Many of them built \”half-faced camps,\” in which they lived till they could clear a patch, plant some corn, and erect a cabin. These camps were constructed of forked stakes driven into the ground, across which poles were laid, and covered with split clapboards. The rear portion of the structure reached the ground, the ends were inclosed, while the whole front was left open. The bed was made upon boughs under the slanting roof, while the fire at the open front served them for warmth and for cooking such provisions as they could obtain. A skillet with a lid, a small pot, and an oven were considered a large supply of cooking-utensils. Those who were not so well provided broiled their meat upon the coals, or in a spit made of a hickory stick, while the bread was baked in the ashes or on a journey, vulgarly called a \”johnny,\” cake-board. These journey-cakes were delicious. The board was made of a piece of timber or plank dressed smooth, about six inches wide and twenty long, and the dough, well kneaded, was placed upon the board, set before a fire of hot coals, baked, turned, and cooked brown. It was choice bread on the tables of the most aristocratic pioneers. Made rich by lard, cracklings, or bear’s oil, it was delicious.

These camps were followed by log cabins made of trees cut from the forests. They were usually small and constructed of round logs, roughly notched together at the corners. One doorway, and a window made by cutting one log in two, were the common modes of admitting the inhabitants, light and air. The chimney was made of sticks and clay, and the cracks were sometimes daubed with mud. The floor was often nothing but the earth beat solid, or made of rough puncheons split from soft trees, generally lin, which grew in abundance. A hewed log house with a shingled roof, stone chimney, plank floor, and glass windows was considered a great improvement on the primitive cabin, and a mark of wealth and distinction. For a considerable time in the early settlement there were the best houses which the country afforded, and many of them are still standing.

The fare in those days might be considered rough; venison, bear meat, elk, and wild turkeys were considered luxuries. As civilization advanced, and the game became scarce, \”hog and hominy\” became the standing dishes. After a while the farmers began to grow wheat, and as soon as mills existed for converting it into flour the youngsters were allowed wheat, or English bread, as it was called, on Sunday morning. Coffee was a rare article, and only indulged in on great occasions. The most wealthy could not think of its use more than once a week. Sugar and syrup were principally procured from the maple-trees, which were \”notched\” in the latter part of winter or early spring, the sap caught in troughs, and boiled down in kettles or pots till it became thick enough to be \”stirred off\” into sugar, as the process was called. These sugar-camps were great institutions in their day, and a \”stirring off\” was a grand occasion, when many a gallant youth made love to his blue-eyed sweetheart, or to the smiling lass whose raven locks floated carelessly on the winds of the wildwood. These \”stirs off\” were far more romantic and enchanting than the artificial \”candy-pullings\” of more modern times. The first marriage celebrated in Davidson County or west of the Cumberland Mountains, was that of Capt. Leiper. This was in 1780, before there was a clergyman in the settlement. Col. James Robertson, as head of the government of the \”notables,\” performed the ceremony. An early historian says, \”There was pretty much of a feast at this wedding, and a most cheerful company. They had no wine or ardent spirits; they had no wheat or corn-bread, no cakes, no confectionaries; but they had any quantity of fresh and dried meat – buffalo, tongue, bear meat, venison saddle and venison ham – broiled, stewed, fried and jerked, and, as a great delicacy for the ladies, some roasting ears, or ears of green corn roasted, or boiled, or made into succotash.\” *

The people of those days were plain and full of hospitality. There was no extravagance, but all seemed determined to make their adopted country a delightful land. The women spun and wove and made bed-quilts, nursed their own children, and thought a house full of rosy boys and girls a great treasure. The men lived on wholesome, strong food and wore homespun. Public men in those days were expected to be men of integrity, and when a man was found competent and faithful in office he was kept at his post. One of the acts passed by the first court was in these words:

\”Whereas, In all well-regulated governments effectual care is always taken that the day set apart for public worship be observed and kept holy, all persons are enjoined carefully to apply themselves to the duties of religion and piety, to abstain from labor in ordinary callings. All violations to be punished by fine of ten shillings proclamation money. Profane swearing, intemperance, lewdness, and other like vices and improprieties were also to be punished. Another act provided:

\”Whereas, Wicked men, too lazy to get their living by honest labor, make it their business to ride in the woods and steal cattle and hogs, and alter and deface marks and brands, when convicted shall be

\”Fined can confined.
And scorched with a brand
In the left hand,
As you may see,
With a big letter T.\”

Dr. McFerrin thus describes the first schools and schoolhouses:

\”At the appointed day the whole community met together, with axes, frow, wagons, and teams. A site was selected, trees felled, the logs hauled, the house raised, the roof put on, the benches made, the writing-desk fixed at one side, a log being cut out to admit the light, and proclamation was made that John Smith would open a three months’ school next Monday morning. Mr. Smith was represented as a fit model to take care of his institution. He could read, write a fair hand, set a good copy, and cipher to the double rule of three. And besides, his terms were reasonable. He could teach five days in a week, and twelve hours each day, or at least the children must leave home by sunrise each morning; and would be let out just enough to return before dark. Those who lived a great distance off might be let out a little sooner, so as not to be out in the night. And then he would charge at the rate of eight dollars a year; he would make up all the time he missed, and deduct from the price of tuition every day the child was absent by will of the parent. He would ‘board round’ among the scholars, and take his pay one-half in money and the remainder in trade, corn and pork especially, they being the staple commodities of the country.

\”Monday morning bright and early you might see the boys and girls, from twenty-one years old down to five, pouring in from every quarter. Mr. Smith was there in time. He had secured a chair with a raw-hide seat, which was very comfortable. He had no other fixtures, save a large flat ruler, with a half-dozen long switches hung upon a peg in the wall immediately on his right hand. These were the signs of his authority, and naturally made the backs of the boys cringe and the hands of the girls feel blue. Each pupil was examined not as to his progress in knowledge, but in reference to the books he brought. All went to work, and then, each vying with the other as to the noise he could produce, the whole school went into an uproar, and could be heard for half a mile, like so many frogs in a pond, some sounding a low, heavy bass, while others, keyed to the highest pitch, would carry the treble, tenor, or counter. The music of these noisy schools can only be appreciated by those who have heard them in their highest state of excitement.\”

The Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists were the principal sects represented in the earliest religious meetings. The Presbyterian ministers were men of most learning, and usually taught schools of a higher grade, as they could be introduced and supported in the more populous centres, such as Nashville. The Baptists were generally very plain men, who made no pretensions to learning, but were full of zeal. In the early times they were nearly all \”old-side Baptists,\” and held to the doctrine of particular election. Many of their preachers were men of natural gifts, but they nearly all had a sing-song mode of preaching which was very solemn and affecting. The Methodist preachers were generally termed \”circuit-riders.\” They were usually single men, and devoted all their time to traveling and preaching on circuits which were hundreds of miles around, and in school-houses, private dwellings, in the woods, under brush arbors, or in the shade of the forest-trees. The Methodist \”circuit-rider\” might generally be known from his dress and equipage. He usually rode a good horse, kept in fine condition. His saddle was covered with a dressed bear-skin or buffalo-robe. His saddle-bags were large and well filled. He carried his clothing and books along. The idea of a boarding-house was not conceived of in those days. He kept house in his saddle-bags. He wore a broad-brimmed white house made of beaver; his coat was round-breasted, and usually made of jeans; his vest was full and long, and forked at the corners, and had broad pocket-flaps. They had loud voices and sang well. They were a terror to sinners,-persecuted and yet beloved. A grander race of men never blessed any country.

As the county grew older the people began to build meeting houses. Some of the earliest of these were rude in the extreme, being built of hewed or round logs, and seated with plain benches. \”A heavy piece of plank or puncheon had holes bored through it with a large auger, and four pegs or legs inserted, and these were placed in front of the pulpit and occupied by men and women, who all sat apart. No backs, no cushions, no kneeling-stools, no carpets, -the naked floor and hard seats! and here the congregation would often remain patiently while two long sermons were delivered. Long journeys were taken in those days to attend religious services, and the people always attended dressed in their best Sunday-clothes. Mothers would carry their children for miles to enjoy a good gospel feast. Many of the poorer classes of young ladies went on foot and carried their shoes and stockings in their hands, rolled up in cotton handkerchiefs, till they came near the meeting-house, when they would turn aside, array their feet, and appear in the congregation as neat as a new pin.\”

The pioneer preachers never saw an organ or heard a church choir. The Presbyterians generally had a leader whom they called a clerk, whose business it was to line the hymn and lead the music. He was always a layman and a person of great consequence. The Baptists usually lined the hymn, reading only one line at a time, and this was done in a very solemn sing-song manner. The Methodists were noted for their fine singing. The preachers always read their own hymns, two lines at a time, and the congregation joined in singing. \”Singing-masters,\” or teachers of vocal music, were early in the country.

A very common costume in Tennessee among the hunters and pioneers and the later volunteer soldiery was the hunting-shirt and its appendages, which now have gone entirely out of use. It was a picturesque and convenient costume, admirably adapted to the comeliness and comfort of the farmer, hunter, and pedestrian. The mountain-men in the Revolution, the volunteer soldiery in all the campaigns of the West and in the war of 1812, uniformly wore it. Many of them did so in the war with Mexico and in Texas, but the volunteer’s hunting-shirt is evidently gone out of use. Speaking of this costume, Mr. Custis says, —

\”The hunting-shirt, the emblem of the Revolution, is now banished from the national military, but still lingers among the hunters and pioneers of the far West. This national costume was adopted in the outset of the Revolution, and was recommended by Washington to the army in the most eventful period of the war of independence. It was a favorite garb with many of the officers of the line. The British beheld these sons of the mountain and forest, thus attired, with wonder and admiration. Their hardy looks, their tall, athletic forms, their marching in Indian file with the light and noiseless step peculiar to their pursuit of woodland game, but above all, to European eyes, their singular and picturesque costume, – the hunting-shirt, with its fringes, wampum-belts, leggins and moccasins, the tomahawk and knife, -these, with the well known death-dealing aim of these matchless marksmen, created in the European military a degree of awe and respect for the hunting-shirt which lasted with the war of the Revolution. And should not Americans feel proud of the garb, and hail it as a national, in which their fathers endured such toil and privation in the mighty struggle for independence, -the march across the wilderness, the triumphs of Saratoga and King’s Mountain? But a little while, and of truth, the hunting-shirt, the venerable emblem of the Revolution, will have disappeared from among the Americans, and will be found only in museums, like ancient armor, exposed to the gaze of the curious.\”

* [transcriber note – Succotash, equal amounts of dried shell beans (lima beans may be substituted) and dried corn soaked separately in water for several hours, cook beans in simmering water until tender then add corn and cook till liquid is gone; add butter and cream; add salt and pepper to taste.]

NOTICE: You may copy information found on the Friends of Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County web site for personal use. However, this information may not be sold or used in a commercial project without written consent.

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VI

PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Chapter VI

For most of the matter contained in this chapter we are indebted to Dr. J. B. McFerrin, himself a pioneer, and able from his personal recollections to describe graphically the scenes of that period.

\”Fined can confined.
And scorched with a brand
In the left hand,
As you may see,
With a big letter T.\”

Dr. McFerrin thus describes the first schools and schoolhouses:

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter V

History of Davidson County, Tennessee

with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers

by Prof. W. W. Clayton

J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia
1880

CHAPTER V.
PERILS AND HARDSHIPS OF THE PIONEERS.

Trouble with the Indians-Deaths during the First Year-Scarcity of Food-Valor and Hardihood of the Settlers
-The \”Clover Bottom Defeat.\”

THE stationers arrived upon the Cumberland just upon the eve of an outbreak of Indian hostilities. \”The savages,\” says Haywood, \”seized the first opportunity after the hard winter was over to approach the improvements around the Bluff, and carry among the early settlers the work of massacre and devastation.\” During the first year no less than thirty-seven at the different stations were killed, being picked off here and there by roving, predatory bands of Indians, who scarcely showed themselves openly anywhere. The thick cane-brake and wild undergrowth afforded them every advantage for concealment. The only one of the settlers who died a natural death the first year was Robert Gilkie. We give the names of the killed as we gather them from Ramsey\’s and Haywood\’s histories, as follows: two men by the name of Milliken, Joseph Hay, old Mr. Bernard, Jonathan Jennings, Ned Carver, James Mayfield, Porter, near Eaton\’s Station, Jacob Stump, Jesse Balestine, John Shockley, two men not named, at Bledsoe\’s; William Johnston, on Barren River; one at Asher\’s Station; Isaac Le Fevre, near the fort on the Bluff; Solomon Phillips and Samuel Murray, at Cross\’ Old Fields; Bartlett and Joseph Renfoe, old Mr. Johns and his wife and family, John Robertson, son of Capt. James Robertson, Abel Grower, Jr., and others. The stations were nearly all broken up except Eaton\’s and the one at the Bluff. All I who could get to these stations did so, but many never saw their comrades in these places. Some were killed while asleep; some were awakened only to he apprised that their last moment had come; some were killed at noonday when not suspecting danger. Death seemed ready to devour the whole colony. On the morning that Mansker\’s Station was broken up two men who had slept a little later than their companions were shot by Indians pointing their guns through the port-holes of the fort. They were David Goin and Patrick Quigley. These Indian alarms caused Mr. Rains to remove to the Bluff, where he remained four years before he dared to settle upon his plantation.

Although the crop of corn this year on the lowlands and islands was seriously damaged by a freshet in July, and there was a great scarcity of bread, yet the hunters procured a full supply of meat for the inhabitants by killing bears, buffaloes, and deer. A company of twenty men went up the Cany Fork as far as Flynn\’s Creek, and returned with their canoes laden with meat in the winter. They are reported to have killed one hundred and fifty bears, seventy-five buffaloes, and more than ninety deer upon this excursion. This source of supply furnished the families at the Bluff with meat; but the scarcity of bread and the multiplied disasters and dangers which threatened the settlements induced a considerable portion of the settlers to remove to Kentucky and Illinois. All the remaining inhabitants collected at the three stations,-the Bluff, Eaton\’s, and Freeland\’s.

These desultory attacks of the Indians, kept up at intervals through a period of nearly fifteen years, swelled the number of victims to a fearful list, among whom were included some of the bravest and best of the settlers. This told at times with desolating and disheartening effect upon the hopes and spirits of die survivors, but was not carried to the extent of paralyzing their energies, or of inducing them to yield with resignation to the merciless stroke of the tomahawk. \” The instances of cowardice were remarkably few. There was a chivalrous stickling for the backwoods ethics which required every man to turn out gun in hand at the first cry of alarm and fly to the aid of the distressed, an I the unfortunate. The records of the ages furnish no brighter examples of self sacrificing friendship than are found in the history and traditions of these people. Even in the most perilous conjunctures there were never wanting bold spirits, ready to break through the chain of hostile environment for the purpose of carrying the tidings of alarm to other places and bringing back succor, or of penetrating the forest in search of game for the sustenance of the hungry.\”

The records of most of the engagements of the settlers with the Indians are very brief and fragmentary, -a necessary consequence with later historians of the dearth of written records and the passing away of the actors who could have given full and intelligent accounts of the events in which they participated. Those were not the days of newspapers and ready reporters anxious to glean every fact, and thus rob the future antiquarian of his pleasurable vocation.

The most striking fact in connection with the history of this period is shown in the readiness and alacrity with which the settlers engaged in battle with their enemies even at fearful odds. While they were steady and undaunted in their defense, nothing could exceed the spirit and precipitation of their attacks. It is further noticeable that no case occurred where a house or station was surrendered by parley, and but one or two instances, at most, where persons submitted to capture. It was always a death-struggle. It might be said of the entire body of Cumberland settlers that as a people they were superlatively brave, enterprising, and spirited, and in hardihood and endurance were never surpassed. The full force of this remark will be felt when the fact is stated and properly appreciated that in the year 1783 there were not two hundred men capable of bearing arms in the Cumberland settlements, while at any time there could have been brought into the field against them, from a distance of not over two hundred miles at the farthest, the full strength of the Cherokee and Creek nations, numbering not less than ten thousand warriors in a state of deep hostility, and at liberty to select the time and mode of attack. It is confidently believed that few people have encountered greater difficulties in founding a new community. Their record of heroic endurance has few parallels; their tasks were herculean. To the vicissitudes of heat and cold, the river\’s flood, and the manifold perils of wilderness life they bared their bodies with uncomplaining and unexampled fortitude, -of very different stamp from that of the gladiator, who steps into the arena and conquers or dies amid the plaudits of assembled thousands. They had no spectators to the thrilling drama they were enacting.

\”THE CLOVER-BOTTOM DEFEAT.\”

The following account of an adventure with the Indians while gathering Col. Donelson\’s corn at Clover-Bottom in the fall of 1780 is taken from Putnam\’s \”History of Middle Tennessee\”:

\”The company from the Bluffs was under the command of Abel Gower. He had with him his son, Abel Gower, Jr. John Randolph Robertson, a relative of Col. Robertson, and several others, white and black, seven or eight in all. The party from Mansker\’s Station was under the direction of Capt. John Donelson, second son of Col. John Donelson. He was a young man of about six and twenty years of age. Robert Cartwright, an aged gentleman, was also in the company. . . .

. \”The parties having ascended Stone\’s River and fastened their boats to the bank (between the present turnpike-bridge and the small island a few yards below), commenced gathering the corn, packing it in baskets and sacks and transferring it by means of a \’slide\’ to the boats. Capt. Donelson had brought a horse for the purpose of dragging the rudely-constructed \’slide,\’ as also to use in towing boats up the stream. They were encamped for several days and nights upon the ground. During each night their dogs kept up an almost incessant barking. They had with them more dogs than men. Some of the party had suggested that the dogs scented or discovered Indians in the surrounding woods and cane. But the prevailing opinion was that as there was much fresh meat at the camp and offal left in the woods where buffalo had been killed, the wolves were attracted thereby, and the dogs were barking at these wild beasts. During the last night of their continuance at the place the dogs rushed furiously in every direction around the camp, as if actually mad, making the woods ring and echo with their barking.

\”In the morning they made no examination for Indian signs, but hastened the completion of their loads and preparations for departure. Very early Capt. Donelson pushed his boat across the river and began to gather the bolls of cotton and deposit them in heaps upon the corn in his boat. It was thought this would cause but a short delay. But when Capt. Gower\’s party had finished their breakfast they became impatient to start. Donelson had expected Gower\’s boat also to cross the river, and his people to share in the crop of cotton.

\”Great was the surprise of Capt. Donelson and Mr. Cartwright to discover Gower\’s boat passing down the stream instead of coming across. Capt. Donelson stepped to the bank of the river, hailed them, and asked if they were coming over or going to leave them behind. Gower replied, \’We are not coming over; it is getting late in the day. We wish to reach the Bluffs before night. I think there is no danger.\’ Capt. Donelson remonstrated, but added. \’If you can risk it, so can we; we will first gather the cotton.\’ By this time, and while they were yet conversing, Capt. Gower\’s boat had drifted into the head of the narrow island shute, when the Indians, who were in ambush on the south side (supposed to be several hundred in number), opened a desperate fire upon the men in Gower\’s boat. Capt. Donelson saw the attack plainly. He immediately ran down to his own boat and secured the rifle and shot-bag. Upon rising the bank he saw the Indians in pursuit of several men who had jumped from the boat at the first fire. The water did not exceed three or four feet in depth.

\”He also discovered a large party of Indians making their way up the river-bank to a point opposite his boat. There, however, the river was too deep to be forded. Upon that party Capt. Donelson fired, and then endeavored to join his own party. They had all fled into the cane upon hearing the guns fired and the yells of the savages. It was with considerable difficulty he was enabled to rejoin his friends. The horse was given to Mr. Cartwright, who otherwise could not have escaped, being aged and infirm. Some of the party of Capt. Gower were killed at the first fire, others were overtaken in the water and tomahawked. . . . One white man and a negro escaped into the woods. Another negro, a free man, known as Jack Civil, was slightly wounded and surrendered. He was taken to the Chickamauga towns, remained, and moved with that roving, murderous, thieving set farther down the Tennessee River, and gave name to the town of Nick-a-Jack, or Nicka-Jack\’s town.

\”The white man and negro who jumped from the boat and escaped into the woods wandered for twenty hours. At length they reached the station towards morning, pushed aside some of the pickets and entered the inclosure at the bluffs undiscovered by any one in the fort, although the dogs gave the faithful alarm. Gower\’s boat floated down the river, the corn and some of the dead being on board, undisturbed, except by some of the dogs which continued therein. The opinion prevailed for some days that the Donelson party had fallen victims to the guns and tomahawks of the savages. It was hazardous to pass between stations so distant as Mansker\’s and the Bluff. James Randolph Robertson was among the slain.

\”There was no alternative for the Donelson party; they must abandon the boat and all it contained and flee into the woods. They could render no assistance to their friends, now overwhelmed; they could not pass out with their own boat; and they might well suppose that the savages, flushed with an easy victory over half the harvesters, would speedily be in pursuit of themselves. After Capt. Donelson had overtaken the fleeing party, they hastily agreed upon the direction to be taken, so that they might assemble the next day upon the banks of the Cumberland some miles above the mouth of Stone\’s River, where they would attempt to cross and escape to Mansker\’s Station. It was deemed advisable to separate, not all to go together, lest thereby they should make such a trail through the cane and bushes as the Indians could easily follow.

\”Having continued their course until sunset, Capt. Donelson discovered a large hickory-tree which had fallen to the ground, and as it had a thick top and a large supply of leaves, he called in the wanderers, and they huddled together there for the night. They did not attempt to kindle any fire, though they greatly needed it. The night was passed in quiet, but with very little sleep. Capt. Donelson informed the party of the slaughter he had witnessed of the Gower party. He believed they were all killed, and that the Indian force was sufficient to besiege and capture any of the stations.

\”The situation of this little squad was also very critical. The savages might be in search of them, and they had the river between them and their friends at Mansker\’s Station, and there was no boat to be had. How should they get over? or what should they do? Having convened upon the bank of the river, they endeavored to construct a raft upon which to be floated across. They had left the axe in the boat, and no light and suitable material could be found to answer the purpose. Yet they gathered sticks and fastened them together with withes and vines, and made several attempts to go over, but the current inevitably drove their rude float back to the side of the river whence they had set out. They had to abandon all efforts thus to get over, and permit their raft to be carried away by the current. What now shall be done? At this juncture Col. Donelson\’s faithful servant, Somerset, volunteered to swim the river with the aid of the horse, and ride to the station and give information of the situation of the party. He succeeded in crossing, ascended the opposite bank, and hastened in the direction through cane and woods. Safely arriving at the station, he gave the first information of the disastrous defeat. It was indeed sad news, disheartening to every one.

\”Immediately a few active men returned with Somerset, taking axes wherewith to cut and prepare a float for the relief of their friends, who were suffering with cold and hunger. It was chill November weather, and the rain had fallen during a part of the night and morning. They were all passed over and safely arrived at the station.\”[1]

[1] No better subject could be offered for a poem than the voluntary heroism of this old servant, Somerset. He merited a monument.

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter V

History of Davidson County, Tennessee

with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers

by Prof. W. W. Clayton

J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia
1880

CHAPTER V.
PERILS AND HARDSHIPS OF THE PIONEERS.

Trouble with the Indians-Deaths during the First Year-Scarcity of Food-Valor and Hardihood of the Settlers
-The \”Clover Bottom Defeat.\”

\”THE CLOVER-BOTTOM DEFEAT.\”

The following account of an adventure with the Indians while gathering Col. Donelson\’s corn at Clover-Bottom in the fall of 1780 is taken from Putnam\’s \”History of Middle Tennessee\”:

[1] No better subject could be offered for a poem than the voluntary heroism of this old servant, Somerset. He merited a monument.

Nashville History Blog

Nashville lore from the earliest times to the present.

Month: April 2012

Clayton\'s History Index

Clayton\'s History Index

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VIII

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VIII

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VII

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VII

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VI

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter VI

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter V

Clayton\'s History of Davidson Co., Chapter V