a/o 
 
 T4.>GUTHERN 
 
 HBRO 
 
 SAMUEL H.TMOnPSON 
 
 Globe Book Compahy 
 
(1;iss \ 2.\Q 
 
 Hook X^7 
 
 »'l<i;SKNTi:[) l!Y 
 

^HOMHHHJSBECBHSHaBHHHBBHBHJffl 
 
 SOUTHERN 
 HERO TALES 
 
 
 « 
 
 « 
 
 m 
 i 
 
 BY 
 
 SAMUEL H. THOMPSON 
 
 m 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 GLOBE BOOK COMPANY 
 
 MORRISTOWN, TeNN. 
 
 K^^BIffiJIHEffllSmKHCimWffifflreffiGM 
 

 Copyright, 1914, by 
 McQuiDDY Printing Company 
 
 Authm 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 To the hero-loving spirit of the high- 
 hearted boys and pure- 
 hearted girls 
 of the 
 GREAT NEW SOUTH 
 this little volume of stories about men who 
 helped in the making of our nation 
 is lovingly dedicated by 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Daniel Boone, Statesman and Poet .... 7 
 
 Always a Winner 19 
 
 ^'The Iron Man" 37 
 
 The Hunter Hero 51 
 
 A Born Leader 65 
 
 AYalking to Congress 79 
 
DANIEL BOONE, STATESMAN AND POET 
 
 A long time ago there lived among the beautiful hills 
 and mountains of our Southern country a man whose 
 fame as a hunter and trapper is told over and over again 
 
 Daxiel Booxe 
 
 to our hoys and girls. In speaking of his great prowess 
 as a hunter, which was made necessary by the wild and 
 lonely life he lived, we often forget that Daniel Boone 
 
8 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 was more than all these, and lose sight of the fact that 
 he was a statesman and a poet as well as a great pioneer 
 backwoodsman. From comparatively old parts of the 
 country, as he counted age, Boone led victorious parties 
 in search of new homes into a land that indeed flowed 
 with milk and honey. No man could do so many suc- 
 cessful things for the people he loved and served who 
 did not have back of him good parents and in his heart 
 and mind an ambition for the higher things of life that 
 filled his soul full of an endless longing to be of great 
 service to the teeming world of humanity. 
 
 Boone's father and mother were both Quakers, the 
 father having come direct from England to join Penn's 
 colony and become free from the persecution given fol- 
 lowers of that sect in England. His father is described 
 as "a man of rather small stature, fair complexion, red 
 hair, and gray eyes;" while his mother was ^'a woman 
 something over the common size, strong and active, 
 with black hair and eyes." 
 
 Daniel was the sixth child bom to Squire and Sarah 
 (Morgan) Boone, resulting from the marriage in the 
 Quaker meetinghouse by the Quaker ceremony on July 
 23, 1720 — lacking but a day of being exactly one month 
 after John Wesley entered Oxford College. It seemed in- 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 9 
 
 evitable that this boy should be a great hunter. His 
 first playthings were guns, powder horns, and hunting 
 knives. Early in life he became skilled in throwing the 
 knob-rooted sapling and capturing smaller game with his 
 liands. At the age of twelve his father gave him a light 
 rifle, which was a delight and a pleasure. He now be- 
 came a man in his own thought. He soon became known 
 for his markmanship and for his prowess in search of 
 big game. In his seventeenth year his family departed 
 for North Carolina, Squire Boone and son, Israel, hav- 
 ing been ''disowned" by the Quakers — just why, no one 
 seems tO' know — although no one regards this as the rea- 
 son for the departure. The family settled in the valley 
 of the Yadkin River, in Davie County, and soon became 
 leaders in their community, whose citizens were miles 
 apart. When the French and Indian war broke out, 
 Boone joined the side of the English, but was forced to 
 go as a wagoner and mechanic when he wanted to go 
 as a rifleman. His grandfather was a blacksmith, and 
 it is supposed that Boone had learned the trade; but in 
 time of war to be a wagoner was as Pegasus to the plow 
 to him. 
 
 In this war Boone met a man named John Findley, 
 who related to him a glowing account of a remote coun- 
 
10 
 
 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 try south of the Ohio Eiver, where the hunting was the 
 best in the world. This, of course, interested the young- 
 mountaineer more than anytliing else, and he was soon 
 making trips of his own accord into this new land. The 
 Indians called this wonderful country ''Kentucky," and 
 preserved it as a hunting ground nominally open to all, 
 but about which there was to be much dark and bloodv 
 
 Relics of Daniel Booxe 
 
 fighting among whites and Indians almost alike for the 
 possession of a choice bit of land. 
 
 But with all his warrior spirit, Daniel Boone was not 
 without his romantic characteristics. Near his home in 
 the Yadkin valley lived a high-spirited Scotch-Irish 
 family named Bryan. Black-eyed, rosy-cheeked Rebecca 
 Bryan made a con(iuest of the strong-limbed boy from 
 the start. She was but fifteen when they plighted their 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 11 
 
 troth, and but seventeen when they were married by 
 Squire Boone, who was a justice of the peace. 
 
 In the dark days on the border Boone found himself 
 of great service to the settlers, especially to those who 
 found it necessary to organize themselves into small par- 
 ties and go against Indian marauders, or even carry the 
 ex})edition far into tlie Indian's country, as was often 
 necessary. He was skilled in all the ways of fighting 
 the dangerous red man, and also of caring for himself 
 and those de]:>endent u])on his leadership. As travel be- 
 came less dangerous or as the fertile lands far away 
 ])ecame more attractive, Boone was relied upon to lead 
 not only parties of hunters and trappers into new and 
 dangerous, though attractive, regions, but he guided car- 
 avans consisting of several families who expected to 
 make for themselves and theirs permanent homes in the 
 new land. The old Boone trail led out of North Carolina 
 across Eastern Tennessee and into Kentucky. Boone 
 was doubtless the first white man to make a permanent 
 trail through Tennessee, which he did as early as 1759 
 or 1760. The writer lias seen the following inscription 
 u])on a beech tree standing in sight of the old stage road 
 leading from Jonesboro to Blountville in Tennessee: 
 
12 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 - 
 
 
 D. Boon 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 Gill E T) 
 
 A. BAR 
 
 On 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 in 
 
 ThE 
 
 Tree 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 yEAR 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 1760 
 
 The spelling, punctuation, and arrangement are just 
 as Boone placed them. Time's corroding touch has so 
 obliterated the letters that I doubt if they may be seen 
 at this time. But the tree is there yet and may be lo- 
 cated beyond the shadow of a doubt. It stands on the 
 bank of Boone's Creek near where it flows into Watauga 
 River, and only a stone's throw, so to speak, from where 
 William Bean built his cabin in 1769, which was the first 
 permanent home erected by English-speaking people in 
 Tennessee. His son, Russell Bean, was the first white 
 child born on Tennessee soil. This tree stands eight 
 miles north of Jonesboro, the oldest town in the State, 
 and where Andrew Jackson practiced law when he first 
 came to Tennessee. 
 
 But T have said that Daniel Boone was a statesmau. 
 Inhere are various definitions for statesman, one of which 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 13 
 
 is, "a dead politician." My definition for a statesman 
 is one who does constructive work with a vision and an 
 insight justified by time. Such was Daniel Boone, and 
 
 Daniel BooxXe's Tree 
 
 as such must he live in history. Some have thought him 
 a hermit-like mountaineer because tradition says when 
 he found a neighbor as close as fifteen miles he imme- 
 diately penetrated farther into the forest. Both are 
 
14 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 doubtless true in that he led others with him that they. . 
 too, might share in the abundant game, new fertile soil, 
 and pure streams of crystal water. He was a pathfinder 
 in the sense that he blazed the way where none dared 
 precede him and only few were brave enough to follow. 
 When he left his home in the rich and peaceful valley 
 of the Yadkin with his lovely black-eyed Rebecca, charm- 
 ing as a Jewess, and their infant son, James, it was only 
 that he might show other families that they could brave 
 the dangers of the unknown forest and survive. When 
 he went into what is now Tennessee less than a dozen 
 years after the first white man set foot on her soil and 
 nine years before the first home was established, it Avas 
 only that new territory might be opened for those seek- 
 ing homes where fresh soil and uncut timber were to 
 be found in abundance. Through it all he looked with 
 the eye of a statesman, and every vision thrilled him with 
 the inspiration of a poet whose untaught and unlettered 
 ]nind could not set its poetic fancy to words. He did 
 know more al)()ut Ti'ansylvania than any man, and it was 
 because he saw it all, and not merely the animal trails, 
 the virgin timber, the fine si)rings, and the unending soil, 
 bvit he saw them all in one out of eyes that looked from 
 a statesman's mind. Very few people know that as early 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 15 
 
 as 1765 Boone penetrated as far south as Florida by way 
 of Tennessee, Western Virginia, and Kentucky. But he 
 did. lie ahnost made up liis mind to settle at Pensa- 
 cola, but that beautiful, rosy-cheeked, thrifty Scotch wife 
 dissuaded him, and he was saved to become the great 
 pilot of the no less and no greater wilderness. He often 
 left his wife and children for months that he might find 
 new territory, but it was not that he loved them less. 
 Rather he felt that he nmst do the work his soul bade 
 him do. While he had a fondness for the un trammeled 
 life of the forest, he was also devoted to his family and 
 felt that he could do nmch better for them by making 
 explorations into a new country and inducing settlers to 
 remove hither. The trend was westward, following the 
 Indian wars, and in this great movement he had no de- 
 sire to be a laggard. For all that Boone had he suffered 
 much. While in captivity by the Indians he was in im- 
 minent danger of death many times. His firstborn, 
 James, was slain at the early age of seventeen in an In- 
 dian massacre. When he led the pai*ty of men who built 
 the ''Wilderness Eoad," it was at the risk of his life 
 daily, but he saw a great territory opening to humani- 
 ty and for the benefit of mankind. It was his nerve that 
 kept the road going. After two deaths from an Indian 
 
16 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 attack, many begged Boone to return before others met 
 a similar fate. But he would not. Quoting from '' Dan- 
 iel Boone and the Wilderness Road," by H. A. Bruce, 
 from which much information herein is gleaned, we have 
 the following from Felix AValker's (one of the company) 
 comment on Boone's management of the expedition: 
 
 ^^In the sequel and conclusion of my narrative I must 
 not neglect to give honor to whom honor is due. Colonel 
 Boone conducted the company under his care through 
 the wilderness with great propriety, intrepidity, and 
 courage; and were I to enter an exception to any part of 
 his conduct, it would be on the ground that he appeared 
 void of fear and of consequences — too little caution for 
 the enterprise. But let me with feeling, recollection, and 
 lasting gratitude ever remember the unremitting kind- 
 ness, sympathy, and attention paid to me by Colonel 
 Boone in my distress. He was my father, my physician, 
 and friend; he attended me as his child, cured my wounds 
 by the use of medicines from the woods, nursed me with 
 paternal affection until I recovered, without the expecta- 
 tion of reward. ' ' 
 
 I have also said that Boone was a poet. That you may 
 be satisfied, let me give here his words on some occasions 
 as handed down to us by those who wei^e with liim and 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 17 
 
 who have come after them. When he visited the Ten- 
 nessee country in 1764, he is reported to have cried, while 
 gazing from a Cumberland Mountain peak at a herd of 
 buffalo grazing below: ''I am richer than the man men- 
 tioned in scripture who owned the cattle on a thousand 
 hills; I own the wild beasts of more than a thousand val- 
 leys." Then as they went into the Kentucky regions 
 he spoke in a rhapsody of enthusiasm : ' ^ One day I under- 
 took a tour through the country, and the diversity and 
 beauties of nature I met with . . . expelled every 
 gloomy and vexatious thought. Just at the close of day 
 the gentle gales retired and left the place to the disposal 
 of a profound calm. Not a breeze shook the most trem- 
 ulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding 
 ridge and, looking round with astonishing delight, be- 
 held the ample plains, the beauteous tracts below. On 
 the other hand I surveyed the famous river Ohio that 
 rolled in silent dignity, marking the western boundary 
 of Kentucky with inconceivable grandeur. At a vast 
 distance I beheld the mountains lift their venerable 
 brows and penetrate the clouds.'* 
 
 That he was lonely and often sighed for the pleasures 
 of his own fireside is revealed in the following words 
 spoken to one Filson: ^'I confess I never before was 
 
18 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 under greater necessity of exercising philosophy and for- 
 titude. A few days I passed uncomfortably. The idea 
 of a beloved wife and family, and their anxiety upon 
 the account of my absence and exposed situation, made 
 sensible impressions on my heart. A thousand dreadful 
 apprehensions presented themselves to my view, and had 
 undoubtedly disposed me to melancholy if further in- 
 dulged." 
 
 Boone had an indomitable will and was a strong lover 
 of nature. It was now Maytime in the beautiful Ken- 
 tucky woods and he became reconciled. 
 
 If further proof were needed of his being a statesman 
 and a poet, let me say that no man could lead the men 
 he led in such an inspirational aud enthusiastic way with- 
 out having the qualities of both. When his life went 
 out in the eighty-sixth year of his age in the second 
 decade of the nineteenth century, his spirit did not de- 
 part, but remained as a beacon light to others who de- 
 sired to build roads through the wilderness of the far 
 AA^est and elsewhere. Whole pages could be written 
 about Boone as a lawmaker. But they must be left for 
 another time. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 19 
 
 ALWAYS A WINNER 
 
 You and I know a great many people who are very 
 attractive to us and wliom we like very much. Some of 
 them are handsome and rich and what the world calls 
 successful; others are lacking in the finer qualities that 
 
 John Sevier 
 The First Governor of Tennessee 
 
 make for fame and fortune and success, yet we like them 
 very much, too. 
 
 I am going to tell you a little about a great man who 
 always won. But it was not always easy for him. Now 
 and then he was near losing, and at times, no doubt, 
 
20 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 was in the act of giving up. The fact that he never did 
 give up caused him to win. 
 
 This hero of mine was bom in old Virginia not many 
 years after the birth of ''The Father of His Countiy." 
 As a boy he loved the folklore stories of his surround- 
 ings in much the same way that you and I love fairy 
 stories, the myths of Greece and Eome, the Siegfried 
 stories of the Irish sagas; only he did not read them in 
 books as we do, but had them told to him by his par- 
 ents and old people who lived near him. They were 
 hero stories of what men had done with animals and fish 
 and in fighting the dangerous red men of that time. 
 Moreover, many of them were thrilling stories of real 
 Indians, or red men, and they fired the blood of this hand- 
 some boy until he wanted to go out and do some great 
 thing; only as he grew older he became ambitious to fight 
 that he might do good instead of just for fame and for- 
 tune and the high honor that success would bring. 
 
 Our boy went into a new country which is now Ten- 
 nessee. He met many people who had come into these 
 old mountains — old to the world of mountains, but new 
 to the world of men and women. The new people with 
 whom be became acquainted had come from other sec- 
 tions of the country to find more room and larger fields 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 21 
 
 for their flocks and herds and also to establish homes 
 for their children. Some of them had come because they 
 had been driven out of their former homes by the sol- 
 diers of the King of England, who was at that time in 
 possession of all this country by right of discovery and 
 force, but not altogether by right of law. They came 
 seeking liberty and freedom and opportunity. The great 
 mountains seemed to breathe into them the spirit of lib- 
 erty and freedom and independence. The running 
 streams sang a song of freedom; the hills took up the 
 echo until every inhabitant made it the great battle cry. 
 The scenery is not unlike that in Scotland which gave 
 such inspiration to Wallace and Bruce and of which Sir 
 Walter Scott wrote with such charming interest in The 
 Lady of the Lake, The Bride of Lammermoor, and kin- 
 dred stories. No man could live among such surround- 
 ings and not have the spirit of freedom. 
 
 One day they brought the news that the Indians were 
 planning an attack on a fort occupied by the white peo- 
 ple, who had gathered therein for protection. There was 
 much alarm, and all turned to the handsome young Vir- 
 ginian for leadership. Some women were outside the 
 barracks milking when the shrewd and fearless Indians 
 sought to take the fort. Among these women was a 
 
22 SOUTHERN HERO TALES . 
 
 young and beautiful girl afterwards known to lovers of 
 historical romance as ''Bonny Kate" Slierrill. And she 
 was every whit as attractive as the fair Eleanor in The 
 Lady of the Lake. The Indian braves seemed to have 
 her in their cruel grasp. But when all appeared to be 
 lost, our young friend leaped to the top of the barricade 
 and rescued her from almost instant death. He was the 
 James Fitz- James of the fine pastoral by Scotland's great 
 bard. This one act of our hero placed him high in the 
 estimation of those who love the brave and the good and 
 the noble. You are not surprised that soon "Bonny Kate" 
 became his fair and blushing bride, and that thereafter 
 she shared his life of adventure and hardship, to which 
 were added many of his country's highest honors, not the 
 least of which was being six times governor of a great 
 State, being the first man thus honored by the people of 
 that commonwealth. 
 
 Doubtless John Sevier (for it is he of whom I write) 
 did not count being governor of Tennessee the highest 
 honor, although any man might count that honor enough. 
 But our hero was a man who counted honor that which 
 gave him opportunity for the greatest service. 
 
 A long time after the saving of "Bonny Kate," as boys 
 and girls count time, there came an opportunity for great 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 23 
 
 service of which our handsome gentleman took advan- 
 tage. He was ambitious and energetic, but only that 
 he might bring happiness to others and himself as well. 
 
 The folks in this wild mountain country were threat- 
 ened on every side by the king's soldiers, who stood 
 afar and sent word that they would cross the mountains 
 to molest the peace and quiet of the comfortable cabin 
 homes nestling snugly in the valleys and on the hilltops 
 of this now famous land which so many call home. 
 , Word was brought by a paroled prisoner named Sam- 
 uel Philips that unless these mountain people laid down 
 their arms the British officer, Patrick Ferguson, would 
 march into their country, lay waste their crops, bum 
 their houses, and hang their leaders. Now what would 
 you expect a brave and fearless leader to do when such 
 a message was sent his people? Like the Greeks and 
 Romans of ancient times, he answered by going in per- 
 son at the head of a small number of men who were not 
 only used to living in the open and enduring the hard- 
 ships of a rugged mountain life, but who knew how to 
 shoot as well, for they captured meat for themselves and 
 families in that way. They could kill a squirrel out of 
 the top of the highest tree you ever saw, or shoot a deer 
 running as rapidly as the fastest horse. What could 
 
24 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 such fine marksmen do in time of battle! Moreover, 
 they were helped in their high endeavor by the thought 
 that if they won it meant freedom forever for them and 
 their children, but if they lost it meant long, long years 
 of struggle, with the results uncertain. 
 
 So when this word reached John Sevier and other 
 brave ^ ' o ver-the-mountain ' ' men, he began to collect these 
 old squirrel and bear and deer hunters for a long march 
 over the mountains to' make a last defense of their homes 
 and hills and valleys and beautiful mountain streams. 
 One fine September morning more than a century and a 
 quarter ago they were ready to begin their perilous 
 journey. "While the grass was yet fresh and glossy with 
 the dew of the early morning they were called to prayer 
 by Dr. Samuel Doak at Sycamore Shoals, almost in sight 
 of where Gov. Robert L. Taylor was born, in Carter Coun- 
 ty, Tennessee. A native stone monument now marks 
 this sacred spot of prayer. With the benediction of one 
 of Grod's best educators and preachers resting upon their 
 uncovered heads, these men of hope and courage began 
 their onward march to meet their avowed enemy rather 
 than let the enemy come for them. In this they were 
 wise, for there could be no better battle ground for the 
 attacking party than the side of a mountain when moun- 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 25 
 
 taineers are the oppressors. After many days of march- 
 ing over high mountains and through deep valleys, our 
 friends came to the camp of the enemy, pitched high up 
 on King's Mountain. Colonel Ferguson would not let his 
 men surrender, but declared that even ^Hhe Almighty 
 himself could not drive him from his position." Our 
 brave fellows had their faith pinned sincerely to the God 
 this profane British colonel thus defied, and went forth 
 to battle expecting victory. To their faith they added 
 dry powder, good rifles, and a sure aim. Ferguson was 
 killed; his men, most of them brave, were glad to sur- 
 render; and John Sevier and his companions in leader- 
 ship and bravery won such a victory as caused Thomas 
 Jefferson to call it the turning point in the Eevolution- 
 ary War, and he thus paved the way for the everlast- 
 ing freedom you and I enjoy. The battle lasted about 
 an hour. 
 
 When the men were assembling to march from 
 our own mountains, "Bonny Kate,'' long since the moth- 
 er of several children, came with her son, James, not yet 
 sixteen years of age, to present him to her brave hus- 
 band, General Sevier, with these words: "Here is another 
 of our boys that wants to go with his father and 
 brother to the war, but we have no horse for 
 
26 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 liim, and, poor fellow, it is a great distance to walk." 
 But the gallant lad, with an older hrother, did go, 
 and they fought side by side, with their father and 
 the other brave men of the mountains in the most 
 remarkable battle of our great war for independence — 
 a victory that hastened the close of this fearful struggle 
 and moved up by several years tlie time when the col- 
 onies, represented by such men as Washington, Franklin, 
 Sevier, and others, could declare themselves in fact and 
 in truth free and independent States. 
 
 When our general returned from this brilliant victory, 
 he was much more of a hero than ever. He had won 
 great glory in the Indian wars, and is said never to have 
 lost a battle; but now he had taken a handful of moun- 
 tain men, untrained in the practice and experiences of 
 war, and won a complete and glorious victory over the 
 trained and tried soldiers of the King of England. How- 
 ever, these Englishmen did not know how to slioot 
 straight, and that is the one thing needful in battle and 
 in hunting. Moreover, the mountaineers were enthusi- 
 astic and believed in the cause of liberty for wliich they 
 were fighting. There were other great leaders in these 
 fights, but we are now talking about John Sevier, the 
 gallant young Virginian. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 27 
 
 Some years after this famous victoi^y, but before the 
 colonies had become united, the folks wlio lived in the 
 beautiful mountain fastness known as East Tennes- 
 see became fearful of their future. They thought 
 the Continental govemiment as it then existed was 
 not giving them the support and protection they 
 deserved; hence they looked about to find some 
 means of providing these things for themselves. They 
 thought a permanent organization would solve all their 
 problems. Likewise they felt that their mountains and 
 valleys and running streams placed them in a class to 
 themselves peculiar only to their own needs and desires. 
 It was the world-old cry of liberty found ever and al- 
 ways in the minds and hearts of people who live among 
 the mountains and who breathe the free, pure air and 
 sniff the life-giving mist of the sparkling brooklet as it 
 goes coursing its adventurous way to the far-off seas. 
 Read the story of William Tell, The Lady of the Lake, 
 or Scottish Chiefs, and you will see how the people of 
 the mountains love freedom even better than life itself. 
 
 So when representatives met to form a new State and 
 find a governor therefor, with one accord their minds 
 turned to the man whose every act had made him a hero 
 in the thoughts of the people, and whose ideals of law 
 
28 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 and order and government had caused men high up in 
 the affairs of life to recognize in him great qualities of 
 statesmanship. Moreover, every one had the utmost 
 faith in him as a man, not only of courage and stead- 
 fastness of purpose, but also of fidelity and truthfulness. 
 They were about to call their new State ' ' Frankland, ' ^ 
 which really means ''the land of the free," or ''free 
 land.'' Thus you see every act of these rugged people 
 was turned toward freedom in its highest and noblest 
 form. When General Sevier was asked to become, gov- 
 ernor of this new State, he did so with great hesitation, 
 for he felt that sooner or later the right sort of united 
 government for all the colonies would be agreed upon 
 and that in due time these liberty-loving mountaineers 
 would be properly protected and wisely cared for. But 
 he could not resist the call of the men who had followed 
 him over hundreds of miles of rough, ungraded moun- 
 tain roads to suppress the Indians, defeat the redcoats 
 at King's Mountain, and make possible the existence of 
 a new world the like of which history does not record. 
 And he could not say them nay. It was like a call from his 
 own kith and kin, and he must not fail them. For al- 
 most three years he guided with a wise head and steady 
 hand the new State of Frankland, sometimes called 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 29 
 
 *' Franklin;'' and when it seemed best to dissolve this 
 State, for reasons not necessary to give here, and again 
 become one with the colonies, he did so in the best pos- 
 sible way, and was, as always, true and loyal to every 
 interest of the colonies and of the men who were leaders 
 therein. 
 
 Too much cannot be said in praise of the people who 
 formed the State of Frankland. The descendants of 
 many of them live among the Southern mountains to- 
 day, bearing the same names as did their ancestors, fos- 
 tering a spirit of freedom and liberty and independence 
 second to no people in the world. Some of them have 
 gone out into other parts of the world and made great 
 names for themselves in the field of law, statesmanship, 
 theology, medicine, mechanical and industrial arts, and 
 education, and in all vocations known to mankind. 
 
 I think if General Sevier could talk to us now, he would 
 be prouder of his part in the battle of King's Mountain 
 and the governorship of the State of Frankland than any 
 two things he did during his long and useful life filled 
 with remarkable deeds of heroism. 
 
 There is another incident in the life of John Sevier 
 which I think will interest you as boys and girls and 
 also as men and women. Like all great and good men. 
 
30 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 lie had some enemies who sought to do him harm in sev- 
 eral ways. They caused him to be arrested and carried 
 across the mountains to be confined and taken away from 
 his beautiful home and the freedom he loved so well. 
 Nothing could be more humiliating to a man of Sevier's 
 temperament, impetuous disposition and independent 
 spirit and bearing, who was calm in danger and brave 
 when needed, than to be placed in charge of men whose 
 duty it was to see that his privileges were restricted. 
 But the men of the mountains with whom he had shared 
 every danger were not content to let him thus suffer 
 humiliation, and immediately set about ways and means 
 of rescue. General Sevier had been carried to Morgan- 
 ton, in North Carolina, for trial. The story is best told 
 by William Smith, one of the rescuers, and is taken from 
 Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee: 
 
 ''In a luckless hour the puissant governor of the west- 
 ern wilds, whose prowess was known and acknowledged 
 from Watauga to the Chattanooga Mountain, was 
 seized by an armed posse and conveyed into the settle^ 
 ments on a charge of high treason against the State of 
 North Carolina. Had the destroying angel passed 
 through the land and destroyed the firstborn in every 
 section, the feelings of the hardy frontiersmen would not 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 31 
 
 have been more incensed; had the chiefs and warriors 
 of the whole Cherokee nation fallen npon and butchered 
 the defenseless settlers, the feeling of retaliation and re- 
 venge would not have been more deeply awakened in 
 their bosoms. They had suffered with him; they had 
 fought under him; with them he had shared the dangers 
 and privations of a frontier life and a savage warfare, 
 'and they were not the spirits to remain inactive when 
 their friend was in danger. The chivalry of the coun- 
 try gathered together, a number of men were selected 
 to fly to the rescue; armed to the teeth, those dauntless 
 sons of the woods crossed the mountains, determined to 
 rescue their beloved commander or leave their bones to 
 bleach upon the sandhills of North Carolina, a proud mon- 
 ument to the children of the West. It was ascertained 
 that the trial was to take place in Morganton, and thither 
 this daring band bent their eager steps. Their plan was 
 to obtain his release by stratagem; and if that failed, the 
 next step was to fire the town and in the hurry and 
 confusion burst the prison doors by force and make their 
 escape. Probably at no time before had the quiet town 
 of Morganton assumed such an air of excitement and 
 interest as the present; for the fame of the unfortunate 
 
32 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 prisoner had gone before him, and the novelty of the 
 scene had drawn together a large crowd. 
 
 ^^The Franks had approached as. near to the town as 
 they deemed it prudent, where four of them concealed 
 themselves near the road, while two of their number, 
 James Cozby and Nathaniel Evans, went forward into 
 the town. They rode to a convenient distance from the 
 courthouse, tied their horses to a limb of a tree, near to 
 which they hid their rifles, and boldly entered the town, 
 their capacious hunting shirts concealing the side arms 
 they had prepared in case of need. Soon they had min- 
 gled with the crowd and easily passed off for countrymen 
 attracted there by common curiosity. Evans had taken 
 charge of General Sevier's celebrated race mare and led 
 her up in front of the courthouse door, the bridle care- 
 lessly thrown over her head; he was apparently an un- 
 concerned spectator of passing events. Cozby entered the 
 house, and there, arraigned at the bar, sat the object 
 of their solicitude; there he sat, as firm and undaunted 
 as when charging the hosts of Wyuca on the Lookout 
 Mountain. 
 
 ^^ Slowly he turned his head and their eyes met. Sevier 
 knew the rescue was at hand, but he was restrained 
 from any outward demonstration by a significant shake 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 33 
 
 of Cozby's head; but it eould not prevent the tear of 
 gratitude, for he knew there were daring spirits near 
 that would peril their lifeblood in his defense. During a 
 pause in the trial Cozby stepped forward in front of 
 the judge and in that quick and energetic tone so pe- 
 culiar to him asked the judge if he was done with that 
 man. The question, manner, and tone caused every per- 
 son to start, to cast their eyes on the speaker, then on 
 the judge, all in amazement. In the meantime Sevier 
 had caught a glimpse of his favorite mare standing at 
 the door; taking advantage of the confusion, he made one 
 spring to the door, the next he was safely in the saddle, 
 and with the speed of thought was borne from the won- 
 dering crowd. 'Yes,' cried a waggish voice, 'I'll be 
 damned if you ain't done with him.' His comrades were 
 not slow to follow in his wake, and, although immediate 
 pursuit was made, a few minutes brought him to the 
 main body, who, with one wild shout of victory, closed 
 in the rear and bore him on in triumph. That night 
 they rested at the house of a friend about twenty miles 
 distant, from whence they made an easy journey to their 
 homes, content that they had gained a bloodless victory. ' ' 
 Every one likes to read the story of Sevier's escape 
 on his favorite racing mare known tliroughout the coun- 
 
34 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 try for her speed and endurance. Imagine her going at 
 a break-neck rate over hills and mountains and through 
 valleys and caves, jDaying no attention to streams or 
 ditches until she should deliver her beloved master out 
 of danger's reach, safe in the clitfs of the mountains he 
 called home and which claimed him for their very own. 
 
 You are not surprised that when the whole of Ten- 
 nessee, from the Father of Waters to the snow-capped 
 mountains, became one State by the signature of Presi- 
 dent Washington on June 1, 1796, the men who had fol- 
 lowed our hero from one victory to another, and under 
 his great leadership had never lost a battle, arose as one 
 man and made him their first governor. 
 
 He lived threescore years and ten, the scriptural time 
 allotted to man. For three quarters of a century his 
 ashes rested in the State of Alabama, where he died while 
 on business for the Federal government. During an ad- 
 ministration of Grovernor Taylor all that was left mortal 
 of this great and good man was deposited in the court- 
 house yard in Knoxville and a monument erected, the 
 inscription upon which tells briefly the story of this hero 
 who always won. 
 
 While East Tennessee is justly proud of this distin- 
 guished hero of many battles, the other divisions of the 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 35 
 
 State likewise take great pride in him and are always 
 glad to claim as tlieir own a man who has added so much 
 glory and valor to the fair name of Tennessee. 
 
 The last paragraph of Phelan's History of Tennessee 
 no doubt expresses better than anything else the real 
 feeling of those who live in a State which has such a glo- 
 rious and noble history (page 233) : 
 
 ^'It is no wonder that Tennesseans wherever they go 
 are noted for their pride in their State, and that the in- 
 habitants of other States sometimes say that ^a Tennes- 
 sean pities people who do not live in Tennessee. ' When- 
 ever a Tennessean speaks of his State, it is after the fash- 
 ion of an eloquent son of Tennessee, Williams H. Ste- 
 phens, who once said: 'I speak for that heroic State who 
 was baptized in her infancy with the sprinkling of Rev- 
 olutionary blood on King's Mountain; who, five years 
 afterwards struck again for independence under the ban- 
 ner of the daring young State of Franklin; who grap- 
 pled, single-handed and alone, for fifty years with the 
 dusky warriors of the forest in all their battles from the 
 Kentucky line to the Southern gulf; who beat back the 
 British legions at New Orleans; who smote the false 
 Spaniard at Pensacola; who rushed with Taylor into the 
 breach at Monterey, and shared in the triumphal march 
 from Vera Cruz to Mexico. ' ' ' 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 37 
 
 ^*THE IRON MAN" 
 
 One fine morning down in the Carolinas, wliere the 
 magnolias bloom and where the air is all laden with the 
 fragrance of wild jasmine, thyme, and tulips, and where 
 the soft breezes from the rose-scented gardens of rich 
 and rare old homes of splendor waft their zephyr waves 
 far over the broad fields and deep into the lowland 
 swamps, a little boy suddenly found himself getting up 
 from a very hard fall in which he was apparently much 
 the worse for being in the middle of a bad fix. He was a 
 slender lad, with clear, gray eyes, and shocky hair that 
 grew straight up, it seemed; his face was rough, but 
 rugged and honest. He looked both like an Irishman 
 and a Scotchman, and indeed he was both. 
 
 But you are wondering why our boy had such a sudden 
 fall and how he came out of it, for his face showed rage 
 and fiery sparks almost darted from his piercing eyes 
 as he brushed the dust from his face, while a little stream 
 of rich red blook trickled hurriedly down his cheek 
 from a tiny wound over his right eye. And now I must 
 tell you about it. 
 
 In those days the people of this country were in a life- 
 
Andrew Jackson 
 
. SOUTHERN HERO TALES 39 
 
 and-death struggle for freedom and independence of the 
 mother country, England. In the South the king's 
 troops had wellnigh taken possession of everything and 
 everybody, for a great many of the people were Tories, 
 or British sympathizers, anyway. His Majesty's soldiers 
 had no regard for any people who did not belong to their 
 side of the contention unless they were rich and pow- 
 erful enough to command respect and consideration. 
 The soldiers in their travels would often pick up boys 
 and carry them along to do their odd jobs, such as cur- 
 rying the horses, fetching water, building fires, clean- 
 ing boots, polishing saddles, and such other chores as the 
 soldiers did not wish to do themselves. In fact, they 
 liked to be regarded as gentlemen of leisure living in 
 the enemy's country, feasting on the fat of the land, with 
 servants to do for them even the smallest thing. So 
 they had picked up this shocky-headed boy and thought 
 to make of him a runner of errands and a sort of lackey 
 for all. His clothing showed him to be very poor, and 
 everything about him indicated the direst sort of pover- 
 ty and need and dependence. The captain to whose com- 
 pany this boy had been attached the day before arose 
 this fine morning of which I speak and found himself in 
 need of a servant. Our boy was called and ordered to 
 
40 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 clean his captain's boots and polish his saddle. But the 
 young fellow, only twelve years of age though he was, 
 said: ^^A Continental will not black the boots of a red- 
 coat!" And there was fire in his eyes when he said it. 
 The British captain, enraged at this lack of obedience 
 and spirit of rebellion in one so young and evidently so 
 poor, threw his boot at the youngster, with the results 
 described in the opening words of this story. From the 
 very beginning of our war for independence, the Brit- 
 ishers, from privates in the ranks to generals in com- 
 mand of armies, were surjDrised at the independent spir- 
 it shown by all classes of true Americans. No British 
 captain could understand how a boy like our hero could 
 show such bravery. But of course the captain called 
 it impudence and insolence. It was the last time he shied 
 a boot at this boy. Eealizing that brute strength and 
 numbers were against him, he felt that his only chance lay 
 in running away, which he promptly did, suffering many 
 hardships in the form of hunger, night sleeping places, 
 and constant fear as he sought in every way he knew 
 or could imagine to avoid detection and possible recap- 
 ture at the hands of his hated and dreaded foe. But this 
 tyrannical and overbearing captain never saw the 
 youngster again. The boy set his face like hard steel 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 41 
 
 against his enemy and the enemies of his country. He 
 resolved that if ever the chance came he would do his 
 country a service in the largest way possible. So this 
 is your introduction to Andrew Jackson, who came to 
 be one of our greatest men, as you will see. 
 
 You do not need to know all the struggles this boy 
 had and what hardships were his. He became what was 
 known in those days as a ''bound boy;" that is, 
 he bound himself to a man who asi-reed to keep 
 him in food and clothing and the other necessities of 
 life for what work the boy would be able to do on the 
 farm and about the house. He managed to gather a very 
 meager education, such as reading and writing, and a 
 little spelling and arithmetic. He wrote poorly, spelled 
 poorly, and knew but little mathematics. However, he 
 did learn to read very well indeed, because he enjoyed 
 that. Haven't you noticed how much easier it is for 
 you to do or learn to do that which you enjoy, and that no 
 task or work is ever difficult so long as you do enjoy 
 it? So this boy became a very great reader. He read 
 everything he could buy, which was not a great deal, 
 but he was able to borrow many books which he devoured 
 in the most rapid manner. One thing about this boy An- 
 drew, he seemed to remember the most important things 
 
42 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 he read. As he grew into young manhood he developed 
 an ambition to be a lawyer. By the way, this was the 
 ambition of many young men in those days. They had 
 such fine examples to inspire them. There was Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, our first Secretary of the United States 
 Treasury; Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration 
 of Independence; and John Marshall, the first Chief Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 All of these were very inspiring to a young Scotch- 
 Irishman such as we are describing. In those 
 days law was not studied as it is now — in a 
 college of law; but various books on law were 
 read either at home or in the office of some other law- 
 yer who was willing to take in a young fellow and give 
 him the privilege of his law library, together with what- 
 ever experience he might get. But our youngster did 
 quite a deal of other reading. Like many another man 
 of promise and great ability, he had heard of a land 
 across the mountains which was full of interest and which 
 afforded great opportunity for those beginning their 
 careers in the law or other professions. So he journeyed 
 across the rough and rugged Carolina mountains until 
 he came to Jonesboro, the oldest town in Tennessee. He 
 was now very handsome, more than six feet in height, 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 43 
 
 sat on his horse as if he had grown to the saddle, was 
 very fond of a good traveler, and rode only the best. He 
 presented a very distinguished appearance on horseback, 
 quite as much so as did General Washington, of whom 
 you have read a great deal. He practiced law in the 
 courts of North Carolina, of which our own Tennessee was 
 at that time a part. He was fond of outdoor sports — 
 particularly horse racing, a thing very common in those 
 days. I said he read a great many books outside of law. 
 He was particularly fond of the works of Lord Francis 
 Bacon, a great English writer who lived in the time of 
 William Shakespeare, more than three hundred years 
 ago. Lord Bacon was so great a scholar that he tried 
 to master all learning that he might have a knowledge 
 of all things. Bacon wrote a series of articles called 
 '^Essays," from which our friend frequently quoted in the 
 midst of a speech before the court. He carried his books in 
 saddlebags swinging across his horse, as nearly all the 
 lawyers did in those days. It is said that on a certain 
 occasion when it was known our friend would speak be- 
 fore the court the day following, a fun-loving admirer 
 slipped a piece of real bacon into the saddlebags wrapped 
 in the very same paper that had contained Bacon's Es- 
 says; so that when our friend came to argue his case be- 
 
44 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 fore the court the next day he said: ''Now we will see 
 what Bacon says about this." Proceeding to unwrap 
 the supposed book, the piece of real bacon dropped out 
 on the floor amidst the tremendous laughter of all pres- 
 ent, including young Jackson himself. 
 
 While he enjoyed jokes and pranks and everything 
 of that sort, lie did not lose sight of his reading nor of 
 his law study and practice. He attracted the attention 
 of the leaders of the new nation, and they appointed him 
 an attorney-general. This gave him much fame and 
 added to his popularity. In the meantime several wars 
 had come up between the white settlers and the Indians 
 in which he had taken part, and always as a leader. He 
 was fearless and dashing in his make-up and every one 
 seemed to look to him to do the next thing. He led the 
 white soldiers to victory over the Indians many times 
 when defeat seemed to be staring them in the face. His 
 own personal bearing inspired his followers with a de- 
 termination to win at any cost to themselves. He had 
 such wonderful control over himself that he could work 
 when he was lazy, go right on when he was tired, over- 
 come illness, and even ride and fight in battle when suf- 
 fering from gunshot wounds of a serious nature. More- 
 over, he never permitted himself to turn back when he 
 
46 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 had started to do a thing, or to be influenced by others 
 to change his mind or sway him from that which he 
 deemed wise and right and for the good of the greatest 
 number of people. Because he was so strong-willed and 
 such a complete master of himself I have called him ' ' The 
 Iron Man. ' ' 
 
 Of course, a man of such fien^ temperament would 
 naturally make many personal enemies, especially since 
 he was in politics ; and no leader of men in his day could 
 keep out of politics. He was severely criticized for many 
 of his policies by some of the leading men of that day, 
 among them John Sevier, of whom you know; Thomas 
 H. Benton, for whom both a county and a town in Ten- 
 nessee are named; and by General Dickinson. In those 
 days the only way to settle a dispute or criticism was by 
 personal encounter in a duel. This was called the ' ' code 
 of honor." Long since men have learned- that it takes 
 more courage to say "No" to a challenge than it does 
 to fight. So our friend immediately challenged his ene- 
 mies to a duel. Friends prevented a personal encounter 
 with Sevier; but the duel was fought with Benton, who 
 was severely wounded, carrying the bullet to his grave. 
 General Dickinson was an expert with pistols, and our 
 friend was known to be a careless marksman, for whom 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 47 
 
 his friends greatly feared. On the way to the dueling 
 ground the General amused himself by clipping twigs off 
 the trees, hitting certain marks as his horse galloped, 
 and performing other marvelous feats with pistols. But 
 the race has never been to the swift, nor the victory to 
 the expert. At sunrise the contestants met. Our friend, 
 who was somewhat tall and spare, wore a large, loose- 
 fitting coat. When the word was given to ''fire,'' Gen- 
 eral Dickinson quickly discharged his revolver and was 
 surprised that our hero did not fall. The General, 
 shocked into fright, took a step or two backward as if 
 to retreat, but his second made him take his place again, 
 whereupon our hero took deliberate aim and wounded 
 the General so desperately that he died that night. Our 
 hero did not escape so fortunately as he appeared, for 
 when he walked out of sight behind a clump of bushes 
 he displayed blood-stained garments from a severe wound 
 which kept him abed some months. His great pride and 
 magnificent iron will would not let him make known suf- 
 fering in the presence of an enemy. 
 
 Now we come to the second war between this coun- 
 try and Great Britain, in which our hero was to play an 
 important part. Already he had won much fame in the 
 Indian wars and in his duels with men of distinction, 
 
48 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 so much so that he was a popular idol and worshiped 
 as such by the people wherever he was known. The 
 President of the United States sent word to this lawyer, 
 warrior, political leader, that he was needed to thwart 
 the American foe in the South, and the whole people re- 
 joiced, for they felt that the country's honor was in safe 
 hands. Our hero now wore the shoulder straps of a gen- 
 eral, and he was to be sent to the defense of New Or- 
 leans. He immediately gathered about him six thou- 
 sand mountaineer riflemen from Kentucky and Tennes- 
 see, many of whom had followed him to victory against 
 the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend, and others who had been 
 wit-h him when he smote the false Spaniard at Pensacola. 
 They followed him with much eagerness now because vic- 
 tory was in the air and they knew it. 
 
 It is said that on the eve of the battle of New Orleans, 
 our hero general was riding about the outskirts of his 
 army seeing that everything w^as in readiness for the 
 battle on the following day, when he met a British sol- 
 dier who had strayed too far from his camp. They en- 
 gaged in conversation about prospects. The Britisher 
 said : ' ' Our general is Lord Packenham. Who is yours 1 ' ' 
 To which our hero made reply: "Lord Jesus Christ and 
 Gen. Andrew Jackson, and we'll whip the British to- 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 49 
 
 morrow." And they did. He won this battle in twen- 
 ty-five minutes, and only eight of our men were killed, 
 while the enemy lost twenty-six hundred, including their 
 general. But the war had really been over fourteen days 
 when this famous victory was won. The treaty was 
 signed at Ghent, in Belgium, but in those days news trav- 
 eled so slowly that it was too late in getting there. But 
 it made J ackson a national figure and every one expected 
 him to be President some time, which high position he 
 reached in 1829, serving eight years. He was very pop- 
 ular as a President, although he ruled with an iron hand. 
 By his prompt action in South Carolina in 1832 he put 
 oft* the great Civil War for almost a generation. Had 
 lie not shown that great spirit of independence as a boy 
 wlien ordered to do a menial service by a British 
 soldier, and had he failed to maintain that high 
 spirit of independence, he would never have been 
 the great man he was. After serving as an epoch- 
 making President, he retired to his estate at The 
 Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee, where he spent 
 his declining years amid peaceful surroundings, rich in 
 the estimation of his country and highly honored by the 
 nations of the world. The end came peacefully in 1845, 
 when he had lived seventy-eight years. This country 
 has produced no greater man. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 51 
 
 THE HUNTER HERO 
 
 While the gallant young Virginian of whom you have 
 just read was having his troublous times directing the 
 affairs of the independent State of Frankland, there was 
 born within the confines of this State, not far from where 
 tlie Governor had his home, but on the opposite bank of 
 the Nolachuckey River and in the same county where 
 
 was the capital of this little province, a boy who was to 
 leave for years to come his impress upon the entire coun- 
 try. It was in 1786, on the seventeenth day of August, 
 that Davy Crockett first saw the light of day; and the 
 place was Greene County, only a few miles west of where 
 
52 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 Sevier lived in the county of Washington. No doubt 
 you have noticed how most of the counties in many of 
 the States bear the name of some distinguished liero of 
 the early period of our country. Sevier has a county 
 named for him, as Washington and Greene Counties are 
 named for great men. Then, too, our hunter hero was 
 bom not much more than a dozen miles from where Dan- 
 iel Boone killed the bear of which you are told in an- 
 other place in this book. And there are Boone and 
 Crockett Counties. 
 
 Davy's parents were poor, so poor that they could not 
 send him to school; hence he gTew up with but little 
 learning, but with great knowledge of the woods and 
 fields and the wild animals that roamed the almost un- 
 broken forest. In those days education seemingly was 
 not so necessary as it is now. People lived mostly by 
 hunting and trapping and fishing. They needed but lit- 
 tle money; and when they traded, they used skins of ani- 
 mals and powder and lead instead of money. Think how 
 inconvenient it must have been to get along without 
 money! 
 
 If you could take a little journey with me, I would 
 show you where Davy's house stood and where he was 
 born. Old people say that for years and years there was 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 5:] 
 
 an old apple tree in the yard of tlie old home of this 
 boy who became a famous man and died a hero's death. 
 I have seen people who ate apples from this old tree; 
 and they were good apples, too. For years a sheep bani 
 stood on a corner of the Crockett lot, and near it was 
 a pile of stones and charred earth showing where the 
 chimney of the old house had been. 
 
 Like most people of his day, Davy married young. 
 Sometimes when you are at Dandridge, in Jefferson 
 County — ^another county bearing the name of a great man 
 — ask the county court clerk to let you see Davy Crock- 
 ett's marriage license. You will see that he was mar- 
 ried to Polly Findley in 1806 when he was but twenty 
 years of age. Despite the fact that his parents were poor 
 and without money, Davy had learned to write as well 
 as to hunt and to do other things requiring skilled hands 
 and steady nerves. He had a native shrewdness that 
 made him know he should be able to write his name if 
 nothing more. Don't you think that was very fine in 
 him? 
 
 Here is a strange coincidence in the life of Davy 
 Crockett. When he was born, John Sevier was governor 
 of the State of Frankland, which in the very nature of 
 things could not keep itself together for a long while; 
 
^R 
 
 rV 
 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 55 
 
 and when lie was married to Polly Findley, Jolm Sevier 
 was governor of the State of Tennessee, which had been 
 in existence just ten years, with Sevier as governor eight 
 out of the ten, and he was to remain in the governor's 
 chair four years yet. 
 
 But I have told you that Davy was a great hunter, 
 and now I must tell you a little about him in that life 
 of which he was so very fond. In those days there were 
 a great many bears and deer and other wild animals, but 
 not so many of this larger game as in the days of Daniel 
 Boone. However, there was an abundance of smaller 
 game, like the coon and fox and beaver, all of which were 
 interesting \o the hunter even if they were small. Davy 
 kept a large pack of hounds to aid him in hunting the 
 fox and coon when deer and bear could not be found. 
 Often the chase was long, and sometimes they were away 
 from home many days at a time in quest of game of 
 all sorts. He grew to be very skillful with his old-fash- 
 ioned long rifle, and could kill a bear as far as his eagle 
 eye could see to shoot or his trusty rifle would send a 
 bullet, which was a long, long way. Aside from selling 
 the fur of these animals, Davy often wore clothing made 
 from their skins, and he and his neighbors frequently 
 used their meat for food. There is a sort of fable that 
 
56 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 so dangerous to the animals of the forest was Davy 
 on account of his skill with his long rifle that they came 
 to know of him through each other by animal language 
 and were always on the lookout for him. It is said that 
 one day an old, old coon was high up in a big oak tree 
 sunning himself, when some dogs "treed" him. Soon 
 their master came up and was about to take aim at the 
 coon with his good rifle, when the old coon called out: 
 "Is that you, Davy!" And when he answered, "Yes," 
 the old coon said: "Don't shoot, Mr. Crockett, V\\ come 
 down; for IVe heard your gun never misses fire and 
 your aim is sure." So the coon came down, and Davy 
 did not have to waste his powder and lead, but got the 
 coon anyway. 
 
 They tell another story about how skillful Davy was 
 when he wanted to do a sort of mischievous thing, which 
 in these days might be called stealing, but which in those 
 old days was counted good-natured fun. It is said that 
 Davy was making a journey by boat on the Mississippi 
 Eiver. At that time it was customary to "treat" — 
 that is, to provide a drink from the boat tavern for all 
 on board. Sometimes this entailed a heavy expense on 
 the person doing the treating, and as money was not 
 very plentiful it often became a serious question. Davy 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 57 
 
 Crockett was in his usual condition — without money. 
 He was dressed in tlie ordinary manner — coon-skin cap, 
 hunting shirt, and trousers of the skins of animals. 
 Moreover, he carried his long hunting rifle. He had with 
 him a coon skin which he offered as pay for ^'drinks to 
 go 'round." I suppose this was when he was a candi- 
 date for office and that many of his voters were on board 
 the old-fashioned boat. You know even in these good days 
 candidates sometimes ''treat" the voters. Well, when 
 Davy's coon-skin money gave out he didn't know what 
 to do, for he had no more money. The bar keeper had 
 carelessly tossed the skin, with several others, in one 
 corner of the room, but near the counter. Our hunter, 
 with the keen eye for which he was noted, discovered 
 the tail of his former coon skin protruding a little too 
 far his way over the counter. Knowing that soon he 
 would have to treat again, he pulled the tail and the 
 skin came his way. A few minutes later he was called 
 upon to again treat the crowd, whereupon he offered his 
 coon skin in payment. The barkeeper took it, thinking, 
 no doubt, that such a hunter as Crockett was known to 
 be would have a great many skins for sale. He threw 
 the hide in exactly the same place and it fell in the same 
 position. Again Davy slyly slipped it out by the tail 
 
58 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 and again treated his friends. He kept this up for seven 
 successive times, and would no doubt have succeeded sev- 
 eral more times, only they came to the end of their jour- 
 ney. And the barkeeper never discovered that he had 
 bought his own coon skin six times. The incident gTeat- 
 ly amused many of the men on the boat, who all the while 
 knew what the keen hunter was doing, but they would 
 not tell on him. Do you blame them? 
 
 Not long after the marriage with Polly Findley, Davy 
 moved over into West Tennessee and entered politics. 
 In the early days, when a man had a special gift for 
 speaking, was a great story-teller, a great hunter, or 
 achieved local fame in any way, the people thought he 
 ought to be elected to Congress or some other high of- 
 fice. It sometimes happened that a man would win out 
 in politics first because the people liked him, and not so 
 much because he was specially fitted for the high posi- 
 tion to which he was chosen. Now while our friend was 
 not a great scholar, he was far above the average in his 
 ideals of the best things for the people and of what laws 
 ought to be made to suit a majority of the citizens of 
 the State. Then he was of a friendly spirit, which made 
 him very popular with every one who knew him. In ad- 
 dition to his general principles of friendship, he was a 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 59 
 
 brave and fearless man when it came to fighting. In 
 the war against the Creek Indians he showed so much 
 skill and bravery that the soldiers elected him their 
 colonel, a very high honor in those days. So you see 
 he had some claim to the confidence and esteem of the 
 people aside from his skill and prowess as a hunter. 
 
 After having been elected to the legislature from Giles 
 County, and later from Obion County, whither he had 
 moved, he was elected to the National Congress in 1827. 
 This was indeed a great recognition for a man who had 
 gone to school but four days in his life. But there were 
 many ^e traits about him, and his friends never failed 
 to tell these good things. One story is particularly in- 
 teresting. It is said that when Crockett was just a youth 
 he learned that his father owed a rather well-to-do man 
 a small sum which he seemingly could not pay. Davy 
 went to the man and made a bargain whereby, if he 
 worked a whole year for the hard taskmaster, a clear 
 receipt should be given. This he is said to have done 
 in order that he might have the pleasure of seeing the 
 look of joj^'ous surprise on his father's face when the 
 paid note should be presented to him at the end of the 
 year. A boy who would do this would be sure to win, 
 don't you think? 
 
60 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 But even if Davy was good-natured and jovial and 
 popular with the people, he was independent and would 
 permit no one to control him. General Jackson was 
 President, and, being from Tennessee, he thought Colonel 
 Crockett, likewise a Tennessean, ought to support him 
 as President in all the things he did. In his manner be- 
 fore the people Colonel Crockett had won them by stand- 
 ing for what he thought was right. He had many quaint 
 and curious sayings, all of which he used in his cam- 
 paigns and in his utterances against President Jackson. 
 One of them you have heard often, and I have heard it 
 used by many people far, far away from Tennessee. It 
 is: '^Be sure you are right, then go ahead." It was 
 his motto, and he followed it carefully all his life. In 
 whatever he did he was sure in his own mind that he 
 was right. Once coming to the conclusion, no power 
 could change him, and he never faltered in his endeavor 
 to carry out his life purpose. 
 
 After serving four years in Congress he was defeated, 
 then elected, and again defeated in 1835. You would 
 not think a man with so little learning would dare write 
 a book, but he wrote two during his last term in Con- 
 gress, and they were good books, 'tis said. Everybody 
 read them because of their true sayings expressed in 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 61 
 
 quaint and Immorous language. He made a trip to Bos- 
 ton with a number of distinguished men, and wrote a 
 story about it which was widely read. He did not like 
 Martin Van Buren, whom Jackson wanted for his suc- 
 cessor as President. So he wrote a scathing and ridic- 
 ulous book about him which was full of many amusing 
 things, most of which were true. For this, Jackson and 
 his friends in Tennessee never forgave Crockett; and 
 when time for his reelection came, they used all their 
 forces against him and succeeded in his defeat. 
 
 I have said that Colonel Crockett was independent. 
 He was also a man of very great pride, so much so that 
 when he was defeated he would not remain in Tennessee, 
 but decided to leave the State forever. Perhaps he did 
 not exactly mean it that way, but so it proved, as you 
 shall soon see. 
 
 About this time Texas, wliich you know as the ''Lone 
 Star State," was having a serious struggle with Mexico 
 for her independence. On every side she seemed be- 
 sieged with foes that should have been her friends. The 
 Mexicans were doing all they could to retain Texas re- 
 gardless of what should happen to the people who had 
 gone there to make it their home. Many brave men from 
 the South and the East, attracted by the heroic strug- 
 
62 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 gle Texas was making for independence, went to this 
 great new country that seemed to be so full of evil days. 
 Once there, they took on the true spirit of Texas and 
 could not get away, but must stay and fight what seemed 
 a losing battle. 
 
 Chagrined by defeat and smarting under the vic- 
 tory of his enemies, our friend turned his footsteps 
 toward this new country, seeking an independence which 
 he always kept for himself, and determined to help her 
 all he could. He joined the army and was in the famous 
 siege of the Alamo, where, on March 6, 1836, by over- 
 whelming numbers, he, with many another brave fellow, 
 met a soldier's death at the hands of the barbaric Mex- 
 icans, who, not content with murdering the people within 
 the fort, poured kerosene on the bodies, some of which 
 were not yet dead, and set fire thereto, that they might 
 enjoy the hideous pleasure of seeing the blaze. It is 
 said that Crockett with his trusty rifle slew a dozen 
 Mexicans before they finally overpowered and killed him 
 and his brave companions, among whom were the young 
 and chivalrous Lieutenant Travis and brave Colonel 
 Bowie, inventor of the famous knife that bears his name. 
 
 Thus Avent out in a seemingly useless manner the life 
 of Davy Crockett at the age of fifty, all too soon we 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 63 
 
 would think; yet he has left a saying that will live for 
 many, many years, a name that brightens the pages of 
 history, and a heroism that thrills us with delight at the 
 very mention of his name. But the death of Crockett 
 and his brave followers was not in vain. It set the whole 
 country on fire at the cruel manner in which death came, 
 so that the Mexican War was hastened, if not entirely 
 caused, by the heartless murders; and within ten years 
 from his ignoble death the whole country was avenged 
 of his sad fate, and to-day Texas is one of the most glo- 
 rious in our great sisterhood of States. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 65 
 
 A BORN LEADER 
 
 When one walks for days and days up hill and down 
 over valley and dale, it is tiresome; but when one walks 
 for days and days up one high mountain and down an- 
 other, one gets very, very tired. Only the most persist- 
 ent spirit and the greatest desire for better things could 
 
 A^ 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 tr 
 *^. 
 
 Andrew Johnson 
 
 keep a tired woman and little boy, leading an old horse 
 hitched to a cart, going day after day, even after all three 
 were so tired that many times before nightfall they 
 wanted so much to rest by the hot and dusty roadside 
 and moisten their thirsty lips at the little spring from 
 
66 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 which ran a swift-flowing stream down the steep moun- 
 tain side. The wayworn mother knew they must keep 
 on; the bright-eyed boy, with his bare feet and face of 
 tan and coal-black hair, knew they must keep on; even 
 the lazy, laggard old horse seemed to know there was as 
 yet no place to stop. 
 
 As they pushed their tiresome journey on the moun- 
 tain top where the road was level and somewhat wider 
 than the average, two horsemen rode by, one on a very 
 line steed which he sat with a gracefulness that would 
 excite envy even in the heart of the best of riders. He 
 sat as erect as an Indian; his horse pranced with all the 
 pride of the Arab steeds from which he was descended, 
 and arched his proud neck in a knowing way as his mas- 
 ter gently drew the rei|fn and bowed in that chivalrous 
 way known only to a Southerner in the presence of wom- 
 en. The mother and her handsome son stood aside to let 
 the horsemen ride by. The boy looked at the distinguislied 
 rider who lifted his hat so politely, and, turning to his 
 mother with tears in his eyes, said: ^^ Mother, I'd like 
 to be a. man like that ! " 
 
 The man was Andrew Jackson, ''The Iron Man," of 
 whom you have heard much already, and the boy was 
 Andrew Johnson, of whom you are yet to hear much. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 67 
 
 What an ins])i ration to the lad nnist have been the fine- 
 looking young lawyer as he rode by on his magnificent 
 horse with all the pride of a conqueror; for he had it in 
 his mind to do some big things in his life, and the an- 
 ticipated glory shone from his brilliant eyes and re- 
 flected on his beaming countenance. Yes, and I think 
 the boy must have gotten great inspiration from the high 
 mauntains which on every side lifted their rugged peaks 
 high into the heavens and told a story of strength and 
 power and beauty all their own. He could look at them 
 and say: "P^rom you I shall draw my inspiration for 
 high and noble deeds. Your builder and maker is God 
 himself; and if men fail me, I know I may look and be- 
 ll old you, always standing pointing upward and beckon- 
 ing me to do my best. You are always faithful and true 
 as God made you." In after years Andrew Johnson did 
 point to those beloved mountains and call them his 
 beacon lights of faith and power and hope. 
 
 Just at sunset of a long, hot, sultry day, this boy and 
 his mother came to a little village which had once been 
 the capital of the ill-starred State of Frankland, and 
 sought rest for the night. Here they soon decided to 
 make their home. Little did they or those who gave 
 them aid think that in vears to come this barefooted lad 
 
68 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 would make their little town known from one end of the 
 nation to the other, and that in the most troublesome 
 times the nation was to ever see. Even to-day, after 
 Andrew Johnson has been dead nearly forty years, peo- 
 ple come from long distances just to see the old shop in 
 which this boy worked and where he grew to manhood 
 as a tailor; many of his tools — such as needles, thimbles, 
 and the tailor's goose — are to be seen in the house of 
 his grandson, Hon. Andrew Johnson Patterson, who re- 
 sides in the old Johnson home at Greeneville, Tenn. Were 
 you to visit this little town, people would point with 
 pride to a little old house in the upstairs of which An- 
 drew Johnson made his first speech. But I am antici- 
 pating my story. 
 
 In such a life as his you would expect a little of 
 the romantic as well as so much of the picturesque and 
 fearless doing. It has been said, and perhaps truly so, 
 that a little turn of Fortune's wheel, which we sometimes 
 call luck or chance or accident, has more to do with 
 our lives than all the careful planning we may do. We 
 will now see how an idle, flippant remark led to the 
 molding of a life that was to tell mightily for a great 
 nation in times when strong men quivered at the burden 
 of responsibility and when their souls grew sick at 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 69 
 
 the thought of possible failure. As this boy and 
 his mother came down the one street of the strag- 
 gling village of Greeneville, some girls were playing 
 
 
 ' 
 
 '^^^^^S 
 
 Slil:i''*|-? 
 
 
 
 il- 
 
 
 -.^^^^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^•** 
 
 
 
 ^^p^ 
 
 
 •■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 
 
 l^s^fl 
 
 P 
 
 1 
 
 
 Shop of Andrew Johnson, Tailor 
 At Greeneville, Tenn. 
 
 under the shade of a friendly oak by the roadside. They 
 looked at the unique sight with some amusement, 
 but they were used to travelers, and the incident would 
 
70 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 perhaps have passed unnoticed had it not been for 
 the fine appearance of the lad with his smooth face and 
 coal-black hair. One of the girls playing in the shade 
 turned to her companions and said: ''Girls, there goes 
 my beau; now see if it isn't!" Of course no attention 
 was paid to the remark, but more came of it. The boy 
 and his mother took up residence in the hamlet, and soon 
 he as a tailor became acquainted with other tradesmen 
 of the town, who were of material aid to each other, 
 among them one Thomas McCardle, a cobbler. This cob- 
 bler had a daughter, Eliza, and it was slie who made the 
 above remark upon first seeing Andrew Johnson the day 
 he came to Greeneville. Naturally, with so many things 
 in common, they came to know each other well, and with- 
 in a year their love pledges were realized in a happy 
 marriage, which no doubt had nmch to do with making 
 Andrew Johnson tlie great man he was. As a boy he 
 had been unable to go to school any, for his father, Jacob 
 Johnson, was a very, very poor man, who could not even 
 read in the simplest of books, and certainly could not 
 write. He worked away all day long at his tailor's 
 goose, nimbly plying his needle from early morning until 
 far into the night. When finally the day's work was 
 closed — not finished, for he never really finished — he sat 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 7.1 
 
 with his young wife, who taught him to read. He learned 
 rapidly, but his developing mind suffered for informa- 
 tion he did not have time to acquire, because he had to 
 work all the day long to provide for himself and family 
 the necessities of life. His good wife, busy with her 
 household duties, could not read to him all the time. 
 What was he to do! Already his active mind was turn- 
 ing to liistory, government affairs, and constitutional 
 ideals. It took a great deal of reading in those days 
 to l)e informed on such subjects, for there were few 
 newspapers, and most people got their information from 
 books and pubUc debates. So Andrew Johnson liked 
 people to read for him while he worked at his trade of 
 making clothes. He paid fifty cents a day for these read- 
 ers, and only a short time ago there was a man still liv- 
 ing in Greeneville who had been paid to read to this man 
 who was to become great by the things he knew and the 
 things he accomplished. Nothing seemed to escape his 
 wonderful mind. When he had more money and more 
 time and could purchase books and read them, he became 
 a very close student of words. He kept a dictionary near 
 all the time, and it is said that he never had to look at 
 any word the second time, so- wonderful a memory did 
 he possess. 
 
72 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 As he grew in knowledge of books and constitutional 
 government, his knowledge of men was not lost. Nor 
 were the people of Greeneville slow to note and appreci- 
 ate his fine development. They began talking about 
 making him their leader, and soon elected him mayor of 
 the little town. Not long after this a member of the 
 legislature was to be elected for Greene and Hawkins 
 Counties. Several men had announced from various 
 parts of the two counties. A group of citizens, includ- 
 ing some candidates themselves, were discussing the sit- 
 uation in one of the stores one night. Andrew Johnson 
 was sitting on the counter listening to the discussion, 
 saying a word now and then himself. He slid down off 
 the counter and said rather excitedly: ''I'm in that fight, 
 too!" This was the real beginning of his career. He 
 was elected to the lower house, later went to the State 
 Senate, for which he was defeated in his second race, but 
 was again elected in the third race. In the Senate he 
 was one of the ''Immortal Thirteen," which by their ac- 
 tion caused Tennessee to be without any representation 
 in the Senate of the United States for two years. Soon 
 he was elected to Congress, and then governor of Tennes- 
 see for two terms, and finally was given the very highly 
 exalted honor of being elected to the Senate of the United 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 73 
 
 States, in which position he was serving when the great 
 Civil War came up. Many States in the South declared 
 their independence of the Federal government and se- 
 ceded, among them Tennessee. President Lincoln placed 
 Tennessee under military government, with Andrew 
 Johnson as governor. He was a Democrat in politics, but 
 was for the Union, and was in politics what was known 
 in those days as a ^' Union Democrat." Despite the fact 
 that a great many people in Tennessee — in fact, a great 
 majority of them — favored secession and slavery. Gov- 
 ernor Johnson was very popular and did much to make 
 less frightful the horrible evils of war in the State he 
 had adopted for his own. It was a great blessing to 
 Tennessee and her citizens that President Lincoln placed 
 him in charge of her affairs. He lived in Nashville, and 
 was there nearly two years without seeing his wife, be- 
 cause the rules of war would not permit her passage 
 from her home far up in the mountains of the State, where 
 the people were largely Union in sentiment, to the middle 
 portion of the State, where their sympathy was largely 
 for the Confederacy. Andrew Johnson was so popular and 
 magnetic as a public speaker and a leader of men that 
 he could speak to an audience greatly opposed to him 
 in principle and receive tbeir hearty applause, as the fol- 
 
74 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 lowing incident will illustrate. He was expected to 
 speak in a town the majority of whose citizens were 
 against the Union. It was just at the breaking out of the 
 war and feeling ran high, with hostilities ready to break 
 out almost everywhere at practically any time. A great 
 crowd had assembled at the station, among them some 
 boys from a near-by college who came with the evident 
 intention of breaking up the meeting. When the train 
 came in, Senator Johnson got no further than tlie sta- 
 tion platform, so great were the cries: "Speech! Speech!" 
 For more than two hours he spoke in tones of eloquence 
 and magnetism and persuasiveness for which few men 
 are noted. He swayed the great audience by a mere nod 
 of his head or beck of the hand until they hung on his 
 very words. When he had finished, there was a breathless 
 silence. The boys who came to do mischief gave one se- 
 cession yell, when, to their utter astonishment, there was 
 not a single response, and they had to flee rapidly to 
 escape arrest. The personality of Andrew Johnson was 
 greater than any sentiment, and the peo])le, though op- 
 posed to him in principle, would not permit the smallest 
 hick of respect to a man of such charm and power and 
 liigh thought. 
 
 In 1864 the supporters of President Lincoln felt that 
 
75 
 
 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 lie should have a running mate from the South who 
 ao-reed with him on his war policy. They chose Andrew 
 
 Monument OF A^^ni: I \^ ,i..iix-<.x 
 
 At Greeneville, Tenn. 
 
 (Our only President whose body lies in a 
 
 National Cemetery cared for by the 
 
 Federal Government) 
 
 Johnson, who proved to he a fine vote-getter. When 
 Mr. Lincoln died in 1865, Mr. Johnson, as Vice Presi- 
 
76 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 dent, became President of the United States, the highest 
 honor any man may have in this country. He tried to 
 carry out Mr. Lincoln's plans, as well as his own, for the 
 South, and in so doing incurred the displeasure of Con- 
 gress; but most of the people of the country trusted him 
 always, and his faith in them never wavered for a mo- 
 ment. His qualities of leadership were foresight, mag- 
 netism, and personal fearlessness. 
 
 When he came to the White House, his good wife was 
 an invalid, and their daughter, Mrs. Martha Patterson, 
 did the honors as the first lady of the land. When peo- 
 ple sought to pay her homage, she said: ''I am but a 
 plain woman from the mountains of Tennessee; and if 
 you seek to do me honor, you must honor my people 
 also." Such noble sentiment could not fail to find a re- 
 sponsive note in the hearts and minds of the whole peo- 
 ple of the country. 
 
 Andrew Johnson served for four years as President and 
 then retired to the quiet and peace of his old home at 
 Grreeneville ; but the people would not have it so, and 
 again sent him to the Senate of the United States. He had 
 1)een there but a short time when death called him. A tall 
 marble shaft marks his last resting place on a hilltop 
 near Greeneville in what is now a National Cemetery, 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 77 
 
 made so by the ceaseless energy of Congressman Wal- 
 ter Preston Brownlow, another man of whom a great 
 story may be written. If you go to Greeneville, the peo- 
 ple will point with pride to this hilltop, and you will 
 read on the monument: ''His faith in the people never 
 wavered. ' ' 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 79 
 
 WALKING TO CONGRESS 
 
 It was a little house, and the rough split boards of the 
 roof were held on by old logs and rocks, while the floor 
 was made of puncheon — the halves of split logs held 
 in place by wooden pins in bored holes. The spaces be- 
 tween the rough logs forming the walls were filled by 
 small stones, red clay, and gravel. From the rafters in- 
 side^ — for there was no ceiling to this crude house of a 
 home— hung bits of dried venison, smoked bacon, basket 
 timber, seasoned hickory for ax handles, an old fishing 
 ])ole made of slender pine in its natural growth — no knife 
 had touched it except to take the peel off — two or three 
 half-finished baskets, splits for chairs, some garden seed, 
 a paper sack of sage leaves, and a rag bag of old clothes. 
 Over the rude door — there was only one door — reposing 
 safely in its rack made of natural forks cut from the sour- 
 wood — a tree of small gi'owth well known in the South- 
 ern Appalachians — was the old-fashioned, muzzle-load- 
 ing family rifle, more than six feet long from end of muz- 
 zle to hollow of stock, and with which its owner could 
 pick a squirrel from the highest tree, kill a Virginia red 
 
80 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 deer on the run, or pierce the vital spots of a bear at 
 long range. Long years of practice, backed up by gen- 
 erations of forebears who were mountaineers, had given 
 this man the peculiar and unerring skill of the men of 
 the mountains. William B. Campbell, John Sevier, Isaac 
 Shelby, and Colonel Cleveland knew what they were 
 about when they selected riflemen from this mountain 
 region to fight the battle of King's Mountain, October 
 7, 1780. They were men who could shoot straight, re- 
 load quickly, and fire all day without getting tired or 
 losing nerve. And when Samuel Doak, founder of the 
 first institution of learning in the Mississippi Valley, of- 
 fered prayer for these moimtain men at Sycamore Shoals 
 on their way to fight this battle, which was to be the 
 turning point for the friends of liberty in the Revolu- 
 tionary War, he knew he was praying for men who could 
 back up his prayers with deeds of valor, because the red 
 blood in their veins was from ancestors whose lifeblood 
 had made wet many another battlefield in the cause of 
 freedom. 
 
 On the blackened and unpapered and unceiled walls of 
 this log cabin were pasted a few old, old pictures — such 
 as ^^The Mill,'' ^^ Lincoln and His Cabinet," ^^Washing- 
 ton on Horseback," ^^The Four Seasons," aiid others of 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 81 
 
 a similar nature. But they were dark and soiled and al- 
 most beyond recognition. Doubtless they had been gath- 
 ered from some sale of old property in a well-to-do fann- 
 ing community, or had been presented with the compli- 
 ments of the country merchant far away. But they 
 showed a little love for the higher and more refined 
 things of life, and were better there than not. In this 
 one room the family of several slept, cooked, and ate. 
 The absence of half a log in one side of the house served 
 for extra light. At nights and in stormy weather it was 
 closed by a rough board hung on hinges made of leather 
 taken from pieces of worn-out boots. The fireplace at 
 which the family warmed themselves and before which 
 their meals were cooked was full five feet wide and al- 
 most as deep. The ^^arch" was made by a huge oak 
 piece, the trunk of quite a large tree. As far as the 
 ^^hips," just above the fireplace, the chimney was of 
 sandstone, found in abundance in these mountains. The 
 rest of the way it was of small split sticks and mud, 
 known locally as ''stick and mud" chimney. The big 
 hearth was of two large, flat limestone rocks, of which the 
 little valley, watered by a trickling stream, was well sup- 
 plied. An old-time "four poster" served as the sleep- 
 ing place for the father, mother, and smaller children, 
 
82 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 while the larger children slept in the 'trundle bed," kept 
 securely hidden during the day pushed back under the 
 other bed. Tliree or four chairs, a long bench, a table 
 for dining, and a smaller table known as the "cook ta- 
 ble," made up the articles of furniture in this home. 
 The exterior of the house was about what you would 
 expect from the description of the interior. A stranger 
 who knew not the ways of the mountaineers would not 
 count it, at best, more than a small stable where sheep 
 or cattle miglit be housed in safety if the weather were 
 not too rough. Rut a dwelling place for folks who are 
 to take part in the affairs of the nation and whose an- 
 cestry have helped save the day on well-known battle- 
 fields — ^never ! 
 
 A few acres of cleared land about the house, culti- 
 vated by the father, mother, and all the children, helped 
 to give them a living, for they didn't need much. The 
 rocks were far more plentiful than the stalks of corn and 
 beans, and even more abundant than the potatoes and 
 onions that grew in the thin soil. But somehow they 
 managed to live. This was not many years following 
 the close of the Civil War, and every one lived on little. 
 The country in which this home was located lies far up 
 in the mountains, and at that time was miles from anv 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 83 
 
 railroad or otlier public carrier. It had no schools to 
 speak of, but few churches, and practically no roads. 
 In the census of 1900 it was the third most illiterate 
 county of native white voters in the United States. But 
 ill the Civil War and in the little unpleasantness of one 
 hundred days with Spain it furnished its full quota of 
 volunteers for the government army, and would again 
 to-morrow if called upon. 
 
 One of these mountain States, West Virginia by name, 
 has for her motto, ''Montani semper liberi," which being 
 freely translated reads: "Mountaineers are always free- 
 men." And so the people of this little mountain county 
 feel. Surrender to a strange power they might do, but 
 accept conditions of tyranny — never. The oncoming 
 civilization may change their conditions, make them live 
 in painted houses, wear store clothes, eat ''breakfast 
 food," and put on a high collar with square corners, but 
 it will never change their patriotism and belief in the 
 old-fashioned religion of ultra-Protestantism. 
 
 The humble home of which I write was located at the 
 head of a cove quite a way up the mountain side near 
 a great spring whose water nourished the ten-acre lot in 
 the midst of which was the house. The clearing was 
 practically the last vestige of civilization as you went 
 
84 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 from the little comity seat, not more than a village, across 
 the Allegheny Mountains into North Carolina. In this 
 part of Tennessee (for it is of that State this is written) 
 there were many travelers from the low country out 
 along the rivers of the valley who came this way either 
 to purchase a calf or two from the mountaineers or to 
 take the old Indian trail leading into the neighboring- 
 State, whither they were going for the same purpose. 
 Now and then, being unexpectedly overtaken by the 
 shades of night or a severe mountain storm, the weary 
 traveler would seek rest for himself and his tired horse 
 within the hospitable walls of some mountaineer's lonely 
 hut; for the mountain man is ever ready to share his 
 scanty fare with friend and foe alike, if only he be 
 ahungered. Late one afternoon in early spring, a cattle 
 buyer, seeing an impending storm, drew rein before tlie 
 lonely chalet of which I write and sought shelter botli 
 from the coming storm and the fast-falling night. There 
 was nothing unusual about the stranger to distinguish 
 him from others of his kind. His lazy, swinging stride, 
 careless wearing of the clothing, wide hat, and unkempt 
 beard and hair at once betokened his free life so far as 
 conventionalities go. But withal there was keen native 
 intelligence in his look. His horse was good for that 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 85 
 
 country, and his saddle was of the Texas style, just then 
 coming into use in that section. The comforts he sought 
 were not denied, and soon after partaking of their frugal 
 meal the entire family gathered about the large open 
 hearth to hear what news the stranger might bring from 
 other settlements, and also from the county seat some 
 miles away, where, as a horse and cattle dealer, he went 
 on '^ first Mondays" to ply his business. While the 
 storm raged without in midnight darkness, bending huge 
 trees in its fierce path, and while the rain fell in tor- 
 rents upon the '^board-and-rock-pole" roof, the visitor 
 gave the news as he had gathered it in many days of 
 travel. After telling all the local and general news, and 
 being quite loquacious, as you often find these traders, 
 he proceeded to expostulate upon success in life in gen- 
 eral. You know there are some people who have never 
 achieved any great success, but who can tell you how 
 it ought to be done. It happened that our friend, the 
 trader, belonged to this class. In the course of his re- 
 marks he talked at length on what a '^leetle larnin^ in 
 books mout do fer a feller," telling how some one 
 whom he had seen went to school and was afterward 
 given a fine position in a store; how another had been 
 made president of a college; how another had become a 
 
86 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 11 
 
 great preacher ^'up in York State;" and liow still an- 
 other had studied surgery, and how he had seen him in 
 ^^'bout a minute saw off er man's leg what had been 
 crushed in er sawmill." This sage of the mountains 
 would wind up his philosophical remarks by saying: ^'If 
 T was a youngster, I'd go to skule. It's kind uv quare 
 what a leetle eddication'll du fer ye. Hit seems to be 
 just like spring rain on late-planted corn — fetch hit 
 all out ter onct. ' ' And with this wise remark he shifted 
 his chew of tobacco to the other side of his mouth and 
 spat in the dying embers. 
 
 The Awakening 
 This little incident is told just to tell the story of one 
 boy, and he lived in this humble mountain home, and his 
 name was John — that is his name yet. He was the oldest 
 of the family. His mass of thickly matted black hair 
 overhanging keen black eyes did not tell a story any 
 different from that of other boys or from other members 
 of the family. In his eighteenth year he had hardly been 
 out of his own '^deestrict," but remembered one journey 
 to the countv seat, fifteen miles awav. For schooling: he 
 had read the ''blue-backed" speller and could spell 
 nearly all of its words, knowing many columns by heart. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 87 
 
 from "baker" to "incomprehensibility." He bad 
 learned this by the light of the pine torch at night as 
 much as from the poorly equipped school which he at- 
 tended two or three months in the year. But he had 
 that much learning, anyway. His knowledge of things 
 was very limited. How could it be otherwise? His 
 chief asset lay in the good health and spirit of free in- 
 dependence from breathing the pure air of the moun- 
 tains more than two thousand feet above the level of the 
 sea. He looked with awe upon a stranger and almost 
 trembled with timidity at the thought of meeting and 
 having to speak to some one he had never seen. Even 
 while this stranger had been talking to the father, the 
 boy lay almost hidden by the pots and other vessels for 
 cooking placed away in the corner. Nevertheless, the 
 words of the stranger had made a deep impression on his 
 strong, but undeveloped, mind, and long after the guest 
 had taken his departure, for he went with the breaking 
 of the storm, the boy lay in his crude bed, but little 
 better than a pile of oak leaves, and thought and thought 
 and thought. Little by little it came to his untutored 
 mind that he, too, might go to school and become edu- 
 cated. What a long step it was in the civilization of 
 the race when the common man rose up in his strength 
 
88 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 and majesty and said: ''I, too, will go to school; I, too, 
 will become educated!" Great it was because the vast 
 majority of the human race are common people, anyway. 
 
 The next day, as the boy and his father and the other 
 members of the family went about their spring work, 
 he could not forget what the stranger had said. Some- 
 how the words kept ringing in his ears, and he thought 
 of the familiar simile used by the stranger and wondered 
 if his life could be ''fetched out" any. The birds sang 
 in the trees, the squirrels in the near-by forest snapped 
 the unfolding buds, and the boy thought more and more. 
 At last he took courage to mention it to his father. 
 What a load lifted from his heart as he thus spoke and 
 saw that his father was pleased! 
 
 But how was he to go to school! His father had no 
 money. The little plot of land yielded hardly a living. 
 Nothing had been saved all these years against ''a rainy 
 day. ' ' Only the most meager living had been had from the 
 tilling of the little farm, and that had to be supplemented 
 by game from the father's trusty rifle. Then, where was 
 a school, anyway, and how would he get there? It was 
 thirty miles to a railway and he had never seen a train; 
 besides, if there were a dozen railroads by his home, he 
 couldn't go without money. His father, slow of thought 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 89 
 
 as lie was, began to hope and plan a little for the boy, too. 
 It stirred his pride to think that a son of his should be con- 
 cerned enough to plan to go to school, and that, too, 
 when he had nothing with which to plan. As the sum- 
 mer days came and went the boy and the father had a 
 growing desire for the school and what it might do. 
 There was the yearling calf which had been meant to 
 purchase winter shoes and other clothing for the family, 
 and which they had refused to sell to the trader for that 
 very reason. But now it was decided that he should go 
 to help John. He would probably not bring more than 
 ten dollars, and the folks could get shoes and clothing 
 some way, however difficult it might be. But when 
 should he go, and how should he get there! After much 
 pondering it was decided that he ought to go to one of 
 the Eastern colleges. How did he leam about it? He 
 had heard his teacher tell about old man Johnson's son, 
 Henry, who had gone there and became great in math- 
 ematics — so great that he had made his way by coach- 
 ing the sons of the wealthy and getting them ready for 
 their final examinations. Neither John nor his father 
 knew about the entrance requirements or anything of 
 that sort. 
 
90 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 Launching Out 
 80 one day in the early fall, when the fodder was in 
 the shock on the ten-acre lot, the potatoes had been put 
 away, and only the pumpkins and beans and nuts re- 
 mained to be garnered, John, with his steer money of 
 ten big dollars in his pocket, left the little home far u]i 
 in the mountains, and with his worldly possessions done 
 up in an old carpet bag, the gift of a friend of the fam- 
 ily, he set out to walk the thirty miles to the nearest 
 railway town. It was a bright autumnal morning. The 
 chestnuts and hickorynuts were just beginning to shed 
 their luscious fruit. Now and then a squirrel on his way 
 to his winter home with a nut in his paws would cross 
 the path, and John, too, would stop to gather a few nuts 
 for his own use. But he trudged on, and when noon came 
 he sat down by a friendly tree, from under which flowed a 
 cool spring, to eat his lunch of simple food put up by 
 his mother. Late in the afternoon he arrived at the sta- 
 tion but little worse for his journey of thirty miles. It 
 was not much of a walk for his supple young body and 
 strong, wiry limbs. He had never seen a train, nor even 
 the picture of one. His heart almost jumped from its 
 place when he saw the little switch engine back up to 
 shift some cars, and he wondered where he would ride. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 91 
 
 But the kind man in charge took him to the station agent, 
 who, when he found wliere the boy wanted to go, looked 
 with amazement at his coarse shoes, homespun ''jeans,'' 
 and cheap hat, and wondered how he would look in a 
 city. However, the agent knew little more about the 
 distant city than did John; but when he told John that 
 it took almost four times as much money as he had to 
 get there, the boy said: ''Well, gimme er ticket ez fer ez 
 it'll go." At ten o'clock that night he boarded his first 
 train, and in about twenty-four hours left it. What 
 thrilling sensations crept over him as the roar of the 
 locomotive, together with the thought of leaving home, 
 came to him ! But he was going where he could be made 
 to open up like the corn in the spring. He slept but 
 little that first night, and the second night his ticket had 
 all been used. Fortunately his mother had given him 
 ample rations and he yet had food. Fortunately again, 
 he was put off at a small country station in a fine farm- 
 ing country. Undismayed, he set out to walk the high- 
 way that led along the railroad. When he became tired, 
 he crept into a convenient haystack, and with that and 
 the friendly stars for covering, he slept the sleep of 
 wearied youth until the bright morning sun awoke him 
 just as the farmer and his hired men were going to 
 
92 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 liarvest the corn. Many generations of mountain dwell- 
 ers liad made liim unafraid in the dark, but he did shrink 
 from strangers. However, the friendly farmer bade him 
 go to the house for a warm breakfast and asked him to 
 work a day or two. But these lengthened into weeks, 
 and when the farmer's busy work was over John had 
 enough money to take him more than another day's jour- 
 ney, which brought him to within less than one hundred 
 and fifty miles of his destination. 
 
 Still undaunted, he trudged the rest of the way, and 
 made more than thirty miles a day, too. 
 
 Arriving at the little city one bright noonday in late 
 autumn, for the seasons are earlier there than in the 
 Southern mountains, he inquired of a street man the way 
 to the college. The citizen eyed the newcomer in a curi- 
 ous sort of way. Well, he did look a little odd. In the 
 five weeks since he left home he had had no change of 
 top clothes. His brown '^ jeans" and cowhide shoes, 
 homemade, were beginning to look the worse for the 
 wear. He looked almost as unpromising as did Benja- 
 min Franklin when he appeared in the streets of Phila- 
 delphia and met Deborah Eeed more than one hundred 
 years before. But he was just as courageous as was 
 Franklin. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 93 
 
 Finding his way into the college, he was soon shown 
 how wholly unprepared he was for the work there. But 
 the professor who gave him this information remembered 
 that other students had come from these Southern moun- 
 tains. In fact, he remembered Johnson. He did not 
 look at the well-worn garments, nor the mass of hair, 
 nor the rough, bony hands, but rather he saw the keen- 
 ness of the boy's eyes and thou2:ht there might be a 
 future to him. He then told him of the city public 
 schools, and even if he had no money a way could be 
 made. Soon a home was found for him with a wealthy 
 merchant, with whom he had his living for the chores. 
 In a comparatively brief time he finished the public- 
 school course, then the preparatory course, and was ad- 
 mitted to college. 
 
 With the courage that comes from one success after 
 another, he finished his college course with honors that 
 meant even more than honorable mention. His class 
 standing exempted him from examination and likewise 
 graduated him as valedictorian. Like Horace Maynard, 
 who won fame and greatness in the region from which 
 our hero migrated, he seemed to have unconsciously 
 written high up on the wall of his room the letter ''V," 
 and lived to see it grow into the highest honor a class 
 
94 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 might give or a college bestow. His years back in the 
 mountains had ^iven him powers of endurance, and his 
 simple life had endowed him with qualities of mental 
 growth almost unparalleled among the student body 
 whose association and companionship he so greatly rel- 
 ished and enjoyed. 
 
 But his busy, studious days had not kept him from some 
 diversions that might develop another side of his nature 
 — a side which we all seem to possess, whether rich or 
 poor, bond or free, peasant or noble. Coming of a race 
 noted for their far-seeing statesmanship and combative 
 qualities developed by long, long ages of fighting in de- 
 fense of home and native land, he was ever ready for 
 that which would try his mettle. In the college town 
 there lived a very wealthy man whose beautiful daughter 
 was a classmate of our timid and backward friend. But 
 her beauty did not escape his eye, trained as it was more 
 for the squirrel and the inhabitant of the forest than for 
 the beauty of the city. When out of college and into 
 the law school in the same town, he did not forget this 
 fair daughter of a noble house; yet he hardly dared ap- 
 proach the sacred precincts of her palatial home. A 
 (juiet turn of the wheel of fortune — and it will turn quick- 
 ly now and then — gave him an unexpected relationship. 
 
SOUTHERN HERO TALES 95 
 
 One day a company of men and women — the social set 
 to which he was admitted because of his college worth 
 rather than his own desire for such — were discussing the 
 politics of the day. The issue was whether or not the 
 people of the commonwealth would permit their present 
 Congressman to continue in office with all the charges 
 of graft clinging to him. All admitted his defeat de- 
 sirable, but none dared to ''bell the cat." He had been 
 in power for years; the ''ring" organization and office 
 holders were behind him. As if sending a challenge to 
 a knight of the olden time, the fair-eyed damsel turned 
 to the young man fresh from the dewy mountains and 
 said: "You can beat him." Like the valorous knight 
 of old, he picked up the gauntlet where she had thrown 
 it down, for he thought he saw more than a mere chal- 
 lenge to win a seat in Congress; and he did. 
 
 It was a long, hard-fought battle, with the odds against 
 him. But he drew from his fine reserve of brain and 
 health, plus a college training, to all of which was added 
 the luster in the eye and the roses in the cheek of the 
 fair young girl who had thrown down the gauntlet. And 
 he won. It was more than a place in the councils of a 
 great nation that was his prize on that victorious day. 
 Keeping tune to the plaudits of friends and admirers 
 
96 SOUTHERN HERO TALES 
 
 on the liappy day when he took his seat under the big- 
 white dome at Washington was the merry chime of wed- 
 ding bells, which brought to him forever the bright-eyed 
 girl whose very charm was in seeing that he could win 
 and whose greatest value was in helping him to find him- 
 self in a large way. Now, often, surrounded by admir- 
 ing friends, he tells this story, which he never names, but 
 which his charming wife calls '' Walking to Congress." 
 Thus, sitting in the circle of the nation's most renowned 
 statesmen is the man who, as a boy, dared to venture, 
 and by so doing won what he who never tries and never 
 braves the danger cannot hope to win. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 
 014 441 049 A m