ROBERT ERNEST COWAN of the Indian^ and Tenne^ee pioneer^ BY WILL T. HALE Author of "In a/I Autumn Isnir, n ml <_>th>T and l>i-<-fs " NASHVILLE. TENN. T H K C I" M B !: K I, A X ] ) PR E S S 1899 COPYRIGHTED, 1899, HY WILT, T. HALE. INTRODUCTION. In seeking to present the strange and romantic, the thrilling and marvelous, we need not indulge the imagina- tion. The history of Tennessee abounds in facts stranger than fiction. Speaking of the various deeds of the Savior while on earth, Saint John avers: " If they should be written every one, 1 suppose that even the world could not contain the books that .should be written." Many volumes could be ^ profitably and interestingly filled with heroic acts of our ancestors. In presenting the following, the object has Hj been to give precedence to only a few of the salient occur- 2j rences, and to try to treat them in such a manner as will 3C stimulate the study of our annals by the young. The truth ca has been adhered to throughout so far as the author was able to discern it. The author acknowledges his obligations for valuable assistance rendered him by Dr. R. L,. C. "White, the eminent specialist in Tennessee history, (iii) CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A Glance at Tennessee's Progress, and Reviewing- Some of Its Landmarks 2 CHAPTER II. The Earliest Discovery of Tennessee Soil, and the Destruction of Old Fort Loudoun 13 CHAPTER III. The Wataug-a Association, with an Account of an Attempt to Destroy the First Settlements 23 CHAPTER IV. John Sevier, Soldier and Statesman, as well as a Notice of the State of Franklin 32 CHAPTER V. The Settling- of Middle Tennessee, noting- the Beg-in- ning- of Indian Atrocities 44 CHAPTER VI. Further Mention of Events in the Cumberland Settle- ments, and James Robertson's Achievements 50 CHAPTER VII. An Interesting- Record, Together with a Trag-edj- on Stone's River 67 CHAPTER VIII. Territorial Matters, Including- Some of the Public Acts of William Blount 82 (v) vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. The Xickojack Expedition, Which Resulted in Break- ing the Spirit of the Indians 94 CHAPTER X. Mere Glimpses of Certain Other Characters Figuring in the Earlier Settlements 102 CHAPTER XL Endurance and Heroism of Frontier Women, and Some Instances Particularized 120 CHAPTER XII. The Pastimes of the Settlers, and Their Whole-souled Hospitality 130 CHAPTER XIII. Early Religious Sentiment, and the Faithful Work of the Ministers 136 CHAPTER XIV. The Tribes Claiming a Right to Lands at the First Settlement, and Their Present Status 144 CHAPTER XV. The Mound Builders or Stone Grave Race, arid Some Archaeological Researches 154 CHAPTER XVI. The Battle of King's Mountain, and Tennessee's Con- nection with the Revolution 164 CHAPTER XVII. The Story of Constitution Making, from the Watauga Association to 1800. . 171 CHAPTER I. A GLANCE AT TENXES.SEE's I'KOGRKSS, AND KEVIEWINO SOME or ITS LAND-MARKS. Tennessee was admitted intu the Union on Ma}- 31, or June 1, ITLHi., the thii'd State coming in under the Federal constitution, although in K ( J1 it had be- come a distinct territorial government. The seat of government was at Knoxville from K9i to 1811. ex- cepting for a short period only in 1807. when it was at Kingston; from 1810," he will tell you. "Of course you see I have remodeled the building somewhat, but the portion that was standing when he became owner is still intact. The first settler here was a man named Looney. who was not held in high esteem by the few settlers hereabouts, for he was thought to have made his property by unfair means, and was in addition supposed to be too much in sym- pathy with Indians. My father came from Virginia, bringing his stock and negroes with him; and you may wonder at it, but L have now the same breed of dun cattle that were brought here soon after the territory became the State of Tennessee. And." be will con- tinue, with a twinkle of humor in his blue eyes, "I have lived in three counties, though T was born in this house and never moved in my life. The farm was first in Smith County; when Cannon was made from a portion of Smith. T found mvself in Cannon. The plantation is now in the county of DeKalb. On Smith Fork creek, at the Buffalo Ford, there occurred the fight with the Indians which is recorded in Carrs Ten- 8 THE BACKWARD TRAIL,. nessee history. The spot is just above the present ford, a mile north of my farm, and by looking at the place and rellecting that it was then covered with cane and heavy undergrowth., a person need not wonder that the Indians made a good stand. Gen. Winchester, of the Sunnier County settlements, while out upon a scouting expedition, came upon fresh traces of Indians. He and his party pursued them down what is now known as Smith Fork creek until reaching the ford, lie saw there that the Indians had decided to stop and give battle. IJis spies two of them were in front. When they entered the canebrake a short distance, the savages, lying in ambush, fired upon them. The spy named Hickerson was killed. Gen. Winchester and his force hurried up, and the battle lasted some time. But the Indians had. the advantage in numbers and posi- tion, and the former were forced to withdraw. Capt. James McCann killed an Indian on this occasion who was supposed to be a celebrated chief and warrior known as the Moon, as he was hare-lipped, and it was claimed that Ibere was but one hare-lipped man in the tribe to which the body of Indians belonged. ''Speaking further of the Indians, many of them came through Cannon County when migrating beyond the Mississippi river. My father visited their camps, as did many of the farmers. He said that he was able, after seeing them on the way from their old hunting grounds and the graves of their fathers, to form a bet- ter idea of the appearance of the Hebrews when leav- THE "MOUNTAIN DISTRICT." 9 ing Kgypt. Man)' of them were wealthy, having their slaves and line horses. "I have heard my parents speak of their early days here. They were often uneasy over thoughts of Indian violence, though no massacre took place. There were alarms now and then, when the neighbors would all go to one house and remain until the scare was over. As late as 1865-66 it was not an uncommon occurrence for a few Indians to leave the fastnesses of North Car- olina or East Tennessee and pass through this section on a wearisome journey to the far West.'' Finally: The Goodpasture house still stands on Buffalo creek, near llillhani, in Overtoil County. It is a large two-story log structure, with only one door in the front and one window in the upper story. It was erected in 1800, while the country between Livingston (now the county seat of Overtoil County), and King- ston, then a federal fort at the junction of Ilolston and Clinch rivers, was occupied by the Cherokee Indians. This section is now known as the "mountain district'' of the State. It is a romantic country, and the facts concerning its early settlement are full of interest. It extends northwestwardly, between the Cumberland Mountains and the Cumberland and Caney Fork rivers, from a line drawn lengthwise through the cen- tre of the State to the Kentucky line, embracing the present counties of Overtoil, White, Jackson. Putnam, Fentress, Clay and Pickett. All of it was not opened for settlement at the same time. P>v the treatv of Hoi- io THE BACKWARD TRAIL. ston, in 1791, the Indian line began at a point on Cum- berland river, from which a southwest line would strike the ridge that divides the waters of Cumberland from those of Duck river, forty miles above Nashville. The line ran two and a half miles east of Livingston, dividing the district into two almost equal parts. The West was open to settlement, and the Kast (known as the Wilderness) reserved to the Cherokees. 15y an act of the General Assembly in 1798, the line of the In- dian reservation was made the eastern boundary of Simmer County, which, in 1199, was reduced to its constitutional limits, and the new counties of Smith and Wilson established out of its former territorv. Two years later Smith County was reduced, and .lack- son County established, extending to the Wilderness. By the treaty of Tellico. in 1805. the Indian title to the Wilderness was extinguished, and the entire moun- tain district opened. In this part of the State are Obeds and Koaring rivers, and on the banks of the lat- ter the Long Hunters spent eight or nine months of the years 1709-70 while exploring the West. The Goodpasturc family came from Kingston bv the Wal- ton road which was then marked out between that place to the present village of Cartilage, and completed in 1,801. "The road." say A. A", and W. II. Goodpast- ure in a biographical and historical work, "was about a hundred miles in length, and contained four stands for the accommodation of travelers. Coming West, the first of these was at Kmibronirh's, on the eastern THK FIRST SKTTI.KKS. 11 font of the mountain; the 1 second at Crab Orchard, a once famous place on the iiH.uiitain plateau, in Cum- berland County; the third at White's IMain, in Put- nam County, on the western loot of the mountain; and the fourth near J'ekin, also in Putnam County.'' There were few settlers then' at the time; Indians were now and then seen, and ImlTalo were still to he found; but a few years later settlers came from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kast Tennessee, among them the widow and some of the children of the great Indian lighter and lirsi governor of Tennessee, (Jen. .John Se- vier. In time there also came the ancestors of Samuel L. Clemens (".Mark Twain"), the most popular humor- ist in the world, locating at Jamestown, Fentress County. The landmarks mentioned are rife with memories. There were tears and laughter, love and hate, hope and despair, and all the vicissitudes and changes that are the heritage of mankind. We can see the sturdy hus- bandman as he goes about his labors to tame the wild country, and the housewife blithely doing the duties allotted to her; neighbors enjoying each other's com- panionship witli greater pleasure because so rare, and the young people, as the Indian youths and maidens before them, experiencing love's young dream, their soul- radiant in the light that never was on land or sea; revolutionary veterans who had seen service at Valley Forge or the Cowpens or along the Branclywine, now entitled to somewhat of rest, fishing in the beautiful 12 THE BACKWARD TRAIL. streams, making wolf traps, or hunting the turkey for pastime. And those log walls, still intact after the forms that held immortal souls have fallen to dust, serve to recall Dobson's lines on the Pompadour's fan: "Where are the secrets it knew? Weavings of plot and of plan? But where is the Pompadour, too? This was the Pompadour's fan!" CHAPTEK II. THE EARLIEST DISCOVERY OF TENNESSEE SOIL, AND THE DESTRUCTION OF OLU FORT LOUDOUN. It is an interesting tradition that Ferdinand De Soto, a Spanish explorer, first discovered the magnifi- cent country now kno\vn as Tennessee more than two centuries before its first settlement. Fired by the idea of conquest and urged by the hope of finding gold in the New World, he sailed from Havana May 12, 1539, with an army of about one thousand men, besides the marines. There were also three hundred and fifty horses. He passed through the domains of a number of Indian rulers, meeting with considerable opposition, and finally reached the eastern border of Tennessee. Keeping a western course, he arrived, in April, 1541, in sight of tlie Indian village, Chisca, supposed to be the present site of Memphis. According to Irving, the Indians of this province knew nothing of the approach of the strangers until the latter rushed in upon them, taking many prisoners and pillaging the houses. De Soto remained in the town some twenty days, and hav- ing had four floats constructed, crossed the Missis- sippi river at a point known as the Chiekasaw Bluffs, and passed with his band of adventurers to the failure d3) 14 THE BACKWARD TRAIL. that awaited his aspirations and dreams. More than a century later, La Salle, passing down the Mississippi, built a fort called Prud'homme, near Memphis, in 1714 the French built the successor of Prud'homme, calling it Fort Assumption, and still later Fort San Ferdinando de Barancas was erected by the Spanish government at the mouth of Wolf river in the hope of building the Southwestern Empire of Xorth America. When the United States came into possession of the Mississippi Valley, the fort was taken possession of by the Americans and dismantled, while Fort Pickering was built further down the river. It is thus seen that the western section of the State was early discovered. But it was the last to be opened up to civilization, the treaty of 1818. by which the Chickasaw Indians relinquished their rights to Ten- nessee, being the beginning of its history. Mem- phis, the metropolis of that section, had its birth in the early part of 1819. The virgin wilderness around it at that time, Phelan says, bore scarcely a trace of the human hand; the foundations of both city and county were laid under the shadows and around the roots of trees in the midst of tangled undergrowth. The old blockhouse still stood in Fort Pickering and a few straggling shanties clustered around a large and primitive structure known as the public ware- house, sometimes called Young's warehouse, in the neighborhood of Wolf river. Between these two were thick cane-brakes and a heavy and luxuriant growth of WEST TENNESSEE. 15 timber, through which a narrow footpath ran from Fort Pickering to Wolf river. The growth into im- portance- of the city has been marvelous. Though founded after Nashville and KnoxviJle had acquired si/.e and reputation, it is now hardly rivaled in the Southwest, from a commercial standpoint. A city of beauty and prosperity, it stands above the Father of Waters, interesting as its namesake on the Nile when at its best. In its midst bud and bloom the flowers of a semi-tropic clime; the fragrance of the garden of Ciul permeates its residence streets; along its business throughfares the baled snow of the cotton- fields of ^Mississippi, Arkansas and West Tennessee is drawn, promising warmth and comfort for the world's millions. The entire western section has developed also, until one, considering it, recalls the tribute a Southern singer has paid the South: "'No fairer land hath fired a poet's lays, or given a home to man." Despite 1he earlv discovery of the western borders, and the fact that the Chickasaw Bluffs have played an important part in the political history of Spain. France and England, the first actual settlements were made in the East: though the home of the Chickasaw Indians, AYest Tennessee was not the arena in which the blood of the pioneers was spilled to make a commonwealth. The Walauga neighborhood is given as the scene of the first settlement: but it is not venturing too much to pay that had Fort Loudoun escaped destruction in 17(50. that would have been the point from which col- 16 THE BACKWARD TRAIL, onization would have spread. The old fort has a pa- thetic interest, and has been considered of sufficient importance to induce Miss ^lurfree, a leading Ameri- can h'ctionist, to make it the subject of one of her latest novels. The fort was built in 1757 on the Tennessee river about thirty miles from the present city of Knoxville, and a mile above the mouth of the Tellico. It and another had been erected by the British in the Chero- kee territory with the consent of the Indians, for pro- tection against the French and their allies, and was one hundred and fifty miles west of the nearest white settlement. Garrisoned by about two hundred British regulars, the traders, hunters and a few settlers soon made the place the centre of a thriving settlement. While the tragedy of Fort Loudoun excites our hor- ror, the Indians had great provocation. In many in- stances the whites had treated them as though the In- dians had no rights that should be respected, and as if independence were a thing to be monopolized by the Anglo-Americans. For instance, the first man who was known to have resided among the Cherokees the destroyers of the fort in question was Cornelius Dougherty, an Irishman who established himself as a trader among them in 1G90. He introduced horses among them, and they soon began stealing the animals from the whites. In retaliation, the whites, living along the seacoast of Carolina, encouraged the tribes living nearer the Atlantic to steal the Cherokees them- TROUBLE WITH INDIANS. 17 selves. Hundreds of tin.- latter were captured., told to the colonists, and liv them consigned to hard labor in the malarial swamps, or shipped to Cuba. The cause which brought about the massacre of the Fort Loudoun garrison rellects no credit on the whites. The Uritish and French were at war \vilh each other, and the Cherokees assisted the former. The Indians lost their horses during the expedition, and on return- ing through Western Virginia to their homes, after the capture of Fort I hi (.hicsne. they appropriated a num- ber of horses which they found running in the woods. With an ingratitude that was never exceeded by the Indians themselves, the (Jerman settlers of that region attacked the Unsuspecting Indians in the night, and killed and scalped fourteen. They also took a number of prisoners. Jt is stated that these ingrates. who for- got that the Cherokees had assisted in protecting their homes from 'he French, imposed the scalps they took on the government for those of French Indians, and obtained the premium allowed at that time by law. This natural! v aroused a dee]) resentment, and Ocon- ostota. head king or arehiinagus. of the Cherokees. set about to seek swift and bloody revenge. The Cherokees at once deserted the Fnglish and be- gan their massacres, flov. AY. II. Littleton, of South Carolina, made preparation to force them into repent- ance and submission. lie levied a considerable army. Awed, and designing, probably, to gain an advantage. the savages sent commissioners to treat with Little- 2 18 THE BACKWARD TRAIL. ton. ]le ordered them into the rear of the army. Af- ter arriving at Fort St. George, the commissioners, twenty-one chiefs, were held as prisoners there, the Indians agreeing to their retention until an equal number of those who had slain the inhabitants on the frontiers should be given up in exchange for them. Atta-Kulla-Kulla, vice-king, was a party to this agreement, but desired that some of the chiefs who were imprisoned might be liberated to assist him in placating the Indians. Oconostota and two other chiefs were given up. while other Indians were taken in exchange. Those twenty-one hostage^ remained in prison about two months, when the Cherokees resolved to attempt their liberation by stratagem. The army had just left the country, and on February 16, 11 GO, two Indian women appeared at Keowee, on the opposite bank of the river, 210 doubt to assist in carrying out some scheme of Oconostota. An officer of the garrison went out and began talking with them. Presently Ocono- stota came up. lie drew from the fort two other offi- cers to converse with him. declaring that he wanted a white man to go with him to have a talk with Gov. Lit- tleton: among these officers was Capt. Cotymore, against whom the head chief entertained a deep-rooted hatred. l?y some means a plan seemed to have been concerted between the hostages and the Indians with- out for it was soon shown that a body of savages were in hiding near where he and the whites were talking. A FORT ATTACKKD. 19 When promised u guard to go with him to C'harhs- ton, the chief, wild held a bridle- in his hand, said he would go and catch his horse. Then quickly turning himself about, he swung his bridle three times over his head. This was a signal, and immediately about thirty guns were discharged at the group of oilicers. Coty- more received a fatal wound, and the other officers, Lieutenants Foster and Bill, were wounded. They were enabled to reaeh the fort with ('apt. Cotymore, and ordered the hostages put in irons. An English- man laid hold of one of them, and was stabbed to death, and in the seiiille which now took plaee two or three other whites were wounded and driven from the place of confinement. The all'air was by this time be- ginning to look serious. The attacking Indians were yelling outside, while the hostages were' shouting to encourage their friends and making every possible effort to prevent being shackled by the British. The fort proved too strong for Oconostota's primi- tive methods, and successfully resisted his siege. Infu- riated at the treaehery of the Indians and the bloodv resistance of the hostages, the whites committed a piece of brutality that may be justifiable in contending with savages, but a thoughtful public will doubt the exigency; they cut a hole in the roof of the room in which the Indian prisoners were confined, and shoot- ing down, butchered the entire number! 2O THE BACKWARD TRAIL. The war soon Ijegan to rage in all its horrors. Gath- ering a large force of Cherokee braves. Oconostota and Atta-Kulla-Kulla invested Firt Loudoun. They had on March 3 assaulted with musketry the fort at Nine- ty-six, with no effect, and had met Col. Montgomery and his force near their village at Ftchoe, and, accord- ing to Hay wood, "'treated him so rudely that, though lie claimed the victory, he retreated to Fort St. George, whence he shortly afterward went to Xew York." They were to meet with a measure of success at .Fort Loudoun. They besieged this place for weeks. Provisions be- came so scarce that the whites were compelled to eat horses and dogs. In vain did the little garrison look for Col. Montgomery or for any other succor. Fng- lishmen were defending and the stubbornness of the defense can be imagined: each soldier could sa.y, as those who later defended Lucknow: "Handful of men as we were, we were English in heart and in limb, Strong with the strength of the race to command, to obey, to endure; Each of us fought as if hope for the garrison hung but on him; Still could we watch at all points? we wore every day fewer and fewer." Finally the savages agreed to terms; the whites were to be allowed a safe retreat to the settlements beyond the .Blue Kidge. The latter on August 7. KG'), threw MASSACKKD. 21 into the river their camion and buried a 1 the Cherokees were forced to sue for peace after their towns had been burned, their cornfields laid waste and their stock slaughtered or driven awav bv the avenging whites. CHAITKK III. TIIH WATAfGA ASSOCIATION, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF AN ATTK.M1T TO DKSTKOY Til K FIliST SKTTI.KM KNTS.. "Kasi Tennessee began in be- permanently settled in the winter of 11(>S-(>!i." -ays Haywood. "'I'm families of these settlers came from the neighborhood nf the place where lialeigh now .-lands, in North Carolina, and settled on I he Watauga. This was the Ih'st si-ule- nienl in Kast 'J'ennessee." Ca[)t. William Bean came from Virginia in 11i!9, built a eabin on the Wataupi. near the mouth of Boom/- creek, and his son. K'us-sell, was the lirsl white child born in Tenne.-st'e. lUit the small sell lenient in the wilderness was added to by oilier settlers every month, and by 11 ^ Watau^a was quite a flourishing community. Among these later arrivals .-Imuld be mentioned .James Robertson, especially since he was to become s/> prominently connected with alTaitx first at Watan