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'V
BINDING LIST ApB
1928
TENNESSEE
HISTORICAL
MAGAZINE
Published under the Authority of
Th
e
ennessee Historical Society
VOLUME V
as
hville
1919
\ \ FOUNDED 1849
INCORPORATED 1Q7£5
\
I
f,v
President, JOHN H. DeWITT
t
Vice-Presiden ts,
E. T. SANFORD,
PARK MARSHALL,
J. P. YOUNG,
Lf^V I Mrs. B. D. BELL
Tie
Recording Secretary and Treasurer,
J. TYREE FAIN.
/ o
Assistant Recording Secretary, HALLUIM W. GOODLOE.
Corresponding Secretary W. A. PROVINE.
FORM OF LEGACY
"/ give and bequeath t& The Tennessee Historical Society
the sum of dollars.
99
CONTENTS OF VOLUME V.
NUMBER 1. APRIL, 1919
Foreword
PAGE 3
Henderson and Company's Purchase Within the Limits of
Tennessee
Sam'l C. Williams.
5
Some Confusing Statements in Ramsey's "Annals" and Other
Historians 28
J. Tyree Fain.
Lincoln's Assassination: How Nashville Received the News 38
William H. Gay.
Bedford's Tour in 1807 Down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mis- sissippi Rivers 40
W. A. Provine.
Historical Notes and News 70
Items from the Minutes of the Tennessee Historical Society. 71
NUMBER 2. JULY, 1919.
PAGE
Portrait of General Robert Armstrong 75
Hon. Robert Ewing.
Battle of Shiloh. . .
Rev. T. M. Hurst
81
The Management of Negroes Upon Southern Estates — An
Echo of Slave Days in the Southland 95
DeBow'8 Industrial Resources of the Southwest.
Bedford's Tour in 1807 Down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mis-
sissipps Rivers. (Concluded) 105
W. A. Provine.
An Episode in the Boyhood of General Forrest 131
Document.
Historical Notes and News 133
Items from the Minutes of the Tennessee Historical Society 135
*
\
NUMBER 3. OCTOBER, 1919.
PAGE
In Memoriam— Col. George C. Porter 137
Nashville Banner.
An Early Temperance Society at Nashville in 1829 142
Document.
Col. John Montgomery 145
Hon. A. V. Goodpasture.
The First Laurel of Jefferson Davis 151
Mrs. J. H. Kenzie.
The Battle of Fort Donelson 152
Report of by Gen. John B. Floydy 1862
Journal of John Sevier 156
John H. DeWitt.
A Davidson Political Circular, 1843 195
Document.
Historical Notes and News 197
Items from the Minutes of the Tennessee Historical Society 198
NUMBER 4. JANUARY, 1920.
PAGE
Tennessee Scotch-Irish Ancestry 201
Blanche Bentley.
"The Conquest of the Old Southwest" 212
Sam'l C. Williams.
Some Early Archeological Finds in Tennessee 216
W. A. Provine.
Why the First Settlers of Tennessee WpRE from Virginia. . . 229
A. V. Goodpasture.
Journal of Governor John Sevier. (Continued) 232
John H. DeWitt.
Historical News and Notes 267
Items from the Minutes of the Tennessee Historical Society 268
COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION
John H. DeWitt, Business Manager Stahlman Buildine:, Nashville. Tenn.
William A. Provi
Presbyte
Building, Nashville, Tenn.
Tyree
Watk
TENNESSEE
FOUNDED 1848
I
President, JOHN H. DeWITT
Vice-Presidents , E. T. SAN FORD, PARK MARSHALL
J. P. YOUNG.
Mrs. B. D. BELL
Recording Secretary, J. TYREE FAIN.
Assistant Recording Secretary, HALLUM W. GOODLOE,
Corresponding Secretary, W. A. PRO VINE
Treasurer and Financial Agent, COL. GEORGE C. PORTER
FORM OF LEGACY
"I'give and bequeath to The Tennessee Historical Society the sum of dollars."
1
V
CONTENTS
Foreword
page . 3
Henderson and Company's Purchase Within the Limits of Tennessee. Sam9 1 C. Williams 5
Some Confusing Statements in Ramsey's "Annals" and Other Historians. J. Tyree Fain 23
Lincoln's Assassination: How Nashville Received the News.
William H. Gay 38
A Tour in 1807 Down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers. J. R. Bedford 40
Historical Notes and News 70
Items from the Minutes of the Tennessee Historical Society. 71
Committee on Publications JOHN H. DEWITT, Chairman.
i
J. TYREE FAIN
W. A. PROVINE
Editor of Magazine
DR. W. A. PROVINE,
Corresponding Secretary of Tennessee Historical Society,
Business Manager
JOHN H. DEWITT,
Stahlman Buildina. Nashville. Tenn.
Neither the Society nor the Editor assumes responsibility for the statements or the opinions of contributors.
TENNESSEE
HISTORICAL MAGAZINE
Vol. 5 APRIL, 1919 No, 1
FOREWORD
In presenting the first number of this magazine to the pub- lic March, 1915, the able editor, Dr. St. George L. Sioussat, announced in a foreword the ideals of the Tennessee Historical Society in its venture of publishing a quarterly magazine. After making mention of the excellent publication formerly issued by Messrs. Garrett and Goodpasture — the American Historical Magazine — the aspiration and plan of its successor was set forth as follows:
The purpose of the magazine will be that common to its prede- cessor in Tennessee and to the many similar journals of other states. It is designed, first, to transfer to permanent form as much as pos- sible of that manuscript material, so liable to destruction, upon which the historian must ever place his first dependence; secondly, to afford a means of publication of papers and articles of an historic nature, and, thirdly, to be a medium for the publication of news as to all the historical activities of individuals or associations in the state.
How successfully the discerning judgment of the editor car-
three
magazine
At
that date it is known that the society lost, as a local member,, the talented editor by his removal to the chair of American History in Brown University, and in addition the absorbing: problem of the world war was upon us, adding to everyone ad- ditional and immediate responsibilities. Under the circum- stances, in keeping with the policy adopted by many other simi- lar journals, the magazine was issued occasionally as the local committee had opportunity to give attention to its publication.
as
been
ginning of the the future of
!>
ex
J
FOREWORD
"The following were elected as a publishing committee of the
Tennessee Historical Magazine: Dr. W. A. Provine, Editor; Hon. J. EL DeWitt, Manager; J. Tyree Fain, Assistant."
It is unnecessary to say that the newly appointed editor is in thorough sympathy with the original ideals for the magazine along which lines it has been issued during these four years, and it will be his endeavor to so continue it, with such added features as may be deemed appropriate. It is very much de- sired that the cordial co-operation vouchsafed in the past will be continued and that the cause of State, and Southern history in general, will be promoted by succeeding volumes. We an- nounced with satisfaction that many valuable contributions are either on hand, or promised, for future numbers, and it is hoped that promptness shall characterize their issuance. In this connection it may be said that it has been decided to change the dates of issuance to correspond with those com- monly observed by similar quarterly journals, viz: To Jan- uary, April, July and October, this number being denominated
Vol. V, No. 1, April, 1919.
Editor.
^
\
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE WITH-
IN THE OMITS OF TENNESSEE
The significance of the treaty of purchase negotiated at Sycamore Shoals of Watauga River, about six miles from Johnson City, Tennessee, on March 17, 1775, by Richard Hen- derson and his associates with the Cherokee Indians has been treated of in a fairly adequate manner by the historians of Kentucky. The acquisition by means of this treaty of the title of the Cherokees to lands south of the Kentucky River and the formation and fate of Henderson's Transylvania col- ony in the Kentucky country have been given weight as fac- tors in the opening of Kentucky to the westward expansion of civilization. For some reason, not easy of explanation, those who have written the history of Tennessee have overlooked or ignored the significance of the purchases of Cherokee lands that lie within the present limits of Tennessee, and of Rich- ard Henderson's part in the efforts to open up and develop them.
For manv years prior to the Revolutionary War there were many and repeated efforts on the part of leading and enter- prising men of the Atlantic seaboard to acquire lands and effect colonizations west of the Alleghanies. As early as 1747 a number of the most prominent men of Virginia formed the Ohio Company to which two years later was granted a do- main of 500,000 acres to which Christopher Gist was sent as locating agent from his home on Yadkin River in North Caro- lina. About the same time the Loyal Land Company of Vir- ginia wras organized and it received a royal grant of 800,000 acres of land. Dr. Thomas Walker, who later came in contact with Richardson Henderson in the survey of the Virginia- North Carolina state line wTest of the mountains, was sent to explore the lands of the company.
Encouraged by the apparent ease with which these two companies secured such extensive grants, many other schemes were set on foot for westward expansion and colonization. One of these was the plan projected by Samuel Hazard, a mer- chant of Philadelphia, in 1754-5 to procure "a Grant of so much land as shall be necessary for the Settlement of an ample colony ... to be divided from Virginia and Carolina by the Great Chain of Mountains that run along the Continent from the North Eastern to the South Western Parts of Amer- ica."1
Aden's Governments West of the Alleghanies, p. 2.
6 SAMUEfc C. WILLIAMS
Following the termination of the war between the British and French in favor of the former, to the British Ministry fell the task of formulating policies respecting the trans-Al- leghany territory. As the result of the cabinet's considera- tion, on October 7, 1763, King George III issued a proclama- tion declaring that the lands west of the mountains were re- served "for the present" for the hunting grounds and homes of the Indian tribes. This proclamation for awhile was a deterring influence, although it fell short of being an abso- lute prohibition of white settlements in that settlements were only forbidden when made "without our special leave and li- cense for that purpose first obtained." One of the chief pur- poses of the proclamation was the quieting of the fears of the
several tribes that the advance of the whites would displace them.2
The hopes of promoters revived when in 1768 Sir Wil- liam Johnson in the treaty of Ft. Stanwix purchased of the Six Nation of Indians a large domain claimed by the Chero- kees. This purchase was made under authority of the British government and the act was susceptible to the construction that the door was open for the westward advance of settlers provided the Indians could be satisfied in respect of their claims to the soil.
It seems quite certain that Richard Henderson from Gist, directly or through Boone, a neighbor of Gist on the Yadkin, had learned of the Ohio Company and of Hazard's scheme; and in regard to the influence the treaty of Ft. Stanwix had on him Archibald Henderson says :
"In the Virginia Gazette of December 1, 1768, a newspaper; in which he advertised, Henderson must have read with aston- ishment, not unmixed with dismay, that the 'Six Nations and all their tributaries have granted a vast extent of country to his majesty, and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and settled an advantageous boundary line between their hunting country and this, and the other colonies to the southward as far as the Cherokee river, for which they received the most valuable present in goods and dollars that was ever given at any conference since the settlement of America. It was now generally bruited about the colony of North Carolina that the Cherokees were deeply resentful because the North- ern Indians at the treaty of Fort Stanwix had been hand- somely remunerated for territory which they, the Cherokees. claimed from time immemorial. Henderson, who had consulted
deeply
76., p. 14.
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE. 7
the
for settlement under the aegis of Virginia, could only be legally
gnishing the Cherokee
?>3
The House of Burgesses of Virginia, seeing the advantages offered by the situation, addressed a memorial to Governor Botetourt praying that the southern line of the colony be ex- tended due west to the river Ohio, which it was then thought would be reached instead of either the Tennessee (Cherokee)
or Mississippi rivers.
John Stuart, the Southern Superintendent of Indian af- fairs, wrote a letter of protest to Governor Botetourt4 and also filed with the House of Burgesses (December, 1769) a formal protest, in which he urged:
"It is not necessary for me to observe on the claim derived from Sir William Johnson's purchase of the Cherokee lands from the Northern Tribes, but I humbly conceive it to be his Majesty's intentions by ordering the line from Holston's River to the mouth of Great Kanhawav to be run and marked
to prevent the settlement of Lands to the westward of it; which although a very fine country is absolutely necessary for the Cherokees and Chickesaws as Hunters. Individuals would reap great advantages by the establishment of the Line proposed by the House of Burgesses but the Cherokees and Chickesaws wTould be distress, and all the Indian Nations on the continent would be alarmed by such an Extension of Ter- ritory. I humbly submit it as my opinion that the commerce of the mother countrv would not be encreased by the settle- ment of the Cherokee Hunting Grounds for those Indians would lose their Deer with their Land. . . .
"I humbly confess that I can not see how the Incursions of the Western or Northern Tribes can be prevented by set- tling the Lands on the lower Parts of the Ohio and Cherokee Rivers, their Road to the interior parts of Virginia and other settlements on the upper part of the Ohio can not be through that Country. . . . There is nothing more certain than that the Cherokees have and still do claim the Lands between the Kanhawav and the Cherokee river, and I am convinced they never will relinquish their claims to the extent of the wishes of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and I humbly conceive it does not follow as a certain consequence that his Majesty's true Interests are to suffer by the total loss of this
sForces in American Expansion, 20 Am. Hist. Review, p. 86.
Mackson's John Stuart, 3 Tenn. Hist. Magazine, p. 183, summarizes their letter from Journal of House of Burgesses 1770-72 (January 13, 1770).
8 8AMUEL C. WILLIAMS
country because Adventurers from Virginia are not immediate- ly put in possession of it.
"I can with some degree of certainty affirm that none of his Majesty's subjects were settled to the Westward of the Point where the division line of Virginia and North Carolina intersects Holston's River in 1763 when his Majesty's Procla- mation was published. Whatever Warrants have been obtained since that Period to settle those Lands must be irregular and expressly contrary to said Proclamation. I will further ven- ture to affirm that all the settlements to the Westward of Samuel Harnacres which is 50 miles to the east of said point have been made since Sir William Johnson's purchase of Fort Stanwix. . . ."6
Stuart was in position to know the claims of the southern Indian tribes, and his memorial may be taken to be strong corroboration of the insistence of the Cherokees and Chicka- saws from the standpoint of a British official.
Another attempt at the colonization of the western coun- try which evidently influenced Henderson directly was that of the promoters of the Vandalia Colony, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent and Samuel Wharton, of Pennsylvania being the leaders. The activities of these men began in 1769, following the treaty at Ft. Stanwix, and were on the point of succeed- ing in 1773. The American newspapers printed much about this colony in 17734.6 That the scheme and the boundaries of Benjamin Franklin's Vandalia were known to Henderson and associates is made clear by the fact that the northeastern boundary of Henderson's Path Deed was made the southwest- ern boundary of Vandalia, the purpose manifestly being to have the two adjoin.7
The treaty of Sycamore Shoals effected the execution of two deeds on the part of the Cherokee chiefs, led by Oconostata and Attacullaculla to Richard Henderson and his eight asso- ciates. One of these deeds, commonly known thereafter as the "Path Deed," conveyed the following boundary: "Beginning on the Holston river, where the course of Powell's mountain strikes the same; thence up the river to the crossing of the Virginia line; thence westerly (easterly?) along the line run by Donelson to a point six (6) English miles east of Long Island of Holston river; thence a direct course toward the mouth of the Great Kanawha until it reaches the top of the
BMss. Division N. Y. Public Library.
•Alden's Governments West of the Alleghanies, p. 28. 76., p. 54.
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 9
ridge on Powell's mountain; thence westerly along said ridge to the beginning."
Two errors on the part of the draftsman of this deed ap- pear. Powell's mountain lies between Powell's and Clinch riv- ers, and does not touch the Holston. The first reference to ''Powell's mountain" should be Clinch mountain, which does strike or nearly close in on Holston river about the mouth of Cloud's creek near Rogersville. Another error was in assuming that the Virginia line was farther south than after-surveys showed it to be. The northennost point in this deed is about ten (10) miles easterly from Wise C. H., Virginia.
The second deed from the Cherokees to Henderson and his associates covered a far vaster territory and was well called the "Great Grant." Its calls were: "Beginning at the Ohio river at the mouth of Kentucky, Cherokee, or what, bv
%J 7 7 7 «-
the English, is called Louisa river; thence up said river and the most northerly fork of the same to the head spring thereof; thence a southeast course to the ridge of Powell's mountain; thence westwardly along the ridge of said mountain to a point from which a northwest course will strike the headspring of the most southwardly branch of Cumberland river; thence down said river, including all its waters, to the Ohio river; thence up said river as it meanders to the beginning."8
This deed covered that immense area that lies between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers. The boundaries of the "Path Deed" and the "Great Grant" adjoin, and conjointly they cover a principality as rich in material resources as can be found in America in equal limits. The calls of these two deeds included the rich coal fields of Wise and Lee counties, Virginia; the equally valuable eastern Kentucky coal fields, as well as oil fields — all then undreamed of; timber belts beyond one's power to estimate, not to mention the agricul- tural possibilities (which Henderson did properly estimate from Daniel Boone's glowing descriptions of the region). Hen- derson visioned a Transylvania. Were he living today to see
the remarkable developments going forward in the purchased territory, he would deem it an El Dorado.
Richard Henderson was born in Hanover county, Va., April 20, 1735, but his father removed to Granville county, N. C, in 1745. Henderson was a lawyer of high rank, and com- bined business acumen, the result being a rapid rise in his profession and in wealth. Previous to this venture he had been elevated to the bench in the superior court in North Carolina.
In 1774 he learned, through Daniel Boone, of the desire
8Mann Butler's Appeal, p. 26.
10 SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
of the Cherokee Indians to realize on their claim to western lands; and he conceived a design of forming a syndicate to purchase a large boundary and colonize it. He associated with him John Williams and Leonard Hendly Bullock, of Granville; William Johnston, James Hogg, Thomas Hart, John Luttrell, Nathaniel Hart and David Hart, of Orange county, N. C.
Daniel Boone had visited the western wilds and had a clearer conception of the fine bodies of land in the west than any other person; and the imparting of this knowledge to such men of means and influence furthered a project dear to Boone's heart — the planting of a colony in the "Caintuck coun- try"— notwithstanding the fact that the colony of Virginia, which then included what is now Kentucky, and early in the century passed an act forbidding purchasers of land by pri- vate persons from the Indians.
Boone writes in his autobiography that he was "solicited by a number of North Carolina gentlemen, that were about purchasing the lands lying on the south of the Kentucky river from the Cherokee Indians, to attend their treaty at Watauga, in March, 1775, to negotiate with them and mention the boun- daries of the purchase. This I accepted, and at the request of the same gentlemen undertook to mark out a road in the best passage from the settlement through the wilderness to Kentucky, with such assistance as I though necessary to em- ploy for such an important undertaking."
Two of the syndicate, Judge Henderson and Col. Nathaniel Hart, in company with Boone, had visited the Cherokee towns and arranged for a council at Watauga for the negotiation of a treaty; and, on March 17, 1775, at Sycamore Shoals, and doubtless at Fort Watauga, about twelve hundred Indians assembled, to treat through their chiefs Oconostota, Attaeul- laculla, Tennessee Warrior and Willinawaugh. A treaty was concluded, and signed by the Indian chiefs who for their peo- ple granted an immense territory, including parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, to the syndicate which took the name of Tran- sylvania colony. The bounds of the grant began at the mouth of Kentucky river, thence with that stream and its northerly branch to its source; thence following the crest of the Appa- lachian (Cumberland) mountains to the source of the Cum- berland river; thence down that river to the Ohio; thence up the Ohio to the beginning. It contained approximately twenty million acres, and cost the syndicate, according to the con- sideration expressed in the treaty, the sum of ten thousand pounds sterling — a little above $50,000.00 or about one-fourth
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 11
of one cent for each acre granted. The cloud upon the convey- ance, incident to the prohibitory act of Virginia, had its ef- fect to depress the consideration sum.
It is said that one of the chiefs told Judge Henderson at Watauga that the lands south of Kentucky river were "bloody ground and would be dark and difficult to settle"; and that another chief, Oconostota, for awhile demurred to the sale, making; a pathetic speech.
"He began with the very flourishing state in which his nation once was, and mentioned the encroachment of the white people, from time to time, upon the retiring and expiring na- tions of Indians. Whole nations had melted away like balls of snow before the sun. . . . The whites had passed the mountains and settled upon Cherokee lands, and wished to have their usurpations sanctioned by the confirmation of a treaty. . . • New cessions would be applied for, and the small remnant of his nation would be compelled to seek a retreat in some far distant wilderness. "9 The other chiefs overruled this venerable prophet of his race and the treaty was signed.
The Henderson associates employed Daniel Boone to blaze the way and make a road into the lands so acquired by the syndicate. Boone started upon the perilous undertaking. He followed the trail of the buffaloes and Indians through Cum- berland Gap and opened up a road long known as the "Wilder- ness road" into Kentucky over which countless thousands of settlers rushed in after years to find homes in the blue grass regions.
Felix Walker, who for a time was clerk of the Watauga court, residing on Sinking creek near Johnson City (after- wards a member of congress from North Carolina) was one of Boone's road-blazing party. Walker afterwards (about 3824) wrote an account of this journey, describing the diffi- culties encountered bv Boone's own party, and their relief and delight on discovering "the pleasing and raptuous appear- ance of the plains of Kentucky. A new sky and strange earth seemed to be presented to our view."110
A short time after Boone had started, Judge Henderson formed a party to follow in Boone's trail, setting out from the settlement about March 18th. Henderson kept a diary of the journey, in which under date of "Friday, April 7th" this entry is found : "About brake of day begun to snow. About
•Haywood's History of Tenn., p. 58.
10
DeBow's Review, 1854.
12 SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
11 o'clock received a letter from Mr. Luttrell's camp that were live persons killed on the road to Cantuckee by Indians. Capt. Hart, upon the receipt of this news retreated back with his company and determined to settle in the valley to make corn for the Cantuckey people. The same day received a letter from Dan. Boone that his company was fired upon by Indians. Killed two of his men — though he kept the ground and saved
the baggage, &c."
"Saturday 8th. Started abt. 10 o'clock; Crossed Cumber- land Gap about 4 miles. Met about 40 persons returning from the Cantuckey on Acct. of the Late murder by the Indians. Could prevail on one only to return. Memo. Several Virgin- ians who were with us returned.
"Monday 10th. Dispatch- d Capt. Cocke to the Cantuckey to inform Capt. Boone that we were on the road. Continued at Camp that day on acct. of the Badness of the Wether."11
On the 30th the party reached Boonesborough or as Hen- derson noted in his diary, "Fort Boone."
The Capt. Cocke referred to by Henderson was Wm. Cocke, who afterwards became one of the first senators in the con- gress of the United States from Tennessee on its organization as a state in 1796.
A litigation growing out of the incident noted in the Hen- derson diary was begun by Wm. Cocke in the superior court of equity of the territory of the United States south of the Ohio, at Jonesborough, in 1796. The writer has before him the original bill filed by Cocke initiating the suit It is a most interesting document, drafted evidently by and in the handwriting of Cocke, but signed by his brother lawyer, John Rhea, as solicitor. Rhea was the first member of congress from the first district, a resident of Blountville.
This bill in equity filed against Richard Henderson and his associates sets forth: That after purchasing the Transyl- vania boundary of the Cherokees, Henderson for his company employed Cocke to enlist or hire men to assist in clearing a road to Kentucky and in finding provisions for the workmen; and that while Cocke was so engaged the Henderson party came up, and arranged to shift from wagons to pack-horses near Cumberland Gap; that starting out again a number of wounded men retreating towards the settlements met them, 'among which was two of the name of Ininan ; and said Hen- derson seemed much dispirited and seeing that all the men who had gone on before him, being about three hundred, had
ii
Hulbert, Boone and Wilderness Trail, p. 102.
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 13
fled except Daniel Boone and a party of about fifteen who stayed to take care of the wounded; and on being informed that William Twittv and a number of others was killed and fearful lest Boon and the men with him should abandon the country, made your orator (Cocke) an offer of twenty thou- sand acres of land in any part of the companies' purchase that he might choose provided that your orator would go forward from Cumberland river to Kentucky river and pre- vail on Boone and the men that was with him to make a stand until the said Richard and the men that was with him could join him on Kentucky river. Your orator was induced as well by the tears of said Henderson as the reward which he offered, the said Henderson shedding tears in the presence of your orator and saying that himself and company was ruined if they did not succeed in making a settlement in the Kentucky country, etc." Cocke sets forth that he engaged to do and did the service, but complains that the agreement to convey him the land as his reward was never kept.12
A third party under Capt. Hart followed in the wake of
12This bill in equity was filed Oct. 1, 1796, and dismissed at the September term, 1799. It has never been printed, and follows:
Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio. Washington District, Superior Court of Equity, etc.
The Bill of Complaint of William Cocke against Richard Hender- son, Thomas Hart, John Williams, James Hogg, Leonard Henley Bul- lock, William Johnston, Nathaniel Hart, David Hart, John Luttrell in company.
Humbly showeth unto your Honors that in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five the said Richard Hen- derson and Company purchased a large tract of country of the Cherokee Indians on the waters of Kentucky, Cumberland and Ten- nessee and employed your orator to inlist or have men to assist in clearing a road and sending provisions for the said workmen while they were imployed in cutting a road from a place called the Block house to Martin's station in Powell's Valley and your orator doth expressly charge that he imployed a number of men to assist in cut- ting the said road and worked himself and found two negro fellows who worked on said road untill Richard Henderson, One of the Com- pany and chief director of the Companies consarns overtook your orator & Samuel Henderson who had been employed as aforesaid together with a Number of men in the said Hendersons employ and to whome your orator had furnished provisions for at the Special instance and request of the said Richard Henderson who being in- formed that the way to Kentucky was so intolerable that it would be with great difficulty that waggons could be taken to Kentuck who then directed the Waggons to be unloaded and the horses packed and the said Richard Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrell, your orator and a number of men as well as your orator recollects to the number of about forty or fifty men set out for the purpose of Settling
14 SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
Boone towards the promised land, and William Calk, one of the number, kept a journal. Abraham Hanks, the father of Nancy and maternal grandfather of President Lincoln, was of this party, which joined with Henderson's party at the home of Col. Joseph Martin in Powell's valley in which is Cumberland Gap — the valley skirting the eastern base of Cum- berland mountains, in Claiborne county, Tennessee.
Calk's diary is interesting as a sidelight upon the diffi-
the Kentucky Country and was met near Cumberland Gap by a num- ber of wounded men among which was two by the name of Inman. The said Henderson seemed much dispirited and seeing that all the men who had gone on before him — as your orator believes being about three hundred had fled except Daniel Boon and a party of about fifteen who stayed to take care of the wounded and being informed that William Twitty and a number of others was killed and fearfuli lest Boon & the men with him should abandon the Country made your orator an offer of Twenty Thousand Acres of Land to be taken by your orator in any part of said Companies purchase that he might choose provided that your orator would go forward from Cum- berland river to Kentuckey river and prevail on Boon and the men that was with him to make a stand until the said Richard and the men that was with him Join the men that was with the wounded that was on Kentuck river. Your orator consented to go for Ten Thou- sand Acres of Choice Land provided he the said Henderson could get any person to go in company with your orator and the said Henderson made offers through out his camp then being at Cumberland river of ten Thousand Acres of Land to any person who would go with your orator to Boons Camp on Kentuck river since called Boons Borough about a hundred miles distance whare the wounded men lay but no person would consent to go but your orator who was partly induced as well by the tears of the said Henderson as the reward he offered of ten Thousand Acres of Land which he promised to give unto your orator the said Henderson then sheading tears in the presence of your orator and saying that himself and Company was ruined if they did not Succeed in making a Settlement in the Kentuck Country. And your orator doth expressly charge that he set out from Cumberland river by himself and performed the service which he had undertaken for the said Company and that the said Henderson when he Joined Boons Company expressed himself to be much oblige to your orator for the service he had rendered to himself and Company and said your orator should have the Lands he had promised him and the said Henderson for himself and Company promised to your orator that he should have five Thousand Acres of Land for the services he had rendered the work which himself and hands had done m Clearing the road at twenty Shillings Sterling money or the value thereof for each hundred acres to be paid for in the provisions which your orator fur- nished the said Company and the Labour of his negroes and the Sale of a servant man Named Joseph Leech which your orator purchased of Andrew Greer and Let the said John Luttrell have. And your orator doth expressly charge that in consequence of the payments made to said Henderson and Company as above set forth for the five Thousand Acres of Land so purchased and paid for that entries for the same was made in a Book kept by said Richard Henderson & Company called Their Book of Entries and titles promised your orator
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 15
culties that beset the adventurers: ''Tuesday, 4th April. Raney. We start about 10 o'clock and git down to Martins in the valey where wTe over take Coin. Henderson & his Company Bound for Caintuck & there we camp this Night, there they were Broiling & Eating Beef without Bread.
"Wed. 5th. Breake away fair & we go down the valey & camp on indian Creek, we had this creek to cross maney times & very bad banks. Abranrs (Hank's) saddel turned & the load all fell in. we got this out this Eavening & kill two Deer.
for the five Thousand Acres of Land By Richard Henderson for him- self and Company. Your orator doth further expressly charge that said Richard Henderson after the State of Virginia had allowed the said Richard Henderson and Company two hundred thousand acres of Land and as the said Richard Henderson was returning from the assembly at the house of John Mitchell in Virginia and in presence ofi William Johnson the said Richard Henderson Complained that the State of Virginia had taken a way from himself and Company the greater part of the Land claimed by them but said it should not effect his promise to your orator and told William Johnson one of the partners that the Company could never have made their settlement the year they did had it not have been for the assistance of your orator; and the said Richard Henderson and William Johnston then Both assured your orator that he should have the whole fifteen thou- sand Acres of Land which Had been promised to your orator. And your orator doth expressly charge that the said Richard Henderson at many times after, and shortly before his death repeated the same promises. Shortly after the death of the said Richard your orator made his demand for said Land or compensation for them of James Hogg at Fayettville who promised to do all in his power that your orator should obtain Justice from the Company & said he was sorry that the Company had so long delayed to do Justice to your orator & said that he James Hogg would lay your orators claim before the Company who he informed your orator was to meet at Hilsborough about twelve months after & desired your orator not to make himself uneasy for that he your orator should obtain full satisfaction for all the services he had rendered the Company but your orator does not know or has he any reason to beleave that the said Hogg gave him self any trouble to settle amicably with your orator as he the said Hogg had promised. And your orator further expressly charges that about the month of December 1794 your orator see Thomas Hart one of the Company at Lexington at Kentuckey and informed the said Hart that the Company had not fulfilled their promises made to your orator, that they had deceaved your orator by repeated promises and delays. The said Hart then informed your orator that he Thomas Hart was indebted to the Company and that if your orator could Obtain an order on him that he should not be treated as your orator had been but that he would punctually pay your orator to his satis- faction. Your orator shortly after wrote Letters to James Hogg wish- ing to know what the said Hogg had done or was likely to do in the matter but has receaved no answer which Induces your orator to beleave that the promises made by James Hogg has not been fullfilled by him or that any conclusion is made by the Company to sattisfy your orator for the great expence danger and trouble to which he has been exposed and subject to. Now may it please your Honors as
1(> SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
''Friday, 7th. this morning a very hard snowy morning we still continue at Camp Being in number about 40 men & some neagroes, this eaven Comes a letter from Capt. Boone at caintuck of the Indians doing mischief and some turns back.
"Satrd April 8th. We all pact up and started cost Cum- berland gap. We met a great maney people turned back for
all such actings & doing: of the said Richard Henderson and Company and the heirs and representatives of such of the said Company has have desceased is contrary to Equity and good consciance and tend greatly to injure and Oppress your orator who is wholly with Out remedy save only by the aid and assistance of your honorable Court whare fraud of this kind is only conisable and releaveable — to the end therefor that they may true and perfect answer make to all and sin- gular the premises as plainly fully and absolutely as if hearin agin repeted and interogated and that they may answer and say
Did not the said Richord Henderson for himself and Company promise to give unto your orator ten thousand acres of good land on the Cantuckey provided your orator would go and inform Daniel Boon & the party that lay with him at Boonsborough that the said Richard and the men that was with him at Cumberland river at the time of making of such offer was on their way to Join the said Boon for the purpose of settling the Kentuckey Country. Did not the said William Cocke under take to go for the land aforesaid and did he not perform the service and not the said Richard often times in his life time inform the Company or some of them of the great service your orator had done them and also inform them of the promises he had made your orator for such service. Did not your orator pay unto the said Richard Henderson fifty pounds Starling money for five thousand acres of Land and enter the same on a book kept by the said Richard or how much did your orator enter and pay for & what has become of the entry books of said Company in whose hands and possession are they what is the value of the money paid by your orator to the said Company and what is the value of the provisions found & labour done and what the value of the Land entered and paid for. Is it not worth thirty thousand dollars if not how much is it worth.
May it please your Honours to grant unto your orator your writ or writs of subpona direct to the said Richard Henderson & Company their heirs and representatives and each and every of them com- manding them and every of them under sertain pain to be therein limited to appear before your Honours at a certain day to be ap- pointed to answer the premises and then and there that your Honours will decree that that they make unto your orator a good and indefeas- ible right and title to the above described Land or in lieu thereof that they be decreed to pay unto your orator such damages as shall be agreeable to equity and Good Conscience and your orator as in duty bound shall ever pray &c.
John Rhea,
Attorney for William Cocke.
Demurrers were filed by Hugh Lawson White as solicitor for James Hogg, John Umstead and Walter Alves, John Williams, and Richard Bullock as executor of Leonard Henley Bullock. George W. Campbell demurred for James Watson "a claimant under Richard Henderson."
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE \t
fear of indians but our Company goes on Still with good cour- age, etc."
Again "Abram's mair ran into the River with Her load & Swam over, he followed her & <?ot on her & made her Swim Back agin." "We met another company going back, they tell such News Abram & Drake is afraid to go aney further and turn back, we go on, etc.'*13
As indicative of the spirit that animated these stalwarts, in a few days after Henderson's arrival at Boonesborough, the Transylvania proprietors called a convention to assemble on May 23, 1775, and by the convention a legislative council was organized with Daniel Boone, Squire Boone and Wm. Cocke as three of the members.
Virginia asserted authority and title over the lands so pur- chased that lav above the North Carolina line, and the offi- rials of that colony held the deeds inoperative so far as vesi tu re of title in the grantees was concerned, in that such pur- chases from the Indians were inhibited by the royal procla- mation of King George III, wherein also all colonial govern- ors were forbidden to grant lands or issue land warrants locatable west of the mountains.14 In the contest over this matter, which was waged personally by Henderson before the Virginia legislature, he came into contest with George Rogers Clarke, who was then becoming an active factor in the Ken- tucky country. Both of these men were stalwarts, and em- bodied much of the modern American spirit of aggressiveness^ initiative and projective force — colonial prototypes of our pres- ent day captains of industry. The result in Virginia was that Henderson and his associates took nothing by virtue of their two deeds, but instead they were granted 200,000 acres of land in what is now Henderson county, Kentucky.
It may be thought thatl Wkn. Cocke delayed for a long time in bringing suit. It appears that but a few years previous others inter- ested in Transylvania lands began to concert plans to protect their interests. In the Charleston (S. C.) Gazette of February 18, 1789, the following advertisement appeared under the heading TRANSYL- VANIA:
"The proprietors of land in Transylvania, alias Kentucky, par- ticularly those who purchased of Col. Dry, under Henderson's grant, are requested to meet at Williams's Coffee-house, on Friday evening, the 20th instant, at 6 o'clock, in order to determine on such measures as may be deemed necessary for having their lands located and se- cured; it being apprehended that unless something to this effect is done very speedily, their property there, already become so valuable as to he worth a dollar per acre, will be irretrievably lost."
14
Hulbert, p. 113.
2 Martin's No. Carolina, p. 339.
-2
18 SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
As early as the fall of 1770, the inhabitants of the west- ern district filed a petition with the general assembly of Vir ginia, setting forth that a North Carolina company had made a purchase of the Cherokee title, convened an assembly and opened a land office. The validity of the purchase was at- tacked; and the petitioners prayed for the extension over them of Virginia's jurisdiction. Accordingly Kentucky county was at that session created and civil and military officers appointed. It was later, at the October session, 1778, of the general assembly of Virginia, that the act was passed grant- ing to Henderson & Co. the above mentioned twelve and one- half square miles of land on both sides of Green river near its mouth by way of compensation for services in the extin- guishment of the Indian title, and in helping to settle the country.
This action of Virginia left Henderson freer to devote himself to the husbanding and development of his company's acquisitions in North Carolina (later Tennessee).
Taking on himself the management of the company's bus- iness and governmental affairs in the Kentucky country, Hen- derson, within a few days after the treaty (March 31, 1775) gave a power of attorney to Col. Joseph Martin, empowering him to settle the company's lands in Powell's Valley, in Lee county, Virginia, extending southward into Tennessee. About the same time a proclamation was issued offering favorable terms to settlers in that valley.15
Martin, it seems, had already moved into this valley (Ix?e county), with a small band of settlers.
Henderson, writing from Kentucky to Martin, July 20, 1775, expressed concern that settlers would locate too low in the valley, provoking the Cherokees to incursions: "Keep your men in heart if possible; now is the time; the Indians must not drive us . . . We did not forget you at the time of making laws; your part of the country is too remote from ours to attend our convention. You must have laws made by an assembly of your own. I have prepared a plan which I hoj)e you'll approve, but more of that when we meet which I hope will be soon."16
Martin's station in Powell's Valley was too far removed from the Holston and Watauga settlements for safety and the beginning of an Indian war caused an abandonment of the station in the spring of 1776.
"Haywood, p. 514. "Week's Martin, p. 419.
-
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE ID
In July, 1777, when the North Carolina commissioners ap- pointed to make a treaty with the Cherokees met at Long Island of Holston (Fort Patrick Henry, now Kingsport, Tenn.), Hen- derson and his associates tiled with them a memorial, of date June 18, 1777, setting forth their purchase at Sycamore Shoals, March 17, 1775, the fact that the Virginia assembly would con- sider the validity thereof at its approaching session, "at which time your memorialists have no doubt but that the assembly will disclaim all pretensions to the lands in dispute, and the title of your memorialists become firmly and indisputably established"; and praying that no line be run within the bounds of their purchase and that no part of the lands be yielded to the Cherokees.
Evidently induced by this interest of himself and his as- sociates in the protection of the treaty-purchase on the Cum- berland, Henderson, in 1779, accepted the appointment as one of North Carolina's commissioners appointed to extend the North Carolina-Virginia state line from the western ter- ininds of the Fry and Jefferson line at Steep Rock creek (now Laurel Fork of Holston), wrest of Stone mountain, westward to the Tennessee river, the legislature of Virginia having, the year previous, appointed a like commission to co-operate with one from North Carolina. Henderson became the master spirit of the North Carolina commission, and Dr. Thomas Walker took the lead in the Virginia commission.
An interesting phase of the history of this survey is the fact that it was more immediately occasioned by an election contest in the Virginia general assembly of 1778 betwreen An- thony Bledsoe and William Cocke, on the one part, and Col. Arthur Campbell and William Ediniston, on the other, re- specting seats in the Virginia house of delegates. The princi- pal ground urged by the two latter as contestants was that Bledsoe and Cocke resided south of the Virginia line and wrere elected by citizens of North Carolina participating in the elec- tion. The assembly was loath to adjudge against the common- wealth's claim to the disputed territory, and Bledsoe and Cocke retained their seats, though in fact North Carolinians- James Robertson, while a resident of what is now Carter coun- ty, Tennessee, had several years before acted as magistrate under the jurisdiction of Virginia — Botetourt county.17
*
Naturally, Henderson, who had the year before been de- prived by the Virginia assembly of the full fruits of his ef- forts in making the Transvlvania settlements in Kentucky,
IT
Summer's S. W. Virginia, pp. 108, 264.
20 SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
stood ready to see that North Carolina got at least justice in the projection of the state line. By so far as the line could be located to the northward, the lands of the Henderson asso- ciates above the Cumberland river and also in Powell's Valley would be increased.
The Walker-Henderson survey was commenced September G, 1779, running westward. The commissioners proceeded about forty miles, and crossed the north fork of Holston near Long Island (Kingsport). "At this time the pilots and hunt- ers gave it as their opinion that both Cumberland Gap and the settlements on Cumberland river, at the French Lick (Nashville), would both fall into Virginia. A halt was made and several days passed in making observations, debating, and even abusing one another." (Col. Arthur Campbell's report to the governor of Virginia, 1787).
"The Carolina gentlemen conceived that the line was far- ther south than it ought to be. . . . It was proposed by us, and agreed to by the Carolina gentlemen, that as we dif- fered so much in observation we would each run his own line, and let future observers hereafter to be appointed determine
which was right." (Walker's Report of Survey, 1780.)
Henderson and Walker persisted in their respective con- tentions, and made separate surveys and locations, their lines lying about two miles apart.
By March 31, 1780, Henderson had carried his line to the Cumberland river below Nashville, as appears from the diary left by Col. John Donelson, during his voyage from Fort Pat- rick Henry (Kingsport) down the Holston and Tennessee riv- ers, thence up the Cumberland river to French Lick, in "the good boat Adventure."
"Friday 31st — Set out this day, and after running some distance, met with Col. Richard Henderson, who was running the line between Virginia and North Carolina. At this meet- ing we were much rejoiced. He gave us every information we wished, and further informed us that he had purchased a quantity of corn in Kentucky, to be shipped at the falls of Ohio (Louisville) for the use of the Cumberland settlement. We are now without bread, and are compelled to hunt the buffalo to preserve life."18
James Robertson had the year before, the spring of 1779, led a band of Wataugans to French Lick to settle that region. The conclusion is irresistible that Henderson had influenced Robertson to lead this movement, as he had in previous years
"Putnam's Middle Tennessee, p. 75.
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 21
influenced the intimate friend fellow adventurer of Robertson, Daniel Boone, to take the lead into Kentucky.
James Robertson's connection with the Sycamore Shoals treaty has gone all but unnoted by our historians. Dr. Archi- bald Henderson, a descendant of Richard Henderson, says that Robertson after feeling out the Cherokees informed Boone, who was then acting as Henderson's confidential agent, that his belief was that the Cherokees would sell if the induce- ment was made large enough.19 Thus early was Robertson in contact with the movement.
Robertson was on the ground when the treaty was made at Sycamore Shoals. The treaty ground was but a few miles from his residence. When proof was being taken in 1776-7 by commissioners appointed by the Virginia legislature touch- ing the merits of a petition of Henderson and associates (to the effect that no settlements under the authority of Virginia be allowed within the limits of their treaty purchases) Rob- ertson left his home on the Watauga river and went to Abing- don, Virginia, to give his deposition which was distinctly fa- vorable to the Transylvania promoters.
It is noteworthy that his testimony is clear and pronounced on a point much debated in later years — that the southern boundary of the great grant was not the Cumberland river proper but that there were included the waters flowing into the Cumberland from the south. Robertson, deposing April 16, 1777, said:
". . . Upon the second day of the Treaty the Indians proposed to sell sd Henderson the land upon the north side of the Kentucky, to which said Henderson replied, he would not have that land, as it was already claimed by the Virgin- ians, and that if he could not get the lands asked for, he would keep his Goods, upon which the Dragging Canoe got angry and withdrew himself from the Conference. And the othei" Indians immediately followed him and broke up the Confer- ence for that day — Some person in the hearing of Deponent told John Williams one of the co-partners not to pay any at- tention to Dragging; Canoe's eoing off in a passion as the
head men might be still got to sign a deed privately. Col. Williams replyed, he would not give anything for every Indian there to sign a Dieed unless it was done in open Treaty. When the Indians met sd Henderson the third day of the Treaty,
19
Henderson's Forces in Westward Expansion, 20 Am. Hist. Re-
view, pp. 85, 105.
22 SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
told them that the lands he had mentioned before were the lands he had brought his goods for.
"The Indians then by their talk seemed inclined to let Uenderson have some land but complained that the goods were too few for the number of persons who werel there, and if they gave up the land they hoped he would consider them at another time. Henderson answered that they had seen the goods and that if they gave him the lands he would give them the Keys of the House in which they lay, and he could prom- ise no more. The Indians then agreed to sell the lands as
far
n
have the Cumberland river and the Waters of Cumberland river which the Indians agreed to after telling Henderson them were their hunting grounds and their children then grow- ing up might have\ reason to complain — also observing it was a Moody country and if he went to it they would not hold him by the hand any longer, and must do it at his own Risque and must not blame them if anything happened to him.
produced
>J20
lead and interpreted sentence by sentence which was signed by them.
Robertson thus substantiated the claim of Henderson's com- pany to the lands on the south of the Cumberland river, where was later laid out the town of Nashborough.
On completion of the running of the state line, Hender- son went to Nashborough (Nashville) to open a land office for the sale of the company's lands. We find him there head- ing the settlers (whom he had been so solicitous to succor with supplies from the Ohio) in the formation of a govern- ment, he becoming the draftsman of the "compact of govern- ment" or constitution, which he and his associate in the com- pany, Nathaniel Hart, and a brother, Nathaniel Henderson, signed along with two hundred and forty-three settlers, on May 13, 1780. Henderson's impress, as a lawyer and the only lawyer then on the Cumberland, is stamped on this document (compared by Roosevelt to an ancient "Court Leet"), and the interests of his company were treated of and carefully guard-
*°Va. Col. State Papers, Vol. I, p. 285. Among those present at Sycamore Shoals when the treaty was executed were: Wm. Farrar, Sam'l Wilson, John Lowry, John Reid, Charles Robertson, Thos. Price, Thos. Houghton, Abraham Hite, Nathaniel Gist, Isaac Shelby and James Robertson. The depositions disclosed that of his associates, John Williams, Nathaniel Hart and Thos. Hart were with Richard Henderson at the treaty place.
HENDERSON AND COMPANY^ PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 23
cd. Twelve men from the various stations were provided by this compact to be elected, "which said persons, or a majority of them, after being bound by the solemnity of an oath to do equal and impartial justice between all contending par- ties, according to the best of their skill and judgment, having due regard to the regulations of the land office herein estab-
&^.- V* ^V, l^V *V.£>
lished" — the land office of Henderson & Co., the entrv taker in which Henderson reserved the right to appoint by express stipulation in the compact. This constitution for the infant settlement further recited: "That no consideration money for the lands on Cumberland river, within the claim of the said Ri chard Henderson and company, and which is the subject of this association, is demanded or expected by the said com- pany until satisfactory and indisputable title can be made, so we think it reasonable and just that the twenty-six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, current money, per hundred acres, the price proposed by the said Richard Henderson, shall be paid according to the value of the money on the first day of January last, being the time when the price was made pub- lic and settlement encouraged thereon by said Henderson, etc."
On these fair terms settlers on the Cumberland took and held under the Henderson and company title until its annul- ment by North Carolina, and "the purchasers were never urged to make any payments on contracts into which they had en- tered. Old settlers ever retained for Henderson a very high regard as a gentleman and a patriot."21
In May, 1783, the Henderson syndicate memorialized the North Carolina legislature for a recognition of the validity of their Cherokee conveyances. The petition wras referred to a committee which reported that the purchases were illegal, but that by means of the conveyances obtained by Henderson from the Cherokees peaceable possession might be obtained from the Indians, and that compensation should be made the company.
Accordingly, by act of N. C, 1783, Ch. 38, entitled, "An act to vest certain lands in fee simple in Richard Henderson and others," it was enacted:
"Whereas, it has appeared to this assembly that Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John Williams, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Henly Bullock, Nath- aniel Hart and John Luttrell, John Carter and Robert Lucas, have been at great expense, trouble and risque, in making a
"Putnam's Middle Tennessee, p. 89.
22 Am. State Papers, Ind. Affairs, Vol. I, pp. 40, 628.
24 SAMTEL C. WILLIAMS
•chase of lands of the Cherokee Indians; and whereas, it nit just that they should have adequate compensation.
"Be it therefore enacted by the general assembly of the
acres
and are hereby granted to said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, James Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Henley Bullock, the heirs and assigns and devisees of Nathaniel Hart, deceased, and their heirs, devisees and assigns of John Luttrell, de- ceased, to Landon Carter, heir of John Carter, deceased, his heirs and assigns forever, and the heirs and devisees of Robert Lucas; the said two hundred thousand acres to be laid out in one survey and within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at old Indian town in Powell's Valley, and running down Powell's river not less than four miles in width on one or both sides thereof to a junction of Powell's and Clinch riv- ers, then down Clinch river on one or both sides not less than twelve miles in width for the aforesaid complement of two hun- dred thousand acres; provided same is laid out and surveyed on or before last day of next November, otherwise and entered shall obtain title.
"Ten thousand at the lower end to vest in Landon Carter and his heirs, assignee of Robert Lucas; one-eighth each to Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John Williams, William Johnston, James Hogg, Nathaniel Hart and John Luttrell, de ceased; and one-sixteenth each to David Hart and L. H. Bui- lock.
"To hold the aforesaid portions in severalty as tenants in common and not as joint tenants."
As this act indicates there had been sales of interests and parts of interests of the copartners intermediate the deeds of 1775 and 1783. There were at the outset eight full shares, Henderson, Williams, Johnston, Hogg, Thomas Hart, Luttrell and Nathaniel Hart taking full shares; and Bullock and David taking half shares. It would appear therefore that Robert Lucas, an early Wataugan and with Henderson a signer of the Cumberland compact, had purchased the shares of Wil- liams and Johnston, and assigned a portion of his holding to John Carter, for whom Carter county, Tennessee, was named the county of his residence.
The state of North Carolina issued a grant in accord with this act; an<^ the grantees proceeded to have the lands sur- veyed and platted by Stokeley Donelson, surveyor. The bound- ary was divided into lots, "A," "B," etc., beginning at tlie extreme northwest or at Old Town Creek in Claiborne county. Tennessee. The eastern boundary of the granted tract begins
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 25
about five miles (direct line) from Cumberland Gap, aud the western boundary of that portion that lies on Powell river is just east of Jacksboro. The surveyor in running the south- western boundary caused it to run off at an acute angle from the northeastern boundary (patently contrary to the spirit of the legislative act and the grant), the evident purpose being to leave out of the grant to Henderson and associates a very fine body of agricultural land between the southwestern boun- dary and a line that very nearly is represented by the pres- ent line of the Knoxville & Ohio branch of the Southern railway at Caryville, Tenn. The tradition is that Donelson, who was affected by land lust, and who was perhaps the larg- est owner of acreage in the west, so ran the lines that he might acquire, under a later grant to himself, the tempting lands in this angle. This he proceeded to do; and the tradi- tion further runs that Donelson's action in this matter led to a breach between him and Henderson.
A part of the grant to Henderson and associates was lo- cated on Clinch river, and on streams south thereof — extend- ing south of Bull Run creek, which is near Heiskell station,
in Knox county. The grant covers land in the present coun- ties of Claiborne, Union, Campbell, Anderson and Knox. The northwestern boundarv skirts the foothills of the Cumberland mountains, which rise abruptly from Powell's valley. The object of the grantees was to so lay the grant as to include Powell's and Clinch rivers and their fine bottoms, little dream- ing that they were thus purposely avoiding and excluding a section in the Cumberland mountains that has since proved to be of immense value because of its coal seams.
The plat of the partition survey shows allotments as fol- lows: Richard Henderson, four parcels; Thomas Hart, three parcels; Nathaniel Hart, four parcels; David Hart, two par- cels; L. H. Bullock, two parcels; James Hogg, two parcels; John Williams, four parcels ; Walter Alvis, three parcels ; Rob- ert Barton, one parcel ; John Umstead, three parcels — the par- cels being of various sizes. Thus are indicated further trans- fers of interests between the dates of the act of North Caro- lina, 1783, and the partition. Partition deeds were executed inter partes, and this title has always been recognized as the superior title and prevailed as such.
At first blush the two consolation grants to Henderson and company, by Virginia and North Carolina, aggregating 400,- 000 acres, may appear to have been adequate compensation. In this connection, however, it should not escape notice and comment that neither of these commonwealths hesitated to
2G SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS
treat the Path Deed and Great Grant to the Henderson syndi- cate as having virtue to quiet the Indian title so far as these sovereign states were concerned; but voidable so far as vesti- ture of title in the vendees was attempted — good against the Indian, invalid as to the Indian's vendee. Later on the United States of America assumed to itself the function of sole treaties with the Cherokees as a nation, and the national government in like manner availed itself of the benefit of the Henderson and company purchases as against the Indians.
Thus, at the treaty of Hopewell (South Carolina), the first negotiated under national authority (Nov. 17, 1785), the Cher- okee chiefs made claim to a vast territory, and roughly drafted a map showing the limits of the territory their nation claimed, including the greater portions of Kentucky and Tennessee. Being reminded by the government's commissioners that "this claim covered the country purchased by Colonel Henderson, who was now dead, and whose purchase must not therefore be disputed, the chiefs consented to relinquish that portion of it." The commissioners, as they declared, adopted certain lines of the Henderson purchase as boundary calls of the treaty (lb., p. 38) it not being deemed necessary to treat in respect of lands, title to which had passed from, the Chero- kees to the syndicate.
In the light of these after contentions and the benefits de-
e>
rived from the Henderson grants from the Cherokees, it may will be doubted whether the syndicate received fair treatment and compensation at the hands of Virginia and North Caro- Mna.
There can be less doubt that the Tennessee historians have not given adequate credit, or even explicit recognition, to Rich- ard Henderson as the projector of the Cumberland settlement, and as the author of the Cumberland compact. Less than that is less than his desert.
The true greatness of Richard Henderson is in no other way more amply demonstrated than by the selections he made of able lieutenants. A man who could find and put to the service of his company such forceful men as Daniel Boone, James Robertson and Joseph Martin must have possessed dis- cernment, mastery and projective power to an unusual de- gree. Strange to say, of these three agents Boone, the least endowed with mentality and ability to mould events to his will, has become the greatest national figure. The work of Robertson and Martin was, in large part, in less romantic fields and roles — as Indian agents and community builders,
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 27
and much of their most effective service brought but little of glamor to their names.23
Henderson's part in the treaty by which Transylvania was acquired does not measure in full the benefits his labors
6X116
estern country and its first settlers. Availing
the Cherokees
To Watauga for negotiation, the Watauga settlers two days after the main treaty was signed followed in the step and negotiated a second treaty with the Cherokees by the terms of which, for a consideration of two thousand pounds, there was ceded to Charles Kobertson (as trustee) the land on Wa- tauga and Holston rivers then settled and being settled.
Even a third treaty entered into on March 25, 1775, at the same place, quieted the title of Jacob Brown to a veritable principality, lying west of the Watauga's purchase, and on Nolachucky river comprising much of the best land now in Washington and Greene counties, Tennessee. Richard Hender- son signed this last conveyance as a witness, and in all prob- ability he was the draftsman of all the treaties.
It seems quite certain also that the name of Nashville (Nashborough originally) was fixed by Henderson, and in honor of Gen. Francis Nash who had served as the clerk of the Orange County (N. C.) Superior Court over which Hen- derson presided as judge. Several of the Transylvania asso- ciates, Thomas Hart, John Williams and William Johnston, resided in Orange county.24 A brother of Richard Henderson, Pleasant Henderson, also lived in that county and he was at French Lick with Col. Henderson in 1779. 2r>. The then recent death of Gen. Nash in action October 4, 1777, in the battle of Germantown, Penn., appealed to his fellow Carolin- ians for commemoration. The suggestion has been well made that a tablet be erected in the city of Nashville commemorating Richard Henderson's connection with our early history. It seems fitting that this should be taken in hand by the Colonial Dames of Tennessee in conjunction with the Tennessee His- torical Society. The memory of no other colonial figure is
worthier of preservation.
Sam'l C. Williams.
23It is worthy of notice that Henderson also brought into the service of his company two other forceful men, then young, Wm. Cocke, as has been noted, and Isaac Shelby — the latter as surveyor in the Kentucky country.
24Wheeler's North Carolina, p. 334.
25Putnam's Middle Tennessee, p. 101.
SOME CONFUSING STATEMENTS IN RAMSEY'S
"ANNALS" AND OTHER HISTORIANS
[The writer of this article is the highly esteemed Recording Sec- retary of the Tennessee Historical Society. At the urgent request of a number of the members of this society he agreed to undertake the difficult task of making an index to Dr. Ramsey's valuable "An- nals of Tennessee." The work he has about brought to a successful close, and it is hoped that some means may be devised to put in print at no distant date this much-to-be-desired accessory to study of the history of the Volunteer State. In carrying forward the work of indexing this volume it became necessary to attempt to solve some of the seeming riddles of the book occasioned by certain indefiniteness of statement, and at times confusion of names, — entailing a wide research through the literature of Tennessee State history, as well as that of neighboring states. On request of the society, the author read before its March meeting, 1919, a paper dealing with his experience in mak- ing the index, and such was the interest aroused by it an immediate demand was made for the publication of at least some of the data therein contained. The article that follows is an adaptation of the manuscript, but necessarily the matter is very much abbreviated, with details of arguments left out. — Ed.]
SURNAMES AND INDIAN NAMES.
This noted volume of Dr. Ramsey has a serious fault, or at least presents difficulties in that largely he is accustomed to use surnames only in his narration of interesting events. He writes of times of "Col. Montgomery," "Col. Sevier" and other military heroes and civil personages, but is not careful to iden- tify, for far-away readers, the individuals referred to. Thus we find mention made of three Col. Montgomerys and at least two Col. Seviers, while there are a number of other characters left us to place as best one can.
Further, in the use of Indian names, he is at times difficult to follow owing to either obscurity or his method of using In- dian names interchangeably. Sometimes he makes use of the names originally given by the pioneers or traders in their at- tempt to represent phonetically the words in the Indian lan- iruajre. These names are varied in accordance to the ability of the Americans to correctly represent the sound ; thus it is found that the noted Cherokee chiefs name is variously spelled, viz.: "Atta-Culla-Culla," etc. Then again Dr. Ramsey at times prefers to use the English translation of the Indian word; thus for the same character, "Atta-Culla-Culla," we have "The Little Carpenter," etc.
Of course, the distinguished author well differentiated in his own mind these several or identical personages, but he pre- sumed too much on the ability of the average reader to follow
I
_t
HENDERSON AND COMPANY'S PURCHASE IN TENNESSEE 29
him. Thus it devolves on the indexer of such a volume to clearly understand these matters in order to be of help to the general reader by proper classification.
MILITARY AND OTHER TITLES.
The history of the Revolution as given in the Annals neces- sarily embrace many names noted for their military connec- tion, here again, in the miscellaneous use of titles, some of which changed during the period of the war, there is at times confusion demanding research in other histories and contem- porary documents in order to clearly mark the distinctions.
Another like confusing period is that of the "State of Franklin." Here again, both in civil and military matters, certain names are difficult to define, likewise demanding the help of other histories to clearly identify.
However, Ramsey is not alone in thus failing to make clear alwavs the individual meant. Other Tennessee historians and
a/
occasional writers are guilty along this line of indefiniteness. It is proposed to cite a few of these difficulties which will serve to show some of the obstacles that must be overcome by one attempting to make an intelligent index to such volumes.
JOHN TIPTON.
One of the oft-noted confusions is occasioned bv the con- founding of the history of John Tipton and Jonathan Tipton, or identifying the two characters as one and the same indi- vidual.1
John S. Mathes, writing in the Chattanooga Times a "His- tory of the State of Franklin/' says in Chapter XIII :
"Judge 0. P. Temple of Knoxville, in his 'East Tennessee and the Civil War/ says: 'It is singular how writers, and even relatives, have been confounded as to the christian name of John Tipton. In Lyman Draper's exhaustive 'History of King's Mountain and Its Heroes' the only full history of that battle ever written — the major second in command under Sevier in that and other battles was called Jonathan Tipton.' Draper says that Jonathan Tipton died in Overton County, Tennessee, in 1833, age 83. Haywood and Phelan, both historians of Tennessee, call the officer who was major under Sevier John Tipton. Ramsey, another historian, while generally calling him John, in two or three places speaks of Major Tipton as Jonathan Tipton. Seeing this discrepancy, and knowing the general accuracy and high charac- ter of Draper as a historian, I was naturally led to an investigation of the question: Which is the correct name? For this purpose I
"'Kings' Mountain and Its Heroes," L. S. Draper, p. 48. See also "History of Tennessee," Garrett and Goodpasture, p. 350. It will be noted in the last instance the confusion is in the index rather than the text; the name of "Jonathan" Tipton does not appear. The Tipton at Boyd's Creek is called "Major," the one who imprisoned Sevier "Colonel."
30 J. TYREE FAIN
set on foot an extensive inquiry. This, for a while, resulted in worse confusion. One direct descendant, who had traced out the history of Tipton with great care, said that John and Jonathan were the same person, known by both these names. Another person, who pro- fessed tQ know all about the Tiptons, and who had studied the early history of upper East Tennessee more minutely than anyone within my knowledge, said very positively that the true name was Jonathan Tipton, and that he died while a member of the legislature, in Nash- ville in 1836, and was buried there, receiving the honor of a public funeral on the part of the State. A number of relatives and intelli- gent gentlemen, to whom I applied, were unable to give any informa- tion. Finally I was indebted to Dr. A. Jobe of Elk Park, North Caro- lina, a great-grandson of John Tipton, a gentleman of education and intelligence, for a solution of this question. He says the name was John and not Jonathan Tipton. He does not say in so many words that John Tipton was never called Jonathan until recently, but it is clear from his statement that he was not. Instead of dying in Over- ton County in 1832 or in Nashville in 1836, and being buried in one of those places, or in both, according to the different accounts, he died and was buried on his farm in Washington County, Tennessee, one and one-half miles south of Johnson City, where he lived at the time of battle with John Sevier. He had nine sons, two of these were Jonathan and John. The first settled in Blount County, Ten- nessee, and represented that county in the legislature again and again. According to the account I have, he was no doubt mistaken by some persons for his father and confounded with him. It is probable that he was buried at the public expense when he died, as a member of the legislature. John Tipton, the youngest son, remained in Carter County and became somewhat distinguished. He served on the staff of General Jackson at New Orleans, and was complimented by the old hero for his daring and courage. It is a reproach to the State, or the people of the State, or to his numerous friends and relatives, that no rock shows the last resting place of one of the bravest heroes and best patriots of the Revolution."
The above goes quite a way towards clearing up the con- fusion of John and Jonathan Tipton, of the first generation, but lacks clearness as to the two brothers, Jonathan and John the sons of the elder Major John Tipton. A citation from a series of articles contributed by Selden Nelson to the Knox- ville Sentinel on the "Tipton Controversy," will go further in clearing up the confusion, viz. :
writer
and John Tipton were two different men; some historians claim they were one man, and some have claimed that the John Tipton buried at Nashville was the Tipton that had the trouble with Sevier. It will also be shown who that Tipton was.
Colonel John Tipton, the first, came to Tennessee in October, 1782.
He first came into prominence in Washington County in 1784, when
the proposed State of Franklin was organized. . . . After the fall
of the State of Franklin, and when Tennessee was a territory, John
Tipton was a member of the territorial legislature . . . when the
State was organized he was elected from Washington County to
attend the Constitutional Convention which met at Knoxville, June 11. 1796.
John Tipton and James Stuart were the members from Washing-
SOME CONFUSING STATEMENTS IN RAMSEIES "ANNALS" 31
ton County of the committee which drew up the State Constitution.
. . . John Tipton was elected as a senator from Washington
County and continued to represent that county as long as he would serve.
Letter of Jonathan Tipton, son of Col. John Tipton, to Lyman Draper, dated Eves Mill, Tennessee, November the 24th, 1842 :
Dear Sir: Your letter dated the 25th of May, last, came to hand and would have been answered sooner. Wm. Tipton, from whom I get the greater part of this information, lives some distance from me, and I have not the opportunity of seeing him.
You ask what time of the year father removed from Shenendoah to what is now Tennessee. I think it was in October. I don't recollect any particular occurrence on the journey. Father was always a very industrious and good farmer. He owned three good farms on the Shenendoah River, State of Virginia. I don't recollect any skirmishes he was engaged in after coming to the western country. As soon as eligible, he was elected a member of the legislature of North Caro- lina from Washington County, and continued so until Tennessee be- came a State, which was after the Indian wars were over. He was one of the members that formed the first Constitution of Tennessee, and continued a member of its legislature till old age admonished him to retire from public life. I have often heard him say that he had been elected twenty-seven years to the legislature and con- ventions, and was never left out when he offered. He was a member a great many years in Virginia from Shenendoah County. You ask his birthday. I probably made a mistake before. I heard him say he was born the same year General Washington was, which appears to be 1732. I think he died in 1813, August, and was buried at his residence in Washington County, where he first settled in Tennessee; his step-mother was buried there. In October, 1774, he was at the Battle of 'Big Cannaway,' as captain under General Lewis. Grand- father Butler was killed by the Indians on his farm on Cedar Creek, Shenendoah County. Grandmother, by some means, made her escape from them. Uncle James was exchanged as a prisoner. My father was married at about twenty-one years of age to my mother, Mary Butler, on Cedar Creek, Shenendoah County. She bore him nine sons, to wit: Samuel, Benjamin, Abraham, William, Isaac, Jacob, John, Thomas, Jonathan.
My father married a second wife, Martha Moore, the widow of Dr. James Moore of Shenendoah County, Virginia. By her he had another son whom he called Abraham, who died at about thirty years of age. I don't recollect of ever seeing any of father's brothers ex- cept Joseph and Jonathan.
Father was the eldest of them; Joseph next, I think, though I think grandfather was married twice. Uncle Joseph moved to Watau- ga, Washington County, then to Warren County, Tennessee, and there died.
Jonathan moved to Houston, Washington County, Virginia, before father, and was at the Battle of King's Mountain, under General Campbell. Then moved to Washington County, Tennessee, and was major under Colonel Sevier in the Indian wars. General John Tipton of Indiana I suppose was son of Joshua Tipton, who was killed by the Indians on Little Pigeon, Sevier County, East Tennessee. It is likely he was son of Mordecai. The last account of Uncle Jonathan he was living in Overton or Fentress (County), Tennessee. My mother died in Shenendoah County, the 8th of June, 1776. At that time father was in the legislature. Tipton County, Tennessee, was
IV2 J. TYREK FAIN
called after brother Jacob Tipton, who was killed by the Indians in St Clair's defeat. Brother Abraham was killed by the Indians near the falls of the Ohio. Both of them had the command of captain, and each of them about 26 years of age. John Tipton, my brother, repre- sented Sullivan County, and Samuel represented Carter County sev- eral years each. I think the three sons of Governor Sevier that were taken prisoners were James, John and Richard. I expect, on reflec- tion, Haywood is right about the time of the battle. You inquire about General Rutledge Scott and others. I expect they are dead, from what I can learn. I removed from that section where they lived and where I was raised, and where all these circumstances took place, in 1808, distant 150 miles, which prevents me from giving a correct account as possibly I otherwise could have done. I am, with highest respect, Your friend,
Jonathan Tipton.
From this last document it is clearly shown that there was, as a matter of fact, a Jonathan Tipton at the Battle of King's Mountain. However, he was not, as stated by Dr. Draper, under Col. Sevier,2 but was under Gen. Campbell, and, further, he was a brother of the Major John Tipton who figured so greatly in the Sevier controversy, but who did not settle in
Washington County till sometime after the Battle of King's Mountain, viz., 1782. It is made clear, furthermore, that this Jonathan Tipton, brother of Major John Tipton, was the Tip- ton that figured at the Battle of Boyd's Creek, and, still fur- ther, he was the Tipton who afterwards lived in Overton or Fentress Counties, Tennessee.
Now, with reference to the second generation of Tiptons, these documents are not so clear. The writer of the letter to Mr. Mathes (Dr. A. Jobe) says in reference to the sons of Major John Tipton the elder: "John Tipton, the youngest son, remained in Carter County and became somewhat distin- guished, etc." The letter to Dr. Draper (from Jonathan Tip- ton) says: "John Tipton, my brother, represented Sullivan County, and Samuel represented Carter County several years each." The records of the Nineteenth Assembly show that John Tipton at the time of his death was a representative from Washington County.3
CHARLES ROBERTSON.
On page 107 of the Annals the name of Charles Robertson is first mentioned. He was a pioneer at Wautauga, and ac- cording to this reference, came originally from South Carolina.
*With reference to Major John Tipton's being at the Battle of King's Mountain, in a letter dated August 19, 1839, by James Sevier, to Dr. Draper, it is pointedly said by Sevier, who was himself in this battle, that "Colonel John Tipton was not there, nor was he a citizen of the western country until several years after the war was over." American Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, pages 40 and 45.
'See Appendix.
SOME CONFUSING STATEMENTS IN RAMSEIES "ANNALS" 33
In the above reference he is mentioned as one of the trustees of th Wautauga Association, and was the original lessee or purchaser of the Wautauga lands from the Cherokees. As far as known, he seems to have always lived in Washington Coun- ty, Tennessee.4 The Charles Robinson of Green County, men- tioned in the Annals on page 402, is another individual and served as speaker of the "State of Franklin" in 1787.
GEN. JAMES WHITE AND DR. JAMES WHITE.
While the Annals do not confuse these two names, yet the? are found confused in some of the other historical writings o*. the State, as well as general historical publications. Nancy Scott, in her "Memoir of Hugh Lawson White," page three, in speaking of Gen. James White says, "He was elected to the first Territorial Assembly at Knoxville in 1794, and serving in that body, introduced a bill creating a literary institution, which measure was the origin of Greenville College." On this authority the statement is frequently found repeated; thus in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography under article "James White," the writer citing as his authority the volume, "Memoir of Hugh Lawson White." As a matter of fact Gen. James White was not a member of the Territorial Assembly, and he is here confused with another noted man of the State, Dr. James White, then of Davidson County, the representative of his county in that Assembly. With this exception the sketch in the above cyclopedia is correct as to Gen. James White. A lucid article clearing up this confusion with especial reference to Dr. James White has lately appeared in this maga- zine by Hon. A. V. Goodpasture.5
J, Tyree Fain.
APPENDIX
The following additional matter is submitted with reference to the Hon. John Tipton, Jr., in which it will be found that further mistakes and errors are set forth. — Editor.
HON. JOHN TIPTON, JR.
The Nineteenth General Assembly of Tennessee convened in the third story of the old court house, Nashville, September 19, 1831.
The County of Washington was represented by John Tipton and he was present at the opening session. He was appointed a member of the following committees: Committee on Internal Improvements, Committee on Banks. It does not appear that Mr. Tipton attended any other than the first sessions of this body. He was perhaps taken sick shortly after his arrival at Nashville. He died on Saturday, October 8, at the Nashville Inn. The following record appears on the Journal of the House:
"'Genealogy of the Charles Robertson Family," American Histori- cal Magazine, Vol. Ill, p. 21.
^Tennessee Historical Magazine, Vol. I, p. 282.
3
34 J. TYB1E FAIN-
OCTOBER 9TH, 1831 (SUNDAY).
At a special meeting of the House of Representatives this day, convened by order of the Speaker:
Mr. Carriger0 rose and addressed the House as follows:
Mr. Speaker: It becomes my painful duty, as a colleague and friend, to announce to the House the death of Col. John Tipton, the representative from the County of Washington. The services and merits of the deceased are too well known to this House to render it necessary for me to enter into any detail of them here. Suffice it now for me to say that he was a friend of his country and an honest man — the noblest work of God. I will conclude, sir, by offering the following resolutions:
Resolved, That this House will attend the funeral of the Hon. John Tipton this evening at such time and place as may be directed by the committee on arrangements.
Resolved, That the Senate be respectfully invited to join this House in the funeral of the Hon. John Tipton.
Resolved, That the Speaker appoint a committee of arrangements and pallbearers for the occasion of said funeral.
Resolved, That the members of this House wear crepe on the left arm for thirty days, as a mark of respect for the memory of the
deceased.
And the question being taken on agreeing to the said resolutions, it was unanimously determined in the affirmative.
Ordered that the clerk acquaint the Senate therewith.
Whereupon Messrs. McLean, Dunlap, Inge and Alexander E. Smith were appointed a committee of arrangements, in pursuance of the third resolution. And Messrs. Watkins, Claiborne, Gillespie, Rogers and Hardin were appointed pallbearers in pursuance of said reso- lution.
A message from the Senate by Mr. Hill, their clerk.
Mr. Speaker: I am directed to inform the House that the Senate will join the House of Representatives on the occasion of the funeral of the Hon. John Tipton, deceased, late a member of this House. And then he withdrew, when —
Mr. McLean, from the committee of arrangements appointed to superintend the funeral of the Hon. John Tipton, made the following
report, to wit:
The order of proceeding in the funeral of the Hon. John Tipton shall be as follows, to wit:
That the two houses assemble in the Representatives Hall at half after 2 o'clock p. m. and that the committee of arrangements and pallbearers proceed to the Nashville Inn, and conduct the body from thence to the Hall of Representatives, where prayers will be said over it by the Rev. Robert Hardin, after which the order of procession shall be:
The body of the deceased. Relations and attending physician.
Clergy.
Speakers of the two Houses.
Officers of the two Houses.
Members of the House of Representatives, two abreast.
Members of the Senate, two abreast. Governor and Secretary of State and staff.
Treasurers.
•Christian Carriger was the representative from Carter and Sulli- van Counties.
SOME CONFUSING STATEMENTS IN RAMSEY'S "ANNALS" 35
Mayor and Aldermen of Nashville and officers. President and Trustees of the University.
Judiciary. Citizens.
Ordered that the clerk acquaint the Senate therewith. And then the House adjourned.7
At 3 o'clock the funeral took place agreeable to the above arrange- ments. A large concourse of citizens accompanied the body of the deceased to the city burying ground, where it was intered with proper solemnities.8
Mr. Matthew Stephenson was the successor of John Tipton in the House of Representatives, being admitted as a member November 7, 1831.9 Shortly afterward he introduced and had passed the following bill:
AN ACT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE HEIRS OF
COL. JOHN TIPTON.
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the Treasurer of West Tennessee pay to the heirs of John Tipton, late representative from the County of Washington, one hun- dred and twenty-five dollars and thirty cents, the per diem pay and mileage due to said Tipton for his services from the 19th day of September to the 8th of October, 1831, inclusive; also the sum of twenty-seven dollars to Charles D. McLean, chairman of the com- mittee of arrangements, the expenses incurred by said committee in the interment of the deceased Colonel Tipton; and the receipt of said heirs and of the said Charles D. McLean, shall be good vouchers in the hands of said treasurer, in the settlement of his accounts.''10
A beautiful monument stands in the old City Cemetery to the memory of Col. John Tipton, erected, it is supposd, by the voluntary subscriptions of his fellow members of the Assembly. The location is in Section S-E and Lot No. 73, and consists of a round, dignified shaft located on an appropriate pedestal, with the following inscrip- tion :
To the memory of
Col. John Tipton
Born in Washington County, Tennessee
Died October 8, 1831
Erected by order of The Forty-ninth General Assembly
"How sleep the brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes blest, When Spring with dewy finger cold Returns to deck their hallowed mould She then shall dress a sweeter sod Than fancy's feet have ever trod."
"This monumental slab, sacred to the memory of the late Colonel John Tipton, of Washington County, in the State of Tennessee, was
'Printed Journal of the House of Representatives, Nineteenth Gen- eral Assembly, 1831, pages 97-98.
8Report of the House Proceedings for October 9, as printed in the "Nashville Republican and State Gazette," issue of October 11, 1831.
Mournal of House, page 190.
10
Acts of Nineteenth Assembly, page 219.
placed here by the members and officers of the 19th General Assembly
30 J. TYRfiK FAIN
of that State as a token of regard for the talents and excellences of the deceased.
An early adventurer in this country, Col. Tipton was distinguished for his daring intrepidity in the sanguinary Indian wars of the day.
He gave promise of the future by the deeds of his youth, and veri- fied public expectations by the lofty stand assumed and always sus- tained. In the councils of the State he was an incorruptible patriot, bold in conception and fearless in execution. Covered with honors and with years, he descended to the grave on the 8th day of October, 1831, in the 64th year of his age."
Judge William B. Reese, in the chapters contributed to "History of Nashville/' 1890, p. 101, says, after speaking of the monument erected in the old City Cemetery to the memory of Gov. John Sevier:
"It is rather remarkable that all the recent histories of Tennessee assume — indeed, assert — that while John Sevier became a more promi- nent figure in our State, having been six times elected governor of the State and twice sent to Congress, his rival and opponent and cap- tor, John Tipton, became more and more obscure and unknown. Now the fact is after Tennessee became a State John Tipton was elected ten times a member of the Legislature, while that body consisted of not more than thirty or forty members, adding both House and Senate together. He was eight times a member of the House, twice a mem- ber of the Senate; was Speaker of the House of Representatives on 1811-12, President of the Court of Impeachment of Judge Haskel in 1831, and died Oct. 8th, 1831, while a member of the Legislature in Nashville. His death occurring on Sunday, both branches of the Legislature convened in extra session, in honor of the deceased. His body was carried from the Nashville Inn, where he died, to the capitol, where his remains lay in state. The funeral services were held in the capitol, and the governor, both houses of the Legislature, the State officers, judiciary, city officials, and citizens generally followed his remains to the old city cemetery, where they now lie interred. The writer recently looking over the monuments in that old graveyard, came across one erected by the State of Tennessee to John Tipton. He was shocked to find that it had fallen down, and lies now in four or five pieces. It was therefore impossible for him to get the inscrip- tion, as it is carved on the detached pieces of marble, but he could see enough to make out that the monument wac erected by the State of Tennessee in honor of John Tipton. It is to be hoped that the State will restore the monument to its former condition. But there John Tipton lies, midway between General James Robertson's and John Sevier's monuments."
The editor of the above history, J. Woolridge, in Chapter XIX., p. 344-345, continues the subject matter:
"It will perhaps be a surprise to many to learn that such an ap- preciative epitaph as the following should be found dedicated to the memory of Colonel John Tipton, inasmuch as he is set forth in such an unenviable light in certain histories of the State. In Chapter VII., p. 101, it is stated that on account of the monument to Colonel Tipton being broken into four or five pieces it was impossible for the writer to get the inscription. Since that chapter was written the writer of this chapter, with the writer of that, arranged the pieces of he broken slab in such a manner as to render it easy to copy the inscription, which is presented below. However, it is proper to state that the inscription was made public in the newspapers of that day, and it was also stated that it was written by Hon. Ephraim H. Foster."
SOME CONFUSING STATEMENTS IN RAMSEY'S "ANNALS" 37
That the monument was later rebuilt will be seen in a later con- tribution from the gifted pen of Will Allen Dromgoole, who gave in the Nashville Bcmner, October 19, 1907, the following description of the tomb, accompanied with a fine photographic representation of same:
"The tomb is a noteworthy one, standing some feet against the blue. It is a shaft of pure white marble, exquisitely designed and executed, one side showing a sword and battle flag and cannon ball. . . . This handsome and valuable monument is in great and immediate danger of destruction, the slender shaft having been twisted almost from the pedestal (itself too tall and slender for perfect safety) by the storm which left many an unsightly mark upon the historic burying ground."
The errors and confusions that have ever haunted the narratives of the noted Major John Tipton seem to have been further visited upon the noteworthy son.
In the above inscription a number of errors have been made per- manent in marble. First, he is represented as a member of the "49" General Assembly, when it was in the Nineteenth Assembly that his labors closed. Again, on one side, his death is given as having oc- curred in "1813" instead of 1831. Possibly these are mistakes of the workman, chiseling in the first a "4" for a "1" and in the latter getting his "1" before his "3" rather than after it. Or, indeed, it may represent the traditional mistakes in, the history of these Tip- tons, as "1813" was the correct date for the death of Major John Tipton, the father of the man to whose memory the monument was erected.
Note how Judge Reese confuses the history of father and son !
Perhaps this will explain the confusion of another noted Ten- nessee writer as he strolled through this old cemetery and was im- pressed to write his pensive thoughts as follows:
"Every student of Tennessee history is acquainted with the early career of Col. John Tipton. He was the implacable foe of General Sevier, and is one of the most roundly abused characters in the an- nals of the State. He was born in Washington County and died in 1831. Perhaps not a half dozen persons know that he lies in the old City Cemetery under a beautiful monument erected by the order of the Forty-ninth General Assembly. His tomb and the shaft erected to General Sevier may both be seen from Summer Street. . . . The feud between Sevier and Tipton was bitter and of long duration, etc." — Will T. Hale (in old clipping from a Nashville paper).
LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION; HOW NASHVILLE
HEARD THE NEWS.
[In the Journal of Illinois Historical Society for October, 1914, is found a very interesting article written by Captain William H. Gay of Quincy, Illinois. This officer was stationed at Nashville dur- ing the winter and spring of 1864-5. His description of how the news of President Lincoln's death was received in Nashville is indeed worthy to be recorded in our annals. — Ed.]
I was at the time of this, our crowning disaster, stationed with my company at Nashville, Tenn., where we were quartered during the winter and spring of 1864-65. Here Thomas had met Hood on the 15th and 16th of December and well nigh annihilated his army. Sher- man had marched to the sea with little opposition, making clear the weakness of the Confederacy; Grant was moving to capture Lee, all of which gave hope and promise that the end was near. And now we were hourly looking for news of surrender.
On the morning of April 10, 1865, the anxious waiting was brought to rest by the glad news of the surrender. The end had come, and the ojy of it brought out wild demonstrations of delight and shouts of victory from thousands of Union soldiers encamped at Nashville. Immediately an order to fire a salute of fifty guns was issued to cele- brate this great victory, and my battery had the honor to be selected to perform this service.
My company occupied Fort Negley. This fort was situated on the highest point, a short distance south of the city, and was mounted with guns of heavy and light caliber, which covered all the southern approaches to the city.
We must celebrate! was the spontaneous sentiment of the loyal army and the loyal citizens of Nashville; and Saturday, the 15th of April, was fixed as the day to give expression to the exultation of triumph that took possession of us all; for it seemed that the winter of our discontent and the glorious summertime of peace had come.
And so on the appointed day Nashville put on her brightest robes to shine beautiful in this hour of the nation's joy. ^ It was a rare spectacle of patriotic splendor, well fitting the occasion. The army was to march in grand review, accoutred as for war. It was a bril- liant and inspiring sight to see the different commands marching to taek possion in the great line of march. Bands of music and fife and drum broke the air with soul-stirring music. The infantry and artil- lery were marching in separate columns. I was riding at the head of the column of artillery. When turning in College Street to take the position assigned us I looked down the street and saw a horseman riding toward me at a rapid gallop. As he drew near I recognized General Thomas' chief of artillery, and I noticed at once he was moved by some deep and powerful emotion. When he reached my side he said, in a voice of deepest intensity, "Have you heard the dreadful news?"
I then realized that something terrible had happened, and, halting my command, I replied, "No; what is it?" He replied, "President Lincoln and Secretary Seward were assassinated last night!"
For a moment this appalling announcement so staggered me and benumbed my senses that I was speechless and reeled in my saddle, nearly overcome. It was a dreadful moment to meet, and the shock of it affected me the remainder of the day.
I do not remember that I gave utterance to a single word but
Lincoln's assassination 39
rode silently down to the Public Square, where I met Governor Brown- low, Mr. Rodgers, president of the State Senate, and the speaker of the House of Representatives. "Parson" Brownlow had recently been inaugurated Governor of Tennessee. It was a gloomy meeting. The Governor was seated in his carriage, looking the embodiment of mis- ery. His strong, honest face showed the marks of distress he felt within. In a low, faltering voice he gave me all the facts then known, and I passed on to learn more, if possible, at headquarters.
The rank and file were now getting hold of the dreadful news, and the glad acclaim of the morning soon subsided into subdued mutter- ings of resentful discontent. The beautiful flags, which had floated triumphantly in the breezes, were dropped to half-mast. Joy was turned to sorrow and hilarity to grief. Further proceedings in the program of the day was stopped, and the troops: were sent back to their quarters. Minute guns were ordered to be fired till sundown, and the First Iowa and another battery at Fort Johnson were de- tailed to perform this service.
And now came a rallying from the first shock of this awful calam- ity, and with a deeper sense of irreparable loss, and it awakened the deepest indignation, increasing as the hours passed on, till it reached the flood gate of such intensity that many of the well-known southern cities sought safety in hiding. Some less cautious in speech declared their satisfaction and were shot dead on the spot by an outraged soldiery.
I remained in my quarters the most of the day pondering over the possible consequences of this unexpected crisis at such a critical mo- ment in the affairs of the nation. Abraham Lincoln gone! This man of the hour! This man who held in his hands a divine mission to
*
humanity to solve the problem of the unshackled bondsmen, and to finish the great task still remaining, to uplift and make a place for
a ransomed people. Gone!
And this is the man whose birthday all the people unite to honor each year. And for his deeds and for his humanity he will forever stand out the grandest figure in American history. His is the type of greatness that will endure, for he was the incarnation of human rights.
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND, OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS FROM NASHVILLE
TO NEW ORLEANS.
By Dr. John R. Bedford.
Introductory*
Readers will find in the document that follows not onlv an intensely interesting and well-written narrative of one hun- dred and ten years ago, but also a real contribution to the economical and social history of the times when it was written. Acknowledgements are here made to later members of the Bedford family and friends for the use of the manuscript and for valuable data of personal history concerning the writer of the journal.
In description of the manuscript book it should be said that it was made no doubt by the author, and consists of sixty-two unruled sheets of durable paper, doubled and stitched so as to make a volume of one hundred and twenty-four pages, the sheets being cut six and a half by sixteen inches in size.
Pages 1-4 were left blank, page 5 records the title, pages 6-10 blank, pages 11-13 introductory, page 14 blank, pages 15- 86 the journal, pages 87-124 blank. The volume, though long without the protection of a cover, is well preserved, the writing is neat and fairly legible and is intact, with the exception of pages 7-10 (blanks) torn out, pages 4144 of the journal torn out, doubtless purposely "expurgated," pages 99-114 (blanks)
torn out, likewise pages 117-118.
The journal, or at least the preface or introduction, seems to have been written after making the journey; possibly the whole book in its present form was rewritten from notes and placed in permanent shape subsequent to the voyage. That the writer never dreamed it should appeal* before many readers is disclosed in the aversion to publicity set forth in the intro- duction.
There is an accolint of ascending the Cumberland River dated Dec. 14 — .Tan. 19, 1795-6, by Andre Michaux, also of de- scent of the Ohio and Mississippi, by F. Cuming, just about a year later than Bedford's, viz., May-June, 1808 (supplement- ing his tour from Bayou Pierre to New Orleans by a narrative of an anonymous writer).
A still later tour of this same period from St. Louis to New Orleans was made December, 1810, by John Bradbury. Re- prints of all three of these narratives are found in the Early Western Travel Series, edited by R. Q. Thwaites, viz.: Vols. Ill, IV and V.
|"#The introductory matter and foot-notes are by the Editor.]
A TO UK IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 41
DE. J. R. BEDFORD.
Dr. John R. Bedford was the son of Captain Thomas Bed- ford, a Revolutionary officer of the Virginia line, and his wife, Ann Robertson. He was born in Mecklenburg County, Vir- ginia, January 18, 1782. His parents in 1795 emigrated from Virginia, coming to Tennessee, making settlement on a planta- tion near the village of Old Jefferson, in Rutherford County, a very refined and cultured community, so influential in after years as to receive votes for the location of the state capital. John R. Bedford making good use of the opportunities of the day, prepared himself for the vocation of medicine, and accordingly entered upon his profession in the neighborhood of his father's plantation. An influential family in this same community was that of General Coffee, and by friendship and marriage relations the Coffees and Bedfords were ever after- ward closely associated.
Mr. Thomas Bedford, the father, died about 1804 and it de- volved on his son, Dr. Bedford, to administer on his large estate.1 About this time a local interest was started at Jef- ferson in the way of freighting the commerce of the community to New Orleans by way of Stones River and the Cumberland, which awakened an interest in the community for river travel, etc. It seems also that at this time members of the Bedford family were interested in the grocery and commission business at Nashville, including Dr. Bedford, with perhaps his brothers, William and Stephen. The following notice in the local Nash- ville paper indicates the preparation made for the trip to New- Orleans, the relation of which is found in the subjoined nar- rative :
MESSERS Bedford & Co. having suspended business until the next season, earnestly REQUESTS THE FEW, who are in arrears to be punctual in payment by the 1st of January, otherwise coercive measures must necessarily be adopted. In the occasional absence of J. R. Bedford, accompts will be left with Mr. George Poyzer, who is authority to settle and receive payment, and to whom we sold the stock of Groceries remaining on hand.2
It has been questioned as to whether it was Dr. J. R. Bed- ford or his brother William who was the author of the diary or journal, but when it is closely read with the number of allusions made to his special fellowship with and friendship for the physicians met, it discloses beyond a doubt that the wrriter was himself a physician or specially interested in the profession of medicine. Possibly he expected to add to his knowledge in this profession by his opportunities in New Or- leans and the South.
In the Impartial Review, a paper published at Nashville,
1Haywood, Tenn. Reports, Vol. V, p. 155. ^Impartial Review, Dec. 12, 1806.
42 DR. JOHN R. BEDFORD
there appears in the issue of April 11, 1807, a letter "from a citizen of this place, dated New Orleans, March 27, 1807,'* that is most probably from his pen.
It is not known how long Dr. Bedford remained in the South — probably but a few months, as advertisements of stock sales, etc., on his plantation at Jefferson appear in a local paper of October 22, 1807,* likewise announcement of his removal to Nashville for the practice of his profession. Dr. Felix Robertson, one of the oldest and most influential prac- titioners, had occasion to spend the winter in Philadelphia, so he offered his office and drug business to Dr. Bedford, viz:
In a notice printed October 29, 1807,4 Dr. Robertson says:
He has obtained the kindness of Dr. J. R. Bedford of Rutherford County, to assume charge of his shop, who will be found ready to obey the calls of his friends with promptitude and fidelity.
Followed by the printed announcement:
MEDICINE.
J. R. Bedford occupies the shop of Doctor F. Robertson, and pro- poses to exercise in the practice of his profession. He therefore ten- ders his services as a physician, etc., to the citizens of Nashville and its vicinity. — As to any claim in public patronage, to which merit may entitle him; he awaits, free of apprehensions, the decision of experience.
The same paper, issue of April 28, 1808, announces:
Dr. Robertson informs his friends and the public that he has just returned from Philadelphia, and has again commenced business at his former shop in Nashville, etc.
In 1818 lands in Alabama Territory having been cleared as to Indian titles, etc., began to be sold at public sale by the United States Government, new counties were soon formed and many new towns laid out and lots sold. What is now Flor- ence, Alabama, in Lauderdale County was the particular ex- ploit of a land company headed by Gen. Coffee, Jas. Jackson and others. The following advertisement of the day tells the story of Cotton-Port, afterwards so well known as Florence, the first settlement on or near the Tennessee River. Dr. Bed- ford was a member of this land company :
THE TOWN OF COTTON-PORT.* On the 16th day of March,
1818 (being the next Monday nfter the close of the Public Land Sales at Huntsville) will be offered for sale to the highest bidder on the premises; A part of the lots laid out for the new town of Cotton-Port. The Town is laid out on the West Bank of Limestone River; one mile above its junction with the Tennessee and a little below the south Beaver Dam and the Piney Fork.
•Ibid.
*Ibid.
^Documentary History of Industrial Society, Phillips, Vol. II, p 263.
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 43
The situation is high and dry, promises to be as healthy as any . other place in Alabama Territory, as near the Tennessee, is suffi- ciently level, and elevated above the reach of the highest floods of the Tennessee.
^Within the limits of the Town are two never-failing springs of good water. The appearance of the Land and the success of similar experiments in the country adjacent, justify a belief that on almost every lot a well of good water may be had at a moderate depth with- out blowing rock.
Limestone River from the Tennessee to this place is navigable by the largest Keel and flat Bottom'd boats used in the Navigation of the Tennessee. Limestone here affords a safe harbor of deep still water, in which the greatest floods, boats will be entirely free from the dangers to which at such times apprehended from the strong and rapid current and sudden risings and fallings of the Tennessee.
The situation at which Cotton-Port is laid out, has in fact long since been proved by the observation and experienced of the planters of the western and north-western parts of Madison county, to be the place which Nature has distinctly marked out for the commercial centre of the very fertile country adjacent. It includes the well- known old boat landing Limestone. At this place for several years past, not an inconsiderable part of the cotton from these parts of Madison county, has been embarked in flat bottom'd boats, which ascended with ease from the Tennessee and with full cargoes de- scended from this place to New Orleans. The saving in the expense of Land carriage, altho' the country for more than 15 miles around the boat landing was then unsettled and the Indian claim to it un- extinguished, caused the produce of this quarter of Madison county to be embarked at this place in preference to any other. The same reason must naturally render Cotton-Port the place of embarkation for all the produce of the country north of it, as far as the southern boundary of the state of Tennessee, & for a considerable distance to the West and to the East.
The country whose trade seems decreed by Nature to centre here, includes one of the finest cotton districts North of Tennessee river. Of its fertility and probable wealth and produce something like definite ideas may be formed, when it is known that at the Public Sales now going on at Huntsville, the lands in the Township in which Cotton-Port has been laid out, and the next to the North, sold at from 2 to 70 dollars per acre and at an average of 16 dollars per acre. In the two next townships to the east and north-east at about the same prices.
The 2 nearest townships to the W. and N. W. of Cotton-Port are to be sold during the present week. The greater part of the Land in these is not less fertile and inviting to wealthy and industrious settlers.
To people at a distance who may not have enquired into the system pursued in surveying and selling Public Lands of the United States, it may be proper to observe, that a township is six miles square, in each of which after the reservation for Schools there are 22,400 acres to be sold in quarter sections of 160 each — of rich and high priced Lands just mentioned the most remote is but twelve miles from Cotton-Port.
Men of Industry, Enterprise & Judgement in almost every walk of life, who seek to better their condition, in a new and unoccupied field of action, will not be slow in forming their conclusions if they can rely upon these statements. Let them examine the records of the Land office and see if they are correct, let them examine the account of sales and calculate what must in all probability be the produce of
44 Dtt. JOHN It. BKDFORD
a district in one half of which, capital to so large amount has been vested by prudent men in the purchase of Lands at the Public sales of government, let them examine a Map of the country and ascertain the point at which the commerce of this district must centre.
To the merchant it must occur that for the exportation of the produce of such a country there must be buyers at the point where it will be collected — that to supply such a country in foreign articles of consumption there must be sellers at the place to which consumers come to sell their produce.
Trade cannot stagnate here. Industrious and ingenious mechanics must see that the inhabitants of such a country will want houses, furniture, farming utensils, leather, saddles, boots, shoes, &c. and will be able to pay good prices for them. The upper country on the Tennessee and Holston rivers and their branches will afford, at a very trifling expense for water carriage down the river, abundant supplies of provisions, iron, lumber and other raw materials.
A good dry road can be had from Cotton-Port, north to Elk river. The proprietors of the land laid out for the town intend to build a bridge across Limestone; and to make a good road for several miles towards the rich country about the Big Prairie.
From Cotton-Port to Falls of the Black Warrior, as good a road can probably be had as from any place on Tennessee river. The dis- tance is about 100 miles.
The trustees of the town will reserve for public benefit, two lots including the two springs, two or more lots for a place of public worship, a school house, and such other public buildings as the pros- pects of the place may seem to require.
In the plan of the town the Trustees have endeavored to avoid everything which will tend to bring all its population and business into one span, and leave the rest of the lots unoccupied. They have endeavored 50 to arrange the streets, lots, etc., as to secure to the future inhabitants as far as practicable the benefits of shade and free circulation of air, and to every family a piece of garden ground.
A plan of the town and a map of the adjacent country, will be left for public inspection at John H. Smith's store in Nashville, and a plan of the town with Brice M. Garner Fayetteville, T. and with John Brahan in Huntsville as soon as they can be prepared.
The sale will commence precisely at 12 o'clock. The trustees are induced to commence the sale at so short a notice, in order to meet the wishes of many now waiting and anxious to commence improve- ments in the town immediately.' If the demand for lots requires it, the sale will be continued from day to day.
Terms eight months credit.
Bond and approved security to be given.
John Coffee, James Jackson, John Brahan, Jas Bright. — Trustees.
In addition to the town exploit large investments were made by these parties in farming lands, much of it purchased directly from the hands of its original occupants, the Indians. On a beautiful site throe miles from the town of Florence, on lands bought of the Indian Chief Doublehead, he built his family home and thus became the first resident physician of this new settlement, his family joining him there in April, 1818. In connection with Gen. Coffee and others he was in- strumental in the organization of the Marion Land Company, among whose stockholders were a number of men of national
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 45
note, including a president of the United States. On account of impaired health, it became necessary for Dr. Bedford to spend his winters in the South, commonly at New Orleans.
Here he made investments in banking and commission busi- ness, the firm bearing the names of Bedford, Breedlove & Robertson and Bedford & Mackev. On his return from the South, in 1827, having reached Athens, Ala., he suddenly ex- pired, March 24, his remains being brought to his plantation, "Mt. Hope," and there interred.
Thomas Eastin, editor of the Examiner, published at Nash- ville, said of Dr. Bedford :
He was a man of much philosophical research, and of a refined and scientific mind, and although somewhat skeptical in his opinions on points not clearly demonstrable, was much to be relied on for the keeness of his mental perceptions and the liberal exercises of his views.6
EXPEDITION OF COL. AARON BUKB.
It is well to note the setting of this narrative in the history of this period in the southwestern country. The absorbing issue of the day was Col. Aaron Burr and his expedition to the Southwest. The crisis of his exploit was reached at Nat- chez almost on the same date that commences this journal. While little data is furnished in the journal for romantic sur- mises or exercise of the imagination, yet it is appealing strange that two bright young physicians lately located in Nashville should choose the rough weather of winter and the rougher method of transportation, to follow Col. Burr's expedition so closely to the Southwest just at this time. After all, how- ever, perhaps the trying river voyage, accompanied, as we shall see, with many dangers and much physical suffering, was little less than was promised by the horseback journey over the Natchez Trail, characterized as it was in those years by daily robberv, and often murder.
Nashville had gotten itself no little in the limelight of the public in the few weeks that preceed the opening of this jour- nal by its reception to Colonel Burr. The following appears in conspicuous print in a local newspaper of the town :
COMMUNICATION.
Col. Aaron Burr the steady and firm friend, of the State of Ten- nessee, arrived in this place on Friday the 28th inst. (Sept. 1806) and on the next day a dinner was given him at Talbott's Hotel at which were convened many of the most respectable citizens of Nash- ville and its vicinity. There appeared an union of sentiment on this occasion. Many appropriate toasts were drank, and a few of the most suitable songs given, when the company retired quite gratified.7
It is further related that during this visit Col. Burr was
6"It Happened in Nashville," W. E. Beard, p. n. 1 1mpartial Review, Oct. 4, 1806.
46 DR. JOHN R. BEDFORD
graciously received at the Hermitage and likewise dined and
wined at the residence of Gen. James Robertson's.
After taking certain ones into his confidence as to plans of future operation, arrangements were made for the purchas- ing of supplies and their transportation down the river to join other portions of the flotilla when the date of embarka- tion should be definitely known. The same local newspaper later notes :
Col. Burr left this place on Monday last (Oct. 6th) for Kentucky.8
A writer who has presented some features of this period iu an earlier number of this magazine says :
Leaving Nashville for the more immediate scene of his prepara- tions, Col. Burr sent back to Jackson $3,500 to be expended for him in boats and provisions. Later an additional $500 was despatched to Nashville. He left the impression behind him that his enterprise contemplated a settlement on the lands recently acquired upon the Washita, and in the event of a war with Spain, a warlike expedition into Mexico.*
On his arrival at Lexington, Kentucky, Col. Burr found his political enemies busy at work to discount the sincerity of his expedition before the bar of public opinion. Affidavit was made before the federal judge seeking to have his plans looked into. Later a jury at Frankfort gave investigation to the charges but exonerated him, whereupon he again received high social recognition by his friends and was equally cried down by his Federalist enemies.
A short time later he again returns to Nashville. Note:
Col. Burr arrived in town on Wednesday last (Dec. 17th). It is said he intends proceeding in a few days to Natchez.10
Col. Burr embarked from this place for New Orleans on Monday last (Dec. 22nd) with two large flat boats, which did not appear to be loaded.11
After President Jefferson issued his proclamation against Col. Burr his popularity necessarily somewhat waned in Nash- ville, Many of his intimate followers, and largely the popu- lace, turned against him. fco great was the change of senti- ment as that it culminated in a scene described in the follow-
ing:
COMMUNICATION.
Last night (Dec. 30th) at the hour of nine, commenced burning the Effigy of Col. Aaron Burr, by the citizens of this town. This proceeding is justified by the ardent emotions of Patriotism felt by the people, and excited from a deep conviction that the said Burr is a TRAITOR. This conviction is produced from the conduct of Col. Burr himself in these Western states, and even in this town — the Proclamation of the Present — his Message to both houses of Con-
•Ibid.
•"Col. Burr's First Brush With the Law," W. E. Beard, Tennessee Hist. Mag.,
Vol. I (ioi$). p. 8.
l0Imparttai Review, Dec. 20, 1806.
*Ibid., Dec. 27, 1806.
A TOUR IX 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 47
gress, and the Statement of Gen. Eaton. And we have the utmost confidence in assuring our Atlantic brethren that the idea of a separation is spurned with indignation and horror. That our lives and our property are pledged to support the General Government of the United States, as the safeguard to our own personal security, and as the only asylum for oppressed humanity.12
Embarassment was faced, of course, by Gen. Jackson and public sentiment caused him to summon the military to pre- paredness and secret couriers were sent to and fro for infor- mation. One, John Murrell, was despatched in the first days of January to the mouth of Cumberland River and beyond to Fort Massac. He reported:
I arrived at Centerville on the 4th inst. Jan. 1807. Heard a report that Col. Burr had gone down the river with 1,000 men. I arrived at the mouth of the Cumberland that evening, and made inquiry concerning Col. Burr, and was informed that he left that place on the 28th of Dec. with ten boats of different description and sixty men aboard. I left there on the 5th, and arrived at Fort Massac the same evening, delivered your letter to Captain Bissell and re- ceived his answer, made some inquiry of him and was informed that Col. Burr left that place on the 30th of Dec. . . . there are about fifty men stationed at the mouth of Cumberland under the command of Col. Ramsey.13
Reply of Captain Bissell to Gen. A. Jackson. Ft. Massac, Jan. 5, 1807.
On or about the 31st ult. Col. Burr passed here, with about ten boats, of different description, navigated with about six men each, having nothing on board that would suffer a conjecture, more than a man bound to market. . . .,,/14
In the meantime the doughty Colonel proceeded on his way with many wild and exaggerated reports preceding him. The postmaster at Natchez gave out that lie had received positive information from the postmaster at Nashville that two thou- sand of Burr's recruits were on the river. The sequel is told in the following:
"1807. Early in January. . . . Colonel Burr with nine boats arrived at the mouth of Bayou Pierre, and tied up on the western or Louisiana shore. He crossed over to the residence of Judge Bruin (whom he had known in the Revolutionary War) and there learned for the first time that the Territorial authorities would oppose his descent, though his landing on the Louisiana side would seem to in- dicate that he apprehended some opposition.15
Ool. Burr submitted to arrest on the Kith, gave bond for appearance before the Superior Court on February 2. His escape to the Mobile River country and later arrest close his historv in the South.
™Ibid., Jan. 3, 1807
^Impartial Review, Jan. 10, 1807.
14Ibid., Jan. 10, 1807.
15"Mississippi — Province, Territory and State, " J. F. Claiborne (1880), p. 278.
48 1>R. JOHN R. BEDFORD
NOTES OR MEMORANDUM OF A TOUR FROM NASHVILLE TO NEW ORLEANS DOWN THE CUMBERLAND, OHIO AND
MISSISSIPPI RIVERS IN THE YEAR 1807.
The following memorandums or Notes were written for two rea- sons only: viz:
1st. To banish ennui and keep at bay the "taedium vitae" of idle- ness, either of the body or mind. The scene on this tour is ever regular and almost invariable. The banks of the Mississippi seem to be of the same height from the mouth of the Ohio to N. Orleans a few places excepted, perfectly level, and covered with the willow & cotton wood — and sometimes decorated with verdure of the cane, which occasionally catch the eye and engage it for 1, 2 or more miles.
The meandering of the channel, is nearly as regular and invariable. It is round one large bend on the right, pass a point, into another large bend on the left — turn this point, into another large bend — and thus we are continually passing bends and points — all exhibiting such little differences to the view, that they would barely be observed by any, but the lanscape painter, & then, merely for the punctillious accuracy of representation, — if indeed, any part of the Mississippi merited representation. Under every point, — which is the end of a bend, — is either the beginning of an island, a sand-bar, or flat willow beach. — A large island in the middle of the river covered with large, lofty cotton wood, sometimes catch and interest the attention. — There- fore little interesting employment is supplied to any of the faculties of the mind. — Such is the uniformity of scenery on the uninhabited banks of the Mississippi that fancy and observation are enlivened only at the commencement of the voyage. — Interesting novelty soon wears away, and insipid uniformity soon succeeds. — The mind sinks into apathy, and at distant intervals only, is aroused by the dread of danger or apprehension of difficulty.
2dly. They are written for my own personal amusement and satis- faction. The recollections of past scenes and transactions, in which we were intimately concerned, though attended with circumstances,
that were difficult & unpleasant, never fails to interest & concern our own feelings. — But it is very improbable that others will be at all concerned, but those whose feelings, from intimacy, sympathize & vibrate with our own. — He, who expects a general concern for his pri- vate individual situation or circumstances betrays great ignorance of mankind and the secret springs that actuate them. — Little minds, big with the conceit of their own superiority and importance, imagine that ever,y eye points to their persons with respect and every mind contemplates their excellencies with admiration. — Hence they vainly intrude their every thought and action upon others who would not otherwise even turn to the right or to the left to notice their greatest exploit. — Hence proceeds arrogance & vain ostentation, — personal de- fects, that are so despicable in the eyes of the intelligent, and so cautiously shuned by the deserving & modest.
JANUARY 14th. Four or five days being busily spent in prepara- tion for the voyage, went on board the BARGE MARY16 with Doctr. Claiborne,17 a fellow voyager, accompanied with the friendly wishes of a few friends — a few friends — because we might be under a mistake to receive every compliment indiscriminately given us, as springing from pure fountains of candour and sincerity. — Inquiries into health,
,sSee Appendix A. "See Appendix B.
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 49
good wishes and other similar compliments, like most manual motions, acquire ease and fluency from mere custom and habit.
Between 1 and 2 o'clock p. m. weighed anchor and sailed, Capt. Duffy commander or Director of the voyage and 3 hands at oars
proceeded very pleasantly 14 miles — encamped on the North short weather cold.
15th THURSDAY— Proceeded without interruption 30 miles and unexpectedly grounded on the Harpeth Shoals,18 2 or 3 miles above the mouth of Harpeth River, 3 o'clock P. M. With the aid of two other Boat's crew, endeavored to get again on float but without effect. — Passed over to North shore and encamped.
FRIDAY, 16th. With the same as yesterday made exertions the whole of this day to get on float & with no more effect. — Our perplexity and unpleasant sensations more easily felt, than described.
SATURDAY, 17th. From the low stage of water in the Cumber- land were sensible of the impossibility of floating the Barge and cargo to the Ohio. — Anxious to proceed with the least delay, deliberated and resolved to load two Keel Boats19 which were at our command, send to Nashville for another and float the Barge down to the mouth of C — d, empty.
Doct. Claiborne returned for another Boat, I proceeded on to the Ohio with the two, loaded from the Barge, and Capt. Duffy remained in charge of the balance, to await the arrival of Doct. Claiborne from N.ville.
18th, 19th, 20th, 21st & 22nd. These days with the 17th were spent in the passage from the Harpeth Shoals to the mouth of Cum- berland,— arrived 3 o'clock P. M. was advised of a large sand bar, of very difficult passage in low water at the entrance of the Cum — Id — into the Ohio. — Therefore passed three miles below it, to Lower Smith- land20 — lodged the load on the beach dismissed the boats and procured Cumberland being called Upper Smithland.21 — Lodged the load on the beach dismissed the boats and procured comfortable boarding at John McKay's, half mile above the landing. — McKay has been an
17Between the mouths of Sycamore Creek on the north and Harpeth River on the south, the Cumberland River is interrupted by a rough reef of limestone rocks that were for long years a great danger to boating, especially in low water. This has been overcome in later years by the erecting of Lock "A." which has raised the water permanently above the reefs so that they are no longer visible. The steamboat General Jackson was wrecked here by running into a snag in 1821. "Hist of Nash- ville," Crew, p 307.)
19See note 16.
^"This town contains only ten or a dozen houses and cabins, including two stores, two taverns and a billardi table. There appear to be only about 30 acres of land, badly cleared and worse cultivated, around it, though the soil seems very good, but as it is as yet only considered as a temporary landing to boats bound up and down the Cumberland River, the inhabitants depend on what they can make by their intercourse with them, and are not solicitious to cultivate more land than will suffice to give them maize enough for themselves and their horses. They live chiefly on bacon, which comes down the two rivers, and corn, being too indolent to butcher and to fish, though they might raise any quantity of stock, and doubtless both the Ohio and Cumberland abound in fish. One the whole it is a miserable place,, and a traveler will scarcely think himself repaid by a sight of the Cumberland, for stopping at Smithland. There is an old Indian burying ground at the. upper end of the town, where we found several human bones enclosed in their flattish stone tombs close to the surface. Cumberland River mixes its clear blue stream with the muddy Ohio at an embouchure of about three hundred yards wide."
("Tour in the Western Country," F. Cuming, p. 275.)
21 See Appendix C.
-4-
50 DR. JOHN R. BEDFORD
inhabitant of this place 9 years — an adventurer with the famous Zacariah Cox,M from the lower part of Georgia, — is a hospitable, industrious, honest man. — Nothing worth noting after leaving the Barge to this place, but the intense severity of the cold,23 — which on the 19th was almost imsupportable, occasioning a very thin skim of ice on the river the morning of the 20th, — which is very unusual, — not having happened for many years. — Passed Clarksville24 on the right, Palmyra25 on the left 12 miles below, Dover26 on the same side, all of little importance or notoriety, only that they are county towns. — Eddyville27 some distance lower on the North bank, is in the State of Kentucky, Livingston County,28 — and remarkable only for Ship build- ing which is carried on with some spirit, — 3 schooners being on the stocks of about 160 tons, one launched & nearly finished — the other two not in such forwardness, — also two Gun Boats for the U. States, under the superintendence of Matt. Lyon.20 — Two others were compleated at this place & forwarded on in November last.
^Concerning Zacariah Cox, the Settlement of the Big Bend of Tennessee River, the Yazoo Land Company, etc., see "Annals of Tennessee," J. G. Ramsey, p. 549*55 * •'History of Georgia," Stevens, Vol. II., p. 457-496.
"See note «
"Established in 1785 by Martin Armstrong, being the second town established in Middle Tennessee — Nashville being the first in 1784. It is located on the northern bank of Cumberland River just above the mouth of Red River. Was named in honor cf Gen. George Rogers Clark, no doubt, through the influence of Col. John Mont- gomery, one of Gen. Clark's commanders in his expedition against the French of the Illinois, who was one of the first settlers there. When the State of Tennessee was erected, the County of Tennessee gave up its name to the State and took the name of "Montgomery" in honor of Col John Montgomery, who had met death at the hands of the Indians. The U. S. Gazateer, of 1795 says: "It contains about thirty dwellings, a court house and a jail."
(Hon. A. V. Goodpasture, in Amer. Hist. Mag., Vol. VIII., p. I97-199-)
"The first settlement made in Montgomery County on the south side of the Cumberland River. It is located at the mouth of Deason's Creek, and the settlement was made under the auspices of Dr. Morgan Brown, being erected by legislative en- actment in 1796. It was the first port of entry opened west of the mountains. In 1802 Dr. Brown built in this neighborhood the first iron works in Montgomery County, also kept a general store and run a water mill. He removed to Kentucky in 1808.
(Amer. Hist. Mag., Vol. VIII., p. 200 )
"The neighborhood of which the town of Dover is the center was settled cs early as 1795, by George Petty, Joseph Smith, Larry Satterfield and others, their homes being located at the foot of the Cumberland Hills on Lick Creek. The county of Stewart was formed in 1803, when commissioners were appointed to locate the county seat, it being specified that its name should be "Monroe." In the fall of 1805 the site of the new town was settled upon, thirty acres being bought of Rob- ert Nelson. The name of Dover, however, was given to it instead of that desig- nated in the act of the Legislature. The courthouse built was of logs, two rooms and one story high, costing about $600. In 1806 George Petty was issued a license to keep an "Ordinary" (tavern).
(j'Historjr of Tennessee," Goodspeed. p. 897.)
^The site of Eddyville was visited by the French traveler, Michaux, in 1795 He makes mention of the locality in his Journal, under date of December 22, says:
"Rowed about seven leagues, and slept at the Great Eddy, which is considered to be at a distance of forty-five miles from the mouth (of the Cumberland)."
"Western Travels," Thwaites, Vol. III., p. 81.)
The town was founded by Col. Matthew Lyon, and was given its name because of its location between the two large eddies in the river at that point, one being iust below and the other two miles above the site of the town. As noted in the
journal, this place was famed for its boat-building industry. The Nashville Impartial Review has this notice in the issue of March 21, 1807:
"The brig Melinda was launched at Eddyville -on Friday (28 ult.) and will vet sail in a few days for New Orleans. She is a handsome vessel of 150 tons, the property of Messrs. Bullock and Ficklin, of this town." (Copied from a paper pub- lished at Russellville, Ky.)
"Established in 1798 out of part of Christian County, Ky., and named in honor of Robert R. Livingston, of New York
^See Appendix D.
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 51
FRIDAY, 23rd. Light Rains, — covered cotton on the beach with staves near at hand — washed and exchanged clothes. — After dinner set out for Upper Smithland — mistook the way and would unavoid- ably have been bewildered, till, God knows when! but for McKay whom I accidentally met returning from a hunt — was persuing a small trail, that led from the Ohio towards the Cumberland river, above Upper Smithland — in which direction were no inhabitants for many miles. Returned home with McKay, glad at having so luckily escaped such a difficulty.
SATURDAY, 24th. Clear and cold.— After breakfast set out again for Upper Smithland, — which was three miles above — arrived without embarrassment — was unknown to any of the inhabitants, but a Mr. Cribbs, — with whom I had a slight acquaintance — was destitute of a cent of money, having paid all in hand to the boatsmen for their services and required still more to comply with engagements with them, — not anticipating difficulties, set out from N-ville with only 30 dollars — which was deemed sufficient for contingent expenses, that usually occur on similar voyages. — Among strangers without money and dunned for money justly due! ! my feelings are too painful to describe! Cribbs seeming inattentive and little disposed to render my situation pleasant, even as a stranger in the place, — my feelings certainly forbade presuming on his good offices. — Quite unexpectedly, but very luckily met with Robt. McConnell, now living in Centre ville,30 Kentucky, — formerly in N-ville — with whom I was acquainted when a lad. — He has ever been remarkable for his goodness, generosity and gentlemanly deportment. — Did not hesitate to disclose my situation and wants to him. — He had not money, but made arrangements with Woods & Hicks31 at Upper Smithland, for my accommodation. — Ob- tained from them money and articles necessary for the voyage of which we were already destitute, to the amt. of 75 dollars, for which gave a Bill on Mr. G. Poyzer, Mercht.32 Nashville. Returned to Mr. McKay's, — examined pork and cotton on the beach, — all safe.
^This place was in Livingstone County, Ky. The name no longer is in use. Perhaps was changed. "Eddyville was made the seat of justice of Caldwell when that county was established in 1809. It was removed to Centerville, returned to Eddyville, but again removed and fixed permanently at Princeton. "
("School Hist, of Ky.," Collins, p. 491.) See page 47.
31Both of these names stand high in the commercial and social history of Nashville. Joseph, Robert and James Woods* names appear in connection with nearly every commercial enterprise undertaken in the early days of merchant life of Nashville. Reared in central Kentucky, Joseph and Robert married sisters, daugh- ters of the noted Kentucky inventor, Edward West, who it is claimed really in- vented the first steamboat, giving it a try-out at Lexington in the 179 — .
Another daughter of West became the wife of Moses Norvel, who came to
Nashville in 1807, and a son, William Edward West, was the well-known artist and portrait painter.
Whether the result of association with Mr. West, who was so interested in river navigation or for pure commercial reasons, we find the Woods brothers at an early date engaged in the river trade, having a noted commission house at Smith- land. Later they moved to Nashville, where they continued for many years in the same business. —
/'The early experience of these men as commission merchants on the river, in receiving and forwarding goods of various kinds, gave them great advantage over all others, and they were very successful in their business, and held the confidence of the entire community. " So wrote the Hon. Willoughby Williams in his "Recol- lections of Nashville."
.(Clayton's Hist, of Dav. Co., p. 199.)
32George Poyzer came from Lexington, Ky., to Nashville. He was an English- man by birth, and had lived at Lexington some years. His was the first cotton "factory" in Nashville, located on what is now 3rd Avenue, from Phillips & Buttorff Co down to Church Street. He did not manufacture cloth, only thread. When offered for sale, his factory was described as follows:
"One mule of one hundred and forty-four spindles, a double throttle of seventy-
52 DR. JOHN B. BEDFORD
SUNDAY, 25th. Clear and pleasantly warm, — passed the whole of this day in repose, — occasionally examined the load on the beach.
MONDAY, 26th. Weather as yesterday. — Wrote Mr. George Poy- zer, Parry W. Humphreys33 & Dr. James L. Armstrong. — Half after
3 o'clock P. M. while writing, Doct. Claiborne arrived with the wel- come intelligence that the boats were in 12 miles and approaching, — all safe & well conditioned. — Closed my letters and returned with him to Upper Smithland — continued here this night in company with Mr. Kirkman3* & Murrell3* from N-ville— Mr. Cobb of Eddyville & Mr. Mc- Nair36 of St. Louis. — No occurrence worth attention. — Upper Smithland
is situated on the South bank of the Cumberland River — at its junc- tion with the Ohio, — and Lower Smithland on the South bank of the Ohio three miles below. — The situation of these places, gives them superior commercial advantages, — which at present are enjoyed in a more limited degree by a Mr. Hamlin Hicks, the only Inn Keeper and Merchant of Upper Smithland, — indeed of both ' Smithlands. No establishment being at the lower.
The whole exportation, of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Penn* sylvania and the greater part of Indiana Territory now pass this place, — and events of a few years will very probably draw the im- portations to all these places, but West Pennsylvania, by this place. These circumstances, with well regulated establishments founded on good capital, will certainly give Smithland great importance in the Western country. — Little doubt exists, but that Lower Smithland is far more eligible and advantageous than Upper Smithland, — and for evident reasons, viz: the obstruction occasioned by the large Sand Bar and an Island which divided the current of Ohio immediately opposite the mouth Cum — Id. — The nearest current is impassable except in
high water, — of course that on the opposite side of the Island is in far greater use. — Large crafts from N. Orleans bound above this place, seldom proceed further up, except in very high water, — Deposit & freight in smaller crafts. — Therefore in consequence of Upper Smithland being measurably blocked up by this Island and Sandbar, except in high water, equal establishments at Lower Smithland would have preference and become the place of more general deposit and resort. — It seems a providential regulation that one place shall not be endowed with every benefit or advantage, — wherefore this possesses
two spindles, and two single throttles of thirty-six spindles each, with the necessary carding machine, etc."
In addition to the factory, he also" conducted a store. Likewise his residence was in the same plat.
(Clayton's Hist, of Dav. Co., p. 198. Hist, of Nashville, p. 215. "Old Days in Nashville," Thomas, p. 23.)
^Distinguished lawyer and jurist of Tennessee Appointed an additional judge of the Superior Court in the fall of 1807, continued in office till the abolition of those courts, January ist, 1810. The fall preceding he had been appointed one of the judges of the Circuit Courts In April, 181 3, was elected a member of Con- gress, thereupon resigning the office of judge. '
(Clayton's Hist, of Dav. Co., p. 93.)
**A prominent family in the history of Nashville. ••See p. 47.
MFirst Governor of the State of Missouri, h. in Derby Township. Dauphin Co., Pa., in 1774- d in St. Louis, March 18, 1826. Educated at Derby and the College of Philadelphia (U. of Pa.). In 1794 was a lieutenant in charge of a com- pany from Dauphin Co. in the Whisky Rebellion of Western Pa. Went to Missouri Territory in 1804, settling at St. Louis, where he served for several years as U. S. Commissary. Was an officer in the War of 1812. Elected Governor of Missouri, holding office from the foundation of the State in 1820 to 1824, thereafter held an important office in the Indian Department
(Appleton's Cyclo. of Amer. Biog.)
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 53
such, only as results from its relative situation with the places above named by means of the Ohio & Cumberland Rivers. — The country around, is
The country around is greatly interspersed with marshes, ponds or lagoons, which render it unhealthy — much subject to fevers of differ- ent types — intermittents more generally. And it has not the ad- vantage of a fertile soil or good water. But for these Smithland would be a very desirable situation in every respect. The settlements around will probably ever be of inferior respectability.
TUESDAY, 27th. Morning cloudy, windy and cold. 9 o'clock A. M. Barge and boat in company hove in sight — arrived — all safe and well conditioned — continued on for lower Smithland — violent head wind detained till afternoon — then set out. Barge grounded on the sand-bar with five bales cotton and 16 or 20 barrels pork only — after two hours' labor worked her off — by a mis-step in haste fell overboard on the sand-bar — water waist deep. Arrived at lower Smithland — un- loaded the boat and dismissed her — commenced reloading the barge.
WEDNESDAY, 28th. Weather as the day before. Engaged in reloading.
THURSDAY, 29th. Weather more moderate — finished reloading and other preparations for an early start tomorrow.
FRIDAY, 30th. Weather as yesterday — weighed anchor and set out with very alarming apprehensions of again grounding — Ohio still falling — proceeded 12 miles — 1 mile below the mouth of Tennessee encamped on the south side of the Ohio. Had a light snow.
SATURDAY, 31st. Morning quite clear and not very cold. With difficult and tedious progress proceeded to Fort Massac,37 only nine
37Some have thought that the site of Fort Massac was first occupied by the French when Juchereau established his trading station and tanneries on the "Oua- bache" at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Others state that as early as 171 1 the site was occupied by the French as a stockade fort for the protection of the Jesuit missionaries and the fur traders who were subject to marauding Cherokee Indians.
PownalTs map of 1751 shows the location of a fort or post here, and in 1757 Aubry, Governor of the Illinois country, erected a fort here en his way to re- inforce the garrison at Fort Duquesne, giving it at first the name of Fort Ascension. On the approach of the English under General Forbes, in 1758, the commandant at Fort Duquesne evacuated the fort and destroyed it with fire, a portion of the forces went north to Canada, the other part descended the Ohio one thousand miles to Fort Ascension, where they strengthened it and left a garrison of one hundred men, changing its name in honor of the Marquis de Messiac, Minister of the Marine, to. Fort Messiac, shortened in use to Massac. Later the English perpetuated a tradi- tion of an Indian massacre at this point from which it is said the name Massac originated. When the French surrendered the country east of the Mississippi to the English in 1763 this fort was dismantled and evacuated. The English never rebuilt it, though it was afterwards appreciated by them that it} was the key to the North- west country, since it was from near this site that George Rogers Clark, having landed his company of soldiers, took his departure for the Illinois towns, resulting in the end of the English occupation of the country. When, in i793'I794» the French agent, Genet, was fomenting his scheme for capturing Louisiana and Florida from Spain by the help of filibusters from Tennessee and Kentucky, the site of old Fort Massac was designated as the place for the base of supplies, etc., but General St. Clair's proclamation of March 24, 1794. ordering General Wayne to fortify and restore the post, defeated their purpose* and prevented the passing down the river of the expedition A year later this same old fort began to figure in another similar project. This time it was the Spaniards, through their agent, Thomas Power, who attempted to separate the western states from the Union and ally them with Spain. No less personage than Gen. George Rogers Claris was associated with others in this venture, and amongst other designs provided for was the capture of Fort Massac, etc. Another picture of Fort Massac about this period is found in the "Sketches
54 I>K. JOHN R. BEDFORD
miles — strong head winds opposing progress. Boat examined by the sergeant. Delivered a letter of introduction in behalf of Doctor Clai- borne and myself from General A. Jackson*1 to Capt. Daniel Bissel,* commander of the Fort. Was received with much politeness and ac- commodated with great hospitality — partook of an excellent dinner, and by the friendly invitation, perhaps solicitation, mor properly, of Capt. Bissel, after having taken leave, returned and tarryed all the night. Capt. Bissel is of tall straight, commanding stature— o genial deportment — converses with good sense, but not with ease and fluency — quick and considerably stammering — positive and confident, a cir- cumstance not unusual with those long accustomed to military com- mand— he is a native of N. England and has been an officer in the U. S. Army 16 or 18 years. Mrs. Bissel is amiable, genteel, polite and affable — possessing great female delicacy. Hair and eyes black and skin somewhat brown.
Fort Massac is situated on a considerable eminence on the north,
of a Tour to the Western country/' F. Cumming, 1807-8, published in Early West- ern Travels, Vol. IV, pp. 276-277:
"On fastening the boat a corporal from Fort Massak, just above the landing, came on board and took a memorandum of our destination, etc. We landed and, approaching the fort, we were met by Lieutenant Johnson, who very politely showed us the barracks and his own quarters within the fort, in front of which is a beau- tiful esplanade with a row of Lombardy poplars in front, from whence is a view up- wards to Tennessee River, downwards about two miles and the opposite shore, which is about one mile and a quarter distance — the Ohio being now so wide. The fort is formed of pickets, and is a square, with a small bastion at each angle. The sur- rounding plain is cleared to an extent of about sixty acres, to serve for exercising the garrison in military evolutions, and also to prevent surprise from the enemy. On the esplanade is a small, brass howitzer and a brass caronade two-pounder, both mounted on field carriages, and a sentinel is always kept here on guard. The garrison consists of about fifty men. Some recruits were exercising They were clean and tolerably well clothed, and were marched into the barracks yard preceded by good drums and as many fifes. The house of Captain Bissel, the commandant, is without the pickets."
Fort Massac continued to be used by the government as a military post until the close of the War of 181 2-1 5, and the remains that exist today are the remnants of this period. A modern traveler by boat down the Ohio in 1894 gives the following present-day picture of the site:
"No doubt the face of this rugged promontory of gravel has, within a century, suffered much from floods* but the remains of the earthwork on the crest of the cliff, some fifty feet above the present river stage, are still easily traceable through- out. The fort wasi about forty yards square, with a bastion at each corner. There are the remains of an unstoned well near the center; the ditch surrounding the earth- work is still some two and a half or three feet below the surrounding level, and the breastwork about two feet above the inner level; no doubt palisades once surrounded the work, and were relied upon as the chief protection from assault. The grounds, pleasant grassy grove several acres in extent, are now enclosed by a rail fence and neatly maintained as a public park by the little city of Metropolis, which lies not far below. It was a commanding view of land and river which was enjoyed by the garrison at old Fort Massac. Up stream there is a straight stretch of eleven miles to the mouth of the Tennessee; both up and down the shore lines are under full survey, until they melt away in the distance. No enemy could well surprise the holders of this key to the lower Ohio." (On the Storied Ohio, Thwaites, pp. 285-
288.)
"Andrew Jackson wis elected major-general of the militia in the State of Tennes- see in 1801 at the age of thirty-four. His principal opponent was Governor John Sevier. He was elected by a majority of one vote. (Brady's T)\e True Andrew Jackson, p. 65 )
r)an:-« t»s— .1 — *• «^^^:«*«/4 •» ^r%A*>* fmm rVmnertirnt in Sentember. 1701: became
niel Bissel was appointed a cadet from Connecticut in September, 1791; became in 1792; lieutenant in January, 1794; captain in 1799; lieutenant-colonel 18, 1808; colonel August 15, 1812; brigadier-general, March 9. 1814. yom:
ensign August
army in 1 821"; died at St. Louis, Mo., May 14th, 1833.
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 55
or Indiana,40 side of the Ohio. It is the only eminence between Smith- land and the mouth of the Ohio — has a very commanding and beauti-
ful prospect of the Ohio above — extending at least 7 or 8 miles — all
this distance the river is from three-quarters to a mile in width. Capt. Bissel has commanded here 3 or 4 years. The stockading is strong and well executed — within and round about the Barracks is covered with small pebble making handsome dry walks. Houses of logs neatly erected and pretty well finished — neat and comfortable. Without the Barracks round about at some distance are several smoky huts in- habited by miserable wretches who get subsistence some way or other, I cannot tell how — one or two Indian traders — this being a place of considerable trade with the Indians — Chickasaws and Cherokees,41 prin- cipally. This place has been inhabited many, many years — first by the French, when claiming all the country west of the Ohio — a fort was established by them about this time. They were attacked, the whole murdered and fortifications burnt by the Indians — whence the significant name — Fort Massac — or the massacred fort.42 The country round about not very fertile and much of it flat and marshy. It is not deemed healthy.
FEBRUARY 1st. Rose a little before the dawn of day — agreeable to the Capt's orders good fires were continued in our rooms the whole of the night— and breakfast ordered by sunrise, soon after rising — Doctor Claiborne yet in bed — Capt. Bissel entered, having been in- formed of our rising — breakfast was soon ready, Mrs. Bissel appeared and served breakfast. Exchanged ceremonies and civilities, went on board and started by an hour's sun, with great and alarming appre- hensions of grounding or rather, of wrecking, on what is called the Little and Grand chain43 of rocks — proceeded six miles, saw three flat boats on ground and narrowly escaped grounding ourselves — were
saved only by the sight of them, which warned us of danger and prompted us to sound. This apprized us of shallow water and we cast anchor — obtained aid from the boats on ground, ascended the stream above the large sand-bar on the north and passed on the north side of it, where there was abundance of water. Then, attempting to land, was grounded on shore — made exertions with the poles — these ineffectual, leaped into the water and with prizes forced her off. I could not hesitate being the first out, as exemplary for the others.
Wind continued raging, — deemed it unsafe to proceed and en- camped. Night extremely cold and tempestuous — unsafe to bring the boat to shore, therefore anchored 20 yards off — passed and repassed in a canoe.
MONDAY, 2d. Wind continued violent without abatement till a half hour's sun. Set out and proceeded 4 miles just below what is
40In the year 1800 Congress divided the Northwest Territory and established out of that portion of it west of the present State of Ohio the INDIANA TERRITORY. In 1809 Indiana Territory was divided and that portion west of the Wabash River was erected into the ILLINOIS TERRITORY.
41Fort Massac was the natural trading place of the French with the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians. At an early date the French commenced to designate the Ten- nessee River by the name of "Cherokee River," since it had its sources in the region of their settlements and was used by them as the highway of intercourse with the nations of the west. Likewise it was equally convenient for the Chickasaws, as they were located in what is now northern Mississippi and western Tennessee. It re- mained a rendezvous for Indian trade after the English took possession of the coun- try and remained such until the removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi.
*2This is an echo of the familiar tradition as to the name "Massac" explained in
note *ki sec
48Well-known localities to the boatmen, called by the French "La Petite Chaine"
and "La Grande Chaine."
56 DR. JOHN B. BEDFORD
culled the Little Chain of Rocks, a place before viewed with such ter- ror, and encamped on the north, or Indiana, shore — night very cold, but moderately calm. #
TUESDAY, 3d. Set out early and proceeded rapidly 36 miles to the mouth of Ohio, where we arrived at an hour's sun in the evening passing Wilkinsonville" and the Grand Chain of Rocks, places so terrible and alarming by information before given us. Lodged at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, in a comfortable house not quite completed and thence unoccupied. Fort Wilkin sonville was erected and occupied 6 or 7 years past— and is the place where the troops then stationed, first heard and received the extravagant, arrogant and fan- tastical orders for cropping their hair.46 The order was obeyed by all but Col. Thomas Butler,46 who saw and was determined to resist the tyranny of the mandate attended with circumstances the most arbi- trary. This exciting the violent animosity of Wilkinson, Col. Butler finally fell a sacrifice to his malicious persecution — not condemnation. Fort Wilkinsonville is now the abode of a few Cherokee Indians only- inhabiting a few little huts — The fort and appendages wrecked and
tumbled to ruins — the same fate probably will ere long attend its cognomen.47
WEDNESDAY, 4th. Cloudy and clold— entered the Mississippi with the anticipation of a more pleasant and unembarrassing progress — considerable quantities of ice were floating — passed on smoothly and easily, fearless of any difficulty, but such as might be avoided with
""(leaving Ft. Massac.) At three miles passed a new settlement on the right where the river is two miles wide, with a very gentle current. The current carried us twelve miles and a half further, without our perceiving any signs of inhabitants on either shore. We then rowed into Cedar Bluffs or Winkinsonville, where we found an eddy making a fine harbor, and an ascent up a low cliff by sixty-two steps of squared logs to a beautiful savannah or prairie of about one hundred acres, with well-frequented paths through and across it in every direction. We observed on it the ruins of the house of the commandant and the barracks which were occupied by a small United States garrison, until a few years ago, the buildings were destroyed by the Indians. Though our harbour here was a good one, yet we did not spend our night with perfect ease of mind, from the apprehension of an unwelcome visit from the original lords of this country, recent vestiges of whom we had seen in the prairie above us. May 22nd, at daybreak we gladly cast off, and at a mile below Wilkinsonville turned to the left into a long reach in a S. W. by S. direction, where, in nine miles, the river gradually narrows to half a mile, 'and the current is one- fourth stronger than above. (Cuming's Tour, p. 278.)
^"In 1798 the first United States troops that came down the Mississippi were quartered at Fort Adams. General Wilkinson, Colonel Hamtrack, Major Butler, Captain Guion and other officers became rather merry over their punch one night, and the General, by some accident, got his queue singed off. Next day he issued an order forbidding any officer appearing on parade with a queue Major Butler re- fused to obey, and was put under arrest. He was soon after taken sick, and when the surgeon, Dr. Carmichael, informed him that he could not live, he made his will and gave directions for his burial, which, he knew, would be attended by the whole command. 'Bore a hole/ said he, 'through the bottom of my coffin, right under my head, and let my queue hang through it, that the d — d old rascal may see that, even when dead, I refuse to obey his orders.' These directions were literally complied with." (Mississippi as a Province, Territory and State. Claiborne, p. 362.)
"Thomas Butler, soldier, born in Pennsylvania in 1754; died in New Orleans, La., September 7, 1805. While studying law in Philadelphia in 1 776 he joined the army, soon obtained a company and was in almost every action in the middle states during the Revolution. At Brandywine, September 11, 1777, he received the thanks of Washington on the field for intrepidity in, rallying a retreating detachment. At Monmouth he was thanked by Wayne for defending a defile in the face of a neavy fire. After the war he retired to a farm, but in 1791 was made a Major, and com- manded a battalion at St. Clair's defeat, where he was twice wounded. He became Major of the 4th sub-legion April 11, 1792, Lieutenant-Colonel July 1, 170*. aja, en reorganization of the army on a peace basis in June. 1802, was retained as Colonel of the 2nd Infantry. In 1797 he was ordered by President Washington to expel settlers from Indian lands in Tennessee, and made several treaties with the Indians ****le in that country. (Appleton's Cyclo. of Biog )
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 57
care and caution — passed the Iron and Chalk48 banks on the south, or Indian, side, about 16 miles below the mouth of the Ohio, 9 miles be- low which on the same side encamped on the sand beach immediately at the water's edge — the banks being too high and perpendicular to be ascended. The south boundary49 line of Kentucky and the north bound- ary line of Tennessee begins at the Iron banks and passes thence due east.
THURSDAY, 5th. Set out early with prospects of making New Madrid — passes a flat boat lodged on the sand-bar of Second Island50 — spoke the master — was informed they had been grounded twenty days •boat belonging to C. Stump & Co.,51 of Nashville — was 6 or 7 feet above water which was then falling — proceeded without difficulty within five miles of New Madrid, when tempestuous wind forced to
4*"The career of General James Wilkinson is as remarkable as his character is despicable. His adroitness and power of inspiring confidence maintained him in his intrigues, and gave him the opportunity of playing a prominent part in the early western affairs. His share in the Revolution was indicative of the man, he being concerned in the Conway Cabal and other questionable movements. At the close of the war he migrated to Kentucky and engaged in mercantile business. His commercial connection with New Orleans furnished the opportunity for his intrigue with the Spaniards, whose paid agent he became, for attempting to dismember the Union. In this position he first embarked upon, and then betrayed the schemes of Aaron Burr. Not able entirely to clear himself of suspicion, Wilkinson was re- moved from his Western position at the outbreak of the War of 18 12-15; and after a futile and mismanaged campaign against Montreal demanded an investigation by court-martial. This being ine&ciently conducted, Wilkinson was acquitted, but he soon (181 5) retired to extensive estates which he had acquired near the City of Mexico, where he died ten years later." (Note by R. G. Thwaites, to Cuming's 'lour, Early West. Travel, Vol. IV, p. 245.)
48On the old French maps this is denominated "Mine de Fer," and mention is made of it in the voyage of Marquette and Joliet in 1673, LeSeur in 1700, Gravier in 1702, Charlevoix in 1720. etc. Cuming, the contemporary of our traveler, in his
tour of 1808 says:
"At fifteen miles from the Ohio . . Five miles lower down we passed
the Iron Banks on the left. These are very remarkable, being a red cliff near the top of a high ridge of hills about a mile long, where the river is narrowed to little more than a quarter of a mile wide. From the Iron Banks a fine bay of a mile in breadth is terminated by the chalk bank, which is a whitish brown bluff, rising from the water's edge, surmounted by a forest of lofty trees." (Cuming, p. 280.)
40The history of the controversies concerning the state line between Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia with the final agreements is best told in "History of the Northern Boundary of Tennessee/' by W. R. Garrett, A.M., Nashville, 1884. The locating of the Mississippi terminus of the line at the Iron Bank was a mistake, being too far north, but was popularly regarded as such till officially surveyed.
5<>The ancient "Baedeker" of the Mississippi Valley was one Zadoc Cramer, of Pittsburg, who, about 1800, had put in print a guide book to the river routes west. Harris' "Journal of a tour," 1803, mentions "a little pamphlet published at Pitts- burg, called the "Ohio Navigator'' — that served him as a reference book. Its title page (fifth edition, 1806) affirms the book to be: t
"The traders' useful guide in navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, containing an ample account of these much-admired waters, from the head of the former to the mouth of the latter, a concise description of their towns, villages, harbours, settlements, etc., with particular directions how to navi- gate them, in all stages of the water, pointing out their rocks, ripples,^ channels, islands, bluffs, creeks, rivers, etc., and the distance from place to place." In this volume the islands in the Mississippi River receive numbers, commencing at the mouth of the Ohio, viz: "Island No. 1," etc. (Early Western Travel, Vol III, p. 334. "Historic Highways," A. B. Hulbert, Vol. IX, p. 74.)
51That this boat eventually reached its destination may be inferred from the fol-
I lowing "ad":
Money.
By our last arrival per the Barge Willing Maid, from New Orleans, we have received the following articles, viz: A large quantity of Brown and Loaf Sugar, Coffee, Rum, Brandy, Teneriffe, Malaga and Sherry Wines, Claret in Bottles, Shad and Mackr'el, Spanish Segars, Chocolate, Patent Shot off different sizes, a large quantity of Queens and Glass Ware. — all will be sold for cash. . • .
C. Stump & Co.
(Impar. Rev. April 18, 1807.)
68 DR. JOHN R. BEDFORD
put in. It continued without abatement till night — encamped on the beach with prospects of setting out early in the morning, by which time the wind might probably abate.
FRIDAY, 6th. Wind very high, without any sensible abatement, coming from the north, continued till the dusk of evening, too late to make any progress — moved our encampment on the bank above in the midst of very thick and lofty cane, which was a great protection from the cold north wind that yet continued with little abatement — cold almost insupportable*2 — wind abated about 8 o'clock in the night — were therefore sure of proceeding in the morning.
SATURDAY, 7th. The intense severity of the weather yesterday and last night froze the water to an extraordinary degree — far beyond what is usual in this latitude, viz, 30°, 30'. The Mississippi was blocked up from bank to bank with thick and extensive flakes of float-
ing ice — which rendered the river impassable by crafts of any kind,
great or small. We had therefore no other prospects but to remain in statu quo this day out at least — how much longer could not be anticipated — but hope, ever accommodating to our will and wishes, pointed to the shortest probable time and flattered us with a de- parture tomorrow morning. Stuck close to the fire the whole of this day, moving to the river at intervals, with anxious looks on the ice, which seemed to come thicker and thicker, if possible.
SUNDAY, 8th. Weather and ice as yesterday — no prospects of departure this day — but surely tomorrow. This day spent as yester- day— moved camp about twenty or thirty yards for the greater con- venience of getting wood — having consumed all adjacent to the other.
MONDAY, 9th. Weather moderated and the quantity of ice greatly diminished — but yet unsafe to proceed — have great hopes to- morrow. Much wearied with 4 days posture in a very narrow space which confined the view to a few paces and the weather becoming more mild set out on a short ramble with Doctor Claiborne — to give action to the body and a little life to the mind. For the greater safety we pursued the margin of the river, as a guide — rambled about 4 or 5 miles below opposit New Madrid. Spoke a boat crew on the op-
posite side — but the roaring of the ice confounded our voice— on the
way about a mile below camp found our canoe that had broke away the day before. On the return to camp caught a wild goose — rejoiced at the prize — on examination, found it had a wound in the wing which disabled it from flying — it was in consequence very poor — but had be- fore rudely killed it. Returned to camp after 4 or 5 hours absence,
52The winter of 1806-7 was memorable in the annals of the people for its severity At Nashville, on February 6th, the mercury stood at five degrees above zero, and the next day by 10 a.m. it was down to the zero mark. As far south as Natchez it was unusually severe and had been at times during the preceding month of January. February 7th in Kentucky was remembered as the "Cold Friday." An account re- lates: "On two occasions only since the commencement of the present century the mercury has been caused to sink sixty degrees in twelve hours by these cold winds. The first occurred on the evening of the 6th of February, 1807, which was Thurs- day. At nightfall it was mild but cloudy; after night it commenced raining, with a high west wind. This rain soon changed to snow, which continued to fall rapidly to the depth of some six inches; but the wind, which moved at the rate of a hurri- cane, soon lifted and dispersed the clouds, and, within the short space of twelve hours, from the close of a very mild Thursday, all Kentucky was treated to a gentle rain, a violent snow-storm, and a bright, sunshiny morning, so bitterly cold that by acclamation it was termed COLD FRIDAY." (Claiborne's Hist, of Miss., p. 278. Impartial Review, Nashville, February 7, 1907. History of Ohio Falls Counties, Vol. I, p. 219.)
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 59
extremely fatigued with the excursion — ventured out from the river and was somewhat bewildered — hastily sought the margin of the river and stuck close to the beach the balance of the way home.
TUESDAY, 10th. Cut through the ice that blocked us up, about
forty feet and set out, under great dread and alarm at the floating that yt continued pretty thick — floated only 3 miles and, alas! stuck fast on a large sand-bar 2 1-2 miles above New Madrid. The bar ex- tended obliquely up the river nearly to the north shore. It was inter- sected by 4 or 5 channels of water thereby making small islands of sand •which, being covered with ice to the height of 4 or 5 feet, exhibited a singular view. At a distant view we were apprehensive that they might be collections of sawyers and drift wood on which had lodged these vast quantities of ice and therefore thought it safest to pursue the broadest channel — but, by the by, was the shallowest and we run hard on ground about 2 o'clock P. M. Neglecting to secure our canoe when found, no means were left us to gain the shore. Slept on board above deck without a shelter. In the night came a cold rain, to which were every how exposed — were wet under and above.
WEDNESDAY, 11th. Still raining — rose from our lodging, hav- ing a buffalo rug and blankets under the two blankets above, wet, cold and with heavy hearts and sad fears, not knowing when relief could be obtained. Our lungs were sore and overstrained by hallooing and blowing the trumpet the night before, but without any benefit. New Madrid being in view we had hopes of aid from there — but now de- spaired. In this state of extremity a plan was devised and adopted, which gave some hope of reaching land — viz, a raft of 4 or 5 cotton bales, sufficient to bear two adventurers who were to be determined by lottery — and were to procure aid from Madrid after landing. One of the crew, eccentric and fanciful, proposed to saw off the legs of a 3 by 4 table that was on board, set that on float and he alone would be the adventurer on board for the shore and the messenger of our unpleasant condition and forlorn situation. Having no need then of a messenger to the world of spirits, this rash and visionary scheme was ridiculed and rejected.
At 9 o'clock P. M., just at the moment when about to begin the raft of cotton bales, descried two persons through the misty rain, who seemed approaching towards us — whether on the sand beach or in a canoe we could not determine — or whether they were directing towards us could not be positively ascertained — but hope persuaded us they were, and for our relief. On nearer approach it was ascertained that they were in a canoe and directing towards us — after some interval they arrived — all elated with joy, saluted them with overflowing cor- diality and gratitude — as our deliverers from this deplorable dilemma — in which we must either have perished by cold, wet and hunger or submitted to a very perilous hazard on an unmanageable raft of cot- ton bales in a very rapid current, perhaps more expressively, riffle. Immediately after their arrival, having no time to lose, Capt. Duffy passed over to the south bank for the canoe, which Doctor Claiborne and I had found lodged on the bank while on the excursion to opposite New Madrid from our cane camp — perhaps from the circumstances, more properly our icy or frozen camp. The hands were transported to the north shore with the cooking utensils and bed clothes to warm, dry and cook. Doctor Claiborne and I passed on in the canoe with the two Frenchmen, who relieved us, to New Madrid. Dirty, wet and
60 DR. JOHN B, BEDFORD
shivering with cold, we entered the town — enquired for . Mr. Jos. Humphreys,58 an acquaintance and friend — was advised of his lodgings at a Monsieur DeOlive's, and pursued the street hither. As we passed,
the door of every house in sight was crowded by their inmates gap- ing and staring at us with unmannerly, vulgar curiosity — we were un- certain whether our condition, which could not be made worse by draw- ing through a dirty puddle, was so ludicrous as to excite their un- mannerly risibility or whether their curiosity was of that kind which is common to the rude, impertinent and vulgar of all nations and country — a little more observation of their general manners and ap- pearance, justified the latter conjecture. In sight of these gaping, unmannerly loungers we passed and arrived at Monsieur DeOlive's. Saw Mr. Humphreys — after an interchange of mutual civilities and enqiiries, scrubbed off some of the dirt that abounded on our skin and exchanged our dirty, wet clothes for more cleanly. Then some plan to get the barge afloat was to be devised. The Frenchmen, to whom we at first attributed great benevolence and disinterested hu- manity, had already intimated a proposition to relieve the barge, by job, which, and other expressions, betrayed low motives and convinced us they were not as pure and benevolent as at first very willingly be- lieved. They were exclusively mercenary — for we might have floated on our cotton bales — been drowned — if he had not expected to surprise us into a good fee for executing the job — exaggerated the difficulties and increased our alarms, until he secured a promise of 50 dollars for the safe delivery of the barge and cargo at Madrid as speedily as practicable. We were afterwards informed that this is a kind of profitable business with him — he is a masterly swindler, and, of course, destitute of common honesty. Our suspense and anxiety were now much diminished — returned to the society of our friend Humph- reys, who, being clerk of the district, had intercourse with a variety of persons — were introduced to the most respectable and worthy. It cannot be therefore presumed we made many new acquaintances. Monsieur DeOlive is a decent, polite Frenchman — a native of Paris. He is a justice of the peace and by occupation a baker and inn-keeper possesses great moral rectitude. His wife, also a native of Paris, is decent and civil — attentive to the duties of her station. Had a com- fortable lodging this night — far more so than the previous night on board above deck. ,
THURSDAY, 12th. Rose early— saw the Frenchman set out for
the barge — returned — passed our time more contentedly with our
friend Humphreys, Olive and family, and some others, new acquaint- ances— among whom were a Doctor Dorsey, notable for his long time residence here only — about 14 or 16 years — a native of Maryland,'
MIn "Recollections of the West," H. M. Bracken ridge, mention is made of like courtesies shown by Mr. Humphreys, whom he speaks of as the •'cadi/* "alcade" or local justice of the peace in 1809. See pp. 226-229 of above mentioned volume.
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 6
and a Mr. S. F. Bond,54 judge of the district of Cape Gerrado,M then on a voyage to New Orleans. He is a singular character, and somewhat eccentric — but polite, affable, sensible and interesting — views con- siderably enlarged and extended by travels to various parts of the globe — to South America, many parts of Europe and most of the United States — discovered much observation and reflection — possesses notion of the nature of mankind, and their moral relations, etc., etc. spoke the French language with ease and fluency and from his gen- eral good sense, presumed he spoke it correctly — among the French his manners and gestures indicated him to be a Frenchman by birth and education — but is a native of Maryland — of or near Baltimore. 12 o'clock, we walk with Mr. Humphreys to Doctor Waters,56 1 1-2 miles from Olive's — were introduced to the Doctor and lady and received with a distant politeness — sat about half an hour, when the object of our visit was made known to him aside by Humphreys. It was to bor- row money of him to make good the engagements before entered into with the Frenchman and to obtain some other little necessary supplies for we were —
(Here two whole pages are missing and a small portion of a third.)
FRIDAY, 13th. Weather cloudy, but not very cold. The barge and cargo arrived at Madrid last night — Capt. Duffy and the hands engaged in reloading. We walked to Doctor Waters to breakfast and to make the necessary arrangements with him — were satisfied of our misconception yesterday, as to his disposition and intentions towards us — were received politely and very hospitably — had an excellent breakfast — had our engagements with the Frenchman adjusted — were furnished the little necessary — (four or five lines torn out.) — prep- arations— too a farewell of Olive and family — received their friendly wishes and passed down to Doctor Waters — were entertained with much attention and great hospitality — by him and his lady.
New Madrid is situated on the north bank of the Mississippi about sixty miles below the mouth of the Ohio — contains sixty or seventy families — the greater number of whom are French — more properly Creole, with few exceptions — number Americans — some Dutch. They are mostly abject and degenerated wretches — many of the Americans are respectable and but few of the French. The houses are generally miserable looking tenements — many are built in French style, with piazzas extending round the whole house, which is but one story in
"This was in all probability Shadrack F. Bond, afterwards the first Governor of the State of Illinois. Born at Fredericksburg, Md., November 28, 1778; died at Kaskaskia, 111., April 12, 1832. Having received a liberal education, he came to Illinois, where an uncle of the same name had lived for many years, since he was a member of G. R. Clarks' expedition to the Illinois. He was elected a member of the first legislature of Illinois Territory and represented the Territory in Congress during the years 1812-1814, when he was made receiver of public monies for the territory, with headquarters at Kaskaskia. In 1818 he became the) first Governor of the new state, serving until 1822.
k'This is a provincial spelling of Cape Girardeau. The first settlement was made here by Don Lui Lorimer in the year 1794. He was appointed commandant of the post by the Spanish Governor with full civil and military authority. ("History of the Mississippi Valley/' Rosier, p. 189.)
56During the Spanish regime at New Madrid many prominent men settled there, viz.: Pierre A. LaForge, Jean LaValle and Dr. Richard Waters, who acted in official capacities. "They were men of considerable energy, generally highly educated, easy in circumstances, endowed with good sense, affable manners, and soon acquired great influence in the community, and became leading spirits of the infant colony. " (Rosier, pp. 193-198.)
C2 DR. JOHN R. BEDFORD
height. This description includes the best houses — most of the houses look old and upon the verge of tumbling to ruins — Madrid is situated on a perfect plane. The river makes annual encroachments on the town and in the course of time threatens to subvert its whole founda- tion. The neighborhood is said to be of good fertile land, very favor- able to the growth of cotton — is inhabited most entirely by industrious Americans.57
SATURDAY, 14th. Breakfasted with Doctor Waters— embarked and passed on well 10 miles came up with Bond, who embarked the
preceeding day for New Orleans — passed him 4 or 5 miles and again grounded. Oh! what perplexity! Two hours' laborious struggle luckily set us once more on float — proceeded 10 miles further and en- camped on the Louisiana shore — the night stormy and tempestuous — my hat was blown overboard and not recovered.
SUNDAY, 15th. Wind subsided at an hour's sun this morning — moved on without impediment 30 miles — encamped on the L. shore — at a late Indian camp, where was quite a comfortable shelter. At sunset
hove in sight a barge under sail — supposed to be from New Orleans
they encamped two miles below us.
MONDAY, 16th. The barge discovered last night passed us be- fore sunrising — spoke her, but received no distinct reply. Immediate- ly departd ourselves — proceeded not more than 100 yards — struck a large and stubborn sawyer,58 two or three feet below the surface of the water in a rapid current — stern wheeled with rapidity — barge tottered so much as to threaten an overthrow. Bow stuck fast — the lar-board
37New Madrid was originally the site of a Delaware Indian town. Here in 1780 two Frenchmen by the name of Le Seur established a trading station. The sur- rounding country was a paradise for hunters, abounding in all species of game, etc. Such was this station as a depot of slaughter, etc., as it received the nickname of "L'Anse a la Grais-se"— "Cove of Fat," "Greasy Place," etc. In 1787 Col. George Morgan of New Jersey sought to obtain from the Spanish authorities a large con- cession at this place and laid out the town which he named "New Madrid. After inducing some fifty emigrants to locate there, trouble arose between the Spanish au- thorities and Morgan, resulting in their annulling his partial grants and the occupation of the place as a military post by the Spanish themselves, who built a fort there to which they gave the name of Fort Celeste. When the United States Government took possession of the place after the cession of Louisiana in 1804, the population was reckoned as about 1,400. Later, in 1811-12, the whole locality was almost de- stroyed by the noted earthquake disturbance,
M"The following obseivations apply to the Mississippi, and point out the greatest impediments and the most imminent dangers attending* the navigation of this heavy- watered and powerful river: These are: 1st. The instability of the banks. This proceeds from their being composed of a loose, sandy soil, and the impetuosity of the current against their prominent parts, which, by undermining them unceasingly, causes them to tumble into the river, taking with them everything that may be above. And if when the event happens boats should be moored there, they must necessarily be buried in the common ruin, which has unfortunately been sometimes the case."
2nd. Planters, sawyers, and wooden' islands. Planters are large bodies of trees firmly fixed by their roots in the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and appearing no more than about a foot above the surface of the water in its middling state. So firmly are they rooted that the largest boat running against them will not move them, but they frequently injure the boat. Sawyers are likewise bodies of trees fixed less perpendicularly in the river, and rather of a less size, yielding to the pressure of the current, disappearing and appearing by turns above water, similar to the motion of a saw-mill, from whence they have taken their name. Wooden islands are places where by some cause or other large quantities of driftwood has, through time, been arrested and matted together in different parts of the river." "The Navigator/' Cramer; "Historic Highways." A. B. Hulbert. Vol. IX, p. 74.
I
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 63
side raised 1 1-2 feet — gave signal of distress to the barge crew just passed, and ask for aid — inhuman monsters! — continued on as if they neither saw nor heard us. No practicable means were untried to loosen her — but all without effect. The sadness and gloom on every countenance indicated despondence at ever reaching New Orleans — for it seemed as if our impediments were never to cease. The slow rising of the water, discovered not till after the misfortune, alone gave hope — but calculated under tha most favorable events, to camp another night at this place. Therefore some of the crew had passed over to the shore, to raise fire, etc., and the canoe was returning for the others — just at this moment, as if providence interposed, the barge moved, at first imperceptibly — afterwards was discovered certainly on float. There were luckily on board — the Capt., a hand and I — who safely directed her to shore amidst very dangerous sawyers on every side. All things again on board, departed at half after two o'clock- - proceeded ten miles — encamped on the Louisiana shore. Slept com- fortably till 12 o'clock — rain came on — stretched tent and slept pretty well the ballance of the night though little wet — bed clothes more so.
TUESDAY, 17th. Morning rainy — river rising slowly — proceed- ed 12 or 14 miles, were forced to put in by cold rain and wind, which was heavy — the balance of the day and whole of the night very rainy — blankets wet — impossible to dry them or ourselves — of course, night very uncomfortable — snow ensued in the latter part of the night.
WEDNESDAY, 18th. Set out at eight o'clock after breakfast- wind very high — proceed with great apprehension of grounding — the river being very wide, much interspersd by large, extensive sand-bars and islands — consequently, divided into separate channels — passed 20 miles — safely, nearly through the whole — but at last, in spite of all our vigilence, grounded at 1 o'clock P. M. — our exertions to set her floating were fruitless. Oh! what perplexity and embarrassment! — are we to stick and ground every 2 or 3 days? Some fatality seems directed to us particularly, which, after torturing and perplexing us almost out of life, will sink and drown us! Sorely lamented ever at- tempting the voyage — with these are a thousand other reflection?, more painful, if possible — cast anchor, trained the barge up with the current and passed over to the S. shore to encamp — how long, could not be foreseen or anticipated — perhaps never to proceed further. Being restless and not disposed to sleep, I rose 10 o'clock P. M. and discover the barge to have moved 30 or 40 yards — hallooed with great gratification, observed more particularly and anxiously, and saw her floating slowly, anchor being out, retarded her progress and retained her in a right position — with great joy roused the hands — indeed, all were up and much gladdened at the fortunate event. The Capt. and two hands hastened in the canoe on board and towed her safely to land. Slept the ballance of the night more pleasantly. ,
APPENDIX.
A.— RIVER COMMERCE.
The part played by the barge and keel-boat in the commerce of the South at this period of history is well illustrated in the story of adopting and making the Great Seal of Tennessee. When the matter was up for consideration by the Legislature of the new State and the committee's report, adopted on November 14, 1801, among other pro- visions, it was specifically ordered :
"That in the lower part of the lower semi-circle there be the word COMMERCE; and said lower semi-circle shall contain the figure of a boat and boatman." [American Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, p. 207.]
'Trior to the introduction of steamboats on the Western waters, the means of transportation thereon consisted of keel-boats, barges and flatboats. Keel-boats and barges ascended, as well as descended the stream. The flatboat was an unweildly box, and was broken up for the lumber it contained on its arrival at the place of destination.
"The keel-boat was long and slender, sharp fore and aft, with a narrow gangway just within the gunwale, for the boatmen as they poled or warped up the stream, when not aided by the eddies that made their oars available. When the keel-boat was covered with a low house, lengthwise between the gangways, it was dignified with the name of 'barge.9
"The only claim of the flatboat or 'broad-horn,9 to rank as a vessel was due to the fact that it floated upon water and was used as a vehicle of transportation. Keel-boats, barges and flatboats had prodigious steering oars, and oars of the same dimensions were hung on fixed pivots on the sides of the last named by which the shapeless and cumbrous contrivance was in some sort managed."
("Miss. As a Province, Terr. & State," Claiborne, p. 537.)
It was about 1805-6 that merchant barges began to make periodic trips from Nashville to New Orleans and return. It took them about ninety days to make the trip each way, or a total of six months or a round trip.
Because of low water in the Cumberland at certain seasons of the year these barges or boats only made on an average one round trip, commonly leaving Nashville in December or January and returning: in May or June. They usually went down loaded with cotton and pork and returning brought sugar, coffee and other groceries. The time of departure and arrival of these boats were gala days in the history of the town and community, great crowds assembling to bid them good-bye and to welcome them on their return.
Among the earliest firms that owned barges and keel-boats run- ning regularly to New Orleans was that of James Stewart and James Gordon. It is said they were the first to bring a barge from New Or- leans to Nashville. Stump, Rapier & Turner was another firm having boats in the New Orleans trade. This same barge "Mary99 was ad- vertised by George Poyzer in October, 1807, as "f he fast going Mary99 — then lying near the Upper Ferry and ready to take on freight for down the river.
Either the same barge, or one bearing a like name "Marv." was advertised to leave Nashville December 10, 1817, by the firm of Joseph and Robert Woods. (Hist, of Nashville Crew, p. 302-304, Hist, of Davidson County, — Clayton, p. 203, etc.)
In addition to the boats in the New Orelans trade there were keel-
A TOUR IN 1807 DOWN THE CUMBERLAND 65
boats paying between Nashville and the mouth of Cumberland River to bring up salt from the salt works in the Saline region of the Illinois, also such goods as were brought from the East over the Allegheny Mountains and down the Ohio to the Cumberland. The freight price from Philadelphia or Baltimore by this route was $10 per hundred- weight. ,
B.— CLAIBORNE FAMILY.
Dr. Thomas Augustinei Claiborne was one among a number of brothers who came from Virginia to Tennessee and the further South about the beginning of the nineteenth century — all of whom became social and civic leaders. General Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne, born in Sussex County, Virginia, 1772, died 1813 at Natchez, was noted in military and civic matters. Gov. William Charles Cole Claiborne, after living in Tennessee a number of years was appointed Governor of Mississippi Territory, then later of the Louisiana Territory, born 1775, died 1817. Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne lived in Virginia, served
in Congress 1825-1837.
Dr. Thomas Augustine Claiborne, the companion of Dr. Bedford on his tour to New Orleans, was born in Virginia. Came to Nashville and married, April 20, 1801, Sarah, eldest daughter of William Tir- rell Lewis, their children were: Ferdinand, born 1804, died 1832; Mary E. T., born 1806, married Hon. Abram Maury; Micajah Lewis Claiborne, born 1808, died 1878.
Dr. Claiborne was in every way a distinguished citizen and took an important part in public leadership and civic service. In 1806, with others, he served as commissioner to build the new town jail; in 1807 he joined Dr. Bedford in his tour South. On his return, in October of same year, we find his leadership in organizing one of the earliest literary clubs of the town, viz: "The Nashville Discus- sion Society."
"On the northeast corner of Market Street and the Square was the first brick 'office-house* in Nashville. This was built by Dr. Clai- borne. ... It was two rooms deep and two stories high, the front room downstairs being used as an office, while the other three were used as his residence." (Mrs. Thomas, "Old Days in Nash- ville," p. 13.)
Dr. Thomas Claiborne is not to be confused with his relative, Major Thomas Claiborne, member of Congress and the first Grand Master Mason of the State of Tennessee. He also married into the Lewis family, the daughter of Hon. Joel Lewis, brother of Wm. Tirrell Lewis.
C— LOCATION OF SMITHLAND.
Letter of John Sappington1, Red River2, Tennessee, September 20, 1791, to Major William Croghan8. MS. in Wise. Hist. So. Draper Collection, XX Vol. V., No. 24. Printed in American Industrial So- ciety (Doc. Hist, of) Phillips, Vol. II., p. 262.
2Qne among a number of brothers of this name who settled in Kentucky and Tennessee. This letter to Maj. Croghan was written from "Red River, " possibly at this time he was a citizen of Tennessee County (Montgomery). Afterward he re- moved to Missouri and settled in Saline County, where his family were very promi- nent in social and political circles.
(Mo. His. So. Collec's., Vol II., No. 2, p. 2.) ,
2A branch of the Cumberland entering in from the north near Clarksville, the writer lived in Montgomery County, Tenn.
3Major William Croghan came to America from Ireland when quite young. He was a nephew of the noted George Croghan, who was long employed by the British as Indian agent under Sir William Johnson. Unlike his uncle, he gave his service to
66 im. joiin b. Bedford
Dr. Sr: I, with pleasure, embrace this opportunity by Coin. James Ford4, to inform you that I am well at present and have en- joyed a good state of health since I left the Falls of the Ohio.
I also have the pleasure to introduce to you Coin. James Ford, a person anxious to make a purchase near the mouth of Cumberland River. There are a number of families that would wish to (buy) any land adjacent to the town. Moses Shelby5 requests me to inform you he would give cash for five or six hundred acres of land near the Town five or six miles distant. He would wish to know by this op- portunity what you would take per hundred for land in that distance from the Town. Also several others wish to know what you would take for Land near the Mouth of Little River*, or Ramsey's Camp, particularly a Mr. Desha7, he would wish to purchase two or three thousand acres. He can make you good pay in Beef Cattle, as he has a large Stock of Cattle. He is a very punctual man. I have not the least Doubt provided you would engage Land at a certain fixed price your Town would be established at the Mouth of Cumberland im- mediately. I have drew up an article for the settling of sd Town &
the colonies in the Revolution and at its close married Lucy, daughter of John and sister of George Rogers Clark. This family had in 1785 moved to Kentucky and settled near the Falls or Louisville. Here, at "Locust Grove," Major Croghan lived till his death at the age of seventy years, September, 1822. The close of the letter gives remembrance to different members of the Clark family, viz: the father, John Clark; Col. Richard Clough Anderson, who married another sister of G R. Clark; Dr. James O* Fallon, a finely educated Irishman who came to America after the Revo- lution and married Francis Eleanor, another sister of G. R. Clark. This family afterwards moved to St. Louis The "Falls of the Ohio" is the older name for the location of Louisville.
(History of Indiana, English. Vol. II , p. 1002.)
4"Perhaps the most striking figure of the country, in the pioneer days, wa» Colonel James Forde. He was about six feet tall, rather fleshy and of commanding appearance. He sat a horse perfectly, and in the saddle he was the admiration of all the settlements. Personally, he was kind and affable, as well as bold, outspoken and independent in his sentiments. He was thrifty and successful in business affairs. Fourth Captain in the Davidson County militia in 1784, he became a Colonel in the militia of Tennessee County and had a command in both the Coldwater Expedition of 1787 and the Nicojack campaign of 1794. He was the representative of Tennessee County in the Legislature of the Southwest Territory in 1793 to 1796; and repre- sented Montgomery and Robertson counties in the Senate of the First and Second General Assemblies of the State of Tennessee. He died in May, 1808." (Hon. A. V. Goodpasture, in Amcr. Hist. Mag. Vol. VIII., p. 197.) Hjeneral Evan Shelby of "Kings Meadows" had three very distinguished sons. Major Evan Shelby^ killed by the Indians in Montgomery County, Tennessee; Gov- ernor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky and Col. Moses Shelby. These sons were all in the Battle of King's Mountain, and before this in numerous expeditions against the Indians. In 1782 Col. Moses Shelby, with other adventurers, came to the Cumber- land settlement in central Tennessee, later followed the frontier settlers further down the Cumberland River to Montgomery County, where he was living when the above letter was written. Later he moved still further down the Cumberland to the new County of Livingstone in Western Kentucky, where, at the unanimous solicitation of the people, he was appointed Colonel of the County After the acquisition of the Territory of Louisiana, he removed to the west bank of the Mississippi, settling plantation two miles below New Madrid, where he lived till his death, September 17 1828. His brother, Governor Shelby, wrote in a letter dated Danville, Ky., June 16, 1823:
"Covered with the scars of thirteen deep wounds, received in defense of his country, for which hd is too proud to receive a pension, always disdaining to apply for one. In youth he was of a warm and ardent disposition, always ready to risk his life for a friend, and profuse of his property (of which ho had a considerable inheri- tance), even to a fault. It would exceed the bounds of a letter to give' you a state- ment of the many hair-breadth and eminent dangers through which he passed Soon after his marriage., he became impressed with religious sentiments, joined the Metho- dist Church, liberated his slaves, and, so far as I know and believe, has always sup- ported a good character." (Dr. Archibald Henderson's "Isaac Shelby," in North Carolina Booklet, July 19 18, p. 28.)
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find that if you would give an out Lott of about five acres with the two Lotts in Town the Settlement would be established this Fall. Indeed, provided you would fix a reasonable price on the Twenty acre Lotts at the expiration of the ten years, I have the promise of a Number of Adventurers sufficient to establish a permanent Settle- ment. I shall expect to hear from you fully and particularly on the above head — as I intend to become an Adventurer myself I conceive it must be a place of Trade at present and a future day a place of Consequence as it is the key of the Settlements on Cumberland & the ^ Ohio above & as it lies near the mouths of several Capital Rivers also * near the present Spanish Settlements. I conclude with presenting my compliments to Mrs. Croghan, Mr. Clark's family, Colin Andeson & his Lady Doctr James Ofallon & his Lady & my Acquaintaintances in generall in the neighborhood of the Falls & with subscribing myself Yr. Mst. Obt. Servt &c.
Jno. Sappington. APPENDIX D.
MATTHEW LYON.
"Col. Matthew Lyon, the most remarkable character among the pub- lic men of Southwestern Kentucky, was born in Wicklow County, Ire- land, in 1746, and died at Spadra Bluff, Arkansas Territory, August 1, 1822, aged 76.
His father, while Matthew was a small boy, engaged in a con- spiracy against the British crown, for which he was tried, condemned and executed. His widow soon married; and Matthew, at the age of 19, fled from the cruelty of a step-father to America. To secure his passage, he bound himself to the captain to work for twelve months after his arrival. The captain sold him to a farmer in Connecticut for two bulls; he served his time faithfully and became a free man; but ever after his favorite by-word was "By the bulls that bought me." Subsequently he became a citizen of Vermont; and in 1776, when the Revolutionary war broke out, entered the army of the colonists as a lieutenant in a company of "Green Mountain Boys. In the latter part of that year, he was reduced to the ranks for dis- obeying orders by leaving his command on Onion River (to visit his weetheart) ; but he subsequently served as temporary paymaster of the Northern army in 1777, and in 1778 as deputy secretary of the Governor of Vermont, and also clerk of the court of confiscation; and eventually rose to the rank of Colonel of militia.
At the close of the war he married the girl who cost him his lieu- tenancy; but she soon died, leaving one child. He founded the town
•A tributary of the Cumberland from the north side, it flows through Trigg County, Ky.j in a northwest course, emptying into the Cumberland at the northwest corner of the county. It has been declared a navigable stream up seventeen miles to the county town of Cadiz.
7This was probably Joseph Desha. His father. Robert Desha, of French descent, came from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in 1781, the next year he settled further south in Tennessee, four miles east of where the town of Gallatin, Sumner County, was afterwards located. Here he reared a noted family. His son, Joseph Desha, was born in Pennsylvania in 1768, but was reared in Sumner County, Tenn. ; was a suc- cessful farmer and stock raiser. In 1792 he removed from Tennessee to Mason County, Ky. Served with General Wayne in 1794. represented his county in the Legislature for several terms from 1 797-1 807. Made a Major-General in the War of 1812 In 1824 was elected Governor of Kentucky. His wife, Margaret Bledsoe, was the eldest daughter of Col. Isaac Bledsoe, of Sumner County, Tenn. He died at Georgetown, Ky., 1842.
("Historic Sumner County," J. G. Cisco, p. 170-171.)
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of Fairhaven in 1783, where he built saw mills, grist mills, an iron foundry, engaged in paper making from basswood, and in a variety of other occupations; and at one time edited a newspaper, to which he gave the strangest of names— "THE SCOURGE OF ARISTOC- RACY AND REPOSITORY OF IMPORTANT POLITICAL TRUTH/' it was of an ultra-Democratic character, and part of the types and the paper were manufactured by himself. He served that town in the Vermont Legislature ten years; in 1786 he was Assistant Judge of Rutland County.
Becoming an active poltical leader, he was elected to Congress in 1797 by the anti- Federal party; and during his service, married Mrs. Beulah Galusha, a widowed daughter of Governor Thomas Chitten- den, of Vermont. He was extremely bitter against the administra- tion of President John Adams; and in October, 1798, under the alien and sedition law, was convicted of a libel on the President, fined $1,000, and confined for four months in the Vergennes goal. An at- tempt to expell him from Congress as a convicted felon failed for want of a two-thirds vote.
During this congressional term, he had a violent personal alterca- tion on the floor of the House, caused by spitting in the face of Roger Griswold, of Connecticut, ending in blows; but the motion to expell them was defeated. In 1799, while a prisoner in goal, he was re- elected for two years, 1799-1801, and taken from prison by his friends to represent them in Congress. Just before the close of this term, on February 17, 1801, on th 36th ballot, Col. Lyon decided the painful and protracted seven days' voting for President, by casting his vote and that of Vermont for Thomas Jefferson — making him President in preference to Aaron Burr.
In the spring of 1801, with him family, and his sons-in-law, John Messenger and Dr. Geo. Caldwell, and their families, Col. Lyon sailed down the Ohio River and up the Cumberland in Livingston County, and founded Eddyville. He became a large land holder, and owned many slaves. He served in the Legislature of Kentucky and again in Congress for eight years, 1803-1811. Through his instrumentality