Historic Sullivan; a history of Sullivan County, Tennessee, with brief biographies of the makers of history

Front matter

ISAAC SHELBY

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FACSIMILE OF SHELBY'S HANDWRITING

Introduction

For a long time an impelling influence hung about me that finally pulsed into an idea that something should be done to preserve the history of Sullivan County. It was a rich mine of undeveloped memories. In my talks with our old people I found those memories falling into deplorable and pathetic decay. The written records of the county had been burned during the battle of Blount - ville in 1863.

With a limited experience and other limited essentials I dared not permit myself to give existence to an effort so rash as the writing of a history, for well I knew it meant the tyranny of merciless truths.

The beginning was a store of boyhood recollections — a green spot in all our lives — of the traditions and legends and stories told in front of back-log fires. I thought by linking these with the accepted and more substantial facts I might be able to furnish a chain strong enough to carry us to another generation where some one better equipped could bring our chronicles to a more fruitful completion. Encouraged by this I decided to call whatever my pen should bring forth, "Folk-lore of Sullivan County." But when I submitted this title with my intentions to a consulting friend, rather expecting approval, he looked at the floor for a while and then passively inquired: "let me see, now, which one of the Lores is that?" This provocation is my apology for giving you a history of Sullivan County.

It will be seen I have devoted more space to Isaac Shelby than to any of his compatriots. This, of course, is because he made his home in Sullivan, was identified viii Historic Sullivan.

with its interests and his followers were Sullivan County men. The names and fame of Sevier and Campbell and their associates are secure and I would in no way detract from them. But confined as I am to the limits of one county my entries cannot cover the ground of a general history.

I have not allowed myself to enter into the regretful controversy which took place in regard to Col. Campbell's position during the battle of King's Mountain. Posterity has accorded him the place he so valiantly won during his brief but thrilling career and is not in sympathy with the censure visited upon any of the men who followed him.

The secret of the affair, I believe, is that none of the men who went through that campaign ever dreamed their exploits would go sounding down the centuries or even beyond the mountains that encircled them like a barrier from the world without.

They did not look for the glory of arms nor booty after the battle, but made an aggressive defense of their homes and firesides. When, in after years, the survivors saw that this battle would be included in the list of decisive battles of the world's great wars, a species of envy crept into their bosoms and some felt they had not been dealt with fairly in the bestowal of praise. Col. Shelby's feelings in the affair were no doubt aggravated by his traducers in Kentucky. He had removed there and in 1792 was a candidate for Governor. His opponents tried to defeat him with reports discrediting his valiant services in behalf of his country, even going so far as to create a doubt that he commanded a regiment at King's Mountain.

This resulted in a breezy correspondence between Shelby and his old time friend and companion, John Sevier. And, while the revival of Campbell's tardiness was one of the topics, it has never occurred to me that the origin of Shelby's attack upon him was to question

Introduction. ix

Campbell's bravery, but rather to sustain his own claims that he was one of the commanders and at the fore when the fighting was hottest.

But whatever the faults of these men may have been, and no one denies that they had faults, this generation will allow no censure now and should those old warriors of the wood come forth in line review a grateful nation would grant them any wish — every man of them.

For space devoted to a review of the life of "Raccoon" John Smith apologies will hardly be necessary. While little heard of at the present time, still I regard him as the rarest human product that ever sprung from the soil of Sullivan County. Born in a log cabin in Holston Valley — a poor boy and one of a large family he lived a knock-about life in his early days and had but five months school training during his entire career. He was tried by the severest tests of time; he was scourged by a living death, but with a masterful courage and unwavering devotion to the call of duty he arose to a rank that made him a power throughout great portions of Kentucky, Tennessee and the Middle West. He was a full measure man and you will be glad to know more about him.

At the close of my work, when I reviewed what I had written, there came sounding back to me one ringing regret — that I could not devote more space to the many worthy families of Sullivan County. I have dwelt in their midst all my life. Their ancestors were good people ; they lived peaceful lives; they broke no laws; they bade their neighbors good night and good morning and Godspeed. But there are no deeds of extreme self-denial to their credit; they dared nothing; they dreamed their lives away.

History is for posterity and that posterity prefers the valor of war to the virtues of peace ; it clamors for those scenes of conflict where battle shreds make burial shrouds.

It has always seemed to me an unkind decree of fate that what is best in life is often deepest buried in forgetfulness, x Historic Sullivan.

while some cruel act that jangles us rolls on down the years, gathering a little moss of sympathy here and there to soften the harsh places. By and by it reaches a people who, wanting to remember and ready to forgive, exalt the deed as one of heroic daring until it finally puts on the burnished armor of the ages. And so our "village Hampdens" and our "mute inglorious Miltons" must rest in one long silent sepulcher. They pass from view like a shadow on the dial of a day.

In the preparation of this work I had much assistance in the way of suggestion and advice — some caustic it is true, but all evidently kindly intended, certainly in such a spirit received — and, what was available, appropriated. But had I attempted to reconcile all the various opinions advanced as to how this book should be written I might still be struggling over the mastery of any kind of construction. And this I have learned and this I am prepared to say: it is much easier to sit down in a circle of friends and talk history than to sit down by one's self and try to record history.

I rejoice that it has been my privilege to give this work, with whatever merit it may have, to posterity as an expression of the love I have for my native county and state, the sentiments and traditions of whose people have been such an inspiration and the deeds of whose heroes I have always adored.

Oliver Taylor.

Trinkle's Valley, Sullivan County, Tennessee, August, 1909.

Contents

I. — Before the Pioneer IL— The Cherokees 1 1 1 .—Pioneers— Explorers— First Settlers IV.— The Cavalcade ....

V.— The Frontierwoman VI. — Coming of the Shelbys .

VII.— A Few Days Full of Trouble VIII.— The Battle of the Great Kanawha IX.— "Spirit of 75"

Chapter I. Before The Pioneer

The South is a land of sentiment. Our forefathers leaned upon it and were guided by it and we are not so far removed from the frontier as to make us forget them.

Sullivan is still a young county. The father of today will tell you — "I have heard my father say that his father" — and there the story ends. Our white life is but four generations old.

There are two eras in the life of any country — one looking forward, the other looking backward. There was a time in the history of Sullivan County when our forefathers yearned for the day when they would be free from the ever-present dangers, the surprise attack, the firebrand, the massacre — all kept them in a state of alarm and they longed for the peace that would bring safety and happiness. They rarely recorded the stirring tragedies'of those days. They did not even try to remember them — they tried to forget them. What made history for us meant horror for them. They blinded their eyes and deafened their ears to scenes and sounds and kept many sorrowful experiences from their children, thus cheering them on their way.

They did not know they were making history — they came here to make a quiet living. They preferred the wild freedom of the forest to the political and religious persecutions of their old homes. The spirit of independence led them here.

The uberous years came on.

Today the descendants of those people are prosperous nothing disturbs their happiness, all are safe. But, in the midst of thrift and luxury, they are looking backward. They feel they owe a debt to some one somewhere in the long ago and reaching back through the stretch of the fast receding century they are trying to restore scraps of records that tell of those people and of those times. Now and then the faded and musty fragments of an old manuscript is recovered and the owner treasures it as would a prodigal that bit of parchment bequeathing him a rich legacy, unexpected and undeserved.

There are those who go beyond the one hundred and thirty-five years of our settlement's life and seek to learn something of the people who antedate the pioneer. Concerning this, two theories are advanced. One, that this section was an unbroken forest, containing no villages or permanent habitations; that it was held in reserve by Indians as a hunting ground. 1 The other, that in the midst of this forest were sun-places, plains along the river and creek bottoms covered with cane brakes that needed only the torch to transform them into fertile farm lands; that the wigwam and hut were here and the spiral smoke of campfires ascended throughout the valleys.

The latter is more plausable on account of the various relics that have been found throughout the county.

This book was printed over an Indian grave. On an adjacent lot have been found, not only perfect arrow heads, but others in various stages of the making, and an abundance of flint chips indicating they were made upon the spot. There have also been found, in various excavations for buildings in this vicinity, pieces of Indian pottery, beads and bones that were in a sufficient state of preservation to be recognized as belonging to a prehistoric race; mussel and periwinkle shells that showed contact with fire, and it is known the Indians esteemed these for food, as coast tribes did the oyster and the crab.

OTHER RELIC DISCOVERIES.

On the Rutledge farm, one and a half miles east of Blountville, are two excavations that have always been

lit is a common but mistaken notion that Indians had regular battle grounds. Indians fought by stealth and surprise.

Before the Pioneer. 3

considered flint mines out of which the local tribes secured material for their arrow-heads and other weapons.

A representative of the Department of Ethnology 2 in his researches throughout the county, among other things, found at Beidleman's mill on the Holston a mound containing copper implements of Indian make. The various tribes, on their hunting and trading 3 expeditions, were in the habit of exchanging wares, which accounts for copper being in this section.

At Benjamin Wexler's, on the top of a near-by knob, the representative found two graves containing the same kind of material as that found at Beidleman's.

Cyrus Thomas, 4 one of the chiefs of the Department, that pertaining to Indian mounds, instructed the agent to go to the Shipley farm, near Cawood ford on the Holston and examine a large mound reported found there. Upon opening it twelve skeletons were found. These skeletons were in a sitting posture. One sat in the center while the eleven others were in a circle around it — all facing the center as if in council. Over each skeleton had been erected a crude vault of large river bowlders. The mound had the usual accompaniment of charcoal and ashes and corn found in all Indian graves. Lying beside the center skeleton were two large steotite pipes, such fine specimens of the kind as to attract much inquiry. They are now on exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution, the fifth annual report giving an illustration and description.

At the John Morrell farm, in the adjoining county of Carter, is a field of ashes, in such evident quantity that

2J. W. Emmert.

3It was customary, and still is, to a limited extent in the West, for large parties, sometimes a whole band or a village, to make long visits to other tribes, dancing, feasting and trading. Regular trade routes crossed the continent and inter-tribal commerce was as constant and well organized a part of Indian life as is our own railroad traffic today. — Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee, p. 235.

4Cyrus Thomas is a Sullivan County man and formerly lived at Kingsport. In his youth he clerked in the Netherland store; later he taught school near the Ross place. In his young manhood he went to Illinois and there married the sister of Gen. John A. Logan. He became connected with his present work many years ago and is today (1908), although about eighty years of age, still in the service.

would require all the timber in the neighborhood to make an equal sized heap. This indicates a permanent village or a camp of long and constant use.

Dr. Thomas Walker, in his journal, says he found unoccupied Indian cabins of substantial structure when exploring this country in 1748.'

The Cherokees were the aborigines of Tennessee, or perhaps should be described as the tribe of Indians in possession of this land when the first white people came here.

Their warlike deeds, their fierce, revengeful spirit, the massacres they perpetrated have been described by many historians. This work will, therefore, describe the interior of their nation — explaining their religion, superstitions, their myths, their games and hunts; how they loved and how they worshipped, how they were influenced, how they lived in peaceful times.

Chapter II. The Cherokees

The Cherokees are the mountain red men of the South. Their original boundary included the northern parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Western North Carolina, nearly all of Tennessee and Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and part of West Virginia. They were considered the most important and most intellectual tribe and, excepting perhaps the Iroquois, the most powerful. They numbered about twenty -five thousand. Their boundary line, which to an Indian was seldom plainly defined, was always in dispute and tribal aggressions occasioned many wars.

In Virginia, the Powhatans and Monacans contended against the Cherokees for territory. They were held in check in North and South Carolina by the Tuscarora and Catawba. The Creeks would have none of them in North Georgia. To the west, the Chicasaw and Shawano, along the lower Tennessee and Cumberland, repeatedly hurled their forces against them, and the bold and ferocious Iroquois denied them any pass way to the North.

The Cherokees were the first to feel the onward march of the white man and little by little, either by war, treaty, or by purchase, were pushed back until, by their final cession, they were huddled together in small portions of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

The Cherokees, though generally supposed to be, were not migratory, except on hunting and trading voyages and in wars. They were an agricultural people, cultivating orchards and large fields of corn and potatoes. Their nation comprised more than fifty towns, the capital, Echota, being situated near what is now Tellico, Tennessee.

The name which this tribe knew itself by was Yun-wi-ya or Ani-yun-wiya, meaning "principal people," which they considered themselves. The name Cherokee has no meaning in the tribe's language 1 and is either a corrupted name or a nickname. A dialect name in the tribe is Tsar-i-ga, meaning "cave people," because they were mountain dwellers among the cave regions. The English corrupted this name into Cherokee and the Spanish into Chaloque.

Linguists declare the dialect of the East Tennessee Cherokee is the softest and most musical of this tribe's musical language

religion of the cherokees.

There is a general impression the Indians worshipped one god called the "Great Spirit." This impression is supported by discoveries among the contents of graves where, along with the dead, are deposited evidences of a belief in the immortality of the soul. The dead pony and the broken bow are lain upon the departed warrior's grave — mute testimony of the service they will render him in the "happy hunting ground."

According, however, to A-yun-inior "Swimmer," 2 the keeper of the traditions of his race, many gods were worshipped by the Cherokees — they had no idea of heaven or hell or the hereafter — all their invocations were made for temporal use and addressed to tangible gods. The most important of their animal gods are the rabbit, squirrel, dog, hawk, terrapin and rattlesnake.

The "Long Person," meaning river, is addressed on all occasions, no ceremony being complete without it.

In plant life the chief god, ginseng or "sang," is called

IMooney.

2Mooney is the most convincing authority on Indian history I have examined . He appears to have been satisfied to hide behind a salary. ' 'Swimmer" is a discovery of his and from whom most of the myth material was secured. The author mourned the Indian's death, declaring "he was buried like a true Cherokee_ on the elope of a forest-clad mountain. Peace to his ashes and sorrow to his going, for with him perished half the traditions of a people." During the Civil War, "Swimmer" was second sergeant in a company with Thomas' Legion. He was born in 1835 and was sixty-five years old at his death. James Keelan, known as the "hero of the Strawberry Plains bridge, ' ' was rescued by this company after he had been left for dead.

"Little Man" on account of its appearance. Digging it, the Indian passed by the first three plants selecting the fourth. 3

One form of prayer is addressed to the "Red -headed woman with hair hanging to the ground, ' ' but it is not clear just what the entreaty is or what the response. The rattlesnake, deer and ginseng form a weird trinity. To kill the first would cause the other two to disappear from the wood. The deer is the most prized of animal food.

The Cherokee regarded the snake with reverential fear and, unless compelled, would never kill one. If he did kill one in self-defense he immediately sought the service of a priest to appease the spirit of the snake lest the relatives of the deceased should come and avenge the death. If an Indian dreamed of being bitten by a snake he is treated in the same manner as if he had been bitten. When an Indian is bitten by a snake, in addition to singing a formula, tobacco juice is rubbed on the wound, the patient going round four times and always turning toward the left because the snake, in coiling, turns toward the right. The reversal of movement means uncoiling it.

When a snake is killed the head is chopped off and buried an arm's length underground and the body is placed in a hollow log to hide it from the view of other snakes and to prevent a long wet spell. 4

The Indians also spared a wolf, venerating it as the hunter and watch dog.

In the animal myths the rabbit figures most prominently and is called the mischief maker, being also considered malicious. A broth made of him and sprinkled along a path where a runner is to make a race confuses him and causes him to become timid.

The aid of the beaver, on account of his well-known

3The numbers 4 and 7 are talismanic in the Indian lore. 4 is especially sacred in ceremonial observances and in medicine.

4Probably the origin of the habit, among superstitious whites, of hanging a dead snake on a fence or tree to bring rain during a drouth.

gnawing capacity, is invoked in behalf of teething children. Animals are represented as speaking and have their councils and meeting-houses. At one of their councils the discussion arose as to what should be done with Man, the arch enemy. All favored destroying him except the little ground squirrel who, being so small, unnoticed and therefore unharmed by man, now took occasion to defend him. This act so enraged the polar bear, who was presiding, that he reached over and scratched the little squirrel on the back, leaving the claw marks to this day. In this lore other marks and peculiarities of appearance are accounted for.

BIRD MYTHS.

The eagle is the sacred bird of the Indian and is featured in their religious observances. Its beautiful tail feathers, much prized for head ornaments, often brought as much as a horse. None but a professional eagle-killer dared to kill an eagle. There were ceremonials to go through. The eagle-killer prayed four days then killed a deer, exposing the fresh meat, while he hid himself, awaiting the eagle. On killing one he allowed it to remain four days to permit the parasites to leave it. The feathers were then secured and a dance arranged in honor.

In reporting the capture of an eagle to the tribe the eagle-killer would not, out of fear, speak the name of the eagle but would say "a snow bird has died." 5

The buzzard is the doctor. On account of feasting upon the dead it is supposed to be immune from disease. A small quantity of its flesh eaten or a broth of it used as a wash is believed to be a sure cure for small pox and was used among the eastern Cherokees during the epidemic of 1866. A buzzard feather hung on the door will keep

5There is a similar superstition on the stage. At the rehearsal of a new play the last line is often not spoken until the night of the first performance, other words being substituted. A spectator, at a rehearsal once, not knowing this, was startled, when at the close of a thrilling curtain climax, the star shouted ' "Three beers, please." — N. O. Pacayne.

out witches, they believe, and in the application of medicine to wounds the quill of a buzzard feather is employed, medicine being blown through it.

The owl and all night calling birds are believed to be ghosts or witches and their cry is considered a sign of coming danger. A child's eye bathed with water in which an owl feather has been dipped will cause the child to stay awake all night.

The wren is the stork of the Indian tribe because he is always slipping in and around homes and hears what is going on. He carries the news of a birth. When an Indian wishes to know the sex of a child he inquires, "is it a bow or (meal) sifter?"

INSECT MYTHS.

The Cherokees anticipated the germ or microbe theory long before its scientific discovery. They claimed all human ailments of a lurking, insidious nature were caused by insects and because thousands of them were constantly being killed by man they entered slyly, destroying the human system out of revenge.

The Cherokees believe all cruelties are punished in this life, if not upon the one doing the deed, upon some relative or upon a future generation of his kindred.

The cricket is the barber and also on account of its singing qualities plays an important part in various ways. Children slow of speech have their tongues scratched with the claw of a cricket to make them sing and even eloquent. Older persons are treated likewise, but with less effect.

The moth that flutters around the light, the Cherokee says, "is going to bed." It is invoked by the healer in "fire diseases, including sore eyes and frost bite."

The spring lizzard is the rain-maker.

The large crawfish is used to scratch the hand of a child to give it a strong grip.

When a jarfly sings, they say "the jarfly has brought the beans," his song being taken as a sign that beans are ripe.

During an eclipse they believe a great frog swallows the sun and at such times fire guns, beat drums and make other loud noises to frighten the frog away.

MEDICAL HERBS.

The Indian's idea of medicine is very crude. Their reputed knowledge of the medicinal value of herbs has been exploded by scientific test. Out of twenty plants tested only five had the curative virtue Indians attributed to them, while the remainder were of questionable value or even injurious.

A decoction of cockleburs is recommended for forgetfulness because nothing sticks like a bur.

In rheumatism a patient is forbidden to eat or even touch a squirrel, a buffalo, a cat or any animal that "humps" because the one suffering often assumes the attitude described.

The ball player, in like manner, is not allowed to eat frog legs because the bones of the frog are brittle and easily broken.

CHEROKEE COURTSHIP.

In courtship, like death, all people are brought to a common level. Although the way of making love may be clothed, by different nations, in different forms of speech — all mean the same. The Cherokees have a regular formula for making love as they have for making medicine. How near like the love-making of civilized nations may be seen. White to an Indian is the symbol of happiness as blue is the symbol of sorrow. 6 When, in the following formula, the lover speaks of "white woman" he means "happy woman."

6Perhaps the origin of "the blues."

The Indian lover tried to make the one he loved appear as lonely and miserable without him as he could, at the same time extolling his own merits and debasing these of all rivals. She should never be lonely with him — the term loneliness being the most abject state a person could get into, according to the Indian view of it. Loneliness to a dusky maiden meant about the same as poverty to a white maiden contemplating marriage. 7

" Ku ! Listen ! In Alahiyi you repose, 0, Terrible Woman, you have drawn near to hearken. There in Elahiyi you are at rest, White Woman. No one is lonely when with you. You are most beautiful. Instantly and at once you have rendered me a white man. No one is ever lonely when with me. Now you have made the path white for me. It shall never be dreary. Now you have put me into it. It shall never become blue. You have brought down to me from above the white road. There in mid-earth (mid-surface) you have placed me. I shall stand erect upon the earth. No one is ever lonely when with me. I am very handsome. You have put me into the white house. I shall be in it as it moves about and no one with me shall ever be lonely. Verily, I shall never become blue. Instantly you have caused it to be so with me.

"And now there in Elahiyi you have rendered the woman blue. Now you have made the path blue for her. Let her be completely veiled in loneliness. Put her into the blue road. And now bring her down. Place her standing upon the earth. Where her feet are now and whereever she may go, let loneliness leave its mark upon her. Let her be marked out for loneliness where she stands.

"Ha! I belong to the (Wolf) ( + +) clan, that one alone which was allotted into for you. No one is ever lonely with me. I am handsome. Let her put her soul

7Poverty does not seem to have played any part among the earlier Indians — all had an equal chance and there was considerable thrift among them.

the very center of my soul, never to turn away. Grant that in the midst of men she shall never think of them. I belong to the one clan alone which was allotted for you when the seven clans were established.

"Where (other) men live it is lonely. They are very loathsome. The common polecat has made them so like himself that they are fit only for his company. The common oppossum has made them so like himself that they are fit only to be with him. They are very loathsome. Even the crow has made him so like himself that they are fit only for his company. They are very loathsome. The miserable rain-crow has made them so like himself that they are fit only to be with him.

"The seven clans all alike make one feel very lonely in their company. They are not even good looking. They go about clothed with mere refuse. But I — I was ordained to be a white man. I stand with my face toward the Sun Land. No one is ever lonely with me. I am very handsome. I shall certainly never become blue. I am covered by the everlasting white house wherever I go. No one is ever lonely with me. Your soul has come into the very center of my soul, never to turn away. I — (Gatigwanasti,) (0 0) — I take your soul. Sge!"