Franklin Township (part 1 of 19)

Franklin Township

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To Their Immediate Successors

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Preface

Thb writer is one of the first-born of the sons of the State of Tennessee. If this seniority brings with it none of the rights of primogeniture, it certainly has imposed the duty of filial veneration and r^;ard for the land of his nativity. With this devotion to his State, and to its worthy pioneers, has always been united the deep regret, that their early history has been so little known, and is now almost forgotten. Oppressed by this feeling, and impelled by the desire to revive and preserve the knowledge of past events in Tennessee, he determined, many years since, td collect such incidents of her history as were within his reach. At first, his object was merely to occupy, in these researches^ the leisure hours which could be spared from professional engagements; but he soon discovered, that by extending his labours, he might add to his own pleasure, the high gratification of contributing something, however humble, to the historical literature of the day, and thus do a service, at least, to the people of his own State.

For the collection of the materials of such a work, he has had some peculiar facilities. His boyhood and his youth were spent with the pioneer and the emigrant Later in life, he has not been without some share of intercourse, with the public men and principal actors in the early settlement of the country. His opportunity of conferring with many of them, has not been infrequent, and has been sedulously improved. He became, whilst yet a young man, the possessor of the journal and papers of his deceased father, the late Col. F. A. Ramsey - a pioneer of the country, whose life was identified with its interests, at every period of its growth, up to the time of his death, in 1820. He has, since, become the depositary of the papers of Sevier, of Shelby, the Blounts, and other public men. His position as Corresponding Secretary of the East Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society, has given him the advantage of its collections and correspondence. In addition to these sources of valuable information^ he has availed himself of others. The records of all the old Franklin Counties have been patiently examined by him. He has also visited the Capitals of Georgia, North- Carolina, and Virginia, and, by the courtesy of Governor Towns, Governor Reed, and Governor Fioyd, of these States, has been allowed free access to the Public Archives at Milledgeville, Raleigh, and Richmond, from which has been procured, all that they contain on the subjects of his research. The Archives of Tennessee, preserved in the office at tbe Secretary of State at Nashville, he has also examined. Private and public libraries, the offices at Washington, and the periodical journals of the day - all sources, within the writer's reach, likely to contri- Imte to his purpose, and add to the perfection of his work, have been carefully examined and culled from.

Haywood's History of Tennessee is the authority for many events detailed herein. In several instances, corrections and additions, important and valuable, have been made.

In the narratives - ^verbal and written - of the old soldiers and pioneers, and in the matter furnished by authors, correspondents, and pnUic documents, the language of the original narrator b often retained, though his statements are very much abridged and condensed. The usual marks of quotation have not, therefore, been always given.

On some of the subjects of the volume, the writer may be charged with unnecessary prolixity. He has not felt at liberty to withhold the minuUae of some of the topics, now published for the first time. The perishable condition in which they are found, in old and nearly illegible manuscriptB, exposes ihem to an early destruction.

The biography of General Robertson and General Joseph Martin would have been more minutely given, but that their private files had been placed in the hands of L. C. Draper, Esq., of Wisconsin. This is the less to be regretted, as that competent writer has promised, in ad4ition to the Uves of those Tennessee pioneers, those of many Westr em adventdrera, which cannot fail to make a valuable contribution to the biograplfioal literature of the West. He has been indefatigable in the procurement of material for such a work. Its publication may be expected within the next year.

He space devoted in this volume, to that section of Tennessee east of Cumberland Mountain, will not be considered disproportionate, wheo it is recollected, that it had a priority of ten years in its settlement; that in it were conducted the more important negotiations and treaties with the Indians ; and that the scenes of the Revolution - as participated in by the Western soldiery - the Franklin Revolt and Administration ; the Organization of the Territorial Government, and that of the State of Tennessee, all occurred within its limits.

Thus much as to the plan and materials of the work, and the soureea from which they have been drawn. As to the manner of it, the writer only further adds, that, earlier in life, it had been his ambition and hit design, to have made it, not only more creditable to himself, but, whieh he deeired much more, worthier of Tennessee and her patriotic and chivalrous sons. In the vain hope, and under the fond illusion, that some future day would allow him the necessary leisure to do so, he ha§ postponed the preparation of these sheets several years. The pressure of other engagements - some of them in the service of Tennessee - some, more private, but not less imperative - has dispelled the youthful illusion, that, after his half century was passed, life would be without care or active employment, and has brought with it the conviction, that, if his work shall be published at all, it must be done in its present shape - written always eurrente calamo - at intervals of time, snatched from the continued succession of professional and public duties, and with little opportunity to revise or perfect it. In that condition, and under these circumstances, the volume now goes to press. Scarcely has a single page been re- written.

Many of the Sevier papers, and all those of Governor Willie Blount^ being in the writer's possession, should the public voice seem to de^nand a continuation of these Annals, to a more recent period, the materials being on hand, or wihin reach, a second volume will be prepared. The administration of Governor Blount, covering the period of the Creek War, and that of 1812, with England, is an exceedingly interest- ing period in the Annak of the Yoliuiteer State. Since that timef the hiatoiy of Tennessee has continued to be equally important, and is now national and fully identified with the history of the United States.

The writer cannot omit this opportunity of returning his thanks to such of his correspondents, in Tennessee and elsewhere, as have not been spedfically mentioned in the volume, for their assbtance in collecting and furnishing material for the work.

The Hon. Mitchell King, during the publication of the volume, has politely opened to the writer^s use his large library and extensive collection of maps. Professor Dickson, of the Medical College gf South- Carolina, and an honourary member of the East Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society, has, heretofore, presented to its collections several valuable works on the history »of his State, and her early wars with the Indians of the interior. Both of these gentlemen have, from the first conception of this undertaking, given to the writer, under many and great discouragements, their friendly advice and countenance. To each of them, and to the members and officers of the Charleston Library, to whose privileges he was politely introduced, the writer begs here to make his acknowledgments.

Consdous, as he is, of the imperfections of his performance, the writer persuades himself, that he has rendered some acceptable service to Tennessee, in his attempt, thus, to perpetuate her Annals, and illustrate the actions of her people. Consoled with this reflection, he confides it to his countrymen.

J. G. M. Ramsey Introduction

When Columbus, in the name of their Catholic mcgestieSy took formal possession of San Salvador, the natives of that island stood around and gazed upon the strange ceremony in silent admiration. A feeling, somewhat dissimilar, but scarcely less intense, would be excited in the bosom of an aboriginal inhabitant of Tennessee, could he now revisit this theatre of his nation's existence. Could he stand upon an eminence, near the ancient capital of the state, and survey the scenes now presented to his view, he would notice with surprise the magic changes effected in this land of his fathers. The solitude of his native forest has given place to the industry and enterprise of a strange people ; its silence is dissipated by the hum of business, and its quiet disturbed by the incessant toil and the active pursuits of civilized life. The ancient woods have been felled, and the wilderness converted to the purposes of agriculture. A town has risen up, as if by enchantment, presenting to his astonished view the evidences which sur* round him, of wealth, of commerce, of learning and the arts. Associating the awakened recollections of his boyhood with the transmutation before him, he would withdraw from the unwelcome contreust, and, chagrined and sorrowful, seek elsewhere some solace to his wounded spirit. Repairing to the place where once stood the wigwam of his father,Hie finds erected over it the stately mansion of the white man. He recollects to have seen his chieftain recording his victories upon a tree, or perpetuating the annals of his tribe in rude hieroglyphics upon the mountain granite. These vestiges,

* Much of thiB Introdaction is taken from the " Address" delivered hj this writer at the organizatioii of the " East Teonessee Historical and Antiquanan Sodety."

too, have disappeared. The war-paths of his ancestors hav& been converted into the channels of a gainful commerce ; in the place of their extinguished council fires, are seen the courts of justice ; and amidst the ruins of their Pagan temples, churches, consecrated to the worship of the true God, elevate their spires in the direction of the Christianas hope - to heaven.

This sudden transition from barbarism and rudeness to civilization and refinement, it is the business of history to examine, investigate and record. Labouring in this extended field, the curious student will be carried back to that period when the ** great West " was when, as yet, no Anglo-American had penetrated the dark recesses of the Alleghany, or explored the unknown wilds now embraced within the limits of Tennessee. He will be led to analyze the first promptings of that spirit of adventure which incited the pioneers of the country to leave their homes of peace, safety and comfort, to endure the toils and privations of a mountain desert, to brave the dangers of an unknown wilderness, and to disregard the perils attending the formation of a remote and feeble settlement upon the borders of numerous and warlike tribes, jealous of their approach, and determined to resist it. Extending his researches, he will find that no section of the United States has furnished more of interesting and attractive incident, than is presented from a review of the first exploration and settlement of Tennessee. The tales of romance are scarcely equal to the patient perseverance, enterprise and hardihood, the daring heroism and chivalrous adventure, of its inhabitants. Savage barbarity drenched the frontier with the blood of the first emigrants, and the hardy soldier, alike with the helples < female and the child, became victims to the scalping knife and the tomahawk of the Indian. The industrious husbandman derived no immunity from the common danger, in his peaceful pursuits, but found a grave where he hoped to gather a harvest ; and the secluded and quiet cabin, lighted by savage incendiaries, became the funeral pile of its occupants. Every valley became the avenue of Indian aggression, and every mountain a lurking place for the merciless Cherokee^ Nothing intimidated by these circumstances, the constant attendants of the pioneers of the wilderness, they became, in their turn, the invaders ; and on the rugged banks of the Kenhawa, in the wilds of Cumberland and on the plains of Goosey we hear of their daring adventure, their prowess and their triumph.

But the proudest recollections are awakened, when we re« cur to the part taken by the infant settlements on Holston, Watauga, and NoUichuckee, in that '^ perilous conflict that tried men's souls," and at its darkest period, when the confidence of the firmest friends of independence was shaken, when British valour attd the treachery of the disafiected in the South had given an ascendency to the royal army, and threatened an easy conquest of other sections of the Confederacy. South-Carolina was scarcely longer considered an American state, but a subdued British colony ; - ^her lionhearted and invincible whigs, indignant but not dispirited, retiring before the invading enemy, had sought an asylum in the frontier of the West. It was at this crisis the pioneers of Tennessee - though by their remote and insulated position secure from foreign invasion, and exposed at home to the. cruelties of a savage foe - evinced their devotion to the cause of their country and of freedom. At this crisis, western patriotism projected the most daring expedition, and western valour achieved the brightest victory, which adorn the page of our revolutionary history. Free as the air of their mountainSi^ and indignant that the land of freemen should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader, the patriots of the West flew, uninvited, to the rescue of their bleeding country - ascending the Alleghany, and precipitating themselves from its summit^ they overwhelmed the enemy with discomfiture and death.

The early civil and political history of Tennessee presents, also, a fruitful and interesting subject of investigation. A feeble and remote settlement of hunters, herdsmen and small farmers - dissociated from Virginia and North-Carolina by the intervention of a desert mountain, not embraced within the ascertained boundaries, and beyond the reach of the jii'^ risdiction of either province, without its laws, its courts and its protection - ^this primitive, simple and virtuous commu'' nity, formed a civil and military organization adapted to their peculiar condition, and, under the unpretending name of the Watauga Association, laid the foundation of the future Tennessee. Assuming for themselves the name of Washino- Tov District - ^the first thus entitled to the credit of doing this honour to the father of his country - at the dawn of American independence these pioneers of the West applied to the Council of North-Carolina to be annexed to that province. They give as reasons, in support of their application, that ''they had already oi|;anized their militia, and Were willing to become a party in the existing war, acknowledging themselves indebted to the American colonies their full proportion of the Continental expense, and pledging their determination to adhere ** to the glorious cause in which we are now struggling, and to contribute to the welfare of our own or of ages yet to come." This pledge was most nobly redeemed, - ^the revolution was effected, and independence achieved.

Become thus a colonial appendage of North-Carolina, eonsisting of intrepid adventurers from every section of the country, and bound together by no principles of union but a sense of common danger, they were ceded by the mother state, soon after, to the Congress of the Confederacy, and thu s reduced to a condition of political orphanage. Struggling with the difficulties attendant on such a state, its onward march may be traced, with much interest and curiosity, through the period of its existence as the State of Franklin. This incipient effort of the western people to exercise the " divine right ** of self-government - this first combination of the discordant materials, of which the trans-montane community then consisted - their crude and immature legislation, the disorder and tumult which resulted, their return to their former allegiance, and the overthrow of the new commonwealth, - ^are all fruitful themes of research and enquiry. From the investigation of these, the philosophic historian will be ftumished with irrefragable proofs of the adequacy of the people, under the most unfavourable circumstances, to govern themselves, and will be enabled to trace the important bearing these unhappy commotions had upon great national interests, till then not perceived in their true light.

Peace, order and law, succeeding to tumult, and chaoBy and violence, the character of the partizan became merged in that of the citizen and patriot ; and throughout the subsequent stages of political organization, whether as a territory of the United States, or as one of the independent sovereignties constituting the American Union, we are proud to find the impress of the valour, virtue and patriotism of the first emigrants, stamped upon their descendants, who, obeying the injunction, have, in all after times, emulated the heroism exhibited by their ancestors in their own wilderness and on the heights of King^s Mountain ; and animated by the same lofty spirit of freedom and independence, and glowing with the holiest impulses of patriotism, have displayed at Tohopeka and Emuckfaw, in the fastnesses of Florida, on the plains of the Mississippi, at the Alamo and St. Jacinto, under the walls of Monterey, at Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco and Chapultepec, the same fearless disregard of danger, the same inextinguishable love of freedom, the same pure devotion to liberty, the same undying thirst for glory.

The soldiery of Tennessee have, under the lead of her own Jackson, hallowed the plains of Chalmette with a renown as extensive and immortal as the channel and the sources of the Mississippi. The lustre of the escutcheon of Tennessee has grown brighter wherever they were present, whether serving in the ranks, or leading the battalions and columns of the Volunteer State to the assault of a fortress or against the bristling bayonets of an enemy. On the fields of battle where the rifiemen of Tennessee have fought, new laurels have been won, fresh victories have been achieved, and un-

Virginia has been called the mother of statesmen. Tennessee, with equal truth, has been called the mother of states. From her prolific bosom, more than from any other state in the Union, have been sent forth annually, for half a century, nidnerous colonies for the peopling of the great valley of the Mississippi. Her emigrants are found everywhere in Alabama, Florida, Northern Georgia and Mississippi. The early population of Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, went from her boundaries ; while the entire Northwest of the United States, and the Pacific possessions, have been enriched from year to year by swarms of her enterprising and adventurous people from the parent hive.

Tennessee has already assumed an elevated rank among her sister republics. Her future must be prouder and even magnificent. From the amount of her population, now numbering more than a million,* from the extent of her territory,

In ratio of deaths to the number of living in 1860, the fifth - being exceeded even in a cholera year only by Wisconsin, Vermont, Iowa and Michigan.

In number of bushels of Indian com, the fifth - ^being exceeded only by Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana - the product of Tennessee, in 1850, being 52,187,868 bushels. In the census of 1840, Tennessee was thei first in the produet of this grain.

In number of bales of cotton, the fifth - the amount of the year's crop being 172,626 bales ; being exceeded only by Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South- Carolina.

and from her peculiar geographical location, touching upon eight members of the Union, and in close propinquity to three others, she will in all future time exert a weighty influence upon coterminous states, as well as upon the country at large. She has already furnished two Presidents of the U. States - Jackson and Polk - whose iron will and energy, whose ability and virtue, have stamped their administrations as worthy of the state, honourable and glorious to themselves, and eminently useful to the country and to the world. White and Grundy have added dignity and efiulgence to the United States Senate ; and a long list of statesmen, and jurists, and patriots, and heroes, have adorned the public councils, the bar, the bench, and in peace and war given eclat and celebrity to Tennessee. This relative consequence will become still more considerable when a concentration of the intelligence, and public spirit, and enterprise of her citizens, shall have more fully developed her physical and commercial resources. Her history is becoming, therefbre, every day more interesting and more important. What visions of the f\iture greatness and glory of their country, would have burst upon the view of Boone and his associates, could they have conceived, that their lonely and toilsome passage through the Apalachian mountain should open up. a communication to the West, for that flood of emigration, which, restrained for a time within narrower limits, at length broke over every impediment, and extending further, and wider, and onward, has overspread the vast valley of the Mississippi, and crossed, in its mighty sweep of adventurous enterprise, the mountain desert and the arid plain, to the shores of the distant Pacific? How must the heart of Robertson have thrilled with honest exultation, when he saw his feeble settlement on Watauga expand and grow to its present dimensions ; artd what rays of comfort would have cheered the evening of his life, could he have realized that Tennessee, in eighteen hundred and fifty.

Id the value of cotton manu&ctures, the eleyenth. Id the value of woollen goods, the tenth. In the value of pig iron, the fourth. In the value of wrought iron, the aixtL had become in population the fifth state in the Union, and the second of its western division 7 With what zeal should we of the present day cherish a grateful and hallowed remembrance of the wisdom, patriotism and enterprise, which have bequeathed to us such a country, and endowed it with the ** patrimonial blessings of wise institutions, of liberty and of religion 7" How keen should be our regret that we know so little of those who have done so much for us 7 With one brilliant exception, no one h£ts attempted to perpetuate the achievements of the pioneers of Tennessee. An adopted son is the only one who has recorded her annals. In his history the late Judge Haywood has left a monument of industry, of research and of talents, scarcely less imperishable or honourable to himself, than the distinction acquired in another department of science - of being designated, by a competent authority, the Mansfield of America. But it is no qualification of this just and sincere tribute to his memory to add, that he has left much of the field before us unoccupied, unexplored and unknown. Some of the most brilliant incidents in our early history are unrecorded, which, if not soon rescued from oblivion, will be lost to the present generation, posterity and the world. We design, by this remark, no imputation of indifierence or neglect on the part of those who have gone before us. The omission may be traced to a more obvious cause. The condition of the country at its first settlement, created a continued demand for exertion in the active pursuits of life. Cut off by their local situation from all foreign sources of supply, the first adventurers depended upon their own labour in their own country, for the procurement of subsistence. A wilderness was to be reclaimed to the use of the husbandman, a border warfare was to be kept up, defences were to be erected, and the foundations of government were to be laid. From the pressure of these varied demands upon their time, no leisure was allowed to record their achievements, to perpetuate the tales of their privations and sufferings, to narrate the deliberations of their sages, or the prowess of their heroes. This duty has devolved upon their grateful posterity. The task, however, is not without its difficulties. Much is already forgotten, and has faded from the minds of the oldest inhabitant ; much is indistinctly remembered, or handed down by vague and uncertain tradition. But difficult a^ it is, the duty has been attempted. To have shrunk from its performance, were a parricidal ingratitude. Its omission would have been criminal.

In the investigations which have been made of the history of Tennessee, and the result of which is given in these pages, the usual assistance has not been derived from the archives of state and the portfolios of ministers. Sources more humble, but not less authentic, have supplied this defect. The writer has procured the narratives of the older citizens, who have, ** ab urbe condita," resided in the country and participated in its settlement and defence, and each of whom may truthfully say of the events he narrates, ^ quorum magna pars/ut." He has examined the papers of their deceased contemporaries, which have survived the ravages of time and accident. He has, with untiring perseverance, searched for and obtained ** the private files of the leaders of the day.** In the loft of a humble cabin, in a secluded neighbourhood, he was so fortunate as to find many of the official papers of the State of Franklin ; in another, the lost constitution of the inchoate or proposed State of Frankland. In the garret of an old uninhabited mansion, in Knoxville, was found an antique trunk, containing the Sevier papers. From like sources, much of the matter in this volume has been procured. But these manuscripts, valuable and interesting as they are, furnished an inadequate supply of material necessary to form the Annals of Tennessee. The deficit has been made up by oral communications to this writer from the aged pioneer, whom he has visited in health and watched over in sickness, and from whose dying couch he has received, as a rich legacy, an account of the services of his youth and the exploits of his manhood. He has seen the eye of the aged narrator sparkle i^ith unwonted brilliancy during the recital, the heart of the infirm pulsate with unnatural vigour, and the spirit of the decrepid warrior animated with the fire of youthful heroism.

quency atid minuteness will, to some readers, be tedious and uninteresting. When known to be authentic, the writer conceives them to be worthy of preservation in the annals of his countrymen.

Intimately blended with the general history of Tennessee, is the biography of the prominent actors in the interesting scenes it records. We are proud to mention, among the patriot sages of the country, the names of Carter, Cocke, Campbell, the Blounts, Jackson, White, Claiborne, Roane^ Scott, M cNairy and Trimble ; among the apostles of religion and learning, Doak, Barton, Houston, Craighead, Carrick, Brooks and Stone. Our state pride is justly excited when, among American worthies, we enumerate Boone, Christian, the Seviers, the Robertsons, the Shelbys, the Tiptons - names dear to the country and known to fame. Yet, where will be found a detailed account of their services, their exploits, or their sufferings ? Where will be read the affectiifg story of the patriotic and brave Tipton, who, when peace was restored to his own frontier, gallantly led his soldiers to the standard of his country under St. Clair, and fell fighting in the unequal conflict, refusing to leave the field while an enemy survived him ? Who has heard the last injunction to his family, given apparently under the presentiment of certain death ? Who has read the biography of Shelby, whose youthful patriotism first glowed under the genial influence of a Carolina sky, but retained its ardour undiminished by the cold and chilling temperature of a Canadian winter ? And who has been the biographer of our own Sevier, that noble 4^hieftain that led the pioneers of Tennessee to battle and to victory ? Who has recited his civic deeds ? or who, when a grateful Tennessean, wandering over the plains of Alabama, enquires in his lonely exile for the grave of the first general and the first governor in the West, can point to the place of his entombment ? On what field of victory has Tennessee gratitude erected his cenotaph ?

No warriors trndenieAth his eyes in harneas'd squadrons spnuig ; Alone he perished in the land he saVd, And where in war the yictor stood, in peace he found a fi^raye. Ah, let the tear flow freely now, it will not awake the sleeper. And higher as je pile his tomb^ his slumber shall be deeper. Freemen may sound the solemn dirge - ^the funeral diant be spoken ; Hie quiet of the dead is not by idle modkeries broken ! Yet, let Tennessee's banner droop aboye the fallen chief. And let the mountaineer's dark eye be dim with earnest grief ; For who will stand as he has stood, with willing heart and hand, To wrestle well with freedom's foes, - defender of his land 1"

To remedy and supply, in some small degree, the defects and omissions thus alluded to, is the object and design of the succeeding pages. In the execution of this purpose, the writer proposes to give -

1st. The discovery and exploration of the country now known as the State of Tennessee, the first approaches of civilization to it, and some account of the contiguous Indian tribes.

6th. The subject of the relations with Spain, and the negotiation with that Power, relating to boundaries and the navigation of the Mississippi river.

Discovery Of Tennessee

As has been already remarked^ Tennessee is, in population, the fifth state in the Union. Her geographical position is pecuKar, and before the annexation of Texas, and the acquisition of New Mexico and California, entitled her to the name of the Central State. She is one of the rapidly increasing family of daughters which have sprung from the good old thirteen ; and though not a separate and distinct political organization at the eventful period of separation from the crown of Great Britain, it is a proud reflection that Tennessee is closely connected and directly identified with the cause of freedom and independence, and with the American Revolution, by a moumfol but glorious consasir guinity.

The adventures and perils, of Tennessee pioneers, their hearty sacrifices for the general good, their character for conduct and courage in war, their uniform devotion to die honour and greatness of the country, their rapid advance* ments in the arts of peace, in population and political infiuence, and the impress of their wisdom, valour and patriotism which they have stamped upon their descendants, invite to the early history of their state the attention of every American, and secures the deepest regard of every Tennessean.

To examine these various topics satisfactorily, it will be necessary to look a little into the original condition of tha country, its first discovery and exploration, its aboriginal inhabitants, and the approaches of civilized man to it ; since, without this examination, feeble and inadequate indeed will be our conceptions of the adventure displayed, the hardships suffered, the dangers encountered, the services rendered, the conquests achieved, the glory won, by those who have effected the transmutation from rudeness to refinement, from barbarism to civilization, and from heathenism to Christianity.

Postponing to another place any remarks upon the boundaries, the physical history, and the aboriginal population of Tennessee, it is proposed here to trace the approaches of civilization to its several boundaries in the exact order of their occurrence ; in doing which, its first discovery, exploration and settlement, will be the more clearly delineated and the more easily understood.

Of the country included within the limits of the present State of Tennessee, little was known for more than two hundred and thirty years after the discovery of America. Until that time, with perhaps a single exception, the foot of no European adventurer had touched her soil. The vast interior of North America was a terra incognita, till long after the skill, and science, and cupidity, and arms of Spain, had crossed the continent further south, and reached the shores of the Pacific ocean.

After the conquest of Mexico, achieved by Cortes with a handful of soldiers, vastly disproportioned to the population and resources of that immense empire, and after the capture and execution of the Inca and the subjugation of Peru by Pizarro, with a force still smaller, the fame of their victories, the rapidity and ease with which they had been obtained, their sudden acquirement of incalculable treasure, and the imperishable renown of these skilful and indomitable leaders, excited afresh the spirit of exploration, adventure and acquisition.

While Spanish discoveries and Spanish conquests had reached across the American continent, and extended along the Pacific coast from Chili to California, little was known of that immense country north of the Gulf of Mexico. As early as 1497, the coast of our parent state, North-Carolina, had been seen by Gaboto,* a Venetian adventurer, who.

under the auspices of Henry VII. of England, and the patronage of Bristol merchants, undertook to prosecute further discoveries in the New World. He returned, however, without attempting the conquest of the natives or the formation of . a settlement. In 1512, Juan Ponoe De Leon visited tb^ continent, in north latitude 30^, 8 ^ and discovered a country of vast and unknown extent, to which, from the abundance of flowers, and from its being first seen on Palm Sunday, (Pascha Florida,) he gave the name of Florida.*^ Being afterwards invested by the King of Spain with the government of the country hp had discovered, he attempted the erection of a town and fortress, but was assailed with such vigour by the natives, as to compel him to abandon the Country. The Indians used poisoned arrows. De Leon died from the wounds received in the encounter, and lost most of his men. Similar disfiusters seem to have overtaken the adventurous leaders who, after De Leon, attempted the subjugation of Florida^t

In 1524, Lucas Vasquez de Ay Hon efiected a landing further east, upon the coast of what is now Georgia or South- Carolina. Two hundred of his soldiers penetrated a few leagues in the interipr, while he remained with the rest of his force to guard his ships. The Indians attacked unexpectedly the detachment he had sent out, and massacred the whole ; then falling suddenly upon the guard near the ships, succeeded in driving them from the coast. The few survivors returned to San Domingo.

In 1528, Pamphilo de Narvaez sailed from Cuba, having on board four hundred foot and twenty horse, for the conquest '' of all the lands lying from the River of Palms to the Cape of Florida," for which he had obtained a grant from Charles y. He anchored on the eastern coast, landed his troops, and took possession of the country without opposition. But, marching into the interior, he at length reached Apalachee, where he encamped several days. The village had offered no resistance to the Spaniards, but this inoffen-

* ?rom this discovery by De Leon, Spafti elaimed Flori^ as Ehgland did ffom that made, in U97, by Cabot, f For a long time, aU the country eonth of Newfoandland wis called Floiida.

8ive spirit did not continue long. The natives were warlike and intrepid, harassed the camp of Narvaez by day and night, and compelled him to leave it. His march was beset by hordes of savages ** of gigantic height ; they had bows of enormous size, from which they discharged arrows with such force as to penetrate armour at the distance of two hundred yards.^* After the loss of many of his soldiers and horses, and the endurance of incredible hardships, ^ the hopes of wealth and conquest were at an end," and, coming to an arm of the Narvaez, despairing of reaching his ships by land, determined to construct small barques, and save the remnant of his little army from the ruin that menaced it. His frail barques were shipwrecked, and nearly all of his followers, with himself, found a watery grave. Five only survived the disasters by land and sea.

We have thus seen the unfortunate termination of several well arranged enterprises, undertaken by able and experienced leaders, and promising, under Castilian courage and discipline, a certain, if not an easy conquest, of the original inhabitants of the country. The spirit of the native American population seems no where to have been so energetically and so successfully exerted against the invaders of their country. A very different result had followed the standard of the conqueror of Mexico. He, under circumstances scarcely more favourable, had met and discomfited numerous armies of native wairiors, fighting for their homes, their tnonarch and their religion, at Tobasco and Tlascala, and, with a courage bordering upon temerity, had pushed his conquest to the palace of Montezuma. Had the countries south of Tennessee been inhabited by the spiritless and imbecile natives of Mexico, which it was the good fortune of Cortes to meet and conquer, it is not difficult to conceive that some intrepid Castilian would have anticipated the laurels won by Anglo-American prowess on the hardly contested battlegrounds of Tamotlee, Etowah, Nickajack, Emuckfaw and Tohopeka, and erected the standard of the Cross upon the demolished council houses and ruined temples of the ancestors of Oceola, To-mo-chi-chi and Oconostota. Different, indeed, was the character of the aborigines north of the Gulf of Mexico, at the period of which we are treating. A manly firmness of purpose, a wise union in counsel, and a determined bravery in action, enabled them to, repel every hostile invasion of their country, and to maintain nearly un* disturbed possession of it for two centuries after the dismemberment of the Mexican confederacy, and after the Children of the Sun had been driven into exile or reduced to an ignoble vassalage. The latter are humbled and nearly extinct, while the former retain even yet something of their original character ; though restrained, they are not subjugated - though curbed, their spirit is yet independent and free.

BafQed and defeated as were the Spaniards, in the several attempts of invasion and conquest which have been thus slightly sketched, they projected further enterprises, upon a still larger theatre, under more imposing and magnificent appointments, and, if possible, under more distinguished and chivalrous leaders. The passion of the age was war and conquest ; the vice of the times was wealth and the precious metals. In all these lay the path to preferment and distinction, and the cavaliers of Spain thrust themselves once more into it. Allured by the hope of finding gold and silver in the interior country, or incited by the thirst for glory, which had crowned their successes elsewhere - perhaps cha* grined at the failure which had marked all previous efibrts to achieve the conquest of Florida - they determined to invade the continent with such a force as would ensure its accomplishment. Ferdinand De Soto projected the expedition, and received from the Emperor Charles V. permis- 1SS9 i ^^^^ ^^ undertake the conquest. He was invested ( with ample power, civil and military ; and from the official relation be bore to the Island of Cuba, was enabled to command all the means necessary for the meditated invasion. A companion in arms of Pizarro, he had assisted that renowned leader in the conquest of Peru, and commanded in person the squadron of horse that captured the unfortunate Inca, Atahualpa, and put his army to flight. Having thus added to his fame for courage and adroitness as a soldier, the weight of experience and success as a commander ; having received the most signal marks of his monarch's confidence and favour ; and having, in addition to the control of the resources of Cuba, the avails of his Peruvian conquests^ Ferdinand De Soto, in less than a year from the date of his first proclamation, found himself at the head of nine hundred and fifty Spaniards, anxious to serve under him in his adventurous expedition. The chivalry, rank and wealth of Spain entered into his army. *' Never had a more gallant and brilliant body of men ofiered themselves for the New World."*

In addition to the forces brought from Spain, the armament of De Soto, by recruits and volunteers in was increased to a thousand men, besides the marines. There were also three hundred and fifty horses.

The account here given of the outfit and composition of the army of De Soto, and the details which follow of his marches, his disasters, and the melancholy fate of himself and his men, will not be considered foreign to the purpose of these annals, when it is remembered that the country they invaded, and through which they marched, has since been invaded successfully by Tennessee enterprise, and won by Tennessee valour, and hallowed by Tennessee blood ; and that the Indian tribes, who attacked them soon after they landed at Tampa Bay, who harassed them on their march, obstructed their passage, broke in upon their bivouac, annoyed their camp, resisted them in battle, and finally forced them to leave their country uncolonized and unsubdued, have long since yielded to the prowess and arms of American pioneers. The minutise of the track pursued by the invaders will be excused for the further reason, that it has been conjectured, with much plausibility, that De Soto was the first European or civilized adventurer whose foot touched the soil, whose eye surveyed the vast wilderness, whose heart expanded with the contemplation of the magnificent scenery, and whose senses were regaled by the influences of the delightful climate of Tennessee. It may be added, in sorrow, that though not the first to see and cross her great mediter-

Sailing from Havana on the 12th of May, 1530, tha ( squadron, containing the army of De S<^o, arrived in ( fifteen days at Espiritu Santo Bay, about half way down the western side of the peninsula of Florida. A detachment of three hundred men were landed, and, finding no Indians, they remained on shore all night in a state of careless security. Towards morning they were vigorously attacked by a great number of savages, and forced to retreat to the edge of the sea in confusion. A reinforcement was soon landed, and put the natives to flight after a slight resiistance.

From his encampment near Espiritu Santo Bay, De S6to marched two leagues to a village, which was found deserted by the inhabitants. By the aid of some straggling Indians whom he had captured, he endeavoured to appease the cacique of the village, Hirrihigua, and invited him from his re* treat to a friendly interview. To this message, brought by his subjects, he replied, '* I want none of their speeches nor promises ; bring me their heads, and I will receive them joyfully. "*

A neighbouring cacique, Mucozo, was more placable. At the invitation of the envoys sent to him by De Soto, he visited his camp, accompanied by his warriors. ** He kissed the hands of the governor with great veneration, saluted each one of his ofiicers, and made a slight obeisance to the privates, "t

As far as Mucozo, their march had been impeded by morasses, which disappeared, however, as they advanced into the interior. It occupied them four days to go from Mucozo to Urribarracaxi (seventeen leagues). Here they were informed, in answer to inquiries about gold and silver, that there was a country to the westward, called Ocali, where the spring was perpetual and gold abundant.

hig^a and Mucozo paid tribute, he would find provisions fot his army. He took up the line of march always to the no^rdieast, and on the morning of the third day came to the village of Mucozo (thirteen leagues). After marching seventeen leagues further to Urribarracaxi, and passing beyond it, they encountered, at three leagues distance from the village, ^ a great morass, a league in width, two-thirds mire and one-third water, and very deep at the borders. ^*^ After several days' search, a pass was found, by which, the army crossed it with ease.

Their route soon became obstructed with impassable swamps and bogs, made by the streams of the morass they had just passed. It was, therefore, recrossed by De Soto and his^army. In their march from this place they encountered, again, the greatest difficulties from deep swamps and numerous bogs that everywhere intersected the country. la addition to these, they were often annoyed by the Indians^ who hung upon their rear and shouted, in words of threat and defiance : ^ Keep on, robbers and traitors ; in Acuera and Apalachee, we will treat you as you deserve. Every captive will we quarter and hang upon the highest trees along

At the end of sixty miles from Urribarracaxi, they encamped in ^ a beautiful valley, where were large fields of Indian oom, of such luxuriant growth as to three and four ears upon a stalk. ** This fertile province was ruled by a cacique named Acuera. De Soto invited him to & friendly conference. The haughty chief replied : " others of your ac*- cursed race have in years past poisoned our peaceful shores. They have taught me what you are. What is your employment 7 To wander about like vagabonds from land to land ; to rob the poor - to betray the confiding - ^to murder in cold blood the defenceless. No I with such a people I want no peace, no friendship. War - never-ending, exterminating war - is all the boon I ask. You boast yourselves valiant, and so you may be, but my faithful warriors are not less brave ; and this, too, you shall one day prove, for I have sworn to maintain an unsparing conflict while one white man remains in my borders. Not openly in the battle field, though even thus we fear not to meet you; but by stratagem, and ambush, and midnight surprisal. ^ *

In reply to the demand that he should yield obedience to the emperor, he said : '' I am king in my own land, and will never become the vassal of a mortal like myself. Vile and pusillanimous is he who will submit to the yoke of another^ when he may be free I As for me and my people, we choose death, yes, a hundred deaths, before the loss of our liberty and the subjugation of our country I"

As the event proved, these were no idle threats or unmeaning bravadoes of Acuera and his warriors. Stratagem, and ambush, and iliidnight surprisal, cut off many a brave Spaniard ; and while a white man remained in this province, the natives, with most unyielding spirit, continued to oppose and annoy the invaders.

Unable to appease Acuera by pacific overtures or gentle treatment, De Soto broke up his encampment after a few days' rest, and passed over a desert tract twelve leagues broad, in a north-eastern direction, and then traversing an inhabited country, seven leagues more, arrived at the principal village of the province, called Ocali. It contained six hundred houses and vast quantities of provisions. " Hard by the village ran a wide and deep river, with most precipitous banks, "f Crossing this stream by a temporary bridge, the army of De Soto continued its march three days to the frontiers of Vitachuco - ** a province of great extent, being fifty leagues across. " It was governed by three brothers. Two of these, after a protracted negotiation, entered into terms of peace with De Soto, and agreed to use their influence with Vitachuco, the other cacique, to accept the offers of peace from the Spaniards. This chieftain was the most pow* erful of the three, and disapproved the terms made by the others with De Soto. He detained the envoys charged with the embassy ; imputed the pacific conduct of his brothers to cowardice, or to a spirit of inglorious submission ; and represented the Spaniards as vagabonds and robbers, and warned them not to enter into his dominions, vowing that ^^va- liant as they may be, if they dare to put foot upon my soily they shall never go out of my land alive - ^the whole race will I exterminate I" With similar messages he continued to threaten De Soto. At length, however, his two brothers visited Vitachuco, and he affected to be ^ won by their persuasions, and agreed to enter into a friendly intercourse with the strangers.***

After this deceitful alliance, the Spaniards marched to the village of Vitachuco, and were received with great kindness and hospitality. The Indian interpreters, however, in a few days, disclosed to De Soto that a perfidious plot was devised to destroy^him and his army. Apprised by this disclosure of the details of the plot, De Soto, at a preconcerted signal, fell unexpectedly upon the cacique and his warriors, made Vitachuco a prisoner, killed several hundred of his followers, and nine hundred more whom he had captured, he distributed as menials to his soldiers. But the fierce spirit of the cacique was yet unsubdued. Though a prisoner, and in the power of his conqueror, he laid another plot to put into effect the menaces he had made against the invaders of his country. In this, too, he was unsuccessful. He fell, thrust through witlf a dozen swords and lances, ahd lost in these two engagements and ** the subsequent massacres, thirteen hundred of his warriors, the flower of his nation.**!

The village of Vitachuco, where these battles were fought^ is thus described, and may possibly yet be identified by the physical features of the country around it. '^ Near the village was a large plain. It had on one side a lofty and dense forest, on the other, two lakes ; the one about a league in circumference, clear of trees, but so deep that three or four feet from the bank no footing could be found. The second, which was at greater distance from the village, was more than half a league in width, and appeared like a vast river, extending as far as the eye could reach.** X T^^^ village is called by the Portuguese narrator, Napatuca. The province was likely very fertile, certainly very populous, as the chosen warriors in the first battle amounted to ten thousand.

day, and ** encamped on the bank of a large and deep river,** a boundary of the province. Crossing the river on a bridge constructed by his army, the march was continued two leagues through a country free from woods ; here were found ^ large fields of maize, beans and pumpkins, with scattered habitations.** * At the distance of four leagues further, the Spaniards arrived at Osachili, a village of two hundred houses. Hearing at this place of the fertility and extent of the province of Apalachee, they continued their march, and ** were three days traversing an uninhabited desert, twelve leagues in extent, which lay between the two provinces, and about noon of the fourth day arrived at a great morass. It was bordered by forests of huge and lofty trees, with a dense underwood of thorns and brambles. In the centre of the morass was a sheet of water half a league in width, and as far as the eye could reach in extent ''The opposite side of the morass was bordered by the same kind of impervious forest as the other; the distance across it was about a league and a half.** t Near this place, ten or eleven years before, the uiifortunate Pamphilo de Narvaez had met with his signal de^ feat ; and the Indians, encouraged by their successes over him, made a desperate effort to gain a similar victory over the present invaders ; and the result seemed doubtful while the conflict was carried on in the morass. So soon, however, as the horsemen of De Soto gained the open woods, the contest was decided, and the natives were forced to fly. Apalachee^ the province to which De Soto had been directing his course^ was found to be not only fertile and well supplied with provisions, but, as he had been frequently forewarned, was inhabited by a brave and ferocious population, who, by stratagem and cunning, not less than by open assaults, attempted to repel the invading Spaniards.

The flrst night after they had crossed the morass, they encamped near a small village in an open plain. The march was resumed next day, and they passed two leagues through fields of corn, and '' came to a deep stream bordered by deep forests." Here the Indians had made palisades and barriers, determining that at this place their utmost opposition should be made. But these efforts were insufficient. Several Spaniards were killed, others were wounded, yet they passed the stream with ease, and continued the march two leagues further, without opposition, and encamped. The next day they reached Anchayea, a village of two hundred and fifty large and commodious houses. Capafi was the name of the cacique of Apalachee.

The winter was now approaching, and De Soto determin* ed to remain at Anchayea till the next spring. Fortifying the village, and building additional houses for barracks, and collecting from the adjoining neighbourhoods a supply of provisions, he went into winter quarters. Here he remained fire months, during which time he had received such information of the countries in the interior, as to point out his future course in quest of gold and silver, which seems to have been the primary object of himself and his followers.

The march was resumed in the spring of 1540, in a northeast direction. On the third day the army reached Capaobique, a village ** situated on high ground, on a kind of peninsula, being nearly surrounded by a miry marsh, more than a hundred paces broad.*** Two days further march brought them to the boundary between Apalachee and Atapaha, into which latter province they now entered. On the third day, De Soto reached the village of Achese, and meeting with no hostile feelings fhim the natives, rested there several days. '^He theri resumed his march northeast, ascending for ten days along the banks of a river, skirted by groves of mulberry trees, and winding through luxuriantly fertile valleys.*' On the eleventh day he entered the province of Cofa, (alias Ocute,) which was fertile and plentiful, and inhabited by a kind and hospita|>le people, who entertained De Soto and his army five days. The march was continued ^^ through a pleasant and luxuriant country, fertilized by many rivers,*' to the confines of Cofaqui. The cacique received the Spaniards with great pomp and kindne^ss, and ^ imparted to De Soto every information about his own territory, and spoke of a plentiful and populous province to the n<Mrthwest, oalled Cosa." f De Soto, however, determined first to visit Cofachiqai, a province separated from Cofaqoi by an uninhabited tract of great extent. In passing through this, the army crossed two rivers, '' a cross-bow shot broad/' which were with difficulty forded. On the seventh da} their march was suddenly s^ested by *^ a wide, deep and unfordable river. ^' At length, after travelling along its banks several days, they reached a small village called Aymay, well furnished with provisions and surrounded with corn-fields. Here they rested seven days, and then continued their march along the bank of the river, till the third day they halted *'in a verdant region, covered with mulberry and other fruit trees. ^' Two leagues further they reached the village of the princess of Cofachiqui, situated on the opposite bank of the river, and were hospitably received.

From Cofachiqui De Soto started. May 3, 1540, towards the north or northwest, in the direction of Cosa, which was represented to him to be distant twelve days journey. ^ He passed through the province of Achalaque - ^the most wretched country, sayB the Portuguese narrator, in all Florida." * Progressing forward, he reached the province of Choualla, or Xualla, and encamped in its principal village of the same name, where he remained several days. '' This village was situated on the skirts of a mountain, with a small but rapid river flowing by it." Unlike Chelaque,this province abounded with maize and other provisions.

At this place De Soto changed his route westward, aiming for the province of Quaxale. ^ The first day's march was through a country covered with fields of maize of luxuriant growth." t ** During the next five days they traversed a chain of easy mountains, covered with oak and mulberry trees, with intervening valleys, rich in pasturage and irrigated by clear and rapid streams. These mountains were tw;enty leagues across, and quite uninhabited." These waste mountains being passed, the Spaniards entered the province of Guaxule. The cacique received them with great parade and courtesy, and conducted them to his village, which consisted of three hundred houses. *' It stood in a pleasant spot^ bordered by small streams, that took their rise in the a4jacent moantains." * ^ The several streams that traversed this province, soon mingled their waters and formed a grand and powerful river, along which the army resumed their journey.** **0n the second day of their march, they entered the small town of Canasauga. Continuing forwai;^ for five days through a desert country, on the 25th of June they came in sight of Ichiaha, thirty leagues from Guaxule. This village stood on one end of an island, more than five leagues in length.'^f They crossed the river in many canoes, and on rafts prepared for the purpose, and were quartered in and around the village, and ^ their worn-out horses enjoyed rich and abundant pasturage in the neighbouring meadows." (Query. What island did Ichiaha stand upon 7) While at this village the Indians showed the Spaniards how they obtained pearls from the oysters taken in the river.;!^

} The width of some of the streams, the nmnher and extent of their isUndi^ and the names of some of the Tillages and other localities mentioned in the aeoomits given of De Soto*s mArdiee, have led to the belief that he may have wmitd the southern psrt of what is now East Tennessee, and that then turning west he crossed and recrossed the Tennessee riyer. McCuUough, in the map accompanjing his learned work,(*) lays down the route of De Soto*s army as penetrating at its extreme northern pcnnt to Choualla, near to the thirty -fifth degree of north latitude, and amongst the sources of the Coosa riyer. Choualla was situated oo tha of a mountain with a small but rapid riyer flowing by it. Could that hay* been the modem Cherokee Chilhowee f The route hsd previously led the inyaders to and through the province of Achalaque. It is known that the Cherokeea do not pronounce the letter r, and that they call themselves Chelakees. The narrator also describes the country as mountainous, and as answering well to the features of the country near Chilhowee. The Portuguese Oentlemun says the mooatains were very bad. Herrera says that though they were not disagreeable, tba mountains were twenty leagues across, and the anny was five dsys in passing over them. After leaving Choualla, the route lay westward. Mention is made of Canasaqua. May this have been the presiot Canasauga t Talisse and Sequin ohee - names fiuniliar to Tennessee readers - are also mentioned, and suggest the tiieory of Hartin,(t) that De Soto may have passed through Tennessee and int* Kentucky.

Col. Pettival, who had been m the service of Napoleon during the peninsalar war, and was, therefore, fiuniliar with Spanish fortifications, visited, in 1884, " tw« Ibrts or camps oo the west bank of the Tennessee river, one mile above Brown's

On the 2d day of July, DeSoto left Ichiaha, and travelled the length of the island to Acoste, a village on its extreme point, where they encamped. Next day they crossed the river in rafts and canoes, and afterwards continued their march through a fertile and populous province called Cosa. It was more than one hundred leagues in extent The village of the same name ^ was situated on the banks of a river, amidst green and beautiful meadows, irrigated by numerous email streams." -

On the 20th of AuguA, De Soto left Cosa, and passing Ullabali, continued the march to Talise. It was a well fortified post, '* and situated on the bank of a very rapid river, which nearly surrounded it." During his stay at Talise, De Soto received an embassy from Tuscaluza, the cacique of the immense province which the Spaniards now approached, inviting him to his residence, which was about thirteen leagues distant. The army accordingly crossing the river, in a few days reached Tuscaloosa (alias Piache). '' It was a strong place, situated like Talise, upon a peninsula formed by the windings of the same river, which had here grown wider and more powerful."t The next day was spent in* making rafts and crossing the river; and continuing the march on the third day, October 18, they arrived before the village of M auvila. ''It was strongly fortified, and stood in a fine plain, and was surrounded by a high wall made of logs.** % The pacific conduct of the several tribes with which the Spaniards had met during the last few months, and especially the friendly overtures of the powerful chieftain in whose capital they now were, had thrown them ofi* their guard. But while reposing in the village and around its

Ferrjr, below the Moscle Shoals, and opposite the moath of Cedar Creek, (the ooanfy not mentioaed,) which certainly belongs to the expedition of Alphonso De Soto." He'promiBes, in the letter from which this extract is made, a plan and description of these fortifications. He died soon after, and this writer is without further information on the subject It is certainly worthy of the further attention of the curious. The information concerning the exact route pursued by De Soto, is so obscure and scanty, that it is difficult to make even an approximation to the truth. After all the speculations and conjectures which several authors have made about it« liiUe progress has been attained in the solution of the enquiry.

walls in imagined secarity, tbey were suddenly assailed by the natives. They had concentrated all their own warriors at this place, and many from neighbouring provinces had joined them. For nine hours the battle raged, often with doubtful success to the Spaniards. At the setting sun, however, victory was obained over the Indians. They fought with desperation, as was evident by the numbers slain - - twenty-five hundred. The loss of De Soto was eighty-two.

After so severe a battle, the army of De Soto needed repose. They rested, therefore, several days at Mauvila, to take care of his wounded followers. On the eighteenth of November he turned his course northward, and after marching five days through an uninhabited country, entered the province of Chicaza. ''The first village at which they arrived, was called Cabusto. It was situated on a river, wide and deep, with high banks.*** To the proffers of peace made by De Soto, the inhabitants replied, "War is what we want - ^a war of fire and blood.** Eight thousand warriors collected together to oppose his crossing, but were soon put to flight by the cavalry, and dispersed to the fastnesses of the adjoining country. Without further opposition the march was continued to Chicaza. "It stood upon a gentle hill, stretching from north to south, watered on each side by a small stream, bordered by groves of walnut and oak trees." It was the I8th of December when the army arrived at Chicaza, and the weather being cold, with snow and ice, De Soto determined to winter here. At Chicaza, as at Mauvila, the Spaniards were surprised by a well arranged night attack from the Indians. As in the former case, the Spaniards were victorious ; their loss, however, was severe. Forty soldiers were killed, and fifty horses.

After a few days his encampment was broken up, and the army marched to Chiacilla, about a league distant ; here they spent the remainder of the winter, and till the end of March. **The cold was rigorous in the extreme.**

From this place the army marched, the 1st April, four leagues, and encamped in a plain beyond the Chicaza boundary. At a fortress of great strength, called Alibamo, was the next battle fought. It was ^ upon a narrow and deep river, that flowed in its rear." The loss of the Spaniards was fifteen; that of the natives, great. Continuing the march towards the north, ^ for seven days they traversed an uninhabited country, full of forests and swamps. At length they came in sight of a village, called Chisca, seated near a wide river.'^ * This was the largest stream they had discovered in their expedition, and the Spaniards called it the Rio Grande. It is evidently the Mississippi. Juan Coles, one of the followers of De Soto, says that the Indian name of the river was Chucagua. The Portuguese narrator says, that in one place it was called Tomaliseu ; in another, Tupata ; in another, Mico ; and at that part where it enters the sea, Ri. It is probable it had difierent names among the difierent Indian tribes. The village of Chisca, near its banks, was called by the Portuguese narrator, Quizquiz.

It is generally conjectured that Chisca, the village near which De Soto was encamped, and which bore the name of ibe chieftain of the province through whose territories the Spaniards were passing, occupied the site of the present thriving city of Memphis, and that the point where they crossed the Mississippi was near the Chickasaw Bluff. A mournful interest will be excited in the mind of the Tennessee reader to know every incident that occurred during the sojourn of the cavaliers near our boundaries or within our state. We copy from Irving.

" The Indiaiis of this province, owing to their unceasing warfare with the natives of Chicaza, and the country lying between them being unpeopled, knew nothing of the approach of the strangers. The moment the Spaniards descried the village, they rushed into it in a disorderly manner, took many Indian prisoners, of both sexes and of all ages, and pillaged the houses.

'^Od a high arti6cial mound, on one^ide of the village, stood the dwellioff of the cacique, which served as a fortress. The only ascent to it was by two ladders. Many of the Indians took refuge there, while others fled to a dense wood, that arose between the village and the river. Chisca, the chieftain of the province, was very old and lying ill in his bed. flearinff the tumult and shouts, however, he raised himself nd went forth ; and as he beheld the sacking of his village, and the CMtore of his vassals, he seized a tomahawk, and began to descend in a ftnioos ragei threatening vengeance and extermination to all who had dared to enter his domains without permission. With all these bniy»> does, the cacique, besides being infirm and very old, was pitiful in his dimensions ; the most miserable little Indian that the Spaniards had seen in all their marchings. He was animated, however, by the deeds and exploits of his youth, for he had been a doughty warrior and ruled over a vast province.

^* The women and attendants of the cacique surrounded him, and, with tears and entreaties, prevailed upon him not to descend ; at the same time, those who came up from the village informed him that the enemy were men such as they had never before beheld or heard o( and that Uiey came upon strange animals of great size and wonderful agility. If you desire to battle with them, said they, to avenge this injury, ii will be better to summon together the warriors of the neighbourhood, and await a. more fitting opportunity. In the meantime, let us put on the semblance of friendship, and not, by any inconsiderate rashness, provoke our destruction. With these and similar arguments, the women and attendants of the cacique prevented his sallying forth to batUe. He continued, however, in great wrath, and when ^e governor sent him a message, offering peace, he returned an answer, refusing all amity, and breathing fiery vengeance.

^ De Soto and his followers, wearied out with the harassing war&ie of the past winter, were very desirous of peace. Having pillaged the Tillage and offended the cacique, they were in something of a dilemma ; aooordmgly, they sent him many gentle and most soothing messages. Added to their disinclination for war, they observed, that during the three hours they had halted in the village, nearly four thousand weQ armed warriors had rallied around the cadque, and they feared that if such a multitude could assemble in such a short time, there must be large reinforcements in reserve. They perceived, moreover, that the situation of the village was very advantageous for the Indians, and very unfavourable to them ; for the plains around were covered with trees and intersected by numerous streams, which would impede the movements of the cavalry. But more than all this, they had learned from sad experience, that these incessant conflicts did not in the least profit them ; day after day, man and horse were slain, and, in the midst of a hostile country, and far from home and hope of succour^ their number was gradually dwindling away.

^ The Indians held a council, to discuss the messages of the strangers. Many were for war ; they were enraged with the imprisonment of their wives and children, and the pillage of their property - to recover which, according to their fierce notions, the only recourse was arms. Others, who had not lost any thing, yet desired hostilities, from a natural indination for fighting. They ^inshed to exhibit their valour and prowess, and to try what kind of men these were, who carried such strange arms. The more padfic savages, however, advised that the proffered peaoe should be accepted, as the surest means of recovering tneir wives, and children, and CTOcts. They added, that the enemy might bum their villages and lay waste their fields, at a time when their grain was almost ripening, and thus add to their calamities. The valour of these stranr

Db Soto And His Army Cross The Mississippi

*^ This latter counsel prevailed. The cacique, dissembling his anger, replied to the envoy, that since the Spaniards entreated for peace, he would grant it, and allow them to halt in the village, and give them food, on condition that they would immediately free his subjects and restore their effects, not keeping a single article. He also stipulated that they should not mount to see him. If these terms were accepted, he said he would be friendly ; if not, he defied them to the combat.

^ The Spaniards readily agreed to these conditions ; the prisoners and plmider were restored, and Uie Indians departed from the village, leaving food in the dwellings for the Spaniards, who sojourned here six days to tend the sick. On the last day, with the permission of the cacique, De Boto visited him, and thanked him for his friendship and hospitality, and, on the subsequent day, they resumed their march. Departing from Chisca, the army travelled by slow journeys of three leagues a day, on account of the wounded and sick. They lollowed up the windings of the river until the fourth day, when they came to an opening in the thickets. Heretofore, they had been threading a vast and dense forest, bordering the stream, whose banks were so high, on both sides, that they oould neither descend nor clamber up them. De Soto found it necessary to halt in this place twenty days, to build boats or piraquas to eross the river ; for, on the opposite bank, a great multitude of Indian warriors were assembled, well armed, and with a fleet of canoes to defend the passage.

'^The morning after the governor had encamped, some of the natives him. Advancing without speaking a word, and turning their frees to the east, they made a profound genuflexion to the sun ; then fedng to the west, they made the same obeisance to the moon, and contluded with a similar, but less humble, reverence to De Soto. They said that they came in the name of the cacique of the province, and in the name of all his subjects, to bid them welcome, and to offer their friendship and services ; and added, that they were desirous of seeing what kind of men these strangers were, as there was a tradition handed down from their ancestors, that a white people would come and conquer their country. The adelantado said many kind things in reply, and dinnifised them well pleased with their courteous reception."

At the end of twenty days, four piraqaas were built and launched. About three hours before the dawn of day, De Soto ordered them to be manned, and four troopers of tried courage to go in each. The rowers pulled strongly, and when they were within a stone's throw of the shore, the troopers dashed into the water, and, meeting with no opposition from the enemy, they easily eflfected a landing and made themselves masters of the pass* Two hours before tlie mm went down, the whole army had passed over tli9

( Mississippi. The river in this place, says the Por- ( tuguese historian, was a half leagae from one shore to the other, so that a man standing still could scarce be discerned from the opposite bank. The stream was of great depth, very muddy, and was filled with trees and timber carried along by the rapidity of the current.

It is deemed not necessary to the purpose of these annals^ to follow the route of De Soto further. The object of bis expedition had been conquest and colonization. He had thus far succeeded in neither. The generous mind sympathizes in his reverses of fortune. The captor oi Atahualpa entreated a peace with the superannuated cacique of Chisca ; a leader at the storming of Cusco, asked leave to bivouao in the wigwam of his subjects ; and the Governor of Cuba begs for the hospitalities of the chieftain of an interior province on the banks of the Mississippi. It is painful to wander with him a year longer in the wild and boundless solitudes west of that stream, or to trace his return to it, to die ( in the secluded forest upon its shore. It will be suffi-

( cient to remark, that the death of the enterprising^ commander of the expedition, the vast amount of money (100,000 ducats) expended, the loss of more than two-thirds of his army, his failure to find gold or to achieve any of the objects of the undertaking, discouraged further attempts by Europeans to penetrate this part of the country ; and it was not till 1673 that another adventurer from the Old World again visited what is now known as Tennessee.

Maritime discoveries were, however, still prosecuted ; and at the very time De Soto was carrying on his abortive invasion by land, the interior of North America was sought in another direction, and under the auspices of another nation. In 1542, Cartier and Roberval had sailed up the St Lawrence, built a fort, and made a feeble efibrt to explore and settle Canada. The colony was soon abandoned, and for half a century the French took no measures to establish settlements there. England, also, partook of the spirit of exploration and adventure that was still active and engrossing. That power, in consequence of the discoveries by the Gabots, bad taken formal possession, under Sir Humphrey

Gilbert, in 1 563, of Newfoundland. The next year, Queen Elizabeth, by royal patent, authorized Sir Walter Raleigh to discover and occupy such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, not possessed or inhabited by Christian people, as to him should seem good.* Under this patent, Raleigh sent two experienced commanders, Amadas and Barlow, to ex* plore the country then called Florida. They arrived on the American coast, July 4, 1584, and sailed along the shore one htindred and twenty miles, before they could, find an entrance, by any river, issuing into the sea. Coihing to one at length, they entered it, and having manned their boats and viewed the a<yoinitig lands, they took formal possession of the country for the Queen of England.! They had landed upon the Isli^nd of Wocoken, the southernmost of the islands forming Oeracock Inlet, upon the coast of our parent state,' North- Carolina* The adventurers explored Roanoke Island and Albemarie Sound, and, after a short stay, returned to Eng* land, *^ accompanied by Manteo and Wanchese, two natives of the wilderness ; and the returning voyagers gave such glowing descriptions of their discoveries as might be expected from men who had done no more than sail over the smooth waters of a summerV sea, among 'the hundred islands' of North-Carolina. Elizabeth, as she heard their reports, esteemed her reign signalized by the discovery of the enchanting regions, and, as a memorial of her state of life;, named them Virginia.^;!^ Raleigh', determined to carry into eflTect his scheme of colonization, found little difficulty in collecting together a large company of emigrants, and, in April ,of 1585, fitted out a new expedition of seven vessels and one hundred and eight colonists, with which to form the first settlement upon the soil of Carolina. The fleet reached Wocoken the 26th of June, and having left the colony tinder the direction of Ralf L&ne as its governor. Sir Richard

* Thus QoMti EUnbeth ezecntad the first patent from an Engliah soTereign, iac anj landa withlo the territory of tbe United States, to Sir Walter Ealei^t* Its date is March 26, 16S4. The present State of Tennessee is within its bonndariefl^ but nearl j two centuries elapsed before that part of the queen's grant waa wlded.

Grenville, in command of the ships, returned to Plymouth. The colony, however, was destined to be short-lived. Its members became discontented, their supplies were exhausted, they sighed '* for the luxuries of the cities of their native land,^' and an opportune arrival of Sir Francis Drake furnished the means of their return to England. *

Sir Walter Raleigh, not to be driven from his purpose of ( colonization by past failures, collected another body ( of emigrants, with wives and families and implements of husbandry ; intending to form an agricultural community, in which the endearments of home and the means of procuring a certain subsistence, might ensure stability and permanence. This new and more promising colony, with Jolm White for its governor, was sent out in April, and arrived July 23, at Roanoke, where the foundations of the ** citie of Raleigh" were laid.

Eleanor Dare, wife of one of the assistants, and the daughter of Governor White, gave birth to a female child, the first ofi*spr]ng of English parents on the soil of the United States.* It was called, from the place of its birth, Virginia Dare.

But the wise policy and liberal provision of Raleigh .were' lost upon this his last colony. In 1590 not a vestige of its existence could be found.

In 1607, a more successful efibrt secured the formation of a permanent English colony in America. Captain Newport commanded a fleet of three ships, with one hundred emigrants, to Virginia. He had intended to land at Roanoke, and make further attempts to form a settlement there ; but being driven by a storm to the northward of that place, the fleet entered Chesapeake Bay, and, on the 13th of May, the adventurers took possession of a peninsula upon the north side of the river Powhatan. Here they laid ofl* a town, whichi in honour of the king, they called James Town. The charter under which this flrst English colony in America was planted, reserved supreme legislative authority to the king ; And while a general superintendence of the colony was confided to a council in England, appointed by him, its local administration was entrusted to a council residiAg within its

Fir9T Representative Body In America. 8&

A second charter, in 1609, invested the company with the election of the council and the exercise of legislative power, independent of the crown.

In 1612, a third patent gave to the company a more democratic form ; power was transferred from the council to the stockholders, and ** their sessions became the theatre of bold and independent discussions.'^ In 1619, the colonists themselves were allowed to share in legislation ; and in June of that year, the governor, the council, and two representatives from each of the boroughs, constituted the first popular representative body of the western hemisphere.f In 16S1, a written constitution was brought out by Sir Francis Wyat, governor of the colony, extending still further the representative principle. Under its provisions two burgesses were to be chosen for the assembly by every town, hundred or particular plantation. All matters were to be decided by a majority in the assembly, reserving to the governor the veto power» and requiring the sanction of the general court of the company in England. On the other hand, no order of the general court was to bind the colony until assented to by the assembly ; each colonist thus became a freeman and a citizen^ and ceased to be a servant of a commercial company, and dependent on the will and orders of his superior.;]; The colony flourished, and its frontier extended to the Potomac in the interior, and coastwise expanded to Albemarle Sound, upon which the first permanent settlers in North-Carolina pitched their tent, having been attracted by the report of an adventurer from Virginia, who, on his return from it, '' celebrated the kindness of the native people, the fertility of the country, and the happy climate, that yielded two harvests in ea^h year.'*§ These representations of the advantages of the eoantry, and the prosperous condition of its pioneer emigrants, awakened the cupidity and excited the ambition of English coartiers. On the 24th of March, 1663, Charles II. granted to Edward, Earl of Clarendon, Monk, Lord Craven, Lord Ashley Cooper, Sir John Colleton, Lord John Berkeley, Sir

William Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret, all the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, included between the thirty-first and thirty-sixth parallels of latitude, and constituted them its proprietors and immediate sovereigns. Extensive as was this grant, the proprietaries in June, 1665, secured by a second patent, an enlargement of their powers, and such further extent of their boundaries, as to include all the country between the parallels of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes and twenty-nine degrees north latitude, embracing all the territory of North and South-Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, a part of Florida and Missouri, and much of Texas, New Mexico ani California. That part of its northern boundary extending from the top of the Alleghany mountain to the eastern bank of the Tennessee river, is the line of separation between Vir^ ginia and iTennessee, and Kentucky and Tennessee;

** Among other powers conferred upon the lord proprietors was that of enacting laws and constitutions for the people t>f that province, by and with the advice, assent and approbation of the freemen thereof or of the greater part of them, or of their delegates or deputies, who were to be assembled from time to time for that purpose.^^ * So early and so deeply was the germ of self-government planted in Carolina. In 16H7, thB first constitution was given by the proprietary government. It directed that the governor should act with the udvice of a council of twelve, one half to be appointed by himself, the other half by the assembly, and this was to be composed of the governor, the council, and twelve delegates chosen by the freeholders.*

Historians do not agree as to the precise year in which the fibret legislative body in North-Carolina convened. It was certainly, however, in 1066 or 1667. This legislature was called the ^ Grand Assembly of the County of Albemarlp.** Its principal acts were such as were believed to be reqoireil by the peculiar situation of the country, and were prompted by* an anxious desire to increase its population.!

they remained entirely ignorant of the great interior of the continent. It was the policy of the proprietors to know something more of the vast domains within the limits of their grants, and explorations were projected to ascertain and occupy them. In their hunting excursions, the highlands of Virginia had been seen, but adventure had not discovered the distant sources of its rivers, and the country beyond the Blue Ridge was yet unknown. Its original inhabitants still roamed through the ancient woods, free,- independent and secure, in happy ignorance of the approaches of civilized man. Its flora, scattered in magnificent profusion over hill and dale, mountain and prairie, still '' wasted its fragrance on the desert atr." La Belle Reviere, in quietude and silence, winded along its placid current through the " dark and bloody land " to the Father of Rivers, which itself, in turbid violence, rolled its angry floods in solitary grandeur to the sea. It was not till 1655, that ''Colonel Woods, who dwelt at the falls of James river, sent suitable persons on a journey of discovery to the westward ; they crossed the Alleghany mountains, and reached the banks of the Ohio and other rivers emptying into the Mississippi." * The route pursued is not distinctly known. It is scarcely probable that, ascending the James river. Colonel Woods fell into the beautiful valley of Virginia, and, following its course, passed through the upper part of East Tennessee and Cumberland Gap to the Ohio. With the limited knowledge then had of the geography of the West, the Holston would be considered as an immediate tributary o^the Mississippi. If such was indeed the route pursued. Colonel Woods was the pioneer in that great channel of emigration that more than a century afterwards began to pour its immense flood of emigrants from the Atlantic to the West

In the meantime, religious enthusiasm and French loyalty were extending discoveries to the westward in another channeL The feeble settlements of the French planted upon the 1605 i ^^' Lawrence, were strengthened and extended along ( the great lakes. In 1665, Father Claude AlloUez embacked on a mission to the Far West by way of the Ottawa*

Daring bis voyages along the lakes, and his sojourn in the immense wilds around them, '' he lighted the torch of faith for more than twenty different nations.^ His curiosity was roused by bearing from the Illinois ^ the tale of the noble river on which they dwelt, and which flowed towards the south." AUoUez reported its name to be Messipu

In 1673, Marquette, another missionary, and Joliet, penetrated beyond the lakes. Talon, the intendant of New France, wished to signalize his administration by *' ascertaining if the French, descending the great river of the central west, could bear the banner of France to the Pacific, or plant it, side by side with that of Spain, on the Gulf of Mexico.** - Under his patronage, Marquette and Joliet, with five French companions and two Algonquins as guides, entered upon the enterprise. Their canoes were carried across the narrow portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and on the 10th of* June, in the beautiful language of Bancroft, France

( Descending the Wisconsin in seven days, they entered the great river. They were peaceably received by the Illinois and other Indian tribes along its banks. The Missouri was then known by its Algonquin name, Pekitanoni. The Ohio was then, and long after, called the Wabash. In the map published with Marquette's Journal, in 1661, numerous villages are laid down upon its banks as inhabited by the (Ghauvanon) Shawnees, and east of them, in the interior, are represented dense Indian settlements or villages of different tribes, and all situated between the thirty-fifth and thirtysixth degrees. Highlands corresponding to the first, second and third Chickasaw Bluffs, as now known, are delineated with considerable accuracy ; as is also a large island in the Mississippi nearly opposite to the lower bluff, now known as President's Island. The Ohio has a tributary running into it from the south-east, and the Shawnee villages occupy a place upon the map between that tributary and the Mississippi. The latter stream is spelled Mitchisipi.' In the land of the Chickasaws, the Indians had guns, obtained probably by traffic or warfare with the Spaniards. Lower down 4he

Fibst Cabin And Fort In Tennessee

The adventurers descended as low as the mouth- of the Arkansas, and on the 17th of July ascended the Mississippi on their return. The account of their voyage and discoveries excited among their countrymen brilliant schemes of colonization in the south-west, - a spirit of territorial aggrandizement for the crown of France, and of commerce between Enrope and the Mississippf - and La Salle was commissioned to perfect the discovery of the great river. In 1682, he descended that stream to the sea, planted the arms of France near the Gulf of Mexico, claimed the territory for that power, and in honour of his monarch, Louis XIV., gave it the name of Louisiana. As he passed down the river he framed a cabin anQ built a fort,* called Prud'homme, on the first Chickasaw Bluff. The first work, except probably the piraquas of De Soto, ever executed by the hand of civilization within the boundaries of Tennessee. A cabin and a fort I Fit emblem and presage of the future in Tennessee. The axe and the rifle, occupancy and defence, settlement and conqaestl

While at the Bluff, La Salle entered into amicable arrangements for opening a trade with the Chickasaws, and established there a trading post that should be a point of rendezvous for traders passing from the Illinois country to the posts that should be established below. The commercial acumen of . La Salle in founding a trading post at this point, is now made most manifest. Near the same ground has since arisen a qity, whose commerce already exceeds that of any other in Tennessee, and whose facilities for trade, foreign and domestic, by land or water, portend a commercial destiny inferior to that of the ancient Memphis ; and, after die accomplishment of the public improvements contemplated and projected, not surpassed by any point upon the Missisikippi above New-Orleans.

Thns one hundred and eighty years after the discovery of America, and one hundred and thirty years after De Soto had erosBed our western limit, did Marquette and Joliet coast was removed to the point formed by the confluence of the A&hley and Cooper rivers, and was dechired to be the capital for the general administration of government in Carolina.

In December, 1077, Miller,a collector of the royal customs, in. attempting to reform some abuKes in Albemarle, became obnoxious to the people; and an insurrection followed. The insurgents, conducted chU-fly by Culpeper, imprisoned the president and seven proprietary deputies, seized the royal revenue, established courts of justice, appointed officers, called a parliament, and for two years exercised all the authority of an independent state. This insurrection, rather this bold attempt at revolution and self-government by the fourteen hundred colonists of Albemarle, deserves a further notice. We copy from Marshall :