very interesting!
Connie Street
ckcasey(a)louisacomm.net
- "You must be the change you want to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi
----- Original Message -----
From: The Frisks
To: cavitt(a)rootsweb.com
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 7:00 PM
Subject: Re: [CAVITT] Cavitt Station Massacre Memorial
I ran across this letter written by Hugh Dunlap to the editor of the
Knoxville Argus January 19, 1842 regarding Knoxville's upcoming 50th year
celebration and though some of you might find it to be of interest.
-Cindy
The Half-Century of Knoxville
Being the Address and Proceedings at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary
of the Settlement of the Town, February 10, 1842
(1852)
APPENDIX
Letter from HUGH DUNLAP, ESQ.
to the Editor of The Knoxville Argus
PARIS, TENN., January 19, 1842
MR. EASTMAN--Dear Sir:
In your paper of the 22d ult. and the 5th inst., I observed arrangements
making for
the celebration of the semi-centennial anniversary of Knoxville. I am the
only man,
whom I know to be alive, who was living there when the lots were laid off.
It would
be a source of unmixed pleasure to be present at the celebration, if my
health and
the weather permitted. I could not conceive a higher gratification than to
meet at the
festive board the children of those adventurous and worthy men who first
settled
Knoxville, and who were the more endeared to me by the very perils incident
to its
settlement.
At the treaty of Holston, in 1791, there were no houses except shantees put
up
for the occasion to hold government stores. Gen. JAMES WHITE lived in
the neighborhood, and had a block-house to guard his family. At the treaty
of
Holston they used river water entirely, until TROOPER ARMSTRONG
discovered the spring to the right of the street leading from the Courthouse
to
what is now called Hardscrabble. He, at the time, requested Gen. WHITE,
in a jest, to let him have the lot, including the spring, when a town was
laid
off; and when the town was laid off the General preserved the lot and made
him a deed to it. These facts were told me by Gen. WHITE himself, for I was
not present at the treaty.
I left Philadelphia, with my goods, in December, 1791, and did not reach
Knoxville until about the 1st of February, 1792. I deposited my goods and
kept
store in the house used by the Government at the treaty, though I believe
the
treaty itself was made in the open air. At the time I reached Knoxville,
SAMUEL and NATHANIEL COWAN had goods there, JOHN CHISOLM
kept a house of entertainment; and a man named McLEMEE was living there.
These men, with their families, constituted the inhabitants of Knoxville
when I
went there. Gov. BLOUNT lived on Barbary Hill, a knoll below College Hill,
and between it and the river. It was then approached from town by following
the meanders of the river. The principal settlements in the county were on
Beaver Creek. All the families lived in forts pretty much in those days ;
and,
when the fields were cultivated, there was always a guard stationed around
them for protection. There was a fort at Campbell's Station, which was the
lowest settlement in East Tennessee. The next fort and settlement were at
Blackburn's, west of the Cumberland Mountains; the next at Fort Blount,
on the Cumberland River; the next was a fort at Bledsoe's Lick; and then the
French Lick, now Nashville.
The land on which Knoxville is built, belonged to Gen. WHITE. In February,
1792, Col. CHARLES McCLUNG surveyed the lots and laid off the town.
I do not recollect on what day of the month. It excited no particular
interest
at the time. The whole town was then a thicket of brushwood and grape
vines, except a small portion in front of the river, where all the business
was
done. There never was any regular public sale of lots; Gen. WHITE sold
anybody a lot, who would settle on it and improve it for eight dollars; and
in
this way, at this price, the lots were generally disposed of.
In the year 1793, the Creeks and Cherokees leagued together and raised an
army under old WATTS, a half breed, the head of the Cherokee nation, to
destroy the white settlements. There were said to have been 1500 men under
WATTS. DOUBLEHEAD was a mere subordinate under WATTS, though
his fame has been more lasting and wide spread, because of his vindictive
and ferocious character towards the whites, and his turbulence among his
own people. They marched as far as CAVET's, seven miles from Knoxville,
and made an attack upon his house. After resisting for some time the
assaults
of the Indians, CAVET, his son, and a militia man, the only men in the block
house, capitulated under a promise that the family should be spared. After
they surrendered they were murdered, and the mother, two grown daughters,
and perhaps some small children, were brutally despoiled and butchered.
This massacre, though horrid and heart-rending, was the salvation of
Knoxville
and the whole circumjacent country, for their force was powerful enough to
have over-run and depopulated the white settlements. The Creeks committed
the murder, against the wishes of the Cherokees -- a dispute arose among
them about it. WATTS refused to proceed farther, and the whole army of
savages was virtually disbanded, and they returned to their villages and
wigwams.
A child of CAVET's was not killed at the block house. It was taken prisoner-
two Creeks claimed it - they had their tomahawks drawn on each other,
when a third party, to quiet the rival claims, tomahawked the child. It was
thought for some years the child was living, but the Indians afterwards told
all the circumstances.
In 1793, the first Government troops were stationed in Knoxville under the
command of Capt. CARR; a revolutionary officer; his Lieutenant, RICKARD,
had him arrested a few months after their arrival, for drunkenness. CARR
was chagrined at the efforts of his Lieutenant to supplant him and resigned,
and RICKARD was promoted to CARR's office. They built their barrack
where ETHELRED WILLIAMS has since erected a brick house, opposite
the Court house. I believe the Convention of 1796 sat in it.
In 1793, Col. CHRISTY, who was commanding the United States troops at
Knoxville, died, and was buried with martial and Masonic honors on what
is now College Hill. It was a magnificent procession - by far the most
splendid funeral that had ever been witnessed in the Territory. In the same
year died TITUS OGDEN, a merchant, and paymaster to the troops and
of the Indian annuities, which Gov. BLOUNT was Superintendent of, to
the four tribes of Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws. I mention
the death and burial place of these two men, as I have been told, that in
digging the foundation for the College, two skeletons were exhumed, and
supposed to have been those of Indians buried there. They were no doubt
the bones of Col. CHRISTY and Titus OGDEN. I was at the burial of
both, and did not suppose that the graves of two men, so noted in their day,
and buried "with all the pomp and circumstance of war," would have been
so soon forgotten. Col. KING and myself were, at the time, and for several
years afterwards, commissaries for all the troops stationed in East
Tennessee.
After the county had increased in population sufficiently to protect itself,
in
a great measure, from the incursions of the Indians, it was kept in constant
alarm for some time by the depredations of the HARPs, two men who were
fugitives from their native State. They made a crop on Beaver Creek, and
furnished the butcher in Knoxville, old JOHN MILLER, for some months
with hogs, sheep, and cattle they had stolen from their neighbors. They
afterwards secreted themselves and made marauding expeditions against
the lives and property of the citizens. One of them had two wives, sisters
of the name of RICE. The first man they killed in Knox County was young
COFFEE, on Beaver Creek. JOHNSON was their next victim, murdered
within two miles of Knoxville. I had attempted to take them on several
occasions, and they killed BULLARD under the impression it was me. They
killed BRADBURY afterwards, who, I believe, was the father of Gen.
BRADBURY of the Senate. They left Knox County in 1797 or 8, and their
villainies made their subsequent history notorious.
I beg you to excuse the length of this letter - I can not think of those
early
times without, in some degree, living them over again. I understand a
distinguished literary gentleman of your county is collecting materials to
write
the early history of Tennessee. I hope he may not falter in an undertaking
where the materials are so rich and the fame so certain.
Very respectfully,
HUGH DUNLAP
----- Original Message -----
From: "Helen" <hgdonald(a)knology.net>
To: <CAVITT-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 9:48 AM
Subject: [CAVITT] Cavitt Station Massacre Memorial
Listers,
I have previously posted the text of the DAR Memorial to
the Cavitt Station Massacre; it is located on Kingston Pike
in West Knoxville, but I just found the photo I made of
the On-Site Stone Moment, approximately 4.5 feet high
and about 3.5 feet wide. Here is the Text:
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY
TO THE DEFENDERS OF
CAVETT BLOCKHOUSE
Upon this spot stood the house of Alexander Cavett
who was murdered together with two women and the
Cavett family of twelve. September 25th, 1793.
After heroic resistance against a combined Creek
and Cherokee force numbering one thousand warriors,
thereby insuring failure of the intended attack on the town
of Knoxville.
_______________________________
ERECTED BY
SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
SEPTEMBER 25, 1921
Helen
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