Old Tales Retold...

   Women's History Month traditionally draws our attention to the important contributions women have made to our shared history. This month, I would like to take this opportunity to focus on a female writer who contributed to how John Sevier, "Tennessee's First Hero," is often remembered in the narrative of early Tennessee history.

"Mrs. Octavia Zollicoffer Bond,
Gifted as Author and Lecturer"
Image credit: Find A Grave

   Born in 1846 into one of Tennessee's first families, Octavia Zollicoffer Bond carried the weight of history upon her shoulders. As the eighth child of Confederate Brigadier General and United States Congressman Felix Zollicoffer and as the great-grandchild of Revolutionary War Captain George Zollicoffer, young Octavia surely heard stories told of her ancestors' heroism on the field of battle. In addition to his military and political background, her father Felix also served as the editor of the Nashville Republican Banner and later purchased an interest in the newspaper, and so it only seemed natural that Octavia would become destined for a career in writing.

   During her literary career, Octavia Bond published a series of articles entitled, "Letters of Yesteryear," and edited a page in the monthly Southern Woman's Magazine. Bond published her most famous work in 1906 entitled, Old Tales Retold, which consisted of a selection of short stories on Southern history and legend. Inspired by the historical writings of John Haywood, J.G.M. Ramsey and other well-known Tennessee antiquarians and influenced by the literary works of Theodore Roosevelt and James Roberts Gilmore, Bond's publication focused on tales of Tennessee folklore.

   In the preface of her book, Bond wrote, "The aim of this little book is to cause inquiry into the facts which it relates." [5] Bond's haigographic writing and nostalgic prose embellished these "facts" with a poetic license that made historical figures, like John Sevier, leap from the pages of history.

   Bond placed the early explorers of Tennessee's Overmountain region at the vanguard of our nation's republic, and, like Lyman Draper before her, Bond believed that the Battle of King's Mountain held a particular place of importance as the "turning point" of the American Revolution. One example of this writing style can be found within her description of the Overmountain men who fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain. In Old Tales Retold, Bond wrote:

   “Firmly resolved never to be ruled by prince or king or royal governor, they determined to defend their over-mountain land against the British army to the last. Though the revolutionary cause seemed to be lost, General Washington himself having lately said, ‘I have almost ceased to hope,’ they made up their minds to remain unconquered. With the spirit which afterwards gained for their land the title of the ‘Young Switzerland of America,’ the resolute leaders agreed that, though New England and all the other colonies might be forced to yield to the tyranny of England, they would keep one spot in America free, or die in the attempt." [94-95]

   In her narrative, Bond took particular notice of John Sevier’s actions in the conflict. In the moments before the battle, she observed that the Overmountain men felt assured of their success with Captain Sevier in command. Bond contended, “the British feared him as they would a human hornet, and called the borderland through which he ranged the ‘Hornets’ Nest.’” [94] 

   Without citing her sources, Bond imagined several conversations John Sevier might have had among the soldiers under his command. At the gathering of Overmountain men at Sycamore Shoals, she quoted Sevier as having said with wild-eyed determination, “Go tell my men to come and help me thrash Ferguson.” In a scene reminiscent of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” Bond noted:

   “Without delay each trusty courier sprang to the saddle and sped away to rally the patriots of the frontier country. There was not a cove or valley which they did not penetrate with the message. Nor was there a mountain height on which a cabin might be perched where they did not tell the news. ‘The Redcoats are coming!’ they shouted aloud; ‘rally for Chucky Jack and freedom!’ And on they went through all the thinly settled region, only pausing long enough at each ‘clearing’ to cry: ‘Ferguson is not far off, making his boasts that he will come and burn out our hornets’ nest and hang our leaders. Rally for Chucky Jack! The Redcoats are coming!’” [95-96]

   Bond also contrived a conversation between Sevier’s wife, “Bonny Kate,” and a woman named Nancy Dyke, whose “worthless husband, a despised Tory, had left her and her small children in their hut in the forest the year before.” The women in John Sevier's life are all too often overlooked in the narrative of his life, yet to her credit, Bond placed "Bonny Kate" in a position of importance within her own narrative.

   According to Bond, Nancy Dyke visited regularly for a “measure of meal and a flitch of bacon,” and “but for Mrs. Sevier’s charity, they would have starved.” In setting the scene of this encounter, Bond created a narrative that placed “Bonny Kate” Sevier in the role of benevolent caretaker and Nancy Dyke in the role of informant. Feeling a certain loyalty to Mrs. Sevier for her kindness, Nancy Dyke reported that she overheard her husband talking with British loyalists in the night plotting to kill John Sevier in his sleep. She wrote:

   “‘Why, ma’am, he’s come back to me, Dyke has. Last night there were some bad ‘king’s men’ talking with him outside the door. I heard them through the chink say: ‘Nolichucky Jack does not bar his doors at night. It will be easy work while he sleeps to rid the country of him and do the king a service.’ They mean to kill Captain Sevier this very night.’ Then, frightened at what she had said, Nancy began to beg for mercy for her husband. ‘Don’t let him be hurt,’ she pleaded. ‘He was not always the ‘Traitor Bill Dyke’ they call him now. He used to treat me well.’” [97-98]

   According to Bond, Sevier’s Overmountain men “were excited to indignation when they heard of this Tory plot to take the life of their commander.” They captured Bill Dyke in the night, and rather than hanging him for treason, stripped him of his clothing and gave him a coat of tar and feathers. According to Bond, “the wretched man went flying across the mountain like an evil bird, as straight as he could go to Ferguson’s camp.” There Dyke told the Tories of the gathering at Sycamore Shoals, and offered to guide the British troops to Sevier’s men. [98] 

   As John Sevier surveyed his troops in the moments leading up to the battle, Bond described the scene with gallant pride. The Overmountain men, “dressed in homespun hunting shirts and leggings, with buck’s tails in their hats for plums… they were remarkable for height and strength of body; and each one of them was a sure marksman with his flintlock gun, as well as skillful in the use of the knife or tomahawk in his belt.” Her portrait of Sevier was equally vivid and heroic:

   “Sevier’s erect figure, wherever it appeared, was the signal for hearty cheers and greetings. Every man in the ranks was his devoted friend. He had something to say to each, with special, personal kindness. To all alike he said in the quiet, magnetic voice which made his lightest word a command: ‘We must whip Ferguson.’ The cry was caught up from man to man, spreading from rank to rank, and gathering force as it went, till the Watauga hills resounded with the shout: ‘We must whip Ferguson!’” [99-100]

   With that, Bond wrote, “The ardor of Sevier’s own spirit was ablaze in every heart.” Though John Sevier was one of several commanders leading the Overmountain men into battle, Bond’s narrative gives much of the credit to Sevier for the patriots’ victory. It was Sevier who “was moved to pity at the thought that their only hope, as well as the hope of all good Americans, lay in the success of the enterprise in hand.” It was Sevier who “felt sure that a decided triumph over the skilled Ferguson would serve to turn the tide of war in favor of the Americans.” And it was Sevier who “led the way, calling aloud, ‘Onward, men, onward!’” [103-105]

   Bond embraced the popular narrative espoused by James Roberts Gilmore placing Sevier in an elevated position above all others living in the region. In her book, Bond expressed dismay that Sevier had been arrested on charges of treason for his role in leading the State of Franklin rebellion against North Carolina. "What was his crime?" she wrote, answering that the "chivalrous" Sevier had only "loved too well the Overmountain land that afterwards came to be called Tennessee." [119] 

   Bond lived a long and productive life as an author and lecturer chronicling her romanticized and nostalgic version of Tennessee's past, but as her health declined, she spent the twilight of her life in a nursing home. She celebrated her 95th birthday in April of 1941 before passing away on the 2nd of October in that same year. Her remains are buried in the Zollicoffer family plot at the Old Nashville City Cemetery alongside her husband, Judge John Bryan Bond, a prominent Maury County attorney.

   Reprinted four times since its first publication in 1906, Old Tales Retold endured for generations long after Octavia Bond's death. Although heavily reliant upon oral traditions and earlier published works and sorely lacking in source citations, Bond's "little book" stands on its own merit as an avenue of discovery and imaginative storytelling. In the opening decade of the twentieth century, Old Tales Retold delivered Sevier's story to a new generation of readers and out from the shadows of obscurity.

Grave marker for Octavia Zollicoffer Bond, 1846 - 1941, and her husband, John Bryan Bond, 1845 - 1920.
Image courtesy of the Nashville City Cemetery Association.

Old Tales Retold by Octavia Zollicoffer Bond is available in most public or university libraries, and may be purchased through any number of used book stores or antiquarian book dealers.

SELECTED SOURCES:

• Octavia Zollicoffer Bond. Old Tales Retold; or, Perils and Adventures of Tennessee Pioneers. Smith & Lamar Publishers, 1906.

• "Mrs. J.B. Bond's Funeral Today: Daughter of General Felix Zollicoffer, Author, 95, Dies Here." [obituary] The Nashville Tennessean, October 3, 1941.

 

Gordon Belt is an information professional, archives advocate, public historian, and author of The History Press book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, which examines the life of Tennessee's first governor, John Sevier, through the lens of history and memory. On The Posterity Project, Gordon offers reflections on archives, public history, and memory from his home state of Tennessee.

"King's Mountain Day" remembered...

On October 7, 1780, the Battle of King's Mountain pitted a Patriot militia, led by William Campbell, John Sevier, Isaac Shelby, and other notable figures, against Loyalist forces, commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson. The Patriot's victory at King's Mountain on that day has been described as the "turning point" in the Revolutionary War. The battle forged John Sevier's identity as "Tennessee's First Hero," as he gathered his Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals in what is present-day Elizabethton, Tennessee, and marched them towards a quick and decisive victory over Ferguson's army. Even though the Battle of King's Mountain did not take place on Tennessee soil, it is an important event in Tennessee history, as it created for many Tennesseans feelings of state pride in John Sevier's role in the American Revolution.

Among the themes that I explore in my book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, is how King's Mountain was remembered by scholars and writers, and how the battle -- and John Sevier's participation in it -- was commemorated by future generations through monuments and memorials. A speech delivered by Judge John Allison at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in Nashville on October 7, 1897 speaks to how descendants of the Overmountain Men who fought at King's Mountain chose to remember the battle, and how Tennesseans used the battle to generate patriotic feelings among its citizens.

On October 7, 1897, Tennessee’s Centennial Exhibition in Nashville observed “King’s Mountain Day” as several members of the Tennessee Historical Society, government officials and dignitaries gathered in what the Nashville Banner described as “an unusually cultivated and educated assembly.” As the renowned Bellstedt and Ballenberg Band of Cincinnati, Ohio played patriotic music, the day’s ceremonies commenced at 10 o’clock in the Exhibition Auditorium with an introduction by the President of the Tennessee Historical Society, Judge John M. Lea, followed by a prayer.

Judge Lea then introduced Tennessee Governor Robert Love Taylor, who delivered a rousing speech to the 500 men and women assembled in the Exposition’s Auditorium. Governor Taylor spoke with patriotic fervor about the importance of King’s Mountain and John Sevier's role in the American Revolution. "I thought how destiny had led John Sevier and his fearless comrades through the trackless wilderness from homes and families that were beleaguered by the scalping knife and torch, to this far-away mountain top to fight a battle, the result of which changed the map of the world and heralded the dawn of a new era in the history of mankind," Taylor exclaimed. He then evoked Christian symbolism in his tribute to John Sevier and the heroes of King's Mountain. "God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform," Taylor said, "He led old Moses to the mountain top to write his law on the tablets of stone; He landed the ark on a mountain top, and Christ preached his grandest sermon on the mount."

Five hundred people crowded into the Auditorium of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in Nashville on October 7, 1897 to hear tributes to the Overmountain Men who fought at the Battle of King's Mountain.

After Governor Taylor concluded his remarks, an introduction was given to John Allison, a Tennessee jurist whose grandfather was a veteran of King’s Mountain, having served as part of Isaac Shelby’s regiment during the battle. Captain “Jack” Allison, as he was known to his regiment, suffered a wound to his leg during the Battle of King’s Mountain, causing him to walk lame from a stiff knee for the remainder of his life.

Judge Allison spoke of his grandfather’s service with authority. Not only was he a direct descendant of a King’s Mountain veteran, he was also a noted scholar who had edited a book entitled, Notable Men of Tennessee, a multi-volume publication filled with biographical sketches of Tennessee’s most well-known historical figures. He also authored the book, The Dropped Stitches of Tennessee, which was published in the same year as the Centennial Exhibition in 1897. Allison dedicated the latter title to the memory of his mother, who first sparked his interest in the early history of the pioneers of his native state. In his book, Allison also wrote fondly of his memories visiting “old gentlemen and aged ladies in Eastern Tennessee and a few in North Carolina” conversing with them about “old times and their early lives,” giving him a unique perspective on the Battle of King’s Mountain.

On “King’s Mountain Day” at the Centennial Exhibition, Judge Allison delivered a lengthy address, describing in great detail the turmoil that would eventually lead America to war with the British crown. His speech then focused on the events of 1780, digressing periodically into Tennessee’s history of “voluntary service and voluntary action” on behalf of the entire nation. He described the scene at Sycamore Shoals where John Sevier had assembled his men along with the forces of Campbell, Shelby, McDowell, and Williams. He then observed:

"This assemblage of pioneer, patriot soldiers, at Sycamore Shoals, on the banks of Watauga River, in sight of old Fort Watauga, on September 25, 1780, may properly be called the genesis of “the Volunteer State.” The signal service they were entering upon was voluntary, as they were not enlisted as militia, and therefore not subject to the call of a superior officer; they had simply been requested to meet there for the purpose of crossing over the mountains to attack the British; they did not know exactly where they would find the British, nor in what force, nor were they concerned as to these questions; they were absolutely confident, as subsequent events show, that they would be the victors."

Allison again digressed, calling forth the memory of Napoleon and Hannibal, whose motives for victory Allison said were “unholy ambition,” “plunder” and “spoils.” He then turned his attention to Sevier, Shelby, Campbell, and their Overmountain Men. “When the latter ascended, camped upon and crossed over the Alleghany Mountains, they were not moved to do so by a desire to plunder and despoil a neighboring people, nor by a desire to form a great empire and make one of themselves emperor,” Allison exclaimed. “No, no; patriotism in its purity was the motive.” Allison then concluded his remarks by once again reminding his audience of the volunteer spirit of the King’s Mountain men, and called for a proper memorial to their sacrifice on the field of battle:

"From the time our ancestors fought the battle of King’s Mountain there has not been a battlefield where the soil was wet with human blood in defense of liberty, freedom and right principles that Tennesseans were not there voluntarily… The flowers of a century of springs have blossomed and faded over most of the graves of the heroes of King’s Mountain, and the snows of a hundred winters have sifted gently down upon the remaining mounds that mark the spots where rest their sacred dust, and the birds have sung their sweetest songs in the bush and bramble that have overgrown their hallowed ashes, and yet we, their descendants and beneficiaries of their bravery in the liberties we enjoy and the magnificent and beautiful state we possess, have neglected to erect a suitable monument to commemorate their deeds, virtues and patriotism."

As Judge Allison stepped away from the podium, Bellstedt’s band played “Dixie” in a triumphant conclusion to the ceremony. When the piece was finished Allison rose from his chair, turned to the bandmaster and said, “Unfortunately the heroes of the revolution had no martial band to stir their hearts. Had Bellstedt and his men been there Cornwallis would have been driven into the sea.”

A few short years after Judge Allison's speech, the King’s Mountain men received their tribute. In 1899, members of the King’s Mountain chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution initiated efforts to reclaim the battlefield from neglect, and launched a campaign for national recognition of the battlefield site. After a long fight in Congress, their efforts proved successful. In 1909 a grand monument, an obelisk of white granite 86 feet high, was erected. It was a duplicate of a monument at Gettysburg, and was said to be one of the finest in the South. Bronze tablets on the four sides commemorated "the brilliant victory" which "marked the turning point of the American Revolution." Judge John Allison's call for "a suitable monument to commemorate their deeds" was finally answered.

Image credit: Kings Mountain National Military Park

Selected Sources:

• “Battle of King’s Mountain: Anniversary Celebrated at the Centennial Exposition,” Nashville Banner, October 7, 1897.

• John Allison, Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History. Nashville, Marshall & Bruce, 1897.

• Address Delivered by John Allison on “King’s Mountain Day, Oct. 7” at the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition in Nashville, May 1 to Oct. 31, 1897. Nashville, TN: Press of Marshall & Bruce Co., 1897.

 
Gordon Belt is the Director of Public Services for the Tennessee State Library & Archives, and past president of the Society of Tennessee Archivists. On The Posterity Project, Gordon offers reflections on archives, public history, and memory from his home state of Tennessee. His book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, examines the life of Tennessee's first governor, John Sevier, through the lens of history and memory.

The tall tale of the King's Mountain Messenger

In my forthcoming book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, I plan to share several stories and anecdotes which helped to build John Sevier's legend in the Volunteer State. One such story can be found in what I like to call the "tall" tale of Joseph Greer.

"King's Mountain Messenger" historical marker.
Image credit: King's Mountain Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution.

Joseph Greer was most famously known as the Revolutionary War soldier dispatched by John Sevier to carry the message of victory over British loyalists at the Battle of King's Mountain to Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress gathered to govern our new nation. Historians, genealogists, and descendants of Joseph Greer have all noted that he was a towering man, standing at least 6-feet 7-inches tall, and was said to have had great skill in dealing with the Native American  population. According to various accounts of his journey, Indians shot Greer's horse out from underneath him and on one occasion he hid inside a hollow log while the Indians sat on it. Greer made his treacherous 600-mile journey through hostile territory with only a compass to guide him, and a blinding determination to spread the news of this great victory, earning him the nickname of the "Kings Mountain Messenger."

The Continental Congress received Greer's message on November 7, 1780, one month following the victory at King's Mountain. No one within the halls of government had known about the battle until Greer's arrival, but news of this victory over the British loyalists quickly spread throughout the former colonies, reviving hope that the United States of America would emerge from this brutal war as a victorious nation. Thus, the Battle of King's Mountain is largely remembered as the turning point of the American Revolution in the South due in no small measure to the message that Joseph Greer carried along his incredible journey. That message also helped to establish John Sevier as a Revolutionary War hero, placing him on a path to future greatness.

However, one curious fact cited in this story continues to vex me. How tall was Joseph Greer? At 6-feet 7-inches tall, he would have certainly stood out among his fellow frontiersmen. The average height of a man of the 18th century was about 5-feet 7 1/2-inches, according to evidence from excavations of graves dating to the American colonial period.

In reading various accounts of Joseph Greer's "King's Mountain Messenger" story, one finds that the man's stature was of paramount importance to the telling of this tale. Take for instance the following biographical sketch found within the Joseph Greer Family Papers, 1782-1868 held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Amidst the coon skin caps and references to Tennesseans when Tennessee had yet to become a state stands a giant of a man whose legend became larger than life, simply by delivering a message of victory and liberty.

Written in July of 1929, the following sketch not only gives us a window into what Joseph Greer's trek was like immediately following the Battle of King's Mountain, but more importantly, it also gives readers a glimpse into the thinking of those who endeavored to chronicle Greer's journey many years later. One oddity that stands out, however, is how much Greer's physical stature had grown over time. Note how Greer's height had increased by five full inches in this version of the "King's Mountain Messenger" story...

A Tennessee Hero

The Kings Mountain Messenger

Joseph Greer

   The First battle which broke the opposition of the British in the war for American Independence was fought at Kings Mountain, South Carolina -- on October 7th 1780, under the command of John Sevier, Tennessee's first Governor, aided by Virginians, Kentuckians, Carolinians, and Tennesseans.

   These hardy liberty loving Americans drove Ferguson and his red coats to defeat, and from that event British aggression begun to crumble and American Independence was assured. The very beginning of the birth of this Nation.

   Among the volunteers who came from Watauga, was a physical giant, seven feet tall; in the making of this man nature exhausted her ability; only twenty-six years old, full of vigor and inheriting through his Irish Ancestry, and indomitable will, for some good reason, not shown in history, presumably a knowledge of his fearlessness, determination, or perhaps some outstanding feat of bravery in battle, this young giant was selected by those in command to advise President George Washington and the Congress then in session at Philadelphia, that the heroic frontiersmen in coon skin caps and with flint lock guns had reaped the first American Victory in the Revolutionary War, by defeating the British at Kings Mountain.

   A signal honor -- an outstanding incident in this Nation's history -- A Tennessean selected to bear the good news to the Nation.

   Alone Joseph Greer, begun his long trip walking over the mountains and valleys, guided by his compass from Watauga to Philadelphia, slung across his shoulder his musket and food. His experience as a surveyor, his knowledge of Indians, enabled him to safely reach Philadelphia; on arrival, he inquired the way to American headquarters; brushing past the doorkeeper without a word, strode into the midst of the assembled Congress and delivered the message, which fanned the flame of patriotism into an all consuming soul fire, from which resulted the American Victory, the origin of the United States of America.

   The great size, the physical bearing of this twenty-six year old American, bedecked with a coon skin cap and his long overcoat, his trusty musket and brass compass as a pilot, amazed the people of Philadelphia.

"Speeding the News to the Continental Congress."
Image credit: Tennessee State Library and Archives
Tennessee National Guard poster
Mf.212 "Prominent Tennesseans Photographs"

Now, fast-forward to 1968, where in "One Heroic Hour At King's Mountain," published in The Overmountain Men, Pat Alderman takes even greater creative license with Greer's height and age...

"Young Greer, twenty years old and over seven feet tall, was armed with a musket and compass for the long dangerous trip...

...On Greer's arrival in Philadelphia he made his way to Congressional Headquarters. The door keeper tried to bar his entrance. The giant Messenger pushed him aside, stalked down the aisle, and delivered his message to a surprised body of men. It is said that General Washington commented: 'With soldiers like him, no wonder the frontiersmen won.'"

Was Greer twenty years of age or twenty-six? Did he stand at 6-feet 7-inches or over seven feet tall? And by the way, George Washington's comment is enclosed in quotation marks, yet you'll never find a footnote citing the source of this quote. That, of course, was Alderman's style. He wasn't interested in documenting his sources. He was only concerned with making history "interesting."

Finally let's examine James Ewing's account of this story, published in A Treasury of Tennessee Tales. In his chapter entitled, "King's Mountain Messenger," Ewing writes:

"For sheer drama, few happenings of early times can match the sight of seven-foot, two-inch Joseph Greer, a Tennessee backwoodsman, walking boldly into the chambers of the Continental Congress and informing the startled members that the battle of King's Mountain had been won."

In history, facts are often embellished, and over time these embellished stories become legends, indistinguishable from the truth. These stories eventually become part of our historical memory, which has an importance all its own. Fact, fiction, or a little bit of both, this is a story worth telling and remembering, even if it is a "tall" tale.

Thomas Greer photographed in clothing reminiscent of that his father, Joseph, wore when he announced the American victory in the 1780 Battle of King’s Mountain to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Joseph Greer was chosen to make the difficult journey to Philadelphia due to his skills in dealing with Native Americans, whose lands he had to cross.
Caption and image credit: Tennessee State Library and Archives online exhibit, "The Volunteer State Goes to War: A Salute to Tennessee Veterans."

 

Gordon Belt is an information professional, archives advocate, public historian, and author of The History Press book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, which examines the life of Tennessee's first governor, John Sevier, through the lens of history and memory. On The Posterity Project, Gordon offers reflections on archives, public history, and memory from his home state of Tennessee.

"History made interesting."

In a comment posted to The Posterity Project earlier this month, Michael Lynch reminded me of a book that I have had on my reading list for quite a while, but until now I have not had the chance to read it.

Originally published in 1970 and later reissued by The Overmountain Press in 1986, The Overmountain Men by Pat Alderman is a compilation of a series of booklets written by the author to cover succeeding periods of early Tennessee history. Only the first two sections were published separately (The Overmountain Men in 1958 and One Heroic Hour at King's Mountain in 1968). The remaining chapters in this book (The Cumberland Decade, The State of Franklin, and Southwest Territory) complete Alderman's single-volume compilation.

The Overmountain Men cuts a wide path through the Tennessee frontier. In his comment on this blog back in January, Michael Lynch wrote of the book:

"Alderman's work on the Tennessee frontier is very unusual. He loaded his books with illustrations of all kinds--photos of historic sites and artifacts, maps, paintings, drawings--so reading them is almost like taking a mental field trip to the places he's talking about and back in time. But the writing itself is sort of similar to the work of earlier chroniclers like Draper; very focused on prominent figures and dramatic episodes, and heavily reliant on tradition. I love flipping through The Overmountain Men because it evokes places and time periods that are special to me, but I get frustrated when Alderman mentions something I can't find elsewhere and have no hope of finding without a reference."

Such is the dilemma for many researchers of early Tennessee history. So much of what we know about that important time period has been chronicled through the oral histories and traditions handed down through generations, and later chronicled by historians of the mid to late 19th century who viewed the early American period through the lens of "Manifest Destiny" thinking.

For his part, Pat Alderman liked to describe his brand of storytelling as "history made interesting." While this approach to writing history makes for quite the page turner, it certainly would not pass the scrutiny of peer review by today's standards. As a public historian, I found several flaws with The Overmountain Men. There are no footnotes to check statements of fact (though, thankfully, there is a brief bibliography). Much of what Alderman wrote was clearly gleaned from the works of the early Tennessee writers and historians who preceded him, and there is very little, if any, original scholarship. Alderman himself acknowledges this weakness, writing that "This brief pictorial sketch of early Tennessee History is not intended as a source of research, but rather as a medium of calling attention to some of the highlights of that period."

The Overmountain Men is illustrated hagiography, and the whole book struck me as the work of a chronicler, not a historian, and yet I found myself strangely drawn to its pages. Despite its flaws as a work of "history," there is something that public historians can learn from The Overmountain Men if we first try to understand the man who wrote it.*

John B. "Pat" Alderman grew up as an entertainer, always looking to please the crowd. He was born in Dunn, North Carolina on October 31, 1901. As a youngster, he developed a love and appreciation for music. In fact, Alderman's whole family was involved in music, either by playing an instrument or singing. Religious music was the Alderman family's calling, and at age 14, Pat Alderman toured eastern North Carolina with his family performing evangelistic music.

Throughout high school and college, Alderman immersed himself into the music ministry. After two years at Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University), Alderman left for New Orleans to further his music education at the Baptist Bible Institute. From there, he moved to Troy, Alabama, where he became the director of a local church. After a short stay in Troy, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama to attend Howard College and to direct the college glee clubs. From 1927 to 1930 Alderman attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music where he earned a master's degree in music.

By the time he earned his master's degree, the Great Depression began to take a toll on all phases of the economy, and especially music education, forcing Alderman back home to Dunn, North Carolina. Despite the bleak outlook for music educators, he managed to organize a number of community sings, and eventually landed a job as a music teacher at a Baptist orphanage in nearby Kinston, North Carolina. But just as he was getting back on his feet financially, the United States' entry into World War II brought more change to Pat Alderman's life. In 1943, he began working for the shipyards at Wilmington, North Carolina where he remained until the war's end in 1945, when he returned to Dunn for a year.

Following the war, Alderman and his wife Verna moved to the mountains of East Tennessee, where he found work as a music director at a church near Johnson City, and later took up permanent residence in Erwin, Tennessee, where he became the director of the choral music department at Unicoi County High School. This is the place where Pat Alderman's love for East Tennessee history took root.

Beginning in the 1950s Alderman developed a keen interest in Appalachian, especially East Tennessee, history and culture. It was during this time that he wrote and directed historical plays and pageants, and authored books on Appalachian history, including the works that make up The Overmountain Men compilation.

In 1952, Alderman put his skills in music and the arts to work for the local community by producing an outdoor drama, also named The Overmountain Men, which was cast almost entirely by citizens of Erwin, Tennessee. The Erwin Record newspaper published front page accounts of plans for a "Big Historical Pageant" which would "encompass one of the most rugged and dramatic epics in the birth of this -- the United States of America."

Replete with "horses, Indian fights, and celebrations in the rugged outdoor setting in the locality where this dramatic period was lived," The Overmountain Men drama was a full-scale production. Set in a 2,000-seat football stadium, with sixteen episodes in three distinct acts, and a 300-person cast including fifteen major leads, The Erwin Record noted that "the pioneer pageant of bronze and white will have a most definite thread of personal human interest that treats with the individual as well as the spread of an empire." Manifest Destiny had arrived in Unicoi County.

This image depicts a scene from Pat Alderman's historic drama, "The Overmountain Men," produced in Erwin, Tennessee in 1952. The entire cast in this production were natives of Erwin.
Image credit: The Overmountain Men by Pat Alderman.

Pat Alderman's personal journey to the mountains of East Tennessee reminds us that history should be more than a rote recitation of names, places and dates. Good history requires good storytelling. Although The Overmountain Men fails to adequately cite sources, exhibits an over-reliance on secondary literature, and treats its subject with an unusual reverence, there are moments of great storytelling within its pages. As Michael Lynch accurately points out, the book is "not the sort of thing one can rely on for research," but for what it's worth, The Overmountain Men is the kind of book that inspires further inquiry, and reminds us all that history is indeed interesting.

*EDITOR'S NOTE: I want to extend a special acknowledgment to the Archives of Appalachia, which houses the John Biggs "Pat" Alderman Papers at East Tennessee State University. A biographical sketch published on the Archives' website provided me with a great deal of information concerning Pat Alderman's life and his early influences.



 

Gordon Belt is an information professional, archives advocate, public historian, and author of The History Press book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, which examines the life of Tennessee's first governor, John Sevier, through the lens of history and memory. On The Posterity Project, Gordon offers reflections on archives, public history, and memory from his home state of Tennessee.

 

Kings Mountain Remembered...

The 230th anniversary of the Battle of Kings Mountain is today. It was an event that shaped the course of the Revolutionary War, and turned John Sevier into a regional hero.

To mark the occasion, I have compiled some worthwhile links where you can learn more about this important historical event. Enjoy:

• Overmountain Men Re-enactors bring King’s Mountain to life - Appalachian History

• Getting the message across at King’s Mountain - Past in the Present

• Kings Mountain National Military Park - National Park Service

• King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It by Lyman C. Draper, Cincinnati, 1881.

• The Battle of King's Mountain: Eyewitness Accounts By Robert Dunkerly

• The Overmountain Men and the Battle of Kings Mountain - LearnNC.org

• Revolution, Memory and John Sevier's State of Franklin - The Posterity Project

Revolution, Memory and John Sevier's State of Franklin

Perhaps the most defining moment in John Sevier's life was his participation in the Battle of Kings Mountain. Arguably the most decisive battle in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Kings Mountain pitted a frontier militia, led by Isacc Shelby and John Sevier, against loyalists to the British crown led by British Major Patrick Ferguson. In a little more than one hour, John Sevier's forces totally decimated Ferguson's American Tories, with every last man either dead or taken prisoner.

Engraving depicting the death of British Major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780.
Virtue & Yorston, 1863.
Image courtesy of the Anne S. K. Brown Collection at Brown University.

Kings Mountain established John Sevier as a Revolutionary War hero, and his participation in this battle helped to launch his political career and ambitions. In my ongoing research into John Sevier, I have been reading Sarah Purcell's book, Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America.  In the book, Purcell notes that John Sevier traded on the memory of his status as a Revolutionary War veteran and hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain to prop up his efforts to establish the State of Franklin.  According to Purcell:

"Memories of the Revolutionary War assumed a central role in the Franklinites' rhetoric as they tried to explain why they, as westerners, ought to be able to shape their own political fates. They engaged in a campaign to convince North Carolinians and other fellow southerners that their statehood movement was legitimate because of wartime heroism... Sevier claimed, the veterans' record of Revolutionary service confirmed their fidelity. Indeed, he pointed out in a 1786 letter to Richard Caswell, North Carolina's governor, that so many Franklinites had 'fought and bled in behalf [of] the parent state" that North Carolina ought never to be suspicious of their motives.'" [Purcell, 79]

Strapped for cash, North Carolina ceded its claim to its western frontier to avoid paying its share of the Revolutionary War debt, which was apportioned to each state based upon land ownership.  Sevier used this fact to great effect, making the case that the Mother State had abandoned its western citizens in much the same way as the British abandoned the colonies, a memory still fresh on the minds of many of the overmountain men who fought along side Sevier in the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Again, according to Purcell:

"Arthur Campbell and John Sevier, the leaders of Franklin's bid for independence, had commanded frontier militia units during the war and had become local heroes at the Battle of King's Mountain. In their uphill battle for independence from North Carolina, both sought to capitalize on their heroic reputations by depicting themselves as the leaders of a band of loyal, patriotic veterans who deserved repayment for their wartime service in the form of political independence. During a short period in 1784, it seemed that the government of North Carolina was willing to grant their wish, but conservatives assumed control of the state legislature at the end of the year and rescinded the offer. Sevier was hard pressed to abandon his chance to become a governor and rich land speculator, so he spearheaded a continuing movement to keep Franklin's statehood hopes alive. Continued resistance and the threat of military incursions by North Carolina officials led the Franklinites to amplify their rhetoric. By 1787, Sevier and others seemed to imply that veterans might have to take up arms again, albeit with 'excruciating pain,' if their political requests were not honored."

"The Franklin Council threatened to use violence against easterners with whom 'we have fought, bled and toiled together within the common cause of American Independence,' if it were the only way to guarantee independence. The Franklinites' resistance to what they perceived as oppressive measures was all about memory as Sevier framed it to theNorth Carolina Assembly: 'Has North Carolina forgot that for such acts America took up arms against the British nation?' Although the memories of veterans' shared sacrifice never bore political fruit after the territory was forcibly reintegrated into North Carolina in 1789, Sevier demonstrated the rhetorical power of memory in high-stakes political battle, and his use of military memory to couch thinly veiled threats against easterners showed that some veterans might be willing to explore the darker consequences of a military republic." [Purcell, 79, 81]

NOTE: For a thorough and thought-provoking analysis of memory and the Battle of Kings Mountain, I encourage you to read Michael Lynch's article, "Creating Regional Heroes: Traditional Interpretations of the Battle of King's Mountain," recently published in the Fall 2009 issue of Tennessee Historical Quarterly.  Michael also blogs at Past in the Present, which is also definitely worth a read.


SOURCES:

• Carl S. Driver, "Chapter V: Governor of Franklin," John Sevier: Pioneer of the Old Southwest. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932, pages 79-98.

• Sarah J. Purcell, Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America, University of Pennsylvania Press, Phila., 2002.

• Samuel Cole Williams, History of the Lost State of Franklin, Revised Edition, New York: Originally published 1933, Reprinted by Clearfield Company, Inc., 1997, 2002.

• "Battle of King's Mountain" by Isaac Shelby, a pamphlet "to the public," published in April 1823, and reprinted in King's Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It by Lyman C. Draper, Cincinnati, 1881, pp. 560-573.

RELATED LINKS:

• The Battle of King's Mountain 7 Oct 1780 - TNGenWeb

• A Dream Deferred: The Lost State of Franklin - The Posterity Project