Personal Recollections of Michael Woods Trimble, Part 3

“The revival of memory may be a benevolent compensation to an old man for the loss of hope.” – Michael Woods Trimble, 1860

Throughout the research phase of my current book project, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, I encountered many interesting historical anecdotes, stories, and legends recalled by the aged pioneers of the Old Southwest and their descendants. These men knew Sevier, or could at least recall the stories told about his frontier exploits. Although writers augmented many of these narratives with hints of patriotic fervor and nostalgia, often the details surrounding Sevier's life survived literary embellishment.

In 1860, Michael Woods Trimble wrote a memoir of his life, and recalled memories of his father, John Trimble, who served as a Captain of a militia company in the Regiment under Sevier’s command at the Battle of King’s Mountain. Michael Woods Trimble took great pride in his father’s associations with Sevier, and in his memoirs he chronicled the stories of his youth.

I located Trimble's memoir in the Diaries and Memoirs Collection held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and quoted from it in my book. This incredibly vivid memoir speaks to how "the revival of memory" played an important role in how writers chronicled Sevier's life. So without further introduction, here are the "Personal Recollections of Michael Woods Trimble."

Part 3 -  How many were destroyed was never ascertained

   My father was appointed by the Governor one of the first Justices of Peace of Blount County, and held the office as long as he lived there. My brother-in-law, William Lackey, was second sheriff of Blount County. My brother, Archibald, and D. W. Brazeale, my mother's cousin, who afterward lived and died near Port Gibson, Miss. built the first court house and jail in Knoxville. Gen. Sevier succeeded Gov. Blount in office, and was the second Governor of Tennessee. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Blount was the Territorial Governor of Tennessee before statehood. In 1796, Sevier became Tennessee's first Governor following the state's admission into the Union.]

   Soon after the counties in East Tennessee were laid off, a dispute was raised about the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee set up a claim to a part of Blount County and the Government wished to conciliate them to peace, ordered all the settlers off until claims could be investigated. My father's land was in the disputed territory and he, with other settlers, was ordered off. He moved to the other side of the Holston River, but left part of the family in the house so as to require the Government to eject them by force. Suit was instituted against the Government for illegal ejectment. At the end of about a year, the dispute about the boundary was settled by restoring the land to the settlers, according to the first settlement.

   My father returned to his land, and the suit for illegal ejectment was never tried. My brother, Robert, was so offended with some of the leading men of the country, who stirred up the suit, but had not the firmness to maintain it, that he resolved to leave the country. In 1798 he moved to the territory of the Mississippi, and two years afterwards he married Mary Gibson, daughter of Samuel Gibson, the first settler of Fort Gibson, after whom the town is named. It was first called Gibsons Fort, from it being the first settlement on the old Natchez Trace, after passing through the Choctaw Nation of Indians. Mr. Gibson settleed there in Spanish times, and received a large grant of land from the Spaniards. In 1798, directly after the dispute about the boundary line of the Cherokee Nation was settled, my father had returned to his land, a man by the name of Lowery commenced trading whiskey to the Indians. He packed it on horses in kegs containing three, four, six and nine gallons. He soon commenced swindling the Indians, by making the kegs so as not to hold half the quantity sold by having wood on the inside of the staves. This made the Indians very mad and they threatened to do mischief. The called him "Scanton" that being the Indian name for keg.

   Immediately they passed a law, prohibiting any person from carrying whiskey in or through Indian Nation, except by a passport from the Indian agent. Jonathan Return J. Meigs was the agent and lived at South West Point, in a garrison at the mouth of Clinch River, forty miles below Maryville. That was long before the temperance reformation commenced, and the traffic and use of ardent spirits was carried on to an extent which is not easily comprehended at this day. It was not considered wrong, and religious people, and even ministers of the Gospel were extensively engaged in it.

   The Rev. Gideon Blackburn and Bartley McGee, a wealthy planter had a quantity of whiskey which they wanted to take to Mobile, but had to go through the Cherokee and Creek Nations. Mr. Blackburn believed that he could not get a passport from Col. Meigs, but Col. Meigs had a son, Timothy, who acted as his agent in his absence. Mr. Blackburn embraced that opportunity to take the whiskey through the Indian Territory. They built small boats twelve miles above my father's home; prepared wagons to haul them, launched their boats, we went down the Tennessee River some hundred miles and up the Hiawassee River eighty or ninety miles, when they had to haul their boats twelve miles across the headwaters of Coosa River, which led into the Tombigbee. They brought their teams across by land. They built a house at the head of navigation in which they put the whiskey while they were cutting roads and hauling their boats. The Indians collected from all quarters--Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Creeks--three or four hundred men, women and children., Two young men, Lowery and McGee, were left to guard the house while the rest were hauling the boats. But the Indians burst open the door, rolled out three or four barrels, broke in the heads and commenced drinking. They filled two bottles and gave them to the young men and told them to leave as soon as possible or the Indians would kill them when they got drunk. The young men watched them for some time at a great distance. They killed and butchered each other with knives and clubs, and crowded around the house. They were all drunk. In the scrap, the house caught fire and the whiskey exploded like a powder magazine. All in and any where near the house were killed, many burned up. How many were destroyed was never ascertained, as it was near the corner of the Nation and some hundred and twenty miles from the white settlement.

   Mr. Blackburn went to Washington City and managed to get paid for his losses. The affair created great prejudice at the time, but his great talent and splendid eloquence bore him through it. He was a most eloquent preacher, and when the temperance movement commenced, he became one of the most zealous of temperance men, and did a great deal to promote that cause. In 1834 or 1836, I heard him preach in Fayette, Jefferson County, Miss. on temperance and a splendid lecture he delivered. Several of my friends joined the Temperance Society that day, to whom I remarked that if any man ought to preach temperance it ought to be Gideon Blackburn. I went to school with his two sons in Maryville.

   In 1800, my father sold his place in the forts of the Holston and Tennessee Rivers and moved to the new purchase, called Muscle Shoals Land, above the Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee River. The government purchased this land from the Cherokee Indians, including the two counties in Alabama of Limestone and Madison. At that time it was part of the territory of Mississippi. It was considered among the richest and best land in the world.

   As soon as it was opened, an immense tide of immigration poured into it. My father was among the first settlers. He built a house on the spot where Cottonport now stands. But the land speculators invented a scheme to get clear of the first settlers; by their intrigues after the Chickasaw Indians set up a claim to it, as having won it from the Cherokees at a Ball play; and in order to investigate the claim, the government ordered all settlers off. By the order probably more than a thousand settlers were removed.

   My father put his family in flatboats, and descended the Tennessee River to Bayou Pierre, he moved to the territory of the Mississippi, where my brother Robert was living.


This entry marks the conclusion in this series published on The Posterity Project. Published previously in this series, Part 1 and Part 2.


 
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.

Personal Recollections of Michael Woods Trimble, Part 2

“The revival of memory may be a benevolent compensation to an old man for the loss of hope.” – Michael Woods Trimble, 1860

Throughout the research phase of my current book project, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, I encountered many interesting historical anecdotes, stories, and legends recalled by the aged pioneers of the Old Southwest and their descendants. These men knew Sevier, or could at least recall the stories told about his frontier exploits. Although writers augmented many of these narratives with hints of patriotic fervor and nostalgia, often the details surrounding Sevier's life survived literary embellishment.

In 1860, Michael Woods Trimble wrote a memoir of his life, and recalled memories of his father, John Trimble, who served as a Captain of a militia company in the Regiment under Sevier’s command at the Battle of King’s Mountain. Michael Woods Trimble took great pride in his father’s associations with Sevier, and in his memoirs he chronicled the stories of his youth.

I located Trimble's memoir in the Diaries and Memoirs Collection held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and quoted from it in my book. This incredibly vivid memoir speaks to how "the revival of memory" played an important role in how writers chronicled Sevier's life. So without further introduction, here are the "Personal Recollections of Michael Woods Trimble."

Part 2 -  He had but one thought -- that was for revenge

   When the Revolution was over my father moved further West and built a blockhouse in the Western part of North Carolina on the East side of what was then called the Warm Springs Mountain. The Cherokee Indians lived on the West side of the mountain. They were warlike and hostile, and frequently crossed over the mountain and made inroads on the white settlement. A few years later, he moved still further West, crossing over the mountain into what is now East Tennessee.

   He built a blockhouse on the headwaters of French Broad River. Other emigrants soon followed. Among the number was my father's old pastor, Rev. Hezekiah J. Balch, who established a church which was called New Hope of which my father was a ruling elder.

   I still have in my possession a small memorandum book of my father's which contains frequent entries in his handwriting of the receipts of provisions for Mr. Balch. In those days there was very little money in the country and the salaries of ministers were paid mostly in provisions. My father, being an officer in the church, made the collections and handed them over to Mr. Balch. The entries in his book show that the salaries were not very great. There is the entry of--received from such a person a few yards of cloth for Mr. Balch, from someone else, a few pounds of meat or flour and sometimes potatoes.

   About the same time the Rev. James Doak crossed over the mountains and established a church on the French Broad River, which was called Greenbrier. These two old ministers were intimate friends of my fathers. I have frequently heard them preach and have a very distinct recollection of them. The Rev. James Balch and the Rev. John Doak crossed the mountains about the same time and established churches near the line of Virginia.
 
   I was born in the blockhouse at the headwaters of the French Broad River, Jan. 13, 1788. the Cherokee Indians continue hostile. To suppress them, 1791, Col. Sevier crossed over the mountains with a regiment of men. My father raised a company of sixty-two men, of whom his sons, Archibald and Robert, and son-in-law, Thomas Ritchie, were of the number and joined him and went in pursuit of the Indians. They burned several towns and eight miles below where Knoxville now stands, they had a battle. They routed the Indians and built a stockade, which they called Campbell Station. On the North side of Holston River, near its junction with the Tennessee River, they built another stockade and two blockhouses, which they called Fort Loudon.

   Four miles further up the Tennessee River, there was an Indian town called Coyatee, and eighteen miles further up the river was another Indian town called Nica-old-fields. Each of these towns contained about 300 houses, and they were considered the stronghold of the Cherokee Nation. Col. Sevier had not sufficient force to attack them, and returned East of the mountains to increase his army. While he was gone, my father took his two sons, Archibald and Robert, and his son-in-law, Thomas Ritchie, and his nephew, James Cosby, and five other men--ten in all--and went with them in the night down the Holston River to its junction with the Tennessee River and in the forks of the two rivers, he made a tomahawk improvement. Cosby was the surveyor, and made the survey by moonlight. On this improvement he built a blockhouse, in which he left six men to guard it, and with the other four he returned home. Then putting the family in canoes, he moved us all down French Broad and Holston Rivers to the new blockhouse. Soon after the removal of the family, the Indians from Coyatee and Nica-old-fields, crossed the Tennessee and Holston Rivers not far from the house and attacked Campbell Station, which they burned and massacred the people, except one man, Charles McCheny, a surveyor, who escaped.

   When this news reached Col. Sevier, he immediately returned and made a sudden descent on Coyatee and Nica-old-fields, killing about 700 Indians. This brought to them peace. On the North side of the Tennessee River, opposite Nica-old-fields, he built what was called Tellico blockhouse. The next year the Indians collected at Nica-Old-Fields to make a Treaty. Nine chiefs were appointed to treat with Col. Sevier--Corn Tassel, The Old Broom, The Bloody Fellow, Old Abram, and five others. But the Indians could never Treat in cloudy weather, and as there happened to be a spell of such weather, they waited for it to clear up. While they were waiting, the nine chiefs were put in a log house, around which a guard was stationed for their protection. At a short distance, the Indians and whites in companies had their camps. There happened to be on the ground a man by the name of Patton, whose house a short time before had been burned by the Indians. His wife and children massacred, and himself shot, tomahawked and scalped and left for dead. Astonishing to relate, he afterward revived and was at the Treaty alive and well. He had but one thought--that was for revenge.

   The guard, of which my brother-in-law was one, sympathized with him and connived at his finding his way into the house, where he silently, but summarily wrecked his utmost revenge. He entered the house with a tomahawk in his hand. His very look told his purpose. The chiefs were unarmed and knew that resistance was vain. At one glance they saw their fate and submitted to it with stoic courage holding out their heads for the blow. One tomahawk flew off the handle, but another was quickly passed in. He killed all the nine chiefs and ran to his horse tied in the woods and cleared himself. Col. Sevier made a demonstration of seeking him, but he was not to be found. The chiefs had rendered themselves so odious by their massacres that the whites all secretly rejoiced that their violence had been returned on themselves. This affair broke up the Treaty. I saw this same Patton in Jefferson County, Miss. He stayed all night at our house and we talked of the whole affair. The scars were still on his head, where he had been tomahawked and scalped. He wore a cap on his head to cover them. The skin had been nearly all scalped off his head, which had very little hair left on it.

   The year after this affair the Indians, through other chiefs, made a Treaty with Sevier, who had now risen to the rank of General; after which the Cherokee Indians never went to War with the whites. Soon after the Missionaries were sent amongst them to preach the Gospel. They have ever since been in a progressive state of improvement and at present they are considered a Christian and civilized people. They are the most intelligent and talented of all the Indian tribes.

   Soon after this Treaty of Peace was made, the counties in East Tennessee were laid off. We lived in the lower part of Blount County, which was so called in honor of the acting Governor. The County Seat was called Maryville, after his wife.


Published previously in this series, Part 1. Michael Woods Trimble's memoir concludes in Part 3 published on The Posterity Project.


 
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.

Personal Recollections of Michael Woods Trimble, Part 1

“The revival of memory may be a benevolent compensation to an old man for the loss of hope.” – Michael Woods Trimble, 1860

Throughout the research phase of my current book project, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, I encountered many interesting historical anecdotes, stories, and legends recalled by the aged pioneers of the Old Southwest and their descendants. These men knew Sevier, or could at least recall the stories told about his frontier exploits. Although writers augmented many of these narratives with hints of patriotic fervor and nostalgia, often the details surrounding Sevier's life survived literary embellishment.

In 1860, Michael Woods Trimble wrote a memoir of his life, and recalled memories of his father, John Trimble, who served as a Captain of a militia company in the Regiment under Sevier’s command at the Battle of King’s Mountain. Michael Woods Trimble took great pride in his father’s associations with Sevier, and in his memoirs he chronicled the stories of his youth.

I located Trimble's memoir in the Diaries and Memoirs Collection held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and quoted from it in my book. This incredibly vivid memoir speaks to how "the revival of memory" played an important role in how writers chronicled Sevier's life. So without further introduction, here are the "Personal Recollections of Michael Woods Trimble."

Part 1 -  The Revival of Memory

   If I live to see the 23rd of next January 1861, I will be seventy-three years of age. I am an old man. I have survived all of the friends and companions of my early days. They have all passed away from the stage of action. As I grow old, my memory grows stronger. Especially in this case with regards to the events of my early life. Things which had faded away from my mind many years ago, and had passed into forgetfulness, are revived with all the freshness of recent occurrences. Images of the dead come back to me with faces and voices as familiar as when they lived, and all the scenes through which I passed with them appear to me with more vividness than the events of yesterday. This revival of memory in old age is a mysterious and wonderful provision of Divine Providence.

   At my period of life, the hopes of this world are nearly all past. But it is said, when one bodily sense is lost, some other becomes strong. The revival of memory may be a benevolent compensation to an old man for the loss of hope.

   My friend, Rev. Henry McDonald, having kindly proffered to perform the labor of writing for me, I will comply with the requests of many friends. I will begin with the account of my father, who was an elder of the church, a member of the Mecklenburg Convention, a Captain of the Revolutionary War and one of the first settlers of East Tennessee, North Alabama, and Territory of Mississippi. Many of the events of his life which I will relate occurred before I was born, but they were narrated to me frequently by himself, as well as by other members of the family, that they indelibly impressed on my memory, and became as familiar as any events I ever witnessed with my two eyes.

   My paternal grandfather was John Trimble. He was born in Scotland. In his youth, his parents emigrated to the Northern part of Ireland, where he was reared in the orthodox Presbyterian faith. In those early days the Presbyterians in the Northern part of Ireland were cruelly treated by the British Government. To escape the oppression, they emigrated in large companies to America and established churches, colleges, and seminaries of learning. They were called Scotch-Irish, because they emigrated originally from Scotland to Ireland and to distinguish them from Highland Scotch, who emigrated to this country direct from Scotland and from Roman Catholic Irish, who lived mostly in the more Southern part of Ireland and are the original Celtic race of that country.

   My grandfather emigrated to North Carolina, 1730, with a large company of Presbyterians; The Balch, Doaks, Caldwells, Williams, Lackeys, McCorkles, McPhersons, Woods, Smiths, and Witherspoons. For a long time they worshiped in tents. Poplar Creek, Cross Creek and Hopewell which subsequently were large and flourishing Presbyterian churches in North Carolina, were originally these tent churches.

   My grandfather had seven children--William, James, Joseph, Margaret, Hannah, John, and Robert--all of whom except the last two were born in Ireland. My father was John and he married Susannah Woods, and they had two sons and three daughters. My mother was born 1746. Her sister, Hannah, married a Caldwell and her sister, Margaret married a Lackey, whose sons, Archibald and William, married my two sisters, Isabella and Mary. My mothers brothers, John and Michael Woods were soldiers in the Revolution. John Woods never married. I received my Christian name from my uncle, Michael Woods, who raised a family of four sons and three daughters. He became quite wealthy and died in Tennessee in 1800. I do no know when my father professed religion; it was probably in his youth. He became a member of Hopewell church and was made an elder, which office he filled at that church until 1783. I still have in my possession a certificate, dated 1783, written by the Rev. Hezekiah James Balch, certifying that the bearer, John Trimble, was a member in regular standing and a ruling elder of Hopewell Church; also that his wife Susannah and two sons, Archibald and Robert and his daughter, Rosannah, were members of the Hopewell Church in good and regular standing.

   My father was a citizen of Mecklenburg District, and bore and active part in politics and stirring events of the day. In 1775 he was a member of the Mecklenburg Convention, which adopted the celebrated Declaration of Independence. He frequently described the whole scene to me and I often heard him talk it over with Rev. H. J. Balch and Rev. James Doak, and also my grandfather Woods, uncle Michael Woods and Mr. Elisha Baker, all of whom were present and members of the Convention, the two first of whom were prominent and leading spirits in it. I have heard all of these men describe it so frequently that I became almost as familiar with it as if I had been present.

   My father was a Captain of a militia company under Col. Sevier at the Battle of Kings Mountain, and in the Battle of Cowpens. At Yorktown, where the War was closed by the surrender of Cornwallis, his regiment served under the command of LaFayette. During the whole War when he was not in the field against the British, he was in service against the Shawnee Indians. I still have in my possession a passport, written by Col. John Sevier, 1785. It is as follows:

"Capt. John Trimble, having made it known to me that he desired to go to the State of Georgia; I have known Capt. Trimble for many years, and he lately distinguished himself as a true patriot and friend to his country."

   This paper was characteristic of the time. In those days, public odium ran high against men who were Tories during the War, that persons traveling in strange parts of the country carried credentials to show that they were not of that number.


Michael Woods Trimble's memoir continues in Part 2 published on The Posterity Project.


 
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.