The Battle of Point Pleasant and Virgil Lewis' fight against "Manufactured History"

Book Review: History of the Battle of Point Pleasant by Virgil A. Lewis. Charleston, WV: The Tribune Printing Company, 1909.

   In the "Prefatory Note" to his 1909 work, History of the Battle of Point Pleasant, Virgil Anson Lewis described growing up "within a few miles of the battlefield of Point Pleasant, the chief event of Lord Dunmore's War, and reared largely among the descendants of the men who participated in that struggle." Lewis' great-grandfather, Benjamin Lewis, fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant and received wounds during his active participation in that pivotal engagement. One might imagine the vivid conversations Lewis had with those proud men -- only a generation or two removed from our nation's "Founding Fathers" -- who passed down the stories of their accomplishments on the field of battle to their own sons and daughters.

   It stands to reason, therefore, that Virgil Lewis took enormous pride in his ancestor's role in the Battle of Point Pleasant. As a historian, however, he carefully avoided platitudes. In his book, Lewis took great pains to note that the battle, while important, did not signal the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and he scoffed at earlier writers' efforts to canonize the victors as the first Patriots of the American Revolution.

   "Much error has been incorporated into the later writings regarding Dunmore’s War," Lewis wrote. "This is the result of a carelessness on the part of those, who without making research and investigation necessary to arrive at truth, seized rumors, traditions, and vague recollections, as sufficient authority upon which to base an assertion, and who substituted their own inferences for authenticated facts. These errors of statement have sometimes been repeated by considerate writers whose distrust was not excited; and this has increased the difficulties of pains-taking historians." Calling such errors "the gossip of history," Lewis hoped that his book would dispel the "myths, legends and traditions" associated with the Battle of Point Pleasant. Folklore and fairytale, however, persisted.


LORD DUNMORE'S WAR

   Waged beneath the shadows of the British flag, and under the command of Virginia's Royal Governor, John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore, the Battle of Point Pleasant -- known as the Battle of Kanawha in some older accounts -- was the only major action of Lord Dunmore's War. In 1774, Lord Dunmore called upon Virginia's House of Burgesses to finance and support an army raised to quell violence on the frontier. Colonial settlers in territory south of the Ohio River sought to defend themselves against attack from Native Americans, who themselves sought to protect their hunting grounds from the white settlers "pressing down from the Alleghenies." Both sides claimed that the other had violated negotiated treaties protecting their right to occupy and hunt on the land. Bloodshed ensued.

JOHN MURRAY, FOURTH EARL OF DUNMORE (ca. 1730–1809)
Image credit: Library of Virginia

   Following a series of gruesome attacks upon the settlers by Indians, the Virginia legislature issued a plea to Lord Dunmore to respond:

   "It gives me great pain, my Lord, to find that the Indians have made fresh encroachments and disturbances on our Frontiers; we have only to request that your Excellency will be pleased to exert those powers with which you are fully vested by the Act of Assembly, for making provision against Invasions and Insurrections, which we have no doubt, will be found sufficient to repel the hostile and perfidious attempts of those savage and barbarous Enemies."

   With the support of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Lord Dunmore created two armies, personally leading seventeen hundred men from the north, while Colonel Andrew Lewis directed another eight hundred troops through the Kanawha Valley. A confederation of Indian tribes, led by the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk, gathered to meet Colonel Lewis and his men at the point of attack. On October 10, 1774, the Battle of Point Pleasant commenced.

   After a long and brutal fight lasting for several hours and ultimately won in bloody hand-to-hand combat, Cornstalk's warriors were forced into retreat. The Virginians had held their ground, and in the process captured 40 guns, many tomahawks and supplies, and killed an indeterminate number of Indians. Lord Dunmore later forced Cornstalk to sign a peace treaty ceding to Virginia the Shawnee claims to all lands south of the Ohio River, thus opening the land to further settlement.


JOHN SEVIER'S PARTICIPATION IN THE BATTLE

   Although no "official" roster of soldiers participating in the battle has ever been compiled, Lewis endeavored to list all those who fought at Point Pleasant in his book, relying upon information reported in Revolutionary War pension applications, as well as the personal stories and anecdotes told by descendants of the soldiers who fought in the battle.

   Many of the battle's participants were blood relatives. According to Lewis, John Sevier fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant alongside his younger brother, Valentine, who was among the first to actively engage the enemy on the morning of the battle. Evan Shelby and his sons, Isaac and James, also drew arms together in this conflict, and Lieutenant Isaac Shelby's flanking maneuver ultimately turned the tide of the battle. This stealthy military tactic did not go unnoticed by the young John Sevier, who frequently used a similar movement against the Cherokees in subsequent engagements.


THE LEGACY OF THE BATTLE

   In the years following the battle, veterans of the Battle of Point Pleasant and their descendants sought to commemorate their service, and drew tenuous connections to the American Revolution in their efforts. In 1899, Point Pleasant newspaper editor and publisher Livia Nye Simpson Poffenbarger organized an ambitious crusade in the State Gazette newspaper to have Point Pleasant officially designated the "first battle of the American Revolution," despite most historical interpretations which pointed to the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. She boldly asserted that Lord Dunmore colluded with the Shawnee tribe, and never intended to join his northern forces with those of Colonel Lewis to the south. He had, according to Poffenbarger, anticipated the coming Revolutionary War and at Point Pleasant actually sought to weaken the citizen militia in advance of that conflict.

   Lewis saw it as his mission to correct this historical narrative. In the preface of his book, Lewis challenged these efforts of commemoration, describing their reliance on the "vague recollections" of the descendants of the battle as "careless" and without authority. He supported his own scholarship by gathering his research from "original sources, documents and writings which were contemporaneous with the occurrence of the events described." Indeed, Lewis's work is filled with extracts from journals, memoirs, affidavits, letters, speeches, and documentary histories, giving his book a gravitas other more embellished histories sorely lacked.

Portrait of Virgil A. Lewis, author of History of the Battle of Point Pleasant and West Virginia's first State Archivist
Image credit: The West Virginia Encyclopedia

Lewis later wrote a speech scolding this form of "manufactured history." He asserted:

   "Every student of American history who has made research for truth in the sources of information, at this time readily available, is aware of the falsity of this statement, that Point Pleasant is the scene of the first battle of the Revolution. He regrets the perversion of historic truth in connection with it. When that battle was fought there was no revolution in progress; there were no United Colonies, or United States. Dunmore's War was waged between Virginians and Indians, no other Colony participating. The Indians were not allies of England then, nor did they become such until the Spring of 1778-four years after the battle-and no student of either Virginian or American Annals now questions the integrity of Lord Dunmore, or his faithfulness to the interest of the Colony of which he was the Executive head. There was not an English soldier with the Indians at Point Pleasant; nor did England, or a representative of the British Government, furnish a gun, an ounce of powder, nor a pound of lead, to them. The Virginians in that battle, were at that time, loyal to their Colonial Government, and had every confidence in their Governor. Colonel Charles Lewis was killed while wearing the uniform of an English Colonel; and other officers who fell on that field were wearing that of their rank."

CONCLUSION

   There are certainly more recent works of scholarship about Lord Dunmore's War that one would do well to consult. Early indications are that Glenn Williams' recent release, Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era, promises to be a compelling read. Still, Virgil Lewis's 1909 book, History of the Battle of Point Pleasant, has stood the test of time. Although written from the perspective of an early twentieth century historian and writer, Lewis' work provides valuable historical context, copious documentary notations, and details about specific soldiers who fought in the battle that genealogists will find useful in their own research.

   As for John Sevier's role in the Battle of Point Pleasant, one might conclude that a portion of Sevier's gallant reputation as a Patriot hero rests upon the myth that he fought in both the "first" and "last" battles of the Revolutionary War -- Point Pleasant and Lookout Mountain -- despite clear historical evidence contradicting claims that these battles were ever a part of that conflict. While he may have fought in these engagements, his participation certainly did not bookend the American Revolution.

   After reading Virgil Lewis' book, I must say that I feel a certain empathy for his fight for historical accuracy. Correcting long-standing historical narratives and pointing out myths and false legends can be an exhausting, solitary exercise, particularly when entire family legacies rest upon folktales that contradict fact and reason. Future generations and present-day historians owe a debt of gratitude to Virgil Lewis for taking a stand against "manufactured history."


History of the Battle of Point Pleasant by Virgil A. Lewis, The Tribune Company, West Virginia, 1909, 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:

• Virgil A. Lewis. History of the Battle of Point Pleasant Fought Between White Men and Indians at the Mouth of the Great Kanawha River. Charleston, WV: The Tribune Printing Company, 1909.

• Charles H. Faulkner, Massacre at Cavett's Station. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press (2013), pp. 15-16.

• "Manufactured History: Re-Fighting the Battle of Point Pleasant." West Virginia History. Volume 56 (1997), pp. 76-87.

 

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.

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.

Old Frontiers...

   In the course of research, whether browsing for source material at a library, archive, or online, my eyes sometimes wander towards rediscovery. John P. Brown's 1938 book, Old Frontiers: The Story of the Cherokee Indians from Earliest Times to the Date of Their Removal to the West, 1838, falls within that realm of remembrance. Old Frontiers is a book I've known about for quite some time, but only recently -- during the research phase for my book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero -- did I have an opportunity to explore its pages with renewed awareness.

A resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for years
John P. Brown lectured in schools, civic clubs, and
women's organizations on the subject of Cherokee history.
Image credit: The Nashville Banner, Aug. 17, 1938.

   The book's subtitle reveals the scope of Brown's interest, and from the opening Preface of Old Frontiers, Brown reveals his desire to correct the narrative of Cherokee history -- a history that for a century "used the language of the United States Government" to chronicle the plight of the Cherokees. Brown blamed white settlers and their desire for land, along with the discovery of gold in Cherokee territory, for the swift nature of Indian removal. A "calm study of the facts," Brown wrote, "brings conviction that it was both inhumane and unnecessary." Brown cast a particularly critical eye towards Andrew Jackson in his Preface. "The one man responsible for Cherokee removal," Brown wrote, "was that strong character, Andrew Jackson."

   Brown, a Chattanooga native, wrote Old Frontiers in the midst of the Great Depression. That economic calamity and the societal pressures surrounding it surely influenced Brown's account of the Cherokee removal that occurred a century earlier. At the beginning of the twentieth century, scholars and historians, like Brown, attempted to debunk the myths and legends crafted by earlier chroniclers. Global war, economic chaos and what one contemporary scholar termed "the intrusive thrust of modernism" led many writers of the period to bring the past "down to non-heroic yet human proportions."

   In a review of Old Frontiers entitled, "The Cherokee Nation: A Careful Study of Unsavory History," published in the Nashville Tennessean, Sept. 18, 1938, writer Sam Carson made the following observation of Brown's work: "We gather, by preponderance of evidence, that the Cherokees were more loyal to whites than any other race, that is, in the South. They fought more for white men than against them. They were sold out time and again by bribed leaders. Their rebellions were inspired by constant encroachments. And only recently have we brought ourselves around to admit injustices to the original residents of North America."

   Despite Brown's effort to correct history's slight of the Cherokees, his narrative still deified many of the white settlers who he ultimately blamed for the Cherokee removal, including John Sevier, who Brown described as an "unselfish commander" whose "whole-hearted acceptance" by the "rough and ready frontiersmen" made him an indispensable leader on the frontier.

Old Frontiers by John P. Brown

   Brown devoted an entire chapter of his book to John Sevier entitled, "Nolichucky Jack Rides," in which he absolved Sevier of wrongdoing during his fiery campaign against the Cherokees and their settlements. According to Brown, Sevier "was one of the settlers, understood their attitude, and sympathized with them... Not a settler's cabin did Sevier pull down; he had in mind rather the destruction of other habitations, those of the red men. Yet Sevier had so impressed the Cherokees with his spirit of fairness that they were willing to rest their case in his hands: 'Send us Colonel Sevier, who is a good man.'"

   Brown also absolved the Cherokees from blame for their own depredations against the settlers of the Trans-Appalachian frontier, suggesting that they fought for the same cause as the white man. "If the Indian scalped his enemy, or burned at the stake the man who would take his country," Brown wrote, "it was nonetheless America for which he fought, with the only means at his command. Recognizing the faults of the red man, and balancing them against his treatment at our hands, the scales tip in his favor."

   Despite its tortured and paternalistic hagiography, Brown's Old Frontiers is an entertaining read, broad in scope, yet filled with individual tales of adventure. There is much that the frontier scholar and Early American historian can gain from reading this volume. Brown drew liberally from both primary and secondary sources, and provided readers with copious footnotes. These sources provide the reader with an opportunity to deeply explore this world from the perspective of the actors themselves and from the scholars who interpreted their actions. History and memory, themes explored frequently on this blog, are also present throughout Brown's work. The stories found within this volume are ripe for further analysis, making Old Frontiers a book worthy of rediscovery and scholarly interpretation.


Old Frontiers by John P. Brown, Southern Publishers, Inc., Kingsport, Tenn., 1938, is available in most public or university libraries, and may be purchased through any number of used book stores or antiquarian book dealers.




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.

“A new look at an old Tennessee hero”

Greeting folks at the Barnes & Noble in Johnson City.
Author photo.

Last month, during my visit to Johnson City in support of our book tour for John Sevier: Tennessee’s First Hero, I had the fortuitous opportunity to chat with John Thompson, Elizabethton Bureau Chief of The Johnson City Press. With my book in his hand, Mr. Thompson greeted me with a handshake and asked if I would mind chatting a bit about my book for a review he planned to write for his paper. I happily agreed, and a few short weeks later, The Johnson City Press has published Thompson’s review in its Monday edition:

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/117214/john-sevier-book-a-new-look-at-an-old-tennessee-hero

Thompson delivered a fair and thorough review of my book, calling it “a valuable contribution” to the historiography of Sevier’s story. For interested readers, I would encourage you to pick up a copy of The Johnson City Press and read John Thompson’s review of John Sevier: Tennessee’s First Hero. I enjoyed reading it, and I know you will too.




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.

Chapter 16 reviews John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero

I wanted to publish a brief note of thanks to Humanities Tennessee and the Chapter 16 publication for their thoughtful and thought-provoking review of our book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero. The review was posted ahead of our scheduled book signings in Johnson City and Knoxville. Look for details about these two events here on The Posterity Project.

One quote from the review stood out in my mind and perfectly captured what we tried to convey in John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero as a work of historiographical scholarship:

"...history is anything but a recitation of the documented facts. Nor is it immutable. It always reflects the motives of the people generating it..."

Read Chapter 16's entire review of John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero at the following link:

http://www.chapter16.org/content/gordon-belt-and-traci-nichols-belt-examine-how-history-has-treated-tennessee-founding-father

Chapter 16 pays for their content in part with federal grants to Humanities Tennessee, and provides it without charge to newspapers as a service to the writers and readers of the state. If you enjoyed the review and our book, I hope you'll show your support for Chapter 16 by sharing their post and citing Chapter16.org as the source.




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.

"John Sevier" on "Appalachian History"

I want to take a moment to thank Dave Tabler for his kind invitation to provide an edited excerpt from my book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, for his Appalachian History blog.

This excerpt touches on several of the broad themes expressed in the book, and I'm grateful for Dave's interest in sharing this story with his blog readers. Here's a taste of my article from the pages of "Appalachian History"...

   In an anecdote popularized by the nineteenth-century novelist James Gilmore, an old man reminisced about his youthful encounter with Tennessee governor John Sevier. Embellishing the old man’s memories with romantic prose, Gilmore wrote of the “unbounded affection and admiration” that this young boy held for the man known fondly by the frontier people as “Nolichucky Jack.” As Sevier arrived, the entire town gathered to greet him, and Gilmore recorded the old man’s recollection of the scene:

   "Soon Sevier came in sight, walking his horse, and followed by a cavalcade of gentlemen. Nobody cheered or shouted, but all pressed about him to get a look, a smile, a kindly word, or a nod of recognition from their beloved Governor. And these he had for all, and all of them he called by name; and this, it is said, he could do to every man and woman in the State, when they numbered more than a hundred thousand. The boy’s father had been a soldier under Sevier, and when the Governor came abreast of him he halted his horse, and took the man and his wife by the hand. Then reaching down, and placing his hand on the boy’s head, he said: “And who have we here? This is a little fellow I have not seen.” That he was noticed by so great a man made the boy inexpressibly proud and happy; but could this affable, unassuming gentleman be the demi-god of his young imagination? This was the thought that came to the boy, and he turned to his father saying, “Why, father, Chucky Jack is only a man!” But that was the wonder of the thing—how, being only a man, he had managed to capture the hearts of a whole people."

   Traditional stories like this helped build Sevier’s standing as a celebrated frontiersman, a revered military leader of the Revolutionary War, a respected and feared Indian fighter and an admired politician and founding father of the state of Tennessee. Pioneer, soldier, statesman: Sevier embodied all the patriotic qualities that his chroniclers hoped to impart to the public. Yet as Gilmore’s anecdote reminds us, Sevier remained “only a man,” and although he commanded a strong regional following, Sevier’s reputation never achieved national acclaim...


You can read the entire excerpt on Appalachian History HERE.




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.

Archival records help tell the story of the Cumberland Settlements

Nashville author and historical researcher Paul Clements recently published an important book on the early settlement of Middle Tennessee entitled, Chronicles of the Cumberland Settlements. I was lucky enough to secure a copy of Paul's book during the annual meeting of the Society of Tennessee Archivists last fall in Knoxville. I also had the opportunity to introduce Paul during a recent workshop at the Tennessee State Library and Archives where he talked about his research and the interesting stories found in the letters and diaries of those who lived in the Cumberland Settlements at the very beginning of white settlement in the region.

Enjoying tales of early Tennessee history from Paul Clements' new book, Chronicles of the Cumberland Settlements, during a recent lecture at Tennessee State Library and Archives. Author photo.

Chronicles of the Cumberland Settlements is a massive volume -- 785 pages documenting life on the Tennessee frontier through the original records, and through accounts told by direct descendants and participants in the events of the region. For anyone with an interest in this time period in Tennessee's early history, it's a book that deserves a place in your own library as a valuable reference resource, and a chronicle of the important stories told of this time.

Clements dedicates his book to Lyman Draper, a man who played a significant role in chronicling the story of John Sevier's life -- a subject of deep personal interest here on The Posterity Project. In much the same way that Draper meticulously documented his research, Paul Clements has spent the better part of a decade documenting life on the Cumberland Settlements, and correcting the historical record where he found it in error.

The Nashville City Paper recently published a lengthy article about Paul Clements' work and his book. In the piece, reporter Bill Carey noted that "Clements just moved the understanding of Nashville’s early history forward one very large step. He did this the old-fashioned way — by staring at microfilm for more than a decade in places such as the Metro Nashville Archives and the Tennessee State Library and Archives."

And in a November 2012 article published by The Nashville Retrospect, John Egerton called Chronicles of the Cumberland "a first-person drama, lifted directly from the diaries and letters of people who lived through those perilous times" and "from the writings of second or third parties -- like Lyman Draper -- who went to extraordinary lengths to rescue eyewitness stories from oblivion."

For me, this is the strength of his book. Utilizing the early records contained on microfilm and in the original letters written in the time period, Paul Clements makes the Cumberland Settlements come alive, and shatters several long-held myths along the way. A true friend of the archives, and board member of TSLAFriends, the Friends organization of the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Paul Clements has brought the pages of history to life through this important volume.

For a taste of what you'll find in Paul Clements' book, I would encourage you to read the Nashville City Paper article mentioned in this story. It includes several anecdotes and stories from the book, and describes Paul's work at the Metro Archives and TSLA to uncover this important place in Tennessee history.


 

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.

 

"The idol of the frontier people."

   In the previous installment in this series, I examined the fictional accounts of John Sevier's life, written by novelists and childrens' book authors who sought to capture through words the adventurous exploits of the first white settlers on the frontier. In this installment, I focus on another fiction writer who endeavored to cross over into the world of non-fiction to explore the extraordinary life of John Sevier. His name was James Roberts Gilmore.



John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder

   Born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 10, 1823, James Roberts Gilmore's early career began as a businessman. By the age of twenty-five, he had worked his way up the corporate ladder to become the head of a cotton and shipping firm in New York City. His frequent business trips to the South provided Gilmore with the inspiration to become a writer, and by the time the Civil War broke out in 1861, Gilmore retired from his shipping business to focus his attention on becoming an author.

   In the early years of the Civil War, Gilmore's writings gained widespread attention for their realistic portrayals of southern life and graphic accounts of slavery. Writing under the pen name Edmund Kirke, Gilmore's novels, Among the Pines (1862), My Southern Friends (1862), Down in Tennessee (1863), Among the Guerillas (1863), Adrift in Dixie (1863), On the Border (1864), and Patriot Boys (1864), resonnated with his audience, and inspired many in the North to take up the Union cause of emancipation.

   In 1862, Gilmore founded the "Continental Monthly" magazine to advocate for emancipation as a political necessity. By July 1864, Gilmore was so well-regarded that President Abraham Lincoln entrusted him to conduct an unofficial mission to Richmond to arrange for a peaceful settlement to the Civil War. Gilmore's efforts, however, failed. Confederate President Jefferson Davis would not agree to any peace proposal that did not include a declaration of independence for the Confederate States. By the end of the Civil War, the Union had won, but Gilmore lost the fortune he had built up as a businessman prior to the conflict. He decided to enter into business again in 1873, but the desire to write never left him. By 1883, he retired again and applied himself anew to the pursuit of literature.

   In 1880, he wrote a book entitled, The Gospel History, which was a re-telling of "The Life of Jesus, according to His Original Biographers." In the same year, Gilmore wrote The Life of James A. Garfield, which during the presidential campaign and immediately afterward sold 80,000 copies.




The Rear Guard of the Revolution by James R. Gilmore

   Gilmore began to build a reputation as a writer of history, and soon embarked on a quest to chronicle the life of John Sevier. In 1886 he published The Rear Guard of the Revolution, an account of the early settlement of Tennessee, and later published two companion volumes entitled, John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder (1887), and The Advance-Guard of Western Civilization (1888).

   In The Advance-Guard of Western Civilization, Gilmore described his goal for writing this three-volume history of the early American frontier:

   "The three volumes cover a neglected period of American history, and they disclose facts well worthy the attention of historians -- namely, that these Western men turned the tide of the American Revolution, and subsequently saved the newly-formed Union from disruption, and thereby made possible our present great republic. This should be enough to secure for their story an attentive hearing, had it not the added charm of presenting to view three characters -- John Sevier, James Robertson, and Isaac Shelby -- who are as worthy of the imitation of our American youth as any in their country's history...

...In this and my two preceding volumes I have endeavored to rescue from oblivion her earliest and greatest heroes; and, if I have done my work as faithfully as I ought, historians will no longer ignore their existence, but be swift to assign to them the exalted places to which they are entitled in American History."

   James Gilmore singled out Sevier, Robertson and Shelby as men of "boundless courage, a constant fortitude, a self-devoted patriotism, worthy of the most heroic ages." However, by Gilmore's estimation, history had ignored these men. Of John Sevier, Gilmore lamented, "No other man of equal talents and equal achievements has been so little noticed in American history."



Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey

   In an effort to rescue John Sevier from oblivion, Gilmore constructed his narrative on the foundation of others. Gilmore relied heavily on the work of Dr. James Gettys McGready Ramsey for historical background. Ramsey's The Annals of Tennessee (1853) was "used somewhat in the manner of a textbook" to provide historical background. Gilmore also claimed that Dr. Ramsey was "on terms of the closest intimacy" with John Sevier, "from early childhood till he was of the age of eighteen, when Sevier died." According to Gilmore:

   "Dr. Ramsey informed me that Sevier was very fond of young people, and that it was his custom in his old age to gather them about him and tell to them the story of his campaigns by the hour together. It was thus that Ramsey imbibed that fondness for pioneer history which bore fruit in his 'Annals of Tennessee.'"

   Gilmore also relied upon "traditions" gathered from nearly fifty descendants whom he met sometime between 1880 and 1884. Gilmore claimed that these direct descendants "had personally known John Sevier and many of his compatriots" and furnished him with letters from John Sevier himself, all of which, according to Gilmore, "helped to make the present volume more full and accurate."

   For those who might question Gilmore's research methods, he stated, "Among many there is a prejudice against tradition as a foundation for historical writing; but it should be borne in mind that most history is, and was, originally tradition." It was Gilmore's sincere conviction that he had compiled an "authentic history" of John Sevier's life, based on the stories and anecdotes told to him by his aged contemporaries.

   In James Gilmore's eyes, John Sevier could do no wrong. He was a galiant hero, "a providential man," and a predestined leader of men. According to Gilmore, "I have conversed with a number of aged men who knew Sevier well in their boyhood, and they all agree in describing him as possessed of a personal magnetism that was nothing less than wonderful."



John Sevier's portrait by Charles Willson Peale

   In describing John Sevier, Gilmore took great pains to express how important it was to come from what he perceived as a proper bloodline. In Gilmore's Commonwealth-Builder, North Carolinians were cast as "wretched sand-hillers... with not one competent leader," and runaway Englishmen "who could trace their lineage no further than the prisons and slums of London." Sevier, however, "was not of the ordinary type of backwoodsman." Gilmore wrote:

   "He was a gentleman born and bred; and in his veins flowed some of the best blood of the French and English nations. He had the force and fire of the Navarre Huguenots combined with the solid Anglo-Saxon elements which have had here, perhaps, their highest expression in our venerated Washington. This peculiar blending of qualities was seen even in his face, which, while in contour and lineament strikingly like that of Washington, had the mobility of feature and delicacy of expression which belong to the French physiognomy."

   It seemed that John Sevier's greatness was only limited by what little was written about him, and Gilmore believed it was his mission to deliver John Sevier to his rightful place along side the heroes of our republic.

   As an Indian fighter, John Sevier's reputation was amplified by Gilmore's narrative. In The Advance-Guard of Western Civilization, Gilmore wrote that Sevier "was carrying fire and sword to the Cherokee towns among the Smoky Mountains," and that the Native American population regarded Sevier "as well-nigh invincible." Gilmore claimed that the Cherokee had a "superstitious dred... for the 'Great Eagle of the pale-faces.'" "For John Sevier was at the head of the border militia," Gilmore wrote, "and his name was a terror to the Cherokees."

   The white settlers of the region regarded Sevier as their unquestioned leader. Gilmore wrote, "The district had been largely settled by Revolutionary soldiers, and at this time, and for years afterward, they formed the bulk of its population. They retained their Revolutionary traditions, and still looked to their old officers as their natural leaders." Gilmore further wrote, "there was something in the very name of Sevier to stir the pulses of the border." He was "the beloved of all the people."

   James Gilmore's admiration for John Sevier was only matched by his disdain for Sevier's enemies. He described Joseph Martin as a "treacherous friend and a self-seeking demagogue." His opinion about John Tipton was no less kind. Gilmore called Tipton "profane, foul-mouthed, turbulent, and of an irascible, domineering temper." Gilmore further wrote of John Tipton:

   "He lacked every quality of a gentleman except personal courage, and that nameless something which comes down in a man's veins from an honorable ancestry. He had the ambition but not the ability to lead, and he could not understand why men should give to Sevier such unquestioning allegiance. He did not know that there is a 'divine right' in commanding talents, exercised unselfishly in a people's service. He was greedy for office, and a born demagogue, and he had the natural jealousy of Sevier that men of low and yet ambitious minds feel for their moral and intelllectual superiors."

   In James Gilmore's world, John Sevier not only triumphed over his enemies and conquered his adversaries, he also had the support of the frontier people. Gilmore wrote:

   "Sevier was the idol of the frontier people. His captivating manners, generous public spirit, great personal bravery, and high soldierly qualities, had won him the admiration and love of every man, woman, and child in the Territory. For years, without pay or reward, he had stood sentinel over their homes, had guided them through terrible dangers, and led them to wonderful victories; and now, when a hand that should have been friendly was lifted against his life, every man felt it as a blow aimed at his own person, an outrage that could be wiped out only in blood."

   Following his death in 1815, memories of John Sevier's historical significance to the region faded. He was overshadowed by the larger-than-life exploits of his bitter rival, Andrew Jackson. Years later, as the Civil War raged, thoughts of John Sevier's importance to the state of Tennessee were buried beneath an avalanche of death and destruction. Following the end of the war and Reconstruction, at a time when the nation sought healing, John Sevier's rediscovered notoriety as a key participant in the Revolutionary War and as a leader in his efforts to create a representative form of government west of the Appalachian mountains, gave writers like James Gilmore the ammunition they needed to not only resurrect John Sevier's reputation as a regional hero, but also put him on the national stage. Suddenly, John Sevier's name was mentioned in the same breath as our nation's Founding Fathers, thereby reuniting North and South through a common bond of liberty. Through James Roberts Gilmore's efforts, John Sevier became a "Commonwealth-Builder" once again, in life, in death, and in memory, for all of posterity.


 

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.

John Sevier: Pioneer Boy and Son of Tennessee

   While John Sevier's exploits on the frontier, on the field of battle, and in the halls of government are legendary, the historical facts concerning his early years are a relative mystery. In his book, John Sevier: Pioneer of the Old Southwest, historian Carl Driver wrote only one solitary paragraph describing Sevier's childhood, briefly noting his date of birth, his siblings, and where he attended school, but little else. And in the preface of the 1910 book, Life of General John Sevier, Francis Marion Turner laments:

John Sevier's Birthplace Marker.
Image credit: Historical Marker Database

   "When a boy reads the biography of a great man, he is especially interested in the hero's boyhood days -- his joys and sorrows, struggles and victories; and he is always disappointed if nothing has been said about that period of his life. The fact that the youthful period of Sevier's life had been neglected, led me to write this little volume. During my school days, when I read about the wonderful battles which General Sevier fought with the dusky warriors of the forest, and about the terrible clash with the British at King's Mountain, I wondered about his boyhood days. Later I was disappointed to find that the biography of an American hero, a man who had been instrumental in turning the tide of the Revolution at King's Mountain, had been sadly neglected. In all my investigations I could not find a book that furnished the information I was seeking."

   Turner would go on to devote a generous portion of the first chapter of Life of General John Sevier to John Sevier's early years, remarking on young Sevier's fondness of living on the frontier, his hunting prowess, his education in Staunton, Virginia, and his work as a clerk in his father's mercantile store. Turner also commented on Sevier's encounters with the Native American population, stating, "A great many wild tales are told of Sevier's fights with the Indians in his youth; and, while we cannot rely upon them all as true, we do know that he grappled with the dusky fellows while yet in his teens."

   This language -- "dusky warriors" and "dusky fellows" -- was written at a time when history was most concerned with the accomplishments of great men -- great white men -- and the narrative in almost every account of Sevier's life as an Indian fighter elevated the white settlers who he defended, and marginalized the Native American population. Most of John Sevier's biographers described Indians as "savages" constantly on the warpath, and wrote about Native Americans as if they were a singularly evil scourge on the untamed frontier.


William O. Steele
Image credit: "Past Perfect: A Writer's Blog"
by Lori Benton.

   The lines between truth and legend begin to blur as you read these accounts of John Sevier's childhood, leaving fertile ground for fiction writers and novelists to fill the void of scholarship. Among them was a man named William O. Steele.

   William O. Steele (1917-1979) was an award-winning author of historical fiction for children, particularly fiction set in the 18th century frontier of Tennessee. He was born in Franklin, Tennessee, and wrote most of his thirty-nine books in his home on Signal Mountain, Tennessee.

   Steele's book, John Sevier: Pioneer Boy, was part of The Childhood of Famous Americans series, published from the 1940's through the 1960's. Each book in the series had a story about a boy or girl who grew up to be famous as an inventor, statesman, nurse, doctor, explorer, or some other worthy occupation. Many of these titles are out-of-print, but were reprinted by Patria Press as the Young Patriots series.

   The series is currently published by Simon & Schuster, which claims it is "One of the most popular series ever published for young Americans, these classics have been praised alike by parents, teachers, and librarians. With these lively, inspiring, fictionalized biographies -- easily read by children of eight and up -- today's youngster is swept right into history."

   Published in 1953, Steele's John Sevier: Pioneer Boy envisions young John Sevier as a brave adventurer, and his ambitions to conquer the frontier and become a leader of men are on full display. In the chapter, "John Is A Good Talker," John tells his brother Val:

   "When I get big... I'm going to be a bear hunter. I'm going to kill all the bears in Virginia. Then I'm going to the frontier and fight Indians... I'm going to be a great fighter and win a hundred Indian battles. I'll make all the Indians run far, far away. Then white people can come in here and settle. Pretty soon this country will have many farms and towns."

   In this chapter, we also learn that John's father is considering leaving his merchant store on the frontier for Fredericksburg because too many supplies have been stolen in the night. Young John overhears this conversation and defiantly approaches his father, telling him:

   "This is the first land you've ever owned, Father. You said so once. You've got to keep it. It's good rich land. When more people come here to the frontier, you could sell it for a big price... They come by your store all the time. Hunters. Men with their families. You said you see new people every day heading south through our valley. And frontiers need stores. Folks have got to have a place to trade. What will they do if you run off and leave them now?"

   "John stood straight and looked very serious as he made his speech. Mr. Sevier pursed his lips to keep from smiling. Why, he thought, the lad looks and talks like a boy twelve or fourteen years old, instead of six and a half!"

   William O. Steele's fictionalized account of John Sevier drew upon every frontier legend and exploit ever written about him. He used the stories of John Sevier's frontier adventures as an adult as literary inspiration, and painted a portrait of words which described the youthful Sevier as a brave and adventurous boy eager to claim his birthright as "Tennessee's First Hero."

   Other fictionalized accounts of John Sevier's youth also drew on legendary tales and embellished historical accounts. In the first chapter of Katharine Wilkie's book, John Sevier: Son of Tennessee, the author admiringly described John Sevier as a boy with an adventurous spirit. In one scene, Wilkie wrote lovingly of John Sevier through the eyes of his mother, Joanna, who daydreams of her son's greatness while gazing at her children at the dinner table:

   "All their sons were strong and handsome, but there was something special about John, their first-born. She could not name it, but it was there. A joie de vivre that would not be denied. He always led his brothers and sisters, and yet they felt no jealousy. In every situation he was a few steps ahead of them. She pictured him, a grown man, as he would have been nearly two centuries ago at the court of Henry of Navarre, whom her husband's ancestors had served. No other nobleman could match blades with him."

   In another scene, the Sevier family receives a warning of Indians on the warpath nearby, and soon father Valentine gathers his brood and tells them that they must temporarily abandon their home for the safety of the town of Fredericksburg. John Sevier is beside himself, exclaiming, "Father! We can't leave the tavern and the store unprotected... I don't want to run away. I'd like to stay right here, Indians or no Indians."

   Despite his protests, Valentine Sevier ushers his family to Fredericksburg, where John Sevier quickly becomes bored with the drudgery of town life. The routine of school also bored him. "The wilderness is my world," John said stubbornly. "The bear and the elk - or the Indians - won't ask me if I can read Latin and Greek."

   John Sevier's reputation as a daring adventurer inspired yet another fiction writer. In Nolichucky Jack: A Thrilling Tale of John Sevier -- originally published in 1927, and later republished by Overmountain Press in 1999 -- John T. Faris writes a fantastic tale in the first chapter, "A Pioneer Boy at School." After a warning of an imminent attack from Indians, the Sevier family takes refuge in a nearby fort. A nine-year-old John Sevier encounters one of the Indians trying to enter the fort, and instinctively reaches for a pile of sharpened stakes, stabbing the intruder in the head and killing him instantly. Young Sevier dragged the body into a cellar, where his father exclaimed, "Look at his head-dress! The boy has bagged a chief!"

   In his introduction, while Faris states that "in all important particulars, the main incidents of Nolichucky Jack's life were as they are pictured in this volume," he also admits to taking "slight liberties" with some historical facts, including an encounter with a young surveyor named George Washington which was "made up entirely of extracts" of Washington's Diary. But Faris dismisses anyone who might doubt this story with an assertion that would never fly in any survey level course in history...

   "It is possible that some extreme literalist will say that there is no proof that the young man Washington visited Staunton at the period indicated. Can they prove that he did not do so?"

   Based on historical narrative, these fictionalized accounts of John Sevier's early life served to cement his reputation as an Indian fighter and a fearless leader of men, further embellishing and magnifying his image in popular literature as a frontier hero. Faris noted that "the Indians held [John Sevier] in wholesome dread, but the hardy frontiersmen loved him." John Sevier was loved so much that Faris proclaimed him to be "the greatest Indian fighter of pioneer days, hero of thirty-five victorious battles with the savages." This number was far short of the "hundred Indian battles" that the fictionalized John Sevier dreamed of having as a young boy. Nonetheless, his legend became known far and wide, beyond the pages of history. Many years after his death in 1815, a monument built upon his final resting place on the grounds of the old Knox County Courthouse declared John Sevier's fighting prowess over the Indian...

"35 Battles - 35 Victories. His Indian war cry 'Here they are, come on boys, come on'" is etched in stone on John Sevier's grave marker at the Knox County Courthouse in Knoxville, Tennessee. Author's photo.

   While tales of John Sevier's youthful frontier exploits were first penned on paper by antiquarians and admirers, and later embellished in the fictionalized accounts of Faris, Wilkie, and Steele, his Indian war cry was etched in stone for posterity. Few of Sevier's chroniclers, however, listened to the Indian's war cry, especially those writers of fiction.





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.