Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1857-01-05

Isaac Lucas in sight of the people who re-
NAMED toguard the gate and man the fort
holes. BY the brisk firing of the people in the
fort, the savagcs 8ere prevented from cap
turing and scalping Lucas-who was final
" taken within the enclosure, and recover
ed from his wound. The horses ran to the
south of the party in the ambush, and
crossed over the ground in front of Capitol
Hill towards the Sulphur Spring; and the
Indians, being almost as well pleased to
capture horse as to kill man, broke their
line to pursue the horses; otherwise they
would have soon formed complete enclo-
sure around the whites, and could easily
have killed or captured them ALL But
here was break in the line--a happy d.
version Of the attention and aim of the saw
| ages, and the whites were making good
their escape towards the fort-leaving some
dead and wounded behind. At this juno
ture, a new force-a troupe quite well
trained-a large pack of dogs-were let
loose from the fort, and rushed furiously
upon the Indians like a set of mad and hun
cry wolves This was aid Of great impor-
lance, for the whites had hastily gone into
the conflict with only few rounds of am
munitiOn, and unsus pecting such host to
be encountered-and now they had not a
loaded gun, nor wherewth to load, and
were beset and chased so that but for the
timely coming up Cor rather dOaon) of this
corps de reserre des chiens, it is probable that
not one man would have returned to the
fort;-all would have been killed. The In
dams retreated, taking with them nineteen
| horses, saddles, brides, &c.,-qnite booty
for them, and heavy loss to the settlers.
Some of the Indians fingered around the
fort, and at night renewed their firing upon
it from distance; the best the people in
| the fort could do, was to load their small
swivel with small rocks and few pieces of a
broken kettle and fire at them. This throw
ing of stones and pot metal had the desir-
I ed effect-the savages retredted beyond
the reach of such annoyance
During the remainder of the year the
settlers were much annoyed, and several
wounded or killed; so that they at no time
felt wholly freed from danger, and some
hearts began to fail from incessant watch
fulness and anxiety.
1882 The annoyances and damages
caused by the Indians this year, were but
+ continuation Of the practices of the pre-
| vious year At time when there lay
deep snow upon the earth, and three of the
whites were watching for game near the
French Lick" or Sulphur Spring, a body
Of Indians sprung upon them, shooting
down Daniel Hood and wounded Hend-
ricks and Tucker
During the Indian wars here, several
persons were shot or knocked down and
scalped, and yet lived many years, even to
. old age, with their xaked bald heads but
the case Of David Hood is a remarkable
one. He was shot down, scalped, and
stamped upon, and left as Dead but, revi-
wing, he carefully sought the fort, making
his way along near the river bluff, where
he was discovered by the same Indians who
had shot and scalped him; here they fell
upon him, wounded him again in several
places, and left him in the snow, believing
surely he would make no more tracks or
rise again. There he lay all night, and
the next morning a search was made by a
party from the fort, and be was found, and
/ lis body taken as that of a dead man and
placed in one of the out-houseS to give
time to dig his grave when the ground
\ should not be so hard frozen, or the people
could attend TO such an affair as "shroud-
ing and earthng poor Hood" But he
was not ready to "shufle off this mortal
COLL" though skinned, he was never without
his hood. He had lost his crown, but not
/ his head. David Hood lived many years
after this--always ready to tell the boys
and girls who would ask him to take off bis
skull-cap that they might see the top of his
head, that he never should-have hood-wink-
ed those SINNERS and played 'possum so
successfully, if his name had not been
Hood.
1t was periIous to go to the river even in
front Of the fort; for the precipice, broken
rocks and bushes furnished good hiding
places for the murderous savages; and in
visiting the springs, passing from station to
station, and cultivating their small patches
of corn and q few vegetables, it was al
ways deemed avisable to carry arms or have
some one or more on the lookout. The ear
~ settlers did as the crolos always do when
they enter corn-feld or design to forage
upon the grain felds-station one with a
quick eye, sharp voice, and swift Of wing q
foot, upon the best place Of lockout.
So many and so destructive were the
assaults of the Indians during this year,
that proposition was made ina council Of
the inhabitants at the Bluff, to break up
and abandon the settlement. This propo-
sition was earnestly resisted by Capt. Rob
ertsou, Andrew Ewin, and few others.
Hu. Ewin, who was the recorder of the
transactions of the settlements - was
the Clerk of the Court OF NotableS-and
in whose handwriting the records are kept