Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-12-21

tons, began to abrldge the territories OF
surrounding Indian nations, and the mar
gin of this great terra incogRitd was oc-
casionally visited by parties of sayages in
pursuit of game, and as places OF retreat
from the encroachments of a superior
race. In these respects, the value of the
country began to be appreciated as hunt
ing grounds, and as affording immunity
from the molestations of civilized man.
Such was Tennessee, when the colOnists
of the Carolinas and Virginia were steadi-
ly advancing to the west, and had reached
the base of the great Appalachian range.
Of the country beyond it little was posi-
lively known or accurately understood.
A wandering Indian would imperfectly de-
lineatc upon the sand, feeble outline of
its more prominent physical features Its
magnificent rivers-with their numerous
tributaries-its lofty mountains-its dark
forests-its extended plains and its vast
area. A voyage in a canoe from the
sources of the Hogobeger to the Wabash,
required for its performance, in their fig
urative language, 'two paddles, two war
riors. three moons" The Ohio itself was
but tributary of still larger river, of
whose source, size and direction, no intel
ligible account could be communicated or
understood. The Muscle Shoals and the
distractions in the river above them, were
represented as mighty cataracts and fear
full whirlpools, and the suck, as an awful
vortex. The wild beasts with which the
illimitable forests abounded, were num-
bered by pointing to the leaves upon the
trees, or the stars in the clOudless night.
These glowing descriptions of the west,
seemed rather to stimulate than to satisfy
the intense curiosity of the approaching
settlers. Information more reliable and
more minute, was from time to time fur
nished from other sources. In the Allan
tic cities, accounts had been received
from French and Spanish traders, of the
unparalleled beauty and fertility of the
western interior These reports, highly
cOlOred and amplifed, were soon received
and known upon the frontier, and at once,
hunters, and traders, and explorers, left
the extreme western frontier settlements
and penetrated the solitudes beyond them.
The reports of these Adventures, on their
return from these daring expeditions, ex-
cited into life still greater enterprise and
further exploration The extraordinary
fertility of the soil, the luxuriant cane
brakes, the dark and variegated forest, the
eXuberant pasturage, the great abundance
of game, and the facility of procuring it,
became soon the topic of conversation in
every cabin. Not strange was it that the
recital of what had been seen during their
long and perilOus absence in the wilder
ness of Tennessee, produced an urgent
and an irrepressible desire to emigrate to,
and settle this Eldorado of the west.
Whole masses of immigrants had &C
cumulated along the boundary, and con-
centrating themselves at the principal
avenues from the Atlantic to the western
waters, stood for a moment impatient of
longer restraint, and casting a wishful
look upon the inviting country before
them. Tennessee was yet without a
single civilized inhsbitant. We have
hurriedly traced the approach of the
AnglO-AmeriCan population to her eastern
boundary The genius of civilization, in
her progress from the east, had passed
the base of the Appalachian chain. She
stood upon its summit, proud of past sue
cess; and ambitious of further and greater
achievement, surveyed from that height
the wide field before and around her. On
her right the rich valleys and the luxuriant
plains of Kentucky and Ohio, as yet i'm
perfectly known from the obscure report
of the returning explorer, or the Shawnee
prisoner. On the left, her senses are re-
called by the aroma from the groves, the
delightsOme savannas and the enchanting
beauties of the sunny South. Far in the
distance and Immediately before her,
she contemplates the great West. Its vast
ness at first overwhelms and astOunds her,
but at the extreme limits of her vision
American adventure and Western enter
prise are seen, Reckoning her TO move for
ward to occupy the goodly land. She de.
sCends to the plains below, and on the pro.
life soil of the quiet Watauga, in the lonely
seclusion of one of its ancient forests is
deposited the germ of the future State OF
Tennessee. In that germ were contained
all the clements of prospective greatness
| and achievement. What these element;
were the past has already developed and il
Illustrated. Toll, enterprise, perseverance
and courage had planted that germ in a dis.
tant wilderness. The circumstances thai
surrounded it, required for its growth, its
| culture and its protectiOn-wisdom, virtue,
patriotism, valOr and self-reliance. Ameri
| ca was to become western character, anC
here was the place and this the time of it!
| first termination.
Theinfant Hercules, Tennessee, was thus
| H. h,sn la1 IN
Watauga. Annalists have not been abl'
to designate with perfect accuracy thu
exact date of that event. 1t is suticien
| TO know that nearly century has passed
away since the first cabin was erected
and the nucleus of the first permanen
settlement of the white race in Tennes
see was made. Dating it from the arr
val of James Robertson at Watauga,
would be carly in ITO. As he was tn
leading spirit of the new cOmmunit,
then terminating into life, arOunt
WutdUgG old fields, Chronologists hav
agreed upon the time of his arrival Their
as the natal day of Tennessee. Let u
| thus consider it, and in limitation of
laudable usage everywhere observed, ant
of a good example almost universally fol
! lowed, let Tennesseeans, early in 1870
have centennial celebration of the nata
day of our proud State. 1t might b
most proper that her present Legislature
now in session, should take the initiativ
in the celebration contemplated by thes
hasty remarks. Should this be decline
perhaps that duty might be assumed b
the State Historical Society at Nashville
It's late late Jealous founder and Pres
dent, Col. Putnam, is no longer there
prompt this act of piOus veneratiOn of th
acts of Robertson and his pioneer assoc
ates on Watauga as well as Cumberland
Who is the successor of Putnam Wi
he not cooperate in the inauguration o
this becoming ceremonial
Or as East Tennessee had a priority {
ten years in the settlement of the STATE
and as in that section, the more importaI
Indian treaties were conducted, and as Ii
scenes of the revolution of 1916, as pa
ticipated in by the Western soldiery, th
Franklin revolt and administration, til
organization of the Territorial Cover
ment, and that of the State of TENNESSEE
all occurred within its limits, is there an
improperly in suggesting that the Ea
Tennessee Antiquarian and Historical 81
ciety should exercise the function of il
viting the active cooperation of ever
citizen of the State in the observation {
its first centennial anniversary? The vel
cradle and learned President of that sc
ciety, the late Chancellor Reese, is alas
no more. So, also, is its first Vice Pres
dent, Professor Foster. Its Correspond
ing Secretary is in honorable exile. b
of its executive committee, two certainl
survive, the Rev. T. w. Humes, d. d
and Hon. J. II. Crozier. Can they nj
put the subject before the enlightened an
patriotic people of the Volunteer State, b
an appeal to their filial piety, their Sta
preferences, and their ancestral pride
MNEMoNIKA.
The Empress of the French, who s.
at the side Of the KhediVe of Egypt d
ring the opening ceremonial of the SUI
I, canal, seemed, it is said, highly interests