The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-06-14
Indian Remains in Hardeman
County
WRITTEN FOR THE BULLETIN.

WRITTEN FOR THE BULLETIN.
About four miles from this place on
the farm of Mr.. 7. 2. Brooks are a num-
Der of mounds erected by the Indians,
at an unknown period-for an unkno wn
purpose They are supposed to have
been built bya nation of Indians who
owned this section of country anterior
to It's adoption by the Choctaws, as the
Choctaws know nothing of their origin;
if they or their auceS tors had have built
them it appears that they would certain
ly have had some knowledge or tradition
concerning them. There are II of these
mounds, and varying very much in shape
and size; the highest is about p feet
high by % in diameter; the smallest is
15xl0; there is another near these, the
largest of all being about 4x40 feet; the
top of this is perfectly level and Vegita-
ton grows upon it with luxurious ranks
ness caused, perhaps, by the decaying
Of bones, and other parts of animal
bodies Strange feelings and sublime
thoughts voluntarily eminate from the
individual, who beholds thoughtfully this
last remaining vestige of the declining
sons of the forest, Of a race so so1n to be
extinct. Fancy takes him back cen
turyj and he sees by her mystic light the
stalwart forms of the sad and silent
redmen, clustered around the still lifeless
body Of Il departed chief. The medicine
man performing the most mystic rites,
to procure his admission to the hunting
grounds, of Manitou, or the Great
Spirit; a characteristic instance of the
force of superstition on tue minds Of the
untutored aborigines. 1t Is beyond a
doubt, that the spot on which these
mounds are, was the burial ground of
the Chiefs, and principal warriors, Of
some mighty tribe. Some people think
that the purpose Of these mounds is, and
will remain a mystery, but no reader of
Indian annals would doubt for a moment
their original design 1t was custom
among all the Indians of North Ameri
ca, except the Aztecs of the lsthmus,
to bury their chiefs aud great warriors,
on horseback and erect, accompanied
with dog, and with all the implements
! and triukets useful, or ornamental in
this mundane sphere, and with horse
and dog bliudfolded, and dit was
/ thrown around them until it was 1 feet
above the head Of the rider, and then
they took their tomahawks and made it
| erfectly round and smooth. There 5
also great probability, and so many men
! suppose, that like the Tamulus at Mara
thon these mounds were erected, and in
them inferred the slain Of the victori-
/ GUS party as monuments Ia commemor-
alton of a great victory. Or perhaps the
lllstarrcd Ferdenand Deso:o was here
Disconnected AMI defeated The negroes
of the neighborhood have innumerable
superstiJious tales concerning the mid
night carousals of the dusky tenants Of
the mounds, they see sights that make
the hair stand on end, and are well
! calculated tl startle the crcdulous and
! visionary, nor can gentleman Of color
be persuaded to dig into one of the
mounds by any pecuniary offer Stories,
some of them very PLAUSIBLE have been
adoat in newspapers, from time inn
memorial about the discovery Of pots of
gold, on the excavation Of mounds where
| great chiefs have been buried. Ii is very
/ probable that in som, instances where
/ they knew the value Of gold Or silver they
might put in a stone Jar filed with the
precious metal, with some great chief as
tits customary to put in everything that
Is valuable; but when they roamed I'M
interrupted in the prmeval forest, before
the approach If the white man they did
not recognize che value of anything that
was useful aud as these mounds are