Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-03-27

fth e whites upon their hunt
ing grounds and gave the whites
much trouble up to 1909, the last
battle fought with the Indians in
the cedars near where the village
of Pennington now stands, in
Marshall h Gonntys There are
many descendants of the COM
pany Of whites that fought that
battle; Che O'Neals, of Bedford
and Marshall, are the descend
Eants ofstwo. brothers of that
name that were in the fight; there
are many others whose names |
have forgotten.
The Indians claimed all this
country as their hunting ground.
il4einan was a trespasser, as lie
knew, upon what the Indians
considered their rights, and that
made him quite sensitive to any
excitement after the sun had set.
Porterfield, hearing him encorlr-
age his dogs, spoke in the En-
glish language. Leman's wife
had all this been engaged in beat
ing corn into meal in the cavity
of a stump in front Of the cabin.
At the. sound of Porterfeld's
voice she dropped her pestle and
exclaimed, "Friends from the
settlementsw and ran to meet
them, Leman stopped his dogs
and with gun in hand advanced
to meet them more cautiously
than his wife. Fgs YfFef
But they were regarded as
friends and invited to the hospi-
talities- of Leman's home. His
wife resumed her labors at her
stump mill, while Leman enter
tanned his friends upon log, the
trunk of the tree taken from the
stump where Mrs. Leman was at
her labor of love. This log serv-
ed the purposes of table, chairs
and kitchen for Leman's house
hold. After. she. had enough
meal beat She made it into
dough, spread it out on a smooth
board and baked it before the
fire; the board was called a
johnny-board, the bread was
called a johnny cage. While
the bread was baking she fried
her venison steak in bears grease
in place of lard, which is said to
be a fine substitute. After a
sumptuousrepast,anig of sound
sleep and hearty breakfast. next
morning, Porterfeld left his two
companions with Leman and
went on his way alone. Near
where Fayetteville now stands
he fell in company with Davy
Crockett and number of men
in pursuit of a party of Indians
that had stolen a lot. of horses
from the settlements. Porter
field and Crockett were together
The two yo0unng men spent
their time in hunting. In the
month Aof October their dogs
struck trail of a bear, about
where the house of Henry Dunn
now stands, and run up the hol-
low north of his house. The two
young men were pressing their
way through the tall cane when
the foremest mans gun wentoff
and killed his brother behind
him. He picked up his dead bro
ther's gun and went ON and killed
the bear before he cared for his
dead brother. The man that was
killed was buried down on the
pike at the graveyard known
as Whitaker's graveyard; that
was the first white mans grave
made in this county. Iti is strange
that everybody in this country
has forgotten the name of these
brothers; but that is right, their
names should be forgotten, the
names of any people who have
so little humanity in their souls
should be lost to succeeding gen.
Many people have sur
missed that the brothers disagreed
and the one committed the deed
purposely; and they have come
to that conclusion ON the follow
ing grounds: For many years,
after that tragedy there were
sights and sounds to be
seen and heard in that dark and
GLOOMY hollow. And such evi-
dence as this was conclusive to
the early settlers of this county,
and there are many yet living
who receive this as incontestible
fi3 as ga
After many years Porterfeld
came back to Leman's commits
stoned as a surveyor to locate
school land that had been given
by our mother State, North Car
olina, 70 the children of the
State of Tennessee for the pur-
pose of educating them. This
donation was designed to MAIN
tain and support public or free
schools. Leman and Porterfield
were glad to meet but separated
in sorrow. Leman was now a
bic to give his friend bacon and
bread made of meal ground in a
mill ON Stones river near Muir
T..