The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-10-12
The Tragedy of
Buck Island.
By JOHN A WYETH.

not unlike q grape vine tearing bolC
Lookout in twain for daring swing
with one end tangled amonf
the mountains of Virginia and North
Carolina and the other looped over the
Ohio at Paducah.
The seat Of the swing is in Marshal
county ;tor here, after ferrtting its way
for hundreds of miles in and out amone
the mountains of the Appalachian
range, to stretch it's giant form across
its path, bsmsd at last in its wild rush
to the southern gulf, and seemingly
broken in spirit, it turns with slRckened
and reluctant flow back to the north,
where, with the Ohio, it joins in com.
mon tribute to the Father Of Waters.
Just in this bend Of the river is 6
group Of islands, varying in size from
one-hRlf a mile to as much as two miles
or more-in length, and from one-Quar,
ter to One-half a mile in breadth. They
are among the most fertile of all the
southern lands, receiving with each
annual inundation when IN early spring
the snow in the northern mountains
melt, a rich alluvial deposit, giving
year after year back to the soil the ele
ments which a rank vegetation alb
stracts for its nutrition.
"Buck Island" is one Of this cluster,
and contains about eighty acres of
ground. 1t was named in honor of q
cunning old stag, which, in it's dense
cane brakes in the early settlement of
this country, long eluded death from
the huntsmsn's rife and hounds. 1t
is now cleared and cultivated, paying
rich tribute in corn to the farmers in
At the time of which l write,
however, it was almost wholly covered
with a heavy forest Of tall oak, hickory
and gum trees, oc which the leafy tops
shut out the rays of the sumner sun,
while the soil from which they sprung
was hidden in a wilderness of cane
from ten to thirty feet in height, and
so thick that in many places a man
could not penetrate unless with an ak
or hunting knife he cut his way. In
the early days when the frosts killed
the grasses on the uplands, the farmers
drove their cattle into these islands for
winter pasturage, where, upon rich
perennial cane they fattened until the
treshets of spring forced them again to
higher ground for safety.
In 1863 the storm of war struck North
Alabama. It found it q paradise Of
plenty and left it a wasted, blackened
and desolate land. None but those
who knew the fertile and beautiful
valley of the Tennessee" in the days
Of the old regime, when its prosperity
was a marvel, when its hillsides were
burdened with fruit and foliage, and
the vast plantations were white with
snowy cotton or yellow with tasseling
corn, and then revisited after Apo
mattox, can realize the great change
which has transpired.
As l rode through the valley in 1865,
it seemed one vast burying ground of
the hopes, the happiness, and the wealth
of q people once prosperous. From a
sirgse elevation l counted the chin.
neys Of seven different plantation
homes, standing like gravestones over
the ashes that were hesped about
them.
Now and thin I passed a farmhouse
which had escaped the general ruin,
and more frC quently a rude shanty but
recently adjusted to q chimney several
sizes too tall for it, or a cabin construc
ted of small logs and covered with
split boards held on the roof by weight
poles in lieu of nails. Fences and pal.
Ings were gone, and over fields and gar
dens and yards stretched an aImoet I'M
broken tangle of weeds and briars.
Nor were the towns exempt. Within
a radius Of thirty miles, Guntersville,
Vienna, WoodviIle, Camden, Larkins
vile, Bellefonte, Stevenson, SCOTS
boro and Claysville, all thriving towns,
were wiped out by fire. And saddest
of all, came untimely and u~ndeserved
death to many unarmed, helpless and
innocent citizens; for the most cruel
and most u1civil of all things'is civil
war.
There were among the poorest and
most ~illiterate class in northern Ala
bama a goodly number who, while not
caring particularly whether the Union
was to be maintained or not, we're very
particular in keeping out of the Con,
federate service. They held that it was
shareholders war, and as they lever
and never expected to own a
slave, they did not see why they should