Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-05-05
SOME TENNESSEE HISTORY.
A Few Facts Pertaining to the Early Days
Of the Volunteer State.
wRITTEN BY HON. HENRY NJ. w1LrsE.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. April

9 eminent historian, 1.-THE history O
Q Tennessee has been long neglected"
| To adopt style OF expression mad,
famous by still another eminent man
8 by the eternal, it shall be neglected
no longer"
) without "socumlocution ss Ger.
tain eminent Chattanoogan expresses
, it, will plunge headlong into my sub.
ject.
of course, in undertaking the task of
writing another history of Tennessee |
mean no disrespect to Ramsey, Hay.
wood, Phelan and the several other
eminent gentlemen who have essayed
1t previously.
Thew did the best the could, no doubt
under the circumstances, but they all
lacked many of the advantages which
possess, naturally and otherwise.
One OF my peculiar advantages is that
write almost entirely from memory
and largely front imagination. They
had to resort to records and the like.
many of which were somewhat old.
One of the most pertinent defects in
other histories mot to mention that
most OF them make no mention of mel
is their failure to properly denounce
the neglect, not to say open disrespect
OF Christopher Columbus, in failing to
keep on discovering things and places
until ne should have discovered Ten.
nessee. He could have discovered us
as easily as be discovered the rest of
the country.
But he did not. He left us to 90 nm.
discovered for century or more after
he had discovered the few niggers
Comanche Indians and such like
which he palmed off upon Ferdinand
and Isabella as the real native Ameri.
cans. His omission was not mere &C.
cident' as many suppose; ii was not
bear oversight. In the language of
Polonius, There was a darned sight
OF method in his Madness He did Il
purpose. He was foreigner and
carpetbagger or he would not have
treated us in that way. I shall flrst
proceed to show why he did it-or
rather why he didn't do 1t. His ain
was more of omission than commission. |
de was commissioned-as can prove
by his autobiography, written by |
friend of mine-to discover everything |
from the headwaters Of Hudson Bsy |
TO the brass buttoned end of Cape Horn.
he did what he was commissioned to |
do, in horn, didn't he?
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
knew that Tennessee was right here.
just where it is now, scattered all |
around Chattanooga, just as we'll as |
know am writing the first reliable |
history of the grand old Volunteer
State.
And right here it may not be out of
place for me to mention that am not
writing this Centennial history Just for
tun' nor for pay to any alarming ex.
tent, but am writing it during this
Centennial lest I might be too busy
with other matters to write 1t during
the next, when Of course, there will be
other things to write. IF l am sparedn
l may then write another or supple.
mentary one. But many of my too
partial friends insist that am too
valuable citizen to be spared go long.
But l was about to explain why Co.
lumDus played US the shabby trick to
which l have referred, in 1892. He
had lot Of Portuguese among his
crew, and knowing them to be highly
people he was constantly
beset by fears that they would discover
America first. And that is just what
one OF them did one starlight night,
thus becoming entitled to the fine
Prang chrome which the good queen
OF Spain had offered as prize to the
first man of the expedition who should
set eyes upon the beautiful western
land which she loved 30 well.
Discovering that this man had dis.
covered America first Columbus basely
bribed him to cell his right and allow
him (Columbus) to climb up on top of
the smokestack and sing out: Land
Land
Then for fear that the man would
squeal on him he took on fresh SUP.
ply of coal at Key West. steamed up {
Muscle Shoals and landed every one
of the Portuguese at Wsuhatchie, tell ,
ng them to walk up the river piece,
discover Ross Landing, and he would G
'atl for them as soon as he had re.
'urned down stream and discovered a !
ew more islands. But he hasn t called {
or them yet and these deserted heroes {
ounded that part of our highly com.
'osite society known as the Melun y
icons. b
RUSSELL BEAN. /
And now it becomes necessary, in .
rder to preserve the chronological n
rider, to observe that Russell Bean was n
he first white child born in Tennessee. :
ie was born in what is popularity
nown as Beans cabin-probably 90
allied because it was constructed of cast o
Il bean poles. Who was the fret negro re
hild born in Tennessee will be shown q
ater on, If at all. This child Russell
lean was a good and dutiful child up