35^

'fI^ivetheft,SB'aigs . , -
'. far the fo^mCiag if iv College crtthixCoiortyp

F^El«¥M¥lMlIf¥^

THE
LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
THE
CELEBRATED OLD PIONEER IN THE FIRST SETTLE
MENTS OF I'lIDDLE TEI-INESSEE, EMBRACING
HIS WONDERFUL ADYEInITURES AND NAR
ROW ESCiiPES WITH THE INDIANS, HIS
ANIRATINa AND REMARKABLE
HUNTING EXCURSIONS.
INTERSPERSED WITH
RACY ANECDOTES OF THOSE EARLY TIMES.

BY
JOHN W. GRAY, M.D.

NASHVILLE, TEtlN. :
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
1858.

Introduction.

There perhaps never has been a man of any
rank or age, of any creed or calling, who has
lived through as many years as I have seen pass
away for ever, and who had a medium memory,
that could not recall to mind a sufficient number
of incidents to make .a -book of some size, and
to many persons of some interest; but though
I have held my courteous friends to many a
narration of the scenes through which I have
passed, I never once dreamed until now that
it was to cost me the trial of dictating -this;
for, in it, my first undertaking of the kind,
I find, as I have always imagined, that if^S no
easy matter for one whose education has been
2

6 introduction.
so much neglected as mine. But I am persuaded
by my friends that they cannot see me disappear
from this world without leaving behind me the
recollections of other days; and when I persist
in the idea that not many of my stories are
worthy of a place in the public records, thej
tell me that I cannot see myself as others do,
and, as a sort of last argument, ^h^ tell me
that the book is to be a kind of neighborhood
entertainment, which is not expected to find
its way to the closets of remote cities and other
places where critics dwell; and I must confess
that this idea has a greater influence with me
than any they could adduce ; for even if a copy
should straggle away from Smith county, and
fall into the path of some learned judge of
story-telling, I still have one consolation left,
which, according to the ancient philosopher, is
that "Eagles never stoop to^catch flies;" and
even to leave out the pert sayings of andient
philosophers, a class of men that I never knew

introduction. 7
much about, withal, there is one thing that I
do know, and that is, that good hunters in my
day never stooped to shoot small game. Sixty
years ago, aijd up to a much later period, the
hare might have sported in safety at the guns-
man's feet when the hear and the buffalo stood
before him, and the sparrow might have chirped
utiharmed upon the limb his fowling-piece rested
upon while he took aim at the swan or the larger
members of the feathered tribe. Be all*this as
it may, I am one of those determined kind of
characters who, when they get their minds set
to do a thing, enter forthwith upon the task,
and leav^ the consequences to take care of
themselves ; so now you see I am going to dic
tate the history of my life to a friend, and as
I cannot stay here much longer than the time
he will require to write it in, I shall make truth
my aim from preface to conclusion, allowing
my narrator to fill each story out in his own
language; and I hope that where I have had

a introduction,
misfortunes, they may serve as a kind of buoy on
the sea of life to prevent those who are to suc
ceed me from running upon the reefs, and that
those acts of mine which may be adjudged
worthy, may stand up as so many lights, by which
they may be guided in a smoother voyage than
was my lot to experience, for it will be seen in
the course of these pages that I have been
tossed and buffeted from time to time, until one
could scarcely realize the truth of the life I
have lived. But, then, we should be strangers
to joy without some acquaintance with pain —
the sunshine of our lives would become mono
tonous without the darkness -with which to con
trast it. However, I believe that God gave
me a cheerful disposition, and one that has
borne, riie triumphant through all the troubles
which I am about to recount.

LIFE

01'

JOSEPH BISHOP

CHAPTEE I.
Upon a cold winter evening, when seated by
a cheerful fire, in the humble domicil of the
subject of this sketch, and talking with him
over the various news of the times, some sen
tence perchance escaped my lips, which, with
the fleetness of a shooting star, carried the old
man's thoughts away back to the earliest scenes.
of his life ; and making this his starting-point,
he began to detail them with so much feeling of
interest, that we at once determined to sacrifice
all other topics, until he should narrate to us the
events of his past career ; but after holding our
attention for an hour, he came to a sudden

life op JOSEPH BISHOP.
patzse, and with the same modesty which has
marked his character through life, said, "I
expect the stories which I have been giving
you all this while seem more eloquent to my
self than to you, who have never experienced
the realities whence they originated." We told
him that we might call to mind examples going
to show where and when we had been imposed
upon, even- bored to intolerance, by fools who
attempted to look wise, and presume upon our
ignorance by relating falsehoods, or spinning
out to a thread which would pass through the
eye of a lady's cambric needle, some uncon
nected, uninteresting yarn, of which they most
commonly made themselves the hero ; but that
this was not our present lot. " If you will only
proceed," continued we, "you shall have an
audience until the cock's shrill clarion shall ring
out on the morning air, and if you then have
not finished, we will hear you again, and still
again, until you have done." Here the old man
thanked us for what he feared was an unmerited
compliment, and said, "I am now too old to
labor with my hands, and since the mind is a
piece of machinery, the continued motion of

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 11
which God never designed should stop during
life, it is evident that I must have employment,
and I, therefore, agree to tax your patience for
the period I propose to occupy in relating my
story." We told him such a tale would be to us
a delightful burden. "Then," said he, "you
must transport yourself in imagination with me
back through a space of nearly a hundred years,
to a period that dates some five years beyond
the bursting forth of the American Eevolution,
to a time when our cannons had never boomed,
upon the bloody fields of Lexington and Concord,.
to a time when the first Congress pf the Colo
nies had never assembled, and when the burning
of the Gaspee had not taken place : to be brief,
you must go with me far beyond." Here we in
terrupted him, and desired him to begin with his
earliest childhood, the morning of his existence,
and we were ready to start and come down with
him to the evening i'n which his sun, was so
clearly setting ; and he began as may be seen in
the succeeding chapter.

12 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.

CHAPTEE II.
The 30th of July, 1770, at night, when the
stars, for all I know, were shining bright, and
the crystal dews were being distilled plentifully
upon the earth's green herbage around the
small habitation of my parents, I made my
advent into this world, and I am unable
to determine at this remote period of my
life whether I was born with a caul over
my face or not, but am disposed to regard
it more as a fact than a mere probability,
for it is evident that I have enjoyed many privi
leges debarred others, and have seen many
sights- upon which other eyes than mine have
never gazed, and superstition informs us that
this is the fate of all who enter this existence
under such strange auspices. But be this as it
may, superstition has sustained her reputation so
far as to have allowed me the privilege of spring-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 13
ing from Virginia, the Ancient Dominion, which
gave birth to Washington, the saviour of his
country, and Jefferson, the great author of
the Declaration of Independence, and Patrick
Henry, the famous revolutionary orator, and
since permitted me to live in Tennessee, where
I shall doubtless die, which can boast of her
generals, her statesmen, and presidents.
At the time of my birth, to say nothing about
superstition — a thing which, after all, is very un
popular with me — my parents resided near Cabin
Point, in Prince George county, Eastern Yirginia,
and their names were respectively Benjamin and
Caroline, both of English descent, members of the
Baptist Church, and had seven children, two sons
and five daughters. They were both very pious,
and it is a vast source of pride and happiness
to me, in this the evening of my existence, to
reflect on the life they led, and to think with
what vigilance they watched over their offspring,
endeavoring all the while to train the twig in a
manner that it would shoot direct toward heaven.
I remember that I was a very mischievous boy,
and that my father told me that I would be hung ;
but if you will look at these white locks you will
2*

14 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
be of opinion with me, that I have survived the
probability of a death so ignoble — at least, I am
sure that I have no inclination to commit suicide
and lose my salvation; none to perpetrate a
crime which would cause my countrymen to stretct.
my neck, and it were unreasonable to suppose
that it would be done by robbers, for my goods
of this earth would not amount to an inducement ;
and lastly, if I have an enemy, it must be some
man upon whom, in other days, it became my
duty as an ofiicer to serve warrants for just debts
which they desired to make clear.
In giving the reason why my father said that I
would be hung, I might offer a train of innumer
able rudenesses which I committed, but the world
- already knows what bad boys are prone to, and I
wiU not give the record of my mischief; indeed,
there are many circumstances connected with my
boyhood which I should feel a touch of shame to
tell ; but as the history of my life is the object
sought by the public, and as many of the thou
sands who may condescend to read it will expect
a bit of the least along with the greatest, I will
favor them with the two following specimens.
A woman having been detained at my father's

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 15
house in consequence of a heiavy fall of snow,
and it not being convenient to entertaja her longer
than a time at which it would be safe for her to
depart, he told her that as she was travelling on
foot and had two children to carry, he would send
me with her as far as the swamp, which was no
short distance from the house, and make me pack
one of them through it. This struck my ears, as
some writer has suggested, like a peal of thunder
from a clear sky, for it was unexpected, and broke
into other arrangements which I had made ; but
knowing that his word waa the lUw, I shouldered
up one of the little fat rascals and put out, not,
however, without beginning with my first step to
contrive a scheme by which to make my part of
the journey short, nor had I fairly gone out of
sight before my plan was laid. I stumbled, of
course accidentally, and fell, tumbling the child
over into the snow and making it squall at a^fear^
ful rate ; the woman ran to the spot both fright
ened and angry, and with all the persuasion of
which I found it convenient to be master, I could
not induce her to trust me with it again, and thus
depriving myself of my luggage I returned, but not
without receiving a severe rebuke from my father.

16 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
Again, a neighbor boy and myself, m the
absence of other mischief, agreed that while one
of us should represent a wild deer, the other
should act the huntsman and shoot at him with a
cane-gun. We repaired to the forest, and after
parleying a few minutes over preliminaries, I
induced him to let me act the deer first and he
take the first shot, I having a special inclination
to take a crack at him last. The terms now
being understood, he loaded his cane-gun with
powder and one shot, and prepared a chunk of
fire with which to touch her off. I about this
time went away into the bushes and lay down,
and jumped up as though a pack of yelling
hounds had suddenly come upon me, and upon
all-fours came running past the hunter's stand,
at a distance of eight or ten paces from him.
He waited until I reached a point directly oppo
site the stand and fired, and to my utter astonish
ment he so effectually knocked me down that I
thought of taking the last privilege that belongs
to living things, or, in other words, making my
last kick. In reality I knew not but that I was
mortally wounded. His shot had struck me, to
use a huntsman's term, just behind the shoulder,

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 17
raising a knot upon one of my ribs full as large as
a partridge egg, and while I tumbled and scringed
and writhed as though a firebrand had been
pressed against me for the time — ^for it stung
most intolerably — he turned pale and shuddered
as if the icy fangs of death were closing around
his heart. This cured us of that kind of sport,
for whUe the very thought of a cane-gun threw
him into an immediate nervous trepidation, regard
ing them, as he now did, as sharp-shooters, I
had no disposition on the other hand to kill him,
an event which pre-vious to my being shot I had
never apprehended.
In lieu of the above two stories, and as a kind
of ransom to those who think that books should
be made of sterner stuff, I -wiU relate the two
following, which will be regarded as having a
more laudable bearing.
During my boyhood the fate of the Eepublic
was decided. Being six years old when the
Declaration of Independence was declared, I was
yet a lad while the great struggle for freedom
was going on, and though too young to stand in
the angry tide of battle, I can never forget how
earnestly my feelings became enlisted -with the

18 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
spirit of the times. I, like every man, woman,
and child of those days, was full of war, and of
liberty or death to overflowing, and many were
the little battles I fought in imitation of my
father. Upon one occasion we manufactured, after our
own way, a supply of cane-muskets ; loaded them
with powder and one shot in each, to be discharged
by the application of a chunk of fire, all the same
as in the deer-hunt, except that we this time took
the precaution to extend the distance from eight
to thirty yards. At length the dreadful hour for
battle came on, and the two little hostile armies
assembled upon the ground, and having marched
to their allotted distance, formed the line of con
tact, and all being up in arms and eager for the
fray, the firing at once commenced, but after being
kept up very briskly for an indefinite time, I
struck the same boy who had knocked do-mi the
deer on the front of the thigh, just above the
knee. He laid hold of the limb with both hands,
limped round, and bellowed to such a frightful
degree that the battle was at once lost and won,
the victory mine. I was the hero of the field,
and shall always doubt whether General Washing-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 19
ton ever felt prouder than I did at the head of
his patriotic army after the achievement of the
most brilliant victory that during the Eevolution
wreathed his noble brow.
At another time we constructed ships out of
corn-stalks, manned them with so many cannons
formed of cane, and launched them upon the deep
waters of a tan vat. These little floating navies
all being put in readiness for battle, began to
manoeuvre, and soon the fearful engagement took
place ; and as the cane cannons were booming
away, the favorite of my little ships seemed to be
so eager for the blood of her enemies, that she
would sometimes leap the full length of her cable
toward them. A terrible cannonading continued ;
each vessel trembled upon the agitated waters in
extreme suspense, first one being crippled and
then another sunk. My fleet, from the masts of
which were streaming the immortal stars and
stripes — which floated in triumph over the bloody
fields of the seven years' war, like the colors from
the heights of the brave old ship Constitution —
survived the heaviest shocks of the hour, while
those which supported the red flags went down.
Here again I saw • that the victory was mine.

20 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
My ships were already mooring in the midst of
the wrecked and ruined vessels of the enemy, and
my bosom, which for the time had been stirred
with an almost breathless anxiety, now swelled
higher with enthusiastic emotion, and throbbed if
possible with a nobler sense of pride than ever
heaved the manly breast of Commodore Perry at
any moment while the British were surrendering
to him on the waters of Lake Erie.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 21

CHAPTEE III.
At the age of eleven years I was left at home
alone, sole proprietor as it were of the little farm.
My father and brother, the latter of whom was
only sixteen years old, had enlisted for the war,
and were started to meet the great English Ko'ri,-
which now stood upon and was prowling over our
native soil, while he snarled and shook his shaggy
mane, and vengeance glared in his fiery eyes for
what he looked upon as presumptuous insolence
in our brave fathers. Still feeling the spirit of
war in me, I wanted to join the army with them ;
and 0, how I implored my father to let me go !
But he kindly told me that I was too young to
bear arms, that tis little home required some pro
tection ; and no matter how great my mania for
the field, he had been a father who had won my
confidence. I knew that he had always acted
honestly with and spoken truthfully to me ; that

22 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
he possessed none of that detestable quality, low
cunning, and had never encouraged me to do
wrong, thus exercising over me the strongest rod
that could be placed into a parent's hand. I con
sented to remain, and a tear trickled down my
cheek as they bade me adieu. When they were
gone I began to move about, look around and
reflect, and thought, no matter if I was disap
pointed in treading the plains which were being-
rocked by my country's battles, I was proprie
tor of a farm, and, like Selkirk, was monarch of
all I surveyed.
Previous to my father's departure he had shot
a mad dog which bit a calf of his, and one day
while my brother was at home on a furlough he
went out, and coming in told me that he believed
the calf was mad ; that it had rolled its eyes at
him. I told him that I was not afraid, started,
and coming to the lot fence, I leaped over and
went directly to the calf, which was standing at
the opposite side with his head close in the corner
of the fence. I slapped my hand upon his hind
quarters, expecting him to turn round to eat as
he usually did, but, to my surprise, he shook his
head, and as he turned rolled his eyes as if he

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 23
was entering the last dying agony. My courage
failed : I took to my scrapers, and perhaps never
made a narrower escape, for it was a trial of
speed across a wide lot, he bellowing on my heels;
at every stride I could possibly make until I
reached the fence, which I did not climb but just
kind o' rolled over.
After so long a time the old warrior, my father,.
returned and blessed his boy ; and when I was
about sixteen years of age, still living with him,
I began in my mind to cast about in quest of
an occflpation to follow through life, and with
out stopping to spend a single thought upon the
learned professions, I soon 'ran over the whole
catalogue of the trades, but crossed none which I
thought I should like to pursue, which left me
with the conclusion that I should like to spend
my life as a farmer, and, according to the philoso
phy of many persons belonging to_ those days, I
hugged to my bosom the opinion that tillers of the
soil had but little use for an education ; but I
can now see that I was embosoming a viper,
which was to hiss and sting me through every
subsequent period of my life ; and still another
opinion that I had was that a manual laborer had

24 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
no chance to become informed from books, but I
now feel much remorse of conscience for having
ever embraced such false notions, for when it is
too late the fact of my error darts into my
mind with the clearness of a sunbeam. My
mind is revolutionized ; I can no longer regard
the necessity of manual labor as a full apology
for one's not becoming learned, upon whom
God has bestowed sufiScient rationality to secure
his success in a college. It has not been a great
while since I read of Elihu Burritt, the black
smith, who acquired a thorough knowledge of
fifty-two languages, and whose hammer, during
the whole course of his studies, was the first
heard falling upon his anvil in the -yillage at the
dawn of each succeeding day, and with an arm
powerful as that of Mureno, he s-wung his weighty
sledge until the ringing of the last hammer in
other shops had died away with the t-wilight, and
experience has at length convinced me that a
liberal education is as essential to the success of a
farmer as a knowledge of human anatomy is to
the surgeon or physician, or as a guide-book to a
stranger in populous LondSn.
About this tiine my father removed to Edge-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 25
combe county. North Carolina, and carried me
with him ; but not being 'Satisfied on his arrival,
and thinking that he could better his fortune
elsewhere, he, after remaining a while, continued
his journey a distance of about one hundred
miles to the waters of Cape Fear river, in Chat
ham county, where he settled, and leaving some
business open in Edgecombe, sent me back to
adjust it. After my departure, I had not gone
far before I accidentally fell in with a Mr. Teal,
who, upon learning for what country I was bound,
informed me that he was going my route. I was
exceedingly glad to hear this, for company was as
much of an item in those days with a traveller
as ten dollars a hundred for tobacco is to a Smith
county farmer in these.
As we proceed'Sd, we observed a heavy cloud in
the distance before us which was swinging across
our path, and a few hours' travel brought us upon
signs which told us that a torrent of rain had
fallen. We now became apprehensive that the
passage of the watercourses would give us a great
deal of trouble, for bridges had not yet begun to
shade the streams in this region, nor had we gone
far before we reached Buckhorn creek, which was

26 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
already swollen to twenty times its usual volume.
To have attempted to cross it would have been to
s-wim from bank to bank, and get wet from foot
to head. A stranger whose name we ascertained
to be Cobb was stopped here, and absolutely in a
state of great perplexity as to how he should
get over. We observed that he had a saddle-bag
with a jug in each end, his mission being rum, a
quantity of which was kept for purchasers in a
doggery on the opposite shore. I told him that
I had a halter, and being rather serious in my
manner, and he feeling guilty, I perceived that
he turned pale and began to tremble, and with a
look of terror and astonishment asked me if I
thought it any crime for a man that was wet and
cold to drink a little rum, as though he thought
I aimed the halter for his neck. No, no, said I,
we only wish to contrive^^some plan by which to
conduct our horses across the tide, and think by
fastening the halter securely on the neck of one
horse at a time, and then tying a long grape-vine
to it, we can succeed. The grape-vine was soon
procured and attached to the halter, and a tree
having fallen from a contiguous bluff and making
a kind of footway across, we sent Cobb with one

LIFE OF JOSEPH BiSHOPt 27
end 0^ the vine to the other bank, while we
remained where we were and led the horse first
tied to the edge of the bluff, and when Cobb
declared himself ready to pull, we pushed him
off broadside into the water about ten feet below,
and, contrary to what had been the fate of a cat,
each one as we ^ucceedingly pushed them off lit on
his back. Cobb pulled, but not a lick would one
of them trj to swim. He heaved away, however,
and drew each one across under water. We now
walked the log, and saw Cobb get his jugs filled
and leave. I should have enjoyed this scene
¦exceedingly, but just as the pleasure began to
laugh about me, my reason stumbled and fell into
a state of profound reflection upon the vanity of
human life. Here I saw one of the creatures
which God had endowed with a soul, a being of
lawful age and fashioned after his own image,
risking his horse and staking his own life, willing
as it seemed to sacrifice all upon the polluted altar
of the rosy god who presides over the wrecked
and destroyed destinies of all who kneel at his
shrine, or make themselves familiar with the little
hell-hole from which he obtained his rum. But
we passed on without ever hearing whether the red-

28 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
nosed Cobb got drunk and drowned, or reached
home and abused an innocent wife and children.
In a few days' travel, during which time nothing
of unusual interest occurred, we reached the place
my father had moved from in Edgecombe county.'
The spring musters, so common in those days,
had already commenced, and we attended all the
parades for the purpose of shooting, for at this
time no other amusement was half so popular,
and I soon became universally kno-wn as the little
shooting Bishop, for if a man who shot with me
knocked the centre out, it was no matter, for my
ball broke the target in no other place, and when
a second trial came on and the guns were fired,
the victory was generally mine.
When we were not attending muster-grounds
we were hunting in the woods, for there were
some famous hounds kept in the neighborhood,
and during our stay we heard some brilliant
canine concerts, which came off under the leader
ship of a good old deer dog followed by a pack
of ten or fifteen fine-mouthed fellows, which in
the most happy manner sounded the treble, tenor,
counter, and base notes. Indeed, it would not
have been impossible to have made us believe,

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 29
while they were in full cry, that each one of them
had drawn inspiration from Mozart or Paganini.
We killed many a deer that made their flight
before them, and at length returned to my father's
in Chatham county.

iiO LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.

CHAPTEE IV.
When I reached home I found that there was
a great deal being said about the country then
called Cumberland, now Middle Tennessee, and
having understood that an acquaintance of mine,
a Mr. Dillard, was going to it, and was propos
ing to defray the expenses of any young man
who would accompany him, I went to see him,
and finding him at home, told him that I was his
man. We were soon agree.d, and had the time
set for our departure. The day rolled round.
We said good-bye to all of our friends, and took
the trail for the above-named country, and we
had not crossed the boundary line of Chatham
county before we came up with Captain William
Douglass, an old revolutionary soldier, the uncle
of Ha Douglass. He had with him his family, a
young man by the name of W. Jones, and an
other whose name was Terry Poe, all bound for

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 81
Cumberland. Jones was a man of capacious
soul. Upon his face was stamped in unmistak
able characters the true gentleman, for it lay
wide open in every feature. His father, feeling
the sting of ignorance from a neglected educa
tion, had given his boy extensive learning, and
now had generously aided him while he was
young and full of enterprise, and before his
noble energies became blunted, having given him
what was then termed a fortune, about nine
negroes and a few hundred dollars in money, all
of which he turned to a good use in after years ;
but however strong my inclination to enlarge
upon the character of young Jones, I must at
once return to my subject.
Just after crossing New river a tire upon one
of our wagon wheels broke, and while it was
being mended, Jones, Poe, and myself concluded
that we would seek a little pastime at a house
that was near by ; Poe, who, I should have men
tioned, was a very particular kind of man, was
wearing buckskin knee pants and long stockings,
and, additionally, a poultice on a sore toe. We
all arrived at the house, of course perfect
strangers, entered and accepted seats. Jones

82 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
and myself were disposed to treat the young
ladies, three of whom were present, with as much
courtesy as we knew how ; but Poe was one of
those mush -and -molasses sort of fellows who
could not sit off and talk to a lady as a gentle
man, but must have hold of her, or rub against
her in some manner or other ; in fine, he had a
goodly share of the low breeding in him, and as
an evidence, as one of the young ladies passed
near him, he caught her and pulled her down
into his lap ; she screamed and struggled -with all
her might to get loose, and, as with one voice,
Jones and myself stormed out at him to release
her ; but seeing that he was obstinate, we started
to her assistance, but soon saw that she had
severed the right link from the fetters that
bound her. She had discovered Poe's sore toe,
and secured her deliverance by grinding her heel
heavily down upon it. The sudden fall from his
transport of joy into the most agonizing pain
man ever endured, had caused him to violently
push the innocent and justly revenged maiden
away. He now caught up the foot to which was
attached the miserable toe in both hands, and
went skipping round the room, and zigzaging

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 33
over the floor upon the other. The grating of
his teeth was distinctly heard by all present, and
I am sure that the grimace of his mouth and
general distortion of his features were quite suf
ficient to have frightened a boy of ten years half
to death. He seemed at first determined to
utter not a word, but the toe throbbed so vio
lently that it shook his very heart, until at
length he cried out in all the agony of despair,
"You have ruined my sore toe." As soon as we
could turn his face towards the door we all with
drew, Poe limping along, and scringing at every
step, while we were smiling and walking by his
side as nimbly as an Alpine fawn. When we
reached the shop we found the smith dropping the
linch-pin into its place, and the wagon being
ready we put it in motion. We began to relate
the circumstances which attended us at the house
that we had just left, and Poe in return com
menced giving each sentence a contradiction as it
dropped from our lips. The toe by this time had
became calm, but he was not able to tolerate the
odium which he conceived he had brought upon
himself by his conduct, and the signal victory
that the young lady had gained over him; but

34 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
a chance soon occurred for him to retrieve a por
tion of his lost character. We were soon to
encounter a scene of quite a different nature.
As we were travelling down beside the Holston,
we came upon a party engaged in shooting.
They had with them the common attendant of
the times, a lusty jug of whiskey; we stopped
the wagon, and started one of Jones's negroes to
the spring after a pail of water, which he took
up, and as he returned one of the men asked
him for a gourd-full, but the boy having been
ordered to hurry, was disposed to be true to his
master, and manifested a little unwillingness to
stop. At this the applicant rushed upon him,
took the pail, and dashed the water against the
ground. This brought Poe to the spot with a
volley of oaths, such as Ad Lazenberry never
was known to produce in his highest rage, and
just as he was about to leap upon the offender
with the spring of a tiger, another one ran
up behind him, and throwing his hands around his
head, attempted to gouge him, but Poe reached
back, grabbed him, and in the twinkling of an
eye hurled him over his head, and being more
than his equal, gave him a d.esperate _fisticufl5ng.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 35
In the mean time, a third seized Captain Doug
lass's gun; I sprang to his assistance, and we
soon had his rude hands_ thrown off. Here the
contest abated, but we did not leave until
they were satisfied that we would defend our
selves to the last. At this point we crossed the
river. The wagons passed on. I remained at
the bank with Poe, who desired to wash after the
fight. While we were here, several of these half-
cur, half-bulldog rowdies came at full speed on
their horses, with their rifles, and shouting in a
manner which proved to us that their object was
to oppress us with awe. They dashed into the
water on their side of the river, and while their
horses were drinking we went on after our guns,
having sent them forward in the train. When we
came up with the wagons we stopped them, and
cut a number of clubs for the negroes, and
ordered them when to strike, and om- guns being
taken out, we were ready for the second battle,.
Just at this time a wayfarer rode up from the
direction we were travelling, and perceiving our
attitude, inquired what brought us into it; we
informed him that we were awaiting the arrival
of a threatening mob, and desired that he should

36 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
tell them when he met them to come on, that we
were ready to accommodate them. "No," re
joined he, "I will stop their unholy career," and
galloped away towards the river, and this was the
last we ever heard of him or them.
The remainder of our journey lay through an
almost untravelled wilderness, the breadth of
which was about two hundred miles. We then
looked upon such a distance as almost an eter
nity,, while in these days of locomotives we
regard the same as but a span. We, however,
toiled on, cutting our way into the forest, and
one night where we had camped the Indians
stole one bed and two of our horses, but we
escaped the tomahawk and the scalping-knife,
which generally satisfied the traveUer in those
regions. We had not calculated our provisions
accurately. They gave out, and we were over
taken by want and hunger, but before we had
suffered seriously, a small bag of parched corn
meal was discovered in one of the wagons, and
for several days was meagrely given out to each
by a spoonful for a meal. This we bore very
well, in the hope that brighter days would dawn
for us all, and after the last small allowance had

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 37
been distributed, and hunger beginning to pinch
us sore, sure enough dame fortune smiled, bring
ing us upon a hunting camp," which was occupied
by Mr. Edmond Jennings, who provided us with
as much meat and meal as we desired, and which
lasted us until the twenty-fourth day of August,
which ended our journey in Cage's Bend, settled
by Colonel Cage, Lewis Crane, and one or two
others.

3*

38 / / LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.

CHAPTEE V.
Here I looked out upon the noble forest trees
and valleys waving with luxuriant cane, and as
I contemplated the wild scenery around me, I
wondered if the seeds of civUization which were
here being scattered would ever spring up, pros
per, and arrive at that maturity which I saw
upon the face of this delectable verdure ; and a
moment's reflection told me that God had never
reared these majestic oaks, these tall hickories,
and towering poplars, had never heaved these
beautiful hills, and levelled these green vales, and
supplied them with these purling little streams,
and this majestic river, to be for ever the habita
tion of yelling Indians, and howling wolves, and
hooting owls. And how delightful it is to me
now to look through the long vista of years,
extending back to the scenes of 1791, and con
trast them with the joyous prospects of 1858.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. S&-
Some families were in scattered settlements, three
or four mUes from us, on Station Camp Creek,
and the Indians were becoming so very trouble
some that it was necessary for the whites to form
a company, to prevent their depredations; and
Poe and myself entered the Ust for about three
months ; I spent the most of my time as a kind
of spy, and hunting upon both sides of the river,
and when my time was out, a party of bear
hunters were passing, on their route to the head
of Barren river, and proposed to have me along,
and having long since acquired a taste for hunt
ing, and especially a mania for larger game than
I had been in the habit of shooting, I leaped
into the ranks, and marched off with them, and
when we came into the hunting-grounds for bear,
pitched our camp and rested for the night. The
morning sun saw me plunge into the forest alone
for a hunt. I travelled on until late in the after
noon, and thought of returning ; but I hated the
idea of having killed no game, and could not
retrace my steps without a good deal of delibera
tion and regret ; but I was already far away from
camp, and to reach it by night must be off; but,
'alas for me, a lone wanderer in the wild wood.'?,

40 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
I had ventured far beyond my depth, not in a
sea of glory, as it turned out, but in a pathless
wilderness, and long before I should have reached
the camp I was lost ; and after wending my way
in directions which would lead me I knew not
ft
where, night arrested me under the wide-spread
boughs of the largest tree I have ever seen before
or since, I sat me down beside this mammoth of
the forest, and as the last vestige of the twilight
passed away, leaving " the world to darkness and
to me," I fell into a deep meditation upon the
nature and fate of man. But I shaU never be
able to recall my speculations, for just at the
time my thoughts were the profoundest I was
unfortunately frightened out of my wits by the
heinous howling of wolves, which was suddenly
set up by a whole pack, consisting certainly of
no less than a hundred, which had approached to
within a few rods of the spot I occupied. I
heard them for awhUe, and then kindling a little
fire, I threw a chunk at them, at which they
retreated a short distance ; and I was about to
say I slept ; but no, I could not have done it if I
had been so disposed, for when my Uttie fire had
died out, it seemed that they had only retreated

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 41
to increase their numbers and return, for as they
prowled about, the howling seemed to grow
louder and louder, and I knew not at what
moment I should be literally devoured. Sleep ?
no ! I only remained here in fear and trembling ;
now watching for the wolves to attack me, and
now earnestly looking for the first gleam of day.
At length the latter filled me with gladness, and
it may be imagined how eagerly I took advan
tage of it, and turned my back upon the great
tree, not, however, without stepping round it,
with a view to ascertain its size, which I made
out to be eleven feet in diameter, it being thir
teen steps round. This tree, I should have
mentioned, was a walnut, and I am informed that
it may be seen, much enlarged of course, and
still standing on the plantation of Mr. Ehodes,
some four miles from Lafayette, a pretty little
town in the county of Macon, and, as the story
runs, there have been about fifteen hundred squir
rels shot off of it since. When I left the tree I
gave it the name of Wolf C^mp. ,
The courses, which the day before were all
wrong to me, had become right, and I moved on
without any trouble towards my companions, and

42 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
before I had gone far I saw a buck coming
towards me, and shot him ; the second came, and
received the same fate ; and the third soon slept
beside them. I had to leave them, and went on'
to the camp, where for an hour I entertained my
fellows with a much longer story than I could
give at this period of my Ufe, The next day Mr.
Crane went out, and for fear of sharing my fate
took me along; nor had we deeply penetrated
the forest before our dogs commenced baying in
a way that convinced Mr. Crane that they had
struck the track of a bear. They were running
from us. We put off after them at our best
speed, each enthusiastic to' shoot; for while
Crane wished to sweU the great number he had
killed, I was on tiptoe to kill my first. We ran
ahead of each other alternately, continuaUy beg
ging of each other the privilege of shooting,
until finally he told me, if I would take good
aim, I might shoot. The last syllable had
scarcely escaped his lips before my good old
rifle was laying to my face, and my eye darting
along the unvarying barrel, and the trigger
touched — she fired. The monster fell dead upon
the ground, and, as Crane would have it, I leaped

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 43
the full length of my frame up into the air, so
overjoyed was I at my luck ; in fact, I felt as full
of glory aa though I had killed a whole army of
Indians. This bear fell upon a spot which has ever since
been distinguished as the residence of an old con
stituent of General Washington, Daniel B. Clai
borne, now aged about ninety years, and,
commencing with Washington, has voted in
every presidential election since. He likewise
served against the whiskey insurrection in
Pennsylvania in 1794, under Gov. Lee, of
Virginia, on the approach of whom the insur
gents laid down their arms. He has often
seen Washington, and never hears his name
called without feelings of the deepest emo
tion. He never went a man's security in his
life, or asked one to go his. He is the
father of Col. John Claiborne, clerk and master
at Lafayette, and is proud of having descend
ed from William Claiborne, so well known in
history. And now to descend from the sublime to the
ridiculous, or, to speak right out, from my highly
esteemed friends Crane and Claiborne to , one

44 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
Joshua Mounts, you will indulge me in a remark
or two about him.
Mounts was a kind of pot-merchant, who had
brought a boat-load of castings round to our
bend, and not finding a very ready sale for them,
owing to the limited number of settlers, and to
avoid paying board during his detention, proposed
a hunt with me ; and it being a thing for which
I was ever ready, I at once agreed to go. We
had riot entered the hunt fairly before I saw that
I must be a sort of servant for him, while he was
determined to act the gentleman; but this did
not make a particle of difference with me, for I
had never come out much a loser with such charac
ters, I took him to be a man who looked upon
himself as being better than any person else, I
waited on him very faithfully, but never could in
the first instance please him ; did not try, but he
was none the wiser, I could never make soup
to his liking, or any thing that we had to eat,
until at length, after several days, I had almost
effectually starved him out ; and it now becoming
necessary that he must swallow something, he
said, if I would make him some coffee he would
try to join me in a cup, I mean a' muscle-shell

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 45
full, for these constituted our cups and spoons.
Having nothing else out of which to make his
coffee, I took some ground parched-corn meal,
and soon had a large kettle-full ready. He
dipped into it, and I think when he had desisted
I could miss about a gallon. He soon began to
feel uneasy, and so much so that he after awhile
asked me what he should do ; I told him that he
must lie down on a bear-skin and let me cover
him with our blankets ; and he by this time was
the victim of so much pain that he rolled right
down, and I swaddled him up in the bear-skin
and blankets until I had excluded every breath
of air which might seek his body, and in addition
to these comforts the weather was unusually
warm. I now thought that this was my time to
wait on him, and to sweat his meanness out. I
made myself very busy skipping round and tuck
ing the blankets about, and pressing them upon
him ; I examined his face, observing not to raise
the blanket too high, lest he should enjoy the
fresh air, I saw the sweat beginning to roll.
He begged me to let his hands out ; but I told
him, "No." He implored me to uncover his
face, and beginning to fear from his groans that

46 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
I might be pressing him too closely for his safety,
I consented, but was forced to the necessity of
stepping round a contiguous bluff to prevent hia
seeing me laugh ; thinking however that he
might escape, I shook my sides awhile, and then
controUing my risibles, returned and ran round
as long as I could, and then tucking my head
cut for the rear of the bluff again. In this man
ner I continued to alternate my fits of laughter
and labor, to keep the blankets close to him,
until, while I had sweated nearly every thing but
his bones out of him, I had almost died a laugh
ing. From this out he had some excuse for being
waited on, and I could always serve such without
compunctions of conscience, I soon had him
recruited, however, on soup made of doe's bag,
which he had before refused, and long before our
hunt was at an end, he was wilUng to be waitman
turn about.
When we were ready to return we procured a
canoe, and came down the Cumberland by water;
and when we reached a point just opposite the
present residence of Mr, Basil Foley, we saw two
huge bears coming up the bank. We rowed to
the shore, and leaving Mounts in the canoe, I

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 47
took my gun and stepped out, ascended the bank,
and took a stand ; but the bears not making their
appearance, I feared that they had taken another
route, and in order to attract them I began to
bleat like a fawn, a practice which was common
among hunters, and continued until I concluded
that they were gone, and was just in the act of
leaving the spot, when I heard a sudden scraping
noise against some dry stinging-nettles. I looked
round, and, to my horror, the largest of the two
was coming bolting and snarling at me. In an
instant I faced him, and just having time to bring
the muzzle of my gun between him and me, I
fired, and without stopping to see the conse
quences, tumbled down the bank, narrowly
escaping a ducking; but when I recovered I
found him dead, and ready to be rolled into the
canoe, and it now being about sunset, we rowed
down to the island, just below where Joseph
Sumerset now lives, and camped, and next day
reached the bend.
During this summer, now nearly past, there
was a circuit rider preaching through the wilder
ness, and it was his custom to take what he termed
one "rest day" out of every four weeks to him-

48 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
self. He was in the habit of spending one of
these days first with one neighbor and then with
another, especially with those who had the most
comforts for him, and always finding such at the
house of my old friend Douglass, he would spend
an occasional day with him ; and but few days at
a time ever escaped, while I was about home,
without my being there likewise ; and the minis
try, a class of men for whom I have the highest
regard, need not fear that I will misrepresent the
body generally, by relating the following story
of one who undoubtedly was unworthy of so
high a calling. I have hunted more than I ever
preached, but, with all the time I ever employed
in slaying bears and buffaloes, I have faced the
pulpit and its worthy functionaries pretty regularly
on through a period of nearly a century, and
during all this time have known how to value its
benefits, and am weU aware, to use the language
of another, that the pulpit, blent with a thousand
memories, and hallowed by a thousand associa
tions, • consecrating the recollections of the past
and the hopes of the future, should never be
prostituted to unworthy purposes ; that it should
always stand the sentinel of truth and virtue.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 49
like Milton's personification of purity amid the
abandoned crew of Comus.
Our preacher, in fine, was a stiff, self-conceited
young man, who must be heard first and all the
time in society; who must decide all questions,
whether embraced within the scope of his very
superficial knowledge or not ; who, when he wished
to lounge, must put his boots on the best bed in
the house ; and when he wished to sit, must have
the most comfortable situation and chair, with
perhaps his feet on the next ; and at table must
be seated next the lady, where he could exercise
what he supposed to be a kind of ministerial
privilege, of gluttonizing for half an hour upon
every thing before him, and then delving into the
sugar-bowl for the remainder of the hour, and
not without returning the sugar-spoon into its
place well slobbered. And now he would get up
from the first table and light his long stem pipe
and puff away, until he had curled the fumes of
the tobacco into the nostrils and very throats of
the other guests, while they were being served at
the second. Though I could not kelp noticing
all this, I said nothing : he was a preacher. On
one occasion, however, when he had devoured his

50 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
meal and smoked his pipe, he went into an adjoin
ing room to loll, and without wishing to give any
offence or thinking that it would be any harm, I
went to the cupboard where he usually and vul
garly deposited his pipe and took it out, filled it
with tobacco, and began to smoke. He saw me,
and rose right up and came toward me. I at
once saw that I had committed an intrusion and
owed him an apology, and before he had time to
speak, I said, " Parson, I am taking the liberty of
smoking your pipe." " Yes," said he, " I perceive
you are, and I don't desire you to assume such
freedom again." He was a preacher. I said
nothing, but handed the pipe up. He seated
himself, and taking out his knife gave the stem a
complete scraping, especially that part which had
been in my mouth, I then told him, for I could
no longer hold my peace, that I had often and
again smoked one and the same pipe with as good
and as nice people as he was, and with people who
had never slobbered on a sugar-spoon, and after
ward placed it back into the bowl from which
whole parties had to be served. Here I was
willing to play qidts, but the bigoted creature
could not rest until he had used his utmost to

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 51
ruin me. I learned this, and concluded to follow
him a little farther, for I knew that he was not
one of those ministers of God around whom the
shield of Heaven is thrown, and celestial honors
cluster, and whose aim is the redemption of the
world, I heard of him at another house in the
neighborhood, and with more punctuality, perhaps,
than if he had been going to preach, attended.
I saw him roll in his meat and bread, and get up
and go to the fireplace, and send back a cloud
over the table. I watched him where he placed
his pipe, and when he went off to loll, I picked
my opportunity and stole it away. I now went
to the kitchen, obtained a bit of bread, called up
half a dozen dogs and rubbed the stem over them
and under them, carrying them one at a time
through the same process, until, thinking that I
had as much dog on the pipe as was in the owner,
I concluded to return it ; but I had never thought
the first time about old Toler, a dog that I was
about to slight ; so I caUed him up, and taking
hold of his taU, I rubbed the stem weU under
and over him, which caused him to yell at such
a rate that it brought one of the resident young
ladies to the door, and I was thus caught in the

52 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
act. I replaced the pipe as soon as I could, and
stood round until he woke up, whereupon he
marched up to the cupboard, took out the pipe,
and broke the spell of suspense in which I was so
effectuaUy bound by running the dog-flavored stem
into his dainty mouth. Glory enough, thinks I,
and went my way; and what made me nearly
kill myself a laughing, was to think he had been
silly enough to tell it and bring the notice of the
whole settlement down upon his conduct, which I
have since been informed had the effect of curing
him so far as to make him act ever afterward as
though he thought every person was made out of
dust, and by the same God that made himself.
But the summer was past ; the yellow leaves
were fallen: home-scenes had become monoto
nous; my heart panted for the forest and the
chase, I replenished my shot-bag, shouldered my
gun and began to wind my horn, which brought
my faithful old dog Double-head barking by my
side. He was a splendid body-guard, and when
he met a foe worthy of his steel, often reminded
me of the dog which .^lian carried before Alex
ander the Great, with which to prove to him the
value of the race, and which, despising all inferior

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 53
combatants, waited until the lion was turned loose
before him, and then rushing forward seized him
by the throat, and encountered him until his tail
had been cut off, and then till one leg had been
severed, and another and another until the lion
swung him, the cruelly-treated dog, round and
round without tail or limb, but which still held to
the monster's throat until having bled to death he
dropped off. He following, I called up my other
dogs and betook myself to the woods. In this
ranjble, as old uncle Simpson Bennet would say
after a game of sledge, " I had a merry through
of it." Many a fine old buck bounded high at
thekeen crack of my rifle and bounded no more,
and Double -head stood exultingly over him.
Many a swan did I shoot as they clumsily and
unsuspectingly strolled on the shore, and as they
commanded a thousand graceful attitudes, moving
at pleasure and proudly rowing in state on the
smiling river ; and again called them down while
their strong wings were cleaving the air.
During one of these wild-goose chases, I in
duced my old friend Dillard to go with me to the
river one day when a great many wild geese
were flying over, in order to shoot them on the
4

54 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
wing ; and he knowing more about the prayer-
book than a gun, and gunning was very awkward,
I had to load for him, and usuaUy loaded the
shot-guns very heavily. His eyesight not being
the best, and wishing to get from under the tim
ber, he concluded that he would walk out on the ice
and take a stand. At length a flock came over'
him and he began to take aim, but could not get
his bead until they were straight above him, which
causing him to lean back rather far, when he fire''
the old gun kicked, and the old man's heels were
in an instant upon a parallel with his head, both
being at least four feet from the ice, untU he
came down in the hardest fall I ever saw a man
get. But it was not that of Lucifer. He lay and
grunted awhile and scrambled up, took his head
into his hands, and leaving the gun went stagger
ing out, and not a goose had he quite killed. I
was sorry for the old man, but then I couldn't
help laughing.
I hunted by short excursions through this win
ter, at the close of which I had kUled swans and
geese enough to yield a sufficient quantity of
feathers to make a large bed, which I sold to
James Douglass for the handsome sum of one

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 65
specie dollar per pound; and this was not the
only fruits of my labor and fine sport, but a clear
receipt for my board and washing, as good hun
ters never had bills of this kind to adjust in this
age of the country.

'56 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,

CHAPTEE VI,
The bleak winter had been chased away by a
lovely spring, which passed so mildly into the
summer that one would think there was no good
reason for a division in the two seasons of the
year, save that one was the time for sowing
and the other growing; one was the time for
budding, and the other for blooming and ma
turing; but the brightest seasons are sometimes
fraught with the gloomiest and bitterest disasters,
and thus it might be said of the summer of 1792 ;
for with all its beauty, it brought with it in
numerable hosts of Indians ; nor had they been
long arrived, before they began to commit the
most atrocious depredations. They came with
thirst for our blood, and first satiated it by mur
dering a Mr. Ziglar, while he was out quietly and
honestly toiling in his little patch for bread with

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 57
which to feed a hungry family. The people
about the station heard the report 'of a gun, and
saw that the poor man had fallen. They watched
their chance, and ran out to bring the lifeless
body in. In this they succeeded, but not without
risking their own lives, for when they had picked
up the body, where the savages had so rudely laid
it down, and started back with it, the Indians
fired upon them at every advance toward the fort.
The savages now ran off, but their devilish deeds
had scarcely yet begun. When night came dark
ening on, they returned and set fire to the station
and house and environed all. It was evident that
a desperate scene must follow, and not only be
tween the hardy men of the fort and the yelling
host whose poUuted hands were already stained
with the innocent blood of Ziglar, but they had
made us stake the odds. The women and help
less children were in the fort, and had to share
our fate. The struggle came, and, alas, in the
hour of need two of our men, forgetful of. their
duty to the common cause, and to the weaker sex
with their babes, began to take care of them
selves by crawling out into the gutter and then
leaping off, but whUe one Black made his escape

58 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
unhurt, the other was tomahawked to death.
After seeing the forces thus weakened by the
cowardice of the strongest men, it became evi
dent that discretion in the balance was the better
part of valor, and that decision must be immedi
ate. Eather than be butchered and burned to
death, it was in a moment determined to stake all
upon a single hazard, and plunge into the storm
which howled without.
At this crisis, Eoger Gibson cried out to the
women and children to follow him, and bursting
the door open, rushed fearlessly out, firing upon the
enemy as he went, Mrs, Ziglar, with her infant
in her arms, foUowed and escaped ; but while a
number of others were killed, the kind-hearted
Miss Nelly Wilson and her sister were taken pris
oners. The station was left in ashes, and the
bones of some of its inmates in cinders. The
Indians, being encouraged by the success of this
dreadful night's work, determined to destroy the
whole settlement. They sent the Misses Wilson,
with their hearts panting like that of a captured
bird, to the nation ; where they remained for a
long time with the Indians, until at length some
traders procm-ed their freedom, and they were

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 59
returned uninjured, without having suffered insult
or violence, to their friends.
The land upon which the station was situated
is owned by the heirs of James Charlton, deceased,
and the traveller going from Gallatin to Harts-
ville, on the old dirt road, who may desire to see
the spot so fatal to many of the early settlers,
may inquire at the house of Mr. J. A; Mentlo, a
very gentlemanly young man, who will take plea
sure in pointing it out. We visited the old sta
tion a few weeks since for the first time in sixty
years, and when I found myself upon the sad
spot, treading the soil which had drunk the blood
of my fellow-pioneers, the joyous scenes of th
present gave way, and the horrid events of the
past stood up before my mind as fresh as the real
ities of yesterday. I saw in my imagination the
vast and stately forest, interspersed with waving
fields of cane. In the midst of these wilds I saw
a little band of pioneers pent up in the narrow
limits of small fortifications, around which the
heinous wolves and the atrocious savages alike
skulked and yelled in all their demon-like nature.
I heard the terrible report of the gun that killed
the unfortunate Ziglar, and saw him being borne

,60 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
a corpse upon a rude litter from the spot where
he fell, and seemed to hear the volley of guns
and the whizzing of bullets, about the pall-bearers
as they bore him along toward the fort. I heard
the report of the savages' guns at night, and their
horrid yelling. 1 saw the station in devouring
flames, and the fearful butchery going on, while,
alas, I heard the women and children scream as
the fatal blade was sunk to their hearts. I saw
the blood gush amid the scramble for life, until
the groans of the dying closed out the lamenta
ble scene.
The visitor to this spot may still see the ruins
of the old station, and though it be in dim obscu
rity, he will yet find much to interest him. A
part of the outlines may be traced by three trees :
one mulberry, which bends over a portion of the
identical spot, as in the attitude of mourning the
fate of those who were murdered there more than
half a century ago, and two cedars, the emblems
of which seem to say, let the memory of, the
unfortunate victims be ever green in our souls.
If he looks a little below this he will perceive a
sparkling rivulet, the murmuring of which seems
but the constant and solemn requiem, of those

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 61
who bled near its moss-covered banks; and if
there late in the afternoon he will behold a beau
tiful sunset, and as he gazes on him sinking like
a mass of blood upon the earth, he cannot avoid
thinking of the remaining old pioneers whose sun
of life is also setting, we hope to rise full-orbed
in a better world.
Soon after this, a Frenchman and a half-breed
Indian, Findleston, came to Nashville, a place
then scarcely deserving the title of a village, for
it consisted of a few little log -cabins, built on
the shanty order. They informed the people that
the hostile tribes had a plot on foot by which to
commence their operations of destruction, and
the information came far enough in advance of
them to get a general circulation in every direc
tion. It reached us ten days prior to the attack,
which was appointed to take place at the full of
the ensuing moon. We lost no time in parleying ;
there seemed to be none to lose ; but we set about
constructing forts to prevent being butchered.
Having gathered up our implements we started
to work, and work we did in a manner that
perhaps was not unequalled by our ancestors
when they were throwing up the redoubt on Bun-
4*

62 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
ker's Hill; but before the time came, our forts
were completed, and we in readiness to give our
enemies a warm if not a welcome reception. We
watched the pale queen of night as she rose even
ing after evening, and looked down smilingly on
our Uttie band. At length one night she ascended
full-orbed in all her modest glory ; we began to
look in earnest for our foes, nor did we look in
vain ; for the largest Indian force ever mustered
in Middle Tennessee had already marched into
the bowels of the land, without impediment, and
were ready for the bloody scene. They were
under the command of Capt. Jonna Watts and
Chiachattalley or Tom Tunbridge, the same In
dian who applied the torch to and burnt Siglar'g
Fort, When they had . reached a point from
which they heard the bellowing of the cattle
about the fort, they halted, and in determining
which they should first lead their warriors against,
Nashville or Buchanan's Fort, they had a serious
disagreement. The Creek chief stood out for
attacking the latter, while the Cherokee chief
contended that they should first go and take
Nashville, and destroy Buchanan's on their re
turn. Watts exhausted every argument, but see-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 63
ing that he could not bend the views of the
haughty Chiachattalley, said, " Then go take the
fort, and I -will stand by and see you do it," This
was all the Creek chief wanted to hear. He
gave orders to his men, and they approached the
fort undismayed, in every manoeuvre showing
themselves full of confidence to the brim, and the
daring chief boldly leading the attack with a
chunk of fire in his hand with which to burn the
station, and without pausing for a moment, cried
out, "Who commands that fort?" The answer
was, " Capt, Buchanan," The men of the fort
in return cried out, "Who commands there?"
The answer was, " Capt. Jonna Watts." The
Creek chief by this time had fearlessly advanced
up to the very walls of the fortification. He
stooped down and was in the act of kindling the
fire, and he stooped to never rise again. Capt.
Buchanan's men extinguished the fire, and his
Ufe with it, by a shower of bullets from their un
erring rifles. Others advanced to pick the body
up, but the same rifles had been reloaded, and
they were laid down by the side of their dead
chieftain ; but instead of intimidating the balance,
this seemed to inspire them with fiercer rage.

64 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
Now the fight began to reach its highest acme,
and in the midst of its awful sublimity. Watts
reeled and fell : a blunderbuss had been discharged,
and a missile had struck him. He was immedi
ately borne bleeding and fainting from the fatal
field on a horse-litter; but still courageous, their
numbers were rushing against the trembUng little
battlements, as an avalanche from the brow of a
mountain ; but Buchanan's men stood firmly up
to and fearlessly pressed their noble bosoms against
the inner walls of the fort, rapidly loading and
firing, and dreaming of nothing but a glorious
victory, which they were resolved to achieve or
be entombed with the dead. The hoarse voice of
their old Cincinnatus-like commandei^, who had
left his plough to lead the armies of his country
to battle and to glory, was distinctly heard amid
the clamorous volley of guns, as it were the thun
der which rolled between each broad sheet of
lightning that flashed along the walls, and now
when ©ne would think that his voice had strained
the last nerve in the fort to cords of steel, it was
but to show the forge for a higher tempering.
Still, another more powerful incentive was spring
ing up, which as the poet has said would make a

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 65
coward brave. Mrs. Buchanan, who had been
moulding bullets with her own hands, now caught
their eyes ; she was actually on the battle-ground,
amid the terror of the conflict, with them in her
apron, busily flying to and fro, distributing them
as she went to her heroic defenders ; enough to
make an American soldier press through fire and
storm, and pour out his last ¦ precious drop of
blood upon the altar of his country. This won
derful woman has left to the Eepublic as a legacy
her descendants, who would number, we think,
over a hundred warriors, who are now able to bear
arms, and the most of whom live in Middle Ten
nessee. Indeed, commencing with that great-
souled man Moses Buchanan, of Eutherford, they
people half the country from thence to Nash
ville. The least we can say in addition for her
noble self is, that she was to the Indian wars of
her day, what such women as Frederica de Eie-
desel, Mrs. Bratton, Mrs. Israel, Lydia Darrah,
and Mrs. Adair, were to the wars of the Eevolu
tion. The Indians at length, seeing that they were
badly whipped, withdrew, and a guard was ap
pointed for the several forts in the settlement.

66 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
and I being one of the guards was sent to Doug
lass's Fort in the -vicinity. Before I took the
post assigned me, I had orders to shoot the first
Indian I saw and run into the fort, the gate of
which was to be thro-wn open for me at the report
of my gun, and I had not been out above an hour
before I perceived some persons coming toward
me whom I took to be Indians. I caught up my
gun and levelled her upon them, but the distance
was great, and a second thought admonished me
not to be so -hasty — that I had better bring her
down and determine whether they were friends
or foes, and if the latter tO let them get opposite
to me, which wcAild bring them within fifteen steps,
and fire ; but, to my satisfaction, on their nearer
approach, I saw that it was my old acquaintance
Tom George and others coming in from another
fort, and I guarded here in vain, the Indians
never returning again.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 67

9-1// CHAPTEE VII,

i^

The closing of the above scenes appeared only
to be the harbinger of others, which, tliough of
quite a different nature, may be equally interest
ing, for though the clouds that hung over Bucha
nan's Station had been rolled away, and the
light of that sunny joy which always follows vic
tory had taken their place, the events of the
early settlements had not all trai^spired which
make up the history of those time^,; and much of
that part immediately connected with my own
career is yet untold, '
Winter had returned ; " December's surly
blasts" were laying "fields and forests bare;"
and at a time when the rude winds were sweeping -
and sighing over the earth, I was employed by a
trader to take a peroque, and "go below Nashville
after a- load of lead; and having, hired Tom
George and a negro man to_^assist me, I

68 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
them and embarked. We had good luck in
reaching the spot and procuring the lead. We
now untied our cable, and began. to bush-hack it
in a homeward direction, and after pulling and
pushing on until late in the afternoon, we reached
the mouth of Stone's river, and being hungry,
cold, and tired, we concluded to land and try to
kill some game, it being our only dependence, to
get a little meat for supper. By the time we had
cabled up, the sun was down, and George and
myself took our guns, and leaving the negro at
the peroque to kindle a fire by i-wiiich to cook, we
started out, and had only gone about two hun
dred yards before I heard a stick crack, and so
delighted was I for the moment, that-I forgot the
constant dangers to which a visitor was always
exposed upon penetrating these wilds. I had
thought the limb was broken by the heavy tread
of a bear. I heard another, and another, and
was actually running in the direction of the
noise, when suddenly a dampening reflection came
upon me. I paused; perhaps, thought I, that
noise may be made by something worse than a
bear. Just at this moment I heard something
falling like so many loads from the shoulders of

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 69
men. In order to test what was afloat, and
rather than return to the boat without something to
eat, and perhaps without a good foundation upon
which to establish my alarm, as well as to prevent^
George and the negro from bringing me under
the epithet of sheer cowardice, I crept up within
shooting distance, and peeping through the cane,
I saw that the noise I had heard was made by a
party of Indians, who, as I had conjectured, were
throwing down turns of wood, with which to build
a fire. With as little noise as possible I returned
to the boat, and finding George already in, we
rowed for the opposite side of the river, and after
ascending about two miles, we landed near a
cabin, from the inmates of which we begged pro
visions, and camped for the night ; and the next
day we reached our destiny, having been exposed
all the route to the treachery of the Indians.
At this time I resided at the house of  ,
who had a large family of boys, one of
whom, James, was a very haughty young man,
and from some cause or other I began to feel
quite an interest in ; him, and my reflections
induced me to think, that if the proper means
could be employed to humble him, he would be

70 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
more useful to himself and fellow-men, and better
calculated to meet the demands for which his
God had designed him. For a beginning, one
day, when the weather was extremely fine for
the season of the year, I contrived to get him to
go a fowling with me. I expected a change of
weather, but never said a word to that effect to
him, for I well knew how tender he was, havmg
kept himself housed up all the previous part of
the winter, while it mattered little with myself
whether rain, hail-storm, or snow came, for such
things had no terrors for me, and really I desired
all three, for I believed he needed a great deal of
hardening. According to my own suggestion,
we had provided ourselves with but one quilt.
The first seven miles brought us to as fine a little
lake as we had ever seen, and in time to kill
several wild geese and as many swans, out of a
number that were swimming upon its smiling face.
We had not gone many miles beyond this before
night overtook us, when we sought the thickest
spot of cane in our view for a resting-place, and
by means of a little dry tow and a flash in the
pan we produced fire enough to take effect on a
pile of chunks, which were soon flaming up, and

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 71
making us feel very cheerful, my companion
made happy by the prospects he thought he had
of a good night's comfort, and myself, who
always guess well at the weather, with those of a
very bad one for him. And alas for the poor
young gentleman ! about eight of the hour-glass
the sky became clouded ; the wintry winds began
to moan among the tree-tops and the cane ; the
rain began to flow down in heavy torrents. I
turned my face aside and smiled. I knew the
work was going on swimmingly. The rain con
tinued to pour. I beheld his eyes fixed upon the
fire. In its warmth he had embarked all his
hopes for comfort, and freighted all his aims
against cold. The rain, if any odds, rolled down
with increased rapidity. The fire began to dis
appear, and his eyes to widen ; the last spark,
smiling wishfully in the face of its destroyer,
was struggling to be seen. His eyes now
stretched into a wild stare. It was all I could do
to contain myself. I pressed my hands heavily
upon my sides, and being already brought to a
half-squatting position, I thought I should split a
laughing at the long sigh, almost amounting to a
deep groan, he fetched as the only remaining

72 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
spark winked out. "Now the fire is out," said
I, " and the wood so wet that it is impossible to
rekindle it." James here broke his silence by
commencing to curse his luck. The rain-drops
congealing far above us, began to fall in great
flakes of snow, which in a few hours lay fourteen
inches upon the ground. This was foUoWed by a
sudden increase of cold, and the sleet began to
fall like hail from a thunder-cloud, and the
weather became so intensely bitter that certaiply
the thermometer, had there been one in this
dreary region that night, would have dropped its
mercury to twenty below zero, James was now
shivering with wet and cold, and cursing the very
Euler of the tempestuous night; but to no pur
pose. The snow and sleet at this time afforded
us a little' light. We saw the cane already grown
weary under its icy habiliments ; bowed down and
interlocked, and our camp environed on every
side as by the walls of a prison. The cold be
came still more intolerable. The old quilt was
frozen as stiff as a board, and to lay down without
it we thought we must freeze to death, and yet
we had no space in which to walk for exercise,
and while I laughingly jumped up and down in

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 73
one spot, James cursed and " nursed his wrath to
keep his anger warm," in another. At length
said I, in a calm tone, " James, what are we to
do to avoid freezing to death ?" He answered,
" There is nothing that we can do ;" and the
way he said it savored so much of resignation,
that I thought then was my time to strike, and I
immediately summoned a man by the name of
Shakspeare to my aid, and changing his words to
fit the occasion, commenced soliloquizing in a
very serious tone :
" To .be, or not to be, that is the question ;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The rains, sleets, and snows of this outrageous night ;
Or to take courage 'gainst a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them ? To die, to sleep —
No more ;^-and by a sleep to say we end
The aching of our fingers and toes, and the frost
That we are here heir to : 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die ! ay, there's the rub ;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
¦When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long a Ufe."
At this he interrupted me, saying, "Joe, I
shall freeze to death," I again turned my face

74 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
aside until I could recover from a fit of laughter
which was about to burst out, and upon regain
ing possession of myself looked round, arid said,
"I think by one plan we can just keep from
freezing to death, and it will be a tight squeeze;"
and while his teeth shattered, he wrung his
hands, and cried, " How?" I told him that we would
have to lie down, and cover each other alter
nately with ourselves. He was ready to accept
even the most hopeless terms. So I told him, as
an experiment, I would Ue down and let him
cover me first. "No," .said he; "let me Ue
down and you cover me first," "No," I re
joined; "you must let lae lie down." Here
he flew into a kind of pas®fl, and said, " Well,
by G — d, land, there's no use in talking about
it until we will both have to Ue down dead," I
landed, not, however, without thinking that the
work was going on swimmingly. He lit upon.
me, so to speak, like a duck upon a June bug,
and, unlike the same, shivered until the vibra-
' tions from his frame shook my whole body, and
really caused me to perspire. We had agreed to
alternate our position, every half houy, but before
he had been covering me above fifteen minutes,

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 75
he called to know if his time was not out, and I
told him, that from the way he kicked I thought
it was nearly over with him. " I do not mean
that," said he; "I want to know if I have not
been on you my half hour ?" " 0, no," said I,
"nothing like it." He screwed on about ten
minutes longer, and for fear he might be too far
gone, I consented for him to get off, and roll
under me; I raised myself upon my all-fours,
and down I came upon him, and, although I was
a small man, and he, on the contrary, very stout,
he came so near drawing the last inch of himself
under me, that I felt for the time like a good-
sized fellow. At length, however, though I knew
better, I told him my time was out; but he
remonstrated, "No, no, no; not half;"- I was
quiet a few minutes, and again told him that I
knew my time was out, and he swore that I was
mistaken, for that I had not been on him half as
long as he had been on me. I stayed up my full
half hour, and then throwing my arms around
him, rolled him over, and took his place ; and he -
crawled up, and began to shake, for while I had
partially warmed him, the -winds began anew to
whistle with a hollow murmur along the white-

'76 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
capped sea of cane, and he was less prepared to
receive it than before, nor do I believe he covered
me ten minutes before he swore by the hell above,
as he termed it, and the heaven below, that half
an hour was too long for mortal man to live on
top at this stage of the weather ; but I made him
grin and bear it, until at length he became so
humble that he, like the haughty Queen Eliza
beth, cried out, in substance, "Millions for one
inch of time." At length day dawned, and
found him still covering me, and we agreed that
there never had been such a night of trouble in
the known world. We now worked until sun up
untangling cane and brush, which was necessary
to secure our deliverance from the snow-bound
prison; and I never shall forget the rising of
.that morning's sun. Were I to live a thousand
years, the scene would doubtless still linger a bril
liant spectacle upon my mental vision. The
morning was clear beyond comparison ; the land
was overspread with a spotless sheet ; every thing
was ice-bound ; the tree-tops were bowing until a
sufficient stroke against their trunks would have
caused them to have thrown down a thousand
glittering pearls; each plant, every shrub

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 77
groaned underneath the weight of radiant gems ;
not a stump or stone but could support its hun
dred jewels ; not a fallen oak, or elm, or heap of
brush, but could boast its myriad of sparkling
diamonds ; and now imagine the early sun, in his
gorgeousness of glory, lending his dazzling
beams to the brilliancy of the scene, and you
have a miniature of the original, and must let us
go on with our story. We succeeded in kindling
a little fire ; after it was light, and we had got out
of the thickest of the cane, and after a good
thawing of the quilt and my frozen friend, we
started out, and coming to a more open part of
the woods, we discovered some large flocks of
geese, which we shot until we had added a consi
derable number to that we had killed the previous
afternoon, and returned home.
James, upon his arrival, swore that he would
never go so far again upon a hunt, but that he
could, camp at home when night came. Long
fellow had not written in those days, or perhaps
he had not nursed the hearthstone so closely, or
become so impatient in his undertakings ; he had
never said —
5

78 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
" Let us, then, be up and doing, .
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to -wait."
I determined to get him out agairi if possible,
and after so long a time he agreed to go with me
to hunt bears, provided I would return the same
night, and sleep at home. We started, and
knowing that he was no woodsman, I began to
meander, and soon had him lost, and in a condi
tion to render him easily convinced that he was
going towards one point, when in reality he was
going directly in the direction of another.
About three o'clock P. M., he proposed returning;
I agreed, and we started, and every step carried
him farther and farther from home, while I was
continually laughing confidentially to myself, and
thinking how badly he should find himself mis
taken. Just before night I told him that we
had unquestionably missed our way. He hoped
not ; but upon my pointing to the evening star,
which I just now pretended to discover, he cried
out, "WeU, d  n the luck." I told him that
there was no use to .blaspheme God nor man, for

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 79
we had to camp out. He cursed a little more,
and went about gathering up brush and chunks
for fuel, and here we rested until the next morn
ing, and left for home, having to pack a bear,
which I should have mentioned that we killed on
the previous day. When we reached Spencer's
creek, in the territory which Wilson now em
braces, we found that it had risen so from the
rains and melting snows, that it was impossible
for us to cross without swimming, and as we
could not venture into it with the bear on either
of our horses, we concluded to make a raft, and
freight the meat over, and then came the tug;
we mounted, and after a little altercation as to
who should enter first, I succeeded in getting him
to take the lead, thinking all the while of the
adage which instructs, us to always be behind in
water, but before in the woods. His horse
reached the deep water, and instead of swimming
like mine when he reached the same point, he
began to plunge at a fearful rate ; the rider saw
- that with all his efforts he could not stick on him,
and would be compelled' to conform to the neces
sities of the crisis, which forced him to lunge off
into the water ; and when he after so long a

80 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.,
time rose, for I am sure he went to the bed of
the stream, he made for the shore he had jusit
left, it occurring to me in the meantime that
things were stUl going on swimmingly. He said
nothing until he reached a point at which he
could touch bottom. Here he stood up, and at
the top of his voice cursed all the newly-
invented oaths of the day, and then turning upon
those long since made threadbare, cursed all
of those, and continued cursing until, exhausted
for wind, he set up a horrid grin, and walked out.
The horse followed mine, as he would have done
at first had I taken the lead, and landed about
the same time I did. I now took the raft and
ferried the immersed rider over ; but I must now
take my leave of James, and though I had
effected his complete baptism, I shall ever be dis
posed to doubt whether I had made the necessary
change in him or not, but am sure that if it had
been his lot to have followed me much longer, he
had been quite a different person.
This brings me upon an occurrence which I
shall relate word for word, and action for action,
as it took place.
In the times of which I havp just spoken, J

LlFB OF" JOSEPH BISHOP. 81
ascertained that I could economize a little by
manufacturing my own saltpetre and gunpowder,
and there being a great many fine hickory trees
which had been previously deadened, I cut a
number of them down, and made a log-rolling,
and among my invited assistants was a young
Mr. Smith, who was notorious for his indolence,
having been accused publicly by a merry, droll
fellow in the vicinity of being too habitually idle
to shut his eyes when he went to sleep. He
lived near by, but would not come and help.
We, however. Succeeded without him, I being in
the meantime resolved to take my revenge upon
him by a bit of pleasantry, which I had been
busy in devising, I proceeded to burn my heaps,
which yielded me sixteen large tubs of fine ashes,
and to get them to the house they had to be car
ried on the^fehoulders a long distance. The first
tub I carried myself, and when I had emptied it I
good-humoredly said to the lady, that I intended
to make that lazy fellow bring up all the balance.
She dbubted the success of m^ contrivance, upon
which I told her that there was a talk of a
State's warrant being taken out for the arrest of
a man in the neighborhood, (calling his name,)

82 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
and I am convinced, continued I, that Smith has
heard all about it; besides, madam, you know
that he is not to be numbered among the bravest
of men ! " True enough," rejoined the lady, as
she laughingly turned away, I now procured a
sheet of paper, wrote on it, folded it, pushed it
into my pocket, went out in the yard, and called
Smith, He answered me and came, I slapped
my hand, sheriff-like, upon his shoulder, an opera
tion which I guess your readers never had per
formed on them, and looking him steadily in the
eyes, said, "Mr, Smith, I summon you in the
name of the State to take the desperate Mr,
 ." He demanded my authority; I drew
forth the fictitious warrant, and upon reading it
to him, he immediately began to apologize, and
beg most lamentably, wanting me to summon a
young Mr, Dillard; but I, with a gJeat deal of
gravity, said, " Smith, I am actually too tired to
go after him, having labored hard to roll my logs
and burn my ashes, of which I have made an
excellent lot, and again if I take time to run
after Dillard, merely to accommodate you, I will
lose them; and you must not expect to be re
leased ; so go and do your duty, or you must suffer

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 83
the penalty of the law." "But," said he, "I
don't want to kill the man, and I know that I
shall have it to do whenever I attempt to take
him." "I know that very well," said I, "and
for this reason we have selected you to take the
desperado, believing you, as we do, to be a brave
and fearless man." Hearing this, " Go," said
he, " and summon Dillard ; I will work in your
place and carry up all your ashes." Thinking
that the work was going on swimmingly, I pre
tended to start after Dillard, leaving Smith to
sweat under the heavy tubs; and when I re
turned I saw all riiy ashes securely sheltered, and
that I had thus made a bird sing that could but
would not sing.
I met Smith many years after the above occur
rence, and saw that the old scene still lingered in
his mind, and, as the same wag of whom we have
before made mention said at the time of its hap
pening, he had been too lazy to ever forget it.

84 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.

CHAPTEE VIII,
The winter having terminated, the spring of
1793 opened very beautifully, and began to call
forth her myriads of natural charms ; but just as
my mind was beginning to be filled with admira
tion and delight by the prospects of the promis
ing season, arid I to enjoy deUghtful anticipations
as to the happiness which should be mine during
this lovely period, I stumbled, as it were, and
fell into the hands of one Alexander Douglass,
an unprincipled fellow, whose business it was to
trade with the Spaniards, and who, in company
with a Frenchman, had come to our neighbor
hood. On his arrival he made it known that he
wished to employ hands to go with him to Kas-
kaskia, in the country now embraced by Illinois,
Besides containing the oldest document in the
State, which is a petition to Louis XV. for a
grant of common fields, specifying the great

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 85
losses to which the people were subjected the year
previous by an extraordinary flood, this town be
longed to the great chain of posts which stretched
from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi,
near the banks of which it was situated, where
Okaw river enters into it, opposite Mizzier ; and
I had a natural curiosity to see it, and upon con
ditions that a friend of mine, Wells Eobins, could
be induced to go, I agreed that I would accom
pany Douglass. He consented, and we departed
on the journey, which we pursued finely to the
mouth of the Ohio, where Douglass left us to go
down to Ainsley Griss, now New Madrid, in Mis
souri, while we were to ascend to Kaskaskia ; and
when we arrived, the young Frenchman, who had
accompanied us from Cumberland, introduced me
to his kind old mother and father, and I found
their house an excellent home for many weeks.
I soon picked up a number of French words;
could call for any thing at table, say good morn
ing, good evening, inquire the way to a place,
and the price of an article, etc. ; but I loved my
mother tongue too well to desire a continued resi
dence in this, although it was one of the kindest
families under whose roof I had ever sought or
5*

86 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
received protection. I began to look out for a
boarding-house where the EngUsh was spoken,
and meeting with the high-sheriff, Jones, who
could speak my language nearly as well as his
own, I went to live with him. One portion of
my time I passed on his farm, and the other at
my favorite employment, hunting and shooting
with the Indians, who had camped around the
town, having come hither in great numbers, as
was their custom to do every fall, to trade with
the French and Spaniards, bringing their peltry,
bear's oil, roots, mocassins, etc., and receiving in
return blankets, calico, red prints most pre
ferred, beads, silver rings, and brooches, made
by the Spaniards for the trade ; and whiskey, a
single drink of which would perhaps consume
the price of a skin which they had stripped from
the once bounding roe, the fleet animal, to cap
ture which had cost them, as like as not, a whole
day's hard pursuit, besides packing it a long dis
tance to market.
To give incidents as they occurred, upon one
occasion after we had retired to bed and fallen to
sleep, our slumbers were interrupted by a rapid
succession of screams which broke the stillness

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 87
of the night, and which we recognized to be a
female voice. So startled were Jones and myself,
that both, moved by the same impulse, sprang to
our feet and hurried to the scene of distress with
out even stopping to put on our clothes. An
Indian had forced his way into the house whence
the cry proceeded, and for the purpose of com
mitting depredations, the nature of which are yet
unknown. When we entered, the woman's hus
band was holding the Indian round the waist, and
without pausing or asking any questions, we seized
and dragged him out into the yard, but upon our
releasing him he ran back into the house. We
dragged him out again and with a continued savage
yell he ran away, leaving us to think from his
actions that he was a maniac, or had triumphantly
succeeded in deceiving us.
One morning after this I went, as I was in the
habit of doing, to the river to wash, and while
I was laving my hands in the stream, a party of
seven Indians approached me and made signs
that they desired to cross, and I in return made
signs which gave them to understand that they
might get into the boat, and as soon as they were
on board I pushed out into the river ; before we

88 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
had reached the opposite bank, one of the party
who stood second from me reached over the first
and pulled a handkerchief from my head, and
after spreading it out as though to see the size
and the figures upon it, took hold of one corner,
drew it lengthwise through his hand, and tied it
round his waist. I paid no further attention to
him until the boat struck the shore, when all went
out but him, and then he attempted to pass me
with my handkerchief, but I ran my hand into the
belt it had formed around him, and with a sudden
and violent jerk, brought him back to the very
centre of the boat ; at which he became very in
dignant, and while his lip curled with scorn, he
untied it and dashed it at my feet.
It was a very common thing when the Indians
came into Kaskaskia, from their hundred tents
which spotted the confines of the town, for them
to return gloriously drunk, and when this was the
case, the squaws might be seen exhibiting a great
deal of precaution, for they well knew the despe
rate ferocity of their nature at such times ; as they
would be coming home singing their wild drunken
songs, as they were styled, and began busUy to
put the axes out of their way, and remove from

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 89
their reach all the billets of wood, sticks, and
stones, lest they should kill each other with
them. But with all the caution of the squaws,
an Indian chief was slain in one of these drunken
overtures, and I noticed that they sought and
selected from the masses, without regard to his
own family, those who were considered the best
criers, whose duty it -was to assemble at stated
times around the house in which the fallen chief
had lived, and bewail his loss.
During my stay, my landlord, Jones, left to
convey some public messages to Vincennes, which
place he reached in safety, but as he was returning
he was taken prisoner and adopted as the son of
an old Indian, After a good long stay, however,
he procured his release by giving his note to his
new parent for the sum of one hundred and fifty
dollars, and thus, after so long a confinement,
made his escape and returned home without any
other injury except loss of time, for he of course
never liquidated the debt which he had incurred
to be free.
The next thing I noted was that the greatest
insult which could be given to an Indian warrior
was to call him a woman. This I learned by

90 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
being out with Jones near where some Indians
were talking, and seeing one assume a certain
posture, I was led to inquire why he did it,
and Jones informed me that he had been hereto
fore conquered, and that it was a stipulation in
their treaties that a conquered warrior should be
called a squaw.
I will now wind up these short and scattering
stories by giving you an account of a shooting
match I had at Kaskaskia, with an Indian. It
was my habit during my stay to frequently stroll
among the tents, notice the habits of the Indians,
and whenever an opportunity would offer to take
a shoot at a mark with one of them, I was sure
to take instantaneous advantage of it; and in one
of these peregrinations I wore a velvet jacket
with bright buttons upon it, and catching the eye
of an Indian whose fancy it wonderfully struck,
he advanced and by signs gave me to understand
that he would stake his new beaver hat against it
and shoot with me for the two. Agreed, gestured
I, and holding up three fingers and pointing at
two of them, by which means to make him under
stand that I meant to shoot the best two out of
three; but he shook his head and held up one

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 91
finger, meaning the first shot. I nodded my
head for an acceptance of his terms, and the tar
get now being set up we shot, and upon examina
tion of the mark I picked up my jacket and the
hat, but he opposed my having them on the
ground that we were to shoot the best two in
three, and having great confidence in my aim
and to avoid a difficulty, I staked up both articles
again. The target was again fixed up. He shot.
His ball took effect near the centre, but no
matter, I levelled my rifle and fired, and what
remained for me to do was to take into possession
my plunder, for I had knocked the cross clear
out. And now, after having endeavored to enter
tain you with the foregoing, I find the next in
course is that of
MT GREAT HUNT WITH ANDERSON.
About the time above referred to, an old ex
perienced hunter, Anderson by name, having
been struck — as he expressed himself — with my
success as a gunsman when from time to time he
had noticed my luck in shooting -with the Indians,
proposed to me to take a hunt with him. And
having long since grown tired of Kaskaskia — a

92 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
place in which I as a poor man had no desire to
remain, unless I could make more than mere ex
perience, and this had been my fate ever since
my arrival, for that cur of all curs, the ungrate
ful swindling Alexander Douglass,* never paid
me a solitary cent for my trip — one can im^
agine how eagerly I accepted the invitation of
the old hunter, and joined him for a tour of two
or three months.
We provided a large kettle, the substance of
which being very thin rendered it quite Ught, a
butcher-knife, a hatchet, and some other necessa
ries, as our guns, ammunition, etc., and on the
morning of the 20th day of May, 1793, we de
parted for the Big Saline, aiming to reach a
point now known as the Salt Works. We trav
elled on all day, and about the time the shades
of night began to fall upon the beautiful land
scape which we were entering, " and all the air a
solemn stillness hold," we found ourselves about
twenty-five miles on our journey. We now con
cluded to make arrangements for camping, and
after we had hobbled our horses-having but one,
* No kin to Elmore and Ila Douglass.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 98
which we rode time about — Anderson took his
gun and started out to kill some meat for supper,
leaving me to make Up a fire ; but not being able
to bear the idea of camp-keeping when at the
same time my comrade's rifle was ringing through
the forest, I dropped all, and catching up mine,
bounded away in an opposite direction into the
wilderness, and soon had a fine deer siretched
upon the ground, and another and another, until
three had fallen. We met, at the camp, Ander
son with one poor turkey, which could not have
been eaten even in the absence of other food
without first skinning it, for the ten thousand
ticks that were gnawing into its body. But I
had done the work. We cast the filthy bird aside
and skinned my three deer, prepared venison,
and after a hearty and well-relished meal retired.
The next morning we set out again, first one rid
ing and then the other, and after travelling on
for a couple of days we came upon buffalo
signs, and in a little while we reached what is
known as Knight's Prairie, Illinois, in which
there was a large lick, and pausing a minute on
the confines of this great opening, we concluded
to separate ; Anderson to go round, and myself

94 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP,
take the lick in my route to a point of woodland
were we had been informed water might be found,
and at which we were to await each other's com
ing. Anderson took his course and I struck off
in the direction of the lick and trudged along
until I came in sight, when I discovered two
large-sized buffaloes, having proceeded hither to
enjoy in quiet the luxury of licking, perhaps to
have their blood enriched by seasoning the fresh
green grasses which they had been mowing, and
to whet their appetites for a new supply by tak
ing into their maws the saline substances which
they were so fond of, I drew a little nearer, with
a tread as light as that of a cat upon a barn-floor,
and made another pause, for I knew that the
buffalo was a very dangerous animal, and in
finitely more so on the prairie plains than in the
woods, because in the latter their velocity would
be impeded by getting their horns tangled in the
bushes and vines, so as to give those who were
the object of their pursuit a chance to escape;
while on the plains they must be overtaken, gored
to death, and trampled into a jelly. I knew, how
ever, that there were two extremes widely differ- _
ing in the animal's nature, for when enraged they

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 95
would rush forward with a violence that upturned
the very roots of the small trees which stood in
their path, knowing as it were no bounds to their
courage; while, under other circumstances, they
were easily frightened, and made to flee from the
hunter with the same rapidity that in the former
case they were induced to fly after him. Taking
advantage of this thought, I raised my rifle and
fired. One of the two buffaloes threw himself at
a single bound clear out of the lick, and went
thundering across the plain. The other staggered
and fell dead in his tracks, and it being the first
that I had ever killed, I was about to leap straight
up into the air with exultation, but thought of
the Indians and desisted. I now ran up, jerked
out my knife, cut out a fine steak and proceeded
to the point where I awaited Anderson's arrival.
He came, and we both started back to the lick
with a view to save the tallow, each pound of
which was as good to us as a quarter of a dollar,
and the tongue, which for food was regarded by
the old pioneers, as well as by persons of good
relish to this day, as one of nature's most delicious
morsels ; but before we had reached the lick we
happened to perceive two Indians on the trail

96 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
which led to it, and for fear of their discovering
us we receded to a point at which we could be
sheltered from their view, and from which we
could survey their manoeuvres. They walked up,
and after looking around to observe what danger
attended, took possession of the buffalo I had
just killed ; and seeing that the tallow and tongue
were irrecoverably lost to us, we had no other
means of resentment left but to broil the meat
we had, take it between our teeth and devour it
with an appetite far better known to the hunter
remote from human habitation, than to him who
dwells in the halls of luxury and opulence. After
we had thus refreshed ourselves we travelled on,
not long, however, tmtil we fell into a large trail,
and from the signs, we were satisfied that it had
just been passed over by a perfect horde of Indians
who could not be far ahead of us ; and seeing all
this, we sheered off to the right hand to prevent
our coming in contact with them, and travelled
on, making no permanent camp, until we reached
our destination upon the waters of the Big Sa
line, where we were about to resume our hunting.
We viewed the grounds and were much delighted
with the prospects, which promised us quite a

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 97
jubilee here among the wild beasts of these regions,
wherein a thousand signs told us that they roamed
and prowled in gangs innumerable ; but, alas, all
our bright anticipations vanished like the light
ning that sports for a moment upon a cloud, and
the next is gone. We soon discovered that such
prospects were not unknown to the Indians, and
that great numbers of them were even at this
time around and about us. After a minute's de
liberation we rolled our chattels up and departed,
for we saw that it would not be safe to attempt
to take the game of this quarter. We did not
stick our stakes again until we had gone full
twenty miles, which brought us within half a mile
of Big Saline Lick, where we rested during the
night, but rose at the dawn of day and started
to go into the lick ; nor had we gone farther than
a hundred yards, before we saw a large buffalo
crossing our path. "Anderson," said I, "he is
of tremendous size and very fat ; we must shoot
him for breakfast." "Yes," said he, jokingly,
"he will make a plenty for ua or anyother two
men this side the Island of Samos, or born
since its distinguished inmate, whom a man once
misrepreseiited by telling me he could throw

98 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
down at a single meal more than ordinary men
could at a dozen, or, in other words, eat such men
as you and myself into convulsions, and then
leave the camp as hungry as a hound. But fire
away, Jo," continued he. The report of my gun
rang through the woods as clear as a morning
bell, and the great buffalo tumbled. But hark !
what low whoop is this I hear ? " The croak of a
raven," responded Anderson; "there are thou
sands of them around us." But another whoop
made it too evident that the noise emanated from
something not quite so black as the plumage
of the wrongfully suspicioned bird. We saw
that there was no time to be lost, for with another
whoop or two the Indians raised their voices into
a perfect yell. Anderson caught the bridle and
started with the horse, requesting me to go be
hind and whip, and with both hands I stripped a
limb from a neighboring sapling and followed
hard by his heels, making tracks with all our
might and main for about an hour, before we saw
any thing of our pursuers, and just at this time a
dog on our track came running up behind us.
We halted a moment, and he saw us and ran back,
and, greatly to our satisfaction, without barking.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 99
We now went off again at our best speed, know
ing that when the dog met his masters, they
would know that we had frightened him back, and
this would convince them that our track was very
warm. We reached the Saline and hurried across,
but, 0 horror ! we could not get our horse up the
bank. We held up the load and assisted him all
we could, but to no purpose. We now went down
the stream a few yards to a point at which the
bank was not quite so steep, and succeeded in
climbing to the top. In the struggle, a bladder
of bear's oil had rolled down from under the ket
tle, and I had picked it up and laid it on my arm,
with a determination that the Indians should not
have it so long as it was possible for me to keep it.
Now, after losing perhaps some of the most pre
cious time that man ever parted with, and thus giv
ing the Indians a good run upon us, we again found
ourselves under the very best headway we could
make, I carrying my bladder of oil, until I saw
that to abandon it would not be the worst of folly.
I could not forbear fetching one sigh as I tossed it
from my hands, for it was a large bladder filled
with nearly three gallons of the purest oil ; and
then how could I fancy to see it going into the

100 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
possession of those who I knew sought my life's
blood ? About this time we reached an opening
about two hundred yards wide, which we crossed,
and looking back saw the savages like a vast herd
pouring out of the woods into the side of the
opening we had just fled from, with their scalping^
knives and tomahawks already upraised, and in
credible as it m^j seem, we stopped and hailed
them, crying out, "What nation?" And were
answered, " Yankee Shaws and Delawares." And
now, when we had run until it seemed that it was
almost impossible for us to go out of a good walk,
the great struggle came on. A race was now to
be run in earnest, and our lives the precious
'wager, Anderson said, "Jo, they are gaining
upon us ; we must part, for by that means one of
us may perchance be saved;" and thus speaking
he varied his direction ; and I seeing that the
horse was becoming jaded under his load, jerked
out my butcher knife, aiming to release the pack
from him by cutting the rope by which it was
confined, and in my great hurry took into the
sweep the girth, and in attempting to push over
the pack carried saddle and all together, and in
the act of mounting, my tomahawk fell upon the

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 101
pile ; but I had no time to recover it, and gave it
over with the one common sacrifice : even the am
munition except what was in my pouch waa lost.
They made a considerable gain on me during this
process, and being encouraged by it came yelling
as if they all had brazen throats and were inspired
with iron lungs. But I began to believe that I
had been born under an unlucky star, to say
nothing of the caul which was upon my face at
my first appearance in this nether world, for
while my lagging horse was by this time not car
rying me faster than I had run on fbtJt during the
first half of the race, I had the misfortune to
find the track of a hurricane across my path.
At first sight of it despair threatened to aeize my
very being, for it seemed to be an insurmountable
limit to my days, even minutes, upon this earth.
I paused for a moment, and reflected how swift
the winds must have been which had upturned
and levelled this once magnificent forest, com
pared to the speed at which I was flying from the
bloodthirsty Indians, and in the wild whirl of
my imagination I could but tacitly plead for the
fleet wings of the storm, that I might rise and
fly away, laughing, aa I went, the pursuit of my
6

102 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
enemies to scorn. The trees had here fallen one
upon another, with their tops woven together,. and
their roots wreathing so high, and all interlaced
in such a manner that I could now scarcely think
of any thing but a prayer and a last adieu;
but before the Indians had run full upon me I
summoned my courage, and keeping it to the last
strain, I plunged into the ruins where the tempest
had revelled ; now riding through the tree-tops, over
the logs, around many an ancient root, clustering
bamboos, and grape-vines, which ran and twined
about the laps and logs, aa it were so many
strong bands designed to bind the masses which
had been driven together by the angry storm;
but by cutting vines, meandering and stumbUng
both myself and my wearied horse, almost faint
ing with fatigue, reeled and staggered over the
last log ; leaving the Indians about the centre of
the space the hurricane had swept across. I well
remember that when I came through I thought I
had never seen a clearer track than the one which
lay before me, for, although not free from obsta
cles, it gave a contrast which made it almost
appear like a floor. It is said that the quality of
mercy is not strained, but I am sometime nearly

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 103
ready to think that my poor, tired horse had
instinct enough to doubt this, for I stiU had to
drive him on at his best speed, until the day was
far spent, and until the shadows of night veiled
me from the savages, I now dismounted, hob
bled my horse, and kindled a flre, and one may
well imagine the condition I was in when they
think of a man who had just passed through such
a scene, I had run and labored, and rode hard
all day, without even a pad under me, and with
out food or water. Here I was a lonely hunter
in a wilderness, which was as strange as vast,
separated from my only companion, without a
hope of ever meeting him again, and not know
ing at what moment I should be called upon to
run another race for my life, without the ability
to even make the attempt, should it have been
necessary. If I should go to sleep, I knew not at what
moment I might be woke by a blow from a toma
hawk, or a thrust from a dagger, for, unlike an
army in camp, I had no outpost, no sentinel to
fire for me an alarm. I waa my only guard, my
only chance to conduct and fight a battle.
My wearied muscles were in a perfect tremor.

104 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
I stretched myself upon the ground ; the fore
going scene began to pasa before my mental
vision, and seeming so far below what I could
ever accomplish again, I viewed it, in the stead
of its stern reality, as an intrusive fiction, and
feeling my eyelids closing heavily down, I was
insensibly drawn into some very happy anticipa
tions in regard to what I thought was to be my
future glory in hunting. In the meantime,
however, I seemed to perceive a boy, whose
handsome features and beautifully-turned limbs
qharmed me very much; and further, thought
that he was standing on tiptoe, and by the gentle
motioning of a pair of brilliant little wings he
was balancing himself upon my forehead. In his
right hand I observed a horn, from which he was
pouring something that fell very noiselessly about
me; and in his left hand I noticed a bunch of
poppies, which he seemed to be gently shaking
over my eyelids. I thought all this very unac
countable; but at the same time had not the
least inclination to see the sweet little fellow
depart, for so soothing waa the something he was
pouring out of the horn, so gently did he oscillate
the poppies over my eyes, and so delicate waa the

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 105
pressure of his nice tiny toes upon my forehead,
that I never once felt the least desire to escape
from under either.
At one time during his stay with me I remem
ber to have begun to think of similar horrors,
perhaps the very same which had attended me
the paat day; and no sooner had the thought
entered my mind than he commenced making
signs that he would leave me if I didn't desist,
and so far had my mind run into this train of
thought at another time, that he actually took his
leave of me, going almost entirely out of sight;
but upon my turning over upon my side to relieve,
as I now suppose, my spine from too long a
pressure upon the ground, he returned, and very
kindly resumed his former position over me. At
length I seemed to turn my eyes to the east, and
thought I saw an inexpressibly beautiful female
seated in a light car, drawn towards me by a
number of white horses, "and who sprinkled
with rosy Ught the dewy lawn," and at whose
approach the boy, with a motion or two of hia lit
tle wings, wafted himself away. Just at this
time the song of innumerable birds upon the
neighboring boughs woke me, and the first

106 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
thought explained to me that the boy's name was
Morpheus, the god of sleep, to whom I shall ever
feel grateful for the bleaaings he bestowed upon
me during this night, which otherwise must have
been one of dreadful anxiety ; and that the beau
tiful female I saw driving her chariot towards me
was Aurora, the goddess of morning.
When I had been thus woke I felt much
refreshed in body, but my mind soon relapsed
into reflections which conducted me back through
the trying scenes of the past day, and I could
not avoid thinking over my losses; none, how
ever, afflicted me so much as that of my comrade
Anderson ; but here I found myself leaning upon
the strong arm of hope, and thinking that unless
he had been overtaken and devoured by the
savages, I should see him again ; I summoned up
all of what resolution I had left, and began to
make ready for my departure. I took one cir
cuit in search of my horse, but did not find him,
not being able to track him because of the multi
tude of buffalo signs. In this round I saw two
male buffaloes coming towards me, and I imme
diately stepped behind a tree, thinking that I
would let them pass, having two reasons for not

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 107
wanting to shoot, one being to avoid notifying the
Indians of my whereabouts, and the other was
because I had but seventeen bullets, and sufficient
powder left with which to defend myself, and pro
cure food on my journey home. When they had
come to a bluff which was opposite me, at a dis
tance of about fifteen paces, I stealthily ap
proached to within a few yards of them, and
suddenly discovered myself by rushing out to
their view, which gave them such an affright that
they both went bounding and tumbling down the
fearful precipice. Perhaps they kicked again,
perhaps never. I resumed my ramble, and soon
found my horse, that really could yet hold his
head up. I mounted him and pursued my jour
ney until the evening of the second day, it being
the third since I had swallowed a mouthful of
food, and what may seem more remarkable is,
that I had not during all this time experienced
any hunger ; I knew however that I must eat,
and stopped to spend a bullet and a charger of
powder. I took a little ramble, kiUed a doe, and
caught her fawn ; but being without water I tra
velled on, hoping to come to a stream, which,
after making about three miles, I discovered

108 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
before me, distant some two hundred yards, with
a large bear standing by it ; I had a good will to
shoot [him, but wishing to lie there that night,
I made up my mind not to create any noise, lest
some savage might be in hearing; but it juat
then occurred to me that the skin would make a
kind of saddle, without which I did not believe I
could ride any farther, so sore was I already from
riding barebacked such a great distance ; and I
determined to caat the die, and let chance durect
the consequences. I bleated like a fawn. He
came. I shot, and he ran back near the spot he
had left by the quiet stream, and died. That
night I feasted on the fawn, and lodged with the
bear. I slept very calmly, but am sure that my
bedfellow never stirred or even breathed. When
day was come I went about skinning him, and
having accomplished my task, I folded the hide,
stuffed it with grass, which I confined with
whangs taken from the edges of the skin, and
having previously cut straps for stirrups, and
fastened them on, I threw it upon my horse,
mounted him, and thus finding myself seated
upon a very easy pad, with plenty of meat, and a
good bladder of oil, I commenced my fourth

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.* 109
day's journey, the incidents of which amounted
to nothing more than that of my being brought
upon a camp, which, as I approached, I believed
to be vacated, for there was no smoke issuing
from it;- but, lest I might be mistaken, I ven
tured nearer and nearer in the most cautious
manner, until I became thoroughly convinced that
there were no inmates, but saw that they had not
been gone long, for there- were fresh raw hide
strings wrapped round and continuing from one
sapling to another, until they quite encircled the
camp, having been thus arranged for the purpose
of drying deer-skins upon ; and thinking that it
would be some retaliation for former grievances,
I cried out. Come forth, honest butcher-knife,
with a resolve to sever each trembling cord. I
started, but a simple reflection changed my de
termination. It is sometimes well for man that
he cannot always be in reach of the object of his
revenge at the first impulse, for by his passions
he would often destroy that which his more
deliberate judgment would protect from harm.
It occurred to me that the Indians might be lurk
ing round, and should they detect me in the act
of mutilating their strings, it would be an ample
6*

110 IIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
degree of crime in their eyes to induce them to
build a great fire, and roast me alive over it ; so
I returned my knife to its scabbard^ and rode on ;
but had not gone many miles before it was time
for me to take up for the night, I dismounted,
hobbled my horse, kindled a little fire, to keep
the gnats and mosquitoes away, lay down, and
reposed until the next morning, when I started
upon my fifth day's travel, and at the end of less
than a quarter of a mile I found myself entering
the Grand Prairie. The weather was very warm,
and by the time I had gone fairly into the
prairie, I discovered that my saddle was tainted,
and actuaUy flyblown, which rendered it so offen
sive that I was compelled to cast it aside; and
not being yet recovered from the bruises by my
former bare-back riding, it became necessary for
me to walk and lead. After going on for some
time I became very thirsty, though not aick.
At length I began to experience a giddinesa
about my head, and the next thing I knew I
found myaelf struggling to rise, without knowing
that I had fainted, or when I fell ; but perceiv
ing that it was imposaible for me to get up, I
feU back again and again, and aa often found

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. Ill
myself trying to recover, without the ability to
do it. I cannot now number the times that I
went through the manoeuvre of trying to riae and
falling back, before I found that I was able to even
maintain a sitting posture. When I thus far
recovered, I looked around in the different direc
tions, to contrast the height of the timber at
varioua points, with a view to go to the tallest,
which indicated the ahorteat route to a ahade,
and saw that this would be at the very place
where I had entered. I rose, without feeling any
more thirat, and, by a hard struggle, succeeded in
clambering to my horse's back, and began to
retrace my steps, but soon had occasion to teat
the realities of the old maxim, which says, that
" misfortunes never come single." My horse, by
biting and stamping at the flies, which were
swarming about, and stinging and sucking the
very blood out of him, had got one of his fore
legs tangled in the bridle reins, and I could not
relieve him without, in attempting to alight, nearly
falling off, and then encountering the almost im-
poaaibility of mounting him again. As soon as
this trying scene was over, I proceeded on
to the woods, and though I did not yet feel any

112 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
thirst, I took a little water, believing that my
fainting spell had partly originated from the want
of it. I rested the remainder of the day,
and slept at the same place I had camped at the
previous night ; and on the morning of the sixth
day I emptied my bear'a oil out of the bladder,
filled it with water, and undertook the paaaage of
the prairie, by the same route I had attempted it
the day before, and succeeded with but little
difficulty. During all thia time I had indulged
the constant habit of tacitly inquiring, " Where,
0, where" is my lost friend? and of hearing
echo answer, "Where, 0 where?" I had the
consolation to know that Anderson had been a
good woodsman, and knew much about tacking
with the Indiana ; but feared that while they had
pursued me they had likewise aent a gang upon
his track that perhaps had overtaken and mur
dered him. My sixth day's journey was now
coming to a close ; the sun had already dipped
his disc in the western ocean. I began to pre
pare for spending another lonesome night in the
forest ; but first of all I had, if possible, to find
water ; and, with this view, started down a dry
branch, nor had I travelled above half an hour

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 113
before my eyes were gladdened by the sought-for
sight. As I turned the point of a bluff, the
brow of which had overhung me for fifty yards,
a collection of water in the distance, made to
^mile charmingly by the sheen of the bright, sil
ver moon, leaped suddenly, full and clear, into
the field of my vision. I now tied my horse to a
projecting rock, and aUghted, thinking that it
were not safe for me to boldly ride up without first
examining well the premiaea, leat this water had
been sought by my enemies, and proceeding on
foot, my approach discovered to me a lone
pilgrim, seated at the base of a great tree, near
the brink of what I now recognized as a pool, who
waa steadily gazing into it, and seemed to be
wrapped in deep meditation. I paused, and the
first thought that struck me was that I saw an
Indian, who perhaps had come thither after
water for some neighboring camp, which might
be pitched a little back among the trees. And^
now the question aroae in my mind, what ahall I
do ? I looked around for the, purpoae of dia-
covering any fire that might be peeping out
from amid the treea, or any amoke which might
be curling up among them. I could aee neither.

114 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
I listened for any human voice that might per
chance vibrate upon the ambient air ; but aU was
as silent as the tomb, save on my right an owl
hooted, while on my left an occasional croak from
a raven broke the stillness of the hour, I
thought of withdrawing, but the very idea of see
ing a human being, after being so long debarred
from a privilege so delightful, stood up before me
a most grateful spectacle, and I determined to
stake a little upon the throw, though it should
cost me my life, or another race for the same, I
began to advance, observing to shelter myself
from view by the heavy shade of the timber,
which waa so thick that it were impossible for the
moonlight to have reached the pool from any
other point in the heavens except from the situa
tion she occupied at this particular hour. I
again paused ; the stranger's eyes were stUl stead
fastly fixed upon the water, and forgetting for
the moment the cause of my apprehensions, I
found my gaze sympathizing with his. I, like
him, was looking into the bright pool, and with
all the terrors which had haunted my mind, I
could not forbear falling into a state of sensible
admiration of the works of Him whose skilful

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 115
hand had made this excavation, filled it with
limpid fluid, and set the lovely queen of night
upon her throne far above, to smile upon its face,
I looked upon the ancient oak, which the same
hand had created, and which perhaps had bowed
over it for hundreds of years. Just at thia time
the light reflected from the water rose full into
the pilgrim's face, I saw that it waa white ; for
mer fears returned no more. I atarted ; he saw
and recognized me; and, apringing to his feet
with the activity and quickness of an ancient
gladiator, shouted, "It is little Joe!" "'Tis
Anderson !" exclaimed I. A bound or two by
each brought us together, and the slap of our
hands into each other's was ringing across the
water, and echoing from the bluff; and a large
tear stood in the eye of each, aa, leading me to a
neighboring sod, he said, "Let's sit down and
talk together."
And he asked me how I came to find this re
treat. I told him that I came to the head of
the dry branch, and thinking perhaps that I
should find water, I was induced to foUow it,
which I did until I discovered the pool, around
which I had been spying and speculating for half

116 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
an hour, lest by approaching it too suddenly I
might bring myself upon trouble, "A very good
idea," responded he ; "I took the same precau
tion, and had like you followed the course of the
branch in quest of water;" and upon further in
quiry, I found out that the Indians had not fol
lowed him, or if so, they had never come in sight.
He now desired me to tell him of all my adven
tures from the time we had been cast asunder,
and complying with his request, he said that the
trials I had gone through were not far surpassed
by those experienced by Julian retreating to and
across the everlasting Alpa.
The next mornjng, we named the apot the
Pool of the TiJDd Lost Hunters, and set out to
gether in the. direction of Kaskaskia, and about
nine o'clock 'in the morning we heard a kind of
grunting, which Anderson informed me was a herd
of buffalo cows that had calves, for he said he un
derstood the pecuUar noise they made at these
times, and he rode out to a point from which he
could see them, and while he shot one of the cows
I captured the calf, haltered it, and at first it
was much diaposed to butt at us, but it aoon be
came very docile and followed ua all the day like a

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 117
dog, and at night lay down by our horse, but the
next morning it had disappeared and we aaw it no
more. The aecond day we crossed a large prairie, and
the aun of the burning aummer days had long
since called back to the white clouds, which here
and there floated high above us, the laat rain
drop that had for many a day fallen upon the
thirsty plain. We saw no brook bubbling by;
no salient fount burating upon the gaze of the
weary hunter; nor should we perhaps have
reached the oppoaite side, but for having taken
the precaution to provide ouraelvea with a good
supply of slippery elm bark, which we chewed
freely on the route to allay our thirst. We
found aome conaolation, however, in the thought
that we somewhat resembled the Arabians, who
feel safe in their deserts and ready to defy
all the armies of the earth by flying before them
on their camels, for we had our . faithful horse,
and could at least feel secure from the tomahawk
and the scalping-knife.
Nothing of interest happening the next few
hours of our travel, Anderson entertained me
with the following story :

118 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
"A Mr. Curry and myaelf," said he, "took a
hunt, and being unsuccessful, we concluded to
return, and as we came back happened to find a
waste hut, in which we took up quarters for the
night ; but about light, to our great surprise, the
door was knocked at by the Indian proprietors,
and well knowing how fearful the consequences
would be, we refused to let them in. Curry
pushed a chinkin out, however, to get a shot at
them, but standing ready to take advantage of
this chance, the Indian was too quick for him,
shooting before he could present his gun, and
wounding him in the left arm. He no-w* removed
another chinkin, and was again shot by the ene
my, the ball carrying away one finger from hia
right hand. He now attempted to puah the door-
shutter out, but inadvertently sticking his foot
through a cat -hole at the bottom, found it in
stantly fastened to the door-sill by a spear toma
hawk which an Indian had struck through his
instep, and there being no other alternative, he
gave a quick jerk and split his foot out to the
very toes. In the meantime," said Anderson,
" I found a crack in the wall above the loft, fired
through it, and killed one of the savages, and his

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP, 119
comrades picked him up and ran off with him
into the thicket, and while they were accomplish
ing this, I made a hole through the roof, crawled
out, and made good my escape, the Indians see
ing and firing at me aa I went ; and Curry, not-
withatanding his split foot, to aay nothing of hia
arm and finger, followed in train and eacaped
likewise," A few hours after Anderson had finished his
narrative, we reached Kaskaskia, much worn down
by fatigue, thirst, and hunger.

120 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,

CHAPTEE IX.
After reating at Kaskaskia about one month,
the thoughta of seeing my old Cumberland home
began to crowd faat upon me, and soon I felt my
heart beating high at a proapect which promised
me the happy realization of such a privilege, for
just at this time a lawyer of renown, who had
visited the above place on some legal buainesa,
and having accompliahed hia mission, remarked
in my hearing that he waa going to return to
Cumberland, whence he had come, and should
like to have some young man to accompany him.
I told him that I would go, and he with seeming
delight replied, "You are my man." My pro-
poaal waa immediately followed by five othera,
among whom there waa one Indian named Cola,
and all of whom were received.
We embarked on board a peroque, and rowed on
in a fine glee until we were about to pass an In-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 121
dian town where Cape Girardeau now stands, then
in possession of Shawnees and Delawares. So well
did I know the treachery of these tribes, that I
looked for some trouble before we could get by
them, and proposed to Love, for that was the
lawyer's name, that we should load our guns, but
he objected, ¦ and upon drawing nearer to the
town I proposed again, upon which he said in
a peremptory manner, " Sir, I command this pe
roque. I see no necessity for loading. I am
going to call at this place." I thought of the
duty a subordinate owes to a superior, and said
no more. The boat at length landed, and the In
dians flocked to the bank in great numbers. I
ran out, and just as I was entering one of the
wigwams I heard Love calling me very hurriedly.
I returned as quick as I could, and when I reached
the peroque, I found much difficulty in getting
on board. The Indians had threatened to detain
Cola, and a contention was going on — Cola's com
rades endeavoring to keep him in the boat, and
the Indians struggling to pull him out of it. We,
however, succeeded in shoving off, leaving the
Indians yelling and threatening to kill us before
we should ever get to the Cumberland, and Love

122 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
crying out all the time, "Shoot and be d  d."
Cola all this time said not a word, nor betrayed
the least manifestation of anger. We ran to an
island about three miles froni the town, and here
Love ordered every gun on board to be loaded,
with the same authoritative voice that he had be- '
fore ordered that they should not be loaded.
This having been done. Cola went to his wallet,
took out his looking-glass and paint, and after
completely tattooing his face, began to rage with
hostile signs, but the Indians did not pursue us.
We rested upon the island, and then untied our
cable and floated away again upon the waters of
the Mississippi, continuing to row day and night
until we reached the mouth of the Ohio, where
we found ourselves transported from a rapid and
turbulent stream into the calm bosom of that
beautiful river. The Mississippi seemed to be
mad with the world, the Ohio appeared to be
smiling at his folly. We made good speed to the
mouth of the Cumberland river, and here the
scene again shifted; we now leaving a smiling
river to enter one that was actually leaping and
laughing, and ascended to Clarksville — not Clarks-
viUe of 1858, numbering her thousands, but that

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP, 123
of 1793, consisting of three or four little log-
cabins. At this point we landed, I bade adieu
to my comrades and hurried away to my home in .
Cage's Bend, where, upon my arrival, my friends
gave me such a hearty welcome that it made me
call to mind my meeting with Anderson at the
Pool of the Two Lost Hunters,

124 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.

CHAPTEE X.
After my return, and after a abort spell of
recreation, I were appointed spy by Governor
Blount, through Colonel since General James
Winchester. At this time there were but three
counties in Cumberland, (now Middle Tennessee,)
Sumner, Davidson, and Tenneaaee. The latter
ia now known aa Eobertson, ita name having been
changed, for the reaaon that the State haa since
been named Tennessee.
As spy, I served three toura, enlisting each
time for three montha. My range reached from
Lindsley's Bluff, in Sumner county, to Barton's
Creek — now embraced in the county of Wilson —
the distance being about fifteen milea.
It waa common for only two spies to go together.
On my first route, my colleague waa William Stag-
ner ; on my second, Nat Parker ; and on my
third, William Wilmouth ; and when we stopped

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 125
to rest or to eat, we made it a rule to sit with
our backs together, in order that we might see in
every direction from ua, thus making it impossi
ble for an Indian to approach us without being
discovered. During my first tour, Stagner and myaelf were
paaaing from the above-mentioned bluff to Barton's
Creek, looking out for the savages, and coming
to "a large spring in a section of country that was
heavily set with flourishing cedars, we saw three
flne otters sporting in its crystal waiters, and
knowing the value of their skins, I concluded to
shoot them, aiming to get one before they would
dive, but they discovered us and went under.
We -squatted, however, behind a bush, and in a
few minutes one of them presented hia head above
water ; I fired, and his blood began to atreak the
stream. I now reached back, and Stagner handed
me his gun. By this time the head of the second
made its appearance. I pulled trigger and he
floated up ; but when the third, which soon fol
lowed, came to view, both the guns were empty.
It has only been a few months aince I visited
the aame apring; but, inatead of atanding upon
its rude mosa-covered, rock-bound bordera, I
7

126 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
stood upon a macadamized square, looking over a
baluatrade; instead of seeing boughs of ever
greens gracefully waving over and around it, I
saw mercantile houaea, with golden namea above
their doors; in the place of seeing otters sport
ing therein, I beheld the dip and splash of paila
and buckets. I looked in vain for the lawless
savages, loitering in the wigwams around it ; but
I saw in their place civilized man and courts of
justice. When I looked for the tawny aquaw
and her pappooaea, I aaw the refined white
woman and her cornelian jewels, her bright-
eyed children ; and when I looked for the wild
rosea, blooming and wasting their aweetneaa on
the desert air, my viaion was gladdened by fair
maidens, blushing and blossoming like the immor
tal amaranth among the stars.
Little did I think half a century ago that I
should live to see this bold spring, then shaded by
a wild forest and lapped by bears and wolves,
now the true emblem of a great seat of learning ;
and the various paths leading to it, instead of
being prowled over and trod by wild beasts and as
wild Indians, now annually beaten by the feet of
from five to seven hundred law, literary, and

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 127
divinity students; little, in fine, could I have
conceived that from thia pure fountain, ever well
ing forth its living waters, there were to spring
men upon whom, as ao many pillars, the glory of
the State waa to reat — perhaps depend the salva
tion of the Eepublic.
From time to time a goodly number of spies
and others, who did not belong to them, were
murdered and wounded. James Gamble, the fid
dler, waa out before Morgan's Station, in Sumner
country, chopping a billet of wood, and was shot
by an Indian in ambuah. The ball pasaed
through his body juat above the heart. He ran
with as much speed as though he had never been
touched, to the fort gate, but there he fell. His
friends hurried to get him in the house and
administer to hia wants ; and to the astonishment
of all who saw him, he recovered, and they had
the pleasure, long after that, of hearing him draw
many a sprightly strain from his violin.
At another time McAdama, an Irishman, and
a man by the name of Webb, left the neighbor
hood to go to Kentucky after salt. When they
started, Webb requested me to look after his wife
and children, to stay with them as often aa I

128 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
could of nights, and see that nothing should be
wanting while he waa gone to make them com
fortable ; but the anxious wife never had the joy
of welcoming her husband home again ; his little
children never met to " climb his knee the envied
kiss to share." No, he never returned. The
savages had murdered him, leaving McAdama to
tell ihe story, after having every tooth in his own
head shot out but one. Having so often travelled
the apace between Lindsley's Bluff and Barton's
Creek, the scenes along the route became mono
tonous to me, and I quitted them to join the Light-
Horse. During my services in this company
Major George Winchester was killed. He met
his fate upon the spot where Gallatin now stands-
His death was much lamented by his fellow-citi
zens. I knew him to be an estimable man, and
know that the public sustained a loss which was
seriously felt in those days. I joined the com
pany that, followed the Indians after they had
murdered him, but we never could overtake them.
My time having expired in the Light-Horae
company, I returned to Cage's Bend, and began
to make preparationa for going to see my father,
in North Carolina; and about the time I was

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 129
ready to take leave of my friends, I was not a
little surprised at receiving the following certifi
cate from the best class of men in Sumner
county :
• " Territory south of Ohio, Mere District,
" The bearer, Joseph Bishop, hath lived in- this
neighborhood and district for near three years,
and has at all times behaved himself as an order
ly, good citizen, and peaceable member of
society,- These are' therefore to recommend to
the notice and attention of all good people,
wherever chance or fortune may direct him, he
being about to travel from this district to North
Carolina, " Given under our hands, in Sumner county,
this 15th day of August, 1794,
"Maj, Edmond Douglass.
^' Judge John Overton,
"Major David Wilson,
" CoL. William Cage.
."Gen. Jambs Winchester,
" Col, Eobt, Hays.
" CoL. J. T. Eobertson.
" Thos. Maston, Esq.
"Gen. David Smith."

130 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
After receiving this certificate, and before I
could get off, I waa aummoned aa a guard for the
aafe-keeping of one John Kirkindale, who had
been arrested for breaking open his uncle's still-
house, and stealing whiskey. Alex, Douglass
was left to assist me while the sheriff would -go
away on some other business; and he had not
been gone long before Douglass had occasion to
leave, and now I was the prisoner's only guard,
I placed myaelf near the door, rested the butt of
my gun on the floor, and held it by the muzzle.
The prisoner now began to walk from one side of the
room to the other, and after measuring the distance
from wall to wall perhaps twenty times, he com
menced singing a series of songs, all calculated
in their nature to draw me off guard, and not
suspecting his design, aome of them were war
bled ao aoftly and aweetly that they effected his
purpose ; for seeing me quite absorbed, and tak
ing advantage of the state of mind into
which he had drawn me, he sprang towards me,
and gralaped my gun with his left hand, whUe he
drew from his bosom a long knife with his right,
and raising it, ordered me to surrender. At this
I jerked the gun so suddenly and violently that I
threw the muzzle against his bowels, and instantly

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 131
gave him such a punch thereabouts as to cause
him to stagger back to a seat at the opposite side
of the room. He remained silent for six or eight
minutes, then jumping up, exclaimed, "Well,
Joe, I'll be d  rd if you ain't ball against
the field," Without any further difficulty I
retained him until the sheriff came, and delivered
him up, when all the people said, if I had killed
him it would have reflected more credit on me
than if I had slain twenty Cherokees,
At length, after delivering the whiskey thief
up to the limbs of the law, I entered upon my
journey for North Carolina, and not meeting
with, any thing worthy of note before, when I
reached the Crab Orchard I took very sick, and had
determined to turn out of the trace at the first
water, and lie down ; but I soon reached a place
which sent up a most horrid odor; and being
curious to know whence it came, I began to look
about, and saw that it proceeded from a sink-hole,
in which I discovered the dead bodies of three
men, whom, as I was subsequently informed, had
a few days before been murdered and caat into it.
This had the effect of proving to my satisfaction
that doctors could cure the sick by making them

132 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
sicker, for such waa the influence of that awful
aroma upon me. I waa so effectually cured that
I never experienced the least sick feeling after I
passed the bounds of the atmosphere impregnated
by the effluvia, and was perfectly able to continue
my journey to Knoxville. Upon reaching this
place, I found much being said in regard to an
Indian who had been hanged but the day before.
He waa the flrst of his race I had ever heard of
being tried by a court of law and hanged, and
perhaps the firat that ever had been thus tried
and executed in the United Statea. Hia council
lor advised him to plead not guilty ; but, stained
all over as he waa with diabolical crime, he found
in hia nature enough of that nobleness peculiar
to many of his fallen fellows to actuate him to
refuae, saying, " I will not deny my guilt: I came
here to ateal and to murder, and will die like a
man — I am an Indian." He met the king of
terrora, and not a nerve waa ahaken. But
nothing could detain me in Knoxville long.
There waa an object ahead of me which was of
far greater attraction. I departed out of the
village, and after a few days of unmolested
travel, reached the cottage that sheltered my

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 133
dear old father. My arrival was unexpected to
him. He was not standing on the stile looking
for me. He waa in his chair upon the hearth
stone, I stood upon the floor full before him ere
he saw me. We joined hands, and the old man
leaned upon me and wept,- I now knew for the
first time in my life how to value a father's love.
When the shock was off — and it was quite awhile
before it passed away — I made his blessed old
heart relapse suddenly into rejoicing by showing
him my certificate. When he had finished read
ing it, he raised his eyes, glistening with tears,
and aaid in a tremuloua tone, " Well, my boy,
this ia far better than had you brought me gold.
You have passed through many scenea, doubtless
many very perilous, amid the Western wilds, and
have returned clothed in the habiliments of a
good character." He read the certificate over
again, and looking up smilingly, said, "Well,
Joe, I hope you will not, as I used to tell you, be
hung after all." I of course now had to detail
my whole career to him, which I did after the
same manner in which I have detailed it to you ;
and I never shall forget how sorry he waa for the
way I had served the preacher, and under what
7*

134 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
strong obligations he brought me to never put
such a trick upon another. I might implore your
pardon for the manner in which I aometimea
allude to myself, but then you have asked me to
detail the events of my life, and I am doing it
juat as they happened. Besides, thia may be related
to some reckless young man, and be the means of
causing him to remember the advice of his
father, and actuate him, after he has wandered
forth in early adventure, to carry home to the
old man's heart something to make him happy in
his declining years.
Having enjoyed the society of mj father for
about five months, I shook hands with him to
visit a brother and two sisters, who resided on
Tiger river. Union county, in South Carolina,
distance about sixty miles. I reached them with
out difficulty, and remained with them until the
fall of 1795, and then, in company with a young
man, McKinney, I set out on my return, by a cir
cuitous route, for Cumberland, wishing to take
Knoxville in my way again. We travelled
over the mountains, and coming to that great
phenomenon, the Warm Springs, I swam across
French Broad river, bathed in the spring, and

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 135
swam back ; and after going out of the river into
the spring, and thence into the river again, I
thought the transition from heat to cold was more
sudden than I should like to experience another
time, unless I was induced by something more
than mere curiosity ; but I must admit that I felt
better, and enjoyed a finer fiow of spirits for a
day or two after my bath, than I had the same
length of time before it. Leaving this point, we
travelled whole days without seeing a human
habitation ; but coming to a house one evening,
we called, and obtained permission to stay during
the night, and when we had alighted the old land
lord said to me, "Let your friend come along,
and he and I will care for the horses, if you will
let the old woman alone while we are gone."
We never have to this day been able to determine
exactly what the landlord meant, although a
thousand constructiona have, from time to time,
when I have been teUing it to my friends, been
put upon it. I well remember, however, to have
let the old woman alone. The next day we pro
ceeded to Knoxville, where McKinney and my
self parted, and I went out twelve miles to see
another brother, and I had been with him but

186 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
a short time before we had a project on foot for
a bear hunt ; and off we went to the woods, in
the midst of which we arranged our camp-ground,
and around which we had some rare sports, hav
ing the luck to kill a great number of beara ; and
I remember that one morning, before we started
out, a bear ventured too near our camp for his
own longevity. I saw the intruder, and, without
stopping to inquire whether he brought with him
proposals for a general treaty of peace between
the bear kingdom and ourselves, or a mere flag
of truce, and thinking, from previous experience,
that there were times when all forma were im
practicable and should be laid aside, I raised my
rifle, and the report which followed was beautiful
and clear, as it rang through the stillness of the
bright, sunny morning. When I raised my face
from the gun, I beheld the object of my aim wel
tering in hia own blood. We now proceeded to
drag him up in front of the camp, and skin him.
The succeeding morning an Indian came to
our camp, and related the circumstance of our
killing the bear, and upon inquiring he informed
us that he was, at the time the gun fired, in hear
ing, and crawling up to aee what waa meant by it,

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 137
saw all of our manoeuvres ; "but," continued he,
" I had no harm at heart ; and have come to the
white man's camp to be friendly, and to invite
him to go with me to the Indian's wigwam, about
three miles from here." We paused for a mo
ment before we would give him an answer;
firat McKinney, and then I, caating significant
glances at each other, both fearing that our
strange guest might perchance desire to give us
the fate of the bear we had alaughtered, and had
fallen upon thia plan to decoy ua to a place where
he might carry out the deaign to his own liking ;
but happening to think that the town of Nicko-
jack had been taken, and that the Indians were
since more friendly, we concluded to accompany
him ; and when we reached his encampment we
found all seemingly delighted to see us, and they;'
really treated us with so much kindnesa, that we
concluded to spend the night with them. The
following morning we returned, packed our meat
and oil, broke up the hunt, and went home. I
remained with thia brother one month or five
weeks, and atarted alone through the wilderness,
and just aa the sun, which had shone brightly all
day, was about to consign the world to oblivion

138 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
and to me, and when I was meditating seriously
upon what was to be my fate for the night, I per
ceived in the distance what I supposed to be a
mover's camp. At this grateful sight I mended
my gait, and upon reaching the spot found it
occupied by three men and two women. I told
them whence I came, and whither I was bound,
and that it seemed that I must go alone unless
perchance they would take me, the stranger, in,
and be my company as far aa our routes ran
together. They informed me that they were
countrymen of mine, and that their destiny waa
Cumberland, and furthermore, that they would
be most happy to have me join them. I entered
their camp, and after supper was over we all
began to talk about the Old Dominion and North
Carolina, and other days and other scenes, until
we became so much interested that when we found
it necessary to conclude, the night had been
ended for about an hour. The sun was actually up,
and the ladies calling ua to breakfaat, which we
dispatched in rather short order, and started, and
moving on a distance of several miles we heard
the report of two guns, and making no atop, soon
reached the point opposite which they had fired.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 139
and began to look about to know what it meant.
We saw a fresh-skinned deer hanging up by the
side of a tree, and not being able to see the
Indians, who we supposed had killed it, I cut off
the hams, and carried them away with us, A
little distance farther brought ua in view of
another deer skinned, like the first, suspended
from the side of a tree, and I cut his hama off as
I did the other, tied them on the pack, and we
proceeded. We had in our company a very
superstitious old bachelor, who, no doubt, had
often swooned at a ghost story, and who, on this
occasion, became very suspicious that the Indians
had insinuated some deadly poison into the deer
we had purloined, with a view to ensnare the
unwary traveller, and to plunder him. In those
days I was by nature so full of fun that often the
slightest cause was sufficient to make it overrun
its bounds, and inundate all in reach who could
not swim. I immediately went about making a
confederate of one of the company, who was to
feign himself sick, and this being arranged, I
prepared several small wisps of hair, and put
them into my vest pocket. -The venison was
nicely served, and the old bachelor was one of

140 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
those men who have a kind of gluttonous appe
tite, and who, when they come to their meals,
would eat the meat though the green poison were
issuing from every pore of it ; so after supper, at
which he ate very heartily of the venison, my con
federate began to appear very sick ; said he felt
something bitter to the taste, and was very hot
all over; that his mouth and throat were very
dry, and he felt a sense of distressing tightness
there. Violent vomiting came on. He com-
¦ plained of great pain in the stomach and bowels,
and said that his pulse was too frequent, and
showed that his breathing was quick and difficult.
He appeared to be somewhat intoxicated, and
informed ua that he felt a kind of numbness,
showing evidently that he had swallowed aome one
of the vegetable poisons. I could scarcely suppresa
my risibles at the effectual manner in which the
sick man put on ; but I expressed great alarm,
and went straight about examining a piece of veni
son which had been left at supper, and slipping
my little balls into it, cried out, " Here it is ! we
are all done for ; yes, we are all poisoned." The
old bachelor began to stare and gag. I did the
same ; and as fortune would have it, he vomited

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 141
before the venom had entered the circulation,
and of course in time to save his life; but he
imagined that he could feel the effects of it for
several weeks afterwards. We succeeded in keep
ing him in profound ignorance about the trick
until long after he had made many an old
woman's hair stand straight on her head by the
great solemnity with which he had a hundred
times related the circumstances of this his narrow
escape. The fun which we had once and again
at the old fellow's expense served greatly towards
shortening our journey, and proved very aalutary
to himself, by removing from his mind the innu
merable companies of hobgoblins which had
resided with him for above forty years.
Upon our arrival at Cumberland, I discovered
that a great change had taken place in the coun
try. The population had increased, fields were
opened and fences erected, and there were
actuaUy several neighborhood roads. Soon the
people began to come in such numbers from the
older States that it was impossible for them all to
get a supply of provisions ; but I had not noticed
their distresses long before I took compassion on
them, and one morning threw my gun upon my

142 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
shoulder, and before noon I had fired her. above a
dozen times, and as many quadrupeds had ceased
their pilgrimage upon this earth ; and before
night I had banished all the apprehensions of
famine from around every camp-fire. I had laid
food enough before them to last for the week to
come ; and during my stay among them I kflled
and carried iri many another good horse-load of
wild meat. They offered me pay for my trouble,
but I could not have the heart to receive a single
shilling. **'

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 143

CHAPTEE XI,
In the spring of 1796, I came with Elmore
Douglass and others to commence a settlement
on the south aide of Cumberland Eivbb, When
¦^ve arrived, we stuck the pegs of our tent, the
first that were ever stuck within the present bound
aries of Smith county, at the head of a fine foun
tain of water which we found breaking up in the
midst of a beautiful forest, now a charming lawn
spreading out extensively before a handsome two-
story mansion, the early reaidence of that splen
did old citizen, Hickerson Barkadall, whoae recent
death has been ao much lamented by a large cir
cle of friends, and mourned over by five promising
sons and one interesting daughter. It is now
occupied by Thomas, the oldest child. This man
sion was also the abode, at an early date, of a very
excellent old pioneer, Capt. Green B. Lowe.
Soon after our arrival, John Ward' and his wife,

144 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
with an infant son Bryan, came and settled
within a mile of the same place, where they were
soon blessed with another son, to whom they gave
the name of Henry ; and while Douglass and my
self were the first, settlers, Henry was the first
child born in the county. The good old parents,
with whom many of those now composing the
preaent generation of this section of Tennessee
were familiar, have long aince gone down among
the tomba. They had aeveral other children,
but their two eldeat sons, Bryan arid Henry,
though their locka are white as snow — the former
having lived out his three-score yeara and ten,
and the latter following hard by — ^may yet be seen
lingering upon the old homeatead landa of their
father, still erect for men of their age, riding to
and fro over their posaessions, their fine fields, and
rich pastures, beside their fountains, among their
horses, sheep, and cattle, and always ready to
show the spot where the germ of the county
was planted, and from which it has sprung up
and reached its present maturity.
All the settlers being dependent upon me for
meat, I again betook myaelf to the wooda, and
opened a tremendous warfare upon the wild beasts

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP, 145
and fowls which roamed and flew in the regions
round about, soon proving to those who looked to
me for meat that they would not look in vain, for
each day I laid at their respective doors an abun
dant supply. During my hunt the weather be
came very cold. The waters of the Cumberland,
instead of continuing to dance to the music of the
whistling winds, became one solid sheet of ice,
extending from bank to bank ; and one day aa
I was going up stream, after travelling- a distance
of five miles along the river, I saw a flock of
swans upon the opposite shore. The distance for
a shot waa very great, but I presented arms and
fired, and two of them fell flapping their wings
on the ground. I reloaded, passed over on the
ice, shot the third, gathered them up, recrossed,
and carried them all to the work-hands.
But it soon became evident that our luqk must
change. Our auppliea of meat were exhausted ;
the last slice had been divided and swallowed,
and we were driven to the necessity of scraping
a couple of fresh bear-skins, and making of the
gleanings another meal, or do worse. Fortunately
for the settlers, however, the rigidity of the
weather gave way and was succeeded by a spell

146 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
approaching in mildness that of a summer's day.
Jesse McLendon — of whom I have heretofore
spoken — and myself, buckled on our hunting par
aphernalia and immediately disappeared from the
huts, and after hunting a few milea, our eara were
greeted by the joyous baying of Double-head.
He was thus telling us that he pursued some
good game, for we knew that he, like the eagle,
never stooped to catch flies. We hurried to the
spot. His eyes were gleaming with mingled ex
pressions ; brightening with joy when he looked
at us, and flashing as fire when he turned therii
upon the bear. I saw the bear enter a hole, and
started back after an axe and a horse, advising
McLendon to shoot if she showed her head. I soon
reached the camp, procured a horse and an axe,
and being joined by Moaea Griasom, returned to
the acene which seemed to be so rapidly driving
dull carea away, and on our arrival we saw that
the bloody deed waa done — the bear was dead.
She had been shot in the mouth, and dropped back
into the hollow of the tree; not, however, until
she had heaved one of her cubs out, aa 'twere an
hostage to atay for a moment the hand of the
enemy. I left McLendon and Griasom to cut the

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 147'
tree down, and took another little round at hunt
ing, and before they had finished the work they
had undertaken to do, I had fired upon and killed
another bear. We now had two and but one
horse, and Grissom being the lightest man among
us, we put it on him to ride and carry them. The
horse manifesting some terror at the sight and
smell of the load he had to carry, we were com
pelled to blindfold him, and we split the bear's
feet for stirrups, and tying them together, threw
them upon his back. We now mounted Grissom,
handed him the bridle, turned the horse's head
homeward and cleared the track, whereupon he
with one tremendous bound went almost three
times his length, throwing his load high above
his back and running from under it. All came
down to the ground in one common pile, though
the rider was worse alarmed than hurt, happening,
as one of the party said, to catch the flat of his
back upon the ground. We caught the affrighted
horse, he not being able to run fast with his
blind, brought him back and threw the bears
upon him again, and while two of us led by the
bridle, the other followed behind -with a brush, and
by pulling and whipping, we succeeded in deliver-

148

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.

ing our load of meat to the hungry expectants at
the camp-ground.
McLendon and myself next left the settlement
for the waters of Mulherren, where we opened
another hunt, and we had scarcely chosen the
spot for our camp, before we heard the baying of
our dogs ringing among the tall trees. They had ¦
evidently struck the trail of a bear, but just at
thia time the aky began to darken and the invisi
ble winds to blow so loud, that all aound elae waa
precluded from our eara. The clouda had been
collecting for aome time previous ; and now the
winda increaaing, began to sweep and moan, the
tree -tops to sway and groan in the increasing
atorm. A tempest was at hand. The wilderness
at once became sombre; yes, ten-fold gloomier
than I had ever seen it ; but, in accordance with
all nature, it waa too violent to last long.- At
length it began to abate, and we started in the
direction where we had last heard the dogs, but
which we could now hear no longer, and soon met
one of them, returning upon three legs, while the
other, badly mangled, was swinging and dangling
above the ground. We now hurried on, fearing
that the fate of the other was bad, and, alas ! we

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 149
had not gone fifty yards before we discovered a
very heart-rending scene. Poor Double-head lay
lacerated and bleeding upon the ground, and our
anguish became deeper and deeper as we liatened
in vain for his voice of complaint. He bore his
awful affliction with so much fortitude and patience
that we could not forbear associating him in our
mind with the brave old DeKalb, who fell in the
arms of hia country by the storm which rolled
over Camden, and who finished his career on
this earth without a murmur. We were soon on
Our kneea, bending over the tempest-scattered
remains of the noble dog. He yet breathed,
but W9.S still bleeding. He feebly wagged his tail,
looked dreamingly in pur face, licked his master's
hand, and saw him shed a bitter tear. We gently
took him up, carried him to the camp, and aa gently
laid him down again. Here we watched him
and cared for him aa though he had been a
brother, jEor three successive days ; hearkpfling to
his slightest wants, even at the latest .time of the
night. But his final hour was come. Poor Double-
head was dying, and it was a', solemn thing with
us to know that he had run his lasf*race ; guarded
his master'^'^body and Ucked his hand for the last

150 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
time; that he had barked his final bark, was
sleeping his last sleep, and that no shout of mine,
no blast of horn could ever awake him to action
again. Noble dog, methought.

'Though hast perished in thy prida,
Like a fountain summer-driai ;
Like ,
"Siat

Like a flo-«rer of odorous breath j
rhat the tempest scattereth." ^jfffA.^

Having at length paid our last tribute to his de
parted spirit, we again renewed our hunt, and soon
experienced the truth of the old adage, "A bad
beginning makes a good ending," for we were re
warded for our next round by the sight of three
fine elks, all of which we killed by a large tree
on a branch of Mulherren, ever since known as
Elk Fork. McLendon set fire to the tree, which
burned down and fell so close to him that I am
sure if the fright of both of ua had been put
together, and fixed upon either one, it had been
quite sufficient to have deprived him of his life,
for each of us felt like we were about half dead.
We now returned to camp, where we found in
waiting for us two young men, who wished to join
us in another round. We took a horse each, and
after reaching the head of Barren Fork, crossed

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 151
it and took a course for Cumberland river, at a
point where it receives Jennings' creek, and here
about we had some good sport and fine luck in
killing game. Our dog which had been wounded
by the storm, and not so badly aa we had imagined,
had recovered, and though not so great a favorite
as Double-head, waa nevertheless on foot, and
when he barked seemed to say, "Eichard is him
self again." At the end of three days, we had
killed meat enough to load that number of horses.
We started the young men, Wright and Patter
son, home with it, instructing them to unload and
return. They were gone five days, I having in
the meantime alept in the camp by night and
hunted in the woods by day -.all this while, and
when they returned, I supplied each of them with
a bear, took one myself, and we all departed for
home, not, however, without leaving painful re
membrances behind ua. At the end of the day's
travel, we dismounted and began to make prepar
ationa for supper. We' had a little corn along for
our horses, and I concluded that I must have
some bread, and with this view cut a sapUng
down, leveUed the top at the stump, wrapped a
broad band of raw bear-hide around the top and

152 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
confined it, thus forming a mortar into which I
poured the corn and beat it into meal. I now
removed a green bear-akin from under my saddle,
hollowed out a amall concavity in the ground,
spread it with the flesh side up, and pressing
into the hole until it fitted all round, I had quite
a anug little tray. I emptied my meal into it and
proceeded to work it into dough. My next step
was to select a nice flat rock, and put the maaa
upon it. I soon had a fine johnny-cake, which
looked as black but tasted as well aa any morsel "
I had ever seen or eaten. The nekt day we
reached home, and finding that we had more meat
than the settlers could consume for a time, I took
two out of the six loads and carried them to Dix
on's Spring, where I sold one hundred pounds or
about half of the load for ten dollars in silver.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 153

CHAPTEE XII,
Hunting continued to be my principal employ
ment during several years after this, but the sea
of civilization, heretofore dammed up in a great
degree by the Alleghanies, had by this time
swollen so much that its billows had already
broken over that eternal chain of mountains, and
the waves were flowing over the valleys of the
West, carrying before them the bear, the buffalo,
and the elk, and thus terminating in no small
measure the pursuit in which I so much gloried.
About this time a Mr, Stokes came from North
Carolina to survey a large tract of land- iri this
country, which he had never seen. He requested
me to point it out to him, and I readily and
cheerfully fulfilled the request, whereupon he
would make me receive for my services a gratuit
ous lease on six hundred acres for ten years.
This land lay upon my side of the river, but hav-

154 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
ing no immediate use for it, I laid it out into two
parts, and gave it separately to two of my friends
to settle upon, I then accompanied Mr, Stokes
to Gallatin, where I witnessed an amusing intro
duction betwixt him and Gen, Andrew Jackson,
The parties upon being introduced struck hands
very heartily, both overflowing with expressions
of delight, and during the ceremonies Stokes sunk
his hand very deep into his pocket, and as he
withdrew it, brought to light a large old knife,
saying, " General, here is a thing that belongs to
you." The General received it with a very pro
found bow, and putting it into his pocket, resumed
the thread of the conversation without seeming
to remember a. moment afterward that he had
ever seen or heard of such property. I was won
derfully amused at two other fellows, who were
present, to see them leap out at a back window and
run away, lest they should become the immediate
possessors of the knife, for Gen. Jackson was not
the only ugly man in the house by three or four ;
for although I did not bolt myself, I was actuaUy
afraid to look the General straight in the face, or
hold mine in a position that would render it possi
ble for him to make a survey of it, lest he should

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 155
observe its shortness and general irregularities,
and hand the knife over to me.
In the year 1797 I cleared a few acres of
ground, and made a small crop upon it. In
1798 I took a lease on both banks of the Cum
berland, some miles above Lindsley's bluff; and
here I erected a small cabin, constructed a flat-
boat, and began to keep ferry at a point on the
river which is now embraced by a magniflcent
farm owned by E. P. Lowe, Esq. , At the time
I launched my boat, there was not a single road
leading to the spot I had selected for my ferry,
but the people soon found my crossing-place, and
it was not long before I had a sort of road, and-
many people travelling upon it. In the meantime,
however, there was a man who was keeping a
ferry just above me, and just below Heart's Ferry,
who took the liberty to tear down a sign which
I had stuck up where his road and mine sepa
rated. I replaced the sign, but he knocked it
down as soon as I was out of sight ; I set it up
again, and he again knocked it down ; and thus
the act of replacing and tearing down continued
from time to time, until at length I found myself
becoming very angry ; but as you have long aince

156 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
learned that fun waa my predominant passion, I
abandoned my ire, and began to contrive a trick
to saddle upon him in remuneration for the trou
ble he had taken in ao often demolishing my aign ;
and having my scheme aU laid, there came a
dark, cold night, as though to favor me in its
execution, and though I never had regarded my
deeds so evil as to blush at the light of day, I
this time adopted the maxim which aaya, "Fight
the devil with fire;" and when I thought it was
late, and dark, and cold enough, and that he waa
snugly and warmly enough covered up in bed, I
crept up near hia ferry, crossed the river in my
canoe, in-order to get upon the bank opposite to
his house ; when I called he answered, and I told
him to bring his boat over in a great hurry, and
I soon heard the splash of his oars in the water.
He made them strike with unusual violence, as on
he came, blowing and cursing at every movement,
and declaring audibly that the weather was cold
enough to freeze off the horns of a bull. I
knew however, cold as it was, he eould have
tolerated that ; but another object he had in com
plaining ao egregioualy, waa to convince his sup
posed traveller that he was suffering so horribly,

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 157
that he should be entitled to double price for fer
rying him such a night as this, for he waa one of
thoae narrow-aouled creaturea that would ch&rge
a preacher for a night'a lodging after attending
church with him all day. He came on, and I
heard hia boat atrike the bank, aa I leiaurely
floated along down the river ; and ever after, as
often as my sign diaappeared, just so often,
according to the minutest calculation I waa capa
ble of making, did he riae from his warm bed late
at night, and cross the chilling stream ; and to
say nothing of double price, he made the passage
every time without receiving any pfice at all.
This trick succeeded most admirably, for it did
not only cause my sign to stick to the tree as
tight as its own bark, but actually made him
refuse to set passengers over from the opposite
shore after it was dark, which of course reaulted
in throwing all that custom into my boat. Again,
I ferried all persons who were going to and from
church free of charge ; while my rival exacted of
them full price, which meanneas on his part
effected the ruin of his prospects aa ferryman,
and he abandoned the business.
It soon became notorious that I would cross peo-
8*

158 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
pie over, money or no money ; and there were
a certain class of two-legged animals, called
spongers, who began at once to take serious
advantage of my kindness and impose on me at
an intolerable rate. To avoid this, which had
ruined me had I let it go on unchecked, I
began to fall back upon my fun for relief; and it
¦was not long before I was favored with an oppor
tunity to see what it would avail me. A man of
gentlemanly appearance rode up one day, and
applied for a passage, stating at the same time
that he had no money ; but the expression of his
face, when he would look full in mine, was not
good. The cut of his eye did not fill the bill. I
had seen too many Indians by this time; but
concealing my sentiments, I looked him in the
face very earnestly, and said, "Then, sir, you
have no money?" "No," rejoined he, "upon
the honor of an honest man ; I am swamped in
that particular." "Well, well," said I, "you
will not be amiss to a fair proposition?" "No
more," replied he, "than a cat would be to fish."
"Then," said I, "you must know that I am a
very poor man, and am compelled to labor hard
for my bread, and in consequence must require

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 159
you to work for your passage;" and still I could
but notice the cut of his eyes as they opened to
nearly twice their usual dimenaiona, while I was
pointing out a large sycamore tree that stood in
my way, and. telling him that if he would cut it
down hia ferriage account would be acquitted.
He walked up to the tree, and looking round it a
little, remarked that it was of great size to be
cut for so small a price. I told him that my axe
was unusually sharp; and put off after it, and
when I returned from my cabin with it, he began
to feel in hia pocketa, and all at once exclaimed,
" Will you juat look here, Mr. Ferryman ! I have
found a twelve-and-a-half piece, which, upon my
honor, I did not know I had." I told him that
it. waa not a matter of aurprise to me, for that
small thinga, even things less than the twelve-
and-a-half-cent piece, would sometimes come to
light. I took the little piece of money and fer
ried the man of little principle over the river,
taking particular pains to fret him nearly out of
himself throughout the entire passage with a kind
of quizzical, sarcastic look, which I constantly
directed at him from bank to bank, and continu
ing to maintain my features to my utmost, until

160 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
he had ascended the shore, and turned to take
his leave of me.
A few days after trapping the above gentle
man, I saw a man approaching the ferry. He
was whistling along in a right cheery manner,
and when he reached me at the boat it was really
with the aalutation of a merry Andrew. He
unpuckered his mouth, and changing his features
into those of a good, earnest face, said, " Mr.
Ferryman, I wish to crosa the river, and it trou
bles me mightily to tell you that I have no
money." I felt inclined from this fellow's
appearance to believe his statement to be true;
but lest he might have it at heart to save twelve
and a half cents, I thought of the axe and the
large sycamore ; but a moment's reflection, with
out the like of which I seldom ever transacted
any kind of business, actuated me to have a
little more commiseration for .an honest face like
his, by making lighter exactions from him than I
had done with the fellow who found the ferriage
money before he would fell the great tree ; so I
merely asked him if he could sing ? He replied
good-humoredly, " I can aing a little." I then
told him that I was very , fond of singing ; that

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 161
perhaps it would be some recreation for him to
spread his mouth a little by a song, after having
had it so long puckered by whistling ; and that
if he would sing all the way across, I would
transport him to the opposite bank for nothing.
Eeplying he said, "Agreed, but you must not
expect me to sing like you have heard people."
"No matter," said I; "just raise the tune, and
you shall aoon be able to say ' Amen' upon the
other shore." His mouth about this time flew
open, and it became my duty to shove off. I
rowed on leisurely until he had terminated his
first song, and at the very time his voice ceased,
my oars fell from my grasp. Said he, " I just
atopped to get breath." Said I, "I just atopped
to apit on my hands." He raised the tune again,
and I my oars. When the second song was done
he paused, and down went my oars. He took
the hint, and began to expand his throat and
lungs, and I in turn began to move my oars.
Thinking certainly that he had by this time
given me singing enough, he at the termination
of the third song hushed again, and down came
my oars. Said he, "lam tired." "Then,"
said I, "let's rest awhile;" but seeing that the

162 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
boat was making no headway except down stream,
he burst forth once more in a very sprightly
strain, and taking hold of my oars I mended the
lick a little ; but with all thia he still shut his
mouth again, and at the very same instant my
oars flew out of miy hands ; and after this man
ner we went on singing, rowing, ceasing to sing,
and easing on the oars, until no doubt he began-
to regard me as a kind of Shylock, who was
determined to have the fulfilment of the bond
or the pound of flesh ; at all events, he harped
away upon still another song without ceasing, until
the boat was- landed. This was the longest
voyage I ever made across the Cumberland ; but
he seemed not to take the detention at all to
heart, for he knew that it had not interfered with
the stipulation made before embarking ; at least,
he shook hands as he departed, both expressing
general satisfaction. I might mention this indi
vidual's name, but perhaps he does not want his
history, like mine, written before I am fairly
dead, or rather have it done as Napoleon Bona
parte desired that his should be, not. until he had
ceased to exist for twenty years.
On the eighth day of ^ptember, 1801, in the

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 163
same year that Thomas Jefferson, the father of
the Declaration of American Independence, was
elected President of the United States for his flrst
term, I dropped my oars for ever, and about the
same time left the ferry. I now determined to
change my mode of life, or, to speak in round
English terms, I had serious thoughts of marrying, _
and began at once to cast about to find if possible
my siater-aoul, and aoon discovered it in the peraon
of Sarah, the daughter of John Norris, a very re
spectable citizen of Sumner county. I made love
to her, and she favoring my advances, we were
directly engaged to marry ; but, for the reason that
a little romance is most commonly necessary to -
the fulfilment of auch compacts, love waa deferred,
the heart made aick, and we did not unite our
destiniea until the lapae of aeveral yeara. The
fruit of our ultimate union was two children, a
aon and. a daughter. My aon, Joseph Berry, died
at the age of fourteen. My daughter, Amelia,
now the widow of Eichard W. Harria, deceaaed,
ia yet living.
After locating .the farm upon which I now re-
aide, I cultivated the aoil without any other occu
pation until the year ^'05, when I waa elected

164 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
constable, and was sworn into office upon the very
day that Jefferson was inaugurated as President
of the United States in his second term.
During my official career, I was brought upon
many very interesting scenes. Smith county was
then very large compared with its present limits,
extending as it did from Kentucky, its northern
boundary, to the confines of the Indian nation,
beginning some four or five miles beyond what is
now known as Liberty, on Smith's Fork of the
Cumberland river. The county was thinly inhab
ited in parts, and though the bears and wolves
were moving on before the great tide of civiliza
tion, many of their ferocious kind, in the shape
of human beings, were yet left behind.
I recollect, once upon a time, to have taken
out a State's warrant for a man whose name I
must not call, for this part of my narrative brings
me down to a date so recent, that it embraces a
period in which many of his good honest friends
live, and who would regret to see it in this capa
city. But to go on with the story, the fellow
armed himself cap-a-pie, and swore he -would not
be taken by little Jo or any other man. I doubted
this declaration so much, that I one day mounted

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 165
my horse and started with a determination to
arrest him, but before I reached the place where
I expected to find him, I discovered his horse
hitched to a fence which enclosed a neighbor's
house upon the road, and I immediately rode up,
dismounted, and while I walked in at the front,
he walked out at the back door ; but seeming to
pay no attention to him, I took a seat and opened
a common conversation with the landlord, observ
ing, however, to place my chair at a point from
which I could keep an eye upon his horse, which
turned out to be a very good idea, for I soon saw
the fellow slowly moving up to the animal. I
started in a brisk run, hoping to catch him be
fore he could mount, but the sight of my ap
proach put such springs into his muscles that I
was a little behind time ; to use a cant phrase of
this age of locomotives, "the train was off." I
pursued, and he turned and fired upon me, but
missed his aim, when I at once determined to
take him dead or alive ; but seeing that my reso
lution was fixed, he soon fell an easy victim into
mj hands by giving himself up.
Upon another occasion, a man by the name of
John Young, a very powerful, athletic, blood-

166 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
thirsty monster of a fellow, who lived on Peyton's
creek, was indebted to a merchant about sixty
dollars ; and he was such a terror to the people
who had the misfortune to know him, and especi
ally to the limbs of the law, that none of them
would undertake to coUect the debt. At length,
however, the account fell into my hands, and
knowing the desperate disposition of Young, I
provided myself -mth a good brace of pistols, and
went the over night to the house of one of his
neighbors, intending to make a levy the next
morning. During the night I kept my business
to myself, and as soon as it was day,- 1 rose and
asked the landlord if he would not accompany
me to the mill, and he refused ; but I had fixed
my mind upon doing the work, and proceeded
directly to the spot, thinking to await Young's
arrival ; but behold, he waa already there, stand
ing by a fire before the mill, with an axe in his
hand and a friend at his side. He had evidently
received an item, for said he as I came up, "Do
you see this axe?" "What," inquired I, "is to
prevent me ?" " Then," continued he, " if you at
tempt to go to that mill, I will split your head
open, and slash your brains all over the ground."

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 167
"But," said I, "you are too well-bred a cavalier
to object to a man warming at your fire." "Ah !"
said he, "that is a horse of another color, but
I'll be d  d if you can go to that mill." I
advanced and stood by the fire for nearly half an
hour, meditating in my own mind whether to reck
lessly make the levy at once, or try to effect my
purpose by other means, and decided on the lat
ter course. But with a view to test the extent of
his resolution, I told him that I would go round
him to the mill, and started, but he jumped be
twixt me and the door, having at the same time
grasped his axe-handle in both hands. I now
distinctly saw the devil looking out at the win
dows through which the soul in better men looks.
Indeed, the eyes of an enraged tiger had not
looked more terrific than he did. I jerked out my
pistol and presented it, and here we stood, he with
his uplifted axe, and I with my ready cocked,
primed, and presented pistol. I, after so long a
time, picked up a billet of wood and threw it to
the mill, for I knew how ignorant he was of the
law, and thought if he took that for a levy, I
should by this means have closed the scene, but
the scheme failed. I now took my pistol down,

168 LIPE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
and drew a weapon of a different riattire — I
mean, that of argument, thinking that though he
was an angry beast in action, he was yet shaped
like a human being, and might have some nook
in his brain that concealed at least a little reaaon.
Said I, " You have obtained certain articles from
your merchant which cost him actual money, and
which he disposed of to you under the promise
that you would pay him for them, and you ought
to do it ; but since you have refused to pay for
that which never belonged to you until you obli
gated your honor to return their value in money,
I have been selected as an officer to force you if
poaaible to comply. This," continued I, " the law
requirea of me. It ia required by my aolemn
oath, by my aacred honor, and I never have
swerved from my duty, and never will be terrified
from that path. I know that you are a large
and powerful man, and in this instance the battle
may be to the strong, but you cannot intimidate
me. You owe thia debt, and I can make it out of
your effects ; but I have one proposition to make,
and that ia, if you will give me the watch which
you have in your pocket, and some caah notes
you hold on certain individuals, I will not molest

LIFE ^F JOSEPH BISHOP. 169
you any further." To thia he conaented, laid his
axe down, and appeared very friendly. We now
all three left the mill, and started to his house
after the cash notes, but upon reaching the yard
stopped at a work-bench, and three men profess
ing to be carpenters came up as 'twere to go to
dressing plank. Young seated himself upon one
end of the bench, and said to me, "Let us see
that little gun of yours:" meaning my'pistol. I
at first hesitated, but thinking that I might dia-
cover to him that I had but little confidence in
the reconciliation we had made, and thus irritate
him unnecessarily, and dreaming not but that the
workmen were disinterested, I drew it out and
handed it to him. He sprung the cock, and as
quick as thought discharged its contents at me,
and the ball struck my right arm juat above the
elbow, with ao much violence aa to throw me half
round, and making me believe that it had shiv
ered the bone. Thinking of my other pistol, I
drew it instantly, cocked it by holding the butt
against my thigh and took aim, but owing to its
being hard on trigger, and in my left hand, I
could not pull it down untU the workmen--who
turned out to be a set of cowardly confederates —

170 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
ran up behind me, and catching me, endeavored
to wring from my hand my last weapon of de
fence. I told them that if they did unarm me,
and not kill me, I should never stop short of the
fiercest revenge. " We will turn you loose," said
they, "if you will promise not to shoot Young;"
and this seeming to be the only possible treaty I
could negotiate, I told them that if they would un
hand me I would not kill him ; but when I was at
liberty, I fixed my eyes steadfastly upon him,
without stopping to examine my wound, and never
took them off until I compelled him to hand over
a good and sufficient number of sterling cash notea
with that aame watch to fully satisfy the claim.
He did all this very humbly, for he now had the best
of reasons to believe that I would blow the whole
top of his head away in the event of his refusal.
I now mounted my horse, having first placed my
arm in a sling — which after all was not hurt as
bad as I had imagined — and rode off; and when
I had returned and ahowed the merchant that I
had aecured his debt, he said that he was so sur
prised, that he could hardly look upon it as a
reality. The above were not the only troubles which

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 171
were to come into the measure of my official career,
for before the cup was filled, I found it my duty
at a subsequent period to take out a State's war
rant for one John Shearman, by nature so terri
ble and ferocious, that had Shakspeare ever seen
him, he doubtless would have repeated the lan
guage which he caused to totter on the tongue of
Eichmond when, in his address to his soldiers,
he called the base Eichard "the bloody and
devouring boar." I expected to meet him at our
muster-ground, perhaps I should say battle
ground, as the sequel might justify, near Eome.
I prepared myself, as I had done in earlier days,
when I would go forth expecting to encounter
the savages and wild beasts of the forest, and
went to the parade ; and when I arrived found a
multitude of my fellow-citizens assembled, and in
the shade of their respectability I saw the horri
ble Shearman moving. He, after a long time,
discovered me, and forthwith walked out fifteen
or twenty paces from the crowd, to an open
apace, and drew out a knife, similar in size to the
old battle-blades which our forefathers used to
wield in the Eevolution, and which he held high
and tight in the grasp of his large sinewy hand.

172 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
the great muscles in his arm standing out until
they bulged hia clothes ; and he seemed to say,
in the terror of his aspect and the horror of his
frown, " I'm on my native heath, and my name's
McGregor." I waa at firat impressed with the
idea that I should have to summon a whole bat
talion of men to assist in what seemed to be an
undertaking too full of peril for any one man;
but it occurred to me that I had fulfilled the
requirements of my calling through a space of
nearly twenty years, and had never aummoned a
peraon during all that period to aid me in the
arrest of any man, and that I would try again
the single-handed process, by which I had so
often succeeded. Just at this cri-sis I heard it
being whiapered around me, " He is a very danger-
oua man, he is reckless and desperate when
excited;" but no matter for all this, I was
resolved to take him, or be consigned to the land
of the eternal sleepers. I atarted toward him. I
heard aeveral voicea aaying that I would get
killed, and as many uttering that there was no
law to compel an officer to approach such danger,
but this only had the effect to make me improve
my stride towards him. He raised his thirsty

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 173
weapon higher, and held it with a firmer grasp.
His eyes flashed fire. Hia entire attitude became
more threatening; but I advanced faster and
faater, until I rushed full upon him, when he
began to slaah and sabre me with his long knife
at a murderoua rate ; firat wiping me over my
shouldera, and then under my arms and across my
ribs ; but summoning all the energy belonging to
my frame, I, with one tremendous effort, hurled
him to the ground, and just at this crisis the
crowd, led by Armstead Moore, began to rush iri
a mass toward the scene, but before they reached
the spot Shearman was trembling like the leaf of
an aspen ; he had suffered his excitement to rage
too high and fiercely. A nervous trepidation had
seized him. Moore had caught up a billet of
white oak aa he came, and was in the very act of
demolishing the monster, but seeing that he was
conquered, that I had fought, and won the field,
and that I was not mortally wounded, he with
held the fatal blow. Indeed, Moore was not only
an honest, brave man, but good-hearted, and dis
criminating in his judgment.
The next difficulty that I had to encounter was
with Moses Pinckston, the magistrate, before
9

174 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
whom I had returned all the business I had
transacted during many years, and of whom I, in
consequence, had a good knowledge ; but it hav
ing been to his interest pecuniarily to act "
squarely with me, I had never been right sure
that I had ever seen his cloven foot. At length,
however, I suffered myself to be persuaded by
him to go with him to Georgia with a drove of
horses ; and with one negro man, whom he took
along, we all started, and the same day made a
good travel ; stopped, and stayed all night with
a nice, quiet little family, where we had every
necessary attention paid us, and the next morn
ing departed with a cheerfully-expressed hope
from the kind landlady and her husband that
our journey should be a safe one ; but the scenes
in this Ufe are ever shifting :
"AU the world's a stage,
And all the men and -svomen merely players :
They have their exits and their entrances ;
And one man in hia time pliiys many parts."
The next night we stopped at a house, and asked
for quarters, and being requested to alight,
Pinckston and myself walked in, and took seats

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 175
by the fire, while the landlord and the negro, or
rather the negro and the land-devil, went on to
attend to the stock, and they had not been out
long before we heard a fair volley of angry
oaths at the crib ; but we did not yet leave our
seats, thinking that the landlord might be one of
that self-important kind of two-legged, unfea-
thered animals, who thought a horse could
understand his -vulgar, oath-seasoned garrulity, or
that to vaunt and swear would cause the world to
• regard him as a man of some importarice. He
ultimately became so furious, however, that
Pinckston went to the door, and with as much
authority as though the house belonged to him,
cried out, "What does all this mean?" The
landlord cried out as though his throat would
split, " This d — — d negro has ' shaken' my half
'bushel,' and if the black scoundrel does it any
more, I will splatter his brains all over the face
of the earth, by G — d." Pinckston told him,
in a very fierce manner, that he wanted no more
of it ; and this brought on a most noisy quarrel
betwixt them ; one too in which Mrs. Land-devil
likewise heartily joined. I said nothing for the
several hours which the wrangle lasted ; but at

176 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
length thinking that a period had arrived in its
progress when a mediator might be uaefuUy
admitted, I aaid, " Let ua rest in peace the balance
of the night, and the golden morn will smile"
upon ua as we part, perhaps to never meet again
in this world, or in thatfo come." We retired to
bed, and tried to reat until daylight, which was a
long time coming, although the night had been
half spent in wrangling ; we roae however as
aoon aa the darkness had paaaed away, fed our
stock, broke our fast on some half-served venison,
and paid our bill. The old woman now flew up
with the spring and flutter of an old hen that had
just discovered a snake, and cackled with as much
violence as if a whole flock of falcons were about
to sink their talons into her. She clinched, not,
like Murena, a half-forged brand, with which to
rescue the angel-like yet insulted maiden of
Eome, but a rusty old polking stick, and issued a
wrathy proclamation of war, all about the half
bushel — I should say three-peck measure — of
corn, which the negro had ahaken down to two.
The land-devil, within the dark walls of whose
bosom still smouldered the devouring embera of
the former night, bursting out into a sudden flame,

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. K 177
began to roll forth his blasphemous oaths, and,
jerking up his gun, sprung the cock, and pre
sented it at Pinckston, and, from all appearances,
it seemed that the battle would come on. I saw
that there was no time for reasoning, that we
had jackals, and jackal's hate, to contend with,
and that all was being tossed in- the whirlpool of
passion, and therefore drew one of my pistols,
handed it to Pinckston, and told him to shoot the
beast down, and end so intolerable a scene. In
the meantime I drew my other pistol, thinking
that my own person might require defence. The
landlord surveyed with wild eyes the aspect of
affairs, and, bounding Off, ran like a "quarter
horse," and his dear companion began to bellow
like a cow. Pinckston now mounted his horse,
and called me to start. I told him that when I
had seen more about this matter, I should then
think of startirig, and not before. The quarter-
horse, so to speak, returned, and brought another
man with him, who lived hard by. He was still
holding his gun in his hand, while I stood still in
the yard, with my pistol in mine. When they
came within about ten feet of me I jai-sed my
. weapon, and said, " Sir, you have brought on a

178 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
difficulty with us in your own house, and I am
now ready to aettle the matter with you by
exchanging a shot or two." Whereupon he said,
" I have nothing against you, sir ; it is with that
d  d rascal on the horse. ' ' They both went into
the house, and I followed them, and knowing that
we must not be detained long enough with the drove
of stock to answer what might be the demands of
the law, I thought of a scheme by which perhaps
it might be settled without. Said I, " Sir, you
have treated us very badly under your o-wn roof,
and I am determined to see if there is any thing
in the laws of your country that will suffer you
to thus molest innocent and inoffensive travellers ;
so if I can find an officer you may expect him,
and that soon too." We now left, and travelled
straight toward Georgia, but not without looking
back from time to time, until we had rode many
miles, even without inquiring after the first
officer ; the scene has now passed away for ever,
except this trace which it has left in the gray-
haired subject's memory.
But having returned from Georgia, I found
that my squire was owing a good deal of money,
and it fell to my lot to collect a certain sum

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 179
which he was refusing to pay, and which made it
my duty to levy upon several articles of his pro
perty, which brought, him into such a bad humor
that he went round and tore down the advertise
ments which I had posted up. This of course
vexed me not a little ; but he was my old magis
trate, and I concluded not to resent the offence,
but that I would go round and post up new
notices ; and while I was in the act of tacking
one to a tree he saw me, and as soon as I left the
spot he walked up and tore it do'Wn. I tacked
on another in its place, and said, "Pinckston,
there is a notice of the same purport as that
which you have just mutilated." Eejoined he,
"It shall not stick there," and forthwith pulled
it down, I grasped a stick of wood, and aimed
a violent blow at his head ; but so much manual dex
terity was required to wield so large a weapon,
he was enabled to dodge. I then jerked the
paper' out of his hand, and he ran off, crying
revenge, and swearing that I should suffer for my
conduct ; arid it was but a little while before it
came to pass that I was arraigned at the bar in
Carthage, charged with having kicked the magis
trate, bruised him severely with stones and clubs

180 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
of unlawful dimensions. I inquired of the court
if I -could be permitted to tell the truth, and,
upon receiving a negative answer, I asked him if
he did not pull down my advertisements ? but to
this question I received no answer ; he, as I sup
posed, not being compelled to criminate himself
in an indictable offence. The judge fined me
five dollars, and Pinckaton started out, but I fol
lowed him, and thinking that I could not be
tried twice for the same offence, I would now do
the kicking, which he had prematurely placed in
his bill of charges ; and when we reached the
door, I said, " Pinckaton, I had to pay five dol
lars for kicking you when I did not do it, and
now I will give you another five to let me kick
you once round this court-house." He con
sented, and though he was nearly twice my size
and strength, I began to count out the money,
with the full intention to set my foot in motion as
soon as he had received it ; but the citizens inter
fered, and prevented the kicking circumambula-
tion about the place of lawand equity.
This lawsuit, like many others, sowed the
seeds of a new one. The same magistrate held
in his possession a note, signed by me, for one

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 181
hundred and forty doUars, which I knew to be
unjust, and which I am Sure would never have made
its appearance against me in the absence of the
above difficulty, I agreed, however, to leave it
to arbitration, and it was decided in my favor ;
but when the decision was made known to Pinck
ston, he snatched it from the hand of one of the
arbitrators, and went immediately and sold it to
a gentleman in Gallatin, and in consequence the
note was presented to me again in a few days for
payment. I informed the new holder that I had
signed it, but did not intend to pay it. He of
course required an explanation, which I unhesi
tatingly gave in detail, and which in this place I
can condense into a few words, to wit: When
John Douglasa, who waa aheriff, went out of
office, he handed over to me arrearages to the
amount of one hundred and forty dollars, and I
having just then been elected constable, and
consequently without experience, gave him my
note for the amount of the old claims, instead of
a simple receipt. I had tried to collect the
claims, but found receipts against nearly every
one of them. Upon hearing this my GaUatin
friend took the bond back to Pinckston, and made
9*

182 LISE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
him refund the purchase-money ; and I waa again
carried to the Carthage court. The case was
tried, and the jury, to the twelfth man, decided
that I should not pay the note.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 183

CHAPTEE XIII,
Although it waa not my fortune to be an
immediate participant in the national acenes and
commotions of 1812 and '13, I yet remember
well that I had a heart full of hope for the good
of the republic, and was at all times ready, if an
opportunity presented, to fall into line at the first
roll of my country's drum. The glories of those
times even now flame up in my mind as if
they had transpired but yesterday. It was in
thoae times that the eighteenth pillar of the
republican Union, Louisiana, waa admitted,
and into her handa placed the "keya of en
trance, through the mouth of a mighty river, to
the richeat, if not the most extensive, valley in
the world."
Those were the times in which came forth, like
the blaat of a trumpet, the proclamation of a
war, the tide of which «wept over a great portion

184 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
of our country; but which was ultimately
dammed up at New Orleans by Gen. Jackson,
who raised our standard, as Washington had
done in other days ; and from its martial head
hung forth the popular flag of freedom. It was
in 1813 that Tecumseh, the great Shawnee
chief, fell. The same year gave birth to the
Massachuaetts' Society for the Suppression of
Intemperance, the author of which waa Dr. Ben
jamin Euah ; and in thia year the first steatfboat
ever launched on the Western waters started
from Pittsburgh ; and it waa in 1813 that Com
modore Oliver H, Perry wreathed hia brow with
laurels which shall never fade ; but the joy I
have in looking back over such scenea as these,
always brings with it its share of bitterness, for
it was in this year that the seeds of many of my
own misfortunes were sown. In 1813 I bought a
negro man and woman on a credit, and thought
that I would take them to New Orleans, and sell
them for a profit, having been informed that a
flat-boat waa soon to start, and that I could take
my blacks and one horse free of charge, and get
one hundred dollars in the bargain, provided
myself and the negro man would work as bow

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 185
hands. We started, and met no impediment until
we left the Cumberland and floated into the Ohio,
where we were compelled to lie cabled to the
ahore for several days, in consequence of the
wind, which nearly all the while was sweeping
the waters of this usually placid river up into a
continuous field of foam. The next remove we
reached Natchez, and tied up againL Here we
.found an acquaintance and fellow-boatman, who
had sold one-half of his cargo, conaiating of
corn, flour, and whiskey, and waa holding out
Unducementa to sell the other half, which we
bought, and let him return. I now hired a man
to go on with my boat; and sending a horse
which I had purchased from Samuel Capliener,
instructed him to sell him at New Orleans. The
next night my negroes ran away, leaving me at
the boat without assistance. I inquired round the
town, without hearing any thing about them ; and
then went to a printer, and asked him what he
would charge for twenty placards. He replied four
doUars ; and upon my complaining at the price,
he said that he had as soon print five hundred as
twenty; that it was all the same with him, the

186 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
same type being required for that number as
would be for that many thousand. " Very well,"
said I, " you may give me five hundred," and I
started ; but he foUowed me to the door, saying
that I would not need so many ; but I gave him
no satisfaction, only to give me a plenty of them ;
and when I returned to receive them, he had
been, printer-like, as good as his word ; for which
I voluntarily gave him an additional sum, and
left his office ; and went about handing them, one
by one, to every footman, horseman, and coach
man that came to or went from the town. I-
now took up a permanent residence in my boat
at Natchez under the Hill, for thirty days, and
it would be my delight to give you a description
of some of the scenes that came under my
observation during this period, but am restrained
by the conscientious fact that the refined could ¦
not, would not tolerate them, when you came
to lay them before the public. Suffice it to say,
that it is my candid belief that the Natchez
under the Hill, of 1813, has never been slandered
even by the most -rolgar narrator who ever
attempted the description of what she then was.

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.- 187
and continued to be for many yeara after ; but I
am happy to be informed that the town has
undergone vast improvements.
When at length I was about to despair of ever
hearing of my negroes, I received a letter, in
forming me where they were. They had wan
dered off through the country, a diatance of over
eighty miles, in the direction of home; and
having sent my horse on to New Orleans, I was
put to the necessity of going to a livery-stable
and hiring one, at the rate of one dollar per day.
I took up my gun, mounted him, and travelled
on until I came to the place where they had
been arrested; and found the boy confined by
the ankle with a log-chain, and the woman left
free, the landlord having the idea that she would
not leave her husband. He had caught them
with a pack of dogs, that guarded his premises
with as much vigilance and discrimination as ever
those of Vulcan did the temple dedicated to him
upon Mount Etna. The aame night of my
arrival the negro man, by some means, slipped
the chain over his heel, and he, with the woman,
tried to escape ; but the dogs gave the alarm, and
the landlord and his sons ran out and took the

188 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
man, while the woman went her way. I told the
landlord that thia was no matter, he ahould have
his reward, for, as to the woman, I thought I
should get her; and to effect my purpose, I
noised it round, that if she wanted to see her
husband again, she had better be about it, for
that she had but little time to spare. I then
went to see a neighboring man, and, owing to a
heavy fall of rain, had to remain -with him all night,
and when I returned the woman had come in.
The next morning I had a pair of handcuffs
made, and put them on the boy. The next day
I started for Natchez under the Hill, telling the
boy that if he would go quietly all would be well
with him ; but if not, we should determine the
consequencea. We travelled on without diffi
culty during this day, aa I had expected, for I
feared nothing before night, when I apprehended
that they would try to make their escape again.
About sundown I called at the stile before a
house upon the trace, and asked -the landlord if
he could furnish a room in which myself and two
negroes could lodge, telling him that we were on
such friendly terms, that nothing would do but
for us to occupy the same apartment ; and hear-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 189
ing this, together with seeing the handcuffs, he
took the hint, and showed us into a chamber,
which answered very well, and which, upon
examination, I found to have three doors; and
when it was time for me to go to bed I locked
one, moved riiy bedstead athwart the second, and
told the landlord to lock the other outside as he
retired. I now took my gun as a bedfellow,
knowing that she had the reputation of being very
quiet, except when, at my pleasure, ahe would be
disposed to become a little fiery. When I woke
up the next morning I found all safe, and as
soon as breakfast was over I paid my bill, and
took the path again for my boat, which I reached
on the third day; and on the ensuing morning
we cut cable, and floated away for the Crescent
City, finding the father of waters higher than he
had been for the previous thirty-five years. We
reached New Orleans in time to be there on the
fourth day of July ; and when I now look back
in imagination, and aee the manifeatations of joy
with which the people hailed the coming of the
glorious anniversary of American Independence
in those days, I can't but feel like they have
comparatively forgotten it in these, for now.

190 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
though that immortal day stUl comes and goes
with the rapid succession of years, we listen in
vain for martial notes, or cannon's booming ;
we look in vain to see the stars and stripes, fol
lowed by exulting thousands, floating upon the
earliest morning breeze ; and in vain do we bend
our ears to catch the eloquent accents of some
orator, telling where Montgomery bled or War
ren fell.
Having disposed of my load at a great sacri
fice, and my horse having been sold in New Or
leans, we sailed on the morning of the sixth
across the beautiful Lake Ponchartrain to Ellis's
Landing, and footed it to Natchez, where I went
to the livery-stable and bought the same horse I
had hired to pursue my negroes on, with the.
money for which I had sold mine, and leaving
this point we came out six miles to Washington,
where the negro woman was taken sick with fever.
I at once employed a physician and spoke for ten
days' board, thinking that if I aimed to cheat the
doctor out of ten dollars, I might cheat myself
out of a thousand ; but before a week was past,
he told me that, with caution, he thought I might
try her on the road at the rate of about six miles

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP. 191
per day, and avaUing myself of the suggestion,
we left, and had travelled but a short time
before we could make a full day's journey for foot
men. On the way, I was overtaken by a lone
traveller, who informed me that his name was
AUoway, a brother to the late Dr. John AUoway,
of Nashville, who told me that he had suffered the
misfortune to have his boat sunk after reaching
the port of New Orleans. Having the two ne
groes along, who had to walk, we were compelled
to travel slower than he waa, but, for the sake of
company, he agreed to keep back with us. We
were just then entering the bordera of the Choc
taw nation. After travelling some milea, we
came to the house of an Indian, at which we called,
and when we entered, I observed a tall, fine-look
ing aquaw who had her head bound up, and who
showed me her arm, making aigns that she wished
to be bled. I showed her that I had no lancet,
whereupon her husband reached up to a shelf and
took down the fragments of a green-glaas bottle,
and after many unsuccessful efforts to knock off a
suitable piece, I beckoned to him to hand it to me,
and by means of my knife I struck off a number
of pieces, and ultimately one that suited me. He

192 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
then took it and fixing it into a stick handed it
back to me, and instructed me how to set it upon
the vein, and strike it as though a horse was to
be phlebotomized. I shook my head, and taking
the piece of glass between my thumb and fore
finger, showed him how I should use it. He nod
ded assent, and I corded her arm and bled her
very freely. They were so wonderfully pleased
that the squaw handed me a piece of chalk, and
made signs to me to write my name above the
fireplace, and when I had complied with her re
quest, she gave me a dram and we left, but as
soon as we got out of hearing, AUoway said
to me, "I wouldn't care if that squaw's head
killed her;" I did not know what he meant,
until it occurred to me that he had got no
whiskey. The fact is, he was no doctor, like I
was, on this occasion. We next found ourselves
going through the Chickasaw nation, and I re
member that a beautiful hound took up with us
one day, and this being about the time that Te
cumseh had men in every nation trying to excite
the ndians against the whites, I did not want a
noisy dog about, and especially when we might
be compeUed to camp, as was often the case with

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 193
us. I told AUoway that I would shoot him, but
just at that time I happened to see an Indian,
and beckoned him to me, and made signs that he
might have the dog, whereupon he took a string
from around his waist — a thing that an Indian is
seldom without — tied him by the neck, and we
went on, but before we had gone five miles, he
had overtaken us again, and we suffered him to
follow us until at length we came up with another
Indian, who was carrying a rifle, who could talk
English, and, contrary to most of hia race, was
willing to do it. We offered him the hound, and
he like the first untied a string from around hia
waist, and after attaching it to his neck, he asked
me my name, and when I informed him what it
was, he began to pat the dog on the back and say,
" Jo Bishop ! Jo Bishop !" So I at least had one
namesake in -the world. He now said, " That he
would carry me to where I could find good water."
We ventured to follow him, and found the water,
as he had represented it, very good. The same
night we reached the Tennessee river, and put up
with George Colbert, an Indian universally known
as the proprietor of Colbert's Ferry, which to thia
day bears his name. He gave us very good fare.

194 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
and set ua acroas promptly the next morning, and
that day we reached what waa and perhaps is yet
known as the Sixteen - Mile-Houae, the last of
the Indian settlements north of the river, and
stopped. At this place there were some out
buildings for travellers, the largest of which waa
known as the Kentucky House. We aaw some
twelve or thirteen Indians about the premises who
did not seem to belong there ; and when we had
dismounted, one from among them came up and
took out one of my holsters, but I made him in
stantly let. it go, and gave him to understand
that hia presence was no longer desired. I now
started into the Kentucky House, but was met
by a little negro who said, " that I must not go
in ;" though, without paying any attention to what
he had uttered, I proceeded, and as I entered, saw
an Indian run out at the back door and begin to
wash his face, it having been painted as black as
ebony. I did not like this sign, for it led me at
once to believe that all the Indians about the
place were the recruiting offlcers of Tecumseh,
I, however, passed out, and the little negro showed
me some stalls in the rear of another out-house,
in which wp lay all night ; I was about to say in

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 195
which we slept, but no, for this was impossible,
owing to an entertainment which they had within
called the war - dance, and we verily believe that
Tam O'Shanter never saw higher capers cut up
in the dance of the Warlocks and Witches, with
their hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels, than
we saw accomplished by these drunken devils,
who revelled all night, and, like witches, were only
to be chased away by the coming of morn.
After leaving this place, we came through what
is now universally known as the Polk Settlement,
to Columbia, and thence to Franklin, at which
place we stayed, having camped out the previous
night, and the next morning when I r-ose, my ne
groes were gone again. I could hear nothing
about them from the citizens of the village, and
concluded to pursue my journey without them,
and the second day from this I reached home,
having been absent more than five months.
Soon after my arrival a negro man robbed the
house of my neighbor, a Mr. Banks, and stole his
canoe. A Mr. McAlister came after me to go with
him in pursuit of the thief. We took another
canoe, and thinking that he would not go up, we
rowed down stream, and after going about a mUe,

196 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
discovered the canoe lying against a drift, but
upon examination found it entirely empty. We
now examined either bank opposite, but finding
no traces here, we coasted along up the north
bank of the river, and found his tracks where he
had landed. McAlister having recovered his ca
noe, had no inclination to go any farther. I told
him that the negro had very probably remained
in the bottom during the previous night, and
would not leave before the next, and that we
might do something by still hunting a little, but
he refused, and I started alone. The bottom was
very extensive, and there had been a number of
large white-oaks felled in it by men who rived
staves for market, leaving the great laps spread
over the ground in every direction. I traversed
the territory by taking one land at a time, as the
farmer would aay in sowing his small grain, and
made it a rule in going over each land to walk
in upon all the fallen trees which lay with their
butts toward me, and examine the tops thoroughly
for the object of my search ; and my plan suc
ceeded, for aa I was walking in through the high
weeds upon an unusuaUy large log, I discovered
the runaway, who upon seeing me rose and

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 197
bounded off like a wild bucks I raised my gun,
but he was smart enough to take a course by
which he could avail himself of the advantage of
the trees, and ran about thirty yards before I
could catch him long enough in an open space for
me to shoot with the hope of hitting him ; I fired,
however, and just as the gun -went off I slipped
and fell back into the brushes and weeds, without
knowing whether I had struck him or not. When
I rose, I called for McAlister as loud as I could.
He came, and we followed the negro, but could not
overtake him. We now returned, and after com
municating to Banks the occurrence, and telling
him how I aimed, he, pointing his finger to a spot
on the waU, said, " You have hit him about this
high ; you have hit him about the hips, for a gun
will scatter that much in thirty yards, and if you
will take my dogs they will track him." We called
the dogs and started, being this time accompa
nied by Berryman Turner, Esq., that good old
citizen, who is yet lingering about his old home
stead, upon a romantic bluff which overlooks the
beautiful Cumberland, and which he in 1815 left
for a time, to fight under the never-pining ban
ners of Gen. Jackson at New Orleans ; and what
10

198 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP;
redounds more to the credit of this humble old
man ia, that he waa there the first to scale the
cotton breastworks. But td go on with the story,
when we came to the tree where I had ousted
the thief, we found him in the very spot which
he occupied when I first discovered him. I or
dered him to run, but he said in a sullen and
unsubdued manner, "I cannot run, I am shot."
We put him on a horse, and carried him back to
the house. I asked him why he did not stop and
avoid being shot ; and his reply waa, that he had
"been fired at twice before without being hit, and
had come to the conclusion "that he could not be
struck while running. We now carried him to a
shed, under which Mr. Banks kept a wagon-bed,
and it being the best and only chance, we laid
him into it, and left him without a guard, think
ing that his wounds would be sufficient to prevent
him from going away. I visited him every day
but one for thirteen, at the expiration of
which time I perceived that his recovery was so
rapid, that, to avoid his escape, I had better take
him to jail; and accordingly had two horses
caught, and started with him to Carthage,
though not until I had first offered him choice of

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 199
the horses, and told him that if he came to any
place that suited for another race, he would be
welcome to make a break. We however reached
town without his attempting to escape, and I
placed him securely in jail, where he remained
until his owner, John Eodgers, who lived on
Hiwassee river, in the Cherokee nation, came and
took him away.
And now to return to the story of my own
negroes, who left me at Franklin, I have to say
that I heard nothing from them until the lapse
of several months, when I learned that they were
in Lexington, Kentucky; and as soon as the
news reached me, I procured the services of a
friend, made preparation, and went after them;
and upon coming in sight of the town, I re
quested him to stop while I went in, with a view
to spy round in quest of their locality, and in a
very short time I found - out the street they lived
in. My next step was to look for a magistrate,
whom I likewise found without the least difficulty,
and who informed me that the negroes were
regarded ¦ by the people as being free, having
thus represented themselves to the citizens.
Fearing that they would see and recognize my

200 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
horse, I requested the magistrate to allow me to
put him into his back lot ; he consented, and at
the same time told me that the negro man had to
paaa by hia house every day, to and from a job
of work which he waa doing, and as this was
early in the morning, he had not yet gone by.
I now went out and stationed myself at a little
gate, and waited until he came along, and just as
he passed the second post, I walked out and sur
prised him by fastening my hand in his collar. I
led him into the yard, and securely tied him ;
by which time the woman had received the news;
and was out in the street cutting up tall capera ;
I hurried round, caught her, brought her into
the yard, tied them firmly together, and marched
both up to the court-house, (court then being in
scsaion,) and proclaimed that they were my pro
perty, and had run away from me in Tennessee.
. A Yankee lawyer interfered, and induced them
to bring suit for their freedom, before Judge
Ben. Johnson, who .actually decreed that they
should be detained six months, and hired out;
and who could see no law, aa he said, to indem
nify me for their forthcoming upon the day for
trial. The suit came on at the end of the six

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 201
months,- and I gained it; but this righteous
judge, with hia confederate, the Yankee lawyer,
had carried out his designs: had allowed the
negroes a chance to escape, by neither giving me
security in the outset, nor allowing them to
attend trial. The next news I heard of either
of them was that the woman was still in Lexing
ton ; I gave a man five dollars to take her and
secure her in jail, in which he succeeded; and
the next morning I took her out, and my friend
by this time having joined me, we, after a few days'
travel, had her at home, and after the lapse of
about one month I heard that the man was in
Cincinnati ; and about the same time the woman
ran away again, and went to him. I now went
to Lexington, where I had stood my suit for tho
property, procured a copy from the records to
show in Cincinnati, and proceeded after them.
When we reached the city we put up with a man
by the name of Grissom, and in making up an
acquaintance with and communicating my mis
sion to him, he frankly told me that this was his
place of earning a livelihood, and in consequence
could not assist me, but would be quiet on the
subject. I had noticed a gentlemanly-looking

202 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP,
man about the tavern, by the name of Laban
Urton, and concluded that since I was doing
nothing toward getting my negroes, I would
inform him of my business. He seemed much
excited in my behalf, and puUing out his pocket-
book, said, " If you want a friend, you shall have
one ; come, go with me, I will show you Stephen
Sedgewick, an excellent lawyer." I foUowed,
and arriving at the office was introduced to the
gentleman of the long robe, who, upon hearing
my complaint, said, " Why, sir, I know the man
and his wife very well ; the woman is in the city
now, but her husband is away on a trip to New
Orleans, as a fireman upon a steamboat," I
asked him what he would charge me to put my
property in a condition that I would be sure to
get it; and his reply was, "Five dollars." I
informed him that I would give the amount most
freely. He soon brought the woman to trial. I
showed my papers, but all to no purpose. I told
the judge that I had always looked upon his
office as one which was to dispense justice
between man and man, but by his judgment he
had cut me off from my just rights, by thus turn
ing my slaves loose before my own eyes, and then

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 203
walked out of the. court. In the afternoon of the
same day I was musing leisurely along the streets,
and suddenly receiving a slap on the shoulder,
turned to inquire the meaning ; and to my utter
surprise, an officer stood before me, inquiring if
my name -was not Joseph Bishop? and upon
receiving an affirmative answer, he said, "Mr.
Bishop, I have a couple of warrants for you of
five dollars each, in favor of Mr. Sedgewick and
Mr. Urton." I asked him to show me the magis
trate's office, and to put the trial off until tho
next day, all of which he politely consented to,
and we parted. The next morning I repaired to
the place of trial, and found bot^ of my dear
deceitful friends in attendance, and whom I take
the present opportunity to denounce as notorious
scoundrels. I desired every person to behold the
scene, for it was a trial in which this tavern-
loitering wretch and this legal villain were to
show their cloven feet, and the extent of their
diminutive five-dollar souls ; and, without assign
ing my reason, I requested the magistrate to give
me a few more minutes' time, which being
granted, I went to the pavement, and made a
loud proclamation that a stranger was to be tried.

204 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
The house was soon crowded from wall to wall,
and then the street became blocked up with
people as tightly as the lobby of a post-office for
fifty yards. In the presence of this assembly I
told the circumstances which led to the trial, and
pointed the finger of scorn at the mean-looking
lawyer, who, in my eyes, was a slander to the
noble calling, and then I pointed to his worse
than mean-looking accomplice, who was more
than a burlesque upon the title gentleman. I
gained my case over the pettifogger, but had the
other sponging impostor to pay. I next had
Sedgewick sworn, and made him tell whether or
not he was to get, say about two dollars and a
half, of the five Urton recovered off of me.
After the trial was over another man came up,
and taking me aside, pointed to a block of build
ings across the street, and said, " If you want a
friend you shall have one, for all these belong to
me." I thanked him for his extreme kindness,
but at the same time had but little doubt in my
own mind that if it had been dark, and the block
of buildings had been thievable, they in reality
would have all belonged to him before day.
When I left the court I was well enough satisfied

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 205
in one particular: I had outcoped a man who
was said to be the best lawyer in the Queen City.
I should be really ashamed of even Tennessee
pettifoggers, to say nothing of her splendid law
yers, were I to catch them acting as this pitiful
thing did with me, for the small sum of two dol
lars and a half.
I now returned home, determined to give up
my property for lost, and for ever ; but a man,
whose name was Eoundtree, proposed that if I
would give him one-third of the Tennessee value
of the negroes, he would go and get them, and
upon my agreeing to the proposition he werit to
Cincinnati, but returned without them, stating
that he had seen the woman, but could not get
her. Some considerable time after this a young
laiwyer, Woodfork, came from above Carthage,
on purpose to see me, having heard the circum
stances of my situation, and said he would deliver
them to me for one-half of their value ; I closed
the bargain with him, and he started, and when
he had been gone about three months, I received
a line from him, stating that if I had been there
he could have secured them. I heard no more
from Woodfork ; but Eoundtree returned, and
10*

206 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
offered me a set of blacksmiths' tools for the
chance of the woman, which I accepted; and he
went after her again, and after an absence of
several weeks, came back with information for
me, that he had succeeded in getting her, but had
sold her; and this part of the scene closed, I
never afterwards having heard of them.
But j)erhaps the worst is to come ; I was stUl
in debt for them, and they not here to assist me
in making tho money, for which my bonds were
out. The chains which debt binds a man in, were
to me intolerable. I yearned to be free ; but to
burst my fetters I knew would require a des
perate struggle, I thought, however, that I
would not yet despair ; that I had gone through
some very trying scenes, and could pass what
now seemed to be the wreck of my fortunes, and,
keeping each nerve up to its highest pitch, I
resolved to pay, and restore my personal independ
ence ; but with all my efforts, no matter howso
ever willingly they were made, the thought of
being a victim to another man left me neither
night nor day. I was not myself, I was the
slave of him who held my bond. I labored with
all the energy I was master of, but my debts fell

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 207
duo faster than I could pay them. Despair often
looked me in the face ; but I turned aside, and
struggled on, I perhaps -would have failed at
length, but I had a prop, of which every man
cannot boast : my kind-hearted wife, unlike many
women, who help the world to pull their hus
bands down, stood by and encouraged me. She
advised me to cut, and clip, and sell off all we
could spare, and accOTdingly I selected for sale
every horse, cow, and sheep on the place ; but
she saw that this would not be sufficient to dis
charge the debts, and when I had added several
other things, and all that I thought could be
culled from our meagre stock of. goods and chat
tels, I was upon the very verge of weeping,
when upon looking round I saw her coming with
her sifter in one hand, which scene I endeavored
to tolerate, but could no longer restrain my tears
when I saw in the other her bed-curtains, those
too which she had embroidered with her own
hand. The sheriff came and levied on the arti
cles we had parcelled out; but on the day of
sale, friends discovered themselves to us, by going
round and teUing the people that we were honest,
and not to buy. The officer cried long and loud.

208 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
but could not get a single bid. He closed the
sale, and as he was about to leave, I told him
that if he would not sell upon the next day of
sale, I would raise him five hundred dollars, and
he agreed to it. The next day for selling came
on, but he did not offer my property ; my friends
had not only promised, but handed me the five
hundred dollars ; and I paid it over, and he pro
mised to wait as long as he could for the balance.
I now started out, and took a round to collect
that which I had previously sold property for,
but failed. The sheriff returned, levied, and
advertised to sell; but before the day of sale
came roundj, Thomas Hamilton, an old friend
from the Emerald Isle, took compassion on me,
and voluntarily offered me three hundred dollars ;
and with that amount I freed myself from the
sheriff; but the debt was yet standing out against
me, so my wife and myself went to work, and
after a good deal of tugging and toiling we paid
our kind old Irish friend, and once again began
the world anew ; and perhaps if the prime of my
life had not been gone, I had made a fortune.
Thia shows how a man may be poor all his life by
even a small accident in the outset, and I know

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 209
not how I can better close my narrative than to
advise the rising generation to love their country,
and keep clear of debt aa much as possible, for
the want of a single hundred dollars has often
determined and spoiled a young man's fortunes
for ever. And I wUl only add that by diligent
industry and rigid economy, and the never abat
ing of my wife's energies and devotion, I now
find myself poasessed of a good little farm, two
faithful servants, Anthony and Dick, and a com
fortable cottage, freed from debt ; and being now
far advanced in years, I shall soon close my
earthly career, with hopes of admission to a bet
ter and brighter world, where the wicked shall
cease from troubling, and the weary shall be for
ever at rest.

PART SECOND.

PART SECOND.

CHAPTEE I.
When the biography of an individual is offered
to the public, it is generally after the people who
are or have been acquainted with the life he had
lived have expressed a desire that such a thing
should be done for the reason that such a person
is or has been of more value to his fellow-men, or
proved himself a more extraordinary character
in some manner, than those with whom we deal
every day, or have dealt in the affairs which
constitute the ordinary commerce of life. In
the present humble offering we have attempted
to tell the story of such an individual, believing
as we did that his name and deeds deserved aome
space — at least a niche in memory ; and though
in doing so it has not been our lot to give in detail
the career of some renowned atatesman, com-

214 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
manding the bent ear of listening senates; of
some inimortal hero, whose banners have flaunted
in triumph over floating navies; who has led
armies through bloody fields, and fleets to victory ;
of some great phUosopher, unravelling the wonder
ful mysteries of nature, showing the grand march
of the planets, the whirl of the earth, the ebb
and flow of the ocean ; pf some poet, sweeping
the harp-striSigs of heaven, or causing blandusian
fountains to stream with nectar ; of some great
historian, pointing to the spot whereon Palmyra
stood or Babel towered, and telling when and why
they fell ; nor yet again of some story incredible
burning fresh from the regions of romance, — we
were nevertheless persuaded to become instru
mental in recording the memories and civil events
pf one whom we had the satisfaction of claiming
as an old pioneer resident of Tennessee ; of one
who .nearly a hundred years ago stood amid the
Western wilds, and saw our then uninhabited
mountains towering in their lonely grandeur, as
so many noble elevations shadowing forth th^
future monumental gfery of the State; of one
who stood amid our virgin bowers, our noble forest
trees, through which the woodman's axe had sel-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 215
dom rung, bending over the wide-waving fields of
native cane, which was gracefully waving above
the wild flowers flourishing upon the untiUed soil ;
and one who yet ^survives, as well he deserves, in
his place of pride, to see his State, the character
of which he has helped to form, the destiny of
which he has helped to carve out and exa,lt, after
it has sprung from such a source to be the great
southern keystone to a mighty national republic,
and to share with his countrymen under such
auspices their general joy. In other words, we
have attempted to offer to the publie the life of
Joseph Bishop, a name at the bare mention of
which we knew the heart of many- a surviving
old pioneer would leap with very sweetness, and
which the offspring of these . old fathers would
hail as the advent of something worthy the sons
of Tennessee,
It may be said that much unnecessary atten
tion is being paid to the early history of Tennes
see ; but I cannot imagine how such a thing could
be done; for it should be borne in mind that
the character of the State was in a great measure
fashioned by its founders ; that the life-spring of
its institutions had its origin in their wholesome

216 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
views ; and that what may seem of small moment
in the records of these early times, nevertheless
wielded a potent influence upon all the events
that have succeeded. If we would preserve our
history and hand it down complete to those who
are to live after us, we should record occurrences
which are great and those which are small, both
being alike necessary to make up the sum of a
State's or a nation's true character; and such
events should be penned before they begin to fade
from memory's tables — ^before the frail tabernacle
that may contain them passeth away for ever ; or
else, to get our history, the next ages must do as
those have been necessitated to do who Uved and
wrote in times lorig since buried beneath the
shade of years — they must draw upon ideal con
jecture; and thus it might be said that Tennes
see had her fabulous ages, like other divisions of
the earth. Unborn generations might read of
a second Eomulus and Eemus standing apart,
pointing to another flock of birds winging their
ominous flight over our green hills. In view of
this, we should make our record full, so that when
our houses shall be occupied, our beautiful fields
tilled, our garners filled, our great highways trod.

LIPE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 217
our senates composed, our Bible-gospel proclaimed
all over the world, by those unnumbered and yet
unborn, they may hold it up as a beacon-light by
which, under His direction whose providence has
smiled brighter than sunlight over the past desti
nies of the republic, to guide our glorious pro
gress onward still through all the courts and
camps of wisdom, while peace ahall continue to
reign ; and, if necessity again demands, to loyal
deeds in times when the angry brow of battle
shall hang over ua ; and to leave nothing out of
the registration, we must not stop at the mention,
however great, of Washington and Jefferson, Cass
and Webster, or of Jackson, Clay, and Calhoun.
The biography of other men must have a place.
When we read the life of Washington, that great
and godlike spirit, we must evidently regard it as
the golden page, not only of American annals,
but of the wide, wide world. Yet this would not
make our history complete. In reading the life
of this splendid character, we see no mention
made of a thousand others who have contributed
their stone, their strength, and their precious'
lives to the building of the great national struc
ture. Had the life of him alone been written.

218 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
future generations would never read of Daniel
BooNE planting the seeds of civilization in tho
" Dark and Bloody Ground" in our sister State,
Kentucky. They had never read of Tennessee's
adopted and favorite child. General Jackson, meet
ing the English lion at the Crescent City, and hurl
ing him back into the boisterous sea, as it were to
wash the blood from his shaggy mane and the guilt
from his sullied soul ; nothing of his dear friend
and companion. General Carroll, executing his
grand schemes in battle, or commanding the first
steamer that ever sported upon the waters of the
beaiitiful Cumberland ; nothing of the cultivated
shores of that bright flowing river, the charming
valleys through which it flows, or the romantic
hills and flowery bluffs between which it winds ;
nothing of the vine-clad cottages, the magnificent
palaces, the happy villages, the splendid City of
Eocks, looking down upon its hundred steamers
plying as so many proud things of earth busily act
ing in the -regular scenes of life upon its waters —
upon those waters in which, less than a century ago,
we had only seen the red man of the forest lave
his manly limbs, and upon which we had only be
held his light bark canoe darting from shore to

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 219
shore, almost with the speed of the arrow from
his own strong bow.
By the neglect of our forefathers to record
every thing that came under their cognizance in
the first settlements of America, we are forced
upon the keenest point of regret ; for though much
has been preserved and handed down to us in
faultless characters, whenever we attempt, or
whenever an effort has been made, to write that
part of our history, it has been seen that a great
deal has been left untold and lost for ever ; and
it is unnecessary to attempt to say with what
eagerness the latter by the present is sought after,
and will continue to be by the mentfel cravings of
succeeding generations. Let us ask ourselves
with what veneration we should reverence that
man who could tell us as much again as we have
ever known about Georg-b Washington, arid the
grand scenes through which he passed on the
great highway along which he trod, as stride after
stride, fearlessly and undismayed, he carried him
self and his country on to glory ; or how we could
worship that man who could tell us more about the
great pillars that, aiming to support his cause, fell
immortaUzed in the arms of their country. To

220 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
know this would be to know more of the brave
Warren, than merely of his bleeding on the
heights of Bunker's Hill ; more of Montgomery,
the proudest of Erin's sons, than that he was
struck from the roll of life and filled a patriot's
grave at Quebec ; more of the heroic Mercer than
that he was shaken down, never to rise again, by
the rocking plains of Trenton; of- the gallant
Wooster, than that he willingly shed his blood in
the cradle of liberty, Massachusetts ; more of the
brave old De Kalb, than that he faced the furi
ous front of the tempest which swept over Cam
den, and by being overpowered with its surges
sunk beneath its red tide. But should it be said
that these alone were mighty deeds, done by
mighty men, and that it was enough to tell in
praise of such characters, we would affirm that
from the fact of their valor in thus nobly falling,
our desires are but the more ardently excited to
have a better knowledge of them ; for characters
calculated to do such deeds were capable of doing
others, and doubtless did accomplish many which
should be known ; and by the same parity of rea
soning, we might put the tinselling on the picture
by alluding to the women of the Eevolution — the

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 221
matron, the wife, the celestial Venus of the young
soldier's heart, and here we should feel the re
doubled force of what we have already aUeged in
relation to neglected history ; for when we read
the circumscribed sketches which have been given
upon the character and deeda of noble daring
done by our great mothers, we can but experi
ence the bitterest regret for the want of a better
knowledge of them. It was in their ample souls
that the vortex of the Eevolutionary storm so fully
defined itself. If she did not plunge her country's
bayonet, she spiked her enemy's cannon, and ex
posed their treacherous schemes. Whose, need
we ask, but the ingenuity of Lydia Darrah, saved
Washington's army from destruction near PhUa
delphia, and, in consequence, the country from
bitterest disaster? Who but the iritrepid Mrs,
Israel pressed into the field amid the terror-inspir
ing guns and harsh mandates of cowardly Britons,
and protected the herd in the absence of her brave
but captured husband ? Who but Mrs, Wilkin
son boldly and frankly affirmed, in the preaence
of Britiah officers, that she would never strike
again her loved guitar until they should return
her countrymen from the prison-ship? Whose
11

222 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
but the same patriotic tongue, moved by the im
pulses of a generous soul, declared in the very
teeth of her enemy, while their captive, that she
hoped to live to see the thirteen stripes once more
hoisted on the bastions of the garrison in which
she stood and was proud to stand ? Who but
Mrs. Adair, mother of the late Governor of Ken
tucky, carried in her so called rebel sons?
Who but Mrs. Braton applied the torch to the
American magazine rather than see it go into
the hands of the enemy, and afterward gloried
in the good work she had done ? What daring
heroines stepped forth upon the perilous highway
and captured the British news-bearers, and ob
tained from them documents of vital importance
to their country's army ? In fine, who toiled, who
suffered, who comforted and encouraged her hus
band and son, her brother and lover to be seen
where valor fought, and to urge their way through
all the paths of glory to victory ? It was hers,
the lyrical tongue, the music of which distilled
pathos sweet as Hermon's dews gently descending
upon the heavenly hills ; hers the tears brewed
abundantly and sweeter than early morn's dew-
drops upori famishing flowers, over the gaping

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 223
wounds of the bleeding brave. Give us the full
record of the past, in our own country, and we
have no occasion to transport ourselves into an
ideal world, with the flight of poets to array in
the mental vision the true character of American
women; we need not even call to mind Olym-
pia, the mother of Alexander the Great, Aspa-
sia the Oratress and wife of the eloquent Peri
cles, the mother of the Cornelian jewels, or Joan
of Arc, to show the greatest of females, for to
be almost blasted with excess of light and over
powered with conviction, we have only to hold
to the gaze the mothers of the republic; and
when we shall fail to cherish her memory with
reverence and affection, when we shall have
become unmindful that she diffused content
ment and sunlight cheerfulness in the dreariest
scenes of the winter's rude tempest, or when
we shall have laid down at our feet the ever
green laurels she helped our fathers to win, it
shall be when the steady and perdurable current of
time, made red by the blood . of our lives, shall
have long washed over Columbia's land, the land
of our birth and freedom ; levelled our houses,
our National, Mount Vernon, 'and Bunker Hill

224 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
Monuments with the soil we so firmly and proudly
tread ; moved away in the torrent all our litera
ture, our science, our arts and arms ; blotted out
for ever our country's existence ; the memories,
hanging like the rainbow jewels of life's sweet
visions over the names we have juat mentioned —
all, all, that ia worthy of undying consecration.
We hope that that day may never da-wn when we
cannot look with veneration and pride to the
tomb of the mother of our country; or to the
bosom of Pennsylvania, which holds the hallowed
remains of Mrs, Israel ; or to Cumberland Island,
where sleeps Mrs, Eather de Eead, hard by the
precioua dust of the gaUant Lee ; to Clifford, and
weep over the grave of the intellectual Mrs.
Warren. The fame of perhaps a hundred others, male
and female, who figured in the Seven Years' War,
and at earlier periods, lie buried deep down be
neath its avalanches, and the reason that their
deeds were left unrecorded, while they might have
been, must remain there obscured, nay, blotted
out from the world for ever, unless, perchance,
the antiquarian or geologist may in futurity
disembowel some old relic and trace in its rust-

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP, 225
eaten remains some motto, shape, or dimensions,
which at last can only serve as a legend to make
the world curious.
Another century, and the scenes through which
Joseph Bishop, and John Carr, and Mrs, Bu
chanan passed, were they left alone to the mercy
of memory and unrecorded, would be earnestly
sought after, but, alas, in vain. Even now the
people have a desire to hear all that happened
when such persons figured in Middle Tennessee,
when the denizens of the forest disputed dominion
with them.

226 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.

CHAPTEE II.
In writing the Ufe of Joseph Bishop, we know
that we have not been able to give such scenes as
many of those alluded to in the preceding chapter,
but at the same time we have given such as belong
to the early history of the country in which his
career was run ; such aa actually happened ; and
if he has varied in a slight degree from Capt,
John Carr and others in his story of Siglar's
and Buchanan's Fort, it is no more than so many
witnesses would do who would quaUfy to what they
individually had seen in a common petty muster or
street fight ; for though each witness might swear
the truth, their evidence would differ in so far as
neither saw every act in the melee, and could not
in consequence depose precisely alike. So we
imagine it has been with Captain Bishop and
Captain Carr in their respective narratives — that
the one has Siglar killed first, and the other

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP. 227
Shaffer; but as both of these old pioneers are
alike men of undoubted veracity, we will give in
thia part of the book Captain Carr's story, word
for word as we have given Captain Bishop's in
another ; and which we copy from the Narrative
OF THE Early Settlers of the South- West,
as published by Wales & Eoberts.
- "In June, 1792, the Indians killed Shaffer,
near Siglar's Station, whilst he was working in
the field. The locality is in sight of my present
residence, on Siglar's branch, a tributary of Bled
soe's creek. He was killed in the first part of
the day, and the neighbors having collected to
gether to bring the body from the field into the
fort, the Indians, lying in ambush, made an attack
upon the party, and wounded Gabriel Black, a
brother-in-law of General Winchester and Joel
Eccles ; both, however, afterward recovered from
their wounds. The Indians chased the men into
the fort, and fired upon it afterward for some time.
Thinking toward night that they had left, the
men in the fort went out and brought in the body.
The fort was poorly manned, and about bedtime
the Indians came and made another attack on the
fort, set fire to it, and succeeded in taking it.

228 LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP.
They killed Mr. Siglar, the owner of it, and also
Archie Wilson, a fine young man, who had vol
unteered hia services to help protect the people
that night. He had fought bravely, but wounded,
and finally retreating from the fort, he was
brought to bay Jit about one hundred yards dis
tant. I was there the next day, and the ground
was beaten all round in token of the desperate
defence he had made. They had broken the
breach of a gun over his head in the fight, and
had he not been badly wounded, there is little
doubt but that he would have gotten off. It was
an awful sight. They wounded Joseph Wilson
the same night. Himself and son, twelve years
old, were all that escaped of his family. The
others, his wife and six children, were taken pri
soners, and led by the Indians into captivity, to
the Cherokee and Creek nations. One of the
girls only went to the Creek nation, Mrs. Sig
lar made her. escape with one child, thrusting her
handkerchief into its mouth to prevent its crying
whilst she fled. Two of Siglar's children were
taken  Mrs. Wilson and her children
were carried to the Cherokee nation, with the ex
ception of one mentioned as taken by the Creeks,

life of JOSEPH BISHOP. 229
and being a sister of General White, of East
Tennessee, he aent on a runner and had them all
purchaaed, except the one mentioned. She re
mained ao long with the Indiana, that when ahe
waa brought back, it was many years before she
lost her Indian habits. Mrs. Wilson stated that
when the party which had captured her got to
Duck river, they waited for the missing ones,
whom they had relied upon to bring up the plun
der ; and when they made their appearance with
out any, they had a regular battle, drawing knives
on each other in the melee. She was much
alarmed, lest in their rage they might kill herself
and family,"

11*

230 life of JOSEPH bishop.

CHAPTEE III,
It was the earnest deaire of Captain Bishop
that the names of many more of his old friends
and compeers should have been kindly mentioned
in the foregoing pages than have received a no
tice, and among those of whom we have heard
him speak, we well remember Wyatt BaUey, of
Smith county, with whom he had some rich times
in days long passed away, and again, a Mr, Green,
of Wilson county, with whom he had often been
associated in the early wildwood' scenes of the
country ; but while from age and infirmity he was
not able to travel so far to see them, our own
leisure was too sparing to do it for him. If, how
ever, a second edition of the book should he
called for, which at present seems evident, we
hope they may not be forgotten, for, as we have
before intimated, it is by such means alone that
the whole history of the country can be preserved

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP, 231
from oblivion, and we sincerely hope that every
thing possible may be collected and written that
belongs to the early times in Tennessee ; written
at once and contributed to the Historical Society
of the State, to which, without consulting its
worthy functionaries, I take the liberty to dedicate
this little volume, and the present opportunity of
expressing, a heartfelt desire for the prosperity
of that institution, "with a hope that it may ulti
mately carve out for itself a noble destiny ; for
it is calculated in its nature to collect the bea
con-lights of experience from the past, and trans
mit them to future generations, as a chart would
be given to the mariner to direct his way in safety
through rugged seas, and its promotion is, as it
should be, an object of paramount interest with
every historian, patriot, and philathropist. From
it an infinite amount of good may be anticipated
as a result, Man at best is liable to err, and
without such a repository from which to draw the
lights of bygone days, he is as sure to do it as a
mariner would be to miss his port without star or
compass, and it is therefore the common duty of
every member of society, who would accept the
precious boon it bestows by teaching them to act

232 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
correctly, to aid as much as practicable in collect
ing with vigilance and preserving with care all
such information of transpiring events ; all such
relics of the past as have not already been car
ried far beyond our reach, by the ever-flowing
stream of time.
One grand reason why so much that would be
valuable is lost to the world is, because many
things accomplished by any designated genera
tion are looked upon by themselves as being too
commonplace, too familiar, too well understood by
all classes to entitle them to a registration on
history's page, as though they thought to make it
the more intelligible to ages yet to come, by ren
dering it obscure to the present ; but we should
remember "tbat there is not a truly rational man
among us, whose breaat would not fill with rapture
to see all the lost gems of early times gathered
and strung ; all the flowers that have withered
and fallen, and upon which we now tread with all
the insolence of youth, watered and resuscitated
by memory, and preaerved by record in a manner
that they ahould bloom on eternally ; and need
we inquire the infinity of our gratitude for our
fathers, had they while living placed thoae tender

LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP. 233
buds where they would have blossomed and flour
ished in the very face of the ravages of time;
those jewels where they would remain in immor
tality, exempt from mutilation and decay; or
how succeeding generations would smile upon our
memory long after we have shaken off the mortal
coil and been consigned our place among the
silent tombs, if we would but preserve the things
and doings of the present ; if while we live for
ourselves, we do not prove unmindful of them;
for by the lights obtained from our experience,
they are to be guarded and directed in their every
remove from the rocks on which others have been
Wrecked, from the quagmires in which they stuck,
the quicksands in which they were hopelessly en-
gulphed. Where are we to go to find the relics of other
days in Tennessee ? Are we to dig down among
the rubbish and ruins of time? Take the His
torical Society away from us, or faU to cherish
and increase what of it there is, and the inter
rogation will be at once answered with .a reply
that shall fall upon the ear Uke the sentence of
death upon a doomed criminal. The young plant
has been wisely planted in a fertile soil. Cherish

234 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP.
it, and it shall flourish and bloom, prosper
and arrive at a brilliant maturity ; cheriah it,
and the halls of our aplendid Capitol shall not
be trod in vain, hundreds, nay, thousands of years
hence, by those who would inquire our fate, ask
who their fathers were ; whether they were nobly
or basely born ; if they writhed beneath the yoke
of tyranny, or rejoiced amid the sunlight of free
dom. No, for there they would see and learn all
they would desire to know. It would be written
in books and manuscripts, inscribed upon medals
and stones, carved on wood, cut on arms, and
stamped on banners. It would stand upon the
floors, lie upon the shelves, and hang upon the
walls, all pointing to the deeds and virtues of their
sires, telling them that on the eternal hill upon
which now stands this wonderful pile of buildings,
less than a century ago they might have seen a
single wigwam standing, or the smoke of a great
council-fire curling high in the air through which
our Capitol now lifts its proud dome. They might
have heard the hooting of the moping owl, the wild
scream of the panther, and the yell of the ferocious
Indian, where now the organ of hearing is pene
trated by the charming echoes of eloquence, peace

LIFE OP JOSEPH BISHOP. 235
and civilization vibrating from wall to wall like
the deep-toned melody of an aeolian harp, in the
gilded chambers of thia, one of the grandest
structures our country can boast ; aecond to none
unless it be the Capitol of the United States ; and
methinks while I see the spire of the one gilded
with the glory of the nation and pointing to the
celestial realms where the soul of Washington is
gone, I see that of the other looking up into
those where that of Jackson abides. While I
seem to see the shadows of the one falling silently
and mournfully upon Mount Vernon, I see the
shades of the other quietly resting upon the tomb
at the Hermitage, But to return to the Histori
cal Society of Tennessee, let us again anticipate
for a moment the feelings of succeeding genera
tions that have approached and been whirled away,
when the classic historian shall charm the mind
by directing it to the innumerable relics here col
lected, with a view to perpetuate and keep alive
the important events connected with the growth
and onward march of our republican institutions,
from their infancy to that riper and glorious ma
turity which under the direction of a wise Provi
dence they will have attained. When equal

'T-zirV i.^\J '^' 1^ '-¦V.J^

236 LIFE OF JOSEPH BISHOP,
rights shall spread over tha empires of the earth ;
when republican Uberty, that Uberty which had
its birth, its nurse and nourishment upon our own
soil, shall hold undisputed dominion from ocean
to ocean, and perhaps from the rivers to the
ends of the earth, pour and bubble, flash and
sparkle about the boundary -lines of the world,
it shall then be pleasing to look back upon our
day of events, many of which are now thought
too trivial for preservation, and pay a just and
willing tribute to the memory of all those who
labored in the cause of such institutions ; toiled
to build up the mighty fabric of freedom, and to
save from destruction whatsoever genius and
patriotism have achieved to minister to the com
fort and happiness of man.

THE END.

ADVERTISEMENTS,

;r. .A.. nMCcOXiXTIFLDE:,
No. 33 TJnion Street, NashviUe, Tenn.,
Wholesale and Retail Dealer in
liaitff-Jfortes, B^tti Pttsic,
AND
EV2USSCAL INSTRUMENTS,
Among -which -will be found
Violins, Accordeons, Flutes, ClarionetB, Sax-Horua, & Brums.
ALSO, •'-'»";
Italian, French, and English Strings, for Violins and Ouitars.
A. H. ROSCOE, M.D„
DEALER IN
MEDICINES, PAINTS, OILS, DYE-JSTTJFFS, ^c,
Corner of Kroad and Market Sts.,
NASHVILLE, TENN. ' -i ,
HERMAM" & SHOWER,
No. 31 Cherry Street, NashvUle, Tenn.
AND
CENERAx^ BLACKSMITHING,
i_ ^NASHVILLE, TENN.

af'i .
' wi-*