JAMES ROBERTSON
Another pioneer who lived in Boone's day was James Robertson. Like Boone,
he came from North Carolina, and he led the way for the settling of
Tennessee very much as Boone did for Kentucky. The story of those days
shows that he was one of the most forceful and successful of the early
English pioneers who led out settlements west of the Alleghanies.
[Illustration: James Robertson.]
Born in 1742, Robertson was ten years younger than Washington. But this
boy's early life was very different from young George Washington's, for
little James was born in a backwoods cabin, and his father and mother were
too poor to send him to school. So he grew up to manhood without being
able to read and write.
But he wanted to study, and was persevering and brave enough to learn the
letters of the alphabet and how to spell and to write after he had grown
to manhood. We can be sure, therefore, that James was the right sort of
boy, and that he would have mastered books if he had been given the
chance, just as he mastered the wilderness in later life. But it is as a
backwoodsman that we first come to know Robertson and learn why he was
trusted and followed so willingly.
Although not tall, he was vigorous and robust, having fair complexion,
dark hair, and honest blue eyes that met one's glance squarely. His frank,
serious face, his quiet manner, and his coolness and daring in the midst
of danger gave him a mastery over others such as it is given but few men
to have.
Like Boone, he was noted as a successful hunter; but hunting and exploring
were not with him the chief motives for going into the wilderness. He was
first of all a pioneer settler who was seeking rich farming lands with
near-by springs, where he could make a good home for his family and give
his children advantages which he himself had never enjoyed.
Led by this motive, he left his home in North Carolina to seek his fortune
among the forest-clad mountains, whose summits he could see far-away to
the west. With no companion but his horse and no protection but his rifle,
he slowly and patiently made his way through the trackless woods, crossing
mountain range after mountain range, until he came to the region where the
rivers flowing westward had their beginning.
Much to his surprise, he found here on the Watauga River some settlers
from Virginia, who gave him a kindly welcome. He stayed long enough to
plant a crop of corn and see it grow up and ripen.
Then, late in the autumn, having decided that this was a good place for
his family, he started back home. His faithful horse was his only
companion. Some corn in his leather wallet was all the food he carried. He
trusted his rifle for the rest.
[Illustration: Early Settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee.]
All went well for a time, but in the depth of the pathless forest he
missed his way, and the mountains became so steep and rough that his horse
could not get across. Imagine his sorrow when, to save his own life, he
had to part from his dumb friend and start on alone.
Other misfortunes befell him. The little store of corn that he had brought
with him gave out, and his powder became so wet that it was useless for
shooting game. So almost his only food for fourteen days was such nuts and
berries as he could gather in his desperate search.
He was near death by starvation when he chanced to meet two hunters. They
gave him food and asked him to join them. Then, allowing him to take turns
in riding their horses, they helped him to reach home in safety.
You might think that this bitter experience would have made Robertson
unwilling to risk another journey back through the wilderness. But, as we
have said, he was not easily thwarted, and the thought of what lay beyond
the mountains made him hold the cost light.
He gave such glowing accounts of the wonderful country he had seen that by
spring sixteen families were ready to go with him to make their home
there.
HOW THE BACKWOODSMEN LIVED
Let us in imagination join this group of travellers as it starts out to
cross the mountains. Each family has its pack-horse--perhaps a few
families have two--carrying household goods. These are not so bulky as
ours to-day, for pioneer life is simple, and the people have at most only
what they need. There are, of course, some rolls of bedding and clothing,
a few cooking utensils, a few packages of salt and seed corn, and a flask
or two of medicine. The pack-horse carries also the mother and perhaps a
very small child or two. The boys who are old enough to shoulder rifles
march in front with their father, ready to shoot game for food or to stand
guard against Indians. Some of the older children drive the cows which the
settlers are taking along with them.
After reaching the place selected for their settlement, the younger
children are set to clearing away the brush and piling it up in heaps
ready for burning. The father and the elder sons, who are big enough to
wield an axe, lose no time in cutting down trees and making a clearing for
the log cabin. All work with a will, and soon the cabin is ready.
[Illustration: Living-Room of the Early Settler.]
The furniture, like the cabin itself, is rude and simple. A bedstead is
set up in a corner, a washstand is placed near by, and a few three-legged
stools are put here and there; and of course there is a table to eat at.
Places are quickly found for the water bucket, used to bring water from
the stream, the gourd dipper with which to fill it, and other small
utensils; while pegs driven into the wall in convenient places hold
clothes, rifles, skins, and the like.
[Illustration: Grinding Indian Corn.]
If our pioneers are well-to-do, there may be tucked away in some pack a
wool blanket, but usually the chief covering on the bed is the dried skin
of some animal: deer, bear, or perhaps buffalo.
There is plenty of food, though of course it is plain and simple,
consisting mostly of game. Instead of the pork and beef which are largely
eaten in the east, we shall find these settlers making their meal of
bear's meat or venison.
For flour corn-meal is used. Each family has a mill for grinding the
kernels into meal, while for beating it into hominy they use a crude
mortar, made perhaps by burning a hole in the top of a block of wood.
Bread-making is a simpler matter with them than with us, for a dough of
corn-meal is mixed on a wooden trencher and then either baked in the ashes
and called ash-cake or before the fire on a board and called johnny-cake.
Corn-meal is also made into mush, or hasty pudding; and when the settler
has cows, mush-and-milk is a common dish, especially for supper.
For butter the settlers use the fat of bear's meat or the gravy of the
goose. Instead of coffee, they make a drink of parched rye and beans, and
for tea they boil sassafras root.
Every backwoodsman must be able to use the rifle to good effect, for he
has to provide his own meat and protect himself and his family from
attack. He must be skilful also in hiding, in moving noiselessly through
the forests, and in imitating the notes and calls of different beasts and
birds. Sharp eyes and ears must tell him where to look for his game, and
his aim must be swift and sure.
But most important of all, he must be able to endure hardship and
exposure. Sometimes he lives for months in the woods with no food but meat
and no shelter but a lean-to of brush or even the trunk of a hollow tree
into which he may crawl.
Deer and bear are the most plentiful game; but now and then there is an
exciting combat with wolves, panthers, or cougars, while prowling Indians
keep him ever on his guard. The pioneer must be strong, alert, and brave.
Each family depends upon itself for most of the necessaries of life. Each
member has his own work. The father is the protector and provider; the
mother is the housekeeper, the cook, the weaver, and the tailor. Father
and sons work out-of-doors with axe, hoe, and sickle; while indoors the
hum of the spinning-wheel or the clatter of the loom shows that mother and
daughters are busily doing their part.
There are some articles, however, like salt and iron, which the settlers
cannot always get in the backwoods. These they must obtain by barter. So
each family collects all the furs it can, and once a year, after the
harvest is gathered, loads them on pack-horses, which are driven across
the mountains to some large trading town on the seacoast. There the skins
are traded for the needed iron or salt.
Often many neighbors plan to go together on such a journey. Sometimes they
drive before them their steers and hogs to find a market in the east.
A bushel of salt costs in these early days a good cow and calf. Now, that
is a great deal to pay; and furthermore, as each small and poorly fed
pack-animal can carry but two bushels, salt is a highly prized article.
Since it is so expensive and hard to get, it has to be used sparingly by
the mountaineers. Therefore the housewife, instead of salting or pickling
her meat, preserves or "jerks" it by drying it in the sun or smoking it
over the fire.
The Tennessee settler, like Boone's followers in Kentucky, dresses very
much like the Indians, for that is the easiest and most fitting way in
which to clothe himself for the forest life he leads. And very fine do
many stalwart figures appear in the fur cap and moccasins, the loose
trousers, or simply leggings of buckskin, and the fringed hunting-shirt
reaching nearly to the knees. It is held in by a broad belt having a
tomahawk in one side and a knife in the other.
[Illustration: A Kentucky Pioneer's Cabin.]
While this free outdoor life develops strong and vigorous bodies, there is
not much schooling in these backwoods settlements. Most boys and girls
learn very little except reading and writing and very simple ciphering, or
arithmetic. If there are any schoolhouses at all, they are log huts, dimly
lighted and furnished very scantily and rudely.
The schoolmaster, as a rule, does not know much of books, and is quite
untrained as a teacher. His discipline, though severe, is very poor. And
he is paid in a way that may seem strange to you. He receives very little
in cash, and for the rest of his wages he "boards around" with the
families of the children he teaches, making his stay longer or shorter
according to the number of children in school.
In many ways, as you see, the life of the pioneer child, while it was
active and full of interest, was very different from yours. He learned,
like his elders, to imitate bird calls, to set traps, to shoot a rifle,
and at twelve the little lad became a foot soldier. He knew from just
which loophole he was to shoot if the Indians attacked the fort, and he
took pride in becoming a good marksman. He was carefully trained, too, to
follow an Indian trail and to conceal his own when on the war-path--for
such knowledge would be very useful to him as a hunter and fighter in the
forests.
ROBERTSON A BRAVE LEADER
Such was the life of these early woodsmen and their families, and to this
life Robertson and those who went out with him soon became accustomed. On
their arrival at the Watauga River the newcomers mingled readily with the
Virginians already on the ground.
Robertson soon became one of the leading men. His cabin of logs stood on
an island in the river, and is said to have been the largest in the
settlement. It had a log veranda in front, several rooms, a loft, and best
of all, a huge fireplace made of sticks and stones laid in clay, in which
a pile of blazing logs roared on cold days, making it a centre of good
cheer as well as of heat. To us it would have been a most inviting spot
for a summer holiday.
Robertson was very prosperous and successful at Watauga; but in 1799,
after ten years of leadership at this settlement, a restless craving for
change and adventure stole over him, and he went forth once more into the
wilderness to seek a new home still deeper in the forest.
The place he chose was the beautiful country lying along the great bend of
the Cumberland River, where Nashville now stands. Many bold settlers were
ready and even eager to join Robertson in the new venture, for he was a
born leader.
A small party went ahead early in the spring to plant corn, so that the
settlers might have food when they arrived in the autumn. Robertson and
eight other men, who made up the party, left the Watauga by the Wilderness
Road through Cumberland Gap, crossing the Cumberland River. Then,
following the trail of wild animals in a southwesterly direction, they
came to a suitable place.
Here they put up cabins and planted corn, and then, leaving three men to
keep the buffaloes from eating the corn when it came up, the other six
returned to Watauga.
In the autumn two parties started out for the new settlement. One of
these, made up mostly of women and children, went by water in flatboats,
dugouts, and canoes, a route supposed to be easier though much the longer
of the two. Whether it was easier, we shall see. The other party,
including Robertson himself, went by land, hoping thus to reach the place
of settlement in time to make ready for those coming by water.
Robertson and his men arrived about Christmas. Then began a tedious four
months of waiting for the others. It was springtime again, April 24, when
they at last arrived. Their roundabout route had taken them down the
Tennessee River, then up the Ohio, and lastly up the Cumberland. The
Indians in ambush on the river banks had attacked them many times during
their long and toilsome journey, and the boats were so slow and clumsy
that it was impossible for them to escape the flights of arrows.
But when they arrived, past troubles were soon forgotten, and with good
heart, now that all were together, the settlers took up the work of making
homes.
However, difficulties with the Indians were not over. The first company of
settlers that arrived had been left quite unmolested. But now, as spring
opened, bands of Indian hunters and warriors began to make life wretched
for them all. There is no doubt that the red men did not like to have the
settlers kill the game, or scare it off by clearing up the land; but the
principal motive for the attacks was the desire for scalps and plunder,
just as it was in assailing other Indian tribes.
The Indians became a constant terror. They killed the settlers while
working in the clearings, hunting game, or getting salt at the licks. They
loved to lure on the unwary by imitating the gobbling of a turkey or the
call of some wild beast, and then pounce upon their human prey.
As the corn crop, so carefully planned, had been destroyed by heavy
freshets in the autumn, the settlers had to scour the woods for food,
living on nuts and game. By the time winter had set in, they had used up
so much of their powder and bullets that Robertson resolved to go to
Kentucky for more.
ROBERTSON SAVES THE SETTLEMENT
He went safely, though quite alone, and returned on the evening of January
15 (1780) with a good supply of ammunition. You may be sure he had a
hearty welcome in the fort, where all were gathered. There was much to
talk about, and they sat up till late into the night. All went to bed,
tired and sleepy, without any fear. For at that season of the year the red
men seldom molested them; and no sentinels were left on guard.
Soon all were in deep slumber except Robertson, whose sense of lurking
danger would not let him sleep. He kept feeling that enemies might be
near. And he was right. For just outside the fort, prowling in the thick
underbrush and hidden by the great trees, there lay in ambush a band of
painted warriors, hungry for plunder, eager for scalps.
They creep forward to their attack. They are very cautious, for a bright
moon lights up the blockhouses and the palisaded fort.
Suddenly a moving shadow falls upon the moonlit clearing outside the fort.
An Indian is stealthily crossing from the dark woods to the wall. There he
crouches close, to be out of sight of the inmates of the fort. Another
crouching figure, and another. One by one every feathered warrior crosses
and keeps close to the palisade.
The next move is to slide cautiously the strong bar and undo the chain
which fastens the gate. It is done skilfully enough, but the chain clanks
or the hinges creak. The wakeful Robertson springs quickly to his feet.
His keen eyes catch sight of the swift, dark figures, moving stealthily
into the fort.
"Indians!" he shouts, and off goes his rifle. Instantly every settler has
snatched the gun lying at his side. In a second the shots ring out; and
the Indians flee through the gate to disappear into the leafy woods. But
they have lost one man, whom Robertson has shot, and have killed or
wounded three or four of the settlers. Robertson, by keen watchfulness,
has saved the fort from capture and his comrades from probable torture or
death.
This was only one of many occasions in which Robertson's leadership saved
the day. After the Revolution ended (1783) the Indians were not so
unfriendly, for the English were no longer paying them for scalps. People,
therefore, became less timid about crossing the mountains, and a large
number migrated from Virginia and North Carolina to the Tennessee
settlement and made their homes at Nashville. As numbers grew larger,
dangers became less.
By this time Robertson had become well known through the successful
planting of his two settlements, and for the wisdom and bravery with which
he managed them. As a reward for his valuable services, Washington later
on (1790) made him a general in the army. In 1814 he died.
He is the kind of man we like to think of as a pioneer in the making of
our history. Sturdy and self-reliant, strong and fearless, he cheerfully
faced the unending struggle with the hard conditions of those early days.
Though his life was narrow, it cut deep in its loyalty to friends and
country.
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
1. What can you tell of Robertson's boyhood?
2. Imagine yourself as one of a group of travellers on the way to Kentucky
or Tennessee, and tell all you can about the journey.
3. Tell all you can about the food, clothing, shelter, and other
conditions of life in these backwoods settlements.
4. What sort of training did the pioneer boy receive in school and at
home?
5. Why did Robertson plant a settlement at the place where Nashville now
stands?
6. How did he save this settlement from the Indians? What do you admire
about him?
7. Are you making frequent use of the map?