A few miles upstream from the obliterated Dallas Island there was
located until the completion of the Chickamauga Dam, the second
largest island in the Tennessee River. This was Hiwassee Island,
which contained 781 acres, was two miles long, and a mile wide. It
received its name from the Hiwassee River, which finds the Tennessee
east of the island.
Beginning in 1937 and continuing for two consecutive years the
Archaelogical Department of the University of Tennessee succeeded in
completing the excavations of all village sites and mounds on this
historical island. The result of these investigations were published
in 1946 by the University Press, Knoxville, in a book entitled the
_Hiwassee Island_, by T. M. N. Lewis and Madeline Kneberg.
When the white settlers came into Tennessee, they found Hiwassee
Island was being ruled by the honest and kind-hearted Cherokee Chief
Oolooteeskee, popularly known as John Jolly. In 1809, when Sam
Houston was 16 years old, he visited Hiwassee Island. Chief Jolly
became so fond of the lad that he adopted him, rechristening him _The
Raven_.
Several years previous, Jolly’s brother, Tahkinsteeska, had moved to
Arkansas and was the principal chief of the Cherokees in the West.
In 1818, John Jolly decided to join his brother. Although agents of
the United States had been persuading the Cherokee to move to the new
lands west of the Mississippi, it was necessary that when they chose
to do so they must obtain a permit to make the change, as indicated
in the following official paper:
“John Jolly, the bearer, having under his superintendence 16 boats
laden with Cherokee families and their property are on their way to
the Arkansas River to enter lands designated for them by the Treaty
in July last, in exchange for lands here relinquished by them to
the United States, which Treaty was constitutionally ratified the
25th of December, 1817. The said Cherokee Nation being at peace and
friendship with the United States, are entitled to the confidence
and friendly offices of the citizens, and therefore recommended to
all such with whom they may meet on their passage to the place of
their destination. They are hereby particularly recommended for aid
(should their circumstances need it) to the officers commanding
military posts, or stations on their line of movement.
“Given under my hand and seal of the Cherokee Agency the 26th day
of January, 1818, and in the 43rd year of American Liberty and
Independence.”
(SEAL) RETURN J. MEIGS.
Sam Houston, however, did not go with his foster-father on this long
journey. He remained in Tennessee and studied law. A few years later,
Houston was elected governor of Tennessee. Not long thereafter he
married a Miss Allen of Nashville, Tennessee, and in three months
he left her and resigned as governor. Houston then sought his old
friend and foster-father on the Arkansas River and married Chief
Jolly’s niece, a Cherokee by the name of Tiana Rogers. Houston’s next
move took him to Texas where he became commander-in-chief of the
Texan army. After defeating Santa Ana in April, 1836, thereby winning
the independence of Texas, Houston became the first president of the
republic of Texas. It was due to his negotiations that Texas was
annexed by the United States in 1845. The flooding of the Hiwassee
Island by the waters of the Chickamauga Dam put an end to its history
as a place where human beings might reside.
If we could have stood on the bank of the river here almost 200 years
ago, we would have been amazed at the sight of the curious kinds
of watercraft floating by. Perhaps, the most primitive type would
have been the bullboat, which was made by stretching a wet buffalo
hide with hair on the inside over a framework of willow strips, in
the shape of a tub or a canoe, about seven feet in diameter. The
bowl-shaped type would carry about 700 pounds. It was propelled
with a paddle made of wood, or with the shoulder blade of a buffalo
fastened to a stick for a handle.
Every now and then would have passed us a big flat boat resembling in
shape a big box floating on the water, carrying as its cargo human
families with their possessions. This rather frail boat was known as
an ark, because it suggested the Biblical boat made by Noah. The ark
served the early American settler so well that one writer at least
has aptly asserted that “it was out of the womb of an ark that our
nation was born.”
[Illustration: Steamboat being warped through “The Suck”]
We would have been well entertained by the frequent passing of the
flatboats. The average rivercraft of this sort would carry about 400
barrels of goods. About two-thirds of the flatboat was roofed like an
ordinary house to keep families and cargo dry.
There also would have been seen many popular keelboats. Compared to
the boxlike ark, the keelboat was graceful, long and slender, ranging
in length from forty to eighty feet, sharp at each end and with a
shallow keel. Most of the keelboats were well roofed. Sometimes a
sail was hoisted to aid the crew in the difficult task of rowing the
boat.
[Illustration: Bullboat made of buffalo skin and used by the Indians
on the Tennessee River]
We would have seen some barges, too. The average length of this kind
of boat was from fifty to one hundred twenty feet with a width from
twelve to twenty feet. A cabin was built at the stern, and fastened
to the one or two masts were square sails.
[Illustration: Primitive types of boats that were used on the
Tennessee River