Title: The Chickamauga dam and its environs
Author: Walker, Robert Sparks
Language: English
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[Illustration:

  THE
  CHICKAMAUGA
  DAM

  _and its environs_

  by
  robert sparks walker
]

[Illustration: The Chickamauga Dam and Lock]



  THE CHICKAMAUGA DAM

  AND ITS ENVIRONS

  BY ROBERT SPARKS WALKER

  [Illustration: Motorboat]


  ANDREWS PRINTING COMPANY
  Chattanooga, Tennessee
  1949



  Copyright, 1949

  by

  ROBERT SPARKS WALKER

  Price 50 Cents


  Companion Book:

  THIS IS CHATTANOOGA

  Price 75 Cents


  _Printed and bound in the United States of America_



The Chickamauga Dam

and Its Environs


Well, here we are, standing on the top of a huge pile of concrete 129
feet above the ground floor, about seven miles from the center of
Chattanooga.

What a beautiful body of water it is that spreads before us to the
east! It is a lovely creation. I think you will agree that its
shoreline warrants its claim to as much beauty as the water itself.
Really, I find it so inviting that I would like to join you in a hike
all the way along its many little peninsulas, capes, inlets and tiny
bays, halting long enough to see the loveliest wild flowers, vines,
trees and birds, especially the waterfowls which have been attracted
here chiefly because they find good fishing. Suppose we pause a
moment and do a little figuring. If we should walk twenty miles each
day, it would take us forty days to walk around the shoreline of this
lake. On our way up the river, fifty-nine miles from here, we would
walk directly into the Watts Bar Dam. There we would cross over to
descend the east side of the Chickamauga Lake. While we were at Watts
Bar Dam, surely some person would tell us that seventy-two miles
farther upstream is the Fort Loudon Dam, whose waters back up as far
as Knoxville, Tennessee, a city that is 650 miles from where the
Tennessee empties into the Ohio. By the time we had walked back to
our starting point, we would have trekked 810 miles.

If the water that is now passing by could talk so we could
understand, some of it would tell us that it has come from storage
dams that have been built on the tributaries of the Tennessee
River. The dams thus reporting would be, Hiwassee, Norris, Fontana,
Cherokee, Douglas, Ocoee, Apalachia and Chatuge. The TVA also has
control of the water of the following five dams of the Aluminum
Company of America: Calderwood, Cheoah, Glenville, Nantahala, and
Santeetlah.

What do you really see here? Briefly, there are a navigation lock
60 by 360 feet, a concrete spillway, a concrete powerhouse intake
section, a concrete bulkhead section, and an earth embankment on each
side. It calls for a long stretch of the legs to walk from one end
to the other. The spillway section which includes eighteen piers, is
864 feet long. The eighteen gates are forty feet wide and forty feet
high. The earth embankment to our left on the north side, is 1,390
feet in length; the embankment on our right, or south side, is 3,000
feet long. The total length is approximately 5,800 feet or a little
more than a mile.

The spillway section has a width of eighty-two feet at its base.
Including the apron, its width increases to a hundred and twenty-five
feet. The power station with its three units has a generating
capacity of 81,000 kilowatts. There are three hydraulic turbines, and
one more can be added.

The Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, passed by Congress,
gave power to the board to construct dams in the Tennessee River.
Accordingly, the TVA began work on the Chickamauga Dam, January
13, 1936. The project was finished January 31, 1941, or five years
after the work was started. The filling of the reservoir was begun
January 15, 1940. In that time 2,510,800 cubic yards of earth were
handled and 491,800 cubic yards of concrete poured. The total cost of
constructing the Chickamauga Dam, including the cost of acquiring all
the lands, totaled thirty-eight million dollars.

It is well to remember that the water shed of the Tennessee River
embraces 40,910 square miles. Believe it or not, about half of that
area is found above the Chickamauga Dam. This upper basin has an
average rainfall of 50.8 inches.


LOOKING WESTWARD

Let us now turn our backs to the Chickamauga Lake for a glimpse
towards the west. To the southwest, we see Lookout Mountain standing
like a bright cameo in a position as if it were looking down on
Chattanooga. To our right, we view the head of another rocky monster
that is looking southward. This is Signal Mountain, which is simply
the local name for the southern end of Waldens Ridge. A little to
our left, in the background between Signal and Lookout Mountains,
stands Raccoon Mountain. These are parts of the Cumberlands and are
plateaus, each of them being quite flat on its top. Their average
altitude is approximately 2,000 feet above the sea. The Cumberlands
were so named by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1748 in honor of the Duke of
Cumberland, William Augustus, who two years previous had defeated the
Scotch in the battle of Culloden. Following that bloody event, the
Duke was so bitterly hated that the early Scotch settlers in America
refused to call the mountains by the name _Cumberland_, preferring to
speak of them by their Cherokee name _Ouisoto Mountains_, (pronounced
We-soto).

If we could leap like a giant kangaroo, the first kick of our hind
legs down the Tennessee River would leave us standing on the dam at
Hales Bar, forty miles from here. Another leap of eighty-two miles
and we would rest on Guntersville Dam in Alabama. Our third leap
would take us seventy-four miles farther on where we would strike
the Wheeler Dam. Next a kitten’s spring of only sixteen miles and we
would strike the Wilson Dam. A sudden jump of 52 miles would leave
us astride the Pickwick Dam, and then a tremendous long leap of 184
miles and we would find ourselves perched on the Kentucky Dam, only
twenty-three miles from the mouth of the Tennessee River at Paducah,
Kentucky. If we chose to continue the journey to the mouth of the
river we would find ourselves 471 miles from where we now stand on
the Chickamauga Dam.

[Illustration:

  DIAGRAM OF
  TVA
  WATER CONTROL
  SYSTEM

MAP OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER]

The high railroad bridge we see directly in front of us is where the
Cincinnati-Chattanooga division of the Southern Railway crosses the
river. This railroad is owned by the city of Cincinnati and leased
by the Southern Railway. The creek a few rods to our right is the
North Chickamauga. It has its source on Waldens Ridge and leaves the
mountain about fifteen miles from here at Daisy, Tennessee, where it
has chiseled out a marvelously beautiful gulch of rustic beauty. When
the Chickamauga Dam was begun, this creek emptied into the river a
short distance above the dam, but after an artificial bed was dug,
its course was changed so that it would find the river below the dam.

To our left, on the south side, we can see where the South
Chickamauga Creek empties into the Tennessee. It was there that
the Federal troops under General W. T. Sherman crossed on pontoon
bridges at daylight, November 24, 1863. The steamer _Dunbar_ assisted
in transporting Sherman’s division to the other side of the river.
A pontoon was also laid across the mouth of the Chickamauga. It
was then that Sherman attacked the right wing of General Bragg’s
Confederate forces, which occupied Missionary Ridge from this north
end to the south. Sherman was fighting throughout the day while the
battle of Lookout Mountain was raging to our southwest. Because
Missionary Ridge ends near the Chickamauga Dam, and since the
battle fought there on November 25, 1863, has been regarded by some
historians as the turning point in the Civil War, a little later I
shall describe briefly that battle. For the present we shall leave
some of the interesting places below the dam in order to tell about
a few sites and historical events that took place above the dam and
along the South Chickamauga Creek.


DALLAS AND DALLAS ISLAND

The waters that gather above the Chickamauga Dam have quite naturally
obliterated some old village sites and some prehistoric mounds. It
was fortunate, however, that the Department of Archaeology, under
the direction of T. M. N. Lewis, of the University of Tennessee,
made scientific explorations of the ancient dwelling places and the
mounds. The facts and the artifacts thus obtained have been preserved
for posterity.

On February 26, 1940, when the navigation lock at the Chickamauga
Dam was opened, since there was no Cherokee Indian to represent the
aborigines who used the Tennessee to make the initial trip through
it, it was a fortunate circumstance that Nature stepped in and saved
the day on that memorable occasion and let a large turtle swim
through. It was a splendid model for a river boat, somewhat made on
the order of a submarine, a natural boat propelled by living paddles
and guided by a live rudder. It passed through the lock as freely as
if it had been commissioned to serve as the official representative
of the river’s inhabitants.

[Illustration: Military Bridge over the Tennessee River at
Chattanooga in 1863]

Among the historical places blotted out by waters of Chickamauga Dam
was Oo-le-quah, or Dallas Island, situated a few miles upstream. On
the higher ground overlooking the isle was the village of Dallas,
which, in 1819, became the seat of government at the time Hamilton
County, in which the Chickamauga Dam is situated, was carved out of
the Hiwassee Purchase. The new county’s south boundary at that date
was the Tennessee River, which up to about the year 1800, had been
known to the Indians as the Hogohegee River. The Cherokees still
remained in possession of the land south of the river.


HARRISON

When the state of Georgia, by force, took possession of the Cherokee
lands within her borders, some of the prominent Indians sought
refuge in Tennessee. Among those who were chased out of Georgia was
Joseph Vann of Spring Place, a dozen miles east of Dalton. James
Vann, the father of Joseph, had married a full-blooded Cherokee. He
was a prosperous farmer. The two and a half-story brick residence
he erected about the year 1797 still stands at Spring Place and has
been tenanted through the years. It is looked on today as a splendid
example of early architecture.

[Illustration: An old boatman on the Tennessee River operating his
hand-propelled paddle wheel boat.]

After leaving Georgia, Joseph Vann settled on the south bank of the
Tennessee River, a few miles above the Chickamauga Dam. He was very
industrious, and soon there were thirty-five houses erected and
occupied on his property. The village was known as Vanntown. There
was scarcely a moment’s rest, however, for the poor Indians. The
greedy whites kept encroaching on their real estate until only a
small portion of their once large territory remained. Several years
previously the government had induced some of the Cherokees to move
to the Arkansas, west of the Mississippi. The last of the Cherokees
departed in 1838. At that time the white settlers took possession of
the lands lying south of the Tennessee River. Three years previous to
that date, however, the whites had slowly been slipping into their
lands. Hamilton County’s boundary was then extended to take in the
Cherokee lands from the Tennessee River to the Georgia line. It was
at that time that Dallas lost the county seat, since Vanntown was
chosen and a court house was erected. This happened about the time
that William H. Harrison was elected President of the United States,
so Vanntown became Harrison, Tennessee.

[Illustration: A Near View of the Chickamauga Dam and Lock.]

About the year 1815, following the close of the Creek War, John
Ross, Cherokee, and Timothy Meigs, son of Return J. Meigs, the
Indian Agent, established a trading post seven miles south of the
Chickamauga Dam. They operated a ferry as well as a general store.
The place became known as Ross’ Landing, but when the Indians had
departed for the lands in the West, the whites had the town surveyed,
and the name was changed to _Chattanooga_. John P. Long became the
first postmaster, March 22, 1837. However, this was not the first
post office established in the old Cherokee lands, for on April 5,
1817, Rossville post office was established four miles to the south
with John Ross as postmaster. This was said to have been the first
post office established in this part of the Cherokee Nation.

The word _Chattanooga_ is a corruption in the spelling of the
Muskogean word _Chatanugi_, which years previously had been the name
of Lookout Mountain, meaning “rock coming to a point.” In the narrow
valley between the east side of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge
is a small stream which was also known as _Chatanugi Creek_. Near its
mouth where it empties into the Tennessee was, in the 18th century, a
small Indian village by the same name.

It is an interesting geological fact that in ages past the water we
now know as the Tennessee River flowed south of the east base of
Lookout Mountain and emptied into the Coosa River in what is now
Alabama. A later upheaval blocked its southern passage and forced it
to seek a new route, which it did by cutting out its way through the
rough rocks of the Cumberlands.

The town of Chattanooga kept growing and was chosen as the county
seat. Harrison, which for many years had been full of promise for
growing into a large and thriving city, began to dwindle until it was
left behind as an ordinary village, which was wiped off of the map
by the waters after the building of the Chickamauga Dam. The forming
of the Chickamauga Lake created so many beautiful sites along its
margin that hundreds of families could not resist the advantages
offered by the board of the TVA to take up sites for summer homes
and camps. At various places on the lake are to be found beautiful
cottages and bungalows where families enjoy recreation as well as the
pure atmosphere and the cool currents of air that come from the fresh
waters. There they enjoy boating, fishing and other sports, not only
along the shores of Harrison Bay State Park, but also at Soddy and
other choice situations. When the town of Harrison was obliterated by
the impounded waters of Chickamauga Lake, there came into existence
new Harrison, whose people today enjoy boating and fishing where
Joseph Vann and other Cherokees once produced crops of hay and corn.


HIWASSEE ISLAND

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

1—Pirogue; 2—Canoe; 3—Bateau; 4—Keelboat; 5—Flatboat; 6—Ark; 7—Barge.]

Besides the light canoes, we would have noticed the passing of
the dug-out, known as a pirogue. A boat of this kind was made by
hollowing out a log of cottonwood, tulip, sycamore or other tree
with an adz or by fire. One or both ends were left square. A very
large pirogue would have passed which was made by chopping out two
large trees, and using one tree for each side of the boat, filling
in the middle with planks, and then sealing the bottom so that it was
watertight. Such a boat would carry several tons of produce and as
many as twenty-five men.

There would be passing a few flattened boats with tapering ends known
as bateaux. A bateau was not as clumsy as the pirogue to handle in
the water. The very light bateau was known as a skiff. The sizes of
the bateaux varied, and each of the larger kinds used on the river
was able to carry fifty tons of cargo.


BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE

I shall now resume the story of the Battle of Missionary Ridge,
a brief reference to it having been previously made when General
Sherman’s crossing the river near this point was mentioned. On
September 19 and 20, 1863, the Federals in command of General
Rosecrans had suffered a defeat at the battle of Chickamauga, in
which a total of about 34,000 men were killed and wounded, the
casualties being about evenly divided. In the battle of Lookout
Mountain, November 24, the Confederates suffered severe losses,
including that strategic point. During that night the Confederates
withdrew their forces to Missionary Ridge where they joined General
Bragg’s troops. Throughout the day of the battle of Lookout Mountain
Sherman persisted in pounding at Bragg’s right wing, the object
being to force him to weaken his center by strengthening his right
wing. If this had happened, General Grant, then stationed on Orchard
Knob, a few miles south of this dam, would have struck a heavy blow
to Bragg’s center and split the Confederates in two, making their
capture a certainty. This was November 25th. At 2:30 o’clock in the
afternoon the Federals were in battleline facing Missionary Ridge
and were waiting patiently for official orders to attack. Notice was
given them to be ready to advance at a signal of the firing of six
cannons two seconds apart from Orchard Knob.

[Illustration: Passing through the Chickamauga Lock]

[Illustration: Eight sail boats racing on Chickamauga Lake]

Impatient soldiers anxiously counted the minutes waiting for the
booming of the six cannons. The thrill came promptly at 3 o’clock,
when the noise of the half dozen cannons startled their ears. With
a wild rush, even though they were under terrific fire from Bragg’s
army on Missionary Ridge, the Union soldiers succeeded in driving the
Confederates from the first line of trenches. There they had been
ordered to halt and wait for further orders. After a moment’s pause,
as if for the purpose of gaining a deep breath, there was a roar and
shout from thousands of throats along the entire Federal line, as
the troops plunged forward without official orders from commanding
officers. In the next few moments there was made one of the most
remarkable charges that was ever recorded in military history. Just
as General Hooker’s troops had the previous day enthusiastically
stormed the Confederates stationed on the slopes of Lookout Mountain,
so on the following day, did the Federal army under Grant sweep up
the western slopes of Missionary Ridge, taking the advance line of
the Confederates before them. Because of the nearness of the two
contending forces the Confederate batteries stationed on the crest
of the ridge could not be used. The Union men moved forward yelling
as they fired their muskets, whereupon Bragg’s line broke in wild
confusion and was swept entirely from Missionary Ridge’s full
length, except a small section near the railroad tunnel at the north
end. Bragg’s men fled eastward and the Union troops pursued them as
far as the Georgia line. The Confederates lost forty cannon, 7,000
stand of arms, and 6,687 men. The Federals lost 5,815 men. The battle
of Missionary Ridge was so closely connected with that of Lookout
Mountain, some students of military history at least think of it as
the second day’s battle of Lookout Mountain.


CHICKAMAUGA

John P. Long, Chattanooga’s first postmaster, who lived among the
Cherokees, stated that the meaning of the word _Chickamauga_ is
“sluggish water.” J. P. Brown, however, in his book entitled _Old
Frontiers_ says the word means “dwelling place of the war chief.” The
Chickamauga Dam was so named because of its being situated near the
mouth of the North and South Chickamauga Creeks. In the early days of
the Indians’ occupancy of this territory there was a village at the
mouth of the South Chickamauga known as _Bulltown_.

About eighty miles northeast of the Chickamauga Dam, in the Little
Tennessee River near old Fort Loudon, was Mialoquo, a very prominent
island where lived many prominent Cherokees. Dragging Canoe was the
leader of the militant minded Indians there.

In 1770 there passed down the Tennessee River at the site of the
Chickamauga Dam a Scotch trader by the name of John McDonald.
With him was a half-breed Cherokee by the name of William Shorey.
They turned their boats which held their possessions up the South
Chickamauga Creek and paddled and poled for about seven miles
upstream, halting at the crossing of the Great War Path where the Lee
Highway now crosses the Chickamauga Creek.

At this point, John McDonald decided to establish a trading post.
The old Scotchman soon proved himself a good business man because he
became very prosperous. At the outbreak of the American Revolution
the Cherokees aligned themselves on the side of the British. McDonald
was appointed the sub-agent for the King’s service, and his place was
the headquarters for Tories and Indians south of the Ohio River.

John McDonald married Anna Shorey, daughter of William Shorey. The
location of his home and store is now the site of the Brainerd
Mission, which was established in later years. Directly across the
Chickamauga from McDonald’s was Chickamauga Town, that stretched a
mile on the higher ground, ending at the present Chattanooga Airport.
In 1849, when the state of Georgia finished the Western and Atlantic
Railroad, a station and post office was established there known as
Chickamauga, Tennessee. It became a busy village where thousands of
dollars worth of farm produce was bought and shipped. After General
Bragg abandoned Chattanooga, Chickamauga became the terminus where
the Confederate troops and supplies were loaded and unloaded.

In 1777 the Cherokee settlements from Virginia to the Chattahoochee
River were destroyed by the whites. Following these heavy losses, the
Lower Cherokees gave up all their lands lying in South Carolina,
except a very small strip on their western boundary. Two months
later, the Middle and Upper Cherokees signed away their lands lying
east of the Blue Ridge. About the same time they ceded their lands in
northeast Tennessee to the white man. Most of the Cherokees, feeling
helpless, accepted the unjust treatment, but the loss of their most
valuable ground was more than Dragging Canoe could endure. This
patriotic Cherokee declared that before he would submit to such an
outrageous treaty, which swindled his people boldly, he would go
to war. There were hundreds of other brave Indians who felt as did
Dragging Canoe and were awaiting an opportunity to strike back at the
greedy whites, hoping thereby to regain some of their lost property.
When Dragging Canoe made his intentions known, there were attracted
to him the bravest of his tribe, who seceded from the Cherokee,
organizing themselves into a militant wing which became known as the
Chickamaugas. They settled at various places on the Chickamauga Creek.

This beautiful stream of water is formed by the aquatic contributions
of many other creeks. It rises in northwest Georgia, and as it flows
northwest it collects the waters from other sources. One mile above
the site of John McDonald’s trading post it receives the water from
the West Chickamauga, which has its source at the junction of Pigeon
and Lookout Mountains, thirty-five miles south of Chattanooga.
This is the Chickamauga Creek which gave the name to the battle
of Chickamauga. It might properly be stated here that the many
references to it in Civil War history as meaning “the river of death”
is an error.

Henry Hamilton, British Governor of the Northwest Territory,
stationed at Detroit, had transported on horseback from Pensacola
thousands of dollars in army supplies, which were stored at
McDonald’s for the Cherokees to use in their warfare against the
Americans. Hamilton had offered so many rewards to the Indians for
the scalps of revolutionists that he was popularly dubbed the _Hair
Buyer_. John Stuart was the British Agent for the South who had
charge of seeing that the war supplies were kept at McDonald’s.
Everything went well until the Americans, in command of Colonels Evan
Shelby and Montgomery, got into boats at Kingsport, Tennessee, in the
spring of 1779, and descended the Tennessee River. Soon after passing
where the Chickamauga Dam now stands, they piloted their boats to the
south side, where they found an Indian fishing. They made a prisoner
of him and forced him to guide them to Chickamauga Town, Dragging
Canoe’s headquarters. On reaching Chickamauga, they took the Indians
by surprise, captured all of the supplies the British had stored with
McDonald, and burnt the buildings to the ground. Among the spoils
were 150 head of horses which the officers employed for riding back
home. Dragging Canoe’s brother, Little Owl, who settled two miles
upstream at the same time Chickamauga Town was selected, had his
village destroyed by Shelby’s men shortly after they had reduced to
ashes the capital of the Chickamaugas. There were many prominent
Cherokees living at Chickamauga Town, among them was one named Long
Fellow, a son of Nancy Ward, the beloved Cherokee woman. Dragging
Canoe and Little Owl were first cousins of Nancy Ward.

[Illustration: Motor boats speeding on Chickamauga Lake]

In 1785 an Indian trader by the name of Mayberry left Baltimore with
a supply of goods. Daniel Ross, a young man from Sutherlandshire,
Scotland, met Mayberry, and being full of adventure joined him on the
proposed journey south. They took to the Tennessee River at Kingsport
and on their way down stream learned from a Chickasaw Indian, who
was a passenger on the boat, that both Ross and Mayberry were to be
captured. When they landed at Brown’s Ferry, a short distance below
Ross’ Landing, the Indians were suspicious of the new arrivals.
Chief Bloody Fellow asked for an immediate execution, but before
a definite decision was reached, a messenger was sent to confer
with John McDonald at Chickamauga. McDonald was able to secure the
release of the two men. Later, Daniel Ross married Molly McDonald,
daughter of John McDonald, and John Ross, who later became the most
distinguished Chief of the Cherokee Nation, was their son. Ten miles
northeast of Dragging Canoe’s Chickamauga Town was another Cherokee
settlement known as Ooltewah. Some of the Cherokees most prominent
men once lived in that region, especially along Ooltewah Creek, which
name has been corrupted to Wolf Tever. Much of the land there which
was formerly occupied by the Cherokees, has been inundated by the
Chickamauga Dam. Among the Cherokees once living there was Ostenaco,
popularly known in history as Judd’s Friend.

Following the disgraceful treaty of Long Island, in 1777, Ostenaco
joined the Chickamaugas and moved to Ooltewah. In 1760, when the
British troops surrendered Fort Loudon, Ostenaco was one of the
chiefs to march out with the conquered soldiers. The day’s trek
took the 180 soldiers 15 miles where they encamped on Cane Creek.
At daybreak the next morning the British were attacked by several
hundred Cherokees, and after they had killed Paul Demere, who had
been in command of the fort, and 23 of his men, Ostenaco ran about
the field yelping like a wolf in an effort to stop the Indians from
fighting. He thus saved the lives of many white soldiers.

After the restoration of peace Ostenaco went on a visit to
Williamsburg, Virginia, and there saw a picture of King George III.
This fired his ambition to make a journey to England, as his old
friend, Chief Little Carpenter, had once done. After Ostenaco’s
persistent pleading the governor of Virginia gave his consent.
Ostenaco with two attendants and with William Shorey of Chickamauga
as interpreter set sail with Lieutenant Henry Timberlake as guide.
Before reaching England William Shorey took sick and died. On their
arrival they were presented to King George by Lord Eglinton. The
Indians attracted considerable attention. Sir Joshua Reynolds,
eminent artist, made a group painting of the Indians, and then he
made a separate painting of Ostenaco.

Without an interpreter Ostenaco suffered a serious handicap. He
was unable to deliver an address he had prepared for King George.
He was determined that the King should know what he had to say and
on his return to America, November 3, 1762, he gave the following
address to Governor Bull of Charleston, S. C., to be translated and
transmitted to King George:

“Some time ago, my nation was in darkness, but that darkness has now
cleared up. My people were in great distress, but that is ended.
There will be no more bad talks in my nation, but all will be good
talks. If any Cherokee shall kill an Englishman, that Cherokee shall
be put to death. Our women are bearing children to increase our
nation, and I will order those who are growing up to avoid making war
with the English. If any of our head men retain resentment against
the English for their relations who have been killed, and if any of
them speak a bad word concerning it, I shall deal with them as I see
cause. No more disturbances will be heard in my nation. I speak not
with two tongues, and ashamed of those who do.”

Ostenaco was seasick on his way over the big pond, and the following
brief report hints as to what impressed him most on the long journey:

“Although I met with a good deal of trouble going over the wide
water, that is more than recompensed by the satisfaction of seeing
the King and the reception I met from him being treated as one of his
children and finding the treatment of every one there good to me.

“The number of warriors and people all of one color which we saw in
England, far exceeded what we thought possibly could be. That we
might see everything which was strange to us, the king gave us a
gentleman to attend to us all the day, and at night till bedtime.

“The head warrior of the canoe who brought us over the wide water,
used us very well. He desired us not to be afraid of the French for
he and his warriors could fight like men, and die rather than be
taken.”

The Chickamaugas were not ready to give up after their towns had been
destroyed in 1779. They rebuilt Chickamauga Town, but in 1782 John
Sevier, in command of a troop of mounted Tennesseeans, descended
on them, and after burning Chickamauga, marched up the creek and
destroyed Little Owl’s village. Fourteen years later John Sevier
became the first governor of Tennessee.

It is of interest to note that the land on which Little Owl’s village
was situated, containing 105 acres, has been The Elise Chapin Wild
Life Sanctuary, owned by the Chattanooga Audubon Society. On the
property is an Indian cabin which, according to reports and records
handed down by the earliest white settlers, was the birthplace of
Spring Frog, or Tooantuh, the Cherokee sportsman and naturalist. The
cabin has been preserved by Mrs. Sarah Key Patten and is one of the
oldest found in this part of the Cherokee country. Tooantuh was born
about the year 1754, fought with Andrew Jackson in the Creek war, and
was praised for his bravery at the battle of Horseshoe Bend. He went
West and took up the life of a farmer at Briartown, Oklahoma, where
he died. He was a man of great influence and was among the chiefs
whose portrait was painted for the War Department.


THE BRAINERD MISSION

I have already acquainted you with John McDonald, Scotch trader, and
Dragging Canoe’s Chickamauga Town across the creek from McDonald’s
home. Before the removal of the Cherokees there was more history made
at that place, which at the time attracted visitors from as far away
as England, and yet it is in less than 10 miles of the Chickamauga
Dam.

After a hundred years of warfare, not until the year 1800 were the
Cherokees able to rest. That year the Moravians established a mission
at Spring Place, Georgia. Before selecting that place they visited
McDonald’s on the Chickamauga and, after examining it closely,
rejected it because they judged it to be an unhealthy place in which
to live. In 1816, when the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, of Boston, sent Cyrus Kingsbury to the Cherokee
country, he purchased the identical place that the Moravians
had rejected. It was directly across the Chickamauga Creek from
Chickamauga Town.

On his way South, Kingsbury stopped in Washington and laid his
plans for establishing a mission and school before President James
Madison, who heartily approved it and tendered government assistance
in equipping it. The school was opened in January 1817 and had the
distinction of being the first school in North America where domestic
science and agriculture were taught. It preceded the Gardiner
Institute of Maine by four years.

The institution grew rapidly. At one time there were forty
buildings of one kind and another standing on its grounds. Some
of the outstanding men and women of New England were its leaders
and teachers. Its first superintendent was Ard Hoyt, who left many
prominent descendants. Hundreds of Cherokees were educated and
Christianized during its twenty-one years of existence.

At first the mission was called _Chickamauga_, but since Chickamauga
Town was situated on the other side of the creek, visitors coming
to the school often became confused and went to the Indian village.
It was decided to correct the handicap by changing the name to
_Brainerd_, in honor of David Brainerd, the pioneer missionary among
the Indians of New England and New York. David Brainerd had been in
his grave seventy years before the founding of this namesake of his.

Many were the visitors of prominence who came to Brainerd. Perhaps
the most noted person was President James Monroe, who paid the
mission a surprise visit May 27, 1819, and spent the night there.
Monroe took a deep interest in the institution and gave it the
material support of the Federal Government.

John Howard Payne, author of the famous song, _Home Sweet Home_,
while collecting data for a history he was preparing of the Cherokee,
spent two weeks at Brainerd, and the fourteen large volumes of his
manuscripts now at the Newberry Library in Chicago contain copies of
many letters written by the pupils of this mission school.

Dr. Samuel Worcester, one of the founders of the American Board
and its first secretary, who was largely responsible for founding
Brainerd Mission, visited the institution in 1821. He was ill when he
left his home in Boston and traveled by boat as far as New Orleans.
After driving a horse and buggy from that southern city to Brainerd,
he arrived there on May 25 a very sick man. On June 7 he passed away.
His funeral in the Brainerd cemetery on June 9, 1821, was attended by
hundreds of Cherokees riding horseback from all parts of the nation,
who came to show their respect for a man they had not seen but whom
all had learned to love.

[Illustration: Little Owl’s village site on the Elise Chapin Wildlife
Sanctuary]

Sequoya, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary, also came for a
visit. The first translations of the Bible in Cherokee was made
by another Indian by the name of _Atsi_, but who was known to the
whites as John Arch. This took place at Brainerd. John Arch was the
interpreter at Brainerd. When he arrived at the school, after having
walked to the mission from the Nantahala Valley of Western North
Carolina, now a part of the Smoky Mountain Park, he was so raggedly
dressed and so wild looking that the missionaries were three days
deciding whether to accept him as a pupil or not. He had only one
possession, a gun, which he gladly exchanged for some warm clothes.
Much to their surprise John Arch proved an apt pupil, and after
receiving a few years’ education, he became one of the strongest
supporters of the school.

Sequoya spent a dozen years perfecting his alphabet. It was judged by
competent critics as ranking second to the English alphabet, which
required several hundred years to perfect. By Sequoya’s alphabet
of 85 characters a Cherokee was able to read and write in a few
hours. The inventor of this alphabet received many honors. He had the
distinction of being the only literary person in the United States to
receive a pension, which came from the Cherokee Nation. The Big Trees
of California were also named _Sequoia_ in his honor. His alphabet
enabled the Indians to make rapid progress in education, and after
type had been cast in Boston, _The Cherokee Phoenix_, a newspaper,
was established and published at their capitol in New Echota, near
the present town of Calhoun, Georgia. Elias Boudinot, a full-blooded
Cherokee who had been educated at Brainerd Mission and Cornwall,
Connecticut, was chosen as its editor.

John Ross, who became one of the most influential and renowned
Cherokees, was a frequent visitor at Brainerd and was its chief
supporter, so was Andrew Jackson. Jackson was the first white man to
assist Cyrus Kingsbury in his initial meeting with the Cherokees at
Turkeytown near the present town of Centre, Alabama, when the plan of
the mission and school was approved by the Cherokees.

In 1817, Elias Cornelius, representing the American Board, the
founders of the Brainerd Mission, came to Brainerd for a visit.
Cornelius was on a good will tour among the Indians of the South
and Southwest where the Board planned to establish more missions
and schools. On November 15 he left Brainerd on horseback with
three companions _en route_ for New Orleans. After traveling about
200 miles, he reached Caney Creek, which was swollen from recent
rains. Cornelius did not dare risk swimming his horse, but selected
a camp site nearby. Soon he saw a band of Cherokee approaching on
the opposite side of the creek. They plunged their horses into the
swollen stream and swam successfully across. Night was speeding on,
and the Indians encamped in the woods nearby.

In the early part of the evening Cornelius went to pay his neighbors
a friendly visit. On approaching the open fire he saw tomahawks,
corn, skins of wild animals, and bows and arrows spread before the
fire. Fortunately, there was one Indian in the crowd who was able to
speak English. When Cornelius saw the arrows were bearing the stain
of fresh blood, he learned that this band of Cherokees was returning
from west of the Mississippi, some 30 miles from the Dardanelles,
where they had fought a battle with the Osage tribe. About 800
Cherokees, including their allies, the Delawares and Shawnees, had
participated. Some of the Cherokees had been taken prisoners, and the
Cherokees had captured a few of the Osages. Among them was a little
Osage girl, about five years old, whom they were taking back to their
homes as one of their valued war trophies.

When Cornelius queried them about the little girl’s father and
mother, one of the Indians reached into a rough looking bag, fumbled
around inside, and drew out two human scalps. Holding them up in
plain view he said, “Here they are!”

Cornelius’ heart was deeply touched. He took the little girl in his
arms, whereupon she screamed from fear because she had been taught to
shun white men as being very cruel to Indian children. Remembering
that kindness is the only universal language that is understood by
beasts and birds, by all wild flowers and trees and every living
thing, Cornelius spoke kindly and sympathetically to the girl and
gave her a piece of sweet cake, which she knew not how to use. Then
he presented her with a pretty cup, and thus he won her confidence
and friendship. Before leaving them, he told the Indians about the
Brainerd Mission, and although the Cherokee who claimed possession of
the little girl intimated that he might be willing to sell her, he
promised faithfully that he would place her in the Brainerd school
on his arrival at the mission. Cornelius learned before leaving them
that the Indian who owned her had not captured her, but that he had
swapped a horse for her with the Cherokee who had taken her as a
prisoner.

The next day Cornelius proceeded on his way. After reaching
Mississippi, while he was entertaining some friends in Natchez, Mr.
Cornelius related the story of the little Osage captive, whereupon
a Mrs. Lydia Carter, who was touched with the pathetic story, gave
Cornelius $150 with which to purchase the little girl’s freedom. Soon
Cornelius received a letter from Brainerd stating that the Indian
had not brought the little girl to the school as he had promised.
When interviewed, the Indian refused to part with her unless the
missionaries would give him in return a Negro girl as a servant. Such
thoughts were repulsive to the missionaries. On Cornelius’ return to
Brainerd he rode 60 miles to call on the Indian who held the little
girl. On seeing him approaching, she did not become frightened, but
ran to greet him. Her owner, however, stubbornly refused to release
the little girl.

On his way back to Boston, Cornelius called on the President of the
United States. Then he interviewed the Secretary of War who handed
him written authority to demand possession of the little Osage
girl. On receipt of the order, Ard Hoyt, superintendent of Brainerd
Mission, went after the little girl and paid the Indian for her
release. On his way back to the Mission, Hoyt, christened her Lydia
Carter in honor of the benevolent woman of Natchez. Lydia was adopted
by Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain, missionaries at Brainerd, and she became
a sister of their own little daughter, Catherine.

A few days later rumors reached the missionaries that the Cherokees
held two other Osage children, a boy and a girl, and that Lydia was
their sister. The boy had been sold first for $20 and resold so many
times that the last price brought $150. Return J. Meigs, the Indian
Agent, gave the missionaries authority to take possession of the
boy and place him in the Brainerd school. John Ross, then a dashing
young man, went to Brainerd and tendered his services in rescuing the
boy. Ross rode horseback for 250 miles to the mouth of the Catawba
River. He handled the situation with skill. Before going to the house
of the Indian who held the boy, Ross hid his horse in the woods and
stealthily approached on foot. When he glimpsed the lad, entirely
nude, playing about the hut, as agile as a deer, Ross leaped the
fence gracefully, and in another moment he had the boy securely in
his arms. In great excitement the owner came rushing out. Ross turned
a deaf ear to the pleading of the Indian, who tried all kinds of
schemes to prevent Ross from taking the boy away. In a few moments
Ross had the boy riding behind him on the horse, and they were
hastening on their way to Brainerd Mission. After 13 days, riding
through forests, swimming rivers, fording streams, Ross returned
with his human prize. During this time he had traveled more than 600
miles. On his return the Osage boy was christened John Osage Ross in
honor of the young man who had rescued him.

[Illustration: Mayor Hugh P. Wasson of Chattanooga, standing by the
side of President Dutra of Brazil, points to an interesting feature
of the Chickamauga Dam]

The story of these two children was so remarkable that Elias
Cornelius wrote a book entitled _The Little Osage Captive_, which was
published in Boston, also in York, England. The book had a wide sale.

Later when John Rogers, Cherokee, came from Arkansas to take Lydia
Carter and John Osage Ross back to the Osages, there was great
sadness at Brainerd when the missionaries had to part with the
children. John Rogers was an antecedent of the late humorist Will
Rogers and a relative of Tiana Rogers, Sam Houston’s Cherokee wife.

The Brainerd Mission was closed on August 19, 1838, at the time of
the removal of the Cherokees to the West. Many of the missionaries
chose to accompany them to the new lands and there resumed their
labors as they had done so unselfishly at Brainerd. It should be
remembered that Brainerd Mission gave the name to Missionary Ridge,
and on August 19, 1938, at the identical hour marking the 100th
anniversary of the closing of the Brainerd Mission, a meeting was
held on the grounds attended by hundreds of Chattanoogans.


SAVING THE NAME _CHICKAMAUGA_

A few months before the Chickamauga Dam was completed in 1940, its
historical name, with so much beauty and clear, sweet music in its
pronunciation, was threatened with extinction.

Persons who were interested in preserving the original Cherokee names
became anxious over the safety of the name _Chickamauga Dam_. Through
the columns of _The Chattanooga News_ a protest was registered daily
for about a week. The beginning interview came from the historian
of the University of Chattanooga, who was strongly opposed to
changing the name to the _McReynolds’ Dam_, in honor of Chattanooga’s
Congressman. On succeeding days, similar protests were published
from Chattanooga’s leading citizens, each of them giving logical
reasons for the retention of the name _Chickamauga_. At the close of
the series of interviews the public had been thoroughly awakened to
the importance of holding on to this beautiful historical name which
had been given to some of this region’s loveliest streams by its
aborigines. Irvin Cobb once declared that the word _Chattanooga_ was
the most beautiful of any word he knew in the English language. Could
not the well known humorist writer also have made the same assertion
about the word Chickamauga?

To climax the movement to hold on to the historical name, the
Chickamauga Chapter of the DAR of Chattanooga, at the last moment
when the bill was up for its final reading, the members voted
unanimously for the retention of the name Chickamauga. When
Congressman S. D. McReynolds received notice of its action, he
withdrew his name, and the name _Chickamauga Dam_ was thereby saved
for posterity.

[Illustration: Old Grist Mill at Brainerd Mission as seen from
Chickamauga Town.]


CHICKAMAUGA LAKE

    Where farmers’ cattle grazed on pasture lands,
    The fishes feed; the clumsy turtles swim
    Where once the corn crops grew; the frog expands
    His throat, proud of the pleasure given him;
    This lake now slips its fingertips between
    A hundred little pebbled hills, and all
    Are dressed in tender grass and leaves of green,
    With here and there an islet like a ball
    Half sunken in a pool, yet floating on
    To reach some distant shore. The swallows swing
    Their airplanes down and wet their beaks at dawn,
    And men awake to hear the thrushes sing.

    When day grows old and sun is westward bound,
    They stretch the shadowed trees across the lake,
    And duck and loon and gull and teal have found
    A place which fishermen will not forsake;
    And when the moon receives its silvered crown,
    The waters, like magicians, reach into
    The sky and pull the stars and planets down
    Without their heat, void of the distant blue;
    Then leave them floating in their watered graves,
    And as the boat speeds on, the pilot sees
    Amidst the rippled and discordant waves,
    Reflections broken by realities.

    This latent power decrees that through the years
    The form of woman shall remain unbowed
    By household toil which warped the pioneers
    Who slaved as sweaty beasts while farmers plowed
    And tilled the soil; that men shall play as well
    As work, and know what rest from labor means;
    That love of beauty in the heart shall tell
    That eyes are never blind to Nature’s scenes.
    If _Chickamauga_ means in Cherokee
    _A sluggish stream_, this dam revives the dead,
    Electrifies the soul of Tennessee,
    And gives to industry a potent head.



  Transcriber’s Notes

  pg 6 Changed: generating capacity of 81,000 kilowats
            to: generating capacity of 81,000 kilowatts

  pg 13 Changed: about seven feet in diamater
             to: about seven feet in diameter

  pg 15 Changed: 3—Batteau
             to: 3—Bateau

  pg 16 Changed: there was made on of the most
             to: there was made one of the most

  pg 19 Changed: Chickamauga Dam was no named
             to: Chickamauga Dam was so named

  pg 19 Changed: near old Fort Loudon, was Milaquo
             to: near old Fort Loudon, was Mialoquo

  pg 23 Changed: we mgiht see everything
             to: we might see everything

  pg 23 Changed: Spring Frog, or Toonantuh
             to: Spring Frog, or Tooantuh

  pg 23 Changed: Toonatuh was born about the year 1754
             to: Tooantuh was born about the year 1754

  pg 26 Changed: a litte Osage girl
             to: a little Osage girl

  pg 29 Changed: Lydian Carter and John Osage Ross
             to: Lydia Carter and John Osage Ross

  pg 29 Changed: sweet music in its pronounciation
             to: sweet music in its pronunciation




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