Hot off the press is a book I know you will want.
The story lives today:
"The Cherokee went on to explain that in the 1830's their ancestors had made a pilgrimage from their homes in East Tennessee to see their favorite spot one last time. They camped here for a while, and when they could tarry no longer, they drew the deer skin map and placed an 'X' on the map designating their last camp ground. These Cherokee then made their sorrowful way to Chattanooga where they met others and began the "Trail of Tears" journey into exile in Oklahoma. Fate had it, however, that the land they settled on turned out to be oil rich, and their descendants became wealthy because of it. These were the Indians now standing before Mr. Parker, and one of them then pointed to the 'X' on the faded map and asked Mr. Parker for permission to camp there."
The battle:
"The other four Indians succeeded in making their escape into the laurel thicket, taking the Negro man with them. The other prisoners were freed. They militia party laying in ambush on the other branch of the trail heard the gun fire, and increased their vigilance, but the four Indians who had escaped the ambush avoided this second trap, and this half of the Lee militia along with the Head party, came rushing up to the site of the ambush."
His legacy:
"No other person
exemplies the pathos of this chapter in American history better than he
and his kin, both white and red. May they all rest in peace."
A
unique book of the 1776 Frontier
This is a historical adventure story of Southern Appalachia.
Copyright 1999 Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. Big Stone Gap, VA All rights reserved.
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