CONTENTS. FRONTISPIECE-District Map of the County. PREFACE......... 5 CHAPTER II.-The Departure-On the Boat.. CHAPTER III.-The Trip by Land.......... CHAPTER IV.-Genealogy of the Settlers.... Death of John Brazelton................. CHAPTER VIII.-Court Proceedings, continued—First Cotton Gin-First Surveyor - First School-house-First Church-house- Death of James Hardin-First Hotel- First Steamboats-Settlement at Savan- nah-First Person Hung-The Two Par- ties-Settlement at Cerro Gordo-First 48 The Beginning-Voting-Barbecue-Draft -Federal Gunboats-The Federal Army. The Federal Army Moves to Savannah...... CHAPTER XII.-After the Battle........ The Drummer Boy of Shiloh...... PART FIRST. Early Settlements. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. REVIOUS to the year 1815 the part of Tennessee now known as Hardin County had not been trod by the white man's foot, but here the wild Indians made their trails in search of fish and wild animals. Notwithstanding the plentifulness of game that was hunted and trapped for in this part of the State, we have no account of an Indian wigwam ever being seen in this region. The Indians that visited here lived in the middle part of the State, and came here only to load themselves with furs and wild flesh, and then return to their homes near Waynesboro, where many of them owned large farms. Early settlers tell us that the bear, wolf, beaver, and other fur-bearing animals were very numerous. Wild turkeys, geese, ducks, and many other wild fowls were very plentiful and easily apprehended. O what a paradise for the savage man and a habitation for the wild animals! But these things could not always remain so. There must be some one to till the soil in every land if possible. Savageness must give way before civilization; hunting-grounds and resorts of wild men and wild beasts must sooner or later be surrendered to civilized men to be converted into fields of profit. In the year 1815 Col. Joseph Hardin, with a surveyor and chain-carriers, came down from Roane County, Tennessee, selected and surveyed two thousand acres of land on the east side of the Tennessee River, south of Cerro Gordo. The north-west corner of this land was at the mouth of the Mill Branch, which empties into the river between the ferryboat and steamboat landings at the above-named town. After he had located his land, Col. Hardin cut his name on a birchtree that stood on the bank of the river at the |
