The Creeks had been
harrowing the Cumberland settlements since the beginning of 1791.
In
the summer of 1792, they were joined by a small band of Chickamaugas, from the
Running
Water
Town, led by the Shawnees Warrior, an implacable young Shawnee chief, who, with
about
thirty followers from his own tribe, had some years before taken his residence
at Running
Water;
and by the Cherokee chief, Little Owl, possibly the same called the White Owl's
Son; if
so, he was a brother of Dragging Canoe. This party was known to be hostile to the Americans.
After
the conference at Coyatee, they mobbed and injured Captain Charley, one of
their chiefs,
on
account of his friendship to the United States; and because of their hostility
Governor Blount
found
it necessary to have a guard of friendly Indians to escort, through Running
Water, the
boats
conveying goods for the Chickasaw and Choctaw conference at Nashville.
June 26, 1792, the
Shawnees Warrior and the Little Owl, with their followers, including a
small
party of Creeks, appeared in the neighborhood of Zeigler's Station, about two
miles from
Bledsoe's
Lick, in Sumner County. Zeigler's Station had been settled in 1790 or 1791 by
Jacob
Zeigler,
and was at this time occupied by his own family, and also by the family of Joseph
Wilson, a brother-in-law of Col. James White, the
founder of Knoxville. On the morning of this
fatal day, Michael Sevier, while working in the field near the station, was fired upon and killed
by
the Indians. The alarm was given, and the neighbors formed a party to recover
the body and
bring
it into the fort. The Indians, lying patiently in ambush, surprised the
rescuing party with a
volley
that wounded Gabriel Black, Thomas Keefe, and Joel Eccles, and drove them back
to the
protection
of the palisades. After firing a few shots at the fort the Indians retired, and
towards
night
the garrison went out and brought in Sevier's body, without molestation.
Fancying that the
enemy
had now abandoned the contest, and that the fort was free from further assault,
the
neighbors,
except young Archie Wilson, who volunteered to spend the night at the station
returned
to their homes.
About bedtime the
Indians returned and made a furious assault, while the feeble garrison
successfully resisted, until the enemy succeeded in setting fire to the fort. Then all knew that the
end
had come. Mrs. Wilson begged her husband to take their son, a boy of
twelve, and run the
gauntlet
for their lives; she hoped herself and daughters might be spared. He did so,
and although
wounded,
succeeded in gaining the dark woods, under whose cover he made his escape.
Archie
Wilson,
forced from the burning building faced the enemy in the open, and fought with
desperate
courage until a stroke from the breech of an Indian gun brought him to the
earth. Mrs.
Zeigler,
with her baby in her arms, fled out into the darkness of the night, stifling
the cries of her
child
by thrusting her handkerchief into its mouth; and so saved herself and child
from the perils
of
captivity. The Indians now entered
the fort and pillaged it of everything they could carry
away.
Jacob Zeigler was killed in his house, and his body was consumed by the flames
that
enveloped
it. Two negroes were also killed.
Mrs. Wilson and
her six children, the three daughters of Jacob Zeigler, Mollie Jones, and
a negro, were taken prisoners. The three Zeigler. girls fell into the hands of the Shawnees
Warrior,
Zacheus Wilson was taken by the Little Owl, and the other prisoners, except Sarah
Wilson, were all carried to Running Water, but their
particular captors have not been identified.
Through
the influence of Colonel White, the prisoners at Running Water were soon
afterwards
ransomed
by their parents and friends for the sum of fifty-eight dollars each. Sarah
Wilson was
captured
by the Creeks, and carried to their nation, where she remained so many years
that she
had
almost forgotten the habits of civilized society when she was finally
liberated.
After burning and
sacking Zeigler 's Station, the Indians crossed the Cumberland River,
passed
up Barton's Creek, and established a depot two or three miles below the present
town of
Lebanon. Here they left twenty-one bundles of
plunder, carefully packed and hung in the
branches
of the trees, and covered with bark to protect them from the weather. They were short
of
horses, and established this depot until a party could return to the settlement
and take a
sufficient
number to transport their booty.
In the meantime, however, it was retaken by the
whites,
and when the recruiting party returned empty handed to their comrades, who were
awaiting
them on Duck River, their loss was made the occasion of a fierce quarrel, in
which
knives
and tomahawks were flourished.
The scarcity of
horses also made it necessary for the prisoners to follow their captors on
foot;
and incidentally revealed a touching act of kindness on the part of the
Indians. Until they
passed
the vicinity of Lebanon, the whites could see the tracks of eight little
barefoot children at
every
muddy place on their path. Then they found numerous scraps of dressed deer
skin,
scattered
around the ashes of a deserted camp fire.
The grim warriors had kindled a fire to light
their
pipes, and under the soothing spell of the circling smoke, had busied
themselves in making
eight
pairs of little moccasins. At the next muddy place the whites were rejoiced to
find the
prints
of the little moccasins that protected the feet of the captive children.
Tennessee, the Volunteer
State
Moore and Foster, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1923
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