Posted inUS Civil War

September 8, 1861 – Letter from Col. Vaughn

From the Knoxville Register

Munson’s Hill, in sight Washington City, August 31, 1861.

Dear Register:—Agreeable to my promise to you yesterday, I now write you a line from within full view of Washington City, Alexandria and all the encampments of Lincoln’s army this side of the Potomac. Since I wrote you last nothing has transpired on a large scale. We have had several skirmishes with their pickets; in a skirmish this morning, we killed two and took three prisoners.

We have now finished our fortifications on Munson’s Hill, also on Mason’s Hill, and we will commence fortifications to-morrow on Upton’s Hill, which will give us three strong positions some two miles apart, in plain view of Washington city, which we can hold against 40,000 Vandals with 15,000 Southern will-be freemen. We have been here since the morning of the 28th. We have been on picket duty and at work in the entrenchments all the time; but the East Tennessee boys can stand anything.

Posted inLocal Histories Mysteries & Unexplained

The Wild Man of Chilhowee

Tenn., Jan. 26. – Editor Forest and Stream: In your numbers of Dec. 14 and Jan. 4 you give descriptions of the “Lost Man in New Brunswick,” and ask correspondents if they can throw additional light on the questions, who is he, and where did he come from. Apropos of the question asked, I can give you a description of his first cousin. The subject of my sketch is known as “The Wild Man of Chilhowee Mountain.” To come to the real facts with as little circumlocution as possible, the man was found by a party of hunters several years ago. The four hunters were camped at the base of Chilhowee Mountain, on a deer hunting expedition.

The Chilhowee Mountain is a rough and very wild and brushy knob or single pinnacle that raises its head far above the other peaks of the Cumberland range of mountains. It stands somewhat aloof from the main mountain range and therefore has a name of its own. It is situated some miles west of Cleveland, Tenn., and ninety miles northwest of Chattanooga. This part of the Cumberland range is extremely difficult of access, as there are practically no roads into the wilderness. Nature seems especially to have ordained that this brushy, repulsive region should be the home of animals alone. It is entirely uninhabited by man, excepting it be an occasional “wildcat distiller.”

Posted inDaily News Local Histories

Battle of the Amazons

Tragic Feats of a Heroine—A Female Pitched Battle—Sanguinary Results of Jealousy.

The Nashville Union of Saturday last tells the following extraordinary story:

One of the most sanguinary deeds growing out of jealousy, and one of the highest exhibitions of female courage we have seen any account of for many a day, occurred a few days since near the Last Tennessee line in the edge of North Carolina, bordering on Blount county. The account which we abbreviate from the several reports seems miraculous. The parties represented are creditable and respectable.

It appears that the wife of James Davenport became jealous of a young girl named Kate Jackson, represented as being quite handsome and lovable. Quarrels and contentions were fierce and frequent between the two ladies.

Posted inUS Civil War

March 1, 1861 – A Tennessee Editor on Jefferson Davis and the Confederate States

The Nashville Democrat of the 16th inst. has a slashing article on President Jefferson Davis and the new Confederacy, from which we extract as follows:

This same blusterer, in a speech few years ago, ventured to slander the Tennessee volunteers. We know what we say; when we assert that, with all his bluster, Tennessee could, if so disposed, subdue the whole Cottonocracy in a short time. He calculates now on the soldiers of Tennessee to aid him in his wicked and fiendish purpose of breaking up this glorious government.

He is as proud and as vain as Beelzebub. He thinks that he holds the “kingdoms of the world, and the powers thereof,” in the hollow of his band. He is looking for the English Government to bow to him. He says the English Government will acknowledge the Cottonocracy.