CHAPTER 9. John Donelson and the Donelsons-Voyage in the "Good Boat Adventure"-Andrew Jackson Donelson. In early Tennessee history some of the actors stand out so clearly that the mind's eye can see them with the accuracy of a photograph; others are more indistinct, while at the same time performing great service for the cause of the civilization which was being planted in the State. Among those who are indistinct and almost shadowy, except in his journey by water to Nashville, is Colonel John Donelson. Leaving his water trip out of consideration, Colonel Donelson appears in the merest outlines, yet he was a great man and his record will stand the most critical examination; the closer we look at it the larger it develops. More than that, Colonel Donelson founded the Donelson family of Tennessee, which with its connections in several States, became and is now one of the most influential families in the South. But if he had lived the life of a drone, except in making his water journey to Nashville, he would be one of the heroes of history, and his name would be passed down the years along with others who are conceded to have done great things. Colonel John Donelson was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1720, and his father's name was also John Donelson, who immigrated to Amreica in 1716, and settled in Delaware Bay, at a date that we have been unable to find. Both his father and grandfather appear to have been engaged in the shipping business. Colonel Donelson was an educated man, probably one of the best educated of his day, and achieved prominence in Virginia before he concluded to make his home West of the mountains. He was a surveyor by profession, and was associated at one time and another with the leading men on the American side in the Revolutionary War. In Virginia, he personally knew George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, all of whom were his personal friends. In Tennessee, he was associated with John Sevier, James Robertson, Isaac Shelby, the two Bledsoes, Col. Richard Hender son, and other leaders of the trans-montane movement. He served in the House of Burgesses of Virginia, prior to the Declaration of Independence, in 1771-72-73-74 and in 1771 he was appointed Colonel of the Pittsylvania County militia. He was appointed surveyor of Pittsylvania County by the Colonial Government. married Rachel Stockley of Maryland. On June 26th, 1777, a meeting was held at Fort Patrick Henry, near Long Island, in the present Sullivan County, by the Commissioners appointed by Governor Henry, of Virginia, and a number of Cherokee Chiefs, to establish the line between the State of Virginia and Cherokee territory. Commissioners of North Carolina also were present, who were Waightstill Avery, William Sharp, Robert Lanier and Joseph Winston, and the result of the meeting was the confirmation of the line run by Colonel Donelson some time before. Colonel Donelson's father married Katherine Davis, a sister of the first President of Princeton College. The Colonel had eleven children, some of whom were destined to high positions. The children were as follows: Alexander, who never married; Elizabeth, who married Colonel Thomas Hutchins; Captain John Donelson, who married Mary Purnel, of Snow Hill, Virginia, and who as bride and groom, endured the hardships and deprivations incident to Colonel Donelson's voyage in Tennessee, in his "good boat Adventure"; Mary, who married Captain John Caffrey, and whose descendants are prominent in Louisiana and Mississippi; Jane, who married Colonel Robert Hayes, and they were the parents of Mrs. Robert I. Chester, of Jackson, Tennessee; William, who married Charity Dickinson, and had a number of children; Stockley, who married Elizabeth Glascow; Samuel, who married Mary Smith, and they became the parents of Major Andrew J. Donelson and General Daniel S. Donelson; Severn, who married Elizabeth Rucker, and they became the parents of Andrew, the adopted son of General Jackson; Levin, who never married; Rachel, who married first Captain Lewis Robards and then General Jackson. All of Colonel Donelson's children were born in Virginia, and he brought them all to the Watauga region when he came to Tennessee. Just how long he remained in Tennessee before he conceived the idea of his marvelous journey by water from Fort Patrick Henry to Nashville, we have been unable to ascertain, but we know from the journal he kept that he started on the journey De cember 22nd, 1779. This journey involved the distance from Fort Patrick Henry to Knoxville, which is 142 miles; thence by the Tennessee River to the Ohio 635 miles; thence by the Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland 15 miles; and thence by the Cumberland to Nashville 193 miles, or, a total of 985 miles. Considering the craft in which this water journey was taken, the ever present danger from Indians on both sides of all the rivers traversed, the danger from navigation, the escape from which seems miraculous, the drastic labor of poleing boats up stream on the Ohio for 15 miles and up the Cumberland for 193 miles, and the suffering from the extreme cold of the weather, which was one of the severest seasons known in Tennessee, this journey becomes one of the marvels of history. One of the most precious documents in all the records of Tennessee, is Colonel Donelson's journal of that voyage which happily has been preserved and is in the Tennessee Historical Society at Nashville, and is here printed in full. The reader will observe the total lack of color in the narrative, which argues that Colonel Donelson did not look upon his undertaking as anything very remarkable, but there are a thousand things that come to mind we would like to know. Talk about romance, where is there a historical incident more filled with romance than this, and how we would like someone to have been on that journey who could have filled in the color in Colonel Donelson's narrative. We are curious to know all about the "Good Boat Adventure", how long and wide it was and the details of construction; how the voyagers spent their time as the current was bearing them forward to an unknowable destiny in the wilds of Middle Tennessee on the Cumberland River; what Captain John Donelson and bride, Mary Purnel, thought and said of that journey as a wedding trip; and all of the thousand and one incidents connected with a life of four months under the unprecedented conditions of that voyage. They arrived at the end of their journey on Monday, April 24th, 1780. Here is the way Colonel Donelson tells the story: 1779-VOYAGE OF THE DONELSON PARTY. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE, INTENDED BY GOD'S PERMISSION, IN "December 22, 1779.-Took our departure from the fort, and fell down the river to the mouth of Reedy Creek, where we were stopped by the fall of water and most excessive hard frost; and after much delay, and many difficulties, we arrived at the mouth of Cloud's Creek on Sunday evening, the 20th of February, 1780, where we lay by until Sunday, the 27th, when we took our departure with sundry other vessels bound for the same voyage, and on the same day struck the Poor-valley shoal, together with Mr. Boyd and Mr. Rounsifer, on which shoal we lay that afternoon and succeeding night in much distress. "Monday, February 28th, 1780.—In the morning, the water rising, we got off the shoal, after landing thirty persons to lighten our boat. In attempting to land on an island, received some damage, and lost sundry articles, and came to camp on the south shore, where we joined sundry other vessels also bound down. "Tuesday, 29th-Proceeded down the river and encamped on the north shore, the afternoon and following day proving rainy. "Wednesday, March 1st.-Proceeded on, and encamped on the north shore, nothing happening that day remarkable. "March 2nd.-Rain about half the day; passed the mouth of French Broad River, and about twelve o'clock Mr. Henry's boat, being driven on the point of an island by the force of the current, was sunk, the whole cargo much damaged, and the crew's lives much endangered, which occasioned the whole fleet to put on shore and go to their assistance, but with much difficulty baled her out and raised her, in order to take in her cargo again. The same afternoon, Reuben Harrison went out a hunting, and did not return that night, though many guns were fired to fetch him in. "Friday, 3rd.-Early in the morning fired a four-pounder for the lost man, sent out sundry persons to search the woods for him, firing many guns that day and the succeeding night, but all without success, to the great grief of his parents and fellow-travelers. "Saturday, 4th.-Proceeded on our voyage, leaving old Mr. Harrison, with some other vessels, to make further search for his lost son: about ten o'clock the same day found him a considerable distance down the river, where Mr. Ben Belew took him on board his boat. At three o'clock p. m., passed the mouth of Tennessee River, and camped on the south shore, about ten miles below the mouth of Tennessee. "Sunday, 5th.-Cast off and got under way before sunrise; twelve o'clock, passed mouth of Clinch; at three o'clock, p. m., came up with the Clinch River company, whom we joined, and camped, the evening proving rainy. "Monday 6th.-Got under way before sunrise: the morning proving very foggy, many of the fleet were much bogged: about ten o'clock lay up for them; when collected, proceeded down; camped on the north shore, where Captain Hutchin's negro man died, being much frosted in his feet and legs, of which he died. "Tuesday, 7th.-Got under way very early; the day proving very windy, a S.S.W., and the river, being wide, occasioned a high sea, insomuch that some of the smaller crafts were in danger, therefore came to at the uppermost Chickamauga town, which was then evacuated, where we lay by that afternoon and camped that night. The wife of Ephraim Peyton was here delivered of a child. Mr. Peyton has gone through by land with Captain Robertson. "Wednesday, 8th.-Cast off at ten o'clock, and proceeded down to an Indian village, which was inhabited, on the south side of the river: they invited us to 'come ashore,' called us brothers and showed other signs of friendship, insomuch that Mr. John Caffrey and my son, then on board, took a canoe which I had in tow, and were crossing over to them, the rest of the fleet having landed on the oposite shore. After they had gone some distance, a half-breed, who called himself Archy Coody, with several other Indians, jumped into a canoe, met them, and advised them to return to the boat, which they did, together with Coody, and several canoes, which left the shore and followed directly after him. They appeared to be friendly. After distributing some presents among them, with which they seemed much pleased, we observed a number of Indians on the other side embarking in their canoes, armed and painted with red and black. Coody immediately made signs to his companions, ordering them to quit the boat which they did, himself and another Indian remaining with us, and telling us to move off instantly. We had not gone far before we discovered a number of Indians armed and painted, preceeding down the river, as it were to intercept us. Coody, the halfbreed, and his companion sailed with us for some time, and telling us that we had passed all the towns and were out of danger, left us. But we had not gone far until we came in sight of another town, situated likewise on the south side of the river, nearly opposite a small island. Here they again invited us to come on shore, called us brothers, and observing the boats standing off for the opposite channels, told us that 'their side of the river was better for boats to pass.' And here we must regret the unfortunate death of young Mr. Payne, on board Captain Blackmore's boat, who was mortally wounded by reason of the boat running too near the northern shore, opposite the town where some of the enemy lay concealed; and the more tragical misfortune of poor Stuart, his family and friends, to the number of twenty-eight persons. This man had embarked with us for the Western country, but his family being diseased with the small-pox, it was agreed upon between him and the company that he should keep at some distance in the rear, for fear of the infection spreading; and he was warned each night when the encampment should take place by the sound of a horn. After we had passed the town, the Indians having now collected to a considerable number, observing his helpless situation, singled off from the rest of the fleet, intercepted him, killed and took prisoners the whole crew, to the great grief of the whole company, uncertain how soon they might share the same fate: their cries were distinctly heard by those boats in the rear. We still perceived them marching down the river in |