Previous 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 turkey, 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 birch tree that stood on the bank of the river at the mouth of Swift Creek, and returned to his home in Roane County with no intention of ever settling in the region now known as Hardin County himself, but only selected this land for his children.

Col. Hardin served as colonel through the Revolutionary War, for which service he received a land warrant calling for two thousand acres, which he laid in Hardin County.

This old man, after whom Hardin County was named, had seven sons - James, Gipson, Amos, Benjamin, Robert, Second Ben, and Second Bob - and one daughter - Margaret - who was married to Ninneann Steele before he came to this county.

The First Ben and Bob were killed by the Indians when they were quite young. Afterward two more sons were born, and were named Second Ben and Second Bob, after their brothers that were killed. The First Ben and Bob were out playing in the woods when the Indians came on them. Ben was taken prisoner, but Bob outran the Indian, and was shot dead. Soon after Col. Hardin bought Ben back from the Indians, and he stayed at home about two years and ran away, and as he was never heard of, he was supposed to have been killed by the Indians.

Let us now turn to the next chapter, and see the first move made to establish a colony in Hardin County by the Hardins, Brazeltons, and Goodens.

A company of four families, numbering twenty-six men, women and children, began preparing to leave for a better land in the spring of 1816. Part of the company was to travel through by land, while a few were to go down the river on a boat, and take their goods and provisions to last them for one year.

About the 7^th of June the little boat moved out, having on board Solomon Brazelton, Miss Sally Brazelton, Joseph Gooden, and his wife. They proceeded down the river until they arrived at the Muscle Shoals, where they hired an Indian to pilot the boat through. This they were obliged to do, for no one but the red man knew the dangers in this rocky channel. They passed over safely, and continued their voyage for nearly three weeks down a stream where the white man's boat had never floated before, whose banks were not lined with towns, villages, and fine farms, as now, but all was silent as the grave, except in the nighttime, when their rest was disturbed by the howl of the wolf on the distant hills, or the scream of the panther prowling through the dense forest. Day after day they traveled on, looking at the mouth of every creek they saw for the tree with Joseph Hardin's name on it, where they were to land and wait for the company that were traveling by land; but from some cause they failed to see the mouth of Swift Creek, and so went on down till they came to the mouth of Hardin's Creek. Here they decided that they had gone far enough, and ran their boat a short distance up the creek, and landed at a place where Benjamin Johnson's mill once stood. As soon as the boat struck the bank Miss Sarah Brazelton jumped ashore and said "I am going to be the first white woman to make a track in this wild country!"

The company that came through by land left Roane County about two weeks before the boat did. They were John Brazelton and his family - with the exception of Solomon and Sarah, who went on the boat - James Hardin and family, Joseph Hardin, jr., and family, and Mrs. Elender Thacker and family - in all twenty-two persons.

They proceeded on, with their horses and cattle, until they reached Warren County. Here they were obliged to wait four weeks for John Brazelton and James Hardin to attend an Indian treaty near the Muscle Shoals.. After this they journeyed on through a roadless country, until they arrived on the head-waters of Hardin's Creek, where the cane was so dense that it seemed almost impossible to get through; but these new settlers were not to be stopped, and so took time to cut out a road, and traveled on down the creek until on Monday, July 15^th, when they camped at what is now known as Crowder's Spring, on Hardin's Creek, seven miles from the river.

In the evening of the same day they heard the sound of a bugle down the creek, and on the following morning part of the men proceeded in the direction of the sound, and found the boat company camped on the creek about six miles below. Very soon they all united at Dr. Altum's Spring, where they erected a rude log-cabin fifteen feet square. This was the first house built in Hardin County. The large creek here they called Hardin's Creek, in honor of Col. James Hardin.

Colonel Hardin and Solomon Brazelton served through Jackson's war in the South against the Creek Indians before they moved here, and were in the battle at Horse-shoe Bend, where six hundred savages were slain, and at Talladega during the winter in which their general had nothing at one time but acorns to feed his soldier upon.

John Brazelton's grandfather, whose name was also John, came from Wales before the Revolution, and first settled in Frederick County, Maryland. The family that came to this county consisted of John Brazelton, his wife - Hannah - their three sons - Solomon, Benjamin, and William - and their four daughters - Mrs. Elender Thacker (then a widow), Elizabeth, Sarah, and Nancy. Mrs. Thacker had two sons, William and Shepherd. Shepherd, the younger son, was only ten years old when he came with the immigrants over the trackless region from East Tennessee to this county.

The Hardin and Goodens were of Irish descent. The Hardin family that moved here consisted of Col. James Hardin, his wife - Nelly - and nine children - three sons (Joseph, Benjamin, and James) and six daughters (Jane, Kizzie, Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth, and Elender).

The Gooden family consisted of Joseph Gooden, his wife, whose name was Hannah, and two sons, James and Thomas.

About the first of September John Brazelton went down to where the town of Clifton now stands and selected that spot to move to, but soon after his return home he was taken sick, and died September 20, 1816, being the first white man that died in Hardin County. He was buried on a small brook near Altum Spring. His grave was dug with a mattock, and the dirt was handled with a wooden spade. His coffin was made of slabs split from a white-oak tree.

As they were carrying him to his grave his favorite dog followed in the procession, and it was a hard task to keep him away from the coffin until it could be lowered to its last resting-place. This conduct was thought but very little of until a few nights afterward, when the settlers were awakened from their slumbers by a howling in the direction of the grave. They decided at once that it was the wolves scratching up the dead, and a company with torches proceeded to the house of the dead, where they found the favorite dog standing at the head of his master's grave uttering the most mournful howls.

After the death of John Brazelton the colony separated. James Hardin and Joseph Gooden settled on what is now the Hope Haggard land, near the Savannah and Clifton ford, on Hardin's Creek, and Mrs. Brazelton settled on the McCaslan Branch, near Indian Creek. This move took place in 1817. During this year James Hardin cleared ten acres of land, which was the first cleared in the county.

It was also in the year 1817 that James Hardin's four brothers - Gipson, Amos, Benjamin, and Robert - moved in from Roane County; and also Jonathan Courtney and his family, consisting of his wife and four sons (John, James, Amos, and Stephen) and three daughters (Melvinie, Nelly, and Ona), came in and settled near Hardin's Creek. Soon after this the Hardin boys found their land near Cerro Gordo, and James moved and built his house not far from where the Con Broyles residence now stands.

Some time during the year 1820 Henry Garner built the first mill, on Indian Creek, a short distance above the Clifton ford. Before this mill was built the citizens went to a mill on Cathey's Creek, in Maury County. At that time there was but one house on that long mill-road, and in it lived an Indian named Billy McClish, who was well known by not only the boys, but the girls, who often went with their brothers to mill.

The settlers purchased their salt from the Kanawha Salt Company, and brought it up the river on barges, which were propelled by means of ropes. Salt cost then four dollars a bushel.

Jonathan Courtney, who arrived in the year 1817, erected a blacksmith, shoe, and carpenter shop, from which the settlers were supplied with plows, spinning-wheels, looms, and shoes. This shop was located about one mile south-west of the Clifton ford, on Indian Creek. This useful old man sold his wheels at three dollars apiece, and made shoes for fifty cents a pair.

In the year 1820 John Hanna, with his wife - Rebecca - and their nine children - seven sons (William, James, John, David, Alexander, Huel, and Thomas) and two daughters (Hannah and Elizabeth) - left Union County, Tennessee, came down the river in a flatboat, and landed at what is now Cerro Gordo in the month of March. They then moved out from the river and settled between Indian Creek and Smith's Fork.

Among the many who came in and settled about this time (1820) were Jacob Blacksheer, David Robinson (who was an active member in the County Courts), John White, David Kincannan, Ninnean Steele, John Boyd, William Wisdom, Jacob Pyburn (after whom Pyburn's Bluff was named), Temple Johnson, Alec Sloan, John and R. M. Dickson, Robert Forbes, James G. Doren, Jesse Cherry, and Willie J. Duckworth.

James Barnes came in previous to 1820, and was one among the most useful men of the county in his day, and was the second to represent the county in the Tennessee Legislature.

MEANWHILE people began to come in settle in different parts of the county. The new-comers did not need to raise hogs, for the woods were full of choice game. Deer and turkey were numerous, and as the settler sat in his rude cabin at night his mind was attracted by the howl of the wolf, echoing from hill to hill, and the scream of the panther, prowling through the canebrakes along Indian and Hardin's Creeks.

One who delighted in spending his time hunting and trapping in that early day was Solomon Brazelton. He devoted much time in catching the wolf, which was beginning to be a great pest. When he found one in his trap, he notified the citizens for miles around to come with their dogs and enjoy the fun of seeing the dogs kill the wolf.

Messrs. Willoughby and Ross, two gentlemen who came in still later, delighted in hunting the deer, and spent many happy days in chasing them over the hills in the southern part of the county, east of Savannah.

Among other things for amusement, the citizens would propose a hunt sometimes, in which most all could engage. Those living on one side of a creek would agree to hunt against those living on the other side, and see who could get the most scalps. Some citizen in the neighborhood would prepare a dinner for the hunters, and the party that got beat had it to pay for. They were allowed to kill and scalp squirrels, hawks, crows, and other animals and fowls that were a pest to the settlers. While the hunt was going on, if one of the party was caught across the line, he lost his scalps -- if he could be caught.

Hunting and fishing parties of Indians would often visit the county, more especially the western part, on White Oak Creek; and it was during one of these hunting seasons, in 1819, that a man by the name of Blackwell, while hunting and trapping among the Indians on White Oak Creek, stole a pony from one of the Indians, carried him across the river, and turned him loose in the cane. Soon after the owner followed, took his pony, and told Blackwell if he did so again he would kill him. It was but a short time till Blackwell was trapping among the Indians again, and this time he not only took the same pony back with him, but the Indian claimed that he took a large lot of furs that did not belong to him. The Indian followed Blackwell this time to his camp, near Garner's mill, on Indian Creek. A jury of a few white men was called and decided in Blackwell's favor. When the decision was announced the Indian sat down on a log and wept most bitterly for a few minutes, then raised his gun, took deliberate aim, and shot Blackwell dead. He then divided the skins, took what he claimed were his, threw Blackwell's in a pile to themselves, mounted his pony, and left for the west side of the river.

This was the first white man killed in Hardin County, and he was buried about a quarter of a mile north-west of Garner's mill.

A company of men followed the Indian and captured him somewhere on White Oak Creek, took him to Courtney's blacksmith-shop, where Jonathan Courtney made a pair of handcuffs and put on him, and then Shelton and Elisha Smith took him to Columbia jail, where he remained for some time, and finally was released. The Smith boys received thirty-six dollars for guarding and taking this Indian to jail.

In the year 1818 Miss Elizabeth Berry, afterward the wife of Solomon Brazelton, was returning home one day from a visit to some friends living on the west side of Hardin's Creek, and while riding along a path that led from the Watson ford, on the creek, through the thick cane and across a branch bottom to her home, now known as the McCandless place, about two miles west of the creek, two large panthers ran up a tree that stooped over the path. She rode back a short distance to where her brother, Michael Berry, and several others were cutting out a wagon road, and related what she had seen. Mike shouldered his gun and proceeded to the spot, and sure enough there lay the huge animals stretched out on the body of the tree, just as the girl had left them. He fired, and one fell to the ground dead; the other jumped off and made his escape. When night came on the boys built a fire and broiled a piece of the dead panther, hoping in this way to tole the other up and shoot him, but their stratagem proved a failure - nothing but wolves came to scent of the meat.

The little brook near where this occurred has ever since borne the name of Panther's Branch, for it was here that the first panther was killed in Hardin County.

BEFORE the white man settled on the west side of the river it was a grand hunting-ground for the Indians. In that early day the hills and creek-bottoms were covered with cane, and deer, turkey, and the black bear were numerous; and on the larger creeks beaver and other fur-bearing animals lived in great numbers. On White Oak Creek and its tributaries appears to have been choice ground for not only the present race of Indians, but for the Mound Builders, who have left their monuments scattered all over this part of Hardin County.

Of the exact date of the first settling of this part of the county we are not informed, but we know that about the year 1819 Simpson Lee and George Orr settled opposite Cerro Gordo. Mr. Lee built a short distance north-east of Craven's Landing, and Mr. Orr near the Jehu Davy Springs, about two miles north-west of the landing. Their houses, of course, were rude cabins, but when other settlers came in they erected buildings of hewed logs. Messrs. Orr and Lee proved useful men to the county as long as they lived, in viewing and cutting out roads through the western part of the county.

In the year 1819 William Gan and a man by the name of Massengill built a camp near a large spring now called the Davy Spring, but for several years known as the Gan Spring, near Saltilo. These men lived here about two years and moved away, when Edward Mathews lived at the place a short time.

It was also in 1819 that a man by the name of Barnes settled near Shady Grove Church, two and a-half miles from the river; and Allen Anderson, at what is now known as the Etherridge place, near the Lick ford on White Oak Creek; and Jacob Delaney, on the river near the island that now bears his name; and John Chambers, near Chamber's Creak, in what is now the Tenth District.

In the fall of 1822 a permanent settlement was made at Saltillo by Thomas Shannon. In October, 1822, Mr. Shannon left Davidson County, near Nashville, in a keelboat with his household goods and provisions to last one year, Col. John Holland and Parkerson Mitchell, whom he hired to help manage the boat, and his four Negro men. They descended the Cumberland to the Ohio, then to the mouth of the Tennessee, ascended the Tennessee to where Point Pleasant now stands, and went out half a mile from the river and erected a camp. Mr. Shannon's family, consisting of his wife, five sons (William, Franklin, Thomas, Nathan, and George), and three daughters (Jane, Susan, and Sarah), came through by land, drove forty head of cattle, and crossed the Tennessee River at a place now known as Shannonsville, and traveled up on the west side of the river to the camp.

Mr. Shannon calculated on a large profit from raising cattle at a small expense, but his cattle were not used to cane, and the result was that in three months from the time they were turned loose in the cane, thirty-nine out of the forty were dead.

A log house was erected soon after the arrival near the camp, which was then the first house built in the county on the west side of the river. The spot where this house stood is now in Decatur County, but was then included in Hardin.
Mr. Shannon's father, as also his mother's father, came from Ireland. Thus we find that the first permanent settlers on both sides of the river were Irish and Welsh descent.

In the year 1825 Mr. Shannon and his boys built a hewed log house on the hill, about four hundred yards north of the present landing at Saltillo, near the present site of the Mrs. Haney residence. This was the first house built in Saltillo, and was first occupied by William and Nathan Shannon.

It was in this year (1825) that Smith Hawkins brought two hundred dollars' worth of dry goods from Louisville on a keelboat to what is now Saltillo, for Mr. Shannon to sell for him. A hewed log store-house was at once erected, and Nathan Shannon, then a youth, sold out the goods in three months. He sold hats at seven dollars and a-half that sell now for two dollars; shoes at four dollars per pair that sell now for two dollars; coffee sold then at twenty-five and thirty-three cents per pound, and salt at one dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel.

The place was now called Hawkins's Landing. Mr. Hawkins did not run this store long until he and his brother Perry built a store-house about a quarter of a mile south, near the Gan Spring, where they sold goods for several years.

Mr. Simpson Lee came over to this little village one day, and while running his horse through town was thrown off and killed - being the first man killed in the town now called Saltillo.

It was not long until barges or keelboats traveled the river regularly, bringing dry goods, salt, and sometimes a few barrels of flour.

The first settlers of Saltillo and vicinity were not blessed with plenty of mills, as we are now, but were obliged to go to a mill on Duck River. Some of the new-comers, before they would go that distance to get meal, would soften their corn by soaking it in water, then grate it; others would beat it in a mortar, which was made by sawing off a block from a white oak log and burning out a hole in the end of it, into which the corn was placed and beat with a maul or pestle. These pounding-mills continued for many years in use by some of the settlers. They were even constructed in such a way that the pestle moved up and down water-power.

In the year 1824 Major James Montgomery landed his boat near the Lick ford on White Oak Creek, and moved out with his family to a spot one-half mile north-west of Shady Grove Church, where he settled; and it was some time during 1824 that he built the first mill that was run by horse-power on the west side of the river. Major Montgomery received his title by serving in the Indian war. He was with Col. James Hardin and Solomon Brazelton at the battle of Horse-shoe Bend.

In 1824 Jesse W. Holland started a tanyard a short distance north of Shady Grove Church, which was the first in the western part of the county.

It was also during this year that a man by the name of Charles Miles moved in and settled one mile west of Saltillo, near the little creek which has ever since borne the name of Mile's Branch. His house stood on the spot now occupied by the Mrs. Parker mansion. Soon after locating, Mr. Miles built the first cotton-gin on the west side of the river.

About the year 1825 Jehu Davy came in and bought a tract of land now known as the Etheridge place, lying near the Lick ford on White Oak Creek, which was then occupied by a man by the name of Allen Anderson. Mr. Davy's family consisted of his wife and eight children - five sons and three daughters.

The land lying along the river from Point Pleasant to half a mile south of Saltillo first belonged to Thomas Shannon. In 1842 Thomas Davy became the owner of the land where Saltillo now stands; then for several years the place was called Davy's Landing.

In 1849 Mr. Davy leased the landing to Scott Terry, who named the place Saltillo, sold goods there about two years, and died. The next store was the firm of Davy & Williams, with a capital stock of three thousand dollars.

Previous to 1855 the business-houses were near the river, and it was not until after the war that the town began to move westward. No town in the county is more nicely situated than Saltillo. The ground where the town is, and for a mile west of the river, lies well for the situation of a beautiful city.

It was not long after the settlement at Saltillo until people began to move in and settle the territory south of White Oak River. George Norwood and Jesse Jones settled on Mud Creek; Isaac Graham and Robert King on Chalk Creek; Mrs. Kerr near the mouth of Mud Creek, on the east side of the creek; James English near the head of Chalk Creek. Jesse Jones's house was one of the precincts in that early day.

Previous to the year 1825 a public road ran from the lower end of Coffee Bluff to the top of the bluff. Here it intersected the road from Hardin's Ferry (now Cerro Gordo) to McNairy Court-house.

Several years after the first settlements at Saltillo a company of hunters and trappers by the name of Stars and Jacksons settled the region between Middleton's and Hurricane Creeks. This company first came here from Ohio, and spent several years hunting and trapping for the beaver on White Oak Creek; they finally returned, sold their lands in that State, and moved with their families to this part of Hardin County.

John and Robert Barham were the first settlers of Coffee Landing. These two brothers merchandised there for several years before the civil war. The place took its name from the great coffee sand bluff on the river.

Crump's Landing was first settled by a man named Burnet, and was for several years called Burnet's Landing. Dr. Crump bought the place and gave it the name it now bears.

Pittsburg Landing was named after Pitts Tucker, who kept a liquor-shop there before the Rebellion. Thousands of people visit this little town every year to see the beautiful cemetery and to travel over the great battle-field.

We will now leave the subject of settlements, and in the next chapter notice the proceedings of the first courts.

We now come to the year 1820, four years from the time the first cabin was built, and we see a county without boundaries ? not only this, it had not been named. And the pioneers had lived up to this good time without having organized the first court. Judging the time then by the present, it seems strange that they lived so long without a court to punish the bad; but perhaps they possessed that grand ornament that a nation of old once had. Then the question was asked why they had no written laws, they answered back, "Good manners need no laws."

It was on the 3d day of January, 1820, that a few of the settlers, having decided to make a county out of what was then almost a wilderness, met at the house of James Hardin, near Cerro Gordo, and organized a Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. Col. James Hardin was chosen Clerk and Daniel Smith, Sheriff. David Kincannon, James Barnes, Samuel Harbor, Isham Cherry, and Joseph McMahon were elected as the Quorum Court, to serve one year, and six constables were also elected.

On the following day court met again, and the officers elected on the day before gave bond and entered on the discharge of their duties.

An election was next held for other county officers, which resulted as follows: Henry Mahan was elected Ranger; Joseph McMahon, Trustee; James Barnes, Register; Stephen Roach, Coroner; and Isham Cherry, Chairman of the Court.

The constables each gave bond in the sum of six hundred and twenty-five dollars. A venire of twenty-five good men were appointed as jurors at the next term of the court. The Clerk's bond was ordered placed in the hands of the Chairman for safe-keeping, and the court adjourned to meet the first Monday in April.

At the April term the last will and testament of Michael Berry, deceased, was produced in open court and duly proven by the oath of Miss Betty and Miss Mary Berry. This was the first will produced in Hardin County.

A tax was next levied as follows:

The following justices were appointed to take a list of taxable property in the county: Samuel White, in the upper settlement on Swift Creek and its waters; Isham Cherry, on the west side of the river, in what is now included in the Ninth, Tenth, and Fifteenth Districts; David Kincannan, in what is now the Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Sixteenth Districts; Edmund W. Gee, in that part of Hardin that has since been given to Decatur County; James Huddleston, in the north-east corner of the county as far south and west as Indian Creek; Joseph McMahon, in the territory lying between Indian Creek and the dividing ridge between said creek and Turkey Creek; J. W. Martin, in the settlements on Turkey Creek and its waters; and Ninnean Steele, for the town company.

It will been seen that the county was first divided into settlements, or neighborhoods, and not into districts, as now. Before the next tax was assessed by the court, the militia was organized and a tax-assessor appointed for each captain's company. Perhaps it would not be out of place to state here that the first captains of the militia in this county were Warnal, Williams, Jones, Mahan, English, and Paine; and that the first constables elected were Lewis Fortner, Elisha Smith, James H. Steele, John G. Williams, and Shelton Smith; and that the Hon. Joshua Haskell was the first circuit Judge, and J. W. Judkins the first Circuit Court Clerk.

This term was mostly devoted to appointing commissioners to view and mark out roads, receiving wolf-scalps, and appointing jurors for the next term.

At the October term J. W. Judkins was sworn in as Deputy Clerk, and produced a seal, which was admitted as the first seal of Hardin County. James R. McMeans, who had been appointed Solicitor-General, resigned, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of James Scott. John G. Williams was allowed thirty dollars for building a court-house. A suit pending between James Williams and Charles Jones was the first civil suit ever disposed of in the county; while the State against Reuben Clark was the first case ever dismissed at the court's cost. Court continued two days and adjourned. This completed the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for the year 1820.

COURT PROCEEDINGS, CONTINUED - FIRST COTTON GIN - FIRST SURVEYOR - FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE - FIRST CHURCH-HOUSE - DEATH OF JAMES HARDIN - FIRST HOTEL - FIRST STEAMBOATS - FIRST PERSON HUNG - THE TWO PARTIES - SETTLEMENT AT CERRO GORDO - FIRST METTHODIST PREACHER.

The first lawyers made their appearance at the January term, 1821. Isaac S. W. Cook, Esq., and James W. Combs, Esq., produced their license to practice law, took the oath prescribed by law, and were admitted to practice in Hardin County.

At the April term, 1821, J. W. Judkins was paid five dollars for the first county seal.

In the year 1821 James F. McMahan was granted liberty to keep a ferry on his own land opposite Cerro Gordo.

Some time during the year 1821 Col. James Hardin was granted liberty to keep a ferry on the river at the mouth of Swift Creek. The same court ordered that the following prices be charged for ferriage: For man and horse, 25 cents; for single man or horse, 12 1/2 cents; for wagon and team, $1; for each head of cattle, 6 1/4 cents; for each head of hogs or sheep, 3 cents.

In 1822 James Barnes, Hiram Boone, J. G. Williams, A. W. Sweeney, and Noah Lilly, a committee that had been previously appointed to select a place for the county capital, reported to the July court that they had located the center of the county at Hardinsville, and had also purchased fifty acres of land there. Court, which was then in session at James Hardin's house, adjourned to meet at Hardinsville next day at ten o'clock, which was July 2, 1822.

A committee was next appointed to view and mark out a road to James's Ferry on the river in the northern part of the county.

In 1823 R. T. Patton was granted leave to keep a ferry on the Tennessee River.

In 1823 a public road was cut out from Hardinsville to Rudd's Ferry, where Savannah now stands, and Jordan Nanny was the first overseer.

In 1824 a road was cut out from Hardin's Ferry in the direction of McNairy County Court-house, and James Morrow and Simpson Lee were appointed overseers.

In March, 1825, a jail was finished at Hardinsville at a cost of two thousand dollars.

Thomas Shannon was granted liberty to keep a ferry on the river where Saltillo now stands, and he gave John A. Rawlings and J. W. Judkins as securities.

The first school commissioners were appointed by the court June 24, 1825. They were Joel Casey, James Barnes, David Robinson, J. G. Williams, and Jesse B. Gant. These men were appointed for the whole county, and served for two years.

It was, perhaps, about the year 1821 that Lewis H. Broyles brought five hundred dollars' worth of goods down the river on a barge from East Tennessee, and started a store in a log house near James Hardin's. The first thing he sold was two wool hats, at one dollar apiece, to Mrs. Nelly Thacker, for her two boys, William and Shepherd. Mr. Broyles merchandised here until 1822, when he moved his store to Hardinsville.

Daniel Smith, as we have already stated, was the first Sheriff. In 1822 J. W. Judkins was elected Sheriff, with Robert Steele his Deputy; and in April, 1824, Lewis N. Falkner was elected Sheriff.

In that early day there seemed to be men qualified to fill any trade or profession that was necessary to the welfare of the settlers.

In the year 1822 a man by the name of Tomkins built a cotton-gin on Whitlow's Creek, and soon after Thomas Hammon built another one near the same creek, that run by horse-power.

Not far from this time Ninnean Steele and Alexander McClintock moved in with their families and settled on Steele's Creek. They were of Irish descent, and were excellent mathematicians. Alexander McClintock was the first surveyor in the county.

In the year 1824 the pioneers built their first school-house not far from the Clifton ford, on Indian Creek, on the south side of the Clifton and Savannah road, and on what is now known as the Whitlow land. It was eighteen feet square, of logs, with no seats but the sleepers of the house, no floor but the solid earth, no chimney -- the fire was built on the ground in the center of the house; no glass windows, like the school-house of to-day. The first man that taught school in this ancient academy was Thomas Stockton, and his pupils -- many of them grown men and women -- were Stocktons, Hardins, Brazeltons, McMahons, Dobbinses, and McConnells. The text-books used were Pike's Arithmetic and Webster's old Spelling-book dated 1820. The contents of those old spelling-books were quite different to the present style of spellers, and one is now scarcely seen.

In the year 1825 a Baptist church was built near the grave of Blackwell. It was a log structure, twenty feet in length and the same in width. The first man that preached in this rude tabernacle was the Rev. Charles Riddle, of the Hard-shell persuasion.

In the year 1826 Col. James Hardin died, and his grave can now be seen on the south side of the Savannah and Clifton road, about two hundred yards north-east of where Thomas Shelby lived. Col. Hardin had proved a useful man to the county of which he might properly be called the father.

Previous to his death Col. Hardin had exchanged his log house for a handsome brick mansion. His widow remained here until 1832, when she and all her sons, sons-in-law, and their families moved to the "New Purchase," in Kentucky, and never returned.

L. H. Broyles moved his store to Hardinsville about the year 1823, and John Kendal put up a log house and kept the first hotel in the county in that town. Soon after a man by the name of Swaney started a saddler-shop at Hardinsville, and Bowman opened a hatter-shop.

When the boundaries of Hardin were first established a small portion of Wayne, where Clifton now stands, and about two districts of what is now the southern part of Decatur, were included in this boundary. Several years later the Legislature of Tennessee gave off the north-west corner of Hardin to Wayne, and in 1856 the two districts in the northern part were given to Decatur.

The first steamboat that started up the river was the Eagle, which sunk on her first trip at the head of Eagle-nest Island. Shortly after the steamer Rocket came up from New Orleans, and for some time made regular trips from that city up the Tennessee River.

FIRST SETTLEMENT AT SAVANNAH - HANGING OF MRS. HUGHES - THE TWO PARTIES - SETTLEMENT AT CERRO GORDO - FIRST METHODIST CHURCH - FIRST PHYSICIAN.

The seat of justice remained at Hardinsville seven years, and during that time a brick court-house was built by Mr. James Barnes. The first settlers speak of this house as being a beautiful building, and perhaps it was, compared with the buildings in that day. Hardinsville was supposed to be the center of the county, and it was then believed that this place would ever be the county capital, but it was afterward found to be too far east, and a new location had to be selected, which resulted in Savannah, then called Rudd's Ferry. In the year 1821 a dwelling-house was built on the bank of the river near the present landing at Savannah, and a ferry established there by James Rudd. In the year 1830 the seat of justice was moved here, a court-house was erected of round gum logs, and the place received the name it now bears.

Where the town of Savannah now stands was in that early day a thicket of gum saplings, and the first houses there were built of this timber and called pole-cabins.

It was during this age of Savannah that two noted fighters, Gipson Hardin and Elisha Smith, met to test their strength. A ring was made, seconds chosen, and the two braves went to battling. A vast crowd of people were present to witness the battle, and they were all so eager to see that many crowded upon the roofs of the houses, and the result was they crushed the little pole-cabins to the earth. Mr. Hardin proved to be the better man, but Savannah was in ruins!

After the seat of justice was removed to Savannah L. H. Broyles bought the court-house at Hardinsville for a store-house, and John Kendal moved to Savannah, erected a hewed log house, in which he kept hotel until his death; after this the hotel was controlled by his widow for a few years, when she died; then by her son John until the civil war. After the war Mr. John Kendal erected the Kendal House, which now stands on the bank of the river.

The first brick building built in Savannah was erected by Col. Stephens, and was used some time by him as a dwelling and saddler-shop. This building is still standing on the north side of the Public Square, and is now known as the Irvin store-house.

David Robinson came in soon after Col. Stephens, took charge of the ferry, and erected the brick building now known as the Cherry mansion. Mr. Robinson was at that time, perhaps, the richest man in the county, for he not only owned a portion of the land where the town now stands, but a large body of land on the west side of the river opposite the town.

A more handsome and a larger court-house was built in 1832, which stood until the civil war, when it burnt; but the county records were saved by the Hon. J. D. Martin, a citizen of the town, who snatched them from the flames and kept them concealed until peace was declared. After the Rebellion the present court-house was built at a cost of ten thousand dollars.

The first person hung in the county was Mrs. Hughes, for killing her husband. The gallows was erected between the present Kendal House and the river at Savannah. Thomas Gray was then Sheriff, but from some cause did not officiate at the hanging, and so hired Jesse Jones, his Deputy, to tie the rope. Joseph Kendal, a colored boy, drove the cart from under the victim. It is said that over a thousand people were present to witness the first execution of a murderer in Hardin County. Mr. Gray at once resigned his office for fear he would have another woman to hang, a thing he did not want to do.

As we have already said, David Robinson was a very active member of the County Court in his day, and it was through his influence that free ferriage was granted the justices living on the west side of the river -- a law that has been sanctioned by thhe courts to the present day.

In the first election days there were two parties in existence -- one was called the "Hardin party," with Col. James Hardin as its leader, and the other was called the "Robinson party," with David Robinson as its leader. The former was composed principally of one connection, while the latter was not composed altogether of Mr. Robinson's relatives. These two parties lasted for several years, and at times were very hostile toward each other. Each desired to rule the county; but they had their day, and finally the members of the former assumed the name of Whig, and most of the latter, Democrat.

In the year 1830 John White and Elisha Bryant settled with their families on the east bank of the Tennessee River, and erected a dwelling-house, grocery-store, cotton-gin, and kept a ferry. The place was called White's Ferry until 1849, when it was named Cerro Gordo, after a town by that name in Mexico.

In 1830 the Rev. John Watson, from South Carolina, organized the first Methodist Church in the county, in a small log house near Hardin's Creek, in the First Civil District.

The first physician that administered to the sick in Hardin County was Dr. Brown, of Columbia, Tenn. He was followed by Drs. McMahan and Watts.

From 1815 to 1840 the history of Hardin County has been given in previous chapters. In 1816, you remember, there were but twenty-six persons living in Hardin; now, according to the census of 1840, we find the total population to be 8,240. Of this number 7,910 were whites and 330 were slaves.

In 1840 there were 77,037 acres of improved and occupied land in the county, valued at three hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars.

The progress in education had been very slow up to this date, notwithstanding private schools had been in existence since 1824. The first school commissioners were elected as early as June, 1825, but nothing of account was done in the way of public schools until 1839. At this date the county contained twelve civil districts, and there were five school directors elected for each district, who enumerated all the white children over six and under sixteen years old, in their respective districts, on the last day of June in each year. In 1840 the Thirteenth District was included in the Twelfth, and the first school directors in it were Major James Montgomery, Solomon Brazelton, Davidson Alexander, and two others, names unknown.

The school law then required that a school be kept at least three months by a qualified teacher, in order to entitle a district to its share of the public funds. The law nowhere specified what the teacher's qualifications should be, or who was to judge concerning them. Robert H. McEwen, then Superintendent of Public Instruction, supplied this omission in the law by giving the commissioners the power to examine teachers, and give certificates to such as should be found to possess proper moral and intellectual qualifications.

The following table shows how the school fund was apportioned in Hardin County in the year 1839:

The above table shows that the scholastic population of the county in 1839 was twenty-three hundred and thirty-four, and that the school fund was fourteen hundred and fifty-four dollars and forty-three cents, which was about sixty-two cents per scholar.

Let us now step up ten years and see the condition of the county. At this date (1850) we find a total population of 10,328 souls. Of this number 9,040 are whites, 31 free blacks, and 1,257 are slaves. We find Savannah with a population of eight hundred. We see six hundred and ninety farms, containing 34,446 acres, and 164,432 acres of unimproved land. The occupied or improved land was valued at five hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars. We find in the county fifteen hundred dwellings, fifteen hundred and thirteen families, twenty-four hundred and thirty-nine horses and mules, sixty-nine hundred head of cattle, sixty-six hundred sheep, and twenty-four thousand six hundred and eighteen hogs. The crop of 1850 amounted to seventy-four hundred and eighty-eight bushels of wheat, four hundred and forty-nine thousand three hundred bushels of corn, and six hundred and eighty-six bales of cotton. The scholastic population of the county in 1850 was thirty-seven hundred, and the school fund was fourteen hundred and forty-two dollars. The capital invested in manufactures in the county in 1850 was sixty-six thousand seven hundred and forty dollars.

In the year 1860, forty-four years after the first cabin was built, the total population of the county was 11,217. Of this number 9,600 were whites, 1,650 were slaves; and the voting population of the county was 1,650.

At this date four of the first settlers were still living. They had lived to see a wilderness changed to the habitation of civilized man. The Indian and his dog were gone to return no more. The wild beasts had been slain or had left for the Mississippi swamps, where they could roam unmolested by the white man. The once wild canebrake-lands on the east and the beautiful uplands on the west were fast changing into nice farms, and everywhere peace and prosperity seemed to reign supreme.

At this date the citizens of Hardin County knew not the terrible fate that awaited them. The Nation was soon to be convulsed by a mighty Rebellion, which would change peace to confusion, turn joy into mourning, and stain the land with blood.

For the history of the civil war as it occurred in Hardin County, we refer the reader to the next chapter.

No one knows the trouble and horror of war unless they have lived through a war and beheld it in all its scenes. The boys and girls of to-day know nothing of the great Rebellion that occurred over twenty years ago. They know comparatively nothing of what the poor soldiers went through before they were allowed to return to their homes and live in peace. They do not know the hardships that the gray-headed fathers of to-day went through while staying at home and trying to make a support for their families.

The little boys and girls of to-day have not the faintest idea of the places sought out for the concealment of property, and the means used in preventing its discovery by the roving bands of soldiers that frequented the country in the absence of the regular army.

No one can estimate the amount of bloodshed, the agonies of the wounded and dying, or the hardships endured in war, for it is beyond the power of the tongue to tell or the pen to describe. No one can tell the sad effect of war more than those who have beheld it with their eyes, heard it with their ears; and felt the full pressure of it in many battles.

We will now picture to the reader as best we can the appearance of the great civil war in Hardin County from the beginning to the close.

When it was known that a war was approaching, those who had experienced war-times, and those who had heard their ancestors relate stories of the Revolution, and the trouble caused and mischief done by the Tory bands, looked on the approaching Rebellion with terror, for they expected a repetition of what they had learned of past wars; while a few persons said it would only be sport and all over in one year, but they doubtless thought quite different before the end of five years.

The first thing the citizens were asked to do was to vote "Separation" or "No Separation." A few leaders said, "vote the State out of the Union and the war will stop." Hardin County voted to stay in the Union, but the State went out by some means, and the war came on, as might have been expected. The militia were ordered to meet regularly to be drilled at the "muster-grounds," which were at Old Town, for the east side of the river, and at the Perkins place, on the Savannah and Adamsville road, for the west side of the river. The little boys even got to meeting regularly and drilling as best they knew with wooden guns and swords, and oftentimes they would have sham battles, in which one party would represent Yankees and the other Rebels. The place selected for these sham battles was on some rocky hill where the boys could have access to munitions without much trouble.

In the summer of 1861 a grand barbecue was given to aid the Southern cause at Shady Grove Church, two miles west of Saltillo. The orator on that day, in a lengthy speech, greatly entreated the young men to enlist and fight for the "Sunny South," and ofttimes he would unfurl to the breeze the "stars and bars" amid loud cheering by the multitude. After speaking there was a call for volunteers, and at the same time the few who had previously enlisted paraded on their horses around the old camp-meeting arbor, with small flags attached to their horses' heads. There was many a youth on that day, no doubt, who wished that he were a man, so that he could join the then apparent braves. But few of those volunteers lived to see the war closed, and but very few live to-day to tell of their parade and barbecue at Shady Grove Church.

One year after the barbecue the citizens were forced to give up their guns, and men were appointed to receive them at the various precincts, after which they were placed in the care of the colonel of the militia, who examined them, and those that did not fill a certain measure were returned to the owners. The rest were deposited at Coffee Landing and at Savannah, where they remained until taken by the gunboat.

The next thing to come up was the "draft" in the fall of 1861. Those drafted were posted at Savannah, the county capital, where the little regiment remained until the following February, under command of Col. Crews.

Before leaving home each soldier was ordered to supply. himself with a uniform of brown jeans cloth, with a black stripe- running up each leg of his pants. Those who were too poor to supply themselves with a uniform received donations from their relatives and friends.

When this regiment was fully organized at Savannah the men received such arms as had been taken from the citizens and stored away there, consisting of small squirrel rifles and double-barrel shot-guns. This little regiment remained at Savannah very pleasantly until the 7th of February, 1862. On that day several steamboats passed up the river at full speed, and all the hailing that could be done would not bring them to land nor check their speed. As one of the boats was passing Savannah, a passenger jumped into the river and swam ashore, and related the news of the fall of Fort Henry, and said the gunboats were certainly coming. The news spread in all directions very soon, and while some of the citizens were rejoicing, others were trembling with fear, for there had been so many hideous stories told about the Yankees that many didn't know whether they would see human beings or not. Some few persons were foolish enough to believe that a gunboat was like unto some monstrous animal of an amphibious nature, that would devour the people on both the river and the land.

In the summer of 1861 the Confederates commenced building a gunboat at Cerro Gordo, which they named "Eastport." She was about half completed when the workmen received news of the fall of Fort Henry. To keep the Eastport from filling into the hands of the Yankees, preparations were made to sink her as soon as they knew for a fact that the Federal gunboats were coming. A man was stationed on the bluff with his gun, and when the Union boats appeared in sight he was to shoot as a signal for two men to chop a hole in the Rebel boat, and let her sink to be seen no more. On the evening of February 7th, near the hour of seven, the watchman discovered the Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoga steaming slowly up the river.He fired and the boats returned the fire with two shells, one of which penetrated the ground near the watchman's feet. He fled and the men on the Eastport fled too, without accomplishing their purpose.

The three boats ran up near the Rebel boat and anchored. On the following day they proceeded up the river, captured the citizens' guns stored at Coffee Landing and at Savannah, and returned.

The regiment of Confederates at Savannah did stay to see the gunboats, but left in haste on the night of the 7th for Nashville. From there they went to Corinth, Miss., where they remained a short time, but before the battle at Shiloh they had nearly all deserted and either returned home or joined the Union army. Several of the drafted boys were at home on furlough when the gunboats fired their cannons at Cerro Gordo, and they never tried to catch up with their regiment, but enlisted, some on the gunboats and others in Sherman's army.

In a few days the gunboats left with the Eastport for the Ohio River. She was completed and sent to do service on a river in Arkansas, but it is said she never proved profitable to the Government.

Many of the citizens' guns were returned to them the next trip of the gunboats.

On the 10th of March the Federal army began to move from Fort Henry up the Tennessee River. This was a grand sight to the citizens living along the river, and day after day great crowds of men and women assembled on the river batik to gaze at the long line of steamers loaded with the much talked-of and long-expected Yankees. Many citizens were so excited that they seemed to forget their homes and all the expected dangers of the war, and appeared to be drawn as by some great attractive power to the river, where they would stand and greet the boys in blue with loud hurrahs for the Union and its flag, to which the soldiers on the boats would cheerfully respond.

One division of the army went to Crump's Landing, where it remained till the Shiloh battle, and five divisions stopped at Savannah, where they remained a few days, and then moved to Pittsburg Landing.

Gen. Grant made his head-quarters at the Cherry mansion at Savannah until the Shiloh battle.

On the west bank of the Tennessee River lies the spot where this great battle was fought, and includes the greater part of the Fifteenth Civil District. (See map.) On the east side of the battle-field is the river; on the north, Snake Creek; on the west, Owl Creek; and on the south, Lick Creek. The south-west corner of the field is without any boundary, and it was through this pass, which is about three miles wide, that the whole Confederate' force moved into battle. The memorable Shiloh Church stood two and a-half miles south west of Pittsburg Landing, was a log structure, and under control of the Methodists. The soil is poor, and a more unprofitable spot of land, perhaps, could not have been selected in the county suitable for a battle-ground, and with less loss to the county. The ground is not cut up by any streams of account. Only a few small brooks are to be met with. From the top of the ridge dividing the waters of Snake and Lick Creeks the ground slopes gradually toward said creeks.

Let us now notice the arrangements made for the great approaching battle. We see the Federals, thirty-eight thousand strong, move out toward Shiloh Church and erect their tents. We doubt whether those Union soldiers once thought, as they were moving out from Pittsburg Lauding on the 17th of March, that three weeks from then those hills and valleys would be stained with blood and covered with the bodies of four thousand brave men. Here nearly one hundred thousand men were soon. to meet in a battle that would destroy the timber and cause the earth beneath to become the last resting-place of four thousand civilized men (?).

The Federal army, numbering about thirty-eight thousand, and composed of five divisions, formed a line on the morning of the 6th reaching from the ford on Owl Creek, via Shiloh Church, to the ford on Lick Creek. The division commanders were Sherman, McClernand, Prentiss, Hurlbut, and W. H. L. Wallace. Gen. Grant was over all.

The Confederate force, numbering about forty thousand, left Corinth, Miss., on the 3d of April, but on account of bad roads did not get into position for battle till the morning of the 6th. Gen. Johnston's intention was to capture the Federal army at Shiloh before Gen. Buell arrived with reenforcements. The Confederate army moved into battle early Sunday morning, arrayed in three lines. The first and front line was commanded by Gen. Hardee; the second, by Gen. Bragg; and the third, by Gens. Polk and Breckinridge. Gen. Johnston was chief commander and Gen. Beauregard was second in command.

In this battle neither army was supplied with breastworks, and so it had to be an open-field fight, except what protection the timber gave.

The intention of the Confederates was to surprise the Federals in their camps, and so they did.The Yankees were not expecting so large and daring a force upon them at so early an hour in theday.

About six o'clock Sunday morning a charge was made on the Federals while many of them were intheir tents. Soon the battle became general all along the Federal line, and with frightful fury. Here commenced such a scene as Hardin County bad never witnessed. With all the fury of maddened desperation eighty thousand combatants hurled themselves against each other. The smoke from the guns arose and spread over the country for many miles in all direction's, and crowds of citizens gathered on the distant hills to listen to "the cannon's opening roar."

In this battle neighbor often faced neighbor, brother faced brother, and boys who had been playmates from youth and classmates in school met here to put an end to each other's existence. All day long the battle. raged, and every effort was made by the Rebel commanders to carry out Gen. Johnston's orders. While leading a Tennessee regiment in a charge, Gen. Johnston was mortally wounded, and died in a short time. Gen. Beauregard now took command.

About five o'clock in the evening Gen. Prentiss and about two thousand of his men were surrounded and captured, but not without great loss to the Rebels in killed and wounded. The Federals were forced back until their line extended from Pittsburg Landing west to the mouth of Owl Creek. This was late Sunday evening. The Confederates now advanced in mighty force, and fought as if they intended to drive their enemyinto the river or force him to surrender. It wasnow a critical time with the boys in blue; it was conquer or surrender -- no chance to retreat.

The citizens living miles away, who had listened attentively to the roar of cannon from early morn,could tell when this critical moment came by the different sound produced by the shell-guns on theTyler and Lexington, which, up to this time, had not been used; but now the shells from these boats came whizzing through the timber, exploding inthe air and on the ground, greatly terrifying theadvancing enemy. The destructive fire from the Federal artillery on the bluff near the river and the preconcerted fire from the infantry soon checked the advancing columns of the Confederates, and they soon fell back to the camps left by the Federals in the morning.

Thus ended the first day's fight. The loss onboth sides was heavy. The Confederates had losttheir most daring leader, and the Federals one brave commander, Gen. W. H. L. Wallace.

Sunday night tile Federals were reënforced by Gen. Buell's army and Gen. Lew.Wallace's division; and, notwithstanding the heavy rain that night, the Federal commanders got every thing perfected and in readiness for the approaching day.

Early Monday morning the two armies approached each other for a final struggle, and the scene was nearly equal to the one on the previous day. At times tile Confederate columns seemed determined to hold their ground, but the boys in blue faced the cruel tempest with courage and determination, until finally in the afternoon the Confederates retreated toward Corinth Miss.

The Federal loss in this battle was 1,735 killed and 7,882 wounded. The Confederate loss has not been, as yet, correctly ascertained, but thought to be about 1,800 killed and over 8,000 wounded.

Thus ended a bloody battle, one in which the carnage was so great that tile battle-field is commonly called "Shiloh's dark and bloody ground."

So anxious were citizens living for many miles around the battle-field to learn the result of the battle, and be ready to search for a brother or friend among the dead or wounded, that many set out on the morning of the 7th, and assembled at Savannah, Crump's Landing, and other places near by, and on Tuesday men could be seen searching among the dead for a lost brother or son.

Several days after the battle a widow lady came from one of the Eastern cities to search for the grave of her son, who was said to be among the slain. His grave had been marked by a soldier, who wrote the boy's name on a piece of board and placed it at the head of the grave. After searching several days the mother found it. She signaled with her handkerchief to some soldiers who were aiding in the search, and were some distance away, and then fell on her knees with her arms over the little mound of earth.

One gentleman who was permitted to ride over the battle-field on the day following the battle in search of his brother, who was supposed to be among the slain, describes the scene to us as being a sad one. Says be: " In many places I saw dead men lying so thick that I could have walked on them for some distance without touching the ground, and in a few places the dead were so thick that they appeared to me to be in heaps. Often dead bodies were seen lying across each other."

Among the many who fell on the Federal side was little Henry Burk, the drummer-boy. Some soldier who, perhaps, viewed the dying scene of this brave boy, penned the following lines shortly after the battle, entitled

For months after the battle great crowds of citizens visited the field. Many carried provisions, camped, and staid for days viewing a sight they bad never seen before, and we hope will never be seen again in this great Republic of ours. This was a silent place to visit all alone, for no living thing was to be seen, except great numbers of house cats, creeping silently about here and yonder. The buzz of a fly could be heard occasionally, but the sweet song of the birds was silent as the moldering braves. The timber was cut down, and much of it torn into shreds, as if a tornado had swept through the forest.

From the Shiloh. battle until the close of the Rebellion the citizens were disturbed but very little by regular troops, but armed bands that shunned the regular army created confusion now and then.

The river being protected by gunboats, enabled the needy citizens to procure supplies from the North until the war was over. In order to get what he wanted, a man had to prove to the Federal authorities that he had been loyal to the United States during the war. Before this the people had to manufacture their own clothing as best they could, and use wheat in the place of coffee.

In the spring of 1865 the news of Glen. Lee's surrender to Gen. Grant on the 6th of April was received. The people knew now that the Rebellion was about over, and of course there was some rejoicing. It was not long until peace was proclaimed, and the soldiers that had escaped death began to return home to leave no more for the battle-field. The dark cloud of war that had overshadowed the Nation bad disappeared, it was hoped, to rise no more.

The county now presented a different appearance to what it did in 1860; in fact, it almost seemed like a new county. The four years of war bad caused small game to become plentiful; even the deer and turkey, that were scarcely seen before the war, were numerous in places. The catamount screamed occasionally, and the black bear was to be seen nosy and then. As soon as it was known that a man could hunt without being molested, the hollow trees were robbed of their old rusty guns, and then there was such a killing of game as had not been known since the first settling of the county.

Notwithstanding the people seemed rejoiced at the news of peace, the war had left a stain that a century could not remove. There was a hatred between citizens that seemed destined to last as long as time, and then the morals of the people had been greatly debased from what they were before the war. Common schools had nearly been forgotten, and many a child had grown up without even the knowledge of a school-house.

If some one had told the people at the commencement of the war of what they would have to endure and of the condition of the county at the close, he would have been scorned at and called a fool. During that dreadful time it was a common thing to see the ladies filling the places of their husbands or brothers at the plow-handles. But few owned a horse, and most of the plowing was done with oxen.

Most of the church, school, and gin-houses were burnt long before the close of the war, but it was not long after peace was made until improvements began rapidly.

The news of peace was received by the people as joyful tidings-more joyful than if the horrors of the war bad been less than they were. But it was a hard matter to rejoice much or long at a time, for much of the sad effect of war was still visible, especially to the farmers. Instead of wealth acid prosperity existing as before the war, the county bore a sad appearance. The farms thatin 1860 looked beautiful and full of life were now much overgrown with bushes and briers, and, of course, looked desolate to the spectator who viewed them , before the Rebellion. The fencing was much decayed, torn down, and in many places had been burned up by passing armies.

As soon as the civil law was declared in force lawsuits began between citizens for property taken, and fur other damages done, during the war. These suits lasted only a few years, and are now nearly forgotten, as they should be, by citizens living in the same county, and working for their own good, and desiring the happiness and the friendship of others around them.

On the bluff at Pittsburg Lauding is now the beautiful cemetery, within whose walls sweetly rest the bodies of the Federal slain. The first thing that attracts the eye of the visitor on entering this city of the dead is the beautiful little grave, the last resting-place of Henry Burk, of whom we have already spoken.

The following lines, written by a gentleman who visited this spot several years ago, are very well addressed to the many who go every year to gaze on this silent city:

Those mho fell in defense of the Union lie here properly honored, but how is it with those who fell on the opposite side? Out yonder beneath the forest's shade lie the moldering bodies of two thousand brave men without a tombstone to mark their last resting-place. Their graves, like the cause they fought to sustain, are lost, lost!

We will now close our history of that war whose horrors were so great that '1 no tongue- call tell, no pen describe them as they were."

Hardin County's physical features will be noticed in this chapter.

The length of the county from north to south is about thirty miles, and its greatest width, from east to west, about twenty-one. It is bounded on the east by Wayne; on the north by Decatur and Henderson; on the west by Chester and McNairy; and on the south by Tishomingo County, in Mississippi, and Lauderdale County, in Alabama. It will thus be seen that no less than seven different counties touch the borders of Hardin. No county in the State is bounded by so many.

By reference to a geological map of Tennessee, you will find that Hardin County lies mostly in the sixth natural division of the State, known as the Western Valley, or the Valley of the Tennessee River. The depth of this valley below the highlands that bound it on the east is about five hundred feet, and below the highlands on the west it is about three hundred feet. The highwater level at Hamburg is three hundred and ninety-two feet above the sea.

Hardin contains six hundred and ten square miles, and is divided into sixteen civil districts, and these into seventy-five public school districts. By reference to the map you will see that some districts are much cut up by creeks, while others are nearly destitute of any streams. It will thus be seen that no less than five creeks cross the Thirteenth District, while the Fifteenth has but one running through its north-west corner.

From the Tennessee River many wide valleys run out and extend beyond the limits of the county. Those of Indian and Hardin's Creeks on the east and White Oak Creek on the west are the longest. The valleys of Indian, Hardin's, and Horse Creeks are the richest in the county. The land within them is generally occupied, and is in a good state of cultivation. The creek valleys on the west side of the river are not so fertile as those on the east, being too much of a clayey nature -- too low and wet for nice farming. The valley of White Oak Creek is very large, and has some good firming land in it, but the farmers are often much troubled in the spring and fall by the backwater from the river, which sometimes runs up the creek beyond the limits of the county.

The Tennessee River enters the county on the south and runs a winding course, curving toward the west, until it reaches Cerro Gordo; from there its general course is north to Point Pleasant; from here it runs for several miles in a north-east direction, forming the line between Hardin and Decatur.

The most noted bluffs on the river are Pyburn's, in the southern part of the county, named after the man who first settled there; Coffee Bluff, near Coffee Landing, named from the coffee sand, of which it is principally composed; and Swallow Bluff; below Point Pleasant, on the Decatur side, was so named from the great number of swallows that inhabited the rocky structure. There are only four islands in the river in this county-Diamond, which was so named from its shape; Wolf, named after a man by that name; Delaney's, named after Jacob Delaney, who once owned it; and Eagle-nest, named for the steamboat that sunk near it. This island was called James's Island until after the Eagle sunk near it.

It is thought that the Tennessee River occupied a different channel in places to what it does now, as sign of an old river bed is plainly marked out in places by the long and wide ponds on both sides of the present channel. At one time far back in the past the river, no doubt, left the present channel at the foot of Coffee Bluff; and ran near the highlands on the west till it reached the bluff above Craven's Landing; then in a northern direction, near the hills on the west side, to near the mouth of White Oak Creek; then turned northeastward and edged the highlands on the east side, and entered the present channel below Point Pleasant; or it followed along the highlands to where Laden's mill now stands, and then down the present channel of Indian Creek. The large ponds formed by this old river bed are being drained of late years by means of ditching and tiling, and where once stood large bodies of water is now the richest land in the river bottom.

The general course of the larger creeks on the east side of the river is nearly north-west, while on the west side they run nearly due east to the river. The largest creek on the west side is White Oak. It was so called on account of the vast amount of white oak timber along the stream. This little river is formed by the junction of Little White Oak and a large creek coming down from the north, called Middleton's Creek, which was named after John Middleton, who was the first to settle near it. The creeks on the west side of the river are generally muddy and their currents slow, and do not appear so swift and beautiful as those on the opposite side. Snake Creek, which runs zigzag around the north side of the great battleground, and into the river at the head of Diamond Island, was, perhaps, named from the great number of snakes killed on it during the first settling of that part of the county. Lick Creek, which bounds the great battle-ground on the south, was named from the deer-licks in its bottoms. Chambers' Creek, dividing the Ninth and Tenth Districts, was named after John Chambers.

Passing over to the east side of the river, we find Hardin's Creek, which was named after one of the first settlers, Col. James Hardin; and Indian Creek, so called by the Indians; and Swift Creek, so called on account of its swift current. This stream is now called Horse Creek, and received that name in the year 1820 from a number of horse thieves being caught near it.

The eastern part of the county is quite different in appearance and formation from the western part, being underlaid mostly with limestone. The uplands to a great extent are very broken, being cut up by high hills, between which lie deep and almost perpendicular hollows, at whose heads burst forth beautiful and never-failing springs.

The western part of the county is not so broken as the eastern, except in the southern part, in the Ninth and Tenth Districts,, where the hills appear almost like mountains.

The uplands on the east side of the river are generally too broken for convenient farming, but the valleys of Indian, Hardin's, and Horse Creeks, and the Tennessee River bottom, furnish an abundance of fine farming land, adapted to the raising of corn and wheat, but not so well for cotton as the western part of the county. The surface of the western part is much more level than the eastern. The soil is not only adapted to corn and wheat, but is very well suited to cotton.

When we come to examine the formations of the two divisions of Hardin, we find quite a difference. The western part is composed almost wholly of sand and clay; and a limestone rock is seldom seen. The formation of the east side of the river is principally limestone.

There are, perhaps, more fine springs in the eastern part of the county than in the western part, but they do not furnish so great a variety of water. In passing over the western part of the county we find plenty of wells and springs of copperas, freestone, and sulphur water. One of the largest sulphur fountains in the. county is one mile south-west of Saltillo. It is about eight hundred feet deep, and is called, the "Sulphur Well." The flow of water from this spring is sufficient to make a considerable brook.

At this place is a large "deer lick," and the Kanawha Salt Company, examining this place many years ago, decided that the salt found on the top of the ground at this lick came from underneath, and by boring down salt water could be found; so they hired a man by the name of Windsor to work until he found salt water. Work was begun in the year 1835 and continued for two years, or until Windsor died. He was to work at fifty dollars a month till he found salt water, if it took his life-time. When Windsor died the work stopped, and the well is now only used as a place of summer resort for the young folks. Perhaps nothing of importance will ever be carried on at this well, as it is near enough to be overflowed by the backwater of the river at its highest stage.

The Gan Spring, near Saltillo, was once a great place of amusement for young folks. This spring is about seven feet in diameter, and furnishes a large supply of water. Several years ago, if a fence rail was cast into it, instead of being thrown up, it, was drawn downward, and seen no more. This drawing downward is, perhaps, caused by a large underground stream with which the spring is connected. This is clearly proven from the fact that near the mouth of the spring branch, when the river is very low, you can see a large spring out in the river casting up water and sand.

In the Ninth District are some very noted springs called the White and Red Sulphur Springs. This is a beautiful place for summer resort, the ground being covered principally with flint-rocks.

Over the western part of the county many semiartesian wells are to be met with. These are only to be found where it is necessary to go below the green sand-bed to get good water. In boring these wells many curiosities are met with in going through the two great sand formation's that underlie West Hardin. By examining the bluffs at Coffee, Crump's, and Pittsburg Landings, one can get a grand view of these two sand layers. The lowest of the two formations is the coffee sand, which contains scales of mica, sometimes woody fragments, converted more or less into lignite, or brown coal; and even trunks of trees are often met with in digging deep wells. Above this formation lies the green sand, or shell-bed, which contains great numbers of fossils and grains of. a greenish mineral. Sometimes wood and leaves are seen, but not so abundantly as in the coffee sand.

When we come to examine the geological structure, we find quite a difference between East and West Hardin . The sands and clays of West Hardin do not extend to any considerable extent east of the Tennessee River. West Hardin lies in that great trough where once existed the ancient ocean, with one of its rocky sides far over in Arkansas and the other now washed by the. Tennessee River. That such an ocean did exist there can be but little question. It is thought to have extended as far north as the mouth of the Ohio River, and that by the gradual upheavel of the land, and the subsequent retiring of the sea, this arm of the ancient ocean. was .finally covered by the waters of the Mississippi River. Then were deposited the sand, gravel, clay, and loam that are to be seen in West Tennessee. It was during that period that the shells, woody fragments, and trunks of trees were deposited in the coffee sand and shell-bed formations, of which we have already spoken. The great gravel bed of West Hardin extends only for a few miles west of the river, near enough to the surface to be met with in digging ordinary wells, but, the green and coffee sand beds spread out for miles west and north-west through the county. The eastern limit of the green sand bed is on a line from the foot of Coffee Bluff north across White Oak Creek to the north boundary line of the county. What we mean by this eastern limit is that the green sand is near enough to the surface to prevent good water being obtained when it is necessary to dig or bore to a depth of from forty to fifty feet.

As we have already said, many curiosities are found in this great sand bed in digging deep wells. Sometimes quantities of shells, woody fragments, and even large logs, are met with from forty to sixty feet under ground. In one well, among the many containing curiosities that we have examined, water was struck about sixty feet from the surface in what appeared to be a bed of logs and limbs of trees. Just how this timber became located at such a depth has been a great puzzle to those who do not understand the history of the formations of West Tennessee.

No limestone of account is seen west of the river, except in the Ninth District. The hills and valleys of the Thirteenth District are almost destitute of rocks of any kind. The gravel bed is plainly seen on Miles' Branch, west of Saltillo, but occurs no more west of here in the Thirteenth District.

The upland lying in the eastern portion of the Twelfth District is level, and would be the nicest spot for farming in the county if the soil was productive. But the river bottom that lies around this district furnishes abundance of fine land to the farmers who dwell on this level region. The western portion of this district is broken and cut up by small streams, along which lie excellent farming lands. The hills, many of them, are covered with small gravel.

As we travel south from the Twelfth District we find the country somewhat broken-the good land lying in the river, creek, and branch bottoms. After crossing Lick Creek we find the Tenth and Ninth Districts the most hilly portion on the west side of the river; and here we find a different formation, a formation which properly belongs to the opposite side of the river. Here is to be seen the lower Helderberg formation, which consists of a fossiliferous bluish limestone. This formation lies below the coffee and green sand beds, of which we have already spoken, and it is from the rocks of this formation, and from the black shale formation, that sometimes lie just above, that sulphur water flows-that is, water impregnated with sulphuretic hydrogen gas.

Looking back over the western part of the county, we see that the soil on the uplands, as a general thing, is not so productive as the river and creek bottoms, but that much of it lies in a shape to be easily improved.

Let us now cross over to the east side, near the State line, and examine the eastern part of the county.

Here we find the Eighth District containing a similar formation to the Ninth-tire hills are high and the rooks flinty. Dry Creek rises in the eastern part of this district, runs for several miles in a western direction, until it strikes a high hill, where it sinks into a large cave, and is seen no more till it flows out on the opposite side of the hill, near tie town of Walnut Grove, forming the Big Spring. If we travel in a northern direction from the Eighth District, we find the country continues hilly, and between many of the hills lie deep and almost perpendicular hollows. The beds of the creeks and branches are rocky, and great formations of gray and blue limestone appear now and then in the bluffs on the creeks and sides of the hills.

A few miles east of Savannah, on a small stream, is a fine outcrop of hydraulic limestone, which, by being exposed to water, has the appearance of black shale. This formation lies below the Helderberg, and it is from this rock that hydraulic cement is made. This formation appears very prominent at several places on Horse and Indian Creeks and near the town of Clifton. On Indian Creek, at Laden's mill, is quite a bluff of this rock, and before the war a company rented this mill and manufactured cement for some time.

The eastern part of the county has plenty of good building stone, but up to the present time but little use has been made of it. The most noted beds of marble occur on the river north of Savannah, and on Hardin's Creek, near the crossing of the Savannah and Clifton road.

In the valleys of Indian and other creeks we find the blue limestone predominating, and in the bluff at Savannah appears the meniscus, or fossiliferous limestone, which lies below the Helderberg The rich lands lying in the creek bottoms of Indian, Hardin's, and Horse Creeks are based principally on this formation.

In the north-east corner of the county are many bald hills, or more commonly known as " bald knobs," which are destitute of vegetation, and are covered with oyster-like shells and petrified bodies of insects.

On the tops of many of the high ridges the soil is red, and is often mistaken for the poorest soil in the county, but it is far from it. The soil is colored by the iron iii the rocks. This red soil is generally very productive, and is to be seen not only on the cast side of the river, but spots of it occur on the west side, in the Twelfth District.

The forest of Hardin as a greater variety, and perhaps more valuable timber, than any county in the State. There are as many as six species of oak, viz., the white oak, red oak, black oak, willow oak, chestnut oak, and post oak. The while oak grows principally in the Tennessee River bottom and the large creek bottoms, and is converted extensively into staves, and of late years much is being rafted and carried down the river to Paducah and other northern cities. The hickory is very plentiful in the large bottoms, from which the axhandle factory at Clifton is supplied. The cypress is used very extensively for well-curbing and shingles. The pine forest extends over nearly the whole of the Third District and the northern part of the First and Second. This forest furnishes the county with plenty of timber for pine lumber. The other varieties are the- cedar, the chestnut, elm, persimmon, sugar and other maples, poplar, sassafras, black walnut, birch, beech, and ash.

In the first days of civilization this part of the State was well stocked with wild animals, but now the larger ones are not to be seen, except occasionally a deer or a bear passes through. The panther, wild cat, and wolf have long since disappeared, and now only the gray and red fox, raccoon, opossum, muskrat, rabbit, squirrel, mink, otter, and beaver can be seen. The latter lives in the river bottom, where he builds his house of wood and mortar across the large ponds or old river bed.

The wild turkey-the hunter's choice bird-is found in some parts of the county, but as a general thing they are scarce. Wild ducks are numerous in the winter season in the river and large creeks. Hawks, owls, whip-poor-wills, blue-birds, snipes, crows, mocking-birds, partridges, robins, martins, and black-birds are still numerous. There are not so many black-birds now as at the close of the civil war; then they were very plentiful, and a great pest to the farmer. At an early day a small bird, called the paroquet, visited this part in great numbers in the spring season, and subsisted on cockle-burs, but it has been many years since their last visit.

The river and creeks in Hardin abound in fine fish, such as the cat-fish, trout, perch, pike, eel, and buffalo. No county in the State, except Lake, is so plentifully supplied with fish as Hardin. The principal way of procuring them is by means of traps in the creeks and trout-lines and nets in the river.

Stock-raising promises to be a profitable occupation in the county. Horned cattle, horses, mules, and hogs are the most important. Sheepraising could be made profitable, but it has been much neglected of late years on account of the laws not being sufficiently stringent to protect sheep from the ravages of the dogs.

Hardin County, doubtless, has more signs of an ancient people than any county in the State. All over the western part of the county little mounds and walls of earth meet the traveler's eye.On the east side of Middleton's Creek, a short distance north of Baker's mill, is a wall of earth four hundred and. fifty yards in length. It commences at the creek, near the mill, and curves around northward to the creek again, taking in about four acres of land, on which stands a mound covering about half an acre of ground, and rising eighteen feet above the level of the field. Between the wall and the creek is a trench, plainly to be seen, from where the earth was taken to build the mound and wall. The wall at its north end is about fifteen feet in height, but diminishes in elevation as it approaches the creek near the mill, where it is barely traceable. The mound at this fortification has been thoroughly examined, and found to contain a vast amount of human bones; in fact, the mound appears to have been almost made of human bodies.

Near Hester's mill, in the north-west corner of the county, are some considerable earth-works. Several years ago an oval-shaped piece of lodestone was taken from one of the mounds at this place. It is about the size of a hen-egg, and. so nicely dressed that when suspended by a string one of its ends points north and the other south.

A short distance below Savannah, in the river bottom, are several mounds and much sign of the ancient builders. But the most remarkable fabrics of that pre-historic race are on the east bank of the river, where Savannah now stands. At this place a ridge of high land makes to the river between two ravines, the mouths of which are nearly one mile apart. A line of fourteen mounds runs parallel with the river from one ravine to the other, some of them covering half an acre of ground, and rising from ten to thirty feet above the common level. These mounds stand back about seven hundred feet from the turn of the bluff, and are of different sizes, the largest and tallest occupying a position near the middle of the line. A zigzag wall of earth, accompanied by a deep trench, commences at the mouth of one ravine and curves around to the mouth of the other, taking in the mounds and a considerable amount of country back of them. Several years ago, while a citizen of Savannah was examining one of these mounds, he found a copper wedge and eight copper pulleys. The wedge is about four inches long and half an inch at the thicker end, and the wheels of the pulleys are about an inch and a-half in diameter and one inch thick. Here certainly was a city of the Mound Builders. The wall, perhaps, was erected for purposes of self-defense and the mounds for watch-towers or houses. Some think that here was the Indian town where De Soto stopped for several months while on his way to discover the "Father of Waters," and that he left the wedge and pulleys, and the Indians buried them in the mound. This supposition may be true, but we have no history telling us that De Soto went as far down the Tennessee River as Savannah.

As far as we have examined the mounds in this county, we find that many of them contain charcoal in the center of their base. This causes some to believe they were thrown up for places of habitation. Whether this be true or false, we cannot tell. Some think the bones found in these mounds were deposited by the Mound Builders. This we cannot believe, from the fact that the bones found in many of them are in too good a state of preservation to be contemporary with with the mounds. They certainly were deposited by the present race of Indians.

"Who were the Mound Builders?" is a question that has not. yet been answered. And scientific men have so far failed to tell us for what purpose these fabrics were erected. The oldest Indian cannot tell. He says they were here when he came. These ancient people have disappeared and left nothing but mounds and walls of earth for us to guess at the time of their habitation in this country.

We will now close our view of the leading incidents in the history of HardinCounty. We began with the first settlement at the Altum Spring, in the FirstDistrict, in the summer of 1861, and will now close with a view which exhibits the county in 1880, with a total population of 14,969, divided among the sixteen Civil Districts as follows: First and Second, 1,344; Third, 1,051; Fourth, 2,659; Fifth and Fourteenth, 970; Sixth, 1,373; Seventh, 670; Eighth, 970; Ninth and Tenth, 1,191; Eleventh and Sixteenth, 1,128; Twelfth, 1,483; Thirteenth, 1,645; Fifteenth, 585. Of the total population, 12,775 are white, the remainder colored; and 7,334 are males and 7,459 females. The averagepopulation per square mile is 24.. The total number of inhabitants in Savannah at this date was 998, and in Saltillo 250. Only two of the first settlers are living at this date to tell the tale--one at the age of 82 and the other at the age of 70.

There are 413 persons in the county who are 60 years old and over, and two over 100 years.

The scholastic population of the county in 1883 was 6,247. Of this number 5,419 are whites and 828 are colored. During this year (1883) certificates of qualification were issued to- 78 white teachers and 19 colored teachers. In 1840 the total white population was 7,910; in 1850 it was 9,040; in 1860 it was 9,600; and in 1880 it was 12,775. The colored population in 1840 was 330; in 1850,1,288; in 1860, 1,650; and in 1880, 2,018.

The census report for 1880 shows that in the year 1879 there were 72,446 acres of land cultivated in the county; and of this number, 12,859 acres were in cotton, which yielded 5,345 bales; and 30,909 acres in corn, which yielded 799,739 bushels; and 3,387 acres in oats, which yielded 35,620 bushels; and 5,445 acres in wheat, which yielded 29,248 bushels. By comparing the above with the report of the county in 1850, we find quite an increase in the amount of produce raised in the county then and in 1879.

Let us now notice the improvement made in two of the largest towns since they were founded. -The town of Savannah has a different aappearance to what it did in 1821. Instead of gum-pole cabins, we see many fine buildings. This town has ten retail stores, two drug-stores, two hotels -- the East Hotel, near the public square, and the Kendal House, near the river, which was built by John Kendal, a son of the first hotel-keeper in the county. Instead of the gum-log court-house of 1832, we see a ten-thousand-dollar brick building; and in the eastern part of town is the Female College, a commodious brick building.

When we return to Saltillo we find it has risen to a beautiful little town of nearly three hundred inhabitants, and has several nice buildings. We see a large framed Male and Female Academy, one hotel, Masonic Hall, Presbyterian Church, one drug-store, and eight retail dry-goods houses. More cotton and staves are shipped annually from Saltillo than from any town in the county.

Several villages have appeared in the last few years, such as Walnut Grove, in the southern part; Loweryville, on Horse Creek; Olive Hill, on Indian Creek; Shilohville, in the southern part; New Town, a mile east of Savannah, containing a population of several hundred colored people; and Sibley, in the Twelfth District, is another Negro town. In each of the colored villages a regular school is kept up during the year, and well trained teachers are employed. As a general thing, the colored people all over the county are making rapid progress in education.

Kind reader, you have now seen how the cane­brakes disappeared; how the wild hunting grounds of the savage have been changed into fields of profit in the space of sixty-nine years by the hand of civilized man. You have seen our county for forty-five years rise to the eve of great prosperity, then suddenly convulsed by a mighty Rebellion that spread desolation far and wide and stained the fields with blood; and we have seen the county struggling upward from that war for twenty years, which brings us to the present time.

Now we must close our History of Hardin County. Hoping that the progress made in the future may be as great as in the past, we bid you a kind good-by.