Some promos I made for Podcast Appalachia. Please circulate :-)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Podcast Appalachia: "Daniel Boone"
LISTEN HERE
Transcript:
Hello, and welcome to Podcast Appalachia. I’m John Norris Brown.
Before we get started, I want to thank everyone who has given me feedback on this podcast. I really appreciate it. This podcast is very much a work in progress, so I’m always interested in what listeners think. If you have any comments about the show, or have any subjects you’d like to hear discussed, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can e-mail me at johnnyb325@aol.com.
With that out of the way, let’s get down to business.
When we last spoke, we looked at some of the early explorers of the Appalachian region. Today, I want to examine one of the most important of these explorers in greater detail. This explorer is Daniel Boone, one of the most famous Americans who ever lived, and a name that is known by virtually everyone, regardless of their knowledge of history. In this episode, I will present a brief biography of Daniel Boone and attempt to separate the facts from the myths.
Daniel Boone became one of the greatest folk heroes in American history. A skilled hunter, frontiersman, and Indian fighter, Boone would become a legend in his own time and was instrumental in encouraging the “pioneer spirit” and an inspiration for countless writers, explorers, and pioneers, including James Fennimore Cooper, whose Hawkeye character from The Last of the Mohicans is largely based on Boone.
Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania on November 2, 1734, the son of Squire and Sarah Morgan Boone. His grandfather, George Boone, had immigrated to the New World from England in 1717.
When young Daniel was about 10 years old, his father bought 25 acres of land about six miles from their home. Daniel and his mother went to work tending the cattle on this land. During the summer they lived in a small cabin on the land. During this time, Daniel would spend much time exploring the forest, which probably helped influence him toward his later exploits.
At age 12 Daniel was given his first gun by his father. He immediately began hunting and quickly became a skilled shooter. He often brought home game for his family to eat. As he hunted in the forest, he was also exploring. Not surprisingly, his hunts began taking him further and further into the wilderness.
The Boone family were staunch Quakers, dating back to George Boone’s conversion in England during the early 18th century. However, Squire’s children seemed a bit rebellious, as two of them married outside of the church, which was strictly forbidden. Squire defended his children, telling church leaders they could marry whomever they wished. The dispute escalated as both sides refused to back down. Eventually Squire himself was disowned by the church in 1748. Some historians contend this was a major reason why Squire moved his family out of Pennsylvania; others contend that poor crops were to blame.
Regardless of the reason, Squire and his family left Pennsylvania in 1750. At first they moved into the Great Valley of Virginia. They remained here for about a year until they moved again, this time to the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina, which was then very much the frontier.
As a young man Daniel joined the North Carolina militia and served during the French and Indian War. It was during his service that he met John Findley, who would later accompany him on several of his adventures.
Following his service, Daniel married Rebecca Bryan in 1756. At this time he was 22 years old. The couple would go on to have at least 10 children.
In the early 1760s, Boone began his long hunts. He is first known to have crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1760. In 1767, he first set foot inside what would become Kentucky. Following his return to North Carolina, he and a friend began guiding hunting parties deeper into the frontier.
In 1769 Boone returned to Kentucky, this time with his friend John Findley, and four others. They passed through the Cumberland Gap to enter Kentucky, and remained there hunting and exploring for two years before returning to North Carolina.
The land that would eventually become the Commonwealth of Kentucky must have made a powerful impression on Daniel for he could not remain away for very long. In 1773 he organized yet another expedition to the region, this time with the goal of establishing a permanent settlement there. This effort was doomed to failure, however, when Native Americans opposed to white settlers in the region attacked. Several members of Boone’s party were killed in the attack, including one of Daniel’s sons.
In 1775 Boone returned yet again to Kentucky, this time as a speculator. As he journeyed from the Cumberland Gap to the present location of Boonesborough, Daniel cut through the wilderness, establishing a road to be used by future settlers. This road would become known as the legendary Wilderness Road and became the main route west. It would go on to be used by more than 200,000 people entering the Kentucky frontier.
Boone’s conflicts with Native Americans would become the stuff of legends. In 1776 his 14 year old daughter, Jemima, and two other girls were kidnapped from Boonesborough by a party of three Shawnee and two Cherokee. Settlers had heard the screams, and soon Daniel himself was in hot pursuit. Three days later, he and his party caught up to the kidnappers and rescued the girls. When she first heard the gunshots of the rescuers, Jemima is said to have exclaimed “That’s Daddy!’ A year later the Shawnee attack Boonesborough, wounding Daniel in the process.
While serving in the War for Independence, Daniel himself was captured by the Shawnees. During his time in captivity, he gained the trust of a Shawnee chief, who became almost like a father to him. Daniel was able to use this trust to help himself escape. Ironically, this chief was the father of one of the Shawnee who kidnapped Boone’s daughter and who had been killed during the rescue. While a prisoner, he had learned of a planned attack on Boonesborough by the Shawnee and British and was able to warn the settlement.
By 1782 Boone was a lieutenant colonel in the Fayette County militia. He fought at the Battle of the Blue Licks, one of the last battles of the War for Independence, actually having been fought after Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. This battle occurred in what is now Robertson County, KY. The battle began when about 50 British rangers and 300 Native Americans attacked 182 Kentuckians. Predictably, given these numbers, the battle was a defeat for the Kentuckians. Among those lost was another of Daniel’s sons, Israel.
In 1783 or 1784 Boone met John Filson, an author and former school teacher. In 1784 Filson published a book entitled The Discovery, Settlement And present State of Kentucke which included a section entitled “The Adventures of Daniel Boon,” a highly romantic account of Boone’s life that was largely factual and based on interviews with Boone himself. The book was very popular and was translated into several languages, making Daniel Boone an instant celebrity. Later authors like Timothy Flint would publish more embellished accounts of Boone’s life and help his legend to grow.
Daniel moved his family again, this time to Limestone, a settlement located on the Ohio River, in either 1785 or 1786. He operated a store and tavern in the community, as well as a surveying business. Unfortunately for him, this latter endeavor would prove disastrous, as he was sued by many former clients over disputed land claims.
These legal problems probably contributed to his decision to leave Kentucky, which he did in 1788. This time he relocated to Point Pleasant, VA (now WV). In Point Pleasant, Boone ran a store, and of course, continued to hunt. A few years later he would move again, this time to a remote cabin near present day Charleston, WV.
Daniel would return to Kentucky yet again in 1795, settling on the Brushy Fork of Hinkston Creek. Unfortunately, his stay was not a happy one; he was frequently called into court over land disputes. Boone had acquired many large tracts of land in Kentucky, but he would lose them all due to disputed land claims.
In 1798, Daniel’s son, Daniel Morgan Boone, returned from Missouri with an invitation from Lt. Gov. Trudeau for Daniel to settle in his territory, which was then under the control of Spain. Probably at least partially due to his legal troubles, Daniel accepted and moved to Missouri in 1799.
Sadly, Daniel still could not escape his legal problems. In 1803, Missouri was acquired by the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. Although the U.S. government assured settlers that their land claims would be honored, Boone soon learned that the U.S. might not recognize his land claims in the territory, as he could not prove he had improved the lands, or even lived on them. Even more devastatingly, he had never registered the deeds with officials in New Orleans. Thus, an exasperated Daniel Boone found himself embroiled in yet another land dispute.
In 1809, a land commission ruled against Boone, and he lost most of his lands in Missouri. In poor health by this point, and the ruling almost certainly did not help. Later that year he petitioned Congress for the recovery of his land claims. Finally, five years later in1814, his land was returned to him. Unfortunately, he had to sell most of it in order to pay off his debts in Kentucky.
In 1810 Boone departed on one of his final adventures, joining a hunting expedition to the upper Missouri. No one knows exactly how far this expedition went, but some believe it may have made it all the way to Yellowstone. If this story is accurate, it would be an incredible accomplishment for Boone, who was then 75 years old.
In 1813 Daniel’s wife Rebecca died. Seven years later, Daniel passed away as well, and was laid to rest next to her in Defiance, MO. In 1835 they returned to Kentucky for good, as their remains were moved to Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, KY. Thus Daniel at last returned to the state where he had had most of his adventures.
Even in death, legends continued to grow around Daniel Boone. One legend states that the wrong remains were exhumed from Missouri and buried in Kentucky. Although most historians dismiss this legend, it’s interesting to note that two cemeteries—Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, KY and Old Bryan Farm cemetery in Missouri—both claim to have his remains.
The sources for this episode are Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell, In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone by Randell Jones, and Boone: A Biography, by Robert Morgan.
That’s it for today. As always, thanks to the 1937 Flood for allowing me to use their music, and thank you for listening. A transcript of this and previous episodes of this podcast is available at podcastappalachia.blogspot.com. If you want to get in touch with me, please do so. My e-mail address is johnnyb325@aol.com. I hope you have a nice day, and we will speak again soon.
Monday, March 17, 2008
PA 2: "Early Appalachian Explorers and Settlers"
Podcast Appalachia 2: Early Appalachian Explorers and Settlers
LISTEN HERE
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, I’m John Norris Brown, and you’re listening to Podcast Appalachia, a podcast dedicated to the study and understanding of the Appalachian region.
In my last podcast, I attempted to define the geographic boundaries of Appalachia. Today, I want to look at some of the early history of the Appalachian region, including exploration and settlement, as well as the often tragic conflict between Europeans and Native Americans.
Appalachia is a unique region and is considered by some to be America’s “first frontier.” Over the millennia it has been “discovered” many times and has seen more than its share of conflict, tragedy, and bloodshed. In order to fully appreciate this long history, we must travel back in time long before written history to an almost forgotten people.
The first settlers in the Appalachian region came over 14,000 years ago. There are no written records, so much about them remains a mystery. However, it is known that the ancestors of the Iroquois and Cherokee people migrated into the Appalachian Mountains from the west in about 12,000 BC. They then split into two separate and distinct societies: the Iroquois in the north, and the Cherokee in the south.
The Cherokee became the most prominent peoples in pre-colonial Appalachia. Like most eastern woodland Indians, they were hunters and farmers who lived in small independent villages. Considered one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” by white settlers, the Cherokee were generally considered peaceful and lived in small, autonomous united called towns. They were a matrilineal society who placed great emphasis on the family.
Although predominant in Southern Appalachia, the Cherokee were not the only Native Americans who inhabit the region. Many other peoples lived here as well, including the Shawnee, the Yuchi, the Catawba, and countless others who have slipped into oblivion, lost to history forever.
During the 16th century, European explorers began to make their way into the Appalachian region. They also made first contact with the Native Americans, but in those days these contacts were only sporadic.
Also during the 16th century the Appalachian Mountains were given their name by Europeans. By this time, Spanish explorers were searching for gold in present-day Florida. The Apalachee peoples, a Native American society that lived near present-day Jacksonville, Florida, perhaps eager to rid themselves of their greedy and aggressive guests, told the Spanish stories of gold located in distant mountains to the north.
These stories were later embellished by French explorers, who told tales of vast amounts of gold in what are now the Appalachian mountains. By 1562, the term “Appalachen,” borrowed from the Apalachee people, began appearing on European maps.
The first European descriptions of the Appalachian mountains come from the expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, which took place between 1539-1543. In his quest for gold, de Soto headed north from Florida, eventually reaching the Carolina Piedmont. He then headed westward, crossing the Blue Ridge and either the Great Smoky or Black Mountains, into the valley of East Tennessee.
While in present day Tennessee, de Soto’s party visited the village of Chiaha, a native village located on an island in Little Tennessee and Cheoa Rivers on the north and west, the Little Tennessee and Nantahala River on the south and east. This island is located about 30 miles north of the modern-day city of Knoxville.
After departing the island, the de Soto expedition headed southwest, through modern day Northern Georgia and Alabama, and finally into Mississippi. The surviving records of the expedition have little to say about the Appalachian region other than complaints of the difficulty in crossing the mountains, and of heat in the foothills and cold in the highlands.
By the 1600s, trading routes were established between European settlers and Native Americans in present-day North Carolina, including along the Hudson River.
During this same time, the Iroquois, considered a more warlike and imperial people than their distant cousins the Cherokee, began to expand their territory. They invaded and conquered numerous peoples in present-day Pennsylvania, the Virginias, and the Carolinas. As a result of these conquests, entire societies, including the Conoy, Tutelos, and Saponi, vanished from history. Thus it’s fair to say that the clashes in Appalachia were more than a simple European against Native American clash; they were multicultural and multiethnic.
The Anglo-Cherokee War, sometimes referred to as the Cherokee Rebellion or the War With the English, depending on whose side you were on, opened much of the Appalachian frontier to European settlement. At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, the British and Cherokee were technically allies, but they certainly did not trust each other with both sides fearing betrayal. Nonetheless, the Cherokee assisted the British, providing over 400 hundred warriors to fight in western Virginia and later in Alabama.
Despite this, the British apparently did not show their allies the respect they deserved. Feeling unappreciated, Cherokee leader Attakullakulla ordered his warriors home. Bitterness continued to grow on both sides, and eventually Virginians and Cherokees began fighting each other. The Virginians defeated the Cherokee and scalped about 20 of them, calling into question if the British were truly their allies
Some Cherokee called for peace, but others were outraged and began making retaliatory raids against settlers. War was openly declared on the British in 1759, but the effort proved disastrous for the Cherokee: they were defeated in 1761 and ended up handing over most of their eastern lands for white settlement.
Contact between Native Americans and European settlers was mostly, though not exclusively, characterized by conflict. This conflict was created by a sense of invasion by the white man on the part of the Native Americans and a sense of superiority on the part of the Europeans. One example of this is the contrast between the basic philosophies of the Cherokee and the Europeans. The Cherokee believed that humans were not superior to animals, that they were just another part of nature. As one result of this, they did not believe in land ownership. The Europeans, on the other hand, were interested in expanding their territory and often saw themselves as on a mission from God to conquer nature. They often viewed Native American societies as hopelessly primitive and savage and did not hesitate to use force if they felt that the Indians were in their way.
This sense of European superiority would continue. In the years following the arrival of European settlers in Appalachia, many Cherokee would adopt certain aspects of European culture. Many would become very prosperous. In spite of this, Congress, with the strong support of President Andrew Jackson, passed the Indian Removal Act of 1831. Though the Cherokee would challenge this law and ultimately prevail in the Supreme Court, most of them were still forced onto the Trail of Tears in 1838, a particularly sad chapter of American and Appalachian history.
In 1716 the governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, led an armed expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley. European colonization would begin shortly thereafter; perhaps as early as 1719. In 1730 the colony of Virginia began to offer land grants for white settlers on this land. By 1735, at least 54 families had taken advantage of the offer and were living in the Shenandoah Valley.
To avoid Indian country, which was located to the west of the Shenandoah Valley, settlers migrated southward, eventually reaching the Carolina Piedmont. By the mid-1700s, white settlers began to flood into what is now considered Southern Appalachia, reaching southwestern Virginia, Western North Carolina, and upper East Tennessee by 1761.
During this same time, large numbers of Scots-Irish and German settlers were entering the Appalachian region from western Pennsylvania. These settlers followed the Ohio River’s tributaries into the mountains, flooding into the Shenandoah and southward. The culture of these new settlers, particularly the Scots-Irish, would become the dominant culture of Appalachia up until the present day.
In an effort to prevent white settlers from overrunning Native American lands, the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763. This bill banned all settlement by Europeans of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, reserving that land for Native Americans. Although it was the law of the land, it was largely ignored by settlers, who continued to settle wherever they pleased.
Among the most important early settlements beyond this line were the Watauga Settlements of Upper East Tennessee, The Holston River settlements of Virginia and North Carolina, and the Harrodsburg and Boonesboro settlements of Eastern Kentucky.
Settlement in the Watauga area of Tennessee, near present-day Elizabethton and Kingsport, began in the 1760s. In 1772, realizing that they resided outside the jurisdictions of both North Carolina and Virginia, settlers created the Watauga Association in order to provide local government for themselves. Early leaders in the settlement included John Sevier and James Robertson. Sevier, a well known Indian fighter, would go on become a hero at the Battle of King’s Mountain and governor of two states: the ill-fated and never officially recognized State of Franklin, and the state of Tennessee. The Watauga Association petitioned both Virginia and North Carolina for official recognition. This settlement would even go so far as to declare independence from the British before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
White settlement in Eastern Kentucky began with the legendary long hunters during the 1760s. Although it was illegal to do so, white settlers began moving north from the Cumberland Gap area to settle in this land, which was designated for Indians. Despite their differences, they were able to coexist with Native Americans, although not without some conflict.
Soon behind these settlers came speculators, including one of the most famous frontiersmen in American history, Daniel Boone, who worked for the company of Richard Henderson. Boone came from the Watauga area, leading settlers along the famous Wilderness Road to the site of the settlement. He established Boonesboro, the first chartered town in Kentucky, in 1775. Soon afterwards, the settlements of Lexington and Limestone appeared. Eventually, disputes with the Native Americans in the region would result in the abandonment of the settlement, however.
Settlers in Appalachia, both those Europeans who came a few centuries ago, and the Native Americans who came thousands of years ago, where a diverse lot. They consisted of countless cultures, nationalities, and goals. Yet they must have had at least two things in common: a hearty spirit and a sense of adventure.
The sources for this episode were A Handbook to Appalachia, edited by Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury, and Ricky L. Cox, Appalachia: A History by John Alexander Williams, The United States of Appalachia by Jeff Biggers, and the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell.
That’s it for today. As always, thank you to the 1937 Flood for the music you heard at the beginning. I encourage you to contact me at johnnyb325@aol.com with any comments, suggestions, or criticism you may have. A transcript of this episode is available at podcastappalachia.blogspot.com. I thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode, and I hope we will speak again soon.
LISTEN HERE
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, I’m John Norris Brown, and you’re listening to Podcast Appalachia, a podcast dedicated to the study and understanding of the Appalachian region.
In my last podcast, I attempted to define the geographic boundaries of Appalachia. Today, I want to look at some of the early history of the Appalachian region, including exploration and settlement, as well as the often tragic conflict between Europeans and Native Americans.
Appalachia is a unique region and is considered by some to be America’s “first frontier.” Over the millennia it has been “discovered” many times and has seen more than its share of conflict, tragedy, and bloodshed. In order to fully appreciate this long history, we must travel back in time long before written history to an almost forgotten people.
The first settlers in the Appalachian region came over 14,000 years ago. There are no written records, so much about them remains a mystery. However, it is known that the ancestors of the Iroquois and Cherokee people migrated into the Appalachian Mountains from the west in about 12,000 BC. They then split into two separate and distinct societies: the Iroquois in the north, and the Cherokee in the south.
The Cherokee became the most prominent peoples in pre-colonial Appalachia. Like most eastern woodland Indians, they were hunters and farmers who lived in small independent villages. Considered one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” by white settlers, the Cherokee were generally considered peaceful and lived in small, autonomous united called towns. They were a matrilineal society who placed great emphasis on the family.
Although predominant in Southern Appalachia, the Cherokee were not the only Native Americans who inhabit the region. Many other peoples lived here as well, including the Shawnee, the Yuchi, the Catawba, and countless others who have slipped into oblivion, lost to history forever.
During the 16th century, European explorers began to make their way into the Appalachian region. They also made first contact with the Native Americans, but in those days these contacts were only sporadic.
Also during the 16th century the Appalachian Mountains were given their name by Europeans. By this time, Spanish explorers were searching for gold in present-day Florida. The Apalachee peoples, a Native American society that lived near present-day Jacksonville, Florida, perhaps eager to rid themselves of their greedy and aggressive guests, told the Spanish stories of gold located in distant mountains to the north.
These stories were later embellished by French explorers, who told tales of vast amounts of gold in what are now the Appalachian mountains. By 1562, the term “Appalachen,” borrowed from the Apalachee people, began appearing on European maps.
The first European descriptions of the Appalachian mountains come from the expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, which took place between 1539-1543. In his quest for gold, de Soto headed north from Florida, eventually reaching the Carolina Piedmont. He then headed westward, crossing the Blue Ridge and either the Great Smoky or Black Mountains, into the valley of East Tennessee.
While in present day Tennessee, de Soto’s party visited the village of Chiaha, a native village located on an island in Little Tennessee and Cheoa Rivers on the north and west, the Little Tennessee and Nantahala River on the south and east. This island is located about 30 miles north of the modern-day city of Knoxville.
After departing the island, the de Soto expedition headed southwest, through modern day Northern Georgia and Alabama, and finally into Mississippi. The surviving records of the expedition have little to say about the Appalachian region other than complaints of the difficulty in crossing the mountains, and of heat in the foothills and cold in the highlands.
By the 1600s, trading routes were established between European settlers and Native Americans in present-day North Carolina, including along the Hudson River.
During this same time, the Iroquois, considered a more warlike and imperial people than their distant cousins the Cherokee, began to expand their territory. They invaded and conquered numerous peoples in present-day Pennsylvania, the Virginias, and the Carolinas. As a result of these conquests, entire societies, including the Conoy, Tutelos, and Saponi, vanished from history. Thus it’s fair to say that the clashes in Appalachia were more than a simple European against Native American clash; they were multicultural and multiethnic.
The Anglo-Cherokee War, sometimes referred to as the Cherokee Rebellion or the War With the English, depending on whose side you were on, opened much of the Appalachian frontier to European settlement. At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, the British and Cherokee were technically allies, but they certainly did not trust each other with both sides fearing betrayal. Nonetheless, the Cherokee assisted the British, providing over 400 hundred warriors to fight in western Virginia and later in Alabama.
Despite this, the British apparently did not show their allies the respect they deserved. Feeling unappreciated, Cherokee leader Attakullakulla ordered his warriors home. Bitterness continued to grow on both sides, and eventually Virginians and Cherokees began fighting each other. The Virginians defeated the Cherokee and scalped about 20 of them, calling into question if the British were truly their allies
Some Cherokee called for peace, but others were outraged and began making retaliatory raids against settlers. War was openly declared on the British in 1759, but the effort proved disastrous for the Cherokee: they were defeated in 1761 and ended up handing over most of their eastern lands for white settlement.
Contact between Native Americans and European settlers was mostly, though not exclusively, characterized by conflict. This conflict was created by a sense of invasion by the white man on the part of the Native Americans and a sense of superiority on the part of the Europeans. One example of this is the contrast between the basic philosophies of the Cherokee and the Europeans. The Cherokee believed that humans were not superior to animals, that they were just another part of nature. As one result of this, they did not believe in land ownership. The Europeans, on the other hand, were interested in expanding their territory and often saw themselves as on a mission from God to conquer nature. They often viewed Native American societies as hopelessly primitive and savage and did not hesitate to use force if they felt that the Indians were in their way.
This sense of European superiority would continue. In the years following the arrival of European settlers in Appalachia, many Cherokee would adopt certain aspects of European culture. Many would become very prosperous. In spite of this, Congress, with the strong support of President Andrew Jackson, passed the Indian Removal Act of 1831. Though the Cherokee would challenge this law and ultimately prevail in the Supreme Court, most of them were still forced onto the Trail of Tears in 1838, a particularly sad chapter of American and Appalachian history.
In 1716 the governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, led an armed expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley. European colonization would begin shortly thereafter; perhaps as early as 1719. In 1730 the colony of Virginia began to offer land grants for white settlers on this land. By 1735, at least 54 families had taken advantage of the offer and were living in the Shenandoah Valley.
To avoid Indian country, which was located to the west of the Shenandoah Valley, settlers migrated southward, eventually reaching the Carolina Piedmont. By the mid-1700s, white settlers began to flood into what is now considered Southern Appalachia, reaching southwestern Virginia, Western North Carolina, and upper East Tennessee by 1761.
During this same time, large numbers of Scots-Irish and German settlers were entering the Appalachian region from western Pennsylvania. These settlers followed the Ohio River’s tributaries into the mountains, flooding into the Shenandoah and southward. The culture of these new settlers, particularly the Scots-Irish, would become the dominant culture of Appalachia up until the present day.
In an effort to prevent white settlers from overrunning Native American lands, the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763. This bill banned all settlement by Europeans of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, reserving that land for Native Americans. Although it was the law of the land, it was largely ignored by settlers, who continued to settle wherever they pleased.
Among the most important early settlements beyond this line were the Watauga Settlements of Upper East Tennessee, The Holston River settlements of Virginia and North Carolina, and the Harrodsburg and Boonesboro settlements of Eastern Kentucky.
Settlement in the Watauga area of Tennessee, near present-day Elizabethton and Kingsport, began in the 1760s. In 1772, realizing that they resided outside the jurisdictions of both North Carolina and Virginia, settlers created the Watauga Association in order to provide local government for themselves. Early leaders in the settlement included John Sevier and James Robertson. Sevier, a well known Indian fighter, would go on become a hero at the Battle of King’s Mountain and governor of two states: the ill-fated and never officially recognized State of Franklin, and the state of Tennessee. The Watauga Association petitioned both Virginia and North Carolina for official recognition. This settlement would even go so far as to declare independence from the British before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
White settlement in Eastern Kentucky began with the legendary long hunters during the 1760s. Although it was illegal to do so, white settlers began moving north from the Cumberland Gap area to settle in this land, which was designated for Indians. Despite their differences, they were able to coexist with Native Americans, although not without some conflict.
Soon behind these settlers came speculators, including one of the most famous frontiersmen in American history, Daniel Boone, who worked for the company of Richard Henderson. Boone came from the Watauga area, leading settlers along the famous Wilderness Road to the site of the settlement. He established Boonesboro, the first chartered town in Kentucky, in 1775. Soon afterwards, the settlements of Lexington and Limestone appeared. Eventually, disputes with the Native Americans in the region would result in the abandonment of the settlement, however.
Settlers in Appalachia, both those Europeans who came a few centuries ago, and the Native Americans who came thousands of years ago, where a diverse lot. They consisted of countless cultures, nationalities, and goals. Yet they must have had at least two things in common: a hearty spirit and a sense of adventure.
The sources for this episode were A Handbook to Appalachia, edited by Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury, and Ricky L. Cox, Appalachia: A History by John Alexander Williams, The United States of Appalachia by Jeff Biggers, and the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell.
That’s it for today. As always, thank you to the 1937 Flood for the music you heard at the beginning. I encourage you to contact me at johnnyb325@aol.com with any comments, suggestions, or criticism you may have. A transcript of this episode is available at podcastappalachia.blogspot.com. I thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode, and I hope we will speak again soon.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
"Where is Appalachia?"
Podcast Appalachia 1: Where is Appalachia?
LISTEN HERE
Transcript:
Hello, and welcome to Podcast Appalachia. I’m John Norris Brown.
The music you just heard is entitled “Sail Away Ladies” by the band the 1937 Flood. I’d like to thank this band for being nice enough to allow me to use their music for my theme. If you’d like to hear more of their music, I encourage you to head to their website at 1937flood.com or look them up on iTunes. I’ve been listening to some of their music the past few days and am very impressed. I recommend looking them up.
Now onto to Appalachia!
In this episode, I want to define the geographic boundaries of the Appalachian region. This may sound easy to some, but these boundaries have been drawn and redrawn many times over the years, creating confusion over what is and is not Appalachia. Even today, the boundaries remain fluid and the subject of debate.
In spite of this, there are a few facts everyone can agree one. Obviously, Appalachia is centered around the Appalachian Mountains, but this alone is not the definition of Appalachia. The Appalachians extend far north, into New England and Canada, but no one would consider Canadians to be Appalachian. Some might even be offended by such a notion!
Appalachia is likewise not defined by state boundaries, as no single state is located entirely within the region, with the exception of West Virginia. Instead, Appalachia is comprised of portions of various states.
Over the years, numerous attempts to define the region have led to various definitions, but these definitions usually include the mountainous regions of Northern Georgia, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Southwest Virginia, and West Virginia.
The first attempt to define the region that would eventually become known as Appalachia was made by a Minnesota newspaper early in the Civil War. The paper referred to the region as “Alleghenia” and stated it consisted of 161 mountainous counties in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama. The newspaper argued that this region would be key to the Union cause in the war, as slavery was rare, as was support for succession. The articles contended that if Union forces marched into the region they could inspire a “counter-revolution” that could help cripple the Confederacy. Indeed, many inhabitants of Appalachia did support the Union and several counties, including most famously what would become the state of West Virginia, declared their independence from their states so that they could rejoin the Union.
Over three decades later, another definition was proposed. In 1895 William Goodell Frost, president of Berea College in Kentucky, and a geologist named C. Willard Hayes placed the Appalachian region in eight states, including parts of the Tennessee Valley, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In his landmark book Our Southern Highlanders, an early study of the inhabitants of the Appalachian region first published in 1913, Horace Kephart created a narrow definition of the region, arguing that it was centered around the Tennessee/North Carolina border, in the Unaka and the Great Smoky Mountains. While this region is undoubtedly Appalachian, most observers would agree that it does not comprise the entire region.
John C. Campbell, in his work The Southern Highland in His Homeland, published eight years after Kephart’s work, laid out a new definition of the region, a definition that is similar to what is today considered Appalachia. In his definition, 254 counties in nine different states fit into Appalachia. His definition of the region, both geographical and physical, is very close to the modern definition of the region. However, Campbell had died before his work was published and was thus unable to continue his work. Unfortunately, scholars also neglected to build on his ideas for many years.
During the mid-Twentieth Century, the poverty of the region aroused the attention of the nation, and thus the federal government took on an increasing role in Appalachia. As a result of this involvement, the government, for the first time, issued an “official” definition of the region, which expanded the borders of Appalachia far beyond what had ever been previously considered.
With the passage of the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, the Appalachian Regional Commission, or ARC was created. In the process, a very broad definition of Appalachia was laid out, expanding the region to include 360 counties in eleven states, including debatable parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and Alabama.
However, even this very broad definition would not be the final word. Later in the year, thirteen counties in New York were also tacked on.
As the number of counties in the region continued to grow, some observers began to feel that the boundaries of the region were becoming more political than cultural or geographical. Residents of Pennsylvania and New York, for example, largely did not consider themselves to be Appalachian. Many were actively hostile to being considered part of the region. However, members of Congress saw that such a designation could allow them to bring economic development to their districts, often in the form of what critics would consider pork barrel projects. As a result, many members of Congress lobbied for their districts to be included in the federal definition of Appalachia.
In 1967 the ARC expanded the region yet again, this time to include twenty counties in Mississippi, largely due to the efforts of Rep. Jamie Whitten, a powerful member of the House Appropriations Committee.
While the ARC was including some highly questionable regions of New York, Pennsylvania and Mississippi in Appalachia, several mountain counties in Virginia that would almost certainly appear to be Appalachian, both geographically and culturally, were left out because their representative, Richard Poff, opposed the 1965 bill.
As of 2008 the Appalachian Regional Commission places 410 counties in the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York as being part of the Appalachian region. This region includes about 23 million people.
For the purposes of this podcast, I will accept the ARC definition of Appalachia, although I will be somewhat biased toward the general area that the prominent historian of Appalachia John Alexander Williams defines as the “core region”: the mountainous counties in Northern Georgia, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia, although I will also, from time to time, include material from Appalachian regions outside this area.
The definition of Appalachia is far broader than simple geography, of course. Culture is just as important, if not more so, and will be examined in greater detail in future podcasts.
The sources for this podcast were The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Judy Haskell, Appalachia: A History by John Alexander Williams, and Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart.
That’s it for today. Again, I’d like to thank 1937 Flood for allowing me to use their music, and I would also like to thank you for taking the time to listen to this podcast. If you have any comments, questions, criticisms, or suggestions, I’d love to hear them. You may e-mail me at johnnyb325@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon. A transcript of this episode is available at podcastappalachia.blogspot.com. Have a good day, and we will speak again shortly.
LISTEN HERE
Transcript:
Hello, and welcome to Podcast Appalachia. I’m John Norris Brown.
The music you just heard is entitled “Sail Away Ladies” by the band the 1937 Flood. I’d like to thank this band for being nice enough to allow me to use their music for my theme. If you’d like to hear more of their music, I encourage you to head to their website at 1937flood.com or look them up on iTunes. I’ve been listening to some of their music the past few days and am very impressed. I recommend looking them up.
Now onto to Appalachia!
In this episode, I want to define the geographic boundaries of the Appalachian region. This may sound easy to some, but these boundaries have been drawn and redrawn many times over the years, creating confusion over what is and is not Appalachia. Even today, the boundaries remain fluid and the subject of debate.
In spite of this, there are a few facts everyone can agree one. Obviously, Appalachia is centered around the Appalachian Mountains, but this alone is not the definition of Appalachia. The Appalachians extend far north, into New England and Canada, but no one would consider Canadians to be Appalachian. Some might even be offended by such a notion!
Appalachia is likewise not defined by state boundaries, as no single state is located entirely within the region, with the exception of West Virginia. Instead, Appalachia is comprised of portions of various states.
Over the years, numerous attempts to define the region have led to various definitions, but these definitions usually include the mountainous regions of Northern Georgia, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Southwest Virginia, and West Virginia.
The first attempt to define the region that would eventually become known as Appalachia was made by a Minnesota newspaper early in the Civil War. The paper referred to the region as “Alleghenia” and stated it consisted of 161 mountainous counties in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama. The newspaper argued that this region would be key to the Union cause in the war, as slavery was rare, as was support for succession. The articles contended that if Union forces marched into the region they could inspire a “counter-revolution” that could help cripple the Confederacy. Indeed, many inhabitants of Appalachia did support the Union and several counties, including most famously what would become the state of West Virginia, declared their independence from their states so that they could rejoin the Union.
Over three decades later, another definition was proposed. In 1895 William Goodell Frost, president of Berea College in Kentucky, and a geologist named C. Willard Hayes placed the Appalachian region in eight states, including parts of the Tennessee Valley, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In his landmark book Our Southern Highlanders, an early study of the inhabitants of the Appalachian region first published in 1913, Horace Kephart created a narrow definition of the region, arguing that it was centered around the Tennessee/North Carolina border, in the Unaka and the Great Smoky Mountains. While this region is undoubtedly Appalachian, most observers would agree that it does not comprise the entire region.
John C. Campbell, in his work The Southern Highland in His Homeland, published eight years after Kephart’s work, laid out a new definition of the region, a definition that is similar to what is today considered Appalachia. In his definition, 254 counties in nine different states fit into Appalachia. His definition of the region, both geographical and physical, is very close to the modern definition of the region. However, Campbell had died before his work was published and was thus unable to continue his work. Unfortunately, scholars also neglected to build on his ideas for many years.
During the mid-Twentieth Century, the poverty of the region aroused the attention of the nation, and thus the federal government took on an increasing role in Appalachia. As a result of this involvement, the government, for the first time, issued an “official” definition of the region, which expanded the borders of Appalachia far beyond what had ever been previously considered.
With the passage of the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, the Appalachian Regional Commission, or ARC was created. In the process, a very broad definition of Appalachia was laid out, expanding the region to include 360 counties in eleven states, including debatable parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and Alabama.
However, even this very broad definition would not be the final word. Later in the year, thirteen counties in New York were also tacked on.
As the number of counties in the region continued to grow, some observers began to feel that the boundaries of the region were becoming more political than cultural or geographical. Residents of Pennsylvania and New York, for example, largely did not consider themselves to be Appalachian. Many were actively hostile to being considered part of the region. However, members of Congress saw that such a designation could allow them to bring economic development to their districts, often in the form of what critics would consider pork barrel projects. As a result, many members of Congress lobbied for their districts to be included in the federal definition of Appalachia.
In 1967 the ARC expanded the region yet again, this time to include twenty counties in Mississippi, largely due to the efforts of Rep. Jamie Whitten, a powerful member of the House Appropriations Committee.
While the ARC was including some highly questionable regions of New York, Pennsylvania and Mississippi in Appalachia, several mountain counties in Virginia that would almost certainly appear to be Appalachian, both geographically and culturally, were left out because their representative, Richard Poff, opposed the 1965 bill.
As of 2008 the Appalachian Regional Commission places 410 counties in the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York as being part of the Appalachian region. This region includes about 23 million people.
For the purposes of this podcast, I will accept the ARC definition of Appalachia, although I will be somewhat biased toward the general area that the prominent historian of Appalachia John Alexander Williams defines as the “core region”: the mountainous counties in Northern Georgia, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia, although I will also, from time to time, include material from Appalachian regions outside this area.
The definition of Appalachia is far broader than simple geography, of course. Culture is just as important, if not more so, and will be examined in greater detail in future podcasts.
The sources for this podcast were The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Judy Haskell, Appalachia: A History by John Alexander Williams, and Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart.
That’s it for today. Again, I’d like to thank 1937 Flood for allowing me to use their music, and I would also like to thank you for taking the time to listen to this podcast. If you have any comments, questions, criticisms, or suggestions, I’d love to hear them. You may e-mail me at johnnyb325@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon. A transcript of this episode is available at podcastappalachia.blogspot.com. Have a good day, and we will speak again shortly.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Podcast Appalachia Pilot
Listen here
Transcript:
Good evening and welcome to Podcast Appalachia. I am John Norris Brown.
In this first episode, I wanted to simply lay out my vision for this podcast, solicit any comments or suggestions you may have, and introduce myself. Simply put, this will be a podcast about the Appalachian region of the United States. I plan to cover various topics dealing with Appalachian history, culture, literature, and problems facing the region.
I also plan to profile various significant figures in Appalachian history, such as Daniel Boone, James Still, Davy Crockett, Thomas Wolfe, and others.
In order for this podcast to be successful, I will need feedback from you my listeners. Therefore, I request that you e-mail me any suggestions you may have for content, subject matter, or anything else. I hope to hear from you soon. My e-mail address is johnnyb325@aol.com
I also have one additional request. I would like to have theme music for this podcast, but so far I have not been able to find anything appropriate. So if anyone listening knows of any good Appalachian music that I can use for free without being sued, please e-mail me and let me know. Again, my e-mail address is johnnyb325@aol.com
I will close by briefly introducing myself. As I said in the opening, my name is John Norris Brown. I’ve spent most of my life in the Appalachian region, having been born and raised in Harriman, TN, about 30 miles west of Knoxville. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a Master of Arts from Appalachian State University, majoring in Political Science both times.
Over the past few years, I have developed an intense interest in my homeland and hope to contribute to the growing dialogue concerning Appalachia. I am by no means an expert, so this podcast will be a learning experience for me as well. So if you ever hear a mistake, by all means, please correct me.
A transcript of this episode is available at podcastappalachia.blogspot.com. I will close for now, but I look forward to hearing from you soon. Have a good evening, and we will speak again shortly.
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