Bledsoe's Station, also known as Bledsoe's Fort, was an 18th-century fortified frontier settlement located in what is now

Castalian Springs, Tennessee Castalian Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. History In the early 19th century, it was known locally as Bledsoe's Lick, and was the location of Bledsoe's Station, ...

. The fort was built by

longhunter A longhunter (or long hunter) was an 18th-century explorer and hunter who made expeditions into the American frontier for as much as six months at a time. While historian Emory Hamilton says that "The Long Hunter was peculiar to Southwest Vir ...

and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe (c. 1735–1793) in the early 1780s to protect Upper Cumberland settlers and migrants from hostile Native American attacks. While the fort is no longer standing, its location has been verified by archaeological excavations. The site is now part of Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park, a public park established in 1989 by Sumner County residents and Bledsoe's descendants. Bledsoe's Station was one of a series of frontier outposts built in the Upper Cumberland during the first major migration of Euro-American settlers into the

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

area following the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. The fort was a convenient stopover along Avery's Trace—the main road connecting

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and Middle Tennessee at the time. The flood of settlers into the region brought inevitable conflict with the region's Native American inhabitants, and dozens of settlers were killed in the late 1780s and early 1790s. Isaac Bledsoe's brother

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

was killed in an ambush at the fort in 1788, and Isaac was killed while tending a field outside the fort in 1793. The end of the

Cherokee–American wars The Cherokee–American wars, also known as the Chickamauga Wars, were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest from 1776 to 1794 between the Cherokee and American se ...

in 1794 ended much of the violence in the region and reduced the fort's necessity. Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park protects the fort's excavation site, as an outline of the fort's walls can be discerned from former excavation trenches, as well as several historic structures, including the Nathaniel Parker Cabin and Hugh Rogan Cottage, who were compatriots of Isaac Bledsoe and a pioneer cemetery, with a large obelisk, dedicated to the Bledsoe brothers. The Castalian Springs Mound Site and the Wynnewood State Historic Site are located immediately east of the park, and the Cragfont State Historic Site is located immediately to the west.

Geography

Bledsoe's Station was located on a hill slope between Bledsoe Creek to the west and Bledsoe Lick Creek to the east. Both streams empty into the

Old Hickory Lake Old Hickory Lake is a reservoir in north central Tennessee. It is formed by the Old Hickory Lock and Dam (), located on the Cumberland River at mile 216.2 in Sumner County, Tennessee, Sumner and Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson countie ...

impoundment of the

Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

just over a mile to the south. The hill is relatively blunt and consists of open fields alternating with densely forested areas. The top of the hill is used as a flying zone for radio-controlled airplanes. The spring that furnished the minerals for Bledsoe's Lick flows at the base of the hill a few hundred yards east of the fort site. Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park covers most of the hill between the Sumner County RC Flyers airfield and Rock Springs Road. Tennessee State Route 25, also known as Hartsville Pike, provides the park's southern boundary and main access. The park is roughly halfway between Hartsville to the east and Gallatin to the west and lies approximately northeast of

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

History

Native-American settlements

For thousands of years, the mineral springs at Bledsoe's Lick, as natural mineral licks, attracted buffalo and other large animals and subsequently drew Native American hunters to the area. Native Americans were hunting around Bledsoe's Lick as early as 12,000 years ago during the

Paleo-Indian Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

period and camped sporadically in the area throughout the

Archaic Archaic may refer to: * Archaic Period (several meanings), archaeological term used to refer to a very early period differing by location *Archaic humans, people before ''homo sapiens'' * ''Archaic'' (comics), a comic-book series created by write ...

(8000-1000 BC) and

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

(1000 BC - 1000 AD) periods. During the Mississippian period (c. 1000–1450 AD), a substantial village had been established at the

Castalian Springs Mound Site The Castalian Springs Mound State Historic Site ( 40SU14) (also known as Bledsoe's Lick Mound and Cheskiki Mound) is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located near the small unincorporated community of Castalian Springs in Sumner Count ...

, a few hundred yards from the mineral springs. The village covered and contained at least 12 mounds.Bledsoe's Lick Archaeological Project,
Historical Background of Bledsoe's Lick
." Retrieved: October 12, 2008. By the time the first Euro-American explorers arrived in the area in the mid-18th century, the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

, and

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: * Creek people, a former name of Muscogee, Native Americans * C ...

claimed the area as a hunting ground.

European-American exploration

Among the first documented English-American explorers, in the Upper Cumberland region, were the longhunters, so-called because of the long durations of their hunting expeditions. The longhunters typically followed the

and its headwaters, from southwestern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

into

. Expeditions led by

Henry Skaggs Henry Skaggs (January 8, 1724 – December 4, 1810. Occasional alternative spellings: "Skeggs" and "Scaggs") was an American longhunter, explorer and pioneer, active primarily on the frontiers of Tennessee and Kentucky during the latter half ...

in 1765 and James Smith in 1766 passed through what is now

Sumner County, Tennessee Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of Tennessee in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 196,281. Its county seat is Gallatin, and its most populous city is Hendersonville. T ...

, and hunted extensively in the Upper Cumberland region. In 1769, an expedition led by Kasper Mansker spent several months in the Upper Cumberland area, eventually sending two canoes full of furs downriver to

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the only city in and the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia, Louisiana, Natchez was ...

. Mansker returned to the Upper Cumberland in 1771 with a larger group of hunters—among them Isaac Bledsoe—and collected several thousand skins. In 1772, Mansker and Bledsoe led a third expedition to the Upper Cumberland region. This group established a base camp along Station Camp Creek (giving the creek its name) a few miles to the west near Gallatin. It was during this third expedition that Bledsoe followed the ancient buffalo paths to the creek and salt lick that now bear his name, and where he would eventually construct his fort. In the late 1770s, longhunter and explorer Thomas "Bigfoot" Spencer led a hunting expedition that camped near Bledsoe's Lick. Spencer remained throughout 1778, spending the winter in a hollowed-out

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

tree just south of the mineral springs. Spencer spent much of the year building cabins in the area, believing (mistakenly) that if he constructed cabins on certain tracts of land, he could lay claim to these tracts.

European-American settlement and Indian hostilities

The Bledsoe brothers, Isaac and Anthony, were born in Virginia in the early 1730s.

Anthony Bledsoe Anthony Bledsoe (1733–July 20, 1788) was an American surveyor, politician and military colonel. He served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. Biography Early life Anthony Bledsoe was born in 1733 in Culpeper Co ...

, the older of the two, served in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

and in various capacities with the Virginia militia. He commanded Fort Patrick Henry at

Long Island of the Holston Long Island (), also known as Long Island of the Holston, is an island in the Holston River at Kingsport in East Tennessee. Important in regional history since pre-colonial times, the island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...

in 1776 and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates the following year. Isaac Bledsoe also served in the French and Indian War, and following the long hunting excursions of the early 1770s, he joined William Christian's 1776 punitive expedition against the Cherokee. In 1779, North Carolina appointed Anthony Bledsoe to lead a surveying party to Middle Tennessee. Isaac Bledsoe followed in 1781. Isaac Bledsoe probably began building Bledsoe's Station shortly after his arrival, although he did not move his family into the fort until 1783. Around the time Bledsoe's Station was completed, Anthony completed a fort at Greenfield north of Bledsoe's Station. As settlers poured into the Upper Cumberland region, conflict with the region's Native American inhabitants intensified. The Chickamaugas—a renegade branch of the Cherokee—had for the most part been at war with the United States since 1776 and opposed land concessions that would allow Euro-American settlers to move into the Middle Tennessee area permanently. In 1782, frontiersman Hugh Rogan (1747–1814) was nearly killed in an ambush in the vicinity of what is now Cragfont. A hunting party led by Thomas Spencer was attacked at Drake's Creek in 1784. Spencer survived but was later killed in an ambush near Crab Orchard. In 1786, Anthony Bledsoe wrote a letter to North Carolina governor

Richard Caswell Richard Caswell (August 3, 1729November 10, 1789) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first and fifth governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1776 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1787. He also served as a senior officer ...

reporting that 14 settlers had been killed that year and sought permission to attack the Chickamaugas. A schoolmaster named George Hamilton was shot and badly wounded at Bledsoe's Station in 1787. As attacks increased, Anthony moved his family from Greenfield to Bledsoe's Station, which afforded better protection, but in 1788 he was shot and mortally wounded when he accidentally stepped into a section of the fort vulnerable to hostile fire. Conflict between the Chickamaugas and the Upper Cumberland settlers continued into the early 1790s. Ziegler's Fort (at what is now

Bledsoe Creek State Park Bledsoe Creek State Park is a state park in Sumner County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park consists of managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The park spans much of the west shore of the Bl ...

a few miles southwest of Bledsoe's Lick) was overrun in 1792, and Morgan's Station (northwest of Bledsoe's Lick) was nearly burned a few months later. In 1793, Isaac Bledsoe was shot and killed while walking through a field near Bledsoe's Station. The following year, a son of Anthony Bledsoe (named Anthony) and a nephew of Anthony and Isaac (also named Anthony) were both ambushed and killed near Rock Castle at what is now Hendersonville. Thomas Bledsoe, another son of Anthony Bledsoe, was ambushed and killed a few months later. Hostilities between the settlers and the Chickamaugas finally subsided when the 1794 Treaty of Tellico brought an end to the

Avery's Trace

The first major road connecting the Upper Cumberland region with settlements to the east, known as Avery's Trace, was completed in 1788. The road, which connected

Fort Southwest Point Fort Southwest Point was a federal frontier outpost at what is now Kingston, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Constructed in 1797 and garrisoned by federal soldiers until 1811, the fort served as a major point of interaction between ...

with Nashville, passed a few hundred feet east of Bledsoe's Station. Guests at Bledsoe's Station in the 1790s included French botanist

André Michaux André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised as Andrew Michaud; 8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specime ...

and Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans and later king of France. General James Winchester, who helped establish

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

to the southwest and was later instrumental in the founding of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

, purchased Bledsoe's Station in 1797. The following year, Winchester completed Cragfont near Bledsoe Creek about a mile to the west. In 1807, a pioneer from North Carolina named Jeremiah Belote purchased Bledsoe's Lick, and his descendants retained possession of the property for several decades.

Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park

Following Winchester's death in 1826, his daughter, Almira Wynne, inherited what is now the Wynnewood State Historical Site. Wynnewood—the largest extant log structure in the state—was completed in 1830 and operated as an inn. During this period, the Winchester family also managed to change the name of Bledsoe's Lick to "Castalian Springs", the name being derived from the spring of mythological importance near

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

in Greece. Castalian Springs thrived sporadically as a health resort until 1914. The Bledsoe's Station site was purchased by Sumner County in 1989. Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park consists of approximately , and includes the Bledsoe's Station site and several other features important to the early history of the Upper Cumberland region. The park is owned by Sumner County and maintained by the Bledsoe's Lick Historical Association. A short loop trail—part of which follows a section of Avery's Trace—provides access to the fort site and other features.

Historical features

* Bledsoe's Station site — the site of Bledsoe's Station was excavated by

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

(MTSU) in the late 1990s. Excavators discovered several root cellars (indicating the presence of log cabins) and the fort's stockade. The excavation trench lines remain, and a small platform overlooks the site. * Hugh Rogan Cottage — Hugh Rogan's stone cottage was built a few miles north of Bledsoe's Lick around 1800. The cottage's architecture was heavily influenced by folk traditions of Rogan's native Ireland, namely the low gabled roof and corresponding doors and windows. The cottage was dismantled and moved to the park in 1998.Caneta Skelley Hankins,
Rogana
" ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: 9 February 2013. * Nathaniel Parker Cabin — Nathaniel Parker's cabin is a typical pioneer log cabin, built in the 1780s. The cabin was originally located a few miles north of Bledsoe's Lick and later dismantled and moved to the park. Parker married Mary Ramsey Bledsoe—the widow of Anthony Bledsoe—in the 1790s and commanded the fort at Greenfield. * Belote Cemetery — the Belote Cemetery (also called the "Pioneer Cemetery") is located along a section of Avery's Trace a few hundred yards southeast of the fort site and contains the graves of various early settlers in the Bledsoe's Lick area. The cemetery's most prominent feature is a obelisk erected by the Bledsoe family in 1908 as a monument to Isaac and Anthony Bledsoe. * Long hunter camp — the long hunter camp is a demonstration area located along a spring near the ancient salt lick. MTSU has constructed a "lean-to" structure believed to be typical of shelters used at 18th-century long hunter base camps. * Belote springhouse — the ruins of a

springhouse A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing str ...

used by the Belote family in the 19th century are located along a spring in the Bledsoe's Lick area, near the Long hunter camp. * The Cavern of the Skulls — a cave is located a few hundred feet east of the fort site. The cave's entrance, which is approximately x , is closed to the public. 19th-century cave explorers reported the presence of human skulls in the cave, suggesting that the inhabitants of the Cheskiki Mound village may have used the cave to store "trophy" skulls. A ritual scene depicted on a

shell gorget Shell gorgets are a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated (pierced with openings). Shell gorgets were mo ...

uncovered at the mound site lends some credence to this hypothesis.

Gallery

Image:Nathaniel-parker-cabin-tn1.jpg, Nathaniel Parker Cabin Image:Cavern-of-the-skulls-tn1.jpg, Cavern of the Skulls Image:Bf-cemetery1.jpg, Belote Cemetery

Notes

{{reflist, 30em

References

* ''Sumner County Fact Book 2007–2008''. ''The News Examiner'' & ''The Hendersonville Star News''. 2007.

External links

Archaeological Investigations at Bledsoe's Station
Middle Tennessee State University Protected areas of Sumner County, Tennessee Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Bledsoe Bledsoe's Fort Parks in Tennessee Pre-statehood history of Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Sumner County, Tennessee