Scuffletown is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Henderson County on the northern border of the western part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Located on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

just above the mouth of Green River, it was a city for barely 100 years, but is well known in the area because of the activities there during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and its rough reputation.

Geography

Scuffletown Bottoms, as it is called now, is on the

–

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

border almost directly across the Ohio River from

Newburgh, Indiana Newburgh is an incorporated town in Ohio Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,325 as of the 2010 census, although the town is part of the larger Evansville metropolitan area, which recor ...

. It is situated in the northeastern portion of Henderson County, Kentucky.

History

Scuffletown got its start in 1800 when Jonathan Thomas Scott, aka Scott Fox, supposedly the third son of the

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

leader

Cornstalk "Corn stalk" or "Cornstalk" may refer to: * The stem of a maize plant * ''Dracaena fragrans'' or cornstalk dracaena, a flowering plant * Cornstalk (Shawnee leader), a Shawnee Indian chief during the American Revolution (1720–1777) * Cornstalk, We ...

, married Mary Polly Cooper, a

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 ...

. They had two sons Jonathan Scott and Thomas Scott. Around the time of the

Cherokee removal The Cherokee removal (May 25, 18381839), part of the Indian removal, refers to the forced displacement of an estimated 15,500 Cherokees and 1,500 African-American slaves from the U.S. states of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama to ...

, their father was shot to death in

Shawneetown, Illinois Shawneetown is a city in Gold Hill Township, Gallatin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,054 at the 2020 United States census. It is the county seat of Gallatin County. Geography Shawneetown is located southeast of the cent ...

in 1838. He ran a tavern in the area that passing river traffic could easily access. His great-great-grandson, Michael "Manfox" Buley still lives in Henderson County. Scuffletown got its name from the flatboat people coming down the Ohio River. The Cherokee played stickball and had wrestling matches right outside the tavern/trading post. The white people saw this as scuffling. According to the ''Annals and Scandals of Henderson County'' by Maralea Arnett, since he kept a good supply of liquor, it became a rendezvous for

flatboat A flatboat (or broadhorn) was a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways in the United States. The flatboat could be any size, but essentially it was a large, sturdy tub with a ...

men and others on the river. Often a general fight developed after several hours of drinking and the place received the name of Scuffletown. A school was built there sometime around 1817. The first church was built in 1830 at the Vanada farm. A

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

stemmery was built in 1860 and shipped 400 to 450

hogshead A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large Barrel (storage), cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commercial Product (business), product) for manufacturing and sale. It refers to a specified volume, measured in either Imperial ...

s per year to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. A steam gristmill and blacksmith shop soon followed. In addition to crops of tobacco and corn, Scuffletown was noted for its large number of

pecan The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia ( ...

trees. The site witnessed numerous

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

-era activities. The Silver Lake No. 2, a sternwheel packet (

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

) weighing some 129 tons and outfitted with six cannons capable of firing 24 pound shot, stopped at Scuffletown during its patrols of the Ohio. In 1863, eight Union companies of

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

and one company of artillery were stationed at Scuffletown to protect the area of Confederate raiders. Scuffletown is mentioned in the Civil War account "Operations of the Mississippi Squadron during Morgan's Raid". Sometime in the late 1800s, James Martin led a group of Cherokee refugees to the area from Fort Smith, Arkansas to join kinsman living in the Scuffletown area. On December 26, 1893, the group was officially welcomed as an Indian tribe by Governor John Y. Brown. Through the years since, the descendants of these Cherokee have maintained ties to the culture and traditions of their people. At least twice each year, Tribal Members meet in various locations around the area to perform their sacred ceremonies. According to an atlas originally printed and copy written in 1895 by the Rand McNally Corporation, downtown Scuffletown had a population of 71. By 1868, Scuffletown had grown enough to get a post office. However, a 1913 flood greatly devastated the city, causing a mass exodus that it never recovered from. Its post office closed permanently in January 1914. Then an even larger flood in 1937 decimated what little remained, and it has sat mostly deserted ever since. The area is now simply referred to Scuffletown Bottoms, though it often goes unnamed. On January 18, 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the establishment of a national wildlife refuge in the Scuffletown Bottoms. The purpose of the proposed refuge is to protect, restore and manage a valuable complex of

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

habitats for the benefit of migrating and wintering

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

, non-game land birds, and other native fish and wildlife. The Kentucky

Oral History Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

Sound Recordings project, produced in conjunction with the Kentucky Historical Society and the Downtown Henderson Project, has recorded conversations with former residents of Scuffletown. These recordings are housed at the Henderson County Public Library.

Geography

History

See also