taken prisoners, and were afterwards ransomed by him. But his niece, Miss Wilson, only nine years old, was hurried away by the savages, although twice redeemed from them. General White determined to make a third effort to liberate her; and accordingly made the long journey alone on horseback, reached the Indian encampment in safety, a third time paid ransom for his niece, and feeling assured that all was now satisfactorily arranged, set out on his return home; his little charge, in the primitive style of those days, seated on his horse behind him. But his self-gratulation was short. He was soon overtaken by a friendly Indian, who told him that the treacherous Creeks, already repenting their bargain, had determined to way-lay and kill him; and offered to guide him by a different route from that first contemplated. General White gratefully accepted his assistance, and was soon beyond the reach of his enemies; while his savage ally returned to his companions, who, still in ambush, impatiently awaited the approach of their victims. When assured of their escape, they gave way to rage and disappointment; and were only appeased by the adroitness of the fellow, who told them that the General was a good man, and therefore the Great Spirit had caused him and his horse to pass invisible.

At another time, on his noble grey, rifle in hand, he leaped, unconscious of danger, directly over an Indian who was concealed behind a fallen tree with the express design of killing him. Apparently it was only Providential interposition that saved him.

General White's bravery and military skill were fully tested during the hostilities of 1793, with the Creek and Cherokee Indians; and particularly, while he was colonel of militia in the "Hamilton District," composed of Jefferson and Knox counties, by the coolness and tact displayed in the arrangements made by him to oppose an Indian invasion. This attack was contemplated by a force of savages nearly fifteen hundred in number, three-fourths Creeks, who intended to invade the settlements on the Holston, and to destroy Knoxville. The excuse for this attack, on the part of the savages was the cruelty practised by Major Beard on Hanging Maw, a Cherokee, and the murder of his wife, and of several other Cherokees. In the absence of Gov. Blount, Beard had been despatched by Secretary Smith, with fifty-six men, in pursuit of a party of Indians who had murdered a white family within sixteen miles of Knoxville; with instructions not to cross the Tennessee river, nor to invade the Indian settlements. He, however, violated these orders, and a failure by a court-martial to inflict punishment for

this violation, and thereby to satisfy the revengeful spirit of the red men, was the ostensible reason for the meditated invasion. The Spaniards having become allies of the hostile Creeks and Cherokees, had furnished them with ammunition for the occasion. As continual ravages by the Indians had long demanded active measures for the defence of the frontier, which the General Government, despite many and increasing complaints, neglected to take, the whites now at last determined to defend themselves against the constant inroads of the treacherous foe. The dauntless heroism exhibited subsequently, as well as upon the particular occasion now mentioned, is commemorated in an address delivered by Rev. Thos. W. Humes, on the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Knoxville.

"Their entire number," he says, speaking of the Indian forces, "has been variously estimated from nine to fifteen hundred, but was most probably about the latter. Knoxville, the object of plunder and ruin by this formidable band, and which the news of its coming had reached, could at that time muster but forty fighting men; but these forty were no cravens, to fly at the approach of danger, even though it presented itself in the terrible shape in which it then menaced them. Here were their homes, their families, their all; and with an alacrity and zeal worthy of the crisis, they prepared to defend their firesides. A knowledge of Indian cunning, with other reasons, induced them to conclude that the approach of the savages to the town would not be made by the main western road, but in a more northern and circuitous direction; and they determined to meet them on the ridge, over which the road to Clinton now passes, about a mile and a half from town, and there, by a skilful arrangement of their little company, attack their line of march, and, if possible, alarm and intimidate them. Leaving the two oldest of their number to mould bullets in the block-house, which stood on the spot now occupied by the Mansion House, and which contained three hundred guns belonging to the United States, the other thirty-eight proceeded, under the command of Col. James White, to station themselves on the north side of the ridge we have mentioned, with an interval of twenty feet between each man. Orders were given to reserve their fire until the Indians were brought within the range of every gun, when at a given signal, they were to pour in upon them a well-directed volley, and, before the savages could recover from their surprise, secure their own retreat to the block-house, and there, with their wives, mothers, and children around them, sell their lives at a fearful price, or scatter from the port-holes a shower

of leaden hail among the besiegers that would drive them from their banquet of blood." Fortunately, neither of these contingencies awaited them. The Indians were so delayed by their own dissensions, that they were unable to reach Knoxville before daylight, and, therefore, abandoned the attack. This fact, however, detracts nothing from the cool and dauntless courage, and skilful and deliberate arrangements with which the citizens prepared for the attack. The Rev. Mr. Foster, whose quaint pen has recorded the event, has declared, that "an incident fraught with so much magnanimity in the early fortunes of Knoxville, should not be blotted from the records of her fame. It is an incident on which the memory of her sons will linger without tiring, when the din of party shall be hushed, and its strife forgotten. Those men of former days were made of sterner stuff than to shrink from danger at the call of duty. And it will be left to a future historian to do justice to that little band of thirty-eight citizens, who flinched not from the deliberate exposure of their persons in the open field, within the calculated gun-shot of fifteen hundred of the fleetest running and boldest savages."

General White endeared himself to all about him by the noble charity which he showered with bounteous hand upon the poor and needy; a charity of which many instances are yet remembered. In that day grist-mills were few and far between. The General owned two; and when grain was scarce throughout the country, he often refused to sell to purchasers, that he might give to those too poor to buy. More than once he loaned money without expectation of being repaid. When warned by his son, on one such occasion, that he might lose the amount thus advanced, he answered, "That is the very reason that I let him have it. If he were rich, he would need neither money nor friends. It is for the very reason that he is poor that no one will help him." The practical Christianity of this reply, and of such conduct, might well be adopted as a rule of action in our own times.

While expressing his pleasure at the rising prospects of the village he had founded, now the city of Knoxville, and in general at the happiness which he had been able to bestow upon others, he was told by his daughter that it might be well for him to remember the old proverb, that "Charity begins at home;" and that he would have nothing left to give his children. "My children," he answered, " are independent. I love to aid those who really need assistance." Such sentiments are frequently enunciated; but we rarely find them carried out in action so literally as they were by General White.

He was by religious profession a Presbyterian; and a true and devout Christian. His family altar was faithfully served. It was one of his peculiarities that all the children were required to sing. On one occasion he noticed that a grandson who was present failed to observe this rule. "Why don't you sing, James?" said the old gentleman. "I can't, sir," was the reply. "Well, try;" insisted his grandfather. James did try, but the result was a succession of sounds so hideous, that he was ever after excused from participating in that portion of the service.

It would not be proper to close this brief sketch without some notice of Mary Lawson, General White's noble and devoted wife. She was slight and delicate in figure, but firm and decided in character. Like her husband, she was a devout and consistent Christian, and a steady Presbyterian; and possessed of more than ordinary intellectual powers. She had courage equal to any endurance, and proved indeed a helpmeet for her husband in the many severe vicissitudes of their experience. Often, when the Indians were prowling in the vicinity, and her husband was absent, she stood sentinel over her own home, rifle in hand. Often she spent whole nights in moulding bullets; and she was habituated to similar hardships.

General White was married in 1770. His wife died before him, and he soon followed. They are united in a world far different from this, but for which, the trials of this were a fitting preparation.

CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD-YOUTH-STUDIES.

HUGH LAWSON WHITE, eldest son and second child of Gen. James White and Mary Lawson his wife, was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, October 30th, 1773. At the age of eight, he emigrated with his parents to Tennessee. From a combination of circumstances, these two States were more intimately blended and incorporated than any other two in the Union. At this period, Congress had not accepted the act of the Legislature of North Carolina, ceding to the United States her Western Territory, to assist in liquidating the heavy national debt incurred in the achievement of National Independence; and the interests and feelings of the inhabitants of the two commonwealths consequently yet remained the same. North Carolina, however, failed to make adequate provision for the defence of the frontier and the protection of the Western settlers, and they were accordingly obliged to organize themselves and devise means of securing the safety of themselves and families.

In the seasons of loneliness and peril incident to a life in the almost unbroken wilderness, while their father was absent on military duty, Hugh and his brothers were the only sentinels to watch, and to warn their noble mother when the savages approached their dwelling for plunder. And well and faithfully was the task performed. The family were often obliged to take refuge in the fort, upon which occasions Hugh always acted in the capacity of guide. This sometimes had to be done when the night was so dark that the person of the young leader was wholly invisible. At such times he was accustomed to mount a white horse and go before them, that by distinguishing the color of the animal they might be able to follow to a place of comparative safety. After the treaty of 1791, while the Indians still continued their depredations, stealing horses and cattle, and murdering the helpless victims that fell into their power, travellers frequently turned aside from the fatigues and dangers of their journey to enjoy