Stop Nine: Federal Blockhouse

On lots 36 and 45, a garrison of federal soldiers, under the command of David Henley, erected a blockhouse in 1792 on the area of the current old courthouse. In 1793, the first government troops were stationed in Knoxville. The federal blockhouse was made famous by the Lloyd Branson painting. Blockhouses such as this were built on the frontier, positioned on hills to be used as look out posts. They were built from thick timbers to form walls that were bullet proof. Thin slits were cut into the walls for firing weapons. Before Knoxville got its name, the area was known as the “Territory South of the Ohio River.” As European settlers grew rapidly in East Tennessee, tensions between them and the Cherokee escalated. Massacres happened on both sides. Even as Cherokee chief Hanging Maw was meeting with Governor William Blount to discuss bringing peace to the area, the Cherokee delegation was attacked by a band of settlers. One dramatic story of early settlers is of Nathaniel and Samuel Cowan’s aunt, Ann Walker Cowan. The British were quick to make alliances with the Indians. While the Declaration of Independence was being signed in Philadelphia, Indian tribes were forming alliances with the British. Ann Walker Cowan was walking with her brother, Samuel Walker, and her son, John Cowan. The three were crossing a field when they were attacked by Shawnee Indians. The Indians shot and scalped Samuel Walker, and took Ann Cowan and her 4 year old daughter, Jane Cowan, captive. Ten year old John Cowan ran for his life with the Indians right behind him in pursuit. He just made it inside the gate of the fort as an Indian raised his tomahawk. John's brother, James Benjamin Cowan, who was about eight years old at the time, was captured by the Cherokees and taken away to their nation and adopted into their tribe. He did not make his escape from the Cherokees until he was about fifteen. Ann Cowan was taken by the Shawnees back to their predetermined rendezvous with the Delawares where her nephew, William Walker was also taken. Young Jane, who continued to cry loudly, was suddenly tomahawked by an Indian, probably because the crying girl was a threat to their being located. After crossing the Ohio River, Ann Walker Cowan was taken by her Shawnee captors, to the west and WIlliam Walker was taken by his Delaware captors to the east. Looking backwards as they were led away, aunt and nephew sadly took one last look at each other. They were never to see each other again. Ann arrived in the Shawnee Indian village where captives were made to run through Indians lined on two sides with sticks. The captive had to run through the lines to get to the other end. The Indians would beat the captive with the sticks as he/she passed through. If he/she failed to reach the other end, or displayed less than strong behavior through the ordeal, he/she would then be tortured and burned to death. Ann must have passed through the ordeal satisfactorily because she was kept as a slave of a squaw for the next six or seven years. She resurfaced in a rather dramatic way about 1785. A French-Indian trapper and his Indian wife arrived at the Shawnee village where Ann was captive. She convinced them to help her escape. They buried her under a pile of furs in their canoe and headed to a French trading post somewhere in Kentucky. Arriving at the trading post and knowing that the Indians would follow after discovering Ann's absence, the trapper and the owner of the trading post hid Ann in a small cellar under the trading post floor and sent a rider to seek alert Ann's family in Tennessee. The rider rode day and night to what is now Blount County, Tennessee, where Ann somehow had learned that her Scotch-Irish community had moved. The Blount County settlers were assembled outdoors listening to a sermon. The rider spoke excitedly, "There is a woman at the French trading post making her escape. Her name is Ann Cowan and the Indians are in pursuit to recapture her, and I am to come here and tell her friends to come as quickly as possible to rescue her." Within an hour, a well-provisioned army of one hundred men was on a forced march northward toward the trading post, among them Ann Cowan's sons and probably nephews, Samuel and Nathaniel Cowan. Hearing the approaching hoofbeats, the Indians fled as Major Russell and his men arrived. And from the dark depths of the cellar, still in the dress of the Shawnees, Ann Cowan emerged and was reunited with her now grown sons. Ann wanted no more of the frontier after her return to her family. She moved back to Rockbridge County Virginia, where some of her family still lived, and lived for another 25 years. Although her sons remained on the frontier, we know that they returned to visit their mother in Virginaia. Ann was alive as late as 1810. One of her grandchildren recalled seeing her as an old woman in his childhood.

Standard tour mission:

Take a photo of your team around the cannon in front of the Old County Courthouse.

Virtual tour trivia questions:

Lloyd Branson painted many well known scenes of Knoxville and portraits. He also taught many accomplished artists in Knoxville. A year before he died, Branson sent one of his students from Knoxville to Boston for art lessons. The student went on to become very well known in Paris. What was his name?

In 1865, a 22 year old Confederate soldier, whose father was killed in the family home during the Civil War by a Union soldier, fought with and killed a Union veteran on grounds of this courthouse. Later that day, he was taken from the jail by a mob and hanged from a walnut tree (on Walnut Street!) near the courthouse. He is buried in First Presbyterian Cemetery. His tombstone is one of the tallest monuments in the graveyard. He is also one of Knoxville’s most famous ghosts!! What was his name?