Founding of the Cumberland Settlements
The First Atlas 1779 - 1804
The Captives – David Wright, Artist
Introductory Summary
Today’s Middle Tennesseans live in the heartland of America, a region singularly graced by beauty and tradition. Yet once it was a vacant quarter, abandoned by its prehistoric
mound builders and avoided by the modern Native American tribes, who hunted its abundant game, but dared not to settle here.
Into this void came an adventurous band of settlers of European and African descent, bringing with them a different concept of property and law.
With the surveyor’s transit, the long rifle, and the plow they conquered and tamed this wilderness. This book is their story – who they were, the
old traces they carved in coming here, and exactly where they settled and built.
This comprehensive and detailed survey of individual settlers and placement of their land grants has never been written before in its entirety,
and will be a colorful reference for history lovers, genealogists, and general readers for years to come. It is a roadmap and timeline of
pioneer Middle Tennessee and hopefully, in reading it, a modern Middle Tennessean will recognize who he is and how he came to be.
