--The Republic: a monthly magazine, devoted to the dissemination of political information -  1873

DESTRUCTION OF ILLICIT DISTILLERIES

A special force of twenty five mounted men, with several deputy marshals and collectors and a United States Commissioner, under command of Major Jacob Wagner, from Arlington, Virginia made an extensive raid on illicit distillers in the mountains on the Tennessee and west Virginia border last week. The principal localities visited were Newman's Ridge and Blackwater Valley, lying just south of Powell's mountain and 14 miles north of Rogersville, Tenessee. the inhabitants there, known by the local name of "Malunjins" are a mixture of whites, blacks and Indians, were "bushwhackers" for plunder during the war, and are now engaged in illicit distilling and other lawless pursuits. It was supposed they would fight, as on several former occasions revenue officers were driven off by them. The force was armed with Springfiled breech loaders, and made a clean sweep, completely destroying sixteen distilleries, with contents, large quantieies of mash, beer, low wines, and whisky. Eight distillers, aremed with carbines, muskets and rifles were surprised at the distillery of a desperate character, named Mullins, and arrested before they could use their arms. recent heavy rains rendered it necessary for the force to swim the large streams.

---

THE CONSTITUTION
Atlanta, Georgia
November 12, 1875

CROOKED WHISKY IN THE MOUNTAINS

-----
The Men Who Keep the United States
Marshals on the Alert
----------

[From the Knoxville Press]

Newman's Ridge is a small, rough mountain on the border of Hancock
county, East Tennessee. The Morristown Gazette says that for years
it has been well known that illicit distilleries were at work in the
deep, dark, gorges of the ridge, making large quantities of whisky
and brandy, which liquors have been distributed all over east
Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and western North Carolina, and
secretly sold. Efforts have been made at various times to suppress
this illegal traffic, and to capture and punish the manufactures of
the illicit liquor; all of which proved fruitless.

It had been given out and was generally understood that if any United
States officer went into the ridge he would be shot, and from the
reckless and desperate character of the mountain men who had made the
threats there was every reason to believe they would be carried into
execution. It was hard to find an officer who was willing to risk
his life in such an uneven fight, where he was almost sure to be
secretly shot from some dark laurel thicket without even a sight of
his murderer. And so, the whisky business went on year after year.
Wagons, with an old bedstead, a few chairs, a pot and a skillet, a
dark looking man and a slatternly woman, might occasionally be seen
slowly moving along our roads. Of course people took them for
ordinary 'movers' only going from one neighborhood to another in
search of a better home, but the 'instilled' knew there was a barrel
or a ten-gallon keg of crooked whisky concealed under the household
furniture. In this way, and in various other ways, liquors have been
peddled from Newman's Ridge in large quantities for several years.
the traffic has grown to be an extensive one but of late it has
received a check, and promises to be entirely broken up soon.

The Gazette says:

This change n the affairs of the ridge has been brought about
chiefly, as we learn through the energetic action of Mr. Thomas J.
Berry, who has of late been acting in the capacity of Deputy Unites
States Marshal. Berry is a very quiet, harmless looking man but he
is as cunning as a fox, as watchful as a mink, and as courageous,
when occasion demands, as a 'lion.' he has been assisted in his work
in the mountain by Colonel Berry, who is equally well fitted for an
enterprise of the kind, and who, when he undertakes a job, is not apt
to sop sort of complete success. They have already destroyed
something over twenty distilleries, the last one only a few days
ago, and Mr. berry says he thinks the one on the Tennessee side of
the line has 'gone up.' there are supposed to be several on the
Virginia side yet, in operation, but Berry has no authority to cross
the line into another district, so these fellows will work on with
impunity for the present. It might be a very good idea for the
government to make Tom Berry marshal for that part of Virginia for
awhile. It would not take him long to bring the last one of
those "crooked whisky" fellows to terms. He has straighted out
things in Hancock; now let him go over the line and give the Virginia
MOLUNGEONS a hitch.

Mr. Berry has not broken up these distilleries without running great
risk and exposing himself to danger. A less courageous or a less
prudent man would have been murdered, and Tom may, yet be. He has
been shot at several times, and so has Colonel Berry, but thus far
they have come off unharmed.

It has long been a reproach to revenue officers in this section of
country that these men were permitted, without license and almost
interrupted, to defy the law and the government, and manufacture and
sell whisky by thousands of gallons. It is to be hoped that the
whole of this illegal traffic will be suppressed now.

Virginia Molungeons 1850 - 1870

 

Molungeons & Melungeons

Updated October3, 2009

On July 8, 1864 under WAR NEWS the DAILY SOUTH CAROLINIAN  writing on the battle that had taken place at Sapponi Church and Reams Station said;

 

"The poor negroes was the most notable feature of this great capture.  They comprised every conceivable class of the race, and as the vast throng crowded to the office of Provost Marshall Hawes yesterday afternoon, marching in open and rather promiscous order, they occupied nearly the whole of Bank Street. We notice among them the old and the young; the robust and the infirm; the quick footed and the halt; the bright mulatto clad in tawdry finery, and the ebo-shin and the "molungeon," dressed in homespun"  -----  (The quotes are in the original clipping and are not mine jp)

Who Are These Molungeons of Virginia

--- The platform of Feb 1856 which expunged and ignored the 12th section and in a letter which goes expressly for restoring the Missouri Compromise. The Mulungeons of Richmond endorsed the 'late convention' at Philadelphia too; but will any southern man-- a Stuart or an Imobdin even -- endorse this letter for the restoration of the Missouri Compromise.''


From the Richmond Whig. Letter from Hon. John M. Botts
Date: March 26, 1859
Location: Maryland
Paper: Easton Gazette
Article type: Letters

......when the Sheriff came to count up the votes at the close of the polls, they counted but five -- and if I had received the vote of one ''Molungeon,'' and he had been authorized by the Constitution to vote, and had 'had' a majority of only one--- it would have been difficult to tell, whether I was most indebted for my election to the "Molungeon" or to the Chief Justice of the U.S.; and if my competitor had received six "Molungeon" votes, or the votes of six worthless and degraded locofocos (supposing they could be any such) they would have more than balanced these five of the first men of the State could boast...........

THE ORATORICAL OGRES AT WORK
GOGGIN SWALLOWED WHOLE

Date: March 28, 1859
Location: Alabama Paper: Daily Confederation

Thirteen congressional electors, fifty senatorial electors, and three hundred and sixty county electors have been notified to hold themselves in readiness to repel the Dragoon of Rockbridge. Botts too, will dash to the rescue at the head of a noble band of "Molungeons and Eboshins" as soon as the weather becomes sufficiently warm to render his odoriferous forces efficient.


The Slave Power; its Character, Career, and Probable Designs. By JE...

Continental monthly: devoted to... - Cornell University - Jan 1, 1863

"Whether their own children were sold may be imagined from an anecdote long current in Virginia, relative to ex-Governor Wise, who, in a certain law case where he was opposed by a Northern trader, decided of a certain slave, that the chattel, being a mulatto, was of more value than 'a molungeon.' And what, in the name of God, is a molungeon?' inquired the astonished 'Northern man." 'A mulatto' replied Wise, ' is the child of a female house-servant by 'young master' --a molungeon is the offspring of a field hand by a Yankee peddler."

Mr. Cairnes has, no doubt, not often heard of mulattoes--they constitute the great majority of Virginia slaves. But did he ever hear of a 'molungeons'?

December 1864
-- Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee - Page 511

 

It soon became noised that these men were to be shot as bushwhackers General Forest informed General Rousseau, by flag of truce, that those men were his regular soldiers, and that if he shot them it would be at his peril.

 

The names of his soldiers were sent in, but the scout and Bose Rouss (some called him Malungeon), who had killed a Federal detective, were not mentioned in the list.

-Thursday 2d July 1863
--Bluegrass Confederate: The Headquarters Diary of Edward O. Guerrant By Edward O. Guerrant

Came on to Mr Hortons for dinner—found him in a tornado furiosus-against Virginians, who fed his grass &c. and in ecstatic panegyrics of all Kentuckians—”all of whom were “interesting” gentlemen”—& no “malungens”. ...
(1/2 b & 1/2 w) [2 ]

From Our Own Correspondent Fredericksburg,
 January 10, 1864
"the "Government organ," however, announces that the observed of all observers were four negroes, "of genteel exteriour, and with the manners "of gentlemen, who joined in the throng that 'crowded the Executive Mansion, and were coridaly received by the President of the Untied State,'' The Molungeon Chronicle adds; -- We are not aware that anybody was hurt on the occasion, and we rejoice that we have a President who is a democrat in fact, as well as by nature."

Utica Weekly Herald [New York]

March 29, 1864

 

The "Richmond Whig" makes the following comments on the last call for men.

 

It is certain, therefore, that the "rebels" will now back down.  Twenty millions of mongrels have undertaken to whip them.  The Yankees soon got sick of the fight, and levied on the Dutch and Irish. The resident Irish and Dutch began to flag and 75,000 Paddies were recruited in Ireland, with the approval and assistance of Earl Russel.  Then 100,000 n****** were enlisted.  And now 200,000 n******, Yankees, and other molungeons, half breeds, mestizoes, and Yaboes [Yaboes—a Davis coinage for the 70,000 Yank hoboes in the armed services] are to be drafted.  What wonder that the "rebels" are completely broken hearted?  Who blames the European by-standers for advising the "rebels" to give the cause up?

 

For ourselves, we are free to say that we are for peace.  We want peace. We will have it.  We must have it, on any terms?  Yes, on any terms -- which General Lee, standing in Faneuil HHall, may choose to dictate to the base born wretches who have sought to enslave us.  The game is a very pretty one as it stands.  Our enemies must be conquered by us, or conquered by Lincoln. They must make terms with gentlemen or they must make terms with a blackguard and a baboon.  Take your choice, O Yankees.

Staunton Spectator
May 25, 1869

The Duties of Election Day
(Column 01)

Summary: Declared that all eligible voters have the duty to vote on election day to ensure the defeat of certain sections of the Underwood constitution and to elect Walker as Governor. Wanted to ensure at least some form of control for white Virginians in the state.

Full Text of Article:

The election which will take place on the 6th day of July next, by appointment of the President, will decide whether the people of this State are to be cursed with the Underwood abomination, called a Constitution, as it came from the hands of the Molungeon Convention, or whether it will be modified by having the test-oath and disfranchising clauses stricken out -- whether Walker or Wells will be our Governor, and whether proper men will be elected to represent the State in the Legislature.

"Mulungeons and Eboshins": Ethnic and Political Epithets
by Wayne Winkler

---

 

Parson William G. Brownlow ~ Frederick A. Ross
And the Malungeons

It has been reported many times over the years that the first time the word Malungin was used was at the Stony Creek Church minutes in what is now Scott County, Virginia in 1813, however it is based only on a 'transcript of a transcript' and whether the original even exists is debatable.  It is possible a member of the church was 'harboring a Malungin' but it is just as possible they may have been harboring a member of the Malugin or Mclaglin family. I think we all know the headaches that bad transcriptions can cause, especially those pesky census takers.

This church record is essential in establishing the true and correct story of the Melungeons. Without it we are left wondering if it was in fact first time Melungin was  used in 1813 or was it used first in 1840 by Parson William G. Brownlow, editor of The Whig.  In that piece Brownlow wrote of the Malungeon of Washington City which is of course no where near Newman's Ridge.  [ See  Brownlow's Whig]

William G. Brownlow, after becoming a Methodist Minister in 1826,  first appointment was the Black Mountain circuit in Western North Carolina [Buncombe] in the year 1826, he spent the next year on the French Broad circuit above Ashville, North Carolina and in 1828 was appointed to travel in charge of Washington Circuit, a small circuit in the lower end of East Tennessee. He visited an uncle residing at the head of Muscle Shoals in Alabama and traveled through the Cherokee Nation where he spent the night.

In 1829 he was appointed to the Athens circuit and 1830 to Tellico in Hiwassee District and 1831 he was back in Western North Carolina, the Franklin circuit.  He attended the conference in Philadelphia in 1832 traveling through Abingdon, Fincastle, Staunton, Frederick,  Baltimore and Washington City where he spent a week.  That year he was appointed to Tugaloo circuit in District of Pickens County, South Carolina.

The 1833 conference was held in Kingsport and he was appointed to the Dandridge circuit on the fork between Holston and French Broad. His last year on the traveling circuit took him to Scott County, Virginia.  Did Brownlow pick up this word in South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington, Richmond, or any of the other cities and take it to Scott County?  [See Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History  Chapters 9 & 10 for more on Brownlow]



In 1856 Parson William G. Brownlow wrote in his book " The great iron wheel examined: --", page 161

  ''You have alluded, classically enough, to the "sable leader" of the Athens Synod, in this work of falsehood and     detraction. The fact of the copper color, the woolly head, and other similar appendages of the negro, which cling to this Rev. Malungeon, notwithstanding his Caucasian features, in the general, should be kept prominently before the proud, spirited, and high-minded Virginian. Let the distinction of color be kept up, and let our identity as a race of white men be preserved. Let the Presbyterians of Marion trample upon marriage relations, despise the distinction between white and colored people, and bid defiance to the powers of enlightened society, if they choose; but let us, my friends, have more self-respect than to imitate their example.'' 

Who is this "Rev. Malungeon" that Brownlow is writing about?  Frederick Augustus Ross, Presbyterian and arch enemy of Parson Brownlow. He was the son of  David Ross and 'according to Brownlow' his mother was a slave of Governor Page that David bought and set free. David Ross was one of the largest land holders in Virginia when he died owning land in some twelve counties and several other states.  He also owned the Oxford Iron Works at Lynchburg, Virginia and over 400 slaves as well as 1000s of acres in Sullivan and Hawkins County, Tennessee where he built the iron furnace in 1790.  When David Ross died in 1818 his son Frederick moved to the Hawkins County area where he had inherited the Tennessee lands of his father.


Christopher Humble the Presbyterian Minister who visited the Melungeons at Newman's Ridge in 1890 wrote;

A writer says:

"One night in June, many years ago, Dr. Frederick A. Ross, a noted Presbyterian minister, of Eastern Tennessee, was traveling through the Blackwater country. He accidentally came upon "Uncle" Vard's house and asked if he could stay all night. 

"The old mountaineer told him he could, and after he had fed his horse and the guest had eaten supper the old man asked him his business. He told him he was a preacher. The old man told him he would like to hear him preach. ' Where is your congregation?" asked the minister. 'I'll get one in a few minutes,' replied 'Uncle' Vard. He took a long dinner horn from its rack over the door and going outdoors blew several shrill blasts. Within an hour fifty people had assembled, and Dr. Ross said that he never preached to an audience which showed greater appreciation and deeper religious feeling than did that little band of copper- colored mountaineers on Black water."

"Uncle" Yard is Varday Collins, the chief of the first settlers who came to this valley as early as 1789. He lived to be 101 years old, and the springs, post-office and hotel are called by his name. (2)

David Ross is listed in the estate sale of Gilbert Gibson in Louisa County, Viriginia in 1763  and in Pittsylvania County during the Revolution David Ross was accused of instigating the Indians in the area to attack the white settlers but was later proved to be not guilty. (3)

In 1791 Thomas Gibson aka Mingo Jackson won his freedom from this same David Ross in Richmond, proving he descended from an Indian woman of Charles City County, Jane Gibson. Other members of this family belonging to George and Jane Gibson [brother and sister] of Charles City County, some living in Louisa County, also won their freedom. (4)

    May 7, 1805

Deposition of Robert Wills in the suit Thomas Gibson alias Mingo Jackson
plt. against David Ross deft. taken in presence of the plt & Mr. Vannerson
agent for Mr. Ross by consent, at the house of the said Wills this 25th day of
June 1791, who being first duly sworn deposeth and saith; 

That about seventy years ago he was well acquainted with Jane Gibson and George Gibson her brother who were dark mulattoes who lived in the County of Charles City and were free people; that the said Jane Gibson had two children named Jane and George
Gibson and they were also free; That the said Jane Gibson the younger
intermarried with a certain ---- Evans of the said county, by whom she had several
children on of whom named Francis Evans granddaughter of the Jane Gibson above
named, that the said Francis Evans removed to New Kent county, where she
lived and had several children, two of whom, as Francis Evans informed this
deponent were named Tom and Francis Evans who were bound to one Lightfoot of New
Kent. This information was made to this Depont. by the said Frances Evans
the elder when she was on a visit to her friends in this County, who were
neighbours to this deponent. This deponent further saith that after the great
grandchildren viz; Tom and Francis were bound to the said Lightfoot he never
heard anything more relative to them. That many of the descendants of the said
Gibsons and Evans now in this deponents knowledge are alive, and enjoying their
freedom unmolested and have remained so since this deponents first
with the first Jane Gibson the elder; that some of them are black, some
nearly white, and others dark mulattoes which this deponent supposes proceeded
from a promiscuous intercourse with different colours. . . .
[Petition of the Slaves Held by Lewis Allen to the Superior Court of Richmond, Virginia May 7, 1805]

(1) Parson William G. Brownlow -  The Great Iron Wheel     Examined   Published 1856
'' At the close of this Address, the following resolutions were offered for adoption by J. W. Schoolfield; and being seconded, Rev. Gr. K. Snapp took the vote of the audience:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Methodists, and the friends of Methodism, now assembled at this camp-ground, be and they are hereby tendered to Rev. W. G. Brownlow, for his able defence of our much-loved doctrines, and of the venerated memory of our sainted founder, and of our yet more cherished and highly-prized characters, against the vile and ribald aspersions of Frederick A. Ross, and his endorsers—the members of the East Tennessee Synod—who have willingly become the tools or partners in the slanders of their more sable, yet still more able and accomplished leader, in sophistry, falsehood, and detraction.

Resolved, That the editors of the Methodist Episcopalian, the Jones- borough Whig, and Jonesborough Review, be requested to give the foregoing resolution an insertion in their respective publications.
Staley's Creek C. G., Smythe co., Va., July 9th, 1848.

REPLY.
I thank the gentlemen who have moved and seconded the adoption of the resolution just read, and for the compliment paid me therein—all of which has been without agency of mine, or previous knowledge of such an intention. But I thank this large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen still more sincerely, for the unanimity and alacrity with which they have adopted them. Their adoption has been like that of the endorsement of what I have this day made war upon, by the Athens Synod—it has been " with absolute unanimity !" I will not disguise the fact, although I am not a very vain man. that this compliment is acceptable to me; and the more gratifying, coming, as it does, from so many ladies and gentlemen of the first respectability in our county.

I beg, however, to state to the members and friends of the Methodist Church present, that they are under no sort of obligations to me for any services they may have supposed me to render the Church, here or elsewhere. I have done nothing more than my duty—nothing more than I am prepared to do at all times, in all places, and at all hazards, under like circumstances of offence, and against any combination of wicked men and devils! What I have said and done, it is the duty of every Methodist preacher to do—a duty they owe to the ashes of the venerable dead—a Wesley, an Asbury, and a host of others—whose souls are at peace with God, while their reputations are assailed by these hell-hounds of sectarian malice! Were I to sit quietly by my fireside, at home, or look tamely on at all this abuse of my female relatives and acquaintances, I should be ashamed to look one of them in the face when I might chance to meet with them!

The speech you have just responded to, is substantially the same which I have been delivering for the last two years, to so many thousand persons, in Tennessee and Virginia. And I remark, with gratitude to God, that during all that time I have been but once interrupted by rain, (at Greenville, Tenn.,) and never have had so much as a bad cold to prevent my speaking.
You have alluded, classically enough, to the "sable leader" of the Athens Synod, in this work of falsehood and detraction. The fact of the copper color, the woolly head, and other similar appendages of the negro, which cling to this Rev. Malungeon, notwithstanding his Caucasian features, in the general, should be kept prominently before the proud, spirited, and high-minded Virginian. Let the distinction of color be kept up, and let our identity as a race of white men be preserved. Let the Presbyterians of Marion trample upon marriage relations, despise the distinction between white and colored people, and bid defiance to the powers of enlightened society, if they choose; but let us, my friends, have more self-respect than to imitate their example.

Peace is desirable; and if our Presbyterian friends want it, let them choke off, and choke down, this "sable leader'' of theirs, and cease to uphold him in his outrageous course Then, and not till then, can they have peace, unless they conquer a peace, which they can never do! You will hear much said about my abuse on this occasion. I have been severe, and I intended to be severe; because I have been replying to publications which teem with the most vulgar and abusive language, and with the vilest and meanest insinuations against our entire ministry and membership. I have been replying to a slanderer, who delights in fishing up from the sewers of all the corrupt writers against Methodism, every vile slander and false insinuation that they have set afloat. This is the natural aliment on which Ross lives. His language is that of a peculiar dialect, used by the bar-room bully and street loafer. He is the embodied personification of all my conceptions of a villain. He is the living picture of moral death—a travelling monument of the wrath of an offended God, and a fearful witness to the truth of the words of inspiration, which assert that the heart of man is desperately wicked! Yes! his heart, like his complexion, is bronzed and burnt to blackness by crime; and can now be seen in his wild and fierce black eye, glowing with a fire approaching to ferocity! His voice, everywhere raised to a pitch of deadly passion, is constantly heard, like the hoarse croaking of some bird of ill-omen !

(2)Church at Home and Abroad‎ - Page 403
by Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly - Presbyterian Church - 1897 A SECOND VISIT TO THE MELUNGEONS - REV. C. HUMBLE, M.D., SYNODICAL, SABBATH-SCHOOL MISSIONARY  http://www.geocities.com/ourmelungeons/humble.html

(3)13 Jul 1763 Louisa County, Book: 2, Page: 310, Gilbert Gibson, Type: Acct, Date: 13-Jul-1763
Account of sale of Gilbert Gibson dec'd. 13 Jul 1763 David Ross one bed 2# 3s David Ross one trunk 0# 5s David Ross total due 2# 8s

(4)  Gibson Notes

FRONT PAGE

History of the Melungeons - 1848

 

Sheboygan Mercury
September 16, 1848

THE MALUNGEONS

We are free to confess that we have never heard of or read of the ‘Melungeons’ before this day, and all we know about them now is what we derive from the following imperfect description obtained in a letter from a travelling correspondent of the Louisville, Ky., Examiner.  The letter bears no date, but the site of the Melungen race appears to be somewhere in Kentucky. The correspondent says;

You must know that within ten miles of this owl's nest, there is a watering-place, known hereabouts as 'black-water Springs.' It is situated in a narrow gorge, scarcely half a mile wide, between Powell's Mountain and the Copper Ridge, and is, as you may suppose, almost inaccessible. A hundred men could defend the pass against even a Xerxian army. Now this gorge and the tops and sides of the adjoining mountains are inhabited by a singular species of the human animal called MELUNGENS.

The legend of their history, which they carefully preserve, is this. A great many years ago, these mountains were settled by a society of Portuguese Adventurers, men and women--who came from the long-shore parts of Virginia, that they might be freed from the restraints and drawbacks imposed on them by any form of government. These people made themselves friendly with the Indians and freed, as they were from every kind of social government, they uprooted all conventional forms of society and lived in a delightful Utopia of their own creation, trampling on the marriage relation, despising all forms of religion, and subsisting upon corn (the only possible product of the soil) and wild game of the woods. These intermixed with the Indians, and subsequently their descendants (after the advances of the whites into this part of the state) with the negros and the whites, thus forming the present race of Melungens. They are tall, straight, well- formed people, of a dark copper color, with Circassian features, but wooly heads and other similar appendages of our negro. They are privileged voters in the state in which they live and thus, you will perceive, are accredited citizens of the commonwealth. They are brave, but quarrelsome; and are hospitable and generous to strangers. They have no preachers among them and are almost without any knowledge of a Supreme Being.

They are married by the established forms, but husband and wife separate at pleasure, without meeting any reproach or disgrace from their friends. They are remarkably unchaste, and want of chastity on the part of females is no bar to their marrying. They have but little association with their neighbors, carefully preserving their race, or class, or whatever you may call it: and are in every respect, save they are under the state government, a separate and distinct people. Now this is no traveller's story. They are really what I tell you, without abating or setting down in aught in malice. They are behind their neighbors in the arts. They use oxen instead of horses in their agricultural attempts, and their implements of husbandry are chiefly made by themselves of wood. They are, without exception, poor and ignorant, but apparently happy.

---

In the other article published in Littel's there is the 'story of the dance' that was omitted from this article.  Note both articles have no original date and this identical article appears in several newspapers in the early 1900s with no date or reference to the 1848 articles at all.

Some People In Eastern Tennessee -1894

---

Legend of the Melungeons

 

Littell's Living AgeMarch 1849

"THE MELUNGENS"
Unknown Journalist
Newspapers on slow newsdays tend to print or reprint stories their readers may be interested in. This article while it appears in the Knoxville Register in September of 1848 it is quoting from the Louisville Examiner. So as we have no clue who the journalist was we also have no idea if this was originally printed in 1818 or in 1848. It was copied to other newspapers around the country at various times, appearing in Wisconsin paper in 1848, New Jersey papers in 1894, and Ohio papers in 1898, with no mention of the origin of the article. You would have thought it was a journalist from 1894 who had visited with the Melungeons on Newman's Ridge.

 
It was reprinted from the Knoxville Register September 6, 1848 quoting from the Louisville Examiner. (We are sorry to have lost the name of the southern paper from which this is taken.)

We give to-day another amusing and characteristic sketch from a letter of our intelligent and sprightly correspondent, sojourning at present in one of the seldom-visited nooks hid away in our mountains.

You must know that within ten miles of this owl's nest, there is a watering-place, known hereabouts as 'black-water Springs.' It is situated in a narrow gorge, scarcely half a mile wide, between Powell's Mountain and the Copper Ridge, and is, as you may suppose, almost inaccessible. A hundred men could defend the pass against even a Xerxian army. Now this gorge and the tops and sides of the adjoining mountains are inhabited by a singular species of the human animal called MELUNGENS.

The legend of their history, which they carefully preserve, is this. A great many years ago, these mountains were settled by a society of Portuguese Adventurers, men and women--who came from the long-shore parts of Virginia, that they might be freed from the restraints and drawbacks imposed on them by any form of government. These people made themselves friendly with the Indians and freed, as they were from every kind of social government, they uprooted all conventional forms of society and lived in a delightful Utopia of their own creation, trampling on the marriage relation, despising all forms of religion, and subsisting upon corn (the only possible product of the soil) and wild game of the woods.

These intermixed with the Indians, and subsequently their descendants (after the advances of the whites into this part of the state) with the negros and the whites, thus forming the present race of Melungens.

They are tall, straight, well- formed people, of a dark copper color, with Circassian features, but wooly heads and other similar appendages of our negro. They are privileged voters in the state in which they live and thus, you will perceive, are accredited citizens of the commonwealth. They are brave, but quarrelsome; and are hospitable and generous to strangers. They have no preachers among them and are almost without any knowledge of a Supreme Being. They are married by the established forms, but husband and wife separate at pleasure, without meeting any reproach or disgrace from their friends. They are remarkably unchaste, and want of chastity on the part of females is no bar to their marrying. They have but little association with their neighbors, carefully preserving their race, or class, or whatever you may call it: and are in every respect, save they are under the state government, a separate and distinct people. Now this is no traveller's story.

They are really what I tell you, without abating or setting down in aught in malice. They are behind their neighbors in the arts. They use oxen instead of horses in their agricultural attempts, and their implements of husbandry are chiefly made by themselves of wood. They are, without exception, poor and ignorant, but apparently happy. Having thus given you a correct geographical and scientific history of the people, I will proceed with my own adventures.

The doctor was, as usual my compagnon de voyage, and we stopped at 'Old Vardy's', the hostelrie of the vicinage. Old Vardy is the 'chief cook and bottle-washer' of the Melungens, and is really a very clever fellow: but his hotel savors strongly of that peculiar perfume that one may find in the sleeping-rooms of our negro servants, especially on a close, warm, summer evening.

We arrived at Vardy's in time for supper, and thus despatched, we went to the spring, where were assembled several rude log huts, and a small sprinkling of 'the natives, together with a fiddle and other preparations for a dance. Shoes, stockings, and coats were unknown luxuries among them--at least we saw them not. The dance was engaged in with right hearty good will, and would have put to the blush the tame steppings of our beaux.

Among the participants was a very tall, raw-boned damsel, with her two garments fluttering readily in the amorous night breeze, who's black eyes were lit up with an unusual fire, either from the repeated visits to the nearest hut, behind the door of which was placed an open-mouthed stone jar of new-made corn whiskey, and in which was a gourd, with a 'deuce a bit' of sugar at all, and no water near than the spring.

Nearest here on the right was s a lank lantern-jawed, high cheekbone, long-legged fellow who seemed similarly elevated. Now these two, Jord Bilson (that was he,) and Syl Varmin, (that was she,)were destined to afford the amusement of the evening: for Jord, in cutting the pigeon-wing, chanced to light from one of his aerial flights right upon the ponderous pedal appendage of Syl, a compliment which this amiable lady seemed in no way to accept kindly.

'Jord Bilson,' said the tender Syl, 'I'll thank you to keep your darned hoofs off my feet.'

'Oh, Jord's feet are so tarnel big he can't manage 'em all by hisself.' suggested some pasificator near by.

'He'll have to keep 'em off me,' suggested Syl, 'or I'll shorten 'em for him.'

'Now look ye here, Syl Varmin, ' answered Jord, somewhat nettled at both remarks, 'I didn't go to tread on your feet but I don't want you to be cutting up any rusties about. You're nothing but a cross-grained critter, anyhow.'

'And you're a darned Melungen.'

'Well, if I am, I ain't n*****-Melungen, anyhow--I'm Indian-Melungen, and that's more 'an you is.'

'See here, Jord,' said Syl, now highly nettled, 'I'll give you a dollar ef you'll go out on the grass and right it out.'

 Jord smiled faintly and demurred, adding--

'Go home Syl, and look under your puncheons and see if you can't fill a bed outen the hair of them hogs you stole from Vardy.'

'And you go to Sow's cave, Jord Bilson, ef it comes to that, and see how many shucks you got offen that corn you took from Pete Joemen. Will you take the dollar?'

Jord now seemed about to consent, and Syl reduced the premium by one half, and finally came down to a quarter, and then Jord began to offer a quarter, a half, and finally a dollar: but Syl's prudence equalled his, and seeing that neither was likely to accept, we returned to our hotel, and were informed by old Vardy that the sight we had witnessed was no 'onusual one. The boys and gals was jist having a little fun.'

And so it proved, for about midnight we were wakened by a loud noise of contending parties in fierce combat, and, rising and looking out from the chinks of our hut, we saw the whole party engaged in a grand me lee; rising above the din of all which, was the harsh voice of Syl Varmin, calling--

'Stand back here, Sal Frazar, and let me do the rest of the beaten of Jord Bilson; I haint forgot his hoofs yit.'

The mele closed, and we retired again, and by breakfast next morning all hands were reconciled, and the stone jar replenished out of the mutual pocket, and peace ruled where so lately all had been recriminations and blows. After breakfast, just as the supper had been at old Jack's, save only that we had a table, we started for Clinch river for a day's fishing where other and yet more amusing incidents awaited us. But as I have dwelt upon this early part of the journey longer than I intended, you must wait till the next letter for the concluding incidents."

DOCUMETNING THE MELUNGEONS

Parson Brownlow - Impudent Malungeons

 

In this contemporary political cartoon,
"true Whigs" (left) enjoy their hard cider,
while "ruffled shirt Matty" (center) loses
himself in the "feminine pleasures" of opium.
Meanwhile, the undecided voter (right)
 is taking a leak for some reason

                     
Historians say the 1840
campaign is the first 'modern
day' election.  It was the  first
election for buttons, pins, fireworks,
name calling and political caricatures.

Brownlow's Whig

Jonesboro, Tennessee

Oct., 7, 1840

NEGRO SPEAKING! (Click Here for original scan)

We have just learned, upon undoubtedle authority, that Gen. Combs, in his attempt to address the citizens of Sullivan County, on yesterday, was insulted, contradicted repeatedly, limited to one hour and a half, and most shamefully treated, and withall an effort was made, to get an impudent Malungeon from Washington City, a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian, and who has actually been speaking in Sullivan, in reply to Combs!  Gen. Combs, however, declined the honor of contending with Negroes and Indians - said he had fought against the latter, but never met them in debate!

This is the party, reader, who are opposed to the gag-law, and to abolition! Bigotry and democracy in Sullivan county, well knowing that their days on earth are numbered, are rolling together their clouds of blackness and darkness, in the person of a free negroe, with the forlorn hope of obscuring the light that is beaming in glory, and a gladness, upon this country, through the able and eloquent speeches of Whig orators. David Shaver replied to Gen. Combs, we are informed. This is the same Davy, Mr. Netherland gave an account of, some time since, and who, Col. James gave us the history of, in an address, at our late convention. When Davy had finished, the big Democratic Negro came forward, and entertained the brethren. These two last speakers were an entertaining pair!




Brownlow's Whig
October 21, 1840

Well when the hour arrived, Hall  and the Indian Negro rode up together, and behind them, a short distance, was McClellan and ''Show Miller" Shaver -- the Locos did not say which of these four worthies were to speak.  Senter spoke, and handled the 'Negro,' who it seemed, had been eating, sleeping, and riding with these, his brethern, "his kinsman according to politics!"

Brownlow's Whig
October 28
Reprinted from the Tennessee Mirror

With astonishment we have understood that a half Negro, and half Indian has been speaking to the citizens of Sullivan on the subject of politics! This surely is  a great insult, and ought not to be tolerated, by any honest man in the Union.  Surely this is exaggeration, and cannot be!  What!  A NEGRO lecture on enlightened community!  It cannot be!


Brownlow's Whig

We can assure the editor of the "Mirror," that an infamous Negro has been speaking in Sullivan County -- no mistake, for we have seen and conversed with several gentlemen who seen and heard the vile scamp.  And he was put up by the DEMOCRATIC party, and by that party sustained, and now apologized for, on the ground of his having some Indian blood in him, and having been raised by JACKSON!


"Finally, on November 4, and as the election neared, Brownlow printed his last attack, "Keep It Before The People," drawn from this incident.  In the two paragraph column, the malicious slanders directed toward the poor fellow, and thereby the Democrtatic Party, are unrelenting and included "an impudent FREE NEGRO," "this infamous and dissipated MULATTO," this vile NEGRO  -- this KINKY HEADED villian," "an infamous, insulting, and strange free Negro, or runaway slave?"  as well as others.  Adding a touch of ridicule with reprimand, Brownlow concluded by noting that Democratic gentlemen in the southern parts of Virginia had driven this mixed-breed from the region."

Brownlow's Whig
November 4, 1840

In Sullivan, however, he met with a hearty welcome!  There, they ate, rode, and slept with him; and one of the leaders of that party, furnished him with ARMS to defend himself against the insults of WHITE MEN who might chance to prove so refractory, as not to hear him speak!  Shame on the leaders of this party in old Sullivan.


SOURCE: "THE MYSTEROUS MELUNGEONS:  A CRITIQUE OF THE MYTHICAL IMAGE"
Melanie Sovine
1982

Remnant of an Indian Race  -- John B. Brownlow   1911

Political Cartoon
Uncyclopedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joel, Andrew, Thomas, Archibald, Ezekiel, Zachariah and Tyre Gibson aling with Valentine Collins, lived on Cranberry Creek.  Zachariah and Job Cole lived on Meadow, a tributary of Cranberry.  

About 1801 Thomas,  Sheppard Gibson and David Collins land was sold at Sheriff's Sale for taxes.  Archibald followed in 1812, possibly following Ezekiel to Kentucky where Ezekiel joined a Ky., Company in War of 1812.  

Dec 1801 Nancy Gibson and Valentine Collins are the first to show up at the Stony Creek Church, to be followed by Thomas, Charles, Reuben [his mother] Henry, James, wife Ruth, Fanny, Anny, Frances and Mary Gibson.  HERE

Wilkes Co., NC.  Joel and Thomas were first settlers of Cranberry Creek, Joel Moore and Joseph Nichols who witnessed will of Thomas Gibson 1780 Henry Co., were neighbors of Joel Gibson. 

Joel, Andrew, Thomas, Archibald, Ezekiel, Zachariah and Tyre Gibson aling with Valentine Collins, lived on Cranberry Creek.  Zachariah and Job Cole lived on Meadow, a tributary of Cranberry.  

About 1801 Thomas,  Sheppard Gibson and Valentine Collins land was sold at Sheriff's Sale for taxes.  Archibald followed in 1812, possibly following Ezekiel to Kentucky where Ezekiel joined a Ky., Company in War of 1812.  

Dec 1801 Nancy Gibson and Valentine Collins are the first to show up at the Stony Creek Church, to be followed by Thomas, Charles, Reuben [his mother] Henry, James, wife Ruth, Fanny, Anny, Frances and Mary Gibson.  

Henry Gibson and Bryson Gibson both died in Morgan Co., Ky., the part that became Magoffin, they both had sons Tyre, Reuben's son Henry had a son Tyre, Bryson and Reuben both married to a Green, probably from Lewis Green.  Bryson's descendants filed Cherokee Apps, said grandparents were Thomas and Mary Gibson.  Henry Gibson, Bryson's brother death record states he was born in NC in 1787, father was Thomas Gibson. Kezziah, Bryson's daughter stated; "In 1835 the grandparents thru whom I claim lived in Wise Co., Va. In 1835 my parents and grandparents thru whom I claim lived among the Cherokees in Wise Co., Va. I don't know whether they lived as members of the tribe or not" - she states her father [Bryson and mother [Fanny Green] were born 1785 in Wise County [Washington County at the time].

Bryson's son Tyre married Sally Coker, Henry, son of Reuben married Honor Coker and his son Tyre married Polly/Mary Coker.  There is much research on the Coker families on the internet.  Thomas Coker of Yellow Creek, Kentucky can be found HERE.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Many years ago I began researching the Green and Gibson family as Henry and Bryson were found in Morgan County fairly near where my William K. Gibson lived, though found out later they are not related. 

I found  the story of Lewis Green and 'the bear' indexed in the Lyman Draper Index and found a copy at the Fort Wayne Library Indiana.  I was flabbergasted when 'The Revenant' came out with Leonardo DiCaprio portraying Hugh Glass as it was clearly the same story as Lewis Greens, which precedes the one of Hugh Glass by a few decades. 

[Wikipedia]  Hugh Glass (c. 1783 – 1833)^[1][2][3] was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, trader, hunter, and explorer. He is best known for his story of survival and forgiveness after being left for dead by companions when he was mauled by a grizzly bear.

No records exist regarding his origins but he is widely said to have been born in Pennsylvania to Irish, possibly Scots-Irish, parents.^[4] Glass became an explorer of the watershed of the Upper Missouri River, in present-day Montana, the Dakotas, and the Platte River area of Nebraska.^[5] His life story has been the basis of two feature-length films: Man in the Wilderness (1971) and The Revenant (2015). They both portray the survival struggle of Glass, who (in the best historical accounts) crawled and stumbled 200 miles (320 km) to Fort Kiowa, South Dakota, after being abandoned without supplies or weapons by fellow explorers and fur traders during General Ashley's expedition of 1823. Another version of the story was told in a 1966 episode of the TV series Death Valley Days, titled "Hugh Glass Meets the Bear".

Despite the story's popularity, its accuracy has been disputed. It was first recorded in 1825 in The Port Folio, a Philadelphia literary journal, as a literary piece and later picked up by various newspapers. Although originally published anonymously, it was later revealed to be the work of James Hall, brother of The Port Folio's editor. There is no writing from Hugh Glass himself to corroborate the veracity of it. Also, it is likely to have been embellished over the years as a legend.

 There is much to be found on the internet of the Green family. 

LEWIS GREEN AND EASTER GILGORE  HERE

Zachariah Green, the son named in the will, was a surveyor and went with Daniel Boone on one of his first expeditions as far as the Ohio River. An account which he gave of a fight of his father with a bear is found in the Draper Papers owned by the University of Wisconsin. 

LEWIS GREEN CLAWED BY A BEAR  HERE 

 Lewis Green came about 1773 and settled on the Clinch someplace between Dungannon and Fort Blackmore. While living here he went out on a hunting trip and was almost clawed to death by a bear.
     In 1854, Captain John Carr who had formerly lived on Carr's Creek in Russell County, Virginia, and who had moved to Sumner County, Tennessee in 1784, wrote the particulars of this event to Dr. Lyman C. Draper, saying:
     "I did not know Green who was clawed by the bear, but frequently heard the particulars related by Green's son, Zachariah Green, and my brothers. Green lived on Clinch. He and two more men were hunting on the headwaters of Kentucky on Sandy River, where the circumstances took place. He was nearly torn to pieces by a bear. His company or comrades had no idea of his living and ungratefully came off and left him. They reported he was dead on arriving in the settlements. They had left plenty of meat at the camp and by the kind attention of his only companion, a faithful dog who licked his sores, he recovered, and after some months he came to the settlement, contrary to the expectations of every person who was acquainted with the circumstances, and to the disgrace of the two men that were with him, whose names I have forgotten

 

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TBC