Buchanan's Station

In the summer of 1792, Buchanan's Station and the Mero District were then being governed as part of the Southwest Territory. Governor William Blount, residing in the territorial capital of Knoxville, had been warned by friendly Native Americans of possible attacks in the near future. He had therefore ordered the raising of militias throughout the territory. When Fall approached, and none of the expected attacks had occurred, Blount ordered the militias, including the Nashville militia under the leadership of early town founder, James Robertson, to be dismissed. Robertson, however, remained vigilant, regularly sending out scouts into the Middle Tennessee wilderness. News from several sources of a possible attack against Fort Nashboro had also reached the ears of the residents of Buchanan's Station, so a watchful eye was kept over the area's roadways.[1]

The surprise attack was to be the major opening engagement in a war plan designed to destroy Nashville, raze the surrounding Cumberland settlements, and to finally rid the area of any American frontier presence. The southern based Creek and Lower Cherokee had been meeting for some time with the Spanish forces along the Gulf Coast and Spanish Florida, who had a vested interest in seeing the American westward expansion halted. Throughout the Cherokee–American wars they eagerly supplied guns, liquor, and supplies to any tribe willing to confront the Americans pioneers.[1]

The Indians who attacked the settlement probably approached the station via the Nickajack Trail,[3] where they had left a path of destroyed homesteads on their way up the trail from Chickamauga country. A group of about 60 led by Doublehead (Tal-tsu'tsa) ambushed a party of six and took one scalp. They then continued on toward Nashville. On their way, they were attacked by a small militia force and lost 13 men.[7][8]

When the divergent war parties re-grouped in the vicinity of Buchanan's Station, there was a heated debate among the leaders about whether to bypass the stockade and press on directly to Nashville.[1][9] The choice of the organizer, overall leader, and white chief of the united Indian force, John Watts (or Kunokeski), was to strike at Nashville first, thus by-passing the fortified station for the moment. The choice of Creek chief, Talotiskee[10] of the Broken Arrow clan—the skiagusta (the red, or war chief) of his people—was to first attack the small and apparently weak way-station that the Creeks expected to fall quickly. Watts finally acquiesced, and the latter action was chosen.[11][12] [lower-alpha 3]

The Battle of Buchanan’s Station took place on the night of September 30, 1792, at which time the settlement was attacked by a combined force of over 300[lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5] Lower Cherokee, Shawnee, and Creek Indians. The station's unsuspecting defenders suffered no fatalities during the attack, although the occupants numbered only 35 to 40 that night, with just about half that number able to shoot.[1] Two scouts who had been sent out earlier to reconnoiter the Nickajack Trail, however, were found dead after the battle.[3][1]

Standing guard that night, farmer John McCrory alerted the occupants to danger when he fired the first shot of the battle—a shot fatal to one of the war party's leaders, the war chief known at the battle as Shawnee Warrior (who was in fact Tecumseh’s older brother, Cheeseekau, or Chiksika).[7][lower-alpha 6] The well-planned and fortified bunkhouse was equipped with portholes from which its defenders could send repeated volleys of musket and rifle fire upon the attackers. Thus, the small force could successfully resist the invaders' over-whelming numbers, as unmolested approach to the building was almost impossible. Due to the concerted efforts of its occupants, as few as 15, but no more than 20, frontier sharpshooters enclosed therein held off the overwhelming Indian force, while the women supported the defenders by loading firearms and feeding the men fresh ammunition, some of which was newly molded from leaden tableware that was on-hand.[1] Sally Buchanan, John's young wife who was at that point nine months pregnant, rallied and organized the women, children, and slaves present to support the defending riflemen with food, alcohol, and ammunition.[1]

Several attempts to set fire to the building were also foiled.[1] One Cherokee warrior, Kiachatalle[lower-alpha 7] died with a torch in his hand as he repeatedly tried to set fire to the building, even while fatally wounded.[3] Well into the battle, one of the blockhouse's defenders, Jemmy O'Connor, an Irishman who had become inebriated during the fight, over-filled a blunderbuss and fired at the attackers through a porthole. The gun blew up instead. The resultant explosion so terrified the Indians they quickly scattered, thinking the fort defenders had brought the use of a cannon into the melee, thus ending the battle.[1][7]

The attack against the station, that had lasted just over an hour, was repulsed, and the Native American force broke up into smaller raiding parties that wrecked havoc on the farmsteads in the surrounding area. The main objective of wiping out Nashville, however, was abandoned.[1] The battle was costly to the raiding parties: Talotiskee was killed, along with Unacata, Cheeseekau, and about 25 others (all together, about 10% of the original raiding party). Another Cherokee warrior, Little Owl (son of White Owl)—and a possible brother to the recently deceased leader of the Chickamauga, Dragging Canoe (Tsiyu Gansini)—was also killed.[1] Watts, the current headman of the Lower Cherokee and future Cherokee National Chief, was gravely wounded, but survived.[1]

The remainder of Talotiskee's party stayed out into early October, attacking Black's Station on Crooked Creek, where they killed three men, wounded several more, and captured several horses. Chief Middle Striker's party, numbering 54, meanwhile, ambushed a large armed force coming into the Mero District down the Walton Road and routed it completely—without losing a single man.[7][8] In revenge for the deaths at Buchanan's Station, Bob Benge, Doublehead, and his brother Pumpkin Boy led a party of about 60 warriors into southwestern Kentucky, where they attacked several settlements.[16][lower-alpha 8] One notable Native American who fought in the battle included an unknown Shawnee warrior at that time named Tecumseh.[1] Although Tecumseh survived, his older brother Chiksika was killed.[17]

After the battle, Sally Buchanan became widely known as "the greatest Heroine of the West" due to her determined leadership and aid to the fort's defense during the conflict.[1][18]