John Lawson, the naturalist, who arrived in Virginia-Carolina in 1700, tells of meeting many Hatteras Indians. “These tell us,” he writes, “that several of their ancestors were white, and could talk in a book (read) as we do; the Truth of which is confirmed by gray eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others. They value themselves extremely for their Affinity to the English and are ready to do them all friendly offices. It is probable this settlement miscarried for want of supplies from England; or through treachery of the natives, for we may reasonably suppose that the English were forced to cohabit with them, for Relief and Conversation; and that in the process of Time they conformed themselves to the Manners of their Indian relations.”
—from A New Voyage to Carolina, by John Lawson.
Lawson spent much time among the Indians and was the first to make a comprehensive list of plants and animals in the Carolinas. He also discussed the Indian method of scalping, and was later killed and scalped himself.
CHOWAN RIVER: On the spot where in my story Captain Tempany’s vessel was run aground, charred timbers were actually discovered. Their origin we do not know, but they seem to have been a ship’s timbers or those of a fort, hewn by metal axes.
HORSES: Much nonsense has been written about the horse in America. Actually, the prehistoric horse, which was about three feet high, originated in America, moved to Asia and Europe by way of the so-called land bridge that joined the continents where the Bering Strait is now, and then for some unknown reason this early horse, the size of a dog, died out.
Some writers would have us believe that all horses in the Americas descended from the sixteen brought by Cortes, but nearly every Spanish expedition brought horses, and as they did not geld their stock there was no limit to the number available for breeding.
In the expedition headed by Ayllon eighty-nine horses were landed near Cape Fear; some time later Arellano, son of the governor of Yucatan, landed some two hundred forty horses. Some of the horses brought by De Soto were abandoned when his followers boarded rafts to escape down the Mississippi.
Horses were brought into the country by other would-be settlers from Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas. Some were abandoned, some stolen by Indians, and years later vast herds of wild horses were seen. One trapper-trader in Kansas reported a herd that needed several hours to pass his position.
CATAWBA: A tribe of Indians in the Carolinas who from the first were friendly to the white man and, except for one brief difficulty, soon resolved, they remained a valuable friend and ally.
ALBEMARLE AND PAMLICO SOUNDS: Protected from the Atlantic storms by barrier islands, the two sounds receive the waters of several rivers and streams. Because of the protection from the sea, ships frequently anchored there, and it has been said that the first permanent settlement in the Carolinas was between the mouths of the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers. John Pory was in the area in 1619–22 and is credited with being the first settler. The truth is we simply do not know. As mentioned before, there were many ships of several nations cruising along the Atlantic shores, many with ideas of starting settlements or trading posts. Some of those ships were fishing, some trading, some hunting Indian slaves. Aside from the already-mentioned Gosnold and Newport, there were Weymouth, Barlow, Gordillo, Quexos, Verrazano and William Hilton, to name just a few.
Hilton found several shipwrecked English sailors being held by the Indians and he bargained for their release. Nearly every part of the country had stories of white men who had been there before, and undoubtedly castaways were living among the Indians. Juan Ortiz was one such.
WA-GA-SU: A Catawba who became a friend to Barnabas and his friends. A frequent visitor at Barnabas’ various camps, and at Shooting Creek.
JONATHAN DELVE: A former member of Barnabas’ crew who turned pirate and became an enemy. At Jamestown, Yance and Kin-Ring slipped aboard his ship and spiked his guns.
KIN-RING: Barnabas’ first son, born in the heart of an Indian battle, while his mother was defended by his father’s friend, Jeremy Ring. Kin-Ring first appears in TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS, and later in THE WARRIOR’S PATH. In the latter story he finds a wife and returns with her to Shooting Creek. A skilled swordsman as well as a hunter and man of the wilderness, but he, like his brothers, had been educated in the schools Barnabas set up, with Sakim as their principal teacher.
YANCE: The sire of the Clinch Mountain Sacketts, he went north to the Puritan settlements, and there found a wife in Temperance Penney and escorted her back to Shooting Creek. Yance spent some time in the stocks before being freed by Temperance, a feisty lass with a mind of her own, and who knew a good man when she saw one.
A woodsman, rough, impetuous and strong, loving the wilderness, always ready for fight or frolic, he is suited to the land in which he is to live. He appears in TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS, and in THE WARRIOR’S PATH, as well as many another place before the good earth claimed him.
As it was with his father, the Indians loved him even when they fought him, and the name he left became a legend among them as his father’s had before him.
JUBAL: He had the gift of second sight like his father, and after many wanderings he went away alone to the far lands beyond the great river and the only word of him after was that borne on the wind. A whisper here, a whisper there. He, too, married well, an Indian daughter of the Natchez. They built their home in Colorado, almost in the shadow of the Sangre de Cristos. His story is told in TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS as well as in JUBAL SACKETT, but he will appear again, here and there.
BRIAN: Son of Barnabas; he grew up in the mountains of what is now Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, but his yearning was always for more education and a life in the cities. He returned to England with his mother and sister, to read for the Law at the Inns of Court. He appears in TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS but his story belongs in other lands, for the most part. He is a true Sackett, however, and did not forget his native country nor his people. Before leaving Shooting Creek he had talked much with Temperance, Yance’s wife, and with Diana and her father. Moreover he had looked about him and seen what manner of people these American colonies were breeding. He foresaw the break with England and planned accordingly, not only for himself but for his relatives in America.
NOELLE: Barnabas’ only daughter, who at the age of ten returned to England with her mother to become a lady there, and to have many adventures before finding the man she loved; she also found an old acquaintance in a far land who was helpful when help was needed.
Noelle became a beautiful and gracious lady with much of her father in her as well as her mother, but quite a bit of Yance, too, if pushed too far.
SHOOTING CREEK: Where the Sacketts finally located. If one is driving from Chattanooga east to Franklin in Carolina, Shooting Creek will lie deep in its green valley on your left. Since the highway was re-routed, it no longer passes through the valley and it is easily missed. There is one small narrow sign to indicate where it lies.
CHUNKY GAL MOUNTAIN: It sounds like a name invented by a writer but it is not. Chunky Gal Mountain is at the head of Shooting Creek Valley and one passes over a shoulder of it going into the Valley. It is said to have been named for an Indian girl who lived there.
CLINCH MOUNTAINS: A long narrow range of mountains largely in Tennessee that bred a hardy lot of people, and was where Yance Sackett settled. It has also produced some excellent country-western singers and dancers, among whom are the Carter family, of which June Carter Cash, Mrs. Johnny Cash, is a member.
KANE O’HARA: Who married Margarita, a Spanish girl he lured from the settlements to the south. The O’Haras prospered and many years later a small inheritance was left to Echo Sackett. (RIDE THE RIVER).
TIM GLASCO: Killed at his forge, by Indians.
JOHN PIKE: A Newfoundland man, formerly a fisherman and hunter of whales. Barnabas promoted him to sailing-master and eventually left him with a ship. He did well, and was to sail and trade on many far distant shores.
; MATT SLATER: A farmer who loved the earth. Killed by the Seneca in 1602.
JAGO: A sailor, a castaway.
BARRY MAGILL: A cooper and a weaver. A deft, handy man, apprenticed to a weaver, he later went on to making barrels, but could turn his hand to anything.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH: Courtier, poet, historian, soldier in France as well as Ireland; chemist, explorer, and planter of the first known colony in English America. Born in 1552, he was beheaded in 1618. A tall, handsome man of noted courage, he took a trunk filled with books on every sea voyage, and read much while at sea. He was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, but his fortunes declined after her death. He was a prisoner in the Tower for many years, then beheaded, reportedly at the insistence of the King of Spain.
KINSALE: About 16 miles from Cork, and on the southern coast of Ireland. In 1601 the Spanish fleet with nearly four thousand soldiers aboard seized the town, and the British forces under Lord Mount joy were attacked from the rear by the Irish. Later, in a planned, combined attack, the Spanish failed to move as planned and the Irish were defeated.
Kinsale was an important naval base during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the area has great charm. There are several ruined castles nearby. Built around Compass Hill on the banks of the Bandon, the site is a beautiful one.
It was here that Barnabas fulfilled the prophecy of his mother and killed her enemy in the flames of a burning town. If you travel to southern Ireland you will find Kinsale, Glandore, and Skibbereen, of which I have also written. You will enjoy them even more than Barnabas did.
HORSE SHOE BANK: There’s a narrow passage between it and Wicklow Head, or so there was at the time of my story. Nearby is Wolf Rock, a danger to be avoided. Wicklow Head is a bold headland, easily recognized, but there is no danger if one holds a course well to the north of the Horse Shoe.
When writing such a story as SACKETTS LAND or TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS, one must saturate oneself in all that can be learned of the times. It is futile to attempt to understand their period by our own; customs were different, as was even the language itself.
For example, the study of mathematics and especially geometry was the fad of the day. Commenting on this, John Aubrey says, “Soldiers, sailors, courtiers, and clerics all devoted themselves to this intoxicating study.”
Trevelyan has commented, “… apart from poetry and the stage there was hardly any literature that was not serious.” The novel, as we know it, scarcely existed. Inns and taverns were not only places to eat, drink, and be entertained but were meeting places for intellectual groups, a practice that was continued on this side of the water. The problems that brought on our American Revolution and the development and writing of the Constitution were discussed and argued in taverns from Georgia to Maine.
There were skeptics about, but they were few; the idea prevailed that if something was written it was true, yet the atmosphere was changing. Trevelyan also suggests that had there been newspapers and novels, there might never have been a Protestant revolution, for as these did not exist men took to reading the Bible and no longer looked to a priest or a clergyman to interpret its meaning.
Books were published under far different circumstances than today, and usually were underwritten by some wealthy or titled man. Such books often opened with a glowing tribute to the patron, whoever he happened to be. Books were rarely dedicated by the author, but more often by the printer or publisher. This fact has given rise to much needless speculation on the part of those unaware of the different practices of the time.
Travelers in different eras did not always look at the same things. I have read several accounts of travel through the Alps that mention neither the mountains nor snow. These travelers were completely uninterested in what we call scenery. Their interest lay in the taverns, in people met along the way, and in other travelers.
When I travel over an area about which I wish to write, I see it not only as it is but as it must have been at various times over the centuries. Europe, for example, had few roads as we think of them. The Roman roads had long been abandoned or did not take travelers where they wished to go. Most travel was on horseback or foot, and in the time of Queen Elizabeth carriages and stages were just coming into use. The paths followed by travelers were often mere muddy lanes or well-worn paths between fields.
London, at the time of SACKETTS LAND and TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAIN’S or FAIR BLOWS THE WIND, was a city of about 250,000 people. The first stagecoaches were beginning to appear, but they offered rough travel at best. Nobody traveled for pleasure, and most people would have been amazed at the idea. The great lords and others traveled only when duty or some other necessity demanded, and the only others to go far afield were soldiers or sailors. The average man traveled no further than the nearest market town.
The roads, such as they were, were maintained by villagers or their children, who dropped stones in the mudholes or ruts, and made a halfhearted attempt to keep the roads in some sort of existence. One prince, traveling by coach, commented that it required six hours to cover the last nine miles of his journey.
Later, a number of inns kept horses on hand for the stages and travel became faster and much improved. Breakfast at such a place might be a cold pigeon pie, grilled kidneys, beef, ham, or eggs washed down with buttered coffee or ale. Or rum, if one was close to a seaport.
In those more leisurely days few had occasion to hurry. A despatch rider or courier rode a horse, as did many other travelers, as the stages rarely moved much faster than a man could walk. When they were not a sea of mud, the roads were apt to be a maze of frozen ruts over which the coaches (no springs!) bounced and jarred.
Rarely have I used all the material at hand in writing of a cross-country journey. To provide too much would slow the pace of the story, yet I need to know all the conditions and possibilities.
When writing of a journey I mark down the point of origin and the destination. Then, by using old books on postchaise travel, accounts of those who traveled the route at the time or approximately so, I fill in on my outline the rivers, the bridges, the inns, the forests, swamps, and so on until I have a picture of the route almost as good as if I had traveled it at the time. (They are always routes I have personally used, and which I know in my time.) If an innkeeper is mentioned by name, I use it, and if the meals are mentioned, I use the same food or some that would easily be available at the time and place. Few of these items can be had from one source, and often I consult a dozen books and as many maps to complete what goes on one page, or even in one paragraph.
Adequate descriptions of travel are few, so one pieces the bits together as in a jigsaw puzzle. I try to write a story so that if it was read by a man of the time he would be able to say, “Yes, that is the way it was!”
Much later than my story is an extract from Stedman’s journal, dated Sept. 11, 1784: “Another postchaise for Calais through Gravelines, where we did breakfast. Today the roads were worse as possible, except where we went over quick-sands, which is exceedingly dangerous. The breakers beat into the carriage, the horses bad, and beginning to be late.”
Travel was travail; one did not enjoy, one endured.
THE WARRIOR’S PATH
First publication: Bantam Books paperback, July 1980
Narrator: Kin-Ring Sackett
Time Period: c. 1620s
In which Kin-Ring and Yance respond to a call for help from Anna Penney, mother of Temperance, who is Yance’s wife. Carrie Penney, Temperance’s younger sister, has disappeared in company with Diana Macklin, the beautiful daughter of Robert Macklin, who is suspected of being a witch. Supposedly the two were taken by Indians while gathering herbs in the forest. A search by local people has been abandoned, and Joseph Pittingel, a merchant, fosters the belief that they have been taken by Pequots.
Despite warnings and obstruction, Kin-Ring and Yance set out to find the missing girls, and the tracks they find are not those of Indians.
Angered by what they discover, Kin-Ring and Yance set out t
o find not only the missing girls but what has happened to other girls who have been lost over the past few years. Their suspicions lead them to Pittingel himself and to those employed by him. The trail leads them to Jamaica, even to Port Royal, hang-out and resort for pirates and slave traders.
TENACO: A friendly Indian who brought Anna Penney’s call for help to Yance, and who was wounded by a musket ball. Did the Pequots have muskets? Who did not want a message taken?
PEQUOTS: A fierce Indian tribe, probably never numbering more than twenty-five hundred people.
The Indian population of North America has been estimated at 650,000 to 1,000,000 before the coming of the white man, which is approximately the size of the Indian population today.
Other estimates have been made, suggesting far larger populations, but these, I believe, have not considered the ability of the Indian, with his primitive methods of farming (when he farmed at all), to feed himself. It is generally agreed that a hunting and food-gathering people require one square mile per person to subsist, so the number of Pequots mentioned above would require twenty-five hundred square miles of land, far more than was actually available, due to other tribes living in the vicinity, making demands upon much of the same land.
Moreover, the one constant in the Indian subsistence pattern was the near starvation period at the close of winter when food supplies began to fail and new plant growth had not begun. A long winter almost invariably led to famine.
The pursuit of agriculture varied considerably from area to area, however, and the Natchez in Louisiana harvested a wide variety of crops, living in a climate well suited to planting.
CARRIE PENNEY: A pretty young girl of ten years, learning about plants from Diana Macklin. Supposedly kidnapped by Indians along with Diana. She was the younger sister of Yance’s wife, Temperance.
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