HUGH CARDON'S HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY

Mr. Hugh Cardon wrote the following history of Cherokee County on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the county in 
1936. This history was published in the COOSA RIVER NEWS on Friday, August 7, 1936 - 36 years ago. Mr. Cardon was 
a much respected historian of the county and a collector of antiques and Indian artifacts. He died February 11, 1953. The 
Society has collected a number of his articles written for the public press and will publish them from time to time. The 
following article was preserved by Mr. J. Robert Embry of the Blanche, Lookout Mountain Valley, Little River Area and 
loaned it to the Society. Other histories of the county will be published from time to time giving the views of other 
historians. The Society receives dozens of requests yearly for a brief history of this part of the state.

CARDON'S CHEROKEE HISTORY

A great thinker once aptly said, "A land without memories is a land without hope." In this year of the celebration of our 
century of existence as an organized body politic, it, too, is fitting that we reflect on the "rock whence we were hewn."
The State of Alabama as a whole owes quite a great deal to our county for it was on this soil that Alabama was discovered 
by DeSoto, the Spanish Governor of Florida, in 1540. After having traveled through Florida and Ga. with an entourage of 
soldiers and slaves, DeSoto, in 1540, stood on the banks of the Coosa before the great Indian city of Chiaha. From the 
natives of the seacoast and the 'Golden isles of Georgia,' the Spainards had heard of the richness and beauty of the land 
and people whose territory they were now about to occupy. There has been some discussion among 'historians as to -the 
exact location of Chiaha, some claiming that it was located on the site of Rome, Georgia, others that it stood on the land 
near where Chattooga River flows into the Coosa, and yet others maintain that it was located on what -vie now call 
McCoy's Island, near Poole's Perry. Scientifically and-patriotically, we maintain that it was located on McCoy's Island. 
DeSoto was accompanied by several secretaries, who kept daily records of travel and progress of the expedition. Posterity 
is greatly indebted to these gallant scholars for their diaries, and it is fitting that we pay tribute to them for first publicizing 
the value of our country to the civilized world. Two of the scribes we know by name, Biedma and Garcellasso, and the 
other is anonymously known as "The Gentleman of Elvas," a citizen of Portugal. From all of their narratives we learn that 
Chiaha was located on an island of large size and it is agreed by all that it was located on the Coosa. There is today but 
one island in the Coosa that would in any way compare in size to that mentioned by the Spanish and Portugese narrators, 
and that is McCoy's Island.



Several years ago, D. M. Andrews, a highly scientific gentleman, who had thoroughly mastered the narratives of the 
DeSoto expedition, traversed by foot the route of the exploration. In addition to possessing a thorough understanding of 
the narratives, Mr.. Andrews was assisted by maps and topographical sheets of the U.S. Geodetic Survey. After this type 
of survey, he came to the very definite conclusion that Chiaha was situated on McCoy's Island in Cherokee County, 
Alabama. The report of his findings has been published by the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and included 
by Dr. Thomas 11. Owen, in his invaluable HISTORY OF ALABAMA. No other commentator on the question has 
approached the subject with as much precision and as scientifically as Dr. Andrews, consequently we believe his opinion 
free from successful challenge.
DeSoto and his men spent some thirty days at Chiaha, feasting themselves and their mounts on the products of a soil 
more fertile than any of their eyes had yet beheld. It was here for the first time that they saw wild honey, black walnut oil, 
and crystal clear grease, held in gourds. Pearls in enormous quantities were given the Spaniards. These pearls were 
gathered from the mussels of the Coosa. In turn, DeSoto gave the Indians the first horses and pigs ever seen by them. 
After having fully recovered from a long and fatiguing march, the Spaniards decided to move on in search of more 
unconquered kingdoms, but before leaving demanded, women and slaves to accompany them, their entourage of five 
hundred women and slaves, shackled together in irons, having been depleted by the toilsome travel. At this suggestion our 
first Cherokeeans naturally rebelled, and under cover of darkness fled to the forests. Whereupon DeSoto and sixty of his 
soldiers scoured the country, ravaging and laying waste to homes and crops. In order to stop this waste, the Indians 
agreed to allow their men to go with DeSoto to carry the baggage.
From 1540 to 1816 we know very little of what happened within the bounds of this county, but suppose that it was occupied 
by the Cherokee and Creek Indians. Pickett tells us that the word 'Cherokee' means "men of divine fire", while others 
interpret it to mean "cave people." At any rate, it is the consensus of opinion that the Cherokee men were larger and more 
robust than any of the other Indians, and their women more graceful, erect and symmetrical. Their hands and feet were 
small and beautifully shaped, and on account of their outdoor life, cleanliness, and type-of country in which they resided 
they enjoyed better health and longer life than any of our other aborigines. Pickett says specifically, ''Many of them had 
genius, and spoke well, which paved the way to power in council. Their language was pleasant. It was very aspirited, and 
the accents so many and various that one would often imagine them singing in their common discourse." The truth of 
Pickett's statement will not be doubted when we speak aloud some of their words, such as 'Coosa', 'Oostanaula', 
'Chattooga', and 'Junaluska.'



Turkey Town was established some time prior to 1770, and was one of the most important of Cherokee establishments. It 
was here that Col. Campbell, the noted British soldier and superintendent, lived at times during and after the Revolutionary 
War. Turkey Town was located about one mile from Centre on the west side of the Coosa River, not far from the mouth of 
Terrapin Creek. This fact is attested to by all of the authorities on the subject, and is shown on a half a dozen maps owned 
by the writer, dating from 1817 to 1835 The old Indian Trail or 'Creek Path', running from Creek Path Town, now 
Guntersville, crossed the river at Turkey Town, where after the turn of the l9th Century, Path Killer, King of the Cherokees, 
operated a ferry. This path ran on into the present State of Georgia, and followed rather closely the present road to Rome 
via Cave Springs. At Turkey Town in October 1816 was held a Council of the Cherokees, Creeks, and Chicksaws to settle 
boundaries and ratify a peace treaty. The agent of the U. S. Government at this meeting was General Andrew Jackson, 
who had lately, with the assistance of the Cherokees, defeated the Creeks had made possible the opening and settling of 
South Alabama. Among other things consummated at this meeting was a treaty by which the Cherokees ceded to the 
United States a great part of North Central Alabama. They also agreed to the building by the United States of roads 
through their domain and one of the first roads built after this agreement was the old Alabama Road to Rome. The 
markings of the road may yet be seen and is well remembered by older inhabitants. Especially can be followed from the 
former residence of Tobe DeJernette to the Kirk place, where it is crossed by the present Hokes Bluff road, and can be 
seen again just east of the Kirk place where it is crossed by the Piedmont road. The Cave Springs road, beginning at a 
point east of Will Shropshire's residence, follows very nearly the original road and Indian path.
There were present at the Great Council at Turkey Town in 1816, missionaries of the Moravian Church. These 
missionaries made the plea to the Cherokees for the establishment within their nation of schools and churches, which, 
after due deliberation, received the consent of the council. As a consequence, schools were erected at Wills Town in 
DeKalb County, at Creek Path Town (Guntersville), and in what is now Floyd County, Georgia, near Coosa.
The Cherokees possessed mentalities above the ordinary aborigines, and soon caught the flame of inspiration and desire 
for literary achievement. The Cherokees were, in the beginning, taught to read and write the English Language but their 
white preceptors found that his was a very difficult and painful procedure, however, there was apparently no remedy for the 
situation, until there rose from among the ranks of Cherokees one referred to as "The Cadmus of his Race." George 
Guess, or Sequoyah, was the son of a mixed-blood mother and a white father. As a youth



he did not relish the sports commonly engaged in by Indian boys, but found more pleasure in strolling through the woods, 
studying nature, building houses with sticks, and carving in stone. His father having abandoned his mother while Sequoyah 
was young, it fell his lot to be 'the man of the house', which position he occupied with dignity and credit. We are not 
positive as to the exact place of Sequoyah's birth, but it is definitely known that he lived for a while near Wills Town in 
DeKalb County, and he is also listed as being a resident of the Alpine district in the north end of Cherokee County, 
Alabama, and Chattooga County, Georgia. As Sequoyah grew older, he not only tilled the soil, raised and broke colts, and 
kept a herd of dairy cows, but also became an expert in the making of silver ornaments, such as bracelets, armbands, and 
brooches. One day while working in his shop, he was visited by Charles Hicks, who had had the benefit of schooling, to 
write his name on a piece of paper. Sequoyah, who could neither read nor write, then copied his name as it had been 
written by Hicks, on a piece of silver and thereafter stamped his name on articles which he made. A short time later he 
visited the mission school at Wills Town and was astonished that a white man could write on a piece of paper and this 
piece of paper could be carried miles away to another white man who could read the same and understand what the white 
man had thought who had written the note. Most of the Indians thought that this power of conveying thought and 
information on paper by means of writing was a supernatural gift, possessed only by the whites, and not intended by the 
Great Spirit to belong to the red man. Sequoyah, however, was not charged with this superstition, and determined that the 
faculty of conveying information in writing should be shared by the Indians. Returning to his home in the forests, he 
reflected on the subject of inventing a language which could be understood by his people and within a short time devolved 
the Cherokee alphabet. This alphabet is said by linguists to be one of the easiest to learn and use of any yet invented.
The Cherokee people soon became accustomed to the Sequoyah alphabet, and in 1829 the Rev. Samuel Worchester, 
missionary, had cast in Connecticut several fonts of Cherokee type, establishing at New Echota, Georgia, THE 
CHEROKEE PHENIX. This newspaper was published weekly and printed half in the Cherokee language and half in 
English, being edited by Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee Indian. It continued operations until about 1835 when it was 
suspended on account of the attitude of the people of Georgia toward the Cherokee nation.
Native Cherokees were not only converted to the Christian faith but became preachers and exhorters. Notable among the 
Christian preachers were John Arch and Thomas J. Meigs, the first being affiliated with the Moravian church and the latter 
with the Methodist church. As a matter of fact, when the whites started settling Cherokee County in the 1830's, they found 
that most of



the Indians had been converted and were members of the Methodist, Baptist Presbyterian, and Moravian churches. Rev. 
J. D. Anthony, a son of Rev. Whitfield Anthony, one of the first immigrants to Cherokee County, in an article which 
appeared in the GADSDEN TIMES, in Nov. 1875, mentions especially the work of the Indian Methodist, Thomas J. Meigs 
was a full-blooded Cherokee and, according to Rev. Anthony, spoke English fluently for a red man. However, he positively 
refused to preach, pray, sign, or ask a blessing in any language except the Cherokee. Rev. Whitfield Anthony inquired of 
him as to why he did not preach or use the English language when with white people and Rev. Meigs replied, "De'Postle 
Paul says, No preach, no pray, in unknown languages; 'dat's it, why I no do it."
No history of Cherokee County would be complete without paying a tribute to John Ross, the greatest of all Indian 
statesmen. As a preface to the remarks concerning John Ross, It is appropriate that we reflect for a moment on the 
Cherokee system of government. As early as 1807, the Cherokees had written laws. At a council held in Broomtown Valley 
in 1807, a Light Horse Guard, or system of mounted police was established. The proceedings of the meeting at 
Broomtown in 1807 were reduced to writing and so far as is known this rule establishing a mounted police system was the 
first written law of the Cherokee nation. In 1820, the Cherokee people met in council and agreed that instead of the nation 
being ruled as a kingdom, that a republican government should be established. In view of this resolution, their territory was 
divided into eight well-defined districts which corresponded to our present system of counties. Each district elected a 
certain number of representatives to the council and the council in turn elected the chief. The young man who was 
principally responsible for this organization of the republican form of government was John Ross, who succeeded Path 
Killer as the Chief of the Cherokee Nation. John Ross was born at Tahoovayah on the Coosa. After his death in 1836, his 
nephew, William P. Ross, who succeeded him as principal chief, visited the old Cherokee nation east of the Mississippi, 
and on being asked where his uncle, John Ross, was born, said, "Somewhere down on the Coosa River in Alabama." 
Inasmuch as all the Cherokee Nation in Alabama was at one time in Cherokee County, there can be no doubt but that 
John Ross was born in what is now, or has been, Cherokee County. In 1835, a missionary by the name of J. F. 
Schermerhorn, who was also the agent of the United States Government, entered into negotiations with John Ridge, Major 
Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and a few other Cherokees, for the purpose of drawing up a treaty ceding all of the Cherokee lands 
lying east of the Mississippi River. This treaty was consummated and ratified by the United States Senate, although it was 
rejected by ninety-five percent of the people. John Ross valiantly fought this treaty and made numerous attempts to have it 
nullified, carrying his case finally to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in a famous decision written



by John Marshall, in the case of the Cherokee Indians vs. Georgia, ruled with the Indians in practically all their contentions. 
However Ross' efforts were of no avail as the Indians were removed by force, west of the Mississippi in 1837 and 1838.
Prior to their removal, they had perfected a well-organized system of democratic government, they were seekers after 
knowledge, they were economical and prosperous, and as a result their lands, slaves, and looms were not only coveted, 
but actually seized by some of our white fore bearers. The Treaty by which the Indian lands were seized constitutes one of 
the darkest page of our whole existence, and we cannot well condemn other people, or other nations for wrongs for which 
we have been equally as guilty!
Prior to 1835, when the Treaty was made by which the. Cherokees were to be removed to the West, few white people had 
settled in what is now Cherokee County. In the autumn of 1835 Rev. Whitfield Anthony, a Methodist preacher, brought with 
him to this county his family and several other families from Georgia and South Carolina, numbering in all about forty. 
These people settled some four miles north of Cedar Bluff, in the Lay, or McCoy, Bend or three miles west of the mouth of 
Mud Creek. As stated previously in this hurriedly written sketch, Rev. J. D. Anthony, a son of Whitfield Anthony, wrote for 
the GADSDEN TIMES in 1875 his recollections of childhood days in Cherokee, he having been ten years old when his 
family moved here in 1885. He states that their nearest neighbors Ambrose Vandiver who was the father of several girls; 
Hezekiah Day, the first Justice of the Peace in the county; John Lay, father of Capt. Pat Lay of Gadsden; Mrs. McCoy, who 
was the mother-in-law of John Lay; and her sons William, John and her daughter Nancy.
Times were indeed hard for these pioneers for the first few years. Only a small acreage of land had been cleared and was 
tillable, homes and barns had to be constructed without benefit of saws or shingle mills, there were no churches or 
schools, wild bands of Creek Indians roamed the Woods, having slipped into the Cherokee Nation. For the first year there 
was no hog meat or grease with which to season vegetables, beef and deer tallow being used as a substitute. When corn 
was to be ground, a trip was made to the nearest grist mill which was 'back in Georgia.' However) many of the settlers 
made improvised mills by burning a hollow in a fat pine log to the desired size, and then poured the corn in and pounded it 
with pestle until it was in an edible condition.
A more serious hardship which 'the pioneers had to endure was the lack of any organized system of government. A gang 
of ruffians, known as the 'Slicks', had taken the administration of justice into their own hands. The chief of this gang of 
buccaneers lived on the south bank of the Coosa, one mile below the



mouth of Mud Creek and his cohorts lived in what is now Marshall, DeKalb, Etowah, and Cherokee Counties in Alabama, 
and in several of the adjoining Georgia counties. lie was known as 'Capt. Whips'. It seems that if an Indian or a White 
owned a pony, or a hog, that some member of the 'Slicks' coveted, the said kine was taken and the owner rawhided 'to 
boot' by the Slicks. In 1836, however, the Slick law came to a speedy death. An old man by the name of Hendricks was 
taken into Georgia and unmercifully whipped. In the meantime, the first court of Cherokee County had been organized, 
subsequent to the passage of a legislative act of January 9, 1836, making this territory a county. The first court was held at 
the residence of Singleton Hughes on Cowan's Creek, some 8 miles from Centre. The, better class of citizens had 
resolved that the first action of this court would be to mete out punishment to the Slick Brigade who had so barbarously 
beaten old Mr. Hendricks. Members of the Slicks had lot it be known that they did not intend for any testimony against 
them to be presented. But on the day of the court, some seventy citizens formed 'a living wall' around the little log court 
house, locked arms, and Justice proceeded in the even tenor of her way, as she has to this day. No more was ever heard 
of the Slicks after this firm exhibition of the temper of our pioneer ancestors.
In 1836, Rev. Whitfield Anthony called on his neighbors to assist him in building was probably the first church in Cherokee 
County, now known as Ebenezer Church at Alexis This first church building was made of split chestnut logs, was 18 feet 
square, with dirt floor and split chestnut pulpit. It was then about one mile from Cothrun's Ferry, and, although built by 
Methodists, preachers of all denominations were invited to use this Cathedral of the Forests. Among the early Baptist 
preachers who attended this church were Revs. Wm. Taylor, James Wilson, Casy, Minton, Southerland, Frost, Grogan, 
Minett, All-an, Leath. It, too, should be said that these men was successful. in deeply rooting the Baptist Faith in Cherokee 
County. Rev. John Foust was the first Methodist minister to be sent to our county by the Alabama Conference. Ile, with 
Rev. Whitfield Anthony and Rev. Newton Randall, of Gaylesville, established Methodist churches on South Spring Creek, 
Mud Creek, and In Gaylesville. Prior to the time a Methodist church was built at Gaylesville, a Camp Meeting Ground was 
established near there at Sulphur Springs. There were many Cumberland Presbyterians among the first settlers and their 
earliest ministers were Revs. S. Russell and David Bryant.
The court house was removed from Singleton Hughes to Jefferson, now Cedar Bluff, on June 24, 1837. The first Sheriff 
was Robert Bell; County Judge, George Birdwell; Clerk of Circuit Court, John Wilson, Senator, Solomon C. Smith, and 
Rep. George Clifton.



Jefferson soon became a thriving metropolis, people from all over the globe settling there. Capt. Joel Thorp of Bridgeport, 
Massachusetts, and Maj. Pauline Meidjzelski, a citizen of Poland, established a saw, planing, and flour mill, which was 
operated by steam. This was the first steam mill brought to the old Cherokee part of Georgia and Alabama The machinery 
was shipped from Pittsburg to Gunter's Landing by boat and brought by wagons to Jefferson. It consisted of one 120 h.p. 
steam engine, two sash -- and one circular saws and was located in a four-story building, something indeed novel in this 
sylvan land. A tannery was established by John McGhee in 1838, foundry and machine shop by Milner, Nichols, Hallett, 
and Nesbit. These industries, with a wagon shop, six stores, and two hotels, surrounded the public square on which was 
erected a log court house. In 1842 the name of Jefferson was changed to Cedar Bluff.
Probably no town in the nation can boast of having had as
many newspapers as Cedar Bluff, certainly no town of the same
size. In 184-3, S. 13. Hinton established the "Gladiator", which
was followed by the "Palladium" the "Messenger", the "Sentinel"
the "Olive Branch". We are only concerned however, with two of
these journals. The "Messenger" was purchased in 1854 by Edward
Stiff, who later with his son, LaFayette 14. Stiff, edited the
"Sentinel". No editor has ever been more fearless or wielded
as virile a pen as Stiff the Elder. He was a man of wide and
various experiences, having edited papers in New York and Cincinnati,
and written a book on his travels, called "The Texas
Immigrant." His editorial frankness and biting condemnation of
the habits and morals of some of his fellow citizens made his
existence miserable and life a gamble with odds all against him.
It seems that Hinton, a lawyer and former editor, had slain
Sheriff Stallings, and then fled to Texas. Stiff accused a
group of the leading citizens of blocking the extradition of
Hinton, among whom was the town's leading lawyer, Judge Mathew
J. Turnley. Out of these charges and counter charge, Stiff
was beset and beaten insensible and survived only to be again
attacked, but killed his assailant. ,.s a result of these fiasco--,
Stiff was placed An jail at Ashville, one having never been built
at Cedar Bluff He later was released, Journeyed to Cuba, and
returned to Centre to live with his son, L. M. Stiff, who edited
Centre's first paper, the "Coosa River Argus" Having been an
advocate of the opening of the Coosa as a medium of transportation,
since his removal to Cherokee County, Stiff requested
shortly before hi,, death that he be buried on the Coosa with his
head facing the river, so that he could watch "the damned steam
boats Co by!" His people honored his request -3.cidl is buried
at Garrett's Ferry, Just below the resting place of Path Killer,
the last King of the Cherokees. The Stiff family with newspapers in Cherokee County from 1845 to 1925
or for a successive period of eighty years, Washington C. Stiff,
the son of' LaFayette II. Stiff, being the last of the family
editors, the name dying with him.



In 1844, a great deal of dissatisfaction arose in the County over the Courthouse, resulting in the Legislature appointing a 
committee of citizens to ascertain the exact center of the County. This committee consisted of Jas. Montgomery, Magnus 
G. Williams, A. G. Copeland, Thomas Garrett, Jos. Wharton, Aaron Clifton, and A. R. Brindley. This commission made a 
thorough investigation and selected the hill on which the town of Centre now stands. At that time, however, there was only 
one dwelling on Centre hill and that a log one, which stood where the 'club house' or residence of E. M. Sheppard, now 
stands. An election was then held on the first Monday in April 1844 the people being given an opportunity to vote on 
whether the Courthouse should remain at Cedar Bluff or be moved to the central location selected by the Commissioners, 
and the central location won. On January 27, 1846, the Legislature appointed another committee to lay off the town of 
Centre, to sell lots, and to erect public buildings. This committee consisted of Messrs. Wharton, Clifton, Garrett, Brindley, 
and Asa W. Allen. Mr. Allen was a surveyor and, with the assistance of Moses Hampton, a Negro Methodist preacher, laid 
off the town and drew the first town plat. Within a few years the United States Land Office was moved from Lebanon to 
Centre and the town started to grow slowly. The first newspaper established in Centre was the Argus, in 1854 by L. 14. 
Stiff, which continued until shortly after the Civil War.
Cherokee County furnished fifteen companies of infantry and two of cavalry to the Confederate Army. The 19th Alabama 
Regiment of Infantry was composed almost entirely of Cherokeeans. The first colonel of the lath Alabama was Joseph 
Wheeler, who all know, later became one of the outstanding cavalry leaders of the Confederacy. After Wheeler's 
promotion to a generalship, he was succeeded by S. K. McSpadden of Centre. The lath Alabama participated in some of 
the most sanguinary conflicts of the war, including Corinth, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Franklin, and Atlanta. 
Towards the end of the war, the infantry was under the command of Gen. E. W. Pettus, and surrendered at Salisbury, 
North Carolina.
One of the most daring feats in all military history occurred in this County. In April 1863, Col. Abel D. Streight, with a 
command of over two thousand Federal troops, was ordered from Tuscumbia to proceed-south and east to destroy 
Confederate foundries and munitions factories, especially in Cherokee County and in Rome, Georgia. Gen. Bragg, having 
become acquainted with this information, dispatched Gen. Forrest, the wizard of the South in pursuit of the Yankee troops. 
At a point near Blountsville Forrest overtook Streight, and a running battle ensued from that place to Black Creek, near 
Gadsden. The Yankees reached Black Creek first rapidly crossing over and then fired the only bridge in the neighborhood, 
completely cutting off Forrest's pursuit. For a few minutes it seemed that a victory which had been so imminent had 
vanished, when, of a sudden, a











young woman, wearing a linzey dress and sun bonnet, ran up and offered to pilot Forrest and his troops to a ford. This 
gallant general helped the young lady into the saddle behind him and rode towards the ford. Yankee soldiers across the 
creek started firing, but when Emma removed her bonnet and the troops saw that there was indeed a girl in Forrest's 
saddle, they not only ceased firing, but gave her a rousing cheer. (Editor's note: This was Emma Sansom.) The 
Confederates stayed on the Federals' heels until they reached the Lawrence farm just above Cedar Bluff at dawn on May 
3, 1863, and stopped for a moment's rest. They had no sooner dismounted than Forrest's troops were seen at a distance 
and in a few minutes a courier reached Gen. Streight under a flag of truce, bearing a note requesting immediate surrender. 
A conference was then held between the two leaders; during this meeting a courier rode up to Gen. Forrest and stated that 
Gen. Van Dorn with a division of troops was stationed a half-mile distant, awaiting orders. Just as this courier was leaving, 
another rode- up with the statement that Gen. Roddey presented his compliments and was awaiting orders. Forrest replied 
to both that they were to instruct their commanders to await his signal gun, whereupon a charge was to be made. Of 
course, there was no Gen. Roddey or Van Dorn in the State, but the strategy so dismayed Streight that he readily agreed 
to the terms demanded by Forrest and surrendered his entire troops.
A mineralogist friend of the writer once told him that Cherokee County was a geological paradise. Certainly no area in the 
State outside of the Birmingham district has had as interesting a record in the field of iron production as Cherokee County. 
The first furnace in the County was built at Round Mountain in 1848 by Moses Stroup, on the site where John Milner had 
operated a forge. This furnace had a capacity of two and onehalf tons daily and used 250 bushels of charcoal daily. in 
addition to manufacturing pig iron, there was made at Round Mountain, castings, pots, skillets, and machinery. The 
finished products were sold locally and the pig iron was shipped by boat to Rome and thence by rail to Pittsburg. This 
furnace was sold to P. S. Marshall in 1855 and later sold to Capt. J. M. Elliott of Rome. It was, later destroyed by 
Sherman's raiders, due to the fact that It furnished iron to the Confederacy. It was rebuilt in 18'/0 and in its late years was 
used as a manufacturing plant for the production of wood alcohol.
Cherokee's Cornwall furnace was very famous because of its uniqueness. So far as we have been able to learn, it was the 
only furnace in the country whose blast was furnished by water power. Cornwall was built by James Noble and his son, 
Samuel, natives of' Cornwall, England. The story of how James Noble became attracted to Alabama is quite an interesting 
story. It is said that the senior Noble attended a manufacturer's exposition in Sydenham, England, in 1851 and there saw 
blooms, or pig iron samples, which had been made at Round Mountain. The



fibrousness and quality of this iron so interested Noble that he then and there decided to move to America. The Nobles 
immigrated to Rome and established a foundry and machine shop there and built Cornwall to supply the raw material used 
in the foundry. The first Confederate cannon was made by Noble in Rome, from iron drawn from the hills of Cherokee 
County and smelted at Cornwall. This furnace was destroyed by Gen. Blair in 1864 but was rebuilt by Col. Rattray.
Very little is known of the early history of the Rock. Run furnace except that it was in operation during the Civil War, being 
the largest in the County and supplying iron to Confederate munitions makers. It was destroyed also by Federal troops in 
1862 or 1863, being rebuilt in 1879 by the Bass Foundry and Machine Company and was the last charcoal furnace in the 
United States to be blown out. It is interesting to know that statistics show that during the Civil War, one-seventh of all the 
iron produced in Alabama was made in Cherokee County.
After the war, the Stonewall furnace was built at Langdon City by J. 14. Selkirk, and the Tecumseh furnace was built in 
1873. The Tecumseh Iron Company was organized and headed by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Gen. Warner's 
war-time chief. This furnace was twelve by sixty feet and was said by authorities on the subject to have been "one of the 
largest charcoal furnaces in the country, and considered the finest plant, architecturally, in the South." Its productive 
capacity was fifty tones a day. Operations were suspended in 1890 and the physical properties entirely dismantled.
In the 1880's there arose the only 'boom town' ever known to Cherokee County. The town was promoted by northern 
capitalists, being built between Langdon and Tecumseh, and called Bluffton. At one time Bluffton had eight thousand 
inhabitants and work was begun on munitions and car wheel factories. Ground was broken for the establishment of the 
University of the Southland, the cornerstone of which is now lying on the side of the road at the little Bluffton school house. 
The first electric lights in the County were brought to Bluffton, the remains of which may now be seen in the Mount Signal 
Hotel. Today there is not even a post office at Bluffton.
In addition to the raw materials which Cherokee County has furnished and for which the business world is greatly indebted, 
there is yet a greater debt of gratitude owed to our County for its contribution of the typewriter. The typewriter was invented 
by a Centre man, at Centre, who requested that when the time came for him to take his last long sleep, that he be placed 
near his peaceful little village. John J. Pratt was Register in Chancery of Cherokee County in the late 1850's. His position 
required that he perform a large amount of writing and as a consequence, his hands often became cramped. The idea 
arose in



his mind that this situation could be remedied by the invention of a writing machine. It. Pratt was a part-owner and editor of 
a newspaper at Centre, called the NATIONAL DEMOCRAT, and there worked in the office of this journal Mr. John Neely. 
Pratt conveyed his idea to Neely and requested that Neely fashion type to be used in his writing machine. In 1860 his 
inventive genius bore fruition, Pratt displaying to his friends a completed writing machine. Being a man of keen preception, 
he realized that a conflict between the North and South was soon forthcoming. Because of this thought, he sold his slaves 
and possessions, took his machine and sailed to England. Patents were received from the English and French 
governments in 1863. An account of this writing machine was published in the journal of the Royal British Scientific 
Society, and copied by the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. Two years after the account of Pratt's machine had appeared in the 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, the first American patents were issued to Glidden and Sholes, whereas the people in Centre 
had seen and used a typewriter some six years prior to the time the first American patents were issued. The Pratt 
machine, called the 'pterotype,' is now on exhibition in the Royal British Museum in London. Photographs of it may be seen 
in the Encyclopedia Britannia.
Time and space do not permit the presentation of other salient features of a greatly varied and highly interesting history of 
Cherokee County. We trust that this little sketch will be of interest to some of our fellow Cherokeeans. If it contains enough 
interest to be enjoyed at at least one, we will think the time wellspent in preparing it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  -
THE LORD'S PRAYER (As translated from English into Cherokee, then from Cherokee to English, by Rev. S. A. 
Worcester.)
"Our Father, who dwellest above honored by thy name. Lot thy Empire spring to light. Let thy will be done on earth as it is 
done above. Our food day by day bestow upon us. Pit us in regard to our having sinned against thee, as we pity those who 
sin against us. And lead us not into any place of straying, but on the other hand, restrain us from sin. For thine is the 
Empire, and the strength and the honor forever. So let it be.''
-- CHEROKEE PHOENIX, February 21, 1828 (Taken from The Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume III, Series 
3, March 1967, page 451.)