"Indian Tribes of Tennessee" Lesson

Played on a 1940s (Gretsch) Bacon "Belmont" banjo tuned eAEAB ~ gCGCD. I learned "Indian Tribes of Tennessee" from recordings of Addie Graham, L.P. Carlock, Dee Hicks, and Bessford Hicks. Alternate titles include "The Cumberland," "Old Cumberland Land," and "Pioneer's Letter." It's mention of indigenous society in eastern Tennessee suggests the song was composed before 1830.  

Many versions of the song include a reference to prehistoric mound-building in the area: "I found six hundred human graves all walled inside Freemason works, which made me think in days gone by some human race did pass this place."  

The previous verse is absent from the version below, printed in 1853:  

When I first started away from you, 

With grief and sorrow and trouble too, 

You gave to me the parting hand, 

And wished me safe on the Cumberland.  

When we were on the ice and snow, 

It rained it hailed the wind did blow, 

And some of us did mourn and cry, 

To think with cold we all must die.  

But bless the Lord some relief is found, 

We're landed here both safe and sound, 

In a lonesome place but fruitful soil 

There's milk and wine, and corn and oil.  

I have one more line to write to you 

Religion's dull and preachers few, 

We're here in peace and like to be 

With the Indian tribe on the Tennessee.  

My friends behind I would like to see 

If from this task I could get free, 

To preach I'm bound and may it be 

With the Indian tribe on the Tennessee.  

And if on earth we meet no more 

I hope to meet on Canaan's shore, 

And there we'll sing and happy be 

With the Indian tribe on the Tennessee. 

- The Revivalist: A New Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Glass,1853)  

"But a lesser-known song paints an even more particular picture of the area; this remarkable ballad is known variously as Old Cumberland Land, The Cumberland, or The Indian Tribes of Tennessee. An epistolary ballad in the form of a letter written by a woman who came from the East coast to settle with her family on the Cumberland Plateau, it told about the hardships they had to endure and the natural beauty they witnessed:   

The day that I parted away from you  

In sorrow, grief, and trouble too,  

You gave to me your parting hand,  

And wished me safe on the Cumberland.  

Then on our journey we did steer,  

O’er hills and valleys and rivers clear,  

Through a desert place in a barren land,  

We steered our course for the Cumberland.   

When we got there, there was ice and snow; 

It rained and hailed and the wind did blow,  

Which caused us all to weep and cry,  

Staying here with cold we all must die.   

But thank the Lord our health we found;  

We landed here both safe and sound,  

In the happy land, O the fertile soil:  

Here’s milk, here’s wine, both corn and oil.   

We saw ten thousand human graves,  

All walled in with mason’s sign,  

Which made me think in the days of old,  

Some human race had passed this place.   

I’ve nothing more to write to you,  

Since preaching’s scarce, and religion’s low,  

We’re here in love, peace, and hope to be,  

With the Indian Tribes in Tennessee.   

My love to you I can’t unfold,  

It’s like some lovely ring of gold,  

It’s round, it’s pure, O it has no end,  

So is my love to you my friend.   

"This particular version of the song was collected in 1935 from L. P. Carlock of Alpine, in Overton County; it had been handed down from father to son in his family. Other versions of the song have been found in southeastern Kentucky, in Fentress County, and in Crossville. Some omit the stanza about 'ten thousand human graves' walled in with 'the mason’s sign,' which possibly referred to Indian graveyards. Indian symbols would seem strange to settlers in the way a secret Masonic sign would seem strange. Few songs give as gripping a picture of the cruel winters that faced settlers in the wild new land on the Cumberland Plateau." 

- Rural Life And Culture In The Upper Cumberland (Birdwell & Dickinson, 2004)

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