BENJAMIN CUTBIRTH
Benjamin was born approximately 1739 in Pennsylvania. A letter
written by his
son-in-law, Elijah Callaway, to the famed historian Lyman Draper
on 30 JUN 1845 states;
"Benjamin Cutbirth, the great hunter and explorer of the
West was born in Augusta
County VA, about the year 1740." Quite a definite statement,
yet Elijah's son James
Callaway writes to Draper in his letter of 19 FEB 1852; "My
grandfather, Benjamin
Cutbirth, as I have always heard my mother say. came from
Pennsylvania to the fork of the
Yadkin...." James story is enhanced by the fact that his
mother Mary, was one of
Benjamin's daughters and that in the middle Eighteenth century
there was a Great Road
which led from central PA to the Yadkin Forks area of NC.
According to Elijah Callaway , when Benjamin was a boy his father
died, and in
Elijah's words; "...and his widowed mother married when he
was grown to manhood, and
his being an enterprising nature, he early left his step-father's
house and emigrated to
Rowan County NC." He arrived in Rowan County by at least
1761, for he is listed in a
1761 Rowan County tax list. Exactly where he settled in
uncertain. Church records
mention him living near Mocksville in what is now Davie Co. This
is the same area
several hardy pioneer families had settled; The Bryants,
Callaways, Boones and many
others. Reuben Twaite's book Daniel Boone describes Benjamin's
entry into the Yadkin
Forks region; "At the end of the French and Indian War.
there arrived a Scotch-Irishman
named Benjamin Cutbirth, aged about 23 years. He was a man of
good character and a
fine hunter. Marrying Elizabeth Wilcoxson, a niece of Daniel
Boone, He and Boone went
upon long hunts together, and attained that degree of comradeship
and trust that life in a
wilderness camp is almost certain to produce."
Benjamin evidently was a very quiet man, well suited to the long
hunting trips he
took. James Callaway said he was "a man of strong mind and
body, a man reserved in
conversation, not at all disposed to be communicative I have very
often heard my mother
saying that her father said very little..." His personality
must have been very similar to
Daniel Boone's for they became fast friends. They both enjoyed
solititude and went on
many hunting excursions into the Watauga region of Western NC and
Eastern TN.
Because of these long trips the Indians called such men as these
"long hunters" and
because of their large hunting knives were known as "long
knives." On one of these trips
to the Watauga area, Benjamin and Daniel had been quite
successful and left their kill in
camp while they went out for more. They were frequently attacked
by Indians, but on this
time when they returned to camp, found the meat had been taken by
wild animals. They
whimsically named this place "Meat Camp" which it is
still called in Watauga County NC.
Benjamin and Elizabeth soon began their family. In about 1763
they had their first
child, a son they named Daniel Boone Cutbirth. A couple of years
later they had another
son, Benjamin Jr. Although things were seemingly going well for
Benjamin and his family,
there was a new development in the Yadkin Forks; it was quickly
becoming crowded,
which meant one thing to a hunter: more competition for a
dwindling amount of game.
So in 1767 Benjamin set out to find a land less crowded and
better hunting than Rowan
Co. With him he took three young men from the Yadkin; John
Stuart, John Baker, and
John Ward. Daniel Boone spent the whole winter that year berating
himself for not going
along, and eventually convinced himself he was to old and that
Benjamin hadn't even
asked him to go on the journey, (he had.) They went Westward
along a little known
Indian trail, crossing the Appalachians and hunting bear and
buffalo across Southern KY
and Northern TN. In the autumn of 1767, they came upon the
Mississippi River,
becoming the first white man ever to accomplish this feat
overland from the East. They
probably first viewed the Mississippi River near the MO Bootheel,
and then went North
up the big river to a tributary, more than likely the Ohio River,
and in this vicinity they
wintered. The next few months were spent descending the
Mississippi, encountering
whirlpools, storms, snags, river banks shelving in and Indians.
They finally reached New
Orleans where they sold their furs, skins, and meats at good
prices. In the words of a
reporter of the day, said they gained "quite a respectable
reward." Their expedition having
been a tremendous financial success, they headed home through
Indian territory, now the
sites of Alabama and Mississippi. Their trip back was not without
incidence however,
somewhere en-route they were robbed of all their earnings by
either Choctaw or Creek
Indians. When the band of hunters reached home broke, they vowed
never again to repeat
their trip.
Upon his return home, Benjamin settled down for a time, turning
his attention once
more to his family and involving himself in the church. 1770
brought the birth of his first
daughter, Mary. In 1771 Benjamin welcomed a Moravian Home
Missionary, Reverend
George Soelle to preach in his home. 1772 saw the birth of
another daughter, Sarah.
Sarah and Benjamin had another minister in his home to preach,
Reverend John Mclamore
of the Dutchman Creek Congregation.
1763 promised to be another quiet year. On 7 Mar 1773 Benjamin
was baptized
by the Reverend William Cook. However, a few months later, Ben
was on his way to
Kentucky with a band of men led by Daniel Boone. This trip was
not destined to fare
well. Soon after they left, a scouting party was attacked by
Indians. After the fighting at
Walloon's Ridge was over, five of Bone's men were dead, including
his son James, who
was tortured to death. Benjamin had passed that very spot only
hours before, looking for
a place to make camp for the night, but decided to move on a head
of the others.
Shattered by this event, Daniel and the rest turned back for home
with Daniel, Benjamin,
and Will Grant returning a short time later to bury James Boone.
Saddened, but not
beaten, the group soon set out again for KY reaching Little
Hickman Creek in what is
now Jessemine Co. There they wintered in a cave where Daniel
Boone observed his
custom of carving his initials and the year into the cavern wall.
Once Benjamin returned home, it looked once again like he was in
the process of
settling down. On 7 AUG 1774, his wife Elizabeth was baptized.
And in Mar 1775, Ben
was performing routine tasks for the church. But by 1775 was to
become more eventful
for him than 1767 & 1773 combined.
The 10 of Mar 1775 found Benjamin embarking for KY with a group
of seasoned
backwoodsmen, led by Daniel Boone on an expedition to cut a great
road, through the
KY wilderness. opening up KY for colonists to settle, and to
build a fort to protect the
settlement. They blazed a trail through Powers Valley, and passed
through the
Cumberland Gap, then widened the old Warrior's Path for about 50
miles before heading
West near Hazel Patch. Following an ancient buffalo trace
Northwest. they came upon
the Rockcastle River, where they had to cut their way through
twenty miles of country
covered with dead brush, which according to Felix Walker, the
chronicler of the group,
"was a difficult and laborious task". They then had to
cut through thirty miles of thick
cane and reed before they eventually reached their objective, the
mouth of the Otter Creek
on the South bank of the Kentucky River in April. When these
brave men had cut their
road and built their fort, America had two more national
treasures, the Wilderness Road
and Boonesborough.
Their journey had not been without trouble. On March 24 camped
outside what is
now Richmond Kentucky, they were attacked by Indians. They beat
the Indians back, but
suffered injuries and deaths. It was here that Benjamin was about
to be killed by an
Indian, when Daniel Boone saved his life.
As event filled as the undertaking already was, it was just
beginning. Many of the
men, including Benjamin and Daniel, returned East to bring their
families back to
Boonesborough. Indian attacks began and the Continental Congress
refused to recognize
the settlement as the Fourteenth Colony. The dream of
Transylvania was destroyed. All
of this before 1775 was through. The year of 1776 was to be no
exception. Outside the
fort, during the summer, Boone's daughter and two Callaway girls
were kidnapped by
Indians, but subsequently rescued by Daniel Boone and others.
1777 brought more of the
same. Indian raids mounted in ferocity and Daniel was wounded and
nearly killed in one
attack on the fort. The settlers suffered through a salt shortage
so severe, they drafted a
petition to Congress asking the government to take over the salt
licks owned by
individuals so that the salt could be evenly distributed to
everyone. This petition was
signed by, among others, Daniel Boone, Richard Callaway, Benjamin
Cutbirth, Benjamin
Logan, and George Clark.(brother to William Clark of Lewis &
Clark)
Encouraged by the British, the Indians renewed their attacks
throughout 1778. So
intense were the attacks, Boone went to the British and the
Indians, staying among them
for several months trying to persuade them not to attack the
fort. His efforts proved
fruitless however, and the Indians attacked Boonesborough but
could not capture the fort.
After Boone returned he was court-martialed for treason at the
instigation of Col. Richard
Callaway, who was intensely jealous of Daniel Boone. During the
trial Benjamin Cutbirth
was the first witness in Boone's defense. Boone was found
innocent, promoted to Major,
and Callaway was killed by Indians two years later.
Benjamin lost his land in Kentucky (500 acres) and probably
having had enough of
Indians and land speculators, decided in late 1778 to move his
family back to North
Carolina, this time to the Blue Ridge Mountains. His new home was
situated on the South
Fork of the New River some three or four miles above an area
called "Oldfields", which
was an old Indian camp or clearing. This area was near the
present day boarders of Ashe
and Wilkes Counties.
The American Revolution had been raging since 1775 and much of
the new nation
was divided between its loyalties, those favoring independence,
and those remaining loyal
to the Crown. Even though the majority favored independence,
bands of armed Tories
roamed the area. The British paid well for Rebel prisoners. In
April 1781 a Tory leader
Captain William Riddle, came through Wilkes County with his band
of armed band of
men, bringing Rebel captives with them and looking for more. A
local Revolutionary
hero, Col. Benjamin Cleveland was in the area and Riddle set out
to capture him. Riddle
came upon Ben Cutbirth's place looking for information, as
described in John Crouch's
Historical Sketches of Wilkes Co.: "Riddle, with his party
of six or eight men, reached
Benjamin Cutbirth's some four miles above Oldfields, a fine old
Whig and an associate of
Daniel Boone, who was just recovering from a spell of fever, the
Tory captain, probably
from Cutbirth's reticence regarding solicited information,
shamefully abused him and
placed him under guard..." In the meantime, Daniel Cutbirth,
Benjamin's eldest son who
was absent from these events, returned home. Angered, eighteen
year old Daniel and a
friend of his named Walters armed themselves and immediately set
out to ambush Riddle
on his return. However when the boys saw how many men Riddle had
with him, they
decided to wait until later, allowing Riddle and his party,
including the captured Col.
Cleveland, to pass undisturbed. Once again coming upon Ben
Cutbirth's, Riddle ordered
dinner for himself, his men and his prisoners. One of Ben's
daughters, not willingly
serving the Tories, received verbal abuse and then kicks from
Riddle. Leaving Ben's
place, Riddle's group proceeded fourteen miles along New River to
a place near Elk Creek
called the Wolf's Den. But they had been followed on this trip.
Young Daniel Cutbirth,
this time with six of his friends, attacked Riddle and his group,
mortally wounding a
member of the Tory party, Zachariah Wells. Although Riddle
managed to escape with his
men, he had to leave behind Col. Cleveland and the wounded
Well's. Daniel and his
friends then returned home, also deciding to leave Well's behind.
Shortly thereafter,
Riddle and two of his men were captured and summarily hung by
order of Col. Cleveland.
With the successful conclusion of the War for Independence,
Benjamin's life began
to become a bit more tranquil. In a 1782 Wilkes Co. tax
enumeration, Col. Cleveland's
brother, Captain Robert Cleveland. lists Benjamin Cutbirth living
in his district/ Benjamin
had little or no knowledge of letters, and the enumerators had to
spell his name as it
sounded to them. Consequently, Ben's last name had many
variations through the years.
The next mention of Benjamin is in a 1787 Wilkes Co. North
Carolina census, Captain
Vane's district, as follows:
Benjamin Cutbirth one male 21-60
two males under 21 or over 60
four females
Daniel Cutbirth one male 21-60
two males under 21 or over 60
one female
In 1789 Benjamin was still in Wilkes Co. Court records show that
a seven year
old girl, Elender Hill, was bound to Benjamin Cutbirth. And in
April of that year, Ben's
eldest daughter, Mary, was married to Elijah Callaway.
The first United States Census, taken in 1790, lists Benjamin
still in Wilkes Co.,
Morgan's district:
Ben Culberth one male 16 and up
one male under 16
one female
Daniel Culberth one male 16 and up
one male under 16
three females
Benjamin next shows up in 1794, just across the border in Johnson
Co. TN.
Goodspeed's History of Johnson Co. TN lists him as one of the
first settlers on the Laurel
River. Also on that list is Joseph Wilson, who married Ben's
daughter Sarah in August.
That same year the fledgling Roane Creek Baptist Church listed
Benjamin as one of it's
first members. Ben's son Daniel was in nearby Washington Co. in
1794.
1795 finds Benjamin and both his boys in Washington Co. TN. Ben
was
apparently doing better financially this year, for he had land in
North Carolina and had
acquired a slave. The reader will have to use a little
imagination on this next tax list. It is
Captain Reuben Thornton's district, 1795 Washington County TN:
Cutbarth, Banj. Sen. 1 black poll
Culbouth, Bugn. 1 white poll
Cutbuth, Donnel 1 white poll 100 acres
In 1796 all three Cutbirths are still together, but are now
listed in Carter Co. They
are probably still in the same area, noting that county
boundaries and names changed quite
often those days. The following is the 1796 Carter Co. tax list:
Benjamin Cutbirth Sr. 1 black poll
Benjamin Cutbirth Jr. 1 white poll
Daniel Cutbirth Sr. 1 white poll
Benjamin acquires more land in North Carolina in 1797 and is
listed as having one
slave by a Carter Co. slave owner's list. In 1798 Ben was granted
200 more acres located
in Washington County and a tax list for that year has the
Cutbirths still in Carter County.
As evidenced by this next tax list, Benjamin and his brood were
still in Carter
County when 1799 began:
Daniel Cutbirth 100 acres 1 white male 21-50
Benjamin Cutbirth 1 white male 21-50
Ben Cutbirth Sr. 200 acres 1 slave 10-50
But as 1799 wore on, Benjamin divested himself of his all his
lands and he left East
Tennessee. He shows up next in Maury County, in South central
Tennessee, in 1807
when he signed a petition to form Maury County.
It would seem that Benjamin, now about 70, would settle down and
relax in his
golden years. He had seen and done things that most men only
dream about. He had as
full a life as a man could have and now it should be time to
rest. Well, in May of 1809.
Benjamin was living on the West Fork of Shoal Creek in Northern
Alabama. The only
problem was it wasn't Alabama then. It was part of the Cherokee
Nation, and the Indians
took exception to him being there. They complained to the Indian
Agency and U.S.
Government authorities had to force Benjamin off the Indian's
land. Benjamin then moved
back to Maury County, an 1811 tax list mentions Benjamin and his
son Daniel. Ben Jr.
had moved to Knox County in Southeastern Kentucky.
Mentioned in the August 25, 1814 issue of the Columbia TN
Chronicle was a
petition sent to the U.S. Government from the men, including
Benjamin Cutbirth, forced
of the Shoal Creek land.
Although the DAR states that Benjamin died in 1817, an 1816 Maury
County tax
list shows Daniel Cutbirth but not Benjamin. He apparently died
between 1814 and 1816.
His son-in-law Elijah Callaway, describes his place of burial;
"He and his old lady....has
long since laid down their bodies upon Elk Ridge in Tennessee
after living in the Baptist
Church for about 40 years."
This narrative can not be complete without mentioning Benjamin's
personality,
physical appearance, and what peers and historians said of him.
Taking into consideration
these events occurred 180 to 250 years ago, we are indeed
fortunate to have the following
quotes. From his grandson James Callaway, "I have no
recollection of ever seeing him,
but I have heard my mother say that he was a stout, square built
man of about five feet-ten
inches high-dark hair, and a rather dark complexion. That he was
a man of most
undaunted courage-of great industry and perseverance-an honest
man and a good Whig.-
he was a man of very few words-of rather morose and taciturn
disposition... he talked very
little except when he met with some old acquaintance or associate
from a hunting trip or
excursion into the wilderness, and that on such occasions he
would set up all night, on
religious matters or the Scriptures. He liked to talk with such
of his old acquantices, and
that was the way the family learned about most of his trips. He
was a man of
irreproachable character and undoubted veracity." And from
Allan Eckert's The court
martial of Daniel Boone; "Clad in faded gray lindsey-woolsey
shirt and trousers, Cutbirth
was a medium man in most physical respects. Of medium height and
weight, his features
were regular and undistinctive, his hair a pale brown, and his
complexion tanned. He
smiled easily, showing even, white teeth that were a trifle to
small. He was neither tense
nor to nonchalant, but simply calmly alert... On advice from Sam,
Daniel Boone had
immediately recalled Benjamin Cutbirth. He established the fact
that Cutbirth was noted
for his veracity, and would never had colored his testimony in
favor of Boone, even
though a relationship through marriage did exist, and despite the
fact that Boone had
saved his life. Benjamin Cutbirth was shown to be a man of high
moral character, a very
honorable man."
From Billington's Westward Expansion: "Even more spectacular
were the exploits
of another expedition led by Benjamin Cutbirth of North
Carolina...the principle
importance of this bold journey was to interest Daniel Boone in
Kentucky."
And from Clark's Kentucky: A Land of Contrast; "Among them
came Casper
Mansker, Elisha Walden, Jack Blevins, Benjamin Cutbirth, Henry
Scaggs, William
Newman, and William Pittman. These men were more than hunters,
they were the
forerunners of Anglo-American civilization..." and,
"Long hunting was not an unknown
pastime for Daniel Boone. He had hunted with such seasoned
woodsmen as Benjamin
Cutbirth for game and land along the Watauga in Eastern
Tennessee."
The DAR have Benjamin listed as a Revolutionary Patriot, and
erected a marker in
Kentucky commemorating the exploits of all those who helped cut
the Wilderness Road.
Among the names is Benjamin Cutbirth. The marker reads: In
testimony of the gratitude
of posterity for the historic service of cutting the Transylvania
Trail for that company,
the first great pathway to the West, March-April 1755, from Long
Island of the Holston
River, Tennessee, to the Otter Creek in Kentucky by a gallant
band of axemen, pioneers,
and Indian fighters who at the risk of loss of life opened the
doors of destiny to the White
race in Kentucky and the West.
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© 1983 Daniel Cutbirth, Independence MO. Page created March 1997, by J. Cochran.