Melton's Bluff
Rich
Subject: Melton's Bluff
Date: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 9:10 PM
I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this to hsv.general because it
has local relevance and someone can now find this on Dejanews.
snip
Richard Melton wrote:
> Anyway, I would be most interested (and I am sure the rest of our clan
> would be also) to hear what you know about the (in)famous John Melton
> and welcome your response if you have the time.
snip
John Melton was a Door Irishman who, a short while after being in this
country, abandoned the whites back east in the late 1700's and went into
Cherokee land and took a Cherokee "wife". He gathered a band of her
brothers and friends and they went west to Melton's Bluff. This was an
excellent ambush site for raiding flatboats when settlers and explorers
later came down the Cherokee (Tennessee) River. He amassed a fortune
raiding flatboats until the area slowly became more populated and Fort
Henry (I think it was Henry) was built practically across the river to
ensure the safety of travelers. Except for a string of temporary,
Spanish forts in Mobile Bay, Melton's Bluff was the first europeon
settlement in Alabama.
Melton's Bluff was on the south bank of the river just upstream of where
Elk River enters on the north. (The fort was actually on Elk River,
since Melton owned the entire south bank). The river here starts a
quick drop down to the town of Muscle Shoals. This cut through the rock
created a broad expanse of very shallow water with innumberable sharp
rocks that formed an effective barrier to river travel. This area, from
Elk River to, what is now the town of Muscle Shoals [sic] was called
Muscle [Mussel?] Shoals. This remained a barrier to boat travel, even
flatboats, until the Corp of Engineers built the first dams and locks.
The cut also forms an impressive, vertical, rock bluff. Due to the
curve of the river, from this inside bluff, one could see for miles
either way along the river. I am guessing that the early travelers tied
up before entering the rapids and were easy prey.
This 1795 map shows the Shoals and location of the fort.
http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1795r7.jpg
I'll have to find the maps showing Melton's Bluff. One has no
Huntsville yet.
An early business in the area was trucking freight around the Shoals by
mule. This was later replaced by the very first, narrow-gage, railroad
West of Georgia, terminating at "The Bluff".
Most people know of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and Jackson's success
over the Muskogee (Creek) after the massacre at Fort Mims. Some know
that Indians with Jackson did all of the heaviest fighting, not the
whites. Those Indians were Cherokee supplied by "Moses" Melton from
Melton's Bluff. Melton moved away from the Bluff shortly afterward,
accross the river, into Limestone County because he was afraid of
reprisals from the Creek. Melton's Cherokee friends then traded the
land West of the Cherokee Nation (around Huntsville) and North of the
river to the United States, excepting a plot of land belonging to Moses
Melton in what is now Limestone County, for a sum of cash, an annuity,
and, the new invention, a cotton gin. This was the first gin west of
the Applachian Mountains. This treaty was the "Cotton Gin Treaty".
Melton's Indian friends fled to Oklahoma a few years early, however,
because the land transfered actually belonged to the Choctaw and the
Cherokee Nation was not consulted, even though the treaty reads as if
the Nation made the treaty.
The first road in Lawrence County was a Cherokee toll road for taking
cotton from the Bluff to Tupelo, Mississippi. Long before 1819, when
Alabama was made a state, before the Cherokee were removed, Melton's
Bluff had became a regular stop for travelers and Melton himself had an
Inn/Saloon/Bawdy House there. Since the area was so well known,
Lawrence County was actually chartered as a county a few months BEFORE
the State of Alabama. When John Melton left the Bluff, he sold out
to... ANDREW JACKSON! Jackson tried to make a go of the young town even
after the county seat was made the brand-new town of Moulton. Jackson
changed the name to Marathon. By the Civil War, Melton's Bluff no
longer even appears on maps.
I've seen a 1910's article in the old Morgan County newsrag about
telephone wires all the way to "Milton's Bluff". There is a Melton's
Bluff river navigation light and a Melton's Bluff road. Wheeler Dam
flooded the site by a rumored 20'. I have pre-impoundment maps and, if
the flooded rumor is true, Melton's Bluff was on a narrow ledge which is
underwater.
The County park is on an adjacent bluff to the west of the real one.
--
Ron Hammon. Remove "y" from "nyet", if present, from my address to
reply.
--
Ron Hammon. Remove "y" from "nyet", if present, from my address to
reply.
Rich
Subject: Re: Melton's Bluff
Date: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 1:58 AM
I do not mind you posting to hsv.general. In fact, I am curious to see
> where the thread leads. Might learn a lot I didn't know before.
>
> I am wondering at the moment where you found the history of John Melton,
> especially about him coming being Irish. I don't know the term "door
> Irishman." The tracking of our ancestors and other Melton's I've seen
takes
> them back into England.
>
> The description you give of John's activities in Melton's Bluff agrees
> with what I remember my brother told me from what they read in the
archives.
> My aunt made a copy of all the information they found, and I wish now that
> my brother and I had a copy. I am forwarding your email and the
hsv.general
> thread to my brother via email. My aunt does not have email, but I will
make
> a printed copy to mail her.
>
> Thanks again for the info and starting the thread. If indeed the John
> Melton in question came from Ireland, then that lets me off the hook I
think
> since my ancestors came into the U.S. from England. So maybe my welcome
back
> into North Alabama will be a happy one.
I misspelled Dour (I think). I actually started this trek when we
visted the big cave at Childersburg some years back and I bought a state
map "Curious And Forgotten Places in Alabama". The only place close by
was Melton's Bluff, "a town founded by a river pirate". The map stated
that he was a Dour Irishman, well over 6 feet tall. It also told of his
leaving the East and traveling to the area. I haven't found their
sources. If I find the map soon, I can give you some dates.
My family and I did research afterwards and found out about Gaine's
Trace (the first road), the railroad (there is a marker in Decatur
marking the extended, Eastern terminus of this first railroad in
Alabama), the Cotton Gin Treaty, and even a book with detailed
descriptions of the place. This was after John had already moved away.
The book is "Letters from Alabama; 1817-1822", Anne Newport Royall,
University of Alabama Press. I found and bought a copy. Ms. Royall,
the author (if you call her that. The book is merely a collection of
letters sent back East to a male friend detailing her travels through
VERY early Alabama) quotes the beauty of the place and quotes it as
"said to be the most beautiful place in the world, not on the sea". She
describes Andrew Jackson dropping by and describes his adopted Creek
son! When Anne was there, besides the inn and tavern, she describes a
doctor's office, a livery, a store, and several houses. She also spent
a lot of time in Huntsville (about the only other place around at the
time).
You can tell that Anne feels that Melton was criminal and seems bitter
that he was allotted a very long life. By this time, as I remember, he
had already died. I would check, but someone has has "lost" my copy. I
had assumed that the "Cotton Gin Treaty" of 1806 refers to him as "Moses
Melton" because of his advanced age. But, I can't reconcile his move
across the river to flee Creek reprisals since Horseshoe Bend was 1814
and the treaty that describes Moses Melton living north of the river was
1806, unless Moses is not really John, or he was already working on the
new plantation but still running the tavern at Melton's Bluff.
I used to work for Myron (Tall-Man) Melton in Decatur who is 6'-7 (sound
familier?). When I approached him with the news, he was ammused. His
grandfather was Dr. John Melton from South Limestone County, the same
area, and obviously named after his own grandfather, or so. Myron knew
of the Indian blood, with no details. He had also wondered how someone
from this part of Alabama got the funds for medical school back then.Ron
Hammon wrote:
>
> Ron Hammon wrote:
> >
> snip
>
> > Fort
> > Henry (I think it was Henry) was built practically across the river to
> > ensure the safety of travelers.
>
> snip
>
> Oops. I see it was Fort Hampton.
> http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1815m4.jpg
>
> Notice the knob on the south bank, just east of Elk River. This is
> Melton's Bluff. Also, notice Ditto Landing and Fort Deposit. The
> earlier maps show Whitesburg as the "Creek Crossing Place".
> --
> Ron Hammon. Remove "y" from "nyet", if present, from my address to
> reply.
--
Ron Hammon. Remove "y" from "nyet", if present, from my address to
reply.
--
Richard Melton
Senior Field Engineer
Hitachi Denshi America, Southeast Region
rwme...@hdal.com
TEL: (678) 937-0201
FAX: (678) 937-0202
"Rich" <rwme...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:3a0b4...@news1.prserv.net...
Rich
Subject: Re: Melton's Bluff
Rich wrote:
>
> From: Jonathan Melton <1jme...@bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: More Melton's Bluff
> Date: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 2:11 PM
>
> The group should know that there is a move on to get a plaque or marker up
> on Melton's Bluff. All that is in the area now is a monument where Gen
Joe
> Wheeler (who isn't such the hero in some folk's eyes) crossed the TN River
> with his troops to fight a battle. It's there where the old Lawrence
County
> Park used to be. Tell Mr Hammon that I'll be glad to meet him and take
him
> back into Melton's Bluff if he wants to go. As for us, Aunt Clara Nell is
> looking into our possible kinship to the less than upright John Melton.
> Also, I believe Moses was a son of John.
>
> Jonathan Melton
snip
>
I've been to the park several times. That is not the site. The
Lawrence County Park is the site of the pre-impoundment Lock A. There
is a slough to the east and another bluff past it. That bluff, at the
end of Peter's Ridge, matches the description of being up from the west
bank of the creek, looks upriver to Brown's Ferry, and is the site of
the river navigation light named "Melton's Bluff". There is also the
mention of the site being flooded by 20'. This matches a 30' wide ledge
at the site that I describe. Although this sounds narrow for a path and
buildings, the buildings of the time were quite modest and may work
out. On the other hand, if the town was on top, then the flooded remark
is untrue.
I'd love to go to the proper site, but it is a string of some sort of
hunting clubs or something and doesn't look very inviting. I was going
to do a property search, find the owners, and contact them. If anyone
knows the owners, please clue me in.
I mentioned my pre-impoundment maps. I had never even heard of Brown's
Island at Decatur. What a shame to have flooded it. If anyone knows
the river around the Decatur Boat Harbor, this is the very shallow place
(usually with some impromptu marker) about a mile south of the harbor on
the north side of the channel. Brown's Island was, maybe, 60 acres with
three houses on it and reachable only by private ferry. The movie "Wild
River" about the old woman who refused to leave her island during the
flooding stage of a dam on the Tennessee River, was, I think, about
Brown's Island, although a map on the wall in the movie hints that it
takes place in Tennessee. The pre-impoundment map shows an area of a
field on the island that is described the site of the old prison
graveyard. With a blend of Brubaker, Cool Hand Luke, and Wild River, I
imagine an island prison of the post-Civil War period with unknown evil
deeds buried, lost, and flooded forever.
Rich
From: Jonathan Melton <1jme...@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: More Melton's Bluff
Date: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 2:11 PM
The group should know that there is a move on to get a plaque or marker up
on Melton's Bluff. All that is in the area now is a monument where Gen Joe
Wheeler (who isn't such the hero in some folk's eyes) crossed the TN River
with his troops to fight a battle. It's there where the old Lawrence County
Park used to be. Tell Mr Hammon that I'll be glad to meet him and take him
back into Melton's Bluff if he wants to go. As for us, Aunt Clara Nell is
looking into our possible kinship to the less than upright John Melton.
Also, I believe Moses was a son of John.
Jonathan Melton
"Ron Hammon" <ham...@hiwaay.nyet> wrote in message
news:3A08F9...@hiwaay.nyet...
Rich
--
"Ron Hammon" <ham...@hiwaay.nyet> wrote in message
news:3A0A1E...@hiwaay.nyet...
> Rich wrote:
> >
> > From: Jonathan Melton <1jme...@bellsouth.net>
> > Subject: Re: More Melton's Bluff
> > Date: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 2:11 PM
> >
> snip
> --
> Ron Hammon. Remove "y" from "nyet", if present, from my address to
From: Jonathan Melton <1jme...@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Melton's Bluff somemore
Date: Thursday, November 09, 2000 10:43 AM
Think you've started something with this Melton's Bluff thing. Ron Hammon
is right, at least the starting point to Melton's Bluff is across the
slough to the east from the Lawrence County Park. When we went over
there we also were told by one of the hunters on horses we saw to go
back into the water treatment plant area just east of the park and
across the slough. There were no trespassing signs posted, but the
hunter told us that the most anyone would do would be to tell us to
leave. No one came out from the plant so we just drove around it and
Aunt Clara Nell took a photo. Didn't venture out on foot to get closer
to the river, but we could look out and see the river just fine. The
hunter also told us that pretty much from the park east all the way
around to Mallard Creek was commonly referred to as Melton's Bluff. TVA
owns the most of it along the river. The Wheeler Estate owns some of
it, and I guess Hammon is right about the hunting clubs. If they don't
own the land, they at least lease it. If we knew who to ask, I'm sure
we would be allowed to walk back in toward the river. Does Ron
Hammon knows about Meltonsville near Guntersville in Marshall County.
Some of John Melton's sons or grandsons left the bluff and settled
there. There is a Melton Hollow in the Waterloo area of Lauderdale
County. Some early buildings are still standing and, I think, are part
of the State Wildlife Management Area. Don't know of any connection to
the Bluff folks.
If Richard can't find an apartment, maybe he can develop a condo
complex and be the next Melton to occupy and dominate Melton's Bluff.
jm
donna...@netscape.net
the Valley history.
Donna
