Monument

For this post I am going to veer away from Bell genealogy or any family genealogy and present an article from The Camden Chronicle, from Thursday, September 2, 2010.

Before I begin, this comes from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary to show I am keeping with the genealogy theme of this blog.

Definition of GENEALOGY
1 : an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or from older forms
2 : regular descent of a person, family, or group of organisms from a progenitor or older form : pedigree
3 : the study of family pedigrees
4 : an account of the origin and historical development of something.

Now on to my post -

Wow, I was fully prepared to label “Pilot Knob” as the highest point in West Tennessee. After all, this was something I had been told my entire life, by those I considered knowledgeable and educated in the matter; however, like so many things we “think” we learn as children, myths can take on a factual belief, yet are not necessarily real. Nevertheless, the historical significance of this site cannot be disputed, can it? Does this mean that some day history will be rewritten and future generations will be told the things General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his troops did were basically insignificant? I sincerely hope not!

This is what I discovered regarding “Pilot Knob”, from this website -
http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/tn_consv/archive/highpoints.htm

Tennessee’s High Points
By Bob Fulcher
Many of us have repeated the falsehood that Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park’s Pilot Knob is the highest point in West Tennessee. It is a cruel surprise that Pilot Knob is not even the Benton County HP. There are, in fact, 15 West Tennessee peaks on the list higher than our once-thought-to-be-so-special riverfront knob. Chester County’s Sand Mountain, at 740-feet, is the glory, the rooftop, the apex of West Tennessee.
(Bob Fulcher is a regional interpretive specialist for Tennessee State Parks.)

This article doesn't show an author, generally this means a staff writer; however, I am unable to offer credit to anyone, but clearly state it is not my article. Hopefully, I haven't made this too confusing, but I found the article extremely interesting and wanted to share.

In the Fall of 1931, an unidentified man and a monument in memory of Nathan B. Forrest arrived by rail at the Eva Depot from Calhoun, GA. This man stayed at the Holland Hotel in Eva about two weeks until the job of erecting the monument was completed.

Albert Cherry and Oscar Pafford were at the depot when the train arrived. The man said he was looking for someone to help get the monument up the hill and set it up. The monument consisted of the base, middle section and the shaft.

Mr. Cherry and Mr. Pafford contracted the job for $500. The monument was rolled off the train at the depot. Mr. Cherry and Mr. Pafford made wooden wheels for the wagon, Mr. Cherry had four big white horses and after loading the base onto the wagon the horses were hitched to the wagon and pulled the base to the foot of Knob Hill. The horses were unable to pull it up the hill. Mr. Cherry went to Dickson (Note: Dickson was some 50-60 miles or more from Eva) and rented a truck, the wagon was hooked to the truck and the truck couldn't pull up the hill. At this time, Mr. Bob Farmer was the Road Commissioner and he told Mr. Cherry that they had only one dozer, which was in use during the day, but they could use it after work to pull the load. Mr. Carsewell Holland drove the dozer home after work. Mr. Cherry, Mr. Pafford and Mr. Holland hooked the wagon onto the dozer and pulled it up the hill. The other two sections were lighter and were pulled up by the horses and wagon.

When all the pieces were on top of the hill and ready to set into place, some young men were hired to help. They were Ernie Cherry, David B. Pafford, Ben B. Holland, Addilea Hollingsworth and Omas (Bigen) Sanderfur. These young men were paid 25 cents per hour. An A-frame was built, cables were tied to trees with two winches on each side. Leather strips were put under the timber with long bolts to tighten the shaft to lift the set on the second piece. The base was set on lead to keep water out. Between the base and the first piece and the first and shaft a one inch strip of lead was laid around the edge to seal out water also.

Ernie Cherry placed a new Indian Head Penny, heads up on the base before the second piece was set into place. Mr. Ernie Cherry related this information to Clara Nelle Morisette on October 20, 1993. Mr. Cherry was 84 years old and the only one living at this time that helped in the erection of the monument in memory of Nathan Bedford Forrset. Mr. Ernie Cherry died November 21, 1995.

The following is an article that came out in the January 31, 1930 issue of The Camden Chronicle.
Forrest Monument for Pilot Knob -

While at Nashville last week attending the meeting of the Good Roads Association, O.P. Lashlee was informed that the legal status having been settled satisfactorily, a charter would be granted for the Forrest Memorial Park at Pilot Knob on the Tennessee River.

It will be remembered that an appropriation of $10,000 for this purpose was made at the last season of the General Assembly, but the matter was held up until Governor Horton called the extra session, when the bill was revived and adopted.

This means that the money is available and as soon as Spring opens, steps will be taken to have a monument erected on the spot where General Forrest directed the memorable attack on the federal gunboat at Johnsonville in the sixties. Mr. Lashlee is chairman of the park association.