Floyd Estes 1789-1826

Floyd grew up in East Tennessee at a time when the pioneers had to keep a close eye out for Indian raids. Every young boy was trained to use a rifle, and was usually given a rifle of his own on his twelfth birthday. The expectation that every male was a warrior and was to defend the community was still very much a part of the communal heritage. Arguments and disagreements were often settled by fighting with knife or gun. Family feuds were common, and enemies were inherited along with the surname.²

Floyd’s father, Thomas Estes, owned a 100 acre farm near the Holston River, which was of a size that could be cultivated and cared for by the family without slave or hired labor. Floyd had to contribute his labor to raising crops and caring for the stock. Thomas Estes and his brother, John, were original settlers in Hawkins, Jefferson and Granger counties area of East Tennessee. There were five other Estes men listed on the same tax list for 1799, and between them were taxed for over 1,200 acres of land.³

By the time Floyd was a youth the white population had increased, and land cleared to present a settled community. There was a steady stream of immigrants floating down the river as well as other immigrants who choose to go overland along the Great War Trail that passed near the Estes farm. Schools were few and far between, and it is not likely Floyd ever attended. Indications are he never learned to write.⁴ Therefore he was limited to doing manual labor to earn his way, like tens of thousands of other frontier youths.

By 1790 a few churches had sprung up in East Tennessee, mostly Baptist, but also Methodist and Presbyterian.⁵ That was a significant change from an absence of churches in the Virginia frontier prior to the Revolution when only the Church of England was allowed by law, and that denomination did not bother to build church houses or even conduct services in the remote areas. Whole generations of backwoods Virginians grew up and died, seldom if ever hearing a minister preach or attend church. Nor were they able to read the bible as they were illiterate. By the time of Floyd’s birth, the three denominations mentioned above would corporate in holding camp meetings where folk from miles around would gather to hear preaching and sing. Outside of the times when court was in session, church activity was the main social attraction for people living in the back country. Religion became so deeply ingrained into the social fabric of that area of Tennessee that today it is part of what is known as the American Bible Belt.

In those days there was no religious prohibition to alcohol, and children were introduced to the drink at an early age. Indeed infants were often given small quantities of whisky to calm them down and help them sleep. No farm was without a still for making whisky. So there was a free flow of whisky along with church social functions. Although drunkenness itself was not a call for church discipline, a church member would be suspended or even excommunicated for conduct that reflected badly upon the church congregation while drunk. It is this confusing mixture of violence, hard drinking, and religious fervor, made worse with strong prejudices against all persons that were different, be it race, religion, or class, that prevailed on the frontier. Yet it was these very qualities that made the frontier Indian fighter so formidable when it came time to go to war.

While the New England merchants and ship owners were content to allow the British navy to seize seamen from American ships, as they had been doing for twenty years, as long as the merchants could continue trading with both sides in the European Napoleonic wars, the American backwoods frontiersmen were spoiling for war. The British had never abandoned Detroit as agreed in the peace treaty that recognized American independence in 1783, and were continuing to stir up the Indians against the Americans through agents in Detroit. Spain had restricted Americans from floating trade goods down the Mississippi until President Jefferson purchased Louisiana, and continued to bar slave catchers from crossing into Florida. Rich and influential slave owners, agitated over run away slaves taking refuge and sanctuary with the newly formed Seminole tribe in Florida, also pushed for war. Finally, in 1812 the War Hawks had their way with President James Madison in the White House and war was declared with England.

The New England state governors refused to call up their militia to fight Great Britain, and a convention was called in Massachusetts to secede from the United States and to petition England to be admitted back as a colony.⁶ The great Shawnee war leader, Tecumseh, had been working for years to put together an Indian confederacy to push the whites back across the Appalachian Mountains. His was the greatest concerted Indian resistance against the whites in American history. British agents supplied arms to the Indians and encouraged them to attack Americans. Spain also supplied arms. The Creek Nation, which was made up of numerous small tribes, located in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, was divided on whether to resist or join the Americans, but the war faction, called Red Sticks, attacked Fort Mims at noon on August 30, 1813 in Alabama, and killed over 400 of the 550 men, women, and children inside.

In January of 1814, Floyd Estes was drafted for six months into the East Tennessee militia to serve under Col. Bunch. He was appointed Corporal. The East Tennessee militia marched south and joined General Jackson at Fort Strother. In March, General Jackson marched his men against the Creeks who had taken up a defensive position at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. On March 27, 1814 the Creek Nation was crushed at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Corporal Floyd Estes was a rifleman, and along with his fellow militiamen kept up a weathering fire into the breastworks the Creeks were defending. Cherokee allies attacked the Creeks from the rear by crossing the Tallapoosa in canoes stolen from the Creek defenders earlier in the day. When the Creeks became aware they were being attacked from the rear, panic set in, and many tried to flee by swimming the river. Lieutenant Sam Houston led a successful bayonet charge over the breastworks, and the Tennesseans spilled over the fortifications. An official letter from General Andrew Jackson, Ft. Williams 31st March 1814, to Governor Willie Blount, reporting the defeat of the Creek Nation at Horseshoe Bend, praised the performance of the Melita under Col. Bunch.. The East Tennessee militia returned home and were discharged after serving four months of their six months enlistment.

Floyd Estes and Achsa Lea filed for a marriage license in Jefferson Co. on Sept. 17, 1814. We can only speculate how they became acquainted, but it seems the Estes and Lea families were neighbors in Granger County. Floyd’s father, Thomas Estes, had moved down river to Franklin county by 1812 where he married Cynthia. Floyd and Achsa started their family, and had six children during the twelve years remaining to Floyd. It appears they settled on or near the Major Lea plantation near Lea Springs as Floyd Estes is consistently listed on the same tax list with Major Lea from 1815 through 1822 when Major Lea died, and was still on the same tax list with Lavinia Lea until 1826 when Floyd moved. It is certain that Achsa liked living near her Aunt Lavinia, the wife of Major Lea. Floyd may have been employed by Major Lea in some way or loaned him money as the court records show a debt owing to Floyd Estes of $94.40 at the time of Major Lea’s death. It does not appear Floyd collected any of the money as the heirs testified there was no money to pay any debts.

Floyd moved his family down river about 100 miles to McMinn County in 1826, and a letter suggests he was intent on buying a farm of his own. He died shortly after the move. There is no record for the cause of Floyd’s death, but there are numerous accounts of Yellow Fever, malaria, and cholera epidemics in those years. The five living children at Floyd's death ranged in age from six months to eleven years. They were, James H., David L., Susan, Thomas J., and Sidney Ann. Lavinia, born in 1824, died the same year she was born. Thomas Jarnigan Estes was four years old at the time of his father’s death. Achsa's Uncle John Lea had preceded the Floyd Estes family in settling in McMinn county and must have been a support, especially after Floyd's death. However, Uncle John Lea died around 1831, and Achsa was left with five children to care for. She married her second husband, Moses Cates, the following year.

1. A birth date of June 19, 1794 has circulated through various family genealogy records since 1976, but no source for this date has been discovered.

2. Andrew Jackson was laid up in bed recovering from a knife and gunshot wounds incurred during a feud involving six to ten participants when he received orders to take charge of the army against the Creek Nation in 1813. He had even challenged Governor John Sevier to a duel some years before on the streets of Knoxville.

3. The Granger Co. Tennessee List of Taxes and Taxable property in the Bounds of Capt. Daniel Taylor's Company as returned by John Estes, Esq. for year 1799 has the following:

Estes, John		163 acres; 1white pole; 1 black slave
Estes, Robert		100 acres; 1 white pole
Estes, John C.			  1 white pole
Estes, Barnet			  1 white pole
Estes, Thomas		100 acres; 1 white pole
Estes, Ezekiel		774 acres; 1 white pole
Estes, Micajah		100 acres; 1 white pole

4. Since this was written, I have come into possession of a document with Floyd Estes’ signature. He signed with his first name only. That would explain why he was sometimes listed as Estes Floyd.

5. Floyd and Achsa were married by a Baptist minister, and Achsa was a member of the Baptist church when she lived in Missouri.

6. School textbooks are silent on New England’s role during the War of !812 and the move to secede, but it did indeed take place. See “The War of 1812" by John K. Mahon, Da Capo Press, Inc., 1972.

[Contributed by Leo R. Estes 1 Oct 2000 12:00am]