Picture this. It's midnight, September 30th,
1792. Okay. You are standing inside this tiny,
really hastily built wooden fort. And you are
in the absolute middle of the untamed wilderness.
Right. Completely isolated. Exactly. And outside
these wooden walls, hidden in the pitch black,
there are over 300 warriors. And they are quietly
preparing to attack. It's terrifying just to
think about. It really is. So you look around
at your defenses, right? And what do you actually
see? You see 15 gunmen. That's it. Just 15. Just
15. And right beside them is an 18 -year -old
woman. She's nine months pregnant. The noise
of this impending battle is getting terrifyingly
close. What is she doing? Well, she's definitely
not panicking. No, she is calmly melting down
her own dinnerware over a fire to make bullets.
It sounds, I mean, it sounds like a scene crafted
for a blockbuster film. Yeah, totally. But it
is an entirely real documented piece of history.
And that tense high stakes moment is exactly
what we are going to explore today. Welcome to
our deep dive. Today's mission is to explore
a really fascinating Wikipedia article about
Major John Buchanan. He was an American frontiersman
and literally one of the founders of present
-day Nashville, Tennessee. A hugely important
figure. Definitely. And we are going to extract
the most thrilling nuggets of knowledge from
this source today. Because our goal isn't just
to look at a single incredibly dramatic battle.
Right. There is so much more to it. There is.
We want to help you understand the complex global
geopolitical chess game that was actually defining
the early American frontier. We have this staggering
set of facts to work with and a story that I
guarantee will leave you rethinking everything
you thought you knew about pioneer history. It
really is a story of survival at its core. But
beyond that. It demonstrates how profoundly vast
and connected the world was even back in the
18th century. Yeah, which is so easy to forget.
It is, because when you envision a lonely wooden
fort in 1792, international diplomacy, proxy
wars, and European empires probably do not cross
your mind at all. Not even a little bit. Yet.
All of those seemingly distant global forces
converge right at the gates of Buchanan Station.
Okay, let's unpack this by starting at the very
beginning of John Buchanan's origins. To really
understand the man who built this fort, you have
to look at the generational journey of his family.
You really do. He was born in 1759 in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. Yeah. But his family story doesn't
actually start there. John's family had essentially
been on the run, or at least on the move, for...
nearly 80 years by that point. Yeah, they were
not a stationary group of people. No. His great
-grandfather Thomas packed up his siblings, fled
Scotland for Ireland in 1702, and eventually
made that incredibly dangerous month -long leap
across the Atlantic to become early North American
colonists. Migration and survival were literally
in John's blood. By the time he comes into the
picture, generational resilience and this constant
movement are practically baked into his DNA.
Yeah. He descends from a long line of people
who just do not... shy away from packing up everything
they own and heading straight into the absolute
unknown. And how do you even prepare for that
kind of lifestyle? I mean, that DNA is severely
put to the test when John is just 20 years old.
His family makes another monumental move. They
arrive at the future site of Nashville during
the unusually cold winter of 1779 to 1780. Which
was a brutal winter. Brutal. And according to
several historians mentioned in our source, Buchanan's
family actually arrived ahead of James Robertson's
founding party. They were the literal tip of
the spear in this unforgiving environment. Unforgiving
almost feels like an understatement here. The
brutal reality of the early frontier is something
that is really hard for us to fully grasp today.
Definitely. The source includes this chilling
account from historian G .R. McGee in his book
A History of Tennessee from 1663 to 1905. He
described the situation starting in the summer
of 1780. What does he say? He notes that Native
Americans began killing settlers and hunters
who were found alone or in small parties. And
this incredible tension was maintained all season
long. There were no open attacks at first, just
this constant hidden danger. The way McGee describes
it paints such a vivid picture. It wasn't about
open, formalized battles at this point. It was
just this constant suffocating dread. You were
just trying to survive. Right. But if you went
out to gather corn or to hunt or to simply feed
your livestock, you were stepping into a potential
ambush. every single time. Yeah, McGee specifically
mentions the danger of being shot by an Indian
hidden away in a thicket or a cane break. Stop
right there. What exactly is a cane break? I
see that word in historical texts a lot, but
it's not something we run into on a typical afternoon
walk today. It's definitely not. A cane break
is essentially a dense, towering thicket of giant
native river grass or bamboo. Oh, wow. Like actual
bamboo. Yeah, basically. These stalks can grow
over 20 feet tall, and they are packed so tightly
together that it's nearly impossible to see through
them. They line the riverbanks of the early south,
which made them the absolute perfect natural
cover for an ambush. That is terrifying. Try
to imagine living with that psychological weight.
Every time you step outside your door to simply
fetch water or feed a horse, the landscape itself
feels hostile. You might not come back. Exactly.
You might not come back. It was a low -level
perpetual state of terror. Which brings me to
a fact in this source that completely stopped
me in my tracks. It's a massive contradiction
that tells you everything you need to know about
John Buchanan's mindset. Oh, the book. Yes. In
1781, just a year after that terrifying summer,
John's brother, Alexander, is killed. He dies
at what is known as the Battle of the Bluff at
Fort Nashville. A horrific loss. Right. So John
has just suffered a horrific personal tragedy,
losing his own brother to this violent reality.
And how does he respond that very same year?
It's wild. He sits down and writes a book. And
not just any book. He writes Nashville's first
ever book, John Buchanan's Book of Arithmetic.
What's fascinating here is the incredible duality
of the frontier experience. You have a man deeply
entrenched in a violent, unpredictable world,
actively mourning the fresh loss of his brother.
And his response is to sit down and write a comprehensive
guide to mathematics. I mean, people cope with
grief in different ways. Sure. Some people take
up woodworking. Some people run. John Buchanan
apparently decides to write the frontier's first
Sudoku puzzle. It really is. It's the ultimate
nerd reaction to wilderness trauma, but it makes
total sense when you think about his desperate
need for control. It highlights something profound
about the human spirit, I think. In the face
of utter chaos, he dedicates his time to preserving
civilization, education, and logic. That's a
great point. Math is the ultimate form of order.
In a world where you could be ambushed just stepping
into a cane break, 2 plus 2 always equals 4.
It provides an anchor of certainty when absolutely
nothing else is certain. It humanizes him so
much. So John lives at Fort Nashville for about
four years, but then he decides to move a few
miles east to establish his own place, which
becomes known as Buchanan Station. His own piece
of land. Exactly. And for those of you listening
who know the Nashville area today, we have a
modern day anchor for you. This station was located
on Mill Creek. right at what is now Elm Hill
Pike and Mass Man Drive. It's so strange to picture
a fort there now. I know. The source mentions
he builds a few buildings, surrounds them with
a picket stockade, and constructs a blockhouse
at the front gate overlooking the creek. So what
does that architecture actually look like for
a small family fort back then? Well, a picket
stockade is essentially a high fence made from
heavy logs. They are driven vertically deep into
the ground and then sharpened at the top to prevent
anyone from climbing over. Okay, so a classic
wooden fort wall. Right. And the blockhouse is
the key defensive structure. It's usually a two
-story sturdy timber building where the upper
floor actually overhangs the lower floor. Oh,
why the overhang? That overhang allows the defenders
to look down and shoot straight down at anyone
trying to set fire to the walls or breach the
doors. It's brilliant defensively. He is physically
carving out a space for his family and trying
to build some semblance of security. And he really
needs it. He marries his first wife, Margaret
Kennedy, around 1786. Tragically, Margaret dies
after giving birth to their first and only child
on May 15, 1787. Another devastating blow for
him. It's just relentless. But John holds his
ground at the station. He eventually marries
his second wife, Sarah Ridley, who goes by Sally.
And here's where it gets really interesting,
because we have to zoom out and look at the year
1792. We need to talk about the broader context
of the world surrounding this little wooden fort
on Mill Creek. The context is crucial for understanding
why this specific battle happens at all. Because
by 1792, Nashville is an isolated settlement
of just 60 families. 60. Let that sink in. 60
families completely surrounded by a hostile wilderness.
If they needed help or even just needed to send
a message, communication was precariously long.
Where were the closest towns even located? The
nearest settlements were Knoxville way over to
the east and Natchez much further south down
the Mississippi River. They were essentially
living on an island in the middle of a forest.
To make matters more complicated, the political
situation is an absolute mess. The ultimate responsibility
to this area had just been transferred from North
Carolina to the brand new United States federal
government in 1790. And that new federal government
lacked both the political will and the actual
physical resources to offer the small outpost
any effective protection. Now, we have to look
at this impartially to really understand the
motivations of everyone involved. Right, because
it's not a one -sided story. Not at all. On one
side, you have the Native Americans who are...
quite understandably aggrieved. They are watching
their traditional territory being steadily encroached
upon by these settlers. To them, these wooden
forts are not just annoyances. They are existential
threats to their hunting grounds and their entire
way of life. They are facing a slow, steady loss
of their land. And then on the other side, you
have European global powers who are watching
the rise of the new American republic with a
lot of anxiety. But how do international empires
get wrapped up in a dispute between 60 frontier
families and local Native American tribes? It
seems so disconnected. If we connect this to
the bigger picture, this was not just a local
skirmish over land. It was a proxy war on a global
chessboard. Britain and Spain both felt severely
threatened by the expansion of the United States.
They didn't want the competition. Exactly. They
didn't want this new enterprising republic pushing
into their colonial territories. So both nations
actively encouraged Indian confederacies to resist
American expansion and create a buffer zone.
So the British are up north of the Ohio River,
seeing the Native Americans as an essential part
of the defense of Canada. But down south, near
Nashville, things are even more direct, right?
Yes. South of the 31st parallel, which is basically
the latitudinal line that currently forms the
border between Mississippi and Louisiana. You
have Spanish territory. And the Spanish governor
there, Baron Carondelet, was not watching passively.
He's getting involved. Very involved. He was
actively arming the southern Indians and urging
them to unite against the Americans. The logistics
of that are fascinating to me. We're talking
about a philosophical proxy war turning into
a literal gunpowder trail. Exactly. The Spanish
utilized the massive river networks. They would
smuggle muskets, lead and black powder from coastal
ports like Pensacola up. through the rivers and
tributary systems directly into the Tennessee
Valley to supply these confederacies. Our source
includes a quote from a Spanish correspondent
of the time who explicitly stated that the goal
was to place an obstacle to the rapid Western
progress of the Americans and raise a barrier
between these enterprising people and the Spanish
possessions. That drastically changes the perspective
on this little station of 60 families. They aren't
just local farmers anymore. They're suddenly
a major target for international empire. They
are on the front lines of a global conflict.
Which brings us to the attack itself. The source
makes it clear that the assault on Buchanan Station
was not meant to be a simple hit -and -run raid.
No, it was a major operation. It was a coordinated
attempt to wipe out the Nashville settlements
entirely, backed by those Hispanic arms secured
all the way down in Pensacola. Who exactly was
leading this charge against the settlers? The
approaching threat was a combined force of over
300 warriors. This comprised Lower Cherokees,
Creeks, and Shawnees. the command of a highly
capable, mixed -blood Cherokee leader named John
Watts. Okay. They advance from their towns on
the lower Tennessee River, moving steadily and
quietly toward the settlements. But out of all
the places to strike first, why target Buchanan
Station specifically? The tactical thinking makes
perfect sense from John Watts' perspective. Buchanan
Station is an outlying fort. It's relatively
small. The assumption is that this isolated stockade
can be disposed of quickly and easily. A quick
win. Exactly. Watts wants a swift victory there
to build momentum, secure a foothold, and then
move on to systematically destroy the remainder
of the area's settlements. So Watts plans a midnight
surprise attack. And this is where we return
to that terrifying scene we started with. It
is pitch black. The attackers vastly outnumber
the defenders. Inside Buchanan Station, there
are only about 20 defenders total. 20 people.
Yes. And of those 20, only 15 are gunmen. So
you have 15 men manning the portholes against
a well -armed, supplied force of over 300 warriors.
The imbalance of power is staggering. By any
conventional military logic, the station should
have fallen in minutes. I mean, the attackers
used the darkness to creep up to the very walls
of the fort before they were even detected. But
conventional logic did not account for Sally
Ridley Buchanan. No, it did not. Remember, John's
first wife had passed away. By 1792, his second
wife, Sally, is just 18 years old. She is in
her ninth month of pregnancy with the first of
what would eventually be their 13 children. The
battle erupts into a furious two -hour firefight
in the dead of night. Two hours. Two hours of
relentless shooting is an absolute eternity in
combat. The attackers are not holding back. They
repeatedly attempt to storm the wooden palisade.
They try to find blind spots in the blockhouse
defenses. They even managed to try and set fire
to the roof, attempting to smoke the defenders
out or just burn the station to the ground. And
inside this absolute pandemonium, Sally takes
complete charge. The 15 gunmen are locked at
the portholes, firing as fast as they can to
keep the attackers from scaling the walls. But
they need ammunition. They need loaded weapons.
And they... desperately need morale. Right. They're
fighting for their lives in the dark. So Sally
steps up. She organizes the women and children
inside. She reassures them, keeping panic at
bay while the walls around them are literally
splintering from Spanish musket balls. She also
solves the immediate fatal tactical problem.
They are running out of bullets. You can't just
pause a siege to forge more lead. Time out, guys.
We need to make some ammo. Exactly. It doesn't
work that way. So Sally reportedly takes her
own dinnerware pewter plates and whatever meltable
metal she can find and begins melting it down
right there over the fire in the middle of the
battle to mold desperately needed ammunition.
You can just imagine her husband asking where
the plates went the next morning. We had guests
coming. But in the moment, it is a stroke of
absolute genius. Not only is she keeping the
guns loaded, but she acts as the literal voice
of victory throughout the entire siege. Imagine
the noise for a second. 300 warriors firing muskets,
the defenders firing back, men shouting, fire
crackling on the roof. And cutting through all
of that is the voice of a pregnant 18 -year -old
woman encouraging the men, telling them they're
going to win, handing them freshly molded bullets
that are still hot from her dinner plates. It
is an unprecedented display of leadership and
pure nerve. From a tactical standpoint, sieges
often fail or succeed based on morale and supply.
She provided the sustenance, the ammunition,
and the psychological fortitude the defenders
needed to keep firing into the dark. Without
her taking command of the logistics inside the
blockhouse, the men on the walls would have run
dry and been overrun. Absolutely no question.
The outcome is just astonishing. Against all
odds, the attackers are repelled. After two hours
of intense combat, unable to breach the stockade
or burn down the blockhouse, the Native American
forces pull back into the wilderness. Incredible.
But here is the most miraculous part of the entire
article. The station didn't lose a single person.
Not one stationer was lost in the defense. Zero
casualties on the inside. Which completely halted
the broader plan to wipe out Nashville. Because
Buchanan Station held, the momentum was broken,
Watts' force retreated, and the rest of the 60
families in the area were saved. That's amazing.
The Spanish -backed objective to push back the
American frontier failed right there at that
wooden wall. It was such a monumental event that
19th century historian J .G .M. Ramsey is quoted
in the source calling it a feat of bravery which
has scarcely been surpassed in all the annals
of border warfare. And he is absolutely right
to highlight it. It is a defining moment for
the entire region, shifting the balance of power
in the territory. So what does this all mean?
Why does a two -hour battle in 1792 matter to
you today? Well, for most of the 19th century,
Buchanan Station was widely remembered as a powerful
symbol of the determination that... literally
created the state of Tennessee. It really embodies
that spirit. It represents that refusal to yield,
no matter the odds. But what happened to Sally?
Did she just fade into local folklore? Or did
the rest of the country actually know what she
did? She actually became a national phenomenon.
She was featured in major 19th century encyclopedias
of biography, specifically Appleton's and Herringshaw's.
That's huge for that time. It was incredibly
rare for a frontierswoman of that era. She wasn't
relegated to a footnote. She was recognized as
a central tactical figure of the battle. Biographer
Elizabeth Ellett even dubbed her the greatest
heroine of the West. Her story is a masterclass
in performing under pressure when everything
is on the line. She wasn't a trained soldier.
She was an expecting mother who looked at an
impossible situation and decided to literally
forge her own ammunition to survive it. This
raises an important question, something I really
want you, the listener, to mull over as we wrap
up today. Okay, what is it? When you look at
the entire timeline of John Buchanan's life,
the cycle of profound loss and immediate creation
is staggering. Think about the psychological
toll of this era. Yeah, we talked about that
a bit with his brother. Right. In 1781, he loses
his brother to brutal violence, his immediate
response. He writes a strict, logical book of
arithmetic. In 1787, he suffers the devastating
loss of his first wife to childbirth. His response,
he moves and builds a highly structured physical
fortress. Wow. When you put it like that. He
survives a terrifying siege of 300 warriors against
15 men with zero casualties. And his second wife
goes on to have 13 children. It's an unbelievable
sequence of events when you lay it all out like
that. It really asks us to consider the profound
mental fortitude of these early pioneers. Does
the act of creating strict structure, whether
that means writing down the unbending rules of
a math book or building a physical wooden palisade,
serve as a vital human coping mechanism for grief?
That's a really deep thought. It strongly suggests
that the foundation of early America wasn't built
merely on physical bravery or the capacity to
fight. It was built on a desperate psychological
need to force order onto a completely chaotic,
terrifying and unforgiving world. They didn't
just fight back with bull. They fought back by
building systems, creating families, and laying
down literal foundations in the wilderness. That
is such a powerful way to look at it. It wasn't
just survival. It was the active creation of
order in the face of the darkest, most terrifying
nights imaginable. Thank you so much for joining
us on this deep dive into the resilient, chaotic
and globally connected world of the early frontier.
There are stories of incredible heroism and international
intrigue hidden everywhere, maybe even right
down the street from where you live. So keep
questioning, keep learning and keep exploring
the history hidden in your own backyard.