The Gowers in Tennessee: The Clover Bottom Tragedy

I have written before about our earliest Gower ancestors who settled in Virginia in the early 1600s. One of them was Abel Gower (1640-1710) who had migrated from England. In the subsequent three centuries our Gower ancestors made their way all across our country. Leroy and Nola Gower, my Grandparents, were the first of our Gower ancestors to make it to the West Coast when they arrived in Southern California in 1942. Here in San Diego some of their descendants still live today. 

Purportedly Abel Gower Jr.
(1725-1780)

The Westward Migration to Tennessee. As our Gower ancestors made their way across country, one of the places they settled for a number of years was Nashville, Tennessee. My 7X Great Grandparents, Capt. Abel Gower Sr. and his wife Eleanor Salmon Gower, were part of the early migration from Virginia that joined the Cumberland Settlement of Middle Tennessee. They were accompanied by their son Abel Gower Jr. and his wife Mary Robertson Gower. ("Abel" was the first name of choice for many of our Gowers in the early years.)

This historic immigration into Tennessee, begun in December, 1779 was led by frontiersmen John Robertson and Col. John Donelson. They and those they led, endured an arduous journey of nearly 1000 miles of wild frontier, including confrontations with Native Americans. Much of their travel was overland, while a good portion was on the Cumberland River as a part of "the Donelson flotilla," a collection of nearly 30 vessels of various kinds with immigrants in each one. After journeying for several months they arrived April 24, 1780 and joined the Cumberland Settlement which eventually became the city of Nashville, Tennessee.

An artist's rendering of
The Donelson flotilla, 1780

During their first summer in Tennessee, Col. Donelson and his group planted some crops in prime growing land a few miles away from the Settlement in an area known as Clover Bottom, near the confluence of the Cumberland and the Stones Rivers. On November 1, 1780, a group of about a dozen settlers went to harvest the crop of Corn and Cotton. The harvesters were led by our ancestor Capt. Abel Gower and included his son Abel Gower Jr. 

A Surprise Attack at Clover Bottom. When they finished the harvest, they loaded their boats with the corn and the cotton and headed back home. They had gone only a short way when they were suddenly attacked by a large band of Chickamauga Indians, natives who had lived in the area for generations. The settlers were outmanned and suffered great losses in the attack. Abel Gower Sr. and his son were shot and killed during the raid. In all the chaos their bodies floated down the river and were never recovered. Also killed in the attack was James Robertson, the son of one of their leaders Col. John Robertson. Only three of the harvesting settlers lived to tell the tale. Those three survived the attack by hiding in the nearby forest and laying low until they could make their way back to the safety of the settlement.

An historical marker today in
Davidson County, Tennessee

November 1, 1780 was a fateful day in the life of our Gower ancestors when they lost two important family members. The effects of that tragedy on the lives of their surviving family is hard to fathom. This illustrates how difficult it was to settle this untamed wilderness that was our nation in earlier times. It also brings to our attention what a great debt of gratitude we owe our forebears. Their courage, determination and resilience is an inspiration to us. 

In my next post I will write about the Gower response to the tragedy at Clover Bottom and the remarkable impact our ancestors made on the Cumberland Settlement of Middle Tennessee. That in itself is a memorable story.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)