Recollections:
The Middle Tennessee Voices of Their Times Series
Television Program with
Carole S. Bucy
Date Unknown
Interviewer: Dr. Bob Bullen, Professor of Educational Leadership
Middle Tennessee State University
Produced by Television Services, Middle Tennessee State University
© Middle Tennessee State University
ABSTRACT: Historian Carole Bucy is interviewed about the Nashville City Cemetery. After
telling about how she became involved with the cemetery, she discusses the
history of the cemetery, which includes a brief history of Nashville
and speaks in detail about some of the specific graves. Among the notable
Tennesseans buried in the City Cemetery are James and Charlotte Robertson, Lt.
Gen. Richard Ewell, Confederate general Felix Zollicoffer, suffragist Anne Dallas
Dudley, and former governor William Carroll.
PART 1
Time Count
Description of Program Content
0:00:00
Bullen is on location at the Old Nashville City Cemetery. He introduces his guest
Carole S. Bucy (historian, storyteller, and director of the Women’s History
Project).
0:00:33
Bucy tells how she got into preserving the history of the City Cemetery.
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0:01:41
Bucy describes the beginnings of the City Cemetery. She said that it was about
the third cemetery Nashborough had. In 1812, a formal cemetery was designed
outside of town to the south to look like an English garden. This became the City
Cemetery. In 1849 an outbreak of cholera killed a third of the population of
Nashborough, including President James K. Polk. The cemetery was mainly used
from 1815-1816 up until the Civil War because the plots filled up and a new
cemetery, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, was built. In the 1850s many prominent families
moved their loved ones to Mt. Olivet.
0:04:45
Bucy tells the legend of Ann Rawlins Sanders, who died in 1836, and her grave,
which is a large rock with a lantern built on it. Ann and her fiancé would always
sit on a rock overlooking the river and one night they got into a quarrel and vowed
never to speak to each other again. Ann was so distraught that she went back to
the river and drowned herself. The fiancé was devastated and he knew that Ann
was afraid of the dark. So he moved the rock that they always sat on to the City
Cemetery and placed a lantern on the rock. Bucy continues saying that the legend
is not true: Sanders was married, died of natural causes, and no one knows how
the rock or lantern got to the cemetery. She adds that experts estimate that the
lantern dates to only the early 20th century. Bucy discusses the weathering of
Tennessee limestone by looking at Sanders’ rock.
0:09:25
Bucy tells the story of James and Charlotte Robertson. In 1779 they led a group
from Wittag, Germany to the salt licks. The men first walked to the location
arriving on December 25, 1779. The women and children traveled on flat boats
endured both attacks by natives and smallpox, before finally arriving in April
1780. 265 men signed a formal document, known as the Cumberland Compact,
agreeing to have a government. James and Charlotte Robertson are buried beside
their son Felix and his wife Lidia.
The story begins: Charlotte investigates when she hears the dogs barking to find
her son Jonathan (age: 10-12) scalped by the natives. She leaves with Hagar, her
slave, her shotgun, and her infant baby, Felix, to warn her husband, James and the
others that the natives are about to attack. When she makes it back inside Fort
Nashborough she lets the dogs run free. The dogs startle the natives and the fort is
saved. This had become known as the Battle of the Bluffs. Bucy wraps up the
story telling that James retrieved the body of their son who in fact was not dead
and saved his life by drilling holes in his head.
0:18:00
James Robertson could speak the Cherokee language, so he was with George
Washington when he was negotiating peace with the natives. The general opinion
was to push the natives westward however James wanted the settlers and the
natives to live in peace together. He was in Memphis pushing this idea when he
died of pneumonia and was buried on a Chickasaw Reservation. Later his body
was brought back to the city cemetery. Bucy notes how Charlotte Robertson went
from living in a fort to living in a home with glass windowpanes. In 1812,
Nashborough was changed to Nashville.
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0:20:45
Bucy points out Duncan Robertson’s grave (no relation to the former mentioned),
which was damaged in an ice storm. She describes his marker as a show of love
from the citizens of Nashville rather than a show of his wealth. She begins a story
featuring Duncan saving some precious items from the burning First Presbyterian
Church. One item saved, a Bible, was used to swear in James K. Polk as
President. Robertson was known as a charitable person and the Robertson Society
of the United Way is named for him.
0:23:30
Bucy describes the meanings behind certain symbols in the cemetery. A box
symbolizes a coffin. Markers that point up point to heaven. Large vases called
lachrymal urns symbolize holding the tears of mourning loved ones. Morning
Glories represent the Resurrection. Crosses are representative of Christianity.
Trees that have been cut represent a life cut short.
0:25:23
Bullen briefly mentions Lt. General Richard S. Ewell who is buried at the City
Cemetery. He states that Ewell could have been much more famous in history if
he had done better at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Bucy begins
talking about Secretary of the Treasury George Washington Campbell and his
wife, who came after the Robertsons. Campbell’s interest in politics and land
speculation made him want Cedar Knob. The legend goes that he bought the land
from a native for a cow, a calf, and a pair of leather breeches. In 1840 Campbell
sold the land to the state of Tennessee for the state capitol. Nashville became the
capital because of the use of the Cumberland River for transportation. James
Madison appointed Campbell as the Ambassador to Russia. So Campbell and his
family went to Russia, not knowing the language. An epidemic swept through St.
Petersburg and all of the Campbell children were killed. Lizinka, wife of
Alexander the First, showed the Campbells great compassion. When the
Campbells had another child she was named Lizinka, after her. Lizinka married
Richard Ewell. Lizinka heard that Richard was injured in the war so she snuck
across enemy lines to save him. He later recovers from his injuries. Lizinka died
on January 22, 1872 and three days later, legend goes, Ewell, so grief-stricken
that he could not live, also died.
0:32:05
Bucy states that at one time there was a rift between the Baptists and the
Campbellites. On Christmas Day in 1830, Alexander Campbell (Campbellites)
and Obadiah Jennings (Presbyterian minister) had a debate which lasted four
hours.
0:32:34
Bucy points out the vault of the McNairy family. John McNairy was appointed
judge by George Washington. He came from East Tennessee to Nashville with his
friend, Andrew Jackson and they stayed at Mrs. Donelson’s boarding house.
While Jackson was there he met Mrs. Donelson’s daughter Rachel and they were
later married. Bucy begins to tell one very famous legend surrounding the
McNairy vault: Nashville was occupied by the Union army during the Civil War.
President Lincoln appoints the only Tennessean who has not left congress,
Senator Andrew Johnson, as provisional governor. The railroads, including the
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one that goes through the city cemetery, were very important to both sides during
the war. The legend goes that some Confederate soldiers were captured and held
at Fort Negley escaped by digging a hole and tunneling out. They began tunneling
out and ended up in the McNairy vault. Bucy says that this feat would be
particularly difficult considering the bed of limestone Nashville sits on.
0:35:35
(Side note: Bucy points out another symbol on a gravestone. The crown encircling
a cross symbolizes that when the deceased goes to Heaven that Jesus will place
the crown of glory on his or her head.) Next Bucy and Bullen walk to the William
Driver monument. He was the son of James and Charlotte Robertson. His dream
was to sail around the world three times. So Charlotte made him an American flag
by which to remember her. He placed the flag on the ship and says, “There she
flies, there’s Old Glory.” He was the first person to reference the flag as “Old
Glory.” When he decided to retire, he settled in Nashville. When the Civil War
broke out he identified himself as a Unionist. When Nashville becomes occupied
he places his flag atop the State Capitol. He then asks to man a cannon at Fort
Negley. Mrs. Driver was concerned about the flag, so she stitched it into a quilt
and shipped it to relatives up North. The flag was forgotten; sometime in the
1900s someone found the flag. The Smithsonian verified it and it is now housed
there. Another William Driver legend is that there was a law passed that stated
there were only three places that the American flag can be flown 24 hours a day:
at the tomb on the unknown soldier, at the U.S. Capitol, and at the City Cemetery
at the grave of William Driver. This story is not true. The Daughters of the
American Revolution have a Flag Day celebration here at Driver’s grave.
0:41:15
Bucy points out the difference in the cemetery between the north the south sides.
The south side is called Potter’s Lane and is much more barren. The city cemetery
was one of the first integrated cemeteries. (Side note: One of the Fisk Jubilee
singers, Ella Sheppard Moore, is buried there. She sang for Queen Victoria and
others to raise money for Fisk University.) The south side of the cemetery was for
Nashville’s poor. In 1830, the first Catholics came to Middle Tennessee to build a
bridge across the Cumberland River, so the Catholics were buried in the south
side of the cemetery. Later when a railroad needed to be put in, they decided to
run it through the Catholic side.
0:44:35
Next they travel to Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer’s grave site. (Side note:
In 1957, 211 unknown bodies were transferred from the runway at the Nashville
airport to the City Cemetery) Bucy tells the true story of Zollicoffer: He was the
colorful editor of the Nashville Banner and a Whig. When the Civil War breaks
out he is appointed as general by the Jefferson Davis despite his lack of military
expertise. First he is sent to Knoxville to institute Marshall Law. Then the
Confederates realized that the Union army is lining up in Kentucky, so they send
Zollicoffer to Fishing Creek. The Confederate soldiers were excited for battle
because they assumed the war would not last long at all. That day he rode around
on a white horse so it was easy to identify him as the general. During the Battle of
Fishing Creek it started to rain and Zollicoffer’s glasses fogged up. He mistakenly
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goes up to some Union soldiers and they shoot him. He was the first Confederate
general to be killed in the war. His home was in downtown Nashville where the
Tennessee Performing Arts Center is today. When the Andrew Jackson Hotel was
to be torn down to build that center, the cornerstone was taken and used as a
marker on Zollicoffer’s grave.
0:49:15
Bullen points out a Hackberry tree that has grown into a grave marker. Bucy says
that the Hackberry tree is not indigenous to the area. She says that perhaps when
the Union soldiers gathered oats for their horses they also picked up some
Hackberry seeds.
0:51:08
Bucy describes a few other people buried at the cemetery. Bucy points out the
Cockrill family grave. Ann Robertson Johnson Cockrill, sister of James
Robertson, is buried with her husband and children. When her first husband died
she moved to Middle Tennessee with her three children, her sister-in-law
Charlotte and her brother James. On the flat boats over she entertained the
children by singing and taught them reading and writing. She is known as one of
the earliest teachers in Middle Tennessee. She met and married Mr. Cockrill.
Their son owned what is now called “Cockrill Bend.”
0:52:43
Bucy describes some of the other graves in the back corner of the City Cemetery.
Near the Cockrill Family plot is the plot of U.S. Senator Ephraim Foster. Dr.
Shelby (friend of Sam Houston, Governor of Tennessee) also has a grave there.
The Dallas family plot includes Anne Dallas Dudley, a noted woman’s suffragist.
0:53:55
Bucy states that there is also the family plot of Felix Grundy. He and his wife,
Anne Rogers Grundy, are now at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, but once they were
buried at the City Cemetery. She notes that there are no presidents buried there
but acknowledges that James K. Polk was buried there for a year. He died in 1849
of cholera. At the time people thought that those who died of cholera needed to be
buried immediately so he was buried in the family plot of Felix Grundy, his law
partner. Later he was buried on his homestead. But he was moved again to the
northeast side of the state capitol with his wife when his descendants broke the
will and sold the home. Currently, Tennessee is the only state to have a President
buried on its state capitol.
0:56:15
Next Bucy talks about Governor William Carroll, a crony of Andrew Jackson.
Carroll was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Tennessee. During the War of
1812, Andrew Jackson appointed him second in command at the Battle of New
Orleans. After that Carroll was elected as governor for six, two-year terms. He
was known as a very progressive governor. He was not friends with Sam
Houston. When Houston resigned, Carroll became governor again. Bucy states
that the symbols on his grave site show a very successful military career.
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0:58:44
Bucy briefly mentions the Walker Monument, designed by William Strickland.
0:59:00
Bucy states that Nashville and Knoxville have always had a rivalry. The citizens
of Nashville hated that John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee, was buried in
Knoxville, so they placed a marker in the City Cemetery for him.
0:59:45
Bullen gives closing remarks and credits roll.
1:00:50
END.
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