Written by Jay Guy Cisco
From Historic Sumner County, Tennessee
1909
Retyped with some revisions for the Sumner Co. TNGenWeb page by Diane Payne
Another name that deserves to be remembered is that of Abraham, a mulatto belonging to Colonel
Anthony Bledsoe. General Hall said of him: "He was a brave, active and intelligent fellow, and
indeed a good soldier and marksman." He seems to have been a general favorite with the whites.
He was ever ready and anxious for a brush with the Indians, and more than one of them met
death before him unerring rifle. What became of him I am unable to say. Doubtless his remains
were mingled with the soil he so bravely helped to defend, and from which he helped to clear the
primitive forest. General Hall gives, in his "Narrative," the following example of the bravery of
Abraham: "He was passing one evening from the Lick fort up to Greenfield, when right in the
thick canebrake he met two Cherokee chiefs of note, "Mad Dog" and "John Taylor" the latter a
half-breed, well known in Nashville before the war broke out, and who could talk good English.
They had been on a visit to the Shawnees; and having sent on their warriors, they were on their
way by themselves to steal horses and murder any settler who might fall in their way. Abraham
met them about ten paces off, and instantly drawing up his gun, he shot Mad Dog dead in his
tracks, turning himself at once and feeling after his exploit.