Donald
Zochert, the Chicago journalist-historian, author of THE LIFE OF LAURA
INGALLS WILDER, has commented on my posts about the federal government
sending troops from Fort Hampton, Tennessee, to burn out the Sims
Settlement, two times--the Sims being folks who led a flatboat flotilla
down the undammed Elk River and settled in Chickasaw territory, now NW
Alabama. They were just a few years too early. Some of Zochert's
ancestors experienced the same fate in what became Ohio, he told me (in
enlightening detail). I did not know that under the Articles of
Confederation and in the first years of the United States there was a
policy of trying to honor some treaties with Indian tribes that went to
the extent of burning out settlers (intruders) and driving them back
within state borders.
Who says these things are not genetic? All my odd
academic career I have been showing Sims traits, going where I was not
wanted, thinking thoughts that were absolutely not allowed, and I have
the scorch marks to prove it. The Costners and Bells were law-abiding
folks who always asked permission of the proper authorities, I guess. We
still apply for building permits before changing light bulbs . . . .
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