Bussell Island, formerly Lenoir Island, is an island located at the mouth of the
Little Tennessee River
The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It drains portio ...
, at its confluence with the Tennessee River in
Loudon County, near the U.S. city of
Lenoir City, Tennessee
Lenoir City is a suburban city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,117 at the 2020 Census. It is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area in the state's eastern region, along the Tennessee River southwest of K ...
. The island was inhabited by various
Native American cultures for thousands of years before the arrival of early European explorers. The
Tellico Dam
Tellico Dam is a dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Loudon County, Tennessee, on the Little Tennessee River as part of the Tellico Project. Planning for a dam structure on the Little Tennessee was reported as early as 1936 but ...
and a recreational area occupy part of the island. Part of the island was added in 1978 to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
for its archaeological potential.
Native American habitation of Bussell Island dates to the Late
Archaic period (c. 3000–1000 BC).
[Bobby Braly and Shannon Koerner]
A History of Archaeology in Tennessee
. ''Tennessee Archaeology: A Synthesis'' (Chapter 2). p. 12-14. The island is believed to have been the location of the capital of ''Coste''—a
Mississippian-period chiefdom visited by Spanish explorer
Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...
in 1540—and was later part of the domain of the
Overhill Cherokee
Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 1 ...
and the regional homelands of the Cherokee people.
In 1887 and 1919, archaeologists conducted extensive excavations at Bussell Island and identified its archaeological importance.
The island was drastically modified in the 1970s when the
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
(TVA) built Tellico Dam.
Location
Bussell Island is situated where the Little Tennessee River joins the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...
, just over upstream from the mouth of the latter. The island originally stretched for about a mile up the Little Tennessee, but the construction of Tellico Dam across the island's west river channel in the 1970s created a reservoir that flooded the southern two-thirds of the island. To contain the reservoir, an earthen levee was built along the island's new south shore and across the island's east river channel, connecting the island to the mainland. TVA's construction of a canal connecting the Tellico and Fort Loudoun reservoirs severed this section of the mainland, thus creating a new island that stretches for about a mile east-to-west, and touches three TVA lakes: Fort Loudoun,
Watts Bar, and Tellico.
Lenoir City is located along the Tennessee River opposite Bussell Island.
U.S. Route 321 (Lamar Alexander Parkway) crosses the island's new eastern half, and State Route 444 (Tellico Parkway) traverses the center of the island, with the two roads intersecting on the island's eastern tip. US-321 crosses via the J. Carmichael Bridge, which spans both
Fort Loudoun Dam
Fort Loudoun Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Loudon County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built the dam in the early 1940s as part of a unif ...
and the canal.
John W. Emmert, who conducted excavations on the island in 1887 for the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, stated that the original island covered , and rose to a maximum of above the river. Emmert described the island's banks as "steep" with "heavy timber and much cane growing along them." Emmert also noted that the island was occasionally submerged when the Little Tennessee flooded, and noted that his excavation work was interrupted by one such flood which submerged the island to upwards of .
[U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, ''Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1890–'91'' (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894), pp. 397–403.]
History
Prehistory
The earliest known inhabitants of Bussell Island lived during the Late Archaic period (c. 3000–1000 BC), and occupied the island sporadically throughout the
Woodland period
In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 Common Era, BCE to European con ...
(1000 BC – 1000 AD). Archaeologist Mark R. Harrington, who conducted extensive excavations in the area in 1919 for the
Heye Foundation
George Gustav Heye (1874 – January 20, 1957) was an American collector of Native American artifacts in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in North America. He founded the Museum of the American Indian, and his collection became the core of ...
, called these early inhabitants "Round Grave" people, due to their practice of burying their dead in small, round graves. The Round Grave people used tools made of animal bone and stone, and used both
steatite
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zo ...
vessels and simple pottery.
[M.R. Harrington, ''Cherokee and Earlier Remains on Upper Tennessee River'' (New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1922), pp. 50, 61–82, 277–279.]
The successors to the Round Grave people at Bussell Island were a people Harrington simply called the "Second Culture." This culture was part of what is now known as the
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
, which flourished in the upper Tennessee Valley between 900 and 1600 AD. The Mississippian people of the upper Tennessee Valley are known for building large, earthwork
platform mounds
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
and conical
burial mounds
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a ...
, including several found on Bussell Island and the surrounding mainland. Bussell Island's Mississippian inhabitants used triangular flint arrowheads, celt axes, and wore ornaments made from copper and seashells (the latter suggesting trade with coastal regions).
[Harrington, pp. 166–167.]
Coste
In 1540, Spanish explorer
Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...
embarked on an expedition across what is now the Southeastern United States, then called ''"La Florida,"'' in hopes of finding an interior route to Mexico. Marching north from Florida, De Soto passed through modern South Carolina and North Carolina before turning west and crossing the
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...
via the
Nolichucky Valley into East Tennessee. After resting for several weeks at the prominent village of
Chiaha
Chiaha was a Native American chiefdom located in the lower French Broad River valley in modern East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. They lived in raised structures within boundaries of several stable villages. These overlooked the ...
(near modern
Douglas Dam
Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the French Broad River in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built the dam in record time in the early 1940s to me ...
), De Soto continued down the
French Broad River
The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows from near the town of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville forms ...
and Tennessee River to the village of ''Coste,'' centered around Bussell Island. He reached its outskirts on July 1, 1540.
[Charles Hudson, ''Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun'' (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1997), 204–207.]
De Soto held a friendly meeting with the chief of Coste on July 2, but relations quickly soured after the Spaniards pillaged some of the Costeans' storehouses, and several Costeans attacked the Spaniards with clubs. De Soto devised a ruse in which he kidnapped the chief and held him hostage for several days. After the chief promised to assign guides and porters to the expedition, De Soto departed on July 9. The expedition continued up the Little Tennessee to the village of ''Tali'' (near modern
Vonore), and eventually found its way south to
''Coosa'', a chiefdom in northern Georgia.
The inhabitants of Coste, like the inhabitants of Chiaha, spoke a
Muskogean language
Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the ...
similar to that used by the later
Muscogee
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands[Koasati
The Coushatta ( cku, Koasati, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti) are a Muskogean-speaking Native American people now living primarily in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territor ...]
tribes. (Linguist Charles Hudson suggests that the term "Koasati" may have been derived from "Coste"). Coste was probably part of the Coosa chiefdom's sphere of influence, which stretched from the upper Tennessee Valley south into central
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. In 1567, another Spanish explorer,
Juan Pardo, visited the villages of
Chalahume and
Satapo further up the Little Tennessee Valley, but turned back before reaching Coste.
Cherokee and Euro-American history
In the mid-18th century, more than a dozen Cherokee villages—known to English colonists as the
Overhill towns, because they were west of the Appalachian mountains—had developed along the lower of the Little Tennessee River, among them the villages of
Chota and
Tanasi
Tanasi ( chr, ᏔᎾᏏ, translit=Tanasi) (also spelled Tanase, Tenasi, Tenassee, Tunissee, Tennessee, and other such variations) was a historic Overhill settlement site in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. ...
. The village of
Mialoquo
Mialoquo (also "Malaquo", "Big Island", or "Great Island") is a prehistoric and historic Native Americans in the United States, Native American site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The site saw significant periods o ...
, the lowermost of the Overhill towns, was located about upstream from Bussell Island.
Henry Timberlake
Henry Timberlake (1730 or 1735 – September 30, 1765) was a colonial Anglo-American officer, journalist, and cartographer. He was born in the Colony of Virginia and died in England. He is best known for his work as an emissary from the Briti ...
, an Anglo-American colonist who had traveled up the Little Tennessee in 1761 on a
peace mission, met a Cherokee head man named Slave Catcher near the mouth of the Little Tennessee. While his memoir and map were detailed, Timberlake did not refer to the island.
Throughout most of the 19th century, Bussell Island was known as "Lenoir Island," after
William Ballard Lenoir
William Ballard Lenoir (1775–1852; also given as 1781-1855) was known as a businessman and politician in what is now known as Lenoir City, Tennessee, where he moved in the early nineteenth century. He had served in the militia and reached the ran ...
, who established a large plantation and
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
at what is now Lenoir City. In 1887, John W. Emmert conducted the first major excavations at Bussell Island for the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. By the time Harrington excavated the island in 1919, the island had come into the possession of the Bussell family, who operated a ferry along the opposite river shore in Lenoir City. Harrington excavated numerous Cherokee graves—identified by the graves' "rectangular" shape and the presence of European trade goods such as glass beads from the period of trading with European-American colonists and settlers. But no known major Cherokee villages were located on the island.
Tellico Dam project
In the 1930s, the
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
was established and charged with building a series of dams to generate hydroelectricity and control flooding through the region. They initially proposed to build Fort Loudoun Dam downstream from the mouth of the Little Tennessee, thus creating a reservoir that would expand across both the upper Tennessee River and lower Little Tennessee River. Engineers were unable to locate a suitable downstream site for a dam. They instead built the dam about a mile upstream, planning to build it at the mouth of the Little Tennessee—known as the Fort Loudoun Extension—to divert water to the Fort Loudoun reservoir and increase that dam's generating capacity. Due to lack of funding, however, the Fort Loudoun Extension project was shelved until the 1960s.
[Kenneth Murchison, ''The Snail Darter Case: TVA Versus the Endangered Species Act'' (Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2007), p. 15.]
TVA revived interest in the Fort Loudoun Extension—renamed the Tellico Dam project—in 1964. They met immediate opposition from a group of citizen activists, who included environmentalists, historical conservationists, and Native Americans with different interests and perspectives on such an infrastructure project.
Construction of the dam began in 1969, but litigation stalled its completion until 1979. The University of Tennessee was hired to conduct extensive archeological excavations at sites throughout the Tellico Basin. As a result of the survey and these excavations, several sites were added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
for their archaeological potential, among them Bussell Island, designated 40LD17.
[Jefferson Chapman, ''Tellico Archaeology: 12,000 Years of Native American History'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1985).]
Excavations
J.W. Emmert (1887)
Emmert's excavations for the American Bureau of Ethnology (Smithsonian Institution) took place in 1887, and were discussed in the bureau's ''12th Annual Report'', published in 1894. Emmert focused on two mounds on the north end of the island, known simply as Mound 1 and Mound 2. Mound 1 was in diameter and high, and described as "thoroughly worked over." Emmert uncovered 14 skeletons in Mound 1, along with pottery fragments, flint chips, glass beads, and an iron bracelet. Mound 2 was slightly larger than Mound 1, but was flanked by a diamond-shaped terrace long and high, which Emmert believed to be man-made. Excavators uncovered 67 skeletons in Mound 2, as well as a burnt-clay tumulus surrounded by irregular cedar-post formations.
M.R. Harrington (1919)
In 1919, Tennessee state archaeologist Mark Harrington boated down the Tennessee River to investigate a series of mound structures scattered along the river between Lenoir City and
Hiwassee Island
Hiwassee Island, also known as Jollys Island and Benham Island, is located in Meigs County, Tennessee, at the confluence of the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers. It is about northeast of Chattanooga. The island was the second largest land mass on th ...
(about 100 miles downstream from Bussell). Like Emmert, Harrington focused on the north end of the island, although he noted that the mounds Emmert excavated had been leveled. Of the 41 burials uncovered by Harrington, 9 were of the older "Round Grave" culture. He attributed the remainder to the later, historic Cherokee inhabitants. Harrington suggested that the large diamond-shaped terrace mentioned by Emmert was a massive
midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
deposit that had accumulated over several centuries.
Harrington described the graves of the Round Grave culture as measuring 2 to 3 feet in diameter, with the bodies folded and compacted to fit in the graves. Typical burial goods included bone awls, steatite bowls, and animal teeth. In contrast, the Cherokee graves were rectangular, with the bodies laid in a flexed position. Typical Cherokee burial items included earthenware vessels, glass beads, and pipes.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bussell Island
South Appalachian Mississippian culture
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee
Tennessee Valley Authority
Geography of Loudon County, Tennessee
River islands of Tennessee
Landforms of Loudon County, Tennessee
National Register of Historic Places in Loudon County, Tennessee