Chattanooga and the pivotal role it played in our nation’s history and our expansion westward are profiled in "River Passage," an award-winning historical book by author p.m.terrell, based on the ill-fated Donelson Journey of 1779-1780.

A group of families led by John Donelson traveled by river to Fort Nashborough (now Nashville), a journey that was supposed to take only four weeks. Their plan was to travel the Tennessee River to the Ohio River, and then northward to the Cumberland River and Fort Nashborough.

But more than four months after the group departed, a ragtag group of survivors arrived at Fort Nashborough with a harrowing tale.

Soon after embarking on their trip in December 1779, the worst winter in the nation’s young history struck with a vengeance. Their boats became frozen in the river, delaying their progress for weeks.

During this time, many of the settlers suffered from frostbite, resulting in their first casualty. They also were forced to eat many of the rations that were to sustain them for their entire journey, which resulted in near starvation toward the end of their travels.

As they passed through the mountains and neared present-day Chattanooga, they found themselves in hostile Indian Territory at the height of the Chickamauga Indian War. Dragging Canoe and his followers, a loose band of Cherokee and Shawnee Indians along with various other tribes, vowed to keep the settlers from reaching their destination.

The first wave of attacks came just east of Chattanooga. The Jennings, who traveled at the rear of the flotilla, were separated from the rest of the group and viciously attacked. Of the 29 on board, all but two were killed and the survivors, two sisters, were captured. They were brought to an Indian village which today is totally submerged in the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

The attacks continued relentlessly as the settlers tried to make their way down the treacherous Tennessee River, as the Indians used the mountain range around Chattanooga to watch the settlers and plan their attacks.

The last attack came just as the group was traveling over thirty miles of deadly rapids that splintered some boats and left them all in a fight for their lives.

Terrell’s book, "River Passage," is her eleventh published work and the second in the Neely Family Saga, a series about her ancestors. The series includes the birth of the nation, its struggle against the British all the way to the Mississippi River, and through the generations that fought in the Civil War.

The Nashville Metropolitan Government Archives has determined that the book is so historically accurate that it recently admitted the original manuscript into the Archives for future researchers and historians.

Due to the use of dialogue, however, the book is considered both historical fiction and creative non-fiction. It recently won the 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Award (Bengal Book Awards.)

"River Passage" is told through the eyes of Mary Neely, who was only 18 years old at the time of the river voyage. Terrell also provides another viewpoint: that of Noquali, one of the followers of Dragging Canoe, who stalked the flotilla as their boats moved westward, helping to plan the attacks against them. The villages he travels in the book are those in present-day Chattanooga, which have been swallowed by the Tennessee River.

Terrell has established a website with photographs taken from her travels retracing the river journey and Mary Neely’s subsequent capture by Shawnee warriors at
www.maryneely.com. She met with historians, researchers and archeologists along her travels as she researched these historical events. The book is available at all book stores and online.

The mountains of Tennessee are beautiful, but were obstacles to pioneers. Click to enlarge.