John Pomfret Long
John P. Long
John P. Long, one of the pioneers from the Ross's Landing days, lived many years on the side of Cameron Hill. The Long home was at West Seventh and Cedar after the Civil War.
When John and Eliza Long came into view of
the Ross's Landing wilderness in 1836, they
"felt we were coming out of the world to come
and live among the bears and Indians, yet we
were full of hope and courage.'' John Pomfret
Long floated down by flatboat from Rhea County, while Mrs. Long followed on horseback with
an uncle.
When Mrs. Long stood on the dividing
line between white man and Indian, she
"looked with delight on the beautiful landscape - Lookout Mountain and Cameron Hill - their
sides and the valley beneath were covered with
what seemed to me a vast unbroken forest.'' The
Landing then included only a muddy winding
road (Market Street) with a few "straggling log
cabins.'' There were three small log stores. A
cabin that was a little larger than the rest was a
tavern and inn kept by the widow Jane Henderson.
The Longs occupied a two-room log cabin,
with the front room filled with store goods. The
back room was "a parlor, dining room, chamber
and kitchen all in one.'' There was a big, wide
chimney and board windows. In this simple residence, the Longs were "just as happy as if we
had lived in a mansion.'' The Longs kept no lock
on their door. Valuable goods were left lying on
the wharf for weeks and "nobody touched
them.''
John P. Long learned to talk with the Indians,
and he asked them questions about the history
of the area, including the origin of the name
"Chattanooga.'' Soon the decree went out that
the Indians were to be deported west, away from
their beloved homeland. One of the stockades
was by the river near Ross's Landing. A regiment of U.S. soldiers was stationed on the hill at
East Fourth Street (Brabson Hill) to aid in the
roundup and to help protect the white settlers
in case there should be an uprising. Mrs. Long
was distressed as she saw the soldiers leading
her Indian friends into the stockade. She said of
the Trail of Tears - "A long and terrible
journey it was, and hundreds died along the
way.''
John P. Long was a native of Knoxville, the
son of William and Jane Bennett Long. William
Long, a carpenter, also moved to Ross's Landing. William Long was born Feb. 19, 1775, at
Mecklenburg County, N.C. John P. Long's grandfather, John Long, was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, who went to Mecklenburg County.
He came alone to America, leaving only a maiden sister in Ireland.
John P. Long was born in Knox County Nov. 25, 1807. He finished his schooling at Knoxville when he was 14, then the Longs moved to Washington at Rhea County. He worked for three years at a tannery, then clerked three years at Washington for Col. Thomas McCallie. John P. Long built a frame house there, but just after it was finished it was washed off its foundation and out into the street. Later, Long made it into a raft and floated down to Ross's Landing. He then rebuilt the house at his new home.
William Long was one of the elders of the
Presbyterian Church at Chattanooga. He was so
uniformly upright that the saying arose "as honest as Billy Long.'' He died Nov. 1, 1844. Jane
Bennett Long died at Chattanooga on Dec. 10,
1859. Their other children were Mary Long who
married John A. Hooke, and James Shields
Long, a physician who married Jane Caldwell of
Monroe County, Ga. James Shields Long died in
1866, leaving daughters Mary and Virginia.
Eliza Smith Long was born on Jan. 25, 1813,
near Hiwassee Garrison at the mouth of Richland Creek in Rhea County. She was the daughter of William Smith, a schoolteacher who
moved down from Massachusetts to Knox County in 1808. He later established Smith's Crossroads (Dayton) in Rhea County. The wife of William Smith was Elizabeth Cozby, daughter of the
physician and Indian fighter Dr. James Cozby.
Dr. Cozby was married to Isabella Woods. Eliza
Smith resided on her father's farm until she was
16, then she went away to the college operated
at Knoxville by Dr. Esterbrook. Her marriage to
John P. Long occurred on Nov. 6, 1834, at
Smith's Crossroads.
It was John P. Long who suggested the name
"Chattanooga'' when there was a town meeting
to replace the old title of Ross's Landing. Along
with Aaron M. Rawlings and George W. Williams, he was a commissioner at the time entries were made for lots at Chattanooga. He was
the town's first postmaster and was city recorder for three years, until the city was evacuated
by the Confederates. He joined the Presbyterian
church in 1843 and was elected an elder in his
father's place after his death in 1845. John P.
Long cast his first vote in 1832 for General Andrew Jackson. He next supported Hugh Lawson
White, then he voted the Whig ticket "from Harrison to Bell.'' Afterwards, he was a Democrat.
He attended the Whig state convention at Murfreesboro in 1841. He was "always a States'
Rights man as was his father before him.'' He
voted against secession in February of 1861, but,
after Lincoln ordered out troops, he voted for it.
When the Civil War fighting began, John P.
Long at first kept his family in town. In 1862, he
was appointed provost-marshal of Chattanooga
by Gen. John Porter McCown. With the arrival of
the Yankees, John P. Long went south to Griffin,
Ga., to prepare a place for his family. However,
Mrs. Long and her boys, John P. Long Jr., Milo
Smith Long and Marcus Bearden Long, along
with their servant Aunt Clary and her daughters, were caught up in the fierce fighting in
1863. At the time they lived on South Market
Street where the Chattanooga Choo Choo is now
located. Early the next morning after the fighting at Chickamauga, the Longs awoke to find the
house covered with soldiers pulling shingles off
in preparation for the imminent battle that was
expected in Chattanooga. The Longs then joined
the "strange, silent motley crowd all leaving
their homes.'' There was "no weeping or lamentations'' as they looked back and one of the boys
said, "Look, mother, there goes our house.''
Aunt Clary jerked the family Bible away from a
Union soldier who was tearing out the leaves,
and it was said it was the only time in her life
that Aunt Clary ever cursed.
The Longs went to
the home of Mrs. Long's brother, Dr. Milo Smith, at the foot of Cameron Hill.
The family suffered hunger in the months the
town was under Confederate siege, and Mrs.
Long once made a personal appeal to Gen.
James A. Garfield, a future president. He gave
her part of his own food - a piece of hardtack
and a piece of white meat. The Longs were finally able to join John P. Long at Griffin, Ga., where
they remained for the duration of the war.
John P. Long Jr., who was barely old enough to
enlist, had a leg blown off at the battle of Atlanta. Rheumatism developed in his other leg so
that it was useless to him. In 1879, he died at age
33 of heart disease at his parents' home. He died of heart disease after a 10-day illness and was yet another young victim of the late war. John P.
Long Jr., who served with the 19th Tennessee
Infantry, was born March 4, 1847.
An older brother, James Cozby Long, was in a
number of naval fights, serving as a crew member of the Merrimac. Born in 1844, he was educated at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. He resigned and joined the Confederate Navy in 1861
and was attached to the fleet off the coast of
North Carolina. He was in a fight at Roanoke
Island prior to transferring to the Merrimac. He
was in the famous naval fights at Hampton
Roads and remained with the ship until it
burned. He then transferred to Drury's Bluff
and then to Plymouth, N.C. He was on the ironclad Plymouth when it was blown up by the U.S.
Navy. Later, he served on a blockade runner. After the war, he was a civil engineer, having
charge of the government works at Muscle Shoals for a time. He later was a manufacturer of
iron paint at Birmingham, Ala. He marred
Frances Walker at Elyton, Ala., in 1872. Their
children were William Walker, John Pomfret,
James Cozby and Mary.
Milo Smith Long graduated in medicine at
Nashville and moved to Dakota. Marcus Bearden Long was a civil engineer. He was at one
time an engineer on the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe Railroad. He was unmarried.
Always a Chattanooga
booster, John P. Long gave a speech in March of
1880 outlining the city's history. He gained a law
license in 1868 and he practiced mainly in the
realty area. John P. Long lived until 1889, and
Mrs. Long survived until March 30, 1900. It was
said of John P. Long that he "has desired wealth
and has been sometimes up and sometimes
down, but has always made it a rule to pay his
debts. With one exception he has always made a
profit on whatever he has sold. He never swore
an oath in his life, and was brought up to regard
the Sabbath. He has never been dissipated,
though not always strictly temperate. He is a
self-assertive man, and of quick temper.''
Of the 11 children of John P. and Eliza Long,
five died in infancy. Several did not marry. William Pomfret Long, the eldest, died when he
was 19. Elizabeth Jane Long died when she was
16. John Pomfret Long IV, a descendant of
James Cozby Long, resided at Tullahoma. He
had two sons.