104. Thomas Young Lytle
was born on May 24 1843. He appeared on the census in 1870 in McDowell County,
NC. Lytle, Thomas 26; Eliza Ann 22; Alvis W. 1; Leander 55 (father); Elmira
60 (servant) and Thomas Hatcherson 23 (servant). He appeared on the census
in 1880 in McDowell County, NC. Crooked Creek Township, House # 51: Lytle, Thomas
Y. 37; Eliza Ann 35; Alvis W. 11; Columbus 8; Sallie 4; Annie B. 3; and Leander
P. 65 (father). He appeared on the census in 1900 in McDowell County, NC. Lytle,
Thomas Y. 57; Eliza A. 55; Sally 25; Annie B. 21; George 19; and Leander 87 (father);
and Fulbright, Cassie and Alice; Burgress, ????? (boarders). He appeared on
the census in 1920 in McDowell (Burke) County. Lytle, 76, living with his daughter
and son-in-law, Ben and Sally Stepp. They were living in the Carson House during
this time. He died on Feb 28 1931 in Raleigh, NC. Obituaries for Thomas Young
Lytle,
"Marion Progress" March
5, 1931:
PICTURESQUE VETERAN OF WAR ANSWERS LAST CALL
At Old Fort on March 1 news of the death of Tom Young Lytle, picturesque
90 year old Confederate veteran who is unofficially credited with firing the
first shot of the Civil War at Bethel in 1861, reached here today. Captain Lytle
entered the Old Soldiers Home at Raleigh shortly after Christmas. Captain Lytle
was a native of McDowell County and spent most of his life in the county. He
has been the subject of a number of interesting newspaper articles and was widely
known for exploits during the War. He entered the Army as a Private in one
of the earliest organized Confederate companies and emerged from the service
at Appomattox
with the rank of Captain. He served throughout the War and fought in almost
every important battle and campaign but was never seriously wounded.
He is survived by two sons, George Lytle of Chattanooga, Tennessee and
Columbus Lytle of Old Fort. The funeral services were held at Old Fort Tuesday
morning at 11 O' Clock.
FUNERAL SERVICES FOR MR. THOMAS Y. LYTLE
The funeral services for Mr. Thomas Young Lytle were held in the Presbyterian
Church Tuesday Morning at 11 O' Clock. The services were conducted by Rev. J.C.
Story, of Marion, who was assisted by Rev. M.E. Hansel of the Old Fort Presbyterian
Church, an Rev. J.L. Rayle, of the Old Fort Methodist Church, South. Mr. Lytle
was a member of one of the early pioneer families of McDowell County. He served
in the Confederate Army during the War Between the States. The Masonic Lodge
had charge of the services at the Old Fort Cemetery. The Old Fort Daughters
of the Confederacy attended in body. He was a member of Old Fort Presbyterian
Church in Old Fort, NC. He was buried in Old Fort Cemetery.
The following article was copied from "The McDowell News", Progress
Edition, November 14, 1973:
HISTORICAL OLD FORT WAS PIONEER OUTPOST
by Mildred Beedle Fossett
The town of Old Fort has been known by four different names: 1. Davidson's
Fort, named for Samuel Davidson who owned land, operated a mill and built a fort;
2. Upper Fort, evidently to distinguish it from Cathey's Fort which was erected
near the present American Thread plant at Woodlawn; 3. Catawba Fort, evidently
named for the Indian tribe or the river; 4. Old Fort, its present name.
Samuel Davidson later moved from Old Fort and was recognized as the first
man from this area who went west of Old Fort to settle. He built a cabin on
Christian Creek near Swannanoa. He was ambushed and killed by the Indians.
In his lonely outpost he kept a bell on his horse to enable him to locate
the animal when it strayed from his sparsely cleared acreages. Unfriendly Indians
seized the horse and removed the bell, then stealthily made their way to a point
near the cabin and sounded the bell. Davidson heard the bell and thought the
horse was nearby. He approached the wooded area from where the sound came and
was attacked and killed by the red men. His wife, with their infant daughter
and colored servant, fled to safety and hid in a rhododendron thicket until the
Indians went away. They returned through the uncharted wilderness to Old Fort
where a searching party under the leadership of Colonel Daniel Smith went out
to hunt the intruders. Records relate that several of the Cherokees, who had
ambushed Davidson, were found and killed. The searchers found the scalped body
of Samuel Davidson and buried him where he fell.
Later other pioneers made their way across the Blue Ridge and established
a settlement at the present site of Swannanoa, about a mile and a half from where
Davidson was killed.
Among those first settlers were relatives of Samuel Davidson. His grave
became a shrine for the community. A pine tree was planted the the head of his
grave and the initials S. D. were carved on it. The slain man's brother and
nephew cared for the grave many years. The site of the grave is now marked by
a monument which was unveiled September 25, 1913. The little knoll on which
the monument stands is knows as Davidson's Peak, about 1 1/2 miles from Swannanoa.
The marker is between the Swannanoa River and Highway 70.
Other records indicate that a fort was built about 1756 under Captain
Hugh Waddell's direction as a place of refuge for the Catawba Indian women and
children in the event that the Catawba warriors should have to march against
the French. It is believed that Davidson's fort was built on the same site of
the Indian fort, which according to records was never completed. These uncertain
records have been difficult the prove or reject.
Old Fort was the scene of many battles and skirmishes fought between
the pioneer settlers and the Indians. General Griffith Rutherford, who was in
command of the guard which protected the Western Frontier, camped at Old Fort
while patrolling this section of the border.
Stories have been handed down from one generation to the next which related
the scalping of Mrs. Burgin who lived just west of the present town. She was
in her orchard gathering fruit when Indians approached. She climbed a tree but
was pulled down and scalped. This took place near the home of the late Colonel
D. W. Adams.
A McDowell county man, who lived near Old Fort, claimed to have fired
the first shot in combat in the Civil War. Thomas Young Lytle, born May 25,
1843, was scarcely 18 years old when volunteers were called to defend the Confederacy.
He was a member of Captain William McDowell's company stationed in Virginia.
On the morning of June 8, 1861 the pickets brought in word that a company
of Yankees from Newport News, Virginia were pilfering the countryside between
Bethel and Newport News. Colonel D. H. Hill of the First North Carolina Volunteers
ordered Captain McDowell to take his company and "give them fight".
Major Lane of North Carolina arrived on the scene and took command. There were
about 125 men in the company and one piece of artillery. Major Lane ordered
Captain McDowell to send ten of his men in advance of the company. Lytle was
one of the ten selected for advance duty.
In 1926 Lytle related the story to a reporter from a North Carolina newspaper.
"After awhile we came to a lane, which we went down. On the left was a
clearing and on the right was heavy timber. At a curve in the road we saw the
bayonets of the Federal Troops through cracks in the fence. They were standing
by the side of the road, about 125 in number. Lieutenant Gregory who was in
command of the advance guard said, "Boys, we're going to get into a fight.
We are going to open the ball. I want every man to do his duty." That
was all he said.
"We went right on up to within thirty yards of them. They ordered
us to halt, and the ten of us formed in line right square across the road. The
Yankees then said, 'Come on down here, boys. We're all fighting for the same
cause They then cavilled back and forth among themselves.
"Lieutenant Gregory said, 'You come to us. You halted us Then
one of the Yankees, the one we captured later, cursed his comrades and said,
'I know you'd act like a passel of damn cowards the first time you saw anybody.'
"They thought we were all right but he alone came up to us to within
five or six steps.
"Lieutenant Gregory halted him and threw his pistol on him saying,
'What regiment do you belong to?' The Yankee answered, 'I belong to the First
New York Volunteers.' Gregory said, 'You're my prisoner. Fire on these men,
boys.'
Lytle continued his story. "How did I come to have the advantage
over the other men and secure the first shot? The balance of the boys with the
exception of a fellow named Adams and myself had their guns on their shoulders.
Adams and I had our guns in our hands with our fingers on the triggers. When
we got the command to fire all we had to do was shoot. I fired a little before
Adams, being a little quicker on the trigger.
"When Gregory threw his pistol on the advancing Yankee, the others
ran. They went down the road and didn't fire a gun until out of site. No Confederates
were killed or hurt. That was on Saturday afternoon, June 8, 1861.
"After Adams and I fired we grabbed the Yankee and took him prisoner.
I took his gun strap off and held his hands behind and Adams tied him."
In his early days Lytle was accounted an expert shot and maintained his
record for accuracy many years.
The record of Lytle's part in the initial skirmish is related in Clark's
"History of the Bethel Church Fight."
Lytle had enlisted for only six months. When this time expired, the regiment
disbanded. The McDowell Countian returned home and volunteered again in March
1862, in Company A of the 49th North Carolina Regiment. His Captain was John
A. Flemming; other officers were G. W. (George Walton) Lytle, his uncle, who
was First Lieutenant, J. Martin Higgins, Second Lieutenant, and Joe Camp Neal,
Third Lieutenant, all of McDowell County.
Thomas Young Lytle was the son of L. P. (Leander Perkins) Lytle and Louisa
Lytle. He was born on Crooked Creek about three miles south of Old Fort. His
father was a planter and slave owner. His great grandfather, Thomas Lytle, came
from Ireland and was a prominent Indian fighter during the Indian raids in the
vicinity of Old Fort, and also served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
In reminiscing, Lytle said, "My father was calculating on giving
me a complete education but during the war I became in love with a mighty pretty
girl and I told my father my school days were over." The girl was Eliza
Ann Burgin, daughter of B. L. (Benjamin Logan) Burgin, one of the earliest settlers
in Western North Carolina.
He added, "I was in Buncombe County near Black Mountain working on
a farm when the call was made for volunteers at Asheville. My father told me,
'Thomas, hitch up the horses. I want to go to Asheville.' When my father came
out to get in the buggy I was already in and I said, 'I want to go to Asheville
too.' We then drove on in silence about three miles. My father asked me if
I was going to volunteer, and he said if he thought I was he would turn right
around and go straight back home. I was the only child, my mother died when
I was two year old, but I said, 'Pa, I am going to volunteer. I am going to
Asheville.'
"Captain Jim Young, later sheriff, was the first man to volunteer
in Captain McDowell's Company of Asheville, which was part of the First Bethel
Regiment. Captain McDowell was the head of Company E known as "The Buncombe
Riflemen." Of the 125 men not over a dozen of them were over 21 years old.
"George Gregory was First Lieutenant; Wash Hardy, Second Lieutenant;
and James A. Patton, Third Lieutenant. All were of Asheville. I was a private.
"The Company was made up in March. In April we marched out of Asheville
and camped on the banks of the Swannanoa River during the first night. The second
night we camped within 250 yards of my present home on Buck Creek in McDowell
County, and the third night we camped this side of Morganton. The next morning
we took a train to Raleigh and remained there until the State seceded and we
became part of a regiment. Col. D. H. Hill was made colonel of the First North
Carolina Volunteers. We went from Raleigh to Richmond and from there to Yorktown.
We threw up breastworks and drilled. From Yorktown we went to Bethel Church
and stayed there two or three days. Bethel i 12 to 14 miles below Yorktown,
toward the coast.
"After I volunteered, the second time, in Company A of the 49th
North Carolina Regiment, we went to Raleigh and became part of what was known
as General Bob Ransom's Brigade. The next battle I was in was the seven days
fight around Richmond in the summer of 1862. We fought at Malvern Hill. I was
in the charge but did not get hurt. Our next battle was Sharpsburg. We next
fought at Harper's Ferry, where we captured several hundred Yankees. We then
went into quarters at Petersburg.
"The next hard fight was at or near Druey's Bluff between Richmond
and Petersburg."
Several minor engagements were also participated in by Lytle between Petersburg,
Virginia and Weldon, N. C. He also fought in eastern North Carolina.
He was justly proud of the original copy of his commission as Second Lieutenant
which was signed by Governor Zebulon B. Vance.
Lytle was wounded in the head at the "Blow Up." After two weeks
he returned to his regiment and fought at Fredricksburg, Pennsylvania, the Battle
of the Wilderness, and several other places.
At the time of General Lee's surrender he was home on furlough. He told
his wife that he was "up against it, and had to go to work, and he did."
The Lytles had six children. Four were living when he granted the interview
in 1926; C. L. (Columbus Lee) Lytle, George Ransom Lytle, Mrs. B. M. (Sarah 'Sally'
Young) Steppe and Mrs. Annie B. Trexler.
Lytle farmed McDowell County from 1865. He served as Deputy Sheriff under
J. J. Neal from 1872 and 1874. He stated that the first vote he ever cast was
for Zeb Vance as Governor. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and said
that he was reared by a Presbyterian grandmother who taught him the catechism
and was very strict.
News of Lytle's death reached Old Fort, March 1, 1934. He had entered
the Old Soldiers Home at Raleigh shortly before the previous Christmas. He death
occurred there.
A newspaper account of the funeral reports, "While five veterans,
the last of McDowell County's Confederate ranks, gathered around a grave in the
Old Fort cemetery this morning, their comrade, Captain Thomas Young Lytle, 90
year old hero of many battles, was laid to his final rest.
"Following the services conducted at the Old Fort Presbyterian Church
by the Rev. J. C. Story of Marion, The Masonic Lodges of Old Fort and Marion
united at the grave to conduct the committal services as the flower draped casket
was lowered into the earth."
The next meeting of the United Daughters of the Confederacy honored "The
Memory of Captain Lytle and Comrades" and a paper was read by Miss Gertrude
Dula.
The May 29, 1930 issue of a local newspaper carried the account of the
death of W. P. Terrell, "the man who drove the first locomotive across the
Blue Ridge Mountains and into Asheville."
The report continues, "When the railroad was under construction by
the state, the line was built up to the long Swannanoa tunnel, and while the
tunnel was under construction, the Asheville end from near the top of the mountain
to Biltmore, was built.
To facilitate work on the Asheville end of the line, a small locomotive
was hauled by oxen over a "corduroy road", a road floored with logs
across the mountain to the west end of what is now the Swannanoa tunnel and was
used on the west side in construction work.
"But it was Mr. Terrell who drove the first locomotive through the
tunnel and on to Asheville.
"Mr. Terrell was also the first Master of Masons at the Old Fort
Lodge and was one of the first deacons of the Old Fort Baptist Church."
One of the highlights of Old Fort's history occurred July 27, 1930 when
the Arrowhead Monument on Highway 70 near the Southern Railway Depot was unveiled
with appropriate ceremonies.
The arrowhead, which was chiseled out a a slab of pink granite at the
Salisbury Quarries stands 14 1/2 feet in height on a river rock and cement base
of slightly more than fifteen feet.
A brass tablet attached to the arrowhead bears the inscription: "This
marks the site of the Old Indian Fort built A. D. 1756, the western outpost of
the United States and North Carolina until 1776."
Actually the arrowhead is not on the site of the original fort which was
located approximately where the Mountain Gateway Museum stands today.
D. T. Roughton, president of the Old Fort Memorial Association, was Master
of Ceremonies for the event which was attended by an estimated 6000 persons who
gathered from all sections of Western North Carolina.
The Rev. E. J. Ingle of Old Fort Baptist Church gave the invocation and
a welcome was given by Dr. D. M. McIntosh, Old Fort Chairman of the Committee
on Design and Location.
The Rev. Clarence Stewart McClellan, Jr., rector of Calvary Episcopal
Church at Fletcher, gave an address, "Pioneers". On the program he
was also listed as "Radio Artist and Founder of the Open Air Westminster
Abbey of the South".
J. Hampton Rich of Winston-Salem, Chairman of the Boone Trail Memorial
Association, gave an address, "Pioneers of the Appalachian Mountains".
The Honorable Zebulon Weaver of Asheville gave an address: "Pioneers and
Their Descendants". "The Red Man" was the subject of an address
by the Honorable R. R. Reynolds of Asheville.
The Indian Tribes were represented by Chief Tahquittee and others from
the Cherokees; Chief Sam T. Blue and the Catawbas, and Chief Carl Standing Deer,
Instructor of Archery at Wild acres, near Little Switzerland.
The program also lists "Informal Talks by Distinguished Visitors".
The marker was unveiled by Margaret Marie Nesbitt, nine year old daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Nesbitt of Old Fort, and direct descendant of one of the
first settlers of the valley.
The Rev. J. C. Umberger of Old Fort Methodist Church pronounced the Benediction.
Music was furnished by the Bugle and Drum Corps of Gastonia; and the Marion
and Old Fort Bands. Mrs. George Sandlin was General Chairman of the Program
Committee.
Another newspaper article furnished additional information. Miss Margaret
Nesbitt, who unveiled the marker, was the great-great granddaughter of Mrs. Martha
Burgin, the only white child born in the fort.
Twenty Indians, representing the Cherokee and Catawba tribes, were seated
on the speakers platform. The two tribes, at one time bitter enemies, formally
smoked the pipe of peace while 6,000 persons looked on. Legend has it that the
chiefs of the two tribes had never before formally smoked the peace pipe.
One face of the arrow is adorned by crossed tomahawks, crossed muzzle-loading
rifles, and a powder horn. The other side carries a profile of Chief Sequoia.
Another once-popular landmark in Old Fort is Andrews Geyser which was
built in 1910 and dedicated to Colonel A. B. Andrews of Raleigh for his work
in constructing the old Western North Carolina Railroad. An original geyser
was built in 1890 by the old Western North Carolina Railroad and a hotel was
erected nearby to accommodate railroad employees. Several years later the hotel
burned and the operation of the geyser was discontinued.
In 1910, George F. Baker of the First National Bank of New York made
a trip to Asheville. Seeing the site of the original geyser from the train windows,
he asked Southern Railway for permission to restore it. Permission was granted
and the work completed in 1911.
Since 1911 the geyser was in constant operation under the supervision of
the Southern Railway until recent years when the operation was again discontinued.
Many residents recall the geyser and the well-kept picnic grounds which
surrounded it, and area which was enjoyed by local families, church groups and
clubs for recreational purposes.
It is hoped that in the near future the geyser can be reactivated, the
property restored to its former appearance, and Andrews Geyser can again serve
McDowell County as a recreational area.
Old Fort, once a pioneer outpost, carries on that heritage in the Mountain
Gateway Museum and its residents contribute substantially to the economic, cultural,
and religious structure of McDowell County.
He was married to Eliza Ann Burgin (daughter of Benjamin
"Logan" Burgin and Jane Caroline Dysart) on Sep
16 1865 in McDowell County, NC. They were married in a double wedding ceremony
with her aunt Margaret Hemphill and James M. Young at the home of Thomas and
Margaret Hemphill. Eliza Ann Burgin was born on May
8 1845 in McDowell County, NC. She appeared on the census in 1860 in McDowell
County, NC. Burgin, B.L. 40; Jane 37; Jane 18; Eliza 15; Caledonia 10. Columbus
8; Mary 4. Another daughter Margaret E. b 5-12-1841 d 9-28-1901 was married
9-21-1859 and therefore did not show on the 1860 census living with her father
Ben. Margaret's third child, Anna Burgin b 2-15-1873 d 11-6-1955 married Locke
Craig 11-13-1891. Locke Craig served as Governor of North Carolina from January
1913 to January 1917. She died on Aug 24 1908. She was buried in Old Fort
Cemetery. Thomas Young Lytle and Eliza Ann Burgin had the following children:
383 i.
Unknown Lytle.
384 ii.
Alvis Woodrow Lytle was born on May 25 1869. He died on Oct 24 1894 in Buncombe
County, NC. He was buried in Old Fort Cemetery. He never married.
+385 iii.
Columbus Lee Lytle.
+386 iv.
Sarah "Sallie" Young Lytle.
+387 v.
Annie B. Lytle.
+388 vi.
George Ransom Lytle.
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