is still there, at a
period when the men engaged in quarrying the rock had to be
guarded from the attacks of the Indians.

"The father of Samuel Donelson, Col. John Donelson, was also a
native of Virginia, and at onetime a Representative of one of
her oldest counties, Pittsylvania, in the House of Burgesses.
He possessed in an eminent degree the respect of the Provincial
Governor of that Commonwealth, from whom he received the
appointment of Indian Commissioner about the year 1770; and it
is to his bold and enterprising spirit that we are in a great
measure indebted for the Indian Treaties which extended the
settlements of Virginia through Kentucky to the Ohio river. He
left Port Patrick Henry in 1779, descending the Tennessee river
with all his family, in boats built on the Holston, and came up
the Cumberland in those boats as high as the Clover Bottom,
encountering incredible toils and dangers. Three years
afterwards, in 1793, in conjunction with Col. Martin, he
concluded an Indian Treaty, by which the settlements on the
Cumberland river were greatly benefited; but he had, previously
to his departure from Virginia, under a contract with Georgia,
explored the country, and run the line between that State and
North Carolina, as far west as the Mississippi river. After
settling his family near the present site of the Hermitage, he
was killed by the Indians, on a journey to Kentucky, near the
Big Barren River, at the advanced age of 75.

"Samuel Donelson was a lawyer by profession, and the intimate
friend and associate of Gen. Jackson, after whom he named his
son Andrew, who was born on the 25th of August, 1800. On the
second marriage of his mother, this son was taken into the
family of the General, who became his guardian and patron; and
he remained the most of his time with him until he was prepared
to enter the Cumberland College. After finishing his studies at
this school, Gen. Jackson obtained for him a Cadet's warrant,
which enabled him to enter the Military Academy at West Point,
in 1816. He was one of the first class which was graduated
under the superintendence of Col. Thayer--finishing the course
of studies in three, instead of four years; as is customary.
Throughout his service at West Point, he was distinguished for
his p