Appalachian Genesis: The Clinch River Valley from Prehistoric Times to the End of the Frontier Era

by Richard Lee Fulgham

Chronicling a unique place and time in early American history, this is a story of epic proportions, spanning not centuries but millennia, and even epochs, as the river valley is first shaped by nature into a paradise for all living things—then shaped by humans into a war zone where Native American, British, French, Colonial, Tory, and Patriot forces regularly collided in bloody conflicts.

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

b. Germany
Raised: GA
Current Home: Bel Air, MD

Retired newspaper writer for "The Lebanon News, Inc.", SW Virginia; also wrote for "The Columbus Times, Inc", Columbus, GA.; and the
"Ledger/Enquirer, Inc.", Columbus, GA.

Journalism Awards:
VSCB 2000 "Hall of Fame" for Educational Writing;
VIRGINIA PRESS AWARD, 1993;
VIRGINIA PRESS AWARD, 1995;
Ninth District Soil % Water
Conservation Corps: Brass Plaque
for environmental writing;
RCEC: Brass Plaque for environmental
writing.
"Real" Books:
"Appalachian Genesis: The Clinch River Valley from Prehistoric Times to the End of the Frontier Era", history, (TN: Overmountain, 2001).

"The Hogs of Cold Harbor: The Civil War Saga of John Henry Hess, Pvt., Co. G, 29th VA Infantry, Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps", (Pittsburgh: Whitmore, 2005".

Magazine publication: Sports Afield, Norman Mailer Review, Defenders of Wildlife, Fate, Writers Digest, Reincarnation Digest, Maryland Conservationist, Virginia Sheriff, Georgia Teacher, Annapolis, Spectrum, Ledger/Enquirer's SUNDAY Magazine.

Reviews

[Johnny Hess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A documentary by Richard Lee Fulgham: The story begins with catastrophe -- as the continent of Africa rams into North America, thrusting up the Appalachian Mountain called now the Clinch -- off which runs the Clinch River, the second oldest in the world, carving a valley so rich and bountiful that it is fought over by (get this!) paleo-Indians, "Xulan Empire" warriors, Cherokee, Shawnee, Mingo Native Americans, Spanish Conquistadors, English explorers, Long-hunters, pioneers, French trappers, British soldiers, English Colonists, Tories, Patriots. . . .
Wars were fought for possession of the Clinch River Valley by the Xulans vs. Conquistadors; Cherokee vs. Shawnee; Cherokee vs. settlers; French & Indians vs. the British; Militia vs. renegade Indian armies; Redcoats vs. Overmountain men. . . .
The book ends with the so-called civilization of the valley, marked by President Andrew Jackson's decree that every Native American in SE USA by rounded up at bayonet point and forced to marched to Oklahoma . . . . 4000 Cherokee alone died along the way. . . .
The book is also beautifully written, the match of the best of Loren Eisley, Joseph Wood Krutch, Lauren van der Post and even Thoreau. Here's an example, writing about the ice-age hunters who lived in the Clinch 15,000 years ago:
"Certainly the Paleo-Indians were here when all was frozen and the icy air made their lungs rattle. Certainly at night they held their Clovis spears tight, huddled close around their campfires and together watched the blood-red shining eyes -- perhaps of sabre-toothed cats -- watching them so ominously from just beyond the firelight. Certainly they gazed at the unchanging stars and wondered silently if there was not more to life than ambushing those massive ice-age beasts less clever than they."