Buchanan Log House

The history of the James Buchanan family "is representative of the social, cultural, and political changes that occurred in Middle Tennessee from the time of frontier settlement through the Civil War and Reconstruction. The history of the Buchanan family, and the construction and expansion of the Buchanan Log House, is representative of the lives of many early settlers that struggled to establish homes for themselves and their families in the Cumberland settlement, Davidson County, and Middle Tennessee area. This family also shared in the hardships and struggles that many Nashvillians faced during the Union occupation of Nashville during the Civil War." (1)

1780

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James Buchanan (1763-1841) was one of these early settlers.  James was born in Virginia on July 16, 1763, to Archibald Buchanan and his wife, Agnes Bowen Buchanan.  James was the second child, and only son, born to Archibald and Agnes.  By the age of seventeen, and still subject to militia duty, in 1780, James had journeyed to the Cumberland settlement area of Tennessee and was one of 256 settlers to sign the Cumberland Compact. 

The Cumberland Compact (left) was signed by 256 men above the age of sixteen and established a temporary government in the Middle Tennessee area until 1783, when the Cumberland government petitioned the North Carolina legislature for official recognition, which resulted in the formation of Davidson County the same year.

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Life was not easy for the early settlers that lived in the Cumberland settlement, and later, Davidson County, in the 1770s and 1780s. Although no Native American nation specifically lived on this land, the Cherokees, Creeks, and Chickasaws all used the land on which the pioneers settled. The threat of attacks was a persistent fear among the early settlers which were often justified, as the Chickasaws and Chickamaugans attacked several of the Cumberland settlements, resulting in loss of life, as well as settlers choosing to relocate, in the early-1780s. 

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