Six Bulls Legend

The Six Bulls Legend

William Jennings was born in North Carolina and was knee-high to a grasshopper when he joined frontiersman Daniel Boone and thirty other axmen as they cut and marked the trail through the Cumberland Gap in 1775, which became part of the Wilderness Trail.

In the early 1800s, Jennings (the man I call Big Jen) became fearful that civilization was advancing so fast that he would miss out seeing more of the frontier. So one day, he packed his kit and musket and set off to canoe down the Mississippi River and then followed the game trails up the Arkansas River.

He met up with friendly Osage Indians and spent the next seventeen years living with them. He was the first white man to live in southwest Missouri. After all that time, he surprised his acquaintances in his adopted home of Tennessee by showing up one day. What with his drawl and the many years speaking only Osage, he now spoke in a muddled form of English, which was delivered with unusual pronunciation and an odd speaking gait. Understanding his words was difficult.

To give you an idea of how he spoke, here is an excerpt from SIX BULLS-The Carolinians, my next novel being released this fall - -

Speaking to Abraham Rallemore, Big Jen says . . .

“Ah be born in yar state but Tenasee going ta be my home. Spent tha last seventen ‘ears with tha Osage Injuns in tha land of tha Six Bulls. Thet be in southwest Missouri.”

No wonder, thought Abraham, that I’m having difficulty following his words, what with his drawl, odd pronunciation, and his unusual manner of speaking. Abraham figured he’d have to listen real close to get Big Jen’s meaning. “Why they be calling it Six Bulls?”

“On accounta there be so many bulls,” replied Big Jen. Seeing the perplexed look on Abraham’s face, he went on, “Ya know, bulls, like water springs thet be acoming out of tha ground and caves.”

“Ahh, you mean boils?”

“Thet be right, just like ah be saying, bulls,” replied Big Jen.

Abraham suppressed a grin. Yes, understanding Big Jen was going to be a challenge. But he best learn fast because the frontiersman would be leading him and the others on a dangerous mission after midnight.

While the use of the term . . . Six Bulls Country . . . to designate southwest Missouri may have faded, yet the name has stuck for two hundred years. And we have Big Jen to thank.

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