Tuckahoe was the brother of Cornblossom and the son of Chickamaugan
Chief Doublehead. After the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, Chief
Doublehead and his wife, accompanied by Cornblossom and her brother
Tuckahoe, moved to Hines' Cave, in what we know as Wayne County
Kentucky today. This treaty required all Cherokees to leave the
country north of the Cumberland River. Jacob Troxel, or Big Jake, was
assigned to work with the Indians of the Upper Cumberland River. He
made friends with a young Cherokee brave named Tuckahoe after he
reached the old French trading post at Vincennes which was the center
of the western Indian trade. After their journey of about 200 miles
Big Jake and young Tuckahoe came to Tuckahoe's home where Big Jake met
Chief Doublehead and was received by the chief with great respect and
ceremony due a distinguished visitor.

Not long after the close of the Revolutionary War, John Mounce and
family moved to a homestead located at the mouth of Rock Creek on the
Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. Mounce had two beautiful
daughters. Tuckahoe, fell in love with one of them, Margaret Mounce.
The young couple thought it would be romantic if she were taken by
Tuckahoe in an elopement. After several hours Margarets' sister told
her father that Tuckahoe had stolen Margaret. John very upset,
accompanied by  Jones a neighbor, pursued them for many miles. He
finally overtook them near the present town of Monticello, Fearing her
fathers' reaction Margaret threw her arms around Tuckahoe to protect
him from harm, thus preventing her father from shooting Tuckahoe. Soon
after this event, John Mounce gave his consent to the marriage of his
daughter Margaret to the handsome Tuckahoe. Tuckahoe and Margaret
Mounce were married and lived at Cherry Fork, now Helenwood,
Tennessee.

The most prized possession of Chief Doublehead's tribe was a secret
silver mine located somewhere adjacent to the Cumberland River in the
general area of today's McCreary, Pulaski, and Wayne counties,
Kentucky. The location of this silver mine was a tribe secret which
had never been revealed to a white man. A white trader, Han
Blackberne, learned of this mine and was determined to find it. He
offered to sell young Tuckahoe a fine rifle decorated With silver,
together with a fancy powder horn and a fringed bullet pouch for a
small amount of silver from the mine. Tuckahoe eagerly agreed. As he
went to the secret mine for the silver, he was followed by Blackberne
and a hired laborer by the name of Monday. As Tuckahoe was digging the
silver to pay for his new rifle, the two white men appeared. While
remonstrating with Blackberne for following him, he laid down a pick
which he had been using. Monday, a simple-minded individual, grabbed
the pick and struck Tuckahoe on the head killing him instantly. Monday
then threw Tuckahoe's body down a deep crevice between two large rocks
and covered it with leaves, dead branches and loose rock. He and
Blackberne then started digging for silver.

In the meantime Princess Cornblossom learned of the deal of Tuckahoe
with Blackberne and, suspecting that the trader planned to follow him
to the mine, also started for the mine as rapidly as her little legs
would carry her in an attempt to stop her brother before he reached
the mine site. On approaching the mine she saw the tracks of
Blackberne and Monday which confirmed her suspicions. Creeping forward
cautiously she arrived at the mine where she observed the trader
Blackberne resting under a tree and his hired hand Monday digging the
silver. While her brother was not in sight, her worst fears were
confirmed by the sight of his new rifle leaning against a tree and
large pools of blood scattered about the mine where Tuckahoe had been
killed. Realizing what had happened, Princess Cornblossom dashed
forward, grabbed the rifle, horn and pouch and sped down the trail so
swiftly that Blackberne and Monday were unable to catch her.
Fortunately a violent thunderstorm approached on the south and west on
the headwaters of Poncho Creek and along the Little South Fork, which
made further tracking impossible. The Princess, having reached the top
of the mountain, quickly built a shelter at the site of a fallen tree,
picked wild grapes and chestnuts for her evening meal, and weathered
the storm through the night in comfort, but with a heavy heart at the
death of her brother Tuckahoe.

Resolved to avenge his death, as well as to guard the secret of the
tribe's mine, she planned to kill both Blackberne and Monday before
they could reveal the location of the mine to any other white man. At
the break of dawn she knew that some of her tribe would be searching
for her. Sounding the tribal distress call she was answered
immediately by two braves less than two miles distant. Knowing that
Blackberne and Monday would probably head for their trading station
near the Fonde settlement (near what is now Williamsburg, in Whitley
County, Kentucky) and that Poncho Creek was a raging torrent as a
result of the thunderstorm it appeared Blackberne and Monday would be
most likely to cross the creek at Turtleneck Ford. This ford (now
called Cracker's Neck) is located about three miles west of the
present town of Stearns, Kentucky.

Princess Cornblossom concealed herself on the steep hillside
overlooking the ford, posted the two braves in concealment near the
creek, and awaited the appearance of Blackberne and Monday. After a
long wait she saw a glint of a shiny buckle and a fancy coat and
another from the handle of a hunting knife and knew that the white men
were approaching. Carefully renewing the priming in the pan of
Tukahoe's fine flintlock rifle, she rested the heavy barrel in the
fork of a dogwood tree and waited. Arriving at Poncho Creek and
finding it in flood Blackberne dismounted to inspect the ford before
trying to cross. Sighting down the long sleek barrel, glistening with
bear oil, Princess Cornblossom took careful aim and pressed the
trigger. As the shot sounded Blackberne fell to earth dead of a bullet
through his heart. The two braves quickly tomahawk Monday,
disemboweled both bodies, filled them with rocks and threw them in the
raging Poncho Creek. At last the death of the brave Tuckahoe was
revenged and the secret of the tribe's silver mine was again safe.

A History of the Daniel Boone National Forest by Robert F. Collins,
1975

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