UNCLE DAVID HICKS, MOUNTAIN MAN
© 2025 Terry Harmon
My 4x great-granduncle, David Hicks, is believed to have served in the War of 1812, and family lore says he talked about British bullets lodging in cotton bales piled in front of him and his comrades at the Battle of New Orleans and how well “Old Hickory” (Andrew Jackson) liked to smell powder when it was winning a victory. But David is also said to have been bothered by ghosts. He often complained that they “pestered him lots,” and he thought “they mought ‘av been the ghosts of the bloomin’ Henglish,” who he helped slay in battle, for one particular ghost always carried a bale of cotton with bullet holes in it.
In his everyday life as a mountaineer, David hunted, trapped, and fished, killed poisonous snakes and wild animals, and brewed homemade medicines when members of his family were ailing. He also tanned hides, made shoes for his family, and often pounded chestnuts and acorns into a coarse meal for bread. He used a crude sundial and hacked notches about the doors to help determine the time on sunny days; even without it, he could calculate almost the exact time just by looking at the sun and stars.
David lived under primitive conditions, and when his beard and hair became too long, he trimmed them with his hunting knife which he also used to pick his teeth and trim his toenails. At bedtime, his wife shook the “kivvers” (covers), pillows, and animal skins for any snakes that might have hidden among them since the previous night. This was called “snakin’ the beds” and was a necessary ritual as copperheads and rattlesnakes could easily slither through the cracks and hide in the semi-darkness of nearly windowless cabins.
