Massacre That Saved Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Before Texas had the Alamo, Tennessee had the Cavett Blockhouse. According to its memorial stone, 1,000 Creek and Cherokee warriors were ready to wipe out the town (now city) of Knoxville on September 25, 1793. Only the 14 men, women, and children of the Blockhouse stood in their way. The settlers somehow put up such a fight that the Indians became discouraged and never attacked the town. All of the Blockhouse defenders were killed but, unlike the Alamo, the Blockhouse wasn't preserved, so the settlers' only memorial is the stone on their mass grave, which is now hidden behind a subdivision.
In an awkward twist, the subdivision street nearest the grave is named for Doublehead, the war chief who went out of his way to make certain that all the defenders were massacred.