USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 6
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Some of these incidents, however, were serious enough, as for instance the entry of April 7th, which is noted by Collins in full as follows: "About eleven o'clock received a let- ter from Mr. Littereals' camp that there were five persons killed on the road to the Cantuckee, by Indians. Captain Hart upon the receipt of this news, retreated back with his company and determined to settle in the valley to make corn for the Cantucky people. The same day received a letter from Daniel Boone that his company was fired upon by In- dians who killed two of his men, though he kept the ground and saved the baggage, etc." Collins in his "History of Kentucky" gives the text of Boone's letter which was addressed to "Col. Henderson-"these with care," as fol- lows :
"DEAR COLONEL: After my compliments to you, I shall acquaint you of our misfortunes. On March the 25th, a party of Indians fired on my company about half an hour before day and killed Mr. Twetty and his negro and wounded Mr. Walker very deeply, but I hope he will recover.
"On March the 28th, as we were hunting for pro- visions, we found Samuel Tates' son, who gave us an account that the Indians fired on their camp on the 27th day. My brother and I went down and found two men killed and scalped, Thomas McDowell and Jeremiah McPheeters. I have sent a man down to all the lower companies in order to gather them all to the mouth of the Otter creek. My advice to you, Sir, is to come or send as soon as possible; your company is greatly desired, for the people are very uneasy but are willing to stay and venture their lives with you, and now is the time to frustrate the inten- tions of the Indians and keep the country whilst we are in it. If we give way to them now, it will ever be the case. This day we start from the battle- ground for the mouth of Otter creek, where we shall immediately erect a fort which will be done before you can come or send-then we can send ten men to meet you, if you send for them.
"I am Sir. your most obedient
"DANIEL BOONE."
"N. B .- We stood on the ground and guarded our baggage till day and lost nothing. We have about fifteen miles to Cantuck (Kentucky river) at Otter creek."
A side-light is thrown upon this letter of Daniel Boone and the conditions of those troublous times by the following narrative, prepared years afterward by Felix Walker, who is mentioned in Boone's communication to Colonel Henderson :
"In the month of February in that year [1775] Captain William Twetty, Samuel Coburn, James Bridges, Thomas Johnson, John Hart, William Hicks, Jas. Peeke, and myself set out from Ruther- ford county. N. C., to explore a country by the name of Leowvisay, greatly renowned and highly spoken of as the best quality of land. abounding in game, now in the State of Kentucky.
"We placed ourselves under the care and direc- tion of Captain Twetty, an active and enterprising woodsman, of good original mind and great benevo- lence, and although a light-bodied man, in strength and agility of bodily powers was not surpassed by any of his day and time, well calculated for the enterprise.
"We proceeded to Watawgo river, a tributary stream of Holsteen, to the residence of Col. Charles Robertson, now in the State of Tennessee, where a treaty was held by Col. Richard llenderson and his associates, with the Cherokee tribe of Indians, for the purchase of that section of the country we were going to visit, then called Bloody Ground, so named from the continual wars and quarrels of hunting parties of Indians of different tribes who all claimed the ground as their own, and the privilege of hunt- ing the game; who murdered and plundered each other as opportunity offered.
"We continued at Watawgo during the treaty, which lasted about twenty days. Among others there was a distinguished chief called Atticullaculla, the Indian name, known to the white people by the name of Little Carpenter-in allusion, say the In- dians, to his deep, artful and ingenious diplomatic abilities, ably demonstrated in negotiating treaties with the white people. and influence in their national councils ; like as a white carpenter could make every notch and joint fit in wood, so he could bring all his views to fill and fit their places in the political ma- chinery of his nation. He was the most celebrated and influential Indian among all the tribes then known; considered as the Solon of his day. He was said to be about ninety years of age, a very small
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man, and so lean and light habited that I scarcely believe he would have exceeded more than a pound for each year of his life. He was marked with two large scores or scars on each cheek, his ears cut and banded with silver, hanging nearly down on each shoulder, the ancient Indian mode of distinction in some tribes and fashion in others. In one of his public talks delivered to the whites, he spoke to this effect : He was an old man, had presided as chief in their councils, and as president of his nation for more than half a century, had formerly been ap- pointed agent and evoy extraordinary to the King of England on business of the first importance to his nation; he crossed the big water, arrived at his destination, was received with great distinction, had the honor of dining with his majesty and the nobility ; had the utmost respect paid him by the great men among the white people; had accomplished his mis- sion with success, and from the long standing in the highest dignities of his nation, he claimed the con- fidence and good faith in all and everything he would advance in support of the rightful claims of his people to the Bloody Ground, then in treaty to be sold to the white people. His name is mentioned in the life of General Marion, at a treaty held with the Cherokees at Kewee, in South Carolina, in the year 1762 or '63. The treaty being concluded and the purchase made, we proceeded on our journey to meet Col. Daniel Boone with other adventurers, bound to the same country; accordingly we met and rendezvoused at the Long Island on Holsteen river. united our small force with Colonel Boone and his associates. his brother Squire Boone, and Col. Richard Calloway, of Virginia. Our company, when united, amounted to thirty persons. We then, by general consent, put ourselves under the manage- ment and control of Colonel Boone, who was to be our pilot and conductor through the wilderness to the promised land ; perhaps no adventurers since the days of Don Quixote, or before, ever felt so cheerful and elated in prospect; every heart abounded with joy and excitement in anticipating the new things we would see, and the romantic scenes through which we must pass; and exclusive of the novelty of the journey, the advantages and accuinulations ensuing on the settlement of a new country was a dazzling object with many of our company. Under the in- fluence of those impressions we went our way re- joicing with transporting views of our success, tak- ing our leave of the civilized world for a season.
"About the 10th of March we put off from the Long Island, marked our track with our hatchets, crossed the Clinch and Powell's river, over Cum- berland mountain, and crossed Cumberland river-
came to a water course called by Col. - Rockcastle river; killed a fine bear on our way, camped all night and had an excellent supper.
"On leaving that river we had to encounter and cut our way through a country of about twenty miles, entirely covered with dead brush, which we found a difficult and laborious task; at the end of which we arrived at the commencement of a cane country; traveled about thirty miles through thick cane and reed, and as the cane ceased, we began to discover the pleasing and rapturous appearance of the plains of Kentucky. A new sky and strange earth seemed to be presented to our view. So rich a soil we had never seen before; covered with clover in full bloom; the woods were abounding with wild game-turkey so numerous that it might be said they appeared but one flock, universally scattered in the woods. It appeared that nature, in the pro- fusion of her bounty, had spread a feast for all that lives, both for the animal and rational world. A sight so delightful to our view and grateful to our feelings almost inclined us, in imitation of Columbus, in transport to kiss the soil of Kentucky, as he hailed and saluted the sand on first setting foot on the shores of America. The appearance of the country came up to the full measure of our expectations, and seemed to exceed the fruitful source of our imaginary prospects.
"We felt ourselves as passengers through the wilderness just arrived at the fields of Elysium, or at the garden where was no forbidden fruit. Nothing can furnish the contemplative mind with more sublime reflections than nature unbroken by art. We can there trace the wisdom of the Great Architect in the construction of his works in Na- ture's simplicity, which, when he had finished, he pronounced all good. But, alas, fond man! the vision of a moment made dream of a dream, and shadow of a shade! Man may appoint, but One greater than man can disappoint. A sad reverse overtook us two days after on our way to the Ken- tucky river. On the 27th of March, 1775, we were fired on by the Indians in our camp asleep, about an hour before day. Captain Twetty was shot in both knees, and died the third day after; a black man, his body servant, killed dead; myself badly wounded; our company dispersed. So fatal and tragical an event cast a deep gloom of melancholy over all our prospects and high calculations of long life and happy days in our newly-discovered country were prostrated; hope vanished from the most of us, and left us suspended in the tumult of uncertainty and conjecture. Colonel Boone and a few others ap- peared to possess firmness and fortitude. In our
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calamitous situation a circumstance occurred one morning after our misfortunes that proved the cour- age and stability of our few remaining men (for some had gone back). One of our men who had run off at the fire of the Indians on our camp, was discovered peeping from behind a tree by a black woman belonging to Colonel Calloway while gather- ing small wood. She ran in and gave the alarm of Indians. Colonel Boone instantly caught his rifle, ordered the few men to form, take trees and give battle, and not to run till they saw him fall. They formed agreeable to his directions, and I believe they would have fought with equal bravery to any Spartan band ever brought to the field of action, when the man behind the tree announced his name and came in. My situation was critical and danger- ous, being then a youth, three hundred miles from white inhabitants. My friend and guardian, Captain Twetty, taken dead from my side, my wounds pro- nounced by some to be mortal, produced very serious reflections. Yet withal I retained firmness to sup- port me under the pressure of distress, and did not suffer me to languish in depressing mind.
"But where shall I begin, or where can I end, in thanks and grateful acknowledgments to that benign and merciful Protector who spared and pre- served me in the blaze of danger and in the midst of death! I trust I shall remember that singular and protecting event with filial sensations of gratitude while I retain my recollection.
"We remained at the same place twelve days; I could not be removed sooner without the danger of instant death. At length I was carried on a litter between two horses twelve miles, to Kentucky river, where we made a station and called it Boones- borough, situated in a plain on the south side of the river, wherein was a lick with two sulphur springs strongly impregnated. On entering the plain we were permitted to view a very interesting and ro- mantic sight. A number of buffaloes of all sizes, supposed to be between two and three hundred, made off from the lick in every direction ; some running, some walking, others loping slowly and carelessly, with young calves playing, skipping and bounding through the plain. Such a sight some of us never saw before, nor perhaps never again. But to pro- ceed : Col. Richard Henderson, Col. Luttrell, from North Carolina, Capt. William Cock, since the Hon. Judge Cock, of Tennessee, and Col. Thomas Slaugh- ter, of Virginia, arrived in the month of April, with a company of about thirty men. Our military forces, when united, numbered about sixty or sixty-five men, expert riflemen. We lived plentifully on wild meat, buffalo, bear, deer and turkey, without bread
or salt, generally in good health, until the month of July, when I left the country.
"Col. Richard Henderson, being the chief pro- prietor of the bloody ground (indeed so to us), acted as governor. called an assembly by election of members out of our small numbers, organized a government, convened the assembly in May, 1775, consisting of eighteen memhers, exclusive of the speaker, and passed several laws for the regulation of our little community, well adapted to the policy of an infant government.
"The assembly was held under two shade trees in the plains of Boonsborough. This was the first feature of civilization ever attempted in what is now called the western country.
"This small beginning; that little germ of policy by a few adventurers from North Carolina has given birth to the now flourishing state of Kentucky. From that period the population increased with such rapidity that in less than twenty years it became a state.
"In justice to Colonel Henderson it may be said that his message or address to the assembly alluded to was considered equal to any of like kind ever de- livered to any deliberate body in that day and time.
"In the sequel and conclusion of my narrative I must not neglect to give honor to whom honor is due. Colonel Boone conducted the company under his care through the wilderness with great propriety, intrepidity and courage; and was I to enter an ex- ception to any part of his conduct it would be on the ground that he appeared void of fear and of consequence-too little caution for the enterprise. But let me, with feeling recollection and lasting gratitude, ever remember the unremitting kindness, sympathy, and attention paid to me by Colonel Boone in my distress. He was my father, my physician and friend; he attended me as his child, cured my wounds by the use of medicines from the woods, nursed me with paternal affection until I recovered, without the expectation of reward. Gratitude is the only tribute I can pay to his memory. He is now beyond the praise or the blame of mortals in that world unknown from whose bourne no traveler re- turns. I also was kindly treated by all my compan- ions, particularly John Kennedy. From Captain Cook I received kind and friendly attentions.
"We continued in our station; our men were out viewing and exploring the country, choosing such tracts of land as suited them, plenty for all, and thought all was our own.
"Col. James Harrod, my old acquaintance in North Carolina, came up to see me, and tarried a few days. Being a little recovered, I went home with him to
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his station, since called Harrodsburg, where he had a few men. I tarried there two weeks, and returned to Boonsborough. These two stations contained the whole population of that country which did not ex- ceed in number one hundred men.
"The company in our station continued to traverse the country through woods and wilds, choosing their lots of future inheritance, until the month of July, when I returned home to my father's residence in North Carolina, and have not seen Kentucky since, which I have often regretted.
"I have been often solicited to make a publica- tion of this adventure, but still declined until late. There appears something like it in the newspapers which is not correct.
"I therefore thought it incumbent on me as one of the company, and in possession of all the facts. to make this statement, and give it publicity, which I know to be truth by hard experience; and perhaps I may be the last solitary individual of that number left to give a correct relation of that adventure. "FELIX WALKER."
The terms of the treaty made with the In- dians after their defeat at Point Pleasant do not seem to have rested very heavily upon them. It will be remembered that this treaty guaranteed the safety of white men on the Ohio river and provided that no Indian should go across the river to its southern bank. The battle of Point Pleasant, which preceded the treaty, was fought October 10, 1774, the agreement with the Indians following soon afterwards, yet in the following March the Indians were on the southern side of the Ohio river, as shown by Boone's letter, indulging in their favorite pastime of murdering white men.
That the Indians had crossed the river and begun fresh atrocities was soon known to the different bodies of whites, creating much alarm. Colonel Henderson notes in his diary, under date of April 8th, that he "met about forty persons returning from the Cantucky on account of the late murder by the Indians. Could prevail on only one to return. Several Virginians, who were with us, turned back from here "
These desertions were not as serious as up-
on their face they appear to be. The men, who, "having put their hands to the plow," looked back, were not of the stuff of which pioneers are made. Had they remained, timid as they were, they might have proven a bur- den rather than aid to their real sturdy fellows, who dared to meet the Indian on any ground and who fought him until they had gained for the white man every foot of Kentucky.
On receipt of Boone's letter, Colonel Hen- derson sent forward Capt. William Cocke to inform Boone of his speedy coming, following his messenger with such rapidity as the many difficulties of an unknown forest presented. He met a second party of nineteen faint- hearted fugitives making all haste to escape the savage dangers of the new land. Hender- son, impetuous and brave, was able to per- suade a few of these men to turn back and ac- company him to Boonesboro, the others con- tinuing their retreat to the safe land whence they originally came. Colonel Henderson and his party, escaping molestation by the Indians, reached Boonesborough April 20, 1775, and McElroy notes the fact that this was "the very day which began the process of penning up General Gage in the rebellious town of Bos- ton." Noting in his diary the arrival of him- self and party at Boonesborough, Colonel Hen- derson, with the pride of a baron of old when acclaimed by his retainers, writes: "We were saluted by a running fire of about twenty-five guns, all that were at the fort. Men appeared in high spirits and much rejoiced at our ar- rival."
McElroy in "Kentucky in the Nation's His- tory," in a burst of indignant patriotism, tinged with present-day political fervor, makes this comment upon Henderson's arrival at the new fort:
"Thus did the last of America's Lord Pro- prietors enter his domain, a little stockade con- taining a few rough log cabins, and sur- rounded by a virgin wilderness of some twenty million acres. Presumably this was a good
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place to try again the ancient experiment of a Lord Proprietorship, but we can now see that even under the most ideal conditions, no such system of government could have lasted long in the America of 1775. The winds of politi- cal doctrine had long been blowing in a direc- tion quite contrary to such an arrangement, as the heirs of the Penns and the Calverts had come to understand."
The people of America had grown weary of "princes and principalities" and as we have seen, were taking steps in Boston to rid them- selves of such on the very day when Hender- son was being received with salvos at Boones- borough. Instead of Lords Proprietors, they were about to propose to their ruler across the seas, to become independent proprietors them- selves. How well they succeeded need not be re-stated here. The echo of the shot at Con-
cord, "heard round the world," as Emerson poetically stated it, yet reverberates and is heeded by every nation on the globe.
It was not alone that the idea behind Colonel Henderson's movement was unsound and not to be tolerated by a people about to set on foot a movement for their own emancipation from kingly control; there was yet another objec- tion-he had no just and proper title to the vast domain which he claimed by reason of the Wataga treaty. That was the current theory. There were more than two hundred men in Kentucky holding land under lawful grant from Virginia before Colonel Henderson had organized the Transylvania movement, or entered into the Wataga treaty, which itself was deemed illegal and in conflict with the laws of Virginia.
CHAPTER VI.
PIONEERS OF HARRODSBURG-LORD DUNMORE VS. COLONEL HENDERSON-HENDERSON FOUNDS NEW SETTLEMENT-OPPOSITION TO TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY-FIRST KENTUCKY LEGIS- LATIVE ASSEMBLY-HENDERSON'S "PROPRIETORY" GOVERNMENT-EXHIBITS INDIAN DEED -FEAR OF VASSALAGE ARISES-GARRISON DWINDLES-GENERAL LAND AGENT CREATED- HENDERSON APPEALS TO CONGRESS-TRANSYLVANIA REFUSED RECOGNITION-"MISUNDER- STOOD" HENRY'S CHARACTER-OPPOSITION APPEAL TO VIRGINIA-GEORGE ROGERS CLARK APPEARS.
The first permanent settlement in Kentucky men, in return for which he was also assigned was that at Harrodsburg, which was laid out June 16, 1774, by Captain James Harrod, who, with each of this thirty companions, retained a town lot of one half acre and an "outlot" of ten acres.
When one recalls the boundless area of un- occupied land all about them, one is surprised that these modest pioneers retained but one- half an acre each on which to build their homes. It may be that, recognizing the dan- gers by which they were constantly sur- rounded, and their dependence upon each other, they deemed it wisest not to erect their new homes too far apart. A half-acre was sufficient for the modest log cabin and its occu- pant was in easy calling distance of his neigh- bor on either side.
One of those with Harrod was James Har- lan, grandfather of Mr. Justice John M. Har- lan, who has so long honored Kentucky on the bench of the supreme court of the United States.
While Harrod and his associates were en- gaged in the allotment of their homesteads, Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner came to them with the warning from Governor Dun- more that the Indians were about to go on the warpath. Boone delayed long enough to as- sist in the assignment of lots among Harrod's
a lot. It does not appear that his companion, Stoner, was equally compensated, and the pre- sumption is that while Boone was assisting the new settlers in working out their first munici- pal problem Stoner was loafing. To be charit- able, it may be assumed that he was on a hunt- ing expedition.
Harrod and his party paid heed to Lord Dunmore's warning, and withdrew to Vir- ginia, but came back immediately after peace was declared. March 15, 1775, they reoccu- pied Harrodsburg.
These men could not be expected to look with complacency upon Colonel Henderson's schemes. They were located on their own lands before the Transylvania scheme was put into effect; a fact which Colonel Henderson seemed to respect, since he made no attempt at interference with completed land titles.
Besides the Harrod settlement, there were also two other places, Boiling Spring and St. Asaph, or Logan's Fort, which represented legal claims surveyed and entered before the setting up of the Transylvania claim. While they were not fortified stations as yet, nor even settlements, the claimants of land at each of those places had complied with the legal re- quirements of Virginia, and it will readily ap- pear that the interested parties at each of these
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three places would look with but small favor upon the Transylvania scheme.
Meanwhile Colonel Henderson and his asso- ciates were pondering the momentous ques- tions presented by these prior claims. Before final conclusions, if any such were reached, could be put into effect, a messenger from Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, arrived with a momentous document. Col. R. T. Dur- rett, of Louisville, has in his unrivaled histor-
and his more than suspected desire to feather his own financial nest with rich real estate pickings in Kentucky, it must be admitted that he had a fine style in the matter of proclama- tions and a use of the King's English which left no one in doubt as to his meaning.
This proclamation arrayed Virginia and Colonel Henderson in direct opposition, but the latter appears to have been something of a fighter himself. He was a native of Virginia,
KENTUCKY'S FIRST CABIN BUILT IN 1774 AT HARRODSBURG BY JAMES HARROD
ical collection, a manuscript copy of the procla- mation issued by Lord Dunmore, in which in strong language he refers to "one Richard Henderson and other disorderly persons, his associates, who, under pretense of a purchase from the Indians, contrary to aforesaid orders and regulations of His Majesty, has set up a claim to lands of the crown within the limits of the colony." The proclamation enjoined "all justices of the peace, sheriffs and other officers, civil and military, to use their utmost endeavors to prevent the unwarranted and il- legal designs of the said Henderson and his abettors."
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