Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 59

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I > Part 59

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. How long they occupied the country, whence they came, whither they have gone, or whether they perished within the crumbling walls which alone speak of their existence, the present state of our knowledge does not enable us to decide. The his- torical facts with certainty to be inferred from the data which exist,

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are few and meagre. In relation to time, we can only affirm that the fortifications and cemeteries, which have been examined. are certainly more than eight hundred years old, but how much older they may be can only be conjectured. Time, and future investigation, may throw some additional light upon the history of this ancient race; but at present we can only say that they lived, that they struggled against enemies, that they made pro- gress in arts and civilization, and that the places which once knew them, now know them no more.

Neglecting the obscure visit of Dr. Walker to the north-east- ern portion of Kentucky in 1758, and the equally obscure, but more thorough examination of the country by Finley in 1767, we may regard the company headed by Daniel Boone in 1769, and by Knox in 1770, as the earliest visits to Kentucky worthy of particular attention. Boone's party remained two years in the State, and traversed its northern and middle regions with great attention. The party led by Colonel James Knox, called the Long Hunters, came one year later, and remained about the same time. Both parties were in the country together, but never met. Boone was a native of Pennsylvania, but had emigrated to North Carolina. Knox's party was from Holston, on Clinch river, and thoroughly explored the middle and southern regions of Kentucky. Boone's party was harassed by the Indians, and one of their number, James Stuart, was killed. Boone himself at one time fell into their hands, but escaped. In 1771, they returned from their long hunting excursion, and spread throughout the western settlements of Virginia and North Carolina the mnost glowing accounts of the inexhaustible fertility of the soil.

The bounty in lands, which had been given to the Virginia troops who had served throughout the old French war, were to be located upon the western waters, and within less than two years after the return of Boone and Knox, surveyors were sent out to locate these lands upon the Ohio river. In 1773, Captain Thomas Bullitt, who had distinguished himself in the expedition against fort Du Quesne, led a party of surveyors down the Ohio to the Falls, where a camp was constructed and roughly fortified to protect them from the Indians. During this expedition many surveys were executed in Kentucky, and large portions of the country explored with a view to future settlement. Three bro- thers from Virginia, James, George and Robert M'Afee, accompa- nied Bullitt to the mouth of Kentucky river. There they left him, and in company with several others ascended the Kentucky to the forks, exploring the country and making surveys in various places.

In the summer of 1774, other parties of surveyors and hunters followed; and during this year James Harrod erected a log cabin upon the spot where Harrodsburg now stands, which rapidly grew into a station, doubtless the oldest in Kentucky. During nextyear, Colonel Richard Henderson purchased from the Chero- kee Indians the whole country south of Kentucky river. His

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purchase was subsequently declared null and void by the legisla- ture of Virginia, which claimed the sole right to purchase land from the Indians within the bounds of the royal charter; but great activity was displayed by Henderson in taking possession of his new empire, and granting land to settlers, before the act of the Virginia legislature overturned all his schemes. Daniel Boone was employed by him to survey the country, and select favorable positions ; and, early in the spring of 1775, the foun- dation of Boonsborough was laid, under the title of Henderson. From the 22d of March to the 14th of April, Boone was actively engaged in constructing the fort, afterwards called Boonsborough, during which time his party was exposed to four fierce attacks from the Indians. By the middle of April the fort was comple- ted, and within five months from that time his wife and daughters joined him, and resided in the fort,-the first white women who ever stood upon the banks of the Kentucky river. From this time, Boonsborough and Harrodsburg became the nucleus and support of emigration and settlement in Kentucky. In 1775, the renowned pioneer, Simon Kenton, erected a log cabin, and raised a crop of corn in the county of Mason, near the spot where the town of Washington now stands, and continued to occupy the spot until the fall of that year, when he removed to Boonsbo- rough. The limits allotted to this Historical sketch will not admit of details of individual adventures.

On Sept. 8th, 1775, as part of the same company of family immigrants with Daniel Boone's wife and daughters, the infant colony was enriched by the arrival of three more ladies, Mrs. Denton, Mrs. McGary, and Mrs. Hogan, who, with their husbands and children, settled at Harrodsburg. On the 25th of September, Col. Richard Callaway and two other gentlemen, with their wives and children, reached Boonesborough.

Early in the spring of 1776, in March, Colonel Benjamin Logan brought his wife and family to Logan's fort, about one mile west of the present town of Stanford, in Lincoln county, where he, with a few slaves, had raised a crop of corn in 1775.

During this summer, an incident occurred which powerfully impressed upon the minds of the women of Kentucky the dangers which beset them in their frontier home : while a daughter of Daniel Boone and two of the Miss Callaways were amusing themselves within a short distance of the fort, a party of Indians suddenly rushed upon them, and bore them off as captives. They were rapidly pursued by Colonel Floyd and Daniel Boone, with a party of eight men, and at the distance of forty miles from the fort, were overtaken, dispersed, and the girls recovered. During this summer, Colonel George Rogers Clark for the first time made his appearance in Kentucky. He visited the different stations, but made no location; he spent much of his time in the woods, alone and hunting, and encouraged the young pioneers much by hus presence and example.

In the winter of this year, Kentucky was formed into a county

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by the legislature of Virginia, and thus became entitled to a separate county court, to justices of the peace, a sheriff, consta- bles, coroner, and militia officers. Law, with its imposing para- pharnalia, (upon a small scale,) for the first time reared its head in the forests of Kentucky. In the spring of 1777, the court of quarter sessions held its first sitting at Harrodsburgh, attended by the sheriff of the county and its clerk, Levi Todd. The first court of Kentucky was composed of John Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin Logan, John Bowman, and Richard Calloway.

They had scarcely adjourned when the infant republic was rocked to its centre by an Indian invasion. Harrodsburg, Boonsborough, Logan's fort were all in succession furiously as- sailed. The hunters and surveyors were driven in from the woods, and compelled to take refuge within the forts. Much in- jury was done; but the forts withstood their utmost efforts, and after sweeping through Kentucky like a torrent for several weeks, the angry tide slowly rolled back to the north, leaving the agi- tated settlers to repair their loss as they best could. They were reinforced during the summer by forty-five men from North Caro- lina, and, in September, by one hundred more under Colonel Bow- man, from Virginia. During this summer, Colonel Benjamin Logan distinguished himself by a display of the most noble and elevated qualities of the human heart. Details will be found in another part of this work ; our limits forbid them here.

The year 1778 was rendered memorable in Kentucky by two great military events, in which she was deeply interested. The one, was the invasion of the country by an army of Indians and Canadians, under the command of Captain DuQuesne, a Canadian officer ; the other, was the brilliant expedition of Colonel George Rogers Clark against the English posts of Vincennes and Kas- kaskias. We will give a brief summary of each in their order.

In the month of February, Boone, at the head of thirty men was at the lower Blue Licks, engaged in making salt, when he was surprised by two hundred Indians, on their march to attack Boonsborough, and himself and party taken prisoners. They surrendered upon terms of capitulation, which were faithfully ob- served by the Indians, and were all carried to Detroit. Here his companions were delivered up to the English commandant, but Boone was reserved by the Indians and taken to Chillicothe. His captors treated him with great kindness, and permitted him to hunt, with but little restraint upon his motions. While at Chillicothe, he saw three hundred and fifty Indians assembled, armed and painted, for a hostile expedition against Boonsbo- rough, which had only been suspended, not relinquished, by his capture in the spring. He immediately effected his escape, and lost no time in returning to Boonsborough, where he gave the alarm throughout all Kentucky. Instant preparations were made to receive the enemy ; the distant settlements were abandoned, the forts were put upon the war establishment, and all anxiously expected the approach of the enemy. The escape of Boone,

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however, had disconcerted the enterprise, and it was delayed for several weeks.

Impatient of the slow advance of the enemy, Boone, at the head of thirty men, of whom Simon Kenton was one, projected an expedition against one of the Indian towns on Paint Creek; and while in the enemy's country, he obtained certain informa- tion that the Indian army had passed him, and was already on its march to Boonsborough. Countermarching with great rapidity, he halted not, day or night, until he reached Boonsborough with his men ; and scarcely had he done so, when Captain Du Quesne made his appearance at the head of five hundred Indians and Canadians. This was such an army as Kentucky had never yet beheld, and it produced an immense sensation. The garrison of Boonsborough consisted of fifty men; Harrodsburg and Logan's fort were strongly menaced by detachments, and could afford them no assistance. The attack commenced; and every artifice was resorted to in order to deceive, to intimidate, or subdue the garrison, but all proved ineffectual. The attack continued during nine days, and was resisted with steady fortitude. On the tenth day the enemy decamped, having lost thirty men killed and a much greater number wounded. The garrison sustained a loss of two killed and four wounded; the loss of the country, however, in stock and improvements, was great.

The expedition of Colonel George Rogers Clark belongs more properly to the history of the United States than to that of Ken- tucky; it will be referred to, therefore, with great brevity. When Clark was in Kentucky, in the summer of 1776, he took a more comprehensive survey of the western country than the rude pioneers around him ; his keen military eye was cast upon the northwestern posts, garrisoned by British troops, and affording inexhaustible supplies of arms and ammunition to the small predatory bands of Indians which infested Kentucky. He saw plainly that they were the true fountains from which the thou- sand little annual rills of Indian rapine and murder took their rise, and he formed the bold project of striking at the root of the evil.

The revolutionary war was then raging, and the western posts were too remote from the great current of events to attract, powerfully, the attention of either friend or foe ; but to Kentucky they were objects of capital interest. He unfolded his plan to the executive of Virginia, awakened him to a true sense of its importance, and had the address to obtain from the impoverished legislature a few scanty supplies of men and munitions for his favorite project. Undismayed by the scantiness of his means, he embarked in the expedition with all the ardor of his character. A few State troops were furnished by Virginia, a few scouts and guides by Kentucky, and, with a secrecy and celerity of move- ment never surpassed by Napoleon in his palmiest days, he embarked in his daring project.

Having descended the Ohio in boats to the Falls, he there

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landed thirteen families who had accompanied him from Pitts- burgh, as emigrants to Kentucky, and by whom the foundation of Louisville was laid. Continuing his course down the Ohio he disembarked his troops about sixty miles above the mouth of that river, and, marching on foot through a pathless wilderness, he came upon Kaskaskia as suddenly and unexpectedly as if he had descended from the skies. The British officer in command, Colonel Rochdublare, and his garrison, surrendered to a force which they could have repelled with ease, if warned of their approach ; but never, in the annals of war, was surprise more complete. Having secured and sent off his prisoners to Vir- ginia, Clark was employed for some time in conciliating the inhabitants, who, being French, readily submitted to the new order of things. In the meantime, a storm threatened him from Vincennes. Governor Hamilton, who commanded the British force in the northwest, had actively employed himself during the fall season in organizing a large army of savages, with whom, in conjunction with his British force, he determined not only to crush Clark and his handful of adventurers, but to desolate Kentucky, and even seize fort Pitt. The season, however, be- came so far advanced before he had completed his preparations, that he determined to defer the project until spring, and in the meantime, to keep his Indians employed, he launched them against the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, intending to concentrate them early in the spring, and carry out his grand project.

Clark in the meantime lay at Kaskaskia, revolving the diffi- culties of his situation, and employing his spies diligently in learning intelligence of his enemy. No sooner was he informed of the dispersion of Hamilton's Indian force, and that he lay at Vincennes with his regulars alone, than he determined to strike Vincennes as he had struck Kaskaskia. The march was long, the season inclement, the road passed through an untrodden wilderness, and through overflowed bottoms; his stock of provi- sions was scanty, and was to be carried upon the backs of his men. He could only muster one hundred and thirty men ; but, inspiring this handful with his own heroic spirit, he plunged boldly into the wilderness which separated Kaskaskia from Vincennes, resolved to strike his enemy in the citadel of his strength, or perish in the effort. The difficulties of the march were great, beyond what even his daring spirit had anticipated For days his route led through the drowned lands of Illinois ; his stock of provisions became exhausted, his guides lost their way, and the most intrepid of his followers at times gave way to de- spair. At length they emerged from the drowned lands, and Vincennes, like Kaskaskia, was completely surprised. The governor and garrison became prisoners of war, and, like their predecessors at Kaskaskia, were sent on to Virginia. The Canadian inhabitants readily submitted, the neighboring tribes were overawed, and some of them became allies, and the whole

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of the adjacent country became subject to Virginia, which em- ployed a regiment of State troops in maintaining and securing their conquest. A portion of this force was afterwards perma- nently stationed at Louisville, where a fort was erected, and where Clark established his head-quarters.

The year 1779 was marked, in Kentucky, by three events of unequal importance. About the 1st of April a solitary block- house, with some adjacent defences, the forlorn hope of advancing civilization, was erected by Robert Patterson, upon the spot where the city of Lexington now stands ; the singularly unfortunate expedition of Colonel Bowman, against the Indian town of Chilli- cothe, was undertaken and carried out; and the celebrated land law of Kentucky was passed by the Virginia legislature.

Bowman's expedition consisted of the flower of Kentucky. Colonel Benjamin Logan was second in command, and Harrod, Bulger, Bedinger, and many other brave officers, held subordinate commands. The march was well conducted, the surprise was complete, the plan of attack well concerted, and the division led by Logan performed its part well. Yet the whole failed by reason of the want of promptness and concert in taking advantage of the surprise, or by misunderstanding orders. Logan's division was compelled to make a disorderly retreat to the main column, and the rout quickly became general. All would have been lost but for the daring bravery of some of the subordinate officers, who charged the enemy on horseback, and covered the retreat ; but the failure was as complete as it was unexpected.

Our limits forbid an analysis of the land law. It was doubtless well intended, and the settlement and pre-emption features were just and liberal. The radical and incurable defect of the law, however, was the neglect of Virginia to provide for the general survey of the country at the expense of government, and its sub- division into whole, half, and quarter settions, as is now done by the United States. Instead of this, each possessor of a warrant was allowed to locate the same where he pleased, and was re- quired to survey it at his own cost; but his entry was required to be so special and precise that each subsequent locator might recognize the land already taken up, and make his entry else- where. To make a good entry, therefore, required a precision and accuracy of description which such men as Boone and Kenton could not be expected to possess ; and all vague entries were declared null and void. Unnumbered sorrows, lawsuits, and heart-rending vexations, were the consequence of this unhappy law. 'In the unskillful hands of the hunters and pioneers of Kentucky, entries, surveys, and patents, were piled upon each other, overlapping and crossing in endless perplexity. The full fruits were not reaped until the country became more thickly settled.

In the meantime the immediate consequence of the law was a flood of immigration. The hunters of the elk and buffalo were

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now succeeded by the more ravenous hunters of land; in the pursuit, they fearlessly braved the hatchet of the Indian and the privations of the forest. The surveyor's chain and compass were seen in the woods as frequently as the rifle; and during the years 1779-80-81, the great and all-absorbing object in Kentucky was to enter, survey, and obtain a patent, for the richest sections of land. Indian hostilities were rife during the whole of this period, but these only formed episodes in the great drama.

The year 1780 was distinguished by the vast number of emi- grants who crowded to Kentucky for the purpose of locating land warrants ; Indian hostility was proportionably active, and a formidable expedition, consisting of Indians and English, under Colonel Bird, threatened Kentucky with destruction. For the first time, cannon were employed against the stockade forts of Kentucky ; and Ruddle's and Martin's stations were completely destroyed, and their garrisons taken. The impatience of the In- dians then compelled the colonel to retire, without pushing his successes further.

In the fall of this year, Colonel Clark, at the head of his State troops stationed at Louisville, reinforced by all the disposable force of Kentucky, invaded the Indian country in Ohio, and having defeated the Indians in a pitched battle, laid waste their villages and destroyed their corn fields, with inexorable severity, in retaliation of Bird's expedition in the spring.

In November of this year, Kentucky was divided into three counties, to which the names of Fayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson were given. They had now three county courts, holding monthly sessions, three courts of common law and chancery jurisdiction, sitting quarter-yearly, and a host of magistrates and constables. No court, capable of trying for capital offences, existed in the country, or nearer than Richmond. The courts of quarter-session could take notice only of misdemeanors. .

The year 1781 was distinguished by a very large emigration, by prodigious activity in land speculation, and by the frequency of Indian inroads, in small parties. Every portion of the country was kept continually in alarm, and small Indian ambushes were perpetually bursting upon the settlers. Many lives were lost, but the settlements made great and daily advances, in defiance of all obstacles. The rich lands of Kentucky were the prize of the first occupants, and they rushed to seize them with a rapacity stronger than the fear of death.

The year 1782 was uncommonly prolific in great events. Indian hostility was unusually early and active. In the month of May, a party of twenty-five Wyandots invaded Kentucky, and committed shocking depredations in the neighborhood of Estill's station. Captain Estill hastily collected a party of equal force, and pursued them rapidly. He overtook them upon Hinckstone's fork of Licking, near Mount-Sterling, and the best fought battle of the war there occurred. The creek ran between the parties, forbidding a charge but at perilous disadvantage, and the two

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lines, forming behind trees and logs, within half rifle shot, stood front to front for hours, in close and deadly combat. One-third on each side had fallen, and the fire was still vivid and deadly as at the opening of the combat. Estill. determined to bring it to a close, ordered Lieutenant Miller to turn their flank with six men, and attack them in the rear. While Miller was making a small detour to the right, for the purpose, most probably, of exe- cuting his orders in good faith (for there are various constructions placed upon his conduct), the Indian commander became aware of the division of his adversary's force, and,-with that rapid deci- sion which so often flashed across Napoleon's battle-fields, and whether exhibited upon a great or a small scale, mark the great commander,-determined to frustrate the plan, by crossing the creek with his whole force and overwhelming Estill, now weak- ened by the absence of Miller. This bold thought was executed with determined courage, and after a desperate struggle, Estill was totally overpowered, and forced from the ground with slaugh- ter. Himself, and nearly all his officers, were killed ; and it was but a poor consolation that an equal loss had been inflicted on the enemy. This brilliant little fight is deeply written in the annals of Kentucky, and will long be remembered, for the exqui- site specimen of the military art, exhibited in miniature, by the Indian commander. It created a sensation, at the time, far be- yond its real importance, and was rapidly followed by stunning blows, from the same quarter, in rapid succession.

A party of Wyandots, consisting of twenty men, encountered Captain Holder, at the head of seventeen Kentuckians, near the upper Blue Licks, and defeated him with loss.

But these small parties were the mere pattering drops of hail, which precede the tempest. In the month of August, an army of five hundred Indian warriors, composed of detachments from all the north-western tribes, rapidly and silently traversed the north- ern part of Kentucky, and appeared before Bryan 's station, as unexpectedly as if they had risen from the earth. The garrison, although surprised, took prompt measures to repel the enemy. By the daring gallantry of the women, the fort was supplied with water from a neighboring spring. Two of the garrison burst through the enemy's lines, and gave the alarm to the neighboring stations, while those who remained, by means of a well-conceived and successful ruse, gave a bloody repulse to the only assault which the Indians ventured to make upon the fort. A party of sixteen horsemen, with great gallantry and good fortune, forced their way through the Indians, and entered the fort unhurt. More than double that number, on foot, made a similar effort, but failed, and sustained considerable loss.

In the meantime, the garrison remained under cover, and kept up a deliberate and fatal fire upon such Indians as showed them- selves. The enemy became discouraged, and, apprehensive of bringing the whole force of the country upon them, by farther delay, broke up their camp, on the second night of the siege, and

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retreated by the buffalo-trace, leading to the lower Blue Lick. By the next day, at noon, one hundred and sixty men had assem- bled at Bryan's station, burning with eagerness to encounter the invaders. Colonels Todd, Trigg, and Daniel Boone ; majors Harlan, M'Bride, and Levi Todd; captains Bulger and Gordon, with forty-five other commissioned officers, including the cele- brated M'Gary, assembled in council, and hastily determined to pursue the enemy, without waiting for Colonel Logan, who was known to be collecting a strong force in Lincoln, and who might be expected to join them in twenty-four hours.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 59

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452