USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 116
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After his return to Kentucky, Col. Todd was not again prominently in public life ; but was active. with his pen upon the subjects of religion, agri- culture, and politics, and often presided or was the leader at public meetings.
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Shelby county has not kept pace in the increase of population with the rest of the state. Indeed, it appears by comparing the census returns (see page 259), that the population was largest in 1820, and has been steadily de- creasing at every decade since. The decrease from 1820 to 1830 was largest-for the reason that parts of the territory were taken in 1823 and 1824 to help form Oldham and Spencer counties. But without such extra- ordinary cause since, the population has fallen off 173 per cent., in 40 years. - -
For biographical sketches of Col. JOHN ALLEN, see under Allen co. ; Gen. BENJ. LOGAN, under Logan co .; Col. JOHN SIMPSON, under Simpson co. ; Rev. . ARCHIBALD CAMERON, a distinguished Presbyterian preacher, under the sketch of the Presbyterian Church, in volume I. of this work; Capt. BLAND W. BALLARD, under Ballard co. ; Gov. JOHN POPE, under Washington co. ; Col. ABRAHAM OWEN, under Owen co. ; PERCIVAL BUTLER, under Carroll co.
WILLIAM LOGAN was the eldest son of General Benjamin Logan, and was born at Harrodsburg on the 8th of December, 1776. He was, probably, the first white child born in Kentucky. In 1799 he was a member of the convention which formed the present constitution of the state, being then only twenty-three years of age. His selection to this responsible office, so early in life, evinced the high opinion entertained of his character and talents, by his fellow-citizens. About the same time he commenced the practice of the law, and soon attained considerable eminence in his profession. He was frequently elected to repre- sent his county in the legislature, and on several occasions was made speaker of the house of representatives. He was twice appointed a judge of the court of appeals, in which station he was noted for the propriety with which he dis- charged its various duties. In 1820, he was elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States. He resigned his seat in this body in 1820, for the pur- pose of becoming a candidate for governor of the State, but was not elected.
He died at his residence in Shelby county, on the 8th of August, 1822, in the 46th year of his age. At the time of his decease he was generally looked to by the people of the State, as the candidate for Governor in 1824, and had he lived would no doubt have succeeded General Adair in that office.
When he was not prevented from mingling in politics by his duties as a judge, he was an active and influential member of the republican party, and was warmly engaged in the controversy which arose on the question of a new election upon the death of Governor Madison. On this occasion he took the ground which was finally settled as the true construction of the constitution, that npon the death of the governor, the lieutenant-governor should succeed to his place, and serve out the term. He was also an active partizan on the new and old court questions, having espoused the cause of the old court. In his private and social relations he was a gentleman of great moral worth, courteous in his manners, and of inflex- ible integrity. His early death was a loss to the State, and was very generally deplored.
ISAAC SHELBY, the subject of this memoir, was born on the 11th day of De- cember, 1750, near to the North Mountain, a few miles from Hagerstown, in Maryland, where his father and grandfather settled after their arrival in America from Wales. In that early settlement of the country, which was annoyed dur- ing the period of his youth by Indian wars, he obtained only the elements of a plain English education ; but like his father, General Evan Shelby, born with a strong constitution, capable of hearing great privation and fatigue, he was brought up to the use of arms and the pursuit of game.
At the age of twenty-one, he took up his residence in Western Virginia. beyond the Alleghany mountains, having previously acquired a knowledge of surveying and of the duties of sheriff at Fredericktown. He was engaged, in his new res- idence, in the business of feeding and attending to herds of cattle in the exten- sive range which distinguished that section of country. He was a lieutenant in the company of his father. the late General Evan Shelby, in the memorable battle fought 10th of October, 1774, at the month of the Kanawha, at the close of which his father was the commanding officer, Colonels Lewis, Fleming and Field being killed or disabled. The result of this battle gave peace to the frontier, at the critical period of the colonies venturing into the eventful contest of the revo- lution, and deterred the Indians from uniting with the British until 1776. This
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was, probably, the most severely contested conflict ever maintained with the north-western Indians ; the action continued from sunrise to sunset, and the ground for half a mile along the bank of the Ohio, was alternately occupied by each of the parties in the course of the day. So sanguinary was the contest, that blood was found on each of the trees behind which the parties were posted. The Indians, under the celebrated chief Cornstalk, abandoned the ground under cover of the night. Their loss, according to the official report, exceeded that of the Americans, the latter amounting to sixty-three killed and eighty wounded. This report was drawn up by Captain Russell, reputed to be the best scholar in camp, and the father of the late Colonel Williamn Russell, of Kentucky. The fortune of the day, as stated in Doddridge's Notes of Border War, was decided by a bold movement, to the rear of the left wing of the Indians, led by Captain Evan Shelby, in which the subject of this memoir bore a conspicuous part.
The garrison at Kanawha was commanded by Captain Russell, and Lieutenant Shelby continued in it until the troops were disbanded, in July, 1775, by order of Governor Dunmore, who was apprehensive that the post might be held for the benefit of the rebel authorities. He proceeded immediately to Kentucky, and was employed as a surveyor under Henderson & Co .; who styled themselves proprietors of the country, and who had established a regular land office under their purchase from the Cherokees. He resided in the then wilderness of Kentucky, for nearly twelve months, and being without bread or salt, his health was impaired, and he returned home.
In July, 1776, during his absence from home, he was appointed captain of a minute company by the committee of safety of Virginia. In the year 1777, he was appointed, by Governor Henry, a commissary of supplies for an extensive body of militia, posted at different garrisons to guard the frontier settlements, and for a treaty to be held at the Long Island of Holston river, with the Cher- okee tribe of Indians. These supplies could not have been obtained nearer than Staunton, Va., a distance of three hundred miles ; but by the most indefatigable perseverance, (one of the most conspicuous traits of his character, ) he accom- plished it to the satisfaction of his country.
In 1778, he was engaged in the commissary department, providing supplies for the continental army, and for an expedition, by the way of Pittsburg, against the north-western Indians. In the early part of 1779, he was appointed by Gover- nor Henry to furnish supplies for the campaign against the Chicamauga Indians, which he effected upon his own individual credit. In the spring of that year, he was elected a member of the Virginia legislature from Washington county, and in the fall of that year was commissioned a major, by Governor Jefferson, in the escort of guards to the commissioners for extending the boundary line between that State and the State of North Carolina. By the extension of that line, his residence was found to be within the limits of the latter State, and shortly after wards, he was appointed by Governor Caswell a colonel of the new county of Sullivan, established in consequence of the additional territory acquired by the running of that line.
In the summer of 1780, Colonel Shelby was in Kentucky, locating and secur- ing those lands, which he had five years previously marked out and improved for himself, when the intelligence of the surrender of Charleston, and the loss of the army, reached that country. He returned home in July of that year, deter- mined to enter the service of his country and remain in it until her independence should be secured. He could not continue to be a cool spectator of a contest in which the dearest rights and interests of his country were involved. On his arri- val in Sullivan, he found a requisition from General Charles McDowell, request- ing him to furnish all the aid in his power to check the enemy, who had overrun the two southern States, and were on the borders of North Carolina. Colonel Shelby assembled the militia of his county, called upon them to volunteer their services for a short time on that interesting occasion, and marched, in a few days, with three hundred mounted riflemen, across the Alleghany mountains.
In a short time after his arrival at McDowell's camp, near the Cherokee ford of Broad river, Col. Shelby, and Lieutenant-colonels Sevier and Clarke,-the latter a refugee officer from Georgia,-were detached with six hundred men, to surprise a post of the enemy in front, on the waters of Pacolet river. It was a strong fort, surrounded by abbatis, built in the Cherokee war, and commanded by that distin-
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guished loyalist, Capt. Patrick Moore; who surrendered the garrison, with one British sergeant-major, ninety-three loyalists, and two hundred and fifty stand of arms. Major Ferguson, of the British army, though a brigadier general in the royal militia, and the most distinguished partisan officer in the British army, made many ineffectual efforts to surprise Col. Shelby. His advance, about six or seven hundred strong, came up with the American commander, at Cedar Spring, and before Ferguson approached with his whole force, the Americans took two officers and fifty men prisoners, and safely effected their retreat. It was in the severest part of this action, that Col. Shelby's attention was arrested by the heroic con- duct of Col. Clarke. He often mentioned the circumstance of his ceasing in the midst of the battle, to look with astonishment and admiration at Clarke fighting."
The'next important event was the battle fought at Musgrove's mill, on the south side of the Enoree river, distant forty miles, with seven hundred men, led by Cols. Shelby, Clarke, and Williams, of South Carolina. This affair took place on the 19th of August, and is more particularly described in the sketch of Col. Shelby, inserted in the first volume of the " National Portrait Gallery," published in 1834, under the direction of the American Academy of Fine Arts. It has been introduced into the historical romance called " Horse-Shoe Robinson," and noticed, also, in McCall's History of Georgia, where the British loss is stated to be sixty-three killed, and one hundred and sixty wounded and taken ; the American loss, four killed and nine wounded : amongst the former, Capt. Inman; and amongst the latter, Col. Clarke and Capt. Clarke. Col. Innes, the British commander of the "Queen's American Regiment," from New York, was wounded; and all the British officers, except a subaltern, were killed or wounded; and Capt. Hawsey, a noted leader among the tories, was killed.
The Americans intended to be that evening before Ninety-Six-but at that mo- ment an express from Gen. McDowell came up, in great haste, with a short note from Gov. Caswell, dated on the battle-ground, apprising McDowell of the de- feat of the American grand army under Gen. Gates, on the 16th, near Camden. Fortunately, Col. Shelby knew Caswell's handwriting, and by distributing the prisoners among the companies, so as to make one to every three men, who car- ried them, alternately, on horseback, the detachment moved directly towards the mountains. The Americans were saved by a long and rapid march that day and night, and until the evening of the next day, without halting to refresh. Col. Shelby, after seeing the party and prisoners out of danger, retreated to the west- ern waters, and left the prisoners in the charge of Clarke and Williams, to con- vey them to a place of safety in Virginia ; for at that moment there was no corps of Americans south of that State. 'The brilliancy of this affair was obscured, as indeed were all the minor events of the previous war, by the deep gloom which overspread the public inind after the disastrous defeat of Gen. Gates.
Ferguson was so solicitous to recapture the prisoners, and to check these dar- ing adventures of the mountaineers, that he made a strenuous effort, with his main body, to intercept them ; but failing of his object, he took post at a place called Gilbert-town, from whence he sent the most threatening messages, by paroled pris- oners, to the officers west of the mountains, proclaiming devastation to their coun- try, if they did not cease their opposition to the British government.
This was the most disastrous and critical period of the revolutionary war, to the sonth. No one could see whence a force could be raised to check the enemy in their progress to subjugate this portion of the continent.
Cornwallis, with the main army, was posted at Charlotte-town, in North Caro- lina, and Ferguson, with three thousand, at Gilbert-town ; while many of the best friends of the American government, despairing of the freedom and independence of America, took protection under the British standard. At this gloomy moment, Col. Shelby proposed to Cols. Sevier and Campbell to raise a force from their several counties, march hastily through the mountains, and attack and surprise Ferguson in the night. Accordingly, they collected with their followers, about one thousand strong, on Doe run, in the spurs of the Alleghany, on the 25th of September, 1780, and the next day commenced their march, when it was discov- ered that three of Col. Sevier's men had deserted to the enemy. This discon- certed their first design, and induced them to turn to the left, gain his front, and act as events might suggest. They traveled through mountains almost inacces- sible to horsemen. As soon as they entered the level country, they met with Col
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Cleveland with three hundred men, and with Cols. Williams and Lacy, and other refugee officers, who had heard of Cleveland's advance, by which three hundred more were added to the force of the mountaineers. They now considered them- selves to be sufficiently strong to encounter Ferguson; but being rather a con- fused mass, without any head, it was proposed by Col. Shelby, in a council of officers, and agreed to, that Col. Campbell, of the Virginia regiment,-an officer of enterprise, patriotism, and good sense,-should be appointed to the command. And having determined to pursue Ferguson with all practicable dispatch, two nights before the action they selected the best horses and rifles, and at the dawn of day commenced their march with nine hundred and ten expert marksmen. As Fer- guson was their object, they would not be diverted from the main point by any collection of tories in the vicinity of their route. They pursued him for the Jast thirty-six hours without alighting from their horses to refresh but once, at the Cowpens, for an hour, although the day of the action was so extremely wet, that the men could only keep their guns dry by wrapping their bags, blankets, and hunting shirts around the locks, which exposed their bodies to a heavy and inces- sant rain during the pursuit.
By the order of march and of battle, Col. Campbell's regiment formned the right, and Col. Shelby's regiment the left column, in the centre : the right wing was composed of Sevier's regiment, and Maj. Winston's and McDowell's battal- ions, commanded by Sevier himself ; the left wing was composed of Col. Cleve- land's regiment, the followers of Cols. Williams, Lacy, Hawthorn, and Hill, headed by Col. Cleveland in person. In this order the mountaineers pursued, un- til they found Ferguson, securely encamped on King's Mountain, which was about half a mile long, and from which, he declared the evening before, that " God Al- mighty could not drive him." On approaching the mountain, the two centre col- umns deployed to the right and left, formed a front, and attacked the enemy, while the right and left wings were marching to surround him. In a few minutes the action became general and severe-continuing furiously for three-fourths of an hour ; when the enemy, being driven from the east to the west end of the moun- tain, surrendered at discretion. Ferguson was killed, with three hundred and se- venty-five of his officers and men, and seven hundred and thirty captured. The Americans had sixty killed and wounded ; of the former, Col. Williams.
'This glorious achievement occurred at the most gloomy period of the revolu- tion, and was the first link in the great chain of events to the south, which estab- lished the independence of the United States. History has, heretofore, though improperly, ascribed this merit to the battle of the Cowpens, in January, 1781 ; but it belongs, justly, to the victory or King's Mountain, which turned the tide of war to the south, as the victory of Trenton, under Washington, and of Ben- nington, under Stark, did to the north. It was achieved by raw, undisciplined riflemen, without any authority from the government under which they lived,- without pay, rations, ammunition, or even the expectance of reward, other than that which results from the noble ambition of advancing the liberty and welfare of their beloved country. It completely dispirited the tories, and so alarmed Cornwallis, who then lay only thirty miles north of King's Mountain with the main British army, that, on receiving information of Ferguson's total defeat and overthrow by the riflemen from the west, under Cols. Campbell, Shelby, Cleve- land and Sevier, and that they were bearing down upon him, he ordered an im- mediate retreat-marched all night, in the utmost confusion-and retrograded as far back as Winnsborough, sixty or eighty miles, whence he did not attempt to advance until reinforced, three months after, by Gen. Leslie, with two thousand men from the Chesapeake. In the meantime, the militia of North Carolina as- sembled in considerable force at New Providence, on the border of South Caro- lina, under Gen. Davidson ; and Gen. Smallwood, with Morgan's light corps, and the Maryland line, advanced to the same point. Gen. Gates, with the shattered remains of his armny, collected at Hillsborough. also came up, as well as the new levies from Virginia, of one thousand men, under Gen. Stevens. This force en- abled Gen. Greene, who assumed the command early in December, to hold Corn- wallis in check.
The legislature of North Carolina passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Shelby and several other officers, and directed each to be presented with an elegant sword, for their patriotic conduct in the attack and defeat of the enemy on King's moun-
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tain, on the memorable 7th of October, 1780. This resolution was carried into effect as to Colonel Shelby, in the summer of 1813, just at the moment when, in the language of Secretary Monroe, " disclaiming all metaphysical distinctions tending to enfeeble the government," he was about to lead his troops far beyond the limits of the State of which he was governor. The presentation at that par- ticular time, afforded a presage of the new glory he was to acquire for himself and country in that eventful campaign.
If any were entitled to special commendation in this band of heroic spirits on King's mountain, the claim of Colonel Shelby would be well founded. He ori- ginated the expedition, and his valor and unshaken resolution, contributed to rally the right of the front line, when driven down the mountain by a tremendous charge from the enemy, at the onset of the battle. Nor have the histories of the war at the south done justice to the sagacity and judgment of Colonel Shelby apon another interesting occasion, just following the affair on King's mountain. As soon as he had placed the prisoners beyond the reach of the enemy, he repaired to the head quarters of General Gates, and suggested to him the plan of detaching General Morgan towards the mountains. The details of this arrange- ment were submitted by him, and approved by Gates, and Greene had the good sense to adopt them, after he assumed the command. The result of his advice was exhibited in the splendid affair at the Cowpens, which added fresh laurels 'o the veteran brows of Morgan, Howard and Washington.
In the campaign of the fall of 1781, Colonel Shelby served under General Marion, a distinguished partizan officer, of the boldest enterprise. He was called down by General Greene to that lower country, with five hundred mounted rifle- nen from the western waters, in September, 1781, to aid the general in intercept- ing Cornwallis, at that time blockaded by the French fleet in the Chesapeake, and -who, it was suspected, would endeavor to make good his retreat through North -Carolina to Charleston; but, upon his lordship's surrender in Virginia, Colonel Shelby was attached to General Marion's command below, on the Santee, and was second in command of a strong detachment of dragoons, under Colonel Mayhem, ordered to carry a British post at Fairlawn, near Monk's Corner, eight or ten miles below the enemy's main army, under General Stuart. Information had been received by General Marion that five hundred Hessians at that post were in a state of mutiny, and would surrender to any considerable force that might appear before it. But the officer commanding the post having some appre- hensions of their fidelity, had marched them off to Charleston, the day before -Colonel Mayhem appeared before it. The post, however, was surrendered, with one hundred and fifty British prisoners. The British general at Ferguson's Swamp, nine miles in the rear, made great, though unavailing efforts to inter- cept Mayhem's party on their return with the prisoners to General Marion's encampinent. Immediately after this excursion, the British commander retreated with his whole force to Charleston.
As the period for which the mounted volunteers had engaged to serve was : about to expire, and no further active operations being contemplated, after the retreat of the enemy towards Charleston, Colonel Shelby obtained leave of absence from General Marion, to attend the assembly of North Carolina, of which he was a member, which would sit two hundred miles distant, about the first of December. Marion addressed a letter on the subject to General Greene, which Colonel Shelby was permitted to see, speaking in high terms of the con- duct of the mountaineers, and assigning particular credit to Colonel Shelby for his conduct in the capture of the British post, as it surrendered to him after an inef- fectual attempt by an officer of the dragoons.
In 1782, Colonel Shelby was elected a member of the North Carolina assem- bly, and was appointed one of the commissioners to settle the pre-emption claims upon the Cumberland river, and to lay off the lands allotted to the officers and soldiers of the North Carolina line, south of where Nashville now stands. Ho performed this service in the winter of 1782-3, and returned to Boonsborough, Kentucky, in April following, where he married Susanna, second daughter of Captain Nathaniel Hart, one of the first settlers of Kentucky, and one of the pro- prietors styled Henderson & Co., by their purchase of the courtry from the Cher- akees. He established himself on the first settlement and pre-emption granted in Kentucky, for the purpose of pursuing his favorite occupation, the cultivation
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of the soil ; and it is a remarkable fact, pregnant with many curious reflections, that at the period of his death, forty-three years after, he was the only indivi- dual in the State residing upon his own settlement and pre-emption.
He was a member of the early conventions held at Danville for the purpose of obtaining a separation from the State of Virginia ; and was a member of that convention which formed the first constitution of Kentucky, in April, 1792. In May following, he was elected the first chief magistrate, and discharged its ardu- ous duties with signal advantage to the State. 'I'he history of his administration of an infant republic in the remote wilderness, would fill a volume with deeply interesting incidents, exhibiting him advantageously in the character of a soldier, of a lawgiver, and a diplomatist ; but the limits prescribed to this sketch will not permit a detail of them.
After completing the organization of the government under the provisions of the constitution, by filling the various offices created by it, the earnest attention of the governor was directed to the defence of the State against the Indian incur- sions, and the border war to which the people were exposed by their remote and unprotected position in the wilderness. Gen. Washington's paternal regard to the same high object was manifested in the cautious and extensive arrangements which were made under the direction of Gen. Wayne for a strong expedition against the north-western Indians, who were stimulated and aided by the British and provincial forces occupying posts within our boundary. The confidence of Washington, as well as of the people of Kentucky, was reposed in the energy and patriotism of Gov. Shelby. This was evinced in his almost unanimous ele- vation to the chief magistracy, as well as in the answer of the first legislature to his message, and in a letter from Gen. Knox, secretary of war, of July 12, 1792.
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