Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 14

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 14

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At the first fire, Captain Hardin was shot through the thighs. Without, how- ever, resigning his command, or yielding to the pain of his wound, he sat down on a large log, and during the whole action, continued to encourage his men and give forth his orders, with as much coolness, promptitude, and self-possession, as if engaged in the most ordinary avocation. This more than Spartan firmness and resolution, was not, however, anything very remarkable in the early history of Kentucky. Every battle field furnished many examples of similar heroism. The iron men of those times, seem, indeed, to have been born insensible to fear, and impregnable to pain. 'The coolness, courage, and unyielding determination of

II ... 7

JOHN BRECKINRIDGE.

Hardin, in this trying situation, no doubt contributed greatly to the success of the day ; and after a severe contest, in which some thirty of the savages fell, they were finally repulsed. The loss of the whites, in killed and wounded, was very considerable. During the action the parties were frequently engaged hand to hand.

This battle was never reported to the government, and it seems to have es- caped the notice of the historians of early times in Kentucky ; though it was, unquestionably, one of the most fiercely contested battles ever fought in the west.

The Honorable JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, [for whom this county was named], was the second son of Colonel Robert Breckinridge, of Augusta county, Virginia, and was born on a farm, upon a part of which the town of Staunton now stands, on the 2d day of December, 1760. His paternal ancestors were what were then called " Scotch Irish," that is, they were Presbyterians-from the north of Ire- land, immediately-but originally from Scotland. After the restoration of Charles II., they were hotly persecuted in Ayreshire, their original seat, and being driven out from thence, spent half a century in the highlands of Braedal- bane, and removed thence to Ireland, and early in the last century to Virginia ; a portion of the persecuted remnant of the Scotch Covenanters, who suffered so long and so heroically for liberty and the reformed religion. His paternal and maternal grand-fathers both lie buried in the grave yard of the l'inkling Springs congregation, in the county of Augusta, of which both of them were ruling elders. His mother, Lettice Preston, was the oldest child of John Pres- ton and Elizabeth Patton, and was the second wife of his father. General James Breckinridge, of Virginia, was his younger, and a full brother; General Robert Breckinridge, of Kentucky, was his elder, and a half brother.

At a very early age, he was carried by his father to the neighborhood of Fincastle, in Bottetourt county, Virginia, whither he removed, and where he died, when his son was about eleven years of age ; leaving a widow, and seven children, in circumstances which we should now consider narrow : and exposed, upon what was then almost the extreme limit of the white settlements, to all the dangers of an Indian frontier; and this only a few years before the commence- ment of our long and bloody struggle for National Independence, which was ended about the time the subject of this notice arrived at man's estate.

Raised in the midst of dangers, hardships, and privations ; the tradition of his family replete only with tales of suffering and exile, for conscience sake; and a widowed mother and orphan family-of which he became the head at the age of early boyhood-the objects of his constant care ; it is by no means strange that his powerful character and uncommon talents should have been early and re- markably developed. A calm, simple, correct man-gentle to those he loved- stern and open to those he could not trust-always true, always brave, always self dependent, it is just in such a way, that such circumstances would mould and develop such a nature as his. But it is not so easy to ascertain how it was, that in his circumstances, there should have been implanted in him, from earliest childhood, a thirst for knowledge that seemed to the end of his life, insatiable ; nor could anything less than the highest mental endowments, directed with energy that never flagged, explain the extent, the variety, and the richness of the acquisitions which he was enabled to make. His education, both preparatory and professional, was privately conducted, and so far as is now known, chiefly without other aid than books, except about two years, which he spent at the col- lege of William and Mary, in Virginia. During the latter part of his attendance at this ancient seat of learning, and when he was about nineteen years of age, he was elected to the Virginia house of burgesses, from the county of Bottetourt, without his having even suspected that such a matter was in agitation. On ac- count of his youth, the election was twice set aside, and it was only on the third return, and against his own wishes and remonstrances, that he took his seat. From this time to the period of his death, he lived constantly, as a lawyer and a statesman, in the public eye.

In the year 1785 he married Mary Hopkins Cabell, a daughter of Colonel Joseph Cabell, of Buckingham county, Virginia; and settled in the county of Albemarle, and practiced law in that region of Virginia, until the year 1793, ir the spring of which he removed to Kentucky, and settled in Lexington ; ncar to

BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY.

which place, at " Cabell's Dale," in the county of Fayette, he resided till the period of his death, which occurred on the 14th December, 1806, when he had just completed his 46th year.

As a lawyer, no man of his day excelled him, and very few could be compared with him. Profoundly acquainted with his profession, highly gifted as a public speaker, laborious and. exact in the performance of all his professional duties and engagements-these great qualities, united to his exalted private character, gave him a position at the bar, which few men ever attained, or ever deserved; and enabled him, besides the great distinction he acquired, to accumulate a large for- tune. An event extremely characteristic attended the disposition of his estate : for on his death bed, he absolutely refused to make a will, saying that he had done his best to have such provisions made by law for the distribution of estates, as seemed to him wise and just, and he would adhere to it for his own family. At the end of sixty years, it is not unworthy to be recorded, that his wisdom and foresight, in this remarkable transaction. did not lose their reward.

As a statesman, very few men of his generation occupied a more commanding position, or mingled more controllingly with all the great questions of the day ; and not one enjoyed a more absolute popularity, or maintained a more spotless reputation. He took a leading, perhaps a decisive part in all the great questions of a local character that agitated Kentucky, from 1793 to 1806, and whose settle- ment still exerts a controlling influence upon the character of her people and in- stitutions. The constitution of 1798-99, for fifty years preserved unaltered, was more the work of his hands than of any one single man. The question of negro slavery, as settled in that constitution, upon a moderate ground, the ground which Kentucky ever occupied-the systematizing, to some extent, the civil and criminal codes-the simplification of the land law-the law of descents -the penitentiary system-the abolition of the punishment of death, except for wilful murder and treason-all these, and many other important subjects, of a kindred nature, fell under his moulding labors at the forming period of the commonwealth, and remained till 1850 as they were adjusted half a century before. In those vital questions that involved the destiny of the whole west, and threatened the plan if not the continuance of the Union itself, no man took an earlier or more decided stand. It is capable of proof, that the free navigation of the Mississippi river, and subsequently the purchase of Louisiana (which latter act, though it covered Mr. Jefferson with glory, he hesitated to perform, upon doubts both as to its policy and constitutionality), were literally forced upon the general government by demonstrations from the west, in which the mind and the hand of this great patriot and far-sighted statesman were conspicuous above all.

As a statesman, however, he is best known as one of the leading men-perhaps in the west, the undoubted leader of the old democratic party ; which came into power with Mr. Jefferson, as president, under whose administration he was made attorney general of the United States. He was an ardent friend, personal and political, of Mr. Jefferson ; he coincided with him upon the great principles of the old democracy ; he concerted with him and Mr. Madison, and others of kindred views, the movements which brought the democratic party into power ; he sup- ported the interests of that party with pre-eminent ability, in the legislature of Kentucky, and in the senate of the United States; and died as much beloved, honored and trusted by it, as any man he left behind. Some twenty years after his death, it began to be whispered, and then to be intimated in a few news- papers, that the Kentucky resolutions of 1798-9, which he offered, and which was the first great movement against the alien and sedition laws-and the general principles of the party that passed them-were in fact the production of Mr. Jef- ferson himself, and not of John Breckinridge ; and it is painful to reflect that Mr. Jefferson did certainly connive at this mean calumny upon the memory of his friend. The family of Mr. Breckinridge have constantly asserted that their father was the sole and true author of these resolutions, and constantly defied the pro- duction ot proof to the contrary : and there seems to be no question that they are right.

In stature, John Breckinridge was above the middle size of men ; tall, slender and muscular ; a man of great power and noble appearance. He had very clear gray eyes, and brown hair, inclining to a slight shade of red. He was extremely

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BULLITT COUNTY.

grave and silent in his ordinary intercourse ; a man singularly courteous and gentle, and very tenderly loved by those who knew him. His family consisted of nine children : one of them only, WM. L. BRECKINRIDGE, D.D., is living, Dec., 1873, but his descendants are numerous, both of his own and other names.

BULLITT COUNTY.

BULLITT county was established in 1796, and named for Lieuten- ant Governor BULLITT. It is situated in the north-west middle part of the state, its extreme western boundary extending to near the mouth of Salt river, and is watered by that stream and its tributaries. Bounded on the north by Jefferson ; east by Spencer; south by Nelson, and on the west by Hardin and Meade,-the Rolling fork of Salt river washing its south-west border. This county is generally fertile, though the surface is rolling; the scenery is variegated and beautiful, the hills covered with tall pine and laurel, and abounding in iron and other ores.

Towns .- Shepherdsville, the county seat, incorporated in 1793, is situated on Salt river, 18 miles south of. Louisville, by the Louisville and Nashville railroad ; population in 1870, 267. Mt. Washington, formerly Vernon, incorporated in 1833, is 10 miles N. E. of Shepherdsville; population 340. Pitts' Point, at the junction of the Rolling fork and main Salt river, 9 miles from Shepherdsville; population 98. Mt. Vitio, Bardstown Junc- tion, Cane Spring, Belmont, and Lebanon Junction, are railroad stations.

STATISTICS OF BULLITT COUNTY.

When formed. .. See page 26 Tobacco, corn, wheat, hay .. pages 266, 268

Population, from 1800 to 1870 .p. 258

Horses, mules, cattle, hogs. .p. 268

whites and colored. .p. 260 Taxable property, 1846 and 1870 ... p. 270

towns. .p. 262 Land-No. of acres, and value ...... p. 270 Latitude and longitude .p. 257

white males over 21 .. p. 266

children bet. 6 and 20 .. .. p. 266

Distinguished citizens. .. see Index.

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE, SINCE 1859.

Senate .- Richard H. Field, 1861-65; Alfred H. Field, 1867-69.

House of Representatives .- John O. Harrison, 1859-61; Wm. J. Heady, 1861-63; Wm. R. Thompson, 1863-65 ; John B. MeDowell, 1865-67 ; Smith M. Hobbs, 1867-69; W. B. M. Brooks, 1871-73.

Springs .- The Paroquet Springs, a fine and popular watering-place, with superior accommodations for 800 guests, and grounds very attractive and beantifully improved, is situated half a mile N. of Shepherdsville; the water contains salt, iron, magnesia, and salts, and the sulphur well is one of the largest and strongest in the world.

Of Bullitt's old licks, about 3 miles from Shepherdsville, where the first salt works were erected in Kentucky, the celebrated geographer, Jedidiah Morse, in 1796, said: " Bullitt's lick at Saltsburg, although in low order, has sup- plied this country and Cumberland with salt, at 20 shillings per bushel, Virginia currency ($3.33}); and some is exported to the Illinois country. The method of procuring water from the licks is by sinking wells from 30 to 40 feet deep; the water thus obtained is more strongly impregnated with salt than the water from the sea."

Stations .- The first forts and stations erected in this county were called Fort Nonsense, Mud Garrison, Brashears', Clear's, Whitaker's, and Dowdall's.

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BULLITT COUNTY.

The Salt River (or Muldrow) Hills, on the Bullitt county side of that stream, are from 350 to 400 feet high.

The Iron Ore of this region is most abundant in the s. E. part of the range of the Knobs of Bullitt, extending along the waters of Cane run southwardly, into Nelson county. The ore, savs Dr. Owen's state geological report, is in the grey or ash-colored shales overlying the Black Devonian slate ; and is found mostly as carbonate of the protoxide of iron, except where it has been oxidized by partial exposure to air and permeating water. It varies in thickness from three to eight inches. The ore diggers recognize two varie- ties-the "Kidney ore " and the " Blue Sheet ore;" because the former generally lies above the latter in more detached hemispherical masses posses- sing a concentric structure-while the latter is more continuous (or in the form of a pavement), and less oxidized by exposure.

The quality of the iron produced from these ores was soft and tough, and in great request by the nail-makers; the ore was quite uniform, the limestone for flux convenient, and the timber excellent and abundant; while the Louis- ville and Nashville railroad is near enough for reliable transportation.

Several analyses of Bullitt county ores were made by Prof. Robert Peter- showing 32.62, 43.46, 31.30, and 23.80 per cent. of iron. The latter, and poorest, was from the Knob at Bullitt's Lick; the third, from Button-mould Knob; and the first two from Bellemont furnace. The average of the four is 32.82 per cent.

The Sandstones of Bullitt county are not of a handsome color, and do not possess the qualities desirable in a permanent uniform building-stone.

Cahill's Escape, the killing of the George May party of surveyors and escape of Hardin, and the scene of Col. John Floyd's fatal wound, were thus graphically grouped in a letter, in 1847, to the author of the first edition of this work. It is to be regretted that the writer had not more fully related the following, and also preserved the other incidents alluded to :

" If I could have taken the time, I might have given you many other interest- ing particulars of the early times about Bullitt's Lick-when the fires of an hun- dred salt furnaces gleamed through the forest, and the Wyandot sat on Cahill's knob and looked down on five hundred men on the plain below. I have sat in the fork of the chesnut-oak to which Cahill was bound by the Indians, while they procured his funeral pile out of the dead limbs of the pitch-pine that grows on the mountain's side-(they intended to burn him in sight of Bullitt's Lick). Some oxen had been turned out to graze, and were straggling up the hill side. The Indians heard the cracking of the brush, and supposing it to be their enemies (the whites) coming in search of their lost companion, darted into the thicket on the opposite side of the hill. Cahillimproved their temporary absence-slipped bis bands, and escaped in the darkness, and in a half hour arrived safe at the icks. A company was immediately raised, and made pursuit. They followed the trail of about twenty Indians to the bank of the Ohio river, and saw the In- dians crossing on dead timber they had rolled into the river. Some shots were exchanged, but no damage was known to be done on either side.

"I have sat under the shade of the elm, about three miles north of Shepherds- ville, where Col. Floyd fell ; and have a thousand times walked the path Gieo. May and his companions pursued, as they returned from making surveys in the new county of Washington, when they were waylaid by some twelve Indians, about a mile and a half above Shepherdsville, on the south side of Salt river. The surveyors, including the elder May, were all killed but one-his name was Hardin. He fled to the river bank, pursued by. the Indians. There was a small station on the opposite side, (called Brashear's station, I think), about a quarter of a mile above the site of the present beautiful watering place called Paroquette Springs. The men in the station, about twenty-five in number, sallied out. Har- din ran under the river bank and took shelter. The whites, on the opposite side, kept the Indians off of him with their rifles, until a part of their company ran down and crossed at the ford, (Shepherdsville), came up on the side Hardin was on, and drove the Indians from their prey. May's field-notes of his surveys wers preserved, and subsequently sustained by the supreme court of the commonwealth."

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BULLITT COUNTY.

Mann's Lick, where salt was manufactured to a much less extent than at Bullitt's, was to some extent fortified.

HENRY CRIST was born in the state of Virginia, in the year 1764. During the revolutionary war, his father, with a numerous family, emigrated to the western part of Pennsylvania, from whence young Henry and other ardent youths of the neighborhood, made frequent and daring excursions into the western wilderness; sometimes into what is now the state of Ohio, sometimes to Limestone, (now Maysville,) and finally to the falls of the Ohio, which place he first visited in 1779. The buffalo and deer had clearly indicated to the early settlers, those places where salt water was to be found. The great difficulty of importing salt, the increasing demand and high price of the article, encouraged the attempt to manufacture here at a very early day. Salt was made at Bullitt's lick, now in Bullitt county, over ninety years ago.

In Crist's excursions to the west, he had become acquainted and associated with an enterprising Dutchman, named Myers, a land agent and general locator, and in whose name more land has been entered than in that of almost any other man in the west. This pursuit of locator of lands, brought Crist at a very carly day to Bullitt's lick, where he took a prominent and active part in some of those scenes which have contributed to the notoriety of that renowned resort of all who lived within fifty miles around in the first settlement of the country. Here the first salt was made in Kentucky, and here from five hundred to a thousand men were col- lected together in the various branches of salt making, as well as buying of, sell- ing to, and guarding the salt makers, when Louisville and Lexington could boast but a few hovels, and when the buffalo slept in security around the base of Cap- itol hill.

In May, 1788, a flat boat loaded with kettles, intended for the manufacture of salt at Bullitt's lick, left Louisville with thirteen persons, twelve armed men and one woman, on board. The boat and cargo were owned by Henry Crist and Sol- omon Spears; and the company consisted of Crist, Spears, Christian Crepps, Thomas Floyd, Joseph Boyce, Evans Moore, an Irishman named Fossett, and five others, and a woman, whose names the writer cannot now recollect, though he has heard Crist often repeat them. The intention of the party was to descend the Ohio, which was then very high, to the mouth of Salt river, and then ascend the latter river, the current of which was entirely deadened by back water from the Ohio, to a place near the licks, called Mud Garrison, which was a temporary for- tification, constructed of two rows of slight stockades, and the space between filled with mud and gravel from the bank of the river hard by. The works enclosed a space of about half an acre, and stood about midway between Bullitt's lick and the falls of Salt river, where Shepherdsville now stands. These works were then occupied by the families of the salt makers, and those who hunted to supply them with food, and acted also as an advanced guard to give notice of the approach of any considerable body of men.

On the 25th of May, the boat entered Salt river, and the hands commenced working her up with sweep-cars. There was no current one way or the other- while in the Ohio, the great breadth of the river secured them against any sud- den attack, but when they came into Salt river, they were within reach of the Indian rifle from either shore. It became necessary, therefore, to send out scouts, to apprise them of any danger ahead. In the evening of the first day of their as- cent of the river, Crist and Floyd went ashore to reconnoitre the bank of the river ahead of the boat. Late in the evening they discovered a fresh trail, but for want of light, they could not make out the number of Indians. They remained out all night, but made no further discoveries. In the morning, as they were re- turning down the river towards the boat, they heard a number of guns, which they believed to be Indians killing game for breakfast. They hastened back to the boat and communicated what they had heard and seen.

They pulled on up the river until about eight o'clock, and arrived at a point eight miles below the mouth of the Rolling fork, where they drew into shore on the north side of the river, now in Bullitt county, intending to land and cook and eat their breakfast. As they drew into shore, they heard the gobbling of turkeys (ce ;hey supposed) on the bank where they were going to land, and as the boat touchred, Fossett and another sprang ashore, with their guns in their hands, to

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FIGHT WITH THE INDIANS.

shoot turkeys. They were cautioned of their danger, but disregarding the admi- nition, hastily ascended the bank. Their companions in the boat had barely lost sight of them, when they heard a volley of rifles discharged all at once on the bank immediately above, succeeded by a yell of savages so terrific as to induce a belief that the woods were filled with Indians. This attack, so sudden and vi- olent, took the boat's company by surprise; and they had barely time to seize their rifles and place themselves in a posture of defence, when Fossett and his companion came dashing down the bank, hotly pursued by a large body of Indi- ans. Crist stood in the bow of the boat, with his rifle in his hand. At the first sight of the enemy, he brought his gun to his face, but instantly perceived that the object of his aim was a white man, and a sudden thought flashed across his mind, that the enemy was a company of surveyors that he knew to be then in the woods, and that the attack was made in sport, &c., let his gun down, and at the same time his white foeman sunk out of his sight behind the bank. But the firing had begun in good earnest on both sides. Crist again brought his rifle to his face, and as he did so the white man's head was rising over the bank, with his gun also drawn up and presented. Crist got the fire on him, and at the crack of his rifle the white man fell forward dead. Fossett's hunting companion plun- ged into the water, and got in safely at the bow of the boat. But Fossett's arm was broken by the first fire on the hill. The boat, owing to the high water, did not touch the land, and he got into the river further toward the stern, and swam round with his gun in his left hand, and was taken safely into the stern. So in- tent were the Indians on the pursuit of their prey, that many of them ran to the water's edge, struck and shot at Fossett and his companion while they were get- ting into the boat, and some even seized the boat and attempted to draw it nearer the shore. In this attempt many of the Indians perished ; some were shot dead as they approached the boat, others were killed in the river, and it required the most stubborn resistance and determined valor to keep them from carrying the boat by assault. Repulsed in their efforts to board the boat, the savages with- drew higher up the bank, and taking their stations behind trees, commenced a regular and galling fire, which was returned with the spirit of brave men ren- dered desperate by the certain knowledge that no quarter would be given, and that it was an issue of victory or death to every soul on board.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 14

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1654

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654