USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 98
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131
MENIFEE county, the 113th in order of formation, was estab- lished in 1869 out of parts of five counties, Bath, Montgomery, Powell, Wolfe, and Morgan (the larger portion from the first two counties), and organized May 29, 1869; named in honor of Richard H. Menefee. It is in the E. portion of the state; is bounded N. by Bath and Rowan, E. by Morgan and Wolfe, s. by Wolfe and Powell, and w. by Montgomery and Bath counties ; Licking river forms part of its northern and Red river of its southern boundary. The other water courses are-Beaver, Slate, and Blackwater creeks, which empty into Licking, and Indian, Spahr, Copperas, and Glady into Red river. The land is hilly and mountainous ; the soil in some portions poor, in others quite productive of corn, wheat, oats, grasses, and tobacco. Rich beds of coal and iron ore abound, and timber of the best quality- white and black oak, locust, poplar, white and yellow pine, and, in many localities, white and black walnut, ash, sugar tree, and beech.
Towns .- Frenchburg (so named by the legislature, in honor of Judge Richard French, the popular but unsuccessful opponent of Mr. Menefee in the great race for congress in 1837) is the county seat, laid off since the formation of the county ; is situated near the head of Beaver creek, on the state road from Mountster- ling to Pound Gap, and contains the court house, 2 lawyers, a physician, hotel, store, grocery, blacksmith shop, furniture store, 2 carpenters, Masonic lodge, public school, and near the place a church (Reformed or Christian) ; population 75. Rebelville, on the state road 9 miles from Frenchburg, 13 miles from Mount- sterling, contains a store, hotel, and blacksmith shop ; population 30. Millsville, 6 miles from Frenchburg, has a hotel and store.
STATISTICS OF MENIFEE COUNTY.
When formed. See page 26 | Hlay, corn, wheat, tobacco ... pages 266, 268
Population, in 1870
·P. 258 Horses, mules, cattle, and hogs .p. 268
whites and colored. .p. 260 Taxable property, in 1870 ... .p. 270
towns .. .p. 262 Land-No. of acres, and value. p. 270
white mnales over 21 p. 266
Latitude and longitude .. p. 257
children bet. 6 and 20. .p. 266 - Distinguished citizens. .. see Index.
MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM MEXIFER COUNTY.
Menifee county, up to 1873, had no resident member of the legislature.
602
MERCER COUNTY.
Hon. RICHARD H. MENEFEE, the statesman and lawyer, in honor of whom Menifee county was named, was born near Owingsville, Bath county, Ky., in the year 1810. In early life he taught a school, to supply the means of ob- taining a profession. His success at the bar was rapid and brilliant. He was barely eligible when he was elected to represent the county of Montgom- ery in the Kentucky legislature. In that body he served terms, 1836, '37, and early established a character for ability which spread his name through the state. At twenty-seven years of age, as the Whig candidate he was elected to congress by 234 majority over Judge Richard French, one of the most popular and astute Democratic politicians of the day, and in a district where the latter had been elected, two years before, by an overwhelming majority. He served but one term, 1837-39. > His efforts on the floor of the house, bearing the impress of high genius and commanding talent, soon placed him in the front rank of debaters, at a time when congress was remarkable for the number of its able men. At the close of his term of service he removed to Lexington, as a larger field for the practice of his profession. Business flowed in upon him, and he was rapidly amassing a fortune, which would have enabled him to re-enter public life, and accomplish those ardent desires cherished from his early boyhood. His career was prematurely checked by his death, Feb. 20, 1841, when only 31 years of age. Over the whole state his death cast a gloom. It has been the fortune of but few men, of the same age, to achieve a reputation so splendid. Born in obscurity, and forced to struggle in early life against an array of depressing influences sufficient to crush any common spirit, he had rapidly but surely attained an eminence which fixed upon him the eyes of all America, as one of our most promising statesmen, while at home his views of public policy were known to be at once liberal, comprehensive, and profound. lle was great as a lawyer and greater as a statesman. The eulogy of Thomas F. Marshall upon Mr. Mene- fee's life and services-the tribute of genius to genius, of brilliant but erratic genius to genius still more brilliant but self-poised and commanding-is one of the most graceful and eloquent in the whole field of panegyric literature.
MERCER COUNTY.
MERCER county-one of the 9 counties erected by the legislature of Virginia before Kentucky was separated and admitted into the Union, the 1st formed out of Lincoln county, and the 6th in numerical order in the state-was established in 1785, and named in honor of Gen. Hugh Mercer. It is situated very near to -- if, indeed, it does not embrace within its limits-the exact geographic center of the state ; on the waters of both the Kentucky and Salt rivers ; and is bounded N. by Anderson and Woodford, E. by Woodford, Jessamine, and Garrard, s. by Boyle, and w. by Wash- ington and Anderson counties. Dick's and Kentucky rivers form the entire E. boundary line; Salt river runs centrally through the county, from s. to N. ; other streams in Mercer county are- Chapline's, Jennings', Rocky, McCoun's, Lyon's, and Thompson's creeks, and Shawnee run. The surface is undulating, and the land generally of a good quality, some of it very rich ; and the whole is finely watered. Mercer is still a heavy grain-growing and stock-raising county ; and before Boyle was stricken off, produced a much larger quantity of corn than any other county in the state; in 1840, Mercer gathered 3,397,406 bushels of corn-while Harrison, the next highest, gathered but little more
HARRODSBURG SPRINGS, KY. (Became U. S. Military Asylum, May 8, 1853 ; Destroyed by fire).
603
MERCER COUNTY.
than half so much, 1,716,484 bushels ; but in 1870, Mercer and Boyle combined produced only 768,624 bushels.
This county being settled at the very earliest period of the his- tory of Kentucky, has been finely improved ; and the population consists to a large extent of the descendants of pioneer families, who are generally in independent circumstances, well educated, and intelligent.
Towns .- Harrodsburg, the oldest county seat-first of Lincoln and then of Mercer county-and the oldest town in the state, is situated on a commanding eminence, 34 miles s. w. of Lexington, 30 s. of Frankfort, 10 N. w. of Danville, 8 from the Ken- tucky and 1 mile from Salt river ; is the seat of the Daughters' College, and of a prospective male college under the control of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Kentucky ; has many substantial and some elegant residences and business houses, and is the center of trade for a very limited but wealthy region ; had a temporary population, while a station or fort, on Sept. 2, 1777, of 198, but a permanent population in 1800 of only 124, in 1810 of 313, which by a remarkably steady increase reached 2,205 in 1870, without railroad facilities nearer than 16, 22, and 30 miles in as many directions ; named after Capt. James Harrod, one of its founders in 1774. Pleasant Hill or Union Village (see next page). Salvisa is a handsome village, 11 miles from Harrodsburg on the turnpike to Frankfort ; in 1846 had more churches in pro- portion to population than any village in the west ; was laid out by Gen. Robert B. McAfee in 1816, and incorporated Feb. 9, 1828; population 154 in 1850, and 153 in 1870, a slow progress ! Cornishville, on Salt river 11 miles from Harrodsburg ; incorpo- rated Feb. 20, 1847; population in 1870, 151. Oregon, at the head of slackwater navigation on the Kentucky river, is a small village, with considerable business ; 7,000 hogs were slaughtered there in 1846. Lucto, Chapline, Bohon, Nevada, Dugansville, Mc Afee, Duncansville (incorporated Dec. 2, 1851), are small vil- lages or post offices.
STATISTICS OF MERCER COUNTY.
When formed. .See page 26 Tobacco, corn, wheat, hay ... pages 266, 268
Population, from 1790 to 1870 ... p. 258 Horses, mules, cattle, hogs ... . .... .. p. 263
whites and colored. ... p. 260 Taxable property, 1846 and 1870 ... p. 270
towns. .p. 262 Land-No. of acres, and value ...... p. 270
white males over 21 .. p. 266 Latitude and longitude .p. 257
children bet. 6 and 20 .. .p. 266 Distinguished citizens .. .. see Index.
MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM MERCER COUNTY.
Senate .- Wm. McDowell, 1792-94, 1800 ; Robert Mosby, 1795-99 ; Gabriel Slaugh- ter, 1801-08 (and lieutenant governor, 1808-12 and 1816-20, but became governor in consequence of death of G v. Madison, 1816-20); Abraham Chapline, 1808, '09, 14-17 ; John L. Bridges, 1817-20; Jeremiah Briscoe, 1820 ; Robert B. MicAfee, 1821-24, '41-45 . (and lieutenant governor, 1824-28); Samuel McCoun, 1824; Samuel Daveiss, 1525-29, '33-37 ; John B. Thompson, 1829 -- 33 ; John A. Tomlinson, 1837-41 ; Win. Daveiss, 1849 ; Beriah Magoffin, 1850; Win. A. Hove, 1851-33 ; Jas. D. Mardin, 1853-37 ; Jas. Q. Chenoweth, 1863-72.
House of Representatives .- Samuel Taylor, 1792, '93, '98 ; John Jouett, 1792 ; Jacob Frowinan, 1792, '93; Robert Mosby, 1792; John Adair, 1793, '94, '95, '98, 1590, '01, '02, '03, '17 ; John Harrison, 1793; Thos. Terry Davis, 1795, '96, '97; Thos. Barbee,
604
MERCER COUNTY.
1795, '96 ; Samuel Duvall, 1798; Christopher Greenup, 1798 ; Gabriel Slaughter, 1799, 1800 ; -. Briscoe, 1799; -. Ewing, 1799; Geo. Thompson, 1799, 1804, '05, '06, '09; Jos. Hamilton Daveiss, 1800 ; Gen. James Ray, 1801, '02, '03, '09, '10, '11, '12, '14, '15, '18; John L. Bridges, 1801, '03 ; Wm. MeDowell, 1802; Wm. Stirling, 1804; Philip Trapnall, 1805, '06 ; Gen. Robert B. McAfee, 1810, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '19, '20, '30, '31, '32 ; Geo. C. Cowan, 1813; Samuel MeCoun, Jas. G. Birney, 1816 ; John B. Thompson, 1817, '35, '37 ; Edward Worthington, 1818 ; Thos. P. Moore, 1819, '20; Geo. C. Thompson, 1820, '21, '40; John J. Allen, 1821, '22, '25, '26 ; David G. Cowan, 1821, '22; Samuel Daveiss, 1822, '24; Wm. Robertson, 1824 ; Win. Wade, 1824, '25, '26 ; Jos. Haskin, 1825, '26, '31, '33, '43, '44 ; Thos. Hale, Terah T. Haggin, Joel P. Williams, 1827 ; Robert C. Harrison, 1828 ; Elias Tompkins, 1828, '30; John A. Tomlinson, 1828, '29, '30 ; Chas. Burton, Madison G, Worthington, 1829; Wm. Bohon, 1831 ; Dred Bowling, 1832, '34, '35, '36; Jas. Morgan, 1833, '34; J. N. Byree, 1836 ; -. Taylor, 1837 ; Ludwell C. Cornish, 1838, '39, '41 ; Wm. Daveiss, 1838, '39, '48 ; Elijah Gabbert, 1840, '53-55, '61-65; E. B. Owsley, 1841; Jos. B. Renfro, John J. Sweeney, 1842 ; Wm. A. Hooe, 1843, '49 ; John P. Lapsley, 1845 ; Peter Jordan, 1846 ; Benj. C. Allin, 1847; Jas. M. Alexander, 1850 ; Willis S. Chap- line, 1851-53 ; Chas. C. Smedley, 1855-57 ; Benj. C. Trapnall, 1857-59 ; Corydon S. Abell, 1859-61 ; Wm. G. Conpor, 1865-67; Beriah Magoffin, 1867-69; John P. McAfee, 1869-73.
Pleasant Hill, or Union Village, is a small village of rare beauty and neat- ness, situated on a commanding eminence about 1 mile from the Kentucky river, on the turnpike road from Lexington to Harrodsburg, and 7 miles from the latter place. It belongs exclusively to that orderly and industrious society called Shakers, and contained in 1870 a population of 362, divided into fami- lies of from 60 to 80 each. Their remarkable steadiness and permanence is well illustrated by the fact that they numbered 298 in 1810, and 342 in 1850-an increase of 44 in 40 years, while in the next 20 years the increase was just 20, or a small fraction over one per year for sixty years! Their main edifice is a large, handsome, and costly structure, built of Kentucky marble ; the others, generally, are built of brick, and all admirably arranged for comfort and convenience. The internal and external arrangement and neat- ness of their dwellings-the beauty and luxuriance of their gardens and fields-the method and economy displayed in their manufacturing and mechan- ical establishments-their orderly and flourishing schools-their sleek and well-fed stock, are all characteristic of this singular people, and evidence a high degree of comfort and prosperity. Every important family arrangement is governed by the clock, and moves on with the harmony and regularity of clock-work, in beautiful order.
The scenery on the Kentucky and Dick's rivers, is among the grandest and most picturesque in the United States. Next to the highlands of the Hudson, it is probably unequalled for its imposing effect. Those towering cliffs, rising in per- pendicular walls for many hundred feet above the beach, variegated by marble strata of every conceivable thickness and color, overpower the beholder with a sense of Nature's majesty. They look like the battlements of a world, standing there so stern and erect in their massive proportions, and as we gaze upon their bald fronts, against which the storms of ages have beaten, we can almost realize the fable of the Titans, and suppose they have been thrown up in some long-for- gotten battle of the gods.
An incident occurred at Shaker ferry in 1845, nearly opposite the most elevated of these cliffs, which shows that men sometimes bear a charmed life. A stran- ger froin Connecticut, believed to be an artist, was seen in the neighborhood for several days-his object unknown. A short time before the hour of dinner, in the month of June or July, while the occupant of a little cabin on the left bank of the river was engaged in his corn field on the bottom immediately opposite the ferry, his attention was attracted by a rattling noise above him, and looking up, he saw a man falling down the fearful precipice-now touching and grasping at a twig, now at a root, without being able to arrest his descent. He finally lodged in the top of a small buckeye tree, about fifty feet above the general level of the bottom. The total distance of the fall was one hundred and seventy feet ; and from the last point at which he touched the rock to the top of the tree, was forty- five feet. The next day he was walking about, apparently but little injured.
BACON COLLEGE, HARRODSBURG, KY. (Changed in 1857 to Kentucky University ; Destroyed by fire, Feb. 23, 1864.)
MAIN HOUSE AT SHAKER VILLAGE, KY.
605
MERCER COUNTY.
ANCIENT TOWNS AND FORTIFICATIONS .- There are two of these in Mercer county both on Salt river, one about four miles above Harrodsburg, containing ditches and a mound some ten or twelve feet high, filled with human bones and broken pieces of crockery ware. On one side of the mound a hickory tree about two feet in diameter grew, and was blown up by its roots, making a hole some three or four feet deep. Its lower roots drew up a large piece of crockery ware, which had been on some fire coals-the handle was attached to it, and human hair lay by the coals. This was probably a place of human sacrifice. The other ruins are about a mile and a half above, both being on the west side of the river. 'There is no mound near this, but only the remains of earth dug out of the ditches. Each place is of quadrangular form.
There are also remains of ancient Indian villages on and near Salt river, and close by petrified muscle shells, conglomerated into large lumps of rocks, exist ; and generally some two feet of soil covers them, showing many years of abandon- ment. One of these is on General R. B. McAfee's plantation, four miles north- west of Harrodsburg, near a large cave spring.
Colonel DANIEL BOONE spent the winter of 1769-70, in a cave, on the waters of Shawanee, in Mercer county. A tree marked with his name, is yet standing near the head of the cave.
The settlements in Mercer county commenced in March, 1775, and gradually increased till 1779, when the commissioners to grant land titles met in Harrods- burg. A flood of emigrants succeeded, and the number was more than doubled the succeeding three years. Among the emigrants previous to the year 1786, are found the names of Harrod, Ray, McAfee, McGary, Denton, Hogan, l'homp- son, Adams, Curry, Wood, Haggin, McBride, Mosby, Smith, Armstrong, Bu- chanan, Cowan, Field, Jordan, McCoun, Moore, Prather, Wilson, Irvine, Cald- well, Rice and Harbison. The first county court met in Harrodsburg on Tues- day, August -, 1786, and appointed Thomas Allin, who had served in the staff of General Greene in his southern campaigns during the latter years of the rev- olutionary war, its first clerk. Justices of the peace present: John Cowan, Hugh McGary, Gabriel Madison, Alexander Robertson, Samuel Scott, Samuel ' McAfee, John Irvine and Samuel McDowell, Senior."
Harrodsburg has the honor of being the first settled place in the state of Ken- tucky .* In July, 1773, the McAfee company, from Bottetourt county, Virginia, visited this region, and surveyed lands on Salt river, from the month of Ham- mond's creek to a point two miles above the mouth of the town branch. Captain James Harrod, withthirty-one men, descended the Ohio river from the Monon- gahela country in May, 1774, and penetrating the intervening forest, made his principal camp about one hundred yards below the town spring, (which is a very fine one,) under the branches of a spreading elm tree, which is now standing in full vigor. Here he held his nightly councils, and explored the surrounding country, during which time Captain Abraham Chapline, one of his me., dis- covered Chapline's fork of this river, which yet bears his name. About the mid- dle of June, Captain Harrod and his company agreed to lay off a town, inclu- ding their camp, and extending down and south of the town branch; and pro- ceeded to erect a number of cabins on their respective lots of one half acre, and a five acre out-lot. The town thus laid off received the name of Harrodstown; subsequently it was called Oldtown-and, finally, its present name of Harrods- burg. The first corn raised in Kentucky was in 1774, by John Harman, in a field at the east end of Harrodsburg. Here Colonel Boone found them on his way to the falls of Ohio, being sent out by Governor Dunmore to warn the surveyors in that region that the northern Indians had become hostile, which eventuated in General Lewis' battle at the mouth of the Kanawha, October 10th, 1774. Har- rod and his company remained at his town until about the 20th of July, when three or four of his men having discovered a large spring about three miles below their town, which was called Fontainbleau, stopped to rest about noon. The Indians fired on them, and killed Jared Cowan, who was engaged at the time drying his papers in the sun, which had got wet from a heavy rain in the morn-
.So said General R. B. MeAfee, in a letter to the author, in 1846.
.
606
EARLY ADVENTURERS TO KENTUCKY.
mg. The others dispersed. Two of them, Jacob Sandusky and another, taking the trail to the falls of Ohio, descended that river and the Mississippi in a bark canoe, and went round to Philadelphia by sea. The other got back to Harrod's camp and gave the alarm. Captain Harrod raised a company of his men and went down and buried Cowan, and secured his papers, which they found very much scattered ; when they returned to their camp.
On the 11th of March of the succeeding year, 1775, the McAfee company returned to Salt river to renew their improvements-cleared two acres of ground, anıl planted peach stones and apple seeds at what was afterwards known as McAfee's station on Salt river, about one-fourth of a mile above what is now known as Providence church. Four days after their arrival, Captain Harrod and a greater part of the men who had been with him the year before, passed them on their way to Harrodsburg, then called Harrodstown, and reached there on the same day, March 15, 1775. The McAfee company started home the 11th of April, and left two of their men, John Higgins and Swein Poulson, with Captain Har- rod, to notify other companies not to intrude on their lands. Harrodsburg was always occupied afterwards. On the 8th day of September following, Captain Hugh McGary, Thomas Denton and Rich'd Hogan with their wives, arrived at Harrodsburg, having traveled as far as the Hazle patch with Colonel Daniel Boone and his family, on his way to Boonsborough. We have been thus par- ticular, as some dispute has grown out of this matter between Harrodsburg and Boonsborough. When the whole State was known as Kentucky county, the first court ever held in the State, convened in Harrodsburg on the second day of September, 1777, at which time its population, taken by Captain John Cowan, was 198, as follows :
Men in service, . 81
Do. not in service,
4
Women, 24
Children over ten years, 12
Children under ten years, 58
Slaves above ten years, 12
Do. under ten years, 7
Total, 198
In the years 1771-2, the sons of James McAfee, sen., fired by the glowing de- scription of the beauty and fertility of Kentucky, and particularly of this region, as given by Dr. Walker and others, determined to visit it in search of a new home. Accordingly, after holding a family council, it was resolved that James, George, and Robert McAfee, James McCoun, jr., (the brother-in-law of Robert McAfee), and Samuel Adams, a youth of eighteen years, and a cousin of James McCoun, should constitute the company. They departed from their homes, in Bottetourt county, Virginia, on the 10th of May, 1773, and, proceeding across the mountains, struck the Kanawha river about four miles above the mouth of Elk river, and from this point sent back their horses by two boys, (John McCoun and James Pawling), who had accompanied them for the purpose. Here they con- structed two canoes, and, on the 28th of May, descended the Kanawha-meeting, in their descent, by previous arrangement, Hancock Taylor and his company of surveyors, and finding at the mouth of the river, which they reached on the 1st of June, Capt. Bullitt and his company .* The three parties proceeded from the mouth of the Kanawha, down the Ohio, in company, and, on the 22d of June, arrived at the mouth of Limestone creek, where Maysville now stands. On the 24th, the boats were shoved off, and the party continued to descend the river, while Robert McAfee made an excursion through the contiguous country. Pass- ing up Limestone creek to its source, he struck across the dividing ridge, to the
* Capt. Bullitt left his companions at this place. and went alone. through the woods, to the Indian town at Old Chillicothe. He arrived in the midst of the town undiscovered by the Indians, until seen waving h's white handkerchief as a token of peace. The Indians were, very naturally, startled- but the intrepidity, conrage, and fine address of Bullitt. disarmed their hostility. He held a friendly conversation with them-attended a council-assured them of the friendly disposition of the whites. who were solicitous, in return, of the good will of the Indians-spoke of the lands he was about to Bettle-promised them presents-and, leaving them in good humor, rejoined his company at the mouth of the Scioto.
607
MERCER COUNTY.
waters of the north fork of Licking, and proceeded down that stream some twenty or twenty-five miles, and then directed his course over the hills of the present county of Bracken, to the Ohio river. When he reached the river, he ascertained that his company had passed down. Determined to follow as speedily as possi- ble, he instantly went to work, and, with the use of his tomahawk and knife, cut down and skinned a tree, and constructed a bark canoe, which he completed about sundown on the same day of his arrival. Committing himself to this frail craft, he floated down the river, and on the succeeding day-the 27th of June-over- took his company at the mouth of Licking.
The 4th and 5th of July the company spent at Big Bone Lick, in the present ? county of Boone,-making seats and tent poles, while there, of the enormous backbones and ribs of the mastodon, which were found in large quantities at that time. At the mouth of the Kentucky, the companies separated-Capt. Bullitt's proceeding to the falls of the Ohio, and Hancock Taylor and the McAfee com- pany directing their course up the Kentucky river. They ascended the Kentucky to the mouth of Drennon's Lick creek, where they found the river nearly closed by a rocky bar. Here, on the 9th of July, they left their canoes, and went out to the lick, where they discovered immense numbers of buffalo, elk, deer, wolves, bears, &c. They continued either at or in the neighborhood of the lick, until the 15th of July. While there, quite a ludicrous and yet dangerous scene occurred. A large herd of buffalo being in the lick, Samuel Adams was tempted to fire his gun at one of them, when the whole herd, in terrible alarm, ran directly towards the spot where Adams and James McAfee stood. Adams instantly sprang up a leaning tree, but James McAfee, being less active, was compelled to take shelter behind a tree barely large enough to cover his body. In this condition the whole herd passed them-the horns of the buffalo scraping off the bark on both sides of the tree behind which McAfee was standing, drawn up to his smallest dimen- sions. After all had passed, Adams crawled down, and McAfee mildly said : " My good boy, you must not venture that again."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.