USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 68
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
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 strar- ger from 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 inan failing down the fearful precipice-now touching and grasping at a twig, now at a root, without being able to arrest his descent. He tinaily 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.
· There are but few towns in the United States, it is believed, with so small a population,
which contains so many places of religious worship.
452
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 Shawnee. 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 17-6, are found the names of Harrod. Ray, MeAfce, MeGary, Denton, Hogan, Thomp- son, Adams, Curry. Wood. Hagoin, McBride, Mosby, Smith, Armstrong. Bu- chanan, Cowan, Field. Jordan. MeCoun, Moore. Prather, Wilson, Irvine. Cald- well, Rice and Herbison. The first county court met in Harrodsburg on Tues- day. August -. 1756, and appointed Thomas Allin, who had served in the staff of General Greene in his southern campaigns during the latter years of the rev- clutionary war, its first clerk. Justices of the peace present: John Cowan, Hugh MeGory. 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 mouth of Ham- mond's creek to a point two miles above the mouth of the town branch. Captain James Harrod, with forty-one men, descended the Ohio river from the Monon- gahola 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 bis nightly councils, and explored the surrounding country, during which time Captain Alexander Chapline, one of his men. 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 pre- ceeded to creet 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 Harrodst. in, subsequently it was called Okitmen-and, finally. its present name of Harry- burg. The first com raised in Kentucky was in 1775, by John Harman. in a field at the east end of Harrodsburg. Here Colonel Boone found them on his way t 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 eventnated in General Lewis battle at the mouth of the Kanawha, October 10th. 1771. 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 James Cowan, who was engaged at the time drying his papers in the sun. which had got wet from a heavy ram in the morn-
"So says General R B. M.Ale, in a letter to the author, and he is not disposed to controvert the statement, although it has been questioned by others.
4
:
453
EARLY ADVENTURERS TO KENTUCKY.
ing. 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 back canve, 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 mach scattered ; when they returned to their camp.
On the lith of March of the succeeding year, 1775, the McAfee company returned to Salt river to renew their improvements-cleared two acres of ground, and 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 MeAfee company started home the 11th of April, and left two of their men, John Higgins and Swein Ponlson. with Captain Har- rod, to notify other companies not to intrude ou their lands. Harrodsburg was always occupied afterwards. On the sth day of September following. Captain Hugh MeGary, Thomas Denton and - 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, 59
Slaves above ten years, 12
Do. under ten years, 7
Total, 198
In the years 1771-2, the sons of James Me Afee, 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 Jantes. George, and Robert Me Afee, James MeCoun, jr., (the brother-in-law of Robert MeAfee), and Samuel Adams, a youth of eighteen years, and a cousin of James MeCoun, 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 Fil river. and from this point sent back their horses by two boys. (John MeCoun 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 Ist 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 bed of Jane. arrived at the mouth of Limestone creek. where Maysville now stands. Un dig 24th. the boats were shoved off, and the party continued to descend the river, while Robert Me Afee made an excursion through the contiguous country. Pass- ing up Limestone creek to its source. he struck across the dividing ridge. to the
·Capt Bel' it left his companions at this place. and went alone, through the woods. 10 the Indian town at Ord Calicothe. He arrived in the malet of the town una. scor red by bir del ans. nalea wayne his white handkerchief ne a tok not peace The Indians were very nature y af- but the specpedis, courage, and fine address of Bullitt. disarmed their hostility. lie feld a family conversation with them-attraded a comment-assured them of the friendly disposition of the antes, Who was so tona, in return of the good will of the Indians- spoke of the lands he was a aff Utile-promised them presents-and, leaving them in goud numor, rejoined his company at the mouth of the Scioto.
454
1
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. cat 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. llere, 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 liek, until the 15th of July. While there, quite a ludicrous and yet dangerous scene occurred. A large herd of buffalo being in the liek, 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 MeAfee 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."
On the 15th of July, the company left Drennon's lick, and, on the succeeding day, crossed the Kentucky river below where Frankfort now stands, where Robert Mc Afee had two surveys made, embracing six hundred acres, and including Frank- fort bottom. On the 17th, they left their encampment, and, proceeding up the Kentucky river, on the ISth reached the Cave Springs.+ Tarrying here two days, they continued their march, in a westerly direction, to Salt river, which they called Crooked creek, and made their surveys of four hundred acres each, from the mouth of Hammond's creek, up Salt river, to about two miles above where Harrodsburg now stands.
The further history of the MeAfee company we quote, in a condensed form, from a small work by the Rev. Dr. Davidson :
"On the 31st of July, they (the MeAfee company), turned their faces home- ward. They proceeded under showers of rain, and suffering various hardships. When they reached the foot of the mountains, their stock of provisions failed, and game was ditheult to procure. To cross the mountains proved likewise a very laborious undertaking, covered as they were with laurel, underbrush, and pine.
"The 12th of August was a gloomy day to this little band. They had gained the highest point of the cragry range dividing the head waters of the Kentucky and Clinch rivers ; a region that seemed the abode of desolation. Nothing but barren rocks frowned on every side, and silence and solitude reigned uninterrupted. Not a living animal was to be seen, nor a bird to cheer them with its wild noirs. They were exposed to a broiling sun; their feet were blistered ; and their ! .. were torn and raw from the effect of the briers ; add to which, they were literally starving, not having had a mouthful to eat for two days. Such a combination of misfortunes was enough to appal the stoutest heart.
"The day was drawing to a close ; the sun was sinking in the west, and gild- ing the mountain's top with his last setting beams; they had not as yet seen a solitary animal that could serve for food ; and the herbage was not only seamy but unfit for sustenance. To complete their distress, they found the head .spring+ of the water-courses dried up by the excessive heat, and not affording a drup is
. This is a remarkable spring, situated under a rock, on the road between Frankfort and Harrue. burg,-at that tune called Cave Spring, but now known as Lillard's Spring.
455
HARDSHIPS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
allay their thirst. Exhausted by fatigue, hunger and despair, George MeAfee and young Adams threw themselves on the ground, declaring themselves unable to proceed any farther. As a last desperate effort, Robert Me Afee then determined to compass the ridge in quest of game, leaving James with the two others to rally their spirits. He had not proceeded a quarter of a mile, when a young buck crossed his path ; and although agitated by intensely anxious feelings, he was so good a marksman as to bring him down at the first shot. On hearing the report of his gun, the rest of the company, forgetting their fatigue, sprang up, and ran to the spot whence the sound proceeded. The meal, thus opportunely furnished, they devoured with keen appetites. and slaked their thirst from a branch which they discovered adjacent ; while their hearts overflowed with gratitude to that Providence, which, by so timely an interposition, had rescued them from the jaws of death. Recruited in strength, they resumed their journey, and soon reached their homes ; where, in spite of the hardships and hazards attending the exploit, the accounts they published inspired a general enthusiasm to imitate their example.
"Indian wars and the battle of Kenhawa, detained them in Virginia during the succeeding year ; but the year 1775 found thein among the cane-brakes. Robert, Samuel, and William MeAfee, allowed themselves to be persuaded by Colonel Henderson, to unite their fortunes with his, against the wholesome advice of their elder brother James, who assured them that Henderson's claim could not be valid, because without the sanction of government. They went to Boonsborough, entered land and raised corn, but, as was predicted, the scheme proved abortive. In the fall. we find the company reunited, consisting of William, George, and Robert Mcfee, George McGee, David Adams. John McCoun, and some others, and under the protection of the newly erected Harrod's station, they cleared fif- teen acres of ground below the mouth of Armstrong's Branch, in Mercer county, and planted it in corn. A part of the company wintered here, while the rest went back to Virginia, leaving forty head of cattle to fatten on the Inxuriant cane and herbage. These last mentioned persons took measures to return in the spring following, calculating that the corn and cattle would, by this time, be in a con- dition to support them.
"Accordingly, in May, 1776, they packed up their household property and fanning utensils, with a quantity of seeds of various kinds, barrels of corn and flour, and stores of coffee, sugar, and spices, not omitting a few bottles of whis- ky and spirits, (by way of medicine, no doubt,) which they placed, for security. in the middle of the flour and corn barrels. and attempted to convey them in canocs down the Gauley and Kenhawa rivers; but finding this impracticable, they re- solved to go back for pack horses. Having built a strong log cabin, resembling the caches described by Washington Irving in his Astoria, as used by the for-tra- ders, they deposited in it all their property, and covering it with bark, left it in this situation in the wilderness. The rumor of hostilities, and the war of the Revolution caused a delay of several months; and when they returned in Sep- tember, they found the cache, to their dismay, broken open. the roof torn off, and rugs, blankets, barrels, and stores, strewed in confusion around. and totally ruined. On making some search, they found evidences of some one having taken out the bedding to sleep on. under an adjacent cliff, and that the same person had rum- maged their kegs and barrels, in order to get at the liquor.
" No Indian sign. as the traces of the savages were called, was visible : but upon searching by parties of two, they found. within half a mile of the spot, a diminutive red-haired man, on whose person they discovered some of the missing articles. Vexed at the wanton destruction of so many valuable stores of coffee. sugar, spices, and the like articles, which they had been for years collecting. at a time tro, when they were so much needed, and could not be replaced where they were going ; and provoked beyond endurance by the wretch's denial, although probis were on his person, one of the party felled him to the ground with his ton- ahawk, and was on the point of dispatching him with his knife, when his brother seized his arm and prevented the rash aet.
" The fellow's name was Edward Sommers. He was a convict servant, who had ran off from his master in the interior of Virginia. and was making the best of his way to the Indians. As soon as he recovered from the stunning effect of the blow he had received, he was led to the cabin, where a council was held upon
456
MERCER COUNTY.
the case. He was adjudged to have forfeited his life according to the laws of the land, but as none of the company was willing to execute the hangman's office, the miserable wretch escaped with his life. He was compelled, however, to accompany them back to Virginia, where he was delivered up into the hands of his master, and very probably received such a scourging as made him more desi- rous to run away than ever.
"The war with Great Britain, in which the members of this company and all their connexions heartily united, hindered the resumption of their darling project for the next two years, during which time the cattle they had left ran wild, in the woods, or fell the prey of Indian marauders, and were irrecoverably lost.
" The year 1779 saw these enterprising adventurers settled with their families on their new territory, having passed the Cumberland Gap with pack-horses. Their first care was to fortify themselves in a quadrangular enclosure of cabins and stockades, to which was given the name of MeAfec's station. A winter of unexampled severity ensued ; and from the middle of November to the middle of February, snow and ice continued on the ground without a thaw. Many of the cattle perished ; and numbers of bears, buffalo, deer, wolves, beavers, otters, and wild turkeys were found frozen to death. Sometimes the famished wild animals would come up in the yard of the stations along with the tame cattle. Such was the scarcity of food, that a single jonny-cake would be divided into a dozen parts, and distributed around to the inmates to serve for two meals. Even this resource failed, and for weeks they had nothing to live on hut wild game. Early in the spring, some of the men went to the Falls of the Ohio, now Louisville. where they gave sixty dollars (continental money) for a bushel of corn; which was considered an enormous price, even making allowance for its depreciated value ; but the only alternative was starvation.
" A delightful spring, and the rapid growth of vegetation, promised to repay them for the hardships they had undergone. The peach-trees they had planted five years before, were loaded with fruit, and the apple-trees were also in a thriv- ing condition. Plenty and happiness smiled upon the settlement, when, by one of those unexpected reverses, which seem designed by Providence to admonish us of what we are too apt to forget, the uncertain tenure of our earthly prosperity, and the small reliance to be placed upon present appearances, their flattering prospects were all at once damped by a melancholy event that filled every heart with gloom.
"Joseph MeCoun, a promising lad, the youngest and the darling son of his father, and the favourite of the whole family, was surprised and carried off by a party of Shawanee Indians, while looking after some cattle in an adjoining glade. His companion escaped, and immediately gave the alarm ; but pursuit was vain. The savages carried their unhappy victim to a little town on the head waters of Mad river, about six miles above the spot now occupied by the town of Spring- field, Ohio, where they tied him to a stake and barned him with excruciating tor- tures. After this heart-rending event, which took place in March, 1781, the fam- ilies, seven in number, abandoned the fanns they had been cultivating, and took refuge in the station. This step was rendered absolutely necessary, for the in- dians were prowling in every direction, stealing horses. attacking the armed companies that passed from one station to another, and killing and scalping every unfortunate straguler that fell into their hands. The expedition under General George Rogers Clark, in which the men of the Salt river settlement, burning for vengeance, participated. daunted them for a tine, and restored quiet."
The insecurity of the settlers, and the hazards to which they were exposed about this period. appear to have been very great. There was no communication between the stations, of which there were now several, except by armed compa- nies. The inhabitants, not daring to spend the night out of the forts, cultivated their corn during the day, with the hoe in one hand and a gun in the other. A large party went one morning to a neighboring plantation to assist in pulling flax. a friendly office always cheerfully tendered, but were unconsciously waylid by eight or nine Indians. The wily savages, afraid to make an open attack. cut down bushes, and constructed a screen in a fit situation for an ambuscade, so that no one would be able to discover them till within a few yards. Behind this le ity screen they lay, watching for the return of their unsuspecting victims, and we ticipating with savage eagerness the pleasure of scalping the whole party. But
457
JAMES RAY.
Providence ordered otherwise. One of the young men (John McCoun, Jr.) pro- posed to his companions, on their way homeward, to deviate a little for the sake of gathering plums, a quantity of which grew at no great distance. As the sun was not yet down, they consented ; and in consequence of this happy sug- gestion, they reached home by a more circuitous but safer route. We may imag- ine the mingled amazement and delight with which they discovered next day what an escape they had made from inuninent danger. The deserted blind, and the spot where the Indians lay, till their impatience and chagrin became insap- portable, were objects of curiosity for several years. Surprise, however. was not the only emotion excited on this occasion; it is gratifying to be able to add. that a deep and salutary impression was made on the whole party, of the obliga- tions under which they were placed to Providence for so signal a deliverance.
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.