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 83
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"On the next morning they were released from their confinement, and were hurried on towards the Indian village in the interior, which Mr. Lancaster esti- mates was about sixty-five miles from the mouth of the Miami, and twenty-five miles lower down the Ohio river. After they had reached their encampment, which was probably one of the Shawnese towns, they were made to witness new scenes of stirring interest. While the captives were gloomily meditating on their probable doom to the stake, the Indian master of John Lancaster suddenly came up to him, and embraced him, shedding tears, and exclaiming, amidst sobs and lamentations that ' he was his brother. who should take the place of one who had been slain during the previous year !' Immediately the Indian ceremony of adoption took place. Mr. Lancaster was stripped of his blanket, and had his body greased with bear's oil, and painted of a vermilion color. He was then taught some scraps of Indian song, and was made to join in the savage festival which ensned. This consisted of songs and the war-dance, one Indian beating time with a stick, the head of which was curiously wrought and trimmed with the hoofs of deer. After the performance of this singular ceremony, he was viewed as having been regularly adopted into the Indian tribe.
" Mr. Lancaster continued a captive in the Indian camp for eight days, during which he made great proficiency in the knowledge of Indian manners and Cls- toms. He was called Kiohba, or the Running Buck. from his remarkable activity and fleetness of foot. He was placed on an equal footing with the Indians, and his new brother treated him with great kindness. After some days, however, this foster brother was sent off from the camp, and then he experienced rougher treat- ment. Captain Jim, under whose charge he was now left. became sullen and vindictive. He quarreled with his wife, who. fearing his vengeance, fied from the camp. Jim immediately pursued her, threatening vengeance. and was soun perceived returning to the camp, after having, in all probability, been her mur- derer. As he was returning, his daughter, who was well acquainted with her fr ther's moods, and who had entertained a partiality for Kiohba, said to the latter : puck-e-te-run! He took her advice, and instantly darted from the camp.
"On casting a glance backward, from a neighboring eminence. he perceived Captain Jim beating the elder Mitchell with a tent pole. After his final escape from the Indians, he learned that, soon after his departure, young Mitchell was painted black and burned at the stake : but that his father and Alexander Brown. after suffering almost incredible hardships and privations, were finally ransomed by their friends, and returned to Pittsburgh.
" John Lancaster was soon out of sight of the Indian encampment. He took the direction of the Ohio river, but ran in different directions, and crossed repeat- edly the various Indian trails, in order the more easily to elude pursuit. He was particularly fearful of about fifty Indian dogs, who had been trained to following the footsteps of man. He was, however, fortunate enough to escape all these multiplied dangers ; and after running for six days, during which his only sub- sistence was four turkey eggs, which he had found in the hollow of a fallen tree,
547
POPE-GRUNDY-HARDIN.
he safely reached the Ohio river. Exhausted as he was, he immediately tied him- self with bark to the trunk of a box-elder tree. and after four hours' unremitting toil, succeeded in crossing to the Kentucky side. While crossing he had swal- Jowed much water; and he now perceived that his strength had almost entirely failed.
" After resting a short time, he determined to float down the river, to the sta- tion at the Falls, which he estimated was between twenty and thirty miles dis- tant. Accordingly, he made a small raft, by tying two trees together with bark, on which he placed himself, with a pole for an oar. When a little above Eigh- teen Mile Island. he heard the sharp report of a rifle, when, thinking that his pursuers had overtaken him, he crouched down on his little raft, and concealed himself as best he could. Ilearing no other noise, however, he concluded that his alarm was without foundation. But shortly after, a dreadful storm broke upon the river : night had already closed in. and he sank exhausted and almost lifeless on his treacherous raft, drenched with the rain, benumbed with cold, and with the. terrible apprehension on his mind, that he might be precipitated over the Falls during the night.
" At break of day, he was aroused from his death-like lethargy, by one of the. most cheering sounds that ever fell on the ears of a forlorn and lost wanderer -- the crowing of a cock,-which announced the immediate vicinity of a white set- tlement. The sound revived him ; he collected all his energies for one last effort, and sat upright on his little raft. Soon. in the gray light of the morning, he dis- covered the cabins of his countrymen, and was enabled to effect a landing at the mouth of Beargrass-the site of the present city of Louisville. He immediately rejoined his friends, and their warm welcome soon made him forget all his past sufferings. He lived for many years to recount his adventures; and died a few years ago of a good old age, surrounded by his children and his children's chil- dren."
JOHN Popr, a distinguished politician and statesman, was for many years a resident of this county, where he died in 1842. He was a native of Prince Wil- liam county, Virginia, where he was born about the year 1770, but emigrated to Kentucky while quite a boy. In early life he had the misfortune to lose his arm, from a severe wound received while attending a cornstalk mill. Owing to this accident, he was induced to turn his attention to the profession of the law, and being a man of great native vigor of intellect, soon attained eminence. He first settled in Shelby county, but afterwards removed to Lexington. He was frequently a member of the legislature, in which body his great talents rendered him eminently conspicuous and influential. In 1807. he was elected to the sen- ate of the United States, and was for many years a distinguished member of the house of representatives. In 1829 he was appointed governor of the territory of Arkansas, which office he held for six years. He died at his residence in Wash- ington county, in the year 1842. In early life. Mr. Pope belonged to the fi deral party ; but in after years attached himself to that party which has assumed to itself the name of democratic, and of which General Jackson was the founder.
The late Honorable FELIX GRUNDY, of Tennessee, was also for some years a citizen of this county, to which he was brought by his parents from Virginia. in his early boyhood. He was a native of Berkely county. Va., where he was harn in September, 1777. Mr. Grundy was for many years a distinguished member of the Kentucky legislature, and while he remained a citizen of the State, was appoin- ted chief justice of the court of appeals. In 1803 he removed to Tennessee, and was subsequently a member of Congress from that State. He represented the State of Tennessee in the Senate of the United States for many years, and dur- ing the administration of Mr. Van Buren, was appointed attorney general of the United States.
Mr. Grundy was one of the most distinguished lawyers and statesmen of the western country. When in the councils of the nation he had but few superiors. His politics were democratic, of which party he was always a most zealous and efficient supporter.
Another distinguished citizen of Washington county was General MARTIN D. HARDIN, the son of Colonel John Hardin. He was a lawyer of great eminence,
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548
WAYNE COUNTY.
end practiced his profession in l'rankfort with distinguished success. He was a man of marked talent and very decided character. as were indeed all the mem- bers of this family. He was secretary of state under Governor Shelby, and in 1817 was appointed by Governor Slaughter to the senate of the United States, in which body he served one session. He was a major in the rifle regiment of Col- onel John Allen, in the campaign on the northern border during the last-war with Great Britain, in which situation he approved himself a brave, vigilant and effi- cient officer. General Hardin died at Frankfort in the fall of 1823. He was the father of the late Colonel John J. Hardin, of Illinois, who fell in the battle of Buena Vista in Mexico.
Washington county derived its name from General GEORGE WASHINGTON, com- mander-in-chief of the American armies during the war of the revolution, and first president of the United States under the federal constitution. Any narrative of his life is almost superfluous ; for what citizen of the republic has it not engra- ven upon his heart ! A patriot without blemish, a statesman without guile, a leader of armies without ambition, a magistrate without severity, yet inflexible in uprightness, a citizen exemplary in the discharge of every duty, a man in whose character weakness and faults appeared but as specks on the brightness of the sun-who had religion without austerity, dignity without pride, modesty without diffidence, courage without rashness, politeness without affectation, affa- bility without familiarity :- such was the man whose memory the great and the good of all nations have delighted to honor.
WAYNE COUNTY.
WAYNE county was formed in the year 1800, and named after General ANTHONY WAYNE. It is watered by the Cumberland river and its tributaries, the south fork passing entirely through the county from the south in a direction a little west of north : boun- ded on the north by the Cumberland river, which separates it from Pulaski county ; east by Whitley ; south by the State of Tennessee; and west by Clinton and Russell. The surface of the county is somewhat broken with hills, but the valley lands are fertile and productive-the soil very generally based upon limestone. The county abounds with stone coal ; and on the Big South fork of the Cumberland, there is a continuous strata or seam of coal upwards of thirty miles in length. There is, also, an abundance of iron ore and salt water of a rich quality. Numer- ous small caves are found, in which there are large quantities of alum and salt petre, and some marine petrifactions have been discovered. The principal exports of the county are, horses, mules, cattle and hogs.
Valuation of the taxable property of Wayne in 1846, $1,214,- 579 ; number of acres of land in the county, 198,353 ; average value of lands per acre, 83.02 ; number of white males over twenty-one years of age, 1,335 ; number of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, 2,406. Population in 1840, 15,446.
MONTICELLO, the seat of justice and only town of Wayne county, is ninety miles south of Frankfort. It contains a brick court house and other county buildings ; two churches, Methodist and Christian ; five lawyers, four physicians, six stores, three groceries,
549
WHITLEY COUNTY.
two tanyards and ten mechanics' shops. Population 300. Es- tablished in 1810, and named after President Jefferson's resi- dence.
General ANTHONY WAYNE, in honor of whom this county was named, was 3 distinguished officer in the United States' service, and was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, January Ist. 1745. He received a good education, and after leav- ing school at the age of eighteen, took up the business of surveying, in which he acquired great reputation and success. He was one of the provincial deputies who early in 1774 were chosen by the different counties of Pennsylvania to take into consideration the state of affairs with Great Britain ; and a member of the convention which shortly after assembled at Philadelphia. In the same year he was elected to the legislature, and in 1775 appointed a member of the committee of safety. In September of this year he raised a company of volunteers, and in the ensuing January, was appointed by Congress, colone! of one of the Penn- sylvania regiments, and at the opening of the campaign received orders to join the army under General Lee at New York. In 1775 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. In the battle of Brandywine he commanded a divis- ion stationed at Chad's ford, to resist the passage of Knyphausen. He maintained the contest until near sunset, when he was compelled to retreat. He was in the battle of Germantown, where he evinced his wonted valor ; he was also present at the battle of Monmouth. In July, 1779, he stormed the strong fortress of Stony Point by a night assault. He was present at Yorktown, and witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. He was subsequently sent to the south, where he remained until the conclusion of peace. In 1789 he was a member of the Pennsylvania convention and an advocate of the constitution of the United States. In 1792, he was appointed by Washington. successor to General St. Clair in the command of the army engaged against the Indians on the western frontier. It was at first supposed that his ardor would render him an unfit opponent of a foe remarkable for caution. He soon, however, proved the incorrectness of this idea. He established admirable discipline among his troops, and by his wise and pru- dent measures in preparing for an engagement, and the skill and bravery with which he fought and gained the battle of August 20th, 1794, near the river Mi- ami of the lakes, he brought the war to a completely successful termination. In 1795, he concluded a definite treaty of peace with the Indians. He died in Decem- ber, 1796.
WHITLEY COUNTY.
WHITLEY county was formed in 1818, and named in honor of Col. WILLIAM WHITLEY. It is situated in the south-east section of the State, and is drained by the Cumberland river and its tribu- taries. This river penetrates the county on the north-eastern border, and meanders in a general western course to within a few miles of its western border, when it makes a bend, and runs directly north, to near the northern border ; here it again makes a sudden bend, and flows out of the county on the north-western border : bounded on the north by Laurel; on the east by Knox ; on the south by the State of Tennessee; and on the west by Wayne. The face of the country, except the river valleys, is hilly .and broken, two spurs of the Cumberland mountain penetrating the south-eastern corner to within a short distance of Williams- burg, on the Cumberland river. Corn is the staple product, and hogs the principal export of the county.
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550
WHITLEY COUNTY.
The falls of the Cumberland river, in Whitley county, about fourteen miles below Williamsburg, are among the most remark- able objects in the State. The river here is precipitated over a sheer fall of sixty-three feet, perpendicular. On a clear morn- ing, the roar of the waters may be heard for a distance of ten or twelve miles above and below the falls. Immediately behind the falling sheet of water, there is a considerable cave in the surface of the rock ; and a person can go almost across the river by this passage, through an arch formed on one side by the rock, and on the other by the flashing waters. Just below the falls, large fish are to be caught in great numbers. The country, for six or eight miles above and below the falls, is very irregular, and presents to the eye of the traveler a succession of scenery as romantic and picturesque as any to be found in the State. The hills and mountains rise upon each other, like clouds upon the horizon.
Valuation of the taxable property of Whitley in 1846, $398,- 332 ; number of acres of land in the county, 167,967; average value of land per acre, $1.42 ; number of white males over twen- ty-one years of age, 877; number of children between five and sixteen years old, 1,435. Population in 1840, 6,673.
WILLIAMSBURG, the scat of justice of Whitley county, is situated on the right bank of the Cumberland river, about one hundred miles from Frankfort, and contains a Methodist church, two law- yers, four stores and groceries, one tavern, and several mechan- ies' shops. Population, 75. Boston is a very small village, con- taining a Baptist church, a store, post-office, &c. Population, 30.
In October, 1786, a large number of families, traveling by land to Kentucky, known by the name of Mc Knitt's company, were surprised in their camp at night, between the Big and Little Laurel rivers, by a party of Indians, and totally de- fented, with the loss of twenty-one persons killed, and the rest dispersed or made prisoners.
Shortly before settlements were formed in what is now Whitley county. John 'T'ye, his son, and some two or three other men, having encamped on the head of Big Poplar creek, were attacked after night by a party of Cherokee Indians. Tye's son was killed, and the old man wounded. The other men fled after the first fire of the Indians, and made their escape. The Indians rushed upon the camp, and two of them entered it, but were immediately met by two large cur dogs, which defended the wounded sire and the dead son with a fearlessness and bravery which would have done credit to animals of a higher order. In this con- fliet, one of the Indians was very severely wounded ; and, as soon as he extrica- ted himself from the jaws of the enraged dogs, the party precipitately fled. leav- ing their moccasins and leggings on the opposite side of the creek, where they had left them in order to ford the stream.
In the early settlement of the county, Joseph Johnson was killed by three Che- rokees, on Lynn camp. They entered his house in the dusk of the evening. when there was no men about it but himself, and killed him with their tomahawks and knives. His wife was out milking the cows at the time, and was ignorant of what was passing within until she reached the door of the cabin, when she be- held her prostrate and bleeding husband in the agonies of death, and the Indians standing over and around him, inflicting additional wounds upon the now uncon- wrious body. The savages discovered her alinost at the instant she reached the door, and one of them sprang at her with his tomahawk. She dropped her milk pait, and precipitately fled in the direction of the house of the elder Johnson, about a hundred and fifty yards off, the Indian in full chase. Mrs. Johnson was
551
WILLIAM WHITLEY.
a remarkably stout, active young woman, and the race was one for life. Getting a few yards the start of the savage, she maintained the relative distance between them, until she reached the yard fence of the old gentleman; and as with one bound ste cleared the obstruction, the savage made an unsuccessful thrust at her head, gave a yell of disappointment, and instantly retreated.
WISHIAM WHITLEY, from whom this county received its name, was one of the most distinguished of those early pioneers, whose adventurous exploits have shed a coloring of romance over the carly history of Kentucky. He was born on the 14th of August, 1749. in that part of Virginia then called Augusta, and which afterwards furnished territory for Rockbridge county. Unknown to early fame, he grew to manhood in the laborious occupation of tilling his native soil, in which his corporeal powers were fully developed, with but little mental cultivation. He possessed, however, the spirit of enterprise, and the love of independence. In 1775, having married Esther Fuller, and commenced house-keeping in a small way, with health and labor to season his bread, he said to his wife. he heard a fine report of Kentucky, and he thought they could get their living there with less hard work. "Then: Billy, if I was you I would go and see," was the reply. In two days he was on his way, with axe and plow. and gun and kettle. And she is the woman who afterwards collected his warriors to pursue the Indians.
Whitley set ont for Kentucky, accompanied by his brother-in-law, George Clark ; in the wilderness they met with seven others, who joined them.
We are not in possession of materials for a detailed narrative of Whitley's adventures after his arrival in Kentucky, and shall have to give only such desul- tory facts as we have been enabled to collect.
In the year 1785, the camp of an emigrant by the name of McClure, was assaulted in the night by Indians, near the head of Skagg's creek, in Lincoln county, and six whites killed and scalped.
Mrs. McClure ran into the woods with her four children, and could have made her escape with three, if she had abandoned the fourth ; this, an infant in her arms, cried aloud, and thereby gave the savages notice where they were. She heard them coming: the night, the grass, and the bushes, offered her conceal- ment without the infant, but she was a mother, and deterinined to die with it; the like feeling prevented her from telling her three eldest to fly and hide. She feared they would be lost if they left her side ; she hoped they would not be killed if they remained. In the meantime the Indians arrived, and extinguished both fears and hopes in the blood of three of the children. The youngest, and the mother they made captives. She was taken back to the camp, where there was plenty of provisions, and compelled to cook for her captors. In the morning they com- pelled her to mount an unbroken horse, and accompany them on their return honte.
Intelligence of this sad catastrophe being conveyed to Whitley's station, he was not at home. A messenger, however, was dispatched after him by Mrs. Whitley, who at the same time sent others to warn and collect his company. On his return he found twenty-one men collected to receive his orders, With these he directed his course to the war path, intending to intercept the Indians return- ing home. Fortunately, they had stopped to divide their plunder ; and Whitley succeeded in gaining the path in advance of them. He immediately saw th.it they had not passed, and prepared for their arrival. His men being concealed in a favorable position, had not waited long before the enemy appeared. dressel in their spoils. As they approached, they were met by a deadly fire from the concealed whites, which killed two. wounded two others and dispersed the rost. Mrs. MeClure, her child, and a negro woman, were rescued, and the six sealps taken by the Indians at the camp, recovered.
Ten days after this event. a Mr. Moore, and his party, also emigrants, were defeated two or three miles from Rackoon creek, on the same road. In this attack, the Indians killed nine persons, and scattered the rest. Upon the receipt of the news, Captain Whitley raised thirty men, and under a similar impression as before, that they would return home. marched to intercept them. On the sixth day, in a cane-brake, he met the enemy, with whom he found himself face to face, before he received any intimation of their proximity. He instantly ordered ten of his men to the right, as many to the left, and the others to dismount on the spot with him. The Indians, twenty in number, were mounted on good hor-
552
WOODFORD COUNTY.
ses, and well dressed in the plundered clothes. Being in the usual Indian file, and still pressing from the rear when the front made a halt, they were brought into full view ; but they no sooner discovered the whites than they sprang from their horses and took to their heels. In the pursuit, three Indians were killed ; eight scalps retaken ; and twenty-eight horses, fifty pounds in cash, and a quan- tity of clothes and household furniture captured. Captain Whitley accompanied Bowman and Clark in their respective expeditions against the Indians.
In the years 1792, "93 and '94. the southern Indians gave great annoyance to the inhabitants of the southern and south-eastern portions of the State. Their hostile incursions were principally directed against the frontiers of Lincoln county, where they made frequent inroads upon what were called the outside settlements, in the neighborhood of Crab Orchard, and Logan's and Mckinney's stations. Their depredations became, at length, so frequent, that Col. Whitley determined to take vengeance, and deprive them of the means of future annoyance ; and, with this view, conceived the project of conducting an expedition against their towns on the south side of the Tennessee river.
In the summer of' 1794 he wrote to Major Orr, of Tennessee, informing him of his design, and inviting the major to join him with as large a force as he could raise. Major Orr promptly complied ; and the two corps, which rendezvoused at Nashville, numbered between five and seven hundred men. The expedition is known in history as the Nickajack expedition, that being the name of the princi- pal town against which its operations were directed. The march was conducted with such secrecy and dispatch, that the enemy were taken completely by sur- prise. In the battle which ensued, they were defeated with great slanghter, their towns burned, and crops destroyed. This was the last hostile expedition in which Whitley was engaged during the war.
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