USA > Kentucky > Fayette County > Lexington > History of Lexington, Kentucky : its early annals and recent progress, including biographical sketches and personal reminiscences of the pioneer settlers, notices of prominent citizens, etc., etc. > Part 2
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No human bones could be distinguished among the fragments found, but only the immediate center of the mound was opened.
The citizens of Lexington may, in truth, muse among the ancient ruins and awe-inspiring relics of a once mighty people. Who and what were the beings who fought with these weapons, ate from these vessels, built these tombs and mounds and altars, and slept at last in this now concealed catacomb? Where existed that strange nation, whose grand chain of works seemed to have Lexington for its nucleus and center ? We can only speculate ! One* inclines to the opinion that they were contemporaries of the hardy Picts. Anothert declares them identical with the Allegha- wians or progenitors of the Aztecs, and cites as proof, the remains of their temples, which are declared to be wonder-
* Imlay, page 369.
t Rafinesque.
12
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
fully similar to those of the ancient Mexicans described by Baron Humboldt. The earthen vessels here plowed up from the virgin soil, he says, were like those used by the Alleghawians for cooking purposes. Still another writer,* dwelling upon the mummies here discovered, sees in the original inhabitants of Lexington, a people descended from the Egyptians. Other authors, eminent and learned, almost without number, have discussed this subject, but their views are as conflicting as those already mentioned, and nothing is satisfactory, except the negative assurance that the real first settlers of Lexington, the State of Kentucky, and the entire Mississippi valley, were not the American Indians, as no Indian nation has ever built walled cities, defended by entrenchments, or buried their dead in sepul- chres hewn in the solid rock.
Who, then, were these mysterious beings? from whence did they come? what were the forms of their religion and government? are questions that will probably never be solved by mortal man; but that they lived and ' flourished centuries before the Indian who can doubt? Here they erected their Cyclopean temples and cities, with no vision of the red men who would come after them, and chase the deer and the buffalo over their leveled and grass covered walls. Here they lived, and labored, and died, be- fore Columbus had planted the standard of old Spain upon the shores of a new world; while Gaul, and Britain, and Germany were occupied by roving tribes of barbarians, and, it may be, long before imperial Rome had reached the height of her glory and splendor. But they had no litera- ture, and when they died they were utterly forgotten. They may have been a great people, but it is all the same to those who came if they were not, for their greatness was never recorded. Their history was never written- not a letter of their language remains, and even their name is forgotten. They trusted in the mighty works of their hands, and now, indeed, are they a dead nation and a lost race. The ancient city which stood where Lexington now
*Josiah Priest's " American Antiquities."
13
ANCIENT LEXINGTON.
stands, has vanished like a dream, and vanished forever. Another has well said: "Hector and Achilles, though mere barbarians, live because sung by Homer. Germanicus lives as the historian himself said, because narrated by Tacitus; but these builders of mounds perish because no Homer and no Tacitus has told of them. It is the spirit only, which, by the pen, can build immortal monuments."
14
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
CHAPTER II.
The Indian Occupation.
Ir is a favorite theory of many that the Indians of North America migrated from Asia; that the once noble race, which has almost melted away, was descended from the ten tribes of Israel* which were driven from Palestine seven hun- dred years before the birth of Christ. But this is a theory only. The advent of the Indians and the stock from which they sprung will never be determined ; but that they came after the "Mound Builders" is evident. The appearance of the Indians was the death-knell of that doomed race whose rich and beautiful lands and spoil-gorged cities in- flamed the desperate and destitute invaders. The numer- ous tumuli which yet remain attest the fierceness of the conflict which ensued. A great people were swept out of existence, their cities disappeared, the grass grew above them, and in time the canebrakes and the forests. Out of all this vast extent of conquered territory, the In- dians selected a portion as a hunting-ground and called it " Kantuckee," because it had been in truth to them a
"dark and bloody ground." It was a shadow-land to the Indians. In 1800, some Sacs who were in St. Louis said of Kentucky that it was full of the souls of a strange race which their people had long ago exterminated.t They regarded this land with superstitious awe. Here they hunted and here they fought, but no tribe was ever known to settle permanently in it.į And while they hunted and roamed and paddled here their bark canoes, unknown cen- turies rolled away. Jamestown, the germ and herald of a
* Roger Williams, Dr. Boudinot. and others.
# Hall's Sketches.
+Priest's Antiquities.
15
THE INDIAN OCCUPATION.
mighty empire was building, and royal colonies of their future enemies waxed strong, while they sported and slept ; and even when their brethren "across the mountains " were falling like ripe grain before the reaper, while forests were disappearing, and villages, and towns, and churches, and mills, and colleges were multiplying, they built their camp-fires undisturbed where Lexington now stands-for even to Virginia, the vast area since called the Northwestern Territory was then an unexplored and unknown country. But the handwriting was upon the wall, and the same fate to which the Red Men had consigned the Mound Builders was in waiting for them also.
6666
16
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
CHAPTER III.
Coming of the White Man.
THE genius of civilization pointed out to her chosen pioneer a savage land to be reclaimed; and on the ever memorable 7th of June, 1769,* Daniel Boone, the " Colum- bus of the land," stood upon a lofty cliff which towered above a branch of the Kentucky river, and gazed enraptured upon the Italy of America, and feasted his eyes upon the beauty and fatness of a country celebrated now the wide world over in story and in song. The conqueror of the wilderness had come, a vast army was following at his back, and the future of the Dark and Bloody Ground was decided. In 1770,; the Long Hunters crossed the rocky barrier which shut out the old settlement from the wilderness, and pene- trated the fabled region, and in 1773 they were followed by a band of Virginia surveyors appointed by Lord Dunmore.} Parties of colonial soldiers from the Old Dominion came out in search of homes. Cabins were erected and corn raised at Old Town, now Harrodsburg, in 1774,§ and the spring of the year following found Boone building on the Kentucky river the log fort and capital of the famous
Transylvania Colony. " With this year," (1775,) says Marshall, " begins the first permanent and real settlement of Kentucky," an event which filled the Indians with rage. To them the white men were invaders and robbers. From their first appearance they had tracked them with torch and tomahawk and scalping knife, never doubting but that by bloodshed and cruelty they would be able to drive them from their hunting-ground ; and now when they saw them
** Filson.
# Marshall.
t Annals of the West, 119.
¿ Butler.
17
COMING OF THE WHITE MAN.
deliberately preparing permanent settlements, their indig- nation and mortification knew no bounds. They resolved to utterly exterminate their persistent foes, to repossess every foot of soil so daringly appropriated-and from this time for many a long year after were enacted scenes of blood and horror, the recital of which is enough to sicken the stoutest soul.
2
1
18
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1775.
CHAPTER IV. Discovery and Naming of Lexington.
UNTIL the year 1775, no white man is positively known to have visited the place now called Lexington, but in that year, says General Robert McAfee, in his history of the war of 1812, "Robert Patterson, Simon Kenton, Michael Stoner, John Haggin, John and Levi Todd, and many others took possession of the north side of the Kentucky river, includ- ing Lexington." Fortunately the names of a few of those included in the indefinite phrase, "many others " are pre- served. They were John Maxwell, Hugh Shannon, James > Masterson, William McConnell, Isaac Greer, and James Dunkin. * They were sent out from the fort at Harrods- burg. Clothed in their quaint pioneer style of buckskin pantaloons, deerskin leggins, linsey hunting-shirt, and peltry cap, and armed each with a trusty flint-lock rifle, a hatchet and scalping-knife, they toiled through the track- less woods and almost impenetrable cane-brakes in the direction of the future Lexington. On or about the 5th of June, the approach of night ended one of their solitary and dangerous marches; and glad to rest, the tired hunters camped on a spot afterward known successively as McCon- nell's Station, Royal's Spring, and the Headly distillery prop- erty. It is only a few steps from the present " Old Frank- fort road," and is nearly opposite the beautiful Lexington Cemetery .; The spring from which the pioneers drank and watered their horses still exists, with a stream as cool, clear, and grateful as then. After posting one of their number on the "look out" for the "redskin varmints," who were ever on the alert to slay the "pale-face," the rest seated themselves around a blazing brush-heap on logs
*Bradford's Notes.
Bradford's Notes, and Observer and Reporter of July 29, 1809.
2
19
DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF LEXINGTON.
1775.]
and buffalo hides, and, with hunger for sauce, supped with gusto upon the then inevitable "jerk " and parched corn.
While eating their simple meal, they talked with enthu- siasm of the beautiful country they had just traveled over, and surprised and delighted with the prospect about them, they determined that their place of settlement should be around the very spot where they were then encamped. And no wonder they were delighted with their new-found home, for of all the broad rich acres they had seen in all " Kan-tuck-ee," these were the fattest and most fertile. Never before had their eyes feasted on such an untold wealth of blue grass pasture. The deer, the elk, the bear, and buffalo crowded the woods with juicy food. They forgot the skulking savage and the dangers on every hand, and glowed with the excitement which only a hunter can feel, as they surveyed the virgin glories of the red man's most cherished hunting-grounds, and realized the full truth of the wondrous tales they had heard of a distant El Dorado.
The hunters assisted William McConnell to build a rude little cabin on their camping-ground as the foundation for a title, for Virginia as early as the year 1774, had offered four hundred acres of land to each person who cleared a piece of land, built a cabin, and raised a crop of Indian corn .* The name of the settlement that was to be, was discussed with animation. One suggested " York, " another "Lancaster, " but both were dropped with a shout for " Lex- ington !"t as the conversation turned to the strange news that had slowly crept through the wilderness, and which, after being weeks on the way, they had just heard, of how "King George's troops, on the 19th of April, had called American 'rebels,' and shot them down like dogs at Lex- ington, in Massachusetts colony." The story of Lexing- ton's christening-the historic fact of how she got her name, is as romantic as the legend of the beautiful Princess Pocahontas, and is an incident far more interesting, because more true than the fabulous one told of the founding of ancient Rome.
# Imlay.
+Bradford's Notes.
20
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1775.
So the hunters called the new settlement Lexington, in memory of that bloody field hundreds of miles away, and some of them soon after joined the Continental army, and fought long and bravely to avenge the minute men who fell that day. How strange the story of that pioneer camp ! Here almost a hundred years ago, when Kentucky was a wilderness territory of the royal province of Virginia ; here, far away from civilized life, in the heart of an un- broken forest, at the dead of night, a little band of adven- turers erected the first monument ever raised on this conti- nent in honor of the first dead of the revolution ! It is true, the ceremonies of its dedication were not attended with glittering pomp or show, for the officials were only clad in buckskin and honest home-spun, and the music of their choir naught but the scream of the panther, the howl of the wolf, or the far-off yell of the savage! But it was con- secrated by the strictest virtue and truest patriotism, and nature smiled benignantly upon it from an Eden of luxu- riant beauty. Those pioneers have long since passed away, and some of their graves are still to be seen not far from the spot where they encamped on that memorable occasion.
21
LEXINGTON AN INDIAN CAMPING GROUND.
1776.]
149
CHAPTER V.
Lexington an Indian Camping Ground.
THE frail and hastily-built little hut of McConnell gave Lexington her name, and that was all, for no settlement was effected until four years after its erection. The sum- mer of 1776 found no white man in all the length and breadth of the present Fayette county. McConnell's cabin was deserted and falling to pieces, and the would-be settlers of Lexington had all retired to the much needed protection of the few log forts then in existence. The American Revolution had now fairly opened. Ticonderoga had been captured, the battle of Bunker's Hill had been fought, and one of the saddest tragedies of that eventful struggle had been enacted upon the Plains of Abraham. The Indians, consistent with the policy they ever pursued of leaguing with the strongest, had early enlisted on the side of England, and the northwestern tribes in particular were not slow to act. They came to Kentucky with the buds of spring, and summer had not commenced before all Fayette county and the adjoining region were filled with roaming bands of angry Shawanese, Cherokees and their associates .* All ideas of attempting to make new settle- ments were abandoned by the whites, personal safety was the one thing thought of, and fear and anxiety prevailed, for the savages clearly indicated that they had not aban- doned their cherished desire of driving their enemies from the country. Settlers were killed every few days ; on the 14th of July two of Colonel Calloway's daughters and one of Daniel Boone's were captured within rifle shot of Boones- borough, and about the same time Hinkston's settlement on
* Western Annals, 154.
22
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1776.
Licking creek was broken up. Dark days had come and still darker were ahead, and many even of the stoutest-hearted settlers left the country entirely .*
t
The wilderness country heretofore a part of Fincastle county, Virginia, was formed into " Kentucky county," on December 7, 1776,; but the protection of the " Old Do- minion," whose forces were needed to lead the van of the continential army was barely felt in the newly-created department. The handful of brave pioneers struggled with their savage foes alone and unaided, and to their suf- ferings were added the horrors of the winter of starvation, which marked the opening of the year 1777. The succeed- ing spring and summer gave them as little encouragement. To attempt to raise corn was certain death, game was shot at the peril of the hunter's life. Harrodsburg, Boones- borough, and Logan's fort were constantly watched, and each in succession attacked by the Indians ; and at this time the whole military force of the newly-made Kentucky county amounted to only one hundred and two men.} Fortunately Colonel Bowman arrived from Virginia early in he fall with a hundred men, and hope rose again in the hearts of the almost despairing settlers. The prospect con- tinued to brighten during the year 1778. The well-planned and swiftly-executed movements of that brilliant soldier and remarkable man, Colonel George Rogers Clark, against the British posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes, met with wonderful success ; the grand attack of an overwhelming force of Indians and Canadians, under Du Quesne, upon the heroic little garrison of Boonesborough, signally failed, confidence was restored, immigration again commenced, and the settlers once more ventured out to "possess the land."
*Col. Floyd's Letter.
Morehead's Address.
#Butler and Marshall.
23
SETTLEMENT OF LEXINGTON.
1779.]
CHAPTER VI.
Settlement of Lexington-The Block-House-The Settlers- Col. Robert Patterson-John Maxwell-James Masterson- The McConnells and Lindsays-John Morrison-Lexing- ton Fort-Mc Connell's Station-Bryant's Station-Its Set- tlers-Grant's Station-Col. John Grant and Capt. Wil- liam Ellis-Natural Features about Lexington Station- Soil, Forests, Game, and Flowers.
IN the latter part of March, 1779, Col. Robert Patterson, since distinguished as the founder of two cities, was again ordered from the fort at Harrodsburg, to establish a garri- son north of the Kentucky river,* and this time he was successful. At the head of twenty-five men he commenced his march for the beautiful and fertile garden spot he had visited four years before, and which he had never forgotten. The party reached its destination the last day of the month, and encamped, for rest and refreshment, at a magnificent spring, whose grateful waters, in an unusual volume, emptied into a stream near by, whose green banks were gemmed with the brightest flowers. The discovery of this spring determined the location of the little garrison, and bright and early on the morning of the next day, the 1st of April,t the axes of the stout pioneers were at work; trees were felled, a space cleared, and a block-house, sur- rounded by a stockade, and commanding the spring, was soon under headway. This rude but powerful defense was quickly completed, as no unnecessary labor was spent upon it. The logs for the walls were chopped out, provided with ports, and " raised ;" the long and wide clapboards, rough
X
* McAfee.
t Butler and Marshall.
24
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1779.
from the ax and firmly secured by wooden pins, formed the roof; trees split in two, and cut to the proper length, made the floor; a substantial slab door was provided, and these, together with openings to admit the light and carry off the smoke, constituted the block-house.
The ground upon which this block-house was erected, and which is now so rich in historic associations, is at present occupied by the "Carty Building," on the corner of Main and Mill streets, and upon no other spot has the pro- gress of Lexington been more distinctly indicated. The infancy of our city was here shown, in 1779, by the rude block-house; this was succeeded, in 1788, by a frame one; in 1807, what was then called " a splendid two-story brick," was erected, and in 1871, this gave place to the four-story iron front which now marks the spot where the settlement of Lexington commenced, and is, at the same time, an ap- propriate monument to commemorate the beautiful char- acter of one of her greatly beloved and respected citizens- the lamented John Carty. The spring near the block- house was the principal one of the series of springs now concealed by a number of buildings on Main street, which have been erected over them. When Lexington grew to be a "station," the spring was embraced within the walls of the stockade, and supplied the entire garrison with water, and when the fort was removed, the spring was deepened and walled up for the benefit of the whole town,* a large tank for horses was made to receive its surplus water, and for many years, under the familiar name, " the public spring," it was known far and wide.
As soon as the block-house was completed, it was occu- pied by Col. Robert Patterson, John Maxwell, James Mas- terson, William and Alexander McConnell, and James and Joseph Lindsay, who proceeded to raise a crop of corn on the ground now covered by Cheapside, the court-house, and a part of Main street, and all other necessary prepara- tions were made to insure a permanent settlement .; The year 1779, thanks to the pioneer successes we have men-
* City Records.
t Butler, Marshall, and old documents.
25
SETTLEMENT OF LEXINGTON.
1779.]
tioned, was one of comparative peace. Immigrants came to Kentucky in increasing numbers, eager to be in time to get the benefit of the " settlement right," under which Vir- ginia guaranteed them a magnificent estate, which "right" was to cease in 1780 .* A few of the bolder of these new comers ventured, during the summer, to the solitary block- . house at Lexington, " the forlorn hope of advancing civil- ization," and built cabins adjoining its protecting walls. In the autumn, a little company, of which John Morrison and his wife were a part, removed from Harrodsburg, and still further additions were made to the defenses of the set- tlement. The fort, which had by this time become a place of some importance, had assumed the shape of a parallelo- gram, two sides of which were formed by the exposed walls of two rows of cabins, the extreme ends of the fort being defended by stockades of sharpened posts fixed se- curely in the ground, and furnished with ports. The pickets and walls were about ten feet high.
Another row of cabins stood in the center of the in- closed place, which was large enough to shelter, not only the settlers and new comers, but also all the live stock which might, at any time, have to be driven in from the reach of their destroying foe. The fort had but one gate, a large slab one, and it was on the side of the station which extended from the block-house, on Carty's corner, to about the center of West Main street, near or on the site of the building now occupied by Celia Allen, between Mill and Broadway, where James Masterson's house once stood .; The station embraced and inclosed a part of Main street between the two streets just named, and a good por- tion of the ground now covered by business houses on East Main, included between the same streets. While this little outpost was being established on the extreme frontier of Virginia, a large part of her territory, nearer home, was being devastated by an enemy but little less savage than those who were the terror of her distant county of Ken- tucky, and great events, brilliant, disastrous, and moment-
* Filson, 1784.
Butler and old inhabitants.
26
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1779.
ous, were rapidly occurring and shaping the destiny of a nation, of whose future greatness no mind was so daring as to dream.
Lexington was founded in the midst of a mighty revo- lution, and her founder was a man suited to the time and born for the purpose. Col. Robert Patterson was of Irish parentage, and was born March 15, 1753, near Cove Moun- tain, Pennsylvania. He came to Kentucky in 1775, and settled at Harrodsburg, and in that year, as we have already related, he visited Fayette county. In 1776, he assisted in building a fort at Georgetown. During the years which intervened between this time and the settlement of Lexing- ton, he figured conspicuously as a gallant Indian fighter. As Captain Patterson, he served under Clark in his expe- dition against the Shawanese, on the Little Miami. He was promoted to a colonelcy for important services, and was second in command in the terrible battle of Blue Licks. He was badly wounded in 1786, while with General Logan, in his expedition against the Shawanese towns. Subse- quently, he became the owner of a third of the original town plot of Cincinnati, and may be called the founder of that city also. In 1783, Col. Patterson built him a log house, on the southwest corner of Hill and Lower streets, near or on the site of the present residence of S. T. Hayes. The large tract of land owned by Col. Patterson in that part of the city, included the present property of M. C. Johnson. The log house was, in course of time, succeeded by a substantial two-story stone one, which stood there for many years. In 1804, Col. Patterson removed to Dayton, Ohio, where he died, August 5, 1827. In person, Col. Pat- terson was tall and handsome. He was gifted with a fine mind, but like Boone, Kenton, and many others of his simple-hearted pioneer companions, was indulgent and neg- ligent in business matters, and, like them, lost most of his extensive landed property by shrewd rascals.
Those who aided Col. Patterson in founding Lexington are not to be forgotten ; and of these, none are more wor- thy of mention than John Maxwell. He was born in Scot- land, in 1747, and was brought to America by his parents
27
SETTLEMENT OF LEXINGTON.
1779.]
while in the fourth year of his age. He was one of the early adventurers in the wilds of Kentucky, arriving before a solitary station or even a cabin existed within its limits. In pioneer days, he owned a large part of the land now in- cluded in the city limits of Lexington, but, true to the old hunter nature, it rapidly slipped from his grasp. He and- Sarah, his wife, were the first persons married within "the fort." John Maxwell was the first coroner of Fayette county ; was one of the original members of Dr. Rankin's Presbyterian church; was one of the founders of the old St. Andrew's Society, and from him "Maxwell's spring" gets its name. This useful and greatly respected citizen died in 1819, and was buried in what was then "Maxwell's Graveyard," but which now forms part of the neglected old City Cemetery, on Bolivar street, in which stands the " Mission Church."
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