USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 1 > Part 12
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Clark made his first adventure westward in company with Rev. David Jones, in 1772-3. Coming as far down as the mouth of the Scioto, he returned to the Kanawha valley. In the spring of 1774, he was preparing for a more extended exploration of Kentucky, with a party of daring follow- ers, when his purpose and plans were diverted by the impending Indian war for the time. Whether he came to Kentucky with an official commission or not is of doubt; but such seemed to be his superior military bearing and prestige, he was, by common consent, placed at the head of the irregular troops then in Kentucky, and saluted with the title of major. Though a man of no ostentatious pretensions to scholarly attainments, he is said to have been of meditative and observing mind. and much devoted to the study of some branches of mathematics and to the history and geography of the country.
The question of jurisdiction between Henderson & Company and Virginia agitated the settlers everywhere in Kentucky, for it affected every land title in the country. Major Clark could not have remained a disinterested observer of this most vital issue. He was indeed the only man then in Kentucky who was the peer of Colonel Henderson in far-reaching sagacity, in political diplomacy, in masterly leadership, and in resolute will of execution. From present and subsequent measures for marplotting and foiling the plans of the proprietors of Transylvania, we may reasonably infer that Major Clark very promptly conceived a determination to overthrow this bold jurisdiction, based alone on the proprietary assumptions of nine individuals, citizens of North Carolina.
The reserve, with which he concealed his personal animus and aim behind the ostensible authority under which he acted as the representative of the dissatisfied settlers in the Harrodstown community, detracts nothing from the finesse of the strategist shown in the execution of his plans.
During the year, he familiarized himself with the settlers, thoroughly studied the geographic, civil, and military relations of the country, and interested himself with patriotic devotion in the future welfare of the infant colony.1 He seemed thus early to be impressed with the importance of this country to the security of Virginia and her sister colonies, not only from its local consequence, but as the pivotal key to the great West and North-west.
Having returned to Virginia in the autumn previous, Clark came back to Kentucky in the spring of 1776. After quietly conferring with some of the
i Collins, Vol. II., p. 133.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
leading settlers, at his suggestion, a meeting for counsel and decisive action was called at Harrodstown on the 6th of June, at which Gabriel Jones and himself were chosen members of the Assembly of Virginia. This did not accord with the plans of Clark, as he advised that the meeting should choose agents to negotiate with the Government of Virginia, and if abandoned by the latter, to employ the lands of the country as a resource to obtain money and emigration, and thus to lay the foundation for an independent State. The purpose seems to have been, in either event, to marplot and defeat the schemes of the Transylvania Company.
Clark and Jones were aware that they would be entitled to no seat in the Virginia Assembly on such credentials as they could offer; yet they accepted the mission and set out for Williamsburg, the seat of government. Pursu- ing the route through the wilderness in a very wet season, through mud and over mountains, kindling no fires for fear of savages, their privations and dis- tresses brought on illness. "Suffering more torment," says Clark, "than I ever experienced before or since, we found the old stations near Cumberland Gap abandoned from fear of the Indians." Here, however, they tarried and recuperated, but this delay prevented their arrival until after the adjourn- ment of the Assembly. 1. Jones went back to Holston, and left Clark to care for the Kentucky mission.
Waiting on Governor Patrick Henry, he unfolded the objects of his pres- ence. Approving heartily these objects, the governor gave him a suitable letter to the executive council of the State. An application was made to the council for five hundred pounds of gunpowder, for defense of the stations in Kentucky. On the plea of doubtful jurisdiction, as Kentucky had not been recognized by any formal legislative act since the separation from Great Britain, they could only lend the powder to friends in distress; not give it to- fellow-citizens. A condition imposed was that Clark must be answerable for the powder in case the Legislature should not recognize the Kentuckians as citizens, and in the meantime, he must bear the expenses of its conveyance to the settlements. Clark assured them that this was out of his power; that the British were intent on engaging the Indians in the war; that the remote and exposed settlements might be destroyed for want of defensive means, and that once destroyed, the frontiers of Virginia would next be assailed by the savages. The council were inexorable, while they expressed the deepest sympathy and desire to aid. It was too great a stretch of power , to go farther.
The order was issued to deliver the powder to Clark, but the latter re- solved to reject the offer on the conditions. He saw that to accept would only weaken the future claim of Virginia to the territory, and finally confirm that of the Transylvania Company. His alternative was fixed before he left the chamber, to repair to Kentucky and exert the resources of the country for the formation of an independent State. He formally returned the order
I Butler, p. 33.
69
CONVEYING POWDER TO KENTUCKY.
to the council, with a letter informing them that he could not individually undertake to transport so large a quantity of gunpowder through the vast wilderness, infested with armed enemies; that he was mortified that the peo- ple of Kentucky must turn for assistance elsewhere than their own State; that a country not worth defending was not worth having, and that aid could be found elsewhere. The letter had its effect. Clark was sent for, and an order was passed on the 23d of August for the conveyance of the gunpowder to Pittsburgh, "to be safely kept and delivered to Mr. George Rogers Clark, or his order, for the use of the said inhabitants of Kentucky." Thus the long and intimate relationship between the parent and the infant Commonwealth was well established, and the splendid domain of the North-west secured to the former. 1
It must be borne in mind that during these negotiations the claim of the Transylvania Company was being adroitly pressed for recognition by the Vir- ginia Government. Messrs. Henderson and Campbell were. the representa- tives of this interest. The fall session of the Assembly coming on, Clark and Jones laid the Harrodstown petition before that body, in face of the opposition of Henderson and Campbell. . The result was that they obtained a division of Fincastle county, and the erection of the County of Kentucky, embracing the present State limits.
Thus, by his genius and bold finesse, did Clark earn for himself the honor of laying the solid foundation of a sovereign government westward of the Appalachian chain.
Late in September, hearing that the powder yet lay at Pittsburgh, and rightly supposing that intelligence of its transmission had failed to reach Kentucky, Clark and Jones determined to return that way and secure its transportation through. At Fort Pitt, they found many lurking Indians, pretending to make treaties and trade, but who really were spies on the movements of our countrymen, whose intention to descend the Ohio they seemed to suspect. The party, with seven boatmen, resolved to prosecute their voyage at once, and in so doing were followed by these Indians until they reached the mouth of Limestone, in Mason county. Turning up this stream, and hiding their precious cargo in the woods along its banks, they let their boat adrift and set out for Harrodstown to procure a sufficient escort for the powder. On their route, they stopped at Hinkson's cabin, on the west fork of Licking. Here they fell in with a party of surveyors, who told them that Captain John Todd was in the vicinity with a small body of men, but enough to safely convey the powder through. Clark, after waiting for some time for Todd's arrival, pressed on to Harrodstown with two com- rades, leaving the remainder with Jones. Captain Todd arrived soon after the departure of Clark. and being informed of the facts, marched with ten men to effect its removal. Near the Blue Licks, they were attacked by a band of Indians who were following Clark. Jones and others were killed,
1 Butler. p. 40.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
and some made prisoners. Clark hastened back from Harrodstown, and safely brought in the coveted military supplies under the convoy of an armed party which he led. From this time on, Clark was, by common concession, looked to as the leading and master spirit of the foresters, and was found ever foremost in the fierce conflicts and desperate deeds of the wild and thrilling events of frontier life. 1
During this year, and since the autumn of 1775, the colony of Boones- borough spent the time peaceably and pleasantly enough, in hunting, fishing, clearing the woods and improving, and cultivating their corn and other crops, which had been much increased. Only once were they molested during the winter, when one man was killed by lurking Indians in the vicinity. The hostiles, but few in number, at once disappeared.
On July 14th, one of the most thrilling episodes of the dramatic and tragic events of this period occurred; an event which exasperated the brave and resolute foresters to even more desperate courage, and which painfully impressed the few women who had ventured to follow the fortunes of their husbands and loved ones to western wilds, with a vivid sense of the dangers to which they were daily subjected in their border life. 2 The two daugh- . ters of Colonel Richard Callaway, Elizabeth and Frances, and Jemima, the daughter of Colonel Daniel Boone, the first just grown to young womanhood, and the latter two fourteen years of age, ventured out of Boonesborough late in the afternoon, for a boat ride on the Kentucky river, and out of the immediate reach of the guards on duty. While innocently amusing them- selves on the water, and unconsciously drifting in their canoe very near to the opposite shore, they were suddenly surprised and captured by a small band of lurking Indians who were ambushed in sight of the fort, on mis- chievous intent. With the advantage of the river between them and rescue, the Indians quickly disappeared, under cover of the forest and undergrowth, with their beautiful and helpless maiden captives, near the hour of sundown. Brave Elizabeth Callaway, in that spirit of "self-defense so common to the women, as well as men, lifted her paddle and gashed an Indian's head to the bone. It availed nothing to avert their fate. The shrieks of the girls attracted attention from the fort, and those within had just time to see the savage captors bear away their victims from the sight of the loving ones behind. A thrill of horror ran through the breasts of all, only to be at once followed by the intensest anger, resolve, and revenge. The fathers, Boone and Callaway, were both absent at the time, but soon returned. What lent romance and peculiar interest to the scene, the three lovers of the maidens were in the fort. Samuel Henderson, the brother of Colonel Henderson, and the elder Miss Callaway were betrothed, and the day of marriage set not far in the future. Colonel John Holder was the accepted lover of Fannie Callaway, and Flanders Callaway of Jemima Boone. The three lovers at once placed themselves under Boone, together with Major Smith, Colonel
I Butler, p. 41.
2 Marshall, p. 43.
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ON THE TRAIL OF THE INDIANS.
Floyd, Bartlett Searcy, and Catlett Jones. This party of eight at once entered on the pursuit, while another party followed on horseback. 1
In this warfare with the wily savages, experience taught the necessity of method and tactical skill to the frontiersmen, the neglect of which rendered even the veteran soldiers of the regular armies often easy victims to savage arts and strategy. In this connections we mention one of the practices of the Indian fighters of that period. as related by a descendant of a pioneer who received it by tradition of the living actors. 2 In these raids of preda- tory bands, when sudden retreat would often follow a sudden raid, it was usually a trial of strategic art for the pursuers to find and keep the trail, and for the pursued to obscure or efface it, so as to baffle the pursuers. The foresters were compelled to meet and fight the Indians after their own ways, and were only successful when they learned to outwit the red men in their own tactics. If the Indians left numerous and unmistakable signs on the retreat, it was significant that they desired to be followed and were anxious or expectant for the wage of battle on terms of such advantage as they could employ. In such cases, the whites were on the alert for ambuscade or a surprise attack. If, however, escape without a fight was the aim, the obscure trail left was the monitor to the pursuing party. In these cases, it was often necessary that a dim trail should be followed on the double-quick step. The backwoodsman learned to note, with unerring glance, every sign of an Indian trail, many of which an inexpert eye would never see. The peculiar mark of the moccasin, the bruised plant or grass. the disturbed rock or stick, the bent or broken twig, the thread of hair or dropped feather, the fright of game or flight of birds, and countless little things, all were scored as signs of trusty guidance. Yet signs sometimes failed, and the trail was lost. To go back and look it up again would be fatal to the purpose of rescue and revenge. To remedy this, the men in pursuit were placed at intervals of twenty or thirty steps apart in a front line, and the middle man put upon the trail at the start. The order was given to forward at a quick step, often on the lope. It was the duty of the expert hunter in the middle to watch the trail with a vigilant eye. If the signs disappeared, he cried out in tone loud enough to be heard by the men nearest to him. "trail lost!" The next men on his right and left repeated. " trail lost!" and so on, until the warn- ing cry rapidly reached both ends of the line. No halt was made, but every pursuer quickened his glance to find the trail again. It might be discovered by the middle man, or the next man on either side, or any other of the party. If so, the finder of the lost trace cried out. "trail found!" and the cry repeated on the right and left. "trail found!" went from mouth to mouth. until it reached both ends of the line, and thus the pace of pursuit never flagged.
So Boone placed his men in line. the middle man at the trail, as soon as they could reach the north bank of the river. The forward order was given,
: Collins, Vol. II , p. : 76.
2 Charles Worthington, Boyle county.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
and by nightfall the pursuers camped five miles from the point of starting, not able to keep the trace under cover of the night. At day dawn, the resolute men were off again, and in hot pursuit. It was vital to their plans that they should surprise the Indians, and effect a safe deliverance of the captives before the remorseless tomahawk and scalping-knife could have time to accomplish their usual bloody work upon the unfortunates, and the cap- tors escape. Boone's wary discretion, never more resolutely shown, was here equal to his dauntless courage in this most delicate emergency. Every eye was kept strained to the front, words passed in bated breath, and yet no step was allowed to falter. On the fleeing captors went, bearing their precious prizes forward to death, or worse; onward the determined pursuers followed, to the rescue and to revenge. Not less intense and exciting was the romance of incident and adventure in the rape of the Grecian Helen, the flight of the Trojans with the peerless beauty. and the pursuit of the aveng- ing Greeks to the walls of devoted Troy; only a Homer was found to sing the marvelous deeds of gods and men for the one, while only the prose of the historic narrator tells the unadorned story of the other.
Northward, the Indian party hastened their flight, following a route near by the sites of Winchester, North Middletown. and Carlisle, until on Tues- day morning, the third day after the capture, in camp within a few miles of Blue Licks, over forty miles from the point of starting. they were engaged in preparing an early and hasty breakfast. The pursuers had followed all day Monday, taking fresh courage with every sign of the trail. Elizabeth Callaway broke off twigs whenever she could do so, until her life was threatened by an upraised tomahawk. Then she managed to tear off and drop small shreds of her clothing. Having refused to exchange her shoes for moccasins. as the other girls had done. she impressed her heels in the soft earth, to guide pursuit. The Indians compelled them to walk apart through the cane and brush, and to wade up or down the branches of water, so as to hide their trail and deceive as to their number.
By day dawn on Tuesday, the whites were on the trail again, and after a few miles of travel, they saw smoke curling above the trees over where the savages had kindled the fire to cook their morning meal of buffalo or veni- son. Colonel Floyd says, in a letter written a few days after: "Our study had been how to get the prisoners without giving the Indians time to murder them after being discovered. We saw each other nearly at the same time. Four of us fired, and all rushed on them, by which they were prevented from carrying anything away except one shot-gun, without ammunition. Colonel Boone and myself had pretty fair shots, and they hastily fled. I am convinced I shot through the body. The one he shot dropped his gun; mine had none. The place was covered with thick cane, and being so much elated recovering the three poor little broken-hearted girls, we were prevented from making any further search. We sent the Indians off almost naked; some without their moccasins, and none of them with knife or toma-
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THE RETURN TO THE FORT.
hawk. After the girls came to themselves sufficiently to speak, they told us there were five Indians-four Shawanees and one Cherokee; they could speak pretty good English, and said they were going to the Shawanese towns. The war-club we got was like those we have seen of that nation, and several words of their language, which the girls retained, were known to be Shawa- nese."
In the confused excitement, that which might have proven the saddest of catastrophes was but timely averted. Elizabeth Callaway was a brunette, with black eyes and hair. The exposure had deepened the color of her complexion. When the quick onset was made, she was sitting at the root of a tree, with a large, red bandana handkerchief tied around her neck and shoulders, and the two wearied comrade maidens asleep on either side, with their heads in her lap. One of the white party, mistaking her for an Indian guarding the girls, rushed on, with the butt of his gun uplifted to dash out her brains, when his arm was arrested just in time to save the life of the noble girl. The narrowness of the escape chastened the joy of the rescue with a tinge of melancholy for the day. But one of the Indians ever re- turned to his tribe, as was afterward learned. 1
We must leave to the imagination to picture the joys of that rescue, the meetings of the lovers after so rude a separation, and the glad rejoicings of kindred and friends at the fort in the welcome of their return. Less than one month after, on the 7th day of August, Samuel Henderson led to the rustic altar Elizabeth Callaway, and they were made husband and wife- Squire Boone, then an ordained minister of the Baptist church, performing the first ceremony in Kentucky. In due course of time the other two couples, faithful to their first loves and earliest vows, were also married. 2
The year passed without further events of stirring interest at Boonesbor- ough, Harrodstown, and Logan's fort, the leading places of settlement and rendezvous. During the year, Colonel Logan and others added to the social and home attractions of the latter place the presence of their wives and fam- ilies, and some did the same at the two other stations. Planting, tilling, and harvesting went encouragingly on, while general improvement was mani- fest.
Leestown (named for Lee, who was there killed by the Indians), one mile below Frankfort, was begun with a cabin improvement a year or two before, and became a noted stopping and camping place for the explorers. This year it was better established, and other cabin improvements were added. These were not in the form of a stockade defense, but rather for the tran- Ment use and convenience of the emigrants and explorers who came in from Fort Pitt or the Monongahela country by way of the Ohio and Kentucky rivers, and also a resting point between Lexington and Louisville. On ar count of its defenseless and exposed situation, and the more menacing attitude of the Indians. the improvements were soon after abandoned.
: Collins, Vol. II., pp. 526 and 527.
2 Collins, Vol. II., p. 521.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Thomas Kennedy built a cabin and made some improvements on Ken- nedy's creek, in Bourbon county, as did Michael Stoner on Stoner's fork of Licking. The settlement on Hinkson's fork, in Bourbon county, was aban- doned in July, not being fortified, on account of Indian depredations and murders. John Hinkson and eighteen others reached Boonesborough, July 20th, on their way back to Virginia, and so disaffected the little garrison there as to induce ten of its number to join them, leaving not thirty fighting men for its defense. 1
Sandusky station, on Pleasant run, in Washington county, was about the. same time built by a party led by James Sandusky. The latter was a brother of Jacob Sandusky, who, in 1774, was cut off from the station at Harrods- town by an Indian attack, and who traveled to the Cumberland river south- ward, procured a canoe and followed its waters to the Ohio and Mississippi, and on to New Orleans, and from thence by sea. via Baltimore, to Virginia. He joined his brother again at Sandusky station, where they dwelt until 1785, and then removed to Jessamine county. 2
William Whitley was born in what is now Rockbridge county, Virginia, in August, 1749. Though an industrious tiller of the soil, with a limited knowledge of books and the outside world, he was gifted with the spirit of frontier enterprise. In January, 1775, having married Esther Fuller, a comely and worthy maiden of the neighborhood. and settled down to house- keeping, the rumors of the Eden-like land beyond the mountains reached his ears. "Esther," said he to his bride one day. "I hear fine reports of Ken- tucky, and if these be true, I think we could make a comfortable home and build up our fortunes there much more easily than here." "Then, Billy, if I were you, I would go and see," promptly replied the spirited woman. 3 In two days he was on the way, starting with only his brother-in-law, George Clark, but falling in with seven others on the route. Whether his perma- nent settlement at Whitley's station, in Lincoln county, two miles south-west of Crab Orchard, on Boone's trace, with his wife, was this year or after, we have no certain information. He was one of the bravest and most enter- prising among the pioneers, both in the defense of the country and in ad- vancing its material and civic interests. Of him, Marshall writes: "He made choice of a place in the south-eastern section of the rich land of Ken- tucky, where he became a most active, vigilant, and courageous defender of the country, whose fame will descend embalmed in history, with ample testi- monials of his valued services and his unselfish merits. ' At the site of this station was built a brick house, said to be the first erected in Kentucky, and which was yet standing ten years ago. The window sills were six feet above the floor, to prevent the Indians from spying or shooting into the rooms.
About midsummer, and just after the capture of the three maidens at Boonesborough, Marshall relates that it was ascertained that a host of say- ages had come into the country with hostile intentions, and, the better to
I Collins, Vol. II., p. 327. 2 Collins, Vol. II., p. 750. 3 Marshall, Vol. I., p. 41.
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75
COLONEL PATTERSON'S TRIP TO PITTSBURGH.
effect their purposes according to their mode of warfare, had dispersed in small bands, and thus infested the different camps and stations, some of which had been recently erected. Says Colonel Floyd, in a letter to Colonel Will- iam Preston, dated at Boonesborough, July 2rst :
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