USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 1 > Part 24
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I Collins, Vol. II., p. 562.
2 Collins, Vol. II., P 49
169
FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ELIZABETHTOWN.
a piece of bark from the tree by the spring. Bounding rapidly down the slope to the creek, he swam to the opposite bank, and disappearing in a thick cane brake, parted his way through the brush down the creek, a hun- dred yards. The Indians also had gone down the creek, and were cautiously advancing toward it, as though suspicious that the hunter had treed, and was watching for his victim. Boone aimed to kill both at a shot, and leveling his rifle on one, waited for the other to come in line. He did so, and Boone fired, the ball passing through the head of one, and lodging in the shoulder of the other. The wounded Indian dropped his gun, and with a yell of pain and fright, darted off. Recrossing, Boone selected the best of the Indians' guns, and threw the other into the water, and made his way to Blue Lick.
1 The first settlements in Hardin county were made in the fall and winter of 1780. Thomas Helm, Andrew Hynes, and Samuel Haycraft settled where __ is now the site of Elizabethtown, and built three forts with block-houses, about one mile from each other. The site of that built by Captain Thomas Helm was the same on which was built afterward the residence of the late Governor John L. Helm. Haycraft's was on the hill above the cave spring, while Colonel Hynes' occupied the other side of the triangle. There is record of no other settlements between Louisville and Green river in that day. Of those who came in the colony with Haycraft, were Jacob Vanmeter and wife, thirteen sons, daughters, and sons-in-law, with children, besides a considerable family of slaves. Most of these opened farms in Severn's val- ley. Colonel Nicholas Miller, Judge John Virtues, Miles Hart, with others followed. Among the earliest comers was Christopher Bush, of German descent, who reared a large family of sons and daughters. Of the latter, one married Thomas Lincoln, an excellent carpenter, and father of the late president, Abraham Lincoln, who was the son of a former wife. The second wife was notedly a good woman, and had much to do with the early training of her step-son.
As a good specimen of the pioneer boy, it is worthy of mention that, on Christmas day, 1780, Benjamin Helm, fourteen years old, walked bare- footed to Louisville for some food supplies, a distance of forty miles.
This year stations were also first established in Logan county, one at Maulding's, on Red river, one at Russellville, and one on Whippoorwill creek. Davis' and Kilgore's came shortly after, the latter soon attacked and broken up by Indians. It is most probable that these settlements on the fine prairies, or barrens, of that region were induced by the passing through in 1779-80 of the survey party of Dr. Walker, of Virginia, who was appointed by that State, to act in conjunction with a commissioner of North Carolina, to run and fix the boundary line between the two-the same line that now separates Kentucky and Tennessee. Colonel Richard Henderson was the commissioner for North Carolina. The boundary line of the two States,
I Collins, Vol. II., pp. 307-8.
170
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north, had never been traced farther than the Alleghany mountains, and serious inconveniences and disputes arose as to jurisdiction and title among the settlers westward of that terminus. The commissioners, with their attendants and apparatus, met by appointment, and began the location of the line. But soon one. or both, making observa- tions under State prepossessions or inaccurate instruments, they soon dis- agreed in the result ; and each adhering to his own opinion, they deviated, until they crossed each other's lines, and became irreconcilably at variance. Each continued his line to the top of Cumberland mountains, yet were widely apart, when Colonel Henderson abandoned the survey. Dr. Walker pursued his course, and marked his line to the Tennessee river. He de- scended this by water, and, on observation. ascertained that the line of latitude would strike the Mississippi, not the Ohio, river. This only increased confusion and discontent, and the boundary was left undefined until years after, as we shall note in time. 1
About the Ist of November. Kentucky was divided into three parts, each of which composed a new county, as follows :
" All that part of the aforesaid county on the south side the Kentucky river, which lies west and north of a line beginning at the mouth of Benson creek, and running up the same and its main fork to the head, thence south, to the nearest waters of Hammon's creek, and down the same to its junction with the Ohio, to be called Jefferson county.
"All that part of the said county of Kentucky which lies north of a line beginning at the mouth of the Kentucky river, and up the same, and its middle forks to the head, and thence south-east to the Washington line, to be called Fayette county.
" And all the residue of said county of Kentucky to be called Lincoln county." 2
Among the notable men who appear in Kentucky history this year was John Fitch, the inventor of the first steam passenger boat known in the world. His occupation was that of surveyor, and he was descending the Ohio in boats, with a party conveying cattle and horses to Kentucky, when, at the mouth of Big Sandy, they were fired on by Indians, who wounded two of the crew, besides killing and wounding some seventeen of the ani- mals. It is barely proper here to mention Fitch's famed and successful experiment with his first steamer, on Delaware river: the failure of timid capitalists to support his enterprise : his retirement to Bardstown, Kentucky. in poverty and disappointment, and his last years of residence, and final death, at the home of Dr. McCoun, of that place.
A sad mishap befell Daniel Boone at this period. Desiring to avail himself of the benefits of the new land provision, he converted the main part of his possessions into continental currency, with which he purposed buying land warrants for entry of land. With about twenty thousand dollars of this
1 Marshall, Vol. I., p. 113.
2 Marshall, Vol. I .. p. 111.
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171
BOONE'S LOSS AND FINAL ACQUITTAL.
depreciated money of his own, and considerable amounts entrusted to him by friends, he started to Virginia to make the outlay. On the way, the ingenuous and confiding old pioneer was robbed of the whole amount. Boone returned to Kentucky penniless and depressed ; but suffering far more intensely from the chagrin of losing thus the money of friends entrusted to him than from his own pecuniary loss.
There was deep sympathy for the unfortunate veteran, whom all revered; yet some seemed ready in their resentment to cast unworthy reflections on him, and these touched profoundly the sensitive nature of Boone's integrity and manly pride.
Of the men who had entrusted more largely their money to Boone were Captain James Estill, Samuel Estill, Nathaniel Hart, Esq., John Boyle. the father of Chief Justice Boyle, and their neighbors. Boone set out for Will- iamsburg, Virginia, by the Wilderness road, then also known as Boone's old trace. He was intercepted and robbed by the Indians, or by renegade whites disguised as Indians, who infested the road, while passing through the mountainous region, of all his own and the money which he held for - others. It was natural that complaints should be heard from the suffering and uncharitable; but after a full hearing and review of the facts. Boone was honorably acquitted of all blame, by Samuel Estill, in a deposition yet on file in the Madison Circuit Court, and by Captain Hart in a letter to Colonel Thomas Hart. formerly of Lexington, Kentucky.
Stephen Trigg and John Todd were this year elected members of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, for the county of Kentucky.
In February, 1780. Captain James Estill cut the initials of his name on a hackberry tree, on Little Muddy creek, in Madison county, and completed a cabin in that month previous to moving thence from Boonesborough. We are told that it took eight or ten days to build the cabin, and that Estill's station was then erected at the same place. This station was surrounded by large fields of corn, wheat, and other produce of agriculture. It soon became a place of importance, and for many years was the point of most danger in East Kentucky. Among the settlers known to have been there in 1780 were Green Clay. James Estill, Samuel Estill, Peter Hackett, Thomas Warren, David Lynch, James Miller, Thomas Miller, Adam Caperton, and others.
In the same year. George Boone, a brother of Daniel, founded a station in Madison county, about six miles north of Richmond, on the present turn- pike leading to Lexington. The adjoining stations of Stephen Hancock, David Crews, and John Tanner were shortly afterward established, and became attractive points for settlers locating in that part of the State. The stations of Estill. Boone. Crews, Hancock, and Tanner contributed more to the settlement of Kentucky than was done by the old fort at Boonesborough, which was rather a rallying point for settlers distributing over the State at large.
172
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
The subsequent settlements in Clay, Estill, and other counties toward Cumberland Gap, in Eastern Kentucky, were mainly offshoots from these early settlements in Madison county. These early stations were long the objects of Indian jealousy and hatred; and in defense of them were lost the lives of Captain Nathaniel Hart, Captain John Kennedy, Colonel Richard Callaway, Captain James Estill, Lieutenant John South, Captain Christopher Irvine, and Richard Hinds.
The Estills were early pioneers. They came to Boonesborough in 1776. and shared in the vicissitudes of forest life, until the death of Captain James Estill, in 1781. They gallantly fought at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Colonel Samuel Estill lived through the perilous period of Indian hostilities and the last war with England in 1815. He left Kentucky in 1833 to reside with Mrs. Annie Day, a daughter, in Tennessee, where, in 1837, he died at the age of eighty-two years, and his remains were buried on the Cumberland mountain. He was a man of large and portly person, and in his later years weighed four hundred and twelve pounds. Making pro- fession of religion toward the close of life, and desiring to be baptized by immersion, he was seated in his large arm-chair, and four men called to assist the officiating minister, Elder Thomas Ballew, in the ordinance.
173
CONDITION OF THE STATE IN 1781.
CHAPTER XVI.
(1781.)
Clark mans a fortified boat, to patrol 1 the Ohio from the Falls to the Licking river.
With two companions, he leaves Fort Jefferson for Harrodstown and the Falls.
Their disguise and narrow escapes.
Reaches a fort on Red river, Logan county.
Finds the land-hunger epidemic at Har- rodsburg.
Closes the land office, with Surveyor May's acquiescence.
Enlists the men.
Estills and Dutchmen ambushed by In- dians.
Captain Estill wounded.
A Dutchman kills his Indian.
General Clark's designs on Detroit.
Visits the capital of Virginia to organ- ize a force.
Many difficulties intervene to defeat the plans.
Bloody defeat of Loughrey on the Ohio. A blow to Clark's designs on Detroit.
Captain Linn killed.
Indian raids around Louisville.
Captain Whittaker's fight near the Falls. Squire Boone abandons his station, near Shelbyville, from danger of Indians.
His party disastrously cut up while moving to the Beargrass settlement.
Colonel Floyd pursues the Indians, and is defeated.
Incident of Wells saving the life of Floyd.
Mrs. Woods attacked in her house.
Her daughter chops an Indian's head off while a negro man holds him down.
Bryan and Hagan attacked while hunt- ing on Elkhorn.
William Bryan killed.
Indian raid on McAfee's station.
Sharp fighting.
McGary relieves the station with a party from Harrodstown.
Raids in Hardin county.
Peter Kennedy pursues.
His skill as an Indian fighter, and fleet- ness of foot.
Taken prisoner.
His escape.
Small proportion of females in Ken- tucky hitherto.
Large immigration of same after 1780.
Custom for all to marry.
Habits and equipments of the domi- ciles.
Manner of living.
Neighborly accommodations.
The abundance sustained the settlers in their wars with the wilderness and the savages.
Contrast with the present.
The heroic men and women suited for the times.
The religious privileges and worship of the pioneers.
Materials for clothing.
Virginia Legislature scales down the value of paper money to that of specie.
First court in Kentucky at Harrods- burg, in 1781.
The invasion of Clark's army and the destruction of the towns and fields of the Miami tribes in Ohio secured Kentucky from the annual aggressive operations on the part of these hostiles. on any extended scale, during the year 1781. The general-in-chief had also better organized and varied the sys-
174
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
tem of defense against such dangers, one of the more novel features of which was the fitting up of an armed row-galley, with breastwork protec- tions on the sides. for the patrol of the Ohio river from the falls to the mouth of Licking. 1 This was built at Louisville, and was intended as a floating fortification-not very formidable to those accustomed to the implements and usages of civilized warfare, but as effective against Indian weapons and methods as the stockade forts on land. It proved to have a good effect in deterring the savages-whether from alarm at the novelty or fear of its armed crew, it mattered little-and, indeed, was said to have stopped a threatened invasion of magnitude. The short career of this impromptu naval structure and its abandonment were mainly caused by the aversion of the militia for- esters to the new element of service, for which they had no liking, and by the reduction of the regular force. The galley was finally stranded at the mouth of Beargrass, and the obstruction is said to have produced the forma- tion of the Point.
Spies and scouting parties were distributed and sent to important parts of the country, and headquarters kept well advised of all that was going on. A characteristic incident is related of Clark: After the establishment of Fort Jefferson on the Mississippi, in company with Josiah Harlan and Harmar Consilla, he proceeded on foot to Harrodsburg. The perils of the way were great. They painted and decked themselves like Indians, and advanced as far as Tennessee river without interruption. 2 They found a flood tide of water, and Indians of the Chickasaw tribe hunting on both sides of the river. They constructed a raft tied together with grapevines, on which they placed their guns and clothes, plunged into the foaming cur- rent, and swam over. Under cover of the high banks, they had reached nearly the middle of the stream, when the enemy discovered them, and quickly exchanged whoops of intelligence. A deep creek put in on the opposite side, and the white party, by drifting and swimming, landed below, so as to put this between themselves and the Indians on that side, and thus escaped. In approaching a fort on Red river, in Logan county, they were mistaken for Indians by the garrison, and only the loud calling of his own name by Clark saved them from the deadly bullets of their friends. On their route, they met a party of forty emigrants almost starved for food. Their unpracticed hunters failed to kill the buffalo, of which there were plenty on the prairies here, from want of a knowledge of the fact that the hump on the back requires a different aim to hit the heart from that of other animals. Clark and companions soon set them right on this point, and killed for them a supply for all present wants. They ran with the herd. and fired and loaded as they went, until they had killed fourteen. The strangers, themselves expert hunters of other game, were amazed to witness such results, in contrast with their own failure. As in many other cases, the hunter's long experience only sufficed.
I Marshall, Vol. I., p. 120.
2 Butler, p. 115.
175
THE AMBUSCADE OF THE INDIANS.
Reaching Harrodsburg, he found the people almost crazed over the land excitement. Every one was trying to secure lands, and nothing else was talked of, or would be considered. The office of Mr. May, the surveyor, was besieged by crowding applicants, and little attention was paid to Clark's authority. He pro- posed to May to close up his office, that attention might be given to the defense of the country. The latter replied that he had no authority to do this; but if the general would issue an order, he would be the first to obey it. Accordingly, such an order was placed on the door of the surveyor's office, notifying that the office was closed by order of Brigadier-General Clark until after an expedition could be car- ried on against the enemy. The result was, COLONEL SAMUEL ESTILL the enlistment of the forces that were led against the Pickaway towns.
During this year, a company of Dutchmen came into Madison county to select a suitable place for a settlement.1 Ripperdan, Boyers, and several others went over to Estill's station, about two miles above the mouth of Little Muddy creek, to ask the aid of Captain James Estill and his brother, Sam Estill, a noted forester and Indian fighter. As they rode along a path through the cane, they passed a large oak tree which had lately fallen near the trace. Behind its dry red leaves a band of Indians were ambushed, and they had cut and placed upright in a crack in the tree some cane, the better to conceal them. Sam Estill's quick and trained eye discerned a moccasin behind the tree, and he at once raised his rifle and fired at the spot, then threw himself off his horse on the opposite side, and shouted, "Indians!" The savages fired also, one shot breaking the right arm of Captain Estill, whose horse wheeled and galloped back to the station. The rider, not able to check him, with his gun in the remaining hand, seized the bridle in his teeth. but could not control him. A big savage, painted and feathered in horrid style, sprang out and endeavored to tomahawk Ripperdan, all having dis- mounted. The Dutchman, not much used to Indian fighting, and sorely frightened, called to Sam Estill to shoot the Indian. Estill had just emptied his gun at the savages, and cried out, "Why don't you shoot him, d-n you ; your gun's loaded?" Reassured by Estill's voice and command, Ripperdan jerked his gun to his shoulder and fired, in a few feet of the enemy. The Indian dropped his gun, gave a shriek like a wounded bear, and fell dead. This checked the attack, and the savages retreated through the cane. Sam Estill, believing that his brother had galloped off to save himself, when he should have remained through the fight, was indignant at what he deemed a
I Collins, Vol. II., p. 527.
176
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
cowardly desertion. But on reaching home and learning the facts of Cap- tain Estill's misfortune, he held him in higher .esteem than ever before. That broken arm, still weak and partially disabled, cost him his life while bravely battling for his country and people, a year after.
The project of an expedition for the capture of Detroit, as a necessary strategic move to hold in control the Miami tribes in Ohio, and to thus com- plete the conquest of the North-west, was yet in the mind of General Clark, ever vigilant and fertile in expedients for the safety and advancement of the settlers of the Great West. 1 In December of 1780, he repaired to the cap- ital of Virginia and urged the Government there to aid him in raising and equipping a force of two thousand men to execute this long-cherished de- sign. The plan was approved by the State authorities; but before the necessary arrangements could be completed, a British force sent out from New York, under Arnold, carried hostilities into the heart of Virginia. Clark took a temporary command under Baron Steuben, and participated in the active operations against the traitor general.
After several months spent in preparing the force designed to be sent against Detroit, the several corps organized for the purpose were ordered to rendezvous in March, 1781, at Louisville ; but unexpected and insuperable difficulties intervened to postpone, and finally to defeat, the execution of the project, greatly to the chagrin of Clark. He had set his heart on this final blow to British influence in the North-west. In the exigencies of the day, when Virginia was taxed to the extremest limit of her resources to sustain her arms against the English forces east of the Alleghanies, but a single mishap might prove the prelude to the catastrophe of failure. The incident of such a mishap was not wanting.
2 Colonel Archibald Loughrey, of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, at the instance of General Clark, raised a force of one hundred and twenty men to join in the Detroit expedition, with which he was to meet Clark's army at Fort Henry. now Wheeling, and proceed in body to the Falls; but Clark's troops becoming restless, and some of them deserting. he hastened on down the river. Loughrey followed after, with various delays. He sent Captain Shannon ahead in a boat, with four men, to overtake the main body and obtain some supplies needed. Captain Shannon and party were capt- ured by the Indians, and with them a letter to Clark detailing Loughrey's situation. This intelligence was confirmed by some deserters, and the In- dians collected below the mouth of Little Miami river, determined to destroy the Pennsylvania contingent if possible. The five prisoners were placed in a conspicuous position on the Indiana shore, near what was afterward called Loughrey's island, a few miles above Rising Sun, and opposite Belleview landing, on the Kentucky side, and made to act the part of a decoy, upon forfeit of their lives if they refused. The Indians concealed themselves near
I Clark's Memoirs; Collins, Vol. II., p. 139.
2 Collins, Vol. II., p. 51.
177
CAPTAIN LOUGHREY MASSACRED.
by; but before reaching this point, and about opposite the mouth of Lough- rey's creek, two miles below Aurora, one of the boats landed on the Ken- tucky side, and Captain William Campbell's men went on shore and began cooking some buffalo meat. While around the fires, and the rest of the troops yet bringing their horses ashore to graze them, coming to join them in the meal, they were assailed by a volley of rifle-balls from the overhanging Kentucky bank, covered with large trees, behind which the Indians proved to be sheltered in great force. The volunteers defended themselves as long as their ammunition lasted, and when this gave out, attempted to escape by their boats. These sluggish crafts were slow to reach the current over the shallow water near the shore, the Indians firing into them continually. When they were carried out into the current, another large body of Indians from the Indiana shore waded out on the sandbar, and fired into them from an- other quarter. Without ammunition, further resistance was vain, and they were compelled to surrender. The inhuman savages fell upon and massa- cred Colonel Loughrey and several other prisoners, before the chief arrived and put a stop to the butchery. Over three hundred warriors were engaged in the attack ; and of the Pennsylvanians, forty-two were killed in the fight or massacred after, and sixty-four made prisoners. Most of the latter were ransomed, two years after, by British officers, and exchanged for soldiers taken in the Revolutionary war. This blow, struck upon the rear of General Clark's forces, was most discouraging to the intended expedition to Detroit; and doubtless had much to do in defeating its execution altogether.
The settlements from Beargrass to Squire Boone's station, on Clear creek, were much harassed by the incursive raiding of quite a body of Indians, early in this year. They entered about the vicinity of the Falls, at several places, and in several parties, and ambushing the paths frequented, killed Colonel William Linn, Captains Tipton and Chapman, and one other citizen. Captain Aquila Whittaker, with fifteen men, pursued and traced them to the foot of the Falls, near Shippingsport. Supposing them to have crossed, he embarked his men in canoes to cross over and continue the pursuit. As they were in the act of starting over, the Indians, who were concealed in the rear, on the bank, fired upon them, and killed or wounded nine of the party, or more than half. Undaunted by this fearful loss, Captain Whittaker gallantly ordered his men to land again, attacked the savages, and put them to flight, killing over twenty of them. The survivors, five or six in number. escaped by flight in the undergrowth into the swamps south of Louisville. A personal rencounter took place in the skirmish between Captain Whittaker and an Indian chief. Each one from his sapling eyed the other; both raised their rifles for work, and both fired simultaneously. The Indian's bullet cut the lock of hair off of Captain Whittaker's left temple, while his went crash- ing through the chief's mouth and head. In this Indian style of fighting, which the whites were compelled to adopt, these man-to-man combats were frequent and fatal.
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