USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 1 > Part 26
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186
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
When, therefore, we learn that Boone, Harrod, and Logan were little advanced in artificial learning, let no reader be so unjust or unthinking as to treat their memory with contempt. Letters could have ill supplied their manly spirit, their vigorous frames, and, above all, their talents and tact in commanding the respect and confidence of a rough and fierce class of men while living, and which excited their sincerest regrets when dead. These gallant and magnanimous hunters of Kentucky will ever be sacred in the hearts of all lovers of brave and noble deeds, however they may have been adorned by the polish and beauty of learning. Charlemagne was no less the Emperor of the West of Europe; he was no less the master spirit of his time, stamping his impress on his generation, because he signed, and could not artificially subscribe his name. Artificial education, or the learning of books, is too often confounded with that higher education, consisting in the development of the mind, inspired by surrounding circumstances, and which is open to all the children of man, whether favored by civilization or not.
The religion of these times must necessarily have suffered amid the pressing privations surrounding the inhabitants. It could not have been greatly cultivated amid the struggles with want and battles with Indians. Yet the heart of the hardiest male, much more of the female, must often have melted with reverence for that Being, whose secret and invisible providence watched over their weakness, and saved them from the perils of the rirle and the tomahawk. True, many fell victims to the Indians; many were burned and tortured, with every refinement of diabolical vengeance; others were harrowed with the recollection of their children's brains dashed out against the trees, and the dying shrieks of their dearest friends and connections. Still, the consolations of Heaven were not absent from the dying spirits of the former, or the wounded hearts of the latter.
The religion of the heart, gratitude to God, and love for man flourished in the rudest stages of society; and not less frequently, with more purity than amid the accumulated temptations of refined life. There was, indeed, as might very naturally be expected, a roughness of exterior; though con- ventional forms of society are never to be confounded with the essence of true politeness. There was too exact a retaliation of the savage warfare of their subtle and ferocious enemies, and too little respect for the rights and moral claims of Indians. But to lie, to cheat, to desert a fellow pioneer in distress, were vices unknown to the brave and simple men who conquered Kentucky. A manly love of truth, an independence of spirit, which would right itself in the "courts of heaven," were almost invariable traits in their characters.
There are some curious particulars in our early arts, which may well be recorded. Hats were made of native fur, and sold for five hundred dol- lars in the paper money of the times. The wool of the buffalo. and the bark or rind of the wild nettle were used in the manufacture of cloth, and a peculiar sort of linen out of the latter.
187
FIRST COURT IN LINCOLN COUNTY.
The Virginia Legislature had early fixed by law a scale of depreciation for the paper money, at one and a half for one in silver or gold. In 1781, that body extended the scale of depreciation to the enormous difference of one thousand dollars in paper for one in specie. Certificates of depreciation were issued on this basis, and directed by law to be taken for taxes and for public lands, at fifty cents per hundred acres, in specie. A certain conse- quence was to inundate the country with land warrants. To this circum- stance may be traced the embarrassments, the confusion, and the litigation of after years in the Commonwealth of Kentucky; for thus were the means and the inducements furnished to shingle over one claim with another, until they were sometimes tripled and quadrupled upon the same tract of land.
The first court ever in Lincoln county was organized at Harrodsburg, - January 16, 1781. A commission from the Governor of Virginia was pro- duced and read, appointing the following thirteen "gentlemen " justices of the peace to hold the county court, and to be commissioners of any court of oyer and terminer or for the trial of slaves, one of the first seven to be a part of each court to make it legal: John Bowman, Benjamin Logan, John Logan, John Cowan, John Kennedy, Hugh McGary, William Craig, Stephen Trigg, Abraham Bowman. Isaac Hite, William McBride, William McAfee, and James Estill. Two were already dead when the commission was re- ceived, killed by Indians. Kennedy and McAfee; and within seventeen months after, three more fell victims to the savages in battle, Trigg, McBride, and Estill.
Benjamin Logan and John Cowan first administered to John Bowman the oath : First-Of allegiance to the Conimonwealth of Virginia; Second-Of a justice of the peace; Third-Of a commissioner or a judge of oyer and termi- ner. John Bowman then administered said oaths to Messrs. Benjamin and John Logan, McGary, Trigg, and McBride. John Cowan, because he had already taken the oath of fidelity to the United States, refused to take the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia; but having slept upon it, and received new light, came into court next morning and "took the oath," and a seat upon the bench. The others qualified when they could conveniently come to court, except Abraham Bowman, who removed to Fayette county.
On January 21, 1783, the court was increased in numbers by the com- mission and qualification of George Adams, John Edwards, Hugh Logan, Gabriel Madison, and Alexander Robertson, gentlemen. At the Septem- ber term ensuing, William Montgomery, Sr .; at the November term, Isaac Shelby, Christopher Irvine. and John Snoddy, became justices and members of the court. In February, 1787. shortly after the formation of Madison and Mercer counties had taken off large portions of the territory, with justices residing therein, eight new justices were commissioned by the Governor of Virginia.
188
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
CHAPTER XVII.
(1782.)
1782, a year of tragedies.
Estill's defeat near Mount Sterling.
A desperate battle.
Captain Estill and the Indian chief slain. Heroic gallantry of Rev. Joseph Proctor.
Saves the life of Irvine.
His bravery in other fields.
Over fifty years in the ministry.
William Irvine.
Gallant bravery of the slave, Monk.
Sam South.
Holder's repulse.
Bryan's station attacked by over five hundred warriors under Simon Girty.
Strategy and sharp fighting for two days.
Girty's cruel malice to the whites.
Three renegade brothers.
Their lives and characters.
Gloomy forebodings of Indians on peace with England.
Williamson's massacre of the Moravian Indians.
Crawford's expedition to exterminate the Indians.
Three hundred whites killed and capt- ured.
Crawford's thrilling tortures while burn- ing at the stake.
Girty's demoniac exultation.
Confederation of tribes under Girty.
Attack on Bryan's station.
- Ruse of sending the women to the spring for water.
Girty seeks to negotiate a surrender of the fort, and fails.
Baffled and repulsed, the Indians retreat. Re-enforcements coming in, premature pursuit is made.
Boone advises to wait for Logan.
Officers mostly agree.
McGary's rashness.
The Indian army halt and give battle to one-third their own number.
Plan and incidents of the battle.
Disaster of Blue Licks.
Israel Boone killed.
Retreat of the Kentuckians.
-:
Netherland's bravery.
Reynolds saves Patterson's life.
Logan's heavy re-enforcements come, but too late.
They bury the dead, and return.
Letters of Colonels Logan and Levi Todd, of Patterson and others.
The Indians kill four prisoners to equal- ize the slain.
Massacre at Kincheloe's, in Spencer county.
Sufferings of female captives.
Tribute to Harlan, to Trigg, to Todd.
Clark again invades Ohio, with one thou- sand men.
Burns and destroys the Miami villages.
Murder near White Oak station.
Captain Nat. Hart killed.
Raid in Hardin county.
Kenton hears news from home, the first in years of exile.
New offices for entering lands opened.
The flood-gates of confusion and litiga- tion opened for future years in Kentucky. Daviess and family attacked.
Mrs. Daviess and children captured.
Prompt pursuit and recapture.
Courage of Mrs. Daviess. She captures a robber.
The annals will show that the year 1782 was an eventful one. The opening was marked by several successful enterprises on the part of the enemy, and with more than usual fatality to the whites. They were the
189
THE KILLING OF MISS JENNIE GASS.
precursors to further misfortunes, more calamitous than had yet befallen our harassed countrymen. The drama opened with what has ever since been known as the "Battle of Little Mountain," or "Estill's Defeat," than which there is no record of a more desperate and bloody contest, for the numbers engaged. The account given by Rev. Proctor is most graphic and inter- esting. The narrative of this noted participant, taken from Montgomery's statement and embodied in a descriptive article on Madison county, 1 is accurate and intensely interesting :
"On the 19th of March, 1782, Indian rafts, without any one on them, were seen floating down the Kentucky river past Boonesborough. Intel- ligence of this fact was immediately dispatched to Captain James Estill. at his station, fifteen miles from this fort. Estill lost not a moment in collecting a force to go in search of the Indians, not doubting from his knowledge of their character that they designed an immediate blow at his or some of the neighboring stations. From his own and the nearest stations he raised twenty-five men. Joseph Proctor was of the number. While Estill and his men were on this expedition, the Indians suddenly appeared around his station at the dawn of day, on the 20th of March, killed and scalped Miss Jennie Gass, the daughter of Judge David Gass, and took Monk, a slave of Captain Estill, captive. The Indians immediately and hastily retreated, in consequence of a highly-exaggerated account which Monk gave them of there being forty men in the fort; that these had i heard of Indians being in the country, and were then molding bullets for a pursuit and fight. There were! really but four invalid men, beside the women and children. Undoubtedly, the ready sagacity of Monk saved these from a fearful massacre.
"No sooner had the Indians commenced their retreat than the women in the fort dispatched two boys, Sam- uel South and Peter Hackett. to take the trail of Estill and his men, and, overtaking them, give information ESTILL MONUMENT. of what had transpired at the fort. The boys suc- [ Erected to the memory of Captain james Estill, near Richmond, Kentucky.) ceeded in coming up with them early on the morning of the 21st, between the mouths of Drowning creek and Red river. After a short search, Estill struck the trail of the retreating Indians near the mouth of Red river. It was resolved at once to make pursuit, and no time was lost in doing so. On the ever-memorable day of March 22, 1782, at Little Mount- ain, just south of and opposite the depot at Mount Sterling, Captain Estill's party came up with the Indians. They proved to be the Wyandottes, and
I Early Days in Madison County, William Chenault, in Courier-Journal.
190
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
twenty-five in number, exactly that of Captain Estill's. An authority in the Estill family adds two Frenchmen to the number of the Wyandottes.
"The ground was highly favorable to the Indian mode of warfare; but Estill and his men, without a moment's hesitation, boldly and fearlessly com- menced an attack upon them, and the latter as boldly and fearlessly, for they were picked warriors, engaged in the bloody combat. It is, however, painful to record that in the very outset of the action Lieutenant Miller, of Captain Estill's party, with six men under his command, 'ingloriously fled' from the field, thereby placing in jeopardy the whole of their com- rades, and causing the death of many brave soldiers. Hence, Estill's party numbered eighteen and the Wyandottes twenty-five. Between these parties, at the distance of fifty yards, the battle raged for the space of three hours. Deeds of desperate daring were common. On either side wounds and death were inflicted, neither party advancing nor retreating. 'Every man to his man, and every man to his tree.' Captain Estill was now covered with blood from a wound received early in the action. Thirteen of his brave companions lay dead upon the field, or so disabled by their wounds as to be unable to continue the fight. Himself wounded also, Estill's fighting men were now reduced to four. Among this number was Joseph Proctor. The brave leader of this Spartan band was now brought into personal contest with a powerful and active Wyandotte warrior. The conflict was for a time fierce and desperate, and keenly and anxiously watched by Proctor, with his finger on the trigger of his unerring rifle. Such, however, was the struggle between these fearless and powerful warriors that Proctor could not shoot without greatly endangering the safety of his captain. Estill had his right arm broken the preceding summer in an engagement with Indians; in the conflict with the Wyandotte warrior on this occasion that arm gave way, and in an instant his savage foe buried his knife in the brave hero's breast. Instantly the gallant Proctor sent a ball from his rifle to the Wyandotte's heart. Thus ended this memorable battle. It lacks nothing but the circum- stance of numbers to make it one of the most memorable in ancient or modern times. The loss of the Indians in killed and wounded, notwith- standing disparity of numbers after the shameful retreat of Miller, was even greater than that of Captain Estill. There is a tradition derived from the Wyandotte town, after a peace, that but one of the warriors engaged ever returned to his nation. It is certain that the chief who led on the Wyan- dottes with so much desperation fell in the action. Throughout this bloody engagement the coolness and bravery of Proctor were unsurpassed. But his conduct after the battle has always, with those acquainted with it, elicited the warmest encomiums. He brought off the field of battle, and much of the way to the station, a distance of forty miles, bearing on his back his badly wounded friend. the late Colonel William Irvine, so long and so favorably known in Madison county. With the few horses left, the wounded were alternately packed by horses or men."
191
SKETCH OF CAPTAIN ESTILL.
The story, with all its circumstances of locality and the fight, was told again and again, until even the children knew it by heart. No legendary tale was ever listened to with as intense anxiety, or was inscribed in so vivid and indelible impress on the hearts of the few of both sexes who then con- stituted the hope and the strength of Kentucky.
The names of the men who survived the battle, as given by Collins, in his history, are as follows: Colonel Wm. Irvine, Rev. Joseph Proctor, Reuben Proctor, James Berry, Wm. Cradlebaugh, David Lynch, Henry Boyer, John Jameson, David Cook, and Lieutenant Wm. Miller. The names of those who were killed are all but one given by Collins, viz : Captain James Es- till, Adam Caperton, Jonathan McMillan, Lieutenant John South, Jr .. John Colefoot, and - McNeely. With regard to Will- iam Miller, for over twenty years David Cook watched patiently for him to come COLONEL WILLIAM IRVINE. to Richmond, swearing he would kill him on sight; but Miller prudently kept away. If he had met the threatened fate, no jury in Madison county would have convicted Cook, so intense was, and is to this day, the admiration for those who fought and the detestation of those who so shamefully retreated from the most desperate and deadly of all the frontier battles. The men who escaped from Estill's defeat scattered to Boonesborough, Hoy's station, Tanner's station, Irvine's Fort, and Estill's station. A draft was immediately made, Estill's station was closely guarded for forty days, and scouting parties were sent in every direction. But the next appearance of the Indians was in the lower end of the county, where they captured two boys from Hoy's station and the daughter of Captain Holder.
The death of Estill was a great loss to the immigration of the county. He was an exceedingly active man, and often traveled from Boonesborough to Cumberland Gap alone, to assist and direct pioneers crossing the mount- ains from North Carolina and Tennessee. Many incidents of his kindness to strangers moving into the county were remembered by the early settlers. A single illustration is all that we can refer to in this brief sketch: At Cum- berland Gap, Thomas Warren, who was on his way to Madison, was met by Estill. On a lame horse, Warren had packed all his property. He and his wife, foot-sore and weary, were at the verge of starvation. Estill said to him: "I will kill you a buffalo, and place it in the trace near a spring, and lay some cane across the trace at the point where you ought to turn off to go to Boonesborough." When Warren reached the place named, he found the cane in the path, and the buffalo killed and ready to be eaten. He often
192
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
stated that he was then so hungry that he did not take time to skin the buffalo, but cut out the tongue and ate it.
The name of the Indian chief who commanded the opposing force at Estill's defeat has never been known. The chiefs most celebrated in the country were Little Turtle, Black Fish, Red Hawk, and Corn Stalk; but history is silent as to who commanded this body of daring Wyandottes. It is conceded by all acquainted with the facts in the case that this chieftain ex- hibited, in miniature, an exquisite specimen of the military art. McClung, in his sketches of "Western Adventure," says "that a delicate maneuver on the part of Estill gave an advantage which was promptly seized upon by the In- dian chief, and a bold and masterly movement decided the fate of the day. The great battles of Austerlitz and Wagram exhibit the same error upon the part of one commander and the same successful step on the part of the other." Estill's station was for some time afterward the object of Indian vengeance.
One of the most painful incidents of the war was the murder at this sta- tion of Miss Jennie Gass, who went out early in the morning to milk the cows, and while her mother, who saw the Indians, cried from the station, " Run, Jennie, run ; the Indians are coming!" the poor girl was caught and tomahawked in sight of the mother. Her murderers, in mockery of the agonized mother, jumped upon a log and shouted in response, in broken jargon, "Run, Jennie, run!"
The man whose deeds in this day's battle seemed to approach the highest order of heroism was the Rev. Joseph Proctor. He was at the post of peril and need every moment of the battle, and on the fall of Estill and Irvine, fought bravely with unerring rifle in the ranks, while he, with coolness and order, directed the incidents of the bloody strife. Besides the slayer of Estill, other foemen fell under his death-dealing marksmanship. Toward the close of battle, with William Irvine and two others, he was covering the retreat, when Irvine was wounded by a bullet and two buckshot, in the groin. The Indian who shot him sprang from cover, and ran to tomahawk and scalp him. Irvine raised and sighted his empty gun at him, when he sheltered behind the tree again. Proctor, seeing the danger, called to Irvine to mount the horse of the slain Estill and make his way to a designated spot, some three miles on the road to their station, where he would come to his aid. Irvine attempted to mount, when the Indian dashed out again; and Irvine again drove him to cover with his empty gun. Four times this maneuver was repeated, when Irvine at last mounted and rode away, as advised.
In due time Proctor and comrades fell back to the designated spot, and searching, with some difficulty, found Irvine concealed in the brush, and suf- fering and exhausted, with his faithful white steed near by, and patiently waiting. At first they approached stealthily, fearing an ambuscade; but the quick ear of the sufferer caught the sound of footsteps, and recognition soon followed, to the relief and joy of all. Proctor dressed his wounds, alter-
193
FAITHFULNESS OF THE SLAVE, MONK.
nately packed him on his shoulders and placed him on the willing horse, with one of the men behind to support him, and safely conveyed him to Estill's station. Though he suffered years with the imbedded bullets, Irvine survived his wounds, and lived nearly forty years after they were received. He was a delegate from Madison county to the Virginia convention of 1788, which ratified the Constitution of the United States. He represented the same county in the House of Delegates in 1789, and in the separation con- ventions at Danville from 1787 to 1790. He was presidential elector for his district in 1805, 1813, and 1817, a member of the constitutional conven- tion of 1799, which made the second Constitution of Kentucky. a member of the Kentucky Society for the Promotion of Knowledge. organized at Danville in 1787, sometimes walking forty miles to attend its meetings. He also held other important official positions, and died honored and respected by his generation.
Rev. Joseph Proctor was among the bravest of the brave, as a typical pioneer, notwithstanding his long and devoted services as a zealous minister of the Methodist church. Three times he joined the invading expeditions against the Ohio towns, and in a fight at Pickaway slew a noted chief who had engaged him in deadly combat. He fought side by side with Boone, Logan, and other noted veterans, and nobly did a soldier's part in the days of peril, and ended his useful career with over half a century in the min- istry of the Christian religion. He lived and died in ripe old age, in Estill county. He was the founder of the Providence Methodist Church. in the northern part of Madison county, and this was first called Proctor's Chapel.
A remarkable incident occurred during the battle, illustrative of the faithfulness and gallant bravery of the slaves, which were so often shown in times of peril to their masters and families. Monk, who had been capt- ured, was still held by the Wyandottes: When the battle raged fiercely, Monk's voice suddenly rang out through the crack of the rifles and the forest echoes, in rallying tones to the whites, "Don't give way, Massa Jim; there's only about twenty-five of the redskins, and you can whip 'em!" Thus inspirited, the Kentuckians fought on to the last. Monk effected his escape in the confusion and carnage of the fight, and made his way to the whites at the close. He repeatedly rendered invaluable services to the gar- risons at Boonesborough and Estill's, by supplying them with powder he had dexterously learned to manufacture from saltpetre obtained from a cave, now known as Peyton's cave, in Madison county, the first powder made in Kentucky. The worth of Monk was recognized by all around him, and his young master, Wallace Estill, gave him his freedom, besides clothing and feeding him at home for life, in token of his high regard for his faithful character.
Lieutenant Miller, with six men, in the arrangement for battle. was or- dered to guard the horses of the dismounted men, and to prevent a flank movement of the enemy, if attempted. The Indians did flank, when Miller
13
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
gave way without due resistance, and disappeared from the scene of action, with all the horses lost. As the Indians advanced in this movement, Monk called out to Miller, from the bushes, in English, which the Indians did not understand, to stand his ground, and they would win the fight. Upon the return home, without a sufficiency of horses, James Berry, with his thigh broken by a rifle-ball, was carried mainly on Monk's back, twenty-five miles, to Estill's station.
Monk Estill was a noble specimen of the colored race. He was treated with all the respect and affection of a member of the family in which he was once a slave, and by whom he was afterward made a freeman. One of the Estill family, Mr. Brown Lee Yates, of Madison county, thus writes of him: "Monk was five feet five inches in height. and weighed about two hundred pounds. He was the husband of three wives, by whom he had thirty children. He was father of the first colored child, Jerry. born at Boone's fort, afterward a preacher in the Baptist church at Shel- byville. He was a respected member, when white and colored lived in the same church together, and broke bread at the same communion - table. He was my near neighbor for twenty-four years, and died about 1835."
The fall of Captain James Estill was greatly lamented throughout the district of Kentucky. He came from Green- brier county, Virginia, early in the year 1775. He was one of the trustees of Boonesborough when chartered, in 1779. THE SLAVE, MONK ESTILL. He was a member of Captain John Hol- der's company of Boonesborough riflemen. In 1780, he built Estill station, on Little Muddy creek, and took command of the troops there. In 1781, he was appointed judge of the court of Quarter Sessions at Harrodstown. Says Judge Robertson, in his well-known opinion in the case of Connelly's heirs vs. Childs, reported in 5 J. J. Marshall, page 204: "The usefulness and popularity of Captain Estill, the deep and universal sentiment excited by the death of a citizen so gallant and so beloved, the masterly skill and chivalric daring displayed throughout the action, all contributed to give to Estill's defeat a most signal notoriety and importance. especially among the early settlers." Though the numbers were insignificant, the bravery displayed made a profound impression.
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