USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 1 > Part 30
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I Virginia Calendar, Vol. III , p. 20.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
" as he has the same enemies to encounter that trouble us, and stores of every kind seem to be of little account to us, ammunition excepted. Colonel Trigg being killed, there is a field officer wanting in this county; however, I am at a loss how to proceed on the occasion, for all our magistrates have been killed except three, and there can be no court to send a recom- mendation. Colonel Harrod, who formerly acted as a colonel, and who, agreeable to seniority, ought to have received a commission, is now in being, and I think a very proper person for that purpose."
We venture to add an extract of a letter of August 26, 1782, from Col- onel Levi Todd to his brother, Captain Robert Todd, throwing some light upon the closing scenes of the battle, and giving a fuller list of the slain than has heretofore been published in history : 1
"Our men suffered much in the retreat, many Indians having mounted our abandoned horses, and having an open woods to pass through to the river. Several were killed in the river. Efforts were made to rally, but in vain. He that could remount a horse was well off; and he that could not. saw no time for delay. Our brother received a ball in his left breast, and was on horseback when the men broke. He took a course I thought dan- gerous; and as I never saw him afterward, I suppose he never got over the river. Colonel Trigg, Major Harlan, Major Bulger, Captains McBride, Gordon, Kinkead. and Overton fell upon the ground; also our friend James Brown. Our number missing is about seventy-five. I think the number of the enemy was at least three hundred, but many of the men think five hundred. Colonel Logan, with five hundred men, went to the ground on the 24th, and found and buried about fifty of our dead men. They were all stripped naked, scalped, and mangled in such a manner that it was hard to know one from another. Our brother was not known.
"As people in different parts of the country will be anxious to know the names of the killed, I will add a list of what I can now remember: Colonel John Todd, Colonel Stephen Trigg, Major Silas Harlan, Major Edward Bul- ger, Captains William McBride, John Gordon, Joseph Kinkead, and Cluff Overton; Lieutenants William Givens. John Kennedy, Joseph Lindsey, and Rodgers ; Ensign John McMurtry; Privates Francis McBride, John Price. James Ledgerwood. John Wilson, Isaac McCracken, Lewis Rose, Mathias Rose, Hugh Cunningham, Jesse Yocum, William Eadds, Esau Corn. Will- iam Smith, Henry Miller. Ezekiel Field. John Folley, John Fry, Val Stern, Andrew McConnell, James Brown (surgeon), William Harris, William Stew- art, William Stevens. Charles Ferguson, John Wilson, John O'Neal. John Stapleton. Daniel Greggs. Jervis Green, Drury Polley, William Robertson, Gilbert Marshall, James Smith, and Israel Boone."
It is evident that a sentiment pervaded the people that interior Kentucky had been neglected by Clark in his measures of defense, while he was more absorbed in centralizing all military strength and resources at Louisville, for
I Virginia Calendar, Vol. III , p. 333.
221
PANEGYRIC OF THE SLAIN.
the menace and retention of the North-west. But Clark's policy was always to strike the Indians at their homes.
Here justice pleads with the historian to pause in the narrative of thrill- ing events, while the inspiration of noble virtues and heroic deeds bid to inscribe upon his pages, in perpetuam rei memoriam, the tribute of admira- tion and affection which every true Kentuckian would offer up, in honor of the gallant and brave pioneers who so unselfishly gave up their lives for their country and their countrymen. Like Hancock Taylor, Floyd, Christ- ian, and others, many gallant chieftains and soldiers at Blue Licks fell too early, in defense of homes and families, to have come to the full fruition of the peace and liberty for which they were so willing to toil, to sacrifice, to endure, and, if it must be, to die.
Major Silas Harlan, one of the slain, was among the first of the pioneer settlers in Kentucky. With Harrod's party, he came in 1774; and since that date, had borne an active and prominent part in the continued warfare with the Indians. He was with Clark at Vincennes, where he won applause for his soldierly services, and where every comrade was a hero. He was not less interested in the political and domestic events of his day; and his name will be found on the list of citizens who signed the declaration of June 20, 1776, forwarded to the Virginia Convention.
Not less lamented was the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Trigg, though he more recently sought a home and place among the settlers. Just three years before, he had joined the foresters of the West, and cast his fortunes with theirs; yet he was endowed with those qualities which readily win the confidence and friendship of men, and soon became popular in all the ranks of the life around him. Ready in every emergency, and brave and resolute in the execution of every duty, his comrades instinctively conceded to him a leadership in adventure. While thus respected for the dignity and virtues of superior merit, all gave to him the homage of sympathy and love. Even the oldest and ablest of the veteran leaders deferred to his judgment, and were rarely mistaken. Already had he ranked high among the immortal few of the devoted band around him; and only untimely death arrested, on the fatal 19th of August, a career that promised to be most brilliant if life had been spared.
Sad, as the saddest episode of the tragedy, was the death of Colonel John Todd, than whom there was no more devoted and gallant spirit among his comrades, and none with promise of a more honorable historic future in prospect. Though just passed his thirty-second year-seven of which were spent among the veteran pioneers who carved their way through the virgin forest-he had already written his name as indelibly for the pages of history as in the hearts of the people whom he so often and faithfully served. He was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, in 1750, adjacent to Exeter, the birthplace of Boone. His father was Scotch; his mother, a Quakeress. He was one of the very few of superior education and culture who appeared
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
an actor among the earliest experiences upon the theater of the great west ern valley. He was carefully trained, in letters and scholarship, by an uncle, Rev. John Todd, a distinguished minister of the Presbyterian Church, of Virginia.
He studied law under General Andrew Lewis, but soon after followed his preceptor as aid in the campaign which led to the battle of Point Pleasant and the invasion to the Scioto towns. Early the next year (1775), he joined Colonel Logan in the establishment of St. Asaph's station. In June, he was of a party who ventured farther into the wilderness beyond Green river and to the vicinity of Bowling Green. In 1776, he led the little party in the attempt to convey in the powder from Limestone which Clark had se- cured and shipped from Virginia, in which he came near forfeiting his life, with others of his men. to the vigilance and daring of the Indians. He bore conspicuous part with Clark in the North-west campaign, in the capture of Kaskaskia and Cahokia; and for faithful services and eminent ability was commissioned by the Governor of Virginia "Colonel Commandant and County Lieutenant" of Illinois county, with headquarters at Kaskaskia. though yet retaining the position of county lieutenant and colonel of militia for Fayette county.
Combining natural abilities to refined and classic culture, with an easy adaptativeness to all demands and emergencies, the fall of no man of that day carried with it a greater shock to the country or a profounder sorrow to the people from the shores of the Potomac to the Mississippi. His loss to the future of his adopted country and people in this saddest crucial day of all their experiences, they could not estimate; and with the sympathizing reader of to-day this loss can better be deplored than conjectured. 1
The spirit of aggressive retaliation was now aroused fiercely in General Clark, yet in chief command. To repeat the tactics of Hannibal, he pre- pared again to invade the Indian country. 2 He invited a meeting of the superior military officers of his brigade at the Falls, to make arrangements for an imposing expedition against the Indians. This council recommended a draft of men to make up any deficiency of volunteers and the impressment of provisions and horses where voluntary contributions were not sufficient. The spirit and patriotism of the country rendered these coercive measures unnecessary. Men and officers presented themselves with the utmost eager- ness; and beeves, pack-horses, and other supplies poured in abundantly from those who could not personally join the expedition. In every case of prop erty offered or impressed, a certificate of its valuation was given as evidence to its owner for future compensation, at that time deemed by no means cer- tain.
Bryan's station was appointed the rendezvous for the upper part of the country, the Falls of the Ohio for the lower, and the mouth of Licking the point of union for the different detachments. General Clark assumed the
I Colonel Brown's Oration.
2 Bradford's Notes, Sec. 14.
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THE LAST OF THE INVASIONS.
command, with Colonels Floyd and Logan under him. These officers, at the head of about one thousand mounted riflemen, assembled at the ap- pointed spot on the last of September. The expedition proceeded with the efficiency ever characteristic of its chief while in the pride of his energy. and reached the neighborhood of the first Indian town, and within half a mile of a camp which formed the rear of the triumphant party from the battle of the Blue Licks. An Indian straggler now discovered the hostile force, and gave the alarm of a mighty army on its march.
The savage camp was immediately evacuated and the alarm conveyed to the different towns. This most unpropitious discovery left nothing but empty cabins and deserted fields to satisfy the resentment of the whites. The buildings were quickly fired and the corn-fields laid waste. Seven pris- oners were taken and three of the enemy killed in this expedition. It extended its ravages through Chillicothe, Pickaway, and Willstown with the same desolating effect. This campaign, trifling as its execution may seem, appears to have put an end to the formidable Indian invasions of Kentucky. After this period, it was only exposed to stragglers and small parties. Such an effect must be attributed to so overwhelming a display of force immediately after the disastrous battle of Blue Licks.
White Oak station was located but a mile or two above Boonesborough and in the same valley. It was settled by some orderly people from Penn- sylvania not accustomed to Indian warfare. The consequence was that of ten or twelve men, all were killed but two or three.1 Early this year Peter Duree moved his own and one or two other families farther out into the country toward Estill's. They had just gone into their new cabins when Indians attacked them and killed Duree and his son-in-law, Bullock, and his wife, the former falling in his cabin. Mrs. Duree, the only one left unhurt, shut and fastened the door, closed the eyes of her dying husband, and kept the Indians at bay by presenting a rifle through the crevices of the logs. Waiting some hours, and hearing no more of the savages, she sallied out, with an infant in her arms and a four-year-old boy to follow her, for the nearest station. Meeting some friends on the way, they returned to White Oak station in safety. In this year, Captain Nathaniel Hart was waylaid, slain, and scalped by a party of Indians, while riding near his farm in the vicinity of Boonesborough. Though pursued by Boone, the marauders escaped.
Collins relates that : 2" In September, a roving band of Indians made their appearance in Hardin county and committed several depredations. Silas Hart, whose keen penetration and skill as an Indian fighter had ex- torted from them the name of Sharp-Eye, with other settlers, pursued them, and in the pursuit Hart shot their chief, while several others of the party were also killed. Only two of the Indians made good their escape. These conveyed to the tribe the intelligence of the chieftain's death.
I Collins, Vol. II., p. 530.
2 Vol. II., p. 314.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Vengeance was denounced by them against Sharp-Eye and his family for the death of the fallen chief, and speedily did the execution follow the threat. A short time thereafter a band of Indians, led by a brother of the slain chieftain, secretly and silently made their way into the neigh- borhood of Elizabethtown, where they emerged from their hiding places and commenced their outrages. The neighborhood was instantly aroused. and Hart, always ready to assist in repelling the savage foe, was the first upon their trail. The whites followed in rapid pursuit for a whole day, but were unable to overtake them. As soon as they had turned toward their homes the Indians, who must have closely watched their movements, turned upon their trail, and followed them back to the settlements. Hart arrived at his home, five miles from Elizabethtown, about dark in the evening, and slept soundly through the night, for he had no apprehension of further Indian depredations. On the succeeding morning, just as the family were seating themselves to partake of their frugal meal, the band of Indians, who had been prowling round the house all night, suddenly appeared at the door, and the brother of the fallen chief shot Hart dead. The son of Hart, a brave youth only twelve years old, the instant he saw his father fall, grasped his rifle, and before the savage could enter the door sent a ball through his heart, thus avenging, almost as quick as thought, a beloved parent's death. The Indians then rushed to the door in a body, but the first who entered the threshold had the hunting-knife of the gallant boy plunged to the hilt in his breast and fell by the side of his leader. A contest so unequal could not, however, be maintained. The youth, with his mother and sister, were overpowered and hurried off to the Wabash as captives. The sister, from the feebleness of her constitution, was unable to bear the fatigue of a forced march, and the Indians dispatched her after proceeding a few miles. The mother and son were intended for a more painful and revolting death.
"Upon the arrival of the party at the Wabash towns, preparations were made for the sacrifice, but an influential squaw, in pity for the tender years and in admiration of the heroism of the youth, interposed and saved his life. The mother was also saved from the stake by the interposition of a chief, who desired to make her his wife. The mother and son were ultimately re- deemed by traders and returned to their desolate home. Mrs. Hart, who has often been heard to declare that she would have preferred the stake to a union with the Indian chief, subsequently married a man named Country- man, and lived in Hardin to a very advanced age. Young Hart also lived to old age, in Missouri."
The last chapter of the romance of eleven years of the life of Kenton was this year completed. We have read, in the first chapter, of his ardent passion at sixteen for a rosy lassie of the neighborhood of his father's home: of the successful suit and marriage to her of a rival; of the revenge that followed disappointed love; of the desperate rencounter of the rivals, and the murderous punishment of the successful suitor; and finally, of Kenton's
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225
SIMON KENTON RETURNS.
flight to the West, and long banishment from home and the courts; an event- ful training for the eventful life that followed after.
All these years he had supposed his antagonist dead, and himself a mur- derer and fugitive, with the Nemesis of that remorse that is said ever to torture the unhappy man guilty of the life-blood of his fellowman. Intel- ligence came by the accident of meeting some one from his boyhood home, not only that his father was yet living, but that William Veach, whom he left for dead, was alive and well. The joy of the relief that came to the heart of Kenton, as this great life-burden was lifted from off his conscience, is beyond the picturing of words. Thank God! He was not a murderer ; and Simon Butler, the alias under which he had been known until now, was dropped, and the real name of Simon Kenton resumed. Hitherto, he dared not speak of his home and kindred. and the old reminiscences yet dear to him, or inquire about those he loved best on earth. He had expiated the wrongs and errors of youth by many years of mental doubt and suffering, in his long exile in the transmontane wilds. Now, he was innocent of the law, and could return once more to embrace his old father, to be friends with his former enemy, and to congratulate his old sweetheart over the inter- esting family group growing up around her as the fruitage of her husband's love. Kenton's wrongs were the accidents of a passionate and unrestrained temper, behind which there was much of generous sympathy and nobility of manhood, a type of character often met with in every-day life.
1 Late this year, Colonel Thomas Marshall and John May arrived as sur- veyors for the new counties of Fayette and Jefferson. One office was opened at Lexington, and another at Cox's station, in Jefferson county; the third we have already noticed. Now began that contention for lands which proved a greater scourge to the people of Kentucky, for long years after, than any visitation of pestilence or famine could have been to them. The root of the evil was in leaving to individuals, and to personal and rival interests, the surveys of the public lands, which ought to have been done alone by public authority. Could the surveys of the public lands of Virginia have been delayed till they could have been laid off by public appointment, the claims of her soldiers might all have been satisfied, and the residue might have been saved from the rapacity of remorseless speculators, and the proceeds of sale made to meet the deficiency of her exchequer after the exhaustive drain of the war of the Revolution. As one of the distinguished chief- justices of Kentucky has expressed, on the subject of the legal condition of landed estate produced by the ill-omened policy : "The melancholy effects on the peace and prosperity of private citizens, volumes could not portray. The breaking up of favorite homes, improved at the hazard of the owner's life, and fondly held to as a support for declining age, and a reward for affectionate children, swept away by refinements above popular compre- hension, produced most widespread discontent and distress : promoted a
I Marshall, Vol. I., p. 104.
15
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
litigious spirit, and often a disregard of the legal right in general, which presented itself in odious and afflicting aspects. It is doubtful if it would not better have subserved the ends of justice and humanity, had the doors of the courts been altogether closed to this long torment of land litiga- tion."
In the fall of the year 1779, Samuel Daviess, who resided in Bedford county, Virginia, moved with his family to Kentucky, and lived for a time at Whitley's station, in Lincoln county. He subsequently moved to a place called Gilmer's Lick, some six or seven miles from said station. He built a cabin, cleared some land, which he put in corn next season, not appre- hending any danger from the Indians, although he was considered a frontier settler. But this imaginary state of security did not last long ; for in August. 1782, having stepped a few paces from the door, he was suddenly surprised by an Indian appearing between him and the door, with tomahawk uplifted. almost within striking distance.1 In this unexpected condition, and being entirely unarmed, his first thought was, that by running around the house, he could enter the door in safety; but to his surprise, in attempting to effect this object, as he approached the door he found the house full of Indians. Being closely pursued by the Indian first mentioned, he made his way into the corn-field, where he concealed himself, with much difficulty, until the pursuing Indian had returned to the house.
Unable as he was to render any relief to his family, there being five In- dians, he ran with the utmost speed to the station of his brother, James Daviess, a distance of five miles. As he approached the station, his un- dressed condition told the tale of his distress before he was able to tell it himself. Almost breathless, and with a faltering voice, he could only say his wife and children were in the hands of the Indians. Scarcely was the communication made when he obtained a spare gun, and the five men in the station, well armed, followed him to his residence. When they arrived at the house the Indians, as well as the family, were found to be gone, and no evidence appeared that any of the family had been killed. A search was made to find the direction the Indians had taken; but, owing to the dryness of the ground and the adroit manner in which they had departed, no dis- covery could be made. In this state of perplexity the party, being all good woodsmen, took that direction in pursuit of the Indians which they thought it most probable they would take. After going a few miles, their attention was arrested by the howling of a dog, which afterward turned out to be a house dog that had followed the family, and which the Indians had under- taken to kill, so as to avoid detection, which might happen from his barking occasionally. In attempting to kill the dog he was only wounded. The noise thus heard satisfied them that they were near the Indians. and enabled them to rush forward with the utmost impetuosity. Two of the Indians, being in the rear as spies, discovered the approach of the party and ran
I Collins, Vol. II., p. 470-1.
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THE BRAVERY OF MRS. DAVIESS.
forward where the other Indians were with the family. One of them knocked down the oldest boy, about eleven years old, and while in the act of scalp- ing him was fired at, but without effect. Mrs. Daviess. seeing the agitation and alarm of the Indians, saved herself and nursing child by jumping into a sink-hole. The Indians fled in the most precipitate manner. In that way the family was rescued early in the day, without the loss of a single life and without any injury but that above mentioned. So soon as the boy had risen on his feet, the first word he spoke was, " Curse that Indian, he has got my scalp !"
After the family had been rescued, Mrs. Daviess gave the following account of the manner in which the Indians had acted: A few minutes after her husband had opened the door and stepped out of the house, four Indians rushed in, while the fifth, as she afterward found out, was in pur- suit of her husband. Herself and children were in bed when the Indians entered the house. One of the Indians immediately made signs, by which she understood him to inquire how far was it to the next house. With an unusual presence of mind, knowing how important it would be to make the distance as far as possible, she raised both hands, first counting the fingers of one hand and then of the other, making a distance of eight miles. The Indians then signed to her that she must rise. She immediately got up, and as soon as she could dress herself commenced showing the Indians one article of clothing and then another, which pleased them very much, and in this way delayed them at the house nearly two hours. In the meantime, the Indian who had been in pursuit of her husband returned, with his hands stained with pokeberries, which he held up, and with some violent gestures and waving of his tomahawk, attempted to induce the belief that the stain on his hands was the blood of her husband, and that he had killed him. She was enabled at once to discover the deception, and instead of producing any alarm on her part, she was satisfied that her husband had escaped unin- jured.
After the savages had plundered the house of everything that they could conveniently carry off with them, they started taking Mrs. Daviess and her children, seven in number, as prisoners, along with them. Some of the children were too young to travel as fast as the Indians wished, and discov- ering, as she believed, their intention to kill such of them as could not conveniently travel, she made the two oldest boys carry them on their backs. The Indians, in starting from the house, were very careful to leave no signs of the direction they had taken, not even permitting the children to break a twig or weed as they passed along. They had not gone far before an Indian drew his knife and cut off a few inches of Mrs. Daviess' dress, so that she could not be interrupted in traveling.
Mrs. Daviess was a woman of cool, deliberate courage, and accustomed to handle the gun so that she could shoot well, as many of the women were in the habit of doing in those days. She had contemplated, as a last resort,
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