USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 1 > Part 32
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He was vigorously prosecuted by Walker Daniel, the Commonwealth's attorney, in person.
From this time on, no one had the temerity to question the right of Virginia to sell her lands, and make good and valid title thereto. The
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SKETCH OF BLAND BALLARD.
office of deputy register, which had been authorized, was now filled, for the reception of plats and certificates of surveys, in- stead of sending them to the Virginia capital.
This year Judge Harry Innes was elected by the Legislature of Virginia one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Dis- trict of Kentucky, and on the 3d of No- vember he entered on the duties of his office at the newly-built court-house, at Danville, in conjunction with Caleb Wal- lace and Samuel McDowell.
Squire Boone was now a member of the Virginia Legislature, and rather than leave his family in the exposed situation at his station, two miles north of Shelby- ville, it was transferred to Colonel Lynch, MAJOR BLAND BALLARD. and afterward known as Lynch's station. Captain Tyler and Bland Bal- lard, Sr., built a station on Tick creek, four miles east of Shelbyville, known afterward as Tyler's station. Owen's station was built near Shelbyville, by Bracket Owen, father of the gallant Colonel Abraham Owen, who fell in the battle of Tippecanoe. Whitaker's and Wells' stations were constructed about this time also, the former at the site of the farm of A. P. Carothers, and the latter nearly four miles north-west of Shelbyville, on the Shackelford place.
These settlements became important nuclei, about which gathered an enterprising and daring population. Among the foresters and Indian-fight- ers who became pre-eminent with Boone, Kenton, and others, was Bland Ballard, Jr., the son of the elder Ballard, who had recently settled at Tyler's. station. He was born at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1761, and died in Shelby county, in 1853, ninety-two years of age. The history of Kentucky is incomplete without a sketch of his life and character, as given in the biographical reminiscences of the day.
From Collins' sketch we learn that :1 " He came to Kentucky in 1779, when eighteen years old ; joined the militia ; served in Colonel Bowman's expedition, May, 1779; in General Clark's expedition against the Piqua towns, July, 1780, where he was dangerously wounded in the hip, and suffered from it until his death ; in General Clark's expedition, November, 1782, against the same towns; in 1786, was a spy for General Clark, in the Wabash expedition, rendered abortive by mutiny of the soldiers; in 1791, was a guide under Generals Scott and Wilkinson ; and August 20, 1794, was with General Wayne at the battle of the ' Fallen Timbers.'
" When not engaged in regular campaign, he served as hunter and spy for General Clark, who was stationed at Louisville, and in this service he continued for two years and a half. During this time he had several ren-
1 Collins, Vol. II., p. 710.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
, counters with the Indians. One of these occurred just below Louisville. He had been sent in his character of spy to explore the Ohio from the mouth of Salt river to the Falls, and from thence up to what is now the town of Westport. On his way down the river, when six or eight miles below the Falls, he heard, early one morning, a noise on the Indiana shore. He immediately concealed himself in the bushes, and when the fog had scattered sufficiently to permit him to see, he discovered a canoe filled with three Indians, approaching the Kentucky shore. When they had ap- proached within range, he fired and killed one. The others jumped over- board, and endeavored to get their canoe into deep water, but before they succeeded, he killed a second, and finally the third. Upon reporting his morning's work to General Clark, a detachment was sent down, who found the three dead Indians and buried them. For this service General Clark gave him a linen shirt, and some other small presents. This shirt, however, was the only one he had for several years, except those made of leather ; of this shirt the pioneer hero was, doubtless, justly proud.
"While on a scout to the Saline Licks, on one occasion, Ballard, with one companion, came suddenly upon a large body of Indians, just as they were in the act of encamping. They immediately charged, firing their guns and raising the yell. This induced the Indians, as they had antici- pated, to disperse for the moment, until the strength of the assailing party could be ascertained. During this period of alarm, Ballard and his com- panion mounted two of the best horses they could find, and retreated for two days and nights, until they reached the Ohio, which they crossed upon a raft, making their horses swim. As they ascended the Kentucky bank, the Indians reached the opposite shore.
" At the time of the defeat on Long Run, he was living at Linn's station on Beargrass, and came up to assist some families in moving from Squire Boone's station, near the present town of Shelbyville. The people of this station had become alarmed on account of the numerous Indian signs in the country, and had determined to move to the stronger stations on the Beargrass. They proceeded safely until they arrived near Long Run, when they were attacked front and rear by the Indians, who fired their rifles and then rushed on them with their tomahawks. Some few of the men ran at the first fire ; of the others, some succeeded in saving part of their families. or died with them after a brave resistance. The subject of this sketch. after assisting several of the women on horseback who had been thrown at the first onset, during which he had one or two single-handed combats with the Indians, and seeing the party about to be defeated, succeeded in getting outside of the Indian line, when he used his rifle with some effect, until he saw they were totally defeated. He then started for the station, pursued by the Indians, and on stopping at Floyd's Fork, in the bushes, on the bank, he saw an Indian on horseback pursuing the fugitives ride into the creek, and as he ascended the bank near to where Ballard stood, he
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BALLARD'S EXPLOITS.
shot the Indian, caught the horse and made good his escape to the station. Many were killed, the number not recollected, some taken prisoners, and some escaped to the station. They afterwards learned from the prisoners taken on this occasion, that the Indians who attacked them were marching to attack Squire Boone's station, but learning from their spies that they were moving, the Indians turned from the head of Bullskin and marched in the direction of Long Run. The news of this defeat induced Colonel Floyd to raise a party of thirty-seven men, with the intention of chastising the Indians. Floyd commanded one division and Captain Holden the other, Ballard being with the latter. They proceeded with great caution, but did not discover the Indians until they received their fire, which killed or mortally wounded sixteen of their men. Notwithstanding the loss. the ' party under Floyd maintained their ground, and fought bravely until over- powered by three times their number, who appealed to the tomahawk. The retreat, however, was completed without much further loss. This occasion has been rendered memorable by the magnanimous gallantry of young Wells, afterward the Colonel Wells of Tippecanoe, who saved the life of Floyd.
"In 1788, the Indians attacked the little fort on Tick creek, a few miles east of Shelbyville, where his father resided. It happened that his father had removed a short distance out of the fort, for the purpose of being convenient to the sugar-camp. The first intimation they had of the Indians was early in the morning, when his brother Benjamin went out to get wood to make a fire. They shot him and then assailed the house. The inmates barred the door and prepared for defense. His father was the only man in the house, and no man in the fort, except the subject of this sketch and one old man. As soon as he heard the guns he repaired to within shooting distance of his father's house, but dared not venture nearer. Here he commenced using his rifle with good effect. In the meantime, the Indians broke open the house and killed his father, not before, however, he had killed one or two of their number. The Indians, also, killed one full sister, one half-sister, his step-mother, and tomahawked the youngest sister, a child, who recovered. When the Indians broke into the house, his step- mother endeavored to effect her escape by the back door, but an Indian pursued her and as he raised his tomahawk to strike her, the subject of this sketch fired at the Indian, not. however, in time to prevent the fatal blow, and they both fell and expired together. The Indians were supposed to number about fifteen, and before they completed their work of death, they sustained a loss of six or seven.
"During the period he was spy for General Clark, he was taken prisoner by five Indians on the other side of the Ohio, a few miles above Louisville, and conducted to an encampment twenty-five miles from the river. The Indians treated him comparatively well, for though they kept him with a guard they did not tie him. On the next day after his arrival at the
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
encampment, the Indians were engaged in horse-racing. In the evening. two very old warriors were to have a race, which attracted the attention of all the Indians, and his guard left him a few steps to see how the race would terminate. Near him stood a fine black horse, which the Indians had stolen recently from Beargrass, and, while the attention of the Indians was at- tracted in a different direction, Ballard mounted this horse and had a race indeed. They pursued him nearly to the river, but he escaped, though the horse died soon after he reached the station. This was the only instance, with the exception of that at the river Raisin, that he was a prisoner.
"In after life, Major Ballard repeatedly represented the people of Shelby county in the Legislature, and commanded a company in Colonel Allen's `regiment. under General Harrison. in the campaign of 1812-13. He led the advance of the detachment, which fought the first battle of the river Raisin-was wounded slightly on that day, and severely by a spent ball on the 22d of January. This wound also continued to annoy his old age. On this disastrous occasion he was taken prisoner, and suffered severely by the march through snow and ice from Malden to Fort George.
" As an evidence of the difficulties which surrounded the early pioneer in this country, it may be proper to notice an occasion in which Major Ballard was disturbed by the Indians at the spot where he then resided. They stole his only horse at night. He heard them when they took the horse from the door to which he was tied. His energy and sagacity was such that he got in advance of the Indians before they reached the Ohio, waylaid them, three in number, shot the one riding his horse, and suc- ceeded not only in escaping, but in catching the horse and riding back in safety.
"A ludicrous incident of the year happened: Three men left Harrod's station to search for horses which had strayed off. They pursued the trail through the rich peavine and cane for some miles. Frequently they saw signs of Indians in their vicinity; hence, moved with cautious steps. They continued the search until darkness and a cold rain drove them to take shelter in an old deserted log-cabin, thickly surrounded by cane and matted over with grapevines. They determined not to strike a fire, as the Indians knew the location of the cabin, and, like themselves, might seek its friendly shelter and dispute their right to possession. They concluded to ascend into the loft of the cabin, the floor of which was clap-boards, resting upon round poles. In their novel possession, they lay down quietly, side by side, each man holding his trusty rifle in his arms. They had not been in this perilous position long when six well-armed Indians entered the cabin, placed their guns and other implements of war and hunting in a corner, struck a light. and began to make the usual demonstrations of joy on such occasions. One of our heroes, determining to know the number of the Indians-he was the middle man of the three, and lying on his back-as hilarity and mirth grew noisier, attempted to turn over and get a peep at things below. His com-
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DEATH OF COLONEL FLOYD.
rades held him to keep him from turning over. In the struggle, one of the poles broke, and, with a tremendous crash. the clap-boards and the men fell into the midst of the affrighted Indians, who, with a yell of terror, fled from the house, leaving their guns, and never returned. The scarcely less terrified whites remained in quiet possession of the cabin, and in the morning re- turned to the station with their trophies. Whenever the three heroes met in after life, they laughed immoderately over their strange deliverance, and what they called the . battle of the boards.'"
1 Willis Green wrote to Governor Harrison, August 21, 1784: "About ten days ago Walker Daniel, Esq., attorney-general, was unfortunately mur- dered by the Indians as he was passing from Louisville to the salt works," and then enlarges upon the great loss to the country by the sad event, and urges the appointment of a successor as soon as possible.
A most untimely and lamented death of a veteran pioneer cast a shadow of grief over many hearts. On the 12th of April, Colonel John Floyd and his brother Charles, unsuspicious of danger from Indians. were riding to- gether some miles from Floyd's station, when they were fired upon by a straggling band, and the former mortally wounded. He was dressed in his wedding-coat of scarlet. and made a conspicuous mark. His brother, aban- doning his own horse, which was badly wounded, sprang up behind the saddle, and, putting his arms around the wounded colonel, took the reins and bore him off to his home, where he died in a few hours. Colonel Floyd had a favorite horse, which he usually rode, and which had the remarkable instinct of scenting or discovering the proximity of Indians, and always gave to his rider the sign of their presence. He remarked to his brother, "Charles, if I had been riding Pompey to-day, this would not have hap- pened." The loss of no citizen could have been more sorely felt. 2
History has chronicled but comparatively few of the fatal and destructive casualties which make up the long death-roll of the martyrs to savage cruelty and atrocity in Kentucky from 1775 to the close of 1782. It would but burden its pages with harrowing recitals, if all such incidents had been recorded for the pen of description. We recount the few to illustrate the character and life of an epoch of thrilling interest, and bury the great ma- jority in that oblivion which obscures to memory even the names and heroic deeds and sufferings of these comrades who have passed to their reward. As a vivid picture of the destructive mortality in the frequent and deadly life- for-life encounters with the relentless savage foe, Captain Nathaniel Hart, of Woodford county, wrote, as late as 1840: "I went with my mother in January, 1783, to Logan's station, to prove my father's will. He was slain in July previous. Twenty armed men were of the party. Twenty-three widows were in attendance upon the court to obtain letters of administration on the estates of their husbands, who had been killed during the past year." This makes no mention of the larger number killed who had no widows or
1 Virginia Calendar. 2 Collins, Vol. Il., p. 239.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
no estates to be administered on. In 1781 alone, over one hundred men, women, and children were slain within half a day's ride of Louisville.
The following account of a fight between a wild-cat and a school-master pictures the dangers from other than Indians: 1" In 1783, Lexington was only a cluster of cabins, one of which, near the spot where the court-house now stands, was used as a school-house. One morning in May, Mckinney, the teacher, was sitting alone at his desk, busily engaged in writing, when, hearing a slight noise at the door, he turned his head, and beheld an enor- mous cat, with her fore-foot upon the step of the door, her tail curled over her back, her bristles erect, and her eyes glancing rapidly through the room, as if in search of prey.
"Mckinney's position at first completely concealed him, but a slight and involuntary motion of his chair, at the sight of this shaggy inhabitant of the forest, attracted puss' attention, and their eyes met. Seeing his danger, Mckinney hastily arose and attempted to snatch a cylindrical rule from a table which stood within reach, but the cat was too quick for him.
"Darting upon him with the proverbial activity of her tribe, she fastened upon his side with her teeth, and began to rend and tear with her claws like fury. Mckinney's clothes were in an instant torn from his side, and his flesh dreadfully mangled by the enraged animal, whose strength and ferocity filled him with astonishment. He in vain attempted to disengage her from his side. Her long, sharp teeth were fastened between his ribs, and his efforts served but to enrage her the more. Seeing his blood flow very copi- ously from the numerous wounds in his side, he became seriously alarmed, and, not knowing what else to do, he threw himself upon the edge of the table, and pressed her against the sharp corner with the whole weight of his body.
"The cat now began to utter the most angry and discordant cries, and Mckinney at the same time lifting up his voice in concert, the two together sent forth notes so doleful as to alarm the whole town. Women, who are always the first in hearing or spreading news, were now the first to come to Mckinney's assistance. The boldest of them rushed in, and, seeing McKin- ney bending over the corner of the table and writhing his body as if in great pain, she at first supposed that he was laboring under a severe fit of the colic; but quickly perceiving the cat, which was now in the agonies of death, she screamed out, 'Why, good heaven! Mr. Mckinney, what is the matter?'
" 'I have caught a cat, madam,' replied he, gravely turning around. the sweat streaming from his face, under the mingled operation of fright and fatigue and agony. Most of the neighbors had now arrived, and attempted to disengage the dead cat from her antagonist, but so firmly were her tusks locked between his ribs that this was a work of no small difficulty. Scarcely had it been effected when Mckinney became very sick, and was compelled
I McClung, p. 169.
1 ...
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IN A STATE OF SUSPENSE.
to go to bed. In a few days, however, he had entirely recovered, and so late as 1820 was alive and a resident of Bourbon county, Kentucky, where he has often been heard to affirm that he, at any time, had rather fight two Indians than one wild-cat."
Though the preliminary articles for peace were signed in November, 1782, the definitive treaty was not signed until September, 1783. These final stipulations were not ratified by the governments until May, 1784. thus holding in suspense the anxious public for eighteen months. The British forts south of the lakes were to be surrendered to the authority of the United States by the terms of the treaty, which was a consummation earn- estly wished for, as a means of restraint against further Indian hostilities from that quarter. 1 Unhappily, mutual complaints of infractions of the treaty stipulations postponed the execution of this provision. There was much irritable crimination on both sides.
The Legislature of Virginia suspended the collection of debts within her jurisdiction by British subjects, while the English stubbornly refused to give up the forts. The Indians, seeing these frontier fortifications, the evidences of power reserved, in the hands of their old allies, concluded that they could rely on their protection against the Americans.
This was but too readily given by the agents and subjects of Britain, especially by those interested in a monopoly of the fur trade. It is but the part of candor to admit that the Kentuckians gave cause of provocation to the red men. There were many citizens who cherished the bitterest re- venges for horrible wrongs done them, as may be found among frontiersmen always who have been subjected to savage warfare. Then there were law- less and desperate characters among the whites, the refuse of disbanded armies, who were ever ready for deeds of violence and spoliation against the Indians, for which they well knew no punishment would be inflicted in the prejudiced state of public sentiment. These irritating and inciting causes were only too sure to find a vent in renewed acts of mutual outrage and bloodshed. Amicable relations gradually ceased, confidence was lost, friendly intercourse abated, and retaliation became the common appeal. The renewal of hostilities was soon lighted up along the borders, and the tragedies of old were in store for the future.
Until this year, 1784. that portion of Kentucky north of Licking, which attracted much attention from the earliest visitors, and of which Mason county was the central part, had been mainly abandoned, on account of the dangers from its contiguity to the tribes on the Scioto and Miami rivers. This was the section which first enraptured Simon Kenton and a number of comrades. The scarred veteran, yet in the flush and prime of stalwart youth, availed of the first opportunity of relaxation and safety, after nine years of forced abandonment, to return and repossess himself of his old improvements at Washington, at the head of Lawrence creek. made in
I Marshall, Vol. I., pp. 163-188.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
1775.1 He commanded a company of scouts, and piloted Clark's army in 1782, in the expedition against Chillicothe; and on the disbandment of the troops at the mouth of Licking, he returned to Harrodstown and gave attention to the settlements of some lands on Salt river until the fall of 1783. He determined to visit again his aged father and kindred, and. after thirteen years' absence, to behold once more the scenes and com- panions of his boyhood days. The meetings were joyful, for they had long mourned him as dead. All seemed like a bewildering dream to him, as he contrasted the orderly quiet of the peaceful community with his boisterous and eventful manhood, storm-beaten through the fierce foray of battle, the grim gauntlet. the remorseless stake, and the wild war-whoop, so familiar to his mind. He was kindly received by Veach and his wife, his old rival and sweetheart. and both the old feud and the old flame were forgotten in the friendly greetings.
Kenton gathered up his venerable father and family, whom he had per- suaded to return with him to find a new home in his Kentucky paradise, and started westward. At Redstone fort, his father sickened and died, and on the winding banks of the Monongahela he laid to rest his venerated remains, where no marble or inscription now marks the repose of the dust of the ancestor of the great pioneer.
In the midst of dangers from Indian incursions, he built some block- houses late in the fall of 1784, at the old Washington site, which became the nucleus for quite a settlement of families in that vicinity by the spring of 1785. In 1786, he sold to Fox & Wood, for a mere nominal sum, one thousand acres, on which they laid out the town of Washington. Old Ned Waller had settled on the site of Maysville the year previous, and these became the rival towns of importance in that part of Kentucky, Maysville being known for years after as Limestone.
2 As early as 1781, Virginia, actuated by that sentiment of magnanimity and patriotism that ever distinguished her, had offered to the acceptance of Congress, for the common good of the confederated Union, all the north- west territory comprehended within her royal charter. This she had gallantly won by the prowess of her sons, under the lead of the heroic Clark, from the Ohio to the Canada line, and westward to the Mississippi. She secured all the rights of certain individuals acquired, the payment of the expenses of conquest. and the erection of new republican States. The terms were this year acceded to, and a formal deed of transfer was made and executed by her representation in 1784. As Marshall eloquently says: "Thus, while emperors, kings, and potentates of the earth fight. de- vastate, and conquer for territory and dominion, the great State of Virginia peacefully and unconstrained made a gratuitous donation to the common stock of the Union of a country over which she had proposed to erect ten new States, as future members of the confederation. And to her honor be
& Collins, Vol. II., p. 450.
2 Marshall, Vol. I., p. 160.
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THE DIVISION OF VIRGINIA.
it remembered, that the favorable change which took place in the state of public affairs, from a doubtful contest to acknowledged independence, tainted not the purity of her motive, shook not the firmness of her pur- pose, nor varied the object of her policy. She conceded the right of dominion, while Kentucky remained her most remote frontier, and the Ohio, instead of the Mississippi. her north-western boundary. But she had magnified herself and secured her peace in the Union, on which she re- lied, as on her own arm, for its protection and durability."
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