USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky : from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 12
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In February of this year, the Indians made a sudden attack upon the settlements on Greene River, and the whites who escaped the first sur-
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BIG JOE LOGSTON.
prise took refuge in one of the forts, where they determined to remain until the savages re- tired.
Among those who formed the temporary gar- rison of the rude station, was a wild reckless fel- low, of great activity and daring, but not over honest, who was known to his companions as Big Joe Logston. This man, accustomed to a free roving life, could not long remain satisfied with a confinement so ill-suited to his previous habits, and after endeavouring, without success, to pre- vail upon others to accompany him for the pur- pose of hunting up cattle, he rode out alone into the forest. As all the cattle, which had not been killed by the Indians, had been frightened off to a distance beyond his hope of recovering them, Logston, toward the close of the day, con- cluded to return to the fort.
While riding carelessly along a path which led in that direction, the first intimation he had of danger was the sharp crack of two rifles, one on each side of his track. One of the balls grazed his breast, but without injuring the breast- bone; the other struck his horse behind the sad- dle, and he immediately fell. Logston was on his feet in an instant, with his rifle in his hands, and from his great activity might readily have escaped by flight; but this he was not disposed to do.
The moment the rifles were fired, an athletic
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Indian sprang toward Logston with his upraised tomahawk; but as soon as the latter presented his piece, the savage jumped behind two pretty large saplings at a small distance apart, neither of which being of sufficient size to entirely cover his body, he was compelled to keep darting rapidly from one to the other, to save himself from the effect of a steady and direct aim.
Perfectly conscious of having two enemies upon the ground, whose motions it was necessary to watch, Logston kept a keen look-out for the other, and by a quick glance of the eye, detected him behind a tree scarcely large enough to hide him. He was at that time rapidly loading his gun. While in the act of pushing down his bul- let he exposed his hips, and in an instant Log- ston fired and wounded him severely.
The other Indian immediately rushed at Log- ston with his raised tomahawk. They were well matched, for both were large men, and both dis- tinguished among their associates for strength
and activity. The Indian made a halt at the distance of fifteen or twenty feet, and threw his tomahawk with all his force ; Logston dodged it, and clubbing his gun, made at the Indian, think- ing to knock him down. The Indian, depending entirely on dodging, sprang into some brush or saplings to avoid the blow. At length Logston- whose rifle, from being repeatedly struck against the trees while aiming at the wary Indian, was
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DESPERATE STRUGGLE.
reduced to the naked barrel-made a side blow with such force, that, again missing the Indian, the barrel flew out of his hands and beyond his reach.
The Indian now gave an exulting cry, and sprang at him with all the savage fury of which he was master. Neither of them had a weapon ; but the Indian, seeing Logston bleeding, thought he could throw him down and despatch him. In this he was mistaken. They seized each other, and a desperate struggle ensued. Logston could throw his antagonist upon the ground, but could not hold him there. The Indian, being naked with his hide oiled, had greatly the advantage in a ground scuffle, and would slide out of Logston's grasp and rise.
After throwing him five or six times, Logston found, between violent exertions and loss of blood, he was getting exhausted, and that he must change his mode of warfare, or lose his scalp, which he was not yet willing to spare.
He threw his opponent again, and without at- tempting to hold him, jumped from him, and as he rose, aimed a fist blow at his head, which knocked him down again. Each time the savage attempted to regain his feet, Logston gave him a powerful blow, and each time his antagonist re- covered himself more slowly. Logston at length succeeded in striking him with great force under
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
the ear, and the Indian fell, as the sturdy borderer thought, pretty nearly dead.
Bending down to grasp his neck, Logston soon discovered that the Indian was so far sensible that he was stealthily using the fingers of his right hand in an effort to unsheath a knife that hung at his belt. The knife was short, and so sunk within the sheath, that it was necessary to force up the handle by pressing against the point. This the Indian was endeavouring to effect, and with good success. Logston, keeping his eye on it, permitted the savage to work the handle out, when he suddenly grasped it, jerked it from the sheath, and sank it up to the hilt in the Indian's breast, who gave a deep groan and expired.
Logston now thought of the other Indian, and not knowing to what extent he was wounded or crippled, proceeded cautiously in search of him. He found him with his back broken, and propped against a log. Severely wounded as he was, he had succeeded in loading his gun, and tried seve- ral times to raise it for the purpose of shooting Logston, but at each effort he would fall forward, and had to push against his gun to raise himself again.
Feeling already much fatigued, and not wish- ing to expose himself to the effects of a chance shot from an enemy already too much disabled to escape, Logston returned to the fort. When he reached there, he was covered with dirt and blood
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SAVAGE HEROISM.
from head to foot, and as his companions, seeing the wretched plight in which he was, refused to credit his story, he told them to sally out and judge for themselves.
The next morning a strong party set out for the battle-ground. At first they could discover nothing but the dead horse. At length they found a trail, as if something had been dragged away. On tracing it, they came upon the body of the larger Indian, at a little distance, beside a log, and covered up with leaves. Still pursuing the trail, which was not now so plain, they found "the wounded Indian lying on his back, with his own knife sticking in his body, just below the breast-bone, evidently to show that he had killed himself, and had not come to his death by the hand of an enemy. They had a long search be- fore they found the knife with which Logston had killed the larger Indian. They at length discovered it forced into the ground, apparently by the weight of a person's heel. This had been done by the crippled Indian. The great efforts he must have made, alone, and under circum- stances of extraordinary agony, show to what a height of savage heroism the Indian character sometimes rose.
Though more strictly belonging to the history of Tennessee, the famous Nickajack expedition cannot be passed without mention, from the num- ber of Kentuckians who were engaged in it.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Early in the summer of this year, the Indians · committed so many outrages upon persons and property in West Tennessee, that the settlers in that region, being weak and few, petitioned their neighbours of Kentucky for assistance.
Placing entire confidence in Captain William Whitley, they requested him to bring with him a party, and take the command of an expedition against the Nickajack towns.
He accordingly raised one hundred volunteers, and, marching to the place of rendezvous, found Colonel Orr already there, with five hundred men. Upon a vote being taken, with the consent of Orr, Whitley was elected commander, though the men, to entitle them to receive pay for their services, were mustered under the name of Orr.
Each man was equipped, and ready to march at a minute's warning. Fifteen miles of the in- tended route were over mountains, and these were to be crossed in the night.
This is the first time that mounted horse artil- lery is recollected to have been used. Whitley, now colonel by the authority of his troops, had mounted a swivel on his own riding horse, so that he could wheel and fire in any direction he pleased. The balls were of wrought iron, of which he took with him twenty or thirty for use on this occasion.
In the mountains the way was so difficult, that some perplexity was likely to ensue, as the
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WHITLEY'S EXPEDITION.
· war-path was but small, and often eluded the guides.
In order to accomplish the surprise of the enemy, which was a matter of the utmost im- portance, it was necessary to cross the last moun- tain before day, and cover the party, in its approach to the town, with the brushy forest of the plain.
A moment's reflection suggested the means of relief. Colonel Whitley ordered light-wood knots of resinous pine to be collected, and a torch thus made, to be carried at the head of each company. Before sunrise next morning the town was sur- rounded and assailed ; fifty Indians were killed, nineteen taken prisoners, and the place laid in ' ruins.
Taking with him a detachment of twenty men, Whitley proceeded toward the Running Water town, but was stopped by a party of Indians, who met him boldly, and attacked, at the beat of the drum. Two Indians were killed, and the rest, being hard pressed, fled.
Some papers, taken from parties who, while travelling in Kentucky, had been defeated by the Indians, were recovered. Among these were some which had belonged to a Dunkard, whom a gang of white robbers, under one Middleton, had previously been charged with having mur- dered. The articles of plunder found in the towns showed that the punishment the savages
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
had received was well deserved; as among other articles recovered were white men's shirts with bullet holes through them.
After the return of this expedition, Whitley engaged in no further enterprises until the fall of the year, when he arranged with General Lo- gan to raise another body of men, and cut off the balance of the hostile towns on the Tennessee River, and thus put an end to the war.
Owing to the increasing prospect of a general peace, Logan failed to attend at the rendezvous. This, however, was unknown to Whitley, who proceeded to comply with his engagement. When he reached the settlements on Holston, he found the people friendly and hospitable; but Gover- nor Blount, who was desirous of bringing about a peace by less stringent means, forbade his pro- ceeding, and threatened to give intelligence to the Indians.
Whitley, however, was not to be restrained from keeping his word. He procured canoes, descended the river, and lying concealed during the day, travelled only at night. Reaching with- in due time the place appointed for rendezvous, he waited there three days for Logan, and then took up his march for home overland. His route for one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles lay through a mountainous and broken wilder- ness, the whole of which had to be traversed on foot. His party, which, including himself, con-
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RECLAMATION OF NEGROES.
sisted of eleven men, soon found their little pro- vision exhausted. As the signs of Indians were abundant, they were prevented from hunting, and in consequence suffered greatly from hunger. They at length reached home, after having lived for three days, during their perilous journey, on the flesh of one raccoon.
Soon after peace was proclaimed, and before the war feeling had generally subsided, Whitley , went to the southern towns to reclaim some ne- groes that had been taken in the contest.
When he reached Watts's town, a half-breed by the name of Jack Taylor, who spoke English, and acted as interpreter-if he did not intend to pro- cure Whitley's death-at least determined to in- timidate him. The Indians being assembled, Whitley had no sooner declared the purpose of his visit, than Taylor told him he could not get the negroes. Taking a bell that was at hand, he tied it by a string round his waist, then seizing a drum, and beating and ringing with all his might, he raised the war-whoop.
Whitley afterward said, when telling the story, " I thought the times were squally. I looked at Otter Lifter: he had told me I should not be killed. I thought him a man of honour. His countenance remained unchanged, and I kept my own." At this time the Indians gathered about him armed, but fired their guns in the air, to his very great relief. The interpreter, Jack Taylor,
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
finding Whitley could not be frightened away, and that he renewed his demand for the negroes, replied, that he could not get them; they were under the protection of the United States ; " and your law say, prove your property." Whitley told him he would go home and bring a thousand witnesses, with every man his gun to swear by. " Ugh," replied Jack, "too many ! too many !" After a pause he added, there were three white prisoners, two girls and a boy, that would be . given up; but the negroes could not, until the Little Turkey, a principal chief, returned.
When the latter came back, which was in a day or two, he summoned the chiefs to meet him at Turkey town, and it was there decided to sur- render the negroes to Whitley, without troubling him to prove his property by the rifle.
Otter Lifter, on whose word Whitley had re- posed with so much confidence, was a remarkable man. He had raised himself to renown as a war- rior without ever having killed women, or children, or prisoners. His friend, his word, and his rifle were all he cared for. He said the Great Spirit, when he made all the rest of the animals, created men to kill and eat them, lest they should con- sume all the grass ; that to keep men from being proud he suffered them to die also, or to kill one another and make food for worms: that life and death were two warriors always fighting; with which the Great Spirit amused himself.
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WILLIAM WHITLEY.
The veteran pioneer, William Whitley, of whom the previous incidents have been recorded, was born in August, 1749, in Augusta county, Vir- ginia. He was among the very first settlers of the then almost unknown region called Kentucky. In 1775, having married Esther Fuller, and com- menced housekeeping in an humble way, with health and labour to season his bread, he told his wife he had heard a fine report of Kentucky, and he thought they could get their living there with less hard work. Her reply was, "Then, Billy, if I was you, I would go and see." In two days he was on his way, with axe and plough, and gun and kettle.
As the scenes witnessed by him are similar to those witnessed by others, the details are unne- cessary. Suffice it to say, he was in the expedi- tions of Bowman and Clark, and after passing an eventful life, which was rewarded by an inde- pendent fortune, he fell in the sixty-fifth year of his age at the battle of the Thames, while fight- ing as a private soldier in the ranks of the Ken- tucky militia. There is no monument raised to the memory of the brave and gallant patriot, William Whitley ; but the state has honoured the good old pioneer by giving his name to one of her counties.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
CHAPTER XVI.
Final ratification of the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States-Spain agrees to grant the navigation of the Mississippi-Intrigues with Kentucky-Power, the Spa- nish agent, confers with Judge Sebastian-Baron Caron- delet's proposition-Views of Sebastian, Innis, and Nicholas -Power visits General Wilkinson at Detroit- His reception -Reply of Wilkinson-Views of Sebastian-Power's own opinion-Power sent to Fort Massac under an escort- Reaches New Madrid-Subsequent revelation concerning Sebastian-Adams elected President of the United States- His unpopularity in Kentucky-Meeting of the legislature- Proposition to revise the constitution-Votes for and against a convention-Decision of the legislature.
LATE in the year 1794, the long-pending treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, be- tween the United States and Great Britain, was signed at London. On the 7th of March, 1795, it was received at the office of the secretary of state in Philadelphia, and was ratified soon after by the president. and senate. The surrender of the north-western posts, so long withheld by the British until their own commercial claims should be adjusted, followed as a matter of course; and the Indians, no longer protected by the power of their ancient ally, had neither the inclination to commence a war, nor the ability to successfully sustain one. Peace, therefore, continued for a
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SPANISH INTRIGUES.
long time among the north-western tribes, while the progress of Kentucky, both in population and wealth, was steady and uninterrupted.
To add to the gratification of the Kentuckians, the treaty with Spain, which had been for some time in the course of negotiation, ended in set- tling satisfactorily the long-disputed questions of the Spanish boundaries, and the navigation of the Mississippi.
By this treaty, Spain ceded to the United States the right to navigate the Mississippi to the ocean together with a right of deposit at New Orleans, for three years, at the end of which period, either this privilege was to be continued, or an equiva- lent establishment was to be assigned them at some other convenient point on the bank of the lower Mississippi.
But while this negotiation with Spain was pending, Carondelet, the Spanish governor at New Orleans, sought by various ways to detach Kentucky from the Union. In July, 1795, he sent a certain Thomas Power to Kentucky, with a letter to Benjamin Sebastian, then a judge of the court of appeals. In this communication, Carondelet expressed the willingness of his Ca- tholic majesty to open the Mississippi to the western country, and requested Sebastian to have agents chosen by the people of Kentucky to negotiate a treaty upon that and other matters. These delegates were directed to meet Colonel
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Gayoso at New Madrid, for the purpose of adjust- ing the provisions of the treaty.
Sebastian, having shown this letter to Judge Innis, George Nicholas, and William Murray, they all agreed that Sebastian should meet Gay- oso at New Madrid, and hear what he had to propose.
The meeting accordingly took place, and the outline of a treaty was agreed upon ; but intel- ligence of the treaty concluded between Spain and the United States being received nearly about the same time, the negotiation was broken off, though much to the dissatisfaction of Sebas- tian.
That several persons, high in authority in Ken- tucky, were at this period, and had been for seve- ral years, partisans and pensioners of Spain, scarcely admits of a doubt.
The year previous to this, six thousand dol- lars were sent to General Wilkinson from New Orleans, on board of a public galley. The charge of this money was intrusted to Captain Richard Owens, a gentleman of broken fortune, whose residence in Kentucky was near that of Judge Innis. The latter, who had on other occasions furnished Wilkinson with agents for Spanish in- tercourse, on this recommended Owens for that service.
When the galley reached the mouth of the Ohio River, the money was taken from it and
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WILKINSON A SPANISH PENSIONER.
placed on board another, in which Captain Owens embarked with six Spanish sailors. A few days afterward, Owens was robbed and murdered by his crew. One of the company, who had refused to participate in the act, fled to New Madrid, and impeached his companions. Three of the mur- derers being shortly afterward arrested in the neighbourhood of Frankfort, they were taken before Judge Innis. When he ascertained who · they were, he refused to try them, on the plea of their being Spanish subjects. Notwithstand- ing the crime had been committed within his ju- risdiction, he committed them to the care of his brother-in-law, Charles Smith, who, on deliver- ing them to General Wilkinson at Fort Wash- ington, Cincinnati, was directed to convey them to some Spanish officer on the Mississippi, as it was not expedient to make the matter public.
At the time Owens received the six thousand dollars, another instalment of six thousand three hundred and thirty-three dollars was delivered to Captain Collins, also one of Wilkinson's agents. This money was conveyed by sea to New York, and reached Wilkinson in 1795. A further sum of six thousand five hundred and ninety dollars, Wilkinson told General Adair, had been delivered for him at New Orleans, a part of which he had received, and expected the remainder.
The ratification of the treaty, although it checked for a brief season the prosecution of
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Spanish intrigues in the West, did not by any means discourage the Spanish partisans from holding out to the court of Madrid great hopes that Kentucky and the territory of the great west would at no very distant day withdraw from the federal union, and form an independent govern- ment. The nucleus of all these schemes and visionary expectations was in Kentucky.
In 1797, while Andrew Ellicott, as commissioner on the part of the United States, was waiting patiently for the co-operation of the Spanish au- thorities to commence the survey of the boundary line, those very authorities, by means of their agents among the southern Indians, were stimu- lating the latter to throw obstacles in the way of the surveyors. They went still further. Power, the former agent of Carondelet, appeared in Louisville, bearing a letter to Sebastian, and a request that he would communicate its contents to Innis, Nicholas, and Murray. Sebastian de- clined any intercourse with the latter, but showed the letter to Judge Innis.
The suggestions contained in the despatch were, that the gentlemen already named should attempt, by a series of well-written publications, to influence the public mind to consider favour- ably a project of withdrawal from the Atlantic states.
They were to expose, in the most striking point of view, the inconveniences and disadvantages
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TRAITORS ENCOURAGED BY SPAIN.
arising from a connection with the Eastern states ; while the benefits to be reaped from a secession were to be pointed out in the most forcible and powerful manner. The danger of permitting the federal troops to take possession of the posts on the Mississippi, and thus forming a cordon of fortified places around them, was also to be par- ticularly expatiated upon.
In consideration of gentlemen devoting their time and talents to this object, Carondelet pro- posed to appropriate one hundred thousand dol- lars to their use, to be paid by drafts on the treasury at New Orleans, or conveyed into Ken- tucky at the expense of his Catholic majesty. As a further inducement to embark in this scheme, Carondelet agreed to guaranty to any persons who might lose their offices in consequence of their advocating secession, a compensation equal at least to the emoluments of their office, let their efforts be crowned with success, or terminate in disappointment.
As soon as independence was declared, it was proposed that Fort Massac should be taken pos- session of by the troops of the new government ; Spain undertaking to furnish the fort with twenty field-pieces, all the arms and ammunition necessary for the use of the garrison, and to ap- propriate the sum of one hundred thousand dol- lars to be delivered at Fort Massac, and expended in the raising and maintaining the troops.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
The boundary lines which were to separate the new western government from that of Spain were likewise strictly defined by the same instru- ment, in which, by subsequent clauses, Spain agreed to assist in defending and supporting the independence of its new ally, and to co-operate in reducing the Indians upon its borders. Such were the outlines of the provisional treaty sent by Governor Carondelet to Judge Sebastian, by the hands of the Spanish agent, Power.
This shameful proposition, coming from a na- tion which had just sealed and ratified a formal treaty with the United States, was received by Sebastian without a single expression of indigna- tion or abhorrence.
Innis long subsequently stated under oath, that when the document was submitted to him for perusal, he observed to Sebastian that it was a dangerous project, and one which ought not to be countenanced, inasmuch as the western people had now obtained the navigation of the Missis- sippi River, by which all their wishes were grati- fied. He then goes on to say :-
" Mr. Sebastian concurred with me in senti- . ment, but observed, that Power wished a written answer, and requested me to see Colonel Nicholas, saying, that whatever we did he would concur in."
Innis afterward acknowledges that he saw Nicholas, who wrote a firm and decided refusal to the overtures of Spain, in which they jointly
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SPANISH INTRIGUES. -
declared, that they would not be concerned, either directly or indirectly, in any attempt that might be made to separate the western country from the United States. This letter was signed both by Innis and Nicholas, and delivered to Power through the medium of Judge Sebastian. But the transaction was kept an entire secret, both from the state and general government.
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