USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky : including an account of the discovery, settlement, progressive improvement, political and military events, and present state of the country > Part 7
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In the mean time, other objects of great interest, de- mand our attention.
From the earliest settlements of Kentucky, her parent, Virginia, had been engaged in the high, and mighty contest with Great-Britain on the subject of certain taxes, imposed on the American colonists, without the consent of their local assemblies. In this attempt of the British parliament, to tax the people of the colonies, and which in effect affirmed a right to tax them in all cases ; the latter could but see the source of an evil, " bound- less in extent" as it was, " endless in duration :" and the more likely to be persisted in, and increased, as they were not represented in the parliament ; and as, in pro- portion to the burthen laid on them, it would be taken from the shoulders of those, who were represented in that Legislature. The first opposition to these alarming, and unconstitutional measures, was made in the form of remonstrance and petition. A war of words ensued ; which in 1775, terminated in blows.
And from that time a civil war with its attendant ho- rors, and devastation, had raged throughout the country.
The question to be decided, had assumed the most important issue, on which the parties could place it ; and stood before high heaven, for judgment, whether Britain should RULE, or America be FREE. In this
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}ituation, which called forth and employed, the best ta- Tents, and greatest energy, of Virginia, she was not in- attentive to Kentucky ; whose infant struggles she che- rished, and applauded, as exertions in the common cause, against a common enemy, who had associated with the Indians, on the whole extent of the western frontier. It is however to be acknowledged, that such was the pressure of the war on the atlantic side of the state, that Virginia, had but little more than her good will, and approbation to bestow ; accompanied by a cor- dial fellow feeling, for the difficulties, and distresses of Kentuckians, in effecting the early establishments, of the country. She might indeed, for a moment, at an early period of her own struggles, have thought that her strength was diminished, while her frontier was extend- ed, and the more exposed by the migration of her citi- zens, to the distant regions of Kentucky ; and that it was impolitic to encourage the dispersion of her effective force, to points so remote and defenceless; as those on the waters of Ohio.
But in proportion as individual interest, accumulated in the country, by the accession of numbers, it made its influence be felt in the atlantic part of the state. "And thè more readily, as Kentucky had a representation; on the Hoor of the Virginia Legislature.
'The firm, and manly stand, taken by the first emi- grants, having been maintained for three years, with but little assistance from the public purse, or military force of the state against the savages, instigated, and support- ed by the British in Canada ; it became obvious to the K
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Legislature of Virginia, that sound policy, concurring with the calls of Kentucky, required not only, that what had been possessed, should be maintained ; but that the enemy should be dislodged from the strong holds which they held in our neighborhood.
At that time the British government occupied not only 7. the military posts of Detroit, Niagara, &c. on the nor- thern Lakes ; but they also possessed St. Vincents, Kaskaskias, and other places, on the Wabash, and Mississippi. From these posts the Indians received supplies of arms, and ammunition ; by which aid, they were enabled to keep up the war ..
A recognition of those facts, connected with other oc- currences of the war, turned the attention of Virginia, to her western frontier. .
In the year 1777, the idea became familiar to the gov- ernment, that the greater number of these inimical posts, might be taken by a few state regiments-and that in addition to the brilliancy, and renoun of the enterprise, it would be securing to Virginia, the effect of her char- ter ; within the limits of which, the greater part, if not the whole of these posts, were known to be situated.
The idea of making conquests, so important to the future security of the western frontiers of Virginia, derived considerable vivacity from the animated repre- sentations of George Rogers Clark, who had been on the" Ohio in the preceding year ;' and whose active and en- terprising mind, stimulated by an ardent desire for mili -- tary fame, had prompted him to institute enquiries into the state of those objects, about which he had received
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very extensive information ; especially as to the more westwardly posts. This intelligence, which tended strongly to corroborate the public sentiment in favor of the premeditated enterprise, was freely circulated through Virginia.
In the end of 1777, or beginning of 1778, a regi- ment of state troops was voted for the service of the wes- tern frontier ; the command of which was given to Mr. Clark, with the title of Colonel. Between two and three hundred men were raised ; and with these Colo. Glark, took his departure from the atlantic, to the western part of the state ; secretly intending an expedition against the settlements and posts on the Mississippi. He de- scended the Monongahela, and Ohio, to the Falls of the latter river, where he halted a short time, to refresh his men ; and where he was joined by some volunteers from Kentucky. At this place he left thirteen families, who had descended the Ohio with him, and whose object was a permanent settlement in the country.
As well the state of the war, as the nature of the ex- pedition in which he was engaged, forbid his delay ; while his own sanguine anticipations of success, hurried him on to the destined object. From the Falls, he pro- ceeded with his regiment in boats, to a point on the Ohio about sixty miles from the mouth of that river; here he landed his men, and hid his boats. The rout from this place lay in a course somewhat to the north of west, through a low uncultivated country, covered with ponds. Colo. Clark, was not unacquainted with its geography, and at the head of his regiment he took up
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his line of march on foot, with his rifle in his hand, and his provision on his back. After wading the ponds. which they could not conveniently avoid, and sustaining. two day's march after their provisions were exhausted, they arrived by night, before the town of Kaskaskias. Here the Colonel formed his regiment, and was pleased. to find, after a short consultation, that his men were in fine spirits, and perfectly accorded with his opinion, that the town was to be taken " at all events." About two hundred and fifty houses composed the town of Kaskaskias ; which was sufficiently fortified, to have re- sisted with effect, a much more formidable enemy, had the garrison been apprised of its approach. But the dis- tance, from any known foe having forbidden all idea of danger among the inhabitants ; of course superceded all precaution against surprise.
And so secretly had Colo. Clark made his approaches, that his attack on the place, gave the first intelligence of his arrival. Not a scattering hunter had espied his march -not a roving Indian had seen his trail. The evil genius of the place, had abandoned the watchman to sleep -- Nor were either Town, or Fort, alarmed, until they were both in the power of the assailants. Who. observing, and enforcing, the utmost silence in the exe- cution of the enterprise, permitted not a creature to es- cape, as the messenger of alarm to the neighboring towns, which one after another fell into the hands of Colo. Clark, in the same course of easy, and unresisted conquest.
The paper's found in the possession of the governor,,
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ROCHEBLAVE, had the expedition wanted justification, contained it in the utmost extent. By written instruc- tions, from Detroit, Michilimackinack, and other places, he was directed to invitethe Indians to commit depreda .. tions on the American citizens-and even to promise them rewards for scalps.
Colonel Clark required of the inhabitants that they should take the oath of allegiance to the United States ; and the fort at Kaskaskias became his head quarters. Where his humane and friendly treatment to the inhabi- tants, afforded them the consolation of security to their persons, and property, under the new order of things.
With an account of his success, Colo. Clark sent the late Governor of Kaskaskias, to Richmond, in Virginia. And immediately prepared for the reduction of the other settlements on the Mississippi. A small detachment from his regiment being mounted upon the horses of the country, was pushed forward, to surprise and take the villages, as high up as Pancore, which was done, with- out'loss, or injury. The inhabitants, learning the fate of Kaskaskias, from the guides who accompanied the in- vaders, readily transferred their allegiance from the Bri- tish government to that of the U. States. While the Indians struck with fear, and astonishment, on seeing a victorious enemy in the country, without knowing how they came there, fled to the woods, or to their distant towns for safety ; or else repaired to St. Vincents, as the next strong post in the possession of the British, for pro- tection.
Post Vincents is on the Wabash ; at this place was
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Governor Hamilton, commandant of Detroit, (with some regular troops and about six hundred Indians) who now began to project an expedition against Kaskaskias, for the reduction of that place. Of this Colonel Clark was informed by the return of his spies ; and immedi- ately determined if possible to circumvent him.
Hamilton considering himself entirely secure in the su - / periority of his force, had contemplated a leisurely exe- cution of his projected expedition, by first retaking Kaskaskias, and thence sweeping the Ohio to Pitts- burgh ; after which he intended to desolate particu- larly the frontiers of Virginia. Other arrangements having been made between the British, and more north- wardly Indians, for destroying the remote inhabitants of New-York, and Pennsylvania. But of Colonel Clark, it has been said by a judicious historian, " that he anti- cipated and defeated the designs of Hamilton, by one of those bold and decisive measures, which, whether formed on a great or a small scale, with many thousands, or only a few hundred, for its execution, equally mark the military and enterprising genius of the man, who plans and executes them successfully." Clark was too far re- moved from the inhabited part of Virginia to hope for support from thence ; he could not rely on the fidelity of his new citizens ; and knew himself to be too weak to maintain Kaskaskias, and the Illinois against the regular force of Hamilton, aided by the whole body of Indians from the Lakes, to the Mississippi, by whom he was to be attacked, as soon as the opening of the next year would permit. Yet he made every preparation to main,-
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tain his post, determining to defend it to the last extre- mity.
While thus employed, he received undoubted infor- mation, from a Spanish merchant, that Hamilton, re- posing himself in security at St. Vincents, had, to keep 2: his Indians employed, detached them to block up the Ohio, and harrass the neighboring frontiers of Kentuc- ky ; reserving a garrison of about 80 regular soldiers at This post, with three pieces of cannon, and some swivels.
The mind of Colo. Clark at once discerned the rela- tive circumstances, between Governor Hamilton, and himself, with all the advantages to be made of them ; and as instantaneously determined to convert them to his own use, and emolument : and by one bold enterprise to free himself from danger. With this view he detach- ed a small gally, which he had fitted out, for defensive purposes, mounting two four pounders, and four swi- vels, manned with a company of soldiers, and having on board stores for his troops, with orders, after reaching the Ohio, to ascend that river, and forcing her way up the Wabash, to take her station a few miles below St. Vincents ; with strict orders to let nothing pass her. · Having made these, and other arrangements, he set out in the depth of winter with one hundred and thirty men, being the whole he could collect, to march across the country from Kaskaskias, to" St. Vincents. On this march, through the rough woods, and over high waters , sixteen days were employed. Five days were the party . crossing the swamps, and drowned lands of the Wabash, in the neighborhood of the fort, they were to attack : and
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for five miles, were they forced to wade through water frequently up to the breast. There was it is true, a path from the one place to the other ; but to have followed this, would have been to expose his troops to observati- on, when he well/knew the infinite importance of secre- cy. And he was capable of sacrificing every considera- tion of personal accommodation, to the success of his enterprise. After subduing the difficulties which lay in his way, hitherto decmed invincible, he appeared in the van of his determined followers, before the town of St. Vincents, which he completely surprised, and which upon summons to repair to his standard, readily agreed
to change its master. Hamilton, defended the fort for a while, and then surrendered himself and garrison, pri- soners of war. He, together with some of his principal agents, who had been particularly active in urging the Indians to commit depredations on the frontier inhabi- tants, the executive of Virginia ordered to be confined in jail : which was done for a few months.
These expeditions were highly important, and bene- ficial in their consequences. They broke entirely the plan which threatened to pour destruction, on the whole country west of the Allegany Mountains-they detach- ed from the British interest, many of those numerous tribes of Indians, south of the great Lakes-their influ- ence on Kentucky, was immediate, extensive, and sa- lutary-and in all probability, they contributed essen- tially, to fix the limits of the United States, ultimately by the Mississippi ; as those of Virginia, were extended there immediately after.
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The Legislature of Virginia claiming the country thus conquered by Colo. Clark, comprehended it within the new county which they erected by the name of Illi- nois. Aregiment of infantry, and one troop of cavalry, were voted for its protection ; the command of which was given to Colo. Clark; whose former regiment was dissolved, by the expiration of its term of service ; and who well merited this new expression of public confi- dence, by the entire success of his late enterprises-by his known courage-by his uncommon hardihood-by his military talents-and by his singular capacity for Indian warfare.
When we consider the state of the country, invaded by Colo. Clark ; its villages distant and fortified ; in amity with many tribes ofsavages, who were continually within call-when we recount the scanty numbers of the detachment under his command ; when we retrace the routs which he travelled-when we recollect the se- crecy and dispatch with which he moved ; and call to mind the address with which he overcame his enemy ; we cannot withhold the exclamation, that he was indeed, a great commander.
Nor are we content with this eulogium, but recite the following observations, from an history, whose author was a stranger to Colo. Clark, and whose prejudices, if he had any, were with his enemies.
Speaking of Clark's regiment while on the Mississippi, he says-" The dangerous situation of the small corps in the inner part of the Indian territory, at the back of some of the most hostile and cruel tribes, in the track of L
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many others, and more or less in the way of all, was converted to peculiar advantage by the extraordinary ac- tivity, and unwearied spirit of the commander. He di- rected and timed his attacks with such judgment ; and executed them with such silence, and dispatch, that the Indians found their own mode of warfare effectually turn- ed upon themselves. Surprised in their inmost retreats, and hunted from their most sequestered recesses, at those times and seasons when they were scarcely more disposed for action, than unprepared for defence, they experienc- ed in their own wigwams, and families that unexpected slaughter, and destruction, which they had so frequently carried home to others, as little apprehensive of danger. Upon this they grew cautious and timid, and the con- tinual danger, to which their families were exposed, damped the ardor of their warriors, for foreign expediti- ons."
Whence we may truly say, with equal pride, and plea- sure, that the expectations of Virginia, and of Kentucky, were completely answered, and their miost sanguine hopes realised, by the conduct, and success of Colonel George Rogers Clark.
The families who came to the Falls of Ohio with Colo. Clark in 1778, were the first settlers at that place. Con- sidering their exposed situation on the extremity of Ken- tucky, detached seventy miles from the other settlements, and in the vicinity of several hostile tribes of Indians, and British posts, it was deemed expedient to erect their first cabins on the principal island in the Falls ; and there they made corn in that year.
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Greatly were these adventurers interested in the suc- cess of Colo. Clark's expedition. Nor was it long ber fore they heard of the fall of Kaskaskias. Pleasing as was this intelligence, it did not afford to them the want- ed security.
There was yet Post St. Vincents, more immediately in their neighborhood ; and replenished with Indians. The capture of this place was to them the mandate of li- beration from their insular situation, and an invitation to remove to the Kentucky shore. Hence the origin of the settlement at the site of Louisville.
A stand being once made at the Falls, and the gar- rison freed from the contracted and inconvenient limits of the island, soon accumulated strength from the accession of numbers, and importance from its becoming the residence of Colo. Clark, with his regiment.
Virginia having engaged with considerable energy in the defence of her western frontier, which under the di- rection of Colo. Clark, we have seen crowned with a de- gree of success, that reflected equal honor on her coun- cils, and on her arms ; now found herself involved in debts beyond the competency of her ordinary means to pay.
The war was universal, extending from Europe, to America ; and from one extremity of the United States to the other. From Main, to Georgia, and from the Atlantic, to the Mississippi, was the cannon heard, or the tomahawk brandished. On the part of the Ameri- cans, it was a war against taxation ; and the great body of the people, always to be influenced by names, and by
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objects palpable to their senses, rather than by reason, or expediency ; would not, it was believed, bear to be taxed at home to the extent necessary to support a war, against. the possibility of being taxed abroad. Paper money had been substituted for coin, and its quantity so increased that its depreciation was sensibly felt, and rapidly pro- grossing. Could it have been recalled by taxation, there was nothing to supply its place as a circulating medium, without putting it again into motion; nor could the public debts have been paid, or the war carried on with- out the continuance of the old, or the emission of new bills.
In this situation, Virginia possessed in the extensive and fertile regions of Kentucky, an immense fund of re- venue not yet brought into action. The attention of her Legislators had been carried strongly towards the country, by the occurrences of the preceding year , and in casting about for ways and means, their observation was pressed on this rich resource, as well by the emer- gency of the crisis, as by the desire of private individuals, who either wanted the sanction of law to support their existing claims, or else its provision, by which to acquire a title to the soil, so alluring to the cultivator, and to. him who proposed making himself rich by engrossing it in large quantities.
: The sale of Kentucky lands, now became a common topic ; and was desired by all descriptions of people, ei- ther as a substitute for taxes, or as the mean of accumu- lating wealth, and distinction.
In the May session, 1779, the assembly of Virginia
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passed the LAND LAW, by which the terms of possess- ing the allodial property in the soil, were prescribed. An important event .--- Which as it put into action a variety of passions, and opened new, prospects to the emigrants, and others, may be considered as the commencement of a new æra, in the affairs of Kentucky.
· In all ages, and countries, from the time that Abra- ham came up out of Egypt, and divided, with his kinsman Lott, the pasture lands of the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, down to the present day, the di- vision and appropriation of land, have been subjects of great importance, to the country, in which they have taken place. Nor has any country been known to pros- per, where these circumstances have not been attended to, in due time, and manner.
The first plantations made in Virginia were under the direction of a company , who ordered the cultivation of the land by the emigrants in common. The consequence was, a repetition ofdefective crops, notwithstanding the fertili- ty of the James River bottom, and the mildness and suita. bleness of the climate, to the production of Indian corn
We read of frequent scarcity, at some times approach- ing to famine, for a number of years after their settlement -- and of their dependance on the Indians fof bread. Nor does it appear that plenty abounded, until after the appropriation, and division, of land took place, in the colony.
Were it necessary at this time to illustrate the utility of a subject so generally understood, as the division, and appropriation of land, by examples drawn from history ;
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that of both ancient and modern times, affords abundant evidence, to demonstrate their importance. Avoiding detail, we shall be excused for stating the result to be a clear proposition, that both are necessary, to the pros- perity, of every country, where agriculture is pursued.
Some essayists, in their political speculations, have affected to treat as riches, only, those things which could be removed from one place, to another ; or aptly com- mitted to use, without further amelioration, or additional labor. While they exclude land from the definition of riches, because it could not be transferred, with the per- son of the owner, from one situation, to another ; and be- 1 cause without manual labor, and cultivation, it supplies nothing to the use and accommodation of society ; ex- cept a few wild fruits, and roots. Others consider land as the basis of all riches, and its cultivation as the only subject worthy the attention of Legislators.
Without examining these theories, we may appeal to the common experience, and plain sense of mankind for the correctness of a position, which ascribes to the secure possession of the soil, as individual property, the first step towards personal independence ; the best security for patriotism ; and the most certain source of improve- ment, prosperity, and riches, of every country. For what in fact is the riches of any country, but the joint produce of its land, and labor ? The labors of agricul- ture, and the productions of the land in every country., form the basis of population ; which is known to keep pace with the means of support. And these means are again found to proceed step by step, with the encourage-
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ment afforded the labors of the husband man. The first and greatest of which is, to give him the sole and exclu- sive property in his due proportion of the land, in the country.
So perfectly convinced was the Legislature of Virginia of the general truth of these propositions ; and so well were they disposed towards the future prosperity of Ken- tucky, that all conditions of quit rents, seating, and im- proving, lands, were abolished-and a pure allodial fee simple in the soil confirmed to those who had existing claims ; and offered to others who should be inclined to purchase her waste and unappropriated lands.
And it is acircumstance worthy of observation, as it is momentous, and singular, that Virginia, requiring of her citizens, who should elect, or be elected, to the Le- gislature, to give assurance of a permanent attachment to, and interest in, the community-have stipulated solemn- ly to accept the evidence of this assurance, only, in the written title to a FREEHOLD ESTATE, in the soil of the commonwealth.
Upon the propriety, and utility of this fundamental regulation in Virginia, we pass no judgment at present. In another place we may offer some considerations to the people of Kentucky, who have introduced other regulati- ohs into their own constitution of government. And to whose good sense operating upon their own experi- ence, we shall then appeal.
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