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 9
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At length, the party once more got together, after the loss of several lives ; and the retreat was continued under the command of Colo. Bowman ; without any one being able to te'l why the attack was not made, why the retreat had been ordered, or why the expedition had totally failed. This however, was but the introduction to dis- grace, if not of misfortune, still more extraordinary, and distressing. 2 The Indian warriors sallied from the town, about twenty, or thirty, in number, and commenced a pursuit, of the retreating invaders of their forests, and of their fires, which they continued for some miles without being checked; harrassing and galling the rear of the fugitives.
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Being thus pursued, and pressed by the Indians, Colcs Bowman at length ha'ted his men, in a low piece of ground covered with brush, and shrubs, as if he saught shelter from the enemy behind them. This situation, was most ill-chosen, if chosen at all; and the Indians scattering through the woods, in a little time by their shouts and firing, seemed to surround, the halted troops ; who stood as marks to be shot at. In this situation, Bowman seemed to have lost his recollection, gave ne orders, and stood as one panic struck, or stupid with fear, or astonishmen .. . Some of the men fired, but without any precise object ; nor is it easy to conjecture what would have been the final result, if James Harrod, John Bulger, and a few others, had not scowered the woods on horseback, now in one direction, then in ano- ther, rushing on the Indians wherever they saw then, until they were either killed, or dispersed.
This being done, Colo. Bowman took up his line of' march, and without any other remarkable occurrence, with equal quiet, and safety, returned to Kentucky.
Upon this expedition, Colo. Bowman lost nine men Killed, and had one other wounded ; he took two Indi- an scalps ; but these formed a trophy, of little renoun.
Had we time, or was it the part of an historian to philo- sophise on the physiology of man, to account for the strange, and apparently contradictory phenomina in his character, we should probably be compelled at last to cor.» fess, that we could no more assign the precise cause of the failure of this expedition, than has by others been as- signed, for similar panics, and failures, in other times, and.
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countries. Accounts of which are read in the ancient histories. As when on the Lyris, the army of Pyrrhus encountered that of the Roman Consul Laevinus ; on the Tacinus, when Hannabal fought, with Scipio-and again at Cannæ, when the army of Flaminius was bro- ken, and ten thousand Romans, impelled by their fear, threw themselves into the Lake Thrasymenus. Or when in Beotia, Demosthenes, after exerting the utmost pow- ers of eloquence to rouse the country to arms against Philip, fled from Charonca, and imparted his panic, to the army of Greece.
Other instances have occurred in times more mo- dern ; as when, before St. Omens, an army of 50,000 Flemings, were routed by a sally from the garrison, and so panic struck that they dispersed, and never more could be rallied.
The battles of Cressy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, which yielded victories to inferior armies, can only be explained by the panic, and dismay, of the vanquished hosts. While the casesof Braddock, of Grant, and of St. Clair, belong to our own times.
Nor would we have it thought, that Colo. Bowman, was deficient in personal courage, or a competent share of military prowess, for an expedition and command of the kind, we have described. We add with pleasure, that he was a valuable member of society, and a merito- rious character among the early settlers in the country. But he never attained any military fame ; at that time the best evidence of merit, in a Kentuckian.
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In the summer of this year many families in the At- lantic parts of Virginia, and in the neighboring states, prepared to remove to Kentucky ; besides a very great number of individuals, whose existing claims, or in- tended acquisitions, brought them out in the succeeding autumn.
By the land-law', commissioners were to be appointed, P by the Governor, with advice of the council of state, to hear, determine and settle, all disputes relative to land- claims, and to grant certificates of settlement, and pre- emption, to such as were entitled. The county of Ken- tucky, was subjected to the exclusive jurisdiction of one of these courts, to be composed of four members, any three of whom to form a quorum, with powers to appoint its own clerk, and to require the attendance of the she -.. riff of the county ; to administer oaths to witnesses and others, necessary for the discharge of their duties ; to' punish contempts, enforce good behaviour in their pre- sence, and to award costs.
A surveyor was to be appointed, for the county., who was to open his office, for the reception of entries, for land, and for carrying them into effect by survey.
The commissioners when appointed, and commissi- oned, were immediately to give at least twenty days previous notice by advertisements, at the forts, meet- ing-houses, and other public places in their district, of the time and place, at which they intended sitting, for the purpose of colleeting, hearing, and determining the claims and titles to land : requiring all persons interested therein, to attend, and lay in their claims : and were.
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further authorised to adjourn from place to place, and from time to time, as their business might require. To guard against the mischievous effects of a discontinu- ance, it was provided, that if the court should failto meet at any time to which they had adjourned, neither their commissions, nor any matter depending before them should be thereby discontinued ; but they should pro- ceed to business when they did meet, as if no such failure had happened. The clerk was charged to keep exact minutes of all the proceedings of the commissioners, and enter the names of all persons to whom land was adjudg- ed, either for settlement, and preemption, or otherwise, with their respective quantities, and locations. The clerk was also authorised and required, to issue process, for the attendance, of parties, and witnesses, when re- quired; which the sheriff was charged to execute.
Judgment when rendered, was to be final between the parties to the contest ; except where one of them could not procure the attendance of his witnesses ; in which ease it was to be adjourned to the General Court, for fur- ther discussion.
But as it was foreseen that by this summary proceed- ing, persons at a distance might not have timely notice, it was also provided, that no grant should issue upon any of the claims determined by the commissioners, untilthe first day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty ; and in the mean time, any person- agrieved by their judgment, might enter a caveat, in the General Court ; and upon proof of the want of notice, when the commissioners met, the court was to grant &
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re-hearing, and might, to attain justice, reverse the for- mer judgment, and order a grant to issue to the claimant.
The officers, and soldiers, of the Virginia line, in the service of the United States, had one year from their re- signation, or discharge, to claim their rights to settle" ment and pre-emption, and a similar provision was af- terwards extended to the state troops. The effect of these privileges, was retrospective, and might overreach, and prostrate the previously allowed claims of other per- sons. Whatever may be said of the inexpediency of such legal provisions, in relation to others ; yet considering the situation of the persons engaged in the public service of their country, they must be admitted to be just. Nor could the sentiment and feeling which at first dictated them, be resisted at the time, or checked for some years afterwards ; and which operating through the medium of the county courts, who succeeded to the commissioners, were about to produce the most serious evils, when the Legislature repealed the law, or limited in point of time, the exer- cise of those powers, about to prostrate the rights of others.
- The governor having appointed and commissioned, William Fleming, Edmund Lyne, James Barbour, and Stephen Trigg, Esquires, all resident in other parts of Virginia, as commissioners for Kentucky, it was some time in October of that year before they arrived in the country .. On the thirteenth day of that month, at " Saint Asaphs" the court was for- med of the three gentlemen first named ; John Williams junior was appointed their clerk ; the sheriff gave his at
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tendance ; and a large concourse of people surrounded the sittings. The. Court adjourned, and met the next day at ten o'clock, when the claim of Isaac Shelby, to a settlement, and preemption, for raising a crop of corn in the country in the year 1775, was presented by Cap- tain John Logan, and granted by the court, for the land where Shelby afterwards made his farm, about one and a half, or two miles South Eastwardly from the Knob Lick. This application, and grant, were followed by many others of a similar nature, or for single preemptions, for selecting, and improving, land in the Country.
To every person obtaining a judgment in his favor, whether for settlement, and the preemption adjoining- or for the single preemption, of one thousand, or for four hundred acres, the Court were to deliver a certificate, containing the quantity of land, and its LOCATION Specimens of these certificates, may hereafter, be matters of curiosity, as well as subjects of reference in the further developement of our land titles. We shall therefore give a literal transcript of one, of each species of claim.
" Michael Stoner, this day appeared, and claimed a right to a settlement and preemption to a tract of land lying on Stoners fork, a branch of the south fork of Lick- ing, about twelve miles above Licking Station, by ma- king corn in the Country in the year 1775, and impro- ving the said land in the year 1776, satisfactory proof being made to the Court they are of opinion that the said Stoner has a right to a settlement of 400 acres of land including the above mentioned improvement, and a preemption of 1000 acres adjoining the same, and that a certificate issue accordingly."
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" Joseph Combs, this day claimed a right to a pre- emption to 1000 acres of land, lying on Comb's, sincs called Howards Creek, about eight miles above Boones- borough, on both sides of the creek and about 3 or 4 miles from the mouth of it, by improving, the said land, by building a cabin on the premises in the month of May 1775. Satisfactory proof being made to the Court they are of opinion that the said Combs has a right to a preemption of 1000 acres, including the said improve- ment, and that a certificate issue for the same"
" Robert Espie, this day appeared, and claimed a pre- emption to 400 acres of land, he being a settler in this country, who made corn in the year 1778 as appears by testimony, lying on the waters of Paint-Lick, near the land of William Kenedy, at a spring, with the letters R. A. cut on cach tree, The court are of opinion that the said Espie has a right to the preemption of 400 acres of land according to law, and that a certificate issue for the same."
To accommodate the people in the different parts of the country, the court of commissioners adjourned suc. cessively to the principal stations, sitting at Harrods- burgh, on the 26th of October ; at which place Stephen Trigg took his seat in the Court; an the 16th of November, at the Falls of Ohio ; and on the second of December agsin at Harrods- burgh. From this place the court adjourned to Boones- borough, and on the 18th of December opened its sessi- on at that place. 'The 3d of January 1780, the court sat at Bryant's station. Again it was opened at Harrods-
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burgh on the 23th of the same month ; and thence ad- journed to St. Asaphs, where it sat onthe 20th of April. Having finished their business-as after proclamation for claimants to come forward, none appearing, the court on the 25th of the month declared the expiration of its powers, & dissolved its session'. Having prev ously grant- ed about three thousand claims, of different descriptions.
It is reasonable to imagine that great activity and bus-' tle ensued from the acts of the commissioners, and the in-" terest thereby created. It would be difficult to delineate the various ramifications into which these circumstances, propelled individuals ; from which we may safely absolve ourself, as being unimportant to history.
George May, was appointed the surveyor of Kentuc- ky, and gave his attendance, to the duties of one of the most lucrative offices in the commonwealth, if we take into consideration that all surveying fees belonged to him, subject to a deduction of one-sixth part only ; and that the whole country was to be surveyed.
In the mean timethe winter proved to be uncommonly severe ; insomuch that it was distinguished by the name of the HARD WINTER. The rivers, creeks, and branch- es, were covered with ice of great thickness, and the smaller streams, almost turned into solid crystal. The snow by repeated falls increased to an unusual depth, and continued for an extraordinary length of time; so that men and beasts, could with difficulty travel, and suffered greatly for food, as well as by means of the frost.
This winter found, and arrested the progress, of many families, in the wilderness, on their way to Kentucky;
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and inflicted on them the accumulated stings of bothi hunger, and cold, in a most painful degrec. Their tra- velling stock of provision being exhausted, many of 1 them had no hunter with them, to kill the wild game, their only resource ; and even the hunters belong- ing to other families, found it extremely difficult to tra- verse the hills, in search of the buffaloe, or deer ; and those when found, were often so poverty stricken, as to be unwholesome food. This soon became the case with the tame cattle, which were on the road ; many of them died for want of food, on the high land where cane was not to be had ; or were drowned in the cany bottoms, by the sudden rise and overflowing of the rivers, at the breaking up of the frosts. And it is a melancholy fact, that such dead beasts became the necessary viands of some of those unfortunate sufferers. Their arrival in Kentucky afforded them a supply of wholesome meat, but corn was scarce, and bread, for a while obtained with difficulty, soon disappeared. The very great number of persons who had moved to the country in the fall 1779, or who had attended the commissioners, compared with the crop of corn in that year, had exhausted all that kind of supply long before the succeeding crop was fit for use, even in the roasting-ear state ; in which it was eaten by the inhabitants, & sojourners, as a substitute for bread : & was found to answer the purpose extremely well. But while this was growing, wild meat, the game of the forest, was their only food ; and this without bread, or vegeta- bles, was the daily diet, with milk, and butter, which equally required bread, of men, women, and children,
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for some months. Delicate, or robust ; well, or invalid; rich, or poor ; one common fare supplied, and one com- mon fate attended, all. The advance of the vernal sea- son had brought out the Indians, as usual ; and danger was added, to whatever else was disagrecable, or embar- rassing, in the condition of the people.
The number of the station's continued to increase, and many of them became strong: The attention of the enemy was of course divided by a multiplication and ex- tension of the objects which attracted it; Kentucky began to have a frontier, and some parts became safer, while others were more exposed.
A number of persons visited the country this year ; some possessed of property, information, and respectability, in the interior, came out with a view to future settlement. Among them was Colo. Thomas Marshall, of the Vir- ginia Regiment of Artillery, to whom the Governor had granted permission of absence for the purpose of visiting the country, and locating land. At the same time Col- George Slaughter descended the Ohio with one hundred and fifty State Troops to the Falls ; where Col. Clark had established his head quarters. Here he erected a fortifi- cation, having some analogy to the military art ; in this he placed several pieces of small cannon, and gave to Kentucky, an invincible barrier, on her Northwestern frontier. This garrison, however invulnerable to the assaults of the Indians, seems to have afforded but little protection to the neighbouring settlements: While it had the effect apparently of drawing the Indians into
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that quarter. The vicinity of the Ohio, which was an ostensible line of boundary , offered to the savages, seve- ral advantages of no inconsiderable magnitude. They could approach its bank, upon their own ground ; they could cross it when' convenient, reach the settlement, strike a blow, and recross, before a party could be collec- ted to pursue them. The river always presented an ob- ject of difficulty, and very often an insuperable obstacle, to further pursuit. In the settlements of Beargrass, se- veral lives were lost, and some prisoners, and property taken.
On the tenth of May in this year, the Surveyor, opened his office, for the reception, and location of Trea- sury Warrants.
· The great object which now absorbed public attention, wasthe entering and locating land warrants, of which great numbers had been obtained. Many persons in the At- lantic parts of Virginia, and other States, who had never seen Kentucky, and others in Europe, and the West-In- dies, had sent warrants to the country, with which to take up land. Many who had come to the country, for the like purpose, being deterred by the apprehension of danger from exploring the lands, and fixing objects of descripti- on for their locations, in like manner held warrants, which they could not realise. While on the other hand, many of the early settlers, and hunters in the coun- try, availing themselves of their knowledge of these things, became the locators, of those warrants, upon con- tracts to share the land. These contracts were generally for one-third part of the land located-but afterwards
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when vacant land became more scarce, and warrants. more plenty, one half was demanded, for location, and conceded by the owners of the warrants.
The report of Indian sign, or that a man was shot at, ør killed, or taken prisoner, gave occasional, and mo- mentary recollections of danger-produced a little bustle -perhaps. forced out a scouting party-and for a mo- ment, suspended, or diverted the mind, from the great, and important pursuit of the day-the ACQUISITION OF LAND.
In the mean time however fate, was preparing her means at Detroit, and the Indian towns, north-west of the Ohio, to inflict a serious blow on the population and spirits of the country. The instruments employed, were the British Canadians, and savage Indians ; her devoted objects were Ruddle's, and Martin's, Stations.
Without a metaphor, and in plain historic guise, the British Commandant. at Detroit, had determined to strike a blow at Kentucky, the ensuing summer, with more than usual violence. And for this purpose, had concerted, with the Indian Chiefs of the neighboring towns, an expedition of much strength, and military preparation, against the settlements on Licking. The first of June was appointed for the rendezvous ; and an . army of six hundred men, Indians and Canadians, with two field-pieces, filled, and fortified, his ample ranks, of painted, and frightful warriors ; when Colonel Byrd, an ., officer in the service of his Britannic Majesty, commenc- ød his march. The assemblage, and movement, of this murderous host, were equally unknown to the people of
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Kentucky, until the twenty-second of June; when it made its appearance before Ruddle's Station, a stockade fort. This was one of those stations, which had been settled the preceding year, on the north bank of the south fork of Licking, a few miles below the junction of Hinkston, and Stoner; another of them was Martin's Station, up Stoner's fork, about five miles from its mouth. Colonel Byrd, had moved his artillery, by water up Licking, to the junction of the south fork, and thence by land, the season being dry, and the south fork low, to Ruddle's. - Upon the approach of this very formidable enemy, to Ruddle's Station, the fort-gates were shut "and preparation made for defence. But upon the dis- play of numbers, and the shew of cannon, the garrison was summoned to surrender at discretion, to his majes- ty's arms-and promised security for their lives. What if their goods and effects were devoted to the pillage of the Indians ?- In case of assault, their persons could but share a like fate, What could a feeble garrison, in ar stockade fort do, without cannon to repel, or cavalry to disperse, such a force, so appointed ? They could surrender-and this they did. The fort-gates were thrown open ; and the Indians rushed in, to secure their prisoners, "and to plunder their goods. No wonder if they frightened the women, and children, with the fe- rocity of their looks, and the rudeness of their manners .- when with their tomahawks, they killed three reluctant
prisoners. The rest were loaded with the spoil ; which they were forced to carry on their backs, for their sa- vage conquerors. In vain shall we describe the taking
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of Martin's Station -- it was but a repetition of the same barbarous scenes.
The prisoners, and plunder, of both places were soon gotten together ; and no time lost in commencing a re- treat from the country ; by the rout of approach.
This may be considered as singularly fortunate for the other stations, on the north side of the Kentucky river ; for their united force could not have resisted with effect so formidable an invasion. Nor would it have been practicable to have assembled that force. The next gratification to that of not being attacked, of which Lexington, Bryant's, Grant's, and Strodes' Stations, were susceptible, was that of knowing, the enemy had left the country. Some men who were absent from the captured stations, and who had escaped the common fate of their companions, returning to their homes, dis- covered the melancholy state of affairs, and soon spread the alarm, to the neighboring" Forts. Nor was it ne- cessary to magnify the danger, in order to agitate them, with frightful apprehensions. Feeble was the popula- tion, and few the men of battle at that time, north of the river Kentucky. Not three hundred in all.
When we reflect upon this crisis, it seems altogether within the range of probability, that could the Indians have been kept together, for a few weeks, they might have totally depopulated the country. And yet we have seen this formidable and terrifying invasion subside, and this host of savages disappear, without any real opposi- tion ; either from a fear of the unknown force that might have been brought to act against it ; or satisfied with its
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conquest, and intent alone. to secure its prisoners, and spoil : or else that, from some national prejudice, invete- rate custom, or superstitious notion, the Indians cannot be kept in the field, after a victory, in which they have taken prisoners. To whatever cause this sudden re- treat may be ascribed, it will forever remain a subject of unfeigned congratulation to the people of the country.
Upon this occasion, it is said the retreat was executed with great haste, if not precipitation. The prisoners were forced along, with violence to the women and chil- dren, who were unable to perform the journey on foot, with the required speed ; such as sunk under their burthens, or were unable to keep their places were re- lieved from the weight of the one, and the fatigue of the other, by the tomahawk , of their savage, and vindictive conquerors.
Such prisoners as survived, were dispersed among the Indians, or carried to Detroit, from whence, after seve- ral years detention, they returned, to different parts of the country, as fortune, or their own exertions; furnish- ed them the means. Some of those detained by the In- dians, were afterwards given up to their countrymen, in subsequent treaties.
The occurrences of this summer, and a conviction generally prevailing, of the good consequences which would_result to the country, from a prompt, and vigo- rous retaliation on the towns of the Indians, enabled Co. loncl Clark, then at the Falls of Ohio, to strengthen his regiment, by a call on the militia of Kentucky, and to lead an expedition into the enemy's country. On this
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occasion his call for Kentucky volunteers, was very cor- dially received, and cheerfully obeyed.
Having thus rallied a respectable portion of the coun- try round his own standard, Colo. Clark commanded an expedition against the Pickaway, a principal town of the Shawanees, on a branch of the Great Miamie. The march was conducted with that prudence and dispatch so conspicuous in the movements of that officer. If the Indians had been apprised of his designs, they were not terrified, by his approach ; but with the bravery, for which their nation was renowned, determined to defend, their cabin-walls, after sending their women, and chil- - dren to the woods, for safety.
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