History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 5

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 5

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JACKSON'S PURCHASE.

The entire western part of the State of Ken- tucky, between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, recognized as belonging to the Chickasaw tribe, was ceded to the United States by treaty October 19, 1818, made by Generals Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby, commissioners on be- half of the Government, and Chiunnby, king of the Chickasaw Nation, Teshnamingo, James

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Brown, and others, chiefs, and Colonel George Gilbert, Major William Glover, Coweamarthlar, and other military leaders of the tribe. The "treaty-ground, east of Old Town," as mentioned just before the signatures, is in Monroe county, Mississippi, on the Tombigbee river, about ten miles from Aberdeen, on the road to Cotton Gin. The commissioners and their staff occu- pied a spot beneath the spreading branches of a magnificent oak, which was standing many years later, and was locally quite celebrated. By the second article of the treaty the Indians bound their nation to cede to the United States, with the exception of a small reservation, "all claim or title which the said Nation has to the land lying north of the south boundary of the State of Tennessee, which is bounded south by the thirty- fifth degree of north latitude, and which lands, hereby ceded, lie within the following boundaries, viz .: Beginning on the Tennessee river, about thirty five miles, by water, below Colonel George Colbert's ferry, where the thirty fifth degree of north latitude strikes the same; thence due west with said degree of north latitude, to where it cuts the Mississippi river at or near the Chick- asaw Bluffs; thence up the said Mississippi river to the mouth of the Ohio; thence up the Ohio river to the mouth of Tennessee river; thence up the Tennessee to the place of beginning."

This ceded all the Indian lands in Western Kentucky. The consideration agreed upon was $20,000 per annum, for fifteen successive years, with various smaller sums paid to the chiefs and the Nation, on sundry accounts.

At the time this treaty was signed, there re- mained of the Chickasaw tribe, according to the Report of the Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Morse, the celebrated geographer, to the Secretary of War, but three thousand six hundred and twenty-five souls. They were in the singular proportion of four males to one female, which inequality, says Dr. Morse, "is attributed to the practice of polygamy, which is general in this tribe." Hc re- marks further :

The Chickasaws have always been warm friends of the United States, and are distinguished for their hospitality. Some of the chiefs are half-breed, men of sense, possess nu- merous negro slaves, and anunally sell several hundred cattle and hogs. The nation resides in eight towns, and, like their neighbors, are considerably advanced in civilization. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have in contemplation the speedy establishment of a mission

among these Indians, preparations for which are already made. This is done at the earnest solicitation of the nation.

THE FORTIFIED STATIONS.

Long before the Kentucky country was cleared of Indians and Indian titles, however, it was necessary for the white man to wage long and des- perate wars with his red-browed brother. Promi- nent among the means of defense adopted by the settlers was the fortified station, which took va- rious forms, as may be seen by the following ex- tract from Doddridge's Notes :

The forts in which the inhabitants took refuge from the fury of the savages, consisted of cabins, block-houses, and stockades. A range of the former commonly formed at least one side of the fort. Divisions or partitions of logs separated the cabins from each other. The walls on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of the roof being invariably inward. A few of these cabins had puncheon floors, but the greater part were earthen.

The block-houses were built at the angles of the fort. They projected about two feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches every way larger in dimensions than the under one, leaving an opening at the commencement of the second story to prevent the enemy from making a lodgment under their walls. A large folding-gate made of thick slabs closed the fort on the side nearest the spring. The stockades, cabins, and block-house walls were furnished with ports at proper heights and distances. The entire extent of the outer wall was made bullet-proof. The whole of this work was made without the aid of a single nail or spike of iron, which articles were not to be had.

Mr. Collins, in the invaluable Dictionary of the Stations and Early Settlements in Kentucky, prefixed to the second volume of his History, enumerates the following stations in Jefferson county :

Floyd's station, first located at the mouth of Beargrass, creek, in Louisville, near the present foot of Third street; built by Colonel John Floyd.

Another Floyd's station, on the Middle fork of Beargrass six miles from the Falls; planted by Colonel John Floyd in 1775-

A Sturgus's station, on Harrod's Trace, settled in 1783; also Sturgus's station, "in or before 1784"-perhaps the same.

The Dutch station, on Beargrass creek, 1780.

Hogland's station, on Beargrass, 1780.

Kellar's station, before 1780.

Moses Kuykendall's station, on the Beargrass, 1782.

Linn's station, on the Beargrass, about ten miles from the Falls.

Middle station, before 1787.

New Holland, before 1784.

Poplar Level, before 1784.

Spring station, in 1784.

Sullivan's old station, on the Bardstown road, five miles southeast of Louisville, before 1780.

Sullivan's new station, before 1784.

Mr. Collins finds six stations on the waters of

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the Beargrass in 1780, with a population, includ- ing Louisville, of six hundred.

Dr. McMurtrie says that in the fall of 1779 and the spring of 1780 seven stations were set- tled on the Beargrass.

Some of these stations will be more definitely located, and their story more fully told, in subse- quent chapters.

Armstrong station stood at the mouth of Bull creek, on the north side of the Ohio, just oppo- site the Eighteen-mile Island bar and the Grassy Flats, eighteen miles above Louisville. Here the block-house was erected, at some time be- tween 1786 and 1790, by Colonel John Arm- strong, where the river was fordable, in order to prevent the Indians from crossing and making raids into Kentucky.

MANY TRAGIC INCIDENTS

are related of this part of the Dark and Bloody Ground, during the era of conflict for supremacy. We give a number of these below, collected from various sources, and others will be related in future chapters. Some of them, it will be ob- served, are intimately associated with the fortified stations.

COLONEL FLOYD'S ADVENTURE. .

One of the most interesting tales of the Indian period, concerning one of the most famous of the pioneer heroes of this region, who had him- self a fortified station on the Middle fork of Bear- grass, only six miles from Louisville, is thus related in the first edition of Marshall's History of Kentucky:

In April (1781) a station settled by 'Squire Boone, near where Shelbyville now stands, became alarmed by the appear- ance of Indians, and after some consultation among the peo- ple tbey determined to remove to Beargrass. In executing this resolution, men, women, and children, encumbered with household goods and cattle, were overtaken on the road near Long Run by a large party of Indians, attacked, de- feated with considerable loss and general dispersion. Intelli- gence of this disaster reaching Colonel John Floyd, he in great haste raised a company of twenty-five men and repaired toward the scene of the late encounter, intent upon admin- istering relief to the sufferers and chastisement to the enemy; and notwithstanding he divided his party and proceeded with considerable caution, such was the address of the Indians and the nature of the country that he fell into an ambuscade and was defeated with the loss of half his men, who, it was said, killed nine or ten of the Indians. The Indians are he- leved to have been three times the number of Colonel Floyd's party. The colonel narrowly escaped with the assistance of Captain Samuel Wells, who, seeing him on foot pursued by the enemy, mounted him on his own horse and fled by his side to support him. The conduct of Captain Wells was

the more magnanimous, inasmuch as he and Colonel Floyd were not friends at the time. This service, however, was of a nature to subdue all existing animosities, nor was it be- stowed on an unworthy object. No man knew better than Floyd how to regard so gallant and disinterested an action. He lived and died the friend of Wells.

A few years ago a monument was erected and dedicated to the memory of the slain in the sad disaster. The end of the brave Colonel came no great while after. It is thus told in the en- tertaining pages of Mr. Collins:

On April 12, 1783, Colonel Floyd and his brother Charles, not suspecting any ambush or danger from the Indians-for there had recently been serious trouble with them, and they were supposed to have retreated to a safe distance-were riding together, some miles from Floyd's station, when they were fired upon, and the former mortally wounded. He was dressed in his wedding coat, of scarlet cloth, and was thus a prominent mark. His brother, abandoning his own horse, which was wounded, sprang up behind his saddle, and put- ting his arms around the colonel, took the reins and rode off with the wounded man to his home, where he died in a few hours. Colonel Floyd had a remarkable horse that he usually rode, which had the singular instinct of knowing when Indians were near, 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 happened."

A TALE OF THE SALT LICKS.

The following narrative is from the account of Mr. William Russell, as found in Bogart's work on Daniel Boone and the Hunters of Kentucky:

It is more than fifty years since salt was made at Bullitt's lick. The Indians resorted there, and combined their hunt- ing expeditions with a pursuit which, however useful, was not at all to their liking, distinguished as they were for their aversion to be classed among the producing classes-the manufacture of salt. There were guides to these salt-licks, which told even the Indian where they were to be found-the buffalo and the deer. There was vast difficulty, of course, in procuring the salt from the eastward, and the settlers soon congregated around the lick ; for all were not so self-denying as the bold old hunter Boone, who could pass his months without either salt or sugar.

There were scenes in those salt-works to which Syracuse and Cracow are strangers. The hunters divided ; part of them worked at the boiling, and part hunted to supply the . forest table; and-a characteristic of the insecurity of their position -the remainder served as an advance guard. The crystals cost the settlers such price as made salt more pre- cious than gold. The Indian hated to see the white man thus engaged -- not but that he liked well to see the heavy hand of labor on the whites ; but it seemed like an invasion of the rights of the owner of the soil, and the very industry of the settlers was a perpetual reproach. It was part of the arts which he used, and before the exercise of which the In- dian felt himself fading away. So, when the work was busy, when the furnaces glowed and the tramp of the laboring man was all around, when the manufacturer, and the hunter, and guard were all on the alert, the Indian crept behind the trees, and thirsted for the opportunity to send the shots of his warriors' rifles among the groups below ; and they would

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

have been hurled there but for the fact he knew so well, that the vengeance of the hunter would be rapid and certain.

There is a knot there which bears the name of Cabre's knot, and it is associated with a thrilling incident. There was all the glare and bustle of a busy working time. The light of the furnaces shone through the forest. The Indian saw, and was enraged at the spectacle. Cabre was bound in a chestnut oak, the Indians intending to burn him in sight of the lick itself-it might be so that the sacrifice could in reality be seen, and yet not its nature detected till assistance was too late. The Indians had collected their fagots from the pitch-pine, and while every preparation for the horror was making, some oxen, grazing on the hill, moved through the thicket. The Indians mistook the sound for that of an ap- proach of a rescue-party of the whites. They hastened to hide themselves in an opposite thicket, and Cabre, slipping off the cords that bound him, darted through the darkness and escaped. There was new life among those salt-boilers when that panting fugitive arrived among them, and the ladle was exchanged for the rifle instantly. They who had met to destroy became the object of pursuit, and the trail was struck and followed until they reached the Ohio river.

BLAND BALLARD A CAPTIVE.

The following incident was related of Captain Bland Ballard, one of the most noted officers of General Clark's expeditions, in the address of Colonel Humphrey Marshall, upon the occasion of the re-interment of the remains of Scott, Barry, and Ballard, in the cemetery at Frankfort, November 8, 1854. Said the eloquent orator:

On one occasion, while scouting alone some five miles be- yond the Ohio, near the Falls, he was taken prisoner by a party of savages and marched to their village, some thirty miles in the interior. The next day after his arrival, while the Indians were engaged in racing with horses they had stolen from the settlements, Ballard availed himself of a favorable moment to spring on the back of a fleet horse in the Indian camp and to fly for his life. The Indians gave immediate pursuit, but Ballard eluded them, and reached Louisville in safety. The noble steed was ridden to death; the skill of the woodsman baffled the subtle sons of the forest, and, dashing into the broad Ohio, Ballard accomplished his freedom.

The story is thus told, with some additional details, by the venerable Dr. C. C. Graham, of · Louisville, in a sketch of the life and services of Mr. Ballard, in the Louisville Monthly Magazine for January, 1879:

During the period he was a 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 encamp- ment 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 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 recently stolen from Beargrass, and while the

attention of the Indians was attracted in a different direc- tion, 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.

Another anecdote, which has somewhat closer relation to the Falls cities, is given in this enter- taining essay :

When not engaged in regular campaign as a soldier, he served as hunter and spy for General Clark, who was sta- tioned at Louisville, and in this service he continued two years and a half. During this time he had several rencoun- ters with the Indians. One of these occurred just below Louisville. He had been sent in his character as spy to ex- plore the Ohio, from the mouth of Salt river, 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 a noise on the Indiana shore. He immediately concealed himself in the bushes, and when the fog had suffi- ciently scattered to permit him to see, he saw a canoe occu- pied with three Indians approaching the Kentucky shore. When they had approached within range, he fired and killed one. The other two jumped overboard and endeavored to get their canoe in deep water; but before they could succeed 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 was the only shirt he had for several years, except those made of batten. Of this shirt the pioneer hero was justly proud.

Another anecdote of Ballard, which properly belongs to Jefferson county annals, is narrated by Dr. Graham:

At the time of the defeat on Long run, he was living at Lyon's Station, on Beargrass, and came up to assist some families in moving from from 'Squire Boone's station, near the present town of Shelbyville. The people of this station had become alarmed at the numerous Indian signs in the country, and had determined to remove to the stronger sta- tions on the Beargrass. They proceeded safely until they arrived near Long run, when they were attacked in 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 other 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 on the first onset, during which he had several single-handed combats with the Indians, and seeing the party about to be defeated, he succeeded in getting outside of the Indian lines, when he used his rifle with some effect, until he saw they were totally routed. He then started for the station, pursued by the Indians, and, on stop- ping at Floyd's fork, in the bushes on the bank, he saw an Indian on horseback, pursuing the fugitives, ride into the creek. As he ascended the bank, near to where Ballard stood, he shot the Indian, caught the horse, and made good his escape to the station. Many were killed, the number not being recollected ; some were taken prisoners, and some es- caped to the station. The pioneers afterwards learned from the prisoners taken that the Indians were marching to attack the station the whites had deserted, but, learning from their

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

spies that they were moving, the Indians turned from the head of Bullskin and marched in the direction of Long run.

The news of the 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 Hol- den the other, Ballard being with the latter. 'They proceed- ed with great eantion, but did not discern the Indians until they received their fire, which killed or mortally wounded sixteen of their men. Notwithstanding their loss, the party under Floyd maintained their ground and fought bravely un- til they were overpowered by three times their number, who appealed to the tomahawk. The retreat was completed, how- ever, without mneh further loss. This occasion has been rendered memorable by the magnanimous gallantry of young Wells (afterwards the Colonel Wells of Tippecanoe), who saved the life of Floyd, his personal enemy, by the timely of- fer of his horse, at a moment when the Indians were near Floyd, who was retreating on foot and nearly exhausted.

This famous Indian fighter, Captain Bland W. Ballard, was uncle to the Hon. Bland Ballard, late judge of the United States court for the Dis- trict of Kentucky, who died in Louisville in 1879.

THE ROWAN PARTY ATTACKED. The following narrative is from Collins:

In the latter part of April, 1784, the father of the late Judge Rowan, with his family and five other families, set out from Louisville in flat-bottomed boats, for the Long Falls of Greene river. The intention was to descend the Ohio river to the mouth of Greene river, and ascend that river to the place of destination. At that time there were no settlements in Kentucky within one hundred miles of the Long Falls of Green river (afterwards called Vienna). The families were in one boat and their cattle in the other. When the boats had descended the Ohio about one hundred miles, and were near the middle of it, gliding along very securely, as it was thought, about 10 o'clock of the night, a prodigions yelling of Indians was heard, some two or three miles below, on the northern shore; and they had floated but a short distance further down the river, when a number of fires were seen on that shore. The yelling continued, and it was concluded that they had captured a boat which had passed these two about mid-day, and were massacreing their captives. The two boats were lashed together, and the best practicable arrange- ments were made for defending them. The men were dis- tributed by Mr. Rowan to the best advantage, in case of an attack-they were seven in number, including himself. The boats were "neared" to the Kentucky shore, with as little noise as possible; but avoided too close an approach to that shore, lest there might be Indians there also. The fires of the Indians were extended along the bank at intervals for half a mile or more, and as the boats reached a point abont opposite the central fire they were discovered, and com- manded to "come to." All on board remained silent; Mr. Rowan had given striet orders that no one should utter any sound but that of his rifle, and not that until the Indians should come within powder-burning distance. They united in a terrific yell, rushed to their canoes, and gave pursuit. The boats floated on in silence-not an oar was pulled. The Indians approached within less than a hundred yards, with a seeming determination to board. Just at this moment Mrs. Rowan rose from her seat, collected the axes, and placed one by the side of each man, where he stood by his gun, touch- ing him on the knee with the handle of the axe, as she leaned

it up by him against the side of the boat, to let him know it was there, and retired to her seat, retaining a hatchet for her- self. The Indians continned hovering in the rear, and yelling, for nearly three miles, when, awed by the inference which they drew from the silence observed on board, they relin- quished farther pursuit. None but those who have a prae- tical acquaintance with Indian warfare can form a just idea of the terror which their hideons yelling is ealculated to in- spire. Judge Rowan, who was then ten years old, states that he could never forget the sensations of that night, or cease to admire the fortitude and composure displayed by his mother on that trying occasion. There were seven men and three boys in the boat, with nine guns in all. Mrs. Rowan, in speaking of the incident afterward, in her calm way said, "We made a providential escape, for which we ought to feel grateful."

MR. BULLITT'S ADVENTURE.

The following is from Mr. Collins's biographi- cal notice of Alexander Scott Bullitt, from whom Bullitt county is named :

In 1784, six years before the father's death, the subject of this sketch emigrated to Kentneky, then a portion of Vir- ginia, and settled on or near the stream called Bullskin, in what is now Shelby county. Here he resided but a few months, being compelled, by the annoyances to which he was subjected by the Indians, to seek a less exposed situation. This he found in Jefferson county, in the neighborhood of Sturgns's station, where he entered and settled upon the tract of land on which he continued to reside until his death. In the fall of 1785, he married the daughter of Colonel W. Christian, who had removed from Virginia the preceding spring. In April, 1786, Colonel Christian with a party of eight or ten men pursued a small body of Indians, who had been committing depredations on the property of the settlers in the neighborhood of Sturgus's station. Two of the Indians were overtaken about a mile north of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and finding escape impossible, they turned upon their pur- suers, and one of them fired at Colonel Christian, who was foremost in the pursuit, and mortally wounded him. Next to Colonel Christian was the subject of this sketch and Col- onel John O'Bannon, who fired simultaneously, bringing both Indians to the ground. Under the impression that the Indians were both dead, a man by the name of Kelly in- eantionsly approached them, when one of them who, though mortally wounded, still retained some strength and all his thirst for blood, raised himself to his knees, and fired with the rifle which had not been discharged, killed Kelly, fell back and expired.

THE FAMOUS LANCASTER STORY.

In Bishop Spalding's valuable book of Early Sketches of Catholic Missions in Kentucky, the misfortunes of John Lancaster and his compan- ions, at the hands of the savages, are well told. The four were bound from Maysville to Louis- ville in a flat-boat. On the 8th of May, 1788, near the mouth of one of the Miami rivers, the party was captured. Lancaster alone escaped, and after much toil and danger succeeded in reaching the Kentucky shore. We extract the

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 5

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814