r: A^% • / *^^-^^- .' ,^^°- V '^. ^-^^ »'4Sl^*. -e^ ^* /. i^.c'i' ," i^ o*"*-^ L^^" .•^" !'• ' '^^-^*'' ' 'M&' ^^-^^*'' -'IK' ' "^"--^^ .« o^ . ^ ♦ ^0 *°-^<*-. -J • ^^'■ ''o. *; V.-i"^ ''^- V ,^-<^ V '.• .^^-v. ^ '>/. THE HISTORY OF KEXTUCKY, (Unrlirsl Irtilrnirnt tn tijr l^kmml €mh BY T. S. ARTHUR W. H. CARPENTER. PHILADELPHIA : — LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 1852. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by T. S. ARTHUR AND W. II. CARPENTER, :ht! Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY L. JOH^fSON AND CO. PHILADELPHIA. PRL\TED BT T. K. AND P. 0. COLLIXS. PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. There are but few persons in this country who have not, at some time or other, felt the want of an accurate, well written, concise, yet clear and reliable history of their own or some other state. The want here indicated is now about being sup- plied; and, as the task of doing so is no light or superficial one, the publishers have given into the hands of the two gentlemen whose names appear in the title-page, the work of preparing a series of Cabi- net Histories, embracing a volume for each state in the Union. Of their ability to perform this well, we need not speak. They are no strangers in the literary world. What they undertake the- public may rest assured will be performed thoroughly, and that no sectarian, sectional, or party feelings will bias their judgment, or lead them to violate the integrity of history. The importance of a series of state histories like those now commenced, can scarcely be estimated. Being condensed as carefully as accuracy and interest of narrative will permit, the size and price of the volumes will bring them within the reach of every family in the country, thus making them home-read- ing books for old and young. Each individual will; 1^ 5 6 publishers' preface. in consequence, become familiar, not only with the history of his own state, but with that of other states : — thus mutual interest will be re-awakened, and old bonds cemented in a firmer union. In this series of Cabinet Histories, the authors, while presenting a concise but accurate narrative of the domestic policy of each state, will give greater prominence to the personal history of the people. The dangers which continually hovered around the early colonists ; the stirring romance of a life passed fearlessly amid peril; the incidents of border war- fare; the adventures of hardy pioneers; the keen watchfulness, the subtle surprise, the ruthless attack, and prompt retaliation — all these having had an im- portant influence upon the formation of the American character, are to be freely recorded ; while the progres- sive development of the citizens of each individual state from the rough forest life of the earlier day to the polished condition of the present, will exhibit a pic- ture of national expansion as instructing as it is inte- resting. The size and style of the series will be uniform with the present volume. The authors, who have been for some time collecting and arranging materials, will furnish the succeeding volumes as rapidly as their careful preparation will warrant. PREFACE. The history of Kentucky, here introduced to the reader, is the first of a series of popular state histories, now in course of publication. The aim has been to present a graphic picture of the progress of the state, from its first settlement by Daniel Boone down to the present time. The fierce and incessant inroads by which the savages sought to drive the first settlers from their favourite hunting-grounds ; the capture of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes, by General Clark; the ex- peditions of Harmar, St. Clair, and "Wayne; the at- tempts made by Spain to sever Kentucky from the Union ; the machinations of Burr and his fellow-con- spirators; the services of the volunteers from Ken- tucky in the war of 1812, and the more recent inva- sion of Mexico, have all been recorded : briefly in some respects, but always fully whenever they came within the scope of state history. Kentucky occupies a peculiar position in relation to her sister states. Previous to the explorations which led to the erection of block-houses and rudely forti- fied stations by the early pioneers, the western In- dians had fondly clung to the hope that the Ohio River would remain the boundary line between the 8 PREFACE. whites and the aborigines. When this hope was over- shadowed by the advance of hardy frontiersmen — few, indeed, at first, but gradually increasing in numbers until they grew to be formidable — the In- dians commenced hostilities, and in their endeavours to force the daring intruders to desert their favourite hunting-grounds, and retrace their steps across the Ohio River, Kentucky became the battle-ground of the West, and by the wonderful endurance and energy of her pioneers, opened a peaceful path to those who came afterward and settled in the territories beyond. From this circumstance, and from the frank-hearted patriotism of her people, Kentucky occupies a high position- among the States of the Union, and exercises a wide influence in the councils of the nation. This volume records briefly, yet, it is believed, with fidelity and clearness, every event of leading interest connected with the progression of the state to its pre- sent position ; at the same time there is presented, as much in detail as possible, a narrative of those thrill- ing adventures of the early settlers which give to the history of Kentucky the fascination of a romance. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Inti-oduction — Doctor Walker touches tlie nortliern parts of Kentucky — Explorations of John Finley — His glowing de- scriptions of the country — Boone and others proceed to Ken- tucky — Builds a cabin near Red River — Boone and Stuart captured by the Indians — Mysterious fate of their com- panions — Arrival of Squire Boone — Stuart killed and scalped — Squire Boone returns home — Solitary condition of Daniel Boone — Returns to North Carolina — Colonel Knox and the Long Hunters — Boone sets out for Kentucky with five fami- lies — Is attacked by the Indians, and turns back — Leads a party of surveyors to the falls of the Ohio — Captain Bul- litt — The brothers McAffee — The Wataga treaty — Opera- tions of Boone — Attacked by the Indians — Fort at Boones- borough built — Forts of the eai-ly settlers — Harrodstown station — Immigration continues — The Transylvania Com- pany form a proprietary government — Virginia annuls the treaty of Wataga — Boone brings his family to Kentucky — Arrival of McGary, Hogan, and Denton — Simon Kenton... 19 CHAPTER IL George Rogers Clark — Suggests a meeting of the colonists at Harrodsburg — Appointed with Gabriel Jones a member of the Virginia assembly — Applies to the council for ammuni- tion for the colonists — The daughter of Boone and two other females captured within sight of the fort — The Indians pur- sued and the captives retaken — Kentucky erected into a county of Virginia — Clark conveys the powder granted by Virginia down the Ohio — Is pursued by the Indians — Se- cretes the powder at the mouth of Limestone Creek — Colonel Todd defeated near the Blue Licks — Jones and Grayson 10 CONTENTS. killed — MeClellanfl's Fort attacked— Kenton and others at- tacked near Hinckston's station — Harrodsburg invested by the Indians — Fearful situation of James Ray — Major Clark assaults the Indians — Heroism of Logan — A spy company organized — Skirmish at Boonesborough — The life of Boone saved by Kenton 32 CHAPTER III. Border life — Clark sends spies to Kaskaskia — Projects an in- vasion of Hlinois — Submits to the Governor of Virginia a plan of operations against the British outposts — Is appointed to lead the expedition — Boone taken prisoner at Blue Licks — Escapes from Chillicotho and returns to Boonesborough — Is besieged by a large Indian force led by Captain Du Quesne — Artifices of the Indians — The siege raised — Clark captures Kaskaskia and Cahokia — Sends his prisoners to Virginia — Takes Vincennes — His success in conciliating the Indians — Governor Hamilton recaptu.res Vincennes — His ulterior designs — Clark resolves to attack Hamilton — His terrible march through the wilderness — Reaches Vincennes — His stratagem — Fatal accuracy of his rifles — Governor Hamilton surrenders 48 CHAPTER IV. The first block -house built at Lexington — Expedition of Colonel Bowman against Chillicothe — Bravery of Logan — Singular conduct of Bowman — The attack by Logan — Bowman orders a retreat — Harassed by the Indians — The savages repulsed by Logan and others — Land law of Kentucky — Its obnox- ious features — Vexatious law-suits arising from it — Colonel Rogers attacked by the Indians on the Ohio — Dreadful slaughter of the whites — Romantic anecdote of Captain Denham and his companion — Ruddell's station attacked by Canadians and Indians under Colonel Bjrd — Ruddell sur- renders — Treacherous conduct of the savages — Indignation of Byrd — Martin's station captured — Byrd retreats down the Ohio — Escape of Captain Hinckston — His ingenuity in discovering the route to Lexington by night — His perilous escapes — Surrounded by Indians — Reaches Lexington in safety — Indians retreat with their booty 61 CHAPTER V. Clark destroys the Piqua towns on the Miami — Kentucky di- vided into three counties — Indian incursions — Immigration CONTENTS. 11 continues — Transylvania University incorporated by Virgi- nia — Indians invest Estill's station — Are pursued — Defeat of Estill — .Bryant's station attacked by Girty at the head of six hunorecT Indians — Heroism of the women — Arrival ;' of reinforcements — Their perilous situation — Skirmish in the corn-field — Attack on the station — Girty attempts to ne- : gotiate — Answer of Reynolds — The Indians raise the siege — Are pursued by a party under Colonel Todd — Fatal reck- lessness of McGary — The Kentuckians attacked by the In- , dians from an ambush — Desperate conflict — Rout of the \ Kentuckians — Escape of Daniel Boone — Presence of mind ' of Netherland — Retaliation of Clark — Burns the Miami towns 73 CHAPTER VI. Increase of immigration — Prospect of peace with England — Difficulties continue — Indian hostilities cease— Kenton re- claims his settlement in Washington — Brodhead opens a store in Louisville — General James Wilkinson immigrates to Kentucky — New counties laid oif — Proposition to sepa- rate from Virginia — Expedition of Clark against the In- dians on the Wabash — Causes of its failure — Conventions in Kentucky — Difficulties with the general government — The navigation of the Mississippi — Spanish intrigues- Brown has several conferences with Gardoqui — Letter of Innis to the Governor of Virginia — General Wilkinson- goes to New Orleans — Returns — Tempts the Kentuckians by the oifer of an independent treaty with Spain — Animosity of parties — Letter of Marshall — Conventions — Kentucky re- ceived into the Union ; CHAPTER VIL Indian inroads — Silas Hart pursues the Indians — Is killed — Heroism of young Hart — Captivity of the family — Judge Rowan sails down the Ohio — Is pursued by Indians — His joerilous position — Wonderful presence of mind of Mrs. Rowan — Adventure of Caffree, McClure, and Davis — Meet with an equal number of Indians — Terrible combat — Caf- free and Davis kUled — Subsequent adventures of McClure — His escape — Colonel Marshall descends the Ohio — Is hailed by James Girty — Indian decoys — Captain Ward as- saulted by Indians — Death of his nephew — Panic of the others — The search for a stray horse by Downing and Yates — They are followed by Indians — Downing conceals himself — The pursuit — Perilous situation of Downing — His remarkable escape 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Indians attack the house of widow Shanks — Their stratagem — The house fired — Fearful massacre — Heroic conduct of young Shanks — Pursuit of the Indians — Their singular es- cape — New mode of warfare on the Ohio — Political condi- tion of Kentucky — Adventure of John Lancaster — Taken captive with his companions — His escape and subsequent privations — Floats down the Ohio on a raft — Is rescued at the falls — Ballard's house attacked — Stubborn defence by old Mr. Ballard — Daring conduct of Bland Ballard, the cele- brated spy — Loss of the Indians 110 CHAPTER IX. Captain Hubbell descends the Ohio — Is attacked by Indiana — His desperate defence — The Indians beaten off — Boat of Captain Greathouse captured — Hubbell again attacked — Indians retire with great loss — Heroism of a boy — Num- ber of wounded — Painful condition of Captain Hubbell — The boat reaches Limestone — Unsuccessful pursuit of the savages — John May descends the Ohio — Indian stratagem — Finn urges May to put into the Ohio shore — Finn surprised by the savages — The boat attacked and captured — Skyles wounded — May and Miss Fleming killed — Reception of the Indians by Johnston — Captain Marshall descends the Ohio with three boats — Is pursued by the Indians — The attack and defence — His escape with the loss of two boats 123 CHAPTER X. Indian outrages — Action of the general government — Expedi- tion of General Harmar — Miami villages burned — Hardin detached to follow up the Indians — Falls into an ambush — Is defeated — Painful situation of Captain Armstrong — Har- mar retreats — Hardin again detached — Indian stratagem — • Noble conduct of the regulars — Hardin defeated — Harmar returns home — Harmar and Hardin court-martialled — ^Ac- quittal — Resignation of Harmar — Scott's expedition — De- struction of the villages on the Wabash — Return of the troops — St. Clair's expedition — Rendezvous at Fort Wash- ington — Feeling of the Kentuckians — Object of the cam- paign — Condition of the army — Fort Hamilton built — Erec- tion of Fort Jefferson — The march — Desertion of the militia — Of the Mountain Leader, a Chickasaw chief and his band — St. Clair encamps on one of the tributaries of the Wabash — Furious attack by the Indians, led by Lit- CONTENTS. 13 tie Turtle and Girty— Defeat of St. Clair— Retreat to Fort Washington 140 CHAPTER XL Personal incidents of St. Clair's campaign — William Kennan — His strength and activity — Discovers the Indians — Is pursued by them — A race for life — His extraordinary leap The retreat — Carries a wounded companion — His terrible recourse to relieve himself — Assists Mr. Madison, afterward governor of Kentucky — Excitement in Kentucky — Scott and Wilkinson call for volunteers — Wilkinson marches to the battle-ground — Horrid spectacle — Constitution of Ken- tucky — Its provisions — Legislative acts — Population of the state — Indian disturbances — Settlement on Elkhom attack- ed — The Cooks killed — Resolute conduct of the widows — Escape of Mc Andre — Martin killed — Escape of Dunn — Mur- der of his two sons — Indians pursued 152 CHAPTER XIL St. Clair superseded — Wayne appointed his successor — Colonel Hardin — Sent as a messenger to the Indian;. — Is murdered — Biographical notice — Hardin serves under Dunmore — Volunteers with Captain Morgan — Is wounded in the thigh — Rejoins Dunmore in an expedition against the Indian towns — Contemplates moving to Kentucky — War between England and the colonies — Hardin enlists men for the de- fence of his country — Is appointed a lieutenant — Offered a majority, but declines — Moves to Kentucky — Appointed colonel of the county militia — His services — Grave charge against Wilkinson — Tecumseh — Kenton's skirmish with him — His stratagem and escape — The last Indian inroad — ■ Kenton forms an ambuscade on the Ohio — Kills four In- dians and two white men — Escape of the others 166 CHAPTER XIIL Genet supersedes Ternant as ambassador to the United States — Perplexing position of the government — Washington calls a cabinet council — Proclamation of neutrality resolved upon — High-handed conduct of Genet — His reception by the people — Projects an expedition against the Spanish settle- ments — Despatches agents to Kentucky to raise volunteers • — George Rogers Clark .commissioned a major-general in the French service — Letter to Governor Shelby from the Secretary of State — His reply — Democratic societies formed — Second letter to Shelby — His sympathy with the move- 2 14 CONTENTS, ment — Shelby's letter to the Secretary of State — Reply of Edmund Randolph — Washington issues a proclamation to the people of Kentucky — The recall of Genet solicited — Ac- tivity of the Democratic associations — Meeting at Lexing- ton — Recall of Genet — The expedition abandoned — Genet marries and settles in New York 177 CHAPTER XIV. Commissioners sent to the Indians to treat for peace — Refusal of the savages to treat — The army under Wayne — Fort Greenville built — St. Clair's battle-ground reoecupied — Fort Recovery built — Wayne joined by the Kentucky volunteers — Commences his march — Indian villages abandoned — Builds Fort Adams and Defiance — Intelligence of the In- dians — A flag sent to them — Their answer — Fort Deposit built — The enemy discovered — Battle of Fallen Timbers — Defeat of the Indians — Wayne encamps near the British fort — Altercation with Major Campbell — Conduct of the Kentuckians — Fort Wayne built — Treaty with the Indians — Feeling in Kentucky — Marshall elected to the Senate of the United States— Attempt to remove Judges Muter and Sebastian — Courts of quarter sessions and oyer and termi- ner abolished — Other laws 188 CHAPTER XV. Retrospective — Joe Logston — His character — Leaves the fort in search of cattle — Is fired on by two Indians — His horse killed under him — Wounds one Indian severely — Is attack- ed by the other — Both combatants disarmed — A fearful trial of strength and activity — Kills his antagonist — Re- turns to the fort — Is disbelieved — A search instituted — The story confirmed — An example of savage heroism — The Nickajack expedition — The people of Tennessee caU upon Kentucky for assistance — Colonel Whitley marches with one hundred men — Forms a junction with Colonel Orr — Is appointed to command the troops — Surprise of the Nicka- jack towns — A second expedition organized — The result — Anecdote of Whitley — Proceeds to the southern towns to recover some negroes — Conduct of a half-breed — Friendship of Otter Lifter— His character— Biography of Whitley — His death 200 CHAPTER XVL Final ratification of the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States— Spain agrees to grant the navi- CONTENTS. 15 gation of the Mississippi — Intrigues with Kentucky — Power, the Spanish agent, confers with Judge Sebastian — Baron Carondelet'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 con- cerning Sebastian — Adams elected President of the United States — His unpopularity in Kentucky — Meeting of the le- gislature — Proposition to revise the constitution — Votes for and a2;ainst a convention — Decision of the legislature 212 CHAPTER XVII. Garrard elected Governor of Kentucky — Denounces the alien and sedition laws — Nullification resolutions written by Jef- ferson — Endorsed by Kentucky — Denounced by other states — Creation of new counties in Kentucky — Education pro- moted — Various academies established — Appropriations of land for their support — Meeting of convention — New con- stitution adopted — Garrard re-elected governor — An at- tempt made to encourage manufactures — Election of Jef- ferson — Navigation of the Mississippi interrupted — Louisi- ana ceded to France — Excitement in Kentucky — Letter of Jefferson to Livingston — Monroe sent to Paris — Purchase of Louisiana — Claiborne takes possession of New Orleans — Greenup elected Governor of Kentucky — Re-election of Jef- ferson — Kentucky militia discharged 224 CHAPTER XVIIL Aaron Burr — Elected Vice President of the United States — Loses the confidence of his party — Is nominated for Gover- nor of New York — Defeated through the influence of Ham- ilton — Kills Hamilton in a duel — Flees to South Carolina — • Returns to Washington — Sets out for the West — His nomi- nal projects — His association with Wilkinson — Becomes ac- quainted with Blennerhasset — Actual project of Burr — Reaches New Orleans — Returns overland to Kentucky — Spends the spring and summer in Philadelphia and Wash- ington — Attempts to win over Eaton, Truxton, and Decatur — His second journey to the West — Builds boats on the Muskingum — Contracts for supplies and enlists volunteers — Wilkinson at Natchitoches — R>eceives despatches from Burr — Sends a messenger to the president — Orders New Or- leans to be strengthened — Proceeds to Natchez — Despatches a second messenger to Washington — Writes to Claiborne 16 CONTENTS. and the Governor of the Mississippi Territory — Reaches New Orleans — His measures at that place 233 CHAPTER XIX. Conflicting reports concerning the intentions of Burr — Ex- posures made at Frankfort — Energetic conduct of Daviess ■ — His affidavit against Burr — An examination ordered — Burr attends the court — The case postponed — A new grand jury summoned — Second appearance of Burr — Absence of General Adair, the principal witness for the prosecution — The examination pressed — Acquittal of Burr — His false de- claration to Henry Clay — Action of the general government — Jefferson sends an agent to Ohio — Disclosures by Blen- nerhasset — Seizure of ten boats on the Muskingum — Tyler's flotilla — Burr proceeds to Nashville — Meets the volunteers at the mouth of the Cumberland River — Descends the Mis- sissippi to New Madrid — Gains a knowledge of Wilkinson's revelations — Encamps above Natchez — The militia called out by the Governor of the Mississippi Territory — Burr sur- renders himself to the civil authorities — His boats searched — Charges against Sebastian and Innis 245 CHAPTER XX. Critical foreign relations with the United States — Berlin de- crees — Restraint upon commercial enterprise — Attack upon the Chesapeake — Great excitement throughout the Union — Embargo — One hundred thousand militia called for — Re- solutions passed in Kentucky — Declaration of war — Indian difficulties — Tecumseh — His attempts to form a confedera- tion of tribes — Assembling of warriors at Tippecanoe — March of Harrison — Battle of Tippecanoe — Death of Joseph H. Daviess — Return of Tecumseh — His interview with Har- rison — Hull appointed to command the northwestern army ■ — Invades Canada — Returns — General Brock summons De- troit — Surrender of Hull — Indignation of the states — Volun- teers from Kentucky — Hopkins marches against the Illinois Indians — Is deserted by his men — A second northwestern army organized — Harrison commissioned a brigadier-gene- ral — Appointed commander-in-chief. 257 CHAPTER XXL Plan of the fall campaign of 1812 — Harrison appointed com- mander of the northwestern army — Winchester marches from Fort Wayne — Difficulties of the route — Deplorable condition of the troops — Winchester halts at the Rapids — CONTENTS. 17 The enemy approach Frenchtown — A detachment of Ken- tuckians under Colonel Lewis sent against them — Proctor advances from Maiden — Battle of the River Raisin — Sur- render of the Americans — Inhuman massacre — Reception of the news in Kentucky — Four regiments of volunteers raised — Harrison builds Fort Meigs — Is reinforced from Kentucky — Siege of Fort Meigs by Proctor — Advance of General Clay — Colonel Dudley destroys a part of the Bri- tish batteries — His detachment surrounded by British and Indians — Terrible slaughter of the prisoners — Inhuman conduct of Proctor — Tecumseh — His indignant reply to the British general 269 CHAPTER XXII. Great advantages possessed by the British — Perry ordered to build vessels on the shore of Lake Erie — Extraordinary ac- tivity and despatch — Proctor assaults Fort Stephenson — Croghan's noble defence — Perry's victory on Lake Erie — Harrison advances into Canada — Proctor retreats toward the Moravian towns — Battle of the Thames — Surrender of the regulars and flight of Proctor — Desperate conflict with the Indians — Colonel Johnson severely wounded — Tecum- seh killed — The British forces under Packenham threaten New Orleans — Vanguard of the enemy bivouac on the Mis- sissippi — Night attack by Jackson and Coffee, supported by the schooner Caroline — Arrival of Packenham — His tardy movements — Activity of Jackson — Kentucky reinforcement arrives — Battle of the 8th of January — Terrible slaughter of the enemy — Death of Packenham — Retreat of the enemy.... 281 CHAPTER XXIIL Peace proclaimed between England and the United States — Inflated condition of the currency — Dreadful monetary de- rangement — Banks chartered — Power of replevin extended — Bank of the Commonwealth chartered — Great excitement on account of the relief law — Relief and anti-relief parties organized — Legality of the relief law contested — Decision of Judge Clarke sustained by the court of appeals — Gene- ral alarm and outcry — Unsuccessful attempt of the legisla- ture to remove the judges — The old court of appeals abolish- ed, and a new one established — The constitutionality of the latter contested — The old court sustained — State and gene- ral politics — Suspension of specie payments — Second mone- tary derangement — The legislature again applied to for relief — Wisdom of the measures adopted — Governors of Kentucky — Presidential election 298 2« 18 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. Mexico and the United States — Annexation of Texas — Gene- ral Taylor ordered to move to the Rio Grande — Encamps at Corpus Christi — Erects a post at Point Isabel — Marches to a point opposite Matamoras — Builds Fort Brown — The Mexicans cross the Rio Grande in force — Taylor returns to Point Isabel — Again marches to Fort Brown — Battle of Palo Alto — Battle of Resaca de la Palma — Occupation of Matamoras — Reception of reinforcements — March upon Monterey — Storming of Monterey — Great reduction of the force under General Taylor — Is compelled to assume the defensive — Return of Santa Anna to Mexico — Concentrates a large army at San Luis Potosi — Marches against Taylor — Battle of Buena Vista — Conclusion 30 HISTORY OF KEK'TUCKT. CHAPTER I. Introduction — Doctor Walker touches the northern parts of Kentucky — Explorations of John Finley — His glowing de- scriptions of the country — Boone and others proceed to Ken- tucky — Build a cabin near Red River — Boone and Stuart captured by the Indians — Mysterious fate of their companions — Arrival of Squire Boone — Stuart killed and scalped — Squire Boone returns home — Solitary condition of Daniel Boone — Returns to North Carolina — Colonel Knox and the Long Hunters — Boone sets out for Kentucky with five families — Is attacked by the Indians, and turns back — Leads a party of surveyors to the falls of the Ohio — Captain Bullitt — The brothers McAfee — The Wataga treaty — Operations of Boone — Attacked by the Indians — Fort at Boonesborough built — Forts of the early settlers — HaiTodstown station — Immigra- tion continues — The Transylvania Company form a proprie- tary government — Virginia annuls the treaty of Wataga — Boone brings his family to Kentucky — Arrival of McGary, Hogan, and Denton — Simon Kenton. No history of any individual state belonging to the North American Confederation presents so graphic a picture of the courage, energy, capacity of endurance, and indomitable tenacity of its peo- ple, as that of Kentucky. The sternest truths, in relation to the difficulties encountered by the bold hunters and hardy pioneers of <^ the dark and bloody ground," assume the wild charm and 19 20 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. vivid colouring of the most startling romance. In this case, history far transcends fiction, by giving all those minute details of time, place, and circumstance, which stamp all narratives of real adventure with the fascinating impression of per- fect lifelikeness. As the self-reliant type of the American cha- racter at the epoch of the Kevolution, the Ken- tuckian stands pre-eminent. He may even stand for it at the present day. The descendant of the cavaliers of Virginia and Maryland, he carried with him into the wilderness many of the noble qualities for which that brave, high-toned, but reckless class of people were distinguished ; while he left behind him not a few of their vices. Daring even to rashness, he was yet full of all generous impulses ; fierce to his enemies, he was yet hospitable to the stranger ; quick to resent an injury, yet prompt to forgive it ; fertile in stratagem, yet steadfast in resolve ; fiery in pur- suit, yet cool and collected in action ; never re- treating but to fight, Parthian-like, as he fell back ; never stooping to the earth but to gather strength for the rebound ; simple in his tastes and pleasures ; a doer of brave acts and generous deeds — not to gain the applause of others, but from native nobility of soul. Free even to the verge of lawlessness, time has reversed in him the stigma which Captain John Smith had cast upon his progenitors, who, if they were amenable ITS ABORIGINES. 21 to the censure of that valiant soldier, as being " more fitted to corrupt than found a common- wealth," have yet the merit of having redeemed their memory in the pure republicanism of their children's children. Of the original occupants of that splendid coun- try, which, under the modern name of the State of Kentucky, stretches from the thirty-sixth to the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude, and from the eighty-second to nearly the ninetieth degree of west longitude, nothing now is known. That they were superior in civilization to the In- dians who subsequently roamed its sylvan aisles, and contested their possession so long and so hardily with the Anglo-American pioneers, is sufficiently attested by the remains of their skil- fully-constructed fortifications, their copper tools for mechanical purposes, their curiously-carved pipes, and the more perfect and ingenious charac- ter of their household utensils. As to who they were, or of what nation, how they came, or whither they departed, antiquarian knowledge has hitherto been at fault, and the traditions of their ruder successors furnish no clue. Until Dr. Walker touched upon the northern parts of Kentucky, at some time between the years 1747 and 1758, no Anglo-Saxon foot had ever stood upon its soil. Nine years after this latter period, it was partially explored by John Finley, who, on returning home from his adventurous 22 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. excursion, gave such glowing accounts of the rich- ness and fertility of the new country, that the bold and daring frontiersmen of Virginia and North Carolina were stimulated to cross the rug- ged Cumberland Mountains, and view for them- selves the beauty of a land whose genial clime, and flow^ery meadows, and almost eternal verdure, had animated to such a warmth of enthusiasm the usually calm and practical mind of the sturdy pioneer. In 1769, Daniel Boone, in company with five others, of whom Finley was one, left his family upon the Yadkin in North Carolina, and started to examine the new hunting-grounds of which he had heard so favourable an account. Near to Red River, upon the borders of the present state of Kentucky, Boone and his com- panions built a cabin to protect themselves from the inclemency of the weather, and devoted their time to hunting and the chase, in which they were singularly successful. This course of life remained undisturbed for several months, and it may be they began to think that the Indians who claimed lordship over the soil would sufier a few hunters and trappers to roam over their sylvan territory without moles- tation. If such were indeed their thoughts, the time was near at hand when they were to be fatally undeceived. On the 22d of December, Boone and his companion Stuart, while out on THE BOONE BROTHERS. 23 one of their usual hunting excursions, were sur- prised and captured by the Indians. After an imprisonment of seven days, the two woodsmen succeeded in making their escape, and returned to their cabin on Ked River. They found it plundered and deserted. The fate of their companions was never ascertained. A few days after this. Squire Boone, from Carolina, accom- panied by another man, reached the camp of his brother. Cheered by this unexpected reinforce-' ment, small as it was, Boone and Stuart resolved to remain in the country, but the determination proved fatal to the latter ; he was soon afterward shot and scalped by the outlying savages. Boone himself escaped, but these disasters so terrified the companion of Squire Boone, that he returned home to North Carolina, leaving the two brothers alone in the wilderness, separated by hundreds of miles from the white settlements, and destitute of every thing but their rifles. At length, their ammunition being nearly ex- hausted, it was agreed upon between the two brothers, that the younger should return to Caro- lina for a fresh supply ; while Daniel, the elder, remained to take charge of the camp. For a few days after the departure of his last remaining companion, Boone felt lonely and depressed ; but his spirits soon revived, and though the only white man in that portion of the vast wilderness, he continued his customary hunting excursions, 24 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. finding game in abundance, and cheered in his solitary rambles by the great natural beauty of the scenery around him. Toward the close of July, 1770, the younger Boone returned^ From that time until March, 1771, the two brothers continued to range the country without receiving any injury, when they retraced their steps to North Carolina. Boone had been absent from his family for about three years, during nearly the whole of which time he had never tasted bread or salt, nor beheld the face of a single white man, with the exception of his brother and the friends who had been killed. But while Boone was traversing singly the northern and middle regions of Kentucky, a band of resolute men from Holston, on the Clinch River, led by Colonel James Knox, and calling themselves the Long Hunters, explored the mid- dle and southern portions of the territory. The reports brought home by Boone and his brother in relation to the loveliness of the cli- mate, and the unexampled productiveness of the soil, soon attracted other adventurers to place themselves under the leadershiprof the daring pioneer. Equally eager himself to return to the land which had so won upon his aifections, Daniel Boone disposed of all his property, with the exception of such portable articles as he might require, and on the 25th of September, 1771, DANIEL BOONE. 25 accompanied by his family, once more set out for his destined home. In Powell's valley Boone was joined by five other families and forty men. But though this party commenced their journey in high spirits, they grew depressed as the distance from their old homes gradually increased. At the foot of the Cumberland Mountains they were attacked by a large body of Indians, whom they succeeded in defeating, though not until after a severe engagement, in which the whites lost six men in killed and wounded. Among the former was Boone's eldest son. Discouraged by this early initiation into dangers which they feared would increase as they advanced, they concluded to proceed no farther on their journey at this time ; but to fall back upon the settle- ments on Clinch River, about forty miles from the scene of action. Here they remained until 1774. But though his companions thus quietly, and perhaps with a sense of relief, ensconced them- selves within the limits of less dangerous territory, Boone himself was of too restless a nature to be content to live in a like calm and equable man- ner. His desire for a change, which would in- volve the exercise of both caution and daring, was soon to be gratified. At the instance of Lord Dunmore, then governor of the province of Vir- ginia, Boone consented to lead a party of survey- ors through the wilderness to the falls of the Ohio, a distance of eight hundred miles. 26 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The able and judicious manner in which this arduous service was performed induced Dunmore to place Boone in command of three frontier stations in western Virginia. He remained in charge of these posts until 1774, and in the in- termediate time was engaged in several affairs with the Indians. In the mean while, Virginia had directed that the bounty in lands which she had given to the troops engaged in the old French war should be located upon the waters of her western territory ; and in 1773 Captain Thomas Bullitt conducted a party of surveyors to the falls of the Ohio, where a camp was constructed to protect them from the Indians. It was at this period that many surveys were made, and wide tracts of country explored with a view to future settlement, both by the party encamped at the falls of the Ohio, and by the brothers McAfee, who had ascended to the forks of the Kentucky River. It was now that the services of Boone were again to be put in requisition. Colonel Bichard Henderson, a man who had raised himself from the low condition of a constable to the position of associate chief-judge of North Carolina, finding himself involved in great pecuniary difficulties through his wild speculations and his expensive style of living, resolved to attempt by one bold effort the acquisition of an enormous fortune. Having succeeded in forming a company for the TREATY OP WATAGA. 27 object he proposed to effect, he availed himself of the knowledge of so experienced a woodsman as Boone, who, at his request, and at the solicita- tion of several gentleman of North Carolina, attended a treaty with the Cherokees, known as the treaty of Wataga, for the purchase of the lands south of the Kentucky River. By this treaty, all that tract of country lying between the Cumberland Kiver, the mountains of the same name, and the Kentucky River, south of the Ohio, was transferred, for the sum of fifty thou- sand dollars, to the company of which Henderson was the chief originator. A few speculators be- came thus the owners of all that territory which now comprises more than one-half of the state of Kentucky. They immediately proceeded to take possession of their newly-acquired purchase. It was now that the assistance of so experienced a man as Boone became peculiarly valuable. His business was to mark out a road for the pack- horses and wagons of Henderson's party. Leav- ing his family on Clinch River, he set out upon this hazardous undertaking at the head of a few men, in the early part of the year 1775, and arrived, without any adventure worthy of note, on the 22d of March in the same year, at a point within fifteen miles of the spot where Boones- borough was afterward built. Here they were attacked on two successive days by the Indians, who were finally beaten off after a severe contest, 28 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. in which the whites sustained a loss of four men in killed and wounded. On the 1st of April, they reached the southern bank of the Kentucky River, and began to build a fort, afterward known as Boonesborough. By the 16th of the same month the fort was com- pleted, notwithstanding the dangers to which they were exposed from continual interruptions from the Indians, and which occasioned the loss of another of their party. The forts of the early settlers consisted of cabins, block-houses, and stockades, built in the form of a hollow square. A range of cabins com- monly formed at least one side of the fort. Di- visions, or partitions of logs, separated these rude dwellings 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, which were formed by splitting trees of about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewing the face of them with a broadaxe ; but the greater part of the floors 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 Avere about eighteen inches every way larger in dimensions than the under ones, leaving an opening at the commencement of the second story to prevent the enemy from SETTLEMENT OF HARRODSTOWN. 29 making a lodgment under the 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 w^ith apertures at proper heights and distances. The entire extent of the outer wall was made bullet proof. The whole of this work was constructed without the aid of a single nail or spike of iron, as such articles were not to be obtained. Previous to this, however, another settlement had been commenced between the Kentucky and the Salt Rivers, eight miles from the former, and about one mile from the latter. In May, 1774, Captain John Harrod, with forty-one men, descended the Ohio River, and penetrating the intervening forest, selected, about the middle of June, the site for a town in the vicinity of a fine spring, and erected the usual cabins and block- houses. The settlement thus organized received soon after the name of Harrodstown. Rendered perfectly furious by these daring en- croachments upon their old hunting-grounds, the Indians subjected the fort of Boonesborough to incessant attacks ; but the fierce warriors soon found themselves confronted by a courage and endurance superior to their own, and by a cool deliberate forecast, w^hich, in most instances, circumvented all their stratagems. The fort was scarcely built before immigrants began to flock into the newly-acquired territory. 30 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The first object of those to whom the territory had been ceded by the Cherokees, was to strength- en their right to it by the establishment of a pro- prietary government. On the 23d of May, 1775, in obedience to a summons issued by Henderson, a number of per- sons residing in or around Boonesborough met under the shade of a large elm tree near the walls of the fort, and forming themselves into a legis- lative body, elected Henderson president, gave to the new country the name of Transylvania, fixed upon Boonesborough as its capital, and passed nine laws. By the compact entered into during the session of this assembly between the proprie- tors and the colonists, a free, manly, and liberal government was established over the territory. It was further agreed that the election of dele- gates should be annual ; that there should be perfect freedom of opinion in matters of religion ; that judges should be appointed by the proprie- tors, but answerable for malconduct to the peo- ple ; and that the convention should elect the treasurer, and have the sole power of raising and appropriating all moneys. This compact was solemnly executed under the hands and seals of three proprietors acting for the company, and by Thomas Slaughter, chair- man of the convention, acting for the colonists. But the new province of Transylvania was des- tined to occupy but a brief space in the history FIRST FEMALE SETTLERS. 31 of the North American colonies. Lord Dunmore speedily issued a proclamation refusing to recog- nise the validity of the cession, and the legisla- ture of Virginia annulled the treaty as being con- trary to the chartered rights of that state. But as some compensation to the proprietors for their services in opening the wilderness and preparing the way for civilization, they were granted a tract of land twelve miles square on the Ohio, below the mouth of Greene River. Notwithstanding the check thus given to the ambitious schemes of the Transylvania Company, the settlements thus began continued to increase, though but slowly. In the summer of the same year that witnessed the completion of the fort, Boone returned to Clinch Biver for his family. He brought them to their new home as soon as the journey could be performed, and Mrs. Boone and her daughters were the first white women who ever stood upon the banks of the Kentucky Biver. ' They were soon reinforced by the arrival of the three fami- lies of McGary, Hogan, and Denton, with their wives and children. From this time Boonesborough and Harrods- town, or Harrodsburg as it was soon afterward called, became the nucleus and support of immi- gration to Kentucky. It was during this year, also, that Simon Kenton, subsequently so emi- nently distinguished as a pioneer and Indian 32 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. fighter, erected a log cabin and raised a crop of corn within a mile of the present town of Wash- ington, in Mason county, where he continued until the autumn, when he removed to Boones- borough. CHAPTER 11. George Rogers Clark — Suggests a meeting of the colonists at Harrodsburg — Appointed with Gabriel Jones a member of the Virginia assembly — Applies to the council for ammuni- tion for the colonists — The daughter of Boone and two other females captured within sight of the fort — The Indians pur- sued and the captives retaken — Kentucky erected into a county of Virginia — Clark conveys the powder granted by Virginia down the Ohio — Is pursued by the Indians — Secretes the powder at the mouth of Limestone Creek — Colonel Todd de- feated near the Blue Licks — Jones and Grayson killed — McClelland's Fort attacked — Kenton and others attacked near Hinckstone station — Harrodsburg invested by the Indians — ■ Fearful situation of James Ray — Major Clark assaults the Indians — Heroism of Logan — A spy company organized — Skirmish at Boonesborough — The life of Boone saved by Kenton. Among the numerous adventurers who crossed the wilderness and penetrated Kentucky in 1775, was one whose name afterward became peculiarly conspicuous in the annals of the state — George Rogers Clark. He was then a young man of twenty-three years of age, by profession a sur- veyor; a business which appears to have pre- sented to the enterprising young men of that day a most congenial and attractive field for the exer- cise of their energies. How long Clark continued GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 33 in this vocation is unknown. When he visited Kentucky he had already seen service, having, in what was called Dunmore's war, been already engaged at the head of a company in active opera- tions against the Indians. Clark remained in Kentucky during the spring and summer of this year, familiarizing himself with the resources of the country, and from his already well-known and commanding talents, was at once selected to command the irregular militia of the settlements. In the fall he returned to Virginia; but came back again to Kentucky in the spring of the fol- lowing year, with the view of making it his per- manent home. From this time forth his name is closely associated with the progress of western settlements in power and civilization. His mind had been very early impressed with the immense importance of the frontier country to the security of the parent state Virginia, and the necessity of a more regular system of military operations. AYith the view of accomplishing this design, he suggested to the settlers, on his return, the pro- priety of convening a general assembly of the people at Harrodsburg, for the purpose of form- ing a more definite and certain connection with the government and people of Virginia than as yet existed. Owing to the difficulties and dis- putes arising out of the contested claims of the Transylvania Company, this step was rendered imperatively necessary, in order that the relation 34 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. of the settlement to Virginia might be distinctly ascertained. The proposed meeting was accord- ingly held at Harrodsburg on the 6th of June, 1776, when Clark and Gabriel Jones were chosen delegates to the assembly, which then held its session at Williamsburg, the ancient capital of Virginia. Finding on their arrival that the legis- lature had adjourned, Jones directed his steps to the settlements on Holston, leaving Clark to at- tend alone to the Kentucky mission. He immediately waited on Governor Henry, then lying sick at his residence in Hanover county, to whom he stated the objects of his journey. Bearing a letter from the governor, Clark next waited on the executive council of the state, and made application for five hundred weight of gunpowder for the defence of the vari- ous stations. To this application the indefinite state of the relations existing between the colo- nists and Virginia interposed a temporary ob- stacle. It was at length, however, overcome by the firmness of Clark, and an order was passed on the 23d of August, 1776, by which the keeper of the magazine was directed to transmit the gun- powder to Pittsburg, to be there delivered to Clark, or to such other persons as he might appoint to receive it, for the use of the people of Kentucky. This liberal conduct on the part of the council may probably have been hastened by an incident which had already occurred at Boonesborough, (MPTURE OF AMERICAN GIRLS. 35 in the month preceding. On the 7th of July, a daughter of Boone, and two other females by the name of Calloway, were amusing themselves in a canoe within sight from the fort, when a concealed party of Indians suddenly rushed from the surrounding coverts and carried them away captives. The screams of the terrified girls quickly alarmed the families in the garrison ; but, as it was near nightfall, and the canoe on the opposite side of the river, pursuit was not commenced in time to follow more than five miles during the night. By daylight next morning, a party, consisting of Daniel Boone, Colonel Floyd, and six others, got upon their track, and continued the pursuit. The exceeding caution of the Indians rendered it difficult for the pursuing party to keep on their trail, but they pressed forward notwith- standing in the direction they supposed the In- dians would take, and with almost incredible rapidity. Having travelled about thirty-five miles, they struck a buffalo trace, where they found the tracks quite plain. The pursuit was urged on with great keenness, and at the further distance of ten miles, they came in sight of their foes just as they were kindling a fire to cook. Both parties saw each other at the same in- stant. Four of the whites fired, and then charged so suddenly and furiously upon the Indians, that they were compelled to retreat, with a single shot- 36 HISTOKY OP KENTUCKY. gun "without ammunition, and without having time to tomahawk their captives. The girls sustained no other injury than excessive fright and fatigue. Two of the Indians were killed. The whites were so much rejoiced at the recovery of their children, that they refrained from continuing the pursuit, and retraced their steps to the fort. At the fall session of the Virginia legislature, Clark and his associate Jones laid the Kentucky memorial before that body. Though not ad- mitted to take their seats as recognised mem- bers, they were yet able to defeat the endeavours of Colonels Henderson and Campbell, who were still contending for the validity of the Wataga treaty, and to obtain the passage of a law by which the cis-montane territory was recognised as a part of the state of Virginia, and erected into a county, under its previous name of Ken- tucky. By this act, which was passed on the 6th of December, 1776, Kentucky became entitled to a separate county court, two justices of the peace, a sheriff, constables, coroners, and militia oflScers. In the spring of 1777, the court of quarter ses- sions held its first sitting at Harrodsburg, at- tended by the sheriff of the county, and his clerk Levi Todd. The first court of Kentucky was composed of John Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin. Logan, John Bowman, and Richard Calloway. Having thus succeeded to a considerable ex- TRANSPORTATION OF GUNPOWDER. 37 tent in the mission they were delegated to perform, Clark and Jones set out once more for Kentucky. Being advised that the powder was still remaining at Pittsburg, they determined to proceed home by that route and bring it with them. This duty was one of great danger. The Indians around Pittsburg were both numerous and hostile, and it was requisite to use the utmost secrecy and caution to avoid being intercepted by them. Hastily embarking with the powder, to which had been added a good supply of lead, Clark and Jones, assisted by seven boatmen, moved with great expedition down the Ohio, with the In- dians following vigorously in the rear; but they finally succeeded in eluding their pursuers for a time by turning in at the mouth of Limestone Creek, at the spot where the city of Maysville now stands. After ascending the creek a short distance, the cargo was landed and buried, at different places in the woods along its banks. They then turned their boat adrift, and directed their course to the nearest station, with the view of returning, accompanied by an escort sufficient to insure the safe transportation of the stores. The first sta- tion they approached was McClelland's, situated where Georgetown now stands. Finding it too weak in numbers to justify detaching a sufficient party to convey the secret ammunition, Clark, piloted by Simon Kenton — who had broken up his 38 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. old camp and joined the settlers at McClelland's — set out for Harrodsburg. Unfortunately, du- ring their absence, Jones prevailed on Colonel John Todd and ten men to accompany him to the place where the ammunition was concealed. They accordingly set out, and on the 25th of December, while in the vicinity of the Blue Licks, were encountered by the Indian chief Pluggey and defeated. Jones and William Grayson were killed, and two of the party taken prisoners. The remainder escaped into the station, where Clark and Kenton arrived soon after with a reinforce- ment from Harrodsburg. On the morning of the 1st of January, 1777, Pluggey and his warriors appeared before the fort. McClelland and his men sallied out to attack them, but were repulsed, McClelland him- self and two of his men being slain, and four others wounded. The Indians soon afterward withdrew, and in a few days the ammunition was brought in safety to the station by a party orga- nized and led by Clark. This welcome acquisition, by supplying the colonists with an abundance of that ammunition of which they stood in so much need, enabled them subsequently to make a successful defence against the savages, by whom they now began to be constantly beset on all sides. The danger indeed grew so threatening, that McClelland's Fort was abandoned, as the neighbouring station FRAY WITH THE INDIANS. 39 of Hinckston's had been a short time previous, and the settlersl&om both places, in great gloom and amidst the lamentations of the women and children, departed for Harrodsburg. Here Ken- ton also took up his abode. In the spring, Clark, who had now command of the settlements, with the title of major, sent Kenton, John Haggin, and four others, to Hinck- ston's old station, to break out some flax and hemp. Haggin was in front, and observed a party of In- dians encamped around the deserted fort. Ken- ton, who was as prudent as he was brave, advised an immediate retreat ; but when Haggin remarked, that it would be an act of cowardice to run with- out having one fire, Kenton sprang from his horse, and the others, with one sensible exception, followed his example. In the mean time, the In- dians, who had already discovered the approach of the whites, opened a brisk fire upon the latter, which speedily compelled them to seek safety in flight. Directing his party to retreat into Har- rodsburg, Kenton separated from them, to put the garrison at Boonesborough on their guard. Al- though he reached the vicinity of the fort at an early hour, he determined not to enter it before darkness set in, knowing the custom of the In- dians to lie in ambush around the stations, and thus cut ofi" whoever might attempt to enter or depart. This caution saved his life ; for when he obtained admittance into the fort, he found 40 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the men carrying in the bodies of two of their friends who had been killed a few hours before, on the very same path by which he entered. In March, 1777, while James Ray, his brother, and another man, were engaged in clearing some land about four miles from Harrodsburg, they were attacked by a party of forty-seven Indians, under the command of the celebrated chief Black- fish. The Indians were attracted to the place by the noise of the axes, and rushing in upon the choppers, killed the younger Ray, and took the third man prisoner. The elder Ray — distin- guished afterward as General James Ray — being uninjured by the discharge of rifles, fled in the direction of the fort. Several of the swiftest In- dians followed him, but such was his fleetness and activity, that he distanced them all, and reached the fort in safety. By this fortunate escape of Ray, the garrison at Harrodsburg were enabled to prepare them- selves in time for the expected attack. The militia was immediately organized, ammunition provided, water and provisions secured, and the fort put in the best possible state of defence. On the morning of the 7th of March, 1777, several days after the escape of Ray, the Indians approached the vicinity of the fort, and, prelimi- nary to an attack, fired an out-cabin on the east side of the town. The garrison, unconscious of the proximity of ray's adventure. 41 tlie enemy, and supposing the lire to bo the result of accident, rushed out of the fort with a view to extinguish the flames. The Indians in- stantly attempted to intercept their return. The whites retreated, keeping up a random fire until they reached a piece of woods on the hill, now occupied by the court-house in Harrodsburgh, where each man took a tree, and soon caused the Indians in turn to give back, when the detach- ment from the garrison succeeded in regaining the fort. In this skirmish one Indian was killed, and four of the whites wounded, one of whom subsequently died. During the same year, while Ray and a man named McConnell were shooting at a mark near the fort, the latter was suddenly shot down by the Indians. Ray instantly glanced his eye in the direction of the shot, and perceiving the ene- my, raised his rifle to avenge the death of his friend, when he was suddenly attacked by a large body of Indians, who had crept near him unseen. His powers as a runner were again called into requisition, and Ray bounded towards the fort, distant a hundred and fifty yards, with the speed of an antelope, amidst showers of bullets from the savages. But when he approached the gates of the fort, he found them closed, and the garri- son too much under the influence of their fears to open them for his admission. In this critical situation, pursued by the savages, and refused 4* 42 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. shelter by his friends, Ray threw himself flat upon the ground, behind a stump just large enough to protect his body. Here, within seven steps of the fort wall, in sight of his mother, he lay for four hours, while the Indians kept up an incessant fire, the balls often striking and tear- ing up the ground on either side of him. At last, becoming somewhat Impatient, he called out to the garrison, and entreated them to dig a hole under the cabin wall, and take him in. Strange as may have appeared the suggestion, it was im- mediately carried out, and the noble young hunter was speedily within the shelter of the fort, and in the arms of his friends ! Owing to the watchfulness of the Indians, but little corn was raised around Harrodsburg the whole of this season. In order to make up for the deficiency, the people of the fort determined late In the season to make a turnip patch, about two hundred yards northwest of the station. While clearing the ground, an Indian was shot at by the guard, and the men retired. The next day the cattle were perceived to be disturbed, and snufiing the air about a small field in the farthest corner, that had been allowed to grow up In very high weeds. The presence of concealed Indians was instantly suspected, so sure were the cattle to betray their vicinity, either from the sight of the Indians themselves, or from the smell of the paint upon their persons. This indication prompt- INDIANS SURPRISED. 43 ed Major George Rogers Clark to turn the am- buscade upon the enemy. For this purpose, some men were still kept at work in the turnip patch nearest the fort, and in order to prevent suspicion by the Indians of any movement from within, they occasionally hallooed to their companions to come out to their work, while Clark, with a party of the garrison, sallied out of the fort with great secrecy, and, making a circuit, came up on the rear of the Indians as they lay concealed in the weeds. A volley was discharged at the concealed foe, and four of "their number killed — one by Clark and another by Ray. The Indians in- stantly retreated, and were pursued by the whites about four hundred yards down the creek, where they came upon the remains of a deserted Indian encampment, of sufficient extent for the accom- modation of five or six hundred warriors. From this camp the enemy had issued during the pre- ceding summer to assail the stations, which they had kept in a state of constant alarm, and had destroyed the greater portion of their horses and cattle. The Indians had now abandoned their position, and the party which had just been pur- sued was supposed to be the remnant of the In- dian force which had occupied the encampment. Major Clark complimented Ray with the gun of the Indian which he had shot, and which was the first he had ever killed. The property found in the Indian camp, consisting principally of cooking 44 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, utensils, was, as usual, divided by lottery among the captors. In 1775, there was a fort established by Colo- nel Logan at St. Asaph's, in Lincoln county, and within a mile of the present town of Stanford. It was called Logan's Fort. On the 20th of May, 1777, this fort was invested by a force of one hundred Indians ; and on the morning of that day, as some of the females were outside of the gate engaged in milking the cows, the men, who acted as the guard for the occasion, were fired upon by a party of Indians concealed in a thick canebrake. One man was shot dead, another mortally wounded, and a third so badly disabled as to be incapable of making his escape ; the remainder made good their retreat into the fort, and closed the gate. Harrison, the wounded man, by a violent ex- ertion ran a few paces and fell. The garrison strongly sympathized with the exposed sufferer, but the danger was so hazardous that they resist- ed for some time the agonizing appeals of the wretched wife whose husband lay writhing before her eyes. The enemy forbore to fire upon Har- rison, in the hopes of luring a portion of the gar- rison to his assistance. Though there were but twelve effective men within the gates, Logan could not resist the heart-moving appeals made by the family of Harrison, and called upon some of his men to follow him. At length John Martin con- LOGAN'S HEROISM. 45 sented, and rushed with Logan from the fort ; but he had not gone far before he shrank from the imminence of the danger, and sprang back within the gate. Logan paused for a moment, then dashed on alone and undaunted, reached unhurt the spot where Harrison lay, threw him over his shoulders, and amidst a tremendous shower of rifle balls made a safe retreat into the fort. Subsequent reinforcements obtained by the heroism of Logan compelled the baffled savages to retire. About this time a regulation was adopted, which subsequently proved of infinite service to the safety of the settlements. To watch the In- dians and give notice of their approach, six spies were appointed ; two for each of the only three stations then remaining. For the payment of these spies, Major Clark pledged the faith of Vir- ginia. Boone appointed Kenton and Brooks ; Harrod, Samuel Moore and Bates Collier ; and Logan, John Conrad and John Martin. These men performed good service. It was the custom for two each week, by turns, to range up and down the Ohio, and about the deserted stations, looking for Indian signs. By this means, the settlers had timely notice during the year of the approach of the enemy, with the exception of the occasion following. Early on the morning of the 4th of July, while 46 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Kenton and two others, who had loaded their guns for a hunt, were standing in the gate of the fort at Boonesborough, two men in the fields adjacent were fired on by the Indians. They immediately fled, not being hurt. The Indians pursued them, and a warrior overtook and toma- hawked one of the men within seventy yards of the fort, and proceeded leisurely to scalp him. Kenton shot the daring savage dead, and imme- diately with his hunting companions gave chase to the others. Boone, hearing the reports of fire-arms, has- tened with ten men to the relief of Kenton. The latter turned, and observed an Indian taking aim at the party of Boone ; quick as thought he brought his rifle to his shoulder, pulled the trigger first, and the redman bit the dust. Boone, having advanced some distance, now discovered that his party, consisting of fourteen men in all, was cut ofl" from the fort by a large body of the enemy, who had got between him and the gate. There was no time to be lost : Boone gave the word — "Right about — fire — charge !" and the intrepid hunters dashed in among their adversaries in a desperate endeavour to reach the fort. At the first fire of the Indians, seven of the fourteen whites were wounded, and among the number the gallant Boone, whose leg being bro- ken, he fell to the ground. An Indian sprang EXPLOIT OF KENTON. 47 on him with an uplifted tomahawk, but before the blow descended, Kenton rushed on the warrior, discharged his gun into his breast, and bore his leader into the fort. When the gate was closed, and all things secure, Boone sent for Kenton, and said to him, "Well, Simon, you have be- haved yourself like a man to-day — indeed, you are a fine fellow." This was great praise from Boone, who was a taciturn man, and little given to compliment. Kenton had certainly fully earned the brief eulogium ; he had saved the life of his captain, and killed three Indians with his own hand. The enemy, after keeping up the siege for three days, retired. 48 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER III. Border life — Clark sends spies to Kaskaskia — Projects an in- vasion of Illinois — Submits to the Governor of Virginia a plan of operations against the British outposts — Is appointed to lead the expedition — Boone taken prisoner at Blue Licks — Escapes from Chillicothe and returns to Boonesborough — Is besieged by a large Indian force led by Captain Du Quesne — Artifices of the Indians — The siege raised — Clark cap- tures Kaskaskia and Cahokia — Sends his prisoners to Vir- ginia — Takes Vincennes — His success in conciliating the Indians — Governor Hamilton recaptures Vincennes — His ulterior designs — Clark resolves to attack Hamilton — His terrible march through the wilderness — Reaches Vincennes — His stratagem — Fatal accuracy of his rifles — Governor Hamilton surrenders. As the war had hitherto been carried on in Kentucky, the colonists had successfully de- fended themselves in the three principal stations of Boone, Harrod, and Logan, from the nume- rous hordes of Indians by whom they were almost continually surrounded. There appears to have been a fierce excitement in this border life, which with many of those brave and restless spirits grew at length into a passion. Removed to a distance of several hundred miles from the nearest white settlement, these isolated borderers, whose numbers, in September, 1777, did not exceed eighty-one men capable of bearing arms, speedily acquired that intense love BRITISH INSTIGATION. 49 of freedom and that loathing of restraint which the wild life of a forester so naturally engenders. Major Clark, though still a very young man, seems to have been endowed naturally with by far the most thoughtful and sagacious mind of all the colonists. He was no sooner enabled to acquire a correct knowledge of the sources from which the Indians derived support and encou- ragement in their hostilities, than he came to the conclusion that the only way to put a stop to their sanguinary inroads, was by striking a direct blow at those points where they were fostered and encouraged. Casting his eyes toward the British posts of Detroit, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia, he saw at once the origin of all the frontier difficulties. It was by the arms and clothing supplied at these military stations, that the merciless ferocity of the Indian warriors was stimulated to the com- mission of those excesses by which the frontiers had been so long deluged with blood. In order to substantiate the correctness of these views, Clark despatched two spies to recon- noitre the British posts, and report their situa- tion. On their return they brought intelligence of great activity on the part of the garrisons, who omitted no opportunity to encourage the Indian depredations on the settlements in Ken- tucky. They also informed him, that, although the British had sought by means of wilful mis- 50 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. representation to prejudice the French inhabit- ants of those remote stations against the Vir- ginians and Kentuckians, there were many among them affectionately inclined toward the Ameri- cans and their cause. This was in the summer of 1777. In December of the same year, Clark submitted to the executive of Virginia a plan for the reduction of the British posts. The result was in every respect satisfactory. The governor and council, finding that but little was required, and being struck with the great practical sagacity of the young frontiersman, granted him such facilities as he needed. As it was imperative for the success of the expedition that it should be conducted with the utmost secrecy, Clark re- ceived, on the 2d of January, 1778, two sets of in- structions, — one public, directing him to proceed to Kentucky for its defence, — the other private, ordering an attack upon the British post at Kaskaskia in Illinois. Twelve hundred pounds were advanced to defray the necessary expenses, and an order on the Virginia commandant at Fort Pitt directed the latter to furnish Clark with such boats and military stores as were re- quisite for the object he had in view. Some time was consumed in organizing the expedition, and in the mean while the colonists of Kentucky experienced a disaster which seriously threatened the entire annihilation of their settle- ments. BOONE CAPTURED. 51 In the month of February, Boone, at the head of thirty men, was at the lower Blue Licks, en- gaged in making salt, when he was surprised by one hundred Indians, on their march to attack Boonesborough, and himself and party taken pri- soners. They surrendered on terms of capitula- tion, which were faithfully observed by the In- dians, and were all carried to Detroit. Here his companions were delivered over to the English commandant, but Boone was reserved by the Indians and taken to Chillicothe. His captors treated him with great kindness, and permitted him to hunt with but little restraint upon his motions. He continued to bear his imprisonment with well-assumed cheerfulness until the second week of June, when, observing that a large concourse of warriors had assembled, painted and equipped, for an expedition against Boonesborough, he de- termined to effect his escape at every hazard. He waited until the morning of the 16th of June, when making an early start he left Chillicothe, and after a journey of one hundred and fifty miles in four days, during which time he had partaken of but one meal, he reached Boonesborough, and was received by the garrison as one risen from the dead. His family, supposing him killed, had returned to North Carolina, and his men, apprehending no 52 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. danger, had suffered the defences of the fort to fall into decay. As the enemy might be hourly expected, no time ^Yas lost in strengthening the place to the utmost. The garrison laboured night and day, and after ten days' severe exertion, were enabled to rest from their long-continued toil, fully pre- pared for the approach of the savages. Boone learned soon afterward, that in consequence of his escape the Indians had determined to delay their attack for some weeks. The attack was delayed so long, that Boone resolved to carry the war into the Indian country. Marching with nineteen picked men against the town of Paint Creek on the Scioto, he encountered, within four miles of the town, a party of thirty warriors, on their route to join the main army in its attack on Boonesborough. This party he assaulted, and put to the rout without loss or injury to him- self; and then, hastily retracing his steps, suc- ceeded in eluding the Indian force on the sixth day of their march, and reached the fort in safety. The following day, the Indians, five hundred strong, commanded by Captain Du Quesne and other British Canadian officers, appeared before the gates. The British colours were displayed, and the fort summoned to surrender. Boone re- quested two days for consideration, which were granted. His garrison consisted of only fifty. SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH. 53 and he could expect no assistance from Logan or Harrod, as all communication between the sta- tions was cut off by strong detachments of the enemy. At the expiration of the armistice an answer was returned, that the fort would be de- fended to the last. A proposition was then made to treat, and Boone and eight of the garrison met the Bri- tish and Indian officers on the plain in front of the fort, when an effort being made to detain the Kentuckians as prisoners, they sprang out from the midst of their savage enemies, and succeeded, under a heavy fire of rifles, in gaining the fort, with only one man wounded. The attack w^as instantly commenced by a heavy fire against the picketing, and was returned by the garrison with fatal accuracy. The Indians then attempted to push a mine into the fort, but their object being discovered by the quantity of fresh earth they were compelled to throw into the river, Boone cut a trench within the fort so as to intersect their line of approach, and thus frustrated their design. After exhausting all the ordinary artifices of Indian warfare, and finding their numbers daily thinned by the fatal fire from the garrison, they raised t'he siege on the ninth day from their first appearance, and returned home. The loss on the part of the garrison w^as two men killed, and four wounded. Of the savages twenty-seven were killed, and many wounded, who, as usual, were 5* 54 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. carried off. This was the last siege sustained by Boonesborough. Unconscious of the terrible danger with which the frontier stations were menaced, Colonel Clark, with a force of only four companies, furnished by Virginia, and a few scouts and guides, de- scended the Ohio in boats to the falls, where he landed on Corn Island thirteen families, who had accompanied him from Pittsburg as immigrants to Kentucky. It was these immigrants who shortly afterward laid the foundation of Louisville on the opposite shore. Proceeding on his way, Clark floated down the Ohio until he reached an island at the mouth of the Tennessee. Here he was so fortunate as to encounter a party of hunters, from whom he ob- tained much important intelligence in relation to the state of things at Kaskaskia. They reported that the garrison was under the commiand of M. Rocheblave, that the militia were well disciplined, and, that in apprehension of an expedition from Kentucky, spies were stationed on the Missis- sippi River, and Indian hunters directed to keep a sharp look-out for the approach of any hostile force. Expressing their belief that the post might be captured by surprise, the hunters offered their services as guides, which being immediately accepted, the party again set out. Concealing their boats at a point on the Illinois shore near old Fort Massac, the little army took up its line CAPTURE OF KASKASKIA. 55 of march through the wilderness ; CLark march- ing at the head of his men, and sharing their con- dition in every respect. On the evening of the 4th of July, 1778, the expedition arrived in the neighbourhood of the town, where it lay until dark, when the march was resumed. That night the town and fort were surprised and captured, without the effusion of a drop of blood. M. Rocheblave, the British go- vernor, was taken in his bed, but very few of his public papers were secured, as they were secreted or destroyed by his wife, whom the Kentuckians, from honourable motives of delicacy, refrained from molesting. In the course of a few days, Clark, by his wise and prudent policy, was so successful in dissi- pating the alarm and gaining the affection of the French inhabitants, that they became far more strongly attached to the American government, than they had been previously to that of their British rulers. Having thus, by his humane conduct, even more than by the success of his arms, secured the safety of his command, he next turned his atten- tion to the reduction of the village of Cahokia, situated about sixty miles up the Mississippi. The capture of this small post was a proceeding of some importance, inasmuch as the village, though a small one, enjoyed a considerable trade with the Indians, and was a depot for the distri- 56 HISTORY OF KEXTUCKY. bution of arms and ammunition to the latter, many of whom were in the neighbourhood when the Americans approached. Major Bowman, to whom Clark had intrusted the command of the expedition, reached the vici- nity of the town without detection. The detach- ment was strengthened by the addition of several gentlemen, citizens of Kaskaskia, who had volun- teered their services in the humane hope of being able, by their influence, to secure the surrender of the post without bloodshed. Their hopes were crowned with the most gratifying success. The inhabitants were at first surprised and alarmed, but when they learned of the gentlemen from Kas- kaskia, with what a noble humanity the Americans had acted at the latter place, the general con- sternation was converted into shouts of welcome. Having secured and sent off his prisoners to Virginia, Clark next turned his attention toward the British post at Yincennes. By the enthu- siastic agency of a French priest, M. Gibault, the enterprise was achieved with the same ease which had characterized his former ones. On the 1st of August, the inhabitants threw off their alle- giance to the British, the garrison was over- powered and expelled, and the American flag displayed from the ramparts of the fort. Leaving a small force under Captain Helm for the protection of the place, Clark now retraced his steps to Kaskaskia, where he employed con- HAMILTON EE-CAPTURES VINCENNES. 57 siderable time in conciliating the various Indian tribes wlio had hitherto been so fiercely hostile to the Americans. The successes he had achieved, the influence of the great name he had already acquired among savages, joined to his thorough knowledge of the Indian character, enabled him, in the course of a short time, to detach them from the British interest and link them to the cause of the Americans. In the mean time, Clark, having no tidings from Vincennes, became seriously anxious as to the fate of the small garrison he had left at that place. His fears were not without foundation. On the 20th of January, 1779, Colonel Vigo brought the information that Governor Hamilton, who commanded the British force in the north- west, had marched from Detroit with a mixed force of British and Indians, had taken prisoners the handful of men left by Clark to garrison Vincennes, and re-established the British power. Colonel Vigo also stated, that the object of Ha- milton was not merely limited to recapturing the forts taken by Clark from the British, but that his intentions were to lay waste Kentucky, and then advance up the Ohio and seize Fort Pitt. The season, however, being so far advanced, he had determined to defer his project until the ensuing spring ; and, in the meanwhile, had con- cluded to employ his Indians in desultory attacks upon the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. 58 HISTOKY OF KENTUCKY. Clark now clearly saw that his position at Kaskaskia was a very precarious one. Cut off from all hopes of obtaining reinforcements, he must either extricate himself by a bold and sudden attack upon Hamilton at Yincennes, or wait his approach and then defend himself in the best manner he was able. He decided upon the former. He no sooner learned from his spies that the Indian force under Hamilton had de- parted from Vincennes, to commence their war- fare on the settlements, and that Hamilton lay at A^incennes with his regulars only, than he resolved to proceed against him at once, and capture both the commander and garrison by a coup de main. He accordingly made immediate preparation for the expedition. On the 7th of February, he commenced his march through the wilderness witlila force of one hundred and seventy-five men, having previously despatched Captain Rogers, with a company of forty-six men and two four- pounders in a boat, with orders to force their way up the Wabash, station themselves a few miles below the mouth of White River, suffer nothing to pass, and wait for further orders. For seven days the land expedition pursued its toilsome course over the drowned lands of Illinois, exposed to every privation that could exhaust the spirits of men, when it arrived at the Little Wabash. INTREPID PERSEVERANCE. 59 But now the worst part of the expedition was still before them. At this point the forks of the stream are three miles apart, and the oppo- site heights of land five miles distant even in the ordinary state of the water. When the expedi- tion arrived, the intervening valley was covered with water nearly three feet in depth. Through this dreadful country the expedition was compelled to make its way until the 18th, when they arrived so near Vincennes that they could hear the morning and evening guns at the fort. On the evening of the same day they en- camped within nine miles of the town, below the mouth of the Embarrass River. Here they were detained two days, having no means of crossing the river. On the 20th, the guard surprised a boat, in which the men and arms were transported to the opposite shore. There was still, however, an extensive sheet of water to be passed, which, on sounding, proved to be up to the arm-pits. When this discovery was made, the whole detach- ment began to manifest symptoms of alarm and despair, which Colonel Clark observing, took a little powder in his hand, mixed some water with it, and having blackened his face, raised an In- dian whoop and marched into the water. The effect of the example was electrical, and the men followed without a murmur. In this manner, and singing in chorus, the troops made their way through the water, almost constantly 60 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. waist deep, until tliej arrived within sight of the town. The immense exertion required to effect this march may not be described. When the men reached the dry land, they were so exhaust- ed that many of them fell, leaving their bodies half immersed in the water. Having captured a man who was discovered shooting ducks, Clark sent by him a letter into the town, notifying the inhabitants he should take possession of the place that night. On the evening of the 23d, the detachment set off to take possession of the town. After march- ing and countermarching around the elevations of the plain, and displaying several sets of colours to give the garrison as exaggerated an idea of their numbers as possible, Clark posted his men on the heights at the rear of the village and opened a spirited fire upon the fort. The men would lie within thirty yards of the fort un- touched by its guns, from the awkward elevation of its platforms, while no sooner was a port-hole opened, than a dozen rifles would be directed at it, cutting down every thing in the way. The garrison became discouraged, and could not stand to their guns, and in the evening of the next day the British commandant, finding his cannon use- less and apprehensive of the result of being taken at discretion, sent a flag asking a truce of three days. This was refused, and on the 24th of February, 1779, the fort was surrendered, and THE FIRST BLOCK-HOUSE. 61 the garrison became prisoners of war. On the 25th, it was taken possession of by the Ameri- cans, the stars and stripes were hoisted, and thirteen guns fired to celebrate the victory. CHAPTER IV. The first block-house built at Lexmgton — Expedition of Colonel Bowman against Chillicothe — Bravery of Logan — Singular conduct of Bowman — The attack by Logan — Bowman orders a retreat — Harassed by the Lidians — The savages repulsed by Logan and others — Land law of Kentucky — Its obnoxious features — Vexatious law-suits arising from it — Colonel Rogers attacked by the Indians on the Ohio — Dreadful slaughter of the whites — Romantic anecdote of Captain Denham and his companion — Ruddell's station attacked by Canadians and Indians under Colonel Boyd — Ruddell surrenders — Treache- rous conduct of the savages — Indignation of Byrd — Mar- tin's station captured — Byrd retreats down the Ohio--Es- cape of Captain Hinckston — His ingenuity in discovering the route to Lexington by night — His perilous escapes — Sur- rounded by Indians — Reaches Lexington in safety — Indians retreat with their booty. Leaving Clark in possession of Vincennes, let us now turn to Kentucky and watch the progress of events in that quarter. The first thing for which the year 1779 was distinguished among the frontiersmen, was the building of a block-house by Eobert Patterson, upon the spot where the beautiful city of Lexing- ton now stands. This was in the early part of April. In July of the same year, Colonel Bowman led 62 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. an expedition against the Indian town of Chilli- cothe, and as the attack ended disastrously, not- withstanding the bravest spirits of Kentucky marched under Bowman's orders, it may be as well to narrate the affair with some minuteness of detail. In this expedition Colonel Logan was second in command; while Harrod, Bulger, Bedinger, and others, held subordinate stations. The detachment consisted of one hundred and sixty men, well accustomed to Indian warfare, and, if we except Bowman, officered by the best men upon the frontier. So secretly had the measures been taken for a surprise, that from the time they left Harrods- burg until they reached within a mile of Chilli- cothe, they had successfully eluded the vigilance of the enemy, whom the spies reported as utterly unconscious of their approach, and in a state of the most perfect exemption from alarm. Putting the party in motion, Logan was ordered to take a left-hand route, and half encircle the town, while Bowman marched to the right in the same manner. When this was accomplished, and the divided parties had formed a junction in front of the town, the attack was to commence. Logan performed his part of the service with boldness and secrecy, but after waiting for several hours for the approach of his commander, he was doomed to disappointment. Daylight appeared, ATTACK ON CHILLICOTHE. 63 and an Indian dog began to bark loudly. This brought out one of the Indians from a cabin hard by, who walked cautiously toward the party, halt- ing frequently, rising on tiptoe and gazing about him. Logan hoped to have taken him prisoner, but the firing of a gun from one of Bowman's con- cealed party on the other side of the village gave the alarm to the Indians and brought matters to a crisis. Even then if Bowman had dashed forward, the attack would have been successful. Logan's party sprang from the grass and rushed upon the village, w^hile the Indians made for the great cabin in the centre of the town. Here it was that, having collected in great force, they determined to offer an obstinate resistance. Taking possession of the deserted cabins, Logan and his party worked their way from one house to another, until they were within easy rifle-shot of the Indian redoubt. While thus occupying a good position from whence they could assail their enemies, they began to grow anxious for the coming of Bow- man and his party ; but as the latter still re- frained from making any attack, and as Logan, who had pressed with his detachment very near to the redoubt, was now suffering under a galling fire, he found it almost as hazardous to retreat as to advance. Utterly unconscious of the cause of Bowman's 64 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. inaction, and with his communication cut off by the fierce fire of the warriors who had recovered from the panic into which they were at first thrown, Logan formed the daring project of making a movable breastwork of the planks which formed the floor of the cabins, and under cover of it, to rush upon the stronghold of the enemy, and carry it by main force. Before the necessary steps could be taken to carry out this desperate plan, a messenger arrived from Bow- man with orders to retreat. In utter astonishment and indignation, Logan asked if Bowman had been overpowered by the enemy ? No ! Had he even beheld an enemy ? No ! Why then did he wish to abandon the at- tack ? He did not know, the colonel had ordered a retreat ! Very reluctantly Logan obeyed, and the evil consequences of such an order were soon made manifest. Hitherto the men, buoyed up with the hope of support, had acted bravely in concert ; now, de- pressed by an order for which they could not ac- count, they lost all firmness, and each one shift- ing for himself, broke from the scene of action, leaving his companions to seek safety in any manner they might think best. This sudden rout astonished even the Indians, who sallied out and pursued the stragglers until they had united themselves to the party under Bowman, the latter having remained, as if stricken DISORDERLY RETREAT. 65 suddenly with imbecility, very near to the same spot where Logan had left him the night before. While the Indians were profiting by their un- expected deliverance from the deadliest peril, the whites were filled with confusion and dismay. A disorderly retreat commenced, which at length assumed something like regularity by the exertions of the subordinate officers. Bowman himself sat rigidly upon his horse, neither giving an order nor taking any measures to repel the enemy. With the sharp crack of the Indian rifles the instinctive courage of the men returned. Throw- ing themselves into the form of a hollow square, they kept the enemy at bay until they could cover themselves by trees, and when this was ac- complished, the Indians were speedily repulsed, and the troops recommenced their march. They had scarcely proceeded half a mile be- fore the enemy reappeared, and opened a fire upon the front, rear, and both flanks. Again a square was formed, and the enemy beaten back. This was repeated several times, and each time with the same result. But this harassing con- dition of things was beginning to have its usual efi*ect. The men grew unsteady, and wavered at the approach of their enemies. Seeing the panic rapidly spreading, Logan, Harrod, and Bedinger, with a few of the boldest and best mounted of the troops, charged suddenly and with great 6* 66 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. daring upon the Indians, broke throngli the net- work of bushes behind which the latter were sheltered, forced them from their coverts, and, scouring the forest in every direction, cut down as many as they could overtake. This decisive step completely dispersed the enemy, and the weary and dispirited continued their retreat without further molestation, having suffered, through the incapacity of their com- mander, a loss of nine killed and a few others wounded. During this year, the well-known land law of Kentucky, which subsequently created such an immense amount of litigation, was passed by the legislature of Virginia. Though just and liberal in some of its features, its radical defect was in the absence of a provision for a general survey of the country at the expense of the government, and in the permission which it gave to each pos- sessor of a warrant, to locate the same where he pleased. But the survey was required to be made at his own cost, and in such precise terms, that each subsequent locator might recognise the land already taken up, and make his entry else- where. It is needless to state how impossible this was to such rough woodsmen and indifferent surveyors as then and subsequently settled the country. The natural consequence was, that sur- veys, patents, and entries, were piled upon each other in almost inextricable confusion, and are TERRIBLE DISASTER. 67 the source of many most troublesome and vexa- tious law-suits even to the present time. The passage of the land law had a remarkable effect upon immigration. People began imme- diately to flock into Kentucky in vast numbers, for the purpose of locating land warrants ; but though they added greatly to the general strength of the territory, their presence only seemed to provoke the Indians to more determined hostili- ties. In the autumn of 1779, a terrible disaster took place. As two keelboats laden with military stores, under charge of Colonel Rogers, were as- cending the Ohio Kiver, a number of Indians on rafts and in canoes shot out suddenly from the mouth of the Little Miami, and were carried by the strong current of the latter river nearly across to the opposite shore. Colonel Rogers, expecting to take the Indians by surprise, immediately landed his crew, to the number of seventy men, and advanced secretly to the attack. Before, however, he could reach the point where he expected to meet the savages, he was himself surrounded by a force of nearly treble his numbers. The Indians immediately poured in a close discharge of rifles, and then, throwing down their guns, fell upon the survivors with the tomahawk. The panic was complete, and the slaughter awful. Colonel Rogers and forty-five men were killed instantly. The re- 68 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. mainder fled to tlieir boats, but the guards who had charge of the latter had already fled with one of them, and the enemy had gained posses- sion of the other. Making one desperate charge, they broke through the lines of savages, and with the loss of several wounded, succeeded in efi'ecting their escape to Harrodsburg. Among the wounded was Captain Robert Den- ham. Shortly after breaking through the enemy's lines he was shot through both hips, and the bones being shattered, he instantly fell, to the ground. Dragging himself into the top of a large prostrate tree which lay near by, he succeeded in eluding the notice of the Indians by concealing himself among its branches. Here he lay until the evening of the second day, when he disco- vered that another person was near him, who was wounded in both arms. By mutually assisting each other, Denham in killing game for his companion, and the latter in carrying Denham about from place to place, they managed to sustain life until the 27th of Novem- ber, when they were relieved by a flatboat, which they hailed as it floated down the Ohio, and were taken to Louisville, where, after a few weeks' confinement, they perfectly recovered of their wounds. No further hostilities of any consequence in- terfered with the peace of Kentucky until the summer of 1T80, when a formidable force, con- BRITISH AND INDIANS. 69 sisting of six hundred Indians and Canadians, under the command of Colonel Bjrd, an officer of the British army, accompanied by six pieces of artillery, appeared before Ruddell's Station, on the easterly bank of the south fork of Licking River, three miles below the junction of Hink- ston's and Stone's branches of the same stream. To Colonel Byrd's summons to surrender, Cap- tain Ruddell answered by offering to yield on certain conditions, one of which was that the garrison should be under the sole protection of the British. To these terms Colonel Byrd agreed ; but immediately the gates were opened, the In- dians rushed in, and seizing all they could lay their hands on, claimed them as their prisoners. The scene which followed was heart-rendino;. Ruddell remonstrated with the colonel against this barbarous violation of his word ; but as the Indians were far more numerous than the Cana- dians, Byrd himself had no power to control his savage allies. After the prisoners were divided in this sum- mary manner among their captors, the Indians proposed an attack upon Martin's Station, which was five miles from Ruddell's. To this, however, Colonel Byrd, who was heartily ashamed of the conduct of his allies, would not consent until the chiefs pledged themselves in behalf of their fol- lowers that the prisoners should be entirely un- der the control of the British, and that the 70 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. savages would content themselves with the pos- session of the plunder. When this was agreed upon, Martin's Station was invested and its garrison captured, Colonel Byrd taking sole charge of the prisoners. The Indians now urged Byrd to precipitate his force upon Bryant's Station and Lexington ; hut the latter, giving as a reason for not comply- ing with their wishes, the improbability of success, and the scanty supply of provisions to support the prisoners he had already, countermarched with his force to the forks of the Licking, where he got his military stores and artillery on board of his boats, and moved off with all possible despatch. At this place the Indians separated from the Canadians, taking with them the prisoners they had captured at Ruddell's Station. Among the latter was Captain John Hinkston, a brave man and an experienced woodsman. The second night after leaving the forks of the Lick- ing, the Indians encamped near the river ; every thing was very wet, in consequence of which it was difficult to kindle a fire, and before a fire was made it was quite dark. A guard was placed over the prisoners, and while a part of them were employed in kindling the fire, Hinkston sprang from among them, and was immediately out of sight. An alarm was instantly given, and the Indians ran in every ESCAPE OF HINKSTON. 71 direction, not being able to ascertain the course he had taken. Hinkston ran but a short distance before he lay down by the side of a log, within the dark shade of a large beech tree, where he remained until the stir occasioned by his escape had subsided, when he moved off as silently as possible. The night was cloudy and very dark, so that he had no mark to steer by, and after travelling some time toward Lexington, as he thought, he found himself close to the camp from which he had just before effected his escape. In this dilemma he was obliged to tax his skill as a woodsman, to devise a method by which he should be enabled to steer his course without light enough to see the moss on the trees, or without the aid of sun, moon, or stars. He ultimately adopted this method. He dipped his hand in the water, which almost covered the whole country, and holding it above his head, he instantly felt one side of his hand cold ; he immediately knew that from that point the wind came : he, therefore, steered the balance of the night by the cold side of his hand, that being from the west, he knew, and best suited to his purpose. After travelling several hours, he sat down at the root of a tree, and fell asleep. A few hours before day there came on a heavy dense fog, so that a man could not be seen at twenty yards' distance. This circumstance was of infinite advantage to Hinkston, for as soon as 72 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. daylight appeared, the howling of wolves, the gobbling of turkies, the bleating of fawns, the hoot of owls, and the noises of other wild animals, were heard in almost every direction. Hinkston was too well acquainted with the customs of the savages not to know that it was Indians, and not beasts and birds, that made these sounds ; he, therefore, avoided approaching the places where he heard them, and, notwithstanding he was several times within a few yards of them, with the aid of the fog he escaped, and arriving safely at Lexington, brought the first news of the event which led to his capture and subsequent escape. The Indians not only collected all the horses at Ruddell's and Martin's stations, but also many around Bryant's and Lexington, and with their booty crossed the Ohio River near the mouth of Licking, and there dispersed. The British descended Licking River to the Ohio, went down the Ohio to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up the Miami as far as it was then navigable for their boats, when they hid their artillery and marched by land to Detroit. CLAEK DESTROYS THE PIQUA TOWNS. 73 CHAPTER V. Clark destroys the Piqua towns on the Miami — Kentucky di- vided into three counties — Indian incursions — Immigration continues — Transylvania University incorporated by Virgi- nia — Indians invest Estill's station — Are pursued — Defeat of Estill — Bryant's station attacked by Girty at the head of six hundred Indians — Heroism of the women — Arrival of rein- forcements — Their perilous situation — Skirmish in the corn- field — Attack on the station — Girty attempts to negotiate — Answer of Reynolds — The Indians raise the siege — Are pursued by a party under Colonel Todd — Fatal recklessness of McGary — The Kentuckians attacked by the Indians from an ambush — Desperate conflict — Rout of the Kentuckians — Escape of Daniel Boone — Presence of mind of Nether- land — Retaliation of Clark — Burns the Miami towns. ■ In order to retaliate for this daring inroad, Clark, who had now returned to Kentucky, issued a call for volunteers to support his regiment in an expedition against the Indians. It was not long before numbers had joined his standard. When the forces were assembled at the mouth of Lick- ing River, they amounted in all to one thousand men. Marching with great secrecy and celerity, Clark reached the Indian towns before the enemy were aware of his approach. After a sharp conflict, in which the loss was equal, the Indians fled ; the towns were reduced to ashes, and the gardens and fields laid waste. This being accomplished, Clark returned to the Ohio and discharged the militia. The Indians 7 74 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. being under the necessity of resorting to hunting for the support of their families, gave the colo- nists no further trouble during the season. In November of this year, Kentucky was di- vided into three counties, to which the name of Fayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson, were given. They had now three county courts, holding monthly sessions, three courts of common law and chan- cery jurisdiction, sitting quarterly, and a large number of magistrates and constables. No court capable of trying capital offences existed nearer than Richmond in Virginia. Indian incursions continued through the year 1781 ; but being undertaken only by small par- ties of warriors, were easily repelled. Immigra- tion still brought large numbers into the new territories, and speculation in lands was carried on with an ardour that seemed rather to increase than to suffer any abatement. It was during this year, that Transylvania University was established in Fayette county, Kentucky, by the legislature of Virginia. One- sixth of the surveyors' fees, formerly conferred on the college of William and Mary, with eight thousand acres of the first quality land in the then county of Kentucky, were granted for the endowment and support of the seminary. The year 1782 opened disastrously. In the month of May, a party of twenty-five Wyandots invested Estill's station, on the south of Kentucky DESPERATE BATTLE. 75 River. After having killed one wliite man, taken a negro prisoner, and destroyed the cattle, they retreated. Captain Estill immediately organized a company of twenty-five men, and pursued them. When he reached the Hinkston fork of Licking River, the Wyandots were ascending leisurely a hill on the opposite side. Estill's men immedi- ately opened a fire upon the retreating Indians, who at first seemed disposed to run ; but upon their chief, who was severely wounded, calling to them to remain and fight, they took to the trees and returned the fire of their pursuers. Each party, now protected By such shelter as they could find, commenced a rapid discharge of rifles from opposite sides of the cr^ek. Coolly and deliberately the firing was continued for up- wards of an hour, until one-fourth of the combat- ants on both sides had fallen. Finding his men gradually lessening in number, and having no hope of success in the manner he was situated, Estill formed the desperate resolution of detaching six of his men up the valley through which the creek ran, with orders to cross the creek above, and fall upon the Indian rear. This movement was no sooner observed by the Wyandot chief, than he made a rapid charge across the creek, and falling upon the whites, now weakened by the absence of the detachment, drove them from their coverts, and compelled them to retreat with great slaughter. In this 76 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. charge, Captain Estill and eight men were killed, and four others wounded. The Indians lost more than half of their number ; but the loss of the whites was much greater. This action lasted two hours, and is considered to have been one of the best contested battles for the numbers en- gaged that was ever fought on the frontier. • On the 14th of August, a most formidable at- tack was made upon Bryant's station by an army of six hundred warriors, of various tribes, headed by the infamous renegade Simon Girty. This fort, which was situated on the southern bank of the Elkhorn, contained about forty ca- bins placed in parallel lines, connected by strong palisades, and garrisoned by some forty or fifty men. A few days previous to this. Captain Holden, with a party of seventeen men, had been de- feated near Upper Blue Licks, a messenger from whom arrived at Bryant's in time to warn the people at the latter station of the approaching enemy. Owing to this fortunate circumstance, the garrison was already under arms when Girty and his savage warriors appeared. Supposing from the preparations made by the garrison to receive them, that their actual presence in the vicinity was known, a considerable body of Indians was placed in ambush near to the spring, which w^as at some distance from the fort, while another and smaller party was ordered to i CURIOUS EXPEDIENT. 77 take position in full view of tlie garrison, with the hope of enticing them to an engagement out- side of the walls. Had this stratagem proved successful, the re- mainder of the forces were so posted as to be able, on the withdrawal of the garrison, to storm one of the gates and cut ofi' their return to the fort. Unconscious of the snare which had been laid for them, the garrison were in the act of sallying out, having already opened one of the gates for this purpose, when they became alarmed by a sudden firing from an opposite direction, and hastily falling back, they closed the gates and firmly secured them. One difficulty, however, they had to encounter, — a want of vrater. Acting on the belief, that although there might be an ambush at the spring, yet that the Indians, in de- siring to effect the capture of the station by stratagem, would not unmask themselves to the women of the fort, the latter were urged to go in a body to the spring, and each of them bring up a bucket full of water. Naturally enough, the females at first objected ; but after listening to the arguments of the men, a few of the boldest declared their readiness to brave the danojer, and the younger and more timid rallying in the rear of the elderly matrons, they all marched down in a body to the spring within point-blank shot of more than five hundred Indian warriors. Not a 7* 78 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. shot was fired. They filled their buckets with- out interruption, and regained the fort in safety. As soon as messengers had been sent ofi* to procure assistance from the nearest stations, and the arrangements for the reception of the enemy were completed, thirteen young men were ordered to make a sally upon the decoy party, while the rest of the garrison posted themselves at the op- posite side of the fort, ready to pour a plunging fire upon the ambuscade as soon as it was un- masked. No sooner was the sally made, than Girty sprang up at the head of the main body of his w^arriors, and rushed rapidly upon the western gate, which he supposed to have been left un- defended. Into this mass of dusky bodies the garrison poured several rapid volleys of rifle balls with destructive efl"ect. Their consternation may be imagined. With wild cries they dispersed on the right and left, and in two minutes not an Indian was to be seen. A regular attack then commenced, and continued until two o'clock in the afternoon, when a reinforcement of sixteen horsemen and double that number of foot ap- proached the vicinity of the garrison. On one side of the road by which they ap- proached was a field containing one hundred acres of standing corn ; on the opposite side was a thick wood. In this wood, and in the corn, three hun- dred Indians crouched, within pistol-shot of the INDIANS IN AMBUSH. 79 road, waiting silently in ambusli for the rein- forcements which they had been advised were ad- vancing. The horsemen came in view at a time when the firing had ceased, and every thing was quiet. Seeing no enemy and hearing no noise, they entered the lane at a gallop, and were instantly saluted with a shower of rifle balls at a distance of ten paces. At the first shot, the whole party put spurs to their horses, and rode at full speed through a rolling fire, which continued for several hundred yards ; but owing to the furious rate at which they rode, and the dust raised by the horses' feet, they all escaped and entered the fort unhurt. The men on foot were less fortunate ; they were passing through the corn-field, but hearing the firing, ran up to succour their friends. For- tunately, when they reached the place of ambush the Indian guns were mostly discharged. The savages, however, raised a yell and rushed upon them ; but the rifles of the Kentuckians being loaded, they were enabled to keep the enemy at bay for some time, by pointing at them with their pieces, and then dodging and running deeper among the corn. Some entered the wood and escaped through the thickets of cane, some were shot down in the wood, others maintained a running fight, halting occasionally behind trees, and keeping the savages 80 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. at a distance with their rifles. A stout young fellow, being hard pressed by Girty and several Indians, discharged his rifle and Girty fell ; the ball struck a thick piece of sole leather in the pouch of the renegade, which saved his life, but upon the fall of their leader the savages halted, and the chase was discontinued. In this stirring skirmish the whites lost six men in killed and wounded. The loss of the Indians was less, in- asmuch as the whites never fired their rifles, ex- cept as a last resort. The Indians now returned to the siege of the fort. Finding that their loss had already been heavy, and well knowing that the neighbouring stations would soon take the alarm, and hasten to the rescue of their friends, the chiefs were inclined to raise the siege, but Girty resolved to try the effect of negotiation. Near one of the bastions there was a large stump, to which he crept on his hands and knees, and from which he hailed the garrison. Commending them for their bravery, he as- sured them, that having six hundred warriors with him, further resistance would be madness ; that he was in hourly expectation of reinforcements and artillery, which would instantly blow their cabins into the air ; but that if they surrendered at once, he gave them his honour, that not a hair of their heads should be injured. He told them his name, inquired whether they knew him, and THE RENEGADE GIRTY. 81 assured them that they might safely trust to his word. Many of the garrison, really fearing the ap- proach of artillery, began to cast uneasy glances at one another, when an energetic young man by the name of Reynolds took upon himself to re- ply to Girty. He told the renegade he was very well known ; that he himself had a worthless dog he called «' Girty;" that if the Indians had artillery and reinforcements they might bring them up ; that the garrison also expected reinforcements soon ; and that if Girty and his gang of murderers re- mained twenty-four hours longer before the fort, their scalps would be found drying in the sun upon the roofs of the cabins. Girty expressed great offence at the tone and language of the spirited young Kentuckian, and retired with an avowal of his sorrow at the in- evitable destruction which awaited the garrison on the following morning. He had no sooner, however, rejoined the chiefs, than instant pre- parations were made for raising the siege. About daylight in the morning they retired precipitately, leaving several pieces of meat upon their roasting sticks, and their fires still burning. By noon the same day, one hundred and sixty men had assembled at Bryant's station, eager to punish the invaders. Colonels Todd, Trigg, and Daniel Boone ; Majors Harland, McBride, and 82 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Levi Todd ; Captains Bulger and Gordon, with forty-five commissioned officers, including the celebrated McGary, assembled in council, and hastily determined to pursue the enemy, without waiting for Colonel Logan, who was known to be collecting a strong force in Lincoln, and who might be expected to join them in twenty-four hours. It is said that McGary objected to this pre- cipitancy of action, but that the eagerness of the others was not to be overruled. Accordingly, on the afternoon of the 18th of August, the line of march was taken up, and the pursuit urged with that unreflecting rashness which has so often been fatal to Kentuckians. Most of the officers and many of the privates were mounted. % At the Lower Blue Licks, for the first time since the pursuit commenced, they came within view of the enemy, who, as the pursuers reached the southern bank of Licking, were ascending the rocky ridge on the other side. The Indians halted for a moment, gazed at the Kentuckians, and then proceeded slowly onward. The latter halted also, while the officers entered into consultation. Finding some difficulty in knowing how to act, they appealed to Boone for advice. He immediately acknowledged the critical na- ture of their situation, cut off as they were from all support, and from his knowledge of the coun- BATTLE AT THE BLUE LICKS. 83 try expressed his apprehension of an ambush at about the distance of a mile in advance. He suggested that it was best to do one of two things. Either to wait for Logan, or to divide their force, and while one-half marched up the river, crossed it at the rapids, and fell upon the rear of the enemy, the other division should make an attack in front. Upon this advice opinions were divided. At length, the fiery and impetuous McGary suddenly interrupted the consultation by a war-whoop, and spurring his horse into the stream, waved his hat over his head, and shouted aloud, " Let all who are not cowards follow me." The effect was electrical. The men dashed instantly into the river, each striving to be foremost. The vanguard had no sooner reached the ra- vine where Boone had expressed his apprehen- sions of an ambush, than a body of Indians sprang up and attacked them. McGary's party instantly returned the fire ; but the latter were on an open ridge, while the Indians were protected by their bushy covert. The centre and rear, hurrying up to support their comrades, were stopped by the terrible fire from the ravine. Still, however, they maintained their ground ; gradually closed upon the Indians, and drove them from the ravine, when the fire became mutually destructive. Upon the officers especially it had told terribly. Todd and Trigg, in the rear ; Ilarland, McBride, and young Boone, in front, were already killed. 84 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. At length, the Indians succeeded in outflank- ing the Kentuckians, and as this would cut off the retreat of the latter by the river, the rear was seized with a panic, which communicating itself to the front, the force of the whites fell back hurriedly. The Indians immediately sprang forward in pursuit, and, falling upon them with their tomahawks, made a cruel slaughter. The horsemen generally escaped, but the foot, espe- cially those who had been in the van at the commencement of the attack, were nearly all destroyed. Boone plunged into the ravine which the Indians had just quitted, and after sustaining several volleys unhurt, outstripped his pursuers, crossed the river below the ford by swimming, and returned by a circuitous route to Bryant's station. In the river the scene was equally terrible. The ford was crowded with horsemen, footmen, and Indians, all mingled together, and fighting with the fury of desperation. The presence of mind shown by a man named Netherland saved a portion of the fugitives. Being well mounted, he with some twenty others had reached the opposite bank of the river, when, seeing his com- panions about to continue their flight, he called upon them to halt, fire upon the Indians, and save those who were still in the stream. The party instantly obeyed ; a fatal discharge from their rifles checked the impetuosity of the sa- CLARK'S EXPEDITION. 85 vages, and gave time to the footmen to cross in safety. The check, however, was but momentary ; the Indians crossed in great numbers above and below, and the pursuit was urged keenly for twenty miles, though with but little loss. In this terrible conflict, the Kentuckians sustained a loss of sixty killed, and seven taken prisoners. The number of wounded was never ascertained. Some of the fugitives reached Bryant's station on the night after the battle, and were there met by Colonel Logan at the head of four hundred and fifty men. Logan remained at Bryant's until the last of the survivors had arrived, and then continued his march to the battle-ground. The bodies of the dead were interred, and having satisfied himself that the Indians had crossed the Ohio and were beyond his reach, he returned to Bryant's sta- tion and disbanded his troops. Colonel Clark no sooner heard of this terrible defeat, than he determined to retaliate for the havoc made by the Indians, by an immediate ex- pedition into the heart of their own country. Calling for volunteers to join his regiment of state troops, then permanently stationed at Louis- ville, he was promptly answered by numbers flocking to his standard. One thousand riflemen rendezvoused at the mouth of Licking, and, under the command of Clark, penetrated to the Miami towns in Ohio. No resistance was offered. The 8 86 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Indians every where fled in terror before them. Their towns were burned, their crops destroyed, and the whole country laid waste with the most unsparing severity. The Indians did not recover from the effects of this chastisement for a long time, and never afterward entered Kentucky in force. CHAPTEH VI. Increase of immigration — Prospect of peace with England — Difficulties continue — Indian hostilities cease — Kenton reclaims his settlement in Washington — Brodhead opens a store in Louisville — General James Wilkinson immigrates to Kentucky — New counties laid off — Proposition to separate from Virginia — Expedition of Clark against the Indians on the Wabash — Causes of its failure — Conventions in Ken- tucky — Difficulties with the general government — The navi- gation of the Mississippi — Spanish intrigues — Brown has several conferences with Gardoqui — Letter of Innis to the Governor of Virginia — General Wilkinson goes to New Orleans — Returns — Tempts the Kentuckians by the offer of an independent treaty with vSpain — Animosity of parties — Letter of Marshall — Conventions — Kentucky received into the Union. The cessation of war between Great Britain and the United States of America led to an ex- traordinary increase in the number of immigrants to Kentucky. The fertile territory, soaked with the blood of the brave frontiersmen, was now to enjoy a state of comparative peace. Hostile in- TREATY STIPULATIONS VIOLATED. 87 cursions by the Indians were no longer dreaded, for the latter well knew, from bitter experience, that a fearful retaliation would immediately fol- low. The prospects of peace with England para- lyzed the arm of the savages, who, having no longer their losses repaired by the Canadian au- thorities, hesitated to continue a war which was not sanctioned by their ancient allies. Many causes, however, contributed to prevent the proper execution of the treaty, which, by ex- asperating the bitterness already existing between the two nations, finally stimulated the Indians to a renewal of the war. By mutual stipulations agreed upon between the contracting parties, England was bound to carry away no slaves, and to surrender the north- western posts ; while the United States had stipu- lated to admit the legal collection of all debts due by her citizens to British merchants. All of these conditions were violated. Vir- ginia prohibited the collection of British debts until the slaves which had been taken from her state were restored ; and England refused to sur- render the northwestern posts until the debts of British subjects were legally recognised. Con- gress could do nothing ; and the posts were held by Great Britain for ten years after peace had been ratified. In the mean time, however, the Indians, if not absolutely pacific, were at least not hostile. 88 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Kentucky rapidly increased in population. Kenton, after an interval of nine years, reclaimed his settlement in Washington, and, in 1784, erected a block-house where Maysville now stands. In the spring of 1783, Kentucky was formed into a district, and a court of criminal and civil jurisdiction, coextensive with the district, was erected. During this year, Daniel Brodhead established the first store in Louisville, the merchandise for which was brought in wagons from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and thence to Louisville in flat- boats. In 1784, General James Wilkinson immigrated to Kentucky, and settled in Lexington. He had already distinguished himself in the war of Inde- pendence ; he was the aid-de-camp of Gates at Saratoga, and for his distinguished services in that glorious campaign, received from Congress the appointment of brigadier-general. The avowed object which had tempted him into the wilderness was to improve his embarrassed fortunes ; and it soon became understood, that in connection with an eastern company, he was ready to enter into any speculations that might tend to advance this object. He soon became popular, and entering warmly into the fierce political controversies which subsequently harassed the state, was as bitterly assailed by his antagonists as he was warmly defended by his friends. PETITIONS FOR SEPARATION. 89 The distance from the seat of the parent go- vernment operating injuriously to Kentucky, led the people about this time to agitate for a sepa- ration from Virginia. Accordingly, toward the close of this year, the first convention of dele- gates appointed for that purpose met at Danville, to debate the question in all its bearings. On the 23d of May, 1785, a second convention met, and decided that a constitutional separation from Virginia was expedient. After agreeing upon a petition to the legislature, and an address to the people of Kentucky, the convention was adjourned. A third convention was held in August of the same year, and the former petition and address modified in its style and language. Chief-justice Muter and Attorney-general Innis were deputed to present the petition to the legislature of Vir- ginia. This was accordingly done, and in Janu- ary, 1786, the legislature passed an act with great unanimity in conformity with the wishes of Kentucky, but appended thereto certain terms and conditions, which, though perfectly fair and just, necessarily produced some delay. As yet there was neither newspaper nor print- ing press in Kentucky, and the address to the people was circulated in manuscript. Fresh im- migrants continued to pour in. The new county of Nelson had already been taken from Jefi*erson, and before the end of the year three other new 8* 90 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. counties were erected : Bourbon taken from Fay- ette, and Mercer and Madison from Lincoln. The stipulations made by Virginia, in passing the act of separation, were, that five delegates should be elected from each of the seven counties of Kentucky, to take into consideration the for- mation of an independent government. That the determination to separate by the convention should govern the consent of Virginia, provided Congress, before the 1st of June, 1787, would admit the new state into the Union, and that Kentucky would agree to assume her proportion of the Virginia debt. Other requisitions of less moment were made ; but the convention being prevented from sitting with a sufficient number of members, owing to the expedition undertaken at the time by General Clark against the Indians on the Wabash, the legislature of Virginia post- poned the period of separation, by a revision of the previous act, until the 1st of January, 1789. The expedition of Clark consisted of a thou- sand volunteers. They rendezvoused at Louis- ville, and were well supplied with arms and am- munition by private contribution. These were placed on board of nine keelboats, which were ordered to proceed to Vincennes, while the volun- teers should march to the same point by land. The flotilla, laden with provisions and muni- tions of war, encountered obstacles in the naviga- tion of the Wabash which had not been foreseen, FUTILE EXPEDITION. 91 and was delayed beyond the time "wliicli had been calculated. The army of volunteers, after wait- ing for fifteen days the arrival of the boats, became weary, disgusted, and insubordinate. Clark, too, no longer possessed the entire confi- dence of his troops. He had become intempe- rate. A detachment of three hundred volunteers broke off from the main body, and took up the line of march for their homes. Clark remon- strated, and entreated, even with tears, but in vain. A total disorganization of the force soon followed, and the expedition returned with its mortified commander to Kentucky, without hav- ing effected any of the purposes for which it was organized. After a delay of three months, the convention met at Danville, to consider the revised act of separation. When the new conditions with which it was clogged became known to the people of Kentucky, and they found that two years must elapse before they could claim the privileges of an independent state, a general expression of anger and impatience was elicited. They were already wearied with the number of conventions which had met, and adjourned without accom- plishing any thing ; and now they found them- selves farther off than ever from the attainment of their wishes. Another cause of fierce agitation at this time was the subject of the navigation of the Missis- 92 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. sippi. In consequence of information received from gentlemen of Pittsburg — styling themselves a committee of correspondence — by which the people of Kentucky were advised that John Jay, the American secretary of state, had made a pro- position to Don Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, to cede the navigation of the Mississippi to Spain for twenty years, in consideration of certain commercial advantages to be enjoyed by the eastern states, a fifth convention was called, which met at Danville, on the ITth of September, 1789. This convention resolved unanimously in favour of separation from Virginia ; adopted an address to Congress asking admission into the Union ; and in conformity to the provisions of the act under which they met, directed the election of a new convention to frame a constitution. That the application to Congress might be urged with greater effect, the Virginia legisla- ture, at the request of this convention, elected as one of the Virginia delegates to Congress, John Brown, one of the most eminent lawyers of Ken- tucky, and a gentleman of great influence and popularity. The unavoidable delays which retarded the re- cognition of Kentucky as an independent state by Congress, exasperated the peojDle greatly. In the mean time, Spain was intriguing for the purpose of inducing Kentucky not to enter the SPANISH INTRIGUES. 93 confederacy at all ; but to assume the rights of an independent people. Brown held long con- ferences with Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, and in his letters to a friend, spoke of the pecu- liar advantages connected with the navigation of the Mississippi, wdiich Spain would grant to Ken- tucky, if the latter would erect herself into an independent government ; advantages, he added, which could never be conceded by Spain so long as Kentucky remained a member of the Union. Innis, the attorney-general of Kentucky, also wrote to the executive of Virginia, in July, 1787, giving it as his opinion, that Kentucky would form an independent government in two or three years, as Congress did not seem disposed to pro- tect her, and she could not, under the present system, exert her strength. Eut it was by the exertions of General Wilkin- son, that the Spanish party became formidable in the state. Knowing that the navigation of the Mississippi was of primary importance to the people, Wilkinson made a voyage to New Orleans, and when he returned home, brought with him the intelligence that he had obtained for himself the privilege of shipping tobacco to New Orleans and depositing it in the king's stores at the price of ten dollars per hundred weight. He imme- diately offered to purchase tobacco to any amount, and dilated eloquently upon the advantages that would result to Kentucky even from a partial 94 HISTOEY OF KENTUCKY. opening of the trade. He intimated tliat a com- mercial treaty might be formed with Spain, which would throw open their ports to the whole western country, if the West were erected into an independ- ent government capable of treating with a foreign power. The condition of the general government was at this time embarrassing in the extreme. The old confederation was about to be broken, and the new federal constitution which had been so vigor- ously contested, and so hesitatingly adopted, had not yet been confirmed by the states to whom it had been referred for ratification. Virginia was bitterly opposed to it, and some of the most popular leaders of Kentucky, with an immense majority of her people, w^ere equally anti-fede- ral. As if to add fuel to the flame. Congress had declined to act upon the petition of Kentucky, and had referred the whole subject to the new government. Thus disappointed, the people of Kentucky grew daily more warmly in favour of declaring a separate independence, and of secur- ing those advantages from Spain, in relation to the navigation of the Mississippi, with which Wilkinson had so glowingly tempted them. A proposition to form a constitution without further delay was warmly advocated, and it was proposed in convention that the question should be submitted to each militia company in the dis- THE KENTUCKY GAZETTE. 95 trict, and that tlie captain of each company should report the result of the vote. This proposition was successfully opposed. But the parties in favour respectively of confede- ration and of separate state independence were so equally balanced in convention, that reso- lutions of the most opposite tendency were offered and carried. A seventh convention was then called, which met at Danville, in November. Previous to this, however, the Kentucky Gazette was established at Lexington by John Bradford, and through the columns of this newspaper the people were enabled to glean a more accurate knowledge of the real condition of things. As the time for the election of delegates to the seventh convention approached, a concise and clear statement appeared in the Gazette, of the particular clauses in the laws of Virginia, and in the articles of the confederation, which would be violated by the formation of an independent government in the manner proposed by Wilkin- son and his party. This well-written article, which though it appeared under the signature of George Muter, was attributed to the pen of Colonel Thomas Marshall, had an excellent effect in modifying the opinions of many who had hitherto been opposed to the Union. Of the five representatives in convention to which Fayette was entitled, four were elected 96 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. from the party headed by Marshall, while Wil- kinson was the only candidate on the opposite side who was successful. A series of long, turbulent, and vexatious debates ensued, in which Wilkinson, Brown, and Innis, the leaders of the independent party, were con- spicuous for the boldness of their sentiments, and the daring character of their innuendos. In the mean time, Virginia sought to allay the feud by passing a third act, requiring the election of delegates to another convention, to assemble at Danville, in July, 1789, and go over the whole ground anew. In the winter of this year, an English agent from Canada visited Kentucky, and called on Colonel Marshall, and subsequently on General Wilkinson. His object appears to have been to sound the temper of Kentucky, and to ascertain how far she would be willing to unite with Canada in any contingency that might arise. Suspicion having arisen among the people of his being a British spy, he soon found it necessary to seek safety, by retiring from the country with equal speed and secrecy. The new general government having by this time gone into operation, the executive of Vir- ginia was authorized to inform the convention, that a force of regulars would soon be organized to protect Kentucky from any future Indian in- cursions. This information, acting upon the ADMITTED INTO THE UNION. 97 modified temper of the people, doubtless had its weight upon their representatives. The eighth convention met in July, 1790. They accepted the Virginia act of separation ; drew up a me- morial to Congress praying for admission into the Union, and made provision for the election of a ninth convention, to assemble in April, 1791, and form a state constitution. At the meeting of Congress in December, 1790, Washington strongly urged the recognition of Kentucky as one of the states of the Union ; and on the 4th of February, 1791, an act to that effect passed both houses, and received the signature of the president. 98 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER VII. Indian inroads — Silas Hart pursues the Indians — Is killed — Heroism of young Hart — Captivity of the family — Judge Rowan sails down the Ohio — Is pursued by Indians — His perilous position — Wonderful presence of mind of Mrs. Rowan ■ — Adventure of Caffree, McClure, and Davis — Meet with an equal number of Indians — Terrible combat — Caffree and Davis killed — Subsequent adventures of McClure — His es- cape — Colonel Marshall descends the Ohio — Is hailed by James Girty — Indian decoys — 'Captain Ward assaulted by Indians— Death of his nephew — Panic of the others — The search for a stray horse by Downing and Yates — They are followed by Indians — Downing conceals himself — Pursuit — Perilous situation of Downing — His remarkable escape. It has been already stated, that after the ex- pedition of Colonel Clark against the Miami towns, the Indians generally preserved pacific relations with the whites. Occasional inroads, however, took place during the period of political ferment into which Kentucky was plunged, by her almost interminable succession of conven- tions. The incidents connected with these in- roads afford instances of presence of mind and heroism equal to any that occurred in the earlier history of the settlement. Late in the summer of 1782, one of these pre- datory bands of Indians, having committed ex- cesses in Hardin county, Silas Hart, surnamed by the savages for his keen sagacity, «' Sharp INDIAN MURDERS. 99 eye," assembled a party of settlers and pursued the marauders. In the pursuit Hart shot their chief, while several others of the party were also killed, only two making good their escape. When the death of the chief was made known to his brother, he declared vengeance on Hart, and collecting a small band of warriors, he secretly made his way to the vicinity of Elizabethtown, and comm.enced plundering and destroying. No sooner was the neighbourhood fairly aroused than the Indians decamped. Among the fore- most in pursuit was Hart. Finding it impossible to overtake the savages, the people returned to their homes. In the mean while, the Indians, who had secretly kept a watch upon the movements of their pursuers, turned when they turned, and fol- lowed them back into the settlement. Hart reached home, some five miles from Eliza- bethtown, about dark in the evening, and having no apprehension of any Indians being near, went to bed and slept soundly. The next morning, while the family were seated at breakfast, the Indians, who had secreted themselves around the house during the night, suddenly appeared at the door, and the brother of the fallen chief shot Hart dead. The son of Hart, a boy of twelve years of age, no sooner saw his father fall, than, grasping a rifle, he sent a bullet through the savage before he could enter the door. The Indians then rushed into the house in a 100 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. body, but though the foremost warrior was im- mediately killed by a blow from a hunting-knife in the hands of the resolute boy, the family were speedily overpowered and carried off into captivity. The daughter of Hart, being unable from debihty to endure the fatigue of a forced march, was despatched by the Indians at a short distance from the settlement. The mother and son were devoted to a more painful and lingering death. When the captives reached the Wabash towns preparations were made for their execution ; for- tunately, the extraordinary heroism of the boy touched the heart of an influential woman of the tribe, and at her intercession his life was spared. Mrs. Hart was also saved from the stake, by the interposition of a chief. The mother and son were finally ransomed, and returned to their deso- late homes. No further adventure with the Indians occur- red until the latter part of April, 1784, when the father of the late Judge Rowan, with his own and five other families, set out from Louisville in two flat-bottomed boats for the long falls of Greene River. The families were in one boat, and their cattle in the other. After descending the Ohio about a hundred miles, as the boats, which were kept near the centre of the river, were floating quietly along, the yelling of a large body of Indians was heard rowan's adventure. 101 some two or three miles below, whose fires were discovered soon after upon the northern shore. It was then about ten o'clock at night, and the con- jecture of Rowan and his companions was, that the savages had captured a boat which had passed the flat boats about mid-day, and were massacring their captives. In order to protect themselves as far as it was possible so to do, the two boats were lashed together, and the men, seven in number, posted by Mr. Rowan in the most favourable positions for resisting an attack. The boats were then rowed closer to the Kentucky shore, and kept silently upon their course. The fires of the In- dians extended at intervals for half a mile. When the boats had reached a point nearly opposite the central fire, they were discovered by the Indians, hailed, and ordered to bring to. In profound stillness the boats kept on their way ; and the In- dians, meeting with no response, gave a terrific yell, sprang into their canoes, and darted in pur- suit. Silently the boats continued to descend the river, borne onward only by the force of the cur- rent. The Indians approached within one hun- dred yards, and every thing on their part indi- cated a determination to board. At this moment, Mrs. Rowan quietly rose from her seat, collected the axes, and placed one by the side of each man, tapping him slightly with the handle of the axe to make him aware of the 102 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. proximity of the weapon. She then retired to her seat, retaining a hatchet for her own use. For three miles the savages continued to hover at a short distance from the rear of the boats, yelling loudly ; when, as if awed by the perfect silence maintained by those on board, they re- linquished farther pursuit. Mrs. Rowan, in speak- ing of the incident afterwards, said, in her calm way, «' We made a providential escape, for which we ought to feel grateful." Somewhere about the same time, a party of southern Indians, having stolen some horses in Lincoln county, were pursued by three young men whose respective names were Davis, Caffree, and McClure. Ardent and energetic, the latter determined, if they could not overtake the In- dians, to proceed to their towns on the Tennes- see River and make reprisals. Acting upon this resolution, they had reached within a few miles of the Indian town of Chickamongo, when they fell in with three Indians travelling in the same direction with themselves. They agreed by signs to travel together, though each was evidently sus- picious of the other. The Indians walked on one side of the road and the whites on the other, watching attentively every movement. At length, the Indians beginning to converse among them- selves very earnestly, the whites, convinced of their treacherous intentions, resolved to antici- cipate them. The plan of attack being agreed TERRIBLE COMBAT. 103 to, Caffree, who was a powerful man, sprang on the nearest Indian, hurled him to the ground, and proceeded to tie him. At the same instant Davis and McClure levelled their rifles at the others : McClure fired and killed his man, but the gun of Davis missed fire. Davis, McClure, and the remaining Indian immediately took trees ; while Caffree was left upon the ground with the prostrate Indian, and exposed to the fire of the other. The savage who had sheltered himself fired at Caffree and wounded him mortally. Find- ing himself growing weak, Caffree called upon Davis to assist him in tying the Indian, and in- stantly afterward expired. In the mean time, McClure had shot the other Indian, while the Indian who had been released by the death of Caffree sprang to his feet ; and seizing Caffree's rifle, presented it at Davis. The rifle of the lat- ter being out of order, he darted into the forest, closely pursued by the Indian. McClure, re- loading his rifle, and taking with him the one which Davis had dropped, followed them for some distance, making signals for his friend, but in vain ; the latter was never heard of afterward. McClure, now being alone in the enemy's coun- try, resolved to return to Kentucky. He had scarcely retraced his steps more than a mile, be- fore he saw advancing from the opposite direc- tion an Indian warrior, riding a horse with a bell round its neck, and accompanied by a boy on foot. 104 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Dropping one of the rifles lest it miglit create suspicion, McClure advanced with an air of con- fidence, and extending his hand, made signs of peace. The Indian replied in a like manner, and dismounting, seiited himself upon a log, drew out his pipe, took a few puffs himself, and then handed it to McClure, In a few minutes another bell was heard at the distance of half a mile, and a second party of Indians appeared on horseback. The Indian now coolly informed his white companion by signs, that when the horsemen arrived McClure must consider himself a prisoner, and consent to have his feet bound by thongs under the belly of the horse. In order to explain it more fully, the Indian got astride of the log and locked his legs beneath it. While he was making these gestures McClure suddenly lifted his rifle, blew out the brains of the Indian, and then darted into the wood. The Indian boy instantly mounted the horse^ and rode oif in an opposite direction. A fierce pursuit of McClure was now urged by the In- dians, aided by several small Indian dogs, who frequently ran between the legs of the fugitive and threw him down. After falling five or six times his eyes became so full of dust that he was perfectly blinded. Despairing of success, he doggedly lay upon his face, expecting every in- stant to feel the edge of a tomahawk. To his aiRTY'S WARNING. 105 astonisliment no enemy appeared. Even the In- dian dogs, after worrying him for some time, left him to continue his journey unmolested. Find- ing every thing quiet, he arose in a few moments, and taking up his gun, continued his march to Kentucky, where he arrived in safety. During this year, another equally characteris- tic incident occurred on the Ohio River. Colonel Thomas Marshall, while descending the river in a flat-boat with a numerous family, was hailed near the mouth of the Kenawha, by a man who an- nounced himself as James Girty, the brother of the notorious renegade Simon Girty. The boat dropped slowly down within one hundred yards of the northern shore, and Girty making a corre- sponding movement on the beach, a conference was kept up for several minutes. Girty said he had been posted there by order of his brother Simon, to warn all boats of the danger of permitting them- selves to be decoyed ashore. The Indians had become jealous of Girty, and he had lost that influence which he formerly held among them. He deeply regretted the injury which he had in- flicted upon his countrymen, and wished to be restored to their society. In order to convince them of the sincerity of his regard, he had di- rected his brother to warn all boats of the snares spread for them. James Girty said, that every efi'ort would be made to draw passengers ashore. White men would appear upon the bank, and 106 HISTOKY OF KENTUCKY. children would be heard to supplicate for mercy. "But," continued he, "do you keep the middle of the river and steel your heart against every mournful application you may receive." The colonel thanked him, and continuing on his course reached Maysville without meeting with any further interruption by the way. As if to corroborate the statement of Girty, Captain James Ward descended the Ohio some- where about the same time. He and six others — one of whom was his nephew — had embarked in an indifferent boat, about forty-five feet long, and eight feet wide, with no other bulwark than a single pine plank above each gunnel. The boat was much encumbered by baggage, and six horses were on board. No enemy having been visible for several days, the voyagers had become secure and careless, and suffered the boat to drift within fifty yards of the Ohio shore. Suddenly, several hundred Indians showed themselves on the bank, and, running boldly to the water's edge^ opened a heavy fire. Captain Ward and his nephew were at the oars when the enemy appeared. The former, well knowing that in gaining the middle of the river lay their only chance of safety, immediately strained every nerve to succeed in doing so ; but his nephew started up, and seizing his rifle, was in the act of firing, when he received a ball in the breast and fell dead. Unfortunately the oar downing's adventure. 107 dropped overboard, and the exertions of Captain Ward only urged the boat nearer shore. Keplacing the lost oar by a plank, he succeeded in getting out farther into the river. When he found himself at leisure to examine the condition of his crew, he found his nephew lying in his blood perfectly lifeless, and a German wounded in several places. All the horses were either killed or wounded mortally. None of the other men were hurt, although the whole party were so panic-stricken that they did not fire a single shot. In August, 1786, a lad by the name of Down- ing, who lived at a fort near Slate Creek, in what is now Bath county, was requested by a com- panion to assist him in hunting for a horse which had strayed away on the preceding evening. Downing readily complied, and the two friends searched in every direction, until at length they found themselves in a wild valley, at a distance of six or seven miles from the fort. Here Down- ing became alarmed, and repeatedly told his companion, Yates, that he heard sticks cracking behind them, and was certain that Indians were dogging them. Yates, an old woodsman, laughed at the fears of the boy, and contemptuously asked him at what price he rated his scalp, offering to insure it for sixpence. Downing, however, was not so easily satisfied. He observed that in whatever direction they turned, the same ominous sounds 108 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. continued to haunt tliem, and as Yates continued to treat the matter recklessly, he resolved to take measures for his own safety. Gradually slacken- ing his pace, he permitted Yates to advance twenty or thirty paces ahead, and immediately afterward, as they descended the slope of a gentle hill. Downing slipped aside and hid him- self in a thick cluster of whortle-bushes. Yates proceeded on, singing carelessly some rude song, and was soon out of sight. Scarcely had he disappeared, when Downing beheld two savages put aside the stalks of a cane- brake, and look out cautiously in the direction which Yates had taken. Fearful that they had seen him step aside, he determined to fire upon them and trust to his heels for safety ; but so unsteady was his hand, that in raising his gun to his shoulder, it went off before he had taken aim. He immediately ran, and after proceeding about fifty yards, was met by Yates, who had hastily retraced his steps. The enemy were then in full view, and Yates, who might have out- stripped Downing, graduated his steps to those of his youthful companion. The Indians, by taking a shorter path, gained rapidly upon the fugitives, across whose way lay a deep gully. Yates easily cleared it, but Down- ing dropped short and fell at full length upon the bottom. The Indians, eager for the capture of Yates, continued the pursuit without appear- CURIOUS IXCIDENT. 109 ing to notice Downing, who, quickly recovering his strength, began to walk slowly up the ditch, fearing to leave it lest the enemy should see him. He had scarcely emerged into open ground be- fore he saw one of the Indians returning, appa- rently in quest of him. His gun being unloaded, Downing threw it away, and again took to flight ; but the Indian gained on him so rapidly that he lost all hope of escape. Coming at length to a large poplar, which had been blown up by the roots, he ran along the body of the tree on one side, while the Indian followed on the other, ex- pecting to intercept Downing at the root. But here fortune favoured the latter in a most singu- lar manner. A she-bear which was suckling her cubs in a bed at the root of the tree suddenly sprang upon the Indian, and while the latter was yelling and stabbing his hirsute antagonist with his knife. Downing succeeded in making his escape, and reaching the fort, where he found Yates reposing after a hot chase, in which he also had distanced his pursuers. 10 110 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER VIII. Indians attack the house of widow Shanks — Their stratagem — The house fired — Fearful massacre — Heroic conduct of young Shanks — Pursuit of the Indians — Their singular es- cape — New mode of warfare on the Ohio — Political condi- tion of Kentucky — Adventure of John Lancaster — Taken captive with his companions — His escape and subsequent privations — Floats down the Ohio on a raft — Is rescued at the falls — Ballard's house attacked — Stubborn defence by old Mr. Ballard — Daring conduct of Bland Ballard, the cele- brated spy — Loss of the Indians. On the night of the 10th of April, 1787, the house of a widow named Shanks, on Cooper's Run, in Bourbon county, was attacked by In- dians. This house, which was a double cabin, con- sisting of two rooms, with an open way between, contained at the time the assault was made, be- sides the widow herself, a widowed daughter, three other daughters, a young girl, and two sons of adult age. Although the hour was near mid- night, one of the young men still remained up, and in the opposite room a sister was busily en- gaged at the loom. An hour before, while they were yet uncon- scious of the actual presence of Indians, the sus- picions of the son had been aroused by the cry of owls hooting to each other in the adjoining wood in a rather unusual manner ; and by the INDIAX ATTACKS. Ill terror and excitement of the horses, who were en- closed, as customary, in a pound near the house. Several times the young man was on the point of awaking his brother, but as often refrained through fear of being ridiculed for his timidity. At length hasty steps were heard without, and then came several sharp knocks at the door, ac- companied by the usual question of the wayfarer, "Who keeps house?" spoken in good English. The young man hastily advanced to withdraw the bar which secured the door, supposing the new comer to be some benighted settler ; when his mother, whose greater experience had proba- bly detected the Indian accent, instantly sprang out of bed, and warned her son that the men outside were savages. The other son being by this time aroused, the two young men, seizing their rifles, which were always charged, prepared to repel the enemy. Conscious that their true character was discover- ed, the Indians now strove to break in the door ; but a single shot from a loophole compelled them to shift their point of attack ; and unfortu- nately they then discovered the door of the other cabin which contained the three daughters. By some oversight in the construction of the cabin, none of the loops enabled the brothers to cover the door of the room in which their sisters were, and the Indians were able to force it open by means of rails taken from the yard fence. 112 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The girls being thus placed at the mercy of the savages, one was instantly secured; but the eldest defended herself desperately with a knife, and succeeded in mortally wounding a savage before she was tomahawked. The youngest girl darted out into the yard, and might have escaped in the darkness ; but the poor creature ran round the house, and, wringing her hands in terror, kept crying out that her sisters were killed. The brothers, agonized almost to madness by her cries, were preparing to sally out to her as- sistance, when their mother stayed them, and calmly declared that the child must be abandoned to her fate. The next instant, the child uttered a loud scream, followed by a few faint moans, and then all was silent. Almost immediately afterwards, that portion of the house which had been occupied by the daughters was set on fire, and the flames soon communicating to the opposite room, the brothers were compelled to fling open the door and at- tempt to seek safety by flight. The old lady, supported by her eldest son, sought to cross the fence at one point, while the widowed daughter, with her child in her arms, and attended by the younger of the brothers, ran in a different direction. The blazing roof shed a light over the yard but little inferior to that of day, and the savages were distinctly seen awaiting the approach of their victims. The old FEAEFUL MASSACRE. 113 lady Tras permitted to reach the stile unmolested, but in the act of crossing, received several balls in her breast and fell dead. Her son providen- tially remained unhurt, and by extraordinary agility effected his escape. The other brother, being vigorously assailed by the Indians, defended his sister desperately for some time, and drew the attention of the savages so closely to him- self, that she succeeded in eluding their vigilance. The brave and devoted young man was less fortu- nate ; he fell beneath repeated blows from the tomahawks of his enemies, and was found at daylight, scalped and mangled in a most shock- ing manner. Of the whole family, consisting of eight per- sons when the attack commenced, only three escaped. Four were killed on the spot, and one, the second daughter, carried off prisoner. The alarm was soon given, and by daylight thirty men were assembled under Colonel Ed- wards, and pursued the Indian trail at a gallop, tracking the footsteps of the savages in the snow. The trail led directly into the mountainous coun- try bordering upon Licking, and afforded evi- dences of great hurry and precipitation on the part of the Indians. Unfortunately, a hound had been permitted to accompany the whites, and as the trail became fresh, and the scent warm, she pursued it with eagerness, baying loudly and giv- ing alarm to the savages. The consequence of 10* 114 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. this imprudence was soon displayed. The enemy, finding the pursuit keen, and perceiving the strength of their prisoner beginning to fail, in- stantly sank their tomahawks in her head, and left her, still warm and bleeding, upon the snow. As the whites came up, she retained strength enough to wave her hand in token of recognition, and appeared desirous of giving them some in- formation in regard to the enemy ; but her strength was too far gone. Her brother sprang from his horse, and endeavoured to stop the effusion of blood, but in vain. She gave him her hand, muttered some inarticulate words, and expired within two minutes after the arrival of the party. The pursuit was renewed with additional ardour, and in twenty minutes the enemy was within view. They had taken possession of a narrow ridge, and seemed desirous of magnifying their numbers in the eyes of the whites, by run- ning rapidly from tree to tree, and maintaining a steady yell in their most appalling tones. The pursuers, however, were too experienced to be deceived by so common an artifice ; and being satisfied that the number of the enemy must be inferior to their own, they dismounted, tied their horses, and flanking out in such a man- ner as to enclose the savages, ascended the ridge as rapidly as was consistent with a due regard to the shelter of their persons. INDIAN CUNNING. 115 The firing quickly commenced, and now tliey discovered, for the first time, that only two In- dians were opposed to them. They had volun- tarily sacrificed themselves for the safety of the main body, and had succeeded in delaying pur- suit until their friends could reach the mountains. One of them was instantly shot dead, and the other was badly wounded, as was evident from the blood upon his blanket, as well as that which filled the snow for a considerable distance. The pursuit was recommenced, and urged keenly until night, when the trail entered a running stream and was lost. During the latter part of January, 1788, a party of Indians stole some horses on Elkhorn, near Colonel Johnson's mill. They were pur- sued by Captain Herndon and some of his men, but escaped. This escape was effected by means of a most singular manoeuvre on the part of one of the Indians. The latter,after travelling about twenty miles, were surprised by their pursuers in a brushy copse of wood. The whites no sooner made preparations to fire on the savages, than they scattered in various directions. One Indian alone remained. He continued, notwith- standing the presence of his pursuers, to spring from tree to tree, to yell and dodge, and spring aloft, and make all manner of singular noises, like a man perfectly frantic. This strange ex- hibition so ensirossed for a time the attention of 116 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the attacking party, that they looked on in a sort of bewildered amazement, and hesitated to fire. In the mean time, the other Indians had escaped out of rifle shot ; and the stratagem of the savage having succeeded in effecting its ob- ject, he himself suddenly disappeared, leaving the pursuers to wonder at their own delusion and folly. In March, the Indians surprised a camp of Kentuckians on the Cumberland road, and killed two of them. Pursuit was immediately urged, but, although the savages were overtaken and fired on, they escaped unhurt. About this time they adopted a more dangerous, because a more secure mode of warfare. They manned a flat-boat, and having perfected them- selves in its management, laid in ambush on the Ohio for the family boats which were constantly descending that river. They succeeded in cap- turing several, slaughtered the persons on board, and possessed themselves of considerable booty. The people of Kentucky were greatly exaspe- rated by these repeated outrages ; but being dis- tracted by the fierce political feuds which grew out of the Spanish intrigues of Wilkinson and others, they were not able to make the usual re- prisals. The violent and illegal separation from Vir- ginia which was urged upon the people of Ken- tucky by Wilkinson and his partisans was fraught ADVENTURE OF LANCASTER. 117 •with the most momentous consequences. Had the J succeeded in carrying out their object, it would have had the effect of precluding the re- cognition of Kentucky by the general government as one of the confederated states, and have forced her to stand upon that independent footing which the emissaries of Spain so ardently desired. Hap- pily, more judicious counsels grew gradually into favour; the Spanish influence declined, and the state, as we have already seen, was formally re- cognised by the general government. But as yet this fortunate result had not been achieved, and the political condition of the terri- tory continued to be terribly shaken by intestine divisions, which not only interfered with the pros- perity of the settlers, but loosened their attach- ment both to Virginia and the federal compact. During the month of May, John Lancaster, accompanied by Colonel Joseph Mitchell, his son, and a man named Brown, while descending the Ohio in a flat-boat, discovered a party of Indians lying in wait for them at the mouth of the Miami. As the current bore the boat directly towards the savages, escape was hopeless. The Indians dis- played a white flag in token of friendship, but at the same time levelled their muskets at the man who was at the oar, and would have shot him down had not the chief interposed. The latter, who was known as Shawnese Jim, speaking in broken English, assured the white men that his 118 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. people meant them no harm, and that they merely wished to trade with them. Mean time a skiff, manned by four Indians, was seen to put off from the shore, and was rowed rapidly toward the boat, which it struck with so much force as to upset the skiff, and precipitate three of the Indians into the river. Lancaster immediately, with great presence of mind, leaped into the river and aided in rescuing the strug- gling Indians. But the well-intentioned effort to conciliate the good-will of those in whose power he was, met with no immediate return. The In- dians, on entering the boat, seized on the whites and made them prisoners, two of them struggling violently for the possession of Lancaster. When they reached the shore, the opposing claimants fought desperately with each other on the same ground of quarrel, when Captain Jim interposed, and decided in favour of the first who had seized the person of the captive. The boat was soon rowed to the shore, and rifled of its contents. The Indians then decamped with their booty and the four prisoners they had taken. During the first night, which was spent in revelry and drunkenness, the prisoners were bound down on their backs to the earth, with cords, which were passed about their bodies and limbs, and tied closely to stakes driven in the ground. Their situation was pitiable in the extreme. The rain poured down in torrents ; while their only CEREMONY OF ADOPTION. 119 covering was a blanket thrown over each, the savages having stripped them of their clothing and money. The next morning they were released from their confinement, and hurried on toward an In- dian village, some sixty-five miles from the mouth of the Miami. When they reached what was pro- bably one of the Shawnese towns, the Indian master of Lancaster suddenly came to him, and, embracing him with tears, exclaimed amidst sobs and lamentations, that he should be his brother in the place of one he had lost during the pre- vious year. The Indian ceremony of adoption took place im- mediately. Lancaster was stripped of his blanket, and after having his body anointed with bear- oil, was painted of a vermilion colour. He was then taught some fragments of an Indian song, and made to join in the savage festival which ensued. This consisted of songs and dances, one Indian beating time with a stick, the head of which was curiously wrought and trimmed with the hoofs of deer. The ceremony of adoption concluded with the cessation of the perform- ance. Lancaster continued a captive with the Indians for eight days, in which time, from his great swiftness of foot, he acquired the name of Kiohba, or the Running Buck. He was treated with great kindness by the tribe while his foster-brother re- 120 HISTORY OF KEXTUCKY. mained in the camp, but during his absence began to experience rougher treatment. Captain Jim, under whose charge he was now left, became sullen and vindictive. He quarrelled with his wife, who through fear of him fled from the camp. While he was returning from the pur- suit of her, his daughter, who was w^ell acquainted with her father's moods, and who had become attached to Kiohba, said suddenly to the latter, " Run." Lancaster took her advice, and instantly darted from the camp. On casting a glance backward from a neigh- bouring eminence, he saw Captain Jim beating the elder Mitchell with a tent pole ; and soon after his departure he learned that the younger Mitchell had been painted black and burned at the stake. The father and Brown were subse- quently ransomed by their friends, and after suf- fering hardships and privations almost incredible, returned to Pittsburg. Lancaster was soon out of sight of the Indian encampment, and after run- ning for six days, crossing repeatedly his own trail to set pursuit at default, he safely reached the Ohio River. During this time his only sub- sistence had been four turkey eggs, which he found in the hollow of a tree. Exhausted as he was, he immediately tied himself with bark to the trunk of a box elder tree, and after four hours' unremitting toil, succeeded in reaching the Ken- tucky shore. LANCASTER'S ESCAPE. 121 When he had rested a short time, he determined to float down the river to the station at the falls, which he estimated was between thirty and forty miles distant. Accordingly, he made a small raft by tying two trees together with bark, on which he placed himself with a pole for an oar. A little above Eighteen Mile Island, he heard the sharp report of a rifle, and thinking that his pur- suers had overtaken him, he crouched down and laid himself as close as he could. Hearing no other noise, however, he concluded that his alarm was without foundation. Shortly after, a dread- ful storm broke upon the river, night had already closed in, and the weary fugitive sank almost lifeless on the raft, drenched with rain, benumbed with the cold, and with the terrible apprehension on his mind that he might be precipitated over the falls during the darkness. At break of day, he was aroused from his death-like lethargy, by one of the most cheering sounds that ever fell on the ears of a forlorn and lost wanderer — the crowing of a cock, — which announced the immediate vicinity of a white set- tlement. The sound revived him ; he collected all his energies for one last eff'ort, and sat upright on his little raft. Soon, in the gray light of the morning, he discovered the cabins of his country- men, and was enabled to effect a landing at the mouth of Beargrass — the site of the present city of Louisville. 11 122 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. It was in the early part of this year that the house of the father of Bland Ballard, so well known in frontier annals as a most accomplished woodsman and spy, was attacked by Indians. Old Mr. Ballard had left the little fort on Tick Creek, and gone to a house a little distance off, for the purpose of being nearer to the sugar camp. The first intimation they had of the presence of Indians was early in the morning, when Ben- jamin, another brother, went out to get wood to make a fire. The savages shot him, and then assailed the house. The inmates barred the door, and prepared for defence. There was no man in the house except Mr. Ballard, but of women there were several. In the fort there was only Bland Ballard, then about twenty-seven years of age, and an old man. As soon as young Ballard heard the guns, he repaired to within shooting distance of his father's house, but dared not venture nearer. Here he commenced using his rifle with good effect. In the mean time the Indians broke open the house and killed his father, with the loss of two of their own number. His stepmother and two sisters were also mur- dered, and the young sister was tomahawked, but she subsequently recovered. When the Indians broke into the house, his stepmother attempted to escape by the back door, but was pursued by one of the savages, who, as he raised his toma- hawk to strike the fatal blow, was shot down by CAPTAIN IIUBBELL. 123 Bland Ballard, but not in time to save his mother. The savage and his victim both fell dead together. The Indians were supposed to have numbered sixteen, and before they completed their work of death had sustained a loss of six or seven. CHAPTER IX. Captain Hubbell descends the Oliio' — Is attacked by Indians — His desperate defence — The Indians beaten off — Boat of Captain Greathouse captured — Hubbell again attacked— In- dians retire with great loss — Heroism of a bo}^ — Number of wounded — Painful condition of Captain Hubbell — The boat reaches Limestone — Unsuccessful pursuit of the savages — John May descends the Ohio — Indian stratagem — Finn urges May to put into the Ohio shore — Finn surprised by the savages — The boat attacked and captured — Skyles wounded — May and Miss Fleming killed — Reception of the Indians by Johnston— Captain Marshall descends the Ohio with three boats — Is pursued by the Indians — The attack and defence — His escape with the loss of two boats, A SHORT time subsequent to the adventure related in the preceding chapter, a much more terrible affair took place. In March of this year, Captain William Hubbell floated down t^e Ohio River in a Hat-bottomed boat, on his return from the eastward, and after leaving Pittsburg, saw traces of Indians along the banks of the stream, which raised his suspicions and increased his watchfulness. There was on board the boat, be- 124 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. sides Captain Hubbell, Mr. Daniel Light, and Mr. William Plascut and his family. Before they reached the mouth of the Great Kenawha, the number was increased by additions to twenty ; among whom were three persons whose respective names were Ray, Tucker, and Kilpatrick ; two daughters of the latter, a man by the name of Stoner, an Irishman, and a German. Information received at Gallipolis confirmed their previous expectation of a serious conflict with a large body of Indians; and as Captain Hubbell had been regularly appointed commander of the boat, he made every preparation to resist the anticipated attack. The nine men were divided into three watches for the night, who were alternately to be on the look-out for two hours at a time. The arms on board, which unfortunately consisted mainly of old muskets very much out of order, were col- lected, loaded, and put in the best possible condi- tion for service. About sunrise on the 23d, Hubbell's party overtook a fleet of six boats descending the river in company, and at first concluded to join them for the sake of mutual protection. Finding, however, that they were a careless, noisy set of people, more intent on dancing than watching for Indians, Hubbell determined to push forward alone. One of the six boats, as if also desirous of keeping up with the party under Hubbell, WILY STRATAGEM. ' 125 pushed forward for a short time ; but its crew at length dropped asleep, and Hubbell, pressing vigorously forward, soon left it in the rear. Early in the night, a canoe was seen dimly floating down the river, in which were probably Indians on the watch for their prey, fires and other signs were at the same time observed, wdiich indicated the neighbourhood of a formidable body of savages. Just as daylight began to appear in the east, and before the men were up and at their posts, a voice at some distance below them repeatedly solicited them, in a plaintive tone, to come on shore, as there were some white persons who wished to take a passage in their boat. This the captain naturally concluded to be an Indian arti- fice. He accordingly roused the men, and placed every one upon his guard. The voice of entreaty w^as soon changed into the language of indignation and insult, and the sound of distant paddles announced the approach of the savage foe. At length, three Indian canoes were seen through the mist of the morning rapidly advancing, and with the utmost coolness the cap- tain and his companions prepared to receive them._ Every man took his position, and was ordered not to fire till the savages came nearly up to the boat ; a special caution being given that the men should fire in succession, so that there might be no intervals. 11* 126 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. On the arrival of the canoes, they were found to contain from twenty-five to thirty Indians in each. As soon as they approached within musket- shot, they poured in a general fire from one of the canoes, by which Tucker and Light were both wounded. The three canoes now placed them- selves on the bow, stern, and side of the boat, and commenced a raking fire upon the voyagers ; but the steady firing from the boat had a power- ful efi'ect in checking the confidence and the fury of the savages. Captain Hubbell, after firing his own gun, took up that of one of the wounded men, and was in the act of discharging it when a ball came and tore away the lock; he coolly turned round, seized a brand of fire, and applying it to the pan, discharged it with effect. He was in the act of raising his gun a third time, when a ball passed through his right arm, which for a moment dis- abled him. Just as he had recovered the use of his hand, which had been momentarily drawn up by the wound, he observed the Indians about to board the boat. Severely wounded as he was, he rushed forward to the bow and assisted in forcing them off, first by the discharge of a pair of horse pis- tols, and afterward by billets of wood which had been prepared for the fire. Meeting with so des- perate a resistance, the Indians at length discon- tinued the contest. DESPERATE DEFENCE. 127 The boat which Hubbell had previously left behind during the slumber of its crew, now ap- pearing in sight, the canoes were rapidly directed towards it. They boarded it without opposition, killed Captain Greathouse and a lad of about fourteen years of age, placed the women in the centre of their canoes, and manning them with a fresh reinforcement from the shore, again pursued Hubbell and his party. A melancholy alterna- tive now presented itself to these brave, but desponding men. They must either fall them- selves a prey to the savages, or run the risk of shooting the women in the canoes, who had been purposely placed there by the Indians, in the hope of obtaining protection from their presence. Hubbell was compelled for the sake of his own wounded to risk the latter, well knoAving how lit- tle mercy was to be expected if the savages were victorious. There were now but four men left on board of Captain Hubbell's boat capable of defending it, and the captain himself was severely wounded in two places. The second attack, however, was re- sisted with almost incredible firmness and vigour. Whenever the Indians would rise to fire, their opponents would commonly give them the first shot, which in almost every instance would prove fatal. Notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, and the exhausted condition of the defenders of the boat, the Indians at length appeared to de- 128 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. spair of success, and the canoes successively retired to the shore. Just as the last one was departing, Captain Hubbell called to the Indian who was standing in the stern, and on his turning round, discharged his piece at him. When the smoke, which for a moment obstructed the vision, was dissipated, he was seen lying on his back, and appeared to be severely, perhaps mortally wounded. Unfortunately the boat now drifted near to the shore where the Indians were collected, and a large concourse, probably between four and five hundred, were seen rushing down on the bank. Ray and Plascut, the only men remaining unhurt, were placed at the oars, and as the boat was not more than twenty yards from shore, it was deemed prudent for all to lie down in as safe a position as possible, and attempt to push forward with the utmost practicable rapidity. While they continued in this situation, nine balls were shot into one oar, and ten into the other, without wounding the rowers, who were hidden from view and protected by the side of the boat and the blankets in its stern. During this dreadful ex- posure to the fire of the savages, which continued about twenty minutes, Mr. Kilpatrick observed a particular Indian, whom he thought a favourable mark for his rifle, and, notwithstanding the solemn warning of Captain Hubbell, rose to shoot him. He immediately received a ball in his THE VOYAGERS VICTORIOUS. 129 mouth, which passed out at the back part of his head, and was almost at the same moment shot through the heart. He fell among the horses that about the same time were killed, and present- ed to his afflicted daughters and fellow travellers, who were witnesses of the awful occurrence, a spectacle of horror which we need not further attempt to describe. The boat was now providentially and suddenly carried out into the middle of the stream, and taken by the current beyond the reach of the enemy's balls. Our little band, reduced as they were in numbers, wounded, afflicted, and almost exhausted by fatigue, were still unsubdued in spirit, and being assembled in all their strength, men, women, and children, with an appearance of triumph gave three hearty cheers, calling to the Indians to come on again if they were fond of the sport. Thus ended this awful conflict, in which, out of nine men, only two escaped unhurt. Tucker and Kilpatrick were killed on the spot, S toner was mortally wounded, and died on his arrival at Limestone, and all the rest, excepting Ray and Plascut, were severely wounded. The women and children were all uninjured, excepting a little son of Mr. Plascut, who, after the battle was over, came to the captain, and with great coolness re- quested him to take a ball out of his head. On examination, it appeared that a bullet, which had 130 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. passed through the side of the boat, had pene- trated the forehead of this little hero, and re- mained under the skin. The captain took it out, and the youth, observing, "that is not all," raised his arm, and exhibited a piece of bone at the point of his elbow, which had been shot off, and hung only by the skin. His mother ex- claimed, "Why did you not tell me of this?" "Because," he coolly replied, " the captain di- rected us to be silent during the action, and I thought you would be likely to make a noise if I told you." The boat made the best of its way down the river ; the object being to reach Liraestone that night. The captain's arm having bled profusely, he was compelled to close the sleeve of his coat in order to retain the blood and stop its effu- sion. In this situation, tormented by excruciating pain, and faint through loss of blood, he was under the necessity of steering the boat with his left arm, till about ten o'clock that night, when he was relieved by Mr. William Brooks, who re- sided on the bank of the river, and who was induced by the calls of the suffering party to come out to their assistance. By his aid, and that of some other persons, who were in the same manner brought to their relief, they were enabled to reach Limestone about twelve o'clock that night. Immediately on the arrival of Mr, Brooks, HUBBELL REACHES LIMESTONE. 131 Captain Hubbell, relieved from labour and re- sponsibility, sunk under the weight of pain and fatigue, and became for a while totally insensible. When the boat reached Limestone, he found him- self unable to walk, and was obliged to be carried up to the tavern. Here he had his wound dressed, and continued several days, until he acquired sufficient strength to proceed homewards. On the arrival of Hubbell's party at Lime- stone, they found a considerable force of armed men about to march against the same Indians from whose attacks they had so severely suffered. They now learned that on the Sunday preceding, the same party of savages had cut off a detach- ment of men ascending the Ohio from Fort Wash- ington, at the mouth of Licking River, and had killed with their tomahawks, without firing a gun, twenty-one out of twenty-two men, of which the detachment consisted. Crowds of people, as might be expected, came to witness the boat which had been the scene of so much heroism and such horrid carnage, and to visit the resolute little band by whom it had been so gallantly and perseveringly defended. On examination it was found that the sides of the boat were literally filled with bullets and with bullet holes. There was scarcely a space of two feet square in the part above water, which had not either a ball remaining in it, or a hole through which a ball had passed. Some persons 132 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. who had the curiosity to count the number of holes in the blankets which were hung up as cur- tains in the stern of the boat, affirmed that in the space of five feet square there were one hundred and twenty-two. Four horses out of five were killed, and the escape of the fifth, amidst such a shower of balls, appears almost miraculous. The day after the arrival of Captain Hubbell and his companions, the five remaining boats which they had passed on the night preceding the battle reached Limestone. Those on board re- marked, that during the action they distinctly saw the flashes, but could not hear the reports of the guns. The Indians, it appears, had met with too formidable a resistance from a single boat to attack a fleet, and suff*ered them to pass unmo- lested ; and since that time, it is believed that no boat has been assailed by Indians on the Ohio. The force which marched out to disperse this formidable body of savages discovered several Indians dead on the shore, near the scene of ac- tion. They also found the bodies of Captain Greathouse and several others, — men, women, and children, — who had been on board of his boat. Most of them appeared to have been whipped to death, as they were found stripped, tied to trees, and marked with the appearance of lashes; and large rods, which seemed to have been worn with use, were observed lying near them. may's adventure. 133 An adventure similar in some respects to the above, and equally tragic in its consequences, occurred about the middle of March, 1790. John May, from whom the city of Maysville derives its name, embarked at Kelly's station, on the Kenawha,, for Maysville, in company with his clerk, Charles Johnston, and a Mr. Skyles, a Virginia merchant, who had with him a stock of dry goods for Lexington. They were joined at Point PleasanFby~ar man named Flinn, and two sisters by the name of Fleming. When near the mouth of the Scioto, they were awakened, on the morning of the 20th, by Flinn, whose turn it was to watch, and informed that danger was at hand. All instantly sprang to their feet, and hastened upon deck, without removing their night-caps or completing their dress. The cause of Flinn's alarm was quickly evident. Far down the river a smoke was seen ascending in thick wreaths above the trees, and floating in thinner masses over the bed of the river. All instantly perceived that it could only proceed from a large fire ; and no one doubted that it was kindled by Indians. As the boat drifted on, it became evident that the fire was on the Ohio shore, and it was instantly de- termined to put over to the opposite side of the river. Before this could be done, however, two white men ran down upon the beach, and clasping their hands in the most earnest manner, implored the 12 134 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. crew to take them on board. They declared they had been taken by a party of Indians in Ken- nedy's bottom a few days before, had been con- ducted across the Ohio, and had just effected their escape. Fearful of treachery, the party paid no atten- tion to their entreaties, but steadily pursued their course down the river, and were soon considera- bly ahead of the supplicants. The two white men immediately ran along the bank, parallel with the course of the boat, and changed their entreaties into the most piercing cries and lamentations. The pity of the crew was awakened. Flinn and the two females earn- estly insisted upon going ashore and relieving the white men, and even the incredulity of May began to yield to the persevering obduracy of the supplicants. A parley took place. May called to them from the deck of the boat, where he stood in his night-cap and drawers, and demanded the cause of the large fire, the smoke of which had occasioned so much alarm. The white men positively denied there being any fire near them. This falsehood was so palpa- ble, that May's former suspicions returned with additional force, and he positively refused to ap- proach the shore and take the men on board. In this resolution he was supported by Johnston and Skyles ; but Flinn and the females as vehe- mently opposed it. FATAL COMPASSION. 135 Flinn urged that the men gave every evidence of real distress which couhi be required, and re- counted too many particular circumstances at- tending their capture and escape, to give colour to to the suspicion that their story was invented for the occasion. He added, that it would be a burn- ing shame to them and theirs for ever, if they should permit two countrymen to fall a sacrifice to the savages, when so slight a risk on their part would suffice to relieve them. The boat having drifted by this time nearly a mile below where the men were left standing, Flinn, whose warm heart was touched by their apparent wretchedness, proposed that May should only touch the hostile shore long enough to per- mit him to jump out. If any Indians should ap- pear, the boat could be immediately put out into the stream, and he would run the risk of his own fate. May remonstrated, but to no purpose ; Flinn was inflexible, and in an evil hour the boat was directed to the shore. The instant it was within reach of the land, Flinn leaped to the bank. At that moment six savages ran up, out of breath, from the adjoining wood, and seizing Flinn, began to fire upon the boat. The fire was immediately returned by Johnston and Skyles, while May attempted to regain the current. Fresh Indians arrived, how- ever, in such rapid succession, that the beach was quickly crowded by them, and May called out to 136 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. liis companions to cease firing and assist him at the oars. This was instantly done, but it was too late. Finding it impossible to extricate them- selves, they all lay down upon their faces and pas- sively awaited the approach of their conquerors. The enemy still stood off and poured in an inces- sant fire, by which all the horses were killed, and which began at length to prove fatal to the crew. One of the females received a ball in her mouth, and instantly expired. Skyles was se- verely wounded in both shoulders, and as the fire every moment grew hotter. May arose and waved his night-cap in signal of surrender. He instantly received a ball in the middle of the forehead, and fell perfectly dead by the side of Johnston, covering him with his blood. Now at last the enemy ventured to board. Throwing themselves into the water with their tomahawks in their hands, a dozen or more swam to the boat and began to climb its sides. John- ston stood ready to do the honours of the boat, and presenting his hand to each Indian in suc- cession, he helped them over the side. Each Indian greeted him with great apparent cordial- ity, by a shake of the hand, and the usual salu- tation of, "Howdedo?" in passable English; while Johnston encountered every visitor with an affectionate squeeze and a forced smile, in which terror struggled with civility. Having shaken hands with all their captives, the Indians pro- FATE OF THE CAPTIVES. 137 ceeded coolly to scalp the dead. The boat was then drawn ashore, and its contents examined with great greediness. In addition to the pain of his wounds, Skyles was compelled to witness the total destruction of his property by the hands of the spoilers, who tossed his silks, cambric, and broad- cloth into the dirt with the most reckless indif- ference. At length they stumbled upon a keg of whisky. The prize was eagerly seized, and every thing else abandoned. The Indian who had found it, instantly carried it ashore, and was fol- lowed by the rest with tumultuous delight. A large fire was quickly kindled, and victors and vanquished huddled indiscriminately around it. Flinn was subsequently burned at the stake by his fiendish captors, with all the aggravated tortures that savage cruelty could devise. Skyles, after running the gauntlet, and having been con- demned to death, made his escape to the white settlements. The remaining Miss Fleming was rescued by an Indian chief, at the moment her captors were preparing to burn her alive, and conducted in safety to Pittsburg. Johnston was finally ransomed by a Frenchman for six hundred silver brooches. On the next morning the Indians arose early and prepared for another encounter, expecting as usual that boats would be passing. It hap- pened that Captain Thomas Marshall, of the Vir- ginia artillery, afterward a citizen of Mason, and 12* 138 IITSTOEY OF KENTUCKY. son of Colonel Marshall, in company with several other gentlemen, was descending the Ohio, having embarked only one day later than May. About twelve o'clock on the second day after May's disaster, the little flotilla appeared about a mile above the point where the Indians stood. In- stantly all was bustle and activity. The addi- tional oars were fixed to the boat, the savages instantly sprang on board, and the prisoners were compelled to station themselves at the oars, and were threatened with instant death unless they used their utmost exertions to bring them along- side of the enemy. The three boats came down very rapidly, and were soon immediately opposite their enemy's. The Indians opened a heavy fire upon them, and stimulated their rowers to their utmost efforts. The boats became quickly aware of their dan- ger, and a warm contest of skill and strength took place. There was an interval of one hundred yards between each of the three boats in view. The hind- most was for a time in danger. Having but one pair of oars, and being weakly manned, she was unable to compete with the Indian boat, which greatly outnumbered her both in oars and men. The Indians soon came within rifle-shot, and swept the deck with an incessant fire, which ren- dered it extremely dangerous for any of the crew to show themselves. Captain Marshall was on board the hindmost boat, and maintained his MARSHALL'S ADVENTURE. 139 position at the steering-oar in defiance of tlie shower of balls which flew around him. He stood in his shirt sleeves with a red silk handkerchief hound about his head, which afforded a fair mark for the enemy, and steered the boat with equal steadiness and skill, while the crew below relieved each other at the oars. The enemy lost ground from two circumstances. In their eagerness to overtake the whites, they left the current, and attempted to cut across the river from point to point, in order to shorten the distance. In doing so, however, they lost the force of the current, and soon found them- selves dropping astern. In addition to this, the whites conducted themselves with equal coolness and dexterity. The second boat waited for the hindmost, and received her crew on board, aban- doning the goods and horses, without scruple, to the enemy. Being now more strongly manned, she shot rapidly ahead, and quickly overtook the foremost boat, which, in like manner, received the crew on board, abandoning the cargo as be- fore, and, having six pair of oars, and being powerfully manned, she was soon beyond the reach of the enemy's shot. The chase lasted more than an hour. For the first half hour the fate of the foremost boat hung in mournful sus- pense, and Johnston, with agony, looked forward to the probability of its capture. The prisoners were compelled to labour hard at the cars ; but 140 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. tliey took care never to pull together, and by every means in their power endeavoured to favour the escape of their friends. At length the Indians abandoned the pursuit, and turned their whole attention to the boats which had been deserted. The booty surpassed their most sanguine expectations. Several fine horses were on board, and flour, sugar, and cho- colate, in profusion. Another keg of whisky was found, and excited the same immoderate joy as at first. CHAPTER X. Indian outrages — Action of the general government — Expedi- tion of General Harmar — Miami villages burned — Hardin detached to follow up the Indians — Falls into an ambush — Is defeated — Painful situation of Captain Armstrong — Harmar retreats — Hardin again detached — Indian stratagem — Noble conduct of the regulars — Hardin defeated — Harmar returns home — Harmar and Hardin court-martialled — Acquitted — Resignation of Harmar — Scott's expedition — Destruction of the villages on the Vv'' abash — Return of the troops — St. Clair's expedition — Rendezvous at Fort Washington — Feel- ing of the Kentuckians — Object of the campaign — Condition of the army — Fort Hamilton built — Erection of Fort Jeffer- son — The march — Desertion of the militia — 'Of the Mountain Leader, a Chickasaw chief and his band — St. Clair encamps on one of the tributaries of the Wabash — Furious attack by the Indians, led by Little Turtle and Girty— Defeat of St. Clair — Retreat to Fort Washington. The repeated outrages suffered by Kentucky at length roused the general government to at- iiarmar's expedition. 141 temjDt the extirpation of the marauding bands, by organizing an expedition for that purpose. The force, which was composed of one hundred regulars from Fort Washington, and one hundred and thirty Kentucky volunteers, marched against the Indian camp on the Scioto, but finding it de- serted, returned without accomplishing any thing. A more formidable expedition, consisting of three hundred and twenty regulars, and two quo- tas of militia from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, amounting in the whole to upwards of eleven hundred men, was called out by order of the Pre- sident of the United States, and directed to march against the Indian towns in the northwest. The command, as before, was intrusted to General Harmar. Colonel John Hardin, an intelligent and gallant soldier, headed the volun- teers from Kentucky. With these united forces Harmar marched, about the 80th of September, against the Miami villages. The latter being found deserted by the Indians, the army burned them, destroyed the corn, and then encamped on the ground. An Indian trail being discovered soon after, Hardin, with one hundred and fifty militia, properly offi- cered, and thirty regulars, commanded by Captain Armstrong and Ensign Hartshorn, was detached from the main body, in pursuit. In a prairie, at the distance of six miles, the Indians had formed an ambush on each side of 142 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. their own trail, having pre"viouslj confused their footsteps with so much art, that the troops pene- trated the defile without suspicion. The latter were no sooner involved deeply within the snare laid for them, than the enemy poured in a heavy fire from among the bushes and long grass by which they were concealed from view. Greatly to the mortification of their colonel, the militia broke at once and fled, deserting the regulars, who stood firm till nearly all of them were killed. The Indians remained on the field, and during the night held a dance of victory, exulting with frantic shouts and gestures over their dead and dying enemies. To this ceremony Captain Arm- strong was a constrained and unwilling witness, being sunk to his neck in mud and water, within a hundred yards of the scene. The life of Ensign Hartshorn was also saved by his having accidentally fallen over a log hid- den among weeds and grass. During the night both these officers eluded the notice of their ene- mies, and arrived in camp. Apparently disheartened by the result of this skirmish, Harmar broke up his camp in a day or two afterward, and retreated nearer the settle- ments. On the second day of the march, when about ten miles from the ruined villages, the gene- ral ordered a halt, and sent Colonel Hardin back to the main town with some sixty regulars and three hundred militia. SUCCESSFUL STRATAGEM. 143 Hardin had no sooner readied the point to which he had been ordered, than a small body of Indians appeared on the ground. After receiving the fire of the militia, the savages broke into sepa- rate parties, and by seeming to fly as if panic- stricken, encouraged the militia to follow in pur- suit. The stratagem was successful. The militia had no sooner disappeared in chase of the fugitives, than the regulars, thus left alone, were suddenly assaulted by large numbers of the foe, who had hitherto remained in concealment. The Indians precipitated themselves upon the sixty regulars under Major Willis, but were re- ceived with the most inflexible determination. The Indian yell, so appalling even to the bravest hearts, was heard in cool inflexible silence. The hurtling of the tomahawk was met by the thrust of the bayonet. In vain was Indian after Indian killed ; the numbers increased ; as one fell, others fresh from their hiding-places gave additional strength and support to their companions. The destruction of the regulars was com.plete ; scarcely an indi- vidual escaped ; they all fell, with their major, on the spot they occupied. In the mean time, the militia came straggling in from their vain and hopeless pursuit. After a hard and murderous struggle, the whites were compelled to give way, leaving their dead and wounded behind them. 144 HISTOIIY OF KENTUCKY. Of the regulars engaged in this most sanguina- ry battle, only ten escaped back to the camp ; while the militia, under Hardin, lost ninetv-eight in killed, and had ten others wounded. After this unfortunate repulse, Harmar retired without attempting any thing further. The con- duct of Harmar and Hardin did not escape severe criticism and censure. Both demanded a court- martial ; Hardin was unanimously and honourably acquitted. Harmar was also acquitted, but im- mediately afterward resigned his commission. The repulse of Harmar added greatly to the insecure condition of Kentucky. Elated by their success, the Indians continued their depredations with greater audacity than ever. The earlier movements of the newly-organized federal govern- ment were difficult and embarrassing. With the view, however, to the defence of the western and northwestern frontiers, an act was passed by Congress for increasing" the army ; St. Clair, the governor of the northwestern territories, received a commission as major-general, and steps werw taken for raising the new regiment and the levies, the command of whteh, was to be given to General Butler. In the mean time, while these new troops were being organized, an expedition was gotten up in Kentucky under General Charles Scott. The call was no sooner made, than volunteers to the number of between eight and nine hundred Scott's expedition. 145 flocked to his standard. Wilkinson, though hold- ing no commission from the state, enlisted for the expedition. He was chosen second in com- mand, and assuming the title of colonel, soon rendered himself conspicuous by his activity, at- tention, and address. The army, all mounted men, marched from the mouth of the Kentucky River on the 23d of May, and after penetrating the wilderness for one hundred and fifty miles, reached at length the villages on the Wabash. Fifty-eight prisoners were taken, and several warriors were killed ; but the greater part of the Indians succeeded in escaping. A detachment under Wilkinson was sent against the Kickapoo village, eighteen miles distant ; but there also the inhabitants had escaped. The village, which consisted of about seventy houses, was burned to the ground, and with it a quantity of corn, peltry, and other arti- cles. Many of the houses, which were well finished, seemed to have been inhabited by Frenchmen, and the books and papers found there indicated a close connection with Detroit. After these acts of retaliation the volunteers re- turned home, pleased with their new commander, and highly elated with the conduct of Wilkinson. Indian depredations in the southern and north- eastern parts of Kentucky still continuing. Gene- ral WilMnson published a call in July, for five hundreSmiounted volunteers, to proceed against 13 146 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. the Indians northwest of the Ohio. As Colonel John Hardin and Colonel James McDowell both favoured the proposed enterprise, and agreed to serve as majors, an expedition was soon orga- nized. Marching into the Indian country, the army destroyed the village L'Anguille, killed one or two warriors, took a few prisoners, and re- turned home without losing a man. The government now prepared to strike what was supposed would be a decisive blow. On the 4th of August, General Scott was ordered by the governor of the commonwealth to comply with any requisition made on him by the officer commanding the United States troops on the Ohio. Washington, who was at this time president, warned by the disastrous defeat of Harmar, de- termined to employ a force sufficient to crush at a single blow all future opposition on the part of the Indians. This force, which was to consist of two thousand regular troops, composed of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, was ordered to move from the several states in which they had been enlisted, toward Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, where the men rendezvoused about September. The command was given to General St. Clair, an officer who was at that time, not only old and infirm, but one who had been very unfortunate in his military career during the Revolutionary war. ST. clair's expedition. 147 He was particularly unpopular in Kentucky, and no volunteers could be found to serve under him. The militia of Kentucky had been called on, and about one thousand reluctantly furnished by draft ; but as they disliked to serve in conjunc- tion with a regular force, and were unfavourable to the commander-in-chief, many desertions took place daily. The season was already advanced before St. Clair took the field. The whole force of regulars and levies, able to march from Fort Washington, did not much exceed two thousand men. The object of the campaign was to' establish a line of posts stretching from the Ohio to the Maumee ; to build a strong fort on the latter river, and by leaving in it a garrison of one thou- sand men, to enable the commander of the fort to send out detachments to keep the neighbour- ing Indians in awe. The army took up its line of march on the 1st of October, and halted for a couple of days at Fort Hamilton, which was built on the Great Miami, twenty-four miles north of the infant city of Cincinnati. On the 4th, the march was resumed. At a distance of forty-four miles fur- ther north, the army was again halted, and Fort Jefferson erected near the present dividing line between Ohio and Indiana. On the 26th of Oc- tober, a reinforcement of several hundred Ken- tucky militia having reached the new fort, the 148 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. marcli was continued. Encumbered by wagons and artillery, the progress of the army was both slow and painful. The militia from Kentucky, who were for the most part substitutes, were reckless and ungovernable. The levies from other states, also, having been supplied with very inferior clothing, grew discontented, while the term of those who had enlisted earliest was about to expire. The Kentucky force dwindled at every step. On the 1st of November, a whole regiment de- serted in a body, and the first regiment had to be detached to protect the approaching trains of provision wagons, and escort them to the camp. In the midst of this unfortunate condition of things, the mountain leader, a Chickasaw chief, doubtless foreseeing the probable result of such gross insubordination, withdrew his band of war- riors and returned home. St. Clair, however, continued his march, and on the evening of the 3d of November halted on one of the tributaries of the Wabash. A few Indians were seen, but they fled with precipitation. The troops en- camped ; the regulars and levies in two lines, covered by the stream ; the militia, on the op- posite shore and about a quarter of a mile in ad- vance. Still further in advance. Captain Slough was posted with a company of regulars. His orders were to intercept small parties of the enemy if they should venture to approach the AMERICANS SURPRISED. 149 camp, and to give intelligence of any occurrences that might transpire. Colonel Oldham, who commanded the remains of the Kentucky levies, had been cautioned to remain on the alert during the night, and to send out patroles of twenty-five or thirty men each, in different directions before daylight, to scour the adjoining woods. In the course of the night, Captain Slough discovered the Indians approaching in such num- bers, that he drew in his men, and reported to General Butler. The latter, however, by a sin- gular and most fatal negligence, neither reported the information to the commanding general, nor took any measures to check the advance of the savages. Early the next morning, about sunrise, just as the troops were dismissed from parade, the camp of the militia was suddenly attacked. The regu- lars, who composed the first line on the other side of the stream, formed at the earliest alarm ; but the flying militia rushed in disorder across the water and darted into the camp, closely fol- lowed by swarms of infuriated savages. Many of the latter, having reserved their fire, now poured it in continuous volleys upon the regulars, who, shaken by the distraction and tumult, were unprepared to return it. The instantaneous exertions of the officers got the troops into some kind of order ; the fire 13«- 150 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. was returned, and the assailants checked for a moment ; but the regulars in front never re- covered from the effects of their first confusion. Immediately afterward, a most tremendous fire was directed upon the centre of the shattered front, upon the artillery, and next upon the second line. Firing from the ground, hidden behind trees, or logs, or brush, and never seen but when darting from covert to covert, the In- dians advanced in front, and on either flank, close upon the American lines, and up to the mouths of the field-pieces, from which the men were driven with great slaughter. The second line made several charges with the bayonet, be- fore which the Indians gave way ; but they soon rallied, and returned to the attack as fiercely as ever. At length the Indians broke into the camp on the left flank, and flinging aside their guns, sprang upon the Americans and hewed them down with the tomahawk. They were again charged with the bayonet, and retreated ; but immediately the pursuit stopped, they returned again to the camp. These movements were frequently repeated, and always with the same result. In these charges many officers fell ; and among them General Butler, the second in command. St. Clair, labouring under the effects of gout, was unable to leave his cot. The Indians had turned the left flank of the encampment. The artillery, DISGRACEFUL ROUT. 151 "which had been captured and retaken several times, was no longer serviceable, every officer belonging to it being killed, except one, and he, badly wounded, was in the power of the enemy. A retreat was determined on. The shattered troops were collected toward the right of the camp : a charge was made as if to turn the right flank of the enemy, but in fact to gain possession of the road. No sooner was this accomplished, than the militia broke and ran. The other troops then followed in perfect and most irremediable rout. They strewed their arms all along the way, were deaf to every order, and perfectly ungovernable. The camp, artillery, baggage, and wounded, were left in the hands of the enemy. Most of the officers had already fallen. St. Clair made his escape on a pack-horse, which he could neither mount nor dismount without assistance. The Indians soon gave over the pursuit, but the flying troops did not stop until they reached Fort Jefl'erson, where they arrived about sunset completely exhausted, one day's flight having carried them over a space which covered a fort- night's advance. Here the first regiment was found three hundred strong. Its presence in the field, in St. Clair's opinion, would not have altered the fortune of the day, as the troops pos- sessed too little discipline to recover from their first confusion, while its destruction would have completed the triumph of the enemy, and left 152 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the frontier without any organized defence. Leaving his wounded at Fort Jeiferson, St. Clair retreated to Cincinnati, the point from which the expedition had started. The loss in this disastrous enterprise amounted to upward of nine hundred men, including fifty- nine officers. Of these, six hundred were killed. The Indian force was supposed to have ranged some where between one thousand and fifteen hundred, including half-breeds and refugees, and among the latter the notorious Girty. The prin- cipal leader was said to have been Little Turtle, a chief of the Miamis, who had led on the attack against Harmar the year before. CHAPTEE XL Personal incidents of St. Clair's campaign — William Kennan — His strength and activity — Discovers the Indians — Is pur- sued by them — A race for life — His extraordinary leap — The retreat — Carries a wounded companion — His terrible recourse to relieve himself — Assists Mr. Madison, afterward Governor of Kentucky — Excitement in Kentucky — Scott and Wilkin- son call for volunteers — Wilkinson marches to the battle- ground — Horrid spectacle — Constitution of Kentucky — Its provisions — Legislative acts — Population of the state — 'Indian disturbances — Settlement on Elkhorn attacked — The Cooks killed — Resolute conduct of the widows — Escape ofMcAndre — Martin killed — Escape of Dunn — Murder of his two sons ■ — Indians pursued. Among the personal incidents connected with this unfortunate campaign, there are two related WILLIAM KENNAN. 153 of ^Yilllam Kennan, a Kentucky ranger, which afford fine illustrations of frontier character. Kennan had long been remarkable for strength and activity. In the course of the march from Fort Washington, he had repeated opportunities of testing his astonishing powers in those respects, and was universally admitted to be the swiftest runner of the light corps. On the evening preceding the action, his corps had been advanced in front of the first line of infantry, in order to give seasonable notice of the enemy's approach. Just as day was dawn- ing, he observed about thirty Indians within one hundred yards of the guard fire, approaching cautiously toward the spot where he stood in company with twenty other rangers, the rest being considerably in the rear. Supposing it to be a mere scouting party, and not superior in number to the rangers, he sprang forward a few paces in order to shelter himself in a spot of peculiarly rank grass, and, after firing with a quick aim upon the foremost Indian, fell flat upon his face, and proceeded with all possible rapidity to reload his gun, not doubting for a moment that his companions would maintain their positions and support him. The Indians, however, rushed forward in such overwhelming masses, that the rangers were com- pelled to fly with precipitation, leaving young Kennan in total ignorance of his danger. Tor- 154 HISTOEY OF KENTUCKY. tunatelj, the captain of his company had observed him when he threw himself in the grass, and suddenly shouted aloud, " Run, Kennan ! or you are a dead man !" He instantly sprang to his feet, and beheld the Indians within ten feet of him, while his company was more than one hun- dred yards in front. Not a moment was to be lost. He darted off with every muscle strained to its utmost, and was pursued by a dozen of the enemy with loud yells. He at first pressed straight forAvard to the usual fording-place in the creek, which ran between the rangers and the main army ; but several In- dians, who had passed him before he arose from the grass, threw themselves in the way, and com- pletely cut him off from the rest. By the most powerful exertions, he had thrown the whole body of pursuers behind him, with the exception of one young chief, probably Messhawa, who displayed a swiftness and perseverance equal to his own. In the circuit which Kennan was obliged to make, the race continued for more than four hundred yards. The distance between them was about eighteen feet, which Kennan could not increase, nor his adversary diminish. Each for the time put his whole soul into the race. Kennan, as far as he was able, kept his eye upon the motions of his pursuer, lest he should throw the tomahawk, which he held aloft in a menacing attitude, and, at length, finding that WONDERFUL LEAP. 155 no Other Indian was immediately at hand, he determined to try the mettle of his pursuer in a different manner, and felt for his knife in order to turn at bay. It had escaped from its sheath, however, while he lay in the grass, and his hair almost lifted the cap from his head when he found himself totally unarmed. As he had slackened his pace for a moment, the Indian was almost in reach of him when he recommenced the race ; but the idea of being without arms lent wings to his flight, and for the first time he saw himself gaining ground. He had watched the motions of his pursuer, however, too closely to pay pro- per attention to the nature of the ground before him, and suddenly found himself in front of a large tree, which had been blown down, and upon which brush and other impediments were heaped to the height of eight or nine feet. The Indian, heretofore silent, now gave a sharp quick yell, as if sure of his victim. Kennan had not a moment to deliberate. He must clear the impediment at a leap, or perish. Putting his whole soul into the effort, he bounded into the air with a power which astonished himself; and clearing limbs, brush, and every thing else, alighted in perfect safety on the other side. A loud yell of amazement burst from the band of pursuers bringing up the rear, not one of whom had the hardihood to attempt the same feat. Kennan, ho\yever, had no leisure to enjoy his 156 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. triumph. Dashing into the creek, where the high banks would protect him from the fire of the enemy, he ran up the edge of the stream until he found a convenient crossing-place, and rejoined the rangers in the rear of the encampment, pant- ing from the fatigue of exertions which had seldom been surpassed. But little breathing time was allowed him. The attack instantly commenced, and was maintained for three hours with un- abated fury. When the retreat took place, Kennan was at- tached to Major Clarke's battalion, which had the dangerous service of protecting the rear. This corps quickly lost its commander, and was completely disorganized. Kennan was among the hindmost when the flight commenced, but exerting those same powers which had saved him in the morning, he quickly gained the front, passing several horsemen in his flight. Here he beheld a private in his own company, an intimate ac- quaintance, lying upon the ground with his thigh broken, who, in tones of the most piercing dis- tress, implored each horseman as he hurried by to take him up behind. As soon as he beheld Kennan coming up on foot, he stretched out his hands and entreated him to save him. Notwith- standing the imminent peril of the moment, his friend could not reject so passionate an appeal, but seizing him in his arms he placed him upon his back, and ran in that manner several hundred yards. DEEADEUL ALTERNATIVE. 15T At length, the enemy was gaining upon them so fast, that Kennan saw their death was certain unless he relinquished his burden. He accord- ingly told his friend that he had used every pos- sible exertion to save his life, but in vain ; that he must relax his hold about his neck, or they would both perish. The unhappy man, heedless of every remonstrance, still clung convulsively to Kennan's back, until the foremost of the enemy, armed with tomahawks alone, were within twenty yards of them. Kennan then drew his knife from its sheath, and cut the fingers of his com- panion, thus compelling him to relinquish his hold. The wounded man rolled upon the ground in utter helplessness, and Kennan beheld him tomahawked before he had gone thirty yards. Relieved from his burden, Kennan darted forward with an activity which once more brought him to the van. Here again he was compelled to neg- lect his own safety to attend to that of others. The late Governor Madison, of Kentucky, who afterward commanded the corps which defended themselves so honourably at the river Raisin, was at that time a subaltern in St. Clair's army. Being a man of feeble constitution, he was totally ex- hausted by the exertions of the morning, and was found by Kennan sitting calmly upon a log, wait- ing the approach of his enemies. Kennan has- tily accosted him, and inquired the cause of his delay, Madison, pointing to a wound which had 14 158 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. bled profusely, replied, he was unable to walk farther, and had no horse. Kennan instantly ran back to the spot where he had seen an ex- hausted horse grazing, caught him without diffi- culty, and having assisted Madison to mount, walked by his side until they were out of danger. Fortunately the pursuit ceased soon after, as the plunder of the camp presented irresistible at- tractions to the enemy. The friendship thus formed between these two young men continued through life ; but Kennan never entirely re- covered from the immense exertions he was con- strained to make during this unfortunate expe- dition. The disastrous defeat of St. Clair created the greatest alarm, not only in Kentucky, but throughout the whole northwest territory. At first it was believed that St. Clair was besieged in Fort Jefferson, and both Scott and Wilkinson issued calls for volunteers to march to his relief. The subsequent intelligence of his arrival at Fort Washington, and that nothing more was to be attempted than his remaining force was able to effect, quieted in some respect the public mind ; and the volunteers, who had commenced rapidly assembling, returned for the present to their homes. About two months after the battle, Wilkinson, who had mean while been appointed to command the second regiment, marched from Fort Jeffer- HER FIRST CONSTITUTION. 159 son, with two companies of regulars and one hundred and fifty mounted militia, to visit the field. Though covered with snow a foot deep, it presented a horrid spectacle. The dead were buried; one piece of cannon was brought ofi"; the carriages of the other pieces remained, but the guns themselves were not to be found. There was not a tree or bush in the neighbour- hood unmarked by musket balls. No Indians anywhere appeared. Yet, during Wilkinson's absence from Fort Jefi*erson, a party of the gar- rison, having wandered a mile or two from the fort, had been set upon, and several of them killed. It has been already mentioned, that the ninth and last convention met at Danville, in April, 1792, and formed the first constitution of the state of Kentucky. In some of its prominent features it departed very widely from that of the parent state, Virginia. In the representation by counties, numbers were established as the basis. Suffrage was universal, and sheriffs were elected triennially by the people. But the popular ele- ment infused into the constitution was not admit- ted without certain strong checks. The execu- tive, the senate, and the judiciary were entirely removed from the direct control of the people. No pecuniary qualification was required either in voters or officers; but representatives must be twenty-four years of age, senators twenty-seven, 160 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. the governor thirty, and all of tliem citizens of the state for two years. The representatives were to be chosen annually, by the votes of the free w^hite citizens. The governor was chosen by electors, who were elected by the people every fourth year. The members of the senate were appointed by the same elec- toral college which chose the president, and might be selected indifferently from any part of the state. The judiciary were appointed by the governor during good behaviour, but subject to removal on an address to that effect from two- thirds of both branches of the legislature. The supreme court had, however, original and final jurisdiction in all land cases. This last fea- ture was engrafted on the constitution by Colonel Nicholas, and was found most expensive and mischievous in practice. The constitution was adopted, and the officers elected in May, 1792. Isaac Shelby, an old Revolutionary officer, who had gallantly dis- tinguished himself at Kino-'s Mountain and Point Pleasant, was elected the first governor of Ken- tucky. Alexander Bullitt was chosen speaker of the senate, and Robert Breckenridge, of the house of representatives. James Brown was ap- pointed secretary of state, and George Nicholas attorney-general. John Brown and John Ed- wards were elected by joint ballot senators to INCREASE OF POPULATION. 161 Congress. Frankfort was fixed upon as tlie fu- ture seat of government. During the first session of the legislature, acts were passed establishing the supreme court, con- sisting of three judges, county courts, and courts of quarter sessions, — the latter having common law and chancery jurisdiction. A court of oj^er and terminer was also formed, composed of three judges, having criminal jurisdiction, and sitting twice a year. The new state of Kentucky was rapidly rising into importance. By the census, which had been taken in 1790 under the authority of the United States, the population of Kentucky numbered at that time, seventy-three thousand six hundred and seventy-seven souls. Of these, sixty-one thousand one hundred and thirty-three were free white persons ; twelve thousand four hundred and thirty slaves ; and one hundred and fourteen free coloured persons, excluding Indians. One- half of the white people, at least, and probably three-fourths of the slaves, were from Virginia ; the residue being mainly from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina. Notwithstanding this amazing increase of popu- lation within a few years, the Indians, elated by their brilliant victories over the large forces sent against them, still continued to prowl about the thinly-settled portions of the state, and after 14«- 162 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. murdering the settlers, eluding pursuit by a rapid retreat. About Christmas, in the year 1791, a new set- ment was made on main Elkhorn, between three and four miles from Frankfort, by two brothers named Cook, their brothers-in-law Mastin and Dunn, and two other persons by the names of Bledsoe and Farmer ; all of whom had families. On the 28th of April, 1792, an attack was made on three several points of the settlement, almost simultaneously, by about one hundred In- dians. The first assault was made on the Cooks. The brothers were in their cabins, one engaged in shearing sheep, the other looking on. The sharp crack of rifles was the first intimation they received of the proximity of the Indians, and that fire was fatal to both the brothers. The elder fell dead immediately, and the younger was mortally wounded, but was enabled to reach his cabin. The two Mrs. Cooks, with three children, were instantly collected in the house, and the door, a very strong one, made secure. The Indians, unable to enter, discharged their rifles at the door, but without injury, as the balls did not penetrate the thick boards of which it was constructed. They then attempted to cut it down with their tomahawks, but with no better success. While these things occurred without, there was deep sorrow, mingled with fearless determination HEKOIC WOMEN. 163 and high resolve, within. The younger Cook, mortally wounded, immediately the door was barred, sank on the floor and breathed his last ; and the two widows were left the sole defenders of the cabin with the three children. There was a rifle in the house, but no balls could be found. In this extremity, one of the women got hold of a musket-ball, and placing it between her teeth, succeeded in biting it into two pieces. With one she instantly loaded the rifle. The Indians, failing in their attempt to cut down the door, had retired a few paces in front, doubtless to consult upon their future operations. One seated himself upon a log, apparently appre- hending no danger from within. Observing him, Mrs. Cook took aim from a narrow aperture and fired, when the Indian gave a loud yell, bounded high in the air, and fell dead. This unexpected event infuriated the savages, who, being able to speak imperfect English, threatened to burn the house with all its inmates. Several speedily climbed to the top of the cabin, and kindled a fire on the boards of the roof. The devouring element soon began to take eff"ect, and with less determination on the part of those within, would soon have enveloped the whole of them in destruction. One of the women instantly ascended to the loft, while the other handed her water with which she extinguished the fire. Again and again the roof was fired, and as often 164 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. extinguished. The water failing, the undaunted women procured some eggs, which were broken, and their contents thrown upon the fire. Their next resource was the bloody waistcoat of their husband and brother-in-law ; the blood with which this was profusely saturated checked the further progress of the flames, which, with a few subse- quent efforts, were at length fully subdued. The savage foe yielded, and the fruitful expedients of female courage triumphed. One Indian, in bitter disappointment, fired at his unseen enemy through the boards, but did not injure her. They now descended from the roof. About the time the attack commenced, a young man named McAndre escaped on horseback in view of the Indians. Supposing he would give the alarm to the older settlements ; as soon as the savages descended from the roof, a few of them climbed some trees in the vicinity and in- stituted a sharp look-out. While in the trees, one of them fired a second ball into the loft of the cabin, which cut to pieces a ball of yarn hanging near the head of Mrs. Cook, but with- out doing further injury. Soon after, they threw the body of the dead Indian into the adjacent creek, and fled precipitately. A few moments after the Cooks were attacked, Martin, in conversation with McAndre near his cabin, was fired upon and wounded in the knee, but not so badly as to disable him. He com- ESCAPE OF THE INDIANS. 165 menced a retreat into his house, when he received a second shot which killed him. McAndre escaped on horseback, and carried with him to the settlement one of Martin's small children. Dunn, and two of his sons, one aged sixteen, and the other nine years, not having been ob- served by the Indians when the attack commenced, escaped to the woods and separated. The old man made his way safely to the older settlement, but the boys were afterward discovered by the Indians, and both murdered. One of the negroes at Innis's quarter, being sick, was killed, and the two others taken captive. Of the latter, one died among the Indians, and the other returned to his master. The survivors of this infant colony were taken to the older set- tlements, where they experienced all the kindness and hospitality so characteristic of pioneer life. The alarm quickly spread, and before night- fall a body of from seventy-five to one hundred men were in hot pursuit of the retreating foe. The main body of the Indians, however, reached the Ohio, and crossed it safely in advance of the Kentuckians. A small party, who had lingered behind and stolen some negroes and horses from another settlement, were overtaken by a party of the whites, a short distance from the river. One of the Indians was shot, but, in falling, level- led his rifle and killed one of the horsemen, who had advanced too rashly toward him. 166 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER XII. St. Clair superseded — Wayne appointed his successor — Colonel Hardin — Sent as a messenger to the Indians — Is murdered — Biographical notice — Hardin serves under Dunmore — Volunteers with Captain Morgan — Is wounded in the thigh — Rejoins Dunmore in an expedition against the Indian to\^Tis — Contemplates moving to Kentucky — War between England and the colonies — Hardin enlists men for the de- fence of his country — Is appointed a lieutenant — Offered a majority, but declines — Moves to Kentucky — Appointed colonel of the county militia — 'His services — Grave charge against Wilkinson — Tecumseh — Kenton's skirmish with him — His stratagem and escape — The last Indian inroad — Kenton forms an ambuscade on the Ohio — Kills four Indians and two white men — Escape of the others. Depredations still continued, and General Washington, to the great distress of Kentucky, persevered in the employment of a regular force, instead of mounted militia. St. Clair was super- seded, and General Wayne appointed his succes- sor. A regular force was to be organized, and a final effort made to crush the hostile tribes. The death of Colonel John Hardin, which oc- curred in May of this year, but which was not confirmed until some time in December, created great sorrow among the people of Kentucky, by whom he was much beloved. Colonel Hardin had been solicited by General Wilkinson, commanding at Fort Washington, to MURDER OF COLONEL HARDIN. 167 become the bearer of a flag to the hostile tribes northwest of the Ohio, with a view of negotiating terms of peace. The service was known to be dangerous, and many of those who were best acquainted with the Indian character believed it would be fatal to the undertaker. Notwithstand- ing these ominous misgivings, the chivalrous nature of Colonel Hardin would not permit him to decline a commission because of the peril at- tendant upon its performance. He accordingly set out in May, attended by an interpreter. While on his way to the Miami villages, he ar- rived at an Indian camp, about a day's journey from where Fort Defiance was subsequently built by General Wayne, and nearly the same distance from a town inhabited by the Shawnese and Delawares. He was well received by the Indians in camp, but had not been long there before five Delawares came in, with whom Hardin proposed to proceed to the town that evening. They, however, de- clined returning until the next day ; and as they appeared peaceably disposed, Hardin concluded to camp with the Indians during the night, which he did without molestation. In the morning, he was murdered by some of the savages ; but whether his death was ac- companied by any circumstances of barbarity, has never been ascertained. They seized his horse, gun, and saddle-bags, expecting doubtless 168 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. to find money and presents in the latter. His servant they made a prisoner, and taking him with them on the road to Sandusky, murdered him by the way. Colonel Hardin fell in the thirty-ninth year of his age, after a life, the last twenty years of which had been spent, for the most part, in the service of his country. In the expedition conducted by Governor Dun- more against the Indians, young Hardin served the capacity of ensign in a militia company. During the ensuing August, he volunteered with Captain Zach Morgan, and in an engagement with the savages was wounded while in the act of aiming his rifle at the enemy. The better to support his gun, he had sunk on one knee, and while in this position the ball struck his thigh on the outer side, ranged up it about seven inches and lodged near the groin, whence it was never extracted. The enemy were beaten, and fled. Before he had recovered from his wound, or could dispense with his crutches, he joined Dun- more on his march to the Indian towns. Soon after the peace which ensued, Hardin turned his attention toward Kentucky, as to a scene for new adventure; and had actually prepared for his journey, when it was abandoned on account of increasing rumours of an approaching war with Great Britain. The American Congress having determined to HARDIN'S MILITARY SKILL. 169 raise a military force, Hardin applied himself to the business of recruiting, and with such success, that he was soon enabled to join the continental army with the command of a second lieutenant. He was afterward attached to Morgan's rifle corps, which was generally on the lines, and with which he served until his resignation of his com- mission as first lieutenant, in December, 1779. In the mean time, he had acquired and held a high place in the esteem of General Daniel Mor- gan, by whom he was often selected for enter- prises of peril, which required discretion and intrepidity to insure success. A few anecdotes have been preserved which illustrate very forcibly the coolness, courage, and eminent military talents of Hardin. While with the northern army, he was sent out on a reconnoitring excursion, with orders to capture a prisoner, for the purpose of obtaining information. Marching silently in advance of his party, he found himself, on rising the abrupt summit of a hill, in the presence of three British soldiers and a Mohawk Indian. The moment was critical; he presented his rifle, and ordered them to surrender. The British immediately threw down their arms ; the Indian clubbed his gun. They remained motionless, while he continued to advance on them ; but none of his men having come to his assistance, he turned his head a little 15 170 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. to one side, and called them to come on. At this time, the Indian warrior, observing his eye withdrawn from him, reversed his gun with a rapid motion, with the intention of shooting. Hardin caught the gleam of light which was re- flected from the polished barrel of the gun, and readily divining its meaning, brought his own rifle to a level, and Avithout raising his piece to his face, gained the first fire, and gave the Indian a mortal wound, who, however, was only an in- stant too late, his ball passing through Hardin's hair. The rest of the party were marched into camp, and Hardin received the thanks of General Gates. Before he left the army he was off'ered a ma- jor's commission in a regiment about to be raised ; but he declined, alleging he could be of more service where he then was. In 1779 he resigned, and returned home. The ensuing year he proceeded to Kentucky, and located lands on treasury warrants, for him- self and some of his friends. In April, 1786, he removed his wife and family to Nelson, after- ward Washington county, in Kentucky. In the same year, he volunteered under General Clark for the Wabash expedition, and was appointed quartermaster. In the course of 1789, the In- dians stole all his horses, without leaving him one for the plough. They were pursued, but escaped across the Ohio. In the same year he NOTICES OF IIARDm. 171 was appointed county lieutenant, with tlie rank of colonel, which gave him command of the mili- tia of the county. As the summer advanced, he determined to cross the Ohio, and scour the coun- try for some miles out, in order to break up any bands of Indians that might be lurking in the neighbourhood. With two hundred mounted men he crossed the river, and on one of the branches of the Wa- bash fell on a camp of about thirty Shawnese, whom he attacked and defeated with a loss of two killed, and nine wounded. From these Indians Colonel Hardin recovered two of the horses and some colts which had been stolen in the spring ; and it is worthy of remark, that no more horses were stolen from that neigh- bourhood during the war. There was no expedition into the Indian coun- try after Hardin settled in Kentucky in which he was not engaged, except that of General St. Clair, which he was prevented from joining by an accidental wound received while using a car- penter's adze. His death, which took place in the spring of 1792, has been already narrated. General Wilkinson was much censured for sending an officer of so much importance as Har- din upon a mission of so dangerous a character, and for which service any other messenger would have answered as well. The enemies of Wilkin- son did not scruple to charge him with having 172 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. knowingly sent Hardin to his death, from jealousy of the great popularity which the latter had ac- quired in Kentucky. The subsequent murder of Major Trueman, an officer of great merit, who had been despatched by Wilkinson upon a similar errand, and with whom he was known to be at variance, gave additional colour to the charge. Another Indian warrior now appeared upon the battle-fields of Kentucky ; this was the cele- brated Tecumseh. He had already distinguished himself in various skirmishes with the whites, who, in the retaliatory spirit of the times, often carried the war in return into the Indian country. In the spring of 1793, while Tecumseh and a few of his followers were hunting in the Scioto valley, they were unexpectedly attacked by a party of whites from Mason county, Kentucky. The circumstances which led to this skirmish were the following : — Early that spring, an express reached the set- tlement in Mason, who stated that some stations had been attacked and captured on Slate Creek, in Bath county, and that the Indians were re- turning with their prisoners to Ohio. A party of thirty-three men was immediately raised to cut off their retreat. They were divided into three companies of ten men each ; Simon Kenton commanding one. Baker another, and Captain James Ward the third. The whole party crossed the Ohio at Limestone, and aimed to ABORTIVE PURSUIT. 173 strike the Scioto above Paint Creek. After crossing this creek near where the great road from Maysville to Chillicothe now crosses it, evening came on, and they halted for the night. In a short time they heard a noise, and a little examination disclosed to them that they were in the vicinity of an Indian camp. Their horses were promptly taken back some distance and tied, to prevent an alarm. A council was held, and Captain Baker offered to go and reconnoitre, whicli being agreed to, he took one of his com- pany and made the examination. He found the Indians encamped on the bank of the stream, their horses between them and the camp of the whites. After Baker's report was made, the party determined to remain where they were until near daylight the next morning. Cap- tain Baker and his men were to march round and take a position on the bank of the stream in front of the Indian camp ; Captain Ward was to occu- py the ground in the rear ; and Captain Kenton one side, while the river presented a barrier on the other, thus guardino^ ai^ainst the retreat of the Indians. It was further agreed that the attack should not commence until it was light enough to shoot with accuracy. Before Kenton and Ward had reached the po- sitions they were respectively to occupy, the bark of a dog in the Indian camp was heard, and then the report of a gun. Upon this alarm, Baker's 15* 174 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. men instantly fired, and Captains Kenton and Ward, with their companies, raising the battle cry, rushed toward the camp. To their surprise, they found Baker and his men in the rear instead of the front of the Indians, thus deranging the plan of attack, but whether from design or acci- dent is unknown. The Indians sent back the war-w^hoop, retreated a few paces, and took to the trees. It was still too dark to fire with pre- cision, but a few random shots were made, and a terrible shouting kept up by the Indians. While the parties were thus at bay, Tecumseh had the address to send a part of his men to the rear of the Kentuckians for the horses, and when the animals were brought to the front, which was accomplished without discovery, the Indians mounted and efi"ected their escape, car- rying with them John Ward, the brother of Captain James Ward, and the only one of the party who was wounded. One Kentuckian was killed, a member of Baker's company. No pur- suit was made of the Indians, nor did they prove to be of the same party who had attacked the Slate Creek station. The last inroad made by the Indians into Ken- tucky took place in the course of the summer of this year. The spies, who had been ranging the Ohio below Limestone, discovered where a party of twenty Indians had crossed the river, and sunk their canoes in the mouth of Holt's Creek. The LAST INDIAN INROAD. 175 Sinking of their canoes and concealing them was evidence of the intention of the Indians to re- cross the Ohio at the same phice. When Kenton received this intelligence, he despatched a messenger to Bourhon county, to ap- prize them that the Indians had crossed the river and had taken that direction. He immediately proceeded to collect a number of choice spirits, whom he could depend upon in a case of emer- gency. Among the latter was Cornelius TVashburn, a man both daring and sagacious. With this party Kenton crossed the Ohio at Limestone, and pro- ceeded down to opposite the mouth of Holt's Creek, where the Indian canoes lay concealed. Here his party lay ambushed for four days before they saw or heard any thing of the Indians. On the fourth day of their ambuscade, they observed three Indians come down the bank, and drive six horses into the river. The horses swam over. The Indians then raised one of the canoes they had sunk, and crossed the Ohio. When the enemy came near the shore, Kenton discovered that of the three men in the canoe, one was a white man. As he thought the latter was probably a prisoner, he ordered his men to fire at the Indians only ; they did so, and the two Indians fell. The headway which the canoe had, ran it upon the shore ; the white man in the canoe picked up his gun, and as Kenton ran 176 HISTORY OF KENTUCKIL down to the water's edge to receive him, he snapped his gun at the whites. Kenton then ordered his men to kill him, and he was imme- diately shot. About three or four hours afterward two more Indians and another white man came to the river and drove in five horses. The horses swam over, and the Indians, raising another of their canoes, followed across. As soon as the canoe touched the shore, Kenton's party fired upon the Indians and killed them all. The white man who was with them had his ears cut, his nose bored, and all the marks which distinguished the Indians. Kenton and his men still kept up their ambus- cade, knowing there were more Indians and one canoe behind. Some time during the night the main body of Indians came to the place where their canoes were sunk, and hooted like owls ; but not receiving any answer, they began to think all was not right. The two parties who had been killed, the main body expected to find en- camped on the other side of the Ohio, but as no answer was given to their hooting?, one of the Indians must have swum the Ohio and discovered the ambuscade. Standing on a high hill or knoll in the rear of Kenton, the savage gave three long and loud yells ; after which he shouted to his friends on the opposite shore to make their escape. Not many minutes after he had given them this warning, the Bourbon militia came up. It ADVENTURE. 177 being dark, the Indians broke and run, leaving about thirty horses which they had stolen from the latter neighbourhood. The next morning some attempt was made to pursue the savages ; but they had scattered and straggled off in such small parties that the pursuit was soon abandoned. CHAPTER XIII. Genet supersedes Ternant as ambassador to the United States — Perplexing position of the government — Washington calls a cabinet council — Proclamation of neutrality resolved upon — High-handed conduct of Genet — His reception by the people — Projects an expedition against the Spanish settle- ments — Despatches agents to Kentucky to raise volunteers — George Rogers Clark commissioned a major-general in the French service — Letter to Governor Shelby from the Secre- retary of State — His reply — Democratic societies formed — Second letter to Shelby — His sympathy with the movement — Shelby's letter to the Secretary of State — Reply of Ed- mund Randolph — Washington issues a proclamation to the people of Kentucky — The recall of Genet solicited — Activity of the democratic associations — Meeting at Lexington — Re- call of Genet — The expedition abandoned — Genet marries and settles in New York. In the year 1793, the new republic of France being threatened with a sanguinary struggle against the combined monarchical powers of Europe, despatched Citizen Genet to supersede Ternant as ambassador to the United States. News of the French declaration of war against 178 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. England reached New York five days before Genet arrived at Charleston, bringing the same tidings. While this threatening state of affairs was creating the greatest commotion abroad, the situation of the government of the United States was singularly perplexing. The policy of the government and the interests of the country de- manded the exercise of the strictest neutrality ; but by the treaty of commerce between France and America, French privateers and prizes were entitled to shelter in the American ports — a shel- ter not to be extended to the enemies of France. By the treaty of alliance, also, the United States were bound, in express terms, to guaranty the French possessions in America. The arrival of Genet, especially as he appeared to be armed with unusual powers, was regarded by the government with great anxiety. Nor did the conduct of the new French ambassador at all tend to decrease the feeling. To counteract the first impulse of the American people, who, retain- ing a grateful remembrance of the assistance which France rendered them in their struggle for liberty, were disposed to espouse the quarrel of their for- mer generous ally. President Washington met the members of his cabinet at Philadelphia, by whom, after an elaborate discussion of the articles of the treaty, it was unanimously agreed, that while a proclamation of neutrality should issue, Genet, as genet's exteaordinary conduct. 179 minister of the new French republic, should be re- ceived and recognised. In the mean while, Genet — who had been welcomed with the greatest enthu- siasm bj the governor and citizens of South Caro- lina — commenced fitting out privateers from the port of Charleston. Two vessels, manned mostly with Americans, put to sea under the French flag, and soon made numerous captures of home- ward-bound British vessels. Washington and his cabinet, denounced the privateering commissions issued by Genet, as irregular and void ; and de- clared the condemnation of prizes by the French consuls unauthorized by treaty. The French minister, inflated by the popular acclamations with which he had been received, treated the proclamation of neutrality with contempt, and proceeded to organize various military expe- ditions within the United States, as if the lat- ter was already engaged in war as an ally of France, The journey of Genet from Charleston to Phila- delphia was like a triumphal procession. He was escorted into the latter city by an enthusiastic crowd, feasted the succeeding day by a large body of citizens, and by his own speeches, and the inflammatory harangues of his adherents, sought to involve the United States in the war which the government so strenuously desired to avoid. Having an eye to the seizure of the Spa- nish possessions in Florida, Genet despatched 180 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. emissaries to the south and west, to enlist volun- teers in the service of France. Taking advantage of the feeling in Kentucky in relation to a free navigation of the Missis- sippi River, four agents were sent into the latter state, furnished with commissions, and corre- sponding powers, to raise an army of two thousand men and appoint a generalissimo. The project was, to descend the Ohio and Mississippi in boats, attack the Spanish settlements at the mouth of the Mississippi, and bring the whole of that country under the dominion of the French re- public. George Rogers Clark, whose distinguished ser- vices in the Illinois country have already been recorded, accepted a commission from Genet, as <' Major-general in the armies of France, and commander-in-chief of the French Revolutionary legions on the Mississippi." Much of the old renown of Clark as a compe- tent military leader had been lost by his dissi- pated habits of life ; but so great was the enthu- siasm of the people, and so strong the temptations offered by Genet, that he found no difficulty in obtaining any number of volunteers. According to the proclamation issued by Clark, " all persons serving for the expedition were to be entitled to one thousand acres of land ; those that engaged for one year were to be entitled to two thousand acres of land ; and if they enlisted Washington's interference. 181 to serve during the continuance of the war, they were to have three thousand acres of any unap- propriated land that might be conquered. The officers were to receive a like bounty in land in proportion to their rank, while the pay of both officers and privates was to be the same as that of other French troops." As soon as President Washington heard of the proposed expedition, he caused Governor Shelby to be informed of it, accompanied by the request that the latter would warn the citizens of Ken- tucky against the consequences ; and particularly to assure them that all acts of hostility committed by them against a nation at peace with the United States were forbidden by the laws, and would expose them to punishment. The governor in his reply, expressed his dis- belief in the existence of any such project, and added, " that the citizens of Kentucky were pos- sessed of too just a sense of the obligations they owed to the general government to embark in any enterprise that would be so injurious to the United States." With this answer the president remained for a time satisfied. In the mean time, democratic societies, somewhat similar to the Jacobin clubs of France, were established in the East, and extended themselves to Kentucky. Two clubs of this character were formed at George- town and Paris, in the latter state. Another at an earlier date was established at Lexington. 16 182 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The members of these associations, proclaiming themselves the friends of the people, offered to become the guardians of their rights and liber- ties, against what they were pleased to call the mal-administration of the general government. They openly and bitterly condemned the presi- dent's proclamation of neutrality, abused his de- cisions in relation to Genet, and declared their abhorrence of every thing whatever which bore the name of federal. On the 6th of November, another letter from the secretary of state, on the part of the general government, notified the Governor of Kentucky, that Lachaise, Depeau, Mathurin, and Gregnon had left Philadelphia on the 2d of the month, empowered by the French minister to raise volun- teers and fill blank commissions at discretion. The governor was again requested not to permit them to foment within that state any hostilities against the territories of Spain. The secretary of war also wrote a letter to the governor, bear- ing the same date, authorizing Shelby to put down, by means of a military force, if necessary, the expedition projected by Genet ; giving him the assurance that the United States would hold itself responsible for all lawful expenses incurred. But so much did Governor Shelby sympathize with the French movement, that, when the legis- lature of the state assembled in November, he neither alluded in his message to the enterprise. Shelby's connivance. 183 then well known to be on foot, nor did he issue any proclamation admonishing the people from joining it. This inclination of Shelby to promote the French cause, by refraining from taking any ac- tive measures in opposition to it, did not escape the penetration of the French agents. Depeau had the audacity to write to him, avowing himself authorized by Genet to procure provisions for the expedition, and asking him whether it was his intention to arrest such as joined in it. In reply to Depeau, and with a view of cau- tioning the French emissaries not to violate the laws too openly, Shelby enclosed a copy of the instructions sent him by the secretary of state, and ended his letter by a half-regretful avowal that his situation compelled him to pay attention to it. On the 6th of January, General Wayne, find- ing that the Governor of Kentucky had taken no steps to prevent volunteers from enlisting in the service of France, addressed him a letter, ad- vising him that the cavalry stationed between Georgetown and Lexington had been directed to act in obedience to his orders, in the event of his having any occasion for their services ; and if that force should be found insufficient, a larger one would not be withheld. What reply Shelby made is not knovm; but on the 13th of the same montli, he wrote to the 184 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. secretary of state, acknowledging his having re- ceived information that Clark had accepted a commission to raise a body of men, but that he had not, so far as he was aware, taken any steps to do so. A little further on, the governor adds : «I have great doubts, even if Clark and the French agents attempt to carry this plan into execution — provided they manage the business with prudence — whether there is any legal au- thority to restrain or to punish them ; at least, before they have actually accomplished it. For if it is lawful for any one citizen of this state to leave it, it is equally so for any number of them. It is also lawful for them to carry with them any quantity of provisions, arms, and ammunition. And if the act is lawful in itself, there is nothing but the particular intention with which it is done that can possibly make it unlawful. " I know of no law which inflicts a punishment on intention only, or any criterion by which to decide what would be sufficient evidence of that intention : even if it was a proper subject of legal censure. " I shall, upon all occasions, be averse to the exercise of any power which I do not consider myself clearly and explicitly invested with ; much less would I assume power to exercise it against men whom I consider friends and brethren, in favour of a man whom I view as an enemy and a tyrant. GOVEKNMENT MEASURES. 185 " I shall also feel but little inclination to take an active part in punishing or restraining my fellow-citizens for a supposed intention only — to gratify, or remove the fears of the minister of a prince who openly withholds from us an invalua- ble right ; and who secretly instigates against us a most savage and cruel enemy." After this letter, there could be no possibility of mistaking the position of Governor Shelby. It was very evident that the movement met with his hearty concurrence, and it is not at all im- probable, that if the old veteran had been free of his official station, he would have joined the ex- pedition in person. Shelby was a man who entertained strong pre- judices. He was attached to the French people for the efficient aid they had rendered the coun- try during the Revolutionary struggle. He hated the British and the Spaniards ; and he desired, beyond all other things, a free navigation of the Mississippi. The letter of Shelby was no sooner received by the general government, than Edmund Ran- dolph, then secretary of state, replied to it, point- ing out the errors into which the governor had fallen, and explaining the duties he seemed so well disposed to neglect ; while Washington or- dered General Wayne to occupy Fort Massac with artillery, and to take such other steps as might be necessary to arrest the expedition. 16* 186 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Genet still persevered in his schemes ; placed himself in direct opposition to the government of the United States, and, supported by the nume- rous democratic societies which had spread by this time over all parts of the Union, became both popular and insolent. Unable any longer to endure the repeated attacks by which the administration was assailed, a cabinet council was held at Philadelphia, to consider what should be done. After reading over Genet's correspondence, it was unanimously agreed to send a copy of the whole, with a full statement of Genet's conduct, to Gouverneur Morris, to be laid before the exe- cutive council of France, with a letter request- ing the recall of the obnoxious ambassador. Washington, who had hitherto refrained through motives of delicacy from interfering in the affairs of Kentucky, otherwise than through the executive of the state, now determined to appeal to the good sense and patriotism of the great body of the people. By a proclamation dated the 24th of March, 1794, he informed them of the illegality of the project set on foot by French agents, and warned them of the danger of embarking in it. The proclamation effected a considerable change in the sentiments of many who had previously been led to suppose that the enterprise was un- dertaken with the consent and by the connivance GENET EECALLED. 187 of the President of the United States. Several influential persons immediately threw up their commissions ; while those w^ho still desperately adhered to the cause felt themselves placed in a position of considerable embarrassment. The activity of the democratic societies within the state still continued without abatement. Every means was resorted to for the purpose of inflaming the popular mind, the favorite topic being the navigation of the Mississippi, which they alleged was withheld from Kentucky because of the jealousy of the eastern states. In the spring of 1794, a general meeting of the people was held in Lexington, and resolutions adopted, inviting the citizens of the different counties to elect delegates to a convention whose object was not strictly defined, but which looked in the old direction of separation. Just at this time, however, the intelligence came that Genet had been recalled ; that his acts were disavowed by the French government, and all his proceedings disapproved. The French agents, Lachaise and Depeau, immediately lost caste in the estimation of their former friends. Clark, stripped of his magnifi- cent title, retired to private life, and the project, which had caused so much alarm to the general government, fell through, never to be revived again. Citizen Genet, learning that the government 188 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. of the French Republic had been wrested from the hands of those from whom he had received his appointment, did not venture to return to his own country, but consoled himself for the change by marrying an American lady, and settling in New York. CHAPTER Xiy. Commissioners sent to the Indians to treat for peace — Refusal of the savages to treat — The army under Wayne' — Fort Greenville built — St. Clair's battle-ground reoccupied — Fort Recovery built — •Wayne joined by the Kentucky volunteers — Commences his march — Indian villages abandoned — Builds Forts Adams and Defiance — Intelligence of the Indians — A flag sent to them — ^Their answer — Fort Deposit built — The enemy discovered — Battle of Fallen Timbers — Defeat of the Indians — Wayne encamps near the British fort — Altercation with Major Campbell — Conduct of the Kentuckians — Fort Wayne built — Treaty with the Indians — Feeling in Ken- tucky — Marshall elected to the Senate of the United States — Attonpt to remove Judges Muter and Sebastian — Courts of quarter sessions and oyer and terminer abolished — Other laws. In the mean time, in order to bring the Indians to terms, without the effusion of blood, Washing- ton had despatched commissioners to them em- powered to frame a treaty of peace. Elated by their previous successes over the several armies which had been sent against them, the savages not only refused all pacific overtures, but pre- pared to meet a renewal of hostilities with the utmost confidence. WAYNE IN COMMAND. 189 While this negotiation was pending, the troops under Wayne remained at Fort Washington, where they suffered greatly from an epidemic influenza. When it was known that the com- missioners had failed in effecting a treaty, Wayne marched with his army, and leaving garrisons behind him at the intermediate posts, established himself with twenty-six hundred regulars, in a fortified camp at Greenville, six miles in advance of Fort Jefferson. Wayne had previously made a requisition upon the state of Kentucky for mounted volunteers. The great reluctance of the militia to serve with regulars was soon ob- served by the commander-in-chief, from the tardi- ness with which they responded to his call. On the 20th of September, 1793, Wayne earnestly urged General Charles Scott, commandant of the militia at Georgetown, to advance by the 1st of October with all the force he could collect in the mean time. On the 28th of September, Governor Shelby ordered a draft from the militia to supply the deficiency of volunteers ; and on the 24th of the following month, Scott, with a force of one thou- sand mounted men, was encamped on a prairie, nearly midway between Fort Jefferson and the head-quarters of General Wayne. The season being too far advanced to render military opera- tions effective, Wayne dismissed the volunteers until the opening of spring, and, building Fort 190 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Greenville, went into winter-quarters with his regulars. It was during this enforced suspension of hos- tilities, that Wayne ordered a part of the legion- ary cavalry remaining in Kentucky to obey any call made upon them by Shelby for the suppres- sion of the French expedition against Louisiana. The passive encouragement given to the agents of Genet, by the Governor of Kentucky, prevented the latter from making use of the power thus placed in his hands, bijt the offer was not the less honourable to the vigilance of Wayne. The necessity of transporting provisions on pack-horses, through seventy miles of wilderness, rendered the support of the troops at Fort Green- ville very expensive to the general government. It, however, afforded occupation to the army in guarding the supplies by the way, and in keeping open the communication between the various posts which had been established along the line of route. During the winter several Indian chiefs visited the fort. The first impression created by their appearance was, that the savages were at length disposed to sue for peace ; but those pleasing an- ticipations were soon dissipated. After satisfying their curiosity, and holding with Wayne and his officers several idle talks, they departed as sud- denly as they had come, and without making any proposals. WAYNE ADVANCES. 191 As the winter advanced, AYajne pushed for- ward a strong detachment to build and occupy Fort Kecoverj, on the site of the battle-field where St. Clair had met with so disastrous a defeat. In May, 1794, intelligence being received that the British and Indians were posted on the Miami, near the villages at the Rapids, Wayne determined to commence operations as early as possible, and renewed his requisition upon the Governor of Kentucky for additional troops. The action of Shelby was, in this instance, prompt and efiicient ; by the middle of July, General Scott had assembled sixteen hundred vo- lunteers. With this force he immediately marched from the rendezvous at Georgetown, for head- quarters. On the 26th of the month, the first division joined the regular army at Fort Greenville, and without waiting till the remainder of the volun- teers came up, Wayne commenced his march for Fort Recovery. The Indians had already opened the campaign by a vigorous assault upon Fort Recovery during the latter part of June. After two days' hard fighting, they suffered a repulse ; but were not altogether unsuccessful. They captured three hundred pack-mules, and inflicted a loss of fifty men, upon an escort of one hundred and fifty, which had just guarded a provision train, and lay encamped outside the fort. 192 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. After leaving Fort Recovery, Wayne advanced to St. Mary's, by an unfrequented route, with the view of taking the Indians by surprise ; but on his arrival at the villages he found them abandoned. This was the more mortifying to the general, since, in order to divert the attention of the In- dians from the route he intended to pursue, he had caused two roads to be opened from Green- ville in the direction of St. Mary's ; while he marched by the obscure way already mentioned. The treacherous conduct of a volunteer, who, while the army was secretly approaching the In- dian settlement, escaped to the enemy and warned them of their peril, rendered a stratagem en- tirely useless, which, at the outset, offered the most favourable prospects of success. At this place Wayne built Fort Adams, and at the confluence of the Au-Glaize and the Miami, he erected a strong stockade, which he named Fort Defiance. On the 12th of August, he learned from several prisoners who had been taken, that the main body of the Indians had retired down the Miami about thirty miles, where they occupied a camp at the foot of the Rapids, and in the vicinity of a new fort recently built by the British. Having in his camp a man by the name of Miller, who had been a prisoner among the In- dians and understood their language, Wayne determined to send him to them once more with WAYNE SENDS AN ENVOY. 193 pacific overtures. Miller was at first averse to undertaking so dangerous a mission, it being his opinion, from what he had observed, that the Indians were unalterably determined on war, and that they would not only pay no respect to a flag, but would most probably murder the bearer. Still anxious to make the experiment, Wayne assured Miller that he would hold the prisoners then in his custody as pledges for his safety, and that he might select from among them any num- ber he desired to accompany him. Thus en- couraged. Miller consented to deliver the mes- sage, and took with him one of the men and a squaw. With these attendants he left the camp on the afternoon of the 13th, and at daybreak the next morning reached the tents of the hostile chiefs, without being previously discovered. He immediately displayed his flag, and proclaimed himself a messenger. Instantly, he was assailed on all sides with hideous yells, and the cries, " Kill the runaway !" «' Kill the spy !" Elevating his voice, and speaking to the in- furiated savages in their own tongue, Miller ex- plained to them the purport of his mission. This partially calmed them. He was taken into cus- tody, and permitted to read to them the letter of Wayne. Miller took particular care to lay great stress upon a passage in the letter, which stated that if the Indians did not send the bearer back ir 194 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. to him by tlie 16th of the month, he would at sunset of that day cause every prisoner in his camp to be put to death. On the 15th Miller was liberated hj the In- dians, who replied to the message of Wayne, that if he waited where he was for ten days, they would come and treat with him ; but that if he advanced, they would give him battle. Before the return of his messenger, Wayne had commenced his march. On the 16th Miller met the general-in-chief, and, after delivering the answer which the Indians had sent, expressed his belief, from the constant arrival of small parties, and the manner in which they were painted, that they had already determined on war, and only desired the delay in order to gain time for their reinforcements to join them. Wayne advanced at once. On the 18th, when within about seven miles of the British garrison, he halted the army and threw up hastily a fort, which he called Fort De- posit. On the morning of the 20th, his spies, who had been sent out the day before, returned and re- ported the enemy encamped in a bushy wood, their left flank being protected by the rocky bank of the river. The advance was immediately resumed in the same order as before ; the right flank composed of the regulars under Wayne, leaning on the Mi- ami ; one brigade of the Kentucky troops, com- BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 195 manded by General Todd, occupied the left; while the other, commanded by General Barbee, was placed in the rear as a reserve. A strong de- tachment under Major Price was thrown in ad- vance, to give notice when the enemy were found. As soon as the Indian fire was heard, the legion was formed in two lines in the midst of a thick wood, the ground being covered with old fallen timber prostrated in some tornado, a posi- tion very favourable to the Indians, since the mounted volunteers could hardly act. The In- dians were in three lines, extending from the river at right angles, and within supporting dis- tance of each other. As the weight of their fire indicated a disposi- tion to turn the left flank of the legion, Wayne ordered the second line into position on the left of the first. He also directed the mounted volunteers to attempt to gain the enemy's rear by a circuit- ous route, while Captain Campbell, commanding the cavalry, was instructed to move along the bank of the river, until he had penetrated and passed the Indian left. The front line of the legion, a short distance in advance, was now ordered forward with arms trailed, to rouse the savages from their coverts, with the bayonet, before firing a shot. When they had succeeded in doing so, they were to de- liver the whole of their fire, and then charge again with the bayonet, without giving the enemy 196 HISTOKY OF KENTUCKY. time to reload their pieces. These orders were obeyed with such alacrity, that before the other troops could get into position, the Indians were completely routed. In less than an hour the enemy passed the British fort in full flight, and Wayne halted in full sight of it. The loss of the legion was one hundred and seven men in killed and wounded. Among the former, were Captain Campbell and Lieutenant Towlis. The loss of the Indians was not ascertained, but it was believed not to have exceeded that number. The corn-fields were ravaged close up to the British fort, and the establishment of McKee, the British Indian agent, was burned with the rest. General Wayne encamped near the fort for three days. While he continued there, a sharp and angry correspondence took place between himself and Major Campbell, the commander of the British garrison. Campbell inquired by what authority the American general approached so near the British cannon, and insulted his com- mand? Wayne retorted, by commenting upon the protection tacitly afforded by Campbell to the fugitive Indians, who had taken refuge be- hind his fortifications, and asked, in return, by what authority he had posted a garrison under a foreign flag within the territory of the United States ? Campbell responded by declining to discuss the question of right. He asserted that he held pos- WAYNE AND CAMPBELL. 197 session of the post by the authority of his Bri- tannic majesty, and expressed his determination to maintain it until ordered to withdraw by his superiors. The Kentuckians, already exasperated against the British, on acccount of the protection which the latter had for so many years extended to the Indians, sought to increase the difficulty between the two commanders by firing ofi" their rifles within range of the fort-guns, and by offering various other insults to the garrison. The re- spect which both Wayne and Campbell felt for their respective governments — who were at this time endeavouring to adjust by an amicable treaty all matters in controversy — induced both com- manders to stop short of a sanguinary issue to their quarrel. Wayne fell back to Fort Deposit, which hav- ing improved and strengthened he now named, in scornful contempt of the assumed jurisdiction of Campbell, Fort Defiance. From this place he marched to the main forks of the river, where he built Fort Wayne. In the mean time, he had sent another flag to the Indians, ofi'ering them peace, and inviting them to a friendly council. The chiefs agreed to meet him at Greenville. Leaving garrisons in Fort Defiance and Fort Recovery, Wayne re- turned, and occupied his old winter-quarters. During this brief campaign of ninety days, h» 17* 198 HlriTORY OF KENTUCKY. had marched three hundred miles, opening a road as he went along ; had gained a victory ; driven the Indians from their principal settlement, and destroyed the provisions upon which the savages had relied for their subsistence during the winter. The Kentucky volunteers, having suiFered con- siderably from sickness, were discharged about the middle of October, and returned to their homes, well pleased with their commander, and better disposed to do justice to the intrepidity of the regulars than they had ever been before. The success of Wayne went far to obliterate the stigma under which the general government had laboured in consequence of the previous de- feats. The regular troops also gained at length that honourable recognition for courage and in- trepidity w^hich had hitherto been denied them. Upon the Indians, the effect of their sudden and most unexpected defeat at the Rapids was both deep and lasting. Those tribes of the east and south, who had previously been strongly disposed to form an alliance with their northwestern breth- ren, now desired nothing more than to maintain the most pacific relations with the whites. With the hostile Indians a treaty was soon afterward made, which was respected for nearly eighteen years. In Kentucky, the odium with which the gene- ral government had been so long regarded now yielded to better and more friendly feelings. LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 199 The federalists, who, being placed under the ban of the democratic associations, had until now been scarcely able to obtain even a decent show of respect, with the decline of French and Spa- nish intrigues, grew gradually into favour ; so much so indeed, that during the following winter, Humphrey Marshall, one of the leaders of that party, was elected to the senate of the United States, over his talented republican competitor, John Breckenridge. At the meeting of the legislature, an attempt was made to remove two of the judges of the Su- preme Court, for having given an illegal decision in an important law-suit, which, if the judgment had not been speedily reversed and reprobated, would have seriously affected the tenure of lands in the state. The resolution being with difficulty carried at all, and the constitution requiring con- curring majorities of two-thirds in each house to sustain an address, the effort to remove Judges Muter and Sebastian failed. At the next spring term, however. Muter joined the dissentient judge, Wallace ; the former decree was set aside, and the decision reversed. By an act of this legislature, the courts of quarter sessions and the court of oyer and ter. miner were abolished, and the district courts established in their places. Original jurisdiction in land cases was also taken away from the Supreme Court, and conferred upon the district courts. 200 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Another singular act was also passed at this ses- sion, which made it obligatory upon every white male over sixteen years of age to kill a certain number of squirrels and crows annually. CHAPTER XV. Retrospective — Joe Logston — His character — Leaves the fort in search of cattle — Is fired on by two Indians — His horse killed under him— Wounds one Indian severely — Is attacked by the other — Both combatants disarmed — A fearful trial of strength and activity^ — Kills his antagonist — Returns to the fort — Is disbelieved — A search instituted — The story con- firmed — An example of savage heroism — The Nickajack ex- pedition — The people of Tennessee call upon Kentucky for assistance — Colonel Whitley marches with one hundred men — Forms a junction with Colonel Orr — Is appointed to com- mand the troopS' — Surprise of the Nickajack towns — A second expedition organized — The result — Anecdote of Whitley — Proceeds to the southern towns to recover some negroes — • Conduct of a half-breed — Friendship of Otter Lifter — His character — Biography of Whitley — 'His death. Before taking leave of the eventful year 1794, it may perhaps be as well to take up the minor incidents connected with it, and which, although presenting themselves in the form of episodes to the general narrative, exhibit the hardy character of the Kentucky borderers, and the energy and resolution by which they were distinguished. 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- BIG JOE LOGSTON. 201 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 202 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 9f 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 DESPERATE STRUGGLE. 203 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 204 HISTOEY 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 SAVAGE HEROISM. 205 from head to foot, and as his companions, seeing the wretched plight in which he was, refused to credit his storj, 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. 18 206 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Earlj 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 Whitley's expedition. 207 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, fied. 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 208 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, a,nd 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- RECLAMATION OF NEGROES. 209 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, 18* 210 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 sui*- render the negroes to Whitley, without troubling him to prove his property by the rifle. Otter Lifter, on whose w^ord Whitley had re- posed with so much confidence, was a remarkable man. He had raised himself to renown as a war- rior witnout 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. WILLIAM WHITLEY. 211 The veteran pioneer, "William Whitley, of whom the previous incidents have been recorded, was horn 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, w^hile 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. 212 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 SPANISH INTRIGUES. 213 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 214 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 WILKINSON A SPANISH PENSIONER. 215 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 216 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Spanish intrigues in the West, did not bj 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 TRAITORS ENCOURAGED BY SPAIN. 217 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. 19 218 HISTOKY OF KENTUCKY. The boundary lines "^hich 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 SPANISH INTRIGUES. 219 declaredj that tliey 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. Power, in the mean time, visited Wilkinson, who, holding a command in the regular army, was then at Detroit. His ostensible object was to deliver Wilkinson a letter of remonstrance from Governor Carondelet, against the United States taking immediate possession of the posts on the Mississippi. The real purpose of his journey was to sound him upon the Spanish pro- position. Wilkinson having gone to Michilimackinac, Power waited at Detroit until his return. An interview then took place, of which Power subse- quently gave to Governor Carondelet the follow- ing account : — <« General Wilkinson received me very coolly. During the first conference I had with him, he exclaimed very bitterly, ' We are both lost, with- out being able to derive any benefit from your journey.' " He said the governor had orders from the president to arrest me, and send me to Philadel- phia ; and added, ' that there was no way for me 220 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. to escape, but by permitting myself to be con- ducted immediately under a guard to the Fort Massac, and from thence to New Madrid. Hav- ing informed him of the proposals of which I was the bearer, he proceeded to tell me that it was a chimerical project ; that the inhabitants of the western states, having obtained by treaty all they wanted, would not wish to form any other politi- cal or commercial alliances ; and that they had no motive for separating themselves from the other states of the Union, even if France and Spain should make them the most advantageous offers ; that the fermentation which existed four years back was now appeased." Wilkinson told him further, that Spain had no course to pursue under present circumstances but to comply fully with the treaty ; which had over- turned all his plans and rendered the labours of ten years useless : that he had destroyed his ciphers, and that his honour did not permit him to hold correspondence with the Spanish govern- ment. He complained of his secret having been divulged, that he had known from the preceding September that Spain did not intend giving up the posts on the Mississippi, but she would be compelled. He added, that when the posts were surrendered, it was probable that he would be made governor of Natchez, and he should then, perhaps, have it in his power to realize his politi- cal projects. SPANISH INTRiaUES. 221 <:'Mr. Sebastian," continues Power, ^'held a dif- ferent opinion. He said, if there is a war with Spain, she will have nothing to fear from Ken- tucky, and insinuated that it would be the readiest way for Spain to accomplish a union with the West ; inasmuch as it would coerce Kentucky into taking an open part against the Atlantic states." Power's own opinion was that only three mo- tives would be able to impel Kentucky to break the confederation of the states. A war with the Erench republic ; a prohibition to navigate the Mississippi; and an incapacity on the part of the state to pay its share of the common duties. The intention of Power had been to return from Detroit by way of Louisville, but Wilkinson induced him to take a route through the unset- tled country of the Miami of the lake, and thence by way of Fort Massac to New Madrid. Wil- kinson, intimating that Power was a messenger charged with an answer to despatches received by himself as commander of the American army, placed the agent under care of Captain Shaum- bergh, and an escort of United States troops, "who had orders to proceed to Fort Massac by the nearest and shortest route. When he arrived at the latter post. Power re- ceived from Sebastian the letter of Innis and Nicholas, and then sailed down the Mississippi to report to Carondelet the ill success of his mission. 19* 222 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The particulars of this transaction remained unknown till 1806, when thej were divulged, and the public then learned for the first time that Sebastian had been receiving an annual pension of two thousand dollars from the year 1795 up to the period his treasonable conduct was ex- posed. On the 4th of March, 1797, Mr. Adams had succeeded General Washington as President of the United States ; but with the people of Ken- tucky he was even less a favourite than his illus- trious predecessor. The administration of Wash- ington had always been unpopular in the border state, but that of Adams was denounced with a fierceness and virulence which can only be pal- liated by referring it to the exasperated state of party feeling, as it existed at that time. During the session of the legislature, the pro- priety of calling a convention to revise the old constitution was debated with great animation. The object of the proposed revision was to bring the election of the governor and senate more under the control of the popular vote, and to change the law regulating the election of sheriffs.' As it was necessary to consult the wishes of the people in regard to the proposed change, a poll was opened in May, 1797, when it was found that out of nine thousand eight hundred and fourteen votes, regularly returned, five thousand four hundred and forty-six were in favour of a CONVENTION CALLED. 223 convention ; but as five counties did not return the whole number of their votes, the result was considered doubtful. Another election was, there- fore, ordered, which took place in May, 1T98, when out of eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty-three votes returned, nearly nine thou- sand called for a convention. Even at this election, the actual indifference of the people to any agitation of the subject may be in- ferred from the fact that ten counties failed to return the whole number of their votes, and eight counties declined voting at all. The con- vention, however, was called by the succeeding legislature, under the impression that such was the true desire of their constituents. 224 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER XVII. Garrard elected Governor of Kentucky — Denounces the alien and sedition laws — Nullification resolutions written by Jeffer- son — Endorsed by Kentucky — Denounced by other states — Creation of new counties in Kentucky — Education promoted — Various academies established' — Appropriations of land for their support — Meeting of convention — 'New constitution adopted — Garrard re-elected governor — 'An attempt made to encourage manufactures — Election of Jefferson — Navigation of the Mississippi interrupted — Louisiana ceded to France — Excitement in Kentucky — Letter of Jefferson to Livingston • — Monroe sent to Paris — Purchase of Louisiana — Claiborne takes possession of New Orleans — Greenup elected Gover- nor of Kentucky — Re-election of Jefierson — Kentucky militia discharged. In his address to the legislature, which met in November, 1T98, Governor Garrard, the suc- cessor of Shelby, denounced as unconstitutional and dangerous to public liberty the acts recently passed by Congress, and commonly known as the alien and sedition laws. Under the influence of the fierce party spirit then unhappily prevalent, a great deal of cen- sure had been cast on these acts, the first of which gave the President of the United States control over suspected aliens, while the object of the other was to suppress libels against the government, the president, or either branch of the legislature, and to put down combinations of seditious persons. NULLIFICATION RESOLUTIONS. 225 To these acts, as the leader of the ultra Demo- cratic party, Mr. Jefferson was bitterly opposed. He therefore drew up a series of resolutions, which were presented to the house by John Breckenridge, the representative from Fayette, and almost unanimously adopted. The object being to define the powers of the general government, and the rights and privi- leges of the states, the first resolution declared — " That the several states composing the United States of America are not united on the princi- ple of unlimited submission to the general go- vernment ; but, that by compact under the style and title of a constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes, dele- gated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each state to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government ; and, that whensoever the general government assumes un- delegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force ; that to this compact each state acceded, as a state, and is an integral party; its co-states forming as to itself the other party : that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the ex- tent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the con- stitution, the measure of its powers ; but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties hav- 226 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ing no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress." Enough is shown in the above resolution to prove that the doctrine of nullification is not of recent origin ; and that South Carolina, who has subsequently most sturdily supported the princi- ples enunciated above, can point to Thomas Jef- ferson and Kentucky as the first to distinctly avow them. Subsequent reflection and a cooler and more impartial condition of the public mind has caused, not only Kentucky, but most of the other states of the Union, to reject a doctrine, which, if carried practically into operation, would not only clog the machinery of the general go- vernment, but break up the confederation into petty state sovereignties. A copy of the resolutions adopted by the legis- lature of Kentucky was ordered to be sent to each state in the Union ; but Virginia was the only one that assented to them. Some of the other states censured the Kentucky doctrine with great severity ; even Kentucky herself, at a later day, repudiated it quite as unanimously as she had once, in the heat of party spirit, con- sented to let it go forth to the world under the sanction of her name. The rapidity with which the population of the state increased may be inferred from the fact, that although, during the year 1796, six new EDUCATION ENCOURAGED. 227 counties had been erected, under the respective names of Bullitt, Logan, Montgomery, Bracken, Warren, and Garrard, it was found necessary in 1798 to augment the number by an addition of eleven others, v^hich were called Pulaski, Pendle- ton, Livingston, Henry, Cumberland, Gallatin, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Jessamine, Barron, and Hen- derson. The greater number of these latter were in that section of the state known as the Green River country, the settlers of which had taken up claims south of Green River, under the head- right laws. Nor were the means of education at this period altogether neglected. The Winchester Academy was established at this session ; and in compli- ance with the joint request of the trustees of the Transylvania Seminary and of the Kentucky Academy, the two institutions were united upon terms previously agreed to by the parties. Twenty trustees were named, and the esta- blishment was henceforth to take the name of the Transylvania University. The seat of the seminary was fixed at Lexington, but could be removed by the board of trustees, two-thirds of whom were required to concur in the measure. The trustees were incorporated. They were to exercise a control over the receipts and dis- bursements, and possessed the right, by the con- currence of a majority of their number, to re- ceive poor boys, or youths of promising genius, 228 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. into the institution, whose education was to be provided for by public donations, or from the common fund. The former laws of the two institutions, with certain modifications, were to be the laws of the university, until altered by the legislature. The Bourbon Academy was also established by an act of this session. By another act more than twenty similar seats of learning were likewise established, with corpo- rate powers vested in trustees, a faculty of su- perintendence, and all the necessary provisions for efficient action. This act, like one passed the preceding ses- sion, granted six thousand acres of land to each academy established by it. The location to be fixed under the direction of trustees. A like quantity of six thousand acres was also granted for an academy in each county of the state, where none had been established. The location of the latter being given to the several county courts. The convention which had been called by a majority of both houses in the legislature met at Frankfort, on the 22d of July, 1799, chose Alexander Bulllit for president, Thomas Todd for clerk, and adopted rules for its government. By the 17th of August, the convention had suc- ceeded in making a new constitution, which went into operation on the 1st day of June, 1800. James Garrard was re-elected governor, and LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 229 Alexander Bullitt, lieutenant-governor. The brief period in which the new constitution was framed, and the unanimity with which it was adopted, are remarkable when contrasted with the protracted sessions which have since been held in other states, for the purpose of remodelling simi- lar instruments. At the session of 1799, the new counties of Breckenridge, Floyd, Knox, and Nicholas, were created. Eighty-eight acts were passed, and the receipts for the year in the public treasury shown to be eleven thousand two hundred and thirty-four pounds; which, with the balance of the last year, made fifteen thousand three hun- dred and sixty-four pounds. The expenditures within the same period were about fourteen thou- sand and seven hundred pounds. By one of the acts of this session, an attempt was made to encourage manufactures within the state, by an appropriation of six thousand acres of vacant land, south of Green River, for the use and emolument of manufacturers of wool, cotton, brass, or iron, who should settle on it, at the rate of five families for each thousand acres, be- fore the 1st of January, 1803, carry on their trade in good faith, and pay forty dollars the hundred acres in four equal annual instalments. The act, however, was badly digested, and its provisions being found impracticable, it expired under its own limitations. 20 230 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. In the winter session of 1801, the act esta- blishing district courts was repealed by the legis- lature of Kentucky, and the present circuit courts erected in their stead. At the same session, an in- surance company was chartered in Lexington. By a clause which was not thoroughly understood by the members who voted for it, or it would never have been admitted, banking powers were granted to this company, who thus obtained the first bank charter ever granted in Kentucky. In relation to national affairs, — in which the people of Kentucky, from their devotion to the democratic candidate for president, took an inte- rest far beyond that which they felt in their own state appointments, — the news of the election of Mr. Jefi*erson over Mr. Adams was received with the most unbounded expressions of satisfaction. In the course of the year 1802, the interrup- tion of the navigation of the Mississippi produced great excitement in Kentucky. This interrup- tion was effected by suspending the American right of deposit at New Orleans, which under the Spanish treaty had been granted for three years, with a proviso that, if the privilege should be withheld at the expiration of that time, some other place of deposit near the mouth of the river was to be granted. The latter provision not being complied with, the treaty was undoubt- edly violated, and western commerce most se- riously crippled. So excited were the people of PURCHASE or LOUISIANA. 231 Kentucky upon the subject, that when it became known that Spain had ceded the territory of Louisiana to France, it would have required a very little additional misunderstanding to have produced a state of war. Jefferson immediately wrote to Livingston, at that time American minister at Paris, directing him to obtain, if possible, the immediate transfer of Louisiana, or at least of the island of Orleans, to the United States. In this letter he stated em- phatically, that if the possession of Louisiana was retained by France, it would completely reverse all the political relations of the United States, and form an epoch in their political course. <' There is one spot on the globe," continued Jefferson, '« the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. That spot is New Orleans." This strong protest had its effect ; perhaps also the motion which was made in the Senate of the United States, to authorize the president to seize New Orleans by force of arms, may have had a tendency to accelerate the action of the French government. The motion w^as not car- ried, but Mr. Monroe was despatched to Paris to arrange the difficulty with the first consul. Livingston had opened a negotiation for the purchase of New Orleans, and the adjacent tracts on the Mississippi, before Monroe arrived. His prospects of success were at first unpromising enough; but the approach of a new European 232 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. war so impressed Napoleon with the necessity of selling a territory which he could not by any pos- sibility defend while the fleets of Great Britain controlled the seas, that just before Monroe reached Paris, Talleyrand had requested Living- ston to make an oiFer for the whole of Louisiana. After a few conferences, Bonaparte agreed to sell to the United States the entire territory of Louisiana for the sum of fifteen millions of dol- lars, and no time was lost in making the purchase. On the 20th of December, 1803, William C. Claiborne, governor of the Mississippi Territory, descended to New Orleans and took formal pos- session of the newly acquired territory in the name of the United States. In 1804, Christopher Greenup was elected Governor of Kentucky. Mr. Jefferson was the same year re-elected President of the United States. On the 4th of March, the governor of the commonwealth formally, by proclamation, dis- charged the militia, who, in expectation of making a military descent upon New Orleans, had volun- teered upon the service, with an alacrity which showed how strongly the people of Kentucky were moved upon a subject so vital to their com- merce. AARON BURR. 233 CHAPTER XYIII. Aaron Burr — Elected Vice President of the United States — Loses the confidence of his party — Is nominated for Gover- nor of New York — Defeated through the influence of Hamil- ton — Kills Hamilton in a duel — Flees to South Carolina — • Returns to Washington — Sets out for the West — His nomi- nal projects — His association with W^ilkinson — Becomes ac- quainted with Blennerhasset — Actual project of Burr — Reaches New Orleans — Returns overland to Kentucky- • Spends the spring and summer in Philadelphia and Wash- ington — Attempts to win over Eaton, Truxton, and Decatur ■ — His second journey to the West — Builds boats on the Mus- kingum — Contracts for supplies and enlists volunteers — W^ilkinson at Natchitoches — Receives despatches from Burr — Sends a messenger to the president — Orders New Orleans to be strengthened — Proceeds to Natchez — Despatches a second messenger to Washington — Writes to Claiborne and the C4overnor of the Mississippi Territory — Reaches New Or- leans — His measures at that place. In the year 1801, Aaron Burr, a native of New Jersey, a graduate of Princeton, a colonel in the war of independence, and subsequently a senator of the United States, was elected Vice President of the Union. He was a man of the most extraordinary talents, plausible, intriguing, daringly ambitious, singularly polished in his address, but of the lowest moral character. Before the expiration of his term of office, he had lost the confidence of his party, and while Jefferson was unanimously nominated as a can- didate for re-election to the presidency ; in the 20* 234 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. selection of a candidate for vice president, Burr was set aside, and George Clinton nominated in his stead. Possessing yet some little political power in New York, he was enabled to have himself brought forward by his friends as an independ- ent candidate for governor of that state, in op- position to Chief Justice Lewis, the nominee of the administration party. Owing to the high character of Alexander Hamilton, and the influence of his opinions upon the active politicians of the state, Burr was de- feated, and charging his discomfiture to the in- strumentality of Hamilton, only waited a favour- able opportunity for accomplishing a signal re- venge. Hamilton at this time was at the head of the federal party, which, though shorn of its former power, was yet large enough to offer formidable opposition to any candidate whose fitness they doubted, or whose opinions were at variance with their own. Sinking rapidly in the scale of political repu- tation, and deeply involved in pecuniary liabili- ties. Burr brooded over the failure of his latest hope with a malignity, which, gathering strength by nursing, at length impelled him to force his antagonist into a duel. The result was such as might have been expected. Hamilton was shot down at the first fire, and to escape the indignant burr's schemes. 235 outburst of public opinion, Burr fled to South Carolina, and took refuge with his accomplished and unfortunate daughter, -who had married a wealthy planter of that region. The seat of government having been removed to the District of Columbia, Burr returned to Washington and presided over the senate until the expiration of his term of office ; and then being unable to return to New York in conse- quence of the officers of that state holding a war- rant against him for the killing of Hamilton, he turned his attention to a wider field of opera- tions, and to bolder schemes of ambition. At the close of the session of Congress in the spring of 1805, Burr set out for the West. The nominal objects for which this journey was prose- cuted w^ere variously stated. One was a specula- tion for a canal around the falls of the Ohio, which he had projected with Senator Dayton of New Jersey, whose extensive purchase of mili- tary land warrants had given him a large inte- rest in the military bounty lands in that vicinity. Burr had oflfered a share in this speculation to General Wilkinson, w^ho, besides being commander- in-chief of the army in that quarter, had lately been appointed governor of the new territory of Louisiana. Burr and Wilkinson had long been known to each other, and the former seems to have reckoned confidently upon securing the co- operation of his old military associate, with whom 236 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. he had carried on, at various times, a correspond- ence in cipher, and whose civil and military posi- tion promised to make him a very efficient agent in the scheme to which all other projects were intended finally to succumb. Wilkinson, who about this time was getting ready to embark at Pittsburgh to take possession of his government in Louisiana, invited Burr to descend the river in his company ; but as Burr's own boat — the common ark or flat-boat of those days — was already prepared to start, he pro- ceeded on his voyage alone. When nearly opposite Marietta, he stopped at Blennerhasset's Island, and there, for the first time, made the acquaintance of its enthusiastic but visionary owner. This was Herman Blen- nerhasset, an Irish gentleman, who, becoming disgusted with the political condition of his own country, had settled on an island in the Ohio, and being possessed of a considerable fortune, gratified his refined taste by erecting an elegant mansion in the wilderness, and surrounding it with all those luxurious accessories which had hitherto been un- known beyond the mountains. The beautiful and accomplished wife of Blen- nerhasset was no less an enthusiast than himself; and Burr, a master of all those arts which are best calculated to elicit the admiration of women, soon succeeded in attaching warmly to his cause BLENNERHASSET. 237 two persons wliose ambition had previously been bounded by the limits of their own domain. Working upon the ardent imagination of Blen- nerhasset, Burr moulded him as easily to his pur- poses as the potter the clay beneath his hands. Both Blennerhasset and his wife devoted them- selves, and all they possessed of wealth, to the fortunes of the crafty and unscrupulous adventu- rer, with an enthusiasm heated almost to fanati- cism by the glowing prospects held out to them in the future. The project which Burr actually entertained was one well adapted to enlist in his cause all those who were dissatisfied with their present condition of life, and such turbulent and restless spirits as were ready for any enterprise which promised to gratify their ambition, even though it should be at the expense of common justice and morality. Well knowing how odious the Spanish name had become to a great portion of the people of the West and South, from the difficulties which had for so many years attended the navigation of the Mississippi on the one hand, and from the long existing territorial disputes on the other, the scheme which Burr desired to perfect was to organize a military force upon the western waters, descend the Mississippi, and wrest from Spain a portion of her territory bounding on the Gulf of Mexico. As the consummation of this act would 238 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. necessarily implicate the soutliAAXstern portion of the United States, it was proposed to make New Orleans the capital of the new empire, of which Burr was to become the chief, but whether dic- tator or president was left for the future to de- cide. When he quitted the hospitable mansion of Blennerhasset, Burr resumed his voyage in his own boat, and met "Wilkinson at Fort Massac, by whom he was provided with a barge, belong- ing to one of the officers, and manned by a crew of soldiers. Furnished with sufficient provision for the voyage, and bearing letters of introduc- tion from Wilkinson to gentlemen of New Or- leans, he sailed for that city, which he reached somewhere about the 25th of June, 1805. The unpopularity of Governor Claiborne, and the bitter feuds by which parties were divided in that city, offered great encouragement to his pro- jects. After a short stay in New Orleans, Burr reascended the river to Natchez, travelled by land to Nashville, where he was entertained for a week by General Andrew Jackson, and after being complimented with a public dinner, proceeded on horseback to Kentucky. He spent a few weeks in the latter state, and then set out by land for St. Louis, v^'here he took up his residence with a relation of his, who, at his special request, had been appointed secretary to the new territory of Louisiana. Wilkinson's conduct. 239 It was not until he met him in St. Louis, that Wilkinson, according to his own account, began to entertain a suspicion of Burr's designs. The manner of the subtle intriguer is represented as having become altered and mysterious. He threw out hints of a splendid enterprise, and spoke of it cautiously, as favoured by the govern- ment, but at the same time charged the govern- ment itself with being imbecile, and insinuated that the people of the West were ready for a re- volt. Wilkinson asserts that his own impressions of danger to the confederation were such, that he immediately wrote to his friend, the secretary of the navy, advising him that some great move- ment was contemplated by Burr, and cautioning him to keep a strict watch. The aid-de-camp of Wilkinson testified to having copied, and, as he believed, transmitted such a letter through the post to the secretary ; but as the latter could not recollect having received any such docu- ment, the important nature of which ought cer- tainly to have impressed itself upon his mind, it is a question of doubt whether the letter was ever sent at all. Passing through the Indiana territory, Burr next made the acquaintance of Governor Harri- son. Continuing his route eastward, he stopped at Cincinnati, Chillicothe, and Marietta, returned to Philadelphia toward the close of the year, and 240 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. spent the following spring and summer partly in the latter city and partly in Washington. During this period his movements were en- veloped in a cloak of mystery. He resided in an obscure street and received many visiters, all of whom came to him on pretence of business, but no two of whom were admitted into his presence together. While he remained in Washington he had fre- quent interviews with Major Eaton, then recently returned from his well-known adventures in Tri- poli, to whom, warmed by the apparent willingness which Eaton exhibited to enter into his views, he divulged the whole extent of his projects. Eaton, notwithstanding his relations with the government were at that time of a delicate cha- racter, waited on the president, and suggested the appointment of Burr to a foreign mission, intimating, at the same time, his belief that it would be the means of preventing an insurrec- tion or a revolution in the western country, which would otherwise take place within eighteen months. The president, in reply, expressed his confi- dence in the attachment of the western people to the Union, and as no further questions were asked, Eaton did not feel himself authorized to say any more upon the subject. Having remarked in his conversation with Eaton, that if he could secure the marine corps burr's machinations. 241 — the only soldiers stationed at Washington — and gain over the naval commanders, Truxton, Preble, Decatur, and others, he would overturn the Congress, make away with the president, and declare himself the protector of an energetic go- vernment. Burr, in pursuance of this idea, next sounded Commodore Truxton; but the latter, although dissatisfied with the treatment he had received, declined having any thing to do with the conspiracy. Decatur and others also re- fused to co-operate, and finding his prospects un- favourable in the Middle States, Burr set off toward the close of the summer on a second western journey. As a cover to his designs, one of the first things he did on reaching Kentucky was to pur- chase of a Mr. Lynch, for a nominal considera- tion of forty thousand dollars, of which a few thousand were paid, an interest in a claim to a large tract of land on the Washita Eiver, under a Spanish grant to the Baron de Bastrop. The claims held by Edward Livingston of New Or- leans to a portion of the above grant, had been previously purchased by Burr. In connection with Blennerhasset, Burr enter- ed into a contract for building fifteen boats on the Muskingum. He also made application to John Smith, one of the senators from Ohio, for the purchase of two gunboats, then building for the government ; authority was given to a house 21 242 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. at Marietta for tlie purchase of provisions, a kiln erected for drying corn on Blennerhasset's Island, and a considerable number of young men enlisted for an enterprise down the Missis- sippi, the true nature of which was only myste- riously hinted. By this time "Wilkinson was at Natchitoches, in command of the troops collected there to op- pose the Spanish invasion. While at this post he received various letters from Burr, to which he sent replies ; but how far he committed him- self to the conspiracy, has never been ascertained. That he was tampered with to a considerable extent, and that his replies were at least evasive, does not admit of a doubt. A letter in cipher from Senator Dayton, assuring Wilkinson that he would certainly be deprived of his command at the next session of Congress, determined the course of the latter. He communicated the next morning to Colonel Cushing, his second in com- mand, the substance of Burr's letter, and express- ed his determination to hasten to New Orleans and defend that city against Burr, if he should ven- ture to attack it. After extracting from young Swartwout, the bearer of despatches from Burr, all the information necessary to guide his future proceedings, Wilkinson sent an express in hot haste to the President of the United States, stating the general outline of the scheme commu- nicated to him by Swartwout, and then, having MEASURES OF WILKINSON. 243 been joined by a body of militia from Mississippi, advanced toward the Sabine. Simultaneously with his letter to the president, Wilkinson sent directions to the commanding officer at New Orleans to put the place in the best state of defence, and to attempt to get possession of the park of artillery left by the French government, lest it should fall into other hands. As there were difficulties at this time between the United States and the Spanish government on the subject of their respective boundary lines, and as the troops of the two nations had been called out to watch the motions of each other, Wilkinson entered into a temporary arrangement with the Spanish commander, making the Sa- bine, for the time being, the line of demarcation between the territories of the disputants. His activity at this period was only equalled by his alarm, as despatch after despatch was received indicating the progressive steps of the revolu- tionists. Ho wrote to Gushing to hasten the march of the troops, he pressed the officer at New Orleans to push forward his defences, and sent him a reinforcement of men and artificers to assist in the work. He proceeded to Natchez, and despatched a second special messenger to the president, declaring that the existence of the conspiracy had been placed beyond all doubt, and expressing the necessity of putting New 244 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Orleans under martial law, a step in which he trusted to be sustained by the president. Not content with taking these precautions, Wilkinson warned Claiborne, the governor of the Louisiana Territory, that his government was menaced by a secret plot, and entreated him to co-operate with the military commander in measures of defence. At the same time he made a requisition upon the acting governor of the Mississippi Territory for a reinforce- ment of five hundred militia to proceed to New Orleans. In all these measures the activity and energy of Wilkinson were undoubted ; but it still remains a problem whether he intended to remain faith- ful to the United States, or to throw himself into the arms of Burr. When he wrote to the officer at New Orleans, he neither expressed any anxiety in relation to the safety of the place, nor gave any reasons for his desire to have it immediately strengthened. In his letter to Claiborne he ex- pressly enjoined secrecy till he himself arrived ; and when he made his demand upon the gover- nor of the Mississippi Territory, as he declined to specify the service in which the troops were to be engaged, the governor refused to send them at all. His proceedings on reaching New Orleans are less open to doubt. On the 9th of December, 1806, a meeting of the merchants was called, Wilkinson's activity. 245 before whom Wilkinson and Claiborne made an exposition of Burr's projects. The militia and a squadron of gunboats and ketches upon the river were placed at Wilkinson's disposal, Swartwout and several others were arrested, and one of them, having obtained his release by a writ of habeas corpus, was re-arrested by order of Wilkinson, and with Swartwout sent a prisoner bj sea to Washington. CHAPTER XTX. Conflicting reports concerning the intentions of Buit — Ex- posures made at Frankfort — Energetic conduct of Daviess — ■ His affidavit against Burr — An examination ordered — Burr attends the court — The case postponed — A new grand jury summoned — Second appearance of Burr — Absence of Gene- ral Adair, the principal witness for the prosecution — The ex- amination pressed — Acquittal of Burr — His false declaration to Henry Clay — Action of the general government — Jeffer- son sends an agent to Ohio — Disclosures by Blennerhasset — Seizure of ten boats on the Muskingum — Tyler's flotilla — Burr proceeds to Nashville — Meets the volunteers at the mouth of the Cumberland River — Descends the Mississippi to New Madrid — Gains a knowledge of Wilkinson's revelations — Encamps above Natchez — The militia called out by the Governor of Mississippi Territory — Burr surrenders himself to the civil authorities — His boats searched — Charges against Sebastian and Innis. While these mysterious and alarming rumours were agitating the people of the lower Mississippi, Burr and his confederates in the western states were actively engaged in perfecting their prepara- 21* 246 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. tions for the attainment of the object thej had in view. So various, however, and conflicting were the reports concerning the intentions of the conspira- tors, and so carefully had Burr shrouded the whole scheme in mystery, that the developments which were made in the newspapers of the day tended more to confuse the public mind than to enlighten it. Almost simultaneously with Burr's second ap- pearance in the western country, a series of articles appeared in the Ohio Gazette, strongly advocating the separation of the western states from the Union. Of these articles Blennerhasset was the nominal author, but the main arguments were believed to have been furnished by Burr. Articles of a similar, though less decided ten- dency, appeared also in the Commonwealth, a democratic paper published at Pittsburgh. A short time previous to this, a newspaper called the Western World, which had been started at Frankfort, Kentucky, published a series of articles blending the present project of Burr with the old intrigues of the Spanish party in that state. \0 Sebastian, then a judge of the Supreme Court, was boldly denounced as a pensioner of Spain, and charges of a similar, though less sweeping character, were also made against Senator Brown, Judge Innis, and General Wilkinson. 247 But although in these papers, which were written by Colonel Humphrey Marshall, Burr was proclaimed a traitor to his country, and his whole scheme laid open, it was a long time be- fore the leading politicians of Kentucky could be brought to believe in his criminal designs. One gentleman, however, rising above the in- credulity of his party, kept a watchful eye on Burr, and wrote several letters to the president on the subject, but without receiving any specific authority to act in the matter. This was Colonel Joseph H. Daviess, the attorney for the United States. On the 5th of November, 1806, Daviess ap- peared in open court before Judge Innis, and made affidavit to the effect, that he believed Burr to be engaged in organizing a military ex- pedition within the district, for the purpose of descending the Mississippi and making war on the provinces of Mexico. He concluded by ,moving that process might issue to compel the attendance of Burr before the court to answer the charge. After taking two days for reflection, Judge Innis refused to issue process, but directed a grand jury to be impanelled to inquire into the accusation, and witnesses to be summoned. At the time Daviess made application in the federal district court at Frankfort for the arrest of Burr, the latter was in Lexington. In less than four hours after the motion was made, he 248 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ■was in receipt of the tidings. He immediately wrote to Innis that he would be in court in a day or two, and confront his accuser. When he reached Frankfort in company with his counsel, Henry Clay and Colonel Allen, find- ing the motion already overruled, he addressed the judge, and demanded an immediate investi- gation. Daviess replied, by declaring his readiness to proceed as soon as he could procure the attend- ance of his witnesses, and with the consent of Burr, the ensuing Wednesday was fixed upon by the court for the investigation. The immense sensation created by the affidavit of Daviess caused the court-room to be filled on the day of trial with a large number of per- sons; but it was soon discovered that David Floyd, one of the principal witnesses relied upon by the district attorney, and undoubtedly a parti- san of Burr, had failed to make his appearance, and Daviess was reluctantly compelled to ask a postponement of the case. Belying, upon the next occasion, less upon Floyd as his principal witness than upon General Adair, Daviess made application on the 25th of November for a new grand jury, which was ac- cordingly summoned to attend on the 2d of De- cember following. Shortly after Burr entered the court-room, attended by his former counsel, the district at- PROCEEDINGS AGAINST BURR. 249 tornoy rose, and with evident mortification, ex- pressed himself unable to proceed, in consequence of the absence of General Adair, whose testimony was of the first importance to the prosecution. He therefore asked a postponement for a few days, and that the grand jury should be kept together until he could compel the attendance of General Adair by attachment. The counsel of Burr immediately objected to the delay, and demanded that the business should proceed at once. After a sharp and animated debate, the court decided that the case must be proceeded with, or the grand jury discharged. In order to obtain the time he required for the production of his witnesses, Daviess prepared an indictment against General Adair, which was re- turned by the jury, endorsed, ^«Not a true bill." lie then moved for an attachment against the general, but the motion was refused by the court. At the suggestion of Daviess, the court then ad- journed until the following day. Finding himself thus far bafl[led at every step in his attempt to fasten the charge of criminality upon Burr, the prosecuting attorney sought and obtained a private interview with Judge Innis, who, in answer to a question from Daviess, as to whether he would have a right, as prosecutor, to attend the grand jury in their room, examine the witnesses, and give such explanations as might be found necessary to connect and apply 250 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. their testimony, gave an opinion in the affirm- ative. Fully believing that Innis would sustain in court the opinion which he had given unofficially, Daviess determined to proceed with the examina- tion with such witnesses as were present. Accordingly, the next morning, as soon as the judge had resumed his seat, the prosecuting at- torney asked permission to attend the grand jury in their room. This request was immediately opposed by the counsel of Burr, who denied the right of Daviess to examine the witnesses in the manner proposed. After some argument, Judge Innis remarked, that when he himself was at- torney-general for the commonwealth, he had never claimed or exercised any such privilege. " Sir !" said Daviess, " you admitted I had the right to do what I now propose." "Yes," replied the judge quickly, "but that was out of court." "True, sir," responded Daviess, "but this is the first of my knowing you had two opinions upon the subject, the one private and confidential, the other public and official." The only reply of Innis was to refuse the re- quest, and the prosecuting attorney saw at once that his cause was lost. It was worse than lost, for as the witnesses in the grand jury room tes- tified reluctantly, the little that could be gleaned from them threw no light upon the design charged ACQUITTAL OF BURR. 251 in the indictment, and on the 5th of the month the grand jury came into court and ignored the bill. But this was not all : they presented at the same time a written declaration, signed by the whole of them, in which it was stated that there had been nothing in the testimony received by them which in the slightest degree criminated the conduct of either Burr or Adair ; nor could they, after all their inquiries and investigations of the subject, find any thing improper or inju- rious to the government of the United States de- signed or contemplated by either of them. This triumphant acquittal of Burr strength- ened his cause wonderfully in Kentucky. It was celebrated by a ball at Frankfort, which was rendered the more imposing by the attendance of many prominent men. The friends of Daviess, though fewer in number, did not fail to sympathize with him in his defeat, and as an evidence of their belief in the truth of the charges he had preferred, got up a similar entertainment in his honour. At one of these assemblies the editor of the Western World was attacked by some of the friends of Judge Innis, with the view of expelling him from the room, but he resisted until he was rescued by others. In justice to Mr, Clay, it must be stated, that before he agreed to act as the counsel of Burr, he demanded of him an explicit avowal, upon his 252 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. honour, that he was not engaged in any de- sign contrary to the laws and peace of the country. Burr gave the required pledge in the most emphatic manner. He said, " He had no design to intermeddle with or disturb the tranquillity of the United States, nor its territories, nor any part of them. He had neither issued, nor signed, nor promised a commission to any person, for any purpose. He did not OAvn a single musket, nor ba^^onet, nor any single article of military stores, nor did any other person for him, by his authority or knowledge." He further added that his views were well understood and approved by the government, and were such as every man of honour and every good citizen must commend. The reckless disregard of all moral principle evinced by Burr in this avowal, which he well knew to be utterly false, is only paralleled by the daring with which he confronted the exposure of his schemes. At this very time, all his long and laboriously digested plans were in the act of being scattered to the winds. The communications of Wilkinson, the statements of Eaton, and the letters of Da- viess, had, as early as October, stimulated Jef- ferson to commission Graham, the secretary of the Orleans Territory, then about to leave Wash- ington, to investigate, on his way South, the charges against Burr, and if they appeared well burr's designs defeated. 253 founded, to apply to the governors of the west- ern states to take steps to cut short his career. On the 27th of November, two days after he had received Wilkinson's despatches from Nat- chitoches, the president issued a proclamation de- nouncing the project of Burr, warning all good citizens against it, and calling upon those in au- thority to exert themselves in suppressing the enterprise and arresting all concerned in it. Previous to this, Graham had met with Blen- nerhasset at Marietta, and obtained from him such intelligence concerning the enterprise as warranted an immediate application to the Gover- nor of Ohio for authority to seize the boats on the Muskingum, then nearly completed. The legislature of Ohio, which was then in session, after debating the question with closed doors, promptly authorized the seizure to be made. During the same week that Burr was feasted and caressed at Frankfort, as an innocent and much-injured man, ten of his boats, laden with provisions and warlike stores, were captured on the Muskingum. Five other boats, filled with volunteers from the neighbourhood of Beaver, reached Blenner- hasset's Island about the 10th of December. This flotilla was commanded by Colonel Tyler, who took possession of the island and posted sentinels to prevent any communication with the river banks. He had scarcely done so, before 22 254 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Blennerhasset. received information of tlie seizure of his boats on the Muskingum, and the approach of the militia ordered out bj the Governor of Ohio. Hastily abandoning the place, he embarked in the boats of Tyler, and with a few of his fol- lowers descended the river, passed the falls of the Ohio about the 20th of the month, and reach- ed the point of rendezvous, the mouth of the Cumberland River, two days afterward. Leaving Frankfort on the 7th of December, Burr hastened to Nashville. From the latter place he descended the Cumberland with two boats, and on an island at its mouth was intro- duced to such of his adherents as yet clung to his desperate fortunes. Desertion had already thinned their ranks to less than two hundred men. Breaking up his encampment at this place, Burr proceeded to New Madrid, gathering slen- der reinforcements as he went along. Bitterly disappointed at finding his schemes thus suddenly baffled at the very moment of fruition, the last hope of Burr rested upon the city of New Or- leans and the surrounding territory. Bayou Peirre was named as a point of reunion ; and the party dispersed. When he reached the first settlement on the left bank of the Mississippi, Burr became ac- quainted with the revelations made by Wilkinson, and foreseeing at once the danger of an arrest, he ordered his boats to withdraw from the juris- SURRENDER OE BURR. 255 diction of the Mississippi Territory. An en- campment was accordingly formed some thirty miles above Natchez, and a piece of ground clear- ed on which to exercise the men. Even here, he soon found himself equally in- secure. The president's proclamation having already reached the Mississippi Territory, the acting governor at once raised a body of four hundred militia for the purpose of arresting Burr. While those troops were collecting on the op- posite side of the river, several militia officers were sent to Burr to induce him to submit. After some little delay, a written agreement was entered into, which resulted in an unconditional surrender to the civil authorities. Previous to this, however, the chests of arms on board the boats were thrown secretly into the creek, so that when a search took place none were found in sufficient quantities to justify their detention. The subsequent history of Burr, his arrest and acquittal, his wandering life, the extraordinary sensation created throughout the country by his trial at Richmond, his wanderings in Europe, and his death in extreme old age at New York, belong rather to the history of the United States, than to any single member of the confederation. The authentication of Burr's conspiracy by the government agent, Graham, created an im- mediate and violent reaction in the minds of the 256 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. people of Kentucky. The legislature, then in session, immediately passed an act similar to that of Ohio, and under it some seizures were made. An examination of the charges preferred against Judge Sebastian was ordered and pres- sed with so .much determination that, notwith- standing the opposition of many whose interest it was that the affair should remain concealed, the whole of his mysterious intrigues with Spain were exposed, and conclusive evidence brought forward to prove his receipt of an annual pension of two thousand dollars from the court of Madrid up to the period of his trial. Sebastian, finding all other efforts vain, attempted to stifle the in- quiry by resigning his seat upon the bench, but the legislature persevered until a thorough in- vestigation had taken place. Judge Innis, the principal witness against Sebastian, was also be- lieved to be deeply implicated, and as he held oflSce under the general government, a resolution was passed at the succeeding session requesting Con- gress to order an inquiry into his conduct. It was accordingly instituted soon after and resulted in his acquittal. WAR IN EUROPE. 257 CHAPTER XX. Critical foreign relations with the United States — Berlin decrees — Restraint upon commercial enterprise — Attack upon the Chesapeake — Great excitement throughout the Union — Embargo — One hundred thousand militia called for — Reso- lutions passed in Kentucky — Declaration of war — Indian difficulties — Tecumseh — His attempts to form a confedera- tion of the tribes — Assembling of warriors at Tippecanoe — March of Harrison — Battle of Tippecanoe — Death of Joseph H. Daviess — Return of Tecumseh — His interview with Har- rison — Hull appointed to command the northwestern army — Invades Canada — Returns — General Brock summons De- troit — Surrender of Hull — Indignation of the states — Volun- teers from Kentucky — Hopkins marches against the Illinois Indians — Is deserted by his men — A second northwestern army organized — Harrison commissioned a brigadier-general — Appointed commander-in-chief. The war which had been so long raging on the continent of Europe, was now to have its effect upon the foreign relations of the United States. In order to counteract the naval su- premacy of Great Britain, Bonaparte, after hum- bling the power of Austria, dissolving the German empire, and overturning by a single blow the kingdom of Prussia, issued from the battle-field of Jena, on the 21st of November, 1806, his fa- mous Berlin decree. By this decree all the British islands were de- clared in a state of blockade, and all trade in English merchandize was forbidden. The neu- trality of a nation was not respected, and Ameri- 22* 258 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. can vessels bearing Britlsli merchandize, were held as much liable to seizure as the ships of Erenchrnen or belligerents, engaged in the same trade. The effect upon the United States was to raise the rate of marine insurance to such a ruinous height as to put a stop almost entirely to com- mercial enterprises. Something, however, was hoped from a remonstrance made by the Ameri- can ambassador at Paris to the French minister of marine, but the reply of the latter was found to be by no means satisfactory. One indication of a favourable change in the aspect of affairs yet remained. In his message to Congress, the president communicated the in- formation that Monroe and Pinkney, had agreed upon the terms of a treaty with Great Britain, by which the disputed points of neutral rights would in all probability be adjusted. Difficulties arising soon after, in relation to the right of im- pressment, prevented the negotiation from ending so happily as it had begun, and, in all probability, increased the series of annoyances which at length resulted in a declaration of war. The attack upon the Chesapeake, off the capes of Virginia, by the English frigate Leopard, by which several lives were lost and a number of seamen wounded, created the greatest excitement throughout the Union. On the 2d of July, 1807, an embargo was do- LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 259 clared, closing the ports of the United States against British vessels. One hundred thousand militia were ordered to hold themselves in readi- ness for service, but -without pay ; and volunteers were invited to enroll themselves. The great distress experienced bj the com- mercial states in consequence of the embargo, led to its suspension at the ensuing session of Con- gress, until July, 1808, when it again went into operation. In March, 1809, a different mode of defence was resorted to. An act prohibiting all intercourse with Great Britain, France, and their dependencies, was passed by Congress. In re- taliation, Bonaparte issued another decree, by which a vast amount of property belonging to the citizens of the United States was seized in the ports of Spain, Naples, and Holland, and confiscated to the use of the French treasury. In 1808, Madison succeeded Jefferson as Presi- dent of the United States, and during the same year Charles Scott was chosen Governor of Ken- tucky. At the previous session of the legislature, a charter had been granted to the bank of Ken- tucky, with a capital of one million of dollars. One of the first acts of the session of 1808 was to pass, almost unanimously, a series of resolu- tions offered by Henry Clay, which strongly in- dicate the warlike feeling pervading the state at that time. 260 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. In these resolutions it was declared, <'that the embargo was a measure highly judicious, and the only honourable expedient to avoid war : that the general assembly of Kentucky w^ould view with the utmost horror a proposition in any shape to submit to the tributary exactions of Great Britain, as attempted to be enforced by her orders in council, or to acquiesce in the viola- tion of neutral rights as menaced by the French decrees ; and they pledge themselves to the gene- ral government, to spend, if necessary, the last shilling, and to exhaust the last drop of blood, in resisting these aggressions." The voice of the people promptly responded to the sentiments expressed by their representatives. Great numbers of volunteers immediately enrolled themselves ; articles of foreign fabrication, espe- cially in respect to wearing apparel, were dis- carded, and substituted pvlmost universally by clothing of domestic manufacture. The breach between the government of the United States and that of Great Britain daily became wider ; the people grew clamorous for an immediate resort to arms ; and at length, not- withstanding the strenuous opposition of the east- ern states. Congress, on the 18th of June, 1812, issued a formal declaration of war. The augmenting prospect of a war between Eng- land and the United States had long been viewed •with satisfaction by many of the Indian tribes. TECUMSEH. 261 Receding, year by year, before the advancing footsteps of the whites, the necessity of self-pre- servation gradually forced upon their minds the project of a fixed boundary line, within which limit they might enjoy the freedom of their own hunting-grounds. Notwithstanding the treaty of Greenville, and the extension of white settlements far beyond the Ohio, the idea of limiting the Anglo-Saxon popu- lation to the banks of the latter river was still entertained by a large proportion of the Indians. Among those chiefs who exerted their influence in support of this favourite but visionary project, none rose to such renown as the celebrated Te- cumseh. The born foe of the whites, he declared « he could not look upon one of them without feeling the flesh crawl upon his bones." Ardent, energetic, and resolute, he devoted his whole life to the service of his people. From his boyhood up he took part in every battle in which it was possible to be present, and when he found, from the continually increasing numbers of his foes, that nothing was to be gained by desultory war- fare, he undertook the herculean task of uniting all the tribes, hitherto at variance with each other, into one friendly league of brotherhood in arms against the common enemy. Calling to his aid the mysterious powers with which the Indians supposed his brother the Prophet to be invested, he visited the various tribes from Michigan to 262 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. rioricla, making prophets in all the chief towns, and gaining numerous proselytes to his cause. Upon such as declined to embrace his projects, he hurled the most withering denunciations ; while, to his adherents, he promised exemption from wounds in battle, and a certain success to their efforts. On several occasions previous to his last and most important journey to the South, Tecumseh visited General Harrison, then Indian agent and governor of Indiana, and claimed the lands which had been ceded by the treaty of Green- ville, on the plea that " they belonged to all the tribes, and could not be parted with but by the consent of all." During the month of July, 1811, he again made his appearance at Yincennes, accompanied by about four hundred warriors. He apologized for several murders that had been committed by the Indians, and informed General Harrison that he had succeeded in inducing all the western tribes to place themselves under his direction, and that as soon as he had established a complete con- federacy, it was his intention to visit the presi- dent and settle all difficulties. It was shortly after this, that, taking with him a few followers only, he proceeded on his south- ern mission. While he was absent, the Prophet's town at Tippecanoe became the scene of the wildest excesses. Warriors flocked in from all Harrison's movements. 263 parts of the country, until they increased in numbers to a thousand men. Horrible incanta- tions were frequently practised, warlike ha- rangues roused the faint-hearted and inspired the strong. Lawless and bold, they broke out into excesses which the Prophet was unable to control, and at length precipitated the war before Te- cumseh returned, and while his vast and compre- hensive plan of general hostilities was as yet imperfectly organized. After receiving numerous reports of outrages committed by these reckless savages. Governor Harrison moved toward the Prophet's town, and on the 5th of November encamped on a small creek, about eleven miles from the point of his destination. His whole effective force, which numbered somewhere near nine hundred men, was composed of two hundred and fifty regulars, a large body of militia, and one hundred and thirty volunteers, many of whom were from Ken- tucky, and among them, acting as major of dra- goons, the former district attorney, the brave and chivalrous Joseph H. Daviess. During the march, which was resumed the following morning, parties of Indians were con- stantly seen hovering at a distance, but all at- tempts to open communication with them proved ineffectual. About a mile and half from the town, Harrison determined to encamp, and to endeavour once 264 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. more to obtain a conference with the Prophet. The hostile manifestations in front, joined to the advice of his officers, induced him to continue his march. After advancing a short distance, he was met by a deputation of three Indians, with whom a suspension of hostilities was agreed upon until the next day. The army then moved to a dry piece of oak- land, about three-quarters of a mile from the Prophet's town, and there encamped for the night. The order of encampment was the order of battle, and each man slept immediately opposite his post in the line. On the morning of the 7th, a little after four o'clock, and within two minutes of the usual signal being given for the troops to turn out, a sudden attack was commenced by the Indians upon the left flank of the camp. They had crept up so near the sentinels as to hear them challenge when relieved, and had intended to rush in upon them and kill them before they had time to fire. One of them, however, dis- covered an Indian creeping toward him in the grass, and fired. It was followed by an Indian war-whoop and a desperate charge. The whole army was instantly on its feet. The camp-fires were extinguished. The general mounted his horse and proceeded to the point attacked. Some of the companies took their places in the line in forty seconds after the report of the first gun ; BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 265 and all tlie troops were prepared for action in less than two minutes. The battle immediately became general, and was maintained on both sides with desperate valour. Observing that the left of the front line was sustaining a severe fire from a large body of Indians posted behind trees, Major Daviess was ordered to charge at the head of his dragoons, and dislodge them. Dashing for- ward at once with a mere handful of his men, Daviess was met by a fierce attack on both of his flanks, by which the major himself received a mortal wound, and his party were driven back. The Indians, however, were immediately after- ward dislodged by Captain Snelling at the point of the bayonet. Notwithstanding this repulse, the conflict was continued in front and on both flanks with un- abated fury until near daylight, when the Indians were routed by the infantry at the point of the bayonet, and being closely followed by the dra- goons were driven into a marsh and entirely dis- persed. The destruction of the Prophet's town, and the corn in its vicinity, took place the day after the battle. On the 9th, the victorious army com- menced its march to Vincennes. A few days after this disastrous battle, Tecum- seh returned from the South, and hurled the bit- terest denunciations upon the head of his brother for the rashness by which he had annihilated, in 266 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. a few hours, plans which had been laboriously maturing for years. To Governor Harrison, Tecumseh sent word he had returned from the South, and was ready to visit Washington. The reply of Harrison being unsatisfactory to the haughty chieftain, the jour- ney was not undertaken. It was not until the month of June, 1812, that he sought a personal interview with the governor. At this, his last conference, he reproached Har- rison with having made war upon his people dur- ing his absence, and after scarcely deigning to listen to the reply, he left Fort Wayne and has- tened to Maiden, in Upper Canada, where he he joined the British standard. For some time after the declaration of war be- tween the United States and Great Britain, the Americans sustained only a succession of defeats. General Hull, who had been appointed by Madi- son to the command of the northwestern army, crossed the river from Detroit and invaded Up- per Canada. After marching a few miles down the river and threatening Fort Maiden, he be- came disheartened at a trifling resistance offered by a British outpost, and fell back to Sandwich, where he remained, comparatively inactive, until the 8th of August, when he evacuated Canada, and again occupied Detroit. On the 15th of August, General Brock, com- mander of the British forces in Upper Canada, hull's surrender. 267 after capturing a small American garrison at Mackinaw, reached Sand^Yicll5 opposite Detroit, and summoned Hull to surrender. The answer of Hull was a refusal, and the batteries of the British were immediately opened. On the 16th, under cover of their ships, they landed on the American shore a little below the town, and ad- vanced, in a close column of tAvelve deep, to the assault of the fort. While all was hushed expectation among the militia who were posted in the town, and the garrison at the fort, — at a time when there was neither wavering nor irresolution to be discovered among any of the defenders, nothing but hope and high determination, — an order was issued from the commanding general not to fire, the troops were directed to withdraw into the fort and stack their arms, and a white flag, in token of surrender, was hoisted upon the walls. By this disgraceful and humiliating act, not only was the deceived and indignant army of Hull made prisoners of war, but the territory of Michigan fell into the uncontrolled possession of the British conqueror, and with it the command of those Indian tribes, whose aggressions, up to this period, the Americans had been able for the most part to restrain. The surrender of Hull was received through- out the Union with one universal burst of exe- cration. Kentucky had already offered the ser- 268 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. vices of seven thousand volunteers to the govern- ment, fifteen hundred of whom were on their march to Detroit, when the tidings reached them that the city and fort were in possession of the British officers. Ardently desirous of being actively engaged, two thousand volunteers responded to the call of the governor, and marched against the Indian vil- lages of Illinois. Becoming uneasy at the scar- city of their provisions, and broken down by the hardships they encountered on their march, they at length grew restless and insubordinate. After wandering across the prairies for several days to no purpose, they refused to proceed any farther, and turning a deaf ear to the remonstrances of their officers, they broke up their array, and pro- ceeded to their homes. PLAN OP THE CAMPAIGN. 269 CHAPTEE XXI. Plan of the fall campaign of 1812 — Harrison appointed com- mander of the northwestern army — Winchester marches from Fort Wayne — Difficulties of the route — Deplorable condition of the troops — Winchester halts at the Rapids — The enemy approach Frenchtown — A detachment of Ken- tuckians under Colonel Lewis sent against them — Proctor advances from Maiden — Battle of the River Raisin — Surren- der of the Americans — Inhuman massacre — Reception of the news in Kentucky — Four regiments of volunteers raised — Harrison builds Fort Meigs — Is reinforced from Kentucky — Siege of Fort Meigs by Proctor — Advance of General Clay^ — • Colonel Dudley destroys a part of the British batteries — His detachment surrounded by British and Indians — Terrible slaughter of the prisoners — Inhuman conduct of Proctor — Tecumseh — His indignant reply to the British general. The plan of the fall campaign of 1812, as it emanated from tlie war office at Washington, was to unite as many regulars as could be enrolled in time, or detached from other service, to the large force of militia from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Ken- tucky, and Virginia, already assembled at Fort Wayne, under their respective generals, and after raising General Harrison to the chief command, to direct his march at once upon Detroit. When the capture of that town and fort was effected, and the British expelled from the territory of Michigan, another attempt was to be made to penetrate into Canada, for the purpose of reduc- ing Fort Maiden, the possession of the latter 23* 270 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. post by the Americans being of the utmost im- portance, both from its proximity to Detroit, and from the protection and encouragement it af- forded to the Indian tribes of the northwest. General Harrison proceeded at once to as- sume command of the army. He reached Fort Wayne on the 23d of September. Finding that General Winchester had already marched with a detachment of troops for Fort Defiance, with the intention of proceeding to the Rapids, he rode forward until he overtook the latter officer, and after a brief conference returned to the settle- ments for the purpose of putting in motion the centre and right wing of the army. Obstacles, however, of the most serious charac- ter soon occurred to try the patience of the gene- ral, and test but too severely the spirits of the men. The difficulties in transporting supplies and munitions of war over a route which in the rainy season was but little better than a succession of swamps and marshes, the deplorable condition of the troops under the combined efi'ects of hunger, disease, and hardship, joined to the ill success of two expeditions sent out against the British and Indians encamped at the Rapids, infused a melan- choly presentiment into the minds of many, and dampened the ardour of all. The 1st of January, 1813, found the right wing of the army under Harrison at Upper San- dusky ; while the left wing, under Winchester, ADVANCE OF THE BRITISH.^ 271 Still remained at Fort Defiance. The force of the latter, amounting to nearly eight hundred men, consisted principally of volunteers from Kentucky, among whom were Colonels Allen and Hardin, eminent lawyers ; Major Madison, audi- tor of the state ; Colonels Scott and Lewis, and many other gentlemen of equal wealth and re- spectability. Leaving Fort Defiance, the left wing, under Winchester, reached the Rapids on the 10th of January, and were there halted until the forces under Harrison should form a junction with them. On the 13th, however, a messenger brought intelligence of the advance of two companies of Canadian militia and two hundred Indians upon Frenchtown on the river Raisin. Fearful of the consequences to be apprehended from the ap- proach of the enemy, the inhabitants anxiously besought General Winchester to protect them. Regardless of the fact that, notwithstanding the comparatively small force at that time con- centrating at Frenchtown, it was a position which could receive in a few hours immense reinforce- ments from Maiden, only eighteen miles distant, ■with the lake firmly frozen between, the Ken- tuckians, impelled by a spirit of humanity, in- stantly requested permission to advance against the enemy. With much reluctance General Win- chester consented. The command of the detach- 272 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ment, numbering about five hundred men, was given to Colonel Lewis. The officers immediately subordinate to him were Colonel Allen, and Majors Madison and Graves. The distance from the rapids to Frenchtown was forty-eight miles, which was accomplished by forced marches in less than two days. "When the Kentuckians reached the vicinity of the town, they were informed that the British were already in possession of it. An immediate attack was resolved upon, and after a spirited conflict, ending in the complete rout of the enemy, the victors encamped within the line of pickets from which the British had been driven. This w^as on the evening of the 18th. Two days after they were joined by General Win- chester, with a reinforcement of two hundred and fifty regulars under Colonel Wells. Finding the volunteers had taken up a position on the right of the enclosure, Wilkinson refused to occupy the vacant space on the left of the line, and from a too fastidious desire to preserve that military etiquette which assigns to regulars the post of honour, encamped his men on open ground outside the pickets. On the evening of the 21st, Winchester was informed that General Proctor was making pre- parations to march from Fort Maiden with a large force ; but not anticipating the celerity with vrhich the British movements would be made, he AMERICANS SURPRISED. 273 retired to his head-quarters at the house of Colonel Navarre, distant nearly a mile from the camp, intending on the following day to throw up some defences for the protection of the ex- posed portion of his troops. But while the volunteers and regulars were thus lulled into such a state of fatal security that not even a single picket was thrown forward to warn them of the approach of an enemy, Proctor, at the head of the combined force of two thousand British and Indians, was marching upon French- town with equal speed and secrecy ; and on the morning of the 23d of January, 1813, suddenly assaulted the camp in two divisions. The regu- lars under Proctor advanced at once toward the line of pickets, while the Indians, under their chiefs Bound Head and Split Log, attacked the regulars encamped on the open ground. Under cover of a heavy cannonade from six field-pieces, the British attempted to penetrate the enclosure ; but were received by so deadly a fire from the rifles of the Kentuckians, that after sustaining a loss of one hundred and twenty men in killed and wounded, they retreated in great disorder, when the field-pieces were again man- ned, and a heavy and destructive fire was directed against the picketing. During the time occupied by this fierce assault and repulse, the Indians had taken possession of some unoccupied houses within musket-shot of 274 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the right of the exposed regulars, and from these, and other situations affording shelter to their own persons, poured volley after volley upon the helpless and bewildered troops. In a few minutes the American regulars were totally routed. While they were in full flight, Winchester arrived, and endeavoured, but inef- fectually, to rally them. Colonels Lewis and Allen, with a body of brave Kentucldans, made a sortie from the fort in the hope of saving the small remnant of the troops from destruction. The battle once more became general. Win- chester and Lewis were taken prisoners by the enemy, and Allen, Woolfolk, Simpson, and Meade, all gentlemen of estimable character and high standing in Kentucky, were killed. Of those who had thus sallied from the picketing, not a single Kentuckian returned, and of the fugitives they so chivalrously endeavoured to suc- cour, scarcely one escaped death or capture. While this fearful conflict was being carried on outside of the picketing, the volunteers within, under the command of Majors Madison and Graves, effectually succeeded in maintaining their position, and for four hours boldly resisted the assaults of the British regulars and the heavy cannonade by which they were supported. This gallant but unequal contest was continued until eleven o'clock, when, having but one keg of cartridges remaining, and receiving from Proc- FEROCIOUS MASSACRE. 275 tor tlie most positive assurances of protection, they consented to surrender themselves prisoners of war. ,The loss of the Americans in this disastrous battle, in killed, wounded, and missing, was three hundred men ; and of the British and Indians, •about the same number. Scarcely, however, had the surrender taken place, before the infuriated savages, breaking through all restraint, commenced the horrible work of scalping, stripping, and mutilating the dead. Such of the helpless wounded as yet lay upon the field of battle were despatched with tomahawks, in the presence of Proctor and other British officers, who were either unable, or un- willing from motives of policy, to check the blood- thirsty ferocity of their allies. The prisoners who had passed through the battle unhurt found safety in the British ranks. The wounded yet remaining were intrusted to the charge of the Indians, to be marched in the rear of the army to Maiden. The consequences might have been, and perhaps were, foreseen. Some were slaugh- tered in mere wantonness ; others from a san- guinary impulse of the moment. Those, also, who sank by the wayside from exhaustion or bodily weakness, were immediately despatched. Very few of the number ever reached the British garrison. About sixty of the wounded volunteers, and 276 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. among them several of the principal officers, had obtained permission of Proctor to remain at Frenchtown, and a promise was given that a sufficient guard should be furnished for their pro- tection, until they could be carried to Maiden the next day upon sleds. No guard, however, was left, and the Indians, re-entering the town, tomahawked Major Graves and Captains Hart and Hickman, together with a number of others. After plundering the rest of the wounded of their clothing, and of every article of value, they consummated this act of fiendish barbarity by setting fire to two houses filled with helpless and mutilated men, and burning them to the ground. As soon as tidings of the massacre on the shores of the river Raisin reached General Har- rison at Sandusky, he despatched Doctor Ket- chum to Maiden with a flag, and a sum of money, to provide for the wants of the sick and wounded prisoners. In defiance of the humane nature of his mis- sion, and the credentials which he bore, the doc- tor was robbed of the specie intrusted to his care, grossly maltreated, taken first to Maiden, and after suffering confinement in Quebec, and several other Canadian forts, for a considerable length of time, at length succeeded in obtaining his liberation. The terrible loss inflicted upon Kentucky by FORT MEIGS. 277 the captivity or wanton murder of so many of her bravest citizens, instead of depressing the Spirit of her people, roused them to the highest pitch of excitement. Four regiments of volun- teers immediately tendered their services, and were formed into a brigade, the command of which was given to General Clay. Governor Shelby, who had succeeded Scott as chief magis- trate of the state, was requested by the legislature to take the field in person. In the mean while, Harrison was lying at the rapids, where he had built Fort Meigs, a strong picketed work, with block-houses at the angles, similar in many respects to the old border sta- tions. As the time of the troops he had with him was nearly expired, a part of the Kentucky volunteers pushed forward by forced marches to reinforce him, and on the 12th of April reached Fort Meigs. The tardy movements of Proctor enabled Harrison to strengthen his system of defences as well as the means at his command would permit. Toward the close of the month, the British gunboats ascended the Maumee River, and dis- embarking their troops and siege artillery, pre- pared to assault the fort both from above and below. Harrison had at this time in garrison about twelve hundred troops, including regulars and volunteers, and General Clay with an equal num- 24 278 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. ber, consisting of the main body of Kentucky volunteers, was marching to his relief. On the 1st of May, the British batteries open- ed upon the fort with a heavy fire. Owing to the scarcity of cannon-balls, it was responded to but feebly on the part of the Americans, whose main supply of twelve-pounders was derived from the balls thrown into the enclosure by the enemy. Three days subsequent to the commencement of the siege, General Clay reached Fort Defiance. Two several attempts were immediately made to inform Harrison of the approach of the brigade. The first, which was undertaken with great gal- lantry by Captain Leslie Combs, returned with- out accomplishing the object of the mission. Lieutenant Trimble was, however, more success- ful. Clay was immediately ordered by Harrison, through Captain Hamilton, to land a detachment of eight hundred men upon the northern shore of the river, storm the batteries opposite to the fort, spike the cannon, and after destroying the carriages to re-embark at once and join the gar- rison at Fort Meigs. The remainder of the bri- gade was to force their way through the hordes of outlying Indians, and form a junction with the garrison as speedily as possible. The command of the detachment which was ordered to storm the batteries was given to COLONEL DUDLEY. 279 Colonel Dudley, and if the orders of Harrison had been perfectly understood, the task would have been found of easy accomplishment, and the danger to the men but very slight, inasmuch as the main force of the British lay two miles below the batteries, while their Indian allies were on the other side of the river. Not fully comprehending the precise directions which had been sent, Colonel Dudley landed his troops on the other side of the river, carried the batteries with ease, spiked the cannon, and de- stroyed the carriages ; but instead of imme- diatel}^ taking to his boats and crossing over to Port Meigs, finding himself assaulted by a small force of Canadians and Indians, he turned to fight them, and when they were put to flight, suffered his men to follow in pursuit. The time lost in this desultory skirmish en- abled Proctor to bring up a large body of his troops from the camp below, surround the Ken- tuckians, who were dispersed in the woods, and cut off their retreat to their boats. The Indians also, under Tecumseh, crossing over from the op- posite shore in large numbers,*swelled the force of the enemy to such an overwhelming extent, that of the eight hundred Kentuckians forming the detachment under Dudley, six hundred and fifty were either killed or taken prisoners. The latter were taken down the river and hud- dled together in a ruined fort, under a guard so 280 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. utterly inefficient for their protection, that the Indians were suffered to make their way among the prisoners, and shoot, tomahawk, and scalp them at their pleasure. All this while, Proctor and other British offi- cers stood at a distance, within view of the mas- sacre, without attempting to control the bloody excesses of the savages. Fortunately for those who yet survived this onslaught, Tecumseh galloped up at full speed, sprang from his horse, and dashing into the midst of his bloodthirsty warriors, interposed his own person between them and the victims they had devoted to destruction. When their safety was accomplished, he sought out Proctor, and indig- nantly demanded why he had not put a stop to the massacre ? " Sir," said Proctor, " your Indians cannot be commanded." " Begone !" replied the chief con- temptuously, "you are not fit to command. Go and put on petticoats." Almost simultaneously with this cruel slaugh- ter, a detachment of Kentuckians sallied out from Fort Meigs, in company with a party of regulars^ and attacked a battery on the southern shore of the river. It was a spirited and brilliant little affair and conducted with great courage, but with a corresponding loss of men. Well aware that the garrison had been rein- forced, entertaining no hope of its speedy cap- BKTTISII ADVANTAGES. 281 ture, and becoming alarmed at the capture of Fort George bj General Dearborn, Proctor abandoned the siege on the 9th of May, and re- tired with his forces toward Maiden. CHAPTER XXII. Great advantages possessed by the British — Perry ordered to build vessels on the shore of Lake Erie — Extraordinary ac- tivity and despatch — Proctor assaults Fort Stephenson — Croghan's noble defence — Perry's victory on Lake Erie' — ■ Harrison advances into Canada — Proctor retreats toward the Moravian towns — Battle of the Thames — Surrender of the regulars and flight of Proctor — Desperate conflict with the Indians — Colonel Johnson severely wounded — Tecumseh killed — The British forces under Packenham threaten New Orleans — Vanguard of the enemy bivouac on the Missis- sippi — Night attack by Jackson and Coffee, supported by the schooner Caroline — Arrival of Packenham — His tardy move- ments — Activity of Jackson — Kentucky reinforcement ar- rives — Battle of the 8th of January — Terrible slaughter of the enemy — Death of Packenham — Retreat of the enemy. Hitherto the war on the frontiers of Canada had been peculiarly disastrous to the American arms. One cause of this was, undoubtedly, the entire control which the enemy possessed over the navigation of Lake Erie. It gave the British general the important advantage of landing his troops with ease upon any point along the shores of the lake, and of moving his provisions and material of war with equal ease and absence of 2i* 282 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. fatigue ; and if discomfited, it enabled liim to re- tire into Canada without fear of being pursued. The Americans, on the other hand, were com- pelled to bring their reinforcements and supplies through nearly two hundred miles of a wild and difficult country, and to occupy isolated posts, where even small losses were of consequence, and large ones required months of energetic activity to repair. To counteract the superiority which the enemy had acquired by holding undisputed command of the lake, a number of small vessels v/ere ordered to be built upon the shores of the lake, the su- perintendence and equipment of which were in- trusted to Lieutenant Perry, who was also autho- rized to assume command of the fleet as soon as it was ready for service. So rapidly w^ere the orders from the navy department prosecuted, and so efficient were the officers and men detach- ed upon this service, that two brigs and seven smaller vessels, of which the timber was growing in the forest in the month of June, 1813, were built and ready for a cruise by the 1st of August following ; and three days afterward, Perry set sail in search of the enemy. In the midst of these naval preparations, Proc- tor, who had remained at Maiden until his force was reorganized, made a second attempt to cap- ture Fort Meigs ; but being foiled in his object lie drew oflf his troops, and with his Indian auxi- FORT STEPHENSON. 283 liaries sailed for Fort Stephenson, a small pick- eted stockade built at Upper Sandusky the year previous. The garrison at this place consisted of one hundred and sixty men. They were commanded by Major Croghan of Kentucky, at that time a young man whose age did not exceed twenty-one years. The whole artillery of the fort was a single six-pounder. Believing the place to be utterly untenable, Harrison directed Croghan to abandon it, and retreat upon the main army. Fearful that his note would fall into the hands of the Indians, Croghan sent an answer in return " that he was determined to defend the place at all hazards." He was immediately put under arrest for disobe- dience of orders ; but on an explanation taking place, was reinstated in his command, with the understanding that he was to evacuate the post and repair to head-quarters in the event of the British approaching in force. No time, however, was given him to do so. On the 13th of July, the fort was invested by Proc- tor, at the head of five hundred regular troops, and seven or eight hundred Indians. As soon as he had completely cut off the retreat of the garrison, he demanded an immediate surrender. After consulting with his companions, Crog- han returned the following spirited answer: " When the fort shall be taken there will be none 284 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. left to massacre, and it will not he given up while a man is able to fight." The enemy immediately commenced a fire upon the fort from six field-pieces, and kept it up at intervals during the night. Under cover of the darkness, they succeeded in planting three of their cannon within a short distance of the pick- ets. After working their guns with great vigour during the whole of the next morning, without making any sensible impression upon the garri- son, they changed their mode of attack, and con- centrated the whole fire from their six-pounders upon the northwest angle of the fort. Foresee- ing that the intention of Proctor was to carry the place by storm, as soon as a practicable breach could be efiected, the defenders immediately strengthened the works on that side with bags of flour and sand. Loading their only field- piece with slugs and grape, they concealed it in the bastion covering the point to be assailed, and waited calmly the approach of the enemy. Shrouded entirely from view by the smoke of their artillery, five hundred British regulars ad- vanced to within twenty paces of the lines. A steady fire of musketry from the garrison pro- ducing some confusion. Colonel Short sprang over the outer works into the ditch, and called upon his men to follow. Immediately they did so, the six-pounder from the bastion opened upon them, succeeded by a fire of musketry. GALLANT DEFENCE. 285 Their leader and twenty men fell dead at this discharge, and an equal number were wounded. They were retreating in the utmost disorder when the officer next in command succeeded in rallying them, and again they rushed to the at- tack. A second discharge of the field-piece, fol- lowed by a plunging fire of musketry, poured destruction upon their ranks. Utterly panic- stricken, they immediately broke into scattered parties, and fled to the surrounding woods, with a loss of one hundred and fifty men in killed and wounded. The loss of the garrison was but seven men, only one of whom was killed. After this terrible repulse. Proctor hastily withdrew to his boats, and returned in bitter mortification to Maiden. The gallant defence of Fort Stephenson was but the prelude to that long succession of vic- tories, both on land and water, by which, after a series of disasters, the honour of the American arms was at length most amply vindicated. Perry's victory on Lake Erie took place on the 10th of September following. It was at once splendid in its results, and momentous in its consequences. After a desperate and well-fought battle, which lasted three hours, every vessel of the British sc^uadron was captured. The American ascendency on the lakes was hence- forth complete, and Canada laid open to inva- sion. 286 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The disasters attending previous attempts, ren- dered the subjugation of the British northwestern territory a matter of national pride. It was im- mediately resolved upon. Harrison, who still remained at Fort Meigs, had been reinforced by four thousand volunteers from Kentucky, under the command of Governor Shelby. The aids of the latter were, General John Adair and John J. Crittenden. Colonel Richard M. Johnson, subsequently Vice President of the United States, was also present at this time, in command of a regiment of mounted riflemen. Proctor still held possession of Detroit and Mackinaw ; but as soon as Harrison commenced crossing the lake, with the view of operating upon his rear, he precipitately abandoned all his former positions, and after destroying the fort at Maiden, retreated, inland, toward the Mora- vian towns. He was deserted almost immediately by the greater part of his Indian auxiliaries ; Tecumseh, and the warriors subject to his control, alone remaining faithful. Leaving a detachment under General McAr- thur to garrison Detroit, Harrison, accompanied by Perry and Cass as volunteer aids, lost no time in pushing forward in pursuit of Proctor. The force under his command, with the exception of one hundred and twenty regulars, consisted almost wholly of Kentucky volunteers. It num- DISPOSITIONS FOR BATTLE. 287 bered, including friendly Indians, about three thousand five hundred men. On the 5th of October, after three days' severe marching, the enemy were discovered on the banks of the Thames, drawn up in order of bat- tle. The regulars under Proctor occupied a nar- row strip of bottom land,covered with beech trees, their left, strengthened by their artillery, resting on the river, and their right protected by a swamp. The Indians under Tecumseh were ju- diciously posted between two swamps still farther to the right. The number of regulars was proba- bly five hundred, and of Indians from one thou- sand to fifteen hundred. The five brigades of Kentucky volunteers, each averaging five hundred men, were disposed by Harrison in the following manner : Three bri- gades, commanded respectively by Generals Trot- ter, King, and Chiles, forming the first division under Major-general Henry, were drawn up in three parallel lines, opposite to the British regu- lars. The two remaining brigades, commanded by Generals Allen and Caldwell, composed a second division under Major-general Desha, and were formed on the left of, and at right-angles to the first division, for the purpose of confront- ing the Indians between the swamps. The regu- lars occupied a contracted space between the road and the river, waiting an opportunity to carry the British artillery by storm. 288 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The mounted men under Colonel Johnson, were originally formed in two battalions, also facing the Indians; but when it was discovered that the British regulars were deployed as skirmish- ers, with intervals of four or five feet between the files, one battalion of the cavalry was detached to charge the latter, while the other, commanded by Colonel Johnson in person, was directed to remain at its post, and advance upon the savages as soon as the signal was given. Shortly after- ward the Americans moved forward, and as soon as they did so, the enemy opened their fire. The cavalry detached against the regulars charged instantly, and after recoiling for a moment, broke through the line of skirmishers, formed in their rear, poured upon them a destructive fire, and were preparing for a second charge, when the British officers, finding themselves unable to rally their troops, already panic-stricken and utterly disorganized, ordered them to throw down their arms and surrender themselves prisoners of war. General Proctor did not stay to witness the capture. As soon as he saw the eff*ect resulting from the one terrible charge of the American cavalry, he galloped from the field, and escaped pursuit by the fleetness of his horse. The charge made by Colonel Johnson upon the Indians, from the nature of the soil and the peculiar mode of savage warfare, was not suc- cessful. The cavalry were therefore dismounted VICTORY OF THE THAMES. 289 and directed to fight the enemy after the old border fashion. Even after the surrender of the British regulars, Tecumseh and his warriors con- tinued the fight, but, being hard pressed, they determined to precipitate themselves upon De- sha's brigade, and force a passage through. While the ranks were staggering under the efi'ects of this concentrated fire, a regiment of volunteers under the venerable Shelby advanced and drove the Indians back to their coverts. Colonel John- son now placed himself at the head of a small detachment, and led them against a party of In- dians, who were gathered around Tecumseh. The combat here was fierce in the extreme, and John- son was borne from the field desperately wounded. About the same time Tecumseh fell, and the In- dians, dismayed by the loss of their leader, and pressed on every side by an overwhelming force, scattered in all directions. The victory of the Thames put an end to the war in the northwest. It continued, however, to rage with great violence, during the two fol- lowing years, on the eastern and southern borders of the United States ; but the people of Kentucky were not again engaged in active military duty, until they formed a portion of the force under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. Early in December, 1814, sixty sail of British vessels appeared oif the east coast of the Missis- sippi, bearing from eight to ten thousand veteran 25 290 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. soldiers, commanded by Sir Edward Packenham, an officer who had already distinguished himself in the peninsular war. On the 14th the flotilla of American gunboats, despatched to watch the motions of the enemy, were attacked during a calm and compelled to surrender. On the 22d, the British vanguard, composed of three thousand men under General Keane, after capturing the small force of Americans posted at the mouth of Bayou Bienvenu, passed up the channel without opposition, and by two o'clock reached the bank of the Mississippi, where they bivouacked for the night. At this time, Major-general Andrew Jackson, the commander-in-chief of the American army, was encamped two miles below the city of New Or- leans, with seven hundred regular troops and three thousand militia, undisciplined and indifferent- ly armed. Notwithstanding the disadvantages against which he would have to contend in risk- ing a battle with regulars inured to victory, and fresh from a triumphant campaign signalized by the final downfall of Napoleon, Jackson deter- mined at once to attack them. Ordering the American armed schooner Caro- line to drop down the river and co-operate with the land forces, he marched with twenty-five hundred men against the enemy. The British troops were encamped close to the Mississippi, with their right resting on a wood JACKSON'S OPERATIONS. 291 and their left on the river. A strong (ietach- ment under General Coffee was ordered to turn their right and attack them in the rear, while the main body, under Jackson in person, assailed them in front and on their left. The firing from the Caroline was to be the signal of attack. Darkness had already set in when the Caroline floated down the river, cast anchor abreast of the enemy's encampment, and directed by the light of the watch-fires, poured suddenly, and with immense destruction, a raking fire upon the troops, who were crowded thickly together on the level plain. Confused by this unexpected attack, for they had been totally unsuspicious of the character of the vessel, it was some time before subordination was restored, and in the meanwhile, the guns of the Caroline, loaded with grape and musket-balls, swept the encampment with a rapid succession of broadsides. While the firing from the Caroline was being answered by volleys of musketry and by congreve rockets thrown from the mortar battery, the en- campment was furiously attacked in front and rear by the land forces under Jackson and Cof- fee. The camp-fires were immediately extinguished, and the darkness being rendered more intense by a heavy fog, the British commander was unable to oppose the coolness and science of his veteran troops to the impetuous irregularity of 292 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the American militia. After a desperate strug- gle and much confusion on both sides, the American and British troops mutually withdrew from the contest; the British resting on their arms until daylight, and the Americans remain- ing on the field of battle till four o'clock the fol- lowing morning, when they retired to a position two miles closer the city, where the swamp and the Mississippi approached nearest each other. The British loss in this night attack was esti- mated, in killed, wounded, and missing, at four hundred men. That of the Americans was two hundred and thirteen. The enemy remaining inactive during the next four days, Jackson employed his force in fortify- ing his position. After deepening the shallow ditch which extended across his front from the Mississippi on the right hand, to the swamp on the left ; he formed a rampart along the line with bales of cotton brought from New Orleans, and covered it with earth. The Caroline being soon after destroyed with hot shot by the enemy. Sir Edward Packenham brought up another detachment of his forces on the 24th, formed a junction with his vanguard, and on the 28th made an attack upon the Ameri- can line with rockets and bombs, but after seven hours of ineffectual firing fell back to his camp. No sooner had Packenham retired, than, find- ing from a demonstration made by Lieutenant- MILITARY OPERATIONS. 293 colonel Rennie that the left of the American line could be turned by the British in force, Jackson immediately set about strengthening that portion of his defences by prolonging the breast- work farther into the swamp. The extreme caution evinced by Packenham in all his movements had already been of singu- lar service to the American general. Taking advantage of the delay, he proceeded, with almost incredible labour and activity, to render his po- sition still more formidable. On the 1st of January, 1815, Packenham made another attempt to batter down the American breastwork, by a heavy cannonade from batte- ries constructed only a short distance from the lines. His guns were quickly silenced by the fire of the American artillery. An attempt made at the same time to turn the American left was also completely repulsed. On the 4th, Jackson was reinforced by two thousand five hundred Kentuckians under Gene- ral Adair ; and on the 6th the British general was joined by the remainder of his force, amount- ing to four thousand men. On the morning of the 8th of January, Pack- enham — instead of advancing with the boats at his command by the right bank of the river, where the impediments were few, and by which he might have completely avoided the formidable works which Jackson had by this time rendered 25* 294 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. almost impregnable — detached Colonel Thornton ■with fourteen hundred men to assail General Morgan on the opposite shore, while the main body moved in three columns on the left bank to the attack of Jackson's line. The column destined to assault the centre of the American works was led bj Packenham. Lieutenant-colonel Rennie commanded the column on the British left, which was ordered to carry the redoubt upon the river; while Lieutenant- colonel Jones was directed to penetrate the swamp, turn the left of the American line, and to attack the rear of the centre. The works upon which the American troops had been for sixteen days so actively engaged were by this time completed. The simple ditch behind •which Jackson halted his men after the night engagement of the 22d of December, had been deepened until it contained five feet of water, while a high breastwork, constructed of cotton- bags and earth, extended at right angles with the river for nearly a mile, and terminated only at a point where the swamp became impassa- ble. Eight separate batteries, mounting in all twelve guns, were judiciously disposed along the line. On the right of the line, which was strength- ened by an advanced redoubt, were posted the Louisiana militia and the regulars. One brigade of Tennesseans and eleven hundred Kentucky THE BRITISH REPULSED. 295 militia formed the centre. A second brigade of Tennesseans guarded the left flank. At the firing of two signal rockets the British veterans advanced. Through the thick fog, •which then lay heavy upon the ground, the measured tread of the central column could be distinctly heard long before it became visible. Directed only by the sound, the artillery opened at once upon the approaching assailants. At this moment the fog slowly lifted, and dis- closed the centre column marching swiftly, but steadily, over the even plain in front of the in- trenchments. Notwithstanding the destructive cannonade, the men continued to advance, clos- ing up their ranks as fast as they were opened by the American fire. When the head of the column was within one hundred and fifty yards of the breastworks, the whole front of the Kentucky and Tennessee line, extending over a space of four hundred yards, kept up one continuous vol- ley of musketry, the files in the rear loading for those in front, and enabling them to discharge their pieces with scarcely an intermission. Terri- bly shattered, yet not wholly dismayed, the British column still moved forward, until the leading files reached the ditch. Here, swept by musketry and artillery, they were cut down by hundreds. No longer able to endure the incessant storm of balls and bullets, they fell back in disorder, suffering dreadfully in their retreat. General 296 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Packenham had already fallen in front of his troops, and Generals Gibbs and Keane were car- ried from the field, the one mortally, and the other severely wounded. General Lambert, the next in command, suc- ceeded in rallying the column for a second effort. It proved even more fatal than the first, — a few platoons only reaching the edge of the ditch, where they fell riddled with balls. The rest of the column broke and fled in confusion ; and although a third attempt to lead them to the at- tack was made by the surviving officers, the men moodily refused to advance again in the face of so murderous a fire. The British columns operating upon the right and left of the line met with no better success. In the attack upon the redoubt on the river side, Lieutenant-colonel Rennie and most of the in- ferior officers were killed. The redoubt was in- deed taken, but at a fearful loss of life, and the assailants still remained exposed to the fire from the breastworks, when the failure of the main assault compelled them to retreat in confusion. The impossibility of turning the American left — in consequence of the swampy nature of the ground and the resolute resistance offered by the Tennessee brigade under General Coffee — forced the enemy to withdraw from that quarter also, and take to the shelter of the wood. In the midst of this fearful carnage, the de- BRITISH RETREAT. 297 tacliment under Colonel Thornton crossed to the right bank of the river, and attacked the in- trenchments of General Morgan. The American right, being outflanked, abandon- ed its position. The left endeavoured to main- tain its ground, but finding itself closely pressed by the greater numbers of the enemy, spiked its guns and retreated. Colonel Thornton being severely wounded, the command of the detachment devolved upon Colonel Gubbins. The defeat of the main army rendered success upon this point of no avail. While Jackson was preparing to dislodge them from their position, they retreated across the river in obedience to the order of General Lambert. The immense loss of the British in this fatal battle has been variously stated at two and three thousand ; and by the most reliable account, could scarcely have been less than twenty-five hundred men. The loss of the Americans did not exceed six killed, and seven wounded. The force of the enemy actually engaged in the attacks on the right and left banks, was nearly seven thousand rank and file. That of the Americans numbered, in all, a little over five thousand men, a portion of whom were without arms and consequently ineffective. On the 9th, General Lambert commenced with great secrecy the preparation for re-embarking his troops ; but the final desertion of the British 298 HISTORY or Kentucky. camp did not take place until the niglit of the 18th, when the rear-guard hastily withdrew, leaving behind them eight of their wounded and fourteen pieces of artillery. CHAPTER XXIII. Peace proclaimed between England and the United States — Inflated condition of the currency — Dreadful monetary de- rangement — Banks chartered — Power of replevin extended — Bank of the commonw^ealth chartered — Great excitement on account of the relief laws — Relief and anti-relief parties or- ganized — Legality of the relief law contested — Decision of Judge Clarke sustained by the court of appeals — General alarm and outcry — Unsuccessful attempt of the legislature to remove the judges — The old court of appeals abolished, and a new one established — The constitutionality of the latter contested — The old court sustained — State and general poli- tics — Suspension of specie payments — Second monetary de- rangement — The legislature again applied to for relief — Wisdom of the measures adopted — Governors of Kentucky — Presidential election. Two weeks previous to the disastrous defeat of the British forces below New Orleans, a treaty of peace had been concluded at Ghent between England and the United States. On the 18th of February, 1815, the president issued a procla- mation announcing the auspicious event, and set- ting apart an early day for the observance of a national thanksgiving. In 1816, George Madison was elected gover- nor of Kentucky ; but dying shortly afterward, DERANGEMENT OF THE CURRENCY. 299 the office fell by succession to Gabriel Slaughter, who had previously been chosen lieutenant-gover- nor. The state of Kentucky was now destined to pass through, an ordeal of the severest kind. The extraordinary increase in the nominal value of commodities, owing to the introduction of an inflated paper currency, in the place of the pre- cious metals, which the wars of Europe had ban- ished almost entirely from circulation, gave rise to a daring spirit of speculation, resulting, after the proclamation of a general peace, in the most calamitous consequences. On the part of Kentucky the revulsion was terrible. Forty independent banks, chartered at the session of 1817, with a capital of nearly ten millions of dollars, were reduced, with but few exceptions, to a condition of utter bank- ruptcy, within the brief space of two years. The people, oppressed with debt, clamoured loudly for relief; and various schemes were adopted for that purpose. The legislature of 1819 extended the power to replevy judgments from three to twelve months. That of 1820 chartered the Bank of the Com- monwealth, and pledged certain lands owned by the state for the final payment of its notes. The redemption of the notes in specie was not required. This paper was made payable and receivable in the public debts and taxes ; and on any creditor 300 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. declining to receive it in payment of his debt, the debtor was authorized to replevy it for the space of two years. The old Bank of Kentucky, hitherto in good repute, was now brought under legislative influ- ence, and from a prosperous condition was soon reduced to bankruptcy. The notes of the new bank quickly sank to half their nominal value, and as creditors were compelled either to receive them at par, or to wait two years before they could enforce the payment of their claims, a turbulent state of public feeling was excited. Two bitterly hostile parties were the consequence. These were called relief and anti-relief. Of the first party was General Adair, who had been elected governor in 1820, several eminent lawyers, the great mass of debtors, and a large majority of the voting population. The anti-relief party consisted of the mercan- tile class, a large proportion of the bar and bench, and a majority of the better class of farm- ers. The question of the legality of the legislative act for relief coming up before the circuit court of Clarke county. Judge Clarke boldly decided the act to be unconstitutional, and drew upon himself thereby a torrent of popular indignation. Resolutions were accordingly offered during the session of the legislature of 1822 to remove Clarke from his office, but were not carried, partly THE JUDICIARY AND THE PEOPLE. 301 owing to the want of a constitutional majority, and partly to a desire among some of the mem- bers to await the decision of the Supreme Court of Kentucky. The judges composing the latter were John Boyle, William Owsley, and Benjamin Mills. Their decision, which was made at the fall term of 1823, fully confirmed the opinion of Judge Clarke, and declared that the act of the legislature was in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and totally void. No sooner was this opinion made public, than the popular rage burst forth. Hitherto the will of the people having been triumphant in all things, they could ill bear to find themselves sud- denly curbed by the controlling power of the law. They immediately determined to remove the obnoxious judiciary. To effect this, required a majority of two-thirds in both houses of the legislature, and success was to be determined by the result of the elections of 1824. General Desha, the candidate for governor, vehemently advocated the relief measures in his canvass of the state, and was elected by an im- mense majority. The relief party also obtained a large majority of both houses of the legislature. At the session held in December, the three judges were summoned before the legislative bar, and required to assign reasons for their decision. They were replied to by the eminent lawyers Rowan, Bibb, and Barry. A vote was at length 2Q 802 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. taken, but as the constitutional majority of two- thirds was not obtained, the judges retired vic- torious. Foiled in their attempt to remove the judges by impeachment or address, the members of the relief party now determined upon breaking up the old court of appeals, and organizing it anew. A bill to this effect was accordingly drawn up : after it had been fiercely debated during three day and three protracted night sessions, it was carried by a large majority of both houses. The new court was organized soon after, but the old court denied the constitutionality of the act by which it was attempted to be superseded, and continued to hold its sessions as usual. There were thus for a long time two supreme courts of appeal in Kentucky, in consequence of which great legal confusion prevailed. This anomalous condition of things continued until the session of 1826, when the triumph of the old court party was completed by the repeal of the obnoxious act, and formal re-establishment of the original judges de facto , as well as de jure. In 1828, General Thomas Metcalfe, the can- didate of the old court party, now organized under the name of <' National Kepublican," was elected governor of the state by a small majority ; but at the presidential election which took place in November, the democratic republicans carried NEW BANKS CHARTERED. 303 the state for General Jackson by a majority of eight thousand. In 1832, Henry Clay became a candidate for the presidency in opposition to General Jack- son. After a severe contest between the na- tional and democratic parties, Breathitt, the candidate of the latter for governor, was elected by upward of a thousand votes ; but at the pre- sidential election, which took place the succeeding November, the popular majority for Henry Clay, in opposition to General Jackson, exceeded seven thousand. Defeat, however, attended Clay in other states, and Jackson was re-elected. The triumph of the old court party sealed the fate of the Commonwealth Bank. In a few years its paper disappeared from circulation, and was replaced by the notes of two branch banks of the United States, one of which had been established at Lexington, and the other at Louisville. Upon the refusal of Congress to recharter the Bank of the United States, the legislature of Kentucky, at its sessions of 1833 and 1834, granted charters for establishing the Bank of Kentucky, the Northern Bank of Kentucky, and the Bank of Louisville, with an aggregate capi- tal of thirteen millions of dollars. The establishment of numerous banks in other states about the same time occasioned an enor- mous increase of paper money, and again en- 304 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. couraged that reckless spirit of speculation whicli led to the disasters of 1837. In the spring of 1837, all the banks of the Union suspended specie payments, and this act of necessity was legalized in Kentucky by the succeeding legislature, who refused to compel the state banks to redeem their notes with specie, and declined exacting the forfeiture of their charters. In 1838, the monetary derangement appeared to have passed away, and a fair and prosperous condition of things ensued. This, however, was, unfortunately, but of brief duration ; a second suspension of specie payments took place in 1839. The people of Kentucky, however, succeeded in staggering on under the mass of their difficul- ties until the year 1842 ; when, driven almost to desperation by the frightful load of debt under which they laboured, they once more appealed to the legislature to provide some means for their relief. A calm dispassionate course of action, an extension of the periods at which judgment could be given, and a liberal accommodation af- forded by the existing banks, served to tranquil- lize in a great degree the public mind, and with the year 1843, the pressure gradually relaxed. The successive election of three governors of Kentucky has yet to be recorded. In 1836, Judge Clarke was chosen chief magistrate ; in 1840, Robert P. Letcher j and in 1844, Judge Wil- PKESIDENTIAL CANVASS. SOS Ham Owsley. The latter was succeeded in 1848 by John J. Crittenden, the present attorney general of the United States. At the presidential election of 1840, Gene- ral Harrison was warmly supported by the whig party of Kentucky; but the vote he received fell far short of that cast by Kentucky for Clay in 1844. In the election of General Taylor to the presi- dential chair in 1848, a fusion of parties took place, and all the old distinctive issues for which the democrats and whigs had previously contend- ed, were, during that harmonious period, measura- bly cast aside, and have never since been revived in their ancient force and bitterness. 26* 806 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER XXiy. Mexico and the United States — Annexation of Texas — General Taylor ordered to move to the Rio Grande — Encamps at Corpus Christi — Erects a post at Point Isabel — Marches to a point opposite Matamoras — Builds Fort Brown — The Mexicans cross the Rio Grande in force — Taylor returns to Point Isabel — Again marches to Fort Brown — Battle of Palo Alto — 'Battle of Resaca de la Palma — Occupation of Matamoras — Reception of reinforcements — March upon Monterey — Storming of Monterey — Great reduction of the force under General Taylor — Is compelled to assume the de- fensive — Return of Santa Anna to Mexico — Concentrates a large army at San Luis Potosi — Marches against Taylor — Battle of Buena Vista — Conclusion. In 1845, the relations of the United States TN'ith the republic of Mexico, after maintaining for many years a threatening aspect, were ren- dered still more critical by the annexation of Texas. During the summer of this year, General Zachary Taylor was ordered to take command of an army of observation, and select a position be- tween the Nueces and the Rio Grande. He ac- cordingly encamped at Corpus Christi, where he remained until the 11th of March, 1846, when he was instructed to march to the east bank of the Rio Grande. Paying no regard to the remonstrance of the Mexican authorities, who warned him that the crossing of the Rio Colorado by troops from the GENERAL TAYLOR'S MOVEMENTS. 307 United States would be followed by actual hostili- ties, Taylor pressed forward, and after establish- ing a post at Point Isabel, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, for the reception of his supplies, he put his small army again in motion, and finally fortified a position on the eastern bank of the Kio Grande, opposite the Mexican town of Mata- moras. The works which he threw up at this point were subsequently known as Fort Brown. The communication between Fort Brown and Point Isabel being shortly afterward obstructed by a large Mexican force, which had crossed the river and thrown itself between the two posts for that purpose, Taylor left a small garrison at Fort Brown and marched to Point Isabel, with the view of strengthening that post and of bring- ing back supplies. He succeeded in reaching Point Isabel on the 3d of May without interruption, and on the 7th again set out for Fort Brown, a distance of twenty-three miles. His whole force consisted of two thousand three hundred regulars. It was accompanied by two eighteen-pounders, drawn by oxen, and by Ringgold and Duncan's batteries of flying artillery. Twelve miles from Point Isabel, at a place called Palo Alto, the Mexican army was disco- vered drawn up in order of battle. This splendid body of men was comprised of six thousand regu- lars, supported by a large number of rancheros, 308 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. and strengthened bj ten pieces of artillery. The action was commenced bj the Mexican artillery, and soon became general. The engagement was fought almost entirely by artillery, and the American superiority in that arm soon became manifest. Ringgold's battery opened with terri- ble effect upon the Mexican right, and that of Duncan swept the left, while the two eighteen- pounders poured upon the centre a steady and destructive fire. For a long time the Mexicans strove, but in vain, to make head against the fierce storm of cannon-balls by which their columns were constantly cut up. At length they gave way, and fell back about four miles from the field of battle, where, having received a reinforcement of two thousand men, they encamped for the night. The Americans bivouacked on the field they had so gallantly won. The Mexican loss in this affair was two hundred killed and four hundred wounded ; that of the Americans was four killed, and thirty- seven wounded. Of the killed, three were officers, among whom were Major Ringgold and Captain Page. The next morning General Taylor determined, contrary to the advice of his officers, to advance to the relief of Fort Brown. At Resaca de la Palma the Mexican army was again discovered, protected in front by a ravine, on the one flank by a pond of water, and on the other by a chap- RESACA DE LA PALMA. 309 paral or dense thicket of thorny bushes. In this engagement, the firing of the Mexicans was much more destructive than it had been the day pre- vious. The battery stationed to command the road swept the American lines with fearful exe- cution. Finding its capture absolutely neces- sary, General Taylor ordered Captain May to charge it with his dragoons. Pausing only for a moment, at the suggestion of Captain Ridgely, until the latter had drawn the fire of the Mexi- can artillery. May placed himself at the head of his troops, and calling upon them to follow, dash- ed down the road at full speed, and leaping the battery, drove the artillery-men from their pieces. The American infantry, moving rapidly up soon after, maintained possession of the captured bat- tery, and assaulting the Mexican centre with the bayonet, put the whole army to a complete rout. The Mexican loss in this battle, and in the sub- sequent pursuit, scarcely fell short of a thousand men ; that of the Americans was one hundred and ten. On the 18th of May, General Taylor took possession of Matamoras without resistance. The critical position in which this gallant lit- tle army had been placed, and from which it had only been extricated by an exhibition of almost Spartan heroism, had not been viewed without fearful solicitude on the part of the people of the United States. Reinforcements of volun- teers from the states bordering on the Ohio and 310 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Mississippi were despatched at once for the Rio Grande, and when these had arrived, and a por- tion of the supplies necessary for the support of his army had been received, General Taylor took up his line of route for the city of Monterey. To this ancient city, built in the valley of San Juan, at the foot of the Sierra Madre, Ampudia the Mexican general had retired after the evacua- tion of Matamoras. It was a place strong by nature, well fortified, and garrisoned by an army of seven thousand troops of the line, and three thousand irregulars. The force with which General Taylor advanced upon this stronghold consisted of six thousand six hundred and forty-five men, including ofiicers. Against the forty-two pieces of cannon of the Mexicans, he could only oppose one ten-inch mortar, two twenty-four pound howitzers, and sixteen pieces of light artillery. Establishing his camp in a beautiful grove three miles distant from the city, reconnoissances were made of the enemy's defences, and as soon as the reports were received, the division under General Worth was ordered to take a circuitous route to the right of the town, and storm the fortified heights in its rear. On the afternoon of the 19th of September, Worth advanced. Halting for the night at the foot of the moun- tains, a little beyond range of the enemy's bat- teries, he succeeded in repelling, the following CAPTURE OF MONTEREY. 311 morning, a brilliant charge of cavalry, and cross- ing the Saltillo road, carried in a dashing manner the two heights Soldada and Independencia, and then precipitated a portion of his force upon the Bishop's palace. In the mean time Taylor had commenced a de- termined assault upon the batteries in front of the town, and finally succeeded in penetrating the city, from which, however, the troops were several times compelled to retire with severe loss. At length, the principal battery was car- ried by storm, and the enemy gradually forced back, foot by foot, to the grand plaza in the centre of the city. By working with picks and bars through the stone walls of adjacent houses, many of the barricades, hitherto so destructive, were avoided ; and as the division under General "Worth was engaged piercing the heart of the city on the one side by this more secure but labo- rious mode of approach, while the main body under Taylor was operating in a like manner on the other, Ampudia, finding the space between himself and his assailants gradually, but surely, contracting, proposed terms of capitulation, which resulted in the surrender of the city. The Ameri- can loss in this attack numbered in killed and wounded five hundred men. The government of the United States having decided to assault Vera Cruz, the greater part of the forces under General Taylor were transferred 312 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. to the southern line of operations, now about to be undertaken by Major-general Scott. This re- duction in the number of men under the com- mand of Taylor precluded all further advance, and obliged him to rest contented with maintain- ing the ground he had already won. His ability to do even this appeared to be growing daily more problematical. Santa Anna had returned to Mexico, and by the extraordinary influence he at that time wielded over the hearts of his coun- trymen, was enabled to concentrate at San Luis Potosi an army of twenty thousand men, well equipped, and admirably furnished with munitions of war. With this army the Mexican general advanced upon General Taylor, whose entire force did not exceed four thousand seven hundred men. The latter was at this time encamped at Agua Nueva, but upon the approach of Santa Anna he fell back to the strong position of Buena Vista, where he formed his men and awaited calmly the at- tack. On the 22d of February, 1847, the clouds of dust which enveloped the Mexican cavalry, as it came dashing through the valley of La Encan- tada, was the first evidence which the Ameri- cans received of the immediate proximity of the enemy. As soon as the main army under Santa Anna came up, he despatched a flag of truce to General Taylor with a summons of surrender. BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA. 313 A terse but perfectly respectful refusal was in- stantly returned by the American commander, and at three o'clock in the afternoon the enemy open- ed the battle by firing a shell upon that part of the American lines occupied by Washington's battery supported by the Indiana regiment. The afternoon was passed mainly in manoeuvres and desultory skirmishes between the light troops commanded by General Ampudia and the Ar- kansas and Kentucky riflemen, who were opposed to them. During the night the light division of Ampudia, being reinforced by two thousand in- fantry from the divisions of Lombardini and Pacheco, succeeded in gaining an elevated posi- tion to the left and rear of the American rifle- men ; and in this quarter, at the very first dawn of day, the battle of the 23d commenced. It was hotly contested, with changing fortunes, throughout the entire day, and only ceased when night separated the combatants. On the part of the Americans it was a day distinguished by acts of individual heroism such as have seldom been witnessed in any country, and never exceeded in our own. Broken up into mere squads, for ten succes- sive hours the American volunteers gallantly sus- tained repeated charges from the immense masses of the enemy ; and now driven back, and now fiercely repulsing their assailants ; now hemmed in among ravines and cut up with terrible slaugh- 27 314 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ter ; and now checking, and literally annihilating ■whole ranks of the Mexican cavalry by the fire of the deadly and unerring rifle ; gallantly sup- ported by artillery, never better served, nor more daringly worked, they succeeded in recovering the whole of the positions from which they had been driven at various times, and finally bivouack- ed upon the field of battle. Shattered and disheartened, the enemy retired duriilg the night, and the next day saw their ranks, utterly disorganized, in full retreat for San Luis Potosi. The American loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, was six hundred and sixty-six ; one hun- dred and thirty-seven of whom were from Ken- tucky. The loss of the Mexicans is supposed to have exceeded two thousand. With the battle of Buena "Vista, as ending the war in that portion of Mexico, our history fitly closes. There is a moral grandeur in a contest such as this was, which speaks at once to the heart of every true patriot. An army of but little upward of four thousand seven hundred men, nearly all of whom were volunteer soldiers suddenly attracted from their various peaceful pursuits, not only held twenty thousand of the choicest troops of Mexico at bay, but eventually compelled them to retreat with precipitation, leaving many of their wounded behind them, and two thousand of their dead upon the field. That KENTUCKIAN BRAVERY. 315 sucli a battle, fought against such extraordinary numbers, and contested with so much pertinacity on the one side, and with so much resolution on the other, should have entailed a serious loss upon the victorious handful of Americans, was but a consequence of the indomitable courage by which the victory was finally wrested from the hands of a confident enemy. Kentucky has reason to be proud of the con- duct of her sons on that eventful day, — from the veteran commander-in-chief — himself nur- tured from infancy to manhood upon her fertile soil — down to the humblest volunteer. Here too fell, fighting to the last, many of her best and bravest ; and the names of McKee, Clay, Willis, and Vaughn, will be remembered with sorrowful admiration so long as true patriotism has power to stir the heart to noble deeds, and courage is valued among men. Here then let this history pause. Not that the people of Kentucky after the victory at Buena Yista took no further interest in the war. In that terrible yet brilliant series of victories which characterized the march of General Scott from Vera Cruz to the capital of Mexico, volunteers from Kentucky performed their duty worthily and well. But the greatest loss which the state sustained, and the greatest renown she acquired in the Mexican war, were derived from the battle of Buena Vista. 316 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Of the present population of Kentucky we Lave as yet forborne to speak. The census of 1840 exhibited, in ninety counties, the number of inhabitants as seven hundred and seventy-nine thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight. The census of 1850 shows an addition of ten coun- ties and an aggregate population of nine hun- dred and eighty-two thousand four hundred and five. With a territory, a considerable portion of which is of almost unexampled fertility, bounded on the north throughout its whole extent by the Ohio River, and on the west partially by the Mississippi, both fine navigable streams, Ken- tucky, though so far removed from the ocean, enjoys many advantages, which are denied in some measure to the states farther to the north- west. Inhabited by a people, brave, generous, and frank-hearted, sincerely attached to the Union, jealous of its honour, and prompt to yield obedience to its laws, she has succeeded in win- ning the warm regard of her sister states, and at- taining a high position in the national councils THE END. 8TERE0TTPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CCN. N PHILADELPHIA. 12 90. , I I RA, "^o V* : --«-♦. •*;, ?» * •"* v^^-.^v--. ^'=u - <^*. ♦•«<» .^'--^^•.^w?-*^*'"^^ '-mms ^'-'^ >\.v^' ^^^'^'^^ . ^--^^B?** .^^" ^^^. -y^\^.* , '^'^ '^<^ o. *o • » * .\ .»-•'. •j^-.'<